Lily Potter and The New Generation
Chapter 2: The Hogwarts Express.


Lily went through the next month or so in a daze and all too soon it was September 1st. Luckily, Harry was free so he was able to come with them to drop them off. As soon as got out of the van, they were joined by Mrs Weasley, Penelope, Ron, the Weasley kids and Lena, she had exchanged her yellow robes for a padded jacket in the same colour and her sunglasses were down over her eyes.

"Hi Lily! We've been waiting for you. Let's go." The older Weasley kids had already gone through the barrier and James was eager to follow them.

Lily turned to her parents. "Bye Mum, Dad. See you at Christmas."

"You'll probably see me before then." Harry reminded her. "I'll be up for the Gryffindor v. Slytherin match if I can. I haven't missed a match in nineteen years, I'm not going to start now." He told her, hugging her tightly and then kissing her on the forehead. "Be safe and please get into Gryffindor."

"I'll try." replied Lily. She hugged Ginny and Mrs Weasley and then rushed through the barrier after her friends. Harry stood stock still watching the barrier for about five minutes, before Ron broke the spell.

"It gets easier."

"Really?"

"No." admitted Ron.

"I don't know how you've done it all these years Molly. First with us, then Barty, Anne, Henry and Ryan, and now James, Lily, even 'Sparky', she's around so much she's like one of the family." he tailed off.

"I knew you were in safe hands, just like they are, they'll be fine. Ron, you'd better follow them, before the train leaves if you're going back to-day."

Ron nodded. "Bye Harry, Ginny, Penelope, Mum. See you around."

"Give our love to Hermione and Charlie." Ginny told him.

"Will do." Ron waved and then walked back through the barrier himself. The four adults stood watching the last few students walk through the wall onto the platform and then turned and walked away. Mrs Weasley and Penelope went to where Worthington was waiting with his car and got. Harry and Ginny got into the van belonging to the Sanctuary. "Let's go." Harry said.

Philippe Roche, the head of security and occasional driver for the Sanctuary nodded and started the motor. "Indeed. Would it be fine if we headed straight back? Neville told me this morning that he's expecting two new referrals from St Florence's today at twelve, he'd like us back by then."

Harry nodded.

"What happened to them?" asked Ginny, "We haven't had any overseas referrals in twelve years."

"Apparently, a wizard family… the Frasers."

"Benton Fraser, the Canadian Quidditch Captain?"

"Non… they, were attacked near Calgary by Sasquatches, the parents, aunt and grandfather were killed, horribly, by the looks of the report. The two kids, Edward, six and Sara, four survived. I don't know how. The Canadian authorities don't have the facilities to handle orphans so their Ministry notified us. Neville finalised the paperwork last night. I contacted Firebird and she's sent two associates to pick them up." He eased the large van out of its parking slot and into the main flow of traffic, moments later they were far from the station.


----

Lily and her friends had to go through a third of the train before they found an empty compartment. They went inside and heaved their trunks onto the luggage racks. "Shifting luggage is a lot easier when you have a house-elf to help." groaned Lily.

"You got that right." confirmed Lena and flopped down on the seat beside her, mopping her brow.

James sat down more slowly on the seat opposite them. "How was August?" he asked Lily. "Boring. I did get a bit of studying done though." she admitted.

James frowned, "That's supposed to be my line!" he moaned. "My mum's the bookworm not Aunt Ginny!"

"True. But both Mum and Dad are better students than Uncle Ron."

"That's true. Chess?"

"Go on then." Lily told him and took her own set of chessmen from Lena, who had jumped up and fetched them from her bag. Over the next two hours, James thrashed Lily soundly 4-0. He had his father's skill at chess.

When the old witch came round with the tea trolley Lily bought her friends three glasses of pumpkin juice, a dozen Cauldron Cakes and a few Chocolate Frogs. When she tore open her own Chocolate Frog, her face fell, then she grinned and tossed the card to Lena who caught it one-handed. "Have mine, its Dumbledore. I've got two of him already, from my Dad's collection."

They sat there for a while and enjoyed the rest of their treats, then played Exploding Snap for a while. James was just in the middle of reading his History of Magic text, Harry Potter, the man behind the myth. When Lena spied a familiar mountain out the window. "We need to get changed." she told them. "We're only about ten minutes from Hogsmeade."

James glanced out the window himself, then nodded and put his book back in his truck. They changed into their school robes and were just pulling down their trunks as the train puffed into the station. "Leave the stuff here." James told the two girls, "The house-elves'll take care of it." He walked to the door to the compartment and opened it, "Let's go."

Lena followed him immediately and Lily joined her after a quick glance back at the wicker basket containing her cat. "Bye Donny. See you later." She whispered, and she could almost swear she heard an answering 'goodbye' from the cat-basket. Shaking her head, she walked out into the corridor and then hopped onto the platform. "First years, first years over here!" shouted Howlett. Lily couldn't see him thanks to some of the older students blocking her view, so she headed in the direction of his voice. James and Lena were not far behind. "Hi Weasley, Potter, Lena. Grab a boat, there's a couple free still. Get into the boats." He told the other first years. "They'll take us across the lake, no more than three to a boat." The first years rushed to obey and they were soon floating across the great, dark, expanse of water.



----

After a while, the boats pulled into the underground harbour. James jumped out first and steadied the boat while Lily and Lena climbed out. "Follow me." Howlett told them once they were all on the jetty. They proceeded up the rock passageway to Hogwarts, Howlett's lamp lighting the way.

After a few minutes they came out onto the huge front lawn of Hogwarts. At the steps leading up to the Main Doors, stood a tall, black- haired wizard, in long black robes. "I'll leave the first years wit' yeh, Professor an' head in." Howlett offered.

Sirius nodded and moved so that the other man could squeeze past him. "Follow me."

The first years followed him towards the Great Hall and clustered in a small room looking into it. Sirius explained the Sorting Ceremony to them and then ducked out of the room for a minute. When he returned, he gestured for them to follow him into the Hall.

They all lined up behind the teacher's table and waited, Lily was on tenterhooks, her parents, who were usually talkative about life at Hogwarts, hadn't mentioned how the Sorting worked. Glancing at James, she could tell he didn't know either, which she found reassuring. After the Sorting Hat had sang its song. Sirius unrolled a parchment and addressed the first-years, "When I call your name, step forward and put on the Hat. You will then be told what House you will be in. Then you can go and sit at the appropriate table."

He paused a moment. "Banks, Robin!"

"Gryffindor!"

"Fortescue, Marius."

"Hufflepuff!"

"Howlett, Lena."

"Gryffindor!"

"Lockhart, Argent."

"Slytherin!"

"Malfoy, Aurora."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Malkin, Michael."

"Ravenclaw!"

"Potter, Lily."

Lily gulped and walked up towards the Hat. As soon as she put it on her head, she could hear the Hat muttering in her ear. "Mmmm, a Potter and a Weasley eh? Well, I know exactly what to do with you! GRYFFINDOR!" Lily's older cousins clapped enthusiastically as Lily walked down the length of the table and sat down beside Lena.

"That was quick." Lily nodded.

"Snape, Rose."

Not Gryffindor, please not Gryffindor, thought Lily desperately.

"SLYTHERIN!!!"

Lily sighed with relief.

"Wood, Connor."

"Gryffindor!"

"That's the England Quidditch captain's son isn't it?" asked one of the second year. Lily nodded, she'd met both of them before.

"Weasley, James."

"GRYFFINDOR!!!" thundered the Hat.

James nearly ran down the row of tables to the girls and he sighed deeply as he sat down beside Lily. "That's a relief, for a minute I thought it might put me in Ravenclaw."

"That wouldn't be so bad." Lily told him. "Aunt Gabrielle was in Ravenclaw, when she was here."

"True. Better than Slytherin, but I'd miss you two."

"We'd miss you too." Lily assured him.

The Sorting finished with "Zimmer, Wilson." (Hufflepuff!).

Sirius rolled up his parchment and returned to his place beside McGonagall. She stood up and regarded the students for a few moments before speaking, "You may begin." Immediately, the tables groaned with the weight of food that appeared on them and the hundreds of students all dived in, chatting among themselves.

After a while the talk turned to their families. "My parents were Muggles," Lena told them.

"But I thought…"

"That I was related to Orion?" she finished, "No. He's my adopted father. My real parents were killed when I was three years old. Orion investigated the case for Minister Dumbledore, they thought it might be the work of dark wizards. It wasn't, but when Orion figured out I wasn't a Muggle, he took me in."

"How did he know? You didn't have any magic, did you?"

"Not in the ordinary sense. But I did have a particular talent." admitted Lena, she raised one of her hands and made sparks snap from it.

"Cool."

"What about you?" she asked.

Robin paused for a minute. "I'm sort of like you, a Muggle-born, but not quite."

"How so?"

"Well, my mum's a Muggle. My dad… how was it Professor Lupin explained it… oh yeah, he has 'The Mark', I'm not sure what that means."

Lena smiled, "The Mark of Sedit, it means that he has a powerful latent magical power. My power was like that. What does he do?"

"Do?"

"What's his power? Mine's fire, lightning and molecular control."

"Molecular control?"

"I can blow stuff up."

"Oh. My dad turns into a dog, when he wants to and sometimes when he doesn't." he shrugged, "It's easier now for him than when he was a kid. He used to have no control at all."

"That's normal," admitted Lena.

"Well. I guess you could say I'm half-an-half, my dad is as wizard as they come, Granddad Weasley is the Magistrate."

"What's that?"

James paused, "The senior judge in the wizard court. I guess it would be similar to Lord Chancellor or the Lord Chief Justice in the Muggle courts. My mum's a Muggle-born but Hogwarts trained, she teaches here now."

"Really?"

"Yes, Professor Granger, the Transfiguration Professor. But I won't get any special treatment for it, quite the opposite probably."

"We have a lot of family here." admitted Lily, "James is my cousin, his dad's one of my mum's brothers. Professor Weasley, who'll be taking us for flying practice and who teaches the third years and above Care of Magical Creatures is my uncle, and Professors Black and Lupin are both family friends — Padfoot, Professor Black to you, is my dad's godfather."

"Plus, I've lived at Hogwarts since I was four days old." added James, "It's my home. Well, one of them. I spend a lot of time, especially during the school holidays at either Granddad Weasley's house or the Sanctuary, where Lily lives."

"Do you three know each other well then?" asked Connor Wood.

"Probably as well as we know yourselves." Lily told him, "We've grown up together, especially James and Sparky."

"Why Sparky? Isn't your name Lena?"

"Yeah. It's a nickname, from my talent. Orion started using it when I was six and got control of my power."

"Why do you call him Orion, why not Dad or his first name."

"Very few people call Orion by his real name, most that do call him Howlett. He doesn't like his first name. It felt funny calling him by that so I use Orion. It's his codename."

"Codename?"

"Yeah. He's one of Minister Dumbledore's agents."

"He's in the Order of the Phoenix?!" Wood exclaimed.

"Yep." confirmed Sparky. "A lot of the people here are, if only as associates. Professor McGonagall, Padfoot, Moony… that is Professor Lupin, Charlie, Orion, Professor Granger."

"They're all members?"

"Didn't you read any of your set books?" asked James, "Aunt Ginny mentions it in Harry Potter, the Man behind the Myth."

"Only as far as the Philosopher's Stone incident," he admitted. "It's fun but there's a lot to it."

"That's true, it took me a week to finish it, and I'd already heard most of the stories at one point or another from Dad or Aunt Ginny."

"A week?" said Robin incredulously. "It'd take me about three?!"

"He's quite a reader." Lily told him, "I think he must get it from his mother. Uncle Ron's no academic, he works for the Department of Magical Games and Sports."

"So does Uncle Harry." retorted James.

"Dad's a professional Quidditch player. That's not quite the same."

"True."

"What's Quidditch?" asked Robin curiously.

"It's our sport. There are two classes of team, three if you count school teams: local and national, they play in various different championships. Our local teams play in the British and Irish League and the European Cup and our national team plays in the European Championships and the World Cup. But the game's pretty much the same at all levels, though there are one or two differences in the rules for school Quidditch."

He stopped and slugged down a mouthful of pumpkin juice. "As Connor will confirm, Quidditch is easy enough to understand even if it's not to easy to play."

"Your Uncle Harry told you that didn't he?" asked Connor. James nodded. "He got that from my dad, he says that to all new players that don't know much about Quidditch."

"Yes, anyway. There are seven players, three Chasers who do the scoring; Aunt Ginny was a Chaser for Gryffindor when she was here, and so was Uncle Harry's dad and the girlfriends of two of my uncles. Then there are two Beaters, they have to stop a flying ball called a Bludger from knocking their own players off their brooms and trying to get it to knock the other team off their brooms; two of my uncles, who run a shop down in the village were Beaters for Gryffindor. Then you have the Keeper, who tries to stop the Chasers from scoring; Connor's dad was Keeper for Gryffindor. Finally you have the Seeker, possibly the most important of the team; it is his, or her job to catch the Golden Snitch, a small walnut-sized flying ball, if they do they score 150 points for their team, so they usually win. Uncle Charlie and Uncle Harry were both Seekers for Gryffindor, and Harry plays Seeker for both a local team, the Chudley Cannons, and the England National team."

"My Dad plays too." Connor reminded him, "He's the team captain of both Puddlemere United and the England National Team."

"Sounds complicated." said Robin.

"Not really. It'll all come together if you watch Gryffindor trounce Slytherin in a month or two." James told him. He looked down the table. "Conroy! When's the first match!"

"October the ninth!" replied the older boy, "See you there!"

"Count on it!"

About half an hour later, the feast was finished, as the plates disappeared from the tables, McGonagall stood up to address the students. "Before you go off to your dormitories, I would like to make one or two announcements. All students should note that the Forbidden Forest, as its name suggests is strictly forbidden, as is Hogsmeade to first and second years. Quidditch trails will be in two weeks, any second years or above who wish to play should see Professor Weasley or your Head of House. Further more I would like to introduce a new member staff, over the summer our caretaker, Mr Filch..."

"Nasty git." growled James.

"Shhh."

"…decided to retire for the good of his health. So a new caretaker has been appointed, Nick Rage."

"What's he doing here?" wondered Lily.

"Who, the caretaker?" asked Robin.

"Yeah." Lily chuckled to herself, "He takes care of things all right. He's another agent of Dumbledore's, his codename's Shield, he's also done some work for the Department of Mysteries."

"How do you know that?"

"Most of my family's in the Order. It's impossible not to know. As for his spy work, well it was a investigation that my dad asked Mad-Eye to do for him as a favour."

"I see. Do you know what it was?"

"Yeah. Dad had heard rumours of dark wizard activity in the Balkans. He wanted to know if anyone he knew, like the Malfoys, were involved. As it turned out it was a false alarm. But I think Rage has done other work for them though. Maybe Dumbledore, McGonagall and Uncle Sirius are expecting trouble."

"Now off to bed, all of you. You have a big day tomorrow."

"First years follow me!" shouted Bartemius Weasley, Percy's son.

James rolled his eyes and stood up. "Coming Barty,"

Lily, Sparky and the other first years followed him. They had just reached the portrait of the Fat Lady which lead to Gryffindor Tower, when Barty stopped and scowled at James, "Pay attention!" he snapped.

"Why?" asked James.

"Because you need to know the password!"

"I already know it. Australius Crux."

The Fat Lady opened back and James climbed in.

"But… but… but…" stammered Barty.

"Barty. I live here. I have lived here since I was four days old. I know more about this place than you do."

"Well. No need to show off!"

"Really? If you say so."

Barty sniffed disapprovingly, "Girls, first staircase on the right, boys the same on the left."

"We know Barty. Go to bed."

"Five points from Gryffindor for cheeking a perfect! And don't tell me what to do."

"Nicely done." whispered Lena as she led the girls up their staircase.

James led Robin, Connor and the other two first year boys up to the top of their staircase. I thought so too, he thought to himself as he lay back in his bed to sleep.

A/N: Please R/R.