September 1, 1970 - King's Cross Station, Hogwarts Express

Mr. and Mrs. Evans volunteered to drive them all to King's Cross.

Severus was relieved for their help, Tobias having hurt Eileen badly a couple of days ago. His father had unexpectedly been home when the two of them returned from Diagon Alley – and drunk. He had seen Severus' robes - the better-looking pair – and proceeded to beat the living hell out of his mother, accusing her of withholding money from him. He had made Eileen give him her extra galleons - all three of them. Of course, being a Muggle, he had no use for them - but it's the thought that counts.

"We're here dears!" Mrs. Evans exclaimed, pulling into the parking lot near the station. The nearly four-hour-long drive had passed in periods of silence, intense discussion, and owl chirping – the awkwardness of the quiet exacerbated by Petunia's sullen glaring.

Mr Evans helped them unload their trunks, but decided to stay with Petunia in the car while the rest of them went inside. For the children, it had been their first time seeing trains, and each of them was suitably impressed.

"How do we get to Platform 9 ¾, again, Sev?"

Severus tried to tone down his scowl for the nickname with Mrs. Evans watching. "You jus' have to run a' the wall between Platforms 9 an' 10."

Lily shivered in fear, and held Iris' cage tighter. "But what if it doesn't work, though? That'll hurt."

"Well," Severus replied, as they stopped in front of the hidden entrance, "It's worked for hun'reds of years 'fore, so I can't imagine it'll stop working now."

"Sev'rus, will Mrs. Evans be able to come wit' us?" Cassie asked softly, noticing that Lily's mother seemed to be looking away from the entrance with glassy eyes. "I think there's some kin' of enchan'ment on it."

Severus nodded, and Lily grabbed her mum's hand, to say goodbye to her. Mrs. Evans' eyes lost their glossy haze quickly, and she was brought back to awareness. "Lily, I don't think I'll be able to enter."

"We think so too, Mum. I guess...I'll see you in a couple of months," Lily said awkwardly.

"Come back for Christmas, dear. Have a nice school year."

"Thanks, mum," Lily replied, hugging the older woman hard. "I love you."

"Love you too, Lily."

Finally ready, they ran at the barrier one by one, entering the platform easily.

"Wow," Lily and Cassie exclaimed at the same time, admiring the view. Right in front of their eyes stood the Hogwarts Express, gleaming red and black, and puffing out clouds of smoke. Crowds of parents and children moved around the platform, many students of varying ages entering the train at the very moment.

Glancing at the huge clock, Severus noted that they had five minutes to board the train.

"Come on, Lily, Cassie. If we get on early, maybe we'll fin' a compar'ment wit' fewer people."

The girls agreed, and with some difficulty they entered the train with their trunks. Unfortunately, as they walked down the train, most cabins were already full or contained much-older teenagers.

Lily suggested sitting in one of those cabins, but both Cassie and Severus were apprehensive to do so. Eventually, however, almost at the end of the train, they stumbled across a compartment with just enough seats for all of them.

"Can we sit here?" Lily asked, pulling the door open. There three boys looked up at the same time, two of them grinning charmingly.

"Sure," the messy black-haired boy responded. "I'm James Potter."

"Lily Evans. That's Severus and Cassiopeia."

"Cassiopeia?" the other black-haired boy asked. His eyes were an unusual shade of grey, and his robes looked high-quality and expensive. "You're related to the Blacks?"

"No," Cassie answered, shaking her head and taking a seat next to Severus and James. "Maybe distan'ly, though."

The grey-eyed boy made a sound of distaste, his handsome face twisting into a grimace. "I'm Sirius Black, and that's Peter Pettigrew."

"Oh," Cassie replied, placing her trunk underneath her feet. It was small enough to fit, so she didn't bother to place it in the storage above her head. "Why di' you ask?"

The train started to move, and their bodies jerked forward, before they regained their balance. Iris chriped unhappily, and Lily stuck her cage between her legs.

Severus seemed quite uncomfortable with the boys, and Cassie strove to reassure him by squeezing his hand slightly.

"My family's awful. We have quite a few off-branches, so I wanted to know if you're my cousin or something."

"Don' purebloods take tutors where they learn things like tha'?" she asked cautiously, recalling what she had read in: The Sacred Twenty-Eight: Traditions and Etiquette By Alexia & Phoebe Black.

Sirius grinned proudly. "I bribed my tutor to let me learn 'bout Quidditch instead. Mum never found out."

"Good one, Sirius!" James laughed, and Peter giggled shyly.

"Quidditch? What's Quidditch?" Lily asked, completely fascinated by the conversation. Severus reckoned he could understand. While Lily had known about magic for some time, this was the first that she had really experienced so much of it.

"You don't know what Quidditch is?" James asked incredulously. "It's the greatest game in wizarding sports!"

Lily shifted apprehensively. She didn't want to lose these new friends, and Sev and Cassie had said it wouldn't matter...

"I'm muggleborn, I didn't grow up with magic."

Sirius whistled. "Wow, don't mention that to my family."

"What? Why?"

"Lily–" Severus warned.

"Oh, they're the biggest bunch of purists in Britain. They'd probably disown me for even talking to a muggleborn–" he paused for dramatic effect, "–if they ever found out."

"Tha' seems extreme."

"Oh, it would be, but they have Reg. It doesn't really matter to them who's the Heir s'long as the family isn't disgraced, and even then Reg's always been the favorite."

"Is Reg your older brother?" Severus asked quietly. Sirius' eyes flicked to him as if noticing the quiet boy for the first time. His lips twitched slightly when he noticed the shabby state of the other boy's robes.

"Nope. Younger. Prissy, perfect Regulus Arcturus, polite, gentlemanly and perfectly Sssslytherin," Sirius replied, comedically drawing out the s in the last word.

"What's so wrong wit' Slytherin?" Severus asked defensively, his posture going rigid. His mother and her entire family had always been in Slytherin, and he was planning to be sorted there himself.

"Oh, other than that they're a bunch of bigoted, arrogant, cowardly purebloods, you mean?" Sirius asked sarcastically, beginning to get riled up.

"An' I assume you think Gryffindor is better? Tha' being reckless an' fool-hardy an' brash somehow makes you better than everyone?" Severus shot back, controlling the urge to whip out his wand and test out his hexing skills.

The rest of the compartment watched the argument escalate. James, Lily and Cassie frowned at the two of them, while Peter's eyes glittered with anticipation.

"Of course," Sirius replied, rolling his eyes. "Gryffindor is for the brave, the chivalrous and the loyal. Slytherin is for bullies and people who hide behind others."

"–An' Gryffindor is 'bout rushing into danger with no regard for the consequences. Gryffindors ge' nowhere in life," Severus growled, on the edge of his seat.

"Why you–!" Sirius shouted, enraged; standing up and pulling out his wand. He was stopped from attacking Severus, however, when James Potter pulled him away.

Cassie too, tried to de-escalate the situation, grabbing Severus' shoulders and pulling him back into his seat. He tensed when she grabbed him, his anger bringing back his instincts full-force.

"Do we have to fight guys?" Peter asked, now frightened. He was burrowed into the furthest corner of the compartment, as if trying to escape.

"No," Lily stated with conviction. "We can simply agree to disagree."

"Sev'rus, apologize to Sirius," Cassie said softly, and a hurt and betrayed look crossed her friend's face. When he turned away from her, she glanced meaningfully at James, her eyes flicking to Sirius.

"Apologize to Severus, Sirius," James said, and both previously-arguing boys whipped around to face him.

Sirius shot a quick glare at James, but made a half-step forward. "Sorry, Severus."

Severus clenched his jaw, and replied stiffly. "Apologies, Sirius."

The tension in the room lessened at the boys' apologies, and everyone sank back to their seats, suddenly exhausted.

"Tha' was a stupi' thing to fight 'bout," Cassie said. "I mean, we haven' even been sorted yet. An' you can't define a House by the people in it."

"True, Cassie," Lily said, then turned to Sirius. "You do know that you never did tell me what Quidditch was, hmm?"

With that, their conversation moved to safer topics.

Unlike the rest of the occupants, however, Cassie had no interest in flying in general, and Quidditch specifically. It just...didn't strike her as important as other things.

So while the boys argued and discussed - calmly, now - she laid down her head against Severus' thigh for a quick nap.

The boys and Lily, too preoccupied to notice, ignored her. And by the time they did - and raised their eyebrows in surprise - she was already asleep.