A/N: My apologies for not updating this story for counts 1 whole year, but after that first chapter, I kinda lost my next 2 chapters when my computer got a freaking virus and I had to reformat it. I got so pissed I didn't want to continue the story any longer but what the hey, inspiration struck me and here's your chapter 2:D
DISCLAIMER: James is not mine. (Shucks) Remus is not mine. (Darnit.) Sirius is not mine. (Double shucks and darnit.) Peter is not mine. (Oh thank the Heavens and Hells.) Basically, Harry Potter and all the rest don't belong to me. You get the picture.

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"Bye mum, dad, sis, I'll miss you!" Lily Evans hugged her family goodbye tearfully. She looked at her sister. Petunia shrugged, "I still can't believe this isn't a big crappy joke but whatever, enjoy yourself there." Lily gave her sister a huge hug before pulling back and after promising to write back, ran through the wall like all the others she had seen.
She emerged onto a platform with a huge sign reading "Platform 9 ¾". Yea, this probably was the right place. Dragging her suitcase along with her, she walked towards the huge train tentatively, weaving in and out of the throngs of people. Her eyes filled up again when she saw a pretty, young mother hug her daughter goodbye. She looked back at the wall, hoping, just hoping that she could catch another glimpse of her family but she knew it was impossible.

"Hello, do you need a little help? You look lost." A cheerful voice to her right asked. Lily turned to see a girl with golden locks tumbling past her shoulders and sparkling violet eyes. Her flawless face had a friendly smile stretched across it as she looked at Lily expectantly. Lily nodded in relief, glad that someone had finally noticed how lost she looked (and felt).
"C'mon, the first thing to do is to find a carriage to sit in. I'm Joy Sterling by the way," the girl took Lily's hand with one hand and clutched her own baggage with the other. "Look, there's one!" They made their way towards it eagerly, only to find that it was occupied. A girl with wild black curls pulled back into a ponytail and enchanting blue eyes was sitting opposite another girl with hair like a flowing river of honey and obsidian eyes. They were chatting and playing cards, but with an air as though they barely knew each other. Catching sight of Lily and Joy about to leave the carriage, the black haired girl called out, "Hey, we can always share this carriage! We don't bite." She grinned at the other occupant in the carriage. The girl nodded in agreement and scooted over so that Joy could sit down.
Gratefully, the other two girls stuffed their luggage into the compartments overhead and sat down. The black haired girl broke the uncomfortable silence with an enthusiastic,

"What're your names?"

"I'm Lily Evans, and that's Joy Sterling," Lily began shyly. "Are we really going to a school to learn magic?"

"Oh! You must be a muggle-born!" The black haired girl laughed. "I'm Carlotta Vander, she's Dawn Steep. I think we're all first years."

Seeing Lily's confused look, Dawn explained, "Muggle means witches or wizards whose parents are neither witches nor wizards. They, well, can't do magic."

"But since you've been accepted to Hogwarts, it must mean that you have magic. These kinda things aren't rare, y'know. So you don't have to worry." Joy added, grinning at Lily. The four girls lapsed into silence again. Once again, Carlotta piped up, "Anyone wanna play Exploding Snap?"

"Huh? Wha…?" Lily stammered, sure she had heard wrongly. The other girls chuckled before hastening to explain to her the rules of the game. Soon, they were playing away like old friends, with squeals and giggles emitting from the carriage they were in.

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Remus was so absorbed in his book that he didn't notice a small-sized boy with brown hair and beady black eyes enter the carriage he was in. The small boy cleared his throat and said softly, "Hello, would you mind if… would you mind if I shared the carriage with you?" He got no response from the other sandy haired occupant. Trying again, he spoke louder, "EXCUSE ME!"

Remus jumped up from his seat in shock and dropped his book. "Dang!" He bent down to pick it up. Great, now he'd lost his page. Looking up, he met the worried eyes of his 'intruder'. Seeing Remus's confused look, the other boy repeated himself. Smiling, Remus gestured to the opposite seat, "Go ahead. I'm alone anyway. Sorry I was so spaced out just now. This is a really good book. I'm Remus Lupin. You are?"

"I'm Peter Pettigrew," the boy squeaked, settling himself into the opposite seat. "I'm alone too." They laughed together before lapsing back into silence. They sat like this for quite awhile.

Outside their carriage while they had been introducing themselves, two dashing young boys were glaring at each other, their black hair tousled. The one with glasses snapped, "Well if you hadn't been in my way, I wouldn't have banged into you, would I?"

"Look who's talking! You were the one who was in my way!" The other boy retorted angrily, his grey eyes flashing. They squared off, ignoring their scattered baggage. Hearing the din outside, Remus and Peter stuck their heads outside to take a look, only to result in narrowly missing flying fists. Remus peeked at the two fighting outside worriedly, the train was about to leave soon.

"Hey, erm, if you guys don't mind, you can share the room with me and Peter here." He shouted above the din they were making. They turned to stare at him then glance at each other. "Er… the train's going to leave soon you see. You'd fall over if you continue standing there." At this, the boys, immediately grabbed their things and entered the carriage.

"Eh, look, I'm sorry 'bout what happened just now. I admit it's my fault for not watching where I was going." The boy with the specs stuck out his hand uncertainly. "I'm James Potter."

"Apology accepted, though I think I was at fault too," the other boy shook his hand warmly. "I'm Sirius Black."

At this, James froze. His voice turned cold as he sneered, "A Black huh? One of those muggle-hating families."

"Look here, just because I was born into this stupid family doesn't mean I don't have a mind of my own okay! I have absolutely nothing against muggles and that should be the first thing you know!" Sirius snapped, his anger getting the better of him as he strode out of the carriage and slammed the door shut. In a minute's time, he returned, shouting, "And I'll have you know that I simply hate this family!"

The other three boys stared at the window pane which had cracked under the impact of his slam. Remus turned to James, a reproaching look on his face, "James, that was really horrible of you. It wasn't his fault that he was born into the Black family. There're things I wish I could change about myself too (A/N: You should know what I mean.) I think he was really nice and if he was a well and true Black he wouldn't have bothered giving you such a sincere apology earlier on. And…"

"Hold it, Professor. I get your point. What's your name again?"

"Remus Lupin."

"Alright, Professor Lupin." James nodded to the sandy-haired boy sitting next to him. He sat in brooding silence for a few minutes before getting up and walking out of the carriage, slamming the door as he went. He left Remus and Peter staring dejectedly at another long crack which had appeared on the window pane.

"Hey, Sirius," James mumbled, noticing him in an empty carriage. "I'm honestly and truly sorry for what I said just now and I take back every single word. I shouldn't have judged you so quickly and even if you get sorted into Slytherin or something, I still think you're pretty nice for a Black."

"Glad you got that into your brain, bud'," Sirius grinned, the anger in his grey eyes dissipating as his new friend offered yet another apology. "Buddies?"

"Buddies. By the way, Remus back there sure has a way with words."

"Remus?"

"Ah, the guy who was reading."

"Oh, right." Their voices faded as they made their way back to the carriage.

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Thousands of kids poured out of the carriages, the first years staring in awe at the silent black lake before them. Lily was standing with her new friends, clutching a half eaten chocolate frog in her hand. The others had urged her to buy Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and a couple of chocolate frogs when the tray lady went past, insisting that those were the best candy you could ever have.

"That lake is big!" Joy commented, sidling closer to Lily. "I wonder how we're going to cross it." Lily nodded in agreement.

"Over 'ere kids! First 'ears follow me!" A loud voice boomed out. Lily nearly fainted at the sight of the huge man with his wild mane of black curls and his huge bushy black beard.

"I'm 'agrid, kids. Glad to meet all of you."

"I hear that there's a huge squid living under the waters, ready to snatch any one of us anytime," a voice whispered into Lily's ears. The pretty red-head turned to see a rather good-looking boy with grey-blue eyes and messy black hair sniggering away. She rolled her eyes at his childishness and turned back to her friends.

Back with the guys, James was telling them about how his father had used to taunt the giant squid, hoping that it would appear just so he could look at it. Remus laughed, "But I thought it was all a rumor?"

"No, it's not! My grandmother said she'd seen it in her days as a student." Peter piped up, gazing at the others in earnest. Sirius shrugged. He didn't really care about giant squids, not when he was finally joining his favourite cousin in the renowned Hogwarts.

It took less than an hour for all the students to be sent warm and safe to the great hall where the first years were led to a separate table. Spying a tattered grey hat upon a stool on the stage, Carlotta leaned towards Dawn and whispered, "Is that the sorting hat?"

Receiving a nod in response, she grimaced, unsure as to whether or not she wanted an old old hat to be placed upon her head. Her train of thoughts was broken when Lily asked a question.

"What are we being sorted for?"

The other three girls took it upon themselves to tell her all about the different houses.

"There're four houses in Hogwarts, each named after one of the founding fathers (and mothers) of Hogwarts. The first house is Gryffindor, whose signature colors are scarlet and gold. The house emblematic animal is the lion and usually the students who enter it are courageous, chivalrous and bold. The house which is usually against it is Slytherin…"

"Slytherin's evil, enough said. Move on" Carlotta sang, much to the displeasure of Dawn who was in the midst of her explanation.

"As Dawn was saying, Slytherin's signature colors are silver and green and its emblematic animal is the serpent. It values ambition, cunning and resourcefulness. Although this may sound a little biased but most Slytherins usually turn out… um, bad." Joy continued.

"It's not being biased! It's true!" Carlotta cut in again, amusing Lily.

"So the next house is Hufflepuff, with the colors yellow and black and the badger for its emblematic animal. It is the most… giving house I'd put it because it values all the good qualities like hard work, loyalty, determination, patience, friendship and fairness. The last house is Ravenclaw. Its emblematic animal is the eagle and its colors are blue and bronze. It takes in students who are intelligent, knowledgeable and witty. Yea, that's about it." Dawn finished off without any interruptions from Carlotta this time.

Lily nodded in understanding as her friends explained everything to her. Turning her eyes to the stage, the sorting began…

A/N: I hoped you liked that. I can't get this screwed up website to spread my paragraphs! I promise I'll figure it out by the next chapter so you don't strain your eyes. Sorry!