Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or ideas from the world of Harry Potter which strictly is the property of the brilliant JK Rowling.

AN: This is my first Harry Potter FanFic. I would dearly love to hear what you think about it so please after reading leave a comment feel free to include suggestions for me too. It will truly make my day :) I do not have the story fully formed yet but thus far it seems like it will primarily revolve around The Marauders and Lily as they grow closer together. I also hope to include how the Marauders want to be remembered at Hogwarts in later chapters... Thanks for reading ~ LittleMiss

Chapter One: Diagon Alley

James sat at the kitchen table in his parent's house eating toast as he read the daily prophet. Well at least he read the Quidditch stats and profiles. He was going to owe Sirius so much money by the time they got back to Hogwarts, none of his picks were playing out how they should. Damn Padfoot and his lucky horseshoes.

He didn't really know what that meant. He had heard Lily use the phrase once when him and his friends had narrowly escaped getting caught during a prank by Professor Mcgonagall. She went on and on about how they never got what was coming to them. Sirius had muttered that they were smart so they deserved to run free, or something along those lines. She went off in a huff after that.

He was caught up in an article about a rogue bludger when the fireplace in the corner erupted in green flames. James turned in his seat quickly and frowned as the flames began to clear, wondering who it could be. A smile broke out across his face when he saw his best mate, Sirius Black.

"I have come to collect, what is it now … five galleons?"

"Come on Padfoot, the match was obviously fixed."

"Suck it up."

James shook his head as Sirius came to sit at the table and picked up the toast that James had been ignoring.

"What are you really doing here, Mate?"

"Needed to get out of there"

James just nodded knowing exactly what his friend was talking about. "Cheer up, we'll be on a train back to Hogwarts in a week."

Sirius turned up his lips in a slight smile. James thumped him on the back. Sirius punched his arm and in a matter of moments the two were brawling like brothers.

This is the sight that Meditrina Potter came to find when she walked into her kitchen. She stood there for a moment and then said very quietly, "Boys."

The two friends froze, James had one hand tangled in Sirius's shirt, trying to hold him still to get in a good shot, while Sirius had a grip on James's shoulders.

"Good morning Mrs. Potter." Sirius said as he untangled James from his shirt.

"Morning, Sirius."

"Hey Mom."

"James I thought you were going to get ready to go to Diagon Alley? You haven't even combed your hair yet."

"Mom I—"

"Sirius are you joining us?"

"Love to. Jamesy go tame that wild mop why don't you." Sirius ran his fingers through his silky brown hair knowing it fell perfectly around his face. James punched him in his shoulder as he went up to his room, he looked in his mirror, ran his hands through his hair to beat down the mess.

"How is everything with you Sirius?" Trina asked the young man once James left the kitchen.

"Same old, yelling parents, insulting house elves, the portraits have started in on me now too. Reg got prefect and they went on about how much of a disappointment I am."

"Did you want to stay over?"

Sirius looked up at her and smiled a bright smile. Trina could see why James said all the girls melted around him. He was quite the charmer, young Sirius Black.

James came back into the kitchen smiling at his mother. She knew he had heard every word, but he played it cool. "Everyone ready? Mom? Sirius?" He said as he took a handful of floo powder and stood in the fireplace. "DIAGON ALLEY" he declared as he disappeared in green flames.

James and Sirius found their way into Quality Quidditch Supplies, James had told Trina that he needed to get some new gloves since his old ones were shredded to pieces; Sirius had torn them up 'accidently' at the end of last year. As James was paying he was knocked over by someone coming up quickly behind him. James swung around to see Remus Lupin with a smile on his face.

"Moony!"

"I knew I would find you two in here." He said as he slapped Sirius on the shoulder. "Guess who I just saw going into Flourish & Blotts?"

James perked up. Sirius laughed as James took his purchase and left the shop in the blink of an eye. Sirius and Remus followed his lead at a more leisurely pace.

James burst through the doors of Flourish & Blotts and began searching through the bookshelves for the one and only Lily Evans. He found her by the potions section looking through the copies of Advanced Potions Making.

"Hey Evans"

She turned around slowly, her red hair swishing around her shoulders, her bright green eyes locked with his hazel ones, the smile on her lips disappearing as she took in who it was. "Potter"

"Ouch. Come on, Evans, still won't give me a chance?"

She made an aggravated sound before turning back to the shelf she was perusing.

"I think if you gave me a chance you'd like me."

"I doubt it"

"I'm really a lot of fun you know."

"Not my idea of fun."

James leaned in a bit closer to her. "Are you afraid of a little fun, Evans?"

She turned around to face him and was surprised to see how close he was. They were almost nose to nose and their eyes locked. Her mind went blank for a few seconds and she couldn't remember why she wanted to stay away from James Potter. A book fell off of the shelf behind her and she turned around to see Severus Snape looking at her and James.

"Severus," Lily said coldly. They stared down each other before he turned and left without a word.

"Icy…what happened there?"

"You know very well what happened."

"Well…you two seem to always work those things out."

"Not this time."

James leaned in closer, "If you need someone to talk to I'm here."

Lily looked him in the eyes seeing nothing but sincerity in them. She was taken aback, it was a side of him she never knew existed before. The moment was broken when his two friends walked into the aisle.

"Hey Evans, taking potions this year I see," Sirius said with his melting smile. She snorted at him.

"Hey Lily"

"Hi Remus, how was your summer?" She asked her fellow prefect. He was really the only one from the band of mischief makers that did not grate her skin all of the time.

"Good. Yours?"

"Tense." She turned and grabbed her books from the shelf. "I must be off. See you later."

James watched her leave. Something was very different about Lily Evans and he knew the animosity between her and Snape had something to do with it. The event had clearly affected her more than she had ever let on back in June.

"Good one mate. We didn't interrupt anything did we?" Sirius asked.

"We were just talking."

"Civilly… well that's a step in the right direction." Remus patted James on the back with his comment.

"Snape was here."

"Snivellus didn't stick around…how odd."

"I know." James agreed. "Shall we stock up then?"

"Indeed," Sirius said as he led the way out of the book shop and down the street into Gambol & Japes.

The three friends entered the joke shop and looked around at the overloaded shelves full of mischief making wonders. They needed to get all of the essentials to get them through to their first Hogsmeade visit of the year. James was looking at a jar full of Belch Powder when the door to the shop swung open and Peter Pettigrew ran in completely out of breath.

"Wormtail! I was wondering when you were finally going to show up?" Sirius said as he came out from behind another shelf.

"Chased….by….monster….cat…"

"Shh! Got to keep that under wraps," James said as he noticed the clerk looking at them. "You guys almost ready if my mother catches me in here aga—"

"James Potter! What did I tell you about buying this stuff?" Trina exclaimed as she entered the shop. "I saw poor Peter running through the street like his life was at stake only to come into this place. What do you think you are doing?"

"Mom we were just looking—"

"Did you even get your books?"

James's face fell and Trina grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the shop. "Sirius. Remus. Peter. Come Along"

James muttered under his breath as he was dragged through Diagon Alley by a very irate Meditrina Potter. He looked around hoping no one would see. His face fell as he locked eyes with a pair of bright green ones. Damn it!