I wrote this chapter really quickly in between Spanish and Algebra, so I apologize in advance for any errors. Thanks to EllieCullen19, Abby987, and TheLightUnderMyWings for reviews and favorites, you're the BEST!
Chapter 2:
Lilly made her way down the aisle, looking for a place to sit. She paused at Al's compartment, but moved on at the glare she received from Rose. How Al could put up with her, she didn't know. So, she continued on like this till she reached the last compartment on the train, and by that point she was desperate. She made up her mind to sit there no matter who was there as well. She pushed open the door to find three girls, and from their nervous glances and minimal conversation, they were first years as well. Lilly nodded to the girls and they nodded back, so Lilly sat. After several long, boring minutes, Lilly decided to make some conversation.
"So," she began "what are your names?"
Two of the girls faces brightened, but the last ones, a pale girl with dark hair and a faintly pug-like nose, face clouded and she looked rather let down, as if she new it would come to this and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
"Pamella Zabini." She answered glumly.
The other girl's eyes were immediately wary, but not Lilly. She could see how tired Pamella was of the ridicule, the snotty comments and cruel rumors that no doubt flew about her and her family, and suddenly she thought that she, as Harry Potter's daughter, had gotten the better deal. At least they all loved her, instead of hated her and her family. So she decided to treat Pamella as her.
"Well it's nice to meet you." She answered.
Pamella's head shot up in surprise from were it had been hanging, and she stared at Lilly in awe, completely dumbfounded. The other girls stared to, wondering how Lilly could be so excepting toward the daughter of the girl who tried to turn her father over to Voldemort. They just shook their heads when Lilly turned to them, and started whispering to each other. Lilly just shrugged. Turning to Pamella she tried to strike up a conversation.
"So Pamella," she started, but was interrupted by the girl herself.
" Um, just Ella please," she said "I really have no idea what my mom was thinking when she named me, or what my dad was thinking when he let her."
Lilly laughed, and Ella smiled hesitantly, still on guard for a smack down. Lilly sighed.
"Ella," she started "I don't care who your parents are, or whatever they did. I'm talking to you, and your pretty nice so far, and that's really all that matters. I don't judge people on their parents, I mean, look at mine."
Ella's face, which was becoming brighter and brighter with every word out of Lilly's mouth, burst into a wide grin as she finish. She immediately started talking about everything under the sun, and it occurred to Lilly that she might have made this girl's day just a little happier, a little less nerve racking, because she had a friend to go through it with. And now she did to.
There was a sudden clattering and both girls jumped up as the trolley came into view outside their compartment door. They slid open the compartment door and attacked the food. Ella got her share and went back in, but Lily kept looking. She was trying to find the licorice snaps, which no one seemed to like but her, and yet they were still on the trolley she had heard. She found them in a small jar in the very bottom. She scooped a handful into a paper bag and paid, but as she turned to head back into her compartment, she ran into something very solid. She lost her balance and fell, licorice snaps flying, onto her butt. She sighed and looked up to see a very tall boy with white blond hair, holding out a hand and trying to keep from laughing. He failed miserably, but Lilly let it go, as she would probably do the same.
She accepted his hand and he hauled her to her feet. After she was stable on the rocking train, he spoke.
"I'm sorry, a was focused on the candy. What's your name?"
Lily looked up in surprise. It wasn't every day that someone asked her name, most people already knew it. Then she realized why. She knew who he was, and he knew she did, but he was trying to be different, to let her be herself and not her parents, and hoping in turn she would let him do the same. Her face broke in to a grin, and she stuck out her hand and replied.
"Lily Potter, and you are?"
Smiling as well, he shook her hand and answered
"Scorpius Malfoy, nice to meet you."
Somewhere in there, they came to an unspoken agreement, I won't judge you on your parents if you don't judge me on mine, and that worked for both of them. With that Lilly turned and headed back into her compartment, and spent the next 2 hours of the ride laughing with Ella. But as they got closer and closer to Hogwarts, the growing swarm of butterflies in their stomachs grew larger and larger, they talked less and less, until their arrival was met by stony silence in the compartment.
They were instructed to leave their bags on the train, so they left the compartment empty handed. It was as silent as a funeral procession as they filed into the boats and set off across the lake. There was a multitude of
"Ooooh"s and
"Ahhhhh"s as they turned the bend was met with the towering castle, rising steeply above them, light shining through the hundreds of windows in the walls. The next 10 minutes passed in a blur as they listened to Professor McGonagall explain the houses and points. Before they knew it they were standing in the Great Hall, the patched, old, and tattered hat sitting on the stool after just finishing it's song, Professor McGonagall unfurled the rather long list and began
" Abram, Sarah."
A short girl with equally short hair stumbled up to the stool, fumbled for a second, and then placed the Hat on her head. Silence reined in the Great Hall as the hat deliberated for a minute, then called out in a booming voice
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
It continued this way, with Lily zoning out around the d's, until McGonagall called,
"Potter, Lily."
The hall went deathly silent, and any whispered conversations going on instantly ceased. Even with two of them already sorted, it was still a big deal when that name was called. Lilly fisted her hands, determined not to show how hard they were shaking, and walked slowly and deliberately up to the stool. She stared at the back wall until the hat dropped over her head.
"Hmmm," Lily heard a voice murmur in her ear, "not like the rest, are you?"
"Not particularly." She answered.
"You're brave, yes, but not Gryffindor brave. And you are smart, of course, but not Ravenclaw smart. Your definitely not a Hufflepuff, you've lied to many times, so I think the best house for you would be…"
Lilly knew what was coming before it came.
"SLYTHERIN!"
Now the Great Hall was really silent.
