Before the End

LILY VI

September 1^st, 1971

It was raining.

They had arrived at King's Cross Station with half an hour to spare, but Lily thought that if they didn't get on the train soon she would drown.

It was raining a lot.

Lily had bought a trunk at Diagon Alley and she was wheeling it around on a trolley with Iris, her owl, in a cage on top, looking for the platform. She was supposed to go to Platform Nine and Three Quarters, which was difficult enough to find, and it was impossible with all the umbrellas in the way.

Lily looked up where the platform should be, and, of course, it wasn't there. She had been looking for it for all the time they had been here, and it wasn't there. There was no space between Platforms Nine and Ten.

She looked again and suddenly thought she saw a boy with light brown hair go through the barrier - but that was impossible.

She should have known by now not to think anything was impossible.

Lily stood as tall as she could to see over the umbrellas, and suddenly heard someone call her.

"Lily! Lily, is that you?"

"Who's that?" Lily's mother asked, searching for the voice.

"Lily! Over here!"

Lily looked over and saw Annetta, holding a large, blue umbrella. She ran over to her, holding her own umbrella. She pushed past two boys with black hair and was standing by Annetta.

Lily's mother had followed her. "Lily? Oh, Mrs. More! Hello!"

Annetta and her mother were there, under umbrellas. Annetta was holding her trunk and a wicker basket.

"Hello," said Mrs. More. "Looking for the platform?"

"Is this that girl you Obviamired, Katherine?" came a voice.

"This is Lily Evans," said Annetta. "This is my father."

"Hello," said Mr. More. "Muggle-born? A Muggle is someone with no magic," he added for Lily's mother's sake.

"Yes," said Lily. "Annetta, how do you get on to the platform?"

Mr. More had been checking his watch very often, and he suddenly said, "Katherine, I've got to go. The Ministry..."

"Of course. Goodbye."

"Goodbye, Katherine. Enjoy school, Annetta. Sorry I couldn't see you off. Good day," he nodded to Lily and her mother. Then he disappeared.

"Where is he?" Lily asked, looking around.

"He Disapparated," said Mrs. More. "You get on to the platform by going straight through the barrier between Platforms Nine and Ten. Make sure you aren't seen. You two had better go. Annetta, I'm sorry I can't see you off, but this weather is terrible. Goodbye. Owl me."

"Bye, Mum."

"Goodbye, Mum, said Lily. "I'll write you. Don't be surprised if Iris is outside the window."

"Goodbye, Lily." Her mother hugged her. "Do write, please."

Lily and Annetta walked toward the barrier, pushing their trunks on trolleys and holding umbrellas. From inside Annetta's basket came the sound of a cat patiently shredding wicker.

"Can you really get through the barrier?" Lily asked. It looked solid enough.

"Of course - well, Muggles can't. But all you have to do is walk through it."

"What's Disapparating?"

"Disappearing from one place and reappearing in another almost instantly. It's very difficult. You need to pass a test to do it. Just run straight through the barrier. We've got ten minutes."

Lily gulped. The barrier still looked solid. She carefully pushed her trolley into it. It gave way, and she walked through it.

She came out under a wrought iron sign saying "Platform Nine and Three Quarters." Another sign said "Hogwarts Express - 11 AM." A bright red, old-fashioned steam engine sat on the tracks.

Annetta appeared behind her. She paused a moment, to look around, and then said, "Come on. The train will be nearly full now."

She and Lily pulled their trunks up on to the train. The train was full. They walked through the compartment, then through the next compartment, and then through several more. Lily was getting very tired of pulling her trunk.

Finally Annetta opened the door to a mostly empty compartment. Two boys were sitting in it, though. They both had black hair. One was taller and the other had glasses. He was holding a cage with an owl in it.

"Hello," said Lily. "Can we sit here?"

"Of course," said the boy with glasses.

Lily was about to walk in, when she stared at them.

"James Potter and Sirius Black? What are you doing here?"

"Lily Evans?" asked the one with glasses - James. "I thought you were a Muggle!"

"I thought I was one too!"

"I take it you know each other?" asked Annetta.

Both of the boys stood up. Lily was about to introduce Annetta when one of them said, "Sirius Black."

"James Potter"

"Annetta More." They sat down.

Lily sat by Annetta. "What was that?"

"Introductions," said Annetta briefly.

"You're a witch, Lily?" asked James.

"Yes," said Lily. "I'm Muggle-born."

The door to the compartment opened. A tired, rather sick looking boy with light brown hair looked in. "Hello," he said. "Can I sit here? Only everywhere else is full..."

"Yeah," said Sirius. The boy sat down.

"I'm Remus Lupin," he said.

"I'm Lily Evans."

"Sirius Black."

"James Potter."

"Annetta More."

"Have you done any magic yet?" asked Sirius.

Lily answered. "Maybe. There was Josephine's nose..." Sirius and James laughed.

"What happened to Josephine's nose?" asked Remus.

"I thought that was James," said Sirius.

"I thought that was you."

"I think it was me," said Lily. "Josephine said something about the farther you went up Griffin Drive the stranger the people get - and then her nose turned blue..."

Remus had been looking carefully at James and Sirius. Suddenly he said, "You're those two boys who exploded the frogs in Diagon Alley, aren't you?"

Sirius and James grinned.

"We didn't mean to hit you," said James. "We were aiming for our sisters."

"Frogs?" asked Lily.

"Wait," said Sirius. "You said your name was Lupin. Is your mother Gwen Lupin?"

"Yes," said Remus, sounding as if he had said this a million times.

"The Gwen Lupin?" asked James.

"Yes," said Remus. "Yes, the Gwen Lupin, yes, the Seeker for the Holyhead Harpies, yes, really, no, I have no talent at Quidditch. Anything else you want to ask?"

"Who are the Holyhead Harpies?" asked Lily.

"Finally!" said Remus. "Finally, someone who doesn't follow Quidditch! You're Muggle-born, aren't you?"

"Yes," said Lily.

"I don't follow Quidditch," said Annetta. She had been reading. James and Sirius stared at her.

"Everyone follows Quidditch," said Sirius. "It's Quidditch."

Lily decided that Quidditch sounded like the magical version of football.

"The Holyhead Harpies are a Quidditch team," said James.

"Third in the League," said Sirius.

"What?" asked Lily.

"The British and Irish Quidditch League," said James.

Suddenly the door opened again.

"Rest of the train full?" asked James as a boy with greasy black hair and black eyes walked in. His tone was not as polite as it had been when he was talking to Remus.

"I have a seat," said the boy. "I wanted to see if there was anyone here." He raised his eyebrows at them, and Annetta, James and Sirius stood up. Lily didn't; she didn't know exactly what wizarding introductions were like. Remus didn't; he muttered something about upper class and remained seated.

"Severus Snape," said the boy.

"James Potter."

"Sirius Black."

"Black?" the boy sneered. "The Blacks are as common as muck."

"The Snapes are muck," said Annetta.

"And who are you?" Snape asked, glaring at her.

"Annetta More," said Annetta, smiling smugly.

Snape didn't answer her. Instead, he looked and Remus. "Who are you?"

"Remus Lupin."

"Common." Remus glared at him. "And you."

"I'm Lily Evans," Lily said nervously. Did he enjoy insulting people?

"Mudblood," he said calmly.

The effect of this remark was immediate - James and Sirius jumped at Snape, Remus jumped up and drew his wand, making for him, and Annetta drew her wand as well. "How dare you?" she demanded, glaring. "Bigoted, arrogant scum!"

Annetta's cat seemed annoyed too; she had somehow got out of her basket and was sitting on the seat, hissing.

Lily had absolutely no idea what Snape had meant, but it must have been something awful.

"Impedimenta!" said Snape, and Sirius and James froze.

Remus jumped at him, yelling "Instabilis!" Lily happened to look at Remus' eyes, and for a second there was something there, something frightening, something almost - wolfish - and then it was gone. Snape ducked and left the compartment quickly.

"Kopele!" Annetta yelled after him.

James and Sirius began moving again. "That - that -" Sirius didn't seem to be able to find an insult for him.

"What did he say?" Lily asked.

"That is the most prejudiced, bigoted, idiotic insult to someone who's Muggle-born," said Annetta. "Dirty blood, common blood, the idiot -"

"What did you say to him?" Lily asked.

"Um," said Annetta, "it was Gobbledegook. It's rather insulting..." She blushed.

"It can't be as insulting as what he said," Sirius remarked. "What does it mean?"

"What I want to know is how he learned that curse," said Annetta. "I mean, I've read about that one. We don't learn it until fifth year."

"Is that a cat?" asked Sirius suddenly.

"Yes," said Annetta. "Her name's Umbrella."

"When did you name her that?" Lily asked. The cat was still mostly ears and tail. She didn't really look like an umbrella, though.

"If that cat gets within two feet of..."

"What?" asked Annetta.

"Sirius has two mice," said James. "He's already threatened to clip Hades' wings."

Iris hooted indignantly at the same time as James' eagle owl.

Annetta had picked up her book again.

The door opened again. Sirius tensed, but it was a witch pushing a cart covered with candy. "Anything from the cart, dears?" she asked, smiling.

They all went up to look at the cart. Lily was prepared to spend the money she had left over from Diagon Alley on candy, but the candy on the cart was very strange. She finally bought a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and a few Chocolates Frogs. It came out to three Sickles and twenty Knuts.

James and Sirius had both bought lots of Chocolate Frogs and some Every Flavor Beans. Annetta had just bought a couple Peppermint toads, and Remus had another Chocolate Frog. They pooled their candy on an empty seat.

Lily took a Chocolate Frog and looked at it doubtfully. "This isn't a real frog, is it?" She didn't think she'd be surprised by anything.

"Of course not," said James. "Look at the card for me, will you?"

"Card?" Lily asked, opening it. The frog was perfectly still. Underneath it was a card with a picture of a beautiful, dark, sad-looking woman. The picture was moving. Lily jumped.

"What?" asked Annetta. "Oh. Wizarding pictures move. It has to do with how the film is developed."

"Muggle pictures don't move?" asked James. "Weird." He looked at the card. "Morgana. I've got her; Sirius doesn't."

"Morgana?" asked Sirius. "Can I have that?"

"Here," said Lily, giving it to him. James was looking at another card.

"Paracelsus!" he shouted. Sirius immediately dove for the card, but James stood on his seat and held it out of his reach. Remus was watching them and looking amused.

"Come on," said Sirius, "I haven't got him."

"Neither have I," said James. "And it was my frog."

"It's just a card," said Annetta. They ignored her.

"I'll trade you Hengist of Woodcroft for it," said Sirius. James paused.

"Hengist of Woodcroft and Ptolemy."

"All right. Here," said Sirius, handing over the cards and taking James'.

"Boys," said Lily. Annetta laughed. James, Sirius, and Remus scowled.

Lily took a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. Annetta noticed.

"Be careful with those. They are every flavour - normal ones, and then really strange ones like feathers." Lily looked carefully at a red one, and popped it into her mouth.

"Chilli," she said.

"See?" said Annetta. She tried an amber coloured bean. "Honey."

James took a grey one. "Pepper."

"Grass," said Sirius, trying one.

"Blood," said Remus, looking ill.

The rest of the trip passed quickly. Annetta, Lily found out, was very fond of Peppermint Toads.

Lily and Annetta went to another compartment to change into their Hogwarts robes. The train stopped a few minutes later.

The station looked something like Diagon Alley. It was still raining, however, and Lily couldn't see much. A girl who looked like Sirius but about fourteen and with longer hair came over to them.

"Sirius," she said, "I'm just supposed to see if you and James got here all right. Elizabeth and Mary wouldn't come. They said something about mice." She glared at James, who looked innocent. "Anyway, I don't envy you. You've got to take the boats. Don't drown. Mum will kill me." She went back to the other side of the station.

"Who was that?" asked Lily.

"Who are Elizabeth and Mary?" asked Annetta.

"That was my sister Andromeda," said Sirius, scowling. "Elizabeth and Mary are James' sisters."

"They're twins," said James.

"We have to take the boats?" asked Lily. "In this weather? We'll drown!"

"I'm going to try to drown," Sirius said, "if it will make Mum kill Andromeda."

He was joking. Lily thought.

"Firs' years!" came a voice. "Firs' years over here!"

JAMES III

September 1^st, 1971

The voice belonged to a giant of a man. He towered over the first years that were gathering around him. James, Sirius, Remus, and the girls went over to him.

"Hello, all o' yeh. I'm Rubeus Hagrid, groundskeeper. Call me Hagrid, everyone does. Yer all supposed to take the boats. Don' worry, no one's drowned yet. Come on, follow me."

They all went down a narrow pathway through a forest. Hagrid had a giant umbrella, which was covering the first years near him as well as him. Unfortunately, James and Sirius were at the back.

"Yeh'll be getting yer first sight of Hogwarts in a few seconds now, roun' this bend," called Hagrid.

There was a gasp from somewhere in front. It sounded like Lily. Then they turned the corner as well and saw it.

Hogwarts was a huge castle with hundreds of towers sticking up everywhere. It was amazing.

"Here's the lake," the giant called again.

The lake looked - dangerous. It was overflowing from all the rain. Several small boats were docked at the shore.

"Four to a boat!" shouted Hagrid.

James, Sirius and Remus all got into one boat with a boy who had been behind them. He had grey eyes and dark blond hair that was currently very wet. "Hello," he said, "I'm Peter Pettigrew."

"I'm Remus Lupin."

"James Potter."

"Sirius Black."

The boats began moving away from shore at a signal from Hagrid.

"Are you all from wizarding families?" Peter asked.

"Aren't you?"

"Yes."

"So are we."

"Is your mother Gwen Lupin?"

"Yes, my mother is the Seeker for the Holyhead Harpies."

"Are you any good at Quidditch? I'm not, well, not really."

"I'm not," said Remus.

"I am," said James.

"So am I."

"Weather's terrible, isn't it? I think we're going to drown."

"We haven't fallen in yet," said Peter. "Aren't you two the boys who exploded those frogs in Diagon Alley?"

"We weren't aiming at you," said James. "We were trying to hit our sisters."

"Hey," said Sirius, "There are the girls. Let's see if we can steer over to them."

"I don't think you can steer these things," said Peter. "Which girls?"

"We met them on the train," said James. "Lily Evans and Annetta More. I think you can steer these, maybe. Where are they, Sirius?"

Sirius pointed, and without them saying anything, the boat moved in that direction.

"Cool," he said.

Soon they could hear the girls on the boat.

"I am Jiang Qing," came a clear, accented voice.

"Olivia Cromwell."

"Cromwell?" That was Annetta, sounding scornful.

"Do you have a problem with that, More?"

The Mores and the Cromwells had a famous feud going back at least five hundred years. James and Sirius looked at each other. Sirius reached his hand into the water and splashed some at the black-haired Olivia Cromwell. She turned towards them, furious. Sirius looked innocent.

"Raining quite a lot, isn't it?" asked James.

"I'm wet enough without you throwing water at me!"

"But I didn't do anything," said James.

"He did, then," she said, pointing at Sirius.

"What are you talking about?" asked Peter. "I didn't see him do anything."

Olivia said nothing and turned away.

"You didn't have to lie for me," said Sirius to Peter.

"I wasn't lying," Peter protested. "I had my eyes closed." They laughed.

"Watch yer heads!" Hagrid yelled from a boat near the front, and soon they had to duck as they passed through a curtain of vines into a tunnel in a cliff. They were at least sheltered from the rain in there, though they were already so wet it didn't do much good. Soon the boats stopped at an underground harbour, and they climbed out, dripping.

Hagrid led the first years up to a large door in the wall of the castle and knocked on it three times.

A thin, black-haired woman with square spectacles opened the door.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

Professor McGonagall led them into a huge room. James' house could have fit twice into it, including the magical expansion. They were obviously in the castle - the walls were made of stone. A few older students were just walking through huge doors at the other side of the room. The first years walked into a small chamber.

The woman turned to them. "I am Professor McGonagall, Transfiguration teacher and Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School. You are about to be Sorted into one of the four Houses of Hogwarts. The Houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Your triumphs will win your House points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the House Cup is awarded to the House with the most points.

"I will come for you when we are ready for the Sorting. In the meantime, I suggest you freshen yourselves up." Her eyes lingered on the students' wet clothing and hair. She left.

James' hair, which was usually impossible to straighten, was stuck down by the water. He didn't see how any of the students could dry off without magic.

Lily and Annetta walked over to them. "You really didn't need to help me with Cromwell," said Annetta.

"We didn't need to," Sirius answered, "but it would have held us up if someone fell into the water. There's a giant squid in there. What House do you want to go into?"

"Gryffindor, of course," said James.

"I wasn't talking to you, you git."

"Gryffindor," said Remus, "but I don't think I'll get in."

"Mum wants me to be in Ravenclaw," said Peter, "but Dad was a Gryffindor."

"Annetta told me about the Houses," said Lily. "I think Gryffindor sounds the best."

"Everyone in my family has been in Ravenclaw," said Annetta. "Both sides. Except my cousin. If I don't get in there, probably Gryffindor."

"Why would you want to be in Ravenclaw?" James asked. Annetta shrugged.

"Tradition."

"How are we Sorted?" asked Lily.

"Well," said Sirius, "Andromeda mentioned dragons..."

"Elizabeth said it hurt a lot, and Mary backed her up..."

"My parents wouldn't tell me..."

"Neither would my mum..."

"I don't think we're supposed to know..."

There was suddenly a loud gasp. They all looked around to see what it was, and Lily jumped. Several ghosts had come through the opposite wall.

"What are you surprised about?" James asked Lily. "They're only ghosts."

"There are ghosts in the wizarding world?"

"Of course there are ghosts," said Sirius. "My great-great-great-grandfather Castor and my great-great-great-great uncle Pollux are both ghosts."

"Oh," said Lily.

One of the ghosts, a woman in a long dress, noticed the first years. "Look, Nick," she said to a man beside her who was wearing a large ruff, "new students!"

"Welcome to Hogwarts!" said a ghost in a monk's robe. Another ghost, with blank, staring eyes, said nothing, just looked at them.

"First years!" said McGonagall, who had returned. "Follow me to the Great Hall. The Sorting is about to begin."