Chapter five – Hogwarts at last
Soon the days passed by, they were mainly spent training her for what was to come. She spent her last day with Bill, she was thankful that she didn't cry, she knew that this partition would have to happen many times. They vowed to meet upas soon as possible, even if it meant him travelling all the way to Hogsmeade. Finally the day came when Lilly, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred and George were to leave on the Hogwarts Express. They hugged for the last time for a while on platform 9 ¾, then Lilly jumped on the train and soon it was speeding through the countryside. She sat in a compartment with the twins and a few of their friends, she felt perturbed and shy at the amount of people and shouting there was. There were the twins and 5 other boys all crammed into the compartment. She sat in between a mysterious, quiet dark haired boy and the window. She spent the first half an hour looking out of the window, but then a blond across from her spoke. She hadn't been listening to the boys discussion and she was startled to find the group had been talking about herself. "It sounds like you have a pretty interesting life Lilly," he said, oblivious to the truth. Her life was dangerous and hard and it always had been. "Yeah, you could say that," she smiled nervously "What's it like, living on the streets of Muggle London." "I wouldn't recommend it, but strangely I'll miss it. Well, I'll miss the friends I made at least. The streets are cold; people grow up with this image of being able to get by on the street. They think they'll make friends and find a squat straight away, but no, it was the loneliest I'd ever been, sleeping on street corners, begging for money...stealing. Thankfully I did make friends and find a squat, but not for a while, and I'm one of the lucky ones, most people don't make friends and die on the street after just a few months." "Cheery," said the blond, "You get used to it," she teased, sticking out her tongue They chatted for a long time, then the snack cart trundled along and they all bought some food, after they had finished eating they decided to change into their robes. Lilly slipped out and managed to find an empty cubicle where she changed. The new uniform felt strange on her, she returned to the compartment and laughed and joked with the boys for a while. It was dark and slightly stormy outside. After a while the train finally pulled into the station, Lilly had trouble lugging her trunk and Fonze's basket whilst dodging people about to become tangled in her wings. She finally made it to some carriages; she recoiled at the sight of what was drawing them, black skeletal horses with white eyes and big scaly wings. Their rough hollow faces creeped her out and she stopped, but Hermione appeared and pulled her to one of the carriages. Harry, Ron and a boy she didn't know sat inside, she climbed in and sat. "You can see them too?" said Harry "See what?" "The things pulling the carriage." He said bluntly "Oh, yeah. Can't everyone?" "Only people who've seen someone die." He said coldly "Oh," she said, her eyes stinging "Who did you see die?" asked Harry "None of your god-damned business!" she snapped a little harshly, there was a long and fraught silence, "I'm sorry..." "Oh, don't worry about it..." he said in an emotional monotone, narrowing his eyes at her. She detected the teeniest trace of bitter sarcasm Lilly drew her wings around her and swiped a tear from her face. Suddenly she began to feel very ill, a tight knot writhing in her gut. She tried not to whimper as the pain grew up through her body, her muscles ached and it felt like the skin and flesh on her back was squirming. She didn't notice what went on outside, her head throbbed to much to keep her eyes open. After a few minutes they stopped and she stumbled out into the mud, she only just managed to stay standing. She was shaking all over and it felt like the pain was freezing all the muscles in her chest and throat, she had trouble breathing and her vision began to blur then her eyes rolled back into her head as a jolt of pain sent a shock through her body. She threw back her head, her mouth open as if she was screaming but no sound came out. The next thing she new she awoke on her front, in a strange room, it looked a little like a hospital for the fact that there was a row of white beds, all but her own was empty. Her body still throbbed dully with the after affects of the pain. She turned over and sat up, then a plumb and kindly looking woman came in and bustled around her. "How are you feeling my dear?" "I'm fine, back to normal...how long have I been here?" "Oh. Only about 10 minutes, but I don't think your ready to leave just yet." "How long?" she asked "I just want to test your essentials, then you can leave." She said She waved her wand over Lilly while muttering an invocation. "Okay, stay right there," the lady bustled away and returned with a seaming hot mug of something. "Drink up," Lilly did so and was soon on her way to the great hall, accompanied by Professor McGonagall. She entered the hall timidly and was guided to the front by McGonagall, ahead was a long table along which sat the teachers of the school, in the middle was the head, Professor Dumbledore. "This year we have a student who is starting school late, who also is required to sit the sorting." Said he Lilly was sat down on a stool, there were four tables stretched out along the length of the hall in front of her. She tensed up slightly in preparation for what she didn't know. Then she felt a warm heaviness on her head and she noticed that McGonagall had placed a large wizards hat on her head. It had barely touched her when she heard it shout "Griffindor!" She almost fell off the seat and there was a huge torrent of clapping from the table on her near left. McGonagall pushed her towards it and she went and sat down. There was a free seat in between George and Harry, she sat down and looked at the large gold plate that lay in front of her. "Welcome to our house," said George "Thanks," she said "Let's eat!" said Dumbledore, Lilly gasped when the trays and platters and decanters filled with food and drink of every kind. The others all leant forward and began to fill their plates, Lilly followed suit, the food was divine and she was soon gorging herself. She didn't know why she was so hungry and the others were amazed at how she managed to eat so much so quickly without getting a single spot of food anywhere. She shrugged when Fred asked "Maybe it's because of your new wings?" he said "But that was a week ago..." she said "No, your new ones." Said Hermione from across the table "What...?" she said George put a hand up behind her neck; it wasn't touching her neck yet she felt it. She swallowed and put her hands up, she had small wings protruding from the base of her head, one below each ear. Each was about a foot and a half long, she attempted a flex and they moved a little, she tried again and they flapped properly, she almost got Harry in the ear, thankfully he didn't notice. She flexed them slowly and curled them round; they were a beautiful black with midnight purple hues. She flexed her main wings and felt a strange flutter; she twisted her head and saw that she now had two pairs of wings on her back. In between her main pair, which was still black with Jade hues, there was a smaller second pair that was black with beautiful azure and royal blue hues. Each was about 2 and a half feet long, her main pair were four foot each and the combinations of the three pairs looked really cool. "Hey, don't be looking so pleased with yourself," said George "Shush," said Lilly Soon the food disappeared from the plates and they poured out of the hall, as Lilly was climbing the stairs she noticed a boy with black hair so soft and strange it looked like the finest feathers, yet it was hair, it was arranged in a spiral and it hung down over his eyes, it covered his ears and had grown down to the base of his neck, she hadn't realised she'd stopped to look, until he looked up, his huge extremely blue eyes blinked at her. She quickly turned and continued up the stairs, she fell in step with Hermione. "Heya," she said "Hi," Hermione replied "So...how are you?" she asked "I'm good I guess, and you?" "I'm okay, finding it really weird here, but I'm okay..." "Cool, you know Lilly, when Harry seems mean or bitter to you, don't take it personally, he's had a really rough time." "Oh, okay, well at least it's not that he hates me." "Well...to tell you the truth he feels threatened by you, he doesn't trust you. I guess you just need to give him time to get to know you." Lilly sighed They finally reached a hallway; Hermione pushed her way to the front of the crowd and to a large painting of a plump lady in a lavender dress. "Toffee Apples," she said "That's right my dear," said the painting, and swung open to reveal a large hole, through which the crowd poured. They entered a large room with a fire and an assortment of chairs, sofas and poufs. Lilly followed Hermione up a spiral staircase and into a door marked 'Fifth year girls'. Her trunk was already at the foot of one of the beds by the window. She threw herself on to it, it was a gorgeous four-poster with green hangings and spread, it was covered in comfy cushions. "Oh, yeah, Lilly...because of your...err...wings, you might find it difficult to shower in the regular bathrooms, so McGonagall and Dumbledore have given me permission to give you the password to the prefect's bathroom. It's..." Hermione moved towards her and leant closer, "...Lime Zest." "Oh, thanks," smiled Lilly "No problem," she grinned back Then four other girls entered the room. "Lilly, these are Pavarti, Lavender, Keiley and Jane." "Hi," she grinned "Hi, said Lavender, "So...can you fly?!" she asked excitedly "Lavender!" said Hermione warningly "No, it's okay, I don't mind. To be honest...I don't know, I haven't had time to think about it. I might try them out tomorrow when I have some spare time." "Wow..." all four girls breathed in unison. They all changed into their pyjamas and climbed into bed. Lilly took a small while to take in her surroundings, each of the six beds was a different colour, she had green, Hermione had blue, Lavender had well...lavender...actually it was purple but shush. Pavarti had Gold, Jane had Red and Keiley had deep magenta. The room was large with a huge deep pile Chinese silk rug on wood floor. The ceiling was white with black rafters and the walls were stone. There were huge windows that looked out on to the lake and the forbidden forest. She snuggled into her cushions, Fonze sprawled on a cushion, and was soon fast asleep, which was surprising since she had so much to take in and think about.
Soon the days passed by, they were mainly spent training her for what was to come. She spent her last day with Bill, she was thankful that she didn't cry, she knew that this partition would have to happen many times. They vowed to meet upas soon as possible, even if it meant him travelling all the way to Hogsmeade. Finally the day came when Lilly, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred and George were to leave on the Hogwarts Express. They hugged for the last time for a while on platform 9 ¾, then Lilly jumped on the train and soon it was speeding through the countryside. She sat in a compartment with the twins and a few of their friends, she felt perturbed and shy at the amount of people and shouting there was. There were the twins and 5 other boys all crammed into the compartment. She sat in between a mysterious, quiet dark haired boy and the window. She spent the first half an hour looking out of the window, but then a blond across from her spoke. She hadn't been listening to the boys discussion and she was startled to find the group had been talking about herself. "It sounds like you have a pretty interesting life Lilly," he said, oblivious to the truth. Her life was dangerous and hard and it always had been. "Yeah, you could say that," she smiled nervously "What's it like, living on the streets of Muggle London." "I wouldn't recommend it, but strangely I'll miss it. Well, I'll miss the friends I made at least. The streets are cold; people grow up with this image of being able to get by on the street. They think they'll make friends and find a squat straight away, but no, it was the loneliest I'd ever been, sleeping on street corners, begging for money...stealing. Thankfully I did make friends and find a squat, but not for a while, and I'm one of the lucky ones, most people don't make friends and die on the street after just a few months." "Cheery," said the blond, "You get used to it," she teased, sticking out her tongue They chatted for a long time, then the snack cart trundled along and they all bought some food, after they had finished eating they decided to change into their robes. Lilly slipped out and managed to find an empty cubicle where she changed. The new uniform felt strange on her, she returned to the compartment and laughed and joked with the boys for a while. It was dark and slightly stormy outside. After a while the train finally pulled into the station, Lilly had trouble lugging her trunk and Fonze's basket whilst dodging people about to become tangled in her wings. She finally made it to some carriages; she recoiled at the sight of what was drawing them, black skeletal horses with white eyes and big scaly wings. Their rough hollow faces creeped her out and she stopped, but Hermione appeared and pulled her to one of the carriages. Harry, Ron and a boy she didn't know sat inside, she climbed in and sat. "You can see them too?" said Harry "See what?" "The things pulling the carriage." He said bluntly "Oh, yeah. Can't everyone?" "Only people who've seen someone die." He said coldly "Oh," she said, her eyes stinging "Who did you see die?" asked Harry "None of your god-damned business!" she snapped a little harshly, there was a long and fraught silence, "I'm sorry..." "Oh, don't worry about it..." he said in an emotional monotone, narrowing his eyes at her. She detected the teeniest trace of bitter sarcasm Lilly drew her wings around her and swiped a tear from her face. Suddenly she began to feel very ill, a tight knot writhing in her gut. She tried not to whimper as the pain grew up through her body, her muscles ached and it felt like the skin and flesh on her back was squirming. She didn't notice what went on outside, her head throbbed to much to keep her eyes open. After a few minutes they stopped and she stumbled out into the mud, she only just managed to stay standing. She was shaking all over and it felt like the pain was freezing all the muscles in her chest and throat, she had trouble breathing and her vision began to blur then her eyes rolled back into her head as a jolt of pain sent a shock through her body. She threw back her head, her mouth open as if she was screaming but no sound came out. The next thing she new she awoke on her front, in a strange room, it looked a little like a hospital for the fact that there was a row of white beds, all but her own was empty. Her body still throbbed dully with the after affects of the pain. She turned over and sat up, then a plumb and kindly looking woman came in and bustled around her. "How are you feeling my dear?" "I'm fine, back to normal...how long have I been here?" "Oh. Only about 10 minutes, but I don't think your ready to leave just yet." "How long?" she asked "I just want to test your essentials, then you can leave." She said She waved her wand over Lilly while muttering an invocation. "Okay, stay right there," the lady bustled away and returned with a seaming hot mug of something. "Drink up," Lilly did so and was soon on her way to the great hall, accompanied by Professor McGonagall. She entered the hall timidly and was guided to the front by McGonagall, ahead was a long table along which sat the teachers of the school, in the middle was the head, Professor Dumbledore. "This year we have a student who is starting school late, who also is required to sit the sorting." Said he Lilly was sat down on a stool, there were four tables stretched out along the length of the hall in front of her. She tensed up slightly in preparation for what she didn't know. Then she felt a warm heaviness on her head and she noticed that McGonagall had placed a large wizards hat on her head. It had barely touched her when she heard it shout "Griffindor!" She almost fell off the seat and there was a huge torrent of clapping from the table on her near left. McGonagall pushed her towards it and she went and sat down. There was a free seat in between George and Harry, she sat down and looked at the large gold plate that lay in front of her. "Welcome to our house," said George "Thanks," she said "Let's eat!" said Dumbledore, Lilly gasped when the trays and platters and decanters filled with food and drink of every kind. The others all leant forward and began to fill their plates, Lilly followed suit, the food was divine and she was soon gorging herself. She didn't know why she was so hungry and the others were amazed at how she managed to eat so much so quickly without getting a single spot of food anywhere. She shrugged when Fred asked "Maybe it's because of your new wings?" he said "But that was a week ago..." she said "No, your new ones." Said Hermione from across the table "What...?" she said George put a hand up behind her neck; it wasn't touching her neck yet she felt it. She swallowed and put her hands up, she had small wings protruding from the base of her head, one below each ear. Each was about a foot and a half long, she attempted a flex and they moved a little, she tried again and they flapped properly, she almost got Harry in the ear, thankfully he didn't notice. She flexed them slowly and curled them round; they were a beautiful black with midnight purple hues. She flexed her main wings and felt a strange flutter; she twisted her head and saw that she now had two pairs of wings on her back. In between her main pair, which was still black with Jade hues, there was a smaller second pair that was black with beautiful azure and royal blue hues. Each was about 2 and a half feet long, her main pair were four foot each and the combinations of the three pairs looked really cool. "Hey, don't be looking so pleased with yourself," said George "Shush," said Lilly Soon the food disappeared from the plates and they poured out of the hall, as Lilly was climbing the stairs she noticed a boy with black hair so soft and strange it looked like the finest feathers, yet it was hair, it was arranged in a spiral and it hung down over his eyes, it covered his ears and had grown down to the base of his neck, she hadn't realised she'd stopped to look, until he looked up, his huge extremely blue eyes blinked at her. She quickly turned and continued up the stairs, she fell in step with Hermione. "Heya," she said "Hi," Hermione replied "So...how are you?" she asked "I'm good I guess, and you?" "I'm okay, finding it really weird here, but I'm okay..." "Cool, you know Lilly, when Harry seems mean or bitter to you, don't take it personally, he's had a really rough time." "Oh, okay, well at least it's not that he hates me." "Well...to tell you the truth he feels threatened by you, he doesn't trust you. I guess you just need to give him time to get to know you." Lilly sighed They finally reached a hallway; Hermione pushed her way to the front of the crowd and to a large painting of a plump lady in a lavender dress. "Toffee Apples," she said "That's right my dear," said the painting, and swung open to reveal a large hole, through which the crowd poured. They entered a large room with a fire and an assortment of chairs, sofas and poufs. Lilly followed Hermione up a spiral staircase and into a door marked 'Fifth year girls'. Her trunk was already at the foot of one of the beds by the window. She threw herself on to it, it was a gorgeous four-poster with green hangings and spread, it was covered in comfy cushions. "Oh, yeah, Lilly...because of your...err...wings, you might find it difficult to shower in the regular bathrooms, so McGonagall and Dumbledore have given me permission to give you the password to the prefect's bathroom. It's..." Hermione moved towards her and leant closer, "...Lime Zest." "Oh, thanks," smiled Lilly "No problem," she grinned back Then four other girls entered the room. "Lilly, these are Pavarti, Lavender, Keiley and Jane." "Hi," she grinned "Hi, said Lavender, "So...can you fly?!" she asked excitedly "Lavender!" said Hermione warningly "No, it's okay, I don't mind. To be honest...I don't know, I haven't had time to think about it. I might try them out tomorrow when I have some spare time." "Wow..." all four girls breathed in unison. They all changed into their pyjamas and climbed into bed. Lilly took a small while to take in her surroundings, each of the six beds was a different colour, she had green, Hermione had blue, Lavender had well...lavender...actually it was purple but shush. Pavarti had Gold, Jane had Red and Keiley had deep magenta. The room was large with a huge deep pile Chinese silk rug on wood floor. The ceiling was white with black rafters and the walls were stone. There were huge windows that looked out on to the lake and the forbidden forest. She snuggled into her cushions, Fonze sprawled on a cushion, and was soon fast asleep, which was surprising since she had so much to take in and think about.