Jily Week Day 1
Theme: Travel
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Title: Hogwarts Express
Summary: Every time James and Lily met each other on the Hogwarts Express throughout seven years, there were many different types of exchanges.
May Waters
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I'm not including their first ride to Hogwarts because JKR already revealed that tidbit to us and I see no need in repeating it.
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December 21, 1971
"Hey Evans," James called down the train, Lily turned with a scowl on her face. Severus was in the next compartment, holding the door open for her.
"What?" She lowered her voice to try and sound rough and gruff; James had to hold back his smile and accompanying laugh.
"Have a Happy Christmas." He told her softly, he didn't extend anything more and simply turned away.
"Oi Potter!" Lily stopped his progress back to his own compartment with his three friends. He seemed to perk up a bit at being called back, she saw him straighten his glasses as though to see her better.
"Yeah?" He sounded a little breathless and Lily flushed a light pink across her nose.
"You have a Happy Christmas too,"
"Thanks," James paused, chewing his cheek, "thank you Lily."
It was the first time he had ever called her Lily and she never forgot it, but it still didn't excuse his behavior for the first half of the year. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and dashed into the compartment with her Slytherin friend to hide her smile.
-oOo-
June 30, 1972
"You're not going to sit with me?" Lily looked confused, her green eyes probing the slim boy in front of her.
"The other boys, they invited me to sit with them and I thought it might be fun to-" Severus drifted off, unsure of how to explain his position.
"Right, I'll just go sit with the girls." Lily bit her lip and dragged her luggage down the train.
"I'll see you over the summer," Severus called after her in a last ditch attempt.
"Sure," Lily didn't turn back. She'd never found any friends in the girls dormitory where she stayed. They all averted away from her because of her friendship with the Slytherin boy. She stared into the compartment which housed the six girls from her dorm; they were laughing and swapping sweets. A couple of them were preening their owls while the others kept a heated game of Exploding Snap by the window-the ash trailing out into the warm, morning, summer air.
"Hey Evans," James was standing at the end of the row, Remus and Peter right behind him. She assumed Sirius was already stowed away inside waiting for his friends to enter.
"Hullo Potter," Lily couldn't hide the dejection from her voice.
"You alright?" Remus asked brightly, he has accompanied her to the library on many occasions.
"Fine, I just don't know where to sit." She tried to smile innocently, but her pain of having no friends to sit with was too evident and new.
"Severus not sitting with you then?" Peter asked lightly, she had helped him through the year on some of the spell work he struggled with; he said she greatly upped his end of the year test scores because of her helpful attitude.
"No, he got invited to sit with the other boys from Slytherin." Lily slumped her shoulders; there was no point in hiding her loneliness now.
"Why don't you sit with us then?" James proposed stretching out a hand.
"You wouldn't want me to sit with you," Lily winced thinking of all the yelling she had done at the four of them when one of their "pranks" hurt a fellow student.
"I wouldn't invite you to if I didn't want to sit with you Evans. Come on," James rolled his eyes and entered the compartment without another word. Remus held out a hand for her and let her enter, taking her luggage in. Sirius raised an eyebrow at their guest but said nothing.
"Thank you James." Lily whispered once they had all settled and the train began moving.
It was the first time she had ever called him James and he never forgot it.
-oOo-
December 21, 1972
"Evans, hey Evans!" James was running down the corridor towards Lily and Severus. She turned and stared down into his hazel eyes as she had begun to grow taller than him for the time being.
"Yes?" She asked.
"I wanted to give you this before you left, I didn't know how your family might react to having an owl at their house." James looked rather red around the neck and Lily took the package from his outstretched hand. It was badly wrapped with a large bow on the top.
"Thanks," Lily looked down at it. "I'm sorry I didn't get you anything for the Holidays."
"It's fine really, no big deal. You don't have to get me anything; I just thought you might like this."
"I'll wait to open it on Christmas if you don't mind."
"No, not at all-open it whenever you'd like, yeah. Have a Happy Christmas." He started to back away, glancing at Severus' obvious look of loathing.
"Happy Christmas!" Lily called after him a faint smile playing across her lips.
-oOo-
January 9, 1973
"James!" James turned in surprise upon hearing his name coming from the red head's lips.
"Yeah?" He asked, a smile spread across his face.
"I got you this," Lily ducked her head lightly and tossed a heavy package at him. He caught it deftly as she had suspected after watching his Quidditch matches for the last semester.
"What is it?"
"A belated Christmas present."
"I told you you didn't have to get me anything."
"I wanted to," Lily smiled and she could see the red creeping up on James' neck once more.
"Well, thanks."
"Oi James, mate, you coming?" Sirius was already on the train, the doors were starting to close.
"Yeah, bye Lily." He rushed off and Lily ran to find Severus who had his signature scowl in place.
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September 1, 1973
"Have a good summer?" James asked Lily as they passed in the corridor.
"It was fine," Lily breathed out; Severus was roughly pushing past them. "How was yours?"
"Brilliant, had the mates over for a few days."
"That's nice; well I have to be going."
"See you later Evans,"
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June 30, 1974
"Look, I said I was sorry."
"Yeah well sorry doesn't cut it Potter."
"Evans, honestly, you're mad."
"I am not mad you barmy lunatic." Lily raged looking for something to throw, good old muggle fighting style.
"Can't you just accept my apology?"
"No I cannot, who just throws someone's belongings into a fire like that. Just leave me alone!" Lily screamed and slammed the door to an empty compartment right in James' face.
"Come on," Remus pulled James away from the compartment and down the hall. He hadn't meant to throw her bag in the common room morning fire; he was teasing her and tripped.
"I really didn't mean to,"
"We know mate, just leave her to cool down."
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December 21, 1974
"Here," James thrust a package out towards Lily who took it with trepidation.
"What is it?"
"Early Christmas present, go on, open it." Lily's fingers moved quickly along the badly wrapped parcel and ripped it open. A nice bag made of fine leather tumbled out onto the floor. She stooped to pick it up quickly; embarrassed she had not managed to catch it.
"Is this?"
"A new bag, for the one I ruined. I also replaced the book you loved which got burned in the fire, took me forever to locate it in a muggle book store. There are also a couple new bottles of ink and some quills as an apology. I think I put a box of sugar quills inside as well because I noticed you like them a lot, but if they're not in there then tell me and I'll get you a new box. I think Sirius might've tried to steal them at one point." James rambled on and Lily inspected the contents of the bag. Everything was in there.
"Thanks," Lily smiled at him. "Maybe you're not so bad after all, eh Potter?"
"Er, yeah I guess." He wasn't sure how to respond at all. Lily giggled and turned.
"Happy Christmas Potter,"
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September 1, 1975
"Our O.W.L.'s are this year; I'm going to have to keep up on a lot of studying. Plus we're prefects Sev, that's going to take up a lot of our time." Lily complained to Severus as they walked down the side of the Hogwarts Express.
"Yeah," Severus paused, "Lily, would you mind if I went and sat with the Slytherin's?"
"Oh, no, go sit with your other friends. I keep stealing you away for all the train rides; you deserve to hang out with them." Lily hoped the disappointed feeling in her stomach at his words hadn't shone through in her tone.
"See you later Lily,"
"See you Sev!"
Lily wandered down the train in search of a compartment when she stumbled across the boys who were the bane of her current existence. She stared at them for quite a while, even as the train moved towards its destination. They were just chatting, laughter would erupt every so often and Sirius had tried a couple of times to coax them into a game of exploding snap. They seemed oblivious to her watching them; it was a good half hour she stood there, when she resigned herself to going and finding a compartment with the first years. Just as she made to leave, her new owl Beauty rolling on the trunk behind her, Remus waved for her to enter. She always had a soft spot for the boy; he was always looking out for her.
"Hey Lily," He greeted brightly when she gently pushed the glass door open.
"Hi," She tried not to make eye contact with anyone.
"Did Snivellus ditch you for his little death eater pals?" Sirius asked insensitively.
"He's not a Death Eater," Lily defended. The first years would definitely be better than this.
"We all know he is Evans," James joined in. "You just refuse to admit it."
"I won't admit it because it's not true." Lily stated dangerously, her eyes narrowing at him.
"Oh please, can't you see his interest in the Dark Arts? It's what they're all aiming to be, little soldiers for Lord Voldemort, the man who wants you dead."
"Maybe he'll eradicate you just because you're an annoying toadstool." Lily snapped, then she turned gracefully and marched off down the train in search of some scared first years who would let her sit with them.
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June 30, 1976
"Evans look, I'm sorry for what happened down by the lake." James was attempting to apologize again.
Lily would have none of it however and promptly slammed the door to her empty compartment shut on his foot. Beauty started at the sudden noise and James swore violently as he hopped back on one foot. Lily shut the door and locked it, knowing if he really wanted to get in a simple alohomora would do the trick. He apparently took the message however and simply sat himself outside her carriage and watched her interact with her owl for a good fifteen minutes before Lily ripped the door open once more.
"What is it with you? Is ruining the only friendship I've ever really had with anyone not good enough for you? Now suddenly you have to turn into a complete stalker? Can't you put your head on straight? I don't want to go out with a bloke who thinks that winning me is some major prize and is just doing it for the laughs." Lily shouted, a few curious people poked their heads out of their compartments to see what was going on. "You and your friends may think it's funny but it's insulting and rude."
James stood and was about to retaliate when he received a door in the face for the second time. Reigning in his anger, determine to not shout at a glass door which would resolve nothing, he stormed back to his friends who took the full rush of his anger.
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January 9, 1977
"Evans, you'll be alright." James encouraged as they approached the brick wall separating them from the Hogwarts Express.
"I don't know if I will be." Lily looked like she was about to burst into tears once more.
"I know you will, everything will turn out alright." James gave her a smiled and wrapped his hand comfortingly around hers.
"I just keep thinking, that stoplight that fell. I was told it was green when it happened and I wonder if they knew they were about to die. I wonder if they thought it might be wizards casting the killing curse. It just fell and then they were gone." Lily sobbed, covering her mouth with her hand.
"Hey," James made a small, comforting shhh sound and pulled her into his chest. "You've still got us."
"What?" Lily looked up at him, wiping her eyes.
"You've still got your friends. Me, Remus, Sirius, Peter-we'll be your new family. We'll take care of you and heaven knows how much my mum loves you. Just think of everything she got you for Christmas even though it was seven days after when you first came to us."
"She was very nice to me," Lily sniffled.
"See, everything will pick up now. You'll get to have Marauder protection and spend the holidays with us Potter's."
"I'm so glad I have you in my life now James," Lily was back to crying, staining the white cotton shirt under his Hogwarts robes.
"I'm glad to be your new family Lily." James pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head. Lily gladly joined James and his friends, who were now hers, for the ride back to Hogwarts.
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September 1, 1977
"James," Lily approached the empty compartment the Head Boy had occupied directly after the meeting.
"Oh, it's you." James looked up for only a moment to see it was Lily.
"James, please talk to me."
"I don't see why you care; you don't know what I'm going through."
"Excuse me; I very well think I know exactly what you're going through." Lily snapped, forgetting she was supposed to be comforting him.
"Oh gosh, Lils, I'm sorry." He stood and wrapped her protectively in his arms. He had long since passed her in height, something she was very grateful for.
"It's okay; in light of recent tragedy it slipped your mind." Lily replied leaning back and pressing a warm kiss to his cheek.
James stared down at her for a very long moment before pressing a kiss to her forehead. They had passed these kisses to each other for a while, neither of them mentioning other implications of it, it had started back when they became friend's near Christmas of their sixth year. Their three friends would often roll their eyes, exasperated with the couple who refused to admit any feelings to the other.
"Just promise you won't forget one thing." Lily closed her eyes.
"What?"
"Sirius, Remus, Peter, and I are part of your family now. We're always here for you. Your parents may be gone, just like mine, but you still have family; something which goes far beyond blood."
"Family, deeper than blood," James summed up smiling. His fingers tangled in hers and their eyes locked. They stood for several moments, just enjoying the silence of it all, but eventually their friends came looking for them and they had to leave their quiet moment behind.
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June 30, 1978
"I can't believe this is the end of it all," Lily cried watching as the golden waves of grass and green mountains passed hurriedly by as the train attempted to deliver them to King's Cross well before dark.
"So much has happened in the last seven years," Remus lamented.
"The last year alone has been quite insane." James agreed staring down at his girlfriend.
"Would you stop with those mushy looks, they make me train sick." Sirius complained.
"Train sick?" Lily laughed laying her head on James' arm.
"Well it's not exactly a car is it? Stupid death contraptions," Sirius continued to mumble about the impracticality of automobiles.
"Doesn't he own a motorcycle?" Lily whispered to the other three.
"Yeah, but those are cool, they are not 'death contraptions.'" Peter mocked openly. Sirius slugged him on the arm, a playful glare playing across his handsome features.
"Thank you all," Lily interrupted closing her eyes and letting her ear fall on James' chest, his heart thumping happily away.
"For what?" Remus asked looking up from his writing.
"For being my family when I felt like I had none left." Lily replied, opening her eyes to stare meaningfully at them all in turn.
"You're an honorary Marauder Evans; of course we'd take care of you." Sirius smiled a true smile and reached out for a hug which she gladly gave him. It quickly became a group hug and they spent the rest of the train ride reminiscing the last seven years and watching with wide eyes as they stepped off the platform into the real world where everything was about to become a lot more complicated.