Once I reached Professor Flitwick’s room, I took a seat in the front of the class. Yet again, I got out my notes, ready for another hour of writing.
When Ashley came in, she sat down next to me, and then turned to face me. “Where were you at lunch? First you leave me after Herbology for flying with James, and then at lunch you don’t show up!” Although she sounded annoyed, she didn’t let her face show it.
“Oh my goodness, I am so sorry! Before Herbology this morning, I met Professor Sprout and she invited me to tea, so I went. And as for flying, James’ mum told my parents that he would watch out for me while we’re at school so he felt like ‘fulfilling his duty’. At least, I think that’s how he put it. When we got to the pitch, I was so amazed and he started telling me about Quidditch. And you know what? I want to join the team as soon as I’m allowed to!”
“Oh, okay, I thought for a little bit you really didn’t like me and you were ditching me as soon as you got the chance.”
“What! I would NEVER do something like that. Anyway, you’re my only friend here!”
Charm class was taught by a half-goblin named Professor Flitwick. He was so small that he stood on top of books on his chair when he lectured. I couldn’t help but think how adorable he was.
His lecture started the same as every other Professor’s. He introduced himself, took role , and introduced the syllabus and course aims before dismissing us.
The class immediately following took me completely by surprise. When we entered and took our seats, readying ourselves for taking notes, a ghost (much like Sir Nicholas) soared straight through the wall and began taking role. He then launched into a monotonous lecture on goblin rebellions of the 1200’s and I, along with the majority of the class, fell asleep on top of some drowsily scribbled notes. His voice was so droning that I couldn’t help myself!
I woke up when the bell rang shrilly and quickly scribbled the homework, then followed Ashley out the doors towards the common room to drop off our books before dinner.
As we headed up the stairs, my leg suddenly started to sink. “Ashley HELP!”
When Ashley turned around from her spot three stairs up, she rushed back down and quickly tried to pull me out of the stair, but in the process she slipped and her foot slid right into the stone step. Ashley looked at me, I guess trying to gauge my reaction to this setback. She must have seen that I had no clue what to do, so she took over. “Okay, on the count of three let’s yell for help. One….two…three!”
“HELP!”
We sat there for a few more seconds before I started the count down again. “One…two…three”
“HELP!”
This time, several people heard, but they happened to be Slytherins, older Slytherins at that. I had already learned that Slytherins do not like Gryffindors. One stopped and said in a sugary, false voice, “Oh did the new Gryffindor babies get stuck in the trick stair?” The girl laughed with her friends and walked by us as if we were nothing.
I was so mad that I reached out and grabbed her leg as she lifted it to jump over the stair. It slid into the stone perfectly, but her friends just glared at me and pulled her out. She turned around with an evil look in her eyes, pointed her wand at Ashley and then me. “Silenceo!” Then, she and her friends turned and left.
I turned to Ashley and opened my mouth to ask her if we should yell some more, but when I tried to get the words out nothing happened. I tried to scream and again nothing came out. I looked over at Ashley, knowing that my eyes would show the panic I was feeling, and she had a scared look on her face.
I quickly grabbed my bag and pulled out some parchment, quill, and ink jar. I started writing
Ashley, what should we do?
I don’t know
Can you see over the side of the steps?
Yes
Is anyone down there?
Yes, well… occasionally
Do you think you would be able to send sparks out of your wand to get their attention?
Maybe. Let’s give it a try.
Alright.
With that, I picked my stuff up, and Ashley got out her wand and waited for someone to come by that she could shoot sparks at. I hope that they would come to investigate where the sparks were coming from. I silently prayed that someone would come soon, because I couldn’t feel my leg from it being in the same position for so long. After a few minutes, Ashley sent sparks out of her wand, and then started to wave frantically. I turned as far around as I could to see who was coming. A girl with blond curly hair and brown eyes was coming up the stairs. I remembered her name was Marlene McKinnon. She was a first year Gryffindor with us too, but we hadn’t really talked yet.
As she approached where we were stuck she said aloud with out looking at us, “Hello, did you want someth…Oh my! I know you two! Do you need help?” I quickly nodded my head. The she immediately came over, grabbed first Ashley then me by our hands, and pulled us out.
After we had both been rescued she turned to us and asked us, “What happened? How did you both get stuck in that stair?” I opened my mouth to reply, but remembered I could not talk and I shut it again. I held up one hand, while with the other I dipped my quill in the ink and scribbled a note on the parchment I was writing on with Ashley.
I wrote to her We can’t talk some; Slytherin put a hex on us. After she read the note she said, “You two should go to Professor McGonagall.” After we nodded our heads in agreement she continued, “Do you want me to go with you?” I nodded my head again, so she headed off with us following her.
Once we had gotten to Professor McGonagall’s office, we knocked on her door. “Yes, what do you need, Miss Evans, Miss Rosewood, and Miss McKinnon?” she asked once she had opened her door. Since I still had our parchment out I quickly dipped my quill into my ink again, and wrote one word on the parchment “ “Silenceo” “ then handed it to my Head of House. She pulled out her wand and called “Finite Incantatum,” then looked at us with a stern expression. “Now, what happened?”
Ashley and I began speaking at once, quickly relaying the tale of getting stuck and hexed, but the professor held up her hand. “Come inside my office, and then the three of you can tell me about it one at a time.”
We both blushed as Marlene, Ashley and I followed the professor into her office and took seats across from her desk. Ashley and I retold the story, ending with the fact that we were hexed by an upper-level Slytherin student who we didn’t know the name of, and that we would have been stuck there if Marlene had not come along.
“Miss McKinnon?” Professor McGonagall asked.
“Yes?” she replied.
“Is this true?”
“Yes,” she said again.
“Well then…I think you should earn 5 house points, for helping them. Now you two, do try not to get yourself’s stuck again any time soon,” Professor McGonagall said before turning and leaving.
With that, I turned to Ashley and asked, “Now that we’re free of that wretched stair do you want to go to dinner?”
“Yes, sure. Marlene do you want to go to dinner with us?” Ashley asked.
“That is if you want to hang out with us, Marlene,” I said to her.
“I would love to, what were you two doing before you got stuck?”
“We were heading up to the common room. You are in Gryffindor, aren’t you?” I asked just to double check.
“Yes, I am. In fact I sleep in the bed across from you.”
“Oh yeah, that’s right! I remember now” I said, proud that I had been correct.
After dinner, we headed up to the Common Room where I quickly said, “Hippogriffs,” and then climbed in through the portrait hole. As soon as we all got inside, we looked for a place where we all could sit together. We ended up at one of the study tables that had been previously occupied by someone who clearly didn’t know how to clean up, because there were wads of used parchment on it and an old quill. Once we had brushed it all in to a nearby rubbish bin, we all got cozy and started to get to know each other better.
“So, Marlene,” I asked, “did you know about Hogwarts before you got your letter?”
“Yes, both my parents are magical, and my older brother is in Hufflepuff.”
“That’s cool,” Ashley said, “What year is he in?”
“Oh, he’s only in his third, but he keeps sneaking up on me from hidden corridors, and scaring the magic out of me, literally. He does it at home too. Once, when I was younger, he grabbed me from behind. I was so scared I somehow put a disillusionment charm on myself. My mum had to fix it but at first she kept missing because she couldn’t see me.” Marlene smiled to her self while recollecting the funny scene.
“So Lily, what was you first memorable magical burst?” Marlene asked, while Ashley just looked uneasily at me.
I grimaced for a moment before stating my explanation. “I was invited to James Potter’s eleventh birthday. While I was there, I got super mad at him and I closed my eyes and wished that cake would fly at his face. When I opened my eyes, it had happened. I didn’t find out later thought I was me who had done it.” I gave a little laugh as I finished my shorted version. We continued to talk until late into the evening. Luckily, for us it was the start of our first weekend.
The next morning upon my awakening, I looked at my clock and saw it was almost noon! I was so surprised I jumped up out of bed and hurriedly got ready, forgetting it was a weekend, and thinking I had missed my first class. Once I was half way through my shower I suddenly remembered it was Saturday. I felt so dumb I felt like banging my head on the wall. Once I re-entered the dormitory from the bathroom to exit it, I noticed only one other girl was awake. She was sitting on her bed reading so I quietly asked her if she wanted to hang out in the common room until the others woke up. She said yes, so we quietly left and walked down the staircase to the common room. At about one o’clock, the other girls came down and we all headed for a late lunch. Once we got back to the portrait hole, the Fat Lady, who I thought only asked for the password, said, “You don’t want to go in there.”
Curious to know why she said that, I gave her the password and, though she swung open obediently, I heard her discreetly mumble something about students and being rude. I turned my attention back to the common room, climbing through the hole when the worst smell I had ever smelled hit me in the face full force. With my eyes watering, I took a quick look around, only seeing the boys who were looking faintly ill, holding a thing that looked a little like a deflated brown balloon. I turned around and sped back to the safety of the hall, my roommates only a step behind me. Once there, after I took a huge breath of fresh air, I asked Marlene and Ashley, “What is that awful smell?”
Marlene spoke up. “A dung bomb. I think I’ve only smelled it once before. My brother dropped it and was grounded for the whole summer. That’s the only thing I can think of.”
“It must have been them,” Ashley croaked, her eyes glittering angrily.
“Them?” Marlene asked in confusion.
“The boys, Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew. They were the only living things in there and they were the only ones not at lunch,” I said with the same angry look in my eyes.
I turned back to the portrait, gave the password again, and covered my nose. Once inside, I walked over to Potter and the others, and started to scream, “WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU SET OFF A DUNG BOMB? I’M GOING TO…TO…OH AS SOON AS I LEARN SOME GOOD CURSES I’M GOING TO GET YOU! BUT UNTIL THEN, I’M JUST GOING TO HAVE TO GO GET Filch,” I said, lowering my voice and emphasizing the last word.
I do not think I had ever seen them look more scared and I could not help the feeling of triumph.
I turned around and marched back out the door to go find the man in question. In the few short days I had been here, I had learned he was the most feared caretaker that had ever worked in Hogwarts and how if he had his way, he would hang every student by their toes.
As I hurried through the corridors, I looked for either Filch or his cat, Mrs. Norris, until I finally found Mrs. Norris.
“Please go get Mr. Filch for me,” I said knowing she could understand me. In less time than I had to look around, he was suddenly there in front of me.
“Yes, what did you…” he stopped mid sentence, “I smell dung bombs, you’re going to get detention for this, girl! Come with me…now!” he said.
I followed him, trying to explain why I smelled the way I did, but he just kept cutting me off saying things like, “No excuses,” and, “But nothing.” Therefore, I decided to just wait until we reached our destination. As we were walking I reflected back to screaming at the boys and I wondered why I had done it, and even more so why I was tattle tailing on them. Potter was the only reason I could think of. Tt was like he was the only person who could just… well, make me explode like that.
In the end, we came to a door. When he opened it, it turned out to be Professor McGonagall’s office. He pulled me inside and began to rant about me and how there were Dungbombs somewhere in the castle and that it was my fault. That I set them off just to make his job more difficult and that if we were back in the day, I would be hanged by my toes for three hours for this violation. After he was done with his tirade, Professor McGonagall turned to me and asked, “Would you like to explain yourself?”
“Yes,” I said, glancing at Filch “I was just trying to tell Mr. Filch that four boys, Misters Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew, had set off a dung bomb in our common room. I had entered with my friends to find it like that, so that’s why I smell.”
“A likely story,” Flitch muttered sarcastically, crossing his arms across his chest. Professor McGonagall just gave him a quick glance, but that’s all it took.
“Thank you, Miss Evans.”
On my way back as I found my friends, who I had just left unceremoniously standing there at the portrait, I made a silent vow to get back at Potter for nearly getting me detention.
Lily and James, A Love Unfolding by lupinslover
Chapter Notes: Well as you can see *points to title* this is the second part (coughreallythirdof3cough) of the "second day"...yeah this is just more of Lily's second day at the school...hope you enjoy!
Disclamer~ it's all JK's...