Blossom Of Love

"Lily.... come on you lazy bones. Wake up"

"Oh James. Please let me sleep. You are so cruel sometimes!"

" Oh come on, Lily it is already seven. Sirius must be waiting for us"

"What?! How can you even expect Sirius to wake up so early?"

"Oh! How can you forget today Lily?! Today is September 1st!"

"GODS... HOW COULD I FORGET?!"

Saying this Lily woke up and started getting ready for her first journey on the Hogwarts Express.

Lily, James and Sirius had been friends since Lily's 5th birthday. From then on they had been the mischief-makers of their street. James and Sirius, being from wizard families, always told Lily long stories about wizards and witches. Though Lily's parents never objected to let her go mingle with wizards, her sister, Petunia, always thought otherwise. According to her wizards were disgusting, abnormal people.

Lily fondly remembered the twenty third of July, when a big tawny owl fluttered into her living room giving a fright to Petunia. That was the owl that brought Lily her letter of admission at Hogwarts. As soon as she read it, she went to the Potter's place to give him the good news. There she was astounded to see that James was not in the least surprised! Anyhow, she, on her part, was relieved that she was not parting from the two best friends she ever had.

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" Lily.... are you ready yet????"

"Oh yeah James.... I am coming...and hey James...tell Sirius also that my dad said he would drop all of us at King's Cross Station."

"Oh yeah. I got the message. Lily, I am here"

"Okay, shall we leave, dad? I am packed and even those gits are ready!"

"Sure my sweetheart, and why don't you ask if any of *your gits'* parents can come. There is enough place for 2 more persons in our car."

Lily blushed a little and said, "James' father can't come dad. As you know he is an Auror and so is Sirius' father. James' mother is coming with us."

"Okay. I just asked because according to what Mr. Potter said, I cannot accompany you till the train, so I thought may be someone to accompany you till the train would be good"

"LILYYYYYYYYYY WE ARE WAITING."

"COMING.... dad lets go, otherwise those will blow our house down." "Good bye, Mom"

"Good bye sweetheart, have a nice term and behave "

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"No need to panic Lily dear, just walk to the barrier and don't stop, you'll arrive on the platform... see there Sirius did it. And if you want, James will hold your hand. Ok now, you would like to say goodbye to your dad"

" Bye my darling, see you at Christmas...behave well "

"Bye dad"

"Lily, come on now.. come with me...."

" Ok James. OH WOW! THIS IS HOGWARTS EXPRESS! I CAN'T BELIEVE! WE ARE ON PLATFORM 9 AND 3/4!"

"Indeed it is.. come on Lily we don't want to sit with strangers." " Erm, Lily..."

"Yeah James?"

"You are still holding my hand..."

Lily pulled of her hand hesitantly from James' warm hand.

"Sirius, where are you? Lily can you see Sirius anywhere?"

"Oye Jamesey..... Lily... I am here...."

Lily and James both turned to the direction from where Sirius spoke...and saw him with a blond girl of their age.

"Hi Lily, Hi James.. this is Narcissa Harker (I am a big fan of Slytherin rising.. so I just took the surname from there) Narcissa .. this is Lily and this is James"

"Hello both of you. Nice to see you"

They all bade a good bye to her after a small chat and continued in the search of an empty compartment. They got one almost at the end of the train. They all settled and started chatting animatedly! Mrs. Potter gave all of them warm hugs and few words. Then, she disapparated with a faint pop. Eventually there were many pops mingling in the crowd, as the parents were slowly disapparating. As the guard gave a green signal, the train started moving. Lily felt the excitement rush in her nerves.

All the three started deciding how they are gonna play pranks at Hogwarts with the stuff they bought from a joke shop in Diagon Alley. Their compartment door slid open and an obese boy of 11 years looking very weary and slightly scared, stepped in.

"Excuse me, may I sit with you guys? Everywhere else is full."

"Oh sure you can, you seem to be a first year" said Sirius.

"Thanks. I am Peter Pettigrew. Yes, I have joined Hogwarts this year."

"Hello Peter, I am Lily Evans."

"Hi Peter, I am James Potter."

"'Lo Peter, I am Sirius Black."

"Potter, Black??? Aren't your fathers famous Aurors?"

"Oh they are, anyway, Peter interested in a game of exploding snap?"

They spent their later journey by playing further games like wizards' chess (wow, you gits! You people have never shown me this in our six years of friendship.)

"Well Peter, any idea of which house you are going to be? Potters have always been in Gryffindor.. and we Blacks have been either in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw...Lily will most probably land up in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw.. coz' she is dead intelligent."

"Oh Sirius, you are embarrassing me."

"No offence Lily dear...so Peter what about you?"

"I... I donno."

"Hey guys, you people always talk about only two houses--Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Why don' you ever talk about Hufflepuff or Slytherin?"

"Gods Lily… Slytherin is supposed to be full of dark wizards. And Hufflepuff is for hard workers.. not really our kind..."

"Slytherin can't be that bad.. if it were so... it would have been banned...you can treat students as they are but not according to house---"

"--- Lily enough! Please we want to enjoy our term!"

"SHUT UP POTTER!"

"Oh yea Lily."

At that time magically magnified voice rang thru' the train saying they were approaching the station.

All four first years packed up... three of them over enthusiastically and one very frightened!

"WOW" exclaimed the trio seeing Hagrid...

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"I am gonna be in Slytherin. I just know it."

"Yes Severus! You just deserve to be one."

"Oh our Blackey is here even!!! Guess what house he'll be in? Sorting hat won't get a house to fit this mud blood loving fool here."

"Oh Sirius, you don't." " Severus, mind your silly own work"

"SILENCE!"

"NOW STUDENTS.. PLEASE MAKE A LINE AND I WILL CALL YOU

ALL ACCORDING TO YOUR SURNAMES. YOU WILL COME HERE," here

a very stern lady indicated to the place where she was

standing, "AND WEAR THIS HAT," showing a very old, patched hat.

"Samira Abbot"

..... Samira joined the Hufflepuff table that was

applauding politely at their new arrival.

"Sirius Black"

"GRYFFINDOR"

"Oh well done Sirius."

" Lily Evans"

"....."