A/N: Hoorah! 2 reviews! Which is…more than I hoped for!! *looks happy* So here's…chapter two. Obviously. I tried to make the characters seem as 11-year-old ish as possible, since that's a problem in a lot of l/j stories. Just remember it's like end of fifth grade/beginning of sixth grade age. *smiles* Hope you enjoy! R/R

***

Lily stood uncertainly in the middle of the throng at King's Cross. The man - now that she came to think of it, he had never given his name - the man had tapped her on the shoulder with a broad wink and a murmur of "Ye'll dew fine!" before disappearing. Lily looked around. Her hands were filled with a cage containing a light brown owl with unusual green eyes named Butterball and a huge chest filled with clothes that had, as predicted, arrived for her lay at her feet. In the chest were also a multitude of books she had bought in the five days since she'd left home.

Seems more like a month, Lily thought.

It was still hard to believe, that she was a witch and all, but Lily had taken it all in stride. She liked to take life one step at a time, and this was just another step, if a rather unexpected one. In any case, she had written to her parents twice already that week, assuring them that she was fine and informing them about her discovery - that she was, in fact, a witch.

Suddenly, she spotted a boy with a chest looking a lot like hers, an owl, and a worried-looking mother behind him. Lily, happy to find someone like her and worried she would lose them from sight, quickly broke into a run after them.

"Excuse me!" she shouted, dodging between people. The two of them stopped and watched her.

Breathing hard, Lily looked at the people she had hailed. The woman, obviously the boy's mother, had dark hair gathered at the nape of her neck. She wore an ordinary dress, and was very plain and motherly. The boy looked about her age, with his mother's black hair - which looked, Lily noted, decidedly uncombed - brown eyes, glasses, and a slight build. Lily noted with pleasure she was several inches taller than him.

"Um," she said after catching her breath, "I was wondering…I was wondering if you were headed the same place I was?" She looked pointedly at the boy's chest and hers, then turned back to the woman. "I'm kind of new to thing whole thing, so…I'm not really sure where to go."

"Oh, you must be going to Hogwarts too!" the woman exclaimed. "How lovely! I'm Mrs. Potter, and this is my son James."

James muttered something that sounded vaguely like a greeting and held out his hand. Lily shook it and introduced herself with a smile. The woman continued.

"We're almost there. The platform if just a little way further…But we better hurry, or we may miss the train!"

The three of them trotted off, Lily and James being herded forward by Mrs. Potter the whole way. Finally, they arrived at a wall between platforms 9 and 10. Lily looked quizzically at the woman.

"It's very simple, see," Mrs. Potter said. "All you have to do is walk through the wall. Make sure you don't have doubts, or it may not work!"

She kissed James on the cheek and ruffled his hair.

"You two have fun now! Don't get into trouble, Jamesie!"

She gave Lily one last smile and vanished into the crowd.

These people have an annoying habit of doing so, Lily thought irritably. She peered at James.

"Well," he said after a minute, "I guess we should go."

Lily nodded, but he insides roiled. Through a wall? Was the woman mad? Thankfully, James looked just as scared as she felt.

"You wanna…. You wanna do it together?" he asked timidly.

Lily nodded wordlessly and clasped his hand. It felt sweaty.

"On three," she said. "One…two…two and a half…two and three quarters…THREE!"

The two of them ran forward with their eyes closed.

~

"Looks like there aren't that many seats left," Lily said to James. They had arrived just as someone blew a whistle and announced the 'last call for all Hogwarts students.' They made their way through the compartments, now, and so far every one of them had been full.

"There'll be some at the back," James said, but he sounded a little uncertain. "I mean…they wouldn't make us stand, would they?"

Lily grinned reassuringly at him, although the thought had crossed her mind once or twice.

Finally, they reached the second to last compartment and this one, thankfully, still had room for two.

"Hoorah!" a boy exclaimed. "Two more to add to the party! Sit! Sit!"

Lily smiled gratefully and sat down next to a pretty girl with long, wavy brown hair. James picked a spot between the boy that had shouted and another one with sandy hair.

"Well, I guess this compartment is full, so we should make introductions," the same boy said happily. He pointed to himself. "I am the great Sirius Black, at your service, now and always." He winked roguishly at Lily, who could not suppress a giggle.

The girl sitting beside her gave an annoyed sigh. "Whatever, Sirius. I'm Arabella Figg, the great keeper-in-line of the previously mentioned Sirius Black. It's nice to meet you all."

Sirius grinned and nudged James in the rib. "She just likes me," he whispered loudly.

Arabella rolled her eyes ostentatiously and turned to Lily. In the most nonchalant voice imaginable she said, "It's ok. Don't worry about Sirius, he's just delusional. I can't like him…I'm not one of those girls who's into lice-infested things." She ended with a sweet smile in Sirius' direction. Sirius winked at her, and she threw her hands up in exasperation.

"Anyway," another girl interjected loudly. She had black, red-streaked hair. Her sense of fashion seemed rather unusual to Lily - she sported fishnet tights with black boots, a white shirt with some holes in it, some heavy medallions around her neck, and a multitude of rings on her hands. Lily had a feeling this girl wouldn't think twice about standing up for herself.

"I'm Ra'Mesha Brown, and I've had to put up with this for the past twenty minutes!"

Lily blinked. "Ra'Mesha?" she asked uncertainly.

Ra'Mesha shrugged. "My real name's Anne, but I don't think that fits me very well…" she grinned. "You can shorten it, if you want. I kinda like Sha, or Mesh."

Lily nodded. "I get it."

"I'm Remus Lupin," the blond-haired boy said. He smiled warmly at Lily and James. "Welcome to our little club! . . . If you can call it that after not even half an hour."

He was stockier in build than James or Sirius, though his face had a slight haggardness to it. It wasn't very noticeable, though, and he seemed more grounded than the others in the compartment. James gave him something that looked like a high five - typical guy thing, thought Lily good-naturedly - and she smiled back at him.

"Pleased to meet you," she said politely.

"I'm Vibrance," said another girl sitting near Lily, "or Vi, if you'd like. I can't wait till Hogwarts," she added excitedly.

Vibrance had white-blonde, straight hair and gray eyes. Her lips were coated in lip gloss and her nails manicured. Lily sensed she was one of those typical fluff-brained girls and looked at her apprehensively. Vibrance smiled and pulled a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I know that look," she said cheerfully. "You think I'm one of those annoyingly preppy girls with nothing on her mind other than, 'what color will my nails be tomorrow?' Am I right? Well, I'm not, I promise you. I like looking my best, but that doesn't mean it's all I think about." Noticing the other girl's deep blush, she quickly tapped Lily's hand reassuringly. "It's ok, I get that a lot! I tend to kind of know what people are feeling. Call it a sixth sense, if you want, I think it's just because I'm ridiculously emotional…" she grinned again. "Show me any war movie, and I'll break down in tears!"

Lily smiled back, allayed of her fears and definitely liking this girl. "I'm sorry," she said. "And I'm very pleased to meet you, too," she added with a laugh.

"I guess I'm last," a boy said. "I'm Peter Pettigrew and I knew Sirius before I got on this train - which may or may not be a good thing. Still, I've figured out how to put up with him over the years…"

He was the shortest of the four boys, and still with baby fat on his face. Still, Lily decided, he was not bad looking, and he looked very friendly - much like everyone else here.

"Well!" exclaimed Sirius. He seemed to be about to burst from the effort of not talking for more than a minute. "Now that our introductions are complete, and now that you know all of the insanity contained in this little compartment, why don't you two introduce yourselves? We're dying to know who you are!"

Lily grinned at him and tugged at a strand of her long red hair while she talked.

"I'm Lily Evans. I didn't know I was a witch until a couple days ago…I was kind of snatched out of my house. It's nice to know there are normal people in the wizarding world!"

The eight of them laughed at that, and James took the stage. The shyness that Lily had initially labeled him with was gone, and now he looked as close to Sirius as she thought anyone could get. He stood from his seat, ran a hand through his hair and announced,

"I'm James Potter, and this is the most interesting group of people I've ever come across. I'm a pureblood, I'm an oldest child, and this is my first year at Hogwarts. I can tell it's going to be fun, especially with such fantastic individuals!" He beamed and took a bow before raking a hand through his hair again.

The last statement was greeted with cheers of approval from the compartment, and much hooting from Sirius' side. He gave James the same odd high five and pulled him down to the seat next to him. Soon the group of eight were all talking animatedly, laughing at each other's jokes and making new ones. The whole group immediately clicked, and Lily knew she wouldn't be alone the first few days of school.

***

After the sorting in the Great Hall (they were Gryffindors, all of them, and it didn't surprise Lily. All of them were spunky, energetic, and certainly brave and loyal) Lily, Arabella, Sha, and Vibrance sat one side of the table, across from James, Peter, Remus, and Sirius. The headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, had finished his short speech and the Hogwarts children were invited to eat. Food appeared on the plates, a delicious array that had Lily's mouth watering. The Hall was silent for a full  minute, broken only by the sound of appreciative murmurs and loud lip smacking.

"So," Sirius said after stuffing a large salad into his mouth. "How - mmph - you all doin?"

Sha flicked off a piece of salad from her cheek and gave him a frosty glare. Sirius grinned back cheekily, exposing teeth filled with little bits of lettuce. Sha glowered at him and stuck her finger in a bowl of mashed potatoes. She lobbed the piece over so it landed squarely on Sirius' nose.

"Fine, Siri, sweetie," she said with a smile.

Lily burst out laughing, both at Sha's obvious satisfaction and Sirius' bewildered expression. Vibrance joined in with her, and Arabella was obviously restraining a smile.

"Sirius," Arabella said, leaning across the table and rubbing the potatoes off Sirius' nose, "I really think you're too young to be wearing makeup."

This time Remus, James, and Peter joined in the amusement. Sirius scowled and was silent for a few seconds. Before long, though, he had regained all of his cheeriness and was laughing as hard as the rest of them.

After dinner, the students were shown to their common room by the prefects and taught the password used to enter. James, Sirius, Lily, and Arabella settled around the fireplace on the loveseats to talk, while Peter, Remus, Vibrance, and Sha favored three overstuffed armchairs to read.

Time flew by, and before they knew it, the students were sent to bed by the prefects - most of which lost their temper at Sirius, who continuously came back down, using the lamest excuses he could conceive ("I think I forgot my dustball…it's a pet, you know, and I'm rather attached to it…") Eventually, though, they settled into their respective dorms for more talking; they were all too excited to sleep right away.

"Well," Lily said, sitting down heavily on the bed, clad in her pajamas, "this has been a most interesting day!"

"I'll say," Sha added with a laugh.

"Oh my God, this year is going to be so much fun! I just love listening to Remus - and James, and Sirius, and Peter!" Vibrance squealed.

Lily looked at her and grinned.

"I thought you were too engrossed in your book to notice what we were saying, Vi," she said teasingly.

Vibrance colored and tugged at her nightgown. "Well…I heard what I wanted to, that's all. They are fun, though, aren't they?"

"Definitely," Arabella agreed. "I can't wait till we're old enough to date them."

"Date them?" Lily squeaked. She pulled her hair back into a messy bun to sleep.

"Yeah!" Arabella said happily. "Sirius is really nice to me! And Vi, I can totally see you and Remus together."

Vibrance beamed at the comment and lied down on her bed. "You really think so?"

"Sure!" Sha agreed. "But I think we can still wait a while, Bella…at least till they're as tall as us!"

The four girls giggled at this comment and Lily left to go brush her teeth. When she came back, the rest of the girls had settled into bed. Vibrance was absorbed in her book, Sha was writing furiously in her diary, and Arabella was highlighting parts of her schedule. Lily pulled up the covers and snuggled beneath them. The bed was wonderfully warm and soft, and she couldn't wait to fall asleep. After a few minutes, each of the girls had finished their respective activities and the lights were turned off. Lily sighed contentedly.

"You know, Lily," Arabella said, stifling a yawn. "I think you and James would be cute…when he grows up."

"I guess," Lily murmured.

"Yeah," Arabella said. She sounded like she was half talking to herself. "I hope we have a lot of classes with them. Mark my words, Lily, I bet - " another yawn - "I bet they're the best guys there are. In first year - in first year, at least.. I wonder if Sirius…" her voice drifted off to an incomprehensible mutter, and soon stopped completely to be replaced by the sound of her rhythmic breathing.

"Yup," Sha said in a voice slurred with drowsiness. "It's going to be a heck of a year."

"A heck of seven years," Vibrance added sleepily.

***

A/N: Tadaa! Wow, I am so incredibly proud of myself. One whole chapter! Woo! I tried not to make Peter the evil weaselly person he's so often portrayed as, because…if he hung out with James, Sirius, etc, well…he can't be all bad!! Lol. Besides, he's only eleven. He probably hasn't even heard of Voldemort. But anyway, more interesting stuff to come soon, I assure you, I'm skipping a couple years :) I think it gets interesting after this...and hopefully the chapters get longer. I can't seem to find a happy medium between ridiculously long and way too short. Hmph. R/R!