The Good-bye Train
I had kissed my parents and sister good bye, ready to head off for my sixth year of Hogwarts. Petunia had fallen over herself in embarrassment my last few days around the house. She had apologized several times, saying that she loved me and would never want anything bad to happen to me, witch or not. It wasn't exactly one-hundred percent her approval of me, but I suppose it was the best that she could do. She was, after all, my sister and I couldn't let a little thing like a few hurtful words said while inebriated ruin our relationship.
Severus was waiting for me that early morning, a smile on his face and his battered trunk behind him. Neither he nor I had a pet or broom, just our older, worn trunks and our selves. He waited until I made it to the corner at the end of the street, one less traveled, before he pulled his wand out from inside his robe. Checking to make sure that no one was out to bear witness, he stuck his wand out. With a crack, a triple decker bus pulled to a stop in front of us and the doors opened with a rush. Severus waved his hand towards the bus.
"Ladies first," Severus said as he looked at me. I stepped forward, dragging my trunk onto the bus before anyone could try and help me with it. Some call it stubbornness, but I like to think of myself as a modern woman of sorts. I even kill my own spiders, if the job calls for it.
"Cozy," I said as I took one of the many arm chairs on the bus. Magical bus seating is quite different than muggle, and these chairs were just part of it.
"What'd you end up bringing for the train?" Severus asked as he took the chair nearest me. An older wizard snored unperturbed by our presence.
"Pepper cheese and wheat bread," I said, thinking to the lunch my mother packed. "You?"
"Corned beef," he said with a shrug that meant nothing or something. I never could tell.
"Good choice," I laughed and settled back against the seat without much effort. The bus jerked through the streets as if being tugged by a petulant child having a fit.
"King's Cross," the bus conductor said. My eyes widened.
"Oh, my ticket, I forgot to…" I said as I immediately remembered not paying my fare for the bus. I begun to dig around in my robes, looking for the bus money I had brought on me. It wasn't like me to forget! Severus reached across the space and patted my arm.
"No need to worry, Lily. I paid," Severus said.
"Let me pay you back, Severus," I insisted trying to hand him some money. He refused to take it, getting a little upset at the notion. Guiltily, I put the money back in my robe pocket. My parents weren't rich, but they did ok for the most part. I knew that Severus scraped for every single pound he had. Our books were always second hand, as was much of everything else. My robes were just a notch above used, and some of his were downright shabby. I knew he hated to be reminded how poor he really was, even by me, especially by me.
"Let me help you with your trunk," Severus said as we began to exit the Knight's Bus. I didn't protest, already feeling pretty crummy for being so ungrateful that he remembered something I had forgotten.
Severus placed our trunks upon a trolley and the two of us walked silently to the barrier between platforms nine and ten. There were people all around us, some pushing past each other. Everyone seemed like they were in a hurry to get where they were going. It was unusually cool for September first, but not even the weather could stop the big scarlet train from taking us to the land of magic and mystery.
Platform nine and three quarters was bustling with students, some dressed already in their school robes, others still clinging to their muggle wear. Parents were embracing first year students, readying to leave the nest. Some were crying, some were laughing, and some were being insanely obnoxious. Over the din of the platform, as Severus moved our trunks toward the prefect's carriage, I could hear the boisterous laughs of Sirius Black and James Potter. I stood on tiptoe for a second, trying to see them down toward the other end of the platform. I could see Remus Lupin laughing, though I knew I'd never be able to hear his soft chuckles over this noise. Peter Pettigrew, their small, chubby friend was cackling like an old witch, heard only in memory.
"Lily!" Alice Prewitt called excitedly. I easily heard her over the noise. I probably could have heard her over deafness, as loud as her volume was sometimes set. I turned as she crashed into me, arms wrapping around her. My body had already braced itself automatically. I had been knocked on my bum too many times by an overly exuberant Alice over the years to not be prepared.
"Alice!" I said with nearly the same excitement. My voice didn't carry as loudly as hers, nor was it quite as head turning. I was definitely the quiet one between us two, but anything was quieter than Alice.
I guess I kind of forgot about Severus standing there. It wasn't intentional, I swear. Alice launched into a long, drawn out plot to land a date with Frank Longbottom that year. I didn't quite understand it, to be honest. He wasn't a bad looking boy, not at all, but he was so painfully shy. He was the anti-Alice, and yet she was determined. I once asked her why she didn't just ask him out and you'd have thought I had suggested she set her hair on fire. For as forward thinking as Alice was, she still refused to be the first to ask the boy out.
I laughed a lot as Alice started talking about brewing a love potion. Alice's forte wasn't potions. One of the last potions she brewed in class had ended up smelling like rancid meat. I only recalled it because James had blamed the smell on Severus's hair, which had made me want to curse James back into the Stone Age. Severus had beat me to it and dumped worm wood into James and Sirius' cauldron as he walked by, congealing the failing potion into a semi-solid state and failing them on the lesson.
"Alice, no," I said as she looked at me with her plotting eyes.
"I didn't ask you to do anything," Alice said with such false innocence that I knew she was thinking up a way to include me in her plan.
"Not yet," I reminded her. She fought and lost to conceal her grin.
"But Lily," Alice whined. "You're so good at potions. You're Slughorn's favorite student, top of our potions. You are like a potion princess!"
"I am not," I said shaking my head.
"Yeah, you are," Alice said. "If Slughorn could have had you teach the class, he would! You should so be a Potion's Master."
"We've been over this a million times," I frowned. "I want to be an Auror."
"Lily," Remus said as he approached with a smile on his face. I half-hugged him in greeting, mindful not to look at the group he had just left behind.
"How was your summer, Remus?" I asked with such glee that I had derailed Alice's attempt to talk me out of pursuing the job as an Auror. I knew it was dangerous, especially during these dark times, but it was what I wanted to do. I didn't want to try and convince her, nor did I want to explain it yet again.
"It was good," Remus said with a warm smile. When he smiled, it was hard not to smile back. He could be infectious, and I wondered why he never dated. I mean, sure, Sirius dated enough for the four of them, but still. "How was yours? Do anything interesting?"
"Mine was pleasantly uneventful," I said. It was true. I had hung around Petunia all summer except when she was with her fiancé. I spent a lot of time with Severus. Thoughts of him reminded me that he was standing right there and I looked for him, but he had long since headed onto the train with our trunks and settled down in the prefects' carriage. "If you'll excuse me."
I didn't wait for Alice or Remus' responses, just turned and headed on the train with determination. Severus was sitting on a bench, staring out over the sea of people giving their good-byes. I didn't ask if I could sit, nor if he was ok. I just sat down across from him and studied his face. He was pale, painfully so, despite the bit of time we spent outside reading under the hemlock trees together. I waited until he acknowledged me, waiting to speak, but he never did. The whistle of the train sounded and people hurried onto the train as it geared up, ready to pull away from the station. A few teary waves good-bye from the parents, and the train was off. Destination: Hogwart's School of Magic.
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