So here it is, chapter 8... Enjoy! :)


Chapter 8:

"Ready?" James asked from behind Lily as she stood watching her friend's board the Hogwarts express.

"Yeah, I think so" she breathed

"It's been an interesting year ey?"

"I think that's a bit of an understatement" she said causing James to laugh.

"Yeah I suppose it is, certainly these last few days…" he said warily, knowing that he didn't have to say much more.

"Yeah" she said "Just imagine; if this time last year you told me that we would be boarding the train together as close friends, I would have called you mad" she chuckled.

"I think it would have been more along the line of; 'leave me alone you arrogant pig before I hex you" He said trying to imitate Lily's voice.

"HEY! I do not sound like that!" she laughed "but yeah that does sound more fitting"

"Fine then" he pouted "I'll just stay here then" he said planting his feet firmly on the ground refusing to go on the train.

Lily let out a small giggle and rolled her eyes "I was only kidding" she said with a huge grin on her face. "Come on you, let's go" she said grabbing his hand, and holding it tightly, dragging him onto the train behind her.

"Which way do you reckon they went?" she asked whilst standing on her tip-toes in attempt to see over the crowds.

"Dunno" he said bluntly "but there's only one way to find out, they couldn't have gone far…" he said squeezing her hand and leading her right down the train corridor.


Half an hour later after peering into many compartments, they later managed to find Remus, Sirius, Peter, Frank, Marlene, Mary and Alice. They had searched the train all the way to the end of the train before turning back round only to discover that their friends took a left turn whereas they took a right.

"What took you guys so long?" Alice asked as Lily and James entered.

"We turned right when we boarded the train" James said.

"You idiot prongs, we turned left…" teased Sirius.

"I know that now Pads" he grumbled at Sirius 'why does he have to be such a prick sometimes' he said sarcastically inside his head. Even in his thoughts he messed around with Sirius, that's how close they were, brothers in every way possible, except blood.

"Aww cheer up James" Lily teased, placing her hand on his shoulder gently. To the right of her from the corner if her eye she caught Marlene raising her eyebrows at her.

Lily coughed and put her hand that was previously on his shoulder over her mouth, trying to hide whatever it was Marlene was suggesting.

Sitting down in between the window and Marlene, Lily began to think again about home. She began to grow with worry about her parents and how she was going to tell them. Lily thought about how they'd react, if she had told them earlier she wouldn't have thought that they would be that bothered but now that she had left it a bit too long to slip it in subtly in a conversation.

"Lil's?" called a soft deep voice from across her, that belonged to James Potter "are you alright?"

She blinked three times trying to regain her consciousness "sorry I must have zoned out for a moment there"

"Deep in thought again?"

"Yeah" she breathed.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked concerned, while the overs watched intently.

"This war, I haven't told my parents yet but as it's getting worse I feel as though I should warn them right?" she waited until he nodded until she continued "But that got me thinking about how at risk they are because of me being who I am and if something did happen to them…I don't know what I would do.." she said fighting the tears back in her eyes.

"Hey! Lily don't think like that" he said looking into her eyes with concern. "I can't promise that everything will be ok but there are people out there who are fighting in hope of that and if it's still going on when we finish school I know that me and the lads want to help..." he said pulling her into a hug.

"Thanks James" she said resting her chin on his shoulder. It seemed as though he knew the right thing to say and do to make her feel better.

"Yeah, I'm fine" she smiled truthfully.

He raised his eyebrows, but her smile looked genuine. 'Why does she have such a beautiful smile' he thought.

"Spin the bottle anyone?" said a mischievously grinning Sirius.

"Which version" Alice said innocently

"Sweetie, considering its Sirius who asked to play, isn't it obvious…?" Frank said gently kissing her forehead.

"You could always merge the two versions together" suggested Peter shrugging his shoulders.

"Yeah but Pete, no one but Sirius would voluntary choose kiss" Mary pointed out.

Lily looked between the two of them with a huge grin on her face "Oh yes but you see McDonald, there's this lovely thing called magic"

'Huh?' was the thought running through everyone's minds.

"You can just enchant the bottle to randomly pick either; truth dare or kiss, whichever one it picks is the one you're forced to do." She said as though it were obvious.

"And you know the spells…?"

"Sure" smiled Lily pulling out her wand.

"You done this before then Lil's?" James teased

"Err no…?" she lied.

"Don't lie Lil's"

"well I may have done it with some muggle's last summer" she said with a small smile "Obviously I didn't do the spells in front of them but we played it practically all night."

"OH MY GOSH LILY!" exclaimed Marlene as though a light bulb just went off in her head "Was this when you met and had your first kiss with…"

Lily nodded with a small smile

"Oh! Meet who!?" grinned Sirius, eager for gossip.

Lily looked helplessly at Marlene begging for her to wriggle her out of it and give her an excuse to tell Sirius, but Marlene took the chance to wind Lily up.

"Lily's summer boyfriend" Marlene grinned

"What" called Alice "Why didn't you tell me Lily?"

"It was only like a four week thing and I only told Marlene" she blushed

"Sooo" grinned Sirius "What was his name?"

"Lily's hot muggle, four week boyfriend, who lives a few blocks down from her, with light brown hair and greeny brown eyes was called…

"Marlene! Don't you dare! I hate you!" scowled Lily

"Come on Marl's, tell me what his name is?" pleaded Sirius.

"Joey, Joey Sanders" she laughed as Lily glared a death glare at her.

"You're no longer trusted with my secretes!"

"Come on it was practically a year ago"

"I know but everyone is going to make a big deal out of it now"

"Hell yeah" came the voice of Sirius.

"God now you're all going to want to meet his when you come and visit me…"

"Good idea" grinned Marlene

"Marl's, you've already met Joey?"

"What! No fair" complained Alice. She always wanted to help Lily out with relationships, she was constantly trying to set her up with someone, but Lily enjoyed sitting back a little and having the occasional relationship with a guy she actually liked.

"Alice calm down, I'm not even dating him anymore…" she said plainly. 'I'm going to kill that Marlene McKinnon!' she shouted inside her head.

"But what if you guys get back together" Mary pointed out to which the boys attention span to the conversation grew a little they weren't interested in ex's well except James and Sirius and only Sirius because he loved gossip, but they actually cared about who Lily is dating, that's what friends are for.

"We're not though…" Lily moaned.

"How can you know for sure?" said Alice

"Because I don't like Joey, not like I did, in that way…"

"Ohh" sighed Alice disappointed leaving the group in an awkward silence.

"So spin the bottle anyone?" said James breaking the ice.

Once the spells were cast and in place the bottle was ready to go. The group of seventh year Gryffindor's sat cramped in a tight circle with the bottle placed in the centre of them.

"You can go first wormy" said Sirius sliding the bottle to Peter Pettigrew.

Peter span the bottle untidily and gazed curiously as it span quickly before later landing and pointing at Mary flashing up with 'dare'.

"Umm" he said looking unsure at everyone "I dare you too….eat these" he said handing her a packet if Bertie's box of every flavour beans 'trick pack'

"Trick pack?" asked Lily confused.

"It's a special edition, it means that they're all nasty flavours" James explained.

"Gross" she said

"Gross indeed" he agreed.

After Mary had eaten the small packet of beans, pulling many disgusted faces of high amusement to the rest of them, it was Mary's turn to spin the bottle. Spinning neatly in the centre of the circle it rotated several times before choosing its next victim…Lily, in which it flashed up 'truth'

"How far did you go with Joey" Mary asked with a grin wanting to know all the gossip.

"Mary!" Lily exclaimed "You know I wouldn't do anything major, but we only kissed and held hands…"

"How long was your longest kiss?"

"I've answered my question, you can't ask two" she grinned before quickly spinning the bottle where it landed on Sirius with the words 'truth'.

"Aha!" she grinned

"Lily-flower? Please be nice" he begged

"Now Sirius, we all know you're a bit of a player and there's no point denying it" she said looking at his outraged face "but have you ever had genuine feelings for a girl whether you've snogged her or not?"

"Yes I have had a crush on a girl before"

"Who!" she said shocked

"I think you'll find I have also answered my question" he grinned cheekily.

The word 'Kiss' erupted from the bottle as it landed on Marlene. Lily couldn't stop herself from laughing, she knew Marlene fancied Sirius, even if she wouldn't admit it 'maybe this kiss will help her' Lily thought.

"Kiss, kiss, kiss" chanted James

"On the lips?" Marlene asked nervously

"Yup, standard ruled" lily grinned

"Ok" she breathed, gaining eye contact from Sirius, and they lent in from opposite sides of the circle and gently pressed their lips together.

"Not bad McKinnon" said Sirius flirtatiously as per usual causing her to roll her eyes.

"Stop drooling Padfoot" teased Remus from beside him,

'Dare' flashed up from the modified bottle as it landed on James causing Marlene to grin "I dare you to…" but she was cut off by the sound of a knock on the door.

"Oh err sorry guys, I was wondering if I could have a word with Lily?" came the voice of the current head girl.

"Sure can" Lily smiled as she stood up and left the circle to follow the girl into the corridor.

"Lily I know I can trust you but all the same, I should tell you I shouldn't be saying this but I really want to because I hope Dumbledore picks you"

"Picks me? For what?" she said utterly confused. 'What could Dumbledore possibly want me for?' she thought to herself with her eyebrows raised making it obvious that she was thinking

"You're in the narrowed down 5 girls who could be chosen for head girl next year, and I really hope you get it" she smiled

"That's great!" Lily smiled, she had always wanted to be head girl, and she liked responsibility. "Thanks for telling me"

"You can't tell anyone though Lily, you shouldn't even know it's supposed to be a surprise to who gets it"

"It will be a surprise, I'm supposed to beat these four other girls? But don't worry I won't tell anyone, I promise"

"I knew you wouldn't Lily, thank you"

"So have you had any word from St Mungo's?"

"Yeah" she grinned proudly "I've been accepted, I'll go through a year of low pay training and if I do well enough in that I will be able to be an assistant Nurse and then hopefully in a space of 10 years or so I'll be a qualified Doctor"

"That's great" Lily said hugging her respected head girl, and friend. "You should be really proud"

"Thanks Lily, I am" she grinned "Any advance on what you want to do when you leave school?"

"Nope, still clueless as ever" she laughed

"Well you still have another year, I wouldn't worry too much about it, the job you want is probably just staring you in the face, and you're too busy to see it. Anyway, I better be off, you better keep in contact though… I also expect a letter if you get a certain shiny red badge" she grinned.

"You'll be one of the first to know"

"Bye Lily, have a great summer" she grinned pulling her into a hug.

"You too" she smiled

Lily gently slid open the door to their compartment and closed it behind her as she sat in her previous spot in the cramped circle. "So what did I miss" she said wriggling slightly to find comfort.

"Well I was forced to like Pad's bare foot" James said pulling a face "And now I get to truth Marlene, got any burning questions for her?"

Lily grinned evilly "Yeah I do, mind if I take this one"

"Go ahead"

"Marls you know the thing we talked about the other day in our room and you said you don't, well has your answer changed?" Lily asked referring in code to the time she asked Marlene if she had a crush on Sirius.

"That's a waste of a truth" moaned Sirius

"Trust me, If you knew what I was on about you'd understand how amazing this question is" she grinned

"I actually hate you Lily!" but she nodded grimly "Yes my answer has changed"

"I knew it!"

"Then why ask?" said Peter baffled.

"I needed it confirming" Lily giggled.

"My turn" said Marlene spinning the bottle which chose its victim as Remus, reading the word 'dare' causing her to grin evilly "I dare you to lick Peter's foot"

"What is it with you and foot dares?"


Several Truth's, Dare's and kisses later each of them had either been dared, truthed or kissed.

"I think that enough now" said Alice who had previously kissed Remus and James. Kissing James was the weirdest for her though it wasn't only because they were family it was the fact that she didn't want to kiss another guy other than Frank.

"Agreed" said James who had kissed Mary, Alice and Remus as well as liking Sirius' foot and answering a number of truths.

"Who about 'would you rather'" grinned Sirius.

"No" said Frank firmly.

"Fine" he grumbled.

"Aww poor Sirius" teased Lily

"Lily flower!" head said with his eyes lighting up "You'll play with me, won't you?" he said with pleading eyes.

"Well n-"

"Pretty please Lily-flower. I'll love you forever"

"Fine" she said giving in easy "But if I don't want to answer, I'm not going too"

"What no"

"Fine I won't play then"

"Ok, ok. We'll play it your way" he moaned.

"Anyone else playing?"

"I'm in" said Marlene

"Go on then, I'll play too as long as you stop elbowing me Pad's" said James.

The four of the made a tighter circle on the floor while Peter, Frank, Remus, Mary, and Alice sat on the seats away from the other four.

"ME first!" said Marlene

"Oii I wanted to go first!" grumbled Sirius

"Tough luck there Pad's" said James taking the mick

"Are we playing cross circle" Lily asked breaking up the forming argument

"Yeah the best way" grinned Sirius

Marlene straightened her back and glanced evilly at Lily. "Would you rather get back with Joey or Lance?"

"Lance?" chocked James

"Yeah, remember him, she dated Lance in 5th year for like four months" said Marlene eager for the answer.

Lily looked to Marlene curiously in wonder of what answer she wanted to hear. She thought for several long moments, Lance was sweet but he was always really shy to hold hands with her or be seen alone in public, and he always managed to get really jealous or angry at guys who would talk or flirt with her. Whereas Joey was gorgeous and really cared about Lily and wanted to be around her as much as possible but he had a tendency to show her off to her mates from time to time.

"Probably Joey" she told Marlene.

"But lance was so sweet…?"

"And way to shy"

"Fair enough. Right it's your turn to ask someone now…"

"Sirius would you rather snog McGonagall or 'Minnie' as you call her, or Madame Rosmerta?"

"Minnie of course!" he grinned "She is my one true love"

"Pads you know it's actually gross that you flirt with our teacher"

"Love is what it is" he said sarcastically. "Marlene would you rather date a good looking guy with a crap personality or a guy with an amazing personality and crap looks?"

"Wow that's actually a semi sensible question coming from you isn't it?" she teased "Umm I suppose the second one, there's always something you can do to improve their looks anyway…"

"I do try" grinned Sirius.

"James would you rather …" she thought long and hard about what to ask him, she honestly wanted to find out whether James still fancied Lily as she suspected. "Would you rather have an amazing relationship for a year but it end with a horrible breakup which left you both heartbroken? Or not have the relationship and be able to live without the pain of it ending because it never happened?"

"It's better to have loved and lost than to have not loved at all" he said wisely.

"Soppy pants" teased Sirius

"Coming from you" James chuckled "Lil's would you rather…" He thought long and hard about a question, he wanted it to be a good one. One that Lily would actually want to answer. 'What does she like?' he thought, then hit him; "would you rather sleep under the stars or dance under them?" He remembered seeing he watch the stairs from the window in the Gryffindor common room, while she would sit with her knees to her chest watching them twinkle over the lake and in the moonlight.

"Aww!" Lily exclaimed "That's a tricky one, they're both really romantic as well but I can imagine sleeping under the stars, watching them form shapes and glisten in the night sky before drifting off into an easy sleep, - maybe even in the arms of the one you love- that has to be amazing!"

Imagining it as Lily spoke Marlene closed her eyes following it and gripping onto Lily's every word. "That would be brilliant" grinned Marlene.

'wow' thought Lily to herself 'I didn't know James was the kind of guy that thought about romantic setting, I knew he was sweet but wow!' she wondered about how much more there was to James, she had only known him properly for half a year so maybe there is so much more to him than she originally thought.

"Marlene, would you rather live in America or France?" Lily askes knowing that they were two of her favourite places on earth.

"Gah! Lily! That's hard!" she exclaimed "America I suppose, there's so much more to see"

"I agree" said Sirius out of the blue "I've always wanted to go"

"Maybe you guys could go together" suggested Lily attempting to do a little match making between the two of them as subtly as possible

"We could make it a group trip!" grinned Sirius plotting in his mind, oblivious to Lily's implications.

"We could do it when the war is over, as a kind of celebratory thing?" suggested James.

"Why can't we go when we finish school next year?" he moaned.

"Sirius" Lily said softly bringing the conversation into a darker tone. "The wars getting worse, I know we're all trying to make the best of life now but we can ignore the fact that he's gathering followers, he's getting stronger.." she said catching James' eye not wanting him to think that she was about to tell Sirius what Dumbledore had trusted in them, "besides I'll need money to go, which I don't have so we'll all need to get jobs to pay for it" she said on a slightly lighter tone.

"How about when we're thirty or something?" Marlene suggested "Hopefully the war will be over with and we'll all have jobs and be settled down."

"Not a bad idea Marl's" Sirius said patting her on her head as though patting a dog.

"Paws to yourself Black" she said batting his hand away.

"Funny you should say that" he grinned catching James' eye who was trying his hardest not to laugh at the irony.

"Inside joke?" Lily questioned James, who nodded.


Soon two hours had passed since they had left the platform boarding the train. As well as playing spin the bottle and would you rather they ended up playing more muggle travel games that Lily had previously taught Sirius ages ago; like 'snog-marry-avoid', 'I-spy' and 'I went to the shops' These games had exhausted Marlene, James and Lily but Sirius was eager to play more.

"I think that enough now Pad's" said James

"Agreed" laughed Marlene upon seeing Sirius' pouting face.

"Agreed" said Lily who soon stood up

"I'm going to search for the food trolley, anyone want anything?"

"I'll just share yours" grinned Marlene

"A chocolate frog would be lovely Lily" came the voice of Remus Lupin

Sure thing" she smiled

James watched as Lily asked what everyone wanted… everyone except Remus, Marlene and Sirius declined.

"James?" she asked sweetly

"Err, I dunno. I'll come with you and have a look…I can give you a hand carrying Sirius crap then" he chuckled.

"Okay" she smiled grateful for the fact that she wasn't going to go alone.

"You guys sure you don't want anything?"

Once the others had still declined Lily and James left the compartment

"Which way do you reckon it is" Lily asked

"Got a slight sense of Deja-vu there" he chuckled "but my stomach is telling me this way" he said causing Lily to giggle softly.

James walked along down the train again, this time managing to walk by Lily's side as practically most people were now seated.

"So err Lil's" James began.

"Yeah?" she replied turning her head enough as to face him.

"Hey Lily!" came a new voice from behind them.

"Will!" she smiled as she turned round to see who was calling her name.

"I guess it wasn't farewell after all at the feast yesterday"

"I suppose not" she chuckled

"Hey look Lily I was going to owl you this but I may as well do it seeing as I caught you"

"Hmm?"

'Oh god' thought James 'here we go, he's going to ask her out' he moaned inside his head. 'I should do something' 'how about no' he said arguing with himself, 'she'll only hate you for it… plus I want her to be happy'.

"My family are holding a summer garden party, it's just a casual thing. The thing is I wanted to ask if you'd come? There's bound to be loads of people there already so it won't be an issue if you want to bring your friends if you want to…"

"Aww that sounds great"

'Thank god' James thought, full of relief 'I don't know what I would have done if he asked her out…'

"Yeah, it should be. I will owl you the dates and times and stuff when I know"

"We'll look forward to it"

"We'll?" chocked James.

"Yeah, you'll come with me right?"

"I wouldn't miss it" James smiled politely at both Lily and Will.

"Well I hope to see you both there" smiled Will, trying to hide of his annoyance at James as he only thought that she'd bring Marlene.

"See ya Will" she smiled "I'll look forward to seeing your owl telling me all about France" she waved.

Once Will was out of sight Lily wisped round to James "Don't you dare tell Marlene?"

"Wait, what?"

"Please don't tell her!"

"Tell her about the party?"

"Well yeah…" she said awkwardly

"Why? Aren't you going to ask her to come along with us?"

"Maybe, it's just I don't want her to make a big deal out of it, you know what's she like… she'll start rampaging on about how he has a crush on me, which he doesn't might I add, and then she'll make it awkward."

"Right?" he said baffled. "But I think Marlene has a point though…"

Lily whacked his arm "You're supposed to be on my side!" she scowled

"It's not my fault I think she's right"

"Well she's not"

"Why so sure?"

"Because I know he only sees me as a friend, like you and me"

"Oh right…" said James thinking 'Well if he's like me then he defiantly fancies you'

They later found the food cart and ended up buying, 3 chocolate frogs, Chocoballs, Cauldron cakes, acid pops, Fizzing Whizzbees and 3 pumpkin pasties (One for James, One for Lily and the other for Marlene.)

"Think that this is enough?" James asked sarcastically cradling the food.

"Nah, I reckon we need double with the amount you and Sirius eat" she teased.

"You'd think that'd annoy me but truthfully I'm quite proud of my ability to almost eat as much as Sirius"

"Strange child" she muttered rolling her eyes.

"But you still love me for it"

"Nahh, not really" she chuckled

"Fine then he pouted"

"Oh not this again" she whined "Can we please go?"

"Sure thing" he grinned dropping the act.

"So err Lil's" 'just say it you idiot, tell her how you still feel, your being such a girl' said the voice inside his head.

"Yeah?" she said looking out for their compartment "Ahh! There it is!"

"Great" he mumbled. Was he ever going to get a chance to actually tell her that he still likes her? He tried telling her before boarding the train, on the way to the food trolley and on the way back but three times he was unlucky. 'Maybe I should give up, fate isn't on my side' he moaned 'plus I don't think she feels the same way, she never has and never will. What's the point in ruining our friendship if it's the closet I can ever be to her?'


Soon the train pulled up at Kings cross station. The platform was now in view, people were bustling about anxious and excited to see their loved children after their year at Hogwarts. Lily and her friends said good-bye to one another in their compartment thinking that it would be easier in there than on the busy platform. One by one everyone left leaving Lily by herself… or so she thought.

Hey Lily?" James said finally managing to get her own her own, helping her get her trunk down form the shelf.

"James" she grinned "thanks" she said taking her case from him

"I..." he tried once more.

"I'm really going to miss you James this summer" she said opening the apartment door "And the others. Promise me you'll write?"

"Of course I will Lil's" he smiled glad that he wasn't just going to miss her, but she was going to miss him too.

"And you and the boys will have to meet up with us, I and the girls normally have some kind of summer party or gathering…you'll have to come to…" she smiled.

"Give me the time and the place and we'll be their"

"Great" she smiled before stepping onto the platform. "And err I will owl you about my plans for the Will thing…."

"Sure, but I think you should tell Marlene. It's be great if all of us went"

"I suppose" She sighed.

"I will really miss you "she said honestly, not wanting to leave

"Come here" he said opening his arms, gesturing her for a hug. As she walked into his arms she embraced her tightly "I'll miss you too" he whispered into her ear causing here to grin.

"Bye Potter" she smiled

"Bye Evans" and with that she was gone. He watched her hug her parents and fulfil them with information of the events that happened in the year, until she was gone.

"Come on Jamesie" teased a voice that belonged to none other than Sirius Black "let's go home" he said. Soon after that they apparated to James' parent's mansion where they were both welcomed home.

"Dorea! Our sons are home" shouted Charles Potter as he greeted them. James was their son by blood but Sirius was a so by choice, he was welcomed to the family in the summer of 5th year, when he ran away from his family because of their prejudices on all muggleborn and half breads... the Blacks were all about blood purity and Sirius didn't want to be.

Meanwhile, oblivious to the two Marauders arriving to their home, Lily Evans was being bored to death in her family car as they drove along the motorway listening to Petunia Evans, Lily's sister jaff on about Vernon Dursley her boyfriend. "He got a job last month.. working with drills" Lily heard Petunia say ever so proudly.

'So this is my start to the summer' thought both James and Lily.


That's it I'm afraid, not as long as the last one but I will try and keep them longer. Hope I didn't ramble on to much with their conversations but I wanted to catch the characters better for the summer scenes, which I am looking forward to writing! I wanted to update on Monday but I hadn't finished and yesterday I was revising for my maths test so; sucks for me :( Hope this chapter was good enough for you guys! And as always: PLEASE REVIEW!