A/N: I've done very little to change this chapter, but if you see anything that you think needs clarifying, let me know.
Disclaimer: There's a reason the saying goes "The next JK Rowling." At this point, that's not me.
Chapter 4: A Place to Belong
POV: Harry
September first, the day everything would change. Harry Potter woke early, even by Aunt Petunia's standards, and couldn't help but pace as the clock ticked slowly towards eleven o'clock. As he paced, Harry thought about how much everything could change in so little time. He had been utterly miserable up until the day Hagrid came crashing through that door, wind howling behind him. Harry grinned at the memory. At the time, Harry couldn't tell if Hagrid was man or bear. Suddenly Harry had a background, money, people who genuinely seemed interested in him, and a future; in short, Harry had a place he belonged.
Looking around at the walls of the room he now shared with his sister, Harry suddenly realized how blind he'd been. Lily Ann had been keeping to herself a lot lately, silent and sullen. At first he couldn't put his finger on it, but now after a lot of thinking, Harry realized that she must be lonely. She had always been on very good terms with the Dursleys, and had spent a lot of time with Dudley. She had always excused herself when Dudley was in a hitting mood, but Dudley actually restrained himself quite a bit when she was around. But now even that was gone, and that couldn't be easy for her. Harry swore to himself that he would find her some friends the moment he got on the train.
POV: Lily Ann
Contrary to what Harry thought, Lily Ann was not lonely. At least, that's what she told herself. Her so called family, who had taken her in knowing full well what and who she was, had turned on her the moment she had been declared a witch; why would she be lonely for that? They had never loved the real her. Besides, she had her new Great Gray, Twilight for company, and Harry, if he ever got over his fawning of magic. Yes, they had magic, but that didn't mean he had to make notice of it every five minutes. It only made life worse at number four, Privet Drive, something that Lily Ann was seriously trying to avoid.
No, she wasn't lonely; she was angry. Behind her quiet demeanor was a deep resentment towards muggles in general and the Dursleys in particular, and as she and Harry walked through the crowd at Kings' Cross Station, Lily Ann couldn't help but glare at the people who they passed. If they knew what she was, they wouldn't just idly let her pass by. They'd likely take her, lock her up, and snap her brand new nine-and-a-half inch unicorn hair Rowan wand in half faster than she could use it to escape, even if she did know how to use it. And that'd be if she were lucky. If she weren't, there'd be another witch hunt on their hands.
After what seemed like an eternity of wading through tourists, businessmen, school children, and security, the two of them finally reached the platforms nine and ten, but nowhere was there a sign that even suggested a platform nine and three-quarters, even one that couldn't be seen by muggles like the Leaky Cauldron. But Harry, being the optimist that he had become in the past month, immediately looked around and spotted a group of redheads, all of whom appeared to be talking at once, and one of whom had an owl.
With confidence that was so very un-Harry like, Harry marched up to the bemused looking woman who appeared to be the mother of the group and said with no more than a moment's hesitation, "Excuse me, but could you help us get onto the platform? You see, we've never been and…"
"Oh not to worry, dear. It's Ron's first year as well."
The witch, for she most certainly was a witch, looked down at them with such a kind, motherly expression that it almost made Lily Ann think of Aunt Petunia, until she remembered her betrayal and squashed the memory. She hated Aunt Petunia; any memory that told her otherwise was a lie.
"All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between nine and ten," the witch continued, bringing Lily Ann out of her turmoil. "Best to do it at a run, if you're nervous."
After watching the tallest of the boys run at the wall, quickly followed by a pair of twins who called themselves Fred and George – George and Fred? – Harry grabbed her arm and said, "Come on then, we haven't got all day." He then proceeded to run at the wall full force. Rolling her eyes at his antics, Lily Ann followed, leaving behind her brother's theatrics.
Upon entering the platform, Lily Ann had to stop herself from gaping. Over the past month, she had almost convinced herself that she and Harry actually were freaks of nature and that Hagrid, Diagon Alley, and that blond boy were all just figments of her imagination to make her feel like she belonged someplace. But upon seeing the brightly polished train with hundreds of witches and wizards milling about in robes of every color imaginable, Lily Ann finally let herself hope for a better future. For the first time in a month, Lily Ann felt joy and excitement about being a witch. Looking down at her Muggle clothing, she decided that she would shed them at the first opportunity; if she was going to enter this new world, she was going to rid herself of everything Muggle and fully embrace the Wizarding World. If Muggles were going to turn their backs on her, she would turn her back on Muggles.
Seeing Harry already setting forth to find a compartment, Lily Ann stopped her staring and ran after him, hoping in the back of her mind to find that blond boy from Diagon Alley who had been so kind as to help her understand what it meant to be a witch. Perhaps he could help her further understand the Wizarding World. The last thing she wanted was to be branded a Muggle lover by her obvious lack of knowledge of anything remotely magical.
At the end of the train, they found an empty compartment were almost immediately accosted by the two red headed twins they had met earlier on the platform.
"We couldn't help noticing…"
"…as it is in our nature to notice…"
"…that you two came alone…"
"…and as such might have need of a hand…"
"…or four as this case might be…"
"…with your trunks."
Lily Ann blinked twice, nonplussed. Never before had she seen two siblings so in sync with the other; she hardly could tell which one was speaking.
"Oh look, Fred, I think we've stunned them into silence."
"I do believe you're right, George. I believe we have some demonstrations for the ickle firsties."
"Right you are, Fred."
And without another word, the twins whipped out their wands with a flick, sent Lily Ann and Harry's luggage flying onto the train and into the overhead luggage compartments. With a flourish, they tucked away their wands, bowed to each other, and then finally to Lily Ann and Harry who were standing in stunned silence.
"Fred and George Weasley at your service!" recited the twins as they snapped to attention and mock saluted the pair, an effect that was completely lost when Fred leaned in to whisper behind his hand.
"This is the point where you introduce yourselves so we know who it is we're pranking before we've pranked them. It's a minor inconvenience not knowing whose daddy we'll be receiving a Howler from beforehand."
Lily Ann surprised herself when she giggled at their theatrics, and momentarily forgetting the fiasco at the Leaky Cauldron, she mock bowed to the twins and introduced herself.
"My name is Lily Ann, and this is my twin brother Harry. As to receiving anything from our parents, I think you're safe."
The Weasley Twins' act dropped as quickly as their jaws.
"You aren't…?
"They are!"
"It can't be!
"But it is!"
"What the hell are you badgering on about?" Harry, being the thick-headed idiot that he was, asked.
"The Potter Twins!"
"Oh, er, yea, we are," Harry blushed slightly.
Lily Ann had thought that she was used to the gawking of others from her experience at the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley, but realized she likely never would as the Weasley twins gaped at them in astonishment. Saved from further questioning as the boys' mother called them, Lily Ann leaned over to her brother.
"Saved by the bell."
The train ride took entirely too long for Lily Ann. What with Harry and his new best friend, Ronald Weasley –another red-headed brother of Fred and George – gouging on candy (Lily Ann point blank refused to even touch the bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans after hearing of George's booger flavored one) and with a bushy haired witch called Hermione Granger trying to teach her everything she had learned from Hogwarts, A History when she saw Lily Ann was the only girl in the pack of wolves, Lily Ann was getting rather frustrated when the train finally came to a screeching halt.
Leaving behind their luggage, she, Harry, Ron, and Hermione clambered off the train and looked around with mild interest. They were standing in the outskirts of a small village ("It's called Hogsmeade. It's the only entirely magical community in all of Britain. I read all about it in Magical Encounters of the Twentieth Century), and a tall and looming figure was waving a large lantern down the way, shouting.
"Firs' years! Firs' years over here! Hurry up, make way! Firs' years follow me! All right there, you two?"
It was Hagrid, looking as hairy and disheveled as he ever had. Now that she understood more about magic, Lily Ann felt much more receptive to the large man and grinned up at him.
"All right, Hagrid?"
Lily Ann's first glimpse of the castle was fantastic. The castle's many windows sparkled in the reflection of the lake before them, and the view from the boats was even better. The towers and turrets and the seeming never endingness to the entire thing made the entire experience… magical. It was like a fairy tale, but better because she would actually be able to use magic, not just have magic used on her. Now being led through the Great Hall, Lily Ann's excitement level spiked as she realized once again that here were hundreds of people her own age who were just like her: magical.
As Ron, Harry, and perhaps even Hermione were panicking about the sorting that would shortly take place, Lily Ann felt a great calm settle upon her. It didn't really matter to her what House she was put in. As long as she could prove herself to be better than the Dursleys, that's all that mattered. Who cared that every witch or wizard to go bad was once in Slytherin; that didn't mean they all went bad. Supposedly the truest friends were found in Hufflepuff, but you could find friends anywhere. No, it didn't matter where she was sorted; she would enjoy herself no matter where she was placed.
She nodded to herself and was startled when the old, tattered hat in front of them began to sing. It was an odd song that was full of the virtues of each house, and as it ended its song, it only reconfirmed her opinion that no one house was better than the next.
Lily Ann shook herself out of her reverie as she realized that half of the sorting was already finished.
"MacDougal, Morag!"
"RAVENCLAW!
"Macmillan, Ernest!
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
As Ernest, ran down to join his new house, Lily Ann noticed the next boy who Professor McGonagall had called, "Malfoy, Draco," who was put into Slytherin. She smiled at him as she realized it was the boy from Gringotts, and smirked at her brother as she was thinking of how this was a perfect example of how his and Ron's bias towards Slytherins was false. However Harry was pursing his lips into a tight line with dislike as he watched Draco, and Ron was whispering franticly in his ear. Slightly confused, she turned as she watched "Moon, Lily" get sorted into Hufflepuff.
After what seemed an eternity but really couldn't have been more than a few minutes, "Potter, Harry" was called and Lily Ann gave her brother's hand a quick squeeze as he made his way nervously forward. The hat seemed to sit there for a while, and as she looked at Harry's face scrunched up in concentration, she realized he was arguing with the hat because of the look of frustration that she saw on his face that only ever entered it when he got brave enough to argue with Uncle Vernon. She smirked as she realized what it was he likely was arguing about.
Finally the hat shouted out to the anticipating school, "GRYFFINDOR!"
The roar of the Gryffindors, and a few of the other houses, was so loud that Professor McGonagall had to wait for several seconds before she could call out the next name.
"Potter, Lily Ann!"
The school went deathly silent as Lily Ann walked forward, and she couldn't help but noticing the Gryffindors on the edge of their seats, anticipating the victory of having the Potter Twins in their house.
"I dare say, this is a change. A nice change I must say, but a change nonetheless," said a small voice in her ear. "Brave, and very loyal I can see, with a fierce desire to prove yourself, oh my goodness, yes. But with no reservations like your brother did."
Not able to contain herself any longer, Lily Ann couldn't help but ask, "Is that what Harry was arguing about? He didn't want to be in Slytherin?"
She could almost feel the hat smile as the quiet voice spoke again, "Ah, very bright as well. Difficult. But interhouse relations are so important and you seem to be able to understand that better than anyone else so the best place to start would have to be...
"SLYTHERIN!"
When I originally wrote this chapter, one of the comments I received was that they didn't think Lily Ann sounded very loyal, which I understood what they were probably thinking. In response to this, all I have to say is that Lily Ann can and will be extremely loyal to those closest to her. Her loyalty to the Dursley's was very quickly shattered, however, due to what felt like the ultimate betrayal of trust when the Dursleys so quickly turned on her when her magic was revealed. It was like a stab in the back for Lily Ann, who had been close to them for the first 10 years of her life, and it will take a lot of time for her to forgive them, should they ever seek it. If you think that makes her unloyal, then so be it. I'm not taking it back.
So I need to know a few things: what do you want from Lily Ann? How close does she get to Draco? How close is she with her brother and his muggle-loving friends? What can I do better?
If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them!
R&R!
~HiddenReaderNinja
