Grayback, Malfoy and McNair

Of course it wasn't a joke.

Landon and Lily got a response in the form of a light-brown-haired woman called Hel Greyback, who was the new D.A.D.A professor at that Hogwarts. She explained everything to them – from little insignificances like how often one should sharpen their quills to warnings about the prejudice they were going to have to face at Hogwarts.

She didn't seem to give a second thought to the fact that Landon and Lily were barely eleven years old and might be frightened of what she was saying. Everything she said seemed trivial to her, like there were much worst things awaiting them and what she was telling them was only the beginning.

As she was explaining, she marched them out of the house and into a car, which might or might not have been her own. Never stopping the talk, she got into the driver's seat and started the car without even touching the ignition. They drove for about an hour, getting further away from the countryside and into the city. As though she timed it, she finished her explanation right when they stopped.

Only once they had gotten out of the car, Landon and Lily noticed where they were - right at the entrance to the 'E. & E. & E. & E. law firm': their parents' work place.

The two exchanged a glance full of despair before they followed Hel up the steps. They had tried many times to see their parents at work, they just never could get past the bleached-haired secretary who sat right next to the big oak doors which hid their parents. She always welcomed them with the same sentence-

"I'm sorry dears, your parents are with a client".

And this time was no different.

Landon and Lily turned around towards the steps, but Hel seized their arms and yanked them back not too roughly. She smiled almost pleasantly at the secretary.

"Won't you check again?" It sounded more like a statement than a question and the secretary looked at Hel wearily before she opened the large appointment book on her desk.

After a moment of the secretary staring blankly at the large empty square with a curly '16:30' at its left corner, she started stuttering: "wha… bu… I… the…"

"I'll take that graceless rambling as an invitation to go right in" Hel cut in smoothly "thank you".

Landon and Lily exchanged an amazed glance as they were marched through the oak doors for the first time.

It was a very unusual meeting. During which Hel did all the talking and only occasionally stopping to get some sort of approval from the speechless and somewhat shocked parents. Eventually, Hel asked for one of their credit cards, which Landon's father silently and foolishly gave.

After a quick stop at the bank to get some money out, Hel brought Landon and Lily to a bar. They remembered seeing it before, once when they were seven and Mrs. Noel took them shopping around that part of town. They never could go in though, since Mrs. Noel said she didn't know 'what in the world' they were talking about and marched them further down the road towards a supermarket.

That place turned out to be a bar, but they didn't get to observe it much as Hel dragged them right through the bar. They began complaining to her, but she didn't pay them the slightest attention as she took out what seemed to be a stick and began tapping the wall of stone, which stood in front of them.

Landon and Lily immediately stopped complaining as the wall started changing on its own and simply stared, gob smacked, as a busy and colorful street suddenly appeared in front of them.

Hel just smirked, satisfied, at the two as she once again marched them forward.

During the next two hours, Landon simply stared ahead, completely unaware of his surroundings. He couldn't believe what was happening to him and his best friend and was still suspicious of that 'Hel' woman.

Eventually, Lily's child-like excitement became too contagious and Landon began to relax and joined Lily in her exclamations and gasps whenever the two spotted something extraordinary. Needless to say, they were soon out of breath.

"I haven't got the slightest clue," said Landon as a response to Lily's questioning gaze. They were standing quite helplessly beneath the plastic sign, which said 9, at King's Cross train station.

When they had asked Hel (or, as she told them to call her. Professor Greyback) where exactly that 'Platform 9 and ¾' was, she had suddenly gotten a very curious expression on her face and said that they would figure it out. Apparently she was wrong in her assumption, as they were still standing aimlessly with no idea where that mysterious platform was.

Lily looked at the clock above them worriedly. "It's 10:45. Maybe we should just ask someone –oof!". Lily was suddenly thrown against Landon as a tall blond boy pushed past her.

"Out of the way, Mudblood!" he sneered at her as he kept walking towards two boulder-like boys. "The sort they let in now… Dumbledore's idea, of course! He's the only one foolish enough to accept students that are not of good breeding…". His voice was suddenly cut off, but they couldn't see why as a large group of people was passing right in front of them.

"Don' worry 'bout 'im" said a somewhat girly voice from behind them.

Landon and Lily turned around to see a boy and a girl standing with trunks similar to theirs. They both had dark eyes and light brown hair, but the girl's hair was sun-streaked and seemed almost blond.

"That was a Malfoy" said the boy with apparent contempt as he stared at the spot where the blond boy was standing just moments before.

"Aye. Tha' family breeds arse-'oles" said the girl again, drawing the word 'breeds' like the blond boy did.

Lily laughed with that bells-like laughter of hers and that seemed to break the dark atmosphere.

"No time for introductions", said the boy as the girl opened her mouth "we're almost late".

And so they were. Lily eyes once again got a worried glint in them.

The boy quickly explained what they were supposed to do and without waiting for Landon and Lily to recover from the initial shock of what they were supposed to do, the boy grabbed Lily's arm and pulled her with him through the very solid barrier between the two platforms, followed closely by the girl pulling Landon's arm.

"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat and Lily, Landon and Abigail clapped loudly as Abigail McNair's brother, Brandon, was sorted into the same house as them.

Lily couldn't stop smiling. Her best friend and her two new friends were going to be living in the same tower and going to be in the same classes as her. She looked around at the other Gryffindors and her eyes were drawn to four boys who were huddled together and seemed to be up to something.

"Notice 'em 'ave you?"

Lily turned around and saw Abigail looking in the same direction as her.

"I 'eard from me sis. Trouble; the lot of 'em" she said, staring at the four with a wary look.

"And only second years" added Brandon with the same tired voice.

Landon and Lily scoffed silently, disbelieving. How much trouble could a few twelve-year-olds be?

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AN: please do me a huge favor and ignore the grammer mistakes... I'm trying...

Anyway - that accent that Abigail's got is supposed to be like old english, like a less exagerated 'My Fair Lady'...