Happiness Pending
Chapter 1—Bedtime stories and Confrontations
The sky was fading to a black midnight. There were night clouds in the sky that colored the almost blackness in purple radiance. But they clouded the stars making it even darker. There was nothing to light the way in the sky, but magic could spark the way.
One lone creature of the night walked the streets tonight. A spark alit the end of his wand. He was garbed in a long traveling cloak with the hood up. Whoever he was he was sure to be masked. He traveled this road without even looking up, like he had traveled it every day of his life. The houses lined his path, but he wasn't looking. He was busy staring at the ground and occasionally at the thing in his hand. It was a pendant on a long chain. He fingered it with delicacy like it was the most prized possession of the world.
He smiled for one solitary moment and then he stopped. He stopped walking, smiling, everything. He was standing in front of a large house on a big hill. It was dark now, but you could tell it was radiant. He looked up to see one light still on in the farthest bedroom. He smiled again. He was home.
Lily Potter was sitting in an old wicker chair with blood shot eyes. Her eyes were locked on the open window. The moon was clouded tonight and the clouds were filled with knowing and dread. They looked on her with purpose this night. Her mind, however, was elsewhere.
She wasn't up so late for no reason. She had been listening to her son cry for hours and nothing seemed to calm the new arrival. He was only a couple weeks old, but his wailing, Lily thought, would testify against his age. It seemed that the younger they were the more troublesome. She would have thought having children was a complete mistake if not for those beautiful green eyes and black hair. He really was her child, and her husband's child. So much of both of them was found in every feature of his face. Everyone said he looked just like James, but Lily saw a lot of her in him as well. The delicate nose, the soft lips—those were hers.
She had almost forgotten that her son was screaming as she looked at his baby features. She had almost forgotten. Then, she looked down into his sparkling eyes that were glistening with fresh tears, and started to give up hope of ever getting back to bed. This was day three of no sleep, but that wasn't entirely her son's fault. She also had problems sleeping because of the recent raids. Sometimes James went on the raids late at night, leaving her with her little one, but other nights she was the one gallivanting off.
Her thoughts were momentarily stopped, however, when her son gave a loud burp and then stopped crying. She stared in shock that something that simple could make the little one stop screaming.
Now that he was calm, she stood up from her wicker chair and went to place him in his bassinet. He didn't seem very happy about it and reached up to grab her finger. She was very touched, but very sleepy and she didn't want to make him cry again.
"Fine, baby Harry, if you want your mama to stay with you until you fall asleep I better come up with a good story." She thought about it as she gave her son her finger, which he immediately thrust into his mouth. There was only one story Lily knew and it was a silly muggle story about a Cinder girl and her wicked stepmother. Deciding that wasn't the right story for a newly born little boy, she thought harder. She concluded that the only story worth telling was a true story.
"Harry, I'm going to tell you about how I fell in love with your father. It's a long story, and it's not too pretty, but its true, and there is nothing better than honesty. At least that's what your papa says to me all the time."
Harry giggled, but Lily was already in La La Land thinking and dreaming of her Prince Charming who didn't start out so charming, as she remembered.
"Now, your daddy was the cutest and most sought after boy at Hogwarts that year. Everyone knew his name, and everyone knew he was bound to rock that school on its heels. But, he didn't expect what happened next." She smiled in memory and Harry sucked her first finger. "Do you know what happened, Harry? He met me."
"Excuse me! Could you help me please?" Lily was rushing back and forth between platforms 9 and 10. She had no idea where platform 9 ¾ was. But that was what her ticket said, and her letter had said very specifically "stick to your ticket." She was trying to find someone who knew what that actually meant, but she was failing miserably.
Her family had escorted her into the train station, but when they saw the trains lining the path they wished her luck and left. It wouldn't have been a problem if not for her ticket. Now, she was pacing and asking for help from people who simply wouldn't listen, while the clock, ever so slowly, ticked away. Five minutes. That was all she had left. Then, the only place that would ever see her as extraordinary instead of out of the ordinary would be gone.
She decided to yell for help one last time, and as she spun to walk back to the other platform she bumped into someone. Rather, she very ungracefully bombarded someone.
"I am so sorry!" she said as she looked up into the face of a dark haired boy with glasses. He looked to be about her age, but she couldn't be sure. He was carrying a cage with an owl in it, and the animal clucked at her when she spoke.
"Randalf," he said introducing the owl to her, "he's a bit of a menace sometimes. But he warms up to people. What is your animal?" She stared dumbfounded. He was speaking as if he already knew her.
"I'm sorry, but do I know you?"
"No," he said very casually, "but you are going to Hogwarts, aren't you?"
"How did you know that?"
He ignored the question and put his finger to his lips in concentration. "Let me guess," he said with a conceited smile, "you're a muggle born and your letter didn't tell you how to get onto the platform? Am I right?"
She scoffed as if disgusted, but mostly out of lack of understanding. She had no idea what he was talking about. "What makes you say that?"
"Well, that's why you were calling for help isn't it?"
She paused. She had no idea how to respond, so she just chose not to. "What's a muggle born?"
He smiled at her change of subject, but indulged her question. "Well, muggles is non magic folk. So I'm guessing, especially now, that you were born to a non magic family: muggle born."
She frowned. For some reason she felt very lowly right now. This boy seemed to bring out the worst in her. She hadn't been this angry since her sister had called her a freak in front of all her friends. That had been a long time ago, and it was the only time she had recalled being truly angry. "Who are you, anyway?" She said as she flicked her hair over her shoulder.
Momentarily he seemed to loose his proud stance as he saw her flick her hair. He almost forgot to answer as he looked at her with softness in his eyes. Then, in true Lily fashion she gave him a look that said, "anytime now!" and he reverted back to his silly grin. "The name's James. James Potter."
"Well, Potter, I've got to be going. I've got the platform to go onto." She turned to scurry off and then remembered that she still had no idea how to get onto the platform. She turned back around and James was covering his mouth with his hand as if to try to prevent laughter from escaping.
"After you, my lady," he said with a laugh and a bow. As he did so, he began walking backward toward the wall between the two platforms. But then, something happened. He wasn't walking toward the wall at all. Lily watched as the young boy gave a final bow and then disappeared into the wall.
Her mouth fell open. "What is this magic?" she said. Well, she thought, it's worth a try. So, she walked toward the wall, while she looked around to make sure no one saw her. Then she fell into the wall and landed on the other side.
She was shocked. It worked! James was right!
Oh, gag, she thought. She looked around and saw a sign that said "Platform 9 ¾" but there was no sign of the conceited little boy who showed her how to get there.
Good, she thought, maybe that will be the last encounter I have with the cocky git James Potter!
Harry giggled and Lily smiled. It was a good memory, but it was only the beginning.
A/N: Ok, that is the first chapter! I have been dying to start writing this, but I've hada bit of writers block. I have no idea, how long it will be before I get the next chapter up. I've started writing it, but I still havea little writers block. If you can't tell from this chapter then you should read some of my other stuff, then you would understand how different this is compared to what I usually write.
Well, I hope you like it and, please review when you are done! It means a lot, it may even get chapters up quicker! wink wink... lol.