Tring, tring, tring
Lily opened her eyes as soon as the alarm clock on the mahogany table next to her bed started ringing. Now, this was very unusual, because it usually took Lily five to ten minutes to wake up. She would press the ‘snooze’ button a couple of times in the hopes of catching some more sleep in the extra minute or two. But then, this wasn’t a normal day. It was the first of September -- the day Lily was to go to Hogwarts. Quite an occasion, since Lily hadn’t known that magic existed, let alone the fact that there were schools to teach it, a year ago. But both things were true -- and today was the day when she would step inside Hogwarts for the first time.
Lily was, to say at the least, excited. She had asked Severus questions regarding the magical world, and he had supplied the answers eagerly. She knew about some of the teachers, subjects, ghosts, the houses, the castle, Azkaban “ everything. But, of course, she wanted to see it all with her own eyes. Experience it all herself. And now the day had finally arrived.
She pushed her bed-covers aside, got out of the bed. Then she put on her slippers and walked towards the bathroom to freshen up.
She emerged from there a quarter of an hour later, clad in a bath robe, her red hair wound in a towel. After changing into a white dress, she dried, then brushed hair and slipped on her shoes. She glanced at the clock; it was eight-thirty A.M.
After having a quick look at herself in the mirror, Lily went downstairs. As she crossed the lounge and entered the kitchen, she smelled bacon and realised how hungry she was. She wished her mother, who was frying bacon, and father, who was sitting on a chair reading the newspaper, a good morning, she took the stack of plates from the kitchen slab and started setting the table.
As she was placing the last plate, she heard footsteps and looked up to see Petunia descending the staircase. Lily smiled at her sister, but Petunia refused to acknowledge the gesture.
Trying not to look crestfallen, Lily walked to the stove and took the dish of bacon from her mother. Soon the family sat down for breakfast. Lily had been very hungry only a few minutes before, but when she saw the full plate in front of her, she suddenly felt very well-fed and ended up eating only half the amount of her daily consumption. When breakfast was over, Mr Evans went out to put Lily’s trunk in the car boot whilst Lily and Petunia helped their mother clean the table.
Once all their tasks were complete, all four of them got into the car. Lily turned to talk to Petunia, but the elder sister was making a point of not looking at her. Instead, she stared outside the window as they drove to King Cross Station.
It took them an hour or so to reach the station. As Mr Evans took out the trunk, Lily looked around the crowd, searching for Severus. She had told him to wait for her, but she couldn’t see him anywhere.
She turned to face her mother when she felt a hand squeeze her right shoulder lightly. Mrs Evans smiled warmly at her younger daughter as Lily took the trolley, which held her trunk, from her father’s hands. Recalling and then repeating everything Professor Flitwick had said about reaching Platform Nine and Three Quarters, Lily got ready to walk towards the wall. She was about to break into a run when Mr Evans stopped her. He was worried about what would happen if Lily crashed into that seemingly solid wall. The professor had instructed them about it, and Mr Evans was aware of the fact that whatever Professor Flitwick had informed them had come true so far, but that didn’t mean that they could take chances. No. He would run first.
Signaling the three females to stand back and watch, he started jogging, trying to appear normal. When he was near the wall, he shut his eyes and took a step forwards. Nothing happened. Feeling braver, he took another step, and when he didn’t feel the expected crash, he opened his eyes and saw a red, shiny steam engine named the Hogwarts Express right in front of him, the smoke coming out of it.
Carefully, Mr Evans looked down at his body. All his limbs were intact. He touched his face. Yes, everything was fine; there was no blood, and he didn’t feel any pain. No bones had been broken either. Apparently, the professor had been correct about this too.
He was about to turn back and tell his family that it was safe to come when someone appeared behind him. He turned to see Lily with her trunk -- so excited she was that she had ignored her mother’s protests and had followed her father, disregarding the supposed danger. Mr Evans was about to tell her off, but then thought the better of it and stood waiting for his wife and elder daughter to arrive. They waited for a couple of minutes, but when neither arrived, Mr Evans decided to go back and get them. As soon as he said this thought out aloud, Petunia and Mrs Evans arrived. The latter explained that it had taken them so long because Petunia hadn’t wanted to come, but Lily wasn’t listening to the excuses. She was looking at the train.
She kept on staring at it, admiring it. ‘Isn’t it beautiful, Tuney?’ Lily asked.
‘No, it’s not,’ Petunia answered back coldly.
Lily faltered, but bravely continued, ‘I know you wish to be on that train yourself. I know you want to come with me, but I’ll try...’
Petunia ruthlessly interrupted her, ‘I don’t care, Lily.’
‘I’m sorry, Tuney-“I’m sorry! Listen”” Lily grasped her sister’s hand and held it tight, even though Petunia tried to wrench it away. ‘Maybe once I’m there”no, listen, Tuney!--- maybe once I’m there, I’ll be able to go to Professor Dumbledore and persuade him to change his mind!’
‘I don’t”want”to”go!’ said Petunia, and she continued trying to pull her hand away. ‘You think I want to go to some stupid castle and learn to be a”a… ’
She looked over Lily’s shoulder and to the owls hooting and people dressed in robes, ‘”you think I want to be a”a freak?’
Lily’s eyes shined with tears as Petunia succeeded in retrieving her hand.
‘I’m not a freak,’ said Lily. ‘That’s a horrible thing to say.’
‘That’s where you’re going,’ stated Petunia with relish. ‘A special school for freaks. You and that Snape boy… Weirdoes“-that’s what you two are. It’s good you’re being separated from normal people; it’s for our safety.’
Lily looked fleetingly at her parents, who were gazing around the platform enthusiastically, enjoying themselves and drinking in the scene. Then she looked back at her sister, and her voice was low and stern.
‘You didn’t think it was such a freaks’ school when you wrote to the headmaster and begged him to take you,’ she answered back.
Petunia blushed.
‘Beg? I didn’t beg!’
‘I saw his reply. It was very kind.’
‘You shouldn’t have read”’ whispered Petunia, ‘that was my private”how could you”?’
Lily glanced at Severus, who stood a little distance from them, next to his mother. Petunia caught the momentary gaze and gasped. ‘That boy found it! You and that boy have been sneaking in my room!’ she accused.
‘No”not sneaking”’ Lily said with a defensive air. ‘Severus saw the envelope, and he couldn’t believe a Muggle could have contacted Hogwarts, that’s all! He says there must be wizards working undercover in the postal service who take care of”’
‘Apparently, wizards poke their noses everywhere!” exclaimed Petunia, looking pale now. ‘Freak!’ she spat at her sister and stormed off in the direction of Mr and Mrs Evans, whilst Lily stood there, her eyes filled with tears.
Lily barely listened to the whistle of the train and replied off handedly to her parents as they stood waving at her. She stepped up into the train and waved back at them, tears pouring down her cheek. Once they were out of sight, she took hold of her trunk and dragged it to the nearest compartment, which was already occupied by two boys. She was greeted by enthusiastic hellos. The boys helped her place her trunk on the rack and asked a few good- natured questions, but since she only mumbled replies, they soon lost interest in her.
She sat on the seat below the window, thinking. But her reverie was interrupted by the entrance of her friend. Severus slid open the compartment door, dressed in his school robes. Lily turned to look at him and then averted her gaze back at the window, trying not to cry.
‘I don’t want to talk to you,’ she said in a small voice.
‘Why not?’ he asked.
‘Tuney h-hates me because we saw that letter from Dumbledore,’ she explained.
‘So what?’
She glared at him.
‘So she’s my sister!’
‘She’s only a”’ He stopped himself from completing the sentence, but Lily never noticed the abrupt pause.
‘But we’re going!’ Severus added quickly. ‘This is it! We’re off to Hogwarts!’
Lily nodded, mopping her eyes, and she half smiled.
‘You’d better be in Slytherin,’ said Severus, glad that Lily was no longer moping.
This caught the attention of one of the boys in the compartment.
‘Slytherin?’ the boy with messy hair repeated.
‘Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I’d leave, wouldn’t you?’ he continued, looking at the boy sitting opposite him. The grey- eyed boy did not find this amusing.
‘My whole family has been in Slytherin,’ he said dejectedly.
‘Blimey, and I thought you seemed all right!’
The boy removed his mournful look and instead smirked.
‘Maybe I’ll break the tradition,’ he said hopefully. ‘Where are you heading, if you’ve got the choice?’
His friend raised an invisible sword.
‘“Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!” he quoted. ‘Like my dad.”
Severus made a small, disapproving sound. The Gryffindor hopeful turned towards him.
‘Got a problem with that?’ he asked.
‘No,’ said Severus, though his face expression said the contrary. ‘If you’d rather be brawny than brainy”’
‘Where’re you hoping to go, seeing as you’re neither?’ interrupted the grey- eyed boy.
The other boy roared with laughter. Lily sat up straighter, flushing and throwing a look of dislike at the two boys.
‘Come on, Severus, let’s find another compartment.’
‘Oooooo…’ the boys hooted.
They copied her haughty voice, and the messy black haired boy tried to trip Severus as he passed.
“See ya, Snivellus!” one of the boys said from behind them, and then they heard the door slam.
‘What a sissy!’ Sirius said to James as the two other first-years left their apartment. Both boys then burst into laughter.
‘Yeah,’ James agreed after they had stopped laughing. Then, recalling part of the conversation they’d had with the red headed girl and “Snivellus”, as Sirius had termed the boy, James asked, ‘Were you really serious when you said that your whole family is from Slytherin?’
‘I wish I hadn’t been, but I was,’ Sirius replied with sobriety. ‘All of them have been in Slytherin. I have a cousin”Meda. She’s all right; she doesn’t care a fig about being a pure-blood, and is dating a Muggle -born.’ Here he stopped and smiled as if he approved of his cousin’s doings. ‘She’s in seventh year, but…’ He sighed and then continued, ‘She’s still in Slytherin, so I’m sure that I’ll be in the same house, too.’
‘Oh,’ was all James was able to say to this confession. ‘It’s okay, Sirius. Maybe there are a few other people in Slytherin like your cousin,’ he said, trying to comfort his new friend.
‘I don’t think that’s possible. Meda is a Slytherin, and she’s going against the rules, but that doesn’t mean that she shouldn’t have been placed in Slytherin. There are a good many obvious traits in her, because of which she was sorted in that house. She herself has changed over the years. Her falling for a Muggle -born was the last straw for her… “conversion”.’ Sirius ended in the only word he could think of using. ‘Most of them are heartless gits who think of themselves as the kings of the world, just because of their “lofty blood status”.’ He grimaced. ‘I’m sure I wouldn’t fit in there at all, but it seems that I don’t have any choice really.’ Sirius smiled ruefully.
James blinked Sirius had been so funny and happy since the moment they had met, and now he was sad. Sirius had spoken feelingly, and James couldn’t help but feel sorry for his friend. In an attempt to change the subject, James said, ‘Nice nick name, by the way. How did you think that up?’
When he saw Sirius confused look, he explained, ‘Snivellus.’
At hearing this, Sirius cracked a smile, much to James’ relief, and they started talking about the ‘greasy boy’.
Their conversation ranged from the “Slytherin geek” to Dumbledore, and from the headmaster to Quidditch. All in all, the two were having a really good time together. Their lively talk was only interrupted when an elderly witch arrived outside their compartment with the food trolley. Then they emptied their full pockets and filled their mouths.
‘Anything from the trolley, dears?’ a kind witch asked, stopping in front of another compartment. The occupants of the box were four young boys, seemingly first-years.
Before the witch had arrived, the boys had been busy with themselves. The boy sitting in the seat by the window had been looking at the beautiful scenery outside through his brown eyes, and feeling the wind blow against his face and ruffling his brown hair. He looked calm and peaceful, and held an expression of contentment on his face.
Sitting next to him, a slightly plump boy had been taking a nap. His head drooping, and drool on the side of his mouth.
On the opposite side sat a boy reading one of the course books. He seemed deeply engrossed in it, flipping a page every few minutes, a frown appearing when he couldn’t understand something, and disappearing when he made it out.
The fourth boy had just been sitting idle. Probably day dreaming about something or the other.
When the witch opened the door, the boys looked up from their respective occupations.
The fat boy got up from his seat. Apparently, he was a light sleeper and had been woken up by the sound of the witch’s voice. He looked over the contents of the trolley, selected some treats and paid for them before he went back to his seat.
The brown haired boy came forward, and after picking a few packets of Chocolate Frogs and Cauldron Cakes, he paid for them, muttered a light ‘thank you!’ and returned to his place.
He was followed by the lazy boy, who bought a box of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavoured Beans, and retired to his seat, one bean already on its way to his mouth.
The other boy was clearly too much into his book, and he didn’t even look up, so the sweet old witch left the compartment, only to stop at the next one. The boys ended up making small talk, and offering each other part of their food purchases. And before they knew it, an hour had passed. Around fifteen minutes were left for the train to reach the school, so they got up and opened their trunks and took out their uniforms. They changed into their robes, brushed their hair and got ready for school. Then they dumped all their belongings into their trunks and locked them as they waited for the train to stop. And stop it did.
The train had finally reached its destination.