Lily closed her eyes as she began to run towards the barrier. A quiet part of her was anxious that this was all a practical joke and she was about to crash in to a solid metal wall while Petunia laughed.
"No", she urged herself to think, "I trust Sev, I know this will work".
Feeling better, Lily opened her eyes on to a hazy platform full of people wearing funny coloured robes, pushing trolleys holding cats, owls and other, more exotic animals. Parents were hugging their children and crying as they loaded onto the cherry red steam engine on the tracks. She steadied herself and turned in time to see her parents, looking as alarmed as she had certainly looked only moments before, followed closely by Petunia, who looked disgusted. She heard a whistle blow and someone say "Hogwarts Express, departing in 5 minutes! All aboard!"
Nervous that she had come this far only to miss the train, Lily pulled her parents in to a quick hug and whispered "I'll write to you as soon as I get there. I'll miss you…"
"We love you Lily Pad", said her Mum with tears in her eyes, "We are so, so proud of you!"
"Thanks Mum", choked Lily as she turned to face Petunia. "Well Tuni, this is it! I'll write to you as soon as I can and I'll see you at Christmas. I love you…".
Petunia looked up from the ground to look Lily in the eye and said "Why would I want to see you at Christmas? I don't want a freak ruining my holiday".
Hurt more than she would admit, Lily took the handle of her trolley again and made to follow the crowd on to the train, turning to wave to her parents as she left. Her eyes were roaming the crowd for a trace of Severus, but he was nowhere to be seen. Hopefully he was already on the train, she couldn't bear the thought of Sev having missed it, she wasn't sure if she could do this without him.
She followed the crowd until she found a door that didn't already have a line. She put her trolley in the bay and with great effort lifted her trunk to carry on to the train with her. In front of her was a boy a little taller than her with thick light brown hair.
"Excuse me, do you know if the first years are supposed to gather somewhere?" she asked the boy.
"Oh, hi. No I think we just find a carriage and they'll take a role call before we head off. Would you like to sit together? I haven't met anyone yet and don't want to have to sit alone" he replied wearing a friendly, if not slightly tired smile. Pleasantly surprised by his response, Lily jumped at the chance.
"That would be wonderful, thank you. I don't really know anybody either yet except for my friend Severus, but I haven't been able to find him. I'm Lily Evans, by the way"
"Nice to meet you Lily, I'm Remus Lupin"
Lily followed her new friend Remus through the narrow corridor of the train until they found a carriage that wasn't completely full. Inside sat two boys that looked to be the same age as Lily and Remus who were playing some sort of card game.
"Do you mind if we sit in here?" asked Remus.
"Not at all, do you like Exploding Snap?" asked one of the boys.
Confused, and sure that she had heard wrong, Lily said "Exploding Snap? What's that?"
"Oh don't worry ma'am, we can certainly teach you! Take a seat", said the boy, who had long, curly hair and was already wearing his school robes. Curious, Lily sat next to the quieter boy, who had messy jet-black hair and round glasses.
"Hi, I'm James" he said, offering his hand to Lily to shake.
"Lily", she took his hand and shook it.
"Pleased to meet you", said James as he looked around the carriage, "this is my new friend Sirius", he pointed to the longer haired boy who gave her a friendly smile which Lily returned.
"Hi James and Sirius, I'm Remus, are you both first years too?" said Remus, taking a seat next to Sirius after having lifted both his and Lily's trunks into the overhead compartment.
"Yep" said Sirius casually, "ready to see what mischief I can get up to in Hogwarts! I've been looking forward to this for as long as I can remember."
"Dammit!" said James quickly as one of the cards on the table in front of him exploded loudly. Surprised by the noise, Lily jumped a little in her seat.
"Sorry Lily, didn't mean to frighten you", said James, "Do you want to help me play? Remus, you can help Sirius".
The four of them got ready to start playing until a tall, pale boy with red hair and a shiny badge with the letter 'P' stuck proudly to the front of his school robes said importantly "Sorry to bother you, can you tell me your names so that I can check them off? Don't want to leave anyone behind, do we?" He had a friendly smile and Lily thought happily that if everyone was as nice as the people she had met so far she would have a great year. As the four in the carriage listed their names, the tall boy pulled a quill from his pocket and crossed their names off on a piece of parchment that seemed to be floating.
"Excuse me" came a loud, panicked voice from the corridor outside, "I'm so sorry, I'm running so late, my name is Marlene McKinnon. Is there any room in that carriage for me? This is my first year and my grandma got us lost, and then she wouldn't stop crying when I tried to get on the train!"
"That's fine Miss McKinnon", said the prefect, looking slightly thrown by the speed at which she was speaking, "there's plenty of room in here if you will take your seat so that we can get going" He smiled at the other inhabitants of the carriage and kept moving down the corridor. A second later, a head, which must have belonged to Marlene, appeared in the doorway.
"Hi folks, I'm Marlene. Mind if I sit in here?"
"The more the merrier!" said Sirius, and he proceeded to introduce the rest of the carriage.
Marlene was taller than Lily had expected any of the first years to be, had lovely long silver blonde hair and a friendly face. She spoke quicker than anyone she had met and Lily was excited to get to know her, she seemed like the type of person that could keep you entertained for hours on end.
As the carriage started moving, and the landscape changed in the window, the game of Exploding Snap seemed to be forgotten as the group got to know each other. They were discussing home towns, favourite colours, what they were most looking forward to about Hogwarts and what house they hoped to be in…
"House?" asked Lily when this topic was breached.
"Yeah," said James, "all of the students are split in to four houses; Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Haven't you heard of the houses Lily? Are you a muggle born?
Lily had only heard the term muggle once before, and it had been used to insult her sister. "I am not a muggle!" she said defensively.
"It's not a bad thing Lily! Lots of great wizards have been born to muggle parents. I didn't mean to offend you…" he said sheepishly. Now Lily felt bad that she had taken it the wrong way.
"Oh I'm sorry James, the only time I have heard someone say that he meant it as an insult to my sister… You're right, my parents aren't magic. They were very excited when they found out I was though!"
"Well in that case, we have a lot to teach you Lily!" said Sirius excitedly. "You want to be sorted in to Gryffindor, that's where all the greatest wizards have been. I guess Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw would be OK if you are in to studying and being boring, but you do not want to be in Slytherin! That is where all of the dark, evil wizards come from, including my parents!"
Lily didn't want to think about dark wizards. The concept of someone evil that had access to all of the knowledge and power that came from being a fully trained wizard was too terrifying for her to comprehend.
As she was away in her thoughts, another head appeared in the doorway. This one was pale with long, straight black hair and a slightly hooked nose.
"Oh Sev!" shouted Lily and the compartment door opened.
"Hi Lily, glad you got on to the train OK", said Severus.
"Yeah you too, I was trying to keep an eye out for you but I was running late and didn't have time to look properly"
"That's OK", he said, but something about the way he held his face made him look disappointed.
Lily introduced Severus to the carriage and they all smiled politely.
"We were just talking about which house we want to be sorted into!" said Lily excitedly. "I think I want to be in Gryffindor"
"No Lily! Only prats go to Gryffindor! You should want to be in Slytherin, with me." Said Severus loudly.
"Oh yeah, like the Sorting Hat is ever going to put a muggle-born in Slytherin!" said Sirius, surprisingly angry
"Lily! You told them already that you're… muggle-born" he whispered the last word urgently, looking disappointed again.
"Well… yeah. Was I not supposed to?" replied Lily, not understanding why Severus seemed upset.
"It looks like Severus wanted to keep you a secret Lily. Were you embarrassed that you have a muggle-born friend Severus? Wouldn't surprise me coming from someone that wants to be in Slytherin" said James in disgust.
"Why don't you just stay out of this, Potter!" spat Severus
"Why don't you just stay out of our carriage, Snivellus, we were having a perfectly pleasant time before you came and stunk up the place" replied James.
Lily was so confused about this encounter. What did her being muggle-born have to do with all of this? Why could she not be in Slytherin with Severus because of her parents?
"Now now boys," said Marlene in a tone that made her sound like a teacher, "lets play nice. We haven't even made it to the school yet, let alone know which houses we're gonna be sorted in to. Why don't we all just calm down?"
But Severus looked furious.
"Lily, why don't you come with me? I can introduce you to my friends that aren't so… rude" he said glaring at James and Sirius, who looked ready to punch him.
Lily was looking from her new friends to her old and felt angry that she was already being forced to choose between them. Before she had the chance to answer however, Severus said "Fine", and stormed off down the corridor.
"Where in hell did you meet him Lily?" asked Sirius
"He lives in the same town as me, a couple of neighbourhoods across. He was the one that told me I was a… witch. To be honest I thought he was teasing me until I got my Hogwarts letter" replied Lily quietly, while fidgeting with her hands. "Why can't I be in Slytherin if I'm a muggle-born?" she asked to no one in particular. After a few seconds, it was Marlene that answered.
"Listen Lil, you don't mind if I call you Lil do you? No? Good. Lil, a long time ago the four witches and wizards that created Hogwarts had some very different ideas about who they would let in. Godric Gryffindor wanted only brave and loyal students to be accepted, Rowena Ravenclaw wanted the most intelligent and witty students, Helga Hufflepuff wanted to accept everyone that exhibited magical abilities, but Salazar Slytherin only wanted to accept students with what he called pure blood lines. That is, no muggle ancestry. That's why they have the four houses. Eventually Slytherin couldn't handle it and left the school completely, but people in his house are generally 'pure bloods', or close enough to it."
"But… does it make a difference? Will I not be as good at magic as everyone else?"
"No Lily, not at all" said Remus reassuringly, "In fact, most people have at least some muggle blood. Like myself, I'm a half-blood"
"My grandfather was a muggle," said Marlene shortly.
"My family is pureblood, but not crazy about it like some" said James, looking at Sirius
"My family is pureblood, and crazy about it. They're the worst kind of people. Express similar ideas as your mate Snape, Lily. My entire family have been in Slytherin since the school opened, but I want none of that. I don't give a crap about a persons blood!" Sirius smiled at her.
Lily felt a bit better, but was still anxious about Severus. Why hadn't he said anything about this in the summer while they were hanging out? Lily hoped that Severus wasn't really like Sirius described his parents.
"Thanks guys," said Lily, smiling at her new friends, "lets go back to playing!"
And so the five of them sat playing Exploding Snap, laughing and getting to know each other. Before they knew it, the train was slowing down and they were rolling in to the station.
Unloading from the train looked like it was going to be a chaotic experience, so the five of them decided to hang back in the carriage for a few minutes rather than attempting to battle through the crowd. Once the constant stream of students stopped going past the window of the door, they started unloading their trunks from the overhead compartments and headed outside. It was a chilly evening and the clouds overhead were looming threateningly. After putting their trunks on a carriage, the group followed the sound of someone yelling "FIRST YEARS! FIRST YEARS OVER HERE!"
Lily and Marlene were chatting while the three boys followed closely behind. Lily was glad that she had met such a wonderful group of people on the train, and crossed her fingers that they would all be sorted together in Gryffindor. After a few minutes of walking, they found the source of the yelling. The tallest man that Lily had ever seen was holding a bright lantern and waving for all the first years to follow him. He must have been twice the size of the tallest person that Lily had ever seen, and she had to crane her neck to see his face properly. He had a short dark beard and shoulder length, frizzy black hair.
After a few more minutes, the other first years had arrived and they set off as a group towards a huge lake. She felt hands on the back of her shoulders and heard the excited whisper of Sirius saying, "Can you see the boats? They're going to take us up to the castle! Hopefully we can see it soon!" Lily couldn't help but feel excited at the prospect, no matter how nervous she was about the sorting. A few moments later, the tall man stopped them all and explained that they were to split in to groups of 3 and climb into the boats. Deciding a girls boat and boys boat was the fairest split, the three boys climbed in to one of the boats nearby while the girls waited for a third person. A small, frightened looking girl was wandering around on her own, and it was to her that Marlene yelled "Hey small stuff! Want to be in our boat?" The girl's eyes lit up as she hurried towards Marlene and Lily.
"Hi, were you talking to me?" she asked Marlene shyly.
"Sure was! I'm Marlene and this is Lily, but you can call her Lil. Did you want to come in the boat with us?"
"I would like that. My name is Alice… it's nice to meet you!"
"You as well Alice. Let's get this show on the road!" said Marlene excitedly as she climbed in to the small boat gracefully. Lily was sure that she would not look like that when she attempted it. She smiled quickly at Alice and put one foot in the boat, trying very hard not to rock it, before basically tumbling the rest of her body into the dingy. Marlene chuckled quickly but didn't make a comment, for which Lily was grateful. Alice climbed in behind Lily and before they could wonder how to work them, the boat started to move through the lake.
They moved along slowly, making small talk with Alice and talking about what they could expect at the feast when they turned a corner. A small gasp escaped Lily's mouth as she saw the castle rising from a hill across the lake. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Even Marlene didn't seem to have any words.
The castle must have been at least seven stories tall, with turrets and towers protruding elegantly from the rooftops. Lights were glistening in the many windows making it look truly magical. The three girls sat and started in silence until the dingy pulled up at a small pier at the base of the castle. Alice climbed out first and gave Lily her hand for support. Marlene climbed out easily and the three of them looked to see James, Remus and Sirius waiting for them.
"I see another one has joined our ranks!" said Sirius fondly as he introduced the boys to Alice. Together, they followed the rest of the first years up a steep staircase that led to a large doorway. Lily couldn't really keep up with the conversation, as she was gazing, open mouthed at the castle. James apparently noticed this and gently touched her chin with his hand.
"Watch it Evans, you're gonna catch a few flies the way you're going!"
She tried to snap herself out of it. "Its… its just so incredible. Don't you think so? Its like something out of a story book."
"Yeah its definitely something" he smiled at her.
When they entered the doorway, they were gathered in a small hall. An older woman, Lily could only assume that she was a teacher, was calling for quiet.
"Hello everybody. My name is Professor McGonagall, I am a teacher here at Hogwarts. In a moment we will be heading through to the Great Hall where you will be sorted in to your houses before the welcome feast commences. It would be greatly appreciated if you could remain quiet for the sorting and during the headmaster's speech. Now, please follow me"
The small group smiled at each other excitedly and followed Professor McGonagall through to the Grand Hall. For the second time that night, Lily gasped at the sight of it. There were four long tables full of excited looking kids, facing a long table at the top of the hall, which seemed to seat the teachers. Above their heads was a ceiling that must have been enchanted, because it showed the same dark clouds that were threatening to burst earlier that evening. Hovering beneath the breathtaking ceiling was hundreds of lit candles, creating a mesmerizing effect. Marlene grabbed her hand and whispered, "Stunning, isn't it? I could definitely get used to this!" Lily smiled in agreement; she still couldn't come up with words to describe how she was feeling.
The next few minutes seemed to go by in a flash. A greying wizard with a pointy hat stood and welcomed all the students, and before she knew it, it was time for the sorting. Professor McGonagall brought a rickety looking stool on to the platform with an old, torn wizard hat rested upon. Lily realised that this must be the sorting hat. McGonagall called forward Alistor Abbott, a pale looking boy who was evidently terrified at the prospect of being the first to be sorted. When he sat down on the stool, the hat barely rested on his head before yelling 'Hufflepuff!" There was a loud cheer from the Hufflepuff table as Alistor walked towards them, beaming.
A few more students were sorted in to the various houses before McGonagall called "Black, Sirius!" Sirius gave the group a nervous smile while Marlene whispered "good luck" in his ear. His smile broadened and he walked towards the platform and took a seat on the rickety stool. Marlene had again grabbed Lily's hand from apparent nerves. It seemed to be taking longer than it had the other students. Lily was starting to get nervous when the hat yelled "Gryffindor!" Marlene dropped Lily's hand in relief and the two of the clapped and cheered as Sirius moved towards the Gryffindor table, receiving high-fives and shaking hands with a few eager Gryffindors.
Lily watched quietly as Eloise Clearwater was sorted in to Ravenclaw and Alicia Diggle was sorted in to Hufflepuff and held her breath. "Evans, Lily!", shouted Professor McGonagall. The remaining members of her little group patted her on the back and whispered "good luck!" as she walked towards the stool. Her stomach felt like a million butterflies were flying around in there. The walk seemed to take hours, though she was sure it was only a few seconds. When she took her seat, McGonagall smiled kindly at her as she placed the hat on her head. It was barely there for a moment when she heard it yell "Gryffindor!" in her ears. Lily was ecstatic, until she looked down at the crowd of first years and noticed Severus' hurt looking face. She wanted to apologise, to say that she didn't have a choice! But McGonagall was calling the next student and she needed to meet her new housemates.
She went to sit down at the Gryffindor table and received the same response as Sirius, high fiving and shaking hands with dozens of people as she made her way to where he was sitting. He ruffled her hair and gave her a one handed hug before saying "I did it Lily! The first Black ever to be in Gryffindor! My mum is going to be so angry, I can't wait to tell her! Bet you James, Remus, Marlene and maybe even that Alice girl get in too!" His happiness was contagious, and Lily found herself forgetting the hurt expression on Severus' face and enjoying the rest of the sorting. Remus, Marlene and James were all sorted in to Gryffindor, Alice was sorted into Ravenclaw but smiled and waved at Lily after the sorting. Lily hoped they would have some classes together.
"Snape, Severus", said McGonagall. The whole group watched as Severus headed up to the platform and took his seat. Lily saw Sirius whisper something to James and Remus and they all chuckled, but she chose to ignore them. As decisively as the sorting hat had put Lily in Gryffindor, it had placed Severus in Slytherin. Lily clapped politely but couldn't help but feel disappointed. She did not want to think of her friend as a bad person. The other Slytherin's cheered and welcomed Snape completely, and Lily was glad that he at least looked happy. James seemed to notice her staring and kicked her under the table.
"Don't worry too much about it Lil, if, for some reason, you still want to be friends with him, you will still see him around. If you are as good friends as you seem to think I'm sure a little thing like houses won't ruin that" he said kindly, but Lily couldn't help feeling like he was just saying this to make her feel better.
The last of the students were sorted, and Lily's small group of friends enjoyed the feast together, laughing and talking amongst themselves, and getting to know the other students. Lily spoke again to the prefect she met in the train, who's name she learned was Arthur Weasley, who was dating a beautiful red headed Gryffindor named Molly Prewett.
After the feast, the Gryffindor first years followed Arthur and Molly to the common room. Lily was very confused when their way seemed to be blocked by a wall with a portrait of a fat lady in a silk pink dress, but was surprised when Arthur said "Caput Draconis" and her portrait swung open to reveal a porthole that led to a large, comfortable looking common room. She followed the other students through the portrait hole into a room furnished in the Gryffindor colours of red and gold. It had a number of large, comfortable looking red couches, a few tables for studying and a large fireplace. Lily was sure that she would like it here. Once all of the first years had gathered in the common room, Arthur announced that the girl's dormitories were upstairs to the left, while the boys were up to the right. There would be five students per dormitory and each student would have their own bed with drapes for privacy. Suddenly realising how tired she was, Lily was glad when Marlene took her hand once more and led her upstairs to the girls dormitory.
"Oh no", said Lily once they reached the cosy looking room, "I didn't get a chance to say goodnight to the boys"
"Don't worry about that Lil! We will see them tomorrow morning. I'm sure we will be sick of them soon, we will be seeing so much of them!" replied Marlene.
Lily laughed as she realised that their trunks had already been delivered to their room. In addition to hers and Marlene's, there were three more trunks stacked neatly in the middle of the room.
"Ooh I wonder who our roommates are going to be!" said Marlene excitedly. As she said it however, her question was answered as three witches walked through the door to the dormitory.
The first to walk in was a stunning, black witch with beautiful long dark hair who Lily recognised from the sorting as Elenora Shacklebolt. A frumpy, mousy haired girl who Lily did not recognise, and a short brunette with blue eyes named Andra Brown, followed her. Lily smiled at the girls as they entered and introduced herself and Marlene. She learned that the frumpy girl was named Abigail Doherty.
Remembering that she was in fact very tired, Lily excused herself to get ready for bed. The other girls followed suit, and soon Lily was curled up in her new bed dreaming of what a wonderful first day she had.