A/N: This is my first time writing a Marauder's Era fanfiction. I've attempted Harry and Ginny a few times. Ron and Hermione once. They never made t to the stage where I thought they could be published. Bear with me.

Back At It

There would be drama, as always. There would be awkward rejections and even more awkward dates. Hogwarts would always have its fair share of drama, and the 1977-'78 school year was definitely no exception. In fact, if you asked any of the sixth years (particularly those in Gryffindor), they may say it was the most drama they'd had in their years at the school. That's for you to decide, though.

And anyway, who starts a story with the end?

Lily Evans, about to start her sixth year, was currently on Platform 9¾, awaiting her friends Marlene McKinnon, Alice Prewett, Emmeline Vance and Mary Macdonald. Whilst her closest mates hadn't arrived yet, she had a clear view of the Marauders fooling about as per the usual. More than once, she had considered going over and greeting them, as she was friends with Remus Lupin. The only thing holding her back was the tallest of the four. James Potter, tall, with his messy raven hair and hazel eyes, not to mention he was Quidditch captain, so one could only assume he had all the girls swooning. Oh, and he did. He could have just about any girl he wanted. Any girl, that wasn't named Lily Evans, that is. Because, well, to put it lightly, she hated him.

James Potter, also about to start sixth year, was also currently on Platform 9¾, planning out a fantastic sixth year with his best mates, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. He could see, just over Remus' shoulder, Lily Evans, presumably waiting for her friends with an occasional, puzzling glance in the Marauders' direction. Man, was she beautiful. Her waving red hair fell just past her shoulders and brought out her bright green eyes spectacularly. Too bad she hated him. Not as though that stopped him from asking her out. Call it optimism. If Marlene McKinnon's tally was correct, he'd asked her out a mere two hundred and seventy three times since second year.

"Oi! Prongs! I know you're staring at Lily over my shoulder…James!" Remus sighed, waving his hand in front of his mate's face.

"Right. Sorry. What were you saying?" James tore his eyes away from the redhead as his friends tried to conduct conversation.

"I was trying to tell you I was actually going to go over and say hello to Lily, if you'd like to join me rather than staring at her. You're beginning to look a bit like a stalker."

"Beginning?" Sirius interrupted incredulously. "He's been staring since she got here."

"Yeah, I'll join you Moony. Let's go." James ran his fingers through his hair again and started to turn back, "You know I don't-" Sirius promptly shoved him back towards Lily, newly accompanied by Remus. James glanced over his shoulder at Sirius, who was grinning mutinously.

"Alright, Evans? Did ya miss me?" James grinned.

"Oh, you know me so well, Potter." She said, voice dripping with sarcasm. Remus grinned and shook his head at the two.

Before James could reply, Mary Macdonald and Emmeline Vance approached the trio, greeting them and joining in the chatter, which had switched from Lily's missing James, to classes. James motioned for Sirius and Peter to join them, which they did.

Alright, so maybe Lily didn't hate him, per se. Not, all the time at least. Sometimes he was even a half decent bloke. But, even so, there were times where she felt as if never seeing him again would be too soon. Like when he was hexing random students, just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or perpetually targeting Lily's ex-best friend, Severus Snape, or, the most humiliating for Lily personally, asking her out. Two hundred and seventy four times. Right now, for instance, he was actually being quite nice, and when Lily glanced over at him, the sides of his mouth turned up in a slight grin, which, shockingly, she nearly returned. She would've too, if she hadn't spotted Severus right behind him and she suddenly had a squirming unpleasant feeling in her stomach.

Marlene had been ridiculously late, as usual, arriving only two minutes before the train left. The five girls, in addition to Alice's boyfriend, Frank, and Mary's on-again-off-again boyfriend, Nate, had settled into a compartment, carrying on casual conversation.

A few hours into the journey, the conversation had died down, seeing as majority of the compartment was missing or sleeping. Marlene and Emmeline had finished their game of Exploding Snap and were dozing. Alice leaned against the window sprawled in the seat, snoring lightly. Nate had left to find some of his friends, Mary was reading the Daily Prophet and Lily had just returned from the prefects meeting. Frank, as a seventh year, had been awarded the position of Head Boy and had duties to be attending to.

"Hey Mary, how was your summer?" Lily questioned, settling herself in for the rest of the ride. Mary animatedly told Lily of her family's holiday in Peru, keeping them both entertained for a fair while longer til the rest woke up.

The Feast went smoothly and, the food, as always, was fantastic. The Marauders (excluding Remus, he had prefect duties) headed up to Gryffindor Common Room, not passing any opportunity to confuse the first years, resulting in them being shooed by the prefects, Remus included, though he did so while chuckling lightly.

"Those house elves are bloody brilliant, how does the food always manage to be so good?" James was sprawled across a couch in the Common Room. Sirius, Remus, and Peter were all about him in similar positions on other couches and chairs.

"Potter, must you take up an entire couch, I do realize you think you're special, and you are, just not in the way you seem to think." Sirius stifled a laugh, while Remus and Peter grinned.

"Hypothetically, if I were to move, would that have any affect on your response to 'Go out with me, Evans,' you know, hypothetically?"

"You are impossible, you know that?" Groaning, Lily retreated to the girls' dormitories.

"Oi! Marly!" Sirius called to the witch seated at the couch behind him, "D'you reckon that counts to your tally against dear old James?"

"Ah, Black, you underestimate me, I've already counted it." The average height, blonde-haired, grey-eyed witch shot him a grin. "Sorry, Potter!"

"Ya know, McKinnon, your faith in me is overwhelming." James sighed, rising from the couch, "I'm off to bed. Have fun taking the mickey."

"It's a bit early, innit Potter? What time is it? 7:30?" Marlene interjected.

"Right. Maybe I'll just go for a walk around the grounds. Yeah, I'm going for a walk."

About three hours later, well after curfew, James re-entered the Common Room, to find only a few stragglers left in the room. Lily Evans, he noticed was one of them. She was leaning over a long piece of parchment, scrawling feverishly.

"Evans, it helps if you stop to think whilst you write." James flopped onto the couch beside her. After scribbling at least three more lines, she looked up.

"You know Potter, if you minded your business every once in a while, maybe everyone wouldn't find you so insufferable.

"Quite the contrary, Lils, you're the only one who finds me insufferable," Lily opened her mouth to speak, but James beat her. "Except the Slytherins, who, by the by, only hate me because we always beat them in Quidditch."

"You really are so incredibly big-headed, aren't you? I always assumed one couldn't possibly be that arrogant, and that it was all an act, but, I suppose that's because I'm such an optimist, although, I suppose it all could still be an act, couldn't it?" James stared at her, bewildered that someone could talk that quickly and expect anyone to understand her. "Why are you staring at me, Potter?"

"Because I haven't the slightest clue what you're on about, but you seem really bloody excited, what with how fast you're talking." Lily flushed. Lily Goddamn Evans blushed at something James Potter said. This day would go down in history books.

"Right, sorry. I get like that when I come up with an idea or a plan or something. Sorry, again. I'll just be going upstairs, then." She gathered all her books, parchment and quills she had spread everywhere. She hurried towards the stairs, nearly forgetting the parchment that had all of her work on it.

"Evans," James started towards her holding the parchment. "Are you sure you're quite alright? You seem a bit… off."

"Thanks," she reached out and took the parchment back. "And I'm quite fine thank you, just tired is all. G'night.

"Right… night Evans.

A/N: That wasn't too horrific, was it? I hope not. I'll put the next chapter up as soon as possible.