Disclaimer: I own a few things, including: One iPod, one phone, three different versions of the Harry Potter books (American hard back, paper back, and British paperback). A ton of T-shirts from various colleges in a variety of colors, quite a few notebooks, and a Hufflepuff scarf.
But I definitely don't own Harry Potter, it all belongs to JK Rowling, anyone who mistakes me for her should probably get their eyes checked.
A/N: So here it is, at long last, the new story. For those of you who read Lily's the Man I assume you'll know that there is more Author's Note at the bottom. (;
Chapter 1: The Hogwarts Express
Lily Evans, already changed into her pitch black Hogwarts robes, Gryffindor tie, and newly acquired Head Girl badge, happily pushed her trunk in front of her as she navigated through Platform 9 3/4. Her wavy red hair, pulled back into a high pony tail, swung back and forth happily with every step she took.
You see, this was the year she was determined to make everything right. It was just a feeling in her gut: this was going to be a good year. She had been appointed Head Girl. Her future was ahead. She had her N.E.W.T's at the end of the year, and she intended to get top marks in order to be accepted into the Ministry of Magic, which was highly competitive among seventh years at Hogwarts. Her ideal department would be the Magical Law Enforcement, more specifically, the Auror Office. Since Voldemort was on the rise, her family (all muggles) were constantly in danger. She wanted to do her part in stopping him.
Thinking of her family, she smiled ruefully, remembering her farewell to her mother minutes before.
"Good-bye, darling," her mother said, smoothing her daughter's hair fondly and kissing Lily on the top of her head.
"'Bye, Mum," she returned, smiling.
"Your father would be very proud of you," Mrs. Evans said softly. Lily nodded, looking at her feet. Her father had died of leukemia when she was twelve. He knew that his youngest daughter was a witch, and the day she got her letter was probably the proudest he'd ever been of her. Thinking of this, Lily sniffled, but gave her mother one final hug and a watery smile before pushing her cart through the magical barrier to the Platform.
"LI-LY!"
Lily turned to the noise that shook her out of her thoughts, only to break out into a large smile as two girls rushed towards her, already wrapping their arms around her in a tight embrace.
The first, the one who called to her, was Harlene Pensky (more commonly known as Harley). Her long, dark brown hair almost choked Lily but the redhead simply laughed. Harley stood back and smiled apologetically, her warm hazel-green eyes alight with excitement.
The second, Zoe Simmons, had deep, black hair and blue eyes, and was a couple inches shorter than Harley and Lily. Her short hair was pulled back in a high ponytail. Zoe was more sarcastic and dry, at least compared to Lily and Harley. She had a hard exterior but the insides of a marshmallow (at least, according to Harley).
She and Harley knew each other before Hogwarts. They were both half-bloods, and Harley's mother and Zoe's father had been friends while at Hogwarts. When they were five, Harley's family moved to the same development as Zoe's family, and the two girls ended up going to the same muggle primary school together. They'd met Lily in first year, during their first Charms class.
"How are you, Lil?" Zoe said now.
"Oh, you know, same old same old. The summer with Petunia and Vernon was simply delightful."
"Oh yeah, sounds smashing. How's Britain's Least Favorite Couple?"
"Engaged."
Zoe's eyes widened. "Really?"
Lily nodded and laughed when Harley started to mime vomiting. "Don't be so mean. The Wedding is in April. Tuney at least invited me to be the Maid of Honor." Most likely forced to by Mum, she added to herself.
"Well, I suppose that's good," Harley shrugged.
"'Get's you out of school for a couple of days, at the very least," Zoe pointed out.
"Hmm, true. But whatever, we'll have plenty of time to talk about this! Besides, Marlene and Alice don't know yet! Where are they?"
"Dunno," Harley said. "Me and Zoe got here at the same time about fifteen minutes ago, we couldn't find either. They must still be on their way."
"We'll save them seats. Speaking of which, we should get on soon before some cocky fifth years think they can steal our compartment," Zoe said.
"So how were your summers? Har, I haven't gotten a letter from you in a month!" Lily scolded, all the while hoisting her trunk onto the train. Zoe and Harley hopped on after her.
"Well, you know I went to the beach," Harley reminded her. "And about my mom and her insane rule about no communication with friends while on family vacation. But Jason," her thirteen-year-old brother, also in Gryffindor, "would send out an owl every couple of nights to his girlfriend-"
"Aww, Jason's got a girlfriend?" Zoe smirked. "How do you have a girlfriend in third year, anyways?"
"Ask Sirius," Harley shrugged. Lily and Zoe laughed, and Harley continued on, "Anyways, the beach was so relaxing. I never wanted to leave." Lily smiled. The three walked through the train towards the compartment Harley and Zoe had secured.
"Oh, wait, I have to go to the Head Compartment first," Lily said, hanging back. Zoe looked over her shoulder, and Harley nudged her in the ribs with her elbow. Lily noticed, but didn't understand the significance of this interaction.
"Do you know who the new Head Boy is?" Zoe asked. Lily sighed.
"No. I heard from someone it was Fabian Prewett, but that might have been just a rumor."
"Well, tell us who it is when you get back! We'll take your trunk with us!" Harley said, dragging it along with her and Zoe. Lily smiled and waved and made her way in the opposite direction, towards the front of the train.
Her mind wandered, thinking of who the Head Boy could possibly be. Normally, two of the prefects were made Head Boy and Girl. Only a few times in the past had someone been made a Head with no Prefect history. Remus Lupin, someone Lily considered to be a close friend, could be a possible choice. He was responsible and knew how to keep younger students in line if the need ever arose. But perhaps they wanted to keep the Head Students from two different houses? Then Fabian Prewett also could've been a good choice. He and his twin brother, Gideon, were good guys; smart, funny, very kind. Gideon obviously wasn't a prefect, but he never got bitter or jealous. Must be the Hufflepuff in him or something.
Just as Lily was coming to the conclusion that the Head Boy was most likely Fabian (which she wasn't too upset about - the Prewett Twins weren't exactly unattractive), she came up on the Head Compartment. The blinds were open, making it rather easy to see into the small room. She peered inside before going in, the Head Boy with his back turned away.
It wasn't Fabian, since Fabian had lighter brown - almost orange - hair, and this one had pitch black.
Looking at it, Lily noticed it was particularly messy, and stuck up in the back atrociously, like he'd just been electrocuted. The boy turned his head a little, and Lily thought she saw the edge of a pair of glasses.
Oh.
It couldn't be.
They had finally reached civility with each other a few months before term had ended for the summer.
Dumbledore wouldn't take advantage of that.
Right?
Just as she thought this and opened the door, the young man turned to face her fully, hazel eyes, very similar to Harley's now that she was thinking of it, sparkling with delight behind his round glasses. He, too, was already in his Hogwarts Robes, red and gold 'HB' pin shining merrily as though mocking Lily. His tie wasn't tightened enough, his shirt was untucked, the top few buttons unbuttoned, and his shoelaces were untied.
"Hey, Lily!"
"We'll take your trunk with us!" Harley waved to Lily as her red-haired friend turned away. Once Lily was out of sight, Harley turned to Zoe. "Why didn't you tell her the Head Boy was James?"
"I don't know, I panicked!" Zoe hissed. "Why didn't you?"
"I - I didn't want to be the one to tell her," Harley said, unsure. "If she knew beforehand then she might even refuse to go meet with him."
"Rubbish, they'd been getting along fine last year!"
"Yeah, but... I don't know, James as Head Boy? That might just be too much of a shock for her!"
Zoe and Harley had arrived at King's Cross almost simultaneously. After hugs and happy greetings, they had walked past the magical barrier and onto Platform 9 3/4, and hopped onto the train. They chose a compartment near the back, stowed their things on the racks, and then went back outside to search for Lily or any of their other friends. On the way, though, they happened across the Marauders, who seemed to be enjoying a good joke. They were laughing hysterically, except for James, who was smiling weakly.
"What's so funny?" Harley asked, stopping in front of them.
"Oh, hey Pensky, Simmons," Sirius chortled.
Harley was about to repeat herself when Zoe gasped, her mouth agape, and pointed to James's chest.
"James? Who did you steal that from?"
On the front of his robes was a badge identical to Lily's, save for the 'G' being a 'B' on his.
"What?" James asked, alarmed. He looked to where she was pointing, and said, "I didn't steal it!"
"No, really," Zoe said, crossing her arms. "Where did you get it?"
"Dumbledore sent it to me with a letter," he said slowly, enunciating each word carefully.
"You don't mean.." Harley trailed off.
"Yup! Our Jamesie here is Head Boy!" Sirius shouted, slinging his arm around James's neck.
"You can't be serious," Harley said. Sirius opened his mouth, a gleeful look on his face, but she cut him off. "That pun is very old."
"That pun is never old, love," Sirius corrected.
"We know it's hard to believe," Remus said quickly, pulling Sirius back. "But it's true. We've all seen the letter and everything."
"Wow," Zoe said, eyes wide. "That's er-"
"Insane? Irresponsible? Just plain stupid?" Peter suggested lightly, causing a few chuckles to emerge, especially from James, though his seemed to be more nervous than amused.
"Well, yes," Harley smiled. "Congratulations, though, James."
"Thanks," he said, looking down at his feet sheepishly. This was very odd for James Potter.
"Have you seen the Head Girl yet?" Zoe asked, frowning.
"It's Lily, right?"
"Of course, everyone saw that coming since second year."
"Right," he said, not really paying attention.
"Go on, your supposed to go to the Head Compartment," Remus said, giving him a gentle push towards Zoe and Harley, who got out of his way.
James took a few shaky steps, as though on Death Row. But then he turned around and said brightly, "You know, this might not be too bad. We've been all right. I think she'd even consider me a friend, now!" and quickened his pace, slowly disappearing from view.
"I dunno, if he greets Evans with a big hug and a "Spiffing day, best buddy! Guess who the new Head Boy is! Me! The one person you hated above all others until only a few short months ago!" I think Lily might have some sort of fifth year flashback and smack him," Sirius said, shaking his head.
"Always the optimist," Harley rolled her eyes.
"See you guys later, we're going to find Mrs. Head Girl," Zoe said in farewell, loping her arm around Harley's and steering her towards the nearest train exit.
"Bye!" The three boys chorused.
Looking back on this scene, Harley wondered if maybe they should have told Lily. Less of a shock.
Oh well. It's in the past now.
"Let's go find Mar or Alice," Harley suggested. They traveled down the train, but still couldn't find either of their blonde friends.
Zoe shrugged when they arrived back at their compartment. "We'll see them at the feast. Alice is probably with Frank."
"Marlene's probably passed out in some compartment full of first years."
"That's our Marley."
Zoe was now petting her cat, Auden, on the head, the all black cat purring loudly. Harley always said that Zoe and Auden matched, since Zoe's hair was the same color as Auden's fur. If only the cat had blue eyes, then it would be perfect.
"Hello, again!"
They both turned towards the noise, and saw Peter, Remus, and Sirius standing in the doorway. Or rather, looking quite flustered and once the inconvenience of formality was over, all three of them dove to the floor and ducked beneath the window of the door.
"Er..."
"We don't mean to intrude, but it would appear that you have a very strategically-placed compartment," Sirius said very formally, but somewhat losing effect since he was crouched on the ground at Harley's feet.
"There's a group of Slytherins a couple compartments down that he just dungbombed and we needed a place to hide," Remus translated, rolling his eyes. Harley and Zoe burst out laughing.
"Shut up! Look like you're talking to each other!" Sirius commanded. Harley and Zoe happily obliged.
"So, Harley," Zoe said quite loudly. "What do you think of that Sirius Black?"
"Absolute tosser," Harley replied promptly. "And that hair - ridiculous."
Sirius made an insulted sound, but with the footsteps and rush of cloaks, Remus smacked him to shut him up. A group of very disgruntled Slytherins stalked by, glancing into the compartment. Harley and Zoe began to mouth words to each other, as though carrying on a conversation. The four boys continued on.
"Idiots," Zoe said when she deemed it safe. "These compartments aren't even sound proof."
The Marauders laughed and the girls scoot over in their seats to make room for them. Sirius and Peter sat on Harley's side, while Remus opted to sit beside Zoe.
"Well, I haven't heard any shouting. We can only assume James is still alive," Remus pointed out pleasently.
"Now really, I think we should give Lily some credit," Harley said, rolling her eyes. "It took a lot for her to forgive James last year. I think she might actually be secretly pleased that he's Head Boy."
"Pleased?" Sirius repeated, raising an eyebrow, "I thought she did that in order to make Snape angry."
"No, she did that because she decided James was more mature. You guys stopped pulling pranks on people," Sirius and Remus exchanged a glance that Harley noticed, "Well, excessively. And I think she was tired of always arguing with him," she added thoughtfully.
"Merlin, does she fancy him now?" Peter asked, eying Auden warily from where he sat. Zoe noticed this and put her on the ground, leaning over to open the door. The cat quickly trotted out of the compartment to explore the rest of the train.
"I don't think she loves him," Zoe said, "but he might actually have a chance this year."
"Really?" Sirius said happily. "That's brilliant! Now it won't just be blind attraction."
"They're going to end up together, just wait," Remus said with an impatient hand. "It's inevitable. It's basically been coming since first year."
"Maybe," Harley hummed. She and Zoe exchanged mischievous smiles before looking out the window at the country side rolling by.
"Hey Lily!"
James stood up, first clasping his hands behind his back, then in front of him, then simply letting them fall limply at his sides. Finding this to be awkward, too, he stuffed them in his pockets. Merlin he was nervous. He wasn't sure whether he should act friendly, formal, stoic, professional, mature, cold, or maybe a combination of all of them.
Lily just stood there, mouth agape.
"What?" she finally choked out. "What are you doing here? Where's Fabian? Or Remus?"
"Excuse me?" James said, looking at her, concerned, through his round glasses.
"This is the Head Compartment, Potter," Lily said, regaining her composure. James winced at his surname.
"But, ah, I do actually belong here, Evans," he said with a trace of venom in his voice, pointing to his badge.
"No, you don't," Lily said stubbornly. "You aren't Head Boy. You play pranks, and bully younger students."
Hurt flashed into James's eyes, quickly replaced with anger, and Lily instantly felt guilty. She knew he hadn't pulled any pranks on any students (other than Slytherins, but she didn't know about those) since the beginning of last year. By Christmas they had stopped completely. Of course, he still caused mischief with the rest of the Marauders, but none of it was aimed towards specific students anymore.
"No, Evans, I don't," he said carefully, taking a step towards her. Lily stood her ground. "You know I don't. I left all that shit behind with fifth year," he reminded her of their fifth year, when Snape had called her a 'mudblood' in front of most of their year after they had finished their OWLs. It had also been the first time Lily had severely insulted James instead of the usual "No, Potter," whenever he asked her out. They'd both been humiliated that day, but it was when James finally realized he'd have to work harder to convince Lily that he was a good guy. Which he did, eventually. At the end of sixth year they'd made a shaky truce that led to an even shakier - dare she think it? - friendship.
Lily's defense broke. "All right, I'm sorry, James. But... Head Boy! Wow, that's... that's..."
"Insane? Irresponsible? Just plain stupid?" James grinned, repeating Peter's words.
Lily gave a small smile. "No. But... yeah."
"It's all right. I can't say that I don't agree. Dumbledore's gone round the bend."
"No, I'm sure he had a reason for appointing the position to you." Somewhere. Deep down, in the land of insanity. But she didn't say that.
James shook his head and rolled his eyes. "I never thought I'd see the day when Lily Evans was trying to comfort poor ol' James Potter because he was just appointed Head Boy."
Lily's face hardened. "Oh shut up, I was trying to be nice."
"You're always nice."
"You say it like it's a bad thing!"
"Don't you ever have fun?"
"Yes!"
"When?"
"I have fun all of the time with Marlene, Zoe, Alice, and Harley!"
"Have you ever snuck out of the castle?"
"It's against the rules."
James shook his head, as though disappointed. "You haven't lived."
Lily looked sour. "I have certainly lived. Just because I want to make sure I graduate doesn't mean I've never had fun."
James shrugged. "Whatever, Lily. Let's not fight on the first day back, it'd be a record for us. Is that all we need to do? Just meet and make sure we know who the other person is?"
Lily was tempted to continue arguing, but gave in. She checked her watch. "No, the Prefects should be coming in any minute."
James frowned. They had to talk to Prefects? Why?
At that moment, a large crowd of students arrived at their compartment. As they bustled in, Lily moved to sit next to James while they all situated themselves comfortably. Remus was there as the sole seventh year Prefect for Gryffindor, but grinned and sat on James's other side.
"Did she take it badly?" he asked him quietly.
James glanced over to Lily, who was directing the fifth year Ravenclaw boy to move over to make room. "Not too bad," he answered. Remus and grinned and pat him on the shoulder.
"All right, everyone, settle down," Lily commanded. "We're going to start the meeting now."
James watched her as she talked easily to the Prefects. She was in her element, outlining their basic duties for the year, her hands moving slightly as she talked, her eyes gleaming with pride. It was amazing that they were on the verge of an argument not two minutes before, and now they were both carrying on as though nothing had happened. It was definitely a large step away from the norm.
"What are you thinking about?" Remus whispered, noticing his far-off expression.
James smiled. "This is going to be a good year."
About fifteen minutes after three-fourths of the Marauders joined Harley and Zoe in their compartment, Remus looked at his watch and suddenly cried out, "Crap! Guys, I got to go!" He leaped out of his seat, and flung open the sliding glass door to the compartment he, Zoe, Peter, Sirius, and Harley were sharing.
"Say hello to the lovebirds for us!" Sirius called after him. He smirked when he saw Remus flash him a thumbs up.
"Where's he going?" Zoe asked curiously.
"Prefect meeting," Sirius answered, waving it off. "Mr. and Mrs. Head Students always conduct them or something. They'll be back in about fifteen minutes."
Zoe nodded absentmindedly, playing with the sleeve of her robes.
Sirius glanced around to everyone in the compartment. Peter was flipping through a wizard comic book, enthralled in whatever adventure the main hero was currently in. Zoe was twirling her wand idly between her fingers, listening intently as Harley told her some funny story about her little brother, her arms waving wildly. Sirius studied Harley while she talked. Her skin looked tanner than he remembered last seeing it, the freckles that used to be sprinkled over the tops of her cheeks and nose were gone, and her hair several inches longer. Overall, she looked very pretty, and Sirius found himself opening his mouth to make conversation as soon as she finished.
"So, what did you guys do over break?"
Zoe looked over to him. "We stayed here. My family came over, a huge reunion that lasted for about three weeks at our place," she said. "I swear, I'm never having children. By the end of it, if one more girl had asked me to french braid her hair, or one more boy asked me to turn a teacup into a frog, I was going to scream."
"You barely know how to brush hair."
"I know!" Zoe exclaimed, raising her hands for emphasis. "I was bored one night and I braided my hair once because Lily found that one spell in fifth year, remember? And even then it looked like shit. And then Emma sees it and goes 'WOW! Zoe, can you do that to my hair?' And I just helplessly look at her. Eventually I got better at that spell that would do it for me, but then every night I'd get at least three coming up to me before they were put to bed, and at least five in the morning."
Harley laughed at the end of Zoe's rant. "I guess this was the magic side of your family?"
"Yeah."
"You had a three week reunion with with just half of your family?" Sirius asked incredulously.
Zoe nodded. "Mum's a pureblood, my great-great-grandpa had seven brothers and sisters, and his wife had five. My parents are the first in seven generations to have only one child. Ergo, big family."
"Wow," Sirius said softly. "I'd never be able to take that with my family." Except for Andromeda, he added to himself. She was really the only one who was decent, other than his Uncle Alphard. But he had died last year, leaving a large amount of inheritance to Sirius, he might add.
"But Sofie was there, too, so it wasn't so bad," Zoe mused.
"Sofie?"
"She's my cousin, she lives in France," Zoe explained.
"What about you, Pensky?" he added, looking at Harley.
"We went to the beach," she said simply. Ah, that explained the tan. It made her hair seem lighter-
"I can't help but point out that you left out a fairly important part of your holiday to Lily dear," Zoe interrupted Sirius's thoughts with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Oh?" Sirius asked. "What was so scandalous that you couldn't tell dear Lilykins?"
Harley rolled her eyes, but her cheeks turned a fairly dark shade of red. "I didn't think it was so important to blab it out to Lily when we saw her for the first time in months. I just saw him a couple times."
Who? Sirius couldn't help but wonder suspiciously.
"Who?"
Sirius looked up, astonished that his own thoughts had been spoken aloud. He saw Lily, James, and Remus in the door way.
"Oh, you guys are back!" he said joyfully. "I see James still has a head. Did things go well?"
"Excellent," James replied, winking. He took a seat next to Sirius while Remus and Lily sat on either side of Zoe.
"Who did you see, Harley?" Lily asked again.
"Oh, I saw Gideon and Fabian Prewett while in Kent. We went to the beach together a couple of times, that's all," Harley said nonchalantly, but her still-red cheeks said otherwise.
"A bit more of Gideon than Fabian, if you asked me..." Zoe sang innocently. Lily raised her eyebrows happily.
"Really?" she asked scandalously.
"Oh yes," Zoe said, nodding, completely ignoring Harley's flushed face, "from what Harley's told me they saw each other almost every day for the month they both spent down there."
Chuckles erupted from everyone in the compartment, including the Marauders. Harley hid her face in her hands, but a small smile was visible.
Sirius shrugged at the news. Oh well, it appeared she was taken. He ignored the odd sensation in his stomach. It was almost like - well, almost like disappointment. Hah! Sirius Black was never disappointed when it came to girls. He'll just find another potential bird. Marlene McKinnon was cute...
"So, how'd you guys spend your summers?" Harley said, changing the subject quickly. Lily and Zoe exchanged smirks.
"Uneventful," Remus said. "I worked part time at Flourish and Blott's, went round the Potters to see Sirius and James, but that's about it."
The girls nodded. They all knew Sirius had run away from his home the summer before their sixth year and ended up living with James and his parents for the summers and holidays.
They spent the next couple hours exchanging summer tales of humor and woe. A particularly long story from James and Sirius involving a niffler, a broomstick, and a large bag of teacups successfully had the girls in hysterics.
Every so often James would glance at Lily, smiling to himself when he saw her laughing at whatever story someone was telling. She didn't talk directly to him, neither did he to her, but it still felt... nice. They were in the same space, particularly close to one another, and they were laughing. Their two groups had joined neatly. Not that Zoe and Harley hadn't gotten along with Remus, Peter, and Sirius just fine in the past, but it was obvious in the way that they didn't make a habit of doing so that they knew they weren't really... friends. Maybe this year could finally change that.
After more hours of mindless chatter and games of Exploding Snap to pass the time, Harley pointed out the window, the sky outside a dark shade of blue as the sun set below the horizon.
"Look, we've arrived!"
They all scrambled to look out the window, Hogwarts looming in the distance. They could see the tiny pinpricks of light that were the seemingly thousands of windows. Gryffindor Tower was visible, the second tallest other than the Astronomy Tower.
"We're home, guys!" James said happily, thumping Sirius on the back.
"Aww, that's cute. I feel like we should be in a theater, and then the words "James and Sirius: A Hogwarts Tale of the Marauding Duo" will appear over your foreheads, then lead into a romantic comedy of a young, boyhood friendship that leads into a mature, manly love."
"Shut up, Simmons."
"What's a theater?"
The seven separated once they were off the train. Lily, Zoe, and Harley found a carriage with Marlene McKinnon and Alice Greene, the two girls they shared their dorm with, and the Marauders joined Frank Longbottom in the one just behind.
The girls hugged and laughed, recounting their summers and talking away on their ride up to the castle.
"So, Alice," Harley said, "You and Frank still in love?"
Alice, the adorable little doll she was, blushed and grinned bashfully. "Yes. He came over at least once a week to have dinner. My parents love him!"
"You guys are the sweetest couple."
"And the only one that might actually make it through Graduation. Hogwarts Couples aren't exactly famous for withstanding the test of time."
"I don't know, Lils, I feel like you and James could give them a run for their money," Zoe said nonchalantly.
Alice and Marlene laughed, but Lily frowned. "Me and James have the same likelihood of dating as me and Sirius."
"Oh! Don't be so hard on our future, Lilyflower!"
The girls all turned around, seeing the boy's carriage quite literally right behind theirs. The air was still warm from the last bit of summer, so the carriages didn't have roofs, making it easy to communicate with a group of people from another carriage.
Sirius was the one to call out, and continued.
"How do you know that since James is backing off I wouldn't try for a bit of Lily Evans?" he called, grinning in a way that the girl's assumed was supposed to be flirtatious.
"Go to hell, Black!" Lily answered, turning away from him.
Everyone was laughing except for Lily and Sirius.
"You know what? I take it back," Lily said to Zoe, but purposefully raising her voice. "I'd rather date James than Sirius any day."
"Your words are like a knife in my heart, you know that?" Sirius said, covering his heart with his hands and dramatically falling backwards against James and Remus.
"Get off, you useless excuse for a wizard," Remus said, nudging Sirius while James, Peter and Frank laughed.
"Remus, why are you so mean? James! James, help me!" Sirius said dramatically, flailing around on the bottom of the carriage.
"Sorry, mate, you're on your own," James smirked.
"What a fucking good Head Boy you're turning out to be!" Sirius huffed, getting off the floor and dusting himself off.
"I don't know, I think he's doing a fine job," Marlene called out, the girl's having watched the entire thing.
"I hate you all," Sirius said, jumping out of the carriage and landing easily on the ground. But the carriage went a few more feet and stopped, they'd arrived at the castle. "I'm going to quit school and become a monk, a life of solitude will heal my wounds that all of you have verbally inflicted onto me."
They all exited their carriages. Marlene took out a muggle camera that she had carried around since figuring out how to use it inside the Hogwarts boundaries, way back in third year. Lily and Alice made silly faces and she snapped a picture of it.
"You could never survive in a monastery, Sirius. There are no girls," Remus told Sirius matter-of-factly. Sirius stuck his tongue out, and Mar took a picture.
"You have to pay to get a picture of all of this," Sirius said, noticing the camera, gesturing to his body.
"You have to pay to get a picture of a small pasty englishman?" Lily asked.
"I am a sex god, Evans, there is nothing small about me."
"You're such a charmer," Harley said sarcastically.
"And he's in rare form. Come on, Pads, let's get some food in you so you stop talking," James said, leading the way into the castle. They all followed him, Alice holding hands with Frank; Zoe, Lily, and Harley were laughing and talking behind them, Remus, Sirius, and Peter trailing behind, and Marlene taking pictures of everything.
"Mar, you've had that camera for years and I don't think you've ever taken this many pictures," Zoe said, covering her face with her hands, but Harley came up behind her and separated them and smiled, Mar dutifully snapping the picture.
"I want to document our last year at Hogwarts, all right?" Mar shrugged and snapped a picture of Alice and Frank's backs while they were still holding hands. She stuffed all of the automatically-made photos into her pockets.
"But what are you going to do with all the pictures?" Frank asked, glancing behind him.
"I don't know. Make a big scrapbook or something."
"She's going to give up on it in a week," Zoe said.
"Always the optimist," Mar said. "Say cheese!"
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts!" Dumbledore said grandly. Sirius whimpered when the beginning of his speech meant the disappearing of the ice cream blocks, five-flavor puddings, and several kinds of pie. "I trust you all had satisfactory summer holidays, emptying your heads of any learning you had gained during the year. But now it's time to fill them again."
Zoe groaned and plunked her head on the table. Alice poked her shoulder to see if she was still alive, Harley and Lily laughing behind their hands as Marlene snapped a picture.
"First years should know that the Forbidden Forest is off limits to students who are not escorted by a teacher. See your Head of House or Quidditch Captain for when Quidditch Trials will begin. Hogsmeade Weekends will be scheduled in advance, see the notice on your Common Room bulletin board for further details. Now!" Dumbleodre suddenly said loudly, noticing that several of the students started to murmur amongst themselves quietly, having heard these announcements several times. "This will hopefully be the last time I say this for a while, but I'd like to welcome our newest Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher: Professor Pamela Lynch."
He led the applause and almost everyone joined in halfheartedly. This would be the seventh year's seventh Defense Against the Darks Arts professor. They'd gotten used to the constant changing.
Professor Lynch was a young-looking woman, with blonde hair and brown eyes. She looked to be about five feet tall, and reminded Lily vaguely of her old nursery school teacher back in England.
"This woman is supposed to teach us how to fight dark magic?" Zoe muttered in her ear. Lily shrugged but looked doubtful. She and Zoe weren't the only ones, though. All of the students were exchanging looks with their friends and frowning.
"Good luck, Professor!" Dumbledore said cheerfully, seemingly oblivious to the muttering around the hall. Lynch smiled weakly and sat back down. "That concludes the start-of-term announcements. Off to bed!"
At once the hall was filled with the oh-so-lovely sound of hundreds of wooden stools scraping over a marble floor all at once as students tried to get out of the hall first.
The seventh year Gyrffindors walked in a clump, laughing loudly. Dorcas Meadows and Emmaline Vance of Ravenclaw came up and said 'hello' to Lily, Harley, Zoe, Marlene, and Alice, and separated when the Ravenclaws branched off to go to a different stair case.
"Harley!" A voice called when they were at the top of the first flight of stairs. The girl in question turned and broke into a smile.
"Hey Gid," she said, giving him a hug when he joined their party at the top of the stairs. "You seemed to have forgotten that the Hufflepuffs go downstairs to reach their common room."
"'Been spying on us, have you?" he said, grinning.
Harley turned red again. "No! Everyone knows that!"
"Right, yeah. I just wanted to say good night," Gideon said, grinning a little wider. Somewhere farther down the stairs they could hear someone calling out his name (presumably his brother).
"'Night," Harley returned.
Gideon waved to everyone else, James acknowledging it with a 'See ya, Prewett.'
Zoe looked at Harley in amusement.
"What?" she said defensively.
"Oh, nothing..."
"Harley's got a boyfriend, Harley's got a boyfriend," James chanted.
"Oh, real mature."
"You could fry an egg on your face."
"Thanks, Marlene."
"Can I be the flower girl at the wedding?"
"Not you too, Lily!"
"I'm the ring bearer!"
"Peter, I thought I could always count on you!"
"Sorry, but I would look simply smashing in a tuxedo."
The group burst out laughing at this proclamation.
"I think we can all agree that I would look the best in a suit, seeing as I look the best in any environment," Sirius said.
"Padfoot, just shut up before you embarrass yourself," Remus advised.
"Moony, I think you always shoot me down like that because you're secretly attracted to me."
"That's it."
"And all you want to do is just shag me up and down this hallway."
"Most definitely."
"I'm sorry, Remus, but I'm afraid I'm just not into men. I'm most definitely heterosexual."
"Your words are like a knife in my heart."
"I know, but it's better to have loved and lost than to not have loved at all, eh?"
"You two are ridiculous," Alice said, rolling her eyes and popping a piece of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum into her mouth.
The rest of the group agreed and, yawning, walked into the Gryffindor Common Room.
"I don't want to walk all the way upstairs," Harley whined, collapsing on one of the love seats by the fire.
"Oh, come now Pensky. You can play quidditch in the pouring rain and freezing snow, but you can't walk up stairs?" Sirius taunted.
"Fuck off."
"Ooh, feisty."
"C'mon, Harley. Only a little bit longer than you can slip into your comatose sleep," Lily encouraged, putting an end to the conversation before Harley ended up hexing Sirius's ears off. She poked Harley's shoulder multiple times before he brunette finally got up and, with a final good-bye to the boys she led the pack up girls up the staircase on the left.
"'Night, boys," Zoe yawned, waving lazily. Alice kissed Frank lightly on the lips and ran after her. The boys disappeared up the right staircase and the common room was officially deserted, lit only by the central fireplace which crackled and popped merrily, sending a comforting glow over the entire room.
A/N: Hello, my friends! Miss me? (; Because I missed you! :D
I actually officially completed this chapter the same day I published Chapter 11 for Lily's the Man. But since then I've edited it so much it's nothing like the original version. For example, there was about four thousand less words. o_O I've been planning this story for quite some time, obviously, and I really, really hope you guys like it so far.
One more chapter of set up before the real plot comes out to play, where the rest of the Cast is introduced. Don't give up on me until then!
The sort of prequel to this is 'Are We Friends?', a little one-shot of Lily and James making an agreement in their sixth year. I didn't want to have Lily suddenly be like "I HATE YOU JAMES POTTER - OH MY GOD YOU'RE SO SEXY LET'S GO OUT!" Since it's quite confusing. I tried to make it as obvious as possible that Lily had gotten over claiming to hate James, but she's no where near admitting that she actually - gasp - likes him!
Hope you like Harley and Zoe! ^_^ Hope you liked the whole thing, actually! XD
Oh, and by the way... remember the name (and character, though she isn't exactly introduced) 'Sofie'. She may come back later... in a sequel... (;
Tell me what you think! Too cliche? (yes) Interesting? (Hopefully?) Want to know what happens next? (You should! :D) Drop me a review! Constructive criticism is always a plus, keep that in mind!
Until next time!
~Smile
P.S: There's a little companion blog to this, called 'Marlene's Scrapbook' that is just something to look at for a visual representation of the characters, since I kind of sort of really hate describing appearances for Main Characters. It has a couple pages worth of photos up, mostly just singles of the large Main Cast (all of them will probably be formally announced in chapter 3..ish.) Anyways, the link is 'marlenescrapbook(dot)tumblr(dot)com, with '.' replacing the '(dot)'s, obviously.
P.P.S: The next chapter won't be nearly this long, trust me. This one just sort of... exploded. I didn't really want to split it up.