Prologue: Year One
Lily stared at the wall in the middle of platforms 9 and 10 quizzically. She looked around to see if any other kids her age were as confused as she was. Professor Dumbledore had personally come to her house to accompany her to London, where she got all her materials for her first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He had given her a ticket, which said, "Hogwarts Express, Platform 9 3/4". Suddenly, Lily saw a boy about her age who was accompanied with three other girls and a woman who looked exactly like him. Black hair, black or blue eyes, light skin and a completely confident expression on their faces. She walked over to the woman and asked,
"Excuse me, do you the way into platform 9 ¾?" The woman scrutinized her, then smiled and answered, "Yes dear, just walk straight into that wall between platforms 9 and 10. It's enchanted; you'll find yourself facing the Hogwarts Express right through it". Lily smiled nervously but thankfully. The boy who was standing beside the girl who looked the oldest grinned and stuck out his hand.
"Hi! I'm Sirius Black. This is my first year at Hogwarts. These are my mom and sisters, Caroline, Heather and Phyllis. Where are your parents?" Lily laughed amused at Sirius and replied,
"Hi Sirius, I'm Lily Evans and this is my first year at Hogwarts too. I'm the first witch in my family so I'm pretty lost in this world. My parents had to go to work and I'm capable of taking care of myself". The youngest girl, who looked about fourteen snorted, apparently amused at Lily's comment. Mrs. Black looked sternly at her daughter and exclaimed,
"Well girls, Sirius, the train is about to leave so I suggest you all hurry up". And with that, she ruffled Sirius' hair, kissed her daughters, waved at Lily and disappeared. Lily stood there gaping at the spot where Sirius' mother had previously been standing. Sirius chuckled and put an arm around Lily.
"It's okay, almost every graduated wizard or witch can apparate around here. Just be careful with the muggles". Then seeing Lily's confused expression he added, "Non magical people" And then, the two friends pushed their trunks into the column after Sirius' sisters and entered the Platform.
Once they were both in the train Sirius beckoned Lily to go find a compartment. Lily curiously peeked around and spotted a compartment with a boy and a girl sitting in it. Lily cleared her throat to announce her presence.
"Hey! My name is Kim Whitby. Do you want to sit with us? You're more than welcome!" the girl invited Lily eagerly. Lily beamed in gratitude and sat down next to the girl.
"I'm Lily Evans. My friend, Sirius Black will be coming soon if that's fine with you guys." She introduced themselves just as Sirius' head peered around the corner of the door.
"Found new friends, Lily?" he remarked, as he nodded to the group. Lily stood up once again and addressed Sirius.
"Hey! This is Kim and this is…Oh! I forgot to ask you I'm so sorry..." she trailed off as she remembered the boy sitting in front of her. He grinned and stuck his hand out as Sirius had done before.
"I'm James. James Potter. Pleased to meet you Sirius, Lily". Lily saw a faint shade of blush creep into his cheeks as he ran a hand through his messy black hair. Sirius sat down beside James and they started talking about Quidditch. Lily turned to Kim and asked what Quidditch was. Kim opened her mouth but closed it a while after.
"Oh, you're muggleborn?" Lily remembered what Sirius had said about non-magical people and nodded,
"I guess". Kim explained to her everything she didn't know about the magic world. Quidditch, candy, Houses and the Ministry. Kim sighed.
"I'm expected to be in Ravenclaw. My sister went there and so did my mom. My dad was actually in Hufflepuff." She addressed the boys,
"Hey Guys!" they stopped laughing about a move made by some Derek Krum in the Bulgarian team and looked at Kim, their eyes drifting casually to Lily, making her blush.
"What house do you think you guys are going to be in?" Sirius looked uncomfortably at his feet.
James brightly smiled. "I'm going to be in Gryffindor. All my family has been in it since I don't know when". Kim snickered at his comment and announced once again to the whole group now,
"I'm probably going to be in Ravenclaw. Lily here is muggleborn so we can't know. What about you Sirius?" Sirius looked like he had been trying to avoid this question.
"Well…I…don't judge me hard but my whole family except my oldest sister has been in Slytherin since well…like James, forever. Caroline was in Ravenclaw. She's my favorite sister but it was as if my whole family was ashamed of her. And I'm afraid as to where I'll go. If I'm in Slytherin, every other student, including you guys, will judge me as a well…Slytherin but if I'm in any other house my family won't look at me the same anymore". He revealed shyly.
Lily felt so bad for Sirius. He had seemed so happy and confident and now he was about to cry. She went over to his side and hugged him warmly.
"Don't say those things Sirius. If you go into Slytherin, I see no reason why your character would change. And I'll still like you for who you are, not for what stupid house you go in. Right?" she added to James and Kim as she raised her eyebrows. James looked positively annoyed at something. He was eyeing Lily's arms around Sirius but smiled anyway and nodded.
"Yeah don't worry Black. We're still your friends no matter what". Lily beamed at him, which seemed to lighten up his mood. Kim bit her lip and looked sweetly at Sirius, nodding like James. Then her eyes drifted off to Lily's and then to Sirius, who Lily was still hugging. Lily realized this and blushed, releasing him quickly.
A while after, the compartment door opened and two girls peered in. One was a curly blonde with pretty, hazel eyes, the other was tall and lanky, also blonde but with deep black eyes. They giggled when they saw James and the curly haired one spoke to James.
"Hi James. My friend, Zoe and I wanted to know if you wanted to sit with us in our compartment. You don't have to sit with them". She added, looking at Kim and Lily with disgust. James looked really embarrassed but before he could utter any words, Sirius cut in.
"Um, if you don't mind, you could introduce yourself and act a little friendlier towards us". The girl named Zoe rolled her eyes and glanced sideways at her friend.
"Oh, of course. I'm Annie Vane. Going to Slytherin most likely and you could sit with us to if you want to um…" she added embarrassedly, looking at Sirius up and down.
Lily scowled at the girls as she crossed her arms and stared at the window. James finally spoke.
"Annie, these are my friends Sirius, Lily and Kim. No thank you, we're fine here but if you want to join us you sure can". Sirius raised his eyebrow at James and muttered,
"Yeah, thanks for asking James." And louder so everyone could hear, he asked, "How come you guys know each other?" Annie's smile grew wider and she giggled again. She was driving Lily crazy.
"Oh! James and I met at a Quidditch camp in the summer. We played on the same team and got to know each other really well". Annie told everyone. Then she addressed Kim and said,
"What is with those earrings and that skirt, they're positively horrible," Zoe laughed along as Annie smirked. Kim scowled and Lily offered,
"Yeah well, Annie? If you're not going to be nice to ALL of us, then be gone" Zoe stepped up and pointed her wand at Lily's face as Annie looked shocked and stared offended at James. Sirius jumped to his feet as James eyed Zoe's wand and put his hand on top of it, lowering it to her side.
"You lay one spell on my friend and you'll be sorry you were born". He threatened the girl. Sirius walked closer to Annie and Zoe.
"Leave. Now." he whispered into their faces. Annie looked scandalized at James' "betrayal" and Zoe stuck out her tongue as she left the compartment, pulling her friend along with her.
Lily blushed and said, "Thanks guys. That was nice of you. Those girls are horrible. I wonder what is wrong with Annie. And I thought she would be of the nice sort. And Zoe, she's just the typical follower with no life". Everyone nodded. Then Sirius, noticing the silence suggested a game of wizard chess. Lily smiled to herself and thought about how lucky she was to have found such good friends on her first day.
So that's how Lily, James, Sirius and Kim became close friends. Since their first train ride into Hogwarts.