Chapter 1

The opening and closing of the compartment door

Lily Evans sat alone in the train compartment headed to where she was once excited to be. The train was littered with hyper active students but all seemed to avoid sitting anywhere near her. Lily had been crying since she had first sat down, discouraging other students from befriending her. They were all far too excited to be brought down by gloomy Lily.

"Maybe Tuney is right" she thought, as a group of girls stopped by visibly considered her compartment then laughed and walked away. She continued her thought "If I were normal maybe she wouldn't...hate me" she leaned towards the window, cooling her red hot cheek against it. "but I can't change who I am" and a few more tears escaped, which she quickly wiped when she heard the compartment door open and close. "It's probably Severus" she was still so upset at him "It's all his fault! If he hadn't found that letter! If we hadn't read it..." another tear fell. She felt so guilty, she and her sister had always planned on going to school together...but now… More tears.

"Quit crying!" She was startled. That wasn't Severus' voice. "Hogwarts is the most amazing place! You should be excited not afraid!"

Lily's' green eyes turned to look at a boy about her age, whose glasses framed his Hazel eyes, and unlike her dark red hair, his hair was just dark and incredibly untidy. Lily wondered if he had his hair like that on purpose.

"I am not afraid of anything!" she said without thinking. Lily was naturally defensive.

The boy smirked as if he were impressed "Good to know, what's your name?" He asked.

Lily raised an eyebrow "…Lily Evans" she said skeptically.

The boy laughed

"Pray tell what is so funny about my name?" she snapped

He ceased laughing "Nothing, I`m James Potter by the way"

Lily seemed uninterested and turned back to the window "Hmmm...Potter is a funny name" she said in a pensive tone.

James was disappointed with her reaction. He noticed her and decided to grace Lily with his company, when he realized she was crying he kept trying to figure out how to speak to her. He saw the first tear fall, and he kept thinking she needed comforting. When he was about to speak he noticed a second tear. So, he decided to rethink his approach instead he became frustrated. When he saw more tears, he didn't think he just yelled "Quit it!" because he really wanted her to stop. He scolded himself, and when she turned he decided to tell her about Hogwarts.

"I've done nothing bad" he thought. "Maybe I shouldn't have laughed at her name"

He wasn't laughing at her name. He just found it suiting and when he first saw her she reminded him of a lily flower. It was the irony he was laughing at, he never thought he'd guess her name.

James could no longer take the silence. He came up with an idea to cheer her up when he noticed a compartment door near them was open. He pulled out a small triangular item and whispered. "Hey Evans, watch this"

James snuck close by the compartment and threw in the small orange object then closed the door so smoothly that nobody inside noticed. He ran back chuckling. At first Lily was enthralled by what he was doing, her first peak at a new world.

A small explosion was heard and students were rushing out of the compartment covered in orange dust. James was roaring with laughter, as the orange students looked around to see if they could find the culprit. "I can't wait to be able to properly use magic for this stuff"

Lily was in shock "How dreadful! How could you do something like that?" she said. James was stunned, things like that always made him laugh.

"Well I thought it was funny" said a new voice, that came with the sound of an opening and closing of the compartment door.

"See Evans! This guy gets it!" he said looking at her. He noticed that she was looking at the new stranger bashfully. For some reason James didn't like the idea of losing Lily's attention to someone else. He turned to look at the stranger.

"…and who might you be?" James asked.

The stranger smirked and sat across from him "My name is Sirius, and who are you two" Lily was about to eagerly speak her name, but James spoke instead.

"I'm James Potter, and that's Lily Evans"

"Augh! This Potter is nothing but trouble" she thought.

"Anyways why did you suddenly change compartments?" asked James.

"I decided to look for another place to sit, that wasn't full of Slytherin wannabees" he answered.

James became enthusiastic "You hate Slytherins too!?" and they suddenly spoke as if they had been lifelong friends.

The mentioned of Slytherins reminded her of Severus bringing back her sad mood. As annoying as James Potter was he had managed to distract her. Back to looking out the window for her.

After a few minutes again, the compartment door opened and closed. It was miracle that she could hear it over the two boys. Someone sat across from Lily. She glanced at the new comer and then back at the window, tears threatening her eyes once again.

She struggled to speak clearly "I don't want to talk to you"

The boy became uneasy "Why not?" he asked

"Tuney h-hates me" the word "hate" fitting uncomfortably in her mouth "Because we saw the letter from Dumbledore"

The boy relaxed, this didn't seem like a problem to him. "So, what?" he replied.

Lily glared at him. "So!? she's my sister!"

"She's only a-" the boy didn't finish, knowing that it would only dig him deeper.

"Honestly!" Lily thought "How can he not understand how much this is hurting me!? How could he not understand famil-" Lily didn't finish her thought, she remembered what Severus' family life was like if. Suddenly she couldn't blame his insensitivity. Swallowing her pride, she casually wiped her eye and put on a brave face. Only James noticed she did that.

Severus tried to speak again, in order to excite Lily "But we're going!" he said

"This is it! We're off to Hogwarts!"

Lily let her excitement overtake her sarrow. She dried her eyes completely and smiled in agreement. James' heart skipped a beat.

"You'd better be in Slytherin" Severus said playfully. He heard a sneer coming from the boy with the glasses.

"Slytherin?" he said in disgust. "Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" he asked Sirius, who recalled unwanted thoughts.

"My whole family has been in Slytherin" he said solemnly.

"Blimey" said James, pity all over his voice "And I thought you seemed alright"

Lily stared in awe at James, he was getting along so well with Sirius would he really not be his friend if he ended up in Slytherin? What would he think of her if he found out she was Muggle born?

"Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you had the choice?"

James looked more arrogant than ever and positioned his arms as if he were holding a sword "'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave heart` like my dad" James said proudly.

Severus made a small noise. Lily was familiar with the noise, he made it every time he was mocking something. James did not take kindly to that and turned to him to ask "Got a problem with that?"

Severus sneered "No" then said "if you'd rather be brawny than brainy-" he was interrupted by an unamused Sirius "Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither" he said coolly with his arms folded and a smirk on his face.

Lily had heard enough, stood up, glared at James for laughing and at Sirius for his remark.

"Come on Severus, let's find another compartment"

James and Sirius both mocked them with "Ooooo..." but James was rather jealous that Lily was leaving with that boy, so he tried to trip him as he followed her.

"See ya, Snivellus!" called James, as the compartment door slammed.

After a minute with their absence James turned to Sirius and said.

"I have dibs on her"

Sirius grinned "It's a fair game mate"