Chapter Two: First Encounters

Lily stared out of the train window, lost in thought. The Hogwarts Express was headed to the castle, but Lily Evans was miles away. She was glad to be alone, to finally allow herself to cry. Well, almost alone anyway. A couple of boys who also looked like first years had joined her compartment, but they took no notice of her nor she them. Severus had left his luggage and hurriedly gone to change as soon as the train had left the station. Lily guessed it had a lot to do with the ridiculous 'muggle' clothes he always seemed to wear – old, shabby, completely out of date and usually the wrong size for him. Lily didn't particularly care what he wore, but she was aware that other people were a little more judgemental. She had made a habit of pretending not to notice the strange looks or comments to spare him the embarrassment.

Over the last two years Severus had become her closest friend. Lily told him about the fights she had with her sister, and Severus told her about his parents arguing all the time - they had no secrets. Lily admired him, despite his family's reputation back home. He knew everything about wizards and witches, and told her stories about Dementors and unicorns that didn't quite seem real. But he didn't understand her relationship with Petunia, and so Lily was almost glad for his momentary absence. Severus would think it was such a silly thing to be crying over, but it still upset Lily.

She thought of all the horrible names Tuney had called her, and felt her eyes moisten again. Freak! She heard her sister shriek over and over in her head. Despite her happiness to finally be going to Hogwarts, Lily wished she could bring Petunia with her. Then no one would be sad and everything would be perfect. The compartment door creaked open, and Lily looked up to see Severus making his way back inside. He could tell she was upset, and barely noticed the others that had joined them. He didn't say anything, he just looked at her. Lily could tell what he was thinking though; he felt bad that she was upset but he was so confused as to why, and there was a defensive edge that clearly said 'this is not my fault'.

'I don't want to talk to you', Lily told him, trying to steady her voice and failing. She looked back towards the window, trying to pull herself together. She didn't want to talk about this with him, he just didn't understand. Severus would never understand why she was so upset about her sister. Lily knew he didn't care much for Petunia, and as much she wanted to blame it on Petunia's attitude and mannerism, there was at least a part of Lily that recognized the he didn't like Petunia because she was a muggle. It was this knowledge that had caused Lily to wonder if being muggleborn mattered, and despite Severus' reassurance she wasn't quite convinced.

'Why not?' Severus asked her, upset. Lily didn't miss the defensive undertone though, he knew this was at least a little bit his fault.

'Tuney hates me. Because we saw that letter from Dumbledore', Lily told him, her voice breaking more than once. The letter, the stupid letter. Severus had found it, and they had both been terribly curious to know why Petunia was corresponding with wizards. Lily wished she'd never read it.

'So what?'

Lily looked at him, appalled. So what? So what? 'So she's my sister!' Lily turned away, trying to inconspicuously wipe her eyes.

'But we're going!' Severus exclaimed, unable to suppress the elation he felt. He had been waiting for this for years. 'This is it! We're off the Hogwarts!'

Despite herself, Lily couldn't pretend that she wasn't excited as well. Perhaps Tuney would calm down once she got used to the idea. Lily nodded, managing a small smile.

Severus was glad that they had moved onto a safer topic. She had almost stopped crying. 'You'd better be is Slytherin!'

Lily almost laughed. She had been reading her brand new copy of Hogwarts: A History ever since she had purchased it in Diagon Alley. She hadn't quite decided which house she wanted to be put into just yet. Perhaps Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, although she hadn't ruled out Severus' house of choice completely.

'Slytherin? Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?' One of the other boys in the compartment interrupted obnoxiously. He had this arrogant air about him that annoyed Lily, and the look on Severus' face told her he wasn't too keen on the boy either.

'My whole family have been in Slytherin', the boy opposite admitted.

'Blimey', the first boy replied, 'and I thought you seemed alright!'

'Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?'

The arrogant boy mimicked lifting some kind of weapon, and Lily noted how stupid he looked. ' "Gryffindor where dwell the brave of heart". Like my dad'.

Lily had all but decided go back to ignoring the boys when Severus interrupted. He let out a small reproachful noise, which called the boys attention to him. 'Got a problem with that?'

Lily watched, ready to interrupt if necessary. These boys were immature and clearly a waste of both hers and Severus' time.

Severus sneered at the pair, 'No, if you'd rather be brawny than brainy-'

'Where're you hoping to go then, seeing as you're neither?' The second boy interrupted, much to his companions amusement.

Lily stood up, her eyes narrowed. 'Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment'. There was no point in putting up with these conceited jerks for the rest of the train ride. Lily ignored them as they imitated her.

'See ya, Snivellus!' They called as Lily slammed the door. She was slightly protective of Severus. Once she had befriended him, Lily protected him from the torment of the children back home to the point where it had become routine. Hogwarts would be no different.

Lily managed to find another empty carriage, and Severus followed her dutifully. He could tell she was still upset, and despite his best efforts to cheer her up she remained somewhat dejected. It was strange to see her like this. No one who met Lily Evans could picture her without a determined smile. In fact, that had probably been one of the things that attracted Severus to her in the first place. She definitely was not the type to sit around and feel sorry for herself. Lily was the girl who found a solution and did something, Severus wasn't sure that the word 'can't' was in her vocabulary. This was a personality trait that Severus lacked, in a painfully obvious way. She was confident, determined, and could make things happen. Severus himself was insecure, timid, and pessimistic. He just didn't possess the strength she did.

Lily rested her head against the cool glass of the train's window. She was still running through her fight with Petunia in her head, frustrated and dejected that there seemed to be no solution. Sometimes you just couldn't make everyone happy. Lily was aware of Severus' consistent chatter about Hogwarts, the slightly exaggerated excitement in his voice made it clear that it was an obvious attempt to cheer her up. It wasn't working but Lily nodded along anyway, trying to find the enthusiasm to pretend to be as thrilled as he was. It was nice though, Lily thought. Nice that he cared enough to try and make her feel better.

The solitude of their carriage was broken by a knock on the door, which revealed a plump lady pushing a trolley of the most peculiar sweets Lily had ever laid her eyes on. She stirred slightly to get a better look, and Severus seized upon this.

"Look! They've got everything. Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Bertie Botts… But you've never tried them, have you?" He exclaimed. Lily shook her head cautiously, not entirely sure she wanted to try some of the things on this trolley. Despite her bad mood, she couldn't help but be transfixed by the cart. Severus dug desperately through his pockets, managing to pull out only one silver sickle, and a small handful of bronze knuts. "Two chocolate frogs, and one pumpkin pastie thanks", he said as he passed his coins over.

"Sev…" Lily protested, trying to find some coins of her own. Severus quite literally had no money, and he was forced to wear the oldest, shabbiest robes that looked like they'd once belonged to his great grandfather. Lily was sure that every single item in his trunk had once had a previous owner. It was ridiculous for him to spend money buying her sweets. "No really, my treat", he smiled, passing her one of the chocolate frogs. "We're going to have to share the pastie though; I only had enough for one". Severus admitted, avoiding her eyes. Lily knew he was embarrassed, but couldn't help being flattered by the gesture. It didn't matter how much you had, as long as you shared what you did have with the people who were important to you. That spoke volumes about your character, and it was the little things like this that proved the village had been wrong about Severus Snape. Lily smiled at him, the first proper smile since boarding the train. "Thankyou", she said, as she broke a bit of the pastie he held and popped it into her mouth. It was delicious, and not quite like anything she'd had back home. She knew Severus would feel awkward and embarrassed if she made too big a deal, but she appreciated him more than he really knew.

They spent the rest of the ride discussing all the things they might encounter at Hogwarts, and Lily's mood continued to lift when Severus pointed out the first glimpse of enormous castle. Lily was taken completely off guard. It was huge. "Wow, Sev. You never told me it was this big!"

By the time they climbed into the rickety boats that all the first years sail in, Lily was back to her usual self. "Aren't you cold?" Severus asked her incredulously as the boats moved through the water. It was freezing, with most of the other first years huddled up to conserve warmth. But not Lily. Tiny, petite Lily was standing up in the seemingly unstable boat, craning her neck to get the best view of the castle.

"How can you even be thinking about the cold right now?" She laughed, "This is amazing".

Severus just shook his head in disbelief. He wasn't entirely convinced that this boat would make it across the water, but Lily had no fear.

"Oi! You! Sit down before you fall in!" The rough voice of the game keeper who had herded them onto the boats yelled. Severus was surprised it had taken him this long to notice, although Lily wasn't particularly tall, and despite being the only one standing up her head was barely taller than that of the other first years.

Lily jumped at the voice, startled. She spun around quickly – too quickly, and with a splash Lily fell straight into the dark body of water. A couple of the girls screamed, and every single person watched nervously from their boats. Only a few seconds passed before Lily was out of the water and back in the boat. Severus looked at her with shock, her fiery red hair dripping and plastered to her face. Her bright green eyes glowed with amazement, "Did you see that, Sev?" She asked breathlessly.

"Lily, you just fell out of our boat. Everybody saw that". Clearly she had suffered some sort of brain injury. How could he have possible missed it?

"No, not that", she told him, as though falling in the lake was something that one practically expected to occur. "Something caught me, and pushed me back out!"

Severus was confused, as if any unknown creatures had been pushing him around in a freezing cold and endlessly deep lake he would be terrified, as opposed to thrilled as Lily appeared to be. But that was Lily. Sometimes he worried she was slightly insane, but her audacious optimism was probably a good quality, even though he was aware it would probably get her into trouble one of these days.

"Can the rest of us all try to stay in our boats now?" The game keeper shouted.

[authors note] So this chapter was quite a bit longer than the last (so thanks if you read the whole thing ha) but the rest should be of decent length now that the scenes been set. Hope you liked it, I tried experimenting with Lilys POV and might continue to do that every couple of chapters, but most of it will be written from Snape's (do you guys like that? would you prefer just sticking to Snape etc.) But thanks for reading and please review if you liked it or if you think there's something that can be done better :)