~*~

Love Lies Lightly – Chapter one

By Ceso

~*~

Lily Evans was a pretty sort of girl, though she never really found time to nurture this blossoming beauty.  To her, time was better spent in a book.  Today was the first day of her 6th year of school.  And not just any school either.  You see, Lily Evans was a witch.  And a damn good one too.

"Ceso, hurry or else we'll be late!" Lily groaned to her friend.

Ceso waved distractedly at Lily.  Her attention was focused on a certain person. 

The person just happened to be a certain Mr. Sirius Black.  One of the most wanted guys at Hogwarts.  Sirius Black was Hot, Sexy, Irresistibly bad and so many other qualities that made innocent women flock to him like hens in a coup.

Lily chose to ignore her friends' brainless activities and find a compartment for them to sit in.  Without a word, she strode away.

It didn't take long for her to find an empty compartment, and before long, indulged herself in a good book.  It wasn't much later before her friend Ceso chose to join her.

"I swear he gets better looking each year." She sighed wistfully.

"Who does?"

Ceso shot Lily an annoyed look, "Sirius of course!"

"You idea of 'Better looking' then, is seriously impaired."  Lily retorted, her nose still buried in her book.

Ceso ignored her comment, instead choosing instead to stare out the window as the train began moving.


Lily knew it was too much to hope for a quiet train ride to Hogwarts.  Every year was always the same.  The Marauders always had to do something to disturb common peace and quiet.  It wasn't long before the horrified screams of her peers reached her ears.

With an agitated groan, Lily put her book down.  She was, after all, a Prefect, and as such it was her duty to stop all wrongdoing.

Ceso gave her a sympathetic look, before turning back to the window.  What great support.

As Lily had predicted, The Marauders stood in the middle of what looks to be the beginning of a pond.  And a rather smelly one at that. 

Students were trying vainly to get away without getting wet.  With an annoyed look, Lily muttered the counter curse and the pond shrunk to the size of a puddle.

The Marauders, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter, looked at though someone had taken the wind out of their sail.

"Come on Lily, lighten up a bit…" James's protests fell on deaf ears.  Lily looked murderous.

"I suggest next time, Potter, that you do us all a favor and go dunk your head in the water.  It may stop the swelling of your ---"

"Ego" James finished, running his hand through his messy black head, "I know the lecture."

With an exasperated 'Humph!' Lily turned and stormed away.

"Bad luck mate." Sirius winked, "You would have thought she would have found the pond idea a bit of a turn on…"

James sighed and dropped heavily onto the seat, "Well, That's Lily for you."

"Maybe next time you should ask her to go skinny dipping with you.  That might turn her crank." Sirius laughed.

"You think?" James asked dryly.

~*~

Lily walked up and down the train a few more times, before deciding everything was in working order, and slipping back into the compartment she shared with Ceso.

"How was patrolling?" Ceso asked absently as she twirled her wand in her fingers.

"Grand." Lily replied sarcastically, "James and his boyfriends were trying to create a pond in the middle of the train, but other than that, just peachy."

Ceso suddenly looked interested and was about to open her mouth to speak, but Lily beat her too it, "And yes… Sirius was there."

Ceso beamed stupidly, before turning to the window and daydreaming about god knows what.

It didn't take long though, for the short lived peace to be destroyed, because a few moments after Lily had sat down, none other than the marauders walked in. 

While Ceso looked like she was in heaven, Lily looked like she was in hell.

"Hello ladies." James said charmingly, "How are we doing today?"

"Wonderfully, until you arrived." Lily said dryly, "Now if you'll just leave…"

"Can't" Sirius interrupted, "All the other compartments are full."

"You can stay here!" Ceso said before Lily could respond.  Great, just bloody great. Lily thought angrily.  James smiled once more at her as he sat down, running his hands threw his hair.

Lily resisted the urge to slap his hands away.  She hated when he did that.  It had to be the most annoying of all his qualities.

To distract herself from annoying marauders, Lily opened her book and continued to read it.

"So you like reading?" James asked, trying to make conversation.

"Kind of looks that way." Lily responded dryly, not bothering to look at him.

"Your not very social are you?"

"Only with you."

Why?"

"Because you're annoying and I'm trying to read."

"So reading more important to you than me?"

"Yes."

"Your impossible!" James said, throwing his hands up in the air.

"No, I'm Lily."

"That was stupid."

"It was meant to be."

"And why is that?"

"So you'll leave me alone."

"I'm hurt."

"Good, now go."

James turned to his friends, who were staring with interest at his and Lily's banter.  He couldn't help but feel slightly hurt by Lily's words.  Hell, he had been chasing after her since third year.  The question was, why wouldn't she give him a chance?

James turned to watch his friends.  Ceso was talking with Sirius, who was giving her one of his 'Smiles'.

James had known Sirius long enough to know what that smile meant.  He wanted one thing from her… and it wasn't a good conversation.

Remus was watching them with a slight scowl on his face; obviously he knew what Sirius's smile meant.  Peter on the other hand, interested James far more.  He was watching Lily attentively, though every time she would look up, he would look away.

A sort of jealously built up in James as he watched this, but he kept it to himself.  Peter was one of his best friends, there was no way he would touch Lily.  He knew how much James liked her.

This year was their sixth year, and Remus and Lily had been chosen as prefects.  Having Remus as a prefect was a great advantage though, he never busted James, Sirius and Peter for anything, and got them out of a lot of trouble.  Even though he was the best behaved in the entire group, he was still a pranker to the bone. 

Sirius on the other hand was the total opposite.  There really wasn't any goodness in him.  He looked after himself, and his friends.  Anyone outside of that was nothing to him.  He was cold in a way, but that was mostly because he had left his family, who treated him like dirt anyways.  Sirius had never had a real relationship with anyone, and the only person he allowed into his life, was James.

Peter was the kind of tag along.  He was a good kid, in James's opinion, though he was a bit on the slow side.  He was willing to try anything, though consequences scared him.

These were James's three best friends, as different as can be, and yet so much alike. 

~*~

Well, that's the first chapter redone.  I'd appreciate if anyone who read the original could review this and tell me if they think this is better, or if I should stick with the original plot.

Thanks!

~Ceso