December 8th, 1971
Dear Diary,
I am sorry that I have not written in you since the train ride here, but my life has been quite hectic. I am now aquatinted with all the girls in my dorm. There is of course Ashley, but there is also Marlene McKinnon, Dorcas Meadows, a girl who is content with being secluded Emmeline Vance, and I.
None of the other girls are as close to me as Ashley is, though I really like Marlene. She really is very sweet; she helped save Ashley and me on the second day of classes. No one really knows Dorcas, because she stays to herself. Emmeline has a very outgoing personality. She clashes with me on occasion though. We both have a pair of earrings that look alike. I left mine on my night table and when I came back, it was gone. She was wearing them the next day and I asked her if she had taken them. Of course, she denied it and we got into a bit of a fight. It only ended when Ashley came over and told Emmeline that she had borrowed her earrings. So Emmeline gave me mine back. Then she got her earrings from Ashley and started yelling at her, but Ashley just walked away.
I miss my family even though I write them every week. I found out that after I had left and Petunia was back in school, she got a boyfriend. Before him, she had had two others. The new one, his name is…umm…something Lars I think, but I am not sure.
Potter as of late is the last person I would want to see on earth. He thinks it’s “cool” to humiliate me in front of the other girls. He is just lucky I do not know any curses yet. Remus keeps leaving for a day or two every month and just says things like, “My mothers ill,” or, “I have to go visit my aunt.” I think there is something he is not telling the others or me. The boys do not seem bothered by it though; this shows what idiots they all are. First, set off a dung bomb in the Common Room, then this morning…Urg... I cannot even write about it, it makes me so mad.
Well it is time to go; I need to get some sleep, and it is 11:30.
With Love,
Lily
After finishing writing, I shut my diary and lay down, even though I knew I would not get to sleep any time soon. No, I still had Potter’s latest prank on me in my mind. He and his motley crew had decided to make everyone’s goblets float above their owners’ heads. We just learned the floating charm the other day, in Charms. I wonder if this was an original prank. I thought to myself. They each had control of a house table’s goblets. Potter had Gryffindor’s. Well, it was somewhat funny, or at least, until Potter lost control of his charm and all the goblets came crashing down on the Gryffindor’s heads. While I was drenched in pumpkin juice, I got up, walked over to Potter, and screamed at him. I would have kept yelling if Professor McGonagall had not come over and given Potter and the others detention. That stopped my yelling (for now) but if he does one more prank that goes wrong, I swear I will never stop yelling at him if I get a chance.
With that thought I drifted off to sleep, only to be awakened all too soon by Ashley. It seems that her new goal in life is to get up before the sun and now she has dragged me into her crazy idea, whether I like it or not. Which I did not. I got up, and walked into the bathroom and turned the shower on cold, got undressed, and stepped in. I truly awoke and with such speed that I yelped and literally jumped out of the shower, then turned on the hot water. I had been doing this every morning since November, but the shock did not fade.
After my shower, I got dressed, and went down to the Common Room to wait for Ashley. True, she might now be the first to awaken but she has to be slower than Petunia at picking out what accessories she was going to wear. Probably to impress Sirius, I thought wickedly. After about ten minutes, Ashley came down and was half way out the portrait door before I had even stood up. Once I was outside the portrait, I yelled at Ashley to slow down. When she actually heard me, she stopped on the landing two stories below me.
Once I caught up I asked, “Why are you in such a big hurry?”
“What?” she asked me in return, distracted.
“Earth to Ashley!” I joked. “Why are you in such a big hurry to get to the Great Hall?”
Ashley just stared at me before replying, “Uh…no reason really, except today’s my birthday.”
“What! Why in the world didn’t you tell me?” I asked, shocked that she could forget something like that.
“I didn’t want you to try and get me a present while you’re in school. Owl delivery cost a lot more than buying something in the shop.” She said this as if it was the most logical thing in the world.
“Okay, so why were you in such a big hurry? It being your birthday doesn’t explain it,” I said rationally. I happened to look up to see where we were, and that’s when I noticed that we were right in front of the Great Hall.
“My parents said they were going to send me something,” she said as we walked over to Gryffindor table.
“Cool! Do you know what it is supposed to be?” I asked, happy that someone was getting Ashley a present.
“No idea, but it should be here any minute,” she said happily.
As we sat down, the morning post arrived. Four owls, carrying a large wicker basket, flew straight at Ashley. Unlike normal deliveries, they did not just drop the basket, but they placed it carefully in front of her. Before she could open it, another owl dropped a letter in her lap. Ashley opened it and showed it to me.
Dear Ashley,
Happy 12th birthday Darling. Your father and I love you very much. Before you open your present, we advise you to take it up to your dormitory. Have a spectacular day! We hope you decide to come home for the holidays.
Love, your adoring parents
Mum and Dad
Ashley turned to me and said, “Lily, grab us some toast and let’s go back upstairs before our first class.”
She grabbed her letter, shoved it into her bag, and then gently picked up the basket. I followed her to the Entrance Hall, where I noticed she was having trouble carrying everything, so I asked, “Ashley do you want me to carry your bag?”
“Lily would you please? Thank you so much!” Ashley said hurriedly, while she took her bag off and tried not to drop the basket.
As we got to the portrait, I quickly said the password and held the door open for her. We all but ran up the staircase to our dormitory, where Ashley sat the basket on her bed. She plopped down on it for a second and reread her letter to try to find a clue as to what it is. I went over to the basket and tried to see into it, but I couldn’t.
“Open it Ashley,” I urged her.
“Ok well here goes,” she said as she started to undo the leather fastenings. As she tipped the top back, I caught a glimpse of the cutest kitten I had ever seen. It was all black except its paws, which were white, and a starburst on its forehead. It was sleeping soundly. Ashley reached in and I thought she was going to pick it up, but instead she picked up another letter. She read it, and let out a delighted squeak.
“My parents sent her to me, and said I get to name her. She has a sleeping spell put on her and it should wear off any time!” Ashley whispered, smiling.
“She is so adorable! What are you going to name her?” I asked, just as excited as Ashley was.
“Hmm…I think I’ll name her Starburst because of the starburst shape on her forehead. Star for short,” she said.
Just then, Star started to wake up. Once she was wide-awake, she looked around and took in her new surroundings. When she looked at me, I saw that her eyes were bright ice blue, just like Ashley’s. How awesome that her parents were able to get a kitten with such remarkable eyes! I thought suddenly.
“Ashley, we should get to class now. We’re going to be late,” I said sadly, because I didn’t want to leave Star and I knew that Ashley wanted to stay with her even more than me.
“Alright, let’s hurry though.” She bent and kissed the kitten quickly on the forehead, and then whispered, “I’ll be back soon Star!” With that, we ran out the dormitory.
We had Herbology first. Ever since Professor Sprout helped me feel better, I had come to visit her in some of my spare time, helping water some of the less harmful plants, and talking. Once we reached the Green House I was surprised that she was nowhere in sight. After a few minutes, we all moved close to the Green House for warmth.
After about fifteen minutes of waiting, she still had not showed up and I was starting to get worried. Then Potter said loudly, “I’m cold. I’m going to head back up to the castle because it looks like she’s not going to show up.” With that, he started back up towards the castle. As the rest of the class was leaving, I was unsure of whether or not I should go with them or not. As I was about to go with the few remaining students that were about to leave, Potter yelled at me, “Hey Evans! Are you coming? Hurry up!” When he said that, I got so angry that I turned back around towards the Green House and away from him.
By now, Professor Sprout was about 30 minutes late and I was worried, so I decided to go look for her. I took one last look behind me and saw that everyone had left. Except Potter, who was heading back down from the school. It looked like he was coming to get me. I quickly turned back around to get away from him, and to look for Professor Sprout. As I reached the Green House I whispered to myself, “I guess the first place to start is inside,” and I turned the doorknob to go in.
Once inside, I looked around for her, but did not see her. Therefore, I decided to look around. You never know; she could have forgotten class, while taking care of some of the plant’s in here. Knowing her that is what happened. I thought, thinking of the woman I had come to think of as more of a friend than a teacher. She always acted like her head was in the clouds, but then again she was the Head of Hufflepuff. As I wandered farther into the building, I heard the door open and close. I turned around to see Potter, standing by the door looking around. Once he spotted me, he hurried over.
“Evans,” he said, exasperated, “She’s not here. Let’s go back up to the castle. That way at least, we can tell Professor Dumbledore that she is missing.” I simply shook my head; I knew that something was not right about this.
“No, she’s here somewhere, I’m sure of it,” I said as I continued to walk deeper into the greenhouse. However, the farther I walked the more unsure I felt that I was right. After walking through the whole greenhouse, with Potter still following behind me, I decided to give up.
“Let’s go,” I said in a weary voice. I was very worried about my friend. As we walked back towards the entrance, I decided, that I would walk around the greenhouse, to see if she was out back. Therefore, instead of heading for the castle when we got outside I turned to the right, which was the fastest way to the back.
“Evans, she’s not here. Let’s go tell Professor Dumbledore or McGonagall.”
I just shook my head and kept walking. By the time we had gone completely around the greenhouse, I was distraught. I had no clue what had happened to my friend and mentor.
“Ok fine, let’s go back, Potter,” I said, caught between the fear that she had been hurt, and the hope that she had just overslept.
We reached the castle and started heading, or at least I thought, to Professor McGonagall’s office. Instead of going up another flight of stairs and taking a left, we only went to the second floor and down a long hallway. At the end, we reached a statue, but before I could see what it was, I heard someone coming up behind us. I turned around and there was Professor McGonagall.
“Um, Professor. We came to see Professor Dumbledore,” Potter told her.
“May I ask why you are coming to see the Headmaster, instead of being in class?”
“Because Professor Sprout is missing,” I spoke up.
“Well then, he’s right inside,” she said and walked past us right up to the statue, to which she said something that sounded oddly like Twizzlers, which I thought was weird because that is a Muggle sweet. So I must have been mistaken.
Once we got inside, after going up a moving set of stairs, we reached a large door. Professor McGonagall knocked and the door opened almost immediately. Professor McGonagall strode into the office and when she saw that we had not followed her, she signaled for us to come in also.
“Headmaster, Miss Evans, and Mr. Potter have something of importance to tell you,” she said and gave us a look that said that we should tell Professor Dumbledore, who was standing there in front of us waiting patiently. Potter glanced at me with a look that said 'You can tell.'
“Um, well, we were on our way to class. Well, we were at class but Professor Sprout never showed up. We were very worried. So we were looking all around the greenhouses, because everyone else had left, but she wasn’t there so James thought it was a good idea to come tell you,” I said, in one rushed breath.
“Humm….This is not good. Thank you. Will go you tell the rest of the first year Gryffindor students that this class period will be used for studying,” he said distractedly . I took that as a dismissal, and Potter was close behind me as we left the office.
Lily and James, A Love Unfolding by lupinslover
Chapter Notes: Well if your curious about the chapter title, you'll just have to read!
Um, I'm not JKR.
Enjoy!
********************************