FINDING LOVE IN THE PAST
Chapter Two
Lily held onto the time turner
with difficulty. She and James were spinning. She closed her eyes. She was
dizzy. She had to let go of the time turner. Then, suddenly, the spinning
stopped. She opened her eyes. The next thing she knew, she was being thrown across
a plain white room. She cried out in pain as she landed on her back.
"James?" Lily asked as she stood up and looked around the room.
"James!" she yelled. Oh, no. Where is he? she thought. Where
am I? She started to panic. Her heart was beating more rapidly than usual.
She spotted a door to her right and opened it. Where am I? She stepped
out of the room and into a plain hallway with pale olive green carpeting. She
heard voices and they seemed close by. Thank goodness. People. They can tell
me where I am and where James is.
James, who was more confused than
Lily, was walking down a long corridor. Where is everyone? A minute ago I
was at Hogwarts and now I don’t know where I am. He turned a corner and
found himself face-to-face with a young man who looked to be the same age as
him. "Hello?" James asked at the shock of seeing someone.
"Hello," the young man
said. He reached his hand out to shake James’ hand. "My name is
John."
"Oh, sorry," James
said, and shook John’s hand. "My name is James. Um…I don’t want to sound
weird, but where am I?"
John looked confused at his
question, and asked, "You mean, what part of the ship?"
James’ eyes widened. "Ship?
I’m on a…I mean, yes. I got lost. What part of the ship, by the way?"
"We’re near the stern on
F-Deck," John said. He looked at the floor and picked up a piece of paper.
"Is this your ticket?"
"Um…yes," James said,
and took the ticket from John. He glanced at it and there was no name, only a
room number. He put it in his pocket, and then added, "I must have dropped
it."
"Were you on your way to the
general room before I bumped into you?" John asked. "Because if
you’re lost, I can lead you there."
"Sure. I need to find
someone anyway," James said, and then followed John down the corridor and
up a flight of stairs to the general room.
Lily had just walked into the
room where she heard voices, which turned out to be the general room. She
looked around and saw lots of people chatting while little kids were running
around playing tag. She walked around the room and saw some people her own age,
but no sign of James. I never thought I would think this, but where is
James? Just then, she looked at the doorway and saw James being led into
the room by a tall guy with light brown hair. She walked towards him, and for
the first time in her life, she was happy to see him. The guy he was with
walked away as soon as James saw her. She whispered in his ear. "James, do
you know where we are?"
He led her to a table and they
sat down. Music started up in the background and some of the adults started to
dance. "Lily, I found this," he said as he took out the ticket from
his pocket and handed it to her. "We’re on a ship."
Lily’s eyes widened in alarm as
she examined the ticket and then said, "We’re not just on any ship. We are
on the Titanic!" James gave her a confused look, and she added, "Look
at the year, James. It’s 1912. We’re in the past, and what’s worse is we are on
the Titanic."
"Oh, my. We’re in 1912. Wait
a minute. The object I picked up in the entrance hall was a time turner, wasn’t
it?" When Lily nodded, James asked, "Do you have the time turner with
you?"
"No. I thought you had it.
Now, what are we going to do?"
James thought for a while, and
then said, "No big deal. We can just search the ship until the Titanic
gets to wherever it goes."
"James, the Titanic kind of
sinks."
"Oh. Well, we could search
until it sinks and then get into a lifeboat once we find it."
"James, you’re so
stupid."
"What?"
"You need to read more. The
Titanic sinks and has only enough lifeboats for around half the passengers.
Also, we’re in third class, meaning we might not reach a lifeboat."
James’ eyes widened in horror,
and he said, "I’m too young and handsome to die."
Lily rolled her eyes. He is so
full of himself. I can’t believe I get stuck in the past with only him, and
what’s more, I’m on a ship that’s going to sink. Why me? Why? Why me? "Why
me?" she asked out loud, shaking her head.
James was watching her. He
thought she was going crazy. Maybe I should slap her. No. There are too many
people here, he decided.
"Oh, no," Lily said
after she snapped out of her why me trance. She looked at James’ ticket and
asked, "Where am I going to sleep?"
"Definitely not with me, so
don’t even ask."
"I’m not asking," Lily
said, slight anger in her voice.
"Yes, you were," James
said. "You want to sleep with me."
"No, I don’t."
"Yes, you do."
"You are so Goddamned
conceited."
"At least I have a love
life."
Lily was offended at that. She
had a boyfriend, but not anymore, of course. She jumped up from her seat.
"Do you want to start something?"
James stood up, and said,
"Don’t be stupid. I could take you on anytime."
"You want to fight? I’ll
beat you up right now." When James just laughed at her, she added,
"Bring it on."
"Calm down. You can’t be
serious. That is something I’d expect from your crazy friend, Jacqueline."
Just then, they noticed that the
music had stopped awhile ago and everyone, even the children, was staring at
them. John came over to James and said, "James, stop fighting with your
wife. You’re making a scene."
"She is not my wife."
"Oh, sorry. You two look
like you‘re married." Soon, the steerage passengers started to go back to
what they were doing before Lily and James’ little dispute.
"What is that supposed to
mean?" Lily and James hissed at the same time.
"Nothing. I’m sorry."
And with that, he walked over to a girl with blonde hair and started to talk to
her.
"Well, I have to go and find
a room to sleep in now, so bye." Lily went down the stairs to D-Deck. Please,
don’t let me get lost, she said to herself. She found another staircase and
went down it. She looked around and sighed in relief when she found some of the
third class cabins. She reached into her pocket and took out James’ ticket. Sorry,
James, she thought. Looks like you’re sleeping somewhere else tonight. She
located the room with difficulty. When she opened the door, she looked around,
and to her relief, didn’t see any sign that other people had this room also. I
get this to myself? The walls were painted white with a reddish floor.
There were two bunk beds across from each other and a sink on the wall in
between them. Oh, well. I’ll only sleep here for three nights, she
thought to herself as she sat down on a bed.
James was about to go to his
cabin when he realized Lily had his ticket. That bitch. She planned this.
She probably thinks I don’t even remember the room number. Well, I don’t, but I
can remember. I know it ended with a six, or was it a nine?
Lily was about to fall asleep
when there was a knock on the door. When she opened the door and saw James, she
tried to shut the door. James, being on the Quidditch team, used his quick
reflexes and stopped the door from closing. Being stronger than Lily, he easily
opened the door and walked inside. "James, get out. This is my room."
"No, it’s not. You stole the
ticket from me and you know it."
"Well, where was I supposed
to sleep?"
"What about me? I need to
sleep also," James said, defending himself. "Look, there is more than
one bed. We’ll just have to share the room."
Lily thought for a moment, sat
down on her bed, and said, "Fine. It’s only for three nights anyway."
"What? The ship sinks in
four days?"
"Shush. Shut the door.
People will hear you."
"Okay. Let me get this
straight. We only have until the fourteenth to find the time turner and get the
hell out of here."
"That’s basically it,"
Lily said. "Now, I’m really exhausted, so let me get some sleep."
Lily lay down on her bed and fell asleep almost instantly.
James, being tired, too, fell
asleep on the bed across from Lily.