Lily and James' Prophecy

Chapter 3 - Across the Lake

Violet turned her head and took a gasp herself. Hogwarts had always held a special place in her imagination, never seeing the actual structure but only hearing about it from her parents. But the real thing did not even compare to what her imagination had shown her. The turrets were endless and the building itself seemed to vanish against the deep navy blue sky littered with thousands of stars. Lights could be seen coming from some windows and the structure itself rose high above the ground, stationed at a point on top a hillside, looking ominously down at the lake with which there was said to be a number of fascinating creatures and even a giant quid.

Violet tried to take it all in with one glance, but could not and kept staring for some time until she turned to look at Lily. Lily's emerald eyes were glassy and her mouth was slightly open as she looked and Violet could distinctly see the reflection of all the lights in her eyes.

"Lil? You here," she said waving a hand in front of her face.

"Yeah... I'm here. It's magnificent isn't it?" she asked breathlessly.

"Yes... it is," smiled Violet. "Well come on, lets get our robes on!"

As they put their robes on over their sweatpants and tank tops the train started to slow.

"This is it," smiled Lily at Violet.

"Yeah... this... this is it," said Violet uneasily. A thought had just occurred to her. What if she wasn't accepted in Slytherin? What would her mother and father say? She sighed and then smiled to make Lily feel comfortable.

"How are you put into Houses, though?" asked Lily thoughtfully.

"Well... there's some sort of test. But dad wouldn't tell me... so we'll have to wait and see."

Lily nodded as they got their trunks but then heard a booming voice from outside, "LEAVE ALL TRUNKS AND PETS ON THE TRAIN."

"Oh well," shrugged Violet dropping her trunk and looked at Lily. "Let's go."

Lily just nodded. She seemed to have lost both her colour and her voice. Violet put her arm around Lily's. "It's ok, nothing to worry about. We have each other, right?" Again Lily nodded and the girls started out into the dense platform.

"Don't lose me," screamed Violet over all the noise.

"Ok!" she heard Lily squeak.

"THIS WAY FIRST-YEARS!" said the same booming voice. Violet and Lily both looked up and saw a man... except he wasn't a man. He was covered in hair and his long arms looked very out of place.

"Who the heck is that?" asked Lily, looking terrified of the man.

"No effing clue..." replied Violet as she practically dragged Lily towards the man. As all the first-years gathered round, Violet spotted the same black-haired boy from the train. She nudged Lily lightly and pointed him out, "Look, your boyfriend," she smirked.

"Oh, shut up," said Lily softly as the noise died down as the other students went off some other way.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. I am the gamekeeper, Ogg and I shall take the pleasure of taking you all across the lake. As you can see there's a slight drizzle, so stay close and follow my instructions." He finished on a tone of finality and Violet raised an eyebrow. Even when he wasn't shouting his voice was still strong and deep.

"Gamekeeper?" asked Lily bringing Violet back to reality.

"Err... grounds keeper, you know?"

"Oh."

As they followed Ogg down a steep and narrow dirt path the black-haired boy walked in front of Violet. She looked at his hair, silently thinking how messy it was. As she got lost in thoughts about haircuts and teenage boys her foot missed a step and she fell head first into him. They both hurtled to the ground with a huge thud and Violet could feel the air being knocked out of her.

"S-sorry," she stuttered, trying to regain her composure.

"It's ok," he said looking into her eyes. She could smell him... mint. For a while they looked into each others eyes and then-

"Get off your damn laurels, you're holding up traffic!" yelled an angry voice. There was a murmur of approval and Violet got up and helped the boy up. "Sorry again," she said softly looking down, embarrassed.

"Could have happened to anyone. It's ok," he repeated as he turned looking down at his muddy robes. She looked at Lily and she giggled.

"It's not funny," said Violet as she rolled her eyes.

"But yes it is. You seem to be the one with a boyfriend now." She giggled again.

As they reached the bottom of the path the boy was trying to get mud off his clothes.

"Here, let me help," offered Violet as she took out her wand and muttered, "Scourgify!" and the mud disappeared.

"Thanks," he said.

She took Lily's hand and pulled her to a spot farthest from the boy. "Damnit Lillian, stop laughing. It isn't that funny."

"Sorry," she said, her cheeks pinker than bubble gum.

"Ok, four to a boat now," said Ogg. "And no pushing. We don't need a reminder of last year when that jackass boy almost drowned trying to drown someone else..." he trailed off into mutterings.

Apparently no one really wanted to sit in the same boat with Ogg so he sat alone. Violet and Lily were followed into their boat by an Asian girl and another girl.

"Hi," smiled the Asian. "I'm Annie. You're a Riddle right?" she asked.

"Sure," said Violet surveying Annie. "Err, how did you know?"

"Your eyes," replied the girl shortly. The other girl seemed too preoccupied with eyeing the same black-haired boy.

"That James Potter is so yummy," she said to herself, but loud enough for the other three to hear.

"James who?" asked Violet.

"That one," replied the girl, pointing.

Violet ignored Lily's muffled laugh and said, "And you are?"

"Paige... Paige Bones. Yourself?" asked the girl, obviously not hearing Annie proclaim Violet being a Riddle.

"Violet Riddle," she replied.

"Oh... yeah, I've heard of the Riddles."

"So... um what's his name you say?" asked Violet.

"James Potter. We were on the train and he came into our compartment and apologised and went away," answered Annie.

"How do you know his name?" asked Violet, much like a nosy interrogator.

"We asked him," replied Paige simply.

"Oh... right," said Violet. But the conversation was interrupted as the boats suddenly left the shore and started to glide, effortlessly, across the glassy lake's surface.

"Whoa," commented Annie.

As they moved further across the lake Violet looked over the edge of the boat and saw her reflection. She fixed her hair unnecessarily and eyed the boat the Potter boy was in. She then looked at the other occupants. There was another black-haired boy, a raggedy looking boy who looked like he was dreadfully food-deprived and a chubby boy with glasses. She then looked away and caught Lily's eyes.

"I can't wait!" she said excitedly and smiled widely at Violet.

"Me too, but only to get out of the cold, I'm scared to death about whatever 'test' this is."

They all suddenly felt a thud and looked up to see that they had reached the other side of the shore. As they all got off both Annie and Paige bade them goodbye as they walked off to join other friends. Lily took Violet's hand and they both walked over to a giant door in the hard rock where everyone had gathered.

"Well... this is it," said Violet. Lily seemed to have lost her voice again and Violet looked across and spied on James again. He was joking light heartedly with the same three boys from his boat. Their eyes met and he smiled. Violet looked away and then back again.

"I wonder..." she said.

"What?" asked Lily.

"Nothing."

"First-years!" came a stern voice. They all looked up to see a stern looking witch in purple robes and a wizard's hat at the door which stood ajar. "This way please!"

They all exchanged uneasy looks and followed her in...