A/N: Not much to say, except a big THANK YOU to Writer of Life aka Yasery on HPFF. She helped with the name of Charlotte Harrison. And also, to my unofficial official beta-reader Jess aka Miss Kass. Longest. Chapter. Ever.

It seemed, besides the hysteria that Petunia threw when she saw her sister hover down the stairs, that Lily's last trip to Kings Cross would be the best yet. This year, she could look down at all the other students as the highest… Almost like the unofficially queen of Hogwarts! Able to do justice to her help, aid the needy and behead those who crossed her! Well, perhaps not so much the latter, but she could issue detentions. Not that the Lily Evans of Gryffindor, previous Prefect and now Head Girl of Hogwarts, would ever misuse her powers of good and – oh forget it.

'Lily Evans of Gryffindor, previous Prefect and now Head Girl of Hogwarts…' Lily said happily, playing with the maple syrup on her plate. She was imaging how she would be admired, adored, and was able to stick Potter in the dungeons for all eternity…

'Lils, you were talking to yourself again.' Her mother said hesitantly, placing a shoulder tentatively, as if hoping she wouldn't bite.

'Hmm?' She turned to see her father, sister and mother, all looking rather confused at Lily, 'Oh – er – pass the syrup?' She glanced down at the bottle in front of her, before falling deathly quiet. She hadn't actually slept last night, which probably led to this unsettled demeanour now…

She could simply not WAIT to get on the train, and get away from Muggles and back to school.

This longing to return to school was a little shortsighted. She got away from Muggles, but in exchange she received Marauders. 'This wasn't a fair deal!' She thought glumly, staring uneasily out the car window. There was quite a bit of rain lately, at least for what was supposed to be summer and fall months… Another short-changed event. While Lily didn't LOVE warm weather, it was certainly better than running for cover when she arrived at Kings' Cross. This time, her parents didn't come into platform 9¾. They wished her luck, and told her she was indeed old enough to get in by herself. Petunia carelessly waggled a hoof at Lily, along with Vernon. Both had hoofs, how fitting. Though, Vernon's were much meatier… He wasn't a fat man, of course, just very large… Very, daunting…

Lily cringed, shaking her head. Before her eyes even focused, a large mass of dull purple tackled her. Charlotte Harrison, her best friend.

'Lily! Oh, how were your holidays!?' The young black girl dressed in purple robes cried, almost strangling Lily with hugs. 'Did you get my letters? I mean, you replied and all, but it could've been – well… dark… y'know what I mean…' Her words subsided, as she glanced around suspiciously, as though ever passing Slytherin was going to pull out an axe or something.

All the same, Lily still found it amazing that Charlotte wanted to be her best friend. All she did was complain and rant about how mean Potter was to her, and then whine some more… Though, Lily did put up with Charlotte and her 'we're just friends but I really wish he would just ask me out before I kill him, and then it becomes like Romeo and Juliet which would be all his fault, and I'd never let him live it down in the afterlife' attitude to the cute Hufflepuff boy named Doug Jordan. The past six years had been spent trying to get the other to admit their feelings.

It was also amazing, because Charlotte saw past Lily's empathy and caring nature towards people who generally weren't considered nice at all. People like Severus. Lily and Severus had been very, very good friends, but definitely not in the way that most thought, up till an event in fifth year – but, well, she was standing here gaping at her best friend, spending far too much time reminiscing.

'Charlotte! Of course I got your letters, you duffer! Honestly, I think you'd be able to tell if some Death Eater was replying to you,' Lily laughed, but felt a sudden heavy presence on her words.

Quick, escape before it gets daunting and awkward, Lily!

'Oh, did you get a haircut? It looked brilliant.' Lily smiled, rubbing her hands together for warmth.

------

For the next quarter of an hour, Lily stood with Charlotte and her family. Charlotte's sister was starting her first year at Hogwarts this year, which meant she would be absolutely adorable, all dressed up and sorted in no time. Charlotte and Lily had been looking forward to manipulating her into a model student, like the pair of them.

Then the Marauders decided to come and annoy the hell out of Charlotte and Lily, because it seemed they had not done it enough over the past few years.

Yet, they walked straight by, as if they were hot off the London runway.

Lily and Charlotte laughed, shaking their heads and sighing as they strode past, swaggering their hips, and noses held high… Lily swore Black posed several times for some girls, who all instantly started gushing their inner most desires for him.

Remus wasn't as cocky as the other three, keeping a dignified pose about himself, with a book tucked tightly into the nook of his arm and a bored expression.

Peter had gotten a bit cocky. He wasn't impossible to look at, but he certainly wasn't a pleasant character in any sense of the word. He simply followed the mighty words of Black and Potter, the king and queen of Hogwarts. This, of course, was in their own interpretation of the 'king and queen'; she was the true queen of Hogwarts, at least for a year. But, well, back to Peter. Lily swore he gave off this feeling of being a rat – once she saw him eating a cracker in such a way that he seemed… odd-er than he had ever been.

And… Potter. Well, she couldn't bring herself to watch him stride past, casting a sort of 'I'm very good looking, you know, and spend many hours polishing my broom, and ruffling my hair, catching Snitches…'. Pathetic.

Oh yes, pathetic was the word. He was very, very pathetic if you asked Lily.

------

The pair of Lily and Charlotte had instantly found their favourite haunt, with Charlotte not afraid to kick the first years out of the carriage. Lily had stood, clucking her tongue and examining a loose screw in the doorframe, pretending not to hear their minute protests. Though, with the sudden flood of information, the discussions, the woes, the joys and all in-betweens were exchanged and talked to death… The train had been rattling for about four hours now, and lunch had come and passed. Charlotte had been lulled into a state of consciousness and sleep. Her face would twitch ever time the train turned or slowed a little.

This left Lily, who was smiling behind a thick book, with plenty of time to think and relax without Petunia or Vernon. Or those mysterious notes from a neighbour that expressed some form of love or something… She thought it might've been that creepy boy from number three, but how he managed to find parchment was beyond Lily.

'Well Evans, we're off to a very lovely start this term,' Potter said dryly, making many complex hand movements, all over the right side of his chest. 'The weather,' a tricky flick, 'is especially lovely,' another flick, 'just like a radiant girl I know.'

'Oh Black, did you hear that?' Lily asked, where Black's arrogant smirk was replaced with a confused beam, looking desperately at Potter, 'Potter thinks you're radiant.'

Charlotte made an approving noise, and stayed well clear of the conversation. Lily knew she never fancied conversations with this quartet, or at least if she could help it.

'What, no, I was -' Potter continued his haphazard hand movements, and that was when Lily saw it. And explained his wrist flexing…

It was a badge, much like her own, but with 'HB' rather than 'HG'. She checked her own pin, feeling he must've stolen hers and – no, hers was still pinned to her robes, next to her Prefect badge.

'Do I still need her Prefect badge? Well, it couldn't hurt, could it? Wait, Potter and a Head Boy badge, no time to focus on my very pretty pins… They were lovely…'

Lily jumped up, hands on hips and a demanding look on her face. Potter seemed to anticipate this, and beamed happily towards Lily. Though, the rest of the occupants remained still as statues as the two followed out their usual routine.

Her nose now high in the air, Lily frowned down her nose at Potter, (or, up, as she was still shorter than him by a few measly inches…) keeping a dry and unimpressed tone, 'Who was it? Did you beat up Severus for this? Doug Jordan?' Lily asked, her eyes becoming almost comically wide as Potter continued to flash his badge proudly on his chest, as a medal of victory over some poor soul, who would have the reputation of being beaten up by a girl.

This clearly hasn't been the response he had anticipated, 'What?' he said with a furrowed brow together, replacing the proud smile he wore before, 'I got sent this, with my usual letter. Said I was Head Boy and that you were Head Girl…'

'No – No you couldn't possibly have been – wait -' Lily spluttered, fumbling through her bag and withdrew a piece of parchment, the letter that had come with her own badge. She saw it mention who the Head Boy was, but had ignored it… She had been busy with her own thoughts, 'No, you beat up – James… Potter…' her triumphant expression fell faster than her hopes.

'I don't think I did, Lily.' James frowned whilst inspecting himself for damage. The Marauders laughed, in unison.

Charlotte laughed, but quickly covered it with a cough when Lily glowered at her.

'Must you spend your last trip to Hogwarts annoying me?' She groaned, crossing her arms and sulking into her seat.

'My sweet, you think I'm here for my own reasons,' He said, causing Lily to sit up very quickly, 'But I'm actually here because you didn't turn up for the Prefects meeting. I assumed…'

'There was a meet - Oh what a wonderful way to start off!' Lily slapped her forehead.

'There was,' Potter flung a small bundle of letters towards Lily, which she caught moments before it joined her hand on her forehead. 'Orders, passwords, your dress sizes, and your favourite types of flowers, when you lost your…'

A deathly glare shut him up. Lily quickly ripped the letters open, reading them at an incredible speed. Potter was messing with her mind once again. Why would the school even pretend to have such information? Then again, Potter, he was pulling her chain… 'Wait, assumed - what?' Lily said, bluntly, only now reacting to his words.

'Word's going around that you and,' He looked over his shoulder dramatically on either side, before leaning as closely as Lily would permit him to. So, a good meter or two still remained between them. His voice rasped for the next few words, before returning to a boisterous blare, 'Snivellus are an item. Even after fifth year, what a change of -'

'No. There's no such thing going around, that's you being a paranoid toerag who's got nothing better to do, except to throw that sort of 'word' around. See you at the next meeting, Potter.'

'If you turn up, that is,' Potter retorted, starting another chorus of Marauder laughter.

'Oh, I will.' She spat back bitterly as she managed to usher she silent mob out of the compartment, while leaving Charlotte looking into blank space.