AN: Hey everyone! So here's the first story I have decided to try out! Marauder-Era is my favourite time period, so I thought it would be easiest to write! I have some ideas for this story that will hopefully work, so let me know how you feel about it! This chapter is just the beginning, so forgive me if it starts rather slow. Read & Review xxx

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter. Although I wouldn't mind owning Sirius Black for a while.

Lily Evans dashed as fast as was possible on the crowded platform, pushing her trolley in front of her. Her eyes narrowed in on a solid brick wall, and she carefully manoeuvred her trolley to face it. Without breaking pace, Lily charged towards the wall and ran straight through it.

Looking around, Lily sighed in relief as she noticed the red steam engine whistling at a standstill several feet in front of her. Glancing at the large clock on the wall, she noticed it was ten fifty-eight. Wheeling her trolley forward, she grabbed an end of her trunk and attempted to heave it onto the train.

"Evans my dear, you seem as if you're in need of a knight in shining armour!" A voice called behind her, and before she had time to groan, a hand shot out and immediately pulled her trunk off the trolley.

Pushing her trunk easily onto the train, James Potter turned back around, positively beaming.

"How was your summer, my dear Evans?" He asked eagerly, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.

"Wonderful, seeing as you weren't around," Lily snarled, shoving past him and clamouring onto the train as the whistle trilled.

James hopped on behind her, and the Hogwarts Express slowly travelled away from the platform, gaining speed as it went.

"Your words, they wound me Evans," James said, placing a hand over his heart. Lily rolled her eyes and grabbed an end of her trunk.

"Go away, Potter," she huffed, marching down the train searching for her friends' compartment.

To Lily's annoyance, James trailed after her as she continued down the train, peeking into each compartment. Choosing to completely ignore him, rather than give in and start a fight in the middle of the train, Lily pulled her trunk along, finally finding her friends' compartment.

"Lily!"

Two girls immediately hopped up from their seats and rushed towards Lily, hugging her with such force that she nearly fell over.

"Guys, relax!" Lily said, laughing. "Give me room to breathe!"

Lily's two best friends released her and stepped back, grinning widely. Alice Prewett stood on the left, her brown hair resting at her shoulders, her blue eyes sparkling merrily. She was shorter than Lily, and had an extremely bubbly personality, which rubbed off on people she spent time with. Dorcas Meadowes stood next to her, her long blonde hair cascading down her back. Her deep brown eyes shone with mystery and amusement. She was taller than both Lily and Alice, and had the air of a girl who loved to have a good time.

Lily grinned back at her friends and was about to launch into several stories about her summer, when someone behind her cleared their throat. Turning, Lily noticed that James hadn't yet left her alone, and was watching her with a smirk that meant he was definitely up to trouble.

"Haven't you bothered me enough for one day, Potter?" Lily sighed, rubbing her temple.

"I'm afraid I have not, Evans, my love," James replied cheerfully, reaching into his jeans pocket. "You see, I have something here that should be of great interest to you."

James withdrew a shiny badge from his jeans pocket and showed it to Lily. "Looks like we'll be seeing much more of each other, Evans, as I am Head Boy and if my sources are correct, you are Head Girl!"

Lily gaped at the badge he was waving in front of her face. It took a moment for her to collect herself, but when she did she simply smirked at James and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Nice try, Potter. You almost had me there. Who did you take the badge from? Remus?"

James shook his head, looking at Lily with a mixture of pity and humour.

"You know how I hate to disappoint you, Evans, but alas, it is I who is Head Boy. No pranks this time. You can even see the letter for yourself." James whipped a letter out of his pocket and thrust it in Lily's hand.

Lily scanned the letter quickly, her eyes narrowing after each line she read. Behind her, Alice and Dorcas eyed one another nervously. This could not end well.

"You're actually Head Boy?" Lily asked stiffly, raising her eyes from the letter.

"That I am," James replied, smiling widely. "And if I do recall, we are meant to host a prefect meeting soon. We wouldn't want to be late!"

Lily's hands immediately balled into fists, crumpling the letter she was still holding. Pink patches were appearing on her cheeks and her green eyes were bright with rage.

James knew this look all too well. It was the look Lily got right before she hexed him, or punched him, or yelled at him until she was hoarse. He would never admit it to her, but this look scared him to death.

"Er, well, you three take a moment to catch up and, uh, I'll just meet you in there, yeah?" James stammered, taking a step back. Lily didn't say anything but continued to glare, until James slowly backed away and practically ran down the train to the prefect's compartment.

Immediately, Dorcas and Alice grabbed Lily's arms and gently sat her down in one of the seats, each sitting on either side.

"Lily, honey, chill out, okay? It's not so bad, really," Dorcas said quickly, glancing at Alice for help.

"Yeah, seriously, James has been getting better these past few months, right? He was practically civil before summer started." Alice stated seriously.

Lily focused on her friends, finally finding her voice. "James Potter is not civil! He is an arrogant egotistical toe-rag and I loathe him! How could he have been made Head Boy? How?! He wasn't even a prefect! Dumbledore has gone nutters if he honestly thinks Potter is capable of this sort of commitment. How could this happen to me?!"

Dorcas and Alice nodded sympathetically, knowing that to agree silently would be much easier than trying to give their opinions. They watched Lily carefully as she glared out the window, taking deep breaths.

"Lils, I know James is a prat. But you have been dreaming of being Head Girl since first year. Don't let him ruin it. Just go in there and get through your meeting quickly. We can figure the rest out after," Dorcas said, standing up and pulling Lily up with her.

Lily nodded. "Your right. I'll get through this meeting and we'll deal with the bumbling idiot later."

Alice and Dorcas glanced at one another again, both silently agreeing that the 'bumbling idiot' could only be James.

"Good luck," Alice called as Lily pulled on her robes, fastened her badge onto them and stepped out of the compartment.

"Ten Galleons one of them is killed before the meetings out." Dorcas said, shaking her money bag with a grin.

"The odds are too high to take that bet."

Lily pushed the door of the prefect's compartment open wide and marched in, taking calming breaths and refusing to meet James' eye. She smiled at the prefect's seated, and nodded encouragingly to Remus Lupin, who was swinging his head back and forth to look between her and James anxiously.

Remus was one of James' best friends, as hard as that was for Lily to believe, and the only one of his friends that she could stand. James and Remus, along with Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew, called themselves the Marauders, and all four were best friends. Lily personally found them to be utterly intolerable, aside from Remus, and had never understood why he was friends with the others. She had gotten to know Remus rather well, as they had both been prefects for the past two years, and she always found him to be gentle, intelligent and engaging. She could not say the same for his friends.

Clearing her throat, Lily moved to stand on the same side of the compartment as James, though as far away from him as possible. She pretended not to notice all the nudges, smirks and wide-eyed looks the prefect's were sharing with one another; it was common knowledge that Lily hated James and that James loved Lily.

"Hello, everyone!" Lily called brightly, glancing around at them all. "My name is Lily Evans and I will be Head Girl for this year at Hogwarts! We've got a great year ahead of us but I thought I'd start by –," Lily stopped mid-sentence and glared at James, who had cleared his throat loudly and was looking at her expectantly.

"Do you have something to say, Potter?" Lily asked through gritted teeth, resisting the urge to grab her wand out of her pocket.

"Well, my dear Head Girl, you forgot to introduce the Head Boy for this year! I'll do the honours, shall I?" James said, smiling jovially. He turned towards the bemused prefects with his arms spread wide.

"My name is James Potter, but you all already know that, of course," he said, beaming. "Believe it or not, I'll be Head Boy this year! In case any of you are feeling any confusion, yes I will be working with Lily, and yes, this will be the year that she agrees to go out with me."

Lily's hands clenched into fists and she snarled at James. Remus buried his face in his hands and the other prefects glanced at one another awkwardly, unsure whether to laugh or run.

"Would that be all, Potter?" Lily practically spat, forcing herself to keep her cool.

"I love you. That will be all," James said quickly, folding his hands behind his back and grinning at the prefects.

Lily took a deep breath and continued, forcing herself to be calm. "As I was saying, I thought we would start by passing out the timetables, which will determine when everyone's rounds will take place. After you've received a timetable, come up to James or me and we will give you the password to your House common room."

After the students filed up and received their timetable and common room password, Lily went over the basic responsibilities of prefects and explained when and where they would meet each week.

"That's about all there is to say," Lily finished, smiling at the prefects. "I know we can make this an excellent year for everyone, and we have a great group of prefects to help us out. Patrol the hallways for a few minutes, and then you can return to your compartments."

The prefects filed out until it was just Lily, James and Remus left in the compartment. Lily glanced up and, sending a withering glare at James, she stalked out of the compartment, eager to put as much distance between herself and James as was possible.

James sighed and sank into one of the chairs, shaking his head. Remus sat down across from him silently.

"I thought I was okay today, wasn't I Moony? Why was Evans so angry? I didn't make any conceited comments, or ask her out, or anything!"

Remus sighed. "Well, James, you did start off the meeting by saying you loved her…" he trailed off, torn between amusement and exasperation.

James nodded. "Truth," he replied.

"Even so, Lily has disliked you pretty much since first year. I think you need to cool off a bit, give her some space," Remus reasoned.

"How is that possible? She's Head Girl and I'm Head Boy! I reckon my best chance is to just go and ask her right now if she'll go out with me – "

Remus interrupted him, looking alarmed. "James, don't you know anything about Lily? She won't say yes, not now! She's been turning you down for four years and on top of all that, you've just been made Head Boy, which was a big shock for her. Please, just show Lily that you're not arrogant, egotistical, conceited, immature and stubborn. Because that's how she sees you. Don't you want to win her over?"

James groaned and rubbed his eyes wearily. "Yes, of course I do! I'm not as bad as she thinks I am, not even close!" He shot a pleading look toward Remus, who looked back sternly. "Alright, alright. You're probably right anyway. I'll hold off a bit on 'Operation Win over Evans'."

Remus smiled. "Good. Oh, and maybe a good place to start would be to stop calling her 'Evans'. She does have a name you know."

James nodded. "Lily. Got it."

Remus stood up and made toward the door, James following. The two made their way toward the end of the train, and entered the last compartment on the left. Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew were seated on either side of the window. Their heads were lolled against the window, both sleeping deeply.

"If only they were like this all the time," Remus said with mock sadness. James grinned and walked over to Sirius, sitting beside him.

"OY, PADFOOT!"

Sirius gave a bark-like shout, and next second had whipped out his wand. Before anyone could react, James was hanging upside down by his ankle, roaring with laughter. Peter, who had also been startled awake, glanced around confusedly, and then grinned as he put together what had just happened

"Prongs, you git! I was having an excellent dream! That curvy Hufflepuff with the curly hair and I were in a broom closet! And we hadn't even gotten to the good part! I didn't get to see how it ends!" Sirius growled.

"You know how it ends, that happened last June," James pointed out, still chuckling. Sirius tilted his head to the side, deep in thought for a moment, then broke out into a grin.

"Ah, so it did. Can't believe that one nearly slipped my mind." Sirius waved his wand lazily and James crashed to the ground.

James picked himself off the floor and flopped down in the seat next to Sirius.

"So, full moon in a few days. What's the plan for this month, eh?" Sirius asked eagerly, rubbing his hands together.

James quickly suggested several ideas for the group's night, and Peter agreed quickly with all of them, even throwing in a few suggestions of his own.

"I love Moony's time of the month, always a great time," James said excitedly. "Only, let's not break so many rules this time, yeah? Only I'm Head Boy and all…" James trailed off, trying to think of some way for the Marauders to have a fun full moon without breaking rules. It didn't seem possible.

"Mate, you're an unregistered Animagi. Even if we break a bunch of school rules, none of them will be as bad as that," Sirius pointed out

"Yeah, you know, that makes sense!" James agreed, nodding.

"Your logic astounds me," Remus piped up, rolling his eyes at Peter, who laughed.

"Moony, we've never been caught before, and anyway Padfoot is right. If I'm caught, they won't be focusing on the school rules I've broken. They'll be focusing on the illegal Animagi part. It makes sense, see," James said, as if explaining something simple to a child.

Remus bit back a retort and shook his head warily.

"It's going to be a long year," he muttered to Peter, who nodded in agreement, grinning broadly at the idea.