Chapter 2
The Journey on the Hogwarts express

Lily was glad to get back to school, to be with her friends. To be with people that didn't flinch any time she looked them in the eye or made any sudden movements. She was free to be herself again. She was dressed in her newly purchased uniform, prefect badge pinned on the right hand side. She had bought new books and a new cauldron in preparation for the school year. She was actually excited to start her sixth year and as she boarded the train she made a promise to herself to start the new year fresh, to leave any negative feelings from the previous years behind and just concentrate on her work and the future.

The train ride on the Hogwarts express was eventful- as usual. She shared the prefect's compartment with the Ravenclaw prefects Josie Duderanch and Billy Martin and of course her fellow Gryffindor prefect, Remus Lupin. Who of course invited his friends to join them. Which of course meant Lily had to share the train ride with troublemakers Sirius Black and James Potter, and their weird little friend who they called Wormtail.

Lily usually would have given anything to make them go away but after the summer she had, she didn't mind the company of these stupid, but still funny and interesting guys. Besides, she couldn't break her promise before she had even arrived at school.

So they talked and laughed as the train took them out of London and into the country. They started to play eye spy but after cow, sheep, grass and fence, they ran out of things to spy. Consequently they started to talk about their summer holiday's. Lily felt disheartened when she heard the others stories.

Sirius had spent almost every day at Ebony's mansion, doing endless amounts of crazy things from dressing up in 1920's muggle clothes and playing croquet to breaking into houses and rearranging the furniture. James had gone to Portugal to compete in a Quidditch tournament and won, then caused havoc and ran amok and acted childish when Sirius came to visit, at least that's what Lily made of it.

Billy had gone to Australia and hooked up with three girls (Lily wasn't sure if he was telling the truth but thought it was likely, considering his looks and smooth personality). Josie had visited relatives in America and Wormtail had gone camping with his brothers. When everyone had finished telling their exciting tales, they turned to Lily.

"So what about you Lil, you look pretty relaxed. Have fun or what?" Sirius said, sitting back and putting his arm around Josie, who looked like all her dreams had come true all at once.

Lily paused, watching the expectant faces. She could make something up, but she really couldn't be bothered. She let it all come rushing out. "Fun? After my summer I think I've forgotten the meaning of the damn word. I spent three months listening to nothing but my sister bitching and my parents fighting. About a week ago I got fed up and snuck out to this old friend of mine was having and got completely trashed. I forgot to go home and my parents kind of freaked and the bitching and fighting got worse. I almost wasn't allowed back at school and… No I didn't have fun, I had the worst fucking summer ever." She took a deep breath and calmed down. "Hey, talking about your problems does make you feel better. I'm less stressed now."

Everyone in the carriage was silent for what seemed like the longest minute in long minute history. Finally James broke the silence. "Well at least Mooney had a worst summer than you. Summer's ten times hotter when you're covered in fur."

Remus elbowed him in the ribs. "What the fuck, man?"

James looked at Sirius who nodded at Billy and Josie.

James was good at bullshitting when it came to being late for class or caught making out in the storage room. ("We were looking for a mop and a spider crawled down her top, I was just being a gentleman and getting it out for her. You should really get an exterminator, or something.") But James' skills had failed him and he just sat there with a stupid fake smile on his face.

"You're so lame Potter," Lily said, mind working fast. "He's not really hairy, he's just gone through puberty, something which you haven't experienced yet."

"Fuck off Evans. You know I was talking-" Sirius kicked him in the shins. "About nothing. I think I hit my head before and my mind is ummm… broken or something."

"No I think it's been broken for a long, long time, Potter." Lily replied sweetly.

Confusion filled the faces of Josie, Billy and (for some reason) Wormtail. James attempted a smile, "So… um… I didn't think you were a party girl, Evans."

"I wasn't… and now I know why." Lily squirmed uncomfortably as James grinned genuinely and nodded his head. She didn't know why, but his attention often made her feel nervous. The fact that he didn't remove his glance when she finished speaking didn't help at all. She stared back at him, unwanted forces compelling her to not look away. Fortunately she was saved as the door slid open and Doris stuck her head in.

"Anything off the trolley, dears?"

Ten Sickles and four Knuts later, the gaze was long forgotten and the group was talking and laughing.

Lily felt more comfortable when the conversation turned to OWLs. She was pleased to discover that she had received better grades than Josie, Sirius, Peter and Billy and almost identical grades to Remus, which wasn't surprising as they had studied for the exams together. The group then turned to James, who had been uncharacteristically quiet.

"How did you go, James?" Josie asked.

"Pretty good." He replied simply.

"Pretty good- 'I'm becomming the next Minister' or pretty good 'Where's a building I can fling myself from?'" Sirius said with a laugh.

"Well almost half of them were exceeds expectations." James finally revealed.

"Wow, you're the greatest James!" Peter said excitedly.

"What were the rest?" Billy pushed "Acceptable? Poor?"

"Dreadful? Troll?" Added Sirius.

James opened his mouth hesitantly.

"Oh, Merlin, you got Troll didn't you?" Sirius chortled.

"No, he didn't." Remus smiled warmly.

Lily caught onto what Remus meant. "The rest were Outstanding, weren't they?"

James turned to Lily as he nodded. It was the first time he had ever seen her look impressed by him. When he was made Quidditch Captain, one of his most proudest moments, she had simply rolled her eyes and said "Just something else for him to show off about." Now she was genuinely smiling at him, genuinely proud.

"Yeah, but you were the only one here that got an Outstanding in Potions. That's pretty impressive."

Lily blushed. "So what classes are you doing?"

Lily felt a tightness in her stomach as he announced his subjects; "Defence, Potions, Charms, Transfiguration and Herbology." He would be in all the same classes as her, and for some reason this didn't annoy her at all. For some reason, it almost made her smile.

Lily and Remus were in a chamber off the Great Hall, waiting for Professor Dumbledore and the other Gryffindor prefects. Remus was sitting on the couch, staring at the floor while Lily walked around the room, looking at the portraits and stopping to talk to a portrait of a wizard with a walrus moustache. "Hi Golados, how are you?"

"I'm alright young Lily, thank-you very much for-" he was interrupted by the sudden speech of the recently silent Remus.

"How did you know? Did James or Sirius tell you? Or was it Snape?" Remus was looking up, but avoiding eye contact.

"Sorry?" Lily had never known Remus to be so straightforward and abrupt.

"How do you know? On the train you seemed to know… that I am… well you know. Don't you?"

"That you're a…" Lily cast her eyes towards the door and lowered her voice. "Werewolf?"

Remus nodded.

"Well it's obvious, isn't it. I don't have shit for brains. I used to just think you disappeared for days at a time, then I noticed a pattern."

"The full moon." He looked straight into her eyes now. "I was stupid to think no one would realise."

"Well, not really. Most people at this school are pretty naïve. I'm not as simple minded. I suppose you could say it's a side effect of being muggle born. I notice the mysterious things that the others don't. They're all so used to the weirdness. I don't think I'll ever be." She sat down on the couch next to him. "Don't worry," she almost whispered. "I won't tell anyone. I mean, I've known for a while and haven't told a soul."

The door burst open and Professor Dumbledore rushed in followed by the other prefects.

"Alright, lets get started. Sorry we took so long. I had to deal with…" He looked at Remus and laughed heartily. "Well you know who. You're friends are quite the mischief makers. Brilliant minds, sick sense of humour."

Dumbledore looked around the room. "Are we all here? Great. Samuel, Rebecca, congratulations on making prefects. This is Lily, Remus, Joanne and Anthony. Of course you probably know that already, but if you ever has any questions, problems, they are the people to ask." He took a quick breath. "The password for the Gryffindor common room is le palmier, for remembrance of your summer holiday. Remember to show the first years the way, we don't want them wondering around the castle, never know what they'll run into…"

Lily's eyes went blurry as she started to tune out. The train ride had been long and tiring, she wanted nothing more that to skip dinner and go straight to bed. But she had to force herself to stay awake for another couple of hours, or at least until the sorting had finished. As she stared straight ahead at nothing in particular, she had a vision of James Potter coming into the room, picking her up in his strong arms and carrying her to her dorm where he would lay her down on her bed and gently stroke her hair until she eventually drifted off to sleep…

She snapped back into reality when Remus gently nudged her.

"You still with us Miss Evans?" Dumbledore asked.

"I am now, Professor."

"Good, we can go then." Lily yawned and followed the other prefects into the Great Hall, where the first years were filing in, looking up at the enchanted ceiling with amazement and all looking nervous and excited at the same time.

Lily remembered her first day at Hogwarts, she remembered being followed around by James Potter and Sirius Black who had already become friends and started in their mischievous ways.

"Stop following me, losers."

"I will if you go out with me, Evans." James responded immediately.

"Why would I want to go out with a scrawny nerd like you, Potter?"

"Nerd? No one's ever called me a nerd before. I think you're seriously mistaken, you see, I'm not a nerd. I'm not scrawny and I'm not a loser. And a goody-goody muggle-born isn't going to tell me any different." He ran his hand through his already messy hair and smiled a killer smile. "But I will leave you alone."

He turned and left, bag swinging on his shoulder.

She hated him. He was so annoying, so conceited, such a show-off.

So why was she thinking about him? Why did she think about him now differently than she thought about him three months earlier? Lily shook her head and blamed her awful summer, then hurried back to the Great Hall and sat at the Gryffindor table, carefully choosing a seat as far away from James Potter as possible.

If you can't beat it, avoid it…

At the other end of the table, James was ignoring Wormtail's story about the rat who held the world record for finding cheese in a maze. He sat with a fork in one hand, head supported by the other, staring at the fire of a candle and lost in his own thoughts. The return to Hogwarts had reminded him why he had a crush on the muggle born.