Comedy/Tragedy: The Story of a Doomed Existence

Chapter Three: Scramble to the Train

Through the courtyard, into the pub, it all seemed very dreamlike, now. Lily only half-listened as Mrs. Evans said something about going to get the rest of the family. Lily's mother disappeared up the staircase, only to return moments later, followed by Mr. Evans and Petunia. Though still exhausted to the point she could barely think, Lily couldn't help but notice that Petunia's head was very heavily bandaged. Shaking her head at Petunia's idiocy - honestly, who was stupid enough to walk backwards toward a set of stairs? - Lily followed her family, cauldron supported on her left hip.

The moment that Lily's head touched the back of the car seat, she was asleep. The next thing she knew, her father was carrying her up the stairs to the attic. Once on her cot, Lily rolled over and closed her eyes, content to lie in wait for the soon-approaching unconsciousness. However, before Lily's mind could slip into oblivion, the sleepy redhead heard what sounded like a loud explosion.

"Petunia! I'm getting sick of this! Your mother and I don't have the energy to fawn over you! If you want food, you can get it yourself. You are fully capable! And for goodness' sake, stop moaning!" There was the loud slam of the door, and the noises of Mr. Evans stomping toward his bedroom. A low wailing began in the room he had left.

Lily rolled over a second time, a brilliant smile penetrating her sleepy countenance. Conveniently failing to remember about the creepy prediction in the astrology shop, Lily felt as though everything were perfect. Petunia wasn't being spoiled anymore, Mr. and Mrs. Evans were proud of Lily, not Petunia, and most of all, Lily was a witch! The happy redhead drifted off to sleep, and the smile on her face did not waver for the next month.

The month of August did not pass quickly, nor was it interminably long; Lily had stopped playing stupid and life was much better for it. Lily wondered vaguely why she had ever tried so hard not to do well; she couldn't imagine ever wanting to give up this feeling of worthiness. She and her father would play long-winded games of chess in which they would discuss the fantasy and science fiction books her father enjoyed so much, while Lily and her mother spent long hours in the kitchen, Lily learning some of their family's age-old recipes. There was only one person in the Evans household who wasn't perfectly content, and that was Petunia.

Completely disgusted with the fact that everyone in her vicinity didn't want to lavish her every desire, Petunia had grown sulky and depressed. When Lily helped Mrs. Evans to cook for the catering service, Petunia would stand just on the other side of the kitchen's swinging door, trying to hear what was going on within. After Lily and her mother had crashed into Petunia a few times each, unable to see through the solid kitchen door, Mrs. Evans had yelled at Petunia to go away and stop getting underfoot, much to Lily's great satisfaction. And when Lily and her father read in the same room, or played chess, Petunia would often come into the area, sit down, and pick up a book, which she would pretend to read. Petunia's 'reading' was hardly inconspicuous, as she never picked up a book, but to damper the subtlety even more, the book was often upside-down. Though Lily stayed very content through the weeks before Hogwarts, she, like both of her parents, was thoroughly annoyed with Petunia.

By the time Lily's final evening in Winchester arrived, she felt a very mixed array of emotions. She was almost weak with joy at the prospect of going to Hogwarts, but the past month had been the best of her life. It was a wonderful feeling to know that she would miss her parents, rather than be glad to be rid of them, as she'd originally thought she would feel.

That evening, Mrs. Evans insisted that Lily go out of the kitchen. Though she 'found it a wonderful experience to cook with her youngest daughter,' she wanted Lily's good-bye dinner to be special. When seven o'clock came, Mrs. Evans called the rest of the family out onto the patio. Lily, who had been a few minutes convincing herself to put down her copy of Macbeth, was the final family member out onto the patio. When she stepped outside, her never-ending smile increased. Mrs. Evans had hung a large banner from the house to the large oak tree, on which the words 'We'll miss you, Lily' were sewn. Beneath this, a table was set with Lily's favorite foods: the Indian dish Saag Paneer, which Lily had been introduced to - and loved - a few years back, all sorts of pies and flan, pasta in numerous different sauces, steaming garlic bread, and a giant garden salad were just a few of the delicious-looking items set out. Sitting at the tables were Lily's parents, Petunia, Mr. Evans' parents, a number of Petunia's friends, and some of the people Lily knew and didn't hate from school. When Lily walked out onto the brick pattern of the terrace, everyone clapped loudly. Blushing furiously, for she hadn't expected so many people to come, Lily looked down at the skirt of her simple black dress.

"Lily! Lily, over here!" a girl who Lily recognized as Renée Smith waved at the embarrassed redhead.

"One moment, Renée, sweetie," Mrs. Evans called, walking over to the self-conscious Lily. "Do you like it?" she asked in an undertone. "Don't worry about the - er - Muggles -" she giggled at the usage of the wizarding term, "We told them you were going off to boarding school in France, and -"

"Oh, mum, I love it!" Lily cut her off, throwing her arms around her mother's body.

Not only had Mrs. Evans gone to a lot of trouble to arrange this, she had also been considerate enough to only invite those classmates of Lily's whom her daughter could stand being around. Giving her mother one last grin, Lily joined Renée and some other students at their small table.

The night was great fun: it was the first time Lily could remember enjoying time spent with her peers. By the time everyone had left, Renée and a few others had promised to give Mrs. Evans letters to send to Lily, so that they could stay in touch. Wanting to get lots of sleep before the big day tomorrow, Lily decided to turn in at ten o'clock, just a few minutes after the guests had left. After giving each of her parents a final hug and words of thanks for what they had done, Lily turned upstairs.

Just as the eleven-year-old stepped onto the stairs to the attic, a hand reached from the shadows and grasped the back of Lily's shirt.

"Get - off - me -" Lily gasped between struggles; she was nearly suffocating.

"So." Petunia had turned the redhead around with a small flick of her wrist and was surveying her contemptuously. Before Lily could get in a nice 'so what?', Petunia plunged onward.

"Think you're really special now, do you?" the blonde hissed at her. "Think you're really something? Well, you're not. Mum and Dad are just doing this, sending you to that place, to get rid of you. They don't want you around; they want it to be a nice, happy family: just them and me, the rightful daughter. No measly little carrot top to follow us around, making us look unsuitable. You'll be leaving, soon, and no one will -"

"Would you shut up?" Lily spoke quietly, but her words cut like a knife through Petunia's high-pitched jeering. "Mum and Dad don't hate me anymore. Have you been paying attention this past month? Oh, how silly of me, of course you have - you follow me everywhere! You'd have to be really dim to not pay attention if you're that obsessed with me. But then, I seem to remember someone walking backwards toward a staircase, screaming her head off for no good reason. Now, that person was an idiot."

"Lily, you're so mean! And you aren't a head of brains yourself, because you can't see that Mum and Dad are just glad to be free of you. We're -" she emphasized the 'we,' "We're the perfect family. Mum is pretty and kind and a good cook: the perfect trophy wife. Dad is smart and funny and clever: the perfect head of house. And I'm beautiful and smart and kind and fun to be around: the perfect daughter for dinner parties. Because we're a dinner party family. We don't need any stupid, immature, weird, wild-looking redheads to get in our way. So I suggest you pack your things and have fun at that school of yours, because the only place you'll ever fit in is with other freaks like you!"

She smirked at Lily and flounced off to her bedroom, leaving her younger sister to retire to the attic. But suddenly Lily didn't feel the slightest bit sleepy. Not anymore. Petunia's taunts chased themselves around her mind, and nothing she could do would remove their cruel quality. For the first time since she had found out her mother wanted to send his to St. Catherine's, Lily broke down and cried. What if Petunia was right? Did her parents actually like her, or were they counting down the days until they would be free of their nuisance of a youngest daughter?

Tears still streaming down her face, Lily moved about the attic, packing all of her school materials into Jacqueline's trunk, which her father had so kindly repaired. Once she had finished tossing into the trunk all the extra books she could fit, Lily sank down onto the edge of her cot. To lessen Lily's mood even further, the part of the cot she had sat on collapsed under her weight. Lily stood up with an angry moan and kicked the bed as hard as she could, now both angry and sad. But this only added injury to insult, and caused the ironing board-like supports to collapse. Cursing under her breath and hoping that her parents wouldn't come upstairs to see her in such a disposed state, Lily attempted to fix the cot. But it was hopeless, particularly when she was feeling so annoyed, so Lily instead lay on her back on the now-lopsided, poor excuse for a bed, trying vainly to stop crying and stop thinking of what Petunia had said.

Hours later, Lily had no idea when, she finally drifted into an uneasy sleep, a sleep filled with very tall Petunias and images of her parents the times they'd been angry.

The next thing Lily knew, she felt a hand gently shaking her shoulder. Attempting to open her eyes, she realized that her dried tears made this near impossible. Instead, Lily reached for the ancient cup of water on a nearby crate. She splashed her face with this and muttered groggily to whoever had disturbed her slumber.

"Lily, sweetie, its past nine o'clock! It's going to take us an hour and a half to get to King's Cross, so we really need to get going! Come on, come on! Your father has already taken your trunk down to the car, get up!"

"Oh...ermph....sorry, Mum! Just let me change clothes really quickly -" Lily indicated her rumpled black dress; she hadn't changed the night before.

"Okay, honey, but hurry! I don't know what we'd do if you missed the train! And bring Aristotle down; he won't let your father touch his cage!" Mrs. Evans clattered quickly down the stairs, and Lily glanced over at her owl, christened Aristotle after the Greek philosopher. He had healed very well, but with his healed wings he had come to possess a quite temperamental nature. The only humans he would cooperate with were Lily and her mother; he hated everyone else.

"Lily, come on!" her mother shouted from below.

"I'm coming!" Lily shouted down, leaping out of bed. She threw on her favorite pair of jeans and a green t-shirt with Celtic patterns on the front.

"You can put your shoes on in the car! Come on, let's go!"

Lily grabbed her faded sneakers, a pair of socks, and the cage of Aristotle, who attempted to nip her fingers affectionately through the bars. He soon discovered that this was impossible; his head wouldn't fit through. So his indignant shrieks added to the stomping of Lily's feet as she raced down the stairs.

"Not now, Aristotle!" Lily moaned. "Please, I'll let you out on the train!"

"Lily, let's go!" Lily raced past her mother, who was holding the front door open and nervously checking her watch.

The tousled redhead tossed Aristotle's cage into the trunk of the car and clambered in next to Petunia. Mr. Evans revved the engine and drove off very quickly, earning himself a fist-shake from Mr. Henderson, who was weeding in his weed-less garden.

As Lily's heartbeat slowed down from her rushed awakening, Lily felt a pang of misery: this was what Petunia had been talking about, this was confirmation of how much Lily's parents wanted to be rid of her. The rushing, the worries about her missing the train, everything fit. Lily stared despondently out the window, watching Hampshire whirl past.

"Lily, honey, are you okay?" Mrs. Evans asked from the front, half an hour into the drive.

"I'm fine," Lily told her, speaking more harshly than she'd meant to. No one said anything else for the rest of the drive, though Mrs. Evans checked her watch every few minutes.

"Okay, honey, we've got -" Mrs. Evans gave a little scream as she checked her watch. "We've got five minutes until the train leaves - Roger, honey, go get Lily a luggage cart, we'll get her trunk out of the car -" Mrs. Evans told her husband, rushing around to the trunk and flinging it open. Mr. Evans returned a moment later with a cart.

Lily pulled the indignant Aristotle out of the trunk and set him on top of her trunk. Moving as quickly as they could, the Evans family rushed into the station and toward the wall between platforms nine and ten. Lily hugged each of her parents, promised them she would write, and was too hurried to bother being mean to Petunia; she gave the blonde a quick one-armed hug.

"Bye, Mum, bye, dad! Bye Petunia!" Lily waved one last time, then raced toward the wall and tried to calm her nerves about bursting through something that appeared to be solid.

But all went smoothly; soon the redhead had reached the scarlet steam engine and was doing her best to lift her trunk onto the train.

"Blasted books," she muttered to herself, wishing fervently she that she hadn't tried to bring all of her favorites. But finally, the sense of urgency gave Lily unknown strength, and the redhead was able to hoist the trunk into one of the nearby luggage racks. She was setting it down just as the train's final whistle blew and it began to move.

"Aristotle!" Lily gasped, leaping off of the train.

She was fully aware and quite embarrassed of the fact that nearly everyone in the train was now staring down at her, many of them laughing as she scrambled to pick up her owl's cage, the shoes she had forgotten to put on, and shoved the cart out of the way. By the time Lily had everything that wasn't in her trunk, the train was almost gone.

Screaming as she ran faster than ever before, Lily felt her bare feet ache. Her face burned darker than her hair, both from embarrassment and from exertion. The train was moving too fast, there wasn't any way she could catch it, she was going to miss the train, she'd never go to Hogwarts, she'd have to go home and live with Petunia - Lily put on a final burst of speed and somehow, miraculously, managed to throw Aristotle's cage into the luggage rack of the very last compartment. One more burst of speed, and Lily's shoes were in the luggage rack. And with a final sprint that nearly destroyed Lily's lungs, the eleven-year-old was standing in the luggage rack, grasping someone's trunk with the effort of staying standing and conscious.

The nearest compartment slid open and a number of curious faces appeared.

"Oh my...she looks like she's going to pass out! Someone get her into the compartment, she needs to sit down!" Someone called out, sounding worried, but Lily couldn't tell who it was.

Everything was so blurry, she was so dizzy, it was so hot - an arm appeared out of nowhere and Lily sank gratefully upon it. She was supported into the compartment of curious people and set down gently on a seat. Lily couldn't help it, she wanted to stay conscious, she was embarrassed enough, but there was nothing she could do. Her cognizance was out of her own control, she felt herself sinking gratefully into cool, wonderful darkness.

Someone was slapping Lily's face. She wanted them to stop; she didn't want to leave the cool abyss of slumber. She moaned, annoyed and opened her eyes to see quite an array of faces above her.

"Ah, she's awake!" the boy who had been slapping Lily's face smiled and stood back, offering Lily a hand so that she could sit up.

"Thanks," Lily muttered. "Is there - is there anything to drink? Water, or, or something? My throat is really parched."

"Already thought of that!" said a girl with elbow-length, white-blond braids and skin even paler than Lily's. "Here - iced pumpkin juice. Frank says it's the best you'll get in England!" She pointed at the boy who had been slapping Lily's face.

"Thank you," Lily accepted the bottle gratefully, and drank nearly the entire thing before looking up at the people surrounding her.

"Thirsty, are you?" Frank grinned at the sweat-covered Lily.

"So would you, if you'd run after the train!" Lily mopped her brow with a warm hand and stood up, stretching.

"Well, ladies, sorry to leave so soon, but I must get back to my compartment. I hope you feel better, -" he pointed his finger toward Lily.

"Lily. Lily Evans," the redhead smiled at him.

"I hope you feel better, Lily," Frank remarked as her walked backwards out of the compartment.

"Isn't he handsome?" A new girl had come into Lily's vision. She had a very round face and chin-length, strawberry blonde hair. But she was smiling so happily that her pudgy features practically disappeared, and she looked quite pretty. "My name is Alice Surrideo, by the way."

"Oh, it's nice to meet you," Lily smiled back at her. There was something about Alice's happy-go-lucky attitude that made Lily feel as though she had to feel great, as well. "I guess he's alright..."

"Alright?! He's dreamy..." Alice trailed off, an expression of bliss in her periwinkle eyes. Lily laughed.

"Alice here has been infatuated with him since she was five," the first girl Lily had seen grinned. "They met at a party for the ministry, and she hasn't been the same since. My name is Lucy, otherwise known as the best friend of the Frank-fanatic." She looked over at the still-smiling Alice, who chucked a bag of candy in her direction.

Lily joined the two friends in laughing.

"The ministry?" she asked once the giggles had subsided.

"Oh, you must be Muggle-born!" Alice exclaimed. "The Ministry of Magic...it's like Britain's wizarding government. The Department of Mysteries, The Department of Accidental Magic Reversal, Auror Headquarters, Minister of Magic...it's all there."

Never in one sentence had Lily been so confused.

"Um - what?" She asked, trying and failing to remove the befuddled expression on her face.

"Oh, that's right, you wouldn't know," Lucy realized. "The Ministry is huge...lets see, the Department of Mysteries...I've got no idea what goes on in there. No one does. Umm...Accidental Magic Reversal...when wizards and witches get angry, they sometimes do accidental magic. As you can tell from the title, that's what this department deals with. Auror headquarters: Aurors are dark wizard catchers...kind of like muggle detectives. My dad's an Auror! Edgar Bones...one of the best they have!" she added proudly. "And my aunt's in the ministry too...Amelia Bones, she deals with court stuff. And I know a lot about Muggles because my cousin's fiancé works in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office. And -"

"Half her family is in the ministry, see?" Alice commented.

"Look who's talking! Alice's mum's head of the Floo Regulation Panel," Lucy informed the compartment. A boy in the corner nodded at her, then turned back to his friends, laughing raucously. Lucy rolled her eyes. "But anyway...the Minister of Magic is Millicent Bagnold. And there are tons of other departments and branches...it goes on forever."

Lucy turned toward Lily, who had sat back down in one of the seats. A moment later, Lucy and Alice broke out laughing.

"What? What are you laughing at?" Lily smiled uncertainly at them.

"Your mouth was - like this -" Lucy purposefully dropped her jaw and bugged out her eyes. Alice broke into an even louder peal of laughter, bringing stares from the boy in the corner.

"I just - never realized there was so little I knew!" Lily answered, smiling along with the other two.

"If you think you know very little, wait until you meet some of the purebloods! I wouldn't know anything myself, but last summer I took it upon myself to attack Alfie - he's my cousin's fiancé - with questions about Muggles," Lucy said. "But not everyone has that much sense. Why, Alice here doesn't even know what a television is!"

"A what?" Alice was hardly paying attention; Frank had jut walked past the compartment door.

"Exactly." Lucy and Lily burst out laughing.

"You know, Alice, if we put a big, drooling dog face on your shoulders instead of your head, I wonder if Frank would know the difference?" Lucy continued to laugh.

"Very funny, very funny. But Frank doesn't know I like him, does he?"

"I wouldn't know...but probably not. Second years like him rarely give us first years a second glance. Except for Lily over here," Lucy nudged the redhead with her elbow in a very obvious fashion.

Alice glared at the two of them.

"If you date Frank, I swear I will not rest until your head is on the moon and your body is at the bottom of the ocean!"

Lily giggled.

"Don't worry, Frank-lover, I wouldn't dream of dating your sweetheart," Lily assured her. Alice smiled at these words.

"Yeah, she'd be too worried of incurring the Evil Alice Wrath of Doom," Lucy added, causing Alice to glare and Lily to laugh.

"Wow, I'm really glad I met you," Lily commented when all was silent again. She smiled, gazing out across the large, sunbathed lake they were passing. "This is all so amazing...you know, I almost feel like this is a dream, or a joke. I certainly wouldn't put it past Petunia..." she shuddered.

"Petunia?" Alice asked, interested in conversation now that Frank was truly gone. Lily started; she hadn't realized that she had vocalized the last part.

"Petunia is my awful prick of a sister," Lily told them. "And I really do wonder - this is just the sort of thing she'd love to do: convince me I'm going somewhere where I'll fit in and have fun, and yell at me in the process, then have it turn out to be a hoax."

"Don't worry, if this is a ruse, it's a damn elaborate joke, because we're all being fooled!" Lucy reassured the redhead.

"Don't curse," Alice berated her absentmindedly. Lucy rolled her eyes.

"I must warn you, Lily, that Alice lives in a rather thick-walled box," Lucy retaliated. "I don't think she'd come out if Frank didn't exist." Alice threw a candy wrapper at her friend. "So, tell us about this Petunia." She sank onto the floor and propped her head up on one of the seats, watching Lily with purposefully unblinking eyes.

"Ugh, you don't want to know about Petunia," Lily assured her, laughing at the feigned fascination.

"By telling me that I don't want to know, you've completely fascinated me," Lucy rattled off. Alice nodded fervently, though Lily noticed that her eyes kept flicking toward the compartment door, probably in search of Frank.

"Alright, fine. But I can complain about her for hours - she's tortured me my whole life - so just smack me and tell me to shut my pie-hole if it gets too boring."

"Pie?" Alice turned back from staring at the glass above the compartment door. "Frank likes pie. I remember at the 1968 Ministry summer picnic, he -"

"Alice, repeat after me: I. Will. Not. Think. About. Frank. For. Ten. Bloody. Minutes," Lucy rolled her eyes in her friends' direction. "You need a break: this is bordering on obsession, and you're scaring Lily."

"I don't mind!" Lily insisted.

"Fine, you're scaring me!"

"Alright, fine," Alice consented. "I will not think about Frank for ten - for the rest of this train ride."

"Wonderful! She left out the 'bloody'," Lucy told Lily in a very loud whisper. "It figures. Frank goes bye-bye, Alice goes 'BOXIE!'"

Lily cracked up. Alice's face broke into yet another smile.

"There isn't anything wrong with not cursing. And I don't live in a box - well, maybe I do, but I'm not obsessed with it. I'm obsessed with -"

"Frank," Lily and Lucy answered at the same time. The three girls laughed.

"So, Petunia?" Alice changed the subject, clearly intent on talking about something other than her own habits.

Lily spent a good thirty minutes talking about her sister. It felt incredibly good to get it all out: she had never had someone whom she could complain to like this, and, though she felt a little selfish to admit it, it was a very nice feeling. Somehow, there was a very big difference between complaining in a diary and complaining to people who actually were interested. And Alice and Lucy most certainly were: they made a very attentive audience. When Lily told them of Petunia walking backwards down the Gringotts stairs, Alice practically went into hysterics, astounded that anyone could be that dim, while Lucy cursed very loudly. The boy in the corner grinned at her before turning back to his friends.

Once the subject of Petunia had worn out, Lily learned a lot more about the other two. Time passed very quickly, and Lily found that she was having the greatest time. Around four or so, Alice excused herself to go find a restroom ("And snoop in on Frank," Lucy added knowingly). Lucy decided it was prime time for a nap, so fell asleep on the floor with very loud, exaggerated snores. Though very amused at her dramatization, Lily allowed the boy and his friends (who had been eyeing the very pretty girl the entire train ride) to be entertained. She decided instead to go find her trunk and get one of her schoolbooks. She'd been reading them all throughout the last month, but after meeting Lucy and Alice, Lily truly felt that this was real, and she wanted to read again now that she had developed her new viewpoint.

On the way past Aristotle's cage, Lily reached into the convenient drawer beneath it and fed the owl one of the owl treats her mother had bought in Diagon Alley. He hooted his thanks and Lily continued on her way. She wasn't really sure where she'd left her trunk, only that it was a lot farther down the train. As she walked, smiling as wide as Alice in her satisfied mood, Lily heard little snippets of the conversations in various compartments.

Within one, two snarling girls had begun what looked like some kind of wizard's duel. One had a very large, swelling purple mole on her chin, whereas the other, whose back was to Lily, boasted a very long, fluffy dog's tail. Inside another, nearly empty compartment, Lily saw an older boy and a girl quite involved in kissing one another. From the side, they looked as though they were trying to eat each other. Slightly disturbed, Lily left the window to that compartment very quickly.

After another few moments, she had reached the luggage rack on which her trunk had landed so haphazardly. She reached inside the chest and attempted to withdraw Hogwarts, a History from its inside without allowing any of its other contents to spill out. On a whim, she decided to pull out her wand and a set of robes, too: she figured that they would be required to change once the train arrived at Hogwarts. The wand was not difficult to retrieve, but the robes were a different story. Stored conveniently underneath a very heavy set of Jane Austin books, when Lily had tugged on them, they would not come free. Worried about ripping her robes, Lily pulled quickly, as hard as she could, releasing the robes - and the trunk fell onto her foot.

"Owww..." she shrieked in pain, suddenly remembering how heavy the trunk had been when she had tried to lift it into the luggage racks.

Still wincing with ache of her crushed toes, Lily tried to remove her foot from under the trunk, but it wouldn't budge. She pulled harder. Nothing. Finally deciding to use the same philosophy as the quick spurts of speed that had gotten her on the train, Lily pulled hard, numerous times, a break between each effort. Finally, with an extra hard yank, the trunk fell off of Lily's foot with a muffled bang. Mildly surprised, Lily backed toward the door of a nearby compartment. But this was open, so Lily's momentum carried her backwards, until -

"Oof! Hullo there!" said a voice behind Lily. The unsuspecting redhead had backed right onto someone's lap.

"Oh - I'm - so sorry!" Lily gasped, her face coloring. She leapt up and turned to face the unfortunate victim of her loss of control.

He was a rather short, hazel-eyed boy with incredibly messy, windblown black hair. At the moment he was grinning furiously at her.

"No problem," he answered coolly, slouching back in his seat. "The name's James Potter. This is Sirius. Remus', over there, involved in some book. And that's Peter." He pointed at each of his friends in turn. Sirius had hair the same color as James, but it was far straighter and less messy, with long bangs that got in his chocolate-colored eyes. Remus was reading Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley. Behind the large leather cover of the book sat a peaky-looking boy with light brown hair and almost amber eyes. As for Peter, the chubby boy was at the moment devouring some kind of candy labeled 'Chocolate Frogs.'

After surveying the other members of James' compartment, Lily turned back to see the boy mussing his hair even more by running his hands through it.

"So, seen something of good ole Jamesie that you liked?" he flexed his muscles at the half-attentive redhead, who was at the moment trying to get her pained toes to move. Crimeny, she thought, when nothing happened. I must have fractured them...

"What do you mean?" Lily, who was still trying to move her toes, had seen nothing of James' antics.

"What do you mean what do I mean? You come waltzing in here, carefree as a butterfly - a very pretty butterfly - and plop down on my lap! Clearly there's something you want..." he grinned in what he apparently thought was a suggestive and attractive way. Lily stopped examining her toes.

"Eurgh, no! I just - lost my balance when I was getting my robes out of my trunk, because they were under some books and I had to pull really hard and then the trunk fell on my foot and to get it off I had to pull really hard and then when I finally came free of the trunk I got caught up in the momentum of my pull and accidentally walked backward into your compartment and - and fell into your lap," even as Lily spoke this incredibly long-winded sentence, she knew how far-fetched it sounded. But she was too appalled by James' behavior to notice or pay much attention to that.

"Got yourself a nice one, Potter," the boy James had introduced as Sirius spoke, walking around Lily as though appraising her.

"What - are you - doing?!" Lily said indignantly.

"Pretty little butterfly as you may be, but you still haven't told me your name," James stared into Lily's green eyes.

"It's Lily, but that's not the point -" Lily blinked furiously to reroute her vision.

"Oh, pardon me, a flower, not a butterfly. Well, whatever you are, care to join us? I know that you are simply itching to find out more about the impeccable vision of man-flesh that is me," James spoke lazily.

"Do you seriously think of yourself that way, or do you find your antics funny?" shoving Sirius' hand out of the way, Lily stormed out of the compartment and slammed the door behind her. She distinctly heard a voice within say,

"I think she likes me!"

Rolling her eyes at James' incredibly annoying personality, Lily gathered up the spilled contents of her trunk. She picked up a set of robes, her wand, her witches' hat, and exchanged Hogwarts, a History for Astrology for the Stargazer; it was a good quarter of the size of the other volume, so she wouldn't have as much trouble carrying it around if she didn't get the chance to place it back into her trunk.

She walked quickly back to the end compartment, still very irritated with James. But for some reason, she wasn't as angry as she felt warranted to be. Completely confused by her own fickle thoughts, Lily didn't pay much attention to where she was going.

Outside of a compartment a few down from the end one she had shared with Lucy, Alice, and the mysterious corner-boys, Lily spotted Frank, and waved hello, wondering in the back of her mind how near Alice was. Sure enough, moments later, the round-faced girl leapt out at Lily from behind a luggage rack she was passing.

"What did he do? Did he smile at you? Did he look happy to see you? Did he mention me? Did he -" Alice gasped, a look of horror on her pudgy face. "Did you kiss him?!"

"No, silly!" Lily laughed at the look of intense fury on Alice's face. "Okay, in answer to your questions. He said hello, smiled faintly, didn't look happy or unhappy, didn't say anything other than a greeting, and of course I didn't kiss him! I don't find him the slightest bit attractive, and I'd be worried about incurring the Evil Alice Wrath of Doom! Honestly, Alice, you need to find something else to obsess over...how about -"

"Pies!" Alice exclaimed, the fury gone and a brilliant smile remaining. "I'll learn to make pies! Frank loves pies!"

Rolling her eyes at the helplessness of the situation, Lily followed Alice back to their compartment, half-listening as Alice began to recite a list of all the pies she could think of. They reached the compartment and Lily walked inside, plopping her things onto a booth.

Lucy had, apparently, grown tired of her dramatics, for she was now actually sleeping across a set of three chairs. The boys from the corner were sitting directly across from her, gazing at the pretty girl's face and talking quietly among themselves. The moment Alice slid the compartment door shut, all three leapt up as though stung in a very unpleasant place and returned to their corner, occasionally chancing glances at Lucy when they thought neither of her friends were paying attention.

For the rest of the train ride, Lily read more of her book, Lucy slept, and Alice doodled in a notebook she had retrieved from her trunk. After another hour or two passed, - Lily wasn't sure how long, she'd left her watch at home in the rush to leave on time - a voice came over the intercom, announcing that they had almost reached Hogwarts.

Lily gently shook Lucy awake, and then the three girls pulled their robes on over their clothing. Lily wasn't sure how she was supposed to wear them, so she just followed Alice's example. Anyway, she didn't find the prospect of undressing in the clear eyesight of Lucy's fan club at all appealing. They paid a good deal more attention than was necessary as Lucy pulled her robes over her head. Lily could have sworn one was drooling as Lucy flipped her bangs back from her eyes. She chuckled slightly, amused that Lucy was so obviously unaware of her good looks.

She and the other two girls spoke quietly as they waited for the train to come to a stop. Lily kept glancing out the window, but it was hopeless: the sky was pitch black. No lights whatsoever were visible, that is, not until they drew toward the soft lanterns guarding what Alice mentioned was the Hogsmeade station. The train had stopped; they were at Hogwarts. Lily took her hair out of its ponytail, for the hat wouldn't fit on her head with it there. She then stuck her wand into a conveniently located pocket in her robes, found another for the astrology book, and straightened the hat on her head. And then, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Lily followed her everyone else out onto the platform.