Hey guys! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! J

Disclaimer. I do not own any of these characters. J.K. Rowling is the amazing author who created them. I don't make money off this. It's just for fun.

Sequence-I'm sorry if you feel that it's cliché, and I'll do everything in my power to make it as original as I can.

Trashcan-I'll try to remember to email you tomorrow, because I only have time to post this right now, so…yeah.

The-star101-Well, thank you. *blushes deeply*

Love, *--Amy--*

An hour later, Lily trooped up the stairs, thoroughly confused. Her grandmother had actually been...nice to her. She had listened intently about who Carrie and Kaylee was, while sipping her Jasmine tea thoughtfully. She had let Lily watch her favorite program on TV, and eat mint chocolate ice cream, which was usually forbidden, because in the Madam's eyes, ice cream was a dangerous fatty substance. Also, she had asked intelligent questions about Hogwarts, and avoided the subject of modeling completely--something that Lily hated to talk about.

She's plotting something. That sly little duck is plotting something big.

Lily thought darkly and fell asleep to a nightmare filled with evil grandmothers in pink bathrobes with webbed feet and bills.

One week later, on the day that she was returning to Hogwarts, Lily woke up to the sound of her extremely expensive alarm clock ringing mercilessly in her ear. She turned it off immediately, and rose from her bed, yawning and stretching. The girl opened her eyes slowly, only to scream. Standing right in front of her was a guy.

The guy looked about 40 years old, with very hairy legs but a completely bald head. He held himself in a strange way, with his hand on his hip--in a very ladylike way. It looked like there was some kind of black eyeliner around his eyes, and Lily realized with a shock who it was.

Paul Doe. That was only his English name, but his French name was something long and intricate that Lily couldn't quite get her tongue around. He was an immigrant from France, and the owner of the most famous women's clothesline in Britain. But that was only because he had an advantage over most men clothes-designers. He thought like a woman.

"Good morning, Zily," he said in his silky, French accent.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Doe." She answered nervously, not knowing why this world-famous man was standing in her bedroom.

"Your grandmother told me to pick out ze clothing for ze first day of ze school, Zily, so I am here to velp you."

Suddenly, Lily understood why her grandmother had been acting so strange. This was what she was plotting. To reveal to Lily's classmates what she had to look and act like at home, a secret she did not want getting out.

Paul Doe looked around in Lily's closet and pulled out a green strapless dress that criss-crossed in the back. He also picked out matching bright white shoes, and laid out loads of make-up. He threw Lily the dress and said, "You can change, Zily. For all I care, you can change right vere, since I'm gay anyway."

Lily looked at Paul speechless, opened her mouth, closed it again, and then replied, "Uh...that's ok, I'll use the closet..."

An hour later, Lily walked out from her room looking beautiful, but very disgruntled. The green dress fit her like a glove, and her eyes matched the color of her dress much too well. Her hair was pulled up in an elegant knot at the top of her head, and her white heels clinked as she walked. Paul had forced a pair of golden hoops on her ears, and all make-up was absolutely perfect--great eyeliner, pink lip gloss, just the right blush...

However, the girl wasn't very happy with her appearance. This isn't me, she told herself fiercely. Stupid grandmother, making me be something I'm not... On the contrary, Madam Evans was very pleased with Lily's perfect appearance. She shrieked excitedly when she saw her granddaughter, and enveloped Mr. Doe in a hug, crying, "Thank you! Thank you! You're a genius!"

Lily rolled her eyes, and stuck up her finger to make an obscene sign at her grandmother behind her back. Nobody noticed, which was a good thing, because if the redhead was caught doing that, she would be whipped right on the spot. Soon, it was time to leave to the train station, and grandmother offhandedly ordered one of the butlers, Chris, to drive Lily. Without even a goodbye to one of her only family members that were still alive, Lily left the house.

Chris was a 19-year old guy who had taken a job at Madam Evans's only because he had flunked out of high school and couldn't find any other jobs that would support his life-style. Not many jobs gave enough pay for people to live regularly without a high school diploma, but since Chris only cleaned and chauffeured at the Evans household, he was able to eat as much food as he wanted from the kitchens and have a fair amount of pay.

Lily liked Chris, as he was a very laidback, friendly guy, something that usually could not be seen in any of her grandmother's maids. Instead of calling Lily "Little Mistress Evans," he called her Lil. His dream was to become a guitarist, and Lily had to admit, he was good. He could listen to a melody, pick it up, and perfect it in one minute flat. Anything that Lily wanted to sing, Chris could always provide the harmony for her, and willingly too.

The one negative about him was that he had the biggest mouth Lily had ever seen. Once, in June, when Lily told Chris where she kept her secret stash of candy, Chris had accidentally let it slip to another maid, who just happened to be one of those snotty tattle-tales named Anna. Anna rushed over to Madam Evans and spilled Lily's secret, and within a week, all of Lily's forbidden, fatty foods were gone.

So, as much as Lily wanted to, she knew she couldn't tell Adam about being a witch.

"So, Lil, watcha wearing?"

"I think," Lily snapped, not feeling in the best mood at the moment, "it's called a dress."

"Yeah, I know...but, you don't do dresses, Lil. It's just...not you."

"And you think I don't know that?! My stupid grandmother thinks it's good to be formal on the first day of school, so she's making me wear this." Replied Lily, looking down disgustedly at her outfit.

"Well, you look pretty, at least. Even if you don't like how you look, all the guys will be drooling over you. That's a plus, right?"

"No, it's not. I hate guys." Lily said, scowling deeply.

"You hate me?"

"Well, technically, you're not a guy, Chris. You're a huge particle of mouth."

"Haha." Answered Chris dryly.

Soon, the car pulled up to the train station, and Lily hopped out of the limo.

Now, let me fill you in on something. Usually, shiny black limos don't pull up in front of a plain old train station in the middle of a hustle-bustle street in London. And usually, the person in the limo isn't a famous super model that has been on the cover of different magazines just about 17 times. And usually, that person isn't a witch.

But today, Lily Evans was being driven to the train station, and these were exactly the rare circumstances. Lily hopped out of the car, hoping secretly that by taking quick movements would tear the seams of her dress, but this didn't happen. The dress fit perfectly, just like they always did, and Lily remained looked gorgeous. Ick, she thought as many kids pointed at her and whispered to their friends. Lily caught snatches of the whispers, that went something like:

"Isn't that the Lily Bevans girl?"

"I think it was something more like Peevans."

"Well, whatever, but she's gorgeous, like the magazines say..."

"You think we should get an autograph?"

Lily walked swiftly away from the crowd of giggling people, wishing to find a face that she could actually be comforted by. Then, she remembered something that almost stopped her heartbeat. Chris. How the hell was she supposed to get onto Platform 9 3/4 without Chris seeing?

"Li-ly! Wait up! Which station were you supposed to go to, again?" Came the cheerful voice of the 19-year old.

"Umm...platform 10-ish."

"Ish? How do you have an ishy platform?"

"Um...yeah, well..." Lily squirmed, trying to think of the perfect excuse.

Lily was starting to sweat and get confused, when suddenly; an idea hit her out of the blue.

"Uh...Chris. You know, I just remembered something. I was supposed to meet a friend at this platform, and we were supposed to get on the train together, could you do me the favor of looking for him?"

"Sure, what does he look like?"

"Uh..." Lily trailed off, mentally scanning her brain for any describable male figures that came to mind. "Disorderly black hair, hazel eyes, pretty well built, and around 5'11." Said Lily, and Chris immediately turned around, looking for the guy that his mistress was describing.

While Chris's back was turned to her, the redhead grabbed her suitcase in a flash, propped her elbow up against the secret barrier casually, and started humming a soft tune. She leaned in closer and closer to the platform, until she felt a rushing feeling, and before she knew it, Lily was on the other side.

Lily knew that what she had just done would probably get Chris in big trouble, and he would be frantically searching for her until the break of dawn, but she couldn't help it. Lily just couldn't afford to let her secret get out, and she would make the necessary sacrifices to keep her secret. Chris is probably going to hate me...but I can't give up magic for him. I love Hogwarts so much, my escape haven, my heaven... Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. Why the heck had she described James Potter, her enemy as a friend to Chris? What had gotten into her? Shaking her head, she pushed the thought out and tried to think of something happier – like Hogwarts.

Lily sighed a breath of relief at the sight of a familiar scarlet engine in front of her, and she lugged her suitcase onto the train, searching for a couple of familiar voices. Two voices drifted from compartment number seven that she had heard of before.

"Ok, so Lee, as I was saying--"

"Carrie, don't call me that, I hate that nickname..."

"Too bad, deal with it. I'm calling you Lee, and that's that. So anyway..."

Lily threw the door open, expecting a warm welcome from her two best friends in the entire world, but what she got were two equally horrified shrieks.

Carrie, one of the people who Lily had been expecting a friendly welcome from, burst into a long string of profanity, and shouted, "What the HELL are you wearing? You look like a...slut!"

Kaylee just raised her eyebrow at Lily's...extreme choice of clothing, and said softly, "Well, you look different," distastefully. She then took out a book from her suitcase, put it in front of her face, and completely ignored Lily. Carrie, however, did not have the cool attitude that Kaylee had. She was practically frothing at the mouth from her impossible anger, and she seemed to want to smack Lily. "What happened to you?" She asked with a shaking voice.

Lily, a little annoyed, answered in her iciest voice. "It's not like I wanted to wear these clothes. My grandmother thinks it's better if I wear formal clothes on the first day of school. I really would have thought that I'd get more of a welcome than the start of a row from my best friends."

At this, Kaylee's head snapped up from her book, and a sheepish expression appeared on her face. Carrie's red, blotchy countenance faded slowly, and she muttered, "Oh." Lily's stone cold face softened, though. She could actually see traces of worry and hurt in her two friends, and she felt a little guilty.

"Sorry." Said Lily, "I really am. I'm just not in the best mood right now. I'm not that fond of wearing tight green dresses, either."

Kaylee smiled. "You want to start over?"

"Sure."

The three girls stood up, came together in a huge group hug, and exclaimed loudly, "Sorry!" at the exact same time.

Lily was beginning to feel better already.

Just then, Lily heard a couple of voices that weren't exactly welcome in her mind. Kaylee's expression hardened, and both girls rolled their eyes at the exact same time. However, Carrie's face grew bright red, and a loopy grin adorned her face. She whispered softly, "Is that the Rauders?"

It was, in fact, the Marauders who were making a huge racket outside. Lily heard James and Sirius's loud voices, and to her absolute disgust, the two troublemakers slid open the door, and came into their compartment.

Lily had to admit, that as much as she despised James Potter, he was hot. He was an idiot, but a cute idiot. Currently, his arm was draped casually over Liza Pluto's shoulder, who was batting her eyelashes constantly and smiling broadly. Sirius Black was holding hands with one of Liza's clones, Abby. Remus, the quiet Marauder, followed his two friends, looking disgruntled. And Lily soon saw the reason why.

"I'm sorry, Mandy, but I just can't continue with this relationship anymore!" Cried Sirius melodramatically, looking at a blond girl who had practically thrown herself at his feet.

"B-but, Sirius, you said that I was the only one! You said that--"

"I know, Mandy. But I'm in love with Abby now. And I can't change that!" Sirius exclaimed, raising a hand to his heart and pulling a huge, fake sob. The other girl, who was holding onto James's hair and bawling, looked even more desperate than Mandy. "Jamsie-poosy, I love you! You can't do this to me!"

"Caroline, I told you, I'm sorry..."

"Jaaaaaaaaaaames!" Screamed Caroline, pulling at his hair even harder and taking a few strands of black hair from his forehead.

"Ow, Caroline...what are you doing?"

"I'll kiss your hair every night, and wish that someday, you'll come back to me, Jamesy-poosy. I'll always be loyal. Alwaaays!" Caroline screamed, took her crying friend, Mandy's arm, and dragged her out of the compartment. Lily saw them collapse into tears through the glass window of the compartment, but James nor Sirius did not seem to notice.

In fact, they did not seem to notice anything else except the two girls right in front of them.

"Liza," said James soothingly, "All that stuff I said to Caroline about being sorry was completely fake. You know I only have eyes for you."

"Same goes for me, Abby," said Sirius in a husky voice, smiling seductively. Lily couldn't see why the two girls in front of her couldn't see that what Sirius and James were doing was an act, and they were just toying with their feelings. Lily wondered how stupid these girls had to be to not know that guys only played with you, and never really meant anything they said.

"I know, Jamesy." Answered Liza, and much to Lily's disgust, the two couples began kissing. Lily and Kaylee tutted and curled their lips at exactly the same time, while Remus turned away, wrinkling his nose. To Lily's surprise though, Carrie started sobbing softly, and her face started getting redder by the minute, looking like she wanted to slap her beloved "Rauder." Lily, not being able to take her friend's tears anymore, stood up, stomped, and said loudly, "Ahem."

Instantly, as if they were on fire, the two couples broke apart, and looked at the girl who had cleared her throat. 5 pairs of eyes widened at the sight of her. Liza and Abby's eyes slowly contorted from shock to a glare, and the two girls looked at Lily enviously. However, the guys' reactions were very different.

Remus's jaw dropped open wide and he started to look like a lovesick puppy, while Sirius nervously winked in Lily's direction, trying desperately to show off. The thing that alarmed Lily the most though, was James's reaction. The James that she had just described to Chris as a "friend," the James that she thought was a horrible, arrogant prat, the James that Carrie was madly in love with...

The very same James's features absolutely melted at the sight of Lily. His mouth opened, closed, and opened again without making a sound, while his eyes looked Lily up and down, over and over again. A fine line of drool output itself from James's mouth, and slid slowly onto Liza's shoe. James tried hurriedly to regain his composure, but his balance was instantly ruined by Liza raising up her foot, and crying, "Eww!" This resulted in James tripping right over Liza's foot, stumbling, then smashing right into Sirius, and doing a face plant right in front of Lily's feet.

James looked up quickly and went into a kneel, taking Lily's hand and kissing it. "M'lady, I have come to rescue you." He said softly, looking into Lily's eyes and speaking as if tripping over Liza, crashing into his best friend, and landing face flat was the equivalent to crossing a dangerous field of fire-breathing dragons.

Lily looked at James, who was making a move to kiss her hand, and then at her friend Carrie, who seemed like she wanted to disappear right on the spot and cry her heart out, and then at Liza, who was red and seething. Lily turned her gaze back at James, and then smiled.

"Thanks, but no." She said coolly, and stood up, refusing James's kiss. The boy looked absolutely confounded, and it was clear that he had never been turned down by a girl before. If anyone in the room had had the power to take a magic bus trip to James Potter's head, they would have found it blank and filled with shock. Nobody refused the James Potter. Everyone loved him, everyone wanted him, and everyone wanted to be like him. But here, right in front of him, the most gorgeous girl that he had ever seen in his life was giving him the cold shoulder.

"Uh--what--er--," James stuttered, not knowing how to retort. Lily, taking James's speechless state to her advantage, pushed the 15-year old boy out of the door along with his pack of friends, and slammed the door right in front of their faces, saying icily, "Bye!"

Then, she turned back to Carrie. Lily wouldn't have been surprised if the poor girl drowned in her own tears.

"Carrie, are you OK?" Lily asked softly, putting a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder, which was trembling incessantly.

"No--I c-can't believe...kissing another girl like that...and then, trying t-to kiss you...and t-the stupid, the horrible prat! I can't believe I actually liked him! I feel like such an idiot!" Carrie's sobs turned eventually into an all-out fit of rage, and Lily could truthfully say that she liked an angry friend better than a crying one.

"Just let it all out, Carrie, yell and swear about Potter all you want," said Lily, grinning. It felt good to hear Potter's stupid name next to a swear word every second.

After maybe 30 minutes of complaining, backbiting, and yelling about Potter, the three girls were officially tired, and both Kaylee and Carrie slid off to dream land. Lily watched her snoozing friends peacefully, and decided that it was time to write.

Lily loved to write. Poems, short stories, mystery, horror, romance -- anything. It was her favorite hobby in the entire world, and before Lily wanted to become an Auror, a profession as a writer had sounded very appealing to. Whenever she was trapped in her room at the Madam's house, bored out of her mind, Lily would pick up some paper and pencil, and write anything that came to mind. The piece that she was writing now was filled with all the emotions that she kept bottled up inside of her.

I am alone. Alone in a world of nothing. Nothing lived here, nothing moved here, nothing made a sound here. It isn't even a place worth describing, because there is nothing to describe. I didn't used to know what nothing looked like, but I do now. Fog. Sun. White. Black. Rabbit. Wolf. All at the same time. It's just...nothing. I can't describe it.

And then, suddenly, I was cold. Dead cold. The very blood in my veins froze, my heart stopped beating, and my lips turned purple. I couldn't breathe--I was losing life--fast. A tear rolled down my cheek, followed by another one. The tear didn't taste like salt, like it usually did. It tasted like death.

Lily was in the middle of her mysterious story, when a bodiless voice echoed through the hallways.

"Arriving soon at Hogwarts! Please change into your robes, fellow students!" Lily snapped the book shut, and threw her robes on, pushing all the feelings back in.

Lily gently shook her friends awake, whispering, "We're here," the same away a mother might do to a child. Carrie and Kaylee awoke softly, but did not have the same approach that a weak, helpless baby might have when awoken by their mother.

"Liiiiily!" Screeched Kaylee, "You are not to wake us up 3 seconds before the train stops! I don't have any time to change!" The golden-haired girl carelessly slipped into her robes and changed from her jeans to her skirt hurriedly.

"Seriously, Lil, you should care about your own friends more," Said Carrie, making a full recovery from the James-incident, now back to her old sadistic self.

"Well, jeez guys, sorry, but I thought you wanted to sleep..."

"We did. But...oh, bah! Let's just get out of this stupid train!" Kaylee shouted, and ran from the compartment, nearly tripping over the step leading to the outside world. Carrie and Lily rushed right after her, and the three friends suffered a huge collision. It seemed that Kaylee had stopped at the beautiful sight of forest and lake in front of her, and hadn't moved out of the way.

"Lee!" Cried Carrie in a thick, annoyed voice, "Don't stop, we have to hurry and get a good carriage!"

The three friends ran at full speed towards the carriages that would lead them up to Hogwarts Castle, all panting and breathing heavily. Lily pointed out her favorite carriage, saying, "Let's go sit in that one, with Pudding."

"Huh? Pudding?" Came the confused reply from Kaylee. Lily and Carrie both froze, lost at a response for their new friend. Pudding was the nickname for a thestral that pulled the "horseless" carriages. A thestral was a strange horse like creature that only people who had seen death with their own two eyes could see. Lily still remembered the first time she had seen a thestral.

It had been in her first year, when a giant, hairy man named Hagrid had been shooing her into a boat to ride the way to Hogwarts. Right behind the man, Lily saw a gallant, shadow-like horse. Lily, who loved animals, had tried to duck under Hagrid, and stroke the mysterious horse, but it flitted away before she could even reach it. All the way to Hogwarts, she had told Carrie all about this strange horse, and asked if she had seen it. She had not.

In fact, asking all the girls in her dorm didn't help either. "I told you Lily, the carriages here are horseless."

"There are no horses."

"Especially that look like shadows."

"Got it?" Her dorm mates would say coldly to her, leaving the strange red-haired girl to her own thoughts and troubles. However, the second time she saw a thestral, it had been with Carrie. It was right after Carrie's mom had killed herself, and so both Lily and Carrie had fallen in love with these so-called "thestrals." The two had named the smallest, loneliest looking thestral of the pack, Pudding, and vowed to ride only his carriage every time they went to Hogwarts.

"Um...guys? What the heck is a pudding carriage?" Kaylee asked again.

Carrie suddenly started laughing, and elbowed Lily in the stomach discreetly as a sign to follow suit. The two friends cracked up in hysterics, not knowing what else to do. "See, in our third year, we were so dumb, that we decided to give names to invisible horses."

"Haha, weren't we so stupid?" Asked Lily, keeping a fake grin on her face. She didn't want to tell Kaylee about the thestrals yet, or about how her family was all dead for the exception of her horrible grandmother and sister, or how Carrie's mother had committed suicide. Lily needed to trust Kaylee more to tell her these secrets that she usually kept hidden in her heart.

Kaylee looked at her two friends with doubt in her eyes, but that soon faded, and she laughed, too, to both Carrie and Lily's deep relief.

Kaylee got on the carriage pulled by the "invisible" thestral Pudding, still laughing about giving nicknames to nonexistent objects. Lily and Carrie grinned at her, then turned back to Pudding. The thestral was very important to the two girls, as they both believed strongly that Pudding represented hope. The first time that they had seen Pudding, he was thin, with blotchy, short wings and yellowing eyes--a runt that was so small he was about to die.

Now, he was magnificent. He had a coat of shiny black, shadow-like fur and bright white, sparkly eyes that glowed fiercely. His wings had grown longer over the years, and he had come to trust the two girls, who, in their free time, came out to feed, talk to, and pet Pudding. In just two years, he had outgrown the state of runt and become one of the most beautiful thestral in the pack.

Although Lily and Carrie did not have much hope in life at this time, and both believed that life sucked, watching Pudding gave them some faith. Carrie had started to forgive her mother for her suicidal act, and Lily had begun to tell Carrie bits and pieces of her home life, instead of hiding it all. However, the redhead still managed to keep everything inside, not recounting the facts and forgetting her past.

Lily and Carrie both climbed into the carriage, filled with some hope, when they learned that, unfortunately, it looked like they were sharing Pudding's carriage.

Instead of being blissfully empty, the cursed carriage was seating Caroline, Becky, and a girl called Maria Rivera. Caroline and Becky used to be the two biggest flirts in the entire grade, and dressed up all the time just so the guys would like them, but now it seemed that the tables had turned and Liza was sure on her way to wearing The Flirt Queen dress. Maria hung out with Caroline and Becky, but she was more of a softer, nicer type. She was very clever in Transfiguration, and also played Chaser for the team. She had layered brown hair and sparkly brown eyes, unlike her two friends who were both blond and blue-eyed. Lily did not have a problem with blonds, but had a huge problem with these two.

"Oh my god, what the heck are you three doing here?" Screeched Caroline in her annoying crow-like voice, batting her eyelashes the whole time. Lily rolled her eyes, thinking that these two girls seemed to have some kind of nervous system linkage between their mouths and their lashes, so that they couldn't speak without either giggling or blinking rapidly.

"We're...sitting here, Gemini." Answered Lily coldly, eyeing Caroline Gemini with a scowl. "Well, we were here first, so...like, move!" Suddenly, the carriage started rolling, and it was impossible for anyone to move. Lily sighed deeply--stuck in a carriage with the two biggest flirty blabbermouths in the entire school. Fun, fun, fun... "Fine. Let's just ignore those...weird girls." Said Mandy, facing her two friends.

"Good idea, Mandy." Said Caroline, and then sighed. "Ugh...I cannot believe what James did to me today! I mean, seriously, I'd had it all planned out, too!" "What do you mean?" Asked Maria, and Lily let a sigh of relief escape her because Maria at least, didn't talk in the horrible screechy voice that her friends used.

"Well, at the end of Seventh Year, at the Graduation Ball that we have every year, he was going to ask me to get married, during the last slow song of the evening...preferably something like 'I'll always love you...' you know, like a romantic song. And then, I was going to say yes, and everyone was going to cheer, and he was going to give me a diamond engagement ring with little flecked rubies...I'll show you a picture of it, I've already got it picked out. And then, one year later, we would get married, and we'd invite everyone. Yeah, and then we'd have two kids...Holly and Hal. Doesn't it sound absolutely perfect?"

Lily couldn't help but laugh at that. How Caroline had had her whole stupid future planned out like that really made her want to crack up. In fact, Kaylee, Carrie, and Lily all buried their heads in their hands to keep from laughing.

Soon, thankfully enough, the carriage slowed to a stop, and the three friends hopped out, all of them checking their ears to see if they were deaf yet.

As the girls got closer to the castle, Kaylee started shuffling her feet and looking genuinely nervous.

"What's wrong?" Asked Carrie and Lily at the same time, not even bothering to laugh because they always seemed to say, think, and do things at the exact same moment.

"I dunno...I'm just a little nervous about that Sorting ceremony thing. I heard that you had to first, fight dragons, then, model a swimsuit for the Hall, and then perform a talent? Problem is, I don't have a special talent. I mean, I can play Beater pretty well, but other than that..."

"No, you don't have to do any of that stuff," said Lily, laughing. "The ceremony's much simpler than that."

"Then what do I have to do?"

"You'll see..." Said Carrie, grinning evilly, and blowing Kaylee a fake kiss with a "Good luck on the sorting!" as she walked over to the rest of the first years.

"And she doesn't even know that all she has to do is try on a hat!" Cried Lily, laughing along with Carrie, watching their new friend shiver with fear and nerves, or maybe just the plain cold, as she watched other first years and a huge giant man named Hagrid.

"Well, let's go in the Great Hall." Said Carrie, and Lily followed suit, still laughing her rear end off.

When Lily and Carrie entered the Great Hall, both of them sighed in relief. It was so...cozy, so much like...home. The ceiling was enchanted as a storm, and lightning flashed in every corner of the room, making imaginary rumbles of noises. The tables were set up for all four houses to sit and join their friends, and the familiar sense of magic floated down the hall and whisked itself into Lily's nose, along with the smells of chicken and gravy. Lily's stomach grumbled, and for once, she was glad to be able to eat anything she wanted, except yogurt and "rabbit food."

Ah...I'm home, she thought happily, finding a seat next to Carrie and looking around the Hall for familiar faces. Lily caught one girl's eye, who was in Hufflepuff, by the name of Nicole Seery. Nicole wasn't a punk like Lily, Carrie, or Kaylee, but she was a very nice person with a great sense of humor. She was in the same year as both Lily and Carrie, but they didn't have many classes together, which was a shame. She had beautiful, layered blond hair and bluish-green eyes that always twinkled mischievously. Lily always wondered why the girl didn't get into Gryffindor, as she was always pranking people and telling jokes, sort of like the Marauders. The one difference between them was that Nicole was actually nice to Lily.

"Hey Nic!" Shouted Carrie over two tables to the blond, using another one of her obsessive nicknames.

"Carrie! Lils! Hey!" Screamed Nicole over the noise, scaring a couple second years by her, who scooted away, looking disturbed by Nicole's unnaturally loud voice.

"How was summer?" Asked Lily, quieter than her two friends, but still loudly, not really caring if she happened to make others feel uncomfortable.

"Same old, same old. Played some video games, brushed up on my pranks using my cousin as a guinea pig, went shopping, ate tons of ice cream...I think I gained about ten pounds."


All three girls laughed, and then turned towards the stage as a familiar voice echoed through the hall.

"Welcome back, Hogwarts students!" Boomed Dumbledore.