Chapter One
Lily Potter
The bright sunlight filtered through the window hangings and shone onto the face of a girl. She was not sleeping, but not quite awake either.
"Lily! Lily wake up! You're going to Hogwarts today!" A tall red haired boy said bouncing into her room.
"Ugh! Go away James, just five more minutes please!" She said and rolled over, pulling her pillow over her head.
"No Lils, you gotta wake up now, Dad says. You can help me wake up Albus! Lily you are going to Hogwarts TODAY!" James shouted jumping onto her bed. Hearing her brother say it twice seemed to make a difference to Lily, she sat up so quickly that her brother fell over onto the floor. "There you go! Come on, let's go wake up Albus, maybe we can convince him that he's back in first year and going to be in Slytherin house!" James said grinning mischievously. Lily smiled a little and then a dark cloud covered he face.
"What if I'm in Slytherin James?" She asked quietly.
"Ha! You? In Slytherin? Ha! Lily you are the most unSlytherin person that I know." Her brother said laughing. "Come on! We have to go wake up Albus before Dad beats us to it!" Slightly reassured, Lily followed James into Albus's room. The sleeping form of her other brother rolled over when they entered the room. "Watch this," James whispered and he crept to his younger brother's side. "Albus Severus Potter, you are now in SLYTHERIN!" James had whispered loudly into his brother's ear. Albus screamed and jumped out of bed. He looked around wildly to find his glasses so that he could see the speaker, when he saw his older brother and younger sister collapsing in giggles he sighed and glared at them.
"That was not funny!" he shouted.
"What is going on up here?" A tall red haired woman asked as she entered the room with a basket of laundry. She looked remarkably like Lily, except for her eyes which were brown instead of a brilliant green.
"Nothing Mum." James said at the same time that Albus said, "They woke me up by yelling that I was in Slytherin in my ear!"
"Tattle tale." James muttered under his breath.
"James! Lily! How many times have I told you to leave your brother alone! Especially you Lily, with this being your first year at Hogwarts! Where is your sympathy?" Ginny said sternly looking down at her children.
"Sorry Mum." Lily said, ducking her head slightly.
"All of you go! I know that none of you have finished packing your trunks." Lily and James left the room, James glaring at Albus, and Lily burning red in the face.
When she got back to her room she glanced around it, today was the last day that she would see it until Christmas break. She opened her dresser and grabbed a few more pairs of socks and her diary. She threw them both into a large trunk that sat open on the floor beside her bed and looked around for more items that she might have forgotten. When she didn't see any she closed the lid and fastened the latches before turning to a bird cage on a cluttered desk. Inside was a great snowy owl, she had named it Hedwig after her father's old owl.
"I'm sorry girl but I have to shut you in now." Lily whispered as she closed the door on the cage and latched it.
"Lily! Come on! We are going to be late!" Her father's voice called up the stairs. "Coming Daddy!" She called back. She grabbed her new wand off of the top of her dresser and tucked it into the pocket of her jeans before grabbing her trunk and bird cage and dragging them down stairs to meet her waiting family.