DISCLAIMER: I own a sword. That's it. So try and sue me and I will chop you up into little bitty pieces.
CHAPTER TWO: THE NEW GIRL
For Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, the three sixth-years often called the "Gryffindor Musketeers," it had been a long, irritating train ride. "Can't believe the nerve of Ginny," Ron grumbled. "Dragging you away so you could talk, what did she have to say to you that me and Harry couldn't hear?"
"It's Harry and I, Ron," Hermione corrected, irritating her friend even more. "And it's none of your business. Can't anyone have any privacy when you're around, or do you have to know everything?"
"I gave you and Ginny privacy!" Ron objected loudly, making other students sitting near them swivel and stare at the three.
"Yes, and that's why we had to go to another compartment so that you wouldn't eavesdrop!" Hermione snapped. "Honestly, you think that you-"
"All right, you guys, look, the first years!" Harry interrupted hurriedly, seeing the beginnings of one of Ron and Hermione's famous "disagreements." It was rumored that when they fought, they could be heard all the way into the Slytherin dungeons. "Hey, who d'you think that is, there? She doesn't look like a first-year." His two friends stopped their argument and followed his pointing finger. There, at the end of the group of first years, standing with her arms folded across her chest and looking very annoyed at the whole situation, stood a girl about their age. She was not wearing the standard black, ankle-length Hogwarts robes; instead she was wearing a emerald green robe which fell to just above her knees, and buttoned up on her left side, the buttons ending at about her waist. ("An American Auror's uniform!" Hermione hissed.) Underneath the robe you could easily see a pair of flare jeans with black boots peeking out from under them, and a gold shirt. She was tall, and had light chestnut brown hair with a hint of gold, falling to just past her shoulders, pulled back into a thick, if untidy, ponytail. From this distance, it was impossible to see more of her features, but her posture told them her attitude at a glance.
Irritated.
Impatient.
And most of all, bored.
As they had talked, the Sorting Hat had begun and ended its song, and had started sorting the first years. As "Dominir, Auralie" was made the second new Gryffindor, Harry joined in the cheering, nudging Ron and Hermione. "Come on. The sooner they get this over with, the sooner we eat, right?"
The Sorting of the first years passed quickly, and soon the only figure left was the brown-haired girl standing with her arms still crossed, glaring around the hall. She rolled her eyes as Dumbledore stood and gave a cheery smile to the members of all four houses.
"This year, we have yet another new student in our midst. Due to the overcrowding of American schools, many schools from other nations, including Canada, France, Spain, and many, many others, have agreed to take on the extra students that the American schools cannot accomodate. One of these students will be joining our sixth year. Miss Grey is from the Salem Academy of Magic, and I am sure whichever house she joins will make her feel at home. Miss Grey, the hat, if you will?" He gestured to the stool, and grudgingly, she sat. The girl sat silently for a fair amount of time, and even though she could not see it, the student's expressions were slowly changing from curious to annoyed to downright murderous. Professor McGonagall hoped fervently that the hat would sort her soon, so that they could all eat.
After a few more moments, the hat seemed to have decided. It called out "SLYTH-" and stopped. The girl's face was screwed up, and she seemed to be arguing angrily with the hat, her lips were moving quite fast. After a moment, the hat changed its mind. "GRYFF-" and it stopped again. And then it did something it had never done before.
It spoke out loud.
"Well, my goodness, I do wish you'd make up your mind. You can only go into one house, you know." The girl's lips moved again, and the hat replied, still loudly. "You have quite a mouth on you, young lady. All right, if that's your choice. I did say you'd do well there, although Slytherin is just as good, possibly better. GRYFFINDOR!"
The girl stood up with a self-satisfied smile, ignoring the way she got barely any applause, and even then mostly from the staff table. She slid into an empty seat, and those sitting around her edged away slightly, not wanting to sit near anyone who was almost a Slytherin. She was polite enough, but somewhat cold, and the other Gryffindors were almost scared to look her in the eye when they passed her the potatoes.
She did not eat a lot, but she ate it slowly enough so that she was one of the few people left in the Great Hall when the feast ended. The only others left were Harry, Ron, Hermione, and three fourth-years who were busy trying to build a castle out of their mashed potatoes. The Slytherin table, however, was empty. Its last occupants were busy at the Gryffindor table.
"Well, well, well," Malfoy sneered. The girl looked up. "Why anyone who had the option to be in Slytherin would choose Gryffindor is beyond me. With brains like that, I'd say you belonged in Hufflepuff."
"With a mouth like that, I'd say you belonged in a toilet," the girl retorted. Malfoy's face turned pink. Crabbe and Goyle looked confused, and the girl turned her attention to them. "Since you two look about as sharp as the average beach ball, I'll explain it in nice, simple terms for you, and no big words. He's talking shit." The two growled, but Malfoy shushed them with a wave of his hand.
"If you weren't a girl, you would be in the hospital wing by now," he sneered.
She leaned back in her chair, folding her arms behind her head and putting her feet up on the table, ignoring McGonagall's frown. "Oh, I'm so glad I have your mercy, what a horrible thing it would be if I had to kick your ass." She spoke with a sharp, clipped tone, sounding serious, but the sarcasm wasn't lost on Malfoy, and he seemed to snap.
"So confident, are you? Crabbe, make her see reason," he said, looking around and seeing the last of the teachers leave the Great Hall. The troll-like boy nodded dumbly, and grabbed the girl's arm.
But with what looked like a well-practised move, she twisted her arm around, while pulling her legs to the ground and sitting up straight. The result was Crabbe's being flung to the ground at her feet, and she smiled sweetly at Malfoy. "Oh yes, I see reason now. The reasoning that what happened to him-" she jerked her head at the prone body at her feet- "could happen to you. Now, I have to be going. Ta-ta." And she stood and sauntered past Malfoy, taking great care to step on Crabbe's hand.
At the other side of the table, Harry Ron, and Hermione all took one look at each other and rose from their seats, following the brown-haired girl as she swept out of the hall. As they ran through the door, they saw the girl at the end of the hallway, speaking to a painting. "Well, if you could just tell me where Gryffindor house is, then you could go back to the stargazing without me bothering you." The centaur in the painting gave her a dirty look, and turned his back to her. She kicked the wall in exasperation, yelling, "Isn't ANYONE in this school helpful?"
"Oh, yes, you just had the misfortune of running into Malfoy. He's about as helpful as a condom machine in the Vatican." Ron said, making the girl turn and jump.
"Malfoy? That scrawny little pale kid?"
"Yup."
"Sounds right to me. He could rival G.W. Bush for the lowest IQ level." The girl grinned, showing sparkling white, if slightly uneven, teeth. "Hi, I'm Liliana Josephine Grey. Call me Lili."
"I'm Ron Weasley. This is my best friend, Harry Potter, and my girlfriend, Hermione Granger."
"Lily was my Mum's name," Harry said thoughtfully. Then- "You two are dating? When? How? Where? And most importantly, why didn't you tell me?" He glared only half-jokingly, at his two best friends.
"Over the summer, we just kind of started, at the Burrow, and because the opportunity didn't come up. You didn't come to the Burrow this summer, remember?" Hermione rattled off the answers to his questions with a slight smile, and he grinned back.
"Well, fine, you have my permission. Just no snogging in the common room, please, like Fred and Angelina? That's what broom closets are for."
"And just how would you know, Mr. Potter?" Hermione laughed as he turned red. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said, turning back to Lili. "You must think we're terribly rude."
"Oh, no, not at all. It reminds me of how my friends and I back home used to act. We were always rude." She grinned, although it had a touch of bitterness in it. Up close, you could see that she was more interesting than pretty. She had shaggy brown hair, just a touch of gold in it, falling just to her shoulder blades, and it had the ragged, layered look of hair that had been cut very short by someone with no hairdressing talent (or a pair of scissors) and had then grown out again. It had fallen out of her ponytail, and was hanging like a curtain around her face. Each silky lock was separate from each of the others, and also sticking up in every direction. Her eyes were deep blue, almost violet, at least twice as large as they should have been, almost elven looking. There was a small scar about an inch long, running under her right eye and across her cheekbone. Her skin was rosy, and offset her hair nicely. She had a snub nose, spattered with a few light freckles. Her mouth, like her eyes, was much too big for her face, and hung lopsidedly. She was at least three inches taller than Hermione, but an inch or two shorter than Harry, who had had a growth spurt at the end of his fifth year, and a good foot shorter than Ron, who, by the way he was growing, seemed to be ready to rival Hagrid.
"Are you an Auror?" Hermione asked. "I'm sorry- it's just, the uniform-"
"Oh no, it's all right," Lili responded. "I'm not. I just like Auror's robes, and I didn't have time to change before getting on the train. What are the standard Auror's colors here? I know America is green and gold."
"Gray and navy," Harry told her. Hermione had told him while they ate. "Where in America are you from?" He asked curiously. Her accent told him that she was from a more northern part of the country, but he couldn't quite place where it was.
"Suburb of New York City. Well, kind of a suburb. Okay, not a suburb at all. I live in a rural area of New York State, and it was one helluva drive to get to SAM, let me tell you that. There's no school train up there." They had been walking as they talked, and suddenly Lili stopped short. "Um, I kind of forgot to ask, but do you know where Gryffindor house is? I didn't go up with the first years, and I don't know the way."
"Of course we do, we're Gryffindors too," Ron smiled, waving his red and gold tie around. She smiled at them in relief. "We have all our classes together, too. But what did you sign up for?"
"You mean electives? Well, there was no Magical Weaponry or Nature Magic, so it was... um... let's see... Ancient Runes.... and... Divination. Divination is just a fancy word for fortune-telling, right? And what do you take?"
"Oh... she takes Arithmancy, and we take Divination. We all take Care of Magical Creatures." Harry smiled at Lili, in a 'too bad' kind of way.
"Oh, animals aren't too much my thing. I get along with them fine, but... I don't know. It's not challenging enough. Hey, who's this?" They had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, who smiled down at the new Gryffindor.
"Password?" she asked kindly.
"Bongo drum." Hermione said absently, and Ron ducked as the portrait swung open. The others, being shorter, did not have this problem, and laughed as he stood up straight again.
Their evening passed quickly. While Harry and Hermione watched, Lili and Ron played chess, Lili losing miserably. "I hate this game," she muttered, as Ron's black knight wrestled her bishop off the board. "Can't you have a little mercy? Just a little?" He grinned, and easily put her in checkmate. The white king took off his crown and chucked it at the black king's head, knocking the piece off the board.
Standing up, Hermione yawned, and laughed as she watched it pass around the little circle. "Well, I'm going to bed. Tomorrow's the first day of classes, and I don't want to oversleep."
"Some things never change," Ron muttered under his breath.
"I think I'll go to sleep too," Lili said. "A nine-hour plane flight isn't exactly refreshing. That little kid kept kicking my seat. I hate kids. If I'm ever a mother, just curse me then and there. I won't want to live. I can't babysit, either. Last time I tried, I scarred the kids for life. I hear Marthie's still in therapy."
"How did you go from talking about you being tired to you not being good with kids?" Harry's brow furrowed, and Lili laughed.
"Oh, don't mind me. My train of thought often goes off the tracks." And with a grin and a wave, she trotted up the steps.
******************************************************************************
"JOY TO THE WORLD, BARNEY'S DEAD, I BAAARBECUUUED HIS HEAD!" Lili's voice rang out of the sixth year girl's bathroom. Hermione put down her book with a sigh.
"You know, Lili, the last person I heard singing that song was seven years old. Why, for the love of all things sacred, are you singing it?" She complained.
"WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS BODY, I FLUSHED IT DOWN THE POTTY- huh, what, Hermione? What'd you say?" Her head poked out of the bathroom door, wet hair dripping over her eyes and onto the carpet.
"Why on Earth are you singing that?" Hermione pulled off her new reading glasses and frowned at her roommate. It was three weeks into the school year, and Hermione was fed up with the way Lili would go from bouncy and hyper to cold and sullen in the space of about thirty seconds. She folded her arms and waited for an answer.
"I dunno, really. Just popped into my head, and I started singing. And I used Barney because next to valley girls, Barney is the Ultimate Evil." She grinned and grabbed a towel to start drying her hair.
"Uh-huh," Hermione said, giving her a fish eye. "And what about You-Know-Who?"
"Oh, him?" Lili flopped down on her bed, and grinned, although Hermione thought that it seemed a little forced. "Barney is worse. Now, give me back my pillow."
Hermione rolled her eyes, and threw Lili's pillow back to her bed. "And another thing- what is with your moods? One minute, you're acting like a cheerleader after three cups of coffee and a bag of sugar, the next, you have the life view of Edgar Allen Poe."
"Gods, Hermione, I wasn't expecting the Spanish Inquisition."
"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!"
Lili rolled her eyes and grinned. "Okay, here's how I think of my psyche: I have two personalities, not literally, but just listen; one is bouncy and hyper and wild, the other is gloomy, sullen, and belligerent. The first I call the Demented Cheerleader Personality, it's as crazy as anything, and it only comes out when I'm relaxed and around friends. The rest of the time personality two is in charge, and I call this one the Daria Morgandorffer Personality, after one of my favorite TV show characters. When I'm like this, I'll bite your head off, and I have no mercy. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is Liliana Josephine Grey. Thank you and goodnight." And with that, she closed her hangings and left Hermione staring at the place where her friend had been.
Lili, inside her curtains, was silently fuming. Not at Hermione, who had asked an innocent (and not totally unexpected) question, but at the world in general. At herself in particular. She thought back to what the Sorting Hat had said to her.
"Well my, my my! An Andriguez! I thought your line had left Europe!"
**Excuse me?** Lili had thought back.
"Andriguez, my dear, Andriguez. Your mother's line. Very powerful magical family, you know. And my, do you have the family talent. But this isn't the time to talk about your family. Now, what house should you go into?"
**Not Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw,** she thought firmly. **Anything but those.**
"Really? You'd do well in Ravenclaw, you know, although Hufflepuff is far from your style. Whyever not?"
**Because yellow and blue just make me look so fat,** Lili thought airily, and she almost thought she heard the hat snicker. It didn't matter, though, she rarely told anyone her real thoughts, and the hat was no exception.
"So Slytherin or Gryffindor. Good choices, you'd do well in either. And you certainly have the aptitude for Slytherin life, so I hope green doen't make you look fat."
**Oh ho,** Lili thought. **The thing has a sense of humor.**
"Yes, my dear, I do," the hat said irritatedly. "And your lack of tact is certainly a Gryffindor trait."
**I'm sorry,** she thought sheepishly. **I forgot you could read minds.**
"I could tell," the hat said dryly. "I think I know. You'd do very well in SLYTH-"
**Waitwaitwaitwaitwait!** she thought frantically. **I don't think I want to be in Slytherin.**
"Why not?" The hat was obviously frustrated at being interrupted and having its judgement questioned. "Traditionally, the Andriguez line was mostly Slytherin, although there were a fair amount of Gryffindors."
**I don't know,** she thought slowly. **But I don't. I want to be in Gryffindor.**
"My dear, you ARE a Slytherin. It's in your nature."
**Have you looked at my nature? Or have you just listened to me talk to you?**
The hat mumbled something, and Lili felt it rummaging around in her mind. The sensation was far more personal than she liked, but she put up with it. And, after a moment, she heard the hat again, whispering into her ear. "Well well well, you were right. GRYFF-"
**Too bad, I do like the idea of Slytherin...** she thought about it for a moment, but decided Gryffindor was for her.
"Well, my goodness, I do wish you'd make up your mind. You can only go into one house, you know."
**Of course I know, you cloth idiot!** Lili was getting impatient, and starting to forget to be polite to the hat.
"You have quite a mouth on you, young lady. All right, if that's your choice. I did say you'd do well there, although Slytherin is just as good, possibly better. GRYFFINDOR!"
Lili slowly let the memory slip away. Quietly, she slid under the covers of her bed and fell asleep.
(A/N) I was going to leave out the memory of the Sorting hat, but I figured it helped everyone understand Lili a bit more. Okay, and there's chapter two! Now review, dammit! I'm waiting....
CHAPTER TWO: THE NEW GIRL
For Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, the three sixth-years often called the "Gryffindor Musketeers," it had been a long, irritating train ride. "Can't believe the nerve of Ginny," Ron grumbled. "Dragging you away so you could talk, what did she have to say to you that me and Harry couldn't hear?"
"It's Harry and I, Ron," Hermione corrected, irritating her friend even more. "And it's none of your business. Can't anyone have any privacy when you're around, or do you have to know everything?"
"I gave you and Ginny privacy!" Ron objected loudly, making other students sitting near them swivel and stare at the three.
"Yes, and that's why we had to go to another compartment so that you wouldn't eavesdrop!" Hermione snapped. "Honestly, you think that you-"
"All right, you guys, look, the first years!" Harry interrupted hurriedly, seeing the beginnings of one of Ron and Hermione's famous "disagreements." It was rumored that when they fought, they could be heard all the way into the Slytherin dungeons. "Hey, who d'you think that is, there? She doesn't look like a first-year." His two friends stopped their argument and followed his pointing finger. There, at the end of the group of first years, standing with her arms folded across her chest and looking very annoyed at the whole situation, stood a girl about their age. She was not wearing the standard black, ankle-length Hogwarts robes; instead she was wearing a emerald green robe which fell to just above her knees, and buttoned up on her left side, the buttons ending at about her waist. ("An American Auror's uniform!" Hermione hissed.) Underneath the robe you could easily see a pair of flare jeans with black boots peeking out from under them, and a gold shirt. She was tall, and had light chestnut brown hair with a hint of gold, falling to just past her shoulders, pulled back into a thick, if untidy, ponytail. From this distance, it was impossible to see more of her features, but her posture told them her attitude at a glance.
Irritated.
Impatient.
And most of all, bored.
As they had talked, the Sorting Hat had begun and ended its song, and had started sorting the first years. As "Dominir, Auralie" was made the second new Gryffindor, Harry joined in the cheering, nudging Ron and Hermione. "Come on. The sooner they get this over with, the sooner we eat, right?"
The Sorting of the first years passed quickly, and soon the only figure left was the brown-haired girl standing with her arms still crossed, glaring around the hall. She rolled her eyes as Dumbledore stood and gave a cheery smile to the members of all four houses.
"This year, we have yet another new student in our midst. Due to the overcrowding of American schools, many schools from other nations, including Canada, France, Spain, and many, many others, have agreed to take on the extra students that the American schools cannot accomodate. One of these students will be joining our sixth year. Miss Grey is from the Salem Academy of Magic, and I am sure whichever house she joins will make her feel at home. Miss Grey, the hat, if you will?" He gestured to the stool, and grudgingly, she sat. The girl sat silently for a fair amount of time, and even though she could not see it, the student's expressions were slowly changing from curious to annoyed to downright murderous. Professor McGonagall hoped fervently that the hat would sort her soon, so that they could all eat.
After a few more moments, the hat seemed to have decided. It called out "SLYTH-" and stopped. The girl's face was screwed up, and she seemed to be arguing angrily with the hat, her lips were moving quite fast. After a moment, the hat changed its mind. "GRYFF-" and it stopped again. And then it did something it had never done before.
It spoke out loud.
"Well, my goodness, I do wish you'd make up your mind. You can only go into one house, you know." The girl's lips moved again, and the hat replied, still loudly. "You have quite a mouth on you, young lady. All right, if that's your choice. I did say you'd do well there, although Slytherin is just as good, possibly better. GRYFFINDOR!"
The girl stood up with a self-satisfied smile, ignoring the way she got barely any applause, and even then mostly from the staff table. She slid into an empty seat, and those sitting around her edged away slightly, not wanting to sit near anyone who was almost a Slytherin. She was polite enough, but somewhat cold, and the other Gryffindors were almost scared to look her in the eye when they passed her the potatoes.
She did not eat a lot, but she ate it slowly enough so that she was one of the few people left in the Great Hall when the feast ended. The only others left were Harry, Ron, Hermione, and three fourth-years who were busy trying to build a castle out of their mashed potatoes. The Slytherin table, however, was empty. Its last occupants were busy at the Gryffindor table.
"Well, well, well," Malfoy sneered. The girl looked up. "Why anyone who had the option to be in Slytherin would choose Gryffindor is beyond me. With brains like that, I'd say you belonged in Hufflepuff."
"With a mouth like that, I'd say you belonged in a toilet," the girl retorted. Malfoy's face turned pink. Crabbe and Goyle looked confused, and the girl turned her attention to them. "Since you two look about as sharp as the average beach ball, I'll explain it in nice, simple terms for you, and no big words. He's talking shit." The two growled, but Malfoy shushed them with a wave of his hand.
"If you weren't a girl, you would be in the hospital wing by now," he sneered.
She leaned back in her chair, folding her arms behind her head and putting her feet up on the table, ignoring McGonagall's frown. "Oh, I'm so glad I have your mercy, what a horrible thing it would be if I had to kick your ass." She spoke with a sharp, clipped tone, sounding serious, but the sarcasm wasn't lost on Malfoy, and he seemed to snap.
"So confident, are you? Crabbe, make her see reason," he said, looking around and seeing the last of the teachers leave the Great Hall. The troll-like boy nodded dumbly, and grabbed the girl's arm.
But with what looked like a well-practised move, she twisted her arm around, while pulling her legs to the ground and sitting up straight. The result was Crabbe's being flung to the ground at her feet, and she smiled sweetly at Malfoy. "Oh yes, I see reason now. The reasoning that what happened to him-" she jerked her head at the prone body at her feet- "could happen to you. Now, I have to be going. Ta-ta." And she stood and sauntered past Malfoy, taking great care to step on Crabbe's hand.
At the other side of the table, Harry Ron, and Hermione all took one look at each other and rose from their seats, following the brown-haired girl as she swept out of the hall. As they ran through the door, they saw the girl at the end of the hallway, speaking to a painting. "Well, if you could just tell me where Gryffindor house is, then you could go back to the stargazing without me bothering you." The centaur in the painting gave her a dirty look, and turned his back to her. She kicked the wall in exasperation, yelling, "Isn't ANYONE in this school helpful?"
"Oh, yes, you just had the misfortune of running into Malfoy. He's about as helpful as a condom machine in the Vatican." Ron said, making the girl turn and jump.
"Malfoy? That scrawny little pale kid?"
"Yup."
"Sounds right to me. He could rival G.W. Bush for the lowest IQ level." The girl grinned, showing sparkling white, if slightly uneven, teeth. "Hi, I'm Liliana Josephine Grey. Call me Lili."
"I'm Ron Weasley. This is my best friend, Harry Potter, and my girlfriend, Hermione Granger."
"Lily was my Mum's name," Harry said thoughtfully. Then- "You two are dating? When? How? Where? And most importantly, why didn't you tell me?" He glared only half-jokingly, at his two best friends.
"Over the summer, we just kind of started, at the Burrow, and because the opportunity didn't come up. You didn't come to the Burrow this summer, remember?" Hermione rattled off the answers to his questions with a slight smile, and he grinned back.
"Well, fine, you have my permission. Just no snogging in the common room, please, like Fred and Angelina? That's what broom closets are for."
"And just how would you know, Mr. Potter?" Hermione laughed as he turned red. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said, turning back to Lili. "You must think we're terribly rude."
"Oh, no, not at all. It reminds me of how my friends and I back home used to act. We were always rude." She grinned, although it had a touch of bitterness in it. Up close, you could see that she was more interesting than pretty. She had shaggy brown hair, just a touch of gold in it, falling just to her shoulder blades, and it had the ragged, layered look of hair that had been cut very short by someone with no hairdressing talent (or a pair of scissors) and had then grown out again. It had fallen out of her ponytail, and was hanging like a curtain around her face. Each silky lock was separate from each of the others, and also sticking up in every direction. Her eyes were deep blue, almost violet, at least twice as large as they should have been, almost elven looking. There was a small scar about an inch long, running under her right eye and across her cheekbone. Her skin was rosy, and offset her hair nicely. She had a snub nose, spattered with a few light freckles. Her mouth, like her eyes, was much too big for her face, and hung lopsidedly. She was at least three inches taller than Hermione, but an inch or two shorter than Harry, who had had a growth spurt at the end of his fifth year, and a good foot shorter than Ron, who, by the way he was growing, seemed to be ready to rival Hagrid.
"Are you an Auror?" Hermione asked. "I'm sorry- it's just, the uniform-"
"Oh no, it's all right," Lili responded. "I'm not. I just like Auror's robes, and I didn't have time to change before getting on the train. What are the standard Auror's colors here? I know America is green and gold."
"Gray and navy," Harry told her. Hermione had told him while they ate. "Where in America are you from?" He asked curiously. Her accent told him that she was from a more northern part of the country, but he couldn't quite place where it was.
"Suburb of New York City. Well, kind of a suburb. Okay, not a suburb at all. I live in a rural area of New York State, and it was one helluva drive to get to SAM, let me tell you that. There's no school train up there." They had been walking as they talked, and suddenly Lili stopped short. "Um, I kind of forgot to ask, but do you know where Gryffindor house is? I didn't go up with the first years, and I don't know the way."
"Of course we do, we're Gryffindors too," Ron smiled, waving his red and gold tie around. She smiled at them in relief. "We have all our classes together, too. But what did you sign up for?"
"You mean electives? Well, there was no Magical Weaponry or Nature Magic, so it was... um... let's see... Ancient Runes.... and... Divination. Divination is just a fancy word for fortune-telling, right? And what do you take?"
"Oh... she takes Arithmancy, and we take Divination. We all take Care of Magical Creatures." Harry smiled at Lili, in a 'too bad' kind of way.
"Oh, animals aren't too much my thing. I get along with them fine, but... I don't know. It's not challenging enough. Hey, who's this?" They had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, who smiled down at the new Gryffindor.
"Password?" she asked kindly.
"Bongo drum." Hermione said absently, and Ron ducked as the portrait swung open. The others, being shorter, did not have this problem, and laughed as he stood up straight again.
Their evening passed quickly. While Harry and Hermione watched, Lili and Ron played chess, Lili losing miserably. "I hate this game," she muttered, as Ron's black knight wrestled her bishop off the board. "Can't you have a little mercy? Just a little?" He grinned, and easily put her in checkmate. The white king took off his crown and chucked it at the black king's head, knocking the piece off the board.
Standing up, Hermione yawned, and laughed as she watched it pass around the little circle. "Well, I'm going to bed. Tomorrow's the first day of classes, and I don't want to oversleep."
"Some things never change," Ron muttered under his breath.
"I think I'll go to sleep too," Lili said. "A nine-hour plane flight isn't exactly refreshing. That little kid kept kicking my seat. I hate kids. If I'm ever a mother, just curse me then and there. I won't want to live. I can't babysit, either. Last time I tried, I scarred the kids for life. I hear Marthie's still in therapy."
"How did you go from talking about you being tired to you not being good with kids?" Harry's brow furrowed, and Lili laughed.
"Oh, don't mind me. My train of thought often goes off the tracks." And with a grin and a wave, she trotted up the steps.
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"JOY TO THE WORLD, BARNEY'S DEAD, I BAAARBECUUUED HIS HEAD!" Lili's voice rang out of the sixth year girl's bathroom. Hermione put down her book with a sigh.
"You know, Lili, the last person I heard singing that song was seven years old. Why, for the love of all things sacred, are you singing it?" She complained.
"WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS BODY, I FLUSHED IT DOWN THE POTTY- huh, what, Hermione? What'd you say?" Her head poked out of the bathroom door, wet hair dripping over her eyes and onto the carpet.
"Why on Earth are you singing that?" Hermione pulled off her new reading glasses and frowned at her roommate. It was three weeks into the school year, and Hermione was fed up with the way Lili would go from bouncy and hyper to cold and sullen in the space of about thirty seconds. She folded her arms and waited for an answer.
"I dunno, really. Just popped into my head, and I started singing. And I used Barney because next to valley girls, Barney is the Ultimate Evil." She grinned and grabbed a towel to start drying her hair.
"Uh-huh," Hermione said, giving her a fish eye. "And what about You-Know-Who?"
"Oh, him?" Lili flopped down on her bed, and grinned, although Hermione thought that it seemed a little forced. "Barney is worse. Now, give me back my pillow."
Hermione rolled her eyes, and threw Lili's pillow back to her bed. "And another thing- what is with your moods? One minute, you're acting like a cheerleader after three cups of coffee and a bag of sugar, the next, you have the life view of Edgar Allen Poe."
"Gods, Hermione, I wasn't expecting the Spanish Inquisition."
"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!"
Lili rolled her eyes and grinned. "Okay, here's how I think of my psyche: I have two personalities, not literally, but just listen; one is bouncy and hyper and wild, the other is gloomy, sullen, and belligerent. The first I call the Demented Cheerleader Personality, it's as crazy as anything, and it only comes out when I'm relaxed and around friends. The rest of the time personality two is in charge, and I call this one the Daria Morgandorffer Personality, after one of my favorite TV show characters. When I'm like this, I'll bite your head off, and I have no mercy. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is Liliana Josephine Grey. Thank you and goodnight." And with that, she closed her hangings and left Hermione staring at the place where her friend had been.
Lili, inside her curtains, was silently fuming. Not at Hermione, who had asked an innocent (and not totally unexpected) question, but at the world in general. At herself in particular. She thought back to what the Sorting Hat had said to her.
"Well my, my my! An Andriguez! I thought your line had left Europe!"
**Excuse me?** Lili had thought back.
"Andriguez, my dear, Andriguez. Your mother's line. Very powerful magical family, you know. And my, do you have the family talent. But this isn't the time to talk about your family. Now, what house should you go into?"
**Not Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw,** she thought firmly. **Anything but those.**
"Really? You'd do well in Ravenclaw, you know, although Hufflepuff is far from your style. Whyever not?"
**Because yellow and blue just make me look so fat,** Lili thought airily, and she almost thought she heard the hat snicker. It didn't matter, though, she rarely told anyone her real thoughts, and the hat was no exception.
"So Slytherin or Gryffindor. Good choices, you'd do well in either. And you certainly have the aptitude for Slytherin life, so I hope green doen't make you look fat."
**Oh ho,** Lili thought. **The thing has a sense of humor.**
"Yes, my dear, I do," the hat said irritatedly. "And your lack of tact is certainly a Gryffindor trait."
**I'm sorry,** she thought sheepishly. **I forgot you could read minds.**
"I could tell," the hat said dryly. "I think I know. You'd do very well in SLYTH-"
**Waitwaitwaitwaitwait!** she thought frantically. **I don't think I want to be in Slytherin.**
"Why not?" The hat was obviously frustrated at being interrupted and having its judgement questioned. "Traditionally, the Andriguez line was mostly Slytherin, although there were a fair amount of Gryffindors."
**I don't know,** she thought slowly. **But I don't. I want to be in Gryffindor.**
"My dear, you ARE a Slytherin. It's in your nature."
**Have you looked at my nature? Or have you just listened to me talk to you?**
The hat mumbled something, and Lili felt it rummaging around in her mind. The sensation was far more personal than she liked, but she put up with it. And, after a moment, she heard the hat again, whispering into her ear. "Well well well, you were right. GRYFF-"
**Too bad, I do like the idea of Slytherin...** she thought about it for a moment, but decided Gryffindor was for her.
"Well, my goodness, I do wish you'd make up your mind. You can only go into one house, you know."
**Of course I know, you cloth idiot!** Lili was getting impatient, and starting to forget to be polite to the hat.
"You have quite a mouth on you, young lady. All right, if that's your choice. I did say you'd do well there, although Slytherin is just as good, possibly better. GRYFFINDOR!"
Lili slowly let the memory slip away. Quietly, she slid under the covers of her bed and fell asleep.
(A/N) I was going to leave out the memory of the Sorting hat, but I figured it helped everyone understand Lili a bit more. Okay, and there's chapter two! Now review, dammit! I'm waiting....