DISCLAIMER: I down own it if you recognize it from the books, kapische?

Okay, so without further delay, on to chapter 8!

To the Moon and Back—Chapter 8

"Good morning, sweetheart," a gentle voice resounded softly in Lily's ears from what seemed like a very great distance away. Slowly, she realized that this was her mother's voice, and it was not part of her dream (which had been a very strange one). She squeezed her eyes farther shut for a moment before she opened them a little bit.

She could see her bedroom half-filled with early morning sunlight, which streamed in around the blinds on her windows that had been pulled shut. Rolling over, she saw the blurry outline of her mother standing over her. Hermione smiled and handed her daughter her glasses.

"Morning, Mom," she said groggily. "Is it seven already?" Hermione nodded.

"Yes, it is. Come on, now, you need to hurry and take your shower and finish any last-minute packing that you have to do yet." Lily put on her glasses and realized that her mother's usually bushy hair hung sopping down her back and she wore a pink bathrobe.

"Okay, I'm going," she said, rolling out of bed rather reluctantly and grabbing the clothes that she'd chosen to wear on the train (flared khakis and an emerald sweater that matched her eyes).

"Breakfast will be ready when you're finished," Hermione called after Lily as she closed the bathroom door behind her.

"Okay," she called back through the door. Hermione couldn't help grinning to herself. Her children were finally going to be at Hogwarts! They, like her, would probably spend some of the best years of their lives there, and would probably make friends that would last a lifetime and grow to love all of the castle's secrets and oddities. She paused for a moment, contented with these thoughts, before turning to wake up her son.

Nearly forty-five minutes later, after good breakfasts of French toast and several last-minute dashes to bedrooms to check that neither had forgotten anything, the trunks were loaded into Hermione's car. Lily sat up front, and James and the twins' owls (whom they'd christened Ramses and Isis) were buckled into the backseat for the drive to King's Cross Station, which took a surprisingly short time.

Though James and Lily were excited about the excursion to Hogwarts castle to persue their magical education, they couldn't seem to feel anything except nervousness at the moment. Both had been uncharacteristically subdued from the time Hermione had woken them that morning.

"What's wrong, you two?" she asked them as they pulled out in front of the train station and began the search for a parking space—they were so early, however, that it wasn't too crowded.

"Nothing."

"Okay, I definitely don't believe that for one second," she said, pulling into the space and cutting the engine of the car. She sat there for a moment, still wearing her seatbelt, and glanced from one child to the other, reading the identical expressions of nervousness on both of their slightly ill-looking faces. "Are you nervous?" Lily and James looked at each other, then back toward her. They nodded simultaneously.

"Yes," Lily said, "but you must think that it's silly—"

"Of course not," she exclaimed, unbuckling her seatbelt and turning to look at them properly. "I didn't know a single soul when I first got on that train, but I ended up making a couple of friends before I even got to the school." She looked lovingly at both of them. "I understand what you're going through, and believe me when I say that you are going to have some of the best times of your lives while you're at Hogwarts."

"Okay," Lily said quietly.

"Okay?"

"Okay." James unbuckled his seatbelt rather reluctantly.

"Don't worry about it, really," Hermione said, opening the car door and stepping out to unlock the trunk of the car. The two children followed, retrieving their owls' cages and setting them on the ground while Hermione went to get trolleys for their trunks. Loading the luggage, the three of them wheeled the carts into the large station.

"It's only a quarter to ten," Hermione said, checking the large analog clock that hung high on the brick wall of the station. "Your train leaves in an hour and a quarter."

"That's okay, train stations are fun."

"Yeah, good people-watching." And so, on the children's insistence, they rolled their trolleys over to Platform 4 and sat on a wooden bench, watching the passersby run to catch the train that would soon be leaving for Dublin, Ireland. Hermione couldn't really see what they found so interesting about it all, so after twenty minutes she pulled them away and toward the barrier between platforms nine and ten.

With a careful glance around to be sure that they weren't attracting attention from the many muggles who now swarmed the station, Hermione ushered them twenty feet in front of the barrier. Upon seeing it, James grinned ear-to-ear, while Lily, throwing it a skeptical glance, tightened her grip on the trolley she was pushing.

"Can I go first?" James asked eagerly. Hermione nearly laughed out loud.

"Of course," she told him expertly. "Of course, you might run at it if you're nervous." James nodded. His face was set toward what looked to Lily like a very solid brick wall, and pushing off he broke into a fast run. Lily closed her eyes, hoping he wouldn't crash, but she looked up a moment later and saw that he had gone.

"Go ahead, Lily. I'll go with you, if you like," Hermione offered kindly, noticing the petrified look on her daughter's face.

"No, that's okay, I can do it," she said more confidently than she felt. Her face was set as she turned, head held up, and began to walk calmly toward the wall. She didn't want to alarm any muggles by running, and this way if the barrier decided for some reason that it didn't want to let her through she wouldn't crash into it.

Of course, she didn't have to worry about this at all, because a moment after disappearing through the brick on the other side, she emerged onto another platform entirely. A scarlet red steam engine plastered with large, glossy black letters that read The Hogwarts Express sat on the rails, giant puffs of white-grey steam issuing from the smokestacks. She felt a tap on her shoulder and looked around.

"You made it," James said, grinning so excitedly that he almost looked, well, mentally challenged. Lily laughed.

"Of course I made it, you loony! It's not exactly hard, is it?" James shrugged, still smiling.

"There aren't a lot of people here yet, though," he said, and taking a look around the platform, Lily saw that he was right; only a handful of people were there, seeing their children off onto the train to school. One of them, a strange-looking woman with very short, dirty-blond hair and sharp nose, caught Lily's eye and smiled curiously. Lily was wondering whether to smile back before the woman turned back to her family.

"What took you, Mom?" James asked as Hermione came rushing through the barrier, clutching her mobile phone in her hand.

"I thought you weren't allowed to use those muggle things here," Lily pointed out, looking at the phone. Hermione rolled her eyes and tucked the phone back into her purse.

"Yes, well, that old bloke at the ticket counter kept throwing glances at me, so I had to pretend to talk on this so that it wouldn't look suspicious. I waited a while for a large group of people to pass between us before I could escape," she explained, sounding rather annoyed. James and Lily shrugged as if to say, "oh, well," and James started to say something, but he was interrupted before he'd even begun to speak.

"Hermione?" a woman asked curiously. Lily and James turned to look at her. Lily recognized it as the witch who was staring at her, at least, she thought it was; she wore the same clothes, but her nose had become more normal-looking and her hair was now bubblegum pink. Hermione laughed.

"Tonks, is that you?" she asked, though it was completely unnecessary. Though she was undoubtedly older, she didn't look it. She and Hermione embrace, and Hermione knew by the look on her face that nobody had said anything to her about being back in England.

"Oh, Merlin, it's really you!" She exclaimed in her usual jovially energetic manner. "You gave us a fright, you did."

"Well, I'm glad that you're completely back to normal, hair and all," she said through a smile, suppressing more laughter. As another family came through the barrier, the four of them moved off to the side.

"So, are these your kids, Hermione? I bet I can guess who their father it," Tonks said, chuckling.

"Oh, yes, this is my son, James, and my daughter, Lily." The two of them smiled at Tonks.

"Wotcher," she said pleasantly. "I'm, well, your mum knows me as Nymphadora Tonks, but I've since married Remus, well, the name thing can be sticky. Just call me Tonks," she told them , putting her hand out to shake each of theirs. Lily liked her immediately, and she could tell that James thought she was a cool person as well. "You have your mother's face and your father's eyes, Lily, and James—well, you seem like Harry through and through. Hair's a bit lighter, though, and you've got your mother's eyes."

"All right, well then," Hermione said after a moment, clearly wanting to speak more with her old friend. "Why don't the two of you go and find a compartment to stash your things in and meet me back here." Both rolled their eyes in her direction, but she gave them a look and they turned to find a compartment while Hermione and Tonks strolled off in the opposite direction.

With effort, James and Lily heaved their heavy trunks onto the scarlet locomotive and dragged them to a compartment near the back. Together, they hefted their trunks into the luggage rack, and tucked Ramses and Isis onto two seats. Sliding the compartment door open, though, they were nearly steamrollered by another large trunk, pushed from behind by a boy who didn't look much older than they were. He had neat brown hair and his grey eyes had a playful glimmer in them.

"Sorry about that, nearly mauled you over, didn't I?" he said with laughter in his voice, wiping his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt.

"Uh, yes, but that's alright. Those trunks can be heavy," James said, immediately taking a liking to the boy. "We can help you, if you like." The boy nodded gratefully.

"Thanks," he said. "My name's Sirius, by the way. I'm going to be in the first year."

"I'm Lily, and this is my brother James," she smiled, stepping over the trunk to get a better lift angle. "We're going to be first-years, too."

"So, would you like to share a compartment with us?" James asked amicably. The boy called Sirius smiled.

"Definitely! I don't really know anybody yet—well, yes I do, but they aren't here, at any rate. That would be great," he thanked them again and the three of them carried and dragged the trunk to the compartment until it was safely tucked in with the other two. They all left the compartment together and hopped off of the train.

"We've got to go and find our mother," Lily said, "but I'm sure that we'll see you soon enough." People were beginning to come through the barrier more rapidly now, and it was tougher to spot Hermione through the crowd. At last, James saw her and nudged Lily, both skirting the growing crowd to get to her. At last, they reached her side and Lily tapped her on the shoulder to say something, but she caught sight of a strange man that she'd never seen before and looked up, surprised.

"Hello, you must be Lily and James," said the man. His brown hair was streaked with grey, though his eyes were kind, and he looked to be several years Tonks' senior. Hermione caught the twins' wary looks and had to laugh.

"This is Remus Lupin," she explained, nodding in his direction. "He's Tonks' husband, and an old friend." James and Lily nodded, and Lily smiled.

"Pleased to meet you," she said politely, just as Tonks reappeared again through the crowd, with three children in tow. The one at the head of the line, whom James and Lily recognized, was the brown-haired boy Sirius. He smiled as he, along with what Lily guessed were his mother and siblings, approached them.

"Here they are," Remus Lupin said affably, "You've already met my wife, I see, and these are our children, Sirius, Clara, and Romulus," he introduced them each in turn. Sirius rolled his eyes and smiled jokingly.

"Yes, we've just met Sirius on the train," James said, grinning.

"Oh, have you? That's excellent," Tonks said, hoisting her youngest son, who appeared to be around six years old, onto her hip to avoid him wandering.

"Oh, James, look," Lily said suddenly, pointing in the direction of the barrier, through which a group of people had arrived. "Isabella is here, let's go and say hello."

Three quarters of an hour later, James and Lily gave Hermione one last hug and clambered back onto the train and leaned out of their compartment windows, waving good-bye as the train began to crawl along the tracks.

"Be good, please, and have fun!" Hermione said to them, walking with the train. "Write to me tomorrow, okay? I want to know all about the Sorting, and about your lessons and everything." The train picked up speed. "I love you both so much," she cried as a tear slipped down her cheek.

"We love you, too,"

"Bye!" The train was going too fast for her to catch up now, and James and Lily pulled their heads into the windows before the train rounded a corner and Platform 9 ¾ disappeared from view. They sat back into the black plush seats; the only other person that was currently in their compartment with them was Sirius.

After an hour or so of animated conversation, James and Sirius began to talk spiritedly about quidditch. Though Lily did like the game quite a lot, she became bored with the talk about it and decided that, since they were allowed to use magic aboard the train, she wanted to see if any of the spells she'd read about would work for her. Opening her trunk, she extracted her wand (ten inches, ash and dragon heartstring) and the Standard Book of Spells and settled herself in a far corner of the compartment.

The train rumbled on through the sunny countryside, where the neat little farms all spread together like a large green patchwork quilt. Every now and then the train ran past a little forest, or over a river or canyon, but all was without incident. Around noon, there was a rattling noise outside of their compartment door which made the three of them look up with interest.

Outside of their compartment was a small, slim woman with blond hair who was pushing what looked like a large, treat-laden trolley. She smiled at the lot of them.

"Anything off the carts, dears?" she asked, and the three of them jumped up. Hermione had given each of them five sickles for sweets from the trolley, and after a minute all three were laden with Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott's Every-Flavor beans, and a supply of Pumpkin Pasties, which they spread on the seats beside them as they began to eat their lunch.

"James, do you want your sandwich?" Lily asked. "It's PB&J, I think." James nodded.

"Sure, thanks," he said, ripping open the packaging for a pasty. He looked at Sirius, who had an eyebrow raised. "Our mom packed us each a sandwich and we had to promise her that we'd eat them so that at least we'd have something with nutritional value." He rolled his eyes as the sandwich Lily had lobbed over from their trunks hit the side of his head.

"Yep, that's what my dad said, too," Sirius said, holding up a shiny apple that was nestled among the sweets. He hastily took a bite and chewed. "Not quite as nice as the sweets, though—well, except perhaps some of the Every-Flavor Beans."

"I agree," Lily said, tearing off a bit of her own sandwich and jamming it into her mouth. "But you know, your dad and our mom do have a point."

"Hey, guys, I know this is really random," Sirius began, "but why do you say the word 'mum' like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like 'Mawm' instead of just 'Mum.'" James shrugged.

"Just the accent, I s'pose," he said, "although—" but the sentence was interrupted by their compartment door sliding open.

A scrawny-looking boy with a hard pale face and bleach-blond hair that fell to his shoulders entered the compartment without invitation as the three turned their heads and looked at him uncertainly. He was followed by two hulking boys, one short and stocky with bristle-like hair, and the other was tall, looking rather like an overgrown weed with oily black hair. They stepped into the compartment, not bothering to shut the door behind them, and the blond boy glanced around at them with a cold face.

"So," he said. His voice was cold and drawling, and took Lily by surprise. "We thought that we would come and try to—socialize—with some of our fellow first-years, but now I see what's in this compartment—" his gaze narrowed at the sight of Sirius. He never finished this sentence.

"My name's Malfoy," he said to James and Lily. "Abraxan Malfoy." Sirius quickly turned his snigger into a hacking cough. Malfoy's cold eyes turned on him almost immediately.

"I wouldn't be laughing at my name, if I were you," he said, eyes flashing. "Not with what you've got for parents, a couple of blood traitors and a werewolf father." Sirius clenched his jaw, tightening his hand into a fist as if he yearned to jam it into the boy's mouth. He turned back to Lily and James. "You two seem of respectable parentage, though. What's your surname?"

James elbowed Lily to silence, but this was quite unnecessary. Lily instead looked back from one ape-like crony on Malfoy's side to the other. Malfoy, to James' surprise, noticed this and replied to his sister's glances with a lighter tone.

"Oh, this is Nott," he gestured to the piggish boy, "and this is Rookwood," he indicated the weedy one. "What are your names?"

"I'm James," James began cautiously. "And this is Lily." Malfoy looked the two of them up and down, and after a moment extended a hand to Lily. She didn't take it, and both she and James gave the boy cold, piercing stares, folding their arms. Malfoy looked extremely miffed.

"Fine, then," he spat. "Go on and make friends with riffraff like this," he jerked his head, sneering, at Sirius, who now had both hands balled up into fists.

"Shove off, Malfoy," he spat just as maliciously as Malfoy had. "You shouldn't be saying all of that tosh about good parentage, seeing as how your father's been in Azkaban nearly your whole life."

"I know a lost cause when I see one," he said coolly, trying to ignore this comment but cheeks tinting pink nevertheless. "C'mon," he muttered to Nott and Rookwood, and all three left the compartment and slammed the door behind them so hard that the glass rattled. Lily turned to Sirius, but James spoke first.

"What was that all about?" Sirius shook his head, fists and jaw still tightly clenched.

"That thing," he said, sitting down across from James and Lily, "was the most loathsome creature I have ever had the misfortune to come across. His whole family's rotten to the core, they're all into this pure-blood mania, you know, like anyone with any connection at all to the muggle world is scum. He obviously didn't know who the both of you were, or he'd have spit on your trainers."

"He's a real jerk, all right," James agreed, sitting back in his seat. "I hope we don't see much of him again."

"I doubt it," Sirius said, unclenching his fists at long last. "His whole family's been in Slytherin for ages, and I doubt that he's much different."

"I hope not, if he's half as bad as his father was," Lily put in. "Our mother told us about when she was at school with his father—at least, I think it's his father—and he hated her because she was muggle-born, and said a lot of nasty things to her." James and Lily looked at each other darkly.

"If his father's in prison, he probably deserves it," James muttered bitterly.

"Well, at any rate," Sirius said, peering out the window, and then at his watch. "We should be arriving soon, so we'd better change into our robes."

In what seemed like a very short time later, the Hogwarts Express was screeching to a halt in the train station. A loud voice on the train announced that they should disembark and leave all of their belongings on the train, so Lily and James quickly shoved their muggle clothing back into the trunks and, with Sirius next to them, stepped off of the train.

"Firs' years over here," a booming voice called out over the mass of students streaming in a different direction. "Firs' years, come on now, all of yeh." Lily noticed that a giant of a man was sticking out feet taller than everyone else. His face was mostly a mess of shaggy black hair with a bit of grey, and he wore a heavy moleskin coat. Tugging at James' sleeve, Lily fought through the crowd to stand at the giant's feet.

"It's Hagrid!" Lily said excitedly. "I was hoping that he'd still be teaching here!"

"We don't know if he's teaching, but at least he's still gamekeeper," James said, grinning.

"What're yeh goin' on abou' down there?" Hagrid's hairy face was looking down, right at James and Lily. It suddenly dawned on them that everyone else, including Sirius, seemed too shocked and intimidated by Hagrid's sheer massiveness that they couldn't speak. Lily opened her mouth to answer him, but something strange seemed to be going on in the giant's mind.

"What're yer names?" he asked the two of them.

"James Granger."

"Lily Granger." Hagrid's face broke into a grin. He pulled both of them into a bone-crushing hug, and as he was so massive, it wasn't incredibly funny. He set them down after a minute and both were soon able to breathe again. An expression of confusion settled on his hairy face.

"But—wait—how's tha'—?" He became aware that the entire crowd of first-year students were looking up at him expectantly. "Tell me later," he bent down near them and muttered this, then straightened up again and cleared his throat importantly. "Righ' then, let's go, follow me."

They set off, walking for a long time. It was dark, and Lily thought that they must be walking through a forest, because left and right other students were tripping over tree roots and rocks sticking out from the ground. Suddenly, they rounded a corner and a space cleared among the thickly-grown pine trees.

Hogwarts castle sat up on a hill, brilliantly illuminated by the glowing, soft yellow lights in its windows. It's magnificent reflection was mirrored in a large, rippling black lake. Several people oohed and aahed before Hagrid directed their attention to a fleet of small wooden rowboats lined up on a long dock.

"Righ' then, all aboard, no mor'n four to a boat." Hagrid got a boat to himself, and Lily, James and Sirius were followed into their boat by a round-faced black girl with long, braided hair who introduced herself as Johanna Benton. The little boats set sail on their own and began to sail across the vast lake.

"Our mother's not dead, sir," Lily was telling Hagrid (he had pulled his boat quite close to theirs while she explained the story of her disappearance and return). She told him much of the story, James taking over in the middle to give his sister time to gaze around at the magnificent sight before they sailed into a little underground tunnel lit by flaming torches.

"…and so we came back to England so that the two of us could go to Hogwarts," James finished as the boats docked on a pebbly embankment and ushered everyone out of their boats.

"I know it seems foolish to ask," he said in a low voice, "but it your father, but chance--?"

"Harry Potter? Yeah," Lily said, grinning, as Hagrid led everyone up to a large door and knocked three times with his massive fist. It was almost immediately opened by a short little wizard wearing deep blue robes and matching hat, both spangled with gold stars. He smiled at the lot of them.

"Ahh, yes, thank you Hagrid," he said. "Come this way, please, all of you," he said, and without further ado they followed the tiny man up three flights of stone staircases, where they were left in a room off of what looked like the main hall. "Now, in a minute or two, we will go through the doors into the Great Hall where you will be Sorted into your houses. While you are here, your house will be much like your family within the castle. The four houses are Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Each has a noble history and has produced outstanding witches and wizards. I'll come back for you when it's time."

He turned and swept out of the room, and the rest of them, who were all waiting in various states of nervousness (even James had gone slightly pale, and Sirius was staring off at one of the bricks in the wall), were left alone. Lily turned to her brother.

"Whatever happens from here on," she began, looking hard at him. James gave a nervous laugh.

"You sound like we're going to die or be separated or something," he said a lot more confidently than he felt. Lily opened her mouth to say something, but instead gave him a quick hug. It wasn't long before the short little wizard came back and beckoned them forward and into the Great Hall. It was magnificent, glittering in the light of thousands of candles hovering in the air, four long tables sparkling with golden plates, goblets, and cutlery. Hundreds of faces were turned toward the group of them.

When they were all in a line at the front of the Hall, facing the high table where the teachers were sitting, Lily noticed a beaten-looking hat that was patched, ripped, and quite dirty sitting on top of a three-legged stool. After a few moments of silence, a rip near the brim of it opened wide, like a mouth, and it began to sing.

"I am the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

I've served time out of mind,

And I was crafted for one job:

To put you with your kind.

The Founders were people

Each unique and all complex,

Difficult to understand,

More so to second-guess.

I'll trawl your mind and character,

To find your talents deep,

But you've no need to fear me for

Your secrets I shall keep.

You might find friends in Slytherin,

For those who flout convention,

They, cunning and ambitious folk,

Are strong without intervention.

If Gryffindor, you have great courage,

And be known for your valor,

Your gallantry and chivalry

Make red and gold your colors

Yet Hufflepuff may be your place

If you've a loyal heart,

Those Hufflepuffs, hard workers

Can set themselves apart.

Last but not least, Ravenclaw

Welcomes into its throng,

Those who call knowledge power

And with the wise belong.

You hold a part of every house,

Though strong may be your voice

And sure be your self knowledge,

I make the final choice."

When the hat had finished singing, the whole hall broke into applause and little Professor Flitwick stood atop a small stool of his own so that he could be seen. He held a roll of parchment in front of him, called out, "Abood, Ricky," and the Sorting began.

"Benton, Johanna," the hat called, and the round-faced girl who'd shared a boat with James, Lily and Sirius stepped forward rather nervously and placed the hat on her head. Several seconds, later, the hat shouted,

"Hufflepuff!" The Hufflepuff table clapped enthusiastically at the arrival of a new student, and Johanna smiled, looking relieved, and joined their table. As the Sorting continued, Lily grew increasingly more queasy. She began to lose track of how many people had been sorted into each house

She knew that they had to be getting close—yes, they had just called "Finelli, Lisa," to the three-legged stool. She was declared a Ravenclaw, and Lily waited with bated breath, and sure enough—

"Granger, James," the hat shouted. Lily looked anxiously at her brother, who was making his way confidently to where the hat was, and put it on, where it slipped down over his eyes. Lily stood there, rooted to the spot and barely breathing, eyes round with anxiety. James took a very long time to sort, and for a split second she had a terrified thought that they would tell him he didn't belong anywhere and to get him on the next train back into London, but then the hat opened wide at the brim and shouted

"Gryffindor!" James shot Lily a grin, and his eyes read, "you'll be fine," as he made his way over to the cheering Gryffindor table and sat down.

"Granger, Lily," Flitwick's squeaky voice called out. Lily took a deep breath, her face set resolutely, and she walked up to the stool, hopped up onto it, and slipped the hat onto her head. As the hat slid down over her eyes, the last thing she saw was James, sitting at the Gryffindor table now, looking at her with the same anxious look she had given him just moments ago.

She could see only the black inside of the hat now. And then a tiny voice that seemed to be coming from the hat itself began to speak.

Oooh, I know, I'm evil…but I guarantee that you'll think I'm completely awful after the next chapter. Why? Well, you'll have to find that out for yourself, then, won't you?

Hehe. Okay, so this chapter is longer than the others have been, but that's because it might be a few days before I update again, I don't know. I have been packing for school, and I go there on Friday (it's a boarding school…yeah), so I don't know how much free time I'll have. By the way, since McGonagall is now Headmistress, the Deputy Headmaster (Flitwick) does everything she used to do as Deputy Headmistress. So she's there, but hasn't spoken yet.

I'm really glad that people have been asking me where Harry is. Because I definitely haven't forgotten about him. He's on an Auror mission, remember? If you really want to know where he is, I'll tell you: he's in Bolivia. There. Happy?

Of course not! He'll reappear, though, next chapter or the one after it. And yes, he does know about Hermione and James and Lily. Actually, it's not in yet, but Hermione's told both kids to write letters to Harry introducing themselves and such, telling them what houses they're both in, interests, likes, dislikes, that sort of thing. And Hermione's written to him as well, in addition to Ginny's original letter. Harry hadn't had time to write back, but I promise that they'll be reunited eventually.

Let's see, I don't have time to do individual reviewer things today, but I do want to give quadruple kudos to my loyal readers—Monk of the Neko, lilah lee, james'nsiriusfan, gokulover, kendall-paige-charity, and LADY DANIELLE—you guys completely ROCK MY WORLD!

I would, however, like to clarify something. Hermione and Harry are the parents of Lily and James. James and Lily's mother and father are Hermione and Harry. Not Ginny. Not Malfoy. Not even Colin Creevey. Harry and Hermione. I had a certain person—um—relentlessly guess a surprise parentage. There are no surprises with the genetics.

So anyways, a bunch more points were awarded. Nobody correctly answered my first question (the first friends that the twins would make on the train), but that was difficult. Though since kendallpaigecharity did mention it, she can have, um….five points for it. And as for the woodchuck question, that was a joke, but I got very creative answers to that one from Keman and Angewoman-13, so five points to each of you.

As for the second one, indeed, it was Hagrid. So ten points if you got it in one guess, and five if you guessed an either-or. So that's points to Keman, risel Salazar, Angewoman-13, Goku-lover21, and kendallpaigecharity.

So here are the current standings:

Gryffindor: 70 points (Whoa!)

Ravenclaw: 15 points

Hufflepuff: 0

Slytherin: 0

There are also 25 outstanding points from Keman and risel salazar, so you two need to tell me what house you're with, or those points, as promised, will go to Hufflepuff. The next batch will be split between Slytherin and Ravenclaw.

And since nobody responded correctly to have their own character, this is the last call. The first two to review with one correct answer and tell me your name and the house you want your person to be in will get characters. But only if you give all three of those things!

Okay, so the questions:

1. An unexpected friend? Who could it be?

2.You'll hate me for asking, but what house will Lily be in? And remember, I've already got this part of the next chapter written, so whatever you guess won't influence the story.

Why does the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher look so familiar?

Okay, that's all for now!

Ttyl

Callista Rose