Chapter 3: Chapter 2: Duties

Balance Beam: A Slightly Less Clichéd Lily/James Love Story brought to you by JaDe-ViPeR08

SUMMARY: Lily Evans' seventh year at Hogwarts. It even comes standard with two OCs who date a Marauder and a confusing inner monologue. But I promise this WILL NOT follow the LJ formula that has been so humorously parodied.

A/N: Peter is not evil yet! The transformation couldn't have taken place for a few years at least.

Disclaimer: I highly doubt JK Rowling is an 18 year old half-Portuguese half-Cruzan girl from Texas, I don't think she could handle the stress.

In an effort to avoid the constant bickering and schedule making of Lily and James, Remus hurried to the compartment they were all planning on sharing. No one had realized just yet that the Hogwarts Express was a lot smaller than it seemed to be first year. At last count eight people were planning to share a compartment built to hold approximately six second years comfortably. This didn't appear to be a problem however, as it seemed the couples did not require separate seats. Or oxygen. You'd think they weren't going to spend the whole year together, Remus thought to himself at the sight of his friends' current activities.

When the pair finally arrived they were greeted by the sight of Trish "welcoming" Peter. Tavi had stayed just long enough to wink knowingly at Lily before rushing off to catch up with her fellow Slytherin girls, claiming she would take the gossip and pettiness as long as it came with elbow room over watching other people make-out any day. Sitting on the floor of the compartment leaning back against the rear wall were Remus and Sophia in a deep discussion. Sophia was an American witch who transferred to Hogwarts second year when her parents split up. She had mostly kept to herself at first.

Sophia had always seemed a little more grownup, and slightly haunted to the rest of her house. While she could be just as sporadic and hyper as any sixteen-year-old she also had a sadness that never seemed to leave her face. She never told why her parents had separated but she and Remus clung to each other ferociously, something that was not solely lust-induced as lovely a pair the couple made.

Sophia was half-Mexican and pure witch.; she had flowing dark hair that waved gently down her back but was usually pulled into a messy bun or severe pony-tail. She was tall and dark. Brown eyes, black hair, olive skin, black nail polish. She looked like someone who was constantly in mourning, which she was, not that she'd ever let anyone else know why. While she could be cheerful around the girls, she was only unguardedly happy around Remus. Lily wasn't quite sure what the two talked about. Sophia had a penchant for muggle novels and Remus liked non-fiction. But Mercedez's sharp eyes noticed whatever perfect Prefect Evens didn't. They both had a lot of scars. Some looked accidental, others appeared to be signs of abuse, but most seemed to be self-inflicted. Since Sophia and Remus had become friends in fifth year both had far fewer fresh injuries and seemed to give more genuine smiles. Lily was glad they seemed to help each other out but sad that people so young had that kind of sorrow. And a small corner of herself, that she was ashamed of, felt a little jealous that it wasn't her who could erase all the pain from her friends' features.

Alice and Frank still had yet to make an appearance, but Lily had a suspicion that Sirius was having a casual snog with Octavia. Tavi was not a slut, and she was not one to allow her heart to be mangled but she and Sirius seemed to have some kind of agreement. If they didn't have a date with someone else they always had a date with each other. As much as Sirius hated Slytherins, tenacious Tavi seemed to have escaped his wrath. This was good because the other houses were running out of girls he could date.

'Brielle made a brief appearance in the compartment before deciding she would rather sit with Mercedez, Lyla, and some very nice Ravenclaw boys they flirted with often. Gabriella's family moved to Wales from Portugal when 'Brielle was five, the girl certainly looked Iberian. Medium height with long light brown hair and dark brown eyes, her skin had a slight bronze but was almost pale from the near constant cloud cover. She had thick eyebrows which balanced a fine mouth and curved jaw. She was quiet but excitable and had once had a secret crush on Sirius Black to rival the not so secret one James Potter had on Lily Evans.

Mercedez was her opposite in every way as only best friends could be. Tall and leggy, with strawberry blond hair and piercing blue eyes, she flirted with danger constantly and loved the thrill anything and everything physical. She had an athletic build and was often seen at ungodly hours of the morning running laps around the Quidditch pitch out of boredom. She was intelligent, almost certainly a certifiable genius, but also reckless and bold. Mercedez was the exclamation point in the essay that was Hogwarts.

Lyla again was something different. She had white blond hair cut extremely short, a light smattering of cute little freckles and a very round, innocent face. Everyone saw and treated her as a child no matter how many times she proved she was not. "But such is the curse of freckles" she was often quoted as saying when feeling particularly patronized. To counter her childish face she had a mature outlook on life. She had become cynical at a very young age and was the first to retort with a cutting remark. She was capable of kindness and caring but preferred that no one outside her two best friends knew about it.

The ride to Hogwarts was majorly uneventful. Everyone's mouths were occupied so Lily had an intelligent conversation with James. They spoke of politics, both muggle and magical as well as a little pop culture and some short anecdotes covering the "what-I-did-for-summer-vacation" basics. James laughed at her descriptions of Vernon but his eyes flashed in anger when she mentioned the way he looked at her and treated her sister, so she kept those stories to a minimum. The girl remembered again that she actually quite liked Potter when he was like this. In front of witnesses he was arrogant, annoying, and prattish. But alone or when he thought no one was watching he was actually quite kind and thoughtful. Lily couldn't count the amount of times she had seen him defend Peter or help a lost first year but she never said anything about it, worried that once he knew someone noticed he would stop.

Away from the corruption he called "best friend" Lily imagined they would have dated long ago. Not that she would ever tell anyone that. Oh no, not even Alice whom she trusted with EVERYTHING. Besides, the Potter she liked was glimpsed far too infrequently for it to actually count as points for Potter the toe rag to score with Lily.

At some point during the day Remus and Sophia joined their conversation. It was about something silly like fairy tales or a recent movie concept that had to be described to the wizards with hilarious misunderstanding.

After the Welcoming Feast when all the students were safely in their dorms, Lily and James sat in the Heads common room and discussed plans for the upcoming year. "We have a prefects' meeting tomorrow night to discuss patrols. I think we should do revolving pairs, mix up the years and the Houses." James suggested while Lily scribbled furiously. She nodded and added the suggestion to her own mental list she was transcribing.

"Should we suggest at least one prefect from each house stays behind on Hogsmeade weekends? They can veto it or take turns or whatever." Lily thought out loud. They actually worked quite well together. They had only argued twice and both times it was about something neither of them particularly cared about. James agreed but reminded her that most would probably vote against it. A few more peaceful hours passed as the pair elaborated on their plans, occasionally getting off topic and falling into fits of laughter.

Once the "script" for the next night's meeting was recopied carefully the two bid each other good night and James went to bed. Lily sat up looking at the list of nights James had already given her that he could not patrol. She supposed as Quidditch captain he would know the practices in advance but after November he only had one night a month marked off. Deciding that she would never know how the Marauders planned their pranks so precisely she decided to get some sleep. First day of Seventh year was a big one, and she didn't want to be all groggy and exhausted.

So, did you like it? Hate it? Indifferent? Spot any obvious mistakes? Catch any references? Is it too close to all those other clichéd stories floating around? Did I mischaracterize anyone? Review and let me know, pretty please.

Sami