Lily Evans should have expected to wake early that morning, she always did.

She sat up pushing her thick, long hair out of her face and blearily rubbed the sleep from her eyes. It was a bleak, misty first of September and she sighed before she threw back her thick duvet and stumbled, shivering slightly to the bathroom. As she showered quickly she let the water run on her face to wake her up then, pulling on jeans and a pale blue jumper, she crept back into her bedroom.

On the pull out sofa bed in the corner, Molly Prewett was still fast asleep, lying flat on her back, plump and rosy, Molly had hair a shade less red than Lily's but wildly curly with a softer, freckled face and kind hazel eyes. On the camp bed on the floor; Alice Fortescue was slighter, paler and very short. Straight, dark hair against her pale slender face and neck gave her a dramatic look but she, like Molly, was full of nothing but love and kindness. Lily smiled to herself as she looked at her friends lying so peacefully and then crept downstairs, began tentatively cooking bacon (she'd never managed well with kitchen related tasks) and sure enough after some time the smell roused the rest of the house. Molly stumbled into the kitchen in a matter of moments wearing a fluffy, lilac dressing gown, her ginger frizz all in disarray and Lily's parents emerged minutes later. Petunia stropped into the kitchen at around 7:30am, nibbled at some dry toast and announced that Vernon was coming to take her out for the day so if anyone so much as mentioned Lily and her friends...Mr Evans silenced her with a stern look and she slammed off upstairs mumbling under her breath.

At eight o'clock Mrs Evans sent Lily upstairs to wake Alice, they really must leave by nine to get these girls to King's Cross on time. It took Molly and Lily together a full ten minutes to wake Alice. They shook her, poked her, shouted, slapped and flicked and only when Lily poured a cold glass of water on her did she finally wake up. She stared incredulously at them, her hair sticking out in upwards spikes, her eyes hazy and unfocused and water dripping down her chin; Molly and Lily bolted downstairs laughing.

Mr Evans stood outside the house staring disbelievingly at his car, there was so much to fit in! Three huge trunks bearing each of the girls' initials, two owls and one cat in cages and small bags for each girl containing her wand, a small purse of galleons and her uniform for the journey. Yet with much puffing, squeezing and loud cursing it did all fit in and the three girls crushed into the back all buzzing with excitement. The journey unfolded with no major disasters and so at last Mr Evans stopped the car outside King's Cross station and three enthusiastic sixth year Gryffindors tumbled out and raced off to find trolleys. When they came to the familiar section of brick wall between platforms nine and ten Alice and Molly rushed through the barrier together and Lily with her mother one side and father the other crossed through after them onto Platform nine and three quarters.

There were reasonably few people on the platform because the girls had arrived early so as to meet some of the others. While her two best friends bustled off in search of long-missed boyfriends, Lily stood and amused herself by watching her parents in their yearly ritual, as they stared all around them pointing out phenomena of the magical world to each other. Just as Lily was grinning to herself (her father had just reacted rather hilariously when he saw a boy with a chocolate frog) she heard a voice beside her that was all too familiar.

"Evans, looking absolutely beautiful as per usual! How was your summer?" James Potter winked at her with a dazzling smile and ruffled his messy, black hair.

Lily rolled her eyes and turned to look up at him. He was not this tall last term, had she shrunk?

"Hi Potter, summer was good thanks, how was yours?" she answered politely, inwardly praying for her parents to call her over and as luck would have it...

"Lily sweetheart? We're going to have to rush off now, we thought we'd meet your sister and Vernon for lunch, it's about time we got to know him."

Lily hurried over thankfully but contradictory to her theory James merely walked over with her. She gave him an odd look but he simply ruffled his hair and grinned.

"Lovely to meet you Mr Evans, my name is James Potter." He shook her father's hand earnestly.

"Ahh yes, Lily's friends mentioned you, something of a Kweedish player aren't you?" Lily's father had been drawn in.

"Well yes I do enjoy a nice game! And it's delightful to meet you Mrs Evans, I can see where Lily gets her stunning good looks from!" James kissed her mother's hand. To her horror her mother made no attempt to disguise the blushing and giggling that accompanied the swoon Potter so often caused. As Lily was staring at the scene before her, not quite understanding how it had got to here she heard a voice which instantly calmed her down.

"In a way you have to admire him, there isn't another person on earth quite so capable of charming everyone so easily!"

Beside her a thin, pale boy with light brown hair, tired eyes and scars all over was smiling meekly at her.

"Remus!" Lily hugged him tight then she held him at arm's length and her face took on a worried expression. "Remus are you ok? Your scars look so much worse!"

She frowned but he just nodded sadly.

"I'll be fine Lily, thanks though." She smiled at him then turned back to James who was now complimenting her parents on everything from their fascinating muggle lifestyle to their beautiful daughter who was a "credit" to them, he was all smiles, clichés and hair ruffling and her parents were completely taken in.

"Oh my god! How does he do it? Even my mum has that look on her face all the girls get at school when he winks at them, my own MUM!" Lily exclaimed in distress.

"Ahh, Evans, bit early for shouting isn't it? Glad to be back?" another tall, dark haired boy appeared beside her. Lily groaned.

"Hi Sirius." she replied bluntly. "Potter is over there."

"Oh I wondered where Prongs had got to. Well he looks busy so I won't disturb him. Moony, my friend! How was your summer? Feels like I hardly saw you!" Sirius' long hair was just as messy as usual but since the summer his face seemed more matured and much to Lily's disgust had grown even more handsome, he really didn't deserve it.

"Oh just my parents...you know what their like…always trying something new to get rid of my…." Remus stopped and he looked worried and in severe pain.

Sirius dropped his cocky act and looked serious, completely changing his face.

"Moony, what happened?" he put his arm around his friend's shoulder and whispered something Lily couldn't quite hear which seemed to reassure Remus, then he whispered again and Remus laughed and composed himself.

"Right? I promise mate, you'll be ok!" Sirius smiled kindly. "Oh look! It's Snivellus! Surely it's a health and safety risk to carry grease on a school train?" Sirius laughed then looked at them confused. Remus was smiling worriedly and Lily looked annoyed. "Oh come on guys? That was funny…Fine! If James were here he would've laughed!"

Peter Pettigrew arrived beside him at the optimal moment with a hearty laugh, Sirius grinned triumphantly and then James joined them.

"Moony, Wormtail." he nodded. "Anyway Evans, your mum and dad are so nice! They're going now so..."

Lily's green eyes were glinting angrily, her pale cheeks were flushed pink and she looked downright furious but she stormed over and hugged her parents none the less.

"Oh Lily darling, that young man seems absolutely delightful! SO charming and very good looking isn't he?" her mother blushed.

"I hope the two of you are friends? He speaks highly of you!" Mr Evans smiled. Lily inwardly cursed James Potter and his stupid charm and bade farewell to her parents.

"Remember to thank the Prewetts for doing the end of term journey!" her mother ran back to her with last minute checks and by the time Lily found her way back to where Molly and Alice had first vanished they were nowhere in sight and it was one minute to eleven.

Lily accompanied Remus to complete their prefect duties with no trouble and about half an hour into the journey they were done, Remus went straight off to find the rest whilst Lily made a brief stop to chat to a few Ravenclaw friends. After a few minutes she began walking down the train peering in every single carriage and, in the very final compartment which was known for being far bigger than the others, the Gryffindor crew had settled. Molly was snuggled up to Arthur in a corner chatting with the two Lily hadn't seen yet, her other two best friends Mary McDonald, elegant with soft brown hair and a rounded face, beside her Marlene McKinnon, high cheekbones framed by blonde waves and the twinkle in her large blue eyes that Lily often associated with something mischievous, though what more could be expected from the girl who spent her childhood being partner in crime to Sirius. Alice was perched on Frank's lap playing a game of wizard's chess with...Sirius Black. Sure enough next to Sirius was Remus and opposite him, beside Molly was Peter and on the end next to the only seat available was Potter. Lily made no attempt in hiding the glares she gave Alice and Molly. They had chosen a compartment with THE MARAUDERS! What was wrong with them?

"Evans, nice of you to join us!" Sirius beamed cockily and exchanged a wink with James. Lily groaned out loud and slamming the compartment door shut took the remaining seat next to an unbearably satisfied, grinning Potter.