The feast was amazing. As soon as the food appeared the entire hall had erupted in joyous chatter and hearty laughter as people exchanged stories from the summer and discussed their plans for the year to come. And as for the food itself, there was so much choice Remus, no matter how hard he tried, knew he would never get the chance to sample some of everything. It was all so delicious he had to do everything in his power not to eat too much of any one dish so that he still had room to try the others. And that was even before pudding was served!

After they had eaten the four boys were as tired as they were excited and after being shown to their dormitories it was wordlessly decided that this first evening would be spent lounging lazily on the beds, talking to each other as their bodies worked at digesting the mountain of delicious food they had eaten.

James and Sirius did most of the talking, but for now Remus at least was perfectly content to listen. It was wonderful to hear about the lives of other children his age. It was wonderful to hear the two of them argue over who's Quidditch team was better and which flavour of Honeydukes chocolate was the best (Peter had eventually stepped in and settled that one by saying that you couldn't go wrong with a selection box, but that in his opinion you couldn't beat the classic butterscotch). Just lying there, not on his own or with only his parents, but in a room with three other boys just like him, he could almost forget that he wasn't like them. For the first time in his life Remus felt like part of some wider world that night. He couldn't help but fall asleep happy.

When Remus awoke the next morning he didn't immediately remember where he was. He kept his eyes closed as he rolled over in bed, stretching his legs out under the covers and then curling up into a ball again, burrowing his head under the covers to block out the light which shone red through his eyelids.

Then all of a sudden he heard a crash and a thud and felt the impact of someone landing on his bed. He opened his eyes and scrambled up, casting his eyes around for something to use as a weapon, realising only then that he was not in his bedroom at home but in his dorm at Hogwarts, and the crash and the thud had not been someone breaking in but appeared to have been James's attempt at getting out of bed.

"Are you alright?" asked Remus, getting down off his bed and bending down next to James, who was sitting in the gap between their two bed rubbing his forehead and swearing.

"Yeah fine," said James, getting up and rubbing his elbow, "just forgot where I was, tripped over that blood bedside table and cracked my head straight into your bed."

He reached over to the offending bedside table and grabbed his glasses, shoving them carelessly on his face and once more rubbing the spot on his forehead where he had collided with the wooden edge of Remus's bed.

"I forgot where I was too for a second," said Remus, "when you fell I thought there was someone breaking into my room or something."

"Waz all the noise 'bout?" yawned Sirius, sitting up in the bed beyond James's.

"James fell out of bed," said Remus.

Sirius burst out laughing.

"Oi!" said James, "let's wake you up by ramming your head into a hard plank of wood and see how you like it."

When Sirius didn't stop laughing James picked up his pillow and threw it at him.

"You are going to pay for that Potter," said Sirius in a dangerous voice, and then he leapt up out of bed, arm with the pillow, vaulted over James's bed and pounced on James, knocking him back onto Remus's bed. Remus had to dodge quickly to avoid getting himself caught in Sirius's path.

"Woz goin'on?" mumbled Peter, emerging from under his duvet and blinking the sleep out of his eyes.

"Err... I don't quite know," Remus answered him, as it was clear both Sirius and James were otherwise occupied, "James threw a pillow at Sirius and then Sirius just sort of... jumped on him."

James had managed to roll Sirius onto his back now and had him pinned down by the arms.

"Do you submit?!" he shouted.

"Never!" cried Sirius, and with a sort of flipping motion that was so quick neither Remus not Peter, nor apparently James, saw exactly how he did it, he tossed James right off the bed.

"Victory!" he yelled, jumping up onto his feet on Remus's bed and punching the air with both hands, while James picked himself up off the floor for the second time in the space of less than five minutes.

"You win this time," he said, straightening his glasses, "morning Peter, nice pyjamas" he added, seeing Peter standing next to Remus in a pair of light blue pyjamas covered in little golden snitches, the arms and legs were slightly too long for him so his hands and feet were all but hidden in the soft-looking fabric.

"Thanks," said Peter.

"Well I don't know about anyone else but all that winning has made me hungry," said Sirius, hopping down off the bed.

The other boys were hungry for their breakfast by now too, so they agreed on no more pillow fights or wrestling matches while they changed into their school robes so they could head down for breakfast as soon as possible. Remus was very glad of the hangings around his four poster bed, he had been anxious about getting dresses in front of the other boys in his dormitory. Of course, a lot of children would no doubt be feeling awkward about other children seeing them without clothes on, but Remus was worried for a different reason to most. Beneath his clothes Remus's skinny body was covered with scars. Scars from when he was attacked as a toddler, but mainly scars which he gave to himself. His parents had always locked him up every month, researching stronger and stronger charms to keep him contained and to stop him from attacking others, but they had never been able find a way to stop him from turning on himself in frustration, biting and scratching himself, leaving behind cursed wounds that could never be fully healed, even by magic. Luckily since he could not physically bite his own face he had only a few scars which could not be covered simply be wearing long sleeves and trousers, but if he had to get undressed in front James, Sirius and Peter then he wouldn't be able to hide them for very long. For this reason the curtains were a godsend, he didn't care how difficult it was to get dressed sitting or standing awkwardly on the bouncy mattress, if it avoided awkward question then he was grateful for it.

At breakfast there was nearly as much choice as there had been at dinner last night. In the end Remus had scrambled eggs on toast and some bacon and a glass of fresh pumpkin juice. As he ate he stared around the Hall. It looked different by day, for one thing the ceiling was now a light blue and whitish grey clouds hung there looking so real you could easily forget that it was charmed. He looked around at the students now. The younger ones excited and eager for ther first day, some of the older ones looking like they'd much rather have another hour in bed. His eyes wandered over each House table, until they eventually came to rest at the Slytherin table, where some sort of altercation seemed to be taking place between a group of older students and a pair of younger ones. As they shifted slighty Remus caught a glimpse of one of the younger student's faces, a girl with medium length ginger hair clipped back neatly to keep it out of her face, and Remus realised he recognised her. The girl's name was something Evans, Lucy? Lily? Well, either way she was not a Slytherin but a Gryffindor. The girl shifted again and Remus recognised the other younger student as the boy he had tripped onto as they were walking up the hill towards the castle, his name he did remember, neither his name nor his face was the kind you could forget in a hurry, his name was Severus Snape.

"Morning Sev," said Lily brightly, strolling over to the Slytherin table and plonking herself down opposite her best friend.

Lily wasn't sure when she started thinking of Severus as her best friend, but she knew that was definitely what he was now, after all, all her friends from her primary school were back in Cokeworth, and she had never quite fitted in with them anyway.

"Good morning Lily," said Severus.

He smiled as he said it but Lily saw the way he looked up and down the table nervously.

"It's fine," said Lily, "I checked with a Prefect, she said there was no rule against sitting at another House table as far as knew, only that we were kind of expected to. So long as I sit with the Gryffindors on for the feasts I can still sit here with you the rest of the time."

Severus still looked uneasy.

"Look, it's not as if there's going to be a rule against having friends in different Houses. And if there is that that's such a stupid rule I think we should just take a stand against it."

"We don't want to get into trouble on our first day though Lily," said Severus.

"Well we probably won't," said Lily.

"Oi, you! Gryffindor! What are you doing at our table?!"

Lily and Severus turned to see a group of boys who Lily would only describe as "big".

"I'm eating breakfast with my friend," said Lily, standing up to close some of the gap in height between herself and the boys, it didn't help much.

"Ooh," said one of the boys, "think you're a big brave Gryffindor little girl?"

"I'm not scared of you, can you just leave us alone please, I was trying to talk to my friend," said Lily, out of the corner of her eye she saw Severus getting to his feet as well, motioning subtly for Lily to sit down.

"You're friend doesn't seem to have much to say for himself does he?" said another boy, "are you really friends with this piece of filth? Do you want us to get rid of her for you?"

Lily saw the boy reach into his pocket, she was just deciding whether to reach for her own and try her luck with one of the jinxes she'd read about or run for it when she heard Severus cry:

"No! Don't... don't hurt her... don't hurt my friend."

"Oh? And what are you going to do about it if we do scruffy?" taunted the same boy, jabbing his wand into Severus's second hand robes.

Severus opened his mouth and then closed it again.

"Thought so," said the boy.

"Look, clearly you don't know how things work around here," said the first boy who had spoken, his wand now also drawn and pointed at Lily, though surreptitiously so as not to attract the attention of any teachers, "s'pose you're a fucking mudblood as well as a Gryffindor."

"But that's alright," said the third boy, the one who hadn't spoken yet, "'cause we're going to teach you what happen to little mudblood first years who start getting too big for their little boots. We're going to teach your fwiend a lesson too, we're going to teach him what happens if he makes fwiends with types like you."

"Goyle, Nott, MacNair, what the devil are you up to my boys?"

Lily turned around to see an overweight man waddling towards them a pile of papers clutched under his arm.

"Now I warned you last year about your behaviour and you're not getting off to a very good start ganging up on first years on the first day back are you? Now go on, here's your timetables," he fumbled around with the pile of papers for a bit and handed one to each boy, "and I see any displays like that again it'll be straight in detention, no more warnings, do you hear me boys?"

There was a grunt of "Yes Professor" and the boys slunk off to a group of empty seats further down the table.

"Are you two alright?" asked the Professor, "here, now if any of those boys give you any more grief you come and tell me alright? I'm your Head of House Professor Slughorn and it's my job... Oh, I don't think you're at the right table my dear," he said, noticing Lily's red and gold tie, "here, come with me and I'll show you where you're supposed to be."

"Oh, um, sorry Sir, I know I'm at the wrong table, it's just that me and Severus are friends," she said, gesturing to Severus, "so I wanted to eat breakfast with him you see... if that's alright?"

"Oh well of course you can spend time with your friend Miss..."

"Evans, Lily Evans."

"...Miss Evans," continued Professor Slughorn, "but you'll need to be at your House table this morning if you want to get your timetable."

"Oh, I'm sorry Professor, I didn't know."

"That's okay dear girl, come along and I'll walk you over to your table, I'm sure you'll see your friend in one of your lessons today."

"Thank you Professor, bye Sev," said Lily.

"Bye Lily," said Severus, sitting back down.

"Good lass, now I'm all for a bit of House unity but you really ought to try and make a few friends in your own House Miss Evans, they're the people you're going to be sharing a dormitory with for seven years after all, and most of your classes."

"Yes Professor."

"Evans... Evans... not sure if I know the name... would I have taught anyone in your family in recent years?"

"No Sir, all my family are muggles, I'm the first one to come to Hogwarts," said Lily proudly.

"Ah, muggleborn eh? Well, listen, you ought to be especially careful not to wind up in too many sticky situations like that one then... you hear me? I have no personal issue with people of your parentage of course, but there are some students, many I'm afraid to say, in my House, who take a rather... prejudiced view against witches and wizards who come from muggle families like yourself."

Part of Lily prickled in anger at being told that she was the one who had to be careful not to get into "sticky situations" with people who thought she wasn't good enough to be in Slytherin just because her mum and dad were muggles, but when she looked up into Professor Slughorn's face she saw he was wearing a kindly expression. He seemed to be trying to help her, even if he came across as slightly strange.

"Here we are," said Professor Slughorn, "Minerva, I have a stray one of your over here," he called to Professor McGonagall, who was also bust handing out timetables.

"Ah, and what is your name Miss?" asked Professor McGonagall briskly.

"Lily Evans, Professor," said Lily.

Professor McGonagall flicked through her pile, and found Lily's timetable with much less fuss than Professor Slughorn had made handing out timetables to the three Slytherin boys.

"Ah, you're in my afternoon Potions class I see," said Professor Slughorn, peering at the timetable as Professor McGonagall handed it to Lily, "jolly good. Well, I'll let you get on and have some breakfast then, cheerio Minerva!" he added cheerfully to Professor McGonagall.

"Thank you Horace," said Professor McGonagall, "good bye."

Lily cast around for somewhere to sit. To her dismay the only free spot she could see was the next to the boy who had either pushed or fell on Severus the night before. Oh well, she thought, there's not long left of breakfast anyway. And she sighed and sat down in the seat.

"Are you alright?" asked the boy.

"Yes, fine," said Lily, a little testily.

"Sorry," said the boy, "it just looked like those Slytherins were..."

"I'm fine," said Lily again.

"Okay," said the boy, "sorry, just checking... my name's Remus by the way."

"Lily."

"Oh, so it is Lily... I thought it was... I mean, I wasn't sure... I thought it might have been Lucy," Remus laughed awkwardly.

"Why are you talking to me?" asked Lily.

"I don't know," said Remus, "do you not want me to? I can stop, sorry."

"No, no, I'm sorry. I just mean... did you push Severus yesterday, or was it really by accident?"

"It was really by accident," said Remus quickly, opening his hands and shaking his head slightly as if pleading for mercy, "I swear, I mean, it was my fault, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going, but I didn't mean to get him all muddy."

Lily scrutinised the boy for a moment before deciding that he was probably telling the truth. He didn't seem like the kind of boy who would push people over just for the fun of it, the boys he was sitting with on the other hand...

"Hey, look who it is! It's Smelly Evans!"

"Remus, why are you talking to her?!"

Remus opened his mouth as if to say something but then closed it again, looking between the boys and Lily looking somewhat lost, Lily was put in mind of Severus in their, well, mainly her, confrontation with the Slytherin boys.

"I'd finish that up quickly if I were you," said to Remus, "or you're going to be late for your first lesson."

And with that Lily stood up, and stormed out of the Great Hall, leaving her half eaten bowl of cereal behind her. 'Make some friends in your own House', yeah right, she thought bitterly.