From Friends to Enemies in the Blink of an Eye

A/N: Parte numero dos…have fun!

Summary: Lily and James have been best friends for three years and are very excited when they find out that they're going to the same school. Their friendship is tested when they arrive. James' long-hidden crush is revealed at school after a certain someone asks Lily out. James turns to pranks and Lily to schoolwork…. Follow them through friends, school, pranks, and, of course, love, as they make their way through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Disclaimer: Obviously, everything and everyone you recognize are owned by JKR and other big corporate people, not little Ms. Me.

The Beginning

They tumbled into the great hall, all of them giddy with excitement and nerves. Lily had James on one side and Sirius on the other, both telling her conflicting messages as to how the sorting works.

"Lily, listen to me," James began seriously. "It's based on your knowledge. Why do you think we're coming to this school? To learn witchcraft and wizardry! Isn't that what the letter said?" Lily nodded, listening intently.

"Now all they'll want you to do is perform a few charms, maybe transfigure yourself into a table or something, and they might ask you to fly a little, after conjuring some wings of course," he added with a grin. "But you shouldn't have to do that, that's only for the kids who really don't know what they're doing…they make complete fools of themselves," James finished hastily. Lily looked a bit sick.

"No, no, no, don't listen to him!" Sirius exclaimed, turning the girl to look at him. "He's just trying to scare you!" Lily breathed a sigh of relief.

"I bet he hasn't even read the guide, Hogwarts: a History. He's so irresponsible! Everyone knows you have to read that before setting foot in this school!" Sirius continued, apparently laughing at James' stupidity. "You've read it right?" he asked Lily in a serious tone. Her eyes widened and she shook her head slowly, unable to speak. "Oh…" he said uncertainly. "Well, it's a good thing you have me here to show you then isn't it?" he assured her brightly.

"Now, there are four houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Since Gryffindor are the brave ones, you'll probably have to fight off a raging hippogriff, nothing special. Ravenclaw is the smart one, that's where you'll do the transfiguring and charms. Then you go to Hufflepuff where they give you a test of your heart, kind of like that muggle thing, what's it called? Confession! That's it! Finally, you go to Slytherin and they test your sharpness with an impossible riddle. Whichever task you do the best on, that's the house you'll be in! Isn't that great?" he exclaimed. Lily had reached way beyond "a bit sick", she was now distinctly green.

As they walked into the hall the group of first years let out admiring gasps while looking up at the ceiling. Lily's eyes were darting around uncertainly, searching for traces of hippogriffs or something she could use as a set of wings. Professor McGonagall then said in her stern voice,

"The sorting shall now begin. Abbott, Linda," she called. A small girl walked up to the front where a worn hat was sitting. Lily stared at it and shook her head slightly to make sure she wasn't imagining things. Linda put the hat on her head and it soon called out,

"Hufflepuff!" Lily then turned to James and Sirius, who were howling at laughter at the expression on their friend's face. She was about to yell and then realized that if she did, she would most definitely be known only for her yelling in this school. She set her lips in a thin line and turned towards the front.

"Bellatrix Black!" called McGonagall. Sirius whipped around quickly, his laughter gone as quick as it had come. James too had stopped laughing. He whispered to Lily,

"That would be Sirius' cousin, a.k.a. the female reincarnation of the devil." Lily looked like she was about to reprimand him but he continued quickly, "All of Sirius' family members have been in Slytherin," he spat out the name with venom. "But he's not like them…pray for him Lily," he beseeched. Even though she was mad at the two boys she couldn't deny James with the look of utter desperation on his face. She closed her eyes and did so.

"Black, Sirius!" She heard, and then,

"Gryffindor!" James whooped loudly and enveloped Lily in a bone-crushing hug. She grinned widely. They saw Sirius sit down next to a fellow first year ("Berner, Leigh"), who happened to be a pretty girl, at the Gryffindor table and begin speaking to her. They all laughed at his antics.

"Chang, Kevin!" they heard. Lily then caught sight of a rather handsome Chinese boy walking up to the hat. She turned to look more closely at him.

"Hey! That's the boy I met on the train!" Sharmila exclaimed. "Isn't he gorgeous?" Lily and Alice both blushed furiously, giggling.

"Ravenclaw!" called the hat.

"I guess a little…" said Lily. James rolled his eyes,

"You girls are so…girly!" he exclaimed, which just made them giggle even more. His attention was drawn away when he heard,

"Diggory, Amos!"

"Oh I hate that boy!" he said furiously. "He is so egotistical and arrogant and stuck-up…"

"Hey! Sounds like someone I know rather well!" teased Lily, poking James in the side. As he glowered, she added, "He's kinda cute too!"

"This is going to be a long year," muttered James.

"Evans, Lily!"

"Here goes…" she thought. She couldn't help blushing as she walked up to the hat. Soon enough the crowd heard,

"Gryffindor!" and she skipped away to join Sirius and the pretty girl, who he now had wrapped around his little finger. A little while later, Remus broke off from the line of first years when he heard his name. His friends waited and cheered when they heard the hat call out,

"Gryffindor!" James and Sharmila turned back to their conversation and soon started sharing prank ideas, as they had long since gotten bored of the sorting—one could really only watch it for so long. Alice however was still watching out of both politeness and curiosity to see wizards and witches with whom she would be working for the next 7 years.

"Lovegood, Lucas!"

"He looks a bit nutty…" commented Alice to a girl beside her.

"Really! What a weirdo…" the girl agreed.

"Ravenclaw!"

"McKinnon, Marlene!" The girl turned to Alice and waved,

"That's me!"

"Gryffindor!" Alice cheered heartily.

"Meadowes, Dorcas!"

"Hufflepuff!"

"Patil, Nikhil!"

"Wow, look at him, 'Mila!" exclaimed Alice happily. Sharmila looked up and grinned,

"Hey! Indian and hot! Score!" she replied, laughing. James rolled his eyes.

"Ravenclaw!"

"And he's smart too!" Sharmila added. They all laughed.

"Pettigrew, Peter!" A small and chubby blond haired boy looked up, startled out of his thoughts. He rushed up to the stool as quickly as he could, which wasn't very quickly. It was too fast for him, though. He couldn't stop himself and knocked over the stool. Chaos erupted as the students who were watching laughed and those who had zoned out were trying to figure out what happened.

"Oh no, poor boy!" Alice mourned. "I would hate to be him!" McGonagall stalked over to him and calmly placed the hat on his head then picked up the boy and placed him on the stool. He looked like he was about to wet his pants from sheer embarrassment. James, on the other hand, looked like he was about to wet his pants from laughing so hard. He could hardly even stand. The commotion grew even louder, however, when that same nervous and scrawny looking boy was placed into:

"Gryffindor!" everyone and their neighbor started chattering excitedly, ready to see one of the teachers challenge the hat. However, the sorting went on as McGonagall called,

"Potter, James!" He walked up with confidence to the stool and winked at a few of the Hufflepuff first-years on his way up. They nearly fainted with pleasure. He had scarcely even sat down when the hat called,

"Gryffindor!" Everyone stopped talking about the "nervous-boy incident," as they heard the prestigious name "Potter" called and three of the four houses cheered for him as he sat down.

"Prewett, Alice!" She waved to Sharmila and, much to her delight, was placed into,

"Gryffindor!" Finally,

"Shah, Sharmila!" was called. She walked up happily, gave a bow and a kiss to her friends and was soon placed into,

"Gryffindor!"

"Can you believe it?" asked Lily. "We're all in the same house!"

"I didn't notice that!" replied James in a falsetto voice. She gave him a friendly shove and they watched "Skeeter, Rita!" "Snape, Severus!" and "Woo, Victoria!" be sorted into "Ravenclaw!" "Slytherin!" and "Hufflepuff!" respectively, while anxiously awaiting their food.

That night all the first years fell into bed blissfully exhausted by the events of the day with huge grins on each of their faces.

A/N: So what'd you think? I guess it was kinda boring 'cause nothing much happened, but I needed to introduce lots of characters! Now, I kinda want to skip all of first year until spring break b/c that's when all the fun starts. Would it be horrible to skip to then? I could always do one or two chappies on like the first day of classes and maybe a prank or something and then we could head to their crazy spring break fun…Tell me what you think!! (in your REVIEW of course hehehe)

Please do review! I'll try and get the next chapter up by Wednesday, but I don't know if it'll happen…I won't be able to do anything until I know what you think I should write though…(hint hint: REVIEW!) Thanks and 'til next time!

Oh right—look for the story under The Blink of an Eye…I'm going to change the name. Ta ta for now!