Pretty soon, we arrived at Hogsmeade Station. Joanna and I hopped into a horseless carriage with her orange tiger-striped cat, Owen. As usual, about six girls followed us. Joanna and I left and went to fin a different carriage. Even though we didn’t want to be rude, Owen was going crazy, and there simply wasn’t room enough for eight girls and a cat.
There ended up being one carriage left. Jeremy Cook, Ricky Schull and Ryan Thomas were there. At first I flat out refused to go in because Jeremy had been my boyfriend the previous year, and I still felt pretty awkward around him. But Ryan saw us outside, so we stopped arguing, smiled and walked in.
Pretty soon we were all laughing at, er, with Ryan, I mean. He’s so funny. Honestly, he could make Professor McGonagall laugh. McGonagall was about thirty-five and stiff as a board, but she was really alright. She was a huge Quidditch person. I was, too. I played beater for Gryffindor from my third year to my sixth, and was anxious to see if I’d make the team again. I was wondering who the referee will be after that year. It was Madam Shepherd’s last year, and I was disappointed to realize that I wouldn’t be there to see who it was.
When we got to Hogwarts, I quickly started organizing everyone and telling them where to go. I had never really thought about how hard it is to be head girl, even as a prefect. Or maybe it was just because I was doing it by myself… where was Potter? It seemed like it was going to be a very long year. Once all of the other students were in the Great Hall, I took my place by Joanna.
“Are you okay?” Joanna asked. “You look really stressed out.”
“Well, if Potter was anywhere to be found, this might be easier,” I said and rolled my eyes.
“Don’t worry about him,” Joanna said. “Hey, Ellie’s sister is going to be sorted in a second,” she said. We patiently waited for the exceedingly long song to end, and then started to watch the sorting. Ellie seemed glad that her sister was first. She looked anxious to see where Jenn would be sorted.
“Allen, Jennifer,” Professor McGonagall called. Jenn walked over and sat down, licking her lips nervously. Professor McGonagall placed the sorting hat on her head. It paused momentarily.
“Gryffindor!” it yelled. We all smiled and clapped. Jenn sat by a second year girl at the end of the long table. Ellie laughed.
“Guess she’s too cool to sit by me,” She joked.
“I’m hungry,” complained Riley Marcus, a sixth year who’s on the Quidditch team with me.
“Sshhhh,” I said. “There’s Mardi.”
“Kent, Mardi,” called Professor McGonagall. Mardi stepped up. She grinned when she was sorted into Gryffindor and sat by Jenn.
When the Sorting (finally) ended, Dumbledore graciously allowed us to eat. He spoke to us about a dark wizard named “Lord Voldemort,” but assured us that we were completely safe at school. I had read bits about this creep in the Prophet, so I wasn’t shocked. Just maybe a little scared.
I directed the students to Gryffindor tower, and then Joanna and I headed up to our dorm. Joice, Ellie and Missy were already there. Joice was very sweet. Most of her friends were in Hufflepuff, though.
Joice in particular didn’t get along with the Slytherins, mainly Narcissa Black. She found it ridiculous, but Narcissa seemed to hate her very much because Joice Kelly’s mother was a Pureblood (they were supposedly related, somehow) and Mrs. Kelly married a Muggle. Narcissa’s sister, Bellatrix was four years older than her, so we only had to suffer “Bella” for a year, thankfully.
Joice immediately started up a conversation. Soon, everybody but Owen was debating Quidditch teams. Joice had always been a fan of the Chudley Cannons, but Joanna insisted that their “luck streak” had ended years ago. Then Ellie was quick to point out that Joanna’s Tornados hadn’t been doing so hot lately, either.
Missy was funny; she liked a different team every year. That year, the Harpies happened to be doing pretty well, so Missy agreed with Ellie that they were the best team on the face of the Earth. (The year before she had been behind Bulgaria one hundred percent.) I personally thought that Spain was doing better than ever that year, and was willing to debate that with anyone.
When the subject of Quidditch closed, Ellie turned to me. “Hey, Lily- have you changed your mind about James Potter, yet?” She asked almost teasingly. Ellie, and everyone else in the school, it seemed most days, were sure that I would just all of the sudden go and fall for Potter, eventually.
“No, Ellie,” I said, half-sighing. “At least not this century.” I had no intention of going with everyone’s cute, perfect disillusion of me, Lily Evans, dating the most arrogant jerk in the school.
But Joanna, quite thankfully, saw Potter for the jerk he was, too. Joanna was great; I trusted her more than any of my friends. The girls and I finished talking, and I curled up in bed and gently fell asleep. Everything was completely quiet, except Owen’s loud purring.
“Sshhhh!” was the first the first thing I heard in the morning. “Lily’s still asleep!”
“You guys!” I yelped, jumping out of bed and glancing at my clock. “It’s 6:15! Why didn’t you get me up? I just slept in an-hour-and-fifteen-minutes!” My roomies rolled their eyes.
“Lily, we’re up way early. Classes don’t start until 8:00!” Joanna said.
“And we don’t usually get up until-” Ellie said,
“-7:15,” Joice finished.
“Joanna’s stupid cat woke us up,” Missy grumbled. Owen looked up like he knew exactly what she had said.
“Well, since we’re all up, we may as well go to breakfast,” I said cheerily. “Just let me throw on my clothes.”
Joice yawned. “I think I’ll pass.”
“Me, too,” Missy said.
“I’m going back to bed,” Ellie put in.
“I’ll go with you, Lily,” Joanna sighed. “Hang on, I’ll get dressed.” We headed down to the Great Hall, Joanna very drowsily. She’s really not a morning person.
As usual, since it was only 6:30, only a few students were eating. I was usually at breakfast by 5:45 or something, so I was often the only one there. Potter, Black, Remus and Peter were up.
Potter looked very drowsy, and Black had fallen asleep with his face on his plate of scrambled eggs. Peter looked awake, and so did Remus, but he looked ill. I felt like walking over and demanding that he drink some tea and go to bed. He was very pale. Joanna noticed, too. “Remus seems to be sick so often!” She said. “I hope he’s alright!” I nodded.
“I know,” I said. I felt bad, but what could I do?
I tried to talk to Joanna over breakfast, but she just nodded and stared into space. I supposed that I couldn’t make her a morning person. Soon, the Daily Prophet arrived. I shuddered involuntarily when I saw the front page.
“Hey, Joanna?” I said nervously. “Do we know a Richard Robenaugh, Jack Thomas, Mary Stevens, Shawn Peters or Carrie Walters?” The color drained from Joanna’s face.
“Shawn is my older cousin,” she said, her voice steady, but looking very strained. “He’s not in Azkaban or something, is he?”
“Oh Joanna, I’m so sorry,” I said, my voice cracking.
Hard to Find, Difficult to Leave, Impossible to Forget by Chris_04
Chapter Notes: Hey, this is me, Chris again. Can't get rid of me, can you? :) Anyway, I finally got to submitting this again because I forgot to capitalise Muggle last time and it was rejected, and school is starting up soon, so now is better than later. Don't really have a lot else to say, just thank you a million times over to my beta Emily. I'd be so much more confused than I already am without her. Then there's my betta fish Rusty-James, but he doesn't really do a whole lot.
Note to the Mod: Ok, not a lot has happened so far. Lily and her best friend Joanna get to Hogsmeade Station. We met their roomates, Ellie, Joice and Missy and their siblings. James is obnoxious, he asks Lily out after the prefects meeting. They meet the prefects (Two of them, Abby and Andy are important later). Mmm, nothing else happened that I need to say, that I can remember. I have Lily playing Quidditch, and it's not canon that she didn't, so please don't reject this because of that.