A/N: I'm so sorry it took so long but here it is! Year two! Lots of things happened over summer, but you only get what you need to know until I publish Forever Young Summers! I know this is a short chapter but it's only the beginning of the year. Who knows what'll happen in their second year? Read and review please!

~Maya

Forever Young

Back on Board

The September breeze was buried under the bustle of parents ushering their children onto the Hogwarts Express. After returning from a relaxing but eventful summer vacation, all the students shared the same comfort in the purple smoke that billowed out of the train, the warm glow it emitted, and all the familiar faces. Against the brick pillar stood Madeleine and Edison Potter, watching proudly as their son shoved through the mass to meet his friends.

"That first year went too fast," said Mrs. Potter.

Her husband smiled. "I think you're right. It won't be long before Cammie goes off to Hogwarts, too."

"That's not my name!" cried a little girl standing between them.

"All right, Cam, then," Mrs. Potter laughed. "You're going to be our little, precious baby now that Harley's ready to move out."

The little girl, Cam, pouted. "I am a big girl. I'm in the double digits now!"

"Ten years old is still a baby," commented Harley Potter, who had just approached.

"No, it's not!" she shouted at her brother.

"Harley," Mrs. Potter scolded, but with a smiling face. "Come on, Cam, let's say good-bye to your brothers and go." She turned to Mr. Potter. "I'd rather not run into the Benedicts today."

Laughing, she slobbered kisses all over Harley's face, and then pulled her husband with her to find James. As always, he was in the midst of several friends, and shoulder-to-shoulder with Sirius.

"Mr. and Mrs. Potter!" cried Sirius. "Good to see you again."

"And you," she replied warmly. "James, have a great year."

"Yeah, James, don't get into too much trouble," warned his father. "And Sirius, you know I've said to call me Ed."

"Sure," said Sirius. He knew he'd always call them Mr. and Mrs. Potter. They left after a few more good-byes to James's friends, who then clamored into the train.

James could barely contain his excitement; he was practically bouncing in his seat. "Second year!" he exclaimed.

"I wonder if it'll be as eventful as last year," replied Remus with a grin. Though he didn't show it, he was more than ecstatic to see his friends again.

Peter, on the other hand, showed it quite conspicuously. "Switzerland was good, but I'm so glad to be back! I can't wait to own the castle with you three again! It's going to be excellent! It's going to be amazing! It's going to be—"

"Careful before you wet your pants, Peter," James smirked. The mousy boy fell silent, but his wide smile did not fade.

"We need a welcome back prank, mate," said Sirius, leaning forward.

"Right," replied James, mirroring his gesture and running his hand through his hair, which had grown shaggy over summer. "Now, we're second years. We're older men. Our pranks will obviously be hilarious, but they have to show some sophistication now. We can't just be clowns. We have to be sophisticated clowns."

Just then, Lily Evans and Severus Snape walked past their open compartment door. Lily's face soured instantly, as did James's.

"All right, Snape?" said Sirius bitingly.

"I should ask you that, Black," he hissed back.

"Come on, Sev. I had enough of that thing during the summer to last a lifetime, maybe even two," said Lily, her acid glare burning through James.

"Oi, can we get a cleaner in here?" called Sirius. "And maybe an exterminator. That giant insect is leaving a trail of grease everywhere it goes."

Severus set his jaw and walked away with Lily without looking back.

"So you were saying, about a sophisticated prank?" prompted Remus.

"Yeah," said James, staring out the door distractedly. "Yeah. All right." He turned back to his friends. "All right, what we need to do is—" He broke off suddenly.

"Yeah?" pressed Sirius after a few moments.

"Aw, hell, let's give Severus and his Slytherin cronies pink hair."

"Don't worry about them," Lily soothed. "They're arrogant berks."

His expression relaxed a little. "Yeah," he said quietly, nodding. "What happened in the summer?" he asked her curiously.

Lily wrinkled her nose. "I don't want to talk about it." They found their own empty compartment towards the back of the train and settled in comfortably. "Anyway," she continued, "I plan to not speak to it for the rest of my time at Hogwarts, and probably the rest of my life if I ever have to see him—it—after that."

There was a knock on the compartment door, and Brooklyn and Charlie came in all smiles.

"Hey!" cried Charlie, throwing her arms around Lily. "Sorry I didn't write after my birthday. We just got so busy with Edward's career prep or something. He did this internship thing at the Ministry of Magic in France, so we all went on vacation out of nowhere!"

"So that's why you went totally off the radar," exclaimed Lily. "My God, I bet that was fun!"

"Oh, yes it was," added Brooklyn slyly. "Tell her who you met, Char."

"Who?" prompted Lily excitedly.

Blushing, Charlie said, "Tristan Everett."

"Ooh, the third year boy? The cute one?"

"Damn right, the cute one," said Brooklyn. "I keep cursing myself for not bugging Mum and Dad to take us to France for the summer. Would've been better than that bloody ball at Charlie's."

"Yeah, it would've definitely been better," agreed Charlie, wrinkling her nose. "That was horrible."

"Wankers," murmured Brooklyn under her breath. "Not at all sorry you couldn't be there, Lils."

Lily laughed. "From the sound of it, me neither."

"So can we sit?" asked Charlie.

"Er…well…" Lily looked over at Severus, who was pointedly staring out the window with a glum expression. "Sorry," she said to her friends. "I-I'm gonna hang out with Sev right now. I'll see you back at the castle?"

Slightly taken aback, but understanding, the girls nodded their assent and left.

"Tristan Everett? The Hufflepuff? You think he's cute?" asked Severus, still staring out the window.

"Erm, sort of, yeah. I mean, most people do. Why?"

He merely shrugged.

"Sev," she sighed. "It doesn't matter. I'm so excited for Potions!"

At this, he looked a little more alive. "Yeah, me too." They kept the subject off her friends and the Marauders for the rest of the trip.

"What the hell went on between you and Lily, mate?" asked Sirius as he dealt a deck of Exploding Snap cards.

James shrugged. "Nothing. Don't really wanna get into it."

"You sure?" asked Remus.

He nodded. Sirius opened his mouth to press him further, but Peter said, "Don't bug him!

There was a moment of shocked silence. "What?" demanded a very taken aback Sirius.

"He doesn't want to say," said Peter firmly. Sirius was speechless.

"Thanks, Peter," said James. "He's right, I don't. Let's just play, prank the Slytherins, and get on with second year."

As the second year Slytherins stumbled angrily out of the train, trying in vain to hide their pink hair, the Marauders climbed into one of the large carriages without looking at who had already occupied it.

"Bloody…did you see that?" Sirius howled.

"Yeah…yeah, they looked like they were gonna cry!" cried Remus.

"Ahem."

Startled, the boys looked around to see Charlie Benedict and Brooklyn Terrence, looking at them awkwardly.

"Er, hi," said Sirius, trying to avoid their gazes. James nodded, staring and the floor, and settled into a seat as the carriage began moving.

"How are you, Charlie?" Remus asked smoothly, unsure of his friends' sudden silence.

She responded with a wide smile she hadn't given to James or Sirius. "I'm great! You? How were the, er, months?"

Remus paled slightly at the hidden meaning of her question, gulped, and said with a difficult smile, "They were all right. Better than most." Charlie nodded sympathetically.

"How was your birthday, Charlie?" asked Peter. "Sorry I missed it."

"Oh, don't be," she scoffed, giving James a furtive look. "Two parties this summer, both awful. But the birthday part was fine, thanks for asking."

"I'm great, too, thanks," said Brooklyn sarcastically.

"Sorry," Remus laughed. "I was getting to that."

"Lovely. Well, now that we've all passed the small talk, tell me what the big ones are this year!" she said excitedly.

"Er, what?" said James.

"The big pranks, obviously! I can't wait to bloody destroy Severus Snape and those greasy friends of his."

"What did he do to you?" asked Sirius in surprise.

Brooklyn stiffened very slightly upon locking eyes with Sirius, and then continued, "He's just a bloody git to Lily."

"What?!" demanded James. "What did he do to her?"

Shrugging, she replied, "He's just a git. He's not a friend."

"Whatever," said James, waving it off. "I don't care. I just agree with Brooklyn—we're gonna get them really good this year."

"Where is Lily, anyway?" asked Peter, looking confused.

"She's with him—Severus. We found her in a compartment with him and talked to her for a bit, but then she asked us to leave because poor Snape was getting pouty," Charlie answered, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "I guess she's probably with him now."

They took a moment to curse Snape in their minds, and then fell into half-awkward, half-comfortable conversation.

The summer had been, put briefly, extremely chaotic. Each person had ridden a wild roller coaster with extremely unexpected moments, which resulted in extremely uncomfortable results. Beneath her robes, Charlie's fists were clenched, and her teeth ground together as she looked at James. Her breath flowed slightly raggedly, though her smile hid the anger quite well. Mostly, she avoided speaking to him more than she had to, but enjoyed laughing with Remus and Peter. On the other hand, James's effort to look anywhere but at Charlie was quite obvious. Whenever she opened her mouth, he seemed to lapse into a strange, awake coma. Sirius knew to keep out of it, but Remus, in the dark about what had happened between them in the summer, tried to prompt a conversation out of them, and failed miserably.

Though he was laughing, Sirius's insides were turning with guilt, as they had been doing for about a month. He knew no one could see it, but he felt his robes were positively dripping with ice-cold sweat. He knew the incident hadn't been his doing, but he felt responsible for somehow prompting it. Brooklyn watched him converse with James and shivered slightly. His hair was different since she had last seen him, and it suited him. She smiled to herself, then stopped, and quailed at the thought of what her brother was going to say when he saw them walk out of the carriage together.

Flashback

"It was bloody embarrassing!" Julian fumed, pacing. "And completely out of order!"

"Julian," his mother attempted to soothe, "relax. It's just how they are."

"They have no right to treat her that way, regardless of who they think they are!" he shouted, pointing at Brooklyn who sat quivering on the couch.

"Julian, shut up," said Mr. Terrence firmly. "It was certainly unfair and cruel, but there is no need to make such a big deal out of it. It'll only upset your sister more."

"Did you hear what they said, Dad?" he shrieked.

"Yes," Mr. Terrence said loudly. "I did. So you will shut up now."

Brooklyn, desperate not to let tears fall past her eyes, croaked, "Yeah, Julian. Please."

Again, she shivered. She hoped Lily was doing a little bit better than she was.

Lily could barely keep the scowl off her face. Hurt and embarrassed though she was, she was a proud girl and no way would she show her real emotions in front of the disgusting Slytherin boys. Throughout the whole carriage ride they made foul jokes about cruel pranks they'd played on girls or smaller kids or Muggle-borns. They made the Marauders' pranks seem like sweet flowers handed generously and genuinely to criminals. For the most part, they ignored her completely, except when a boy called Avery glanced at her and unabashedly asked, "Do Mudbloods sleep in normal beds at night?"

Lily nodded and said, "Yes, we Muggle-borns do."

Looking away, Avery shrugged and replied, "I heard they don't."

Shocked and offended, Lily looked at Severus to come to her aid, but he was pointedly staring in the other direction. Before stepping into the carriage, she'd known it was a terrible idea, but she did so anyway so as not to upset Severus. He'd asked her quietly, out of the presence of his friends, if she would sit with him in their carriage. The idea of his pureblood supremacist friends sent nervous shivers down her body, but Lily had simply smiled and nodded, trying to hid her discomfort. Even though she'd known that his friends held great distaste for people like her, she was still unprepared for Avery's simple yet extremely hurtful comment. She tried to swallow the tightness in her throat, but somehow it only seemed to be growing. Without another word, she glared out of the window for the rest of the short ride to the castle.

A/N: What is going on? There is some serious tension in the air between everyone! Tell me what you thought! Any questions, comments, ideas, concerns? I'd love to know and I do read every single one of my reviews, so please leave them for me. They make me very happy!

~Maya