I'm terrible for starting fanfictions and never finishing them, but I'm determined to finish this one and Serpent's Kiss. Because I got a new laptop however, I have to move everything from my old one onto this one. Anyways, enjoy the first chapter of Lion's Heart.

First Year

Althea Morgan, clenched her fingers in the folds of her robes as she stepped off the Hogwarts Express. It was her first year at school and she was undeniably nervous. She was the first of her family in centuries to attend a wizarding school, hailing from the fact that her family was comprised of mostly Muggles, however she knew that a few ancestors had been wizards or witches. Though she was only eleven, she wasn't naïve. She realized that being a Muggle-born witch, was practically the same as a death sentence in the world with the rise of Voldemort. Looking around, at the wizards and witches surrounding her she wondered how many of them agreed with Voldemort's opinions.

Probably too many, she thought. She felt tears gather in her eyes, and clenched her jaw to keep them from falling. She shuffled forward, keeping her head down. Someone bumped into her back, and she stumbled.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," the person who had bumped into her said.

Althea turned around, and smiled at the redhead, "You're fine."

"I should have been watching where I was going," the redhead said seeming to ignore Althea completely. Then she blinked and stuck out her hand, "I'm Lily Evans."

"Althea Morgan," she replied with a smile, shaking the girl's hand.

It was then she took notice of the dark-haired boy standing like a sentry over Lily's shoulder. Lily turned, following Althea's eyes and beamed.

"This is my best friend, Severus Snape," she said proudly.

Severus nodded coolly to Althea but didn't say anything. Althea smiled a little awkwardly and turned back to the front as Professor McGonagall led them into the Great Hall. Standing in front of the crowd of people, Althea felt her stomach drop. She hated being the center of attention. At least it wasn't just me, she thought. Professor Dumbledore, stood up and without preamble began to read from a parchment of paper that had appeared out of thin air.

"Sirius Black!"

The Sorting Hat was set on the unruly black hair of a boy with glittering eyes, and immediately burst out, "Gryffindor!"

Boos and hisses erupted from the students clad in green and silver – Slytherins, Althea thought – and the boy flushed, but raised his head proudly. More and more students were called up in front, but Althea hardly paid attention. Her eyes tracked the movements of a tall, lanky boy with sandy hair and golden eyes.

"Remus Lupin!"

The boy jumped and hurried up to the Sorting Hat. "Gryffindor!"

Althea glanced over her shoulder at the Gryffindor table where Lily was seated beside the boy with black hair – Sirius – and now Remus. I hope I'm put in Gryffindor, Althea thought. If I'm not I doubt Lily and I will even be friends anymore. From what it seems rivalry between the Houses are encouraged and friendships are not.

"Althea Morgan!"

Her stomach dropped. She ascended the steps and plopped down on the stool. Dumbledore smiled kindly at her, as the Hat was placed on her wild mass of blonde curls.

A pause.

Then, "Gryffindor!"

Althea beamed, taking the hat off her head and rushed over to Lily who greeted her exuberantly and introduced her to Sirius and Remus.

Leaning in close to her Lily whispered, "They seem nice enough, but Sirius seems like a prankster."

The disdain in her voice for the other boy made Althea fight a smile. Like her, it seemed that Lily was one who liked to follow the rules. Althea couldn't blame her; rules were put in place for a reason.

"James Potter!"

"Gryffindor!"

And just like that, everything in her life would change. Although she didn't know it yet.

Second Year

Lily scowled as the two girls walked to Potions together. James had once again asked her out, much to her humiliation. Althea could understand that it was annoying – he had been asking Lily out nearly every day, since first year after all – but at the same time, she thought that Lily should at least be a little flattered. Sure, James Pott was a prick at times and he had no respect at all for the rules but he was charismatic and cute, and he was able to make people laugh. With Voldemort continuing to rise in power, Althea figured that they all needed a good laugh once and awhile.

But that did nothing to change Lily's mind who maintained that James Potter was just a prick, and that was all he would ever be. They entered the Potions room, and Althea noticed Lily look toward Severus. She sighed. She felt bad for Lily, because from what she had been able to see Severus and Lily had been close but now they were in different Houses – Houses that hated each other – and their friendship while it was still strong, was not as strong as it used to be.

Laughing raucously, the quartet made up of Sirius, James, Remus, and shy, pudgy Peter Pettigrew entered the room. Lily wrinkled her nose and slammed her Potions book onto the table, sitting huffily in her seat as Sirius not-so-inconspicuously cast a jinx at Severus which made his cauldron fly high into the air. Every time he reached out to grab it, it would float away. Lily huffed through her nose and got to her feet irritably, whipping out her wand and saying the counter jinx.

"Grow up, Black," Lily snarled, sitting back down huffily in her seat again.

Althea glanced between the quartet of smug looking boys and Lily, a frown crossing her delicate features. Turning to Lily she wrapped an arm around her friend, "Don't let them get to you. They're just immature and it will get them in trouble someday."

She was proved right when ten minutes later, Slughorn walked in caught the boys horsing around and trying to mess with Severus and gave them all detentions.

"See?" Althea told Lily smugly as sullen expressions appeared on the boys' faces. "I told you so."

Lily only grinned.

Fifth Year

Third and fourth year were quite boring for Althea and Hogwarts in general. Nothing truly interesting had happened, aside from Remus, Sirius, James, and Peter coming to be known as the Marauders. Althea shook her head. Honestly, they are so immature still, she thought. Well, except for Remus, she amended. Out of all the Marauders the one that she liked the most was Remus – he was studious, didn't often get detentions, and was also quite good-looking. However, he was still a Marauder and that meant that he was off-limits, at least in Lily's eyes.

Althea could never understand why Lily seemed to detest the Marauders as a whole. Sirius and James, she understood, but Pettigrew was harmless and Remus was too sweet and smart to really do any harm. Unless of course the two of them went along with one of James's harebrained schemes. Althea finished her Defense Against the Dark Arts essay, and slammed the book closed leaning back against the couch. Lily walked into the Common Room just then, looking flushed and happy. Her face broke into a wide smile and Lily sped towards the petite blonde. Seizing Althea's arm, she pulled her up and into the corner of the Common Room where they were less likely to be overheard.

"Guess what?" Lily whispered, bouncing on her feet excitedly. Althea raised her eyebrows, a patient smile on her face. "Ryland Smith, that cute Ravenclaw Prefect, asked me out! Can you believe it, Thea?"

"No," Althea deadpanned. Lily frowned. "I'm just kidding Lils, of course I can. You're gorgeous and you're insanely smart, a perfect match for a Ravenclaw Prefect."

Lily sighed dreamily, "I hope you're right." She directed a scowl toward the Marauders, "I only hope that they don't mess this up for me."

Althea sighed, casting her own glance at the Marauders. She hoped that for Lily's sake they wouldn't mess this up. She hadn't seen Lily this happy about a boy since last year, when Lily had started dating Alaric Greene, a Hufflepuff. The two had only been out on a few dates, but Althea could have seen it going somewhere until James stepped in, played a prank on the poor Hufflepuff, horribly embarrassing him and declared Lily off limits. She would never forget the look on Lily's face as Alaric stumbled to the Hospital Wing, and refused to see her or accept her apologies. For days Lily was heartbroken, and when she finally snapped out of it she wasn't the same.

Now, looking at her friend, Althea was pleased to see that she had bounced back. But she wouldn't put it past James Potter to somehow ruin this for Lily.

"I can talk to him if you'd like," Althea volunteered.

Lily looked at her coyly, "You're only saying that so you can go talk to Remus." Her cheeks flared and she shook her head vehemently, but wasn't able to deny what Lily said. Lily sighed, "Alright. Good luck, then. I have to finish my Charms essay, and my Transfiguration essay."

With that Lily headed upstairs and Althea marched over to the Marauders, who looked startled. Remus ducked his head, his cheeks burning when his eyes met Althea's bright blue.

Pointing her wand at James Potter she said, "Lily going on dates is not a concern of yours. And so, help me Merlin, if you mess up any chance that she has at happiness I will hex you into oblivion."

James's eyes widened, "She has a date?"

Althea rolled her eyes. "If she does it is no concern of yours. You are not her friend, you are not her boyfriend, and you are not her brother, so it is none of your business. You ruined her last relationship, and you should not ruin any other relationships of hers. That goes for the rest of you." She sent a stern look at the other Marauders, and Pettigrew cowered in fear.

James raised his hands in a gesture of surrender but Althea didn't believe him.

"I mean it Potter. Leave her alone." She snarled, spinning on her heel and marching toward the girl's dormitory.

The shocked and surprised Marauders looked at each other, and then at Remus.

"I can't believe you like her Moony, she's absolutely mental!" Sirius gasped.

"Not mental, just protective of her friends," Remus corrected. He fixed James with a stern look, "This wouldn't have happened if you didn't continuously pine publicly after Lily, and try to get her attention."

"So, you're blaming me for this?" He snapped, frowning.

"He's got a point mate," Sirius said, and winced a little at the venomous look James directed toward him. "Hear me out, Prongs. You always pine after Lily, and if her attention isn't on you, you do something elaborate to gain her attention. Usually what you do is something negative like picking on Snivellus or some helpless first years, or pulling a prank in which she accidentally becomes the victim of. Maybe, just maybe you should lay off on your ostentatious displays of affection?"

"But how else will she notice me?" he mumbled, sounding like a lost child.

"I don't know," Sirius shrugged.

Remus jumped in, "Try to be her friend, James."

He seemed to perk up a little but not much. Then he slyly asked, "So how do you plan on getting Morgan's attention?"

The only response was a pillow smacking him in the face.

Sixth Year

"So, you and Ryland are still going strong?" Althea asked as she and Lily headed outside.

It was a surprisingly nice day, with the sun shining and no clouds. The air was a little humid, but overall it was a pleasant day, one that all the students of Hogwarts seemed to want to take advantage of. Lily nodded, smiling brightly as she pulled out a piece of parchment from her robes.

"He sent this to me last night," she told Althea dreamily. "I had no idea that he could be so eloquent."

Althea snatched the letter out of Lily's hands.

My dearest Lily,

Words cannot express how much I have missed you. I truly wish that we could spend more time together but the duties of Head Boy are never-ending, however I am determined to find a way to spend more time with you. A Quidditch match is coming up, and as neither of us like the sport that much I was hoping that we could possibly find something to do together?

Love,

Ryland

"I wouldn't say it's eloquent Lily, but it is rather sweet," Althea told her handing Lily the letter back. "So, are you going to skip the Quidditch match?"

"Of course," Lily said as if it should be obvious.

"I don't blame you," Althea murmured, "if I could skip the match, I would."

Lily smiled. Althea's cheeks burned and she ducked her head. Althea had never really held an interest in Quidditch, but she went as an excuse to sit next to Remus however she would often bring homework with her as she would quickly grow tired of the matches, finding them dull and rather boring. When he had seen that she did her homework during the matches, but was struggling with some of her subjects Remus had offered to help and Quidditch time turned into Althea and Remus time. Just thinking of spending time with Remus made her toes curl and butterflies formed in her stomach.

She wouldn't say that she knew Remus very well, but slowly they were growing much closer. Althea sighed. However long it took, she was willing to wait for him. She brushed a blonde curl behind her ears.

"Lily!" Someone shouted.

Both girls turned and Althea's grin fell a little when she saw Ryland. "Go," she told Lily who was looking longingly in the direction of her boyfriend. "I'll just do my homework by the lake."

Lily cast her an apologetic look, but Althea had already turned around, and rushed off to meet her boyfriend. Althea dropped her bag to the ground, and sat down, leaning against a tree. The breeze coming in from the lake felt nice against the hot air, and Althea sighed contentedly.

"What's this Padfoot? A Gryffindor all by herself without her usual partner in crime?" James's mocking voice asked.

Althea sighed, opening her eyes and frowning at the Marauders. "What do you want Potter?"

James shrugged, Sirius smiled lopsidedly, Peter shuffled his feet, and Remus's eyes just softened as he looked at her.

"Well if you don't want anything, please quiet down. I have plenty of homework to work on," Althea told them.

"Arithmancy and Ancient Runes?" Remus asked with a small, miniscule smile and the Marauders looked at him in surprise as Althea smiled back her cheeks flushing red.

"As a matter of fact, yes Remus." She looked a little unsure, "Would you mind helping me?" A surprised expression crossed her face and she hurried to explain, "It's just I don't understand anything at all. My last essay I got an Acceptable, and I'm afraid I'll do even worse now that we're moving onto the harder material."

Remus smiled then, a true, genuine full-blown smile. "Of course, I'll help you," he said, walking over and sitting on the grass beside her. "It is our normal homework day, anyways."

"Thank you," Althea breathed looking at him with gratitude.

He only blushed, and quickly began to explain the theory behind Arithmancy.

Perplexed James and Sirius looked at each other. In a whisper, James asked, "Since when did they get so close?"

"No idea mate," Sirius answered, equally as stumped. He looked at them for a minute, "They make a kind of cute, if not nerdy looking couple."

"We are not a couple," Remus and Althea said in unison without looking up from the Arithmancy book splayed across both of their laps.

Althea bit her lip, fighting a smile. Maybe there was hope after all.