The whole Great Hall erupted in chatter after Professor Dumbledore excused everyone off to bed. I was sitting at the table of my new house: Gryffindor. As was Peter. At least I knew one person.

When everyone started rise up, I followed. I could hear older students yelling for the first years to follow them over the loud chatter of younger ones. I found the owner of one of those voices and started to walk to where they were when I bumped into someone else.

"Sorry about that," I said apologetically.

"No problem," responded the boy I'd nearly knocked over. He looked up from the ground, rubbing his arm gingerly.

"Did I hurt you that badly?" I asked incredulously.

"Not really," he said, smirking. "But you damn near knocked me over."

"I already apologized!" I answered, raising my voice a bit but not sounding angry. I couldn't help but laugh. He was a very good-looking young boy with wire-rimmed glasses and strong features. His jet black hair was incredibly untidy and his hazel eyes looked incredibly mischievous.

"I'm James Potter," he said kindly, holding out his hand for me to shake. I placed my hand in his and before I knew he had leaned down and kissed it.

"Lily," I replied, a bit uncomfortable with his sentiment but found it pleasant nonetheless.

"My favorite flower," he said, grinning. A moment later, another young boy threw his arm around James' shoulders and nearly knocked him over as well, pulling his hand away from mine.

"Hello there, Jamesie boy," he said, ruffling James' hair jokingly.

"Hello, Sirius," James said, smiling a bit sheepishly.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to this lovely lady?" he asked James curiously.

"I'm Lily," I said, holding my hand out to him.

"Sirius, Sirius Black," he replied slyly, taking my hand and swooping down to lay a kiss on it as well. Boy, these two were charming.

"Nice to meet you, Sirius, Sirius Black," I said, pulling my hand away and casually wiping it on my robes. James' kiss was cute and polite, but Sirius seemed to slobber a bit.

"First years this way, please!" yelled a tall, blond-haired boy from the entrance to the Great Hall.

"Well, I must be going," I said, slipping by them to follow the blond boy.

"Don't be silly, Lily (A/N: Ha! That rhymed!). We're first years, too," Sirius said, grabbing my hand and pulling me along behind him. James shook his head in disbelief and followed us on.

A few minutes later, I found myself standing between Sirius and James, looking up at a rather odd painting of a fat lady. She was apparently trying to sing (A/N: Yes, stole that from Prisoner of Azkaban, he-he), but I couldn't have told you that's what she was doing. It sounded more like the cry of a dying rabbit. The same blond boy from the Great Hall was attempting to quiet her so he could say the password to get through, but he wasn't very successful.

"I understand that you'd like to sing, but we'd very much like to get into our common room," he said, trying to sound calm though he was obviously fuming inside.

"Wait, wait. One moment, young man," the fat lady replied, waving him off with a chubby hand.

"No. Not wait. Now," he said sternly.

"Fine, if you don't want to hear my singing, just tell me," she said huffily.

"We don't want to hear your singing," shouted someone from the middle of the crowd of students now waiting to get in. Many of us laughed, as we knew her statement was rhetorical.

"Fine," she said, "Password?"

"Norwegian Ridgeback," the blond boy stated clearly.

"Go on in then," the fat lady said as her portrait swung open.

"Finally," was the word that graced upon everyone's lips as we followed the blond boy inside. But that quickly changed when everyone saw the appearance of what was to be our home for the next seven years.

The entire room was done up in red and gold velvet. Long red velvet curtains hung around large picture windows that looked out over the lake. Plush couches were spread out across the vast layout of the common room. There was a massive fireplace on one side and a grand staircase on the other. At the top of the staircase, there were two smaller staircases leading up to doors that read "Girls' Dormitory" and "Boys' Dormitory".

"Welcome to Gryffindor Tower," the blond boy said, grinning. Across the crowd of first years, gasps and happy whispers could be heard. "I'm Danny Clover, your Head Boy, and this is the common room. It will be your main place of leisure for the next seven years of your schooling here at Hogwarts. As Head Boy of Gryffindor House, I'd like to tell you, the new members of Gryffindor, that any foul play will not be permitted from you. I'd like you to uphold a certain poise while here at…"

"What he means is that he doesn't want anyone screwing this big time," said a girl who had just entered the common room. "I'm Felicia Potter, your Head Girl."

"Hello Felicia," Danny said through gritted teeth.

"Hello there, Daniel," Felicia replied with a cheeky grin. "Anyways, back to the first years. We'd really like to welcome you here to Hogwarts. Now, if the girls would follow me, I'd like to show you the girls' dormitory. And if all the boys would please follow Danny."

The group separated quickly and the girls followed Felicia up the stairs first, then the boys followed Danny behind us. When we reached the top, Felicia turned the knob of the dormitory door and we all went in.

What I found myself in was a long, wide hallway.

"Now, first year girls will be staying in these dormitories. Only four to a room, now," Felicia said, opening up the first door on the left. She pushed it open to display another small hallway with six doors. "Choose a dormitory."

With that, all the girls pushed their way in a chose a room. Unfortunately, I wasn't as quick as the rest and I ended up in the worst room imaginable: with Kelly, Dina and Meredith from the boat ride earlier.

Yes, I was stuck with the Psycho Sisters for the next seven years, give or take a few months of freedom back home.

"Oh my god! I cannot believe you're going to be our dormitory sister! This is going to be so cool! We can stay up late and give each other manicures!" Kelly exclaimed, grinning and clapping her hands together happily before running over and giving me a hug.

Dear lord, help me.

"Well, I see you girls have bonded well. It's getting late so get to sleep. Breakfast is at seven o'clock in the Great Hall tomorrow morning. You'll get your timetables then," Felicia said from the doorway, smiling at our "bonding moment". But by the look in her eyes, I could tell she realized that I didn't want to be there.

"Thank you, Felicia!" Dina cried out as Felicia shut the door.

"We've already decided who gets what bed," Kelly said. "This is my bed," she added, pointing to bed closest to the window.

"And this is my bed," Dina said, pointing to the bed next to it.

"My bed is across from Kelly's!" Meredith said, plopping herself down on her bed.

"And that one is yours!" Kelly finished, pointing to the bed closest to the door. My trunk was already settled at the foot of my bed, so like the other girls with theirs, opened it and took out my essentials for the evening: pajamas and my favorite blanket and pillow.

"Good morning, Lily!" shrieked one of the girls early the next morning. I wasn't quite sure who it was, after hearing their voices until the wee hours of the morning, they all sounded the same.

As I hadn't stirred in the least from that morning greeting, I was violently shaken awake. I angrily opened my eyes to find Kelly standing over me, smiling the most innocent smile she could conjure up.

"You're going to be late for breakfast," she said happily, nodding towards the small clock that hung on the wall between Meredith and my beds. It read six forty-five.

"I still have fifteen bloody minutes," I complained into my pillow. "Besides, I can be late for breakfast. It's classes at eight that we should be worried about."

"Fine, have it your way. But we're going to breakfast," she huffed, signaling for Dina and Meredith to follow her as she stalked out of the room.

"You do that," I mumbled sarcastically into my pillow, being sure they wouldn't hear me. Realizing that I should probably get up and get ready, I reluctantly pushed myself up from my warm bed and threw the blankets off. Now sitting upright with my feet hanging off, no where close to touching the ground, I rubbed my eyes and yawned loudly.

It's definitely an odd feeling waking up in an unfamiliar room with no Petunia to run and wake up. I'd spent every morning since I learned to walk and talk waking up Petunia at the crack of dawn. Wherever we were, I could always count on that fact to be the same. But now, I was all alone. No Petunia to wake up. No other family members whatsoever. I was alone in a world of things I couldn't even imagine to understand. And that feeling sucked.

I drearily stood up and walked to my trunk at the foot of my bed. I unlocked it and pushed it open, listening to the latches creak. I pulled out what I was instructed to be day wear: black skirt, white shirt, grey sweater vest, Gryffindor tie, white knee-high socks, black Mary-Janes, and a Hogwarts-emblem encrusted robe. It could have been worse. I shut the door to the room and quickly changed. Walking past the mirror that leaned against one of the walls, I stopped to look at myself. I seemed to look better than I did back home. My eyes didn't seem as hollow and I almost looked completely well-nourished. I smiled, not a weakly forced smile, like before, but a real smile. A real genuine smile.

With one last check-over, I nodded to my reflection and pressed on. I opened the door and walked down the hallway confidently, exiting the girls' dormitory and descending down the grand staircase. I felt as if it was going to be a very good day.

"Hello there, my darling," came a familiar voice from the boys' dormitory door.

There goes my good day. I turned around to see exactly who I was expecting: Sirius Black.

"Hello," I replied, continuing to walk on towards the portrait hole.

"Aren't you going to wait for me?" Sirius called after me, running down the stairs.

"I wasn't planning on it," I mumbled just out of earshot. "Okay," I said, this time loud enough for him to hear. I just couldn't bear being that cold to him. I mean, he seemed to be a bit arrogant and spoiled, but I just wasn't the type of person to point it out. So, I waited for him.

"Good morning, love," he said charmingly.

"Love?" I asked with one curiously raised eyebrow.

"Just a word," he said, holding his hands up in defense. We walked in silence down the stairs and into the Entrance Hall and just as we were getting ready to enter the Great Hall, I heard someone coming down the stairs and speaking angrily.

"Thanks for waiting for me, Sirius! What a friend I have!" James said sarcastically as he hopped down the last three steps.

"Sorry, mate. Saw this lovely lady as I was leaving the dormitory and just couldn't pass up the chance," he said, smirking.

"Yeah, I see what you mean. The chance to walk this one to breakfast is a pretty irresistible one," James replied.

"Hello? I'm right here?" I said, before turning around and walking into the Great Hall. I walked casually down to an open spot at the end of the table and sat down, grabbing a piece of toast as soon as my bum hit the chair. I spread some marmalade on it and began eating when James and Sirius entered. Of course, they also couldn't pass up the chance to make the loudest possible entrance on their first day here. With one step into the Great Hall, they were laughing loudly and it was hard not to look at them.

I mean, two incredibly good-looking young men laughing hysterically is pretty hard to ignore. Am I right?

Needless to say, the entire girls' population at Hogwarts turned their heads to find the most gorgeous-looking eleven year old boys walking in. And all the boys turned to see their next biggest enemies.

Of course, the worst possible thing happened next. The two laughing boys came walking down the length of the table to take their seats on either side of me. I couldn't have been more embarrassed. Not only was everyone watching me intently, but I could almost hear the rumors spreading. Why me?

Why couldn't they have chosen some other first year girl to stalk? I mean, whenever I turned around, one of them was there. It was starting to get a bit creepy. And we were only a mere eleven years old.