Chapter Four:

And We Embark…

Severus hurried down the corridor of the Hogwarts Express. Entering a compartment, he saw Lily, relieved.

Except she was crying.

"I don't want to talk to you."

Surprised, he asked, "Why not?"

Sobbing, Lily told him, "Tuney h-hates me. Because we saw that letter from Dumbledore."

"So what?" Severus replied insensitively.

With an angry glare, she shot back, "So she's my sister!"

"She's only a…"

But before he finished, he caught himself, sitting down across from her, by the window. Lily didn't hear him as she wiped her eyes in an attempt at inconspicuous.

Exhilarated, Severus changed the subject, saying, "But we're going! This is it! We're off to Hogwarts!"

A partial smile lit up Lily's face as Severus exclaimed, "You'd better be in Slytherin."

A boy sitting at the other end by the door with black hair snorted, "Slytherin? Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"

The boy at whom he directed the question, a rather dog-like one, didn't smile as he said, "My whole family have been in Slytherin."

"Blimey. And I thought you seemed all right!" the first boy exclaimed as the second smiled finally.

"Maybe I'll break the tradition," the second speculated. "Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?"

As if he had a sword, the first raised his hand, saying, " 'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart.' Like my dad."

Severus gave a noise of disgust.

"Got a problem with that?"

"No," Severus sneered. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy…"

"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" interrupted the second boy.

Both burst into taunting laughter.

Angrily, Lily insisted, "Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment."

"Ooooooo…"

Both boys mimicked her as they left.

Before the door slammed, one of them called, "See ya, Snivellus!"

Instead of following Lily to another compartment, Severus sank down against the wall.

"Who are they?"

Lily didn't reply. She sat down beside him as a girl walked towards them.

"Hi! I'm Minerva. I'm a 6th year."

"I'm Lily and this is Severus. We're first years."

Minerva took one look at the compartment and told them, "That's James Potter and Sirius Black. Ignore them, they're as arrogant as anything."

Seeing their surprised faces, she added, "Sirius vacations down the street from me and Mr. Potter works with my dad."

She looked again at them and said, "Come with me. You can sit in my compartment."

Lily stood up and helped Severus up. They followed Minerva down to the first compartment. Inside were two people, a boy and a girl.

"This is Lily and Severus!" she introduced them to the others.

"I'm Arthur Weasley."

"He's a first year, too. She's a third year," Minerva explained, pointing to the girl.

"Oh, hello. I'm Sybill," the girl announced in a dreamy voice before going back to her upside-down book.

Severus and Lily sat down next to Arthur, across from Minerva and Sybill.

"So," Minerva began, very businesslike.

They waited for her to continue.

After a few moments pause, she started interrogating them.

"What happened with Potter and Black?"

Lily quickly replayed the situation and, when she had finished, immediately regretted it.

Severus sank down, slumping against Lily's shoulder as Arthur exclaimed, "Slytherin?!"

Minerva held up her hand to silence him, saying, "We all have your preferences. Don't judge him simply because his preference is not Gryffindor."

"But, Slytherin, Minerva! You-Know-Who himself…"

"Enough, Arthur!"

In a small voice, Lily asked, "What's Slytherin?"

An awkward silence fell over the group. Even Sybill looked up from her book. Then everyone started laughing, except Lily, who blushed.

Severus gave Lily a sympathetic smile between spurts of laughter as Minerva explained, "The four Hogwarts houses are Gryffindor for the brave, Ravenclaw for the brilliant, Slytherin for the powerful, and Hufflepuff for… everyone else."

Lily noted Minerva didn't seem to think much of those in Hufflepuff. Sybill glared at Minerva, obviously a Hufflepuff herself.

Suddenly, Lily understood why Severus liked Slytherin: raised impoverished and powerless, being as prestigious as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named looked appealing.

Minerva cried, "Lily, you need to put on your robes!"

Indeed, Lily saw she was the only one still in her street clothes. As if on cue, Arthur led Severus from the room.

As Lily struggled into her uniform, Minerva adopted a gossipy tone and asked, "So, what's with you and him?"

Almost immediately, suspiciously, Lily replied, "Who, Severus? He's just my best friend. We live near each other."

There was a small hesitation, then Minerva asked, "I'm curious: are you 'pureblood'?"

It took her a moment to realize what she meant, then relied, "No, I'm Muggle-bor. Does it make a difference?"

Again, the older girl hesitated before telling Lily, "Not really, but there are those specific people, mostly Slytherins, who despise anyone who isn't a pureblood. "What's Severus?"

"Oh, him? You'll have to ask him that question."

"You're a great friend."

At that moment, Lily opened the door, feeling strange in her robes. Arthur and Severus came in as a voice announced their arrival to Hogsmede Village, saying to leave their luggage, it would be taken care of.

"Well, here we are!" Arthur exclaimed.

As they exited the train, they heard a voice call, "Firs' years!"

Minerva explained, "That's Hagrid. He was expelled his third year. No one knows why. He's harmless. Don't worry."

She and Sybill hurried off in the opposite direction, leaving Arthur, Lily, and Severus standing on the platform.

"Shall we?" Arthur asked.

The three walked awkwardly to the huge man with the bushy beard. He looked hardly older than Minerva, though he was much bigger.

"Well, hullo, there. I'm Rubeus Hagrid. Keeper of the Keys and Grounds here a' Hogwarts," he introduced in his rough accent once the first years were alone on the platform.

He led them to a gigantic lake where a fleet of rowboats floated.

"No more'n four ter a boat!"

Arthur, Severus, and Lily scrambled for a boat, followed by a rather bookish looking girl who introduced herself as Ellenora.

"I prefer Elle though," she pointedly insisted.

In the next boat, Black, Potter, and two other boys, one rather gray and tired, the other short and clingy-looking, rowdily boarded.

Hagrid, who sat alone in his own boat, shouted, "Everyone in? Okay- FORWARD!"

The boats began moving at once. It was then that Lily noticed the towering castle.

"Wow! It's beautiful!"

Indeed, the lights lip up the once-morbid castle, making it cheery, yet intimidating.

"Heads down!" Hagrid yelled as they reached the cliff upon which the castle stood.

A curtain of vines hid a passageway through the cliff. Under the castle they sailed until a small harbor of sorts was visible. They climbed out, saying nothing as they followed Hagrid out of the underground tunnel into the lawn before the school. Up the stone steps to the oak door the clambered.

Hagrid knocked three times on the front door and they watched as if swung open.

"Merlin's Beard! What is it?" screamed Potter.