Hidden Depths

By Poogle Blue

Summary: Lily/James set in 5th Year. When Lily has and idea that means she and Callie can help her cousin, what does it matter that it's not allowed? And after all, she knows James it doing the same thing…

Disclaimer: no Harry Potter characters were harmed in the writing of this fic. They will be returned to JK Rowling safely.

Chapter 1: After So Long

Lily Evans brushed her coppery hair out of her eyes and looked around for her friend, Callie Nicholson. And there she was, outrageous as always, shiny black hair dipped with blue.

Lily waited until Callie's piercing blue gaze shifted, and caught her eyes.

"Lils!" Callie shrieked, just as the entire platform went quiet.

Callie grinned and ran over, unruffled, as everyone laughed good naturedly.

"Hey Cal!" Lily giggled as she hugged her best friend. They linked arms and boarded the train. Walking through carriages, they greeted other students and friends, until they found an empty compartment.

"So?" Callie said, waggling her eyebrows as she flopped onto a cushioned seat.

"What?" Lily asked, mock-suspiciously, sliding into a seat across the plastic train table from Callie.

"How was France? Hot?" Callie answered Lily's question with a couple of her own as she drew her knees into her chest and leant on the window.

"Hot enough for Petunia to continually order me to conjure her up a cold drink," Lily rolled her bright green eyes.

Callie laughed, her eyes sparking.

"Ok, from what I've seen of family photos, I can imagine her doing that…" she said, collapsing in a fresh wave of laughter.

Lily laughed, but stopped abruptly as another memory from the holiday floated into her mind.

Parents at the beach. Petunia and Lily in the bedroom. Petunia brandishing Lily's wand. Sara walking in. A flash of purple light. Sara screaming. Sara babbling to thin air. Sara….

Lily blinked away tears. Her eyes strayed involuntarily to her locked trunk.

"Lils?" Callie said gently, following Lily's gaze.

Lily met Callie's worried eyes. This was her best friend, surely she could tell her what had happened, surely. But she shook her head.

"It's nothing," Lily reassured her, managing a weak smile.

Callie didn't look convinced, but she didn't try to press the subject.

"But the whole Petunia thing," she said, trying to lighten the mood, "she didn't actually get you to do magic, right?"

"Cal, if I'd done magic, the Ministry would have expelled me within seconds. And I'm on the train to Hogwarts, so obviously not!" Lily replied, glancing at her trunk again.

Callie bit her lip, and almost said something, but then the compartment door began to scrape open.

"Oh good!" Lily said, jumping to her feet, apparently distracted from her troubles, " I could eat a horse…well, not a horse obviously, cos I'm a veggie…"

"That makes you sound like a vegetable…" Sirius' voice came from the doorway.

"Oh, hi Sirius," Lily said, resuming her seat.

"Lily! Don't be too excited about seeing me for the first time in six weeks!" Sirius said, mock offended.

"Sorry Sirius,' Lily laughed, "I just thought you were the trolley lady."

"You see Sirius? You do resemble a rather plump middle aged woman!" James quipped, coming to stand next to his friend.

Remus and Peter appeared, laughing.

"Heya!" Callie said happily.

"Callie!" Sirius cried, turning to her, and falling to one knee in front of her, "Thou art a beacon! The light of yonder beauty is my pole star. Thou art my compass! Thou art an angel!"

Callie blushed as he kissed her hand. Lily, noticing Callie's pink tinged cheeks, began to clap, laughing. James, Peter and Sirius joined in, James muttering "Floriamus" and sending bouquets of roses at Sirius' feet.

Sirius got to his feet, bowing and blowing kisses to his 'audience', before scooping up the roses and presenting them to Callie.

She blushed and even deeper shade of red, before moving along her seat so he could sit next to her.

Lily suddenly noticed that, while everyone had been laughing, James had come to sit next to her. She immediately tried not to blush as he grinned at her.

"No less then we expected," he said to her.

"Huh?" she replied, and immediately wished she'd thought of something more intelligent to say.

James indicated her Prefect's badge.

"Of course, you do understand that this means you cannot blame Sirius, Remus, Peter and I for the few harmless pranks we are obligated to play on Prefects?" he asked, with a wicked glint in his eye.

"Of course James," Lily replied sweetly, "However, as Remus is also a Prefect, I predict that the success of your pranks will be limited."

James sighed as he considered this.

"Touché!" he said, "We were so disappointed when the news reached us about Remus!"

"The shame!" Sirius wailed dramatically, "the shame of it, a Marauder, becoming a Prefect! The news caused me serious emotional trauma!"

Lily and Callie stared at him.

"A Marau-whatty?' Callie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, it doesn't matter!" Sirius replied hastily.

Before the girls could interrogate him, Remus looked at his watch and said, "I think we'd better change, we should be arriving soon."

"Au revoir then, mes anges," James said, kissing Lily's hand, as Sirius had Callie's earlier. Then he grinned and followed Peter and Remus out.

Sirius, however, remained seated, grinning.

"Um, Sirius?" Lily said, glancing at Callie, "We're going to get changed now."

"Rrrrr!" he said, winking to show he was joking.

"Do you mind?" Callie asked, smiling expectantly.

"Nope!" Sirius replied, grinning flirtatiously.

"Oh my God Sirius!" Callie shrieked, tossing her shoe at him.

Sirius ducked and swaggered out. Lily and Callie laughed at his antics as they began to change into their Hogwarts robes.

"He is such a goofball!" Callie giggled.

She was delighted to see that the boys' antics had distracted Lily from whatever was bothering her.

Suddenly, Sirius burst back into the compartment, in a full tap dancing costume, and began to sing:

"Callie!

You're the icing on my cake,

My ice cream chocolate flake.

You're the rattle on my rattlesnake

The best choice I could ever make.

You're…"

He stopped as both Callie and Lily began to scream at him.

"Get out!" Lily yelled, from underneath the table.

"We're only half dressed you idiot!" Callie shrieked, clutching her robes to her.

"Oh…I'll come back later!" Sirius said, averting his eyes as her hurried out, sliding the door closed behind him.

Callie and Lily hurriedly finished putting on their robes, in case anyone else burst in.

But the last 10 minutes of the journey passed uneventful, without any more appearances, even from the trolley lady. They were in one of the black carriages, on their way to the castle before Lily realised this.

She turned to Callie and their other friends, Lilah and Domenica, who they were sharing a carriage with.

"What happened to the trolley lady?" she asked, in confusion.

"The trolley lady?" Domenica looked surprised, "she came round our compartment about halfway through the journey. Why?"

"She didn't come to us," Callie answered, slightly indignant.

"James and Sirius probably scared her off!" Lily laughed, rolling her eyes as she remembered their 'entertainment'.

Lilah jerked to look at her as she said Sirius' name.

Lily glanced at Callie and Domenica, but they hadn't seemed to notice Lilah's reaction, so she decided not to mention it.

The four of them recounted their Summers as they travelled to the castle, but as they took seats in the Great Hall, they fell silent along with everyone else, awaiting the Sorting.

Finally, Professor McGonagall entered, carrying the stool and hat, followed by an untidy line of anxious looking first years.

The entire hall watched as she set the stool on the stage and left the hat perched on top of it. Finally, the rip at the brim opened, and it began to sing.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts,

For a new school year.

If you are about to be Sorted

You'll find there is nothing to fear.

For I am the Hogwarts Sorting Hat,

I'm famous, far and wide.

So put me just upon your head

And I'll look at what is inside.

Do you belong in Gryffindor?

The brave and courageous at heart,

Or have you a place in Ravenclaw?

A sharp mind sets them apart.

Are you worthy of Slytherin?

Who strive to achieve their goals

Or should you be in Hufflepuff?

Loyalty resides in their souls.

So hurry and place me upon your head,

I'll tell you where you belong.

Now we may start the ceremony,

For that is the end of my song!"

McGonagall unrolled a scroll of parchment and read out the first name, her voice ringing through the Great Hall.

"Arasaretnam, Stella," Professor McGonagall watched, along with the rest of the hall, as a Tamal girl with long black hair and glasses walked up to the stool.

She took a deep breath and jammed the tattered hat onto her head. The hat seemed to consider her for a moment, before shouting,

"Ravenclaw!"

Stella pulled the hat of her head, and hurried to join the Ravenclaw table, where the loudest cheers came from.

"Bugden, Emily" was the next to be sorted.

She was a small girl, with auburn hair, darker then Lily's, and when she put the hat on, it slid past her eyes and settled with the brim over her nose.

Again, the hat seemed to pause as it considered where to place her.

"Gryffindor!"

Emily hurried to the Gryffindor table, looking slightly scared of James and Sirius, who had conjured up red and scarlet pom poms, and were acting as cheerleaders.

She found a place opposite Lily, next to Domenica, who hugged her and said "Welcome to Hogwarts!" with a huge grin, which Emily promptly returned.

"Bymore, Jonathon" became the first boy to be sorted, and joined Stella at the Ravenclaw table.

As the Sorting went on, the four house tables gradually filled up, until the startlingly blonde "Whitwell, Sophie" was called up, and joined the Gryffindor table, sliding onto a bench next to equally blonde Tatiana, and Chinese Jihui. (a/n: pronounced Joo-Way)

Then the food began to appear.

Lily and Callie enjoyed the surprised gasps of the First Years, as they began to shovel food onto their plates.

By the time the Raspberry Pavlovas and Hot Fudge Cakes had disappeared from the tables, Sirius and James had disposed of their pom poms, and the First Years had formed little friendship huddles.

Lily suddenly realised that Callie was digging her elbow into her ribs.

"Ow!" she protested, slapping at Callie's hand.

"You're a Prefect Lils! You have to take the newbies to the Common Room!" Callie explained.

"Oh help!" Lily jumped up guiltily, "thanks Cal! I'll see you guys back in the Common Room!" she hugged her three friends and joined Remus, herding the First Years out of

the Great Hall.

Lilah, Callie and Domenica laughed as they heard Lily scold Sophie, Tatiana, Jihui and Emily, who had apparently become good friends.

"Do you really need all of those murray mints in your pockets?" Lily was asking Sophie and Tatiana, indicating their stuffed pockets, trying not to laugh.

They watched the four new girls offer her one.

Lily laughed, and popped it into her mouth.

"Fine! Let's go then…" Lily turned and waved to her friends, before ushering her new allies out into the Entrance Hall.

"Poor Lily!" Lilah laughed, "I don't think she's ready for those four!"

"If I didn't know better, I'd say they have spent the entire Summer with James and Sirius!" Callie joked, getting up.

The three of them got up, linked arms and headed to the stairs, making their way to the Common Room.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

When they eventually reached the Common Room, they had already had to pull Domenica out of the Trick step twice, haul Lilah away from a pompous portrait of 'Lady LePlouff' who Lilah had been ready to swing at, and Callie had been temporarily separated from the other two by a moving staircase.

"That was the longest journey to the Common Room known to Hogwarts!" Lilah muttered, as they came to a halt in front of the Fat Lady.

"Hang on! Does anyone actually know the password?" Domenica asked slowly.

"No," Callie said, sliding to the floor in defeat.

"Well, well, well!" came a familiar voice.

"Sirius!" Callie stood up again, a look of relief on her face as she spotted Sirius, James and Peter walking up to them.

"Do any of you know the password?" Lilah asked, hopefully.

Sirius sighed.

"Sorry," he said, shaking his head, "I make it a policy not to reward disorganization. Therefore we are not at liberty to reveal the password, although…" he was cut off my Callie trying to strangle him.

"Ita Vero" James said, and the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open, clouting Callie on the head, and forcing her to let go of Sirius.

"Ow!" she said, rubbing her head.

"Sorry dearie!" the Fat Lady apologized in her throaty voice.

Callie nodded her acceptance as they all scrambled through the portrait hole and into the Common Room.

Callie's eyes raked the Common Room until she spotted Lily and Remus at the other side of the room, laughing at something Emily and Tatiana were doing.

"See you guys in the dorm, yeah?" she said to Lilah and Domenica, who nodded, as she ran over to join Lily and Remus.

"…and voila! The cat now changes colour whenever it hears or sees fireworks!" Jihui finished, as Tatiana handed the cat over to Lily.

"what is going on here?" Callie asked, laughing.

"Tatiana, Sophie, Jihui and Emily have been showing us Sophie's multicoloured kitten," Remus explained.

"Do I want to know why the kitten is multicoloured?" Callie asked, amused.

"We fed it an edible kind of colour changing ink!" Tatiana piped up, grinning at Callie.

"Jihui, Tat and me developed it over the holidays!" Emily added, "And then we met Sophie at the Sorting, and her family got her some Filibuster Fireworks as a well-done-for-getting-into-magic-school present, because they're all muggles."

"which we also fed to the cat…" Jihui continued.

"and the result is that the cat changes colour when fireworks are used nearby," Sophie finished proudly.

"You guys haven't by any chance met Sirius and James before have you?" Callie asked suspiciously.

"nope!" the four First Years chorused as they picked up their cat.

"ok then…bye!" Callie laughed.

" Judging by that, I think it's time people went to their dorms!" Lily said to Remus, who checked his watch.

"I agree completely," he said, "it's 10:35, and lessons first thing tomorrow!" he grimaced at the prospect.

Remus pointed his wand at his throat and murmured "Sonorus".

Then he stood on a conveniently placed table and said, "Condom!"

His magically amplified voice echoed throughout the Common Room until everyone was silent.

"Quietus" Remus boomed, pointing his wand at his throat once again.

"Thank you!" he said, his voice at regular volume, "I thought that might get you quiet!"

Appreciative laughter rippled through the students at this, and when Remus indicated they should listen to Lily, they immediately turned their attention to her.

"Ok, um, I advise you all scramble into bed now, because it is quite late…and also because if you don't we shall have to set Sirius on you!" Lily said, her brilliant green eyes flashing.

This led to much confusion and many questions in the groups of First Years.

"What's a Sirius?"

"Is it dangerous?"

"Must be"

"Do you think it's as cool as our cat?"

Everyone laughed at the last comment, from Jihui about their magic cat.

Lily cleared her throat. "Sirius?" she called indicating him to stand up.

He promptly leapt onto the nearest table and took a bow, grinning manically. Everyone gazed at him in shock for a few moments.

"Boo!" he whispered, and instantly, people rushed for the stairs to their dorms, and five minutes later, the Common Room was empty except for Lily, Callie and the Marauders.

"G'night then guys!" Callie yawned, dragging Lily up the stairs with her.

James and Sirius replied with:

"Sleep tight"

"Mind Sirius doesn't bite!"

"hey!"

"what? It was necessary!"

"oh shut up, both of you!" Peter groaned, trailing up the stairs in a sleepy stupor to the boys' dorms.

The three other boys followed, James and Sirius bickering good naturedly, and Remus massaging his temples, wondering if he was going to get any sleep at all.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

What do you think? This is my first attempt at a Lily/James fic, so hopefully you liked it!

A big thank you to :

Smiling strawberry- who helped me with my plot idea (and is a close friend)

and

Glumfrog- who is my editor because her story is great (and is another close friend.)

Please review and tell me what you think!

Poogle

*^_^*