Scorpius looked around the station anxiously. It was already crowded and there was no sign of the Potters or the Weasleys. He had already run up and down the length of the platform twice and was about to go again, when his mother put a hand on his shoulder.
"Calm down, Scorpius. She will be here any minute now. You know how crowded the roads are this time of the year." She was right, but Scorpius just wouldn't rest.
Just when he decided to just simply wait in the compartment- the last compartment, as he and Lily had decided- he heard a huge commotion.
"Oy, watch where you are going!"
"Serves you right, smashing into my trolley like that!"
"Okay, you two can stop bickering, or I can drag you to the train by your ear. The choice is yours."
"If you rush through the barrier all together, you will certainly knock over each other."
"Okay, bye Mum, Dad. Write to us and see you in December", a number of young voices chorused.
Even though Scorpius couldn't see who were making such a hullabaloo about walking through the platform, he knew it could be none other than the Weasleys and Potters.
Within seconds perhaps, a bright red head was bobbing beside him, all smiles and gushing. "Hi, Scor! How long have you been here? Ohh, I am so excited! We would be at Hogwarts in just a few hours! I can't believe it"
Scorpius chuckled. "Lily, breathe."
Lilly stopped and drew in a deep breath. "Thanks. So, let's get on?"
"Yes. Goodbye, Mother. I will write soon." Mrs. Malfoy hugged Scorpius briefly and smiled at Lily before waving them goodbye, "You two have fun, and don't get into trouble."
"I promise we won't." Lily smiled before dragging her trunk towards the train. When they were at the door of the last carriage, Lily asked, "Why wasn't your Dad here, Scor? He was here the last two years."
"Father- Father went to Grandfathers'. Here, let me help you get the trunk up." Scorpius took her trunk from her, trying to change the subject subtly. However, Lily was too blunt for subtlety, or perhaps she was deliberate. She was about to probe him more, before James and Albus showed up in front of them.
"Lily, why in the name of Merlin's beard are you in the last carriage?" James asked bitterly, but he was looking at Scorpius, as if the question was addressed to him.
Lily seemed to have picked up on James' antagonistic attitude. Of course she did, she had been expecting this. "I don't want to sit with you and your posse of jokers, James. When I want to hear your stupid jokes, I'll find you, don't worry."
James was getting visibly angry. Scorpius realized it had much to do with him, and he was not in the mood for James' hexes at the moment- there'd be plenty more time for that, a whole year in fact, he thought bitterly. So he called truce- looking at Lily he said, "Hey, Lily, I think you should find a seat somewhere up front. You're a first year and you'll be going to the castle on the boats, so you should stick to the group."
Lily cast him a hurt glance; Scorpius internally sighed sighed internally - she hadn't realized why he was trying to send her off.
James snatched the handle of Lily's trunk from Scorpius and Lily walked into the corridor, while Albus smiled like an idiot. Scorpius heaved his own trunk onto the train, when he heard the last whistle. The guard shouted, "Get on the train, boy!"
He stood at the door for a moment trying to see his mother in the crowd, but she had already left. He shut the door as the train swayed into motion and went on to find an empty compartment.
x x x x x x x
Lily sat beside the window, her forehead pressed to the glass-pane. She was sure she would have a headache if everyone laughed at James' jokes one more time. She looked at her eldest brother, and felt disgusted by how he could be so comfortable making jokes at someone else's expense. However, she didn't say anything. The last thing she'd wanted was to shift all his energy to her, when she didn't even want to hear his voice. Mum had repeatedly told James and Albus to not scare her about the Slytherin being in Slytherin again, but of course, she had been a fool to think they would actually listen to her.
She tried to shut out the noise that was the response to another joke, and tried to concentrate on the spells she had tried to learn from her new Charms book. If she had been in Scorpius' coach, she could have asked him about it. But asking James or Albus about schoolwork, before it classes had even started will result in being snubbed and called nasty epithets.
Lily eyed the door- Manohla Prescott was sitting beside it, laughing her head off. Lily silently got up, and when everyone was caught up in the conversation, she slunk out of the coach. She let out an audible sigh of relief once she was out of the door compartment. Realizing that it was the noisiest coach, and that the other coaches were a lot quieter, she groaned; why did her family have to be so conspicuous?
She looked both ways, and walked off towards the end of the train. On her way towards the last compartment, she bumped into the food trolley.
The plump woman pushing it, smiled kindly." Would you like a treat, dear?"
Lily checked the items and carefully picked out a box of Chocolate frogs and two pumpkin pasties.
"That'll be a Galleon, darling."
After paying the lady, Lily cradled the food in her hand and set off towards the last compartment again, when she heard someone call her name.
"Hey, Lily! Is that you? Hey, this is Nathan- come sit with us?"
Ah, not Nosedribble Nathan- Lily cursed her luck. She turned back to face Nathan, and smiled sweetly. "Would love to Nathan! But I got to take this to James, you see. He has been waiting for ages now, so I better go before he ticks off."
"But.. Isn't James in the first compartment, as always?" Nathan seemed confused and turned to look towards James' coach. Lily seized the opportunity- she dashed breakneck, hoping Nathan would think she had just gone and not talk to James. She glanced back and Nathan had already gone inside his coach.
Suddenly, she hit something and was knocked flat on her back. When she looked up she realized it was not a something, but a someone.
A man, with a shock of shocking white hair, was standing tall in front of her. He had a very angular face, with broad square cut jaws, a thin straight nose, and very sharp, electric blue eyes which stood out frighteningly against his white hair. Though he looked no older than thirty five, there was something venerable about him.
Though he hadn't said anything, Lily felt scared, and stuttered, "S-sorry. I didn't- see you there."
The man looked at her stolidly for a few seconds, before saying, "That is obvious when someone runs while looking behind backwards."
Lily cringed; his voice was very impersonal, as if it were coming from someone else. Lily wondered if he was jeering at her because his mouth was pressed in a thin wide line, as if he was smiling. But she realized that was not the case, because the rest of his face was unusually expressionless, and his eyes looked almost angry.
The man cocked an eyebrow up, without, as it seemed, disturbing a single muscle of his face. Lily realized she had been surveying his face for quite long, embarrassingly long. She blushed and scurried on her feet, gathering her treats. Mumbling another apology, she set off towards the last coach again without looking back, this time quite determined to make it before without crashing into someone else.
Having reached her destination successfully, she entered the compartment, which, save save for Scorpius, was empty. Scorpius looked at her questioningly as she dumped the contents of her arm onto his lap, and sat threw herself down beside him.
"Let me guess, you lost your way and had to ask the driver for a map to the last carriage." Scorpius chuckled as he helped himself to a Chocolate Frog.
Lily thumped his arm playfully. "No, but I bumped into someone."
"Who? Not Nathan, I hope."
"Yes! Him too! Did he ask you to join him, too? What did you say?"
Scorpius showed his now chained copy of Monster Book of Monster. "This bad boy saved me. Told him, I needed to chain this."
Lily laughed out. "Lucky you. I bolted when he asked, and bumped into someone else. Speaking of which, I didn't know adults traveled in Hogwarts Express."
"I didn't either. Why? Whom did you see? Your Dad?"
"Oh, shut up, Scor. I'm not joking. I bumped into this strange-looking man on my way."
Scorpius seemed to think for a moment before replying, "Well, he could be the new Potions professor. Professor Slughorn retired last year."
"Hmm, I heard Al say something about that. I don't think I'll like him."
"Does it matter if you like a professor or not? It's the subject you're going to study, not write the teacher's biography."
"That's such a lame excuse to back up bad professors." Lily huffed.
Scorpius laughed. "Don't worry, I hate Professor Binns too, but I get by history quite well. The trick is to learn sleeping to sleep with eyes open."
Lily tried to look serious, but gave in. "Oh, this professor looks like he eats students for breakfast. I don't think feeling sleepy will be a problem."
"Yes, I'm sure he'll fricassee you if you don't get good marks and throw a feast."
"Ah, I am hungry now that you mentioned fricassee. Pass me the pasties."
"I find it equally amazing and disgusting that one could feel hungry, hearing oneself fried and floating in sauce."
"Oh, hush dear. If you want, I'll ask him to serve Scorpius medium rare."
x x x x x x x
They had no idea how the hours had passed, but now they sat fully dressed in their coach. Scorpius stuffed the book they had been reading back into his bag, and his fingers brushed against Lily's hands.
"Lily! You are freezing! Are you okay?" he asked, concerned.
"I'm fine. I'm just scared." Lily was, in fact, quite pale.
Scorpius held her hands and looked at her sincerely. "Lily, that's fine. But you have no reason to be scared. Has anyone in your family been in any House other than Gryffindor? No, right? So I'm pretty sure you'll be one put there too."
Lily nodded, afraid she might be sick. Scorpius squeezed her hand and said, "Lily, you should get back to the front. You'd feel better if you see the newcomers. You'll make new friends. Come on now, go on."
Lily didn't move until Scorpius gave a light push. She looked at Scorpius with such fear, Scorpius wanted to hug her and say everything would be just fine. But instead he just smiled encouragingly. After all, she had her brothers to comfort her.
"Okay, I'm going. See you at Hogwarts then." He could barely hear her.
.
Lily quietly shuffled off the train, and James pulled down her trunk.
"C'mon, you are going that way. There's Hagrid waving." he said handing the trunk to Lily. Lily turned to see the herd of first years making their way towards Hagrid. Lily smiled as she walked towards the giant man, and he waved back. Most of his shaggy beard was grey and there were more wrinkles lining his face than before. But his beetle-black eyes were twinkling as ever.
"Come o'er here. Firs' Years this way, come on!" he shouted waving his lantern in the air.
Once sixty odd students were gathered around him, he beckoned them to follow him to the lake. A blonde girl beside Lily whispered, "Do we have to cross this lake? Oh, but we might fall and I don't know how to swim! Hayden, promise you'll be in my boat."
A brown-haired boy beside her snorted. "What'll I do? Jump into the water and rescue you?"
Lily smiled, but the girl didn't look happy. "My mistake, Hayden, I should have known. You are good for nothing."
Lily felt obliged to assure the girl. "Hi, I'm Lily. I know for sure, we won't drown. And there are lots of creatures, which'll save you, in case you ever fall in."
Somehow, this frightened the girl even more and the boy sniggered. Lily looked at him disapprovingly and he coughed and cleared his throat. "Hello, Lily, I'm Hayden. And this chicken is Melissa."
Hagrid rushed the three of them into one boat, and once it had set off into the Lake, Melissa sat stiff as a board, clutching the seat beneath her.
When Lily looked at her, she smiled. "I'm sorry; I'm a Muggleborn, so I don't know much about magic. This is a magical school, so I bet there'll be creatures in the Lake." She laughed uncertainly, which earned another snort from Hayden.
Melissa shot an angry glance at him. "I don't know what makes you so cocky. You never practiced magic!"
"At least I am not scared by my own shadow. You'll probably be in Hufflepuff."
Lily could have groaned out loud. She was in a boat with two complete strangers and yet they were, somehow, back in discussing Houses.
Thankfully, Melissa didn't pursue the subject and tried her best to insult Hayden, though her voice, being extremely high-pitched and shaky, made the attempts rather funny.
Finally when their boat bumped on the ground, Melissa looked about ready to pass out. Hayden and Lily helped her out, as Lily saw Hermione wave to them, from a distance. Lily remembered Aunt Hermione had first years' duty.
"First Years follow me. Please, in a proper queue". It took a lot of stumbling into each other, and stepping on toes before everyone formed a queue which pleased Hermione. Once inside the castle, they were stopped just outside the Great Hall, for Hermione's mandatory lecture.
"Good evening, students. I am Professor Granger Weasley?. In a minute you will be inside the Great Hall, ready to be sorted into your own House. The House will be like your family in for the next seven years. You will sleep your House dormitory, lounge or study in your House common room. You will participate in activities and earn or lose House points, depending on how you choose to conduct yourselves. Now follow me, without commotion."
Lily was quite taken aback by Aunt Hermione's professional attitude. In fact, she guessed not many would like her if she was... so strict? Lily was glad she didn't have Arithmancy, not yet at least. But then, what was she expecting, given the way Aunt Hermione keeps Rose and Hugo on tight leash. Lily was also glad that both her Mum and Dad were not teachers where they could keep checking on her all the time.
Once inside the Great Hall, it was all Lily could do to not gasp. She came from a magical family, and was used to all kinds of magic. But there was a limit to magic, and Hogwarts seemed to have defied that. She saw the thousands of lanterns floating in mid-air, the ceiling seemed to have vanished and given in to the sky. Four long tables were placed in the huge hall, while at the other end, the Professors sat perched at the High Table.
Lily was so engrossed in seeing looking around her, taking in every detail, she almost jumped when the whole Hall burst into applause. She looked ahead and saw a hat bowing to the crowds. Ah, the Sorting Hat, she thought, I missed the song! Even the first years beside her were clapping and cheering. Lily saw Aunt Hermione pull out a thick roll of parchment and her stomach did a flip. The sorting was beginning!
She looked weakly in the direction of the Gryffindor table, and her brothers and cousins waved and gave her thumbs up. She tried to smile back, but she was sure it looked choleric. She looked at the Slytherin table and Scorpius smiled widely, and she felt a little courage stir up inside her.
"Atherton, Damien!"
The shout shook Lily and she watched as a nervous boy trotted off towards the Hat. Lily shifted her eyes towards the floor, trying to cope with her tension.
After a few moments, a deep voice boomed, "RAVENCLAW!"
The second table to her left cheered. Lily cursed that her last name started with P and her sorting was still a long way off.
In the next fifteen minutes, she kept hearing shouts of Aunt Hermione and the Hat alternatively..."Baxter, Andrew"- "HUFFLEPUFF!"... "Brace, Sandra"- "HUFFLEPUFF!"... "Calvert, Jacob"- "RAVENCLAW!"..."Cook, Anna"- "GRYFFINDOR"... "Cooper, Brian"- "SLYTHERIN!"... "Demming, Richard"- "SLYTHERIN!"... "Eagleton, Spencer"- "SLYTHERIN"... "Ellis, Katherine"- "GRYFFINDOR!"... "Jones, Melissa"- "GRYFFINDOR!"
Melissa hopped to the Gryffindor table, with Hayden beside Lily, staring with his mouth wide open. Lily was feeling just a tad more confident, while Hayden looked a little deflated. Finally, after what seemed like ages, they got to "P".
"Paisley, Hayden!"
Hayden jogged down, the aisle, and the hat had barely touched his head before it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"
He looked quite elated, as if he had been unsure of the result to start with. Lily waved at him, and mouthed 'Congrats', when she heard-
"Potter, Lily!"
Lily felt like she was walking too slowly, because everything around her moved in slow motion. Some of James' friends were thumping him on the back, Rose was smiling, Hugo was clapping- all of it was too slow.
After an eternity, she sat on the stool, and the hat was perched on top of her head.
Ah, what a fresh mind!- a voice whispered in her ear- shining bravery, full of compassion. What a determined soul, what pure honesty...Lily wondered if her mind was playing tricks with her... you have the potential, yes, very dedicated. But you are distracted. Where better to put such a quarrelsome heart than..."GRYFFINDOR!"
The entire Gryffindor table erupted and Lily felt full to the brim with happiness. She set down the hat, and ran towards her brothers. They both buried her in a bone-crushing hug, while Rose and Hugo beamed.
"Ah, and the last Potter gets into Gryffindor too!" James seemed ecstatic.
"Too bad, you couldn't make it to Slytherin." Al teased.
At the mention of Slytherin, Lily's eyes trailed off to the table on the other side, and caught Scorpius' eyes. He smiled and gave a well-practiced 'I-told-you-so' look. Lily laughed and waved, before turning back to the table. If she had stared a moment longer, she would have seen the sadness in the grey eyes.
.
After everyone had finished their food, Headmistress McGonagall stood up. A silence fell over the hall.
"Well, now that we are almost at the end of the feast, I would like to point out a couple of things. First Years, welcome. I am sure you will have a charming time over the coming years. About the rules, none of it has changed, and I am hopeful that all of you shall abide by them. Now, as you all know, Professor Slughorn retired last year. So we are lucky to have Professor Rathbone among us, who has kindly agreed to take his post."
Lily, who hadn't really noticed the teachers in the High Table, looked up to see that the man she had bumped into on the Hogwarts Express was standing. He was quite tall, towering over Aunt Hermione and looked out of place in his Muggle attire. The students clapped somewhat unsurely, unable judge what kind of a teacher he was, by the blank look on his face.
James whispered beside her. "That man looks like a Dementor kissed him!"
Immediately, Professor Rathbone shot his piercing eyes towards James. James and Lily both gasped- James' voice was hardly heard by Lily, let alone reach the High Table.
Lily shivered a little- if he stared with those eyes all the time in class, she would probably be hypnotized. However the man had sat down and was talking to Aunt Hermione.
Lily yawned as Professor McGonagall instructed everyone to retire to their dormitories. She was full and sleepy, and very contented that she could make had made it in Gryffindor. Before leaving the Hall, she waved Scorpius goodbye as he headed towards the dungeons. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him- the dungeons did look gloomy, as Rose had said. And they'd have Potions in there, with none other than Professor Rathbone. Something told Lily, it was not going to be a pleasant affair.
.
That night Lily dreamt that she blundered terribly in her first Potions class, and Professor Rathbone gave her detention for life.
