FIRST YEAR

Chapter One - Leaving

"Come on, James! Hurry up; you'll miss the train!" James Potter jumped and quickly walked over to his parents, who were waiting for him, so they could all go through to Platform 9 ¾ together. Before they could get completely through, they heard some yelling behind them. They all turned around discreetly (apart from James, who just turned around and stared). A young girl, probably about James' age, with long, flowing red hair and a petite figure was being yelled at by someone, presumably her older sister. Her parents didn't seem to notice the scene going on right beneath their noses, or, if they did, they were used to it. James took a few steps closer, so he could hear what they were saying. He didn't really need to, as the yelling match was getting louder and louder.

"You're a freak! That's all you are! A nasty little freak that can do stupid little magic tricks! That's right, you're going to a stupid school full of freaks just like you, and they'll keep you all away from the normal people like us!" The older sister yelled. She seemed to be trying to convince herself, as well as the red-head. She looked about the same as the red-head, just not as pretty. She had brown hair, spots that covered her entire face, and a very, very tall figure. James noticed the tears forming in the younger girls eyes, but she refused to let them fall. He was extremely impressed, even more so when she spat out a quick retort as if she didn't even have to think about it.

"You didn't seem to think it was a "freak's school" when you wrote to the headmaster, and begged him to give you a place with me!" The brunette stumbled back a step, as if someone had punched her.

"How did you see that?" She asked, outraged. "That was in my private stuff!" Now Red was on the defensive.

"I picked up the post on the morning when you got the reply. It was very sweet." The brunette gasped and turned her back on her sister, but not before she had the last word.

"Freak." She whispered to her little sister, then turned her back, leaving Red wounded and trying not to cry.

"Well, that was interesting!" Exclaimed a voice from behind James. Two other voices agreed with him heartily. James turned, knowing who he would see. Sure enough, behind him stood Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. He squealed like a girl, and grabbed his friends in a massive hug. Remus and Peter hugged him back, laughing, but Sirius struggled out of James' arms. Even though they had only met in Diagon Alley a few days ago, Sirius and James already knew each other extremely well. Far too well, in some people's opinion. As soon as he had gotten out of the circle of James' arms, he grabbed his nose. Sure enough, Jams had dropped a dungbomb, and was covering his nose with his sleeve. The other boys laughed and promised to get him back for that one.

Suddenly, his mother turned to the boys. "Hello, boys, how are you today?" She asked them. They all smiled at her.

"We're fine, Mrs. Potter, how are you?" Remus responded. She smiled at him, her eyes quickly taking in his too-big clothes and the scars that covered his face.

"I'm fine, thank you, Remus. Are you all excited to finally be going to Hogwarts?" The boys all nodded enthusiastically, and Mr. Potter laughed.

"I remember when I was your age, and I was just about to leave for Hogwarts for the first time. I was so thrilled! Of course, I was in Gryffindor, so I met your mother on the first day..." He trailed off, looking at his wife lovingly. James and Sirius made faces behind them, and pretended to throw up, while Peter and Remus looked away, to give them some room. Mrs. Potter laughed at her husband.

"Honestly, Mike, you'd think that you'd have learnt by now to not go on about things like that! After all, we all know what James thinks of us when we do that!" James nodded enthusiastically, and Sirius, Remus and Peter grinned at him. "Anyway, come on boys, let's get you onto the train!" James looked around at his friends, then back at his parents.

"Awwh, come on Mum, my friends are here now! Can't we go through on our own? Please?" He begged, and she smiled.

"Can you remember how to get through?" She asked sternly, eyes twinkling, and James yelped with excitement.

"Run straight at the wall, and don't think that you're going to hit it, and keep running, and then you'll be there!"

"Fine then, you can go. We'll come through after you with your things. Here, put them all onto two trolleys - it will be a lot easier for you to all go through together." The boys all complied, chatting excitedly.

"Come on, let's go!" James said, then glanced around, to see if anyone was looking at them. There was only one person who was, the pretty little red-head who had been arguing with her sister earlier. She was looking back and forth between James and his friends. He raised his eyebrows and winked at her when she next looked back at him. She didn't even blink. She just glared at him, then turned with as much contempt as she could muster. James was amazed. Even at the tender age of eleven years old, he knew he was irresistible. How come she hadn't even blushed a tiny little bit?

The other boys brought him out of his musings.

"Come on!" yelled Sirius. "We can get there now!" James nodded, and the four of them ran at the wall between platforms 9 and 10. Just before James hit the wall, he turned to look back at the red-head. She was watching them go through the wall, her eyes wide with shock. When she noticed James watching her, she quickly turned away. James grinned to himself. She obviously wasn't as immune as she wanted him to think.

Lily watched the four boys run at the wall – and disappear! She gasped, not quite understanding what she had seen. Then she saw the boy with messy hair still standing - leaning would be more accurate - against the wall the others had just run through. He looked at her, like he was trying to figure something out. He was cute enough, she supposed, but she had a clean dating record, and wasn't about to change that any time soon. He had messy hair that stuck up at the back, hazel eyes, made surprisingly large by the wire rimmed glasses perched on his nose, which was short and looked really good on his face. His lips looked very kissable, but before she could allow her mind to wander anymore she brought her gaze up to his eyes again. He smiled at her, and she groaned. He had been watching her watching him, apparently. She turned back around quickly, before she could embarrass herself further. She still watched him out of the corner of her eyes, though. She saw him grin to himself, as if he knew she was still watching him, then took a step back and walked through the "wall".

Once she was sure he had gone, she turned and kissed her parents goodbye. She tried to give her sister, Petunia, a hug too, but Petunia glared at her icily and turned to talk to one of the many friends she had made in the ten minutes they had been standing on the platform. Lily sighed, and turned away slowly.

"Bye Mum, Dad, Tuney." She called to them as she pushed her trolley opposite the wall between platforms 9 and 10. She took a deep breath, and ran at the wall. She heard someone behind her call out, but she didn't stop or turn around. An instant before the impact should have come, she found herself in the middle of the wall. Then, she was on the other side. She looked around, and saw a sign that said "Welcome to platform 9&¾." She smiled to herself, then went over to the massive red engine that had just pulled into the station. It was very nice, she thought to herself, almost like it was made by magic. She grinned to herself this time, quickly and quietly grabbed her luggage, and went to find an empty compartment.

It wasn't very hard to find an empty compartment, as there was hardly anyone on the train at that point. She walked in to the first one she found, made sure it was empty, and, once she was sure, dragged her bag in. She sat down with a sigh, glad to finally be on the train, and able to rest her feet.

Almost as soon as she had done this (or so it seemed to her), the boys from the platform were barging unceremoniously into the carriage, chatting with each other loudly. None of them noticed Lily curled up in the corner of the booth until the sandy haired boy turned to put his bag on the shelf above their heads. When he did notice her, he did a double take, then nudged the two black haired boys standing next to him. When they looked at him, he nodded gently towards the corner where the very dazed Lily sat. She was sure they would leave as soon as they noticed her, prayed they would, in fact, but her prayers were not answered. The taller of the two black haired boys stepped forwards and offered her his hand. She looked at it, then at him, suspiciously. She had seen the dungbomb incident before they got on the platform. He frowned, but the other boys had stepped forwards as well by then, and leaned in to stage whisper to her.

"That was a very clever move. Now he can't get you as well!" He winked at her, and she smiled shyly at him. The first boy who had stepped forwards yelped.

"Hey, Sirius, that's not fair! I wasn't going to get her!" He complained at the second, obviously called Sirius. Sirius grinned and slapped his back.

"Sorry, James, mate, but you have to admit it crossed your mind!" He said. James hung his head slightly, and Sirius let out a crow of laughter. He then started dancing in the middle of the booth, singing "I was right! I was right!" over and over again. James started laughing at him, as did the other boys whose names Lily had yet to learn. She giggled along with them. The sandy haired boy smiled gently at her, walked over, (avoiding Sirius and James scarily easily) and caught her eye.

"I'm sorry about them. They aren't normally like this - well, I don't think so, anyway. We only met in Diagon Alley the other day. Anyway, I'm Remus, Remus Lupin. It's a pleasure to meet you." He said, shaking Lily's hand. "The two idiots dancing are James and Sirius. James is the one with tufty hair at the back." He added sneakily. James mock-growled.

"I heard that!" Remus laughed.

"I know you did!" He replied, then continued introducing people to her. "And the little one in the corner is Peter Pettigrew." Here Peter gave a small wave, then continued watching James and Sirius rolling around on the floor in amusement. They had given up dancing and were now having a fake little wrestling match. Remus sat down next to her, and curled his legs onto his seat, so the two boys on the floor couldn't "accidently" hit him. Lily giggled a little at the sight of the two eleven year olds rolling round on the floor, then suddenly remembered she hadn't told the boys her name. None of them seemed to have noticed, but she was pretty certain Remus was sneaking little calculating looks at her. She blushed, then said;

"I'm Lily. Lily Evans." Remus glanced at her, and smiled.

"Lovely to meet you, Lily Evans." He said, then suddenly disappeared. Lily looked down, to see Sirius and James now tickling poor Remus. She giggled at them. All of a sudden, the train rocked, then started moving. Sirius and James quickly got off Remus, and all three of them sat down on one of the seats in the booth. Remus sat back down next to her, with James opposite and Sirius sitting next to him. Peter was sitting on the end, next to Sirius. They all smiled at her, as she had jumped slightly when the train started moving, then, understanding she was uncomfortable, started talking at each other. Lily smiled at the arguments they had, and closed her eyes. She knew it was going to be a long ride, so she was willing to sleep through most of it.

The boys glanced at each other, then at the girl sleeping in the corner of their booth. They smiled at her, at the same time, then realised what they had all done. They grinned sheepishly, at each other this time, then started talking amongst themselves again as the train whisked them off to Hogwarts.