Lily

Chapter Four:

"Oi! Remember when Harry used Floo Powder for the first time?!" Fred asked.

"Mum was all like "speak clearly"!" George added.

"And Harry was like "gskiwiwjsjdidisk"!"

Everyone burst out laughing, except for Lily who was a bit confused.

The families had finished shopping for the children's school supplies and now were walking through King's Cross Station. Ron was arguing with Hermione- who Lily had met, about her cat, Crookshanks, who apparently was "a devil cat with the sole purpose in life of murdering Scabbers". Scabbers was Ron's pet rat.

Lily followed Harry through the barrier between the muggle train station and the magical one. She kept close to her brother's side, slightly scared by all the people bustling around. Harry wasn't bothered by her clinginess, but when Ginny invited Lily to sit with her and her friends on the train instead of with Harry, Ron and Hermione, Lily accepted, worried about bugging the one person she felt she could fully trust so far.

Ginny and Lena took Lily to an apartment with only two other kids inside. There was a boy holding a plant and girl with strange glasses who was staring off into space.

"Hi Neville, Hey Luna." Lena smiled.

The four exchanges greetings and then sat down, leaving Lily awkwardly lingering by the doorway.

"Oh, and this is Lily Potter, Harry's sister." Ginny introduced.

"Hello." Luna said in her dreamy voice.

"Nice to meet you." Neville said.

Lily, still standing up, took a moment to reply.

"...It's nice meeting you too." She said, eventually, rather quietly.

"Why don't you sit down, Lily?" Lena offered, patting the seat next to her.

Lily slowly moved over to the spot and sat down. The others began conversing and talking about their summer holiday while Lily remained silent.

"So, why are you attending Hogwarts so late?" Neville asked.

Lily's eyes widened.

"Lily, are you okay?" Lena asked.

"Oh... um... yes?" Lily squeaked.

"You don't have to answer." Neville told her, feeling guilty for making her grow more tense.

"...it's okay... I was, um, living with my aunt." Lily said softly, "And she didn't want me to go."

Lena and Ginny, who had heard the story of how Marge told everyone Lily was dead, stayed silent. There was an awkward moment of silence in the compartment.

"I hope there's pudding at the feast." Luna said, breaking the silence.

"Oh, me too." Ginny agreed.

"Yep, pudding is... pudding." Neville said.

"I thought you didn't like pudding." Ginny pointed out.

Neville shrugged his shoulders and adjusted the plant on his lap.

"What kind of plant is that?" Lily asked before she thought through what she was doing.

She blushed and looked down at the floor.

"Oh, I'm glad you asked..." Neville beamed, and began explaining what the species was and giving off several interesting facts about the plant.

Luna was staring off into space, Lena was doodling in bed sketchbook, and Ginny was reading a book about Quidditch while Neville spoke to a Lily.

Everything was going fine until it started getting colder. Lily shivered in her seat. Then, the train stopped.

"We can't be at Hogwarts yet." Ginny frowned.

The lights flickered. Lily grew pale as they shut off completely.

"Harry." She mumbled, before standing up and darting out of the compartment.

Lily wasn't thinking straight, all she knew is that she was scared beyond belief and in that moment, she felt like only one person could save her from the darkness seeping into her heart. That person was Harry.

Whipping open the door to Harry's compartment, Lily scared the trio sitting in the darkness, looking confused. Her eyes landed on Harry and for a split second, she felt the tiniest twinge of warmth in her heart. Then, it ended.

Lily could feel it coming up behind her. She was trembling where she stood. Then, she felt the thing glide by her side until it was in the compartment between her and Harry. And that's when the screaming started. It was a woman screaming, and Lily couldn't make out what she was saying.

The next thing Lily knew was nothing but darkness. Then, she was laying on the floor, the light in the compartment back on and the dark thing was gone. She squinted her eyes due to the bright lighting. Her first cohesive thought was of Harry and whether he was alright. Lily looked and he was sitting up beside her. Without wasting a moment, she sat up and hugged him.

"Woah, Lily." Harry said, concern for his sister showing through.

Tears escaped from Lily's eyes and she cried into Harry's shoulder.

"Shh, it's okay." He soothed, "It's okay, it's gone. We're safe."

"Here, have some chocolate." Remus' voice said.

"It helps." Logan added, handing Harry some of the candy.

Lily wiped away her tears and looked up to the the couple standing over them, along with Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Lena.

"Safe?" Lily mumbled as a question.

"Yeah." Harry promised.

"What happened?" Lena asked, looking to her parents.

"Dementors boarded the train in search of Sirius Black." Remus explained.

"They're gone now." Logan reassured them.

"Dementors?" Harry asked.

"They guard the wizarding prison- Azkaban." Ron said.

Harry moves to stand up, so Lily let go of him, standing up as well.

"There was a woman screaming." Lily whispered.

Harry nodded, looking at the others.

"Is she okay? The woman who was screaming?" He asked.

Logan and Remus exchanged worried glances.

"There was no woman screaming, Harry." Hermione said gently.

"But there was, Lily heard her too!" Harry protested.

Lily nodded her head. She had definitely heard the woman.

"Here's some more chocolate." Logan handed more candy over to the Potter twins, "Eat up."

Harry took the candy and handed some to Lily before eating his own portion.

"We'll be arriving at Hogwarts soon." Remus told them, "So Logan and I will be going to help the first years... will you two be okay?"

"Yeah." Harry said, looking at Lily, "We'll be fine."

And the two adults left.

"Did none of you guys pass out?" Harry asked the remaining teens and preteens.

They all looked at Harry and Lily, worry evident in their eyes.

"No." Ginny informed them, "No, we didn't."