Chapter 2: Meeting the Marauders and Discussion of Cooties
Lily realized the thing she was sitting on wasn’t very….well…solid. It began to move. Lily started shrieking, and a laugh escaped the “couch” behind her.
“Well, hello,” it said, “I’m Remus. Remus Lupin.”
She realized that it really was a person, a rather cute boy at that…but Remus’ patient and quiet demeanor made him somewhat of a wallflower, hard to really distinguish from the wall sometimes. Lily Evans looked around to realize that she was surrounded by boys.
“Oh, hello,” she said, finally replying to Remus, “I’m…um…Lily…Evans.”
Lily was still rather taken aback. The three boys were looking with politely quizzical looks at Lily, who had suddenly just burst into their compartment, extremely buggered off. A somewhat handsome one, the boy nearest the window, ventured to ask, “Well, Lily, would you like to tell us what has angered you so?”
The third boy, rather uncouth with tousled hair and glasses, added, “Yes, Lily dear, we have plenty of time…”
“…and that’s why I’m buggered off.” She finished her little story, and the boys agreed to help her find an empty compartment. The boy with the tousled hair volunteered to walk with her, and Sirius, the handsome one, stayed with Remus to guard their compartment and play some Exploding Snap.
“Well, Lily, my name is James Potter,” he said to break the awkward silence between them, “and I don’t think there are any compartments left.”
She sighed. “Thanks for your help anyway, Ja…Ja…” She turned and looked into his eyes; they were a startling hazel.
“James,” he said, finishing her sentence. “Have you seen your friends yet, Lils?”
She scrunched her nose up in distaste at the nickname, and replied, “Uh, no. They’re hard to miss. Bright blonde hair…about mid-back length…they’re identical, you know…Kinda hard to just not notice ‘em.”
James recoiled at the sarcasm, and replied, “Ooookay. I don’t HAVE to help you, y’know.” He turned around and walked down to the boys’ compartment.
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James couldn’t help admiring the way her hair swished. This Lily, this Lily Evans, this girl was getting to him. How was that possible? He was a god. You can’t get a god to admire someone. And she was so bloody pompous! Damn…now he was rather confused. So much for being a Golden God. How could he have been in Gryffindor with her for so many years, and have not met her before?! James Potter knew everyone. It just came with the Potter name; you were automatically worshiped and extremely popular. It Just Happens.
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Lily was starting to feel guilty about snapping at James. After all, he was helping her. She walked down the corridor to the Marauder’s compartment. “James, I’m sorry I snapped. Could you find it in your heart to forgive me, just maybe?” She asked all of this with the angelic I-love-you smile and the puppy-dog eyes, so James had to at least give her points for effort.
James smiled, and said, “Well, of course, Miss Lily. That is, if you’ll find it in your schedule to sit with us on the ride.” At this Lily smiled and eagerly sat down next to James.
Soon enough, two heads of flaxen hair walked past the compartment. Lily eagerly ran out and kidnapped them into the Marauder’s compartment.
“What the-“ and “Oh, Bugger!” escaped the twins’ mouths before they realized that they had been kidnapped by their best friend.
“LILY!!!!” “EEEE!” “We’ve haven’t seen you-“ “-in forever! How have-“ “-you been?!”
“Hi Emia, Avia…I’ve missed you both terribly!!!”
“We’ve missed-“ “-you too!!”
The twins had an uncanny ability to finish each others’ sentences, which added to the confusion of the scene. The boys, especially James and Sirius, rolled their eyes at the semi-hysterical girls jumping and hugging in their compartment.
“Once you’ve kindly stopped JUMPING on my FOOT, YES, that would be MY FOOT, you can introduce us to your friends, Lily,” said Sirius, somewhat irritably.
As Sirius massaged his foot, Lily made excitedly quick introductions. “Emia, Avia, (making sure to point to each, so the boys would have a better chance of keeping the identical twins straight) these are the Marauders. There’s Sirius, the whiny one massaging his foot because he can’t handle a girl stepping on his foot. That one’s Remus Lupin, rather quiet but the nicest and most sincere of the lot. And he’s James Potter, the one staring off into space and looking rather smug with himself.”
Emia and Avia started to giggle
hysterically, and asked, “James Potter? THE James Potter?!
The famous Quidditch star?! Like…
Lily looked quizzically at the twins and asked them to explain. Lily was not exactly the authority on who was popular at Hogwarts, so she found herself constantly consulting Emia and Avia. Avia replied in hushed undertones, “Well, Lil, James is really popular, and all the girls want him. He’s the star of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and he’s SO cute!”
Lily eyed him up…no, she decided. All the girls were insane. There was nothing attractive about the uncouth boy. Okay, maybe his eyes…and maybe his glasses were pretty cute. But Lily Amiel Evans did not have time for boys. They were stupid, and their cooties were rampant, especially during the damn mating season.