Author's Note: I was inspired to start a new story, but that doesn't mean that Dueling Hearts will stop. I just had a new idea and wanted to test it out. Check it out and see what you think. Please review. Hope you enjoy it because I had a ton of fun writing it. I will update my other story in a few days. Thanks everyone.
17 year old Lily Evans stared at the wall before her and sucked in her breath. She was completely oblivious to the commotion that surrounded her at King's Cross train station in central London. Instead she was solely focused on the scene before her as four rather unscrupulous young men ran laughing with their trolleys in toe through a wall and disappeared. It always amazed Lily how blind muggles were to the world around them. You'd think a person would notice people running full speed into a wall, Lily thought to herself. However, muggles were too concerned with their own lives to pay attention to the oddities that they were presented with almost daily. Lily was snapped out of her daze when someone shook her on the shoulder.
"Earth to Lily, you better get a move on. It wouldn't look good for the head girl to miss the train on the first day of school," a breathy voice said that Lily automatically recognized as belonging to her best friend Cara Stinson.
Lily shut her eyes and took off at a sprint towards the wall that would serve as a portal to reach platform 9 ¾. This was where she would catch the Hogwarts Express, the train that would deliver Lily to the place she had called home for the past 6 years; Hogwarts School for Witch Craft and Wizardry. And that was exactly what Lily Marie Evans was; a witch. It had come as quite a shock to her family when their youngest daughter was accepted to Hogwarts as they were muggles themselves, but Lily had always known on some level that she had a special talent. Plus it explained how she had managed to turn her sister Petunia's hair green without even touching a bottle of dye. Lily had gotten on the train to Hogwarts six years ago and hadn't looked back since.
Suddenly Lily found herself in the midst of chaos as everyone was running about trying to make sure their luggage was all safely stowed away before the train departed. Families said their goodbyes and students greeted each other in preparation for the year ahead.
"Come on Lils, let's go find Kelly and get a compartment," Cara said and Lily just followed diligently.
The badge that she was wearing that marked her as head girl began to weigh her down. She was responsible for everyone on the train and it was her job to protect them. She just hoped she had the courage to do so if it became necessary. She exhaled for the first time since arriving at King's Cross and prepared herself for her final year at Hogwarts.
"Cara, Lily, in here I found an empty compartment," a voice shouted that belonged to Kelly Kidwell, Lily's other best friend.
The three girls hugged as they hadn't seen each other all summer and then settled in for the long train ride ahead. They had been best friends since their first year at Hogwarts although they were completely different from one another.
Cara was arguably the most talented witch at Hogwarts, but had a penchant for trouble making and had a low tolerance for Slytherins. She was sassy and flirtatious, but much to the dismay of the male population at Hogwarts, never dated. She was gorgeous with long chestnut hair and sea colored eyes that accentuated her olive skin.
Kelly was the most easy-going member of the group and tended to look for the best in people. She rarely spoke ill of anyone and when she did, it was mostly because the person deserved it. She was a talented witch, but unlike Cara, didn't practice her skills on Slytherins, or boys that asked her out too many times. She had strawberry blonde hair and freckles prickled her nose. Her piercing amber eyes made her look trustworthy and loyal; both of which she was.
Lily on the other hand, had a temper that was as fiery as her red hair. She was passionate and quick witted, not to mention exceptionally gifted with magic. She was at the top of her class, although she was more modest about her accomplishments than Cara. She stood up for herself when the occasion called for it and was very prideful. Yet she was also compassionate and hated it when someone was treated unfairly. She was quite popular among the males at Hogwarts, but managed to hold most of them at bay.
"Tell me all about quidditch training camp. Are you going to be the newest seeker for Puddlemere United?" Lily asked Cara enthusiastically.
Cara was a top notch quidditch player and was being actively recruited by many professional quidditch teams. She had spent her summer in Northern England training with the best players in her generation.
"I like to keep my options open. I still haven't crossed out the idea of becoming a rich trophy wife," Cara said with a sarcastic grin.
"I've got plenty of money love and I'd be happy to make your dreams come true," a deep voice said.
The girls turned to see the boys that they despised the most; the marauders. They were fellow seventh year Gryffindors and in the opinions of Lily and Cara, devoid of any manners that separated humans from monkeys. They were notorious pranksters and proudly held the record of most detentions served by anyone in the history of Hogwarts. Sirius Black, the one who had initially made the comment to Cara, was incorrigible. Over the past six years he had snogged almost every girl at Hogwarts, save Lily, Cara, and Kelly. He was a trouble-maker and despite his namesake, never serious. However, he was very talented and quite dashing. His black hair and even darker brooding eyes made him extremely mysterious looking and he was quite a heartthrob around school.
"I see you didn't take my advice and take a nose dive off a cliff over the summer Black," Cara said with an annoyed expression on her face.
Cara and Sirius were well known for their constant pestering of each other and exchange of witty and somewhat flirtatious banter. In short, they were always yelling or sending hexes at one another as they were often times the target of each other's prank.
"Ah, but then you'd miss my handsome face and I wouldn't want to upset you," Sirius said as he sat down next to Cara and threw his arm around her shoulders.
Cara just grumbled something about Sirius shagging the giant squid and then pretended to ignore his presence.
"Sorry for the intrusion, but there aren't any other empty compartments and we really can't risk letting Sirius sit with Slytherins," a tall sandy haired boy by the name of Remus Lupin said.
Remus Lupin was the voice of reason in the tight knit group that called themselves the marauders. He was a prefect and very studious. He was always polite and courteous and in Lily's opinion, he seemed much older and wiser than his hooligan friends. Remus was the only marauder that Lily could stand and they were good friends. She appreciated his maturity. But for the first time, Lily noticed that she was not the only one of her friends that took notice of Remus; Kelly was staring at him with a smile on her face. Perhaps this year, Lily thought to herself, Remus and Kelly would stop dancing around each other and finally get together.
Standing next to Remus was a short blonde boy with a very round face that had a pinched expression on it. Peter Pettigrew was an odd ball in the group. He wasn't particularly talented or charismatic. He just seemed to worship the ground his friends walked on. Lily couldn't remember a time when she had heard Peter speak.
"Hello Remus, how was your summer?" Lily asked politely as she made room for him to sit next to her.
"It was good, I spent a lot of time at James' place playing quidditch and that sort of thing," Remus replied as he moved it sit next to Kelly instead.
"Speaking of Potter, where is your giant prat of a friend? It's oddly quiet on this train, should I be concerned he is planning some form of mayhem?" Lily said sarcastically.
James Potter was the fourth and, in Lily's opinion, the most irritating marauder. He had an ego the size of England and unfortunately it was fed by the female population at Hogwarts who thought he was quite charming. Lily, on the other hand, found him uncaring and rude. They fought almost daily and it was usually after James pestered Lily about going out with him, which Lily gave a resounding "NO" to each time. More than anything, Lily was just disappointed in most of his behavior because she knew that he was capable of much more if he just grew up.
"James said he had some business and would catch up with us later. Congratulations on becoming Head Girl by the way, I always knew you were the one for the job," Remus said with smile.
"Yes I must admit I'm a little disappointed not to see the Head Boy badge pinned to your robes. I enjoyed our patrols together. Who is going to protect me from the bogarts in the cupboards this year?" Lily said with mock fear.
Last year they had been on patrol together and found a student being attacked by a bogart. Remus had tried to fight it off by himself as Lily tried to console the poor student. However, he was paralyzed by his own fears and Lily was forced to step in and do battle with the nasty creature. She never let Remus live the incident down.
"I'm sure your new partner will be much braver and more chivalrous than me," Remus replied trying to hide his smile.
"Speaking of being Head Girl, shouldn't you be off with the other goody goodies planning ways to keep us from having fun," Cara quipped after she had ended a particularly heated argument with Sirius about the Irish national team's chances in the Quidditch World Cup.
Lily clasped her hand over her mouth as she realized she had forgotten to go to the front of the train to lead the first prefect meeting. She dashed out of the compartment and sprinted down the train. However, her efforts were thwarted when she ran smack into the person she despised the most, besides James Potter.
"Careful mudblood or next time you might run into someone who isn't as forgiving as I am," Severus Snape said, his voice dripping with disdain.
"Nice to see you too Severus," Lily said as she pulled herself up from the ground.
Snape just turned on his heel and continued on his way without so much as a look back at Lily. You'd think he would be somewhat grateful for all of the times that Lily had stopped the marauders from torturing him, but instead Snape just treated her with more hatred than ever. She tried not to concern herself with the hostile encounter as she reached her final destination; the prefect compartment. Lily opened the door and was immediately taken aback by the scene in front of her.
"Here are your patrolling schedules and try to not get the first years lost on the way to their common rooms. Last year we lost one and it took months to discover his location," James Potter said as he passed out pieces of parchment to each of the prefects.
He was very tall with messy brown hair and hazel eyes. He had a lopsided grin on his face as he concentrated on the task at hand. This was the meeting that Lily had been regretting all summer. So she did what came naturally to her where James Potter was concerned, she hurled an insult at him.
"Funny you should mention that Potter seeing as it was you and your lot that performed the confundus charm on the poor boy," Lily said as she stepped beside him and immediately grabbed the patrolling schedules from his hand.
"Hello Lily," James said as his grin got even wider.
"What are you playing at Potter? Give that head boy badge back to whoever you stole it from and get out of this compartment before I give you a week of detention," Lily said as her voice began to quiver with anger and her face turned a particularly violent shade of red.
"I'm afraid I can't do that seeing as I am the head boy," James said casually as he tried hard not to laugh at how wound up Lily was getting.
Pushing Lily Evans' buttons was a favorite past time of his. He thought she was the most beautiful when she was mad. He loved her passion.
"Dumbledore must be bloody mad to let a delinquent such as you become Head Boy. Your parents must have bribed him, lord knows they have enough money. Or you have him under the imperius curse, or Dumbledore isn't himself, but someone taking poly juice potion to look like Dumbledore……," Lily ranted as she continued her list of conspiracy theories.
"As hard as it is to believe, I am Head Boy," James said, again not taking the bait that Lily was feeding him. "And I have passed out the new passwords and patrolling schedules and we have decided on Tuesday nights for meetings."
With that, James and the other prefects filed out of the compartment and went to sit with their friends. Lily was left alone with her thoughts. She couldn't believe her luck. She was going to have to spend the entire year with the one person who got under her skin and managed to irritate her more than anything in the world. It just wasn't fair, she thought to herself. It was going to be very hard to get over the kiss she had been trying to forget about if she had to spend so much time with James.
It had plagued Lily all summer because James Potter was her sworn enemy. Everything about him bugged her; the way he strutted around, how he constantly messed his hair, his pranking of Slytherins, and his endless knowledge of defense against he dark arts. It was a mistake, Lily thought to herself and it would never happen again. Yet somehow she couldn't help, but replay the event over and over again in her head.
It was the last week of school and Lily, Cara, and Kelly were sitting outside under a tree discussing their summer plans.
"Petunia is getting married this summer so I will probably be dragged around to every bridal shop in this bloody country and then be forced to wear some god awful pink number with bells and whistles attached to it," Lily said somewhat irritably as she thought of the dull summer that lay ahead of her.
Cara and Kelly laughed at the image of Lily dressed up as a gigantic piece of cotton candy. Cara would be spending the summer at a quidditch training camp and Kelly had plans to tour Europe with her family. Both options seemed a lot more appetizing than listening to Petunia screech on and on about her dull wedding, Lily thought.
"Make sure to take pictures so we can laugh at you when you look like a demented little bow peep," Cara said as she popped a chocolate frog into her mouth.
The girls were enjoying the warm spring air and only having one final exam left. They hardly noticed when four boys swooped down upon them like a plague. James grabbed Lily and flung her over his shoulder. She kicked and screamed, but nothing could keep James from heading towards the lake.
"Put her down you git," Cara yelled, but she was soon silenced as Sirius placed a hand over her mouth and then picked her up and carried her towards the forbidden forest.
Lily continued to flail about as she didn't particularly enjoy being forced to do things against her own will. James just laughed hysterically as he headed in a sprint towards the lake's edge.
"Potter, you giant wanker, put me down or I will force you to," Lily yelled, but her words had no effect on James.
They reached the lake and then James let out a loud laugh as he took Lily's small body and threw it into the cold water. Lily felt herself rushing towards the water, but there wasn't anything she could do to stop the collision that was going to happen. She braced herself for the cold and when she hit the water, she held her breath. She sank rapidly and when she was able to stop herself she crawled towards the surface as quickly as possible. She swam towards the shore with even strokes as she had been on the swim team before her time at Hogwarts. When she pulled her body out of the water she found James just laughing at her.
"I know you are going to punish me for this, but I just couldn't help it. The look on your face is priceless," James said with a great deal of mirth.
She walked up to him, but her tiny 5'4 frame paled in comparison to his height of 6'3. Her attempts to be intimidating failed. She stood there with her hands on her hips and her wet hair stuck to her face and neck. Her face turned a particularly brilliant shade of red as she tried to speak, but words eluded her at the moment.
"You are the most irritating person I have ever met," Lily finally said as she attempted to control her temper.
James stepped closer to her and then he smiled.
"You are the biggest pain in the ass I have ever met," he said with a grin as he poked Lily in the chest.
Lily closed the gap between them until she was nose to nose with her so called enemy.
"I could have drowned, you had no right, I could get sick," Lily continued.
"Nah I used a warming spell on you before I threw you in so you can't get cold and I wouldn't let you drown Evans. Then who would I pester all day?" James said non-chalantly.
"Use that lump that is three feet above your ass and think sometimes Potter," Lily said as she stared at James in the eyes.
"I think all the time Evans, I think about you and me snogging," James replied with a smirk on his face.
At this Lily became incensed. She started to blush an even deeper shade of red as her piercing green eyes pulsated with rage.
"Get over yourself Potter. If you and I were the last people on earth, I would gladly kiss a hippogriff instead of you," Lily said.
James just continued to smile and that was the thing that annoyed Lily the most; he could rile her up, but managed to stay calm and cool when they were fighting.
"Are you scared you might enjoy it Evans or are you just that frigid," James said with a smirk.
"You are an imbecile," Lily replied as she moved even closer to James if that was possible.
They were standing toe to toe and she was about to slap him for that last comment.
"You are stubborn," James retorted.
"You are an arrogant toe rag," Lily said.
"You are afraid following your heart," James said with a smile on his face.
He loved pushing Lily's buttons.
"I hate you," Lily said with venom.
"Nah you love me," James replied.
"Then I have a funny way of showing it always yelling at you. You are delusional," Lily countered.
"You are blind," James said.
They stood glaring at each other and not saying anything. James' frame toward over Lily as they stared at each other and the passion and heat between them was palpable. James looked down at Lily as she stared up at him with passion in her vibrant green eyes and then it happened; they kissed. It wasn't one person kissing the other, they both just leaned in and their lips met. It was an electric kiss as it was full of pent up frustration and emotions. James cupped Lily's face in his hands as she ran her hands through his always messy hair. They exchanged sweet salty kisses until neither one could breathe anymore. Lily was the first to pull away.
"What am I doing? I can't do this, we hate each other," Lily said in shock.
She turned on her heal and began to run towards the castle and prayed that James couldn't catch up with her.
"Lily wait…" James yelled after her, but he realized it was no use.
He'd just have to wait for her.
Lily managed to successfully avoid James for the rest of the week and then thankfully school had ended. She hoped that summer would put distance between them and she would forget about what had happened. However, now they were starting their seventh year at Hogwarts and Lily was going to have to spend night and day with James Potter. It definitely wasn't going to be an easy year, she thought to herself. The most important thing was to not lose her head. She and James weren't right for each other and nothing could happen. They fought constantly and had nothing in common, their relationship was a disaster waiting to happen and Lily didn't intend to find out either way.
