the_debt_of_time

Rolling her eyes with an embarrassed sigh, Mia turned back to Lily. "I'm not sure
what happened, but I think they were rude to you and your friend on the train, and I would
like to apologise on their behalfs."
"They were." Lily scowled down the table, glaring at James and Sirius before turning
back to Mia. "But Severus can take things a little too seriously from time to time."
Sirius turned and smiled. "Someone call me?"
"Eat your treacle tart, Sirius," Mia ordered, and he bowed his head in feigned
reverence, returning to his plate.
"Did you see the ceiling?" Alice smiled as she looked up in awe. "It's so beautiful."
Lily's solemn expression faded, and she smiled as her attention turned upward. "I've
never seen anything like it."
"Are you a Muggle-born?" Mia asked Lily—already knowing the answer—using her
knowledge to press for an open conversation with the girl who would grow up to be her
best friend's mother.
"Yes," Lily admitted. "Something wrong with that?"
Mia frowned at the girl's tone. Clearly Lily had already been dealing with prejudice
in the Wizarding world, and Mia knew exactly how that felt. "Not at all. I'd love to learn
more about Muggle-borns if you're ever interested in sharing. I've read a bit about the
Muggle world myself, but I've always wanted a Muggle-born friend."
Slowly, the visible tension in Lily's posture faded, and she tentatively smiled.
"Really?"
"Friends?"
"Sure!"
"What about the rest of you?" Mia asked the other first years at her table. "What are
your families like?"
"Pureblood," Alice admitted with a shrug. "I've got an older brother who graduated
from Hogwarts last year."
"Same here." Frank Longbottom smiled. "Pureblood, I mean. I've got no brothers.
It's just me and Mum."
"I'm pureblood, too." Mary Macdonald joined in on the conversation, switching her
seat from where she had been on the other side of Gaspard and William. The two boys did
not looked phased by the shifting, too caught up in looking at Chocolate Frog cards.