The Mischief Makers Era | A collaborative fic

Disclaimer: We own nothing of JK Rowling's wonderful characters. This story is based on the roleplaying group .com and we hope you enjoy it!

September 1st, 1976

The Hogwarts Express roared into life at Platform 9 3/4. Students and parents alike are hustling and bustling, others saying their sweet goodbyes while others chat and carry on long exchanges about their summer vacation.

Lily Evans, a girl with dark red hair and magnificent green eyes is one of the few who are saying goodbye to their parents.

"Write to us." Rose Evans whispered breathlessly, engulfing her daughter in a tight embrace while Richard Evans chuckled boisterously as he told his wife to take it easy on their youngest daughter.

"I will mum." their youngest daughter promised and pulled away. Her eyes wandered over to her side and she gave a small frown.

"Petunia's just busy." Rose noticed the frown. "She had to go and work on something with that Dursley boy."

Of course. Lily thought. Of course she would be with her boyfriend. Not that it mattered anymore did it? During that brief summer, her older sister was far too busy keeping herself occupied with the telephone that she had no time with anything else. Rose and Richard chalked this up to one of the many things they let Petunia indulge herself into, although an occasional scolding and reprimanding never stopped the mousy haired girl in contacting with her second "steady" boyfriend.

"ALL ABOARD!" the loud call of the conductor shouted over the crowd and Lily jumped ever so slightly.

"I have to go." she hugged her parents one last time and said her their last farewells. "I'll be back in Christmas."

"Write to us."

"I will"

"Lily?"

"Yes?

"Good luck!"

Lily blinked as she carried her trunk inside the train. "Good luck?" she whispered to herself, wondering why her parents chose to say that. Was she just overthinking things? Perhaps. Neither Rose nor Richard were particularly superstitious and neither was Lily. Luck was not something she really believed in.

She struggled a bit as she carried her luggage inside the narrow cart of the train, not realizing she bumped into someone.

"Oi!" the figure shouted.

"Sorry-" Lily apologized and looked up. She paused in the middle of her apology and was now facing two hazel colored eyes behind a pair of spectacles.

"Evans." he said coolly.

"Potter." she replied with the same tone of voice.

"Watch where you're going."

"I'm sorry I was thinking," her voice wasn't sorry at all.

"Stop overthinking, you do that too much."

"It's none of your business, Potter."

"Whatever."

A few words exchanged and they parted, the boy slipping into his own compartment while Lily slipped into hers.

How she loathed him.

Lily spent the last few seconds fuming before she entered into her compartment. Her dark green eyes narrowed in anger and she wondered over and over again why James Potter could push her buttons like no other.

"Lily?" another voice interrupted her thoughts and she frowned, not realizing she opened the last compartment she would be in.

Severus Snape was seated near the window, coupled with Mulciber, Avery, and Crouch Jr.

"Wrong compartment, mudblood." Avery sneered.

Even Lily would rather share a compartment with James Potter than with them.

"She has a name, Avery." Severus said coldly.

"It was an honest mistake." Lily shot back to Avery, ignoring Severus' feeble attempt to defend her. As far as she was concerned, he was just like them. He had a new set of "friends" now.

"I'm sorry." Mulciber, a broody slytherin interrupted this exchange of glares between Evans and Avery. "But did Severus just actually acknowledge her presence in front of us?" he spoke in a voice that was neither louder nor softer than a whisper, but its effect was nonetheless haunting. Avery and Lily turned their attention to Mulciber, who was staring at Severus Snape intensely. Crouch, on the other hand, looked distracted and did nothing more than stare out the window.

"Did you just told Avery that this-" he paused and slowly turned to Lily, eyeing her with distaste, his lips contorted into one that could easily be read as disgust, "person has a name?"

Severus made no reply.

"That's right!" Avery reacted, slower than the rest of them said as if he just realized what's been going on. "You said she has a name! Come on Snapey tell us." he sneered. "Still friends with the mudblood here?!" he demanded.

Severus clenched his fists and looked right through them, trying to remain as expressionless as Crouch.

"We're not friends." Lily interrupted the tense silence.

"We were asking Snape, mudblood." Avery shot back.

"Be quiet Avery." Snape responded harshly.

"Defending her again?" Avery teased, baring his teeth. "Well now, I don't think loyalty to one's house is your priority now is it Snape?"

"He wasn't defending me!" Lily interrupted again.

"I SAID QUIET MUDBLOOD!" Avery raised his voice.

"AVERY. SHUT UP."

"QUIT DEFENDING HER SNAPE!" Avery shouted at Snape, spit flying unto the boy's pallid face. "YOU QUIT DEFENDING THIS MUDBLOOD. I THOUGHT YOU SAID SHE WAS TRASH LIKE THE REST OF THEM?!"

"How about-" Crouch interrupted and all four of them stared at the boy whose attention finally turned away from the window. Barty Crouch was a boy with high cheekbones, pale complexion and fair hair that was messy and unkept, but the way he spoke was calm and soothing, not at all like one would expect. "We let Snape deal with it?" he raised an eyebrow. He crossed his arms over to his chest and turned to Snape. "Show her how we treat mudbloods, Snape." and then he turned back to the window.

The air was silent. Everyone turned back to Snape who was paling slightly at this suggestion. He knew what Barty Crouch Jr meant. Crouch meant that by "dealing" with mudbloods, he meant by physical force.

Slowly, he pulled out his wand from the pockets of his second hand robes and stood up. He turned over to Lily and pointed the wand at her.

"Do it." Avery ordered.

"Hex her."

"Stun her."

"Blast her off the train Snape."

"Go on Severus…" Lily lifted her chin and stared at him defiantly.

Whether Snape was about to stun her or not, it didn't matter. In a split second, someone slammed the compartment door shut, the force of the impact injured Snape's outreached hand and his wand dropped, all the while knocking out Avery and Mulciber's heads. The person slammed the sliding compartment door in again, picking up Snape's wand and muttering a lock spell to keep them in.

"Merlin Evans, are you stupid or something?!" James Potter rolled his eyes.

Lily didn't answer. Her lips parted in complete shock.

James narrowed his eyes.

"For the brightest witch in our class, you sure are stupid." he said bluntly with neither a smirk nor a sneer.

"I think I could handle it." Lily said coolly.

"Come of it." James rolled his eyes. "I saved you from having the deal with Snape's stupid crisis and in fact, I bet he secretly thanks whoever knocked them out because he wouldn't have to prove anything to them."

Lily paused, feeling herself getting riled up. He saved her?! SAVED HER?! How dare he…that no good…arrogant…toerag!

"YOU'RE DELUSIONAL POTTER!"

"I think you owe me a thanks Evans."

"For knocking their heads and injuring Severus?!" she raised her voice. "THAT EARNS YOU ANOTHER DETENTION AND YOU KNOW IT!"

James waved it off like it was nothing. It was the little gestures like this that angered her. He treated her anger like it was going to go away. He always had to be right. He always had to say something, and he truly believes the world owes him a favor for existing.

She didn't need to say anything to him. She could simply walk away. It wasn't like she needed to explain things to him, or correct his delusional mind. Let him think what he wanted to think…right?

But whether she admitted it or not, she technically owed him a favor.

But she wasn't going to say it to his face.

She'll take that fact and bury it to her grave.

"Bugger off Potter." she whispered coldly and turned around and walked off with her trunk.

She loathed him. She will loathe him until her dying day.

That bloody Evans. She was always getting on his nerves. He practically saved her and this was how she thanked him?

She annoyed him. How smart and kind she was, how bright and fiery her hair was, just like how she always acted towards him, and her eyes, those bright beautiful green eyes.

Oh yes, Lily Evans was always getting on his nerves. Not that it bothered him, only when she screams at him. For a moment, his thoughts were on Lily when he heard two familiar voices coming from the back.

"MOVE ASIDE!"

James turned and saw his best mate, Sirius Black and Mary MacDonald both on some large black plank thing with wheels on them. He frowned and quickly moved aside. "What in Merlin's name…"

"Hey James!" Mary greeted him as Sirius hopped off the black plank.

"It's a boardskate James? Isn't it cool?" Sirius grinned as Mary skated near them.

"Skateboard, Sirus." she said and frowned as she saw Lily storm off to one of the compartments and slammed the door shut. "Did you make Lily angry again?" she asked and sigh, wondering when her two best mates would ever get on good terms.

"It's not me. I was just saving her from Snape. Don't know why she got so angry." he muttered. He was about to tell them the whole story when the door of the compartment where Snape and his friends were in shook and then opened.

All three of them turned and stared as Snape struggled to open the door. The greasy haired Slytherin glared at James and Sirius.

"Black. Potter."

"Snape." Sirius said, trying not to snigger at him.

While the three had their staring contest, Mary rolled her eyes and her eyes glanced at one of the boys in the compartment who was staring calmly at the window. It took her a while to realise she was staring at Barty Couch Jr when she heard a smirk.

"Like what you see MacDonald? Nice to be back isn't it?" the Slytherin near him said to her.

Mulciber. Mary scowled at him. She never liked him. Actually she hated him to be more exact. "Bugger off." she muttered at him as she carried her skateboard in an arm and pushed Sirius and James to move.

"Come on guys. Peter and Remus are waiting." she said, not wanting the creep to spoil her day.

Mulciber watched MacDonald push Potter and Black back to their own compartment. Personally, Mulciber wasn't one who would start a fight in public. It was too tedious in his opinion. He preferred the darkness, the silence of the dungeons as he painfully torture his favorite victim into oblivion.

"If you stare long enough, it could cause a certain problem." a calm voice that interrupted his thoughts edged him to refocus his attention. Barty Crouch kept calm and wasn't making eye contact, picking his shoelaces as he talked.

"And what problem would that be?" Mulciber asked with slight curiosity.

"In my opinion, it just looks like you were lusting after her." he looked up and shrugged.

Mulciber threw his head back and laughed. Avery, who was busy looking in an erotic magazine looked up and watched the brief exchange between the two and decidedly went back to watching famous witches in their bathing robes.

"Why would I lust after a mudblood?"

"A lot of people say she's pretty." Crouch replied with eerie calmness.

"You're mental, Crouch."

"Perhaps." he said and went back to staring at the window.

Mulciber opened his mouth, he debated whether or not he was going to rile Crouch up but he decided not to. The boy was a strange one. He was quiet, calm and seemingly on the edge about everything. Best not to care when he had his own torture plans in mind.

He couldn't wait until the new school year starts.

Lily Evans was grateful that she finally found a compartment where she could be alone. Her earlier irritation towards Potter left her in a slight temperamental mood but all that vanished as soon as her boyfriend slid inside the compartment with her.

"Amos!" she stood up from her seat and embraced her boyfriend. Her boyfriend for 2 months that started roughly in the beginning of summer was here at last.

Amos Diggory was handsome like no other. He had grey eyes and dirty blonde hair with high cheekbones, but it wasn't his looks that got Lily to go out with him. In was in fact, his sincere genuine humility and sweet gestures that sealed it. She was a romantic, and despite her expectations of starting the new year with seeing her boyfriend first hand, she was not going to let it ruin her fantasy.

"Hi…" Amos whispered and kissed her on the cheek. He let go of her embrace to help put her trunk away.

Lily smiled. That was one of the many things she liked about Amos. He was a gentleman. A gentleman who made her laugh, made her smile and did plenty of things that were classified as romantic whenever they were alone together. He liked her and she liked him, and while she was not completely swept off her feet, she could deal with the lack of originality on his part.

For instance, their first date was in Madam Puddifoot's tea shop. While Lily would rather go someplace else, she appreciated the gesture and it turned out it was a very romantic place to be in. Romantic but predictable.

She wasn't sure she liked predictable.

But despite all that, she was happy to see him. He sat down and they talked, exchanging stories about their summers and how much they missed each other. Lily tried not to laugh at that part, it was only a few weeks they were apart and it wasn't like they hadn't corresponded during that time. They talked about his job, him becoming head boy and Lily with her thoughts on prefect duties.

They talked for hours, kissed for hours and as the sky darkened through the window. Lily closed her eyes and rested her head on her boyfriend's shoulder, wondering if this year was going to work out well.

As soon as the train stopped, a flood of students went out of their compartments. Students old and new changed into their robes and carried their trunks. Hagrid, the gamekeeper ushered the first year students to the boats, while the sixth years walked off to find their carriages. Amos, being headboy and a Hufflepuff had to go ahead to the school to sort out some trivial duties and bid Lily goodnight with a kiss on the cheek.

"What's up sluts?" Marlene McKinnon, a girl with striking blue eyes and dark hair climbed into the carriage already occupied with Lily and Mary. "I see I'm interrupting the two lovebirds." she wiggled her eyebrows with a grin. "But I'm sorry to say that I am here to take a seat.

"MARLENE!" Lily grinned and hugged her best friend, Mary smiled and hugged her as soon as Lily let go. "I MISSED YOU GIRLS."

"Same here." Hestia Jones, a blonde girl entered into the carriage as well and greeted them with a dazzling smile. The four girls exchanged stories about their summers, along with what's been going on and even sharing their O.W.L results.

"I swear, I can't believe I failed History of Magic!" Marlene whined.

"That's a shocker." Hestia replied, "You slept throughout the majority of the class last year, Binns was bound to fail you."

"Like he would look up his notes. Does he even realize that he's a teacher?!" Marlene rolled her eyes.

It went on like this for throughout the carriage ride. Mary told them about her new skateboard, Marlene of course, the only pureblood in the carriage watched the plank with fascination. Hestia teased Lily about Amos with consistent badgering from Mary and Marlene alike.

"I am not sharing bits and pieces about his secrets!" Lily flushed ever so slightly as soon as Marlene asked if Amos was a virgin or not. Mary and Hestia howled in laughter and the four friends went inside the castle with the rest of the students. The first years have yet to arrive from the other side of the door and they were hungry.

The sorting ceremony went on like it usually did, after "Zabini, Alana" was sorted into Slytherin. Professor Dumbledore stood up and raised both arms.

"One last announcement I believe." his eyes twinkled amusingly at the resounding groan from all four tables. "I believe that the forbidden forest in called forbidden for a reason, and I would like to welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," he gestured a man who looked to be in his early 30's. "Everyone, please welcome Professor Elias Hawkstern." he smiled and clapped, the rest of the students and faculty clapped as the new teacher stood up and bowed.

"He's cute." one girl whispered to her friend in Ravenclaw.

"His eyes…they're so blue…" Rahsmi Patil gushed to Mafalda Hopkirk.

"I think I'm gonna like Defense this year." another girl winked at her friend.

"I'M GONNA MURDER YOU MACDONALD!" a voice rang out throughout the Great Hall.

"Oh bugger." Marlene rolled her eyes as she heard the girls gush about the new professor. Marlene glanced to take a good look at the new professor that Dumbledore introduced herself, and for once in her life, she held back a breath. Alright, now she knew why they were gushing over him.

Marlene hated to admit it, but the new professor was dashing. "Elias Hawkstern." she muttered under her breath.

She heard a smirk next to her and she turned and rolled her eyes at Mary. "What?" she asked her best friend and raised an eyebrow. Before Mary could say anything, a familiar annoying voice rang out throughout the Great Hall.

"I'M GONNA MURDER YOU MACDONALD!"

"Oh, great." Mary muttered and turned to face a red-faced Dorkis Purkiss marching over to her, and every pair of eye in the room turned to face them. Mary rolled her eyes. Dorkis Purkiss had been an annoyance as far as Mary could remember. Though they were in the same house, (Mary had no idea how she could be sorted into Gryffindor), they could not stand each other and would always end up at loggerheads. She didn't remember how their feud began or why, but she was pretty sure Dorkis was jealous of her for whatever reason.

Mary cooly and calmly stood up and folded her arms. "What do you want, Purkiss?" At the corner of her eyes, she saw a professor standing, but was stopped by Dumbledore.

"You bloody witch, admit it! You did it!" Dorkis shouted.

"Did what?" Mary frowned, tired of Dorkis and her attitude.

"Did this!" Dorkis said and threw a poster of which Dorkis' lips were made bigger than usual with the captions "Do you want to kiss me?" printed below. Mary could not help but laugh loudly. A Gryffindor snatched the poster from her and almost everyone burst out laughing.

"You really think I would have done this childish act?" Mary sniggered.

"Yes, of course you would. You're jealous of me." Dorkis said arrogantly and flipped her hair over her shoulders. "You're just jealous I have Stubby now."

Mary howled in laughter and the whole hall turned to look at her. "Jealous of you and Stubby?" she said in disbelief. "Why would I be jealous of you? You're nothing but cheap. I can't believe you cheated on my brother for that." she said and pointed to Stubby who looked shocked. "No offence." she said to him and turned back to face Dorkis when she felt a slap on her face.

Dorkis Purkiss did not slap Mary MacDonald. She should have known better than to slap her.

The next thing Dorkis knew, she was on the ground and Mary's fist was approaching her face. She should have known better than to slap Mary. She had forgotten Mary was in the Quidditch team, and well she worked out a lot. But she wasn't going to let her win.

The whole hall started crowding around them. "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

She struggled to push Mary when a hand came and pulled them apart.

"LADIES! STOP IT THIS INSTANT." A voice bellowed in their ear and the two girls looked up.

"Detention." Professor Hawkstern said as she struggled to prevent Mary from getting her hands on Dorkis. "That's an extra week for you Miss MacDonald. The rest of you! Back to your tables!"

Mary frowned and folded her arms. The school term was not starting as she had planned.