"We'll see you next year then." Her father called as he wound up the window. Her elder sister, Petunia, jeered at her from the back seat. As they drove away, Lily could see her mother with a sad, pained expression on her face. She sighed and turned back to her trunk. For the past day she had obscured the initials PGK with a conveniently placed name tag, but this was Petunia Gladys King's trunk, stealthily stolen from the attic a week ago, and Lily couldn't care less who saw it now that her parents and sister-no, stepfather, dear mother and ugly stepsister had gone. Thank goodness there weren't any more of them, she thought. At first having a sister would be nice, after being an only child all these years. But then, when Petunia had come just two weeks ago, she was as mean and as nasty as any of them.
"I don't see what mum saw in him." Lily muttered as she dragged the trunk on its little wheels up the ramp to Platforms Nine and Ten. As she pulled persistently, she heard a little cracking noise, but ignored it. Then she heard the tinkle of a screw on the ground, and couldn't ignore the fact that her arm was pulling the rest of her down the ramp, the wrong way. Actually, the trunk that was pulling her arm that was pulling the rest of her.
In any case, she came to rest in a heap at the bottom of the ramp.
"Here you are, dear." A wizened old man in long scarlet robes wheeled up a trolley and helped her put her trunk onto it. "I see you're going to Hogwarts." He whispered conspiratally, "to get to Platform Nine and Three Quarters walk through the ticket barrier between gates nine and ten." He winked and then melted back into the crowd. Lily nodded her thanks absently in the direction that he disappeared in. "Now I know how to get there. Thank goodness I didn't have to ask anyone, especially a boy." She grimaced, wrinkling up her little nose in disgust. Lily had made a vow not to talk to any of the male species unless it was an adult, after her grim experience with her new stepfather, but she still thought that some of the older ones could be even worse. "Not that anyone would be around this early." She added as an afterthought.
***
William Potter patted his son James on the back. "You'll do just fine at Hogwarts. I can remember the days when I was still…" he trailed off misty eyed to the time when his wife, James' mother, was still alive. She had died when he was six, in a climbing accident. It was luck itself that William had made it out, but he was still weakened from the pneumonia he had contracted after the incident. James tugged at his father's arm. "Dad," he said, "can I get on the train now?" dragging his trunk and his father closer to the train.
"Not yet, boy." William said, "It's only eight thirty. You still have another two and a half hours before the train leaves."
"Can't we at least put my trunk on the train?" James pleaded.
"Okay, then." William conceded, magicking the trunk to move by itself.
As they came out of the third carriage, middle door, they saw a little red-haired girl with a Muggle trolley, struggling with the weight and bulk of it. William nudged his son. "That's the kind of girl you should look after at Hogwarts, James." He said, "She looks nice."
James shook his head. "Not after all the trouble with the other red heads in my life." He muttered under his breath. "First that girl in kindergarten, I think her name was Crystal. She messed up my hair and painted my face green. Then my second grade teacher, Mrs. Harrison. She was a redhead too, although I think that was fake. She kept on giving me extra work to do. And just last year, Mary Phipps. I try being nice to her, and I get cold water down my back at camp every morning. And that book series too, Anne of Green Gables. She was a redhead. I tried to read those books and I got beaten up by the junior bikie gang from the next suburb." He looked up at his father. "I don't think so, for some reason…"
"Why ever not? She's here early, which must mean she's a good student, she's fairly pretty, and what's more, she's probably come from a wizarding family." William said.
"Well then, where's her family?" James retorted, getting quite annoyed with his father for being so pushy.
"You do have a point there." William admitted defeat. "Come on, let's get some jam doughnuts for breakfast." He strode off in the direction of the nearest stall, and James trotted after him.
***
As Lily finally got to the top of that horrible ramp, she saw a disappearing around the side of a stall. "Good to see there's some form of life around here, however lowly it is." She muttered to herself. The smell of fried foods and sweet, sticky things wafted over from the stall. "Mmm." Lily's stomach grumbled, as she didn't get time for breakfast that morning. "Getting me out of bed at seven and arriving here at eight when the train only leaves at eleven. Just ludicrous." She said as she pushed her trunk over to the stall to buy some food.
When she got there, the boy was no where to be seen. "Oh well." She shrugged as she hungrily took in all the goodies displayed. "I'll have a doughnut, a packet of crisps and a Coke, please." She told the man serving her.
"That'll be 5 knuts." The man said.
"Oh. Hang on a sec." Lily said as she unlocked her trunk and scrabbled around for some wizarding money. About half a minute later, she emerged triumphant with a little sack of coins. "There you go." She said as she tipped the money into the man's hand, "I quite forgot that once I went through the barrier I'd have to get out this stuff." She smiled at the man as she gathered up her stuff and went to sit on a nearby bench to eat her food, the best she had had since her mother had remarried. After that, it was all health food and Sunday roast dinners with potatoes, pumpkins and other forms of steamed or boiled vegetables. "Ugh" she shuddered at the thought, "vegetables. Cooked to oblivion vegetables. Gimme a fresh stick of celery any day." Lily, of course, was exceptionally smart in some areas, and she had researched the whole nutrition thing. Even a doughnut, fried in oil and coated with sugar, would fill you up better than a limp piece of green stuff that all the nutrients had just been boiled out of. Hey, it was even better to drink the water it had been cooked in. She couldn't say much for the other stuff she was now consuming. Hopefully they had some meat pies and other yummy food on the train.
***
Soon the platform was filling up with young witches, wizards and their parents. Among them was a thin boy whose name was Severus Snape. "Faather," he whined, "I won't have enough grease to make it through until Christmas." His father, in reply, cuffed him around the back of his head.
"Don't be stupid, Severus" he told Severus firmly, "Grease is for pansies. You wouldn't need it if you didn't wear your hair so long, anyway. You're practically a disgrace to the family. As soon as that hair touches your shoulders, you're disowned."
"Awww, just one more pot. Pluhease?" Severus asked.
"You know you're not going to get it." Was his father's reply.
"Pluhhheaaaase?" Severus tried again.
"Oh, all right." His father waved his wand and another pot of Lightning heavy-duty hair grease appeared on top of Severus' trunk. "Only the best for my son." He smiled.
***
"Time for me to go." William said to James as his watch flicked over to 10:30. "I'll see you later." He smiled as he watched his son get onto the train.
"Bye Dad." James said before disappearing into the third carriage, middle door.
"Goodbye forever, son." William said before walking out of King's Cross Station. A month later, James was to find out that his father died at the hands of a young uprising evil power.
***
"It's about time I tried getting that trunk onto the train." Lily thought as she scrunched up the paper bag from her breakfast and tossed it into a rubbish bin nearby. The platform was a veritable bee hive, with people in robes and Muggle clothing rushing about, children crying and mothers giving last minute advice. "Pity mum couldn't come." Lily said as she pushed her trolley with the trunk over to the train. She chose the third carriage, middle door because it was the one she always sat in when she was catching the train to her old school, back in Muggle England. "No, she just had to go see Petunia off at her new school, family bonding and all that jazz." She muttered angrily as her grip on the trolley tightened and tears appeared in her eyes. She blinked back her tears and proceeded to lift the trunk off the trolley.
She had gotten half of the trunk off the trolley by dragging it, when a cat-call, obviously meant for her, startled her and she promptly dropped the trunk onto her toes. "Ow crap ow shit ow puck ow bloody ow!" she said as she hopped around on one foot. She turned in the direction the untimely cat-call came from, and saw a boy poking his head out the window of the train.
"Uh, sorry." The boy said, his cheeks turning scarlet. Lily poked out her tongue at him and continued to move the trunk.
***
A slight girl who had hair the colour of copper and eyes as bright as emeralds huffed and puffed as she tried to drag her heavy trunk onto the Hogwarts Express leaving from Platform Nine and Three Quarters at 11 am. A skinny, dark-haired boy came out of the carriage. He was surprised to see that the girl standing before him was the one his Dad has said to look after at Hogwarts. She looked a lot prettier now that he could actually see her. "Damn glasses. Hopefully I'll get new ones at Christmas." He muttered to himself. He noticed that the girl was still struggling with the trunk, so he helped her with it.
"Here you are." He said, as he lifted it onto the train, grinning.
"Who are you?" she asked him, ever so slightly suspicious.
"The name's Potter. James Potter." He watched her closely to see her reaction.
"You've been reading James Bond, haven't you?" she said with delight and caution.
"Yep. Finished all the books in three days. 'sthe um.." he did a quick calculation, "fifteenth time."
"That's nothing. I saw all the movies in under three days." Lily boasted, all feelings of complete hatred towards the male population, or at least this boy, forgotten. She loved a good fight, and wasn't going to pass up the chance just because of that.
"Oh yeah?" James retorted.
"Yeah." Said Lily with satisfaction. She folded her arms across her chest.
By now they were both on the train in a compartment with some other people down the other end of the carriage, their trunks stowed away.
"So what's your name?" James asked her.
A mischievous smile played across her lips. "I guess you could call me…White, Lily White."
"Are you quite sure about that?" James gestured to the trunk, which clearly had PGK emblazoned on it.
"Oh. That." She waved it away. "I borrowed my sister's trunk. She's not going to like it, however." Lily grinned. "She doesn't like me being a witch. When I first got the letter she wanted to burn me, and her boyfriend wasn't much better."
"So you're not from a wizarding family, then." James said carefully.
"Oh no. But that doesn't matter, I've already read all the books and I think they're great." Lily smiled cheerfully as she waved her wand and some spangles came out.
"That's nothing to what I can do." James said scornfully, whipping out his wand, "Watch this." He muttered a few words and made a shower of petals fall around Lily.
"Wow. I must learn to do that. It wasn't in the books, was it?" Lily said curiously.
"Nope. Old family secret." James said, then went down to see who else was sitting in the carriage. It was nearing on eleven, and the Hogwarts express was due to leave any minute.
Lily followed him, as obviously he knew what he was doing, and she thought she could actually get something useful out of him. As they got nearer the shadowy figure sitting by himself, reading comic books in the semi-darkness, Lily thought there was something familiar about him. When he noticed them and got up, she realised who it was. The boy who had been so infuriatingly stupid just 10 minutes ago. Lily turned red, white and then back to red very quickly.
"You." Was all she could say.
"Yes, me. I see you've already picked up another admirer." The boy said with a touch of humour. Lily could sense that he wasn't as bad as he made out to be, but still couldn't be bothered being nice anymore. She had had enough crap from other people-no, other things and other people, specifically her new step-sister today, and couldn't take any more.
James stepped forward, thinking now that what his father said was actually quite true. "Look here." He began, "I don't know what went on between you two before, but obviously it wasn't too nice. Can't you just both apologise to each other and make up?" he said helplessly as the two edged closer together.
"James," Lily said, turning to face him, "He made me drop my trunk on my foot. I'll probably have a nice, big purple bruise by tonight. You know how heavy it is." She turned back to face the other boy.
They bother advanced, so close that their noses were a millimetre apart.
"Uh, you guys," James said, looking around for adults or anyone who might disapprove, "Can't this wait for later?"
"No!" the other two said in unison. They began circling each other.
Suddenly, the boy grabbed Lily by the waist and gave her a kiss full on the lips. James was shocked, and Lily started kicking and pulling the boy's hair.
"Get off me, you big brute!" she yelled. "James, help me!"
"Lily, hold on! I'll get help!" James said as the other boy released her.
"No need for that. I just had to do that, you know. She looked so pretty from in here." The boy said easily. "You're lucky, having her for a friend."
Lily calmed down a bit, and clung to James' arm. "Oh god. What am I doing?" she said as she fainted onto the padded seats behind her.
***
"So, what's your name?" James said as he sat down heavily next to the unconscious Lily.
"Sirius. Sirius Lee." Said Sirius.
James laughed nervously. "You can't be serious."
"Yes I can." Sirius replied.
"No you can't. Your name must be John, or William, or Richard, or Tom, or-" James protested.
"I tell you, my name is Sirius." Sirius insisted.
"Well then, what's your last name?" James asked.
"Black. My name's Sirius Black." Sirius admitted.
"Well, since you are so knowledgeable in the ways of the world, would you like to tell me when Lily's going to wake up?" James said, looking at Lily's pale face.
"Well," Sirius said as he bent over, "her breathing's normal, her pulse is normal, so she should be awake any minute. You might want to try some cold water over her face." He grinned.
"I don't think that's necessary, boys." Lily said as she grabbed Sirius around the shoulders, and flipped him onto the floor from the seats. Then she jumped on top of him and proceeded to pummel him on his chest.
"This one is for when you cat-called." She punched him on the chest, "And this one is for making me drop my trunk onto my foot." She punched him again, this time on the nose, not too hard but not gently either. "This one is for kissing me without my permission." She kneed him in the groin. Sirius winced very visibly. "and this one, finally, is for threatening to wake me up by pouring water, cold water, onto me." She punched him in the stomach, causing Sirius to double over in pain and gasp for air. "You're a worthless git who couldn't hit the side of a bloody barn from five puckin' paces!" she said, then got up and took James' arm.
"Come on, let's go. I'm hungry." Lily's stomach rumbled right on cue. James looked helplessly at Sirius and shrugged his shoulders.
"See ya later, Sirius." James said before being pulled off by Lily. For someone who couldn't lift up her trunk, she was strong. James told her so.
Lily brushed it off. "After all, I weighed the trunk before I left, and it clocked in at 90 pounds (40 kilos). Nearly heavier than me." She added.
A plump, middle-aged witch came into the carriage with a trolley full of food. "Oh goody." Lily said, and got out her moneybag. "I'll have two pumpkin pasties, 10 chocolate frogs and two of everything else." She said, and paid the lady 5 Sickles for the food. She brought it over to the seat that James was sitting in, and dumped it unceremoniously in front of him. "Come on, dig in. You look like you could use some fattening up." Lily looked at his spare frame, as if to emphasise it.
James winced. "I'm naturally skinny. I probably eat twice as much as you do in half the time." He protested.
"Oh yeah?" Lily said, spoiling for a tiff.
"Yeah." James said, getting up.
"I'd like to see you try." Lily said.
"Okay, then." James said. They divided up the food.
"3, 2, 1, Start!" Lily said, and they both started ripping the wrappers and eating as much food as they could.
About twenty minutes later, they had both finished at the same time, and were now feeling very miserable indeed, as they had stuffed themselves full.
"Okay. Let's call it a draw." James said, moaning as he got off the floor and swept the rubbish into the bin.
"I think I'm gonna puke." Lily said, staggering over to the window to let some air in.
"Not thinking of wasting all that food, are you?" a slightly familiar voice said. Lily immediately lost all urges to stick her head out of the window and regurgitate all the food she had eaten.
"I see you've recovered from the beating I gave you. Care for another?" Lily asked menacingly.
"I'd rather not, if that's okay with you." Sirius said.
Lily surprised herself and the two boys by saying, "That's fine with me. Come sit down and tell us about yourself."
Sirius took the invitation, and made himself comfortable on the nearest seat, a long way from where Lily was sitting. "My name's Sirius Black. My father went out to Australia around twenty years ago. When he got married, he came back to England. That's how I'm here. My 'weird' ways, I guess, come from him. He was a drover, a magical drover, mind you. I'm sorry about all that stuff before. It's just that my dad used to say-" Lily cut him off. "I'd rather not hear about your dad's principles, if that's okay with you." She looked pained at the mention of Sirius' father, and James wondered whether it had anything to do with her own family.
"Well, you seem genuine enough." James said to break the silence. "You probably already know I'm James. My full name is James Potter. My mum was killed sometime ago in a climbing accident. I don't really remember much of her, though. My dad works for the Ministry of Magic, although I don't know much more than that. He mentioned some about security risks and all that stuff. Now, your turn Lily." Sirius and James turned to face her.
"Uh…well…" Lily started. "I don't know where to begin." She said.
"Tell us about your parents." James prompted.
"Okay." Lily took a deep breath. "My father ran off with his secretary two years ago. My mum met this other guy, right, and they started going out. When my mum said they were going to get married last year, I thought it would be great. You see, he had a daughter only a year older than me. I'm an-I was an only child, although I wasn't really spoiled. Then, when they did get married two weeks ago, my step-sister moved in. Her name's Petunia. I took her trunk to stuff all my stuff in." she smiled a tiny smile, then continued, "In the two weeks that I've lived with her, I've found out she's a spoiled brat who will do anything to suck up to my mum and her dad. Her father's worse, however. I'm made to do all the washing, as he says that ickle Petunia is still adjusting to living in a new environment, and he just sits around all day in his office, drinking beer and pretending to be an accountant. Mum does all the other work, and lately she's been cooking food the way he likes it-tasteless and limp. Really, I'm glad to go to Hogwarts. If it wasn't for this, I'd probably be at the same school as she is, and that would be terrible. She's so pretty, and she hates my guts." Lily winced when she thought of that wavy chestnut hair, sparkling deep blues eyes, perfect teeth and bewitching smile. "I swear, if you saw her, you'd fall in love with her at once." She fell silent for all of three seconds, then added another comment. "Did I mention that my new step-father is a sleaze?"
James and Sirius tried to look sympathetic. "We're so sorry." They said in unison.
"Don't try to feel sorry for me." Lily said, a single tear coming out of her eye, "I know you're only here because there's nothing else to do on this damn train!" she kicked the seat opposite her. James and Sirius looked at each other and shrugged.
"Let's play exploding snap." Sirius suggested as he got out a packet of cards.
"Sure." James said. "Lily, you want to play?"
Lily shrugged. "I guess." She mopped up her face with a rag that could barely pass for a handkerchief.
They all settled down to playing exploding snap for the next hour or two.
***
"I see someone's got themselves occupied in a legal way." A voice came from the doorway.
"Close the fripping door. Now there's a draft in the room." Lily called out over her shoulder. "Oh damn!" she said as she realised she should have snapped the cards. James had got it instead.
"Oh, hello Potter." Snape said from the doorway, ignoring Lily's order to close the door, "Who are your new friends?" he sneered.
"Sirius Black." Sirius got up and held out his hand. Snape put his hand in Sirius'. Sirius realised that he was supposed to kiss that thin, bony hand, but quickly shook it instead.
"Lily White." Lily said from the floor.
"Lily White. What an interesting name. Such a pity you won't be lily white for much longer." Snape sneered insinuatingly.
"Oh, that's already happened." Lily tossed carelessly over her shoulder, "A few weeks ago, as a matter of fact."
Snape was taken aback, and James and Sirius couldn't believe what she was saying.
"Really now." Was all Snape could say.
"Oh yes. Why, I'm supposed to be Lily King now." Lily said, a smile fighting to break through the serious look she had tried to paste onto her face. James and Sirius were relieved to hear she wasn't talking about that.
"Whatever." Snape said listlessly. He could see he wouldn't get a rise out of them for the time being. He walked out the way he came, not latching the door closed properly, causing coldish air to blow into the room.
"Frickin' idiot" Lily muttered as she crossed the compartment to close the door properly.
James raised an eyebrow. "I never knew a girl who could swear as much as you do."
"Yeah, what's the deal with Puck?" Sirius added.
"Oh, you know A Midsummer Night's Dream?" Lily said, "That puck. Seems a good enough substitute for the real word. And the teachers couldn't care less. After all, this is a quality Shakespearean play. Who wouldn't want to mention one of the characters in their everyday life in an honourable way? After all, he was the one who caused the mischief." Lily shrugged. "In any case, you don't get in trouble for saying it. And don't I know." She thought back to the time when she had said the f-word, and had got a caning for it.
***
"You know, we're almost at Hogwarts. We should change into our robes." James said as he looked at the time.
"Yeah, you're right." Lily said, "Excuse me." She got out her robes and went into the other half of the carriage to change. Sirius and James did so where they were, and then Sirius went to over to the drawn curtain separating them from her, to go and spy on Lily.
"Sirius! What do you think you're doing?" James whispered furiously. "Lily's a girl!"
"And don't I know." Sirius said, amused. "Why not take a peek? She won't know."
"I most certainly will." Lily said from behind them. "In any case, you wouldn't have seen anything interesting. I learnt the art of changing clothing without getting undressed at my old school. It's quite useful when you're all made to change for PE in the same area. Especially among some of the girls at my old school. I think they were even worse than you two." Lily smiled cheerfully, "And I slipped off to the girls' toilets to change."
Sirius smiled. "Glad to see you take precautions." He said as the train pulled to a stop in the Hogsmeade station.
A/N: If anyone would be kind enough to tell me who else was at Hogwarts at the time, and who the teachers are (or theories about that kind of stuff) email me or review and tell. Please!