A/n: Here's the second drabble. It came to me on the coat tails of the other one... this one is going to be about his train rides to Hogwarts through the years. They'll be labeled correspondingly and chapterly... first, second, third etc.

-E.

The Friend

Chapter 2: The First Ride

General POV:

Lily stood intently behind him, watching the passengers walking about King's Cross. She didn't seem scared, but almost guarded as she observed their patterns. Her parents stood at a distance, waving and smiling. Severus turned to watch them; he noticed Petunia- a taller, blonde version of Lily, standing beside them. She looked cross, her face's muscles convulsed into an angered furrow. Blatant jealously radiated from her thin face.

She didn't get in.

He was glad Lily's older sister hadn't gotten accepted, though she had tried twice- writing to the headmaster in an effort to be accepted... Petunia possessed a very different array of qualities from her younger sister: her hair, her lack of magical abilities, her desperate need for a cheery disposition. She lacked in many things, but one thing Petunia didn't lack was a great hatred for Severus. He was glad to be done with her.

"Goodbye! Goodbye!" Lily called to her family. It had taken her what had felt like hours to Severus, to hear her say those words. She'd clung to her loved ones for as long as possible before she had walked up to the collection of platforms. It wasn't that he detested her family; in fact he was jealous of them, jealous of their warmth and normality. He watched closely as she hugged each of them, including a testy Petunia who turned her nose up as Lily's loving arms wrapped around her.

As her family fell back into the crowds of travelers, Lily looked across the platforms wondering.

"9 and 3/4..." Lily looked at the signs of nine and ten suspiciously.

"Come on Lils..." He took her hand and pulled them both through the pillar, luggage carts and all.

On the other side, Lily stood in shock. "But, but..."

"I'll explain later," Severus muttered, looking excitedly into her eyes. "I just really want to get on before all the good cars are taken."

In a daze, Lily followed him mumbling all the way, "But...but the pillar... the platform."

On the train, though most of the empty cars were filled, they finally found one in the farthest reaches of the train. As they slid onto a bench, he watched intently as she talked on and on about how excited she was, what she wondered about... he didn't mind not having a say in the conversation, as long as she was talking.

"So what do you think our classes will be like? All this stuff I bought for classes is so interesting... do you think they'll let us use our cauldrons on the first day?"

"Sure."

"Isn't it weird Petunia didn't get accepted?"

"Sure, totally weird."

Severus would just smile and occasionally nod, overwhelmed by the girl's overactive nature and his own perpetual shyness. Severus would only listen, and nod every once and awhile though have the time he didn't have a real idea what she was blabbing about. He didn't care about the topic really, only if he was hearing her voice.

He'd nod or mutter something like 'maybe' or 'Lily, I have no idea'.

In his Lily-filled reveries, he hadn't noticed a tall older student entering. The boy smiled at Lily, who didn't notice him, and looked back at Severus.

"First ride on the Hogwarts Express I see..." The older boy muttered, taking out a school book and nodding toward Lily. Severus nodded back, watching her green eyes flicker with enthusiasm in the light of the train.

A/n: And here's the second one! It's not as long as the first, but just cute, or is it? I don't know... These are drabbles so it's not like they're going to be 3,000 words long all the time, though some might be, depending on the topic.

-E.