James stepped on to the Hogwarts Express and looked around.
He waited to see the familiar flaming red locks before going to his friends compartment, as he did each year. As usual, she sat with her three closest friends, Cathy Grant, Enya Clover, and Sam Cassidy.
He could see her smiling, laughing at something Enya said, which from the way she looked down at the floor, still laughing, was probably teasing directed at her. He smiled, hoping it was about him, and went to the long- claimed Marauders compartment.
'Prongs! It's about time man, jeez I've been here with Wormtail and Juicy (a frog), Moony and Moony's book, just feeling like a fifth wheel! What happened? Was lily persuaded to talk to you this year? (At this Wormtail and Moony, aka Peter and Remus looked up, the conversation having taken an interesting turn).
James sat down and picked up a chocolate frog, which was lying in a small mountain of them on their table, and promptly threw it at his friend's head. Sirius ducked and grinned, having succeeded in slagging his friend within two minutes of greeting him.
'Nope, but it doesn't matter. This year it's going to happen,' he replied cheerfully, fully confident in his predictions. 'Déjà vu,' sighed Remus, shaking his head.
The most thoughtful, mature member of the Marauders, he watched James' attempts to win the affections of Lily Evans, vibrant, popular, belle of Hogwarts, year after year with amusement and some pity. Though James and Sirius were known throughout Hogwarts as being the most popular of bad boys, James did not have a chance with Lily, the one girl who thought his pranks were childish and sometimes cruel, rather than hilarious, his looks mediocre not cute, and his talents showy not impressive. He himself was the only Marauder Lily considered a friend, and he knew her well enough to know that was as close as she planned on getting to any Marauder.
Snapping out of his reverie, he put down his book, took a frog and grabbed Peter's before it jumped out the window. Then he started practicing his levitating charms.
