”I will take care of myself, Mum. And I am going to write often. I always do,” Lily told her mum while rolling her eyes. Her mother always just had to tell her these things. Always. Her father gave her an apologetic smile.
“Bye, Dad. I’m going to miss you,” she told him before giving him a hug. Then she told her mother that she was going to miss her too, and yes, she was planning on writing letters often, and no, she wouldn’t do anything completely stupid. Then she turned towards Petunia.
“Well… bye, Petunia. I’ll see you at Christmas.”
Petunia nodded shortly. It was obvious that she didn’t want to be there. She still hadn’t forgiven Lily for the incident with the rat. Lily had long since given up on things being like they once were between her and Petunia. Admittedly, they hadn’t ever had a very good relationship, but now they couldn’t even have a normal conversation with each another.
Lily sighed slightly, hugged her parents again, and turned towards the steaming red engine, which had golden letters on it that informed anyone who read it that this was the Hogwarts Express.
She walked a few steps forward with her trunk and Phoenix, then turned and waved goodbye to her family again. Finally, she turned towards the train and began searching for her friends. As she waved hello to many of her fellow students, she passed a group of Slytherins talking quietly with each other. She recognized several of them, amongst them Severus Snape. Lily knew all of them were into Dark magic. She hated the thought of Dark magic. In Lily’s opinion, it was a foul way to use your magic. She passed by the group as quickly as she could. She suspected most of them hated Muggle-borns, which definitely didn’t help her if she ever were to be in a fight with either of them.
She continued searching the train for her friends as well as for an empty compartment. Students all around her were apparently doing the same. Either that or they had already found their friends and were catching up with them. It was extremely difficult to get by them, but she managed by pushing people out of the way and asking them to step aside. Finally, as she stopped to catch her breath, she noticed Arietta. She was sitting in the compartment directly in front of her. There was no one else in there but Arietta, but Lily wasn’t surprised. Arietta scared nearly everyone away with her odd behaviour. Lily was about to open the compartment door, but somebody clapped her on the shoulder before she had time to.
“Lily! It’s so great to see you!” Diana exclaimed. Lily turned and smiled at her friend. Diana was smiling down at her. She had long blond hair and was a good bit taller than Lily was. Then again, Lily wasn’t a particularly tall person. In fact, most people were taller than Lily.
“Hello! Had a good summer?” she asked, as they helped each other shove their trunks away in the compartment. Arietta looked at them struggle with their trunks, apparently only mildly interested, but finally decided to help. Finally, after putting all the trunks away and securing Phoenix safely above their heads, all three of them sat down.
Lily looked at her friends and tried to see if they had changed during the summer. Diana looked like she had before the summer holidays. She seemed as if going back to school was a relief after the disastrous survival trip. Arietta was somewhat tanned but still had her long dark brown plait and brown eyes. They both seemed as if they hadn’t changed one bit since she last saw them.
“So, Di, how was your trip? I mean as a whole,” Lily added, as she had seen that Diana was about to start complaining about the various catastrophes on the vacation.
At this, Diana was silent for a few moments before she shrugged.
“It was alright I guess. Except of course for the facilities,” she rolled her eyes, “they were horrible. And we didn’t even have our own tent with us! Imagine if we had brought our tent. Then we could have cooked in a proper kitchen and slept in a proper bed. Besides that I guess everything else was okay… I mean we went sailing on a lake and climbing in the mountains and such. Although I’d rather have been at home, it didn’t exactly kill me,” she finished.
Lily was deeply surprised. It really wasn’t like Diana to talk like that about something she had clearly disliked. And since when did Diana like sailing on a lake and climbing in the mountains? Maybe she has changed after all, she thought. And she was almost about to make this conclusion. Almost. Then she saw the smile at the corner of Diana’s mouth.
“But it came damn close,” she declared.
All three of them burst out laughing. Nothing has changed, Lily concluded happily. She then turned towards Arietta.
“How come you haven’t answered any of our letters, Arietta?” she demanded. Arietta didn’t even look embarrassed.
“Well,” she began, “you know my father works for the Department of Mysteries.” At this, both Lily and Diana nodded. This was old news. But it still didn’t explain why Arietta hadn’t sent any letters. Arietta opened her mouth to continue her tale, but a warning look from Diana shut her up. The compartment door was opening.
Well, this is just what I need, Lily thought miserably. Finally, Arietta was going to say why she had been silent all summer. And then these people had to come and interrupt their conversation.
She was always annoyed when they entered their compartment. And they did so every year. And Merlin, were they annoying. Their smirks. Their behaviour. Their smirks. The pet rat. Their continued belief that they were superior to the rest of the students. Their pranks. Their smirks.
The Marauders had entered the compartment.
“Black, I thought I made it quite clear last year that we do not appreciate these visits,” Diana moaned. Black looked affronted.
“But we love these visits! It gives us a chance to socialize with our fellow Gryffindors!” he exclaimed.
Lily rolled her eyes. Honestly! When is he going to realise it? We are not friends! Personally, Lily thought that Black was just trying to set some sort of personal record of how many girls he could talk to on the train. She knew for a fact that he had been in at least five compartments full of girls last year. Why she knew it? Because all the girls just had to tell everybody within a ten-foot radius of them that the Marauders had been in their compartment. But why couldn’t they just leave it at that? Why did the stupid, arrogant dung-heads have to enter their compartment as well?
Admittedly, Lupin wasn’t as bad as Black and Potter, but he still let them be arrogant idiots, which made him just as bad as them in Lily’s eyes. And of course Pettigrew wasn’t really an arrogant idiot, but he was just generally annoying and tiring to be around. Lily really didn’t want to be around the Marauders. And especially not on the first day back, when she just needed to talk to her friends and relax.
At the moment, Black was trying to strike up a conversation.
“So what did you do in the summer, Hudgens?” Black asked Diana. Diana did not look pleased that Black had chosen to talk to her.
“Survival trip. You should try it, it really gives you a kick,” she answered, looking as if she’d given up on getting them out of the compartment.
“Survival trip? You? I didn’t know you could even run,” Black uttered, seemingly surprised.
Diana grimaced.
Opposite Diana, Lily was having problems of her own. Luck had it that Potter was forced down the seat next to her when the boys entered the compartment. It was hard to tell who was most upset by this, Lily or Potter. They had so far managed to ignore each other, but as Pettigrew was having problems controlling his rat, which kept running over in Lily’s direction, he had to continually reach across Potter and take it back, since he was sitting on Potter’s other side. Lily was also trying to ignore the fact that both the disgusting rat and Pettigrew’s even more disgusting hands were regularly frighteningly close to her thighs. Potter also seemed annoyed that Pettigrew kept reaching over him. It seemed that now it was finally becoming too much for him.
“Peter, could you just try to control the rat?” he blurted. Pettigrew looked embarrassed.
“Sorry, James, but Dash just doesn’t want to stay here!”
“Then hold him or something,” Potter persisted. Pettigrew ears turned red, but he nodded and kept hold of the rat.
At the window seats, Arietta and Lupin were actually having a civil conversation.
“So you are a prefect? Congratulations,” Arietta was saying as Lily looked over at them. Lily couldn’t help but let out a relieved sigh. Out of the six fifth-year boys in Gryffindor, Lily would by far choose Lupin as her fellow prefect. She decided to tell him that she was a prefect as well and raised her voice so he could hear her.
“Hey, Lupin! I’m a prefect too,” she managed to say before feeling something crawling around on her thighs. With a disgusted shriek she jumped up and saw Dash flying in the air as well. Remembering the catastrophe over breakfast, she managed to catch him before he could fly into anyone’s faces. This little creature was the main reason she hated rats. He always seemed to run directly towards her whenever she was close enough. Disgusted, she half threw him back to his owner.
“Pettigrew, please! Can’t you just keep him in your hands? Is that really so hard?” she almost yelled at him. The rat and Pettigrew’s disgusting hands that kept following the rat and end up at her legs were making her slightly hysterical by now.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” he cried. His whole face was red now. Black, foreseeing an argument, jumped to the rescue.
“Okay, Evans, just relax and sit down. Peter, control Dash,” he started and then continued with some small talk: “Had a nice summer, Evans?”
Lily rolled her eyes. These annoying visits by the marauders were always so tiring. She decided to just tell them exactly how her summer had been and see how they would respond to that.
“Actually, Black, I didn’t have a particularly nice summer. My sister was a pestilence, my annoying cousin came over for a visit, I had to spend an entire evening listening to my sister’s boyfriend’s crap and I got a warning letter from the Ministry. In fact, one of the only good things that happened was that I got a prefect’s badge with my Hogwarts letter,” she said.
All previous talk in the compartment had disappeared and left all six people gaping at her.
“What did you get a warning letter for?” Potter asked interested.
“Transfiguring a mug into a rat. I didn’t do it on purpose!” she declared, as he and Black began howling with laughter. “What’s so funny?” she asked, annoyed.
Finally, both Potter and Black had enough control over their laughter to answer.
“It’s just you… Transfiguring a mug… into a rat,” Black managed to say before breaking down in laughter again. This statement explained nothing whatsoever to Lily, and she looked at her friends for an answer. That didn’t help her, as Diana looked just as puzzled as herself and Arietta had an expression that clearly said she didn’t know what they were laughing about.
“What did the letter say?” Arietta asked.
“It was just a warning that if I ever did magic again before I’m of age, I’ll be expelled,” she shrugged. She didn’t think it such a big deal as she had, at the time, expected to be expelled. Arietta simply nodded as a reply. Apparently, she didn’t think it such a big deal either. Diana, on the other hand, looked shocked at the news.
“But why did you transfigure it in the first place? What provoked you to do it?” she asked, still looking shocked that a warning letter had found it’s way to Lily’s hands.
“Later,” Lily whispered and nodded in the direction of Potter and Black. They were, apparently, nearly done laughing, and Lily didn’t feel up to telling her friends of Petunia’s behaviour with the Marauders there as well.
“So, Black, since you are so kind to ask us how our summer has been, I might as well return the gesture. How was your summer?” Diana asked him, clearly indicating that the conversation had now moved away from Lily.
To Lily’s surprise, Black’s expression was, for a fraction of a second, a gloomy one. It seemed as if they might as well have asked him what his recent stay in Azkaban was like, so dark was the expression that seemed to control his face. But it was only for a fraction of a second; then it seemed as if he had gotten control over his emotions once more. He grinned and shrugged.
“Oh, you know… a little boring but else way fine. I was at James’s house for some time though, and that was great!” he said, his eyes brightening as he mentioned his time at Potter’s house. Potter grinned back in reply, Lily noticed, and then Potter obviously wanted to steer the conversation away from his friend as Diana had done for Lily. It was, yet again, the topic of the summer that controlled the conversation, as Potter asked Lupin what he had done in his vacation.
“I’ve actually been on a trip to France,” he said. As the Marauders asked him how that had been and also discussed Pettigrew’s vacation to Italy, Lily tried to silently communicate a message to Diana and Arietta. They both had an expression that said they agreed completely. The Marauders were getting too bothersome. They had to leave. Now. The question was how.
Lupin nudged Arietta’s arm. She looked up, startled to find all of the Marauders looking at her.
“What?” she asked bewildered. Black rolled his eyes.
“I asked how your summer was like?” he said. There was silence for a few moments as everybody looked at Arietta. Her expression was emotionless.
“If I told you, I would have to kill you,” she said quietly. The boys all looked shocked for a second, and then all four of them began laughing. Lily and Diana looked at them with a slight smile; it was only a matter of time before they realised that Arietta was quite serious.
After a minute of laughing, the thought that Arietta was not joking seemed to settle itself in the boys’ heads, and the initial look of shock reappeared on their faces. Then half a minute in complete silence passed.
“Well, we’ve got to get going. Nice catching up with you. Sirius, Remus, Peter…” Potter said, nodding towards the door. They all nodded and hurried out of the compartment, apparently as fast as they could without seeming terrified.
After the door had closed, all three of the girls sighed heavily.
“Well that got rid of them. Good job, Arietta,” Diana said, a relieved expression on her face. Arietta smiled.
“Yeah well, I would have to kill them you know… or at least put a Memory Charm on them… they don’t know my father works for the Department of Mysteries, and I could under no circumstances tell them where I’ve been since it has to do with his job,” she clarified.
Lily understood now. This was probably the reason Arietta hadn’t written any letters to them!
“Do tell,” Diana urged her, her face brightening at the thought of finally getting an answer out of Arietta.
“I will, but not now,” Arietta said.
“Why not?” Lily asked, slightly irritated. She had looked forward to getting some answers.
But as Arietta was about to reply, Lily, who had been listening intently to the conversation, jumped, for the second time that day, up from her seat, shrieking.
“What the…?” she said, looking around. Something had crawled around on her arm!
“Two reasons. I have to go pay the Marauders a little visit, and you have to go to the prefects’ meeting,” Arietta said, crawling around on the floor.
“Why do you have to visit the Marauders?” Diana asked, annoyed. She would be left all alone in the compartment if both Arietta and Lily left, and that was boring. And if there was one thing Diana hated, it was to be bored.
Arietta got up from the floor with an animal in her hand. As she opened the compartment door, she called over her shoulder:
“I think Dash here should return to his rightful owner…”
Meanwhile, Lily had clapped a hand to her face. The prefects’ meeting!
“Oh no, I must be like ten minutes late or something,” she said, horrified. She opened the door and slammed it behind her, running in the opposite direction than Arietta had walked.
Panting, she reached the door at the prefects’ compartment. She could hear voices. The meeting had started, and she was late. This is so embarrassing! Lily thought. She was just about to knock and enter, but then Lupin appeared at her side. He was late too!
Feeling slightly better that she wasn’t the only one late for the meeting, Lily knocked on the door and entered, Lupin right behind her.
“I’m so sorry I’m late, I completely forgot,” she said, as all the people in the compartment turned their heads towards her and Lupin. Two people, a boy and a girl, seemed to be giving out instructions.
“That’s alright, we only just started the meeting three minutes ago. You’ve only missed the introduction. I’m Elisabeth Clearwater, I’m the Head Girl, and this is,” she managed to say before the boy next to her interrupted her.
“Joey Anderson, and I am the Head Boy. We were just passing out the passwords to the common rooms. Which house are you in?” he asked, holding some papers in his left hand.
“Gryffindor,” Lupin answered before Lily had time to say anything.
“Both of you?” Elisabeth asked. They nodded.
“Alright, here are the passwords. Make sure you dispose of the papers after you have memorized them and make sure no one from the other houses know your password,” Joey said. They nodded again and each took one of the two papers he was holding out. They then went to stand by all the other prefects and the meeting continued. They were informed of the prefects’ duty to control the train corridors and their responsibility to make sure all the first-years got to the common room all right. They were informed of their duty to report rule-breakers and told that they could use the prefects’ bathroom any time they wanted.
While they were told all this, Lily listened intently. She was determined to do her best as a Gryffindor prefect. Soon the meeting was over, and Lily found herself patrolling the train corridors with Lupin. After half an hour, where the most exciting thing that happened was that a first-year asked them where the toilet was, Lily returned to her friends. She was eager to listen to what Arietta had to say.
“So it all comes down to this then,” Diana said, as Arietta had finished explaining where she had been in the summer, “you went to Australia with your family because your father was sent on a mission there, and you couldn’t send any letters because nobody were allowed to know where you were?”
“That is correct.”
“But why couldn’t you just write that you weren’t allowed to tell us anything?” Lily asked. This explanation was not satisfying in her opinion.
“Because my father and his boss said I couldn’t. Look Lily, I actually don’t know anything more about it than what I have told you already,” she said.
After questioning Arietta about how the vacation had actually been, Lily and Diana finally dropped the subject.
Two hours later they were playing a Muggle cards game Lily had taught her friends in their second year and eating their fair share of candy from the food trolley. Another two hours later all three of them were simply staring out of the window; it had begun raining. The rain was obscuring their view; they could see practically nothing, but nonetheless Lily found it oddly peaceful just looking at the rain.
She found it less peaceful as she was soaking wet and running towards the safety of the castle. As she sat down at the Gryffindor table, she was thankful that the feast would start immediately after the Sorting. She was extremely hungry. To her horror, the Marauders chose to sit very near them, but she didn’t have time to ask them to move because the first-years were lead into the Great Hall at the same time she opened her mouth to ask Black to move his ass a few seats away from her. This, to her great disappointment, forced her to accept the marauders sitting where they sat. She then focused all her attention towards the first-years, who, all looking as though they had been swimming in the lake, were now being sorted into houses. Quite a few Slytherins had been sorted, but Rawenclaw and Hufflepuff had taken their share of students as well. It wasn’t until Fowl, Chloe put the Sorting Hat on her head that it shouted “GRYFFINDOR!” Chloe made her way to the Gryffindor table as all the Gryffindors erupted into cheers. After Chloe, another student was sorted into Slytherin, but the next two students, a boy and a girl, were both sorted into Gryffindor. Then another Rawenclaw and then Diana shoved her elbow in Lily’s side.
“Hudgens, Charlie,” Professor McGonagall called.
“There’s my brother!” Diana whispered excitedly. Lily recognized him now; he was the boy with blond hair and blue eyes. Interested, she watched him put on the Sorting Hat and wait. Five seconds passed. Then the hat shouted “GRYFFINDOR” and he hurried down to the Gryffindor table while Lily and her friends cheered for him. As he joined the other first-year Gryffindors, Lily noticed him give the thumps-up to Diana who returned it.
When the Sorting was finally over, Professor Dumbledore urged everyone to eat, and so they began shovelling food in their mouths. Lily had forgotten how good the welcoming feasts at Hogwarts were. And the desserts! As she was eating second helpings, Lupin addressed her to remind her that they had to lead the first-years to the common room.
As Lily later lay in her bed about to fall asleep, she was surprised of how much it was raining by now; she could easily make out the noise the rain made, and it was a comfortable feeling falling asleep to the peaceful drumming of the rain on the window.
Forbidden Forest? Who Said Forbidden? by Rikku
Chapter Notes: Sorry it has taken so long to get this chapter up. I will try to post quicker next time, I promise! Enjoy..