Chapter 9: Hogwarts.

The first of September dawned bright and sunny. Lily who had hardly slept in her excitement, was up at the crack of dawn .She was going to Hogwarts today! Severus had explained how to get onto platform nine and three quarters, with its secret barrier, at the London King's Cross train station. He said he'd be going with his Mum and would meet her on the Hogwarts Express, the train that would take them to the school.

Lily dressed quickly and went down to her sister's room and banged on the door, thinking it better not to barge right in as usual, given her sister's sour temper recently.

'Tuney, are you up, yet?' she called

'Whassup?' Petunia, her hair tied in a band, put her head around the door, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes 'Why, - the sun hasn't even come up yet! What did you wake me up for?'

'We have to leave early, remember? You're coming with us to London, aren't you? To see me off.'

'I'm coming because Mum and Dad made me! Why should I come to see you go off to a school that isn't interested in anyone else except people like you! Now leave me alone!'

And she slammed the door in Lily's shocked face.

They drove down to London, with Lily's school trunk in the booth, and a tense, awkward silence in the backseat where the two sisters were sitting. Lily who had been so happy that morning, almost had tears in her eyes. She didn't wish to leave for Hogwarts like this. Petunia sat looking out of the window with a scowl on her face, which remained there even when Lily showed them how to get on the platform through the secret barrier between platforms nine and ten in the London Train station.

On Platform nine and three quarters, Severus Snape stood next to a thin, sallow-faced, sour-looking woman who greatly resembled him, and he was staring at a family of four a short distance away. The two girls stood a little apart from their parents. Lily seemed to be pleading with her sister.

'...I'm sorry, Tuney, I'm sorry! Listen- 'She caught her sister's hand and held tight to it, even though Petunia tried to pull it away.' Maybe once I'm there – no, listen, Tuney! Maybe once I'm there I'll be able to go to Professor Dumbledore and persuade him to change his mind!'

'I don't- want – to – go!' said Petunia, and she dragged her hand back out of her sister's grasp. 'You think I want to go to some stupid castle and learn to be a – a-'

Her pale eyes roved over the platform, over the cats mewling in their owners' arms, over the owls fluttering and hooting at each other in the cages, over the students, some already in their long, black robes, loading trunks onto the scarlet steam engine or else greeting one another with glad cries after a summer apart.

'- you think I want to be a – a freak?'

Lily's eyes filled with tears as Petunia succeeded in tugging her hand away.

'I'm not a freak', said Lily 'That's a horrible thing to say.'

'That's where you're going said Petunia with relish 'A special school for freaks. You and that Snape boy ... weirdos, that's what you are. It's good you're being separated from normal people. It's for our safety.'

Lily glanced towards her parents, who were looking around the platform with an air of wholehearted enjoyment, drinking in the scene. Then she looked back at her sister, and her voice was low and fierce.

'You didn't think it was such a freak's school when you wrote to the Headmaster and begged him to take you.'

Petunia turned scarlet.

'Beg? I didn't beg!'

'I saw his reply. It was very kind.'

'You shouldn't have read – 'whispered Petunia 'That was my private – how could you -?'

Lily gave herself away by glancing towards where Snape stood, nearby. Petunia gasped.

'That boy found it! You and that boy have been sneaking in my room!'

'No- not sneaking – 'Now Lily was on the defensive. 'Severus saw the envelope, and he couldn't believe a Muggle could have contacted Hogwarts, that's all! He said there must be wizards working undercover in the postal service who take care of - '

'Apparently, wizards poke their noses in everywhere!' said Petunia now as pale as she had been flushed. 'Freak!' she spat at her sister, and she flounced off to where her parents stood.

Once aboard, Snape hurried along the corridor of the Hogwarts Express, as it clattered across the countryside. He had already changed into his school robes, had taken the first opportunity to take off his dreadful muggle clothes. At last he stopped, outside a compartment in which a group of rowdy boys were talking. Hunched in a corner seat beside the window was Lily, her face pressed against the window pane.

Snape slid open the compartment door and sat down opposite Lily. She glanced at him and then looked back out of the window. She had been crying.

'I don't want to talk to you,' she said in a constricted voice.

'Why not?'

"Tuney h- hates me. Because we saw that letter from Dumbledore.'

'So what?'

She threw him a look of deep dislike.

'So she's my sister!'

'She's only a – 'He caught himself quickly; Lily, too busy trying to wipe her eyes without being noticed, did not hear him.

'But we're going!' he said, unable to suppress the exhilaration in his voice. 'This is it1 we're off to Hogwarts!'

She nodded mopping her eyes, but in spite of herself, she half smiled.

'You'd better be in Slytherin,' said Snape, encouraged that she had brightened a little.

'Slytherin?'

One of the boys sharing the compartment, who had shown no interest at all in Lily or Snape until that point, looked round at the word. He was slight, black-haired, like Snape but with that indefinable air of having been well-cared for, even adored, that Snape so conspicuously lacked.

'Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?' he asked the boy lounging on the seats opposite him. The boy did not smile.

'My whole family have been in Slytherin,' he said

'Blimey,' said the first boy, who wore round glasses 'and I thought you seemed all right!'

The other boy grinned.

'Maybe I'll break the are you heading, if you've got the choice?'

The boy with glasses lifted an invisible sword.

"'Gyiffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!" Like my Dad.'

Snape made a small disparaging noise. The black haired boy turned on him.

'Got a problem with that?'

'No,' said Snape, though his slight sneer said otherwise. 'If you'd rather be brawny than brainy- '

'Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?' interjected the second boy.
The other boy roared with laughter. Lily sat up, rather flushed, and looked from one to the other in dislike.

'Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment.'

'Oooooo....'

The two boys imitated her lofty voice; the boy with glasses tried to trip Snape as he passed.

'See ya, Snivellus!' a voice called as the compartment door slammed....

They found another compartment towards the back of the train, which was empty, and where Severus had already stored his trunk. The latter was the same one that belonged to his mother, but now it carried his name, as well as the book on dark arts stored safely away in its secret compartment.

They sat down opposite each other and spent the rest of the long train journey discussing the school houses, and the lessons they were soon to start. Lily was still sad and upset at the way she had parted with Petunia, because she knew it would never be the same again, but as she listened to Severus's enthusiastic explanation of the schoolhouses, his thin face alive with excitement, she reflected that after all, she had him by her side, and that perhaps leaving her family to go to boarding school was a necessary part of growing up. She felt sorry for snapping at him earlier on, but he did not seem to bear her any grudge.

As darkness fell outside, a tall, fifth year boy with a prefect's badge on his chest came to their compartment and told them that they would soon be arriving.

Lily took off her jacket and pulled on the long, black, Hogwarts robe and they looked eagerly out of the train window, hoping to catch a glimpse of the famous castle, but all was dark outside.

The train slowed down and they got off, jostled by the other, rather frightened-looking first years.

A lamp appeared suddenly a short distance away from the small platform, coming towards them. It loomed closer high above their heads and they saw that t it was being carried by an extremely large man with bushy hair and beard.

'Is that a giant?' Lily whispered.

Severus shook his head. 'Don't think so, giants are over twenty feet tall. But this one's no midget either.'

Lily, who hadn't even known giants really existed, stared up at him. The large man waved his arm, beckoning them

'Firs' years over here' he shouted 'Gather roun'. '

They formed a group around him, their pale faces lit up by the glow of the single lantern held up high.

'I'm Rubeus Hagrid' he said 'Keeper of the Keys and grounds at Hogwarts. Now I want you to follow me and stick close, cos of the dark.'

They all stumbled after him along a narrow path till they came upon a large, black, lake, and across the lake, perched on a cliff was a huge castle, its many turrets and battlements twinkling with the lights of hundreds of windows.

'Ooooh, its' beautiful!' exclaimed Lily, clutching Severus' arm

He looked at her, dark eyes glinting in the lamplight : 'Even better in real life than the books, isn't it?' he said happily.

At the edge of the lake, boats were waiting for them and they climbed in one of them, together with a blonde girl with pigtails and glasses, and a small boy clutching a rat.

The boats glided over the dark waters of the lake by themselves, towards the cliff face – the only sound was the lapping of the wavelets along the prow of the boat. They went through a large crevice in the cliff face, hidden by overhanging ivy, and into an underground cavern that had a small pebbly beach. They climbed out, and once more followed Hagrid up some stairs and along a passageway at the back of the cavern, until they finally emerged onto a grassy slope right in front of the enormous oaken doors of the castle. Hagrid knocked three times on the castle doors with his huge fist and they opened.

They crowded inside an entrance hall as big as a cathedral, and a thin witch in emerald green robes and black hair pulled tightly in a bun, stood waiting for them.

'That's her!' whispered Lily 'The witch that came to my house – Professor McGonagall'

As if to confirm her words, Hagrid stopped right in front of her and said:

'The firs'-years, Professor McGonagall.'

She thanked him and beckoned them towards her, then introduced herself and explained that there were four school houses Griffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin and that the sorting ceremony, which would be taking place in a few minutes, would place them in one of the four houses. This house, she explained, would be like a 'home away from home' for them, for the next seven years.

Some of the first years started looking anxious. Severus and Lily looked at each other, and knew they were thinking the same thing: they wanted to be in the same house. They had never given it much thought previously, their main aim being just getting to Hogwarts, but now Professor McGonagall was making it sound like a very clear separation.

They followed her nervously into the great hall, where all the other students were already sitting at four long tables. The sea of faces gazed at them as they went by to stand in a line in front of the teacher's table where the headmaster was sitting on a raised seat in the middle. Many of the first years were gazing open-mouthed at the ceiling of the great hall, which had been bewitched to look like the sky outside.

Lily, gazing up at the twinkling stars above, was feeling very nervous, despite the beauty of the surroundings. She glanced at Severus, and saw that he was very pale, and was looking anxiously at an old, battered wizard's hat that McGonagall had placed on a stool in front of the teachers' table.

Professor McGonagall then took out a long parchment, and began to read out the first year's names, and whoever was called out had to go forward and place the hat on his or her head. A rip at the brim of the hat opened like a mouth and called out the name of the school houses.

'Abbott, Melchior' was placed in Hufflepuff, and so forth.

Then Professor McGonagall said, 'Evans, Lily!'

She walked forwards on trembling legs and sat down upon the rickety stool. Professor McGonagall dropped the sorting hat on to her head, and barely a second after it had touched her dark red hair the Hat cried 'Griffindor!'

Snape let out a tiny groan. Lily took off the hat, handed it back to Professor McGonagall, then hurried towards the cheering Griffindors, but as she went she glanced back at Snape, and there was a sad little smile on her face. One of the boys who was on the train, the second one, moved up the bench to make room for her. She took one look at him, recognised him from the train, folded her arms and firmly turned her back on him.

The roll call continued. The boy with glasses from the train, the boy with the rat and the girl with pigtails also joined Lily and the first boy at the Griffindor table. At last, when only a dozen students remained to be sorted, Professor McGonagall called Snape.

He walked to the stool and placed the hat upon his head. 'Slytherin!' cried the sorting hat.

And Severus Snape moved off to the other side of the Hall, away from Lily, to where the Slytherins were cheering him, to where Lucius Malfoy, a prefect Badge gleaming upon his chest, patted Snape on the back as he sat down beside him...

At the end of the sumptuous meal, Dumbledore welcomed the first years and gave them some beginning-of-term notices: it seemed they were not allowed to go anywhere near the Forbidden Forest; they had a new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Brocklehurst, and Quidditch practice and team tryouts were to start in two weeks' time. Lily saw the two boys from the train give the thumbs-up signal to each other, at this.

Then Dumbledore bade them all goodnight, and the first years followed their prefects to the dormitories. Lily tried to catch Severus' eye when she got up, but couldn't see him in the milling crowd of students.

She suddenly felt a bit lonely, without his familiar face at her side. She did not know anyone else, but looking around her, she saw others looking rather lost too, as they followed the Gryffindor prefect, who had introduced herself as Sarah MacDougal, through a maze of corridors and staircases (some of them changed direction even as they stood on them). The bewildered first years strived to keep close to the tall prefect, who seemed entirely unphased by their mutating surroundings. Even the portraits moved – their occupants followed them into each others' portraits, seeming eager to get a good look at the new students.

Lily's first night at Hogwarts' was one she would never forget, for, although she and Severus had spent all summer pouring over the book on Hogwarts' History, it was quite something else to be actually in the castle.

They eventually came to a portrait of a fat lady in a pink dress.

'Password?' said the lady.

'Spada aureous' replied the prefect, and the portrait swung open, revealing a hole in the thick wall.

They clambered through it into a circular room with comfortable armchairs, a roaring fire, and red Gryffindor wall hangings.

'This is the Griffindor Common room' said Sarah MacDougal. 'Do not forget the password, or you'll be stuck outside. Boy's dormitories through that door. Keep going up until you reach a door marked "first years". Your trunks have already been taken up. Girls follow me.'

She led them through another door and up a spiral staircase. Lily knew they were somewhere in Griffindor Tower, but they kept climbing for what seemed like ages before Sara MacDougal stopped at a door marked 'fifth years'.

'This is where I get off.' she said 'The next door is yours. Goodnight.'

They went up another level and found their dormitory. Inside the circular room were five four-poster beds with red, hanging curtains. Each bed had her owner's trunk near it.

Lily sat down with relief on her bed, feeling suddenly very tired. She saw that her bed was near the mullioned window.

On the bed next to hers, sat the girl with glasses and blonde pigtails. She had just opened a wicker basket and taken out a black cat with a very long, sinuous body and green eyes. It arched its back in pleasure as the girl stroked it; her head bent low over the animal. Lily thought she saw tears in her eyes.

'Hello, I'm Lily Evans. You've got a beautiful cat. What's his name?'

The girl looked up, blinking rapidly from behind rather thick glasses.

'He's called Shadow. I've had him since I was small. I'm Mary – Mary MacDonald.'

'You're lucky – Mum never let me have any pets, because my sister says she's allergic, but I know its because she hates them. Can I stroke him?'

'Sure.'

The two girls sat down side by side and Shadow went from one to the other, enjoying all the attention.

'He's very intelligent' said Mary, who had brightened up considerably now. 'He always lets me know when owls from my older brother in France are coming, so I'm always the first to get his news. He's good at finding Sithiens, too.'

'Finding what- ? You come from a magic family, then?'

'Half-and-half. My father's a wizard, but my Mum's a muggle. She was pleased I took after my Dad, though. My brother didn't show any signs of magic till he was almost nine. They thought he'd be a squib.'

'I'm muggle-born and my family were very surprised when they found out. So was I. But I found out a bit before they did. A boy from my home town saw me do magic and explained all about the wizarding world. He's here too now, but he's been sorted into Slytherin.'

'Slytherin, eh?' a petite girl with a round face came over. 'That house has a reputation for turning out more dark wizards and witches than any other. I'm Alice Walker , by the way.'

'Are you – are you from an all-magic family too?' Lily asked, starting to feel a little like the odd one out.

'Yes – Pure blood all the way back to I don't know what century. But Jenny Trimble over there is a muggle-born too. And Thalia is half and half.'

She indicated the other two girls still busy unpacking. One of them, who had short, wispy, brown hair heard her and join them.

'Yes. My Mum and Dad are muggles, and they were very surprised when they found out all the weird things I could do was magic. I must say it was a bit of a relief – I thought there was something wrong with me. Anyway – this is a hundred times better than the school I was going to be sent to!'

"See, Lily? You're not the only one. There are many muggle-borns in all the school houses. Except, perhaps, Slytherin...'

'Why not Slytherin?'

'Well, they've got some funny ideas. Most of them come from Pureblood families, and they think that Hogwarts should be restricted to magic families only. They think that muggle-borns have somehow stolen their magic powers from real witches and wizards. That they're not really ...'

'So it does matter if you are muggle-born!' Lily couldn't help interrupting Alice.

Severus had told her it didn't matter.

'Well, to some people, it does make a difference. There weren't so many who thought so, - perhaps the old pureblood wizarding families. Or else they used to keep their opinions to themselves. But now their numbers are on the increase. My Dad tells me they have formed a kind of sect....'

'Are they dangerous?' piped up Jenny.

'My Dad thinks so. He said there have been people mysteriously disappearing recently. And lots of muggle-baiting, too. The Ministry has a hard time hushing it up. My Dad tells me everything, because he says I'm not too young to know.' she crossed her arms and nodded importantly.

'My Dad says it was Salazar Slytherin himself who started this' said Mary.

Lily had read that name somewhere. Yes- it was one of the founding members – he had founded Slytherin house. She remembered reading it in Severus's book on Hogwarts. Sarah however, did not know who he was.

'He was one of the four founding members of Hogwarts, and he wanted to keep magic in wizarding families only 'explained Mary 'and the founders had fallen out over this.'

'Exactly. And this is what this new sect is using as their guiding principle – Salazar Slytherin's doctrine on pureblood witches and wizards and anti-muggle ideas.' Alice's round face was flushed in anger. 'I'm not like that though. I think it's a load of old rubbish! If purebloods hadn't married muggles, we'd have died out!'

The others nodded in agreement, except Lily and Sarah, who were starting to feel a bit apprehensive at the secret world being unfolded before them.

As it was now very late, the girls got into their pyjamas and went to bed. It was a long time before Lily drifted off to sleep however, even though she was tired. She kept thinking of Severus – he had been sorted into Slytherin House. But then it was he who had told her that being muggle-born did not matter. It was confusing. Perhaps she would ask him in the morning she thought, as she drifted off to sleep...