Escaping her Destiny: Chapter 2
Lily looked up to see a massive red steam engine in front of her. Feet were flashing all around her; the station was crowded, and no one seemed to notice that a small girl had just fallen in from an apparently solid barrier. "This must be the Hogwarts Express," she thought to herself, breathing a small sigh of relief. She wasn't going to miss the train after all.
The mysterious boy was no where to be seen. Lily was beginning to doubt that he had been the man in her dreams. She hadn't even gotten a very good look at the man's face. She had been too preoccupied with the creature who was killing them all. And if she thought really hard, she seemed to recall the the man's hair had been a shade or two lighter than that of the boy. They just couldn't be the same person; after all, it can't be normal to see a dream-boy in real life the night after you dream of him. That would just be too much of a coincidence. "But then," Lily reminded herself, "This whole magical world seems a bit strange in itself."
Seeing that the train was almost ready to go, Lily heaved herself up from the floor, and headed for the train, remembering to bring her trunk. Most of the compartements were full, and the few that weren't contained some rather nasty looking teenagers. Lily crept meekly through, hoping that no one would notice her. When she had almost given up hope of finding a seat, she found herself in a compartement that was almost entirely empty, except for three boys. The first was tall and thin, with hair that was so oily that Lily was surprised that the grease wasn't dripping down onto his forehead. In addition, he had a habit of looking down his large, hooked nose at other people, instead of looking at them directly.
The second boy had longish black hair, and dark, almost black, eyes. Eyes that were rarely without a spark of laughter in them. But this Lily learned later; at the moment, the boys eyes were filled with what was unmistakably disgust and hatred, directed towards the first boy.
And the third boy was was the boy that reminded her so much of the man in her dreams.
Although Lily was not quite as surprised to find him as she was the first time, the shock was still sufficient to knock her off her feet. Fortunately, there was a conveniently positioned chair that Lily could plop into.
Before Lily had come in, the boys appeared to have been in a rather heated argument. In fact, all three of them had their wands out, and looked ready to curse. Her entrance had no effect on the first two; they were continuing to yell, and one now had slimy pink hair, while the other had blisters covering his face. But the dream-boy was now staring, mesmerized, at Lily. What was odd was that Lily could feel an invisible line pulling her towards him. Her body wanted to physically walk over to him, to be as close as possible, to stop the pull. She almost got up from her chair, but stopped herself just in time. "Stop it," she thought almost angrily to herself. "You don't even know him!" But although she could resist the pull, she could not make it stop.
"Ahhhhh!" Immediately, Lily's attention was turned upon the other two boys. Blood was now spurting out of the oversized nose of the pink-haired boy. Two wands were lying, forgotten, on the floor. It seemed that they had both forgotten about magic and resorted to physical blows. The boy with the blistered face raised his arms in victory. Lily giggled under her breath. Then she spoke up. "Hi, I don't believe we have met before. I am Lily Evans."
The boy looked at her for a minute. Then he held out his hand to shake hers. "I'm Sirius Black, nice to meet you. By the way, my face doesn't always look like this. Actually, most of the time, I am rather good-looking, if I do say so myself." He wriggled his eyebrows suggestively at her.
Lily flushed. Then she laughed, and turned to the second boy, who had succeeded in making his nose stop bleeding. "And who are you?"
"I don't know that it is any business of yours, mudblood!" He snapped. One second later, and all the effort he had put into healing his nose was wasted, since it was bleeding again. What is more, he was clutching his stomach. The moment he had said that, both Sirius and the dream-boy had launched themselves at the boy. As the dream-boy turned his attention away from her, Lily could feel the bond between them weaken slightly. It was a weird sensation.
The two boys proceeded to shove pink-haired boy out of their compartement.
"What did he do?" Lily stuttered, confused. It hadn't seemed to her that Snape had done anything that awful--he was just kind of rude.
"Oh, that's Severus Snape . . . well, he just called you a mudblood," Sirius responded.
"A mudblood? It doesn't sound very nice, but it can't be that bad!" Lily exclaimed.
"Yes it can," replied the other boy, speaking up for the first time. His voice was deep for a boy their age. Lily liked it. "It's the worst possible insult in our world. That is what people like Snape call wizards and witches who were born from non-magic families. Don't worry, there's not a lot of them around."
"Oh," Lily said. "Who are you?"
"James Potter," the boy said, reaching out to shake her hand. The instant their hands touched, the invisible line between them went slack; although Lily could still feel its gentle tug, it was no longer attempting to forcefully drag her to James. Lily inhaled sharply, and let go of his hand more quickly than she had intended to.
Soon, the train arrived at Hogwarts. Lily was terribly nervous about the sorting, and no one seemed to have a clue as to what was going to happen. Rumors were flying through the air, and if Lily had believed every one of them, she would now be preparing herself to defeat a dragon, take dozens of different tests, and perform countless charms.
Meanwhile, Sirius was talking animatedly to her about the houses. He wanted to bbe in Gryffindor. Lily didn't know exactly where she wanted to go, although she was leaning towards Gryffindor. She definately didn't want to get sorted into a house where she had no friends. She wanted to be with Sirius, and she didn't want to be with Snape. But when it came to James, her feelings were rather ambivalent. She wanted to be near him, but at the same time, she didn't want to be constantly pushed and pulled about by the invisible force. The bond between them was only there when she in James's presence, and if she was in another house, she would only see him if they had a class together. But the thought of not seeing him at all was terrible; Lily longed to be with him. It would be best to be in the same house as he was, she decided, regardless of the strange force.
As she was thinking, Professor McGonagall had taken out the Sorting Hat. Lily almost fainted when it began to sing. "Lily! You have to get used to this type of thing . . . after all, you are going to a magical school!" she reproved herself. She started to pay attention to the Sorting Hat's song:
Though now you think that you must take
A test of the hardest kind,
That idea was entirely fake
As you are going to find.
Instead, I shall sort all of you
And place you in the house
Which your character best fits to
So you shall feel no need to grouse.
Griffindor, in days of old
To his house would invite
Wizards who were brave and bold
And would help others in their plight.
Slytherin, on the other hand,
Favored those whose goals were set high.
Students who are of his brand
Must be crafty, clever, and even sly.
Those who Hufflepuff held dear
Were the wizard and the witch
Who worked hard, and would persevere.
You must be loyal to fit this niche.
If you are learned, with a keen mind,
With Ravenclaw you must belong.
In this house wisdom you will find,
For students there are rarely wrong.
All that you must do now
Is put me on your head
I can read your mind, but don't ask how
And don't worry, this is nothing to dread.
And with that, the sorting started. Sirius was one of the first people to go up, and he was immediately placed in Griffindor. A few minutes later, McGonagall called Lily's name.
Lily walked up to the hat, making a huge effort to seem calm in front of the entire school. She could not repress the trembling of her legs, but she held her hed high and marched, outwardly confident, up to the chair. She succeeded in putting the hat on, although she almost dropped it because her fingers shook so much. She had tried to prepare herself beforehand for how it would feel to have a hat read her mind. It helped; she didn't faint when the hat began its survey. She only let out short gasp.
'Hmmm . . . very smart . . . Ravenclaw? No? Oh, I see, you want to be in Gryffindor. But I am not sure . . . oh my, what have we here? I haven't had one of these for a long time. . .'
'What?' Lily thought. 'What am I?'
'A Divinator, of course. You know, one of those people who can read the future. You could be a very good one, too, with the proper training. It should become noticeable about now, in your dreams perhaps. Anyways, with a gift like that it has to be either Gryffindor or Slytherin . . . Hufflepuff would never do, although you are loyal. You say you are muggle-born? Well, in that case you would never survive in Slytherin. Let's put you in . . . "GRYFFINDOR!"'
Lily almost ran over to the table and collapsed in a chair next to Sirius, amid a tremendous burst of applause. "What was the hat talking to you about?" Sirius whispered. "You took forever."
"Oh . . . nothing," Lily whispered back.
A boy named Remus Lupin was sorted into Gryffindor after her. He too had taken a long time with the Sorting hat; he had been up there almost five minutes. he had a pale, thin face, and eyes that were ringed with dark circles. He looked about ready to fall asleep with his head on his plate. Lily smiled at him, and he smiled back with an obvious effort. He then fell back into his stupor.
Joyce McKinnon was the next Gryffindor. She was a small, friendly looking girl, with very long, very curly light brown hair, and round, good-humored blue eyes. She came and stood at the empty chair next to Lily, looking at her timidly as if for permission to sit there. Lily grinned, and patted the chair, motioning for Joyce to sit.
Meanwhile, Peter Pettigrew had been accepted into Gryffindor, after sitting with the hat for even longer than Lily had.
And finally, the moment that Lily had been waiting all night for: the sorting of James Potter. She waited with baited breath, crossing her fingers under the table. 'Please let him be Gryffindor, please!' she silently begged, even though she knew that the sorting hat could only read your mind if it was on your head. There was no need for her to worry, though. Barely two seconds after it touched his head, the Sorting Hat declared James a Gryffindor.
Lily looked up to see a massive red steam engine in front of her. Feet were flashing all around her; the station was crowded, and no one seemed to notice that a small girl had just fallen in from an apparently solid barrier. "This must be the Hogwarts Express," she thought to herself, breathing a small sigh of relief. She wasn't going to miss the train after all.
The mysterious boy was no where to be seen. Lily was beginning to doubt that he had been the man in her dreams. She hadn't even gotten a very good look at the man's face. She had been too preoccupied with the creature who was killing them all. And if she thought really hard, she seemed to recall the the man's hair had been a shade or two lighter than that of the boy. They just couldn't be the same person; after all, it can't be normal to see a dream-boy in real life the night after you dream of him. That would just be too much of a coincidence. "But then," Lily reminded herself, "This whole magical world seems a bit strange in itself."
Seeing that the train was almost ready to go, Lily heaved herself up from the floor, and headed for the train, remembering to bring her trunk. Most of the compartements were full, and the few that weren't contained some rather nasty looking teenagers. Lily crept meekly through, hoping that no one would notice her. When she had almost given up hope of finding a seat, she found herself in a compartement that was almost entirely empty, except for three boys. The first was tall and thin, with hair that was so oily that Lily was surprised that the grease wasn't dripping down onto his forehead. In addition, he had a habit of looking down his large, hooked nose at other people, instead of looking at them directly.
The second boy had longish black hair, and dark, almost black, eyes. Eyes that were rarely without a spark of laughter in them. But this Lily learned later; at the moment, the boys eyes were filled with what was unmistakably disgust and hatred, directed towards the first boy.
And the third boy was was the boy that reminded her so much of the man in her dreams.
Although Lily was not quite as surprised to find him as she was the first time, the shock was still sufficient to knock her off her feet. Fortunately, there was a conveniently positioned chair that Lily could plop into.
Before Lily had come in, the boys appeared to have been in a rather heated argument. In fact, all three of them had their wands out, and looked ready to curse. Her entrance had no effect on the first two; they were continuing to yell, and one now had slimy pink hair, while the other had blisters covering his face. But the dream-boy was now staring, mesmerized, at Lily. What was odd was that Lily could feel an invisible line pulling her towards him. Her body wanted to physically walk over to him, to be as close as possible, to stop the pull. She almost got up from her chair, but stopped herself just in time. "Stop it," she thought almost angrily to herself. "You don't even know him!" But although she could resist the pull, she could not make it stop.
"Ahhhhh!" Immediately, Lily's attention was turned upon the other two boys. Blood was now spurting out of the oversized nose of the pink-haired boy. Two wands were lying, forgotten, on the floor. It seemed that they had both forgotten about magic and resorted to physical blows. The boy with the blistered face raised his arms in victory. Lily giggled under her breath. Then she spoke up. "Hi, I don't believe we have met before. I am Lily Evans."
The boy looked at her for a minute. Then he held out his hand to shake hers. "I'm Sirius Black, nice to meet you. By the way, my face doesn't always look like this. Actually, most of the time, I am rather good-looking, if I do say so myself." He wriggled his eyebrows suggestively at her.
Lily flushed. Then she laughed, and turned to the second boy, who had succeeded in making his nose stop bleeding. "And who are you?"
"I don't know that it is any business of yours, mudblood!" He snapped. One second later, and all the effort he had put into healing his nose was wasted, since it was bleeding again. What is more, he was clutching his stomach. The moment he had said that, both Sirius and the dream-boy had launched themselves at the boy. As the dream-boy turned his attention away from her, Lily could feel the bond between them weaken slightly. It was a weird sensation.
The two boys proceeded to shove pink-haired boy out of their compartement.
"What did he do?" Lily stuttered, confused. It hadn't seemed to her that Snape had done anything that awful--he was just kind of rude.
"Oh, that's Severus Snape . . . well, he just called you a mudblood," Sirius responded.
"A mudblood? It doesn't sound very nice, but it can't be that bad!" Lily exclaimed.
"Yes it can," replied the other boy, speaking up for the first time. His voice was deep for a boy their age. Lily liked it. "It's the worst possible insult in our world. That is what people like Snape call wizards and witches who were born from non-magic families. Don't worry, there's not a lot of them around."
"Oh," Lily said. "Who are you?"
"James Potter," the boy said, reaching out to shake her hand. The instant their hands touched, the invisible line between them went slack; although Lily could still feel its gentle tug, it was no longer attempting to forcefully drag her to James. Lily inhaled sharply, and let go of his hand more quickly than she had intended to.
Soon, the train arrived at Hogwarts. Lily was terribly nervous about the sorting, and no one seemed to have a clue as to what was going to happen. Rumors were flying through the air, and if Lily had believed every one of them, she would now be preparing herself to defeat a dragon, take dozens of different tests, and perform countless charms.
Meanwhile, Sirius was talking animatedly to her about the houses. He wanted to bbe in Gryffindor. Lily didn't know exactly where she wanted to go, although she was leaning towards Gryffindor. She definately didn't want to get sorted into a house where she had no friends. She wanted to be with Sirius, and she didn't want to be with Snape. But when it came to James, her feelings were rather ambivalent. She wanted to be near him, but at the same time, she didn't want to be constantly pushed and pulled about by the invisible force. The bond between them was only there when she in James's presence, and if she was in another house, she would only see him if they had a class together. But the thought of not seeing him at all was terrible; Lily longed to be with him. It would be best to be in the same house as he was, she decided, regardless of the strange force.
As she was thinking, Professor McGonagall had taken out the Sorting Hat. Lily almost fainted when it began to sing. "Lily! You have to get used to this type of thing . . . after all, you are going to a magical school!" she reproved herself. She started to pay attention to the Sorting Hat's song:
Though now you think that you must take
A test of the hardest kind,
That idea was entirely fake
As you are going to find.
Instead, I shall sort all of you
And place you in the house
Which your character best fits to
So you shall feel no need to grouse.
Griffindor, in days of old
To his house would invite
Wizards who were brave and bold
And would help others in their plight.
Slytherin, on the other hand,
Favored those whose goals were set high.
Students who are of his brand
Must be crafty, clever, and even sly.
Those who Hufflepuff held dear
Were the wizard and the witch
Who worked hard, and would persevere.
You must be loyal to fit this niche.
If you are learned, with a keen mind,
With Ravenclaw you must belong.
In this house wisdom you will find,
For students there are rarely wrong.
All that you must do now
Is put me on your head
I can read your mind, but don't ask how
And don't worry, this is nothing to dread.
And with that, the sorting started. Sirius was one of the first people to go up, and he was immediately placed in Griffindor. A few minutes later, McGonagall called Lily's name.
Lily walked up to the hat, making a huge effort to seem calm in front of the entire school. She could not repress the trembling of her legs, but she held her hed high and marched, outwardly confident, up to the chair. She succeeded in putting the hat on, although she almost dropped it because her fingers shook so much. She had tried to prepare herself beforehand for how it would feel to have a hat read her mind. It helped; she didn't faint when the hat began its survey. She only let out short gasp.
'Hmmm . . . very smart . . . Ravenclaw? No? Oh, I see, you want to be in Gryffindor. But I am not sure . . . oh my, what have we here? I haven't had one of these for a long time. . .'
'What?' Lily thought. 'What am I?'
'A Divinator, of course. You know, one of those people who can read the future. You could be a very good one, too, with the proper training. It should become noticeable about now, in your dreams perhaps. Anyways, with a gift like that it has to be either Gryffindor or Slytherin . . . Hufflepuff would never do, although you are loyal. You say you are muggle-born? Well, in that case you would never survive in Slytherin. Let's put you in . . . "GRYFFINDOR!"'
Lily almost ran over to the table and collapsed in a chair next to Sirius, amid a tremendous burst of applause. "What was the hat talking to you about?" Sirius whispered. "You took forever."
"Oh . . . nothing," Lily whispered back.
A boy named Remus Lupin was sorted into Gryffindor after her. He too had taken a long time with the Sorting hat; he had been up there almost five minutes. he had a pale, thin face, and eyes that were ringed with dark circles. He looked about ready to fall asleep with his head on his plate. Lily smiled at him, and he smiled back with an obvious effort. He then fell back into his stupor.
Joyce McKinnon was the next Gryffindor. She was a small, friendly looking girl, with very long, very curly light brown hair, and round, good-humored blue eyes. She came and stood at the empty chair next to Lily, looking at her timidly as if for permission to sit there. Lily grinned, and patted the chair, motioning for Joyce to sit.
Meanwhile, Peter Pettigrew had been accepted into Gryffindor, after sitting with the hat for even longer than Lily had.
And finally, the moment that Lily had been waiting all night for: the sorting of James Potter. She waited with baited breath, crossing her fingers under the table. 'Please let him be Gryffindor, please!' she silently begged, even though she knew that the sorting hat could only read your mind if it was on your head. There was no need for her to worry, though. Barely two seconds after it touched his head, the Sorting Hat declared James a Gryffindor.