A/N: I really hope you like this, I've worked on this and the plot of the series forever. It's the first part of a MWPP series w/ Lily and friends. I know a LOT of people write about that, but, in truth, it's really fun to write about the Marauders. ^_^ So, please read and review, but no flames! I burn easily!
Oh, and I finally figured out that Lily's last name really was Evans. Sorry for all the grief and mayhem I have caused by bugging people about it. ^_^
~*~
Star-Crossed Fates 1: Beginnings
By Aurora the Enchantress
~*~
It was a warm day in September. Wind rustled the leaves of the few trees at King's Cross station, blowing a young girl's long hair back from her face.
Eleven-year-old Celeste looked nervously around King's Cross Station. She was early for the Hogwarts Express. Muggles were bustling about everywhere. She'd never been here before, and being the shy girl she was, she didn't ask anyone for help.
Her older brother, Lucius, a third year, had gone over to talk to some of his foul Slytherin followers about who knew what - probably some illegal curse they were going to try to put on James Potter, whoever he was.
Celeste sighed. She wished she wasn't alone.
***
Lily Evans stepped out of her mother's car, carrying her redundant amount of supplies. Her older sister, Petunia, sat inside with a look of pure disgust pasted on her thin features.
"Petunia, please say good-bye to Lily. She'll be gone for a long time, and I'm sure we'll all miss her," their mother said tiredly. "Goodbye, dear," she added affectionately, kissing Lily on the forehead. "Be good."
"I'll try, mum," Lily answered, hugging her mother.
Petunia scowled. "Bye, Lily." There was hateful spite in her voice.
Lily ignored the harsh tone. "Bye, Petunia," she said carefully, "See you at Christmas break."
"I can HARDLY wait," muttered Petunia under her breath.
Lily waved cheerfully, watching her mother drive away. In truth, she was really glad that she had been accepted into Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, not just because it was said to be the best wizarding school in England, but because it also offered some respite from Petunia's constant incivility.
Ever since she'd found out she was a witch, Petunia had become really unbearable. Maybe it was the fact that their parents were really proud of Lily, or maybe Petunia was just jealous. Probably both.
Lily pushed thoughts of her sister out of her mind as she looked around King's Cross. She pulled out her invitation to Hogwarts.
"Platform Nine and Three Quarters," she said to herself. Where was that? There was Platform Nine, and Platform Ten... But nothing in between.
'Oh, well,' Lily thought. 'There's probably some magic involved, or everyone would know about it. I'll find someone who knows how to get onto it.'
***
Celeste clutched her tawny owl Lorin's cage closer to her, scanning the area for any other first years. And how was she going to get onto Platform Nine and Three Quarters? Being a pure-blood she supposed she should know, but it was not as if anyone talked to her! She was basically ignored at home. Which probably wasn't hard to do, now that she thought about it.
Celeste sat down on a nearby bench and pulled out her book of Potions. It looked interesting enough. She flipped through the She'd known she was a witch before she could walk, and figured she'd probably be in Slytherin. 'Ugh,' she thought to herself.
She didn't think she was anything like the rest of the Malfoys. And she wasn't. She almost looked like one - blonde hair, but it was darker and very thin, nearly always messy because it was so long. She was quite pale, though. It was really her eyes that were different, though. Instead of the light grey chips of ice that her brother and father had, her eyes were a dark blue with turquoise lights. But what was most different was the fact that they held no malice. It was only on certain, rare occasions that the "Malfoy" in her showed through.
Plus, to the surprise of everyone she met, the hatred of "mudbloods" and muggles had never really sunk in from the examples of her father and brother. What held most in her mind was her mother's words to her when she was very young: "Don't prejudge people who are different from you. There will be times when..." And the rest she'd forgotten. But the first sentence stuck in her head, because Celeste was different from everyone else. Very different.
She supposed she looked like her mother. But didn't remember what her mother looked like, so it was just guesswork. She'd died when Celeste was only five. Celeste might as well have been a foundling, and that idea would have appealed to her had she not known that the Malfoys would never take in an abandoned child.
Her thoughts on her lonely past were interrupted by a friendly voice.
"Hi, I'm Lily. Do you know how to get onto the platform nine and three quarters?"
Celeste turned and found herself staring into a pair of sparkling green eyes. She smiled shyly. She wasn't used to having anyone be nice to her. "Not really...", then hesitantly, "You're a first year, too?"
Lily nodded. "I'm muggle-born, so I really didn't know anything about Hogwarts until I got the letter... what about you?"
"I've known about it for ages..." Celeste broke off to laugh. Lily's apparent happiness was contagious. "I didn't get my letter for so long that they thought I was probably a squib!... Sorry, you probably don't know what that is!"
Lily giggled. "I think I have an idea. Anyway, what's your name?"
"I'm Celestina Malfoy, but I hate that name. Call me Celeste."
"Sounds good to me."
Lily sat down next to Celeste and set her cauldron - stuffed full of supplies - on the ground. They had been talking for a few minutes when they were interrupted....
"Hey, Celeste the Pest, what's that?" Lucius' loud, mocking voice rang through the station. He was pointing at Lily. "Already associating with Mudbloods! Celeste, you really make me laugh!"
"Can it, Lucius!" Celeste shouted angrily.
"You'd just better watch who you hang around with, Celeste. I don't think Father would be too happy to hear about your little friend." He spat the word friend like it was something contemptible.
Celeste stood up, her face beet-red. "Leave me alone! What would you know about friends, you don't have any!"
Lucius smirked and turned to walk away. "I wouldn't say things like that if I were you..."
Celeste scowled as Lucius strode jauntily away. Lily looked bewildered. "What was all that about, and what's a Mudblood?"
"It's a really foul name for someone who isn't of magical descent. You know, a muggle. It's just about the worst insult you can give a witch or wizard. Lucius is stupid. Don't let him make you feel bad."
Lily looked slightly confused, then nodded. "Thanks," she replied.
"No problem," Celeste said with a smile. Then, looking at her magical watch, whose hand was nearly pointing to "You're late", exclaimed, "Uh oh, we're almost late! Let's go!"
"Go where?!" Lily began to gather up her spellbooks she'd been sifting through and dumped them into her pewter cauldron.
"To Platform Nine and Three Quarters," Celeste answered quickly, frantically grabbing her owl's cage. Lorin let out a piercing squawk as Celeste accidentally banged the cage against her cauldron.
Both girls were still struggling with their books when the whistle blew, signaling the last chance to get onto Platform Nine and Three Quarters. "Oh, no," groaned Lily. "We'll never make it! I don't even know how to get onto the platform...."
"Need some help?"
Both Celeste and Lily glanced up from their bulky packages at the speaker. He had messy black hair and wore glasses. He was grinning, and there was something mischievous about his glinting brown eyes. He was closely backed up by two other boys who looked about his age, and just behind them stood a chubby, slightly nervous-looking guy who had a look on his face to suggest that he had forgotten something.
[A/N: hehe, enter the marauders...]
"Uh, sure!" Lily answered uncertainly.
"Ok, great. We all really need to get going."
He picked up Lily's caldron and left her with her owl's cage. Another boy, tall with black hair, grabbed Celeste's cauldron and grinned. Quickly looking around to see if anyone was watching them, the first boy motioned for them to follow him and set off at a run towards the wall between platforms nine and ten. Lily and Celeste thought at first that he would turn, but he kept at a headlong dash.
"Stop!" shouted Lily. He kept running...
"He's gonna crash!" Celeste shrieked.
He ran straight through the barrier as if nothing was there. Celeste and Lily's mouths dropped open in surprise. They turned as they heard good-natured laughter from the other three.
"What just happened?" asked Lily.
"That's how you get onto Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Guess you're muggle-born, huh?" answered the black-haired boy.
"Well, I am," said Lily truthfully, "but Celeste isn't."
He looked surprised. "Celeste?.... You wouldn't happen to be Celestina Malfoy, now would you?"
Celeste shrugged. "That's me."
No comment. An uneasy silence. Lily, as usual, broke it.
"I'm Lily Evans. Glad to meet you." She held out her hand for him to shake.
The tall black-haired boy looked amused, and did a mock bow over her hand.
"I'm Sirius. That's nice and all, but come on!"
The other black-haired boy with glasses suddenly reappeared. "What's taking you guys so long?" He was still carrying all of the stuff.
He grinned mischievously. "On three, we make a run for it... One! Two! Three!"
They all dashed towards the barrier between Platforms Nine and Ten, hoping to pass through it in time.
WHAM!
Books and extra robes and owl's cages and cauldrons flew out of their owner's hands as the companions bounced off the barrier.
Lorin immediately caused a racket, squawking and screeching. Lily's robes landed on a dignified looking Muggle gentleman a few feet away. Celeste's Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration flew into a puddle, while the chubby boy yelled that his pet rat had gotten away AGAIN.
Chaos prevailed as they tried to retrieve their items without attracting even more attention from the Muggles, who were shouting things like, "What do you think you were doing!" and "Are you absolutely insane?!" and "You could have been killed!" As if they needed more attention then they had already had gotten earlier, having the audacity to bring cauldrons filled with supplies like spellbooks, and pets such as owls and rats to King's Cross.
Sirius strode quickly away, motioning for them to follow him. They retreated to an inconspicuous corner of the station.
"James," he asked the other black-haired boy, "did anyone see you near the Hogwarts Express?"
"I don't think so..." A mischievous glint entered his eyes. "I've got an idea."
He motioned for the others to come in closer. Lily did, hesitantly, and Celeste followed.
"All right, no time for formal introductions. We're the Marauders. I'm James, this is Sirius, that's Remus, and that's Peter," James said, pointing to the boys in turn. Remus was the brown-haired one, and Peter was the chubby boy.
"I'm Lily, and this is Celeste," Lily said cheerfully. All nodded.
"Now," James said, grinning wickedly, "We need to make sure that no one knows about this." He turned to Lily and Celeste, and pretended to look them over. He smiled broadly. "You two look like you could keep a secret. All right, all you have to do is solemnly swear that you are up to no good."
Celeste was about to ask him what exactly was happening, but Lily said quickly, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." Celeste, slightly hesitant, echoed, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
James set his trunk down, opened it up, and pulled out something, holding it for the six companions to see.
It was light and silvery. Not anything really special, except for the fact that his hand underneath it was no longer visible.
"Wow," Lily whispered, "An invisibility cloak!"
James looked impressed. "How'd you know what it was?"
Lily shrugged. "I did some reading on simple spells and magical objects, and I found a bit on Invisibility cloaks."
Celeste watched Lily start to tell them about the history of Invisibility cloaks. Boy, she knew how to make friends fast. She'd never met anyone so happy. Not that she knew a lot of happy people, mind you.
"All right," James said, "Here's my idea. First,..." He pulled something else out of his supplies. It was a broom, sleek and shiny.
"Ah," Remus said, beginning to catch on. He too, took a broom out. Celeste had a feeling that they really weren't supposed to have them.
"Ever ridden a broom before?" James asked Celeste and Lily.
"No," they answered.
He laughed. "You're about to."
*****
Moments later, the six friends were zooming through the air after the Hogwarts Express at top speed, covered by the invisibility cloak, which had been enlarged thanks to Lily's knowledge of the Enlarging Charm. Their supplies were bewitched so that they were light, and were following them, also covered.
"It always helps to know charms, hexes, and spells in advance," Lily had said, and they'd all had to agree, if not rather laughingly at Lily's enthusiasm for schoolwork.
Lily and Celeste were on James' broom, while Sirius, Remus, and Peter occupied the other one. They'd left after Sirius made some cracks about James being the "ladies man" and James threatening to put the Furnunculus curse on him.
"Should we land on the Hogwarts Express or just follow it?" Sirius asked, yelling into the rushing wind.
Remus laughed. "Let's just follow it and see the looks on everyone's faces when we land coolly in the middle of the Hogwarts grounds."
Lily looked worried. "Wouldn't we get detention for doing that?"
"What's one detention? I mean, the sooner the better, right?" James asked.
Lily made a face. "I don't want to get in trouble the first day! They might expel me!"
Sirius tried not to laugh. "No, they won't, you know so many spells already they wouldn't dare expel you!"
Heard were many stories of the pranks that the Marauders had done throughout their last year. The marauders had a lot of tales to tell about Filch, the cantankerous old caretaker, and his disgusting cat, Mrs. Norris.
"Once, we summoned a toilet and tried to blow it up. We almost did it, but Filch caught us and confiscated it. Just to get him back, we turned Mrs. Norris green with flashing pink polka dots. He never could prove it was us," Remus said, grinning at the memory.
Celeste listened to them talk and laugh happily. She didn't say a word, but almost felt at ease. They were nicer than anyone she'd ever met in her life.
Having to associate with the friends her father deemed worthy (which were few and none) who hated all muggle-borns, she'd never really met a large variety of people. It had been always the same: first, brag about how rich they were, second, ask to tour Malfoy Manor, third, compare their manor to it, and last, go home. Oh, occasionally there'd be one that would talk about the curses they'd learned and laugh unpleasantly about any mudbloods they'd tortured lately, but that was hardly interesting. Keeping an indifferent expression on her face and an almost frigid ice in her eyes, [A/N: Remind you of any other Malfoys] Celeste had learned to tune out anything she didn't care to hear. Which was, of course, everything.
This time, though, she found herself smiling and laughing along with Lily and the four boys, for once not feeling like an outcast.
*****
A couple of minutes later, they were flying right over the Hogwarts Express. Lily, with Celeste's help, had convinced the four others that they did NOT want detentions. ("But why? They're ever so fun to get!")
Taking care to fly close to each other so that the Invisibility cloak wouldn't slip off (the last thing they needed was to be seen), they swooped lower to attempt to land.
"How is this going to work?!" shouted Lily frantically. "We can't just land on top of the train!"
James turned around to face her and grinned. "Of course we can."
Lily glared at him. "I swear, if you get us all killed, I will personally have to kill you... Wait, that didn't come out right."
Celeste suppressed a giggle.
James heaved an exaggerated sigh. "Fine, then..."
He trailed off as he realized that the train was slowing down. They were almost at Hogwarts.
'Bad timing,' thought Celeste.
"Ok, some quick thinking would be nice now, people," Sirius said sarcastically. "Unless we all want detentions. Which actually wouldn't be a bad start off to a new year..." he added with a devilish grin.
James suddenly motioned for all of them to fly lower. He flew next to a window, quickly threw the Invisibility cloak off himself, and rapped on the window pane.
"Hey, Morgan!" he yelled. The window opened.
"James, what in the name of Merlin have you gotten yourself into this time?" a laughing female voice was heard from inside.
James looked exasperated. "Don't ask questions!! Just open the window all the way, please!"
Morgan, whoever she was, lost no time in opening the window to its full capacity. The companions had a bit of a dilemma keeping up with the train as they climbed through the window. James just managed to squeeze through, followed by Lily, Celeste, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, who had a bit of difficulty fitting, if you catch my meaning. They pulled their supplies through, and James secured his Invisibility cloak inside his trunk before they were asked any suspicious questions.
Amid amused stares from everyone in the compartment, they sat down on the red cushioned seats. James leaned back in an "at ease" position. "Nothing like a bracing fly in the middle of the afternoon," he said loftily.
Everyone laughed. The whole school knew the Marauders too well to believe that they had simply wanted to go for a fly.
Once the conversation in the compartment had returned to normal, James introduced Morgan, who was a fourth year, to Lily and Celeste. "She's my cousin on my mum's side," he added. Morgan had long black hair, light cinnamon colored skin, and laughing brown eyes. They instantly liked her. "I've gotten James out of plenty of scrapes in his past year at Hogwarts," she confided in the two girls. "Also, my real name is Peighton Morgana Stoneburner, of course making my initials PMS." She laughed. "Just call me Morgan. Everyone does."
Also met in the small room was Amber Brubaker, a short girl with pretty dark brown hair, who was in Morgan's dormitory. She had a long family line of witches and wizards at Hogwarts, so she kindly explained to Lily (and in some parts, Celeste) about the Sorting Ceremony, the four houses, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin, the Great Hall, and dorm rooms.
A few minutes later, there was a hiss of steam as the train stopped at Hogsmeade Station.
"Remember, everyone," Sirius announced, catching Remus' eye and grinning, "We've been in here the ENTIRE time, just minding our own business."
Laughter mingled with talk as the students stepped out of the train and looked up at Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
*****
After being put in a large group of other first years, Lily, Celeste, and two girls they didn't know were taken across the lake to Hogwarts in the yearly ritual. The gamekeeper, Hagrid, entertained them with talk while he rowed the boat across the clear water.
Celeste trailed her hand in the lake as they skimmed toward Hogwarts. It seemed like things weren't going to be quite as bad as she thought they were. At least she had a great friend like Lily, who, at the moment, was sitting, chatting animatedly to the other girls, Adele Brubaker, who turned out to be Amber's younger sister, with pretty brown curls and freckles, and the other, Silvira Rivers, with wispy blonde hair and large green eyes.
Finally, they reached Hogwarts. Entering the Great Hall, Celeste immediately noticed the ceiling, if it could be called that. It looked exactly like the sky outside; she could have sworn upon Merlin's grave that it was. Airy clouds partially obscured a bright sun, high in the sapphire sky.
As the line of first years progressed, Celeste saw a grumpy-looking wizard glaring at them, followed by a smoky grey cat that looked like it had survived a train wreck. It could only be Filch and Mrs. Norris. She pointed him out to Lily, who almost giggled at the mental image of the cat being green with pink polka dots.
The attention of everyone in the room was suddenly directed toward a tall, thin wizard with a long silver beard and twinkling blue eyes. Celeste immediately registered him as Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster.
The talking died down as he began to speak.
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts," he said with a smile, "I would like to make a rather long speech, but I'm afraid I would bore you to tears. So, I will get to the point. We of course have our first years to welcome, and the Sorting Ceremony to execute. So, let's begin! Professor McGonagall..."
He motioned for a young, black-haired woman with her hair tightly pulled back in a bun to step forward. She held in her hands a dirty, patched old hat that was clearly almost falling apart. With great reverence, she set it on a four legged stool in front of the first years. There were some nervous giggles.
Next, Professor McGonagall explained about the four houses and the basic school rules, which was hardly entertaining. She had drawn out a large list of forbidden objects inside the school, and was reading the whole thing.
"Bor-ing," Adele whispered to Celeste, Lily, and Silvira. They had to agree.
***
James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter sat at the Gryffindor table, looking at a book called "The Wizarding Prankster's Guide to Causing Mayhem".
"Hey, look at this!" Sirius said, "Using this spell, you can toilet-paper the whole school in under a minute!"
"Cool!" James exclaimed softly, not wanting to be overheard.
Peter flipped the page. "Here's that toilet exploding spell we tried last year."
"Yeah, too bad it didn't work," Remus said apologetically.
Sirius watched Filch and Mrs. Norris slink by. He got an idea. Pulling out his wand, he pointed it at Mrs. Norris and whispered, "Wingardium Leviosa."
***
As other first years began to whisper, obviously bored with McGonagall's recitation of the rules ("Rule number 44: Do not attempt to decorate any school property unnecessarily... this would include toilets, animals, and property of other students..."), Lily caught sight of something that nearly made her laugh out loud. She pulled Celeste's sleeve and pointed at Mrs. Norris, who was hovering about four feet above the heads of the first years, looking very displeased.
Celeste giggled and looked over at the Marauders, whom she was sure were responsible. They were all grinning at Sirius, who was pretending he didn't know what was going on. Filch hadn't noticed yet, and McGonagall was immersed in reading the rules.
A peal of laughter sprang up from the rest of the first years as they noticed the cat suspended in midair above them.
McGonagall's monologue stopped as she glared at them. "And just what, may I ask, is so funny?" she asked icily. Then she saw Mrs. Norris, who was currently trying to run.
"This," she said, pointing at the cat, "is a violation of rule number 23."
Everyone was laughing too hard to notice, except for most of the teachers and the odd prefect or Head Boy/Girl.
Sighing heavily, McGonagall pointed her wand at Mrs. Norris, said the counter spell, and waited while the cat sank slowly to the floor. She frowned in the general direction of the marauders, and rolled up the sheet of parchment with the rules on it.
"Now," she said, fixing everyone with a frosty glare to stop the laughing, "You will come up and try on the hat. It will put you into the house that you should be in."
This seemed kind of odd, but the first years nodded.
What surprised Lily and Celeste the most came next. A tear near the hat's brim opened, and it began to sing.
[A/N: Yes, I did make up a song. And a pretty pathetic one at that.]
"You find yourself at Hogwarts,
Welcome to another year,
Let me introduce myself,
And tell you why you're here.
I may not seem the type of hat,
You would normally see,
But try me on and I will put you
Where you are destined to be.
There's not a thing about you
This Sorting Hat won't find,
So sit down and give it a try,
I'll put you with your kind.
Maybe you're a Gryffindor,
Those who are brave and true,
Daring, trust, and chivalry,
May be a part of you.
Or perhaps you belong in Ravenclaw,
Where dwell the ones of wit,
Clever, sharp, and quick to learn,
Ravenclaws commit.
Maybe you're a Hufflepuff,
A just and loyal friend,
Hard workers all and friendly, too,
They see it through to the end.
Or you may be in Slytherin,
Where the cunning ones belong,
Crafty, sly, and very quick,
Slytherins will be lifelong.
So put me on! I won't bite!
Don't be a scaredy-cat...
I'll tell you where you ought to be,
For I'm the Sorting Hat!"
[A/N: Please forgive me. I'm terrible at rhyming... ^_-]
There was applause. The hat bowed, and became silent. Professor McGonagall began to call out names. The nervous first years waited with great anticipation for their name to be called.
"Abbot, Martin!"
A short blonde boy rushed forward to put the hat on. He sat on the stool for a few moments, until the hat called out,
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
And so it went along until,
"Brubaker, Adele!"
Lily and Celeste wished her luck, and she strode nervously to the stool, put the hat on, and sat down, waiting. Nearly a minute later,
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Lily smiled at Celeste. "Gryffindor's the best, I think," she said. "Yeah, and I'll probably get Slytherin," Celeste whispered back gloomily.
They waited awhile more. Finally,
"Evans, Lily!"
Lily walked slowly up to the podium. 'Please, please Gryffindor,' she thought, as she crammed the hat on her head. She saw James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter waving merrily at her from the Gryffindor table. Sirius gave her the thumbs up sign.
Lily heard a small voice in her ear.
"Ah, Lily... Gryffindor, you say? Let's see...You are kind, considerate... those are Hufflepuff qualities. You are also quite clever, a Ravenclaw attribute. But your temper can get out of check at times, which, is of course, a quality of the highly esteemed Godric Gryffindor. Let's see..."
'This is kind of like a psychiatric appointment or something,' Lily thought, amused.
"Ah, and not nervous at all, are you?" the voice continued.
'Not really,' thought back Lily. It was the truth.
"Interesting..."
Celeste watched Lily's facial expressions. She almost hoped Lily would be in Slytherin, to keep her company. She sighed.
"What's wrong?"
It was Silvira, who hadn't been sorted yet.
"I really, really don't want to be in Slytherin," Celeste confided.
Silvira smiled lightly. "Then you probably won't be. I think that's how it works..."
She was cut off by a yell of,
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Celeste and Silvira applauded as Lily flashed a big, relieved smile in their direction and almost ran to go sit with the Gryffindors.
By the time "Harrison, Roy" became a Ravenclaw and "Karma, Estelle," became a Slytherin, Celeste was getting really nervous. She looked at Silvira, who was sitting calmly. 'How could she not be nervous?' she thought. She sat, lost in thought, then sat bolt upright as,
"Malfoy, Celestina!"
She stood up slowly, willing herself not to look at the Slytherin table, where she was sure her brother was sitting. Her thoughts were also on what Father would think of her if she wasn't in Slytherin...
Celeste sat down quickly on the stool, and placed the hat on her head. At first, she didn't hear anything. Then, a tiny voice buzzed in her ear, almost tickling.
"Hmm... HIGHLY interesting, I must say, a Malfoy should be in Slytherin..."
It could only be the hat.
Celeste shook her head. 'Not Slytherin, not Slytherin, I don't care what Father thinks,' she thought.
"Why ever not?" hummed the voice. "You are a Malfoy, after all..."
'My life is not determined by my name!' Celeste thought furiously. 'I'm not like them!'
"Ah, bold, are you? Hmm... yes, at times you can exhibit great courage, though you may give the outward impression of shyness. Not a bad mind, in fact, not spoiled by the Dark Arts at all..." the hat went on and on.
Sweat was pouring down Celeste's face. She realized she'd been sitting there for more than a minute, the longest of all the first years.
'Please hurry up,' she thought desperately.
The hat seemed pleased that it was taking its time. "Let's see, let's see... you have qualities of all the four houses. What to do, what to do?"
'PLEASE, just put me in a house!'
"But decisions like these are not to be made lightly..."
Before Celeste could protest further, the hat shouted,
"GRYFFINDOR!"
And whispered, amid cheers and Celeste's great sigh of relief,
"I knew it all along..."
Celeste tore off the Sorting Hat and ran to the Gryffindor table to sit next to Lily, Adele, and the Marauders.
What she didn't notice was the hateful glare that was resonating from the Slytherin table, focused on her. A Malfoy in Gryffindor. That would give the malicious Slytherins something to talk about, indeed...
Celeste, happily oblivious to this, conversed with Lily and Adele until, "Rivers, Silvira!" was called, and she stepped up to try on the hat. It lost no time in proclaiming her a Gryffindor.
After the Sorting, the happy group of friends followed the Gryffindor Prefects, Madeleine Anderson and Alexander Brown, up winding staircases and through doors to the portrait hole of Gryffindor Tower.
"Listen up, everyone," Alexander said, "The password is Jelly Legs. You can't get into the Tower without it..."
As he went on to explain in great detail something extremely boring that everyone later forgot, Celeste watched the Marauders, of course not paying one bit of attention, snickering about some sort of hex that Remus had recently found in the book "The 100 Best Hexes of the 20th Century", that they were going to try on Snape. Who he was, Celeste could only guess.
Celeste followed Lily, Adele, and Silvira up to their dormitory, waving at the marauders. By luck, the four girls shared a dorm. On the door was written in gold, "First Years". A sense of belonging rushed through her. She wasn't in Slytherin, she had three- no, seven good friends, and could start her first year at Hogwarts without a worry.
It might not shape up to be such a bad year after all.
~*~
A/N: ^_^ Well, hope you liked it! I would love some reviews with constructive criticism. Somehow I found it a bit boring. Review and tell me if you want more excitement, cos if you do, there will be!! Oh, and as the story progresses, the title should make more sense. ^_^ ... Just a interesting little note on Celestina or "Celeste": she's sort of a major caricature of me. In some aspects, anyway. Dunno what made me think of her... she just popped into my head one day and wanted to be written about! And there's more to her in the future, she actually has a purpose, a destiny, a-! ok, I'll shut up now. Comments, Suggestions, Flames (NOT!), are to be put in the little box below. Thanks for reading, please review!!
Disclaimer: I own the plot (except that the flying car part in Chamber of Secrets gave me the inspiration for the whole 'flying on the brooms' scene, but does that really matter?), Celeste, Morgan, Amber, Adele, Silvira, Alexander, Madeleine, and the Sorting Hat song... (not that anyone else would want that song. Yeesh.) Tee hee hee, JK Rowling owns everything else, don't even try to sue me!
Peace,
Aurora
Oh, and I finally figured out that Lily's last name really was Evans. Sorry for all the grief and mayhem I have caused by bugging people about it. ^_^
~*~
Star-Crossed Fates 1: Beginnings
By Aurora the Enchantress
~*~
It was a warm day in September. Wind rustled the leaves of the few trees at King's Cross station, blowing a young girl's long hair back from her face.
Eleven-year-old Celeste looked nervously around King's Cross Station. She was early for the Hogwarts Express. Muggles were bustling about everywhere. She'd never been here before, and being the shy girl she was, she didn't ask anyone for help.
Her older brother, Lucius, a third year, had gone over to talk to some of his foul Slytherin followers about who knew what - probably some illegal curse they were going to try to put on James Potter, whoever he was.
Celeste sighed. She wished she wasn't alone.
***
Lily Evans stepped out of her mother's car, carrying her redundant amount of supplies. Her older sister, Petunia, sat inside with a look of pure disgust pasted on her thin features.
"Petunia, please say good-bye to Lily. She'll be gone for a long time, and I'm sure we'll all miss her," their mother said tiredly. "Goodbye, dear," she added affectionately, kissing Lily on the forehead. "Be good."
"I'll try, mum," Lily answered, hugging her mother.
Petunia scowled. "Bye, Lily." There was hateful spite in her voice.
Lily ignored the harsh tone. "Bye, Petunia," she said carefully, "See you at Christmas break."
"I can HARDLY wait," muttered Petunia under her breath.
Lily waved cheerfully, watching her mother drive away. In truth, she was really glad that she had been accepted into Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, not just because it was said to be the best wizarding school in England, but because it also offered some respite from Petunia's constant incivility.
Ever since she'd found out she was a witch, Petunia had become really unbearable. Maybe it was the fact that their parents were really proud of Lily, or maybe Petunia was just jealous. Probably both.
Lily pushed thoughts of her sister out of her mind as she looked around King's Cross. She pulled out her invitation to Hogwarts.
"Platform Nine and Three Quarters," she said to herself. Where was that? There was Platform Nine, and Platform Ten... But nothing in between.
'Oh, well,' Lily thought. 'There's probably some magic involved, or everyone would know about it. I'll find someone who knows how to get onto it.'
***
Celeste clutched her tawny owl Lorin's cage closer to her, scanning the area for any other first years. And how was she going to get onto Platform Nine and Three Quarters? Being a pure-blood she supposed she should know, but it was not as if anyone talked to her! She was basically ignored at home. Which probably wasn't hard to do, now that she thought about it.
Celeste sat down on a nearby bench and pulled out her book of Potions. It looked interesting enough. She flipped through the She'd known she was a witch before she could walk, and figured she'd probably be in Slytherin. 'Ugh,' she thought to herself.
She didn't think she was anything like the rest of the Malfoys. And she wasn't. She almost looked like one - blonde hair, but it was darker and very thin, nearly always messy because it was so long. She was quite pale, though. It was really her eyes that were different, though. Instead of the light grey chips of ice that her brother and father had, her eyes were a dark blue with turquoise lights. But what was most different was the fact that they held no malice. It was only on certain, rare occasions that the "Malfoy" in her showed through.
Plus, to the surprise of everyone she met, the hatred of "mudbloods" and muggles had never really sunk in from the examples of her father and brother. What held most in her mind was her mother's words to her when she was very young: "Don't prejudge people who are different from you. There will be times when..." And the rest she'd forgotten. But the first sentence stuck in her head, because Celeste was different from everyone else. Very different.
She supposed she looked like her mother. But didn't remember what her mother looked like, so it was just guesswork. She'd died when Celeste was only five. Celeste might as well have been a foundling, and that idea would have appealed to her had she not known that the Malfoys would never take in an abandoned child.
Her thoughts on her lonely past were interrupted by a friendly voice.
"Hi, I'm Lily. Do you know how to get onto the platform nine and three quarters?"
Celeste turned and found herself staring into a pair of sparkling green eyes. She smiled shyly. She wasn't used to having anyone be nice to her. "Not really...", then hesitantly, "You're a first year, too?"
Lily nodded. "I'm muggle-born, so I really didn't know anything about Hogwarts until I got the letter... what about you?"
"I've known about it for ages..." Celeste broke off to laugh. Lily's apparent happiness was contagious. "I didn't get my letter for so long that they thought I was probably a squib!... Sorry, you probably don't know what that is!"
Lily giggled. "I think I have an idea. Anyway, what's your name?"
"I'm Celestina Malfoy, but I hate that name. Call me Celeste."
"Sounds good to me."
Lily sat down next to Celeste and set her cauldron - stuffed full of supplies - on the ground. They had been talking for a few minutes when they were interrupted....
"Hey, Celeste the Pest, what's that?" Lucius' loud, mocking voice rang through the station. He was pointing at Lily. "Already associating with Mudbloods! Celeste, you really make me laugh!"
"Can it, Lucius!" Celeste shouted angrily.
"You'd just better watch who you hang around with, Celeste. I don't think Father would be too happy to hear about your little friend." He spat the word friend like it was something contemptible.
Celeste stood up, her face beet-red. "Leave me alone! What would you know about friends, you don't have any!"
Lucius smirked and turned to walk away. "I wouldn't say things like that if I were you..."
Celeste scowled as Lucius strode jauntily away. Lily looked bewildered. "What was all that about, and what's a Mudblood?"
"It's a really foul name for someone who isn't of magical descent. You know, a muggle. It's just about the worst insult you can give a witch or wizard. Lucius is stupid. Don't let him make you feel bad."
Lily looked slightly confused, then nodded. "Thanks," she replied.
"No problem," Celeste said with a smile. Then, looking at her magical watch, whose hand was nearly pointing to "You're late", exclaimed, "Uh oh, we're almost late! Let's go!"
"Go where?!" Lily began to gather up her spellbooks she'd been sifting through and dumped them into her pewter cauldron.
"To Platform Nine and Three Quarters," Celeste answered quickly, frantically grabbing her owl's cage. Lorin let out a piercing squawk as Celeste accidentally banged the cage against her cauldron.
Both girls were still struggling with their books when the whistle blew, signaling the last chance to get onto Platform Nine and Three Quarters. "Oh, no," groaned Lily. "We'll never make it! I don't even know how to get onto the platform...."
"Need some help?"
Both Celeste and Lily glanced up from their bulky packages at the speaker. He had messy black hair and wore glasses. He was grinning, and there was something mischievous about his glinting brown eyes. He was closely backed up by two other boys who looked about his age, and just behind them stood a chubby, slightly nervous-looking guy who had a look on his face to suggest that he had forgotten something.
[A/N: hehe, enter the marauders...]
"Uh, sure!" Lily answered uncertainly.
"Ok, great. We all really need to get going."
He picked up Lily's caldron and left her with her owl's cage. Another boy, tall with black hair, grabbed Celeste's cauldron and grinned. Quickly looking around to see if anyone was watching them, the first boy motioned for them to follow him and set off at a run towards the wall between platforms nine and ten. Lily and Celeste thought at first that he would turn, but he kept at a headlong dash.
"Stop!" shouted Lily. He kept running...
"He's gonna crash!" Celeste shrieked.
He ran straight through the barrier as if nothing was there. Celeste and Lily's mouths dropped open in surprise. They turned as they heard good-natured laughter from the other three.
"What just happened?" asked Lily.
"That's how you get onto Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Guess you're muggle-born, huh?" answered the black-haired boy.
"Well, I am," said Lily truthfully, "but Celeste isn't."
He looked surprised. "Celeste?.... You wouldn't happen to be Celestina Malfoy, now would you?"
Celeste shrugged. "That's me."
No comment. An uneasy silence. Lily, as usual, broke it.
"I'm Lily Evans. Glad to meet you." She held out her hand for him to shake.
The tall black-haired boy looked amused, and did a mock bow over her hand.
"I'm Sirius. That's nice and all, but come on!"
The other black-haired boy with glasses suddenly reappeared. "What's taking you guys so long?" He was still carrying all of the stuff.
He grinned mischievously. "On three, we make a run for it... One! Two! Three!"
They all dashed towards the barrier between Platforms Nine and Ten, hoping to pass through it in time.
WHAM!
Books and extra robes and owl's cages and cauldrons flew out of their owner's hands as the companions bounced off the barrier.
Lorin immediately caused a racket, squawking and screeching. Lily's robes landed on a dignified looking Muggle gentleman a few feet away. Celeste's Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration flew into a puddle, while the chubby boy yelled that his pet rat had gotten away AGAIN.
Chaos prevailed as they tried to retrieve their items without attracting even more attention from the Muggles, who were shouting things like, "What do you think you were doing!" and "Are you absolutely insane?!" and "You could have been killed!" As if they needed more attention then they had already had gotten earlier, having the audacity to bring cauldrons filled with supplies like spellbooks, and pets such as owls and rats to King's Cross.
Sirius strode quickly away, motioning for them to follow him. They retreated to an inconspicuous corner of the station.
"James," he asked the other black-haired boy, "did anyone see you near the Hogwarts Express?"
"I don't think so..." A mischievous glint entered his eyes. "I've got an idea."
He motioned for the others to come in closer. Lily did, hesitantly, and Celeste followed.
"All right, no time for formal introductions. We're the Marauders. I'm James, this is Sirius, that's Remus, and that's Peter," James said, pointing to the boys in turn. Remus was the brown-haired one, and Peter was the chubby boy.
"I'm Lily, and this is Celeste," Lily said cheerfully. All nodded.
"Now," James said, grinning wickedly, "We need to make sure that no one knows about this." He turned to Lily and Celeste, and pretended to look them over. He smiled broadly. "You two look like you could keep a secret. All right, all you have to do is solemnly swear that you are up to no good."
Celeste was about to ask him what exactly was happening, but Lily said quickly, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." Celeste, slightly hesitant, echoed, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
James set his trunk down, opened it up, and pulled out something, holding it for the six companions to see.
It was light and silvery. Not anything really special, except for the fact that his hand underneath it was no longer visible.
"Wow," Lily whispered, "An invisibility cloak!"
James looked impressed. "How'd you know what it was?"
Lily shrugged. "I did some reading on simple spells and magical objects, and I found a bit on Invisibility cloaks."
Celeste watched Lily start to tell them about the history of Invisibility cloaks. Boy, she knew how to make friends fast. She'd never met anyone so happy. Not that she knew a lot of happy people, mind you.
"All right," James said, "Here's my idea. First,..." He pulled something else out of his supplies. It was a broom, sleek and shiny.
"Ah," Remus said, beginning to catch on. He too, took a broom out. Celeste had a feeling that they really weren't supposed to have them.
"Ever ridden a broom before?" James asked Celeste and Lily.
"No," they answered.
He laughed. "You're about to."
*****
Moments later, the six friends were zooming through the air after the Hogwarts Express at top speed, covered by the invisibility cloak, which had been enlarged thanks to Lily's knowledge of the Enlarging Charm. Their supplies were bewitched so that they were light, and were following them, also covered.
"It always helps to know charms, hexes, and spells in advance," Lily had said, and they'd all had to agree, if not rather laughingly at Lily's enthusiasm for schoolwork.
Lily and Celeste were on James' broom, while Sirius, Remus, and Peter occupied the other one. They'd left after Sirius made some cracks about James being the "ladies man" and James threatening to put the Furnunculus curse on him.
"Should we land on the Hogwarts Express or just follow it?" Sirius asked, yelling into the rushing wind.
Remus laughed. "Let's just follow it and see the looks on everyone's faces when we land coolly in the middle of the Hogwarts grounds."
Lily looked worried. "Wouldn't we get detention for doing that?"
"What's one detention? I mean, the sooner the better, right?" James asked.
Lily made a face. "I don't want to get in trouble the first day! They might expel me!"
Sirius tried not to laugh. "No, they won't, you know so many spells already they wouldn't dare expel you!"
Heard were many stories of the pranks that the Marauders had done throughout their last year. The marauders had a lot of tales to tell about Filch, the cantankerous old caretaker, and his disgusting cat, Mrs. Norris.
"Once, we summoned a toilet and tried to blow it up. We almost did it, but Filch caught us and confiscated it. Just to get him back, we turned Mrs. Norris green with flashing pink polka dots. He never could prove it was us," Remus said, grinning at the memory.
Celeste listened to them talk and laugh happily. She didn't say a word, but almost felt at ease. They were nicer than anyone she'd ever met in her life.
Having to associate with the friends her father deemed worthy (which were few and none) who hated all muggle-borns, she'd never really met a large variety of people. It had been always the same: first, brag about how rich they were, second, ask to tour Malfoy Manor, third, compare their manor to it, and last, go home. Oh, occasionally there'd be one that would talk about the curses they'd learned and laugh unpleasantly about any mudbloods they'd tortured lately, but that was hardly interesting. Keeping an indifferent expression on her face and an almost frigid ice in her eyes, [A/N: Remind you of any other Malfoys] Celeste had learned to tune out anything she didn't care to hear. Which was, of course, everything.
This time, though, she found herself smiling and laughing along with Lily and the four boys, for once not feeling like an outcast.
*****
A couple of minutes later, they were flying right over the Hogwarts Express. Lily, with Celeste's help, had convinced the four others that they did NOT want detentions. ("But why? They're ever so fun to get!")
Taking care to fly close to each other so that the Invisibility cloak wouldn't slip off (the last thing they needed was to be seen), they swooped lower to attempt to land.
"How is this going to work?!" shouted Lily frantically. "We can't just land on top of the train!"
James turned around to face her and grinned. "Of course we can."
Lily glared at him. "I swear, if you get us all killed, I will personally have to kill you... Wait, that didn't come out right."
Celeste suppressed a giggle.
James heaved an exaggerated sigh. "Fine, then..."
He trailed off as he realized that the train was slowing down. They were almost at Hogwarts.
'Bad timing,' thought Celeste.
"Ok, some quick thinking would be nice now, people," Sirius said sarcastically. "Unless we all want detentions. Which actually wouldn't be a bad start off to a new year..." he added with a devilish grin.
James suddenly motioned for all of them to fly lower. He flew next to a window, quickly threw the Invisibility cloak off himself, and rapped on the window pane.
"Hey, Morgan!" he yelled. The window opened.
"James, what in the name of Merlin have you gotten yourself into this time?" a laughing female voice was heard from inside.
James looked exasperated. "Don't ask questions!! Just open the window all the way, please!"
Morgan, whoever she was, lost no time in opening the window to its full capacity. The companions had a bit of a dilemma keeping up with the train as they climbed through the window. James just managed to squeeze through, followed by Lily, Celeste, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, who had a bit of difficulty fitting, if you catch my meaning. They pulled their supplies through, and James secured his Invisibility cloak inside his trunk before they were asked any suspicious questions.
Amid amused stares from everyone in the compartment, they sat down on the red cushioned seats. James leaned back in an "at ease" position. "Nothing like a bracing fly in the middle of the afternoon," he said loftily.
Everyone laughed. The whole school knew the Marauders too well to believe that they had simply wanted to go for a fly.
Once the conversation in the compartment had returned to normal, James introduced Morgan, who was a fourth year, to Lily and Celeste. "She's my cousin on my mum's side," he added. Morgan had long black hair, light cinnamon colored skin, and laughing brown eyes. They instantly liked her. "I've gotten James out of plenty of scrapes in his past year at Hogwarts," she confided in the two girls. "Also, my real name is Peighton Morgana Stoneburner, of course making my initials PMS." She laughed. "Just call me Morgan. Everyone does."
Also met in the small room was Amber Brubaker, a short girl with pretty dark brown hair, who was in Morgan's dormitory. She had a long family line of witches and wizards at Hogwarts, so she kindly explained to Lily (and in some parts, Celeste) about the Sorting Ceremony, the four houses, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin, the Great Hall, and dorm rooms.
A few minutes later, there was a hiss of steam as the train stopped at Hogsmeade Station.
"Remember, everyone," Sirius announced, catching Remus' eye and grinning, "We've been in here the ENTIRE time, just minding our own business."
Laughter mingled with talk as the students stepped out of the train and looked up at Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
*****
After being put in a large group of other first years, Lily, Celeste, and two girls they didn't know were taken across the lake to Hogwarts in the yearly ritual. The gamekeeper, Hagrid, entertained them with talk while he rowed the boat across the clear water.
Celeste trailed her hand in the lake as they skimmed toward Hogwarts. It seemed like things weren't going to be quite as bad as she thought they were. At least she had a great friend like Lily, who, at the moment, was sitting, chatting animatedly to the other girls, Adele Brubaker, who turned out to be Amber's younger sister, with pretty brown curls and freckles, and the other, Silvira Rivers, with wispy blonde hair and large green eyes.
Finally, they reached Hogwarts. Entering the Great Hall, Celeste immediately noticed the ceiling, if it could be called that. It looked exactly like the sky outside; she could have sworn upon Merlin's grave that it was. Airy clouds partially obscured a bright sun, high in the sapphire sky.
As the line of first years progressed, Celeste saw a grumpy-looking wizard glaring at them, followed by a smoky grey cat that looked like it had survived a train wreck. It could only be Filch and Mrs. Norris. She pointed him out to Lily, who almost giggled at the mental image of the cat being green with pink polka dots.
The attention of everyone in the room was suddenly directed toward a tall, thin wizard with a long silver beard and twinkling blue eyes. Celeste immediately registered him as Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster.
The talking died down as he began to speak.
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts," he said with a smile, "I would like to make a rather long speech, but I'm afraid I would bore you to tears. So, I will get to the point. We of course have our first years to welcome, and the Sorting Ceremony to execute. So, let's begin! Professor McGonagall..."
He motioned for a young, black-haired woman with her hair tightly pulled back in a bun to step forward. She held in her hands a dirty, patched old hat that was clearly almost falling apart. With great reverence, she set it on a four legged stool in front of the first years. There were some nervous giggles.
Next, Professor McGonagall explained about the four houses and the basic school rules, which was hardly entertaining. She had drawn out a large list of forbidden objects inside the school, and was reading the whole thing.
"Bor-ing," Adele whispered to Celeste, Lily, and Silvira. They had to agree.
***
James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter sat at the Gryffindor table, looking at a book called "The Wizarding Prankster's Guide to Causing Mayhem".
"Hey, look at this!" Sirius said, "Using this spell, you can toilet-paper the whole school in under a minute!"
"Cool!" James exclaimed softly, not wanting to be overheard.
Peter flipped the page. "Here's that toilet exploding spell we tried last year."
"Yeah, too bad it didn't work," Remus said apologetically.
Sirius watched Filch and Mrs. Norris slink by. He got an idea. Pulling out his wand, he pointed it at Mrs. Norris and whispered, "Wingardium Leviosa."
***
As other first years began to whisper, obviously bored with McGonagall's recitation of the rules ("Rule number 44: Do not attempt to decorate any school property unnecessarily... this would include toilets, animals, and property of other students..."), Lily caught sight of something that nearly made her laugh out loud. She pulled Celeste's sleeve and pointed at Mrs. Norris, who was hovering about four feet above the heads of the first years, looking very displeased.
Celeste giggled and looked over at the Marauders, whom she was sure were responsible. They were all grinning at Sirius, who was pretending he didn't know what was going on. Filch hadn't noticed yet, and McGonagall was immersed in reading the rules.
A peal of laughter sprang up from the rest of the first years as they noticed the cat suspended in midair above them.
McGonagall's monologue stopped as she glared at them. "And just what, may I ask, is so funny?" she asked icily. Then she saw Mrs. Norris, who was currently trying to run.
"This," she said, pointing at the cat, "is a violation of rule number 23."
Everyone was laughing too hard to notice, except for most of the teachers and the odd prefect or Head Boy/Girl.
Sighing heavily, McGonagall pointed her wand at Mrs. Norris, said the counter spell, and waited while the cat sank slowly to the floor. She frowned in the general direction of the marauders, and rolled up the sheet of parchment with the rules on it.
"Now," she said, fixing everyone with a frosty glare to stop the laughing, "You will come up and try on the hat. It will put you into the house that you should be in."
This seemed kind of odd, but the first years nodded.
What surprised Lily and Celeste the most came next. A tear near the hat's brim opened, and it began to sing.
[A/N: Yes, I did make up a song. And a pretty pathetic one at that.]
"You find yourself at Hogwarts,
Welcome to another year,
Let me introduce myself,
And tell you why you're here.
I may not seem the type of hat,
You would normally see,
But try me on and I will put you
Where you are destined to be.
There's not a thing about you
This Sorting Hat won't find,
So sit down and give it a try,
I'll put you with your kind.
Maybe you're a Gryffindor,
Those who are brave and true,
Daring, trust, and chivalry,
May be a part of you.
Or perhaps you belong in Ravenclaw,
Where dwell the ones of wit,
Clever, sharp, and quick to learn,
Ravenclaws commit.
Maybe you're a Hufflepuff,
A just and loyal friend,
Hard workers all and friendly, too,
They see it through to the end.
Or you may be in Slytherin,
Where the cunning ones belong,
Crafty, sly, and very quick,
Slytherins will be lifelong.
So put me on! I won't bite!
Don't be a scaredy-cat...
I'll tell you where you ought to be,
For I'm the Sorting Hat!"
[A/N: Please forgive me. I'm terrible at rhyming... ^_-]
There was applause. The hat bowed, and became silent. Professor McGonagall began to call out names. The nervous first years waited with great anticipation for their name to be called.
"Abbot, Martin!"
A short blonde boy rushed forward to put the hat on. He sat on the stool for a few moments, until the hat called out,
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
And so it went along until,
"Brubaker, Adele!"
Lily and Celeste wished her luck, and she strode nervously to the stool, put the hat on, and sat down, waiting. Nearly a minute later,
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Lily smiled at Celeste. "Gryffindor's the best, I think," she said. "Yeah, and I'll probably get Slytherin," Celeste whispered back gloomily.
They waited awhile more. Finally,
"Evans, Lily!"
Lily walked slowly up to the podium. 'Please, please Gryffindor,' she thought, as she crammed the hat on her head. She saw James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter waving merrily at her from the Gryffindor table. Sirius gave her the thumbs up sign.
Lily heard a small voice in her ear.
"Ah, Lily... Gryffindor, you say? Let's see...You are kind, considerate... those are Hufflepuff qualities. You are also quite clever, a Ravenclaw attribute. But your temper can get out of check at times, which, is of course, a quality of the highly esteemed Godric Gryffindor. Let's see..."
'This is kind of like a psychiatric appointment or something,' Lily thought, amused.
"Ah, and not nervous at all, are you?" the voice continued.
'Not really,' thought back Lily. It was the truth.
"Interesting..."
Celeste watched Lily's facial expressions. She almost hoped Lily would be in Slytherin, to keep her company. She sighed.
"What's wrong?"
It was Silvira, who hadn't been sorted yet.
"I really, really don't want to be in Slytherin," Celeste confided.
Silvira smiled lightly. "Then you probably won't be. I think that's how it works..."
She was cut off by a yell of,
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Celeste and Silvira applauded as Lily flashed a big, relieved smile in their direction and almost ran to go sit with the Gryffindors.
By the time "Harrison, Roy" became a Ravenclaw and "Karma, Estelle," became a Slytherin, Celeste was getting really nervous. She looked at Silvira, who was sitting calmly. 'How could she not be nervous?' she thought. She sat, lost in thought, then sat bolt upright as,
"Malfoy, Celestina!"
She stood up slowly, willing herself not to look at the Slytherin table, where she was sure her brother was sitting. Her thoughts were also on what Father would think of her if she wasn't in Slytherin...
Celeste sat down quickly on the stool, and placed the hat on her head. At first, she didn't hear anything. Then, a tiny voice buzzed in her ear, almost tickling.
"Hmm... HIGHLY interesting, I must say, a Malfoy should be in Slytherin..."
It could only be the hat.
Celeste shook her head. 'Not Slytherin, not Slytherin, I don't care what Father thinks,' she thought.
"Why ever not?" hummed the voice. "You are a Malfoy, after all..."
'My life is not determined by my name!' Celeste thought furiously. 'I'm not like them!'
"Ah, bold, are you? Hmm... yes, at times you can exhibit great courage, though you may give the outward impression of shyness. Not a bad mind, in fact, not spoiled by the Dark Arts at all..." the hat went on and on.
Sweat was pouring down Celeste's face. She realized she'd been sitting there for more than a minute, the longest of all the first years.
'Please hurry up,' she thought desperately.
The hat seemed pleased that it was taking its time. "Let's see, let's see... you have qualities of all the four houses. What to do, what to do?"
'PLEASE, just put me in a house!'
"But decisions like these are not to be made lightly..."
Before Celeste could protest further, the hat shouted,
"GRYFFINDOR!"
And whispered, amid cheers and Celeste's great sigh of relief,
"I knew it all along..."
Celeste tore off the Sorting Hat and ran to the Gryffindor table to sit next to Lily, Adele, and the Marauders.
What she didn't notice was the hateful glare that was resonating from the Slytherin table, focused on her. A Malfoy in Gryffindor. That would give the malicious Slytherins something to talk about, indeed...
Celeste, happily oblivious to this, conversed with Lily and Adele until, "Rivers, Silvira!" was called, and she stepped up to try on the hat. It lost no time in proclaiming her a Gryffindor.
After the Sorting, the happy group of friends followed the Gryffindor Prefects, Madeleine Anderson and Alexander Brown, up winding staircases and through doors to the portrait hole of Gryffindor Tower.
"Listen up, everyone," Alexander said, "The password is Jelly Legs. You can't get into the Tower without it..."
As he went on to explain in great detail something extremely boring that everyone later forgot, Celeste watched the Marauders, of course not paying one bit of attention, snickering about some sort of hex that Remus had recently found in the book "The 100 Best Hexes of the 20th Century", that they were going to try on Snape. Who he was, Celeste could only guess.
Celeste followed Lily, Adele, and Silvira up to their dormitory, waving at the marauders. By luck, the four girls shared a dorm. On the door was written in gold, "First Years". A sense of belonging rushed through her. She wasn't in Slytherin, she had three- no, seven good friends, and could start her first year at Hogwarts without a worry.
It might not shape up to be such a bad year after all.
~*~
A/N: ^_^ Well, hope you liked it! I would love some reviews with constructive criticism. Somehow I found it a bit boring. Review and tell me if you want more excitement, cos if you do, there will be!! Oh, and as the story progresses, the title should make more sense. ^_^ ... Just a interesting little note on Celestina or "Celeste": she's sort of a major caricature of me. In some aspects, anyway. Dunno what made me think of her... she just popped into my head one day and wanted to be written about! And there's more to her in the future, she actually has a purpose, a destiny, a-! ok, I'll shut up now. Comments, Suggestions, Flames (NOT!), are to be put in the little box below. Thanks for reading, please review!!
Disclaimer: I own the plot (except that the flying car part in Chamber of Secrets gave me the inspiration for the whole 'flying on the brooms' scene, but does that really matter?), Celeste, Morgan, Amber, Adele, Silvira, Alexander, Madeleine, and the Sorting Hat song... (not that anyone else would want that song. Yeesh.) Tee hee hee, JK Rowling owns everything else, don't even try to sue me!
Peace,
Aurora