Lily Evans And The Elf-nymph Necklace, Year One, Chapter One

Chapter One Lily Evans sat in her comfortable chair by the fire, with her bright red hair spread around her shoulders and midnight blue nightgown. It wasn't all that late, just around ten-thirty on July 30th, a very rainy night. It was strangely cold for July; it had hit the forties, which hadn't happened in around two hundred years. Her father had lit the fire as soon as he had heard that it was going to sink down to 41 degrees and that Lily was going to stay up a bit and read. He'd made her promise, though, that she wouldn't fall asleep with the fire on and that she'd put it out before midnight. The book she was reading was in Hebrew; it was one that her mother had brought back from her trip to the mainland, and right now, Lily was engaged in trying to translate as best she could. She had just reached a particularly difficult phrase when she heard the thump of feet on the hardwood floor. "Lily, go to bed. I can hear the fire all the way into my room." Petunia, her older sister, had grumpily stomped into the living room doorway. "You can read that stupid book in the morning." "Stupid?" Lily felt her face growing hot. "Did you just call this stupid?" Petunia put on her annoyed face. "I did, and if you don't put that fire out right now--AAHHH! Mom! Help! OUCH!" She was grasping her stomach and sinking to the floor. Lily's eyes opened in amazement as her parents rushed into the room, awakened by Petunia's screaming. She had been fixedly staring at Petunia's stomach a moment before, to avoid having to look at her face. Her eyes had become hot, and just when the pressure behind them let off, Petunia had started to scream. Lily gaped. "Wow. Did I do that?" "Do what? Of course you did, you--you witch!" Petunia shrieked. "Witch? Is that supposed to be insulting?" She shrugged and turned back to her book. She couldn't concentrate on it, though. Her mind kept running over the strange things that had happened just now. Practically in a sort of trance, she was rudely startled out of it by a rap on the window. She started in her chair. The knock she heard was repeated again and again, almost as if it was Petunia's anxious boyfriend, Vernon Dursley. But Vernon didn't get out of bed at this time of night. Simply out of curiosity, she went to the window, pulling aside the curtains and undoing the latch. "I'm asleep. I'm dreaming. I know I'm asleep," she kept repeating to herself as she stared out of the window at a large, tawny owl carrying a letter in its beak. The owl fluttered inside, landing on the sofa and dropping the letter on Lily's book. It shook itself, then, without even resting for a while, it took off again into the dark and stormy night. Slowly, as if it were some kind of explosive, Lily moved towards the letter. With a quivering hand, she snatched it up. The envelope was a sort of yellowing parchment with emerald green ink. To Miss Lily Evans

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Armchair in front of the Fire 777 Laner Street She slit the envelope open. Inside were two sheets, but she only noticed the first words on the page. Dear Miss Evans, We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. *** Of the next two days Lily hardly remembered anything, besides the fact that she found out that this wasn't a hoax and that she would be taking a train to Hogwarts on September first. A small slip of paper inside the envelope that she hadn't noticed before gave directions on how to contact Professor M. McGonagall, who told Lily and her family how to get onto the platform and how to get her school supplies. Her father and mother were excited and pleasantly surprised, and after binding Petunia to secrecy, they were on the subway to the street in front of the Leaky Cauldron, the entrance to the place where Lily would find her supplies. Petunia was grouchy most of the way, though as soon as they entered the small pub, her face was frozen in fear and she was silent until they got to a brick wall in the back, along with a rather small and wrinkly wizard. "Let's see, now where are those bricks again? Oh, right, third left..." He tapped several bricks, and almost immediately, the wall, which had been secure before, modeled a gap, which slowly grew larger and larger, until all of Lily's family could fit inside. Lily's mother and father stared with popped out eyes at the first bit of magic they had seen performed. Lily grinned, then smiled even wider as she saw Petunia, who was sitting down on a trash heap with a banana peel poking out from under her skirt and her vocal cords frozen in an eternal whimper. Tearing her amused gaze away from her sister, Lily looked back at the doorway. Through it she could see a crowd of many wizards and witches congregating about bright shops and window, some eating ice cream at a nearby café, and a group of boys oohing over a broom one of them had just bought. The street was cobblestoned, with sparks issuing from several random wands here and there; no trace of the rainy weather that reigned outside in the rest of London. Here, there was a bright and cheery sky, with several birds and--wait--gold balls with wings?--whizzing around among the clouds. Several people could be seen through a shop window trying on wands, others were being fitted for some type of clothing, and others were flipping through books at a place called Flourish and Blotts. "Wow." Lily whispered. "Well, welcome to Diagon Alley," the crinkly wizard grinned. Lily was the first to step into the alley. She glanced around, looking for what the letter said was a bank; a large white building. She found it easily, as it was the tallest structure on the street. Half dragging, half pulling Petunia, her family walked past several goblins 2

on either side of the doorway and to the desk of another goblin. "We'd like to open an account and exchange some money, please." Her father spoke as if he had done this a million times before. The goblin asked for his name, then told him that only wizards and witches could open an account. "Is it for one of the young ladies here?" "Yes, sir, it is. Lily Evans." "Lily is it? Well, then, follow me." The goblin headed for an elevator behind the counter, beckoning to the family. They stepped inside, while the goblin set a large golden dial on the side of the elevator to 472. The door closed and, with breathtaking speed, the elevator hurtled downwards. After about five seconds, with a gentle bump, the elevator stopped. Petunia, rather green in the face, was the first to leave. The goblin followed her out to reveal a long corridor, all lined with iron doors, smaller golden dials, and padlocks. They didn't have to walk far before the goblin stopped them in front of a door without a padlock. He took out two small golden keys and turned to Lily's father. "And how much will the young lady be depositing?" "Er..." He looked around to Lily's mother. "About...I'd say, two hundred pounds. I think that should be enough." The goblin nodded. "Very well, then." He set the dial to 200, then opened the padlock and door with one of the keys. Lily gasped. Inside were mountains of gold, silver, and bronze coins, more than she could ever have imagined seeing. She drew out several handfuls and put them into her purse, her mouth still hanging open. "Dad, I...thanks, Dad." She hugged him. “Can we go and get my things now? I can't wait to get a wand!" The goblin and her parents smiled. Upstairs, the goblin handed Lily her own golden key to her safe, then waved until they were out of sight. He finally turned around, muttering. "Good grief, that Muggle child was green!" The next thing she knew, Lily found herself in the bookshop. Flourish and Blotts, to be exact. The salesclerk who was in while the owner was out to lunch immediately hurried over to her, a bit too overexcited to help. "Let's see, I need Transfiguration,--Hey!" The salesclerk had dumped about seven books on top of the list where she had placed it, on a small table with a "Here you are, miss. That'll be seventy Sickles, four Knuts." Lily raised one eyebrow. "How many first years have you had come in here today?" He grinned a bit sheepishly. "About fifteen." He pulled out a cloth bag from under the counter. "Bag, miss?" Lily nodded. "Yes, please." She left the store alone, having left her parents and Petunia at the ice cream parlor, where Petunia was scarfing down about a pint of mint dragon-eye ice cream to make up for the elevator ride. The closest thing there was on the street was the robe shop she had noticed earlier. It had pale blue drapes on the windows and black robes on moving statues in the show windows. Lily stepped inside. The owner, Madam Malkin, immediately flitted over and started taking her measurements. "Hogwarts this year, dear?" She went on without waiting for

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confirmation. “I remember the very day my mother took my measurements for my first Hogwarts robes...." She went on and on and on. Lily grew drowsy listening to the jabber and would have fallen asleep, except that Madam Malkin used very sharp pins. About twenty-five minutes later, she left the shop gratefully with her new robes wrapped in pale blue tissue paper. With difficulty, she pulled out her list again. "Wand. Wand, wand, wand. Now where on earth--OW!" She was knocked onto the cobblestones as a boy about her age ran into her, trying to dodge a few gold sparks. "Watch where you're going!" she grumbled, quite miffed, as she retrieved her packages from where they went flying all over the street. "I--I'm sorry. Really. Here, let me help you." The boy dusted off a few of the books and helped rewrap her robes. "First year, huh?" Lily nodded. "That obvious, huh?" He shrugged. "To me it is, just because I was one last year." Lily smiled. "Hi--I'm sorry if I sounded rude. I'm Lily. Lily Evans." The boy, with wildly messed up hair, smiled at her. "You didn't. I'm James Potter. Hope I'll see you around at Hogwarts!" Lily stared after James for a while, then came back to the real world, worked with a start. He had such beautiful blue eyes--just the ones she wished she had--hers were green. She hated green. With a sigh, she nimbly stepped out of the way of an out-ofcontrol broomstick and into the wand shop, which she'd just spotted. She couldn't remember a minute of her stay in the shop, except that Mr. Ollivander had large bulgy eyes and that he had an old owl in a cage on his counter that let out a dying croak when she entered the shop. When she arrived at a store for miscellaneous items, she spotted a friend of hers from school. "Amanda!" "Lily!" Lily couldn't believe that Amanda was also a witch. This was amazing-and now she actually had people she'd know at Hogwarts. they raced to each other and hugged, jumping up and down with excitement. "Eeek!" Amanda had always loved that work. "I can't believe this!" "Me either. By the way, what do I need here?" "Oh, that's easy. Over here, look. Parchment and ink. I got lots of green and blue ink, the sparkly kind, though Mom made me get some regular. Hey, you get some of the gold and silver, then we can swap when we want to! And here--" Lily left the store with a bulging bag of firecrackers, ink, parchment, and a few colored quills. They said goodbye and went back to their families. "See you at Hogwarts!" both of them shouted as Amanda's family left Diagon Alley. Lily watched the doorway close behind Amanda, smiling. Amanda wasn't exactly her best friend, but it was neat to have her at Hogwarts, too. She pulled her list out again. "Potions stuff. All right then." She headed straight for the dim and dusky store on her right. Inside, she found her mother scooping out some black beetle eyes into a bag. "Mom? I thought you were with Petunia." Her mom smiled. "I was, but then I decided, that since I'm majoring in chemistry this year, I'd do some extra experiments. Look, they have potion recipes up here!" And she waved a whole stack of parchment in Lily's face. "I copied your list, so your Potions

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stuff is right here. I got you some extra stuff that I'm going to take back as soon as we get home." Lily shook her head. Her mom couldn't even cook decently, not to mention do experiments. Usually, the cookies turned out burnt and the experiments blew up, sending smoke up her nose and causing her to have a sneeze attack. "Mom, I'm gonna look at the other stores. See you in...how long?" "A half hour. And stay in Diagon Alley." "I will. Thanks." She practically dashed out of the murky shop with its awful smell, thankful for fresh air. She looked around for anyone else she might know, though the only familiar face was James', and his wasn't actually a face, it was more the back of his head. He and some others were clustered about the Quality Quidditch Supplies store, oohing over a broom that, Lily read on its handle, was the new 'Millennium'. James seemed to be the most interested. "Look at that thing! I bet you wouldn't even feel that you're on a broom at all." "I know." one of his friends added, with black hair and a sort of doglike expression. "I wish Dad'd trade in that old one I have--it's starting to splinter." A girl with short blond hair smirked. "Sirius, I've told you before that if you insist on chasing Serverus with that thing, he's going to hex you. And that's gonna do some damage to the broom." "All right, all right! I've heard this before!" he retorted, clearly knowing her statements by heart. James was still staring at the broom. "I've already asked Mom to sell my old one and give me this, but since she got me that model of the Milky Way, she thought I didn't need this. It's just what we need to beat Slytherin, though!" The blonde rolled her eyes. She took James' arm and pulled him away from the window. "You promised me you'd get me some ice cream, c'mon, that broom isn't that important, is it?" He gave in, and Lily stared after them, wondering. "Is that his girlfriend?" She wrinkled her nose. "Darn." A few weeks later, September first, to be exact, Lily and her family were walking towards King's Cross to drop her off in front of the magical barrier, the one separating the platform from the other Muggle ones. Her family couldn't get inside, so she had to say goodbye here. "Mom, I promise I'll come home for Christmas. Thanks again for my trunk." She hugged her father. "Dad, 'bye. Send me lots of owls, Ok? Oh, wait, you'd have to wait for me to send Alisande. I'd forgotten." One of the things she'd gotten in Diagon Alley was a raven-black owl with fiery black eyes; she had named her Alisande. Petunia had been forced to come along, as Lily wasn't going to be home ‘til Christmas holidays. "'Tunia, stay out of my room. If you don't, I'll hex you. Bye, now," she added in a sickly sweet tone. "And good riddance, I'd say." Petunia muttered, out of her parents' hearing, though not out of Lily's. "Right back to ya, Muggle." Lily had answered. "When I come back, I'll make sure to teach you a spell that'll make you look less like a horse." She nimbly evaded a slap and, without waiting for a hug from her parents, dashed towards the barrier between

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platforms nine and ten. "I'll send you millions of owls, Mom! Bye!" She had just seen James and his friends approaching and sped up, managing to get through the barrier. She had heard a story of how, last year, the barrier had been locked and no one could get in and everyone missed the train. No one was quite sure who had done it, though. Lily was standing on platform Nine and Three-Quarters before she knew it. The long, scarlet engine was letting off so much noise she had to cover her ears. Finally deciding to let them go, she half carried, half dragged her trunk onto the train. It was heavy, as her mother had insisted on buying a black trunk with gold fastenings. She got it through the door and into one of the few empty compartments. Gasping for breath, she sank down onto a plushy velvet seat. "Ow. Mom, next time get me a paper bag. Ouch, my back." She remained sitting until she heard some noises outside and went to investigate. She knew some of these people. Sirius, James, and two others were setting off a couple of squeaky mice in the corridors, which went into quite a few compartments. Squeals and screams and the occasional curses came from behind every half-open door the mice went into. Sirius pointed down the part of the corridor near Lily. "We haven't let them off in any of those yet." One of the other boys, with brownish-mousy hair and the look of a rat, shivered. "But what if there's a teacher in one of them?" James frowned. "Peter, you're entirely too spineless. C'mon. We'd better get rid of these before Snape sees us." They only had two mice left, and, carefully, they guided them to Lily's compartment and another. She drew back inside quickly, not allowing them to see her, though leaving the door partly open. She saw the small brown mouse enter with a squeak, as if someone had just pinched its tail. Swooping down on it, and making sure not to make a sound, she picked the mouse up. It was really quite a cuddly thing as it started to nip at her ear. She reclined in a seat, stroking the mouse. Outside, the boys had realized that the other compartment was empty. Disappointed, they waited for a shriek from the inhabitant of the other compartment. They didn't hear a sound. Puzzled, James stuck his head in the small gap in the doorway. His mouth dropped open. Lily was stroking the mouse. "Let's see, now what should I call you? Oh, James, did you send him in here?" she asked, only now apparently noticing him. "Can I keep him? I've already named him Clyde. If it's a her, though, I'll go with Bonnie. What do you think?" By now Sirius had come to investigate. "She didn't scream? What kind of a girl are you, anyway?" Lily flashed a sweet smile, the one she used to use for her teachers. "One of a kind." Lily watched the stunned expressions on the boys' faces. Unable to keep a straight face anymore, she burst out laughing, which set them off, too. By the time a tallish, greasy-haired kid about Sirius' and James' ages stepped into the doorway, Lily had been introduced all around and learned that the three boys she hadn't recall met were Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin. They were all in second year and had known each other since they were about three, and James was just telling everyone how he and

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Lily had met the other day. "So, anyway, you know how that Lucius Malfoy was trying to get me with a permanent vomit-breath hex yesterday? Well, anyway, he aimed pretty good for once, so I had to run, and I smashed into Lily." He smiled at her. "And I'm pretty glad I did." Sirius and Remus started to snigger. "Yo, James, don't let Sheila know that you said that! She'd probably start jinxing you with all the spells she could get out of Snape; you know he likes her!" "Indeed?" A hard, cold voice behind them made them all jump. James rolled his eyes. "Snape, it's not exactly a secret." Snape shook his long, very greasy hair. "What isn't a secret?" Sirius raised thick, dark eyebrows. "That you sent Sheila a large bouquet full of roses last Saturday,--" "Which you bought at 'The Rosette Shop', three shops away from that large fountain in the middle of Fraeden Square." Remus finished. Snape's waxy cheeks went a bit rosy. He immediately turned and swished out of the compartment as all four boys collapsed on the floor, laughing. James recovered himself first. "Tracking Hex and Sheila's big mouth. Works every time." He started to laugh again and had to swallow several Anti-Laugh chocolate worms--at least, that's what he thought they were, but he grabbed several Ice Mice instead and started to shiver and shake, teeth chattering. "Pink roses with a red rim! Paid sixteen Sickles for them!" he gasped out. Lily joined in, trying to imagine Snape and Sheila as a couple. She started to giggle uncontrollably. By this time, the train had already started on its way to Hogwarts. Lily was the first one who noticed the landscape moving. "Guys, did any of you notice the train leave?" Remus looked puzzled. "Why? It didn't, did it--OH, S--" "Petrificus Totalus!" James shouted, pulling out his wand before Remus had a chance to finish his sentence. Remus' arms snapped to his sides until he resembled a piece of wood, besides being cut off in mid-sentence. "Remus, that was uncalled for. Sulatot Sucofirtep." Remus returned to normal, glaring at James. "What happened?" Sirius asked. "It sounded like something important." Remus scowled. "It was. I left my trunk at the station." There was stunned silence--they were a bit apprehensive of what Remus would say if they started to laugh as loudly as they wanted to. "You genius." Peter remarked. "How are you planning to get it back?" "You're not even worried? I had a whole crate of Dungbombs in there! What if it's stolen?" Lily raised an eyebrow. "Who in their right mind would steal a pack of Dungbombs?" Sirius snorted with a bit of irrepressible laughter. "Especially from his trunk. Everyone knows the story of how Malfoy tried to steal all of his extra robes and got his eyebrows inflamed by the Burglar Hex James invented. They wouldn't go out for about three minutes. Professor Hilton kept him in the hospital wing for a week!" James sighed, with a dreamy expression on his face. "He still had the scars at the end of last year. Maybe his eyebrows are actually growing again!" Lily turned to James. "You invented a hex?"

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He looked a bit embarrassed. "Yeah, only a few. They're not that good, really." He stopped as Sirius snorted again. "James, you invented fifty-two jinxes by the time you left Hogwarts last year." He turned to Lily, explaining. "One of them, a sort of Nail-Loss one, he put on Professor McGonagall's wand, and the next time she picked it up--she'd just done her nails and was wearing sandals, since it was near the end of the school year and was really hot-anyway--we had twenty scarlet nails falling onto her desk and onto the floor. We were in the class next door when she started to scream like a banshee and ran to the hospital room--after picking up all of her nails." Lily started to hyperventilate, she was laughing so hard. After Remus and Peter had gone up to the one compartment that held about two teachers to tell them about Remus not having a trunk, a thin, blond witch stopped by the compartment with a cart. "Anything to eat, kids?" she asked in a mournful sort of tone. James and Sirius handed over two Galleons and the order: "The usual, please." They were immediately handed a plastic bag from the bottom shelf with a tag attached to it, saying: "Potter, Black, Pettigrew, and Lupin." Seeing Lily's puzzled face, the witch explained. "They've bought the same thing six times since they first got on this train, so I just get their things ready ahead of time." With that, she handed Sirius two pitchers of pumpkin juice and two Knuts. "You know where I am when you get hungry again. When." She turned to Lily. "No need to buy anything, dear. These four have enough to last seven giants for three weeks. I don't know how they manage to eat three bags of this stuff." Shaking her head, she trundled along to the next compartment, leaving Lily to stare at the contents of the bag, which had been emptied all over three seats, James, Sirius, and the floor. The bag had held about five dozen Chocolate Frogs, twelve bags of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, two dozen Acid Pops, four blood-flavored packs of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, along with some that was pumpkin flavored. There were also about seventy Limited Edition Hysteria Gumdrops and a good eight hundred things called Toothflossing Stringmints, which had a label on them saying "New! Do Not Miss!" James glanced at the label scornfully. "Yeah, right. We've been getting them delivered to Hogwarts and to our homes for about three years now. 'New!' But the reason we get so much is because this has to last us the whole year, and we hate brushing teeth between every single load of candy," he added, at seeing Lily's amazed face when she saw the amount of Stringmints. By the time Remus and Peter got back, Lily, James, Sirius, and some passers-by had finished all of the Chocolate Frogs and half of the rest, (except for the stringmints) along with one of the two pitchers of pumpkin juice. "Hey! Where's all the food?" Peter asked, indignant. Lily stared. "All the food? There's still half the bag left!" James looked at her incredulously. "For them, half a bag of candy? I think last year I bet on nine minutes, seventeen seconds, though I might have to shorten it to nine ten. They keep going faster every time. Now, where...Oh, yeah, right, here." Pulling out a stopwatch, he leaned back over his shoulder to Remus and Lupin. "Ready, set, go!" Lily watched in amazement. Pulling herself together, she managed to lean over to

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James and look at the stopwatch. "Nine minutes, nine seconds. What, why, when, where, and how did you guys even get all this unwrapped so fast?" The compartment was littered with wrappers. Not one piece of candy remained besides the Toothflossing Stringmints. Lily was free to read for the next part of the trip, as all of the boys were fast asleep. Outside, it grew darker and darker, until finally Lily had to turn on the extra lights in the compartment and draw the scarlet velvet curtains in front of the window. She wrote a letter to her family, which she placed in a small, golden compartment under Alisande's cage, which, at the beginning of the trip, she had placed overhead so the owl wouldn't go nuts at the sight of the mice, which were still running around. Around seven, she went up to the front to ask when they would be arriving. The witch with the cart told her about an hour, then went back to sleep. When she got back to the compartment, she found Snape and a pale blonde boy inside, with drawn wands. James was already covered in syrup and feathers, while Sirius was snoring with what looked like mud in his mouth. Peter and Remus were untouched, so far. Lily felt her eyes grow hot again. She dashed inside. "And what do you think you're doing?" she demanded, indignantly. Snape and the blond boy whirled around, defensive. The blonde boy raised his wand. "And who are you, may I ask?" "Lily Evans. How are you? Nice to meet you. All right, I'm done with politeness for the day." She pulled out her wand, even though she hadn't even learned any spells yet. Her mind went back to the one James had performed to shut Remus up. "Petrificus Totalus!" she shouted, and immediately the pressure behind her eyes melted away. She blinked, and when she opened her eyes again, Malfoy was lying on the floor, limbs frozen in distorted positions, while Snape was frozen in the very attitude of running his finger up his nose. "Oops. Guess I'd better work on that one." Together with Remus and Peter, who had awakened when she had shouted, she pushed the two statues out into the hallway. "And stay out." She slammed the door. Inside, Remus had freed James and Sirius of their syrup, feathers, and mud. All of them were staring at Lily. Sirius was the first to speak. "How many times did you try that spell at home?" Lily shrugged. "I didn't. This was my first bit of magic--I remembered what James did to Remus, that's all." James gulped. "Do you know how many times we practiced that spell just to get as far as you did, just now?" Remus answered for him. "Five weeks of endless practicing, just so we could use it on Malfoy." Lily frowned. "Malfoy?" "Yeah, Lucius Malfoy, that blond guy who was in here just a minute ago." "Oh. Well...is that good?" "Y'know, James," Sirius overlooked her question, "I think you might have some competition." James looked puzzled. "Competition?" Sirius nodded, and Remus looked from

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one to the other, trying to figure out what on earth they meant. A few seconds later, his eye had a gleam in it, he wore a knowing grin, and looked over to Lily out of the corner of his eye. "You two couldn't keep even your own secret if your life depended on it." By the end of the trip, when a bodiless voice echoed through the corridors, Lily had heard all about James', Sirius', and Remus' opinions on everyone in the school. She also was told which houses to avoid getting into, if possible. "Slytherin is somewhere I don't think you'd like, since you attacked Snape and Malfoy. Gryffindor is the best--" here James had his narrative interrupted by hoots and high-fives from the rest--"which is because we're in it." (More hoots.) "Ravenclaw has a whole bunch of snobs, but Sheila and her group are in there, so you might like that. Hufflepuff--well, enough said." "So, you'd recommend Gryffindor?" Sirius nodded. "Absolutely. Listen, I don't really think, when they test you to see what house you'll be in, that you should scream all that much. If you do, they'll put you in Hufflepuff." Lily looked up. "Scream? Why?" Peter sniggered at Lily's worried face. "Hogwarts isn't exactly what you expected, is it?" "No--not really--Why would I scream and what scars?" She caught sight of James' face, which had gone all red. "James!" He looked up. "What?" "Tell me." He glanced at his friends, bit his lip, then shook his head. "Guys, this is getting really mean." Remus looked shocked. "But, James, we took an oath to do this to every first year! You can't mean you're backing out!" Lily crossed her arms in front of her chest. "To do what to every first year?" James gave in. "Listen, the only thing you'll have to do is put on a hat. I'm sorry, really." He stood up and walked towards the door. "I'm going up front." "Yeah, right." Sirius leaned out of the doorway. "Chicken!" At that moment, the voice echoed through the corridors again, telling all students to put their things into their trunks and to get dressed in their robes if they had not already done so. The boys left the compartment, while Lily made sure the door was locked and the curtain that covered the door's pane of glass was secured tightly. She reached into her trunk and pulled out her robes. She changed quickly, which was good, for the train stopped just thirty seconds after she had finished. The announcer echoed through the corridor again. "Please leave your trunks on the train. They will be taken up to the castle separately." Stepping off of the train, Lily found herself surrounded by a clear, starry night. There were no clouds, just a crescent moon hiding behind a tree. She heard a thick, throaty voice calling over the crowd of students. "First years over here! First years, this way!" The speaker wasn't exactly hard to miss; in fact, just the opposite, as he was twice as tall as an ordinary human and three times as broad. "First years this way!"

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About two hundred kids just Lily's age had surrounded him, a good half of them scared and anxious. Lily scanned the crowd, hoping for someone she knew. That someone found her first. "Lily!" Someone had tapped her on the back. "Amanda!" "Lily, aren't you scared? I heard something about the Sorting ceremony hurting a bit." Lily couldn't help it. She pulled a Sirius and snorted with laughter. "Don't worry. They love doing that to first years. All you have to do is try on a hat." Amanda breathed. "Good. That's a relief. Eeek! I can't wait!" Lily rolled her eyes. The first thing she'd try to learn was how to make Amanda never say Eeek!" again. After three years, she was getting sick and tired of that word. The giant herded about two hundred first years towards several boats that were tied to the shore of the lake. "No more than five to a boat!" Lily, Amanda, and two other girls climbed into one. The other girls obviously were twins; they shared the same brown hair and frightened expression when the giant spoke, this time to the boats. "All right then--move off!" With a gentle, swinging motion, the boats started to float to an unknown destination on the lake. The twins were clutching the wooden rims and looked sick; as if they might hurl if anyone spoke to them. Lily didn't speak to them. She was enraptured by the starry sky, and anticipated eagerly wherever they were going. She didn't even notice as someone in another boat paddled over to hers, noiselessly. Lily felt a tap on her shoulder. She whirled around and swallowed a surprised noise in her throat and a start. "James Potter, what on earth?" He grinned sheepishly. "I just want to try on the Sorting Hat again. Just to see what it says." Lily was about to make an incredulous remark, but he cut her off, pointing. "Look!" She gasped. In front of her, a tall castle towered against the starry sky. Light streamed from every window, including the tops of about twelve towers. "I-is that--" James grinned. "Yeah, that's Hogwarts. Neat, isn't it?" Lily gulped. "It's beautiful." Once inside, they were welcomed by a rather stern-looking witch with her hair in a tight knot, Professor Megan McGonagall. After explaining briefly about their future at Hogwarts with their separate Houses, she led then towards two huge doors, behind which, judging from the noise, the whole rest of the school was gathered. The noise increased rapidly, and the doors opened by themselves. As if they were cattle, the first years were herded towards a stage, with all the eyes of the school, issuing from four long tables, upon them. A stool was set upon the stage, serving as a pedestal for a tattered and withered wizarding hat. A rip opened near

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the brim, and the hat began to sing. "Gryffindor, a mighty man Did many worthy things. And one out of the best he'd done Was give me brains of kings. He'd grown tired, year by year, Of picking students, see, So here I am, here in his place, To choose for him with glee. In Gryffindor I place The bold of heart and mind, Those who will forevermore Be the bravest one can find. In Hufflepuff the workers hard Were put to work and serve Those honest and hardworking souls From their path have never swerved. Ravenclaw got clever ones Who, brilliant of sound mind, Were, along with all their fellows The smartest one could find. Slytherin, that slinky soul Chose people just like he. Peculiar in his tastes he was And stubborn, (just like me). So put me on, I'll try to see Where you should belong Trust me, I bear the brains of kings And have never yet been wrong." The Great Hall burst into applause as the hat finished, the students lined up alphabetically and the first student walked over to the stool. "Benson, Dennis." the hat announced. "HUFFLEPUFF!" One of the four large tabled burst into applause. "Chandler, Margaret." "RAVENCLAW!" "Davis, Heather!" There was a good thirty-second pause, then-"RAVENCLAW!"

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"Evans, Lily!" The hat slipped far over her head, mumbling to itself. "Now, I think you have an equally good chance in all three, don't you? Definitely. Now, let's see...I've never yet done eeny-meeny-miney-mo, but where do you want to go?" Lily clutched the stool. "Gryffindor, please," she thought. "Pretty please, hat?" "All right, then, dear--GRYFFINDOR!" This last was shouted to the whole hall, leaving Lily with ringing ears as she quickly plucked the hat off, handing it to the next student as fast as possible. She threaded her way as fast as possible to the table with the most applause. With pink cheeks, she saw Remus, Sirius, and Peter waving to her to come and sit down. She slid into a seat, smiling to herself. The next few students she didn't know. About fifty of them went by until Lily's palms hurt and it was Amanda's turn. "Milton, Amanda!" The hat didn't even touch her head before it belted out a "GRYFFINDOR!" She came down from the stage and took a seat next to Lily. The last student up, Lily could tell, was James, though his hat was pulled down way over his forehead. He slipped on the hat. "Potter, James!--Wait, wait just a minute there! Off my stage this instant! That was uncalled for! I should make you a Slytherin for that. Come back here!" James had torn off the hat and was racing for the edge of the stage and his table. The hat following him, propelling himself off of other's heads. James dived under the table amidst roaring laughter, and the hat followed. There were several shrieks, and then the hat emerged with James' ear caught in its brim. "Nevewr--evewr--do--fwhat--again!" The hat let go. "Understand?" It whacked James around the ears and finally had to be carried off by Professor McGonagall. Amid roaring laughter, the plates in front of the students filled and diverted their attention. James sank into his seat next to Lily, exhausted and with very red ears. "Wow, that hat was aggressive!" Lily couldn't help it. She started to hyperventilate again. Dinner was finally over around one o'clock, and the prefects led the new students to their dormitories. The Gryffindor first years stopped in front of a portrait of a fat lady in a pink dress, after climbing many winding staircases and being scared mindless by the Slytherin's ghost, the Bloody Baron, who swooped down among them, his robes all stained with silver. "Password?" the fat lady asked. The prefect cleared his throat, but before he could say a word, James jumped in. "Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia." The entire Gryffindor house stared at him as the portrait swung open to reveal a comfortable common room with a blazing fire. James shrugged. "It's the fear of long words." The Gryffindors erupted. Later in the evening, when all had said goodnight, Lily lay in her large four-poster, thinking about that day's events. What on earth had motivated James and his friends to stay with her? She was just a first year. But she had to admit--she was really glad that James had stayed. He was kind of cute...

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