Wandering Romance, Unwavering *A Lily and James Fan Fiction*
Both were from completely different worlds. One was from the world of magic and the other from the realm of muggles. But both attended the same school: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Their story is a long one that ends where it also began: Platform 9 ¾.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Harry Potter series or memorabilia. This is purely fictional. Anything that sounds familiar most likely belongs to J. K. Rowling, if not someone else.
Author Note: Sorry for taking so long to update. I should probably say this right now. I am not likely to update on a regular basis. Nothing is going to allow me to make room to update any of my stories on a regular basis and keep them at a schedule. Not when I have work, college homework, chores, a nagging mother, a nagging father (due to the nagging mother), and never having my room "clean" (it is clean to me, but...). So, here is the next chapter! Hope you all like it. And please stick with me!
NOTE THIS CAREFULLY! THERE MAY OR MAY NOT BE FLUFF! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! (Although if you ask me, most of my works are fluffy...)
Chapter Three
James looked at the sorting hat curiously. What are we supposed to do with a mangy old hat like that? I think dad mentioned it before. Before James could ponder it much longer, the hat gained a mouth. A very thin mouth. A very thin mouth that opened. A very thin mouth that opened and sang. James was in too much shock that the mouth that appeared to hear much of what it was saying. A moment after the shock left him, James focused in on the words, not really wishing to miss out on it. His dad had mentioned something about it being important. He caught the rest of it.
And I will place where you need to be
Should it be Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin
Where the brave, honest, smart, and cunning be
In Godric's house, the word is brave
For friends come before yourself
Life is of the moment
And goals and plans are random at best
In Helga's, the word is honest
For telling the truth is difficult to do
Loyalty demands the truth
And friends will be forever true because of this
In Rowena's, the word is smart
For knowledge gets you places
Learning to be the best in a field
And knowing that is sometimes not enough
In Salazar's, the word is cunning
For survival is key to making it in the end
Luck is not part of the draw
And giving strict attention is good to do
But let these not scare you away
For everyone will have a place in history today
Life is counted in seconds as of now
Through all the years
You know you will fall into a place
This group will change
From beginning to end
Friends to become foes
Enemies to become lovers
Houses shall not and will not matter
When it comes time for the end
James blinked. The riddle itself was not hard to figure out. People would come out different than they are now. Times will change them. That much was obvious. But James could not imagine becoming enemies with all four of his (albeit new) friends. Before James could think on it longer Professor McGonagall put an end to the solemn clapping that went around the hall.
Lily blinked as she thought about the song. Friends to become foes, enemies to become lovers, houses shall not and will not matter when it comes time for the end. She put the matter aside as she listened to the names that Professor McGonagall called out.
"When I call your name, you will put in the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted." McGonagall spoke as she opened a scroll, looking at it. Lily noticed how short it was. "Alain, Lindsey!" A girl with bright blonde hair walked up to the stool, almost with a determined look about her. After little debate, it seemed, the hat gave a shout.
"Ravenclaw!" Lily glanced over at the shouts and whoops coming from a table decorated with a blue runner and a blue and bronze crest adorned with the house name, Ravenclaw, and an eagle.
"Applebee, Janice!" Lily stood straighter and looked at the girl with mousy brown hair that sat in their boat that evening. She gave her a little smile and wave as the girl went up hesitantly. It didn't take long for her to be sorted, for the hat shouted within a few seconds.
"Hufflepuff!" A table with a yellow runner and a yellow and black crest boasting a badger and the house name, Hufflepuff, cheered raucously.
Before Lily could even think, Sirius Black slammed past her and Severus as McGonagall called his name. She would have been offended if she didn't notice the lack of space between the tables and how close together everyone was. The hat sat on his head for close to three minutes. Lily actually wanted to go up to him and rip it off his head after two, if she hadn't know that the hat was obviously worn and old. And if she wanted to look like a savage. The hat finally called a house.
"Gryffindor!" Lily blinked. Secretly, that was the house she thought she would want to be in. It had pretty colours. Contrary to everyone else, not only did a girl scream no from the Slytherin table, the claps and whoops were almost non-existent, not that Black would have noticed. He was too busy high fiving James Potter. He sat down at the table with the red runner and a red and gold crest with a lion and Gryffindor on it.
As McGonagall continued through the list, with Carol Bond going to Hufflepuff and Helena Bones and Maria Cain in Ravenclaw and a girl with the last name Carrow, whose name Lily missed, not that she wanted it as the girl was terrifying, went to Slytherin, whose table had a green runner and a green and silver crest with a snake and the house name Slytherin on it, filled with more people who filled her with dread. Charles Carstairs went into Hufflepuff with Joshua Denning. Chi Choune and Amos Darton went into Ravenclaw before her name was called.
James was bored. The only interesting thing that really happened was the shriek coming from who James thought was Bellatrix Black, Sirius' cousin, he assumed, as Sirius muttered in his ear as he passed that he may not come out of the common room the next day for fear of "Bella's – that is Bellatrix, my cousin, in case you don't know – wrath at the noble and most ancient house of Black being dipped into the blood-traitor's goblet" and James wanted excitement. He looked up at the stool again as he heard McGonagall say the next name.
"Evans, Lily!" He noticed the girl shaking heavily as she walked to the stool. She had barely a second of the hat touching her head before it shrieked.
"Gryffindor!" James heard loud clapping, much louder than anyone else's clap as the girl skipped almost completely to the Gryffindor table. He saw her look back at her friend with an apologetic smile and James suddenly understood something in the Sorting Hat's song. Friends to become foes... James missed a lot of names, though he barely caught Elizabeth and John Kent, the twins who actually lived just down his block, get sorted into Hufflepuff and Kyle Lanchester get sorted into Gryffindor before Remus was sorted. He only caught Remus because the poor boy was up on the rickety stool for nearly five minutes before the hat screamed out Gryffindor and ended his misery.
He missed a few more before he heard Kimberly McLane's name and the hat didn't even touch her head before it shouted Gryffindor. James and Peter, the only one's of the four left, much to James' chagrin, blinked before paying attention again. Peter soon left him alone and James was actually shocked to hear the mousy boy be sorted into Gryffindor. Peter was obviously thrilled, though James had secretly thought the guy belonged more to Hufflepuff than Gryffindor. James had his name called three times before someone pushed him forward.
Lily heard Sirius bark a laugh. She herself was trying to hold back a laugh. James Potter had to be yelled at via his last name by McGonagall to get his attention.
"POTTER!" The woman made the boy jumped, making it painfully aware to everyone that the boy had spaced out, being one of the last few to be sorted. Lily's smile escaped. The boy bashfully made his way to the front as quickly as possible apologizing three times without response before McGonagall practically stuffed the hat on his head. The hat was on his head for less time than her own before it shouted Gryffindor. In fact, it almost didn't touch his head, much like what happened with Kimberly, who sat next to her, opposite of Mary MacDonald. The boy ran over to the table and squeezed between her and Sirius, gaining automatic teasing from Mary.
"Ooo! James and Lily squashed in the cupboard!" James threw the girl a look that could have killed a small mouse, if not the pig before the feast. She heard Eric Salem get sorted into Ravenclaw and Psyche Shinton get sorted into Slytherin before Severus' name was called.
"Snape, Severus!" Lily turned immediately to the front, praying that he would get into Gryffindor. Her face fell slightly when the hat cried Slytherin. She missed Alice Tulipine and Mary Walish get sorted into Gryffindor in her disappointment when she saw Severus sit next to a boy who wore a badge with a capital P on it. She didn't have much time to dwell on it, however, as the headmaster, a man with a long white beard who she knew only by name, Professor Albus Dumbledore (with many names in between), stood and spoke.
"Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, first years, and welcome back to those in second year and up. I know you all wish to dive into the feast." Lily looked at the table at this and saw nothing on the table and saw no one at the doors and grew curious as to how the food was going to get on the table. "However, I have a few words I wish to give to you before you do so."
The headmaster paused before looking around, eyes landing on Lily and James, who were currently fighting silently over who needed to move: James and Lily only had one plate in which they could use and neither was willing to share. James sent the girl a look that clearly told her everything going on in his brain: get your own plate! Lily shook her head no and gave him a pointed look. He heard the headmaster continue. "Pick your battles wisely if you don't want to end up in a precarious position." Lily and James looked up at him at the same time, James giving Lily a short dirty look before blinking at the headmaster. He suddenly felt eyes on him and looked around. Lily must have caught on as well for everyone started shaking when she looked at them too. She went red and hit James on top of the head and laughter erupted.
"Ow!" With that, the food came up and both James and Lily forgot their tiff and grabbed food, clearly forgetting that they refused to share a plate earlier, though neither found it suspicious that there was a fork for both of them. James dug into the sausage instantly, throwing some on the plate along with Yorkshire pudding. Lily had grabbed, he took notice of, sausage and Yorkshire pudding as well, though her menu included the peppermint humbugs as well.
When she finished, she glanced at James' side and snuck a sausage. James looked at her blinking before stealing a bit of her Yorkshire pudding and a peppermint humbug. She glared at him before grabbing some more sausages, avoiding the bacon and steaks like the plague. James grabbed some more peppermint humbugs and somehow he and Lily were just sharing all the food on the plate, not caring who grabbed what.
Before long, dessert appeared before them and Lily's eyes landed immediately on the ice cream. Every flavour and none of which were the icky sugar free stuff Petunia demanded be in the house. She glanced at James, whose eyes landed instantly on the jelly. She gasped and immediately grabbed the jelly tray and put some on their plate. James put some treacle tart and cherry pie on the plate. Lily put some peanut butter ice cream and marshmallows on their plate and began to eat them, laughing before she put a marshmallow in her mouth.
"What?" James said, mouth full, at the same time as Kyle Lanchester and Kimberly McLane, who did not have their mouth's full. Lily smiled.
"Tuney would die of starvation here!" she stole some of James' cherry pie before eating up the rest of the marshmallows, grabbing some strawberries and plucking them into her mouth. When the two of them finished off what was on their plate, Lily felt sleepy and content knowing full well that Mama Fawn, her stuffed doe, would be in her bed tonight as she felt homesick. Before she could think more on her sleepiness, or the fact that Sirius Black would not stop talking about dogs, which caused James to lean closer to her, almost into her, Dumbledore stood again and gave a more appropriate speech that did not pinpoint either her or James Potter, though the boy was still leaning into her as Black was still insistent on his great dog advocacy.
"Oh, for Pete's sake, join a dog advocacy group and shut up already!" Lily hissed as Dumbledore began to speak.
"I have just a few more words to give, consisting of warnings, notices, and announcements.
"The Forbidden Forest, again, is off limits to all students. First years are not the only ones forbidden." Dumbledore's gaze lingered on a set of twins with flaming red hair, whom snickered at their mention at the ceremony.
"Mrs. Ambridge has kindly asked me to remind you all that though she doesn't see you, she does have ears throughout the castle, as well as eyes and will know when you use magic or have any forbidden items. Teachers themselves are on the lookout as well, so do well to not use magic in the corridor unless the situation necessitates it.
"Quidditch trials will begin in the second week of the term and notices will be placed accordingly. If you wish to play on your respective house's team, please approach Madam Hooch about it.
"Now!" Dumbledore started to sit but immediately called on everyone again. "Oh! I forgot to mention. Those who are returning will notice a new tree on the grounds. No one is to go near the Whomping Willow, as it is a very, very violent tree. Unless you wish to loose an eye, it is advised that you do not attempt to go touch it." With that Dumbledore sat and waved his wand, a ribbon flowing from it and forming words. "Now for the school song! Everyone sing along now!"
James paled. He hated singing. He was not good at it. Dumbledore started the conducting, but stopped immediately.
"Everyone," he said, lingering on James and, surprisingly, Lily. He began again and James gave a very, very, very soft note, quietly singing along with the tune of one of his dad's muggle music player songs. Lily glanced at him as she sang little louder to him at the same tune. The same twins from earlier finished last with a canon, three times. Everyone clapped enthusiastically, Dumbledore the loudest, when they finished.
"Now, off to bed! We all want to be on time for class tomorrow." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he glanced in the direction of James and Lily, who stood at the same time in a bit of a tangle, being squashed between four people. They finally untangled themselves and ran to catch up to the rest of their group. James glanced at Lily, who stared at him as the prefect waited for the stairs to move.
"The stairs are constantly moving. If you get lost, the portraits will more likely than not be willing to help you find your way. Though do not ask Sir Cardigan. He is rather idiotic and likely to pick a fight rather than help…" the girl said. He concentrated on Lily again.
"You yelled at me for staring earlier. Why do you get to stare?" Lily looked away instantly.
"You are not a bad singer…" James looked at her blankly, while she stared at the floor.
"Password, please?" James looked at the portrait the girl stood in front of when it spoke. It was of a very fat lady in a pink, silk dress.
"Peppermint humbug," the girl said, leading the group inside as the portrait let them in.
Albus Dumbledore sat in the staff lounge alongside the rest of the staff.
"I assume you all have your lessons planned?" Albus looked at the newest addition to their group, Lilliana Periwinkle.
"Yes, I have my lessons planned." The young blonde was going to be gone at the end of the year, though no one made bets, as it was pointless. There was no question, no matter how much the young woman felt that it was possible to work longer than one year.
"Albus, I am more curious about the feast. It seems ironic that Gryffindor ran out of plates." Minerva McGonagall looked directly at the headmaster with this comment. Albus merely smiled slightly.
"Yes, rather curious. Especially the two who were forced to share a plate." Harmony Shackle nudged Minerva in the side.
"Want to make a bet?" she asked the younger woman, clearly excited.
"What kind of bet?" Minerva asked.
"I bet they will get together by third year, the red head and messy-haired Potter."
"It will take all seven years. She won't get past her initial annoyance. Us female Gryffindor hold to our grudges." Minerva's eyes twinkled as people in the room added their bets. Albus remained neutral, deciding he would hold the money and the list of bets.
Just some notes: I remember from the fifth book (?) that Dumbledore mentioned something about the Sorting Hat giving warnings and I thought it would be cool to incorporate a warning into the Sorting Hat's song the year they enter school, just because I happen to think that Lily and James' year in school had the most 'war heroes,' looking back on it. I also thought it would be fun to add a bet somewhere in there, and decided to add it at the end, with a little section that was for the teacher's in the staff lounge. Thought it was cute. I wonder who will win...?
Another side note: If you have heard the song 'Swingset Chain' by Loquat, that was my inspiration to get me through the chapter. It took me forever to get writing. But I hope you all still look for me and that I can get the next chapter out soon. I am working on Iris Petals Chapter Eight right now (three more pages! Yeah!), so it should be out at some point in the next couple of weeks. Pray for me to get it done! It may get it out faster!
XOXO, I.L.K.13