Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own any of the stuff you recognize. That all belongs to a genius…also known as JK. I own the plot and any characters I make up along the way.
A/N: My first story for fanfiction.net …how exciting. For the most part, the plot for this story was taken from my own life, with a few twits and turns added for my amusement. Reviews and flames are welcome…as long as you leave something. Oh and a quick side note…I am not British, I'm from upstate New York and I'm not even going to attempt to write in a British dialect. I have no clue how to, so I'm sorry.
Le Stelle Brillano Più Luminoso Quando Non Ci è Luna
Stars Shine Brighter When There Is No Moon~carina_isla
September 1st…Hogwarts time again. Damn, I can't believe we're in 6th year already. Only two years left of this place. This year had better be better then the last, that's all I have to say…
"Lily, Lily, LILY! Jesus are you deaf are something?"
16-year-old Lily Evans was pulled out of her thinking by the shouts of her best friend in the world, Niamh O'Riley.
"Sorry Niamh. I was just thinking. I can't believe we only have two years left here."
"Here" was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Lily and Niamh were both witches about to start their 6th year.
"I know. It's kind of scary. Two years and then we're done." Niamh replied.
The girls started walking through Kings Cross Station to Platform 9 ¾ to get the train to the best place in the world, in Lily's opinion. They passed by a café and Lily caught sight of their reflections. Niamh was a…classical beauty; I guess was the term to use. She had straight pitch black hair cut to just below her shoulder blades and her eyes were a light, light crystal blue. With her creamy skin and tall thin figure, she turned heads everywhere she went. Lily, though she could never see it, was as, if not more, beautiful then Niamh. She was short, a mere 5 foot one inch with what looked like a million freckles covering her face and the most gorgeous hair in the world. Curls spilt everywhere and its blood-red color was unusual, to say the least. But her eyes, her eyes were what made Lily stand apart. They were green, but not just any green. They were the green of not quite ripe bananas and seemed to glow from within with a kind of hidden mischief.
Mischief was something the girls believed in strongly, especially Lily. Lily was loud, hyper, and totally unpredictable. She could make anyone laugh without even trying. Lily loved life and everything about it and saw no reason to go around quiet and calm all the time. She was the center of attention anywhere she went without even trying and lived to have fun. But Lily wasn't all party all the time. She had common sense and knew when it was time to be serious. She worked hard in everything she did, be it school-work (tied for top of the class and a Gryffindor house prefect), Quidditch (best, and only girl, beater Gryffindor had had in a long while) or the countless other things she did. Yes, Lily knew when to be serious.
Niamh was Lily's best friend ever. The two girls had met the start of 1st year and bonded over the fact that they both came from Muggle, or non-magic, backgrounds. Niamh liked to have a good time as much as Lily. She just did it a little more quietly. She worked as hard as Lily and had the marks to prove it, 3rd in the class does mean something, after all. Lily and Niamh, that's how it should be. Best friends forever.
"Lily…you're drifting again." Niamh's voice made it's way into Lily's thoughts once again.
"I'm sorry Niamh, you know I have nooo attention span what so ever." Lily said.
"Yeah well…" Niamh trailed off.
The girls arrived at the barrier and made their way through. Upon seeing the gleaming Hogwarts Express, Lily broke into her characteristic sly grin.
"We made it Niamh. Home again."
Once inside the train, the two girls looked around for an empty compartment to collapse in. Well, Niamh was collapsing anyway. Lily never seemed to tire and was, literally, bouncing off the walls. The girls finally found a compartment at the back of the train and settled in. They sat down and started talking when the door to the compartment opened. Lily looked up and….there he was.
James Potter. All 6 foot 5 inches off him. Lily couldn't think; she couldn't speak. James Potter was the ban of her existence. He was…delicious, for lack of a better word. With messy black hair even darker then Niamh's that never looked combed, and deep chocolate brown eyes framed by wire rimmed glasses, he was a perfect picture of how a male should look. Plus, he was smart (tied with Lily for top in the class), athletic (top Gryffindor Chaser), funny, mischievous and charming. And Lily hated him.
She hated him and there he stood with two of his three best friends: the loud Sirius Black with his shaggy dark hair flopping over his green eyes, and the quieter sandy-haired Remus Lupin. The three boys, along with the chubby, blond Peter Pettigrew, made up the infamous Marauders. The Marauders had a strange obsession with pranking people and loved to have fun.
"Hello Niamh, Lily" Sirius called out.
"Hey boys" Niamh answered.
"Hey" came Lily's reply.
"Come on guys. Lets find an empty compartment." James said staring at Lily the whole time. Lily stared out the window and tried hard to ignore him as the boys left the compartment.
"Lily's obsessed with me…she's seriously worse then a stalker. I would talk to her and everything, but the way she follows me around is just scary."
"Lily told Professor McGonagall to ask me to ask her to the Yule Ball. How pathetic is that?"
"Do you see how Lily always stares at me? She is seriously some kind of psycho stalker."
"Lily you can't let yourself think about all the crap James spread about you last year every time you see him." Niamh said softly. "That's just letting him get to you."
"Niamh, stories weren't spread about you by one of the most popular guys in the year! Do you know how much that hurt me? Everyone seriously thinks I'm psychotic. I hate Kailyn." Lily said passionately.
"Yeah, Kailyn was a bitch for telling him you were madly in love with him when all you really said is that he was cute. I'm so glad we're not friends with her anymore." Niamh answered.
"Yeah I know." Lily said.
"Lils, I know that you don't want to hear this, but why do you think that James spread those stories about you?" asked Niamh.
"Because he's the biggest asshole God ever put on this Earth?" supplied Lily.
"No…he likes you." Niamh said quietly. She knew how much Lily hated hearing this.
"Like hell he likes me!" Lily yelled. "You don't make up shit about a person you like!"
"Whatever, Lils."
James, Sirius, and Remus walked down the corridor of the train, looking for Peter.
"Sure was good seeing Niamh and Lily after the long summer." Remus said.
"Maybe for you…she doesn't love you." Replied James meanly.
"What the hell is your problem James? You know just as well as I do that Lily would never act like that." Sirius interjected angrily.
"Yeah James, why don't you just drop it?" supplied Remus.
Unlike James, Sirius and Remus both had very close friendships with Lily. Though Lily couldn't stand James, she loved Remus and Sirius. She knew that they weren't responsible for the shit James had spread. When it had begun the beginning of 5th year, they had stayed out of it. They had both informed James that if he ever said any of his crap-ass stories about Lily to them, they would make sure a little James Potter never walked this Earth. And James knew they weren't bluffing, either. Both boys had a theory as to why James did what he was doing concerning Lily. It wasn't one James responded to pleasantly, so both boys usually didn't bring it up in his company.
"Jesus, I'm sorry." replied James growing angry. "Let's just go find Peter before he buys the whole damn snack cart."
About three hours later, after James, Sirius, and Peter had successfully kept Peter from buying the entire snack cart, and Lily and Niamh had gotten into a very in-depth conversation about the Muggle movie they had seen over the summer, The Goonies, which was now their favorite movie (A/N: mine too J…and I know that it's too late for them, but I like it too much to leave it out), the Hogwarts Express had finally reached its destination. As the students walked up the steps to Hogwarts' Great Hall and took their seats at their house tables for the sorting, Lily gazed around, happy to be back in the only place she ever really considered home.
As she looked at the frightened faces of the 1st years and fondly remembered her own sorting, Lily felt Niamh poking her earnestly in the ribs. Turning to tell her to stop freakin poking her, Lily caught sight of some one looking at her. A certain black-haired, brown-eyed someone…
Lily had never really gotten why James had spread all those stories about her. They had been friends before, not super close like her with Sirius and Remus, but still close enough what with their Prefect work and Quidditch practices. And then Kailyn had gone and told him that she was madly in love with him and everything changed. James had seriously turned into the world's biggest asshole overnight. Lily didn't talk to him anymore, unless he asked her a question about something, which wasn't very often. She hated him…he hated her…but then why was he staring at her…and why did she start to blush under his gaze?
"Lily you ready to go?" asked Niamh, standing up from the table. "I'm soo tired."
"Yeah me too. Let's go." Lily replied.
Lily and Niamh made their way up to Gryffindor Tower, told the Fat Lady the password (Truffle Shuffle), and the two girls found themselves in the Gryffindor Common Room. Warm and cozy, the Common Room was full of squishy red couches and chairs and a roaring fire was going along one wall.
Niamh and Lily sat down on the couch next to the fire and relaxed.
"So Lils, I saw James staring at you during the Feast." said Niamh cautioningly.
"Ok Niamh…are you sure you're not going blind or something?" Lily said quickly, trying to hide her reddening cheeks from Niamh. God, she hated how easily she blushed sometimes.
"Oooo Lily…you are seriously such a pain in my ass sometimes. Why must you insist that he doesn't like you?" asked Niamh.
"I've explained this for a freakin bajillion times. You don't spread stories about people you like." she answered.
"Yeah but he's the youngest in the class. Not turning 17 till February. You have to figure that he's going to be slightly immature." Niamh supplied.
"I don't care! It doesn't matter how young he is. It's not like he's 6 or something." replied Lily stubbornly.
"Lillian Shauna Evans…you are seriously an idiot sometimes."
"Yeah well Niamh Gabriella O'Riley…that's why you love me."
At that moment, who should happen to walk in but Remus, Sirius, Peter, and…James. They were each carrying a plate with a cupcake covered with chocolate frosting on it. And of course, they chose the couch directly across from Niamh and Lily to sit.
"Hello, my two favorite 6th years." Sirius said flirtingly. "Want some of our cupcakes? There fresh from the kitchens…"
"No thanks Sirius. I'm allergic to chocolate." Lily answered.
"What the hell! How can you be allergic to chocolate? I'd die." Remus said incredulously.
"Yeah that sucks." Peter supplied.
"I've been allergic to chocolate my whole life, so I've never really eaten it. It's not that big of a lose to me. Besides, I'm like allergic to everything. You get used to it." said Lily.
"Everything…" asked Peter.
"Ok, I'm allergic to dust, pollen, hay, smoke, coffee, peanut butter, the colorings used in dark sodas, and chocolate." answered Lily. "It's loads of fun."
"Sounds it." Said James softly.
"Ok then, how about you Niamh?" asked Sirius.
"Nah, I'm full from dinner." She answered.
The group sat there and talked about their summers and their thoughts about the new year. While conversing with Remus over why she wanted to be an emergency room medi-witch, Niamh elbowed her in the side and pointed at James. He had been having a loud conversation with Sirius about why dung bombs worked better then a stink charm and Lily had been trying her best to tune them out. Now she noticed his head down over his uneaten cupcake, and him squishing the frosting around with his fingers. Feeling their eyes on him, he looked up and stared right at Lily.
"Why are you staring at me?" he asked angrily, his already dark eyes growing darker.
"Sorry" Lily said trying to hold in giggles. "It's just that people don't usually play with their food like that."
"Fuck off." James growled, and stalked up the stairs to his dorm.
Lily sat back in the chair and sighed. She hadn't said a single mean thing all night. It had been funny seeing him play with his food like that, but he didn't need to get all huffy at her comment. He had a serious anger problem or something…and Lily really didn't have the patience to try and figure him out. Niamh was so wrong. James didn't like her. He was just an ass for some unknown reason.
"Sorry about that Lil." said Remus quietly. "I don't know what his problem is."
"Oh yes you do." Said Sirius cheerfully.
"Don't apologize Remus. It's not your fault he's an ass." Lily said.
Later that night, the Marauders were up in their dorm getting ready for bed.
"James, why did you blow up at Lily down there? She wasn't doing anything." asked Peter.
"Could you please just leave me alone about Lily? I can't stand her and that's that" he said.
"Sure you do James." said Sirius as James climbed into his four poster bed and drew the curtains. "Sure you do…"
Over in the girls' dorm, Niamh and Lily sat on the floor doing their nails.
"What the freakin hell was up with James down there?" asked Lily. "He seriously has some sort of bug up his ass."
"For once I have no clue. And I know everything." replied Niamh with a perfectly straight face.
Lily looked at her for a minute and then both girls burst out laughing. It was the sidesplitting laughter that causes tears to flow down your face that you can't seem to stop. Of course, this laughter was an everyday occurrence for the girls.
"Shut up." Niamh said gasping for breath. "I'm right most of the time."
"Ok my dear. Whatever you say."
"But seriously now, I don't know what was up with him this time." Niamh said still trying to regain control.
"Whatever. All I know is he's an ass and that's that." Said Lily, climbing into her bed.
"Sure he is, Lils. Sure he is."
Niamh sat on the floor for a little while after Lily climbed into bed. She was beginning to get an idea that she was positive Remus and Sirius would help her with. Peter might…he did anything the others did. It was the perfect plan. Guaranteed to make their life a little more interesting.