Chapter 3 1/2: In Which More Characters are Introduced

James looked forward. They were inches away from a solid wall, which was, most definitely, not Platform 9 3/4. The two boys prepared for pain caused by their out-of-control trollies, but...

...they went through the wall...

...and out onto the other side: Platform 9 3/4. Both Sirius and James were dumfounded at their stupidity but happy they weren't sprawled on the floor with broken limbs.

"Thank goodness for routine," Sirius said, "otherwise, we'd be hurting something awful right now."

James nodded, still catching his breath. "No kidding."

Meanwhile...

15 year old Lily Levin-Evans was running top speed to catch the Hogwarts Express, furious at her parents, sister and basically anyone she could think of, including the taxi driver that brought her to King's Cross 8 minutes late because of traffic. She had been told what to do to find the train, but she was still nervous at the thought of starting Hogwarts in her 5th year.

For the past 4 years, she had been living with her squib mother, muggle father and annoyance of a sister, while being taught by her witch grandmother, Grand-mère Levin, in the ways of witchcraft and wizardry. She was forbidden to go to Hogwarts because of the various threats made by Voldemort, but she had no choice now that her grandmother was dead, and there was no one else to continue her training but the ancient school. She was excited to start school, but rushing out of the house, having to go back for the books she forgot to pack and running to catch up to the train while tripping over the shoelaces she was too "busy" to tie wasn't her idea of starting the year out right.

Thankfully, the entrance to Platform 9 3/4 was just up ahead. She crossed to the other side and breathed a sigh of relief that the train hadn't started up yet. She dropped off her excess luggage, picked up her suitcase with her school clothes and her Manx cat, Félix, and she hurried to find a seat.

There was only one compartment that wasn't full, so there wasn't much of a choice for Lily. She shrugged and went inside.

There were only two girls about her age in the compartment. One was reading a book in the corner, hiding her face, while the other seemed to be bouncing up and down in her chair, waving at Lily.

"Hello," Lily started.

"Hi!" the girl cried, still bouncing up and down. The other girl in the corner sighed and put her book down.

"Forgive her," she smirked. "She's high off muggle root beer and chocolate frogs."

Lily laughed and extended her hand. "Hi, I'm Lily Evans."

The slightly saner girl reached across her bouncing friend and shook Lily's hand. "Alanna Turner, pleasure to meet you."

"Sara Dobbs," the other girl said, finally stopping her bouncing to shake Lily's hand.

The three were best friends by the end of the train ride.

To Be Continued...

A/N: Ok, it's the last day of summer vacation, and I should be finishing up my summer reading, but it's almost finished, anyhow. Since I haven't updated in a while, I figured I might as well. A few notes to my not-so-loyal-but-still-perfectly-loyal fans:

TheSanityStealingPenguinQueen: Since when does Montparnasse have a penguin? Ah well, this review is incredibly old, anyhow. I updated, didn't I?

dee: So true, so true... See ya at school! I wish you luck with Mr. Conty and all the other "wacky" teachers.

TheSanityStealingPenguinQueen (again): I've updated, alright?

maya AKA luna...i think: Yayers, thank you! Yes, I did R&R your Elizabeth fic. It was special. See ya!

BlueLilyFlower: Good times, good times. I ended up seeing Marion a couple days after and then I went to Caroline's house to go to the pool, and Kat was there, so I told her I got to see "Marius" beforehand. She went on babbling about Marius all day. O, woe is our phony love triangles... On the plus side, it was the best game of Truth or Dare yet!

And now some other notes about the story:

1. I never made a first draft of the Lily bit, so to my buddies that read the first draft, it's not in there.

2. Yes, I made Lily a Levite for no particular reason. Actually, no... I made Lily's mother a Levite for no particular reason. I have no clue what her father is.

3. Yes, I made Lily's mum's side of the family French, just for the heck of it.

4. Lily's cat is named after Félix Tholomyès from Les Miz. For anyone who doesn't know who he is, look him up.

5. Alanna Turner is based off my friend Arianna, because she is one of the few people I know that can be sane for a long period of time.

6. Sara Dobbs is based off the following people: A) My buddy Kat because of her lack of sanity and B) The character Dobbs from the book Catch-22, because he is very much insane as well.

I believe that's it. Until next time!

Sirius Orion Black aka A-H-A-P