Lily - The tale of a Phoenix

Chapter Four: Parate Infernum (September 2nd, 1971)

September 2nd, 1971

It had been a strange first night at Hogwarts. Well, she supposed it had been a strange night in general. It was the first night she had not slept in her bedroom in Cokeworth, soothed to sleep by the distant rattle of the factory chimneys in the wind, or Mr Evans' tv in the sitting room. Normally Mrs Evans would come and wake her up in the morning too. That morning however she had woken up earlier than ever, all alone, blinking into the bright sunlight. Her bed, a grand four poster, was in direct line of a slim window that she hadn't yet had the heart to look out of. After dinner (which was feast akin to the mad hatters tea party) they had been taken up to the Gryffindor tower, through the common room, which had been dimly lit, and up to the dormitories. She was sure she had never been so high up in her life. 

The room was nice and vaguely victorian, with a few old portraits on the wall and a fire in the centre of the room that she was sure would be nice and toasty in the winter. Alice was asleep in the bed directly across from Lily beside a fancy suitcase and Marlene snored to her left, wriggling about beneath the red bedsheets. Mary, another first year girl, was already awake but was too interested in reading her book to make much more conversation than a short, friendly , "Hiya". 

Lily could see the illustrations on the front of the book prancing around. She thought that they were rather amazing, but felt too awkward to ask to get a better look. She instead decided to get dressed, hiding around the corner of her new wardrobe (a stately thing) as she did. She then decided to rummage in her suitcase , pulling out one of the books she had brought from Diagon Alley and her toothbrush . 'The standard book of Spells, Grade 1' was what it was called. Severus had called it a childs book, and , worried that everyone had already read it, Lily had decided to attempt to learn it off by heart. She tiptoed out of the bedroom with the book tucked beneath her arm and down the cold hall to the girls bathroom, which was a large stone room full of claw foot bathtubs separated by green partitions and sinks around pillars. She brushed her teeth and washed her face in one, slotting her toothbrush into a holder reserved for 'Evans' on the front of it. 

Instead of heading back to the dorm room she climbed up some steps, then through a set of doors, then down some more stairs to a walkway which looked over the Gryffindoor common room. From it she could see the hole in the wall which was blocked by the portrait of the fat lady on the other side, the abundance of Gryffindoor banners, red chairs, carpets, tapestries, the giant hearth and of course a painting of Godric Gryffindor on the wall. Lily had discovered that he was the man whom the house was named after. 

There were a few elder students sat around who paid Lily no mind as she made her way down the stairs and across the room past a turning globe and a plate of welcome bouncing biscuits to a chair by the window. She sat down and began to read, apparently becoming so absorbed with the books contents that she didn't notice Remus marching over, throwing himself down into the chair across from her. She jumped back a little as he thumped his edition of 'Fantastic beasts and where to find them' down infront of him . 

"Sorry", he apologised. He seemed to apologise alot. 

"Are you okay?", wondered Lily kindly. 

"No", he replied bluntly, flipping open his book. It seemed he'd used a timetable as a book mark. Lily leaned her head over to look at it. "Haven't you gotten yours yet?- They're in a pile over there". By the door there were a stack of papers that Lily had neglected to notice that morning.

"Oh- I didn't see those". They hadn't been there the night before. She wondered how Remus had gotten his, assuming he had just come down from the boys dorm. 

"Have this one", he offered kindly, "I'll grab another on the way out". 

"Oh- thank you", smiled Lily, taking the paper. She then watched as the name in the top corner, 'Remus L. Lupin' shifted and transformed to 'Lily J. Evans'. Despite his kindness the boy was undoubtedly irked . "...Whats the matter?", inquired Lily again.