Disclaimer I do not own any of the characters that you recognise.
Dedication I dedicate this to my brother, for if it wasn't for
him for him using the internet when I wanted to read other ffs,
then I would never have written this.
Note This is only my second story and so it probably will not
be brilliant. Please R&R to give me ideas for the future. I have
wanted to put my own ideas to Lily and James for ages, because,
these are two unwritten characters by JK Rowling and so I can
put my own spin on them.
Chapter 1 will be when they meet and the start of first
year. But from chapter 2 it will be from 5th year onwards.
James and Lily:
The Untold Story
Chapter One - The Letter
It was an August morning. The weather typical for the South of France maybe, but not London, that is to say, it was sunny. Lily Evans was lying in her bed, dozing, as is fitting for an eleven-year-old girl on her summer holidays, when suddenly, 'Lily. Post dear.' Lily jumped out of bed, and ran down the landing. 'Thanks Mum,' Said Lily, slightly breathlessly as she took the post off her mother. She had a couple of postcards off her friends and a weird letter : Miss L. Evans Second Bedroom on the right 3, Whithrington Street Essex, London. The writing was a sparkling green. 'Probably Jenni's idea of a joke' she thought. And she slit it open. Out fell the letter.
Dear Miss Evans, (it read) We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 24 August. Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall Deputy Headmistress.
'What on earth?' Exclaimed Lily outloud. 'What's wrong Lily dear?' Asked Mrs Evans. 'Mum, look!'
As her mother looked at the letter, Lily looked in the envelope again, she pulled out two more sheets of. well, it wasn't paper, it was too thick. It was.. parchment, like she had read about in the historical novels she liked to read. 'Lily darling,' Said Mrs Evans. 'I'm so proud!' 'What? You don't think it's a joke?' ' No Lily. In fact. It seems deadly serious.' She pulled Lily into a hug. 'Now what else have you got?'
Lily pulled out her other pieces of parchment. One was an equipment list. but, 'Mum! Where am I gonna get this stuff?' 'Let me see?', but then she got to the other piece, and reading it out loud: 'Miss Evans, As you are of muggle parentage, you may be wondering how you acquire such things as on the equipment list (here Lily nodded). These items may be obtained from Diagon Alley. To get there, at 10:30 on August 25th, by holding this letter, it will transport you there. Here you can buy your equipment. Also, on September 1st, you must take the 11o'clock train, from Platform 9 & ¾. I hope to meet you then, Minerva McGonagall Deputy Headmistress.'
With that, Lily put down the paper and looked at her Mum. She had tears in her eyes, and as she blinked, fresh ones fell. 'Oh Lily, I'm SO proud.'
The next day at 10:25, Lily and her parents were standing holding the letter. Her sister Petunia was standing watching. 'It's not going to work, you little freak.' She hissed at Lily. 'PETUNIA!!! Apologise, NOW!!!' 'NO! It's true. She is a freak.' And with that Petunia ran off sobbing. Mrs Evans looked after her sympathetically, but didn't dare follow in case she wasn't back in time. 'Don't worry darling,' she said to Lily, 'She's just jealous and feeling like we don't love her.'
Just then, the ground seemed to start to move underneath them, and suddenly they were standing in a room, with a man in robes watching them. 'Mr and Mrs Evans and Lily,' he said in greeting, 'Please step outside and do any shopping, but be back at 4 o'clock. You can change your muggle money at Gringrotts.'
The Evans' went outside and they were met with people milling around. 'Wow!' was the awestruck response that came from Lily. 'Well let's go and change you money, then we better go to and buy what's on your list.'
They walked toward a big sign with the name on and Mr Evans changed his money. Then they looked a Lily's list. 'Right, well shall we go and get you robes then?' Asked Mrs Evans 'Yeah, why not.'
They went into Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Here Lily's parents were told to wait, while Lily was lead into a backroom, where a tape measure started taking her measurements. A couple of minutes later, another girl was lead in. 'Hi,' said the girl, 'I'm Arabella Figg.' 'I'm, Lily Evans.' 'You muggle-born then?' came the question, 'How did you.' 'Well, I'm magic aren't I?' At this, both girls burst out laughing. When their laughter had subsided and Lily was wiping away tears, (it wasn't really funny. It was just, well you know. the moment). 'No, seriously. It was just the way your parents were looking at everything, with a dazed expression on their faces.' 'Oh.'
Just then the assistant cam back through, 'Right dearies, that's you two done.' As they left, Arabella turned to Lily, 'Hey, our parents can go and get a drink at the Leaky Cauldron, while we go and get our wands. I'll show you round!' Once they had talked to their parents, it was decided that Arabella and Lily would go and get their wands, whilst their parents went and got the rest of their stuff, thus giving the two girls chance to get to know each other.
As they wondered over to 'Ollivanders; Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC', Lily said to Arabella, 'So tell me about Hogwarts.' 'Right, well, I'll just tell you the basics, you can read the rest in 'Hogwarts: A History'.' Lily nodded. 'Well, Hogwarts is split into 4 houses, named after the founders, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slythein. and before you ask, there is a ceremony where you get placed into your house depending on your qualities. I'm not too sure but, I think, Ravenclaw are the clever people, not me then, Hufflepuff are hardworking and kind, Slytherin are basically evil, all the witches and wizards to come out of Slytherin have turned evil. And Gryffindor, which many claim is the best house, are brave etc.' 'What house do you want to be in?' asked Lily. 'Oh Gryffindor, of course. Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad and maybe Hufflepuff.' At that they came to Ollivanders and Arabella held the door open for Lily to step in. A bell rang. There were two boys standing there, waiting as well, but Lily was looking up to the ceiling, to which thousands of narrow boxes were piled.
Arabella had followed Lily into the shop, and on seeing her, the boy's expressions had turned from the curious expression they had previously held. One to recognition, and the other to a grin, 'Arabella Figg,' exclaimed the boy with the grin. At this Lily turned to study them. Both were handsome, even at 11, Lily recognised that. The one that had spoken had messy, sticking up black hair and wore glasses, whereas the other, had neater black hair which was shorter. 'James Potter.' Replied Arabella in a suprisingly exhausted voice. 'Lily, meet James, my cousin, and his partner in crime Sirius Black. James, Sirius, this is Lily Evans.' 'Pleased to meet you,' responded the boy addressed as Sirius 'and ignore Belle, we are not criminals, just highly spirit!' At this James and Arabella snorted.
'Good afternoon,' came a voice from behind Lily, all four of them jumped and Lily spun round and saw a man standing in the gloom. His wide pale eyes shining like moons. 'James Potter, Sirius Black and Arabella Figg, what a strange combination to see together,' Lily could not tell whether his voice was sarcastic. 'And who is this?' 'I'm Lily Evans.' She just managed to splutter. 'Aaaaah. Right. Down to business. Holdout your wand arms.' Here James, Sirius and Arabella held out an arm. Lily copied them. A tape measure started measuring each of them. And Mr Ollivander started grabbing boxes and handing wands to each of them, which they waved expectantly. The first to have success was Sirius, as he waved his wand - 'Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible.' - A stream of red and gold sparks erupted from the end. Then Arabella - 'Ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy.' - and again sparks erupted. And still Lily and James had no luck. 'Mr Potter, oak, sixteen inches, very bendy. Try that. No? Well, Miss Evans, maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy? Well, we have we tricky customers here!' exclaimed Mr Ollivander in an excited voice. 'Miss Evans, try this, mahogany, eleven inches, pliable, good for transfiguration. Mr Potter, ten and a quarter inches, swishy, willow, good for charm work.' Lily and James both waved their wands at the same time. But again, no sparks appeared. Instead, the wands seemed to jump out of their hands and spring towards each other. Both Lily and James bent to pick them up. But Mr Ollivander shouted, 'Stop! This is curious, very curious. Swop them over.' They did, and again both waved them. This time sparks shot off, but they connected for a second causing Lily and James to jump, and they glanced at each other, a puzzled expression on their faces. 'Well, like I said, curious. very curious. We will see, we will see.' Said Mr Ollivander, with an air of mystery. The four glanced at each other, paid for their wands and left.
'What was all that about?' asked Sirius as they got outside. 'I dunno.' Came the reply from James and Arabella. 'Well, we'd better be going,' Said James, 'We'll see you on the train.' 'Yep and say hi to Auntie Jean and Uncle Paul.' Came Arabella's response. 'Bye.' They all said as they walked in opposite directions. Lily looked over her shoulder and meet James' eyes, as he did the same. He winked, and carried on walking and laughing with Sirius.'
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It was 1st September and Lily Evans had been up all night, excited? No it was more than that. She now heard a tapping at her window and ran over to open it for one of her owls. On the day in Diagon Alley, her parents had brought her two owls, Romeo and Juliet. Since then she had been owling Arabella, or Belle as it was insisted, everyday. This last owl had been sent at 3 that morning, and finally, some four hours later it had returned. It was Juliet, and as Lily gave it a treat it hoped into its cage and put its head under its wing.
Lily, Thank you for sending me this owl, at 3 in the morning. You woke me up. Now I won't be able to get back to sleep. I am so excited though. So James wrote to you then? Wow. He must like you, he never writes to me. Then that would be expected. He probably wrote just to see what pranks he could pull on you, that's just like him. Well, I'll see you soon, and we can have a proper chat. I hope we are in the same house, it would be a shame to be split up when we have become good friends. See ya soon Belle
Lily grinned to herself. She also hoped that they would be placed in the same house. That was the only thing she was worried about. What house she would be in.
Just then Romeo flew in through her window; he had a piece of parchment attached to his leg. Again Lily grinned. She wondered if James had been woken up as well.
Hey Thanks very much for waking us up. Sirius is NOT pleased (he was staying over till term started). He is now screaming at me to 'Stop that retched scratching! The girl can wait till some normal time of day!' Well, I'm awake now. At least this gives me some chance of getting Sirius up in time to leave. I bet I know what Belle said when you told her that I had owled you. 'Well he never writes to me, he probably just wants to see what kind of tricks he can play on you.' (Lily laughed at this accurate interpretation) Oh well, I better go. Start getting Sirius up. Bye James Potter
An hour later Lily arrived at Platform 9 and ¾. She was so excited she could scarcely breathe. She had said goodbye to her parents and Petunia, then she had been quite happy. Now she was starting to get nervous. Just then she heard someone scream her name; she looked up and saw Belle charging towards her, her blonde hair flying out behind her. She also saw James and Sirius walking towards her, with another boy in tow. Then she was crushed into a hug, 'Hi Belle, how are you?' Arabella stepped back and looked at her. 'How am I? Only absolutely exhausted thanks to being woken up at 3 this morning!' Lily gave an embarrassed smile, 'Sorry.'
'I think it should be me you're apologising to,' came the voice of Sirius from behind Belle. 'Not Belle here. Not only did an owl come tapping at the window at 3, I then had to put up with this one,' nodding in the direction of James as he spoke, 'scratching away with his quill for half an hour, before deciding it was time to get up.' 'Yeah and he still only just made it!' Responded James. At this the other boy chuckled. 'Oh well,' said Sirius, pretending he hadn't heard, 'Poor little Jamesie-waymsie can't help being in love!' Lily raised her eyebrows, whilst again the boy laughed. 'Sorry Lily.' said James, whilst glaring at Sirius with a look that clearly said - I'm gonna get you for that so you'd better watch your step you little.- 'This is Remus Lupin, another friend of mine.' 'Pleased to meet you.' Then Sirius, feeling that he had been quiet long enough said, to no one in particular, 'Isn't it weird, this little habit of girls to hug each other?' Belle and Lily looked at each other wondering where this would go. 'We could so use it too our advantage. Lily could I have a hug?' 'No!' 'But you gave Belle one.' 'No!' 'Pretty please.' Here James joined in. 'Yeah give us a hug Lily. PLEASE!' Belle and Remus burst out laughing. 'Come on Remus, we'd better get Lily' trunk into our compartment.' And Arabella and Remus walked away with Lily's trunk chuckling. Lily went to follow them. 'Lily, PLEASE?' Shouted both boys, grabbing hold of her arms. People were starting to stare, and Lily felt herself blushing. 'Oh alright then.' She finally agreed. Her both boys jumped up, gave her and gave her a hug. 'Now go and bother Belle.' 'Good idea,' said James. 'Lets go then.' Responded Sirius, and off they ran dragging Lily along by her arms.
Lily was dragged into a carriage, were James and Sirius show their confidence by picking a fight with a third year, over who had got there first. Surprisingly, they won. As the train got underway, Lily studied Remus. He was pale with bags under his eyes, his hair was light, almost grey, but with a touch of brown. His eyes, black and sparkling. But his hands. They were covered with scratches and bruises.
They had just brought some food of the trolley, when in walked two swaggering boys. 'Aah,' drawled the first, 'What a surprise, Potter, Black and Lupin, and, oh what's this? A Figg as well.' 'Oh go find a chip fryer Snape!' responded Sirius, 'Your head is losing some of its grease.' Snape ignored him, 'And who's this?' he inquired of Lily. 'Lily Evans, pleased to meet you.' And she stuck out her hand. Sirius, James and Remus held their breaths. As a natural reflex Snape took her hand before, 'Evans, I don't recognise that name. Not a. not a. mudblood?' he asked in an incredulous voice. At this the carriage erupted with cries of 'Snape! How dare you?' and 'You little *********(these words are too bad to use in a place where prying eyes might see)*******' which was Sirius contribution. Lily just looked in shock at what was going on around her, whilst Snape beat a hasty retreat, and also rubbing his hand on his handkerchief.
'Does anyone want to tell me what all that was about?' asked Lily once Snape had left. 'No!' responded James, Sirius and Belle completely disgruntled. 'Well basically,' Remus explained in a calm voice, 'he was saying that you were muggle-born. But.' 'But?' 'He didn't use the politest way of doing it.' Here the other three all burst out laughing.
The journey continued in much the same fashion. Laughter sounded out from the carriage, and soon they arrived at Hogwarts. As they approached they all started to get nervous, even Sirius stopped talking as much.
The train pulled up and they got off. 'So what now?' Lily asked Belle. Just then they heard someone shout, 'First years over hear please.' They followed the voice and were directed to boats, which took them across a lake. James, Remus, Lily and Belle all shared a boat, while Sirius had been led off by the person in charge, with the comment, 'You can sit with me, you look like trouble.' At which his friends grinned at each other. They arrived and where ushered into the Great Hall for Sorting.
Now Lily was really nervous. She was standing up in front of the entire school. 'Right,' said Professor McGonagall, 'when I call your name, please step forward and place the hat onto your head. Sirius Black.' Sirius no longer looked his cocky self as he stepped forward. He put the hat on, then. Silence. You could have heard a pin drop. And it went on, until even the teachers were starting to look uncomfortable. Suddenly, 'GRYFFINDOR!' Yelled the hat, sounding as if it were struggling not to laugh. A cheer went up from one of the tables, and Sirius joined them, grinning his head off. Lily glanced round and saw James looking more nervous than she felt. Then she heard, 'Lily Evans.' Lily stepped forward and put the hat on. 'Oh,' said a little voice, 'a friend of Mr Black's. He tells great jokes don't you know? We have a great mind here, maybe Ravenclaw. But what's this? It had better be GRYFFINDOR!' the last word was shouted and Lily went and took her place beside Sirius. She was so excited that she did not notice anything else for the next few minutes. When she came back to earth, Professor McGonagall was carrying away the hat, and Belle, James and Remus were now also sitting at the table.
'Welcome back.' Said James. 'You were certainly out somewhere. We couldn't get your attention, lucky for you we refused to let Sirius try kissing you.' Then James winced. He had obviously been given a sly kick. 'What have I missed then?' asked Lily. 'Well, as you can guess, we are all in Gryffindor,' said Belle, 'And let me introduce Peter Pettigrew, and Rebecca and Alison Kiln, who are also in Gryffindor.' 'And in case you can't guess, Rebecca and Alison are identical twins.' Added Remus. The rest all shot him a look, as if to say 'You think?'
After the feast, in which Sirius rapidly regained his confidence, shown by the fact that he nearly started a food fight, they were all shown to their common room and dormitories. In the boys' room, they fought over whom got which bed, meaning Sirius won (after James got bored) and so got the bed by the window. James and Remus got the beds in the middle, and Peter got the bed by the door. Within minutes, the room was a tip, with James and Sirius stuff everywhere, while Peter watched in amazement as the floor disappeared and Remus unpacked, carefully. There came a knock at the door, and Professor McGonagall came in, 'I just wanted to. what on earth happened here?' She asked in amazement. 'What's wrong Professor?' asked Sirius, dead seriously. 'The, the mess.' She just managed to stammer. James and Sirius looked quizzically at each other. 'Professor, for James and Sirius, this is tidy. Wait till they have been here a day or two.' Stated Remus as he carried on with his unpacking. 'Well I never!' and the Professor left hurriedly. 'Well I don't think she'll be coming back!' was the first thing that Peter Pettigrew actually said. 'That Pete, my old buddy, old pal, is all part of the master plan!' Replied Sirius throwing his arm around Peter's shoulder, whilst James nodded absentmindedly as he found the magazine he was looking for at the bottom of his trunk, and fell on his bed to read it. Remus, meanwhile, had sorted all his own things out and so started putting Sirius' and James' stuff away as well.
Meanwhile, in the girls' room, they tossed a coin to decide who slept where, ending with Belle by the window, Lily and Alison in the middle and Rebecca by the door. They had begun to unpack, whilst gossiping quietly when Professor McGonagall came in, still white from her encounter in the other room. 'Well girls, I hope you are all settling in fine?' 'Yes Professor.' 'Good, good.' And she walked away mumbling to herself about untidy people. 'I wonder what's wrong with her?' asked Alison. 'The boys' room.' Responded Lily and Belle in unison, 'come on, let's go and have a look.'
Five minutes later the boys heard the sound of footsteps and laughter, before a knock and Lily and Belle came tumbling into the room giggling. The room was still a mess, though not half as bad as it had been, thanks to Remus' tidying (as everyone knows, it takes longer to tidy then make a mess). 'What in Merlin happened here?' asked Belle in shock. 'Sirius!' came a voice from behind them. They turned and burst out laughing again because there was Peter trying to clear away a path between his bed and trunk. 'And James.' Added Remus, whilst carrying on putting things in draws. 'Where are they?' asked Lily looking round for them. Just then Alison and Rebecca entered the room. 'Bliming heck!' gasped Alison in shock. Remus gestured towards two beds; both with the curtains drawn round them. 'They haven't?' 'They've gone to bed, they were tired after the journey.' Belle turned round and whispered to Lily, Alison and Rebecca. They walked out of the room and returned a minute later each carrying a glass of water. Where upon they walked up to the two beds and on the count of three, drew back the curtains and flung the contents of each glass on the figure in the bed. There were mild screams of surprise, but the girls didn't wait to see what happened next, they fled. James and Sirius followed only stopping to grab pillows, and Remus grabbing Peter who was again watching in shock charged out after them. When they reached the girls room, they again burst out laughing because there were James, Sirius, Lily, Belle, Alison and Rebecca laughing and screaming with feathers floating everywhere as they had one massive pillow fight. Feathers were sticking to James and Sirius because they were so wet, and they looked like ducks. In the common room below all the older years looked up and smiled. 'First years, always knew how to enjoy themselves.'
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During that first year, and the years to come, all eight became firm friends, though the boys were particularly close, and became known as the 'Marauders' to everyone for all the tricks they played, more often then not the girls joined in. Sirius and James remained the same, but Peter, once he had become more confident, was like a mini Jasius (as they called him mini James/Sirius). Remus and the girls however tended to be a calming influence, though Belle was nearly as bad. They were all bright however. James and Sirius contesting for the top of the year, with Lily close behind. The only one that really struggled was Peter, but the other's helped him.
Author's Note: The next time we rejoin the story it will be the beginning of fifth year. This chapter should be up soon, and please READ AND REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
James and Lily:
The Untold Story
Chapter One - The Letter
It was an August morning. The weather typical for the South of France maybe, but not London, that is to say, it was sunny. Lily Evans was lying in her bed, dozing, as is fitting for an eleven-year-old girl on her summer holidays, when suddenly, 'Lily. Post dear.' Lily jumped out of bed, and ran down the landing. 'Thanks Mum,' Said Lily, slightly breathlessly as she took the post off her mother. She had a couple of postcards off her friends and a weird letter : Miss L. Evans Second Bedroom on the right 3, Whithrington Street Essex, London. The writing was a sparkling green. 'Probably Jenni's idea of a joke' she thought. And she slit it open. Out fell the letter.
Dear Miss Evans, (it read) We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 24 August. Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall Deputy Headmistress.
'What on earth?' Exclaimed Lily outloud. 'What's wrong Lily dear?' Asked Mrs Evans. 'Mum, look!'
As her mother looked at the letter, Lily looked in the envelope again, she pulled out two more sheets of. well, it wasn't paper, it was too thick. It was.. parchment, like she had read about in the historical novels she liked to read. 'Lily darling,' Said Mrs Evans. 'I'm so proud!' 'What? You don't think it's a joke?' ' No Lily. In fact. It seems deadly serious.' She pulled Lily into a hug. 'Now what else have you got?'
Lily pulled out her other pieces of parchment. One was an equipment list. but, 'Mum! Where am I gonna get this stuff?' 'Let me see?', but then she got to the other piece, and reading it out loud: 'Miss Evans, As you are of muggle parentage, you may be wondering how you acquire such things as on the equipment list (here Lily nodded). These items may be obtained from Diagon Alley. To get there, at 10:30 on August 25th, by holding this letter, it will transport you there. Here you can buy your equipment. Also, on September 1st, you must take the 11o'clock train, from Platform 9 & ¾. I hope to meet you then, Minerva McGonagall Deputy Headmistress.'
With that, Lily put down the paper and looked at her Mum. She had tears in her eyes, and as she blinked, fresh ones fell. 'Oh Lily, I'm SO proud.'
The next day at 10:25, Lily and her parents were standing holding the letter. Her sister Petunia was standing watching. 'It's not going to work, you little freak.' She hissed at Lily. 'PETUNIA!!! Apologise, NOW!!!' 'NO! It's true. She is a freak.' And with that Petunia ran off sobbing. Mrs Evans looked after her sympathetically, but didn't dare follow in case she wasn't back in time. 'Don't worry darling,' she said to Lily, 'She's just jealous and feeling like we don't love her.'
Just then, the ground seemed to start to move underneath them, and suddenly they were standing in a room, with a man in robes watching them. 'Mr and Mrs Evans and Lily,' he said in greeting, 'Please step outside and do any shopping, but be back at 4 o'clock. You can change your muggle money at Gringrotts.'
The Evans' went outside and they were met with people milling around. 'Wow!' was the awestruck response that came from Lily. 'Well let's go and change you money, then we better go to and buy what's on your list.'
They walked toward a big sign with the name on and Mr Evans changed his money. Then they looked a Lily's list. 'Right, well shall we go and get you robes then?' Asked Mrs Evans 'Yeah, why not.'
They went into Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Here Lily's parents were told to wait, while Lily was lead into a backroom, where a tape measure started taking her measurements. A couple of minutes later, another girl was lead in. 'Hi,' said the girl, 'I'm Arabella Figg.' 'I'm, Lily Evans.' 'You muggle-born then?' came the question, 'How did you.' 'Well, I'm magic aren't I?' At this, both girls burst out laughing. When their laughter had subsided and Lily was wiping away tears, (it wasn't really funny. It was just, well you know. the moment). 'No, seriously. It was just the way your parents were looking at everything, with a dazed expression on their faces.' 'Oh.'
Just then the assistant cam back through, 'Right dearies, that's you two done.' As they left, Arabella turned to Lily, 'Hey, our parents can go and get a drink at the Leaky Cauldron, while we go and get our wands. I'll show you round!' Once they had talked to their parents, it was decided that Arabella and Lily would go and get their wands, whilst their parents went and got the rest of their stuff, thus giving the two girls chance to get to know each other.
As they wondered over to 'Ollivanders; Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC', Lily said to Arabella, 'So tell me about Hogwarts.' 'Right, well, I'll just tell you the basics, you can read the rest in 'Hogwarts: A History'.' Lily nodded. 'Well, Hogwarts is split into 4 houses, named after the founders, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slythein. and before you ask, there is a ceremony where you get placed into your house depending on your qualities. I'm not too sure but, I think, Ravenclaw are the clever people, not me then, Hufflepuff are hardworking and kind, Slytherin are basically evil, all the witches and wizards to come out of Slytherin have turned evil. And Gryffindor, which many claim is the best house, are brave etc.' 'What house do you want to be in?' asked Lily. 'Oh Gryffindor, of course. Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad and maybe Hufflepuff.' At that they came to Ollivanders and Arabella held the door open for Lily to step in. A bell rang. There were two boys standing there, waiting as well, but Lily was looking up to the ceiling, to which thousands of narrow boxes were piled.
Arabella had followed Lily into the shop, and on seeing her, the boy's expressions had turned from the curious expression they had previously held. One to recognition, and the other to a grin, 'Arabella Figg,' exclaimed the boy with the grin. At this Lily turned to study them. Both were handsome, even at 11, Lily recognised that. The one that had spoken had messy, sticking up black hair and wore glasses, whereas the other, had neater black hair which was shorter. 'James Potter.' Replied Arabella in a suprisingly exhausted voice. 'Lily, meet James, my cousin, and his partner in crime Sirius Black. James, Sirius, this is Lily Evans.' 'Pleased to meet you,' responded the boy addressed as Sirius 'and ignore Belle, we are not criminals, just highly spirit!' At this James and Arabella snorted.
'Good afternoon,' came a voice from behind Lily, all four of them jumped and Lily spun round and saw a man standing in the gloom. His wide pale eyes shining like moons. 'James Potter, Sirius Black and Arabella Figg, what a strange combination to see together,' Lily could not tell whether his voice was sarcastic. 'And who is this?' 'I'm Lily Evans.' She just managed to splutter. 'Aaaaah. Right. Down to business. Holdout your wand arms.' Here James, Sirius and Arabella held out an arm. Lily copied them. A tape measure started measuring each of them. And Mr Ollivander started grabbing boxes and handing wands to each of them, which they waved expectantly. The first to have success was Sirius, as he waved his wand - 'Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible.' - A stream of red and gold sparks erupted from the end. Then Arabella - 'Ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy.' - and again sparks erupted. And still Lily and James had no luck. 'Mr Potter, oak, sixteen inches, very bendy. Try that. No? Well, Miss Evans, maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy? Well, we have we tricky customers here!' exclaimed Mr Ollivander in an excited voice. 'Miss Evans, try this, mahogany, eleven inches, pliable, good for transfiguration. Mr Potter, ten and a quarter inches, swishy, willow, good for charm work.' Lily and James both waved their wands at the same time. But again, no sparks appeared. Instead, the wands seemed to jump out of their hands and spring towards each other. Both Lily and James bent to pick them up. But Mr Ollivander shouted, 'Stop! This is curious, very curious. Swop them over.' They did, and again both waved them. This time sparks shot off, but they connected for a second causing Lily and James to jump, and they glanced at each other, a puzzled expression on their faces. 'Well, like I said, curious. very curious. We will see, we will see.' Said Mr Ollivander, with an air of mystery. The four glanced at each other, paid for their wands and left.
'What was all that about?' asked Sirius as they got outside. 'I dunno.' Came the reply from James and Arabella. 'Well, we'd better be going,' Said James, 'We'll see you on the train.' 'Yep and say hi to Auntie Jean and Uncle Paul.' Came Arabella's response. 'Bye.' They all said as they walked in opposite directions. Lily looked over her shoulder and meet James' eyes, as he did the same. He winked, and carried on walking and laughing with Sirius.'
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It was 1st September and Lily Evans had been up all night, excited? No it was more than that. She now heard a tapping at her window and ran over to open it for one of her owls. On the day in Diagon Alley, her parents had brought her two owls, Romeo and Juliet. Since then she had been owling Arabella, or Belle as it was insisted, everyday. This last owl had been sent at 3 that morning, and finally, some four hours later it had returned. It was Juliet, and as Lily gave it a treat it hoped into its cage and put its head under its wing.
Lily, Thank you for sending me this owl, at 3 in the morning. You woke me up. Now I won't be able to get back to sleep. I am so excited though. So James wrote to you then? Wow. He must like you, he never writes to me. Then that would be expected. He probably wrote just to see what pranks he could pull on you, that's just like him. Well, I'll see you soon, and we can have a proper chat. I hope we are in the same house, it would be a shame to be split up when we have become good friends. See ya soon Belle
Lily grinned to herself. She also hoped that they would be placed in the same house. That was the only thing she was worried about. What house she would be in.
Just then Romeo flew in through her window; he had a piece of parchment attached to his leg. Again Lily grinned. She wondered if James had been woken up as well.
Hey Thanks very much for waking us up. Sirius is NOT pleased (he was staying over till term started). He is now screaming at me to 'Stop that retched scratching! The girl can wait till some normal time of day!' Well, I'm awake now. At least this gives me some chance of getting Sirius up in time to leave. I bet I know what Belle said when you told her that I had owled you. 'Well he never writes to me, he probably just wants to see what kind of tricks he can play on you.' (Lily laughed at this accurate interpretation) Oh well, I better go. Start getting Sirius up. Bye James Potter
An hour later Lily arrived at Platform 9 and ¾. She was so excited she could scarcely breathe. She had said goodbye to her parents and Petunia, then she had been quite happy. Now she was starting to get nervous. Just then she heard someone scream her name; she looked up and saw Belle charging towards her, her blonde hair flying out behind her. She also saw James and Sirius walking towards her, with another boy in tow. Then she was crushed into a hug, 'Hi Belle, how are you?' Arabella stepped back and looked at her. 'How am I? Only absolutely exhausted thanks to being woken up at 3 this morning!' Lily gave an embarrassed smile, 'Sorry.'
'I think it should be me you're apologising to,' came the voice of Sirius from behind Belle. 'Not Belle here. Not only did an owl come tapping at the window at 3, I then had to put up with this one,' nodding in the direction of James as he spoke, 'scratching away with his quill for half an hour, before deciding it was time to get up.' 'Yeah and he still only just made it!' Responded James. At this the other boy chuckled. 'Oh well,' said Sirius, pretending he hadn't heard, 'Poor little Jamesie-waymsie can't help being in love!' Lily raised her eyebrows, whilst again the boy laughed. 'Sorry Lily.' said James, whilst glaring at Sirius with a look that clearly said - I'm gonna get you for that so you'd better watch your step you little.- 'This is Remus Lupin, another friend of mine.' 'Pleased to meet you.' Then Sirius, feeling that he had been quiet long enough said, to no one in particular, 'Isn't it weird, this little habit of girls to hug each other?' Belle and Lily looked at each other wondering where this would go. 'We could so use it too our advantage. Lily could I have a hug?' 'No!' 'But you gave Belle one.' 'No!' 'Pretty please.' Here James joined in. 'Yeah give us a hug Lily. PLEASE!' Belle and Remus burst out laughing. 'Come on Remus, we'd better get Lily' trunk into our compartment.' And Arabella and Remus walked away with Lily's trunk chuckling. Lily went to follow them. 'Lily, PLEASE?' Shouted both boys, grabbing hold of her arms. People were starting to stare, and Lily felt herself blushing. 'Oh alright then.' She finally agreed. Her both boys jumped up, gave her and gave her a hug. 'Now go and bother Belle.' 'Good idea,' said James. 'Lets go then.' Responded Sirius, and off they ran dragging Lily along by her arms.
Lily was dragged into a carriage, were James and Sirius show their confidence by picking a fight with a third year, over who had got there first. Surprisingly, they won. As the train got underway, Lily studied Remus. He was pale with bags under his eyes, his hair was light, almost grey, but with a touch of brown. His eyes, black and sparkling. But his hands. They were covered with scratches and bruises.
They had just brought some food of the trolley, when in walked two swaggering boys. 'Aah,' drawled the first, 'What a surprise, Potter, Black and Lupin, and, oh what's this? A Figg as well.' 'Oh go find a chip fryer Snape!' responded Sirius, 'Your head is losing some of its grease.' Snape ignored him, 'And who's this?' he inquired of Lily. 'Lily Evans, pleased to meet you.' And she stuck out her hand. Sirius, James and Remus held their breaths. As a natural reflex Snape took her hand before, 'Evans, I don't recognise that name. Not a. not a. mudblood?' he asked in an incredulous voice. At this the carriage erupted with cries of 'Snape! How dare you?' and 'You little *********(these words are too bad to use in a place where prying eyes might see)*******' which was Sirius contribution. Lily just looked in shock at what was going on around her, whilst Snape beat a hasty retreat, and also rubbing his hand on his handkerchief.
'Does anyone want to tell me what all that was about?' asked Lily once Snape had left. 'No!' responded James, Sirius and Belle completely disgruntled. 'Well basically,' Remus explained in a calm voice, 'he was saying that you were muggle-born. But.' 'But?' 'He didn't use the politest way of doing it.' Here the other three all burst out laughing.
The journey continued in much the same fashion. Laughter sounded out from the carriage, and soon they arrived at Hogwarts. As they approached they all started to get nervous, even Sirius stopped talking as much.
The train pulled up and they got off. 'So what now?' Lily asked Belle. Just then they heard someone shout, 'First years over hear please.' They followed the voice and were directed to boats, which took them across a lake. James, Remus, Lily and Belle all shared a boat, while Sirius had been led off by the person in charge, with the comment, 'You can sit with me, you look like trouble.' At which his friends grinned at each other. They arrived and where ushered into the Great Hall for Sorting.
Now Lily was really nervous. She was standing up in front of the entire school. 'Right,' said Professor McGonagall, 'when I call your name, please step forward and place the hat onto your head. Sirius Black.' Sirius no longer looked his cocky self as he stepped forward. He put the hat on, then. Silence. You could have heard a pin drop. And it went on, until even the teachers were starting to look uncomfortable. Suddenly, 'GRYFFINDOR!' Yelled the hat, sounding as if it were struggling not to laugh. A cheer went up from one of the tables, and Sirius joined them, grinning his head off. Lily glanced round and saw James looking more nervous than she felt. Then she heard, 'Lily Evans.' Lily stepped forward and put the hat on. 'Oh,' said a little voice, 'a friend of Mr Black's. He tells great jokes don't you know? We have a great mind here, maybe Ravenclaw. But what's this? It had better be GRYFFINDOR!' the last word was shouted and Lily went and took her place beside Sirius. She was so excited that she did not notice anything else for the next few minutes. When she came back to earth, Professor McGonagall was carrying away the hat, and Belle, James and Remus were now also sitting at the table.
'Welcome back.' Said James. 'You were certainly out somewhere. We couldn't get your attention, lucky for you we refused to let Sirius try kissing you.' Then James winced. He had obviously been given a sly kick. 'What have I missed then?' asked Lily. 'Well, as you can guess, we are all in Gryffindor,' said Belle, 'And let me introduce Peter Pettigrew, and Rebecca and Alison Kiln, who are also in Gryffindor.' 'And in case you can't guess, Rebecca and Alison are identical twins.' Added Remus. The rest all shot him a look, as if to say 'You think?'
After the feast, in which Sirius rapidly regained his confidence, shown by the fact that he nearly started a food fight, they were all shown to their common room and dormitories. In the boys' room, they fought over whom got which bed, meaning Sirius won (after James got bored) and so got the bed by the window. James and Remus got the beds in the middle, and Peter got the bed by the door. Within minutes, the room was a tip, with James and Sirius stuff everywhere, while Peter watched in amazement as the floor disappeared and Remus unpacked, carefully. There came a knock at the door, and Professor McGonagall came in, 'I just wanted to. what on earth happened here?' She asked in amazement. 'What's wrong Professor?' asked Sirius, dead seriously. 'The, the mess.' She just managed to stammer. James and Sirius looked quizzically at each other. 'Professor, for James and Sirius, this is tidy. Wait till they have been here a day or two.' Stated Remus as he carried on with his unpacking. 'Well I never!' and the Professor left hurriedly. 'Well I don't think she'll be coming back!' was the first thing that Peter Pettigrew actually said. 'That Pete, my old buddy, old pal, is all part of the master plan!' Replied Sirius throwing his arm around Peter's shoulder, whilst James nodded absentmindedly as he found the magazine he was looking for at the bottom of his trunk, and fell on his bed to read it. Remus, meanwhile, had sorted all his own things out and so started putting Sirius' and James' stuff away as well.
Meanwhile, in the girls' room, they tossed a coin to decide who slept where, ending with Belle by the window, Lily and Alison in the middle and Rebecca by the door. They had begun to unpack, whilst gossiping quietly when Professor McGonagall came in, still white from her encounter in the other room. 'Well girls, I hope you are all settling in fine?' 'Yes Professor.' 'Good, good.' And she walked away mumbling to herself about untidy people. 'I wonder what's wrong with her?' asked Alison. 'The boys' room.' Responded Lily and Belle in unison, 'come on, let's go and have a look.'
Five minutes later the boys heard the sound of footsteps and laughter, before a knock and Lily and Belle came tumbling into the room giggling. The room was still a mess, though not half as bad as it had been, thanks to Remus' tidying (as everyone knows, it takes longer to tidy then make a mess). 'What in Merlin happened here?' asked Belle in shock. 'Sirius!' came a voice from behind them. They turned and burst out laughing again because there was Peter trying to clear away a path between his bed and trunk. 'And James.' Added Remus, whilst carrying on putting things in draws. 'Where are they?' asked Lily looking round for them. Just then Alison and Rebecca entered the room. 'Bliming heck!' gasped Alison in shock. Remus gestured towards two beds; both with the curtains drawn round them. 'They haven't?' 'They've gone to bed, they were tired after the journey.' Belle turned round and whispered to Lily, Alison and Rebecca. They walked out of the room and returned a minute later each carrying a glass of water. Where upon they walked up to the two beds and on the count of three, drew back the curtains and flung the contents of each glass on the figure in the bed. There were mild screams of surprise, but the girls didn't wait to see what happened next, they fled. James and Sirius followed only stopping to grab pillows, and Remus grabbing Peter who was again watching in shock charged out after them. When they reached the girls room, they again burst out laughing because there were James, Sirius, Lily, Belle, Alison and Rebecca laughing and screaming with feathers floating everywhere as they had one massive pillow fight. Feathers were sticking to James and Sirius because they were so wet, and they looked like ducks. In the common room below all the older years looked up and smiled. 'First years, always knew how to enjoy themselves.'
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During that first year, and the years to come, all eight became firm friends, though the boys were particularly close, and became known as the 'Marauders' to everyone for all the tricks they played, more often then not the girls joined in. Sirius and James remained the same, but Peter, once he had become more confident, was like a mini Jasius (as they called him mini James/Sirius). Remus and the girls however tended to be a calming influence, though Belle was nearly as bad. They were all bright however. James and Sirius contesting for the top of the year, with Lily close behind. The only one that really struggled was Peter, but the other's helped him.
Author's Note: The next time we rejoin the story it will be the beginning of fifth year. This chapter should be up soon, and please READ AND REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!