Chapter Three: Kneazles Are Sensitive
The scarlet engine of the Hogwarts Express puffed smoke out over the platform. “Bye, Mum. Love you, Dad. Don’t miss me too much,” Lily said with a little smile on her face.
“Now, that’s impossible, Lily,” her father replied. “Have fun at your new school, lovely flower.”
“Don’t forget to write, darling,” her mother added. “We’ll think of you every day.”
One last hug and kiss, and Tami was pulling Lily towards the train. Pushing their trunks before them, they stepped off the platform and onto the train. They waved goodbye as the train began to move, till it went around a bend and the people on the platform disappeared.
Lily and Tami were still standing in the corridor. In keeping with her impatient nature, Lily nudged Tami with her elbow. “We’d better find ourselves a compartment.” They began walking down the corridor, glancing into compartments as they passed them.
“Not this one, there’s a prefect meeting going on inside...see their badges?”
“Oohh, looks like somebody’s ink bottle smashed in this one. I wonder if it stains permanently.”
“That one’s full...Merlin, they’re huge. Must be seventh years.”
In every compartment, people were beginning to settle in, taking out food, quill and parchment, things to read or games. “Hey,” Lily said. “Doesn’t that animal look familiar?” She inclined her head towards the next compartment.
“Merlin, yeah! It’s the kneazle from the pet shop. Now we know there’s at least one first year in there...let’s see if there’s room for us.”
Lily slid open the compartment door and they stepped inside. “Hello...any room in here?”
A boy with thin dirty-blond hair and bangs looked up from the crossword puzzle he was doing in the Daily Prophet. “Looks like it,” he said ruefully, gesturing at the five seats left, one of which was occupied by the kneazle.
Tami and Lily heaved their trunks onto the overhead rack, panting slightly with the effort, and sat down next to the kneazle and across from the boy. The kneazle instantly jumped onto Lily’s lap, purring. Lily petted her gently. “What was her name again?”
“Her name’s Tiger.” The boy with the messy black hair stood in the doorway, looking curiously at Lily. “How’d you get her to come to you?”
“I didn’t. She sort of just...jumped onto me.” said Lily.
“Oh. Hey, didn’t I meet you two in Diagon Alley?”
“Yeah, that’s us.”
The boy took the seat next to Tami.
“What was your name again?” Lily asked.
“Potter.” He opened a bag of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans. Biting into a green one, he made a face and spit it out into his hand.
“Ew! That’s disgusting-did you have to do that?” Tami yelled, sliding as far away from him and his spitty hand as she could--which wasn’t much.
The blonde boy glanced up. “You didn’t expect him to actually eat the nasty thing, did you?”
“Merlin, yeah! Better than spitting it out!”
The blonde shook his head. “Girls,” he muttered, and went back to his crossword.
James shrugged, then fished around in the bag and took out a red bean. Popping it into his mouth, he chewed experimentally for a few seconds, then swallowed. “Not bad. Cough potion.”
“Yuck.” Lily made a face. She reached up and took a bag of oatmeal cookies out of her trunk. "Now these are good."
“What kind are those?” James asked interestedly.
“Oatmeal. They’re homemade.”
“Hey, that’s cool...I’ve got pumpkin. Wanna trade?”
“Well...you can have a cookie, but I’m not touching anything from your spitty hands.”
“Ew. Neither am I,” Tami added.
James narrowed his eyes in annoyance. “You know what? I don’t think I want your cookie.”
“Suit yourself,” she answered drily. She had always enjoyed irritating the boys at her old muggle school, particularly because they were always looking for ways to annoy her. Which had never been too easy for them, she recalled, smiling slightly.
Tami made a point of turning her back to him and engaging Lily in conversation, sharing the oatmeal cookies between them. James looked the other way and tried to pretend like he didn’t notice, or care, that the girls were ignoring him.
Lily and Tami saw right through this act, but didn’t remark on it. Lily glanced over at him occasionally, but only when he wasn’t looking, of course. She began to feel just a bit sorry about the way they had treated him. Granted, what he did was gross, but maybe they had overreacted just a bit...
After ten excruciatingly long minutes for James, during which Tiger still sat on Lily’s lap, purring comfortably, and he felt he would die of boredom, the door slid open. James looked up and saw a short boy with long, straight, black hair.
“Hey,” the boy said. “Don’t suppose I could sit here?”
“Why not?” James asked. Finally, a distraction from those two irritating girls.
“Got thrown out of the other compartment I tried.”
“Why’s that?” James asked curiously.
“Ah. Now there’s a good question.”
Lily and Tami looked up, curious.
“Did you do something against the rules?” The blond boy asked.
“What rules?” Lily and James asked simultaneously. Lily grinned. Maybe this Potter boy wasn’t so bad, after all.
The blond boy’s face turned slightly pink as he bent once more over his newspaper. Great job, he thought disgustedly. That was definitely the right thing to say.
“We haven’t been told any rules yet, so how could we break them?” James demanded, with a side glance at Lily.
“Good point, that.” The black-haired boy nodded. “Tell it to the prefects.” He threw himself into the seat next to the blonde boy. “I’m starving. Anybody with food feeling generous?”
“Want an oatmeal cookie?” Lily offered.
“Nah, I can’t stand oatmeal. Used to have to eat it every morning, cold, till I began making my own breakfasts.”
“You make your own breakfasts?” James looked amazed.
“What’s the big deal?” Lily said haughtily. “So do I.”
“Oh, come off it, Lily, the only thing you know how to make are eggs,” Tami said, laughing. “And why are you acting all stuck-up about it?” she whispered in Lily’s ear.
James and the black-haired boy laughed in a friendly way. Though they hadn't heard Tami's whisper, Lily flushed. “Thanks a lot, Tami.” She said, shooting Tami a dirty look. Hardly anybody but Tami could insult her like that, and get away with it. Maybe that was because somewhere, buried deep in Lily’s subconscious, she knew that she needed to be criticized sometimes, and was grateful for it...or maybe it was just because of the loving way Tami said it, almost as if it weren’t an insult. Whatever the reason, Lily didn’t mind Tami criticizing her, as long as it didn’t happen too often. But in public...that was too much.
“Oh, come on now, don’t go and get all insulted,” the black-haired boy said. “The only thing I know how to make is toast. And I burned it this morning.”
Lily smiled reluctantly, feeling slightly better.
“So, anybody got any food?” The boy asked.
“How about a pumpkin cookie?” Asked James.
“You’ve got pumpkin cookies? You serious?”
James nodded.
“No, wait. You can’t be Sirius!”
“Why not?” James asked, taking out a cookie as proof.
“Because I’m Sirius. Sirius Black.” He paused, suddenly doubtful. “Unless you’re named Sirius, too?”
Lily quirked an eyebrow at Tami, who rolled her eyes.
“No...I’m James Potter.”
“Well, good to meet you James, and all the rest of that rubbish our parents brainwashed us to say.” Ignoring the girls’ disapproving expressions, he took the cookie James held out and stuffed it into his mouth. “Yum. They’re homemade, aren’t they?” he asked through a mouthful of cookie, spraying crumbs everywhere.
“Yes.” James made a face at the two girls, who had moved to the farthest possible side of the compartment, with disgusted looks on their faces. “See, he likes them!”
“Why, wasn’t I supposed to? Did you just poison me or something, mate?”
James liked the easy way Sirius used the word 'mate'. “Nah, I ate one too, I swear. Have another.” James got up and sat himself next to Sirius, extending the bag of pumpkin cookies and taking one himself.
Tiger raised her head and meowed softly, and James threw her a cookie. "Though you're a traitor," he muttered. She caught it in her mouth and ate it slowly, blinking innocently at him and dropping crumbs on Lily’s lap.
“Well, the girls haven’t introduced themselves, have they? Tut, tut. Where are your manners?” Sirius asked, smirking slightly.
“I’m Lily Evans.” She said this cooly, and raised an eyebrow. Evidently, she didn’t think too much of Sirius’ manners.
“And I’m Tami Lorens. You’ve got crumbs on your shirt.”
“Fancy that. I’ve always wanted that to happen,” he said.
“Why, haven’t you ever eaten a cookie before?” Lily asked sarcastically.
“No.” He stared at her unwaveringly. “I haven’t.”
Lily raised her eyebrows, wondering what he meant. Was it possible he’d really never eaten a cookie? Preposterous.
“So, James...have you tried out your wand yet?” Sirius asked, cramming another cookie into his mouth.
“Yeah. Didn’t get anything but sparks, though. How about you?”
“Oh, I got more than sparks, mate, much more.”
“What did you get?”
“Flames. I snuck into the rule-kissing prefects’ meeting up in front of the train and set their trunks on fire.”
“You what? How did you do that?” Lily asked, a reluctant smile creeping onto her face.
“Simple matter of knowing the right words.” Sirius winked.
James grinned. Sirius was definitely his kind of guy. He began telling Sirius about some of his summer escapades. When he got to the dishes-that-turned-into-rabbits story, Sirius had tears of laughter in his eyes.
“Ha! Merlin, that’s a good one. I’ll have to try that one on my mum sometime.”
James glanced over at Tami and Lily, who were ignoring the boys again. They were discussing, of all things, shoes. ““I mean, I like buying shoes, but I’m not obsessed with them the way some teenagers are. I wonder if we’ll be like that someday?”
“Yeah, I have two favorite pairs of shoes, but I have this teenage cousin-remember Martha? She has twenty-seven favorite pairs. And she has another thirty pairs just sitting and molding in the closet.”
“Do shoes mold?” James muttered to Sirius.
Sirius snickered. “I wouldn’t ask if I were you.”
“...you’re wearing pretty shoes, you make a good impression on--”
“Speaking of shoes...” The blonde boy glanced up. “I can’t figure out this crossword hint. It says, ‘In the Muggle story of Cinderella, what were the main character’s shoes made of?’”
“That’s an easy one.” Lily said. “Glass.”
“Glass?” He repeated incredulously. “No wonder I couldn’t figure it out. What kind of person would wear glass shoes?”
“It’s a fairy tale.” Lily retorted. “Er-that means it’s a made-up story. So not everything has to be realistic.”
“Oh. It’s odd, though. Thanks for the answer.” And he bent once more over his newspaper.
Lily stared at him absently for a few seconds, then turned to Tami. “Actually, with magic, glass slippers probably could exist. They’d be unbreakable, and have a cushioning charm...”
Sirius stood up and stretched. “Looks like that’s going to keep them busy for a while,” he said to James. “Let’s go ‘explore the train.'” Sirius winked, taking out a little wooden box with holes drilled in it.
James stood and cleared his throat. “Er...excuse me, Evans; can I have my kneazle back?”
“Gladly. Sorry, but I never asked her to come to me in the first place, I dunno why she“Ow!” Lily exclaimed, as Tiger dug her sharp claws into Lily’s thigh. “What was that for?”
James shrugged. “It's never a good idea to insult Tiger. Let’s go, girl.” Tiger leaped lightly off Lily’s lap and followed James and Sirius out of the compartment.
“Well, that was rude,” Lily remarked, raising an eyebrow.
“Hey, no fair,” the blonde boy said. “It’s his kneazle, after all, and you did insult it.”
“Lily gaped at him. “I don’t believe you’ve introduced yourself?” She said stiffly.
“Remus Lupin. And I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you mad, I just--”
“That’s okay. Maybe“maybe you’re right.” She turned to Tami. “I guess we should apologize to Potter,” she said seriously. “We haven’t been too nice to him.”
Smiling slightly, Remus leaned once more over his crossword puzzle. Five minutes later, the door banged open and James and Sirius burst inside. “That was brilliant! Did you see the look on that short girl’s face?”
“Okay, boys; do we even want to know what you just did?” Tami asked, knitting her eyebrows.
“I thought you weren’t talking to me?”
“Oh, that. Er“we’re sorry.” Lily looked sideways at Tami.
“We“er“we started that argument, and...”
James looked surprised. Then he grinned. “That’s okay.” The look on his face, however, seemed to indicate that it was more than just ‘okay.’
“So...what did you do?” Lily asked.
“Ah.” James and Sirius looked at each other and smirked. “Well, we sneaked into a compartment of third years...” James paused dramatically, “...and released these!”
Four tiny green frogs jumped out of a box Sirius was holding. The boys were expecting the half-shriek that came out of Lily’s mouth, but not the words that followed. “Oh, they’re so cute!” And she knelt and cupped one in her hand. “Oohh...it’s so tiny, so...alive. I love baby frogs.”
Lily looked up at the boys’ astonished faces and then caught Tami’s eye. The two girls burst out laughing. “Merlin! Dear, sweet Merlin,” Tami gasped. “Were we supposed to be afraid of them?” And she erupted into laughter again.
“Well, yeah,” James said, bemused. “Or at least disgusted. The third years were.”
“Goodness,” Lily said, giggling after every few words. “To think that...hee, hee, hee...I would be afraid of a frog...ha, ha, hee...I bring at least ten of them home every summer!” Lily was laughing so hard, tears were leaking out of the corners of her eyes.
James looked impressed; Sirius, annoyed. “Merlin, I don’t see what’s so funny,” Sirius said sulkily.
“Sorry,” Lily said, still laughing. “But you were going to prank us and then laugh at our expense, so it’s only fair that we’re laughing at you instead.”
Sirius groaned. “Hey, you!” He said, addressing Remus. “Maybe you could support us here? I mean, we’ll be three against two! You’ll raise the stakes in our favor.”
Remus looked at once hopeful and wary. “What exactly do you want me to do?”
Lily thought he looked a bit uncomfortable, as though he were unsure of the ground he was treading.
“Never mind.” Sirius sighed. “Go back to your crossword.”
As Sirius knelt to collect the frogs, Lily thought she detected a hurt look in Remus’ eyes. For the smallest part of a second, he had a wounded, defeated look on his face, then it was replaced by a carefully closed expression. Was she the only one who had noticed?
A/N:
Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
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