Lily felt her hands slam onto the concrete.
Her head shot up, red and fuming, to search for her assailant.
"Oh,sorry, Evans, " a voice sneered.
"Watch where you're going, Snape," she spit to the lanky boy in front of her. He squinted at her and turned on his heel, disappearing into the crowd.
She had gotten to her feet and was just about to make her way to the scarlet train ahead when she caught sight of a group of Gryffindors, containing the only people in the known world she absolutely did not want to see (aside from Sev- of course). Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and James Potter. Now, Remus and Peter she didn't mind. In all honesty, she liked Remus; he was good mannered and intelligent and not a complete prat (like some people she could name). And Peter was so quiet and shy that she really didn't know what to make of him.
But her fairly-pleasant feelings for the group stopped there. The two remaining members of the Marauders (what an arrogant sounding title) happened to be the two standing most closely to her- Sirius Black and James Potter. Black and Potter: the inseparable duo and prats, the both of them. Sirius was a class A womanizer. He had at least snogged nearly every girl in their graduating class and the one below and had flirted with literally all of them. He was idiotic, shallow and proud (without much reason, she thought). And then there was James. The star of the Gryffindor quidditch team and a constant nuisance to Lily. But what really made him so infuriating to Lily wasn't just that he was a git, but that everyone in the school practically worshipped him in spite of it! She couldn't count the number of times a friend had started a conversation beginning with "That dreamy James Potter..."
No, dealing with them was certainly something she was not willing to tackle at this moment. She turned and strode to the right, dodging behind a pillar to block herself from view for the few minutes she needed to put herself together after her fall.
Satisfied that her sweater was properly adjusted and her hair was in place, she clutched her trunk firmly and wheeled it behind her as she trudged through the sea of children, back straight and eyes ahead. She had barely gotten 6 feet when she heard her name.
"Hey, Evans!" Groaning internally, she slowly turned to face the boy sporting a cocky grin.
"Hello, Potter."
"Aww, come on Evans. You know you can call me James," he replied, raising an eyebrow purely to piss her off more. Lily merely crossed her arms and waited for James to get to the point, praying it would come soon. "How was your summer?"
"It was fine, thank you. And yours?" was her response, said in the most unemotional tone she could manage at the moment.
"Oh, mine was absolutely glorious! You know, blue skies, Sun shining, birds chirping!" He smiled so widely and annoyingly Lily was seriously worrying she wouldn't be able to restrain herself from cursing it right off of his face.
Instead, she sighed and rolled her eyes at him. She grabbed her trunk and started toward the Hogwarts Express again.
James stood and watched her walk away, and was soon joined by his three best friends.
"Wow, Prongs! You were able to get a whole two sentences from her! That must be some sort of record!"
"Oh, shut up, Padfoot."
"No, really James. I'm impressed! And she didn't even curse you!"
"I said piss off." Remus, who had learned from experience, knew how long this could go on and interjected.
"You know, James, if you want to be able to hold an actual conversation with Lily, you might try avoiding ticking her off."
"Wow, Moony, are you sure you're not a Ravenclaw? Because that idea is absolutely amazing and original and not at all what I've been suggesting for the past six years!" Sirius droned, sarcasm oozing from every syllable.
"Um, actually I suggested that first!"
"You did not, Pete."
"Yes, I did. It was in our first year, and James was complaining that his `secret crush` wouldn't give him a chance and you said `It's that Lily girl, isn't it? The redhead?` and James blushed and I said `Well if you want her to give you a shot, stop acting like a git in front of her` and you said `Yeah, Pete, but what are the chances of that happening?` and James started to yell at you to stop being a git," Peter recounted.
"Blimey, Wormtail! How the hell did you remember that?" Remus asked, dumbfounded. Peter shrugged.
"Seriously, guys, what do I do?" James asked returning the conversation back to it's original point. Remus decided, as he knew Lily the best, to volunteer a suggestion.
"Next time you see her, start a normal conversation with her. Don't get cocky. Don't raise your eyebrows or grin and, for the love of all that is good and holy, do not make any joke that you know Sirius would laugh at!"
James nodded determinedly at Remus, while Sirius protested that there was nothing wrong with his taste in jokes.
At that moment the whistle blew and they all hurried to the last car of the train, dodging parents and siblings waving to their relatives hanging out the windows.
As they pulled themselves into the car, Sirius put his hand on Remus`s shoulder, signalling he wanted to tell him something. He checked to make sure James was out of earshot and whispered.
"Ten sickles says they're together by the end of the school year." Remus smirked and shook his hand, but intently hoped he would be leaving Hogwarts this year ten sickles poorer.