Note From the Cook: here's chapter 2. I hope the writing style of this chapter isn't too... frilly... I just have the feeling that it is...

Recap of Last Time: We meet 17-year-old Lily Evans. Older sister Petunia and her live-in boyfriend, Vernon, come to visit, but a visit by floo powder screws up breakfast, and Lily prepares to return to insanity at Hogwarts.

Origins of the Recipe: All recipe procedures come from the work of J.K. Rowling. Jewels is an imitator. Jewels is an imitator who is presently speaking of herself in the third person...

Chapter 2: Somewhere Between Nine and Ten

"The more things change, the more they remain... insane." -Anonymous

Lily stared blankly out the station wagon window.

At long last, she was on her way to Kings Cross Station- to Hogwarts. Her trunk was loaded next to her in the back seat of the car, her parents were in the front (Mr. Evans driving), her beaded carry-on was on her lap, and she felt positively miserable. The fact that she was returning to Hogwarts after two months was kept from her mind by the annoying voices in her head that kept reminding her of less pleasant subject matter.

Petunia had called.

Fifteen minutes before they left for the station, she had called.

Apparently, Vernon had been planning to ask (this morning) Mr. and Mrs. Evans' permission to marry Petunia. Just for formality sake. Vernon and Petunia loved formalities. Yet Lily felt miserable about it even still. She was everything Petunia always said she was at the moment. She'd screwed it all up. Once again.

Mrs. Evans glanced apprehensively back at her daughter from the front seat of the car. When she spoke, it was among the first things said since they'd left home. "What did she say?" the mother asked, speaking, of course, about Petunia's call.

"Stuff," said Lily dully.

"That bad?"

"Mhm."

Lily wouldn't dream of repeating most of the things Petunia had said in her call, but among the less profane things mentioned was Vernon's intended proposal. Lily hadn't told this to her parents either; she supposed Petunia would tell them in her own time.

"We'll be there soon," said Mr. Evans, who had been the only one calm enough to drive the car.

Lily continued to stare out the window. She would be there soon. Soon. Really, really soon. Too soon? Even if the ordeal with the Eddie Bones in the fireplace hadn't occurred, Lily would be nervous right now. And she was.

Her eyes flitted about the car, landing on her pale hands that rested on her lap. She fidgeted, trying to distract herself from the possibilities of this year, which glared her in the face. Lily could handle returning to her old enemies at Hogwarts. Girls like Collista Black or Olivia Malfoy, who had been Lily's adversaries for most of her Hogwarts career, weren't the problem. Lily was ready to face them; they would mock her "dirty blood" and "bad heritage," but that was nothing new.

A cloud passed over the sun, and Lily wondered whether it would rain.

What was new about this year was the pressure that had never existed as much as it did now- not on Lily, but on many witches and wizards around her. Towards the end of Lily's previous year at Hogwarts, several students, with whom Lily had formerly been fairly friendly, began to notice the newspaper articles more and more. Their attitude towards Lily had changed for the worse as well. Not only muggle-borns were in danger now; almost anyone who was openly friendly towards muggle-borns, or muggles themselves, was "tainted by association."

Lily was half afraid that even her best friends- the "pureblood" ones- would begin avoiding her too. An old friend from Ravenclaw house had skipped an exam study session with her the year before; how would Lily's closest friends react?

But something inside Lily wouldn't allow her to believe that Alice Prewett- a girl with as pure a family history as possible- would desert her. For starts, Alice was the absolute sweetest person on the planet. Hardly any harsh word or reprimand ever escaped her mouth, unless she was telling Lily off for swearing, or if it was very well deserved.

And what about Remus?

No. The thought was laughable. If Lily's and Remus's relationship had survived some of the things it had already survived, a little thing like Lord Voldemort couldn't ruin it now.

Yet a girl like Eden Dearborn, another of Lily's closest friends, was a different story. True, Eden had defended Lily on numerous occasions over the years against the insults of Collista Black, but this summer things had changed rapidly. Lord Voldemort was more of a threat then ever before. He wasn't just the radical wizard from who knew where, with ideas that "would never catch on." He wasn't just the wizard who spoke what some of the less deserving "pure-bloods" were thinking, but never dared to utter. That was how Lily had first heard of him- but that had been almost seven years ago. Since then, Lord Voldemort had become more powerful than most people could have originally imagined. He didn't just have followers that liked the idea of "purifying wizard-kind;" he had- for all intensive purposes- an army. Lord Voldemort called them "Death Eaters."

So what about Eden?

"Lily? Lily!" called Mrs. Evans from the front. Lily was brought out of her miserable reverie and her eyes flew up to her mother.

"Er... what was that?" Lily asked, biting her lip.

"We're here," Mrs. Evans repeated clearly; she indicated to the parking lot of Kings Cross in which they were now parked. Mr. Evans was already out of the car and pulling the trunk out of the seat next to her. Mrs. Evans climbed out as well and went to go find a trolley. Then it was time for goodbyes.

They were short and uneventful, and then with a final hug and kiss to both her parents, Lily- pulling the trolley that held her trunk- walked away towards the platforms. Past one, two, three, four, etc. Lily wasn't really paying attention to them; she was just trying to keep calm. But Lily did come to her senses when she got to platform nine. The barrier between platforms nine and ten was what would lead her to Hogwarts.

The first book of magic that Lily had ever read was Hogwarts, A History- way back before first year. In that book, it explained how surprisingly simple it was to get to Hogwarts.

All a witch or wizard had to do, was to be on the Hogwarts Express at eleven o'clock in the morning on September the first of pretty much any year. To get onto the Hogwarts Express, all one had to do was to get onto platform nine and three quarters at the appropriate time. To get onto platform nine and three quarters, all one had to do was to walk (or run) directly through the solid-looking barrier between platforms nine and ten at the Kings Cross Station in London. Needless to say, Lily had lost a good deal of faith in books the day she read that.

The first time Lily had ran through the barrier, she had been extremely nervous. Today, however, was a completely different story, as the mostly collected redhead walked as casually and inconspicuously as possible strait through the "solid" barrier. Lily automatically closed her eyes as she made contact with the barrier, but even if she hadn't, she would not have been able to see anything other than a vague blur of color.

When she did open her eyes though, a busy train station platform came into view. The sign overhead read, "Platform Nine and Three Quarters," and underneath that, "11:00 am: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Lily sighed in relief and pushed her way through the crowd of people (students with their magical parents, saying goodbyes) towards the scarlet train, which was barely visible ahead. The Hogwarts Express.

The platform seemed somewhat more crowded than usual to Lily, and it was with great difficultly that she made it to the train. As she walked, a good deal of people stopped to say hello, including a blushing second year boy. Many of the underclassmen males seemed to have crushes on Lily, a fact that her friends never ceased to tease her about.

Lily reached the train and, with the assistance of a sixth year boy, whom Lily didn't really know, managed to pull her trunk onto the landing of the second car. Lily and her friends had a sort of tradition to sit on the second car, whenever possible. She thanked the sixth year, then set off down the corridor to find a compartment.

As she went down the corridor, she peered into the fogged glass windows of each compartment door, or else tried to listen to any conversation taking place inside for a moment, in hopes of finding any of her friends. About half way through the compartments, she found the desired one.

Inside sat Alice Prewett.

Alice was a seventh year girl of about average height. Her figure was round (though by no means overweight) as was her face. It was a sweet face, due to large, soft brown eyes, small nose, rosy complexion and persistently nice smile. Her indefinitely long golden-brown hair was constantly pulled back into a loose braid, or else some complicated knot at the back of her neck. Alice smiled pleasantly when Lily entered the compartment, which lifted part of the load on her (Lily's) back.

"If it isn't the Head Girl to put shame to all other head girls," said Alice enthusiastically.

"How'd you hear?" asked Lily, as Alice stood to help her load the heavy trunk onto the overhead rack. Although Alice didn't look it, she was extraordinarily strong.

"You wrote Guen, who told Jess, who told Leander, who told me," Alice replied, shrugging. Then she added defensively, noticing that Lily rolled her eyes, "What?"

"Nothing- It's just I don't even know who Jess is..."

"Neither do I, but Leander told me that she told him."

'Was that before or after she slept with him, I wonder,' Lily thought, but she couldn't dream of saying it to Alice. Alice had been going out with one Leander Vireo off an on for years. She was perfectly aware that her boyfriend was a cheat, but had found it in her heart to forgive him when he asked her to. Oddly enough, it was Leander that always broke up, and Leander who always later begged forgiveness.

"So why didn't you write me with the news," asked Alice as they sat down opposite each other. Though her tone was reproachful, Lily could tell that Alice wasn't offended. No doubt she was rationalizing the situation in her head.

"I'm sorry!" exclaimed Lily, trying to sound as if she had forgotten. "I didn't really write to anyone. Only, Guen wrote me last week wanting help for Transfiguration, and she happened to ask if I got the badge..."

This seemed to satisfy Alice. "Well then let's see it," she said, observing that Lily wasn't wearing the badge. Lily pulled it from her pocket.

"Shouldn't you be in the Head compartment?" Alice asked, running a finger over the badge's shiny surface.

"I'll wait till we start moving," Lily said as she took the badge back and returned it to her pocket. "Have you seen Lexi?" she added casually. She leaned back against the seat.

"Nope," replied Alice, "she's got a new boyfriend... Frank What's-His-Face..."

"Oh that's right," Lily recollected, "I saw her at the end of July and she told me about it. Frank Longbottom, right? He's nice enough, I suppose."

"Mhm," assented Alice, "he's a Gryffindor anyway. Guen dated him for a while, but she doesn't like him. Then again, she doesn't like any of her ex-boyfriends. So he could be perfectly fine..."

"I wouldn't know," said Lily, shrugging, "I don't think I've ever spoken two sentences to the guy. You should ask Eden, though... I bet she knows him."

"Eden knows everyone," agreed Alice. At that moment, the train whistle sounded outside, and the train itself slowly began to move. Alice opened the window to wave good-bye to her parents, who were sending Alice's younger brother onto the train. Lily slipped out of the compartment and out into the corridor. She made her way towards the first car.

It was difficult business, for the second car corridor was slightly narrower than the others, and many students already crowded the space. Finally making it through the second car, onto the first, and eventually to the head compartment (at the very front), Lily entered. She expected to see it empty, or else occupied by the Head Boy, but it wasn't.

A tall, gangly man stood at the far end, directly in front of the window. He stood with an air of dignity, especially in his two dull brown eyes. Thick, square glasses rested on his somewhat goose-like nose, and his brown hair was slicked to the side with copious amounts of some sort of styling gel. His figure- so tall and skinny- reminded Lily of an adolescent boy who hadn't quite grown into himself, but the man's face suggested that he was at least thirty. He wore long black robes, that didn't seem to fit quite right, (they were a bit baggy) and a silver badge on his breast stated that he was from the Ministry of Magic.

Lily stared in surprise at him.

"I am Gilbert Korcesh," said the man.

"Lily Evans," said Lily, accepting the offered hand.

"This compartment is, as I understand, reserved for the Heads..." Mr. Korcesh said, eying Lily in a way that she didn't like. There was something odd about his voice that Lily couldn't quite place. He spoke only a few words, but they sounded so perfect that it was almost like Mr. Korcesh hadn't spoken English at all, but a foreign language. Yet it was English.

"Oh!" said the Head girl hastily, "right! Sorry about that!" She started fumbling in her pocket for the badge, which she provided for inspecting a moment later. Mr. Korcesh glanced at it, then up at Lily.

"I'm from the Ministry of Magic," he explained needlessly, "from the department of Magical Law Enforcement. I'm here to ensure that the Hogwarts Express arrives at the school safely, and also to supervise the system here. Please act as if I'm not here. I'll just be coming in and out: inspecting and making sure things are safe..."

"Are we in any danger?" Lily asked automatically, but she wished she hadn't a moment later.

"Not if I'm here," was the crisp and prepared reply. Lily raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. "Do you happen to know when the Head Boy will be arriving?" Mr. Korcesh continued after a moment.

"No, I don't," said Lily politely, "I don't even know who he is..." she trailed off suggestively, hoping the Ministry wizard would tell her who the other head was. Mr. Korcesh, however, didn't seem to catch the hint.

"I see," he said tonelessly.

"The prefects will be coming soon too," Lily added presently.

"Oh... of course," said Mr. Korcesh. There was an awkward pause, and Lily shifted her weight uncomfortably. "I must go and see the conductor," Korcesh said finally, relieving Lily greatly, "I'll be back soon." He left, and only moments later, the prefects began to arrive.

There were two prefects for each of the school's houses (Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin), a boy and a girl. Lily had been the Gryffindor prefect, along with one Remus Lupin. Remus was not, however, one of the prefects to arrive at first.

Instead, it was the two Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuff girl. Next came the two Slytherins, who glared menacingly at Lily as they entered and observed her Head badge. It was another five minutes before the other Hufflepuff came, and then they simply waited for Remus. By now, most of them suspected him to be the Head Boy.

"Why don't you sit down, Lily?" asked Rian Orlando, the male Ravenclaw prefect; he grinned as he saw Lily leaning against the closed window.

"No reason," shrugged Lily, "I just feel like standing. And where the hell is Remus anyway?"

Rian shrugged too, and everyone else added his or her own ignorance. They waited for another five minutes or so, before they began to suggest sending out search parties. At this point, however, voices from the outer corridor enforced silence as they listened in interest. One voice definitely belonged to Remus Lupin.

"Oh come on!" Remus's voice said, "It's not like it's a disgrace..."

"Yes it is, Moony," snapped another voice, "I'm not going in there."

"You have to! You have the badge!"

"No!"

"You're being a baby," said an amused Remus, still from outside the compartment.

"No!" protested the other.

A moment later, Remus slid the compartment door open. He stuck his sandy brown-haired head inside and said very rapidly, "Hi, Lily. How was your summer? Would you mind coming out to convince our reluctant Head Boy that he has to come in. He's being a real prat."

Not wanting to guess who the head boy was (though she had a horrifying idea), Lily slowly made her way out into the corridor and slid the door shut. Besides Remus, there was another seventeen-year-old standing there. He was tall, slim, and good-looking, with disorderly jet-black hair, hazel eyes, and thin-rimmed glasses. He looked extremely disgruntled.

Lily didn't have to look at the badge on his chest to guess that this was the new Head Boy. She fell back against the wall of the corridor, suddenly feeling sick.

"He's gone mad," she said simply; "Dumbledore's gone mad."

Remus snickered, but if Lily had been looking (and she wasn't), she would have seen that the mirth did not reach Remus's grey steady eyes. Meanwhile, the Head Boy glared. His name was James Potter.

James ran a thin hand through his already messy hair in a distracted sort of way. This didn't improve Lily's mood.

"You're head boy," she said blankly.

James nodded slightly.

"He thinks it's a disgrace," Remus smirked to Lily.

"I think it's a disgrace," said Lily, rubbing her forehead stressfully.

"Well there you go!" said Remus, "that's the first step: you two agree on something!" He put his hands on both of their shoulders, but was thrown off and given glares.

"Remus- I love you- but if you want to keep your head, will you please go in the compartment with the other prefects?" Lily asked, in a would-be calm voice. Remus complied, a bit of a grin on his face. Lily stared at James. "Let's get one thing strait, right now," she said coldly, once they were left alone, "I don't want to go to Azkaban prison. Ever. So please don't make me murder you."

"I'll have committed suicide long before you can murder me," replied James coolly.

"Oh, please!" cried Lily, throwing her hands up in the air and rolling her green eyes irritably; it was the last straw: "don't pretend you won't enjoy every moment of this! Docking points, giving detentions! Taking the privileges without the responsibilities. As always..."

"And what do you know of it, Evans?" retorted James, "Absolutely nothing. That's the flaw in your theories: you draw them before you've got the facts."

The reference to some past occurrence did not escape Lily. "And you don't draw theories at all..." she countered venomously and rather loudly; "you pull pranks, play Quidditch, mess up your hair, and pick on eleven-year-olds. That's JUST about it."

Remus stuck his head out of the compartment. "We can hear you, y'know," he said, with half a smirk on his face. The Head Boy and Girl simultaneously pushed Remus's head back into the compartment, then James slid the door shut with a slam. When it bounced open, Lily (rolling her eyes yet again) slid it more gently.

"You don't know what you're talking about, Evans," James reiterated angrily; he took a step closer and tried to tower over her. Admittedly, he did have a good five inches on her, but no one had ever been able to really tower over Lily Evans. Perhaps it was something about the red hair. In any case, James accepted this, and calmed down. He leaned against the compartment door, and retreated to glaring rebelliously.

Lily sighed and ran a hand through her hair, trying to think. "Alright," she said, "there's no way we can get out of this for the moment..." (she wondered if Dumbledore would let her resign)... "so we'll have to make the best of it. I promise not to... well... I promise to try not to kill you, and you promise not to... um... be James Potter-ish."

"I object," said Remus, who now stuck his head out of the compartment again. Again, the Head Boy and Girl pushed him back in, and James slammed the door. Again it bounced open, and Lily had to shut it correctly.

"The door hates me" muttered James.

"You're digressing," Lily pointed out.

"You promise not to kill me; I won't slack off," compromised James. Lily thought about this for a moment, before conceding. She was considering shaking hands on the deal, but decided against it. She wasn't mentally prepared to shake hands with James Potter just yet.

Mr. Korcesh of the Ministry now returned, and after a short and far too dignified introduction to James, the three entered the Head compartment to face the prefects.

OoOoOoOoO

Alice gaped. "You're kidding!"

"I only wish I was," sighed Lily, collapsing onto the seat opposite her surprised friend. She had just finished with the necessary lecture to the prefects, and if it wasn't for Mr. Korcesh's presence, Lily was sure that she would have broken her vow and killed James.

"You know, I don't think he's that bad," Alice said reasonably, after a moment of thoughtfulness.

"Alice, you don't think anyone is that bad," Lily pointed out, staring dully out the window at the passing scenery. The hills and trees seemed so peaceful and Lily envied them.

"Well I just believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt," defended Alice, shrugging.

"'I have always depended on the kindness of strangers,'" quoted Lily, and seeing Alice's perplexed face she added, "It's from a book. The character says that... then gets raped."

"LILY!"

"Well I didn't write the book!" defended Lily, half-laughing at the disapproving look on her friend's face. She decided to change the subject: "Have you seen Lexi or anyone?" she asked. She emphasized the "anyone."

"Oh ya," said Alice, suddenly recollecting, "Lexi's with Frank... but she said she'd come back around lunch when Frank goes to hang out with his friends."

Lily nodded. "And... er... Eden?"

"Nope... haven't seen Eden," shrugged Alice. Lily tried to let it settle in her mind. Eden must just be with a boyfriend. Or perhaps she was stalking the food cart. Or maybe she was arguing with 'the guys' over Quidditch or something. Or hanging out with her Ravenclaw friends.

Alice read her mind. "Are you worried about Eden?" she asked quietly.

"W-worried about Eden?" asked Lily, trying to sound innocent, "if anyone knows that Eden Dearborn can take care of herself, I do, Alice."

"That's not what I meant, and you know it," said Alice pointedly. "Don't worry about it. Eden's not like the prat last year who wouldn't study with you." This didn't console Lily much, but what did console her was remembering that Eden had some blood issues of her own.

Ten minutes or so passed of recapping the summer events. Apparently Alice had been out of the country, and quite busy, which explained why she hadn't written. Finally the conversation came full circle to the Head Boy. Alice still defended James Potter, and Lily still accused him. The Lily and James enmity went way back.

It was far too complicated and far too long ago to remember how it had started for most people, but Lily remembered, and she was pretty sure James did too. They had started out rivals (mainly for top marks in the classes- James beat Lily in almost every class, except Charms and Potions), and due to said complex circumstances, had thus escalated into a certain loathing. Temporarily.

In early fifth year, things changed. He asked her out. She said no, and smacked him. Shocked by the fact that she had had the nerve to refuse, he did the only natural thing, and asked her out again a little later. She grabbed the nearest goblet and poured him on his head, and it happened to be full of pumpkin juice. This was the final straw, and James had had no other option except ask her out about a dozen more times in the months to come. Settle to say the answer was negative, and James hadn't "seen fit to lower himself" (as Lily said) again.

James and his friends (Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew- collectively known as "the Marauders") also had a knack for prank pulling, which may or may not have contributed to the original complex circumstances of James's and Lily's loathing. Of the four Marauders, James was, of course, the one Lily disliked the most. Sirius was pretty bad too, but the unfortunate redhead could stand his presence, in small doses. Lily had no opinion on Peter Pettigrew, except that he was a bit of a pushover.

Remus, on the other hand, was one of Lily's friends. They'd become friends when they were study partners in second year. He was more subdued than his friends, or, at least, he didn't have a record number of detentions. Remus was probably Lily's closest male friend, which was saying something, considering numerous encounters that would regularly detract from a friendly relationship. But they didn't for Lily and Remus.

Not even the last time James asked Lily out had any serious effect on their friendship. It had a slight one, but only a slight one. It was, after all, from that day- a hot June afternoon by the lake- that the mediocre enmity between Lily Evans and James Potter blossomed into full-out war.

And now they were Head Boy and Girl.

Lily groaned at the thought.

Around twelve thirty, a plump witch with the food cart arrived, and Lily bought her share of sweets. Alice bravely refused any sweets, and (after some time of searching) found some relatively healthy lunch food at the bottom of the cart, which only made Lily feel guilty.

A few minutes after the food cart's departure, Lily and Alice were interrupted in their lunch by a new arrival. It was Alexandria Shaw.

Lexi (as she was more commonly known) was a short, thin Asian girl of seventeen. Her hair was a long, thick curtain of black, which fell to her elbows in shiny masses. Thin-rimmed square glasses framed her brown eyes, which sparkled with a shrewd, sardonic, and amused view of the world around her. Lexi, like Lily, was a muggle-born, but Lily had seen "purebloods" pass more convincingly as normal. At the moment, Lexi wore a knee-length deep orange skirt. Her stockings were striped lime and forest green, and on her feet she wore black Mary-Jane style shoes. On her upper half, Lexi wore an also lime green tank top, which partially covered a long sleeved royal purple t-shirt. Finger-less netted gloves were on Lexi's hands, and a stylish red bucket hat was pulled over her black-haired head. This wasn't the most conservative outfit that Lily had seen on Alexandria, but it wasn't the zaniest either.

"Lexi!" cried Lily, when her friend entered the compartment.

"Greetings!" said Lexi. She invited herself in and sat next to the redhead. "Did you guys hear the news?" she added conspiratorially.

"Hear what news?" asked Lily and Alice in unison, leaning closer to hear Lexi's news.

"Oh well if you didn't hear we can't tell you," said Lexi indifferently, leaning back on the seat again. Lily and Alice leaned back too, wry expressions on their faces.

"You're yanking our chains," said Lily, smirking.

"Well... ya..." agreed Lexi; "so how goes it on this side of the sanity line?"

"Fair enough," replied Alice, "where's Eden?"

"She was breaking up with Clark last we saw," said Lexi lazily; "that was about fifteen minutes ago. So our guess is she's either trying to find someone to comfort the poor idiot, or she's hiding in the Marauder compartment."

"She's breaking up with Clark?" gaped Lily in surprise. Eden had been dating Clark Maxon since the middle of the previous year, so the break-up was somewhat of a big deal for her friend.

"Yeah," said Lexi, sighing, "she probably thought he..." Lexi broke off suddenly, "well... whatever. Anyway, how was your summer, Alice? We got zillions of owls from my good friend Lily," (Lexi slipped an arm around Lily's shoulder) "but you didn't send us any..." She lifted her nose in the air and pretended to be indignant.

"I've been busy on vacation," explained Alice, sincerely sorry.

"Ooo!" said Lexi suddenly (Lily didn't think she had even heard Alice's explanation), "look! You have food!"

"No, we don't," said Lily, hiding her chocolate frogs, "it's an allusion. You're losing your mind, Lexi!"

Lexi more or less ignored this and took a chocolate frog. After unwrapping it she took a small bite and said quizzically, "So what do you think of Frank?"

"Never met him," said Lily and Alice together.

"What? You've never met Frank? How odd... he's a Gryffindor y'know."

"How'd you meet him?" Alice demanded.

"Let me guess," joked Lily, "Eden."

"You're brilliant," said Lexi sarcastically. "Anyway, he'll be here later and you can meet him. He's very nice really, but we- that is, I- don't know how well we'll work."

"Then why are you going with him?" asked Alice in anxiety. "Don't you think it'll hurt his feelings if he finds out you don't think it'll work out?"

"Well we couldn't very well spare his feelings by saying 'no' when he asked, could we?" said Lexi, also sounding a little apprehensive. "Just hoping he's got the nerve to break it off and we're not left to do it." Alice shook her head sagely but said nothing.

They chatted impartially for a little while, until Lily mentioned James Potter's situation as Head Boy. Lexi expressed her sympathy, but sided with Alice in that he wasn't really all that bad after all.

"We suppose we can see why you dislike him," she said to Lily, shrugging, "but we don't have any particular dislike for him. He's never been mean to us."

"No one's mean to you," Lily pointed out. "I can't think of a single person who is mean to you, Lex."

This was probably true. Lexi was very quiet in class and when she wasn't among her friends or family. But she wasn't shy. She simply didn't find anything to talk about with people she didn't know very well. When among friends, however, it was all sarcasm, randomness, and brilliance from Lexi. She was an exceptionally bright student (she took all but two of the available classes), and she was a fair Quidditch player too. But she also blended into the crowd, unless it was a matter of copying homework answers. Anyone who might not like her simply couldn't get away with picking on her.

About half an hour after Lexi's arrival, she departed in an attempt to find Eden and drag her to the compartment. Lily and Alice spent the time that Lexi was gone in separate occupations. Lily read, and Alice finished up some homework, which had been assigned for the summer.

Lexi returned in ten minutes, but not with Eden. She brought Frank.

"Greetings," Lexi said, holding a bemused Frank Longbottom's hand. They sat down next to Alice, and Lily was able to get a good look at Frank. She had never really observed him before.

He was about average height (he couldn't have been more than an inch taller than Lily) and weight. His hair was curly brown, but his eyes were blue. His face was nice, and though not exceptionally handsome, by no means displeasing. His 'hellos' to Lily and Alice were polite, if nervous. His whole attitude seemed to show that he doted on Lexi.

Frank and the girls talked for a little while about everything and nothing. Some of the subjects included his favorite Quidditch team, his favorite teachers, his favorite class (Defense Against the Dark Arts), his least favorite class (Potions), how he happened to meet Lexi, and how long he and Lexi had been going together (since early July). After a while, he too left the compartment, and presently, so did Lexi.

And then, finally, around four in the afternoon, the most anticipated person finally made an entrance into Lily and Alice's compartment.

OoOoOoOoO

"You're kidding!"

A look of utter shock was on the handsome face of seventeen-year-old Sirius Black. He stared at his best friend, James Potter, who was slouching on the compartment seat next to him, looking annoyed. It was around eleven thirty and James had just returned from the Heads compartment.

"I only wish I was," commented the new Head Boy irritably.

"Well either God, or Dumbledore, has a sense of humor," said Sirius, half-laughing. "First you're made Head Boy, then your archenemy is made Head Girl. I'm expecting hell to freeze over just about any minute!"

Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew also sat in the compartment; Remus found the situation as amusing as Sirius, but Peter looked worried.

"We'll come to your funeral," said Peter pityingly.

"Or we'll send flowers anyway," joked Sirius.

"You guys are having way too much fun with this," said James sullenly.

"Well we've had hardly any fun at your expense in over two months, so you can't blame us," Sirius pointed out. The four Marauders- as they were commonly known- hadn't seen much of each other this past summer, except for James and Sirius, for the latter lived with James's family. But James and Sirius hadn't been in much of a joking mood lately, and for once, Remus hadn't come to visit at all. Problems among the Marauders had arisen in the last few days of sixth year, and though they were settled on the train home for the summer, it had taken two months of separation to really destroy the tension.

"So what are you going to do about it?" Sirius asked. He calmed down a little and was trying to see things from his best friend's point of view.

"Do?" interrupted Remus, who was, by far, the least of a troublemaker. "He's not going to do anything to anyone, or else suffer several people's wrath! Including mine."

"Now who died and made you Minister of Magic?" demanded Sirius. "And anyway, I wasn't saying he had to do anything to anybody. I was just asking how he'll maintain a good reputation as a Marauder and be Head Boy."

"Remus did it as a prefect," Peter pointed out.

"Yes," said Sirius slowly, "but Remus is really a prefect at heart. James... Head Boy? I think not."

"That's right Sirius: you think not at all," said Remus sardonically. Peter laughed, and even James smirked.

"Oh that was so funny," Sirius retorted, "But it doesn't solve the problem. Can James Potter- prankster extraordinaire, second only to Sirius Black..." James coughed... "Alright, fine," continued Sirius, "second only to Sirius Black and Remus Lupin- can James Potter be Head Boy?"

"The solution's very simple," said Remus collectedly. "All you have to do is not..."

"Get caught," finished James. He gave Remus an approving look, "You're right, Moony; I just have to play it smooth. Maybe this year won't be too bad."

"Moony's got a point," Sirius said thoughtfully, "and anyway, James, you've got all these privileges that could come in handy..."

Remus- nicknamed Moony- sighed and muttered, "That's not exactly what I meant." But nobody heard. Sirius was suggesting that they all play a game of 'Exploding Snap' and the idea was taken up with energy by the other two. Remus reluctantly joined in the game as well.

By three o'clock, the game had changed to gobstones and the Marauders had been fed, but few other changes had occurred. The four Marauders were sitting on the floor playing the game with mediocre enthusiasm. They were interrupted by the opening of the compartment door.

James was the only one who recognized the person now entering.

"Mr. Korcesh!" he said in surprise, as the exhausted looking Ministry-worker entered the compartment. A witch and a wizard, each of whom had a badge on their chests that read "Auror Office, Ministry of Magic", accompanied him. The witch caught sight of James and Sirius and a slight smirk flashed across her face. The two Marauders full out grinned when they saw who it was.

"Mr. Potter," said Mr. Korcesh, bowing slightly to the only familiar face in the compartment. "I believe I told you in the Head compartment of my intention to inspect each of the compartments, with the assistance of these aurors I have brought with me."

"O-of course," said James, not really remembering, "These are Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Sirius Black-my friends." He pointed to each one as he said their names, and an odd expression came into Mr. Korcesh's eyes as he saw Sirius. He whispered something in the male auror's ear, then turned to James again.

"These are the two aurors selected by myself and the Ministry to assist me in my inspection of this train," said Mr. Korcesh, "this is Crosby..." he indicated to the wizard, then he pointed to the witch, saying: "and this is..."

"Bright," interrupted James, "yeah, we know Bright."

"Brighton," corrected the witch, "I use my legal surname sometimes too, you know."

"You've met?" inquired Mr. Korcesh curiously.

"Sort of," grinned Sirius. Mr. Korcesh gave "Bright" a reassessing look. She was a petite woman, and despite a sort of swaggering tomboyish-ness about her, she was also somewhat pretty. She wore her reddish brown hair in a short boy-cut, and though her features suggested a girl of nineteen, twenty-one at most, Kara Brighton was no less than twenty-four years old.

"Well," said Mr. Korcesh, as he cleared his throat, "on with the proceedings." James got the feeling that Mr. Korcesh had done this before. "You will have to wait in the outside, if you don't mind."

"What exactly are you going to inspect?" Sirius wanted to know.

"The luggage," replied the auror, Crosby.

"What are you looking for?" James tested.

Mr. Korcesh smiled slightly. "Harmful objects," he said simply. "Now if you don't mind..."

The Marauders made there way out but with some reluctance. James was very thoughtful as he and his friends waited out in the corridor. 'Why inspect the Hogwarts Express?' he thought; 'If they're afraid of some harm coming to the train, why check our luggage after we've boarded? If they're more worried about something dangerous getting onto school grounds, why send Korcesh along on the Hogwarts Express, and why inspect while we're still on the train?'

But the other Marauders weren't as thoughtful as James was at the moment. Remus was sniggering at Sirius's bad luck; apparently Padfoot (as Sirius was nicknamed) had brought a few somewhat illicit potions in his trunk.

Yet when Mr. Korcesh and the aurors, Crosby and Bright, finished and told the Marauders that they could return, they hadn't confiscated anything.

"That's weird," Sirius remarked, opening up his trunk. "All the potions are still here, and they didn't even ask me about them."

"Maybe they checked them and saw they were nothing dangerous," suggested Peter.

"I don't think so," said Sirius, closing up his trunk and pushing it onto the overhead rack again, "if they had checked them, they definitely would have confiscated them."

OoOoOoOoO

"Hello, Lexicon!"

The oh-so-familiar greeting of Eden Dearborn came to Lexi Shaw's ears as she entered the compartment where Lily, Alice, and (of course) Eden, were sitting. It was a few minutes past six in the evening, and Lexi had stopped by her friends' compartment to see if they had unearthed Eden. Apparently they had.

"Greetings," said Lexi, sitting down across from Eden, who was currently seated next to Lily. "How was the break-up?"

"Relatively good," remarked Eden, sighing, "Clark was getting bored with me anyway- the prat- so he wasn't too sad. Though, he probably would have preferred to dump me, rather than vice-versa. Does anyone else notice that that's probably the life-long ambition of half of Hogwarts' male population?"

"Dump Eden before she dumps you," joked Lexi, "sounds like a worthy occupation of time..."

Alice smiled a small smile out the window at the slowly darkening sky. "Hopefully the only thing that was bruised by the end was Clark's self-esteem," she said wisely. Eden grinned but said nothing.

Lily was silent as well. She hadn't spoken much in the past few hours. Eden was here at last, as pretty and friendly as ever, and Lily was relieved. There was no trace of prejudice when she spoke to Lily, no trace of irritation. Their conversation hadn't ranged to the serious subject matter that Lily most feared (namely Voldemort), but here Eden was, sitting next to her and chatting cheerfully.

"Shouldn't you change into your uniform?" Lexi was saying to Eden, who was the only one among them who was still in street clothes. Eden sighed, glancing down at her blouse and jeans.

"Probably," she replied, "but I'm procrastinating. I'll be wearing the uniform enough this year anyway. I don't see why we should have to wear it to welcoming feast anyway, other than to make us even more miserable."

"You know you love school," said Lily, smirking.

"Well I don't love home anyway," Eden said, rolling her eyes. Lily wasn't entirely sure this was true either, but it had become sort of a habit for Eden to complain about her home life. Only in the last few years had she really become comfortable at home, for she now lived with her stepsister, Marlene.

"How's your sister?" Alice asked. She apparently was on the same train of thought.

"Good I guess," said Eden shrugging, "Her boyfriend is busy as hell lately, which puts her in a bad mood, but she's so insane over him that she always forgets it."

"Do you like him? Her boyfriend that is?" asked Lexi.

"Yeah he's alright," said Eden, "but he's such a romantic. I swear if a guy ever said some of that cheesy stuff to me, I'd probably crack up laughing."

"Like with Craig Kaemer," joked Lexi in an undertone. Eden laughed, but Lily and Alice looked confused.

"I don't get it," remarked the latter.

"Oh Craig is this guy..." began Eden, but she couldn't quite finish, "never mind," she said, rolling her eyes, "it's not worth explaining. Craig is just... Craigish."

Lily glanced down at her watch, causing her to start and jump to her feet. "Damn!" she swore, then noticing Alice's disapproving look, she added, "sorry, Alice. I'm late, though... I'm supposed to be at the front of the train to get off first and direct the little kids. We'll arrive any minute!"

"And we should go find Frank," Lexi added, also standing.

"And I should go change my clothes," lamented Eden, rising and picking up her carry-on bag.

"Well that's not fair," said Alice, "I have to..." but she never finished. A sudden jolt that shook the whole train threw the three standing girls into seats again. Lexi tumbled onto Alice, and Eden slid with Lily to the end of the bench, slamming her into the wall. The train had stopped.

"S-sorry," groaned Eden, scooting over and rubbing her back in pain.

"What was that?" Alice asked, referring to the jolts.

Before anyone had time to answer, there was a second jolt, which caused the trunks overhead to rattle around on the rack. Lexi stood to try and secure them, only to be thrown down by a third shake.

"What's going on!" cried Lily.

There was a fourth and more powerful jolt, which caused several people outside to scream. One of the trunks fell off the rack, luckily hitting no one.

The lights on the train suddenly flickered for a moment, then went out...

OoOoOoOoO

Cook's notice: Chapter 2 guys! I'm hoping for more reviews, but I updated really quickly because I already had this chapter done anyway. If you've read, there's no point in not reviewing, now is there? Lol, c'mon!

Adoring- (:)(:)(:)(:) Do you like your virtual cookies? Anyway, I loved your review... and not just because it was my first! I'm so I'm glad you liked my style, and I'm also glad you don't find it cute when James does nothing but sit around and languish in love for Lily. I also prefer your type of review to the type you mentioned, because- like you said- they're nice, but pointless. Sorry for digressing; thanks a ton for reviewing!

Luthien RhiannonCat5- (:)(:)(:)(:) Thanks for the review! I hope you enjoy the delicious virtual chocolate chip cookies. Woot! I hope the story isn't too fast moving. Thanks again for taking your time to leave me one, and I hope you continue to read!

One more quick note to anyone reading: whatever any first impressions of any characters... there. Will. Be. No. Mary. Sues. Ever. At. All. Nunc. Non. Nip. Natta. Zip. Zang. Zilch. Zero. Period.

Cheers,

!Jewels!

Don't you love my virtual cookies? (:)