Chapter One- Enter Lillian br br
A bright scarlet train gleamed, emitting a puff of billowing white steam as the engine prepared to take off. In the very last compartment, two young boys and a girl were sitting, chatting amiably. These, however, were no normal teenagers, and the train was no ordinary train. Within minutes it would be taking these three teenagers to an exceptional school, deep in the London country, where no ordinary person could find it, for their sixth year of education in magic. Ron Weasly, who's red haired, freckled face was well known to be the life of the party, just as his brothers before him had been, Hermione Granger, top in her class, now a prefect, with bushy brown hair and deep brown eyes, and Harry Potter, easily the most recognizable person in that magical world. To all outside eyes, he looked like a normal teenage boy, tall, thin but not scrawny, with jet black hair that he had finally tamed and fell just slightly into his brilliant green eyes. On closer look, one could see a thin, lightning shaped scar smack in the middle of his forehead, where his hair parted. It was this scar that made him so recognizable. It had been given to him by a very dark wizard who had killed his parents with the illegal Avada Kedavra curse. This wizard had tried to kill Harry four times in the past five years in various ways and was the very wizard in fact, which they were discussing. BR
"Do you think he'll try to break into Hogwarts again? I mean, I'm sure Dumbledore will be keeping a much closer eye on things, though he wasn't ever exactly lax on security," said Ron, looking worried. BR
"I don't think so. He probably still fears Dumbledore, he hasn't gotten all his strength back and you should've seen the look of cold hatred in Dumbledore's eyes when he discovered that Crouch had trapped Moody and was using the polyjuice potion to morph into him," Harry said, trailing off into a shudder. He was referring to the two years before, when the dark wizard, Voldemort, had used one of his minions to get Harry to touch a portkey and thus be brought to the dark lord. You see, Harry Potter was the only person to ever escape the Avada Kedavra curse, which killed the victim instantly; all they ever heard was speeding death before their life was stripped from their bodies. The only reason he had escaped was because Harry's mother had sacrificed herself to save Harry, and thus the curse had rebounded upon Voldemort and he had lost all his powers, and this had ended his rein of terror. Unfortunately, he didn't die, and the year before had used Harry's blood, the hand of one of his followers, and the bone of his father to come back to near full power again. BR
"Yes but didn't Trelawney say that he would come back more powerful than before? I wonder how much more powerful he can get. All they ever say is Dumbledore's powers rivaled Voldemort's; they never say that they exceeded his." Professor Trelawney was the extremely eccentric divination teacher, who constantly pronounced that Harry was going to die, and had probably had more false predictions than real ones. But in Harry's third year, she had gone into a real trance, and said that Voldemort was going to come back with the aid of a follower more powerful and terrible than before. Then, the year after, he had. The follower she spoke of was Peter Pettigrew, nicknamed Wormtail, who had sacrificed his right hand to bring Voldemort back to power, but so far he had not gained more power. BR
Harry opened his mouth to say something but at that moment the compartment door slid open and a very pretty girl entered. She looked a little like Hermione, but she was taller, and fuller. Instead of just generally frizzy large hair, she had sleek, dark curls that flashed gold under the train lights and framed her petite face nicely, falling to her mid back. Also she had stunningly blue eyes below long eye lashes and full, pouty lips. Also unlike Hermione she was wearing make-up, but not an exorbitant amount. The silver eye shadow and rich plum lip gloss only brought attention to the finer aspects of her face. BR
Harry looked over at Ron and saw that he was slack jawed and his honey colored eyes were blank. He had only seen this look a handful of times before and at that time Ron was in the presence of veela or part veela. This girl obviously wasn't a veela because, though her face did seem to have a glow to it, it didn't shine like a moon and all the veela Harry had ever seen before had nearly white, blonde hair that fell in a straight sheet. Harry looked back at her thinking that, while she wasn't nearly as pretty as a veela, her looks rivaled Fleur, the part veela who had participated in the Triwizard Tournament, and even Cho Chang. BR
"Do you mind if I sit with you?" She said, smiling shyly. She had a definite Midwestern American accent, but it was charming in its way, "I couldn't find a seat in all the other compartments." She was shifting nervously from one black heel shoed foot to the other, each tapping the floor with a slight click. BR
"Sure," Ron said dreamily, his eyes still on her, but finally managing to completely close his mouth. BR
She flopped down next to Hermione and smiled again, showing her straight, white, smallish teeth and looked around. Noticing that no one else wearing robes, she took hers off. The smart gray vest with the Hogwarts emblem she was wearing fit her nicely. Hermione looked her over and frowned slightly. Hermione wasn't the jealous type, but you could tell she didn't appreciate the look Ron was giving the girl. Her bright blue eyes darted to Hermione's flaming brown ones and her smile faltered slightly. She turned away quickly, looking slightly upset but grinned and flushed when she caught Ron's eyes. It was clear someone else was going to have to start conversation; this girl was just too shy, or nervous. BR
"So, I've never seen you around school before, what year are you?" said Harry, hoping this would open her up a little bit. BR
"Oh, I'm a sixth year, but I just transferred here from Grimoire Institute, it's a wizarding school in the U.S," she added, catching both Harry and Ron's blank looks. BR
"I read about that in Magical Education in the Americas, isn't it somewhere in Michigan?" said Hermione. BR
"Oh," she said, looking surprised, "I didn't know anyone knew about it over here, it's a very small, selective school." She stopped. They all wanted to know more about the school but apparently she needed more prodding. BR
"So, what brings you to England?" Ron said, leaning forward slightly so as to catch every word. BR
"Well, my dad got a job in the ministry of magic over here, they transferred him in preparation for when they have to fight Voldemort," she stopped because Ron had involuntarily shuddered and said, "what?" BR
"We don't normally say his name." Harry explained hastily. BR
"Oh," she said, looking at Ron strangely, "so anyways, my dad's an auror, one of the best in America, you know, Dave Cannonbergh…" BR
Hermione and Ron's eyes got wide with recognition, but Harry, once again demonstrating his ignorance of the wizarding world, didn't recognize the name. BR
"So you must be, Lillian…" said Hermione, looking as though she was awed but not liking it. BR
Lillian giggled, "no one ever calls me that, I'm usually called Lily." BR
"Hey, that was my mom's name," Harry said, hardly seeing what it had to do with anything but just trying to make conversation. BR
"That's cool. I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier, must've just slipped my mind, so who are you guys?" BR
"Hermione Granger." BR
"That's a pretty name, Hermione, of course I thought it was pronounced Hermy-own; I read about you in Witches Weekly a few years ago, of course I never believe anything that Rita Skeeter writes, not everyone can be that horrible. But it said that you hang out with Harry Potter…" she said, looking around. Then it clicked, visibly on her face, as her eyes caught Harry's scar, "So you're... wow. I mean, I knew you were in my year but I never expected to meet you so soon, and that means you," she said, catching Ron's eyes again, "must be Ronald Weasly." BR
"How did you know that?" he said, startled. BR
"Well you're in Harry's biography, I mean, you are his best friend, aren't you?" she said, and Harry wondered if she read as much as Hermione. She looked over at Hermione and said "and you're in there too, I just didn't remember till now, but you're listed as his girlfriend…" she looked disappointed. BR
Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but seeing as she hadn't taken a liking to Lily, and because Harry had, he covered quickly with, "No, we're not boyfriend and girlfriend, just good friends. Ron and I saved her from a troll and we've been really close since then." BR
"Oh!" she said, cheering up and giving Harry a look he'd never gotten before from a girl. However she caught the jealous, downtrodden look on Ron's face and leaned back, switching the leg that was crossed and saying, "so, tell me about Hogwarts. I'm particularly interested in Professor Dumbledore." BRbr
Ron and Harry launched into an explanation of the castle and grounds, telling her all about Hagrid when she asked who the gardener was and spending a few minutes on Dumbledore. Hermione had buried herself in The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6. Lily looked at her curiously, as if to wonder her reason behind her rude silence, and Hermione cast her a dark glare over the top of the book before starting to read again. Lily's round eyes opened wider for an instant and then she looked back to Ron and Harry. BR
"We have all the same classes at Grimoire so I'm caught up there, but tell me about the teachers." BR
"Well there's Professor McGonagall, who's the deputy headmistress, teaches Transfiguration and head of Griffindor…" BR
"Griffindor?" she said, her eyes squinting slightly with confusion and her head tilting slightly to the right. BR
"Oh," said Harry, feeling stupid for not realizing she wouldn't know, "It's a house, there are four of them, into which all the students are sorted, you'll probably be sorted once you get to the school in the sorting ceremony. All they do is put a hat on your head and it tells you which house you should be in," he added, seeing fear flood her face, "there's Hufflepuff, which is generally for the nice nice people, Ravenclaw, for the really smart people, Slytherin, where most of the rude, obnoxious people go, and Griffindor, which is our house." BR
"Oh, I hope I'm in that one then," she said, grinning again, "so there's McGonagall…" BR
" and there's Sprout, she teaches Herbology, and she's nice and outdoorsy, and Hagrid of course, he also teaches Care of Magical Creatures, although generally he brings in monsters," Ron paused slightly as she laughed. She didn't seem at all worried about dealing with monsters, "and Trelawney, she teaches divination, did you take divination?" BR
"Yes, it's one of my favorite classes!" BR
"Well I don't know if you'll like it much here, Trelawney is very… odd," said Harry, "she keeps predicting my death." BR
Lily looked shocked, "But surely you're worried?" BR
"No, I've got a feeling she's just making it up, considering she predicts the death of a student every year," Harry said calmly. BR
"But to make a false prediction purposely is very serious, it breaks several magical codes and makes a mockery of divination," Lily said, not losing her look of shock. BR
"Well divination isn't very precise is it, anyways," said Hermione, looking scathingly over the top of her book again. BR
"Only if you aren't clairvoyant," Lily said surely, for once meeting Hermione's glares with the same level of ferocity. Hermione looked surprised and quickly started reading her book again, her eyes flitting back up over it cautiously. BR
"And there's Flitwick, he teaches Charms, a very excitable fellow," Ron continued quickly, looking concernedly at Hermione, "and Sinistrata in the astrology department, and Binns, he's a ghost actually, very boring, teaches History of Magic and finally Snape, he's a jerk at best and teaches potions, and we don't really know who's going to be our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, none of them have lasted a year since we've started here." Ron finished. BR
"And who teaches Arithmacy?" she asked. BR
"Er, that'd be… er…," Ron stuttered. BR
"Vector," Hermione said shortly, not bothering to elaborate. BR
"Well that's good, when do you think the trolley will arrive?" Lily asked, her stomach growling. BR
"Oh!" said Ron, looking at his watch, "it must've already passed, it's already 3!" BR
"It did?" she said, looking disappointed, and surprised they had all missed something so important. BR
"Well I'll be happy to share my lunch with you," Ron said, pulling out several sandwiches, "Mum always packs enough for an army." BR
"Thanks!" Lily said, looking delighted, but cautious, "what kind are they?" BR
"Er…" Ron stalled, pulling apart the bread, "Ham and Cheese." BR
Lily looked disappointed again, "I don't eat meat," she explained. BR
"Well I'm sure we can catch her, she's probably some where near the front," said Harry. BR
"Okay!" she said, looking relieved, but then worried, "would, oh this is embarrassing, would someone come with me? You know, Dad being who he is, I always get really nervous around strange wizards, no matter how young." BR
Ron opened his mouth to volunteer but Harry beat him to the chase "I'll go, no need to be embarrassed." Ron glared at him. BR
As they rose and she opened the door, waiting for Harry, she turned, smiling sweetly, and said, "I'll be right back." BR
They slid the next compartment door open and revealed mostly Slytherins. BR
They walked slowly, Lily's eyes darting here and there nervously, smiling every once in a while as someone smiled at her. A hush had ensued once they'd entered and now a small buzz began to generate. A few of them hissed insults as Harry passed. The train suddenly rocked and Harry grabbed onto a seat, but Lily wasn't prepared and was thrown onto someone's seat. As Harry hurriedly went to help her up he realized that she'd fallen over the last person he wanted to see, Draco Malfoy, sitting with Pansy Parkinson. BR
"I am so sorry!" Lily exclaimed, blushing and quailing under the glare Pansy was giving her. BR
"No problem," Malfoy said smoothly, running his hands through his hair to straighten it, "No problem at all. My name's Draco Malfoy. And who are you, may I ask?" Harry had never seen Draco be this polite, but he was obviously turning on the charm for Lily because when saw Harry standing next to her, he looked as if he wanted to hurl insults at him, but didn't want to make a bad impression. BR
"Hi Draco, I'm Lily, Lily Cannonbergh," she said, smiling ever so slightly but still looking embarrassed. BR
"Oh, so you'd be Dave Cannonbergh's daughter?" he asked, looking slightly abashed at who her father was. After all, her father caught death eaters and Malfoy's father was a death eater. BR
"Yeah…hey can you tell me how long ago the trolley came over here?" she asked. BR
"Not too long ago, it only left about an hour ago, it usually spends about 15 minutes per compartment." BR
"Thank you so much," she said, smiling once more and turning to head for the door. BR
"Hey, what year are you?" BR
"Sixth." BR
"That's my year. I hope you're in Slytherin." BR
She smiled politely though Harry could tell that she was hoping she wasn't. As she walked towards the door, Draco put his leg out in the aisle, and Harry stumbled over it, but caught himself just in time and kept walking, giving Malfoy a furious look as the entire compartment burst out in laughter. Lily looked back, a look on her face like they thought she was laughing at her, and slid the compartment door open, stalking through it. BR
They found the trolley woman in the next to first compartment, as Lily had to stop and introduce herself to someone in every compartment, although she didn't fall over anyone else, and Harry was caught up in the 3rd compartment when several other 6th year Griffindors called him over to talk to them. He backed out of it by telling them that they had to get food and then briefly introducing Lily. Dean Thomas offered her some chocolate frogs, but she said that she couldn't and they were on their way again. BR
Once they reached the old witch at the trolley she was nearly out of the compartment. However she was quite delighted because the first compartment was all teachers who hadn't arrived yet and prefects that were trying so hard to impress each other that they rarely bought sweets. Her supply looked sparse but with a smile and a wave of her wand, the cart was full again. Lily expressed her delight at the novelty treats, most of which she said she'd never tried before. She got a few of everything except Bertie Bott's every flavor beans and licorice wands. Harry got a large stack of cauldron cakes and a box of the beans. Lily gave her candy to Harry to carry, who placed them carefully in his large pockets and they headed back. BR
Soon they reached the Slytherin compartment. Lily paused momentarily then entered huffily, still thinking that they had made fun of her, but she smiled when Malfoy gave her a reassuring look. He stuck out a foot for Harry after she passed, but Harry caught it that time and brought his foot down right on top of Malfoy's, grinding his entire weight into it. Malfoy gave a yelp of pain and then jumped up, wand drawn. Harry spun to face him, also pulling his wand out. Lily looked back, wondering what the racket was about and took in the whole scene. BR
"HARRY! DRACO! I can't believe you two!" She said, her cheery expression melting into pure disapproval. Grabbing Harry's arm forcefully, she steered him out of the compartment, throwing an appalled look over her shoulder as she slammed the compartment door in Malfoy's face; he had tried to follow them. BR
They reentered their compartment and saw Ron and Hermione, standing feet apart, facing each other and very red in the face. There was a ringing silence that said that they'd abruptly stopped fighting, and both had a very pained look on their face as their eyes traveled to Lily's hand on Harry's arm. There was a very awkward moment and then all at once, Lily ripped her hand of Harry's arm like he had scabies and sat down, crossing her ankles with a very red face, Ron sat down and glared at the window as if he wanted to break it with his mind, Hermione sat down and gave Ron a very menacing glance before starting in on her book again, turning the page so forcefully the it ripped. Harry plopped down opposite Lily, feeling hurt that she was embarrassed to be seen with her hand on him. BR
After a few minutes of tense silence, Lily said, "We've only got 5 more minutes until we reach Hogwarts, you should probably change into your robes and uniforms." She pulled on her robes and stood up getting ready to leave so Harry and Ron could change privately. However, Hermione got up and reached the compartment door before her, gliding past her without a word. Lily looked reluctant to follow her and then looked unsurely back and Harry and Ron. Harry was about to tell her to go ahead, that Hermione wouldn't do anything to her, but just as he opened his mouth, Ron said, "You could always go to the back of the compartment," then shot Harry a look that implied that Lily shouldn't go anywhere near Hermione for the next few minutes. Lily, looking grateful walked to the back saying "Just say when." BR
They changed quickly and called Lily back up. She emerged, looking them over approvingly and holding a purring Crookshanks. Harry smiled at her and she looked up, then at the cat quickly, blushing to be caught admiring Harry and Ron and said, "Who's this fellow?" BR
"That's Crookshanks," Ron said, looking pleased at her, "It's Hermione's cat." BR
Lily dropped Crookshanks so suddenly that he hissed and ran under the bench seat. Hermione arrived just in time to see this. She rushed back there, kneeled down and extricated it from under the seat saying "Just what do you think you're doing to my cat?" BR
Lily was just about to reply when the train came to a shuddering halt. She closed her mouth quickly and brushed past Hermione, grabbing her trunk from the overhead compartment and a very pretty great horned owl that no one had noticed before, it had been so quiet the whole train ride. However it was wide awake and turned its round amber eyes Pigwidgeon disapprovingly, then on Hedwig and hooted; Hedwig hooted back in a dignified manner and started shifting around, antsy to get out. Lily smiled and turned around, her robes swishing around her legs as she exited, her bird craning so as not to loose sight of Hedwig. BR