"Oh no

"Oh no. Oh no," said Lily to herself as she scrambled out of bed. "Oh God, I'm late!"

She looked at her watch, and much to her dismay found that the hands were spinning at a hare's pace. Lily pulled on her pants, tee shirt and robes and ran out of the dormitory. She went through hallways that seemed to move with her, staircases that seemed never ending, and doors that you had to open four times before they led anyplace.

At last Lily began to run down the great marble steps towards the Entrance Hall when—

"Oh No!" Lily cried as she sunk into a trick step.

This was the end, she was going to be stuck on these stairs all her life, or at least until she was sunken all the way in, and then she would certainly die and then… oh then what?

"Hullo, young madame," said a dreary voice from behind her. Suddenly Lily felt as though she had been splashed with a bucket of ice water. She looked behind her to see a pearly figure dressed as though he was attending a Renaissance Fair.

"Sir Nicholas deMimsy-Poppington." He introduced as he bowed to her.

Lily couldn't help but gape as she watched his head swing to the side as he rose from his bow. Sir Nicholas moved to hover face-to-face with her.

"H—hu—'lo." Lily said timidly.

"You are a new Gryffindor, are you not?"

Lily nodded mutely, still looking shocked at the wobbly-headed figure.

"Splendid! I am Gryffindor's ghostly patron. Oh! But forgive me. Are you alright?"

With that Lily's mouth snapped shut. She looked down and suddenly realized that she was still sinking deeper into the step.

"Oh dear," she said to herself.

"Ah. Yes. Perhaps I should fetch the Headmaster," said Sir Nicholas with a bit of concern.

"No!" cried Lily. "Er… Could you… oh no," she said. She didn't want the Headmaster to have to come and pull her out of the stair case, but was it worth having James and Sirius help her?

"Hmm?" Asked the ghost.

"Er… could you… maybe…could you find James Potter, he's got glasses and messy black hair, and is a Gryffindor First Year," she asked nervously.

Sir Nicholas agreed and returned with James, Sirius and Peter shivering behind him a few moments later.

As soon as James saw Lily he burst out laughing so hard, in fact, that tears began to stream down his face. "See then, Peter! You aren't the only one!"

Sirius was grinning and obviously holding back laughter as well. He stood on the step below that which Lily was sinking into and put one shoulder under her arm. James did the same, still shaking with laugher, on the other side and they pulled her out roughly, causing them to tumble down the remaining eight or so steps.

"OW!"

"OOF!"

"OH!"

They each cried these exclamations at once. Lily and James stood up and each offered a hand to Sirius, whom they had landed upon at the bottom of the steps. Sirius took their hands and pulled them down beside him and all three burst out laughing. Peter was also laughing heartily at them from the stairs and walked down to meet them.

Finally they had all reached the Great Hall where the boys resumed their breakfasts and Lily sat down to hers. As she munched on a slice of toast, Imogen took a seat next to her and grinned.

"Where have you been? It's nearly eight o'clock and I've been looking for you!"

"I overslept," Lily said simply.

"And she got stuck in a trick step and had to get Nearly-Headless Nick ask James to help her!" piped up Peter, laughing.

Sirius and James looked at each other with amusement and laughingly said, "Yes. Just like Peter, except that he had to yell for us."

Peter went scarlet, but was saved from further ridicule as a prefect handed down a stack of first year schedules.

"Potions with the Slytherins. Our very first class and we have to spend it with those slimey gits."

*** *** *** ***

Professor Zathens was a young witch with black hair and gray eyes who wore long black fitted robes. She was very pretty, but looked as though she might have had a serious mean streak.

"Welcome to Beginners Potions. I do not expect you to do perfectly on your first day," she began. Peter let out a sigh, but too soon.

"No, I cannot expect you to do perfectly on your first day, because it might imply that I do not expect you to keep that standard. I expect you to do perfectly every time. Potions are a delicate art that few really appreciate, and I hope that you are among those who will learn the appreciation involved in being able to brew anything from a sleeping draught to a poison antidote."

Lily looked around the room curiously and noticed that the Slytherin boys were listening with rapt attention, particularly Severus Snape, who was anxiously clutching his quill and staring bright-eyed and open-mouthed at Professor Zathen.

"Today we will be making basic shrinking potion from shrivelfigs, daisy roots, and the rest of the ingredients that I have listed on the blackboard. I trust that you are all capable of MR. POTTER!"

James looked up guiltily from the table beside Lily and Imogen's. He was holding a very large, dead spider over the back of Sirius's robes, clearly preparing to drop it. James slowly lowered his hands to his sides and dropped the spider onto the table. A whoosh was heard from across the room and a large black bird swooped down on the table and clutched the insect. It returned to it's perch in the shadowy torch lit room, and James and Sirius looked as though they would faint any second.

"That is Nevermore. She is my pet raven. Many think that owls are the only post method among witches, but I find that she is much more dependable. Now, Mr. Potter, for interrupting my class, ten points from Gryffindor, and detention and Mr. Black, if you do not learn to keep you tittering to yourself, then you will see another fifteen missing from your house tally when you return to the Great Hall."

The rest of potions were relatively uneventful, with the exception of James and Sirius acting as though they were angels and Severus Snape tossing a frog's spleen at James when Professor Zathens had turned away for a moment.

It was the best day of school that Lily had ever had. She had made a perfect shrinking potion, made it to most of her classes on time, and learned to float a feather with a new charm. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was rapidly becoming the greatest place that Lily Evans had ever known.