Disclaimer: Most of the characters, places and events that take place in this story belong to J.K. Rowling.

A/N: First fanfic on this website. Enjoy! (:

A/N 2 (March '12): I hate this fanfic. When I first started writing it, I was just a kid, full of strange ideas and stuff. Putting them down onto paper was one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made. So I really hate this fanfic. It's absolutely absurd. The fact that others seem to like it keeps me from deleting it. So … be careful. Before you make any criticisms, please check out the very last chapter.

- Chapter One -

~ Unfelt Feelings and Hidden Messages ~

Steam billowed from the Hogwarts Express, signalling students to make their way to the train and leave their families behind.

But Lily Evans did this somewhat gladly, as though she was keen to get to school and desperate to break free from her family. Or was it just her jealous sister, Petunia? Whatever it was, Lily heaved her suitcase onto the train and found an empty compartment. She tried stowing her suitcase in the storage above, but found this difficult, especially as she was already in her school cloak, which prevented much movement. She dropped the suitcase once, and sighed. Shaking her long, dark red hair back and taking a deep breath, she tried again.

'Would you like some help?' came a deep voice from behind her.

Lily turned around so quickly she almost cricked her neck. Standing in front of her was a tall, bespectacled, hazel-eyed boy with stubbornly messy dark hair. James Potter. Really? Potter never used to not have a smile on his face or a childish twinkle in his eyes. Also, he had a ruby badge pinned to the chest of his robes … he's never had a ruby badge pinned to his robes. It was true he had reformed slightly in the past year, but he was still James Potter, still a troublemaker.

'No, thanks,' she said coldly, turning back to the overhead storage.

She attempted to stow her suitcase away again, but only managed to lift it above her head until her arm gave way. The suitcase slipped out of her delicate hands and hit her head with a loud thud. She squealed slightly, but didn't say anything.

'Are you okay?' James asked concernedly, stepping forwards to see if Lily was alright. He spun her on the spot and checked her head.

She broke free from his gentle grip. 'I'm fine, Potter,' she said irritably. Lily couldn't quite figure out why she was so annoyed – he hadn't said or done anything rude … yet.

'That looks quite –'

'Hey, PRONGS!' Sirius shouted, his handsome features glowing as he entered the compartment of the stationary train and putting an arm around James's shoulder. He casually flicked his dark hair out of his eyes and said, 'How ya doing, ol' buddy, ol' pal, ol' friend?'

Two other boys entered alongside an overjoyed Sirius: one a tall, thin boy with pale brown hair and a weary face grouped with dark shadows underneath his light brown eyes, but a warm smile stretched across his face; the other was shorter by a head, and plump in the extreme, with mousey brown hair. His eyes were watery blue and betrayed the awe he felt for his clique.

'Sirius, we talked literally five minutes ago,' said James slowly. 'You live with me.'

'And I still never get tired of seeing you,' said Sirius reminiscently, pretending to wipe water from his eyes.

James shook his head and shrugged Sirius's arm off his shoulder, just as Sirius asked, 'What're we doing here, anyway? Alright, Evans?'

Lily merely nodded in his direction, but gave Remus a kind smile.

'How was your holiday?' Remus asked her conversationally.

'Okay, you know,' Lily grinned, 'what with Petunia and all. What about yours?'

'Painful,' he groaned.

'Huh?'

Remus was spared from answering as Lily's mother appeared at the window of their compartment.

She began fussing. 'Okay, now, Lily, don't forget to take care of yourself and all. Eat well – not too much junk food or you'll fall ill –' the train whistled loudly and began moving, 'stay safe and don't go – wandering into the Forbidden Forest –' the Hogwarts Express gathered a lot of speed, 'have a nice term and don't get distracted from your N.E.W.T.s – I love you –' She finally came to a halt as she couldn't keep up with her daughter.

'I love you, too, Mum,' Lily shouted out of the window. She turned back around to resume useless attempts to store her suitcase away, but didn't find it or the Marauders behind her. Looking confused, she looked up and found it sitting neatly above her. It had then occurred to Lily that she could have used Wingardium Leviosa.

Shaking her head and giggling at her stupidity, Lily sat down and stared out of the window, awaiting her girls' arrivals.

Barely a second after thinking about them, the compartment door slid open again, but this time it was only friendly faces who entered.

First in was a beautiful, bold girl, with tanned skin and a gorgeous, toothy smile, and long, curly, midnight hair. Vanessa Gills was closely followed by Alice Knight, a slight girl with twinkling blue eyes and shoulder-length dark hair, which hung loosely around her friendly round face.

After Alice, Aaliyah entered. She was a timid sort of girl, similar to Alice. She had slightly longer and wavy chocolate brown hair, and piercing hazel eyes. She also had this aura about her, as though she could read people's minds. It was unnerving at first, but, as they'd been friends since their first year at Hogwarts – almost seven years ago – Lily was no longer perturbed by Aaliyah's queerness.

Behind Aaliyah was Cassie, a dark-haired, somewhat furtive girl, who was awesome if she was a friend, but scary if an enemy.

'Hey, Lily,' said Vanessa brightly, sitting beside her best friend. 'I knew you'd get that,' she added, pointing to the ruby badge reading Head Girl, which was pinned to Lily's chest.

Lily grinned while Alice and Aaliyah squealed.

'Nice one, Lils,' said Cassie coolly, clapping Lily on the shoulder and sitting opposite her.

Lily's grin suddenly faded when she remembered –

'Potter's Head Boy. Potter. James Potter,' she panicked. 'I don't understand why – he wasn't even a Prefect!'

Vanessa shrugged. 'You guys look good together?'

'Firstly, no,' she said quickly. 'Secondly, we sound no better. I don't know if you've been living with your eyes closed for the past six years, but me plus Potter equals shouting matches normally.'

'Then let's see who takes home the trophy,' said Vanessa in a cheery voice.

'Not funny, Nessa …'

'You two haven't been too bad in the last year,' said Aaliyah encouragingly. 'Besides, it could be worse. You could be not Head Girl at all. And I really think James has changed in the past year. He hasn't been picking on people that much, surely you've noticed that.'

Lily changed the subject abruptly, not wanting to voice her ideas of Aaliyah's theory. She didn't want to appear observant of recent changes around James.

It was only half an hour into the conversation that a girl came bursting into the compartment. 'L-Lily Evans, you were meant to be at the Heads' compartment to give instructions to Prefects. James Potter sent me here …'

Lily stared at the second-year with her confused, emerald eyes. 'Oh!' she gasped when realisation hit her. 'I totally forgot! Sorry, I'll try being quick,' she added to her friends, dashing away.

'No worries,' she heard Vanessa call after her.

Lily trekked down the corridor of the train, passing noisy first-years, giggling girls and boisterous boys, until the second-year left Lily at the compartment near the front of the train.

She entered with her face almost as colourful as her hair.

'You're late,' said one of the Slytherin Prefects.

'I'm not late – you're all early,' Lily said convincingly, making some laugh; even James grinned. 'Anyway, to work,' she said hastily, not missing James's grin.

They spent about an hour in the stuffy compartment, running through Prefect duties and answering queries raised by Prefects.

Midway through a Hufflepuff asking yet another question, the door slid open and an olive water balloon-like object was thrown into the room. Down the corridor was a shout of, 'Prongs, Prongs! Come on! Quick!' which could belong to no one besides Sirius Black.

'Padfoot, I thought I told you no,' James called back. 'Sorry about this, guys, I'll just be a sec. Excuse me,' he mumbled, walking past Lily. His pleasurable scent tickled her nose and she fell into a trance …

Suddenly, the object exploded and revealed it was a dungbomb in disguise. The room was engulfed in a nasty, limey cloud of smoke which stunk so bad that some, Lily included, had to bury their faces in their cloaks for cover.

James entered then, like some sort of a superhero, and sprayed the room all over. The sickening stench vanished along with the fog and they could all breathe again.

'Thanks,' said Lily gratefully.

The rude Slytherin boy loudly piped, 'What was that about? Why can't you and your freaky friends get lost?'

'You can't talk like that to James Potter!' whispered a fifth-year Hufflepuff, looking astounded. Lily didn't like the way she said James's name; as though James was someone to be worshipped.

James smiled at her, but ignored the Slytherin and turned to Lily. 'I can assure you, I didn't set this up.'

Lily was confused beyond words. Not only did James Potter shun the opportunity to humiliate a Slytherin, but he claimed he wasn't in on the joke.

'Alright, lovebirds, we get it,' said the Slytherin curtly.

Both Lily and James blushed, but Lily fiercely said, 'One more remark from you and that's twenty points off Slytherin.'

He laughed hardly. 'You think I care what you have to say? You filthy Mudblood?'

James and many Prefects stood up abruptly and angrily. 'Say another word …' muttered James sternly, stressing every syllable.

'It's okay,' said Lily gently to all the Prefects. 'I've been a part of the Wizarding World for years now. I'm kind of used to it.'

'Doesn't give him the right to say … that word,' said James quietly, not taking his eyes off the Slytherin, but slowly sitting down back next to Lily.

'No, but it doesn't give you the right to threaten him, either,' said Lily coolly. 'Returning to the q and a session …'

They spent another half hour in the hot compartment; Lily and James tried opening the windows, but that did no good, and it began raining after five minutes.

So they were all glad when the meeting was over and they could go back to their separate and cooler compartments. The candles were lit as the sky darkened. Eventually, the Hogwarts Express came to a halt. Lily and James along with some prefects had to supervise the students getting off. They eventually stepped out of the empty train to find Hagrid, the Gamekeeper, had already left with the first-years.

'Come on,' said James, sounding business-like.

He led them to the horseless carriages. James took a look at the carriage and frowned, before comprehension dawned on his face. No one else knew it, but he could see Thestrals now. He didn't want to talk about it, though. They all squeezed onto a carriage. It was quite uncomfortable as the Slytherin prefect who had called Lily a Mudblood took up quite a bit of space, so Lily found herself pressing against James.

Eventually, they reached Hogwarts and Lily caught up with Aaliyah and Vanessa at the Gryffindor table. Unfortunately, they had chosen seats opposite the Marauders.

'What?' questioned Sirius, discomfited by the Lily Evans Glower. 'James is Head Boy – he should be supporting the ickle first-years in whatever house they go to.'

'Shut up,' Lily and James said in unison, in the same flat tone.

'Dude, I'm sticking up for you!' gasped Sirius. 'This is the thanks I get?'

A giggle escaped from Vanessa's lips, earning her strange stares from Remus, James, Lily and Aaliyah – Sirius and Vanessa got along almost as bad as Lily and James. Sirius, however, merely stared at his lap.

'Can we have some silence, please?' Professor McGonagall called clearly. A strange hush immediately fell upon the students as McGonagall addressed the terrified first-years: 'Now, when I call your name, you must come up here, sit on this stool and try on the Sorting Hat. Once you have been given your house name, you must sit at that table and watch where your classmates go.

'Atchison, Harley.'

A nervous and petite blonde stepped up to the stool. A minute had barely passed until the Sorting Hat shouted, 'HUFFLEPUFF.'

Some other first-years took longer to sort, such as 'Millen, Stewart,' who wore the Hat for two whole minutes before announced as a Ravenclaw.

Others took barely a second – like 'Osman, Nathan,' who Sirius assured was a Slytherin, by the mean look of him. And sure enough, the Sorting Hat cried 'Slytherin' before the hat had touched his hair.

'Come on,' Sirius grumbled, his stomach rumbling loudly as he said it. 'I think I'm gonna die of starvation.'

'You ate on the train, Padfoot,' said Remus tiredly, rolling his eyes.

'The train journey was years ago,' Sirius exaggerated.

Remus chucked Sirius a chocolate frog, which he gobbled up gratefully.

Lily shook her head slightly, and Sirius didn't fail to notice this.

'What, Evans?'

'Sirius, be quiet,' said James quietly – the Sorting Ceremony wasn't over and people in the vicinity were beginning to stare.

'Sure, stick up for Evans,' said Sirius wearily. 'We all know you can't get enough of her.'

'Shut UP,' Lily and James shouted simultaneously.

'When you're done …' Professor McGonagall waited.

'Sorry, Professor,' Lily apologised, blushing again.

James smirked faintly, as though her blush amuses him. 'What?' she hissed to him, but he just shook his head in reply, smirk faded. Somewhat infuriated, Lily turned her attention back to the last first-years to be sorted: 'Watson, Sarah' and 'Yarwood, Joe,' who both went to Gryffindor.

Dumbledore stood up to make a speech – Sirius felt his heart sink. 'To our new lot: welcome; to our lot: welcome back. There is a time and place for making grand speeches, and this isn't it. Dig in.'

'FINALLY!' Sirius roared when food suddenly appeared before them.

There were plates and plates of chicken wings, pork cutlets, mutton chops, fries, pizza, hot potatoes, and for desert, there were bowls of jelly in an assortment of flavours, mountains of ice cream and trifles.

Lily was helping herself to some vanilla ice cream, when the conversation turned to their holidays.

'Mine was boring, as usual,' said Aaliyah wearily. 'I don't think … Dad's just … well, he hates me for good,' Aaliyah sniffed, trying to stop moisture from rising to her eyes.

'Aww, Aaliyah, he will come around,' said Lily encouragingly. 'He's your dad! I'm pretty sure that if you give him some more time … I mean … it was a big shock after all, but –'

'Lily, he blames me, me and only me,' said Aaliyah tearfully. 'I don't even know what I did … stupid werewolf …. And it's been years now, Lily. For how long will he act like I did wrong?'

Lily had no answer. Truthfully, it wasn't Aaliyah's fault ...

It was a cold November's night. The sky remained disturbed with a full moon and dark clouds, creeping slowly ... and slowly ... and slowly. Trees danced madly with the raging wind, swish-swish, swish-swish. Some twigs knocked on the living room window of a happy family, carefree despite the weather. There was a woman with soft, brown, shoulder-length hair, standing near the fireplace which had several framed photos capturing golden moments in motion.

Tugging at the mother's leg was a tiny baby, no taller than a foot. She looked extremely cute in pink clothing, which looked pretty with her vivid blonde hair. She squealed when her mother ignored her, talking to her son.

'Where's Aaliyah? Is she still mad at me?' the mother asked with a huge smile.

'Don't worry,' laughed the father. 'She'll come around. She's just a kid - I wouldn't expect anything more.'

'I know that ... but her and her little strops,' giggled Christina. 'She'll look back and laugh someday ... Maybe she deserves an ice cream or something ... I feel pretty bad about this.'

The ten-year-old son looked outraged. 'WHY? She did wrong, she sulks, she gets a treat?'

'Muuuuuuum! That's not fair!' whined the younger son. 'If Liyah gets ice cream, I do too!'

Christina merely ignored them, now picking up her baby girl and chattering with her husband.

'Mum? Muuuum? Mum, Mummy, Momzie, Muuuum? Mum, Mum, Mama, Mama, Ma, Mummy, Mom, Momzie, Muuuuum?'

'WHAT?'

'Oh, forget it,' wept the younger son.

The father sighed. 'I'll bring Aaliyah downstairs.'

Nodding at his family's foolishness, he went upstairs to sweet-talk his precious daughter out of sulking.

'Aaliyah?' he said softly. 'Liyah, love, come down. You're a right little monkey, you know. You've got us all in a mess. Your mother feels terribly guilty. She promised not to shout next time you smash anything. Pinkie promised.'

The petite girl poked her nose out from the wrong end of the bed covers. 'Oh, yeah, right,' she sniffed, ducking back under the covers.

'Liyah, this is silly,' said Aaliyah's father softly, sitting on Aaliyah's bed. 'You shouldn't be mad at people - you never know if you'll see them again.'

Aaliyah sniffed again. 'But Mummy's not ill, so nothing can happen to her.'

'You never know.'

'Really?' She poked her head from under her bed covers.

Her father nodded gravely. 'Come on, hun, let's go downstairs and patch things up.'

Meanwhile, Aaliyah's brothers took over the job of entertaining their mother and sister. Despite not being of age, they were able to magic objects from thin air, which the baby enjoyed a lot. She shrieked with laughter, clapping her pudgy hands.

A creak and swish sounded outside ...

'It's probably them trees again,' smiled Christina warmly.

The creak sounded outside again ...

'It'll stop soon,' said Christina comfortingly. 'Tomorrow the wind will blow over and it'll all be sunshine and blue skies. You'll see.'

There was another sound, neither a swish nor a creak. A click sound. And then a sound of someone stumbling. And then a -

BOOM!

'AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!'

The door blew cleanly off its hinges, revealing a weird animal standing on two feet. This creature had grey fur and an extremely thin figure. He bore fangs for teeth, which had drool sliming slowly down them. His eyes were wide and clearly showed hunger. He stepped towards the mother and her three children; they stepped back.

'Who - who - who are you?' Christina gasped, setting her daughter down on her knees and standing like a shield in front of her children.

The creature howled. Not like a dog howl; a wolf howl.

'MUUUUUUUUUUUM!' shouted the oldest son.

'Run, kids, run!' Christina screamed. She then turned to the wolf. 'Please, please, please spare my kids!' As much as she tried, she knew it was useless talking to a werewolf - neither could he understand her, nor she him.

'MUUUM! What now?'

They didn't need to think any more: the wolf leapt forwards and before they could scream any more -

'CHRISTINA!' Aaliyah's father shouted at the remains of his wife and three kids.

He heard a SMASH! beside him and saw a naked animal leaping out of a newly broken window.

'OI!' Aaliyah's father shouted through a broken voice. 'COME BACK 'ERE, YOU!'

'Daddy,' Aaliyah whispered, holding herself. 'What's happened here? And why were you shouting? Who was that thing? Where've Mum and everyone gone? Dad? Dad? Daddy, why is your face wet? Why's the window broken? Ooh it's getting cold. Mummy's going to be happy I'm not sulking any more. And everyone'll be upset, because they won't get any ice cream. Right? Daddy, what's the matter? Dad? Dad? Daddy?'

'I know how you feel,' said James gravely, yet ... sympathetically. His voice brought Aaliyah back to the present. 'I mean, about the loss, not the ... yeah.'

Opposite him, Lily let out a snort which she didn't seem to bother passing as a cough, but this went ignored.

Remus shuffled uncomfortably in his seat, conspicuous in every way, trying to pour himself another glass of pumpkin juice. He earned himself a queer look from the girls, and a warning look from the guys.

'Which werewolf was it?' Remus asked lightly. 'As in …' he swallowed, 'which werewolf committed the heinous crime?'

Tears surfaced to Aaliyah's eyes. 'F-F-Fenr-rir G-reyb-back.' A single tear slowly dropped on her skirt, as Remus felt hatred course through him. Suddenly, the copper jug of pumpkin juice he was holding was crushed into a pulp with juice squirting in every direction.

Vanessa squealed and gasped. 'Uh! Ew! Euuuuuuuuuuuurgggggh!', she screamed, trying to push the juice away with her hands.

'Calm down, Gills,' said Sirius slowly. 'It's only a bit of juice. Calm.'

'I'll show you calm,' Vanessa burst angrily. She rose from her chair and began chasing Sirius rather childishly out of the Great Hall and into the Entrance Hall where no one could see them.

Aaliyah began laughing, although two tears continued racing each other down her cheeks.

'Sorry for bringing this up,' said Remus sincerely, his voice deep and intense with guilt.

'It's okay,' Aaliyah choked slightly. 'It's more my fault for going on about Dad in the first place,' she continued, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand.

Despite smiling at the sweet scene, Lily had a burning question: 'What was it with you and the poor pumpkin juice?'

'It's just …' Remus began, frustrated, 'it's just … so horrible to think one werewolf could ruin so many lives. It's despicable, it's … it's …'

'So bad you can't find words that'll do it justice,' Lily finished for him. 'But there's more to it than that, I know it.'

Remus looked his friend in her emerald eyes. 'What makes you think that?'

'Your personal response was, shall we say, er … I can just read minds, okay?'

James laughed slightly. 'More like faces.'

Lily bluntly ignored him, helping herself to some ice cream Remus offered her.

'D'you want some, Prongs?' Remus asked James.

'No, thanks,' he replied solemnly.

And then a few minutes later ...

'Moony, can I have some ice cream?'

'I asked you if you wanted some,' said Remus somewhat irritably. 'Share Lily's; I'm all out.'

'Oh, yeah but –' James began, giving Lily a swift, uncertain glance.

'Fine, no ice cream for you.'

James looked at her imploringly; looking at those puppy eyes sickened Lily.

She huffed moodily. 'Oh, fine. Here.' She pushed her bowl of ice cream further towards him, and he gratefully sank his spoon into it. 'Don't get used to it. I'm doing this for Remus.'

'Sure you are,' James winked.