Music of the Night

Author's Note: As of 4/16/05 this is a rewrite. I originally wrote this chapter nearly two years ago, and suffice it to say that my plans for this story, as well as my writing style, have overwhelmingly changed. I hope this one goes over well.

Aaaaaand, Music of the Night has been nominated for the "Life Changing Drama" category of the Hourglass Awards. I am so unbelievably honored that what started out as a small, whimsical endeavor has attracted the notice of such amazing writers and that I am considered worthy enough to be competing against some of my favorite fics, all of which are brilliantly written. So thank you to all of you who have read this story and supported it. You guys make it all worthy it!

Disclaimer: See previous chapter. I forgot to add before that the title for this story is the name of a song from "Phantom of the Opera" by the brilliant Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Music of the Night

Chapter 2: The Hogwarts Express

The small droplet of water crashed into the surface of the window, momentarily obscuring the majestic London skyline. It slid down the smooth panel, leaving a narrow pathway of rain's wetness in its wake.

Lily Evans tore her eyes away from the window and sank back into the plush leather seat of her father's Buick and closed her eyes as the full, grand sound of a symphony played from the radio in the front seat. She absently fingered the heavy piece of metal in her skirt pocket, feeling its intricate grooves and polished rim, running her thumb around the outline of the letters "HG".

It was rather remarkable when she thought about it. Not that she was named Head Girl, because though Lily was far from conceited, she was honest enough to admit to herself that no other member of her graduating class would be nearly as qualified as she.

No, what was truly remarkable was that she had finally made it to her Seventh Year. Only six years ago she had been thrown into a magical world she hadn't known existed, and now she was the appointed leader of the entire student population, much of which was comprised of witches and wizards from magical ancestry that traced a far back as the Middle Ages, some even further.

She pulled the badge out of her pocket and held it up to the window. The rain was coming down a bit harder now and the shadows of the droplets cast a striped shadow onto the silver. I suppose I should be somewhat proud of myself then, for whatever it's worth.

She heard a sharp intake of breath to her right. Her sister Petunia was glaring at the badge through narrowed eyes, pursing her lips in intense disgust. Lily straightened her shoulders and pulled her head up in a proud stance, giving Petunia a clear warning signal that Lily Evans was not one to be trifled with.

Petunia's hawk-like eyebrows moved together in dislike, and then she turned her face away and looked out of the window alongside her.

It was just as well, Lily figured. She knew that Petunia would never even try to be supportive of her, let alone actually being genuinely encouraging. In general, Petunia ignored Lily at every possible opportunity, refusing to associate with her sister's "repellent abnormality," and whenever she did speak, it was with words of scathing insult. Such conversations, rare as they were, always ended abruptly when Lily would agilely tell Petunia off in lofty, verbose speech. After all, if Petunia really did think that she was such a freak, she might as well come across as a proud, obnoxious freak that Petunia would learn well enough to leave alone.

She had to smile slightly when she remembered the monologue she delivered only the week before when she had gotten her badge in the mail. Petunia had chosen a choice moment to attack, when Lily had been sitting down at the piano to play a joyful melody in victory. It had been one of Lily's finest speeches to date:

"Intellectually stimulating though you think you are, Petunia, I'm afraid that I will have to decline your offer for retaliation. That will only proceed to embarrass you even further, for two reasons. Number one, you are a good deal older than I and should certainly know better than to quarrel purposelessly with your brilliant sister. And number two, you should also be aware that the outcomes of any previous verbal disagreement between the two of us have always ended with my triumphant victory and your defeated mind, fruitlessly searching through your minute vocabulary for any insult that could possibly phase me. And so, Petunia, I advise you to stop this utter nonsense, for both of our sakes."

Just as she had predicted, Petunia's mouth had opened up and down wordlessly at a loss for anything to say. Lily had turned her head to look at the sheet music resting above the keys, but then folded it up and pounded out a symphony of pent-up frustration.

It was hard not to hate Petunia. In fact, it took every fiber of her being to restrain herself from cursing her sister into oblivion. Seven more months, she told herself, thinking about the moment that Petunia would be married off to her arrogant and pig-headed fiancé. Lily didn't particularly care for Vernon very much, but as he was whisking her sister away from her forever, she found herself eternally in his debt.

But in the meantime, Petunia wasn't worth getting angry over.

She knew it would probably be more challenging this year than it ever had been before to keep her explosive temper under control. Lily thankfully hadn't had an outburst in over a year, probably because she distanced herself from the cause of said outburst to all lengths possible. James Potter probably found her uptight and soulless, but it was better than spending three days in the Hospital Wind again.

She shoved the memory to the back of her mind and focused on happy thoughts as her father's melodious voice sang along with the Partridge Family cassette tape that was playing in the car. She had to smile in spite of herself. Such the intellectual her father was -- reading Machiavelli and Freud, giving college lectures on the rise and fall of fascism in Italy and the effects of the twelve Caesarian emperors on ancient Rome, and listening to the Partridge Family. Fine, let him have some fun.

The Buick arrived in front of King's Cross Station at exactly 10:43 and Mr. Evans wheeled along Lily's two trunks, one with her school supplies and clothing, and the other with a guitar, cello, and flute. Lily carried her owl, Athena, luckily not meeting as many curious eyes as she had previously seen on her past six trips on the Hogwarts Express.

When they reached the barrier, Lily took a big intake of air as she braced herself for the goodbyes. She absolutely hated goodbyes, not only because they signified separation from loved ones, but more importantly because Lily was forced to keep her eyes dry and impassive.

She made her farewells short and sweet, avoiding eye contact with either of her parents, and avoiding contact with Petunia all together. Her parents fussed over her a bit, her father tussling her dark red curls, and her mother reaching up to adjust her collar. Petunia stood awkwardly on the side, impatiently tapping her foot while scanning the crowded station for any other freaks with owls.

Lily released the hold she had on her mother and turned around before she would let her emotions take control of her. She pushed the trolley with her luggage in front of her, and began to sprint towards the barrier. After she felt a strange sense of being shrouded in a mass of thick and tangible air, she opened her eyes to see the gleaming red Hogwarts Express. She smiled, suddenly imbued with a sensation of hope and excited anticipation. This was it. Her last year at Hogwarts.

She began moving the cart forward with a jubilant step when she was abruptly stopped by a screechy squeal and an ambush of wild blond curls. The next thing she knew, she was practically being choked by a pair of tanned arms that were wrapped tightly around her slender neck. She coughed, wheezing.

"Thalia," she sputtered, gasping for breath. "Please let go."

Her best friend released her grip and looked Lily full in the face, her blue eyes twinkling. "Lily! I'm so excited to see you! How was your summer? Did you do anything exciting? Do you meet new people? What new instrument did you get? Is it hard? Congratulations on being Head Girl! I knew it would be you! What sort of responsibilities do you have? Do you know who the Head Boy is? I'll bet it's Remus Lupin. One of Sirius' best friends, you know. Have you seen Ted and Andromeda lately? She's so big! Oh, it's almost eleven! I'll take you to see them and we'll hop on the train in a jiffy. Oh, I'm so happy to see you!"

"I'm sorry, Thalia," Lily answered, rubbing the sore spot on her neck where Thalia had grabbed her. "I'm afraid that the lack of oxygen to my brain has rendered me absolutely incapable of processing more than a few words at a time. Ask me again later, slowly."

"Oh, of course," Thalia said, still bobbing up and down on the balls of her feet. "Come quickly to see Andromeda."

Thalia pulled Lily by the hand, which pulled her trolley after her, and they went over to a tall gangly man with curly blond hair frantically trying to keep his unruly toddler from darting out to the train tracks without arousing the irritation of his very pretty and very pregnant wife beside him.

"Hi - Dorey, stop that! - Hi, Lily," Ted managed to huff out from behind Nymphadora's flailing arms and legs.

Lily tried her utmost best not to laugh out loud as she answered, "I'm doing very well, thank you. Yourself?"

Nymphadora prompty tripped over her shoelaces and fell flat on her face. "Well, considering I'm running to the store every other minute for food and I'm the subject of not a few moody outbursts from two young ladies, I'm in top shape." He scooped up his daughter and winked at his pregnant wife.

Lily smiled at her. "Andromeda! How are you doing?"

The woman sighed. "I'm fat, constantly hungry, and I can't sleep. Other than that, fine thank you."

Lily grinned as a young man with striking black hair came up behind Andromeda and planted a sloppy kiss on her cheek.

"Siwius!" Nymphadora leapt out of her father's arms and this time succeeded in skinning her knee before running at Sirius and clutching at his shin.

She never cries when she falls?" Lily murmured to Thalia out of the side of her mouth.

"Nah," she said casually. "I think she's used to it." Lily wordlessly raised an eyebrow upward before looking at her watch. "I have to get going. I'm expected in the Head's compartment."

"Yeah, I'll come too." Thalia quickly gave her brother and sister-in-law a big squeeze each and joined Sirius in entertaining Nymphadora briefly before she joined Lily.

The two girls brought their luggage to a compartment at the far end of the corridor and sat down, looking out of the window, as the great engine released a puff of gray smoke and began pulling the train out of the station. Lily watched the families on the platform waving good-bye to their loved ones. She felt not for the first time a slight twinge of envy when she remembered that her parents could never wave her off. She turned her head to look at her friend, who was probably thinking the same exact thing. Thalia was Muggle-born, just as she was.

When King's Cross Station was no longer in sight, and the train was already chugging through a pine forest, heading on a straight path, ignoring the trees that jumped out of its way, Lily looked at her watch.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Thalia. I have to leave for the Head Girl and Boy Compartment." Lily had exactly two minutes to get there. She might have always cut things rather close, but she was never late.

Thalia didn't seem to mind in the slightest. "Sure. I'll go sit with someone else for now."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Don't worry about me. Make rules. Take away points. Do your very best to uphold to the noble laws of the fine institution that we call school. Enjoy yourself."

As Lily left, she couldn't help but hope that whatever duties she had as Head Girl, they would entail a bit more than making the students' lives miserable.

She found her way into the Heads' Compartment at exactly 11:15, the designated time that Professor McGonagall had written on the letter that she had received that summer with her badge. She sat down in a seat next to the door and glanced at her watch again, disappointed that the Head Boy hadn't yet arrived, but resigning herself to the probability that not everyone was as compulsive as she, and that she should probably wait a few more minutes before getting too worried. In the meanwhile, Lily ran her long fingers though her damp curls and blinked absently as she felt herself fall into the depths of the rainstorm.

* * *

A further bit down the train, James Potter was pacing back and forth with his hands clasped firmly behind his back, as he wondered not for the first time how in hell he wound up with a Head Boy badge pinned to his chest.

Sirius, lounging in his typical fashion of simultaneous laziness and perpetual motion, seemed to find James's agitation highly entertaining. "Eh, it won't be so bad, Prongs. I mean, what's the most you'll have to do with Evans? Meet her once a week? And besides, it's not like she'll be on your back 24/7 yelling at you to act like an adult." He stretched out on the bench of the compartment. "I hereby give you permission to act as insanely as you want to."

"I'm glad I have your approval, Padfoot," James ground out.

Across the compartment, Peter Pettigrew laughed while Remus Lupin just tilted his head pensively to the side.

James checked his watch. "Ah, I've got to go then." Ignoring Sirius's chuckles and Peter's overly interested expression, he stepped out the compartment and closed the door behind him.

"Er, Prongs?" James whirled around to find Remus tentatively sticking his head out of the compartment. "I'll just be a minute."

James checked his watch quickly and ran a hand through his thick black hair. "Yeah, but it'll have to be a bit snappy." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Evans awaits me."

Remus stepped into the corridor and slid the compartment door behind him. "Yeah, about that..." He trailed off and averted his eyes. "I just wanted to tell you that I, er, I...Damn, this it hard."

James held up a hand. "Save it. It's okay."

Remus stepped forward. "No, it's not. I-"

"No." James shook his head. "Forget about it. Honestly." He ran two fingers through his hair and attempted a small grin. "I'll see you later."

Before Remus could protest again, James whirled around and marched defiantly down the corridor, chest out proudly. And the whole while he couldn't help but say to himself, Broad shoulders do wonders.

* * *

Lily glanced at her watch once again, now in slight frustration. Where in heaven's name was the Head Boy? And how on earth had someone so blatantly irresponsible acquired the position to begin with?

Her answer came when the compartment door slid open and James Potter ducked his head inside. He had grown even taller, Lily noticed.

"This is the Head Students' compartment, Mr. Potter," she said blandly with her arms crossed imposingly across her chest.

"Yeah," he said with his trademark smirk. "That's why I'm here."

Lily blinked. "Pardon?"

James tapped at a piece of metal on his chest. "Head Boy badge, Evans." He glanced up with raised brows, and for an instant, an indiscernible expression quickly fleeted across his face.

Lily frowned without speaking. Generally, this was because she was far too tactful to say what she was thinking or because she had better things to worry about than responding to one inane comment. But this time, she was genuinely at an utter loss for words.

An awkward silence ensued for a few seconds before James sat down opposite her and cocked his head to the side as though studying her. She cleared her throat loudly, and he turned to look out of the window.

Lily had always prided herself on her ability to read people (usually accurately), and after casting a few sideways glances in his direction, she concluded that James looked decidedly different. His posture had improved overwhelmingly, and his feet were planted even more firmly on the ground. It was as if he had taken every overtly arrogant aspect of his personality and magnified it tenfold. But somehow his face belied an inner secret of sorts, and the taut line of his upper lip did not hold the same indication of a smirk that it had in years before.

It had been that smirk that had fueled the ill feelings with which Lily had regarded James for six years. The smirk he had worn on his face with every poorly-timed prank he had pulled, with every Slytherin he had hexed, and with every conceited request that she go out with him.

But that wasn't the only reason Lily disliked James Potter. The real one was a bit painful for Lily to recall, but she found herself remembering that fateful June day of fifth year.

It had been right after the Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L., a particularly murderous exam that Lily had approached on a pure adrenaline rush, having had a mere three hours of sleep the night before since she had spent the wee hours of the morning solidifying all of the information for the test.

Perhaps it had been her lack of sleep that left her in an exceptionally testy mood, or maybe it was the scorching heat that often made tempers fly. But whatever the case, James Potter had made her lose control.

He had been, as per usual, tormenting a defenseless Slytherin, and as per usual, that Slytherin was Severus Snape. Lily had never particularly liked Snape, with his sketchy interest in the Dark Arts and his tendency to blurt out the word "Mudblood" during Prefect meetings when he disagreed with one of her more Muggle-minded ideas or philosophies. But a victim was a victim, and James Potter was not known for being gentle.

It hadn't helped that Potter had no qualms regarding the justifications of his actions, and it especially did not soothe Lily's irritability when he had inappropriately asked her out. But the worst part was that Lily was growing increasingly angry, angry at Potter for his behavior, angry at the crowd of teenagers that had been gathered around, and angry at herself for betraying emotion when she had worked five years to build up a wall of phlegmatic indifference.

Lily slightly remembered marching back off to the castle, as the ground underneath her felt as though it was trembling and the pounding in her head and chest escalated to the point of being unbearable before she blacked out. And then the next image swimming in front of her eyes had been the stonewashed ceiling of the Hospital Wing.

She shuddered slightly as she remembered that day. Yes, that was the day when she officially proclaimed herself a James-Potter-disliker. He had been one of the only people to ever make her lose control, which made him not only rude and conceited, but downright dangerous.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a low buzzing sound coming from the center of the compartment. Ever so faintly, what looked like a giant sphere was materializing before her, slowly revolving about itself; she noticed that it was encrusted with several giant rubies. It was mesmerizing.

The humming grew louder and harsher, like the sound of a staticky radio. Lily and James watched wide-eyed and awe-stricken as the metal began glowing with tiny sparks of gold. There was a great flash, and after Lily and James lowered the arms that they had instinctively thrown in front of their eyes to shield them, they saw a sight that made Lily scream.

Albus Dumbledore's head was floating in the middle of the compartment.

"Glad to see that I made such a fantastic impression, Miss Evans," said the headmaster, smiling innocently, as though it was perfectly natural to see a head suspended in midair.

Lily shut her mouth immediately. James said nothing, although behind his rimmed glasses, his eyes were chuckling amusedly.

"Well," continued Dumbledore. "Now that you're both here, I supposed it would be fitting to discuss with you the various responsibilities that you both will have this school year."

Lily produced a small notebook and pen from her jeans pocket, while James simply stared at the headmaster's head, apparently highly entertained.

"You have both been selected as Head Boy and Girl, not only because of your superior marks in class, but because of your superb leadership qualities. You are expected to set an example for all students. A positive example," he added, looking pointedly at James, "that all teachers and parents would approve of."

"There are certain duties which I am certain you are familiar with. Every night you are to patrol the corridors for any misdemeanors and the like. You are in charge of the master schedule determining which Prefects make their rounds and when.

"You will be notified of the passwords to each of the common rooms; any time there is a change of password, the prefects of the house of change will be responsible to tell you what the new password is. You are not to tell anyone else of these passwords. Aside from the Gryffindor words, you are not to use them other than in the case of an emergency. Do not use them to your personal advantages." Again, Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flickered over to James' direction.

"You have the authority to grant or take away house points wherever and whenever you see fit. You must enforce the rules of our school. If you see someone acting out of line, do not hesitate to take points. Even from your own house. Again, do not use this authority to your personal advantages.

"You will be the student representatives of the school. You must be there to accept any complaints or suggestions from the other students. You will be their friends. You will be their mentors. You will help them and greet them with smiling faces. Understood?"

James and Lily each nodded in turn.

"Fabulous! Please send in the Prefects for a quick discussion. We will be meeting on a regular basis to discuss any circumstances that have come up. Thank you for your time."

And just as dazzlingly as he had appeared, Dumbledore's head emitted a blinding flash of light, and then it was gone.

Lily idly stared at the spot the Headmaster's image had occupied only moments before, when she saw James rise and stretch his arms up over his head.

"Hm," he said uninterestedly. "That was terribly fascinating." He dropped his arms and glanced behind him as he slid open the compartment door. "I'll be seeing you, then."

Lily waited until he left the room before she too rose and stretched her arms. She winced as they hit the ceiling. Glancing up, she noted that it should have been constructed at least a meter higher. She sighed, resigned to her monstrous height, and set off to find Thalia.

Lily honestly had no idea where Thalia could possibly be. It wasn't as though Thalia would only speak to her acquaintances; in fact, Lily sometimes reckoned that if Thalia were in a room with nothing but a Flobberworm and a bowl of fruit, she could chatter away for hours without realizing that her audience wasn't responding.

And so, Lily had to poke her head into literally every single compartment in order to find her friend. She almost wished that she hadn't when she walked in on two Fifth Years who were apparently...otherwise engaged, a group of Hufflepuffs enjoying getting their eyebrows singed in an altogether too violent game of Exploding Snap, and a clan of Sixth and Seventh Year Slytherins who looked at her with disgusted loathing before she narrowed her eyes menacingly and marched out with her head held high. Thalia always told her that her "Scary-Evil-Devil Look" could frighten the Giant Squid out of the lake. And speaking of...

She finally found Thalia in a compartment currently inhabited by none other than the legendary Marauders, a group of what had to have been the biggest troublemakers Hogwarts had ever seen. No, scratch that. Remus Lupin was rather mild-mannered, and Peter Pettigrew never seemed to have anything moderately interesting to say. But James Potter and Sirius Black, the leaders of the little gang, more than made up for Remus and Peter's lack of mischief and then some. Lily didn't think very highly of the Marauders. She felt them to be loud, immature, and insensitive. But she was never mean to them, just as she was never mean to anyone else she didn't like. She might be sharp or snappish, but she was never heartless. She was always perfectly civil in every respect.

The Marauders tried her patience so much that she sometimes felt she would crack, but she managed to control herself mainly for Thalia's sake, rather than her own. Ever since Thalia's brother, Ted, had married one of Sirius' many cousins, Andromeda, the two had started talking to each other much more frequently and had even developed some sort of friendship, although Thalia did usually end up doing most of the talking, which was saying a lot, because it was common knowledge that Sirius Black absolutely loved to hear the sound of his own voice. Lily tried her best to get along with him, as it meant a lot to her best friend.

She actually liked Remus somewhat. He was more mature than the others, and didn't make quite the public spectacle of himself as his friends did. The one main fault that she found with Remus was that he always sat by and watched his friends wreak havoc without saying a word against it.

As for Peter, well, she didn't really know what exactly to think of Peter. He was never exactly mean himself, or exceptionally boisterous. In fact, Peter's one claim to fame was that he was a Marauder. Although why exactly he was a member of the infamous clan was an unsolved mystery to all. His sole purpose in life seemed to be to worship James, an individual whom Peter appeared to regard as infallibly perfect in every respect. Lily almost felt sorry for him. It must have been tough to live entirely in someone else's shadow.

And as for James Potter...He was a protean individual, ever changing and ever finding new and innovative ways to be unique and mischievous. He held the look of someone constantly in action, as though he would burst at any moment. Lily almost had to admire him sometimes for the maverick in him. But of course, there was that one incident that had never totally allowed itself to be buried deep in the most obscure recesses of Lily's brain. It was always there, just below the surface, ready to be surveyed once more.

She tried to shove the memory way into the back of her mind where she wouldn't have to think about it for quite a while, and forced a smile onto her face. "Thalia! Here you are! I found a compartment further down." She nodded curtly at each of the Marauders in turn, who looked highly amused.

"Oh, Lily. Don't be rude!" Thalia reproached her friend. "You remember Sirius, Remus, Peter, and James, right?"

Lily forced another her mouth into another smile and said, "They make themselves rather unforgettable."

Sirius got to his feet. "So, Lily," he said with a teasing look on his face. "Head Girl, huh? Planning to knock some sense into James, here?"

Lily glanced at James, who had just opened his mouth wide, yawning rather loudly. "Absolutely."

Sirius chuckled. "Good luck with that. Even old Remus here couldn't manage it." He leaned forward to her, putting an open hand next to his mouth as though he was telling a secret, but he obviously didn't mean to tell her anything private because his whisper was quite audible. "Just threaten to tell the Slytherins about his old teddy bear, Mooshy. It's worked for me on countless occasions."

"Thank you, Mr. Black, for your rather - interesting- advice, but I believe I will work alongside Mr. Potter without having to resort to blackmail."

Sirius appeared to be quite taken aback by this comment, which was precisely the effect Lily was aiming for.

Grabbing an astounded Thalia by the arm, she said short good-byes to each boy and left the compartment, walking more quickly than usual.

"You were very rude, you know," said Thalia, her short feet struggling to keep up with Lily's long strides. "You could have at least talked to them a little bit."

They entered an empty compartment, and Lily sat down, sighing. "Thalia, I love you like a sister. You know that. But there are certain things I just cannot do for you."

Thalia looked sly. "So this is about James Potter."

"Don't you dare look at me that way, Thalia Tonks! You know very well why I can't talk to James Potter."

Thalia frowned. "Yeah, yeah. He talks, you get mad, have some sort of unexplainable fit, and wake up in the Hospital Wing, then he drops you and goes about chasing the rest of the female population at Hogwarts. Got it."

"Thank you."

Thalia looked out the window at the rolling hills of the countryside.

Lily hated the silence. "So, tell me about your summer."

Thalia immediately launched into an overblown and over-exaggerated description of her adventures at summer camp, her encounters with the "gorgeous boy" down the block, and little odds and ends about the new music groups she had discovered, as well as her first attempt at baking a cake, which had ended rather disasterously.

And although Lily loved listening to Thalia's contagious laughter, she was more than a bit relieved when a plump woman knocked on the door and asked them if they'd like anything off the cart.

Just as she had ever since she discovered Licorice Wands, Lily immediately began pouring her silver onto the cart as soon as it pulled into the compartment.

"Not only do they taste absolutely delicious, they're so much fun to fool around with," is what she always said in regards to the candy.

To which Thalia would always reply, "And it's the one time when our mothers can't tell us not to play with our food."

Then they would giggle and begin waving wand after wand in the air, trying out the different spells on each one.

Lily was currently flourishing one about, and was dazzled when a bright pink tulip erupted from the tip.

She sighed contentedly. "I missed this so much."

"What?" Thalia managed to ask between bursts of laughter, as she had just hit herself with a Cheering Charm.

"This. The wizarding world. Hogwarts. You. Any time away from Petunia."

Thalia had managed to calm herself down enough to ask, "How's that going?"

And so, Lily then gave a short speech on the evils of lacy bridesmaids' dresses, the importance of having a neck in order to look somewhat decent, and the desperate need of everyone on the planet to beware a compulsive bride-to-be.

"Well, Lily," said Thalia smiling. "Welcome back."

Lily smiled.

She continued smiling until the train pulled into Hogsmeade Station and students began pouring out onto the platform, chattering excitedly and jumping on each other in energetic anticipation. Then the horseless carriages pulled up, and everyone buoyantly stepped aboard, oblivious to the natures of the rides they were about to take.

Lily didn't step onto her mode of transport quite as confidently. She couldn't see anything pulling the carriages, but she knew that there definitely were creatures attached to the reins. She had learned about them in fifth year. Thestrals. Lily shuddered at the word.

She had heard what they looked like. Great black winged horses with reptilian features. She had never even seen a picture, because whenever any author had ever tried to draw one, the image always appeared invisible to those that could not see the live beasts.

But she wasn't afraid of Thestrals themselves. She was just afraid of seeing one. Not because of it's appearance, but because of what seeing it would mean. More than anything else, Lily was afraid to witness death. Not death itself; she agreed with Dumbledore who always said, "Death is but the next great adventure." But she couldn't bear to think of someone actually dying. To have one's very life, very existence, slowly ebbing away, to a place where it would become irretrievable. It meant ending everything that one started, but never finished. Never being able to say the words that were unsaid. And to witness that, to actually see someone going through that, was much more than Lily could handle.

But, as she couldn't see the Thestrals, and as they were the only means of transportation to the castle other than by boat with Hagrid (She got seasick very easily and wasn't at all in the mood to vomit over her dinner), she got into a carriage with Thalia.

At the sound of a whistle, the Thestrals began to move. The Hogwarts students left Hogsmeade Station behind, and unbeknownst to them, the last inkling of normalcy they were to ever encounter again stuck plastered to the Hogwarts Express like a permanent coating of paint that could never be removed and could never be replaced.