Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter! I don't own James Potter! I don't own Lily Evans! I don't own pretty much everything!

Chapter 1

First Impressions

A piercing scream echoes through the Evan's house. Lily groaned and pulled her pillow over her head, trying to block out her sister's screaming. After about 5 minutes, Lily realized she wasn't going to be able to sleep anymore, so she climbed out of her bed, her green eyes flashing angrily and red hair a tangled mess. Though only 11, Lily could've scared off even the toughest bully in the neighborhood. She stomped down the steps and into the sitting room.

"Tuney! People are trying to sleep!" Lily told her older sister angrily.

Petunia wasn't listening. She was shaking from head to toe. "In the kitchen…" she muttered nervously.

Lily pursed her lips in annoyance. "Petunia, are you listening to me?" she asked.

"In the kitchen…"

Lily rolled her eyes. "I'll go see what's in the kitchen if it's bothering you this much," she snapped. Then she stalked to the kitchen. She looked around, her eyes falling on a large tawny owl sitting on the counter. She gasped. The owl hooted in a tone almost like scolding and stuck out a leg, to which was attached a letter in a parchment envelope. Lily ran over to the owl and grabbed the letter. No sooner had she done so that the owl fluttered away. She ripped it open and scanned it, her eyes widening with every word.

She wandered out of the kitchen a moment later, a dazed look on her face, a grin stretching from ear to ear.

"Sev was right," she told a frightened Petunia. "I'm going to Hogwarts."

The Evans house was a flurry of motion. Lily was running around unhelpfully, trying getting ready to leave so she wouldn't miss the train. Her mother was anxiously trying to make breakfast, pack Lily a lunch, and keep Lily and Petunia from killing each other. Her father was moving the luggage to the car as fast as he could, but Petunia was moving it out of the car.

"Petunia, stop unloading the car!" her father scolded.

"But I don't want Lily to go! She can't leave!" Petunia whined. "She can't go to that… freak school!"

"Petunia, it's not a freak school," her father said seriously.

"DADDY! I can't find my owl treats! Pixie Dust won't be happy!" Lily yelled from the doorway.

"You already packed them!" her father replied tiredly. "And I don't think Pixie Dust would notice; she's an owl."

Lily looked hurt. "She has feelings, too!" she protested, and then retreated into the house.

"Petunia! Come here!" yelled their mother from the kitchen.

"But –" Petunia began to protest.

"Now!"

Petunia stomped off, leaving her father free to load the car. Lily came out a moment later with a large cage under her arm containing a silvery gray and white owl.

"Lils, your food is in the kitchen," her father said, walking to his daughter and taking the owl. Lily nodded and ran to the kitchen where she found a small bagged lunch and a plate of scrambled eggs, toast with orange marmalade, and a few strips of bacon. Lily wolfed down the food before running out to the car where her dad was now closing the trunk and telling Petunia (who had come back out after a talk from her mother) to stop acting up.

"Get in the car," instructed Mrs. Evans as she closed the door and walked past Lily.

Lily jumped and ran forward, climbing into the back seat and leaving the door open for Petunia, who got in and slammed it so hard the whole car rocked back and forth for a moment. Their father raised an eyebrow at Petunia as he got into the driver's seat.

"Ready to leave?" Mrs. Evans asked.

"No," replied Petunia stubbornly.

"Yes! Oh, yes, yes, yes!" Lily sang joyously.

Mr. Evans chuckled as the car jumped to life and pulled out of the driveway.

Within 10 minutes, the Evans family was pulling up in front of Kings Cross station. Lily jumped out of the car before her father had even shut off the engine and was at the trunk, struggling to open it.

"Lily, the trunk's locked," Mrs. Evans told her daughter as she got out.

Lily stopped, blushing. "Oh," she muttered, stepping back so Mr. Evans could open the trunk. Petunia let out a harsh laugh. Lily shot her older sister a glare before going to get her owl from the seat where she had been sitting.

"Lils, why don't you go get a trolley for your things?" Mrs. Evans told her daughter as she watched her husband pull out all Lily's belongings.

Lily nodded and skipped off into the station to find a trolley, quickly locating one and running it back to the car. She helped her dad load everything onto it the led the way inside. She held her ticket in her hand, grinning from ear to ear.

"Lily, what platform are we supposed to go to?" Mr. Evans asked.

"Umm," Lily said, glancing down. "Nine and three quarters."

Her parents exchanged a glance. "Really, Lily, tell us the platform or you may miss the train; we're pushing it. Its almost 11," Mrs. Evans said tiredly.

"I am being serious!" Lily said, showing her parents the ticket. "It says nine and three quarters!" Lily let out a dry sob. "How're we supposed to find it?"

"Why don't you ask?" said a cool voice from behind her, making Lily turn around. She was face to face with her best friend, Severus Snape.

"Sev!" she shrieked, hugging him. "I'm so excited! We're actually going! But…" Lily's face fell." How do we get to the platform?"

Severus smiled. "Follow me," he told her. Then he led Lily, Lily's family, and his mother to a wall. "Here we are," he said.

"You're joking, right?" Lily said. "We don't have the time for jokes!"

"No, I'm serious," Severus said truthfully. "Run at the wall. You'll go right through the platform nine and three quarters. I'll show you." Then he took his trolley back a bit and ran at the wall. Right as he should have collided with it, though, he disappeared. Lily blinked in surprise. Then Severus's mother did the same thing.

"Where'd they go?" shrieked Petunia.

"The platform," Lily said, flashing Petunia a false smile that hid her fear of crashing into the wall, which looked rather solid. Then she ran at the wall, praying it wasn't a joke. A moment later, she was standing on a platform by a scarlet steam engine, was surrounded by hundreds of people. It didn't take her long to find Severus and his mother, standing a few feet away, waiting. Lily rushed over. "That was so cool!" she bubbled. "You were right about the wall! You didn't lie!"

Severus smiled. "Of course," he said. "Why would I lie?"

Lily beamed at him. Then she returned to her family. Petunia looked sour, her parent looked amazed.

"I'm so excited!" she told her parents.

"We hope you have lots of fun," Mrs. Evans said. "Make sure you work hard and don't get into trouble."

"I'll have fun, now worries," Lily said, beaming. "And I never get in trouble."

"I can't believe you're going to that school," Petunia sneered. "It's a school for… for freaks!"

Lily's smile faltered. "How can you say that?" she asked her sister, her eyes welling with tears.

"You guys are all just weirdos!" Petunia exclaimed. "Freaks and weirdos!"

"But – " Lily reached out and tried to grab Petunia's arm.

"Don't touch me, freak!" Petunia yelled, jerking away.

"How can you be like this? You wanted to be like me! You wrote to Dumbledore!" Lily protested. "You begged him to let you come!"

"I never begged him!"

"Yes you did. But he was very nice to you with his reply," Lily said.

"You read that?" Petunia snarled, eyes flashing. Then she noticed Lily glance nervously at Snape. "He read it, too! How could you? You're both just… freaks!"

Petunia stormed away, leaving Lily close to tears. She grabbed her things, gave her parents each a fleeting hug, and climbed onto the train and into a compartment. The train pulled out of the station a few minutes later and Lily, unsure when else to do it, changed into her Hogwarts robes. No sooner had she finished that a group of 4 loud boys entered her compartment, taking the empty seats, ignoring the fact Lily was already there. Snape, who also had changed, was walking down the hallway, peeking into all the compartments, searching for Lily. He found her huddled up, half hidden by the boys, her face red and blotchy from crying.

"Go away," she told him.

"Why?" he asked.

"It's your fault Tuney hates m-me. I-its b-because sh-she knows w-we s-saw the l-letter from Dumbledore," Lily stammered, turning away.

"Why does it matter?"

"Tuney's my sister!"

"But –" Snape stopped himself. Then he said, "But we're going to Hogwarts!"

Lily gave a half smile.

"You have to be in Slytherin," Snape said, nodding encouragingly.

"Why would she want to be in Slytherin?" asked one of the loud boys from the compartment. He had untidy black hair and hazel eyes.

"My whole family has been in Slytherin," another boy said. He had longer unkempt hair and a handsome face.

"Really?" the first boy said.

"Yep. But I'm hoping to end that. Which do you want to go to?" the second asked.

"Gryffindor, like my dad," the first replied.

Snape snorted.

"What's your problem?" the first boy asked rather nastily.

"Who'd want to be brave but not smart?" Snape asked coolly.

"Obviously some people," the second said grinning. "And where will you be going, seeing as you aren't brave or smart by the looks of you?"

The two boys laughed loudly. Lily got up, pulling Severus with her. "Come on, let's go somewhere else, Severus," she said, shooting a glare at the boys.

"Let's go somewhere else," imitated the first boy, laughing, and trying to trip Snape.

"See ya, Snivellus!" one of the boys called as the door was slammed shut.

A.N.:

How was it? Horrible? Most likely. Awesome? Almost impossible. Please review! I need ideas/feedback!

I'm going to try my best to update every few days, at least once a week. Maybe more often (I have a younger sister who is now officially obsessed with this story after reading one chapter and bugs me every few minutes about when the next chapter will be done).

Reviews would be very much appreciated!

Thanks!

-Naomi