Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, never have, never will...so don't sue me!
Chapter One
It's not that I don't like him, I just don't care
"...did you see that Gary? I swear, that boy just disappeared into the wall!"
"Don't be stupid, how much have you had to drink? For Christ's sake, it's not even eleven yet!"
"I haven't been drinking! I swear, that tall boy with the glasses, he just walked through a wall!"
"You're an idiot".
A petite girl surveyed the scene before her, azure eyes sparkling with amusement. The two men, one of whom was vehemently protesting he was in fact sober as a judge, continued to quarrel as they made their way through the station. Dragging her gaze away from the men, the girl glanced around, before pushing a large trolley towards the very same wall the two men had been arguing about, and disappeared.
There it was. The Hogwarts Express, gleaming in all its scarlet glory, waited as the wild array of students bade goodbye to various family members and boarded, all the while puffs of smoke rising lazily into the air. Chattering girls squealed excitedly as they greeted their friends, guffawing boys attempted complicated handshakes and swapped crude jokes, owls hooted and cats meowed, and the occasional belch of a bull frog could even be heard. To Camille, the sound was music to her ears. As much as she enjoyed the summer holidays, she couldn't wait to get back to school, which could be considered strange, had this been a normal school.
But it wasn't a normal school, not in the slightest. This was a school for witches and wizards, a school of magic – a school Camille was going to miss terribly.
It was her last year as a student of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, her very last year before she was thrust into the real world, expected to live, work and survive on her own; and these days, even surviving was a hard task.
Shaking her dark hair out of her eyes in an attempt to rid herself of such morbid thoughts, Camille continued to push her trolley through the crowded platform, craning her neck for any sign of her friends. So far, no such luck, though she didn't expect to find them in the crowd anyway.
"Millie!"
Camille spun around to see a tall, willowy girl, with short blonde hair and brown eyes waving frantically, practically dragging her trolley along behind her. Millie chuckled, and waited with a smirk as the tall girl finally reached her.
Theresa Parr was quite a character. First and foremost, she was without a doubt the clumsiest person Camille had ever had the fortune of meeting. But she was a kind hearted soul, which was a rare thing to say, considering the other girls in their house.
"Hi, Theresa," Camille greeted, letting go of her trolley and embracing her friend. Theresa responded enthusiastically, a grin spread from ear to ear.
"What a nightmare," the blonde bushed her hair out of her dark eyes, "I never realised just how crowded this place got".
"And we've been going here, what...six year now?" Camille smirked, resuming pushing her trolley towards the train. Theresa rolled her eyes and followed Camille.
After hoisting their trunks onboard, and finding a suitable compartment, the girls chatted whilst awaiting the rest of their 'group'. The talked about their summers, which basically meant repeating everything they'd said in their letters. Camille explained that her parents and older brother had worked most of the holidays, leaving her relatively alone and severely bored. Theresa was the same, however as her parents were Muggles, their jobs were quite different.
"...so Christophe finally moved out this summer, at last," Camille added darkly. Although Camille and Christophe were close, it was plain to see the siblings had gotten rather sick of each other since they'd both progressed to adulthood. Theresa, who was an only child, was lucky enough not to have to endure such a thing.
Theresa was about to reply when the door to their compartment slid open, and three girls entered. The first, was a tall, freckled girl, with light brown hair and matching eyes. She had thin face, and pointed features; not a girl to be messed with. Trailing behind her, were too petite girls, one with silvery blonde hair and grey eyes, the other, a fiery red head with emerald green eyes the rest of the girls envied terribly. Mary MacDonald, Isla Hudson and Lily Evans. The group made up the best friends Camille had ever known.
"Hullo fellow Gryffindors," boomed Mary, collapsing into a seat next to Theresa after stowing away her trunk and owl. Behind her, Isla and Lily too put away their things, Lily rushing over to Camille with a large grin on her face.
"I know, I know, little miss Head Girl," chuckled Camille, eyeing the silvery badge proudly, "Lils is all grown up".
"Can you believe it!" flushed the red head, her eyes bright with excitement, "Mum and dad were so happy, Petunia almost threw a fit though".
"Did we expect any less?" Camille quirked a dark eyebrow, causing Lily to half frown, half smirk.
"She hasn't been that bad, spent most of the summer with her boyfriend...Vernon, I think his name was".
Camille pulled a face, "Vernon? Even his name sounds revolting; let me guess, a huge, beast of a man with the same ideals as dear Petunia?"
Lily scowled, "Got it in one".
"Are we talking about Dursley?" asked Isla, turning away from Theresa and Mary, "Lils, show her the picture".
Camille's eyes widened, "We have pictures? Lemme' see!"
Lily rolled her eyes and pulled out a small, immobile Muggle photograph. Camille gagged.
"Petunia is going out with that? Are you serious?"
"Nope, I am".
Immediately, Isla, Theresa and Mary began to giggle, whilst Lily groaned and closed her eyes with a pained expression. Camille merely shook her head at the highly overused pun, and turned to see the culprit.
"Even you know that joke has run its course," she said dryly.
Sirius Black. Charming ladies man of Hogwarts, proud Gryffindor, Marauder and blood traitor, or so he had proclaimed himself to be. With casual elegance, everlasting charm and a mischievous demeanour that only added to his appeal, Camille could reason that his description of himself was probably true. He was like marmite, as Lily had once said, you either loved him (as many a witch did) or hated him (as Lily and any ex girlfriends did). Camille, well, it wasn't that she hated Sirius, or even disliked him...she just didn't care about him.
Behind him, stood a tall boy with round rimmed glasses, the boy Camille suspected the two men were arguing about on the platform. With messy, raven black hair and 'irresistible' self confidence, James Potter was a leader of sorts of his little group, the one they all looked up to, admired and aspired to be, well, little Peter Pettigrew did anyway.
Peter peeked his head around Sirius, his watery blue eyes surveying the girls intently. He wasn't as good looking or charming as James or Sirius, not as smart, or funny, or even noticeable, but Camille would be damned if there was a better liar out there. His excuses for getting he and his friends out of trouble were the stuff of legends, he was just as important as the others, it seemed.
Last, but certainly never least, was the tired, yet charming Remus Lupin. Tall, with light hair and matching eyes, it was the mystery of Remus that made him quite a catch. Nobody could quite figure him out. He was a prefect, extremely smart, a bit bookish, some would say. But the mischievous sparkle in his eye Camille often noticed told her he wasn't as innocent as many believed him to be.
Together, the four boys made up the greatest trouble making effort ever to have graced the proud halls of Hogwarts; the Marauders.
Everyone loved the Marauders, heck; even Camille found their jokes to be humorous. Everyone, except a very annoyed looking Lily Evans. Her eyes had narrowed, her chest had puffed out slightly and her hair seemed to double in volume. There was, however, a very good reason for that, and Camille suspected it was about to make its presence known.
"Evans," James Potter stepped forward, bowing slightly, "Looking as beautiful as ever".
Camille exchanged a knowing look with Mary, and the both braced themselves for the barrage of insults that was sure to come.
The waited, and waited...but it never came.
"Uhh...Lily," Camille touched Lily's shoulder, causing her to jump suddenly. Her eyes were wide, clouded with disbelief, and staring at...James Potter's chest?
Camille followed her line of sight, and gasped.
"Incroyable!"
Sitting proudly against James Potter's red jumper, was an identical shiny silver badge to Lily's, with the letters H.B gleaming merrily back at them.
"No...no...this can't be...oh dear Lord," Lily clapped her hand to her forehead, looking positively faint. Around her, four girls gaped incredulously at James, none of them capable of speech right at that moment. Suddenly, Mary began to laugh.
"James, stop fooling around and give Remus his badge back".
Camille let out a shaky laugh, and glanced at Lily, who was starting to regain some colour to her face. Of course, James must have borrowed the badge to scare Lily.
James smirked, leaning casually against one wall of the compartment.
"Now why would I go and do a silly thing like that? Come on Evans, we have a prefect meeting".
Lily quickly paled once more, mouthing wordlessly at James. Camille's eyes widened once again, and Mary quickly stopped laughing.
"This...no...this is a joke," Lily said, more to herself than to her friends, "Who...who in their right mind would make you Head Boy?"
James clapped his hand to his heart and feigned a look of hurt, "Evans, why so mean. I worked damn hard for this badge".
Beside him, Sirius and Peter sniggered, and Remus rolled his eyes with a hint of a smile. Lily sputtered, huffed, puffed and groaned, clearly unable to form coherent sentences. Camille merely continued to gape at James, vaguely aware of a pair of eyes watching her.
"Right, come on," James reached out and grabbed Lily's wrist, dragging her to her feet, "Our loyal subjects await," and without another word, James dragged a stunned Lily from the compartment. Sirius quickly claimed Lily's vacated seat, sniggering.
"Oh...he is going to pay dearly for that one," sounded Isla, a look of disbelief still marring her pixie like features, "Does Dumbledore want him hexed?"
"No idea," Sirius shrugged, kicking his feet up and resting them on the seat opposite, "Prongs' always had a death wish, if I'm honest," he glanced at Camille, "Looking lovely as ever, Millie".
Camille started, and frowned at Sirius. She wracked her brains, thinking of the last time Sirius had ever addressed her by her nickname. He hadn't...ever.
"Uhh...alright," she said awkwardly, still frowned. She looked to Remus, "Let's go, someone needs to be there to collect any limbs James has lost".
The girls sniggered, and bade goodbye to Camille as she and Remus left the compartment. Remus was perhaps the only Marauder she was remotely close to, more than likely because he was the only Marauder who talked any sense.
"So, you're replacing Lily this year?" Remus commented as they dawdled through the train halls. Camille nodded with a grin.
"Something my dear brother could never achieve, suffice to say, the parents were proud".
Remus chuckled, running a hand through his light brown hair. He looked rather tired, and Camille swore she could see a hint of grey in his shiny locks.
"Are you alright Remus?" she asked, eyeing him concernedly.
Remus started a little, and nodded quickly, "Fine. Just feeling a bit rough, had to be up early this morning," he chuckled nervously, his eyes averting Camille's. Camille nodded slowly, though was thoroughly unconvinced. This wasn't something new, Remus had been ill quite often for as long back as she could remember. It was only out of respect that she didn't pry.
"So, you'll have to give me the low down on all of the prefect stuff, I'm afraid I didn't pay much attention when Lily rambled on about it," Camille grinned cheekily, causing Remus to chuckle.
"There isn't much to it, taking away points, 'turfing' Sirius out of his favourite broom closets after hours, making sure Snape stays in line..." he trailed off at the giggling of Camille.
"I wouldn't let Lils hear you say that, she may think Snape is a prat, but she's still pretty sore about any 'Sev bashing'".
Remus smiled, and shrugged, "After six years of it it's a hard habit to break".
Camille rolled her eyes, and pushed open the door to the prefect's compartment. Lily was sitting, her arms and legs crossed and a look of utter disgust on her face. Beside her, James was grinned smugly, and threw a thumbs up to Remus. Remus and Camille exchanged exasperated looks, and took the two empty seats near the door.
Camille only really half listened to Lily explaining the various roles required of a prefect. She supposed she should have listened, but really, Remus had probably just summed it all up. No doubt the Slytherins would be gunning for her more than usual now that she had somewhat authority.
"...also, the fifth years prefects will need to show the first years around for the first week of term. That means escorting them to breakfast, their first lessons, finding them for lunch and dinner and such. I'll give you all a copy of each houses first year timetables so you know where you need to be," Lily glanced back down at the sheet of parchment in her hands, "Umm...I think I've covered just about everything...patrols...yep...point taking...yup...curfews...yup...yeah, I think that's it," she smiled brightly, and Camille showed a thumbs up, which Lily seemed grateful for.
"Actually, Lily," started James, standing up beside her. Lily growled audibly, and turned to face him.
"Yes?" she said through gritted teeth.
"As Head Boy and Girl, we will be required to sort out the end of year ball for the seventh years," he winked at Lily, who growled again, "So, that means we'll need suggestions and the sort, so we can stock up on firewhisky –"
"No," Lily cut across, "Don't listen to him, there'll be no firewhisky. All right, I need fifth and sixth years to patrol the corridors for a couple of hours, make sure no one's acting up. Do it in pairs, and come and find me or...James...if anything happens".
Lily looked thoroughly annoyed at having to use James' first name, and collapsed into her seat as the other prefects began to file out of the compartment. Camille hurried over to Lily, grinning.
"You did great, Minister for Magic in the making," grinned Camille. Lily smiled weakly, running a hand through her hair.
"I can't believe I'll be working with Potter all year," Lily turned pleading eyes to Camille, "Hex him badly for me, so he has to be home schooled".
Camille snorted, and rolled her eyes, "I'm not hexing anyone," she narrowed her eyes as Snape passed them, "Not yet at least".
Lily seemed to miss the comment, as her head was now in her hands.
"Thanks for giving us the train ride off though, Lil," she continued. Lily raised her head, and smiled.
"This is the last time we'll do this, it'll be better if we're all together".
"Right you are Lily my sweet," sounded James from his seat next to Remus, "All the Gryffindors spending the last trip to Hogwarts together".
"I meant," Lily seethed, "The girls. Sod off Potter; I'm not in the mood".
James seemed to falter a little, but only for a moment. He adopted his most confident look, and stood up.
"You know what Evans, I'm not going to wait around forever," he started for the door, then glanced back, "You don't know what you're missing out on".
Lily gaped after James, her brow furrowing deeper and deeper. Remus made a small coughing noise, then hurried from the room.
"Why...that little...little...how does he think he is?!"
Camille sighed, and patted Lily's arm sympathetically. After six years of arrogant comments from James Potter, she'd thought Lily would be used to it. Perhaps her reactions were more telling than they'd first thought.
~*~
Once Camille and Lily reached their compartment, it became apparent the boys had no intention of leaving them in peace. They made themselves quite comfortable, taking the vacated seats of Theresa and Mary, who had gone to visit their respective boyfriends for awhile. Whilst Camille and Isla weren't particularly fussed whether the boys were there, Lily seemed at her wits end already. James wasn't asking her out, as he normally did, but kept making comments which were obviously about her. Even Camille was starting to grow a little angry; it seemed James had been quite angered by Lily's brush off in the prefect's compartment.
However, Camille couldn't stay annoyed for long, for something far more interesting seemed to have cropped up. Isla Hudson was blushing. Camille glanced over at Lily, who was immersed in conversation with Remus, and quickly slid into the seat next to her blonde friend.
"Why the red face?" she whispered with a smirk. Isla jumped, not having noticed Camille there, and reddened further.
"What do you mean?" she hissed, her eyes averted downwards to the book in her lap. Camille quirked an eyebrow.
"Never mind, you were blushing, and I was curious as to why". She glanced over at the boys, frowning when she noticed James and Sirius seemed to have disappeared.
"Where did the trouble makers go?" she called to Peter, who was sucking away absently on a lollipop. Peter shrugged, and picked up a box of Bertie Botts every flavour beans.
"I'll give you five galleons if you eat the whole box".
Camille frowned, eyeing the box warily.
"Show me the coins and you have a deal".
Several minutes (and plenty of gagging on Camille's part later), thudding footsteps and childish laughing could be heard. Camille and Isla exchanged confused glances, and watched as James and Sirius tumbled into the compartment, laughing their heads off. Lily turned from her conversation with Remus, and frowned.
"What have you done?"
The boys ignored her, still laughing, and began whispering amongst themselves. Then, there was a crash, a shout, and a stream of curses. The boys burst into even louder fits of laughter, doubled up and red faced.
"I...can't...believe...he...fell for...that..." gasped James, clutching his side. Sirius seemed incapable of actually speaking, merely gesturing wildly with his hands, which only further caused James to laugh harder. James wiped a tear from his eyes, and turned to Remus and Peter, who were watching them expectantly. Ignoring the growing redness of Lily, James spread his arms and proclaimed...
"Boys, the Marauders final year had truly begun!"
A/N: And there's the first chapter to my very first fan fiction story! Well, what do you think? Any good? I hope so, I've enjoyed writing this, the ideas are certainly flowing for this story. Read, review, and enjoy! It'll make me ever so happy :)
Happy fan ficcing!
