A Haven From Darkness

Chapter One: The Final Journey to Hogwarts

Every year on September first, Muggles groaned to themselves. King's Cross Train Station was always more crowded that morning with a group of people, usually dressed oddly in clashing and incorrectly fastened clothing. The station would always stay packed until around ten-thirty, when the strange people carrying trunks somehow disappeared.

This year, as always, Muggles went through their morning routines, slightly disgruntled at the people who forced them to wake up an extra half an hour early. Though they were expecting the influx of peculiar people, they were surprised to see a motley looking family come bustling down the walkway after ten-thirty.

Ther two adults dressed in what appeared to be black dresses. This would not be disturbing for most Muggles, except for the fact that one of these adults was a tall, black-haired man. One of the braver, and ruder, Muggles passing by muttered "crossdresser" as the man passed by, but the man did not seem to notice.

"Hurry," the man said to his wife and the two young men who were following him. His wife, a good-looking red-haired woman, stopped and turned towards her husband so abruptly that the two teenagers nearly ran into her.

"Mum!" cried the boy with messy black hair as he straightened his glasses that had nearly fallen off.

"Harpocrates Potter," she said crossly to her husband. "If you don't stop rushing me, I swear I'm going to jinx you into a jelly! I already know that we're running late! And sorry, James, dear," she added.

The man, who did not look remotely distressed that his wife had threatened to turn him into a jelly (although how that was possible, the Muggles passing by didn't know), helped the other boy, who had tumbled into a nearby wall in effort not to run into the fuming Mrs. Potter. Picking up the books that had fallen out of the trunk, he muttered, "You'd never know it was her who kept us late, eh, Sirius?"

Mrs. Potter turned around swiftly. "I heard that," she said, "and if you were so worried about being late, then perhaps you shouldn't have insisted on traveling the Muggle way—"

Mr. Potter, who had just checked his watch, interrupted her. "Only ten minutes left to get through. If you don't hurry, Galatea, you won't get your seven minute good-bye."

"Then we'll just have to get going, won't we, dear?"

She took out a stick and waved it in a peculiar circular motion at the boys' trunks. For some reason, the boys looked grateful. When they started walking briskly, it became apparent: their trunks were now lighter.

"Evans is so going to kill me," groaned James, panting slightly as he began to run towards a wall between Platforms Nine and Ten.

"Cheer up, Prongs," said Sirius, jogging a little to keep up. "At least you didn't miss the train. Can you imagine what we'd do in the middle of Muggle London without a clue where Hogwarts actually is?"

Mrs. Potter, who had overheard Sirius' last comment, waved an airy hand and said, "We'd naturally send an owl to Dumbledore. Now come here."

She hugged the pair of them tightly, one hand around each boy.

"MUM!"

"Mrs. Potter!"

"Galatea, you're straggling them," laughed Mr. Potter. Mrs. Potter released the boys, not looking the least abashed.

"Now I want you boys to be good this year," began Mr. Potter as the group headed toward an open door on the train which was labeled "The Hogwarts Express."

"Especially you, James," cut in Mrs. Potter. "Head Boys don't go skiving out of class to hunt down that poor caretaker's cat. They go to class, do their homework, and above all—"

"Do not curse people in between classes," chorused James and Sirius at the same time. "We know."

"But—" began Sirius

"Snape is always cursing us," finished Mr. Potter, smiling. "We know. Just don't curse him first."

"Harry!" said Mrs. Potter in a disapproving tone, though she was half smiling. "What kind of parent are you? That's terrible advice."

But before Mr. and Mrs. Potter's good-natured bickering could begin again, the horn of the Hogwarts Express tooted its last call. It was eleven o'clock.

"Right, well, don't forget to have fun. It's your last year, after all," said Mr. Potter as Mrs. Potter hugged the boys again.

"Onto the train, now, hurry….And don't forget!" called Mrs. Potter as they boarded the train, "Write us when you get to Hogwarts, and again at the end of your first week."

The train wheels began to churn slowly, and Mr. and Mrs. Potter waved good-bye, the pair of them looking a little tearful and slightly bereft.

"See you!" called James, waving at his parents.

"I hate leaving them," he said in a slightly mournful little tone to Sirius as he picked up his trunk.

"All these years and you still can't get past the homesickness," said a voice behind them. "That's just sad, James."

James turned around to face the person who had spoken. It was Remus Lupin, and with him was Peter Pettigrew. Remus' hair had grown a little longer and, as he grinned his hello, James saw that a couple of premature lines had gathered around his twinkling eyes.

"Hey James! Hey Sirius!" said Peter. He was sweating slightly, but he looked pleased to have finally met up with James and Sirius. Peter had always looked up to his three friends, especially James.

"Hey Pete," replied James casually. He grinned suddenly at Peter and said, "Hey, did you get to go to that Magpies-Puddlemere game? We made your precious Puddlemere look like you didn't even know what a Quaffle was!"

"We just had a bad season, is all," said Peter just as enthusiastic. "We'll get you next time. Just you wait. We'll be 'beating back the Bludgers' right into your expensive Chasers' faces. Make you wish you'd never bought them for so many Galleons."

"Don't be jealous that your team don't have the gold to pay for the best," replied James high spiritedly.

Remus and Sirius shared a look. It was a never ending argument between Peter and James. Although they both had great interest in Quidditch, neither Sirius nor Remus were as obsessed with Quidditch the way James and Peter were. Quidditch was the only thing on which Peter and James disagreed; even though their argument about which team was the best was as old as Sirius' Sirius-serious joke, it never ended.

"Merlin, look at the time," said Sirius, with an air of someone with an air of someone who was trying to break up an argument.

Remus looked down at his watch and James paled. He had forgotten, and only Merlin knew how he had forgotten, about his first meeting as Head Boy!

"Damn!" he said, slapping his hand to his forehead. And, handing his trunk over to Sirius, said, "I'm supposed to meet Lily before we meet with the other prefects! Take this to our compartment for me, will you?"

Before Sirius could shake his head, Peter's chubby little hands grabbed the handle and he squeaked, "I'll get it for you, Prongs."

"Thanks Wormy. Aren't you coming, Remus?" James asked. He would've thought that Remus, as a Gryffindor prefect, would be coming with him.

"No," he replied, "Prefects don't have to be there for another few minutes. It's the Heads who have to be there on time, so they can get prepared for the meeting."

James shrugged and took off at a run. Even halfway down the end of the corridor, he could Sirius still laughing behind him and Peter shouting, "We'll be in the seventh carriage!"

Wary, James stepped into the Prefects' compartment. There were several chairs were grouped in twos, a chair for each prefect from every house, he supposed. The room was empty except for a pretty red-headed girl sitting in the only desk in the compartment. She was scribbling furiously on a scroll of parchment.

"Hey, Evans."

"Nice of you to turn up, Potter," she said in a clipped voice, without looking up.

James leaned against the compartment door. It had always been this way between him and Evans; she would be calm, cool, and collected…until he pushed the right button that sent her into a flying rage, that is.

"I thought so too," he said arrogantly. It was the kind of statement that would have made anyone but Lily Evans (who took herself very seriously) laugh.

"Argh, Potter you are the most infuriating person!" she said, glaring at him.

Lily turned back to the parchment and continued to write. James had no idea what she was writing, but he assumed that she would discuss the plan for the meeting with him once she was ready. Unfortunately, patiently waiting for her to finish was quite boring. James circled the room once, then twice, and about halfway through the third circle, Lily looked up.

"Could you please stop walking around the bloody room?" she said tightly. It was a question, but came out more as an order.

James stopped in front of a pair of chairs with the Gryffindor emblem inscribed on their backs. He faced the desk that Lily was sitting at; the giant Hogwarts crest that hung on the wall behind her.

"Does it bug you?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll keep walking."

Again, James began to walk around the room, but before he could go more than two meters, Lily let out a straggled cry.

"Potter!"

He merely chuckled. Driving Lily insane had always been one of his favorite pastimes. Over his sixth year, he had had more worries, such as renewing the strained friendship between Remus and Sirius after the Great Snape Fiasco and reworking the entire Quidditch team, and was unable to annoy Lily as much. It wasn't so much that he liked making Lily angry with him, he thought, it was more that he liked to have her looking and talking with him. There was also, of course, her ever endearing habit of taking chest heaving breaths in attempt to calm herself down.

"Okay, okay. Keep your shirt on," he conceded. "But what's the novel for anyway?"

He edged over to the desk. Peering over her shoulder at the parchment, he saw the title written in her neat handwriting, "Talk with Prefects." And below was a list of things that they were to talk about with the prefects. She had written an outline for everything they needed to discuss. In the margins, she had labeled what each of them would say

"We're a team now, you know," he said, in a miffed tone. Lily looked taken aback; never had she imagined that James might be upset that she had taken the time to write everything.

"Well, I thought that you, you, I mean—it's a boring job. At least this part is," she said. "I assumed that you had better things to do than—"

"Don't you know what happens when people assume, Evans?" asked James. She looked completely nonplussed, so James continued, "You make an ass out of you and me."

To his great surprise, Lily laughed. He had expected maybe a roll of the eyes, or an exasperated look, but never, ever had he expected to make Lily laugh. Never before had Lily Evans laughed at his jokes; an upward twitch of her mouth, certainly, but never a real laugh. It was a beautiful sound.

"I haven't heard that in ages!" she said, still laughing. "My mum used to tell that to Tuney and me when we were little."

Leaning an elbow on the high-backed chair that she was sitting on, he said, "Well, I try."

There was an awkward pause, in which Lily seemed to be assessing him. Awkwardly, James wordlessly handed over the parchment to Lily, who took this as a sign that James agreed to go ahead with her plan. Neither Lily nor James could think of anything to say. Luckily, the compartment door opened just then. A young girl, a fifth year by the look of her, nervously stepped in.

"Er—hello," she said. She glanced around, and realizing that there was no one else in the compartment, she hesitated. It was easy to tell by the repeated flick of her eyes to the clock above Lily and James' heads that she was wondering whether or not she was early.

James walked over to her, smiling, and shook her hand.

"Hello," he said, "I'm the Head Boy, James. Glad you could make it."

"I'm not too early, am I?" she asked. "Because if I am, I can—"

"You're right on time," said Lily warmly to the girl. "It's everyone else who's a bit late. But they should be in shortly."

True to Lily's word, the compartment quickly became filled; fortunately, the entrance of the other prefects was much less awkward. Lily waved to Artemisia McKinnon, a black girl with shoulder length black hair. James thought this was odd. He was under the impression that Artemisia and Lily didn't talk very much outside of classes, but he supposed that he never saw them disagree either. But James' attention was soon turned by the arrival of Remus Lupin, who was surprisingly the last person to enter the room.

Lily and James faced the group of prefects, who watched them seriously from their seats. The meeting went off without a hitch and there was no one, as far as James could tell, who would cause much trouble for him this year. Well, there were the Slytherins, but they never got along with anyone so they didn't count, thought James as he eyed them distastefully. The Slytherin prefects had edged their seats away from the other prefects and seemed to take particular offense to the appointment of two Gryffindor Heads.

The meeting ended and the prefects drifted out until the only people left in the room were Artemisia, Remus, Lily and James. They chatted for a few minutes on all of the usual things: what they did for the summer; what classes they are continuing to take; and did you hear what Julia Steinburg did to her hair?

James was stunned to hear that Artemisia had chosen to drop Ancient Runes.

"Why? You were one of the best in the class!"

Artemisia merely shrugged and there was an uncomfortable silence. Everyone looked at each other unsure of what to say or do, and then Artemisia stood up abruptly. This movement caused her chair to shake, nearly falling to the ground.

"I ought to get going," she said as she caught her wobbling chair, "I'll just leave you guys to your Head stuff."

As she slipped out the door, James saw that Lily looked as perplexed as he felt. Remus, who looked unsurprised at neither Artemisia's words nor her exit, stood up as well.

"She's right," he said, "You guys have got loads to plan." He then turned to James and said, "I'll see you later in our compartment."

"See you in a bit."

"It was good seeing you again, Remus," said Lily.

With no one else in the room, James and Lily faced each other, each wondering what to say to the other.

"Well, we should get started, then," said Lily, blushing slightly.

"Yeah," he echoed.

"We should start this first week off by doing the rounds ourselves," she began. In less than no time, Lily had a chart of prefect patrol times drawn up. James, who was not nearly as organized as Lily was, provided the times that each prefect was not available and reminded Lily of the holidays and of birthdays.

By the time Lily and James had finished the schedule, it was evening and each could tell that they were nearing Hogwarts. James vaguely wondered why it was so easy to talk to Lily when she had always seemed uptight around him in the past. He wondered why he had never tried just talking with her before as he pulled on his robes and headed towards the head of the train.

There was a loud shout of "PRONGS!" as he opened the compartment door. In the few hours that he had spent with the prefects and Lily, his friends had managed to completely trash the compartment. There were chocolate frog cards strewn all over the floor, bits of fluff from the seats everywhere, and a green, sticky substance on the walls—James wasn't sure whether he wanted to know what it was.

"It's about time you showed up!" roared Sirius.

"Yeah," added Peter. "You'll never guess what Sirius was about to do."

"What?" he said interestedly to Peter, who, as the most honest of them all (mostly due to his completely inability to tell a convincing lie), was sure to give the original version of events.

"Sirius wanted the last chocolate frog," Peter said by way of explanation. When James merely raised an eyebrow, he continued, "Sirius said that since he had ordered the chocolate frogs, since you were at the prefect meeting, that he had rights to the last frog."

"You do not!" cried James. The situation, he knew, was ludicrous, but what did it matter when a chocolate frog was at stake? "It's traditionally mine!"

"Ok," said Remus, making himself a peacemaker between James and Sirius. "Let's see the frog in question."

Peter produced the chocolate frog from underneath one of the ruined seats and handed it over to Remus, who took it from Peter. He threw it up in the air several times and seemed in no hurry to decide the fate of the chocolate frog.

"I fear," said Remus, a slow smile lighting up his tired face, "that the only way to solve this problem, is if—" he opened his mouth and dropped the chocolate frog in—"I eat it."

Both James and Sirius spoke at the same time:

"If I knew you were—!"

"Backstabber! Betrayer!"

Peter gave a very loud and very fake cough. Everyone looked over at him and he said, "I think Remus solved the problem best—"

"You always think that," interjected Sirius. He then began listing the reasons why it was a terrible "solution" to the problem and James was agreeing and adding bits here and there. Remus, on the other hand, shot Peter a grateful look. It was so like Peter to take the fall for him.

It wasn't until they had made their way to their place at the Gryffindor table that James and Sirius stopped being miffed at Remus. Although, this did not stop them from engaging in a lively discussion about whom the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was for the year. All discussion halted as Professor McGonagall lead the first years into the Great Hall.

The Sorting Hat sang its song, a different one than James had heard before his Sorting but with the same message: the Houses of Hogwarts must unite or Hogwarts would crumble. The message had never been any different in James' memory, but James knew it was different in times of peace.

"Extra small this year, aren't they?" said Sirius, who looked equally unperturbed by the Sorting Hat's Song.

"It's not the first years who've gotten smaller," replied Remus, "it's us who've gotten taller."

"How do you know it's not a bit of both?" asked Peter. He had been spinning his golden fork on his plate, longing for food. It was not as though it were a stupid question, merely that the person to whom he had asked it just so happened to be Remus Lupin, who's interest in the history of humanity far surpassed any at the Gryffindor table. The only exception was Artemisia McKinnon, who, as Sirius often said, was simply weird that way and so didn't count.

"Because the Muggles have proved that people have been getting taller as time continues. Humans used to be extremely short by today's standards until around the 1700s," Remus said. Sirius and James prepared themselves for yet another long-winded explanation from Remus. But it was cut short by the end of the Sorting and Dumbledore standing up, his robes billowing slightly.

"To our old students, welcome back! And to our new students, a very warm welcome! I'm sure everyone's as hungry as I am, so please have a biscuit and dig in!"

Everyone clapped and cheered as Dumbledore sat down smartly, tossed his long white beard over his should, and did precisely that. The gold dishes piled with food and the first years looked as though they weren't sure where to start; there were mounds of food everywhere. There were dishes of vegetables, several different kinds of breads and meats to choose from, and goblets of sweet, cold pumpkin juice.

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were silent as they made their way through the mounds of food. However, there was laughter down the table where Lily was sitting as Mary Wiley, a tall, slim girl with curly brown hair, finished a comical story. As was often Mary's way, the story had involved lots of arm waving and imitations of people. Nearly Headless Nick, who sat behind her, was laughing as well, his head nearly wobbling off.

"So, Lily," she said in a carrying voice, "James is Head Boy."

Lily looked suspiciously at Mary, who feigned an unconvincing look of innocence.

"Yes," Lily said slowly.

"So you'll have lots of a-loone time together, won't you? Any girl's dream."

Mary's eyebrows waggled suggestively at Lily who, surprisingly, smiled. Mary always loved to tease Lily about James and always said that one day Lily and James would have messy-haired green-eyed children. And every time she said it, Lily always began her tirade of James' faults. So, understandably, Mary looked confused.

"Am I to assume that your hatred of James has died?"

Lily's smile fell, but rather than looking angry, she looked bemused. James watched as she looked around for others listening in and, upon seeing his interested expression that he was too slow to disguise, gave Mary an "I'll tell you later" look.

Mary opened her mouth to argue the point, but before she could speak, Dumbledore stood up again. As always, everyone hushed up so Dumbledore could give his start-of-term speech and send them off to bed.

"I shall not impose on your time much longer," he said smiling. "First, I would like everyone to give a warm welcome to Professor Turpin, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, who had kindly agreed to stay the year."

A young woman, who couldn't possibly be above thirty, shook back her blonde hair, and waved a hand in a polite, Miss Universe kind of way. There was a round of applause and a few of the guys wolf-whistled. There was a brief disapproving frown on her face, but it was gone as quickly as it came as she turned her pretty face towards Dumbledore.

Dumbledore continued, "I would like to remind everyone to pay close attention during Professor Turpin's classes as the lessons can only be of great help to you, should you find yourself faced with Dark Magic. In these uncertain times, we must hold our ground for our lives begin to end the day that we become silent about things that matter. We must always fight for what we know in our heart of hearts is right, even if it means we must go against the wishes of those we love."

Dumbledore paused and smiled, and then said, "But let us not spend the night troubled by the Dark times. We all have very warm beds and I am sure you are very eager to get to yours. I bid you adieu."

There was a scraping of chairs against the floor as everyone got up, many of the younger students yawning. Sleepy and content, James made his way up to his bed, unaware, but excited about what this year, his final year, would bring.

Disclaimer: What Dumbledore says about "our lives begin to end…" is a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. quote. And of course, as always, any characters that you recognized belong to J. K. Rowling.

Please review and tell me what you thought. Hate it? Tell me why. Feedback is the only way that I will be able to write a better, more enjoyable story. Love it? That's great! Let me know! Wishing you lots of laughter, love, and Harry Potter,

The Hogwartian