CHAPTER THREE: PLATFORM NINE AND THREE QUARTERS
The doorbell rang. Lily ran to it and opened it. "Hey Riley."
"Hi Lils." Riley bounced up and down. "It's September 1st, idiot!"
Lily gasped. "Oh my god! I forgot! Thank goodness I have my trunk packed!"
Riley stared at her. "How can you forget?? This is like the most wonderful thing that's happened in my life!"
Lily shrugged. She knocked on her parents' door. "Mom! Wake up! It's Sept. 1st!"
Mrs. Evans came running out the door. "Yes, I know dear. Come on." Her father came out.
They got to the Rivers' mansion fairly quickly. They hurried to the two parked cars. "Hello, Cecilia, Marc," said
Sir Rivers cheerfully, "Get in! There's just enough seats for everybody."
Lily and Riley slid in the first car. James was sitting in the front and Sirius in the back. Sir Rivers was driving. Lily's parents got in the second car which consisted of only parents.
Riley wrinkled her nose. "What's that smell?" She turned to Sirius and James. "What did you do this time?"
James grinned. "Not telling."
"Sirius?"
"Not telling."
Riley rolled her eyes. "Why the hell do you have to be so stubborn?"
"Rafaela! No swearing!"
"Yes, Dad," sighed Riley, "And please don't call me Rafaela."
"Riley honey, these two set off dungbombs in the back yard," said Sir Rivers cheerfully.
"Uncle Miles!" complained James, "Why did you have to tell?"
"Because the smell in my lawn won't go away for another two days at least," said Mr. Rivers with finality.
The boys knew when they were defeated. Sirius turned to Riley. "If you could tell me anything in the world, what would you tell me?"
Riley stared at him. "What joke is this? Okay, well, first of all, I would tell you to shut up, and stop playing all these pranks on me, and plenty other insulting things."
"Riley! You know you like those pranks they play!" admonished Sir Rivers.
Riley glared at her dad. "Even the time when they turned my hair like, magenta?"
"Well," admitted her dad.
"And the time they-" Riley was cut off as the car jolted to a stop.
"We're here," announced Sir Rivers. "King's Cross."
They got trolleys and loaded their luggage. Then they went to find platform nine.
"There is no Platform nine and three quarters!" exclaimed Mrs. Evans.
Lady Rivers smiled mysteriously. "Riley, you and James go first and show Mrs. Evans and Lily how it's done."
Riley and James shrugged nonchalantly. "Sure." They took their trolleys and started walking towards the brick barrier. A group of people passed and when Lily could see the wall again, James and Riley were gone.
"You just walk through the barrier," explained Mrs. Potter.
Lily took a deep breath. "Uh Sirius? Can you go before me?"
"Sure." Sirius ran to the barrier and simply melted through. Lily followed suit. When she looked up, she gasped. The
Hogwarts Express was huge. It was beautiful too, gleaming steel. Lily caught up with James, Sirius, and Riley and they boarded the train.
"There's a compartment," said Riley lugging her trunk into the train. "C'mon Lily."
Lily followed and was just in time to see Riley poke her head into the compartment. "Hey, can we sit here? All the others are full."
There was a blond girl in there. "Sure. Are the boys gonna sit here too? I'm Mary Tess McLain."
Riley turned her head and shouted, "James, Sirius? Did y'all find a compartment?"
Sirius's face appeared. "No. Why?"
"Mary Tess here says we can sit here," replied Riley.
"Hey thanks!" exclaimed Sirius. "Jamesie! C'mere we got a compartment!"
James came over. "Sirius I found one. Thanks anyway, but we gotta go!" He dragged Sirius off.
Riley shook her head and stowed away her trunk. "Boys."
Mary Tess smiled. She was pretty, but no match for Riley.
Riley hastily introduced themselves. "I'm Rafaela Rivers, but please call me Riley. I can't stand the name Rafaela. This is my friend Lily Evans."
"Rivers as in Lady Anne Rivers and Sir Miles Rivers? The Aurors?" asked Mary Tess.
"Yeah," admitted Riley, looking a bit embarrassed.
"What are Aurors?" asked Lily.
"Are you muggle born?" askedMary Tess. Lily nodded. "What about you? And I never knew about you Riley."
"I'm pureblood," said Riley a bit uncomfortably, "But only Slytherins care about that stuff."
"I'm half," said Mary Tess, "My mum's a muggle, but my Dad's a wizard. Bit of a shock for Mum, but she's gotten over it."
Riley and Lily smiled. "Lily? Aurors are witches and wizards who catch Dark wizards/witches and put them in Azkaban or give them a trial," explained Riley.
"What's Azkaban?" asked Lily.
"It's the wizard prison," said Mary Tess.
They were silent for a moment, then Riley said, "What house do you want to be in Mary Tess? I personally want to be in Gryffindor."
Mary Tess nodded. "Me too. What about you, Lily?"
"Gryffindor, definitely," said Lily.
"Yeah, but Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad," considered Mary Tess.
Riley made a face. "Ravenclaw's okay, but I would like kill myself if I was in Slytherin."
"Riley!" Lily was shocked.
"Well," relented Riley, "I wouldn't seriously kill myself, but I would be miserable."
"You won't be in Slytherin," reassured Lily, "You're too nice and brave. And besides," she added, "Slytherin's got all the ugly gits."
Riley smiled.
They talked over for the next few hours. They discovered that Mary Tess was similar to Lily in some ways and Riley in the other. Mary Tess was surprised to find out that the two best friends were barely alike. Riley was more of a tomboy and loved to play pranks on people just like the boys. She was brilliantly smart but didn't like to study very much. Lily on the other hand, was a regular bookworm. She was more of a teacher's pet, and she didn't particularly like to pull pranks on innocent people. (A/N: I kinda based Riley on myself at least on the part that she crashes into everything cause I do, but I'm not really clumsy, and that she's a tomboy. Riley's my favorite character.) Mary Tess became one of their best friends.
Within twenty minutes of Hogwarts, they changed into their robes. Lily and Mary Tess ran a brush through their hair and Lily braided Mary Tess's golden hair into a French braid. They worked at Riley until she finally gave in and let Mary Tess brush her long jet-black hair.
They got off the train and they found James and Sirius with their new friends. "Where do we go now?" whispered Lily.
Right then came a shout of, "Firs' years, firs' years, follow me!" They followed the voice, which turned out to be Hagrid, the Hogwarts' gamekeeper.
They followed Hagrid to a lake. There were a lot of boats there. "Four to a boat," shouted Hagrid. Riley, Mary Tess, and Lily got in one. A boy got in after them, winking at his friends and gesturing to Riley. Riley scowled. The boy seemed so confident that he could win over Riley. Lily and Mary Tess giggled. "Looks like you have boys fawning over you since the first minute you get here, Riley."
The boats started moving. Riley scowled even more. "I didn't ask them to fawn over me." She glared at the boy. He was blonde and had a pale face. He smirked at Riley. "Name's Lucius Malfoy."
Riley stood up furiously at the name. "Malfoy? Did you just say your name was Malfoy?"
"Lucius Malfoy," said the boy lazily.
Sirius, who was in a boat with James and some other boys, started at the sound of the name. Lucius turned towards Sirius. "Ah, Sirius Black. How nice to meet you. I expect you are hoping to be in Slytherin?"
Sirius's face was thundery. "No, Malfoy. I hope to be in Gryffindor."
Malfoy frowned. He and Sirius stood up. Lily and Mary Tess observed this with concern. Apparently, there was something between the Malfoys and the Riverses that definitely wasn't friendship. Sirius and Riley were yelling at Malfoy and Malfoy was yelling at them both. Finally, Riley seemed tired of yelling (Hagrid hadn't noticed them yet) and decided to tip over the boat. She did. They all fell in. The water was icy cold.
Riley, Lily, and Mary Tess were all excellent swimmers and they grabbed the side of the turned-over boat. Malfoy was not so lucky. He waved his arms and slowly sank. Only Hagrid noticing in time saved him.
"Pity," muttered Riley.
Hagrid ordered the girls to get in Sirius's boat. They did so, laughing. They were soaking wet, but they didn't care.
Sirius and James were grinning. "Good job, Riley."
"Thanks guys." She scowled again, "I hate the Malfoys."
"So do we all," said James.
From the conversation, Lily gathered that the Malfoys were secretly on the Dark side, although they pretended not to be. Menedric Malfoy had killed Tara Rivers, who had also been an Auror. So there was an age-old enmity between the Malfoys and the Riverses. The Blacks and the Malfoys were associates, but Sirius hated any of his father's friends.
"Hogwarts!" cried Riley. The castle loomed above, lighted with thousands of candles.
"Yes!" shouted Sirius and James. The other two boys who had been introduced as Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew grinned.
They trooped into the Great Hall, Riley, Mary Tess, and Lily still drenched. A stern looking lady in charge of the Sorting frowned at them and waved her wand. They were suddenly dry.
The hat on the stool suddenly ripped open and began singing.
"There is a school called Hogwarts,
Founded by four,
Hear me and learn the lore,
Of these Hogwarts founders.
Rowena Ravenclaw,
The cleverest of all,
Into her house went
The smartest they call.
Godric Gryffindor,
The bravest of brave,
His sword of gleaming steel,
Only a true Gryffindor can feel.
Helga Hufflepuff,
The most loyal of four,
You must be hardworking and gentle,
To enter Hufflepuff's door.
Salazar Slytherin,
The schemer of the time,
The ambitious and cold
Will come to his hold.
Now where will you be,
Among these four,
In which house will you find the key,
To your heart?
Put me on and I'll tell you,
Where you need to go!"
The sorting began. "Anderson, Katherine!" called Professor McGonagall.
"Ravenclaw!"
"Apple, Jean!"
"Gryffindor!"
"Band, Ulysses!"
"Hufflepuff!"
"Black, Bellatrix!"
"Slytherin!"
"Black, Darcy!"
"Slytherin!"
"Black, Narcissa!"
"Slytherin!"
"Black, Sirius!"
Sirius sat down on the stool and let the hat slip over his eyes. "Hmm. Another Black? I know what to do with you. Slyt-!"
Stop! Thought Sirius. I don't want to be in Slytherin.
"Well, where do you want to be?" asked the hat.
Gryffindor.
"Well, you are brave. You are loyal. You are mischievious. Yes, you are fitting for Gryffindor. Gryffindor!"
The other members of the Black family stared disbelievingly. Sirius walked over to the Gryffindor table.
(Skips to Lily)
"Evans, Lily!"
Lily walked up nervously. The hat immediately called out, "Gryffindor!"
(Skips to Remus)
"Lupin, Remus!"
"Gryffindor!"
(Skips to Mary Tess)
"McLain, Mary Tess!"
"Gryffindor!"
(Skips to Peter)
"Pettigrew, Peter!"
"Gryffindor!"
"Potter, James!"
"Gryffindor!"
(Skips to Riley)
"Rivers, Rafaela!"
"Gryffindor!"
And the sorting ended with "Zambe, Ulysses!" becoming a Hufflepuff.
Dumbledore stood up. (He makes his usual speeches.) "And tuck in!"
Food appeared on the plates. The feast went on, and finally, everyone was bursting.
"Prefects," called Dumbledore, "Please lead the first years to the dorms, and each prefect will tell you the password!"
Anna Jordan and Harrison Ball were the Gryffindor prefects that led the first years. They stopped before a painting of a fat lady.
"The password is 'Inkblot Lion'," said Anna. The painting swung open, revealing the way into the Gryffindor common room