James loved his first few weeks at Hogwarts. The classes were interesting, but he was usually busier with Sirius, Remus and Peter and their mischiefs. Mostly it were James and Sirius who invented the pranks and also did them. Remus was a bit scared and wanted to pay attention during the classes and Peter was mostly just scared, but wanted to join in the end anyway. Already alone in their first month both James and Sirius had every weekend detention with several teachers. Especially McGonagall proved to be very strict and tough. This was quite a surprise, since she was the head of Gryffindor. Not only did she gave them detention, but she also deducted points. And it was quite hard to receive points from her, so Gryffindor was fourth at this moment, just behind Hufflepuff. But James and Sirius did not care about points that much. Remus and Lily were getting those points back anyway in several classes with their answers and demonstrations.

It was close to Halloween and James, Sirius and Peter were talking in the common room. "Do you guys have any idea where Remus is going again?" Sirius asked him, while he kicked his feet nonchalant on the table. Peter quickly grabbed his bag before Sirius his feet hit it. "Oops, sorry Peter." Said Sirius. "Nah, it is okay!" Peter said quickly. "But I have no idea. He just says it is a family emergency and nothing else about it." James loosened his tie. "Yeah, I am curious as well. This is the second time now in two months. Last time I did not think anything about it, people can get sick. But this is quite soon after that he left again. We should ask him when he is back." Sirius nodded and closed his eyes. "I am so tired! I do not want to do homework, I just want to relax." James snorted. "You do nothing but relax, mate." Sirius smiled. "Oi, same goes for you. But okay, let us do this." He grabbed his bag. "Should we start with Transfiguration or Herbology?" Peter quickly answered "Transfiguration! James is one of the best." James grinned. "Thanks, Peter. Let me know when you need help." James grabbed some parchment, his quill, ink and his book. "What did that old bat ask again? How many words?" "3000 before the day after tomorrow." Peter said. "I just hope that Remus will be back on time to do this."

On the morning of Halloween James woke up. Tonight they had a party in the common room, after the feast. Some older years showed James and Sirius the other day where the kitchen was and how to get food. The house elves were quite nice and were okay with them taking extra food and drinks. One of the older years even said he could get some fire whiskey and butterbeer. Remus was also back again, but he looked exhausted. He did not say much about who was sick and what he had to do, but whatever it was it had drained him. He even looked tired. "You sure you are up for a party tonight, mate?" James asked him at lunch. Remus usually paid attention in every class, but in the last one he almost fell asleep. This was nothing like him. "Yeah, yeah… I will be fine." He ate some more bread and drank some orange juice. James looked at Sirius and they exchanged looks. Remus stood up, swung his back over his shoulder and said: "I will quickly visit the library before our next class. See you in twenty." And he left without waiting for their answer. "Should we go after him?" Peter asked. "Nah, I say we let him. Maybe he will talk tonight after some fire whiskey." James laughed. "Should we go as well? I need to go to the loo." Sirius said. And the three of them stood up and left.

That evening the four of them left the feast earlier, right after the last course appeared. Remus and Peter went up to decorate the common room. James and Sirius went down to the kitchen and asked for food. They levitated the trays with wingardium leviosa. One of the first spells they had learned in the first few months at Hogwarts. They tried to sneak it upstairs and not run into any teachers. Which they accomplished because they left when people were still eating. The portrait swung open and the plates levitated into the common room. They were put on the table effortlessly. James and Sirius high fived. Remus and Peter did a great job at decorating. They charmed the fake spiders so that they were running around, just like real spiders. The four of them had some sort of costumes and face paint. They painted each other like dead monsters, fake blood dripping out of the corner of their mouths. They went down and after a few minutes the portrait swung open again. The older boys came in and they whistled through their teeth. "Nice job decorating and with the food, boys. You got some of that face paint for us as well?" Peter ran back upstairs, happy to impress the older boys. "Yeah, we got some of that for you. But do you guys have something extra for the party as well?" Sirius asked. He did not care about their age nor the fact that they were two heads bigger. "I like that you are fast forward. But yeah, we got it." Said the biggest one. He gave the smallest one a small push and the guy ran upstairs to get it. More people were pouring in and Peter returned with the face paint. "Okay boys, this is a great excuse to flirt with the ladies! Ask them if you can paint their faces. Take your time with the pretty ones and do the ugly friends quick." Sirius smiled. "We will keep that in mind. So you want some of the face paint in exchange for the alcohol?" They switched the products. Somebody already turned up the music and the common room was quite full already. "Thanks guys, this is our last Halloween. So we will party hard. Hopefully you will carry on the tradition." The older boy said. They all shook each other hands.

The party went well. The four boys were not at all interested to impress girls. They were playing chess, exploding snap and they all drank butterbeer and sometimes some firewhiskey. It was burning in James his throat. His parents had never let him drink anything with alcohol in it, so after his second butterbeer and first firewhiskey he started to feel light headed and bold. He and Sirius started to sing along with the songs while standing on the table. Sirius whispered in his air that they should do a backflip when they were done, since almost everyone in the common room was watching. And as soon as the song ended they looked at each other, crouched through their knees and both jumped. The two of them landed next to each other, but not that steady on their feet. Sirius fell against James and James started laughing. "Oi mate, you okay there? I do not have to drag you upstairs and tuck you in, right?" Sirius laughed. "Oh shut up, you are just as bad as I am!" they both roared with laughter.

The party was a blast. Everybody enjoyed themselves. The last ones, including Remus, Peter, Sirius and James, went to bad at 3.30 in the morning. The next day they could sleep in, since it was a Saturday. They did not wake up until noon and almost missed lunch. Not that they were that hungry, they felt quite tired and they all had a headache. "Oi, mates! Never let me do that again! We cannot throw a party for my birthday if we are going to do this again." James lifted his head up from his arms. "I will not survive that. We better do something small." And the day after the tomorrow it was Sirius his birthday. He found a small stack of presents at the end of his bed. James recognized his present, it was the biggest one. There were only five presents. He opened them all. Remus gave Sirius some new quills. Peter gave him a new Gryffindor scarf. "Hey, thanks Peter! I needed this! I cannot repair those burn holes in the old one." Peter beamed. Sirius opened James his present. "Amazing!" Sirius smiled at James. "This is so cool!" It was a new cloak, but it was with Sirius his initials on the front pocket. "Thank you, dude! This is amazing." His last present was a pair of new gloves. "From your parents?" James asked. "Nah, they do not really give me presents anymore. They are kind of pissed." James looked up. "Why?" Sirius looked at his best friend. "Well, they never really did give me presents anyway. But since I got into Gryffindor they kind of are ignoring me. They tell the rest of the family that they do not see me as a son anymore. At least that is what I think. My niece Andromeda never really tells me exactly what they say, but I can guess. I know my mother, she is the worst probably." James looked at Sirius. He could not imagine that his parents would treat him like that. He sensed that Sirius did not want to talk about it. Remus and Peter were both looking at them, not knowing what to say. "Shall we get breakfast then?" Sirius asked. "Thanks for the gifts, guys. They are amazing! I am ready for winter.

The next two months flew by and before they knew it was Christmas time. Sirius decided to stay at school together with Remus. James was returning home and Peter as well for the Christmas break. James offered Sirius several times to come with him, but Sirius declined every time with the same answer: "Maybe next year, mate." James was excited to see his parents again. They enjoyed the Christmas feast and he played some exploding snaps with Peter and Frank back on the train. Halfway through they were accompanied with some girls from Gryffindor and James recognized Lily amongst them. He smiled at her, but she ignored him. He shrugged it off. Whatever, he thought. And he turned around back to Peter to talk about their holidays. And before he knew it he was back in London, being picked up by his parents.

Lily was loving Hogwarts. The classes were so interesting and she was learning so much. There was a lot of homework, but she did not mind doing it. She loved to read all the information and absorb all the knowledge. And she was secretly quite proud that she was one of the bests in most of her class. A boy named Remus Lupin was also quite smart, but sometimes he was distracted by his friends. They were so loud during class and always busy with messing with each other, the teachers or sometimes even other students. Especially during the classes they had together with the Slytherins. She was together with Severus in those classes, but they barely spoke during them.

The Slytherins and the Gryffindors were sitting separated and she was always together with Alice, Marlene and Mary. They were already friends since the Hogwarts Express and spend every evening together with gossiping, doing their homework and playing games. Lily loved playing chess with Marlene her chess pieces. You could tell them what to do and where to go and sometimes they even gave you advice. Slowly she was getting better. The only thing that she did not like that much was how little time she could spend with Severus. Sometimes they spoke to each other outside in the hallways or in the Great Hall, but it was different. She missed him. Mary made it very clear that she had no idea why Lily liked hanging out with Severus. She knew that Marlene and Alice thought the same way, but that they did not want to hurt Lily's feelings. She appreciated it, since she always felt like she had to defend herself and her choices towards Mary.

The first two months flew by and by the end of October it was finally time for their first try at Wingardium Leviosa. They had studied the material a lot and professor Flitwick finally said that they were ready. The whole class was excited. Lily was sitting next to Alice and they were chatting about the Halloween that would happen later that week. "I am so excited for the party. Do you think we should dress up?" Alice asked. "I do not know! And to be honest, I do not really want to go either." Lily just wanted to make her homework in peace in the common room. This meant that, even if she could escape Mary, she would need to work on her bed. "What are you saying, Lily?" Mary poked her head around Marlene to look at her. "You do not want to go? This is the first party in like, ever! You have to go!" Lily could see that Mary did not understand why Lily did not feel like a party. And she was in no mood to try to explain or convince them. "Yeah, I guess you are right. I slept bad last night, so that is probably why I am not really in a party mood. I will feel different when the party is closer to us, probably!" But secretly she knew that, even with her three friends, she would still feel incomplete. But before she could gave it another thought she saw professor Flitwick stepping into the classroom.

"Everybody silence, please! Get your wands out." He walked to the front of the class. "Mr. Pettigrew, please give every couple a feather. And everybody listen to me now. We will do the Wingardium Leviosa spell today. You will work in couples and with a feather. I will demonstrate how to pronounce the spell and how to flick your wand. Please pay close attention. After this you could try it yourself, but be careful. Pronounce the spell correctly and make sure you flick your wand right. This is the tricky part. Once you succeeded you should be able to make your feather fly, but keep it close to yourself. Fly it a few centimeters in front of you and put it back on the table. Then the other one tries and you keep taking turns. Are there any questions?" Nobody said anything. Peter was done with the feathers and took his place next to Remus. Every pair of eyes were looking excited to finally try some magic. Transfiguration class was mostly only theory, but soon they were also going to try to change things. "No questions? Great! Now watch me and then please try for yourself." He pointed his wand at the feather closest to him. It was Remus and Peter. "You flick and tick and say it like this: Win-GAR-dee-um Levi-O-sa." He flicked his wand, said the spell and the feather flew up a few centimeters. He pointed slowly up and down, the feather followed. He pointed his wand down to the table and the feather laid back again. "Now try!"

The whole class was suddenly concentrated. The first few Wingardium Leviosa's were being said, but with a lot of insecurity. "You go first!" Lily said. Alice smiled. She pointed flicked her wand, pronounced the spell and the feather did nothing. She tried it again, but again nothing. "Damn it, that sucks. Maybe you can try." Lily was a bit nervous. "Okay, I will give it a shot." She had paid close attention to professor Flitwick. She remembered the movement of the wand and from her essay she knew how to pronounce it. The trick was to make the 'gar' nice and long and put the accent on the 'O' in leviosa. She flicked her wand and said: "Win-GAR-dee-um Levi-O-sa." The feather levitated and the kept her concentration. "Very good, very good, Miss Evans! You are the first one to succeed! Twenty points to Gryffindor." Said Professor Flitwick. Lily felt a bit proud, but turned red. "Wow, so good! You are so smart!" Alice said. "Please, teach me!" Lily cheeks flushed red. "Well, you had the flick of the wand right. It was just your pronunciation. Make sure you say the 'gar' nice and long and the 'O' short." Alice nodded and turned herself to the feather. She concentrated, flicked her wand, and said the spell and the feather flew up. "Wow, look at this!" she said happily. After them Remus soon succeeded, soon followed by James and Sirius. After that Sirius and James ignored the feather and started flying stuff through the classroom. They pointed their wands at books, the hats of other students and even tried to lift professor Flitwick. They did not succeed, but they both got themselves a night of detention.

Lily felt happier that afternoon. It was a good day after all. She was the first to make her feather levitate and during potions she earned Gryffindor another 20 points for her answers. She liked potions. Professor Slughorn was always so nice to her. And it was one of the few classes she had together with Severus. They talked a bit before the class and she was happy that she had seen her friend again. The week flew by fast and before she knew it the Halloween Party in the common room was already that evening. First they had the Halloween feast and after that the party would start. Lily was wondering for a few days now if it was possible that she could maybe invite Severus as well. Could someone from a different house get into the common room of another house? Would he even want to come? She saw that sometimes he was being mocked by some boys from her class. Especially Sirius and James were playing a lot of pranks on him. Not only did they keep calling him Snivellus, but they put his backpack full of soap. For his greasy hair, they would say then. Lily wanted to say something to them about it, but Severus always said that it was not worth it. Usually Lily just sat down next to Severus and asked about something else. She sensed that he did not want to talk about it. Stupid boys, she thought by herself. Why would you be mean to someone? And why, in Merlin's name, would you think that is funny and laugh about it? And those bullies now organized this damn party. There were even rumours that they convinced some older boys to bring alcohol to the party. Of course they had, it seemed like they had luck in everything. She had no idea why Remus was with them. He was such a nice boy, he would not hurt a fly. Maybe he was afraid of being bullied by them as well. But then the fact hit her that Sirius and James only bullied Slytherins. They were always very nice to all the other students as far as she knew. What they have against the Slytherins, Lily wondered.

That night Lily enjoyed herself surprisingly good at the party. She did not think about Severus at all and she laughed a lot with Alice, Marlene and Mary. They took when she saw a drunk James and Sirius doing backflips from the table as a sign to go to bed. "They are only eleven years old!" Alice hissed. "And they are drunk! What if McGonagall busted them?" Mary laughed. "Oh, it is not that they could get in any more trouble than this, right? They have practically detention every day." They all started laughing. "But I also agree with Alice." Said Marlene. "They are way too young to drink. Stupid boys." Lily nodded. Just another thing to add on the list, she thought.

The last two months flew by and before she knew it she could decide to either go home or stay at school during their Christmas holiday. She decided to go home, since neither of her friends were staying and she was missing Petunia and her parents. She send an owl to her parents telling them when she would arrive at King's Cross. The evening before she left she packed her suitcase and fell into a blissful sleep. The next day on the train was quite chaotic. There was no empty compartment so they had to sit with James and Peter. James smiled at her, but she ignored him. Stupid boy, with his bullying and his pranks. He barely spoke to her, so why start acknowledging her now? She started to talk to Alice, who was already missing Frank. "Alice, you saw him this morning. Are you telling me you are already missing him?" Alice started blushing. "Maybe. It feels so weird that I won't see him for such a long time." Marlene asked: "Are you in love with him, Alice?" Alice flushed red. "I- I do not know. I am so young, but I like spending time with him. I feel safe when I know that he is around, even when we are not together." Lily smiled. That was so cute. Hopefully Frank felt the same way about Alice. She deserved it. The remaining time on the train they spend gossiping, laughing and eating candy. When they arrived at King's Cross, Lily found her parents and Petunia. They all hugged each other, even though Petunia felt a bit stiff. "We missed you so much, Lils!" Her father said.

Authors note: Yes yes! Remus is gone of course sometimes. Since he needs to transform into a werewolf and the first year he could keep it a secret for his friends.
Furthermore, their birthdays. I am just trying to write the first year how I was planning it. But so far I think I might be too short with everything. I want to celebrate all of their birthdays and the way I saw it this was not possible. So I decided to make longer chapters in the future and their upcoming years will cover more stuff like birthdays, quidditch matches (James will of course try-out), third year will be Hogwarts etc.

Another note is that I love writing about those rascals, but I was always a very good kid. A goody-two-shoes ;p, so I do not really know what is like to be in detention or behave badly. I am re-reading all the books and focus now more on the Fred & George parts. In my opinion James and Sirius are quite the same sometimes, but better at school. They still have to become Animagi and that is really, really hard (Third year they will start with this).

Just keep reading my chapters and send me some reviews, I alway appreciate them!