Prompt #20 – Platform 9 and ¾
Words: 883
Disclaimer: It makes you sad too? Not being able to own this? Well, wait in line for the buying of Harry Potter, I'm still waiting!
Summary: Lily had gone through the barrier and towards the train, and found five faces she missed dearly. He was the last in their line to great, all she did was hug him close, and maybe hoped that she wouldn't have to let go.

…

Lily Evans pushed her trolley through the barrier, towards Platform 9 and ¾, leaving her muggle parents and sister behind at King's Cross Station. She saw the billowing steam from the top of the train, what seemed like hundreds of people walking through it, all dressed in muggle clothes as they loaded their luggage onto the train.

Lily still remembers the first time she ever boarded the Hogwarts Express, the fight between James and Severus was a highlight, only because now she could work out which of the two came out on top. Who of the two boys was the superior one?

This platform had memories for Lily, even though she spent approximately only one hour on it a year. It reminded her of her home and where she belonged. The other witches and wizards running around, casting spells at each other. The entire fact that she was there, it kept her on her toes, every time.

…

Five people, five faces, that she wanted to see. She would call them her best friends, but that would defy the purpose of her relationship with one of them.

She could see them in the distance near where she would meet with Hestia to board the train. Hestia's squeal sold the fact they had seen her too.
"Lily!" her best friend hugged her tightly.
"Hestia!" she laughed, slowly pulling away from her friend to take in her appearance. Every holidays Hestia would return to Hogwarts with a new style, but this time, she had let the hair dye in her hair fade back to her natural colour, and the makeup was more limited than it usually is.
"You're actually normal for once," Lily smiled at her friend.
"Something a dog told me," Hestia shrugged. Lily was confused as to what she meant, but Hestia had looked as though it had meant nothing.
"Look what we have here," Sirius Black's chuckled brought Lily out of her thoughts, "Red is redder than usual." He hinted at her brighter hair.
"Highlights Black, and please don't call me that," the prefect smiled, hugging the boy. He had grown over the summer, he towered over her nearly.
"Peter," Lily smiled at the next boy in the line who smiled and gave her a short wave.
"Hey Remus," she turned to the next boy, the werewolf who was her fellow Gryffindor prefect.
"Hello Lily," he smiled at her. He turned towards the others in the group who had struck up a conversation.

When Lily looked to see who was standing there in front of her, she found one face that she was confused about. James Potter, sure, they were friends, but she didn't know what that friendship meant to either of them.

"Hey Lily," he smiled at her. He, like Sirius, had grown over the summer, he had become fitter, her shirt now clung to his body. For a student in sixth year, he surely looked like a seventh grader.
"Hi James," she smiled in return. Lily noticed the Gryffindor Quidditch captain badge that he had pinned to his shirt, "Still captain I see?"
"You really think they would ever take it off of me?" he chuckled.

They were silent; the only voices were the others in the group, talking about the year ahead of them and the summer they had just come from.

"How was your summer?" the Marauder asked her.
"Good," she nodded, "Yours?"
"Alright," he shrugged, "Sirius moved in, Mum was ecstatic about and Dad thought that Sirius was crazy to do it."
"He's like your brother though, isn't he?" she questioned, nodding her head towards Sirius Black, who had his arm protectively wrapped around Hestia's waist.
"I'd say so," James replied.

The silence was back. It was awkward this time, not mutual.

"Your hair looks great," he commented.
"Thanks, it was my Mum's idea," she explained.
"She's a smart woman," the boy smiled at her.

When the silence returned, the boy stepped forward, taking her into a hug. She returned it tightly, her arms wrapped securely around his waist and her head resting on his shoulder. Both of them, holding onto the other tightly, protectively.

She thought about it, the way that their friendship had changed since last year, since they had met.

The meeting in Diagon Alley before they started at Hogwarts, the confrontation of the train on the way to Hogwarts with Severus Snape, the argument between him and Severus that she had to intervene before the wands were drawn, the howler and the meeting with his mother that James was still confused about, the times she vented to him about her sister, the conversation between them in fourth year about their families, him helping her learn about Quidditch, when they found Sirius Black and Hestia Jones snogging in an empty corridor, their conversation in fifth grade about their last summer while everyone else was out of the castle, when they kissed under the mistletoe, and when Severus Snape had called her a Mudblood.

Every single one of those moments had brought her to that present moment there, she had to thank fate for it someday, because she was beginning to never want to let go from this stance with James.

This friendship was becoming important to her; she didn't want to lose it anytime soon.

...

Na na na na na na na na na na na na BATMAN!

Anyhoo, That's the first for Year Sive! :)

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