Chapter 3: THE CHOICE OF FRIENDS
Warning: Spoiler Alert- A scene is borrowed from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as per the need of the Fan Fiction. If you haven't read the book please read the chapter at your own risk.
Lily wandered absentmindedly through the train in search of an empty compartment. She found one somewhere near the middle and settled down. She stared at the passing meadows, her mind fixed on Petunia. She was hurt by Petunia's words. She heard the compartment doors open and then slam shut but she ignored. She couldn't deny that she too had made a mistake and she was going to make up for it. Lily decided that she would definitely speak to the headmaster and she had already apologized profusely to Petunia. But that didn't mean she could call her a freak all the time. Never in her wildest dreams had she thought that her sister could say such a horrible thing to her. 'Are all witches and wizards freaks?' she thought, 'how can she say that?'
She was jolted from her thoughts by a sound of booming laughter that filled the compartment.Glancing to the right she saw two boys rolling in their seats with laughter. She gave them a disgusted look and resumed her staring. The boys reminded her of Severus. She was just as disgusted with him. Just then the compartment door slid open. In came the boy with greasy black hair and hooked nose and sat opposite her. She recognized him as Severus Snape.
Scene from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows*
"I don't want to talk to you," she said in a constricted voice.
"Why not?"
"Tuney h-hates me. Because we saw that letter from Dumbledore."
"So what?"
She threw him a look of deep dislike.
"So she is my sister!"
"She is only a-" He caught himself quickly; Lily too busy trying to wipe her tears without being noticed, did not hear him.
"But we are going!" he said, unable to suppress the exhilaration in his voice. "This is it! We are off to Hogwarts!"
She nodded mopping her eyes, but in spite of herself she half smiled.
"You'd better be in Slytherin," said Snape, encouraged that she had brightened a little.
"Slytherin?"
One of the boys sharing the compartment, who had shown no interest at all in Lily or Snape until that point looked round at the word.
"Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"
Lily heard from another boy in the compartment and scowled. She once again looked out of the window, completely disinterested in her surroundings. Her thoughts drifted to Hogwarts. Hogwarts! It was something she had been dreaming about all summer, perhaps long before that. She had tried to learn as much as possible about Hogwarts and read every book about it she could lay her hands upon. And yet she thought that she knew nothing about it. As though there was always something more about it, more that could never be written in a book. And then there was a matter of Houses. She wondered if she and Severus would end up in one house. What if not? She quickly banished that thought and looked away from the window to find an agitated Severus deeply immersed in a quarrel with the other two boys in the compartment.
"Come on Severus, let's find another compartment." She said. *
One of the boys imitated her voice. She turned to give him a contemptuous look and was startled to see that he was the same boy who had crashed into her.
"See ya Snivellus!"* He called.
She glowered at him and walked out of the compartment slamming the door shut behind her.
"Ugh- I am sick of this boy!" Lily ranted, stamping her foot.
Severus nodded in agreement, "Prats, both of them, bigoted gits!"
Lily gave him a withering look. "I'm still angry with you." She grunted.
Severus sighed. "Come on, Lily. We have already gone through this. We never meant to intrude. We were just curious." He took her hand in his, "I want you to meet my new friends whom I just met on the train" And he led her down the train.
They stepped into a compartment, in which the people, Lily thought, were very odd looking. They sat with stiff backs and haughty looks upon their faces. They had an aura of extreme sophistication. 'Must be rich lads,' Lily thought. A boy with a pale pointed face and blonde hair stood up and extended his hand towards Severus. "Ah, Snape." He said with a tiny jerk of his head.
"Malfoy," Severus nodded.
"Take a seat, Severus." Malfoy gestured to the empty seats "And who might you be?" He asked Lily politely.
"Lily Evans," she said guardedly.
"Would you be related to Dilys Derwent-Evans, the Late headmistress of Hogwarts and St. Mungo's Healer?"
St. Mungo's Healer! Three unknown words in a row! Lily gave him a look of pure confusion.
"Er-no," she stammered.
"No?" he asked. His gaze swept over Lily as though taking in her appearance for the first time. Then it came to rest on Severus. He raised an eyebrow.
"We live nearby. She is a friend." Severus replied levelly.
"I see." Malfoy turned to Lily, "I am Lucius Malfoy." He said coldly but Lily smiled at him.
Severus began introducing the others to Lily. "Lily, this is Rodolphus Lestrange," a boy of about seventeen nodded curtly, "Bellatrix Black," she sneered openly, "Antonin Dolohov," a small boy of about eleven with a twisted face and blonde hair jerked his head and gave a malicious smile, "Sean Travers," a boy with bushy brown hair and a long pointed nose merely nodded.
It was as if the temperature in the room had dropped suddenly. Nobody was willing to talk. All these people gave Lily the creeps.
"Well," said Lestrange, leaning back in his seat, "as I was saying, the Minister for Magic paid us a visit the other day. Did I mention that before?"
"No you didn't, honey" Bellatrix cooed while Travers and Dolohov gave him a look of deep admiration. Severus and Lucius, on the other hand did not react at all.
"What's the big deal? My father was presented with an Order of Merlin, First Class by the Minister herself." said Malfoy snapped.
"Order of Merlin!" Bellatrix mocked, "How many mudbloods did your father, er, associated with to get that precious little Order of Merlin?"
"My father," said Malfoy coldly, "received the Order of Merlin for special services to the Wizard kind. I thought you knew better than that Bellatrix. My father would never associate with any mudblood for any reason fathomable. And speaking about Orders of Merlin, you all may be rest assured that until the purebloods hold them, the mudbloods," his gaze lingered upon Lily for a fraction of a second, "will remain in their rightful place."
All these people giving her cold looks made Lily feel a bit queasy. What on earth was a mudblood? And why was everyone shooting her disapproving glances whenever that word came around? And what was wrong with Bellatrix? Why did she kept sneering at her? Right on cue Bellatrix spat, "But sometimes we find some Blood traitors in our own ranks." This time though she was directly looking at Lucius, not even bothering to hide her contempt.
And we must not associate with such filth, should we, Severus?" Lucius drawled.
Lily didn't know what these people were upto but now she had had enough. Somehow these people didn't seem right, almost evil by their ideas. She had a sudden urge to get out of here as quickly as possible. She excused herself politely and fled out of the compartment. She spent the next few hours in a lone compartment, her thoughts switching between petunia and those weird people in the compartment Severus had taken her into.
When she thought she would explode with the load of her thoughts the train mercifully came to a halt. All her worries washed away from her mind and all that remained was a single thought- 'Hogwarts, here I come!'
Authors note- As mentioned above a scene is borrowed from the book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The dialogues marked with '*' have also been borrowed from the same book. We intend to make no profit from this fanfiction.