James Potter was a proud boy, to say the least. Small and scrawny though he was, his loyalty rivaled that of a lion, he was almost brave to a fault, and his nobility was something that his mother said would one day get him killed. Not to mention the fact that he had the energy of a squirrel.
On this particular day, he had more energy than usual. His mother would have been worried had she not known what day it was. This particular day was the day James was finally going to Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. This was a day he had been looking forward to since before he could remember. Now that the day was finally here, he couldn't sit still. While his mother found his excitement entertaining and endearing, his father was quickly losing patience.
"James, if you don't sit down, I'm not letting you on that bloody train." He threatened.
"But Dad! It's Hogwarts! You can't keep me from Hogwarts!" James said, bouncing on the balls of his feet," Besides, you don't want to be stuck with me for the rest of your life, do you?"
"It wouldn't be the rest of my life. It would be the rest of your life because I probably wouldn't be able to deal with your moping around for more than a month."
"Harold." Mrs. Potter scolded halfheartedly.
"Only joking, love." Mr. Potter leaned down and muttered quiet enough for his son to hear," Kind of."
James grinned wickedly and grabbed his broom off the top of his trunk," I'm going to play quidditch until it's time to go."
"Good. Burn off some of that energy, will you?" Mr. Potter said loudly. James just grinned at him and ran out back.
(LILY POV)
"Have you got everything you need, dear?" Mrs. Evans fused over her eleven year old daughter, Lily.
"Yes, Mum."
"Are you sure?"
"We've gone over the list a hundred times."
"Well, a hundred and one never hurt anyone." She said, reading through the list again. Sure enough, Lily had everything she needed.
"Okay. What time is it?" Mrs. Evans looked at her daughter.
"Almost nine thirty."
"We best get going. Get your shoes and jumper. I'll get Dad and Tuney."
By the time everyone else was ready to go, Lily had managed to haul her giant trunk all the way down to the door, earning herself a scolding from her father.
"You could have hurt yourself or-"
"Dad, I'm fine. I'm sure I'll have to haul it up to my room myself anyway."
He frowned," Don't you think they'll have lifts?"
"I dunno, Dad. I'll just have to see when I get there."
"And I'd assume that there would be someone there to help carry your things. Do you think they'd let me on the train to see you off?"
Lily rolled her eyes," Dad, I'll be fine. Relax a bit, yeah?"
He grumbled," All right."
"Come on, everyone. We don't want to be late." Mrs. Evans hurried them all. Mr. Evans grabbed Lily's trunk and carried it out to the car. It just barely fit in the trunk of the car. Excited, Mrs. Evans got in the car. Petunia, Lily's older sister, got in the car in a much less excited manner. Even her father was more excited than her.
So in general excitement, the family set off for King's Cross in London.
(JAMES POV)
His mother was sure that James was just feeding off the energy of the people around him. As they walked through the crowd of students and families, she was afraid she would actually lose him. He was running so far ahead, all too eager to get on the train. When she and her husband finally caught up with him, she trapped him in a hug and kissed his messy black hair.
"You be good and study, alright? I don't want any letters hearing that you're failing because you have so much detention." She started.
"Is that possible?" James asked with a twinkle in his eye.
"James Potter, don't you dare."
"'M only joking, Mum. I won't fail. Can't promise to not get detention, but I won't fail."
"James!"
"Leave the boy alone, dear. He'll be fine." Mr. Potter clasped a hand on his son's shoulder," He's not going to fail because he wants on that quidditch team, yeah?"
"Yeah! I hope there's an opening on Gryffindor! I can't wait to be chaser!" James was bouncing on his heels again.
"Now, James, you might not get sorted into Gryffindor." His mother reminded him.
"I will be. I'd leave if I was in Slytherin. I mean, Ravenclaw isn't that bad. And I guess Hufflepuff isn't either. But I'm going to be in Gryffindor, just like you and Dad!"
"Of course you are." Mr. Potter ruffled his son's hair, making it even messier than before.
The train whistled shrilly.
"I better go." James said quickly.
His father helped him load his trunk onto the train. He said quick goodbyes to his parents and ran off to find a seat, absolutely thrilled that he was finally going to Hogwarts.
(LILY POV)
"Bye, Mum. Bye, Dad." Lily hugged each of her parents tight.
"Be safe, darling." Her father said.
"We'll see you at Christmas." Mrs. Evans added.
Lily smiled at them and turned to her sister," I'll miss you, Tuney."
But Petunia just snorted and turned her back.
Lily frowned," What?"
"Why would you miss me?"
"Well- you're my sister. And my best friend."
Petunia crossed her arms and turned her back to Lily," Well, you're not mine. I don't care that you're leaving because...because...you're a freak, Lily!"
Lily gasped and felt the tears started to build up in her emerald green eyes," Tuney-"
"Don't call me that." Petunia snapped.
"Petunia." Mr. Evans said in a soft voice. The way he said her name, though soft and caring, demanded respect.
But Petunia didn't apologize to her sister. She didn't even look at her.
"Tuney..." Lily trailed off, not knowing what else to say.
"Just go, Lily. Go to your freak school. I don't care. I'm going home and going to a normal school with normal people." Petunia said in a snobbish voice. Her long neck was stiff, and her pointed nose was stuck in the air.
Lily's head dropped forward. She closed her eyes and tried not to start crying. Mrs. Evans pulled her in a hug," It's alright, darling. You're not a freak. You're special. We're so proud of you."
Sniffling, Lily wiped her eyes," Thanks, Mum."
The train whistled.
"I'd better go. Bye, Mum. Bye, Dad...Bye, Tuney."
Lily swore that as she turned away and stepped on the train, she heard her sister say one more time," Freak."
Lily bit her lip and ran onto the train to find Severus.
(JAMES POV)
When James walked into the Great Hall for the first time, the first thing he looked at wasn't the enchanted ceiling the rest of the first years were looking at. It was the door leading to a chamber at the back of the room. It was just behind the table seating the professors. He nudged the black haired boy he'd met on the train. His name was Sirius Black.
"Where d'you reckon that leads to?" James pointed at the door.
Sirius looked from the ceiling to the door," I dunno. Probably just a chamber off the hall. Nothing interesting."
"I want to explore it."
"But we just got to school!" Peter Pettigrew, a rather small, chubby, mousy looking boy with watery blue eyes squeaked.
"So? Have you seen how big this castle is? I want to explore all of it."
"There's no way. You've got classes every day." Another boy, Remus Lupin said.
"Only five days a week. We still have weekends. And I reckon we can squeeze in some exploring after classes as well." Sirius added.
"We?" James looked at him.
"Well, you don't think you're exploring the castle on your own, do you?"
James grinned," Think we'll be in the same house, then?"
"We're both Gryffindors at heart, yeah?" Sirius nudged his shoulder.
"Reckon so, mate."
"Quiet, if you please." Professor McGonagall, a tall, strict looking witch with black hair in a tight bun and a glare that looked more like razors than anything.
James and Sirius looked at her with matching innocent looks. She shot them a wary look before setting down a three legged stool and a rugged old hat. James didn't hear a thing when a split appeared at the brom of the hat and it started to sing. He was too fascinated by it to do much more than stare at it. And then McGonagall was talking. It took him a second to focus on her to hear what she was actually saying.
"-name, and you will sit on the chair. I will then place the hat on your head, and it will sort you into your house. You may then go and sit with your house." She explained.
James lost interest the second she started calling names and did not pay attention until he heard," Black, Sirius!"
Sirius calmly walked up to the stool and sat down. James could see to a side that the Slytherins were all looking at each other with smirks. Then-
"GRYFFINDOR!"
The Gryffindor table clapped and cheered, but the Slytherins were staring at the young black haired boy in awestruck outrage. A pair of blondes stood up in anger. The girl looked particularly betrayed. Sirius took off the hat with a large grin and sprinted to the Gryffindor table. James was clapping just as loud as the rest of the Gryffindors, though he hadn't been sorted yet.
James kept glancing over at the Gryffindor table at Sirius while he waited his turn. He was so distracted that he didn't even notice the sorting going on until the redhaired girl he'd sat with on the train accidentally bumped into him when she moved forward to be sorted. He hadn't even heard her name.
James watched her sit down on the stool and disappear underneath the overlarge hat. She sat there for almost a full minute before the hat shouted out," GRYFFINDOR!"
Sirius and James clapped along with the rest of the Gryffindors.
"I thought you didn't know her?" Remus said.
"I don't. But she's in Gryffindor with me and Sirius."
"James, you haven't even been sorted yet."
"Doesn't matter. I'm going to be in Gryffindor."
Peter squeaked nervously," How do you know?"
"Because-" James started.
"He doesn't." Remus cut him off with a roll of the eyes.
A girl with curly brown hair in front of them turned around and shushed them severely. After she'd turned back around, James made a face at the back of her head, causing little Peter Pettigrew to stifle a laugh and Remus to sigh and roll his eyes again.
A few minutes later, Remus and the brown haired girl (Marlene) were sorted into Gryffindor. So was Mary McDonald, Alice King, Frank Longbottom, and little Peter Pettigrew. And then it was James's turn.
As soon as he was called, he ran up to the stool and sat down. The hat didn't even touch his head. McGonagall started to lower it, but just above his head, it shouted out," GRYFFINDOR!"
Grinning like mad, he ran off to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Sirius.
(LILY POV)
Lily was almost disappointed that she was sorted into Gryffindor.
Almost.
She knew that Severus had wanted her to be in Slytherin. He had wanted them both to be in Slytherin. But the sorting hat had said that she had far too big a heart to be in Slytherin. Yes, she was clever and ambitious, but according to the hat, she belonged in Gryffindor.
I wonder if he'll ask to be in Gryffindor too, Lily thought as Potter, James was sorted into Gryffindor. She wasn't even sure that the hat had touched his head before he was sorted.
"Nice one, James!" The grey eyed boy across from her grinned when James reached the table. James sat down next to him with a large grin. Lily had been clapping with the rest of the table, but when he looked at her with those hazel eyes, she frowned. He was the arrogant boy from the train. The same boy that had already started picking on Severus. When he looked at her, she stopped clapping and looked back at the sorting. She wasn't even paying attention to her classmates getting sorted. She was waiting for Severus to be sorted.
It was only two minutes later that he got called. He walked up to the stool slowly and sat down. The hat was on his head for no more than two seconds before it shouted out," SLYTHERIN!"
Her shoulders dropped, and her heart sank. Most of the reason she was so excited to come to Hogwarts was because that meant she got to hang around Severus without people judging her or making her feel bad about being around him. Now they were in different houses.
I guess we can still hang out a lot. Just not as much as we would if we were in the same house, she thought. After all, there wasn't a rule about talking to people in different houses as far as she knew. Why wouldn't you talk to someone in a different house? They all sounded great the way the sorting hat put it.
Gryffindors were brave and bold. Slytherins were clever and ambitious. Ravenclaws were wise and creative. Hufflepuffs are patient and hard-working. They all sounded great to Lily, and she would have honestly been happy in any of them. The hat had even considered her for all of them, especially Ravenclaw, but something obviously pushed her into Gryffindor instead.
"Good. Wouldn't want Snivellus in the same house as us." The grey eyed boy whispered to James.
"Yeah. He'd probably try and steal our shampoo." James smirked.
Lily's frown deepened at their comments and got even bigger when she saw them start a sword fight with forks under the table. They didn't pay attention to a thing that was happening, not even when Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster, stood up to say a few words before the feast began.
Not wanting to pay attention to them anymore, Lily turned and focused on Dumbledore.
"-Filch to remind you that magic in corridors is strictly prohibited as well as a number of products from Zonko's. If you wish to know whether something is prohibited, a list is posted on the outside of Mr. Filch's office. I would also like to remind students that the Forbidden Forest, as it would have it, is forbidden to all students. Anyone caught in the forest will get detention and a number of points taken away as seen fit."
Dumbledore now stood a little started, scanning the crowd of students of his half moon glasses. In the fraction of a second that his electric blue eyes landed on Lily, she felt uneasy, like he was looking at her through an x-ray. But then he looked at the boys (who were still having their spoon sword fight) and continued to sweep the hall with his gaze.
"Many of you know what a dark wizard is rising to power. His name is Tom Riddle, but he is known now as Lord Voldemort."
The boys froze and looked up at Dumbledore with serious expressions on their faces.
"Voldemort is leading a group of people to do horrible things. As of today, he is gathering followers and working toward eliminating muggles and muggleborns alike."
Lily's heart stopped. Eliminating? She was muggleborn. And her family were muggles. What if Voldemort went after her family? What if she didn't find out until school was over? Where would she go? She was only eleven. She didn't have anywhere to go! Maybe she could live with her Uncle Owen until she was old enough to live on her own.
But what about Sev? She thought. She glanced over at the Slytherin table where Severus was looking at her in worry. She shrugged at him hopelessly and looked at Dumbledore as he continued.
"But there is no need to worry. The castle is secure. While there is still a risk, there is no need to fear of your families deaths. The Ministry of Magic has employees working to keep everyone as safe as possible, including muggles. Tonight, we shall not worry about that. Let the feast begin."
Lily looked at the plates in front of her in shock. The platters that had previously been empty were now flooded with food. The boys across from her grinned and piled a bit of everything on their plates. Lily, on the other hand, wasn't hungry anymore. It didn't look like the girl next to her, Mary McDonald, was hungry either. Lily glanced at her.
"Are you muggleborn?"
Mary looked at her and nodded, blushing into her plate. She didn't say anything.
"Me too." Lily muttered.
Mary looked up at her," Really?"
"Yeah."
"I'm worried about my parents."
"So am I."
"Dumbledore said not to worry. Your families will be alright." A sandy haired boy said. Lily looked at him and remembered his name to be Remus Lupin.
"But how can they be safe if that Lord Whatever is out there killing off muggles?" Mary said miserably.
"Well, he said the ministry's taking care of it, yeah? They'll keep your families safe. Besides, he isn't going around killing hundreds of people a day. It's only every once in a while."
"Really? I was reading in the Daily Prophet that there were four or five muggles found dead every day for the past two months." A small, chubby boy said.
Remus frowned, but it was Sirius that said," Shut it, Pete. Their families will be fine. Out of the thousands and thousands of people, you think he's gonna go after their families specifically?"
"Well, no, but-"
"That's that." James said. He looked at the girls," Your families are going to be fine. What are the odds that he's going to show up at their doorstep and just kill them?"
"Yes, but what were the odds that he would show up at all the other muggles' houses?" Lily countered.
"The same as everyone else's. But the point is that the chance is very very small." James explained.
"And yet all those people are already dead."
"You can't look at it like that. It's like saying the chances of me dying tomorrow are slim, but it's still a chance, so I should just stay in bed. If you live in fear, then you're not living a life worth living."
Lily looked at him in shock at his wisdom. She exchanged looks with Mary, who looked just as shocked as she felt.
(JAMES POV)
"Merlin, where did that come from?" Sirius asked.
James shrugged," My parents raised me to be brave and live life to the fullest."
"That explains a lot." Remus muttered.
"What's that supposed to mean?" James frowned.
"You can't sit still for your life. Even on the train you had to be doing something. If your parents raised you to live life to the fullest, then I'm willing to bet that you always have to be occupied." He paused and added," And it also means you're probably not going to do to well in classes if we're just listening to people talk all day."
His frown deepened," I hadn't thought about that. Do you think we're just going to be sitting and taking notes all day? I think I'll die if I have to do that."
Sirius nodded," I hear you, mate. If we're not doing magic, I'm throwing myself off the Astronomy Tower."
Remus rolled his eyes," And I imagine homework is going to be even worse than classes."
Sirius and James exchanged looks that showed they were not at all excited about taking notes or doing homework.
"Classes are all pretty interesting here, actually." An older student leaned over and told them. He had curly brown hair and muddy brown eyes.
"Yeah?" James said.
"Yeah. Well, except for History of Magic. Professor Binns- he's a ghost, but that's the only thing interesting about him. He just goes on and on about wars, and somehow he manages to make it all sound so boring."
"How is war boring?" Sirius asked.
"You'll see when classes start. Honestly, half the class is asleep in five minutes. My year was with Ravenclaw when we had History of Magic, and even they were falling asleep."
Sirius and James looked at him in horror," No."
"Yes."
The group of first years questioned the boy for most of dinner. As it turned out, he was the fifth year prefect that was to show them to the dormitories. His name was Cameron Wood. After dinner and dessert disappeared, Cameron led them all to the Gryffindor Tower, shifting from talking about class to talking about the easiest ways to get to classes. They were also joined by the other prefect, Jane Jensen. She had pale blonde hair, obsidian black eyes, and a permanent scowl on her face.
"Okay. Here we are. Boys on the left, girls on the right. This is the common room, so you can just do homework or sit in here and do whatever. As long as it's not illegal. Don't want Mcgonagall in here and yelling at the whole house because we tried to raise a dragon in the fireplace or something."
James and Sirius grinned at each other. Seeing their grins, Lily and Remus frowned. Cameron raised an eyebrow," Don't even think about it, you two. Where would you even get a dragon?"
"I'm sure there's a bloke in Knockturn Alley that would sell us one." Sirius said.
"What are you doing in Knockturn Alley?"
"You heard my name, right? I come from the noble house of Black." Sirius said with a disgusted sneer.
"I don't care if you're descended from Salazar Slytherin himself. You're in Gryffindor. Represent the house, yeah? Knockturn Alley's dodgy, you're eleven, and you shouldn't be mixing in with Dark Magic as it is. I don't care if you're a Black, a white, a purple, or whatever color."
The younger boys burst out laughing. Sirius nodded," You're alright, mate."
"You're not so bad yourself, Black. Now you lot best get to bed. Classes start first thing."
The group of first years nodded and went up to their rooms. James was the first in the boys' dormitory. There were five beds, each with a trunk at the end. James found his to be right in the middle with Sirius on his left and the other Gryffindor boy, Frank Longbottom, on his right.
"Some day, huh?" Frank said awkwardly. He hadn't said much since he left his mother on the platform. On the train, he had been sitting with a bunch of other first years, but they had all been talking, and Frank had had his nose shoved in a book the entire time, too nervous to say anything. Even at dinner, he'd been to nervous to talk.
James looked at him with a kind smile," Yeah, it was."
Nervous, Frank started rifling through his trunk in search of his night clothes.
James walked over to him and held out his hand," James Potter."
Frank looked up and hesitantly shook James's hand," Frank Longbottom."
"Nice to meet you."
"You too."
"That there's Sirius, Remus, and Peter." He pointed at each of his friends. Frank nodded at each other them. Only Peter didn't return the gesture. He was too busy looking for his pants to notice anything.
Without much more conversation, the boys changed into their night clothes and went to bed.
(LILY POV)
Lily was more than ready to go to bed. She trudged upstairs with the rest of the new Gryffindor girls. There were seven four poster beds in the room, each with a trunk at the end of the bed. Lily exchanged looks with Mary and went to find her trunk. She had been worried because everyone had left their stuff on the train.
She found her trunk right next to the door. Next to her was Alice King. Across from her was a blonde girl called Kathleen Anthony.
Mary and Lily had been the only ones to talk with the prefect during dinner. The others had been making friends with each other. One girl- Marlene Underwood- had turned herself into something of an enemy. At least with the other three girls. She hadn't said anything to offend Lily or Mary. But apparently she had belittled someone's family, and that just got into some argument about blood status. So Marlene was being shunned by half of the girls- two of whose names she didn't know yet.
Marlene trudge to the end of Lily's row, not looking at anyone. At first, Lily thought it was because she was sad that she had upset three girls already, but when Lily looked a little closer, she realized that Marlene was grumbled under her breath with a scowl.
What? Lily thought to herself. She'd never seen someone trudge so sadly and actually be angry. That was a new thing for her.
None of the girls said anything as they changed and went to bed. In fact, none of them made a noise until the next morning after they'd all gotten dressed and gone down to the common room. They ran into all of the first year boys down there, and the two girls Lily couldn't name starting giggling. Lily frowned and exchanged bewildered looks with Mary.
James turned at the sound of the girls' giggles and smirked," Hello, girls."
"Hi." The black haired girl said.
"James Potter." He stuck his hand out with confidence.
"Tiny Queens." She giggled, sticking out a dainty hand and shaking his hand.
"Pleased to meet you." He leaned forward and kissed her hand with a smirk.
"I'm Bethany Reynolds." The blonde girl said, smiling at Sirius.
Sirius put on a charming smile the rivaled James' smirk," Sirius Black."
"Want to walk to breakfast together?" Tiny asked.
"We were going to get to know our mates a bit more since we didn't really have time last night, but you can join us if you like." James said.
"Oh, you're all mates?" Tiny glanced over the other three boys, unimpressed.
James almost looked offended," Well, aren't you friends with your dorm mates?"
"Of course. We were just- you know- wondering..."
"Then we can all sit together."
Tiny did not look happy about that, and Lily knew that it was because of Marlene when she shot her a look. Marlene scoffed and rolled her eyes, turning her head away from the exchange.
Lily nudged Marlene," Want to sit with me and Mary?"
Marlene looked at her cautiously," You don't hate me too for thinking blood status is stupid?"
"Well, I'd think Mary and I are a little biased seeing as we're both muggleborn."
"Yeah?"
She and Mary nodded.
"Oh. Well, at least you don't hate me."
"Don't have any reason to." Lily shrugged.
Mary pointed at the rest of the first years that were now leaving," We're not going to sit with them, are we? I don't think I can handle it."
"Nor do I." Marlene nodded. The two girls looked at Lily.
"I'm all for not sitting near that James Potter. He's kind of arrogant, don't you think?"
So the three girls walked down to breakfast, not once getting lost.
Maybe, Lily thought, it won't be so bad after all.
