Fragments of Yesterday

The train came to a stop just after darkness had fallen outside the windows. Lily was already deeply immersed in her Standard Book of Spells, Grade One, and was learning, with Lottie's help, the basics of "self-defense." Abigail, who had very quickly become fed up with this, was reading silently from Hogwarts, a History and, for all means and purposes, ignoring the other two girls as they turned Lottie's cat (whose name happened to be Splotch) all sorts of colors, for Lottie assured Lily that Splotch didn't mind and was, in fact, used to it.

Abigail looked up from her book to comment mildly that Lottie had to be some witch to accustom a kitten to regular magic at four months of age. They argued halfheartedly until Lottie threw a folded robe from the top of Lily's trunk at Abigail, causing the other girl to relent and laugh.

Lily was having problems with the color orange. Red, yes, yellow, certainly, and almost any other color of the rainbow flawlessly. But when she tried for orange, the cat mewed in complaint and turned strange, splotchy greens, purples, and browns, and then Abigail sighed and pointed her wand from behind her book, turning the cat back with a muttered word. That was all the recognition the two girls on the floor got, however.

When the train slowed, Abigail carefully stowed her book away and smoothed the immaculate robes she had donned earlier in the day. "Come on, then. I'll help you clean up your mess, I suppose. But I won't do it again."

And Lottie smiled, sensing she had won the battle, and replied noncommittally, "Naturally not, darling."

The three girls rushed around the compartment, throwing things into trunks. Lily locked Athena's cage after the little owl had decided to "help" and flown around madly, causing more harm than good. Finally, things were cleared out, and the three girls were very glad to be able to leave things in the compartment to be carried up to their dormitories later. Lily, at the last moment, took pity on Athena and put her in the cowl of her cloak, following Lottie's example with Splotch.

They were some of the last people off the train, right behind a group of sixth years who were, according to Abigail, Slytherins. A few of them actually greeted her cordially. It seemed she was important, but she was coolly polite to all of them. It seemed she had not been playing around when she told Lily she wanted nothing to do with the family house.

Exiting the train, they heard a call of "Firs' years! Firs' years this way!" and followed the deep voice until they stopped, Lily, at least, gaping widely, Lottie also looking mildly surprised, and Abigail looking (as she usually did) unruffled.

"Good evening, Hagrid," she said placidly. "How are you?"

And Hagrid looked, grinned, and offered half a bow. "Good evenin' to yeh as well, Miz Gordon. Yeh've grown." She smiled and nodded, and Hagrid turned to the students staring up at him in frightened awe. "All righ', then, firs' years, follow me." He set off in the opposite direction from the rest of the students, and the mystified first years followed.

"How do you know him?" Lily whispered to Abigail, beginning to understand that Abigail, while a first year, was certainly no First Year.

"Hm? Oh, Hagrid?" Abigail shrugged her shoulders delicately. "He made a delivery to Mother once, from Dumbledore. She was just going to send him on his way, but I caught him in the garden and offered him a cookie." She laughed. "At five, my sense of tact was lacking."

Lottie grinned. "I think I liked you better before you learned tact."

"You'll be glad someone has some, and some brains, when you get your first detention of the year," Abigail said primly. "I wouldn't be surprised if you had one before the day was done."

Lottie grinned conspiratorially at Lily. "I'll bet I could manage that. Wanna help, Lils?"

Lily laughed. "No thanks, Lottie. Detention isn't at all my thing."

Lottie made a face. "Oh brilliant, I have two wet blankets."

Lily smiled innocently. "That just means you'll have to corrupt us."

"Did I hear someone mention corruption?" Lily turned around and frowned at Sirius, James' "evil lackey," as she had been calling him to herself. "Oh come now, don't frown at me!" Sirius grinned. "I don't bite hard. I don't even have rabies, so I swear you won't foam at the mouth..."

"Very funny," Lily said, telling herself she would not be amused. "Now go away."

"Actually, I am pretty funny," Sirius responded, completely ignoring her second statement. "A regular laugh riot. I'll have you on the floor in stitches in five minutes. More fun than a barrel of pixies. Ask anybody."

Abigail was smiling at him and Lottie was giggling. Lily, however was not convinced. "Your friend irritates me," she informed him. "I figure you will too."

Sirius only grinned and bowed to her mockingly, stopping for a minute, the four of them creating a rock in the middle of the stream flow of students following Hagrid. "I'm really not that bad. I kiss babies and help old ladies across the street even if they don't want to go." Lottie giggled harder. "I brush my teeth once a month too, whether or not they need it. My dog loves me!" He grinned at the girls. Even Lily was smiling now. "Well," he added with a frown, "at least he says he does. I'm not sure I trust him."

"Do wizarding dogs talk?" Lily whispered to Abigail under the sound of Lottie's laughter.

"No," Abigail replied, grinning.

Lily laughed. "All right, all right. Whatever you say. You're not that bad."

Sirius, seeing that he'd won, grinned harder. "Of course not! I'm low in calories, vitamin-rich, need no batteries or subtitles... and I'm good for the environment!"

"Batteries?" Abigail asked, perfectly baffled.

"Subtitles?" echoed Lottie, equally confused.

Lily giggled. "Muggle things. They're... kind of complicated." They had reached a huge lake now, and Hagrid was gesturing them into little boats, four at a time.

Sirius bowed to the girls again. "Mum says I watch too much Muggle television," he confided to Lily. "It's supposedly an outrage for a pure-blooded wizard. She's afraid I'll turn into a Muggle at first opportunity."

"Television?" the two wizard-born girls chorused.

"Never mind," Lily said with a grin. "Just... never mind."

The three of them got into a boat and were soon joined by a diminutive Asian girl who seemed unwilling to talk to them, except to say her name was Ke Wang and glare at Lily, who asked whether it was Japanese.

"Chinese," she said shortly, and from that moment said absolutely nothing.

"Short fuse," Lottie whispered.

"No kidding," Lily replied. "Temper, temper."

Although they were whispering very quietly, Ke still glared venomously at them. They were quiet the rest of the trip.

They arrived in the dungeon dock of the ships and quickly got out to stand, looking around. Lily didn't much like it down here-it was too damp and cold and depressing and just a little foreboding. Splotch mewed piteously from inside of Lottie's hood.

"All righ', follow me and don' get lost," Hagrid instructed, opening the doors and counting heads as the children went through. Satisfied that he had the forty he had begun with, he headed across the hall and up the stairs into a wide corridor. Opening another door, he ushered them into a small room. "Professor McGonagall will be 'ere in jus' a minute to explain the Sorting to yeh," he announced. "Stay 'ere and try an' not get in any trouble."

As soon as he left, Sirius got a conspiratorial gleam in his eye which made everyone move away from him except the equally-excited James and a resigned-looking Remus. "You're going to do something we're going to regret, aren't you?" he asked mildly.

"Nonsense," Sirius said. "I never regret anything."

"I think I'm hiding over here now," a mousy boy with tousled blond hair and a pudgy look about him skirted behind James. "That way, whatever explodes won't do it all over me."

"Please, you don't give me enough credit," Sirius said. "I can make it explode all over everyone." He raised his wand just as a tall, stern-looking witch entered the room.

"What, pray tell, are you doing?" she asked, glaring at the four boys in the center of the room.

Sirius looked back at her with guileless blue eyes. "Attempting to make that vase over there explode, Professor," he said.

She nearly turned purple, as she seemed outraged by the audacity of his honest response. "If I knew which house you would be in, I would give detention and take away points right now," she said finally. "As it is the first day of school, I will let it slide." She glared a moment more, then turned with a brisk, "Follow me, please."

"Bugger," James said. "No detention."

"Next time," replied Sirius, ever the optimist.

"Idiots!" said Lily.

They entered a huge, long room then, filled with chatter and candlelight, and Lily was too busy gaping at everything to say anything more. "Look at the ceiling," she said with a hushed voice. "That's amazing..."

"It looks just like the sky outside, commented Abigail. "Helpful if we want to know the weather at breakfast."

Lottie sighed. "Practical and unphased. Does nothing shock you?"

Abigail smiled smugly. "No."

"Figures," said Lily.

Then the tall witch was moving aside, revealing a stool with a hat upon it. The hat suddenly shuddered once, opened a rip that looked remarkably like a mouth, and began to sing.

"Singing hats," a girl behind Lily murmured. "Now I've seen everything."

Lily grinned despite herself. Its singing voice was a bit cracked and not entirely pleasant, but she was too entertained to pay it much mind. Once the song finished, the witch spoke again. "I am Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress. When I call your name, come up and put on the Sorting Hat. It will tell you whether you belong in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin. Once you've been Sorted, join your housemates for dinner." She picked up a list, peered at it a moment, and called out, "Allen, Candice."

The same auburn-haired girl James and Sirius had played with on the train walked up, pulling the hat over her dancing eyes. It didn't take the hat very long to shout "GRYFFINDOR!" One of the tables erupted into cheers, and Candice ran over to them as soon as she had taken the hat off.

A girl was sorted into Ravenclaw and a boy into Hufflepuff, and then McGonagall called, "Black, Sirius."

Sirius swaggered up to the stool, and McGonagall looked as though she were getting a headache. The hat barely touched his head before it screamed "GRYFFINDOR!" and he stood. Offering a mock bow to the Deputy Headmistress, who definitely looked displeased, he ran over to the cheering Gryffindor table.

"Bulstrode, Xavier." A tall, wide boy walked slowly towards the stool. Lily heard someone whisper that he seemed to have ogre blood in him.

The hat was silent for a moment before announcing "SLYTHERIN!" The table across the hall from Gryffindor erupted into cheers.

"Well, now we have all the houses represented," Lottie whispered cheerfully. "Mum was in Ravenclaw. She says I couldn't get in there if I tried. Wonder where I'll go?"

Amelia Burke and Katharine Breslin were Sorted, and then McGonagall winced slightly before speaking. "Caligo, Narcissa."

Narcissa was a very pretty girl with long, pale hair and an air of elegance to match Abigail's. In fact, they seemed very alike to Lily, although one was dark and the other light. There was a slight smirk on Narcissa's face, and the hat quickly decided in favor of Slytherin. "She doesn't seem very nice," Lily murmured, more to herself than anything.

"She isn't," Abigail confirmed in low tones.

"Christianson, Charlotte!"

Lottie grinned, winked at Lily and Abigail for luck, and pranced up to the stool. Her long curly hair had gotten loose of its braid somewhat, and the hat almost fit normally. There was a moment of silence, then the hat joyfully shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" and Lottie squealed, running over to the Gryffindor table to loud applause and wolf-whistles from Sirius.

Two more girls were called before Lily. She nearly fainted, suddenly very nervous, when McGonagall said her name. She walked up to the hat slowly and let it fall over her bright red face, for she had nearly tripped on the way up. Suddenly, she heard a voice in her mind, and nearly jumped before realizing it was the hat talking. "Well well, what do we have here?" it asked, very amused. "I'd be tempted to put you in Slytherin on the spot... temper, temper... but unfortunately you're Muggle-born, so that's out..." Lily silently thanked her parents for being Muggles, and the hat chuckled, obviously aware of the thoughts. "Not a fan of Slytherin? It's not all that bad, really, but in your case it had better be GRYFFINDOR!" The last word was shouted for the room at large to hear, and Lily, suddenly feeling very relieved, got up to walk over to the Gryffindor table and plop down next to a widely grinning Lottie.

Abigail was sorted next. The hat took a very long time deciding what to do with her, but eventually placed her in Gryffindor, causing both Lottie and Lily to cheer and clap loudly. David Gudgeon was the next into Gryffindor House. Lily thought he looked rather stupid, but then again, she could have been imagining.

After that, the ceremony stretched on. There was nothing of note until a girl named Velvet Lindley was sorted into Gryffindor, followed by Remus Lupin, one of the boys Lily had noted hanging around James earlier.

The next to be Sorted was a very good-looking boy named Lucius Malfoy. At least, he would have been good-looking if half of his bangs weren't missing and he hadn't been scowling. The hat was barely on his head before it shouted "SLYTHERIN!" and he sauntered over to his table, looking for all the world like he was king of the school.

Lily daydreamed, wondering what James' surname could be, and trying to guess where the people she saw would be put by their names. She guessed right when she and the hat both put Desdemona Muldoon into Slytherin, but made a mistake deciding Oksana Nikolayeva would be Slytherin as well-the tall girl with the short chestnut hair went straight to Ravenclaw.

The next to be made a Gryffindor was Peter Pettigrew, the pudgy boy that had hidden behind James and Sirius, which made Lily confused-weren't Gryffindors to be brave? Still, the hat had taken an awfully long time to decide. Perhaps he was more brave than he was loyal, ambitious or smart. In that case, Lily shuddered to think of his personality, though he seemed sweet enough as he slid into a seat next to Remus and grinned almost apologetically at Sirius.

"Potter, James."

Instantly, Lily was on alert, looking at the bespectacled boy and seething. "Lils, you can't set him on fire unless you point your wand at him first," Lottie informed her. "You might as well stop trying."

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted. Sirius, Remus and Peter cheered. Lily scowled.

"I think he's cute," Candice admitted from across the table.

"You think so now," Lily corrected.

"He is pretty cute," Velvet agreed. She was sitting next to Candice, looking at her reflection in the golden plate, and glaring at, of all things, her cute, upturned nose. "Some of the others are cuter, but he is pretty cute, Candy."

Candice, or Candy, grinned flirtatiously as James sat down between Sirius and Remus. James pretended not to notice.

There were only a few of note after that. The scowling boy who had had orange hair on the train was made a Slytherin. Lottie hissed and booed at him, then complained to Abigail that she wished his hair hadn't changed back. Ke, the Oriental girl from the boat, was made a Slytherin, to no great surprise of any of the girls. James' little group nearly had a conniption over Patricia Wells, overpowering the cheers from the Ravenclaw table with their rather derogatory yells. McGonagall glared helplessly.

The Sorting finished with Caroline Zott ("HUFFLEPUFF!") and the stool with the hat were carried away by an unpleasant man followed by a cat.

Then, the tall wizard with the snowy hair and beard and kind eyes behind his glimmering half-moon spectacles stood. "Welcome, children," he said. There was a silence as soon as he spoke-it seemed this was a man that commanded attention. "Some of you are returning to acquire knowledge within these great walls which have stood for a thousand years. Some of you are here for the first time, bright-eyed and ready to begin an existence in a new, wonderful world. Whichever you may be, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry welcomes you." He smiled, and Lily felt comfortable, suddenly. She decided she liked him. "Before we eat, I have a few announcements. First, a Whomping Willow has been planted on the grounds." There was a groan from the direction of the Ravenclaw table. "Yes, Mister Patil, I'm quite aware that it is a dangerous tree. Please don't look at me as though I had grown horns. I checked myself over for hexes this morning." There was a ripple of laughter. "As I said, a Whomping Willow has been planted on the grounds. Those of you who do not know what it is, rest assured-it is highly dangerous, more so than even many of the creatures in the Forbidden Forest. You are not to go near it. I hope, for once, one of my rules will stand the year."

Down the table, Lily noticed Remus looking uncomfortable, slipping his finger into the collar of his robe as though to loosen it.

"Second, the Forbidden Forest is, as its name implies, forbidden. We haven't lost a student in twenty years, but the last one came out quite mad and crying of Acromantulas. Again, for your own good, please keep away." Breaking the somber mood, he smiled. "Finally, no magic is to be used in the corridors, no duels are to be held after hours, no one below third year is to go into Hogsmeade for any reason, and the next couple caught in the Astronomy Tower will face a rather unpleasant punishment." He beamed at everyone assembled before adding, "Welcome to Hogwarts. May your time here be a productive, fascinating and new experience. And on that note, let us have dinner before I blather on all evening."

Lily looked down at the table, but somehow managed to miss the appearance of the food anyway. Wondering where it had come from, she took a bite of potatoes, discovered they were excellent, and began to eat with great fervor, for she had been far too excited to eat breakfast and had neglected to remember lunch. "Candy, I'm going to get fat here," Velvet whined.

Candy shrugged. "Don't eat so much, then," was her suggestion.

Velvet took a second serving of chicken and glared at her friend. "But it's good."

Candy shook her head and sighed. "It's not my fault the food is good, Velvet. It's no one's fault the food is good. It's not even fault at all, really, since it's good and not bad, and it's actually-" She stopped, looked disgusted at her enormous run-on sentence that had made no sense, and grimaced. "Never mind. Just eat your dinner, Velvet."

"Okay," Velvet agreed instantly.

"Is that your real name, Velvet?" Lottie asked curiously. "It's really pretty, but unusual."

"Her parents are proprietors of peace and love," Candy replied promptly.

"No they are not," Velvet glared. "They're hippies."

Candy grinned widely and Lily and Lottie giggled. Abigail looked confused-obviously she was too sheltered to understand that these were synonymous. "You're both Muggle-born too, then?" Lily asked, glad not to be the only one.

Candy shook her head. "No, I'm half and half. Dad's a wizard, Mum's a doctor. We live in a Muggle town so Mum can work, though. Velvet lives down the hall."

Velvet grinned. "I'm glad I got to come here. My parents want to sell the flat and live under the stars, or something like that."

"They're a bit daft," Candy said comfortably. "But we all love them anyway." Everyone laughed, and Candy snuck a glance down the table. "That James Potter character is cute," she said again.

"I tell you, he isn't," Lily argued. "He's rude and uncultured and... and... well, a git." She didn't even think of her language in front of Abigail anymore.

"He's a cute git," Candy said promptly.

"Unlike Severus, who is an uncute git?" Abigail asked, amused.

"Precisely," Lottie replied. "And anyway, Black is better looking."

"Agreed," said Velvet, now eating her third serving. "Very nice."

Abigail and Lily grimaced at each other. "It seems like we're the only ones who have escaped that particular disease," Lily said. "Am I the only one who doesn't like boys?"

Abigail shrugged. "Boys are no fun. They're stupid and want nothing more than to fly around on their broomsticks all day, tossing a Quaffle around. We're better off without them." Still, she snuck the quickest of glances at Remus.

"Amen," Lily said promptly. She hadn't grown up Catholic for nothing, after all.

"A what?" Abigail asked.

Lily sighed. "Never mind. Let's just eat."

Dinner was a noisy, fun affair. Lily was sure dinners at St. Mary's, which promised to make a proper lady from any girl, weren't nearly this interesting. The highlight of the evening was certainly Sirius waving his wand over his cup of pumpkin juice, saying words Remus was reading to him from a book he had pulled inside his robes. No one at the staff table noticed. Lily surreptitiously moved away. Before anyone knew what he was about, the glass began spinning in midair, spraying everyone with juice. Velvet actually dived under the table until a sour-faced professor ran over and stopped the goblet with a mutter and glared at the innocently grinning boys.

"Black! Lupin! Detention!" screeched Professor McGonagall. Lily personally thought that without the pained look on her face, she would have been a very pretty woman, perhaps a little older than her mother. "In all my years..." she muttered, sending a killing glance at the boys, who didn't seem at all upset.

"Hoorah! Long live detention!" Sirius called.

"You weren't kidding, were you?" Remus asked, laughing.

"Damn, I didn't get one," James pouted. "Neither did Peter."

"Language, Mister Potter!" said the sour-faced professor. He looked as though he wanted to hurt something. Lily wondered what he was hanging around the table for, now that the explosions had been averted.

"Shit, professor, why not?" James said, beaming.

"Detention, Mister Potter," the professor replied icily. "I'll see all three of you before class tomorrow morning in the dungeons."

He swept away, looking murderous as ever, and James grinned. "Got one."

"Who's keeping track?" Remus asked mildly.

"Good idea!" Sirius said. "Peter, want to do it? We'll see who has the most before the end of school."

"Unless you're all expelled for being buffoons," Lily called primly from across the table. "Monkeys have better manners."

"Shut it, Carrots," James glowered. "We didn't ask you."

Lily looked at him, picked up the nearest plate, which happened to contain mashed potatoes, and hissed, "Do not call me Carrots!" throwing it at James.

Peter caught it somehow, though all four boys were quite splattered with the contents anyway. Sirius began laughing hysterically, and Lily smirked.

"Evans! Detention!"

"Bugger," Lottie said. "You got one before me."