The Last Compartment on the left

The Hogwarts express finally lurched forward and much of its occupancy held students waving good-bye to their loved ones that had come to see them off to school. A very small yet beautiful young first year girl with long wavy red hair which was complemented by her bright green eyes that almost had that appeared to have the ability to see through anyone's soul and just a light sprinkle of freckles on her fair skin spread evenly over her heart shape face that had a large smile painted across it as she stared from side to side looking for a compartment to sit in. Not too far behind the young red head a lanky boy with unwashed black hair and a hooked nose, he followed through her through the crowd of upper classmen and other first and teachers who were in search of a place to sit or in search of their friends. Many of the compartments were full, but to their luck the last compartment on the left only had two first year boys sitting in it. The girl didn't waste a second and pulled the door open and greeted the boys with a warm smile. "Do you mind?"

One of the boys' had shaggy straight black hair ,dark eyes and strong jaw line and even though he was sitting it was clear that he probably towered in height, which he shrugged and glanced over at the other boy who had a mess of jet black curly tangles framing his square face and his curls almost hid he warm hazel eyes, but for the briefest of second his eyes lacked with the young girl' eyes before he answered her. "Not at! We're just trying to figure out which house we'll be sorted into!" The boy with the curly black hair stood and greeted the girl, but never gave the tall hook nosed boy a second glance, "Potter," He extended a hand to her, "James Potter."

"Lily Evans, pleased to meet you." Lily accepted his hand shake before entering the small compartment, "and this is my good friend Severus Snape." Both James and Severus met eyes for a second but no hand shake was offered, instead the other boy finally piped up,

"Sirius Black, and an unexcited future Slytherin." Sirius whined and huffed as he chewed on a chocolate frog that he had picked up from a pile of candy that was sitting between him and James, Lily was in slight awe that the piece of candy leapt out of Sirius's hand and into her lap as she sat across from him. "Sorry, you can have him and the card if you like; I already have a Merlin at home." He offered Lily and handed her the card.

"Now don't sound so hopeless, I'm sure we can figure out something to help you into a decent house." James offered as he caught a questioning eye from Lily, "I'll probably be sorted into Gryffindor like my mum and dad, it's the best."

"What is wrong with Slyther-"

"Nothing if you honor brains before bronze…" Severus directed a sneer towards James. Severus still stood in the doorway refusing to sit with either of these two boys. "But clearly both of you don't even share half a brain cell, so I'm sure there is no question that neither of you will make the cut."

"What's go your knickers in a twist Snivellus? You fancy being a death eater some day?" Sirius Jested and looked over to see if James would join in as well, which he did.

"They wouldn't allow your grimy hair into a respectful house anyway." James smiled and again glanced to see if Lily to see if Lily might join in as well, but not knowing her very well he found a girl with a sour express as if she were about to hex both him and Sirius.

Lily jumped up from her seat and threw to card an melted chocolate frog at the two boys before returning to Severus's side. "You two certainly know how to make friends." Lily hissed at Sirius first and then to James, "I don't care which house I am sorted into, as long as neither of you are in it." Lily stepped out of the compartment with her best friend at her side with her nose in the air. Even though she was mad at Severus as well she would always defend him against bullies such as James Potters and Sirius black.

James watched Lily and Severus disappear into the next cart on the train and sighed, "She is certainly something special." Still staring at the spot where he had last seen her. "I bet she is going to be a Gryffindor." James thought out loud.

"It doesn't really matter what she is going to be, we still need to figure out how to get me out of Slytherin…" Sirius whined opening up another chocolate fog before tossing one to James, "It just isn't my style, I donno, maybe I'm just being a rebel, but I don't want to end up like my parents, bloody crack pots is what they are."

"Oh clam down I'm sure the sorting hat can tell that you aren't crazy obsessed pure-blood like that rest of your family. " James reassured Sirius with a warm smile. "Besides my dad says that sorting hat takes your opinion into consideration sometimes, my second cousin on my dad's side wanted to be in Slytherin and the hat wanted him in Hufflepuff, and so the hat ended up putting him into Slytherin…. Not sure why the bloke wanted to be put in that house…Maybe it was being surrounded by other pure-bloods." James was mostly talking to himself towards the end of his speech, but couldn't help but wonder what his new found friend might think of it.

"To make his parents proud maybe, I know I would be cut out of the family will if I got sorted into Hufflepuff, a bunch of useless prats, not a single useful one in history." Sirius and James giggled and agreed on that point. "Well whatever, not like it's all that important, I'm sure that we will both cause enough trouble no matter what house we get sorted into."

"Hope so." James smiled and took a bite out of the chocolate frog that Lily Evans had thrown at him.

"Lily Evans, for sure a Gryffindor!" The sorting hat rang and the Gryffindor table stood and cheered as the young red head smiled widely at the group of students who so eagerly greeted and welcomed her. Only three other students had been sorted into Gryffindor so far, a blonde boy who looked ill,Remus Lupin, a tall brunette with braces and a blotchy complexion, Mary Macdonald and a small chubby boy with buck teeth and dirty blonde hair, Peter Petigrew. But overall the members of the Gryffindor house seemed kind and welcoming.

The next student was Severus, who was sorted into Slytherin without a moment hesitation from the sorting hat. Lily smiled warmly to friend trying to cheer him up after seeing that he looked a bit disheartened that they had ended up in different houses.

"James Potter, so bold and daring what else could be he but GRYFFINDOR!" The sorting hat yelled as the boy with messy black curls rushed to join the Gryffindor table. Lily sighed and rolled her eyes, GREAT! Now she had to put up with his smug mouth for the next seven years. A few more students were sorted, the next Gryffindor was another girl, Claudia Brookes a very pretty girl with short ginger hair, then another girl, Elizabeth Clifton who had very long and straight blonde hair and lastly and unexpectedly the last boy, Sirius Black. The Slytherin table was visibly a bit upset, but Lily did not fully understand why, but she didn't care to let her mind wonder too much since soon the feast began and the conversations and chatter among the table began.

Most of it was younger students asking older students about classes they were going to take or what they should take and first years getting to know each other. Mostly the boys kept the conversation to themselves and the girls only spoke with each other, which was perfect, Lily didn't want to get struck in another awkward conversation with James Potter and Sirius Black. Every now and again she would catch a glance from her dear friend Severus, and then sometimes she would catch that prat Potter staring at her. This was going to be a very long year if this was how every dinner would be.

Once the feast was finished and all the students tummies were full the food disappeared without trace of it ever being there, many muggle born students were amazed by this small bit of magic, but they weren't given much time to stare in awe since the Prefects were rushing to get the first year tour over with. The sixth year male Perfect Billius Weasly was in charge of making sure that the first years knew the basic rules and how to find their way to Gryffindor tower. Lily and Mary were amazed by the moving painting on the wall and changing stairwells so much that they almost got left behind several times.

"I swear if you two stop one more time I might be tempted to leave you behind….It's like you've never seen magic before." Sirius Black snorted and elbowed James in the rib cage.

Mary and Lily exchanged glances for a second before one of them could find the courage to sleep, " But we really haven't seen much at all." Lily admitted shyly as she awaited Sirius to tease both of them in the same manner he and James had done to Severus just a few hours earlier.

"Muggle born? Really?" Sirius just stared at the girls for a second before continuing, " I've never met any your kind before…"He admitted.

"Our kind?"Lily snorted and had half a mind to hit the young boy upside the head with a thick book.

"I think what he means is that he didn't expect you to be so normal." James tried his best to defend his friend. "I mean not that you wouldn't be in the first place, it's just we've grown up in a really sheltered world and muggles are just a bit new to us." James smiled with ease as he smiled at Lily and Mary hoping that his explanation had defused them a bit. "But you aren't muggles, just your parents are…. Not that being a muggle is a bad thing."

"Please keep up first years!" The Prefect yelled at the small group.

The young Gryffindors stared at each other for a few seconds before their faces went bright pink and they all turned from their bricking and ran to catch up with the rest of the group. However the bricking between Lily Evans and James Potter reconvened in the common room and Lily didn't let up until Mary finally announced she was going to bed and asked Lily to join her. Lily agreed and gave James Potter one more look before bouncing after her new roommate into the girl's dormitories.

James smiled and watched the girl frustrated girl leave the common room in defeat, they hadn't even really arguing about anything important, but he still believed he had won. James looked around the room to see if there was anyone else he could annoy and then he found his roommates at a small table in the corner of the common room that was mostly hidden by a suit of armor and the railing to the staircase for the boy's dormitory, Sirius, Remus and Peter were chatting about their classes that were tomorrow. James joined the boys at the small table and listened closely, but something at the back of his mind kept tugging at the idea that for the next seven years every night was going to be like this. All the wonderful opportunities for trouble were endless, and annoying that snarky Evans would just be a cherry on top.