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Lily and Shay got off the train and walked into the nearest horseless carriage. Just before Lily stepped in, she spotted Malfoy, Snape, and Gringly. They saw her and started to walk toward her. She quickly got into the carriage, sat down, and slammed the door hoping that they were walking toward someone else. But the carriage door opened and the three boys poked there head in. They started to come in and sit on the opposite seat. Before they could close the door, Lily gulped down her fear and said,

"You can't sit t-there." She said a little shakily.

"Why is that?" Malfoy asked maliciously.

"Because we were saving the seat for Remus, James, Sirius, and Peter" Shay said, with the same coldness in her voice.

"I don't see them anywhere, do you?" Gringly said.

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were still looking for a carriage. Sirius quickly spotted the one with Lily.

"Hey, what's Lily and Shay doing with the Slytherins?" Sirius said frowning. Just then, they saw Shay poke her head out.

"James! Come on! We found a seat for you guys!" She yelled. They all walked toward the carriage.

"There, now they're coming." Shay said to Gringly, satisfied. The three boys glared and left the carriage.

"Whew!" Lily and Shay said in unison when they were out of earshot. They both looked at each other and giggled.

Just then, Peter came in, followed by Sirius, Remus and James.

"Why were they here?" Sirius said, meaning the Slytherins.

"I don't know. They just walked in and I told them that we were saving the seat for you guys, and when you started coming, they just left" Shay said.

"Oh. Well, that's strange.." Remus muttered, glancing at Lily, who looked puzzled too. They shrugged it off and stayed silent through the whole ride.

Soon they reached the magnificent castle. It was beautiful and gloomy at the same time. The dark sky was prickled with millions of stars and there was a half moon gleaming brightly. The school towers soared through it, piercing the opaque background. The grayish white bricks were reflected by the dark lake with little ripples caused by the first year boats that made a soft churning sound on the shore. There were torches along the walls every three feet that seemed to make the whole castle glow.

Everyone stepped on to the cold hard stone stairs that led up to the great wooden doors. They opened and a face they didn't see before greeted them. This person looked to be around thirty or so and had straight brown hair that was knotted into a tight bun. She had warm brown eyes but cold, thin lips. When she spoke, she had an air to her voice.

"I am Professor McGonagall. I will be teaching Transfiguration. Since Professor Allory decided to take retirement this year, I'm taking his place as the Head of the Gryffindor House." She said curtly. Her lips made the same thin line as soon as she had finished speaking.

"Did you hear why Allory decided to take retirement?" James boldly dared to ask the new strict teacher.

"Yes I did hear, but I'm not going to tell you. If you cared that much, you should owl him yourself. Also, calling a professor by just his last name is very disrespectful, you should know better than that, I can see you're a prefect." She said. A few people sniggered. Lily never noticed that James was a prefect. He seemed to be ashamed of it, almost. She glanced at him when he quickly covered the badge with his coat.

"But he's not a professor anymore!" Sirius said, smiling.

"Yes, I understand that. But he is a former professor and he should be at least called Mr. Allory." She snapped impatiently. Sirius's proud smile quickly faded.

"Oooh, she's going to be tough!" Remus whispered to James and Sirius.

"Now, before any further ado, please follow me." She spun around and walked toward the Great Hall. They passed paintings that whispered and pointed at them. Everyone took their seat according to their houses. The Sorting was over before Lily knew it, and Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster of the school, stood up.

"I want to welcome you this year to Hogwarts. I'm very pleased to announce that our school will be hosting the Interschool Quidditch Championships this year." A great buzz went around the great hall. Professor Dumbledore waited for quiet and continued. "The 14 schools' teams will be arriving on the fourth of December. The tournament will begin on the seventh, and end on the 18th. There will be a final Christmas ball at the 20th. And as to how our school team will be chosen, the team that had won the Quidditch Cup last year will represent our school, which is Gryffindor, if I am correct." A wild applause ruptured from the Gryffindor table. "However, the other headmasters of the schools have made an adjustment to the rules. We have reached a consensus to allow a substitute team. So, we will have substitutes, in case someone gets injured badly enough, and can't play. There will be one substitute for each of all positions. The tryouts for it will begin next Thursday and continue until the following Monday. And that is all for today. Happy Feasting! Thank you." With that said, the long cherry oak tables filled with food. The enthusiastic first years grabbed a little bit of everything while the older ones grabbed their favorites. Shay was breathlessly recalling her summer.

"—and he flips around in his broom, and sees the snitch! But then he sees a bludger coming toward the seeker and can't go to hit it because that cheating scumbag dickhead Vsukay was holding onto his broom. So—" She paused to drink her juice. "He throws his bat at the bludger!" Everyone but James was busy eating and pretending to listen. James had his fork halfway in his mouth and looking as if this was the most suspenseful story ever. "The bat hits the bludger and the seeker got the snitch!" Shay said, pausing for everyone to take in the moment.
"Bloody brilliant, that Cyclope is." James said. The Cyclope's real name was Torrain but he had lost one of his eye in a match, and the nickname stuck. "So did you get to meet him?"

"Yes! I got his signature on my broom! I'll go get it—" Shay said, getting up.

"It's okay Shay, you can show him at practice tomorrow." Lily quietly said. Shay shrugged it off and sat back down. Lily outreached her hand to get a roll, and someone's hand laid on hers. The small hand had a simple silver ring and short, trimmed nails. She looked up and realized it was someone she's never seen before. This girl had shoulder length black hair and dark brown eyes. She had a small nose and pink, but chapped lips. Her skin was lightly tan and her face was a perfect oval.

"Oh sorry" She said.

"It's okay" Lily said. What are you doing? This is a prefect moment to make a new friend. She seems really nice too…

"Hi, what's your name? I haven't seen you around." She said sweetly. The girl looked up with a shocked, but grateful eyes and said,

"Sunmin Kim. I, uh, moved from South Korea last year. I was transferred from Soojin Academy, it's a Korean magic school. I've been spending my meals with my tutor. The magic here is really different, a lot of different principles and expectations." She said, hoping not to sound too nerdy or stupid, but an average British girl.

"Oh! I think I graded your paper in Professor Binn's class. You wrote about the ancient magic in Korea right?" Lily said, desperately trying to make a new friend.

"Yes. So what's your name?" Sunmin said, her too trying to make a new friend.

"Lily, Lily Evans." Lily said simply.

"Really? You're Remus's friend, right? Remus is my tutor. He said that you were really nice." She said. Lily beamed. They continued to talk until the feast was over. Lily was really proud of herself that she had made a new friend. Everyone got up and walked groggily back to their dorm rooms. James was in the front, leading the first years and explaining the rules.

"Did you ever know that James Potter was a prefect?" Lily whispered to Shay.

"No, I never heard of it." She replied, glancing at James, who was making the first years laugh by telling how he broke rules for the last five years.

"Doesn't it seem like he's ashamed of it?" Lily said.

"I know. It's weird." Shay said. They all filed in through the portrait hole. Lily realized that Sunmin was right behind her, and decided to introduce her new friend to Shay.

"Shay, this is… um… how do you pronounce your name again?" Lily asked.

"Sunmin. It's sun, like the yellow sun, and min." She said, laughing.

"Yeah. This is Sunmin. She transferred from Korea last year." Lily said.

"Hi! I'm Shay Fintley. I love your name! It's so cool!" Shay said, shaking Sunmin's hand. Sunmin grinned and looked at Lily graciously. The trio split as Shay and Lily went to Dorm 5A and Sunmin went to 5B.

"She seems really nice, huh?" Lily said.

"Yeah, she does." Shay replied, proud of Lily. Lily never talked with anyone new at Hogwarts. They brushed their teeth, got changed, and went to bed.

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I know this is isn't as long as the previous chap... but a chapter's a chapter! I'll try to post every four days.