Chapter 1: Where We Began
“See ya, Snivellus!”
Lily Evans slammed the compartment door behind Severus as he hurried out into the corridor of the Hogwarts Express. “Ugh,” she commented disdainfully. “Whatever house I’m in, I certainly hope those boys aren’t in it.”
Severus nodded in agreement as Lily led the way towards the opposite end of the train. As they approached a compartment door on their left, it opened and a round-faced, friendly-looking girl stepped out. A small black-and-white cat tried to sneak out behind her, but she turned and spotted him.
“Oh, no you don’t, James! Stay put.” She poked him gently with her foot.
Lily let out a gasp of delight. “Oh, what a beautiful kitty!”
The girl looked up. “Oh, hello! Yes, this is James. He’s not mine; he’s Annie’s. He is gorgeous, isn’t he?”
“Gorgeous and troublesome!” came a girl’s voice from inside the compartment. “Come here, James! Let Alice use the loo in peace.”
Another girl with brown pigtails came and scooped up the cat. “Hello,” she said to Lily and Severus. “Were you looking for the toilet? It’s down at the other end.”
“Um, no, actually,” said Lily. “We were looking for a place to sit. Is there room?”
“Sure,” said the girl. “Come on in.”
“I’ll be just a minute,” said Alice, stepping past them. Lily and Severus followed the other girl into the compartment where two more girls already sat.
“Girls, this is…” the pigtailed girl began, but trailed off when she realised they hadn’t introduced themselves. She looked at them questioningly as she finished setting James down, making sure that the compartment door was firmly shut.
“Oh, I’m Lily Evans,” said Lily.
“Severus Snape,” said Severus, looking highly uncomfortable in a compartment full of girls.
“Nice to meet you,” said a tall blond girl by the window. “I’m Emma Allen.”
“Mary MacDonald.” A pretty brunette next to Emma waved.
“I’m Annie Stewart and you’ve already met Alice Smalls,” said Annie. “And James, of course.” James was washing his paws on the floor in a corner, trying to look aloof. “You’re first-years too, right?”
“Yes,” Lily answered. She and Severus sat silently for a while. Alice came back and the four girls struck up a conversation about Hogwarts. Emma and Alice clearly knew more about the school than the other two and were relaying information collected from parents, siblings and the like. Lily listened eagerly. Severus alternated between fidgeting restlessly and staring at Lily, whose green eyes were alight in rapt attention.
“Does it make a difference that our parents aren’t magic?” asked Mary at one point. “Seems like Annie and I are at a disadvantage.”
“It doesn’t make a difference,” Lily put in, glad to have an answer. “Severus told me we’ll be just fine.”
“It shouldn’t make a difference,” Alice agreed with a glance at Severus, who was staring out the window, pretending not to listen. “You might get a bit of grief from some of the Slytherins, but just ignore them.”
“What’s the matter with Slytherins?” asked Lily, annoyed but curious.
“Slytherins get a bad reputation for not liking Muggleborns,” Emma explained.
Lily frowned. “I didn’t know that. Is that true, Severus?”
Severus glanced up. “No…well, some do, but…” he trailed off feebly and shrugged.
Lily frowned at him for a moment longer, before Annie interjected. “Well, whatever happens, we can deal, right?” There was a murmur of agreement from the other three.
“So you’re Muggleborn too then, Lily?” Emma asked. Lily nodded. “And you’re pureblood?” Emma inquired of Severus.
“Yea”No, I’m half,” Severus admitted reluctantly, as Lily turned to look at him.
“Me, too,” Emma said. She glanced around. “Hang on. Annie, where did James go?”
Annie swept her gaze around the compartment and groaned. “James, you pest! He must have got out when Alice came back. I had better go and look for him.”
“We’ll help,” said Mary. Lily nodded in agreement.
“Why don’t we split up and look in opposite directions?” Lily suggested. “And one person can stay here in case he comes back.”
“We could do that, Lily,” Severus spoke up.
“Sure, Sev! Why don’t you stay here and I’ll check down that way,” said Lily, pointing to the right.
“That’s not what I”” Severus began, but Lily wasn’t listening.
“I’ll go that way with you, Lily,” offered Annie. “We can take opposite sides.”
“Then Mary, Alice and I will go the other direction, since it’s longer,” Emma finished. “All right, everyone, let’s find that cat!” The girls left the compartment and scattered. Severus sighed and resumed his gloomy stare out at the cloudy sky.
~~~~~~
“So, do any of you know any good spells?” James Potter asked during a lull in the conversation. He glanced around the compartment at his newly found comrades.
Peter Pettigrew shook his head and looked to the other two expectantly. “Sadly, no harmless ones,” said Sirius Black wryly. “I know plenty of nasty curses, though.” James gave him an odd look. “Not that I’ve actually tried any of them,” said Sirius quickly. “But my dear mother insisted that I be able to ‘protect’ myself. The demonstrations were not pretty.”
“That’s got to be illegal,” said Matthew Donohue. Sirius shrugged.
“Well, I got nothing,” Matthew continued. “Sadly, the one time I was able to get my hands on a wand, I got caught before anything interesting happened. I think my parents were more interested in protecting me”and my siblings”from myself.”
James laughed. “I’ve got one. Learnt it from a cousin.” He glanced out the open door of their compartment and gave a cocky grin. “Watch this.” James muttered a spell under his breath and flicked his wand at a passing older girl. She stumbled as if someone had tripped her. The boys snickered and she scowled at them, embarrassed.
Just then James spotted a small black-and-white cat padding down the corridor. “Do cats trip?” asked Sirius, his grey eyes glinting with mischief.
“Let’s find out.” James grinned and flicked his wand again. The cat gave a startled meow as he fell, his nose hitting the carpet with a thump.
“Weird!” Peter exclaimed, laughing as the cat sat up and began washing his paws in an attempt to regain his dignity. “Look at it; for a cat, it’s so arrogant!”
“Let’s see if that cat likes Chocolate Frogs,” Sirius said, opening one. He set the frog down on the floor near the door. “Here, kitty.”
The cat caught sight of the frog hopping into the hall and pounced.
James and his friends laughed. “Give him another,” Matthew suggested.
Suddenly a red-headed girl scooped up the cat. “James!” she exclaimed.
“How do you know my name?” James frowned.
The girl turned. “Oh, it’s you,” she said with distaste, and James recognized her as the stuck-up first-year who had left his compartment some time before. “What have you been doing to this poor cat?” she demanded accusingly.
“Do you know how funny cats look when you trip them with a spell?” Matthew asked, grinning.
“When you what?” she demanded indignantly.
James smacked Matthew on the head and smirked. “We were just playing with him, princess; no need to get fussy.”
She scowled at him and turned her attention to the cat squirming in her arms. Her brow puckered in concern. “What have you got in your mouth, kitty?”
“Oh, yeah,” said Sirius, off-hand. “We gave him a Chocolate Frog to chase.”
She gasped. “Cats can’t eat chocolate, you half-wit! It’s poisonous to them!”
“Really? We didn’t know. He only ate one,” Matthew said, shrugging.
“Will he be all right?” Peter asked worriedly. Sirius and James tried to look unconcerned, but listened for the girl’s answer.
“He should be fine, no thanks to you,” she said, glaring.
Another girl came out of the compartment next to them. “No luck yet, Lily”oh, good, you’ve found him! We’ve been looking all over for you, James.”
James looked at her, confused again. “Do I know you?”
“No, and I’m terribly sorry about my cat””
“Don’t be,” Lily interrupted, green eyes flashing. “They were feeding him chocolate””
“We didn’t know,” Sirius argued.
“”after they tripped him with a spell,” Lily finished, glaring daggers at Sirius.
“A tripping spell?” The girl laughed, much to Lily’s annoyance. “Well, no harm done, I suppose. Think you’d teach me? I’m Annie Stewart, by the way.”
“James Potter, at your service,” said James, grinning cockily.
“James, really? That’s funny”oh, no you don’t!” Annie picked up the cat, which had jumped out of Lily’s arms and was headed for the door. “James, meet James,” Annie said, waving the cat’s paw at James.
James laughed. “And this is Peter Pettigrew, Matthew Donohue, and Sirius Black,” he continued, indicating each in turn. Peter waved, and Matthew grinned and nodded. Sirius stood and gave a sweeping bow.
Annie laughed and curtseyed back, dropping the cat.
“And it’s…Lily, right?” James continued. “Friend of Snivellus?” Annie’s eyebrows knitted in bewilderment and she looked at Lily curiously.
Lily narrowed her eyes and ignored Annie. “Lily Evans, yes,” she said coldly.
“Charmed,” said James, smirking.
Lily raised an eyebrow. “We had better go and find the others, Annie,” she said. “We need to change before we get there.”
“Oh, right,” said Annie. “James, stop wriggling or I’ll put you back in your basket. See you later,” she said to the boys.
“See you,” said James. Sirius, Peter and Matthew echoed him. “See you, princess,” James called to Lily. She made no reply as she flounced out of sight. Annie smiled once more and followed.
~~~~~~
Lily let out a huff as she strode down the corridor. “Well, that was interesting,” Annie commented lightly.
“Why don’t you take him back to the compartment,” Lily suggested, indicating to James. “And I’ll go find the other girls.”
“All right,” said Annie. Lily hurried ahead and Annie stopped at their compartment door. Shifting James to one arm, she barely managed to pry the door open and toss him inside. She slipped in quickly before he could escape again and slammed the door behind her. “You, sir, are more trouble than you’re worth.” She turned around and saw Lily’s black-haired friend glancing up at her.
“Oh, hi. Almost forgot about you. What’s your name again?”
The scrawny boy scowled. “Severus Snape,” he said shortly. “Where’s Lily?”
Annie paused at the name. “Oh, you’re Severus,” she said in realization, blue eyes sparkling with laughter. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Lily went to find Mary, Alice and Emma.”
Severus turned to the window again without another word. Annie sat across from him and swung her legs. After a moment she grew bored and started pelting Severus with questions. He gave her reluctant, monosyllabic answers until she finally said, “What, are you shy or something?”
He glanced up sharply, glaring at her. “Maybe I simply have nothing to say to you.”
“James, you dolt, you’ve caused us a lot of trouble today!” Mary announced as she, Emma, Alice and Lily re-entered the compartment. “And we still have to change into our robes before we get there.”
“Oh, right!” said Lily. “Hey, Sev, think you’d mind leaving for a bit?”
Severus shrugged and left without a word. Annie narrowed her eyes as she watched him go.
~~~~~~
“Firs’ years! Firs’ years, over here!”
Lily hopped off the train and looked around for the source of the voice. Catching sight of a huge man holding a lamp and beckoning, she headed towards him. Her companions followed her. Lily could hear Annie’s cat yowling his protests at being stuck in his basket again.
The man, who introduced himself as Hagrid, led the way toward a wooden dock by which a number of small boats stood waiting. “Go on then, all of yeh. Four to a boat,” said Hagrid.
Lily climbed into the nearest boat and sat facing the shore. Mary, Emma and Severus climbed in after her. “We’ll take this one, then,” said Alice, grabbing hold of the boat to the left of Lily. She and Annie clambered in, nearly the last people left on the dock.
“Mind if I come, too?” asked a shabby-looking boy with sandy brown hair. Alice and Annie nodded and held tight to the sides of the boat as he joined them.
Once all the boats were loaded, Hagrid climbed into a boat by himself. His boat moved out in front of the rest, and Lily startled and clutched the side as the other boats began to move.
Mary and Emma hung on tight as well, eyes wide with amazement. “This whole magic thing is going to take some getting used to,” Lily commented. Emma gave an understanding smile.
“You’ll get used to it in no time,” she assured them. Lily nodded and stared up at the night sky. The cloud cover had cleared slightly and a few stars could be seen. Lily gazed up at them with a peaceful smile on her face.
On dropping her gaze again, Lily glanced at Severus and caught him staring at her with an odd look on his face. He looked… hungry, almost. Lily wondered a bit at this, but she was distracted when the boat ahead of her rocked alarmingly and raucous voices could be heard shouting and laughing. She craned her neck to see.
Suddenly the boat nearly flipped over as a small figure tumbled out. There was a loud splash, and Emma twisted around to look behind her. Hagrid’s lantern moved closer as he manoeuvred his boat back toward the floundering boy. With one giant hand Hagrid hauled the boy out of the water and set him back in the boat. “All righ’ there?” he asked, handing the boy his enormous fur coat.
The boy’s friends echoed the sentiment. “You okay, Pete?”
In the boat ahead of them, Annie laughed and Alice called out, “Is he all right?”
“I’m fine!” Pete shouted back cheerfully from inside Hagrid’s coat. Lily sighed and rolled her eyes.
“Should have known,” she muttered.
“Should have known what?” Emma asked curiously.
“Ran into those boys on the train a couple times,” said Lily disparagingly. “Troublemakers if I ever saw any.”
“Ah,” said Emma simply.
“They do make life interesting, those types,” said Mary mischievously.
“Interesting and irritating,” said Severus. Emma jumped. Lily didn’t blame her; it was the first time she had heard him speak since the train ride. Mary shrugged in response, and then gasped. Lily looked up and saw why.
The boats were propelling themselves through a curtain of willow branches, and around the bend a huge black castle was coming into view. Yellow light flickered in the windows, and the gibbous moon peeking out from behind a cloud cast the scene into an eerie half-light. Out of the corner of her eye, Lily noticed the shabby kid shift a bit as his boat drifted into a moonbeam.
The boats passed into a tunnel and came to a halt at what appeared to be an inlet of the lake underneath the castle. As she clambered out of the boat onto the dock, Lily took in her surroundings. The walls were of moss-covered stone, and ahead a stone staircase led up into the castle, she assumed. Hagrid finished checking the boats for people’s belongings and led the way to the foot of the staircase.
“Well, ‘ere we are,” he said, turning briefly to face the first-years. “Keep close now; we’ll reach the castle before you know it.”
Near the back of the crowd, Lily was unable to repress a small flutter of nervousness at what was to come, but she steadied herself, took a deep breath, and began the climb.
We Are by Luna_Lover
Chapter Endnotes: Hello, everyone! My name is LiLu. Thank you for reading my story! I'd like to say a very big thank you to my beta, Emma; she's been a huge help. Please drop me a review in that little box down there and tell me what you think. I'm eager to hear anything that can help me improve my work. Thank you and have a great day!