This was originally a 30 day challenge, but as it's been months now, I'm just going to use the prompts as a collection of drabbles/oneshots here.
Thanks to Zenappa for beta reading this, you're the best!
Beginning
Steam enveloped families standing around a large scarlet train as they said their last goodbyes to their children for the year. The scene was the same for almost every family: the teary eyed parents, the grinning children who waved out of the windows of the big engine, the jealous glares of younger siblings who were denied the chance to leave with their siblings this time. The same scene throughout the platform, platform 9 ¾ . There was one family standing at the back of the crowd who didn't fit this picture. Two adults, husband and wife, were standing in the middle of the chaos looking a little out of place but still gazing around in wonder. The real difference was in their children. A blond girl who was standing at her parents' feet with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face. The other, a redhead, on the train already with tears in her eyes. There was no fond goodbye for the witch in this family.
A boy with a mop of greasy black hair appeared in the doorway of the compartment, already dressed in his Hogwarts robes.
"I don't want to talk to you," the girl said.
"Why not?" the boy asked her.
"Tuney hates me! We saw that letter from Dumbledore."
"So what?"
"She's my sister!"
The boy couldn't come up with an adequate response to console the girl, so he decided upon changing the topic entirely.
"This is it! We're off to Hogwarts! Lily, you'd better be in Slytherin."
Another dark haired boy, this one far more well groomed stepped into the compartment with the words, "Slytherin? Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" His question was directed at another boy who had entered and taken a seat as he was saying this.
An argument about the houses soon ensued, a common scene pre-sorting among the students, until the two boys got the better of the greasy haired one in the first confrontation of many.
Lily got up out of her seat, dragging the boy with her as she left the boys, who were still laughing at her companion.
"Come on Severus, let's find another compartment."
"See ya, Snivellus!" the boy lounging on the seat called as they left. The first boy had just recovered from his fit of laughter.
"Nice one Sirius! You'd better break that chain of Slytherins, I like you already."
James Potter sat down on the train seat and leaned his head back into the cushion. He hadn't even arrived at the school yet, and he'd already made a new friend, as well as an enemy. It was going to be a fantastic year.
Thoughts of the redhead came to the front of his mind, she had stuck up for that worthless slimeball, but she was spunky, and that hair…
"What did he say her name was?" James asked Sirius.
"Huh?" It was evident that Sirius wasn't thinking of the little redheaded girl. He was probably dreaming about the feast that awaited them at the castle.
"That girl that was with the snake, the red head. What was her name?"
"Oh, I think he said it was Lily. Troublesome type, wouldn't you say?"
"Yeah…" James agreed, halfheartedly. He knew her name now. Lily.
He really hoped that little shimmer of spirit that she had shown was the biggest personality trait of hers. Reckon she could be a lot of fun if she could ditch the loser. Hope she's a Gryffindor. James Potter didn't know, at that moment in time, that his encounter with Lily Evans was only the beginning.
