A PEACE OF LILY'S MIND

"Yeah!" Thiviya said loudly with relief as she leapt up from her stool and walked over to the Gryffindor table.

"Dibiki!" squealed Vivekka and she was so excited that her hair changed from dark purple to baby blue.

After high fiving all of her friends and cousin she sat between Vivekka and Winthya. When the sorting of the last few names continued, Mathavan returned to slouching on the table. Manoj was hungry too as his stomach rumbled but he didn't give in to his stomach's aches as easily as Mathavan did. Lily shook her head at the sight of the top of Mathavan's head on the table.

Ashley Zoroark got sorted into Hufflepuff and Professor McGonagall stepped forward and raised her head to speak. "Now that the sorting is over I won't deprive you, especially Mr Sonic..."

Mathavan's head shot up, for a second time that evening, at the sound of his name which brought about a few breakouts of laughter throughout the hall. "...of food anymore. Let the feast begin. Dig in!" And with that she clapped her hands twice and a wide variety of hot food appeared in front of them.

"Oh boy!" said Mathavan loudly as his words echoed throughout the hall causing a quiet eruption of chuckles around the room.

"So what were you two talking about?" Manoj asked Lily so quietly that only she could hear looking from Mathavan to her. Mathavan had just taken a mouthful out of a chicken leg and was slowly chewing with his cheeks bulging and took no notice of Vivekka while she was staring at him with disgust as he eyed the leg piece in his hand with a deep look of hunger.

"I just wanted to see how he was coping with things at home. Vithiyaa told me about their father being admitted from the hospital," Lily lied.

"Oh right yeah," replied Manoj.

"The chicken isn't going anywhere you know!" they heard Vivekka say loudly as Mathavan took another chunk of a bite out of his chicken piece.

"Uh know. Buh um 'ungry," he managed to say even with his mouth so full.

"Ewwww!" shouted Vivekka now turning herself away so that she faced Vivian next to her.

Vivian began to laugh along with Winthya and Thiviya.

"Oh my god. I love these noodles!" said Vithiyaa.

Priya looked at her excitedly.

"They're better than the ones from the restaurants at home," she added.

"Hogwarts food is always better," admitted Manega,

"Yeah!" agreed Vithiyaa.

"Apparently its house elves who make this food," said Rathika. "I read it in my History of Magic textbook."

"You've already read the textbook?" asked Thiviya. "I haven't read anything!"

"You don't have to read your books because you're going to get taught it anyway," said Winthya. "But it does help if you do a bit of reading before the lessons."

"Now you tell me! Some big sister you turned out to be," snapped Thiviya.

"Hey! It's only your first day. Chillax dude," said Winthya.

"I'm a dudette," Thiviya corrected her sister.

"Whatever dudette," Winthya said in a tone that showed that she was hurting over the comment about her being a bad older sister.

"Look at Kiri and Romesh," whispered Arun seriously into Mathavan's ear.

He looked over at the Slytherin table to see Kiri enjoying his food next to Romesh who was picking off his chicken leg with a fork and a knife who were sitting nowhere near to Clement, Scorpius and their usual henchmen. Vivian looked up to see what Arun and Mathavan were examining.

"It looks like they've had a fight," Arun whispered.

"Or they finally realised Yaxley smells worse than Slughorn's butt," said Vivian.

"Or that," Mathavan agreed loudly amongst the laughter of his cousins and friends close by.

"It's none of our business though and it'll be a waste of time and brain cells if we ponder about the Slytherins for any longer," said Manoj.

"Here, here," Mathavan responded loudly as he raised his goblet of pumpkin juice.

"Vivee," called Vivekka.

"Yeah?" replied Vivian.

"Pass the bread loaf please."

"Okay," he said giggling sneakily and he threw what was left of the bread loaf as high as he could in the air. The loaf of bread spun in midair for a few seconds.

"Choppingo!"

A purple beam of light from Vivekka's want hit the bread and cut it into fine slices and landed softly on her golden food plate.

"Mr Bomberman and Miss Vulpix! Food isn't something to be played with and certainly shouldn't be used to show off magic. Then points will be taken from Gryffindor," Professor Slughorn said loudly.

Vithiyaa nudged Priya and gestured in the direction of the staff table. Professor Weasley usually had a pleasant look on her face whit lit up any room she entered but at that moment she looked on angrily and disappointedly at Vivian and Vivekka.

"She doesn't look pleased," said Priya.

"No," Vithiyaa agreed.

"She told me she expected to win the House Cup last year. She must've taken the loss pretty hard when Slytherin beat Ravenclaw by three hundred points to put them above us," explained Manega.

"So she's disappointed that she's into minus points before the school year's even started?" asked Rathika.

"I guess so," agreed her sister.

Vithiyaa had lost interest in what her cousins were saying as she was gazing intently at a girl on the Slytherin table. She saw Nikita point in her direction and whisper something to her friends who then laughed. Vithiyaa then remembered what her brother told her once before:

'Whether you know or don't know what's being said behind your back, a second spent worrying about it is a second of your life wasted.'

Manega's attention also diverted towards the Slytherins when Nikita pointed at Vithiyaa.

"Don't worry Vithiyaa. They're just a bunch of losers," said Manega as Nikita's friends continued to giggle.

Vithiyaa smiled.

"Yeah I know," she said cheerfully. "I don't care about what they have to say."

Manega looked at her for a few seconds and knew that Vithiyaa meant every word.

All students had finished with their enjoyable scrumptious meals apart from Mathavan who had just stuffed a sausage roll into his surprisingly spacious mouth and was reaching out for a slice of ham and mushroom quiche. Professor McGonagall stepped up to the podium at the front of the Great Hall. She clapped her hands once and all the food on the tables vanished. The slice of quiche in Mathavan's hand had also disappeared while he took a bite out of fresh air and then sobbed as he gazed at his hand in despair with his watery eyes sparkling.

"Welcome to the new first years and to those students returning, welcome back. I hope you all enjoyed the feast as much as I did and I hope your holidays were enjoyable just as mine were."

Mathavan still looked like he was about to cry. His sister, cousins, Vivian and Priya were all either putting their greatest efforts into preventing themselves from laughing or were chuckling silently.

"A new year has been brought upon us and it couldn't have come any sooner. Now, for the start-of-term notices.

"First-years should note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils hence why it is called the Forbidden Forest. Our older students would do well to remember the name of the forest mind you."

McGonagall's eyes swept the Great Hall quicker than a click of a finger.

"Mr Filch has requested me to inform you that magic is not permitted in corridors between classes, nor are a number of things, all of which are on a list for your viewing on the door of Mr Filch's office.

"Tryouts for the house Quidditch teams will take place during the second week of term."

Mathavan had a hungry expression on his face now which, for once, had nothing to do with food. The expression was similar to Lily's, Manoj's and Winthya's and they smiled in sync as the headmaster mentioned Quidditch.

"Those interested should contact Madam Hooch. I won't keep you any longer now. Make sure you all get a relaxing night's sleep before your first day! Good night to you all!"

McGonagall sat down again and turned to talk to Professor Weasley. There was a great scraping and banging as all the students got to their feet and swarmed towards the double doors into the Entrance Hall.

"Looking forward to the tryouts guys?" Mathavan asked as he got up from his seat.

"Hell yeah!" Arun shouted.

"I don't see what you're all excited about, Rayman. The house cup will be ours again!" called out Clement Yaxley while breaking out of the crowd effortlessly so he could be seen.

"We'll see about that Yakkie," said Mathavan looking at him with great dislike.

"Try not to get your butts whooped by us again though," he added.

"That game didn't mean anything. We still won the house cup," Clement argued back.

"While losing to Gryffindor.." Vivian laughed after he made his point.

"Shut it, you," said Yaxley as he started towards Vivian but Mathavan moved in between.

"Got a problem with taking the truth from a younger eh?" Mathavan taunted him.

"What's going on here then?" said Hagrid loudly as he grabbed both Clement and Mathavan by the collar, one dangling from each hand. "Will yer two never learn? Fightin' won' solve nothin'. It's the firs' day back fer cryin' ou' loud!"

Mathavan just hung there from Hagrid's right hand awkwardly, keeping still and blushed as he caught Stephanie's gaze while Clement continued to struggle in mid-air.

"My father will hear about this," he said.

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before yer lil' runt. Bet he won't be too pleased tha' yer causin' trouble in the middle of the Great Hall of all places.

"Now I ain' gonna give you detention terday 'specially with poor Hermi- , I mean Professor Weasley worryin' abou' bein' in minus points already." Hagrid raised his eyebrows as he turned to look at Vivian and Vivekka but returned his attention to Mathavan and Clement as soon as he'd seen the ashamed look on their faces.

"Sorry Hagrid. It won't happen again," said Mathavan.

"Good."

"In public," Mathavan muttered under his breath.

"I heard tha'! Look I'm gonna let yers two down now and I wan' yer ter apologise and go off ter yer dorms like good kids."

Hagrid placed them back on the floor and Clement looked as if he would jump off a cliff before apologising first. Mathavan smiled.

"Sorry Clement," he said confidently but without meaning it. Clement hesitated.

"Sorry...Mathavan."

And with that he stormed off towards the staircase leading down towards the Slytherin common room.

"I din't think he was gonna apologise there. Ah well, there's a firs' fer everythin' eh? Now get ter bed yeh lot! Manarj, Winthya, Lily! What're yeh still doin' here! Don't yeh have prefect duty with the firs' years?"

"Oh yeah. See ya in a bit guys. Thiviya, Priya, Rathika, come on let's go," Manoj said as he turned quickly after Lily and Winthya. "Gryffindor first years this way!" they heard Lily and Winthya call out. A blonde haired boy, who was apparently a fifth year prefect, followed them.

"Good night Hagrid!" the rest of them said to him as he headed towards the door leading to the grounds where his cabin stood.

"G'nigh!" he called back.

"Anna! Why are you always getting into fights?" asked Vithiyaa as she, Manega, Vivekka, Vivian, Arun and her brother made their way to the Gryffindor common room while Stephanie walked with them until the turn to the Ravenclaw tower came up.

"He was gonna jinx Vivian!"

"I can take care of myself," Vivian protested.

"Fair enough. I'll just be a spectator then next time, shall I?"

"But Hagrid's right, Momo. You can't fight every time you see Yaxley," Stephanie pleaded. "You're captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and you need to be a role model to those who look up to you. Besides you've enjoyed making him look like a fool enough times. Be the better man, ignore him now and just walk away."

"Well said," Vivekka whispered over her shoulder to Manega, Priya and Vithiyaa. The girls seemed to agree as they nodded their heads looking impressed.

Mathavan absorbed every word. He then started to reminisce back to when Lily's brother, James was captain. Not only did he stay out of trouble but he never sought a fight nor did he even confront those who were rude to him. Zabini and Montague the former and current Slytherin captains during Mathavan's and Manoj's time at Hogwarts always were in detention for starting something or other.

Manega started to giggle and gestured at Mathavan to her cousins who then copied her. Mathavan had a confused expression on his face with his eyebrows contracted, his nose scrunched up and his mouth slightly ajar and was completely oblivious to the giggles echoing around the corridor.

"You're right Stephanie. I have to change for the better."

"You don't have to change completely," said Vivekka. "Just don't be angry."

Mathavan laughed.

"Okay. Thanks guys. I really needed that," he said appreciatively.

They approached the staircase leading to the Ravenclaw Tower.

"Have a good night everyone," said Stephanie while starting to walk backwards up the stairs waving down at the others.

"Hold on. I'll come up with you. I'll see you guys in the morning okay?" Mathavan told them.

"Awww," squeaked Vivekka quietly to herself at Mathavan's decision to accompany Stephanie.

"Sure thing mate," said Arun. "Good night!"

The others bid them farewells before continuing to their common room.

Meanwhile Albus Potter, who was the newly appointed head boy of Hogwarts, was leading the single file of Gryffindor first-years to their dormitories. The prefects were equally spaced out so that two or three first-years were equipped with each prefect. Winthya was walking next to Thiviya and a rather chubby dark haired boy, Manoj next to Rathika, a blonde girl and a brown haired boy and Lily next to Priya and a small oriental boy. The blonde haired fifth year prefect was accompanying two kids at the back of the line while newly appointed head girl, Rawfiah Charizard, was walking with three first-years.

"So Priya, I spoke to McGonagall and we were able to arrange the sharing of dormitories so that me, you, Vithiyaa, Winthya and another first year, Hayley Longbottom, are all in one room. How does that sound?" whispered Lily.

"That sounds great! Thanks Lily," replied Priya.

"Don't mention it. If you ever need anything don't hesitate to ask me okay? We're roomies now," Lily said beaming filling Priya with confidence in her.

"Okay Lily. I won't," Priya replied smiling back.

Albus, the blonde-haired fifth year and Manoj lead the boys to their dormitories while Rawfiah, Lily and Winthya did the same with the girls. Thiviya, Rathika, Priya and Hayley Finnigan, who had beautiful, shiny, curly blonde hair that sat perfectly on her shoulders, were the last girls left to be shown to their rooms.

"Okay Hayley and Priya, this is our room," said Winthya as she unlocked the door with her want and opened it to find Vithiyaa unpacking.

"Hello," she said smiling enthusiastically as she was storing her textbooks onto the shelf above her bed.

"Hey," said Priya happily entering.

Hayley's "Hi," was barely audible. She was looking nervous and shy.

"Make yourselves feel right at home and I'll be back as soon as I sign out of prefect duty," said Winthya before she closed the door and left to join Lily in showing Rathika and Thiviya, who were sharing with Vivekka, Manega and Rawfiah, to their room.

"Vithiyaa this is Hayley. Hayley, Vithiyaa," said Priya.

"Hey Hayley. I'm in my second year. You must be looking forward to tomorrow. Even I am. I love it here."

"Yes my parents speak very highly about Hogwarts. I must say I'm pleased to have received the invitation," revealed Hayley.

Soon enough Hayley warmed up to Vithiyaa and Priya before Winthya and Lily joined them shortly after and they all got to know Hayley more and did everything they could to make her feel that Hogwarts was her second home just like it was for them.

In the other room Rawfiah had just returned from prefect duty to find Vivekka, Thiviya, Manega and Rathika all in their beds although fully awake.

"Hey!" and "Hi there," were the calls from the occupants of the beds.

"Hi," said Rawfiah dully in a bored voice.

"Umm..I'm Vivekka. Over there is Thiv.." but she got interrupted.

"Look I didn't ask to be here okay!" exclaimed Rawfiah. "You'd think being head girl and all that I would have my own room but obviously not. And now I have to share with a bunch of troublemakers who get Gryffindor into minus points at the start of the year. Talk about a great welcome to Hogwarts." Rawfiah paused to glare at Vivekka who looked stunned more than anything.

"I'm sorry." Vivekka's apology came out as a whisper.

"I don't want to hear it," Rawfiah retorted. "I just want to go to sleep."

She walked over to her bed and leapt into it pulling the covers over her and an awkward silence filled the room.

Vivekka thought about the look Professor Weasley gave her when Slughorn took the points from Gryffindor and then thought about what Rawfiah had said. She knew she made the mistake as soon as Slughorn had punished her and Vivian and had been regretting her actions ever since. 'Why am I still being punished?' she thought to herself. But then she heard a voice in her head.

"Vivekka?"

'This is weird' she thought.

"It's Lily and yeah I know it's weird but I can communicate with people I know telepathically."

"Wow Lily! That is uber cool!"

"I know right?"

"So can you read people's minds?"

"No I can't. It's hard to explain why not but I can only have conversations with people. How are you doing?"

"Umm...I'm okay I guess."

"Hey listen, Professor Weasley is just worried that her eldest son hasn't got a job yet. Yeah she is a little worried about Gryffindor being in minus points but she'll get over that because she knows that once we started winning Quidditch matches it wouldn't even matter. So don't worry," Lily explained

"That's not even the half of it though," thought Vivekka and she went on to explain about what happened with Rawfiah.

"Ahh don't listen to her, Bubbles. She's just being an idiot. She'll come around, I know she will. I've spoken to her a couple of times over the years and she's alright really. She's probably just going through a frough patch and needs time to calm down. Listen you have nothing to worry about, trust me. Don't let what anyone says get you down. You know you're mistake so just forget about it now. It's not even a big deal. You've got more important things to worry about like you're OWL exams at the end of the year!"

"You're right. I hear you Lily. Thanks a lot."

"No problemo. I'm pretty beat now so I'm going to get some sleep. I'll see you down at breakfast. Good night Bubbles."

"Good night Lily!" and with that Vivekka fell into a peaceful slumber.

Manoj unlocked the door to his dormitory to find Arun and Vivian sitting on their beds conversing in full flow.

"But what about when the wind's blowing and the bludger diverts into your path?" asked Vivian.

"That's when your reflexes come into place. Dodge it. Duck or fly over it. You have to be quick if you want to be a good Chaser," advised Arun.

"Where's Mathavan?" asked Manoj.

"Where else would he be?" Arun asked back.

"Stephanie?"

"Yup."

"I wonder how he doesn't get seen by anyone in the Ravenclaw Tower," speculated Vivian aloud.

"Lily lets him borrow her invisibility cloak and it works like a charm," said Manoj smiling.

"I thought you enjoyed Yaxley being jinxed," said Mathavan sitting on the comfortable couch in the middle of the Ravenclaw common room snuggled up with Stephanie under the invisibility cloak in front of the lilac flames burning in the fireplace.

"I found it funny when we were young. Now it's just getting old and out of hand," Stephanie complained.

"Alright keep your hair on, I was just saying. Don't worry I'll just ignore him from now on. And be the better man," he replied.

"You better," she whispered tiredly resting her head on his shoulder.

"Stephanie I need to talk to you about something," Mathavan said urgently.

"Well, what is it?"

"I don't mind...," he said slowly. "...us getting all close and stuff when we're alone. But I feel uncomfortable when you sit right up next to me in front of the others."

"Why? We're in love aren't we?" she asked dreamily.

Mathavan cringed at the word 'love'.

"Aren't we?" she asked again more seriously.

"Err yeah, sure," he said quickly and unconvincingly. "But I just.."

"You just what?" she asked a little angrily and lifting her head up and loosening her grip around his shoulders.

"Stephanie I like being with you and love spending time with you. You're a great girl. But I'm not the touchy, feely type of guy. And I don't like going back to the Gryffindor common room when everyone's asleep."

"I didn't ask you to come up with me tonight," said Stephanie sternly.

"But it's what you wanted. You used to complain last year. Look, if you were in Gryffindor things would be much..."

"Well I'm in Ravenclaw," she interrupted.

"Yes...I know.." said Mathavan and now he didn't know what to say.

An awkward silence filled the room. After what felt like hours of no one speaking Stephanie lifted the cloak up and got up from the couch.

"We can't be a couple if we want different things. I guess this is it. Good night Mathavan." Stephanie rushed up the stairs leading to her dormitory

"Err..good night Stepha-" and before Mathavan could finish Stephanie closed the door of her room.