Okay, I'm really sorry for the delay…a further apology is after the chapter where the reviewer notes and current scoreboard is.

On to the next chapter, then!

To the Moon and Back—Chapter 9

"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.

"Well," the voice spoke, as if it were speaking to her directly into her mind and bypassing speech altogether. "Another Granger, eh? Yes…difficult…very difficult…just like your brother, and your mother and father…

"But where to put you? Plenty of courage, and talent, oh, yes…a good and loyal heart…a hunger for knowledge…and a thirst to prove yourself…

"You'd do well in Slytherin…like your father would have…you've got his disregard for the rules…Or perhaps, Ravenclaw…your mother would have done well there, of course…that would suit you well, I have no doubt…with potential like yours, your aptitude for learning…"

"As long as it's not Slytherin, please, not Slytherin" Lily thought desperately.

"Not Slytherin, eh? Well, like your father, you know that Slytherin could help you to become great…"

"Please, no, put me anywhere, Hufflepuff, even, just not Slytherin—"

"No, no, that wouldn't do at all…you'd do well there, but not like you would in Slytherin or Ravenclaw…but very well, our time runs short. I think I'll put you in..." The hat took a moment to make its final decision.

"Gryffindor!" Lily was so elated, so immensely relieved, that she hardly noticed that the hat had shouted this last word to the whole hall. She pulled off the hat and set it back onto the stool, beaming. The Gryffindor table was cheering and clapping as Lily joined them, sliding into a seat next to James, who grinned at her. Lily looked up at the high table and saw Hagrid give her the thumbs up, and a stern-faced woman in the seat in the middle, dressed in velvet purple robes might have smiled at her for a split second before the Sorting continued.

"I was really nervous," James said in a low voice as "Gudgeon, Ruby" became a Hufflepuff. "It took the hat so long to decide!"

"Well, the same with you," Lily returned, voice just as low. "It tried to put me in Ravenclaw and Slytherin, I was nervous."

"Same with me," he began, but stopped abruptly when an older student gave him a stern look. Instead, the two of them turned to watch as "Juraz, Wellington," became a Slytherin.

"Kalai, Sita," Flitwick called out. Lily stared as a girl with sleek black hair and large dark eyes made her way up to the stool.

"James, it's Sita!"

"I know, I see that," he replied obviously. "I thought she was a muggle." Lily nodded in agreement as her neighborhood friend placed the Sorting Hat on her head. A few seconds later, the hat called out

"Gryffindor!" Sita took off the hat and made her way, grinning, toward the Gryffindor table. They didn't have time to talk, because Flitwick called out the next person immediately.

"Lupin, Sirius," James watched as Sirius stumbled on his way up to the stool and was also made a Gryffindor. He slid, relieved, into the seat across from Lily as the sorting continued.

The hat had barely touched Malfoy's hair when it declared him a Slytherin ("evil git," Sirius had said), and his cronies Nott and Rookwood also landed themselves in Slytherin.

"Watson, Genevieve," Ginny's daughter timidly walked forward and placed the hat on her head. She was made a Gryffindor after several seconds, and her cousin Daniel Weasley also became a Gryffindor. Once "Yardley, Scott," had become a Ravenclaw, the Sorting ended. The hat and stool were taken away, and the feast officially began. As they began to load food onto their plates, Lily and Sita looked at each other.

"I thought you were a muggle!" they both said together. They giggled, and James looked back and forth between them, shrugged, and began to chat with Sirius instead.

"No, seriously, you said that you were going to school in the U.S." she said, frowning slightly.

"Well, you said you were going somewhere, too," Lily pointed out, helping herself to lamb and boiled potatoes. "But it makes sense, though, we couldn't really tell each other…we had to pretend to be muggles. But what about Jessalyn? She's not—"

"No," replied Sita, taking a sip of pumpkin juice from her golden goblet. "She's a muggle. At least, I'm pretty sure she it. She really is going to that Casterton School."

"You two know each other already?" a voice spoke from next to Sirius. Eve was looking over, timidly but curiously, toward Lily and Sita, her fork and knife now resting on the edge of her plate.

"Yes," Lily said kindly, smiling at her. "Sita, this is Eve Watson. Eve, this is my friend Sita Kalai, she lives down the street from us." The two girls smiled in acquaintance with one another. Lily was even more surprised when Eve began to converse with her, James, Sirius and Sita. Lily stole a hopeful glance over at Daniel, hoping that he, too, would make peace with them. He, however, was purposefully averting his eyes and pouring ketchup on his fried potatoes.

Their cheerful chatter continued—along with the meeting of the Gryffindor ghost, Nearly-Headless Nick ("I prefer Sir Nicholas, if you don't mind," he'd said indignantly when Sirius first identified him)—until after even the delectable tarts, puddings and ice creams had vanished, leaving the table and the golden plates and goblets sparklingly clean once more.

All of the older students, James saw, now had their attention turned solely on the High Table where all of the teachers sat. The formidable witch in the middle rose, and a hush fell over the Hall.

"I'd like to welcome you to another year of magical learning. I hope you've enjoyed our delicious feast, anthat by now, everything you've learned last year has been compacted in your brains to make room for all that you'll learn when classes begin tomorrow. For now, however, your beds await, as warm and comfortable as you could possibly wish. You are now dismissed," she gave them all a smile. "First years, your house prefects will escort you to your dormitories."

At this, there was a great scraping of benches as everyone began to rise from their seats and file out of the Hall. A tall sixth-year boy and girl rose and the girl raised her hand high into the air.

"First years, follow me please," she called in a loud and commanding voice that carried over the heads of several other chattering students. "Right this way." James followed the crowd out into the entryway, Lily at his side. They found the girl again and followed her up flights of stairs, down long corridors, and even through a couple of tapestries on the wall. At last, they all arrived at the foot of the painting of a very large woman wearing a pink silk dress. She rose from the chair in which she'd been sitting.

"Password?" she asked in an important sort of voice.

"Meretrix dormiens," the girl, who'd introduced herself as Sarah Inny, replied, and the portrait swung forward to admit them. They climbed through the hole in the wall and found themselves inside of the warm-looking Gryffindor common room.

"Boys dormitories are up the staircase on your left, girls, the same on your right," the male prefect, Alex, explained to them. "Your things have already been brought up, and you'll see signs marking your own dormitories. Breakfast begins at seven tomorrow, and the schedules and mail arrive at eight." He said this and both he and Sarah disappeared up the stairs. The first-years lingered in the room for a moment.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning, 7:15?" Lily said, turning to James and Sirius (Daniel had already gone up the staircase and out of sight).

"Yeah, that's cool," James said. He hugged his sister. "Night, Lil."

"Night, James," she said, and started up the staircase with Sita. They had gone up the long and twisting staircase (which made Lily sure that they were inside of a tower) and passed three large, wooden doors with placques on them (fifth, sixth, and seventh years) until, on a fourth landing, they discovered a sign: First Years. Lily pushed the door open.

She walked in, closely followed by Sita, and found that their three other roommates were already there. Eve, who was pulling on her pajamas, had a bed next to a girl with blond hair and a rosy face. Another girl, smaller-looking Asian girl with her short black hair pulled into a ponytail, had dark eyes and was lying belly-down on her bed, writing something. Upon their arrival, all three of them looked up.

"Hi," Lily said, smiling at them all. "I'm Lily Granger. What are your names?"

After their quick introductions (the two girls identified themselves as Sara Guffey and Annie Weng), Lily changed into her pajamas. Lying sprawled out on her bed, she began to write a letter to her mother.

Dear Mom,

I'm in my dormitory now after the first day at Hogwarts. James and I have met Hagrid, and he seemed quite excited to see us. The weather was great for the boat ride over the lake, thank goodness, and the train ride was great.

I think that we've made an enemy without trying, though. His name's Malfoy, and he's got a couple of gorilla-ish henchmen and he's already made fun of Sirius for his parentage. I doubt he really knew who James and I were, because I'm sure he would have tormented us as well.

I have met a lot of new people, and my dormmates seem like nice girls. Guess who else is here? Sita Kalai, from down the street! Turns out that she's actually a witch, so now she's here with me, and we're both in the same house!

Anyway, classes start tomorrow and I'll write to you after my lessons are finished. If you write to Dad again, tell him that I say hello.

Love always,

Lily

p.s.—oh, yeah, I almost forgot; I'm in Gryffindor!

"That's cute," James said the next morning over fried eggs, toast, and sausages at breakfast. He and Lily had swapped letters and discovered that both had written many of the same things.

"Thanks," Lily rolled her eyes. "Like yours was a whole lot different."

At that moment, there was a great rushing of wings as floods of owls poured into the high ceiling (which today was a clear, crisp autumn blue with a few puffy clouds drifting by lazily) and James and Lily looked up, startled. Not expecting any mail (as their owls were both safely tucked away in the owlery, they went back to their own breakfasts.

Both were surprised when a large snowy owl made its descent to land on the breakfast table between the two of them, a scroll of parchment tied to its leg. The owl held out its leg and Lily, untying the scroll, saw that it was addressed to both of them. James leaned in as Lily unfurled the tightly-rolled scroll to find a letter written in a hand that they'd never seen before.

Dear James and Lily,

I am sorry that you haven't heard from me before now, and mostly because I haven't been able to come back and see you and your mother, whom I miss more than words can ever say. I'm in Bolivia at the moment, on an Auror mission. I can't tell you more in case Hedwig (she's my owl) falls into the wrong hands. I have no doubts about her reliability, but still, one can never be too careful.

Your mother sent an owl to me with the letters that you both wrote—

"Oh," James said in mild surprise. "I didn't know that she actually sent that…"

"Well, duh, why would she have asked us to write them if she wasn't going to send them? Come on, let's keep reading."

—and I must say that I was both touched and amused. James, you've seemed to inherit my own sense of recklessness and untidy hair. Lily, my girl, you've got my eyes and, from what Hermione tells me, my smile and charisma (though I'm sorry to say that hers probably could have benefited you more). Both of you seem to share your senses of adventure with me, though—probably for the better—you've both got your mother's wits.

I don't know when this letter will reach the both of you, but I do know that, although we've never actually met, I love and miss you a lot. Please write back to me when you can—owls from loved ones over here are like gold—your own owls will know where to find me, though it is a very long journey.

Good luck at Hogwarts. I hope that you have as much fun as your mother, Ron, Ginny and I did when we were at Hogwarts (though it would be best if you had no unexpected interruptions from the Dark Side, as we did nearly every year). Make sure you try to find at least one secret passageway, and cause mischief when you can get away with it. I'm smiling for you now.

Love,

Harry Potter (your dear old dad)

"Oh, that's cool!" James said, happily jamming a bit of toast into his mouth while his sister rolled her eyes.

"What did you get?" Sirius asked eagerly, peering over from his sausages.

"Letter from our dad," Lily told him, taking a swig of her orange juice.

"Really? That's cool. This is the first time that you guys have heard from him, right?"

"Yeah," James said, as Lily's mouth was now full of food. "We wrote to him before, though. Our mom made us write these getting-to-know-you letters…we didn't know she sent them, but we just got our reply." Lily swallowed.

"Oh, look," she said, nodding toward the end of the table, where a professor she had met only briefly made his way down the long table, handing out pieces of parchment to the students. "Our schedules are coming." Sirius and James grinned at each other. As much as they hated to study, they were eager to learn some real magic.

Eventually, a wizard with brown hair streaked with gray approached them and beamed. He held a stack of schedules and beamed down upon them, greeting them in a rather cheery voice. Sirius got a proper look at him and nearly spit out his pumpkin juice in surprise.

"Good morning," he said to them, smiling and sifting through his papers. "Hello, you three,"

"Dad?" Sirius said in mild amazement. "What are you doing here?" He asked this, of course, because Remus Lupin stood before them, wearing long black robes and passing out timetables.

"I am the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I know that it's a bit of a last-minute thing, but as Professor Tirentay called to say that she was taking the year off, I've been called as a replacement," he told the three stunned students. "I'm also the temporary head of Gryffindor House, so I deal with your schedules and coursework for the time being."

"So…we just call you Professor Lupin now, right?" He nodded and handed them each a schedule.

"Yes, indeed you do, Mr. Granger," he said, "though you don't have to call me Professor when we aren't in school. There you are." He turned to go, but stopped on a sudden whim. "By the way, Sirius—and you two," he added to James and Lily, "—congratulations on making Gryffindor. I'm proud of you."

He strode away again, robes breezing behind him as he moved on down the table to the remaining students. The three of them exchanged raised-eyebrow glances.

"I can't say that that wasn't a surprise," Sirius told them. "Geez, you think he'd at least tell me! I'm his son!"

"It is cool though," Lily said, glancing over her timetable. "Oooh! We've got his class first thing this morning!"

"Yippee," Sirius said monotonously, twirling his finger in the air as a sign of sarcasm.

"Oh, come on," James said, "we wanted to learn Defense a lot, didn't we? Don't worry about your dad teaching it. It'll be great." Sirius shrugged, and the three of them polished off their breakfasts and trekked back up to Gryffindor tower to find their books and things for Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, and Potions—their first few classes of the day.

Two hours later, the first day at Hogwarts wasn't off to a bad start. Remus—er, Professor—Lupin turned out to be just as fine a teacher as Lily had heard he was from Hermione, and Professor Sprout, the Herbology witch, set them to work at once shelling the shiny pink peas from the puffapod plant. So, with a great deal of dirt under their fingernails, the three of them (Eve was walking with Daniel, who still refused to speak to them) made their way down to the cool, dark dungeons for their first-ever potions lesson.

Entering the dungeon where the lessons would take place, Lily found that the room was already aromatic, and four cauldrons were bubbling on the desk in the front of the room. It was at this desk that a very old-looking man sat, dressed in maroon velvet robes. He looked a bit like an overgrown walrus, from his long grey moustache to his bald head and squat, plump look.

"Ah, hello," he said cheerfully. "You must be the Gryffindor first-years, yes, I was expecting you," he said. James, Lily, and Sirius sat at a table with Sita and pulled their books out of their bags.

"All right," he said, pulling out a pair of Coke-bottle reading glasses and a sheaf of parchment. "Now, let me see, do I have Miss Watson?" and Eve raised her hand silently. The Slytherins were filing into the class now, and the professor continued the roll call. He took an interested pause at a few of the names (Sirius' and Daniel's included), but he gave a positively delighted "oh-ho!" when he arrived at James and Lily.

"Are you, by chance," he began, peering at them with extreme interest, "related to one Miss Hermione Granger, bless her soul," he added with a sorrowful shake of his head. "She was a very bright one, she was. Immensely stubborn, but exceedingly bright."

"Yes, sir," Lily said, kicking James under the table to stop him laughing. "She's our mother." From the scrunched look in his face, she could tell that their professor was doing some quick math.

"She's not dead, Professor," James told him. "She never was. It's a long story, really, but—"

"Would you care to tell it over tea sometime, both of you?" he asked them both. "Come see me after class and we can discuss this further, but right now we need to begin. My name is Professor Slughorn. I am head of Slytherin House and have been teaching here for longer than you care to know. Welcome to Potions class, please turn your books to page seven…"

And so they were off, first taking a page of notes, then setting about brewing a potion to cure boils. Soon the room was filled with steam and smoke. Lily was surprised to find that she rather enjoyed this, though it seemed that, though both James and Sirius were reasonably good, they weren't spectacular at all. When the bell sounded the beginning of the lunch break, everyone scrambled around to rinse and collect their things, while James and Lily (glancing at Sirius and telling him to save them seats at lunch) approached Slughorn's desk, where he waved his wand and three cups and a steaming teapot appeared in front of them.

"Sir?" Lily asked tentatively, but Slughorn's walrus-like face broke into a grin and he waved his wand again, causing two plush armchairs to appear and drop before his desk. James and Lily sat in them, both eyeing each other warily. Slughorn handed them each a china cup after pouring hot tea into it, then took one for himself, sitting back comfortably in his own chair.

"Very good, very good," he said. "Now, Hermione Granger's alive, you say?" Lily resisted the temptation to roll her eyes and say 'duh!'

"Yes, sir," James said with a quick sideways glance at his sister. "She left after the Final Battle. She thought her best friends were dead and couldn't stand to stay here, so she went to the United States, found out about us, and stayed there," he finished lamely. Slughorn seemed to study the two of them for a moment, first James and then Lily, surveying them with an appraising eye.

"Dare I guess who your father is?" he asked, taking what was supposed to look like a casual sip of tea. Neither answered. "I taught your mother and father, you know, and your grandparents as well. Lily Evans was one of the brightest students that ever stepped into this room."

"Wow," Lily said, "you taught them as well?" Slughorn chuckled.

"Yes, m'dear, I've taught here for longer than I care to think about. There was a break between, of course, but I've been at this castle for quite a time. Always taught potions…never could leave after Dumbledore…anyway," he said as James finished his cup of tea. "You'd better go, before you run out of time to eat your lunch. I'll see you at the next lesson."

"You know," Lily told her brother as they made their way back up to the tower after lunch. "I'll bet that if Professor Slughorn's still doing that club thing of his, he's going to invite us to be in it."

"Probably," James grumbled, not too eager for the idea. "Anyway," he began, brightening a little, "we have a meeting with Hagrid later, right after Transfiguration."

Transfiguration wasn't a disappointment at all. At the beginning of the lesson, Professor McGonagall turned her desk into a pig and back again, a feat that they learned they wouldn't be able to manage until much, much later in their magical education. They did, however, begin by turning matches into needles. James managed to halfway convert his on the third try, and ten minutes in both he and Lily had produced perfect sewing needles; they were the only two students to do so. Professor McGonagall gave them both a smile.

"Your mother would be proud of you," she said, handing back their needles. "You've clearly inherited her talent in transfiguration." They smiled politely in return, though they were only half paying attention, as both were eager to get down to Hagrid's hut.

Not even bothering to drop off their books, they left the castle and walked the grounds to the gamekeeper's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. As they skirted around the pumpkin patch and approached the door, there was a barking noise within the hut. Lily glanced apprehensively at James as the two of them walked up to the door and gave a knock.

The door swung open immediately, and they saw Hagrid's large, hairy, tangled face and huge silhouette in the doorway. He grabbed the collar of a large boarhound as it tried to jump on and lick them.

"All righ' there, James, Lily?" he said in his usual gruff voice, moving aside and allowing them inside of the hut. "This is Fang, by the way," he said, indicating the huge dog. Hagrid dragged Fang back by the collar and invited the two of them to sit at the large table, which was already set with three bucket-sized mugs and a platter of what looked strangely like chunks of tan cement. James sat in one of the chairs, followed by Lily.

"Thank you so much for inviting us, Hagrid," Lily said, smiling politely and trying to ignore her thoughts, which were strangely focused on the mystery things. She saw that James was also eyeing them suspiciously.

"Yes, thanks."

"It's not a problem," he replied, finally letting go of Fang, who wasted no time bounding straight at James and licking his ears. James began to scratch him behind the ears, with the effect that the great brown dog stretched out lazily on the floor. Just then the kettle whistled.

"Oh, tea's done," said Hagrid taking the kettle off of the fire, adding the tea leaves, and filling each mug with hot tea. "So, tell me all about yer firs' day at school."

Okay, there's Chapter 9!

I promise that in the next chapter the kids will meet Harry, and the twins, Harry, and Hermione will all be together.

Okay, so to my reviewers…

Terrenis-sama: Thank you, that's so sweet! Sorry it's been so long since the last update.

Kendallpaigecharity: Hmm…two either-ors, so you can have ten points for Gryffindor! I'll try to update again as soon as possible, but they keep us pretty busy here at school.

Hairapotter: Okay, thanks! Keep reading!

Lilah lee: Thanks! Yep, Lily's a Gryffindor, so you'll notice Sara the prefect, so five points for you as well. You're an awesome reviewer…keep reading!

Siberian-Tigress: Thanks a lot! Keep reading and I'll keep writing. I hope you're enjoying it.

RPYDK: haha I'm too lazy to write it so I'm abbreviating. Yep, so you get ten points for Gryffindor! Keep reading!

James'nsiriusfan: Thanks a lot for the luck, I'm gonna need it. They keep us pretty busy here, sorry it's been so long since I've updated. Harry's in person in the next chapter, with a twist.

Risel Salazar: Good guesses! 15 points for Gryffindor then! Thanks a lot for reading, and I'm glad that you like it.

Kal's Gal: Here, again, sorry that the update took forever. They keep us busy here at school, so I'm going to have to write as often as I can during free time. Keep reading!

Kiyana Wisperwing: Hmmm…none right, but they were all good guesses. I hope that you keep reading and try for a right answer on the new questions.

Angewoman-13: None right, but you're such a great reviewer. Keep reading and guessing, you may just get one of these ones right.

LADY DANIELLE: Yep, Gryffindor is right! Five points to Gryffindor, then, for you.

So the scores stand thus:

Gryffindor: 120

Hufflepuff: 15

Ravenclaw: 15

Slytherin: 0

Questions for the next round…

Did you spot the Latin?

I've talked about a twist in the story…any guesses as to what might happen next?

That's all of the questions for this next chapter, I think. So that's about all.

Again, I apologize profusely for not updating, but when I moved into my dorm at school (It's a boarding high school), I couldn't get the stupid internet connection to work, so I wrote this and it's been sitting for a couple of days, but here it is now!

I'll try to put the next one up as soon as I can.

Until next time,

Callista Rose