A/N: I've been away…very, very far away…but I'm back, and I've brought gifties…in the form of a one-shot (which I don't know if I like at the moment). Please, do enjoy.

Disclaimer: Most assuredly not mine.

Train Ride

September first was a grey day; clouds hung low over the country-side, refusing to let any sunlight reach the dull-green ground. The scarlet body of the Hogwarts Express slithered through the low hills somewhere in Great Britain—it was always hard to tell where the train was at any particular moment.

The compartments of the train swayed back and forth as it sped along the tracks. Trails of white steam slunk past windows with a muffled "hiss".

Lily Evans stared out across the bleak country-side and leaned her head against the cool glass of the window, allowing her-self to be lulled to sleep by the lethargic movements of the melancholy train.

She thought she would have been excited with the start of her last year at Hogwarts School, but instead, Lily found herself terribly cheerless. On August thirty-first, Lily had spent a good potion of her day laughing and shopping with friends in Diagon Alley, preparing for the start of her very last and surely very best school year. But, at midnight of that evening, the great immensity of Lily's final year swooped over her.

There was so much to worry about this coming year.

Had Lily chosen the right career path? Had she signed up for the most useful classes? Should she have accepted the position of Head Girl, or was it a mistake? Would she be overwhelmed by her classes and by her future? Would she be able to pass her exams? Where would she go when school ended? Would she see her peers when school came to an end? What would she be? Or, more importantly, who would she be?

Questions and concerns swirled through her mind—all of them unwanted. The most frustrating of it all was that a mere three months ago Lily had been sure of everything. She'd had it all figured out.

But that was three months ago, and now Lily was careening down a track she wanted off of.

Opening her eyes, Lily sighed and watched her breath fog up the glass in front of her. It was all just too much sometimes.

"Shouldn't you be bossing someone around, Evans?"

Lily turned around in her seat to stare at the young man who stood in the doorway of her train compartment. She hadn't even heard the door slide open. The young man grinned knowingly at her and sat down in the seat across from hers, crossing his legs and leaning his elbows on his knees.

"Shouldn't you be shoving a grindylow into some poor first-year's trunk?" Said Lily, crossing her legs and leaning her elbows on her knees as well.

She smirked slightly as the youth scrunched up his nose. "Wouldn't dream of it—I hate grindylows, you know. They've got funny webbed feet that I just can't stand…"

Lily chuckled and leaned back in her seat, watching the boy shift so that the light caught a silver badge pinned proudly to his chest. "How much did you pay to get that, anyway, James," Lily asked.

James glanced down at the badge before grinning at Lily. "It cost me a hefty bag of gold, to be sure. That Dumbledore is one hard bloke to bribe!"

Lily laughed as James mimicked pleading to the Headmaster of Hogwarts School. He dropped down to his knees and threw his arms wide, reasoning with the invisible Headmaster, "Oh, c'mon, Professor Dumbledore…Do it for me, won't you? I promise I won't pull another prank! I won't fail another exam on purpose! The detention room will be so empty, Filch will be sweeping dust-rabbits out of it daily! You've just got to let me be a Head with my Lily!"

Lily stopped laughing abruptly at James' last words. Sitting back once more, Lily cast a shrewd look at the boy, who gulped visibly and sat down again, before adding, "N-naturally he granted me my, erm, request."

"After you slipped him the bag of gold," said Lily.

James smiled once more and said, "'Course—after the bag of gold."

Several minutes passed in silence as Lily turned to look out of the window once more and James stared at the passage way outside of the compartment, occasionally shooting glances at Lily.

"Why are you in here all alone, anyway?" Said James, breaking the quiet of the compartment.

Lily looked over at him. "Truth?"

"Truth," replied James, leaning forward.

"I have a lot of things swirling through my head at the moment. It's nice to be in here alone and think them all out."

Lily leaned forward again and rested her arms on her knees as James asked, "What kind of swirly things?"

"Well…school things mostly. And future things—like what I'm going to do when school ends. It seems to me like everyone knows who they're going to be when they leave Hogwarts come spring." Lily watched James for a moment before speculating, "I suppose you know what you're going to be, right?"

James quirked an eyebrow over the rims of his glasses and said, "Well, no. I mean, I know what I'd like to be—an auror, but I'm not a Seer. I can't predict the future. None of us can—even the Divination Professor, whom we all know is a lousy, crabby old phony. We can only guess at it all. We just have to apply ourselves to what we want, or think we want anyway."

James ended his speech with a frown, and added, "Just because you don't know yet what you want to do with the rest of your life, Lily, doesn't mean you aren't going to be all right once school ends. You're a talented witch—I doubt very much is going to get in the way of you succeeding at whatever."

Lily smiled slightly and said, "Thanks."

James was right—no one could possibly know what they were going to be or do in the future. It was all up in the air at this point. Lily would just have to swallow her apprehension and take life as it came to her.

"So, that's what you want from life, eh—to be an auror?" Lily said finally, wondering where the annoying James of her earlier years at Hogwarts had gone off to once this wise young man in front of her took his place.

James looked away from the window, where he had been staring at Lily's reflection in the glass.

"No, I'd hardly say that that's all I want. Be a sad life, wouldn't it, if all I wanted was a job at the ministry hunting down black wizards?" James said, "No, no what I want for my future is a little bit more than that…and a little bit more difficult to acquire, I think."

Lily frowned. "More difficult to acquire than one of the most dangerous, skilled jobs the ministry has to offer? Something more difficult than getting through another round of schooling and training? Oh, Mr. Potter, you have your sights set quite high, don't you?"

James leaned forward further, so that his and Lily's faces were no more than eight inches apart. James licked his lips and stared into Lily's eyes. "Yeah, my sights are set on something a little bit more important than a ministry job, Lily."

Lily's eyes dropped to watch him lick his lips, and inexplicably, she felt herself being pulled forward. "Really," she whispered.

"Really," James whispered back as he tilted his head and leaned forward.

Lily felt her eyes close as James' hands reached out to brush hers softly. She could feel the heat coming off of James as she moved to meet his mouth with hers. She leaned forward slightly and—

"Hey, James, I thought we'd go over that map before we get to—"

James pulled back from Lily quickly as she turned her head toward the doorway of the compartment. "Sirius," said James quickly, standing up.

"Oh," said the youth standing in the doorway. He looked between Lily and James, before giving Lily a cool look. "Hey Evans."

Lily ducked her head and prayed that her cheeks weren't too red. "H-hey Sirius," she said. "Have a good summer?"

Sirius nodded briefly before looking back at James. "Listen, James, Moony and I thought we'd go over, uh, you know, before we get to the castle…"

James looked over at Lily frowning, but when she just stared back at him, he turned back to Sirius and said slowly, "Right. Well I suppose we ought to—"

"I say," said Sirius suddenly, looking at Lily again with a strange expression, "I wasn't, erm, interrupting, was I?"

Lily sat back quickly and looked out of the window at the grey sky outside. She shook her head and said, "No, 'course you weren't, Sirius. James and I were just talking about—"

"Head's duties," James broke in. "Patrol schedules, meeting times…that sort of thing."

Sirius nodded and said, "Well in that case, you don't mind if James comes with me, do you Lily."

It was a statement, not a question, and Lily resisted the urge to snap back at Sirius. "Not at all," she said smiling. "I'd better go find my friends anyway." James shot her a look, asking her some sort of question with his eyes. "See you James. Sirius."

Lily stood up and pushed past James and Sirius, walking out of the compartment and into the passageway. She hesitated for a moment, remembering James's face, so close to her own that she could've counted the freckles on his face. She shook her head quickly and headed down the corridor, in search of friends.

She had too much swirling through her mind to worry about James Potter anyway. She had her future to think about.