The giant herded about two hundred first years towards several boats that
were tied to the shore of the lake. "No more than five to a boat!"
Lily, Amanda, and two other girls climbed into one. The other girls obviously were twins; they shared the same brown hair and frightened expression when the giant spoke, this time to the boats. "All right then-- move off!"
With a gentle, swinging motion, the boats started to float to an unknown destination on the lake. The twins were clutching the wooden rims and looked sick; as if they might hurl if anyone spoke to them.
Lily didn't speak to them.
She was enraptured by the starry sky, and anticipated eagerly wherever they were going. She didn't even notice as someone in another boat paddled over to hers, noiselessly. Lily felt a tap on her shoulder.
She whirled around and swallowed a surprised noise in her throat and a start.
"James Potter, what on earth?"
He grinned sheepishly. "I just want to try on the Sorting Hat again. Just to see what it says."
Lily was about to make an incredulous remark, but he cut her off, pointing.
"Look!"
She gasped. In front of her, a tall castle towered against the starry sky. Light streamed from every window, including the tops of about twelve towers.
"I-is that--"
James grinned. "Yeah, that's Hogwarts. Neat, isn't it?"
Lily gulped. "It's beautiful."
Once inside, they were welcomed by a rather stern-looking witch with her hair in a tight knot, Professor Megan McGonagall.
After explaining briefly about their future at Hogwarts with their separate Houses, she led then towards two huge doors, behind which, judging from the noise, the whole rest of the school was gathered. The noise increased rapidly, and the doors opened by themselves.
As if they were cattle, the first years were herded towards a stage, with all the eyes of the school, issuing from four long tables, upon them. A stool was set upon the stage, serving as a pedestal for a tattered and withered wizarding hat. A rip opened near the brim, and the hat began to sing.
"Gryffindor, a mighty man
Did many worthy things.
And one out of the best he'd done
Was give me brains of kings.
He'd grown tired, year by year,
Of picking students,see,
So here I am, here in his place,
To choose for him with glee.
In Gryffindor I place
The bold of heart and mind,
Those who will forevermore
Be the bravest one can find.
In Hufflepuff the workers hard
Were put to work and serve
Those honest and hardworking souls
From their path have never swerved.
Ravenclaw got clever ones
Who, brilliant of sound mind,
Were, along with all their fellows
The smartest one could find.
Slytherin, that slinky soul
Chose people just like he.
Peculiar in his tastes he was
And stubborn, (just like me).
So put me on, I'll try to see
Where you should belong
Trust me, I bear the brains of kings
And have never yet been wrong."
The Great Hall burst into applause as the hat finished, the students lined up alphabetically and the first student walked over to the stool.
"Dennis Benson." the hat announced. "HUFFLEPUFF!" One of the four large tables burst into applause.
"Margaret Chandler."
"RAVENCLAW!"
"Heather Davis!"
There was a good thirty-second pause, then--
"RAVENCLAW!"
"Lily Evans!"
The hat slipped far over her head, mumbling to itself. "Now, I think you have an equally good chance in all three, don't you? Definitely. Now, let's see...I've never yet done eeny-meeny-miney-mo, but where do you want to go?"
Lily clutched the stool. "Gryffindor, please," she thought. "Pretty please, hat?"
"All right, then, dear--GRYFFINDOR!" This last was shouted to the whole hall, leaving Lily with ringing ears as she quickly plucked the hat off, handing it to the next student as fast as possible.
She threaded her way as fast as possible to the table with the most applause. With pink cheeks, she saw Remus, Sirius, and Peter waving to her to come and sit down. She slid into a seat, smiling to herself.
The next few students she didn't know. About fifty of them went by until Lily's palms hurt and it was Amanda's turn.
"Amanda Milton!"
The hat didn't even touch her head before it belted out a "GRYFFINDOR!" She came down from the stage and took a seat next to Lily.
The last student up, Lily could tell, was James, though his hat was pulled down way over his forehead. He slipped on the hat.
"Potter, James!--Wait, wait just a minute there! Off my stage this instant! That was uncalled for! I should make you a Slytherin for that. Come back here!" James had torn off the hat and was racing for the edge of the stage and his table. The hat following him, propelling himself off of other's heads. James dived under the table amidst roaring laughter, and the hat followed. There were several shrieks, and then the hat emerged with James' ear caught in its brim. "Nevewr--evewr--do--fwhat--again!" The hat let go. "Understand?" It whacked James around the ears and finally had to be carried off by Professor McGonagall.
Amid roaring laughter, the plates in front of the students filled and diverted their attention.
James sank into his seat next to Lily, exhausted and with very red ears. "Wow, that hat was aggressive!"
Lily couldn't help it. She started to hyperventilate again.
Dinner was finally over around one o'clock, and the prefects led the new students to their dormitories. The Gryffindor first years stopped in front of a portrait of a fat lady in a pink dress, after climbing many winding staircases and being scared mindless by the Slytherin's ghost, the Bloody Baron, who swooped down among them, his robes all stained with silver.
"Password?" the fat lady asked.
The prefect cleared his throat, but before he could say a word, James jumped in. "Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia." The entire Gryffindor house stared at him as the portrait swung open to reveal a comfortable common room with a blazing fire. James shrugged. "It's the fear of long words."
The Gryffindors erupted.
Later in the evening, when all had said goodnight, Lily lay in her large four-poster, thinking about that day's events. What on earth had motivated James and his friends to stay with her? She was just a first year. But she had to admit--she was really glad that James had stayed. He was kind of cute...
The next morning, around six, Lily woke up to a scuffling noise near her dormitory's fireplace. She sat straight up in bed, groggily thinking it might be Petunia going through her things. She blinked, then remembered where she was. Swinging her feet out of bed and into her slippers, she caught sight of the disturber. Lily squealed.
The scuffler was a sort of elf, dressed in a toga-like piece of cloth with the Hogwarts emblem on the front. It had large eyes, a sort of green, and long batlike ears. Turning around, it saw her looking at it, picked up its tongs and dustpan, and fled out the door, slamming it loudly.
The door woke the rest of the dormitory's inmates up. Lily saw Amanda in one of the beds near the window, the twins from the boat near the door, and two blonde girls in the other two beds. All of them were rather grumpy and groggy, and all of them wanted to know what had happened.
Lily reached for a dressing gown. "It was a sort of elf thing, tending the fire. I guess I shouldn't have screamed; I think I frightened it away. It slammed the door when it left."
One of the twins sighed. "Elf or not, I'm going back to bed." And she did, falling back on her pillow almost instantly and starting to snore.
Lily rolled her eyes, as did one of the blonde girls.
"How did we ever sleep through that?" the blonde girl who had rolled her eyes asked.
Amanda shrugged, tossing her long brown hair over one shoulder. "I'm just glad I did. I don't know how I did, but boy, am I glad I did."
They got dressed quickly and went down to the commmon room, which was still relatively empty. There were about four third years and one fifth year, none of them looking quite happy or awake. One of them started grumbling the minute they came in.
"I hate poltergeists. Have you met ours yet?" one of the third years asked.
Lily shook her head no. "I didn't even know we had one, to be honest."
The fifth year groaned. "His name's Peeves. He just moved in last year, and you'd better be thankful he hasn't thought up anything worse than dropping waterballons on us."
The third year that had spoken before snorted. "Water balloons? Is that all he did to you? I don't suppose you've had him empty your trunk over you, using the excuse that he thought you were cold. We've been up since four, cleaning my stuff up and nursing bruises."
Several other students had started to filter in, all of them dressed, some of them wet, and all complaining about Peeves. Saying goodbye to a continued nap in an armchair in front of the fire, Lily went downstairs to the Great Hall, hoping for a plentiful breakfast.
She got her wish. The golden plates were already filled with biscuits, bacon, porridge, toast, fruit, pancakes , and all sorts of eggs. She helped herself to some of everything, wondering how she could still have an appetite after last night's feast.
Amanda had entered with Lily, choosing a seat right next to her. "What is the point of a poltergeist, I'd like to know? Practically all other creatures have sense, but poltergeists?" She went on like that all through her bacon and eggs, and Lily sat next to her, bored, grumpy, and very tired.
She was relieved when some of the other students started to come in to breakfast, among them her four friends from the train last night.
Sirius pulled out a chair across from her, almost unnaturally awake. "Morning, Lily!"
She glared at him under half-open eyelids. "Go away and celebrate your awakeness somewhere else. I'm trying to sleep." Her head dropped back onto her arms, ignoring the schedule Professor McGonagall was handing out that had landed on top of her milk glass.
James sat down on the other side of Lily. He picked up the schedule and squinted at it. "Hey, you've got Charms first period with us! We didn't take our exams last year, so we're back. Oh...have fun second period-- you've got double Potions with the Slytherins...like I said, have fun...Herbology, not that bad...you've got that with the Ravenclaws...you've got flying with the Slytherins--that seems to be a tradition, Gryffindor doubling with Slytherin in Potions and flying--oh, thanks, Professor." This last was to Professor McGonagall, who was making second rounds with schedules. "Let's see...hey, Sirius, we have Transfiguration second...remember the Nail-Loss Charm?"
Lily raised her head again. "James, it's too early in the morning. Go back to bed." James looked at her incredulously. "It's eight-thirty, the first school day of the year, and breakfast time. What more could you want and why on earth are you so tired?"
Lily scowled. "Have you ever heard of noisy elves and poltergeists at six a.m.? I think that would explain my monstrous desire for a large mug of straight caffeine with only a little bit of coffee."
Remus broke in. "James, all the girls are gonna be like this today. Peeves attacked half of them and the other half were awakened by the noise he made. If you don't want to be clawed to death, I'd suggest you leave them alone."
James shrugged. "Oh, look, there's the mail!" He pointed towards the ceiling, which had been a grayish blue, but now sported a thick, dark cloud of owls. Two swooped down at their table with letters, one a dark gray, the other an eagle tint. James and Peter took the newspapers each of the owls held and handed over pieces of biscuit and bacon to the owls, which took flight immediately after their breakfast.
Lily raised her head enough to look over James' shoulder at the paper, which bore the headline 'The Daily Prophet' in dark blue and gold on parchment. The headline was in bold, over a picture of a smiling blonde witch. "Mandy Mysenclaw Promoted", was the article the front page devoted itself to. James skimmed the paper quickly, then folded it up, a bit disappointed.
"Nothing good in there today." Sirius shrugged.
A bell resounded through the corridors, and the multitude in the Great Hall started moving off to class.
Charms was held in a rather large classroom, as there were about forty in the class. They included Amanda, the brunette twins, whose names were Heather and Anne, the two blonde girls, Eva and Vanessa, James, Sirius, Peter, Remus, Malfoy, and Snape. Lily managed to get seats next to her four new friends, which unfortunately were only two away from Malfoy and Snape.
Lily got her Charms book out, laid it on her desk along with parchment, ink, and a quill, and turned to James. "So, why is half this class part of the second year? You said you didn't take your exam in the Great Hall."
James nodded. "We had a large earthquake last year, right before our last exam, and we had to leave Hogwarts early. They also forgot to give us our notes not to use magic over the holidays that year." he added offhandedly.
Lily slumped in her chair. "You mean we can't use magic over the summer?" James nodded. "Darn. I was hoping to hex my sister."
Sirius turned around. "You have a sister? I didn't see her on the train. Or at the Sorting, come to that."
"Well, you couldn't, could you? She's a Muggle, and one of the most annoying ones there is."
Snape leaned over. "You have a Muggle family member?"
Lily shrugged. "So what if I do? So are my parents." she said, not understanding James' and Sirius' 'shhh' signs.
Malfoy turned around as well. "You're from a Muggle family?"
"Yeah. What's it to ya?" Lily shot back.
"You filthy little Mudblood!" Malfoy and Snape had evil gleams in their eyes. Snape pulled out his wand.
Behind Lily, James did the same, pointing his at Snape while Sirius covered Malfoy. Snape reacted first.
"Gefriere!" Lily fell out of her desk, shaking. Her lips were turning blue, and she shivered with cold. Behind her closed eyelids, her eyes went blank. James and Sirius had forgotten their opponents, who settled back in their desks lazily. Jumping out of his chair as well as half of the class, James was the first to reach Lily. He gripped her by the shoulders, hard, shaking her. "Lily, wake up! Lily!" Remus was feeling her pulse, eyes wide.
James whirled around to Snape. "Undo this right now!"
Snape yawned and stretched, not bothering to reach for his wand.
Sirius pointed his wand at Malfoy. "Undo this or else, Malfoy!"
Lucius leaned back in his chair, running his fingers through his white- blond hair. "I can't."
James turned white. "What do you mean, you can't?"
"I mean I can't. We never looked up the counter-curse, that's why we can't."
Losing the color in his face as well, Sirius turned to the rest of the class. "Go get help!" About fifteen people ran for a teacher; the others were trying to cover Lily with their cloaks.
Five minutes later, the fifteen students had returned with the news that the teachers were in a staff meeting and had charmed the door so no one could come close enough even to yell through the wood. Lily wasn't even shaking anymore, while about twelve of the class had dashed to the library, trying to find the counter-curse. The handful of Slytherins in the class were laughing and not hiding it; they weren't trying to help, either.
A limp figure was huddled in black cloaks, looking almost like a mummy. Her eyes were sinking into her head; her limbs could have been boneless. James had resorted to slapping her cheeks to regain her consciousness, and he was about to give up, when he heard a shout.
Amanda came racing over with a large book. "Here. The index says: Countercurse to Freezing Spell. Page 473." She flipped through the pages as quickly as she could. It wasn't fast enough for James, who sn atched the book from her and immediately found page four-seventy-two.
"Four seventy--SNAPE, I'M GOING TO--" He had to be forcibly restrained from attacking Snape both with wand and fists. Sirius picked Lily up from where she had fallen after James' abrupt rising. "James, what on earth?"
James shoved the book under Sirius' nose. "Here, look!"
Sirius' mouth dropped open. Page 473 had been torn out.
Lily, Amanda, and two other girls climbed into one. The other girls obviously were twins; they shared the same brown hair and frightened expression when the giant spoke, this time to the boats. "All right then-- move off!"
With a gentle, swinging motion, the boats started to float to an unknown destination on the lake. The twins were clutching the wooden rims and looked sick; as if they might hurl if anyone spoke to them.
Lily didn't speak to them.
She was enraptured by the starry sky, and anticipated eagerly wherever they were going. She didn't even notice as someone in another boat paddled over to hers, noiselessly. Lily felt a tap on her shoulder.
She whirled around and swallowed a surprised noise in her throat and a start.
"James Potter, what on earth?"
He grinned sheepishly. "I just want to try on the Sorting Hat again. Just to see what it says."
Lily was about to make an incredulous remark, but he cut her off, pointing.
"Look!"
She gasped. In front of her, a tall castle towered against the starry sky. Light streamed from every window, including the tops of about twelve towers.
"I-is that--"
James grinned. "Yeah, that's Hogwarts. Neat, isn't it?"
Lily gulped. "It's beautiful."
Once inside, they were welcomed by a rather stern-looking witch with her hair in a tight knot, Professor Megan McGonagall.
After explaining briefly about their future at Hogwarts with their separate Houses, she led then towards two huge doors, behind which, judging from the noise, the whole rest of the school was gathered. The noise increased rapidly, and the doors opened by themselves.
As if they were cattle, the first years were herded towards a stage, with all the eyes of the school, issuing from four long tables, upon them. A stool was set upon the stage, serving as a pedestal for a tattered and withered wizarding hat. A rip opened near the brim, and the hat began to sing.
"Gryffindor, a mighty man
Did many worthy things.
And one out of the best he'd done
Was give me brains of kings.
He'd grown tired, year by year,
Of picking students,see,
So here I am, here in his place,
To choose for him with glee.
In Gryffindor I place
The bold of heart and mind,
Those who will forevermore
Be the bravest one can find.
In Hufflepuff the workers hard
Were put to work and serve
Those honest and hardworking souls
From their path have never swerved.
Ravenclaw got clever ones
Who, brilliant of sound mind,
Were, along with all their fellows
The smartest one could find.
Slytherin, that slinky soul
Chose people just like he.
Peculiar in his tastes he was
And stubborn, (just like me).
So put me on, I'll try to see
Where you should belong
Trust me, I bear the brains of kings
And have never yet been wrong."
The Great Hall burst into applause as the hat finished, the students lined up alphabetically and the first student walked over to the stool.
"Dennis Benson." the hat announced. "HUFFLEPUFF!" One of the four large tables burst into applause.
"Margaret Chandler."
"RAVENCLAW!"
"Heather Davis!"
There was a good thirty-second pause, then--
"RAVENCLAW!"
"Lily Evans!"
The hat slipped far over her head, mumbling to itself. "Now, I think you have an equally good chance in all three, don't you? Definitely. Now, let's see...I've never yet done eeny-meeny-miney-mo, but where do you want to go?"
Lily clutched the stool. "Gryffindor, please," she thought. "Pretty please, hat?"
"All right, then, dear--GRYFFINDOR!" This last was shouted to the whole hall, leaving Lily with ringing ears as she quickly plucked the hat off, handing it to the next student as fast as possible.
She threaded her way as fast as possible to the table with the most applause. With pink cheeks, she saw Remus, Sirius, and Peter waving to her to come and sit down. She slid into a seat, smiling to herself.
The next few students she didn't know. About fifty of them went by until Lily's palms hurt and it was Amanda's turn.
"Amanda Milton!"
The hat didn't even touch her head before it belted out a "GRYFFINDOR!" She came down from the stage and took a seat next to Lily.
The last student up, Lily could tell, was James, though his hat was pulled down way over his forehead. He slipped on the hat.
"Potter, James!--Wait, wait just a minute there! Off my stage this instant! That was uncalled for! I should make you a Slytherin for that. Come back here!" James had torn off the hat and was racing for the edge of the stage and his table. The hat following him, propelling himself off of other's heads. James dived under the table amidst roaring laughter, and the hat followed. There were several shrieks, and then the hat emerged with James' ear caught in its brim. "Nevewr--evewr--do--fwhat--again!" The hat let go. "Understand?" It whacked James around the ears and finally had to be carried off by Professor McGonagall.
Amid roaring laughter, the plates in front of the students filled and diverted their attention.
James sank into his seat next to Lily, exhausted and with very red ears. "Wow, that hat was aggressive!"
Lily couldn't help it. She started to hyperventilate again.
Dinner was finally over around one o'clock, and the prefects led the new students to their dormitories. The Gryffindor first years stopped in front of a portrait of a fat lady in a pink dress, after climbing many winding staircases and being scared mindless by the Slytherin's ghost, the Bloody Baron, who swooped down among them, his robes all stained with silver.
"Password?" the fat lady asked.
The prefect cleared his throat, but before he could say a word, James jumped in. "Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia." The entire Gryffindor house stared at him as the portrait swung open to reveal a comfortable common room with a blazing fire. James shrugged. "It's the fear of long words."
The Gryffindors erupted.
Later in the evening, when all had said goodnight, Lily lay in her large four-poster, thinking about that day's events. What on earth had motivated James and his friends to stay with her? She was just a first year. But she had to admit--she was really glad that James had stayed. He was kind of cute...
The next morning, around six, Lily woke up to a scuffling noise near her dormitory's fireplace. She sat straight up in bed, groggily thinking it might be Petunia going through her things. She blinked, then remembered where she was. Swinging her feet out of bed and into her slippers, she caught sight of the disturber. Lily squealed.
The scuffler was a sort of elf, dressed in a toga-like piece of cloth with the Hogwarts emblem on the front. It had large eyes, a sort of green, and long batlike ears. Turning around, it saw her looking at it, picked up its tongs and dustpan, and fled out the door, slamming it loudly.
The door woke the rest of the dormitory's inmates up. Lily saw Amanda in one of the beds near the window, the twins from the boat near the door, and two blonde girls in the other two beds. All of them were rather grumpy and groggy, and all of them wanted to know what had happened.
Lily reached for a dressing gown. "It was a sort of elf thing, tending the fire. I guess I shouldn't have screamed; I think I frightened it away. It slammed the door when it left."
One of the twins sighed. "Elf or not, I'm going back to bed." And she did, falling back on her pillow almost instantly and starting to snore.
Lily rolled her eyes, as did one of the blonde girls.
"How did we ever sleep through that?" the blonde girl who had rolled her eyes asked.
Amanda shrugged, tossing her long brown hair over one shoulder. "I'm just glad I did. I don't know how I did, but boy, am I glad I did."
They got dressed quickly and went down to the commmon room, which was still relatively empty. There were about four third years and one fifth year, none of them looking quite happy or awake. One of them started grumbling the minute they came in.
"I hate poltergeists. Have you met ours yet?" one of the third years asked.
Lily shook her head no. "I didn't even know we had one, to be honest."
The fifth year groaned. "His name's Peeves. He just moved in last year, and you'd better be thankful he hasn't thought up anything worse than dropping waterballons on us."
The third year that had spoken before snorted. "Water balloons? Is that all he did to you? I don't suppose you've had him empty your trunk over you, using the excuse that he thought you were cold. We've been up since four, cleaning my stuff up and nursing bruises."
Several other students had started to filter in, all of them dressed, some of them wet, and all complaining about Peeves. Saying goodbye to a continued nap in an armchair in front of the fire, Lily went downstairs to the Great Hall, hoping for a plentiful breakfast.
She got her wish. The golden plates were already filled with biscuits, bacon, porridge, toast, fruit, pancakes , and all sorts of eggs. She helped herself to some of everything, wondering how she could still have an appetite after last night's feast.
Amanda had entered with Lily, choosing a seat right next to her. "What is the point of a poltergeist, I'd like to know? Practically all other creatures have sense, but poltergeists?" She went on like that all through her bacon and eggs, and Lily sat next to her, bored, grumpy, and very tired.
She was relieved when some of the other students started to come in to breakfast, among them her four friends from the train last night.
Sirius pulled out a chair across from her, almost unnaturally awake. "Morning, Lily!"
She glared at him under half-open eyelids. "Go away and celebrate your awakeness somewhere else. I'm trying to sleep." Her head dropped back onto her arms, ignoring the schedule Professor McGonagall was handing out that had landed on top of her milk glass.
James sat down on the other side of Lily. He picked up the schedule and squinted at it. "Hey, you've got Charms first period with us! We didn't take our exams last year, so we're back. Oh...have fun second period-- you've got double Potions with the Slytherins...like I said, have fun...Herbology, not that bad...you've got that with the Ravenclaws...you've got flying with the Slytherins--that seems to be a tradition, Gryffindor doubling with Slytherin in Potions and flying--oh, thanks, Professor." This last was to Professor McGonagall, who was making second rounds with schedules. "Let's see...hey, Sirius, we have Transfiguration second...remember the Nail-Loss Charm?"
Lily raised her head again. "James, it's too early in the morning. Go back to bed." James looked at her incredulously. "It's eight-thirty, the first school day of the year, and breakfast time. What more could you want and why on earth are you so tired?"
Lily scowled. "Have you ever heard of noisy elves and poltergeists at six a.m.? I think that would explain my monstrous desire for a large mug of straight caffeine with only a little bit of coffee."
Remus broke in. "James, all the girls are gonna be like this today. Peeves attacked half of them and the other half were awakened by the noise he made. If you don't want to be clawed to death, I'd suggest you leave them alone."
James shrugged. "Oh, look, there's the mail!" He pointed towards the ceiling, which had been a grayish blue, but now sported a thick, dark cloud of owls. Two swooped down at their table with letters, one a dark gray, the other an eagle tint. James and Peter took the newspapers each of the owls held and handed over pieces of biscuit and bacon to the owls, which took flight immediately after their breakfast.
Lily raised her head enough to look over James' shoulder at the paper, which bore the headline 'The Daily Prophet' in dark blue and gold on parchment. The headline was in bold, over a picture of a smiling blonde witch. "Mandy Mysenclaw Promoted", was the article the front page devoted itself to. James skimmed the paper quickly, then folded it up, a bit disappointed.
"Nothing good in there today." Sirius shrugged.
A bell resounded through the corridors, and the multitude in the Great Hall started moving off to class.
Charms was held in a rather large classroom, as there were about forty in the class. They included Amanda, the brunette twins, whose names were Heather and Anne, the two blonde girls, Eva and Vanessa, James, Sirius, Peter, Remus, Malfoy, and Snape. Lily managed to get seats next to her four new friends, which unfortunately were only two away from Malfoy and Snape.
Lily got her Charms book out, laid it on her desk along with parchment, ink, and a quill, and turned to James. "So, why is half this class part of the second year? You said you didn't take your exam in the Great Hall."
James nodded. "We had a large earthquake last year, right before our last exam, and we had to leave Hogwarts early. They also forgot to give us our notes not to use magic over the holidays that year." he added offhandedly.
Lily slumped in her chair. "You mean we can't use magic over the summer?" James nodded. "Darn. I was hoping to hex my sister."
Sirius turned around. "You have a sister? I didn't see her on the train. Or at the Sorting, come to that."
"Well, you couldn't, could you? She's a Muggle, and one of the most annoying ones there is."
Snape leaned over. "You have a Muggle family member?"
Lily shrugged. "So what if I do? So are my parents." she said, not understanding James' and Sirius' 'shhh' signs.
Malfoy turned around as well. "You're from a Muggle family?"
"Yeah. What's it to ya?" Lily shot back.
"You filthy little Mudblood!" Malfoy and Snape had evil gleams in their eyes. Snape pulled out his wand.
Behind Lily, James did the same, pointing his at Snape while Sirius covered Malfoy. Snape reacted first.
"Gefriere!" Lily fell out of her desk, shaking. Her lips were turning blue, and she shivered with cold. Behind her closed eyelids, her eyes went blank. James and Sirius had forgotten their opponents, who settled back in their desks lazily. Jumping out of his chair as well as half of the class, James was the first to reach Lily. He gripped her by the shoulders, hard, shaking her. "Lily, wake up! Lily!" Remus was feeling her pulse, eyes wide.
James whirled around to Snape. "Undo this right now!"
Snape yawned and stretched, not bothering to reach for his wand.
Sirius pointed his wand at Malfoy. "Undo this or else, Malfoy!"
Lucius leaned back in his chair, running his fingers through his white- blond hair. "I can't."
James turned white. "What do you mean, you can't?"
"I mean I can't. We never looked up the counter-curse, that's why we can't."
Losing the color in his face as well, Sirius turned to the rest of the class. "Go get help!" About fifteen people ran for a teacher; the others were trying to cover Lily with their cloaks.
Five minutes later, the fifteen students had returned with the news that the teachers were in a staff meeting and had charmed the door so no one could come close enough even to yell through the wood. Lily wasn't even shaking anymore, while about twelve of the class had dashed to the library, trying to find the counter-curse. The handful of Slytherins in the class were laughing and not hiding it; they weren't trying to help, either.
A limp figure was huddled in black cloaks, looking almost like a mummy. Her eyes were sinking into her head; her limbs could have been boneless. James had resorted to slapping her cheeks to regain her consciousness, and he was about to give up, when he heard a shout.
Amanda came racing over with a large book. "Here. The index says: Countercurse to Freezing Spell. Page 473." She flipped through the pages as quickly as she could. It wasn't fast enough for James, who sn atched the book from her and immediately found page four-seventy-two.
"Four seventy--SNAPE, I'M GOING TO--" He had to be forcibly restrained from attacking Snape both with wand and fists. Sirius picked Lily up from where she had fallen after James' abrupt rising. "James, what on earth?"
James shoved the book under Sirius' nose. "Here, look!"
Sirius' mouth dropped open. Page 473 had been torn out.