Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and events from J.K. Rowling's wonderful Harry Potter books. I am writing this for my own enjoyment and hopefully for the enjoyment of readers. Anything you recognize belongs to JKR. The rest belongs to me.
Chapter 6: The Proposal
"So James, when are you going to pop the question?" asked Sirius with a twinkle in his eyes. They had been on the train for about an hour at this point.
James turned to Sirius with a confused look. "What are you talking about?"
"The big question," started Sirius. Suddenly he knelt down on one knee, grabbed James' left hand, and started fluttering his eyelashes. In his girliest voice he said, "Oh Lily, my one and only true love, please do me the honor of marrying me."
Just as he said the last part, the door to the compartment opened and a petite girl with long brown hair and chocolate eyes gaped at the sight before her - Sirius on bended knee asking for James' hand in marriage. James' eyes were wide with shock and embarrassment.
Sirius, hearing the door open turned toward the girl and froze, still holding James' hand. Before he had a chance to respond, the girl hurriedly said, "Oh! I am so sorry for interrupting! I will, uh, just, erm, find another compartment. You two, erm…continuing doing, uh, whatever it was you were, uh, doing."
As she closed the door in a hurry to leave, Sirius shouted after her, "It's not what you think!" Peter was sitting across from them sniggering.
James yanked his hand away from Sirius and wiped it on his shirt. "Good going Sirius! First day to Hogwarts and look at what people will think!" he yelled.
"Oh, calm down already! I was just joking around. And, besides, who would doubt that I am a ladies man?" Sirius replied with a winning smile. James rolled his eyes and smirked.
"Now, back to the subject from before," started Sirius.
"What, your proposing to me?" James asked sarcastically.
It was Sirius' turn to roll his eyes. "NO, you prat. Lily! It's obvious how much you like her."
James thought back to Platform 9 ¾ when Lily had hugged Sirius. "How long have you known her? I mean…are you two…well that is to say, are you two, erm-"
"Boyfriend and girlfriend?" finished Sirius. James stared at his shoes and nodded. "Nah, I only met her yesterday." James looked back up at Sirius and started to smile. Sirius explained, "I found her lost in Knockturn Alley, being chased after and hexed at by that idiot, Malfoy. I knocked him around a bit and helped her find Diagon Alley."
James frowned and felt anger bubbling up inside him. "Malfoy? Related to Lex Malfoy?" Sirius nodded. "That blond boy that almost looks like an albino?" Again, Sirius nodded as he noticed James' fists clenching and unclenching. "Was she hurt?" James tensely asked.
"No, she was a little shaken up at being attacked but she recovered quickly. She was very relieved to find Diagon Alley and soon was taken with all the magic in the shops. She comes from a Muggle family, you see," answered Sirius.
"I thought as much," replied James, a smile forming from the memory of Lily's laughter at the book biting incident. As soon as James had seen her enter the book store, the sunlight dancing off her hair from the doorway like a halo on an angel, he couldn't help but watch her. She had seemed so taken by everything in the store. It was as if he was looking at everything magical in the store for the first time through her eyes. And her eyes…he had gotten a shock when she caught him gazing at her through the bookshelf. When she gazed back at him he felt as if a hundred Golden Snitches had been released in his stomach, fluttering about. He had never seen eyes like hers - so green and brilliant. As James was ready to delve more into his first memory of Lily Evans, he saw Sirius' hand waving in his face.
"Oy! James!" said Sirius. His stomach growled. "I think it's time to scavenge for food. You coming?" James thought for a split second before nodding.
As they were on their way out the door they noticed Peter staring at them with anticipation. Sirius and James looked at each other and then asked if he wanted to tag along. Peter scurried out of his seat and eagerly followed them out of the compartment to find the lady with the food cart.
The food cart had already passed by Lily and Alice's compartment. They had been enjoying their time on the train getting to know each other while Lily learned the hard way not to eat the Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans that were brown with pink flecks. The one she munched on had tasted suspiciously like vomit.
Lily learned that Alice was from a wizarding family that lived outside of London. Alice spent quite a while explaining what Quidditch was to Lily. She explained how her mum had been on the Gryffindor team and for a few years after graduation had played for the Wimbourne Wasps, a professional team. While Lily was fascinated by the magical aspect of the sport she did not usually follow sports. She preferred to spend her time reading.
After a few minutes of lull in the conversation Alice turned to Lily and asked, "Who were those boys who helped you with your things?"
"I met them yesterday in Diagon Alley." Lily told Alice about her scare in Knockturn Alley and how Sirius had helped her get away from Malfoy and find her way to Diagon Alley.
Alice did not appear shocked by the story, just upset that Lily was attacked. "My dad is on the board of the governors for the school with Malfoy's dad. Dad warned me that there would be prats like that coming to Hogwarts. Lucius Malfoy, that's the boy who attacked you, can get away with a lot of things because his dad's one of the governors. Lex Malfoy is a very powerful, that is rich, wizard and he bullies the rest of the governors into voting his way. My dad has been able to stand up to him. That is why Muggleborn witches and wizards are still being accepted at Hogwarts. If Lex Malfoy had his way this school would be full of Pureblooded wizards."
"That's horrible," cried Lily. "I can't help that I am from a Muggle family, yet I still possess magic. Am I just supposed to not learn to use it?"
Alice looked at Lily with understanding and said, "Don't worry, even if Lex bullied the governors there'd still be Headmaster Dumbledore to deal with and he is quite a force to be reckoned with." There was a bit of a silence and then Alice asked Lily about the other boy.
"I don't know much about him. His last name is Potter." Lily told her about seeing him in the bookstore and his lack of conversation. Alice chuckled as Lily mentioned how strange he acted on Platform 9 ¾. "I swear that boy doesn't know how to speak! It's so odd." She gave up trying to figure Potter out. Instead, Lily started wondering about Dumbledore as well as what types of classes and professors she would have "What's going to happen when we get to Hogwarts?" she asked Alice.
"From what I hear there will be a welcoming feast but not before the first years are sorted into houses," replied Alice.
"Houses?" Lily wondered out loud.
"Yes, there are four houses and each student gets sorted into one house. That student remains in the same house all seven years and lives in the house dormitory, shares the same common room, eats meals at the same table, and all that. Each house has a Quidditch team, too."
"How do you know which house you are in?" Lily questioned.
"The sorting ceremony- I am not sure what we have to do however tonight we will have to do something to get sorted into one of the houses, either Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, or Slytherin."
Another girl in the compartment who had been reading a magazine, stopped and turned to them. "I heard you have to perform magic. My older brother told me we have to levitate one of the house tables twenty feet off the floor!"
Lily looked very nervous at that. "I really hope they don't want us to do anything complicated. I only just got my wand and don't know ANY spells."
Alice shrugged it off. "I don't think it will be too hard. I just don't want to end up in Slytherin. They tend to house the Pureblooded fanatics. No one really likes them outside of their own house."
The other girl looked doubtful but then smiled and said, "I don't think I introduced myself yet. My name is Dorcas Meadowes." Lily and Alice smiled back and introduced themselves. Dorcas was average height with short curly brown hair and kind blue eyes. She had a round face and was a tad plump.
All three girls turned to the last passenger in their compartment. She was tall and had silvery blonde hair that tumbled down her back. Her sapphire eyes were focused on a Muggle crossword puzzle. Sensing the sudden silence she looked up and saw three sets of eyes on her. "I'm sorry, were you saying something to me?" she asked.
"Oh no, not exactly. We were just introducing ourselves to each other," replied Dorcas.
The blonde girl gave a small smile and introduced herself as Emmeline Vance. She, like Lily, was Muggleborn and actually only lived a few towns away from Lily. A wizard had come to her house like Mr. McMillan had for Lily. It had taken a lot more convincing for her parents to believe that Emm was a witch than it had for Lily's parents. Her father had sarcastically asked if the wizard knew any 'hocus pocus'. The wizard then brought out his wand, muttered 'hocus pocus' and her father fell on the floor laughing feeling like hundreds of fingers were poking him in the sides, tickling him.
Alice and Dorcas, being from wizarding families, spent some time asking Emm and Lily about the Muggle world. Emm and Lily couldn't help but giggle about the other girls' ignorance about Muggle things such as malls and televisions. That made them feel better about their lack of knowledge about the wizarding world.
Just then the door to the compartment opened and a girl strode in looking exasperated. She had an odd expression on her face.
Alice perked up and said, "Marlene? Is that you? I haven't seen you in, what, at least 3 or 4 years?" The girl smiled and gave Alice a hug. Alice turned to the others and explained. "This is Marlene McKinnon. Our family used to holiday in Scotland every summer and we would stay at a resort owned by her family." Alice noticed the odd look on Marlene's face and asked her if something was wrong.
"Not wrong, really. It's just that I have been trying to find a decent compartment to sit in. Most have older students and are full. A few of them smelled funny so I just walked on by, and there was one with some arrogant looking older boys picking on a boy with greasy hair. That was not the clincher though. This last one I walked into was the clincher. I opened the door and saw one boy on bended knee professing his love to another and proposing marriage. The looks on their faces when I walked in were priceless!"
Everyone in the compartment giggled. "Do you have any idea who they were?" asked Alice.
"I'm not sure. Not bad looking, though. Shame if they don't really fancy ladies, eh? The one on his knee is quite the hottie- long dark hair and dark eyes. The other had the messiest black hair I have ever seen on a boy," replied Marlene.
Alice and Lily looked at each other. Messy black hair? She couldn't be speaking about Potter and Sirius, could she? And only a little while ago Alice had a feeling Potter probably fancied Lily, at least from the way Lily described his behavior.
Marlene spotted some chocolate frog wrappers and her stomach growled. "Oh, darn! I missed the food lady. Do you guys know which direction she went in?"
Alice got up and told her that she would help her find her. She wanted to stretch her legs, anyway. Lily volunteered to go with them as well, hoping to find something to drink. She still had the faint taste of vomit in her mouth from that one jelly bean…
Thanks to my latest reviewers - I made replies to some of your comments. I love getting reviews and I am glad to have so much encouragement, but please - if you have something to criticize - be constructive, not rude.
Next chapter: Sirius and James get into another awkward moment in front of the girls. (If you want to see it then review!)