Author's note: So this is my first Harry Potter fanfic - I absolutely love the marauders and they are my favourite characters throughout the books, so I thought I would write my interpretation of their story, mainly focussing on the James-Lily romance aspect. I tried to do a bit of research into the first wizarding war, but I may tweak a few known events along the way. I have the basic plot outlined up to a point, but I'll say no more! I'll try my best to update roughly once a week, but I do have a-levels at the moment which are slowly killing me off. :(
Please read and enjoy! p.s Reviews make me smile! :)
Chapter One - The Hogwarts Express
James Potter smiled as he emerged from the wall between platforms nine and ten at Kings Cross station. His eyes darted across the platform, as though he could simply not get enough of the glorious scene before him. Children were laughing and smiling, and parents had an air of relief about them as they were waving to their children who were busy clambering onto the train, hanging out of open windows. Hogwarts was the safest place in the country, a refuge for children in the dark times of Lord Voldemort's reign over the wizarding world. Parents couldn't wait to send their children off to Dumbledore's safe haven.
Striding along the platform, James waved his hand and gave a nod of his head every now and again to people, students and parents alike, who all instantly recognised him. There was no denying that he was rather popular; James was head of the Gryffindor Quidditch squad and newly appointed head boy. James thought that his appointment as head boy was rather odd, seeing as he hadn't been selected as a prefect in fifth year, however he supposed that he had grown up quickly over his sixth year. After all, there was a war coming, there was no time (well, not as much time) for pranks these days.
As he approached the scarlet train, James surveyed the scene, hoping to see his best friend, Sirius. Sirius had stayed with him for the majority of the summer, but had left his Black family home after fifth year, following a huge row with his father, which escalated into a bitter duelling battle. Sirius's father, although a great supporter of Voldemort, couldn't become a death eater due to his prestigious job at the Ministry. So, Orion (Sirius's father) had tried to live through his sons by convincing them to join the Death Eater ranks. Regulus was right up for it, but Sirius had other ideas, and eventually the conflict in the household reached breaking point. Sirius had stayed with James in the holidays ever since.
James never heard Sirius talk about what his family were up to, but Sirius never really spoke to them anymore so he probably didn't know much himself. But, since the infiltration of the ministry in January, Orion Black would be in his element. James scowled at the thought of Sirius's father, blindly following the Minister's orders (or rather Voldemort's orders, being as the minister was being controlled by the imperius curse). If only he really understood.
That was half the trouble in the beginning; people just didn't understand. The Minister for Magic in the sixties, Nobby Leach, was muggle born and exceptionally bright. He was a bit of a hippie in those days and he passed laws for squib rights and equal opportunities for muggle borns. James's parents thought he was brilliant, although some pure blood families didn't share the same opinion (notably the Malfoy family). There were riots and all sorts of trouble and then Leach mysteriously resigned from his post as Minister. That's when everything started changing. There was a new minister for magic, muggleborns and squibs mysteriously vanished and nobody really knew what was happening - until the year before James started Hogwarts. Wizards and witches began whispering of this wizard who was apparently building a new movement that would ensure the survival of pure blood wizards, and re-establish the power of the pure bloods. A lot of people thought that it was a great idea at first – they didn't want their secrets, their world they had tried so hard to build, to become overcrowded and contaminated with muggle blood.
The support for this movement grew, the leader started forming an almost cult like organisation. He recruited followers and support swelled in the pure blood communities. That is until everyone heard about the terrible things that this wizard had done – utter atrocities! And the things he was planning to do... Well, that put a lot of people off, and all of a sudden this dark wizard that everyone whispered of seemed to disappear - but he still had an army of faithful supporters. Strange things kept happening, even muggles started going missing; more and more muggle borns were tortured and killed. Everyone guessed that this dark wizard was behind it, but nobody knew. Nobody knew for sure, and so the whispers remained just that, whispers. James's parents were working with an underground organisation called the Order of the Phoenix to try and put a stop to the growing phenomenon but it was so difficult; Voldemort's followers (who called themselves Death Eaters) were invisible, they were like ghosts.
And now, 5 years after the start of Lord Voldemort's rise to power, he was there. Voldemort was practically the minister for magic, he had hundreds or maybe even thousands of wizards and witches following his every order. Dementors roamed the country freely and Voldemort even had the giants on his side. Muggles were starting to suspect something sinister and Death Eaters freely tortured and killed as many muggle borns as possible. Since January, four Hogwarts students were dead and eight were announced missing. The wizarding world had descended into utter carnage.
James thought wistfully back to the summer he had experienced with Sirius. His parents own a large estate in a small muggle village so they are practically cut off from the wizarding world. The only connection was when members of the order occasionally popped by to see James's parents. His parents offered a lot of financial support to the order, as many witches and wizards worked full time for the Order after losing jobs at the ministry, and so struggled to financially fund it. But, apart from seeing the occasional familiar face, and hearing the occasional chilling tale, it was just James and Sirius – doing stupid stuff like old times. It was strange to think that he would never experience a carefree summer like that again. However a week ago, Sirius's also estranged aunt, Andromeda, had managed to get tickets to see the Quidditch world cup and so he had been asked to go with her and her husband. James would have loved to have gone, however his parents did not want him to go, for they said that it was 'too dangerous'. James protested of course, and tried to hatch a cunning plan with Sirius, but James did not have enough gold to purchase one for himself, and so spent the last week of summer wistfully counting down the days until term started - looking forward to seeing her.
Stepping easily onto the train (he had grown a lot since his first year, when he had to practically jump to make it inside), he made his way down the gangway, taking a glimpse at the inhabitants of every compartment, but he could not see her. Usually her vibrant red hair was hard to miss. She took great pleasure in seeking out James and throwing him looks of apparent disgust or sending him crude remarks. However, sixth year was different in a way. She didn't look quite so disgusted, or sound quite so disgruntled at James as she usually did. Sometimes he might've even caught a flash of guilt after she turned and stalked off, which was not like her at all.
Finally, James reached the last carriage and saw Peter scurrying into the end compartment. James followed him, stowed his luggage onto the shelf above the door, and slipped inside after Peter.
"Evans," said James, in shock, as he saw who was inside the compartment. Seated next to Remus was a girl with long, waist length hair that framed her face elegantly. It was an intense, fiery red, which James thought matched her character perfectly. Her mouth hardened slightly as she saw him, but her olive eyes did not glare at him as they usually did, they were surprisingly soft and gentle.
"Potter," she returned in a stern voice. The corner of her mouth twitched and he could see a chuckle dancing behind her mesmerising stare. She was so beautiful. After surveying James for a few seconds Lily turned to resume talking to Remus about the new head boy and girl roles.
"I was so shocked when I got the letter of course, my parents are so proud! I'm the first prefect in the family since my great great aunt Mary, and that was only at a muggle school. But I can't believe you aren't head boy, Remus," said Lily sadly, "I really hoped that you would get it." Remus shot James an awkward glance and Lily frowned, turning to face him. Her eyes caught the glint of silver that was peeking from the inside of James's jacket; her eyes widened in disbelief and her mouth gaped slightly. James caught the look of shock on Lily's face and shot her a wide, toothy grin.
"Yep, I'm head boy. I know you're pleased, deep down. Just admit it Evans," smiled James, cheekily.
"And it's so deep down that I feel nothing of the sort." Lily rolled her eyes. "How did you get head boy anyway, when you weren't even a prefect?" Her eyes flashed and James stepped back a pace, holding up his hands.
"I don't know, I guess Dumbledore and ole' McGonagall reckon I've turned a new leaf, started a new chapter, turned a corner - all that jazz," he grinned, but Lily smiled darkly.
"I bet you won't last a week with that badge," she started as she stood to exit the compartment. Her body was almost touching his due to the lack of space in the compartment; he felt a nervous lurch in his stomach. "You'll curse some Slytherin or get caught gallivanting around the place after lights out, and then you'll be done for."
"I told you Evans, I'm a changed man," James winked slyly. Lily rolled her eyes, scowled and then strode off down the corridor to her friend, Marlene. James let his eyes linger on Lily's disappearing figure for a second too many.
"Close your mouth, you'll catch flies," said Sirius as he gave James a good hard jab in the ribs. James snapped out of his lustful stare and slumped into the seat next to Remus, which had just been vacated by the new Head Girl. She didn't really hate him did she? At the end of last year James could've sworn she'd flashed him a few smiles, even helped him with his dreadfully late homework a couple of times; but now she seemed to hate him just as much as when she was friends with old Snively.
"Just tell her how you feel, and I mean how you really feel, not just pestering her to go out on a date with you" said Remus. He brought his face up out of his Defence Against the Dark Arts book to address James. "What's the worst that could happen?"
"Well, I told Marlene that I liked her before we broke up for summer and she hasn't even so much as looked at me since," cut in Peter. His pointy, rat-like face frowned.
"Who'd want to look at you anyway?" remarked Sirius harshly, his mouth curling into a wicked grin. Peter drew his wand suddenly, but Remus stood up in a flash, wand out, separating the two young wizards.
"Peter for God's sakes put away your wand," Remus sighed exasperatedly, before turning to Sirius's laughing figure and shooting him a disapproving glare.
"Only 'cause you know I'd curse him into a jibbering pulp." Sirius stuck his wand in his jeans, crestfallen at the fact that Remus had prevented him from putting a funny curse on Peter. Peter shot Sirius an unforgiving glare and took his seat by the window. James watched as the trees whizzed by, the midday sun glaring from the cyan sky, as clear as day.
"Why is Lily so moody with me all of a sudden? Last year she was almost nice to me." James shot his remark at anyone, hoping for a rational answer, an explanation.
Sirius merely shrugged, "Can't say I've noticed any difference mate, she's always hated you." Peter was apparently ignoring all of them for not reprimanding Sirius for his attack; he continued to stare into the green blur out of the carriage window. Remus was biting his lip, looking as though he was fighting with himself about what to say.
"Apparently, in the first week of summer, Lily and Marlene went to one of those music festivals like the muggles have, but this was a wizarding one – the first of its kind. Lily told me something about death eaters being there, apparently out to attack muggle borns. It sounded like it was a pretty close shave from what she said. I think that's why she's not herself lately," Remus recalled, solemnly.
"What happened to her?" James demanded. He stood up sharply, hardly noticing that his hands had curled into angry fists. His blood was thumping at the thought of those animals even so much as laying a finger on Lily Evans.
"They didn't do anything to her, James, they apparated out of there right after they saw the death eaters torture a group of muggle borns – she was just pretty shaken up, that's all" replied Remus, a little hastily in his usually calm voice. James realised that he was standing, and sighed, taking his seat once more. It was okay, Lily was okay, even though he suspected that Remus was hiding something due to his hasty reply. It must have been a close call – what was Marlene thinking taking her to somewhere like that, just the two of them? She could have been tortured – or worse. But that did not warrant thinking about.
"James," started Peter, interrupting James's mental rant at Marlene. "Haven't you got to go to the prefects' carriage? It's nearly 12." James angrily cussed at the first of his new found responsibilities. Listening to a load of swotty fifth years gush about how grateful they are for their new prefect roles was not something that James wanted to do. He grabbed his things (without even bothering to change into his robes) and gave a curt, farewell nod to his comrades.
"I'll meet you at the welcome feast, save me a seat," James said glumly, although nobody seemed to be listening to him. Sirius was playing with the toy-sized quidditch player he had bought on his world cup visit and Remus was immersed in his book. Only Peter acknowledged James's request and nodded, before resuming his silent stare out of the window. James closed the compartment door behind him and started down the corridor toward the front of the train. Ahead, he saw Lily hurrying toward the prefect compartment, she too apparently late. As her red hair whipped out of sight, James couldn't help but smile. Maybe it wasn't going to be such a bad few hours after all.