Green
Disclaimer: Everything in here belongs to J.K. Rowling. Except for a few OCs here and there.
Lily Evans sighed as she sat down on one of the many worn seats of the Hogwarts Express. The Winthropes were running late yet again and Lily let the silence give way to her many thoughts. The 5-minute-till whistle blew threateningly and Lily rested her forehead against the cool, foggy window. It had been a long and stressful summer. She had only been home a few weeks before her parents died in a car accident. She had to help arrange and attend the funeral, she had to deal with the will and inheritance and she had to keep herself from breaking down in tears every five minutes. Her sister Petunia had been giving her the cold-shoulder more than usual, and Lily guessed that it was because Petunia blamed her for their parents' deaths. Although, I have no idea what a drunk driver has to do with me. She thought bitterly. And then she had gotten her Hogwarts letter that announced that she had been selected as Head Girl. Petunia had a field day with that. "Well now. Look who's gone off and become Queen of the Freaks." Her sister had sneered once she read the letter.
Movement on the platform caught her attention and she jerked her head up and looked out. Outside was James with his suitcases stacked on a trolley and his best friend Sirius Black beside him. Something about James made Lily look closer. He looks good this year. She immediately blushed at the thoughts in her head. No, even if he does look good, it doesn't mean that he isn't still the guy with an ego the size of Australia that's proud to call bullying his favorite activity. He looked as if he was looking for someone. Lily silently prayed to God that it wasn't her he was searching for. James Potter was the last thing she needed to deal with. He turned his head to the left and smiled. A skinny blonde girl came running out of the entrance to Platform 9 ¾ and ran straight into James' arms. When they kissed, Lily stared wide-eyed. Did Potter actually get a girlfriend? Lily wasn't sure why the thought seemed to bother her so much.
She was pulled out of her reverie by a loud slamming of the compartment door.
"Lily! Thank Merlin, we finally found the right compartment!" Her best friend Dany Winthrope exclaimed, breathless.
"Wouldn't have been so hard if Hilda here actually considered the fact that we always sit in the same compartment every single year." Lily's other best Heidi muttered quietly. Heidi and Hilda (Dany) Winthrope were fraternal twin sisters. They hardly looked anything alike and their personalities clashed like yellow and purple.
"Haven't we been through this? You know not to call me Hilda unless Aunt Romnia's around! Plus, you didn't remember our tradition anymore than I did!" Dany shot back. The two started bickering and Lily turned back to the window.
"Lily, honey, what's wrong?" Heidi asked gently, abruptly stopping the argument.
"Oh nothing." Lily replied quietly, turning away from the window. "Just, when did Potter get a girlfriend?"
"What?" Dany demanded. She pushed Lily aside and looked out the window just in time to see James, Sirius and the blonde girl rush hurriedly onto the train. "When did this happen?"
Heidi shrugged. "Must have happened over the summer. Why does it bother you so much?"
"Probably because this is proof that my reign as gossip queen of the school is coming to an end. Why didn't I find out about this?" Dany looked shocked. On her face it looked fairly comical.
"I was asking Lily."
"Oh I don't know. He's just never had a girlfriend before has he? He was always too busy chasing me…" Lily's voice drifted off and she sank against the window again.
"So much for 'I will wait for you forever, Lily!'" Dany muttered as she took her seat across from Lily.
The door slammed open and the blonde girl from the platform looked in. Lily immediately recognized her as the ravenclaw from her transfiguration class. Her name was Norma or Nana or something. She was one of those perky, popular girls that Lily usually didn't pay any mind to. Now that she looked closer, Lily saw she was absolutely beautiful. The way her long shiny hair slid over her shoulders caught the light in a way Lily's curly red hair never would. Her face was tan from the summer and she had a perfect hourglass figure. Lily suddenly felt self-conscience and looked away.
"Oops. Sorry." She said to the girls and turned around. "James, this compartment has people in it already."
"Nova," A voice behind her called back. "We're not looking for an empty compartment. Just the one Remus and Peter are in." Nova. That was her name.
"Oh okay." The door slid shut and the footsteps faded away.
"Whoa. This is different. I thought for sure that the first thing Potter would do would be to jump in here and start hitting on Lily. Did he ever say he was giving up the chase?" Dany asked.
"I dunno. He seemed pretty distant from us last year after Lily slapped him and told him to go to hell. I just assumed he was recovering so he could take another shot at her though." Heidi answered. It was true. He had announced his unfaltering love for her during the post-finals party in 6th year and Lily had been so embarrassed she had cursed him to the fiery depths and slapped him. Hard. Potter had then stayed away from her for a while -as he always did once she did something awful to him- and now that she thought about it, he had stayed like that for the remainder of the year as well. Plus, she had never received an owl from him that summer.
"Well it should be a finally be a relaxing year without Potter sticking his ugly mug in our faces every ten seconds." Dany murmured, more to herself than anyone else.
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Lily checked her watch and excused herself to go to the prefect meeting. Only when she walked in she saw the person she least expected to be standing in the Head compartment.
"Potter? What in Merlin's name are you doing here?" She asked, completely bewildered.
"Oh, yeah. I'm Head Boy this year." He replied, then flinched slightly as if she was going to explode. When she didn't, he seemed to calm down a bit.
"Well." Lily coughed. "That's a bit… unexpected. Yeah, so I'm Head Girl this year."
"Not much of a surprise there." he said quietly. An awkward silence followed. Lily stared at her feet until the compartment door opened and the prefects shuffled in.
Lily talked to the prefects about their duties and James stood next to her, throwing in a word every few minutes. When they finished, everyone left to go change, return to their compartments or patrol the halls.
Lily took off to change into her school robes before she met up with the Winthropes. She couldn't help but think that Dany was wrong. This year was definitely going to be anything but relaxing.
A/N: Wow. This was really long. I can't promise that I'll get to update soon. But I will try to finish the story. I apologize for any spelling or grammar mistakes, my computer's freaking out with some of these names and I pressed "Ignore" a lot. Please review and tell me if I need to fix anything. Thanks.
