The first day they meet the sun is shining impossibly bright; later it would be recorded as one the hottest day of that year. But that didn't make the slightest difference to 11 year old Lily Evans. That day she felt she would have waded through 10 feet of snow, that day she could have walked on water, that day she felt, and perhaps she was, invincible. Because that was the day she would finally — finally — be going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The crowd gathered at the train station did not part easily for the girl with fiery hair but she continued at an unrelenting pace; she couldn't be late, she couldn't miss the train. Lily turned to her parents, who, breathing fast and hard, had finally caught up to her. Wordlessly, she grabbed their hands, and clenching them tight once, let them go and grabbed her trolley. This was it; and at once the enormity of the moment loomed on her. Once she crossed the barrier, she would really truly belong to another world, one separate to the one she had known all her life. Facing the wall, she shut her eyes, braced herself and ran as fast as she could.

Her eyes snapped open once she realised she hadn't crashed into the wall, she had half expected the entire thing to be—as impossible as it now seemed—a joke, but she was met with the very welcome sight of a scarlet train, that blew steam which seemed to wave at her. The Hogwarts Express, it said on the front, and there was the proof; there were her dreams come to fruition. Turning to her parents who had followed behind her and now stared at the scene before them, which had not existed moments before, she hugged them tightly. Then, she turned to her sister who was, as she always had been recently, lagging behind. Surveying each other, it was obvious that the events of the summer made it almost impossible to part on good terms, but when Petunia unexpectedly wrapped her arms around Lily's neck —albeit only for a few seconds—Lily felt as though perhaps they weren't too far gone. Turning back to the platform, she observed the people—no, wizards—running about and spotted a very familiar face. He was standing with his parents, his black hair reaching his shoulders, his face unfortunately curled into a sneer—he had fought with his parents before leaving, then— and when two boys ran past him (bumping into him quite deliberately, she noted), his sneer only deepened. Before she could move towards him, however, her mother motioned to her watch, and Lily noticed how close she was cutting it. Grabbing her trolley and waving to her family one last time who were still more or less awestruck by their surroundings, she moved towards the train. It seemed as though every carriage she passed was full, but finally finding one near the end which was empty, she stopped beside it. Underestimating the weight of her trunk, she tried dragging it off the trolley but it fell to the ground with a crash. Turning back to where she had last seen her parents, she realised she had lost them in the crowd and now panicking slightly, she bent down and picked up her trunk again—and promptly had it taken from her shaking hands.

"Need a hand?" Was all she heard before the trunk was, in a swift motion that seemed unfairly effortless, picked up and placed on top of the steps.

"Er, thanks," Lily said, slightly taken aback.

"No problem, I'm James, by the way," the boy said, sounding a little out of breath—apparently the action hadn't been as effortless as it had seemed, and extended a hand towards her. He was just slightly shorter than her, but the way he carried himself Lily could tell his height hadn't the smallest impact on his confidence—something he reeked of. After they briefly shook hands, he grabbed the trunk while she grabbed the other end and they moved into the compartment.

"I'm Lily," she said, smiling as they finally set the trunk down in the corner of the compartment.

The train was approximately five minutes away from beginning its journey when he saw her. Her hair, if nothing else, made her stand out from the platform's grey background and contrasted sharply with the deep scarlet of the train she was struggling to board. He moved towards her instinctively since no one else seemed to be helping her.

She looked up at him as he took the trunk from her hands and his stomach twisted into unfamiliar knots. It was less the weight of the trunk and more the fact that he could so clearly see the freckles scattered across her cheeks that left him sounding breathless when he spoke next. And then, with the sun pouring in through the compartment window, with her brow furrowed and covered in sweat at the effort of holding up the trunk, with her green eyes shining brightly, she smiled. At 11 years old, James Potter was not nearly as experienced with the ways of the world as he liked to think he was, and this—this churning of his stomach, this rapid thumping of his heart against his ribcage, this sudden acute consciousness of his every movement, was all new to him.

"I'm Lily," She said, and of course she would be named something like that, something so rare and beautiful and almost regal. And he was falling and floating at the same time, although he didn't know how that was possible when he wasn't on a broom.

"Nice to meet you," He said, and that was the first lie he ever told her, because he wasn't entirely sure if he liked how she made him feel. And so, he turned around and headed out of the compartment because that was the only way to leave this feeling behind—and also because his own trunk and a very peculiar boy was waiting for him in the compartment right next to this one.

The compartment door slid shut behind James—and slid open not five seconds later as Severus walked in. Lily immediately jumped up and began saying something, but her enthusiasm was curbed when she saw the look on his face.

"What was Potter doing in here?"
"Who? James? He was helping me with my trunk,"

A heavy silence followed, although Lily was perplexed at his reaction.

"...You should stay away from him; comes from a family of purebloods and his head's about as big as a watermelon,"

"Well he seemed nice enough—"

"Just trust me on this, Lily,"

And later, when James comes into the compartment accompanied by a friend, Lily recognizes them almost instantly—how had she missed it before?— as the boys who had bumped into Severus on the platform. Her demeanour changes completely, and James receives no more smiles from her—on that day at least.