Roads Not Taken

As always, characters and places in the Potter universe are owned by JKR the great. I'm grateful to get to play with them a little, and do it for fun, not profit.
I'm new to writing and find it a nice way to take my mind somewhere for a vacation after a long work day.

Ch1 First Appearances

The boy climbed the steps to the Hogwarts Express. He was a scrawny child, with the look of a plant not getting enough light- too thin and spindly, and too pale. His black hair was too long and needed a good scrubbing. His nose was too large for his face. His mouth was thin and tight and turned down at the corners. Not an attractive child.
But there was something about his eyes, as if he really SAW what he looked at. For all his thin build he moved with a certain grace, and his hands showed a strength and surety uncommon in 11 year olds. He found a compartment near the end of the train and settled into a seat, his eyes taking in every detail around him.

He was a complete contrast, at first glance anyway, to the two boys swaggering from opposite directions down the train station. They also had black hair, cut and clean, and regular, handsome features. One wore glasses, and in spite of the cut his hair stuck out at somewhat odd angles.
Both had the easy, carefree air of the priveleged who don't know that they are such. Smiles came easily to their mouths, and laughter. Both had more than a touch of arrogance in their stride, even though at eleven they were among the youngest students on the platform.

The two bumped into each other as they started up the stairs and a group of older, bigger boys pushed them aside. Both scowled at the older students, and then at each other. There was a moment of evaluation, and then, as if recognizing kindred spirits, both boys grinned. The one wearing glasses put out a hand.
"James," he said.
"Sirius, I guess us first years had better stick together." The other boy shook the outstretched hand.
On the train the first compartments were filled with older students, all greeting each other and catching up from the summer. The two boys took seats in a compartment towards the end of the train, which had two young girls already in seats. One of them had dark red hair. She seemed excited and nervous and somewhat overawed. The other girl was blonde, and looked frankly scared.
The red-haired girl turned to look at the boys as they entered, and her gaze lingered on James, who smiled at her as he sat.
"Hi," he said. "Are you two first years, too?"
"Yes, I'm Lily"
"C-Cassie."
"I'm Sirius, this is James. Wow, this train is something, isn't it? What house do you think you'll be in?"
Lily's looked blankly at Sirius. "House?" she said, in a small voice.
"House. You know, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw. No way I could ever be in Hufflepuff. You DON'T know? You must be Muggle born. Everybody in the magical world knows about Hogwarts houses."
"Muggle?" Cassie, in an even smaller voice.
"NOT magical. You girls don't know anything, do you? You need your wits about you being first years. You just stick with us, we'll help you. Won't we, James?"
Lily was frowning, now. "I can take care of myself, thank you. Come on, let's go where the air is fresher, Cassie." She brushed past both boys without a second look, and James looked regretfully after her as a group of other students pushed in and took seats.
"Don't mind them, James, my boy. There are a lot of first year girls. What about Quidditch, now? Do you play?"

The girls looked into another compartment which was full. The next one had two seats left next to a thin boy with lank, black hair. Lily and Cassie excused their way in and sat. The boy said nothing, but moved over slightly to give them a little more room.
"Thank you." Lily said, and the boy nodded, his eyes studying the girls.

This compartment had a mix of boys and girls, some talking animatedly, some quiet and nervous looking. Most, by size, were probably first years. Lily introduced herself and her newly acquainted friend, Cassie, to those around her, including the thin boy next to her. His voice sounded raspy, as though not used very often as he said "Severus".
They sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to conversations around them.
Several of the other students were also talking about houses. Lily listened intently, but with a certain amount of puzzlement.
Severus suddenly asked "Are you Muggle born?" His voice was carefully neutral, not like Sirius's tone had been.
"Yes, I am. You?"
He stared at her a moment, as if he had surprised himself by speaking, and finally answered, "My father was Muggle, my mother is a witch."
"So you at least know what they are talking about."
He cleared his throat. "The students at Hoggwarts are divided into four 'houses'. They share dormitories, go to classes together, eat together at house tables."
"How do you know which house you are in?"
"You are 'sorted' into a house based on your abilities and personality, I believe." His manner was surprisingly mature considering his size and appearance.
Lily considered for a few moments. "What if you get sorted into a house with people you don't like?"
His mouth tightened, and he said softly, "I don't think we really have any choice in the matter."


The long train ride passed with sporadic conversation and, for Lily at least, growing nervousness. An older student stuck her head into their compartment and told them to put on their robes, that they were almost to the station.
As they left the train a voice called loudly, "First years, first years this way."
A huge man in a horrible, hairy coat was sweeping down the station gathering the first years together and herding them toward boats at the edge of a large lake.
Both Severus and Lily found themselves crowded into a boat which also included James, Sirius, and several other boys and girls.
When everyone was in a boat with the huge man in the front one, the boats began to move across the water with no visible means of propulsion. Lily exclaimed in delight, but several girls and boys reacted in fright, which increased as the boats moved out into deep water and picked up speed.
"There's nothing to be afraid of." Sirius, showing off, stood up in the boat "See, nothing to it. You probably couldn't turn this boat over if you tried."
Several voices called out "Don't try." but several students laughed, and that was enough to encourage Sirius, who waved his arms around, hitting Severus in the head. Severus batted Sirius's arm away, and Sirius turned to look at him with a grin. Severus glared back. Sirius turned, saying "Here, James, give me a hand," and 'accidently' hit Severus again just as the boat rocked sharply. In a second Severus was over the side. Everyone stared in shock for a moment until his head bobbed up. Severus was thin, but he wasn't weak, and he was a good swimmer. As he tread water Sirius, laughing, bent over the side of the boat saying "Oh, sorry. Here, let me give you a hand."
As he bent over Lily placed a foot on his rear and pushed, and over he went. Sirius flailed around, barely keeping his head above water, laughter now forgotten. James turned and said angrily to Lily "Why did you do that? He didn't push that boy on purpose, it was an accident." A large boy beside him swept out an arm and James went over as well. "Seems to be a lot of 'accidents'."
Several of the students still in the boat laughed, and even Severus smiled. Easily staying well away from the still flailing Sirius and the now surfacing James, he swam to the side of the boat and pulled himself up. To his surprise several hands reached out to help him and several students slapped him on the back. "Are you alright?"
Suddenly the giant in the hairy coat was there, having somehow steered his boat back beside theirs, " 'ere now, what's goin' on?" His huge hand pulled a dripping Sirius out of the water and deposited him in the boat, followed by James. He looked back and forth between the three wet boys. He didn't seem to have much trouble deciding who to blame. His gaze fixed on Sirius with a frown, which softened somewhat as the boy began to shiver and looked remorseful. From somewhere under a seat he produced blankets and handed one to each wet boy. "Now, no more funny business."
The boats, which Severus just realized had stopped as soon he had gone into the water, now continued toward the far shore where the school buildings loomed large in the near darkness.
The boats banked themselves so that the students could scramble ashore. A tall, straight-backed witch in a pointed witch's hat looked over the new students with a severe expression which became even more severe as she took in the still shivering, wet boys in blankets. "Hagrid, what happened here?"
"Ah, Professor McGonagall, they say it was an accident. They all went into the lake."
"Accident, indeed." To Severus' surprise her eyes, also, settled on Sirius with a frown. "Well, you can't very well go in to be sorted like that...let me clean you up." She waved her wand over the wet boys and muttered a few words and Severus suddenly felt warm and dry.
As they were led into the school he found Lily beside him. She was staring at his hair, and Severus suddenly realized his hair felt...light? FLUFFY? The 'cleaning up' spell the Professor had used must have removed more than just the water from his hair. It felt CLEAN. He tried to look severe but Lily just grinned at him, and Severus found to his amazement that his lips twitched in return in spite of himself.
"Line up, please. Quiet. In a moment you will file into the hall, and when I call your name you will come forward. The sorting hat will decide which house you will belong to, and you will take a seat at that table. Is that clear?" Without waiting for an answer the Professor opened the doors into a large room filled with students, light, and noise.