A/N: HI AGAIN! OKAY FIRST YES, I KNOW THIS PROBABLY SHOWED UP AS AN UPDATE, AND IT IS! - IN A SENSE. NO, THERE ISN'T MEANT TO BE ANY OTHER CHAPTER - NOT YET AT LEAST. BUT AFTER I HAD PUBLISHED THIS, I RE-READ IT AND I REALIZED HOW ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE SECTIONS OF MY WRITING WERE. SO I REALLY HAD TO CHANGE.
DO YOU HAVE TO READ THIS CHAPTER AGAIN IF YOU ALREADY HAVE?
NO.
WOULD IT GAIN YOU A BETTER KNOWLEDGE AND GRASP OF THE CHAPTER?
PROBABLY NOT.
BUT I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IT IF SOME OF YOU DID TAKE THE TIME, BECAUSE ALTHOUGH THE ALTERCATIONS WERE MINOR, I REALLY THINK IT ADDS TO THE EFFECT THAT I WANTED EVERYONE TO GO AWAY WITH AFTER THIS CHAPTER.
PLUS - I THINK IT'S A LOT LESS CONFUSING!
THANKS! :)
(By the way, I've decided to leave Peter out of this particular fic. Not because I don't like him, but he didn't really seem neccessary to the story so why waste space?)
moving on....
DISCLAIMER: Really now, this story isn't nearly as brilliant as Miss Rowling. So isn't that a solid hint that I'm not her?
But anyway... here's the next chapter!
Chapter 2: My Best Friend's Boyfriend.
Torture.
That was the only way to describe it. She tried fruitfully to find a nicer word, but she couldn't come up with one.
When, in the past seven years, had Emily become so... well, annoying?
It wasn't that she was bothersome, but Lily didn't know how much longer she could tolerate her old friend's high, nasally voice, spitting out gossip about people she didn't know, from a school she didn't really care about.
At the moment she was lying on the fluffy carpet by her bed, furiously analyzing her previous trip to Diagon Alley.
She had sat outside that cafe with Emily for what seemed like hours. The meaningless chatter floating through one ear and spilling out through the other. Lily really didn't want to be rude, so she diligently sat, enduring her friend's gossip, adding only what was necessary at the right times.
She could hardly remember a thing that Emily had wracked her brain for at least a snippet of their conversation.
By this time tomorrow she would be well on her way to her first year at Hogwarts.
"Ugh." Lily frustratedly rolled over onto her back and stared blankly at the ceiling. She hated feeling like a helpless first year, but sadly nothing she did or said could stop her from feeling like that. How could she not? Although she was now sixteen, a lot more mature than when she was ten, she still couldn't rid herself of the feelings that popped while at an unfamiliar place.
Truthfully, the only reason she was trying so hard to remember their conversation was because she didn't want to arrive at her new school alone, without any friends. But to her dismay, Emily happened to be the only person she knew from her entire school.
If she could barely endure a few hours with her, how was she going to stand a whole semester?
Lily shook her head. There was no way that she was arriving there feeling, and most likely, looking pathetic. She would just have to suck it up.
Maybe Emily really wasn't all that bad. Maybe it was just her being bitter about having to move that clouded her judgement. Maybe....
......
Yea right, who was she trying to kid. The next year was going to be hell.
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Lily groggily woke up to the sounds of her curtains being wrenched apart allowing the startling sunlight to come pouring into her room.
She blinked a few times. Looking around her spacious room she quickly register what day it was.
Lily fitfully threw her body back against the soft sheets and tossed the covers over head, willing it to be the wrong day.
"Lily dear," Came her mother's clear, lyrical voice from downstairs.
She ignored it.
"Lily?" her mother said again, this time she was sure that her mum was standing at her door giving the lump in her bed an exasperated look.
"Lily, you need to get up. It's already nine-thirty and you still need to finish packing for school."
Still no answer.
"Really honey, get up! Your train leaves at eleven, and you'll miss it if you don't get your butt out of bed right this instance!"
"Fine." came Lily's muffled voice from somewhere inside the tangled pile of sheets.
"Good. Now hurry up and get ready, I have you're favorite breakfast waiting for you downstairs. It'll get cold if you leave in sitting to long. With that, Marie Evans walked swiftly out of her daughter's room.
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It had taken a lot of rushing and scatted packing, but she was finally facing the outside of Kings Cross.
Lily let out the breath that she had been holding ever since her mother had dropped her off.
"It's all going to turn out okay." She told herself.
Confidently she held her head high and steadily made her way to platform 9 3/4, where ever that was.
-
She spun around in a circle. There definitely was not a platform 9 3/4 anywhere in sight.
Lily was standing directly in front of the brick pillar that marked the three quarters way in between platforms nine and ten.
This was ridiculous. Was it some kind of test? Really, how hard was it to just let someone know where the bloody platform was.
She let her head fall back and rest on the cool brick behind her.
Of course!
How could she be so stupid? She was a witch after all. Why hadn't she realized that they probably didn't want random muggles to wonder onto the platform?
Of course it would be hidden.
But where?
She lifted herself from the pillar and dragged her trolley behind her, looking for any sign of magic.
-
After searching almost the whole length in between nine and ten, she was beginning to think that she would never make it to the train on time. It was already 10:49, and it would be leaving in eleven minutes.
Her last hope was that she somehow had missed something back at the brick pillar- the one place she hadn't yet searched. Slowly she scanned the old, worn bricks, bringing her face inches from it's surface.
"Hello?" rang a smooth, deep voice that startled her from behind.
Lily spun around only to be met with the most gorgeous pair of hazel eyes she had ever seen. It was the boy form Diagon Alley.
"Do you need help onto the platform?" He asked in the same deep voice, his eyes crackling with mirth behind his glasses.
She coughed awkwardly. "Uh, sure." She stepped away from the bricks to stand next to him.
He turned toward her and simply mouthed, "watch" with a crooked smirk on his face.
Lily lifted a dainty eyebrow and gestured for the boy to go on.
He swung his raven clad head to either side of him, checking for anyone watching. And with a slight nod, and one last dazzling smirk, he confidently strutted forward, pushing his trolley briskly towards the bricks.
Her eyes widened just as he was about to make contact, but a crash never sounded. Understanding washed over her features as she saw him pass safely through.
Lily turned her eyes up towards the large clock above her, 10:56.
Shit!
She quickly gathered herself and her trolley in front of the bricks, and without taking time to hesitate, pushed herself through, squeezing her eyes shut at the last moment.
Lily heard the whistle of a steam engine and opened her eyes. Platform 9 3/4 was packed with parents and students alike, saying their last goodbyes before they got to see each other during the holidays. Relieved, she wasted no time pulling her belongings through the crimson red, train doors.
She deftly threw herself into a compartment, and sighed. She pressed her temple against the cool glass of the window and briefly allowed herself to wonder where the boy with the stunning hazel eyes had gone.
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"I'm telling you mates! This bird was gorgeous, she had this thick ruby hair and the most amazing emerald eyes. It was like meeting Aphrodite herself" James exclaimed dreamily to his friends.
"Yeah, okay Prongs. We get it. This girl sounds great, but don't you think you're forgetting something?" asked the sandy, shaggy haired boy across from him.
"What?"
"Mate, does blond hair, leggy, and a high pitch squeal for a voice ring any bells?" Scoffed the boy with dark hair slightly brushing his shoulders.
"Oh, her."
"My... girlfriend."
"Bingo."
"Prongs, I know you're attracted to this mystery girl, but you hardly exchanged words for a minute."
"I know Remus, but man. You should have seen her." James breathed and leaned back down against the seat of the compartment.
"Sounds hot." Sirius added after the compartment fell into silence.
"Padfoot!" groaned James.
"What? Come on, I know you're going on about how 'wonderful' her 'ruby hair' looked, but you can't actually tell me that this girl didn't look sexy."
...
"Yea alright, she did. But there's so much more than that." James replied shifting in the seat.
Remus raised an eyebrow at Sirius, but he just shrugged in response.
"Okay mates, enough of this." Lets go find us some girls." Sirius declared while making his way towards the door. Remus rolled his eyes, but followed none the rest, gesturing James to do the same.
He sighed. They were right. He had a girlfriend, and no matter how stunning this girl was, he didn't even know her. Quickly he raised from the seat and went after his two friends.
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Lily heard her compartment door slide open, accompanied by three very loud voices.
"Paddy," Started a deep, yet familiar voice.
"I told you never to call me that!" Shrieked another.
She squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself to ignore this new disturbance.
"Fine, Sirius. Would you care to tell Moony and I exactly what you said, that pushed Trisha Gillam,"
"The shyest girl in our year." Added a new voice.
"To send a stinging hex strait to your-"
Suddenly, the chatter stopped.
Accepting that they had probably finally noticed that she was also in the compartment with them, she slowly lifted her head from its place against the wind, only to come face to face with the three boys that she had seen in Diagon Alley, including the handsome one who had helped her onto the platform.
"Hi?" She voiced.
"Hey." Replied the boy with sandy hair.
"Who are you?" Cut in the boy with dark hair brushing his broad shoulders.
"Sirius!" Exclaimed the last, the one with the wire framed glasses and hazel eyes.
"What? I was just asking!" Defended the boy who was apparently named Sirius.
"Padfoot, you have no tact what so ever." Sighed the sandy haired one.
He turned back towards Lily and offered an apologetic smile.
Lily grinned back.
"Sorry about that, I'm Remus by the way, Remus Lupin. The one next to me is James Potter, and the rude git over there is Sirius Black. Just ignore him, it's always worked for me.
Lily laughed and shook her head in understanding.
"I'm Lily Evans."
...
"So... Do you want to sit or something?" She asked after a few seconds.
The three of the nodded and sat down across from her.
after another few, very long, seconds James asked, "You're new then?"
"Yeah, just moved back from France."
"Oh, you went to Beauxbatons, right?" questioned Remus.
"Mhmm." She nodded.
"Cool."
Again she nodded, and then the compartment fell into yet another awkward silence.
"So... uh, how do you like England?" James asked, trying to get a conversation going.
"Oh, well it's alright. Definitely doesn't have as nice of weather as France did, but I'm adjusting. Like I said, I used to live hear.
James sent her a crooked smile, and the conversation began again with a renewd vigor.
-
They were all laughing hard at a story that Lily had been telling from when she attended Beauxbatons.
"And then - and I have no idea how she managed to do this - but she tripped in a puddle of water in the corridor while running away," Lily took a deep breath to steady her laughter, "and in the midst of attempting to keep herself upright, she some how turned herself into a goldfish, and plopped strait into the puddle!" Cried Lily as she ended her story.
Sirius clutched his side in laughter. "How in the hell did she manage that?" He gasped.
"Dunno, she got a couple days worth of detention for the prank she pulled, but Professor Bordeaux had to admit it was some very advanced transfiguration. Too bad Claire couldn't figure out how she did it in the first place."
"Too bad," James said. "We could have used that trick in our next prank."
Remus nodded his head in response.
"What- are you guys some kind of pranksters?" Lily questioned.
"Not just 'pranksters'!" shouted Sirius.
"We're the best, and the greatest." added Remus with a ghost of a smirk.
"The one and only Marauders." Finished James. All three had triumphant looks on their faces.
Lily laughed at threw a few strands from her licorice wand at them.
Over the course of their conversation Sirius and Remus had noticed that Lily and James were, not so subtlety, flirting back and forth. They would have to save this observation for later.
"You guys are..." She started, but then was cut off by a familiar high pitched voice.
"Pathetic, I know Lils. But you gotta love 'em." finished Emily as she plopped down on James' lap, pulling him into a fierce kiss.
Lily nearly choked on her chocolate frog. Emily was going out with him? The boy who had caught her eye at Diagon Alley?
Life was so unfair sometimes.
She looked back when Emily spoke again. James was red in the face and looked extremely uncomfortable underneath a giddy Emily.
"Jamie," She whined. "I've been looking for you everywhere! Have you been with these three the entire time?"
He coughed awkwardly, and ignored her question, instead turning back to face the very uncomfortable Lily.
Remus and Sirius wondered what their friend would say to the girl her had just been flirting with not a minute ago, while his current girlfriend was presently settled on his lap.
"Uh, sorry." He coughed again, and ran his hand through his already disheveled hair."
Emily raised an eyebrow at him.
James continued."This is Emily."
Lily didn't react.
"She's, well, she's my girlfriend."
....
"I know."
HA! Wow I actually think that was the best chapter I've ever written. Out of ALL my stories! I really hope you guys liked it! Again, I'm soooo sorry for the wait, but hopefully I still have some readers for this!
- It's kind of a cliffy, so PLEASE come back and read the next chapter, I promis I'll try to update faster!!!
THANKS!!!