Hey guys! This is my first Fanfiction, so I hope you like it. The first two chapters (actually the first two years) of Lily and James' story are kind of slow, but it gets better, I promise.
All rights reserved to the Magnificent and Magical J. K. Rowling. ;)
Lily Evans turned to stare at the magnificent Hogwarts Express with a mixture of excitement, exasperation, and, not that she would ever admit, a twinge of fear. Her parents had just hauled off her whining older sister – Petunia, or Tuney – back to their safe and familiar muggle world. Being the only one with magic in her family had been slightly trying on all of them, what with Petunia's attitude on the matter. Her parents had dragged Tuney away after a blow out with Lily only moments before hand.
Her best friend Severus Snape stood a ways back listening to his sour faced mother speak fiercely in hushed tones. They had made previous arrangements to meet up later on the train, rather than in the crowded platform with – in most cases, though clearly not Severus's – families and parents fondly bidding their loved ones goodbye and a safe school year.
Lily sighed sadly and was about to board the train when she spotted a scrawny boy, about her age, with messy black hair and glasses sneakily put some brown, almost chocolaty resembling frog down another boy's back. The other boy squirmed vigorously, attempting to rid himself of the thing. The one with the unkempt hair doubled over in laughter at the other wizard's expense.
An older girl, already dressed in her Slytherin robes with an air of coldness about her, caught Lily give a little snicker at the boy's modest prank, which had momentarily brightened her mood, as she headed towards the train, bag in tow. The girl gave a disgusted sneer at the two boys, though her eyes seemed harsher when they fell upon the prank's victim.
"I'd save it if I were you. He's trouble." She sauntered off, platinum blonde hair swishing perfectly behind her. Lily wasn't quite sure of what to make of the girl's distain.
Five minutes later Lily sat in an empty compartment near the very back of the train. After having loaded her suitcase, she had promptly pulled out a thick text called Hogwarts, A History, and became immediately engrossed in its words, trying to distract herself from her disturbed thoughts of her fight with Petunia.
Lily heard a ruckus of laughter emanating just beyond her compartment when the door suddenly flew open to reveal the dark haired boy and apparently, his new friend. She looked up as the tousled haired boy stopped short at the sight of her, causing his friend to bump him further into the compartment. For a moment he just stared, making color slowly rise to Lily's cheeks. Why wasn't he saying anything? His companion gave him a curious look before pushing past his stilled figure to stand before Lily.
"Sirius Black. Who might you be?" he asked, giving her a charming smile.
"Lily. Evans." She stuck out her chin defiantly, as if challenging him to say otherwise. "Who's your friend?" Her eyes flickered cautiously towards the temporarily muted boy, the Slytherin girl's warning playing in the back of her mind. Sirius' friend snapped out of his current state and put on a breezy smile. Lily didn't fail to notice a mischievous glint in his eyes.
"Potter. James." He offered a handshake and Lily took it hesitantly. As soon as she grasped his outstretched hand, he jerked her forward and they both crashed onto the seats opposite of her previous position, her halfway sprawled on top of him. Lily became consciously aware of a throbbing pain on her jaw as James turned, is face far too close for comfort, and cocked an eyebrow while breaking into a mischievous half-grin. "Nice to meet you."
Lily felt her cheeks boil as both boys started cackling at Potter's prank. She threw his and hand down hotly and bolted up, looking as if her head might explode. She was not in the mood to deal with their tricks.
"You both realize you're eleven don't you?" she emphasized their age with a tone of disgust. They looked at each other with identical smirks, as if to say "Like that matters."
"C'mon mate, I don't think we're welcome here anymore. Let's go find that Remus kid again." Sirius chuckled. James gave an indifferent shrug and gracefully hoped to his feet, running a hand through his messy hair.
Lily scowled as she rubbed her jaw bone. Before entirely leaving, James turned to poke is head back trough the door.
"Hey Evans," Lily looked up fiercely to meet his hazel eyes. "If you need anyone to kiss that better, just call."
"Get out!" She yelled incredulously.
Grinning, he disappeared, but Lily could still hear Sirius outside the compartment as they walked away, asking him, "Jamesie man, what happened? You were so quiet, for a minute there I thought you were going to be sick or something."
"I may as well have Sirius. . ." Was all Lily caught before their voices drifted off and became enveloped into the loud, busy life of the train. Sighing heavily, Lily wondered what kind of life she would experience at Hogwarts. So far, she wasn't off to a great start, she thought grumpily. She turned back to the comfort of her book.
Several minutes later a plump boy with mousey colored hair stumbled in. Attempting to straighten himself, he nervously squeaked out, "Um. . . I don't suppose you'd mind my staying here? The train's all full see. . ." Lily took pity on his meek form and forced a reassuring smile.
"Sure." The two sat in awkward silence for a brief moment – Lily wondering if she should introduce herself - before the door slide aside once more.
Oh what could it be now?
A slightly tattered, intelligent looking boy with light brown hair walked in. Lily noticed a small scar on his jaw and several scratches on both his hands. He opened his mouth to speak but Black and Potter burst into the room behind him, knocking the boy forward.
"Oi! Sirius, stop running into people! You're going to give us all bruises." Lily glared at Potter.
"I thought I told you to get lost." To her surprise, the brown haired boy answered for him.
"Train's already full. Hi, I'm Remus." Lily tried to smile warmly at Remus, but it proved to be a difficult task. She wasn't in the mood to deal with four unfamiliar boys after her morning, two of which had already caused her trouble. Luckily for her, the three in the doorway turned their attention to the boy sitting across from Lily. He introduced himself as Peter Pettigrew and the four of them started up conversations of Quidditch and left the small redhead alone to her miserable feelings. She turned and slumped her head against the window, watching the world swish by. She could feel Potter's gaze on her for a brief moment, but was glad when he turned away and continued in with the others' chatter.
Come on Evans, you should be doing better than this. You're on your way to Hogwarts! It didn't work. Her sister's cruel words from the platform echoed through her thoughts.
"You think I want to be a – a freak?"
Lily knew Petunia had only been mad because she found out that Lily and Severus had read Dumbledore's reply to her request of joining Lily at Hogwarts, but it still hurt. After Dumbledore kindly explained that possessing magic was something you were born with, and Petunia would never be able to develop the gift, she became thoroughly disdainful of Lily's talent. They had used to be quite close, but, as of late. . . Well, Petunia's words spoke for her actions.
"Freak!"
A slow tear trickled down her face as the door opened yet again. Lily glanced over to see Severus entering, already dressed in his school robes. He sat down and she peered out the window again.
"I don't want to talk to you." She said in a tight voice.
"Why not?"
"Tuney h-hates me. Because we saw that letter from Dumbledore." Oh great, now her voice was shaking. She had to do better than that. Lily cleared her voice quietly, hoping Severus wouldn't notice.
"So what?"
Lily shot him a dark look.
"So she's my sister!"
"She's only a -" He caught himself before saying "muggle" as Lily wiped her tears, barely paying his comment any attention.
Severus's voice changed to excitement as he piped, "But we're going! This is it! We're off to Hogwarts!" Lily nodded and gave a half smile in spite of herself.
"You'd better be in Slytherin," Severus said.
"Slytherin?" Potter tore himself away from the foursome and broke into Lily and Severus' discussion. "Who wants to be in Slytherin? I'd think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" His question seemed more directed towards Sirius, who looked grim.
"My whole family have been in Slytherin," he said.
"Blimey. And I thought you seemed all right!"
Sirius grinned replying, "Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got a choice?"
Potter pretended to brandish a sword.
"'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!' Like my dad."
Much to Lily's dislike, Severus made a rude, disparaging noise, making James turn back to him.
"Got a problem with that?"
"No," Severus sneered, "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy -"
"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" Sirius countered. He and Sirius roared with laughter and Lily sat up. She couldn't take these two anymore. Grabbing her trunks, she said, "Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment."
"Ooooooh . . ." James tried to trip Severus as he and Lily headed for the door.
"See ya, Snivellus!"
Lily slammed the door while she and Severus searched for other first years. They passed a few doorways in the hallway before ending up in one with two girls. One had a cute, blonde cut and the other sported a long black mane that shined like a model's. Both anxiously looked up from their conversation at the unexpected arrival of Lily and Severus.
"Hi . . . erm, the train's all full. And, there was a few, ah, pests, in our last compartment. Mind if we join you?" Lily stammered.
The blonde girl's eyes brightened and smiled cheerfully, displaying a perfect set of pearly teeth.
"Sure. I'm Mary McDonald, and this here is Alice," she gestured to the girl sitting across her.
"Levily," Alice offered her surname and an outstretched hand. She looked rather bored and had a voice that sounded of sandpaper. Lily took the hand appreciating and said, "I'm Lily Evans. And this is my best friend, Severus Snape."
The two girls' smiles dropped slightly as they eyed Severus in his tattered robes. They all chattered aimlessly, Lily carefully avoiding bringing up the topic of Houses again. She liked these girls, and didn't want Severus to mess it up. It was funny to watch them both interact; their personalities were as different as their appearance. Mary was bouncy, enthusiastic about almost everything, and loved to talk. Alice was laid-back and appeared to be indifferent about almost all topics, only showing very small amounts – if any – of emotion towards a subject, and hardly speaking at all. When she did her voice sounded toneless, but Lily was quick to figure out how to read her.
They felt the train start to slow and hurried to change into their school robes. Once the girls went back to the awaiting Severus, they gathered their trunks and filed into the crammed hallways with the other students. When the train stopped and everyone rushed out, they were greeted by a booming voice.
"Firs' years! Firs' years over here now!"
Dozens of eleven year olds gaped at the giant man that stood before them. He had to be over 8 feet tall, but no one could jump high enough to tell the full extent of his height, though many tried. He had a scraggily tangled beard that intertwined with his long brown hair, barely revealing his kind, black eyes.
"Firs' years this way! Firs' years – have a nice break McKinnons? Try to stay outta trouble this round, yeh here? – Firs' years! Tha' everyone? Righ'. Follow me then!" He turned and led the children down a steep narrow path, flanked by thick greenery on either sides.
"Name's Rubeus Hagrid – mind yer step there! – Keeper of the Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. You lot can call me Hagrid. Now, yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec here," He announced over his giant shoulders.
The path opened up to a huge black lake spotted with wooden boats at its shore. Across from the water stood an enormous castle perched atop a mountain with the starry sky as its backdrop. Lily sucked in her breathe at the sight of it.
Hogwarts. She'd finally made it.
"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called.
"Hey Evans! Wanna take a ride on the love boat?"
Lily jumped at the sound of Potter's voice breaking through her trance.
How immature was he? Scowling, she turned and headed for a boat on her right, not bothering to check if Severus was following. Potter snickered as he and the three other boys from her first compartment climbed into a boat, Potter jumping in last making the whole thing rock uncontrollably, threatening to tip over.
"Watch it ov'r there, don' wanna see anyone get dumped in ter the Black Lake. The Giant Squid might get ter yeh," Hagrid shot the boy a pointed stare, eyebrows raised.
Mary caught up to Lily as she swung a leg over the boat.
"Who's that?" She asked, looking over towards James Potter.
Lily glanced over as the boy leaned far over the edge, taunting a frightened Peter that he would tip the vessel over. She turned back to Mary, jutting out her chin.
"Trouble," she said.