The corridor of the train was filled to the brim with children, displaying a palette of emotions. Huddled all together, though without any knowledge of each other were a terrified bunch of first years. The next few carriages held clusters of teenagers, busily finishing their numerous essays and assignments. Each face showed the distinct manic expression: next year they would start their homework early.
As Lily, Alice and Emma made their way down the train, often having to dodge spells and owls, it was clear that they would not have a carriage to themselves. This put a damper on their plans to talk boys, spells and holiday antics all the way to Hogwarts, or at least until Lily's prefect meeting later that afternoon. To escape the chaos the disappointed girls chose the closest carriage, although they still had to wrestle their way to the door handle. No sooner had Alice opened the sliding door and stepped inside, that Emma, catching sight of the passengers inside, yanked the back of Alice's robes and slammed the door shut. The glass quivered.
Lily, who was too busy confiscating a fanged frisbee and trying to find the owner, did not see the witches and wizards inside. As if to let Lily out of the dark, a sneer of "Dirty mudblood scum", by Bellatrix Lestrange sufficiently introduced the Slytherins inside.
Lily only rolled her eyes; she was used to the many charms of Bellatrix. Motioning to her friends, Lily smiled calmly and opened the next carriage, with Alice and Emma hesitantly identifying the passengers. To all the girls' pleasure, inside sat a few fellow Gryfindors, as well as a couple of Ravenclaw's all three recognised. Squeals of delight at seeing friends after the long holidays group talked and discussed their entire holidays, as well as the hopes and fears of the new year before the food trolley called for a feast second only to the famous Hogwarts dinner that would welcome them home.
Unbeknown to the joyful Lily inside, James and Sirius had heard the sly comments from Bellatrix, and were not so forgiving. Under the cover of James' invisibility cloak, Sirius pulled out a second fanged frisbee and pushed it under the carriage door. The two boys counted down from three, grinning expectantly at each other, before both having the great satisfaction of hearing the cries of Sirius' cousin Bellatrix and brother Regulus, as well as several other incredulous Slytherin's.
"That was even more refreshing than when I ran up to a muggle and kissed her in the street. The look on my mothers face will be etched into my mind up until my dying day" Sirius remembered fondly. "Now let's go and console our dearest Lily over the dreadful experience she just had. I'm sure Bella won't tell if we play up our prank. I will tell her of how you entered into a duel single handedly. Six on one, curses flying everywhere! Meanwhile I was oblivious to your near-death experience, too busy being charmed by beautiful Ravenclaw's of course!" Sirius continued dramatically, before turning to open Lily's carriage.
"No, no, no, no! Let's not. Am I the only one who remembers Lily's reaction when we cursed Snivellus for calling Lily a Mudblood?" James protested. Sirius winced at the memory of the two of them drinking a toast of Skelegrow to each others good health.
"Good point. How about we say there are no other empty carriages? Keep it simple?" Sirius suggested innocently. James nodded gleefully and slid open the carriage door. As the carriage door made a hearty squeal, the group of eight giggling girls looked up to see the entering passengers. Lily, who was already half standing and checking the time on her watch, caught sight of a pair of piercing, hazel eyes staring intensely at her. Swiftly straightening up, Lily approached James.
"I never thought I would say this Potter, but I'm glad you are here. You forgot that we had a Head Boy and Girl meeting with the prefects I suppose, so it saves me the trouble of having to find you." Lily said lazily.
"Actually" Sirius improvised "James was coming here to find you; he thought you would be early to the meeting, and was surprised when he didn't see you in the carriage!"
"Yes, that's right." James said, nodding profusely. "Then why are you here, Sirius? Oh, don't tell me, Dumbledore lost his mind twice and appointed you and prefect?" Lily snapped sarcastically.
"How dare you assume such a thing. Me? Prefect? I am ashamed at just the thought of it!" Sirius bellowed with mock anger, clutching at his heart. Even the idea of being a prefect pricked his pride- as if Dumbledore would think Sirius capable of toning down his need for mischief!
"Well it's a good job he only lost it once." Lily sneered, glancing at James.
"Who knows, I may just surprise you. Last year you didn't think I could outdo you in any subject, and I distinctly remember flogging you in our defense against the dark arts exam...twice..." James trailed off, letting his remark sink in. Right on cue, Lily's eyes turned to ice and her cheeks flushed.
"You asked for it Potter!" Lily shrieked, lifting her wand. Lily was halfway through yelling a bat-bogey curse at James, when the deputy Headmistress and transfiguration teacher, Professor McGonagall barged into the carriage, her face contorted with rage and disbelief.
"Lily Evans and James Potter!" How am I not surprised? Not only are you late for YOUR meeting with prefects, but here you are, the two heads of the school, cursing each other!" McGonagall blasted furiously. "Is it impossible for the two of you to act civilised?" She continued. It was clear to both Lily and James that this was a rhetorical question. To Sirius, not so much.
"I totally agree, Professor, utterly childish behavior. Detention for them both, if I were you!" Sirius answered, trying to be formal.
"Mr. Black, of course you would be involved" McGonagall retorted dryly. Sirius beamed: at least McGonagall knew him well enough to know he could never be a prefect. Turning back to Lily and James, she motioned for the two of them to follow her out of the carriage. At this point, neither Lily nor James had ruled out a beating from Mr. Filch, the ancient and borderline-sadistic caretaker.
Several minutes of awkward silence continued as Professore McGonagall stalked down the corridor, hesitating only to bark at a third-year for shooting fireworks from her wand. As they finally reached the prefects carriage, McGonagall rounded on James and Lily.
"Despite both of you being late for the meeting, there is still enough time for you to discuss the responsibilities of all prefects... And Heads it seems" McGonagall said seriously, stopping to lay her eyes on James as she finished her sentence. James diverted his eyes to the floor while Lily reprimanded herself internally. How could her first meeting be under these circumstances? From now on, she was determined to ignore Potter outside all Head duties. To prove her point, Lily glared at James as she entered the carriage.
Stepping inside, James was immediately overwhelmed. To him the Hogwarts Express had always seemed magical and beautiful. The comfy, pillow laden seats and cozy red carpets that were more often than not barely visible under the strewn textbooks and sweets had always felt like home. This all seemed insignificant, compared to the individual burgandy leather recliners, patterned carpets, full length curtains and wooden desks that made up the carriage. It had to be three times the size of normal carriages James thought.
"This is incredible. I think it will be worth all those late night patrols if this is our reward" James murmured, mostly to himself. For the first time that day Lily smiled at James, before adding seriously- "Well we definitely have our work cut out for us, starting now".