Falling From the Ground

CHAPTER TWO

It wasn't until the summer began that Lily truly understood what it was that she would learn in the year to come while on a trip to Diagon Alley but before she had the opportunity to venture there she had a dinner with her maternal grandparents. She hadn't even known they existed until her mother had told her whom they would be dining with. It wasn't that Lily hadn't expected her mother not to have parents; she just had never thought about them before.

Getting to their house was, by far and away, the hardest thing Lily had ever done. The taxi driver firstly couldn't find the road and when he did there was nothing on it. Then they circled in two times before Rose politely told him that they would get out where they were. He looked doubtful but there was nothing that he could do to stop them. As they got out of the door Petunia, instinctively, clung to their father's hand.

"Miss Cavanhol? You is here again? I is so happy to be seeing you again!" a voice said, coming from the shadows.

"Sally! I didn't expect to be seeing you here," Mrs. Evans said, stepping forward. At the same time something else decided to step forward too.

There was no way to describe what it was that came out of the darkness of the street. It was some sort of morphed rat crossed with a scarecrow. This was the thing that Lily's mother had called "Sally". It began to speak in the amazingly highly pitch once again and Lily reminded herself to breathe and quit staring at it. Petunia looked about to pass out.

"Oh yes. Master says that I is to be coming here to gets the company and showing them the way back. Oh but it's Rose Cavanhol, surly you knows the way," Sally said, but began walking toward a light pole with Mrs. Evans at her side and Petunia and Lily clinging to their father's hands.

"What is that?" Petunia asked in a hushed voice.

"I don't know," answered Mr. Evans, "but I think your mother knows and she seems to trust it." So the family continued on their journey through the dark street, but as soon as they passed the light pole it was as if they were transported somewhere else completely, and indeed they had been. There was light everywhere and an enormous house loomed over them. Lily, her father, and her sister stopped and stared, but both Rose and Sally continued forward as though it were nothing.

The front door opened as the three began to walk again. A man and woman who looked not older than forty were standing in what looked to be a very formidable doorway. Neither was smiling.

"Hello Mother. Hello Father," Mrs. Evans said, a look of grim determination on her face. The man and woman simply nodded. "I would like to introduce Charles, my husband, and our two children, Lily and Petunia. Children, these are your grandparents." Mr. Evans shook hands with both of them, bowing slightly and Lily and Petunia curtsied. Her grandparents looked both the girls and their parents up and down and Lily was suddenly very aware that they were wearing different clothes than her family.

"Please come this way to the dining room," Lily's grandmother said, turning abruptly from them and walking down the hallway. Everyone filed into the house and followed her down the hallway.

During dinner no one really said much except for Mr. Evans. He continued to have a one-sided conversation, pretending that everyone else was responding. He didn't seem to see his wife wasn't touching a bit of her food, or that his daughters were scared to death of the little creature that brought their food, or that his parents-in-law were glaring at the space in the table between Rose and himself.

"...but I can see the resemblance now. Wondering where Lily got those amazing eyes from."

"Do you mean to say that not only did our only daughter forget to inform us that she was married or even that she had two children, she has nary a single picture of her parents in her home?" Mrs. Cavanhol asked in a tone that implied no need to answer.

"Mum, can't you please wait until after dinner? This is the first time my family has ever met you."

"I can wait, but just be sure you don't run away again and forget us for another twenty years," Mrs. Cavanhol replied testily.

"Fine Mum! You want to do this right now? Fine!" Mrs. Evans said, putting her fork down. "Between writing that letter and running away from you for twenty years there is one I regret right now and it is not the second one!"

"Why did you write that letter anyway Rosalind? Are you in some sort of financial trouble?" Rose's mother asked, taking off her glasses and holding them tightly in her right hand.

"Of course not!" Rose yelled attempting to slide her heavy chair back from the table but failing miserably.

"Then why don't you explain to us why, after twenty years, you sent us word?" Mr. Cavanhol said and although Lily had heard him speak only once, she heard something there that was odd. His voice seemed to consume a person. Though Mrs. Cavanhol was the type of person that people actually respected and feared, Lily had a feeling that it was Mr. Cavanhol whom they should really be afraid of, and somehow, Lily knew that her mother would not answer his question.

"Actually Mr. Cavanhol," Lily said quietly. "She wrote to you because she thought that it would be good for me to get to know you. I'll be going to Hogwarts next term and it would have been rude for my grandparents to find out through someone other than Mum." Mrs. Cavanhol's glasses suddenly exploded and cut her skin, but the creature, Sally, was cleaning it up before the blood even had a chance to drip off her hand.

"Rosalind, is this true?" Mr. Cavanhol asked.

"Yes," Rose answered, never taking her eyes off her daughter. "We got the letter a couple of months ago, on Lily's birthday."

This announcement and confirmation set into action an entirely new set of tense and awkward moments at the table. Lily's grandparents suddenly became much nicer to her than the rest of the family and though they tried their best to cover it up, they couldn't.

~*~*~

Thus Lily began preparing for school with her grandparents. They really took a shining to her and a week later they owled Rose (known to them as Rosalind) to ask if they could take her shopping and although Lily and Sabine had been planning on going together, Lily went with her grandparents and Sabine seemed to understand. ("They are you grandparents after all.")

At the moment, Lily and her grandparents were standing in a strange shop in a strange alley with atrange people that Lily was in awe of. They all were so busy, so focus, so making heavy things float. A woman was running around Lily with a measuring tape and what Lily assumed to be the fabric that would make up her robes.

She had brought her school supply list with her and while she did appreciate her grandparents' knowledge of all things magical, she really didn't want all of the fancy extras she seemed to be racking up. She got dress robes, colorful cloaks that changed color to match the outfit worn, a quill that could be dictated to, every potion ingredient in existence, an extra silver cauldron, and so many other strange things that Lily couldn't even understand what she might ever need them for.

"What do you think of your new robes Lily?" Mrs. Cavanhol asked her as they walked out of a little shop; Lily finally wearing what her grandmother deemed "decent clothing".

Lily looked down at her outfit. It was a strange for her to wear these types of clothing. They didn't exactly fit on her, no matter that the witch had spent ten minutes making sure her measurements were correct, but her Grandmother did not want to hear that.

"They feel great," she lied.

"At least someone in your family has some decent taste!" and Lily felt good for making her grandmother feel so happy. "Your grandfather is going to go buy your books while we go buy you an animal. Is that alright?"

Lily didn't respond; she had only known her grandparents for a very short amount of time but in that time she had discovered that her grandmother asked a lot of questions that she didn't care about the answers to.

As Mr. Cavanhol went in the other direction Lily felt calmer. She had been anxious around these two since she had first met them a week ago. Suddenly finding herself expected to go shopping with them left her at a bit of a loss, but the more time she spent with them the more she seemed to be enjoying herself. She found the best times she had with them was when they separated and she was with only one of them.

Her grandmother had insisted that everything they bought be in pristine condition. She examined every last quill and potion ingredient they bought. If she found so much as one flaw she would pronounce the store unfit for her business and lead Lily out of there immediately. This, luckily, had only happened once, but even that was okay because Lily soon realized that they were treated better than the other customers.

Most shop owners greeted her grandmother with a "good evening Mrs. Cavanhol," before she had the opportunity to introduce herself. At that moment she was discussing which animal to buy for a first year with a shop owner that had over ten other customers waiting to purchase their animals, but all he seemed to notice was Lily's grandmother. It made Lily feel uncomfortable.

"I would like to suggest a unicorn for such a special young lady but as Hogwarts wouldn't have the facilities to tend for such an animal. I think I have to suggest an owl."

"Mr. Blackington, my family has many owls. I want something better. I am sure that you understand," she said giving him a once over that made him avert his eyes, but still he nodded a pointed to an isle filled with exotic looking animals.

Lily, figuring that she wasn't needed for this decision, began to look at all of the other cages. As she was looking at a cat in a corner cage she bumped into the last member of the line. The line, Lily noticed, was especially quiet. They didn't seem to complain at all. It was just one more thing to add to her list of odd things about her grandmother: no one complained around her, especially not about anything that she did.

"What about this? Just in from China, " the clerk was asking her grandmother. He was holding up a silky black cat with silver eyes.

"Does it have any magical abilities?" Mrs. Cavanhol asked, looking shrewdly at the animal. Lily, on the other hand, couldn't bring herself to listen to what the man was saying. She plucked it right out of the man's arms, mumbling something about wondering if she could take it home.

Lily was in love with this cat. Mrs. Cavanhol seemed to have surmised as much and so she paid the man, without having waited in the ten-person line, and they headed outside trailed by the midnight black cat. Lily would have liked to hold her but her grandmother had scoffed and told her that little girls should not carry animals, no matter how distinguished the animal happened to be.

As she and her grandmother headed to meet her grandfather they stopped at an unlikely place and together they ate ice cream. Well, Lily ate ice cream and her grandmother smiled at her as though Lily were a three year old that needed some pleasantries.

"Lily, we need to talk about something of importance. There are some things about Hogwarts that your mother could never explain to you.

"It has been a while since I went to Hogwarts but I believe my information to be correct nonetheless. There are four houses in Hogwarts: Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Every student is sorted into one of these houses. A house is the place you sleep, socialize, and live for the seven years you are at Hogwarts. Your house signifies you as a certain type of person and your respect is dependent on where you are placed. I, along with your grandfather and all those before him, was in Slytherin. The teacher that has control over the house is a rather new professor that teaches charms. You will be introduced to her after your house placement. She may soon be replaced though.

"Slytherin is a proud house, just as we are a proud family. You may not realize that who you are will matter a lot to your housemates. We have decided not to let people now that you are a Cavanhol. We have told everyone today that you are a friend of the family and you will tell that story to your housemates. Some close friends of mine will know who you are, but most will not and that is for the best of the family. We have spent years forging a public appearance that is suitable and we have forced people to forget some of our most magnificent accomplishments because they were frowned upon. Your grandfather and I are not sure you fully understand our life yet and as such we do not believe you are ready to accept the Cavanhol title yet.

"The Cavanhol name holds respect and admiration among the more prestigious families but we have tried to be known only for the things that wouldn't matter. The only students that may know your lineage will be Slytherins of old families so you have no need to worry about problems in that regard. No one will know your heritage unless I let them. The only people that would recognize your eyes are the close family friends.

"All I ask of you is that everything you do, you must do with grace and style. I expect you to get good marks. I expect you to have friends that are respectable. Do you understand me?" Lily nodded, not really understanding but knowing that she could do nothing else. All Lily really cared about at this point was her wand. It was their last stop in the shopping journey.

"Now I think we have kept your grandfather waiting long enough," and they headed back into the streets. Mr. Cavanhol seemed not to have minded, or in fact noticed at all, that he waited for them for over an hour. He was having a very pleasant conversation with a tall, white-haired man in brown robes when they walked up.

"Silvia! I ran into Goshanks in the bookstore. Stephen and I were reaching for the same first year transfiguration book," Mr. Cavanhol and his friend were smiling in a self-assured sort of way. Lily thought her grandfather had an odd sort of smile, it seemed as though he had a constant inside joke instead of being sincere.

"Isn't that ironic. Stephen, is it Miranda or Claudia that will be attending this year?"

"It's Miranda. She's getting fitted for her robes right now with her mother and I offered to fetch her books for her as I was needed some for myself as well." That was when he caught sight of Lily. "And this must be the girl you're taking around, Miss Lily. How do you do?"

"How do you do sir?" Lily replied with a small curtsey before looking him in the eye.

"Your eyes are beautiful." Lily blushed and moved a step backward, there was something about this conversation that wasn't being said aloud. After a few more minutes Lily realized that they only had a short while before she had to be home and told her grandmother so quietly. After a prolonged good-bye the group, with bags in tow and cat underfoot, headed to Olivander's.

Mr. Olivander, apart from being the most interesting figure she had yet to meet, was the only person Lily met that asked her the questions directly, instead of through her grandmother. She had tried only two wands before reaching one that made her arm tingle and her whole body feel warm. With a swoosh of her hand and a bit of money exchanged, Lily Evans owned her first wand.

~*~*~

Her grandparents' house elf took Lily home by automobile and Lily could only guess as to how the little elf could reach the controls. Still, they made it to her house in one piece. Only for Lily to be accosted by Sabine the second she got out of the car. The elf was carrying in Lily's stuff in one big load that reached over the little things head and then a lot more in the air. Lily, though, had no misgivings about the creature. Her grandmother didn't seem the type to keep a servant that she couldn't trust to do what she was supposed to.

"Sabine you wouldn't believe the day I just had."

"Yeah, I would. I went to Diagon Alley yesterday," the girls chatted excitedly, exchanging notes ('I got a cat.' And 'think I might get a broom and smuggle it in'). They went up to Lily's room eventually and sat there until the wee hours of the night, neither able to understand the concept of sleep. After all, the next day they would be heading to Hogwarts.

~*~*~*~

Leaving for the train turned out to be a bigger ordeal that Lily would have ever guessed. It entailed prolonged hugs and good-byes as well as double checking trunks and finding a way to carry her cat (whom she had named Marduk) onto the train.

"Bye Lily! Bring me back presents!" eight-year-old Petunia called to her sister as her mother backed out of the driveway for the third and last time. The little girl was clinging to the stuff bear that Lily had always treasured. It was named Pink Baby and the night before Lily had given it to Petunia for her 'to watch out for' while Lily was at school.

"I will! See you at Christmas! Bye Dad love you!"

"Have a great time and study hard!" Lily's mother and Sabine's were taking them to the train station. Mr. Lowery, it turned out, worked for the Ministry of Magic and couldn't make the drive. Lily's cat, Marduk, sat peacefully on her lap as Lily herself fidgeted with anxiety.

"Lily, you are going to have the best time. Why are you worried?" Sabine, who had a look on her face that reminded Lily of Marduk, asked.

"I just want to get there, you know?" Sabine nodded and reached out for her friend's hand, giving it the briefest of squeezes, and Lily remembered the conversation the night before. Lily had figured that Sabine needed to know that she didn't want anyone to know about her mother being a squib. Sabine knew nothing about who Lily's maternal family was and Lily hoped that it could stay that way, but in the meantime she just wanted to let her friend know that she was planning on saying she was a muggleborn. Sabine didn't understand but she agreed to the arrangement.

Sabine, in fact, had probably been more helpful than Lily's Grandmother. Sabine had explained some of the more detailed aspects of wizarding life. It was the information that most took for granted that Lily wanted to know about, and Sabine knew that. So she patiently explained about moving pictures, candy, and Quidditch. Lily thought all of it was just too exciting for words and was very pleased to have such a good friend attending with her.

Just as they had gotten to the station Mrs. Lowery grabbed Sabine's trunk and headed toward the platform. Leaving, Lily and her mother in their dust.

"Lily, darling, before you go and I lose this chance I want to tell you how proud I am of you. I don't know if anyone has explained the houses to you but please know that I don't care where you end up and neither does your father or sister, or the Lowery's. Do you understand sweetie?" Lily nodded, not understanding why her mother cared so much, and headed for the platform.

Lily had never done so many odd things in her life as she had in that one day. Even shopping with her grandmother was nothing compared to that day. She walked through a solid wall, lifted her weightlessly full trunk into a steaming red steam engine, and ran straight into a woman that was levitating her son off the roof of the train, causing him to fall the remaining meter to the ground. All the while, owls had been hooting, cats meowing, and frogs leaping. Sabine and her mother appeared unfazed and after they both had said good-bye to their mothers they had found an empty compartment. They had gotten to the station rather earlier and as more people boarded the train their door slid open too many time to count. One girl in particular had known Lily.

"You're Lily Evans aren't you?" she had said.

"Yes, may I ask who you are?" Lily didn't think that anyone would know who she was. Sabine seemed truly shocked.

"I'm Miranda Goshank." Lily remembered that the man talking to her grandfather in Diagon Alley had used that name.

"Hello, I met your grandfather. This is my friend Sabine Lowery," Lily, introduced them. The three girls smiled and spoke a little about their excitement.

"Do you girls know what house you'll be in?" Miranda asked.

"No."

"Yes," the two friends said at the same time. Lily and Sabine looked at each other then back at Miranda.

"What house do you think you'll be in?" Lily asked, trying to cover the awkwardness. By that time the train had begun to move.

"Ravenclaw seems like the best choice. It is every other houses backup anyway. Gryffindors and Slytherins don't get along very well but neither wants to be in Hufflepuff and Hufflepuffs don't want to be in those houses either so everyone wants to be a Ravenclaw if nothing else." Miranda looked smug about this and though Lily made some attempts to keep the conversation running smoothly it was clear that there was something in the conversation that bothered them all and when Miranda politely excused herself, no one objected.

"You know what house you want to be in?" Sabine asked Lily.

"Well, no not really, I just think that because of my family I am going to end up in the house that all of them ended up in," Lily tried to clarify.

"And what house is that?"

"Slytherin." Lily saw her friend's eyes light up with an expression that all too clearly mocked Lily. "What?" She asked, kind of annoyed.

"Nothing, it is just... You? A Slytherin? I know that may be what all of your family is, but you? No way. More of a Hufflepuff if you ask me." Lily tried to imagine her grandmother's face if that were to happen and couldn't keep herself from laughing.

"My grandmother would die." The giggled together and as the ride drew on thoughts of houses flew from their minds, to be replaced with games and food. It wasn't until they reached Hogwarts that the word Slytherin cropped up in Lily's mind once more. They changed into their uniforms and, arms linked, the two girls headed off to their new life.

~*~*~

Lily couldn't seem to take in everything at once: a beautiful castle, a strict teacher, crowing students, candles that floated, and a simple brown hat that was supposed to determine her future. Lily stood in the middle of a great room, looking around distractedly. Only when her friend tapped her on the shoulder, did she realize that someone was ending a speech. When Lily tried to look at who was talking she saw no one, only the woman that lead them in unrolling a list.

"Who just spoke? Was it important?" Lily whispered to Sabine as "Abott, Joshua" was called forward.

"It was the hat stupid! The hat just sang a song. We try it on and it tells us what house we are in." Lily was suddenly aware of a shouting that emanated from the hat. It had yelled Hufflepuff. How embarrassing, she thought fiercely.

"But that makes no sense," she whispered to her friend, determined to get some answers out of her.

"The hat was made by the four original builders of Hogwarts and it places students in their house according to their character, it really isn't that difficult a concept to grasp Lily!" Lily turned from her friend and began to glare at the hat that would call out her house when she heard her name called. She didn't understand what it meant until the teacher lowered the scroll and called her name again.

"Miss Evans, please step forward and place the hat on your head." Not a good way to start the term, Lily thought as she walked forward and did just that.

"Hmm," said a small voice in her ear.

"Hi, um... hat, I'm really sorry about this but I'm not really all that sure what house I want to be in and if you could just tell me before you shout it out. I would be really grateful."

"Of course. Let's see where to put you. You are a muggle-born of a line of Slytherins, interesting. Oh, don't worry I shan't tell anyone; in fact I am not able to even if I wanted to. Let's see about your house though shall we? Hmmm, interesting. Grandmother has high hopes, but what do you want, I wonder... You aren't a Hufflepuff that much is certain. You are too willing to accept things. I would have put you in Ravenclaw except for the fact that you asked me to tell you what house beforehand. That is a Slytherin trait, wanting to weigh the options, but you are braver than you give yourself credit for. You are also cunning and can see clearly the easiest way from point A to point B, both Slytherin... But no, you are kind and thoughtful. I think that you are a Gryffindor. Any objection? No alright... GYFINNDOR!"

Lily stood up, happy with that house and caught her best friend's eyes for merely a moment before sitting down at her new house table. She picked at her robes as person after person was named and seated, and though Lowery wasn't that far back in the alphabet it seemed to take an eternity for both of them. The only other person that Lily had an interest in was Miranda and she was placed in Ravenclaw practically before the hat could fit on her head.

"Lowery, Sabine" was called at long last and the wait after that point wasn't much. Sabine's picking wasn't as short as Miranda's, but it was pretty close. GRYFFINDOR it shouted. Lily clapped loudly and made room for her friend next to her.

"Well done!" Lily said, smirking.

"You too!" They both sat there, smiling so hard it hurt, until it was time to go up to bed and though both were too tired to do much they stayed up most of the night, talking about their anxiousness about the days to come. The two girls that shared the dorm with them, Aleen Godspenitch and Cleopatra Demur, seemed to have met each other on the train and were quickly becoming close. The two girls were nice enough and Lily and Sabine smiled at them before heading off to bed.

~*~*~

When Lily woke in the morning, it was to find a light brown owl sitting stiffly on her bedside table. She flinched involuntarily at the sight of a bird that close. Then, she cautiously leaned over and petted it on its head with only one of her fingers, ready to jump away if it made any sudden movements. It moved away a step and Lily's hand was instantly at her side.

Marduk, who had been sleeping on Lily's lap walked over to the owl and took the letter from it with its teeth. The owl did a human like bow, before standing erect once more. Lily took the letter and, with a hand with a hand casually petting Marduk, scanned for the signature, but she hadn't to look any further than the seal. It was from her grandparents. With an owl like that I should have guessed.

Dear Lily,

We trust that you have everything in order. A close friend of ours has informed us of your house placement and we would appreciate a letter of confirmation.

Your Grandparents

PS. Hope you are well.

"Whaddareyoulookinat?" Sabine yawned at Lily, looking over her shoulder. Lily handed her the letter and Sabine looked confused when she raised her eyes.

"Your grandparents wished you well in a post script?"

"I did only just meet them a couple of weeks ago," they shrugged at each other and, after noticing that no one else was awake, silently agreed to go to breakfast.

They had learned to speak silently through years of overly nosey neighbors and parents. The bedroom windows were positioned towards one another but their parents never woke up as early as the two friends. As such there were many mornings that the parents were rudely woken up by the two girls shouting plans to one another. If this had been the extent of their problems, they probably wouldn't have found a way to correct it. The other factor was Petunia. She was adorable and Lily really liked her, but she was, as little sisters often are, rather clingy. She was a gossip to boot. So she would be there whenever Lily and Sabine had a conversation, then she would conveniently repeat it back, word for word, to their mothers. Thus developed Sabine and Lily's silent dialogue and after a while it became so natural that sometimes when they need not have.

If anyone other than themselves listened to their conversation they would think they were constantly talking in code. It was because both girls would end sentences in the middle, as though unfinished. To a listener this made them feel as though they were found out to be listening, but the girls simply understood when the other one knew what they meant.

Getting to the Great Hall proved a harder task than either of them had counted on. They had not been paying attention the night before as the prefects lead the way. Lily vaguely remembered a fat woman being the entrance to their dorm, but not much else. Lily would have continued on her way, searching for some more hours, but luckily she was with Sabine who was used to magical ways. Sabine walked right up to a portrait of a ballerina and asked if she could show them the way. The ballerina obliged and twirled all the way there.

"Thank you!" Lily called back at her as she toe-pointed away.

"She was graceful," Sabine said as they walked in. Lily gave her a look.

"She was a picture," they exchanged one quick look before sitting down at the giant table. Even though they had woken up before most people, the table was almost full. It had taken them a while, even with the assistance of the ballerina.

~*~*~

The classes, they soon learned, were not fun and games. They would not be learning how to pluck a rabbit out of a hat anytime soon. First they had to learn the basics and though a lot of people had scoffed when the professor had said this, it was true. Transfiguration was especially hard.

It was the first class that the Gryffindors had at Hogwarts. As the class filed in Lily and Sabine sat in the second row on the far left and began to assemble their various quills and parchment so as to not bump into one another while they wrote down the teacher's words. Lily looked up when she heard a clang. It had come from a Ravenclaw boy that was sitting front and center. No one seemed to be helping him clean up after his ink fell to the ground. Just as Lily was getting up a boy with messy black hair that Lily recognized walked in. He was accompanied, as he always seemed to be, by a shaggy looking boy. Shaggy friend tried to walk past the Ravenclaw, Messy Hair looked him in the eye and then darted his vision toward the boy cleaning up and Lily recognized a silent conversation going on between them. It took no more than a second but in the end they ended up cleaning up the ink with the boy and, amongst many thank-you's sitting next to him during the class.

"Sabine, who are they?" Lily asked Sabine in barely more than a whisper.

"Sirius Black and James Potter. Our house," Sabine replied having watched the whole scene herself.

Sirius arranged parchment all in front himself, there was more parchment in front of him than Lily had brought altogether. It was almost a foot tall when he was done. When the professor stood up Lily couldn't help but gape at the barricade like stack of parchment on Sirius's desk. The professor, of course, had been sitting at her desk all along, waiting for silence. She was a petite woman that looked to be about fifty years of age, though that is rated through wizard standards and not muggle. Lily would have guessed her to be in her mid thirties.

"Welcome to your first class at Hogwarts-transfiguration. In this room you will learn how to change the mundane," she held up a rock in her left hand, "into the necessary." With a simple flick of her wand that seemed almost careless there were a quill and inkbottle in her hand, which she handed to the boy in the front row that had spilt his before class.

"It is a difficult branch of magic and students that do not prepare for class will not be able to perform at the same level as others. Studying the method that will be used in class is not necessary but is suggested. You would all do well to read through your books before attending this class." Lily looked away from her teacher's direction to see Sirius scratching away at his parchment noisily, yet not seeming to pay attention to what the professor was saying. He seemed, rather, to be more interested in the classroom itself than with her words.

That first day they were all required to attempt transfiguring a match into a needle. Sirius only attempted it once, when the professor asked him to and failed miserably. He said that he wanted to study up on the theory a little more before he tried again. The professor nodded curtly and walked away. Sirius opened his book and continued his crazy notes. James was triple tasking-he was whispering to Sirius, while making small talk with the Ravenclaw (Gill), and attempting to change the match. By the end of class no one had been able to completely change their match, and only a small Ravenclaw girl had made hers pointy. Sirius had kept it afterwards, calling it his own personal toothpick.

"Sabine!" the two girls turned around to see who called to them as they walked out the door. It was Sirius. He ran a little catch up with them as they continued to walk. "That is your name isn't it? Sabine? Pronounced Sa-BEAN-AH?"

"Yes that is my name, and yours is Sirius, pronounced SERIOUS," Sabine said as she continued to walk at a rapid pace, pretending to know the way the Herbology, their next class, and really having no clue.

"What is the rush?"

"Nothing really. I just know that I am going to get lost so I figured I might as well get a head start," she grinned and walked a little faster. Sirius was still scribbling away.

"Are you writing a novel or something?" Lily asked. It was the first time she had spoken to him and when he looked up she smiled. "Sorry, I probably shouldn't be poking fun at a person I just met."

"Especially," Sirius said digging in his pocket to find something, "a person you just met with his own personal toothpick." Lily almost giggled, but Sabine's look told her not to.

"Sirius," Sabine said, making a sharp right, again seeming to know where she was going, "where is James Potter? That is the boy that you have been glued to since you first got here isn't it?" Sirius spun around quickly.

"I thought he was here. Darn! Now I have to go find him," Sirius turned on his heals and ran down the hall, disappearing before he should have.

"What's the matter with you? You weren't even nice to him," Lily said, exasperated. If Sabine treated everyone like that they would end up having no friends at all other than each other.

"He is going to be trouble soon," Lily smirked at her friend's response and winked. "Do not look at me like that Lily! Stop smiling!"

"No, I better go find Sirius because boy is he going to be trouble. He is going to distract you?" Lily started to leave, but Sabine grabbed her wrist and Lily knew that Sabine didn't want this line of conversation continued.

"Did you see his notes?" Lily shook her head, "those are plans. I'll bet you anything. He and James Potter are going to be up to something very soon and I have no urge to say anything to either of them that would make them want to do anything to me, do you?"

"You really are a downer sometimes. They have been nothing but nice since we have come here. Can't you just trust surface information once?" As Lily turned left with her friend she ran smack dab into Sirius, and let out a little squeal.

"Uff! Sorry about that."

"How long were you there?" Sabine asked.

"I was here all along, wasn't I James?" Sirius's eyes were gleaming, and before James could finish shaking his head Sirius answered that yes indeed he had been there all along. "Now come on, we're going to be late for class on the first day." He and James began to move down the corridor and neither girl made a move to follow him. "Now come on Lily, can't you just trust someone for once?" he called back at her. After a shared look the two girls ran to catch up with them.