Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. However, I do own the rest and could you please not burden me with claims of plagiarism and the like? Because I'm really bogged down these days with school and stuff. Much obliged.

By the way, this title will be explained later on. Now go on, won't you, read! And then, of course, review.

Somebody save me

Let your warm hands

Break right through me

Somebody save me

I don't care how you do it

Just save me, save

Come on I've been waiting for you

I see the world-

Lily Marie Evans fumbled for her radio and groaned as she heard it hit the floor, silencing the music. The racket she had made awoke her pet owl, Honey (thus named after a particular incident involving the aforementioned substance), who screeched in complaint. Lily burrowed back under her warm covers, hoping to glean a few more minutes of sleep before the tirade that she knew would start up any second now...

"LILY!!"

Lily's older sister Petunia threw open the door. She was a bony teenager, tall with an abnormally long neck, ideal for her favorite hobby – being nosy. At the moment, her horse-like features were twisted into a furious, rather sleepy scowl.

"... and if you can't keep your freakish creatures from making such a horrid noise, I swear I'll throw that thing," Petunia pointed a quivering finger at Honey, who was looking a little nervous, "straight out the window!"

Lily yawned without interest, rubbing her bleary eyes. Petunia glared at her, contemptuously flicking a downy feather off of her shoulder, and stalked out, slamming the door shut behind her.

Not being a morning person, Lily sat for a moment or two to get her bearings. Then a huge grin spread over her face and she bounced out of bed, her previous feelings of annoyance evaporating when she saw the calendar.

September first.

Now, that in itself is not a very exciting date, nor does it have any particular meaning to the average person. In fact, if you sat down and thought about it, it is unlikely that you would come up with any special occasion that could have made Lily so happy.

The simple fact of the matter is that Lily is not the average person. It just so happens that Lily is a witch, a Muggleborn (non-magic parents), and today, the first day of September, is the day that she will be leaving for her sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Not fifteen minutes later Lily was bounding down the stairs, freshly showered and dressed in a dark green top, which brought out her striking verdant eyes, and a knee-length, flowing skirt that her mother, Annette, had bought her over the summer. A good sized pair of silver earrings dangled from Lily's earlobes and the matching necklace, picked out with emeralds, adorned her throat. Her vibrant hair was pulled up into an 'intentionally messy' ponytail, and she wore no makeup. She needed none.

Lily happily shoved her breakfast into her mouth, eating on the go, after a quick hello to her mother. Sirius Black, a boy in her year at Hogwarts, once said that she ate like a mule, although she didn't see the relevance in the statement, both because the phrase didn't seem to reply, and because the prat did the same thing. That was a part of what made them so compatible.

Lily sighed, accidentally spitting out a few crumbs of the toast that she had so recently made into a disappearing act. Sirius Black. The most sought after guy in the school. His long, shaggy black hair and gorgeous gray eyes, not to mention his lean physique, could make nearly every girl at Hogwarts swoon. And he was Lily's. She grinned and chomped down on her second piece of toast.

On her way past, Annette saw the smile. "And what are you so happy about?"

"Oh – nothing." Lily pushed the last piece of food into her mouth before heading into the living room to her trunk. Although she had been packed the night before, and the night before that, Lily checked one last time, running up to her room to search frantically for a comb or a piece of clothing or some other necessity.

At nine-thirty, Lily was packed and ready to go.

"Mum!" she cried. "We're going to miss the train!" Noticing Petunia at the top of the stairs, Lily stopped for a moment.

"Want to come along, Pet?" she asked tentatively. Ever since Lily had received her letter of acceptance from Hogwarts, her sister had been outrageously nasty to her. Freak, and occasionally something worse, although not often very original, were the terms Petunia usually used to describe or address Lily.

"Of course not." The older girl scoffed. "Why would I want to associate with riff-raff like you? In public, no less!" With that, she smirked at Lily and turned away.

Twenty minutes later, Lily stood at the gateway to Platform 9 ¾. Annette and Daniel, Lily's father, each hugged their daughter enthusiastically.

"We had better have loads of owls from you, Lils." Daniel told her, green eyes twinkling playfully. "Or you might get coal in your stocking at Christmas." It was a joke between the two of them, one that was replayed every year. If it wasn't, it just wouldn't really feel like goodbye.

"I will, Dad. I love you!" Lily waved to her parents and turned to the barrier. There was really no easy way to do this. Grimacing, Lily closed her eyes, broke into a trot and pushed her cart in front of her. There was a moment of uncertainty, and then she was through.

She never did like that. The wall looked all too solid to really convince her, no matter how many times she went through it.

Now that that ordeal was over, Lily began to look for her friends. While she wasn't overly popular (probably due to her bookish ways), Sirius and Remus had befriended her in their first year, the former never failing to provide a laugh, and the latter always giving her an ear when life threw a little extra in her way. Her three other best friends had known each other before they came to Hogwarts, so Lily occasionally felt left out. The only person who Lily could always confide in was Jemichase, known to the students of Hogwarts as just Chase, under pain of – for lack of a better word – pain.

Two hands covered her eyes from behind, and Lily grinned. Well, who could it be?

"Three guesses." A menacing male voice spoke in her ear.

"The Minister of Magic?"

"Two."

"James Bond?"

"Hm... One more."

"Diana Ross?" Lily teased.

The 'mysterious' guy spun her around. Sirius stood there, looking offended. Then he flashed her a lopsided grin that would leave another girl passed out on the floor.

"Right, all three times!" Lily laughed as he put his arm around her waist and kissed her. They had been going out since about halfway through fourth year, and were completely comfortable together. Rumors were circulating, since Lily had been with him for longer than any other girl.

Lily raised her eyebrows. "Did you miss me?" Her only response was a peck on the cheek. Sirius heaved her trunk up onto his shoulder and lifted it into the luggage compartment. Lily grabbed Honey's cage, careful not to disturb the finicky owl. Then she followed Sirius onto the train, though not before she poked a bit of fun at him.

"Oh, I'm so lucky to have such a big, strong boy – ahem," Sirius was giving her a look. "Man, to help me. How could I ever manage without you, Sirius?" He just looked at her thoughtfully for a moment as they searched for a compartment. Then,

"Is that an invitation?" Sirius picked her up, his arms behind her back and knees, and carried her like a baby. Lily shrieked with laughter while trying to balance poor Honey without upsetting her.

"Sirius, put me down! Put me down, you prat!" He looked at her with a crestfallen expression.

"Is that really what you think of me?" His lower lip trembled, and Lily gave him a little kiss as he set her down in front of a likely looking compartment. Sure enough, all four of Lily's friends were parked inside. Sirius looked a little nervous.

"Oh, don't worry, Siri, your friends are just across the hall." Marissa Kensington, aka Riss, assured him. He brightened up, relieved that he wasn't going to have to spend the whole train ride without his other... quarters?? Yes, quarters.

Sure enough, right on time James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew all burst into the girls' (and Sirius') compartment. As there were already six people in there, the addition of three made things a little... cramped, to say the least.

"Oof! Peter, move your foot off my hand!"

"Remus, that hurt!" And –

"Oi, Prongs, you prat, fancy getting off of me? Because honestly, it's most comfortable to have your elbow jabbing into my spine, and being unable to breath is just – agh! – breathtaking."

The door slid open yet again as the group was beginning to set itself to rights. A few first-years looked in apprehensively at the tangled mess of limbs and began to back away. (Smart little children, eh?)

Lily pulled herself free of the melee to see that it wasn't really a melee anymore. Most of the crowd had sorted themselves out, with all four of the Marauders (Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter) nearest to the door. With an excited yelp, and a mutter that sounded suspiciously like "Fresh meat", Sirius pushed James aside so that he fell over to land on an unsuspecting Lily. ("Sorry, Lils!).

By the time Lily was able to make her way to Sirius ("Sorry, there Peter!" "Oh, dear, so sorry, Bella.), he was busy feeding them some far-fetched tale about how they would have to battle a dragon, and if they were able to steal an egg from its nest, only then would they be allowed to attend. If not... Well, Sirius was telling them that part just now, and he has a VERY active imagination. The poor first-years looked terrified, and one seemed about to faint with fear.

With no concern whatsoever for any minor bruises, Lily shoved Sirius to the side, a little unnecessarily hard. While he picked himself up and nursed his injuries, Lily reassured the children without telling them what would be required of them. After all, that much was at least part of the experience.

Once the first-years were gone, and James and Co. had departed to their own compartment, Lily was left with her year-mates and Sirius. The four friends were chatting idly, but Lily's boyfriend looked at her like... like a wounded dog that had been betrayed by its beloved master.

"Look, Sirius, I'm sorry. Seriously. (A/N: No pun intended) But haven't I told you-" Sirius looked suddenly joyful at her completely heartfelt apology and grabbed Lily's hands to waltz her around the small area. When he went to pull her out into the hall for a bit more dancing, Lily protested, smiling all the while. After all, with Sirius Black around, life would never be dull.

Well, now, for everyone who's read this story, I would personally like to pass out cookies to each and every one of you. Unfortunately, since none of you are here in person, I suppose we'll have to settle with a grateful thanks. If you have read Lady Tortuga, my POTC fanfic, then I really do apologize, I meant to update, really I did. I just had literally six projects due in two weeks, and I had work, and schoolwork, and homework, and housework, and work, work, work, work, WORK!

So as you can see, I was quite overloaded. I just had a sudden inspiration to write a Harry Potter fanfic. Although I am a die-hard POTC fan, I also love hp and lotr, so please don't fault me. ducks random flying vegetables coming from the direction of angry, I-promise-you're-not- forgotten, rather imaginative (watches the cow jump – or be thrown – over the moon) readers of Lady Tortuga who are angry with Sam for a very good reason – she hasn't updated

Although my actions are extremely hard to follow at the moment (see above), my words won't be. I promise. So thank you for reading this chapter, and if you like potc you can check out my story, mentioned above, and don't forget to review! I swear, hard as it might be to believe, we writers don't know that you have read our stories unless you tell us. So please do. We'll love you forever. I will, at least. Coolies. Well, then, until my next update. Pray it doesn't take too long.

Samli