The rainy countryside flashed by as the Hogwarts Express pressed on towards its destination. Looking away from his reflection in the window, James Potter regarded his friends. "I've never noticed how fit Evans was," He mused, propping his long legs on the seat across from him, forcing Peter to move over to the side.

Remus looked up from the book he had been reading, "Those glasses of yours must not be working anymore then, mate." Wiggling his brown eyebrows, the werewolf resumed reading his book.

James shot his friend a look, "It's hard to notice her when she's around all of Snivelus' greasy hair."

Sitting by the window (attempting to catch a chocolate frog with his mouth), Sirius gave his best friend a quick glance, "Are we still talking about her? Merlin, did she slip you a love potion or something?"

"It would have worn off by now, regretfully," Remus muttered, his expression unmoving save for the slightest twitch at his lips. Peter snickered at his side, taking an Every-Flavored bean and popping it in his mouth.

James froze in anticipation of what flavor the bean was, a slow grin spreading across his face as Peter coughed. "Boogeys?" James guessed with a snicker as Peter shook his head.

"Moldy cheese." Peter grimaced, finishing around in his bag for a bean that looked more appetizing.

James wrinkled his nose, "Urgh, nasty."

By the window, Sirius had finally caught the chocolate frog and scarfed it down with a wolfish grin. Remus raised his eyebrows at the display, "And I'm the one whose part wolf."

"Speaking of your furry problem," James began, wiggling his eyebrows, he clapped his hands, "I got the books- the ones we needed!" The three other boys perked up, matching grins on all their faces. "I think we'll be able to pull it off this year."

Remus bit his lower lip before speaking, "Do you think it will work?"

Sirius nodded at him, "We were so close to the full transformation just the other day…"

The werewolf shook his head, "I meant- what if it doesn't keep you safe?"

James waved him off, "Then we become werewolves with you. I rather fancy the idea of skipping school once a month-"

"-I'm not exactly enjoying myself, when I go," Remus replied sardonically as he resumed reading, though a small smile developed on his face nonetheless.

Leaning back in his seat, James regarded his studious friend with a warm smile. He knew that Remus most certainly did not enjoy the full moon, which was why he and Sirius had thought up this grand plan of theirs. It would no doubt trump all their previous exploits, though it would have to remain anonymous due to its sheer illegality. If it worked and they succeeded in becoming Animagi, however, the risks would certainly be worth it.

His thoughts quickly drifted at the sound of some voices coming down the corridor, familiar female voices. Bolting up as if struck by lightning, James quickly ruffled his hair and examined his appearance in the window. Alarmed by the sudden movement, Sirius did the same.

Their compartment door slid open and two very pretty girls stood in the doorway. The one on the right was tall and thin, with dark skin and hair that was always impeccably styled. James suspected Imogen Peakes used his father's invention, Sleekeasy's, to get her hair so perfect. Beside her was Mary MacDonald, who was significantly shorter, with wide shoulders and a tanned heart shaped face. Her golden blond hair was always pulled back, as if she was ready to play Quidditch at any moment- though knowing Mary, she probably was.

The taller girl spoke first, "Hello boys!" She smiled at them, reminding James why he spent the greater part of his fourth year seeking her attention. Unfortunately, contending with Sirius never gave him much of a chance, something James noticed as Imogen's brown eyes slid over to his taller friend. Sirius winked at her, causing Imogen's dark skin to redden.

Ignoring the silent exchange going on between her friend and Sirius, Mary addressed Remus in her think Glaswegian accent: "Lupin, shouldn't you be with the Prefects?"

Imogen pouted, "Yes, Lily left us to go there. It's been so miserable without her."

Remus gestured at the boys around him, "My time is probably best served watching these fools."

Sirius looked at the girls with a barely serious expression, "He's got his hands full as you can see, we're absolutely up to no good." Again with a look at Imogen that James wished he could replicate, the girl practically swooned.

Mary, still oblivious or consciously ignoring what was going on, turned to James: "Did you hear McClaggen is our captain?" She laughed as James groaned.

"Tiberius is going to work us dry-"

Mary wasn't having it, "-He's so talented though-"

"-And a bit of a slave-driver, I must say." Despite his harsh words, he was grinning. Tiberius had taken him under his wing when James joined the team years ago, and Mary was right, Tiberius was very talented. "I can't wait to get on the pitch, punch a few Slytherins- all in the name of Quidditch, of course."

"Of course." Remus responded, closing his book and standing up. "I might as well go see the other prefects," He nodded at the girls as he passed by, ignoring the jeers from his friends.

Peter moved over on his seat and Imogen hardly hesitated in sitting between him and Sirius, whilst Mary sat down next to James. None of the boys minded the new company, especially not Sirius who immediately launched into a lively retelling of a summer adventure for his apt listener. "Did you have a nice summer, Mary?" Peter asked, his voice slightly higher than it normally was.

She nodded giving Peter a smile that made the boy blush so hard, James was impressed that Mary didn't skip a beat. Granted, she was possibly one of the best humored girls he knew. Last year the wind had suddenly shifted at one of the practices, knocking Mary's bludger right into her nose. Despite her face being covered in blood and in obvious pain, the girl waved it off and managed to walk herself to Madame Pomfrey's as if nothing was wrong.

Unfortunately for Peter, Mary was quietly dating Bilius Weasley, a sixth year who was the team's seeker. The couple were open about their relationship with their teammates, but rather private with everyone else.

"Mary," James began, regarding her with his hazel eyes, "Is Evans seeing anyone?"

The girl blinked several times, her dark blue eyes flicking from Peter, to Imogen (who wasn't paying attention) and back to James. She raised one of her eyebrows, "Not that I'm aware…" She squinted at Potter, but said nothing more.

James nodded, more to himself. Ever since that short encounter at Madame Malkin's, he'd been unable to shake the image of those green eyes from his mind. They haunted him, making him more uncomfortable than he'd ever been. Girls didn't make him nervous, but Lily Evans was quickly becoming a different story.

It wasn't as if he'd never noticed her: they were in the same house and year. She had that hair and her face had always been quite lovely. And she was also rather brilliant in Potions and Charms, so she clearly wasn't thick by any means… Remus was right, clearly his glasses had been broken this whole time.

"Though, James," Mary's voice cut into his thoughts, causing the fifteen year old to all but jump. "You do know she's good friends with Snape, right?" Even the mere mention of the name made James' blood boil. Stupid Severus Snape, he thought acidly, replaying in his mind several nasty incidents with the slimy Slytherin. While James might not have been the most innocent in his interactions with Snape (far from innocent, to be honest), he could not sit idly by when Snape and his Slytherin friends were experimenting with Dark Magic on muggleborns. It was disgusting and his parents taught him better than that. James knew Lily was a muggleborn, and frankly he couldn't comprehend how she could be close friends with someone so clearly against her ancestry.

There was a slight pang of an unfamiliar emotion in James' chest and it only intensified as he thought about Snape, with his greasy hair and ugly nose, even being within two feet of Lily. What was so great about him anyway? Nothing was great about Severus Snape… except maybe his Potion skills. Damn it. James thought, subconsciously crossing his arms as his lower lip slowly protruded into a slight pout. I'm miserable with Potions. At least, miserable compared to both Lily and Snape.

Whilst deep in thought, James hadn't noticed that Mary and Peter had continued to talk without him, and well, Imogen and Sirius were on another planet completely. He stood up and excused himself, hoping to go get some advice from a more knowledgeable source (since Sirius was preoccupied). He nodded at acquaintances as he passed, tossed a few winks at a gaggle of Ravenclaw girls, and sternly informed a group of younger Slytherins to "move along" before finally finding the compartment he was looking for.

The loud chatter behind the closed compartment door was very familiar, "Kingsley- for Merlin's sake!" Came the bubbly laugh of Hestia Jones, one of the Gryffindor's sixth years.

"Aye, McGonagall would right murder you!" Came the gasping laughs of seventh year Tiberius McClaggen, "Merlin, I'm cryin'."

James began to push the compartment door open and had it open enough to make eye contact with a delighted Kingsley Shacklebolt, who began to exclaim his name. However, before either James or Kingsley could say anything, there was a terribly loud bang from James' right.

Pain exploded across James' body as he was thrown down the corridor and against the door leading to the next carriage, causing his glasses to fall off his face and his head to slam against the door painfully. "Accio glasses!" The deep, grating voice of Flavius Avery echoed down the corridor and James' glasses soared down the hallway. Unable to see much of anything, James attempted to compose himself and get up off the floor.

But without his glasses, his depth perception and general ability to accurately focus on anything was abysmal. There was a snap and James felt the two pieces of his now deeply shattered glasses get thrown at his head.

There was a roar from the compartment that Kingsley Shaklebolt, Hestia Jones, Tiberius McClaggen and (likely) Bilius Weasley had all been in, and within moments jets of colored light were flying across the compartment. James ducked, quickly grabbing the remnants of his glasses and muttering the repairing charm, shoving them on his nose as if nothing had happened. Avery and his mates (Snape was surprisingly absent from this collection of cretins) stupidly had turned their backs to James, and he quickly sent off some disarming charms at them, catching two wands in his left arm.

Before James even had a moment to thank his Quidditch reflexes for catching the wands, the door behind him slammed open (nearly clipping his back) and an army of prefects entered. Everyone in the corridor froze: Shaklebolt with his wand raised at Avery, who was now sporting a set of antlers; McClaggen's nose was bleeding uncontrollably; two of the Slytherins (Wilkes and Rosier) were wandless and with slowly expanding heads; and James stood with his wand in his right hand, and two others in his left.

"What is going on in here?" A sharp, demanding female voice echoed down the suddenly silent corridor. "James- I should have known, turn around!"

James grimaced, he really didn't want to. Taking a big breath, he summoned his most brilliant smile and ever so slowly turned around to face the Head Girl, Alice Blackburn. "Alice!" He chirped, "Now I know this seems bad-"

Alice's brown eyes narrowed, "-Don't 'Alice' me, James." Behind her, James saw several prefects from assorted years and houses, including (much to his dismay) Remus and Lily. The former was shaking his head slowly, whilst the latter simply looked revolted. Her frown and drawn eyebrows caused a slight sting in James' chest, and the uncomfortable warming feeling on his face only solidified his complete and utter embarrassment.

"You couldn't even wait until we were off the train? Merlin!" She grabbed the two wands he'd taken and marched past him, flicking her wand several times as she attempted to undo all the jinxes and curses. "Shaklebolt and McClaggen, I expected better from both of you." But not me? James thought indignantly, though he couldn't help but smirk. No, of course not.

After a quick discussion with all the parties involved, Alice informed them that they would all have to discuss what occurred with Professor McGonagall. The looks of collective despair seemed to give the Head Girl some satisfaction.

There was never a strict timeline for Alice & Frank Longbottom, Kingsley Shaklebolt and all of those around so I took a few liberties. I figure Alice might have been a family friend of the Potters, hence why they're on first-name basis. More actual Lily & James to come, I'm trying to set up the story. Review/favorite if you like!