1

Night had fallen in the countryside village of Godric's Hollow. Tucked away in the hills of Britain, the small village was one of the few all-wizard communities that the country had to offer. The main street had largely cleared out of the nightly crowd, and a gentle fall breeze rolled through the town, causing the homeless man sleeping on the park bench to stir. The homeless man popped one eye open and stared at the house across the street—all the windows were dark and all seemed well.

Ostensibly he was homeless, but the Auror known as Engelland shifted his position to lay on his side and went back to pretending to be asleep.

Inside the house, James Potter watched out the window as this routine ritual occurred. He sighed and turned back into the room where Sirius Black was idly flicking through a school book with his wand alight. Sirius seemed to have grown even taller over the summer; his hair was longer than ever and fell into his eyes with a casual elegance that James could never have hoped to achieve. Sirius' voice had started to grow deeper as well, giving him a newfound sound of maturity—one that he decried as a loss of his innocence.

He had arrived at the Potter house a few weeks ago, happily accepting the invitation to spend the rest of the summer there. When asked what his parents had said, he replied; 'I told them I was going to hang myself. They couldn't send me out the door fast enough.'

James had grown some over the summer as well. He was not as tall as Sirius, and his hair was not as long. The perpetually unmanageable dark hair he had seemed to stick up in all manner of directions, but James had grown fond of this. It gave it a windswept look that he was to understand was somewhat charming.

With Sirius' arrival, the summer weeks had begun to pass by much faster. The early part of the summer had been dreadful—James had already had enough trouble sleeping before the events that took place at the end of his second year. During the previous Christmas season, he and his parents had been attacked in their own home by Gilles Rochefort and the Death Eaters, narrowly escaping with their lives. This had prompted James' parents to retire away from London and the Ministry of Magic, where they had both enjoyed long and successful careers, to the village of Godric's Hollow, where Mr. Potter had called in all manner of favors to ensure the house was sufficiently protected.

This was the reason why the Auror known as Engelland had the un-enviable job of sleeping on a park bench across the street each night.

'Let's go through it again,' Sirius said in the deepening voice that James was still getting accustomed to, looking at the list that had arrived courtesy of an Owl the day before. 'Apart from the Standard Book of Spells for Third Years, we need Intermediate Transfiguration, Intermediate Charms…blah blah blah…and then the interesting one; a Most Dark Guide to the Dark Arts.'

James nodded. It had been a subject of much discussion over the summer as to who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts would be. In their first year, they had had the former Auror in Professor Artemis Bowen. A resourceful and interesting teacher, he had been murdered by Gilles Rochefort at the end of their first year when he had laid down his life to protect the students of the school. Their second year had seen a markedly different man as their teacher in Professor Cristobal Mondego, an irritable and eminently unfair teacher who happened to be one of the most gifted Occlumens of all time.

This made him a coveted object by the Dark Lord Voldemort, who had orchestrated his capture right off of the Hogwarts Express at the end of James' second year. Had it not been for Albus Dumbledore's direct intervention, James may well have been taken right along with him.

'Ah well, can't wait to get my hands on the new book, anyway. It sounds interesting,' Sirius said excitedly.

'Haven't you heard about judging a book by its cover?' James asked with a smirk.

Sirius grinned. 'It hasn't failed me so far. We're still meeting Peter and Remus at Flourish and Botts first thing tomorrow? I wonder if we'll see Snivelly there,' he said with a dark grin.

'Or Evans,' James added in what he hoped was an off hand tone.

'I have a hunch she'll still be angry with you,' Sirius pointed out.

James shrugged. 'She'll come around eventually.'

'Right,' Sirius replied. 'And monkeys might fly out of my—'

He was cut off as James whipped a pillow at him and Sirius laughed heartily. James looked back out the window again; he had known since the moment he had first seen Lily Evans, fiery tempered and shoving him around, that she was the only girl he would ever have eyes for. The only thing holding them back from their inevitable destiny together was the minor detail that she found him to be an insufferable prat. But James' feelings for her only seemed to have intensified over the summer—he now felt physically ill at the thought of how long it had been since he had seen her, and that feeling was not aided in any way by the thought that she had likely spent most of the summer with his arch rival, Severus Snape.

'…earth to James,' Sirius was saying. 'We should really try to get some sleep, unless you feel like passing out while waiting in line for books tomorrow,' he said.

James sighed. The prospect of sleep wasn't exactly all that enticing to him at this point. He was too nervous for tomorrow, but he had to agree that Sirius was right. They would need some rest.

Diagon Alley was packed with people. Students both new and old were cramming into every shop to get their school supplies.

'Nice to know we aren't the only ones who left this until the last minute,' Mrs. Potter observed dryly as she, Sirius and James entered Diagon Alley. 'So where to first? We could go to Madam Malkin's and get your new robes?'

'Bad idea,' came the voice of Remus Lupin from behind James' ear. James and Sirius roared in delight and embraced their friend who, as was usual, looked somewhat pale and sickly. James felt another body hit his back as Peter Pettigrew tried to jump into their group hug. 'Nice to see you lot too,' Remus said brightly.

'How was your summer?' Peter asked excitedly.

'Fast,' James replied truthfully. 'Ready for another year of—er—studious schoolwork and good behavior,' he said with a quick look at his mother who chuckled.

'I'll just go and get in line at Madam Malkin's while you plot your various acts of tomfoolery,' she said as she stepped off to go in line.

'It's great to see you! Too bad you couldn't come out to the house,' James said earnestly to Peter and Remus.

'It's alright, we got to see a fair bit of each other,' Remus said brightly as Peter nodded. 'So where shall we go first? Flourish and Botts is a mess, Lily's been in line for two hours already, I just saw her there—where are you going?'

James had taken off immediately upon hearing where Lily was. The others fell into step behind him, Sirius rolling his eyes. 'Honestly, Moony, haven't you learned by now?'

'Learned what?' Remus said with a frown.

In a masterful imitation of Remus' voice, Sirius began: 'Oi, James. You know that girl you've been lusting after for the last two years? Well she's off in Flourish and Botts, but hey—there's a big lineup, don't go there!' he said to a giggle from Peter. Even Remus chuckled at the imitation. 'I've been practicing for your inevitable lectures,' Sirius pointed out.

They entered the bookshop and discovered that Remus had most certainly not been exaggerating. It was packed from wall to wall with students. James craned his neck around until he spotted the familiar, flowing mane of red hair. He sighed as Lily Evans turned her gaze to him, a smile alight on her face. For one moment, James thought she was happy to see him—but then her face contorted into a snarl of contempt.

'Alright, Evans?' James shouted over the din as he elbowed his way over to her.

'You're not serious?' Lily asked as he landed next to her with a thud, having just jumped between two large seventh years. 'Why are you speaking to me, exactly?'

'I just thought I'd ask how your summer went,' James asked brightly.

Lily rolled her eyes. 'That's none of your business,' she said coldly. She looked around the room desperately, searching for someone else to talk to.

'Where's Sev?' James asked. 'I thought he'd be here with you.'

Lily appraised him coldly again. 'Not that it's any of your business, but he was thoughtful enough to get in line at Madam Malkin's. I'm picking up his books and meeting him there.'

'You'll need a hand carrying those, won't you?' James asked hopefully.

'Are you a wizard or not?' Lily muttered in exasperation. 'I can manage just fine on my own, Potter. I'm a big girl, and I certainly don't need YOUR help.'

They inched forward in line. 'Come on, Evans, didn't you miss this at all? Our sharp back and forth? The witty repartee?' James asked with a raise of his eyebrows.

'The only thing I missed about you, Potter, was watching you LEAVE,' Lily said irritably. 'Oh thank goodness—someone I actually want to talk to. Alice! Over here!'

James craned his neck around to see Alice Dearborn sliding towards them. 'Hey you two!' she said brightly. 'Potter, have you seen Dorcas? She's outside—you should go see her now, she has something to show you.'

James looked around to see Sirius, Remus and Peter were already in line. He looked back at Lily with a sigh, she was already deep in conversation with Alice who had brought some friends along that James didn't know that well. He slipped back to the others. 'I'll be right back, save me a spot in line,' he said. Sirius nodded and James stepped outside.

'Potter!' came a cry and he was suddenly enveloped in a massive, bone crunching hug. He managed to separate himself from the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, Dorcas Meadowes. 'Guess what!' she said excitedly. 'I've been made Head Girl this year!' she showed him her badge.

James' jaw dropped. 'Wow, Dorcas—that's fantastic, congratulations!'

Dorcas beamed, and then she was suddenly flanked by Gideon and Fabian Prewett. 'Alas, all our attempts to lead her down the righteous path of trickery, detentions and wrong-doing have failed,' Gideon quipped.

'We're going to have to be on our best behavior, now,' Fabian added sarcastically. 'What with the right and honorable Dorcas Meadowes watching our every move.'

Dorcas rolled her eyes. 'Come off it, you two, this isn't going to change anything.'

'Course not, but we had to pay it lip service,' Gideon quipped.

'So when's the first Quidditch practice?' Fabian asked excitedly.

Dorcas folded her arms. 'We're still having trials, and everyone will still have to fight to maintain their spot,' she said. 'We can't afford to get complacent—this is Dirk and I's final year, we want to repeat as champions.'

'Methinks she lacks confidence in us,' Gideon said.

'Don't know what could give her the idea to question our focus,' Fabian added.

Dorcas smiled. 'It's not a question of focus, it's just staying on our game. So Potter, can I count on you, Longbottom and Dearborn to be at trials?'

'You bet,' James said with a grin. The three of them faded away, chattering excitedly about Quidditch. James turned to go back into Flourish and Botts and nearly collided with Lily, who was coming out with a massive bag of books.

'Watch it, Potter! You nearly made me drop these!' she said angrily.

'Are you sure you don't want some-?' James began, but Severus Snape suddenly appeared at Lily's side.

'Let me help you with those,' Snape said, taking some of the books off her hands.

'Thanks, Sev, they're absurdly heavy,' Lily said sincerely.

James chuckled. 'I thought you were a big girl who didn't need any help?' he said with a smirk at Lily who rolled her eyes. He cast his eyes to Snape and was unsurprised to see that the latter was glaring daggers at him. 'Alright, Snivelly? Nice summer?'

'Stuff it, Potter,' Lily said angrily, holding an arm out to block Snape from coming closer. 'Come on, Sev. Let's go before someone does something we'll regret.'

James held up his hands in mock fright. 'You're right, Evans. It would be terribly regretful if he wiped that greasy beak of his all over me.'

Snape grit his teeth and turned, storming off with Lily who cast an angry glance back at him.

'You have the most bizarre way of trying to woo someone that I've ever seen, Potter,' said Alice Dearborn as she emerged from Flourish and Botts with her friends in tow.

James laughed. 'Hark who's talking—snogged Frank yet?' he asked.

Alice went pink as her girlfriends giggled. 'That's none of your business,' she said hastily, but she lightened up as James laughed.

'I'm kidding,' he said earnestly. 'Who are your friends?'

'This is Mary McDonald, and this is Marlene McKinnon,' Alice said. A series of pleasantries were exchanged. Mary and Marlene both giggled, looking at James affectionately which altogether confused him.

'Right, James?' Sirius asked as he, Remus and Peter emerged from Flourish and Botts, dropping James' books unceremoniously into his arms.

'How much do I owe you?' James asked.

Sirius snorted. 'Please,' he said, to a surprised glance from Remus and Peter. 'Let's go and see how your mother is making out at Madam Malkin's.'

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. They got their newly sized robes—or rather, James, Sirius and Remus did. Peter was somewhat embarrassed by the fact that he still fit rather easily into his previous years' robes, so his parents had not seen the need to purchase him new ones. The day wound down and it was time for everyone to go home. James caught sight of Lily leaving Diagon Alley with Snape, both of them laughing at some shared joke.

'You're hopeless,' Remus sighed as they began to leave.

'What do you mean?' James asked.

'You're going to have to choose between antagonizing Snape and trying to pick up Lily to be truly successful at either,' Remus said. 'I know which one I'd suggest you do.'

Sirius grinned. 'But where's the fun in chasing Lily? You don't get any of the satisfaction of hexing Snape,' he said.

'It's like there's an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other,' James said with a laugh. 'We'll see you at Platform 9 and ¾ tomorrow?' he asked Peter and Remus, who nodded and bid farewell as they went off to their parents.

'Shall we try side-along apparition again?' Mrs. Potter asked.

James groaned. 'I suppose it's the fastest,' he muttered.

'It's like being crammed into a matchbox,' Sirius added darkly as they each grabbed one of Mrs. Potter's arms. They spun on the spot and were suddenly back on the main street in the middle of Godric's Hollow. Mr. Potter was tending to the front yard of the house and he waved at them as they strolled over.

'Get everything you needed?' Mr. Potter asked, wiping sweat from his brow as he paused from raking the leaves.

'Why don't you just use magic for that?' James asked.

Mr. Potter shrugged. 'It builds character,' he said.

'And keeps him in shape,' Mrs. Potter added to a wink from Mr. Potter. 'Alright, straight inside for supper—I don't want any late night chattering today, we've got to be up bright and early to catch the train tomorrow.'

'Think it's going to be a good year?' Sirius asked as they headed inside.

James grinned. 'I wager this will be our most memorable one yet.'