Fragments of Yesterday

The next month dragged by for Lily.  She spent most of it avoiding Petunia.  Her older sister didn´t make it too difficult, as she now apparently wanted nothing to do with Lily.  If there had been mild animosity between them before, it was now full-blown hatred on Petunia´s side.  Lily was feeling very exasperated with the whole situation, as she hadn´t done a thing except perhaps prove talented in yet another area where Petunia was lacking.  Lily thought it rather unfair that her sister, who was very pretty with her fine, straight blonde hair, not only preened in the mirror for hours daily, but also resented Lily´s surpassing her in something which she, at least, considered far less important than looks.

Lily did try not to sleep in the hammock much anymore, though.  Athena was still small enough that Lily didn´t want to leave her out in the cool nights for fear of illness.  Leaving her alone upstairs was also definitely out.  Lily had tried once, but Athena had raised a racket and she had run back inside to discover Petunia attempting to clip the baby´s wings, an angry, focused look on her face.  After that, Lily didn´t let the owl out of her sight.

She let out an audible sigh of relief on the night of August the thirty-first.  They had spent the past few days traveling to London, and were staying in a small inn somewhere on the outskirts.  Petunia´s train for St. Mary´s was leaving the same morning, so Alanna had thought it easier all around for them to go together.  Brenna had wanted to take Lily so they could travel by floo powder, but Lily,very fond of her parents, gently declined the nice offer.

Thus, she was on the top floor of the little inn, very aware of Petunia sleeping in the next bed.  It had taken Alanna cajoling and Harold threatening to get her to sleep in the same room as Lily, and to promise not to harm any of Lily´s things, but it had been managed.  Just in case, Lily was planning not to sleep.  She was far too excited, anyway.  In her last days in Ireland she had opened the window of her room nightly, and heard, very softly, the surf pounding in the distance.  Wherever Hogwarts was, as no one seemed entirely sure, the ocean was not audible, according to Molly, and Lily knew she would miss it.  At least London wasn´t silent, though they were in a quiet neighborhood.

An owl soared in through her window and Lily familiarly held out a hand to stroke it once it had perched on a bedpost.  She recognized the owl, of course.  Brenna´s stately horned owl was twice the size of most she had seen in Diagon Alley.  Furthermore, Athena´s squeal of undiluted terror as she bunched into a corner of her cage was familiar as well-apparently, she did not particularly like horned owls.  "Hello, Rowena," Lily said with a smile, untying the small rolled parchment from the owl´s leg.  "Are you feeling well tonight?"  She had always talked to animals.  It was just funny when suddenly, the animals seemed to understand and, in their limited way, talk back.  Rowena, for instance, hooted softly in assent, indicating that everything was fine.

Lily unrolled the parchment and quickly scanned the several lines of Brenna´s neat handwriting.

Lily,

I´m just sending you the note to remind you that we

will meet you at King´s Cross, as your parents are

making the journey to see Petunia off as well.  Do

try to be on time, the Hogwarts Express has left

without students before.  Molly and I will meet you

at the border between platforms nine and ten.  Do

try not to be late!

-Brenna

Lily smiled at Brenna´s obvious worry, and turned the parchment over.  Grabbing the pen embossed with the inn´s name from the nightstand, she quickly scribbled a "Don´t worry, we´ll be there early." And re-rolled the parchment.

Rowena stuck out her leg and Lily tied the letter there, stroking Rowena again and offering her the mint that had been left on the pillow.  Rowena, with a hoot of thanks, soared out into the night sky.

***

September the first dawned cloudy and gray.  No rain fell, however, and the very excited Lily (who had fallen asleep for a few hours despite her best efforts) awoke with the first hint of morning light.

Her excited squeal woke Petunia, who glared at her venomously before putting a pillow over her head.  As Alanna came in to wake the girls five minutes later, this ploy didn´t work too well.  Lily was already half-dressed by the time her mother appeared, and soon skipped down to breakfast with a grin on her face.

Nothing could dislodge that grin all day.  Petunia glowered, pristine in her blue and white St. Mary´s uniform.  Lily grinned.  Athena had conniptions being loaded into the taxi, Harold yelled loudly at the cab driver, who was accusing Lily of cruelty to animals, and Alanna looked as though she had a headache.  Lily just grinned.

At King´s Cross Station, the four of them stood around for nearly an hour before a harried Brenna and Molly showed up.  Lily hugged her parents, said good-bye, and walked over to them, just in time to see Molly disappear through a wall.  Lily blinked.

"Hello, Lily-dear.  I´m ever so glad you aren´t late," Brenna said cheerfully.  "Now, honey, just take your cart, and walk right on through the wall."

Lily was sure she hadn´t heard right.  "Pardon?" she asked, bewildered.

"The wall," Brenna explained patiently.  "It´s not really there.  Just walk right on through.  Close your eyes and run, if you´re scared."

Lily´s chin came up.  "I´m not scared of anything," she said defiantly.

Brenna suppressed a smile, quite sure at that moment of Lily´s house at school.  "Well, go on then.  The Hogwarts Express doesn´t wait, you know."

Lily nodded.  "Good-bye, Mrs. O´Malley.  Thank you for everything."  She turned towards her family, who was watching this exchange with interest.  "Bye, Mum.  Bye Dad.  I´ll miss you."  Leaving Petunia out purposefully, she stepped forward resolutely.

The wall that, by all reasonable laws of physics, she should have crashed into, instead chose to melt away, leaving her and her trunk on a platform quite unlike any she had ever seen.  She grinned foolishly, watching old friends say hello.  A girl with a long blonde braid was chasing a black kitten with a white paw, calling her to stop being silly, as big trains ate little kitties.  A few older kids were watching amusedly until one finally pointed his wand and floated the cat through the air, quite helpless, to her mistress.

On the other end of the platform something was exploding in a rainbow flash of colors.  Riotous laughter and female shrieks could be heard.  A short, pudgy boy ran by, the halfhearted anger of an adult voice following him, telling him to not forget to do his Charms homework and for God´s sake wear clean underwear.

Lily laughed.  The laugh, however, turned into a shriek as she was hit painfully from behind and hurled onto the pavement.  She had been standing in front of the barrier too long, and someone else had entered the platform.  Lily hit her head and felt very dizzy as she heard a boy´s voice saying "Oh no!  I´m sorry, I thought that-"

Lily looked up, managing to condense death into a stare, and was met with the shocked stare of brown eyes behind round spectacles.  James, who had been running his hand through his very messy hair in nervousness, stopped immediately as a grin grew on his face.  "Oh, it´s you, Carrots.  That´s OK then."

Then, he proceeded to ignore her as he walked off, cocky enough to levitate his trunk behind him.  His friend-Sirius, the slightly less horrid one-grinned apologetically before following James.  Lily was left, once again, on the ground with a terrible headache.

She was all geared up to yell at him again when she felt gentle hands lifting her up and brushing off her pleated skirt.  "Are you all right?"  There was a trace of Scottish underneath obvious impeccable breeding of the soft voice.

Lily looked up into what was probably the most striking face she had ever seen.  The girl´s skin was white, nearly translucent in its pallor.  Her eyes, though, were huge and so dark brown they seemed black, framed by thick, velvety lashes.  Her hair, long, glossy, and black, hung in a shining curtain down her back and past the waist of her neat, ankle length skirt and simple white cardigan.  She seemed as though she belonged on a throne.  Her smile, though, was shy, there was an intelligent glint in her eyes, and kindness in her bearing.

After gaping at this unexpected figure a minute, Lily smiled.  "I´m all right.  Thanks.  That pra-" she cut off, not sure whether the word "prat" was appropriate around someone who seemed like a princess.  She finally settled for "that bad boy has bothered me before."

The girl laughed softly.  "I´ve known Sirius since I was very small.  If this bad boy of yours is a friend of his, I´m not at all surprised."  With an easy smile, she proffered a slim hand.  "My name is Abigail Gordon.  What´s yours?"

Lily smiled, relaxing a bit.  "Lily Evans.  Pleased to meet you."  They shook hands solemnly, then Lily burst out into giggles.  "I feel all grown up, suddenly."

Abigail nodded.  "It´s frightening.  Mother claims there isn´t anything to be afraid of, but she´s the one who wanted to be in Slytherin."  Abigail sighed.  "I think the family house doesn´t suit me in the least."

"You´re only a first year?" Lily asked incredulously.  At Abigail´s nod, her smile grew wider.  "Well, can we be friends then, Abby?"

Abigail winced delicately.  "Abigail, please.  My aunt has a dog named Abby.  It makes me feel uncomfortable.  If Mother had wanted a child named Abby, that is what she would have called me."  She smiled apologetically.  "But I would like to be friends."

Lily nodded.  "Fair enough, Abigail.  Let´s get our trunks onto the train, then.  You grew up in a wizarding family, I take it?"

Abigail nodded again.

"Well then, you can tell me all about it.  I´m Muggle-born myself, so I don´t know a single thing..."

Abigail nodded.  "Of course!"  Then, looking at Lily´s things, she squealed.  "What a  sweet little owl!"

"Her name´s Athena," Lily told her new friend proudly.

"My, then Athena will and I will need to become friends, I think."  Stroking her through the bars of the cage, Abigail then helped Lily haul her trunk into an empty compartment near the front.  They settled in, Abigail cooing at Athena the entire time.  Just as Lily had been about to get up and look around the train, though, plans changed.

Just as they´d settled down, they heard a particularly loud shriek, followed by infectious laughter.  The door to their compartment then slid open, and the same girl Lily had seen chasing the cat earlier entered.  Now that Lily got a closer look at her, she realized that the honey-blonde hair was so curly it was probably gelled down rock-hard to stay in the braid, and that her eyes were the bright blue of a summer sky-and right now, they were dancing with badly suppressed laughter.  The strange girl put her finger to her lips and whispered "Shhhh," as loud footsteps echoed outside.

A furious male voice called "Charlotte!  Charlotte, if you don´t get back here and undo this right now I´m going to have your hide!"

The girl winced, then grinned and dove under the seat where Abigail was sitting, followed by a black streak Lily supposed was the cat, concealing herself behind the long skirt and owl cage standing next to her.

Lily didn´t even get a chance to ask what in the name of God was going on when the compartment door slid open again, and a scowling boy looked in.  He would have been quite ordinary, except the fact that his hair was bright orange and he was scowling darkly from black eyes.  His nose was rather beaky, and Lily didn´t quite like the look of him.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Abigail´s greeting the boy cordially.  "Good morning, Severus.  My, what an unusual hair color."

Severus scowled more.  Finally, he managed to control his fury enough to reply, "Yes, thank you, Abigail.  Would you mind telling me if that little blonde monster has come in here?"

Lily, seeing as Abigail was at a loss, quickly replied, "No, I´m sorry, there haven´t been any monsters here yet."  There was a horrifyingly familiar shout of laughter from the hall.  "But apparently," she said, already seething, "one is just about to make an appearance."

She glared at James, who had come into view, laughing uproariously at Severus´ hair.  He saw her in the compartment and laughed only harder.  "Look... Sirius..." he said between loud guffaws.  "The... carrot-heads... unite!"  He then fell on the floor, holding his stomach, rolling around, and in general looking incredibly amused.

"Shut up!" Lily shouted.  She realized she seemed to have an echo, and found that Severus had shouted at the same time.

Finding her voice, she spoke in a deadly calm whisper.  "Out.  All of you.  Now."

Amazingly enough, something about the small Irish girl seemed to frighten them enough that Severus quickly closed the compartment door, though not before Lily saw him aiming his wand at James.

She made a small, dissatisfied sort of sound and plopped on the floor by Abigail´s legs.  "Come on out," she said, "and tell us what you´ve done before we decide to turn you over to them and save ourselves the trouble."

The grinning blonde girl exited immediately, holding her black kitten and looking smug.  "Hello!" she said happily.  Her voice was bright, high-pitched, and incredibly cheerful.  Lily thought she caught a bit of a Belfast drawl in it.  "My name´s Lottie-not Charlotte-and I turned Sevvie´s hair orange because he´s a stupid git."  She smiled sunnily.  "I throw myself at the mercy of the court."

And Abigail laughed.  "I haven´t seen him that angry in years," she grinned.  "I commend you, Charlotte, but you know that your mother will be rather perturbed, don´t you?"

"Yes, Abby, I´m aware, thank you."  There was a moment of silence before the girls embraced and Lottie plopped down on the seat.  "I have missed you, you know.  It hasn´t been the same since you stopped visiting."

"Oh, pish," Abigail said.  "All that happened when I visited was you telling me I was a wet blanket when you wanted to blow something or other up.  And then I had to step in and try and diffuse your mother´s anger.  And then-"

Lily, smiling herself, looked at the two of them with a cocked eyebrow.  "I take it you two have met?"

Lottie replied dryly.  "We´re old friends.  If you can call this princess of manners a friend."  It was obvious she didn´t mean it too seriously, though.  "I´m sorry, I was so excited to see her again I completely forgot... who are you?"

Lily grinned back-she couldn´t help it, this girl´s cheer was infectious-and replied, "Lily Evans.  It seems I´m the only one that doesn´t know anyone... or any spells!  How is it that you´re all cursing each other?  Aren´t you a first year?"  Lottie certainly had to be, she was shorter even than Lily.

"Live in the same neighborhood as Severus for a year and you have to learn.  For self-preservation, naturally," Lottie deadpanned.  "Besides," she said, "I did it wrong.  All of him was supposed to be orange."

"You´re going to get yourself in trouble that way, you goose," Abigail sighed.  "Haven´t you been hauled up before the Committee for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry already?"

"Twice this year," Lottie said proudly.

"Charlotte!"

"It´s nice having an uncle in the Ministry."

"Getting away with everything isn´t nice!  It´s not healthy.  One day, you´ll get yourself in trouble and no one will pull you out," Abigail pointed out grumpily.  "And then where would you be?"

"In Azkaban, probably," Lottie said comfortably.

Abigail shook her head.  "I shall never understand you."

Lottie nodded.  "That, I think, is the best sort of compliment."

Lily, seeing they were done arguing, piped in.  "Hey, Lottie?  Could you teach me that spell to turn someone´s hair orange?  I need to get revenge on someone..."

***

James, meanwhile, was having a merry old time in the hallway, now that Severus had skulked off.  He and Sirius had taken to chasing each other around the train, yelling "Tag!  You´re it!" in loud voices.

Soon, a girl with short auburn hair and a brunette with a very upturned nose had joined the game, shrieking flying in and out of compartments, and generally making things far more interesting.  A short, pudgy boy had also joined into the game, though he looked petrified any time someone tagged him and he had to chase the girls (as James and Sirius were far too fast to catch).

This fine form of entertainment was brought to a close rather quickly when they began to send sparks at each other instead of tagging when an Oriental woman with sharp eyes and a frustrated expression came from the head of the train.  "I have been inform," she said in a thickly accented voice, "that first year are not allowed to duel in hallway."  She glared.  "And the noise gives other students the headache."

"Erm... sorry..." James mumbled, trying to decide what to call her.  She didn´t look much older than the oldest students, but...

"You are to say, `I apologize, Professor Mizuhara.  I never do again.´"

"I apologize, professor... erm... miss-thingy..."  James trailed off in confusion.

The teacher threw up her hands and let out a few obviously derogatory words in rapid Japanese.  "Never mind.  Baka student, they think they are Merlin..." and she walked off without another word.

"Well," Sirius said finally, "at least you got out of the promise not to do it again."

The girl with the turned up nose giggled.  James grinned brightly.  "I did at that, didn´t I?"  Everyone clapped politely,he bowed, and proceeded to go into his compartment to change into his robes.

Sirius, however, got a glint in his eyes, pulled something out of his pocket, spit on it, and threw.  The boy he was aiming for seemed intelligent enough to duck, and the boy behind him-a stately looking blonde fellow-swore loudly as the wet-start firework hit him in the forehead, catching his bangs.  It took him a moment to realize he was on fire before running off, screaming at the top of his lungs for someone to put it out.  Sirius smirked.  "Oops," he said, and, grinning in a way that wasn´t in the least apologetic, he waved to the boy who had ducked and entered the compartment himself.

Shortly, the boy stuck his head in, looking tired but unbelievably excited and happy.  James looked at him for a moment, assessing the inexpensive worn robes, shoulder-length sandy hair, and hopeful gray eyes, and decided he had potential.  "Hey," he said, moving aside from the door so he could enter.  "I´m James Potter.  Who´re you?"

The boy smiled and waved to the two of them.  "I´m Remus.  Remus Lupin," he said.  "I´m a first year."

"Yeah?" James asked, pulling his robes out and on over his shorts and shirt.  "So´re we."

"I´m Sirius Black," Sirius offered a grin.

"Never eat anything he gives you," James warned automatically, pulling at the hem of his robes so they settled better.  "Oh, and don´t play him at Quidditch.  He cheats."

"Do not!" Sirius said vehemently.  "I just win."

Remus smirked.  "As he just attempted to blow me up, I´ll be extra careful."

Remus laughed, and James was sure he liked him now-the soft-spoken, intelligent voice wasn´t stuck up, as many boys of James´ social standing could be.  He preferred his friends simple, Sirius being the only real exception.  "Nice to meet you, Remus," he said honestly.  "So, tell me the truth-"

"No, I will not hex you beyond recognition in your sleep," Remus replied promptly.  "Probably," he added.

And Sirius threw his arm around Remus´ shoulders with a wolfish grin.  "My kind of man.  Consider yourself in."

"If you didn´t try hexing us when we slept, he´d be disappointed," James put in.

And Remus grinned widely.  "I just got myself mixed up with a bunch of troublemakers, didn´t I?"

"I´m insulted now," Sirius laughed.  "We´re not `a bunch of troublemakers´.  We are the troublemakers."

"I see.  I suppose your battlecry is `long live detention!´?"

"You better believe it."

"Oh boy."