When They Were Young

Disclaimer: Anything you recognise, I don't own.

A/N This story is written with the help of fellow fanfic authors, the following characters belong to the following people:

Alohomora Smith, Jed (the Muggle) - Scarlett*eyes Talis Ariadne Lilard, Coraline Yeager, Nero Amandeus McKenzie - Joan Milligan Adele Keelia Smith (and family), Marissa Rene Williams - Just Call Me Banana Sadistra Snape - Hillary Serena Rowena Roller - Starlight Eve Kali Ravenell - Faith McKay Ariana Bell - Gliana Emily Saunders - Bubby

Thanks to everyone who entered a character (this started as an interactive fanfic.) The owners of the characters are also my beta readers and co-authors. Thanks Guys!!! Now for the story!!! Enjoy!!

~*Angel*~

Chapter 1 - Hogwarts Express and the Feast

Lily Evans approached the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10 at London King's Cross Station. She was going into her 5th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and had been named a prefect. She smiled to herself when she heard a 1st year ask the guard for the 'non-existing' Platform 9 ¾. She'd done exactly the same thing in her 1st year. The guard had laughed and she had been really upset, thinking that it was some sick joke. Then Remus Lupin, now one of her best friends, had approached her and helped her onto the platform. Now she stepped through the barrier onto the said platform with familiarity and ease. She was greeted with a familiar voice.

"Lily!" She looked around for the owner. "Over here!" Sirius Black strode over confidently. He was tall and well built with raven black hair hanging down just past his shoulders that he kept in a loose ponytail. His eyes were bright blue and he was a notorious womanizer and player. He had never managed to keep a girlfriend for more than a week. Contrary to his name, Sirius was a great prankster and joker. He was part of a group called the Marauders. He was also the Keeper for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

"Lily! Wow! You look absolutely ravishing, my dear," he teased playfully. He was right though; Lily was beautiful. She had a perfect figure, bright green eyes, and her long wavy red hair was quickly darkening, now that she was getting older. She had a natural touch with Charms. It didn't make her bad at any other subjects though. On the contrary, she aced most tests and topped many subjects. She was considered by the teachers to be a model student.

"Thanks Sirius, you don't look half bad yourself." He gave her his famous lopsided grin that made every girl swoon. He, James Potter and Remus, his fellow Marauders were the most sought after guys in the school. Remus had sandy brown hair and expressive grey-green eyes. He was the quietest of the three and didn't break as many hearts. He was kind, gentle and understanding. He was the guy that everyone went to for advise because they all knew that he wouldn't laugh at them or tell anyone else. He was also very aware of things around him and he was very sensitive to other people's feelings. Even when he didn't know what they were feeling, he tried to respect their privacy in the matter. Peter Pettigrew was the last Marauder. He was a little chubby and had small beady eyes, dirty blond hair and was short. People suspected that the other three only let him hang around with them because they felt sorry for him but no one really knew. The Marauders were absolutely inseparable. It was almost guaranteed that where one of them was, the others would be closely behind, especially James and Sirius.

"Yo! Sir (pronounced 'seer')! Here you are! I've been wondering where you'd got to!" James Potter's voice called out. He was also tall and had messy black hair and warm, chocolate brown eyes that could melt any girl's heart; sadly, he also broke them. Still he was one of Hogwarts' heartthrobs, even with his reputation for not caring. He was the Captain and Seeker of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

"James Potter!" A girl's voice rang out from behind them. He turned around to the owner of the voice, Emily Saunders, one of Lily's gang. She had an athletic build, long straight black hair with red highlights and dark blue eyes. She was also one of the Beaters for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. She was quite the feminist and strongly disapproved of the way James and Sirius treated girls like dirt, dropping them and picking them up when it was convenient. She was the person to go to when they'd broken up with you because she was brilliant at saying things like, "He's not worth it, honey, not worth your tears," or "He's a loser, you are so much better off without him." She hated the way the girls still thought that Sirius or James were still the most amazing people on Earth even after they had been used and dumped. She tried her best to convince everyone not to go out with them. It never worked. No one listened to sense when one of the great Marauders (excluding Peter) asked them out; they thought they ruled the world.

"Did you just break up with Clara Green?" She demanded.

"Yeah, why?" was James' nonchalant answer.

"Why!? What the hell do you mean 'why'?" She's in floods of tears and it's the first day of term! All you can say is 'yeah, why'? You are such an idiot."

Clara Green was a 5th year Ravenclaw that James had stared dating at the end of last year.

"Guys," said Remus appearing from nowhere whilst the others were concentrating on Emily. "Can we discuss this on the train? We are gonna miss it if you don't hurry up. We've already got a compartment. It's nearly 11 o'clock."

Remus led them to the compartment where their other friends were waiting. Lily was forcefully tackled as soon as she entered the compartment.

"Hey Alohomora," she said weakly. Everyone else was almost crying with laughter.

"It's Allie! I've told you time and time again. Huh, and you call yourself my best friend." said her friend crossly. Alohomora Smith was another of Lily's close friends. Her mum named her after her first spell and Allie hated the name. She got really annoyed because everyone always forgot to call her by her nickname. She had dark blond hair and light green eyes. She was very loud and incredibly bubbly. She loved to talk and could go on forever about ANY subject. She was always hyper, even at all the wrong times. Some people believed that she didn't even know how to be serious.

"I know, I know," mumbled Lily as she got off the floor. "How's Jed?" Alohomora was dating a Muggle that lived near her. She was always going on about him; he was one of her favourites subjects to talk about. Why she didn't choose to take Muggle Studies (she'd ace it easily) no one could guess, and no one dared ask because they'd probably end up covered in hexes; Allie was very talented with hexes and knew so many that she'd hardly ever had to use the same one twice. Jed and her had been going out since forever.

"He's fine," said Allie, blushing slightly.

"Yeah, she should know. They've spent the whole summer together," said a familiar voice from the corner. Allie blushed harder as the others laughed harder.

"Faith!" Lily had just noticed the small girl sitting by the window, Muggle novel in hand.

"Who'd you think I was Snape? Or Peter?" Came the rather sarcastic reply.

Felicity Leigh Felix was shorter than the other girls, with black hair and blue eyes, that tended to change shades with emotion, now they were dark blue and twinkling slightly with humour. At first glance she looked shy and quiet but when you got to know her she was cheeky and mischievous. She had an unexplainable ability to always be able to feel what other people were feeling, when her mind was clear. She was a Chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. On the first day Sirius had decided that Felicity was too much of a mouthful and called her Faith instead, for reasons that only Sirius knew (when he'd tried explaining it to everyone else, no-one understood) and, somehow the nickname had stuck ever since, even the teachers called her Faith. Remus and her were probably the only reasons that the Marauders and the girls got away with half the pranks they pulled and hadn't been expelled yet. They were always the ones that had to come up with some believable excuse or another. She also lived very close to Allie.

Just then Peter stumbled in.

"Speak of the devil," muttered Faith. Emily and her shared a disgusted glance, neither of them liked Peter much, they just didn't trust him; he reminded them of a rat.

"Hey Pete. How was your summer?" Asked Lily politely.

"Fine. I'm glad to be back at Hogwarts though, with the whole You-Know-Who thing going on, it seems the safest place." Peter was also a coward.

Having settled down, James and Sirius decided to play Wizard's Chess whilst everyone else played Exploding Snap. Suddenly shouting coming from outside interrupted their game. Two of the voices sounded extremely familiar, the other, a girl's, they didn't recognise.

"Move over, Snape, Malfoy. I wanna get past."

"Where are you hurrying to? Stay a while," sneered Snape's voice.

"Yeah. What's your hurry? Can't spare some time to talk to us?" Malfoy taunted.

Remus, James and Sirius were outside in a flash.

"Something up, Malfoy?" asked Remus casually.

"I'm sure we could sort this little problem out for her, right Snape?" muttered James reaching for his wand.

"Yeah, let's sort this out," growled Sirius, wand in hand. Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape were 5th year Slytherins and the Marauder's worst enemies. Lucius was tall and blond with blue eyes; Sirius had nicknamed him Goldilocks within the first week. Severus was shorter than Malfoy and had very greasy black hair and eyes that were so dark that they looked black. They were the main victims of the Marauder's pranks and, for obvious reasons, hated it. Well, they hated all Gryffindors in general; at least that's what they said. Many people thought that they only said that because they despised being the butt of someone's joke.

Snape and Malfoy threw them disgusted stares and stalked off just as Sirius finished his incantation. Both walked off looking like Mr Blobby. All of them burst out laughing. They could hear each carriage erupting into laughter as Snape and Malfoy passed. Those only made them laugh even harder.

"I hope they didn't bother you too much," Remus said, turning back to the girl. The girl in question was petite with dark brown hair and eyes and a dimple on her right cheek.

"No, not really, but thanks," she said smiling at the boys. No one noticed Remus blushing slightly.

"Why don't you come in and join us if you aren't in a hurry. We were just about to start another game of Exploding Snap seeing as our previous one was interrupted," invited Emily, appearing in the doorway. "It's the least you can do to repay them, AND make up for the game that got cut short." Emily grinned as the girl nodded.

"Ariana, right?" Asked Remus. "Aren't you a 4th year Ravenclaw?"

"Yeah, Ariana Bell. You can call me Ana if you want. How'd you know?" She asked, startled that he had known her.

"Uhh…I've just seen you around the library and ummm…. Heard your friends and ahhh…." Remus stuttered, blushing.

"Who cares!" said Faith, seeing Remus uncomfortable, as he seemed to be digging himself into a hole. Remus was like a brother to her. He had been the one that comforted her when her brother had died in the 3rd year. Remus had told her that he'd had his eyes on Ariana for a while. Ariana was quiet and hardworking. She also got on with most people quite well and never held grudges. She was sweet natured and trusted by everyone that knew her.

"You already know the Marauders I presume," said Allie. "I mean, who in Hogwarts doesn't?" she grinned and Ariana and the others grinned back. "I'm Alohomora Smith, just Allie though. That," she continued, indicating to Emily," is Emily Saunders." Emily waved. "Lily Evans and -" She was cut short as Adele Keelia Smith, the fifth and final member of their little group stumbled in.

"I'm here!"

"Hey Addy. Where have you been?" asked James curiously.

"With the Ravenclaw boys," was her rather flustered answer. "I happened to bump into some of them and…." She shrugged. Adele had light brown hair with blond highlights. It was wavy but she straightened it every morning. She had blue eyes and a slim and athletic build. She was a half blood so she had an upbringing with the best of both worlds. Her parents were prominent figures in their respective worlds as well. When on holiday, she was made to go to lots of balls and social events. Because of this, her siblings thought very highly of themselves. She had an older brother in Gryffindor, in the 7th year and then 2 younger sisters and a younger brother. They were triplets. Jaclyn, Victoria and Christopher were 3rd year Ravenclaws and were VERY spoilt. Addy's passion was dancing.

"Who's the lucky guy?" teased Sirius. He and Addy were brilliant friends. They'd dated in the 1st year but it didn't last. Now they were very close and always joked around together.

"His name is Sam Taylor, he's so nice and…. Oh hi," she stopped short as she noticed Ariana. "I'm Adele Keelia Smith. And you are?"

"Ariana Bell," said Allie impatiently. "We've been through all that, before you rudely interrupted us." Addy made a face at Allie. Allie sensibly ignored it. "Anyway, as I was saying, that," she indicated to Faith, "is Faith Felix, although her real name is Felicity." Faith smiled. " So now you know us and we know you, we can finally play some Exploding Snap."

Exploding Snap was Allie's passion (along with baby mice, much to everyone else's dismay) although she hardly ever won. After a time, the train approached Hogwarts and Ariana excused herself to go and find her friends before they went to the feast without her.

"Right you lot," said Lily to the boys. "We're gonna get changed." They boys didn't move but instead James said,

"Be our guest."

"Get out!" Lily was not impressed. With a lot of moaning and groaning, they finally left for the girls to change in peace. (In truth, they were forcefully shoved out by a VERY angry Lily.) She had the infamous, explosive redhead temper.

By the time everyone was changed (Peter got stuck in the sleeve of his robe) they had arrived at Hogsmeade. They headed towards the carriages that would take them to Hogwarts.

"Raven!" shouted Sirius, spotting a familiar black head in the crowd.

Kali Ravenell was a 5th year Slytherin that Sirius had known since they were little (why the hat put her in Slytherin, they never figured out). She was very badly treated at home. She was the youngest of five and was picked on as she was meant to have been born a boy (family tradition was to have five boys and she'd broken it) Her only friends were Sirius and her brother Kevin. This fact made some of the Slytherins hate her more ("What kind of Slytherin are you to be best friends with a Gryffindor?") She had pale skin with freckles and dark green eyes. She also had a small scar on her left chin, which was evidence of the abuse she suffered at home. No one at school really knew her and distanced herself from everyone else.

Kali turned around and offered a weak smile. "Sirius. How was you summer?"

"It was okay. I hope you're alright." Sirius was one of the only people in the school that knew the intensity of Kali's beatings.

"Yeah, Kevin helped me get through it," she replied. Kevin was currently in the 7th year at Hogwarts. Kali dreaded the end of the year, when he was graduating, because she'd have no one in her house that understood her at all.

"Come to the feast with us," Remus said. "We've got space in our carriage."

The girls made their way to another carriage (there was enough room in a single carriage for them all) whilst the Marauders and Kali sat together in the nearest one. ("Typical, they are so lazy!") As Hogwarts came into view, everyone smiled; they were looking forward to another school year.

The carriages finally arrived at Hogwarts; all the students were impatient to get to the feast. The Marauders and the girls met up again and made their way to the Great Hall. Suddenly they heard a singsong voice call out behind them.

"Oh, James, Sirius, Remus!" it rang. They turned around and came face to face with Marissa Rene Williams, a 5th year Hufflepuff who was probably the biggest flirt in the school. Along with her came her little gang of loyal Hufflepuffs, including her best friend Serena Rowena Roller. Marissa had dyed blond hair and blue eyes. She was also tanned and very skinny. She was considered the leader of their little gang and had dated more boys than anyone cared to count. Serena, on the other hand, had brown hair and green eyes. A lot of people wondered why she had been put in Hufflepuff but people who knew her, also knew that she was quite, well, ditzy. A lot of other people wondered why she didn't dye her hair blond and join the Hufflepuff blond parade. She was quiet compared to Marissa and hadn't dated as many guys.

"Hey Rissa," murmured Sirius.

"Hi there Siri, darhlin'," she said, battering her eyelashes and smiling her seductive smile. Sirius grinned back at her. Lily, who was trying to look somewhere else that wasn't at Marissa (she was going to be sick if she watched Marissa interacting with boys, she just flirted as if she was selling her body to the nearest guy), happened to be looking at Faith at the time. She saw something akin to jealousy flicker over her friend's face that was quickly wiped off, but, even then, the look remained clearly in her eyes. Over the years Lily had learnt to read her friends like a book, especially Faith because of her ever-changing eyes. She had never seen that look on Faith, especially not when someone was flirting with Sirius, THAT happened almost every minute and they were all used to it by now.

"Anyway," Marissa went on, completely unaware of the death stare she was receiving from Faith, " I heard you dumped Clara, James," she said sultrily. Lily felt her stomach turn when Marissa's attention turned to James. "And I was wondering if you were interested in something new…if not, maybe you're interested Sirius." She paused. "You guys know where to find me if you want anything." She left the question hanging and strutted off.

"Yeah, at the rent house," muttered Faith under her breath. Everyone who heard her was shocked. They'd never heard Faith being rude to anyone, specially any flirts; she'd always had the uncanny ability to ignore them. Neither James nor Sirius heard her though; their brains were busy processing Marissa's words. They'd never been very good at doing more than one thing at once.

It was a well known fact the Marissa had her eyes on any fit Quidditch player or half sexy boy, and she's do ANYTHING to get them when she wanted them. For some reason, boys were still willing to date her even though she never had her attention on only one person at a time; it could be because she'd give them what they want.

"God, she is such a slut!" Lily said angrily. She had no idea why she was so disturbed though. James and Sirius were just friends right? It wasn't that Marissa had flirted with Sirius, though; it was just that she'd flirted with James that really annoyed her. She decided to let it pass and not think about it anymore, anyway, thinking about it just annoyed her even more.

"Let's just go," said Emily, distractedly. "I see Angus over there." Mundungus Fletcher was also a 5th year Gryffindor with chestnut hair and brown eyes and was a great friend of the Marauders. It was a known fact that he had a thing for Emily and she had a thing for him. EVERYONE knew, apparently, except them. They all walked into the Hall itself, Lily trying to stop her train of thought, Faith still fuming, Emily goggling over Angus, Allie going on about Jed (although no-one was listening), Addy and Remus staring at the Ravenclaw table dreamily, James and Sirius both thinking about Marissa's offer, and Peter watching them all, bemused.

They all pretended to concentrate on the Sorting and cheered when the other Gryffindors did, but their minds were all preoccupied with one thing or another. When the feast started, everyone dug in. As usual, the feast consisted of all sorts of delicious food and everyone loved it. Sirius was a good one for getting almost everything available.

"Sirius! Someone looking at you would think that you hadn't eaten for weeks!" commented James, laughing.

"He probably hasn't. His family has probably disowned him by now. I know I would have done that a long time ago if I was his mother." They all turned to face the newcomer, Sadistra Snape. Sadistra was almost everything like her twin brother, Severus. She had the black hair, although it looked better cared for, and black eyes. She hated the Marauders and Gryffindors in general. She played a beater for the Slytherin Quidditch team. She was sarcastic and usually moody. She was not an easy person to get along with seeing as she always wanted everything to go her way and, when it didn't, she'd take her anger out on the nearest thing or person.

"What's your problem Sadistra? Can't we even eat in peace? Or is your brother sending you over to get us back for turning him into Mr Blobby?" Sirius said calmly, looking back at his food.

"That prank was pathetic," said Malfoy, appearing beside her. With him were Two 5th year Ravenclaws, Talis Ariadne Lilard and Coraline Yeager. Talis was tall, slender and angular with wavy brown hair, green-grey eyes and small glasses. She hung around with Malfoy because her boyfriend, Nero Amandeus McKenzie, was a 7th year Slytherin and good friends with him. Her best friend, Coraline, was scrawny with brown hair and eyes. They both disliked Gryffindors and did their best to annoy them. They were both hard to get on with and not many people liked them that much. They were unsociable and secretive, and had a small group of trusted friends, and liked it that way.

"Yeah, you're right. You certainly looked pathetic as Mr Blobby!!" James said bluntly.

"I thought you could do better than that, Potter. The retort was almost as lame as the prank," Talis said, matter-of-factly. With that they all stalked off, leaving the Gryffindors dumbfounded, it wasn't often that their enemies managed to come up with a good retort.

"She's not in Ravenclaw for nothing, you know," whispered Emily, being the first to recover. "She's not as dumb as the rest." They all laughed, they seemed to be finding everything funny.

"Let's get up to Gryffindor Tower," Remus suggested, still smiling. The others readily agreed. They went through the portrait hole ('Fizzle pops') after a quick chat with the Fat Lady, ('you're looking lovely as usual.' 'Thank you. You all look like you've done some growing this summer,') and arrived in the Gryffindor common room, which was like a second home to them all.

"I'm going to turn in," said Lily. It was getting quite late and they had to be up early tomorrow to get their timetables. Lily had to be up especially early because they had a prefects meeting at breakfast time (she was going to eat before).

"Don't stay up too late, James, Remus, you might miss the prefect's meeting," reminded Faith. James, Remus, Faith and Lily were the only prefects from their group. The other girls also agreed that it was getting too late for them (on the first night at least) and said their goodnights and disappeared up to their dorm.

"What are you gonna do about Rissa?" Remus asked James and Sirius. They both shrugged.

"I think I might give it a go later in the term. I have my eyes on Jessica, you know the exchange student," said Sirius, not really caring in the slightest. He had caught sight of her mingling with Marissa's Hufflepuff friends. She was only at Hogwarts for year.

"Ah, yes. Flavour of the week," said Remus, icily. James and Sirius changed girlfriends so often that it was hard to keep up with whom they were going out with. Being the best friend, Remus had to know in case he said the wrong thing and got them pissed off. It didn't mean he approved of it. In fact he didn't like it at all. He always thought that girls were special and, when he went out with one, he made them feel like they were the most important thing to him, which, a lot of the time, they were, until he broke up with them.

"If you're doing that, Siri, I think I'll give it a go with Rissa. I'm bored with making an effort. Since Rissa's offered, I'll take it up." James always got so cocky when girls came to him. Whenever he had to do the chasing, he always went on to someone else because he got bored. Any girl that wanted both of them had to accept the fact that they NEVER chased, if they had to, they would never date them.

Remus sighed. He'd notice the death stare Faith had given Marissa when she was flirting with Sirius, and had heard both Faith's and Lily's comments. Those two girls had started falling for the biggest players in Hogwarts and it was obvious to Remus, even if neither of the girls would ever admit it. He wasn't even sure that they knew that it was happening at all. He could bet that when they start to realise, they wont accept it, and try to convince themselves that the feelings are no more than those of friendship.

"At least I have Ana. Maybe I'll ask her out in a while," he thought to himself. "They'll come to their senses and realise that what they really want is a secure and long-lasting relationship eventually." With that final thought, he followed the others up to their dorm.

Yes, it seemed like the beginning of another prank-filled, fun and interesting year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N Well? What do you think? Please r/r since this is actually my first fic EVER. See the little button there? (Points frantically at the review button) Click on it and tell me what you thought! Any flames will be used to toast marshmallows so don't bother with them. It'll be wasting your time. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it and more will be coming soon. I know the 1st chapter is always quite boring, you know, introducing characters and everything. It should get better though so please give me some support!!! Thanks!!

~*Angel*~