Well here you have it, the first official chapter. The whole chapter will be a series of flashbacks, so be prepared. I was so ecstatic to find that already I have 13 readers! It made me smile, but I still haven't received any feedback so if you could pretty please send me some that would be amazing! Constructive criticism is as welcome as praise and I really hope you like this chapter! -A

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is still not mine, darn!

The Life of Another

A young girl sat, long chocolate brown ringlets falling freely about her tiny shoulders as she looked out upon the ocean from a large rock located on the cliff above. Foam bubbled up around the waves and gulls flew about the air in intricate patterns, their speckled white bodies glowing in the light of dawn. Her small hands tightly gripped the rock beneath her as she stared out in amazement at the endless water, a child's serene innocence playing out on her face as she followed the graceful birds with her tiny hazel eyes. Suddenly one of the gulls dove into a thick, white, bubbling wave crest and swooped magnificently back into the air, a fish in it's beak.

"Mummy!" the girl cried in horror, her tiny hands pointing frantically at the bird. Tears forming in her wide eyes.

"Sarah, what's wrong?" her mum exclaimed, leaping up from her place on the cliff just a meter away.

"Fishy!" she cried, tears running freely down her now red and blotchy cheeks.

"Oh Sarah,…"

xXx

The same girl, now a little older, her soft brown curls pulled back into a tight bun at the back of her head, stood with a smile on her face as she nervously readjusted her red leotard.

"You're going to do just fine," her instructor insured, an encouraging smile softening her elegant features. She was a handsome woman, and strict. Sarah adored her.

Softly her instructor gave her shoulder a small squeeze and pushed her forward a bit. This was Sarah's first solo and she was extremely nervous, her tiny hands flitting over her hair and the neckline of her leotard before the soft, melodious music began from the baby grand piano on the far side of the stage. With one last deep breath she forced her hands above her head and elegantly made her way onto the stage. Her feet were gracefully twisting to the music when it happened. She finally picked up enough courage to look out into the audience and the light blinded her, making her lose her balance and begin to fall. At that moment she was so embarrassed the one thing she wanted more than anything was for no one to be able to see her fall. The lights in the theater went off…

xXx

"Sarah," a young redheaded girl whined, pouting as she pushed herself back and forth on a swing with her feet.

"Lily," her friend mocked, rolling her eyes as she continued to twirl about in the sand of the playground at their school.

"Please?" the ginger pleaded, pushing her bottom lip out in a pout.

"Why? We're seven, Lils, you know how to swing," Sarah reasoned, now practicing a jump she had just learned in Jazz.

"But I want you to push me," Lily countered, her voice slightly simpering.

"But I don't want to push you."

"If you push me I'll push you! Please?" her friend begged in full pout, doe eyes staring up at Sarah as she pulled her two little hands together and shook them.

"Oh fine, you're such a baby sometimes Lily," Sarah teased her friend light heartedly, walking over to the swing and giving her friend a solid push…

xXx

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Sarah, happy birthday to you," a room full of party goers chorused, smiling happily as Sarah blew out the nine candles on her birthday cake.

"Make a wish!" Lily squealed in delight, her emerald eyes glowing in excitement.

"I did!" Sarah shot back with a "well duh" tone to her voice as she rolled her eyes at her slightly obnoxious best friend.

"What was it?" she asked eagerly. The family had all already moved into the sitting room and were talking amicably as the two girls talked rapidly.

"I can't tell you that!" Sarah exclaimed, her hazel eyes lit with an inner fire, hands on her hips.

"Why not?" Lily pleaded, pouting slightly at her best friend. She never had grown out of that pout…

"Because then it won't come true!" she stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You can't say what you wished for or it won't come true!"

"Then write it down! It never said you couldn't write it!" Lily begged, once again her friend gave into the doe eyes. She always did.

On a small strip of paper from one of her presents she swiftly wrote out her wish.

I wished that things would stay just like this and we would be best friends forever, and that 50 years from now we would still be just like this. You and me, surrounded by family.

Lily smiled at her. "Me too, Sarah, me too." They hugged each other tightly…

xXx

"Hey! Give that back!" Sarah called out in annoyance, chasing her friend around the room as Lily ran with a crumpled note in hand. "That's mine! It's private!"

"Dear Sarah, I don't know how to say this so I'm just going to write it down-"

"LILY!" Sarah screamed, her cheeks flaming in embarrassment as she snatched the note out of her grip.

"What? Come on Sarah, I'm your best friend! Best friends share this kind of stuff! Who's it from?" the annoying ginger implored, eyes alight with mischief.

"I swear, Lily you're horrible! I-"

Crash.

"What was that?" Sarah asked, frightened eyes turning to her best friend for answers. They had finally been trusted enough by Sarah's parents to be left alone while they went out on errands but now neither of them were so sure they wanted to be alone. Before she had a chance to reply a large brown owl flapped clumsily into the room and dropped two letters onto the floor at the girls feet before flying away.

"Together?" Sarah asked with great trepidation as she picked up one of the letters.

"Together," Lily agreed, and their eyes snapped to the parchment.

Sarah Jean Good

Second Room to the Right,

1004 Willowtrail, Newcastle, England

We are pleased to inform you, you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry….

xXx

"Hey Sev!" Sarah called out excitedly, dragging Lily with her over to the strange boy they had grown up with. Lily beamed at him.

"Severus!" she exclaimed, pulling him into a hug. The two girls grinned excitedly at the young boy and he couldn't help returning the expression.

"Hello Lily, Sarah," he said with a bob of his head to each in turn.

"I can't believe we're here, can you?" Lily stated excitedly, spinning in a quick circle to take it all in once more. The train station was fascinating.

"Well I did know I would be going here for as long as I could remember," he tried to say in a bored tone but they caught the lie in his eyes. He was just as excited to be there as they were.

They were now on the train and seated in a compartment as they chatted amicably amongst themselves. The trolley had come and gone and Sarah had bought a bit of everything for all of them to share. It was then the compartment door opened and in sauntered a group of four boys, the two in the front rather arrogantly holding themselves in a remarkably pompous manner. Sarah wanted to laugh, but thought better of it…

xXx

The great hall was magnificent. Students lined the tables and candles floated mid air. Both Lily and Sarah had expected as much, having spent the better part of the summer reading up on any and everything they could lay their hands on that would tell them about the new world they were entering and, more importantly, Hogwarts. Nervously they watched in awe as the first of the students was called up to be sorted. Though Hogwarts, A History had prepared them somewhat for what was to come they felt no less trepidation for it.

"Adams, Craig," McGonagall called out, placing an old worn out hat on his head as he sat on the stool. To their great surprise after a moment of stillness the brim twitched before loudly calling out "Hufflepuff"

The next few went by much too quickly and soon "Evans, Lily" rang out through the hall. It seemed as if the young witch had a full conversation with the hat before finally it decided her fate. "Gryffindor!" it pronounced, and to thunderous applause she took her seat at one of the middle tables.

Sarah barely even paid attention as student after student was sorted, nervousness causing her to fiddle with her crisp new robes as she waited for her name to be called. Next thing she knew, following Gable, Reece, she was called to the stool. Before the hat was even fully on her head it called out a single word. "Gryffindor!"…

xXx

"Sarah!" Lily whined, pulling the covers off her sleeping friend.

"What?" she asked groggily, pulling the pillow over her head.

"It's our first day of class! GET UP!" Lily demanded, pushing Sarah from the bed with a loud thunk.

"Ouch!" Sarah complained, rubbing her bum as she stood and shook her hair out of the braid she had slept in before pulling on her robes.

"Well if you had just gotten out of bed when I woke you up before my shower thirty minutes ago I wouldn't have been forced to such extremes!" Lily exclaimed, hands on hips as her fiery temper that seemed to accompany her fiery hair reared it's ugly head.

"You're impossible," Sarah simply stated, packing her books into her bag before heading towards the door.

"Am not, you are! It's the first day of classes our first year here and you can't even be bothered to get your lazy bum out of bed!"

"Oh come on Lils, you know I'm not a morning person," Sarah implored, running her fingers through her hair.

"Ugh! I hate you so much sometimes!" the ginger stated, watching her friend as she groomed her hair. "Why is it that I, like most normal people, have to get up early to fix my hair into acceptability and you can just roll out of bed, unbraid your hair, and have perfect ringlets? So unfair!"

"Wow Lily, really? And besides, you are far from normal love," Sarah teased. This conversation had gotten completely off topic. Leave it to Lily…

xXx

"Lily!" Sarah exclaimed from her seat in the middle of the common room floor, surrounded by books with her best friend as said friend spaced out again.

"What?"

"Focus! Exams start tomorrow! We need to study!" Sarah exclaimed. This was extremely unlike Lily to be acting like this.

"I know, I'm just so worried about Sev, he's been acting so odd lately, so distant," the redhead mumbled, looking quizzically at the charms textbook before her but not really seeing it.

"I know, Lils but we need to focus. OWLs are tomorrow! We can think about Severus later," Sarah stated logically.

"I know…"

xXx

"Lily what's wrong?" Sarah exclaimed, running to her friend who fell into her embrace, tears still streaming down her face as they sank down to the common room floor, Lily's sobs shaking them both.

"Sev.. Se.. Severus…" she mumbled almost incoherently in-between tears, her face now as red as her hair as she trembled. Sarah ran her hands soothingly over her friend's back, rotating it in soft circles as she did her best to provide what little comfort she could.

"What, Lils? What about Severus?" Sarah urged, holding her tight.

"He… He called… -hick-… me a… a…" she sobbed.

"A what?"

"A mudblood," she spat. "he.. He called me a mudblood…" she bawled, clenching her fists in Sarah's cloak.

Sarah closed her eyes tight, balling her own fists in anger. That bastard! Right then what she wanted more than anything was to go pummel the bloody idiot to within an inch of his life but instead she continued to kneel on the floor doing her best to comfort her only remaining friend. They had both lost someone today, and with that tears began to silently fall from her own eyes…

xXx

"James Potter if you do not stop following me this instant I will hex you into next week you annoying prat!" Lily shouted in frustration as she and Sarah continued to walk down the hall, ignoring the raven-haired idiot and his cronies.

"But Lily-bear I just want you to go out with me!" he begged, racing after them.

"Call me Lily-bear one more time and see what happens to that oh so prized broom of yours," the ginger threatened, her eyes blazing. Sarah had to work very hard to conceal the laugh that was just begging to be released. James had been at this for months now and Sarah thought her friend should just accept the offer and get it over with. She caught the eyes of Sirius as he stood beside James and smirked, rolling her eyes. He smiled and did the same in return, both amused by their respective friend's antics.

"But Lily, please? Just one teensy weensy little date? Please?" He continued to beg. Pulling doe eyes on the redheaded teen as he pulled his hands together in a pleading gesture. Lily desperately looked to Sarah for help.

"Hey, don't look at me! Do you realize how many times you have pulled that same face on me? It's about time you got a taste of your own medicine." Lily pouted.

"Please?" James begged.

"No," lily exclaimed, stomping her foot slightly.

"Pretty please?" there went the lip…

"I said no!"

"With a cherry on top?"

"Really, James? You truly are insufferable!" she stated, hands on hips.

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"YES!" she shouted finally giving up.

"Plea- Wait, what?" he stated dumbly. She smirked and together they walked away to their next class leaving a dumbfounded James in the middle of the hall.

xXx

Hermione awoke with a jolt… or was it Sarah?