If any other girl had been in Lily Potter's place at that moment, they might have died of excitement. The 16-year-old entered King's Cross Station flanked by two tall young men. The younger, in particular, drew attention for his resemblance to the green-eyed man who followed the trio with an arm wrapped around the waist of his red-headed wife. But Lily seemed unfazed by this impressive entourage, but then again it was considered slightly strange to idolize your own family. She left that to her parents' adoring former classmates.
She felt a hand come down on her head, ruffling her fiery hair.
"James! Get off!"
Her elder brother hastily withdrew his hand, grinning at her as she attempted to swat at him and keep the trolley under control. With mocking good humor, he tapped his scowling sister's cheek. "Can you believe it, Al? Our lovely little sister's going to be a sixth year!"
Albus laughed softly from Lily's other side, looking half-wistfully, half-smugly towards the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. "Merlin, it feels strange to not be going back this year."
"Well, little brother, you could," chuckled James. "In fact, the Auror office would be pretty relieved if you didn't turn up."
"This is coming from the seeker who was benched his whole first season for the Cannons because he was caught trying to chat up the manager's daughter."
Lily grinned affectionately up at her brothers, remembering the days when James's teasing used to upset Albus, rather than amuse him. "Well, if I have such big, strong men for brothers, why aren't they pushing my trolley?" Albus and James looked at each other skeptically, then…
"We're far too old and mature to be pushing a Hogwarts trolley…" sniffed Albus.
"It might ruin our reputations," added James. "Well, Albus doesn't have much of a rep to lose."
Albus ignored him. "But for our darling sister, we are prepared to take the risk." As one, the boys snatched the trolley out of Lily's hands and raced full pelt towards the barrier. Grinning, Lily dropped back to her parents, wedging herself between them and linking arms. Using his free hand, Harry gently tugged a strand of her hair. Lily pretended to scowl at him as her mother attempted to smooth the ruffled mass.
"What is it with our family and touching my hair?"
Harry glanced affectionately at his wife. "You have your mother's hair."
Lily faked a look of shock. "No, definitely never heard that one before. I wonder why we have the same hair…maybe because we're related?"
Her dad's luminous green eyes twinkled at her. "I'm your father, and you don't have my hair. Unless there's something your mother's been keeping from me…"
Ginny reached across Lily to cuff Harry over the head, though she couldn't help laughing. Turning back to her daughter, she added, "For some reason, he found my hair fascinating when we were dating."
"And then she cut it," sighed Harry, dramatically raising his eyes to the ceiling. "How's that for wifely affection?"
Ginny's face changed to an expression dubbed "Granny's look" by her children. Catching her eye, Harry recoiled almost instinctively. "22 years of marriage and you're accusing me of lacking affection?"
"I'm regretting it now," laughed Harry. Lily quickly slid out from between her parents in case they forgot their "no PDA in public" rule. Her disappearance seemed to bring her parents back to Earth, and they stopped grinning at each other foolishly.
"Excited for sixth year, Lily?" asked Ginny.
"I'm glad OWL's are over." Lily shuddered. "Then again, now we start preparing for NEWT's."
"Don't forget about Quidditch," interjected Harry.
As they slid through the barrier, Lily heard someone call her name. Her cousin Hugo appeared beside her, making her jump.
"I just saw Al and James nearly run into Uncle Perce with a trolley. Was it yours?"
Lily smacked her forehead. "The idiots."
"I dunno," grinned Hugo. "It was bloody funny actually. He was furious though. Thank Merlin's knickers he didn't see me laughing or I'd probably have lost my badge…except I'm not the prefect."
"Why am I always the one who gets the stick for becoming prefect? You didn't tease Rose about being Head Girl last year."
"She deserved it, didn't she?"
"Sod off," muttered Lily, though her smile didn't falter. "You know you would've got it if you hadn't helped Albus release those pixies in the Slytherin common room last year. You could always try to go for Quidditch captain, though."
"Nah, Howard's still got it, and I'm fine with that actually. I have enough of a hard time trying to keep the Bludgers away from you to think about tactics!"
"Even so, you'd be better at writing plays than Howard, or at least less biased about shooting opportunities," grumbled Lily.
"And since when have you listened to Howard's plays?" asked Hugo, quickly stifling his laughter as a booming voice called "Oi! Potter! How's your left-handed throw going?"
"Fine, Howard," called Lily as the muscular boy strode past. She set off with Hugo behind her. "Damn, I haven't practiced my left in ages. I need to ask Wood if he'll do extra practice with me."
"Didn't you practice when Damien, Oliver and Katie came to visit in the summer?" asked Hugo, steering Lily onto the train.
"Not one-on-one with just a keeper. There were so many people playing that I forgot to ask."
"I would have practiced with you."
"Hugo, you're a beater."
"Are you saying I'm not tall enough to block a few hoops?!"
Lily looked up at his slightly indignant expression. Though she was a tall girl, Hugo loomed over her.
"Hey Lily!" A blonde girl had stuck her head through the carriage doorway. "Aren't you forgetting something? Here's two very good-looking hoodlums outside who claim you forced them to take your trunk."
"Just tell them to stop being lazy and bring it in," called Lily. A few seconds later her friend fully appeared on the train, and was forced to fling herself into the nearest compartment as Lily's trunk zoomed down the corridor. James and Albus appeared, smugly holding their wands aloft. Wordlessly, Lily pointed to an empty compartment.
"Merlin, Lily, you're treating us like house elves." Lily rolled her eyes as Albus eased the trunk onto the compartment's rack with a casual flick of his wrist.
"Hello, Vanessa. How was your summer?" asked James as he turned around.
"You saw me three days ago, you prat," exclaimed Vanessa as she emerged from the next-door compartment, hastily apologizing to the terrified first years inside.
"What did you do to them Vanessa?" asked James innocently. "Do an impression of a Grim?"
"No, Potter, I was avoiding being killed by a levitating trunk," sniffed Vanessa, checking herself for damages.
"Sorry Vanessa," said Albus. "Would you have preferred us to send it through the window?" As Vanessa tried to decide whether to ignore him or not, James's eyes lit up.
"We can try that with your trunk!"
"Not unless you want a good kick up the rear," Vanessa half-snarled.
"Well, if that's the case, we'll be going," said James. Kissing Lily on the cheek, and winking at Vanessa, he hopped off the train. Albus hesitated for a moment, then Hugo nudged Lily. "I think your parents are waiting to say goodbye."
"See you at Christmas, Al." Lily hugged him and followed James off the train.
"Bye Mum, bye Dad." Lily kissed both of her parents and hugged them.
"Keep writing to us," said Ginny.
"Of course, Mum."
The train whistle sounded and Hugo pulled Lily back onto the train. They both leaned out the window as Lily's parents are brothers gathered with her aunt, uncle, and cousin Rose to wave goodbye. Vanessa appeared looking slightly flustered.
"Lily dear, don't you have a prefect's meeting to go to?"
"Right. Thanks, Vanessa. See you two later."
An hour later, Lily burst out of the prefects' carriage, her ears ringing with the Head Girl's nasal voice. Merlin, Rose had been so much better last year. She groaned as the dreaded voice floated out of the open compartment door, "And don't forget, Potter, you have to patrol the corridors in half an hour!" Lily pulled out her wand to perform the silencing charm her brothers so often used on her, but then thought better of it and stuffed the piece of wood back into her jacket pocket and continued down the train. When she got to her compartment, it was deserted. Checking the nearby compartments, she guessed that the absence of older students meant that the food cart was at the other end of the train. Pulling her jacket off, she stuck it in her trunk and plunked herself down on one of the seats. A few minutes later, a dark-skinned girl with luminous sapphire-blue eyes opened the compartment door.
"Hi Lily. Do you mind if we join you?"
Lily smiled at her fifth year friend. "Stella, considering you were living in our house a couple weeks ago, it would be hypocritical to object to you sharing a compartment with me. And if 'we' means Damien, then both of you are very welcome!"
Damien appeared behind his girlfriend. "Someone say my name?"
"Hey Wood, could I practice some left-handed shots with you sometime this week before Howard calls practices? Our darling captain seems to think I've been working on my left arm all summer."
"Sure," said Damien, sliding into the seat next to Stella.
"How's your dad enjoying retirement?" asked Lily.
"He misses playing so often, but I think he likes the rest." Damien replied, though he kept his eyes on the curl of Stella's hair that he was wrapping around his finger. "Bit of a contradiction really. Most of the time he's supposed to be resting, he's coaching me instead."
Lily chuckled. "Well, I'm going to check up on the food cart and find out where Vanessa and Hugo went." Even though it was her compartment, she was getting the feeling that she was invading Damien and Stella's privacy. Outside the compartment, she set off towards the rear of the train. She had nearly reached the door to the next carriage, when someone forcefully brushed past her, knocking her off balance.
"Wha – " Lily broke off, scowling as she recognized the boy. "Watch where you're going next time, Smith," she snarled.
The dark haired boy turned back, his lip curling in a sneer. "Oh, I was."
Lily reached into the back pocket of her jeans for her wand…and found nothing.
Frantically, she remembered putting her jacket in her trunk.
"Did you lose your wand, Potter?"
Lily opened her mouth to answer, but was saved as the carriage door opened and Vanessa appeared.
"Lily?" Vanessa looked confused, then she noticed the boy. Without even acknowledging his presence, she took Lily by the arm and pulled her away down the corridor.