Chapter 3

Before Lily had the chance to take in the squashy furniture, the red and gold banners, and the fires glowing in practically every corner, she saw a room full of familiar faces, familial faces. There was only one face that she had expected to see and was absent. Hugh was somewhere in the depths of the school, and not among the relived face in front of her.

"See, told you she wasn't dead," James laughed at Al who looked like he had stopped pacing in mid step. He was lounging on a couch, tossing Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans in the air and catching them with his mouth. He'd never show it, but he had been just as worried as the rest of them. "Al thought Mum'd send him a howler for sure."

Al ran over to her and pulled her into a hug, "Don't ever do that to me again," he whispered in her ear and then hurried off to the dormitories.

"You shouldn't wander off like that Lily."

"Lou's right," Molly paused from braiding Lucy's hair, "the castle is a big place. You could have been lost for days."

Roxy looked up from her friends to smile at Lily, then rolled her eyes at Lou and Molly and continued talking to her friends. She shared Fred's composure in stressful situations, it was one of the reasons most people liked her right away. It was refreshing to be around someone who didn't fret over every little thing.

"You should be ashamed of yourself Lou, losing Lily like that," Fred started with a wink to Lily. "I found her wandering the halls, so lost and afraid. Her hands were bloody scabs, fresh tears glistened on her cheeks, and she kept mumbling about something – a boggart I think, from the horrors she described. She was lucky I found her, else she might have died." His tone changed from the horrors he had invented to scolding, "Honestly, I can't believe you lot. She's not a dainty flower, she's a Gryffindor! If she was lost don't you think she'd ask a fellow Gryffindor, or a teacher, or a ghost, or even a portrait?" The whole common room was looking their way and Lily's cheeks turned red. This was not exactly how she had planned her entrance into Hogwarts. It seemed to be exactly what Fred had wanted though. He pulled out a piece of parchment from his robes and grinned, "Now that I have your attention, who wants to place an order for some of my dad's stuff? Twenty percent off to the brave of heart, and that means a hundred and twenty percent the cost to those slithery blokes down stairs."

The Gryffindors rushed to get their orders down and cough up their galleons, sickles, and knuts. The discount had made a few of them happy, but the big seller was the added cost to the Slytherins. Lily pushed her way through the crowd. She already had enough of Uncle George's products to last for a while. He had stuffed Skiving Snackboxes, Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, Canary Creams, and a handful of Weasleys' Wildfire Whiz-bangs into her trunk before she had left for school.

Lily forced her way over to where James was taking up a couch big enough for three people. She shoved his feet to the side and sat next to him. He had put his sweets to the side and was twirling his wand between his fingers. It was no secret that he had been dying to get it back after it had been taken away from him at the beginning of the summer. He couldn't use magic outside of school, but a wand was a wizard or witch's friend, and it left James feeling naked all summer. It had been only a part of the punishment he had received for a prank involving a vanishing cabinet, an unsuspecting Slytherin first-year, and a suit of armour in a wing of the school not frequented by the student population. It took three days for them to find the poor kid.

"So, did Fred talk to you about quidditch?"

"How'd you know?"

"Are you kidding? Last time we played he couldn't hide his excitement. Remember, on the way back to the house? He was whistling, he was so happy."

"I didn't notice."

James shrugged, "What are you going to do?"

"I dunno, play it by ear for the next few weeks, I suppose."

"You want these?" James asked, shoving the candies he was eating under her nose. They looked suspiciously like the bad flavours; James had a talent for weeding out the nasty ones.

"I'm good."

"Suit yourself, I'm off to bed." He threw the remaining sweets into the fire.

"Goodnight."

Halfway to the staircase that would take him up to the dormitories he stopped and turned back. "I almost forgot," he said with a smile, "tarantallegra."

Lily's legs flailed in ever direction. Luckily she was sitting down and it was more of an embarrassment and an annoyance than an actual problem. She pulled out her new wand - hawthorn, twelve inches, phoenix tail feather – but realized she didn't know a spell that would help. Of course she had heard about a few, aguamenti, reparo, episky, those were the types of spells you heard a lot growing up when you had brothers as troublesome James and as clumsy as Teddy, but none of those would be terribly useful. Frustrated, she sat and hoped that the spell would wear off eventually.

An older student noticed her dilemma and came over to help. She held her wand steadily and spoke very clearly, "Finite incantartum." Lily's legs settled at once.

"Thanks, I'll have to remember that one."

"With a brother like that, I'm surprised you didn't know it already."

Lily laughed, "Since we're not allowed to do magic outside of school, it's never been a problem."

"Well it works on most jinxes, best of luck."

"I think I'm going to need it." She now had quidditch, classes, and a troublesome older brother to worry about; and not necessarily in that order.

"You'll be okay. Just keep your chin up, wand ready, and don't turn your back on a Slytherin."

"Oi, Shook!" Fred called from across the room, still surrounded by a pack of students, waving at the girl next to Lily.

"If you want me, you'll have to come and get me," the girl called back with a wink.

Fred rolled his eyes, but laughed all the same. "Sorry everyone, shop's closing for tonight." The groans of the crowd were silenced when he added, "Quidditch calls."

"You coming out for chaser this year?" he asked when he finally made it over.

"I've told you a hundred times I am. I only didn't play last year because I had to focus on my O.W.L's. As Professor Davies likes to point out, I'm no Hermione Granger." Even all these years later, no student had ever surpassed the intellect Hermione exhibited during her years at Hogwarts.

"Just making sure that you hadn't changed your mind, girls seem to do that at an alarming rate. I see you've met my lovely cousin, Lily."

"Is that her name? We've not gotten that far yet."

"Sorry to push you two to the next level, I should mind my own business."

"Yes you should, but since that's not likely to happen, maybe you should properly introduce us. I feel silly doing it now."

"Righty-ho. Dearest cousin, Lily, may I introduce you to my good friend, Adeola Shook. She's our third chaser, after Roxy and James."

"Excuse me, but I'm pretty sure I came before those two."

"Yeah, but you're a deserter so you've been demoted. Anyway, Lily is thinking about trying out."

"In your first year? I like this one Freddy, she's got balls. What you play?"

"Usually I get stuck with seeker, but I like chaser more. I play a bit of everything though."

"Uh-oh, looks like I've got a bit of competition."

"I doubt it, I'm not that good. I'm only trying out to get Fred off my back."

"With parents like yours, you'll be amazing. James is the best chaser I've seen in years, and I've heard Fred rave about Al as a beater. It's a pity he won't try out, really."

Lily didn't know how to respond, so she stayed silent and let Fred and Adeola delve into a heated discussion about the sport they loved. After a few minutes of listening to the two of them argue good naturedly, Lily slunk off to the dormitories, following a fellow first-year girl. The first-year dormitories had parchment pinned to the doors with a list of who was staying on what level. Lily found her name, too tired to notice anyone else's, and collapsed on her bed. She didn't bother to change before she drifted off to sleep.