Chapter 1

Lily Evans sighed and plopped down in her seat; her friends weren't here yet so she had decided to save an empty cabin. She couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts; the summer had been almost unbearable with her sister, Petunia, and her horrible boyfriend. She smiled as she saw a streak of black hair fly past her window; only one girl in all of Hogwarts had hair like that.

"Well if it isn't Lillian Evans!"

"Mae! Ohmygosh!" Lily got up and ran to Mae, who was standing at the door of the compartment. She hugged her tightly and then helped her lug her trunk inside. "How was your summer?!" Mae Venetia was Lily's best friend; they had been friends since their first day at Hogwarts. Now, in their fifth year, they had managed to remain as close as ever.

"Well except missing everyone terribly ... it was fun! My dad took me to a Quidditch game! It was brilliant!" Lily sighed; no one in her family was non-muggle except her. Mae's family was pureblood so they always took her to cool wizarding places like Quidditch games, etc. "I was going to invite you ... but I thought Petunia would have a fit if I sent an owl, so I didn't."

"Good thing ... she had her insufferable boyfriend there ... they kept complaining about us magic folk." Lily sighed again and shook her head. Just then, Lily and Mae heard the unmistakable laughs of Gina Miller and Toni Everett, the other half of their group. They both got up and Lily slid open the compartment door. "Gina! Toni!" They squealed and ran down the hallway to hug Lily and Mae. The four of them sat down in their compartment and started talking about their summers.

Lily had curly, red hair and bright green eyes that twinkled when she smiled. Mae, on the other hand, had long, straight black hair and eyes the color of dark chocolate. Gina was a short, spunky girl with short brown hair and smiling blue eyes. Lastly, Toni had shoulder length, wavy, dirty blonde hair and chestnut colored eyes. A little while later, the train started but they barely noticed, still talking. There was a short knock on their compartment door and it slid open to reveal the Marauders; James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Bryant Mantreh. James was the unmistakable leader; he and Sirius planned most of the pranks. Their time at Hogwarts seemed to be a never-ending string of detentions. Remus and Bryant, however, seemed to be able to duck out of detentions a little better than James and Sirius. While the four girls were the most beautiful, popular fifth years, the Marauders were easily the best looking, most popular boys at Hogwarts. Even the older girls fawned over them constantly, especially James. He had hazel eyes and black hair that never looked neat. Sirius, although considerably more obnoxious, still had his own fan club. Like James, his black hair never seemed neat, although he was able to tame it for special occasions. The most mysterious, to most of the girls at Hogwarts, was Remus. He kept quiet most of the time, not loud and over the top like James and Sirius. Finally there was Bryant; undeniably the most dashing of the Marauders. He had light brown hair and mischievous green eyes.

"Halo!" Sirius smiled cheerfully. "Lily, Mae, Gina, and Antonia!"

"Don't call me that Sirius!" Toni glared at him.

"Why not that's your name, isn't it?" James smiled at her innocently.

"No, my name is Toni! You'd think after 3 years you could get it straight!" Everyone laughed as Toni scowled.

"Have a good summer, Remus?"

"Fair, how about you Lily?" Lily snorted and made a face.

"You do remember that I spent the summer with my sister and her boyfriend, right?" Everyone laughed.

The four girls were sitting on one side of the compartment and the Marauders sat down on the other side. Bryant smiled at Mae, who simply raised her eyebrows to acknowledge his existence. He then walked over to Lily, who was sitting between Mae and the window, and pulled her onto her feet. He nudged her towards James and sat down in her now empty seat. Stumbling over Mae's trunk, Lily landed squarely in James's lap. James quickly wrapped his arms around her waist tightly.

"Why hello Lily!" She simply glared at him; with a look of defeat, he released her. She got up quickly and sat down in the only unoccupied seat, next to James. "Why don't you like me Lily?"

"Because you are the most arrogant, annoying human being on the planet!" James gave her a hurt look, which she ignored. She took a book out of Mae's trunk and started reading it.

"How was your summer, Mae?"

"Same as always, Bryant," Mae answered dryly as she continued to stare out the window. Out of the corner of her eye, Mae saw Bryant stare at the floor helplessly. She smiled and slipped her hand into his. He looked up and grinned at her.

Sirius, Gina, and Toni were talking animatedly about some prank or another. Sirius kept trying to involve James in the conversation, but James just ignored him. What about him made Lily despise him so much? Just as he was about to attempt a civil conversation with her, there was a knock on the compartment door. It slid open; Amos Diggory, a fifth year Ravenclaw was standing there.

"Hi Lily!" Lily looked up from her book and smiled.

"Hi Amos!"

"I umm ... thought you might like to join us in our compartment for a little while ... seeing as I haven't talked to you all summer." He smiled hopefully.

"Sure, I'd love to." Lily stood up and put her book away, then she and Amos walked out of the compartment.

"Sorry mate ... she'll come around." Remus patted his friend on the shoulder.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," James stated indignantly.

"Oh please James! You've been trying to get Lily since you met her during second year. We all know you like her." Bryant shook his head smiling.

Flashback

"Hi, I'm James."

"I'm sure you are ... can I do something for you?" Lily looked up from her book, annoyed.

"I thought you could umm ... help me with ... my Transfiguration essay, seeing as you're in my class?" James slapped himself mentally; where was his infamous Potter charm? He could make any girl in the school fall over herself to get to him and now he was stuttering like an idiot.

"I heard you were friends with Remus Lupin ... he's good with Transfiguration, why don't you ask him?" Lily picked up her bag and walked quickly out of the Library, James plopped down in her now empty chair.

"Tough luck, mate. But, hey, you've got all of Hogwarts. Why worry about one girl?" Sirius nudged him, smiling.

"She isn't just one girl! She's the most gorgeous girl in all of Hogwarts!" Sirius looked at him in confusion. "Why is it that she's the only one able to resist my charm?"

"Well everyone has bad days, James!"

"No ... "

Back to the Present

"Yeah, Potter's been whipped since that day!"

"Take a look in the mirror Bry!" James snapped. "Sorry ... I didn't mean that ... she just ... it doesn't make any sense at all!" James put his hands to his face and then ran his fingers through his hair.

"What? That a girl that can turn you down actually exists?" Toni grinned.

"But why does she like that Amos prat?"

"Amos Diggory is not a prat and don't let Lily catch you saying that either!" James sighed.

"Then you tell me what I'm supposed to do, Mae!"

"I don't –" Just then, Lily appeared at the compartment door, smiling. Then, seeing the expressions of her friends, her smile faded.

"What's going on?"

"Just talking about the summer," Remus replied smoothly. "You look happy."

"Yeah ... Mae, can I talk to you?" Mae looked at her questioningly but got up and followed her out of the compartment, nonetheless.

"What's up?"

"He asked me out!" Lily smiled at her friend excitedly and Mae managed a weak smile.

"That's great Lily! Wait, you said yes right?"

"Of course!" Lily rolled her eyes; like she would have said anything else! She had had a crush on Amos since the beginning of last year. "I wanted to tell you first!" Mae hugged Lily tightly, trying to sound happy.

"That's brilliant!"

"She's going out with that prat?!" James let out a cry of frustration and sank into his bed. "What the bloody hell is she doing that for?!"

"I don't know ... I'm sorry, mate. Mae told me in the carriages on the way over here. She wanted you to hear it from us before you heard the rumors and blew up at Lily." Sirius, Remus, and Bryant were sitting on Bryant's bed, next to James's.

"She has had a crush on him." Remus said, slightly fearful of James's reaction.

"That git doesn't deserve her!"

"Like you do?" Remus snorted. "I'm sorry, I didn't –"

"No, you're right ... but I deserve her more than he does!" The other three chuckled; James was, admittedly, arrogant.

"James ... don't piss her off by saying anything about Diggory." James sat bolt upright on his bed.

"Excuse me, Bryant?"

"Don't get mad ... I just ... look, Mae tells me a lot of stuff that goes on behind closed doors. Lily is already on the verge of murdering you, don't give her any more reasons to."

"He's right, James." Sirius was shocked to find himself agreeing.

"She doesn't really hate you ... you just annoy her." Bryant shrugged; trying to understand women gave him a headache.

"Then that's it! Oh I'm bloody brilliant!" Remus stood up and grinned like an idiot. "I'm a bloody genius! What would you do without me?"

"What the bloody hell are you talking about you git?" James glared at him, annoyed.

"Oh don't you get it?!"

"NO!" Sirius, Bryant, and James said at the same time.

"Just show her your other side! Ask her to go to Hogsmeade with you. Be kind and gentle, not an obnoxious prankster. Once she sees that you're not always a git then she'll ignore it!" Remus smiled triumphantly and sat back down.

"Are you sure I can do that?"

"Of course you can!"

"Are you sure it will work?" James looked doubtful.

Remus smiled, "James, I've known Lily since we were 5 years old." That was true; their families had lived on the same block until Lily had moved away and she and Remus had managed to stay in touch. In truth, the friendship between Lily and Remus had brought the two groups of friends together into one big group of friends. "I'm absolutely 100 percent sure that it will work."

"You are a bloody genius." James smiled, but then it faded. "What about Diggory ... he'll be around her all the time now that they're going out."

"No, Diggory's on the Quidditch team, they do have practices."

"So do we –" Remus cut him off.

"Not at the same time! And if he is around her that much, the relationship won't last long. She hates being stifled, that's why she broke up with that Wood bloke." Sirius, Bryant, and James burst out laughing as Remus blushed.

"Well as long as Remus doesn't start PMS'ing any time soon, the plan should work out fine." Sirius stopped laughing as Remus hit him upside the head. "Ow!"

"But seriously, thanks." James smiled; it actually felt like he was somewhat closer to finally getting Lily to like him, or at least not despise him.

"Come on, we're supposed to meet the girls by the lake." Remus grabbed his cloak.

"Yeah, Toni said they got some cake or something from the kitchens!" Sirius smiled brightly and they all headed down to the lake.

A/N: Yay! It's finally finished! I'm sorry that I had to put Time to Burn on hold, but this was really worth it. This is a companion piece to Time to Burn, but they both stand alone. I hope you all liked this ... see that button that says Review? Make me super happy by pressing it! I hope those of you that are reading Time to Burn enjoyed this! (I'm sure you can all guess who Mae and Bryant are!) Chapter 2 will be up by the end of the week (as long as my English teacher doesn't attempt to kill us with homework!)

Disclaimer: You all know the drill ... I own only Bryant, Mae, Gina, Toni and the situation. The rest of it belongs to the great JK Rowling!