Notes: Just thought I'd say that this is the first fanfic I've ever done. I've attempted others but this is going to be the first one I'm going to really try to finish and actually publish. I'm so sorry if I take a while to update sometimes, but I'm not the quickest of writers, so you'll just have to bare with me. I also thought I'd slip in the fact that I don't actually know where this story is going yet, so until I've completely planned out the plot, updates are going to be a lot slower. Like I said, I'm really sorry, but any reviews would be greatly appreciated.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. All rights go to JK Rowling.
Her foot crossed over the threshold of the train as the breeze of the Scottish highlands hit the skin of her cheeks, the contrast of the heat from Surrey and the bitter cold of the north stung her face, highlighting the paleness of her complexion, making the freckles that were speckled across the bridge of her snub nose more defined and blowing her long red locks over her shoulder. She shivered slightly as the cold air touched her, and pulled her scarf, knitted with the gold and
deep red of Gryffindor, tighter around her neck as she stepped completely off the train in the vast bustle of the other students.
Lily Evans was arriving at Hogsmeade station on the 1st of September for the last time, as she was entering her 7th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, along with the badge of shining silver that was pinned to her chest baring the words 'Head Girl'. She moved from the exit of the compartment, pulling her trunk along with her, followed my her two best friends she'd had for the past six years.
"Oh thank God, we're finally here. I thought I was going to die of starvation if we'd had to stay on that train any longer." Marlene said, as her and Mary arrived on either side of Lily and began walking towards the horseless carriages that would take them up to the school.
"Oh, don't be so dramatic, Mar. You had both mine and Lily's left over pumpkin pasties not two hours ago." Mary exclaimed, tucking some of her dishwasher blonde, shoulder-length hair behind her ear. "How you stay so healthy with the amount you eat is a mystery to me."
A smug smile crept over Marlene's face as she said, "It's the quidditch. There's more to life than books and studying you know, Mary."
"You're only saying that because you have the attention span of a peanut." Mary muttered under her breath. Lily let out a suppressed laugh as Marlene lent past her and smacked Mary in the top of the arm, saying something about 'the cheek of people these days'.
The three girls waited five minutes for an empty carriage, loaded their trunks into the back then got inside, but before Marlene had a chance to completely close the door, a foot jammed in the bottom and a high-pitched squeal sounded from just outside the carriage. Marlene opened the door and, swearing rather loudly outside, was Sirius Black.
"Fucking hell, McKinnon, could you have slammed the door any bloody harder? Feel like my bastard foot's about to fall off!"
"Oh Merlin. What do you want, Sirius?" Marlene asked, mischief hidden in the small grin that'd settled on her face.
"Well, I was going to ask if I could join you lovely ladies up to the castle, but I don't know whether it's worth losing limbs for, if I'm honest." Sirius caught eyes with Marlene and smirked at her before looking into the carriage. "Mary," he nodded, earning a smile in return. "Evans."
"Black." Lily replied plainly. The relationship between Lily Evans and Sirius Black over their previous six years at Hogwarts had been significantly less than pleasant. Lily was not one for trouble-making, especially during the course of a lesson. She thought it silly and immature and obviously inappropriate, but Sirius' view on the matter were polar opposite. Him, along side the rest of the Marauders - so named apparently by Gryffindor Head of House, Professor McGonagall, because of the excessive mischief they caused - were so prone to disrupting lessons with their pranks that the chance of enduring a lesson with them without the occurrence of the four boys' misbehaviour was extremely rare, and often aroused suspicion. Sirius Black was one of the four; James Potter, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin making up the number. Potter, in Lily's opinion, was on par with, or frequently worse than Black, Peter tagging along with the two of them, yet Remus was somewhat different. A Marauder, indeed, but more sensible, in a way. He cared about his studies, and was chosen as Gryffindor Prefect along with Lily in their 5th year. Although she didn't get on with the other three (to put it nicely), she was rather good friends with Remus, having spent a lot of time with him at Prefect meetings, enjoying his company more than she first expected.
For the first ten minutes of the journey, Marlene and Sirius engaged in conversation about Gryffindor quidditch team, - both whom were players - with Mary adding in comments now and then, while Lily stared out the window next to which she was sat, squinting through the mist in order to get her first view of Hogwarts. Her brain was so far away, it took three mentions of her name and a sharp prod from Mary, who was sat next to her, to gain her attention.
"You would've thought you'd be slightly more excited, Evans. I know it's been a long journey, but the joy of finding out you're Head Girl along side Prongs must have cheered you up."
Prongs. Pfft. What sort of name was that? The sarcastic tone in Sirius' voice encouraged Lily to bite back, but she tried to controlled herself.
"Oh I'm sure I'll cope fine with Potter, thank you." she replied rather tartly.
"You sure about that?"
The thought of spending the next year with James Potter as Head Boy had been on her mind ever since she arrived in the Prefect's compartment earlier that day and found him stood there, the stupid 'Head Boy' badge pinned to his chest. She was positively dreading it, but she wouldn't let Sirius know that.
"Yes." she said defiantly. She paused for a moment before speaking again. "Where's the rest of them, anyway? The Marauders, I mean. Finally realised you're an absolute prat and sacked you off?"
Sirius's eyes hardened as he looked directly at her. "What's it to you, Evans? I didn't realise our lives were of any interest to you. But for the record, no: they didn't 'sack me off'," his voice imitating that of Lily's. "I was just a bit too caught up with Tanya Olive to catch a ride up with them, if you know what I mean, so they went without me."
Lily looked at him with disgust before turning back to stare out the window. Sirius mumbled something that sounded a lot like 'prude bitch' (a comment which she complied herself to ignore) before reengaging in conversation with Marlene and Mary, who'd both sat through the previous, heated affair without saying a word. They knew all too well that their contributions would do nothing to help: outbursts between Lily and at least one of the Marauders happened far too frequently for the events to become anything more than a little awkward for the pair to endure.
By the time the carriage had reached the castle, Lily's anger and frustration at Sirius had built up so much that it was a relief for her to finally step out onto the path and watch him stalk off (after saying goodbye to only Marlene and Mary first, of course) to find his friends. They walked up through the large doors that led to the Entrance Hall but, before they could make their way through the doors into the Great Hall, their path was blocked by yet another person Lily really didn't want to see.
Severus Snape.
To compare the feelings Lily had towards the Marauders and those she had towards Severus would be cruel; the almost hatred she had for those stupid prats had always been there, but at one point, before he'd changed, Severus Snape had been Lily's best friend.
He lived at the end of her road as a child, and it was him who convinced her that the weird things she could do were magic. He was the first connection she'd had to the magical world and, ever since the age of 9, had been her best friend. He was subsequently one of the primary reason's Lily's sister, Petunia, hated her.
"How can you spend time with that freak?" she'd shout at Lily. "You're meant to be my best friend!"
But Severus had been there for her when Petunia hadn't. He didn't call her a freak for the strange things she could do and he'd comforted her when, in the end, Petunia turned against her. Severus was her best friend, and they vowed they would be in the same house once they arrived at Hogwarts. Although Lily had no idea the qualities relevant to each house, she would be in Slytherin, because that's what Sev wanted, and she wanted to be with him. He, as he had wished, was placed in Slytherin, but Lily had met Marlene McKinnon and Mary MacDonald on the Hogwarts Express and endured a lengthy conversation that changed her mind: she wanted to be in Gryffindor, it sounded brilliant to her, and there she was placed, now natural rivals with her best friend.
It was hard enough for the two to stay friends as they spent much less time together being in different houses, but as they grew older, it got worse. Severus' friends consisted of the likes of Mulciber, Avery and Yaxley, all of whom put Severus down for being friends with Lily, but put Lily down even more for being what they called a 'Mudblood'. At first, this term meant nothing to Lily: she was a Muggle-Born and had no idea that to be so, to some, was the lowest form of witch; a term so insulting almost all wizards didn't even dare to speak. As years went on, Severus changed more, his friend's growing opinions on Lily and 'her kind' impacted on him, until he cracked and turned on her himself, something Lily would never be able to forgive him for.
Mudblood.
That's what he called her. Her best friend had turned into the person she'd feared he'd been for years, but now it was out in the open for everyone to see. He'd called her a Mudblood, shouted it at her in front of people she called friends, people who'd told her Severus was no good, but to whom she defended him still.
That incident occurred at the end of their 5th year, and, ever since, there had been countless occasions Severus would try and speak to Lily. He'd corner her, beg and plead with her (when his friends were not around, of course) for her to forgive him, listen to him, or even acknowledge him, but she refused. She turned him down every time, she wouldn't let herself be put in a position to be hurt in the same way again, and, for her, this time was no different.
"Severus, go away." Lily's voice was hard.
"Lily, please. I only want to speak with you for a moment. I just want to ask about your summer, I didn't see you at all! Please. Just speak to me for a minute."
"Severus, for goodness sake, leave me alone. I don't want to speak with you, not even for a moment. If you must know, my summer was fine, now go away."
He gave her an uncomfortable look, almost pitied. "Lily, please. We're friends-"
"No, we were friends. You threw that away when you called me a Mudblood. Go find your own friends and leave me alone." Lily's voice cracked slightly as she spoke, and as soon as she finished, she moved quickly around him, Marlene and Mary in her stride, and entered the Great Hall with tears glistening in her eyes.
"Useless bloody pig." Marlene was muttering. "Can he not just leave you be for the first fucking day? Jesus Christ, he-"
"Please can we leave it?" Lily said in a small voice, turning to sit at Gryffindor table. "It's over now, and I really don't want to talk about him." She didn't make eye contact with either of them.
"Of course, sweetie. Let's not speak about it." Mary said, sitting down next to Lily, squeezing her arm slightly as she did so. "What do you reckon we'll have for dessert tonight? It's the Welcoming Dinner, so there better be chocolate cake. I've missed Hogwarts chocolate cake."
Lily looked up at her two best friends, both of whom were now excitedly talking about the forthcoming Welcoming Dinner - which turned out, as usual, to be perfectly brilliant -, and smiled.
It might have been a bad first day; what with finding out about Potter's Head Boy position, her quarreling with Black and Severus' pleading, but the rest of the year, she told herself, wouldn't be as bad. This was her last year at Hogwarts, and she was going to make sure it was one she would never forget.