Chapter 1: Going to Hogwarts
Eleven-year-old Lily Evans woke up with excitement on the morning of September 1st, unable to believe that the day had
finally arrived. Later on that morning, she would be heading off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to learn
how to use the magical talents that she'd only recently learned she possessed. She smiled slightly as she
remembered what had happened when she'd gotten her letter. At first, she had been sure it was a practical joke-that
magic didn't, that it couldn't, exist! Everyone knew that. But when she told her parents, who had always
encouraged their children to believe in the impossible, they hadn't been surprised. Quite the contrary, they had
told her that they'd guessed she might have an extraordinary talent because of the extraordinary things that so
often happened when she was around. Her father had congratulated her and immediately begun to call his friends, hoping
one of them would know where they could buy the supplies that she would need for school. Her mother had happily
informed Lily's grandparents, aunts and uncles, and anyone else who would listen, that "We have a witch in the
family! Isn't it wonderful?!"
Lily got dressed, swept her hair back into a braid, and quickly tidied her room, then went over to the trunk sitting open in the corner. She wanted to check one last time before they left for the train station to make sure that she hadn't forgotten to pack anything, and she knew there wouldn't be time after breakfast. As she was going through her list of schoolbooks for the second time, she heard a slight noise in the hallway. Glancing up, she saw a blond little girl with a messy ponytail standing there. She was attempting to arrange her mouth into a smile around her horsey teeth, but her pale blue eyes were full of tears.
"Now don't cry Petunia," said Lily soothingly. Nine-year-old Petunia was Lily's sister, though hardly anyone would have guessed it by looking at them. In contrast to the little girl standing in the doorway, Lily had full, auburn hair, even teeth and a wide, welcoming smile. The most startling difference between the two girls, however, was their eyes. While Petunia's were a very unremarkable pale blue, Lily's eyes were striking, a very deep green that most people noticed immediately. Lily hopped down from her bed and hurried over to comfort her little sister. "There there, Pet," she cooed, "It'll be Christmas before you know it. And I'm sure I'll be able to send letters. I'll write you loads. And you know what?" she asked with as much enthusiasm as she could muster, "I might even be able to use an owl, like the one that brought me my letter!" Far from comforting Petunia, however, the thought appeared to trigger the tears that had been threatening to fall since she'd walked in the room. Lily hugged her tightly, trying to be reassuring. It wasn't easy. The truth of the matter was that her little sister's tears had brought to the surface the insecurities that her excitement about school could not quite squelch.
She had always been good at school, but she wouldn't be studying the familiar subjects of Mathematics or English. Instead, she was going to be taking classes with names like "Charms", "Transfiguration", and "Potions", and learning about any manner of creatures that, until her letter had arrived in July, she had thought were imaginary. She was pretty sure that her talent in Geography wasn't going to help her in those classes. But it wasn't the classes that were causing Lily her greatest misgiving. In a few short hours, she would be heading away from home for nearly four months. Four months seemed like an incredibly long time to Lily, who had never been away from home for longer than one night before. And it wasn't just herself that she was worried about. Petunia had been the only one in the family who was quite unexcited about Lily going to Hogwarts, but in the hustle and bustle that came with preparing her to leave for school in a short month and a half, Petunia's reaction had gone completely unnoticed by their parents. Lily had noticed, however, and she was very worried about Petunia, who had become clingy and melancholy since she'd found out her sister would be leaving home in September, rather than going to the local public school. Only one thought consoled Lily when she thought about how much she was going to miss her little sister. While it was true that neither of their parents possessed the magical talent that Lily had been born with, she figured that there was a reasonably good chance that Petunia would turn out to be magical, too, and would be joining Lily at Hogwarts in a few short years. Lily refused to think about the fact that Petunia had never accidentally turned the baby-sitter's hair blue when she didn't want to go to bed, or caused a doll that she really wanted to come zooming out of the store after her as their parents were making them leave without it. The thought that Petunia would one day be joining her at Hogwarts gave Lily too much comfort to let her doubts get the best of her, and she decided to tell Petunia about the possibility.
"Really?" Petunia asked, sniffling. "I suppose I could. I mean… Yeah! Why not? Why couldn't I be a witch, too?" Lily felt a little guilty as she saw her sister's eyes light up with the thought that she, too, might be going to Diagon Alley to buy a wand for school, but before her doubts about Petunia's magical ability could push their way to the surface, a voice from downstairs called them to breakfast.
"Better not let Mum see you've been crying, Pet," Lily said to Petunia, who hastily wiped away her tears, "You know she's already worried about me heading off to school. We don't want to get her on about how hard it's going to be for you." She smiled at Petunia, who returned Lily's smile with one of her own, and they headed down the stairs together. "What's for breakfast, Mum?" Lily asked brightly as they entered the kitchen together.
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In the car on the way to the station, Lily couldn't stop moving around. Petunia snapped at her crossly to hold
still or she was liable to make the whole car fly away. A reference, Lily supposed, to the time that, in a fit of
nervous energy just before she was supposed to go onstage in a school production, she had caused a desk to float across
the stage. Petunia's mood, which had improved considerably after Lily made the suggestion that Petunia might be
joining her at Hogwarts, had soured during breakfast when their mother remarked that it was too bad Petunia would not
be attending Hogwarts as well. "How do you know I won't?" Petunia had snapped, glaring at their mother.
She had been in a bad mood ever since, and Lily had tried everything that she could think of to cheer her up.
Eventually, she had given up, and turned her attention, instead, to reading Hogwarts, a History. It wasn't required
reading for class, but she had managed to convince her parents to buy it for her when they were at Fluorish and Blotts,
the wizarding bookstore where they had gotten all of Lily's textbooks.
History had always been Lily's favorite subject in grammar school, and she found Hogwarts' history to be even more exciting than European history. "Did you know," she exclaimed, looking up from her book, "that the ceiling in the Great Hall at Hogwarts is bewitched to look like the sky? So if it's raining, it looks like it's raining, except that you don't get wet, because the ceiling is still there to protect you. And at night, you can see the stars." Petunia looked like she was about to start crying (or yelling) again, so Lily hastily added, "I bet you can't wait to see it, Pet!" Anxious not to give either of her parents the opportunity to tell her to stop putting false hopes into Petunia's head, Lily quickly added, "It's the oldest school of magic in Europe. It also says here that it's the 'best', but I would say my school was the best, too, if I were writing a book about it! Still…it might be true. Mrs. Figg certainly seemed to think quite highly of it. There are four houses." Lily looked down at the book and began to read. "'Each house selects its students based on their defining characteristic. Hufflepuff students tend to be loyal. They aren't necessarily the brightest students in their school, but their work ethic compensates for what they lack in natural talent. Ravenclaw admits only the brightest students in the school. Ravenclaws also tend to hold to high standards of behavior. Gryffindor students are the bravest, but their cleverness often rivals that of the Ravenclaws. Because with bravery comes confidence, many Gryffindors rise to leadership positions within the school. Slytherin accepts as its members only those with the most slyness and cunning. Because Slytherins use their cunning to gain positions of influence within the school, only Gryffindor house rivals Slytherin for the number of head boys and girls it has produced. Which one do you think I'll be in?" "
Petunia had stopped scowling, and was looking over at the book in Lily's lap with interest. "I bet you'll be a Ravenclaw," Petunia predicted. "You've always been very good at school."
"Maybe," Lily replied thoughtfully. "Though I think I'd like Gryffindor. I'm quite brave, too. I'd have to be, going off to this school without knowing anything about the world I'm entering." Lily shook off the nerves that once again threatened to rise to the surface, and smiled at her sister. "Here, Petty. I'll read some more to you." The two sisters spent the rest of the car-ride engrossed in the book, learning everything that they could about the magical school that Lily would be attending. When they arrived at King's Cross, Lily's parents and sister accompanied her to the barrier between Platforms nine and ten. "I guess this is the one, then" she said once they'd arrived. "Mrs. Figg says that you can't get through the barrier, because it's protected with charms so that non-magic people don't discover it." Lily sighed. "I wish it was like Diagon Alley, and someone could tap a brick and an entrance would appear that you three could go through, too. But I suppose that other people would notice if an entrance to a new platform kept appearing and disappearing."
"I'd forgotten that we won't be able to see you off," Elizabeth Evans said, her voice trembling. It wasn't difficult to see from where Lily had gotten her looks. Elizabeth also had thick auburn hair, and a light complexion, but her eyes were light blue, like Petunia's. In fact, Lily's eyes were the only feature that she appeared to have inherited from her father. Petunia, on the other hand, looked almost exactly Harry Evans, who had light blond hair, a large, horsey smile, and more neck than was usual for a person. Harry was also looking quite put-out at the news that he wouldn't be able to accompany his daughter on to the platform. Not one to allow disappointment to get him down for long, however, he was trying to convince Elizabeth that they could say goodbye to Lily there, and it would be just as well.
After Lily had hugged her parents good-bye, and had promised Petunia yet again that she would send her "so many letters that you won't be able to read them all!" Lily turned to push her cart through the barrier. She was still fairly certain that Mrs. Figg was mad, that there was no platform on the other side of this brick wall, but she didn't have much choice in whether or not to believe her. Either the platform was there, or it didn't exist. And it must exist, or else she wouldn't be able to get to school. Trying to summon all of the courage that she had inside of her, she set off toward the solid wall with a last wave at her parents. As she approached, she closed her eyes. When she finally opened her eyes (after she was quite certain that she'd have hit the brick by now if she was going to hit it), she saw that she was indeed standing on a platform next to a smoking train with the words "Hogwarts Express" written on the side.
Lily quickly tried to mask the awe that she felt as she took in the scene around her. While most of the kids were dressed in normal clothing, the adults on the platform all seemed to be dressed in wizarding robes in every color and style imaginable. In addition to trunks packed full with clothing and supplies, there were a variety of cages holding owls, or rats, or cats. Here and there, she saw someone carrying a broomstick. A round-faced man with two girls standing next to him was discussing the merits of Quidditch with a man whose bored-looking teenage son was standing next to him.
"Of course, the Americans have never been as taken with Quidditch as the rest of the world. My cousin lives in Atlanta, and to listen to him talk, you'd think that balstar was the best game in the world. I've never seen what's so exciting about it myself. Only two balls to worry about, and no bludgers chasing after you."
The man with the bored-looking teenager shook his head in amusement. "There's just no understanding American tastes, are there?" he said.
Not wanting to be caught eavesdropping, but wondering silently to herself what exactly quidditch and balstar were, Lily continued to look around the platform. Her eyes landed on a nearby messy-haired boy about her age playing with what looked like a little golden golf ball with wings. "James!" said an exasperated witch that she assumed was his mother. "Your father will have your neck if he finds out that you nicked that from his Quidditch set. Hand that snitch over right this instant!"
The boy handed his mother the "snitch", and mumbled an apology, but the glimmer in his eye told Lily that the only thing he was sorry for was having gotten caught with it. The boy turned to greet a dark-haired boy who had just come running up to him exclaiming, "Hey Jamey-poo!"
"Call me that at school, and I'll make sure everyone knows about your mum's nickname for you, Sirikins." Just then, the boy called James looked up and saw Lily watching them. He winked at her, and she looked away quickly, embarrassed. Realizing that they would be leaving shortly, she started to heave her stuff onto the train.
"Here, let me help you with that." Lily looked up to see the round-faced man who had been discussing quidditch and balstar standing there. He hauled her stuff on the train and then turned to look at her. "I saw you come in alone," he said, conversationally. He had friendly eyes, and a welcoming smile. "Your parents must be muggles. My wife can't come to see the girls off either. She's a muggle, too," he explained as the two girls who had been standing beside him walked over. "I'm Edmond Parker. These are my girls, Alice and Anna." He motioned to the shorter and the taller of the two, respectively.
"Er-thank you." Lily replied, still slightly taken aback. "It's very nice to meet you," she said to the two girls, then, unable to think of anything else to say, she said, "Well, I better find a compartment, then."
Lily began to pull her stuff down the train corridor. She found an empty compartment about halfway down, and settled her stuff in. A few minutes later, as she was flipping through "The Standard Book of Spells-Grade 1" (by Miranda Goshawk), the compartment door opened. She looked up and saw Alice standing there. "Mind if I sit with you?" Alice asked. "Anna won't let me sit with her. She says I'll embarrass her. She's probably right, too. Anna is easily embarassed!" Alice smiled. She had the same round face as her father, and the same smile, but her eyes were blue, rather than brown, as her dad's had been.
"Sure," said Lily, moving over to make room. "I'm Lily Evans, by the way. Your dad seems nice."
Alice looked a little pained. "Yeah, he's very sweet. Of course, it can be embarrassing. He finds muggles really intriguing, you see-well, he'd have to. He married one, didn't he? But he can't get enough of them. One time we were on the subway, and he started asking a woman next to us how a washing machine works. We don't have one in our house-Dad does all of the laundry because Mum can't use magic, and she says it's so much easier for him to do. Anyway, dad even works in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry of Magic. He's very excited, just got a new assistant, Arthur Weasley. He's been asking for one for ever such a long time, but the Minister didn't think he needed one. He was only able to convince him after the muggle Prime Minister started complaining about the flood of bewitched merchandise making its way into muggle shops…" Alice trailed off. "What about your parents?"
"They're both muggles," Lily replied, finding it funny to use the word. As she spoke, the Hogwarts Express whistle blew, and the train started to make its way out of the station. Lily wasn't surprised to discover that there was a ministry of magic (it only makes sense, after all!), but it did throw her a little bit that the British Prime Minister was not only aware of it, but also appeared to maintain an ongoing dialogue with it.
"Hang on," said, Alice, "I'd better wave good-bye to my Dad," She stood up and waved frantically out the window. Lily, having nobody on the platform to wave to, settled herself into her seat, hoping fervently that everyone at Hogwarts was as nice as Alice Parker.
After the station was no longer in view, Alice sat down and turned to face Lily. "So," she said,
conversationally, "I've always wondered how muggle-borns find out where to get their supplies and stuff. I
mean, it's not like you can just walk into any old store in London and get a wand."
"No," said Lily thoughtfully, "I don't suppose you can. I don't know how most people do it, but my dad just called everyone he could think of, asking them if they knew where to get supplies for Hogwarts School. Most said they'd never heard of it, of course. It just so happened that a friend of my Dad's-Arabella Figg, was born to a wizarding family. She's not magical, but she knew how to find the wizarding shops. She told us to go to the Leaky Cauldron and talk to the bartender, said he'd tell us what to do. Then she told us how to get onto the platform. My parents were ever so disappointed that they couldn't come through and see me off."
"I know what you mean. My mum always gets upset about it, says the whole thing shrieks of anti-muggle mentality. She's probably right, but I mean really, what are they going to do? You can't have muggles leaning on the barrier while consulting a schedule, and falling through, can you?"
Shortly after they had left the station, the refreshment trolley came by and Lily bought the items that Alice recommended. "The chocolate frogs are good, but you want to stay away from the Bertie Bott's. I had a smelt flavored one once!".
As they were eating their way through the snacks, the door to their compartment slid open and a dark haired girl walked in. "I'm sorry to bother you, but I was in a compartment with some Slytherin third years, and they were giving me a hard time. Do you mind if I join you?" the girl asked, shyly.
Alice smiled broadly. "Sure!" she replied, "I'm Alice Parker, and this is Lily Evans." Lily waved, but was unable to say hello, as her mouth was full of chocolate frog at the time.
"Nice to meet you," the new girl said formally. "I'm Amelia Bones." She sat down in the seat next to Lily.
Lily swallowed, licked the remaining chocolate off of her fingers, and turned to Amelia. "Did you say Slytherin?" she asked. "What are they like? I read about them in Hogwarts, a History, but it doesn't seem like the nicest house, does it?"
Alice snorted. "I'll leave school if I end up in Slytherin, and I won't speak to either one of you again if you do. You might be perfectly nice now, but two minutes inside the Slytherin common room and I won't want to know you. It's not likely I'll end up in Slytherin, mind you. I possess all the slyness and cunning of a turtle. Mum says I'm too honest sometimes, but I'd rather be too honest than dishonest."
Lily and Amelia both looked at Alice with mild surprise. She laughed. "See what I mean? Too honest. I think I'll end up in Gryffindor. All of the best aurors come out of there. My Grandpa did," she said proudly.
"An auror?" inquired Lily, bewildered. "What's that?"
"A dark wizard catcher," replied Alice. "They haven't got a lot to do right now, mind, the last major dark wizard was defeated by Dumbledore in 1945, but Grandpa seems to think that we oughtn't get too complacent."
Amelia looked impressed. "Your grandpa's an auror?" she asked.
"Yeah," Alice replied, unable to hide her pride. "He was part of the group that helped defeat Grindelwald, and he says that there have been some rumblings that make him think that our time of peace is about to come to an end. Course, Mum always shushes him before he can tell me what's going on, but I'm really keen to know."
"Hasn't he told you anything," Lily asked, quite intrigued, but a little disturbed at the possibility of a dark wizard. She wondered why she hadn't thought of the possibility before.
"All I know is that there have been a few disappearances, and Grandpa says disappearances are never a good sign. Anyway, my Grandpa would be so proud if I were in Gryffindor. Of course, I don't suppose that Ravenclaw would be too bad, would it?"
Lily looked between Amelia and Alice, but as neither one seemed to be too concerned about the thought that even now a dark wizard might be consolidating his power, Lily decided that she shouldn't be either. After all, even if there was a dark wizard out there, plotting, it wasn't as if her worrying about it was going to do anything to stop it. She ignored the butterflies that had started fluttering in her stomach at the unexpected turn in the conversation, and turned her attention back to the topic at hand.
"Well, I'd like Gryffindor," Amelia was saying with a sigh, "but I think I'll probably end up in Hufflepuff. Most of my family does. Not that there's anything wrong with it, mind you. It's just that the house has a bit of a laughable reputation. I do have an auntie who was in Gryffindor once, so I suppose there's hope for me!"
"How do they put you into houses, anyway?" asked Lily, "Is it some sort of a test? Do you have to do something?"
"Well, nobody really knows before they get there, do they? I mean, Anna told me that she wasn't allowed to tell, or she'd have to do the task all over again, and she didn't fancy that, so it must be something really bad. But one time I was walking by her room, and she was talking to her friend and I heard her say something about wrestling a werewolf. I don't know if she was kidding or not."
"My brother just told me not to be worried, that no one had died in at least 20 years. I asked mum if he was kidding, and she wouldn't look me in the eye when she assured me that he was." Amelia smiled. "But I'm sure it isn't so bad. If my brother can do it, anyone can! He's the greatest idiot that ever lived!"
"Which house is he in?" Alice asked in interest.
"Hufflepuff, of course. See what I mean-that house isn't the house I want to be associated with!" Amelia shook her head. "I just don't know how much hope there is for me."
Their conversation was interrupted shortly thereafter by shouting and laughing in the hallway. Lily stood up to see what all the racket was about, and saw the boy who had stolen his father's snitch, and his dark-haired companion taking bets on what appeared to be some sort of contest. When she reported this fact back to Alice and Amelia, Alice stood up and looked out too.
"Oh, a dung bomb throwing contest," she said without a trace of surprise. "Boys. They can't sit still for very long without causing a ruckus, can they?" She snorted in disgust and sat back down.
Lily shook her head in disapproval. She wasn't entirely sure what a dung bomb was, but she didn't think it was anything good. "Honestly," she said, "You'd think that they'd want to make a better impression than that!"
The girls nodded in agreement, and went back to their conversation. As the journey continued, Amelia and Alice filled Lily in on a variety of subjects including quidditch, dung bombs, the teachers, and Dumbledore, the school headmaster. Lily, in turn, obligingly answered questions directed at her about growing up in a completely muggle family.
It wasn't long before the sky had turned dark, and a girl wearing Hogwarts robes with a badge engraved with a P pinned to the front came into the compartment and told them to get changed into their school robes. "We're almost there!" Alice exclaimed, a touch of nervousness in her voice. The three had just managed to get into their school robes when the train slid into the station.
Lily took a deep breath to calm herself, turned to her companions, and said "Well, I guess it's now or never." Alicia and Amelia followed Lily out of the compartment and queued up to file off of the train. The smell of dungbombs lingered in the corridor, but the three girls were too nervous to notice. They made their way off of the train and on to the platform; all three ready to meet whatever challenge it was that would determine their house for the next seven years.