Summary- Going into second year. More pranks, spilled secrets, and major problems. So is the life of Lily Potter and her friends as she continues her adventure at Hogwarts. This year could be a little more exciting than they had expected. Be sure to keep a light on. Sequel to The Next Generation.
Disclaimer- I am not J. K. Rowling, and I never will be. I am merely a poor 15-year-old that writes fanfictions in her free time. Although I do claim all characters/settings you have never heard of before. And I own the plot.
Dark Wolf of Teros- Well, James is a bit of a little kid. In the cute, adorable way. Well, you're obviously closest. You're the only one that guessed. lol Actual birthday at bottom.
Wolf's scream- I kinda think Lily's the type of person that, on the playground as a little kid, if you made fun of her name, she would not hesitate to beat you up. Yay! Lindsey avoided grammatical errors for once! lol

Chapter 3- Daydreaming

The next few days flew by and before I knew it, it was September first, the day we always went back to school (and I mean always. Since the school opened.). Everyone was running around the house, picking up last minutes robes and ties and throwing them into their trunk.

"Why can't the train leave at one or two instead of eleven?" James complained as we all piled into the car (which had magically expanded so that we could all fit in).

"Because then we wouldn't get there until the middle of the night," I said.

"And all us girls would have to listen to all the boys groaning about how hungry they are," Grace teased from the front seat. "Which we have to do anyways, but it would be even worse."

"Hey, it's not our fault we need food," Sirius said. "We're growing boys. Right, James?"

"Right," James agreed.

We pulled into the station about half an hour later. By the time we all had our stuff loaded onto a trolley and reached the barrier between platforms nine and ten, it was 10:45.

"Okay," Dad said (Mum had already gone to school since none of us were starting that year). "Grace, you go first."

"Bye, Dad," she said, giving him a quick hug. "We'll be home for Christmas." She ran at the barrier between the two platforms and disappeared.

"James and Allie, why don't you two go on ahead? Lily will be there in a minute."

The three of us exchanged looks, but James just shrugged it off. "See you at Christmas," and he disappeared.

"Thanks for letting me stay, Mr. Potter," Allie said.

"It was no problem, Allie," Dad said kindly, smiling at her. Allie turned and ran at the barrier, leaving me with Dad and Sirius.

"Dad, I've got a meeting-" Sirius started.

"This won't take long," Dad said, pulling a small package out of his pocket. "Now, I want you two to be especially careful this year. With the death eaters out and on the loose, they'll be looking. Sirius, watch all of your siblings." Sirius nodded. "And Lily…"

I stared at him, waiting for it. 'Be careful, be safe, don't do anything stupid, don't tell anyone about the prophecy, don't tell anyone about your dreams, tell your mum or your aunt if you need anything…'

Instead he just handed me the package. I looked at it before looking back up at him. "What's this for?"

"That's for all your dreams this year," Dad explained. "Since you seem to have them before something happens, it could a different type of Seeing. Just make sure you write down all the details you can remember." I rolled my eyes, but pocketed it anyway. "And I want you to keep the other part with you at all times," Dad added.

Before I could ask what he was talking about, Sirius started pushing me towards the barrier. "See you later, Dad!" Sirius pushed me all the way through the barrier before letting go. "Do you need some help finding a seat or-"

"I've got it, Si," I said. "Go find Ashley."

He grinned. "Alright, just making sure," he said before running off (or as well as you can while pushing a trolley) towards the prefects' compartment.

I sighed and took a quick look around the platform before pushing my trolley towards the end of the train, looking for the other two. I found them near the end of the train and quickly loaded my stuff as the whistle blew.

"What took you?" Allie asked, glancing up from the chessboard in front of her.

"Dad," I said simply, throwing myself onto the seat across from Alex, who was watching Allie and James play wizards' chess. I glanced over at the chessboard. "Save your knight, James."

"I didn't see that," Alex commented.

"I told you I didn't want your help," James said, moving his knight out of harm. "Not that she's much better." I rolled my eyes, grinning anyway. He had a point. "What did Dad want?"

"He wanted to give me something," I said.

"Our birthday was last week," James said.

"Not that kind of something," I said. "Something to put my dreams in, he said." I suddenly remembered the other part. "And to keep the other part with me at all times."

"What's that supposed to mean?" James asked, looking up at me.

"I dunno, I haven't opened it yet." I pulled the package out of my pocket and looked at it before shrugging and putting it back in my pocket. "I'll open it when we get to school."

After Allie beat James (badly) at wizards' chess, we played a few games of Exploding Snap. Allie decided just to watch after about the fifth game. She pulled something I recognized as a muggle notebook and a pencil out. Alex stared at it.

"What's that?"

"This?" Allie asked, holding them up. "A notebook and a pencil. Haven't you ever seen a pencil before?"

Alex shook his head. "I told you, my mum taught us everything. What are they for?"

"Muggle version of parchment and a quill," I said, carefully watching the cards.

"Oh," Alex said. He laid down a card and they all exploded. I giggled as he rubbed his slightly singed eyebrows. "Oh, shut up," he said.

When the train finally pulled into the station, the clouds were dark and it looked like it might rain at any minute. We all ran to the cover of some horseless carriages just as the sky opened up and it started to pour.

"We're not measly little first years anymore," Alex said happily as the carriage jerked and started up the drive to school.

"Do you know anyone that's getting sorted?" Allie asked.

"Nope," I said. "Our cousin's getting sorted in few years, though."

"The little hyper kid at Quality Quidditch Supplies?" Allie asked.

James and I laughed. "Yeah, that little hyper kid," I said. "That's Amanda's little brother."

"I figured," Allie said. "When does he start?"

"Three years, I think," James said.

"That's when my little sister'll start," Allie said. "And my brother the year after that. Assuming, of course, that they are magical."

"You guys all have big families," Alex said. "Both my parents are only children, and all I've got an older brother." He made a face. "He's captain of the Quidditch team and a prefect. I'm just glad he's not Head Boy."

"Sounds like Sirius," James said. "There's no way Sirius could be Head Boy. He gets in too much trouble."

The carriage stopped and we all jumped out and ran for the Entrance Hall. Even though we ran, we all got soaked anyways. I slid to a stop to avoid running into anyone. Unfortunately, some people can't stop as fast as I can.

"Hey!" I yelled as James slid into Alex, who slid into me, knocking both of us to the floor. "Ouch."

"Sorry," Alex muttered, standing up. I pulled myself up and glared at James. James grinned and shrugged innocently.

"Watch out, coming through!" Kevin called as he, Ben, and Sirius all pushed their way past us.

"Why do I have the feeling we need to stay out of their way?" I said, not really asking anybody.

"Because you know our brother, our cousin, and their best friend too well," James said.

We pushed our way to the Great Hall and sat at the Gryffindor table. Cody Tanner, one of the boys in our year, was already sitting. "Hey, guys," he said brightly. "Have a nice summer?"

I opened my mouth to answer as shrieks came from the Entrance Hall. "Quick, Sirius, Kevin, or Ben?" James asked, turning to me.

"Um… Kevin," I said.

James shook his head as a yell carried from the Entrance Hall. "What did you three think you were doing! You could have hurt someone!"

"All three of them," Alex said, sounding impressed. "Must've been big."

"It's always big with them," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Must run in the family," Allie muttered.

James put his hand over his heart dramatically. "I'm hurt. You say that like it's a bad thing." He put his hand down. "And it's always big because they figure, if you going to do it, you might as well do it right."

At that moment, everyone near the doors to the Great Hall got quiet. We looked up to see a line of first years walking in behind Aunt Hermione. I wondered if we looked that nervous before we were sorted (although I'm pretty sure we weren't that wet). Everyone's attention turned to the hat at the front of the Hall. Just as the brim opened, everything seemed to go out of focus.

I blinked and different pictures started zooming before my eyes. It was kind of like the commercials for movies we used to watch at primary school sometimes, showing clips of different parts of a movie or something.

One part showed Aunt Hermione standing at the front of the hall like she was now, holding a roll of parchment in her hands. Everything around her seemed hazy, though, like whoever was showing it to you wanted to make sure you focused on her. Another part was focused on a younger Professor McGongall doing the same thing and the third part was focused on the hat.

The three parts seemed to blur together. I was pretty sure I heard Aunt Hermione saw "Potter," like she was calling one of us to be sorted. And I think the Professor McGongall said "Megan," like it was someone's first name and I just missed the last name. Then the pictures slowed and focused on the hat. I couldn't see the person who was being sorted, but I saw the brim open and yell "RAVENCLAW!"

Suddenly, I was back in the Great Hall (not that I'd ever really left it, but you know). Everyone was clapping. "When I call your names, please come forward and place the hat on your head to be sorted," Aunt Hermione told the first years. "Appleby, Katlyn." But I wasn't paying any attention. What just happened?

James elbowed me every time someone got sorted into Gryffindor so that I would start clapping. After everyone was sorted and food had appeared on the tables, he turned to me. "Are you okay?"

I seriously considered saying yes, but decided he would know I was lying anyways and it was just easier to go ahead and tell him. "No, I'll explain later."

He nodded. I could tell how worried he was even without being an E.L. (Extended Legilimens).

"I'll talk to you later," Cody said to us, having seen his two best friends, Matt Finnigan and Rory O'Conner. He got up and moved down the table to where they were.

James immediately turned to me. "Well?"

"Later, alright?" I snapped. Allie and Alex were both watching us, but I really didn't care. I at least wanted me to know what was going on before I told the other three. "Alex," I said warningly.

"Sorry," he muttered, not really looking sorry. He's an E.L. too, and a lot more advance than I was since he had known about it longer. Instead of just being able to read emotions like I could, he could read thoughts too. Well, with certain people anyway. Me being one of them, naturally.

Everyone else was piling food onto their plate, but I wasn't hungry. Did that mean I had a relative I didn't know about that was going to be sorted into Ravenclaw? Because I'd always been told all the Potters were sorted into Gryffindor. Actually, all my family I knew was in Gryffindor, except for my cousins Percy and Danielle. Well, and Claire and Laura, but they didn't go to Hogwarts.

Just trying to figure it out made my head hurt.

Professor McGongall stood up. "A few start of the term announcements before you go to bed. I would like everyone to remember that the Forbidden Forest is off-limits-"

"As in… forbidden?" I asked quietly.

"No!" Alex exclaimed quietly in mock surprise. "You mean the Forbidden Forest is actually forbidden?"

"- Quidditch try-outs will be a week from Saturday. Please speak to your captains for an exact time. This year there will be an Alumni Quidditch League for people who have already graduated from Hogwarts."

Alex and James gave each other a high five.

"They will occasionally be using our Pitch and will eat in here before every game so that you can have a chance to speak with them. All matches will take place in Hogmeade Stadium. If you have a signed permission form to go to Hogsmeade, you are also allowed to attend the matches. Dismissed!"

Everyone stood up and we made our way past the confused looking first years and the shouting prefects to the Entrance Hall. Instead of taking the 'long way,' as we called it, we took a couple of shortcuts that most people didn't know about. The path they showed the first years may be the most direct, but it wasn't the fastest.

"So… What happened in there?" James asked cautiously.

"I have no idea," I said. "Made my head hurt, though."

"I didn't know the sorting hat made up a new song every year," Allie said.

"It gives it something to do," Alex said. "Has to be pretty boring life-"

"Don't finish that," I threatened. All three of them looked at me in confusion. "You were going to say has to be a pretty boring life being a hat, weren't you?"

"Yeah," Alex said slowly.

"Okay, my life just officially got too weird," I announced. "I can predict the future by having dreams about the past. Fantastic."

"You can predict the future by… What?"

"Never mind," I muttered. We stopped in front of the portrait of the fat lady.

"Um… Anyone know the password?" Allie asked.

"Quaffle," Alex and I said at the same time. The portrait hole swung open.

"I have strange friends," Allie said, shaking her head and climbing through the hole. We laughed and followed her. Allie and I went up the stairs to our dorms and James and Alex went up another set of stairs to their dorm.

Amanda and Jessica Brooke, Amanda's best friend, were already there. "Hey," Jess said brightly. "Have a good summer?"

"It was alright," Allie said with a shrug. "How about you?"

"Pretty good, but I missed magic," Jess said. "All of you live with at least one person that can do magic. I'm the only person that can do magic at my house, and I can't even do it legally."

"Why are there only four trunks?" I asked, looking at the trunks at the ends of the beds.

"Brianna asked to be moved," Amanda said, scowling. "She's in the other dorm." Brianna Caster was one of the Gryffindors girls in our year. There were a total of eight girls, so there was no way we could all fit in the same dorm. During the year before, Brianna had started to hang out with people in other houses more than she hung out with us. Which was fine with me (we weren't close).

"You're kidding," I said, surprised. "Why?"

"Dunno," Jess said. She giggled. "We decided she's scared of us."

"Really, what did we ever do to her?" Allie asked. "I mean, it's not like we ever hexed her." She turned to me, frowning. "You didn't, did you?"

"Why do you think I was the one that scared her away?" I asked.

"Because, out of the four of us, you'd be the most likely to scare someone away," Jess said, giggling again.

"Thanks, Jess," I said, grinning. "No, I didn't hex her. If she wants to hang around Slytherins, that's her decision. But don't expect me to be friends with her."

"We'd never dream of it, Lils," Amanda said, laughing.

&&&&&&&&&

Aw, you guys are party poopers. You're too lazy to even post a reply saying 'Me thinks their birthday iz August …' (Yes, the awful English was on purpose.) It's not that hard, guys. But anyway… Her birthday is August 20, 2004. So Lily is one year old today. Yay! lol Anyway. hands cookies to Dark Wolf There you go. Enjoy.

Come on, guys. REVIEW! Please. I'm asking nicely. I know you're out there. I'm on at least four different people's favorite list for this story alone. If you're not going to read this, take me off. If you are reading this, why aren't you reviewing? Where ARE you? Ahem. Right. Anyway. Please review. It really doesn't take much time. I'll even answer your reply personally if you leave a review. pleading look