A/N: HELLO! Tami here! Yup! I updated! GO ME! YAY! I'm happy for myself! Anyway, to explain, just in case you are confused: the first 2 chapters are pretty bland, and take place in Lily's 6th year, but the next chapters are WAY better, I promised! I have it all planned out till the end, so there is no way that I can blame writer's block… REMEMBER THAT! Anyway, here's chapter 2! Lily's friends are kinda introduced here… kinda…. Anyway, like I said, here's chapter 2! Please leave a review when you're done! Latahz!

"Lily! Lily! Hurry up or you'll miss the train!", Tia yelled, frantically scurrying all over the dorm room, throwing clothes over her shoulder into an over-stuffed trunk, not bothering to fold even the smallest ankle sock. "Hell, at the rate I'm going, even I'm going to miss the train!"

A sound of a toothpaste-muffled snort came from behind the bathroom door, followed by a coughing fit.

"Guess you'll be stuck here for the hols then…" Kara stated, her eyes closed as she sat calmly on her four-poster, her feet tucked under her in the lotus position. "Oh, and lily," she added, turning her head, eyes still closed, toward the bathroom door, "how many times have I told you to rinse out your mouth before attempting to laugh? Shows just how much you listen to me, doesn't it?"

"It does, actually, Kara-banana." Lily commented, emerging form the bathroom.

Kara clapped her hand to her ears. "Don't call me that, Lily! Only my mother calls me that!"

Both Lily and Tia looked delighted. "You never told us that your mom calls you that, Kara-banana." Tia teased, straightening up from her packing.

Kara looked ready to kill.

The train compartment was silent as Lily looked fondly, and rather enviously, at her friends, who were asleep on pillows. Sleep eluded her, and no matter how she tried, her pillow had ended up on her lap, unused. She rearranged it before turning her attention to her friends once more.

"What'd I do without you, girls?" Lily whispered softly as she looked at her friends. They were so different, the three of them, yet so alike…

There was curvaceous, diminutive, Tia, amusing with her long dark russet hair, hazel eyes, carefree, as-happy-go-lucky-as-they-come personality, and ever-present smile; and tall, slim Kara, lovable with her short black locks, dark sapphire eyes, and a shy, yet mysterious, smile.

'And there's me…' Lily thought to herself ruefully, chuckling as Tia started to murmur about tap dancing like an elephant, her leg twitching sporadically as she danced in her sleep.

Little did Lily know that somewhere on that slow-moving train, sleep eluded someone else, as well…

James Potter sat in a compartment along the end of the train, looking at his snoring (and in Peter's case, drooling) friends. James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew.

'The wackiest bunch to ever hit Hogwarts! Wandering and maraudering all over the place.' James pronounced to himself softly. The boys had heard that once on their many visits to the teachers' staffroom to play a trick or two on their 'favorite' professor, the Potions master, Prof. Roma. That very night, they had had a new name for themselves.

"The Marauders!" they had exclaimed upon returning to their Common Room. And in less than a week, the entire school knew it.

James smiled, but his good mood was short-lived, as he heard rain splatter against the window.

He turned with a sigh, and looked out at the black night sky. They had left Hogwarts about an hour ago, and weren't expecting to arrive for about 6 or 7 hours… He wanted to sleep, needed to sleep, and yet, he couldn't… why?

'Oh, I wonder…' he thought to himself sarcastically.

He was worried, plain and simple. His parents, both aurors, were still off on an assignment with the ministry. He hadn't heard from them for about a fortnight now, and though they had been gone for way longer before, that didn't stop him from worrying about their safety.

And besides, he was bored… He considered waking Sirius up to play a game of Exploding Snap, but he knew that Sirius needed his rest. Sirius was going home in a few hours. An ordinary bystander might have gone 'so what!' but James knew better… To put it kindly, Sirius didn't have the best parent-son relationship with his parents.

'If only his fan club knew about this…' he though with a silent laugh. 'Most likely, they'd storm his house and try to send his parents and Regulus to Azkaban… Lotsa luck that'll do!'. James added derisively, a scowl on his face.

Then he wiped it off and his face became neutral once more as he looked at the pale, tired looking boy who was fast asleep. Every one of the Marauders had problems, he knew that, but Remus probably had it worst. Remus Lupin was a werewolf, and had to go through many painful monthly transformations which left him hurt both physically and emotionally. It wasn't just that, though. James knew, that because of the prejudice of many people, Remus would find it very hard to survive once they left school.

He groaned and ran a hand through his messy black hair, making it even messier. He always did that when he was nervous or frustrated. He couldn't stand this! Why the heck was he thinking about this anyway? He pulled a box of Every Flavor Beans from beside him on the seat and reached it, popping a red one into his mouth. Apples. Yummy… Nice and red too… Reminded him a lot of a certain red-head, he thought, and closed his eyes, imagining her hair, hey beautiful smile, her shining eyes… and slowly, still thinking about Lily Evans, he fell asleep.

Lily had fallen asleep somehow in the night, and when she opened her eyes again, it was dawn. She looked out her window at the beautiful sunrise.

'I could paint this!' she thought excitedly, picking up a pad and pencil and starting to sketch. Suddenly, Kara jerked awake and she shoved the person next to her, namely Tia, to the floor, shouting.

"SIRIUS BLACK! I DON'T CARE IF YOU ARE THE CUTEST FRIGGIN' COCKROACH IN THE ENTIRE CASTLE, I'M NOT GOING TO KISS YOU! STAY A COCKROACH FOR ALL I CARE!"

Lily stared at her for a second before bursting into hysterical laughter.

"What… What was that… all about!" she managed to choke out between gasps for air.

Tia, who was awake now, got off the floor, rubbing her head, and Lily had to restrain her from throttling the bleary-eyed Kara.

After calming down and hearing what happened, Tia had to agree, it was pretty funny.

"Pity I couldn't see it properly, though."

Suddenly, the compartment door opened and Lily and Kara groaned as the Marauders (minus Peter) walked in.

"Never fear, ladies, that's what we're here for!" James Potter announced, waving his wand to enlarge the compartment so that they could all fit comfortably, while Sirius winked at Kara and she looked away, ignoring him.

Lily was on her feet in a second.

"What do you want, Potter!" she spat, her temper flaring.

"Whoa, Lily-love, calm down…" he held his hands up in mock-defeat. "We're just here to oblige Tia."

'Lily's just so cute when she's mad…' he thought, looking at her blazing green eyes, which turned to her friend at the mention of her name. Tia just shrugged and made an 'I don't know' sound in her throat.

Lily turned her blazing green eyes back to James.

"What about, Potter! And don't call me Lily-love!"

"She just expressed her wishes to see what happened, only from a different point of view."

"We don't need you to- Wait! How do you know what just happened!"

Remus piped in. "I told him not to, trust me!"

"Shut up, Remus!" Lily shot, and Remus, looking nonchalant, sat down on one of the seats next to Tia and both of them watched the fight eagerly. Knowing Lily and James, this fight was going to get interesting.

"Well, Sirius and I had this bet going that you girls talk about us a lot. 5 galleons. He bet you didn't, and I bet you did."

"Do you have a point here, Potter!"

"Point being, we sort of, um, kinda, put a surveillance spell on your compartment." He continued, before Lily could cut in.

"Rather dull actually, considering that Kara and Tia fell asleep instantaneously. And you got rather sappy…" he added, an amused glint in his eye.

'You did too, James, remember?' his conscience kicked in, rather tauntingly, but he pushed it away.

"YOU BUGGED US!" Lily screamed, before James shoved a hand over her mouth. She twisted and squirmed, but she couldn't squeeze free, so she did something totally desperate and impulsive…

She licked his hand.

"URGH!" he pulled his hand away, wiping it on his robes. "Evans, you are UNSANITARY!"

Tia and Kara were staring at Lily with mixed looks of amazement and elation on their faces. Sirius and Remus were rolling on the floor, barely able to breathe, they were laughing so hard.

At the same time, Lily scooted away from him, wiping her tongue on her sleeve. "Potter, you taste worse than a flobberworm! Oh, I'm never going to be able to taste anything ever again! THANKS TONS, POTTER!"

James pretended to lift a goblet. "Cheers."

"Oooh, Potter, one of these days, I'm just going to take a knife and-" Lily made slashing motions in the air. Tia gulped, and decided to interfere before Lily actually made good her threat of castrating James.

"So, James, what are you here for again?"

A/N: There you go! And thanks to lilypad7879! You are my 1st REVIEWER! CONGRATULATIONS! Hope this is long enough for you, and please review, I love it when I get reviews! Hope you enjoy this!

TaMi