"There is no such thing as Platform 9 and 3/4! I knew it, it's all some kind of a joke. Any minute now, some candid camera show is going to appear and laugh hysterically at us all!" Petunia Evans shrieked.
"No they won't, Petunia!" Lily Evans said to her sister irritably. Her emerald eyes shone with excitement as a finger twirled a lock of her long red hair, remembering the events of the past few days...an owl swooping into the kitchen one day at breakfast and dropping a letter on her lap, discovering she was a witch, going to Diagon Alley and getting supplies to get supplies for her new school, Hogwarts...
"Dears, don't fight," Their mother said calmly, used to all of the arguing between them. "Platform 9 and 3/4 should be somewhere in between Platforms 9 and 10."
Just then, a family in billowing, black robes came stalking past. The mother and father were wearing expressions of disgust as they looked around them, and their son did also. They all had black, greasy hair, and the child was extremely pale. Lily's heart nearly jumped into her throat as she realized these people had an owl. They had to be wizards! The parents left, leaving the boy standing there checking over his luggage.
Her own family was still arguing about where the Platform was, so they didn't notice when Lily walked up to him and asked politely, "Excuse me, but how do you get to Platform 9 and 3/4?"
The boy turned over to look at her and his face twisted into a sneer. "You don't know?" he asked, his voice incredibly nasty. Seeing her shake her head, he said, "Then you must be Muggle-born." Lily nodded, wondering what he was getting at. His sneer grew more menacing and he hissed, "You shouldn't be allowed to go to Hogwarts, Mudblood. All of you Muggle-born scum should just go back where you came from--" His sentence was cut short as he gasped in pain.
Lily, not really understanding what he was calling her but realizing it was insults, had twisted his arm behind his back and was holding it there. The boy tried to wiggle free, but Lily wouldn't let go. "What did you call me?" she asked angrily.
"I called you a Mudblood." he replied defiantly.
Lily pinned his arm behind him with more force. "And what does that mean?" Once again, he couldn't speak, this time because someone different interrupted him.
"Go girl with the red hair! I've always wanted to see Snape in pain." Lily, still holding onto the boy's arm, whirled him around and came face-to-face with two other boys. One had dark brown hair and brown eyes and had a muscular build. She realized he was the one that spoke to her. The other was skinny and had messy black hair that stood up in every direction. He also had sparkling blue eyes behind black glasses.
"So Snape is his name, is it? Well, Snape, let this be a reminder not to call me Mudblood ever again...whatever it means." With that, Lily let go of his arm and Snape glared at them before grabbing his trunk and heaving it away.
The boy with the glasses shook his head. "He called you a Mudblood?"
"Pay up, James, I told you he would insult someone before he even got on the train!" The other boy shouted gleefully. Glasses-boy dug around in the pockets of his robe and pulled out several gold pieces--Galleons, Lily realized--and passed them over. "My name's Sirius. Sirius Black. And that greasy git you just taught a lesson was Severus Snape."
"Hi Sirius. My name's Lily Evans," Lily held out a hand and Sirius shook it, still bounding with energy.
"James, I'm going into the train to get us a good compartment. Meet me there!" Sirius yelled, then sprinted off towards the solid metal barrier in between Platforms Nine and Ten. Lily watched him carefully...he was running straight towards the wall!
Lily gasped. "He's going to crash!" James didn't reply, and she continued to watch Sirius run--right when he should have hit the wall and had a concussion, he disappeared. "How did he do that?" she asked, astonished.
James chuckled. "It's enchanted so that witches and wizards can get through to the Hogwarts Express. You can just walk right through it. I take it you're a first year?" Lily nodded. "And you're Muggle-born."
"What the deal with me being Muggle-born?!" Lily cried, exasperated.
"I doesn't mean anything to me, or Sirius. Some wizarding families pride themselves on being 'pure-blooded' and they think Muggle-borns shouldn't be allowed in Hogwarts. Like Snape there. 'Mudblood' is a really foul name for someone born in a Muggle family...about time he got what you gave him. I would've cursed him, but we're not allowed to do magic until we get to the castle." James explained.
Lily's head swam with all the information. "Oh," was her stupid reply. But at that moment, her mother called, "Lily dear! Over here, sweety!" Lily turned back to James and smiled. "See you on the train," she said kindly.
"See you."
Lily walked back over to her family and explained about what just happened. Then she told them that she ought to get going on the train to make sure she got a good seat, and to her luck, they smiled and said okay. Lily's mother started to cry, exclaiming that her baby was so special, going to Hogwarts and being a witch. This made Lily keen on leaving, since they were making a scene, and she quickly kissed her parents good bye. Petunia stuck her tongue out at her, and Lily returned it before pushing her heavy trunk on her trolley towards the barrier.
She walked a little faster. She was almost there...inches away...she closed her eyes, waiting for the blow, but it never came. She opened her eyes and found herself in front of a giant scarlet train gleaming Hogwarts Express. "Woah," she said softly. Not wanting to waste time, Lily took her trunk of the trolley once she got to the steps on the train. Slowly, she raised her trunk step by step until it was on the carpeted floor. She silently thanked her earlier karate lessons for giving her this kind of strength.
Idiley walking along, she came to a stop in front of a door and heard voices. "And Snape was just standing there, looking evil, while she held his arm!" Lots of laughter followed, and Lily grinned. So, they were re-telling the story of Snape...she pushed the door open.
Everyone in that particular compartment glanced up. Lily recognized James and Sirius, along with two different boys she'd never seen. One had sandy brown hair and looked kind of sick, the other one was small and kind of chubby with watery eyes. "Here's the lady of the hour!" Sirius proclaimed, jumping up and shaking Lily's hand.
"Nice job on Snape. I've never seen him before, but he sounds awful. By the way, my name's Remus Lupin," the sick looking boy said from his seat. Lily smiled and at him.
"I'm Peter Pettigrew," the watery-eyed boy said, voice kind of squeaky. Lily also smiled at him.
"I'm Lily Evans," Lily said, grinning widely. "Mind if I sit in here?" After hearing them all agree, she went back outside and pushed her trunk in with ease.
The boy were impressed, she could tell by the looks on their faces. "I used to take karate lessons, it comes in handy," Lily explained, glad to be able to explain something to them rather than the other way around. "Karate is--er--a kind of fighting."
Sirius's eyes lit up. "You can take fighting lessons? Wicked!" James rolled his eyes and they all laughed.
A knock sounded on the door, and a witch came in with a giant cart of sweets. "Anything off the cart?" she asked, and everyone leapt up. Lily scanned the cart critically, then decided on some Chocolate Frogs. She paid the lady and sat down. Sirius soon joined her with a package that said Droobles Best Blowing Gum, Remus and James had something called Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans, and Peter had some Cauldron Cakes.
James ripped open his package and came out with a white bean. He popped it in his mouth only to spit it back out. "Socks!" he said. Remus laughed.
"Trust me to get a shoe flavored one now..." He, too, opened his package and pulled out a innocent looking red bean. He slowly bit it in half, then swallowed it with his eyes starting to water. "Jalepeno pepper!" he choked out, then excused himself to go and get some water.
Lily looked down at her own package of Chocolate Frogs. She took one out and made sure it wasn't moving. Satisfied that it wasn't, she slowly took a bite and grinned. "Good chocolate," she said through a mouthful.
"What's the card?" Peter asked.
"Card?" Lily asked blankly.
"The card in the package." Remus said, having just returned.
Lily picked up her package and found a card sitting in it, waiting to be picked up. She turned it over and saw that it had a picture on it--and it was moving! It showed a man with a long, white beard and hair and twinkling blue eyes under half moon glasses. Underneath it she read the name Albus Dumbledore--currently Headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. "The picture moves!" she cried, astonished.
James said, "Of course it does!"
Lily looked around at her friends: James, Peter, Remus, and Sirius.
She had only been on this train for a few minutes, and she already had
the best friends she could ever hope to find.
