The letter arrived tied to an owl. This should have been Lily's first clue that something was a bit odd about it but she'd never been the most analytical of people (and, when you had a father like hers, odd things were not all that unusual). It took until she opened and read it for the oddness to register. All Lily could do was stare at the paper (paper? It felt too heavy to be paper but she didn't know what it was) in her hand. You have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She had more questions than the letter gave answers. She knew about witchcraft and wizardry, of course. Severus had told her. He'd told her she would go with him to Hogwarts. Until that exact moment, Lily had sort of thought it was a particularly cruel joke. If it was, it was an incredibly elaborate one. Lily wasn't sure Severus even knew how to spell some of these words.
And there were books she had to buy and everything. It had to be real and it couldn't be real, all at the same time.
So Lily did what Lily always did. She went to her older sister.
"Tuney!"
"What, Lily?" Petunia was grumpy. She'd been grumpy ever since Lily had started hanging out with Severus. Nowadays she spent more and more time shut up in her room with her old records. Daydream Believer was playing now. It was Petunia's favourite song. Lily didn't understand it.
"Tuney, have you ever heard of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?" Lily asked, walking into her sister's room. Petunia lay on her bed with her eyes closed. She didn't move or turn off the record when Lily entered.
"Why don't you ask your boyfriend?" She asked, sneering. "I hear he knows all about it. You can't tell me you actually believe him, right?"
"I didn't!" Lily said defensively. "I-I just got this in the mail today."
She held out the letter but Petunia made no move to take it so Lily read it out.
Dear Miss Evans,
We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.
Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
Petunia sneered. "So what? Magic isn't real, Lily, and neither is Hogwash or whatever it's called. Now leave me alone."
"Tune-"
"Now!"
Lily left. She ran out of the room out of the house down the road. She didn't stop until she got to Spinner's End where she collapsed on the river bank, startling a few birds. The letter was still clutched in her hands. Severus wasn't there, but she lay there anyway. He might turn up and even if he didn't, the river bank was somewhere away from Petunia. Lily idly picked up a small stick and pointed it at a tree, imagining the tree turning a bright shade of yellow; imagining birds bursting from the tip of the stick to settle in the branches; imagining the leaves catching alight like giant candles. There were no limits to what Lily could do in her head. In her head, she flew.
She lost track of how long she lay there, but it was long enough for the shade she'd been lying in to shift from her toes to her knees. She was contemplating going home again when Severus showed up; looking flushed and angry in that oversize coat he always wore. He smiled when he saw her, and sat down beside her.
"Are they fighting again?" she asked.
"Yes." His tone told her he didn't want to talk about it, which made her understand they were fighting over him. Again.
"I got my letter." She changed the subject.
"Me too."
"Aren't you excited? We're going to Hogwarts, Sev!" He looked over at her, smiling again.
"Yeah."
"Tuney's mad at me." Lily was used to carrying the conversation like this.
"Isn't she always?"
Lily looked at him and didn't say anything. After a few minutes he seemed to realise what he'd said and looked up.
"Sorry Lily."
She shrugged. "It's okay. You're kind of right anyway. It's not my fault I'm magical and she's not but she blames me anyway. She says it isn't real and you're just playing a joke on me."
He looked panicked. "I'm not! Lily, I promise I'm not!"
"It's okay, I know you're not. It makes sense. We can both do things other people can't." She tossed a rock at the ground. It raised a little puff of dust. "I don't know why she's acting like this, though. She's my sister! She's not supposed to be mean to me."
"She's jealous, Lily. You can do magic and she's just a boring muggle."
Lily thumped his arm.
"There's nothing wrong with being a muggle."
He didn't respond and Lily frowned. She knew his family was magical – he'd told her the first time he'd talked to her, when he told her she was a witch and he was a wizard, and that was why they could do unusual things – but she didn't think that should mean he had a right to insult her sister like that.
"I should go home," she said after a while. "My parents will be worried about me." She picked the now crumpled and dirty letter off the ground where it had fallen and left without looking behind her. Severus didn't say anything.
When Lily got home, she showed her parents the letter. They were surprised, to say the least, and her mother (ever practical) did warn her that it might be a practical joke 'by some of those nasty lads from Spinner's End'. Petunia agreed with her, and it was clear she had a particular nasty lad in mind. Lily just glared at her and looked helplessly at her parents. How would she convince them that Hogwarts was real? And how on Earth was she to buy all of these things on her list? Her parents took them to London during the school holidays and Lily had never seen a shop that looked as though it sold magical wands or spell books. And why did the letter say 'we await your owl'? Lily didn't have an owl and even if she did she wouldn't know what they wanted her to do with it. Perhaps it was magical slang for a reply? There was one problem with that, though – there was no reply address on the envelope. Just an old-style wax seal which gave Lily no information at all, even when she held it up to her ear in case it spoke (you never knew with magical things).
When she went to bed that night, she tried harder to work out how she was supposed to get to Hogwarts. Would her parents drive her? Would there be magic carpets or flying cars or boats that went through land? Where even was Hogwarts? Maybe it was on the moon and that was why Lily had never seen an adult do magic. Maybe she'd have to go up in a rocket ship. Lily hated flying.
She turned the letter over. She tried all the tricks she knew for revealing invisible ink (the real ink on the letter was barely legible by the time she was done, but no secrets were forthcoming). She tipped the envelope upside down and tried to reach her arm into it in case it was like Mary Poppins's bag. She whispered nonsense words at it. Nothing happened. For all intents and purposes, the letter was just a letter and the envelope was just an envelope. Lily sat on her bed and swung her legs idly back and forth. Why would Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress send her a letter if there was nothing Lily could do with it?
Maybe Severus would know where to go. His parents weren't nice people, but they were magical (or his mother was, anyway). Surely she'd take him to buy his spell books. Perhaps Lily could tag along? And maybe Mrs Snape had gone to Hogwarts when she was their age and she'd know how they got there. Lily smiled and crawled under the covers, still clutching the slightly soggy letter. It would work out and she would go to Hogwarts and Petunia wouldn't know what hit her.
They received a surprise visitor from Hogwarts the next day. She introduced herself as Professor Andrea Saunders and she taught something called Arithmancy. She was a tall woman with grey hair and glasses, and a severe look on her face. She looked somehow out of place, like she wasn't comfortable in her own clothes. She kept tugging at her jacket and Lily got the feeling she wasn't sure where to put her hands. It was like she'd never worn a jacket before. What if Lily went to Hogwarts and suddenly she wasn't allowed to wear jackets anymore?
Petunia, who'd walked into the room at the sound of the doorbell, stalked angrily out again when the professor introduced herself. Lily thought she saw her rub at her eyes. She turned away. Let Petunia be upset. It was her own fault for treating Lily so harshly. Professor Saunders was talking to her parents. Lily decided it might be a good idea to listen.
"...I'll take Lily to Diagon Alley for the first time. If you need financial help, the school has a system in place to assist pupils with buying their spell books and uniforms. It's probably a good idea for you to come along the first time too, so you can take her for the rest of her school career."
"Where's diagonally?" Lily asked.
"Diagon Alley, Lily. It's in London but it's a secret so only witches and wizards can get in."
"Then how can mum and dad come with us?"
"Muggles can come if they're with someone magical."
"Oh."
"If you want both of us to come with you, Lily, then Petunia will have to come too. I don't want to leave her home alone."
Lily shrugged. "Whatever."
Professor Saunders explained a few more things to her parents. Lily tuned in and out. It was mainly adult stuff anyway.
About half an hour later, when Lily was starting to get bored (of magical stuff – she hadn't even been sure that was possible before), Professor Saunders stopped talking and Lily's mother told her to go and get her shoes. They were going to Diagon Alley! Even the sight of Petunia's closed door couldn't numb Lily's excitement. Much.
In the end, Petunia refused to come and Lily's father had to stay behind with her. It was obvious he was disappointed, but Lily hugged him and promised that they could go back before she had to go to Hogwarts.
She was bouncing in the car all the way. Professor Saunders gave slightly muddled directions in between trying to work out how the car went forward without magic.
"If you didn't drive how did you get to my house?" Lily asked. She felt full of questions but wasn't sure if she wanted to ask them or not, like when you eat too much for dinner and you're not sure for a while whether you're going to throw up or not.
"It's called Apparition, Lily. Witches and wizards can disappear from one place and reappear in another place instantly."
"Whoa... Will I learn to do that?"
"Not for several years. It's very hard and you're not allowed to apparate until you're seventeen."
"Oh."
She was silent for a few minutes, thinking about this. Then thinking about everything else.
"But if I'm not allowed to apparate, how will I get to Hogwarts?"
"Like everyone else does. You'll catch the train."
"There's a train? But we catch the train all the time to visit Grandma and I've never seen the Hogwarts train."
"It's hidden from Muggles. I might as well explain it now. You catch the train from platform 9¾."
"Nine and three quarters? But Professor Saunders, there's no such thing. Is there?"
"Not that Muggles know of. You have to walk through the third barrier between platforms nine and ten. Then you'll appear on platform 9¾. The train leaves at precisely eleven am on the first of September, so don't be late."
Lily fell silent again. Then...
"Can witches and wizards fly?"
Professor Saunders laughed slightly. "On broomsticks and magical creatures, yes. On their own, it's possible but very, very few people can do it."
"There are magical creatures?"
"Of course."
"Are dragons real?"
There was that half-laugh again. "Yes."
Lily gaped at her. "Awesome."
"It's highly unlikely you'll see one while you're at school, or ever, unless you work with them."
"Why?"
"They're incredibly dangerous – they use them as guards at Gringotts, the wizard bank, but otherwise they're kept in secure enclosures."
"How do you work with one?"
"Well, there are several career paths you can take. I don't know all of them but I can promise they're all dangerous."
Lily shrugged. Who cared about danger? She could work with dragons. Magic was amazing. Petunia would never be able to work with dragons. Not that she would ever want to. She might singe her hair.
It took a while but they got to Diagon Alley, Lily asking the occasional question the whole time. When they got out of the car, they went into a dingy old pub Lily's mother seemed to have trouble seeing. Lily wasn't sure she liked it much – it was clean, but dark and it smelled of something incredibly adult. She got the feeling she shouldn't be allowed in there, even though Professor Saunders strode through confidently. Lily wasn't sure what the point of the bar was, and she was even more confused when they walked out a back door into a small and dingy alleyway. Was this supposed to be Diagon Alley? Did the shops appear when you wanted them? Then Professor Saunders pulled out her wand and Lily's mouth fell open. Actual magic! Was she about to see actual magic? To her disappointment, no strange words were uttered, and no bright sparks shot out of the professor's wand. Instead, she tapped it against the bricks. To Lily's amazement, the bricks shifted until there was a person-sized archway in the wall. And beyond...
Beyond that archway was the most magnificent thing Lily had ever seen (and her parents had taken them to see the Pyramids last year, which had been pretty magnificent). The alleyway (if it could be called an alleyway – it was larger and cleaner and far more interesting than any alleyway had a right to be) was teeming with people. There was noise and light and smell, dear God the smell, like rotten eggs and buttered popcorn and wet dog all mixed together (and it all seemed to be coming from the one store) and there were witches and wizards everywhere, all dressed in brightly coloured cloaks or mismatched normal clothes. Lily felt like she needed eyes all over her body just to see everything worth seeing.
"Whoa."
Professor Saunders smiled. "Everyone says that the first time they see Diagon Alley."
"When did you first see it?"
"I don't remember. Certainly long before I went to Hogwarts. My parents are both magical. We did our weekly grocery shopping at Diagon Alley. Now, our first stop is Gringotts."
"That's the bank though, isn't it? I don't have any money."
"They can exchange muggle money, though."
After her parents exchanged money at Gringotts (which was the most fascinating place Lily had ever been in – it was white and clean and there was a threatening poem on the door, and the tellers were all strange stunted creatures Professor Saunders informed her were called goblins) they went to buy her school supplies. They bought a cauldron and potions ingredients and scales and a telescope. Lily spent twenty minutes with the woman in the robes shop trying on robes and making sure they fit just right, and another twenty minutes admiring the dress robes, even as her mother told her she wasn't allowed a pair. Then the book – oh, the books! – there were walls of them, with such interesting titles like 101 Plants with 1001 Uses and Hexes to Bewitch Your Enemies and Befuddle Your Friends. Lily could have spent all day with those books. Unfortunately neither her parents nor Professor Saunders were as interested in them. They collected her schoolbooks as well as another book called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them which Lily stubbornly refused to put down after she read the first page.
Then it was time for the part Lily had been looking forward to the most. The magic wand. The shop they went into was dingy and dusty and covered from floor to high ceiling in long, thin boxes. A spindly chair stood by the grimy window. There was no one in sight. Lily brushed her fingers against the boxes and jumped when a soft, silky voice came out of the shadows.
"Good day."
Lily turned quickly and snatched her hand away from the boxes, tucking it into her pocket and nearly upsetting a precarious pile in the process.
"Mr Ollivander, good to see you as always."
Lily was quite glad the professor was taking charge of this affair because she felt like she couldn't have spoken right that moment if her life depended on it. The man who stood before her; the man who was attached to that shadowy voice; was possibly the strangest and most intimidating man you ever saw. He was very thin and towered over Lily, and had greying hair and silvery eyes that reminded Lily of a thick November fog. She hated fog. God only knew what hung around in it. And God only knew what went on behind those foggy eyes.
Professor Saunders told Ollivander what they were there for and he beckoned Lily closer. She walked forward and looked him straight in those misty eyes. He smiled at her. It didn't make her feel better. He turned to the counter and tossed a measuring tape over his shoulder at her. Lily raised her hand to catch it but to her astonishment it avoided her hand and started measuring her body while Ollivander pulled seemingly random boxes from the walls. It was measuring the distance between her earlobe and her shoulder when he turned around and snapped his finger so it fell to the ground. He opened a box and held it out.
"Try the wand."
Lily took it and held it out in front of her, not quite sure what to do. He saved her from working it out by taking it back and replacing it in the box.
"Apparently not."
This was repeated twice more before Lily took one which felt different. There was a peculiar warmth in her fingers. She shot it straight out in front of her and red and gold sparks shot out of the end with such force they broke one of the dusty panes of glass. Lily nearly dropped the wand, but Ollivander looked delighted with the results, and repaired the window with a lazy wave of his wand.
"Well, yes, I think this one will do nicely." He took the wand from her and put it back in its box and handed it to her. "Eleven sickles."
Lily's mother handed over the money and they left, thanking him on the way out. Lily was quite happy to put the door between her and those foggy eyes.
They had nothing left to do, but Lily didn't want to leave. Professor Saunders had to get back to Hogwarts, so she left. Before she thought about what she was doing, Lily hugged her. The professor hugged her back tentatively. Lily stepped back.
"Sorry. Thank you for helping me today."
"You're welcome, Lily." She disappeared.
"Come on Lily, time to go home," her mother said.
"Can we stay for a bit longer mum, and look around?"
"Okay, but not too long. Your father will be getting worried."
"Hey mum, the letter said I could take a cat or an owl or a toad to school if I wanted."
"Did it? That's nice, dear."
"Can I have a cat?"
"I don't know if that's a good idea."
"I'll look after it, I promise."
"You know your sister's allergic."
"I know, but I'll keep it in my room or outside when I'm not at school. She'll never even notice. Or I can get one that doesn't shed."
"I'll talk to your father about it?"
Lily grinned. She might get a cat! "Thanks mum."
"Why ever would you take an owl to school, though?"
"I don't know. Maybe it's a magical thing. The letter said 'we await your owl'. Maybe they use owls to carry letters like people used to use pigeons."
"Maybe."
They explored Diagon Alley until it was nearly dark, despite Lily's mother's frequent protests that her father would worry. Every time she started fretting again, Lily would drag her into an interesting-looking shop and she would be distracted again. They must have been everywhere. They stopped at the broomstick shop where lots of kids Lily's age were clustered around a broom, muttering excitedly about how it was supposed to be the best broom in the world. They stopped at a shop that claimed to be able to help them dress up like Muggles so they could pass in the Muggle world. Lily and her mother had a great time snickering at all the ridiculous combinations of clothing they had on display. They went into the Post Office, which confirmed Lily's theory that owls were used to send mail – there must have been hundreds of them flying around, all with little colour coded tags depending on how far they could fly and how much they could carry. They saw strange sights and smelled strange smells and Lily got threatened by a witch carrying several vials of a poisonous-looking green substance. Her mother had been frightened and had tugged Lily away quickly, but Lily had been fascinated (and had wondered if she would be allowed to make anything as interesting-looking as the green concoction in class at Hogwarts). Finally, though, they had to go home.
Lily spent the rest of the summer holidays impatient for school to start. Her father frequently joked that Hogwarts must definitely be a magic school, and was there a spell on that letter, because Lily never acted like this – ordinarily, the closer it got to first term the more stubborn and ornery she became. She read her schoolbooks cover to cover – they were every bit as interesting as the titles would suggest. She sat by the riverbank with Severus, and spent most of the time talking about everything they'd do when they got to Hogwarts.
She won the fight for a cat, and immediately spent all her time shut up in her room with Socks, a black kitten with white paws, training him to go in his litter box and playing with a fluffy grey mouse that she tied to a piece of string and dangled for him to grab. Petunia hated Socks – she sneered every time they passed on the stairs, but she couldn't complain. Socks didn't shed and the only way he would have set off her allergies was if she'd shoved her face in his fur (which she'd never have done in a million years – she called him unclean and washed her hands for five minutes one day when she accidentally touched his paw). Socks gave as good as he got – he clearly didn't like Petunia any more than she liked him and he hissed every time they passed on the stairs.
When August 31st rolled around, Lily couldn't sleep for excitement. Her huge trunk had been packed for a week and her parents kept fretting that she'd forgotten something important – what if it was cold at Hogwarts and she needed a good winter coat? They'd better buy her one just in case. Did she have plenty of parchment and ink and quills (Professor Saunders had insisted she needed proper wizard stationery even though Lily's mother insisted that notebooks and pens would be much easier. Lily was secretly excited)? Did she have enough books? They didn't want her getting bored. Lily just looked at her father when he said that. She would be at a magical school. How could she possibly get bored there?
By midnight on August 31st, Lily's mother had told her to go to bed five times and threatened to tie her to it twice, and she still couldn't sleep. She just sat there, staring out her window at the stars and clutching her wand, daydreaming about everything she'd do when she got to Hogwarts. She could hear Petunia sobbing through the walls. She'd tried to write a letter to the headmaster to ask if she could go to Hogwarts too. She and Severus had read the reply (it had been Severus's idea. Mostly. Lily still felt slightly guilty). It had been a kind but definite no.
It was 3 am before Lily got to sleep, and she woke up to her father shaking her at 6:30. By rule, Lily was not much of a morning person. If you'd met her that morning, you wouldn't have known it. She bounced out of bed, nearly head butting her father in the process. Instead of stumbling into the shower, forgetting half her clothes and groaning so much you'd think she was in chronic pain, she ran in and only swapped her school robes for regular clothes when her father reminded her they'd still be on a train platform with Muggles before she got to Hogwarts, and that she'd have plenty of time to change.
Her mother had cooked pancakes for her last day at home, and Lily gobbled several, almost forgetting to be upset that Petunia wasn't making an appearance.
When it came time to leave, Lily stood by the car for ten minutes before everyone else came out, her father dragging a red-faced, stubborn Petunia by her wrist, and her mother fretting that she was sure Lily had forgotten something, and she didn't know the address to send the forgotten item to. Lily rolled her eyes and kept bouncing up and down.
Finally they were off. Lily couldn't stop chattering about all the interesting things she'd read in her textbooks, and wondering what the classes would be like, and whether Professor Saunders would be one of her teachers, and what the sleeping arrangements would be like (Lily had always loved the idea of a huge dormitory with lots of those funny iron beds where everyone sat and did their homework or gossiped, no matter how much her mother said they were cold and draughty and uncomfortable and annoying). Petunia just stared out the window and sniffed occasionally. Lily didn't try to engage her. She'd given up on that. Petunia was proving herself a world class cow. When they got there, she insisted on staying in the car. Their mother frowned but didn't argue.
Lily wasn't quite sure what she was going to do with her trunk when she got to Hogwarts, given her father could barely lift it on his own. Maybe there were people who did that for you. Maybe there was a magic spell that could make it light. Maybe there were dragons! Lily remembered what Professor Saunders had said about dragons, but she chose to dream otherwise. If dragons were real, what other magical creatures could be? Maybe there were mermaids, and fairies, and unicorns, and (Lily shivered) werewolves. She couldn't wait to find out.
Getting onto the platform was the most nerve-wracking thing Lily had ever done. You had to walk right at a brick wall, staring at it, while it stared back at you looking awfully solid. Then your trolley hit it and it was too late to stop, but it was okay because your trolley kept going and so did you, and it was awfully dark inside brick walls, and you felt for a second as though you might get stuck, and then when you were on the other side you were very glad you hadn't got stuck. Lily hoped her parents would be able to get through, even though they weren't magical. Professor Saunders had said they would be okay, but still, surely Muggles leant against the barrier all the time and didn't fall through? What if they just walked at it and banged into- oh, never mind, there they were.
Lily wanted to go and sit on the train straight away, but her mother insisted she stay until she needed to be on it.
"You still have twenty minutes, Lily. You can stay and say goodbye to your parents," she said.
"Bye." Lily tried escaping, to no avail.
"You can stay and say a proper goodbye to your parents," she corrected. "I know you're excited now, but you've never been away from us for so long, Lily."
"Muuuuum, it's not like I'm running off into the woods. I'm going to school. Plenty of people go to boarding school. You did."
"And I cried non-stop for a week."
"Oh."
"I'm sure you'll be fine, Lily," her father cut in. "I'm more worried about how your mother will survive without you."
The mother in question stuck her tongue out at him and he grinned.
"You'll do great, kiddo," he continued. "When you get there, make sure you find out how to send letters and write to us."
"I will. Definitely."
"You should get going soon if you want a seat. There are a lot of kids here."
He was right. The platform was packed.
"Have an amazing time, Lily. Study hard. When you come back, you better be able to do all the washing with a wave of that wand of yours."
Lily grinned.
"Bye mum, bye dad." She hugged them both goodbye and got on the train. There were men who lifted it for you. They took Lily's and when she found an empty compartment to sit in, they swung it up into the racks. Lily clutched tightly to Socks's cat carrier and the backpack with her robes, some sandwiches her mother had packed, and a few galleons in case there was a snack car on the train.
Lily was soon joined by Severus, a couple of girls and a boy who sat in the corner and read his book, looking slightly uncomfortable. The girls were much more friendly.
"I'm Virginia," said one. "Virginia Adams."
"And I'm Alice Morris," said the other.
"I'm Lily Evans," Lily replied, smiling at them. They grinned back.
They looked at Severus. Lily elbowed him.
"Hey! Oh, uh, I'm Severus. Snape." Alice and Virginia smiled politely at him.
They all looked expectantly at the boy, who just muttered "Frank Longbottom," under his breath and kept reading.
There was an awkward silence.
"So what House are you guys hoping to be in?" Alice asked, breaking the silence. "I really want to be in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw."
"Hufflepuff," said Virginia. "My mum was in Hufflepuff and she said the common room is next to the kitchens."
Lily didn't think having a common room next to the kitchens sounded too bad, but she couldn't fathom what a Hufflepuff could possibly be. She couldn't even remember the other two.
"How about you, Lily?" Alice asked when Lily didn't say anything.
"I don't know about the houses. My parents didn't go to Hogwarts."
"Oh, well there are four and we're sorted into them based on characteristics. There's Gryffindor, which is meant to be full of all the brave people. Then Ravenclaw, who are all smart, Hufflepuff, who are all loyal, and Slytherin, who are all cunning. Most bad witches and wizards come out of Slytherin."
"Yeah, you don't want to be in Slytherin," Virginia said.
"Why not?" Lily asked
"They're all evil," Alice responded, as though this should be obvious.
"That's not true!" Severus said hotly. "I'm going to be in Slytherin and I'm not evil."
Virginia and Alice looked sceptical, but didn't say anything to him.
"You'll see, Lily. Slytherin's no good."
Lily frowned but dropped the subject.
The train ride passed quickly. Frank kept his head buried in his book for most of it, but Lily noticed him looking up at them occasionally. On their part, they talked about their favourite books and what they thought Hogwarts would be like and complained about their siblings and tried waving their wands about to see if anything would happen. Nothing did. Lily was slightly glad about this. She didn't want to accidentally break any more windows (Lily, obviously, didn't realise that by the time her seven years at Hogwarts were up she would have broken a total of 247 windows. Not all were intentional). They were visited at one point by four boys who had apparently decided they wanted to torment Severus as much as they could. Lily kicked them out. They pulled their robes on over their t-shirts and jeans when it started to go dark outside. The luggage men had a difficult time convincing Lily that she should leave Socks on the train, and he would get back to her. It was only when Alice told her they were going to be late that she gave in.
If Lily had thought the platform at Kings Cross Station had been crowded, it was nothing compared to this one. She could barely move and had no idea where she was meant to be going. Everyone seemed to be moving in one general direction, so she tried to follow them but it was difficult, with people doubling back and looking for their friends or swearing that they'd forgotten something. There were other people carrying animal cages. Why had Lily been told to leave Socks behind? She felt slightly worried for him but too much of her energy was taken up being worried for herself. She'd lost Virginia and Alice in the crowd.
"Firs' years! Firs' years this way please! All the firs' years ter me!" Lily had never felt so relieved to hear a stranger's voice. This particular voice came from an intimidatingly huge man, but Lily didn't bother with being scared of him. She was just glad she could see him. She battled her way over to him and found Alice and Virginia again. The giant introduced himself as Hagrid the Gamekeeper and led them to a row of boats on a lake. Nobody was looking at the boats, though. They were too busy looking at the castle in front of them.
It was huge and black, but it didn't look unwelcoming or frightening. Maybe it was the way the lit windows twinkled in the darkness, or the way the clouds and the moon hovered just above it. It was undeniably beautiful. Lily stared at it, her mouth open. Most of the other first years were doing exactly the same.
"No more'n four to a boat," Hagrid said. "Off we go."
The first years tore their eyes away from the castle long enough to step into a boat. Lily, Alice, Virginia, and Severus all got into one. The boats moved on their own, sailing across the glassy lake. A huge tentacle rose lazily to the surface and gently tapped Lily's boat, making it rock. Virginia shrieked and grabbed onto the side but Hagrid just poked the tentacle with an oar and it retreated.
"Tha's just the Giant Squid," Hagrid called back to them. "Perfectly friendly. Nothing ter worry about."
Virginia drew her knees to her chest and clutched her legs. Clearly she wasn't getting any closer to the Giant Squid than she absolutely had to. Lily leaned over the side for a closer look, but it was too dark to see anything.
They sailed through a curtain of ivy, and the boats bumped against a dock. They all scrambled out, Virginia very quickly, and Hagrid led them up a few flights of stairs into a hall, where he told them to wait. They stood around for a few minutes, getting very nervous, until a stern-looking black haired witch walked into the hall and stared around at them. Lily stared back, but many of the first years dropped their eyes.
"I am Professor McGonagall. Welcome to Hogwarts." She explained the House system while they stood there, fidgeting, and then walked back out another door, beckoning them. They followed, everyone fighting not to be at the front of the line. To Lily's amazement, they were right at the front of a huge hall. There were four long tables running along the length and another one right behind the first years, up on a dais. Students sat at the four long tables and adults who must have been Professors were at the high table. Hagrid, who had wedged himself into a seat twice the size of a normal one, winked at them. Lily recognised Professor Saunders and smiled at her. The professor smiled back.
Professor McGonagall placed a grubby old hat and a stool down on the floor. The hat looked old, patched and frayed and dirty. Petunia would have shrieked at the sight of it. Lily thought it looked interesting. Then, just to make it more interesting, a rip near the brim opened and it began to sing.
When it was done, Professor McGonagall opened out a long scroll and began to call out names.
"Adams, Virginia."
Virginia squeaked and walked up to the stool, placing the hat over her head. It covered her eyes. After a bit, it called out "HUFFLEPUFF!" Virginia grinned, put the hat back on the stool, and walked off to join the clapping table.
McGonagall kept calling out names and they got treacherously closer to the Es. Finally, "Evans, Lily."
Lily walked up to the stool and placed the hat on her head, trying to make sure it wouldn't go over her eyes. It fell off backwards instead and a few students snickered. Lily picked it up, her face as red as her hair, and put it on, now glad that it covered her eyes because she couldn't see the hall in front of her.
"Oh, you're an interesting one, yes. A good mind and a thirst for learning, but there's bravery there... Now where to put you?" Lily didn't feel like she could help the hat answer that question. "Yes, I think, better be GRYFFINDOR!" It shouted the last word to the whole hall and Lily pulled the hat off. She looked sadly at Severus and walked towards the Gryffindor table. She sat next to one of the boys from the group on the train and immediately turned her back on him.
To her disappointment, the other three boys from that group also ended up in Gryffindor and surrounded her on the bench. Luckily, Alice also became a Gryffindor. Severus, as he'd said, ended up in Slytherin. He smiled at Lily across the hall and then started talking to another blonde boy.
Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster, introduced himself and said some very odd things. Lily was quite hungry by this time, and was relieved and amazed when the golden plates filled before her eyes, with all of her favourite foods. She piled her plate high and began to eat, nearly choking on a baked potato when a ghost stuck his head up through the corn.
"Hello! I don't know you – you must be a first year."
"L-Lily."
"I'm Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington. Lovely to meet you."
"You're Nearly Headless Nick!" said James Potter, the apparent ringleader of the group from the train. The ghost huffed in an offended sort of way.
"I prefer Sir Nicholas, if that's quite all right with you."
Lily wasn't sure how it was possible to be nearly headless, but decided it was probably better not to ask.
When they'd stuffed themselves to the brim on good food, the plates cleared and Dumbledore announced that it was time for them to go to bed. An older student stood up and called for the first years to follow. Lily stood up and made sure she didn't lose sight of him, or the girl next to him. They looked like they knew where they were going and Lily very much wanted to get there.
They were led up flights of stairs and along corridors until Lily was thoroughly lost and couldn't have found her way to a bathroom, let alone the Great Hall. She hoped they'd be given maps. They reached a portrait of a fat woman in a bright pink dress (oh yeah, the portraits moved. And spoke. Lily had gotten an awful fright the first time one of them did that. She'd though another ghost was sitting in the wall until Alice explained about magical pictures).
"Password?" she asked in a forbidding voice.
"Sterculinium publicum."
Lily wasn't sure how she was supposed to remember that.
The portrait swung open and they all clambered through. The common room was round and cosy looking, draped in gold and scarlet. There was a fireplace and lots of squishy looking armchairs and sofas. It was a pleasant place.
The prefects directed them to their dormitories. Lily climbed the stairs with Alice, and they met the other three girls who shared a room with them. There was Emmeline Vance, Caroline Mills, and Atula Kapoor. They didn't talk much, being tired and full. Lily was happy to find Socks there, still in his cat cage and very unhappy. She let him out and he whisked out the door.
Lily had barely changed into her pyjamas and crawled into bed before she was asleep.