Chapter One- Flabbergasted

Six months ago Lily thought she couldn't wait until this year of school. Sixth year seemed like an ideal year at Hogwarts. The stress of O.W.L.s would be over and the N.E.W.T.s weren't exactly upon them. Even the classes that she still had would be more specific to her own interests. She could finally drop Transfigurations, focus on Potions and Charms, and maybe have a little extra time for fun reading.

Of course there had been one other benefit. But that was gone now. Gone with one word that—if said by anyone but Severus Snape—meant nothing to Lily. After all, Lily had alwaysconsidered the term 'mudblood' as a rather un-clever slang. She supposed the incident built up over the last couple years, but it didn't make the word any less hurtful as it fell off her best friend's lips.

Now the success of O.W.L.s seemed pointless as she made her way to platform 9 ¾, blowing kisses to her parents. Petunia sat in the car, as she refused to come say goodbye at all this year. This didn't improve Lily's mood as she pulled her trunk along.

She scanned the platform. Hero Goodwin and Bethany Read were giggling as they waved at some Ravenclaw seventh year passing by. He gave a winning smile and turned just the right angle to show the Head Boy badge flashing from his chest. Lily shook her head. Certainly they were both nice enough. Hero and Bethany always included Lily in whatever they were doing. Whether it was because she was their dorm mate or they genuinely liked her, Lily didn't know, but it didn't matter so long as she had some company.

Several first years stood frozen with fear as they watched the busy platform with people passing in and out. The veterans of the school kept going, finding their friends, loading their trunks, and trying to keep pets under control.

Lily just kept going. There wasn't anyone to say hello that she could see, so she continued onto the train, waiting for the prefects compartment to fill, both anticipating and dreading the company who would come.

Almost everyone was in before Remus entered, dropping down into the seat next to hers. "Hey," he said breathlessly, looking more worn than usual. Lily thought it strange he should look so right after a vacation. Certainly he couldn't have pulled long nights to study over the summer.

"How are you doing?" Lily asked, putting down the book her mum had bought her to read for the train ride.

"Couldn't be better," he said, leaning back.

"O.W.L.s results were good then?"

Remus nodded. "The only damper was the James got just as many without much studying."

Lily nodded and smiled. This is why she could handle Lupin better than the others, though Peter wasn't so bad. Remus could look at his friends objectively. Though they were still close, he could see they weren't all everyone made them out as. At the same time he was fiercely loyal to all of them—something Lily couldn't comprehend, but respected none the less. "What about Black?"

"He got nine. Not that it matters much to him. What about you?"

They continued to make small talk while more people frantically hurried on as the clock neared eleven. One of the last people to slink in was Severus. Lily stiffened as he looked towards her, head hanging. The last time she'd seen him was at the start of summer. He'd come to talk to her, apologize, but there were certain wrongs that would never be made right.

Lily waited to see what he would do, but instead of giving her more than a glance, Severus went to sit next to his fellow Slytherin prefects. It was amazing to watch someone transform in an instant. Severus' face moved so smoothly from sullen to sneer, Lily was sure if she hadn't been paying attention she would have missed it.

"Lily," Remus was saying. "Lily, you okay?"

She swallowed and smiled at Remus. "Fine," she said.

James waited, his knees bouncing as he sat. This was it. This was his year. His Captain's badge sat wrapped in the folds of one of his robes. When Moony brought back Lily, he wasn't going to look arrogant. He wasn't going to talk about himself the entire time. He was going to sweep her right off her feet. It was as good as done.

"James, James, come look at this," Sirius said, waving him to the window. "Look at that first year trying to lift the trunk."

James looked out the window. There was a little first year, pulling a trunk while his feet were planted on the first step of the entrance to the Hogwarts Express. He chortled and fell back into his spot. "This is going to be a great year," Sirius said, putting his hands behind his head. "More free time, less classes," he continued on, listing all the benefits of being a sixth year. "And no more parents trying to push their damn agenda on me."

James smiled. "So you're still aiming to be the Black sheep?" It might be an old, predictable joke, but the classics never seemed to die.

"You got it." Sirius smiled and leaned back as if to sleep. "Nothing could go wrong this year. I need to send your mum a thank you sometime though. Don't let me forget."

One more thing to add to Sirius's unofficial to do list. Of course Sirius had thanked both James' parents over and over during this last week. He'd even helped James' mum with the dishes on Thursday. "How long do you think the meeting will take?" James asked.

"Lily won't come," Sirius practically sang. He'd been telling James this for close to a month now.

"Moony can do it," James said. "She likes Moony better than the rest of us."

"Maybe she should date Moony, then."

James gave Sirius a strong kick just as Peter opened the door. "Hi," he said, his eyes darting back and forth. James suspected Wormtail hoped he wouldn't be the next target for James' foot.

"Hey, Pettigrew," James said, tossing him a chocolate frog. "How were your scores?"

"I got six O.W.L.s," Peter muttered, his tone rather pathetic.

"Oh- ho," Sirius said, leaning forward and rubbing his hands together. "I won."

"I don't think so Padfoot. Remus guessed seven."

"I guessed five," Sirius protested as Peter struggled to push his trunk up. "Anyway, you guessed four, so I beat you."

James bought a round of treats for everyone when the cart came by, even though the stockpile his mum sent wasn't nearly done. Peter droned on about his summer, Sirius interjecting on occasion as James checked his watch every two minutes.

By the time Remus returned-- alone-- to the compartment, the pile of wrappers nearly rivaled those of the food left.

"And then there were four," Sirius interrupted Peter's story about his visit to Grandma Pettigrew's.

"Where's Lily?" James asked.

"Good to see you too," Remus said.

"I mean it Moony. You said you'd get her to sit with us." He couldn't care less that his voice was at a bit of a whine. Lily was supposed to be here, being impressed at how much he'd matured over the summer.

"I told you I'd try. She was going to see if there were any free compartments, but they all looked full on my way here." Remus shook off his jacket and sat across from Peter, taking the first chocolate in sight. "So maybe she'll be back 'round," he added after taking a large bite of the frog.

"Yeah, maybe," James sighed. He stared out the window, watching the landscape blur as the train picked up speed. The others laughed and talked about classes, anticipating their year. James just sat, trying to think of a new plan.

Lily went searching. One thing was certain, she did not want to spend the rest of the ride with Potter and his little gang. She peeked into a spot which was full of Hufflepuffs. Maybe she could just patrol the halls the entire trip. Maybe one of the other prefects would like a break.

As she turned to take the other direction down the hall someone was right there. Lily gasped and caught herself as Severus looked embarrassed. "Sorry," he said. The gloomy expression on his face was back as he peeked out the top of his eyes, his long hair half blocking his view.

Lily took a deep breath and went to step around him. He sidestepped, blocking her way. "Wait, please. I wanted to talk to you," he pleaded. "I-I just thought… I saved us a compartment up front."

She felt her eyebrows raise. "Oh, so we could be away from your friends?"

Severus almost smiled. His eyes filled with hope and Lily almost felt sorry for him. "Right, exactly. They won't bother us there."

With a wrenching of her heart, Lily shook her head. "But think of the torture they'll put you through when they find out. Wouldn't want them to know you'd been with someone like me," she stepped to his other side, squeezing past when she felt his fingers wrap around his upper arm.

Lily just looked down at his hand, once a kind hand towards her. He had been her friend since before she even knew what Hogwarts was and still he was more concerned about what the Muggle-haters thought. She gave him a stern glance, waiting for him to let go. Once he did, she started to walk down the train's corridor. "Better wash your hands before they realize you've been meddling with filth," she shouted over her shoulder.

Lily waited until she found the empty compartment she could only assume Severus had found for the two of them before she began to cry. No… this year wasn't going to be anything like what she had hoped for.

As usual, Dumbledore stood to speak as the dessert disappeared. Lily scooped the last of her chocolate and peanut butter pie into her mouth before it too was gone.

The first years had gathered towards her like chicks to their mother hen during the course of the meal. Remus had divided his attention between his whispering friends and helping her answer questions to ease the new students' minds. Lily thought she might be paranoid, but she could have sworn James kept looking and nodding towards her while the four trouble makers conspired.

Dumbledore continued on through the warnings and information while a blonde boy who had just been sorted to Gryffindor seemed to go green as a couple fourth years whispered something about the Forbidden Forrest. "And lastly, I'd like to introduce Madame Bouche, who will be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

A woman in pink, floral print robes stood to give a little wave. There were little whispers and Bethany gave a small squeal from nearby. "What?" Lily asked.

"She's an actress," Hero replied as Bethany craned around Henry Groud-- a handsome boy in their year.

"Not just any actress," Bethany corrected. "She usually tours with the WRT."

"The what?" Lily asked.

"The Wizarding Rep Theatre," Bethany said. "They tour world wide and sometimes do shows on the wireless."

Lily never ceased learning more about this world. Perhaps because she lead a Muggle life when at home. She could always have Hero and Bethany fill her in later. Looking back up to the tables, Madame Bouche was blinking long black lashes out to the crowd as people still whispered through Dumbledore's introduction. "Madame Bouche feels we should also allow for some culture in our humble halls and has therefore decided to start a play to be performed just before the Christmas Holidays. There will be posters announcing auditions for those interested.

"And with that, I must leave you with one last word to fill your thoughts tonight: flabbergasted."

Many of the students looked confused. Most ignored it as they stood and stretched before exiting. This was a game for Lily, though. It was like there were little messages in his words. "Alright, follow us," she told the young first years as Remus took the back of the line. Her mind shuffled as she thought of the word. Flabbergasted... surprised... taken off guard. "Watch this step," Lily warned to the group behind her.

School is full of surprises. We might just find ourselves flabbergasted with our experiences. She was pleased with her conclusion as they reached the portrait hole. She raised a brow to Remus who informed the group the password was "bubbles". He went red in the face while the other students shuffled in.

"James put you up to it," Lily said. It wasn't a question, though Remus did give a slight shrug of confirmation.

The previous year, James thought it greatly humerous to fill the girls' bathroom with hundreds of thousands of enchanted bubbles. It took everything she had not to curse him on the spot. Instead-- after drafting Hero and Bethany to help-- she concentrated on popping each of the tiny suds with a pricking spell Flitwick had taught them. The work had been tedious. James tried to apologize after, of course. "If I'd known you would have to deal with it..." Pathetic. And now he found it a real kick in the pants to remind them of his little joke.

As Lily climbed through she found herself surprised-- even flabbergasted-- that James Potter stood, waiting for them. He definitely wasn't going for subtle this year. "Hey, Lily," James said, stepping in sync with her. "Did you need help unpacking?"

"Boys can't get to the girls dormitories," she reminded him. Just before she stepped to the stairs, James headed her off.

"I'm not like other boys," he smiled at her. "In which I use the term loosely, of course."

Lily smiled and tilted her head. "Oh really?" she asked. James nodded. Lily stepped closer and whispered, "So you can come up to my room at any time?"

James' smile increased. "You know it," he said. He leaned in towards her, his arm resting against the wall.

"So... if I ever needed someone to... help me--"

"I'm there for you, babe."

Lily reached out and started to mess with his tie. "So I guess it's a good thing I know about three dozen curses that could keep you from ever having children, then." Just as James began to look unsure of himself Lily tightened the knot on his tie, making him choke as she stomped up the stairs.

A/N: This is going to end up a play within a play (kind of like my Guys and Dolls, only with the Marauder era and hopefully better written.) I'm extremely busy and don't know how much time I will have to post, but I'll put out there what I've promised with my other WIP… if I get ten reviews after any one chapter (even if those reviews are for other chapters) I will do my darndest to post the next chapter within a week! Fair enough? This chapter is kind of depressing I know, but I tend to go for the humorous, so don't fear.