A/N: The sorting hat's "thoughts" are in bold, while the person who is getting sorted has their thoughts in italics.

...

September 1, 1977
10:54 a.m.

Craig Geyer watched a laughing redhead and a blonde run through a wall with two trunks that looked similar to his. Guessing correctly, he ran through the same wall with his aunt and landed into an entirely new world.

A steam engine whistled, signaling the five minute mark, which meant to Craig he had better hurry his ass up.

"I'm going to miss you. Be a good student," his aunt sounded between worried for him and worried for his peers.

"I always am," he replied, winked, and then headed off onto the train, which was a whole different story upon itself.

Kids were, simply put, everywhere. Once in awhile it looked as if older students with badges were trying to get them into their respective compartments, but the more mischievous kids just ran right back out.

He had trouble trying to navigate and finally found someone that looked nice enough. She was talking to a taller guy with scars slashed across his face and arms. He tapped her on the shoulder.

"Are there assigned compartments or am I supposed to just pick one?"

"Well, you really just take a seat anywhere there is one. I recommend staying away from the back of the train," Mary replied to the out of place looking teen.

"Thanks..." Craig said unsure of himself and walked down the compartment hallway.

"We're in the back of the train! And was that an American accent?" Remus asked continuing on their way to the prefect compartment.

"I was not letting Sirius meet him on what looks like his first day. It sure sounded like one. When I was in America with my grandparents and Julia, that's how everyone sounded. What do you do in a prefects' meeting?" She sounded nervous herself, jumping from topic to topic at rapid speed.

Mary had been appointed prefect, therefore taking Lily's empty spot and filling in the last space.

"You listen to the two heads, which this year are James and Lily," Remus snorted. "I give them at tops a month before they get together."

"They'll be together in around two weeks I assume."

They reached the prefect compartments and immediately started laughing at the sight before their eyes.

"Uh Prongs? Whatcha doing mate?" Remus finally said at a distressed looking James.

"Yeah, buddy you're supposed to be inside the compartment."

"No duh, Mary! I'm freaking out, Remus! You were supposed to get this fucking badge, not me!" James said at which Remus rolled his eyes.

"Shut up and get in the compartment!" Remus opened the door and shoved both James and Mary in before he went in himself.

Lily looked like she was about ready to throttle James.

"Deep breaths, Lily, don't kill James," Mary snickered and sat in a seat next to Remus. Lily muttered something inaudible.

"I give her two days tops before she actually kills him," Remus whispered to Mary before Lily began to speak.

"Thank you all for coming to the first prefect meeting! James is passing out the patrol schedules and if you've been in these seats before, you'll notice there are longer and more frequent patrol times!" Lily said, her nervousness not affecting her tone.

"And why is that?" A Hufflepuff asked.

"Dumbledore actually made the schedules, so we cannot tell you the exact answer, but-"

"Of course you didn't make the patrol schedules. It's not like that was one of your head duties," a Slytherin cut Lily off.

"Oi! Lily Evans, your head girl is speaking, so if everyone could shut up and listen, that would be great," James yelled over the prefects, who had all continued to speak.

"Like I was saying, Dumbledore made the patrol schedules and did not give us a reason for the change of hours and amount. Yet, I assume as the appointed prefects you can all handle the responsibility."

Lily looked to James as if to say, anything else?

"If you happen to have a legitimate conflict with your scheduled time, come to me or to Lily and we'll fix it up for you. Make sure you get the first-years directed safely towards their common rooms."

After sharing a final look, Lily and James dismissed the prefects and waited for everyone to leave the compartment. Then, Lily slapped James on the arm.

"Oi! What was that for?" James' eyes widened.

"I thought you weren't coming to the meeting, like you had resigned before the year even started! Like you had left me alone or something!"

The last statement had hit James square in the chest, almost as if he were boxing the words and they had hit the final punch of the match.

"I would never leave you alone, you understand me? Never!" James had taken her by the shoulders and looked straight into her eyes. Mary and Remus shared a look.

"Okay, I'm changing my answer to two weeks tops," and just as Remus said that, Sirius came bounding through their chosen compartment door.

"Congratulations, Lily! I knew it!" He started dancing around in a circle, twirling her with him.

"Knew what?" James was severely confused.

"I knew that she was pregnant!" Everyone's eyes widened.

"You're what?!?" James practically shouted. After which Lily slapped Sirius across the face.

"What the actual fuck, Sirius? Do you want the entire train thinking I'm pregnant? Please tell me what you were-"

Lily got cut off by screeching of wheels and then many screams. She whirled around and saw black masks cutting through the hallway.

"Death eaters?" Marlene asked.

"On the train?" Mary added.

However, Lily didn't stop to ask questions, she pushed everyone into the nearest bathroom door and started to put enchantments on it.

"Ok, what the fuck do we do now?" Peter asked, looking the most nervous out of all seven of them.

"Oh Merlin, what about Alice?" Mary asked with fearful eyes.

"We have to assume she'll be okay," Sirius said, probably his best try at comforting in awhile.

James walked over to where Lily was standing by the door muttering words at a rapid pace.

"These enchantments will only hold off their magic for so long, since theirs is much more powerful. The only way to get those damn death eaters off the bus is to fight them, do you think they'll be up for that?" Lily whispered turning from the door to look at her friends, who were all still talking amongst themselves.

"We're all very talented witches and wizards, if anyone can do it, it's us. First, we need to communicate with Dumbles, anyone have a clue how to do that?" James replied and then asked the group.

"Remember that book Dad gave us? The one on different types of communication? There was that one with the patronus messages," Sirius suggested.

"Moony, you were there and were actually paying attention to the words on the page. Do you think you could try?" James turned to Remus and in any other situation Lily would've laughed at his statement.

"Sure thing," and with a few flicks of his wand a patronus produced.

"Death eaters on Hogwarts Express. We need help."

"Now what?" Peter asked, hands now shaking.

"Well, logically we should divide and conquer. Some of us go to the front of the train and some of us to the back. How should we split up?" Remus said with a level-head.

"How about Sirius, James, Peter, and I go to the front?" Marlene suggested.

"Then, Mary, Remus, and I can go to the back," Lily said agreeing.

James looked hesitant to leave Lily, but with a final look at her and a nod of her head, he lead his group out into what would later be called the Ambush of the Express.

"Alright, you two ready?" Remus asked clutching his wand. Mary and Lily share a look before nodding. And out they went.

...

12:15 p.m.

Thirty-minutes later, the death eaters showed no signs of stopping up. Lily's neck was drenched in sweat and her legs were throbbing from running around so much.

Currently, she was locked in a duel with a masked, cloaked figure and things were looking up for Lily. The death eater was getting sloppy with their shield charms and she had sent many jinxes their way.

Boom!

The death eater and an entire wall of the train was blasted backwards by someone behind Lily. When she turned around, she found a messy-haired boy who looked around her age.

"This way! Come on!" His voice sounded like it came from a foreign country.

He grabbed her hand and ran the direction of the explosion. Around ten compartments later, they ran into an Auror.

"They momentarily lifted the apparition regulations for students of Hogwarts. Take these two and go!" Moody's gruff voice said, pushing two familiar younger students towards them.

Annie practically tackled Lily while Julia opted just to take her hand. They both had tear tracks racing down their cheeks.

"Can you apparate well?" Lily asked the still nameless boy.

"Yes, do you want to side-along with me?" He answered after which Lily nodded.

During the Ambush of the Express, Mary and Remus had managed to get separated from Lily, which meant while she was apparating to Hogwarts, they were still fighting.

They fought the death eaters while having their backs pressed against one another. Windows were broken, seat cushions were torn, and doors were hanging off their hinges.

"Expelliarmus!" Mary shouted, collecting her death eater's wand the same time Remus sent his flying backwards with a powerful Stupefy.

"We need to get out of here," Mary said while Remus took off running with her hand in his.

"How? Where should we go?" Remus said, his scars looking extremely vibrant with the sweat running down his cheeks that came from his forehead.

"Apparate into Hogsmeade!"

And just like that, Remus turned and they apparated into Hogsmeade with a crack.

...

12:45 p.m.

They say when you are particularly stressed, it makes apparating harder and splinching easier to achieve. That statement proved itself true in the moments following Remus and Mary's exit.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Mary exclaimed gritting her teeth.

"Oh Merlin, I'm so sorry, Mary."

"It's fine, Remus, just go get some help from someone."

Mary had splinched herself at the waist, leaving a bit of flesh behind in all the chaos.

"Well, at least I'll have a thinner waist now," Mary muttered as a redhead walked over with a frantic looking Remus.

"I'm just going to clean it out and leave the heavy duty healing to when you get to Hogwarts. Is that alright, Sweetie?" The woman smiled.

"Yeah, that's alright," she tried to smile herself, but she couldn't and it turned into a grimace.

Her shirt was acting like the bandage to the wound and when the woman lifted it she swore like a sailor.

"Fuck! Shit!" She squeezed her eyes shut.

"I'm going to clean it now and this will sting a bit. Then, I'll use this bandage to soak up the blood until Madam Pomfrey can give you a potion."

"Can you talk about something to distract me?" Mary asked, clutching Remus' hand in hers.

"I'm a mother of three and I'm due to have another in April. I've been married for around seven years, right around when I graduated from Hogwarts."

As she was speaking, she was focusing on making sure the wound was not only clean, but would be easy to fix at Hogwarts.

"I'm not sure I got your name," Mary said as the final bandages were being wrapped around her torso.

"I'm Molly, Molly Weasley!" She smiled and helped Mary off the ground.

"I'm Mary Macdonald!" She smiled back.

"And I'm Remus Lupin, thanks for your help," he said with a handshake after which she walked away to help more injured.

"Again, I'm so-"

"Don't apologize, Lupin, it's totally fine. It was a stressful situation and it's not like it happened on purpose."

...

12:45 p.m.

Craig, Lily, Julia, and Annie had successfully apparated into the center of the Great Hall, except for Julia being a bit whoozy after the experience and Lily needing around forty-eight hours of sleep to get over the whole ordeal, the four of them were in good spirits considering it all.

Slughorn was the first professor to notice the four students looking confused by there being a near empty Great Hall, the only other students having been escorted to their respective common rooms.

"Do we have any first-years here that need sorted?" He asked, his normal cheerful tone having disappeared an hour ago.

Julia meekly raised her hand and frowned at Slughorn.

"Come sit on the stool," she followed his directions, "and Craig you can be sorted after her."

That statement caught Lily's attention. Why would a boy, who she had assumed was the same age as her, need to be sorted? And where was that accent from?

Yet another Macdonald, you two sure have been through a lot in the past six months.

No shit sherlock!

You're feisty, courage and quite chivalrous, yet you are motivated by your deepest ambitions.

I have no idea what any of that means.

You will in time. It seems you are quite loyal as well and have an affinity for quick wit. This is quite difficult...

I could make it easy for you.

Oh really? How might you do that?

By telling you to choose Gryffindor.

Just like your sister, very well...

"Gryffindor!" The hat shouted earning a whoop from Lily and Annie, who had an entirely too big grin on her face for this occasion.

"Mr. Geyer, it is your turn to be sorted," Slughorn spoke through the cheers as Julia skipped off the stool.

Craig walked over to the stool and sat down without much hesitation, if a first-year could do it, he could too.

Interesting, very interesting.

What is?

Your loyalty and good work ethic outshine all your other traits by far, but there is still a large amount of courage inside you.

Which means?

It means I know exactly where to put you...

"Hufflepuff!" The hat shouted earning some cheers from Lily, the other two girls were taken up to the hospital wing for a dreamless sleep potion since the events of the day had played out as they had.

"Why did you stay? I don't even know who you are." He asked genuinely curious.

"First, we both have a meeting with Dumbledore, probably about different things, but I thought it might be nice to walk up with someone. Second, my name is Lily Evans and it's just what nice people do," she said as they walked up the staircase.

"Well, my name is Craig Geyer. So, you fancy yourself nice do you?" He said trying to make a lighthearted joke, which she took it as one.

"I've been told many times that I'm the nicest witch in many generations to have walked the halls, specifically by this other Gryffindor named,  James Potter."

"Okay, stop here for a second. I really want to meet this James guy because you're obviously in love with him," Craig said as they made it to the gargoyle in front of Doodledorf's office.

"Oh stop it!" She said as her cheeks flamed red.

"You didn't deny it," he said in a sing-song voice.

The gargoyle moved without a password as if Doodledorf was waiting for them, which he had happened to be.

"I need to talk to Miss Evans first. Mr. Geyer, can you please wait outside?"

"Sure thing, Do-Dumbledore," he said stopping himself from calling him Doodledorf to his face.

Lily entered, nervous since the usual twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes were gone as was his Phoenix, who Lily had seen every time she visited his office.

"The first matter I need to bring to the table is the heads' common room. Since you are head girl, you have the privilege of having, perhaps the best space Hogwarts has to offer as your own."

"Of course, I share that with James, correct?"

"Yes... which leads us to our next topic of discussion," Dumbledore paused as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"You were a true Gryffindor on the train today, Lily, and I applaud your efforts. However, I need to address the losses for the rest of the student body," she swallowed a large lump in her throat.

"People died?" Lily said with her teeth clenched.

"Well, no," he said hesitantly, "but people were taken."

"Taken?" Lily asked eyes wide.

"Some of the students include: Miss McKinnon, Miss Fortescue, Mr. Pettigrew, Mr. Black and Mr. Potter."

It took a minute to sink in for Lily and when it did, she immediately started to panic because the people that weren't there calmed her down.

"What about Mary and Remus? Where are they?" She asked this time in a small voice.

"In the hospital wing."

Lily took off running, down the stairs, turning left and right, until she met Remus and Mary walking out of the hospital wing together.

"They're gone!" Lily finally let the sobs escape.

"Who's gone?" Remus asked worriedly.

"Our friends, we're all alone!"

...

Author's Note:

Originally, I was going to cut this part of the plot, but then I didn't... so here it is!

I know I said I never ended with cliffhangers, but I now take that statement back. This was longer because I needed to fit so much in it and also since the last few chapters have been shorter.

It feels like I say I'm sleep deprived in every author's note, but this time I actually am, so I am going to sleep right after this. I promise!

Also, the next update may be a little later because I'm going to be trying to update my one-shot book with some stuff.

Lmao anyways thanks for reading
-teddy🎃

(In honor of spooky season)

👻🎃👽🤡