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Chapter 3: Hogwarts Express
Lily walked down the middle of the train very hesitantly, not quite believing this was happening. She's spent the week since Dumbledore appeared on her doorstep preparing for wizarding school. Harry and his friends had watched her stumble through Diagon Alley for the first time, pick out her wand at Ollivander's (or perhaps, more aptly, watched her wand choose her), and pour over Hogwarts, A History as well as her other textbooks, trying to adjust to the idea that she was on her way to becoming a real life witch. And just moments before she and her family had nervously walked into (and through!) a wall of King's Cross Station and said goodbye in front of a massive scarlet train. She gave quick hugs to her mom and dad, not wanting to look like too much of a baby in front of her future schoolmates, and nodded to Petunia who'd been forcibly brought along by Mr. and Mrs. Evans and who also refused to get too close to Lily as if being a witch was a contagious condition one could catch from hugging or sharing a smile. It was not as if Lily wanted to hug Petunia anyways, so all was for the best. And now here she was, struggling through the middle aisle with her trunks and bags and a crate containing a rambunctious little kitten, while students jostled her from all sides. No one else seemed to have nearly as much luggage as she had and she wondered how anyone could fit a years worth of clothes, shoes, and books into one trunk. The idea that most of the other students had parents who could magically expand their trunks to be nearly bottomless never occurred to her.
"Eh, hurry up would you? We haven't got all day," someone shouted from behind her. She glanced over her shoulder to see a pale blonde boy in dark green robes with a menacingly look on his face.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I've just got-" Lily mumbled, trying to move forward. She was not usually so shy, but then again she was somewhat out of her element.
"Do you think I really care? Now move out of my way before I hex you halfway around the globe." Lily's already big green eyes grew rounder with fright.
"I-I-" She tried to say, under the furious gaze of the boy's steely gray eyes. A hand clamped down on Lily's skinny little arm and a round face poked out of a compartment.
"Oy! In here!" The girl said, before pulling Lily, trunks and all, in and sliding the door shut quickly.
"Thanks," Lily said shyly. Where was all this shyness coming from? She was usually quite the fiery little redhead.
"No problemo," the girl said with a shrug as she pressed her forehead to the glass door, watching the intimidating boy go by. "Do you know who that was?" Lily shook her head. "That was Lucius Malfoy. He's a fourth year, in Slytherin. My older brother's told me about him. He's the awfulest evilest boy in the whole school."
"I think he's kind of cute," piped up the other girl in the compartment. The first girl, the one with the round face gave her a sharp look. "What? He is. And anyways, awfulest isn't even a word." Lily giggled; the girl had a point.
"I'm Lily." She said, realizing that she knew neither of their names and they didn't know hers.
"I'm Kate and that's Lucy," the first girl said. Lucy gave her a bright, pink smile. All in all, Lucy was quite pink actually. Her cheeks were rosy and her blonde ponytail was tied with a pink ribbon. Kate, on the other hand, had long brown braids and an olive complexion. Lily wondered if she was perhaps from Greece or Italy, though she spoke with a British accent. The girls helped Lily get her trunks and bags settled in the overhead compartment before taking their seats. It only took a minute or two for them to be chatting animatedly about anything and everything. Lucy and Kate were particularly interested in Lily being a Muggle-though they had to explain what one was first and Lily asked them as many questions about growing up with magic as she could think of. Right as the train began to lurch forward, their door was flung open. Lily looked up in surprise, hoping it wasn't that mean boy from earlier, but found, instead, two dark haired boys. She may have only been eleven, but she was not oblivious to the fact that they were absolutely adorable. She managed half a smile before Kate slammed the door shut with a resolute "Get out!" Both Lily and Lucy gave her an alarmed look. These boys were cute, what was wrong with her?
"Come on Kate let us in!" Shouted one of the boys as he banged on the glass.
"No, go away Sirius, we don't want you in here!" We don't? Lily thought to herself. A quick glance at Lucy showed Lily that she was thinking the same thing."What about me then?" The other one asked. He was not banging on the glass but desperately trying to smush flat his unruly head of hair. Harry, who'd been watching the whole time from the floor of the compartment where he and his friends had settled, laughed at this, wondering when exactly his father would take up the habit of intentionally mussing up his hair.
"No James, not you either. Now go away!" The boys, looking resigned, trooped away pulling their trunks.
"What'd they ever do to you?" Lucy asked curiously.
"Well, I suppose nothing…in particular. But I have had to deal with those two for the last 5 years of my life and it was no walk in the park, let me tell you," Kate explained. Lily got the impression that she very much liked to be the one explaining things to others. She was very good at being bossy, but Lily didn't mind, too much.
"How come?" Lucy asked.
"How come what?"
"How come you've spent the last 5 years with them?" Lily piped up.
"Grammar school," Kate said, crossing her arms and falling back into her seat.
"What's that?" Lucy asked, innocently.
"Where do you come from anyways?" Kate asked, looking skeptical.
"Ottery St. Catchpole," Lucy responded shyly. Lily had never heard of it before though.
"Oh well that explains it then. See grammar school is where all the fancy people in London send their children before we go to Hogwarts. Basically we just learn how to drink tea and recite poetry and waltz. Boring stuff like that, while our mums go shopping for diamonds and drink martinis" Kate said with a shrug. Lily got the feeling she had not been too fond of grammar school.
"And you got to spend all those years waltzing with Sirius and James?" Lucy asked, a little dreamily. Lily giggled at the look on Kate's face.
"Yeah they might look all charming now, what with Sirius' puppy dog eyes and James' mussed up hair, but just you wait. They're little devils I tell you. I just hope I don't end up in the same house as them." Lucy gave a sympathetic nod but Lily looked confused.
"House?" She asked. Kate, with interruptions by Lucy, explained the houses of Hogwarts. Both Kate and Lucy were hoping to be in Gryffindor, though Lucy's father's family had mostly been in Hufflepuff. Her mother had gone to Beauxbatons, another wizarding school in France.
"I bet I'll be in Ravenclaw," Lily said, after listening to the attributes of each house. Harry was surprised. Had his mother been in Ravenclaw? He'd never given it much thought. He'd always assumed she'd been in Gryffindor like his dad and himself. Not that there was anything wrong with Ravenclaw, but he'd always just thought… Well, he'd just have to wait till the sorting to find out, assuming Lily had deemed her sorting important enough to save in the Pensieve. As it was, there were often gaps in her memories, leaving out anything she had apparently deemed uninteresting or unimportant. Harry was relieved for this, considering he didn't want to watch 7 more years of History of Magic from his mother's point of view.
Suddenly there came a polite knock at the door. Harry and company were delighted to see a very young Remus Lupin standing there.
"Remus!" Lucy squealed as Kate slid open the door.
"Hey Lu, do you mind if I sit with you for awhile. The boy I was sitting with has fallen asleep and started snoring," Remus said, looking apologetically at Lucy.
"Oh of course, that's alright with you girls, isn't it?" Lucy asked. Lily and Kate nodded, seeing as how he seemed a lot nicer already than James and Sirius had been. The boy-Remus-took a seat next to Lucy. "This is my cousin, Remus Lupin. Remus, these are my new friends, Kate and Lily." Remus nodded hello to each of them, giving Lily a shy smile. She'd only been in his presence for 30 seconds but she was quite taken with him actually. Sirius and James had been strikingly good looking, but Remus was attractive in a quieter, irresistible way. And there was something quite tragic about his honey colored eyes that peaked Lily's curiosity. She had quite the dramatic flair and in her mind she started to develop a kind of plotline in which she was a damsel in distress and he was the strong, quiet scholar no one expected her to fall in love. She could feel herself blushing at the idea. Harry might have been blushing too if he'd known what exactly his mother was thinking about his dear Professor Lupin, but Pensieves didn't allow access to thoughts and he was still too dense to pick out the tell tale signs of infatuation in his mother's twinkling eyes and pink cheeks. Hermione and Ginny, however, shared looks that clearly said Ahh, perhaps this will get more interesting than we thought.
A/N: Hello everyone! Here's another chapter for you! I think this one starts making the story a little more interesting. I hope you all agree! Don't worry, this does, of course become a J/L story in accordance with canon, but I always thought Lily and Remus were more suited for each other (aside from the whole werewolf thing) so I'm going to play with that a bit. If you liked this chapter please review! Thanks!