Monday September 1st, 1971
AN: This story will be a series of short stories, each one happening in a different year/different day of the week. When the story takes place will always be the chapter name.
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"Are you sure this is it, Lily? There's no such thing as Platform 9 3/4…." The man looked down at his youngest daughter. She nodded, without even looking up.
"I'm sure, Dad. I know this is about the right place…..Oh!" She spotted a porter. Maybe he would know where this Platform 9 3/4 was so that she could show her dad. Her dad followed her gaze to where the porter was standing, and made his way over to him.
"Excuse me, can you tell me where Platform 9 3/4 is?" Mr. Evans asked, and the porter stared at him.
"What is this, eh? I don't have time for jokes," The porter walked off, leaving the two Evans' more confused, if possible.
Lily looked around, until she spotted something that looked relatively familiar. A boy, about her age she guessed, was running down the platform and was pushing a large trunk and an owl on a trunk.
"Dad, look," She pointed in the direction of the boy, who had stopped in front of the barrier between platform's nine and ten with someone who Lily assumed to be his mother. The boy's cart rolled forward slightly, and much to Lily's disbelief, the front part disappeared.
They made their way over to the barrier, but kept a distance from the boy. Lily took a closer look at the boy: he had messy brown hair, and large glasses which looked too large for his face. His mother tried to smooth out the hair, but the boy just reached up and ran a hand through his hair again. The boy looked straight at Lily, making her feel a little awkward. He smiled slightly, and waved. His mother turned around. Noting her cart, she spoke to Lily;
"Hogwart's, dear?" Lily nodded sheepishly. "And you must be her father," she smiled at Lily's father.
"Daniel Evans," He shook the mother's hand.
"Claire Potter. Is this your first time hearing about Platform 9 3/4?" She questioned. Lily took a step back, leaving the two parents to talk. She sighed and sat on the edge of her trunk.
The boy took a step towards her.
"Hi."
"Hi."
"What's your name?" The boy asked. Lily looked at him, curious.
"Lily. Lily Evans. What's yours?"
"I'm James Potter." He attempted to puff out his chest, giving him an overall comical appearance. "Nice to meet you Lily-Lily Evans." He reached out, and tugged on one of her braids.
Lily yelped and scowled. "Is that how you great everybody?" She snapped.
James stood, thinking. "Yep."
Lily was about to retort when her father called to her.
"Lily. Lets go. You're going to be late,"
"You too James," James nodded, and grabbed hold of his trunk.
"See you, Lily-Lily Evans." He saluted, and gave her a sort of grin. Lily scowled at him.
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Lily looked tentatively down the train's corridor. The platform heading to the train was swamped. She had barley made it on to the train. The ground beneath her shook, and the scenery was starting to pass by. The train lurched forward.
"'Xcuse me. Are you a first year?" A voice asked from behind her. Lily turned quickly, and saw a girl, about her age, with long black hair and dark blue eyes. Lily bit her lip. What was she? "I'll take that as a yes. I'm Eva Mantegna,"
"Lily Evans,"
"You don't have a compartment, do you?" Lily shook her head. "Well, I was just exploring, but I've found one down the hall with another girl if you want to come sit with us," Lily nodded eagerly. Maybe they'd become friends soon, and she wouldn't feel so left out.
"Okay." She smiled, thankful that she had found one person.
She followed Eva down the hall to a brown door that looked exactly like all the other ones. How could this girl tell the difference between them all?
"This is Bella," She introduced the girl on the bench. Lily took in the girl's appearance. She had shoulder-length blonde hair and hazel eyes.
"Bella Nanson," Bella introduced herself. Lily felt awkward, standing there.
"Lily Eva—" The door slid open and three boys slammed it shut. The first two she didn't recognize, but then Lily realized that she recognized the first one immediately, much to her dismay. It was James.
"Lily-Lily Evans!….and friends!" He added, upon seeing the two girls aside from Lily in the cabin. "Can you hide us?" He asked pleadingly. The three of them looked dishevelled, and we are all out of breath.
"What did you do, pick a fight with a fourth year?" Eva asked. The three boys looked around guiltily.
"You didn't, did--! You did!" Bella exclaimed. "If that fourth year comes in here looking for you, we're handing you over." She huffed, crossing her arms.
"But---" The sandy haired boy started.
"He said he'd----" The boy standing beside James continued.
"tear us limb from bloody limb!" James finished. "Please don't hand us over,"
Lily bit her lip. She wanted to agree with Eva and Bella, and hand them over to the angry fourth year. But she wanted to help them as well.
"I think that we should-" She was cut off, once again, but this time by the rattling of the door. Somebody outside screamed "Alohamora" and the door clicked open.
"He's here! Hide us, please!" The six of them scrambled in the small compartment until they noticed the wooden door sliding open. James hid under the pile of sweaters and robes they had taken out of their trunks and sat beside Lily. Remus and Sirius crawled into Eva and Bella's trunks.
"Sit!" Eva yelled. The three girls sat in the empty seats, and grabbed whatever was next to them to make them look busy. Lily had accidentally grabbed a copy of Witch Weekley, but was holding it upside down.
A fourth year with two goons standing behind him entered. He had very light blonde hair, tied back in a rattail. "Where are they?" He barked.
"Who?" Bella feigned innocence, putting down the copy of "Quidditch through the Ages" she was reading.
"The three brats. I've checked every other compartment, and they've been nowhere."
"Maybe they jumped off the train." Lily suggested. The boy turned and faced her.
"Trying to be funny, mudblood?" He asked snidely. Eva narrowed her eyes, and Bella looked shocked that he had called her that. Lily didn't understand it. Beside her, where James was hiding, she could hear him start cursing out the boy.
"What gives you any rig—" Eva was about to start blasting the fourth year, but somebody from down the train interrupted.
"Oy, Malfoy! Come 'ere a second," The boy looked over his shoulder, and nodded. He slammed the compartment door again before leaving.
"You can come out now," Bella muttered. The two lids to the trunks popped open, causing them to almost fall off the small luggage rack. James ripped off the clothes covering his face.
"Who does that bloody idiot think he is?" The boy with dark hair, and blue eyes asked.
"He called her a mudblood!" James growled.
"James, don't go pick another fight." The sandy-haired boy advised. Getting on this "Malfoy's" bad side was something that he had a feeling they didn't want to do.
"Why the hell not, Remus? He deserves anything he gets?" This resulted in cheers from Bella, the third boy with black hair and Eva.
"What's a mudblood?" Lily asked tentatively. They all seemed so upset over that.
"It's….It's a word used for those who aren't of magical families, muggle witches or wizards." Remus supplied.
"And it's one of the bloody worst insults that he could use!" James threw down his wand in frustration.
Another knock on the door.
The door opened this time to reveal a slightly older witch, pushing the trolley cart.
"Anything from the trolley, luv's?" Lily shook her head, as did Remus and Bella. The boy, James and Eva looked at each other and dug through their pockets, pulling out a handful of coins.
"We'll take whatever this can buy us," The lady looked stunned, as Lily imagined that she didn't get that question at every room. But, by now, Lily had realised that Eva, Bella, and the three boys weren't exactly normal.
But neither was she, right?
Her step-sister had told her so. Every day for the whole summer. She looked around the carriage again. She wondered, how many of them were told they were abnormal? How many of them were told they were a freak?
Lily remembered, when she went to Diagon Alley, there was a boy about her age and a woman screaming at him. Screaming about how he should uphold the Black tradition, and how if he wasn't a Gryffindor, he shouldn't come back home. The boy looked undisturbed at the woman's comments.
"Black…" She murmerd at the thought of the memory. The third boy, the one with the dark hair, looked up.
"Yeah?" He furrowed his brow. He hadn't told anybody his last name. He didn't want to scare anybody off because his family was 'devoted', as they put it, to the dark arts.
"I'm sorry, I—It's you! I saw you at Diagon Alley!" She pointed at the boy. His eyes seemed to light up.
"Ah. Lovely to meet you then. Sirius Black. This is Remus Lupin, and Ja-" He gestured to the sandy-haired boy, and went to gesture to James.
"Lily-lily Evans and I have already met," He grinned.
"My name isn't Lily-Lily!"
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"Your elbow's in my face!"
"Your foot's in my eye!"
"Ow---Ow…..owww! What was that?" The train rolled to a sudden stop, causing the three girls who were trying to change into their Hogwart's robes, to topple over.
"My hair! My hair's----caught!" Eva cried. Lily stood up and gave a sharp tug on the sleeve. "Ow! Lily-Stop!" Eva tried putting her hand down, and a fair amount of hair ripped out. The rest of her hair, very frizzy currently, gave her a rather dishevelled looking appearance. Bella had her tie around her head, and one shoe on. Lily had her shirt buttoned crookedly, and robe half on. Her hair, which she had taken out of it's braids looked rather dishevelled. Eva took a look at them and sighed.
"We can't go out looking like this," She muttered. She fished in her robe pocket for a few minutes before finally pulling out her wand. "Apparia Clensia," She muttered, and their appearances cleaned up slightly.
Outside, they could hear the sounds of the other students climbing off the train. Some calling for their friends, and a loud voice boomed over them all:
"Firs' 'ears! Firs' 'ears th's way!" Lily slid open the compartment door. It was eerie. The hallway had been full of laughter not ten minutes ago, and now it was deserted.
"We're late! I heard about what they do to the late students from my brother! He said that they string them up from their toes and ---" Bella babbled on.
"Well, let's go then so we're not late." Lily provided. Bella nodded. The three girls ran around the room, picking up clothes and what not, until the room was spotless. They ran outside, and ran straight into their "travelling buddies" from before.
"Lily-lily! Lovely to see you, we were just looking for a fourth for our boat to cross the lake. What do you say?" Lily stiffened. She didn't like boats. Nobody had told her she needed to go on a boat.
"She would love to," Bella replied on behalf of Lily. Lily shook her head.
"Do….do we have to go on the boat?" She asked timidly. The four of them, all but Remus, stared back at her.
"Of course we do. You don't get seasick do you?" James inquired, trying not to laugh.
"N-n-no, no….of course not." Lily shook her head, her braids hitting her in the face.
"Good. Then you can go with them. There's only two separate spaces left aside from here; and their in separate boats." Bella stated, looking around at the remaining boats.
"Grand. Then it's settled, she'll meet you on the other side," The boy, Sirius, put a hand on Lily's lower back and gave her a small push towards the boat.
"See you Lily!" Eva waved. Bella followed behind her.
"Bu—Bu---But….." Lily stammered, thinking up some reason not to go in this boat. So what if she really did get sea sick? It wasn't that big a deal, right? Except…except in situations like this. Situations where Lily realized that ultimately, she would half to go on the boat.
"C'mon then Lily-Lily. The boats are leaving," Remus was already sitting in the boat, near the front. Sirius was walking towards the boat, slightly ahead of Lily. James was walking after Lily.
Lily nodded glumly. It appeared, much to her dismay, that everybody except for first years got to take carriages.
So, she swung one foot over the edge and climbed into the boat.
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The dozens of boats sailed flawlessly, all except for one boat. One boat, which held a brown haired boy who wore glasses, a boy who was grinning deviously, a sandy haired boy, and a redheaded girl who sat screaming for her life.
"Stop shaking the boat!" The first two boys, who shall now be identified as Potter and Black looked behind at her.
"All right there, Lily-Lily?" Potter asked. Black tried to hide the fact that he was laughing, but ended up failing miserably and gave a loud snort.
"James," The sandy haired boy warned, "stop shaking the boat." Until then, he hadn't minded what was going on much, but rubbing the fact that she got sea sick in her face was starting to really bug him. Plus, the fact that the poor girl was starting to look a little green.
They had almost arrived at the other side, and the entire way James and Sirius had been shaking the boat. Lily had been screaming at them to stop. And Remus hadn't actually been paying much attention. Not until, when he turned around, he found that Lily was changing colour.
The first few boats were docking on the shore, and their own boat was starting to approach. Lily was preparing herself to stand, gripping the side of the boat with one hand and covering her mouth with the other.
Sirius and James, much to the other two passengers dismay, hadn't stopped rocking the boat. The other students were either following their example by shaking their own boats, laughing and pointing at their boat, or sending Remus and Lily sympathetic glances. The first choice resulted in many capsized boats along the way. 10 minutes ago, Remus had heard a girl who had fallen in screaming that the Giant Squid had touched her leg.
Finally, their boat docked on shore, and Lily bolted off. The colour of her face was now closer to matching the colour of her eyes. Remus got off slowly, making his way around the laughing duo who were still sitting in the front.
He followed Lily, as did Eva and Bella, who had just gotten off their own boats. They found Lily around the corner, leaning over near a bush. The three rushed to her. Remus went to hold her hair back a bit for her, while Bella and Eva stood on either side of her.
"What happened?" Bella asked softly. Lily groaned, still feeling completely dizzy.
"The other two in our boat, they shook it the whole time," Remus supplied as an awnser. Eva gave a "hm", and Bella nodded.
Lily stood up slightly, and Remus let her hair loose. She looked up at him slightly.
"Thank you," She smiled.
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Somehow, the four of them had managed to catch up with the rest of the first years. Lily, who was given a drink of water and a piece of bread to settle her stomach by Hagrid, Bella and Eva merged in more with the crowd of girl's, while Remus went to find Sirius and James.
When he got there, Sirius and James were talking with a rather short blonde boy with watery blue eyes.
"Remus, mate, have you met Peter?" Sirius asked happily, appearing to have forgotten what happened not fifteen minutes ago.
"No, I don't think I did. Good to meet you." He acknowledged quickly. "James, can I talk to you?" Without waiting for a response, Remus grabbed James' sleave.
"Oy! What was that for—" James started, but what cut off by Remus.
"She was sick, James. You two made her sick," For a second, he thought he saw a flicker of regret go across James' face, but it was soon replaced by a smirk.
He shrugged nonchalantly and walked away.
Remus sighed.
The Professor, who he had heard called Professor McGonagal by one of the students, called for them to follow her. Obediantly, the group of students followed her into a large hall.
"This is the Great Hall," She announced. The followed her in a single-filed line up to the front of the hall.
There was a stool in the centre, with a worn-out looking hat placed on top. And the hat….started to sing? Lily couldn't believe her ears.
Oh you might not think I'm pretty
But don't judge on what you see
I'll eat myself
If you can find
A smarter hat then me
There's nothing hidden in your head
The sorting hat can't see
So try me on
And I will tell you
Where you ought to be
Professor McGonagal pulled out a large roll of parchment and the first years spread out in front of her. She called out the first name:
"Abagail Adams," was a small mousy looking brunette. After much dileberataion, she got sorted into Ravenclaw.
A few more names were called, until it reached one that she recognized. "Sirius Black," He sauntered up to the front, and grinned at the professor. He grabbed the hat, sat on the stool and plopped the hat on his head.
Ah. A Black. There's only one place for Black's, you know.
I'm not like them.
Ah. But you are, more then you will ever realize. There is also a side of you, however, that will not fit there. Your destiny is not in Slytherin but in….
"Gryffindor!" The hat roared. There was much cheering from the table coloured in red and gold. Sirius sauntered off and took a spot near the end of the table.
Three of four more names were called before she heard her own: "Lily Evans," she felt her legs moving towards the hat. She sat down on the rickety stool, and felt the hat being placed on her head.
Do well in most houses, you would.
It's talking!
Ah. A muggle-born, yes?
Uhm, y-yes….
So much knowledge, so cunning, so studious, and yet…..so brave. Clearly, there can be one house that in which you would do extraordinary things…..
"Gryffindor!" The hat roared, and Lily slipped off the stool. Looking at the four tables, she guessed the one with the people who were cheering was Gryffindor. Walking slowly over to the table, she slipped into the seat next to Sirius.
It went through more sorting, Lisa Fredricks, Adam Grey, Beth Johnsom, until it came to Remus Lupin.
He bit the inside of his mouth, and walked up to the front. He didn't want to be separated from some of the few people he was getting familiar with. He felt the hat slip onto his head.
Well. One with a secret, aren't you? A secret that has inflicted much suffering upon you. Brave you are, indeed.
I'm not brave.
But of course you are. Why do you deny it? There is only one place for those with bravery such as yourself, and that is—
"Gryffindor!" The hat roared again, and the third new Gryffindor took a seat at the table.
Eva joined them very soon as wellfollowed by Bella. The last one was Potter. He stood there, looking around the room in fascination.
"James Potter," He seemed to snap out of his reverie, and walked up to the front. He too, much as Sirius had done, took the initiative of placing the hat on himself.
Ah. So much conflict, there is. Two houses in which you would do extrodinary.
Not Slytherin.
No Slytherin, eh? Well then it must be---
"Gryffindor!" The hat, much to Lily's dismay, roared again. James came and sat directly across from her.
They watched as a boy named Severus Snape was sorted into Slytherin. He had shoulder length greasy hair and a large hooked nose. The hat didn't even touch his head before it made it's choice.
"It's because his hair's so greasy!" Sirius snorted, as the boy stalked off to the table behind him.
"Shush, they're still sorting," Eva kicked him under the table.
And so, as the sorting of the first years finished, a new year at Hogwart's bgan.
And with the arrival of those six new Gryffindors, Hogwart's was in for a shock.
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And….it's done. Took me a while, but I've finally finished. I hope you all enjoy.