Friendship Never Dies

Even after three months, the veil of grief still shadows my face and clouds my mind. I start to dream the impossible- I still see her in shadows, I chase strangers, thinking, hoping, that it's her. And yet every time, every single time, I don't expect to see a different face set underneath the familiar and oh-so-unique hair of my beloved. My other half. My only sister.

"Claire, Claire!" The cries of a desperate first year bounced through the entrance hall of Hogwarts.

Professor Minerva McGonagall, who had been leading a troupe of new first years to the room off the Great Hall to wait for their Sorting, looked around in surprise. New first years never spoke in anything more than frightened whispers.

A blonde haired girl was running from the back of the group towards the front, her black robes billowing behind her. She reached out to touch the elbow of one of her classmates, a girl with distinctive, tomato sauce, red hair. The red head spun around in alarm at the gentle touch; as soon she glimpsed the red head's face, the blonde girl's face crumpled.

"I'm sorry," she whispered in mortified tones. "I just thought... I thought that you were... I'm sorry," she repeated.

"It's all right. I've done that loads of times to my mum. One time, I was holding on to her bag strap, like I always do when we're out in the city, and I was so busy pointing at different shop windows, that I never bothered to look up at her. It took me a while to realize that I was holding on to the wrong woman's bag! She was looking at me like I was trying to rob her, even though I was only six. My own mum was about twenty meters behind me," the red head said with a nervous laugh. She, like all of the other first years, had been looking timid, shy and completely intimidated by Hogwarts.

The corners of the blonde girl's mouth lifted slightly as she listened to the story. She held her half-smile for a few moments before introducing herself. "I'm Caroline Hess."

"Lily Evans. Don't mind me if I talk too much; Mum says I do that all the time, especially when I'm nervous. "

Lily didn't consider this remark particularly harmful, so she was completely bewildered when Caroline started to cry.

"Oh don't, I'm sorry- I really didn't mean to hurt you...." Helplessly, Lily extended her hand to Caroline, and ended up enveloping her in a hug. She looked around for someone to come and help her comfort the sobbing blonde, but her peers were all busy gaping at the high ceilings of Hogwarts.

Lily was patting Caroline's back awkwardly; Caroline was emitting nothing but dry hiccups when Professor McGonagall, who had left them in the waiting room near the Great Hall, swept back into the room and hurried the first years out.

"There are four houses at Hogwarts; they are: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. The different qualities of each house will be enumerated by the Sorting Hat in its song. When it is done singing, each of you will be called up to sit on a stool in front of the other students. I will place the Sorting Hat on your head; once it sorts you into a house, you will go and sit at your house table.

"I shall go and announce your arrival to the rest of the school. In the few remaining moments, please make sure that you are- presentable." With those words, Professor McGonagall glided through the double doors leading to the Great Hall.

Lily hurriedly shushed Caroline's hiccups and mopped her blotchy, tear-stained face with a clean hankie. Caroline mumbled incoherent thanks to Lily, who merely patted her on the back and held her hand. She had a feeling that Caroline had a very sensitive internal balance, and she didn't want anything else to be setting her new friend off just yet. This was their chance to make a terrific first impression on the rest of the school, and she, Lily, was determined to make the most of it, for herself and for Caroline.

"Chin up, Caroline. Be brave, be bold. Go out and show them," Lily chanted under her breath as much to herself as to Caroline.

Head ducked, Caroline squeezed Lily's hand. She knew that Lily was more nervous than she was. Actually, Caroline wasn't scared at all, but Lily didn't know that. She had no way of knowing why Caroline had been crying....

Lily's right. I should be brave and bold and strong, Caroline thought to herself. Do it for Claire. Do it all for Claire.

The tartan-clad Professor McGonagall was standing in front of the first years yet again. "They're ready for you," she announced regally.

"I never knew I could eat so much," Caroline groaned as she and the other Gryffindor first years stumbled up to their dormitory.

"What, you're full already?" asked Ashleigh, who had eaten about four plates of fried chicken. "That was just my appetizer," she teased with a laugh. She reached her hand over Caroline's head and pulled their door open.

"That was just my hors-devour," bantered Renny, who looked a good two and half feet shorter than Ashleigh, and who had eaten nearly six plates of chicken.

"I've never seen anyone so small pack in such an incredible amount of food with that speed!" Ashleigh exclaimed in playful admiration.

"Well, you don't know us Asians," Renny said in a deep, robust voice as she patted her flat stomach. "We pack in the food, and it shows."

All four girls burst into gales of laughter as they tumbled into their room and settled themselves on the floor. Renny was so thin that she wouldn't look out of place in Oliver Twist's band of ragamuffins- apart from the fact that she was a female Asian.

"Well," gasped Lily, once she had come up for air, "the boys looked very impressed by your culinary ... habits, Renny. Oh, didn't you see?" Lily asked in response to Renny's look of confusion.

"Actually, Lily, maybe you didn't notice, but I was stuffing my face with as much chicken as I could reach, and I was up to my neck in chicken bones," Renny remarked dryly.

Lily chortled. "That's true. But the boys were having a contest to see who could eat the most. Well, among themselves. So one of the boys won with around two plates of chicken, and he was so proud of himself, but then he caught sight of you, and his face completely fell. You totaled his record."

Ashleigh snorted from where she was sprawled on the floor, one hand supporting her head. "You're talking about the good-looking one, right?"

"Ha, Ashleigh, that doesn't narrow it down at all. All four of them were good-looking!" Caroline retorted.

Teasing "oohs" were sent floating towards her from her three dorm mates, but all of them, even Renny, who had been busy eating, knew that what Caroline said was true.

"You're right, of course, but you do know who I mean. Unless you don't have eyes. The good-looking one. That's who you were talking about, right, Lily?"

"Yeah. The one with the dark hair that kind of flopped into his eyes."

"Uh-huh," Ashleigh gazed up at the ceiling in the throes of dreamy delight, and said with feigned passion, "that delicious piece of male is none other than Sirius Black, my dears."

"No!" The shout came from Renny, who wasn't pretending. She was truly shocked. "That was Sirius?"

"Yes," Ashleigh said, rather drawn aback by Renny's incredulity.

"Wow, I couldn't recognize him. He's really chiseled himself out since I last saw him."

"You knew him?" Caroline, who had been lying on her back, rolled over and propped her chin up on her hands, eager to hear the gossip.

"Uh-huh. See, my family is well- ugh, I hate the term, but- pure-blood. We also come from family money, so, you know, we get around in the social circles and all that. Of course, my family doesn't hold with all the 'pure-blood' philosophy; they think it's all baloney. In fact, my mum's sister just married a Muggle...anyway, we don't hold with their beliefs, but we still mingle with the other old pure-blood families....

"Mum, I don't want to go!" A petulant girl was standing on a dressing room stool, scowling at her reflection. She tugged one of her beribboned pigtail braids and stuck her tongue out.

It was the start (and end, for once Mrs. Black found out about their prank, she banned the two from seeing each other again, claiming that Sirius didn't need help playing pranks) of a beautiful friendship....

Renny finished her long-winded tale with a reminiscent smile. The silence in the room attracted her attention.

Looking around, she saw that everyone was deep in her own world. Lily was leaning against the foot of the bed closest to the door, her forehead wrinkled with thought. Caroline was still lying on her stomach, her chin resting on her balled fists. Ashleigh was lying down, one foot flat against the floor, the other leg stretched out. She had flung an arm over her forehead, presumably to block the room light from her eyes.

"Hey, look. This dorm covers every base," Renny pointed out, her voice breaking the stillness. The other girls looked over at her.

"What do you mean?" Caroline asked.

"We're diverse," Lily replied; she had caught onto Renny's meaning at once.

"Yeah, we are," Ashleigh put in thoughtfully. "We have the Asian, the African, and the Caucasians."

"The tall one, the short one, the average two," Caroline contributed, pointing to Ashleigh, Renny, Lily and herself, respectively.

"I'm a bit of an intellectual, I suppose, and Ashleigh, you've got to be an athlete," Renny began.

"What makes you say that?" Ashleigh laughed. "You must be like Sherlock Holmes to pick that up when I haven't even mentioned Quidditch yet."

"Look at yourself."

Ashleigh looked down at her long, dark, and lean body. Then she shrugged. "Well, yeah, I train."

"It's not only that, but you're so easy and comfortable in your own skin. I wish I had that, but I've got to be the clumsiest person alive."

"Oh hey, just because I can fly, it doesn't mean I'm graceful!" Ashleigh got up, and as if to prove her point, tripped and fell down again. Though, she, Renny, and Caroline laughed, Lily's face was pinched in thought. She hadn't even looked up when Ashleigh fell.

When she spoke, it seemed out of the blue, because her voice was thoughtful and pondering, while the room was still full of laughter. "I was just thinking we're diverse in other ways, too. I know that Renny, you said you're- pure-blood? So, I guess you knew you were magic, but I had no idea. I was raised believing that magic is a lovely part of children's imagination, but nothing more. I have no idea what's going on here- what is the 'pure-blood' philosophy, and Quidditch? What are dress robes? What's 'Floo'? What does being Muggle-born have to do with anything?"

"Oh wow, I've lived in the magical world my whole life; I take it for granted, so I didn't realize you knew so little about it," Renny began.

"Thanks," Lily grumbled, but with a hint of a chuckle in her voice.

Renny had the grace to look somewhat abashed before continuing, "To some absolute snobs in the wizarding world, blood matters. They believe that magic makes witches and wizards better than Muggles. They also believe that witches and wizards who have long lines of magic in their families are elite- said witches and wizards are referred to as 'pure-bloods'." Renny spat out the last phrase like it disgusted her. "Of course, they use this logic to reason that if wizarding-folk who have long lines of magic in their veins are elite, then wizarding-folk who descend from Muggles are riffraff. I call the belief that 'pure-bloods' are God and Muggle-borns are trash the 'pure-blood' philosophy. It's just my affectionate little nickname for it."

But there was nothing affectionate about the way she pronounced "the 'pure-blood' philosophy".

Lily's forehead was creased with frown lines. "I already knew what Muggles are, and now I understand why it's important-"

"-but it's not!" Renny burst out. "Being Muggle-born isn't important! It's just some snobs who believe that it is."

"All right," Lily assented, taking Renny's interjection in stride, "but I'm still not any the wiser about Quidditch, or dress robes or Floo."

"I can explain about those," Ashleigh told Lily. "Quidditch is the wizarding world's sport. It's played in the air, on broomsticks. Basically, there are two teams, and ... actually, it requires quite a drawn-out explanation to understand properly, but each team has seven players- three Chasers, two Beaters, one Keeper and one Seeker. It's the job of the Chasers to score goals using the Quaffle (since there are three goal posts for each side); the Beaters have to direct the course of the Bludgers (which are two mad balls that try to distract everyone by knocking them off their brooms) away from their own team mates; the Keeper has to guard his or her team's goal hoops, and the Seeker has to catch the tiny, flying Golden Snitch to end the game."

Ashleigh had to laugh at the expression of wonder on Lily's face.

"I suppose it's difficult," Caroline put in glumly. "It sounds amazing, but seeing as I'm not much of an athlete even on the ground...."

Grinning and shaking her head, Ashleigh moved on with her explanation. "Dress robes are just fancy wizard's wear.

"Witches and wizards have several modes of transportation. We can Apparate, which requires a license, obviously we can walk, or we use the Floo network. The Floo network is a series of wizarding fireplaces hooked together by the Ministry of Magic. You take some Floo powder, throw it in the fireplace, climb in among the flames, say the name of your destination, and voila! You appear in the fireplace of your desired location (well, if they're hooked up to the Floo network at any rate)."

"That's ingenious," Lily muttered. "Are you pure-blood too, then?"

"No. My mum and dad are both magic, but our family's not been part of the magic world long enough to be considered pure-blood. Mum and Dad live out in Manchester, but my sisters, Kendra and Lexi, who've both left Hogwarts by now, are living in a flat in London together."

"What do they do? To support themselves, I mean. I'm just curious what sort of wizarding jobs there are."

"Kendra works at a clothier's shop, and Lexi works at the Ministry of Magic as a secretary for the Head of Magical Law Enforcement. Mum works at a book shop, binding and repairing books; Dad is a fixer man. Not everyone completes or even starts their magical education, and even those who have often aren't specialized enough to fix up their own homes. So Dad goes and repairs Floo networking, roofs, ceilings, floors, faulty magical concealment charms, buzzing or disruptive magical fields...everything, pretty much."

"That's really neat," Renny put in. "My family inherited money, but my dad still works, though it's nothing like what your dad does. My father works with internationally renowned Muggle brands to buy their products in mass, so he can market it to the wizarding world. Of course, he can't tell them he's marketing their products to wizards; he has to let on like he owns some Muggle store instead, since there are Statutes of Magical Secrecy, but it's still so dull! He makes money, not that we need it, and he brings home all sorts of clothing and the like nearly every day, not that we need that either! Now, if he was bringing me home a friend or a sibling, I might like it, but as it is..." she grinned good-naturedly.

"You're so lucky to come from money," Caroline sighed.

"You might think so," Renny said, her face suddenly stormy. "I'm grateful, because my family leads a really comfortable and privileged existence. Still, in some ways, I feel it hampers my growth. I mean, not literally, that's just genes, but when I came home to my parents with a report saying that I'd received top marks in school, I was kind of proud of myself, you know, because I'd worked hard for that. But my dad was upset! He told me that I should do well, but I shouldn't come in top of the class. He said it'd be selfish of me, because some people really need that top of the class spot to win scholarships or to earn well paying jobs, but I don't need those kinds of things because as long as I prove I can handle it, I'll inherit the family money. I know he had good intentions, but he still told me that he didn't want me at the top of the class!"

Lily gave an indignant squeak on Renny's behalf as she finished her story. "That's horrible! Every parent should want his or her child to be the best."

Renny shrugged darkly and turned to Caroline. "What about you? What's your family like?"

Once she was in the Great Hall, Caroline had, as Lily had advised, put her chin up in the air and exuded an air of confidence as she strolled down the aisle to where the Sorting Hat waited. As soon as she sat down at the house table, she had turned into a right little social butterfly.

However, when Renny voiced her question, Caroline's bright smile crumbled like a fault line. "I'm from a completely non-magic family," she started in a quavering voice. "I have a brother, Cade, and ... he's my only, my only sibling," Caroline howled.

Everyone crowded around and patted her on the back gawkily.

Meaning nothing but the best, Lily said comfortingly, "Don't worry, that's not bad. I have a sister, Petunia, at home, and we used to get along, but every since I got my letter from Hogwarts, she's been calling me a freak and acting really unkind."

To Lily's chagrin, this made Caroline bawl even louder.

"I'm sorry, please don't cry! I didn't mean that to hurt your feelings, really," Lily said frantically. "Um, I'm Muggle-born too!" She searched her brain to think of something to say to alleviate her friend's homesick tears.

Unfortunately, she didn't know that her friend's tears weren't caused by homesickness, but by sister-sickness.