A/N: This is my first fanfic. Constructive critism would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks :)
Lily Evans looked down. No matter how hard she tried, how much she willed herself, her feet would not budge.
People moved all around her, making it look so easy. They pushed and shoved, eager to get out. It was summer, and not even the ever present gloom could make these children forget hundreds of years of evolution. Summer had, and would always mean, freedom.
And that was just it. Lily wasn't a child anymore. No, she was officially an adult, and though she had been for about a year, she was just starting to feel what it meant. She had responsibilities, she had to worry about things she'd never had to. It made her wish she had been a little more wild during her schooling at Hogwarts.
"Oi! Evans! What's taking you so long?" Sirius Black called from the platform. He and the others - "others" being James, Remus, and Peter – had already gotten off. She was the only one left.
Lily closed her eyes. With the warm air hitting her face, whipping her red locks around, it was easy to imagine she was someplace else. She tried to motivate herself. She whispered, all too aware that it would look as though she were mad to any passerby, "Come on, Lily. You can do it. One foot in front of the other. Two feet. Twenty four inches. Two hundred and forty centi-"
"Hurry up! I'm starving!" Peter whined, although he had just eaten on the train. The others were so used to Peter being hungry after a meal that they didn't even challenge him.
"Pete! You interrupted my speech!" She snapped. Peter hung his head.
"Lil? What's wrong?" James asked. His face was etched with genuine concern. She would never get over how much he cared.
"It's just... the minute I put my feet on the ground, I'm an adult. I won't be a student. I'll have responsibilities and worries and- and everything's going to change. It's a big world, James. What if I fall through the cracks? What if nobody remembers who I am? What if I never find out my place in it? I've always been 'Lily Evans, the smartest in her year'. What if- what if I fail?" She whispered the last part, as if she were afraid someone would overhear. The others were simply staring at her. They obviously hadn't been expecting an outburst.
James walked closer to her. In one quick motion, he scooped her into his arms.
"What are you-"
He cut her off. "This way, your feet won't have to touch the ground," he offered.
Lily smiled.
"And besides, who said we have to grow up?" Sirius cut in.
As they walked out of the building, she couldn't help but feel content. In James' arms, surrounded by their friends, she was ready to take on the world.
Maybe growing up wouldn't be so bad after all.