CHAPTER 1

As Lily Evans walked to the brick wall on platform 9 3/4, she sighed.

LPOV

I thought of the year in front of good thing was,I was Head Girl! I was like a hyper little squirrel that morning. It was one of my dreams since I became a first-year. I admired hoe my new badge gleamed as I thought about a few unpleasant things.

The Marauders would still be in school.

Potter had pursued me for a good part of my tenure here at Hogwarts. Why couldn't that thick-brained fool take 'NO' as an answer! For Merlins sake, I had said that dating the Giant Squid would be better than dating him!

To add to that, Black and Potter were two of the best looking blokes in school. Hell, Remus came a close second. More than half the school population was absolutely bonkers over them! Sure, they were quite the lookers but their personalities were like dungbombs to me and my friends; Marlene,Alice and Frank.

Potter was an arrogant toerag(at least according to me) and Sirius was a complete pervert and also a quite accomplished player. Trust me, you could not go one week without seeing at least one crying girl in the girl's toilets, usually because of him.

Meanwhile, Remus was the only intelligent one in that group. He wasn't a prat which was more than I could say for the others. He was also one of my friends and a very good study-buddy. He was also a prefect although living with the Marauders must have been a bad influence on him.

Also because of this friendship, the Marauders were constantly around my friends and I. The only safe haven I had from them was my dorm. Seeing as Remus would simply have to be Head Boy,there goes my safe haven.

Oh Yeah- Peter was part of the group too. But usually he was off doing his own things and came back only to worship the rest of the actually seemed like a little bit of a prat so we almost ignored him.

When I snapped out of my thoughts I found myself in front of the brick wall. I looked around casually and stepped into the other extremely busy station. Ah how I missed the smell of the smoke from the train. This was all because I had been cooped up all summer.

I got into the train and found an empty compartment. I plunked myself down and waited for Alice's patented 'Lily Radar' to work. Then again, I had a similar one called the 'Alice Radar' but that didn't matter.

Soon I relaxed and pulled out my advanced Charms textbook. I had finally found an interesting spell when the compartment door suddenly flew open and the pages fluttered right back into each other.I gazed at them with resignation and sadness and then grinned at one of my BFF's; also known as Alice.

Soon behind her came Frank. I gave my brotherly-figure a playful punch after he tousled my hair. Our conversations began as we slowly caught up to the main events in our lives.

Soon Alice began the third-degree, by glomping me.

"Lily!" she squealed,"I missed you so much! Owls did not help at all! It's been so long since I saw you! Whats up? How were the holidays? Did you miss me?"

Thankfully I managed to croak out, "Can't breathe!"

After she released me I panted as I huffed out, "Can we go question by question?"

"Fine!" Alice replied, "So whats up?"

"Same old,same old."

Alice asked with a grin on her face, "Did you miss me?"

"Yes, of course I missed my best friend who has been my partner in crime for could you even ask that? I missed Marlene too."

"How were the holidays?"

"They were utter crap!" I ranted, "Ever since that mammoth Vernon started dating Tuney he's been coming to the house more frequently! He shouldn't even be allowed in the house! He even enjoys calling me a bloody freak!"

As soon as the last word came out of my lips, the door opened.

One by one, the Marauders came in. First came Black with a leering grin on his face. I guess that was supposed to look attractive though to me it seemed like he was constipated.

Next came Potter with his usual arrogant smirk.

After him was Remus who came in with his friendly grin.

Behind him, was the ever sniveling Peter.

They walked in like they owned the place! They definitely did not hesitate to make themselves comfortable. Black loped in and sat on one side of me while Potter quickly sat on the other side.

When I looked in front I saw Remus sitting with Alice and Frank, peacefully.

For some reason, Peter sat on the floor.

Black was the first to speak, "Well, hello, Lilykins,Alice and Frank. How are you doing this mighty fine day?"

Alice glared at him and said, "We were having a wonderful time until you lot came in!"

I grinned at her retort. I always knew that Alice was a spitfire!

Black just smirked as Remus continued, "Anyways, congrats on your new post ,Lily."

I smiled as I asked, "Well, are you the Head Boy?"

Potter leaned in close and stage whispered, "Au contraire, Mademoiselle, I'm the new Head Boy."

Right after this I almost went into shock. Sirius peeked around at my face and then burst into raucous laughter.

"Oh Merlin!" He gasped between fits of laughter, "You should see her face! Her eyes are open so wide you can see the whites on either side!"

Soon everyone glanced at my face and started laughing.

I didn't hear any of this because the gears in my head were turning very fast.

'If Potter is Head Boy, then I have to share a dorm with him?! I'm doomed and my safe haven just evaporated!'

I had heard from some prefects last year that the Head's dorms were made up of a common room and two bedrooms. Bad thing was, they were connected by a common bathroom!

Soon the excitement died down and everyone split up into groups to do their own things. I looked around after finishing a chapter of the novel I had brought along with me.

Alice, Frank and Remus were having a chess tournament with the winner playing against Remus. Peter was gorging himself on Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. I saw that he must have gotten a bad one because his face was screwed up tight. Sirius - No...Wait..What am I saying?- Black and Potter were laughing about some prank that they were going to pull. I caught a few snippets of the conversation. Apparently they were going to make the Slytherins food turn into live snakes at the feast. Then they started snickering and started whispering. I caught the word 'Lily' so I spoke, "Black and Potter if you do anything to me I will make you regret it. I found a way to make a few of my hexes a lot stronger than before."

At this they abruptly stopped but I froze when Potter pulled my head onto his shoulder. I tried struggling but I knew it wouldn't work so I gave up.

He said, "My dear why must you always think so horribly of me! I, of course am not going to do anything but as for my counterpart..." he trailed off here and all of a sudden I felt very sleepy.

"Black and Potter, I will make you pay for this!" I managed to say before I finally fell asleep.

JPOV

As I informed her about my recent promotion, I internally chuckled about the extravagant way that I told her. Plus her shocked expression was a cute one.

I laughed along with the rest of them until all the excitement died down.

Then Padfoot started whispering to me about a new prank on the Slytherins. He and I started to scheme about a new plan while Lily leaned forward and buried her nose in a book.

Soon I saw her start to look around at everyone else. I started whispering to Padfoot and made sure our voices were barely murmurs. I asked Padfoot whether he could help me out on a prank.

Sirius grinned and said, "If it's on our favourite target, this little ginger right here then I would love to!"

We finally thought up a good enough plan and I knew she could hear us. This was because I had picked up on her habit of tilting her head to the side when she was concentrating or listening to something real hard.

To put our plan into action I whispered 'Lily' a little louder than normal. Sure enough my sensitive little flower picked up on it immediately.

She immediately spoke, "Black and Potter if you do anything to me I will make you regret it. I found a way to make a few of my hexes a lot stronger than before."

This I could believe because when I had walked in I saw her Charms textbook tucked underneath the seat.

Just to see her reaction I pulled her head to my shoulder and said, "My dear why must you always think so horribly of me! I, of course am not going to do anything but as for my counterpart..." I trailed off just to make her more wary. I had just noticed I always used more of my vocabulary while speaking to her. I had never used the word 'counterpart' before, it was always 'accomplice' or 'partner'.

Then I winked at Sirius and he quickly muttered the spell.

In about 2 seconds I felt her head get heavier as she slowly put more weight on my shoulder. I was surprised when she managed to say, "Black and Potter, I will make you pay for this!" before gently nodding off into dreamland.

I grinned and we high-fived before turning to see everyone looking at us.

I explained, "We both thought that Lily needed a little sleep so we helped her to doze off."

My explanation was met with a chorus of "Yeah, right" and sarcasm. Then they turned back to their various activities and I started imagining some of the good moves in Quidditch.

While I was imagining myself doing those moves, I glanced at my watch. Holy mother of Merlin! I had ten minutes to get Lily to the Prefects' Meeting compartment!

I think Sirius saw my panicked face because he whispered, "Hey Prongs, isn't there somewhere you and Petal should be right now?"

Remus glanced up as well and spoke in a monotone, "James you have 7 minutes to get to the Prefects' compartment."

I glanced at Lily and I frowned,"Do I have to? I don't want to!"

Remus stared at me and said,"Prongs if you do not get up right now, I will tell everyone the baby story that you told us on the way here!"

I pouted, "Fine!"

Then I managed to think of the perfect way to get to the compartment without waking up Lily. I stood up abruptly and carefully swung Lily into my arms.

I saw Sirius looking intently at me and looked at him questioningly. He said softly, "You really love her don't you,Prongs?"

I whispered, "Yeah,Padfoot, I do love her. I realized it over the summer."

Remus looked up and said in a serious tone, "I know that most girls swoon over your flirty side but Lily's not like that. I'm pretty sure that you know so I have a suggestion. Look over the past year through her eyes. I'm sure that it'll give you more of an insight into how her mind works."

He grinned at me and I grinned back. Then Sirius said, "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's see the famous 'James Potter Sprint'!"

I went to the door and looked back at him," Sorry, Padfoot, I can't show you the sprint here.I need a proper reason to do the sprint."

Remus looked up again, "You do know that if you are not in the room in 3 minutes you will be punished once you get to school?"

I said, "WHAT?" and started sprinting towards the compartment.

I reached there just in time and I promptly stopped in front of the cabin with the doors wide open.I waited for 30 seconds and I realized that loony Moony must have tricked me! Damn! I guess him and Padfoot have some strange telepathy or something.

I sighed and walked in as the bundle in my arms started stirring. She blinked up cutely as she looked around.

"Potter?" was the first thing out of her mouth as she looked around. "Potter? Potter! What in the name of Merlin's beard are you doing? Put me down!"

As I thought of a perfect plan, I grinned wide. A grin like a maniac.

LPOV

I was deeply asleep before I felt myself getting jostled. I woke up blearily as everything seemed distorted. Then I focused on messy black hair and glasses. I asked,"Potter?"

Then everything became clear. I also remembered Black's little spell. He would be sorry he even dared to put a spell on me!

I focused on the face above me after I realized I was floating in air. I slowly figured out that the supports underneath my knees and shoulders were his arms. Then I freaked out,"Potter? Potter! What in the name of Merlin's beard are you doing? Put me down!"

Right after I spoke I saw the gears in his head turning. His face spread into a wide grin. A grin which resembled a maniac's.

That scared me! I almost stuttered as I spoke, "Arrogant toerag? What are you planning? If it involves me or my hair, just don't!"

James smirked above me, "My dear ginger, don't fret. I have something a whole lot more embarrassing planned for you!"

I gulped at his evil expression. Then as he started walking I realized I was still in his arms. IU started struggling as he walked towards the first bench. The room had one bench at the front and 15 more chairs arranged in rows in front of it. I had guessed that the room was magically enlarged when I had first walked in.

I was kicking, flailing and pushing him away from me as much as possible. Then he sat down at the bench and let me go. I let out a breath of relief as I began to move away from him, "Thank Merl-Aahhhh!"

At that moment that arrogant toerag pulled me down into his lap! That stupid brainless barnacle! His two muscular arms came around my waist- Wait! Muscular? What the hell am I thinking!- His two puny arms came around my waist.

I spoke in an indignant tone as I asked him, "Oi Potter? What the hell do you think you're doing? Let me go! St-"

He abruptly bent down and whispered, "Why would I even think of doing that, Lilyflower?"

I groaned at the new nickname and started ranting, "Why the hell would you call me Lilyflower? You are not allowed to call me Lilyflower,Lilykins,Lilypad or any other absurd name you can come up with! I'm Evans to you Marauders!"

"Okay my little Ginger-Petal!"

I almost shrieked in frustration. "I said that you could only call me Evans!"

"Aw, but it's so fun calling you nicknames! It's so weird when I call you Evans!"

At his arrogant words I started struggling once again. Instead of letting me escape his arms only tightened around my waist.

His face came only centimeters away from mine when he spoke," Struggling will not help you,Lily-Petal!"

Then he suddenly leaned in and kissed me!

JPOV

Ah, how I loved the cute little angry face that Lily makes when she's angry! She also tends to talk a lot when she's mad!The good thing was that my mates and I knew how to keep that little mouth of her's under control. We had learnt that embarrassment was one of the easiest ways of keeping her mouth shut. Though she and her friends weren't embarrassed easily. They were often melodramatic so there was a low chance of embarrassment. I thought back to how quiet they were in the compartment. Maybe it was because McKinnon wasn't there? Yes,that was probably it. Sirius and McKinnon suited each other perfectly. Sirius had a slight crush on her because she was the first girl who didn't cave in after a week of his absurd pickup lines and wooing ways. Lily Evans was definitely the girl for me though. She was smart,caring,beautiful and well-liked. A little more well-liked than I wanted in the terms of the male population but that was alright. I had scared off more suitors than I could count.

As I walked into the Prefects' room I thought of the perfect plan to irritate her. I also knew exactly how to end it- by kissing her! I knew she wouldn't want to me to kiss her but sometimes I was a selfish person. I was never a toerag though!

I taunted her by letting her think she had escaped until I pulled her right back onto my lap. That ought to get her blood pressure rising! Then I started with my usual routine.

My friends said that watching Lily and I talk was like watching a tennis match. I would serve, she would return, I would smash and so started our regular tennis routine. After her long rant, I started.

I served: "Okay my little Ginger-Petal!"

Her retort: "I said that you could only call me Evans!"

My retort:"Aw, but it's so fun calling you nicknames! It's so weird when I call you Evans!"

As soon as I said this she started struggling. I quickly tightened my arms around her and then leaned in.

"Struggling will not help you,Lily-Petal!" I said before I quickly kissed her.

I could see her eyes fly wide open in surprise before my eyes slowly shut. I pulled away and she looked at me in shock. I ruffled my hair and grinned impishly. Ruffling my hair was one of the bad habits I had picked up from my dad. To my surprise, she almost smiled back but caught herself at the last minute. I decided to tease her a little.

"Well, it seems my little Petal liked it. Does that mean she wants to have another kiss? Or maybe a hug instead?"

She glared as she said,"As if you would even dare to hug me. You wouldn't be able to keep me in place!"

I made an evil smirk as I spoke in a low voice,"Let's put that to a trial then!"

My arms shot out and wrapped around her like boa constrictors. I pulled her in tight as she futilely tried to get out of them. Finally after 5 minutes she got tired and stopped. I told her,"Not to sound arrogant but struggling does nothing! Padfoot and I are part of the Quidditch team. I'm the Captain. I have a much better physique as well as an excellent grip. So th-"

She cut in," Fine,fine you win! Stop giving me a lecture about Quidditch. Alice knows that I get enough of those from Marlene. And,yes I have heard about the demonic Captain who works his team to the bone!"

I frowned," Hey! I'm not that demonic. Okay,maybe a little."

She smart-talked,"I rest my case."

I said,"Well, I rest mine too." as I evilly began to tickle her.

She gasped for air as she couldn't stop laughing until she was writhing on my lap. "Okay...You win...Stop!" She was able to force out.

I immediately stopped my attack and let her catch her breath.

She suddenly turned into business mode. "Okay we have a lot to do! Let's start working!"

I held up a hand and motioned for her to stop. "We can start work after you agree to call me James instead of Potter or arrogant toerag. I think that we can at least be friends right?"

I saw her sigh in mock-resignation as she said,"Fine but only if you promise to never call me Lily-flower and this only applies until we get out of this compartment,okay?"

I mock-sighed and said,"Fine but I can still call you other nicknames,deal?"

She grinned and said "Deal." as we shook on it like true businessmen.

Then we both burst out laughing. After we calmed down we decided to start making the schedule for the patrols until Easter break.

As she worked, I slowly let her go and she still stayed in my lap. I don't think she even noticed she was on my lap!

As I watched her work, I thought about what might have made her agree so quickly. I thought about last year. I think she gave in because last year I had been pretty decent.I also thought that it was probably Marlene's persuasion too. Our families were friends and when I saw her at one of our family gatherings, I had talked to her. I had spoken to her about persuading Lily to at least give me a chance. Since she was a friend she had given in and said that she would try but I shouldn't have any expectations. Then she also asked me for help with Padfoot. Apparently she didn't know how to get him off of her tail! I had laughed so much at that one because most girls didn't want him off their tail. I had gladly agreed.

When I stopped daydreaming I noticed a hand waving in front of me. I quickly grabbed her hand and said, "Oh,Lily I would be delighted to have your hand in marriage."

She quickly shook her hand away from mine as she said," Okay Guy get started on these schedules and tell me if there are any changes."

I looked at the gigantic pile in front of me and looked up at her in wonder. "You did all of this in such little time!"

She grinned and gave a little bow. "Just another part of the lovely amazing Lily!"

I laughed at her joke and started leafing through the pages. As I was going through her work,she started doing something else. I quickly snuck a peek and saw her reading a book about charms. I chuckled to myself and continued looking through.

All of a sudden the door slid open. Remus and Sirius poked their heads through the doorframe and looked at both of us with leering grins on their faces.

Sirius was the first to speak,"Hello there Prongsie has Lilykins become a Prongsette yet?"

Remus added his own two cents as well, "Just wondering, did you two get any work done?"

As soon as Lily heard Sirius' voice she started struggling once again. I spoke in a very authoritative voice,"Oh no,you don't. You are not going anywhere."

Lily looked at me and spoke in a very sweet voice,"James, you arrogant prat,let me go this very instant!"

She punctuated that sentence with a very well placed hit to my head.

I quickly brought up my arms to cradle the abused part of my head. Lily calmly sat down next to me and continued working.

Sirius and Remus stared at me with pity in their eyes until they processed what Lily had said.

Remus was the first one,"Well,well,well. Are you two on a first name basis already?"

Sirius was next, "Hey Prongsette, what did he do to you so that you would call him by first name?"

Lily looked at me with a blush covering her face.

I grinned and ruffled my hair as I said,"Well I might have kissed her..."

Lily looked at me in outrage. I apologised, "Sorry,Lily, but these two know practically everything about me. I sort of have to tell them."

They both nodded and stared at Lily with evil looks in their eyes. I knew that look so to distract them I ushered Padfoot out and asked Remus, "The other Prefects are coming right?"

I quickly got Padfoot out and told Moony to sit down. Lily continued working.

Soon the room was full of chatting people as more flooded in. I stood up and put my arm around Lily. She scowled at me and shrugged my arm off. I knew just the way to irritate her.

I walked up to where she was and stood in very close proximity. I completely invaded her personal space. Whenever she moved, I shadowed her footsteps. She moved around very jerkily as I effortlessly followed her footsteps. As I was peering at her work from behind her she suddenly screamed,"Everyone,to your places!"

Everyone abruptly stopped talking and sat down in one of the seats. She cleared her throat and said,"Sorry, I had an annoying arsehole behind me and he refused to give me my space."

A few people chuckled while a few others shot pitiful looks at me.

Then she started talking and I stopped listening. I had already heard everything before. I observed everyone in the room as they payed complete attention to my Petal. I admired the way she was able to hold everyone's attention. My little ginger was universally liked and most people listened to her. As I thought about the pranks I had pulled on various people through the years, I dazed off.

Suddenly I heard my name,"Now Potter will dance for us as he didn't deny it when I said he was a dancing monkey."

I quickly sat up to see everyone looking expectantly at me and Remus trying very hard not to burst into laughter.

Just to entertain the folks I said,"I will surely dance but only after the meeting."

I heard Jade Simons tittering somewhere so I pinned on a few more words,"And the compartment will be empty!"

I heard a few groans but after that everyone payed attention to Lily. I more or less stared at her while thinking of when I started liking her. I had started liking my Lilykins in Second Year but I had only realised that I loved her in the last summer. She was special because I couldn't bear anyone touching or hurting her. After that incident in the OWLs with that greased up slimeball Snape, I was a whole lot more protective.

I was actually quite a protective person by nature. When Padfoot got kicked out of his home in the first week of summer break I had taken him to my house and had given him a home.

I snapped out of my reverie after I was hit lightly on the sore spot on my head.

I glanced up and found Lily glaring down at me. She said,"James, you are dismissed and you are stuck with bathroom duty this entire month."

I stared at her while she collected her papers and when she tried to go out, I grabbed her hand.

I quickly mumbled a spell for locking the doors and I drew the curtains as well.

Lily spoke,"Why did you lock the doors?" in a scornful tone.

I smirked at her and said,"I'm sorry my dear, but it's become second nature!"

I turned to look at Moony and when I turned back around, my tiny Petal was mumbling unlocking spells at breakneck speed. I smiled at her devilry and went closer to her.

"I'm sorry Petal but those doors will only be opened as and when I want them to."

As soon as she opened her mouth I cut her off, "Before you open those pretty pink lips of yours, Young Lady, would you do me the honour of dancing with me?"

She grinned as she caught the tenor of my voice.

She curtsied as she grinned up at me,"Kind Sir, I shall bestow upon you this great honour."

Remus was looking at us from the corner and I winked at him. His eyebrows shot up in realization and he swiftly brought out his wand.

I maneuvered her into a waltzing position and called out to Moony,"Hit it,Moony!"

Soon the rich sounds of the waltzing music reached my ears and I swept Lily across the room in my long strides. I notices her laughing and I found out that I was chuckling as well. As we spun, I saw Moony gazing at us with a half-smile on his face.

Finally I heard the beautiful symphony start to die down and start to fade out. I slowed down and finished with a little bow at the end of our dance. She replied with a little curtsy and then stared expectantly at the doors.

I looked at the doors as well. Suddenly I thought of a brilliant idea!

I smugly called out to my Lilykins,"Hey Petal, if you want me to open the doors then you have to do one thing of my choice."

She hurriedly said,"Fine,fine but please have it either once we reach school or right now. I'm a little worried about Marlene."

I sighed as I tried to think of something for right now. Then Moony piped up from the corner,"Hey Prongs, you could tell her to be in contact with you until you both reach the doors in front of the Great Hall!"

Lily groaned."Remus! Here I thought you were my friend!"

I smirked and said,"Well. is it a deal?"

She looked indecisive so I waited while whistling through my teeth. I could practically see her blood pressure rising until she finally caved in.

" .Just you have to let me call you Potter in front of anyone who I think should not know of our new first name basis thing!"

I frowned and said, "Okay fine! Take my hand and then I'll open the doors."

She sighed,"Anyways, what is implied in this dare type thing?"

I quickly told her,"You just have to be in contact with me until the doors of the Great Hall. It's actually not that hard." I held out my hand.

She just glared as she took my hand and I softly muttered the counter doors clicked unlock as we stepped through them.

LPOV

As I walked through the doors,hand-in-hand with Potter, it suddenly hit me. My final year at Hogwarts was just beginning!