Turned out being a muggle-born in Slytherin was just as horrible as Willow had felt it would be when he was sorted. The students in his house seemed to have a grudge against him because his family wasn't a pureblood family. It was even more frustrating when he had to fight the urge to correct them every time he heard it.

It almost felt like he was walking in a nightmare. He would be walking somewhere, only to walk right into a Gryffindor class, earning laughs and jeers from everyone. He had to start walking with Severus everywhere, which wasn't bad, but it seriously made him feel like he was inconveniencing his friend.

"You can't keep doing this," Lily growled as she slammed her books down on the table, earning a glare from the librarian. She gave the woman an apologetic smile before sitting beside her brother.

"Hello Willow, how was your day? It was fine, thank you for asking Lily," Willow joked, looking up from his homework, already half done even though he still had over a week to turn it in. It was strange; every time he tried to procrastinate, he'd get this voice in his head, chastising him. It was too feminine to be his, but it didn't sound like any female he'd ever heard.

"Hello Willow, how was your day? Oh right, horrible! Why didn't you tell me that they haven't stopped?" Lily glared at him. Severus, the traitor, looked down at his book, lifting it to hide his face. Lily latched onto the boy's slight movement and turned to him, pointing a finger threateningly at him.

"And you, you were supposed to be watching him. I heard he made another wrong turn and ended up in front of the Gryffindor common room before lunch today." Lily accused, glaring at her longtime friend with angry green eyes.

Severus sighed before putting the book down.

"He's navigating much better now—he hasn't walked into a Gryffindor class in two days," he informed her, a frown twitching his lips down a bit. Lily huffed, picking a book at random and opening it. She lifted the tome to hide her face, worried eyes straying to her brother.

"Please, leave this alone. I don't need you to fight my battles, especially ones that are literally in my head," Willow told her sternly, giving her a pointed look. Lily bit her lip and reverted her eyes, staring at the pages without seeing them. Willow knew she was worried, but her attitude was starting to grate on his nerves. He hoped she would understand without him doing something drastic.

By the end of the year, Willow could ignore the feelings of familiarity and almost had himself convinced that he was back to normal; no more flashbacks. That was, until he ran into a red-haired prankster only weeks before going home.

"Willow," Lily exclaimed, kneeling down to help her brother pick up his things as the unknown redhead stared down at them with wide eyes.

"You look just like my brother," the boy stated breathlessly, still just standing there, his wide blue eyes and a gaping mouth set into a pale, freckled face. A few of the older students have made comments about his familiarity before, when they thought he was out of earshot, about how similar he was to a few students they'd met before. The only thing each student mentioned had in common was red hair. Willow was annoyed by this; just because he has red hair doesn't mean he looks like every other red-haired person here.

"Oh really? Does he have red hair too?" Willow bit out sarcastically, standing and handing his books to his sister so he could wipe off the dirt from his clothes. When Lily handed him his books back the two turned to watch the third redhead, who turned as bright as his hair as he searched for something to say.

"Well yeah," he started with a grimace, "but you also have the same eyes, and nose." At this, the boy sighed, "there are obvious differences, but—" Here he perked up a bit, clutching his own books with both hands—"You wouldn't happen to be a Weasley, would you?" He seemed to vibrate in excitement, shifting from foot to foot, with a grin so wide it looked like it hurt.

"I would not. The name is Evans, Willow Evans." Willow ignored the pang in his heart when he said that, vague memories of blonde hair came to mind, which he shook off almost immediately; the boy's snickering helped.

"You find my name funny?" Another memory, this one of cloudy grey eyes, was ignored. Willow glared at the older boy—how dare he stand there and laugh at his name?

"I do," the redhead said with a smile, "who names their son Willow?" He may have intended to continue if he hadn't been pushed away bodily by Willow's sister, the red-haired girl seeming to radiate anger in her very being.

"Lots of people name their sons Willow. It's not a girl's name, it's a tree, a very old, and very powerful tree. I, for one, love my brother's name," Lily defended, spitting pure anger down at the fallen boy. Willow would probably be afraid for her, but all he could do was feel grateful that she would do this for him.

"Fine fine, I concede. You have a lovely name," the boy cooed as he picked himself up, grinning like a cat. Willow kept a hold of his sister's arm when the girl moved to attack again.

"Thank you. Do we get your name, or are we just going to be calling you Ignorant Git for the rest of the school year?" Willow raised an eyebrow in a way he feels Severus would in that situation. The boy snorted, looking down at them again with an amused look on his face.

"Bilius Weasley."

"He was the life and soul of the party."

"Ronald Bilius Weasley!"

"Died 24 hours after seeing a Grim."

"Willow?" Lily nudged Willow in the side, her voice suffused with concern, deep green eyes watching him carefully, like he was going to break right in front of them.

"Is he okay?" Bilius asked, interrupting Willow's indignant response to his sister's concern. He looked between the two cautiously and curiously. He looked ready to study Willow, or take him to the school nurse, Willow was unsure which, but both were undesirable.

"I'm fine, just a bit tired," Willow ground out, taking his sister's arm in a tight grip. "Let's go, Lily, we need to find Severus."

Willow led his sister away, Lily completely unresistant as she followed blindly, still glaring at the third redhead.

"I'm happy to be going home," Lily breathed, grinning at her friend and brother, "but I'm really gonna miss Hogwarts," she confessed, slumping into her seat between the two.

"Yeah, but I can't wait to tell Petunia all about school," Willow grinned at his sister. Severus just slumped further into his seat, his face hiding behind his hair.

"And you'll be coming over a lot this summer, right?" Lily turned to Severus with a hopeful expression on her face. Severus smiled tensely and nodded.

"Great, this summer is going to be amazing!"

"This summer was horrible," Lily grumbled as she curled up on the compartment seat. "Petunia didn't even come home. I bet she got some cool teenage friends that she thought are more fun than us." Willow nodded along with her as he pulled his legs up to his chest on the seat opposite her.

The twins sat in silence for a few minutes before the door opened, admitting a long haired boy with a split lip.

"Where have you been? We didn't see you at all this summer," Lily complained when Severus sat next to her. The boy shrugged, his eyes averting as he leaned back in his seat.

"What happened here?" Lily moved closer to him so she could check his wound. Willow frowned when he saw Severus turn red, a dangerous mix of anger and possessiveness overcoming him. He didn't like this feeling turning in his stomach as Lily got up close to their friend. He quickly shook it off and reminded himself that this was his sister and best friend.

"It's fine, just fell on my way in," Severus refused to look at them, his fingers twitching. Willow could swear the boy was red now less from embarrassment and more out of anger, or resentment?

"It was Potter wasn't it?" Lily bit out, her eyes narrowing and her hand twitching to grab her wand. The girl all but growled when the door opened again, but her eyes softened, only a fraction of a bit, when Bilius Weasley stood at the door.

"Well looky here, how does it feel being second years now? You have a good summer?" Bilius sat next to Willow and pulled the boy into a one armed hug as he settled in. Lily sighed deeply, her agitation melting out of her with Bilius' antics.

"Our summer was lovely, now please do let me go," Willow told him dryly, his eyes piercing the older boy with spears of ice. Bilius laughed his death glare off.

"I'm a prefect this year ickle second years, so if you need any help or if you just want to go exploring, you can come to me," he told them with a grin. Lily rolled her eyes. Severus and Willow shared a look, one that clearly asked if the other was seeing this.

"If you continue to hang onto my friend like that, I'd feel obligated to tell the teachers about your unnatural interest with a second year," Severus drawled out, his words sending chills down Willow's back, aches of long lost memories surfacing before being ruthlessly smashed down and locked away.

Bilius laughed again, pulling away from Willow, standing, and opening the door, "no need for that, I'll see you three in school."

They didn't get to Hogwarts by boat this time, instead, carriages were lined up and waiting to take them to the school.

"What are those?" Willow asked; pointing to the skeletal horses with wings strapped to the carriages. Lily and Severus shared confused looks.

"Those are carriages," Lily spoke, looking at the carriages. It almost looked like she couldn't see the horses.

"Not the carriages, the things pulling them." Willow motioned to them again, his limb a little frantic. Something was going on, and he didn't like it.

"Please take your seats, we'll be going now," one of the teachers Willow didn't have the year before told them, his eyes scanning the students, making 'hurry up' gestures with his hands. Willow let go of the subject of the horses for now, he'd just have to talk with McGonagall or Slughorn later.

"Excuse me?" McGonagall was paler than Willow had ever seen her, the woman's eyes scanning the area to make sure they were alone.

"The horses that pull the carriages, what are they?" Willow asked again, his eyes looking up at the woman as she averted her gaze. He didn't know what the big problem was. Could it be that he seemed to be the only one to see them? Was he imagining them?

"You can see thestrals," McGonagall breathed out before looking down at Willow with a furrowed brow. "Follow me."

The teacher turned and led the way to her office, the Great Hall disappearing in the distance. Willow was just glad that he waited until after dinner to confront the teacher about the horses—the thestrals, as she called them.

"Thestrals are special creatures, Mr. Evans; only certain people can see them," McGonagall told him, her eyes filled with sadness. He wondered what kinds of people could see thestrals, because just that morning he felt that there wasn't anything special about him.

"Only people who have seen death can see them," she said in a hushed whisper. Willow froze.

"They're called thestrals. They're quite gentle, really… but people avoid them because they're a bit…"

"Different."

"Mr. Evans?" The teacher looked at him with concern written on her face, the look reminded Willow of his sister.

"I'm fine," Willow told her, giving her a tight smile.

"I'm going to ask you a serious question, and if you feel uncomfortable you don't have to answer me," she started, looking down at him seriously.

"Who did you see die?"

Quick note, I know that Ron wasn't present for that talk between Harry and Luna, but for the sake of that memory, pretend he and Hermione had followed Harry secretly because they were worried about him, but Harry didn't know. Because life

hope yalls are enjoying this story!

Mars