When I'm With You…
Disclaimer- I do NOT own any of the magnificent J.'s characters however badly I try to convince myself that I do! How I wish I did…
As the mist thinned out on Platform 9 and ¾, Lily Evans scanned the crowd for her best friends Alice Prewett and Mary MacDonald, people she could trust with her life. The fiery haired girl had a gleam in her emerald eyes; this was her seventh and last year at Hogwarts, she wanted to make the most of it and curse anyone who willed it to be otherwise. She had finally acquired the Head Girl badge, the thing that held her fascination ever since she saw the then Head Girl on her first Hogwarts train ride. She was sure Albus Dumbledore wouldn't regret his decision; she wasn't going to give Dumbledore a reason to. She pinned the golden HG badge on the front of her robes and wondered who would be the Head Boy. Perhaps Headmaster Dumbledore would have chosen Gryffindor Prefect Remus Lupin or maybe Ravenclaw's Caradoc Dearborn…
A mélange of voices startled her out of her musings. She blinked, her exquisite eyes focused on a pair of girls who looked as different as chalk and cheese.
"Lily! Oh it's so good to see you!" cried Alice, the tallest of the three. With light brown eyes that danced with joy and long and wavy, black hair (raven, she insisted) that bounced with every step that she took, she was the reason many a hearts at Hogwarts had been broken.
"How have you been Lils? You hardly sent us any letters!" accused the doe-eyed, golden haired Mary. She was the youngest of the trio and was used to getting her way with the other girls, who regarded Mary as their little sister.
Lily sighed, "I have one word, Petunia…"
"You need not explain anymore dear. We know how she gets." chorused Mary and Alice, thinking about the time they had visited Lily during the second year Easter holidays.
"Oh My God! Lily you made Head Girl!" shrieked Alice, suddenly noticing Lily's gleaming badge "I'm so happy for you!"
"I knew you would!" echoed Mary pulling Lily into a tight hug effectively smothering the poor redhead.
"Let's get into the train now." suggested Lily."Don't want to get the worst compartments, do we?"
"Follow the leader", laughed Alice and Mary as they charmed their trunks to float behind then and onto the train.
The outline of four boys was visible through the thick fog. As they stepped through the barrier that separated the muggle world from the magical one, one could see that they were certainly not ordinary boys in any circumstances. They jostled one another around and shoved the tiny First years out of their way. The whole school knew who they were. They were the Marauders.
As they crossed over, they stood away from the barrier and discussed something in hushed tones. Evidently something was up.
"Dumbledore must be off his rocker! How in the name of Merlin's pants did he make you Head Boy?" pondered the sandy haired Remus Lupin.
"Aww, come on Moony. Dumbledore's not lost his mind…He has been kidnapped, locked in a closet with Chudley Cannons socks stuffed in his mouth!" deadpanned the tall, well-built, darkly handsome boy with long, lustrous black hair and striking grey eyes. He was the heartthrob of Hogwarts; his aristocratic features and his suave elegance made him so.
Peter defended James, "Shut up Sirius. Dumbledore obviously saw something in James that made him want to make Prongs Head Boy." He shot a half-smile towards the subject of their discussion.
"Padfoot, stuff it. Wormy, ah, what can I say? My charm works wonders on people, doesn't it?" winked Potter. A tall boy with hazel-brown eyes and untidy black hair that stuck up at the back; only lost out the top spot of the most eligible bachelors of Hogwarts because of his best mate who claimed the position.
His gaze fell on a group of girls standing a little off from the steaming engine evidently having an animated discussion. He sighed and the other boys who had drifted off onto other topics followed his gaze and exchanged glances. Lily Evans had been the only girl James ever laid eyes on. The marauders thought it was a crush, a mere fancy. James said it was love.
"I've changed haven't I?" thought James, "I will show her that I have. I'm not the same, immature person I used to be…"
"Oi Prongs!" called Sirius, "You've got the whole year for that. Maybe the Head Boy-ship would have some perks after all, huh? You just show her you've changed. That's all!"
Somewhere in the distance a whistle blew.
"Shit" cried Lupin, "Run".
They hurried over to the Hogwarts Express and jumped onboard. They had barely made it in the nick of time and had to endure a good sound scolding from the conductor.
Peter, who had been silent all this while said, "Let's find a compartment fast. My feet are killing me."
"My dear Wormy, You're a wizard aren't you? Charm your trunk to become lighter, stupid!" exclaimed Sirius, who had really no patience for any kind of idiocy. Peter merely shrugged and followed Sirius' suggestion.
The Marauders walked down the aisle looking for an empty compartment but none was to be found. Suddenly James slid open the door of one of the compartments and motioned to the other Marauders to sit down. The only other occupants of the compartment were Lily Evans, Alice Prewett, Mary MacDonald and two other girls who batted their eyelashes at Sirius and James. They ignored the two girls.
"What do you want Potter?" asked Lily wearily. She did not want to engage in a quarrel with him now. She knew he had changed, yet, there was some part of her that suspected he was up to waywardness.
"Ah Evans. Made Head Girl didn't you? What did I tell you Padfoot?" exclaimed James Potter. Lily almost smiled and then remembered this was James Potter she was dealing with. She then noticed the badge pinned on to the front of his robes.
"Head Boy? Whom did you steal that badge from?" demanded Lily and all thoughts of a reformed James fled from her mind. "A leopard doesn't change his spots." she thought.
"I didn't Evans. Apparently Dumbledore decided that I was indeed fit for the job and here I am..." said James, directing a grin all round the compartment.
Lily looked towards Remus. He shrugged as though to indicate James was indeed saying the truth.
"Well, I'm going to the Heads' and Prefects' Cabin for the Prefects Meeting. See you guys in some time. Save a few chocolate frogs for me, will you?" said Lily, directing it mostly to Alice and Mary but it was Sirius who answered, "Oh we will. Wormy loves them too."
"Would you inform the Prefects that they have to come for the meeting in fifteen minutes Remus? Thanks." Lily told Remus as she and James left.
"What gives that Lily will finally say yes to James this year?" questioned Sirius watching the backs of the two who just left.
A babble of voices broke out as they argued over whether or not James would finally convince Lily to go out with him.
As Lily and James walked towards the Prefects Cabin, they remained silent but the silence was companionable. They were not by all means conventional friends, only tolerating each other, although they did not hate each other.
"So Lily, since I haven't been to a Prefects Meeting before just run me through the stuff we have to do", said James, "Please…" he added as an afterthought.
"Obviously.", said Lily rather cuttingly, then amended, " Well, it's mostly about welcoming the new prefects, distributing the patrol schedules, describing the duties of the prefects so that the new Fifth year prefects get an idea of they are supposed to do….you get the gist of it…"
They entered the cabin and seated themselves on a couch as they waited for the prefects to arrive. Minutes ticked by and James finally broke the silence, "Do you suppose Voldemort is gathering followers and trying to recruit students from Hogwarts too?"
Lily looked visibly shaken and it took her a few moments to respond, "So it's true then? Voldemort is gaining power?"
James' answer was lost as the door to the cabin opened and the Prefects strolled in. Remus grinned at James and shot a smile towards Lily, with whom he always got along well.
"Hello Prefects, I am Lily Evans, your Head Girl for this year and I hope we get off to a great start…"said Lily.
"And I am The James Potter, your Head Boy!" exclaimed James to general astonishment. The Slytherin Prefects openly sneered at James as though questioning his ability to perform his responsibilities. James seemed to notice this and resolved to be the best he could.
"So, the passwords to your common rooms will appear in your pockets as you leave and you can each patrol the corridor for half an hour, starting with the Hufflepuff prefects followed by the Gryffindor prefects then the Slytherin and Ravenclaw prefects. Potter and I will take the last patrol shift. The patrol timetables for Hogwarts will be posted in your common rooms within the first week. That's all." said Lily.
"Yeah. And don't forget to help the First years find Hagrid and the boats when we reach Hogsmead." added James, "We'll see you at the Feast then but don't hesitate to come to either Lily or me if you have any difficulties."
The prefects recognised the dismissal and filled out of the cabin; many of them stopped to congratulate Lily and patted James on the back for his unpredicted achievement.
Remus waited for James but James indicated for him to go on. He wanted to have a few words with Lily.
Lily was busy with the patrol schedules and realised with a jolt that she was alone with James. He was looking at her with an inscrutable expression upon his face.
"Lily, if I could call you that…" he started, "Now that we are Heads, we would be spending a lot of time together and I want for us to be on a first-name basis you see…"
"Oh! Yes Potter…uh…I mean James" she smiled. She decided that she would give James the benefit of doubt. After all he wasn't hexing everything he saw and not abusing his power of Head Boy and Quidditch Captain
James' heart soared as she smiled at him. Maybe, just maybe, this was the year Lily would come to know the real James Potter. The James Potter that loved her ever since he first laid eyes on her.
"Come on Potter…oops! James. Let's go, they're probably waiting for us…" said Lily, remembering her friends waiting for her.
"After you My Lady", quipped James and held the door open for the redhead never taking his eyes of her.
They walked back to their compartment and all the while they discussed their holidays. James noticed how Lily's eyes would darken with gloom when she mentioned her sister and wondered where the love was lost between them.
Lily slid open the door to the compartment and found them to be interrupting a rather violent game of exploding snap. Sirius' eyebrows were singed off as were Peter's. Alice and Mary were covered in ash and were furiously beating their robes to get rid of the sticky ash instead giving rise to plumes of smoke that smothered the girls sitting next to them. The snobbish girls decided that they had had enough and stormed out of the compartment, shooting irritated glares at Sirius, Peter, Mary and Alice.
Surveying the scene, James burst into laughter and Lily giggled for a few moments before catching James' eye and joining in his mirth too.
"Shut it Prongs, and you too Lily-Flower. This is no laughing matter." whined Sirius, which only made the other five burst into fits of chuckles.
Lily suddenly realising what Sirius had called her said, "Hey! Don't call me that."
"Whaaststhematterrr Lily-Flower?" queried Sirius once he was able to choke back his barking laugh.
"Don't call me Lily-Flower, Sirius…" repeated Lily.
"Too late. Lily-Flower it is." declared Sirius with an air of finality much to Lily's exasperation.
"But...but…" spluttered Lily looking towards James and Remus for support. They only shrugged in response and it was Peter who spoke, "Give it up Lily. Sirius can be as stubborn as a mule and you know that…"
Alice and Mary simply smiled at Lily as if trying to tell her to accept it. She realised that they had become comfortable with the Marauders, enough to become friends with them.
Lily sighed. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "Lily-Flower it is." she repeated with a slight frown.
"Look" cried Mary, pointing towards the window.
They all turned toward the window and caught the first glimpse of Hogwarts. The same thought was running through their heads, 'This was home.'
"Oh I almost forgot. Lily, we have patrol now." said James, startling Lily out of her reverie. Lily was flustered and kind of embarrassed that she had forgotten and that she had to be reminded by James.
As they left the compartment for the second time, Mary supposed, "It would be great if they got together. They are just perfect for each other…"
"How I wish Mary, at least then we would be spared the trauma of hearing how much James loves Lily!" laughed Remus and they joined in his laughter.
A/N- Hey there. So this is my first Harry Potter fanficcy and I hope I'm doing a good job with it. But, I would know for sure if you would R & R. Constructive criticism and suggestions on how to make my story better are totally welcome. Please review. Pretty, pretty, please with a cherry on the top.
Cheers,
Authoress A! xD