As soon as she crossed the barrier between the Muggle and the magical world, Lily felt her heart lift. Although considerably less full than it had been at the beginning of the school year, Platform 9 3/4 nonetheless bustled with students. Lily saw the owls and cats and robes and pointed hats and the overlarge trunks with fondness as she dragged her own trunk toward the scarlet steam engine waiting for them on the tracks. Behind her, her parents walked in silence, their usual awe of the magical world replaced with queasiness and mistrust.

Something was definitely different this time. Something strange and heavy lingered on the air, sucking out all the liveliness from the scene, as if a grey curtain had been thrown over the platform, shutting out both life and magic from it. Lily had already started to notice it at the beginning of the school year, and even on the year before that. The atmosphere at Platform 9 3/4 was not festive at all. Kids no longer ran around showing off their new Christmas presents, they no longer played pranks on each other, no longer yelled and screamed and generally caused mayhem to let out their excitement at returning to Hogwarts.

War was upon them, and made itself known in the most silent and terrible ways possible.

The smaller kids stuck with their parents, giving them drawn-out hugs and tearful goodbyes, not quite understanding their mother's sobs and their father's tearful looks as they regarded their children for what could very well be the last time in their lives. Friends ran into each other's arms, happy to find them still alive. The older students gathered in small groups and talked in hushed tones, most of them carrying that day's Daily Prophet, which Lily knew very well detailed three fresh attacks on families of Muggles, one attack on Muggle-borns and a thirty-minute battle in one of the London suburbs between the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix. She'd been hiding the paper from her parents the whole day.

"Well—" she said, and turned to look at her mom and dad. For once in her life, Petunia's absence from the platform hung over her like a concrete block, ready to crush her at the slightest provocation. Lily had no way of knowing whether her sister was still safe, whether their house still stood with nothing but the blue sky above it— Lily didn't particularly like Petunia, especially after their sibling rivalry had reached such ridiculous proportions, but she did not want her dead. She especially did not want her sister dead only for being related to her. She looked into her father's eyes and realised that he too was mentally at their house with Petunia and that boyfriend of hers rather than Platform 9 3/4. While her parents might feel safer having him there, Lily was sure that even Vernon Dursley the school boxing champion would be no match for a group of Dark Wizards should they decide to target her house. And why wouldn't they? But why would they?

She looked at both her parents and did her best to imprint their faces on her memory, but realised that she couldn't. With their worried, absent looks, this wasn't the way she wanted to remember them if something happened. She wanted to remember them happy and smiling, proud that their youngest daughter was a witch and heading off to magical school. She did not want to look back on this moment and see nothing but the dark circles under their eyes, the permanent creases on their foreheads, the way they kept crossing their arms in front of their chest as if shielding themselves from something— from everything.

"Take good care of yourself, Lily," said her father, gently grabbing a fistful of her hair and pulling her close so that he could kiss her forehead. Lily went in for a full embrace and lingered a moment so she could feel her father's deep breathing, his thick barrel chest against her cheek, his large hands clasping his magical daughter as though he never, ever wanted to let go. After a few seconds that felt like eternity, Lily finally stepped back and looked her father in the eyes. They were full to brim with tears he refused to let go.

Her mother wasn't as controlled. As soon as Lily turned to her, she threw herself in her daughter's arms and hugged her so tightly Lily could almost feel her ribs groan under the pressure. Yet it was as if that single, desperate gesture had opened the floodgates. What was the point of pretending to be strong, when life was revealing itself to be short and feeble and so fragile? Lily and her mother began weeping into each other's shoulders, pulling the other tighter and tighter until it was impossible to tell where one ended and the other began among the tangle of freckled arms and red hair.

"You will write to us every day, won't you?" asked Virginia Evans. "And— and you'll be safe, won't you?"

"Of course I will, mom," said Lily. The tears in her eyes made her mother's face blurry, and Lily realised that her mother had never looked so beautiful in her life. "And you— you write every day as well, okay? Just to make sure you're also safe. Please, mother."

"I will, Lily," said Virginia, kissing her daughter and giving her one last hug. Lily put a hand on her parents' shoulders, looked at them one last time and then the three of them fell into a hug, giggling madly.

"I need to go now," said Lily. "We need to give the prefects some post-Christmas instructions—"

"Take care of yourself," said her mother. "And write every day. Promise."

"I promise," said Lily. She kissed her parents good-bye one last time and then dragged her trunk toward the prefects' carriage.

Just as she was dragging the trunk along the hallway, she felt herself being watched, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. She quickly turned around and whipped out her wand, expecting the worst, but on the other side of the corridor there was no one but a short seventh-year Slytherin girl named Iracunda Caliginis. Lily stopped and lowered her wand, but could not shake away the nervousness that had grasped her. After all, could she really trust herself around a Slytherin, when so many of them were eager Death Eater wannabes? The seconds crawled by and Iracunda did not move, but remained staring at Lily. She had huge brown eyes and flyaway hair, which gave her a slightly maddened look as she glared at Lily, whose heart was now pumping too fast for comfort.

"This is a wizard's train," Iracunda said finally. "I saw you with those— your parents. They're not wizards, which means neither are you. And I will show you your place!"

Iracunda threw her silver and green scarf around her shoulder and began walking toward Lily, her eyes opening wider still. Lily let out a little whelp and stumbled backward, her calves hitting her trunk— and then the compartment door slid open.

"Evans! What's wrong?"

For the first time in her life, Lily was incredibly grateful to see James Potter. He stepped out of the compartment and looked down the hallway at Iracunda, who had immediately stopped mid-stride. Her hand hovered around her belt, where she no doubt concealed her wand, but James was quicker than her. With his patented hero frown, he took out his wand and pointed it down the hallway.

"Is there a problem, Caliginis?" he asked.

"Or what?" asked Iracunda dryly. "You're going to put me in detention, Potter? Pft!" She turned around and left the carriage, trying but failing to look unconcerned. Every few steps, she'd swiftly turn her head around, probably waiting for a hex of some sort. In spite of what had just happened, Lily was pleased to see that James wasn't thinking along those lines. As soon as the Slytherin girl had slammed the carriage door behind her, he turned to Lily and involuntarily ruffled his hair.

"What was that about?" asked James.

"She—" Lily stuttered, unable to explain what had just happened. The look on the mad Slytherin's eyes was one she couldn't easily forget— it had been haunting her ever since the war had broken out last year. It was that look that made Lily realise those people did not see in her anything more than a diseased animal that must be slaughtered. Who knows what would've happened if James hadn't chosen that moment to come out of the compartment? She looked into his eyes, and he smiled at her. Of course he understood.

"I wouldn't worry too much about her," said James, pulling Lily's trunk into the compartment, where Moony was already sitting with a book on his lap. "I've heard she's as mad as her father. Will probably end up in Azkaban with him after she graduates. I'll certainly make sure all of those Slytherins end up where they belong."

"I— I just don't understand," said Lily. James gave a bitter laugh.

"You're beautiful and smart and incredibly good at magic; you're living proof that their ideas are just a bunch of bullshit," said James, causing her to blush slightly. "And all of the Slytherins have Death Eater tendencies. It's practically a badge of honour among them. Even Snivellus. But you're already aware of that, aren't you?"

Lily waved her hand, as if to disperse James's comment from the air, where it hung like a toxic fume. Why did he have to remind her of that? The less she thought about Sev, the better. She was already feeling the intense lump in her chest that came up every time someone mentioned him to her. She didn't need the additional guilt— especially not from James Potter, however grateful she might be feeling toward him at the moment.

She decided the time was ripe for a change in subject. She searched around her mind for something, anything, and the first James-related thought in her head blurted out of her mouth before she had time to really think about it.

"How's your mother, James?" she asked, and James's face immediately became dark. Moony's eyes stopped moving about the page.

"Not good," said James. "I— I was actually contemplating not coming back to school after Christmas because— you know, because I wanted to stay and take care of her. But she convinced me to come. Minnie's taking good care of her, at any rate. She's really devoted to my mother. But— but dad's death really messed her up. I can tell. I— I don't think—" He fell silent and sat down on the empty seat in front of Moony. Lily quietly sat down next to him and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I'm really sorry about that," she said.

"Yeah— well— they were getting a on a bit," said James, trying to look unconcerned in spite of the tears welling up in his eyes. "I mean— it's not completely unexpected… but still. It hurts."

"Of course it does," said Lily, squeezing his shoulder. She wasn't sure what to say. The James she knew and half-detested was a goofball, overconfident and careless. This James— well, he clashed with the mental image Lily had already formed of him.

"Yeah, well, it's no use to be like this," said James, standing up. He stretched, ruffled his hair, stuck a goofy smile on his face and was almost back to normal. "She expects me to do great on my last year, and that includes fulfilling all Head Boy duties. You've no idea how proud she and dad were when they appointed me— Come on, we've got to round the prefects and give them the mid-term instructions. I was about to do so when I saw you on the corridor."

He winked at Lily and went out of the carriage. She stayed sitting there for a few moments, wondering if it was a good idea to go after him. Maybe rounding up the prefects was just an excuse to keep busy and not have to think, and Lily would hate to interrupt that. On the other hand, she felt like she had to repay him somehow for having stood up for her with the Slytherin girl, and thought that maybe she could find a way to distract him from his mother's illness. Just as she was about to stand up, Moony leaned over his book.

"He's really changed, you know?" he said quizzically, then buried himself back in the book. Flustered and not knowing what to do with herself, Lily followed James outside the carriage.