Chapter 2 ~ Cosmic Alterations

The Sorting passed, she saw a few girls and a couple guys find seats at the Gryffindor table. She determined that she had taken quite awhile on the stool, people had given her an odd sort of look and it all made sense. But, she felt closer to home at Gryffindor somehow. Pensive over the Hat's words to her Lily hardly noticed as dinner appeared on the table in front of her. Suddenly, there were heaps of food just lying in the dishes that had been empty before. How did something like that happen? She felt under the table to see if there was a slot or something to slide it up from. There was nothing there, not even the usual gum that had perpetually adorned school cafeteria tables. Carefully she ducked her head under the table to look and see if anything was under there.

"What are you doing under there?" The voice startled her and she bumped her head on the table, then cursed herself for doing something so stupid in public. I just don't know when to stop, do I? she wondered. And it was all going so well, too…

Lily pulled her head out from under the table, careful not to bump her head again. When she had rearranged her glasses (they had slipped down) she saw that the girl who had talked to her was a pretty blonde. A very pretty blonde.

I just hope she doesn't laugh, please don't let her laugh…

The girl laughed.

Why do people always have to laugh?

"So, what's your name?" Why was this girl still talking to me? A joke? Is my hair sticking out weird? Ok, so my hair always sticks out a bit, but I didn't notice anything particularly bad this morning…

Lily was so preoccupied with worrying that she almost forgot to answer. When she did answer she did so rather slowly, she was still in a bit of a shock.

"Evans." Lily looked at the girl, who was watching her rather oddly, and realized that she probably wanted to know her first name. So, as quickly as she could she finished, "Lily Evans."

She started to laugh again.

"Oh, are you Muggleborn? I guess you must be, if you've seen James Bond." James Bond? Lily wondered, She thinks I'm making a joke about James Bond? Well, I might as well go with the flow!

"Yeah, I'm definitely Muggleborn."

"Oh, I think the other three girls in our dorm are all from wizarding families, but I'm not sure." She stood up, and when Lily didn't she gripped her hand and pulled her along to the other end of the table. "Hey guys, this is Lily." Four bright cheery faces looked up to greet her. They all seemed to be like the people who would be popular back at her school. Things weren't looking up quite as much as she had thought.

They all said hello and started to eat, when Lily realized she didn't have a seat over here. She was about to slink back to her own seat when the girl pulled her over and squeezed her in between her and one of the other girls, Aileene.

Aileene was rather pale skinned, but freckled. She had brown hair, straight brown hair, Lily noted enviously. She was obviously Irish, and the expression 'Irish eyes are smiling' fit her very well. Her eyes were deep hazel and crinkled at the corner from a smile. Out of all of them she was closest to Lily in height, Lily was very short. Madam Malkin didn't have robes to fit her, they had to be hemmed by her mother.

They girl who had been so nice to Lily (she was still wondering why) was named Eleanor. She was tall, confident and pretty. But she was nice at least. Lily would pick Eleanor over Petunia any day of the week. Even if they invented new days, thought Lily on a whim, and Petunia was Empress of the Earth I would still pick Eleanor.

Picturing Petunia as Empress of the Earth wasn't working too well so Lily went back to finding out about the other girls.

One of the girl's names was Cara, she was rather nice, she had really deep brown eyes and sort of wavy long brown hair. Lily wished that her hair went down past her shoulders. Maybe I should consider growing it out, she thought.

"You're Lily Evans, right?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"Oh. I am right after you in the alphabet, it made me so nervous waiting while you were sorted. Weren't you nervous? It took the hat so long to decide for you."

"I hadn't noticed." Lily tried to hide the sarcasm in her voice, this girl wasn't particularly amiable, or at least she wasn't familiar with the concept of making a good first impression. In fact, Lily hadn't been to familiar with that concept either, but she found that here she sort of wished that people would like her. She kind of wanted to fit in.

"Oh." She sounded suspicious, Lily thought. Or at least not normal. Lily felt she should explain, but it turned out more like a defense.

"The Hat just kept on talking to me, telling me all this stuff, so then I asked the Hat some questions."

"You had a conversation with the Sorting Hat?" Did this girl retain any information at all? Didn't I just say I was talking to the Hat? Lily thought, annoyed with the girl for a moment.

"Well, yeah. What did the Sorting Hat do for you?"

"It just told me stuff, I didn't actually talk back." And suddenly Lily realized that Cara was just as nervous as Lily was, she had only noticed that Lily had taken long because she had been anxiously awaiting her own turn to sit upon the stool. And then Lily didn't feel so malicious. Cara actually turned out to be nice. It was a surprise for her to be in Gryffindor, her parents had been Ravenclaws. Lily felt jealous that Cara had grown up around magic, it hadn't been shoved in her face by a large tawny owl.

But then, Lily didn't actually resent that owl either. Hogwarts did seem better than her old school, it was new and different. And the people here actually seemed to want to give Lily a chance.

The other two girls in her room, Lily soon found out, were named Veronica and Meagan. They seemed to know each other, some wizarding primary school or another. Lily never really caught on. When dinner was almost over she felt a small tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see herself looking up into a very gorgeous pair of brown eyes.

"Hey, Eric," she stuttered. Look at those eyes.

"Hey Lily. I was just wondering how you were doing." He is so cute.

"Just fine now. Thanks." He's nice, too.

He smiled and answered, "Well, I just wanted to check. Ill be seeing you." And what a great smile.

She didn't remember saying bye, she just turned back to her food. Eleanor was staring at her. "Where'd you meet such a dreamboat?"

"On the train."

"He's cute. Too bad he's a sixth year." Lily had to agree on that account. He was five years older. It was sort of like having a crush on a movie star. But then, didn't the movie star always fall in love with the poor damsel in distress? If I'm not in distress I don't know who is, she thought.

Dinner had ended, after a huge dessert of some weird chocolate thing. Lily had no idea what is was, but it had been good! After everyone had finished the Gryffindors all stood up and started walking out of the hall. It turned out they were all following the Gryffindor Prefect, the girl, Eric wasn't there, up to the Gryffindor Common Room. Everyone stopped in front of an old portrait of a very fat lady in a gaudy pink dress. Lily easily managed to scoot up to the front being as small as she was.

Lily stared at the painting of the woman. She was a little overweight, Lily noted, and wore excessive makeup as well as a smile. Lily wondered if it was important or something, but the strangest thing happened. It talked.

"It isn't polite to stare." And with the sharp reprimand Lily found the floor much more interesting than a talking moving painting. She did, however, manage to sneak glances at the Fat Lady (the girl had called her that) through gaps in her hair. Honestly, it was like a movie. Except for this lady only asked for the password, which the Prefect said loudly so everyone could hear.

The Fat Lady asked her to hush up, please. She had been screaming in the portrait's ear.

Lily rubbed her glasses in an attempt to clean them and put them back on. But the picture still moved. She tried again but the lady just stood there and tapped impatiently and asked if Lily wanted to go through. Lily nodded meekly and was immediately glad she had entered.

The Common Room was marvelous, though she hardly had time to notice as she was quickly ushered up to her dormitory, which was even more splendid than downstairs, if that was even possible. Thick red velvet curtains with gold tassels adorned her four poster bed. She lay down on the bed her trunk was next to at once and reveled in the smooth fabric. Hogwarts certainly went all out to provide for their students.

They all went to bed rather early, tired out by the long and exciting day. Lily rested for awhile, reading for a bit before nodding off as she always had done. She had an affinity for reading she couldn't fall asleep unless she read. That night it had been a fairy tale romance, one of her favorites -- Sleeping Beauty.

Except that it was different reading it that night. The witch bothered her. The other people here didn't act like that, or dress like that. The real witches didn't do that. They have real wands and real spells to learn. Magic wasn't an evil practice either, simply a part of daily life.

You're a witch too, you know, she reminded herself. You have the wand and the spells and all of that. You are a real witch.

In her last moments of thought before she drifted off to sleep she decided, Why yes, I believe I am.

The next morning she woke up early, it was a bit of a habit for her. She took advantage of her dorm mates being asleep and took a long shower. As she finished the rest of the girls were just awakening.

They won't get to take a shower, she thought, proud for starting off the day on the right foot. She walked down to the Great Hall for breakfast, the sun from the ceiling shining brightly. Supposedly it was enchanted to look like the sky. If it was fake, it was certainly a very realistic fake. Aileene, Eleanor, Meagan, and Veronica joined her not long after, and then they all continued to their first lesson, Transfiguration.

Professor McGonagall was not to be toyed with, that was certain. Class had been somewhat of a disaster. No one really managed to get their match into a needle, though many people weren't even paying attention. Lily certainly wasn't. Professor McGonagall was the same woman who had asked about her before the Sorting. Lily had this odd feeling that the Professor knew exactly what had happened on the train ride. She didn't really like the feeling.

Lily kept checking to make sure that McGonagall wasn't staring at her, which resulted in Lily hardly paying attention to what she was doing. She was partnered with Aileene who wasn't doing too hot either. But, Lily had fun, and it was an opportunity to find out more about her new room mate, one of the girls she would be spending the next seven years of her life with.

"So, you come from a Muggle family too?" Aileene had asked Lily very cheerily, managing to brighten Lily's apprehensiveness.

"Yeah, I had never even heard about magic." Lily then remembered something, "But wait. I thought you came from a wizarding family."

"My family knew there was magic in the family, they just never told me. I suppose they should have guessed I was magical when my report card changed that one time." Aileene giggled and so did Lily, this girl's happiness was contagious!

"How did you manage that?"

"Well, I was rather upset, my teachers weren't very, er, fond of me." Aileene said the word 'fond' with emphasis, implying what Lily already understood, her teachers had though her a troublemaker as well. "They gave me pretty bad marks. I brought them home to show my parents, they weren't happy, and when I went to school the next day all my teachers called in to say that they had calculated my grades wrong!"

"You know, my teachers never really liked me either, ever since that time where I started to bring animals back to life in Science class, the term about Animal Kingdom was a disaster!" They went on, describing different incidents where they had acted out without knowing it. Lily was actually finding comfort in the things that had always separated her from people before, a bizarre turn of events, true, but Lily was enjoying every minute of it.

Lily stopped caring whether or not McGonagall was watching her, she was having too much fun. If Lily had checked she might have found that the teacher really was watching her. McGonagall saw Lily not paying one ounce of attention, carrying on like she was in her dorm, not a classroom. McGonagall did not tolerate this type of behavior in her classroom, it was strictly for learning, no horseplay under any circumstances.

But looking at Lily, all she could do was smile, and carry on with teaching. Some things were better left alone.

Lily's next class was Care of Magical Creatures. The teacher, a man called Professor Kettleburn. He was a sort of dumpy looking man, but he had a booming voice.

"Welcome to Care of Magical Creatures everyone. Over the course of this year you will be studying a wide range of animals. But today, we start out small." From behind his back he pulled a small ball of fluff, or at least that's what it looked like.

"This is a Greebleypuff. They seem like an animal to cuddle with but in reality they are much more important than that. Their fur is used for the insulation needed when handling the pink flame." Some people muttered at this, Lily had no idea what they were talking about. "They are in great demand now, obviously, but they have to be raised first. This one here is only a baby." Some of the other girls made a little 'oooooh' sound. It was pathetic, but she actually saw where they were coming from.

The Greebleypuff was only about the Professor's handspan in width and height. It could have been smaller, but Lily couldn't really tell, it's hair puffed out so much that it was hard to see anything but it's face. It's eyes were big and round and it's nose sniffed the air around it. It was an odd looking thing, no doubt, but it was cute too.

"Now, each of you will get one, but remember these are babies. Still, they are terribly smart blighters, they can sense things that neither you nor I would notice. You are responsible for feeding it, the information you need will be found in your books." He grinned slightly, then continued, "Also, there is one very important stage to a Greebleypuff's development. Your homework will be to research it and find out how to bring about this change. We will be handling the Greebleypuffs for a week, at the end of the week your Greebleypuff should have changed." He finished with a definitive sort of look. Lily didn't even want to consider what would happen if hers didn't work.

Unfortunately, she ended up doing quite a bit of thinking on the subject. Her Greebleypuff was scared of her, for goodness' sake! Other people were gently feeding theirs, the girls were doing better on the whole, but Lily's would just stare at her and hop away. When she reached out her hand to pet her Greebleypuff she got a nip on the finger. Nothing painful, the equivalent of a rabbit nibbling on a little bit of carrot. She wasn't hurt, not physically anyway. Needless to say, Lily was quite happy when it was time for her next class.

She was even happier when she got to the class, Charms. The teacher, Professor Flitwick, was a small jovial man, and Lily liked him instantly. Excitedly, he explained what they would be doing today.

"Now, everyone take out your textbook." A lot of the class groaned and opened to the first page, but Professor Flitwick just shook his head. "No, keep them closed and put them on your desk. Each of you will be trying to make the book move across the table. But, if you don't remember the spell you might want to take a look in that book after all!" People started to shuffle about, Lily made her way to Eleanor.

"Ah, yes, I almost forgot. Everyone needs a partner." Even more groans ensued. Lily listened as she got paired with a Sirius Black, a rather odd name from her perspective. Trouble was, she had no idea who he was. Even more trouble came when she found out what he was actually like.

"You're Lily, aren't you?"

"Yes." Slowly and unsure of herself, the word fell from her lips, she had no practice talking with guys. Well, there was Eric, but that we different, he was nice.

"I saw you when you got sorted. It took awhile."

"Oh."

"So, do you want to get started on this spell were supposed to do?"

"Sure." More monosyllabic answers, she just couldn't talk.

"Any idea what the spell for it is?"

"Yup." He stared at her oddly after this then said slowly, "Any clues you might want to give me?" He followed up with a grin.

"Sure, its Mobilarus. Just point your wand and say it, that should do it."

"Oh, you do speak in sentences. I was beginning to wonder." It was meant as a joke, but Lily had no experience with Sirius' jokes, and she took it rather personally.

"I don't see why I should waste words on you, that's all." And before she had been shy, now here she was, telling off this obnoxious guy. She was already getting over her shyness, even if it was because she was upset.

"Whoa, calm down. Fiery temper you have there, just like your--"

"Don't you dare say it, Sirius." He looked a little surprised, but she didn't blame him, she had spun around and pointed her finger right into his chest. It was a little comical, and she giggled a little, but stopped. Petunia had giggled incessantly, Lily would never do that. But the mood was lightened, and Sirius took a stab at moving the books. It didn't work. When he finally gave up and gave Lily a shot things turned out quite differently.

The book propelled off the table and into the Professor's back, making him stumble. She steeled herself for punishment, a detention perhaps, but none came.

"That wand certainly does pack a wallop. May I see it?" Lily handed over her wand. It was short, like she was, and skinny as well. It was a beautiful polished cherry, a deeper red than her hair, but red all the same.

"Ahh, I see it now. The magical properties of this wand will serve you well in Charms. I am afraid, however, that this wand might take a little getting used to. The core of your wand is -- oh my, well dear me! Suffice to say, Ms Evans, that you have a very interesting wand and can look forward to a particularly interesting year in Charms." Picking up her book form the floor he added, "And a job very well done."

Lily beamed, things were going right after all. Sirius, who looked very surprised by the whole affair turned to her. "Good job Firetop."

Strange as it was, she didn't care.

Strange as it was, it actually made her feel good. The words she held on the tip of her tongue felt foreign, but when she muttered them, they felt more right than anything she had said since she had arrived. "Thanks" and she smiled, very weakly, and he smiled back.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry -- maybe that name did hold a bit of splendor. She was here and loving it already.

Oh yes, how strange it was.

* * *

On a spiritual high she made her way to her next class. She passed the spooky paintings, she crossed through murky hallways and she walked into the dingy classroom, slowly making her way into the dungeon of this great castle. Later she would come to associate this room with the torture chambers located in medieval dungeons she had read about, for it was literally painful to attend this class.

But on the first day she felt nothing could drag her spirit down. Nothing could make her feel bad or out of place. Nothing could wreck her good mood.

Nothing except him.

His cold eyes and colder expression made her good mood vaporize like a drop of water spilled onto a frying pan. "This class will probably be the hardest one you will take. No excuses, no forgetfulness, and no mistakes! Mistakes in Potions will cost you, whether it be an arm or a passing grade." Lily gulped, at least Ms. Peters hadn't been this bad, not even when the frog had refused to get out of her blouse. "You will start with a simple potion, it will enhance one of your senses for about a minute. Sight, smell, touch, feel, hearing; whichever one you are most lacking." Suddenly he flared, "And I have a feeling it will be hearing! Why are you all not copying this down? Name and effects of the potion, quickly, quickly!"

One girl made the mistake, the frightful mistake, "But sir, you haven't told us the name of the potion yet."

"Excuses! Excuses and forgetfulness! What did I tell you? Please, someone tell Ms. Avewood the name of the potion." No one remembered, or if they did they were too scared to get it wrong. Lily practically broke the back of her chair from pressing onto it so hard. Sirius had decided she was good luck and had decided to be her lab partner. He, unlike Lily, seemed unfazed.

Maybe that's why he was chosen for prey.

"Mr. Black, I'm sure you know what the name of this potion is. While you're at it, give us the three main ingredients." The Professor, she hadn't even caught his name, looked entirely too smug. That is, until Sirius answered -- correctly.

"Hm…that would be Acroayte and the liquidated leaves of the Chaeucus plant, and the third ingredient would be…"As Sirius paused the Professor's eyes glinted evilly. Teachers weren't supposed to do that, were they? "Oh yes, and the small pink petals of the Sempermut flower. The three are the most important ingredients on the Leniamen potion." The Professor was infuriated, it looked as though it took all his willpower not to throw a chair at Sirius.

"Lucky guess, Mr. Black," the Professor loudly exclaimed once he regained his composure. "Now get to work!" Sirius lay back in his chair, talking casually all the while. He didn't notice the Professor practically breathing down their backs. Lily tried to work on the potion, but it was difficult while she was so nervous.

As she counted out the petals into the measuring cup her glasses slipped down her nose and she caught a blurry image of Sirius leaning back in his chair, talking with his friend. With her glasses still down she could gather that the potion was an aquamarine color, one that would change to navy blue when the Sempermut petals were added. She had to pluck the individual petals off the flower, which was very hard task. The petals of the Sempermut flower changed color, and even dead the flowers petals changed color rapidly, it was a challenge to pluck them while still pink.

Pouring slowly while stirring while her other hand Lily had worked meticulously to prepare the potion down to it's last step, adding the petals. If her glasses had been on she might have noticed that the extra liquidated Chaecus plants leaves had been knocked over and Sirius' chair was about to slip. She might have even had the time to shield herself before Sirius leg bumped the table.

But she hadn't, and the potion, still aquamarine, splashed up out of the cauldron, and by some twist of fate, right into the unprotected eyes of Lily Evans.

She tried to blink, she tried to rid the burning sensation out of her eyes. Her glasses crashed to the floor, broken glass slightly tinkling on the hard stone. She rubbed frantically on her eyes but to no avail. Her senses were out of whack, surging up one second to go completely null the next.

That is why she heard the gasps as they raced through her head with the sound of a thousand elephants, but hardly felt a thing when she hit the floor, resounding with a large, painful smack.

* * *

Well, I hope that you liked it. PLEASE REVIEW!!! I will write you back, just like I am doing to all these people down here! Also, tell me, shorter or longer chapters? Should they come farther apart or closer together? Or, if you are reading my other fic as well which should I take priority on?

Thank-yous:

Anastacy: I'm soooo glad you reviewed, and even more that you like it! I know that the wait has been long, but I got more than 4000 words in this chapter, that's a personal best! I know people write more in a chapter, but it's hard for me to do that. I hope you like this chapter as well!

Atlantis Forester: you remind me of the tiger on the cereal box! 'Greaaaaaaaaat!' Lol, anyway, merci for the review!

A Tye: I tried to make it realistic, we don't know that Lily was a brave prankster. I'm glad you thought it was sweet, I was shooting for a toothache with the ending!

Berty n' Beans: Thanks for being my first reviewer on this fic! I'm really glad that you liked it, hope this chapter is up to snuff!

*Britz*: I luv you too, girl! You are on my faves author list as well, just because you have always been a great reviewer and a fellow j/l lover! I cant wait to see how your fic turns out!

Channy Hoppy: Lovely to hear from you! I tried not to let writers block get too much in the way of this fic. Stupid ff.net was down! But, I love this site anyway, its great, don't you think? Especially with nice people like you around : )

da Wolf: Thanks for the review, every little bit counts! I take guilty pleasure in reading the words 'very good' hehehe. No, I'm not crazy, just sleep-deprived.

Destinys Angel: I never quit on a fic, you can hope to see this continue to the end, wherever that may be! I'm glad you like it so much!

Gurlie409: The only thing I like more than hearing that this is a good fic is that I am a good writer, it means a lot! I hope that you like this chapter, tell me what you think!

Hermione Gulliver: I love all your fics! I'm so glad you like mine too. I just wish I had more time to write then maybe I could have as many fics as you do!

Jilly_Chan: I'm so happy you liked it! *blows on a kazoo* YAY!!! Anyway, back to reality, muchos gracias for the comments!

Lily Evans: Hm, you were closer than you think with that guess, it won't be so blatant though. Guess you'll just have to see what happens next…

Pampered Tigress: Thanx for all your great support, I appreciate it! Sugar highs can be very dangerous, you are right, watch out!

Sara Penn: I like your idea of starting out from the perspective of the person on the train that I almost scratched what I had of this chapter and started over! I hope that this one is still good enough though, I tried so hard!

Sarah: Wait, don't go! Lily will change, I promise. Its her getting there that will be interesting, I promise! Please keep reading! Okay, to many !'s Anyway, Lily isn't suicidal or anything, she is just feeling lonely, I know people feel like that all the time. I'm glad you like my writing style though, I was a bot down after I got a B+ on a paper just because my teacher didn't like my style! Oh well, cant please them all, I guess.

Sassy_Chick81: Thanks so much, saying why you like something can make all the difference, and I was glad you commented on my one purpose in this fic, to make Lily seem real! I hope you like this chapter!

Scarlet Phoenix: Hey, don't be too hard on yourself, I know that parts of this fic aren't completely original, its hard to find a fic that is. Just make it interesting an you will have nothing to worry about. Thanks for reviewing.

Oh and please check out my other fic!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its called Lily's Problems it's an older Lily and is based more on her and James and a plot other than Lily's development. But don't worry, I have a very interesting plot in line for this story! Also, those two fics are not connected, this might just be Lily's first year, but you never know… ;)