Work Text:
Chapter 1
Lily
September 1st, 1971
Lily Evans pushed through the magic wall at Platform 9 ¾ at 8:30 in the morning on September 1st, eager to begin her first year at the magical school of Hogwarts. Her friend Severus had told her all about the centuries old castle, the moving staircases and the paintings with traveling subjects, the ghosts that roamed the hallways, the ratty old hat that sorted each student into their houses. Lily hoped to be sorted into Slytherin house, for that was where Severus was sure he was going, and as Lily was a ‘muggle born’, meaning she didn’t have wizarding parents, she really wanted to be in the same house as her only friend.
Lily had already said goodbye to her parents and sister on the other side of the wall; as muggles, they were unable to cross the barrier to platform 9 ¾. Her parents had hugged her tightly, whispered that they loved her, and reminded her to write, and then her father had slipped an arm around her mother’s shoulders and turned her away so Lily wouldn’t see the tears slide down her mother’s cheeks. Lily had sucked back her own tears and turned to face her sister. Tears would not have served her well- Petunia Evans was three years older, not magical, and had been nothing but cruel to her younger sister since the thick parchment letter with beautiful green calligraphy had arrived with her name on it. Petunia had regarded her sister with small, mean eyes, not a smile or grin to be seen. Instead, her brow was furrowed, her lips pinched tight, and her arms wrapped around her middle.
“Don’t even think about it, Lily. I don’t want some freak to touch me.” With that, the eldest Evans sister flounced after her parents, leaving tiny eleven-year-old Lily standing alone to face this new facet of her life. Lily, swallowing down her irritation at her sister’s rudeness, took a deep breath, grabbed her suitcase by the handle, and plunged headfirst through the brick pillar that was humming with a noise only wizards and witches could hear. The first thing the young witch saw when she emerged on the other side was the gleaming red engine of the Hogwarts Express, and it was just as magnificent as Severus had described. The second thing she noticed was just how crowded the platform was. Wizards and witches in every shape, size and color, from the very very old to the very very young, buzzed every which way, readying their children for the long journey ahead. The cacophony of noise made Lily shrink into herself as she adjusted. Voices rose and fell as parents hollered after children and friends shouted for each other upon meeting, the screams of owls in cages, the meowing of feline familiars, the squeaks of baggage trolleys, the pounding of feet as children raced to and fro was all very overwhelming for a young girl from a small mill town who had only once been more than twenty miles from home before, the day she had visited Diagon Alley for the first time.
Lily watched the chaos swirling around her, suddenly feeling very alone and overcome. She watched as other students were surrounded by their families, hugs and kisses and laughter as they prepared to send their children off to school, and suddenly felt lonelier than she ever had before. She stepped back towards the magical wall, beginning to doubt that she belonged here, and bumped into something solid. Turning, her heart began to sing as she recognized the long dark hair and deep brown eyes of her best friend.
“Sev! I’m so glad you’re here!” she giggled as she dropped the handle of her luggage and threw herself at the boy who had explained so much to her over the previous few months. This was a day they had been looking forward to ever since Severus had happened upon Lily after she’d made flowers grow six feet high at the park one day. Lily had been so confused- the flowers had only been inches high when she found the patch of bright pink and white blooms. Somehow, within minutes they had towered over her, taller even than her father. Lily’s hands had grown warm and a bolt of what felt like electricity had shot through her fingers as she reached down to pet the soft petals, and suddenly, she was trapped in a forest of massive flower stalks, the heads so heavy they hung down and rained pollen upon her head. Severus had been walking through the park on his way home to the rough side of town and had seen Lily from a distance. He had watched as she’d leaned down and then his jaw had dropped when the flowers shot up in height and the blooms grew to the size of dinner plates. Severus had never expected to find someone else magical in the dirty, dark town of Cokeworth. From that day forward, Lily Evans was a bright spot of hope for the sallow faced, lonely boy who had no one for company but his cruel muggle father and his catatonic witch mother, neither of whom ever had time for the son they’d made between them.
“Lily! Of course I’m here, where else would I be?” Severus smiled one of his rare, genuine smiles at Lily, and reached down for the handle of her suitcase. “Come on, let’s find a seat, I’ve raided mother’s trunk for some of her old textbooks, we can get a head start. You’ve got your wand, right? Maybe we can try some spells,” he said, setting off for the train. Lily followed along behind him, happy to have a familiar face, and feeling more settled now that he was here. Everywhere she looked, there were witches and wizards dressed in opulent robes and pointy hats, families laughing and hugging and enjoying their last few minutes together until the holidays. Lily was in awe of how different the wizarding world was, and wanted to stop and take it all in, but Severus had long legs and was eating up the ground to the train. Lily ran to keep pace with him and helped him lift both her suitcase and his trunk into the train. She hopped into the car after him and followed as he dragged their luggage down the aisleway, peeking into each cabin as he passed, looking for an empty one.
Three cars later, he finally shoved open a door and disappeared. Lily followed and watched as he lifted her suitcase up into the storage rack, then ran to help him lift his trunk. “Jeeze Louise, Sev, did you pack the whole house in here?” she grunted, putting her shoulder into the trunk and pushing as he lifted from the other end. Severus choked out a laugh, then grunted as he gave the trunk one last shove into place before dropping down onto the bench, panting from the effort. Lily flopped down across from him and sighed, pleased to be settled. “Lily,” Sev said, “Be careful who you use muggle phrases with. Remember, I told you that Slytherin is the pure-blood house, there aren’t many muggleborns who are sorted into Slytherin, and the pure bloods won’t understand you.”
Lily rolled her eyes and sighed. “I know, Sev. But it’s just us. When it’s just us, I want to still be Lily Evans, ok?”
“Yeah, I know. Just try to keep it to just us, ok? Some of the pure bloods are less accepting of muggleborns and half-bloods like us than others are, and some of them won’t be kind to you purely because you’re muggleborn. Stay away from the Blacks, they are the worst of the lot. Fanatics, all of them. I hear there’s one in our year, don’t count on him to be friendly to you, he will be in our house with us. At least you won’t have to share a dorm with him.” Severus sighed. Severus’s mother was a pure blood, so he had some saving grace, at least. He was worried for Lily. Slytherin wasn’t known for accepting muggleborns, blood purity was very important to most of Salazar Slytherin’s chosen.
“Do you have your wand? Can I see it? I’ll show you mine, I only just got it a few days ago,” Lily said, popping up to snatch the handle of her suitcase.
“Lily, your wand is in your luggage? A witch or wizard should ALWAYS keep their wand on them, you never know when you might need it,” Severus said, standing up to pull the suitcase back down. Lily dove for it, quickly unzipping it and rifling through it, pulling out a long, slender piece of wood. The wand that had chosen her, as Mr. Ollivander claimed, was 10 ¼ inches long, made of willow, with a core of unicorn hair. Mr. Ollivander had said it was excellent for charm work, and Lily was excited to finally be able to use it. The wood was smooth and polished, a gleaming golden color, with a small, rounded knob at the base that rested against the heel of her hand. She wrapped her fingers around the hilt and felt a tremor of magic move through her like it had in Ollivander’s shop, her hand warming as the wand connected to her soul. It felt right in her hand, and Lily wondered how she’d ever lived without it.
“Look, Sev, isn’t it gorgeous?” Lily beamed as she held it out to her friend. He didn’t reach for it; Severus had told Lily that a witch or wizard should never touch another’s wand without permission, unless, of course, they won it in a duel. “Go on, you can hold it, I trust you.” Lily’s green eyes grew wide and she fluttered her long eyelashes in the way she knew convinced Severus to do anything she asked.
Severus smiled, shaking his head slightly, knowing exactly what Lily was playing at, and reached out, taking the wand from her hand. He felt nothing when he touched it, no magical electricity flowed through the skin of his palm. The wood was smooth and warm from her touch, but it was just a stick to him. Lily’s wand had chosen Lily, and Severus knew with that first touch that it would never respond to him. He smiled as he handed it back to her, then flicked his wrist and his own wand slipped out of the forearm holder he’d found in his mother’s trunk.
“Oh, Sev! Look at your wand! It’s gorgeous!” Lily sat down next to him, shoulder to shoulder as she leaned in for a better look. Severus was quite proud of his wand, it was brand new, and it had chosen HIM. Severus rarely had anything brand new, but his wand was the most important tool a wizard had. His mother had wanted him to go to the used wand shop in Knockturn Alley, but Severus had absolutely refused. He had managed to scrape together the galleons for a new wand by swindling the workers at the mill of their poker winnings. Severus’s wand was 12 inches of gleaming black ebony wood, with a core of dragon heartstring. It had runes carved along the bottom few inches where they would rest against the skin of his palm, and Severus had spent hours upon hours holding it, polishing it, and dreaming about the opportunity to use it for the first time outside Ollivander’s shop. He still remembered the heat of it when the old man had placed it in his hand. It had called to him instantly, warming his hand and shooting all the way up to his shoulder. His blood had thrummed in his ears as he waved the wand at a display on the desk and gold streams shot out of it. Ollivander had told him the rigidness of the wood was good for transfiguration and defense, and Severus had been pleased.
“Take it, Lily. Go ahead, see how it feels.” Severus released his hold on the wand and let Lily take it from him, her eyes wide and her smile broad as she glanced up at him. Her fingers wrapped around the hilt and Severus was surprised when her fingers spasmed and the wand dropped to the floor.
“I don’t think it likes me, Sev,” she said, shaking her fingers. “It felt like a thousand bees stinging me all at once.”
“Oh Lily, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know it would do that to you, are you ok? Let me see your hand!” Severus stumbled over his words as he bounced down to his knees in front of her, grabbing her hand and pulling it up towards his face. He gasped when he saw the red lines crisscrossing her palm, guilt tugging at him. “Lily, I’m so sorry, your poor hand, are you alright? Does it hurt? Do we need to find someone to help? We haven’t left the station yet, we’ve still got time to run to the depot, maybe they have some salve?” Severus’s eyes were huge as he looked up at Lily, and she could see the guilt eating away at him. Truthfully, her fingers still tingled a bit, and the red lines looked angry, but she didn’t want to make him feel worse.
“Sev, it’s ok. Neither of us expected that, and my hand is fine, see?” She slipped her hand from his grasp and closed her fingers around the marks of her palm, then opened them again. She waved her hand and wiggled her fingers, and even though her fingertips still burned, she smiled at Severus. “Perfectly alright, see? The marks will fade, I’m sure of it!”.
Severus sat back on his heels, watching her. He knew she was lying to him, she refused to meet his eyes. “Lily, are you sure you’re ok?”
“Sev, I’m fine, I swear it. I’ll tell you if it gets worse later, ok? You said you filched some books from your mum? What kind? What class are you most excited for?” Lily knew if she could get him talking about Hogwarts, he’d forget about her hand for a while; Severus loved teaching Lily about the wizarding world. She settled back on the bench and watched him expectantly. She could see that he wanted to argue, to drag her off the train and find someone to help, but she really just wanted to be with her friend and live in the moment. Finally, he huffed a breath and got to his feet.
“Fine, fine, Lily. If you say you’re alright, I believe you.” He reached up and tapped the edge of his trunk, and a hidden door popped open.
“Wow!” Lily said, her mouth dropping open. “I really need to get one of those, I had an awful time trying to cram everything I would need til the holidays into a suitcase.”
“We will have to see about getting you a trunk, Lily. Every respectable witch or wizard has a magical trunk,” Severus said knowingly. He smirked, amused as he always was at the things that amazed his friend. Sometimes, he was jealous of her innocence and sense of wonder of all things magical; he wondered what it would be like to grow up not knowing he was wizard. A shiver went down his spine at the thought, and his smirk faded into a scowl.
“Sev? Are you alright?” Lily asked.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine, just a passing thought, Lily,” Severus replied. He turned back to his trunk and reached into the compartment. The book he really wanted to share with Lily was right at the front, so he pulled it out, tapped his wand to the trunk again, and sat down next to her. “This is my mum’s first year potions book,” he said, opening the cover. “It’s not the one they required for classes this year, but I thought it might be useful, so I grabbed it. I’ve tried a few recipes, the ones that don’t need any wand work. Mum may not be useful for much, but she does have a fully stocked potions room,” Severus continued. “Everything I’ve tried seemed to turn out ok.” He passed her the book and let her flip through the pages.
“Flobberworm? What’s that?” Lily asked.
Severus shuddered. “It’s a magical creature, it’s basically a giant worm, but it secretes a mucus that’s really good in healing potions. It tastes awful, though, and smells worse, and collecting it is NOT a fun job.”
“Gross! Sev! Are you telling me we have to collect worm goo?” Lily’s face was incredulous, and Severus couldn’t help but laugh.
“Lily, of course we will, at some point. Hopefully, not until they teach us some smell disguising charms or something, though.”
Lily huffed and turned the page. Severus watched as her eyes scanned the pages, and he swore he could hear the gears turning in her head as she digested the information. Many of the ingredients had to be unfamiliar to her, being a muggleborn, but she was smiling as she read. Potions was the class Severus was most excited for, and he was pleased to see that Lily may share his affinity for the subject. Even if she wasn’t the best brewer, at least it seemed that she might enjoy the subject matter, and skills could always be taught, especially if they were able to work together.
Lily went back to turning pages, making little noises occasionally. Some were noises of interest; others were clearly disgust. “Sev, I feel like I’m going to regret asking this… but when it says the urine of a female feline in heat….”
“Uh, yeah. That means you have to collect… the sample,” Severus replied, choking on his laughter at the absolutely distraught look on Lily’s face. Lily slammed the book closed and handed it back to him, a shudder making her long red hair dance as she scowled at him.
“You have GOT to be joking,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
Severus chuckled again and stood up to put the book back in his trunk. As he did, the door to their compartment slid open, and a tall boy filled the doorway. He had sandy brown hair and grey eyes, wide shoulders, and looked to be about the size of a fifth year.
“Hullo,” he said, a soft smile on his face. “My name is Remus. Do you mind if I join you?”