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Please review - I'd love to hear some feedback on my story so far xD
I have written seven chapters of this story - one for each year at Hogwarts. Enjoy :)
The Marauders (James, Sirius, Remus and Peter) walked through the massive doors to Hogwarts. They had come up with the name for their little group over the holidays and, because they all missed Hogwarts so much, they had made a special map of the castle, along with all of the secret passageways they had discovered over the years. They had charmed it to be invisible when not in use and to insult anyone who tried to read it. They had also come up with special phrases to open and close the map so that only they could use it.
James' Head Boy badge shone - he had certainly spent enough time polishing it. Sirius was acting as if the glare off it had blinded him, and was leaning heavily on Remus, who rolled his eyes but did nothing else. They were all glad to be back at Hogwarts, but for different reasons. James was glad to be able to be Head Boy alongside the Head Girl - none other than Lily Evans. Sirius was anxious to be as far away from his family as possible (he had run away over the last summer holidays, just before their sixth year, and was now living with James and his family). Remus, though he wouldn't talk about it, was glad to be back so that he could see a fascinating girl - Nymphadora Tonks - with whom he was very quickly falling in love with. And Peter? Well, he just tottered along behind the other three, glad to be wherever they were.
When they entered the Great hall, Lily stared at James as if he had suddenly grown another head. He just grinned at her and fingered his shining badge. She stared at it as if she expected it to jump out at her and bite her on the nose. James, confident but no longer arrogant, bravely decided to sit beside her, and to his astonishment, she didn't object. They even managed polite and intelligent conversation throughout the grand feast. That night, when everyone else was in bed and they were on lookout duty, they talked even more. The conversation wasn't drenched in forced politeness this time, but they managed to go without insulting each other.
As the days, weeks and months went on, James and Lily found themselves spending a lot of time together as the leading students of the school. They quickly forgot about having to be civil to one another (well, in Lily's case, anyway) and found that they got on rather well. Of course, Remus' relationship with Nymphadora Tonks was the subject of quite a few of their early conversations as they searched for things to talk about, but soon enough they loosened up and started talking about themselves and each other. "You know," Lily said one evening as they sat in a hallway with their backs against the wall, "I never hated you or anything."
"Really?"
"Really. I just hated how you treated Severus and the other kids."
"Yeah," James said, looking at his shoes. "I was pretty horrible." Lily looked at him sympathetically. "You were the one how made me change, you know." Her expression changed to one of confusion. "You said that you wouldn't go out with me because I kept hexing other kids for no reason. I thought it would impress you, but obviously not. That's why I stopped."
Her lovely green eyes were shining. "Really?"
James smiled - not the dashing smile that he had often flashed her - a real smile, and nodded.
She smiled sweetly back. "You thought it would impress me?"
"Yeah." He scoffed at himself. "How wrong was I?"
"But," she said, shaking her head, "you wanted to impress me."
"Of course," he said, staring straight into her eyes. She stared back, blushing slightly. He gulped. He had never been nervous when he had asked her out before. And he had asked her out millions of times, he was certain of it. But he was nervous now.
Maybe because there was finally a chance of her saying yes.
"Um..." he stammered, unable to say all the things he longed to say.
She smiled knowingly, then leaned towards him and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. He lit up and grinned brightly at her. She giggled and looked away, blushing even more.
He gathered all of his Gryffindor courage, gently put a hand to her cheek, and turned her face towards him. He hesitated, then leaned in and kissed her on the lips.
It was like there were fireworks going off in his stomach. He pulled her in closer. She came willingly and put a hand on his shoulder. He wrapped his free arm around her, and she rested her other hand at the back of his neck. He moved his hand from her face down to her waist. She started playing with his hair.
After a little while - or had it been hours? - they pulled apart. "Does... Does this mean...you'll go out with me?" James asked after a few breathless seconds.
Lily smiled at him and nodded. He laughed before kissing her again.
After leaving Hogwarts, James and Lily married and had a son named Harry, who had incredible adventures during his own time at Hogwarts.
But that's another story entirely.
