"We can't just leave them to die!" The woman's voice was shrill with anxiety.
"We have no choice, we have to think of the bigger picture!"
"It's you that should be fighting, it's your battle!"
Their shouts stopped after one, high pitched and horrifying scream and everything returned to the former darkness that James had come from...
"James!"
James slowly opened his eyes, trying to separate reality from the illusion. The train stopping - that was real; the two girls arguing - that was fake; him fainting - that was real; the scream - he knew it was fake, but in the back of his mind, it felt so real. It was the one part of it that he did not feel disconnected to.
"I'm... I'm fine," said James feebly, scanning the scene around him.
Venice was above him, holding onto his shoulders and shaky him lightly until he sat up. A few students he did not recognize were scattered around him, probably a chosen representative from each compartment to see what was happening to the Potter boy. The last thing he saw, which brought a smile to his face, was his two other friends: Lola Dukes and Aidan Hardcastle.
"How are you feeling?" Lola's accent felt like soft music to James' ears, being the first time he had heard it since the previous year.
"I'm fine. Just a little faint."
"You sure, from what Adams said, you just fainted out of nowhere."
Venice snorted with displeasure. Adrian had become accustomed to calling Venice by her last name, feeling that it suited her true gender more. For a while, Venice gave him another nickname, feeling that it suited his nature more, but the Professors argued that they had never heard such obscene language, and never wish to in the future and the nickname had come to an end. Alas, Adams lived on.
Freezing for a moment, James tried his best to remember the dream again. It had become more of a passing memory to him but one thing stayed with him. The scream. He could never forget the scream...
"Mate, are you alright?"
"Yes. I told you, I'm fine."
Lola knelt down beside him and he could have sworn that he heard Venice wretch. "Are you sure? You look awfully pale..."
"Well... I am a little..." James shook his head as he pondered about how pathetic he'd seem. "No, I'm fine."
"Okay but..."
Coughing, Venice stepped forward. "He's fine. No mothering needed."
James could not help but let out a small laugh, which made Venice's smile softly widen while Lola grunted and slowly turned away, muttering, "I'll go change."
"I'll come with you." Venice's previously sarcastic mood had disappeared slightly as she walked slowly after Lola.
"So we're off again."
"Yeah, although I don't see why it took so long -" Adrian stopped for a moment as he looked at James' expression and explained, "You've been out for a couple of hours."
"Really? What was the problem?"
"Not sure. But come on. How could they not have fixed it in ten minutes. I don't know if this had escaped whoever was in charge but there is this little thing which usually makes things work at an impeccable rate... what was it? Oh yes, magic."
Once again, Adrian's gift of bringing a smile to James' face had struck again. Even though Adrian demanded that everybody should take him more seriously, it was hard to when his timing and natural character was one of the most comic things that James had ever come across. If Adrian was someone to be taken seriously, James probably would not have been his friend.
"Oi! All I'm saying is, a wand can pretty much fix everything. So the amount of time it took was just stupid. Well, now we're off again but frankly, I'm not looking forward to the new year now. Probably wouldn't have minded an extra couple of hours."
"Why?"
"Adams."
"What have you done this time?"
"I met her sister."
James' eyes were wide with anticipation. He had heard stories about the rest of the Adams family. The name itself had some interest - well, not to James but it had amused Adrian, explaining that it was a Muggle thing every time James asked why. Venice had never said much about her actual relatives except that her mother was hard to bear and that she had a father and a younger sister. However, any other information was strictly prohibited.
"And?"
"She's... well... I don't really know how to say this..."
"Well?"
A grin formed on Adrian's visage as he said, "She's girlie."
The pause lasted a couple of seconds before James gasped, "No." instantly regretting it because he felt like a gossiping schoolgirl.
"Yes. She's blonde -" that alone was enough to shock anyone "- pretty, no makeup, high voice and when she bumped into me she actually said, 'Excuse me.' I would never have recognised her."
"But how did you know it was her?"
"Her name's Verona. Wait - Ver-on-a."
"Oh..." Clearly, it was a hobby of their mother's to give her children names of Italian cities with the wrong pronunciation. But you had to hand it to Mrs. Adams: probably no other mother had thought of it before her.
The Great Hall was as brightly decorated as always. The candles floated gracefully above their heads as they entered and approached their seats.
"Adams, I just bumped into her -"
"You had a conversation. Don't lie! You two were chatting away. Oh and -" Venice's face was an inch apart from Adrian's as she said, "I am not called Adams."
Lola sat down awkwardly, trying to hide the fact that she was craning her neck to see if she could see a young Adams in the line. James sped to sit next to her without seeming too obviously keen to get a chance to speak alone with her while the other two squabbled.
"Do you think you can see her?"
"Nope. The first few are boys so no luck there."
"We'll still get a good look at her when she gets sorted."
"For the last time, there's nothing to be ashamed of. She's quite nice."
"Oh please. She's like having a sack of chocolate shoved down your throat - too sweet and very uncomfortable."
Adrian tried to argue back, but Venice had slumped down onto the table, signaling that the conversation was over as the Headmistress stepped up for his speech.
There was always some argument as to whether or not Professor Sarah Fawcett deserved the role as Headmistress. She was young, just a year younger than James' father, and had been thought among the students as an unexpected candidate. While her intelligence could not be denied, possibly being one of the most intelligent people of the newest generation, there were others with more experience and more wisdom, especially on the teaching staff.
Nevertheless, James had always appreciated her and found her a thoroughly interesting and good Headmistress.
Unfortunately, her words were lost to James as he peered around to view the sorting. When the procession began, James, Adrian and Lola sat up a bit more as Venice slumped down.
"Abery, Cynthia."
Lola sighed. "How long will this take?"
The sorting hat took a deep breath before booming, "GRYFFINDOR!"
Their bench applauded loudly as she hurried towards their table but soon it died down as the next name was called. "Adams, Verona."
"Ver-on-a."
The voice was completely unexpected. Although James had expected something sweeter than Venice, from what Adrian said, he could not help but find the voice musical.
"Pardon?"
The girl came on and muttered softly, clearly correcting Professor McGonagall. Her hair was in blond waves that come down to her shoulders and her eyes were wide and intrigued, completely unlike Venice's, who were now closed with embarrassment.
"Oh yes. Verona."
Etching further a little more, Verona hauled herself onto the stool and the hat was placed on her head and her eyes searched and she smiled as they finally landed on Venice. However, Venice did not return the smile, instead focusing hard on the table in front of her.
“GYFFINDOR!”
Verona smiled with glee and jumped down from step to step and hurried along to the table, tapping Venice on the shoulder as she sat upon her seat.
“See. She’s not embarrassed of you.”
“Shut up.”
Adrian slumped down again as he surveyed Venice’s glare in his direction.
“Shame. They’d be a cute couple,” mused Venice.
“I can think of people better suited for each other.” However, James was not prepared to reveal that he thought it was the two of them.
The evening continued, the argument between Venice and Adrian rising and dropping at random stages. This was until finally, James heard someone call, “Lily Potter.”
This name had everyone in the room’s attention. This was not uncommon that a Potter took control of the scene, reminding everyone of their all time hero: Harry Potter. James only wished that her face was not displayed in front of everyone so that they would know who to come and interrogate.
James could remember when he himself was sorted. Gryffindor could not be more pleased and half the table gave him a standing ovation. When Albus got sorted, they were used to having a Potter but still looked smugly over at the other houses.
The silence was too long for comfort as the hat muttered to himself and Lily replied just as inaudibly. Finally, the hat looked up and shouted, “HUFFLEPUFF!”
James was in shock and was not the only one at that. Looking to his side, he spotted Albus with his mouth gaping open in disbelief. There was no doubt that they would be surprised. Every member of their family that they could think of was in proud Gryffindor.
This went through Lily’s mind, as well. While the Hufflepuff table was cheering with more enthusiasm than James had ever remembered in his five years at the school, Lily stalked down with a scowl fixed on her face. However, the grimace that was so keenly revealed had completely washed away from her face as she sat down with a sudden look of panic.
And looking around, he saw that Lola shared it. And it clicked as he remembered why the scream was so familiar.
It was Lola Dukes’
Everyone started following their prefects but James had a different plan. He couldn't stand being around other people, definately not while all these thoughts were swirlling through his mind at an uncontrolable rate.
He began to sprint, not caring which direction he was going in. All he needed was the get away so he could have some time to himself, away from the excited first-years and his friends.
He was breathing deeply, his chest heaving in an out with such intensity that he could almost cry due to the lack of oxygen. If his pulse hadn't slowed down, the blood no longer rushing to his head, he would not have noticed that someone else was there with him.
Her eyes were dark, but ghostly at the same time and her skin was as pale as he ever remembered. Her gaunt face revealled one of some anguish, her soul clearly still tortured.
"Hello, Caprilla."
Caprilla Tulson was one of the people he least wanted to see. She wasn't a perticularly bad person, she was just odd. It was revealled in their first-year that she enjoyed burying dead birds. It was especially awkward between them because her arch enemy was none other than Venice Adams.
This wasn't just an ordinary hatred. Venice tormented Caprilla to a point where nobody wanted to speak to her anymore. James had to admit, he did take some part in it but he admired Venice so much in that year and Caprilla was gothic and bizarre.
"I didn't expect to see you here," she said calmly, standing up from her crouching position. She then swiped her sleeve over her eyes; she had clearly been crying.
"Yeah," replied James nervously, "but I thought I'd also get away from the beginning of the year festivites..."
"No, I mean here, in the girls' bathroom."
Hearing this, James took a moment to survey his surroundings. He had never actually been in the bathroom, but the faded colours and lack of urinals certainly showed that it was for the female gender.
"Who is it? Tell them to go away!" schriek a voice behind one of the stalls.
Rolling her eyes, Caprilla shouted back, "Calm down, Myrtle, it's only Potter."
"Harry?" Suddenly the voice was slightly more enthusiastic.
"No, James."
"Oh..."
James' eyes sprang open in alarm as a ghost went through the cubicle door. Of course! This was the bathroom that Moaning Myrtle occupied. James had only ever heard of her, but he only needed those few seconds to understand everyone else's dislike for her.
"Well, sorry to disturb you... I was just leaving - wait." James noticed that something was lying on the ground. Picking it up, he discovered that it was an envelope and it revealled that it belonged to Caprilla. "This is yours."
He held it out but she immediately replied, "No it isn't."
"But it's addressed to you."
"Oh sure, then I open it and a dung bomb flies out at me."
"No seriously, it was right there on the ground!" Even though it was probably justified, James was still hurt that Caprilla thought that he was constantly preparing for attack.
"It was," said Myrtle in agreement. He was momentarily relieved but then he saw her eyes look him up and down and he became slightly afraid.
Looking back at Myrtle for reassurance and shuffled towards James. Grabbing the letter, she looked around it and then her eyes widened. "Thank you." Her voice faltered slightly and she backed away.
"I'm not going to attack you, Caprilla, so you have stop looking at me like I'm about to pounce," stated James with irritation after both she and Myrtle insisted on being a couple of feet away from him. "If you look at the bigger picture, I haven't been -" James stopped in confusion.
"What?"
"Nothing," replied James. Why had the idea of the bigger picture seemed so familiar to him?
Caprilla's lips parted in speech but she was cut off by a deafening scream.