INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS (LILY & SCORPIUS i AND ii): MEETING

"Well actually, I've got friends who (la-la-la lie)

Will help me pull through (la-la-la lie, la la-la-lie)

The song for a long goodbye…"

-Jack's Mannequin

"Mummy, I'm scared," eleven-year-old Lily Potter whispered to her mother as she walked toward the barrier of platform nine and three quarters. "What if they don't sort me at all and they send me home 'cuz I'm a failure?"

"Lily, you are not a failure. You'll be just fine, I promise," Ginny reassured her youngest child, just as she had the two boys before her. "Everyone's scared their first few days, but it turns out okay in the end."

"But what if I'm in the wrong house?" Lily whimpered, dragging her trunk slowly toward the train.

"There is no wrong house, love," she said patiently. "We'll all love you no matter what. Now, let's go say goodbye to your father and get you on the train."

"But Mummy, what if nobody likes me 'cuz I'm a freak?"

"You're not a freak, Lily. You are a bit different from the other children, but that doesn't make you a freak."

"Mum, I'm only 11 and I already have black an' auburn low-lights in my hair. Most kids don't even know what low-lights are. Even by muggle standards I'm freakish." They began to walk toward the place on the other side of the smoke, where her two older brothers stood with their father.

That was when she saw him. The boy that would change everything. He had messy blonde hair that hung over one of his eyes and a pale, pointed face. His eyes were dark and cool, filled to the brim with mischief, and most of all, shockingly pretty by Lily's standards. He was on the thin side, small and slight, and had a strangely dark look to him. Moreover, he was staring straight at her. Her oldest brother James took this moment to sling his arm around her shoulders.

"Why is Scorpius Malfoy gawking at my baby sister?" he asked the general public, much louder than necessary. The boy blushed across the platform and looked away. Lily grew rather flushed in the face and smacked her brother.

"Shut up, James," she muttered, pushing him away. He ignored her, lifting her trunk off the station floor.

"Let's go," he said to her, walking toward the train, "we don't want to be left behind." She followed him, making an irritated face.

"James, I can take care of myself! I'm eleven years old." She scowled darkly.

"You'll always be my baby sister, Bitsy," he teased, tugging at a lock of her hair. "Bye Mum, bye Dad!" he called casually back behind them. Lily dashed back to her parents, throwing her arms around them both.

"I love you," she whispered, tears leaking from her eyes.

"I thought you were so excited to go to Hogwarts," her father said softly. "Don't worry, Bitsy, it's not so bad. The boys survived. Just stay out of trouble."

"You mean away from the Slytherins?"

"No, I mean stay away from trouble. Slytherins don't always constitute as trouble, Lily," he told her. "Just don't do anything you wouldn't want me to find out about, okay?"

She smiled at him. "Okay, Daddy." She sniffled then followed James onto train. As they boarded, Albus followed them quietly.

"Don't worry, Lils, they'll be okay without us," he said to her softly.

She smiled. "Thanks, Al."

"No problem," he replied, before passing her in the corridor and disappearing. James turned to her.

"There's an empty compartment right over here. You can sit there, I guess. Maybe some of your little friends will be along," he told her, sliding the door open and wrestling her trunk into the overhead compartment. "I'm going to sit with my friends. Don't do anything stupid and embarrass me." And with that, he was gone. Lily sat down and made herself comfortable. As she was about to drift off, a voice interrupted her.

"Hey, do you mind if I sit here?" a familiar voice asked.

"Hey, Rowen," she said sleepily, "how's it going?"

"It's going," Rowen's twin brother, Damien, answered for her. Lily opened her eyes in time to see the cocky, brown-haired and brown-eyed skater boy slide into the seat next to her.

"Did I ask you?" she admonished him, and then laughed. Rowen laughed too, and sat across from her brother and childhood friend.

"So, how's the rest of the Potter clan?" she asked.

"You mean how is Al?" Lily teased. "Everyone's great. What about the Finnegans?"

"We're surviving," Rowen told her, her spacey blue eyes rolling toward the ceiling. "Mum's still a little odd, but that's because she's Loony Lovegood, and dad acts like he doesn't notice. It's normal. Starting Hogwarts is a little weird, though." She tossed her sandy hair out of her eyes

"Tell me about it!" Lily replied.

"What house do you want?" Damien asked her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. She ducked out of the way and replied,

"I dunno. Does it really matter?" she asked.

"I want Ravenclaw. I could prove once and for all that just because dingbat over there is stupid doesn't mean I am," Rowen said, kicking her brother on the ankle.

"I'll be a Gryffindor," Damien told them both confidently, "because I'm brave enough to dive into a barrel of snakes."

"Some people would call that stupid," Lily told him. "I really don't know. My parents don't care what house I'm in. My dad actually told my brother that he'd be proud to have a Slytherin or Hufflepuff son."

"Our parents would be cool with Hufflepuff, but Slytherin? Really?" Rowen was sceptical.

"I'd almost like to be a Slytherin, just to prove the stereotypes wrong," Lily told them both. "Severus Snape was a Slytherin."

"So was You-Know-Who," Damien reminded her.

"Voldemort," she corrected him, "and I know. But does he have to be the rule? Are they really all like that? Somehow, I doubt it."

"You're probably right," Rowen told her, "but I wouldn't push it, just in case."

Lily shrugged and pulled a can of Monster out of her purse. "Your loss," she told them, flipping the tab and taking a swig. For the rest of the ride, they played exploding snap and had a great time. Lily forgot all about her wish to join Slytherin house. But the idea was still there, and someone like the Sorting Hat could still see it, plain as day…