*

"Where's my wand? Where's my wand? Oh, where is it? Oh, here it is. Oh no, now where's my trunk? Mums, I can't find my trunk! Oops, I forgot, you're still asleep…"

Lily had woken up at five o'clock in the morning on September 1st. She wanted to make sure that she had everything. However, it seemed to her that too many of her things were missing, and her mother hadn't even woken up, so Lily found herself more distressed than excited.

It then hit her that it would be a better idea to find the things to pack first, rather than the trunk to pack them in. So she started to look through her dresser drawers and the shelves in her tidy closet, and finally, she managed to pull together her complete uniform, all her textbooks, and all her equipment.

"Harry, come on Harry. Wake up, please. We have to go soon," Lily called softly to her barn owl. She had always liked the name Harry, but she never knew why. She had always thought that if, when she grew up, she had a son that she would name it Harry. But the time for that had not yet come, so she had named her owl Harry instead.

Harry opened one eye and hooted softly. He understood that he mustn't wake up the whole house. Lily tried diligently to make him wake up, and finally, she succeeded in making him eat his food and drink his water so that she wouldn't have to carry it in the cage.

"Come on, Harry. Finish up so I don't have to carry your water tray with me. I expect you'll have some water at school." Then, turning away, she looked around and thought about school. After July 10, she had gone back to Diagon Alley to buy a book about Hogwarts so that she could read about it. She found out that it was one of the oldest wizarding buildings in England, and she also learned about the four houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin.

"I wonder how we are grouped into the different houses… I hope we don't have to take a test. I don't know any magic at all," she spoke to herself. "I hope I'm in Ravenclaw. That's supposed to be the house where intelligent people are put. Oh, and in Hufflepuff, I'll be able to show people how hard I work! And then there's Gryffindor… It's supposed to be the house in which Mr. Albus Dumbledore was in, and he's the headmaster, so it's probably the best. Then Slytherin, I don't really want to be in Slytherin. I guess it's because it reminds me of snakes," she shuddered at this point, "and I hate snakes. Or maybe it's because of the fact that Hogwarts: A History related it so much with Dark Magic…" Lily went on like this for some time, until she heard someone else interrupt her.

"Ugh… Liliane, what are you doing at six in the morning?" said a haughty voice behind her.

Turning around, Lily saw that her whispers, which had slowly grown into shouts and squeals, had woken her sister up. Lily smiled brightly and said, "I'm just getting ready for school, Petunia."

"At six in the morning, you're crazy!" she answered.

"Not as crazy as you. I see you haven't even gotten dressed yet, and you have to leave earlier than I do," she answered logically, as she scribbled something on the piece of parchment she was now holding.

Petunia narrowed her eyes, and thinking it better not to answer she left the room. Lily sighed and went back to her parchment. It was a checklist of the things she had to pack.

\s


\s Robes

\s Cloak

\s Gloves

\s Hat

\s 8 Textbooks

\s Wand

\s Cauldron

\s Brass Scales

Telescope

Birdcage

"Okay, uniform goes here… I can check that. Two, four, six, eight… good I have all my textbooks. Check that too. Now I have to pack my equipment and things. Wand… check. Cauldron… check. Scales and telescope… double check. And where's the birdcage? Harry, please! Oh, all right. You can stay in the cage till we reach school… Oh, this is going to affect my checking!" who was starting to get frustrated just like her mother often did. After packing everything in her trunk, which she finally found under her desk (by stubbing her toe on it when she walked over to the desk), Lily walked downstairs to get some breakfast. Checking the watch on her hand, she saw that it was 7:30. Yawning, she sat down at the nook table across from her father who was reading the daily newspaper.

"Good Morning, Lily dear," said her mum as she put down a plate of bacon and eggs in front of her daughter.

"Same to you, Mum… and you too, Father," said Lily. Even though she was her mother's favorite daughter, and she got good grades and acted decently most of the time, she had never managed to receive the special attention that her dad gave Petunia. It used to puzzle her when she was little, but now, though she still didn't know why, she had grown used to it and had learned to accept it as one of the small things in life that just couldn't be helped. It was for this reason, that she called him 'Father' instead of 'Dad' or 'Daddy', even though Petunia did. Lily respected her father, but she was never quite sure whether it was true respect, or whether the truth was, she was actually scared of him.

"So, Princess, have you gotten everything ready?" he asked. Lily assumed that he was talking to Petunia, so she kept quiet and just picked at her scrambled eggs. Petunia, on the other hand, suddenly started jabbering.

"Oh, Daddy, there's just so much stuff to pack, I don't know where to start! I mean, I have my uniform, my textbooks, and my stationary, but I also want to take photographs and my camera and…" but she was cut short.

"Oh, Petunia, I wasn't talking to you, Honey. Lily, have you gotten everything ready, Dear?" he asked again, quietly.

Lily looked up, speechless. Her father was actually speaking to her, and he wasn't upset! Thinking that it would be best to answer while he was in a good mood, she replied quickly, "Yes, Father, everything's ready to go. I brought my trunk and Harry's cage down. They're by the front door."

"What about me?" asked Petunia? Everyone ignored her.

"Good… very good… you'll all set then. I'll have to drop off Petunia first, of course, and then you and I can go down to King Cross Station. How's that sound?" he asked, smiling. Lily didn't trust herself to speak at the moment, so she just smiled back and turned back to her plate.

Meanwhile, however, things weren't going as well in another part of London…

*

"James! James! JAMES!" called Mrs. Potter from the kitchen.

"Yes, Mum?" asked James sleepily, as he came down the stairs scratching his head and rubbing his eyes. He was still in his pajamas.

"For Heaven's sake, please get ready! Are you all packed and ready to go? Did you find your uniform? I washed and ironed it and kept it in the top drawer of your chest in case you'd mess it up. Where's your owl, Venus? If she's still sleeping, you'd better wake her up. Don't bother packing any food for her since she'll get plenty at Hogwarts. Are you even listening?" she thundered.

"Huh? Yes, Mum, I'll do all that…,"said James. As he walked up the stairs, he suddenly woke up, and, realizing what day it was, he started running, taking the stairs three at a time.

"Alright, today's the first day of Hogwarts! I hope Sirius is up. Okay, now where did Mum say my uniform was?" James said, excitedly. As he ran around upstairs, getting everything ready, Sirius was sitting stiffly in a chair.

"Remember, if I hear that you're bringing down our family's social position by, by setting Professor Nadia's hat on fire, I'll go to Hogwarts myself and bring you home and set you to work scrubbing the floors, washing the windows, doing the dishes, cleaning the sinks, and… and I won't let you go over to James' house for a year. Is that understood?"

Sirius was sitting rigid in a chair, where his eighteen-year-old sister stood in front of him, lecturing. Why does she always have to lecture like this? I mean, at least when she yells at me there's some sort of change in her voice… When she lectures, it's as though this robot's speaking to me through her mouth.

Sirius yawned. His sister saw this, but she pretended not to notice. Instead, she just continued to lecture him. Luckily, Mrs. Black His sister saw this,  but pretended that she didn't notice. Instead, she just went on lecturing.Hhad started wondering where her son was, and Apparated upstairs to look for him. When she saw what the two of them were up to, she couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Ha, ha-ha... oh, Sabrina, don't bother. I'm sure Sirius will be just fine at Hogwarts. After all, I'm sure that Albus Dumbledore won't tolerate any of the nonsense that goes on at home anyway. You'd better go and get ready for work. Now, Sirius, I want you ready to go in less than five minutes, is that understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am, sure," he said, mockingly.

"Well, then get going!"

Sirius, dodging the rolling pin his mother had flung at him, ran out of the room laughing and got ready for school.

"Hey, Sirius! Get down here! Are you ready, yet?" called a voice from downstairs twenty minutes later. Looking at his watch, he saw that it was 10:40.

"Come on, Sirius, or we'll be late for the Hogwarts Express!"

"I'm coming, James!" Sirius called back. He fastened the latches, locks, and buckles on his trunk and dragged it down the winding stairs.

"Well, what took you so long?" asked James impatiently. He was sitting on his ancient trunk with his wand in his pocket and his birdcage in his hand. The snowy owl was sitting in it, and Sirius couldn't help feeling regretful that he hadn't gotten one too.

"Well, I would have been ready about half-an-hour ago except…" Sirius began.

"Don't tell me Sabrina started lecturing you again…" James interrupted.

"Well, what else could make me 30 minutes late?"

"Do you both have everything, boys?" asked Mr. Black. He was going to drive them both to King Cross Station in downtown London.

"Yes, Dad, we're ready."

"Yeah, we're ready Mr. Black."

"Well, then, let's go. Bernie, come here please!"

"You called, Master?" asked Bernie. Bernie was the Blacks' house-elf.

"Bernie, could you please take the boys' trunks and put them in the car?" asked Mr. Black.

"Of course, Master, I can do that." Bernie went and put them away. He picked them up easily, and being a house-elf, this was no simple feat. The trunks weighed more than the boys did, and Bernie was small enough to use a pillowcase as a sleeping bag. The boys just stared, and then walked behind him and sat in the car.

"'Bye boys, I'll see you again in the winter break, if you come!" called Mrs. Potter and Mrs. Black from the driveway. And with that, they pulled out and drove away.

*

"Bye, Mums, I'll see you in the summertime," called Lily from the front passenger seat of her dad's car.

"See you later, sweetie. Remember to be good, and pay attention in class and…"

"Honey, I think she'll remember that whether you remind her or not," interrupted Mr. Potter.

"Alright, well, bye Lils."

And within a minute, Lily was on her way to King Cross Station too.

*