CHAPTER 1-So it began
"Bye mum, bye dad!" Lily Evans, a pretty Gryffindor seventh year with auburn hair and huge almond shaped fiery emerald green eyes called.
"Have fun at school sweetie," her mother, Laurie Evans called after her.
"Wait! One last hug, Lilly Billy!" yelled her dad, Harry Evans.
"Er . . .okay," Lily said glancing furtively around her as she hugged her dad. She prayed that no one would see her. She loved her parents, but she was seventeen and if the highly popular marauders ever found out that mature, sophisticated Lily Evans had a potentially embarrassing nickname she would never hear the end of it.
"Okay, bye! I'll see you at Christmas!" Lily called over her shoulder as she rushed off to find her friends Melanie, Jennifer, and Elise, not noticing the semi hurt look on her parents faces. She didn't hear her mother say, "I wish she wouldn't go."
And her father reply, "Yes, but we'll see her at Christmas," before sighing and turning away.
*************************************************************
As she looked for her friends she got pulled into conversations with people she knew. Lily was fairly popular, known for her excellent marks and pretty looks, not to mention her fiery temper. As she neared the last compartment, she bumped into Sean Chang, a handsome Ravenclaw, known for his excellent abilities as chaser for the Ravenclaw house quidditch team.
"Hey . . . do you need any help?" Lily stopped trying to hoist her trunk on to the luggage rack and turned around.
"Oh. . . er. . . okay, I guess," she said. Between them they got the trunk onto the rack.
"How was your, er... summer?" Sean asked tentatively.
"Oh, it was alright," Lily replied but Sean noticed a shadow flicker across her face. "How was yours?"
"Pretty good, but it's nice to be going back."
"Yeah, well see you around."
"See you later."
Lily watched him saunter off down the corridor.
"Was that Chang you were just talking to?"
Lily whipped around to find the hazel eyes of James Potter staring at her. "Yes, it was. Do you have a problem with it?"
"Chang's not reliable, and didn't you know he has had a crush on Katherine Nguyen for almost five years?"
"Well, Potter, I don't think it's any business of yours who I talk to."
"Well, I just want to make sure you don't end up with an unintelligent, brainless pretty boy asshole like Chang!!!!"
"Oh, and I suppose your opinion matters? Where did you learn to mess with other people's business?!"
"For your information I've been taught to tell the truth."
"Oh yeah? Well I've always been taught not to listen to ostentatious, egoistical, importunate brats!"
And with that as a parting remark, she stomped into the last compartment and slammed the door in James Potter's unbelieving face.
As soon as she stepped inside the compartment she was engulfed by a pair of arms and deafened by screams of, "Lily!!! Oh my God! I've missed you soooo much. How was your summer? Why were you late? Oh it's absolutely spiffing to see you again!"
"Don't suffocate her Mel."
Lily was able to see around the compartment. Three girls were smiling at her. Melanie Seleca, a fairly average girl with shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes was beaming at her. Jennifer Liu, a beautiful Asian girl with long straight black hair and brown eyes was smiling sweetly. Finally, Elise Flamoe, a pretty girl with stunning blond hair and eyes like blue ice was looking aloof but happy all the same. Lily smiled happily at all her friends.
"Wow! It's great to see you guys again! My summer was er okay."
"How's your parents, Pet and Benjy?" asked Jen. The three girls giggled. Lily had been going out with Benjy Fenwick since third year. He was older than they, by about three years were so Lily only saw him on the holidays.
"OhBenjy died this summer."
"Oh my god! Why didn't you tell us?" Melanie looked shocked.
Elise, white in the face said, "You could have at least written."
"Er, well I didn't want you guys to worry," Lily said.
They all remembered the letters they had gotten from Lily. They had been fairly normal but now that she had told them it made the letters seem sort of strange.
"So, how was your summer," Lily asked Elise.
Maybe it was the fact that there was a shadow behind lily's eyes or that her usually firm and commanding voice was quavering slightly, but for some reason Elise only looked questionably at Lily but said, "Ahhh . . .Summer, the time of the year when I get to spend time with two sadistic loons."
None of the girls knew much about Elise's family, just that her father was important and not around much, and her mother spent lots of time going to dinner parties. But her grandparents were utterly mad, and spent the vacation quizzing Elise on magic equations and taking her bowling.
"Yeah, no kidding. My summer was about that fun too," Melanie said in an irritated tone.
"Are your parents still going through with the divorce?" Lily asked.
"Yeah, but it's not so bad. They fought all the time anyway." Melanie sounded tired more than sad.
"How about you Jen?" Lily asked.
"Oh, my summer was okay. We went to Paris for a couple weeks but that was about it."
"Soooo, who were you talking to out there that was more important than your wonderful, important, popular friends?" asked Elise.
"Oh," said Lily, "Sean Chang was helping me put my luggage up and-"
"Oooooh, THE Sean Chang? The Asian one, Ravenclaw quidditch captain?" Elise said and all of them started giggling.
"Oh, come on, he was just trying to help," Lily said, but she turned a bit pink.
"So, was that all?" Melanie said.
"No, then the almighty Prince of Conceited Idiots arrived." Lily sighed.
"Oooooh. James! He's cute, you know, I think you two look just so-" Elise said laughing at the expression on Lily's face.
"Come on, we don't want to get a I-hate-that-stupid-git-don't-you-even-say-his-name rant from Lily!" Melanie whispered hastily in her ear.
"You know, since I've been appointed Head Girl, I really have to go patrol the corridor." Lily said before stalking out the door.
"El!!!!!!" both girls yelled at Elise.
"What? Sorry but they would look cute together." Elise replied looking not at all sorry that she was spared from a Lily temper tantrum, as they were known to go on for ages.
"I know," Melanie replied, "But Lily has enough on her mind. I don't think we know everything about Benjy."
"Yes," Jen said softly, "But she'll get around to it."
"Well, in the meantime, I propose we do something to make her feel better." Melanie looked thoughtful.
"Hmmm..." said Elise suspiciously, "what about setting her up with someone we all know and love?"
"Oh, it won't be too hard, guess who got picked as head boy?" Jen said mischievously
"No," said Elise, "It can't be-"
"Not him-" Melanie looked shocked.
"Yes, It's-"
"JAMES!?!?!?!" Lily screeched, "Nonononononononononononononono." It can't be James, she thought, please say it's not.
"Yes it's me." He looked amused at the look on her face. "We'll have fun working together this year, eh?"
No no no,
Lily thought, what else can go wrong? I mean Benjy- No don't think about it. But working all year with that-"Er, Evans, we're supposed to go tell the prefects what to do"
"Right"
"So that's about it," Lily finished, "Oh yeah, the passwords, Hufflepuff is toasted marshmallows; Ravenclaw is Bumbershoot, Gryffindor is Temperus Unum, and
Slytherin-"
"I'm a slimy git."
"James! No the password for Slytherin is jewelhearted. Okay dismissed"
"So Evans, a brand new year, a new start."
"Not with you. You'll never stop being a idiotic git."
"Oooh, that was harsh, Evans. Come on, I could have changed over the summer"
"Yeah, like how? You suddenly just decided not to snog all the girls at Hogwarts and strut around hexing everyone senseless?" Lily threw over her shoulder as she walked quickly back to her compartment.
"Wait, Evans, No!" But all he saw was the compartment door slam in his face for the second time.
"Oy, bad luck again Prongs."
James turned around to see the face of his best friend Sirius Black grinning cheekily at him. "God, why does she hate me?"
"Perhaps she still finds you pretty conceited," Remus Lupin, another friend of James's said amiably. James sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "But I've changed! God damn it!"
The other Marauders looked at each other. They had all noticed that since July James had been different, but they didn't know what influenced his change of heart.
"Hey, I don't blame you mate," Sirius said warding him off.
"Yes, you just have to prove it her that you're different," Remus said, always the sensible one.
James sighed again and turned and went back into the compartment.