TRAIN

Lily arrived at the train station at precisely 10:45 with her mother and aunt, Marilla. Marilla waited in the car, ready to go shopping with Mrs. Evans after dropping Lily off.

"Have a good school year, Miss Lily," She said as she hugged her niece. She had always called Lily Miss.

"Thanks, Aunt Marilla," Lily hugged her aunt back before reaching for the trolley that held her four small trunks- two yellow and two teal- and the Disillusioned cage that held her owl, Eerin.

"I'll just see her in, Marilla, then we can go," Jocelyn said, setting her hand gently on Lily's shoulder.

Lily and her mother headed into the train station, both getting through the barrier with ease. It hadn't let Mrs. Evans pass last year, most likely a cruel prank from Muliciber or Avery. Crabbe and Goyle weren't smart enough to pull something off like that.

Lily took a deep breath when she saw the beautiful red train. She had done everything right in the past six years to get to this point and she'd finally made it. The only problem was-

"Evans!" Potter shouted as he pushed quite rudely through the crowd. He grinned lopsidedly. "Oh, you must be Mrs. Evans!"

Jocelyn sent her daughter a look that said, "How'd you manage this one?"

"Mum, James Potter, Potter, my mother," Lily said through gritted teeth.

"It's so nice to finally meet you, Mrs. Evans." James stuck his hand out. His whole demeanor screamed charm. Lily resisted the urge to snort.

"And you as well, James. Are you looking forward to your last year at Hogwarts?" Jocelyn said kindly, shaking his hand.

"Yes, I am. I'm Head Boy this year, so I have a full school year ahead of me." As he said this, Lily could see a bit of frustration behind his eyes.

"Well, it's certainly good to meet the boy who will be running the school with my daughter. Stay out of trouble this year." Mrs. Evans winked. "Lily, your aunt and I must be going, but don't forget to write."

"I won't, Mum. I never do." Lily reached up and hugged her mother tightly.

"Alright, my darling. I love you."

"I love you too, Mum."

"Be good."

"I always am." Lily released her mother and felt a small pang in her chest. Jocelyn patted Lily's cheek with a sad smile before heading back towards the barrier.

Lily composed herself before turning to James. "Shall we?"

"What?" James asked, startled.

"Potter, did you read your letter?"

"Yes."

"All of it?"

"Well, I might've skimmed some-"

"See, if you had even bothered to open the parchment, you would've seen that it said there was a Prefect's meeting at 11:10 on the train."

"I must've missed that part."

"Of course." Lily dragged her trolley to the engineer, who loaded it into the storage compartment. "Actually, I'll take that one, thank you," Lily said politely, sliding a yellow trunk off the trolley.

"Wait, can't you just do it?" James asked.

Lily stopped walking. She stopped moving. Her blood turned to fire and it roared past her ears so she could hear nothing but that. "What?" She asked curtly, not turning to look at him.

"Well, since you wanted to job so badly, I just figured you-"

"Listen here, Potter. I might not want you to have this job, you might not want this job, hell, the whole school might not want you to have this job! But I swear, if you ever stop picking up your end of the line and you fall behind on anything, I will make your life a living hell. So, now that's that all cleared up, shall we go to the meeting?" Her face, though cheery, had a dangerous look to it.

"Yes, please, let's do that," James said, holding the door to the train open for her.

"Thank you." They boarded the train and headed towards the Prefect compartment. There was one girl waiting patiently, already dressed in black and yellow robes. She had light brown hair that fell to her chin in a fashionable bob. When Lily slid the door open, she leapt to her feet, a large smile forcing itself onto her face in an overly exuberant way.

"Lily Evans! It's so nice to meet you!" She said, her words rushed and jumbled. She shook Lily's hand roughly, both hands clutching at Lily's. "I'm Linda Greerer, Year Four, Hufflepuff."

"Oh, nice to meet you, too, Linda," Lily said awkwardly. She set her case on the seat and extracted her hands from Linda's.

"Someone's got an admirer," James whispered in a sing-song voice. She reached back and elbowed him in the gut. He took in a breath.

"Well, Linda. I'm going to work on a schedule and Potter is going to sit here pretending to do something useful," Lily said, waiting for Linda to laugh. Linda just stood there, nodding. Lily looked at her quizzically.

"Oh, oh! That was a joke, oh!" Linda let out a forced laugh.

"Alright, then." Lily sat and found a pen in her case. She made notes for today's meeting and looked over the list of Prefects. Her eyes froze over Sev's name, but she brushed it off, moving down the list. The compartment was quiet, too quiet. She looked up to see Linda staring down at her and James bouncing his foot on the ground.

"Greer, right?" Lily asked. Linda nodded. "Perfect. Now, don't you have any friends?"

Linda looked puzzled. "Why?"

"Well, the meeting doesn't start for another ten minutes. You could go see them?"

"Oh, well, I suppose…"

"Perfect." Lily held open the door for her and the younger girl passed through it, looking back at Lily.

Lily sighed contentedly and sat back in her seat. She began to work again, until she was interrupted by an insistent tapping. "Blood hell," She whispered.

"Don't you have something to do?" She asked Potter, who was tapping his wand on his knee.

"Well, I-"

"Prongs!" Sirius said loudly, throwing open the door. Peter and Remus followed him in, Remus sitting across from Lily and rolling his eyes.

"Ay, Padfoot, alright then?" Potter stood and slapped Sirius's hand.

"Alright. Who's Lovely Lily?" Sirius asked Lily.

"Black, may I ask you a question?"

"You're going to ask it even if I say no," He said, sitting beside her and throwing an arm around her shoulder.

"Great, now, are you a Prefect?"

"Well, no, not in the official form. But you know me, always looking out for the little guys. They give me the same respect as a Prefect."

Remus groaned.

"If you're not 'officially' a Prefect, then get out of my compartment." Lily smiled. "And Peter, you too."

"Aw, really?" Peter asked.

"Yes, I'm so very sorry."

"Are you sure-"

"Out, Black, now."

"As you wish," Sirius said, backing out the door. "We're still on for the Great Hall prank, Prongs?"

James shifted uncomfortably. "I- I don't think it's a good idea."

"No, bailing on the Marauders, after all these years?" Sirius asked.

"Go, Black. Before I take points."

"I'm gone!"

The door slammed shut and Lily and James were left in silence again.

Soon, the Prefects were arriving. Lily recognized most of them, but there were a few new ones- Jean Bones, Alexander Jordan, and, of course, Linda Greer. Linda was the most excited of the group, practically bouncing off the walls, but the other two- a Hufflepuff and a Gryffindor- were quiet and reserved, taking a few notes before turning their full attention to Lily.

Severus came in last, his hair longer now and wearing a sweatshirt that was two sizes too big. He looked at her hopefully, not smiling, but certainly friendly, but she looked away, shame instantly digging into her gut.

The meeting passed quickly, and James did… surprisingly well. He cracked jokes and reminded the students to be respectful of the teachers, especially McGonagall, winking when he said that. He was kind, too, to the younger Prefects, showing them different sections of the Prefect's Rule Book when they couldn't find them.

After passing out the Prefect badges and sending the students on their way, Lily and James sighed simultaneously. Lily couldn't wait to get back to her same old bed in her same old dormitory and laugh with the same old friends.

"Treats from the trolley, dears?" Old Mrs. Wickham rang her bell outside the compartment and smiled gently. Lily shuffled through her pockets to find an extra knut or sickle for chocolate frogs, but came up with nothing. I must've putted my purse in my other trunk-

"Two chocolate frogs and a sugar quill, please, Mrs. Wickham," James said politely. Lily's stomach grumbled at the sight of the sweets, but she turned her head towards the window and watched the rain patter against the window.

"Here," James said, holding out a chocolate frog. When she said nothing, he continued, "Chocolate frogs are your favourite, aren't they?"

"You don't-"

"I know, I want to." She took the chocolate from him and popped it open. The card was Newt Scamander. "I'll pay you back when we get to the castle."

"That's not necessary."

"Please, just let me?"

"You really-"

"Thank you, Potter, but I can pay for my own sweets." He sighed and nodded his head in an absent gesture as if to say, whatever you say.