Chapter 6 – Hogwarts
As winter turned to spring, and summer was close, Severus and Lily went shopping for shirts and shoes. They tried on ties and black coats, pretending they were at Hogwarts and experimenting as if those were their uniforms. One week before school started and the two of them needed to go book shopping. Severus' mum dropped them off outside the Leaky Cauldron, and they made their way to the back where she said they would find Diagon Alley. But they were met with a brick wall. Severus and Lily stood there staring at the wall for a few minutes before a woman in a deep blue cloak approached them.
"Are you two trying to get to Diagon Alley?" she asked.
"Uh, yes we are," said Lily, "But we aren't sure where it is."
"Oh, you're starting your first year at Hogwarts, hmm? It's wonderful there."
She took out a stick and tapped the bricks in a pattern. The bricks began to move outwards, around each other, moving away from the centre from where they were tapped. They kept moving until they formed an archway; an archway that led Lily and Severus to Diagon Alley. They stepped inside.
It was incredible, the amount of shops and people and animals and magic was overwhelming. So much colour. People carrying owls and brooms and books and wands and robes. The shops – Ollivanders, Madame Malkin's, Florish and Blotts, the Apothecary and Eeylops Owl Emporium. And at the end of the road, Severus could see Gringotts, the wizard bank. They walked down the street past all the amazing stores, witches and wizards of all ages milling around, chatting with each other. There was a group of students crowded around a broomstick shop, admiring a broom labelled 'Cleansweap 2'. In the window of Madame Malkin's they could see black school robes, green, purple, gold and blue dress robes, a white robe for a bride and shoes for all occasions. They got to Gringotts and went inside to ask about money.
Inside there were tiny, hideous creatures waddling around with keys and bags of money. Severus and Lily couldn't help but stare as one approached them waiting at the front desk.
"Children," he was muttering under his breath. "What do you two want?"
"Uh… we were wondering," Lily stuttered, "How we could get some money?"
"Do you have a key?" the creature asked, its glare shifting between the two of them.
"Uh, no," said Severus, "We are just starting our first year at Hogwarts, and we don't have and money yet." Severus could see Lily's fingers crossed behind her back.
"Yes, well, we have a First Years Fund here for ratty children like yourselves," the creature said. "Go and talk to that goblin over there." He pointed behind him.
Goblins, duh!
Lily thanked the goblin a little too kindly for the way he spoke to them, and they followed the other goblin down a dark corridor to a vault labelled '1'. The goblin withdrew an old looking key from his pocket and unlocked the vault. The door opened to reveal a large pile of gold coins and brown, draw-string bags. Both children's mouths dropped. The goblin reached in and took out two pouches of gold and gave one to each of them.
They exited Gringotts and walked right into the first shop to their left – Madame Malkin's Robes For All Occasions. They spent the rest of the day trying on robes, reading books, finding their wands (Severus ended up with an 11 inch wand made of unicorn hair and mahogany, while Lily's was a willow and unicorn hair wand at 10 ¼ inches) and looking at pets. Severus decided against buying any sort of animal for fear of what his father might do to it when he brought it back for the summer. Lily, however, bought a brown barn owl which she insisted on naming Chancellor.
"Lily, you can't call him that, it sounds stupid!"
"I shall call him what I like."
"Okay, suit yourself."
Severus wished he was able to have his own pet, but he guessed he would have to settle on helping Lily in caring for her owl. For the rest of the day they browsed the remaining shops, and Lily literally had to hold Severus back as they passed Knockturn Alley. He didn't understand why they couldn't go down there, oh, but the perfect miss goody-two-shoes Lily was - of course they couldn't.
The morning of September the first, neither Lily nor Severus could contain their excitement about finally going to Hogwarts for the first time. Lily's parents offered to take Severus for which he was grateful, and Severus' mother provided them both with tickets. They arrived at King's Cross Station at 10:30am with their trolleys filled with books, quills, robes and an owl. Severus looked at his ticket.
What?
"Lily," he said wearily, "Um, my ticket says Platform 9 ¾."
"Don't be silly, Severus, there's no such thing," she said, taking out her ticket and examining it. "What? Platform 9 ¾? How are we supposed to find that?" she asked him.
Severus was thinking. "Why don't we just go to Platform 9 and 10, and just wait around till we find someone who looks magical and ask them?"
"Good thinking, let's go."
They steered their trolleys to the platforms. Just as they were arriving, they saw a young boy with light brown and old ratty clothes run straight at the wall between the platforms with his trolley, and disappear into the wall. Without even thinking about what he was doing, Severus made a spilt second decision, grabbed Lily's hand and ran at the wall. He opened his eyes a second later, to see a large scarlet and black train with the words 'Hogwarts Expressed' engraved on the front carriage. There were children with parents, siblings and friends, people milling around, exchanging kisses and tears, trying to board the train. Severus could almost taste the excitement and joy in the air it was so thick. At exactly 11:00am, Lily and Severus boarded the Hogwarts Express, finally starting their journey, their lives, as part of the magical world.
The train came to a stop after hours and hours of travelling. It had taken them a while, but the two of them had found an empty carriage, which they had to themselves the entire trip. Both bought candy from the lady with the trolley of sweets, and shared and rationed it so that it lasted the entire trip. Some boys came into the carriage and introduced themselves rather enthusiastically, although they mainly spoke to Lily and ignored Severus altogether. White, one of their names was… or maybe it was Black?
It was almost 11:00pm when they disembarked the Hogwarts Express. As Severus took his first step into Hogsmeade Station, a boy with glasses shoved past separating him from Lily. They met up again in front of some students who announced themselves as Prefects, and told them that all first years were to take row boats across the lake in front of Hogwarts.
They boarded the boat, which started rowing itself across the lake and around a large tree. Severus' eyes lay upon the Hogwarts Castle and his breath caught in his throat. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side of the lake was Severus' new home. Its windows sparkled like stars in the night sky, and it had many pointy towers, Severus knew one of them to be Dumbledore's office. The boats stopped at the edge of the lake and the children clambered out, all chatting away to their friends about the beauty and excitement of Hogwarts. The Prefects led the first years though the courtyard, past statues and towers, and they stopped in front of two large oak doors with brass handles. Lily took hold of Severus' hand and squeezed it, as the doors opened, and they took their first step inside the Hogwarts Castle.
They were taken through a corridor and past some class rooms before they came to a halt yet again in front of another set of doors. There was a middle-aged woman standing in front of them. She was wearing deep green robes and a pointy hat, her hands folded in front of her, and small, square spectacles sitting on her nose.
"Welcome," the woman said, her voice hushing the entire mass of children, "to Hogwarts. My name is Professor McGonagall, and I am one of the teachers here at the school. Now when we pass through these doors, you all shall be sorted into one of the four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin."
Slytherin; that's the house Severus hoped he and Lily would be in.
"Now whilst you are here, your house will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you points, any rule-breaking and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points will win the House Cup. You will be Sorted by the Sorting Hat, you will sit on a stool and I shall place the hat on your head."
Professor McGonagall walked back up to the door, and poked her head in. She returned to the first-years and said, "We are ready for you, you may now enter the Great Hall."
"Evans, Lily," Professor McGonagall's voice rang through the Great Hall. Lily walked up and sat on the stool. The Hat was placed on her head and began talking to her. Severus crossed his fingers and hoped with all his might.
Please be in Slytherin. Please be in Slytherin.
The Sorting Hat bellowed, and Lily walked over to the Gryffindor table. Severus' heart sank. They would be separated. Different houses were bad enough, but Gryffindor and Slytherin? Not a chance. Their friendship would be ruined.
"Potter, James," The boy who had pushed Severus on the train was sorted into Gryffindor, Lily greeted him and he beamed at her. A pang of jealousy hit Severus right in the chest.
"Snape, Severus," McGonagall called. Lily immediately stopped talking to James Potter and turned her attention to the front of the Hall. The Sorting Hat was put on his head and began to speak.
"Ahh… Snape… mother was a Slytherin and father - a Muggle… Hmmm, I see a girl, oh, she's in Gryffindor, is she? Well there's simply no chance of that, you're simply not brave enough. Hufflepuff, no, Ravenclaw, perhaps, I can see your mind's looking good, oh, 'but the girl' you say? Not Gryffindor, Snape. There's no bravery here. But... I can see what you do have; you're cunning and power hungry, and that means… SLYTHERIN!" the Hat roared.
The Slytherin table erupted in applause, both the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables clapped out of habit, and the entire Gryffindor table was silent; all except Lily. Severus was glad that she didn't mind that basically every pair of eyes on her table were looking at her. It made him feel special, like she was special. Severus was determined not to let their houses ruin their friendship. He made a promise to himself and to Lily. He would not let one thing get in his way of loving the Angel. Not one thing.