Chapter Eight
The Hogwarts Express
Throngs of people bustled past each other hurrying in every direction. Pushing trolleys and dragging whining children they headed for the various platforms. Men and women checked their watched and stood tiptoe attempting to see over the heads of the crowd. More people stood peering down the vacant tracks waiting for the flickering light of a trains arrival. Occasionally train whistles cut through the clatter and hurrying footsteps of those intent on making their train adding to the din.
It was an average morning, for muggles. But for another group of people, the situation was different.
Standing amongst the daily confusion and chaos was Lily Evans. Glancing around at the towering heads of the crowd she felt herself become smaller and smaller as she hurriedly picked up the pace and concentrated on pushing the trolley toward platforms 9 and 10. The day she had anticipated for the past months had finally arrived. It was September 1st.
“Nervous?” Her father asked placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
Lily glanced up into his face that was lined with both pride and sadness. She was excited and couldn’t wait to get to Hogwarts but her hands trembled and shook and her nerves were out of control. Lily found herself realizing that even though this was everything she had ever dreamed of, she had never been more scared in her life.
“Yes.” She said nodding as she parked the trolley against a wall.
Her father beamed at her and enveloped her in a hug. Lily clung to him trying hard not to think of the fact that she wouldn’t get to see him again until Christmas. He let go of her and ruffled her hair, all the while looking down at her with pride.
Next her mother came pulling Lily into her arms. Lily found that a lump was beginning to form in her throat. Closing her eyes she felt the warmth, strength and courage that only a mother could give. Her mother stroked her hair muttering something about how little girls grow up too fast for their old mothers. Suddenly Mrs. Evans broke into tears, holding Lily close to her as if not wanting to let go.
Lily patted her back helplessly while fighting her own inward battle. For the first time she was going to a boarding school. She was leaving behind her parents, Violet, the roof, the house, Marabelle and everything else she had known all her life. She found the burning in her throat and stinging eyes too much. A few of her own tears slid down her cheek mixing with those of her mother.
“You’ll be coming home for Christmas.” Her mother said drawing back and looking sternly at her youngest daughter.
“Of course.” Lily said. The way it looked now, Lily would be counting the days until Christmas.
"And you'll write to us."
"I'll try." Lily had a feeling that the post at Hogwarts involved owls and not the regular muggle mail mans. She wasn't sure how she was going to explain that to her mother.
Wiping her eyes on her sleeve she walked over to Violet's identical green eyes.
"So this is it." Violet said softly.
"Yeah." Lily said.
Violet hugged Lily slipping an envelope into her pocket.
"Open it on the train." She whispered. No tears were shed their good-byes had already been said. Lily drew back and looked around at her family who were all watching her.
"Bye." Petunia said in a strangled sort of voice. Could it be that Petunia was going to miss her? Lily realized with a jolt that she was going to miss her annoying sister also.
"Bye." Lily said. Without thinking she threw her arms around her sisters neck. For an awkward moment Lily could've sworn Petunia smiled. But it might have been her imagination for a moment later Petunia pushed her gently away scowling down at her half heartidly.
"I'll see you soon." Petunia muttered with a scowl.
Lily nodded and smiled. She was about to reach for the trolley when suddenly there was a sharp cry.
Her mother yanked her back before she could take another step.
"My b-baby. She's going to b-b-boarding school!" She burst into tears hugging Lily so tight she thought she would suffocate. Violet doubled over laughing. Petunia backed away pretending not to know them. Mr. Evans reluctantly walked over to his wife and tried to pull her from Lily who now couldn't breathe. They earned some very queer looks from the crowd that only made matters worse then they were already.
Lily grabbed her trolley and began pushing toward the platforms. Walking forward she glanced back at the family that she was leaving behind. What a strange sight they were. Her family was definitely different. With a pang of sadness Lily realized that that would just make her miss them more.
Raising her hand Lily waved to them. She didn't realize that she would never see her family altogether like this again.
A boy stood staring up at the bright red steam engine. He smiled slightly as the train let out a loud whistle. A puff of steam hissed from the smokestack curling and floating away with the unseen wind. “The Hogwarts Express” was almost ready to get going.
The raven-haired boy glanced at his wristwatch. Just about five more minutes. He started walking toward it looking around and peering through the crowds of students whom were all hurrying toward the train’s doors.
“James!”
James Potter turned around and grinned when he saw who it was. Allison was running over to him waving furiously.
“What took you so long?” He asked.
“My mother found your mother and they began to chit-chat. End of story.” They both laughed.
“I already got an empty compartment.” He said as they climbed onto the train.
“Great. I hope they sell food on this train.” Allison said as they headed for the compartment.
“Oh don’t worry. They sell food alright.” James grinned and stopped before an old lady with a cart full of every favorite variety of wizard candies that you could imagine.
Allison’s eyes widened. A moment later she and James quickly began pulling sickles desperately from their pockets.
Lily Evans slowly entered another compartment. She sighed when she saw it was packed with people. Just like all the others they looked up at her wondering if she were someone she knew and then turned away. Lily glanced around at all the students who were laughing and talking. She turned away mournfully closing the door behind her.
Everyone seemed to know everyone else. They all seemed to have their close groups of friends. And that was expected. After all this was a boarding school and they spent every day and moment with each other. Lily passed by another compartment filled with a group of boys in girls who were only a little older then her. They were playing a game with cards. Lily nearly jumped when the pack of cards exploded all over one of the girls. The compartment erupted with laughter and the girl whose blonde hair was now singed joined in also. Lily moved on wondering if she would ever find her group of friends.
“The Hogwarts Express will be leaving in five minutes.” A voice said echoing throughout the train.
“Oh great.” Lily mumbled.
Lily came to the next compartment. Peering in she was surprised to find that the compartment was deserted and completely empty. A little shocked, she walked in dragging her trunk behind her. She closed the compartment door behind her and slowly sat down in one of the seats near the window.
Glancing around she realized that this compartment was bigger then the others she had seen. It was more elaborate and seemed to be a First Class compartment. Lily knew almost immediately that this compartment was meant for someone important. It probably wasn’t meant for her.
As soon as she realized this she heard voices outside of the compartment. Lily froze listening and hoping for some reason that they would go away.
“Will you look at that. Our friend Malfoy is still a perfect. Even after all the things he’s done he’s still a prominent perfect.” A girl was saying outside of the compartment.
“Shut up.” Murmured another voice.
“Are you planning on furthering your work at Hogwarts? No one will ever suspect a perfect like you. After all wasn’t he a perfect also?” The girl said lowering her voice. But for some unknown reason Lily could still hear them.
“Yes he was a perfect, head boy.”
“Has he given you any assignments?” The girl asked in a whisper. Lily could still hear her perfectly.
“Yes.” He said after a slight hesitation.
“Who is it this time?” She asked intrigued.
“You’re not going to believe this but apparently Ogg needs to be done for.”
“The gamekeeper.” The girl said giggling.
“Apparently so.” He said sounding as if he was going to laugh too.
“Right.” She snorted.
“Well call upon me and the others when there’s a time of need.” She said.
Lily heard her footsteps retreat in the other direction. Frozen in fear she heard the compartment door open. He was going to come in. He was going to find her here and realize she had heard the whole thing. Lily didn’t know why but for some reason that had seemed like a very private conversation to her.
He walked right past her and sat down in front of her. Apparently he hadn’t seen her. He leaned against the window and closed his eyes. Lily waited a few moments and then decided to make a run for it. She got up and grabbed her trunk and started for the door.
Suddenly someone grabbed her by the wrist. Lily cried out and turned to look into a pair of cold gray eyes.
“What do you think you’re doing here.” He asked coldly.
Lily felt her blood go cold. She tried to pull her wrist free but he just made his grip stronger.
“Don’t you know that this compartment is reserved?” He continued a strange smile spreading across his face.
“No.” Lily said shaking her head.
“Well it is. It’s not here for little muggle first year girls like yourself.” He said mocking her.
“Then I suspect that it’s been reserved for stupid gits like yourself.” Lily said bravely.
Lily knew she should have kept her mouth shut but she was so angry that it had just spilled out. Now he was the mad one. He gripped her wrist tighter and Lily felt her hand become numb. She courageously continued to glare at him as the feeling left her hand and he grew red despite the paleness of his white skin. He was fuming. Lily attempted to pull herself free but it just seemed to make him madder.
Lily thought quickly. She dug her nails into his flesh as blood began to bubble from his pale hand. Not waiting to see how he reacted she grabbed her trunk with her free hand and gave it a sharp shove with all her strength. The trunk tipped over, crashing to the floor it fell with a bang, right on his toes.
He leapt back pushing the trunk off of his feet. He howled in pain and began limping over to a seat where he sat down and began to massage his injured toes. Lily didn’t stick around to watch the amusing scene. She grabbed her trunk and dove out of the compartment.
She bumped into two red heads and didn’t even bother to apologize. She could hear them calling after her.
“Hey watch it!”
“Stop Running!”
But Lily didn’t care. She continued to run knocking into people and trying to avoid objects that seemed to jump into her way. People were yelling after her. Lily didn’t hear any of this. She wanted to get as far away from Malfoy as possible.
She didn’t see the boy until it was too late to stop. She slammed into him and both of them went toppling to the floor. Lily landed on top of him. For one moment Lily found herself staring into the bright brown eyes of the dark haired boy, her face dangerously close to his. Recognition dawned in their eyes as they instantly recognized each other.
“Lily?” He asked.
Lily rolled off of him turning bright red with embarrassment. She sat up brushing her red hair away from her face and eyes. She was glad to see that no one had seen her fall on him. Stealing a glance at him she saw that he was sitting up and looking at her confused. Heat rose in her face and Lily could feel herself turning even redder. She just wanted to sink into the floor and disappear.
“Hi Lily.” He said.
“Hi James.” She was surprised that she remembered his name.
There was an awkward silence for a moment as the two of them stared at each other.
“Are you okay?” He asked quickly.
“Yeah. I’m really sorry James. I didn’t mean to bump into you.” Lily said hastily apologizing.
“That’s okay.” He said standing up.
He offered her his hand. With his help Lily got to her feet.
“James! What took you so _”
Lily and James looked up. A girl with vivid blue eyes and brown hair was standing there and she was smiling amusedly. Lily had seen her before in Diagon Alley coming out of the wand shop.
“Well I see you found a girlfriend!” The girl said grinning.
“She’s not my girlfriend.” James said rolling his eyes.
“Sure.” The girl said folding her arms across her chest.
“This is Lily. My friend.” James said annunciating the last sentence loudly for the girl to hear.
“Nice to meet you Lily. I’m Allison.” Allison introduced herself.
Lily smiled and Allison returned the smile.
“Well now that you’ve met my friend.” James said annunciating “friend” again.
“Want to come sit with us?” James asked her.
“Sure.” She said overjoyed that they had asked her to sit with them.
Feeling more at ease, Lily followed James and Allison toward the compartment. She began to realize that she might not have as hard of a time finding a friend as she thought.
Chapter Nine