A Flower: The Lily Evans Story Part one: Change Chapter three: The Hogwarts Express.

Chapter Summary: Lily goes off to her new life. She is well on her way to fitting in at her new school. She starts to feel behind her classmates and vows to study extra hard.

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After another unbearable period of waiting September first had arrived, much to the joy of Lily. She woke up at 7:30 to start packing her trunk. She put in everything she had bought during her shopping trip to Diagon Alley plus a few extra things she had bought the week after. She had used some money she had been saving to buy a few more stylish muggle outfits. More mature, smaller black frames had replaced her large glasses and her hair had been layered. When she had decided to change she had really meant it.

The smell of breakfast had started to float up to her room just as she was almost through packing. She was a little hungry so she decided that at least a small snack was in order and took the stairs two at a time. Her mother was standing over a frying pan full of bacon. Petunia was sitting at the table practically grinning. Any sign of happiness from her, especially in the morning was a miracle. Today she was showing emotion just short of joy. It probably had something to do with the fact that her "freaky" sister was leaving.

"It's the big day huh?" her mother cooed as she put the bacon on a plate and tossed some eggs on the pan. Petunia dropped her happy demeanor for a second to make a gagging face.

"Mhmm..." she said, grabbing a few pieces of toast and trying to sneak up the stairs.

"Hold it."

"Yes?" she tried to look innocent. She saw her mother's face. "-But..."

"No but's. Sit down and eat," she said placing a plate of eggs and bacon on the table. Lily sat down angrily and Petunia snickered at her. Lily flicked a piece of toast and hit Petunia in the forehead.

"Mom!" Petunia yelled.

"Girls..." she warned. They exchanged rude looks behind her back. Without turning around their mother said, "And stop with the faces." Both looked grumpy and started eating their breakfasts. As soon as Lily thought she had eaten an acceptable amount she cleaned her plate off and put it in the sink.

"Are you going to take me to the station?"

"Yes and your father is coming too."

"He took off work?" she asked with raised eyebrows.

"Yup. He wouldn't miss it!" Lily smiled at her mother.

"Can I come too?" Petunia said with a half genuine and half snotty smile.

"Why?!?" Lily shot suspiciously.

"I wouldn't want to miss my little sister's big day, now would I?" she replied in a nauseatingly sweet voice. Lily rolled her eyes and left the room. She couldn't stand anymore of her snide comments disguised as pride.

Her room now did not seem much emptier than before. She had left most of her old things in favor of new and more up to date things. Her trunk seemed to be quite empty though, especially for going away for the year. A glimmer in the corner of her eye drew her into bringing a small handheld mirror that had been her grandmother's. The last things she stuck in her trunk were a picture, a journal, and a few extra pairs of shoes. She locked it up and looked for something to occupy her time. Eventually she picked out "The Lion Tamer" from her large collection and started reading. It was one of her favorite stories, a romance novel. A man loved a woman who hated him. In the end "they lived happily ever after." This was what Lily wanted. Her happily ever after.

By the time she had read a few chapters and tossed it on her bed it was ten o'clock. She would have to hurry to make the train. Luckily she set out her clothes the day before. Soon she was wearing a white tank top under a sheer button up shirt with green flowers and blue jean flares. She pulled a brush through her hair and put on some silver stud earrings before grabbing her purse.

Some how she managed to pulled her trunk down the stairs and out to the car before 10:20. From outside she called "Come on! I'll be late!"and her family rushed out led by her mother. They scrambled into the car. Once they wereone their way Lily relaxed a bit and looked out the window. Petunia was positively beaming on her side of the car and their parents were asking hurried last minute questions.

"Did you bring extra clothes? Undergarments? Socks? Things to write us?"

"Yes mother," she cried exasperatedly. Then something came to mind. "Oh no! Vince!" She had left her owl.

"Oh Dear. Honey, there just isn't time."

"But how will I write you?" Lily was starting to think this undertaking was more complicated than she thought. "Wait, you can just send her to me. Just write a letter and tie it to her leg. She'll stay in the owlery Emily told me about when I bought her." Lily smiled again. It felt good to solve a problem. While she was busy celebrating to herself her father was busy finding more things that could go wrong.

"Do you have your ticket?"

Her heart stopped for a split second. The ticket. At the moment it was the most important thing to have. A sigh of relief escaped her tense lips as she realized they were in her purse. She doubled checked. "Yup. Just where I left them." Lily knew she really needed to take a deep breath and stop worry, but worrying was practically her specialty.

After what seemed like forever Lily was hurrying through the station pushed a cart with her trunk. There were so many people and they all seemed to want to stand in her way. During all of the rush she heard her father's voice calling up to her. "Which platform is it again?"

"Nine and ¾." She could fell her sister's silent laughter without looking. Of course it sounded insane to her as well, but she supposed that being a complete stranger and buying a wand were just as insane. Even her mother was thinking she was suffering from some kind of anxiety. "Here it is." She hugged her parents. "I'm going to miss you. I will write you as soon as Vince gets to my school."

They both covered up looks of confusion and hugged her back tightly. "You have everything?" She nodded. "Okay. We love you. Be careful." Then she turned to her sneering yet happily smiling sister.

"Good bye." Lily put her hand out to shake Petunia's. All she received was a disgusted look and a snort of disapproval. Lily smiled knowingly.

"So, how are going to get to school, freak? I don't see your platform."

"Easy," Lily said before turning to her parents. "Wish me luck," she smiled and winked at them. Then she turned back to Petunia with a fake grin. "Like this." She pushed her cart and her body through the barrier as if nothing could be more obvious and left her snobbish sister staring at the bricks.

On the other side of the wall Lily was staring at a huge scarlet steam engine labeled "The Hogwarts Express." People around her were hugging their parents and greeting old friends. Lily, feeling alone with out any hello's or goodbye's to say, made her way straight to the train.

As she was struggling to pull her trunk in behind her she heard a familiar voice. Wondering who in this world could know her she turned around. "I'll help you if you help me." It was Gabrielle. Lily gratefully accepted. They moved the trunk onto the train together and found one of the few empty compartments.

"So we met again," Lily joked.

"Small world syndrome." They laughed. "So, ready for school to start? Waiting for so long...well, I'm not to ready for the work...or the classes."

"Actually I haven't been waiting as long as you think. I'm...oh what is that word? Oh yeah, I'm muggle born." She looked at Gabrielle nervously. Lily wasn't sure if that made her worse than the other students.

"So what, your muggle born. Hardly anyone cares. It's just the Slytherins to watch out for. You might not want to spread it around, I hear they are absolutely horrid."

It scared Lily a little bit that it already put her on some people's bad side. She wondered what the teachers think about it. "I won't be behind in classes...will I?"

"I doubt it. Some of the people coming, not muggle borns, aren't any smarter than rocks. I saw one guy; I think his name was something Goyle. He was holding his toad in his pocket and asking his mother where it was. The poor thing doesn't have a chance."

"Who? Him or his pet?"

"Both." Gabrielle laughed. Her laugh was mature, glorious. She was definitely someone that Lily wanted to be around. Lindsey seemed like a nursery school kid in comparison. "Anyways," she continued. "I think the last head girl was muggle born." Lily nodded a little less nervous. She started to day dream what it would be like to be head girl. She was in the middle of thanking all of her fans when a knock came on the door. A sandy haired boy stuck his head in the door.

"Sorry to bother you ladies, but may I join you? Every where is full. It's like a pack of rabid wolves is out in the corridors and frankly, I prefer not to have rabies." He smiled at them charmingly.

Gabrielle smiled back at him while Lily just stared at him. "Plenty of room here, right Lily?" She nudged her hard in the ribs.

"Ouch. What was--" She caught on. "I mean, of course there is." She smiled trying to cover her blushing. She watched as he turned his back to pull his trunk in. He turned back around to sit and Lily quickly averted her eyes to Gabrielle.

"I'm Lupin. Remus J Lupin." Lily laughed in recognition of the movie.

"Muggle born too?"

"Not exactly." Her face fell a little. She was beginning to belive she was the only one. "My Aunt and cousins are muggles though. I go there in the summer and they almost always have a Bond movie playing."

Lily looked at Gabrielle who had a look of confusion never matched before. Her head was tilted and one eyebrow was raised, giving her face a crooked and wobbly look. "I think we should move on to a more universal subject before her head explodes or she goes permanently cross-eyed or something." Gabrielle gave her a look of fake hurt and they laughed together. "Oh, how rude of us..." Gabrielle gave her a look. "Of me...I'm Lily Evans and this is..."

"Gabrielle, Gabrielle Le Flays."

He took their hands, not dropping the bond persona and kissed them. "Please, I'm sure," he joked. "But seriously. I am glad I found this compartment. Everywhere else is taken by now." The girls laughed as he settled down across from them and smiled warmly.

"Hmm...so can either of you do magic?" Lily asked.

"Well, Lily," she said talking slowly. "We can all do magic. That's what witches and wizards do."

"Oh be quiet. But really...do you know any spells or anything?" She was hoping to see more.

"Okay okay, chill out. It's a joke you know." She stuck her tongue out at Lily. "Frankly, seeing the damage I did without a wand, my parents wouldn't let me have one until absolutely necessary. Once, when they wouldn't let me play out in the rain, I turned our house pink. At the time we lived in a muggle neighborhood. You can imagine their faces when they saw we had painted our house so quickly, and with such a bright shade." The three of them burst out in laughter even before the story was finished.

"Wait. I have you one better," Lily said while trying to stifle her laughter. "Once I caught my sister spying on me twice in one week. I had enough and I started screaming 'You nosey git!' over and over and she kept repeating all of my secrets. Then her nose started to grow. It got as big as a pear. She really was nosey." Lily started to laugh even harder now. "I just told my parents it wasn't my fault a bee stung her nose and made her delirious." The train ride was already shaping up to be one of the most interesting times of her life and school was looking better and better.

"So what about you Remus? Can you do any cool tricks?" Gabrielle questioned.

"I don't know," he looked as if he were thinking about something painful for a split second and Lily wanted to drop the subject, but the other girl did not notice and pressed on.

"Come on. I bet you know loads. You look like a smart one." She grinned at him.

"Well, I do know one thing I could show you." He pulled out a gold colored wand. "Retrodio!" he cried. Suddenly the compartment was filled with blaring swing music.

"What is this?" Lily yelled over the screaming trumpets.

"Music. Don't tell me muggles don't have music," Gabrielle replied. She jumped up and started to move in a wild way. They way she danced was fitting for her and soon Remus was up spinning her as well as he could in the small space. Lily looked taken aback at the two of them and some how Gabrielle thought it wasn't just the fact that they were dancing. "Come on! What's to lose?"

The look on Lily's face seemed to say it all. "How about my dignity?" she accused.

Remus grabbed her hand and pulled her hand and made her stand up. She tried to escape, but was blocked by Gabrielle. In silent agreement the two dancing grabbed her arms and forced her to move around a little. With a little more encouragement and a few more pleading looks Lily started to dance on her own. Just as she was really getting into the music and taking Remus' hands to dance someone knocked on the door.

Outside a woman pushing a cart was looking at them as if they were insane. Lily sat down as quickly as possible, forgetting to let go of Remus. She almost pulled him down with her, but some how managed to balance. Lily couldn't believe she was already in trouble. Things like this never happened to her. She hadn't been in trouble at school before. Ever. The other two looked worried as well, though not half as much as Lily. "Umm...Food anyone?" said the lady. Then they noticed her cart was full of candies and cakes. The tension broke and soon their stomachs hurt from laughter.

"Sure. I'll take some." Remus stepped just outside the door to get his food and Gabrielle leaned over to Lily.

"So what do you think?"

"Think about what?"

"You know...Lupin. Remus J. Lupin."

"Oh that. I mean him," she blushed. "He's nice."

"Nice? And cute, and smart, not to mention funny. I see the way you look at him Lily. I think some one has a crush!"

Remus came back in with an arm load of sweets. "Who has a crush?"

"No one!" she said, her blush reddening to the shade of her hair.

Gabrielle was looking positively devilish. "No one except L-" Lily dived on top of her and covered her mouth.

"Say another word and I will study every curse ever and try them all on you." She felt some thing wet graze her hand and she ripped it away from Gabrielle's mouth. "You did not just lick me!"

"Oh I did." Lily dived over and rubbed her wet hand in the other girls face. Just as Gabrielle was about to retaliate a pudgy boy ran into their compartment and slammed the door closed. He was clad only in her undergarments and frankly all three of them were a bit grossed and very bewildered, to say the least. The boy breathed hard for a second. As if he had just realized what he was wearing he started to bend and try to cover himself. Then he backed up into the door as if there was a ghost in the compartment. "You-you startled me."

"Startled you? What about us?" Gabrielle demanded.

"I'm sorry. It's just that the people in my compartment hexed my clothes away and pushed me into the corridor. I land in front of these girls...I just needed somewhere to hide..." he explained, twitching nervously.

"Maybe one of us could go get your clothes?" Remus offered.

"I don't know. It doesn't seem that these people would be so generous as to return his clothes."

"Good point," said Gabrielle with her voice half muffled. Her head was practically buried in her trunk. She pulled out a blanket and threw it to Peter, who was eyeing the food Remus had dumped on the seat."

"Are those Every Flavor Beans?" he asked excitedly.

Remus wondered about the sanity of a boy who could think of food while standing in a compartment of strangers in his skivvies. "Yeah," he said slowly. "You can have some if you like."

The boy positively attacked the package and began eating them with the blanket wrapped around himself like a toga. "I don't suppose you have something he can borrow. At least until he gets his things back," Lily questioned politely while trying not to show her disgust as bits of jelly bean flew across the compartment.

"Oh yes. Good plan." He dug in his trunk for a moment and pulled out a pair of pants and a t-shirt. "Come on and we can find a place for you to put these on." He pretty much had to drag the boy away from the snacks and out the door.

Once they were far enough away Gabrielle said, "Did you see that pattern? Bunnies?" They giggled, but Lily was starting to feel a little guilty. "Isn't the brightest bird in the flock, now is he?"

"Not particularly, but you do have to feel sorry for the boy."

"True. He is a little..."

"Disadvantaged?"

"I was thinking more of slow..."

They giggled more loudly. "We should stop..." she paused to giggle. "They'll be back soon."

"He did seem ready to cry already."

"Stop!" Lily said finally controlling her laughter. It was just in time to. Remus and the boy came back just as Gabrielle was burying her face in her arms to try and stop her laughter.

The boy sat down and took up eating the beans again after giving Gabrielle her blanket. She took it and used it to cover her laughter as well. "Don't mind her...I think she is a little stressed or something," she told the boy. "By the way, I'm Lily and these two are Remus and Gabrielle."

"I'm Peter," he said, sending more pieces of food. Some of the particles stuck to the opposite wall. The clothes Remus had let him borrow dwarfed him. The shirt went down to his knees and hid his arms. Remus was not very tall himself, but the pants were still a good six inches too long for Peter. Lily gazed at him apprehensively and tried not to finch at his eating habits.

Before the four of them knew it, it was time to stop joking, talking, and in some cases eating and get ready for their first glimpse of their new home. Remus and Peter left to try and find Peter's trunk and robes. The girls stayed back to put on their uniforms and check their appearances.

Suddenly a loud voice boomed through the train. "All right ye'. Time ter get off tha train! Let yer things be."

"Should we-" Lily started.

"Wait? I think so." The girls had gotten to be very close in the short train ride and Lily was happy she was already fitting in. Remus and Peter appeared at the door joking about some one who had just tripped and landed flat on their face. Together the new friends stepped off the train. Each of them was trying to cover their nerves as they followed a crowd of other students the booming voice had dubbed "first years."