Disclaimer: I don't own anything, and I hope I never do, because then I would be responsible for Sirius' death.

The Great Hall

By wicherwill

Lily Evans looked around the Great Hall absently, still trying to take it all in. She was a witch, she had been sorted into the best house (or so everyone said), Professor – no, Headmaster Dumbledore had talked to her personally, and…well, there was a whole bunch more, but she didn't quite feel like listing them at the second. The glorious Headmaster was standing up and clearing his throat, and no doubt he was going to say something glorious and smart and –

"All I have to say is…Frumpwazzel!"

Lily looked around nervously as everyone else started laughing. Down the table on the opposite side, two boys with messy black hair were laughing harder than anyone…for the first time, she felt a slight bit of apprehension. This was a big mistake, why was she here, she was not from this wizarding world…

"Hey, your name is Lily, right?"

She looked to the person across from her, who looked like she could be a third year. "Yes, that's me. How…?"

"Oh, my name's Elisabeth Cook…but everyone calls me Lisa or Cookie. I was sorted after you, so maybe you didn't see me…"

"You're…you're in my year?"

"Oh, my dad put me in a year late, said that he didn't want me to be the youngest. I'm born on December 27th, you see. A few seconds before December 28th, and mum always said that I never could choose anyway. And then she would laugh and pick me up and swing me round and round while singing 'Wizards on the Hill', except she would change the words to 'Witches on the Hill'."

"She…seems like a nice person…"

"Yeah, she was. She died a few years ago, when I was nine."

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't know!"

"Don't be. Mum decided to not die."

"What?!"

"She's a ghost, silly."

"A what? You can choose?"

"Of course. Oh, I get it, you're a Muggleborn!"

Lily looked away, slightly depressed. She'd thought she'd made a friend, and then… "Well, yes, I am. I'm sorry, I should have said something earlier…"

"Dammit! Mum always said my mouth worked double time and my brain was always trying to catch up. Don't worry; I'm not like the Malfoy people who can't be decent if they tried. But you wouldn't know about the Malfoys then, would you? The Malfoys are these really rude people who always put down Muggleborns and are all snotty about being Pureblood – which means not having any non-wizard blood. I'll have to teach you everything! Why aren't you eating?"

The little swirls in Lily's eyes cleared up a bit as she latched on to one sentence she could understand. She was never a fast speaker. "Oh! Food! When did all this come?"

"After Dumblydore said whatever it was. He does that nearly every year, and there's this rumour that there's department at the MOM – that's the Ministry of Magic, our governingment – that's supposed to be purely dedicated to figuring out how Dumbledore uses Pure Magic – magic without wands, without proper words. And it's a joke, when someone goes mad, we all go 'And I suppose you're joining Dumbledore's Department, eh?' Everyone knows that the MOM is going to the dogs, but we needn't worry about that, I mean, who every heard of a government that worked? There's rumours that they might be asking Dumbledore to head it, you know, to get it up to speed, but that wouldn't do…no way."

"…right…"

"Oh, we'll stay up all night talking. I can tell that you're a talkative person once you get going, and I want someone who actually wants to listen to me…and I can work on letting people get a word in edgewise!"

~*~

Lily opened her eyes slowly, her mind quickly registering that she wasn't at home anymore, she was at school…but she never woke up in the middle of the night, why was it dark?

A look around quickly revealed that someone had pulled down her drapes, and good thing too, because the minute she opened them a blast of icy air greeted her, probably from that window they'd opened. There went the summer weather…

She pried open the curtains of the bed next to her, and was greeted by Elisabeth, snoring loudly. When then couldn't she hear…? You're in a magical school, dummy. Why wouldn't they have magical curtains?

She quickly changed and went downstairs, relishing the feel of carrying her wand in the special pocket she had sewn and being able to find her way down to the Great Hall. Her photographic memory had branded her a 'nerd' back at grammar school, but maybe here it might come to some use. At the very least, she wouldn't find herself in what Lisa called 'the Love Tower' when all her stomach wanted was breakfast. She had been assured that there would be food as early as she wanted it.

However, something came in her way just as she was about to get her hands on some toast. A very large, solid, rectangular something made out of a wood she identified as cocobolo, twice as dense as walnut. The door.

Lily groaned, hoping that if she touched it or something it would just open magically…no such luck. She glanced upwards at the handle, set firmly at probably half a metre above her short height.

"What, are you all prejudiced against me or something? Got something against short people?" Standing on her tiptoes to get a better grasp on the handle, she pulled. And pulled. When it seemed certain that her measly weight (her thin figure that she'd one day love, her mother assured her) wouldn't move the door, she slumped down, defeated. Stupid door. Now, she'd just wait here for some…one to…come…

"Need some help there?"

Lily woke up, startled, as one of those black haired boys from last night appeared out of the dark corridor. "Actually, I was waiting for someone to come and open the door…"

The boy laughed, a friendly one that sent a smile on Lily's face. "Good luck, the teachers were up half the night trying to undo that grass that sprouted on the floor. Took them ages to think of a Muggle solution…although I swear Dumbledore knew half the time…"

"Wait, you mean…you did it?"

The boy grinned, his head dropping almost automatically to one side – the left, Lily noticed. "Promise you won't tell?"

"But that's against the rules! I think…"

"Aw, I bet you're an awful prissy. Bet you didn't have any friends in your Muggle grammar school."

Lily looked down, hurt at this mention of her Muggle upbringing. "Lisa said just because I'm a Muggleborn doesn't meant that I'm any less than people like you."

"Oh, and did Lisa also think to mention that I'm not a Pureblood like those Malfoys? Sirius is our Pureblooded freak, although he's nothing like them."

"You seem to know an awful lot about wizarding thing."

"Oh, the Potters were all pure until about 1904. Something weird happened, we all turned Squibs – those are non-magical people born into a magical family-"

"I know what they are!"

"Touchy. Well, in any case, all magic died out of my family around 1919. My dad was the first one to regain it, and after that, boom! Every one of us became magical, even those born without it. Made a lot of people mad, we did. All the Squibs from the Drought that didn't turn out lucky, all the Purebloods because they thought we were Muggleborns, and all the Muggleborns because they thought we were Purebloods. But that's all over now. D'you ever want to go inside?"

"Of course I do! But I can't, and I doubt even you can. This door's made of cocobolo wood, and it's very – how did you do that?" Lily's eyes opened as the other boy simply pulled at a large iron handle set near the hinge and the door opened. "But…that defies rules! It should be harder there, and this door is very heavy, and-"

"Merlin, would you shut it and just come and eat? Everyone knows about the way to open the Great Hall – or at least anyone magical." He threw a snide look at her that wasn't quite sincere and walked past her. Lily regained her sense of movement soon after, and walked in after him. Choosing a seat far away, she piled her plate full of toast. Within minutes, the hall was full of people; how long had she been asleep?

She spotted Lisa coming towards her, smiled, and then frowned, suddenly realising something. She hadn't even gotten the boy's name.

A/N: I don't want to write a cliché L/J epic, so I'm just going to write a whole lot of episodes that I dream up while I'm supposed to be doing some sort of work…like write now. Ha ha.

wicherwill ^_^