Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling, not me
A/N: The spell 'Ollectcay' is own of my own. Ollectcay is the latin word for 'collect'.
Lily sat silently, looking out of the backseat window of her father's car. Trees passed by, appearing as a blotched green blur in the midst of the early sunlight that settled in the sky. Every once in a while Lily would sigh into the silence and her sister, Petunia, would glare at her venomously. The girls' parents were sitting in the front seats, Lily's father driving and her mother reading a book.
"Petunia, darling. Stop glaring at your sister in such a way, it's very unbecoming on suck a pretty face." Lily's mother said, closing her book with a soft snap. "If your father and I are to pay for you to attend such an expensive boarding school, I expect you to behave like a lady."
Lily muffled a laugh with the sleeve of her shirt. The fact was that Petunia simply was not what one would call a 'lady'. The young girl did not have Lily's beautiful fiery, red hair, but instead inherited a mop of thin, dark brown locks that seemed to plaster to her face. Petunia's facial structure was also abnormally elongated, almost like a horse, and her neck was twice the size that a normal neck should be. And while Mrs. Evans constantly dressed Petunia in the finest clothing money could buy, the luxurious dresses and shoes could not possibly make up for the girl's clear lack of beauty. Besides, even if Lily's older sister was pretty, her personality was dry enough to put even the most boring person to sleep as soon as she opened her mouth.
Lily returned to staring out the window in earnest, ignoring the sounds of her mother talking to Petunia. It was only a matter of time before Lily felt the car beginning to slow to a stop. Lily's father grunted, turned the engine off, and cleared his throat rather loudly. She took the hint, and opened the side door of the car, stepping out onto the pavement of King's Cross Station. Lily walked around to the back of the car, hoisted the door open, and gave her heavy trunk a tug.
Not surprisingly, the suitcase didn't budge, having been filled with all of Lily's school supplies. The week before she had met three young wizards who had taken her to buy all of her school books, quills, and a wand. Lily hoped she would see them again on the train; besides Sirius, James, and Remus, she had no friends. Lily pulled once again on the trunk, but it was just too big to handle by herself. It was, in fact, filled to the brim with twice as many books as the supply list had asked for. Lily had spent the remaining week of summer reading and memorizing as many spells as she could. James, Remus, and Sirius were all so knowledgeable when it came to magic, and Lily didn't want to fall behind.
"Lillian, what on earth is taking so long? Hurry up and get on that train! We have other errands to run." came the voice of Lily's mother.
She sighed, brushing the sweat that was forming on her brow. Why did she have to get stuck with parents who hardly cared about her existence? It seemed that everybody else had such loving and caring parents. Lily was positive that other kids' parents would help them with their trunks. However, instead of feeling sorry fo herself, Lily gave the trunk another rough yank; it hardly moved an inch. Instead, Lily ended up flying a few feet backward, landing straight into somebody's arms.
"Whoa, talk about angles falling from the sky."
Lily looked up into a pair of dark gray eyes that were curtained with shaggy, dark brown hair. "Sirius! Gee, I always seem to end up on top of you, don't I?"
Sirius's left eyebrow rose, and it took Lily a few seconds to realize that her statement had not sounded right. Sirius started to laugh. "Sirius Black, you are eleven years old! You shouldn't be thinking like that, it's –"
"– Lillian! What on earth are you doing?" Mrs. Evans, apparently tired of waiting, stepped out of the car and was startled to see Lily in the arms of a handsome young boy. "Oh!" She put a petite hand to her mouth, than said, "Lillian, we do not have time to wait for you to act like a little tart. Get your trunk out so your father and I can take Petunia to –"
"– Yes, Mother," Lily interrupted bitterly. She carefully picked herself out of Sirius's embrace, and when her mother's back was turned, gave Sirius a look.
Sirius shook his head in response. "I think your Mum and my Mum should get together and have a Firewhiskey."
"What do you mean?" she asked, watching as Mrs. Evans slid back inside the car.
Sirius sighed, than strode forward to help his new friend with her trunk. "I don't exactly get along with my family." He grunted as the stubborn trunk finally glided out of the car. "They believe that Muggleborns--"
"Like me?"
"– are scum. I don't like it, so I usually spend as much time that I can hanging around James's place." Sirius gestured for Lily to grab the other end of the trunk; she did.
The two were silent as they walked away from Lily's car, and only spoke when the sound of tires screeching filled their ears.
"Where's Remus and James?" Lily asked, panting slightly because of the weight of the trunk.
"Oh, they're on the train already with Peter."said Sirius.
Lily frowned. She vaguely remembered Remus scolding Sirius for pushing Peter into flobberworms, but other than that she knew nothing about the boy. For a moment she found herself wondering if Peter would be as good-looking as Remus, James, and Sirius, although she stopped when she realized that she had no interest in boys. After all, she was only eleven.
"Is he the one you pushed into the bucket of flobberworms?" Lily asked, adjusting her hold on the trunk.
Sirius snorted, causing a group of elderly ladies to stare at him as if he had an arm protruding from his forehead. "Well, yeah. But you don't know Pete, if you did you'd understand why. I mean, he's such an easy target and for some unknown reason he doesn't mind the pranks at all."
The two continued their playful banter until they reached platform nine. Lily snuck a hand into the pocket of her brown pants and pulled out her ticket. She stared at it for a moment until Sirius coughed loudly.
"Uh, Lily? What in Merlin's name are you doing?" he asked, all the while rocking on the heels of his feet.
Lily glanced up at platform nine, then craned her neck to view platform ten. However, there seemed to be no platform nine and three quarters between the two. "Sirius, where's the platform? I can't – "
"– Relax, I'll show you." He guided Lily and the trunk to a brick wall that stood in the center of the platforms nine and ten. "Ok, so all you have to do is," Sirius paused, making sure there were no muggles within hearing proximity, "go through the wall."
Lily stared at him for a moment, mouth agape. "I have to do what?" she asked, almost dropping her end of the trunk.
Sirius sighed then beckoned her to follow him closer to the barrier. "It won't hurt, Lily. It just feels like . . . like you're running through air."
When Lily's expression hadn't changed, Sirius once again made sure there was no passerby that were watching the two eleven year-olds. "Just watch, m'kay?" He then proceeded to press his free hand against the brick wall, except as soon as his palm touched the barrier, his arm went straight through.
Lily's eyes widened, and she automatically turned, checking that nobody was looking. "Sirius, what on earth . . .? Does . . . it doesn't hurt?" she asked finally.
Sirius made a show of pulling his hand out until just his fingertips remained behind the barrier, and then plunged it back in up to his elbow. "Nope," he stated. Then he removed his arm completely. "C'mon, we'll go together." Sirius said.
Lily took a deep breath. "Okay, but on the count of three."
"One," Sirius whispered.
"Two," Lily said shakily.
"Three!!"
The two ran into the wall, Sirius stifling laughter and Lily holding her eyes shut. But when her body didn't collide with the bricks, she opened them to see an huge, scarlet train with witches and wizards scattered amongst it.
Sirius grinned at Lily's shocked expression. "Magic is neat, huh?"
Lily nodded, eyeing the multi-colored cats and owls that were gliding around the platform while children and young adults said goodbye to their families. Some students were hanging outside of compartment windows, and others were standing alone, eagerly trying to find their friends.
"So . . . What happens now?" Lily asked, watching as a boy chased an orange cat around a sign that read 'Platform Nine and Three Quarters'.
Sirius did a one-shouldered shrug. "Well, we take this boulder of a trunk up to the compartment that James and I saved earlier."
He then led Lily in a zig-zag around the students until they reached one of the many doors of the train. The two hoisted the heavy trunk up a few steps until they were facing a long corridor with sliding compartment doors on each side.
"Thirty-nine, forty, forty-one . . . ah! Here we go, compartment forty-three." Sirius nodded his head to a sliding glass door. Behind it sat three boys who seemed to be building a card castle. Lily was just about to slide open the door when Sirius stopped her. "Watch out for the dungbomb you're about to step on," he warned.
Lily looked down to see a bright orange bomb that seemed to be giving off a putrid odor. "A dung-what?" she asked, stepping over the foul bomb.
"Dungbomb." Sirius said simply. "A bomb that smells really bad. I mean, it's called a dungbomb. Somebody must have dropped it."
Sirus eyed the dungbomb for a moment, and then, without hesitation, he kicked the bomb and Lily watched as it splattered against the door of a compartment two doors down. A burst of laughter was heard from passing students and the disgusting door slid open to reveal a girl with dark black hair and a pale face who looked to be the thirteen. She glared around the hall, then spotted Sirius who was laughing the hardest. "Think that's funny, do you, little cousin?" she challenged, striding forward. Sirius just blinked.
"Yeah, actually. I kind of do. And besides, you're only two years older than me." The hall once again filled with sniggering and a few more compartment doors slid open, including the one that held James, Remus, and Sirius.
"Well it's not! You can go throwing your dungbombs at Dumbledore for all I care, but don't you dare throw them at my compartment! And if you decide you want to again, you'll just find yourself being hexed!" the girl nearly shouted.
James stepped forward. "Who shoved your broomstick up where the sun don't shine, Bellatrix?" he spat.
Sirius laughed and was joined by quite a few other students. The girl rolled her eyes and pulled out her wand. "Why don't you just –"
"– Shut up!!" Lily shouted, dropping her end of her trunk and moving to stand between Sirius and the girl. "Why don't you just cast 'scourgify' instead of acting like . . ."
The girl gave Lily a stare. "And your name is?" she asked snobbishly.
Lily quieted a considerable amount before answering, "Lily Evans."
Bellatrix frowned, her eyes flashing. "Evans . . . Doesn't sound like a pureblood family name, you mudblood."
While Lily stood confused, Sirius, James, Remus, and even Peter and the majority of watching students started to yell and threaten Bellatrix. Lily still stood, staring into Bellatrix's evil ridden eyes. What was a mudblood? Before Lily could ask her question, a loud voice rang throughout the corridor.
"Alright, break it up! Break it up, NOW! Prefect, coming through!!"
Bellatrix glared at the tall blond girl who was striding through, pushing people back into their seats. "You'd better get sorted into Slytherin, little cousin. Because if you're not, I swear on Slytherin's locket that your life will be a living hell." With that she turned on her heel, scourgified the dungbomb splatter off her compartment, and proceeded to slam the glass door shut.
"That's right, get back in there, Black!" Screeched the blonde girl. Lily noticed she was wearing her robes already and that there was a shiny silver badge that read 'prefect' sitting next to a scarlet and gold patch with a lion on it. The blonde girl turned to Lily and the rest of the gang. When she spotted James, she smiled. "Hello, James. It was high time you showed up on this train, yeah?"
James smiled, striding forward to shake her hand. "Long time no see, Marian. It's been, what, four months?" he asked, releasing her hand.
Marian shook her head. "No, five. At your parents' annual Christmas Bash." She looked over at the small group behind James. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?"
"Oh!" Lily thought for a moment that James had blushed, but as soon as she glanced back she was sure she was mistaken. "This is Remus," James said, patting his friend's shoulder. "He was supposed to be at the Christmas party but his mother got sick so he couldn't make it. And this is Peter, he was at the party, but I don't think you two met. And of course, Sirius, who I'm sure you remember."
Sirius waggled his eyebrows at Marian who smirked and flicked him between his eyebrows. "How can I forget?" she exclaimed, her gaze turning to Lily. "And this is?"
James grinned. "Lily." he said.
"Ah, well nice to meet you all. I'm Marian Jones, fifth year, and Gryffindor." She smiled, her hand self consciously moving to straighten her prefect badge. "And prefect," she added. "James's and my families have been friends for a long time."
The introduction was cut off as the train gave a jolt and started to move. Peter and Remus clung to the door, James stumbled backwards into Sirius, and Lily fell sideways into her trunk. Marian, however, was standing, perfectly fine and stifling her laughter. "It's okay,"she managed to get out as the fallen first years stood, rubbing where they's been hurt. "You get used to it after a while."
"Let's hope so," moaned Lily, the left side of her face was a flaming red. Sirius nodded, glaring playfully at James for accidentally lodging his elbow into his rib cage.
"Well, now that it's eleven o'clock, I'd better head for the prefects' compartment. It was nice seeing you, James!" With that, Marian was heading down the hall, every once in a while stooping to pick up another dungbomb or fanged frisbee.
"Are you okay, Lily?" asked Remus, helping her bring her trunk inside the card-littered compartment.
Lily touched her cheek gingerly, then checking her fingers for blood. "I think so. I didn't hit the trunk that hard, but I wouldn't be surprised if it bruised, the way it's stinging."
James sat next to Lily, and moved forward to check out her cheek. Lily couldn't help but think that James had beautiful eyes. "Nah, it looks ok. I've gotten way worse injuries flying."
Lily nodded and watched Remus and Sirius heaving her trunk into the luggage rack before turning he gaze on Peter. "Oh, hello. I'm Lily Evans as you've probably heard." she said, holding out her hand.
"Peter Pettigrew," the boy said in a squeaky voice. He was probably a good inch shorter than Lily and was a little on the plump side. Peter sported thin blonde hair and watery sky-blue eyes. "But you can call me Pete," he added.
"Nice to meet you, Pete." Lily then stretched and pulled her knees towards her chest. "Well, how long is the train ride?" she asked.
Sirius frowned, sitting in the seat across from James while Remus sat in the one adjacent from Lily. "I dunno, but I've heard we get to the school around dinner time." he replied.
"And we do what for, say six hours?" Lily pressed, wrapping her arms around her knees. "Just sit here solemnly?" she asked sarcastically.
James made an 'mmph' sound, and gestured at the cards that covered the compartment floor. "We can play exploding snap."
Lily turned to look at James with a raised eyebrow. "What's that? I saw you guys building a card house earlier. Does it explode, or something?" she asked.
"Sort of," said Remus. "You split the deck of cards between the players. Erm, we should gather the cards."
The first years looked around the room. The cards were everywhere, even a few lodged between the seat cushions or behind trunks in the luggage rack. Then Lily had an idea. "Can anybody let me borrow their wand? Mine's in my trunk." she said.
Peter handed his wand mutely to Lily. She took it and then, picking up a card, pointed the want at it and clearly said, "Ollectcay!"
The boys watched in awe as all the cards flew from different angles in the room and collected in a neat pile in Lily's hands. She handed them to Remus. "Now what?" she asked.
"Wait!" Sirius nearly yelled. "How did you . . . What I mean to say is . . ."
"You're a muggleborn, how did you do that spell?" asked James, covering for Sirius.
Lily shrugged. "I read the set books. Memorized a few spells. I was going to look up a book on Hogwarts, but the bookshop seemed to have run out." she said as if it wasn't a big deal. When the compartment remained silent, Lily nodded at Remus. "Exploding snap?"
Remus cleared his throat. "Oh, um . . . Yeah. So, we split up the cards . . ." He proceeded to spilt up the deck into five piles.
"Got another spell for this, Lily?" joked Sirius.
Lily smiled. "Probably. But I only memorized the first year spells. Didn't you guys?"
James laughed heartily along with Sirius. "No." James answered simply.
"Okay!" exclaimed Remus. He handed the piles to his friends. "Now, a person starts the castle, so I'll go first." Remus took the top two cards from his pile and leaned them against each other on a trunk that was being used as a temporary table. As soon as the cards formed their little tent, they turned a very light shade of green. "Green means you're safe, orange means you should be careful, and purple means you should play faster because the cards are about to explode any second." Remus finished.
Lily thought for a moment, then asked, "So the object of the game is to not be the one to have the castle explode during their turn?"
"Basically. It's supposed to be really fast. The faster you steady your cards, the less likely they will turn orange or purple." explained Sirius.
"Right . . . So now it's Peter's turn?" asked Lily.
"Yeah," said Peter, already balancing his cards next to Remus's. "Now it's your turn, Lily. You got an easy round. You can build another tent next to mine and Remus's or place a card on top."
As Lily got the hang of it, the game started to speed by, and the cards turned orange and than purple. Hands became a blur as the group tried to balance their cards onto the growing castle until suddenly: it exploded in a flurry of cards in James's grinning face. They played a few more games and Lily had just lost one when there was a sharp rapping on the compartment door.
Peter stood and slid it open to reveal a petit woman behind a cart loaded with what looked like sweets. "Anything from the trolley?" the woman asked tiredly. Lily wondered how many times the woman had said those exact words in the past hour.
"Alright!" exclaimed James, jumping up from his seat and sauntering over to the cart. Sirius, Remus, and Peter eagerly followed. Lily stayed in her seat, watching in amusement as her friends ordered their food.
What surprised her was the fact that none of the candy names seemed familiar. Lily heard words such as 'Pumpkin Pasties', 'Drooble's Best Blowing Gum', and much more. It was only when James called her name that she was startled out of her thoughts.
"Lily?! Don't you want anything?" he asked, arms filled with sweets. Sirius, Peter, and Remus looked up from the cart as well.
Lily colored and suddenly found a singed exploding snap card very interesting. "I, erm . . . My parents didn't give me any money." she said quikley.
James tossed Lily's comment aside. "Well that's okay, you can just have some of ours." he said, carrying his stash of food to his seat.
The minutes that followed involved the boys sharing their candies with Lily. Sirius gave her something called a Licorice wand which was surprisingly very similar to muggle licorice. Peter let her have a piece of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum. There was soon lurid pink bubbles floating around the compartment that refused to pop for the next two hours. And then a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans was passed around. Lily nearly gaged when her bean turned out to be foot flavored. Sirius always seemed to get the good flavored ones until James shoved a booger flavored bean down Sirius's throat. Most of the sweets were gone by the time the group reached a candy called Chocolate Frogs.
"Oh my gosh!" Lily screamed, dropping the chocolate frog box to the floor. "It's . . . it's alive!"
The boys burst out laughing. Peter knelt down to retrieve the frog before it ran into the sliding glass door and James grabbed the fallen Chocolate Frog card. "They're supposed to move, Lily, both the forgs and the people on the cards," laughed Sirius. "It's magic!"
"Don't worry, though. The great thing about Chocolate Frogs are the cards!" Remus said. "We all have a collection going, and you can join in on it too."
Lily smiled, grabbing a frog from the small mountain in James's lap. She opened the package and was ready for the frog's jump this time. Grasping one of it's tiny arms, she brought it to her mouth and bit of the head. "Mmm, caramel and nuts." she said around the food. Then she glanced down at the card which bore the name Circe.
Peter leaned over to see her card. "Oh, we have around nine of her."
"Yeah," agreed Sirius. "Quite annoying when you're trying to sleep. She'll talk about all the times she turned people into beasts."
Lily smiled, then popped the rest of the frog into her mouth, chewing happily. "What time is it?" she asked when she had swallowed.
Remus leaned over to look out the window. "We're probably almost there. It's gotten pretty dark . . . We should probably change."
The rest of the boys nodded and started to pull their trunks down but Lily had grown quiet. Change? As in strip down to your knickers? In front of four boys?
"Here, Lily." huffed James, pushing her trunk towards her. "Get out your robes."
Lily looked up to see Remus, Peter and Sirius already unbuttoning their shirts. "Uh," she gasped faintly.
"What's wrong?" Sirius asked, pulling off his shirt.
Lily chuckled, not believing that they hadn't noticed the predicament that in her opinion, was so obvious. "Well, Sirius, it comes down to this. You're a boy and I'm a girl."
"And?" asked Peter through the fabric of his shirt.
"You guys are BOYS. I'm a GIRL." Lily stated slowly and clearly. She then glanced around and noticed James unbuckling his belt. She squealed and brought her hands up to cover her eyes. The compartment was silent until finally there was a few 'oh yeah's' and 'huh's' from the boys.
"Uh, just . . . keep your eyes shut, Lily. If you want to." Remus said, laughing.
"Yeah, I'm keeping my eyes closed!" shouted Lily.
After a few minutes the rusting of clothing being shed, the squeaking of trunks being opened, and the snapping of clasps subsided. "You can open your eyes now." said James.
Lily removed her hands to reveal a blush upon her cheeks. The boys were all dressed in slacks and their robes, and were all wearing smirks as well. "Oh, shut up," snapped Lily as she kicked her trunk open and dug around until she found her robes. "If I see any of you peeking, I swear I'll hex you with one of the spells I memorized!"
Remus, James, Sirius, and Peter all kept their eyes closed, but there was a fair good amount of giggling. When Lily fastened her robes and sat down, she sighed. "You can open your eyes. And shut up, Sirius!"
The train slowed to a stop a little while later and this time the group was sitting in seats. After the driver announced to the train that they had arrived at Hogwarts and notified the students to leave their belongings on the train, Lily and the boys all stood up and left the compartment.
The weather was cold and foggy, and once she stepped off the train Lily wished she had thought to put on her cloak as well as her robes. The only noise was the bustling of students, the guidance of the prefects and Head students, and in the distance the calling of, "Firs' years over here! Firs' years this way!"
Lily followed Peter, Sirius, James, and Remus to the voice and was startled to see that the owner was at least five times taller than she was. The giant introduced himself as Hagrid, and led the first year students along a dark trail. "You'll get yer firs' look at Hogwarts soon," Hagrid said as they rounded a corner.
There was a round of gasping when the school came to sight. It was a vast castle with millions of twinkling windows and towers that stood impressively above a huge dark lake. It was a few minutes before Lily noticed the fleet of boats near the shore. "Five to a boat!" the giant shouted, and he himself took up an entire boat that was leading the way. Lily and her friends all climbed into the nearest boat, and Lily held onto the lantern.
"Wow," she said as the boats started to glide across the lake. The castle was far more bigger then she had ever imagined. "It's amazi– UH!"
A small wave had crashed up against the side of the boat, and Remus and James had to grab Lily before se fell into the icy water's depths. Sirius turned in the direction the wave came from, his wand shining light on a particular boat.
The occupants were laughing wildly, and Sirius caught bits of the conversation such as, "Dija see the mudblood's face when–," and, "What a bitc–"
"Which one of you sent that!" Sirius exclaimed dangerously. Peter turned to make sure Hagrid wasn't aware of what was happening. Luckily he was too far ahead in the fleet to notice the small dispute that was heating up.
A boy with a pale face, hooked nose, and abnormally greasy hair stopped laughing and looked into Sirius's dark grey eyes and James's hazel ones. "I did." the boy stated proudly.
"Do it again and you'll regret it." James said in a warning tone.
"Yeah, well what's it to ya?" the boy sneered. "I'm Severus Snape, born from a long series of purebloods. And you are?"
"From this point on, your worst nightmare." Sirius said flippantly.
It was at that moment that the boats reached the shore. The two groups shot daggers at each other, then began to follow Hagrid toward the castle.
"Are you okay, Lily?" asked Peter while the first years walked across a short field.
"I'm fine, though the end of my robes are wet . . . Who were those boys?" she asked, her green eyes flashing when she spotted them only a few feet behind.
Sirius sighed. "He said his name was Severus Snape. I didn't get any other names, but you shouldn't worry. We'll protect you." he said noble-ly.
The group had finally reached the entrance to Hogwarts, and Hagrid let them in. "Follo' me n' you'll meet McGonagall." he said, leading the first years into the entrance hall. There was a huge staircase and four gigantic hourglasses, each holding a different jewel.
Lily was silent, and then said, "Why are people calling me a mudblood? What is that?"
Remus, James, Peter, and Sirius were silent until Remus finally said, "It's an insult used in the wizarding world. Some people –"
"– like the Black family and obviously the Snape family." interjected James.
"– are discriminatory against some wizards by blood. A pureblood is a wizard born into an all magical family. The term mudblood is used to describe a muggleborn. Somebody like you."
"Oh." Lily said softly. "Sirius, that girl back on the train . . . Bellatrix? She's your cousin, and earlier you said your parents didn't like muggleborns either. Why aren't you like them?"
"Because my family is made up of racist looneys who care about what doesn't matter." Sirius replied bitterly.
Lily was about to question the subject even more when Hagrid stopped in front of another huge door, and in front of it, was a strict looking woman. She looked to be in her early twenties, and her eyes were hidden behind square glasses.
"Good evening," she said. "I am Professor McGonagall, your transfiguration professor. Now, behind these doors, you will be into one of the following four houses. Gryffindor, house of the brave, Ravenclaw, house of the intelligent, Hufflepuff, house of the loyal, and Slytherin, house of the cunning."
At the mention of Slytherin, Lily noticed that Severus Snape and his friends gave each other high fives and whoops. She turned to James, who was closest to her. "Slytherin isn't a good house, is it?" she whispered darkly.
"No. At least half of the wizards and witches sorted into Slytherin turn out to be dark wizards." James said, following Lily's gaze to Snape.
"The house you want to shoot for is Gryffindor." said Sirius. "They say the Headmaster Dumbledore himself was a Gryffindor. But I'll probably end up in Slytherin. Not a Black in history has been sorted into any other house."
Remus patted Sirius on the back. "I dunno, Sirius. Your view on things is different from your family. You might be surprised." he said reassuringly.
Sirius smiled a small smile, but Lily knew he wasn't really believing his friends. "Relax, Sirius. We'll still be your friends even if you do get placed in that dung house." said James. Remus, Lily, and Peter all murmured in agreement.
"Alright, now." came the voice of Professor McGonagall. "We're ready for you." She then led the first years through the door and into the Great Hall.
The Great Hall was huge, separated by four long tables and a smaller staff table at the front of the room. Lily looked up at the ceiling to see a very realistic dark sky scattered with stars and a crescent moon. All of the occupants of the room watched as McGonagall led the first years to a three-legged stool where a ragged and patched wizard's hat sat. Everything became silent until suddenly the hat burst into song. The song described the four houses as Professor McGonagall had, except with much more detail and in rhyme. When the hat finished, the hall erupted in tremendous applause, and only quieted down when McGonagall started to speak.
"Now, when I call your name, come up and be sorted." she paused, consulting her list, and then saying, "Abott, Steven."
Steven, a dark-haired boy with shaky hands, strode forward to sit on the stool and McGonagall placed the ratty old hat on his head; it fell past Steven's ears. There was a short silence in which everyone stared intently at the hat. And then, the hat shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF!"
After the A's, the B's were upon the first years and then McGonagall called, "Black, Sirius."
Sirius was visibly very nervous, and his face was quite pale. But he walked to the stool with confidence, and soon the hat was placed on his head. Lily was praying for Sirius under her breath, and then the hat yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!"
The Gryffindor table burst into applause and Sirius grinned widely as he sauntered over to his house table. Funnily enough, Lily was almost positive she heard cat calls as Sirius sat down.
It seemed an eternity until the professor reached the E's. When she finally said, "Evans, Lily," Lily was pushed forward by Remus. She walked to the stool, sat, and waited for the darkness of the hat to cover her eyes.
"Ah, a muggleborn . . . We're finally starting to get more of those,"said the hat in her ear.
"Please put me in Gryffindor!" Lily thought hard, her fists clenching with nerves.
"Yes, you would do well in Gryffindor . . . However, I think you would do better in Ravenclaw. You are very smart, Miss Evans, and I certainly sense plenty of wit . . ."
"No! Please, Gryffindor, please!" Lily thought with all her might.
"Well, only if you're certain . . ." and then the hat shouted out loud, "GRYFFINDOR!"
Lily's face nearly cracked in half from the force of her smile as she stood up amongst yells of "Alright, Lily!" and "Yeah, Lils!" from her friends and obviously the victorious cheers from the Gryffindor table. She ran to sit down next to a grinning Sirius, and the two hoped for their friends to join them.
Remus joined Sirius and Lily after twenty minutes, as did Peter some time later. The four new Gryffindors looked over to James, who was yet to be sorted. And then, McGonagall called a familiar name. "Snape, Severus."
Lily frowned as she watched the greasy-haired git walk forward and sit on the stool. The hat was barely on his head for fifteen seconds when the hat exclaimed, "SLYTHERIN!" Lily was hardly surprised, but her thoughts were blown away when James too was sorted into Gryffindor.
It was some time later that the sorting finished, and Dumbledore stood, smiling at his students. "As I know all of you are hungry, without further ado, I present to you the feast!"
The golden plates, bowels, and platters filled to the brim with all kinds of wonderful smelling food. There was chicken, steak, ham, pork, beef, and turkey dishes with boats of thick gravy sitting beside them. Green beans steamed next to large bowls of peas with butter melting down the side of the bowels. Five different types of potatoes and rice also graced the table and so much more.
Lily immediately helped herself to the mashed potatoes and turkey and promptly dug in. Sirius and James appeared to be having an eating contest of steak and kidney pie while Remus sat cutting his ham into precise pieces. Peter seemed to have taken a little bit of everything and was unconsciously dropping crumbs and bones onto the floor. When Lily thought she could eat no more, the dinner disappeared only to be replaced with a buffet of desserts. Hundreds of different flavors of ice-cream with thick chocolate sauce and homemade whipped cream, a pyramid of rich brownies and biscuits, treacle tarts, and other pies.
Dumbledore stood once again after the desserts had disappeared. He waited until the hall had quieted down, and then said, "Now that our stomachs are full, welcome first years, to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am Albus Dumbledore, your headmaster. I would like to start off by reminding you all that the Forbidden Forrest is in fact, forbidden for a reason. And also that fanged frisbees, dungbombs, and other items are to be confiscated if found. Mr. Filch has posted the full list of these items on his office door, so please feel free to take a gander at it if needed. And now, I believe it is time for bed. Prefects, show your new first years to their common rooms. New heads, meet me in my office to discuss arrangements. Sleep well, and I'll be seeing you all tomorrow morning." he finished.
There was a rustling noise and the sound of people standing up when Lily heard Marian shout, "First years, follow me! This way, first years!"
"Wow, that was some meal, eh?" Sirius asked as the group followed Marian out of the Great Hall.
"Yeah it was!" James exclaimed, elbowing Sirius. "How come you didn't have any dessert, Lils?"
"Lils?" Lily asked, surprised at the nickname and remembering it being shouted after her sorting. "What kind of nickname is that?"
"A good one, Lils," replied Remus playfully.
"Don't you like dessert?" squeaked Peter. The group was now walking up a staircase with hundreds of pictures smiling and waving down at the new students.
"I had enough sweets on the train," Lily said, staring at the moving pictures in awe.
"– because Peeves hates first years," Marian was saying. "Also, watch the staircases, they like to change."
"Change?" asked James, running his hand along the banister; it certainly seemed steady.
Marian pointed up. All the first years tilted their heads where she was pointing and were shocked to see at least twenty staircases moving to different landings. After climbing a few staircases, Marian finally stopped in front of a particularly large portrait of a plump lady wearing a pink dress. "This is the fat lady," she told the first years. "It's the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, but only if you give the password. It happens to be 'Carpe Diem'." she said to the lady.
"Yes, yes," the fat lady droned, then swung open to reveal a hole in the wall large enough to crawl into.
Once Lily crawled into the short tunnel, she was greeted with the cheery common room. There was a large, merry fire place with a roaring fire, plenty of overstuffed chairs and couches, and even tables for students to do their school work. On each side of the room there was a door.
"This is your common room. You will spend a great amount of time in here, and soon, it will begin to feel like your home. Now, to your left and up the stairs is the boys' dormitory, and to the right and up the stairs is the girls' dormitory." Marian smiled one last time, then walked over to a group of girls that Lily assumed were Marian's friends.
"Well that sucks, Lily. We have a different room than yours." said Remus, trying to be cheerful.
"It'll be okay, though. It's only for sleeping, right?" Lily said, yawning. "Besides, who says I can't sneak up into your dormitory when I want to?"
Sirius laughed a bark-like laugh. "We're already starting to have a bad influence on you, Lils."
Lily smiled. "Yeah . . . too bad, I used to be so innocent." James and Remus grinned.
"Sure, you were . . ." said Peter.
Lily yawned again, covering her mouth. "Sorry," she said, blushing. "But I think I'm going to head off to bed."
Sirius nodded, then jumped forward to hug her. Remus and Peter did the same, as did James.
"See you tomorrow, Lils!" exclaimed Sirius.
Lily gigged. "Yes, I'll see you guys tomorrow." Then she turned, running up the stairs to the girls' dormitory.
A/N: Hope you liked it! This is my first marauder era story, so tell me if the characterizing is wrong. Oh, and I currently need a beta, so either email me or review and leave your email if you're interested. Please review!!!
