-5-

I stared, gulping, as the great boa constrictor slithered free of its great glass case, curling majestically out of its rather humiliating prison. It snaked-literally so-through the great passageway, making straight for freedom.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" the scream resounded through the hallway. Dudley who was peering ghoulishly tumbled straight into the murky bottom of the boa's enclosure.

"Ruddy HELL!" screamed Uncle Vernon.

The great reptile slunk towards the door. As it was about to leave, it turned and looked at me, gratitude in its scaly eyes.

"Thankssssss," it hissed.

Petunia was looking awful. She sat directly across from me, looking sullen. It had been like this since seven months before. Her long silences, stupid claims of not wanting to eat and passionate fits of crying. I had given up trying to reason with her. Seriously.

It had all started with the letter at the breakfast table. We had just started with toast, when with a screech and an immense thud; a beautiful tawny owl came flying into the kitchen. It had dropped an envelope upon my plate, opening which I found a letter written on parchment-parchment, not paper. Upon the top-left corner, I found a coat of arms comprising of a lion, a serpent, a badger and an eagle holding a massive shield-emblazoned with an enormous 'H'. The letter read:

Dear Miss Evans,

We are pleased to inform you that you have secured a place in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We have received information that you are performing extensive underage magic. Now at Hogwarts you shall learn to use magic properly not just as an exciting plaything. Magic can be perilous when used without precautions. Seeing as to how you are a first-year, you shall have to collect your school-robes, cauldron and your wand from Diagon Alley before the 1st of September, when you shall board the Hogwarts Express from platform 9^3/4, Kings' Cross Station.

Yours truly,

Albus Peruvical Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

There were a lot of titles under his name like Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump….. things I had never heard of. But the moment I read it, I believed in it completely unlike my family. ("What have people come to nowadays?"). The reason for this was a conversation I had had with Severus a month back.

"You don't say!?"

"I swear, Lily. My mom had studied there too. There is a wizarding school. It's called Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts?" I imagined a diseased boar, covered with foul green pustules, and made an exaggerated retching noise.

He smiled." It's not like that Lily. It's beautiful. There's a big castle and huge, sweeping grounds…and some brilliant teachers."

"You've been there?"

"Oh no, but I've heard of it. And seen the pictures too. Mom told me it's the best school you can afford to go to. And now with Dumbledore as Headmaster…."

He went on to tell me about Dumbledore, the grandfatherly old wizard heading the castle, a game that sounded like Kwidich, ("It's no fun to me, but you'll enjoy it, I think.") and the four houses where the kids were sorted into. It all seemed like a beautiful story he'd made for me, but then he told me something shocking, something completely unexpected.

"Of course, you're eleven now," he said quietly. "You'll get your letter soon."

"What?" I admit I was stumped.

He leaned in close so I could see myself in his shining black eyes. "You're a witch, Lily. And once magic enters your blood, it'll never get out."

And so here I was, gazing at the letter in my hands-a tiny parchment ready to decide the course of my life.

Maman and Father took it very well. When it was inevitable to them that … well, their daughter wasn't like others; they accepted the fact for the better and rejoiced at my unusual talents. They made me do the flame thing so many times that my palm became sweaty and the little flame slid of my palm onto Maman's dress, scorching her-and putting the whole thing to a stop. At least, temporarily.

It was Petunia who was the sole weed in our garden. Sulky and dark, she crabbed at me with increased fervor nowadays. When I was around, she looked like a depressed zombie.

"Give her some time," Maman said. "She'll obviously feel left out.''

Which was all right….but why become cranky and mean? It wasn't my fault, was it, that she didn't have those powers and stuff? The least she could do was ignore it. Which she didn't. She went out of her way to be rude to me. I found 'freak' written all over my books and even on the walls. And while I ignored it most of the times, there were times when I thought that jinxing my elder sister wouldn't be such a bad idea after all. These moments were quickly replaced with guilt. How could I think such when I may have been in her place? A huge privilege had been extended to me, to us. I was in no position to exploit it.

And so, when I found my favorite novel had been marked by a gigantic ''LILY THE FREAKY", I simply rubbed it off.

"I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Ravenclaw or Slytherin," Sev said.

I rolled over to face him. We were lying on a beautiful primrose covered hill a bit away from Spinners' End. The sun shone warm and mellowy on our faces. It was all calmness and quiet (if you did not mind the occasional squirrel).

I had left behind a peaceful family at Evans' Place. (Maman and Father had been reading some correspondence. Petunia was at one of her Tea-Party Girls' place.) Ickling to ask Severus whether he had got his acceptance letter as well, I had hopped on my bicycle, rode over to Sev's gate (where I got the happy news that he had received the letter), did a victory waltz and then rode him upto this hill.

I had also meticulously memorized the names of the four houses- Slytherin (green!), Gryffindor (the lions), Ravenclaw (the brainiacs' place) and Hufflepuff- the simple and sweet (Sev told me-in a moment of inspiration-that this was the last house he wanted to be sorted into).

"I'd be in Slytherin," he observed, letting a shower of primrose petals slip through his fingers. "My mother….now she too was in Slytherin."

"And me?"

Severus sat up and stared at me. "You?"

"What do you think I'll get?"

He stared thoughtfully at the sky. "You're brave," he said at last. "You could make it to Gryffindor. Then, since you're so sweet-"

"I'm not!"

"Are too. Anyway"-Severus continued with a smile, "there's a chance of your getting Hufflepuff then. Or Ravenclaw…because you're intelligent."

I wasn't listening to him anymore….because in my mind I was envisioning something else-me, in billowing black robes, with a curved light brown wand in my hand (Severus had told me the wand-maker at Diagon Alley was called Ollivander). And with this delightful thought came another, horrible, nightmarish one: what if all this was not meant for me? What if it was only for the selected few-who had magic in their lineage, their blood ('purebloods'-Sev had told me they were called)? I was the daughter of two non-magic people; their idea of magic was the-bunny-and-the-hat type tricks. What if I was not entitled to all this? Severus was saying something. I looked at him.

"Sorry?"

He frowned. "What are you thinking of?"

"Oh, nothing….Sev, does it make any difference?"

"What does?"

"Being a Muggleborn. That's what you call non-magic people, Muggles, isn't it? Does it make a difference, being a Muggleborn?"

Sev only looked down at his hands. Finally he said, "No, it doesn't. It doesn't at all, although some would like to pretend otherwise."

Relieved, I resumed collecting primroses, gathering them in a bunch.

"Um…Lily?"

"Mmhm?"

"So…..which house would you like to be in?"

"Slytherin," I replied confidently.

We both stared at each other and started laughing.

That was the first time I realized how it could be between the two of us.