The Year of Living Dangerously...
Era: Marauder
Genre: Romance - but never an easy one...
Rating: K+ or PG-13, just in case. Although, I doubt that rating's even necessary.
Main Characters: Lily and James
Author's Notes: I've had this in my head and just needed to get it out. This takes place in the sixth year of James and Lily going to Hogwarts...
Summary: J/L fall in love. But it's never easy with these two and it's not your traditional courtship. Sometimes love out-and-out bites you and doesn't let go. Sometimes it sneaks up on you and you had no idea...
Disclaimer: Obviously, this is not for profit...
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* It's a crime you let it happen to me
Nevermind, I'll let it happen to you
Out of mind, forget it there's nothing to lose
But my mind and all the things I wanted
Everytime I get it I throw it away
It's a sign, I get it, I wanna stay
By the time I lose it I'm not afraid
I'm alive but I can Surely fake it
How can I believe when this cloud hangs over me
You're the part of me that I don't wanna see... *
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The hustle and bustle of the crowd on Platform 9 3/4 seemed unusually harried that year, with kids being jostled as they rushed to get aboard the train as the last warning whistle sounded, echoing in the enclosed area and startling a few students.
Lily tried to weave her way around the small clusters, jostled as she stopped abruptly near her own small cluster of friends. She turned to glare at the person behind her, only to realize they were too busy preoccupied with trying to catch a glimpse of something further down the platform and giggling amongst themselves.
Just before turning to find out what all the excitement was about, she caught a small snatch of their conversation - accompanied by the accursed names of 'Potter' and 'Black' - and something about how they'd changed over the summer and something about how stunning they were.
Against her own will, Lily turned her head and stopped rolling her eyes long enough to stand on her tiptoes to try and see what the fuss was about. She couldn't say what possessed her to do so, but she did indeed take notice just moments before a couple of her friends gave Lily a curious look and then turned to see what it was she was looking at, too. Mordanna snapped her head back to look at Lily just at the moment she felt self-conscious and averted her gaze away.
"You're blushing," her friend stated matter-of-factly.
"Not," Lily said and occupied herself with checking the things she had kept on her person to combat boredom on the train. Not that she'd ever have the opportunity to use them, she knew, but just in case she needed an excuse to not be involved in any uncomfortable conversations. Besides, Lily knew she was blushing as her ears were burning furiously.
As her friend tried to catch her eyes, Adaira turned her attention back to her house-mates, a look of curiosity and distraction on her own face. "It's not fair," she said simply, but didn't elaborate further. It didn't matter - her friends knew what she was referring to. It was forbidden among them to mention a certain group of boys in Lily's presence, in spite of the fact Adaira herself was a tad smitten and rarely hid this fact.
Lily, satisfied that her novel, notebook, ink pen, and puzzle book was in its proper place, looked up and finally met the questioning eyes of Mordanna. "Don't even go there," she semi-growled to her best mate and smiled to smooth her rotten mood over - or tried to. Adaira, who rarely caught the subtle nature of these small exchanges, seemed not to notice. Instead, she squirmed slightly as she caught movement out of the corner of her eye, glanced and then glanced away, nervously adjusting her skirt and sweater, inadvertently letting out a slight squeak.
Lily dared to look again, just in time to note the cluster of troublemakers heading in their general direction to board the train. She involuntarily tensed. A certain somebody in that group always had something to say whenever they noticed her and she always wished they wouldn't. Bracing herself for the tense exchange of words, she deliberately kept her gaze anywhere - her watch, the distracting brooch Adaira wore, the cobblestones, the lettering on the side of the train - anywhere - but in the direction of the four boys.
Mordanna cleared her throat in a few moments. "Coast is clear" she said without further fanfare.
Lily's head snapped up in both surprise and much to her own chagrin, annoyance. He hadn't said anything? Looking around quickly, she saw the retreating head of said boys and Sirius turned around at the last second to meet Lily's gaze, shrugging before flashing a peace sign and then disappearing into the train with his mates. Lily blinked, thinking 'So what's up with that?'
Adaira nudged Lily slightly, hearing the steam on the train that usually announced it was getting ready to set off and Lily felt her friend grab her arm and tug her gently. Blinking again to try to shake off her reverie, Lily pulled her arm away and motioned for her friends to lead on, which they did with only mild looks of amusement and curiosity.
Making their way to the end of the train, Adaira raced ahead - ever the hyper one. Mordanna stayed a pace or two ahead of her friend, determined to make sure they wouldn't be stuck in a compartment where trouble might occur. Just as Lily passed one compartment, however, the door open and a certain raven haired young man stepped out and straight into Lily.
Stopping abruptly, Lily turned and realized she was staring at the collar bone of the individual, her gaze slowly raised until it met the hazel eyes of said perpetrator. Waiting for some snappy dialog, she stared - her eyebrows slowly creeping upwards - as she waited. Still. Aside from the panicked look, James just blinked at her, a pained look on his face, before he pushed past her and made his way down the train.
Momentarily puzzled, Lily noticed that her friend Mordanna had stopped and turned around to see the exchange - or rather the lack of one - and shot Lily a perplexed look. Lily shrugged and resumed following her friend.
The rest of the train ride was uneventful until the Prefect's meeting. As much as Lily was surprised to see a certain someone there, she was more and more troubled by the fact that that certain someone hadn't said so much as word one to her the entire time and quickly vanished to his own compartment as soon as the meeting was dismissed.
Walking back to her own seat, she paused by the window to the Marauders compartment only to notice James looking out the window and noticeably more subdued than his friends. Weird. Nevertheless, she realized loitering too long outside the door was probably odd and she quickly picked up her pace to rejoin her friends.
All the way to the castle pretty much followed the same curious pattern - a momentary eye meeting, averted glances, awkward silences, that peculiar somewhat haunted expression, and a certain someone going out of their way to evade another certain someone.
It was getting on Lily's nerves...
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[End of Chapter 1]
* Song: Forget It, by Breaking Benjamin
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