Since I got such positive feedback for my story 'What Happens When You Get Help With Your Homework', I've decided to do a series starting in Lily and James' first year. This won't be related to it, but it will also be non-love/hate. Review/flame, if you want. Preferably constructive flames. Have you noticed how everyone loves Lily/James fics? I think it's because we all know the outcome so we can relax.
Disclaimer: Anyone/thing you recognise is the work of J K Rowling. The plot and anyone else belongs to me.
The Marauders at School
Lily was starting to panic (you could tell because she was twirling her red hair around a finger and was looking around with her emerald green eyes). Her watch read 10:50 and she still didn't know how to get on to platform 9 ¾. Her owl had stopped hooting, which was a relief, but she was still attracting a lot of stares. Suddenly, two boys bumped into her from behind and sent her flying towards the barrier separating platforms 9 and 10. She braced herself for a crash, but it never came. When she opened her eyes, she saw a scarlet steam train in front of her. As she was gawking, the two boys came up to her. They both had black hair and slightly tanned skin, although one had blue eyes and the other was wearing glasses and his eyes were a deep brown.
"Sorry about that, miss…" said brown eyes.
"Evans. Lily Evans. Oh, and don't be," she smiled. "I didn't know how to get on to the platform."
"Ah, muggle-born," said blue eyes. "Your parents are non-magical, aren't they?" He added, seeing the questioning look on her face.
"Let me introduce myself," said brown eyes. "I'm James Potter, king of all pranks!"
"And I'm Sirius Black and I'M king of all pranks."
"Are not!"
"Am so!"
"Are not!"
"Am so!"
"Are not!"
"Am so!"
"Are not!"
"Am so!"
"Are so!"
"Am not!"
"Are so!"
"Am not!"
"HA! You even admit it," cried James gleefully.
"Dammit, I hate it when you do that!" moaned Sirius.
"Em, excuse me, but shouldn't we be getting on? The train's leaving soon," interrupted Lily.
After a rush to get the trunks on the train, they set off looking for an empty compartment. After finding one, they sat down, Lily next to a window, James next to her and Sirius sat opposite them. "So, got yourself a girl already?" he teased. Lily blushed and looked out the window, but James, undaunted, put his arm around her.
"Yeah, that's right!" he said cheerfully, caused Lily's blush to go a dark crimson. Just then, a pale boy with sandy hair walked in. "Can I sit here?" he asked.
"Sure, take a seat."
"Thanks, my name's Remus Lupin by the way."
A few minutes later, two girls walked in, one with dark brown hair, and the other blonde. "Are there any seats left?"
"Of course. Please, take a seat." Sirius jumped out of his chair and in his best butler style, took their bags. The blonde sat next to Remus and the brunette next to Sirius (poor her!). The girls instantly began talking. Arabella Figg (the brunette) was the only one of the girls from a wizarding family and so began describing everything to Lily and Joanne Amber (Jo for short). Lily soon got bored of the conversation and once again began to look through her book Hogwarts: A History.
After a while, the train began to slow. "Excuse me guys, do you mind?"
"Actually, yes. If you change, you do so in front of us." Sirius' grin grew even wider, if possible.
"Fine." Much to the boys' disappointment, the girls just pulled their robes over their outfits. They did the same. A voice called out: "Please leave your luggage here. It will be taken to the castle for you." They walked out and instantly heard a voice booming.
"Firs' years over here! Firs' years come with me! Any more firs' years?" They hurried towards the speaker, a massive man called Hagrid, with dark hair and a shaggy beard. "Is that all of yeh? Okay, it's four to a boat, get in." Arabella, James, Sirius and Lily all got in the same boat, while Remus and Jo went alone in the final boat (which they seemed rather pleased about). As they rounded the corner there where many oohs and aahs as they saw the school for the first time (Hogwarts; a History had no pictures). There was a bit of a panic when coming out of the boats when Jo and Remus couldn't be found. They were seen a moment later, and Lily thought Jo's lip-gloss was slightly smudged but she said nothing.
They were led up a flight of steps, past some gargoyles, to some huge wooden doors. Once Hagrid pounded on the door and it was almost instantly opened by a tall witch with dark hair pulled into a bun and a tight-lipped mouth. She looked rather young and would have been rather pretty if she had smiled. "Thank you Hagrid, I'll take them from here. Follow me." Most of the children seemed to be even more worried to be in the presence of this cold looking woman than the friendly giant.
As she walked, she talked. "My name is Professor McGonagall and I am head of Gryffindor, one of the four houses, which also include Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each are named after one of the founders, have their own history, and have turned out powerful witches and wizards. You will be sorted into the house that will best suit your personality and while you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any found out rule breaking will lose points. And if you two (this comment was aimed at James and Sirius) are anything like your parents, I pity the house that you are put into. I knew them well, in fact, we were in the same year." They both grinned at that. "The house with the most points at the end of the year will win the house cup. The Sorting will take place soon. After it, the feast shall begin." She then left, probably to inform everyone of the new students' arrival.
Horrible thoughts were flicking through Lily's head. 'What if I fail the test and have to go back home?' She didn't have too much time to be worried as McGonagall came back and led them into a large hall. Lily gasped, as did Jo and a few other muggle-born people. The ceiling looked like the sky outside (rather bleak and cloudy at the moment) and there were thousands of candles floating above five tables, four with students around them and another for the teachers. She was so busy looking around that she didn't notice the hat that McGonagall had put on the chair had started to sing and only snapped out of her daze when she heard her friend's name being called out.
"Amber, Joanne!" She walked up to the hat and placed it on her head. After a moment the hat declared:
"GRYFFINDOR!"
A table cheered and she took the hat off, and walked towards it.
"Adams, Gary!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
"Bentley, James!"
"SLYTHERIN!"
"Black, Sirius!" He didn't walk up, he swaggered up. The hat barely touched his head when it screamed:
"GRYFFINDOR!"
The list went on. The few Lily noticed were 'Davidson, Rory (Hufflepuff) and Edwards, Sophia (Ravenclaw)' (remember these guys, they might pop up later). Then it was her turn.
"Evans, Lily!" She stumbled up reluctantly, sat down, and put on the tattered old thing. "Ooh, this seems easy enough. Seeing as you're really clever I think Rav…" 'No, please, I want to go in Gryffindor with my friends!' "You need the right style. Loyalty is the Hufflepuff trait. Oh, wait, you've got the traditional red head temper! You're right, the only house for you is GRYFFINDOR!"
Shaking, she took the hat off and walked down. When she arrived, Sirius and Jo congratulated her. Arabella, Remus and James also got into Gryffindor, as well as a ratty looking boy called Peter Pettigrew. As the last girl was sorted (Werth, Narcissa SLYTHERIN) the headmaster (whose name was Dumbledore, she had read) stood up.
"Okay, now for a few notices. The Forbidden Forest is, well, forbidden as its name suggests. Also, a new tree has been planted, a rare one called a Whomping Willow (at this, Remus turned rather red) and as it can be dangerous, you are advised to keep away from it. With that said, let us eat!" Lily was getting used to the weirdness of things in the wizarding world, so she wasn't too surprised when the food appeared magically on her plate. She just ate. After the feast, they were led to the common room and told the password (Climhazzard) by a prefect. Lily, Jo and Arabella were all in the same room, along with a girl called Hannah and Sirius, James, Remus and that boy Peter were together. The girls stayed up late talking about fashion, shopping, and of course, boys. By 11:00, it had been established that Lily liked James, Jo, Remus (as if you hadn't already guessed) and Arabella, Sirius. Also, the colour of the month was blue, the best item of clothing were the shoes, and the best place to shop was Diagon Alley. As they finally collapsed on their beds and drew the curtains, each of them couldn't wait until the next day.
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How do you like it? I'll take turns posting chapters for this and chapters for Harry Potter and the Phoenix's Gift. Ciao!