It took a long time before Lily met Severus again. The second day that she spent alone in her room, browsing the fantastical books from her list, her attention again drifting to Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Petunia had told her about the Silvers and Blues from St. Adelaides All Girls Boarding School, that Rose's mother had told Petunia about. Petunia had told unsettling stories about the experiences of Rose's mother – how she had not wanted to attend sport's day and a fellow Blue housemate had spread evil rumors about her, and that they had pulled out each other's hair in an argument about the shower. Lily wondered if Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were similar to Silver and Blue, but unfortunately, it had been months ago when she had last talked to the only person able to tell her, only to deliver the quick explanation for why she had been ignoring him. But right now, her parents were at work and Mrs. Peters was looking after her and Petunia. Lily shut 'Fantastic beasts and where to find them', gave Elisedd an owl treat because Petunia had complained about the hooting, and walked downstairs. Mrs. Peters was immersed in a quiz on television, so Lily sneaked outside and headed into the direction of the river again. She went into the dark, cobblestoned alleyway and walked past the lopsided houses until there were no more streets. In front of her rose the old textile mill like a prison and she saw that the many paneled windows were blinded by a layer of dirt. The last street, looking more abandoned than all the others, had a rusty sign on it that said 'Spinner's End'.

"Severus!" Lily shouted, but there was no reaction. After she had called his name a few more times, Lily gave up. She hurried back through the dark alley towards the river. Then, suddenly, she heard the echo from running footsteps other than hers and someone grabbed her arm.

"I'm here, now what?" she heard an unfamiliarly familiar voice say in her ear.

"I need to know something about Hogwarts" Lily said, turning and looking in the face of the odd-looking wizard boy she hadn't seen for months. "By the way, I have all that I need to become a witch now. My daddy bought me magical books, a cauldron…"

"You've been to Diagon Alley?" Severus cut her off impatiently. Lily nodded.

"I've been there the day after my birthday. Could've shown you my wand at last" Severus continued, "but my mum hid it – under stuff. Found it the previous time, and I was chased by her until I handed it over. She doesn't want me to do things with it yet"

"Your mum's right! The Ministry does not even allow you to perform magic!" Lily said.

"I don't mean spells" Severus muttered. "Just wanted to practice my swish and flick movements without the incantations, that's all…"

"Happy birthday, by the way" Lily said.

Severus smiled. "Happy birthday too!" They ran away from Spinner's End through Baker Street, Greenfield Avenue and Church Street. Lily halted by her front door and rang the bell. The door was opened by Petunia.

"What is this doing here, Lily?" she screeched, pointing at Severus.

"I want to show Severus my Hogwarts letter!" Lily protested.

"You are the most gullible person in the world" Petunia said, and the tone of her voice reminded Lily of the times Petunia had picked up the phone talking to their mother's friends about divorces and motherhood until they had asked her about her favorite remedy against wrinkles. "No normal person would let in that boy. That would be like begging him to steal something. I am going to tell this to mummy and daddy when they come home!"

"Then I am going to tell Mrs. Peters that you stole perfume from her once" Lily threatened, "because you wanted belong to Rose and her friend group." Petunia had never known that she had seen that.

Petunia paled. "I didn't!" she protested. "I didn't steal anything!"

"Then how did that bottle appear in your room?" Lily demanded.

"That…That…I…" Petunia stammered, but she let Lily and Severus pass her with an angry glare at Severus's frilly smock. Severus followed Lily upstairs through the corridor. They walked past Petunia's room, and the door was open.

"She has your letter, too!" Severus said.

"Don't be silly-" Lily said following his gaze, but she did not finish her sentence, because there was indeed a large, antique white envelope lying on Petunia's desk. Before Lily could have said anything, Severus had already walked into the room with flower curtains and walls of dusty pink. Instead of returning, he just kept standing there.

"I was mistaken. It's not yours" he said and swallowed. "I don't understand how a Muggle could have contacted Hogwarts".

Lily did not understand what Severus meant and took a look herself. When she saw the name on the letter, her heart leapt. Petunia's name was written on another letter, in the same calligraphy as her own. This was something she hadn't dare to hope for anymore.

"Hurry up, open it" she said. Severus opened the letter and drew out the parchment.

"I wonder why Petunia got her letter one year later" Lily mused, concerned. "Maybe they made a mistake with her year of birth…"

"They didn't make a mistake." Severus said in a determined voice, as his eyes were darting over the letter. "She got rejected". Adding that, his voice broke in the same way as it had done when he had been telling Lily about Hogwarts.

"No!" Lily said, suddenly getting a heavy feeling in her chest. "Let me read it!" She snatched the letter from Severus.

Dear Ms. Evans, it read.

It was very enterprising of you to take the initiative to write to Hogwarts all by yourself. You asked me whether someone could attend education at Hogwarts when they have not received an invitation. Unfortunately, the answer to that question is no. Because of the fact that you are born as a Muggle (an un-magical person), you would not be able to find Hogwarts. Even if you did travel to the place of Hogwarts independently, the only thing that you would see is a ruin. This is because of the spell cast upon it by our Ministry of Magic. It would have been quite a disappointment for you that your sister will be going to a separate, unknown school. Therefore I want to reassure you that you and your sister can write and there is an opportunity for her to go home every holiday. I know that this does not take away your other disappointment, of not being able to participate in the magical world as a Muggle. On that I would like to comment that there are other kinds of magic than the sort you are now thinking of such as compassion, love and joy, that you are no doubt familiar with in your everyday life already. If you have trouble choosing a career path, I would like to add that besides having a lovely handwriting, your grammar and spelling are perfect. I am sure that in the future, you will have no trouble at all finding an administrative function in a Muggle company. With your curious and instigating nature, you will be a blessing for every organization. I wish you lots of luck with the rest of your life.

Albus Dumbledore, Hogwarts headmaster

Lily saw her vision of her and Petunia practicing spells together shatter. Twice she had been disappointed this way now, first while discovering Petunia was a Muggle and now after having been so stupid as to believe that the letter meant Petunia was accepted at Hogwarts too…

"What's the matter?" Severus asked.

"I feel sad because Petunia is rejected!" Lily said loudly, swallowing back her tears.

"I don't understand how she could have been…There must be wizards who are working for the Muggle postal service" Severus said.

"Let's go to my room" Lily said, because the letter could have been delivered by flying elephants as far as she was concerned. She put the letter back carefully on the exact place where it had been before and took Severus to her room, that was crammed with her Hogwarts things. Severus admired her brass scales, set of phials, cauldron, tried to stroke Elisedd and pulled back his hand when she pecked his finger. Lily felt upset seeing his contorted face.

"That was my fault! I should have warned you – I thought she liked everyone" she said. "The shopkeeper said she was a very social owl…"

"It was nothing!" Severus said.

"Severus, what are Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff? I heard some wizards talking about them at Diagon Alley." Lily finally asked. "One of them said he was in Hufflepuff, and the other reacted kind of…badly. He said he was in Ravenclaw. What does that mean?"

"Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are two of the four Hogwarts houses" Severus said, gesticulating something vague. "The other two are Slytherin and Gryffindor."

"Are Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin and Gryffindor the same as Silver and Blue?" Lily wanted to know.

Severus frowned. "Silver and Blue? What are that?"

"They are houses from the school my sister goes to" Lily explained. "When you arrive there, you are divided into Silver or Blue by the teacher, and you have to eat and sleep together with the other girls from your group for all seven years".

"Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor are like that" Severus acknowledged, "but you are not just assigned a house by chance. You are Sorted by the Sorting Hat. That is a hat which is enchanted so that it is able to see which house fits you best."

"Is that difficult, being Sorted?" Lily wanted to know. She had no idea how to imagine an enchanted hat.

"No, not when you have a lot of magic, like you" Severus reassured her. Lily felt relieved.

"And on which platform does the train to Hogwarts stop?" she suddenly remembered another question she had forgotten the ask.

"Platform 9 ¾" Severus said seriously. "At King's Cross Station".

"But…King's Cross Station does not have a platform 9 3/4!" Lily said.

"Oh, it does" Severus said with the knowing smile that meant that she had overlooked something magical, "You have to run into the division between platforms nine and ten".

"Run into?" Lily gasped.

"Yeah, it's easy, really, you just want to make sure that you aren't too afraid" Severus said. "Otherwise…well, I've seen people break their arm!" He laughed loudly and Elisedd fluttered. Lily reckoned she must have looked scared, because Severus soothed: "I was just joking. No-one ever broke any limbs this way that I know of. Well, it could happen in theory I guess, but…all I'm saying is you shouldn't be afraid".

When the evening set in and her parents would come home soon for dinner, Lily told Severus that he needed to go.

"But we'll see each other at Platform 9 ¾!" she said, already getting excited. He nodded.

It was a beautiful day that September started. Even Spinner's End somewhat improved from the golden light that shone upon it. Eileen sought for an hour under a pile of dirty old rags under her bed, complaining that she had put such a good hiding charm on Severus's wand that even she couldn't find it anymore, until she finally did. Tobias was humming and drinking tea in the morning, something very extraordinarily.
It almost seemed like he was in a good mood. Severus had never imagined that his father was capable of such a thing.

"So you are really going to that…school for seven years?" he asked repeatedly during breakfast (the same porridge as always that Severus thought, tasted less disgusting than usual), as if he was hardly able to believe it.

"Yes, he is" Eileen answered with a slavish smile at her husband. "Go get your things!" she ordered Severus. He went upstairs to pack his trolley with his wand, books, equipment and Gluingel. He was finally going to Hogwarts, and he hoped that he would be sorted in Slytherin… Slytherin was the house that was not against Dark magic, whose founder saw the world for what it really was, the house where you went when you had a lot of magic and the potential to achieve great things. Severus heard his parents talking louder for the last time. Something was shattered, probably a glass that his dad had thrown against the wall.

"It will not go back to being the same as eleven years ago! The only reason I stayed with you was because I couldn't find someone better!" his dad shouted.

His mother started to cry. "Well, so do I!" she screamed.

Severus hardly dared to believe that this was the last time that he was forced to hear them argue. When he walked in the sitting room, his mother's expression was sourer than ever.

"Well…goodbye for now" Severus muttered to his dad. His father examined him and Severus prepared himself for some scathing remark.

"Goodbye" his dad replied. Severus waited for something more, but it didn't come. Stunned, he looked at his dad some more, which made his dad narrow his eyes. Hastily, Severus averted his gaze and turned around. Silently, his mother opened the door and they took a shortcut past the mill to the train station.

"Do you have everything?" Eileen snapped. "I'm not going back!"

She bought two tickets from the Muggle ticket vendor. As they boarded the Muggle train, taking place on two empty seats with another two empty seats in front of them with a left Muggle paper and a packet of cookies and the train left the station, Severus watched in satisfaction how the station full of goods trains and the dreary buildings of his hometown, overshadowed by the mill, made place for countryside and cities. After a long ride they finally entered a large steel dome supported by stone pillars. It was very busy on the platforms. A lot of Muggles swarmed past. Eileen and Severus made their way through the crowd with difficulty until they arrived at the barrier between platforms nine and ten.

"You go first" she said to Severus and pushed him. He swallowed. What if there was no enchantment on the wall? What if he had made a mistake and it was another? A Muggle bumped into him and he heard the jeering of some boys wearing glitter suits. Quickly, Severus started running with the trolley. When he was close to the brick wall, he closed his eyes. But there came nothing. No collision, no pain. When he opened his eyes again, he finally saw the train that he had been trying to imagine for years. It looked like a GWR 4900 class 5MT steam locomotive. Severus sighed. Everything was fine. The Hogwarts Express was not leaving yet, they still had ten minutes left. His mother appeared next to him.

"It hasn't changed at all" she said.

Severus looked around in the mismatched crowd of people in Muggle clothes and robes around him. Then he suddenly saw who were standing at a close distance and his heart leapt. Lily and Petunia were arguing, and he recognized the brown-haired woman standing a bit behind them with a red-haired man. Their parents. Severus felt his heart beat faster as he was trying to hear what Petunia was saying.

"You expect me to be happy for you" Petunia complained in her self-righteous voice, "while mummy and daddy asked you if you wanted to go to Hogwarts. You had a choice, Lily! You knew I wouldn't like it, and still you chose for that school…"

"I'm sorry, Tuney, I'm sorry!" Lily said. "Listen…" She grabbed her sister's hand. Petunia wanted to pull herself loose, but she did not succeed. "Maybe once I'm there – no, listen, Tuney! Maybe once I'm there I'll be able to convince professor Dumbledore to change his mind!"

Severus was annoyed. He reassured himself with the fact that this was impossible. There would be no way that professor Dumbledore was going to make an exception for one Muggle, and even if he did, Petunia would soon realize that she couldn't perform a single spell and leave. And fortunately, he didn't need to have worried, because Petunia said with emphasis: "I – don't – want – to – go!", having finally managed to pull herself free. "You think I want to go to some stupid castle and learn to be a – a…" She was looking for a word with the familiar look in her eyes that Severus was glad to see was not reserved only for him anymore. "You think I want to be a-a freak?"

Lily's eyes had become blurry. "I'm not a freak. That's a horrible thing to say" she said in a flat voice that Severus did not recognize.

This made Petunia look happy. "That's where you are going. A special school for freaks. You and that Snape boy – weirdos, that's what you two are. It's good you are being separated from normal people. It's for our safety".

Severus hoped that this wouldn't make Lily regret her decision to go to Hogwarts. But she glanced around to their parents, and when she realized that they hadn't heard Petunia, she turned back to her sister and said in a low voice that Severus had never expected she would use addressing Petunia: "You didn't think it was such a freak's school when you wrote to the headmaster and begged him to take you".

Petunia protested that she hadn't, with cheeks that had splotched scarlet, but Lily told her about the reply that they had read. This made Petunia splutter something about 'her private'. Now, Lily looked at Severus for a second with her lime green eyes. Even here, between all the other witches and wizards, she looked more magical than the rest.

"That boy found it!" Petunia concluded with outrage. "You and that boy have been sneaking in my room!"

Lily protested that they hadn't been sneaking and explained the situation, but like usual, Petunia did not want to listen and complained about wizards 'poking their noses in everything'. "Freak!" she spat at Lily, and the tone that she used was the same as the one she had used when she had insulted Severus by the river. Severus felt relieved that Petunia was not able to fool Lily about her true nature anymore. He was glad when it was fifty-five past ten. Time had passed quickly; Lily's parents hugged her, wishing her succes through their tears; Petunia just said goodbye in a stiff manner. Severus watched Lily stepping on the train.

"I have to go on board, it will depart in five minutes" he told his own mother. She looked at him with a fathomless expression in her black eyes. Then she swallowed strangely. Severus prayed she wasn't going to cry. Fortunately, she simply stated: "And I have to go back home. Goodbye".

Severus pulled his trolley in the train and turned around one last minute. Then suddenly, he felt something odd when his mother hadn't yet moved from her spot, that drove him to wave shortly. She waved back, turned around and started walking away. Quickly, Severus tore away his gaze and searched for the next loo to use for changing into his robes. He couldn't wait to be finally able to wear them...After trying several iron doors that wouldn't open, Severus finally found one that, almost by miracle, did, and he hastily went into the small, draughty space. He took off his coat that, after all, didn't really resemble the attire of a dark wizard after all, to finally pull off his girly smock, and when he was pulling down his too-short jeans, the train suddenly started moving so that he fell, bumping his head against the toilet. Severus cursed. Hastily he threw his pants together with his other dreadful clothing in his trolley and put on his black robes. Through an open window, he heard a high-pitched voice yell: "PETER! YOU FORGOT YOUR SANDWICHES!" Severus looked and saw a plump woman on Platform nine and three quarters running along with the train as if trying to catch up with it.
Severus ran through the corridor in search for Lily. At last, he heard voices coming from the last compartment. It were boy's voices, rather unpleasantly loud, but then, Severus saw Lily sitting in the corner besides the window. He opened the sliding door. Lily did look at him when he entered, but it was not with the cheerful expression that he had imagined. Her eyes were red and puffy and her face looked even paler than it normally was and wet. She looked back out of the window, pressing her face against it.

"I don't want to talk to you" she said in a constricted voice. This was far from the perfect reunion that Severus had imagined. "Why not?" he asked, not understanding why Lily was upset again.

"Tuney h-hates me. Because we saw that letter from Dumbledore."

This can't be true, Severus thought. Lily had not seen Petunia for who she really was at all. On the contrary, Lily now also blamed him for the fact that 'Tuney' hated her, for some kind of reason impossible to understand! "So what?" he said impatiently.

Lily gave him an angry look. "So she's my sister!" she retorted, like the fact that they were related had turned Petunia into a saint who could do nothing wrong. Someone to be put on a pedestal like the greatest person ever, despite the fact that there was nothing extraordinary about her. She couldn't even do magic, while he, Severus, could! But that had never stopped Lily from idolizing Petunia and taking her anger from their arguments out on him.

"She's just a-" Severus began, but he caught himself just in time. He knew better than to insult Petunia by now. Thankfully, Lily had not heard him this time. "But we're going!" Severus hastily changed the subject, feeling the reality of the situation overwhelm him with joy. "This is it! We're off to Hogwarts!"

Lily nodded matter-of-factly, wiping away her tears, but then a miracle happened; she sort of smiled. Severus dared to speak to her again.

"You'd better be in Slytherin" he said, happy at the thought.

"Slytherin?" he heard a voice repeat. Severus looked into the direction of the nameless rowdy boys and his eyes locked with ones after glasses, those of a skinny boy with messy black hair who had been looking around for the one who had mentioned Slytherin. The unknown wizard averted his gaze to the one in front of him, a boy half-sitting, half-lying carelessly in his seat whose black hair fell partially over his nose.

"Who wants to be in Slytherin? I'd leave, wouldn't you?" Four-eyes asked his companion. If he had meant it to be a light-hearted joke, he had failed. The boy opposite him remained serious. Severus was glad about that.

"My whole family have been in Slytherin" the boy said, but from the strange lack of proudness in his voice, Severus drew the unpleasant and incomprehensible conclusion that instead of a defense, it was meant as a sad confession.

"Blimey, and I thought you seemed alright!" Four-eyes said. Then something even less comprehensible happened. The boy who had just been sad grinned!

"Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?" he asked. Severus was shocked that someone was talking to Four-eyes in such a friendly way – like the bloke was pleasant company, better than nothing. It was not like he had said something nice to the boy that was now grinning. Four-eyes lifted an invisible sword.

"Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart! Like my dad".

Finally, it had become clear. The feud between Gryffindor and Slytherin was a millennium old. No wonder these two boys chose Gryffindor, for someone who did not think at all it was obviously appealing to be judged for bravery. Severus could not suppress a slight snort.

"Got a problem with that?" Four-eyes asked him.

Severus had waited to be addressed. "No." he lied. "If you're rather brawny than brainy…" he hinted. These unknown wizards apparently liked the idea of fighting with a sword, but they had clearly never paid any thought to the idea of winning a duel fought out with words. The art of sharpening an insult instead of a blade of steel was completely lost on them…Therefore, they would never know the sweet satisfaction of thrusting the sword of wit into their enemy... Severus reveled in this realization.

"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you are neither?"

Four-eyes burst into laughter and Lily stood up. To Severus's horror, she was blushing, as if she felt humiliated for him.

"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment!" she decided loudly, while looking disapprovingly at Four-eyes and his new friend Lickspittle. Four-eyes and Lickspittle made a sound of eager anticipation for Severus that made him feel embarrassed. To make matters worse, he nearly fell, because Lickspittle had stuck out his foot.

"See ya, Snivellus…" Lickspittle called, and as they walked further sat down opposing two older girls, Severus decided that here his train ride with Lily really started. The previous beginning was just like a failed scene that a director cut out of a movie. Now they started over.

From her spot next to the window, Lily watched the passing by of the seemingly endless fields of grass and barley, only interrupted sometimes by a river or a lake. Nothing would ever be the same. Petunia had called her a freak, something that the sister and best friend she had thought she knew would never have done. It was like somebody else's soul had taken over Petunia's body. Unfortunately, the more realistic explanation was that the real Petunia hated her and that it was all her fault for having befriended Severus. Even her parents hadn't been able to make Petunia forgive her, and when they couldn't, nobody could. She missed her parents very much, and felt sick at the thought she wouldn't be seeing them at dinner today. When Lily had first heard the boys in her compartment talking, the things they had told each other – about the mysterious game called Quidditch and the curious jobs they wanted to do after they had left Hogwarts - had sounded terrible, freakish stories from freaks who were separated from normal society for the safety of the 'Muggles'. Even though Lily had wished that she had never met Severus, there was no way to undo it, and now he was all that she had, far away from home, unable to go back. And hearing the enthusiasm in his voice had reminded her of when she had listened to him by the river, getting excited for the first time about a magical school called Hogwarts, and she had started to look forward to it again. Unfortunately one of the boys, the one that had been talking the most, a wizard with strangely messy black hair and glasses, had started to attack her future house, Slytherin, and Severus. Lily was glad that they had left the compartment.

"You got an animal too?" Lily asked Severus. He nodded and grabbed a dark green toad out of his pocket. "Fortunately, Gluingel doesn't do much except for breathing" he said.

Lily put the amphibian on her hand. The toad did not react. "Hello, how are you doing?" she asked in the most cheerful tone she was able to produce. The toad did not move or make any sound. Lily put him on the little table.

"I think I hear the sweets selling witch coming our way.." one of the girls in front of them announced.

That was indeed true; not much later, a witch in brightly-colored robes walked inside their compartment pushed along a sweets-filled cart, and asked everyone if they wanted to buy a treat from her. Severus bought a pasty that he dropped on the dirty ground. He picked it up and took a bite out of it. Lily bought a few cakes and licorice wands.

"Which lesson are you looking forward the most?" she asked Severus.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts" he said. "And you?"

"Potions" she answered. "I read about exploding fluid, flitterbloom and moondew… I can't wait to be able to use magical ingredients. And you can store your potion, for when you later need it. I'm only worried that because I'm Muggle-born, I'd be the worst in class"

Severus stared at her. "I bet you won't" he said. "By the way, did you know that a lot of great potioneers were from Slytherin? Arsenius Jigger, Vindictus Veridian, Aurelia Budge, Zygmunt Budge and Gregory the Smarmy…"

"I didn't know that" Lily said, interested. "What made them famous?"

"Well, Arsenius Jigger wrote a few famous books on potions – our Magical Drafts and Potions and Potions Opuscule. He was co-founder of the apothecary at Diagon Alley. Vindictus Veridian wrote another book on potions, The Most Powerful Concoctions For Your Most Condemned Antagonists. Aurelia Budge was famous for her Laughing Potion, that her great-great grandson Zygmunt refined. Fortunately he also did useful things, such as discovering the properties of hundreds of secret plants and creatures, and writing the Book of Potions. I will lend you mine at school. Because Zygmunt Budge really was a great potioneer. And Gregory the Smarmy made Gregory's Unctuous Unction, that makes the drinker believe that the drinker is their best friend."

"That Book of Potions sounds interesting, Severus! It will be a great addition to Magical Drafts and Potions" Lily said.

One of the girls in front of them said in an annoyed voice: "Not all great potioneers were from Slytherin. Linfred of Stinchcombe was from Gryffindor. And Quintia McQuoid from Ravenclaw"

"I didn't say all" Severus said in a low voice.

"I'm glad the weather is so great!" Lily quickly changed the subject. "Look at that clear blue sky! Isn't it nice?"

"It seems like it is going to be a long summer" Severus added happily.

The train ride itself was long as well. Gradually, the blue of the sky turned darker and darker. One of the girls in front of them said: "Looks like we're almost there". Lily looked outside the window again. It was dark now, so she couldn't see where they were. She thought she saw trees, and rocky roads. A voice called that they would be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes time, and that their luggage would be brought to the school for them. The corridor suddenly flooded with talking students. Everyone was in a hurry to leave the train. Severus stood up. "Finally! We're there!" he shouted, flapping his arms.
At last, Lily felt the excitement she had hoped to feel. What would be awaiting them? Severus and Lily followed the other students towards the platform. It was very different from King's Cross. It could hardly be called a platform at all; it was just a large black rock that was flatter than the others. For the rest, there was no signpost. Everyone waited, until they heard very loud footsteps and saw a lantern making its way through the crowd.

"Firs' years! Firs' years come with me!" a very large man with bushy hair shouted over the crowd with a voice that befell their ears like the sound of drums. It was Hagrid! Lily was happy to hear his voice. After a while, Lily and Severus found themselves between a group of about fourty students their age. Next to Lily, a sandy-haired girl stared wide-eyed at Hagrid.

"Everyone's there? Great. Follow me" Hagrid said. He led them down a path of which the trees around it swallowed the remaining light whole, leaving only darkness, until...
The road made a turn and then a great, dark lake was visible, illuminated by the light of the stars and the moon. On the top of a rocky mountain stood an imposing and majestic building of stone that had withstand a thousand of years, illuminated by the light of countless torches, with turrets and towers looking like they came straight from the Middle Ages, untouched by modern times. Lily, who had been imagining something more haunted-looking, finally understood why Severus had been so excited about Hogwarts. The castle had an aura of wonder. At the shore of the lake, where white waves were softly ebbing against the silver sand, there was a line of dark, small wooden boats.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid instructed. Lily and Severus walked past the shore until they found a free boat at last. They climbed in it, along with the blonde girl. Hagrid just fitted in one boat. When everyone was safe in their boats, Hagrid bellowed "FORWARD!". The boats started moving on their own. Lily was delighted by the many uses of magic. They sailed towards a large cliff and there was a gap with an overgrown tunnel; it ended in an underground harbor as forsaken-looking as the platform.
They were one of the last to step out of the boats.

"GLUINGEL!" Severus suddenly shouted. Some looked over their shoulders in annoyance.

"What is it, have you lost him?" Lily gasped. She felt tears appear in her eyes. "Well, at least toads can swim…"

"Not here. In the train" Severus whispered. "I forgot that he was still on that table"

"How stupid of you" a girl with mousy-colored hair interjected. "It will be your fault when your toad dies"

"Shut up!" Severus said loudly.

Lily put her hand on one of Severus's and said: "At the end of the year, we'll ask the machinist or conductor if they have found him." Then his hands, that were balled to fists, relaxed. They climbed after the others the large, grey stone steps, until they found themselves in a shadowy spot in the field of grass before the castle, that loomed in front of them. They walked towards the entrance: a large oak door. Hagrid knocked on the door three times and the sound reverberated through the silence.
The witch that opened the door looked like the magical version of how Lily had always imagined a schoolteacher to look like. She was tall and stood very upright. Her dark hair was pulled back into a meticulous bun, and while she did look welcoming, she did not smile.

"Firs' years, Professor McGonagall" Hagrid announced.

"Thank you, Hagrid" Professor McGonagall said.

When the great wooden door opened, Lily got the feeling that she had entered one of the ballrooms Petunia had always fawned over. There was something special about the very large foyer, lit by torches and ending in a marble staircase. The ceiling was as high as a church's. Lily had never seen a more beautiful hall. They heard the rumoring of a lot of voices coming from the door on the right, but Professor McGonagall led them into another, empty hall. They needed to stand closely together and Lily heard Severus's nervous breathing.

"Gryffindor pride …" the boys they met at the train sang. Professor McGonagall cleared her throat. "Some seem to think that they will be able to choose their own house." she said. "Unfortunately, while our Sorting Hat often takes the choice of the student in consideration, this will only be the decisive factor in a very few cases. For those of you who are not familiar with the Sorting Ceremony, this is our ancient tradition that will tell you in which Hogwarts House you belong -Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin. Every house has their own Head of House, and I am proud to say that I am chosen as the Head of House of Gryffindor. Your House is like a family away from home. Most of your free time, including classes and nighttime, you will spend with your housemates. You are expected to give the best of yourself to your house, since all your triumphs at Hogwarts will give you house points and for all your rulebreakings you will lose them just as quickly. At the end of the year, the house with the most points will earn the House Cup. So do not disappoint your house, nor yourself. I encourage you to get the most out of yourself at Hogwarts. The Sorting Ceremony will begin in a few minutes, and it will take place in front of the rest of the school. Here, you can prepare yourself a bit before I'll come back when they are ready for you. Be quit." And then, she strode off towards the hall.

A dark-haired boy with freckles said: "I hope I'll be Sorted in Hufflepuff!"

"Me too" a blonde-haired boy said, "my best friend is Sorted there. Hufflepuff is the best!"

A stooped girl with brown braids said: "Well, luckily for you, that's where the majority goes!"

Lily regretted not having a mirror in her pocket. What if there was something stuck between her teeth or on her nose? Or her hair would look bad? Everyone would see it. However, she had not much time to dwell on that, because Professor McGonagall had come back. "Make a line, the Sorting Ceremony's about to begin!" she said solemnly.

There was a nervous rumoring, and the first-years shuffled a bit before they eventually formed a queue, and Lily and Severus were one of the last. Lily felt eager anticipation like she had felt when she had been about to perform a play or a dance at her old school. She linked her hand with Severus's cold one. When they marched through the hall, her excitement made place for nervousness. The Great Hall was unlike everything she had expected, except for the fact that it was great. It surpassed all her expectations. There were four very long tables, at which hundreds of witches and wizards were sitting, behind golden plates. At the table in the end sat the teachers, and in the middle of them what had to be the Headmaster, a wise-looking old man with a very large white beard, wearing purple robes. But the most beautiful thing about the Great Hall was the ceiling. It looked like there was no ceiling – where the ceiling must have been was a sky full of stars.

"Severus, look!" Lily said.

"Impressive, right? I am trying to find Capricorn and Aquarius" he said.

But there was no time for that, because Professor McGonagall put a very strange-looking hat on a stool. In a way, it was good that Petunia had not gone to Hogwarts, Lily thought, because she would have insisted that the hat would be cleaned before she would ever want to put it on her head. It looked like it had been dug up from under the earth. There was a silence and then, a fold in the hat opened.

"Oh, I might not win a competition
Of the world's most beautiful hat
But I will be the only thinking one
that you magicians ever looked at.
I am the Sorting Hat, well-informed and
I will tell you where you belong
Trust my judgement, as those who did before
And listen to my famous song
Perhaps you will become a Gryffindor
Like my former owner Godric, a wizard most brave
If in the face of danger you will not run
And there are others that you would save
Or maybe you will be in Ravenclaw
If you find no problem too difficult to solve
Like the fair and clever Rowena
She invented ever-changing rooms, staircases that revolve
In Hufflepuff, we find the kind at heart,
always hard-working, never complaining once
Helga made no difference whom she liked
Only the lax she found a dunce
Or, maybe you will fit in another House,
If you are ambitious like Salazar no-one could befool
Although you'd be preferably the purest of blood
In Slytherin you'll contribute very greatly in our school"

Everybody clapped. The Sorting Hat bowed and then became quite lifeless-looking again, like an ordinary hat. It seemed that Professor McGonagall was carrying a roll of parchment all of sudden. She took a step forward.

"When I call your name, you will put on the Sorting hat and sit on the stool to be sorted" she announced.

Severus desperately tried to calm his nerves. He nearly jumped when Professor McGonagall called the first name.

"Allington, Rainbow!" A brown-haired, rather large girl with freckles and a double chin sat down on the stool and put the hat on her head. "RAVENCLAW!" the hat cried out almost instantly. Smiling smugly, Rainbow walked towards them and sat down at the table second from the left.

"Avery, Gilad", a dark-haired boy with lopsided eyes walked to the stool. When he put the hat on his head, it took a while before he became a Slytherin. Everyone at the second table to the right applauded.

"Ackerman, Quincey" became the first Hufflepuff and sat down at the table on the far right. A few other unremarkable people were Sorted.

Then, Professor McGonagall called: "Black, Sirius!" and Lickspittle, or as he was called by everyone else, Sirius Black, stepped forward. He looked as if he was about to get sick, but a few girls in the line stepped on their toes to see more of him; some stepped aside. A few whispered. When Black put the hat on his dark-haired head, it took the Sorting Hat a few more minutes to decide and Severus hoped that this was because the hat was doubting whether it should put him in Ravenclaw or in Hufflepuff, or nowhere. Unfortunately the hat eventually cried out: "GRYFFINDOR!" and, with a look of great relief, Black walked nonchalantly to the table on the far left, which exploded with cheers.

"Bones, Cooper" became another Gryffindor.

"Brown, Daniel" became another Ravenclaw.

"Bulstrode, Vadim" became another Slytherin.

"Cabbage, John" became another Hufflepuff and he let out a victorious cry that Severus did not understand. Amongst the cheering no-one heard his snort.

"Crabbe, Vincent" turned out to be a Slytherin.

"Cromwall, Ainsley" became a Hufflepuff.

When Severus heard "Emerson, Aster", who was Sorted into Ravenclaw, he started to pay attention again. This was a moment he had looked forward to.

"Evans, Lily!" Professor McGonagall called. With trembling legs, Lily walked towards the stool. She was clearly nervous and put on the hat.

"GRYFFINDOR!" it called.

The hat had made a mistake. Lily handed the hat to Professor McGonagall, and she was expected to walk to the Gryffindor table. But before she did, she turned around. And gave Severus a sad little smile. It was a mistake, but a mistake that no-one else was bothered about, apparently, because there was no-one who protested. Severus was angry at Professor McGonagall, and at the Sorting Hat. How did that hat know that Lily belonged in Gryffindor, with its stupid little song? Black made room for her on the Gryffindor table but Lily ignored it and walked past him with her arms folded. Severus did not register the students after Lily. He was kind of in a daze, but came back to reality hearing: "Gibbon, Linus".

Linus Gibbon, a wizard with dark hair looking determined was Sorted in Slytherin.

"Greengrass, Lorelei", the annoying girl from the boat became a Slytherin too, and her brother "Greengrass, Seppy" a Ravenclaw.

When Severus heard "Lupin, Remus!" he looked uninterestedly and saw a very pale and sick-looking boy walking unconfidently towards the stool. Remus Lupin became a Gryffindor. Then Professor McGonagall called: "Mulciber, Titus!" It was the boy with the birthmark and he became a Slytherin. "Nott, Accario" was Sorted in Slytherin as well. Severus wished that the Hat would hurry up because he was anxious to be Sorted himself. He was especially impatient when the hat did more than five minutes about deciding the house of a short rat-faced boy, which turned out to be another Gryffindor. When Professor McGonagall called: "Potter, James!" Severus jolted when he saw it was Four-eyes. Hufflepuff, Severus thought desperately. Hufflepuff! Unfortunately, James Potter quickly joined the table of red and gold like his friend Black, encouraged by loud applause. They said that there weren't a lot of students Sorted in Gryffindor, but Severus had seen a lot of them already. Mary McDonald and Marlene McKinnon were Sorted there as well.

"Rosier, Evan", a boy with black, wavy hair became a Slytherin.

"Selwyn, Morgana!" Severus felt tension. Much too soon, the girl named Morgana became a Slytherin. Severus's heart beat faster, especially when "Silverlake, Peace!" became a Hufflepuff in a few seconds.

"Snape, Severus!"

His name sounded strange called out by Professor McGonagall. Everyone looked at him now. "Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" Severus despised Gryffindor. He walked forward and put on the hat.

"SLYTHERIN!" it cried out.

Severus walked to the second table on the right, and saw everyone cheering for him. There was a free seat beside the Slytherin prefect, a tall blonde wizard who patted Severus on the back when he sat down next to him. He was wearing a badge that read Slytherin Prefect, Lucius Malfoy.

"Congratulations" Lucius Malfoy said. Severus was still wondering why Lily was Sorted in Gryffindor and not in Slytherin with him. As if he had read his thoughts, Malfoy added: "The old Sorting Hat makes a lot of mistakes. Sometimes it sorts too soon, like with that Evans girl. About you it was right, though. You are a nice addition."

That made Severus feel better. "Thanks." he mumbled.

"Truesoul, Sunny", a plain girl with braids, barely touched the hat and it yelled: "HUFFLEPUFF!" Looking very disappointed, she walked to the Hufflepuff table.

In the end, more Slytherin first years joined them: "Wilkes, Marcus", a large brown-haired wizard and "Yaxley, Corban", a tall very light haired boy.

To everyone, a boy with a badge that said: Furgus Travers – Head boy asked in a raised voice: "Who is going to win the House Cup this year?!"

Most of the Slytherins chanted: "Green and silver…" with a low and bored cheer that sounded like 'huuhuu'.

"Again!" Travers demanded. "Who's going to win the House Cup?"

"GREEN AND SILVER!" everyone at the table now screamed, and made an even louder noise. They also slammed with their fists or goblets on the table or with their cutlery on their plates, and Severus half-heartedly joined them, while his other neighbor Wilkes nearly stabbed his hand.

"And what do we do to win?" Travers asked.

"We do our bleeding best" the boy with the assymetric eyes piped.

"But what if we do not succeed in winning?" Travers asked slyly. There was a silence. "Do we let the Cup pass us by?"

"Of course not!" Yaxley said indignantly.

"So if we can't win by winning, what do we do?" Travers asked.

"We kill everyone else!" someone joked. Travers grinned. "No" he said, "We shall help the other Houses with losing!"

Everyone, including Severus, laughed, except for one girl and her friend. "That's childish!" she said reproachfully. She was the annoying one with the ash brown hair from the boat. No-one listened to her. Then suddenly, the wizard that had to be Albus Dumbledore stood up. He was tall, with long silver hair and beard, and rumored to be the greatest wizard of his time.

"Welcome, old and new students! Soon, another year at Hogwarts will begin! It's better to be prepared, so without further ado, here is the banquet!"

Everyone clapped as Dumbledore sat down in his chair again. Severus wondered if he had missed something, if he had zoned out just after the beginning and just before the end of a speech. Then, the dishes in front of them suddenly contained the most delicious-looking food Severus had ever seen. Everyone started taking it at once, pushing each other away and someone yelled: "WILKES! GREEDY BASTARD! He took five of these steaks!" However, one by one, five new steaks appeared.

Severus managed to grab some roast beef, bacon and potatoes and realized he had been hungry. Quickly he started eating it. Like he had expected, it was the best thing he had ever tasted. It was even better than the fish and chips his father had bought out of frustration about his mother's cooking skills, on rare occasions. There suddenly was orange juice in the goblets, that Severus had never seen before. Pumpkin juice, he thought happily, a drink popular with magical people, but not with Muggles. Then, suddenly, his own goblet exploded – pumpkin juice splattered all over the table, on the other Slytherins faces, and on his robes.

"What did you do!" Wilkes screamed. Severus was bewildered, not understanding what had happened. He looked quickly at the Gryffindor table to see if Lily had noticed the accident, and then it became too clear because he saw Potter and Black looking as if they were crying with laughter, and had forgotten the food on their plates. Lily was shouting something at them, crushing Severus's hope that she hadn't realized. A few other Gryffindors were looking in Severus's direction. He was enraged. Magic was forbidden outside the lessons!

"The food looks nasty now!" someone complained.

"Clean that juice up, Snape!" Yaxley demanded.

"Tergeo" Lucius Malfoy said lazily and with a flick of his wand, the pumpkin juice disappeared and the food looked good again. Severus was glad that the Prefect had helped him.

"I don't think Black and that other Gryffindor like you very much, Snape" a boy with yet-black hair said coldly.

"I don't even know those idiots!" Severus spat.

"So your father is well-known, Yaxley?" Mulciber asked him. Yaxley nodded. He glanced around to see if anyone was listening, then began: "My father is the senior undersecretary of the current Minister for Magic of Scotland. My mother works at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. They couldn't accompany me to the castle, but that's okay. I have a very good bond with my aunt Agnessa…"

Severus realized that he had no idea who the Minister for Magic of Britain even was; the only paper that his mother ever read was a Muggle one. She didn't want anything to do with the magical world.

"Who is from England?" someone asked. Malfoy, Travers, Wilkes and some others raised their hands. "It's good that Nobby Leach is gone, isn't it?" Malfoy asked. All wizards from England laughed except for Severus, who felt frustrated.

"I'm from Ireland. My parents live in Firthwaite…" the boy with the weird eyes said.

"Really?" Mulciber asked. "By the River Barrow?"

"No, more eastwards" the boy answered.

It became very cold; to Severus's surprise, a ghost wearing chains floated towards an empty seat next to a girl, looking around at the first years. "Welcome to Slytherin, newcomers. I am the Bloody Baron, your House ghost" he said in a sepulchral voice.

"How many people have you killed?" the wizard next to him asked in awe. Most of the others looked displeased. The Bloody Baron stared at his empty plate, then he said gravely: "One less than I would have if I had still been alive…"

The savoury foods had changed into the most elaborate dessert collection that Lily had ever seen, more than even her mother had ever made: ice cream, apple pie, black forest gateau, treacle tarts, cheesecake, doughnuts, strawberries, Jell-O, rice pudding, eclairs, trifle, and tiramisu…It was wonderful! However, when she thought about Petunia, sitting alone eating a normal dessert, and the fact that she was in Gryffindor instead of in Slytherin, she was not hungry at all.

"Have an éclair" the boy from the train with the grey eyes, Sirius Black, said in an affected voice, but she did not reply. Black laughed in a barking way. He was terrible, together with Potter. Lily had tried to stop Black and Potter when they were bewitching Severus's goblet, but unfortunately, she hadn't succeeded and she had seen how all the Slytherins had become angry at him.

"Have a piece of treacle tart" the black-haired, wide-faced girl on the other side of her that she recognized as Mary McDonald said.

"No, thank you" Lily replied.

"Have a piece of cheesecake, then!" Mary said.

Lily shook her head.

"Have some…" Mary frowned, "weird dish that no-one wanted to touch yet. I bet it makes you light up in the dark"

Lily looked at the table. "Actually, I'd like that!" she said, and put half of the Jell-O on her plate.

"So how did all of you end up here?" a blonde girl that Lily recognized as Marlene McKinnon, the daughter of the woman from Diagon Alley, asked. "I received the letter out of nowhere – my parents thought it was a practical joke again. I'm Muggle-born, you see!"

Lily felt instantly relieved. "I'm a Muggle-born too" she said, sighing. "My sister couldn't come with me, and…" Suddenly, she felt her eyes stinging, and to her horror, she realized that she was crying again. Tears were dripping on her Jell-O.

Mary put an arm around her. "Don't worry" she said. "Do you have an owl? Then you can write a letter to your sister when we are in the dormitory."

"Thanks. I am sorry to b-be annoying" Lily said, sniffing, feeling better that there was someone who understood her. She glared at Potter and Black in the case they were laughing again, but fortunately, this time they weren't. She took a deep breath. "I-its just that…I miss my sister, and my parents. But you are right. I can write them."

With quivering hand, she took a spoon of her transparent blue pudding.

"My dad is a wizard, my mother is a Muggle" Mary said. "My mother had a friend, but she didn't know that friend was a witch. The friend had been practicing the whole year to participate in a strathspey competition…But my mother won! Her friend turned her eyes in those of a chameleon's. My mother didn't want to leave the house anymore… Her friend's brother was my father, and he turned her eyes back to normal and she was forever grateful! Then they had me and my mum was glad my eyes turned out normally. They were very glad that I was a witch! We live not far from Godric's Hollow, and we have more magical friends than Muggles. My mum has read 'Hogwarts: A history'. She kept saying that 'Gryffindoyl' seemed such an excellent House, so she will be pleased, I think"

The pale boy called Remus Lupin had said nothing, though something he smiled faintly. Lily wondered what was wrong with him. She hoped he was not as ill as he looked. The short wizard with the pointy nose called Peter Pettigrew let out a high-pitched laugh every time someone said something that he thought of as funny. Lily felt sorry for him because Peter himself was ignored by all the others.

The desserts disappeared. Albus Dumbledore had stood up again. "Now that I hope you are all satisfied, I have a few more announcements to make. You are not permitted to set foot in the forest on the Hogwarts grounds – there are dangerous creatures there. Magic is not allowed outside the classes. Quidditch trials start the fifth week of the term, and you can contact Madam Hooch if you are interested in playing in your House's Quidditch team. Now, let's sing!"

Lyrics appeared in ribbon in the air and everyone sang along. Lily liked singing, so she felt a bit better, but Potter and Black ruined the song with the most horrible tunes and shouting lyrics of their own. "Swartshog, Swartshog, Waggy Horty Swartshog, teach us nothing please! Where the teachers are old and bald…Where the girls all have scabby knees…Where the Snitehrlys have rotting brains…"

Lily sang the proper song loudly and clearly.

"This was beautiful! Excellent!" Dumbledore said when they were done, wiping away his tears. "Now, I think it is time for bedtime. Have a good night's sleep everyone!"

"First years, come with me!" the Gryffindor Prefect, Frank Longbottom, said. He had stood up. Lily looked at the Slytherin table. The first years, amongst them Severus, were guided to the dungeons by their own Prefect, a tall, blonde-haired wizard.

"What are you looking at?" Marlene asked her.

"My friend is sorted in Slytherin" Lily explained. She still felt bad about being sorted in Gryffindor, with the unknown or unpleasant students – even though Mary had seemed kind-hearted, and Marlene did not seem that bad either.

"Slytherin!" Marlene cried out. "A friend from Slytherin! That is a contradiction"

"What do you mean?" Lily asked.

"It takes a certain spirit to be chosen for that house." Marlene explained. "People from Slytherin have allies, not friends. Well, fair-weather friends. Mary told me that there are inter-house friendships between Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, between Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, but not often between Slytherins and those of other houses...That is very rare. You'd better make some real friends in Gryffindor"

That was new for Lily, who felt hurt. "I know Severus from my hometown. He lived a few blocks away" she said. Marlene said nothing anymore. They walked through tapestries, and hidden doorways, until Frank paused in front of a very big lady wearing pink, practicing opera singing that, Lily thought, didn't sound quite right.

"Password?" she asked.

"Repulsae Nescia" Frank said.

The portrait swung forward and slammed shut again. "Not again. PEEVES!" Frank yelled. Peeves looked like a ghost. A transparent little man with a mean expression appeared.

"Ickle little Firstyears!" he shouted. Mary screamed when he made faces at her. "Go away now" Frank said, pointing. Peeves flew through students and laughed.

"Go away!" Frank yelled. "You are not welcome here. Go annoy yourself or I will use my Poltergeist-destroying spell!"

Peeves looked frightened and with a plop he was gone. Frank said the password again and they climbed into the portrait hole. Behind it was a very cosy room with comfortable looking chairs. They walked past it towards doors; the boys went left and the girls went right. They climbed long winding stairs. Marlene, Mary and two other girls named Steffani and Cindy changed into their nightgowns and quickly shut their eyes, but when they were trying to sleep, Lily took a piece of parchment and an owl out of her trunk, and a feather and quill. She had never written with a quill before, so she practiced first on normal paper. Then she started writing by the moonlight shining through the small window.

Dear mummy, daddy and Tuney, she wrote.
I arrived at Hogwarts and it is really nice here. The castle is beautiful, and very big. Candles float here, staircases move, and portraits talk. There was lots of delicious food. I share my dormitory with four other girls, but we get along well. I hope you are all doing fine. I miss you very much. I hope to hear from you soon. P.S: Tuney, I hope you are not mad anymore if you read this. Believe me, you would not have liked Hogwarts – the hat that I needed to wear wasn't washed in ages! It was a miraculous experience though, because it talked!
I told everyone that I have a great sister - I hope that you enjoy your time at St. Adelaides All Girls Boarding School too!

Love,
Lily

The letter was stained by tears, but it was still readable and Lily did not have the energy left to write it over. She carefully put the letter in one of her envelopes, wrote her address on it and bound the letter to one of Elisedds talons. Lily opened the small paned window and watched her owl fly away through the starry night sky. She hoped everything would go well and her letter would arrive. She thought about Severus, and she hoped that he wasn't feeling as lonely as she did right now.
Down in the dungeons of Slytherin, Severus was laying in his own dormitory together with Wilkes, Rosier, Bulstrode, Crabbe and Goyle. He was the only one who was still awake, listening to the splashing of the lake. He looked forward to the next day, though this one had been quite different from what he had expected.