Lily's Morning

To be honest, the beginning of Lily's sixth year at Hogwarts didn't seem quite as exciting as she had expected it to be all summer. It was the year before her last, and she had at least been expecting something more than this. The night before, she thought perhaps her mother would cry, and as she wiped her eyes, comment on how her little girl was growing up. She expected Petunia to be there scowling at the door as she dragged her Hogwarts trunk out to the car. She figured her father would make a big deal out of letting her drive the car to the station. Things like that. You know, things that make the start of your second to last year at school very special.

But no such luck. She had woken later than usual and scrambled around trying to get dressed and make sure she hadn't forgotten anything. And by the time she got downstairs, her parents and sister had finished breakfast, and Petunia had gone out to visit her latest boyfriend Robert (one of the dreadful Vernon's gang). Not that she particularly cared whether or not her sister saw her off, but she liked to get one last insult in before they drove away to Kings' Cross. After all, Lily would only get that opportunity two more times.

Her father was in a rush, so he had driven to the station, ensuring that they wouldn't get into any accidents on the road. This made Lily rather pouty as she did consider herself a fairly good driver.

When they arrived at the station, her father hoisted the trunk out of the back and dumped it on a nearby cart, kissing Lily on the forehead hastily as he climbed back into the car.

"See you in the summer, love. Be good!" he shouted as the car sped away and off down the street. Lily sighed heavily and proceeded to Platform 9 and 3/4s feeling thoroughly disgruntled about her less than perfect morning.

Doracas' Morning

"DOR-A-CASS!" her mother's scream permeated the fairly thin walls of the house and had the desired effect on her daughter. Doracas sat up slowly and shook her head to clear away that sleepy feeling. She heard the thunder of footsteps running down the hall towards her door.

"Mum says you better get up now or the house elves won't have any more food left for you." Relia's small frame stood in the doorway, her hands on her hips. Doracas sighed as she placed her feet delicately on the cold stone floor. Her younger sister took a step into the room.

"Don't even think about stepping any further. Keep your filthy, bogey hands out of my room and off of my stuff, you brat." Doracas said, raising her voice slightly as she sauntered over to the closet.

Relia stuck her tongue out at her but retreated from the room, knowing better than to cross her older sister's path. Besides, she could always come back to the room once Doracas left for Hogwarts.

A few minutes later, Doracas glided down the stairs, her Hogwarts trunk floating effortlessly behind her. Her long blonde hair was partly pulled back away from her face and her black pants and navy sweater set off her slightly pale skin nicely. She noticed her parents standing near the fireplace.

She looked up with a resounding sniff. "Mother, I am not flooing to King's Cross. I am wearing black."

Her mother grabbed her by the arm. "So, become too high and mighty to be using magical ways of transportation, have we? Those filthy mudbloods been filling your head with all matters of nasty ideas? Rather travel by car would you?"

Now anyone else would have cowered at the tone and intensity of her mother's voice, however Doracas was not anyone else. She merely withdrew her arm from her mother's grasp and said haughtily, "Yes, I would much prefer a car, seeing as it wouldn't soil my clothing." Nevertheless, there was no alternative method of getting there, so she reluctantly grabbed a handful of floo powder and was whisked away to King's Cross.

Marlene's Morning

Marlene sat in the kitchen tapping her foot impatiently against the tile floor as she watched her father reading the Daily Prophet at the kitchen counter. Her four brothers were all eating greedily around her and her mother wasn't even awake yet.

She glanced at the clock. "C'mon Dad! We have to go!" Her only magical brother, Matthew looked up at her.

"Teeny, we have plenty of time. Don't disturb Dad while he's reading the paper. You know he hates that."

Marlene huffed loudly and picked at a bit of blueberry scone before heading into the living room to check her trunk.

At 10 o'clock, her eldest brother Mark (a muggle), was behind the wheel of his car honking the horn with Marlene in the front with him and her father and Matthew piling into the back. They arrived at King's Cross at 10:30 (to Marlene's delight) and piled out of the car again. They smiled and waved as they drove away, then the two parted ways, Marlene to find her Gryffindor friends and Matthew to find the Hufflepuffs.

Peter's Morning

"Peter dear, your breakfast is getting cold."

Peter was standing at the bathroom mirror eyeing the razor cautiously. A few times, he thought about putting it to his jaw, but the thought of slicing his throat open was too much and so it remained motionless in his hand, a few good inches away from his face.

Solemnly, he trudged out of the bathroom, sure to face some sort of humiliation for not yet having the opportunity to shave. He dressed and slowly made his way downstairs, still downtrodden about not being able to perform this certain rite of passage.

However, his eyes lit up at the sight of waffles and sausage on the kitchen table where his mother and father sat, drinking their coffee quietly.

Peter was thankful that there had always been three square meals a day in that house.

After breakfast, his father took the Tube to central London for work, and he and his mother flooed off to King's Cross.

Sirius' Morning

"Kreacher was sent to bring Master some breakfast."

Sirius opened his eyes, his vision still foggy from sleep, and yawned widely. He batted the elf about the ears.

"Get out of my room, Kreacher. I don't dare eat anything you set in front of me anyway."

As Sirius sat up on the bed, the house elf, muttering things under his breath about ungrateful traitors, took the breakfast tray and left. Sirius walked over to his dresser and unceremoniously started throwing the contents of the drawers all over the floor looking for something to wear.

"Mum says you're to sit either with Malfoy or Meadowes on the train today." Regulus said as he passed Sirius' door on the way to the bathroom.

"Eat me," Sirius said through another yawn.

Downstairs, Sirius poked disdainfully at the breakfast in front of him (seeing as the breakfast in bed had been abandoned), before excusing himself to go floo himself to King's Cross. His parents looked up at him.

"Sirius, you haven't even touched your food. What's the matter? You're not going off to have breakfast with mudbloods are you? Why that would put me off food," his mother asked, sounding shocked and disgusted at the very thought.

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Yes, mother, I'm off right now to share a lollipop with a muggle." His mother stiffened, but stood up and walked over to him.

She smoothed the wrinkles out of his shirt and brushed the long black hair from his eyes. For as much as she despised the way he had chosen to live his life thus far, she thought it might be worth try to appeal to him with flattery and reason or dare she say it, love. "You are a Black, my darling. And I want nothing more than the best for you. After all, if you don't have your bloodline, what have you got?" She walked him over to the fireplace, her hands still firmly planted on his shoulders as she continued to speak.

"Now I know that the temptation to sit with the mudbloods and half breeds is great, but do try and find some nice purebloods to sit with. And remember, this is Lucious' last year, he would love to have you sit with him and your cousins. And Doracas? You know her. She's in your own house. Now she's a beautiful young thing. Whatever happened to the two of you? You used to be the best of friends. You might try making friends with her again, it would be an awfully beneficial match for the both of you."

Sirius looked disgusted, "Aren't we related?" he asked as he stepped into the fire.

"Not directly by blood!" his mother called after him as he was flooed off to the station.

Remus' Morning

"Mum, did you want tea?" Remus, already dressed and ready, yelled up the stairs.

Seeing as his father was away on business often, it was up to Remus to become man of the house at such occasions. It would seem to be a lot of responsibility for one who was also carrying the burden of lycanthropy, but Remus saw it as a sort of comforting distraction. His mother, being the absent minded little muggle that she was, was always in need of a little looking after, especially when his father was away.

Remus was a neat boy. The table was covered with pieces of toast and two bowls of hot cereal plus two cups for tea and yet the kitchen remained a spotless bright white. Remus was reading the Daily Prophet when his mother sleepily found her way to the table.

"What would I do without you?" she asked, affectionately kissing the top of her son's head. She ruffled his hair before sitting down and tucking in. Remus smiled and glanced at his watch. He was anxious to drive his mother's new car, already knowing she'd say yes if he asked her.

When breakfast was done, Remus took his neatly stacked trunk and other assorted cases out to the car and nervously put the key into the ignition as his mother climbed into the passenger seat.

James' Morning

"Psst! Uncle Jaime!"

James felt a tug at the bottom of his bed and then two extremely icy fingers were clawing at his ankle.

"AAh! Molly, get off!" James sat straight up in bed and pulled his legs as far away from the frigid fingers as he could.

The small girl giggled and jumped onto the bed. "Uncle Jaime's going to Snogwarts! Uncle Jaime's going to Snogwarts!" she repeated as she jumped up and down.

James' mother appeared at the door. "James! Why is your cousin repeating such phrases?" she narrowed her eyes at him as she posed the question.

James threw his arms up in defense. "I haven't taught her that, honest, Mum! She probably learnt it from that brute of a brother she's got."

His mother put her hands on her hips and looked as if she were about to say something, but gave up trying to speak over the yells of the small girl. "Come on, Molly dear, time for breakfast." The little girl jumped off the bed and ran off after her.

James grumbled as he stretched his arms over his head and wandered over to the clean pile of clothes in the corner.

As he came downstairs, his mother was rushing about frantically in the kitchen fussing about breakfast and her current houseguests. Virginia the housekeeper was looking a bit peeved as she tried to fix breakfast with James' mother breathing down her neck.

James scratched his head. "Mum, have you seen my wand?" he asked, peeking around the kitchen to see if it was there.

His mother sighed as she took two bowls of cereal into the dining room. "No I haven't, love. Where's the last place you had it?" she asked as she set each one down in front of Molly and her brother Aidan.

"I don't know," James said gruffly as he took a seat.

"Virginia probably stuck it with your trunk. It's in the front hall, go and see." She said as she sat down next to her sister.

A little while later, James' father's car was pulling up in front of King's Cross and Beauchamp was pulling out his trunk. James stepped out of the car (thankfully with wand) and grinned. It was the beginning of his sixth year, needless to say, he was excited.

Doracas was sitting on her trunk and absentmindedly playing with her kitten through its basket. His name was Coaley and he was all black except for his paws which looked like they'd stepped through white paint, and a little streak of white running down the length of his nose. Her mother and father and Relia were standing talking to a few other parents of pure blood descent, but Doracas had no intention of visiting with their children. Its not that she didn't despise them just because they were pure bloods (as Sirius often did), but merely because they were a rather boring and an unpleasant lot to be around. Her mood brightened as she noticed a head of red hair bobbing and weaving through the crowd. She stood up and ran to greet her friend.

"Tiger Lily!" she flung her arms around Lily's neck, almost knocking her over. It had been a long three months without her.

Lily hugged her back. "Oh its so good to see you, Dora! How are you?"

Doracas opened her mouth to respond when she heard someone clearing their throat behind her. She turned. Her parents were standing very close behind her and eyeing Lily and her muggle attire with a look of disdain. Doracas thanked Merlin that Lily's parents weren't there too which would have definitely given away the fact that Lily was muggleborn.

Relia came up to stand obediently next to her parents, but shot her sister an evil smile, as if knowing how much trouble Doracas would be in later.

Lily watched the family closely. From what Doracas had told her, they seemed a rotten bunch. But standing there altogether like that, they looked to be the perfect model of a pureblood wizarding family. Their robes were elegant and rich in color and design, their pale faces and upturned noses seemed to let everyone know exactly who they were. Like most purebloods she had come across, they simply oozed elegance and aristocracy. Even Doracas, who looked unusually apprehensive, still had that certain proud air about her that must have been instilled in her since birth.

"Well, um, I'll catch up with you later, Doracas. Uh, see you around." Lily said softly. She felt that standing up with Doracas against her family was important, but now was not the time. She decided confrontation on such a level would best be saved for a time when Doracas looked more ready for it. Because no matter how much Doracas complained about her family, Lily knew it would be very hard for her to let go of them.

So Lily went off in search of a place on the train to sit and wait for Doracas to come join her, once released from the sharp talons of her family. She was just about to step onto the train when she heard her name shouted for the second time that morning.

"Oi! Lily!"

Lily had to smile. Marlene was sailing towards her on the back of a luggage cart as innocent bystanders leapt to get out of her way. Just as she came up next to Lily, she stepped off the back of the cart, but lost a grip on it and sent it straight into a pack of scared first years trying to board the train.

Lily and Marlene both winced. "Sorry!" Marlene shouted as she and Lily ran forward to help them up and collect Marlene's things from the ground.

"Teeny, we haven't even gotten to school yet and I'm going to have to give you detention." Her brother Matthew came walking over to help up the last of the first years, who scuttled away, their eyes as large as saucers, and muttering unnecessary apologies.

"Try it and I'll hex you. You may be a prefect now, but you're still my little brother, whom I can beat up at any time." Marlene crossed her arms and smirked at him.

Matthew drew himself up to his full height, and even though he was a year younger then Marlene, he towered almost a head over her.

"Wow, Matthew, when did you get so tall?" Lily asked, genuinely wanting to know when little Mattie had sprouted up like a bean stalk. It was clear in the innocent tone of her voice, that she had forgotten Matthew had had a small crush on her for awhile.

He grinned sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders. Marlene rolled her eyes. "Whatever, see you later Mattie. And remember what I said," she cautioned, drawing her wand from her pocket and waving it at him.

As the two girls stepped aboard the train, Lily spoke. "So your brother's a prefect then?"

Marlene scowled. "Yeah, and he's been going on about it all summer. You would think they had asked him to be assistant headmaster or something, because it's gone straight to his head. He'll have aspirations of being Head Boy next, I'd imagine."

"Hey wait up you two!"

Marlene and Lily turned around to see Doracas walking towards them.

Marlene squealed. "Rocky!" she ran towards her and threw her arms around her, much like Doracas had done with Lily. Doracas laughed as the two of them twirled back over towards Lily. The three stepped onto the train together.

"And so it begins!" Marlene said triumphantly, all their arms linked together.

Sirius tapped his foot impatiently. He had arrived early at the station to be able to get away from his family sooner, but they had only followed him. And just as he had stepped off the train after dumping his stuff, they spotted him and dragged him over to the small group they were talking to. The only person he wouldn't have minded talking to was Doracas. In fact, as he watched her, he marveled at how pretty she'd become, how attractive all purebloods seemed to be, considering they came from a pack of inbreeds.

Sirius was about to go over to her when she stood up and with hardly a backwards glance at her family, was gone. So he was stuck, not talking to anyone, to ponder why his mother was actually treating him like a human being this morning.

Sirius scowled as he watched Regulus saunter over to his Slytherin friends. His mother didn't even seem to notice, however he knew that if he tried to sneak away to see his friends, she would immediately be harping on him about it.

Sirius felt a small tinge of jealousy as James and Remus were talking, and their parents were easily chatting with each other, even though Remus' mum was clearly a muggle and James' parents were clearly wizards.

James spotted Sirius and waved for him to come over. Sirius shook his head slightly as Remus waved too. He could almost feel his mother's gaze burning a hole in the back of his head, watching his every movement with the utmost scrutiny.

Remus' eye went beyond Sirius to the little throng of wizards behind him and he understood. He pulled James closer and whispered. "I think Pads is a bit busy. Let's go sit down, he'll join us in a bit."

James snorted. "I'm not afraid of his mum. Let her come over here and try and hex me. Dad wouldn't let her touch us. Come on, Remus." James grabbed Remus' shirt sleeve.

"Bye Mum, Dad, have a good year!" James cried over his shoulder.

Remus gave his mother a kiss on the cheek. "Dad'll be back tomorrow, ok? I'll see you later." He smiled at her and the parents waved them off, eager to get back to the conversation of the AM radio.

James strode confidently up to Sirius. "Hello, Sirius mate, how are you?"

Remus hung back a bit. He'd heard what Sirius' family thought of people like him. He thought perhaps if he got too close, they'd sniff his secret out of him. Plus the fact that they looked like very unpleasant people anyway and not the type he felt compelled to carry on a conversation with.

Sirius looked a bit panicked. Its not that he was ashamed of his friends by any means, but he rather wanted to avoid his parents embarrassing him in front of everyone on the platform. They were always capable of making their opinions about anyone and anything very publicly known.

As he had predicted, his mother had been watching everything and immediately turned to Sirius as James and Remus had wandered over.

"I don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting your friends, Sirius," his mother said, emphasizing the word 'pleasure' in what felt like a very negative way.

"I'm James Potter and this is Remus Lupin," James said, a bit arrogantly. His head was slightly bent as if in challenge for her to try anything with him.

Sirius gave his mother a broad smile. "Ok, now you've met them, we're going to bugger off. Bye," he said hastily as he grabbed Remus and James by their sleeves.

"What the bloody hell was that, James?" he hissed through his teeth as they walked away.

James shrugged. "What? It's not like your mum would have done anything to you in front of everyone. She wasn't going to start yelling at you or anything." Sirius didn't look convinced. "Look mate, the only way you're ever going to be able to actually break away from them is if you try. And right now, you're not even doing that," James said, meeting Sirius' steely glare without guilt.

Sirius looked at the both of them, his attractive features twisted with anger. "Next time you decide to have me condemned, check with me first," he said icily and strode towards the train.

Remus gave James his usual "I-told-you-so" look and James scowled.

"I was just trying to help," he said defensively. Remus sighed and put a comforting arm around James' shoulder. He hated seeing his happiest friend depressed.

"I know Prongs, and Sirius will see that eventually. But until he does, it's best not to get involved."

"I suppose," James said as they followed Sirius to the train.

As they were stepping onto the train, Peter came rushing along and the four of them went back to where Sirius had deposited his things earlier.

"I don't care! I don't care if I have to sit in the hallway until we reach Hogwarts, I am NOT sitting in the same room as he is!" Lily said as she stamped her foot stubbornly. Marlene rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Lil! There's nowhere else to sit. Believe me, if there was, we'd be sitting there," she said as she tried to drag the stubborn redhead down the hallway.

Doracas was walking behind them, staring absently at her fingernails. "Its almost as if they planned it that way," she said airily. Marlene turned around sharply.

"Dora! Help me!" she said, exasperated at her two best friends.

Doracas smiled as she looked at Lily. "Be reasonable, Tiger Lily. You can't sit in the hall all the way to school. It's just not done. Besides, you'll be at the prefects' meeting for most of the ride anyway, so you'll barely even see him."

Lily huffed loudly before finally walking down the hallway towards the dreaded compartment. She stood in front of the door for a moment, her arms folded in front of her and a thoroughly annoyed look on her face. Marlene came up next to her.

"The door's not going to open on its own, you know," she said as she nudged Lily.

"I'm counting on that, Teeny," Lily replied icily and knowing the awful nickname would get Marlene in a state. And it did.

Marlene looked at her shrewdly. "Fine, if you're going to be a brat about it-"

Her hand reached for the handle when the door slid open on its own.

"Oh! Hi. I was just coming to find you, Lily. We have prefect duty, right?" Remus was standing in the doorway. He smiled at the three girls. Lily nodded quickly.

"Yes we do. Come on!" she said, grabbing his arm, already halfway down the hallway when they heard James calling her name.

A/N: this is an idea I've had for awhile. Let me know what you think.