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The door for the compartment that Lily is in suddenly opens, causing her to jolt awake to see her uncle at the door. "We'll be at Hogwarts in ten minutes." Professor Lupin tells them. Then her uncle looks at her, slightly concerned. "Lily? Are you alright?"
Lily looks up at her uncle from Fred's shoulder. "Yeah. I will be." Lily tells her uncle. But in fact, she was knackered. She had hardly any energy to do anything yet she knew that she would have to get some more energy in the next ten minutes so that she would survive the journey from the train station to Hogwarts without collapsing, passing out or falling back asleep. "Here." her uncle says, handing her a bar of dark chocolate from his cloak. "Eat as much as you can."
"Thanks, Uncle Moony." she tells him. She takes the bar from him before taking a bite from it. "I'll come and see how you're doing when we get off the train." Moony tells her, making her smile at him before the door is shut again and he walks off. "Lily? Why did you lie to him?" Fred asks her.
"It didn't want him to worry. He's got enough on his plate already with him now teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts and I don't want him to have something else to worry about." Lily says.
"But... isn't it supposed to be his job to worry about you? He's your uncle after all." Angelina asks.
"Well, godfather but that's beside the point. He doesn't need to worry." she says before having some more of the chocolate.
The five of them don't talk much during the remainder of the journey. At long last, the train stops at Hogsmeade station, and there is a great scramble to get outside. It is freezing on the tiny platform; rain is driving down in icy sheets. "Firs' years this way!" calls a familiar voice. Lily turns her head slightly to see the gigantic outline of Hagrid at the other end of the platform, beckoning the terrified-looking new students forward for their traditional journey across the lake. Emily grabs onto Fred's arm to keep her upright as they head towards the mud track, where at least a hundred stagecoaches awaited the remaining students, each pulled by a thesteral, and as soon as they get inside of the carriage and they shut the door, the coach sets off towards the castle.
Lily has started to feel better from the dark chocolate that her uncle had given her over ten minutes ago yet she still feels weak.
As the carriage trundles towards a pair of magnificent wrought iron gates, flanked with stone columns topped with tinged boars, Lily sees two more towering, hooded Dementors, standing guard on either side. This causes Lily to lean into Fred more and close his eyes until they have passed the gates. The carriage picks up speed on the long, sloping drive up to the castle before Lily lets go of Fred and lean out of the tiny window, watching the many turrets and towers draw nearer. At last, the carriage sways to a halt, and Lily, Fred, George, Angelina and Lee get out.
The five of them join the crowd swarming up the steps, through the giant oak front doors, into the cavernous Entrance Hall, which is lit with flaming torches and houses a magnificent marble staircase that leads to the upper floors. The door into the Great Hall stands open at the right; Lily follows the crowd towards it, but has barely glimpsed the enchanted ceiling, which is black and cloudy tonight, when a voice calls, "Potters! Granger! I want to see you three!"
