~*~*~*~*~*~*~End of Prologue~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Something more than eleven years later...

A girl sat in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express, all alone. Every so often, she would tuck a stray lock of her bright red hair behind one ear, glance out the window at the countryside speeding past, then bring her quick green eyes back to The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1, skipping the boring parts and dwelling on illustrations.

This girl, as you may already have guessed, was Lily Evans, an important witch, to be sure.

Lily closed the book and looked back to the ever-changing view outside her compartment window. A flock of small brown birds flew out of a wheat field, the marshes and bogs zipped by with only the slightest fume, and once, Lily even fancied that she saw a gigantic purple bus go by and honk its horn, but she quickly abandoned this as a product of the strange candy she had bought and eaten from the trolley only a few minutes before.

Buses can't go as fast as steam engines – and for that matter, normal buses aren't purple. Then again, she reminded herself, 'normal' was an entirely different proposition now. 'Normal' owls don't deliver life-changing letters, or any letters. 'Normal' platform dividers don't dissolve when you run through them. You don't need to tap a special combination of bricks to get into a 'normal' alley. And, of course, 'normal' people can't make their sister's ice cream explode in her face when they're angry.

Lily was shaken from her thoughts when the compartment door slid open, revealing two girls about her age. They fell into the seats across from her, giggling madly.

"Did you see the looks on their faces?" screeched one of the girls. She actually reminded Lily of her friend Mary Partridge from Muggle school, willowy with golden-brown hair that matched her complexion perfectly, and eyes that rivaled Lily's for depth and sparkle, except that they were the color of the sea on a clear day.

The other girl jumped up, checked the hallway to make sure nobody was there, and then resumed giggling. "Oh, my God. That was probably the funniest thing we've ever done." She was probably as much the physical opposite of her friend that she could possibly have been, with a darker sort of skin tone, grass-green eyes, and black hair pulled into a braided knot behind her head.
"What was the funniest thing you've ever done?"

The two girls looked at Lily suddenly, as though they had just seen her. "Oh…nothing. Just flirting…"

"With cute fourth-years…"

"Using some basic Enchanting Enchantments on them…"

"Hoarding their candy, since we're flat broke…"

"Then hitting 'em with the counter-spell and running for our lives!"

"So we sort of need to hide in here for a bit…that all right with you?"

"Er…sure." Lily felt a little bewildered after that rapid-fire explanation.

"Great! My name's Chrissy Johnson. Boring, isn't it?" the brown-haired girl said. "It's actually Christina, but that's even worse."

"I don't think it's bor-"

"And I'm Chantel," the dark-haired girl interrupted. "Chantel Merceles. Makes me sound like I'm ruddy royalty next to her name, doesn't it?"

"They're both nice," Lily said, fidgeting with her robes, to which she was quite unaccustomed. "I'm Lily Evans. Do either of you know anything about Hogwarts?"

"Muggle-born, are you? I'm a quarter Muggle, anyway. Well, we've got to get Sorted first, of course," Chantel informed her. "Chris, you've got a big brother – did he ever tell you how they Sort new students?"

"'Course. He always said it's painful, like the whole trial-by-fire kind of thing. Load of rubbish – he just wanted to frighten me."

"Well, whatever it is we've got to do, I want to be sorted into Gryffindor."

"Ohh, please don't! I'd positively perish if we got in separate Houses, and you know I'm a bloody coward!" Chrissy said, hugging Chantel. "How 'bout you, Lily?"

Lily had grown quieter and quieter as their conversation continued. "I don't even know what you're talking about." she admitted, feeling terribly left out.

"Ok. There are four houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and, unfortunately for everyone else, Slytherin. You get Sorted as soon as you arrive, and you basically have all your classes with other people in your House, and you share a common room, and each House's got a Quidditch team, and all that." Chantel informed Lily.

"The Houses all have some kind of personality. You know, like most Gryffindors are really brave, most Ravenclaws are really smart, Hufflepuffs are loyal – that's where my brother Nick was, but he graduated two years back – and Slytherins are…well, basically filth." Chrissy said.

Lily was still slightly confused. "I guess I'd be fine with anything except Slytherin."

"You," Chantel said approvingly, "Are a very smart girl."

"So where are you from, Lily?"

Lily looked out the window as the light of sunset dimmed away. "Surrey. Pretty far away…and I've never even been to sleep-away camp." For a second, she had to push back tears of homesickness that had been threatening to seep out since she said good-bye to her parents on the platform.

Chantel made a sympathetic tsking sound. "Me neither, but I've kind of got a…a messed-up family. Y'see…" she trailed off, and then fell silent.

It was Chrissy's turn to feel uncomfortable and out-of-place. "Er… s'pose I'm lucky. Nicky's working right nearby in Hogsmeade – he's actually going to meet me when the train stops. Be a nice break for him after cleaning up owl dung all day, I think, since he's doing an internship at the post office."

This lightened the mood a good deal, and they managed to keep the good feeling going through the hours that seemed like seconds until they pulled into Hogwarts Station.

The three new friends emerged into the hustle and bustle of Hogsmeade station. Black-robed students swarmed like gnats all around, some pulling on their robes over normal Muggle clothes even as they looked around for directions where to go. But in the midst of it all, near the entrance to the station, Lily saw a tall, lanky boy talking to the conductor. He couldn't have been more than nineteen, with blonde hair, Chrissy's eyes (though they did look a bit more impressive in his face), and a few splotches of what Lily judged to be owl poop on his shirt. "Chrissy, is that your brother?"

Chrissy turned in the direction that Lily was pointing before a giant smile split her face and she shrieked, "NICKY!!!", trampling several students as she leaped into her brother's arms.

Lily and Chantel followed just in time to see her pull away, punch him on the shoulder, and begin a thorough chastisement. "And why exactly haven't you written home in months?"

"Ah, c'mon, Chris, the boss keeps me working dawn to dusk, when am I supposed to send a letter?"

"You work in a post office!" Chrissy exclaimed.

Nick bowed. "Guilty as charged. I'll get out of there someday, you can take my word for it. Hi there, Chantel, is it? Right, you're the little chubby one who was always coming over to play with Chrissy when I was on holiday from school. Now you-" he turned to Lily. "You I'm sure I don't know."

"Just met her on the train. Her name's Lily…er…Lily something."

"Hullo there, Lily Something," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "Curious sort of last name, that. What nationality is it?"

Lily was about to answer with her real last name when someone ran into her from behind. She caught herself just short of smashing into the cobblestones, but it appeared when she stood back up that the boy who had hit her wasn't quite so lucky. He was sitting back on his heels, clutching his mouth, his frightened brown eyes flickering. "Are you all right?" Lily said, offering him a hand.

He nodded and mumbled something, standing up with his lips shut tightly. His expression was drawn and pale, as though he was in some kind of pain that he had to hide.

"Something wrong with your teeth?" Chantel said, a little bit caustically.

Glancing up at the overcast sky, then over to the horizon (where a sliver of the full moon was barely evident) he shook his head no and scrambled out of the station, through Hogsmeade, and up a hill to a tumbledown old house. "Must be insane or something," Nicky muttered. "Nobody ever goes in the Shrieking Shack. For as long as I can remember…"

"You've only been working here a year," Chrissy reminded him.

"As long as I can remember," he drove on, "It's been haunted."

"Haunted?" Chrissy said, blanching.

"Yeah, ghosts," said Nicky with relish. "They scream and yell and crash furniture all the time…and every so often, they like to pick up a nice juicy first year for an afternoon snack-"

Chantel shivered. "Stop it!"

"And they like the ones with red hair, too," he said, whirling on Lily. "Rumor has it that a few years back, there was a big strong Quidditch captain with red hair who-"

Chantel suddenly gasped and jumped onto the ground, dragging Chrissy down with her. Nick and Lily looked bemusedly at one another, then to the pair on their hands and knees. "Uhh…want to fill us in there, Chris?"

"DON'T say my name!" she hissed. "Those fourth years Chantel and I were flirting with are about ten feet away!"

And indeed, there were three fourth year boys, all quite good-looking, conversing with murderous looks on their faces, and Lily thought she caught the phrase 'candy-stealing hussies' applied liberally.

"All right, here's what we do," Chantel said in a low tone. "You and me crawl away 'til we're out of sight. Lily, you and Nick follow us, but don't stare at us because that'll give it away. On the count of three. One…two…"

"Hey, you three! Right, you fourth years! I believe I know the whereabouts of someone – or sometwo – with whom you wish to speak!" Nicky called loudly in an overly polite affect. He stepped on the hem of Chrissy's robes.

"Something about candy, I believe?"

"Nick! Let me go! They'll kill me!"

"My job to look after the family name, isn't it? And such conduct will most certainly not go unpunished!" He was still playing the ever-exasperating high-and-mighty big brother.

Chantel sprang up, kicked Nick in the shins, and pulled Chrissy and Lily along as she bolted away from the pursuant fourth year boys. The gap was closing quickly when Lily heard a cannon-like voice shouting, "Firs' years! Firs' years this way!" They were apparently running in the right direction, because the voice was getting ever closer. "No more'n four ter a boat! Firs' years this – oomph!"

Chrissy, Lily, and Chantel had all simultaneously collided with a gigantic, wild-looking man with more frizzy black hair on his face and head than ought to be allowed. He picked them up one by one by the scruff of their necks, rather like a lioness with cubs. "'ere now, where're you three goin' in such an 'urry?" He took notice for the first time of the fourth year boys in quite an equal hurry. "Ohh, I see 'ow et is…tell yer what, then. Name's Hagrid. I'm groundskeeper at Hogwarts, so if y'get any problems with…BIG BULLIES WHAT'D BE BETTER OFF PICKIN' ON PEOPLE THEIR OWN SIZE," he rumbled, looking straight at the boys, "Jes' tell me. Into the boats." Hagrid swept them into the nearest boat, handed Chantel a lantern, and waded out to the first vessel in the line.

"Ev'ryone in? Right, forward!" The boats lurched and moved forward as a unit. Lily sat in awe, gazing at the spindly turrets and sweeping buttresses of the faraway castle.

"There it is," Chrissy breathed. "Can you imagine? We're going to be living there for seven years."

"It looks like something out of a Muggle fairy tale book, doesn't it, Lily?" Chantel said.

Lily smiled quietly to herself and thought about all the strange and wonderful things that had happened even in the few hours that she had been part of this new world. "I think my whole life's going to be pretty much out of a Muggle fairy tale book from now on."






They were almost halfway across the lake when Chrissy shrieked suddenly and scrambled against one side of the boat, pointing fearfully over the side. "Look at that thing!"

There was a giant grey squid propelling itself lazily along next to the tiny craft. One black eye shone curiously up at them, as though contemplating what kind of silly creatures these must be if they needed big wooden bowls to get through the water. Chantel rolled her eyes. "Ah, don't be afraid, Chrissy. He's probably just a big baby, is all." She reached out a hand and patted the squid just above its eye. "There you go, Cal."

"Cal?"

"Calimari," Chantel explained. "It's fried squid."

The squid's placid eyes narrowed angrily, and he dove aloofly into the depths of the lake, despite Chantel's apologetic pleas for him to return. The only response was a haughty, dismissive wave of one of his tentacles before it arced down, down, down…

CRACK

The wave that Cal sent up by that one insulted slap of the water capsized the boat.

Lily felt cold panic flood her brain as she was submerged in the water. She'd never learned how to swim, and now she flailed around hopelessly, trying to find something that would pull her to the surface. "Help!" She screamed, but only a large air bubble popped out of her mouth.

She didn't see Chantel or Chrissy (or anything, come to think of it) in the muddy water, but she felt a large tentacle seize her around the waist and drag her through the lake, soon tossing her a little roughly into the reeds on a muddy bank.

Lily hoisted herself, sopping wet, out of the water and caught her breath before wandering in what she presumed to be the general direction in which the boats had been heading. Was it the eeriness of the warped old trees and feral cries, or perhaps only the chill night air that made her shiver so? As she wound her way deeper into the woods, a long, low howl and the sudden emergence of the full September moon distracted her attention from the wooden sign nailed crookedly onto an old dead oak. It read, in chipping black medieval script:

"Here was sought a Creature Unknown
Which in a Fierce Spleen
Didst slay a Chylde of Hogwarts
Hereafter be these Woods
FOREBYDDEN
9 Apryle, A.D. 867
G.G. S.S. R.R. H.H."