A/N: wahey! We're doing great, AND it's all in the right order now! Thanx to people who reviewed! They were all so nice!!!

Disclaimer: JKR owns the characters and situations you recognise. Warner Bros also owns some of them and the bit from F.R.I.E.N.D.S that you recognise towards the end, I, unfortunately, don't!

Chapter 7

Lily had been counting down the days until September 1st. She was very excited, so were her parents. They had both received lectures, however, from Professor Dreamstone about how dangerous it would be if the secrets of the wizarding world leaked into muggle society. Lily had also been warned but she knew better than to tell all her friends, they'd probably laugh at her anyway. So she told them that she had got a scholarship into an expensive boarding school. It was partially true; Hogwarts was a boarding school.

Lily got nervous whenever she thought about sleeping there. The longest she had been away from her parents was a four-day adventure course earlier in the year. Not only was she terrified about being away from home but also she was scared of no one liking her and ending up with no friends. Her mum insisted that she would be fine because she was a lovely girl.

Another thing that was worrying Lily was that she wouldn't be able to find time to practice her flute or her ballet. There was nothing anyone could do about that so Rose Evans finally suggested that she took her flute and ballet shoes with her and maybe she could find a room to practice in somewhere. Lily said that she'd be too embarrassed to practice in front of her friends but at least she knew that they were there if she needed them.

Lily spent hours rearranging her stuff in her trunk and then taking them out and rearranging them again. Petunia looked on in absolute disgust. She still didn't see why she couldn't go to the school too and was very, very jealous. When her mum told her she couldn't go she sulked and decided that Lily was a freak.

"Lily don't go to this school. If you stay I'll let you in my group at school" Petunia proposed to Lily. Lily thought about it for a while before gently letting Petunia down. Petunia was shocked, she never thought anyone would turn down to be in the most popular group at school. She then decided to blackmail Lily and say that if she went to the school then she would tell everyone that she was a witch. Lily just told Petunia the consequences and also said that she would turn her into a frog.

Lily ignored her sister at her bedroom door as she put her spellbooks back into the trunk. She heard her tawny owl hoot and she looked across to him. "You know Petunia, he still needs a name" Lily said "Any suggestions?"

"How about………Simba?" Petunia said.

"Simba…Simba…Simba. Yeah I like it. Thanks Petunia." Petunia walked into her sister's bedroom, sat next to her and hugged her.

"You know, I'm gonna miss you Lils. I might not have been very nice to you in the past but whatever I may have said or done I didn't really mean any of it. I love you Lily. I'm gonna miss you so much!" A tear rolled down Lily's cheek. "I'm gonna miss you too. I'm so scared. Professor Dreamstone kept mentioning things like Quidditch that didn't mean a thing to me and the money is really strange and I'm terrified!"

Petunia decided that she'd do something special for her sister so she made their living room into a cinema. She closed the curtains, made some popcorn and put on their favourite film, Sleepless in Seatle. Together they watched the film and fell asleep on the sofa. Rose Evans poked her head round the door to tell them to go to bed when she saw them. They always made things up in the end, however much they argued. It was sweet really. Rose Evans sighed as she knew that tomorrow was the last time she would see her daughter for a while.

Meanwhile at Godric's Hollow, James and Sirius were playing gobstones at two o'clock in the morning. Sirius kept shouting "I ROCK" whenever James lost and got sprayed with liquid and was screaming like a girl.

"Please shut up" came Gemini's voice through the wall.

"NO!" shouted James and Sirius at the same time. It always freaked Gemini out that they could talk at the same time.

"We are starting school tomorrow you two, I would like to turn up ready to learn and without huge bags under my eyes, so try and get some sleep" Gemini said. James and Sirius decided that she was right and got into bed and went to sleep, they were getting tired anyway.

When Shirley Potter came into James' room in the morning to get the boys up she saw James on the bottom bunk sucking his thumb and hugging his duvet like a teddy bear and Sirius had one arm and one leg dangling over the side of the top bunk.

"James, Sirius, wake up!" she said, turning on the light. James opened his eyes groggily and got up. Sirius just mumbled "the squirrel stole my shoes" and rolled over.

"Sirius Black wake up!" Shirley Potter said, opening the curtains and turning off the light. She couldn't pull his duvet off though because he had kicked it off, that normally got people up. He just mumbled again, "Don't take money off the oak tree"

James' mum lit the end of her wand and shined it in Sirius' eyes. "NO!" he screamed, "NO! NO! NO! EVIL! MAKE IT GO AWAY!" and he fell off the bunk. "I'm okay" he said, standing up and brushing his clothes.

"We weren't worried anyway!" muttered James. They dressed in muggle clothes, so that they didn't look odd walking through muggle London. They went downstairs where Gemini was sat stirring her cornflakes round and round and round… She was very pale and Sirius was concerned about his twin.

"You ok Gem? You look a bit ill" Sirius asked out of concern for his sister.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just nervous I guess." She replied mushing up her already soggy cornflakes and stirring them round and around.

"There's nothing to be worried about Gemini love. I felt exactly the same before my first day at Hogwarts but I made friends straight away on the train. You'll be fine, trust me!" Shirley Potter said patting Gemini's shoulder supportively.

"How are we going to get there Mrs Potter?" Sirius asked.

"By Floo! The ONLY way to travel!" she replied and got down the Floo powder. James liked flooing, he had been doing it for as long as he could remember and it was fun, as long as you kept your elbows well tucked in and took your glasses off before going in.

When they arrived at Kings Cross Station he was in between Sirius and Gemini, Mr and Mrs Potter were in front. James felt scared. He was terrified that no one would like him, he still had Sirius but he was terrified that Sirius would make friends straight away and leave him out. Well if that happened he could always stick with Gemini, but she would probably make some girly friends. He didn't know what to do. Blood was pumping rapidly through his body and pounding around his ears.

Edward Potter stopped at a wall. A solid brick wall that divided platforms 9 and 10. "This," he began, "is Platform 9 ¾. It may look like a brick wall but it's actually a gateway to ANOTHER DIMENSION!"

"Don't be daft" laughed Shirley Potter "It's not as sinister as all that. If you walk into the wall then you end up on the platform. If you're scared it's probably best to do it fast and get it over and done with as soon as possible."

James let Sirius go first, just so he could see how it was done. James went next and Gemini watched him disappear.

"Excuse me?" a voice came from behind her. She turned around and saw a pretty red haired girl. "Hi, I'm Lily Evans. Is this Platform 9 ¾?" Gemini nodded. "How do you get onto it?"

"Well my friend's parents said that you run at the wall, crazy I know!" Gemini laughed, "I'm Gemini Black by the way." She said once they were safely on the platform. "What house do you want to be in?"

"I don't really know much about it. I'm from a non-magical background." Lily explained.

"Oh, I see, well I'll explain everything on the train" Gemini said as they went to find a compartment. They found a spare one straight away and claimed it for themselves.

"Let me explain the house system then, you understand the concept of houses don't you?" Gemini asked sitting opposite Lily.

"Yes, at my old school we had three houses, Shakespeare, Einstein and Pythagoras, English, Science and maths." Lily told her new friend.

"Well there's four houses at Hogwarts. Gryffindor, the house I want to be in it's for brave people. Slytherin for anyone evil. Ravenclaw for smart people and Hufflepuff for losers and people who don't belong anywhere else because they're not brave, evil or smart so losers!" she laughed.

"I bet I'm in Hufflepuff!" moaned Lily.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you won't be! I just hope I can get on the Quidditch team for at least one year!" Gemini said enthusiastically.

"Quidditch?" asked Lily, completely bewildered.

"Let me explain…"

"Go away Katie! Leave us in peace!" shouted Simon Felton at his younger sister.

"Aw Simon! Please let me stay! I've got nowhere else to go!" Katie pleaded.

"Go make some friends of your own! I don't want you pestering me all year!" he argued making shooing motions.

"I won't be able to anyway! I'm going to be in Gryffindor! Not stupid Ravenclaw!" she boasted.

"You're sure about that?" he asked mockingly. She nodded, "Ok, we don't mix with Gryffindors! Now leave!"

"FINE! I HATE YOU!" she screamed and left the compartment. Not knowing where to go next she decided to randomly walk down the corridor, mumbling to herself as she went 'he is so unfair.'

James and Sirius were walking up the other side, James nudged his best friend when he saw her.

"Sirius, he hissed, "that's the girl I met in Diagon Aleey. Katie Felton!"

"Good morrow to you good lady!" Sirius said bowing low and tipping an imaginary hat. James rolled his eyes and Katie snorted "HAH! Loser!"

"Excuse me?" Sirius asked indignantly, looking very offended.

"I said HAH! Loser!" said Katie, spelling it out slowly as if Sirius was a small child. "What are you thick as well as deaf?"

Sirius was offended. No one had ever talked to him like that before. "Don't speak to me like that" he said softly and dangerously.

"Whatever!" shrugged Katie. "So, James was it? Got any siblings here? I have! His name's Simon and he's in fifth year. He is SO irritating! He's in Ravenclaw but I don't want to be in there. I want to be in Gryffindor but I'm pretty sure I've already told you that before. I hope I like the people in my dorm. I'm having terrible visions that I don't get along with any of them and I'm awfully left out. Am I talking too much? I tend to do that when I get started on a subject. I know I should just close my mouth and…"

James interrupted. "WOAH! Slow down!" Katie blushed and apologised. James and Katie looked for a spare compartment happily talking and joking between themselves. Sirius sulked behind, looking in all of the compartments. He found one with his sister in.

"Hi Gem" he said, sitting next to his twin "and hello gorgeous!" he added noticing Lily.

"Who is he?" asked Lily pointedly. James and Katie had stopped and were standing at the door.

"Well he is my twin brother Sirius, the one with the glasses is James Potter, Siri's best friend and I have no idea who she is!" Gemini explained.

"I'm Katie Felton I really want to be in Gryffindor, which house do you want to be in? Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad I suppose, my family have been Ravenclaws for generations but I want to break the pattern. Hufflepuff wouldn't be too bad either but I would absolutely die if I was in Slytherin! Wouldn't you?" she took a deep breath as if about to continue but Gemini quickly said "Pleased to meet you, so Lily…."

"It's not nice to change the subject Gem!" said James sarcastically, feeling quite glad that Katie had shut up at last.

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say!" mocked Lily.

"What's it to you red head?" James said sharply to her. Lily scowled. "What does the colour red remind you of Siri?"

"Carrots! Blood! Tomatoes!" Siri shouted randomly. "Danger danger! HIGH VOLTAGE!"

James and Sirius laughed as they left the compartment followed by Katie who was sulking from being cut out of the conversation.

"THEY ARE SOOO IRRITATING!" screamed Lily.

"You'll get used to them, I did!" laughed Gemini. They settled into a nice conversation about how badly they would fail at lessons when a sandy haired boy came to the door.

"Hi! I'm Remus Lupin" he said shyly clutching a collection of comic books to his chest. "I've been told to tell you that we're nearly there so put on your robes." He turned to leave. Lily noticed a sticker on his enormous rucksack that read 'geology rocks' and some weird object was sticking out.

"What is THAT?" asked Lily pointing to it.

"What? Oh! That's my rock polisher! Want to see it?" asked Remus, excited that someone was talking to him at last.

"We're ok" Gemini said and as soon as he left they burst out laughing. Remus Lupin walked along sadly to the next compartment.

Lily talked with Gemini for a while longer but was mainly concentrating on the rolling Scottish hills and countryside. It was all the same for miles and miles around and she was beginning to wonder where on Earth they could hide a huge castle when all of a sudden it appeared from behind a mountain. The entire train was filled with 'OOOHS!' and 'AHHHS!'

When the train pulled up at Hogsmeade station all first years were told to find someone called Hagrid, who turned out to be this massive man. Lily thought that this would be a VERY strange year.

Pleez R&R!!!