1: Pranks on a Train
"Haha! I can't imagine anyone else ever thinking of something like that," Roxy told Lily, as they were talking about pranks to get her initiated into Hogwarts.
"It's a gift," Lily said," but we should check with your dad first, just to make sure he never did anything like it before."
"I promise, no one in their right mind would think of something like that."
"I did!"
"My point exactly."
"Hey!" Lily cried, hitting her cousin on the arm.
"Oh no Rox, hope you didn't do anything too bad." Albus said walking up to them, "we all know what happened to Lily's last victim."
"Gosh Al, you make me sound like a predator," Lily held her hand to her heart.
"Ya kinda are Lils."
"Flattery will get you nowhere."
"Got me into slytherin. Which is where you will be after the sorting."
"Don't bet on it," Roxy said, " she belongs in Gryffindor with me."
"Come on, we both know the only reason Lily would want to be in Gryffindor is because that's where Uncle Fred and George were." Al said, then turning to Lily, "If you want to play your pranks and get away with it, you gotta be in Peeves' house. He'll get anyone in trouble if he catches them doing something, but the Baron keeps him away from the Slytherins most of the time."
"He's got a point Roxy."
"Point about what?" Her uncle George (also her unspoken favorite Uncle) asked as he walked up to the three waiting by the fireplace to go the the station.
"Al is trying to get Lily into Slytherin." Roxy told he father.
He gasped! "Lily! How could you even consider such a thing!" He asked in mock shock.
She giggled, and he stood up saying, "come on. I was puts in charge of you three troublemakers, for reasons I will never know. But we have to get to the station, or your mothers and Aunts will never trust me again."
They all grabbed hands and apparated to the train station.
"George!" Lily's Aunt Hermione cried, "you were almost late getting here. What if the train left without them?"
"Hermione," Their Uncle Ron said, "They are 20 minutes early. And besides, do you want to be put in charge of them?"
"Hey!" Lily cried.
"Come on Lils, you know I'm joking. And honestly," he said bending down to whisper in her ear, "you know as much as I do that you are the biggest troublemaker in the family, almost as bad as Fred and George were when they were in school."
Lily grinned, "can't wait to try those spells you guys taught can use magic once we get on the train right?"
"Umm yes, but who are you planning on using them on?" Al asked, looking a bit worried.
"Oh not you, calm down." Lily rolled her eyes. "But James did hang me by my foot last week."
"I feel bad for James. But Lily you've never actually done a real spell with your wand before, it may not work when you try it."
Roxy jumped in, "and if you try a spell on James and it doesn't work, he's gonna do more than hang you by your foot."
"Come on Rox, where's the bravery in that."
"I gotta agree with her though Lily," Uncle George said. Then added, "and I'm not condoning this kind of behavior so make sure he doesn't, and if he does, make sure the spell works the first time." He said with a wink.
Lily grinned, "and here I thought you might not help me with pranks anymore once I left for school."
He pretended to fall back, holding his hand on his chest, "Lily you wound me. The day I stop helping you with pranks is the day the earth stops spinning."
"Great, now you can't say no to sending me the popping palette for after our trunks are checked."
"Of course, just don't tell your mothers," he said eyeing the three.
"Never," then looking at the train she said to them, "James is getting on. Bye!" she said throwing her arms around her Uncle, then rushing over to say her goodbyes to the rest of her family followed by Al and Roxy.
XXX
George walked over to Ron and Harry.
"There goes the trio of trouble," Ron said watching them leave, "I gotta say Harry, I 'm glad Hugo isn't as much trouble as Lily is."
"She's not that much trouble for me, only for James," He laughed, "you should see her. Every time I try to give her some kind of punishment, she talks me out of it! I mean she always makes so much sense when she's explaining what she did was right."
"Evil genius. I'm surprised she's not George's daughter"
"I have two of my own thanks."
"I surprised that Al and Roxy haven't done as much as you and Fred did."
"Something tells me that as soon as Lily is added to their trio at school they will do more than Fred and I ever did. BUt they won't get in enough trouble for us to hear about it." George laughed, remembering all that he did with his twin.
XXX
Lily, Al and Roxy got on the train and made a beeline for the compartment farthest from the one James disappeared into.
They stuffed their trunks in the overhead bins, went over the plan, and Lily practiced her wand movements.
Roxy put a charm on her mirror so they could see down the hall, without sticking it out of the compartment.
Al walked down and knocked on James' door, as Lily and Rox watched.
"Hey," they heard Al's muffled voice, "can I talk to James for a moment."
Another muffled voice, then James stepped out.
"Hey, I was just wondering…" He carried on with his pointless conversation as Lily stuck her head out the door.
She was laying on the ground, and moved her wand out slowly; her elbow hovering above the floor to keep from making noise.
She muttered the spell, wit her hand covering her mouth, as she waved her wand just like her Uncle taught her. And as though she had done it before, his hair changed perfectly. Al watched, without his expression changing as every few inches of James' hair changes to a different color.
"Well, actually now that I say it out loud, it makes more sense. Thanks for listening bro." Al said, then walked off in the opposite direction of his compartment, so James wouldn't be able to find them later.
"Umm, yeah. Anytime," James, looking confused went back into his compartment, and Al ran back to the compartment at full sprint as Lily and Roxy ushered him in giggling.
"Oh gosh Al, how do you keep a straight face?" Roxy laughed, "I would have busted up right in front of him."
"That's because you don't have the Slytherin charm," Al replied haughtily. "Unlike Lily and I."
"Just because I can lie, doesn't mean I belong in slytherin."
"Yup, she's a risk taker," Roxy said back to him.
"And just because I'm not a wimp doesn't mean I belong in Griffindor."
"Come on Lils, you're almost out of time, you gotta make a choice soon."
"I'm not choosing, I'm gonna let the hat decide."
"Okay Miss Hufflepuff," Al said, grabbing her and putting her in a headlock.
Roxy was laughing at them as Lily cried, "DO YOU NOT REMEMBER WHAT I JUST DID TO JAMES!" Al released her immediately.
"Come on Lils, I was only joking" Al looked a bit nervous, backing away from Lily.
"Just don't do it again."
"Yeah right," Roxy said, "we all know Lily's gonna get you back Al. Sorry you got yourself into this mess."
Lily grinned, as Al got up, "what if I go tell James it was all me. Then you won't get in any trouble."
"Oh sit down," Lily said, "anyways, I don't know what you're talking about. I had no part in that, it was all you, right Rox?"
"Yup," she said smiling at the frowning Al.
They spent the rest of the train ride playing exploding snaps, and wizards chess, until Roxy checked her watch.
"We better get changed into our robes. We'll be there in about 10 minutes." She said to the other two lying on the floor of the compartment.
XXX
After the boring ride across the Lake that everyone in her family had told her about, and their lecture about houses and rules, Lily was finally walking through the great hall to the sorting hat.
Surprise, surprise Hugo was put into Ravenclaw with his sister, and Alice Longbottom was put in her dad's house. Lily just wanted to know what her house was!
"Potter, Lily." Finally, she thought as she walked up to the stool.
Another Potter, at least you're last name isn't Weasley.
What's wrong with Weasley?
Well someone's got a sharp tongue, perhaps Gryffindor.
And here I was thinking you would put me into the house I wanted to be in. And if that's all you judge us on, well I guess you don't put as much thought into this as I thought.
Slytherin could fit too. And I can't actually think, I'm an enchanted hat.
It's still thinking, you may not be a person, but even though you don't have a brain, you think the same things as the left and right side of the brain allow.
Well I know just where you belong,
"RAVENCLAW!"
They took the hat off her head, and Lily laughed, seeing the expressions on her family's faces. As she made her way over to the Ravenclaw table she winked at Roxy, and shot a grin at Al.
She sat down and Hugo spoke first. "No offense Lils, but how did you end up here?"
Rose was also staring at her with shock written all over her face.
"I just made sure the hat took into account all of my qualities, not just one." She smiled, and waited as the rest of the students were sorted.
XXX
Once the rest of the students were sorted, and the feast was finished, Lily and the rest of the first years followed the prefect to the Ravenclaw common room.
"Okay," said one of the prefects, speaking to them as if they were 5 instead of 11. "We are excited you are in Ravenclaw, but you must know that in this house we have expectations, and we do things a little differently than you may have heard from other horses."
Lily looked over to see Hugo, who looked like he was making mental notes about everything the girl was saying.
"Every time you come into the common room, instead of a password, we have a riddle to answer."
She turned to the portrait of Rowena Ravenclaw and the painting spoke, "You heard me before, Yet you hear me again, Then I die, 'Till you call me again. What am I?"
The prefect looked at the first years. "You cannot go in until you answer a riddle yourself."
Lily looked around at the group of first years trying to figure it out in their heads. "An echo?" she said, trying to keep her voice even.
The door opened, and the prefect stepped aside. "Welcome to Ravenclaw…?"
"Lily."
"Lily. Go on in, girls dormitories to the left. Your trunk will be in your room."
She stepped into the common room and looked around, and a few older students eyed her before returning back to their books, or conversations.
She walked up to her room, and boy was this gonna be a long seven years.
There were bookshelves and desks lining the walls, with little room for anything besides their beds.
A minute later a girl walked in and shut the door, walking up to her with her hand out. "You must be Lily, Hugo's cousin, I'm Mary."
"Yeah, how did you know I was Hugo's cousin?"
"Oh. Well, he mentioned you when you went to be sorted."
"Are you sure he didn't say anything else about me?"
"Umm, well, he was surprised you were in Ravenclaw."
Another girl came in, "hi, I'm Layla."
Mary and Lily introduced themselves, shaking her hand. Minutes later they were joined by two others, Grace, and Jade.
"Okay, well I'm gonna get ready for bed" Mary said.
"It's not even 8 yet," Lily said.
"Yes, but we've had a long day, and we should be getting our class schedules tomorrow."
"Yeah, I'm gonna turn in too," said Grace, and the other girls followed suit.
Yay, Lily thought sarcastically, getting ready for the exciting life of a Ravenclaw!
Please Review! I really want to know your thoughts on this. I am really excited about this story, I want it to be really fun.