To the Lovely and Articulate Miss Petunia Evans,

First and foremost, I must thank you for the most enjoyable morning I had while receiving your perfectly addressed letter.

My dear friend Harold Skively rushed into my office this morning with your letter clutched in his hand as if it were the most sought after treasure in the world. Mr. Skively works for the Ministry of Magic you see, in their Committee of Magical Communication Affairs. Unfortunately, a few years ago he offended quite a few people at a Christmas party with an untimely and crude Goblin impression, so he was demoted to Post Office Patrol, a job not exactly sought after for its excitement since it's uncommon for non-magical people to regularly communicate with the magical world through what we call the the "Muggle Mail". However, Mr. Skively had triumphantly found your letter and delivered it to me within the hour, and I daresay it was the highlight of his year.

Now, Miss Evans, to address the concerns you've brought up in your letter. You are certainly not the first person to ask for admittance to Hogwarts, and though it pains me to the core, I have to say no.

I've often said magic can be very cruel in the way it selects only certain family members and skips over others. Hogwarts is a school only for those who have been selected due to their magical ability. You will not have an enjoyable experience at Hogwarts if you are unable to do magic. My best advice to you is to not under any circumstance allow this to change your relationship with your sister. I can see that you two love each other very much indeed.

I will say that being able to do magic is simply one talent in a multitude of talents available. Some of the happiest people I've met, including your dear parents, are the people who have found one passion in life and made the most of it. There are plenty of ways to experience magic without necessarily having a wand. I, for one, find the ability to produce a fine concerto piece of music on par with the best Patronus Charm (a difficult piece of magic). If I recall correctly, your parents mentioned you are quite gifted in the visual arts? Perhaps this is your magic. I advise you to nurture that talent, and I assure you that it will be just as satisfying as any piece of magic your sister could do. You have the ability to become extraordinary, Petunia. Don't let bitterness, hurt or resentment rob that from you.

Finally, I must tell you that I enjoyed my visit to your home. It's been a quite some time since I've felt so welcomed in any student's home, especially one not used to magical behavior. One house I visited last year in Surrey set their pack of rottweilers on me. I still have the scars!

Your sister, Lily, seems to have remarkable command of magic. There are very few children who can control their unintentional bouts of magical activity, but something about magic seems to like Lily. I say this not to incite jealousy, but to inspire you to find your own beautiful magic, and continue to nurture your wonderful relationship with your sister.

I do hope this letter finds you in good spirits, and I encourage you to write me back. I always enjoy new pen pals, as many of my old ones are no longer living.

Most Sincerely,

Albus Dumledore

P.S

Give my regards to both Richard and Georgina. And do tell your mother to send the recipe for her delicious macaroons.

Lily sat perched on the highest branch of the elm tree and peered out at her miniature surroundings. She couldn't see anyone else in the park.

She loved to come here, she felt connected to nature in ways she could never explain. She had wondered if it was because she was magical. And on this day, her last day of summer vacation, she could think of no better way to spend than outdoors. She breathed in the air that smelled slightly like the dingy river nearby. Tomorrow everything would change. Or rather it would all begin.

With one last look around, she closed her eyes and jumped.

"There's absolutely nothing like London in autumn" Mrs. Evans sighed, sticking her head out of the car's rolled down window as it meandered through the city's traffic.

"It's still summer" muttered Petunia, grumpily, in the backseat of the well worn Ford Cortina.

Petunia was taller than Lily, even sitting slumped and melancholy, with long frilly blonde hair and a pretty but very angular face, that when she was scowling reminded Lily of a dissatisfied horse. Lily knew Petunia was thinking of all the other things she could be doing in this weather besides being cramped in the backseat of a car.

Petunia dropped her voice even lower to make sure her mother could not hear. "Honestly, she's so dramatic. People only ever say that about New York City."

She was seemingly talking to herself, since she had refused to acknowledge her sister sitting a mere foot and a half from her for the entire length of the car ride.

Lily tried to meet her eyes, at least for a our -mum-is-a-bit-ridiculous-of-a -person commiserating eye roll, but Petunia stayed staring stonily at the seat in front of her, and Lily ended up exchanging looks with a bag-laden tramp who was peering curiously through Petunia's rolled up window, as their car inched its way through the crowded streets.

"And Sinatra on the radio. It's just a lovely day, it truly is " their mum continued, clearly unconcerned about her seasonal inaccuracy. She squeezed Mr. Evans' hand on the steering wheel.

"It's almost… magical" Mr Evans said, taking his eyes off the stagnant city traffic to turn around and wink dramatically at Lily in the backseat.

Lily flashed him a forced smile. Driving with her parents down the packed streets of London was beginning to grind on her nerves. She surmised they must have been close to Carnby St. judging by the number of people walking around with shopping bags. Between her father's poor driving and her mother's adulation of every aspect of the trip, Lily was almost ready to jump ship and join the throng of young shoppers.

Half of the car jolted as the car rode up on a curb.

"Mind the road, Dad." she said, as nicely as she could. "He just almost ran over an entire bus stop." she muttered to Petunia, but she might as well have been talking to her self.

Lily sighed as she stared out the window at the group of people at the bus stop who were now cautiously edging the way back to the curb where they had been standing prior to her father's inadvertent ambush. Many of them were throwing dirty looks towards the beige cartina.

She could just imagine what they were thinking Small town northerners first time driving around in London. No better than bleeding American tourists.

She did not want to be so annoyed with her parents. They had been so wonderful and supportive to Lily since she received her Hogwart's letter. It was slightly over the top, to be honest. "Our little enchantress" they had called her. Most of this was due to her mother, who was the type of woman who loved anything extravagant, and the world of magic fit right into that. Her only question to Professor Dumbledore, when he had come to explain everything about Hogwarts, was to inquire about where he had purchased his high-heeled buckle boots, and did they make them in women's?

Lily's parents had accepted Lily's magic into their lives with such open arms Lily felt that she was suffocating. Her mum had taken to decorating the interior of their house with miniature witch hats, which sat upon the tops of lamps, the corners of windows, and even on top of the downstairs loo. Lily for the life her could not fathom where her mother had found hats the size of small figurines except for perhaps a costume shop specifically for rodents.

Her parents had also laid out all of her new Hogwarts supplies in the front sitting room, for any guests to see. And when they inquired, (which of course they were sure to do having seen a set of brass scales and a pointed black hat in a sitting room) her parent's just smiled knowingly and said "Lily will be attending a very special school in the fall. It's all we can say on the subject at the moment." And her father would give one of his zealous winks. Last week, Lily had even caught her mum filling her pewter standard size 2 cauldron with potpourri.

Lily traced the stitching on the back of her father's seat. She was happy her parents supported her, she truly was. She knew from things Sev had said that not all non-magical-muggles, she corrected herself- were so supportive of their magical offspring. It's just that Hogwarts seemed so mythical so magical so ancient, so rich in history unknown to Lily, that driving down the packed streets of London in a midsize sedan with her mother blasting Sinatra seemed to cheapen the experience of her first day at Hogwarts. She felt as if she should be traveling by horse and carriage, or something more archaic. She looked at her wand sticking out of her jacket pocket. 10 and a half inches, willow with unicorn hair. It seemed scandalously out of place in such a Muggle environment.

Her parents did not understand, and how could they? How could even Lily herself understand, the intricate and beautiful magical world that existed? Up until now it had been well out of their reach.

And then there was Petunia. Since Lily's letter arrived months ago, she had been insufferably moody.

Her grumpy moods since the beginning of the summer had been in a crescendo with today being the peak. Yes, Mum and Dad were paying Lily a bit more attention. But, really, what about the wretched art showing at the gallery, when Petunia's abstract painting of a camel had been showcased as the Up and Coming Student Painter of the month? They had gone on about that stupid camel for ages. Mum had made a seemingly infinite amount of copies of the 4-humped thing and plastered them in all the windows of the house. Couldn't Petunia just understand that it was Lily's time now?

Lily did feel a bit guilty about her parent's indulgence of her after last week when Sev convinced her to sneak into Petunia's room while she was at a friend's house in order to steal her pet crawfish. Sev had told her he had nicked an Engorging Serum from home that would make Nigel grow to the size of cat. Of course, they never ended up taking the crawfish because Severeus, in his ever observant ways, had found a letter from Albus Dumbledore gently denying Petunia's request to come to Hogwarts, and they had both found that infinitely more interesting.

She had not liked how reading that letter made her feel in her stomach. It felt like a mixture of pity and sadness. And so she had dragged Sev by the arm out of her sisters room, amidst his musings about muggle postmen. It was just as well since Lily found later, as she peaked ahead in her Magical Drafts and Potions textbook, the potion they were intending to use would have resulted in Nigel popping like balloon after he grew.

Almost as if Petunia could read her mind she turned sharply toward Lily and finally acknowledged her presence.

"Will we be seeing that awful boy at the station?"

"His name is Severus! You know that! He had dinner at our house last week, you can address him by name now." Lily hissed back. If you've eaten a steak and kidney pie with someone at the same table they earn the right for you to address them by name.

"Oh yes how could I forget that lovely experience. I hope they have a course in dinner etiquette at that wonky school, as he certainly needs it." she hissed back. Petunia had always had a great admiration for proper etiquette and manners, which was ironic because at the moment she was behaving like a rude twat.

"He was nervous! And you weren't helping by glaring at him-"

"He barely said a word the whole time! Mum asked him what he did for fun and he said 'Nothing'. How is that answer? Couldn't he at least lie? And he never even thanked Mum for the food-"

"Now girls, stop bickering and help me find a decent parking spot. We need all sets of eyes looking, this city is mobbed today." Their dad turned around again to look at Petunia and Lily.

"It's London, it's mobbed everyday." Lily said. Her father considered any street with over three cars parked on it to be "mobbed" or "jammed packed". Needless to say, the Evans family were not big city folk.

"Right here, Richard! Right here, just mind the sign." Her mum pointed a spot out that was most certainly not a legal spot, in fact the sign her mum was pointing to said just as much in bold red letters. But Lily did not interfere. It was almost noon and she had a train to catch.

After Dad had finagled the vehicle to fit in, dinging the "No parking" sign twice and parking with half the car tilted up on the curb, Lily jumped out of the car and opened the trunk to get her stuff.

"Help Lily with her things, Petunia darling" her Mum said as she and Lily's dad unfolded a comically huge map of Kings Cross.

"I do hope you truly like that boy though, Lily." whispered Petunia as she picked out the smallest parcel Lily had to carry.

"And why is that?" Lily asked suspiciously.

"Because he's going to be the only friend you'll have. Just like he's the only friend you have now"

"That's not true! Sally Spencer is my friend. And Roberta and Janet and -"

"And how many of them have come to dinner? You don't even play with any of them now since you met that Snape boy. And they don't want to play with you. They think you're weird!"

Ah, so we are back to this, Lily thought. Petunia had adopted this aversion to anything about Lily's magical ability. It was so clearly all a facade. Lily knew Tuney would trade anything to be able to do the things Lily could do. She began steering her sister by the hand toward the brick wall between platforms 9 and 10, while her parents followed behind, beaming at everything in sight. In between 9 and 10 thats what Dumbledore had instructed. "Don't think too much about it, just run" was Sev's advice.

"I don't care if they think I'm weird, I'm going somewhere where everyone else is magic like me." Lily said smugly.

"You don't get it do you?" said Petunia as she stumbled behind Lily pulling her, "Just cause you can do all the... the magic stuff, you think you are so much better than everyone and telling everyone what they should be doing all the time. You act like you're better than them. You act like your better than me! The only reason the Snape boy can tolerate you is because he knows he isn't better than anyone so he doesn't mind that you act like that." Petunia took a big breath "-And why the hell are you steering me into a brick wall?"

Lily had been pulling Tuney toward the wall she had been instructed to run through, but she stopped in her tracks just a few feet short of the bricks. Petunia's, Tuney's, words had fallen, like weights, deep into the pit of her stomach. Perhaps it was her use of the word magic, or the fact that Tuney had almost seemed to be on the verge of tears but Lily felt that her sister was being sincere for once, which was something Tuney had been avoiding in the past few months.

Did Tuney really feel like Lily felt she was better than her because of her magic? Had Lily been acting like that? Well of course you have you dim wit, her mouthy voice inside of her head answered. Jumping off swings, making flowers open and close. Lily felt her eyes burn with tears and her lower lip began to tremble, as it did most times Lily became upset.

"Oh Tuney, I never meant to act like I was better than you. Or anyone. I promise-"

"This is exactly what you do! This is exactly what you do when you're caught doing anything! You just cry and everything goes away!"

Petunia's words were harsh but her own clear blue eyes were beginning to well up with tears of their own.

Lily dropped her grip on Petunia's arm and grabbed her hand instead. More so they wouldn't be standing in the middle of King's Cross crying at one another, she began run toward the wall, with her eyes squeezed shut, pulling her sister behind her. Petunia let out a high pitch scream behind her.

"Tuney it's ok close your eyes, we're doing this together." She prepared her self for the crash. "Tuney I love you and I'm sorry, I really am-"

Lily let out a huge exhale of relief when the hard bricks that were supposed to have met her kneecaps never came. She stepped out on the platform. Smoke was billowing around a scarlet steam engine and a sign said quite clearly Platform 9 and 3/4. It looked very much like a regular platform, like the ones they had just passed by, only the people milling about were dressed in long robes and pointed hats. There were cages with owls chirping away, and children just like her with their wands at their side.

"Oh Tuney! Look! It does exist!" Petunia was still holding Lily's hand and had an expression of bewilderment and terror on her face.

"What just happened? How did we get through that wall. Lily- what did you do! How can I get back-" At that moment, their parents emerged through the smoke, both looking as if they had just been on the best amusement park ride of their life.

"Now wasn't that just amazing! Just like the old magical guy said. Nothing to it, walking right through a wall, can you imagine Georgie?" Mr. Evans looked around excitedly, as if he were expecting an audience to erupt in applause for his first magic trick.

"Absolutely incredible! I haven't felt such a rush of excitement in ages!" Her mum put her hand to her chest as she looked around the platform. "And everyone looks so...magical. Like Halloween! Now, I wonder what they all think of the drab way we're dressed."

They think, Lily thought to herself, the same thing that I think which is that you look like the most Muggle looking people, in the history of muggles.

Her father, short with curly greying black hair and a handle bar mustache, had on his stained gardening jeans pulled up way too high, and an old Tottenham Spurs t-shirt, which Lily was sure no witch or wizard had heard of. He was at least more appropriately dressed than her mother, who tall and blonde, stood out like a flame in the sea of dark robes with her neon pink trouser suit and gaudy gold jewelry. Lily had held her tongue in regards to her mother's wardrobe today because she knew the blazer was one of her Mum's favorites. Her mum had the bold fashion sense of a much wealthier woman, and was always gushing about the most outlandish styles. She acted like being a housewife in Cokeworth was the most glamorous lifestyle one could have.

Lily edged away from her parents and turned once again to Petunia.

"Tuney, I really am sorry. I'm not any better than you. Just cause I can do that stuff, it doesn't mean anything. "

"Oh save it for Mum and Dad. You can't hide anything from me" Petunia had gotten over her terror at transcending through a solid wall, and was glaring around the platform as if the people surrounding her were a dangerous breed of monkeys.

Lily sighed, it was like chasing smoke trying to get Petunia to level with her.

"Well won't you at least miss me? Hmm, Tuney?" she squeezed her sister's hand "Won't you miss me when I'm gone for so long?"

Petunia sniffed and continued to look around the platform, not meeting Lily's eyes. "I'll miss the old Lily. The Lily who used to play with me and not shove all of her stupid tricks in my face. The one who didn't think she was so much better than anyone else alive. Yes, her I will miss." Lily felt the tears coming back again. She was dimly aware of the platform becoming more and more crowded with children her age.

"I'm sorry, Tuney. I'm sorry! Listen-" she grabbed Petunia's hand again. "Maybe once I'm there-no listen Tuney! Maybe once I'm there I'll be able to go to Professor Dumbledore and persuade him to change his mind"

"I -don't- want- to -go!" said Petunia wrenching her hand out of Lily's grasp. "you think I want to go to some castle and learn to be a-a-" she paused to catch her breath "You think I want to be-a-a freak?" Lily felt her eyes fill with tears yet again, but these were tears of frustration. Petunia was so close to being genuine before, mean, yes but genuine. Now she was back spouting this Lily is a freak spiel, which Petunia could hide safely behind.

Okay, so that's how she wanted to play this. Lily had been nothing but gracious and accepting of Tuney's criticism all morning, which was a hard feat for Lily. But, if Petunia wanted to hide behind fake insults and avoid the actual dilemma. Lily would bring the ammo.

"I'm not a freak" Lily said coldly, though she knew her frustrated tears were dangerously close to leaking out "That's a horrible thing to say!"

"That's where you're going." said Petunia and Lily felt her blood start to boil. "A special school for freaks. You and that Snape boy... weirdos, that's what you two are. It's good you're being separated from normal people. It's for our safety." Lily glanced toward her parents, who were still beaming around the platform like bumbling idiots. Time to drop the bomb.

"You didn't think it was such a freak's school when you wrote to the headmaster and begged him to take you" Lily said smugly. Yes how does that truth taste Petunia?

"Beg? I didn't beg!"

"I saw his reply it was very kind" Lily felt her own face get flushed like Petunia's. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Severus, already changed into baggy robes standing a few yards away closely watching the argument between the girls unfold with no attempt to hide his curiosity.

"You shouldn't have read-"whispered Petunia. "that was my private- how could you-"

It was clear from Petunia's shameful whispers that Lily had her cornered. Victory, though, was not as sweet as she imagined. It tasted a bit like guilt. She stole a glance at Sev who almost certainly could now hear every word of this argument, as more people turned to stare.

"That boy found it! You and that boy have been sneaking in my room!"

Yes but only to try to blow up your hermit crab, Lily thought guiltily. Lily realized she, like her sister, had been caught as well. She was a sneak, and the dozen or so people staring at her and Petunia's row probably realized it as well.

"No-not sneaking-" Lily tried to lower her voice to elaborate on the full story. Well, she thought, at least Tuney already hated Sev so she felt less guilty about throwing him under the bus. " Severus saw the envelope and he couldn't believe a muggle could have contacted Hogwarts that's all! He says there must be wizards working undercover in the postal service who take care of-"

"Apparently wizards poke their noses everywhere!" Petunia was pale now. Both sisters stood glaring at each other. Something had broken between them, something not very strong to begin with, but something that had been there all the same. Lily could feel Tuney's hatred radiating off of her like body heat. More and more people were staring and Lily distinctly heard a voice mutter "Every year. Every year there's some family blow out. Always the Muggleborns too"

"Freak!" Petunia spat and turned toward her parents, who despite multiple other families taking interest in the argument had remained blissfully unaware of their daughters' public strife, and were petting a young boy's color changing iguana.

Lily took a deep breath and tried heaving her trunk again onto the luggage rack. The combination of being quite small for her age, and having over-packed excessively with the help of her mother did not allow for a trunk that was easy to lift.

She felt her face getting flushed and sweaty. She should have allowed Dad to come up on the train to help and not shooed her parents away as if she was ashamed of them. She hadn't even waited for Sev, as she felt quite cross with him.

Why did he make her sneak into Tuney's room in the first place? Why was he always getting her into trouble? She hadn't even said good-bye. The longest Lily would be apart from her sister and she hadn't even said goodbye.

Her parents of course had made a big show. Her father had knelt down so he was on eye level with Lily.

"Lily, you know that you and your sister are named after my very favorite perennials in the Northern British garden. " he had said, very seriously. "But the thing about you is, and I've always known since the day you were born-" his green eyes welled up with tears. It was not difficult to tell from which of her parents Lily had inherited her labile emotions. "Lilies are flowers with such a powerful history. I knew, Lily, I knew since I saw those green eyes, there was something magical about you. And now-" he choked on his tears "and now you get to learn all this magic and become so amazing" At this point, Mum had graciously interrupted him.

"Richard, darling, people are staring. Now let me say good-bye to our little girl" she put her hand under Lily's chin. "Lily, you beautiful girl, my darling, we will miss you everyday. Once you find out how to send mail you must write, right away. I want to hear about everything. All of your friends. All of the kooky magic. All of it." Lily felt bad about being ashamed of her mother's outfit earlier on in the day. "And of course, I will send you some macaroons, fudge, whatever you like. Just ask!" Apart from being an avid fashion fan, Mum was also a very talented baker.

"Do you need some help?" a small voice asked and Lily whipped around, a short boy with full pink cheeks and blondish hair was looking at her with some concern. He had apparently just lifted his own trunk up, although how Lily wasn't sure how since he wasn't too much bigger than she was.

"Oh-er-sure." she was taken aback this was the first wizard her age she was interacting with. Except Sev she reminded herself. There was always Sev. She gained some composure.

"Sure that would be lovely" She cringed at herself. Lovely? She sounded like her mother, she nearly almost said darling. "I'm Lily by the way" as the young boy struggled to push her trunk on top of the rack.

"Lily, nice to.." he took a deep breathe as he gave the trunk one final heave and it fell on top of the rack "-meet you. I'm Peter. Peter Pettigrew. You'll be a first year then? I am too" he wiped his sweaty bangs out of the way.

"A what? Oh yes, a first year. Yes I'm just starting out. And yourself?" He already said he was a first year, idiot. Lily panicked. She was all out of sorts. It had been a while since she had to meet anyone new and all of the emotions with Tuney and Sev had put her a right state.

"I'm sorry Peter, I'm a bit nervous just with everything starting out and all." He gave Lily a smile and she noticed he had pale blue eyes similar to the shade of Petunias.

"There's loads of first years in a compartment toward the front of the train. Care to join?"

Oh Peter, yes, yes of course, she thought. She would get to meet all the students going to school with her. Trying to contain her excitement, she nodded silently at Peter.

Well this was a bust, Lily thought as she peered out of the window looking for another compartment.

Peter had lead her to a compartment jammed packed with obnoxious boys who, Lily presumed, were other first years. She wouldn't know however, since none of them had introduced themselves or acknowledged her in any way. Attempted jump across the width of the compartment? Yes. Hang off of the light fixtures? Of course. But introduce themselves? No.

She had hoped Peter would keep her company but he had disappeared into the mass of young boys and left Lily with her face pressed to the window, trying to avoid getting an elbow in the cheek, as they climbed on top of one another.

Lily tried not to think of about Petunia, how it would be so long before she would see her sister's blue eyes so close to Peter's. Once she was home again would Petunia even want to talk to her anymore? Would they become like her mother and her Aunt Betty, who never talked to each other except to hurl perfectly crafted insults about each other's appearances over the phone? Lily had never even met her aunt and Lily's mum often told other people that she was an only child.

At that moment the door slid open, and Lily found her self staring into the vortex like black eyes of Severus. She immediately turned away.

"I don't want to talk to you" she said, if he costed her Petunia she would never forgive him.

"Why not?" Sev whispered, as he stared at her, confused. Hurt. How could he not understand what he had done?

"Tuney hates m-me. Because we saw that letter from Dumbledore." Severus still looked confused, but less hurt. He leaned back so his back was against the seat but his oversized robes bunched up around his neck and he looked like a floating head. If Lily wasn't so cross with him she would have laughed and patted his stringy black hair.

He sighed "So what?"

"So she's my sister" Sev didn't have any siblings that Lily knew of. Maybe that's why he never understood why Lily cared about Petunia. She shook her head disdainfully at him and felt her eyes start tearing again. No she was not going to cry today, again. Not in front of Sev and all of these other boys. He started to say something about Petunia but Lily didn't quite catch it, as she was frantically wiping her tears away with her sleeve. Stop. Crying . Now.

"But we're going! This is it! We're off to Hogwarts!" Lily stopped trying to wipe her tears and looked at him in surprise. His dark eyes were blazing, his face which usually held a discontented frown, looked truly happy. His nose looked much less longer than usual and Lily realized suddenly that it was because he was smiling. She returned the smile halfheartedly.

"You had better be in Slytherin" he said gently, still smiling. Lily had heard of the various houses, from Sev and from the introduction to Hogwarts by Professor Dumbledore. But they had just sounded like funny names to her, devoid of all meaning, and part of some distant future. Griffinclaw, and Pufflelkins? She tried to recall what they stood for. She should have been more prepared for this.

She was about to surreptitiously ask Sev about the different houses, not wanting to showcase her ignorance to the entire crowd, when one of the rambunctious boys (the one who had previously been swinging off of the light fixture) rudely interrupted them.

"Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you" he said in a voice that was filled with disgust. His voice and expression said quite clearly that anyone in the compartment who wouldn't promptly leave if they were in this Slytherin, could go ahead and hop off the moving train right now ,thank you very much.

He was slight, and had tousled black hair with square shaped glasses that rested on the bridge of his nose and gave him a sort of cocky look, as peered over them with bright hazel eyes. Lily scowled, he reminded her of the bullies in her grade school.

"My whole family has been in Slytherin" a voice answered from the seats across her. Lily turned her head. She located the source of the second voice as a boy who was lounged on top of the seat bed. He also had dark hair, but his fell smoothly over his eyes. He gave Lily an expressionless look as she met his grey eyes.

"Blimey!" said the first boy and he grabbed on to the light again and swung so his feet were up on the level the second boy was laying. He gave the boy's belly a good poke with the tip of his foot. "And I thought you seemed alright!"

The second boy grinned which is not the reaction Lily would have had, had she been prodded in the stomach with a toe. But then he grabbed the boys foot and threw it down so that the first boy swung from light again and howled with laughter. "Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you headed if you got the choice?"

It occurred to Lily that everyone in the compartment was watching the interaction between the two boys, like her, with interest and confusion.

The first boy released his grip from the light fixture, and jumped dramatically to the center of the compartment. He withdrew an invisible but evidently heavy, sword. He pretended to impale the boy across from him, which happened to be Peter. Peter gave an admirable silent impression of death from impalement, that in Lily's opinion, was underappreciated by the surrounding crowd.

"Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart! Like my dad!" he shouted. So they were both from wizarding families. Judging by the fact both of the boys were dressed in robes already and seemed quite at home in them, Lily guessed they looked the part of-what was the word Sev had used?- purebloods. Sev caught Lily's eyes and shook his head derisively. It seemed Sev thought they were being a bit ridiculous. Lily quite agreed with him. The first boy, however, did not.

"Got a problem with that?" Now the messy hair boy was really reminding Lily of the bullies in her grade school class. They left her well enough alone, but the way they went after some of the other kids, it made Lily's blood boil.

"No" said Sev and his face turned to a sneer. Lily had to hand it to him. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy-" Lily was about to let out a laugh when the lazy voice of the second boy interrupted her.

"And where do you hope to go, seeing as your neither?" The compartment roared with laughter. Lily felt her face flush. Bullies, the both of them.

She stood up, rather more dramatically than she had intended to, and brushed off her now obvious muggle clothing. She stuck her nose in the air they way Petunia did when she was making a point.

"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment." She heard the two boys oohing and aaahing as she left, as if she had given Sev a big wet kiss on the cheek. One of the boys called Sev "Snivellus" as they exited the compartment. Lily didn't even know what that meant, it was just one of those nonsensical but awful names boys like them could come up with. And it would stick, Lily could tell. Honestly, she thought bullies were bullies were bullies, same as in the Muggle world.

A little later on, Severus and Lily had found a privacy by way of a small supplies closet near the back of the train. They were each eating a chocolate frog, which Lily had purchased as they passed a cheery woman pushing a cart full of sweets. She didn't know the names of any of them, but in her experience chocolate could always improve a situation.

"So," she said through a mouth full of chocolate, while sitting in pitch-black on an upside down mop bucket "Why do you want to be in Slyth... Slytherin? You never told me."

"Well" said Sev, swallowing his chocolate "My mum told me stories about her parents , my grandparents. They were both in Slytherin. My grandfather, he's dead now, but I remember him from when I was much younger. He was very powerful. He used to make up his own spells and everything. He knew every type of magic there was to know, even Dark magic," Sev let the last words hang in darkness and Lily shuddered involuntarily "and how to block it of course" He added as an afterthought.

"He wrote a book too called the Complexity of Curses . That's where I've found out about most of his spells"

"You've read it?"

"Cover to cover. It's the only copy though, the one I've got. He never got it published...he didn't have the money" Sev's voice dropped slightly and Lily knew even in the dark he was avoiding her gaze, as he usually did when their talk turned to anything about money. The Evans were certainly not wealthy by any means, even putting them in middle class seemed complimentary, but compared to Sev's family they were swimming in money.

"What about your mum? She went to Hogwarts, right? What house was she in?" Lily had never met Mrs. Snape, but was always a bit curious about her.

"Ravenclaw." Sev said blankly "But that's because she didn't realize all that she could do. With magic that is."

"Is Ravenclaw bad to be in?" Lily felt her stomach tighten as she realized she would be sorted in just a few hours.

"No, none of the houses are bad" said Sev calmly "Slytherin gets a bad reputation, as we saw, but most wizards from there end up really skilled like my grandfather, and even Merlin himself. Hufflepuff I don't know much about but it seems passable. Gryffindor... is fine but you get a lot of idiots like them" Lily saw the dim outline, as Sev thrusted his head toward the front of the train. She laughed.

"They really were idiots, weren't they?" She didn't even have to have the lights on to know that Sev was smiling again.

In a just an hour, the train had slowed considerably and the bustle in the hallway alerted Severus and Lily that they were close to arrival. Lily made Sev stand outside the closet while she changed into her robes. When she opened the door to bring him back in he was standing at one of the windows between carts peering through the darkness.

"We're so close, you can even see the castle, come look." Lily stood on her tip toes and cupped her hands around her eyes to squint through the foggy window. It was dark, well into the evening hours, but sure enough, Lily could see the dim outline of a massive castle, erupting out of the sloping hills of its surrounding.

"Oh Sev, its perfect! It really is!"The faint silhouette she could make out through the dirty window was everything Lily had dreamed. It was a fairy tale castle.

Everything was real, she felt her stomach swoosh. It was all happening.

She was in a world of magic and leaving the Muggle world, filled with loud cars, tacky clothing and Petunia. Everything was behind her. She was entering a fairy tale, and somewhere deep inside her she couldn't shake the feeling that she was at the center of it all.