She hadn't been sorted in Gryffindor, she was in the house of Hufflepuff
Lily sat there, staring longingly at the Gryffindor table. Two years ago, she had asked her dad if he had any friends in the other houses. I had a few in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Lily watched as she saw Albus conversing with Rose in hushed tones, and Hugo talking to another boy who was new to Gryffindor. What was his name? Jason Thames?
"Excuse me? Are you, um, a pureblood or half blood by chance?" The person next to her asked.
"Does it matter?" Lily mumbled in response, not looking at the speaker.
"No! of course not, it would be, you know, just kind of awkward if I asked a muggle born like my self questions about Hogwarts and magic." Lily sighed and looked at the girl next to her. She had dark hair and hazel eyes. "Yes," Lily finally said, "I am a pureblood, ask away."
"Awesome!" A smile broke on her face, she was very welcoming, and Lily had to smile, this girl was that contagious. "I'm Hannah by the way, Hannah Owen." She thrust her hand forward, expecting Lily to shake it. Lily did, noticing that Hannah's nails were chipped and broken.
"You bite your nails," She concluded. Hannah snatched her hand back, looking away.
"Yeah, I do, nasty habit it is. Don't ever try it. Hey! Do you think that there is a spell that would help me stop?" She asked curiously. Lily thought about it for a moment.
"I don't know. There is probably one that will help you grow them faster."
"Cool! So, um, is there a ceiling or is that really a sky?" She looked up trying to determine if there were any bricks behind the enchanted sky. Lily had to laugh at the question.
"No, it's enchanted. Wait a minuet. You're the girl that sneezed earlier!"
"Yeah, and your the girl who said bless you. Ironic how we got in the same house, isn't it?"
"Sure, ironic," Lily suddenly remembered why she was upset in the first place.
"What's wrong?" Hannah asked. Her voice sounded as if she actually cared why Lily was so upset.
"It's a long story."
"Well, I'm not doubting for a second that part of it is you are not eating. Hey Bernie! Wanna pass over the mash potatoes? Thanks." She started serving potatoes onto Lily's plate, when she felt satisfied with the amount, she started adding sliced apples.
"You are the person whom I'm going to if I have any more questions," Hannah told her as-a-matter-of-factly, "and believe me, I will. By the end of this night, I will probably exhaust you so much, that if you don't eat anything from this amazing feast, you will collapse before we get to the common room." She was now pouring pumpkin juice into her goblet. Hannah practically filled it to the rim before giving Lily's plate a slice of kidney pie. Lily stared at her plate, then at Hannah. This complete stranger was making sure Lily was okay. Lily wrapped her arms around Hannah.
"Thank you, I feel better already," she told Hannah.
"You're welcome," Hannah smiled back. Lily took her fork and knife, digging into her dinner, not realizing till now how hungry she was.
"So," Lily started after a few swallows of food and drink, "your voice sounds different than mine. Why is that? Are you on like some medication or something?" This time it was Hannah's turn to laugh, her laugh sounded homely and pleasant.
"I'm from America, like the United States of America. My voice sounds different than yours because I have an American accent, and you have an English one." Lily thought about that, she hardly knew where America was, that is what you were taught at muggle school.
"So, um, what are you doing here? Wouldn't they have a school like Hogwarts in America? It's across the ocean right?"
"Yeah, it's across the ocean. They might have a school like this, I don't know. My dad got a job here, so we moved. We walked into our knew house for the first time, and guess what was on the kitchen table? An owl! I'm an only child, and my parents are non-wizard folk, so it was a good thing that a Wizard visited our house, or I wouldn't be here!" Lily nodded, understanding.
"Where from America are you from, they have states right?"
"Correct, don't worry, I don't expect you to know, you probably didn't go to public school and learned geography." Public school? Lily made a mental note to ask Hannah about that later, "Any who! I came from New York City." Hannah sat up a bit taller, clearly proud of where she came from. Seeing Lily's confusion, Hannah gasped. "Don't tell me you've never heard of NYC! Oh my gosh! It's kind of like London, crowded, Buildings everywhere. Some of the states nicknames are The City that never Sleeps and The Concrete Jungle. There's New York Broadway there, and many of fashion designer stores, not to mention Forever Twenty One..." Hannah continued talking about New York. Lily listened carefully, she had never heard of The Statue of Liberty or The Empire State Building, and it fascinated her beyond believe.
"And at Christmas time, people go to New Jersey to get the biggest Christmas tree ever and put it right in the middle of time square." Hannah was gasping for air at this point. Lily could tell that when she got excited, she spoke really fast.
"That is so cool," Lily said in awe, "so what is-"
"Wait, I thought I was the one supposed to be asking questions." Hannah giggled. Lily blushed in embarrassment, she forgot that Hannah hardly knew about where she was sitting.
"Oh goodness, sorry Hannah, it can be your turn now, ask anything."
"What's your family like?" Lily was struck with surprise. It was such a simple question, yet she hardly knew how to respond.
"Well, I start with my parent's time I guess. My dad had two best friends, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley. Hermione and Ron got married, and had my two cousins, Rose and Hugo. They are sitting at the Gryffindor table now. My dad married Ron's younger sister, Ginny. I have two older brothers, Albus and James. They are also sitting with the Gryffindors."
"Wow, your whole family is in Gryffindor. I bet you were the first to be in Hufflepuff, no wonder you were upset earlier. I'm sorry." Hannah patted her shoulder. Lily smiled,
"I'm not minding so much anymore. Hufflepuff seems like a pretty good house."
"I know it is. What are your brothers like?"
"Well," Lily began, serving Hannah vanilla pudding, "James. He's kind of a joker. He and his buddy Alex will take any opportunity to scare my cousin Hugo cause they think it's funny." Lily was now putting pudding in her bowl, "Albus is only a year older than me. We are really close he and I. He's a bit more serious and responsible than James. None of us would be surprise if he became a prefect. Actually, my whole family has taken bets on who will become a prefect first. Rose or Albus. I'm betting on Albus of course, James is for Rose, but I think he's doing that to irritate Al." They continued talking about their lives, family and interests. They only stopped when Professor Erwin stood up and cleared his throat.
"Now that we have enjoyed this wonderful feast," he said to the Great Hall. Hannah whispered that he must've been the Headmaster. Lily nodded, her eyes gazing upon him. He was pretty short to be honest, he had black hair, except for the tips, which were graying. he continued with his speech.
"Mister Crate has asked me to remind you that the Forbidden Forest is of limit to all students." He shot a glare at James and Alex, who were snickering. "And any Wizard Wheezes products are not allowed. The list is on his office door if any wished to check it. Now off to bed!" All the plates were cleared and Hannah whistled. There was a clattering chorus of chairs that were being scraped across the floor.
"First year Hufflepuff's follow me please!" Lily looked up to see a girl standing by the doors, waving to attract the fellow Hufflepuff students. She had long blonde hair that was pulled back into a ponytail, and looked no older than fifteen. Lily nudged Hannah, and they started to make their way towards the prefect. It was a mess. Students left and right were trying to all get out at the same time. Hannah was constantly holding on to Lily's elbow, from tripping over feet and robes that dragged the floor.
"Sorry," she kept muttering over and over again.
"Don't mention it," Lily was practically dragging Hannah at this point. She was about to tell her that they were close to the exit, but when she opened her mouth, she ran into somebody.
"Sorry!" Lily cried,
"Well watch where you're going next time!" That voice was more familiar than Lily wished it was. She looked up to see the glaring grey eyes of Scorpius Malfoy.
"Oh, it's you," he looked surprise with what just came out of his mouth, Hannah was now standing up properly, staring at Malfoy, wondering if he was worth the trouble or not.
"So, er, I'll see you around then?" It took everything Lily had not to gasp out loud.
"I guess so..."
"Right then, er, bye." Malfoy closed awkwardly and walked away without a glance back. Lily stayed rooted to the spot, what was he playing at, talking to her nicely?
"What was that about?" Hannah asked curiously.
"Tell you later," Lily whispered back, "but we really should catch up, don't want to get lost," they hurried forward the Hufflepuff prefect was now standing just out side of the entrance, counting heads.
"Ah there you are!" She said kindly when they finally came up, "I was wondering where you were, I knew I was missing a few first years-"
"Don't you think that it's a bit nerdy to count how many new student are placed in Hufflepuff?" Lily turned to see another boy about fifteen. His tie was loose, and he seemed to be buffing his fingernails with a smirk on his face.
"Look Crossover," she snarled, "I didn't want anyone to be lost. Honestly, why did you even get selected for prefect?"
"Well," he started, every one's head turned, as if they were watching a quaffle being tossed back and forth, "I was the best for the job. Clearly all the new students like me, right kids?" He opened his arms wide, as if he expected every one to fall into his arms. No one moved. The other prefect snorted.
"Well that settles it. The Hufflepuff common room is down by the kitchens. You should know though-"
"Psst, hey Lily," Lily turned around, practically nose-to-nose with James.
"Listen sis, congrats on making Hufflepuff, but, don't go near Al for a couple of days."
"What? Why not?" James just shook his head and walked away. Ruffling Lily's hair before he left. Hannah looked sympathetically at her, and started re-combing her hair, as if they had done this for years.
"Every one ready? Let's go." They all started walking to the right, away from all the other houses. Everyone was quiet, they all craned their necks to stare at the constantly changing staircases. They turned right and was soon walking down a flight of stone steps. Lily half expected it to be dark and damp down there, but instead it was cheerfully bright, and there were pictures of food all through out the corridor.
"Just so you know," Crossover started, turning his head around, "after the stairs there, if you take a left instead of a right, you come to a door with a huge fruit bowl. Tickle the pear and-"
"JAXON!" Hannah jumped. This was clearly Crossover's first name, because he responded with a glare at the other prefect. "They are first years. Don't be giving them all the secrets to Hogwarts!"
"Fine." They had reached they end of the hallway, they were now standing in front of a large portrait that had a table with bananas, strawberries and apples cut as croissants. When they approached, the fruit formed itself into a face.
"Err, Lori? What's the new password?" Lori rolled her eyes at Jaxon, then whispered something to him under her breath.
"Oh! Right right! uhm, the password children is, Diggory!" The bananas made a smiley face and the door swung open.
"Who's Diggory?" A boy behind Lily asked,
"I don't know," Lori looked to Jaxon, but he just shrugged his shoulders. "I think he must've been a student here a while back. But no matter, welcome to the Hufflepuff common room!" There was a fireplace with very used yellow chairs beside it. There were tables alongside the wall, a few of them had chessboards on. The ceiling was also yellow, and in black there were names that Lily couldn't make out very well.
"What do those writing mean?" Hannah asked, pointing to the ceiling. Everyone was looking up now, squinting, trying to get a better look.
"You'll find out soon enough." Lori said quickly, cutting off Jaxon. "But right now it is time for bed. Girls, you are up the stairs on the left, boys same but for the right. All your possessions will be by you beds." Half the group took that as their queue to leave, and headed for their staircase. Lily stayed. She had this odd feeling that the names had something to do with the past of her school and family. She pushed that thought away, the second one that night. She followed Hannah and three other girls up the staircase. There were five beds, Lily's was the one farthest away from the door, and Hannah's was right next to hers. Realizing how exhausted she was, she started to undress and put on her pajamas. She was just peeling her socks up when her three other roommates walked up.
"I'm Sally," the girl with reddish blonde hair said, "and these are Tina and Beth."
"I'm Lily, and this is Hannah," Lily gestured to Hannah, she waved a cheerful hello and went back to brushing her short brown hair.
"Wait, you are Lily Potter aren't you?" The girl named Tina asked.
"Um, yeah." Lily answered nervously.
"Get out." Beth seemed to be astonished, even Sally's eyes widened.
"Your dad wouldn't be Harry Potter by chance?" Sally questioned cautiously.
"He is." Then she quickly added, "and by brothers are James and Albus,"
"sweet." Beth smiled.
"Why is this so important?" Hannah interrupted.
"No reason, just pretend we never asked that," Tina started backing away to her bed, and so did the other two. Lily shrugged and snuggled under her covers. They were warm, and this sudden feeling of sleepiness washed over her. She closed the draping around her bed, and fell into a sleep with smile on her face.