Title: Not Perfect.
Author: Laurarara
Rating: T.
Timeline: Marauders' era, 7th year.
Pairing: Lily/James and Remus/Sirius.
Description: No person, no relationship is perfect. Life is about finding out which imperfections you can live with and which you can't.
Warnings: Swearing, drinking and pretentious teenage rebellion. Later - angst, depression and slash.
Disclaimer: All of the characters you recognise here were created by J. K. Rowling. I am not J. K. Rowling. Additionally, I have occasionally used names mentioned in the 'Harry Potter' books and either mentioned them as incidental characters, or else attached a character to the name: in these cases, the names belong to J. K. Rowling, but the information I provide about them comes purely from my imagination and is probably not at all what J. K. Rowling imagined.
Chapter 1.
It was a cold, bright, early-September morning, and the crowds gathered both inside and outside of King's Cross Station were the usual mixture of travellers (nervous, excited, impatient, harassed-looking), their families (sometimes on the verge of tears) and brusque, irritated commuters. Those outside the station slowed down or stopped their activities when a large motorbike came squealing round the corner, ridden by two leather-clad young men. They screeched to a halt, leaving impressive tyre-tracks on the road, dismounted their shiny and rather intimidating-looking steed, and removed their helmets, revealing themselves to be not so much young men as teenage boys. Both were dark-haired - the taller of the two was bored-looking and exceptionally handsome, whilst his friend was bespectacled and rather flustered-looking. He wiped his slightly-shiny forehead and muttered, a little grumpily, "You just had to make a dramatic entrance, didn't you?"
The other boy grinned. "Don't tell me you wet yourself, James? I thought you'd be used to the bike by now."
The boy called James smiled, grudgingly. "Of course I didn't wet myself. I've just been hoping for so long that you'd learn to ride it a bit more sensibly."
"People don't buy motorbikes to ride them sensibly. Honestly, where's your sense of adventure? Being Head Boy is changing you already, young man."
"Sirius! You promised you wouldn't talk about it until we got on the train!"
Sirius pulled a face. "I've been good to you all Summer, haven't mentioned it whenever we've spoken, and even though I've been staying at your house for two whole weeks I never said a word. The least you could do is let me talk about it now we're at the station. I've been dying to speculate on who'll be Head Girl."
"Who do you think?"
"My money's on Dorcas Meadows. She's smart, kind, fair and gets on with most people. Hufflepuff Prefect's Alice Carmichael, and nice as she is, she's not loud or strict enough - if she had to take on loads of people, they'd walk all over her. And Slytherin's Narcissa, and if she's Head Girl I'll throw myself into the lake."
James laughed a little. "If it's Narcissa, how do you think I'll cope? Having to spend time with her? Dorcas and Alice would both be good, but don't you think Lily stands a chance?"
"Evans wasn't even here last term -"
"- Dumbledore wouldn't hold that against her, not when she was such a good Prefect for so long -"
"- No, but has it occurred to you that she might not come back?"
James's face fell. "Shit. Do you think so?"
"No idea, we don't even know why she didn't come back after Easter."
Their speculation was cut short by the sight of a middle-aged to elderly-looking couple walking down the street, each dragging large trunks. James and Sirius ran forward to help them.
"Did you have a good journey?" asked James.
"Oh, it was fine," replied his mother, a short, wild-haired woman with a wicked smile. "I don't see why you insisted on coming here on the bike, though, when your father and I had to drive here anyway to bring you your trunks and take the bike home."
"But Dad's looking forward to that part of it, aren't you Dad?"
Mr. Potter, a taller, older, quieter version of James, grinned. "Maybe a little. Don't worry, though, I'll look after it."
"I knew you would, Mr. Potter," replied Sirius, and he and James took charge of their trunks and took them to the entrance of the station. Sirius tossed his helmet to James's father, who caught it deftly and glanced excitedly at the motorbike.
"Now," said Mrs. Potter, "Make sure you have a good term. I know it's your last year at school, and I want you to enjoy Hogwarts as much as you can while you're still there - but that doesn't mean I want you to stop working. N. E. W. Ts are very important. Sirius, dear, I know you have a flat of your own now, but remember, you're welcome at our house at any time - in the holidays or when school has finished. You're a son to us now, and always will be. James, we're very proud of you for being selected as Head Boy: please make sure that you continue making us proud by justifying Dumbledore's faith in you."
She pulled each of them into suffocating hugs, before releasing them both slightly shiny eyes. Mr. Potter patted each of them on the back with a smile. "You'd better get to the platform in a minute. Remember, boys: work hard, play hard, and write to us occasionally. We'll see you when you next come home. Have a good year."
The boys embraced each of the elder Potters once more, before carrying their trunks into the station. They casually made their way through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10, finding themselves at Platform 9 and 3/4. The platform was hectic, full of students and parents all moving around frantically. Sirius cast his eyes around the platform. "Can you see Remus or Peter?" he asked. James looked too, before replying in the negative.
"It's five to eleven," said Sirius. "They should be here by now. You'd think they'd wait and meet us, the bastards."
"Well, Remus will have gone to the Prefects' compartment. He doesn't know I'm Head Boy, so he wouldn't think to wait for me. And maybe Peter's gone to save our compartment for us?"
"Probably. Look, I'll go to the compartment now. Hopefully Peter's there. We'll save it, then you and Remus can come along when your meeting's done and tell us how all the Prefects died of shock at seeing you there."
James grinned. "I can't wait to see their faces. Alright, let's get on the train. I'll come along to you as soon as I can." The two boys parted, and began walking in separate directions along the train. A little while along, James heard a familiar voice.
"Mum, please get off the train. I told you I've got all of my stuff, and even if I haven't, you can send it on to me. The train's leaving in a couple of minutes. You need to get off and I need to go to the Prefects' compartment."
James smiled to himself and tried not to laugh as a serious, harassed-looking woman strode past him towards the exit. He walked quickly and soon caught up with the owner of the familiar voice. "McKinnon!" he shouted. "Don't tell me they went and made you Head Girl?"
The girl turned around. She was small, with short, spiky hair she'd dyed pink. "Don't be stupid, Potter, I've never even been a Prefect. They've made me one now, though, Merlin knows why."
"Well, I've never been a Prefect either, but I'm Head Boy."
McKinnon's jaw dropped. "Prove it."
James dug into his pocket and triumphantly produced his badge. "There, see. I don't know why we need another Gryffindor female prefect, though. Does that mean Evans isn't coming back?"
"Actually," came a quiet but strong voice from behind him. "It's because I'm Head Girl. And since you were never a Prefect, there were an odd number, so they decided to even it out. Hi Marlene," added Lily, touching her friend's arm with a smile.
James made a strange sound in the back of his throat.
"Are you choking?" asked Lily dispassionately.
"Welcome back," said James, finding his voice. "I missed you, last term, when you didn't come back. I was going to write, but Sirius said you'd think it was stalking."
"First sensible thing he's ever said."
"Er. Well, yeah. Probably." James made a silent resolution to apologise to his best friend, before deciding that thinking he was sorry was as good as declaring it - and anyway, Sirius would probably call him sentimental and hit him around the head. "Why didn't you come back?" he asked. "Last term, I mean."
"I know when you mean. I had family problems." James took a good look at Lily - his first in months - and realised that there was something subtly different about her. She was still pretty, but she seemed more restrained, somehow. There had always been an undercurrent of it, but the steely restraint had always been combined with a certain vivacity. There was something different behind her vivid green eyes, and James wondered what could have caused it.
"Are you okay?" he asked quietly, but she didn't hear - or at least, showed no signs of doing so - and entered the Prefects' compartment with her head held high and her jaw determinedly set.
James sighed, rolled up the sleeves of the leather jacket he was still wearing, attempted to style his hair in the reflection of a nearby window, and followed her in.