A/N: Okay. So this is the beginning of our story. Penelope and I hope that you enjoy it, as we have ignored everything our Geography teacher has said for the past term to write it.

Disclaimer: If we owned this story (thus making us/me/her J.K. Rowling) do you really think I (Lucy) would be stressed about the fact that my PE teacher thinks I'm insane, and do you think that Penelope would spend half her time worshipping aforementioned author? Hell no! We'd be saying to hell with teachers and "Ha ha! I AM J.K Rowling!" and finish the sixth book!

Translation: Not mine.

CHAPTER ONE – Her Lot

"Come on, come on! The train's leaving in ten minutes – I'll be late!"

Lily Evans looked back at her mother, father and sister as they pushed and shoved their way through the crowd congregating on the Platform.
Her mother's normally creamy white complexion was flushed pink from the quick pace Lily had set to reach the train in time. Her father, being taller than the rest of the Evans family and thus having longer legs, strode behind his wife at a leisurely pace, while pushing the trolley carrying Lily's luggage.

And as always, bringing up the rear was Lily's sister Petunia. The older girl was scowling and her dark brown eyes flicked over everyone that passed her by – checking to see if they were one of "her lot".
That is wizards and witches. Magic folk.

Lily shook her head slightly.
By the way she carries on, you'd think we were carrying the Plague...

After turning away from her family and squeezing her way through another cluster of people, Lily found herself standing before the magical barrier that separated the Muggle platforms of Kings Cross from the wizarding one.
Lily could almost smell the smoke from the Hogwarts Express.
Not that the barrier looked all that magical, mind. For all appearances it was a solid brick wall.
Wizards didn't like making things to technical. They liked to keep Muggles in the dark at all costs.
Muggles didn't react well to being exposed to real life magic.

Her cat, a Blue Point Burman named Morganna, who had been quiet in her wicker carry-case until now, yowled loudly, sensing what lay beyond the wall. Strangers walking past stared.
"Yeah, yeah, Moggie," Lily murmured in soothing tones, "I want to get there as much as you do..."

One of her mother's trademark farewell sobs signalled to Lily that her family had finally caught up. She barely had time to turn around when her mother threw thin arms around her shoulders.

"My baby girl," she said tearfully, "All grown up and heading of for her last year of school. And as Head Girl, too! Oh Lily, I'm so proud of you I could burst!"
Lily was certain she saw her father roll his eyes at his wife's dramatics. She returned the bone-crushing hug with a laugh.
"Um, a bit of an emotional over share, Mum," Lily said jokingly.

Mrs Evans stepped back, allowing Lily to breathe easy again, and blotted her damp cheeks with an embroidered handkerchief.
"Yes, dear. Of course," She sniffed. "I wouldn't want to embarrass you in front of all your friends, now, would I?" She sniffed again.
Upon meeting Margot Evans, one could immediately tell where Lily got her looks from. The mother and daughter shared the same petite frame, porcelain skin, full red mouth made for smiling and they both possessed matching manes of dark red hair.
The only noticeable difference between the two (aside from age, of course) was their eyes. While Margot's were smoky grey, Lily's were a brilliant emerald green.
No one had eyes quite like Lily Evans.

But for all she looked like a much younger version of her mother, she took after her father when it came to personality – inheriting his calm demeanour and quiet intelligence.

"Mum, you couldn't embarrass me in front of my friends, because they can't see us. They're all on the train – which is where I should be. It's not that I don't love spending time with you all, but..."
Lily heard her sister make a noise that was somewhere between a snort, a laugh and a cough. As usual, Lily chose to ignore her.

Petunia on the other hand, was a female version of their father.
Tall and bony, with a long nose, thin lips and dark brown hair and eyes. Not so much as a trace of her mother's red hair.
Only their father didn't act like a conservative bitch with a rod up his arse.

Lily bit her bottom lip as she thought about the wonders a personality altering charm would do for her...

"Lily?"
Her father's deep voice disrupted her daydreams and she looked up at him. David Evans smiled knowingly; he was well aware of the contempt his daughters had for one another.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your...productive thinking, but it is getting quite late and you don't want to start your year as Head Girl by missing the train, do you?"

Lily looked down at her wrist watch and grimaced. As much as she craved being back at Hogwarts, when it came time to leave her parents and friends in the Muggle world she was always reluctant.
Another glance at Petunia, however, caused all reluctance to fly out the window.

Lily carefully placed Morganna on top of her suitcases before moving to hug bother her parents in turn. Mrs Evans pulled her into another surprisingly strong hug.

"Remember to write every week to let me know how things are going and make sure you buckle down and study for your N.E.W.T. s and tell Erina and Chloe I said hello and don't forget that as Head Girl you have a lot of responsibility and-"
"Mum, you're babbling and I have a train to catch."

Lily kissed her mother's cheek and smiled warmly.

"I'll be fine. Seriously. You need to chill out, Mum. Nothing terrible is going to happen. It's Hogwarts remember."
"Well, I suppose...when you put it like that..."

Her father – in direct contrast to his wife – hugged Lily briefly before stepping back.
"Don't let your mother worry you – you'll do fine. Good luck, angel, and be good" was all he said.

"Thanks, Dad," Lily murmured.

She glanced at her watch again. Five minutes. Time to go.
She was cutting it thin.

She snatched the trolley from her father's grasp (with a hasty apology) and had almost reached the barrier, when-

"Aren't you going to say good-bye to Petunia, dear?"

Lily stopped abruptly.
Dammit, she thought, almost made it...

She looked at Petunia, who was standing away from her parents and pretending not to know them. She was regarding Lily with a look that most people reserved for something disgusting on the sole of their shoe.

Really, Mum, I think it's quite clear that Petunia would like nothing more than to be very, VERY far away from me right now, but hey! Who needs sisterly affection when you've got blind hatred...

Lily walked over to where Petunia was standing, and (ignoring the urge to run off) held out her arms for a good-bye hug.
The two girls embraced stiffly.
More like good riddance.

"Have fun at your freak school with your freak friends and your freak teachers," Petunia hissed in Lily's ear, "Maybe you can find a freak boyfriend that you can marry and have freak children with."
Lily pulled away from Petunia with a low growl. Petunia's hate for anything out of the ordinary was beyond reason.

Typical Muggle stereotype – terrified of magic.

Even so, Lily smiled sweetly and said in a deceptively pleasant voice:
"Firstly, Petunia dearest, I am not a freak. I am a witch," Petunia blanched, "and so are my friends. We have magic, so what? It's not going to go away, so deal. Secondly, unless you want me to "accidentally" slip a potion or two into your friend's drinks next time I see them, I'd lighten up, because as I said before, this magic business is here to stay. Whether you like it or not. But, if you don't want to see things my way, I'm sure Fiona Southam would look lovely with elephant ears..."

Petunia's jaw had dropped and her mouth was opening and closing like that of a goldfish. She appeared to be too horrified for words.

Lily grinned wickedly and took this as her cue to (finally) leave. With her luggage trolley in tow, she began to walk briskly towards the Barrier.

Why does it have to look so goddamn solid?
She broke into a run.
Itsnotsoliditsnotsoliditsnotsoliditsnotsoliditsnotsoliditsnotsoliditsnotsolid...
She screwed her eyes shut as the wall drew near.

Her parents and Petunia saw girl and wall merge into one -
And then she was gone.

Lily wandered down the train, Morganna at her heels, in search of her friends.
She passed compartment after compartment, door after door, student after student – but to no avail. Her friends were no-where to be found.

They'd have to sit in the last compartment of the last carriage, she thought darkly. I got on at the front and they're at the back.
Brilliant.

As Lily neared the tail of the train, she quickened her pace and pulled her wand from her pocket. This was Slytherin territory and she wasn't about to be caught unawares if one got it into their head to hex her.

One could never be too careful around Slytherins.

Even worse than the Slytherins (in Lily's opinion) were the Marauders, a group of Gryffindor boys, infamous for their pranks and complete disregard for the rules. James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.
They also chose to sit in the end compartments of the train.

Remus and Peter were fairly inoffensive – the former had even made Prefect (and, truth be told, Lily hoped he was Head Boy too) and Peter was really just a tag-a-long. Cool by association.
Even Black was bearable. That is, when he wasn't playing the clown, showing off or flirting with every female in the immediate vicinity...which was, as it happened, a lot of the time.

But it was Potter she had a problem with.

James Potter.
Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, an excellent flyer, got top marks in all his classes and had good looks to boot (though he wasn't as easy on the eyes as Black - but who was?).
Along with Black, Potter was one of the most popular boys at Hogwarts.
And he was very much aware of it.

Half of Hogwarts female population was in love with him, but to Lily he was nothing more than an arrogant, bullying exhibitionist.
When he wasn't messing up his already untidy hair to give the impression he'd just got off his broom, or executing a famous Marauder's prank, he was harassing Severus Snape (a Slytherin in their year) because of 'the fact that he exists' as Potter had so charmingly put it when she had questioned him.

Insufferable git, she thought.

Lily's very low opinion of him wasn't improved by his habit of asking her out at every opportunity. Something he'd made a point of doing every day since mid-Fifth Year.
To Lily's frustration, her rejections only seemed to make him more determined.

If he asks me out one more time, I swear I'll...

Lily was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice that she was fast approaching the object of them.

James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were returning to their compartment after catching up with some fellow Gryffindor.
Sirius' gaze floated up the corridor and he elbowed James hard in the ribs.

"Prongs mate," he muttered, using the Marauder's nickname for James, "Look who it is..."

James followed the direction of his friend's look to settle on the red haired girl - young woman, really - walking towards them. An unhappy expression marred her delicate features and she appeared to be deep in thought.

James' insides squirmed involuntarily.

Lily continued walking, fists and jaw clenched. Just the thought of Potter and his stupid behaviour enraged her.

She was struggling to draw her thoughts away from him and back to the problem at hand - the fact that she had no idea where her friends were - when she heard voices near by.

She looked up from the floor and found herself staring into a familiar pair of hazel eyes, framed by wire rimmed glasses.

She felt her own eyes widen.

James Potter.