Hell Hath No Fury

Chapter 1: Expectations

Hullo. I´m Lily Potter. I know what you´re thinking, and no, not that Lily Potter. She was my grandmum. And yes, that makes me the daughter of Harry Potter. Don´t say it, I beg of you. Don´t say those four words. You´re going to say them anyway, aren´t you? *Sigh* Alright. "The Boy Who Lived." I hate that expression as much as my dad does.

I look a lot like my dad. I have his same unruly black hair, only mine falls to my shoulders and curls at the ends. I normally wear it up, to keep it out of my face. I have his eyes too, and he told me that he got them from his mother, so both generations of Lily Potters had the same bright emerald green eyes. I like my eyes, I think they´re my best feature.

My brother James, who was, of course, named for our grandfather, doesn´t look like either dad or his namesake. He looks like a male version of Mum, the way I look like a female version of Dad. He has light brown hair, though his has the characteristics of Dad´s in the way that it always sticks up no matter what he does to it. The Curse of the Potter Children, Mum calls it. Jamie also has Mum´s ice blue eyes, over which he does have to wear glasses like Dad, and her nose. I, on the other hand, have my own nose. It didn´t belong to anyone else first.

This story that I´m going to tell took place in my seventh year at Hogwarts. I was a prefect. When people hear my name they ask me why I wasn´t Head Girl like my grandmum. Everyone wants to know that. They hear the name Lily Potter and expect me to be just like my namesake, who by all accounts was a brilliant witch. I´m just average. And if I manage to finally convince them that I´m not my grandmother, then they expect me to be like my father. We´re really nothing alike, except for physical appearance and a love of Quidditch. I was Keeper on the Gryffindor team and I´m really very good; that´s why I was captain. Quidditch was practically my life, I suppose. It´s the only thing that seems to come naturally to me.

But I´m really nothing like my dad. I mean, sure, I´m a great Quidditch player and I look a lot like him, but we have completely different personalities. I´m rather serious and studious, with a stubborn streak Dad says I get from Mum. I suppose that the main difference between my dad and myself is our confidence levels. He´s very sure of himself and has a forceful personality. I, on the other hand, have much less confidence in my abilities, except for Quidditch. I would prefer to be overlooked, but as the daughter of the Boy Who Lived, I´m constantly in the spotlight. I´m not a truly sociable person either. I have a sense of humor, but it´s really only apparent to my best friends.

So here goes. This is a story that my mother asked me to write down so I wouldn´t forget it. As if I possibly could! It was the craziest year of my life, and I´ve had some crazy ones. I mean, it´s difficult to be normal when you´re the daughter of a famous wizard and have a little brother whose middle name is trouble. But I tried. The events of my seventh year just, well, got out of control. But I promised my mother I´d write it all down so that someday when I have children I can look back and marvel that I survived long enough to have them. So here goes:

Dad had just dropped us off at Platform 9 3/4. I couldn´t wait until the end of the year when I could take my Apparition test. Dad left Jamie and me outside the barrier. He says that having everyone stare at him is disconcerting and the young kids who don´t know better point and whisper which is very trying for him. Jamie and I assured him that we didn´t mind and that we were certainly old enough to go through the barrier by ourselves. Dad gave me the annual "look after your brother" lecture and I rolled my eyes-just like always.

"I´ve got it, Dad. No need to worry. If Jamie hasn´t died by now, I doubt he ever will."

My joke didn´t go over as expected. Dad´s expression darkened.

"Just be careful, Lil. And there will be a surprise waiting for you at school. Have fun."

A surprise? Normally I liked surprises, but when you´re a witch, surprises aren´t always good. Jamie and I promised to owl him and he disappeared. I turned to my brother.

"Okay, Jamie, do me a favor and don´t blow up the Platform? At least keep a hold on the pranks until we´ve reached Hogwarts."

He gave me an angelic `who me?´ look, but I wasn´t fooled for a minute. I knew my brother far too well. Then we grabbed our trunks and Jamie´s owl, Loki, and fell through the barrier. As soon as we were through, I heard a voice call my name.

"Lils!"

It was my best friend Geoffrey Weasley calling. His reddish hair was clearly visible over the heads of everyone and I made my way over to him. As soon as I got close enough, he wrapped me in a hug. I laughed.

"Hullo, Geoff. Long time no see." This was a joke between us because his parents and mine were best friends and we were practically raised together. That might have accounted for the way we could almost read one another´s minds, but I think it was just because we were good friends. His parents had practically adopted me and vice versa. Our brothers were inseparable as well.

"What did you do with Jim?" Geoff asked, adopting his own nickname for my brother.

I rolled my eyes again. "I have no idea. He´s probably found Dave by now and they´re wreaking havoc."

Geoff laughed. "Probably," he agreed. "But don´t let David catch you calling him `Dave´."

I was surprised. I always called Geoff´s little brother `Dave´. "Why ever not?"

Geoffrey made a face. "He´s going through a phase. It´s a `no nicknames´ phase. It´s only David, not Dave, or Davy, or `Id. Drives Mum nuts because she´s so used to calling him Davy, but he won´t respond to it anymore."

I laughed too, because I could just picture Geoff´s mum, Professor Weasley, getting upset with her son. It happened all the time. Professor Weasley had a low toleration for David´s love of practical jokes, which she blamed on her brothers-in-law, Fred and George Weasley.

"Have you seen anyone else?" I asked, searching for some of our other friends. Geoff and I were the closest, but we were also really close friends with two others in our year. Emily Paul and Christopher Wallace were also in Gryffindor, and together we were known as the Pack. At least that´s what most of the other students called us when referring to us as a unit. It saved time since we were usually together.

"Nope," he replied. "You´re the first. Want to secure our place on the train?"

As prefects, we were supposed to sit in special reserved carriages, but Emily and Christopher weren´t prefects, so we always sat with them.

"Sure," I replied. "Hey, do you know who made Head Girl and Boy this year?"

He nodded. "But you aren´t going to like it. Elana and Dylan are our leaders for the whole year."

I didn´t mind Dylan. I had always kind of thought of him as someone who didn´t have much going on upstairs, but I guess I was wrong. Elana on the other hand, I loathed. She was a horrible Slytherin girl who had it out for me because her mother hated my father. Apparently her mother, Pansy Parkinson, had been a horrible person too.

"That´s too bad. But since I generally don´t listen to the Heads anyway, it won´t matter. Come on, we need a vacant compartment."

We were just going to step on the train when we heard an explosion. Geoff and I exchanged annoyed glances.

"It´s your turn," Geoff said to me. "I already had to yell at David for setting his iguana on Aunt Margaret two days ago."

"But that was two days ago," I pointed out. "I told Jamie off for putting frogspawn all over my trunk this morning."

"Ha! I can beat that. Some of David´s fireworks went off in the car. I win, you have to do it."

I growled. "Fine, but next time it´s you. Now that we´re at Hogwarts we´re back on schedule." I stormed off to find my little brother.

Now, I should probably explain. You see, while my friends and I were called the Pack, Jamie, David and two of their friends were called the Marauders, the second generation, after my legendary grandfather, great-uncle Sirius, and great-uncle Remus. Now, assuming you know who they are (or were), you can probably guess why my brother and his friends were called that. That´s right, because of their obsession with causing trouble.

My brother, like me, had always felt that he was in someone´s shadow. So at a very young age he decided that if he was going to be named James Potter, he was going to act like James Potter. Therefore he would be the prince of pranksters. With some help from Uncle Sirius, Uncle Remus, Uncle Fred, and Uncle George, he had so far succeeded. And he dragged David down with him.

I warned him to keep a hold on the pranks, at least until we got to school, but did he listen? No, of course not. So I would have to yell at him. Geoff and I had a deal; on the first day of school we compared stories and whoever had gone the longest without yelling at a brother had to be the first one to punish. Then we took turns.

I found Jamie when he came running off the train, laughing hysterically. He stopped immediately when he saw me.

"Alright, Jamie. Out with it. Who did you prank and how much damage is there?"

My brother attempted to look offended, but it was a particular look that he couldn´t carry off. "Aww, Lil, we didn´t do anything! It wasn´t our fault, I swear!"

I glared at him. "Right, and if I believe that you have a bridge in Florida you´d like to sell me."

"What?" Jamie said confusedly.

"Never mind. Who was it and with what?"

David chose that moment to hop off the train, laughing but also running for his life. He quickly hid behind me, although not successfully, since David was quite tall and I was not. A moment later I saw why he was trying to hide.

A big burly fifth year student came tearing down the steps of the train. His face was covered in soot, his hair was standing on end, and his eyes were popping out of his head. He was also bellowing at the top of his lungs.

"Come here, Weasley, Potter! I´ll curse you something awful!"

He suddenly came to a screeching halt when he saw me. I smothered a laugh and tried to look stern.

"Look what your brother and his friend did to me, Potter!" he howled.

"That´s enough, Crabbe," I said sternly. "I´ll speak to them. You might want to, er, get cleaned up."

He glared at my brother and David one last time before stomping back onto the train. Once he was safely out of sight, Jamie and David started laughing again.

"Alright, what was it? And how many detentions should I give for it?" That got their attention.

"It wasn´t our fault, Lil," David said stubbornly. "That stupid lummox stormed into our compartment and grabbed them before we could stop him. Just grabbed them right off the seat and stuffed them into his oversized mouth, isn´t that right, Jim?"

"Right," Jamie agreed. "It wasn´t our fault at all. We tried to tell him, but he wouldn´t listen."

I sighed deeply. It was never their fault. "What was it?"

They exchanged a glance. Jamie mumbled something incoherently.

"Excuse me?" I said.

"Bon Bombs," Jamie muttered.

I shook my head. "I´m going to kill Uncle Fred and George. Hand them over."

Jamie looked scandalized. "No! They were my birthday present, you can´t do that, Lil!"

"Jamie, I´ll give you five detentions each if you don´t hand over the rest of those Bon Bombs."

Grumbling under his breath about maniacal sisters, he pulled a bag out of his robes pocket and handed it to me. I stuffed them in my own robes.

"Now get on the train, and if something else happens before we get to Hogwarts, I´ll take fifty points from Gryffindor."

Both boys scowled at me. Then Jamie whispered something in David´s ear and a familiar grin spread across both their faces. They ran onto the train before I could say anything. I cursed myself for my stupidity. Fred and George never sent my brother just one thing, they sent whatever prototype was lying around the factory. No doubt Jamie had plenty more. Oh well, let someone else deal with it. I had done my duty.

I climbed onto the train just in time, it was about to start pulling away from the station. I made my way through crowded compartments filled with energized students until I found the last compartment on the train and went inside. My friends were there waiting for me.

"What took you so long?" Chris asked.

"I had to yell at my brother. So, how were your summers?"

I´ll take a minute here to tell you about my friends. I´ll start with Emily. Emily Paul was half and half, her mum was a witch and her dad was a Muggle. Her mum and my dad played Quidditch together and Emily played Quidditch too. She was the Seeker on our team. She had short curly blonde hair, serious brown eyes, and a nice smile. Her father insisted that some things in her life be done the Muggle way so her smile was marred by braces. Em was often rather quiet in school, but she could be loud if she wanted to-she usually just didn´t want to.

Christopher Wallace, usually just called Chris, was Muggle-born. He had come into our world knowing nothing, but after becoming friends with Geoff and me, he learned quickly. He had spiked purple hair, and a desire to be a punk rocker. Don´t ask. One of the first spells he insisted on learning was the one that changed hair color, he said it was much easier than dying it. I think he just wanted attention, and he certainly got it. He had a pierced ear, like Geoff´s uncle Bill, with a skull earring, and dragonhide boots. He was always trying to convince Professor McGonagall to let him change his school robes, but she always refused, so he looked for some other way to stand out.

Now I´ll tell you more about Geoff. He looked just like his father, tall with red hair, although his wasn´t as vibrant as his dad´s or uncles´ because his mum was a brunette. He was very much into school, I think because his mum put so much pressure on him. I know he was disappointed because he wasn´t made Head Boy. He´d get over it. Geoff had a very positive personality and he didn´t brood over anything for long. That´s why I liked him.

Emily smiled at me. "Not bad. I had the old grill tightened a few times. My orthodontist said I might have them off during winter vacation. What about you? How´s your mum?"

It was typical of Emily to show concern. She was a very empathetic person. Of course, my mum´s condition was something that usually provoked empathy. You see, my mum is paralyzed. She has to be in a wheelchair.

"She´s fine," I replied. "Same as always. What did you do this summer, Chris?"

He grinned at me. Next to me, of course, Chris was Geoff´s best friend. "I got a tattoo."

We all gasped. Emily´s eyes narrowed slightly. "I thought you said your body was your temple and that you´d never, ever, deface it."

Chris shot her a smile. "Quit being such an old nag, Em. It prematurely ages you. Don´t worry, it´s fake."

I had been raised knowing I was a witch, but both mum and dad thought it was a good idea that Jamie and I were familiar with the Muggle world. We had a television, microwave, and even a telephone, but I had never heard of a temporary tattoo.

"Is it some sort of spell?" I asked.

Chris laughed. "No. Ha, pureblood! It´s kind of like a sticker for your skin."

I ignored him and turned to Geoff. "How are the twins doing?"

"They´re fine. I think that they´ve finally accepted it, and it´s a good thing they have each other. I know that it makes it easier on them."

When I was four years old, Professor Weasley had twins, a girl and a boy. They had been the first Weasleys in I don´t know how long to be placed in Ravenclaw and I knew it was often very trying for them. After all, all of their father´s siblings and their offspring had been Gryffindors. Melinda and Albert were very shy and quiet, even more so than Emily, and they kept to themselves mostly. I knew Uncle Fred and George were disappointed that neither set of Weasley twins in our generation were wild troublemakers. Percy´s sons, Willy and Arthur, were in their sixth year and they were exactly like their father. So Fred and George put their efforts behind Jamie and David, who were enough alike that they could have been twins.

Emily had turned to Chris and was asking to see his tattoo. Chris had made some vulgar joke about it, and I leaned in towards Geoff.

"Have you seen Tiny?" I whispered. He shook his head.

Destiny Aileen Malfoy, called Tiny or Desi, was the daughter of Draco and Ginny Malfoy. She was a petite little thing with the most gorgeous strawberry-blonde hair, grey eyes like ice, a heart-shaped face, delicately curved lips, and porcelain skin. In other words, at fourteen she was already breathtaking. Many people made the mistake of judging her by her appearance, and assumed she was `fragile´. She was in fact the very opposite.

Tiny was not an easy person to get along with. She was sullen and argumentative and quite spoiled by her parents. It was common knowledge around the Tower that the other Gryffindors thought she belonged in Slytherin, especially considering who her father was. But the hat said Gryffindor and so Gryffindor she was. In her first year, Geoff and I had made it our responsibility to look after her, and that´s when our parents told us the secret.

We weren´t allowed to tell anyone, including Destiny herself, but our parents wanted us to watch her. It was vital they said, and then they told us why. Apparently, Destiny was some sort of all-powerful witch with enough magic to destroy the world. We were supposed to watch and see how she handled that power. Tiny tolerated us, but she didn´t like us much. She had even less affection for Jamie and David whose pranks she found "juvenile".

"I hope she´s alright," I said, worried slightly. If we didn´t watch her she got herself into a lot of trouble when she felt she was `defending´ herself. She was very quick to whip out her wand and curse someone and because of her power, she had already mastered magic ahead of her year. She took advanced courses at Hogwarts.

"I´m sure she´s fine. She´s probably found some friends-" Geoff stopped short. Destiny didn´t have any friends. It was a source of worry to her mother, but her father didn´t seem too concerned. Then again, Uncle Draco was never concerned about anything.

"Isn´t another Weasley entering this year?" Chris asked, when he and Emily had stopped examining the fake tattoo.

Geoff shrugged. "Probably. I think it´s Uncle Fred and Aunt Angelina´s daughter. Only one this year though. It´s a good thing, too. This school is overrun by Weasleys."

He wasn´t exaggerating. There was practically a Weasley in every year in Gryffindor, plus the two in Ravenclaw.

"I can´t wait until the end of this year," Chris said, leaning back and closing his eyes. Then he suddenly opened them. "Oh, damn, where´s Morton?"

Morton was Chris´ toad. Geoff, Emily, and I had tried many times over the years to convince Chris that toads were outdated, but he wouldn´t listen. He said that he wanted to be different and no one had toads. Besides, his sister had given him Morton and he was very close to his sister.

There was a frenzied search through our cabin, and when he didn´t show up, we spread out and went hunting through the other compartments. I walked through and found myself in a compartment with only one occupant. It was Tiny.

She was making shapes in front of her with only her hand; no wand was visible. She had an intense look of concentration on her pretty face.

"Wow," I said. "How do you do that?"

I startled her and broke her concentration. The shapes fell shattered to the floor. Tiny regarded me coldly.

"Can I help you?"

"Have you seen a toad, Tiny?"

"No. Now, if you don´t mind, I´m busy." Tiny took out a book and began to study it intently.

I shrugged and left the compartment. There was just no understanding that girl. She stopped me just as I reached the door.

"Do you ever wonder what happened to your mother?" she asked.

I stopped completely, shocked. "I know what happened. She´s never made any secret of it. She was in an accident."

Destiny shook the sheet of strawberry-blonde hair. I wondered if she had veela blood. "No, she´s lying, or at least not telling the whole truth. I´ve heard things, Lily. My parents were talking this morning about something that happened fourteen years ago. It had to do with your mother´s `accident´."

I felt my heart beat faster. "What is it?"

"It was a woman. I don´t know the details, but she was after something my parents had; your mother stood in her way."

She said this with a finality of tone that indicated the conversation was over. I left in a daze. Could Tiny be telling the truth? There was something about that girl that gave me the chills. I hurried back to my own compartment. Apparently Chris had found Morton.

"I found Tiny," I told Geoff. "She was doing magic without a wand."

He froze. "You mean she made something explode?"

"No, I mean that she was doing concentrated wandless magic. That girl scares me, Geoff."

I didn´t mention what she said about my mother. I don´t know why, usually Geoff and I shared everything.

"She scares everyone," Geoff said with a shrug. "I know Aunt Ginny worries about her."

"How could normal people like your Aunt and Uncle have such a strange daughter?" I asked.

"Don´t know. Let´s not talk about her, Lil. Tiny can handle herself."

"Sometimes too well," I muttered.

Then Chris began a discussion of all the things we had to do during our seventh year and that conversation took up most of the train ride to school. But my mind wasn´t on the conversation. I was thinking of what Tiny said.

You see, Mum never made a secret of what happened to her. She said that she was in an accident as was Geoff´s father and that she had been paralyzed. Geoff´s dad, Ron, wasn´t in perfect health either, he walked with a slight limp and had occasional heart trouble, but he was far better off than my mum. I never really asked about the accident, because I could tell that it was a sensitive subject. There were two things you never talked about in my house while Jamie and I were growing up: Mum´s accident and Voldemort.

Jamie and I were always being asked questions about Dad´s victory over the Dark Lord and Mum and Dad hated it. They didn´t want us connected in any way to He Who Shall Not Be Named. Fortunately, Voldemort was gone for good; Dad, Uncle Ron, and Uncle Draco vanquished him. I don´t really know how they did it, because Dad hates talking about it. I think that my dad wishes with all of his heart that he had grown up an ordinary wizard. All the publicity was very burdensome for him.

And yet, as I got older, particularly in the few years before I went to Hogwarts, I could tell that something was bothering my parents. They seemed to feel that Voldemort was still around, or something. They were rather overprotective of us. I understood that they had spent so many years fearing for their own lives, but Voldemort was gone. There was no one to fear.

We were almost to the Hogsmeade Station when we had an unexpected and unwelcome guest to our compartment. Her name was Samantha Wood, daughter of international Quidditch star Oliver Wood, and she was a Gryffindor like we were. There was only one word to describe Samantha: pristine. Her designer robes were always immaculate, every strand of her dark brown hair was in place, whatever makeup she chose to wear was perfectly applied, the list goes on. My friends and I didn´t like Samantha. She was a horrible snob and very jealous of me. Geoff said there were three reasons: 1) I got more attention than she did and I didn´t even want it, 2) she and I tried out for the Quidditch team at the same time and only I made it, and 3) she had a crush on him, but he ignored her. I pointed out that that had nothing to do with me, but he claimed Samantha saw me as a roadblock in her path to him.

So there she stood, looking as perfect as only she could. She had her typically haughty expression firmly in place. She waved a manicured hand at Geoff who turned slightly red.

"Just thought I´d tell you that we´re almost there. Oh, and Elana Flint told me to tell you that you and Lily must come up to the prefect´s carriage for the passwords."

Then she turned and left. Samantha wasn´t a prefect; she was far more interested in boys, makeup, and clothing, like a typical Muggle teenage girl. I found her sickening, personally. I gave Geoff a look and sighed.

"Come on, Geoff, we´d better go. We´ll be back," I said to Emily and Chris. They only nodded, and Emily pulled out a pack of Exploding Snap cards.

Geoff and I made our way toward the front of the train. We passed through Tiny´s compartment, but she ignored us, so we did likewise. We had just come out of a compartment filled with a bunch of nervous first years when Geoff suddenly spoke.

"Have you ever noticed how everyone we know goes by a nickname?"

I laughed. "That´s true. Well, except for David now. Why do you bring it up?"

He shrugged. "I don´t know, I just kind of realized that almost no one calls me Geoffrey or you Lily. You´re always Lil."

"It´s the same reason that no one calls Jamie James. It´s Jamie or Jim, but never James. We´re sick of people comparing us to our grandparents." I sighed. "Do you ever feel that people expect you to be like your mum? Or your dad?"

Geoff looked at me strangely. "Not really. Mum would like me to be as good a student as she was, but otherwise, no. And no one expects me to be like my father. Why?"

"Because I´m sick of the expectations," I said in frustration. "I´m nothing like the other members of my family except for having a love of Quidditch."

He placed a friendly arm around my shoulders. "Don´t worry, Lil. Just be the best Lil Potter you can be and forget what people think. You never worry about it usually."

He just didn´t understand, but I couldn´t blame him. He wasn´t the child of the "Boy Who Lived".

"I just want Quidditch season to begin so I´ll have something to keep me busy," I said.

"Going to win Gryffindor the Cup this year, Lil?" Geoff asked.

"Of course," I replied. "As I have for the past two years. I can´t claim all the credit, though. Em´s a terrific Seeker, and we have the best Chasers. And surprisingly enough, Willy and Arthur make good Beaters. I think it has something to do with being twins. Weren´t your uncles incredible Beaters?"

Geoff nodded. "Twins have a sort of ESP thing. I know Bert and Molly can often read each other´s minds. I admit it though, Willy and Arthur are the last people I would think of as Beaters. But they´re good."

We made it to the prefects compartment, took a deep breath, and entered together. It was filled with noisy chatter, although I was sad to see that even the prefects had segregated themselves by House. We got a few smiles from the Hufflepuff prefects, sneers from the Slytherins, and nothing from the Ravenclaws who were too busy reading. Elana noticed our entry and stood up. Her platinum blonde hair fell to her waist and she was already mocking us.

"It´s about time you got here," she said immediately. "Prefects are supposed to sit together. Here are your House passwords, and I did not look." She glared at me as if I was about to say she had. "And Potter, do us all a favor and read the password properly."

I flushed. Once in my fifth year I misread the password because the handwriting had been smeared and so everyone I told it to couldn´t get into the Tower. I was about to take a step forward and smack her (something I had wanted to do since we first met), but Geoff grabbed the back of my robes and held me back. I calmed down almost immediately.

"Look, Flint, do all of us a favor and drop dead," I replied. Geoff snickered.

Elana´s eyes narrowed. "I´m Head Girl, you can´t talk to me like that!"

"I´ll talk to you in any way I want to. I wouldn´t be surprised to find that you had your mummy bribe the teachers into making you Head Girl." I was surprised at how I was acting, but couldn´t seem to stop. Elana had that effect on me.

Elana had pulled out her wand and, seeing that, I pulled out mine. Dylan Kamata interfered.

"Girls, girls, let´s stop this right now. The term hasn´t even started yet." He looked at Geoff who was doing nothing to interfere. "A little help, Geoffrey?"

Geoff folded his arms over his chest and remained where he was. "You seem to be doing fine, Kamata."

Dylan glared at him. "Fine. Look, Elana, Lily, let´s just calm down."

I tossed my hair. "Fine, I´m leaving."

I turned and stomped out of the carriage. Geoff followed right behind me. I didn´t speak until we got into our compartment, not even to yell at Jamie who ran past me at one point. When we finally reached the carriage where Em and Chris were waiting, I threw myself down on one of the seats and huffed.

"I hate her!"

Em and Chris looked up from their Exploding Snap game. Then they glanced at Geoff.

"I´m guessing Lils had a run-in with the illustrious Elana?" Em commented.

"Of course, nothing else bothers her as much," Geoff replied.

"I just want to get to Hogwarts where I´ll hardly have to see her," I said grumpily.

I got my wish a few moments later when the train pulled into the station. As I jumped off the train and headed to one of the horseless carriages, my nose caught the scent of dung. As in Dungbombs. So when a certain Marauder ran past me, I grabbed him by the back of his robes.

"Not so fast Jamie Potter," I said. Jamie twisted and turned, trying to get out of my grasp. "I said if anything else happened on the train, I´d take points from Gryffindor."

Before Jaime could reply, another voice piped up. "Ah, but you said on the train, Lil. We didn´t drop the Dungbombs until we got off the train. Not to mention that term hasn´t officially started yet, so you can´t take points."

That was McKenzie Thomas. He was another Marauder, one of Jaime´s best friends. His dad and mine were friends as well, they had been in the same dorm at Hogwarts. McKenzie was practically a genius, he had attended Muggle primary school before attending Hogwarts and his scores were through the roof. He often sounded like he had swallowed his text book, but according to Jaime, he had a weak spot for pranks.

"Look, McKenzie," I said, losing my patience. "Train or no train, I said keep a hold on the pranks."

McKenzie was about to reply, but Jaime grabbed his arm and pulled him over to a carriage where David and the fourth Marauder, Lenny Dakota, were waiting. I sighed, waved a quick hello to Hagrid, and hopped into a carriage with my friends. We rode up to the castle and were sent into the Great Hall to take our seats and wait for the Sorting to begin.

You don´t really need the details of the Sorting, so I won´t tell you. All you need to know is that Lauren Weasley was placed in Gryffindor and welcomed happily by her cousins and older sister Martha.

The feast was terrific as usual. As a seventh year and prefect it was my responsibility to welcome the first year Gryffindors. I had sandwiched a young girl with light brown hair in between myself and Em. Geoff sat across from us next to a first year boy. I looked up at them and Geoff made a face at me. I laughed.

"So tell me something about yourself, Nicole," I said with a smile. Nicole smiled timidly back.

"I´m very nervous," she whispered. Em looked at me over the top of Nicole´s head and we exchanged a smile.

"Everyone´s nervous when they start out, Nicole," Em said kindly. "But you´re a Gryffindor, and that´s the best House. Don´t worry, everyone will look out for you."

"If you ever need our help," I said, "don´t hesitate to ask. Just ask for Emily Paul or Lily Potter."

Nicole´s eyes opened wide. "Potter? Is your dad-"

I sighed. It still happened. "Harry Potter. Yes, he is."

I glanced down the table where Jaime, David, McKenzie, and Lenny were sitting. All four were laughing about something (I was sure I didn´t want to know what), but Jamie was also staring at something or someone at the end of the table. I followed his gaze.

He seemed to be staring at Tiny. As usual she was sitting at the very end of the table, right on the edge of everything, as if she didn´t belong. She was reading a textbook about Animagi. I hoped that Jamie hadn´t planned a prank on her. He ought to have known better. In Tiny´s first year (Jamie´s second) he and his friends charmed water balloons to follow her around and break over her head. Jamie had been in the Hospital Wing for a week when she was finished with him.

"Lily?" said a little voice in my ear.

I started. "Oh, I´m sorry, Nicole. I was lost in thought."

"That´s alright," she said uneasily. "I was just wondering when we could go to bed."

"Not for a little while yet," I replied. "Professor McGonagall, the Headmistress, has to say a few words first."

Not long after I said that, she stood up. I looked at the line of teachers. Geoff´s mum smiled at us and gave us a little wave before resuming her conversation with Professor Vector, who taught Arithmancy. Professor Snape was suspiciously absent from the table, but I knew better than to hope he had retired. I saw him sweep down into the dungeons when the carriages pulled up. I wondered who our new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor would be. We had a new one practically every year, it´s a cursed position. According to my parents, it was the same when they went to school. You would think that by then Hogwarts had run through every available Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. So as I scanned the lines, I was surprised to see that there was more than one unfamiliar face. And one that was very familiar.

I leaned across the table. "Hey, Geoff, doesn´t that woman look familiar?"

He turned to look where I was pointing and his jaw dropped. "It can´t be. Why would she be here?"

I shrugged, equally surprised. "I have no idea. But it is. It´s Jeanette!"

Dr. Jeanette Mills-Lupin was an old family friend and married to one of my Grandfather´s best friends. She was the family doctor and the woman who treated my mum and Geoff´s dad after their accident. She worked with my dad a lot because she wasn´t only a doctor. She worked with Uncle Sirius and her husband, Uncle Remus, at M.A.T.D.A. There wasn´t time for any further thought on the subject though, because Professor McGonagall started to speak.

"I welcome you all, old and new, to Hogwarts. I hope that we have an excellent term. As some of you returning students may have noticed, we have a few new additions to our staff this year. First, I regret to inform you that Professor Flitwick, our Charms Professor, has decided to retire." There were a few `ohs´ before she resumed. "But I am proud to welcome Professor Levine as our new Charms Professor."

Upon hearing this name I literally jumped. I think Geoff, David, and Jamie did too. A dark haired witch stood up from her seat next to Hagrid and nodded in a businesslike way. Inspector Meredith Levine was another old family friend. She and Jeanette were best friends. What was going on? I exchanged a glance with Geoff and saw that he was gaping at his mother, who was now avoiding our gaze.

"Next, I am pleased to welcome Professor Bones as our new Muggle Studies Professor." A red-headed witch, who reminded me of Aunt Ginny, stood up and smiled, before resuming her seat. "And finally in the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts," Professor McGonagall paused and the corners of her lips twitched as there was a smattering of laughter throughout the Hall; it was common knowledge that the position was cursed and we usually got the oddest assortment of Professors. Last year the teacher was part elf. "Professor Lupin. Please make them feel welcome here. prefects, lead the way to your Houses."

So she chose to go by Lupin here, interesting. I supposed that Professor Mills-Lupin was just too much. Jeanette also stood up and smiled. She winked at me and Geoff.

Nicole was tugging on my robes. "Lily, is something wrong?"

"What?" I said distractedly. "Oh, sorry. No, nothing´s wrong. And call me Lil. I think we should go now." I shot Geoff a pointed look. I knew he wanted to talk to Jeanette and Meredith, not to mention his mother, but our first responsibility was to the other students. I lead a group of first years up to the Tower. We stopped in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Alright, listen up! This is the entrance to our common room, the password for the time being, because it changes, is Laffy Taffy." The portrait swung open revealing the room. "Alright, everyone in."

They all climbed through the portrait hole and I heard a few `ooh´s and `ah´s. Geoff was right behind me. He led all the first year boys to their dorms and I led the girls. As soon as everyone was settled in, I went and found my dormitory. Everyone was already there.

Em, kind soul that she was, had saved me a bed next to hers and as far from Samantha´s as possible. The only other girl in our dorm, Claire Eagle, was busy unpacking. I didn´t mind Claire, but I don´t think she liked me very much. Few people did.

As soon as I unpacked my pajamas, I got into bed. There would be plenty of time to talk to Jeanette and Meredith in the morning. The other girls did the same, and Em and I performed our First Night At School Ritual, which was to make one wish which we hoped would come true. I wished for Gryffindor to win the Quidditch Cup, which was what I usually wished for, and Em wished for a passing score in Charms. Then we said good night and went to sleep.

I woke from a wonderful dream and looked at my watch. It was two a.m. The reason for my waking soon became apparent.

Someone was knocking on the window by my bed.