The next morning, Lily found herself squinting through sunlight into an unfamiliar room. Then, she remembered where she was: Hogwarts. Grinning and slipping out of bed, she padded to the washroom before returning to the first year girls Gryffindor dormitory and changing into her robes.
Lily walked into the Common Room to find James, Albus, Dominique, Rose, and their friends just leaving for breakfast.
"Hey, guys, wait!" Lily ran after them.
"'Morning," Dominique grinned, yawning. The other children greeted her in a similar fashion.
Lily slid onto the long bench at the Gryffindor table, a little ways away form her cousins and brothers, because she knew that even though they loved her, they wouldn't always want her jumping into their conversations and joining their group, because she was much younger.
She absentmindedly banged her heels against the leg of the bench, looking around the Great Hall. There were more or less half of the students already in there. Lily saw Clarabel, who caught her eye and waved, and Lily gave a small wiggle of the fingers and a smile back. Cepheus made a face at her, and she turned away, cheeks burning. She couldn't wait until Charms class, where she could learn to hex the pants off that kid.
Suddenly, a huge shadow loomed over Lily, and she turned around slowly, eyes wide. Slowly, her eyes traveled a large torso, and met those of a smiling, bearded man.
"Hello, Lily," Hagrid grinned. "Glad ter see yer finally at Hogwarts."
Lily jumped up and hugged the man. "Hagrid! Hi!"
"Yeh've gotten so big, you're a young lady now! Just like yer mother," Hagrid beamed, tears in his eyes. "Last time I saw yeh, yeh were a wee little girl."
"Hagrid!" Laughed Lily, hugging him around the hips, because that's how much taller he was than Lily. "You only saw me last month!"
"But still! Yeh're so big now! What're yeh up ter first period?" Hagrid asked, wiping gargantuan tears out of his large eyes.
"Um…" Lily looked at her schedule. "Potions." She wrinkled her nose.
Hagrid laughed. "Don't tell yer dad I said this, but he was right awful at Potions."
Lily grinned. "Don't worry, my lips are sealed."
"Yer mother, though, and yer aunt, they were both brilliant in Potions. Of course, yer aunt was good at everythin', and yer mum was a hard worker, on the Quidditch pitch and off." Hagrid said earnestly. "Of course, yeh probably already know all that. Well, I must be off to the staff table. See yeh around." Hagrid waved, and walked-er, stomped, to the front of the room where the staff table sat.
Lily saw Sam and Rory walk in, and she waved to them, and they sat next to her.
"Hey," Rory mumbled tiredly. "You're here early."
Lily blushed, slightly embarrassed. "I didn't want to be late."
Rory gave a tired nod.
A thought tugged at Lily's brain. "Hey, Sam, how did you learn you were a wizard and about Hogwarts and everything?"
Sam grinned. "Well, weird things always sort of happened while I was around. One time, in primary school, our class hamster exploded. I didn't mean to, of course," Sam added quickly. "I didn't even know it was happening. But anyway, no, I didn't have any idea of the wizarding world until my birthday, when Hogwarts sent the letter. My parents at first thought it was a joke, but the more they thought about it, the more sense it made, and so we went to Diagon Alley, and now here I am!" Sam said proudly.
"How about you?" Sam asked Lily.
"Oh, well, um," Lily began, slightly embarrassed of what she was about to tell them. She didn't want her friends just to like her because of her parentage. "My father is…well, my mother's Ginny Potter on the Holyhead Harpies. My dad's Harry Potter." She shrank lower in her seat, cheeks burning.
"Blimey!" Rory said, eyes wide. "Those are your parents? Why didn't you mention it before? That's incredible!"
"I don't know," Lily mumbled, shrugging. "I guess I just didn't think it was important. You guys should like me for me, not my parents."
Rory shook his head. "We do like you for you! I didn't mean anything by what I said!"
"Yeah," Sam agreed. "We don't care who your parents are. It's just cool the way it turned out."
Lily smiled, and nodded, convinced. "All right."
Soon, the Great Hall was filled with the clatter of plates and silverware, and the happy chatter of students. Rory, Lily, and Sam became immersed in their toast and porridge, and didn't say another word for the rest of breakfast, mostly for the fact that their voices wouldn't have been heard over the clamor.
After revisiting the Gryffindor tower and collecting their Potions materials, the three headed down to the dungeon.
"Do you suppose all first years take the same classes at the same times?" Rory asked. "Or do you think it's just our house?"
"Well," Lily replied, "I think one of my brothers said that we have classes with one other house, but it's not always the same house. I think we have Herbology with the Hufflepuffs and Potions with the Slytherins, but that's all I remember."
Sam made a face. "The Slytherins? Ugh."
"I know," Lily replied, grimacing. "I really hope there was a scheduling error and Cepheus isn't with us."
To their dismay, there was no such scheduling error, but a very confused sixth year had been placed in their class, and had to go to Headmistress McGonagall's office to get things sorted out.
Running into the classroom, Rory, Sam, and Lily found that even though the bell hadn't rung, most of the class was already seated. Rory and Lily grabbed the nearest seats, and Sam sat next to them, but as soon as he sat on his chair, the old, rotted wood collapsed, and he was forced to find a new one. The only other seat was next to Cepheus Malfoy. Sam made a face, gagged, and sat down next to the pale Slytherin, who looked absolutely appalled that Sam was sitting next to him.
"What are you doing?!" Cepheus hissed.
Sam looked at him, trying to keep a blank expression. "Sitting down?" He replied.
"Go find another seat, mudblood." Cepheus spat.
Sam didn't reply. Hurt flashed across his face, and he turned to face forward, and didn't say another word for the rest of class. Lily, however, surprised herself with her knowledge.
"Does anyone know how many porcupine quills there are in the cure for boils?" Asked Professor Slughorn.
After a moment, Lily's hand shot up. She looked around, surprised to see that hers was the only hand raised.
"Yes, miss…?" Professor Slughorn looked at her.
"Potter, Professor." Lily replied, shifting in her seat.
"Ah, you look so much like your mother." He mused, smiling amicably.
"There are two porcupine quills in the potion, sir," Lily continued, remembering James complaining about how he could never remember how to make the simple potion.
"Very good, Miss Potter!" Professor Slughorn exclaimed, and Lily beamed.
"Now, as a bonus question, can you tell me how many nettles are used?" He continued, a glint in his eye.
Lily thought hard for a moment, racking her brain for when she'd read her copy of Magical Drafts and Potions, and what she'd heard James say.
"That's a trick question, sir," Lily answered slowly, crossing her fingers. "There isn't a set amount of nettles."
"That's correct! Five points to Gryffindor!" Replied Professor Slughorn, and Lily absolutely glowed. Rory gave her a high five.
However, when the class was actually practicing making the potion, one of Cepheus' friends, Gaius, threw a horned slug at her head, and she fumed for the rest of the class, wishing she knew her mother's famous Bat Bogey Hex. Lily was so angry with Gaius, but so excited about the rest of the day, that she completely messed up her potion, and it turned into a thick, black tar that gave off a horrible stink. Professor Slughorn was roaming the classroom, and when he reached a sweaty, confused Lily, he chuckled.
"Sorry, Professor," Lily mumbled, cheeks burning.
"That's quite all right," he replied with a smile. "Though next time, only add six snake fangs, not nine."
"Oh," Lily didn't meet his eyes. "Right."
Rory's potion, however, was perfect, it was even the correct color blue which neither Lily nor Sam could manage to create. It bubbled exquisitely, and Slughorn was ecstatic.
"Well done, my dear boy! Absolutely exquisite!" the professor clapped Rory on the shoulder, and he grinned.
"Thank you, sir," Rory replied happily.
"Good job," Lily whispered to him.
"Thanks, you, too," Rory replied.
Sam, however, was sitting and stirring his cauldron half-heartedly, a look on his face that could only be called a mixture of shame, offense, rage, and anguish. He swiped angrily at his eyes.
His cauldron frothed and smoked, but he didn't seem to notice or care. As the bell rang and the students hastily collected their books, Rory and Lily caught up with Sam, who was hastily walking out of the room, trying desperately to avoid Cepheus.
"Hey, what happened?" Lily turned her head to look at Sam, whose eyes were cast downward.
"Nothing," Sam muttered.
"Seriously, what happened? Are you all right?" Lily pushed.
"Yeah, Sam, you okay?" Rory asked his friend. "Whatever that little git said, it's not true."
"It is true," Sam sighed desperately.
"Just tell us, it can't be that bad," Lily said, dread spreading through her.
"He called me…" Sam drew in a shuddery breath. "He called me a mudblood. Even I know what that means. Dirty blood."
"No," Lily breathed, her eyes wide. She may have been young, but she knew the seriousness of the term "mudblood". It wasn't what you'd called sophisticated. It was a rude, vulgar term.
"That ruddy little wanker," Rory's eyes flamed.
Lily fumed. She might have only met these boys yesterday, but they were the closest things she had to friends outside her cousins, and anyone insulting them would have to deal with her.