Disclaimer: I own nothing except this story line

Churchyard Disputes

Practically none of the teenagers in Friestan were religious – not that it mattered to the adults. So, every Sunday they all marched to church in smart clothes and sang hymns with the rest. In many places, church was probably a profound experience. Not in Friestan. It was an opportunity for people to judge and gossip about everything, from whether they started snoring during the sermon, to what kind of hat they were wearing and if their children attended.

Mrs Evans wasn't the sort to be gossiped about – so she had her best hat and clothes on, she sat up straight and listened attentively and took ALL her family with her. Mr Evans was there in a suit, Petunia was perfectly turned out in pink clothing and Lily was sitting in a ladylike way in her smartest dress in their usual pew.

There was more gossiping than usual as the gossips had more to gossip about, chiefly: the Potters.

Would they turn up? Would they dress smartly? Would the son – already making a name for himself as a troublemaker – come too?

Their questions were soon answered when Mr Potter came in with a grim look on his face, Mrs Potter supported on his arm and a bored looking young man trudging in behind them. They slid into the empty pew half way down the church and ignored the curious stares sent their way. James sighed in defeat and slunk down in his seat until he noticed his mother glaring at him and soon straightened up. He ran his hands through his hair so that it stuck up in several directions, then realised that a very pretty redhead, sitting on a pew closer to the front on the other side, had twisted round slightly to ogle him.

Instantly, he sat up straighter and shot her a lazy smile.

Her shoulders stiffened and she turned around hastily to listen to tiny Father Wick's sermon.

James chuckled quietly to himself and then proceeded to stare into space.

Or more accurately: the back of Lily Evans' head.

"Wasn't that lovely? James, don't you think that was lovely?"

"Yes, mother."

"James? Are you paying attention?"

"Yes, mother."

Of course, James was not paying attention. His attention was focused on finding the familiar head that he had spent so much time with in the last week. At last, he found Sirius standing with a lot of haughtily dressed people – several uncommonly pretty girls among them – who all looked as if they wished to be anywhere else.

James immediately made for them, but stopped when Sirius caught his eye and shook his head subtly. Then, Sirius turned to a younger boy next to him he looked very similar to him.

"Those Blacks I tell you – a right haughty lot. Such airs and graces!"

"Don't forget those awful names. Who names their children after stars?"

James turned to see a very stout looking woman talking to a very thin one. Lurking behind the thin woman was a boy with dark shadows around his eyes and an ill-fitting jacket. James strode towards him and stuck out his hand.

"Hello. James Potter."

The boy regarded his hand warily and then proceeded to shake it delicately.

"Remus Lupin." He said with an air of terror, as if he expected James to run away.

Remus Lupin was clearly underweight and seemed exceptionally skittish – as if he was unused to sunlight. James noticed many of the townspeople sending him odd looks, as if it was a rare occurrence to see him.

"You're not new too, are you?"

"No. I've lived here all my life." There was a definite sense of finality and sadness in the boy's tone. Immediately James felt on his guard, but also strangely protective of the bizarre boy he was talking to.

"Remus!"

James turned to see the beauteous and infamous Lily Evans jogging towards him and his companion. Her eyes flashed to his face and she then turned away and thoroughly ignored him.

"Remus I'm so glad you're here, can you come for tea?" she clutched his sleeve and he looked at her with a small smile.

"Thank you, Lily, I'd love to but I-"

Whatever he had been about to say, they would never know, for the thin woman called his name and he turned around quickly.

"I've got to go. Thanks anyway Lils, and it was nice meeting you James." With that he slowly limped over to the woman, who ushered him away.

James raised his hand in goodbye, then turned to the girl chewing her lip next to him.

"Your boyfriend?"

Immediately her beautiful eyes flashed up to his in annoyance. "No – he's my friend actually. Who are you anyway?" she asked, knowing perfectly well who he was.

"Potter, James Potter." She rolled her eyes and huffed out a sigh. He continued, "and you're Lily Evans, who Sirius got off with."

Her eyes widened in shock and she looked at him with pure hatred, for he had not said it quietly and the stout woman was still standing nearby.

"How bloody dare you!" she hissed, "I don't even know you! The bloody cheek. If you ever mention that again, I will wallop you!"

James tsked. "Swearing in a churchyard, getting off with strange blokes – whatever next? And you looked like such a good girl at first."

Clearly, the Potter charm became too much for her as she flounced off towards a group of teenage girls. Some hurried whispers later, he had two glaring at him, one eyeing him and another giggling at him. Perhaps Friestan wasn't as bad as he thought.

"You should have seen how he was smirking, Mary!"

Mary Macdonald nodded and sighed. "Yes Lily – he sounds dreadful. Now can we talk about something else? Like… School! It starts tomorrow."

"No-one wants to talk about school!" called Marlene McKinnon – who was lying with her legs propped against the wall and her head lolling over the bed whilst Dorcas plaited strands of Marlene's hair, whose head rested on Dorcas' shoulder.

"I DO." Mary threw a pillow at the other two, hitting Lily in the face instead.

"MARY!" came the undisputed call from all three girls in the room.

"What's Mary done?" Alice came into the room with a tray of biscuits and tea, seeing her friends all glaring at the culprit.

"She's just bloody annoying."

"Talking about school, throwing pillows."

"Sounds like a right hell raiser."

"Shut up, Alice."

To anyone unaccustomed to how the girls spoke, this could have all seemed rather argumentative – yet to them it was an easy routine of banter and sarcasm. All in all, the five girl were best friends – having known each other all their lives, it was hard not to be. Older girls like Emmaline Vance, Molly Prewett (Alice's cousin) and Hestia Jones were all friendly with them, but still off their radar.

In truth – they had banded together out of necessity and were all fairly unique to one another, yet still relied on each other wholeheartedly.

However – they had differing opinions on the pressing matter of James Potter and some were more incensed by it than others. Dorcas thought he looked hot, but too preppy. Mary didn't care. Marlene thought he looked sporty and would cause trouble. Alice thought they were judging him too quickly. Lily hated him passionately.

Unaccustomed to hating anyone, she got more angry every time she thought about their conversation. "He was talking to Remus."

"Loopy Remus was there?"

"MARLENE!"

"Marly, you shouldn't say such things."

"Anyway," Lily continued, "He was talking to Remus. I think he's going to corrupt him. Him and…you know, they're going to make poor Remus get in trouble. Who knows? Maybe they'll form a gang with Frank and your brothers, Alice!"

"Oh Lily, do shut up." Marlene wailed, "You're overthinking everything, they're hardly going to form a gang in Friestan and if you can't even say Sirius' name, how are you going to face him at school tomorrow?"

"I won't. I'll run away and hide in the loos."

"Very mature."

James was unaccustomed to the amount of gossip that was flying around the little churchyard. His parents had stood to the side of it all awkwardly, until his father had lead his mother to the car and gestured for him to follow.

As they left, he saw a boy with a look of extreme loneliness and fear on his face. He stayed very close to the stout woman he had seen earlier. No-one approached him – instead he stared sadly at the other groups of teenagers – particularly at a group of handsome and haughty looking boys in dark clothing. The boy was very short, blond and covered in acne. His eyes were either small or squinting and he looked at his feet and bit his lip often.

A pang of pity fled through James – so he resolved to himself to find out the boy's name, maybe Sirius would know?

His mother leant her head back on seat of the car and closed her eyes. She got tired very easily now – talking to people often tired her out more than exercise these days.

They soon returned to the uneasy quiet of the house and James hurried to the relative safety of his room. He had yet to unpack, but he already found himself liking the red walls and off-gold of the windowsills. He had a fireplace with a lion head carved in it and his room was on the top floor of the house, meaning it was a sanctuary for him. And he had a bathroom to himself.

James threw himself on his bed and let out a heavy sigh. Friestan was shite. To be honest, he missed London. He missed his mates, his school, he especially missed having more than four options of what to do in his free time.
Not only that, but school was starting tomorrow. He was awful at school. Not that he wasn't bright, lord knows how many reports his parents got calling him "bright", "full of potential" but also "a troublemaker" and once (by Mr Flamel, who had hated him with a passion) a "right pain up the arse". Ah, nothing like school.

Tomorrow, he had to meet the rest of his peers and first thing he had a meeting with the headmaster "Albus Dumbledore". What a stupid name. Sirius was right – no one sane could be called Dumbledore.

"For heaven's sake, Mr Black, is it necessary to smoke a cigarette all the time?"

"Miss Meadowes: I do believe your skirt seems to be missing a few inches."

"Mr Avery, if I see you do….THAT one more time!"

Minerva McGonagall was not a woman to be trifled with. Even the hardiest student bent to her authority and few questioned her. A maths teacher, head of 'Lion' house and deputy head of the whole school, there were not many teachers more feared than her. No matter how subtly you did it, she could catch anyone chewing gum. Passing notes? Forget it! And not forgetting, the number of detentions given to those fornicating in the corridors!

No, Minerva McGonagall was made of stern stuff. Yet even she, was not prepared for James Potter's first day in school.

It started quietly. He walked into town with Sirius (who he soon discovered to be a dog magnet) and by the time he got to school, was laughing with him – albeit covered in canine hair.
Then, he headed to the headmaster's office, leaving Sirius to smoke his fag outside the building. On arriving at the headmaster's office he soon discovered it to be inhabited by a very old, very odd man. Albus Dumbledore in the flesh was a sight to be seen. His purple suit and long beard did not look like it endeared him to the locals; nor would his rather lackadaisical smile, James imagined.

James soon discovered the headmaster was definitely aware James was a troublemaker and seemed to take a rather passive view of the whole situation:

"Now the way I see it," he said, offering him a sherbet lemon that James politely declined, "Is that you've messed around before because it was more comfortable to you than learning. Indeed, I should think for one such as yourself, learning has seemed quite a waste of time."

James was taken aback, where were the warnings, the rules?

"However, at Hogsden we do get a great mix of people. Some are gifted and some are not. Some are brave and some are not. Some are kind and some are ambitious – no one is perfect and we do not ask that of our students. What we do ask is for respect, honest and hard work and for our students to try."

At this, the old man's gaze wandered to the open window, which faced a field and a woodland beyond. He peered over his half-moon spectacles at the students straggling along, the birds flitting to and fro and at the flowers and grasses, lazily undulating in the breeze. James also peered curiously but saw nothing of great interest. When the old man eventually spoke again, his voice was quieter and more thoughtful.

"After all, if we do not try, what are we?"

Soon afterwards, he was allocated to be in 'Lion' house (why on earth was it called Lion house?) and shown to form 7L. His home for the rest of the year, as part of the Upper Sixth. Inside, it was to his joy that he found Sirius and Remus to be in his form, as well as the small boy he had seen the day before. As well as them, there was a boy with dark hair and another with a good-natured face who appeared to be friends. There was a great divide in the classroom, for on the other side were a number of pretty girls, including the delightful Lily Evans. She was surrounded by a gaggle of giggling girls, with the exception of one who seemed rather bored and was playing with a cigarette wistfully.

Sirius saw him and jumped over the table, whooping. "Nice one, mate! Did you charm old Minnie?"

"Who?"

"McGonagall. She pretends to hate everyone but she's got a soft spot for her house and particularly her form. That's us by the way. We get the head of house cos we're the oldest."

"Nah," James shrugged and glanced at the door, "all I met was the headmaster, who you were right about. Bloody barmy. Kept talking about 'trying my best' or some shite."

"I'll have you know," piped up a vitriolic voice from the other side of the room, "that Dumbledore is a brilliant headmaster and he even went to Cambridge! They wanted him to work in government but he specialised in education."

James smirked. "Oh joy, you're here," Lily Evans blushed scarlet, "To be honest, I don't care, Petal. If he turned down a load of money to work in this shithole, than he must be barmy."

"Indeed Mr. Potter?" James' blood run cold as he swivelled to see a thin, severe looking woman holding a pile of folders under one arm. "Perhaps you'd like to elaborate in detention after school? Excellent. I'm Ms. McGonagall, by the way. Your teacher?"

Bloody, buggering, bugger. He hated girls.

Lily hated boys. As soon as he walked through the door she was acutely aware of his presence. Even more proof that he was her enemy, she thought. She eyed him closely as he bantered with Black, drawing the attention of everyone – even Benjy and Frank who were never bothered by anything, Remus who was looking around curiously and tiny Peter who was gazing at him with awe.

Awe of what? He wasn't very good looking. And his hair was so messy. And she bet he never worked in lessons.
By the time he began insulting Dumbledore, she was through. Much to the amusement of Marlene, she raised her voice and joined in.

His vulgar response confirmed her suspicions of him but her delight knew no bounds when McGonagall entered the room unbeknownst to Mr. Prickhead.

Oh, revenge was sweet. Moreover, he and Black were split up and he was moved next to – no, not next to Remus! For goodness sake! Didn't McGonagall realise he would corrupt him?!

No matter. This was a new year, they were doing their A-Levels in 8 months and she could afford no distractions!

Alice soon distracted everyone by falling off her chair (to her great embarrassment) and she watched in amusement as Alice scrambled to collect her dignity.

Meanwhile, Mary's cigarette was confiscated.

The first hour was filled with information about new school rules ("No more racket sports allowed after last term's…incident."), timetables and random sheets and forms to bombard the students with. Soon afterwards they were set off to lessons, first stop: Chemistry. Otherwise known as James' least favourite subject. And Lily's favourite one.

Inside the class there weren't many students – Chemistry A-Level was hard to get into. As they entered, James was soon introduced to Eloise Abbott, Amelia Bones, Cornelia Vance, Dirk Cresswell, Davey Gudgeon and Bertram Aubrey.

There were other students in the classroom, but they stuck to their tables. They glanced occasionally at the others with looks of distaste. Soon, the teacher entered and the rest of them sat, except for James who had no seat.

"Settle down, settle down," the huge teacher grumbled, "eh? Who are you?"

"James Potter, sir. New."

"New are you? Alright, alright. Do sit… Oh Miss Evans, still relocated? Very well, Mr Potter, you may sit next to Mr Snape."

Looking around, James soon spotted the seat and immediately scurried over to it, settling down as the lesson began. He glanced at his neighbour, a sallow boy with dark, greasy hair who refused to look up at him. Soon after, the teacher (who James had discovered was called Slughorn) assigned them partner work and they were forced to acknowledge each other. James did a weird head bob and stuck out his hand. "James Potter."

The other boy glanced at him briefly. "Severus Snape."

Uh oh. James could feel the laugh coming. It had started deep in the pit of his stomach and was bubbling up his throat. No, he could not alienate another person already. He. Would. Not. Laugh.
To his credit, he didn't. Instead he did a strange sort of hacking cough, which resembled the noise a cat makes as it coughs up a hairball. "Nice to meet you… Severus."

Severus Snape smiled and frowned simultaneously, then his eyes flitted across the classroom and the smile dropped from his face, he returned to avoiding James' eyes.

Odd, but still not the oddest thing that had happened to James. Instead, he continued to listen to Evans ask questions about every banal thing to do with chemistry. Slughorn lapped it up, his huge belly shaking with laughter as he kept calling her "Lovely Lily". And they said teachers didn't have favourites!

Oh shit. James suddenly realised that he'd been staring at Lily for a good ten minutes. He looked over hurriedly at Severus, only to see that he hadn't been caught.

Because Severus was staring at her too.

Lily had the uncomfortable feeling of being stared at and was very disturbed when she saw Potter and Severus chatting reasonably comfortably – after all Severus had never been an easy conversationalist.

Soon, and much to her disappointment, the lesson was over and they had a study period. She eagerly set about completing some questions that had been set, as her friends gazed at her in utter horror.

"Lily, it isn't due until next week!"

"Can you not just chill?"

"No," Lily grumbled, "This will only take a minute if YOU stop distracting me and I'm babysitting tomorrow, so I can't do it then and we'll get more later and I can't do it on Friday because of the party. Also, let's be honest. I'm not going to be in any shape to do it on Saturday."

Alice rolled her eyes. "Alright, I should probably do it too."

Marlene and Dorcas wailed their responses, despairing of their hard-working friends. Mary wasn't listening, instead holding a biro like a fag and moving it back and forth from her lips in a mechanical motion.

James came out of maths feeling exhausted. McGonagall was the teacher and she had caught him passing notes to Sirius, which had contained a rather unflattering picture of her. That was another detention. He had three now, including the one he had gotten in their study period when he had decided (in a fit of boredom and with encouragement from Sirius) to rip up his chemistry homework and set the little pieces alight with Sirius' lighter. How were they to know the fire alarm would go off and the school would be evacuated?

Soon they had lunch, James' favourite lesson of the day. He got a dry looking sandwich from the canteen and went to sit outside with Sirius. Remus walked past, so James convinced him to also sit down, which he did. Moments later, Peter (Peter Pettigrew, as James had learnt) asked if he could sit. Sirius glared at them all but James welcomed them to sit. It wasn't long before Frank Longbottom and Benjy Fenwick also came outside and after spotting their table, went to sit with them. They were raucous, to say the least and earned many glares from neighbouring benches. Particularly Lily Evans'.

When they had all finished their lunches (Remus hadn't eaten much, instead giving his to an ever-hungry Sirius Black) the boys decided to play a game of footie. James began boasting, Sirius began groaning and Peter registered an opinion that nobody heard.

They were all set up, Frank readied himself in goal and they were all ready to play. Much to the shock of everyone, James was brilliant and managed to outwit every other player. "Too bad Lupin!" he called merrily as Remus failed to intercept the ball.

Soon he was ready to score, he wound up his muscles, aimed for the ball and WHAM!

The ball soared through the air, past Frank's outstretched hands, still going until...

The sound of breaking glass made everyone on the quad gasp then fall silent.

"MR POTTER!" McGonagall shrieked from inside her classroom, where the ball had landed.

James gulped and turned around to see the rest of the boys were running away. So much for fucking friendship. Make that four detentions then.

Two hours later, they had all had their final two lessons of the day and everyone all trudged wearily home. Too much school, far too quickly was the general complaint.

Lily said goodbye to Dorcas and walked with Marlene to her door, where she said goodbye and edged inside. She called out, before deciding it was safe and walking into the tiny kitchen and dumping her bag down. Peace. She was just about to see if her mum had left anything for her to snack on when she heard a shriek from upstairs that made her blood run cold.

No.

Petunia was out! She was at Vernon's, planning her forthcoming nuptials!

The giggles and horrifying sounds from upstairs told her otherwise. Please say Vernon wasn't here. Please say they were not doing… anything. Just anything. The thought was too hideous to contemplate. She crept up the stairs, ignoring the noises until reaching the landing leading to the three bedrooms and bathroom. She knocked on the door, and called out: "Tuney?"

Silence fell, then a muffled 'bugger!' and some thumping, until a dishevelled Petunia swiftly opened the door. "What?"

"I-I…" Lily had no excuse for knocking on the door, other than wanting the noises to stop, "…just wanted to see if you were alright?"

Petunia looked at her, confused. "Of course I'm fine! Now, leave me alone. I'm busy and do not want to be disturbed."

Lily nodded and bit her lip. "So, do you know what time Mum will be back?"

"Soon! Now just LEAVE."

"Yes, Tuney," she hesitated for a moment before raising her voice slightly: "Hello, Vernon."

With that, Lily turned and walked quickly away, hearing an outraged squawk before shutting her own bedroom door. That was truly awful, yet still a wry smile played around her lips.

She hid in her room until Vernon Dursley left and then ventured downstairs to start dinner. Her mother would be back soon but her father worked long hours and wouldn't get back until later. Out the cottage window, she spied Mary sitting on a bench by herself. She opened the window and called her name, surprising her. As Mary whipped around, Lily saw the lit cig in her hand. This was a continuous pattern. Mary attempted to quit, then a day or two later soon found herself smoking again. Lily gestured for her to come in, but she shook her head and smiled her apology. Well then. Who needs friends when you have ciggies?

Petunia soon came downstairs in a garish (and tight) pink jumper and black pencil skirt. Her perfectly coiffed hair was slightly frizzy and her makeup a little more sloppy than normal. Lily regarded her interestedly. Her sister was taller than her, she thought, prettier too. Lily had gotten a head of red hair, whereas Petunia had pretty golden curls and blue eyes. She was 5'5", whilst Lily remained a solid three inches shorter and had to rely on heels. At least, Lily thought, at least I've got better curves. Tuney has always envied me that.

Her older sister wrinkled her nose at Lily's apparel and sighed heavily. "Mum'll be back soon."

"Can't wait."

"So, what did you think?"

"Of what?"

"Don't be a tosser," Sirius offered James a puff of his cigarette which he declined, "of school. In general."

"Oh. S'alright. I mean, the broken window and five detentions I got weren't great. Its school, isn't it? Anyone who's expecting miracles can shove themselves. Most people seem nice enough and I can't see many problems for me."

Sirius laughed throatily. "Ah, but you haven't met any of the bad lot yet. Avery, Mulciber, Lestrange. Oh, watch out for Narcissa and Bellatrix Black. Mad as hatters – also my cousins. Right nasty lot. Your chemistry partner too, he's one of 'em. Old Snivellus."

"You don't seriously call him that? To his face?"

"Yeah."

"Jesus. He seemed alright to me, bit weird but an okay bloke."

"True, but never forget my friend," Sirius jumped down from his perch on the graveyard wall and stubbed out his fag on the wall, "no-one's normal here. Just you wait, you'll see."

James snorted and pushed him in the chest and with that they strolled off into the dimming light, arms flung around each other's shoulders as they portrayed a picture of the young and carefree boys that they claimed to be.

Thank you to the two people who followed this story and to King bold, my first ever reviewer! Thank you so much for your kind words, they meant the world to me and I spent ten minutes doing a happy dance at 11 at night. To answer your question, it's meant to be set in 1977-1978, in the mod revival era when punk culture had begun to emerge on the way to the 80s.

I know this chapter is quite boring as it's meant to be a bit of a setting up chapter, but next chapter will hopefully be more exciting. Reviews and constructive criticism always welcome, hope you enjoyed!