Chapter One: First Year
or A Sorting Problem
...
James didn't like that redhead. He had decided so when he had first saw her in the train, sitting with that greasy-haired boy Sirius had wisely nicknamed Snivellus. She had done nothing but sneer at him and call them rather mean names, such as dimwits or brats. Brats! No one had ever called James Potter a brat, and that redhead wouldn't be an exception. He didn't know her name yet, but his newfound friend – a black-haired boy named Sirius Black – and him had already planned a positively nasty prank to be pulled on the anonymous redhead later on that term.
Lily hadn't liked the black-haired boy who had scurried into their compartment, either. Severus had been her only friend for a while and see those two boys – who could almost be taken as brothers – picking on him had just made Lily furious. There was the cocky one, the one with the curly hair, and there was the other one, with a rather charming but nevertheless undoubtedly annoying look in his hazel brown eyes. The young redhead couldn't wait to get back at them for bullying her best friend – especially at that annoying hazel-eyed boy.
The two of them stood in the two edges of the first year group waiting in front of the Sorting Hat. James and Sirius, in the left side of the group, snickered at the Hat's old and filthy appearance, whilst Lily commented to James and some girl she had just met about how amazing the ceiling of the Great Hall looked.
Soon, Professor McGonagall walked up next to the stool over which the Sorting Hat was peacefully resting, and called out a name.
"Alderton, Rachel!"
A small brunette, who had her face full with freckles, walked up sheepishly and sat down on the stool. She felt the Sorting Hat resting over her brown locks, and a few seconds later it cried out the eleven-year-old's house.
"Hufflepuff!"
After Rachel came 'Anderson, Robert', who was placed in Ravenclaw, and after Robert another name was called out.
"Black, Sirius!"
Lily noticed how the Slytherin table had started muttering nervously. What the girl ignored was the presence in that table of Sirius's older cousins, Bellatrix, a rather blunt seventh year, and Narcissa Black, a particularily self-centered fifth year. They all thought Sirius would end up Slytherin, although Bellatrix and Narcissa, as well as the rest of the Black family, had despised the boy since a very young age.
Sirius felt how the Sorting Hat fell over his curly black hair and pressed his eyes close. He didn't want to become a Slytherin, he didn't want to be like the rest of his family. He had always been called things such as blood traitor by his own parents, but Sirius didn't care. Even from such an early age – barely eleven and a half years old – Sirius knew what was right and what was wrong in his own terms, and clearly being rather mean to someone because of not belonging to the Wizarding world sounded rather wrong to his young ears.
The boy let out a loud sigh when the Sorting Hat took its decision.
"Gryffindor!"
The Great Hall remained silent. Some Gryffindors clapped, but others frowned at the thought of having a member of the Black family in their own House. Was that even possible? But the quietest of the four Houses was Slytherin. They all watched with an air of contempt how the youngest Black sat down in the Gryffindor table, shaking hands with some of his now fellow House mates.
After Sirius came 'Botts, Alyssa' and 'Clements, Horace' who were both placed in Slytherin, 'Coltrane, Amanda' who was made a Hufflepuff, 'Dunder, Hugo' and 'Elliot, Sophie' who were made Ravenclaws.
"Evans, Lily!" cried out McGonagall.
Lily shivered. She had feared that moment from the very beginning. Severus had told her all over and over again that the best house to be placed in was Slytherin – but in her particular research the previous month Lily had found it wasn't the best choice for her own criterion. She had particularly wanted to become either a Ravenclaw or a Gryffindor, but she had doubted her second choice after seeing the hazel-eyed boy's friend sitting down in the Gryffindor table. Sirius Black, she had heard he was called.
Lily timidly made her way up to the stool, and felt her legs wobbling lightly as the Sorting Hat was placed over her long red hair. She heard the Heart mumble some words inside her head, and she pressed her eyes close. Not Slytherin, please. She heard the hat snort she didn't have the heart to become a Slytherin, so it ended up calling out something quite different.
"Gryffindor!"
Lily's eyes opened in glee as the Gryffindor table roared at their new female housemate. She grinned happily, but her expression fell when she saw Severus's frown. When she passed by her friend she patted the boy's back, giving him a warm smile.
"I'm sure you can make it to Gryffindor too," she said, trying to cheer him up.
"I'd rather die," Severus growled.
Lily frowned at her friend's attitude, but said nothing. She ignored what Severus had against Gryffindor, but it was definitely something rather nasty going on between Snape's past and the red and gold-coloured house.
The redhead was forced to take a seat next to Sirius, as they were, by the time being, the only two Gryffindors sorted.
Lily was followed by 'Finlay, Ewan', who was made a Hufflepuff, and 'Fleet, Rodney', Slytherin. 'Greene, Mario' was made a Ravenclaw, and then Lily's new friend, a small blonde girl with big hazel eyes, was called out.
"Haley, Alma!"
Little Alma walked with wobbly knees to the Headmistress, and flopped onto the stool with a nervous expression. Lily couldn't help but start cheering loudly when she was sorted into Gryffindor, and greeted her friend cheerfully along with the other Gryffindor students. Later on, 'Jenkins, Edward' was made a Hufflepuff and 'Jones, Alfred' was made a Ravenclaw. The next boy to come up looked rather scrawny and particularly tired, which Lily attributed to a bad night's sleep.
"Lupin, Remus!"
Remus walked onto the stool and closed his eyes peacefully as the hat sorted him into Gryffindor. All of the table started roaring in glee, but the boy just gave them a shy smile and slipped into a seat in front of Lily. The red haired girl told herself she definitely liked that boy.
'MacMillan, Alexander' was made a Hufflepuff, 'Mayhew, Dexter' was made a Ravenclaw, while his twin sister, 'Mayhew, Marianne' was placed in Gryffindor. 'Needle, Joseph' became a Hufflepuff, and 'Nott, Oscar', became the third Slytherin boy, followed by 'Olive, Martina' into the Slytherin house. 'Pettigrew, Peter', a small and slightly chubby boy, was made a Gryffindor too, and was greeted to the table by Remus, Lily, Alma, Sirius and Marianne. After Peter came 'Pollack, Kimberley', who was made a Slytherin, and then came a name that made Sirius smile with proud.
"Potter, James!"
Lily's expression fell when she saw 'Potter, James' was none other than the hazel-eyed boy from the train. The boy looked at Sirius and Remus, who seemed to be his new friends in school, and smiled cockily at Lily, who glared in response. To say the truth, she wasn't liking that Potter boy very much. She could only hope he wasn't placed in Gryffindor too. James seemed cocky and slightly arrogant, but somehow Lily knew he wouldn't make a good Slytherin anyway. The way he looked at his friends, she could tell she was a loyal and even trustable boy. And perhaps even a smart boy, although Lily would never admit that. Anyway, she just wanted him not to be a Gryffindor too.
Of course, Lily's pleas were completely ignored by the Sorting Hat.
"Gryffindor!"
James grinned happily as the table roared as they welcomed the next Gryffindor. Lily just frowned, but she felt angry when Alma started clapping happily and shook James's hand. Even Remus seemed to have befriended the boy, who seemed to have a weird charm that made Lily dislike him even more. Ugh, she just wanted to hand him a hair comb or something – his messy black hair was sticking out in all directions, as if he hadn't seen a hair comb in a while.
When the boy finished his round of greetings to his fellow housemates, he looked at Lily with a cocky smile.
"Well redhead, it seems like we're both Gryffindors," he said, offering his hand to her. "I'm James Potter, nice to meet you."
Lily doubted to shake his hand, but finally resolved she didn't want enemies at school, so she offered him her best smile.
"Lily Evans," she answered.
The girl shook James's hand, but suddenly felt an electrical shiver running through her body. She backed away and found all of the tiny hairs in her arm had stiffened. The boy showed their table mates some strange Zonko's artifact. Everyone seemed to crack up in laughter, but Lily only frowned at him deeply and started fuming when the eleven-year-old daredevil dared to take a seat next to her, playing with the cutlery happily as he started a conversation with Remus.
Gladly for Lily, the Sorting Ceremony continued. After James came 'Preston, Angela', who was a Slytherin, 'Puckett, Lucy' and 'Quinn, Emma', Ravenclaws, 'Raymond, Brandon', Slytherin, 'Richards, Juliet', Gryffindor, 'Rosemont, Eve', Hufflepuff, 'Samson, Anthony' and 'Sheffield, Paula', Hufflepuffs, 'Shields, Constance', Gryffindor. After Connie – as the girl had introduced herself to her House mates, for she highly disliked her full name – had sat down between Juliet and Alma, the five Gryffindor girls started chatting happily, knowing they would have to share dorms with the other four for a very long time. However, Lily seemed to snap out of the conversation when a very familiar name was called out.
"Snape, Severus!"
All of the Gryffindors turned around to find a greasy-haired, rather unhandsome boy walking over to the three-legged stool. Lily's eyes met Severus's, and she gave her friend a comforting smile. Severus just shrugged, making it clear he would never be a Gryffindor. Behind Lily, the four newfound friends snickered at Snivellus, as Sirius had nicknamed Severus in the train. Lily rolled her eyes and waited for the Hat to sort him in Gryffindor, but none of that happened.
"Slytherin!"
Severus didn't glance at Lily once as he took a seat with the rather nasty-looking Slytherin students. Lily felt upset about it, but didn't comment anything. The Gryffindor first years' conversation was delayed to the end of the ceremony.
After Snape came 'Sommers, Georgette' and 'Stern, Isaac', who became Hufflepuffs, 'Strathmore, Irene', Ravenclaw, 'Tanner, Simona', Slytherin, 'Thompson, Sara', Ravenclaw, 'Thorne, Stella', Slytherin, 'Williams, Quincy', Hufflepuff, and 'Wood, Gale', who became a Gryffindor.
Gale was the last one to join the table. The four boys talked eagerly to him, but Gale seemed quite happy to have ended up in Gryffindor with his new friend Juliet, who wouldn't stop joking about things that happened to both of them in the train ride. Connie and Marianne became quite close after sparing a few words, whilst Lily had found the best friend in Alma, although she was liking her House mates very much so far. She couldn't say the same for the boys: she did like Gale, Peter and Remus – despite being the last two friends with James – but she was starting to suspect she wouldn't enjoy James and Sirius's presence very much over her years in Hogwarts.
And she would realize that when the next morning all female Gryffindor first years woke up with firecrackers dashing through their new dormitory. Of course, when Lily looked at the door, she saw James and Sirius's cocky expressions, and felt determined to get back at James for that. What Lily didn't know, and which she would realize later on, is that love and hate are two horns of the same goat.
...
Author's Note: Thanks for taking the time to read this! This chapter is crammed with tributes to my favourite characters from movies and books, such as Isaac Stern (Itzak Stern from Schindler's List), Gale as for Gale Hawthorne in The Hunger Games, Sara Thompson, Hugo Dunder and Mario Greene are actually my best friends, Dexter Mayhew from One Day, Alfred Jones from Salmon Fishing in Yemen...anyway, I hope you liked it. It's the first chapter of a ten-chapter long story, one for each year Lily and James were together.
The last sentence 'love and hate are two horns of the same goat' are a reference to a movie I watched yesterday, The Help, which by the way is very recommendable and I must say I enjoyed it very much.
Next chapter, Second Year or Filch's Comeback, will come soon!
