Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for my own. They are owned by J.K Rowling, and this fan fiction is written solely for entertainment.

Chapter 3: Hogwarts

"Holy crap," I said to myself as I touched the cold stone on the walls. It was as good as real, and nor I or Kelsey could scarcely believe it. I felt something suddenly bump against my leg. Reaching into my robe pocket, my traced my fingers over a smooth, thin stick. Pulling it out, I couldn't help but smile. I twirled it around in my fingers feeling it against my skin. A wand. Kelsey's hand plunged into her pocket and pulled out her wand as well.
"Wow," she whispered in pure bewilderment.
"So.this is really it?" I asked out loud. "This is Hogwarts." Kelsey smiled. It all seemed like a dream that we didn't want to wake up from.
"Why are we here?" she pondered. I shook my head. I had no clue at all, but seriously I didn't care.
"Who cares?! This is Hogwarts! Judging from our ties, we're Gryffindors. We'll worry about why later. Meanwhile, let's see where all the students are." I exclaimed. Letting out a sigh of confidence, Kelsey smiled.
"Okay, let's go,"
Hurrying down a corridor, I hoped we wouldn't get lost. Turning around another corner, we both realized we were getting nowhere.
"We're lost!" Kelsey groaned in aggravation. I hushed her up quickly.
"No we're not. I hear voices," I raced down another corridor, Kelsey on my heel. Swishing around a corner, I found myself in a large entry hall. It was filled with students. We scanned the crowd for Gryffindors. We needed them to guide us to the common room. We didn't even know the password. Kelsey stayed close by, nervously grasping my arm.
"There!" I whispered nodding over to a girl with a gold and scarlet tie. Keeping her in the corner of our eye, we explored the crowd, tranced by the witches and wizards laughing and talking around us. They were our age, as normal as muggles but so much more! So talented and gifted. Suddenly, the crowd started to disappear. They were all headed down different hallways. Hurrying after the girl we had spotted, we were followed by who were probably Gryffindors.
We all made our way; along with the others to a large painting with a fat woman wearing a pink gown greeted us.
"Welcome back. Password?" she said in a low drawl of a voice. A boy who was at the head of the group answered.
"Truffle Buddle," The painting nodded and swung open revealing the doorway.
"Whoa." I heard Kelsey breathe out beside me. We both dipped our heads down and stepped into the Gryffindor common room.
It was a magnificent place, decked out in scarlet drapes and easy chairs lined with gold. Several desks were scattered about the room, with a HUGE fireplace on the main wall. My stomach flipped with excitement. This was too cool! The boy who had answered the fat lady told everyone where their dormitories were and that our things had already been taken up there.

"Things?" Kelsey whispered into my ear quietly. We were both 16, so we decided it was best for us to go with the 6th years. Clambering up the spiral staircase, all the 6th year girls went up to their dormitory. Coming in last, Kelsey and I looked around. There were two empty beds with trunks beside them; none of the girls were claiming them. Were those our beds?
"Caroline!" I heard a voice squeal across the room. I inhaled and looked toward who had ever called my name. A girl with brown hair and icy blue eyes smiled at me.
"It's SO good to see you! I was looking for you in the Great Hall, but I couldn't find you!" she exclaimed. I turned to Kelsey. She looked extremely confused, as was I, but I covered up my expression and smiled back.
"I was looking for you too! I couldn't find you either! Nice to see you.again!" I stammered. After a few trying conversations with the girls, Kelsey and I eventually learned their names.
The girl who had called my name was Alice.
And then there was Kate, Cecily, Serena, Dora, and Kathleen.
Later, Kelsey pulled me aside.
"How did they know who we were?" she asked. It seemed as though we've going to Hogwarts for years. We even had our own wands and trunks and books. I shook my head.
"I dunno. But let's go with the flow and enjoy ourselves, okay? Make sure you look like you know what to do and stuff." I answered. Kelsey nodded and stood up and sat on her bed as casually as possible. I did the same. We listened to the other's talk and tried to jump into the conversation as much as we could. Kelsey noticed an empty bed and politely interrupted.
"Where's..." she began. She didn't know who was missing, so she waited for the other's to figure it out.
"Lily's a prefect, so she's probably at the meeting right now. You knew that." Cecily told us.
My eyebrows rose. I glanced at Kelsey through the corner of my eye. Her brow was furrowed as if she didn't quite get what Cecily said.
"Lily?" we said in unison. The way we had said it must have sounded like we had never heard the name before, so I quickly added. "Of course! Duh!! She's great at everything! She deserves to be a prefect!" The girls laughed and smiled.
"I know really!" Dora exclaimed. "I bet she'll be Head girl next year. It'll be so great! LILY EVANS: HEAD GIRL!" I kept myself from gaping. I glanced at the magical calendar on the wall:
SEPTEMBER, FALL 1976

Kelsey looked at it too. I saw her jaw drop a bit and then we looked at each other with excitement. If Lily was here, then that meant.