The slight, read-headed girl tugged on a friendship bracelet around her wrist. Her cousin, Rose Weasley, has made it for her over the summer. It was scarlet and gold, the colors of her preferred house: Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart. It was and exhilarating image; she imagined herself with a sword in one hand, a wand in the other, battling a fearsome dragon.
Of course, she had always imagined that she would be sorted into Gryffindor. Her parents, grandparents, and all of her aunts and uncles had been. Even her teasing, irritating oldest brother bore the lion crest on his school robes. But she had begun to doubt this certainty when her elder brother Albus had been sorted into Slytherin two years previously.
"What if I'm in Slytherin?," she whispered to herself, remembering Uncle Ron's words as Albus and Rose had left for Hogwarts: "If you're not in Gryffindor, we'll disinherit you." He couldn't really mean that.
Could he?
She was roused abruptly from her reverie by a the squeaky voice of Professor Filius Flitwick, as he announced, "POTTER, LILY!"
Whispers broke across the hall, as she had expected them to. The name Potter always provoked a strong reaction in the wizarding community. Her father, Harry Potter, had, after all, defeated the greatest dark wizard of all time. But Lily did not consider this important at the moment. In fact, she hardly heard the murmurs of the other students as she walked with weak knees towards the waiting Professor Flitwick.
She sat upon the stool he indicated, hands tightly gripping the sides. Flitwick placed the battered old hat he was holding upon her head.
She heard a sudden voice. It seemed to come from inside her head.
"Ah," it said, "another Potter. You remind me of your namesake. Lily Evans. She had the same temper you do. You have talent, undeniably, but I think that it is best if I place you in..."
Lily felt her heartbeat quicken, her palms start to sweat.
After a pause, the Sorting Hat announced it to the entire Great Hall: "Gryffindor!"
With a heady sigh of relief, Lily slid off her stool and went to join her family at the Gryffindor table, where she belonged.