Lily Potter and the Shadows' Misfortune

Chapter Eight

After calming herself down in the restroom, Lily returned to her compartment sheepishly and apologized to her friends for her mild explosion. They got right back to their usual chatter right and maintained it up until they got off of the train in their school robes, leaving their luggage and pets on the train to be transported up to their dormitories.

"Where should I-" the anxious Cecily began before being cut off.

"Firs' Years!" a loud voice bellowed- Hagrid.

"There's your answer," Lily smiled to Cecily and pointing over to where Hagrid's booming voice came from. "Go over to Professor Hagrid and the rest of the first years; you'll go up in boats together."

Lily turned to point her in the direction but stopped when she spotted two familiar people standing among the scared first years. The identical girls from the day Lily had gone into Diagon Alley were standing at the edge of the group with their hair, still flaming red.

"Lil," Eli's said, pulling her out of her thinking. "If we don't go now, we won't catch a carriage. Hugo doesn't want to walk all the way up to the castle."

"Oh please," Hugo scoffed. "Like you want to, Eli?"

"Okay," she nodded, looking away from the girls. "Sorry, let's go."

The six second years hurried up to the seemingly-horseless carriage and boarded, assisting one another in hopping into it. Despite never seeing someone die, Lily knew that creatures called thestrals pulled the carriages- her Auntie Luna had told her.

"I can't believe we're back," Lily grinned as she settled in between Nora and Cassie. "I'm so excited! I just can't wait!"

"You won't have to wait much longer," Rudolph laughed as the carriage jerked forward. "What are these things pulling the carriages anyway? They're all boney."

"There's nothing pulling the carriage, Rudolph," Cassie said, looking confusedly at her friends.

"There are," Lily nodded. "I can't see them, but apparently, there are creatures pulling them."

"Thestrals," Eli breathed. "They can only be seen by someone who has seen death. I can see them, too, Rudolph."

"I've never seen death," Rudolph commented confusedly. "How is it that I can see them?"

"That's impossible," Eli retorted. "Rudolph, if you can see them, you have to have seen someone die. Maybe you were too young to remember."

"I suppose so," he muttered, scratching his head.

"Who did you see die, Eli?" Hugo piped up.

"Hugo!" Lily interjected. Her cousin could be quite oblivious to the feelings of others. "You can't just ask someone-"

"It's fine," Eli interrupted, shrugging it off. "My great uncle. I was only seven. One night at dinner, he just collapsed on the floor. Dead. It was an interesting family get-together."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Lily said.

"That's awful," Nora agreed with a sympathetic nod.

"My great uncle was a terrible man and an extremely avid follower of Voldemort, so it wasn't much of a loss," he shrugged. "I hardly knew him anyway."

"Well, on that note," Cassie began, "what do you all think this year is going to be like?"

Thanks to Cassie's derailing the subject of death, the six second years chatted wishfully along the way to Hogwarts about their expectations for the year. Rudolph resolved to learn more about Charms while Hugo wanted nothing more than to erase his reputation for being poor at the subject. Nora talked nonstop about Potions, and Eli disagreed, saying Transfiguration was the way to go. Lily and Cassie agreed with nearly everyone as both of the intellectual girls were excited to learn something new in every subject.