A/N: I'd like to thank aks100 and High Elf Queen! thank you! This is the second chapter, I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 2: Fall To Pieces

The month of July and the beginning of August went way to slow to James' liking. But it was finally the day he and Sirius were going to Diagon Alley. With just three days until term of the first year started. James and Sirius planned quite a bit of pranks for the remaining summer. They had the whole first year planned for pranks. But here was a doubt, somewhere about going to Hogwarts. Sirius.

See the problem was, Sirius' whole family was in Slytherin. There wasn't a witch or wizard that went into Slytherin, and was usually nasty. Where as James, his whole family was in Gryffindor. Sirius would do anything to get out of Slytherin. James had a feeling and knew that Sirius was nothing like his nasty family. James always listened to Sirius ramble on about his 'pureblooded crazy ancient self absorbed know-it-all' family. The Blacks were very disliked in the wizarding world. They associated with other dark families like, the Malfoy's, the Avery's, the Snapes, the Lestranges and others.

Sirius threatened that if he ever, ever got into Slytherin he wanted James to kill him and make it fast. James knew Sirius was kind and brave, a Gryffindor.

James' father took Sirius, James and Britney to Diagon Alley. After they all got their wands, robes, books, and supplies, James and Sirius HAD to visit Quality Quidditch Supplies, which they knew would bore Britney, which was more a reason to go. They loved to annoy her. After what seemed like a century to Britney, Mr. Potter had to have a discussion with the Head Goblin, (A/N: clever huh? Head Goblin. Some imagination I have) at Gringotts, and had to bring the kids with him.

"Now don't go to the vaults! I'm warning you, James, Sirius, don't! Stay on this level ONLY; I may take a half-hour to and hour. Don't do anything you'll regret!" Mr. Potter walked off to one of the offices near the two lines of desks where the goblins sat and did their accounting.

James and Sirius were already bored, and they could tell Britney was too. Britney herself didn't like rules as well. But she followed them more than Sirius and James would ever. James leant against a tall desk and Sirius sat down beside him and Britney beside him. They waited for an opportunity for something fun.

Lily's day

It was the morning three days till Lily went to Hogwarts. At some point during the summer, a witch by the name of Minerva McGonagall came and talked to Lily's parents about her being a witch and the well being of it all. This convinced Lily's parents, Lily and Petunia. But Petunia, who thought of it all as a joke, took the liberty of ignoring Lily completely. This made Lily devastated; she couldn't understand why her sister was acting like this. They used to be so close. Her parents told her not to worry about it, that she was just a bit shocked, but Lily still wasn't convinced.

So here she was three days before Hogwarts, the day she had been waiting for since July. Today her mother would take her to Diagon Alley. When Minerva McGonagall came she told Mr. Evans, Mrs. Evans and Lily where to find the Leaky Cauldron, and ask the innkeeper Tom, was his name, for help.

There was Lily, excitement, flooding through her as she was in front of the Leaky Cauldron.

"I don't see a Leaky Cauldron," said Lily's mother, she was looking around everywhere, when it was right in front of her.

"Mum, its right there!" said Lily pointing to the building in front of her. Why was her mother acting this way? Weird . . .

"Oh honey, I don't think that's it. It says it's 'Out of Business.'" said Lily's mother, squinting her eyes for a sign saying 'Leaky Cauldron.'

"No mom, it says right above the door there; 'Leaky Cauldron.' Maybe you can't see it because you're not a witch." Lily opened the door to the 'Leaky Cauldron', with her mother closely behind her. Inside were many people dressed in cloaks, in the summertime? 'Strange,' thought Lily. Some had strange hats; some had strange deformities, so looked quite pleasant, other crazy. The strangest clothes Lily had ever seen. Her mother looked around with an odd look on her face. They went to the front to the Bartender.

"Er, excuse me?" said Lily quietly. The bartender looked down at the lost little girl, and her mother, who was looking around strangely.

"Muggle are you?" asked the bartender. "Right this way," he said with a crooked smile. Lily and her mother followed the Bartender out the back door to the outside. But it was small surrounded by three brick walls. Tom went to the brick wall across from the doorway, taped a few bricks and they sprung to life and pushed out of the way, revealing a narrow magical looking street with witches and wizards of all ages, looking at, going in and out of shops.

Lily had the biggest smile on her face. "There you go if you need any help; I'm just in the Leaky Cauldron."

Lily immediately took her mothers hand and pulled her through the streets. Lily looked at her list, it said to go to Gringotts bank and trade the muggle money, ('muggle? How come people keep using that word?' asked Lily to herself) for wizarding money. Lily looked around and straight ahead was a tall white building that looked quite old, that 'Gringotts Wizarding Bank,' written in big letters above the two grand doors that were opened.

Lily and her mother entered the bank. But the strangest looking things were there. They weren't accountants, they were . . . goblins? Lily's attention moved to three children, who looked about her age looking extremely bored. One had dark brown hair that was short, that was very neat and fell elegantly into his eyes, which were chocolate brown. He was very, very handsome. The other was a girl, very pretty with long blond hair and brown eyes. And the other, something about this one made him the most interesting. He had messy jet black hair with glasses, and hazel eyes. He was just as handsome as the one with brown hair. She continued to stare.

James seeing Lily

James was playing with his shoes, Sirius was blowing the hair out of his eyes, and BRitney was playing with her nails. Then James looked up. He saw a girl at the entrance of the bank she had auburn hair to her shoulders, and he could even see her eyes, they were green. He was so far away from her; he could still see the color of her eyes.

"Wow," said James.

Sirius looked up and followed James' gaze, to the pretty redhead. "Whoa, who's the cutie?"

At this point Britney looked up. She followed both of the boys gaze and she smiled. Sirius looked down at Britney, and then he smiled. "Let's get her attention," said Sirius. James knew he had an idea but couldn't take his eyes off her. He never felt this way before. It was scaring him. But what got him out of his trance was Britney complaining.

"Sirius put me down!" Sirius had put Britney over his shoulders and was taking her to the vaults. James took one last look at the redhead and ran after Sirius. "Stop!" This certainly did catch Lily's attention. As her mother was talking to one of the goblins, Lily watched the two boys and the girl go down a ramp to a dark corridor.

Then a man who looked really important with untidy black hair and glasses, he looked like he was in his early thirties. He looked just like the boy who just left.

He was getting escorted out by a very disgruntled looking goblin.

"So it's agreed then?" asked the man.

The goblin nodded.

"Great, so will you just sign right – "there was a young girl scream. The man's head jerked up and Lily heard him whisper, "Britney." He looked in the direction of the vaults. Then the two boys ran down the dark corridor and up the ramp and in between the two rows of desks. Everyone was looking at the two boys. They stopped right in front of the man dead in there tracks.

"Boys . . ." he looked furious. The boys looked scared out of their minds.

Just then the girl came up the ramp screaming as hundreds of rats came running up behind her. Lily gripped her mom's hand tightly. Mrs. Evans looked scared herself, she held onto her daughter tightly.

Then the man got out a stick, 'that must me a wand or something,' thought Lily.

"Imobulus!" he yelled. Every rat in the bank flew into the air frozen. He said another quick spell and they all went flying down the ramp through the dark corridor. Everyone went quickly back to what they were doing before as if nothing happened. The man grabbed the two boys by the arm and led them to the girl who was looking fearfully at how close she was to the goblin. "Say sorry," he growled, dangerously quite to the two boys.

"Sorry," they said so soft that you could barely hear them. "Now go wait outside, and I'll be there in a few minutes." He barked at them. The three children hurried outside, and as they passed Lily, the girl smiled at her. They sat on the steps. And the boy with untidy black hair turned his head and stared at Lily and she blushed. James couldn't understand why he was falling to pieces.

"Okay Lily, I got the money, I think," said her mother looking strangely at the money. "Strange looking money . . . a galleon?"

The rest of the day was amazing! Everything was so magical and real. Lily thought she was in a fairytale. The whole day she had a huge smile on her face. But she couldn't stop thinking about that boy with very untidy black hair.

September 1st

"Michael! James! Hurry it's almost ten!" yelled Mrs. Potter up the stairs to her two sons. James sat up so fast in his bed and ran to his bathroom. He quickly got ready went downstairs. As soon as he got down his brother came down at the exact same time. The Potter sons both stuffed breakfast down their throats, and were out the door before anyone knew it.

James and Michael arrived at Kings Cross Station at 10: 45, lots of time left. James, Michael, Mr. Potter and Mrs. Potter all went to platforms nine and ten. As usual they got ready to walk through the barrier. James had done this countless times before, seeing his brother off for school. But now, going through the platforms really meant something to James. He felt more important. He knew he wouldn't be coming back through the barrier today. He would stay on the other side. On the other side: the magical world of Hogwarts. The place James had been dreaming about going to since he could talk. James and Britney used to play 'the Hogwarts game,' where they imagined what Hogwarts was like, and the classes they'd do. But now it was for real.

James was now doing a running speed to the wall that separated platforms nine through ten. When James stopped he found himself in front of the gleaming red Hogwarts Express, with a sign above so people could see: Platform 9 and 3/4. This was it. James looked around and saw his mother and father arrive through the barrier. James turned to them, gave them a quick hug and said goodbye. "Not so fast," Mrs. Potter grabbed James' arm and pulled him back to her. 'Oh great,' James thought. 'My mother will get all emotional.' "James Hogwarts isn't a game, work hard, and don't let the older kids scare you. Be brave, don't forget to wear clean underwear and don't – "

"Mom!" Just as he thought, his mother had done it again. But now that James thought back, he remembered when his brother first went to Hogwarts and his mother did the same thing. While James laughed, his brother said, "You wait Jamsie!"

"Bye mom," James kissed his mother on the cheek, and hugged her, and shook his father's hand. His father pulled him aside so his mother couldn't hear.

"James take this and use it well, not for fooling around, wait till you get to school. Your mother wouldn't want me giving you this." He looked down at the package. "Take care son. And, James," his father scolded. "Don't, I repeat, do not get into trouble!"

James just turned and smiled to his dad, and ran off to find Sirius. But Sirius was hard to find, soon as James left his trunk with one of the baggage boys, James ran and tripped. Sirius was standing right over him. "Need help mate?" asked Sirius with a huge grin on his face. "Just ran from my dear parents, they'll probably get mad, they just started rambling on about how great Slytherin was and that it was the better house. So I left. Let's go find a compartment." He held out his hand and James to it and they walked on the train.

James and Sirius had no luck finding an empty compartment. They found one, except it occupied a young boy, about their age, except he had few grey hairs, had bags under his eyes, scratch marks on his face, and looked a bit peaky. He was sleeping. Sirius nodded his head toward the boy, and sat down beside him, and James took the other side.

Then Sirius clapped his hands very loudly, and the boy woke up with a start, looking around like he was expecting the sky to fall. "Sirius Black, nice to meet you! This is my best mate James Potter. And who are you?" said Sirius shaking the poor boys hand very fast and hard.

"Er, sorry, Re-Remus Lup-p-in," the boy stuttered, he looked very nervous, and was looking at them like they would explode. Sirius noticed this.

"Have you ever met people before mate?" asked Sirius with a curious tone.

"Er, yeah of course, it's just, er, never mind," he took his hand out of Sirius' and placed it in his lap and looked at his hands. Sirius looked strangely at the boy and looked at James who was curious at this boy's attitude. Then Sirius saw Britney walk past the compartment. Sirius had that look, the look that told James all. James grinned.

"Do you want to have some fun?" asked James to Remus.

"Well, er, I was hoping to a catch up on some – "

"Great!" exclaimed Sirius, he ran out the compartment door after Britney.

Lily

Lily woke up early that morning, because she was so excited. She got dressed, brushed her teeth and hair, ate breakfast and was done before 8 o'clock. She waited patiently till 10: 15 when her parents took her to Kings Cross station. She hopped out of the car and was followed with her dad pushing the trolley, her mom holding to her hand and a very annoyed Petunia. When it came to the barrier, Lily looked at her parents and said good bye, but when it came to her sister Petunia stomped off. Lily was to excite to worry about her sister. She got ready to run through the barrier and ran through, (she did exactly what Minerva McGonagall told her to do).

It was amazing, people were (again) dressed funny, mothers and fathers saying goodbye to their young, and the gleaming scarlet train that had 'Hogwarts Express' written on it. Lily smiled. She got on the train and before she knew it, she was off. But there was a problem she never thought of. Friends. She had friends at her old school, and what if the kids who grew up with magic knew more. Lily started to panic. She wanted her mom at the moment and didn't know what to do.

Lily started walking slowly down the corridor, hoping, and looking for an empty compartment. But it was no use, she was alone. She was in a place she didn't know where, or what this place was (until very briefly when Minerva McGonagall came).

She walked to the very end of the train she stopped, she started hearing muffled screams, and a boy pleading, "James, - Sirius – we should – stop – this isn't right – stop." Lily opened the compartment door, where she heard the noises.

On one side of the compartment sat a girl tied up in ropes with an old sock in her mouth. She was moving a lot and when she talked it was muffled but she looked mad. The boy who was pleading looked very scared, apprehensive and annoyed, he was on the edge of his seat on the other side of the compartment pleading for, who must be, James and Sirius to stop. Two boys stood above the girl, one with tidy hair and good looking and the other with untidy black hair, very untidy black hair (also good looking, but not as good looking as the other). Lily suddenly felt strange, that was the two boys and the girl who were at Gringotts a few days ago. The boy with tidy black hair (Sirius or James?) had his wand out at the girl, and was playing with her hair. While the other with untidy black hair reading a book and was saying incarnations that turner the girls hair color from the beautiful blond to brown.

"Brown? That's not very fun," pouted the tidy haired boy.

"No, it isn't," sighed the untidy haired boy. "I don't get this I want it blue!"

"James! – Sirius! Stop! This isn't fun." said the boy with sandy blond hair and tired grey eyes.

"Are you kidding, we love playing with Girly and she likes it too. Don't you Girly." cooed Sirius.

Girly, if that was her name? Moved fast and glared at Sirius and James. 'Still don't know which is which,' thought Lily.

Then the boy with untidy black hair turned and just noticed Lily, he smiled. He ruffled up his already messy hair. 'Why did I just do that?' thought James to himself. Sirius looked strangely at James then noticed Lily. He two grinned. Girly? If that was her name, saw Lily and started talking muffled, due to the old sock in her mouth.

"Er, is she supposed to be tied up?" asked Lily apprehensively. Girly (?), shook her head violently and talked muffled again. Lily looked from the two boys. They ignored the girl.

"Sirius Black at your service," bowed Sirius dramatically. The boy with untidy black hair pushed away Sirius.

"James, James Potter," and he also bowed. The boy looked strangely at them.

"Remus Lupin," he nodded at Lily and went back to his book. "Are you going to help her? They won't listen to me, maybe you?"

"Er, well, could you let her go?" Lily asked nervously to James. He sighed and he and Sirius untied the girl. Immediately she tackled Sirius.

"You're so annoying!" She hit Sirius on the head and smacked James on the forehead before leaving where she glared at them dangerously. She stalked out the door just before grabbing her knapsack. Lily followed her. The girl noticed Lily followed her and turned around and smiled.

"I'm sorry, I just got, er, preoccupied. Britney Turner." She shook Lily's hand. "Thank you back there, that boy tried to help me but it was no use. You must be pretty special if they listened to you. It's almost impossible. They listen to me, but when I don't stand my ground, they tackle me." She sighed.

"Lily Evans. I thought your name was Girly." Britney looked strangely at Lily then burst out laughing.

"Oh no, no, no, they call me that, because I'm girly." She rolled her eyes. "But I am a girl. They just don't understand they're too, er, thick . . . yeah thick." She smiled. "So do you have a compartment somewhere?" She asked Lily hopefully Lily shook her head. She sighed. "Okay we are on the search for nice people."

"Are you in first year?" Lily asked Britney.

"Yeah, but I'm still 10, my birthday's in December. You're eleven, right?" Lily nodded.

Britney smiled. They went down for a while, till they spotted three girls about their age in one. "Hello, do you mind if we share a compartment with you?" asked Britney with a very cute smile. They all nodded. She plopped down beside an Asian girl. "Britney Turner and this is Lily Evans."

The girl's eyes widened. "Turner? Your parents are Jennifer and Brad Turner, correct?"

Britney nodded.

"Whoa," the girl's said. Britney rolled her eyes, but she made it unnoticeable. Lily noticed.

A girl with dirt blond hair and a round cute face introduced herself. "I'm Alice Peterson, this," she pointed to the Asian girl. "Is Daisy Yuen, and her," she pointed to a girl with raven hair and looked Spanish. "Tess Horta."

"Nice to meet you," said Britney happily.

"What house do you want two want to be in?" asked Tess. "We all want to be in Gryffindor."

"Same," said Britney.

"Lily?" asked Daisy.

"What do you mean?" asked Lily

"Oh, are you a muggle born?" asked Britney turning to Lily.

"Muggle?" asked Lily quietly.

Britney giggled. "Okay I guess you have some questions. First off, Muggle is a term used for none magical folk, like your parents. You were born into a muggle family but you're a witch. Do you understand?" Lily nodded.

Britney continued. "Second off, houses, there are four houses at Hogwarts. It's where you stay for seven years. There's Gryffindor: the brave usually go there, Hufflepuff: the loyal, Ravenclaw: the wise and Slytherin: the evil nasty people."

"Evil and nasty? Is that really, fair to say."

"No," said Tess. "But it's true. Most wizards go 'bad' if they're in Slytherin."

For a while they all asked questions about each other, they're family's and interests. Lily was having a great time. Lily finally asked a question that she had been, wanting to know.

"Britney, how do you know James and Sirius." asked Lily.

"I've known James all my life, and Sirius, since I was eight. Why?"

"Just wondering," Lily said. She had wanted to know more about James, but was a bit nervous; she didn't want Britney to get the wrong idea. James

Like the girls, James and Sirius were getting to know Remus. They found his birthday, his father was a muggle and his mother was a witch. James and Sirius liked Remus, he was interesting. They made a mental note to hang out with Remus. They also played games during the train ride. They had a lot of fun, and before they knew it the train stopped and they were at Hogwarts at last . . . or were they?

A/N: R/R!