Lily went to her usual compartment on the Hogwarts Express to find that Jane and Seth were already sitting in it. She sat down next to Seth.
"Hello Seth, how was your summer?" she asked.
"It was fine," Jane interrupted.
Seth shot Jane a look.
"I can answer on my own," he said.
"All right, all right," Jane conceded, holding up her hands.
The rest of the ride went by quickly with the trio making small talk about how their summers were. More than once Seth expressed his remorse over Avalon's flooding.
"It's a disaster. It's like a museum of knowledge being submerged," he said.
"More like a bunch of dust being cleaned out," Jane said.
Lily had decided not to bring up what she had heard in Diagon Alley. It had probably been nothing and even if it was something what could they do? She just had to hope for the best. The train stopped and minutes later they entered into the Great Hall. Lily and Jane sat at the Hufflepuff table while Seth took his place at the Gryffindor table. Lily talked to some of the other Hufflepuffs in her year; Ethan Jordan, Grace Dawes, the Scamander twins and Irene Alou. She also knew a number of older students from the Quidditch Team. The Hall quieted down as Neville Longbottom the Herbology teacher started to speak.
"As deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts I'll be starting the sorting of first years," he explained.
He pulled out the Sorting Hat which broke into song about the Founders and their houses.
"Kinda weird watching the Sorting your second year," Jane whispered to Lily.
Lily remembered with chagrin her sorting. The Sorting Hat had quickly sorted her into Hufflepuff. Students had been surprised at a "mighty Potter" being sorted into lowly Hufflepuff, especially since all the Potter- Weasleys before had been sorted into Gryffindor. But eventually she and everyone else had adjusted, and she had proved how great Hufflepuffs could be.
Snapped back into reality she realized they had already gotten to "C's" in sorting. No one she really knew was sorted into Hufflepuff except for Robin Wood the daughter of former pro Quidditch player Oliver Wood. Lily had met her once when her father had gotten her Wood's autograph when she was seven. The Hufflepuff table cheered extra hard when they got her.
"We're stealing one from Gryffindor every year," Elliot Applebee, the Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain commented.
After the Sorting ended Neville sat down next to the other major staff members Professor Bones, Professor Flitwick, Professor Krum and the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Loren Butler. Sinistra, the new Headmistress walked up leaning on a thin, black cane.
"Attention all new students, before you start your feast I want to announce some rules," she said.
She began to list the basic rules about not staying up past curfew and staying away from the Forbidden Forest.
"And for older students don't think that I'm a pushover because I'm new," she said looking at James pointedly.
"One more thing," she said. "I think you all noticed the sheet covering the wall over my head."
Lily hadn't noticed. She looked up to see a white sheet clearly covering something on the wall. Sinistra pulled the sheet off to reveal a huge jewel that was set up on the wall. It had to be quite a few feet in area. It was diamond shaped and glowed blue.
"This decoration was generously donated to us by a former Hogwarts student and should be enjoyed and treated with respect by all students," she said "Now eat."
Lily found no drop in the quality of the feast from last year. As she bit into the roast Jane asked her a question.
"Who do you think donated the jewel?" Jane asked.
"I don't know," Lily said after swallowing the food. "Must be someone with some money," she said.
After the feast was over Seth stopped Jane and Lily before they went back to their dormitories.
"So how did you think the feast was?" he asked.
"Great just like last year," Lily said.
Then out of nowhere she tripped on nothing. As she got up she knew exactly who it was before she even turned around.
"Oh sorry Potter my wand accidentally went off," said Klara Chang flanked by her Ravenclaw friends, Lake and Corner.
"Just going back with my house," Lily said through clenched teeth.
Since the beginning of last year she and Klara had reviled each other and she sometimes found it a wonder how she resisted the urge to throttle her.
"Yes I saw you got that Quidditch player's daughter in your house," she said. "I think the hat must be drunk to put her in Hufflepuff but I guess she may turn out good despite being exposed to you," she said.
"Better with you and your friends," Lily shot back.
Klara laughed.
"Anyone would be better with me, except maybe you. But I've got to get back to my house. Ta ta!" she finished walking away.
"Looks like Klara's going to be an arse again this year," Jane said snidely.
"For sure," Seth said. "Well I'll see you guys for our first day of classes tomorrow," he said.
Lily and Jane walked down to the Hufflepuff Basement. They entered into the Common Room. Soon they were deep into a game of Wizard's Chess. But Lily's mind wasn't on the game. She knew she should really tell Jane what she had had heard in Diagon Alley. She started to speak.
"Jane about when we went to Diagon Alley this summer…" she started.
"What?" Jane asked.
"Uh nothing just wanted to say I had a great time," she said.
"Yeah I did too," said Jane.
"Great," Lily said.
Lily tried to forget about it, but it continued to trouble her into the night. She lay awake after lights out hearing the sound of Jane snoring. I'll tell her and Seth soon Lily decided. But as she started to nod off she heard another sound in the background. It was a buzzing sound like a swarm of bees and it seemed to be coming from above her. Then, seconds after it started it stopped. It might just have been one of the sounds the old castle made. Still, with Lily's unusual life in the last two years who knew what it could be?