Year 1: The Legend Unfolds
Chapter Three: Dogs
Disclaimer: I don't own... um... anything. At all. Except characters you don't recognize. But yep, that is pretty much it. Oh, and I don't own Dr. Doolittle. Because I'm not that cool .
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"Lily, you need to hurry if you don't want the Potters to leave without you," Mrs. Evans called up the stairs to her youngest daughter.
"I'm coming mom, I just have to make sure that I have everything," came Lily's reply. Petunia sat on the couch in the living room, reading her favorite book, Dr. Doolittle. The doorbell rang and Petunia stayed put as opposed to running to answer it like she usually did. She knew it would be Brighid coming to say goodbye, like she always did. This year, however, Petunia wasn't as upset about Brighid leaving as she usually was.
"Petunia, Brighid is here to say goodbye, and Lily you had better get down here if you don't want to end up walking to Hogwarts," Mrs. Evans said, going up the stairs to make sure her daughter would be ready in time.
Petunia slowly got up from the couch, and headed to the front door where Brighid stood, waiting patiently.
"Hi Petunia," said Brighid. She could tell that things were different between them, and wanted to be careful.
"Hello," said Petunia coldly. She noticed that Brighid had a wooden wand in her pocket, much like the one Lily had gotten a few weeks ago. She flinched at the sight of it. Not really knowing what to say next, she simply said, "I hope you have fun."
"Thanks," said Brighid, "I see your hair changed back. Look, im really sorry my brother did that to you," Brighid said, feeling guilty for her brother's actions. Petunia didn't know how to respond, so luckily for her, Lily came down the stairs, interrupting their awkward conversation.
"Okay, I'm ready to go," said Lily, holding one end of a heavy trunk. In her left pocket, sticking up just as Brighid's did, was a wand.
"Lily, before you go, your father, Petunia and I got you a little going away gift," said Mrs. Evans, coming down the stairs behind Lily, holding the other end of the trunk, "Your father has it in the kitchen."
"Really?" Thanks," said Lily, walking into the kitchen followed by her mom, Petunia and Brighid. She gasped at the sight of a beautiful snowy owl sitting on top of an owl cage. Her dad was standing next to the cage which was on the table.
"Oh she is beautiful, thank you!" Lily exclaimed, rushing forward and hugging her dad, "What is her name?"
"Well, what name do you like?" asked Mrs. Evans, also receiving a hug from Lily.
"Hmm...Belle," said Lily, sticking her arm out. The beautiful owl fluttered over to her and landed softly on her arm.
"Now you have absolutely no excuse not to write since you have an owl," said Mr. Evans. He then checked his watch and said, "You had better get going. We'll miss you sweetie, have fun," Lily put Belle into her cage and hugged her dad goodbye. As she went to hug her mom, she saw tears in her eyes.
"Be good now, we will see you at Christmas," said Mrs. Evans, hugging Lily tightly.
"Okay," she said, letting go of her mom. She then turned to Petunia, "Bye Tuny, I'll miss you," she gave her a brief hug, and picked up Belle's cage.
"Don't call me Tuny," Petunia said coldly, and Lily saddened. Tuny had always been her special nickname for older sister.
"Bye," said Lily, catching a last glance of her family as she and Brighid carried her trunk out of the door.
When they got to the Potter's house, there was a car parked in the driveway, all of the doors open and the trunk popped. She walked up and greeted Mrs. Potter, and was told to put her belongings in the trunk. After she put her things into the car, she crawled into the backseat only to discover that she would be sitting between James and Jack.
The ride to the station was not a very fun one. James kept complaining about how hot it was, and Lily was starting to get claustrophobic. Somehow, they all made it to the station, and when they had unloaded all of the luggage onto trolleys, Lily took out her ticket. It said the train was to leave from Platform 9 and 3/4. Lily didn't know of any such platform, and decided to ask James about it.
As they walked to platform, James explained all about how Platform 9 and 3/4 was a magical platform that was only accessible by a secret. He also went on to explain about how to get to the platform, all one had to do was walk straight at the wall dividing Platforms 9 and 10.
"How stupid do I look? Did you really think you could trick me into walking into a wall?" Lily said, raising an eyebrow at him. James shrugged.
"Well, although I do have to say you do look extraordinarily stupid, I'm not joking. You literally walk right into the wall," James replied, earning a punch on the arm from Lily for calling her stupid.
"Here we are," said Mrs. Potter, stopping in front of a wall– one that separated platforms 9 and 10, "Brighid can go first and show you how it is done." Mrs. Potter motioned for the kids to step back. Lily watched in amazement as Brighid turned her trolley to face the wall and just started walking. Instead of crashing headlong into the solid brick wall, she sort of dissolved right through it. In the blink of an eye, she was gone.
"I told you so," James whispered in her ear, and she hit him on the arm again.
"See, it is really quite simple. You and James can go next, and Jack and I will bring up the rear," Mrs. Potter told Lily. She pushed her trolley into position next to James, and started to walk towards the gateway. About half-way there, James started to run, and Lily followed suit, not wanting to be called a chicken. She closed her eyes, and quickened her pace, waiting for a crash, but when she opened them, she was looking up at a large scarlet steam engine. She stopped walking and looked around, seeing James waiting for his mom and brother.
After they all said their goodbyes to Mrs. Potter, Lily and James went one way and Brighid went off another way to find some of her 4th year friends. Lily was eager to find Melanie, so as soon as they got on the train, she started checking compartments. About halfway down the train, she found Melanie. She was sitting alone, reading a book when Lily walked into the compartment– James had entered one a while back that had Peter in it, who looked petrified. Melanie was obviously very glad to have some company, and soon the two were talking and laughing like old friends.
After a few minutes, they heard someone yelling outside their window. They looked out onto the platform, and saw a boy with black hair, who also looked to be going into first year, being yelled at by an older woman who was presumably his mother. They opened their window just in time to hear the boy say, "Mom, I have to go, the train is leaving soon." The boy then picked up his heavy trunk, but after only going a few steps, he dropped it onto his foot with a loud THUD.
"SHIT," the black-haired boy yelled, hopping around on his good foot. At that point, Lily and Melanie both started laughing.
"There is no way that could have been funnier," said Melanie as the boy's mom started screaming at him again for 'disrupting the peace.'
It turns out that Melanie had been wrong. The large black dog that had been sitting by the boy started running around in circles around the couple, barking its head off. Lily and Melanie only laughed harder as the woman started to scream, "Shut up you damn dog!" After about twenty seconds of screaming and barking, the boy pulled a whistle out of his pocket and blew three short, shrill blasts. The dog immediately stopped and walked over to the boy.
"That's a good boy Snuffles, good boy," he said, petting the dog, "Well, I'd love to stay and chat longer, but I have to go mom, see you later," And with that he picked up his trunk and walked onto the train.
"Oh my god, that was so funny," said Lily, still not believing that happened. She and Melanie returned to their seats. They talked and laughed about it for a few minutes before being interrupted by a knock on the door. They looked up to see none other than the dog boy standing at the door. Lily and Melanie fought back the urge to laugh as he asked, "Can I sit here?"
"Sure, go ahead," said Lily, biting her tongue to stop herself from laughing.
"Thanks," said the dog boy. He stored his trunk and sat down across from the girls.
"So, how is your foot?" asked Melanie. The boy looked confused, so Lily helped her friend along.
"Yea, I mean if I dropped a trunk on my foot, I would probably still be swearing," said Lily.
"Oh my god, you saw that?" asked the dog boy, grinning in an embarrassed way.
"Okay, I doubt there is a person on the whole train who didn't at least hear you," said Melanie, causing him to laugh, "So dog boy, what is your real name?" Melanie asked, leaning back in her seat, "I'm Melanie Prewett by the way."
"It's... Sirius. What's your name?" he asked, turning to Lily.
"Lily Evans. Don't you have a last name?" Lily responded.
"No," Sirius said, looking down.
"Oh come on, tell us what it is,"
Sirius hesitated, but told them anyway, "It's... Black," he said, "But believe me, I am nothing like my family," he said, hoping Melanie would realize that he didn't care about the purity of blood like his family did. Since his family knew the Prewetts, but hated them, he thought it was probably a small chance.
"Hey, it's cool, I don't judge people until I know them," said Melanie. Sirius smiled, but Lily was very confused. Melanie and Sirius explained all about how some wizards cared about having 'pure blood'. As the train started to move, however, they were once again interrupted by a knock on the door. There stood a boy and a girl, also going into 1st year.
"Hi, can we sit here?" asked the girl, who had straight blonde hair and blue-green eyes. She also had freckled splattered across her face. The boy had light brown hair, and identical eyes. He looked tired, like he was having a hard time just keeping his eyes open.
"Sure. I'm Lily Evans," said Lily, gesturing to the two empty seats.
"Hey. I'm Alice Leoni, and this is my cousin Remus Lupin," said the girl, sitting down next to Melanie, while Remus took a seat next to Sirius.
"Hey, aren't you that kid from the platform with the dog." asked Alice, looking at Sirius.
"The name is Sirius, and did everyone in the whole freaking station see that?" Sirius replied, slightly annoyed and exasperated.
"Probably," said Remus matter-of-factly.
"Great," Sirius mumbled. Alice then looked at Melanie, being the only one whose name she didn't know.
"Oh, yeah, I haven't introduced myself yet, have I? I'm Melanie Prewett," Melanie said upon seeing Alice's gaze. The five of them talked for a while, and soon they were all great friends.
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When James got on the train, he started looking for Peter while Lily looked for Melanie. After a few minutes, he found him, sitting in an empty compartment, not doing anything other than sitting there looking scared..
"Hey Peter, what's up?" asked James, walking in and sitting down in the seat across from Peter.
"Hi, want to play exploding snap?" he asked, gesturing a pack of cards on the table. They played for a few minutes, but when the train started to move, a girl neither of them knew, but who seemed to be going into 1st year also, came bursting through their door. She pulled the shade on the door down, and crouched with her back against the door. Her head was below the window, so as to make sure she wasn't seen from outside the compartment. She had curly blonde hair, and brown eyes.
"You don't know me, you never saw me, I wasn't here," she said quietly. They looked at her strangely, but kept quiet as they heard footsteps running by. She peeked through the window, gave a sigh of relief, and sat down in a seat by the door, "Hi, yeah, sorry about that. I'm Marlene by the way. Marlene McKinnon. Can I sit here?" She said all of that very fast.
"Uh, yeah, sure," said James, after getting over the initial shock, "So, uh, what were you running from?" asked James, knowing she wouldn't have barged in here like that without a reason.
"Oh, it was this idiotic kid. I walked up and said hi, and he goes, 'Get away from me Mudblood.' Now, I don't exactly know what a mudblood is, but I could tell he was insulting me, so I said, 'Don't insult me just because you don't know how to bathe,' because his hair was really greasy and discusting, so then he starts chasing me and hexing me. What does mudblood mean by the way? I'm a muggle-born so I have a lot to learn," she said, still talking very fast.
"What was this kid's name?" asked James, ignoring her question completely.
"Oh, um, I dunno," she said vacantly, "but he was really pale with greasy black hair, and a really pointy nose." James listened with a look of concentration on his face.
"Snape. I'll be right back," said James. He got up and walked out of the compartment, leaving Peter and Marlene behind.
He searched the train for a few minutes before finding Snape. Of the few times he had met Snape, he knew that he did anything he wanted, and that usually included hexing people he didn't like. When he found Snape, he was talking to a boy with dark hair. The boy Snape was talking to looked aggravated, as if Snape was saying something he didn't like.
"Well, well, well, look who it is. Snape," said James, walking up to the two boys, interrupting their conversation.
"Go away Potter, I'm busy," said Snape nastily.
"Busy doing what? Getting your pathetic ass beaten up by him?" said James, jerking his head to the other boy. He gave a little laugh, and Snape was, obviously, getting mad.
"Go away Potter," Snape said again, reaching for his wand.
"Make me," said James defiantly, "I heard you were hexing someone because of purity of blood, and I just wanted to make a few things clear. If you go hexing anyone like that again, you'll wish you were never born," he said, meaning every word. Snape pulled he wand out of his pocket, and James reached for his, but it wasn't there. Oh, crap. He thought, I left it back in the compartment with Peter. He looked around and saw the other boy standing behind Snape, his wand out and pointed right at him. Their eyes met, and they both nodded, silently agreeing to double-team him.
Snape stepped forward, and James stuck out his leg to trip him. He stumbled, and before he knew it, the other boy sent a jelly- legs curse at him. Both boys laughed as Snape stumbled around the train, yelling that they would be sorry.
The two boys high-fived, and started walking back to James's compartment.
"Good job back there," said the boy who had cursed Snape. He had dark hair, and cool grey eyes, "What is your name anyway?"
"James Potter at your service," said James with a fake bow, "And yours?"
"Sirius," said the boy. Sirius dearly hoped that James wouldn't ask his surname, knowing that they Potters hated the Blacks.
"So what were you and Snape talking about when I got there?" asked James.
"He was...insulting my family," Sirius said slowly. In reality, he had been teasing Sirius about how his mother never wanted him to come back home. Sirius usually didn't let things like that bother him, but this time he knew it was probably true. His mother didn't like him very much.
When they got to James' compartment, Sirius was introduced to everyone, and they started a game of exploding snap. About half-way through the second game, Sirius remembered that Lily, Melanie, Alice, and Remus were still in the other compartment waiting for him. Since he was only originally going to the bathroom, he figured they were beginning to wonder.
"Hey guys, I have to go back to my compartment, everyone will be wondering where I am," said Sirius, standing up, "Why don't you all come with me?" They all agreed and stood up, heading for the door.
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Lily and her friends were having a lot of fun, but after about 10 minutes, they began to wonder where Sirius went. He had left to go the bathroom and never came back.
"Maybe he pulled an Elvis and died on the toilet..." Lily said, causing the Alice to laugh, Remus to look up from his book confusedly, and Melanie to ask what an Elvis was. Right after she had said that, the compartment door open. In walked Sirius +3.
"Hey Sirius, what's u...," Lily started to say, but froze at the sight of the other kids walking through the door. James Potter was standing in the doorway, smirking at Lily. She turned the other way, just trying to avoid some sort of fight.
"Guys, these are my new friends, James, Peter, and Marlene," said Sirius, pointing at each of the people as he said their names. Lily sighed when he said James's name. They four newcomers sat down and Peter took out the deck of cards again. In the middle of the second game, James had a sudden thought. He turned his attention to Sirius
"Hey, was it you who was on the platform with that dog?" James asked.
Sirius groaned and banged his head against the wall.
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