A/N Characters and canon content belong to the great JK Rowling, but hey, all the stuff in-between came straight from my head!
EDIT: I'm saving Professor Horne for a time when I can work more with him, so just the DADA professor and the description changed.
James
"James! James." He woke to his mother gently shaking him, and his face broke into a wide smile that stayed firmly there for the entire five minutes it took him to get dressed, take his trunk (already packed for two weeks) and owl to the door, and walk into the breakfast room of the main Potter mansion. It was not yet 10:40, when his parents would take him to King's Cross station by side-along apparition to board the Hogwarts Express for the very first time. In fact, it was not even ten o'clock, or even nine. It was 8:30 in the morning, and the family house elves had prepared an excellent breakfast: pancakes and waffles, sausage and bacon, scrambled eggs. If eleven year old James Potter had not been so excited (and, if he was being honest with himself, rather nervous), he would have eaten everything on the table. But he still managed third helpings of everything.
When James entered the breakfast room, his father looked up from this morning's Daily Prophet, and smiled back at James. "Are you excited? Nervous?" He asked, knowing the answer already, owing to that James had been practically floating through the past two and a half weeks, since his Hogwarts letter had come, but James nodded anyway. James' father was Head of the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, though he didn't need to work for his money: the Potter's were an old, Pureblood wizarding family, and therefore had a good-sized fortune stored away in Gringotts wizarding bank. But Charlus Potter was not a man to let his life slide by without taking as much control of it as possible. Dorea Potter (once Black), did not work, but instead devoted her life to charity work (which did, admittedly, lessen the fortune the family owned, but not nearly enough to force her to take a job). Dorea had grown up surrounded by the Black family, an amazingly prejudiced and bigoted family. She had never understood the terrible way they treated and talked about Muggles and Muggleborns, and therefore focused the full brunt of her charity work on assuring that Muggles would not be terrorized by wizards, and Muggleborns treated like equals. This also assured that her name was blasted from the Black family tree. It was, in her opinion, a miracle that her name had not been blasted off earlier, and owed it all to the fact that she fell in love with a Potter, though she had been determined to make a match her parents would be extremely disappointed in.
James bounded around the house until at last 10:40 arrived, and James gripped his mother's hand hard and his father gripped his trunk and owl. They disappeared from the entrance hall, and reappeared moments later in a deserted alley across the street from King's Cross station. They crossed the street, loaded James' things on a trolley, and walked into the station, then to the barrier between platforms nine and ten, and then ran straight at it. When James opened his eyes, he saw a sign reading 'Platform 9 3/4' and a bright red steam engine. Mr. Potter helped James load his trunk into a compartment, and then dragged James (who wanted to just stay on the train, as if his presence would get it moving any sooner than it's eleven o'clock departure time) back outside to say goodbye to Mrs. Potter.
It seemed to James as though saying goodbye took hours, but merely seconds to his parents. They made him promise to write ("We didn't buy you an owl for nothing!"), and finally he was back on the train. He found the compartment his trunk had been in, but found it no longer empty upon his arrival: a slimy looking boy with black hair and sallow skin, and a pretty redhead girl were sitting there, discussing the Hogwarts houses, and a few moments later another boy entered, also black haired, but this one was familiar.
Before Dorea Potter had been disowned, James had met a few of his relatives from the Black family, and this must have been one of them. He looked like a Black (though perhaps more cheerful and exciting). He sat down next to James, who was listening more to the conversation of Slimy and Redhead, and heard Slimy say he wanted to be in Slytherin.
"Who wants to be in Slytherin?" James says.
"Where're you heading, if you've got the choice?" Probably a Black asks.
"'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!' Like my dad… Got a problem with that?"
"No, if you'd rather be brawny than brainy," Slimy Slytherin says.
James could've sworn Redhead mumbled something, but he wasn't about to ask what, seeing as she saw fit to befriend this disgusting boy. Instead he directs his attention to Probably a Black. "What about you? Where are you going?"
"Well, my whole family's been in Slytherin," Probably a Black becomes Almost Certainly a Black, but he then continues: "But maybe I'll break the mold."
James gives him an appraising look: Almost Certainly a Black apparently doesn't want to be like his terrible family members. Perhaps they could be friends (if he doesn't end up in Slytherin, that is). He holds out his hand, and says, "James Potter."
Almost Certainly a Black smirks, "I thought so. Sirius Black." There it is. They had met before, and if he was remembering correctly, Sirius liked to pull pranks almost more than he did.
"And what about you, Red?" James asks, finally drawing her into the conversation. "What house will you be in?"
"It's Lily. I suppose I don't know. My parents are both muggles, so I don't have any… Family obligations. From what I've heard they all have some admirable traits and some detrimental. I guess I'll just have to wait and find out." James is hit hard. First, she reveals she's muggle born, then that she doesn't have any clue where she would want to go, then she used the word 'detrimental' properly in a sentence. Is she eleven, or forty-five?
"You're muggle born, and you willingly made friends with someone who wants to be in Slytherin?" he asks. She must be mental.
She looks hurt. "Severus is the one who told me I was a witch. He's never been anything but lovely to me, telling me all about the magical world, so I didn't have to come here completely clueless about everything."
James is skeptical. He worries if Snivellus told her the truth about everything- including Voldemort and blood status prejudice. Lily must see this on his face, because she sniffs and says, "C'mon Sev, lets go find another compartment."
"Bye, Red! Snivellus." She sniffs again, and slams the compartment door behind her.
Sirius is chuckling. "Snivellus. I like that," he says. Mellowing, he goes on: "Y'know, I never understood why Auntie Dorea got disowned. She was always so nice. But now that I'm older, I guess I realize that's probably why."
"Yeah, that's the general idea. She and some other less prejudiced Pureblood family members formed this activist group 'Muggle and Muggleborn Protection: We Are Equal.' MMP does a lot to protect Muggles and Muggleborns against all the crazy people like your family (no offense) who think they're all superior so they can walk all over those of 'lesser blood status.'" James explains.
"I don't get what's so bad about Muggles and Muggleborns," Sirius frowns.
"That's just it. There's nothing wrong with them or anything, and a lot of really powerful witches and wizards are muggleborn anyway." Sirius seems to be considering something.
"I don't want to be in Slytherin. If Slytherin turned out my family, and my family is part of the problem, thinking muggleborns are scum, then I don't want to be in Slytherin."
James starts grinning. "Good. From what I remember of you, I want you as my friend. And we can't be friends if you're in Slytherin."
Just then, a sickly looking mousy-haired boy slid open the compartment door. "Do you think I could sit here?" the boy asks.
"That bench is all yours," James points at the seats across from him and Sirius.
"Yeah," Sirius adds. "You look like you could use some good sleep. Why don't you take a nap. We'll wake you up when we get there."
The boy was already in his Hogwarts uniform, and looked relieved when they said they'd help him out. "Thanks. Remus Lupin," he thrust his hand out to James and Sirius, who took it and introduced themselves in turn. He fell asleep almost immediately. James and Sirius talked for a while and bought some snacks from the trolley lady when she came by.
"Do you think we should wake him?" James asked.
"No, he looked like he hadn't slept in days, let him sleep while he can," Sirius says, looking at Remus kindly. "If he's hungry when he wakes up, we can just give him some of ours. We bought more than enough."
When Remus finally woke up, it was from hunger. It was beginning to get dark, and they'd be there soon, but nonetheless, James and Sirius offered him a cauldron cake, and a few chocolate frogs. On top of looking like he hadn't slept in days, they noticed that it looked as though he hadn't eaten in days either. He looked gratefully at both of the boys who'd been so kind to him, and accepted the food, eating as civilly as he could, when he was as hungry as he was. Remus was quiet, and mostly just listened to James and Sirius as they talked, laughing at all of their jokes. At least he had a sense of humor.
The Hogwarts Express slowed to a stop, and they all left their things on board, as instructed, and made their way onto the platform. An enormous man was calling "Firs' years! Firs' years this way!" So James, Sirius, and Remus made their way towards him. James recalls something his father told him about the gamekeeper, and assumes this must be him. He was called Hagrid, if memory served. James caught sight of Lily again, and by the looks of it, Sirius notices her too. Now that he knows why Dorea Potter was burned off the Black family tree, he looks just as concerned for her as James is.
Hagrid, for that was his name indeed, leads James and the rest of the first years to the shore of a great lake, where a fleet of little rowboats is waiting. "Four to a boat!" Hagrid yells. James and Sirius pull Remus along, following a bobbing head of fiery hair. They all hop into a boat just after her, James and Sirius looking determined, Remus looking confused. Lily looks uncomfortable and confused. She turns and frowns apologetically at a scowling Severus, who turns to find another boat.
The boats start to move on their own, and the kids in the boats are talking quietly to each other. James turns to Lily, who is sitting next to him on the front bench of the boat. "Lily, what has Snivellus told you about Voldemort and his followers?" James figures he should probably just get right down to it.
"First of all, it's Severus Snape. Don't call him Snivellus. Second, he's a bad wizard, so bad that people are actually afraid to say his name. Which is ridiculous of course. But he wouldn't tell me what he did. Said I didn't need to worry about it. Why?"
"You of all people need to worry about it. Voldemort and most of his followers were in Slytherin, just like your pal wants to be. And Voldemort is a Pureblood supremacist. He and his followers think muggles are worth less than wizards, and that muggleborns shouldn't be part of the wizarding world, that they shouldn't even be accepted at Hogwarts." It felt harsh to James, telling her all this, that she should find out from strangers instead of her friend, but she had to know. She would be affected by all of the Death Eater wannabes at Hogwarts, and when she got out, she would be a target for the actual Death Eaters if they weren't caught by then. She needed to know.
It was dark, but James could still see that Lily was thinking hard. Whether to believe him, whether to defend her friend, whether to push him over the side of the boat. Very tight-lipped, she finally responded, "Thank you for telling me, Potter."
He nodded grimly, and the four in the boat said nothing as the fleet approached, and reached, the castle. A stuffy looking woman opened the doors when Hagrid knocked, who introduced herself as Professor Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress and Head of Gryffindor House. She led the first years through the entrance hall and into a room off the Great Hall, and told them that she would lead them through the doors of the Great Hall (where they would eat all of their meals), and they would be sorted into their houses. The houses compete for the most points throughout the school year, and the winner is announced at the end of the year. She leaves them in the room to wait, while she waits for the signal from Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster. James glances around, and sees Lily confronting Snivellus about what he told her in the boat. Snivellus looks uncomfortable, and James smirks to himself. Lily looks angry, but not nearly enough to get rid of that slimy git.
Professor McGonagall comes back and leads them into the Great Hall. Several of the students gasp at the ceiling, which James knew from his family to be bewitched to look like the sky outside. It's cloudy, but there's still a peek of stars and a waning moon. They reach the front of the Hall, and line up in front of the teachers, facing the students. McGonagall sets down a stool with a ratty old hat on it, and the Sorting Hat began its song. Something about working together, and what being in each of the different houses means, but James isn't really listening; for the first time in the past few weeks, nervousness replaces excitement as his primary emotion. The hat finishes its song, and everyone applauds. Then McGonagall unrolls a scroll, and begins reading names. James is able to focus when he hears "Black, Sirius!" He's nervous for his new friend. The Sorting Hat took some time before yelling "Gryffindor!"
James is relieved for his friend, and Sirius turns around and gives James a brief, ecstatic smile. James notices that most of the Slytherin table isn't clapping, and some of its members look downright mad. A Black being sorted into Gryffindor is unheard of, after all.
"Evans, Lily!" is called, and James looks up to see the redhead walk as calmly as she can up to the stool. It rests on her head for a few seconds, but quickly screams "Gryffindor!" James is relieved. He can't help but feel like he needs to protect this girl, and he can't really tell if it's because of that Snape creep, or just because of her. She seems capable enough of taking care of herself, but he can't help but worry.
The next person he recognizes is "Lupin, Remus!" He's looking a little bit better, now that he's had some rest and some food. The hat rests on his head for almost six minutes, before yelling "Gryffindor!" James is pleased, he thinks Remus has something to offer, and his mother always said he was a good judge of character.
Finally, his name is called, and James walks what he hopes is a confident walk forward, sits on the stool, and places the hat on his head. "Hm!" the hat says in his mind, and then shouts "Gryffindor!" to the rest of the school. James grins, hands the hat back to Professor McGonagall, and walks, still grinning hard to a seat next to Lily, and across from Remus, who sits with a pudgy blond boy on his right, and on his left are blond girl who looks like a McKinnon, and a brunette who looks like a MacDonald.
When "Snape, Severus!" is called, the Sorting Hat immediately pronounces him a Slytherin, and he looks over at Lily before walking calmly, head held high, to a seat at the Slytherin table. James turns away, nose turned up. One more girl joins the Gryffindor table, and a few more people are sorted before McGonagall picks up the hat on the stool and carries it away.
Professor Dumbledore stands, and says, "I fear you are all too hungry to be able to pay any attention to anything I have to say, so I'll just say this: Enjoy!" Food appears on all the tables, and James and the other first year Gryffindors look around and begin to grab all of their favorite foods. There's steak, roast chicken, shepherd's pie, steak and kidney pudding, mashed potatoes and gravy, noodle casseroles, and every kind of steamed, fresh, or roasted vegetable you could want, but James only touched enough of those to make his mother proud that he ate vegetables without being told to. After everyone had had their fill of the main course, the remains vanished from every plate, to be replaced with the puddings. There was some delicious looking treacle tart, and quite a few others, but James could only manage two helpings of the treacle tart.
When the puddings were cleared, Dumbledore stood again. "Now, before your brains have become too befuddled with the sleepiness that inevitably follows a good meal," he begins, "there are a few announcements to make. The Black Forest is off limits to all students. Just before term, a new tree was planted on the grounds. I must advise you to stay away from the Whomping Willow: it's quite rare, and packs quite a punch. We welcome Professor Kipling to the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts." There is some polite clapping for the new professor. He's middle-aged, with graying brown hair, and bright eyes. "Classes begin tomorrow morning, and your schedules will be passed out at seven a.m. breakfast. Now, off to bed with you all."
A boy and a girl come running over to where the first years are sitting. "Hi!" the girl smiles. "I'm Shelby Hopkins, seventh year prefect for Gryffindor, and this is Howard Crofton, he's a sixth year prefect."
The boy nods, and announces "We'll take you up to Gryffindor Tower, and be happy to answer any questions you might have on the way, or you can feel free to come up to us or any other prefect at any time."
"Before curfew, that is," Shelby interjects.
The prefects lead the first years up many flights of stairs, pushing aside two tapestries to get through to the doors hidden behind them, and as tired and worn out as the new students were, they were still wide eyed, staring at all of the different pictures and portraits, and gasping a little at the staircases that moved.
Finally, they arrived at a large portrait of a fat woman in a pink dress. Howard gave the password (Elderberries), and the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open to reveal a hole. They all clambered through (the short blond boy who had introduced himself as Peter Pettigrew at dinner needed a leg up), and entered the Gryffindor common room. It was a cozy sort of place; lots of squashy armchairs, couches, and a few tables with hard chairs for homework. A fire was crackling in the hearth, and if James hadn't wanted to get straight to bed, he would've sat in front of the fire until it died down. Shelby led the girls up to their dormitory, and as Howard led the way to theirs, he informed them that the girls' staircase wouldn't let boys up it, so don't try. James may have been imagining the challenge in his voice.
A plaque reading "First Years" was on the third floor of the boys' tower, and they all found their trunks placed by magnificent four poster beds. The boys all changed into their pajamas, but they found that now they were in a place where they could sleep, they didn't want to. They all sat in a circle on the floor. James and Sirius, both being rather loud and outspoken did most of the talking. Remus, who had had some experience with the two of them held his own relatively well. Peter seemed to be the shyest and least clever of the boys. The fifth had introduced himself as Brendan Grant at dinner, and seemed as though he was extremely nervous.
The topic had come around to blood status, as it typically did in these times. "James and I are both Purebloods." Sirius admitted.
"I'm half-blood. My dad's a wizard." Remus intones.
"My mum's the witch." Peter chimes in.
"My parents are both muggles." Brendan looks somewhat worried as he makes this announcement, but the boys don't respond negatively to this announcement, so he relaxes. He supposed not all wizards could be prejudiced, but he'd overheard the Evans girl talking to that Slytherin boy in the chamber off the Great Hall, so he was a little worried.
They talked for a long while about the courses and what they might expect. It turned out that Brendan had worried about being behind, coming from a family with no magical heritage, and had done quite a bit of studying the textbooks they were assigned, trying some of the spells, but he seemed to be an average student, though willing to work hard and go the extra mile. Perhaps he belonged in Hufflepuff, James thought.
It was around ten thirty when they all clambered into their beds, and despite refusing to admit they were tired, they all fell asleep within minutes.
Lily
Eleven year old Lily Evans woke suddenly at five forty-five in the morning. She keeps her eyes closed, listening hard to find out what pulled her from sleep. Then she hears it. Her sister, Petunia, is crying in the room next to Lily's. Lily sighs, opens her eyes, and remembers why Petunia is crying. Today is the day Lily leaves for Hogwarts. But that isn't specifically why Petunia is crying. When Lily was nine, she and Petunia were playing on the swings at the local park, and Lily would always let go when she was too high, but she'd never fall. She gently floated down off the swings, landing on the ground. Petunia would yell at her, saying she shouldn't do something so reckless, but then a boy came out of the shadows. He told her she was a witch, and Petunia said that was ridiculous: witches aren't real. But over the past few years, Lily would continually use magic to fly from the swings, to make flowers bloom for her, she'd even made her sister's closet door fly off, so she could find her Christmas present. And every day, she would meet Severus Snape, the boy who told her she was a witch, and he would tell her about the wizarding world. A few weeks previously, she had received a letter delivered by an owl. Written on heavy parchment in green ink, it read:
Dear Miss Evans,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
She'd run excitedly to her parents and Petunia to show them her letter. Lily couldn't read the look on Petunia's face.
A week later, the Evans family went with Severus and his mother to Diagon Alley, where Eileen Snape showed them around the bustling street, and they bought all their school supplies together. When they left Diagon Alley, her parents handed Mrs. Snape a letter for her to send with Severus', saying she would be attending Hogwarts. Petunia had not come along on this trip.
The next day, Severus had come over to her house, and they decided to have a look around Petunia's room, because it was raining. They had found a letter from the headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore. It revealed that Petunia had written to Dumbledore, asking to attend Hogwarts with Lily, but Dumbledore had politely refused: Petunia did not have any magical ability, and therefore was not able to be accepted. But Petunia had caught them when they were reading this, and she threw them out of her room, too furious to speak.
Now that Lily was awake, there was no point in trying to go back to sleep. She may have been sad that Petunia now seemed to hate her, but she was still amazingly excited about her new prospects, and it's hard to sleep when you're very, very excited.
She dressed slowly and quietly, so Petunia wouldn't know she was awake, and went downstairs to find her father making poached eggs, just the way she liked them, and her mother making pancakes. They beamed at her when she bounded into the room.
Mr. and Mrs. Evans had been high school sweethearts. Malcolm Evans was, in his wife's opinion, a lovely gentleman with no ambition whatsoever. He worked in the same general store he had in high school, but now instead of a clerk or stock boy, he was the manager of the store, and the most senior member of the staff, directly under the owner. Lisa Evans was the real breadwinner of the family. She had gotten a degree in business from a local college, and was paid very well to help with public relations and advertising for a local company that was, thanks in no small part to her, now an international company. Rumor has it that she'll be getting a promotion in the next few weeks: they want her to use her business expertise to help run the company in full.
"Are you excited sweetie?" Mr. Evans asked. He was more paternal than Mrs. Evans was maternal. Everyone in the house already knew the answer. She'd been cheerful and she sang much more than usual in the past two weeks. Severus had been right. She was a witch, there was a school called Hogwarts that she would be going to, and after she graduated, she would live in the wizarding world. Lily sat down at the scrubbed kitchen table and poured herself some orange juice. She didn't feel it was necessary to respond to her father, and she didn't altogether trust her voice at the moment. Petunia came in half an hour later, her face dry and free from puffiness or redness. She was more polite and quieter than usual, and she ate only a single egg.
After breakfast, Lily went back to her room to make sure she had everything she needed properly packed. Petunia cornered her before she could get there.
"Tuney…" Lily pleaded.
"It's Petunia," Petunia started, coldly. "And you're a freak."
"I'm not a freak!" Lily stammered. "That's a horrible thing to say."
"That's where you're going." Petunia jeered. "A special school for freaks. You and that Snape boy; weirdos. That's what you two are." She turned on her heel and stormed to her room.
Lily couldn't help it. She burst out crying, and slammed the door to her room. She pulled herself together quickly. "If I'm a freak," she reasoned, aloud though to herself, "then a freak is what Tuney wants to be."
She looked around her room, and picked up the book she'd been reading last night before falling asleep: The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 1. She'd read parts of all of her school books. Her favorite was the potions text: it seemed the most logical of the subjects she'd be taking, it was all about following instructions, and knowing about the magical properties of ingredients. Plus, Severus' mother was a potions prodigy, and Severus had told her about some of the potions his mother was able to make before his father started abusing her. They avoided that topic, it was too emotional for Severus.
Other than the book, her trunk was packed and very orderly. To her eye, at least. She could find everything in that trunk, but anyone else would probably have to dump everything out. Controlled chaos is the word Lily liked to use. Messy was her mother and Petunia's word for the way she kept her room and trunk. They were both neat-freaks. But her father was the same way.
"Are you ready Lily?" Mr. Evans calls through the door. "We have to leave now so we can make it there in time!"
Lily opens her door, and smiles up at her father. He grins back, but there are tears in his eyes: he won't see her until Christmas, and any parent wants to be close to their child at all times. Lily nods, and they carry her trunk downstairs, out the door, and into the car together. Mrs. Evans and Petunia are waiting in the car, and they set out.
Petunia is silent throughout the four hours in the car, and as they walk through Kings Cross Station. Suppressing the surprise they all feel at having to walk through an apparently solid wall to reach Platform 9 3/4 and the Hogwarts Express, Petunia looks coldly about at all of the 'freaks.' The train will be leaving in ten minutes. Lily and her father pull her trunk onto the train and into a compartment where she finds Severus and his trunk. There's another trunk in the overhead compartment, but no one else is there. She says hello to Severus, then steps off the train to say goodbye to her family. Petunia barely says goodbye, and only really under the demand of the girls' mother. Lily hugs her parents each in turn, promising to write to them, and that she'll see them at Christmas. Then she boards the train, and sits down next to Severus.
"Are you ready?" Severus grins.
"I don't know. Tuney's mad at me, but I can't do anything about it unless I want to leave this all behind," Lily sighs.
"She'll come around, Lily," Severus comforts. "She's your sister, she has to. Just stop thinking about it."
The boy whose trunk is in the compartment comes in. He has unruly black hair and glasses. Another black haired boy comes in a few moments later.
"What d'you think Lily?" Severus asks, getting off the subject of her sister. He knows it will only upset her more. "Do you know what house you'll be in yet?"
"Well I suppose I'd like to be in the same house as you. You're my best friend, after all."
"Well I want to be in Slytherin." Severus says.
"Who wants to be in Slytherin?" The boy with the messy hair and glasses pipes up.
"Where're you heading, if you've got the choice?" The other boy asks.
"'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!' Like my dad… Got a problem with that?"
"No, if you'd rather be brawny than brainy," Severus scoffs.
"You don't have to be brawny to be brave," Lily mumbles, but no one seems to have heard her, or cared what she said if they did.
"What about you? Where are you going?" the messy haired boy asks the other new boy.
"Well, my whole family's been in Slytherin. But maybe I'll break the mold," he says.
The messy-haired boy gives him an appraising look, and holds out his hand, saying "James Potter."
The other boy smirks, "I thought so. Sirius Black."
"And what about you, Red?" Potter asks, meaning Lily. "What house will you be in?"
"It's Lily. I suppose I don't know. My parents are both muggles, so I don't have any…" she pauses, this seems to be important, based on the boys' conversation. "Family obligations. From what I've heard they all have some admirable traits and some detrimental. I guess I'll just have to wait and find out." Potter looks like he's sizing her up.
"You're muggle born," he starts, "and you willingly made friends with someone who wants to be in Slytherin?"
How rude! Lily thinks. "Severus is the one who told me I was a witch. He's never been anything but lovely to me, telling me all about the magical world, so I didn't have to come here completely clueless about everything."
Potter looks like he doesn't trust whatever it was Severus had told Lily, so she sniffs and says, "C'mon Sev, lets go find another compartment."
"Bye, Red! Snivellus." Lily sniffs again, and slams the compartment door behind her.
Lily turns to Severus and rolls her eyes. "Snivellus, really. Must've taken him the whole morning to come up with that one."
Severus chuckles. "Oh, but what about Red? Stroke of genius, that one."
Lily and Severus laugh as they walk down the corridor. Not too far away, they find another compartment with some first year girls in it, and a pudgy little blond boy.
Lily slides the door open. "Hi, do you mind if we join you?" They all smile, and a brown haired girl nods. Lily leads Severus into the compartment, and they sit next to each other across from the girls and next to the boy.
"I'm Lily Evans, and this is Severus Snape," Lily starts. The brunette looks a bit like she'd like to say something against Severus; she seems rather invested in her appearance, and Severus' hair is truly appallingly greasy, but Lily knows it's just difficult to get it clean. All the same, the brunette introduces herself as Mary MacDonald, the blond boy introduces himself as Peter Pettigrew, and the other girl, who is blond and looks like a bit of a tomboy introduces herself as Marlene McKinnon.
They talk idly about classes, mostly, or are quiet. Marlene and Mary talk quite a bit; they've known each other for years, apparently.
Lily's mother packed a bit of lunch for herself and Severus, but when the trolley comes around she buys some sweets from the kind woman pushing it. She'd never heard of Chocolate Frogs or Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans or anything else there, really, but she must start somewhere, so she shares some Every Flavor Beans with Severus, and after almost losing a Chocolate Frog, she finds a Merlin card inside the package. She isn't startled to see Merlin leave the frame, Severus told her the subjects of magical pictures don't stay put.
It doesn't take long before the train pulls in at the station, and everyone clusters around the doors as the students push out onto the platform. There's an alarmingly large man yelling for the first years to follow him, so Lily, Severus, and their travelling companions make their way towards him. He leads them down to a small fleet of rowboats, and instructs them to climb in, four people in each boat.
Lily finds an empty boat, climbs in, and turns to find that it's not Severus following her in, but Potter, Black, and a kind, though tired and sickly looking boy. Potter and Black look like they were intending to end up in her boat. The other boy looks like he was just tagging along. Lily had already decided she didn't like that James Potter, and what's more, they were blocking her best friend from riding with her to the castle. She spots Severus, scowling at the boys, and frowns in a way she hopes conveys her discomfort, and her apology. Severus climbs into the next boat.
The boats start to move, and the light buzzing coming from the other boats tells her there are lots of voices speaking at once.
Potter turns to her, and she feels even more uncomfortable. "Lily," he must feel like he's got something important to say, if he's using her name. He doesn't want her to get mad at him. "What has Snivellus told you about Voldemort and his followers?"
"First of all, it's Severus Snape. Don't call him Snivellus," he may have tried with Lily, but she supposes he just can't bring himself to extend kindness to someone he so obviously looks down upon. "Second, he's a bad wizard, so bad that people are actually afraid to say his name. Which is ridiculous of course. But he wouldn't tell me what he did. Said I didn't need to worry about it," Severus had told her he didn't have too many followers, and they'd probably catch him, so he wasn't worth worrying about. "Why?"
"You of all people need to worry about it. Voldemort and most of his followers were in Slytherin, just like your pal wants to be. And Voldemort is a Pureblood supremacist. He and his followers think muggles are worth less than wizards, and that muggleborns shouldn't be part of the wizarding world, that they shouldn't even be accepted at Hogwarts."
Lily thought hard about this. Even if the Ministry of Magic was likely to catch Voldemort soon, if he was doing something that could endanger Lily or her parents, or even just keep her out of Hogwarts, isn't it something she should know about? She could be a potential target! Potter seemed like he was telling the truth, but why wouldn't Severus tell her? Finally, she opened her mouth. "Thank you for telling me, Potter."
He nodded, and they said nothing for the rest of the trip to the castle. Lily had some thinking to do.
When the boats arrived at the shore of the lake, they walked to the front doors of the castle, and Hagrid knocked on the door. A beautiful woman wearing emerald robes with a matching hat, her hair in a tight bun, opened the doors.
"I am Professor Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School, and Head of Gryffindor House. Please follow me." No student in their right mind would refuse to do something she asked, but Lily found herself thinking she admired this woman, and would be very pleased with herself if she grew to be half the woman Professor McGonagall was.
She shepherded the students into a room off the Great Hall, and said, "In a few moments, I will lead you into the Great Hall, where you will be sorted into your Houses. There are four Houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. They all have a rich and noble history, and you should be proud to represent any of them. While at school," she continued, "your House will be like your family. You will receive points for good behavior, and lose them for any rule breaking. The House with the most points at the end of the year will win the House Cup Tournament. I need to go and watch for the Headmaster to summon us. Stay here, and I'll return in a moment."
Severus had appeared next to Lily after they disembarked from the boats. Lily took this moment as her chance to tell Severus what Potter had told her on their trip across the lake. "Even if he is likely to be caught," she concluded, "as a muggleborn and therefore a likely target, don't you think I should know, in case he isn't?"
Severus looked uncomfortable under her glare, but she couldn't stay mad at him. He just didn't think she needed to know. She may have been glad to know what Voldemort was doing, and she may have liked for it to be Severus to explain this to her, but he couldn't have been expected to just know that she'd prefer to know this kind of thing.
When Professor McGonagall comes back, Lily begins to get truly nervous for the first time. She leads the first years into the Great Hall, and instructs them to form a line in front of the staff table. In front of them, she places an old, ugly looking wizard's hat. Everyone is staring at it. Lily wonders what it's meant to do. Then its brim opens wide, and it begins to sing. Had Lily been less nervous about the sorting, she may have remembered more of the song. It said that Gryffindors were brave, Hufflepuffs were loyal, Ravenclaws were intelligent, and Slytherins were ambitious. Lily didn't feel like any of those things applied to her right now. But soon the song is over, and the sorting began. Lily looked up when she heard Sirius Black's name. It had to deliberate quite a bit before placing him in Gryffindor. She didn't recognize anyone else until her own name was called. Slowly, and as steadily as she can manage, she approaches Professor McGonagall. She rests on the stool, and feels the hat lowered onto her head. In her mind, she hears a voice. "You're a strong one, alright," it whispers. Then it screams to the whole school: "GRYFFINDOR!"
Her? A Gryffindor? Brave? She couldn't believe it. Her legs quaked as she walked to the Gryffindor table. What did Severus think? We'll work it out, she thinks, we always do. She takes a seat next to Black, who smiles at her. "Welcome to the cool kids' table, Evans," he says. She bit back a withering retort. She'd be working closely with these people; she could at least try to get along.
"Grant, Brendan" is next to become a Gryffindor, then Mary and Marlene, the girls she'd met on the train come and sit on the other side of the table. The other boy who had sat with her, Black, and James on the boat, who she now knew to be "Lupin, Remus" joined them. Then Peter Pettigrew stumbled his way to the table, and then Potter takes the seat on her other side. She reminds herself to be nice. He warned her about Voldemort, and he will be her housemate for the next seven years. She'll have to get used to him.
Lily waits anxiously for Severus to be called. When he is, the Sorting Hat immediately yells "SLYTHERIN!" He looks over and gives Lily a small, sad smile, before walking to the Slytherin table. It's what he wanted, after all, Lily thinks. "Talbot, Leanna," comes and sits on Potter's other side, and the sorting is shortly over.
Professor Dumbledore stood, and Lily leaned forward, all too ready to hear what the man they called a crazy genius had to say. But when he speaks, he simply says, "I fear you are all too hungry to be able to pay any attention to anything I have to say, so I'll just say this: Enjoy!" At this, the golden plates all around the table fill with food. Lily takes a bit of everything; it all looks so good. When Lily couldn't possibly eat any more, the food disappeared, only to be replaced seconds later with the puddings. She may have thought she couldn't take another bite, but there was a lovely lemon pie that was just the right ratio of sour to sweet. Impossible for Lily to pass up.
Now, it was time for Dumbledore's words. He told them all that the Forest was off limits, there was a new tree called the "Whomping Willow" that they should avoid going near on the grounds, there was a new Professor, Professor Kipling, who would teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, and that their classes would begin after breakfast the following morning.
Now that they were dismissed to bed, a boy and a girl came over to the first years. They both had badges with "P" on them. This was explained quickly, as the girl introduced herself as Shelby Hopkins, and her colleague as Howard Crofton, and that they were both prefects of the seventh and sixth years, respectively. The two prefects guided them up to Gryffindor Tower, up moving staircases, through doors hidden by tapestries. The castle was beautiful, and it had so many paintings, in which all of the subjects were moving, of course.
Once they reached the end of a corridor on the seventh floor, a large woman in a pink dress in one of the paintings asked for the password. The prefects introduced her as "The Fat Lady," which Lily thought was rather rude, but as the woman said nothing of it, she supposed it was proper. They gave her the password, and the portrait swung open. Through the hole, they found a large, cozy room. The fire was popping and snapping merrily, and the chairs and couches all looked as though you'd sink right into them once you sat in them. Shelby, a sweet girl with curly black hair, led them up the girls' tower, saying that the staircase was charmed so it didn't let boys up. They reached the third floor of the tower to find a plaque reading "First Years," and inside found five beautiful four-poster beds, with all of their trunks already at their beds.
Lily could have fallen into bed right then, but as the girls changed into their pajamas, they began talking, and therefore continued talking instead of going to sleep. As Lily, Marlene, and Mary had met on the train, they had already loosely become friends, and the bond had strengthened when they were all sorted into Gryffindor. All of the first years had introduced themselves at dinner, but the girls' conversation thrived much more without the boys interrupting. Although, without realizing, their conversation was quite similar to that of the boys'. What with all the talk of Pureblood supremacy, the conversation had to turn to Blood Status.
Lily may have been a little shy when meeting new people, but she was always up for a challenge, so she spoke first. "I'm muggleborn." She stared around at the other girls, as if daring them to say anything against her presence at Hogwarts.
Fern Ashford, a girl with dark brown hair cut in a short bob and wearing horn-rimmed spectacles spoke up next. "So'm I, but my mum reckons she had an uncle that could do all this strange stuff that might've been magic, so maybe I've got some magic blood from way back." She pauses for a bit. "Then again, mum always says," she put on an airy tone "'the magic of music can make anything happen,' so she might not be the best person to listen to in this situation."
At this, the girls all burst out laughing. Fern was smiling sheepishly. When they all calmed down, Marlene spoke up. "Mary and I are both Purebloods."
"My mum's a witch, but my dad's a muggle," Leanna spoke. "I think he wanted me to be a squib, because when he met mum, she was a bit of a wild card, so he thought if I didn't have magic I'd be calmer. Mum always rolls her eyes when he brings up how crazy she was. 'That was just me, Eustace. That doesn't have anything to do with magic,' she'd say. Don't think he believed her though."
"So Lily," Mary starts, "Marlene and I wanted to ask-"
"Don't bring me into this!" Marlene cuts in. "This is all you, I don't have a problem."
"Fine," Mary sighs. "I wanted to ask. What's with that friend of yours? That Snape boy?"
Lily sighs. Why does everyone question my friendship with Sev? "Sev lives a few blocks away from me. He was the one who told me I was a witch, and told me all about Hogwarts and the Wizarding World."
"But Lil, he's in Slytherin! And you're a Muggleborn!" Mary exclaims.
Apparently I've already got a nickname. Well, at least it's not 'freak,' Lily thinks. "I know. But he's still my friend. Sev doesn't think blood status matters, he's not like Voldemort-" all the girls but Fern flinch- "and his followers."
"Really? How do you know that for sure? How do you know he isn't lying to you?" Apparently it wasn't just Mary who had the problem: it was Marlene who was bursting with the skeptical questions.
"Calm down Marlene. At least she knows about You-Know-Who and his followers." Mary soothes.
The blush begins in Lily's cheeks, but she's sure it will spread. "I don't think Sev would lie to me about what he thinks about blood status. Especially since he's a half-blood himself."
Marlene's eyebrows are scrunching together. "That's not what's making you blush, Lil. Spill."
"Well… Sev was the one who told me about Voldemort-stop flinching it's just a name!- and his followers, but he wouldn't tell me what they did, or anything. I, uh, found that out from Potter in the boats." She looked down. The mouths of the girls, even Fern and Leanna, who had now learned what they needed to to be able to participate in the conversation, were agape.
"Lily," Mary said, drawing herself up, "you cannot be friends with Snape anymore. You just can't. He didn't tell his best friend about a major thing going on in the Wizarding World that affects her more than anyone else? That's not a healthy relationship!"
Lily looked around at them with her trademark death-stare, the first time any of them would receive it, and most certainly not the last, and spoke. "Severus couldn't have been expected to know whether I'd like to know something like that, and he says the Ministry expects Voldemort to be caught soon anyway. Now I'm going to bed. Goodnight."
After Lily had drawn the curtains around her bed, the other first year girls looked around at each other with wide eyes, then followed Lily's lead.
A/N
Hello! I hope you enjoyed chapter 1. Thanks for the read, if you're super cool you'll review too.
I'm going to try and update every 2 weeks, always on Sundays, though.
Love, E.