Lily waited patiently with the other students to be shown into the Great Hall. She was feeling very nervous now. The thought of having to walk into the Hall for the first time, everyone staring at her, made her feel very uneasy. At last, after waiting for a good twenty minutes, an old professor came walking toward them, her robes making a swishing noise as she moved.

"Good evening, and welcome to Hogwarts." She said, her voice echoing in the big hallway.

"My name is professor Holland. Now, when we come into the Great Hall you will be called up one by one, I will put the sorting hat on your head and you will be sorted into your houses." She looked at all the students, before leading them through the big doors.

"Parkinson, Thomas." A tall boy walked slowly to the stool, sat down and professor Holland put the sorting hat on his head. There was a short silence before the hat cried:

"Slytherin!" The table farthest to the left burst into cheers and the boy hurried to join them.

"Potter, Lily." The silence that followed her name was profound, and trying not to fall over she slowly walked to sit on the old stool. The hat was much too big for her, so she had to hold it up from her eyes. The ancient hat thought for a long while, and no one spoke. Eventually the hat made a noise almost like a giggle, and exclaimed…

"Gryffindor!" Lily sighed with relief, and as the cheers erupted she skipped to the table and joined her brothers.

"I knew it." James cried and punched her shoulder. "Good job, sis." Albus smiled at her, too, and said:

"See? No need to worry." Lily beamed at him, and then focused to see what houses the remaining students would be sorted into.

The following morning, Lily awoke early in the morning, and sat up in her bed. She shared a dorm with three other girls: Hannah York, Imogen Hunter and Lisa Brown. She had not yet become friends with them, but they seemed nice. Her four post bed was very comfy, but the nerves were what woke her. She sat silently, waiting for the other girls to get up so she wouldn't disturb them by getting her things out. The chair next to her bed was draped with new robes, and the rest of her uniform, with the gold and red details. The colours were so familiar: she'd seen both her brothers wearing it, and both her parents in old photographs. She heard Hannah stir, and realised she should probably start getting dressed. Thankfully, she got out of bed and started pulling her brand new uniform on for the first time.

Her first class had been charms, with professor Holland. She had very much enjoyed it, though she'd been sitting on her own. During her short break she wandered in the corridors admiring the moving artwork. She took out her timetable, realising her next class was transfiguration and started walking toward the classroom, one floor up. When she arrived students were already filing in through the doors. The teacher was Professor Cartwright, who was also her Head of House.

"Good morning, class." She said briskly when they had all settled down. "As this is your first transfiguration lesson we will take it easy." She drew her wand and tapped it against her hand.

"Now, do you all have your books?" There were a few people saying yes, yeah and yup, and eventually everyone fell silent again.

"Good…" she sighed. "Now, let's get started."

When the time was just after five, Lily abandoned her homework and headed to dinner. To her surprise, they were given homework in three subjects the first day. She wondered how she would keep up… When entering the Great Gall she scanned the Gryffindor-table for her brothers. They were sitting near the teachers table, with a bunch of their friends. She half ran to them and stopped in front of her oldest brother.

"James, may I sit with you?" He looked away from his friends and met his sisters pleading eyes.

"Yeah, sure." With a small movement he made space for her and she squeezed in.

"Michael, Sarah, Jordan, Mackenzie, this is my little sister, Lily." They waved and smiled, so Lily smiled back at them. Albus, who was sitting opposite her, had been speaking to another boy from his year. His friends then left, and he turned to grin at Lily.

"Hi there. How was your day?" Just before she could answer the food appeared in front of them which made her jump, the same way she had the last evening.

"Brilliant." She said simply and helped herself to the freshly cooked food.

After dinner, when she was reading her potions book in the common room, Hannah came up to her.

"Hello…" she said, clearly very shy, but at least making an effort to get to know someone. Lily smiled nervously at the girl.

"Hi there."

"Can I join you?"

"Sure." Hannah sat down on the couch next to her, and was silent for a few minutes, leaving Lily to read.

"So, I was wondering whether you would like to sit with me during Charms tomorrow." She said after a while. Lily looked surprised.

"Well, yeah, I guess. That'd be great." Hannah smiled happily, and looked a bit more comfortable.

"We could sit together in transfiguration too, if you like." Lily offered after another pause. The girl beamed at her.

"Well, why not make it all the classes?" Lily said, grinning. Hannah laughed.

"I'd love to."

When eating breakfast on her third day, together with Hannah, an owl swooped down and landed in front of Lily. It startled her, and she stared at the owl. A letter was tied to its leg, which it was now holding out. With shaking hands she took the letter from the owl, which flew away.

"What's this?" Lila said, looking slightly confused.

"It's a letter, silly." Giggled Hannah.

"Oh, right, yeah. Of course it is." She opened it and started reading.

Dear Lily,

I hope you have had a good time so far, and that you are enjoying Hogwarts as much as you possibly can. Do you like the classes? Have you made any friends yet? Send back a reply with one of the schools owls. I dare say we'll have to get you one of your own soon, but don't mention that to your brothers, they'll go berserk.

Have a lovely time,

Lots of love

Mum and Dad xx

She had completely forgotten about the fact that she should have written to them the first day.

"Oh, I knew I'd forgotten something." She muttered.

"What's that?" Hannah asked over her toast.

"Nothing, I just forgot to write to my parents. You don't have parchment and a quill do you?" She shook her head.

"Ah, well, I'll write one this afternoon."

The day went by quickly, and before even starting her homework she got out her quill and a piece of parchment to write a letter for her parents.

Hello Mum, Dad

I have had the greatest time. The classes are fun but hard, and I do like the teachers. I met Hagrid on the first day, he took me alone in one of the boats which was nice of him.

So far, I'm friends with a girl named Hannah York. She's in my dorm, and we sit together in class and at dinner.

I miss you terribly, but I'll see you at Christmas

Lots of love,

Lily xx

She rolled the letter up and took it with her to the owlery. A big owl with greyish feathers came swooping down toward her and sat on the pin. Carefully, she tied the letter to his leg, stroked him and then the owl swiftly flew out of the open window.