Chapter 8: September 1st
Lily woke up at six in the morning on the day of departure. She was feeling thrilled over the fact that she was a witch and was about to go to this magical school named Hogwarts. And according to Stefanie, that was one of the finest schools for witchcraft and wizardry in the magical world.
"I'm a witch. I'm a witch." Lily mumbled to herself as she practically jumped out of bed, the bed that she was going to miss badly for three months. "I still can't believe that." She hugged her pillow as she walked across her bedroom of eleven years.
Looking out of the window, she started thinking about her past, her present and a little of her future in school. I'm going to be in school until Christmas break. It's wonderful to escape from Petunia. But I'll miss mum and dad. Well, it's only going to be three months.
She had this excitement in her ever since she received the letter from Hogwarts over a month ago. I'm going to meet Arabella and Stefanie at King Cross in just five hours. I just can't wait to see them and get far far away from Petunia. Lily smiled at that thought.
iIiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiIi
Arabella had bid her headmistress and friends from the orphanage goodbye the day before. She had hugged Celeste tightly, her best friend there as far as she could remember. The hardest part was that she had to lie about the place she was going to; even her own headmistress had trouble believing it.
This was the first time she was leaving the orphanage. I'm going to miss everyone here so much. Everyone seems to be heading to a new boarding school to study. I probably might not even be coming back here again. At least I have Lily and Stefanie now. A tear flowed down her cheek as she sat on the swing at the playground, looking at the small but cozy little building that she had known as home for the last eleven years. Four more hours and I'll be gone from here. Away from home. Forever?
iIiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiIi
Remus was eating his breakfast alone in the huge dining hall. The house elves, his regular companions since he did not have any friends, had served him his favorite breakfast dish today. His parents had just come by to bid him goodbye with kisses and hugs just before they apparated to work, like every other morning.
I simply can't wait to go Hogwarts. It's so boring here. I'm so lonely. No friends. Anyway, who would want to befriend a werewolf? Remus thought sadly. James and Sirius.
Suddenly, on the spur of the moment, he had an idea. He ran upstairs to his room and wrote a letter to his very first friends. They are my friends. Half excited, half worried, he was looking at the bedroom clock, which had just stroked nine. His house had a lot of muggle belongings since his parents had been doing much research on muggles when they started working for the Ministry.
iIiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiIi
James had spent the night at Sirius' house again and was now lying rather awake on Sirius' king sized four-poster canopy bed. Sirius was still sleeping soundly and snoring a little beside him. His parents were away for meetings again. I would rather have a father not working in the ministry. At least now that I've Sirius, it's not so lonely at home. My parents bid me goodbye a week ago and went on their business trip. Which parents bid their son a week before they leave? Well, but I know I'm going to have the most wonderful seven years at Hogwarts. I don't miss my home at all. I don't.
Tap, tap, tap. A light brown owl at the window interrupted James' thoughts. Since Sirius did not even stirred in his sleep, he had to dragged himself across the room to open the window for the owl.
Booommmmm! The owl's wing fluttered slightly at the shock of the loud noise.
"Wake up guys!" Stefanie barged into Sirius' room without knocking, slamming the door loudly. She was still in her pajamas but yet looked very awake for ten in the morning. "Morning James." Stefanie greeted merrily, a little too cheerful for the morning, and jumped onto Sirius' bed.
"Time to go!" She was pulling and dragging Sirius out of bed until Sirius was lying with his head drooping at the edge of the bed.
"Five more minutes." Murmured Sirius and he turned and grabbed a pillow to cover his ears and moved his head onto the mattress again. Stefanie jumped his other side and started pulling and pushing him vigorously. Finally Sirius gave up; he knew that Stefanie would never up until he got out of bed fully.
"Okay, you can stop now. I'm awake!" Complained a sleepy Sirius as his sister pushed him towards his bathroom. What have I done to deserve a sister like this?
iIiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiIi
It was ten forty-five and Mrs. Black had dropped all the three kids at King Cross station. James and Sirius had left Stefanie alone to wait for her friends at Platform nine and three-quarters while they went across the barrier to look for Remus.
Lily and Arabella spotted Stefanie as soon as the guys left. Stefanie started pushing her trolley towards the wall between Platform nine and ten.
"We're going to walk into the wall?" Lily asked, eyeing the concrete brick wall skeptically.
"Yup, the guys had walked in already. No problem. We'll walk in together, okay?" Stefanie comforted, she was not too sure herself either. James and Sirius could be bluffing but since even her own mother said about walking through the wall, it must be a fact. Stefanie and Lily pushed their trolley towards the wall and closed their eyes, fearing the worst.
The next thing they saw was a scarlet steam engine with the name 'Hogwarts Express' waiting next to a platform packed with a lot of people and animals. The clock was showing ten minutes to eleven.
The three girls climbed into the train with their trunks, and found that it was already rather packed. They headed through a series of occupied compartments until they reached the last one.
"What are you doing here?" Sirius asked as the three girls walked in and settled at the seats across them.
"Why can't I be here? This is not even your compartment." Stefanie retorted with her hands crossed in front of her, looking rather stubborn.
"Girls." Sirius muttered rather loudly, at least the girls could still hear that comment despite the loud noise the train was making.
No introduction were made or whatsoever. Lily and James shared a quick glance and they turned back to their friends. The guys started playing a game of Exploding Snap while Stefanie was telling Lily and Arabella about what she knew about Hogwarts and all the magical stuffs that she knew.
After several more games and the train had started moving for quite a while, James, Sirius and Remus sat closer together to discuss some upcoming pranks. The three of them had filled half their trunks with prankster supplies for the whole year. Remus had suggested a quick prank on the train in the letter that morning and they were thinking how to go about doing it.
James, Sirius and Remus then took some stuff from their trunks, hid in their pockets and walked out of the compartment with poise. The girls noticed that but ignored them completely and carried on with their conversation.
The next moment it sounded like chaos was coming from the other compartments. A series of clattering feet and screams were heard simultaneously.
James, Sirius and Remus rushed in and closed the compartment door quickly. They burst into laughter hysterically and were literally rolling on the floor.
"What did you guys do this time?" Stefanie asked with a tone of annoyance. It appeared like she was so used to their pranks.
"Nothing much. Just set some dungbombs in the all the compartments. That's all." Sirius grinned and the three burst out laughing again. The chaos died down after an hour or so. After that, the normal activities carried on as if it was any other train ride.
A prefect came in a few hours later and got them to change into their robes.
"You guys go out first." Stefanie told the three guys and pointed at the door. The three guys just shrugged and walked out without a hassle. And when they were done, the guys changed in the compartment as well.
"Looks dark." Lily commented, peering out of the window upon entering the compartment after the guys changed, looking at the distant mountains and forests under the dark purple sky.
After some time, the train slowed down and finally stopped.
"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately." An announcement was heard. All the students pushed their way towards the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. The usually peaceful Hogsmeade Station was now filled with excited Hogwarts students.
"Brr… Cold." Arabella muttered. The six first-year-to-be followed the older students, as they appeared to be moving towards some carriages at some distance away.
"Firs'-years! Over here! Follow Hagrid!" A gigantic man with a long shaggy mane of hair and wild, tangled beard holding a lamp suddenly shouted over the crowd of students.
"I think we're supposed to go that way." Stefanie spoke up. The two girls nodded and changed their direction towards the hairy man who was standing closer to the lake.
The young and frightened looking first-year-to-be followed Hagrid down a steep and narrow path.
"Mind yer step!" Hagrid's voice could be heard. It was so dark on both sides that they could barely see anything. "Yer see o' Hogwarts after this bend."
"Ooooooohhh!" The gloomy and narrow path had opened to the edge of a great black lake and perched atop a high mountain on the other side was Hogwarts. The children stood in awed at the humongous castle with many turrets and towers.
"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called out, pointing to the fleet of little boats parked at the shore. They students eagerly climbed into the boats once permission was given. Sirius got onto the same boat with the three girls while James and Remus shared the same boat with two guys named Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape. "FORWARD!" The boats started gliding magically towards the castle.
"Heads down!" Hagrid yelled as the fist boats reached a cliff. The children bent their head as they sailed through a curtain of ivy, which hid a wide opening in the cliff face, about to enter a dark tunnel.
Sirius winked at James who was at the next boat behind him before they entered into pitch black and the next thing was splashing sounds. Sirius had pushed the three girls into the lake while James on the other boat with Remus had pushed Lucius and Severus into the lake.
A sudden chaos came upon the first years. They were chattering excitedly and looking over the darkness to see what happened.
"Aaah!" A guy named Frank Longbottom who was looking over curiously from the front boat fell into the lake as well.
Hagrid had taken quite a bit of time to fish everyone out from the lake and calmed the now even more frightened students. James, Sirius and Remus were trying very hard to hide their laughing spree while the three shivering girls along with drenched Lucius and Severus were glaring at them.
Upon reaching the shore, they walked through a grass patch, which was shadowed, by the castle while Hagrid was checking the people who climbing out of them. Finally, after much anticipation, they reached the castle and walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around a huge door. Hagrid knocked three times on the oak door with his gigantic fist.
The door swung opened and a tall and black-hair witch with a stern face was waiting for them at the door. Hagrid lowered his voice and said something to the lady, with a nod from the lady, Hagrid walked away to another direction.
"Welcome to Hogwarts. I'm Professor McGonagall, also the Deputy Headmistress. Right now, all of you will go through the Sorting Ceremony." Professor McGonagall gave a relatively lengthy speech before opening the door wide and leading the new students across the flagged stone floor.
Lily and Arabella were feeling rather nervous about the sorting. No matter how much Stefanie tried to calm them down, it was not successful. The guys were adding more fabricated details about fighting dragons and knowing advanced magic. Lily and Arabella exchanged a fearful look. Those who fell into the lake were shivering in cold while standing in the middle of the empty chamber.
"The Sorting Ceremony is about to start. Form a line, now." Professor McGonagall told them. They followed her quickly and with fear into the Great Hall, which was splendidly lit by thousands of candles floating in mid-air. In front of them stood a four-legged stool and on top of it was a patched and dirty pointed wizard's hat.
Soon the sorting hat started to sing. A singing hat? That's interesting. Lily thought in amusement. Most of the other new students seemed to heave a sigh of relief that they might not be doing something of extreme difficulty.
Everyone in the Great Hall watched the Hat as it sang, as if it was a total new song. At the end of it, the whole Hall burst into appreciative applause and the frayed hat bowed and became quite still again. One by one, Professor McGonagall started calling the new students up to wear the hat.
After Sirius Black and Stefanie Black were sorted to Gryffindor, Lily was hoping she would be with her friend too. "Evans, Lily" came McGonagall's voice. She swallowed her saliva and went forward to the stool and sat down nervously. Please put me in Gryffindor. "GRYFFINDOR!" announced the hat. Phew. She walked towards the cheering Gryffindor table to join Stefanie and her brother while Arabella's name was called.
Arabella and Remus were sorted into Gryffindor as well, thankfully. Sirius was giving a high-five to Remus and they sat together. After a few more students being sorted to the various houses, it was their friend's turn.
"Potter, James." Professor McGonagall called out from her list.
James walked up, not nervously but anxiously. His only two friends were in Gryffindor. Put me in Gryffindor, please. The sorting hat seems to be reading James' mind as a small voice was saying that he would do great in Slytherin. I only want to go Gryffindor. He prayed silently. "GRYFFINDOR!" came the sorting hat announcement. James smiled to himself and got up quickly walking towards Sirius and Remus and started high-fiving with one another.
After the sorting, the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore stood up and beaming at the students with his arms opened widely. He gave a short speech and the food appeared suddenly on the empty plates in front of them. Lily and Arabella look amazed by that but nevertheless started eating after the fellow students commenced. James and Sirius were stuffing their face with food and look as if they had not eaten in days.
After the banquet, the Headmaster made some quick announcements and then they had to sing the school song. It felt like forever before they were dismissed from the Hall. The students followed their prefects namely Arthur Weasley and Molly Prewett up to the Gryffindor tower.
"Chocolate Frog" Arthur said to the portrait of a fat lady in pink dress. "Remember, this is our current password for Gryffindor tower."
The portrait swung open and revealed a room with red and golden tapestry. The two prefects gathered the first-years and gave them a short briefing before dismissing them for the night. The boys went through the door on the left and the girls went through the door on the right to their respective dormitories.
Introductions were made in the dormitory of five girls and all of them washed up quickly to prepare for the night. It had been a long day afterall.
Lily laid in her bed, deep in thoughts. What a day it is. I'm a witch. Oh my god! I've trouble believing that myself. Well, I can't wait for the days to come. Hm... That guy by the name of James Potter is quite cute. She smiled at the thought and soon fell into a deep dreamless sleep.
At the other side of the tower, James lay in his bed, eyes closed and about to doze off. Evans, Lily. What a sweet name. She seems nice too. But nah, girls are just girls. Within minutes, he fell into a deep dreamless sleep.
