Strange Pasts and Stranger Futures.
As she sat back and looked around the room, Ivy's thoughts strayed back over the years and she somehow found herself
thinking of the day she'd first boarded the train to Hogwarts. It seemed a century ago and yet she could almost
smell the coal burning in the engine and hear the laughter from the students around her.
It had been a rather strange summer, after she'd received the letter from Hogwarts. Entirely unexpected to her,
and yet, her mom had not been nearly so surprised. She had told Ivy there had always been rumours that various
members of their family had unusual powers. Ivy had been raised by her mother to be very open minded , and although
at the time her mind had been leaning toward a career as a doctor, she tried to share her mother's enthusiasm for
the new school she would soon be attending. After they had visited the wizard's shopping area, Diagon Alley, in
London, she found herself more enthusiastic. Nothing seemed impossible to Ivy, and she quickly read through her
course books and tried a few simple spells. They all worked for her, but she didn't try anything very complicated.
However, she had arrived at the station with her mother, not knowing what to expect. They had been fortunate enough
to overhear a girl who looked several years older than Ivy, saying something to her mom and dad about platform
nine and three quarters.. They trailed along and when she noticed Bella, she asked if she'd like to sit with her
on the train.
"Don't listen to a lot of our foolishness", the girl, who Ivy had discovered was named Molly, told her.
"Especially that Arthur Weasley, he'll say the silliest things, just to get my attention."
Ivy gazed fondly at Arthur and Molly, remembering how the two older students had looked out for her that first
year, and had made her first days at Hogwarts so much less intimidating than they had been for some of the first
years, especially one named Lily Evans who she had met at the Sorting. Her eyes rested on Harry, who was, she noticed,
studying the latest arrivals to the party curiously, at least the young wizard who had accompanied his friend and
fellow Gryffindor, Lee
Jordan. How often had she seen that look on James' face, particularly that first year, when he seemed determined
not to trust her or Lily.
She, Lily and Bella had become friends immediately, recognizing in each other a willingness to try anything, an
ability to quickly learn the basics of their lessons, a particular interest in Charms, playing tricks on boys with
dark hair and Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, which they were seldom seen without.
Their favourite targets had quickly become James Potter and Sirius Black, two second year Gryffindor students.
Potter and Black were known as mischief makers themselves, along with their friends Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.
Most of the female students in the first and second years seemed to find the boys' dark hair and mischievous smiles
irresistible, but Lily and Ivy and their companion only found them irresistible when they could manage to make
them forget their way to classes, or put spells on their chess pieces to make them refuse to move as told.
Once Lily had managed to make the untidy hair that stuck up at the back of James' head turn blue to match his eyes.
Of course James had quickly retaliated by making Lily's nose the shape and colour of a pickle, warts included.
They had both received detentions, and the spells had quickly worn off, but the rest of the school was now eagerly
waiting to see the next
prank.
Ivy wouldn't have admitted it back then, even to Lily or Bella, but she was finding it difficult to think of doing
anything truly mean to Sirius. She had quickly found she rather liked the older boy, and when he looked at her
his eyes had a friendly twinkle. Maybe soon, she hoped, they would all be united in their quest for mischief. She
couldn't help thinking they would make quite a team.
*****
"This is sooo not my day." a young girl with fiery red hair and dazzling green eyes said, as she pulled
herself up from where she was sprawled out on the floor. A teenage boy with black hair had just stormed straight
past her and knocked her down. She straightened out her skirt and walked backwards into another boy. This one had
blonde hair, very blonde hair, piercing blue eyes and a sneer permanently placed on his lips.
He bowed courteously. "I'm ever so sorry." He took her hand and kissed it in an old fashioned manner.
"Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy."
It took all the young girl's energy not to laugh at the boy's name. "Lily Evans."
"I can see why you're called Lily." he said giving her a quick nod of the head and walking off.
Lily followed him with her eyes before she became distracted. Looking up, a huge, scarlet steam train was towering
over her. She whipped her head around nervously. How on earth had she gotten on to the platform. She saw a beautiful
plate on the front of the train, "Hogwarts Express! Well at least I know I'm in the right place." She
muttered before tugging her trunk inch by inch, towards the nearest carriage entrance. There were a few boys struggling
over getting a trunk onto the train in front of her. "Honestly." She thought in exasperation. She barged
through the middle of them and with a surge of energy hauled her trunk onto the train. She gazed in an annoyed
fashion at the boys who were gawping at her and strode off, dragging her trunk behind her.
A couple of minutes later when the train began to roll away from the station Lily still hadn't found a compartment
on board the Express. As she reached the last compartment she couldn't see anyone through the door so she walked
in.
Looking around she saw three boys jump back, looking extremely guilty. They had been crowded around a fourth boy,
who by closer inspection had had hilarious little 'doodles' drawn over his face while he was asleep.
"Note to self - don't fall asleep in here." he said so that the first three boys could hear her.
The boys grinned but then one caught himself and asked rather rudely, "Who said you could come in here?"
"I did, there's no room anywhere else." she said haughtily,adding threateningly, "Why got a problem
with that?" .
"What, don't you have any friends?"
"Actually no." Lily said steadily.
This shut the boy up.
"Oh, well, we'll be your friends then." a tall thin boy with a stupid grin plastered to his face said
kindly. "I'm Sirius Black, the boy you were fighting with is James Potter and the one who's trying not to
laugh is Remus Lupin." They all smiled and waved, minus James.
"Thank you," she said to Sirius and Remus ignoring James completely. "I'm Lily Evans."
"What year are you in, we're in Second?" the boy called Remus asked. He was rather handsome with chocolate
coloured eyes and fair hair that fell into his eyes.
"This will be my first and lucky me, I know nothing about any of it - I don't even know how I got on the platform."
she confided in them, adding her usual dose of sarcasm.
"So you're muggleborn?" a new voice spoke from the corner of the little room. It was the boy who had
been asleep. He didn't seem to realise that he had the words, "I LOVE SNAPE !" on his forehead.
"Oh that's Peter Pettigrew." James said offhandedly, sniggering behind his hands.
As a friendly old lady with a sweet tray came round and the boys queued around it, she pulled Sirius to the side.
"Who's Snape?" Sirius just grinned evilly.
* * *
"It's not my fault, Pickles!" James yelled at Lily.
"Actually it is, Four Eyes." She screamed back at him.
The other three sat at the opposite end of the carriage, viewing this display with interest. "Have a thing
about eyes, don't they?" Sirius said stupidly.
"Oh yeah... I really poured pumpkin juice in my hair," James retorted, his voice dripping with sarcasm
while his hair dripped with juice.
"Quit calling me Firehead then," she said placing her hands on her hips.
"Why don't you stop calling me Mr. Insaneo Man?" The boys at the other end of the room burst out laughing
at this and James glared at them. "Its not funny." he yelled. They stifled their laughter. "I hope
you get Slytherin, you'll be with people of your own kind that way." he sneered.
Lily had been taught enough by the other boys to know that this was a very rude comment. The train was rolling
into the station at this point so she punched him heavily in the nose and made a break for it. She hurriedly slid
the door open and run down the aisle towards the exit. She swung it open as she heard heavy footsteps running after
her. Running through the crowded platform, the young girl saw a giant man standing in the middle and ran towards
him. He was calling for all first years so it would be easier.
Lily slowed down as she approached the other first years and their leader. Suddenly she was tackled to the ground
from behind. She was thrown onto her back, and when she looked up James Potter was kneeling over her, his nose
bleeding freely.
"Oh, Potter, what on earth happened to your nose?" she asked loudly and innocently. She saw Sirius and
Remus' heads come into view and she smiled at them freshly.
"OY ! WHAT'S GOING ON 'ERE?"
The two heads that were so close together snapped up simultaneously, inches away from banging into the other. The
giant-like man was standing above them.
Lily always had a way of judging people when she first saw them. "He seems kind of scary but he has got laughing
wrinkles over his cheeks. But his hair... Oh, his eyes are just delightful though. He must be nice - eyes don't
lie!" She thought this all through rapidly before smiling at the man innocently.
"James?" the large man asked, his voice deep and husky.
"Hagrid, she was being a total pain." he whined. Lily thought he sounded spectacularly like a little
baby girl, with blonde ringlets and a teddy bear hanging from her hand.
"Was not!" she said indignantly.
"Were too!" the boy on top of her contradicted unhelpfully.
"Wasn't!
"Were!"
"NO I WASN -"
"WOULD YOU TWO BE QUIET!"
Lily gulped but saw James was only trying to hide a smile. The man, Hagrid, turned to Remus a light smile recognisable
through his masses of tangled hair.
"What exactly 'appened 'ere?" The man asked as though he trusted Remus. Lily hadn't known him long at
all, but she herself trusted him quite well already. "Must be a trustworthy guy." she thought,adding
darkly, "Unlike James."
"It was a pretty simple really, exchanges of insults, annoying comments, stupid questions with ridiculous
answers... the usual pretty much. Just James making another enemy for when he's not busy with Snape." Remus
said this all brightly with no hesitation at all. As an afterthought he added. "Oh Hagrid, this is our new
friend Lily Evans!"
Lily felt her heart grow warm as the two boys ,,apart from James smiled at her and the giant man shook her hand
heavily.
*****
"Straighten your hat up! Hair, your hair is a mess! You. You with the red hair - stop day dreaming!"
Lily suddenly became aware of a formidable lady standing in front of her, barking orders out left, right and centre.
She was rather tall and slight. She probably had the longest hair Lily had ever seen, but the girl couldn't be
sure as it was scraped back into a tight, twisted bun. She was in a strange way pretty, or would have been when
she was younger, but now her face was creased with a frown and her lips were as tightly pressed together as a corset.
The older lady began ordering them into a long, curving line in front of two huge oak doors and Lily realised that
she must have said something important, while she had been day dreaming.
As Lily was about to ask the short, raven haired girl in front of her what was happening, the large doors creaked
open slowly, and the line began to move forwards hesitantly.
Looking around her eyes fell on five wonderful hangings on the walls, behind five different tables. She presumed
these were of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin and the final one the schools emblem, having memorised
all of what the boys had told her on the journey there. They were right - the Slytherins at their table did seem
rather nasty and sullen looking. She heard a boy her age behind her saying something about the ceiling and so looked
up inquisitively. "So this is what Remus meant about the stars and the moon..." she murmured, her voice
muffled by the staleness of the air.
The next couple of minutes passed in a blur: a singing hat, occasional cheers of joy, shouts, none of it was registering
in her mind as she studied all the people around her.
"Evans, Lily."
Lily's head snapped back onto her shoulders and she was surprised she hadn't received a whiplash. Somebody gave
her a small push and she walked shakily forward towards the frayed hat that was sitting on an old, chipped stool.
She sat slowly, picking the hat up first. She slipped it over her eyes, happy that she could no longer see all
of the faces staring at her intensely.
"Feisty little thing aren't you? Oh, hello dear. Umm...."
"Er... hello." Lily thought uncertainly as a small voice was heard in her mind.
"Where should I put you... you've made friends in Gryffindor, somebody waiting for you there... extremely
smart, temper - oh yes, there's a temper! But muggleborn." The hat seemed to be thinking for a long time.
"I don't ever think I've ever been stumped like this before. If there's a mistake just tell Dumbledore. Of
course I've never made one yet, but still, hmm, you're a tricky one. I think I'll go with your future - Gryffindor."
Whereas the hat had shouted loudly and speedily for all the other children, he simply spoke the house name quietly,
as though deep in thought.
Lily stood uncertainly, and stumbled towards the table with a big red banner behind it as the next person was called
from the line. She vaguely felt someone hug her and was pretty sure it was Sirius and then sat down trying to comprehend
what the blasted hat had said.
"Somebody waiting for me here, what on earth..." Lily muttered to herself as the Sorting came to an end.
Her friends watched her closely.
"Hi, you're Lily, right?"
Lily looked to her left as a voice spoke timidly. At first her autumn coloured locks obscured her view but then
she saw a girl of her own age sitting next to her, smiling cheerfully.
" Yes. Lily Evans, one ' very relieved to be through with THAT,' person!" Lily
answered, looking curiously at the girl.
"Don't remind me! I still don't get what that... thing, was saying! At least it didn't try and put me in with
the Slytherins." She shuddered. "Since I'm muggleborn and all. Only, as they call themselves, "pure
bloods" become Slytherins, did you know? But they all look really mean and slimey to me!", the other
girl said with a shiver.
"Oh. I'm used to mean and slimey people," Lily said with a giggle. "I'm muggleborn too, but I've
got the meanest sister in the world. What's your name, then?"
" Ivy Graves," The girl answered, just as an extremely ancient man with silver hair and twinkling blue
eyes stepped up to speak. Ivy grinned at Lily. Lily grinned back. It was nice for the both of them that Ivy had
been chosen for Gryffindor too. There was something about her that Lily felt she could trust, something like the
way she'd felt after meeting Remus. She studied Ivy as she made her way through her piled high plate, once the
announcements of the silver-haired man had finish. Her golden brown hair was the curliest Lily had ever seen, even
though she had tried to tame it in two long braids. The hair had escaped around her face and with her dark brown
eyes, Ivy resembled a flower with its petals waving. For such a little girl, Lily thought she looked strong enough
to stand up to anyone.
The food suddenly began to appear on the table, on golden plates Lily and Ivy stared and then began to help themselves
to the delicious looking and smelling food. In attempting to serve herself some Yorkshire pudding from the huge
dish, Ivy's hand slipped, and some of it flew onto her robes. James Potter started to make snorting noises, like
that of a pig and many of the students at the Gryffindor table laughed good naturedly. Lily could see Ivy was horribly
embarrassed, since her face had gone several shades of red, though she tried to join in the laughter
She also noticed one James Potter sitting there with an even more disdainful sneer on his face than usual.
At that moment Lily's determination and resolve hardened. She and this other new Muggleborn Gryffindor would be
friends and they'd show Potter! She didn't know what the hat had meant about"future" but she was going
to find a
way to wipe that look off James Potter's smug face!
*****
"... and I just know that I'm going to get lost tomorrow on the way to breakfast. Oh girls, don't listen to
any of James Potter's 'advice! Unless you wanna be having your breakfast in the Slytherin common room." Lily
looked at her new friends who were sitting in the first year Gryffindor girls dormitory with her, laughing at what
she had said.
Ivy was there with her, as well as two other girls that had been sorted into Gryffindor with them.
Arabella Figg was a small girl with light brown hair and beautiful bronze eyes, that sparkled with a certain mischief.
She was a pureblooded witch and seemed rather scared by the great castle of Hogwarts. Apparently her father was
an auror. Lily hadn't even asked what an 'auror' was, and decided not to as Bella looked a little upset annoyed
about it.
For all of her life Bella had been best friends with the other girl in their dorm. Katherine 'Kill ya' Louisa.
The 'Kill ya' part was only if you called her Katherine. It was Kate or nothing. She also had a father in the ministry
but she didn't talk about him much. Lily couldn't understand why. She had electric blonde hair and amazingly light
blue eyes, that when caught in the right light could almost look pure white.
"So girls, what shall we do to these second years?" Kate asked innocently, flopping onto her bed.
"Something embarrassing!" Bella shouted happily.
"Very embarrassing!" Lily added.
"Well don't just sit and chat - we've gotta start planning!" Ivy shouted and the room erupted into commotion.
*****
Disclaimer: In unison "We don't own anything except the situations and the way we see the characters. Thank
you to J.K.Rowling!"