Dear Mum Dad and Tuney,

Hello! Guess what!? I got in Gryffindor house! It's been really great here at Hogwarts so far. The castle is HUGE! Everything is amazing. Most everyone is nice (there are a few annoying boys, but of course there are.) Sev got in Slytherin, and I'm disappointed we're not in the same house, but at least we have classes together (all the first years do). Miss you lots, and I'll try to write whenever I can.

-Lily ❤❤❤❤❤

"Oh gee," Sirius says, looking at my letter from over my shoulder. "I do hope we're not the annoying boys," he said, trying to look innocent. James snickered from Sirius' left. How did I get stuck sitting next to them for breakfast?

Remus, who was sitting across from me, rolled his eyes, and went back to reading his book while chewing a chocolate pop tart. Peter, who was sitting on Remus' right, smirked. I glared teasingly at him. Mary McDonald, a girl I met yesterday in the common room, chuckled. Both of us being Muggle borns, we hit off right away, and I honestly think we're already really good friends, like Sirius and James. Ugh those two though, can't stop making stupid jokes around me. It was probably there way of trying apologize for what they said to Severus on the train.

Anyway, that was our group so far. I knew a few other first years, but not as well. Remus, Peter, Mary, and I. We were already a team. James and Sirius, just kind of hovered over us, and I think Sirius keeps looking at Remus weird, though I'm not sure why.

"So," I said to Remus. "The owls will come in, and then I can send my letter on the owl?"

Remus nodded, looking up from his book. "The owls with mail for us will come in here every morning. So, if your parents choose to send you mail on an owl today, you should get it when the owls come. Then you'll be able to give your letter to the owl right away. But if your parents don't send you mail, you'll have to go to the owlery and get your owl, because it won't come in the Great Hall if it doesn't have mail to deliver."

"Alright," I said. It made sense to me. "How do I even send a letter by owl? I've never done it before."

Mary nodded. "I haven't either."

"It's simple really," Peter said after swallowing a bite of toast. "All you have to do is tell the owl where you want them to go, and give them the letter. They do the rest."

Mary and I just stared at him. "How can the owl possibly know where to go?" Mary said. "There are tons of places in the world. I can't just tell an owl to give a letter to my grandparents house and expect it to know where to go!"

"Oh yes you can," James said, butting in. "Our owls aren't stupid like Muggle ones."

I scowled at him. "I'd be careful about insulting Muggles, James. Or their pets. We're still getting use to this world you can't expect us to know everything!"

James raised his hands in front of his face in defence, but I knew he was just doing it to be stupid.

"Ah, here they are," Remus said, pointing at the large open window at the top of the Great Hall's front wall.

Mary and I gasped at the same time. Hundreds of different colored owls swooped in, all carrying different sized packages, some small, some large. They all flew in different directions, making the Great Hall look like a very uncivilized and unorganized place. Owls landed everywhere. On the tables, and student's arms or heads. One dirty, tattered looking owl crashed into a bowl of porridge farther down the table, making several Gryffindors laugh, and making others curse. One boy, who looked to be in his second year, with long blonde hair, covered his face in embarrassment. I heard several students laughing and saying "Gee Samson get yourself a new bird!"

I saw a beautiful red owl with pointed ears land on Remus' shoulder, nudging him affectionately. She was carrying an envelope in her yellow beak, and Remus took it from her, opening it with one hand and rubbing her head with the other.

A slightly older owl landed in front of Sirius. It was black with white speckles. Sirius scowled at it and look the letter from it's beak with disgust.

Suddenly, a brown owl with blue eyes landed in front of me with a small wooden box tied to it's feet. I untied it and opened it slowly, and then smiled. Inside was a golden locket with, which I knew, had a picture of our family inside of it.

"Ooo how pretty," Mary said, looking at the necklace.

"It's my mum's," I explained. "Whenever I was little, and she was leaving for a long time, she would always let me wear it, that way a part of her was always with me."

"And now she's given it to you so you can remember her at Hogwarts," Mary said, finishing my thought. "How sweet."

I put the locket on and rubbed my owl's head. I looked up to see Remus reading his letter with pursed lips.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing," Remus said quickly, shoving the letter in his robe's pocket. "Nothing important."

I stared at him for a moment, and then turned my attention to Sirius, who was now ripping his letter into little pieces and feeding it to his owl.

Peter stared at him. "Um, Sirius...what are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" Sirius said, as if everything were normal. "Here James," he said, pushing the ripped pieces of paper toward his friend. "Dip them in that chocolate sauce and then feed them to Aquarius, He'll like that."

James did as he was told, snickering as the owl eagerly ate the paper.

"Um," Mary said. "Does your owl like eating paper?"

"Oh yes," Sirius scowled. "He loves eating every bloody letter my idiot mother sends me."

Remus did a double take but didn't say anything. I noticed that those two never seemed to talk to each other, though they did look nervously at each other from time to time, but never when the other was watching. If they did make eye contact, they would both look away from each other, embarrassed. It was....strange.

"What do you mean, your idiot mother?" James asked, still feeding Aquarius chocolate covered paper. The owl seemed to love it.

"My mother doesn't care 2 knuts about me. She'd sell me if she could, and my father's not much better."

"Oh, come on Sirius," Peter rolled his eyes. "No mother can really hate their child that much."

Sirius raised his eyebrows at him. "No? Well why don't I quote what the letter said then. No 'Dear Sirius' or anything, just simple 'You little piece of scum! Getting into Gryffindor with all the Mudbloods and Blood Traitors! You are unworthy of being a Black!' No 'From' or 'With Love' or 'Miss You' at the end. Just that."

Sirius just looked at all of us, waiting for us to react. Quite honestly, I don't think anyone knew how to.

Finally Peter said "Are you sure?"

"Positive," Sirius answered. "She hates me," his voice lowered slightly. "She and dad always have."

We all sat there in an awkward silence, listening to the chatter of the Grand Hall. My eyes lingered to the Slytherin table, where Sev sat talking to no one, not eating. He had a far away, troubled look on his face. He was looking right where Professor Dumbledore sat. I made a mental note to talk to him later.

Mary broke the silence. "What's a Mudblood?"

James instantly got to his feet. "Oh well, er, I should go get our schedules from McGonagall, heh I'll get everyone's," and he quickly left the table.

Remus suddenly seemed to find his book very interesting, and hid his face behind it, so he wasn't looking at Mary or I.

Peter picked up a glass of pumpkin juice and started drinking it quickly.

Sirius looked around uncomfortably and decided to start a conversation with Channing DeRue.

Mary and I looked at each other, confused. Why were all of our friends suddenly looking away from us?

Just then, James came running back with papers flapping in his hands. "Got our schedules," he said, passing us each our pieces of parchment. "They'll change everyday, so keep an eye on them."

My schedule read Charms, Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Lunch, Herbology, Study Hall.

"Cool," Mary said. "We have Charms, DADA, and Herbology together. And of course study hall since you're with your house group for that."

"I have the same as you, Lily," Remus put in, leaning over to see my parchment. "So does Peter, all but Herbology and Potions. Those two are flipped for him."

"What about mine, Re?" James said, pushing his list of classes toward Remus. Remus scowled. "Same thing as Lily and I, and don't call me Re."

"Kay, Re," James said smirking. "Sirius has the same thing too."

I noticed Sirius and Remus looked quickly down at their laps, both their faces slightly red.

"Okay, what is up with you two?!" I said. I couldn't stand the awkwardness between the two of them any longer.

"Nothing," Sirius mumbled.

"Something," Peter pressed. "Was it that thing that happened on the train? You two running into each other and all? It's not a big deal if that's what it is."

Both Remus and Sirius sat up, Sirius staring at Remus, eyes wide and horrified.

"Not everything," Remus said shooting Sirius a look, which confused me. What did Remus mean by "not everything?"

Sirius sighed with relief, and looked sideways at Remus. Then, hesitating, he stuck his hand out across the table. "Sorry," he sheepishly said, looking Remus in the eye.

Remus took his hand and shook it quickly, then drew his hand away fast. "Yeah, my bad. No problem." He looked at Sirius for the first time since the sorting.

"Well," I said. "Now that that's settled, let's all get to Charms before we're late."

We all headed off to Charms, which was on the clear other side of the school. We had to wait on the moving staircases, which decided to move while we were on them, meaning we had to wait until they switched back to the second floor. We did arrive a little late, but Professor Flitwick was alright about it, and we all took our seats.

I sat with Mary on my left and an empty seat on my right. James sat directly behind me with Peter on his left and Sirius on his right. Remus was on Sirius' right, and I was glad to see they were talking at little.

"Alright settle down everyone," Professor Flitwick said, walking to the front of the room. He was short and wore long robes. He had a white "Santa" beard and a bald head. He looked rather...strange. He had a long nose and rather pointed ears. His face was very wrinkled and he had a very small mouth.

"He's half goblin," I heard Remus whisper to Sirius. "He's been working here for years, and I hear he's a really good teacher."

Sirius must've made a face because Remus whispered harshly at him from behind me, "Don't look at him like that! It's not his fault he's that way!" Remus' voice broke in the middle of his sentence, and I turned around to find him looking extremely upset.

"Woah hey I'm sorry," Sirius replied, surprised at Remus' sudden unhappiness. "I didn't mean anything!"

"You shouldn't judge people on who they are," Remus choked, his voice unsteady.

Sirius looked at him curiously, but couldn't say anything, for Flitwick had already begun teaching the class.

"Charms are a work of small magic. Magic that make things-- not beings--do things for you. That is, magic that's intended for making objects do things you wish, not living creatures. As I said before, most charms are small and simple spells. They aren't meant to be used on living things, but were created to make life easier for witches and wizards. Now," Flitwick said in his high little voice, "wands, parchment, quills, and your textbook out please."

There was a rustle as all the students gathered their belongings. Once everyone was ready to go, Flitwick turned to his desk and held up a textbook. "Please turn to page 1 in Charms And Charmers and read about the basic wand motions. I do apologize, I hate making students read from textbooks, but it's necessary for this first day. However, I can promise you that you'll rarely be reading in this class.

"Thank goodness," I heard James say under his breath, as he flipped open his book.

I was about two sentences in when the door to the classroom was flung open and a boy with long black hair and a neat stack of books came rushing into the room.

"Sev!" I said out loud without meaning to. I suddenly felt very guilty, I hadn't even looked around the classroom for Severus!

Professor Flitwick raised his eyebrows as Sev took the empty chair on my right, his face red.

"Well?" Flitwick asked, looking at Severus over top of his square glasses.

"Sorry Professor," Sev murmured. "Got lost."

I heard someone snicker behind me, and I turned around to see Sirius and James whispering and taking glimpses at Severus from behind their textbooks. I glared at them, though they didn't see me. What was up with those two and Severus?!

"Well, take out Charms and Charmers and read page 1," Flitwick said to Sev. "And you two," he pointed at James and Sirius, who now both looked extremely guilty, "will stop talking and continue reading."

Remus smirked at them from behind his book as Flitwick walked to the other side of the room. I turned and smiled at Sev, only to find he was looking at Remus as if he was some kind of alien. I'd seen that look been given to Remus before.....from Sirius....What was going on? Why was everyone looking at Remus like that?

As if Sev knew what I was thinking, he slipped a note into my hand, which was laying on the table.

Meet me in the Clock Tower before your next class.

I stared at the note. Quickly, I ripped off a small piece of parchment from my large one and wrote down:

I'll be late for class! No way I can do that.

I slid the piece of paper into Sev's hand. He put it behind his textbook, which he'd already finished reading (it wasn't a very long page, I was done as well). Then, he quickly wrote something down and passed the second note to me.

I made some fake excuse passes. I'm rather good at forging signatures. Shred this that way no one can read it.

As I was ripping up the note, I felt a small tap on my shoulder. I turned around to find Sirius leaning towards me. "Passing love notes to Snivellus, eh Evans?" he whispered in my ear, smirking.

I turned around in my seat and scowled at him. "Lay off, Sirius. Honestly, can you do anything but make fun of Sev?"

"Aw, poor Lily is embarrassed by her boyfriend," James said with fake pity. "I would be too if I was dating that!"

At this point, Severus had turned around as well and was death staring James. "She's not my girlfriend!" he growled in a fierce whisper. "And you heard Lily-- lay off!"

Sirius sighed. "Gee, Evans. You deserve better than that slimeball. I pity you."

I clenched my fists together in fury. "You insult him one more time!"

"Come on, Lil," Peter cut in after making sure that Flitwick was still in the very back of the large classroom. "They're just having a bit of fun!"

I stared at Peter, sweet Peter, with pure outrage. "Not you too!"

"I thought we were friends!" Sev said angrily, trying to keep his voice down so Flitwick didn't hear. "But then you get in Gryffindor and decide to hang out with these idiots!"

"Oh, I'm hurt," James sneered in a very unhurt way. "Too busy hanging out with your Slytherin friends to be with us fantastic Gryffindors huh? No wonder the hat put you in the worst house of Hogwarts! You certainly belong there!"

Sirius had to put his fist in his mouth to stop him from laughing out loud. Peter snickered.

I couldn't believe this! I had thought these boys actually had been alright at breakfast!

"Come on Lil, and join us cool kids," James said, extending his hand towards me. "Leave Snivellus and come join us!" He pointed at Peter, Sirius, Remus, and himself.

"I'm not part of this," Remus said, putting his hands up in front of him.

"Whatever, Re."

"Don't call me that."

"Okay, Re," James said cockily, smiling at him.

Remus scowled and turned his wand over in his hands, watching us.

"So what'd ya say Lil? Come and join the good side. Dump that idiot friend of yours."

I stared at James' outstretched hand. Sev's eyes widened as he saw I was hesitating. "Lily.." he warned. "Don't do it!"

I raised my hand, and James smiled as my hand neared his...

I brought my hand down as hard as I could on his. SMACK!!!

James screamed in pain as I slapped him as hard as I could on the hand. He jumped up and stared in shock at his bright red hand, yelling in pain.

Apparently, James' scream had made Professor Flitwick's glasses fall right off his nose, and now the little half-goblin was desperately trying to see where the scream had came from, though he couldn't see James since he was practically blind! Students were all standing up, gasping or laughing at James and I. A few Slytherins in the the back were pounding on the tables and chanting "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

Peter was staring at my with his mouth hanging open, and Sirius looked like I'd just smacked him in the face. Sev was roaring with laughter at James, who was still hopping around and crying with pain. Remus was just sitting there, taking in the scene, looking completely unsurprised.

"You little demon!" screamed James, glaring at me, his glasses slipping down his nose and his hair extremely messy. "Look at my hand!!"

I was honestly very surprised at how hard I'd hit him. James' hand was now the color and size of a tomato! I couldn't help feeling proud of myself.

That is, until James pulled out his wand and aimed it at me.

I accepted the challenge, standing up and picking up my own wand and aiming it at James. My red hair swished around me as I did so. The Slytherins in the back of the room yelled even louder; "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

Professor Flitwick was stumbling around the room helplessly, trying to find his glasses. I felt bad for him, but there was no way I was going to back down now.

James laughed at me. "What are you going to do, Evans!? You grew up with Muggles, you don't know any spells!"

"We'll see about that!" I screamed back, over the noise all the students around me were making. It was very loud in the room, and I doubted Flitwick could hear anything we were saying from the back of the room. Obviously, James hadn't read the page Professor Flitwick had just assigned us. The page had been about basic wand motions, and a very simple charm had been given as an example on the page. I'd never used it before, but I was pretty confident I could do it.

A voice in the back of my head told me that Flitwick had told the class that charms weren't meant to be used on living things.....but he never said they couldn't be used on living things.

"WINGARDIUM LEVISOA!" I yelled, swishing my wand and flicking it at James, just as the book had instructed.

James shrieked like a girl as he began to float up in the air like a balloon, completely under my control.

The whole class was dying of laughter, and Sev was crying he was laughing so hard. Even Peter was giggling, and I could tell Sirius was trying his best to hold in a laugh, despite the fact that he was on James' side. The only person who wasn't laughing in the room was Remus, who was looking at me with admiration, obviously impressed my the charm I'd just casted.

I'd never been so proud of myself in my life.

"You'll think twice before you insult Sev in front of me!" I yelled up at James, who'd finally stopped screaming.

"Yeah yeah okay I'll stop!" James pleaded. "Just let me down!!"

"Um..." I said, which made the class laugh even harder.

"You mean you don't know how to get him down!?" gasped a kid named Frank Longbottom, who was staring at me in shock.

I shook my head and the class somehow found a way to laugh even harder. Many kids were clutching their stomachs or pounding on the tables, tears in their eyes and their chest's gasping for air. I was sure Sev would fall on the ground, passed out from laughing in any second, and Mary didn't seem too far off from that point either.

"WHAT?!" screamed James. "YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO GET ME DOWN?!"

I bit my lip and shook my head, while James just floated there and groaned.

That's when Remus stood up, his wand in his left hand and his open textbook in his right. He pointed his wand at James, looked down at the textbook and said "Omit waver" and James came crashing to the ground, making a few students laugh harder.

Then Professor Flitwick found his glasses. "Ah ha!" he cried, and the room went dead silent. Flitwick put on his glasses and stared around the room, his eyes resting on me, then Remus, and then James. We quite obviously had something to do with what just happened, after all, James was lying on the floor, and Remus and I were standing up with our wands out. No one moved.

"Alright, would someone please explain to me what happened?" His tone was very serious. No one spoke a word, not wanted any of us to get in trouble. I was sure James would tell, but then I realised he would get in just as much trouble as me if he did.

Flitwick raised his eyebrows. "No one? Well then, would anyone tell me who cast the Levitation Charm?"

Slowly I raised my hand. "I did Professor."

"And what did you Levitate, Miss Evans?"

That's when I realised Flitwick had no idea what I'd done to James. He was that blind.

"I uh.." I stammered.

"This book," Remus said, holding up his copy of Charms and Charmers. "She did it very well."

"Is that what happened?" Flitwick asked, looking at all the student's pale faces. To my relief, every student in the room nodded their head, even James.

"Well then," Flitwick said, turning to face me. "Brilliant job Miss Evans, 20 points to Gryffindor."

All the student's eyes in the room widened and they looked at me in awe. I stared at Flitwick in wonder, completely dumfounded that he had no clue about what just had happened.

"Oh my, look at the time," Flitwick said, peering at the clock on the wall. "Well then, class dismissed."

(I hope you all enjoyed this chapter cause it's my favorite so far XD)