Deep breaths. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Looking around Lily recognized the familiar Hogwarts Express and felt her heart flutter again. Big breaths. In and out. There was a weird tension on Platform 9 and ¾, a tension that hadn't been there the year before. Perhaps it was the terrifying murders and disappearances that had occurred over the past few months, but it was more than just that. For Lily the tension stemmed over leaving her muggle family and entering back into Hogwarts. It was a world she loved yet it was also one that had given her many nights of tears. It wasn't so much the school itself; she could handle the schoolwork and an impressive course load. The marauders and James Potter was a completely other thing. For the past few years he had teased her mercilessly; he asked her out every opportunity he could, sarcasm always present behind his smug grin. The group, consisting of Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and James Potter were responsible for almost every prank that involved explosions, smells, Slytherins, or Lily. She was always aware that she put herself out there to be teased with her bushy hair and unkempt features. Why bother with makeup when there's work to be done? That was Lily's motto and she had stuck by it fiercely for the past few years at Hogwarts.
This summer had changed things though. Lily had met a boy. He was a muggle and so Lily was fully aware that it could be nothing but a summer fling, but she had enjoyed this summer more than ever. As much as she hated to admit it Lily actually liked putting on makeup and doing her hair. It made her feel different and pretty. With green eyes and a gentle face, Lily was a pretty girl. But it was the red hair that made her stunning. It had been this summer with this muggle that had allowed her to see the beauty inside.
On the Platform Lily pushed her way to the front of the train to the head compartment. Obviously Lily had been made Head Girl, an honor that she was very pleased to have obtained. Grabbing her trunk she squatted down and meant to push it on to the train. Wobbling, she tripped over her long skirt and landed face down on the cement platform. No one seemed to notice and she got up brushing the dirt of her robes and smiling sheepishly. She turned to see the four people that she wanted to see least of all grinning back at her. Sirius catcalled.
"How graceful you are Lils… you'd better be careful going up the steps wouldn't want to hurt yourself" James sniggered at Sirius' words. Lily ignored them and turned back to face her trunk, which was now half on the train and half off. James took his wand out and with a flicking motion moved the trunk fully into the compartment.
"Thank you" Lily responded icily. "I could have handled it myself."
"Doubt it" came the smooth response of James. Sirius and James pushed their way in front of her and clambered into the compartment.
"You did some growing" Sirius said chuckling staring at Lily's chest. She had chosen to wear a plain white v-neck shirt. And although the V wasn't low it still emphasized that which she had chosen to cover over the past years. Blushing Lily grabbed the lowest point and pulled it upwards. She elbowed them away to get on the train first.
"Ass" she replied and slammed the cabin door in their faces, locking it as she sat down. She saw James and Sirius snigger at each other. Peter clapped Sirius hard on the back, and Remus looked back towards her, an apology on his sheepish face. Lily could deal with Remus later; he was head boy. That was a decision that had angered Lily. Remus couldn't even control his own friends, why then was he giving control over the entire student body?
The maturity level of these boys also overwhelmed her. All had either already turned the legal age or were about to and it frightened her to think that these four boys would be allowed to practice without having adult supervision present. It didn't seem right or fair when she a far superior witch and wouldn't be turning seventeen until the end of the school year. She dearly hoped that as head girl she would be able to have some sort of control over the four of them but knew the chances of this were highly unlikely.
She had finally calmed down a little bit now that she had time to sit down and figured herself ready to leave the safety of her compartment and venture our to find her friends in the compartment she knew she would find them in. Unfortunately for Lily the comforting voices of her friends were mixed with the loud booms of the voices which she recognized as the 'marauders.' She despised that nickname which they had come up with as well. It made them all seem so arrogant and childish and their individual nicknames made no sense at all. What the hell was prongs supposed to mean?
Lily had no choice however but to enter the compartment as she saw her other least favorite person walking towards the corridor from the way she had just came. Severus Snape, her one time best friend was trailing a large contingency of Slytherin seventh years. It was a mark of how much she hated the slytherins that she now marched forward and entered the compartment. She slid the door back shut just as the group of slytherins passed and noticed that their usual glares at her had somehow became even crueler and more hate-filled. She raised her eyebrows at Severus as he turned to look at her. Truthfully, she would have been concerned for him if it weren't for his actions over the past two years… he truly looked miserable and sick.
"Slimy git" she heard from a gruff voice behind her. "Take a seat Lily flower" James continued moving over smoothly and shoving Sirius off the seat. Sirius hit him hard but didn't take the empty seat now available next to James, neither did Lily.
"No thanks" she replied and instead opted to stand up beside her best friend Arabella who at that moment was staring directly at Sirius with something more than just interest in her eyes. Lily noticed and kicked her in the ankle.
"Ow… you bitch!" she said with a laugh. "What are you doing down here anways? Aren't you supposed to be doing head girlie things? Or something.?" Arabella clear sarcasm was mirrored by the laughter in her eyes. Bella was probably one of the most stunning of Lily's friends. With deep chestnut brown hair always straight and shiny and her stunning blue eyes it was hard for anyone to not consider her a knockout. Bella was aware of her beauty and had learned to use it to her advantage. Lily's group was not all as lucky as Bella and the other three girls were much plainer. Alice, a small sprightly girl had her brown hair cut shot around her ears and although she was pretty she was usually outshone by both Bella and Lily. Emma had dirty blonde hair which she usually wore curly and greenish-grey eyes again a pretty girl but no Bella. Charlotte, or Charlie, was probably one of the most fun in the group, along with Bella, she was a little bit bigger than the rest of the girls and she had gotten a bad perm on a dare from some of her muggle friends at home but her personality was so wonderful that she easily fit in with the rest of the group. Together they formed the seventh year Gryffindor girls and their past seven years together had been more amazing than any of them could have imagined.
"I am supposed to be doing head girlie things actually… but someone here is also supposed to be doing head boy things as well! Just came to pick up my partner." She smiled at Remus; there was no point in not getting along so early. She would broach the subject of his unfortunate friends later on the week. Or after they first screwed up, which she realized would probably only be a matter of hours.
"Oh… right. I guess I'll get my badge then." He murmured under his breath as he obviously tried to avoid eye contact with his three friends. Sirius and James were smiling at each and winked at Remus as he stood up to leave the compartment with Lily.
"Good luck then Moonie… We'll try not to cause too much trouble" Sirius said with a lopsided grin.
"For your information, boys" she put strong emphasis on the last word "just because your friend is head boy does not mean you are going to get away with anything you want. I'll be watching you, and Remus has a responsibility to Dumbledore and the school to write you all up for your misbehavior." She glanced at Remus as she spoke who was looking at the floor looking like it was very difficult not to laugh. She nudged him hard in the ribs.
"Yeah… right. What she said" he responded and then turned quickly and exited the compartment. Lily gave one last stern look around the compartment, noting that every single person looked about ready to laugh and turned to follow Remus.
The train ride had been so uneventful that about an hour before reaching Hogsmede Station, Lily had braced herself for the pranks which were sure to come, she even undertook extra patrols up and down the corridors to see if could prevent what she thought was to come. To her utter surprise when they arrived at the Station an hour later there hadn't been a single problem and she hurried to help direct the young first years towards Hagrid and the boats which were waiting down below. She and Remus were the last two to leave the area and once again to her chagrin the only carriage left waiting had shadowy figures of three boys.
"Saved you a ride up Moonie!" Peter called from the darkness.
"I guess you can get in to Lily Flower" said James. She could tell by his voice that he had a huge smirk on his face. She rolled her eyes and looked to Remus. He smiled at her and stood back.
"After you."