Chapter 1
James Potter's life could be separated by lilies. He came into the world surrounded by lilies and left the same way. His parents had been told to expect a girl; upon his birth he was placed in a pink nursery decorated with large hand painted pictures of blooming lilies. One of his earliest memories was the smell of his beloved grandmother who bathed every day in lily scented soap. Her perfumes would fill the Potter's mansion with the smell. When his grandmother died, James would place a bouquet of lilies on her grave every year to commemorate her passing. He fell in love with a lily on his first day at Hogwarts when she sat next to him at the Gryffindor table the very first feast. Lilies decorated his wedding and his home afterwards. And when James Potter was eventually put to rest, his few remains were covered in lily petals and lowered into the ground.
When James first met Lily Evans, he knew she was the only girl for him right on the spot. He could not explain why even when his friends tried to squeeze it out of him. Not even James knew that he had been swaddled by lily petals for his whole life and when met with the human interpretation of this flower, he was powerless to fate. Lily belonged to James Potter the moment he was born.
Poor Ms. Evans couldn't stop what life had already set in motion. Her mother had been a flower enthusiast since childhood and insisted on naming her daughters after the most beautiful flowers in her gardens. Petunia came first and soon after the world was graced with Lily. Like James, Lily found solace in flowers; however she knowingly fell in love with the creatures that lived in the boxes outside windows and the dirt that surrounded her home. Her mother raised her and her sister with their hands constantly in the dirt, planting and nurturing the life that sprouted. In the gardens it was just the three of them and their magical plants. When Mr. Evans left his wife for a younger more beautiful woman, they retreated to their fairy land where the worries of the world could be buried along with the seeds. During Lily's fifth birthday she had been gifted with a pot in which was planted a seed of a stargazer lily. Her excitement was so overwhelming that the girl had performed her first bit of accidental magic, making the plant instantly sprout and mature into perfection. As the years passed, she would continue to make her plants thrive using her powers that grew stronger every day. Scared of her magic, her muggle mother had forbid her from using it in the beloved garden. Lily would play with the flowers in the streets making them grow through cracks in the concrete or the chain link fences that surrounded each home. The young witch was truly a flower child. Not in the way of hippies, but in the literal sense. When abandoned by everyone she loved, she embraced the decoration nature provided her. So you see, nothing could stop James and Lily from colliding in the most dramatic of ways. Two children raised by nature could not help but fall in love.
Lily sat with Mary Macdonald on the Hogwarts Express, her hands twitching in her lap. Mary sat opposite of her with a large book on her lap, ignoring her
obviously distressed friend. Lily sat straight in her seat, while her best friend slouched with her feet up on the bench across from her. Mary's light brown hair was frazzled around her head, the short brown threads poofing out around her ears and halfway down her neck. Her straight bangs had been hastily pushed to the side to allow for better visibility while reading. Lily, on the other hand, looked pristine. Her fiery hair hanged in a shining curtain down her back and was held off of her face by a golden ribbon. She had no makeup on, but a perfect complexion, complete with perfectly blushed cheeks. Her uniform was already on and her dress robes were folded on her right.
Lily began to tap her feet with impatience. Mary glanced up at her friend and then continued reading her book. Lily sighed. Mary rolled her eyes. Lily groaned. Reluctantly closing her book, Mary turned her attention to Lily. "What is wrong with you Lily?" she said her rolls rolling off her tongue.
Sighing again, Lily replied, "I'm just so nervous Mary. What if I'm a terrible prefect?"
"Don't be ridiculous. If anyone was going to be prefect, it would be you. I don't know why you're acting this way."
"I just hate being nasty to people. What if I get to nervous to give people detentions? What if I get obsessed with the power and lose all my friends? What if-"
Mary cut her off, "Lily you're bonkers. On a different note, have you seen Marlene? I didn't even catch sight of her at the station. You don't think she missed the train, do you?"
"Of course not, she's Marlene. She's probably off snogging some seventh year."
"You're probably right. She can be quite a hussy at times."
Suddenly a voice interrupted the two best friend's conversation. "Who are you calling a hussy, you slag. I heard you shagged Shaklebolt at your parents' beach house in July."
The voice belonged to Marlene Diggory, a fellow Gryffindor sixth year and the missing piece of what Lily jokingly called the Three Musketeers. Marlene, considered by most of the boys at Hogwarts to be the prettiest of the three, had a luscious mane of blond hair that curled in golden ringlets around her perfectly symmetrical heart shaped face. Her tanned skin contrasted with her ice blue eyes that glittered mischievously. She wore a smattering of bohemian style makeup and a short color blocked dress. The delightfully mod dress extenuated her incredibly long legs and amble cleavage. Marlene was certainly not a slag and had not been snogging a seventh year. She considered herself an illusionist as well as a witch. She liked when boys looked at her and that was it.
Marlene stared down at Mary, "Well, did you shag him, or not? I hear he's very endowed."
Mary blushed. "There was no shagging going on Marlene. Just some snogging. You know I'm still a virgin."
"Our virgin Mary!"
"Mare!"
Lily giggled at her friends as she stood up. "Will you too manage not to kill each other while I'm gone?" she asked them jokingly.
"Of course Ms. Prefect Evans. We would never disobey you" Marlene replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Shut up. I'm already nervous enough."
"Sorry Lils. You'll be great." Marlene stated.
"Bye guys. Wish me luck."
With that Lily exited the compartment. She had put her robes on and her new prefect badge shone upon her chest. Her mary-janes clicked across the wood of the corridor; she was suddenly unreasonably self-conscience of this. She focused her mind on her breathing, so that she would appear completely unfazed. You've got this, she told herself over and over again. Although she enjoyed overall popularity at Hogwarts, she could never shake the feeling that she couldn't stand up to the task. Reaching the prefects' compartment, she took a deep breath and turned the doorknob.
The room was very empty, excluding Frank Longbottom, who sat dreary-eyed looking at a piece of parchment that sat in his lap. At the sound of the door he started and looked up hopefully at the door. Seeing that it was only Lily, however, led to his face returning to its original forlorn state. Lily timidly approached him.
"What's wrong Frank?" She asked the head boy timidly.
Frank turned to her, "Alice and I quit it," he said softly as if he still didn't believe it.
"What are you talking about Frank? I just spoke with Alice two weeks ago and she seemed quite in love with you."
"She sent me this letter on Thursday. It says that she knows what I did and that she doesn't want to see my face again." He turned to Lily, his eyes seeping distress. "I don't even know what I did. I tried to floo her house to talk to her about it, but her parents told me she refused to see me. When I owled her all she replied was that the fact that I didn't know just made everything that much worse." His head fell into his hands, crinkling the letter.
Lily placed her arm around his shoulders comfortingly, "Frank, if you're absolutely sure you did nothing wrong then everything should turn out all right. You just need to talk to her about it and it'll sort itself out."
"Lily I've tried. There's absolutely no use! Maybe if you could talk to her, you could figure out why she suddenly hates me so much." Seeing the doubt in Lily's emerald eyes he began to plead, "Please Lily, she's everything to me. I love her more than I've ever loved anybody and I can't just let her go like this. I just c-c-can't." His voice broke at the thought.
Lily looked at her friend. His brown eyes stared imploringly into hers. She sighed, "of course Frank, I'll talk to her."
A smile overcame Frank's face at the news. He pulled Lilly into a tight bear hug. Lily awkwardly patted his back wishing that the other prefects would arrive, so that she could move on from seeing her normally calm friend so incredibly upset. As if someone had heard her pleading, the door to the compartment opened once again and let in two Hufflepuff prefects, as well as the head girl, Alice Jones. Taking a seat beside them, Lily moved over to the other prefects. She finally let out the breath that she suddenly realized she had been holding. Her body buzzed with something similar to adrenaline. If her first job as a prefect was to fix a relationship that was meant to be, she was sure the rest of the year would be a breeze.
The welcome feast was James Potter's favorite day of the year. He considered it to be a glorious day in which he could eat all of the food he wanted without having to sneak down to the kitchens. It was also a prime day for pranks, something that actually matter quite a lot to the sixteen year old. Today he, along with his three best friends, had already set into motion their most epic prank yet.
This prank was actually quite simple and involved a potion that dyed the drinker's hair pink, a large quantity of fireworks, laxatives, and some spells that were rumored to curse people with gray, unshaveable beards. The victims, of course, were the Slytherins. Sirius was currently convincing the house elves to put the laxatives in the Slytherin's food and his special potion in their pumpkin juice. This was easy, given Sirius's charm and good rapport with the elves. Peter had just finished setting up the fireworks. And Remus and James were whispering the curses to some fifth year Hufflepuffs they had paid off on the train. So far, all was going as planned. The only way this day could get any better would be if Lily Evans finally agreed to go out with him. He glanced down the exceptionally long table to look at the girl of his dreams. She was in an animated conversation with Mary and Marlene. James could tell from years of observation that she was trying to include Annabelle Diggory, but failing miserably. (In fear that you will become attached to this minor person, it is important to note that Annabelle Diggory is neither interesting nor important and should be regarded as merely a prop within the lives of the more interesting).
At the very moment in which James was distracted by Lily, his prank had been set in motion. The house elves had successfully been convinced into spiking the food and drink of the Slytherins and it was only moments until the other pieces fell into place. As Sirius ran into the Great Hall and slipped into the seat next to James, the headmaster was raising his hands for silence. Professor Dumbledore, one of the few people James actually respected, went on to give a somewhat nonsense speech about love and camaraderie, while also warning the students to not pull pranks or venture into the forest. Obviously, he stated, both would result in the students' immediate death. Once he had finished speaking, all four of the houses' tables appeared covered in delicious food. The students all around the Marauders eagerly began to dig into the food. It was in this moment that the prank began.
Without warning, fireworks began to pierce the false sky. Many students screamed in surprise, food spewing out of their mouths. While the fireworks would have been an adequate prank alone, it was the next part that made James exceptionally proud. While the students and teachers sat enthralled by the magical fireworks, the Slytherins were growing long beards as their hair turned a brilliant pink color. Not one of them seemed to notice for quite some time, until a screech was heard above the sound of colorful explosions.
Eloise Parkinson stood up from the table pointing at her friends as she screamed her hideous face off. Sirius sniggered under his breath. The girl was reacting to the appearance of the rest of her table. The students all seemed to resemble ancient trolls. The rest of the school, who all hated the whole of Slytherin house in general, burst out in laughter. Under the table the Marauders shook hands.
James turned to his friends, "Good job all." He said, beaming at them.
"Well it was really no problem mate. I don't know why you thought it would be so hard. I mean those elves will do anything I tell em to." Sirius replied while taking a large bit out of a massive leg of turkey.
"I wasn't really worried about you," James responded, "It was mostly Pete and those fireworks. Very unstable. Imagine if one of them went off in his face. The whole thing would've been ruined. And I wasn't sure about the reliability of those Hufflepuffs. After all, they are Hufflepuffs."
"Don't really do much, do they?" Peter chimed in.
The boys all laughed and went back to devouring their weight in food. They were oblivious to the fact that behind them crept Professor McGonagall, ready to pounce on the boys who were obviously the perpetrators of the perfect prank. Her voice started clearly behind their heads, "Boys, will you please come with me." Each word was sharp; her frustration with the group was evident.
She guided the Marauders down the hall and into her office, pointing to four chairs in front of her desk. "We expected nothing less. That'll be one week's worth of detentions for each of you. Separately," she elaborated.
James objected, "But Professor, we didn't do anything, we were just minding our own business. I think it was the Huffle-"
"Save it," she interrupted, "for someone who does not know you all like I do. I expected more from you though, Remus. But that is beside the point."
"Minnie," Sirius began, "you and I both know that you can't give us detention without any proof. Yet here we are. Three innocent, naïve young boys, just wanting to finish dessert before bedtime."
Professor McGonagall stared down at them, her eyes sharp and perturbing. "I have spoken with the house elves, Mr. Black, and they had no trouble relating to me the name of the student who spoke with them today. So you will still have two weeks of detention."
"Two!? You said one."
"Lying to me constitutes a week of detention, I would say. That is fair."
"What about the rest of us?" Peter asked timidly. While Peter loved pranks, he hated the way his mother reacted every time she heard of his antics.
"You three are lucky. I know it was you, don't think I'm that ignorant. But Mr. Black is correct. I cannot serve you with detentions unless I can prove that you indeed were the ones behind it. Potter, Lupin, Pettigrew, you may go. Sirius, report to Professor Slughorn tomorrow night. You'll be cleaning out some of his old cauldrons for the rest of the week."
The boys all turned to leave with smug looks on all of their faces. Excepting Sirius, they had all escaped punishment; much better than their usual pranks. As they reached the door McGonagall called out to them. "James, I just wanted you to be aware that Lily Evans did not appear too happy about this latest prank. I suggest you remember that in the future. Goodnight."
James turned around swiftly. He had not realized that even the professors were aware of the way he felt for Lily. He could feel his cheeks getting hot. Did she really disapprove, he wondered. It didn't matter now, the deed was done. Was this the reason why she hated him so terribly? He tried to shake his thoughts of Lily Evans as he returned just in time for dessert. However, the thought followed him to bed and refused to leave him alone.
A/N: Thanks so much for reading! This is my first published story, so let me know what you think in that lovely review box. I'm always up for constructive criticism; I always do a horrid job of editing my own stuff. And if you're wondering what happened to all the laxatives our Marauders used, you'll just have to read chapter 2! (Not really any sort of cliff hanger, but hey, I need to give you some sort of incentive to keep reading).