27/10/2012

This is the edited version of ATTR that I did for Wattpad; I figured that as I have edited the chapters to put up there, I would also post them here. Nothing too major has been changed, only typos etc, but that's better than nothing. Enjoy!

A/N: So this is an idea I've been playing around with for a while now: a Lily/James fanficlet of my own creation, something with tolerable fluff that I actually CAN write with lots of Sirius (because I heart him) and my awesome Ocs Ylana and Seb (because they're more awesome than words). I apologise in advance for this rubbish chapter length, I promise you that it will get better (trust me on this; I've written up to chapter 5 and the chapters sometimes go up to 2500 words). So sit back, relax and let the story unfold before your eyes. I also apologise in advance for any unseen typos or grammatical errors in this; I have edited it three times, but if you see any, just PM me and I'll edit again. Thanks!

Dedication: This first chapter is dedicated to many people: the NaNoWriMo-ers who encouraged me, to Zoe who writes insanely well, to PottedLillies (Kayla) who has written THE BEST Marauders Era fanfiction in the history of the world (go and check out 'Of Raindrops, Flowers and Wishing Wells'!) and to Ylana, my very own OC, who's tragic demise in my latest RP will be remembered forever.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter in any way, it all belongs to the amazingly brilliant J. K. Rowling who I bow down to.

Chapter One
Let the flames begin
'Let The Flames Begin', Paramore

"Freak."

It was sort of funny, Lily Evans thought, that, after hearing her sister call her a freak all summer, this one word could still hurt her. Ever since the time Lily had received her letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft of Wizardry six years previously, Petunia had been bitter. She had been jealous that her younger sister would get to go to a magic school and she was stuck in the local Muggle secondary school. Petunia flipped her long hair around her face and turned her back on Lily, who stared at her sister's back for a second before sighing and looking away herself.

Mr and Mrs Evans were standing a short way away, looking around the platform eagerly, as if trying to memorise it.

"Lily, dear, are you sure you've got all your things? You have so many books in your trunk this year..." her mother asked, eyeing the wooden trunk.

"Yes, mum. I charmed my clothes, remember?" Lily replied; her seventeenth birthday had been two days before the start of term. She had magically reduced the size of her clothes so that her new school books could fit into the trunk. She was straining her neck to catch a glimpse of her friends, and an untidy black head bobbed in the crowd. Said head was moving towards her rather quickly, and she froze. "Crap," she muttered, turning away. "Not Potter; anyone but Potter." She prayed, when a deep and familiar voice sounded behind her.

"Hey, Evans" She mentally cursed, turning back around.

"Potter." she said curtly.

"Who's this?" Mr Evans asked, looking from Lily to Potter.

"I'm James Potter, Mr Evans. Very nice to meet you. And you Mrs Evans." Potter said politely while Lily scowled from behind him. "Hello Petunia," he added, seeing Lily's sister. She glared at him frostily.

"Freak!" she spat before flouncing away back towards the Muggle world. Potter looked a little confused, so Mr Evans made an attempt to explain.

"She's a little..." he began, suddenly at a loss as to what to say. Lily finished for him.

"Jealous." Her father frowned at her and Lily made a point of looking away.

"Right... So, Evans, coming to the Heads Compartment? We need to brief the new Prefects." Potter asked. Lily gawped at him.

"You... You're... No. No way. You're not Head Boy." she stuttered flatly, her own Head Girl badge gleaming on her chest. Potter laughed.

"As a matter of fact, I am. No need to look so surprised," he chuckled. Lily stared at him. There was no way in hell that James Potter was Head Boy. "Are you coming?" he asked and Lily grabbed the end of her trunk and pulled it forward a few feet. She allowed her parents to kiss her on the cheek and then followed Potter to the Hogwarts Express.

After depositing their trunks in the hold, they walked along the hallway to the very back of the train, where the Prefects were already waiting.

"Well. I'm James Potter," Lily noticed that several girls had started giggling. "And I'm this year's Head Boy. This is Lily Evans, Head Girl. This year, you will be reporting to us with any problems. Anything else?" he said, looking sideways at Lily for help. She was instantly frustrated and glared at him. She had worked her whole time at Hogwarts for this position and he just flounced in, no preparation at all, and attempted to take lead.

"We'll draw up patrol rounds and you'll have to tell us if any of the Prefect duties interrupt revision time. As Prefects, you have the power to put any rule-breaking students in detention and to dock up to ten House Points at a time. But you must use this power responsibly." She added, looking pointedly at James. Lily checked her watch and saw that it was eleven o'clock; immediately she heard the thundering of many pairs of feet walking through the train, jockeying for compartments. She pulled a sheet of parchment out of her pocket and glanced down at the neatly written names. "Janis and Harry you two take the top of the train with Amy, Jack, Roger and Katie. Sally, Daphne, Amelia, Fred, Ernie and Neil – you lot take the bottom half of the train. Make sure everybody stays in their compartments unless they're going to the toilet or anything, and if they leave, make sure they're not doing anything," she paused to glance at Potter. "Against the rules. We're giving you two nights a week free for OWL or NEWT study. If you're on your house Quidditch team, you might have to use those free nights for practices, but if you tell us the practice timetables, we might be able to sort something out. Off you go." She reeled off, as the younger Prefects left the compartment. Finally, only Lily, James, Remus Lupin and another girl remained behind.

"Well done, Prongs; short but sweet." Remus Lupin congratulated Potter as Lily raised an eyebrow.

"As I said seven years ago," said a tall girl with pale skin, long black hair and bright blue eyes called Ylana Thomson. "What sort of nickname is that?"

"An insightful one, if you get my drift, Ylana," Potter said, winking meaningfully at the black-haired girl. Ylana rolled her eyes.

"I'm just glad that we're going back," Lily said, sitting down next to Ylana. "In the meantime, I hope that the trolley lady hurries up; I'm starving."

Ylana laughed and pulled her feet under her tall frame as she jostled on the seat to make herself more comfortable. "I'm glad you're Head Girl. You get all the best things at Hogwarts now." She sighed, stretching her arms out behind her head. Lily turned her head and looked at her best friend.

"What?"

"Well," Ylana began, tucking a piece of raven hair behind her ear. "You get the Heads compartment here on the train, you get the Heads room on the second floor and you get your own bathroom. Oh," she added. "And if you miss a meal, the Elves send up food to you. And guess what?" she said, ticking these off her fingers like she was going down a list.

"What?"

"Senior Prefects get to share it with you! Well, almost all of it, anyway." she corrected
herself.

"Wow," Lily said: she hadn't known that they would get all that! A voice came on over the loudspeaker, reminding them that they could now get changed as there was a fair amount of time until they got to Hogsmeade station. So Lily and Ylana pulled their robes out of the jumbled heap of carry-on items from the seats at the back of the room and walked down to the toilets to change. James, who had been staring after Lily, looked back to Remus, who was smiling at him.

"Don't worry. She'll come around eventually." he said in a reassuring voice, pulling his robes over his head, adjusting his red and gold Gryffindor tie.

"You've been saying that for nearly six years, Remus," James reminded his friend, pulling his own tie around his neck.

"I know. But I have a good feeling about this year." Remus replied, reaching into his bag and pulling out a thick book with a bookmark marking a point around a quarter of the way into the book. Settling back into his seat, he opened the novel and began reading. James sat down next to him and waited for the arrival of his other friends and for the train to finally slow.

A/N: Well, that took a while to type up from my laptop to my desktop. But I hope you enjoyed it! It's pretty good writing for me while under so much stress from school. Reviews are welcome :D

-Lauren