A Story- By pherlaith

 Unimportant authors note- Right, peeps. As you might have gathered by now this is a Lily and James story. This little ramble is just to say how it came to be written. Basically, I was moaning on to one of my friends about studying, and how I'm running out of excuses (the exams start in less than a week) and she set me this challenge; Write a half-decent, non-self-insertation fanfic about any character(s) from any source of your choice using a stimulus set by me [me being her]. I took her up on this as I thought it could be interesting, give me an excuse to not study, and maybe help my writer's block for my other story. She gave me the stimulus of that old proverb, a stitch in time saves nine, and I developed that (ya see, it was DRAMA revision) and came up with this story! I'll shut up and get on with it now! *Important authors note and better summary*- Please read!- This story may seem a little confusing if you don't! have you ever seen the film sliding doors? This is a little like that. We all know what happens at the end of Lily and James' story, but what about the rest of it? There are two main genres of L/J romances around- love/hate and the classic love. They are both great, but I sat there wondering which really happened? What if one single, slight change in their lives sent them spiralling out in different directions? This story has two. On one side, the love/hate, on the other, the classic friendship/love. This starts with a prologue, which is really just a big extended-metaphorical way of saying what I've just said, then there's chapter 1. Chapter 1 is different to all the other chapters as it's in a single part.  At the end, comes the change that sends the story in two ways. The next chapters swap between what happens in each. At the end, they will merge. You all know how this ends though! You can tell when I'm switching when you see the beautiful little *~*~*~*'s, just so you don't get too confused! If you've read this far, I thank you for your patience; I prey to whatever deity it is you understand! Anyway, I'm finished!

Prologue- The web of time is intricate, delicate and fragile. Tiny pulses shoot over it, crossing and twisting, dividing and merging endlessly with each other's flaxen strands. The smallest of the transparent filaments that the great web holds could be one of the most important. Like the cobweb, time in itself Is breathtakingly beautiful.. yet that beauty is always bittersweet, as time, like the cobweb, inevitably leads to death.

If a whisper of a breeze can distort and alter the shape of the cobweb, what could one decision in the life of one person do? Will the web's lethal paths guide everything different ways, but to it's rightful close? Or can one slight wind of decision change everything?

The Beginning/ The choice- 

Lily Evans sighed happily as she packed her trunk to return to school. She had enjoyed the long, hazy summer, with its lazy, relaxed days, but she was looking forward to the next school year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It would be her fifth, and she had just received notice that she was to be a prefect. Finishing her packing with a final smoothly folded robe, she closed the trunk with a flourish and collapsed on her bed, looking around her old bedroom she saw so little of.

It was large and square and painted blue and purple. The walls were decorated with muggle pictures and blank spaces, where, when she was home, she tacked up waving pictures of herself and her friends. They were neatly stored in her trunk between her clothes and books, awaiting her return to Hogwarts, the next day.

Hogwarts! She smiled in sweet anticipation, relishing the thought of seeing everyone again, Tessa, Cara, and Aylson. She had really missed them, though she met up with them the week before in Diagon Alley. They had been best friends since first year, when they were all sorted into Gryffindor. Though, she mused, it would be hard not to be so close to them after all the things we've shared.  They had shared joy, laughter, tears, and pain. They had shared the blame, the praise, the good and the bad. They were as close as sisters-

"Lily!" A shrill voice cut through her thoughts "Lily! Get down for your tea right now!"

Lily grimaced as her sister shrieked upstairs to her. Perhaps she and her friends being as close as sisters was a bad example. Lily and her sister, Petunia did not exactly get on, quite the opposite, in fact. They loathed each other.

Lily reluctantly got up from her comfortable bed and stretched, yawning widely. She walked over to her mirror and smoothed out her long, wavy red hair, and rubbed her emerald eyes while stifling another yawn before heading down the stairs of her large house, to the dining room, where the rest of her family were waiting for her to join them for their last dinner together before Lily returned to Hogwarts. Lily's mum and dad beamed up at their beautiful daughter, as she eased her tall, slender frame into her chair for the last time that summer, while Petunia looked on with distaste.

Many miles across the English countryside, James Potter was finishing dinner with his own parents. As he dashed up his own stairs to his room he heard his mother shout out to his retreating form "Pack your trunk, before it's too late please! You rem…" but he didn't hear any more of his fussing mothers words. Laughing he ran into his big, messy bedroom, and waded through the weird junk, dirty clothes and homework to his wardrobe, where he pulled out his school trunk, barely glancing at the mirror which called out " get back here and fix your hair!" He sighed, and strode back where he stood in front of it, and looked straight at it, he slowly and deliberately ran his fingers through his untidy, jet-black hair, making it even worse, and laughed. Before he walked away, he covered the mirror behind a large sheet, muffling its shrieks.

He hummed tunelessly to himself as he pulled crumpled clothes and a stack of neatly ironed robes (his mother had insisted) into the open mouth of the trunk. He grinned as his eyes drifted onto a shiny badge lying on his desk. He, James Potter one of Hogwarts biggest troublemakers, had been made a prefect! He laughed out loud as he imagined his friends faces when he told them! They would laugh. A lot. And then more at the though of one of the infamous Gryffindor boys being made a role-model for the younger students. At this thought, James sat down again and laughed at the thought. He wondered who else had been made prefects, but not for long, as the owl tapping at his window disturbed his train of thought. The tall fifteen year old raced over and threw the window open, allowing the large barn owl he recognised as his friend Sirius' to glide in. "Thanks, Roy" he murmured and stroked the bird as he unbound the parchment from it's leg. The owl, Roy (actually called Royal, as Sirius liked the idea of Royal Mail, from Muggle studies) hooted softly and flew out of the window, into the gathering dark. James smoothed out the parchment to read;

           Hey there, Jamsey-boy!

                                                See you on the train for major prank planning!

                                                                                                                           -Sirius

     James rolled his eyes, and didn't bother replying to Sirius' pointless note, and carried on packing his trunk.

The next morning Lily woke early, sunlight streaming through the gap in her blue curtains. She yawned and stretched deliciously. She had always been a morning person. Her friends saw it was curse, but she loved it. She jumped happily out of bed and showered, washing her long red hair carefully. She changed into a pair of reasonably new jeans and a half-decent top before sorting her hair. I should try to make a reasonably good impression on my first day as prefect she thought to herself. She had gained a few curves and grown a few inches over the summer. With her bright eyes shining in anticipation and wavy hair loose down her back, she was very pretty. As she skipped down the stairs, she found herself laughing, and wondering what would happen that year at Hogwarts, where there was never just a normal school year.

As she was eating a leisurely breakfast of buttered toast and orange juice, her horse-faced sister, Petunia came down, scowl firmly in place.

"So!" she spat "Your off again? Back to your little nest-of-the-freaks?" She surveyed Lily haughtily, but Lily just smiled sweetly up and said,

"Do you like frogs dear sister?"

  "Freak"

"Loser"

"Retard"

"You've got a spot on your nose, did you know?"

"I do not!" Petunia spat, albeit slightly concernedly, her hand shooting up to her nose

"You do now!" Lily smirked, running up the stairs before Petunia could reply. She laughed out loud; I don't have to see Petunia for months! Yes! And ran to wake her parents. She wanted to be early today.

James found himself being woken at an ungodly hour in the morning by his mother shaking him, cooing "James dear, wake up, you're going to Hogwarts today!" She looked down fondly at her semi-conscious son "My little prefect! It seems just yest-"

"I'm up! I'm up!" He cried groggily, trying to escape his mother's clutches as she planted a kiss on his forehead. Ugh. He thought, mornings are not my time. His mother bustled out, leaving him to burrow his head under the pillow to sleep for a little longer.

His mother, panicking and telling him to get up before he was late, woke him half an hour later. He groaned as he looked at his watch, and shot out of bed, not time for a shower. He hastily threw on some clothes and pulled the sheet off the huffy mirror ("For the love of Merlin, brush your hair and tuck in your shirt!) He ran a comb roughly through his locks, deciding he may as well do at least that for the stressed out piece of bedroom furniture, before dashing down for his rushed breakfast, while his father huffed and puffed, transferring his trunk to their car, and his mother worried he would left something important.

Lily smiled and hugged her mum and dad. "Bye dad, I'll miss you!" she said from her father's arms

"You too, sweetie!" He replied, giving her a squeeze. Lily turned on her mum, who held her at arms length, eyes full of pride. "My my, Lily, you really are growing into a beautiful, successful young lady!" She exclaimed.

"Mum!" Lily laughed and squirmed. Her mother pulled her into a tight hug. "We'll miss you, you know!" She whispered, "Write to us lots!"

"I will" Lily whispered back, disengaging herself from her mothers arms. "I have to go now. I love you guys! Bye!" She smiled and waved at her parents, who were now standing, hugging each other and waving as their youngest daughter, the only witch of the family vanished through the barrier, out of their sight, onto platform nine and three quarters, and away from them for another year.

Lily stood still facing the scarlet steam engine, and just smiled. Everything suddenly seemed so much brighter, more vibrant than all the muggles had in their world. The air was more wholesome and the atmosphere more welcoming. And of course, there was that certain feeling of magic in the air…

"Lily! LILY!" A voice interrupted her thought and she turned to see her friends, Aylson and Cara bearing down on her. Aylson, a pretty, dark girl squealed when her liquid eyes came to rest on Lily's prefect badge "Congratulations, Lily! We're so proud of you!" Cara, her grey eyes alight with joy at being with everyone again hugged her.

"We've been waiting ages for you! We thought you were going to miss the train! Wow I missed you!" She twittered in an excited rush, only pausing for breath, with Lily smiling bemusedly and breaking the hug, and Aylson laughing at her.

"Shut up Cara, you hyper idiot! You've only been here ten minutes, Lily is early, so stands no chance of missing the train and we all met up last week in Diagon Alley, remember?! Now come on you two. We'll get your trunk into our compartment!" And with that the trio fought their way into a compartment in the middle of the scarlet steam engine, and were joined five minutes later by a petite blonde, Tessa. They sat there happily talking nineteen to the dozen about nothing in particular, waiting for the train to leave.

James arrived on platform nine and three quarters after a hurried goodbye to his mother (his dad was at work) with five minutes to spare before the train left. He looked around for his friends, Sirius, Remus and Peter, and saw them waving and laughing from inside a compartment. Remus rolled down the window and yelled "James! I'll be out in a sec to give you a hand as someone" He glanced at Sirius "is too lazy to help his best friend!" He said, giving Sirius a mock-evil glare, before running off to help James.

James was joined with tall, thin Remus, his light brown hair in his eyes, and soon, they had manoeuvred his trunk onboard, with no help from the short, chubby, blond figure of Peter, or the laughing, muscular Sirius. "Thanks" James panted sarcastically, wiping sweat from his eyes, and looking into Sirius' laughing eyes. He was almost always laughing. Sirius was saved from replying to his two tired friends by the whistle blowing shrilly. They all felt a rush of excitement as they settled down.

Sirius broke the contented silence by snorting loudly with laughter as he looked at James. "Potter!" he cried, in a mock-serious voice that did not reach his laughing eyes, "Is that a prefects badge?" James gasped theatrically and replied in a shocked tone,

"How did that get there! Oh my god!"

"What fool made you a prefect"

"It must be a mistake!"

"Yeah, and they'll start paying soon. Oh god, someone's given Potter power! Run while you still can!"

The group collapsed laughing. When the fits subsided, they looked up, and at James, and started again.

About three quarters of the way to Hogwarts, the boys were sitting happily planning pranks and eating the sweets from the witch with the trolley.

"Sirius, you are a genius!" Exclaimed James as Sirius showed them another prank he had formulated over the summer.

"Who will we pull that one on?" Asked Remus, grey eyes sparkling

"Give us a chance! A prank like that deserves someone really worthy!" James got up and sighed, "As I'm now one of these great beings, a prefect, I'm going to the prefects compartment!" He laughed, pretending to look down his nose at them, before adding "May as well find out who else is, anyway." Sirius laughed and said "Any hot girls, sent them my way, I've always had a thing for the prefects…" James left, not wanting to hear any more. Sirius didn't just have a thing for Prefects, he had a thing for any girl. Period. Laughing at his friend as he went, he slid through the sliding door marked "Prefects" In fancy writing. He sat down next to a Ravenclaw he recognised, and they started talking.

Lily and her friends sat laughing as Cara finished telling a story about her brother and a girl he met on holiday in Greece. As the story drew to a close, Lily got up to leave. " I'm going to go to the Prefects compartment, see who I know" She said, still smiling

"Oh no Lily, stay and have a game of exploding snap with us, just one?" Tessa pleaded, with a puppy-dog begging expression

Lily laughed and sat back down "Alright, just one!" she said as Tessa produced the cards

"I'll shuffle!" cried two voices……

The Web of Time shuddered in the breeze, dividing the moment. The twisting threads going their separate ways. One decision, small and trivial, though it seemed, went separately, both ways….

On one of the threads, Cara grabbed the pack and shuffled, in the other, it was Aylson. The web shuddered as the tiny pulse divided and the two filaments went their own ways. Forever bonded, longing to join again. Each and every one of the smallest decisions of everyone involved pushed them together, or pulling them apart………