atelophobia • {HP universe} (BOOK 1)

~ thirteen ~

All hell broke loose.

But not yet, that was later in the day.

Currently, Lily was boarding the Hogwarts express, just after she'd said a quick, 'see you later,' to Severus.

"Lily!" A familiar voice called. A wide smile spread across Lily's face as she turned around, making eye contact with Hermione in the process. "Hermione!" Lily replied, and ran towards her friend. They immediately shared a strong hug, before realizing that people were trying to move past them. They moved into the nearest compartment, which happened to have Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnegan, and Dean Thomas in it.

"It'll be a tight fit, but could we please sit here?" Hermione asked. Seamus and Dean threw nervous glances over at Lily, since she was a Slytherin. Neville surprised his nervousness because Lily had helped him in class.

"How were your Holidays?" Lily asked everyone as she sat down. It look them a moment to respond, but Hermione spoke up.

"It was great, I was able to explain all the new magic I'd learned to my parents." Hermione said, but her statement was followed by silence.

"The sorting hat was gonna put me in Gryffindor, you know. It just had some instinct, and I bet it was just my heritage. There's no reason I should be in Slytherin if I'm honest, although I love my friends, they can be rather ruthless to the other houses. I'm not much
like them." Lily said to break the silence. As if on cue, Dean and Seamus both let out breaths that they were holding in.

"Well I suppose if you've got a Gryffindor heart, you can't be so bad." Dean joked, and Lily let out a chuckle.

"I'm sorry, by the way. For any harm that my friends may have caused you. Again, I like then a lot, but that doesn't mean I agree with much that they do." Lily added. Seamus cracked a big smile.

"Well that's alright, of course. You're one of us, then. Screw that Slytherin badge, you're a Gryffindor in our hearts!" Seamus chanted, and Neville, Hermione, and Seamus nodded their heads enthusiastically. All this acceptance made Lily happy, but she couldn't help but feel bad for the Slytherin house, that she was supposed to be loyal to. She felt bad for saying negative generalizations about her house, and about her friends. Yet, she chose to share the Gryffindors enthusiasm anyways. Another thought crossed her mind. Severus will be quite unhappy when he finds out that she's a house-traitor. Lily mentally told herself to shut up, and that they were all just joking around. But she also couldn't help but feel the flares of her Slytherin housemates, who passed by her compartment with complete disgust.

-

When entering Hogwarts to go to dinner, Lily immediately saw Harry and Ron rushing towards her, and ran towards them to. She engulfed them in a group hug, including Hermione, who immediately asked them, "Have you found anything on Nicolas Flammel?"

"Who?" Lily asked, and Ron opened his mouth to respond, but Harry quickly responded first. "Just of Rons parents friends, is all." He said. Lily gave him a smug look. "Really?" She asked, quite disbelieving. Harry quickly nodded, and Hermione and Ron rolled their eyes at him.

Lily took the Chocolate Frog package from the train ride out of her pocket, and took out the card. She pressed it to Harry's chest, and he quickly took it out of her hands, eyes widening at the name 'Nicolas Flammel,' on one of the collectible cards.

"Didn't know your family was so close with a man who barely leaves his house these days, Ron. I heard he's in his six hundreds. Or perhaps he's reached seven hundred?" Lily said, then after shooting Harry a look, she walked towards the direction of the Slytherin table, until two twins stopped her.