Chapter 4

The day had finally arrived. Harry was going to Hogwarts.

Lily had opted to apparate to London with him, as both Remus and Sirius were unable to get out of working, and then the two walked the last few blocks to King's Cross Station, Harry's trunk and Hedwig's cage shrunken down and stuck in her pocket.

The snowy owl hadn't been part of Lily's list of things to make sure her son had for school, but was included thanks to Hagrid unexpectedly showing up at their house on the boy's eleventh birthday with the bird in tow. While happy to see the man, Lily had at the same time been internally fuming, with Minerva not far behind.

"I should have known better," the Transfiguration mistress muttered to her former student at one point during the small party. "Albus almost never visits me while I'm preparing the first years' letters - he must have shown up just to get a peek at Harry's, and so learn where you two were living-"

"What's done is done, Minnie," Lily sighed. "All he seems to have done with the information so far is send Hagrid with a birthday present." Across the backyard, Hagrid's booming voice could be heard regaling Harry and Neville with stories about great Gryffindors, while the other adults looked on.

"Hmph. That man always has his own reasons for doing things, Lily, and he's become a master of utilizing any bit of information he can glean."

"Well, perhaps he simply wants Harry to be in Gryffindor as much as you do."

They'd left it at that, and tried to enjoy the small family get-together for what it was. Hagrid wound up departing after not too long, saying he had to go pick something up from Gringotts for the Headmaster. The boys eagerly promised to see him soon, and spent a great deal of the remainder of the afternoon admiring the snowy owl and feeding her treats - at least until Sirius warned that too many would make her too fat to fly. Hedwig didn't much appreciate that comment, dive bombing Sirius in order to prove it, which just set everyone else off laughing.

The month between that day and the current one saw Harry bond with his new familiar, pack and re-pack his trunk at least a dozen times, review all his mother's old first year textbooks as well as his new ones, and just about bounce off the walls with excitement.

In truth, Lily was greatly relieved to finally be taking her son to the train station.

"Come on love, we're almost-"

"Lily? Is that you?" Turning, the woman cast her eyes over the nearby crowd, and lit up with a grin upon spotting the man who'd called out to her.

"Fabian! It's good to see you." She gave the tall redhead a hug when he joined them.

"And I can't believe I'm seeing you! Ten years, Lily, what brings you out of- oh, I see." Smiling, Fabian Prewett bent over slightly to better see his old comrade's son. "You must be Harry. Blimey, I can't believe I lost track of how old he'd be."

"Well, with seven children to look out for yourself, I can hardly blame you!" Lily laughed.

"Ah, now you've lost track, Lils - it's only five now, since Bill and Charlie got themselves graduated and off to new lives."

"That's right, I remember now. What about the others, and Gideon, I assume they're around here somewhere?"

"Should be getting here in just a moment. I went on ahead with assorted luggage items," Fabian pulled open the large bag he was holding, showing off the assorted shrunken trunks within. "There was bit of a fit outside, since Ginny's not happy about being the only one left behind with me and Gid."

"Oh dear."

"Nah, little tyke will get over it as soon as she realizes she'll have our undivided attention over the next several months. And lo and behold, here they come!" A wave of redheads were plowing their way across the crowded train platforms, heading straight to where the trio were standing still.

"Fab! You daft old coot, you were supposed to go all the way through th- bloody hell, is that Lily?!"

"Good to see you're making sure to watch your language around impressionable children, Gideon." She snorted, also hugging the second man to approach.

The Prewett twins hadn't changed much over the past decade, still enjoying wearing their ridiculous riot of clashing colors, though the wild hairstyles had been tamed back a bit. Behind them, the five present Weasley children were watching with interest, each dressed a bit more modestly than their uncles. It wasn't until the tallest of them coughed that Fabian and Gideon realized they needed to perform some introductions.

"Right, Lils, these are what remain of our sprogs: Percy here with the glasses, he's a Prefect this year, the two handsomely identical devils are Fred and George, this is Ron in the Chudley Cannons shirt, and last but by no means least, our littlest troublemaker Ginny." Fabian proudly went through the list, each of the children nodding as their names were called.

"Kids, you remember whenever we'd mention that fantastically fearsome friend of ours who invented the Within-a-Wall-Window Charm, the one who's been in hiding since the War?" Gideon went on. "Well, this is her, Lady Lily, and I do believe her son Harry as well."

"Hi," Lily's son piped up, grinning tentatively at the group. They all gave him smiles of varying strengths in return, and then Fabian clapped his hands together.

"Right now, time to go through the divider before we all get locked out - don't want to repeat that incident from our own fourth year, do we Fadeon?"

"No indeed, Gibian. Come on kids, Percy, you first, and go find a compartment for the younger years to pile into." As the children began hurrying through the magical barrier, Gideon leaned over to mutter in Lily's ear. "We always have them sit together on the train ride, makes everyone feel safer. Harry's welcome to join them, if you want."

"I'd appreciate that, Gid, thank you."

Not ten steps past the other side of the divider, they were hailed by another shout, and then Frank and Alice manifested out of the crowd of parents. "We wondered when you were going to get here, Lily!"

"A bit behind schedule, but we made it."

"Morning Fab, Gid. Good to see you both."

"Same to you, Frank. Little Neville already aboard?"

"Yes, it was so hard to let him step on without us, but we managed." Alice smiled tearfully. "I can't believe the time's come already to send him off to Hogwarts."

"Me neither." Lily gave her a quick hug, before turning to Harry. "Now as for you, young man..."

"Behave myself, don't antagonize anyone, only explain about the scar and our past if I absolutely have to, do my best and have fun."

"Just so." She wrapped her arms around him and held on tightly for a minute.

"Mum, I can't breathe..."

"Alright!" Laughing, Lily released her son and gave him a nudge towards the nearest train car. "Go. And send me a letter as soon as you can stand to do so!"

Re-sized trunk in one hand and Hedwig's empty cage in the other, Harry set off after the group of Weasley boys. Lily paid close attention through the windows until she saw them all settle into a compartment, with her son pressing his nose to the glass, green eyes searching for her. The woman waved, trying not to cry when he grinned and returned the gesture.

A few minutes later, the Hogwarts Express began to pull out of the station, and Lily felt all her pride, fear and worry gather up in an unpleasant ball in her throat. Alice squeezed her right hand, Fabian patted the opposite shoulder, but still the red haired woman's eyes remained on the caboose of the departing train.

All she could see was a little face, green eyes framed by round glasses and a fringe of dark hair, with a pair of parallel scars on his right cheek.

By nightfall, Lily's nerves were at the breaking point. Fabian and Gideon had promised to meet for dinner at some point, but left the station in order to return to their home with Ginny. Frank and Alice, though, promptly took their friend back to her house, hoping to help her through the storm of emotions. This was helped a bit when Sirius and Remus arrived, finally freed from their respective jobs for the day. They each asked how the drop-off at the train went, before joining in with the 'get Lily's mind off her son's absence' ploy.

Which, admittedly, did not succeed in the slightest.

Dinner was assorted leftovers that Frank heated up for everyone, but Lily hardly touched her plate, as she was too busy pacing all around the living and dining rooms.

"Sooner or later, woman, you have to eat." Sirius called to her at one point. Lily just waved a dismissive hand at him, and continued with her pacing.

"I know she places so much time and effort into keeping Harry safe, but I've never seen her worry this much over him," Remus muttered. The others mumbled their agreements, all watching worriedly.

Eventually, Alice got to her feet and walked over. "Lily... You know he'll be fine. The train has more alarm charms than Gringotts, if anyone attacks before he gets to Hogwarts' wards we'll be among the first to know and respond-"

"Erm, Alice, whatever are you going on about?" Lily asked with no little amount of amusement. The other woman blinked, as the did others at the dining room table.

"Harry... It's, well, it's just that we've never seen you so worked up over his being gone. But he'll be fine, Lily, you know he will."

Turning from her friend to face the men where they all sat, Lily had to suppress a snicker. "You all think I'm worried over Harry's safety right now? Don't be daft. I'm always concerned over that boy, but right now I'm more worried about how he's going to react if the Sorting Hat puts him anywhere other than Gryffindor." And with that, she returned to pacing.

The rest of the adults exchanged bemused glances and finally switched from being concerned over their friend to minding their own business.

About nine o'clock or so that evening, there came a soft chime from circular mirror attached to the dividing wall between the kitchen and dining room. Lily hurried over and activated it with a quick word. Everyone gathered around as both Harry and Neville appeared within the mirror, grinning where they sat side by side on one of the Hogwarts dormitory beds.

One with red curtains.

Which was all the confirmation the grown-ups needed to know that their boys had made it into Gryffindor. There were immediate whoops of excitement from Sirius and Frank, hastily shushed by glares from Remus and Alice. Lily, though, simply beamed at her son.

"Congratulations," she told the boys. "But I still insist you tell us everything in a letter."

"And we will, but this was too good to pass up." Harry replied.

"Aunt Minnie gave us each a pat on the shoulder, too!" Added Neville, thoroughly delighted.

"Just remember, you can't call her that when other students are around," Alice warned.

"Except for the last day, when she can't assign you detention anymore."

"Don't be daft, Sirius, Minerva would just come here to give the boys their punishment."

Everyone chuckled as Remus rolled his eyes at Sirius' sheepish expression.

"Alright now, let's let the boys get some sleep, they've got a big day ahead of them." Lily admonished the others. "Goodnight Harry, Neville. I think it's safe to say we're all incredibly proud of you."

"Thank you, Aunt Lily."

"Thanks, Mum. Love you! Goodnight, everyone!"

A quick chorus of sleep well and good luck later, and Lily ended the communication spell.

"Well," she beamed. "I'd say we're off to a wonderful start."

A/N: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

(Next chapter, we'll be seeing Snape's reaction to Harry, and how Lily responds after hearing about it, muahahaha...)

-Tri