Chapter Text
Lily Evans stumbled through the train corridor, trunk in tail, trying to find an empty compartment. Damn her obscure sense of time, she couldn't remember one year, when she was not one of the last to board the Hogwarts Express.
“Oi, Lily! You can squeeze in with us if you’d like.” Remus Lupin called from the compartment she had just passed. Inside were the four marauders, sprawled out with their long legs across the compartment comfortably. There was no visible space available.
“Er..” Lily hesitated.
“We don’t bite, Evans” James Potter had a magazine levitated so he could read it comfortably as it flipped itself.
“Speak for yourself, mate.” Sirius Black retorted, not bothering to look up from his own.
Lily looked to the last marauder, Peter Pettigrew was already asleep, drooling on the cushions.
“I wouldn’t want to intrude. Thank you though.” Lily declined and smiled.
“Alright, we’re here if you change your mind. Don’t forget, the Prefect meeting is starting in a bit,”
“Shite. yes, you’re right. Thanks again, Remus. See you then!”
Lily silently swore to herself when she saw Severus in the following compartment, completely alone. They made eye contact but he quickly looked away. She walked passed it without any further acknowledgement.
‘What a coward.’ Lily thought belligerently.
Since his degrading and humiliating remarks, last term by the lake, any type of encounter they’ve had since was hostile and uncomfortable. It saddened Lily as much as it angered her.
“Oh, THANK Merlin!” Lily cried when she saw her mate, Mary Macdonald in a compartment towards the end of the train. There were two other people inside with her.
“Lily! There you are, I was starting to get worried!” Mary exclaimed and took her in for a hug.
“Oh, it has been ages! I have to update you on all the chaos back home.” Lily started, but then quickly stopped herself since they were not alone.
She turned towards the other two people in the compartment, who she didn’t recognize. Until she realized she did.
“No way!” Lily gawked looking at the two. “ You’re back! This is bloody amazing!”
“We’re back,” beamed Gregory Pinnet
“It is SO good to be back!” gushed the beautiful girl by the name of Leila Fadel.
Mary started, “Lily, they were just telling me about their experiences with the exchange programs! Greg, here, spent all of his time in the American Ilvermorny! And Leila did a year in France with Beaxbotons, as we already knew-- BUT, get this, she did the other year in Brazil with Castelobruxo! Mad, isn’t it?”
Lily gaped, “I can’t believe it has only been two years! I feel it has been ages-squared since the last time I’ve had a proper conversation with you, Leila. And Castelobruxo? WHAT!”
Leila looked of sorrow and guilt. “Yes, sorry about that Lily. I meant to send more owls. It was just so much to take in and to keep up with. I know it’s no excuse with what you’ve been going through…”
Lily mentally cringed. She did not like to be reminded of what happened in the summer before fifth year.
Lily went in and hugged her. “Merlin, pardon me, Leila! I didn’t mean it in a that way at all, I am just so glad to see you! We are still best mates!” Lily assured while nonverbally levitating her trunk up to the shelving. “If anything, I think I was the one who stopped responding. Fifth-year was very all over the place. And plus being a perfect and all. Sorry about that.”
Leila beamed, “Thank Merlin, I’m glad you’re not cross with me.”
“I could never,” Lily reassured her.
Greg continued with his stories of America and how different but fascinating it is from Hogwarts and Britain. He explains the different houses, and how he was sorted into Pukwudgie, naturally. “It is the closest one to Hufflepuff, you see, I was not surprised.”
Leila spoke of how she favoured Castellobruxo for their fit blokes and exotic magic.
“I never did want to go to Beauxbatons in the first place. My father basically guilt-tripped me into it. He went there, you know. He said that if I were to participate in the exchange program, to attend Beauxbatons first, and if I still wanted to go somewhere else after that, I could after the first year. I submitted my transfer application as soon as they were receiving it.”
“You do not enjoy the French company?” asked Greg.
“It’s not that I don’t like the French, I AM French. It’s just that I much rather be farther away from home than just a floo away.” Leila explained. “My family lives in Spain. Much too close to Beauxbatons. You should have seen how much they pried fourth year.”
Greg looked taken aback. “Wait. So you mentioned you are french but live in Spain, but attend Hogwarts? So are you French, Spanish or? Pardon me asking, I am just confused”
Lily and Mary giggled. They have heard her explain her background many times before during the first three years at Hogwarts.
Leila waved her hand and shook her head. “No, you are fine. I would be confused as well.” She continued to explain. “You see. They agreed to raise our family in Spain. A middle ground between Britain and France. My mother, she is English and Italian. She came to Hogwarts, like us, and did the exchange program to Beauxbatons, like I. That is how they met. My father, on the other hand, he is an Arab French man... And I? I frankly do not know what the bloody hell I am..”
They all laughed.
“Wait, so why didn’t they initially enrol you to Beauxbatons? Would it not have been more convenient, seeing as both your parents went there, and live fairly close?”
“My mum made the executive decision to send my siblings and me to Hogwarts. My mum is a head-strong woman, my father abides her wishes. My little brother, Omar, is actually starting Hogwarts this year, which is probably the main reason I’ve decided to come back. I want to be here for him.” Leila leaned back against the cushion and smiled. “But, he seems to have already gotten ahold of the logistics. He’s found friends at the platform and is in a compartment a few down from ours.”
“That’s so cute. He will love Hogwarts ”.
“Yes, I hope he does.”
“So which languages are you most fluent?” Greg changed the direction of the conversation.
Leila thought for a moment. “Well, growing up, inside the house my father would speak to my siblings and I in French, and my mother would speak to us in Italian. We would speak Spanish out in public, we lived like muggles, you see, which is very common in Spain. We had a governess who would teach us in English since we knew we would attend Hogwarts. My father never favoured the English language though, but he tries for mum. And my parents would speak Arabic when trying to keep us out of the loop, but we eventually caught on, to their dismay. I learned those five languages growing up, and I learned Portuguese on my own. I am still working on it though.
They all sat there in admiration.
Lily suddenly jumped up. “I completely forgot. I need to get to my prefect's meeting, I’m late!”
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They finally arrived at Hogwarts, the Great Hall and Feast was extraordinary.
She sat next to Mary, the rest of their Gryffindor roommates including Leila. She listened to Leila retell her experiences at the other Wizarding schools. It was very fascinating, Lily wished she would have had the opportunity.
“Although I’m happy to see you back, I’m quite sad we cannot use your bed and wardrobe as storage anymore,” Aria told Leila.
“Pity. You’re actually going to have to learn how to tidy up now, Clarke” Marlene chuckled.
“If I could do sixteen years of my life of refraining from tidying up, I don’t think it will be a problem now. Maybe I’ll look for a new place to keep my things, like under your bed, perhaps.”
The 6th year Gryffindor roommates laughed.
“You’re laughing but I’m not joking,” Aria smirked.
Cosmia spoke next, in a very serious tone. Out of all the girls, she was not in a joking mood.“So, Lily. How was your summer back home? I know it must’ve been hard, and I’m sorry about that.”
Lily weakly smiled. She knew this conversation with her mates was going to eventually happen, as much as she would like to not talk about it., “It was very much how I expected it to be. Since my parents passing, Petunia has been evermore undelightful. I’m just glad I never have to go back there again.”
“Until next summer, of course,” Cosmia suggested.
Mary spoke next for Lily. “Her sister is selling the house. She and her fiance are getting married and moving away. Very insensitive and bitchy if you ask me.”
“Don’t speak ill of Petunia, Mary, please. No matter how much she deserves it. It makes me feel worse.” Lily sighed and rested chin on her knuckles.
“I’m sorry, Lily.” Mary side-hugged her.
“That’s terrible news Lily, do you know where you are to stay next summer? I could always ask my parents…” Cosmia began.
“No, no, no. Don’t worry about me. I’ve already made arrangements with Dumbledore. I have a paying job here at school so I’ll be able to afford housing during the summer.”
Lily explained that once she found out Petunias plans of selling the house, she was quick to owl Dumbledore explaining her situation. She had initially asked if she could be a volunteer keeper for Hogwarts during the summer, maintaining everything clean and in order while everyone was away. He said that could be an option if she didn’t want to do something else he would offer. He offered her the job to help the faculty of her choice with their lesson plans, or anything they may need. He would pay her the wages at the end of each month, for her to save or spend.
Lily refrained from telling her friends that she planned to save every last penny. She needed the money to rent out a flat for the summer and for Auror training after next year. Auror training is very expensive.
She knew if she brought that up, her friends would insist on spending the summer with them for her to save more for Auror training. Lily couldn’t do that to them nor their families. During these times, Muggle-borns have targets on their back, and anyone who surrounds themselves around them gains one too, the blood traitors.
Only Mary understood this, she was her only fellow Muggle-born living in her dormitory. Mary also offered for her to stay with her, but she’s going through her own problems at home and Lily couldn’t bear feeling like a burden, so Lily kindly declined.
The feast was getting ready to close when Lily remembered she and her fellow Gryffindor prefects at the meeting had agreed that the term password for the Fat Lady Portrait was “Carpe Diem” and spread the word amongst her fellow Gryffindors.
New Head regulation was that the eldest of the Prefects of each house are to lead the first years to the dormitory first, so they wouldn’t get trampled at the end of the feast by the other students, or lost on the way. For Gryffindor, the 6th year prefects were the eldest since the 7th year prefects decided to cut their education short and join the war. Rumour has it, the 7th year Slytherin male prefect also left to join the war, but on whatever side is only speculated. It was a trend amongst the seventh years, either leaving to join the war, go into hiding, or abroad.
This year, the Head Boy and Girl were the Udinov twins, Olga Udinov from Slytherin and Nicholai Udinov from Ravenclaw.
The two most uptight houses. Lily groaned when she found out, she knew this year Hogwarts was going to run a tight ship. What was Dumbledore thinking? She really needed to work on being more responsible to avoid any scowling eyes from dear Olga like she had when she was late for the Prefects meeting on the train.
To be fair, she never really spoke with either of the Heads before, they barely acknowledged her last year as prefects. Maybe they weren't that bad, or maybe she was just telling herself this to console herself.
Lily excused herself from her friends and went to go get Remus, before she completely forgot about the first years--which she knew she would, as she gets lost into conversations so easily.
She reached where the Marauders were sitting and tapped Remus on the shoulder. “Hi Remus, I’ve come to fetch you before I forgot about the first years.”
She glanced at the other boys, Peter was trying to devour as much food as he could before it disappeared down to the kitchens. Sirius was sulking, head resting on his hand that was propped up on the table. And James Potter was writing on parchment, looking like he was thinking very hard about something.
“Good for you to start acting responsible, Evans, might actually keep your badge with these new Heads,” Sirius remarked, smirking a bit.
“Glad to see I am finally making an impression to the generally-not-impressed. Why so glum, Black?”
“Not impressed with you enough, Evans.”
“Good, I didn’t really care. I’m just trying to be a more responsible prefect and seeming to care about students might be one of the job requisites. Not sure though.”
James laughed and nudged his best mate. “Good thing we are not prefects, eh Padfoot?”
Black scoffed in agreement, and James went back to his parchment.
Lily rolled her eyes at them.
That's odd, Lily thought. Usually, James gave into any opportunity to make a teasing conversation with her, or make a fool of himself.
Lily knew exactly why. James knew she and Severus weren't friends anymore, so now he had no reason to torment her as he did last year to get on Severus’s nerves.
Remus shovelled the last of his stew into his mouth, cleaned it with a napkin, and stood up.
“Good thinking, Lily. Come on, let's get to the guppies.”
Lily laughed.
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Lily loved interacting with the first years. They were all so wide-eyed and timid about their surroundings like small kittens. And of course, their absurd questions amused her greatly. Unfortunately, this only lasts about a month before they begin socializing and learning a bit of magic and then all hell breaks loose.
As she and Remus led the first years through the castle corridors, they were explaining the nuts and bolts of their new home.
“If any of you ever have any questions, do not hesitate to ask me, or any of the prefects. The Head Boy and Girl office is on the third floor if you need them to set up tutorings, general advising, or to report anything of significance.”
They gave the password “Carpe Diem” to the Fat Lady and the portrait door swung open.
“Get a good night's sleep, and don’t stir up any trouble. We have eyes and ears everywhere.” Said Lily mystically with wide eyes and wiggling fingers.
The children looked warily to one another and laughed nervously.
“Not literally, you know,” Remus assured them.
Lily merely smiled and shrugged. The children made their way up to their separate staircases to the dormitories, looking around for hidden ears and eyes the way up.
Soon the other prefects and Gryffindors arrived in the common room. Remus and Lily lounged on the bulky chairs in the main sitting area. They were talking about their encounters with the first years when James and Sirius reached them mid-conversation.
Remus was praising Lily. “You're brilliant with children, have you thought of becoming a governess?”
“She’s great with children because she can relate to them so well, Moony.” Sirius chaffed “Bloody childish, aren't we, Evans?”
Lily knew he was just teasing but for some reason, he triggered an ireful fire within her.
“You’re not the first Black to insult me for sport. Either way, I’d much rather be childish than an entitled, cynical prick.” Lily spat, standing up and smoothing out her skirt.
She spotted her friends in the corner of the common room. “Excuse me.”
Despite the dramatics, Lily Evans was usually a very nice and friendly girl. Too nice for her own good at times.
She promised herself she was not going to let anyone belittle her, or make her seem any less than what she actually is. Especially not a pureblood wizard.