~*A Lily and James story*~
Chapter Summary: James Potter prank extraordinaire, Lily Evans, perfect prefect. How did the lives of these two ever collide? Throw in Sirius, Remus and Peter, and you got yourselves the dynamic Marauders. May become an AU.
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters belong to J.K Rowling, they do not belong to me.
Chapter 2- Try to love again
Shortly after James returned to the compartment, the marauders began to make plans for the upcoming year. Sirius was especially eager to get to the planning stages for their second to last year to wreak havoc.
Once they came up with a few "battle plans" they decided to take a short break. Remus was still reading Hogwarts; A History, (did he ever not read) Peter was staring blankly at an alleyway tile, James was thinking of Lily, and Sirius was occasionally waving to people he knew, or scowling at those he hated.
"There goes Snivellus." Sirius sneered. "He looks even more of a greasy git then last year." Sirius continued to snigger as he commented to James on Severus Snape, who had just walked by their seating area.
"I'm willing to bet 20 galleons he's a Death Eater, but then again, he might be even too slimy for Voldemort's taste." Sirius continued, completely ignoring James' unusual tranquility. James sighed and turned his head towards the window, watching the scenery whisk by.
Sirius, now noticing James loss of attention, heaved a sigh and closed his eyes, planning to relax for the rest of the train ride.
About 30 minutes later, James turned away from the window and looked at Sirius, Remus, and Peter who were now all asleep; James allowed his thoughts to wander. The real reason he became silent when Sirius was ranting about Snivellus was because it brought up regretful memories.
Last summer, the marauders had been hanging around their favorite tree, since it was a beautiful day outside. James had been occupying himself in his daily routine torture of Snape, or as they like to call him, Snivellus, when Lily Evans intervened on Snape's behalf. The most humiliating thing that happened during the entire event, was the fact that Lily, the love of James life, had called him a bullying toe rag, that he made her sick, and that a squid made a better date.
James shook his head to clear the memories, before deciding to go for a walk. When he started to get up Sirius opened his eyes.
"Going somewhere?" he asked slyly.
James grinned and reached into his pocket pulling out 3 dung bombs. "Up to a little Snivellus bashing?" James asked, keeping his voice down as to not awaken Remus and Peter.
"You bet!" Sirius replied all too enthusiastically. Sirius followed James out of the compartment, walking once again down the aisle. Every time Sirius and James passed a girl, they swooned, giggled and talked animatedly with their friends.
"You see? Prongs, it's an endless loop!" Sirius said with a look of happiness. James chuckled, but immediately stopped once he caught sight of Snivellus, who was seated next to a window.
"Action time!" Sirius replied quietly, so as only James would hear him. James nodded his head before breaking into a grin.
"Padfoot, you cause a diversion, I'll plant the dung bombs."
Sirius immediately left James' side and grabbed Jenny by the waist, (she was sitting across from Snivellus) brought her face up to his and kissed her fully on the lips.
Everyone in that whole corridor stopped what they were doing, and stared at Sirius and Jenny with their mouths hanging open.
James, seeing this as the perfect opportunity, began to swiftly move about the compartment Snivellus was sitting in.
Bending over, James planted a dung bomb to the underside of the seat. Then, walking to the other side, planted one in the crevice of the seat. Looking down at his hands he noticed he had one more, and decided to place that one inside the bathroom, which was just outside the compartment.
Now that the dung bombs had been set, James waited for the signal. He knew that the minute Sirius kissed Jenny, she would scream, hit him, and scream some more. Staring at Sirius and Jenny, he began to count down. 3…2…1….
"Black!! What do you think your doing?!" Jenny yelled pulling back from Sirius with her face flushed. A moment's silence occurred, but was broken by the smack of hand against face. "Don't, ever, ever touch me again!" Jenny snarled, walking back over to Lily and Catherine.
Lily glanced at Jenny, and seeing that she looked like she was going to scream at any minute, got up from her seat and began to close the door, when a hand crossed her back. Turning her head, she saw that it was just James.
"Potter, why are you back here?"
"Lily, can't I grace you with my presence?" James cockily replied, immediately moving his hand to his head, running it through his already messy hair.
Lily moved closer to James, stuck a hand on his chest, and shoved him unceremoniously out of her compartment.
"Stay out Potter, your inflated head is taking up too much room." Lily scoffed, then walked over to the door and flung it closed. Lily's thoughts soon began to wander.
'Whoa, he has a really chiseled chest, such caring blue eyes, that beautiful grin …' Wait…what am I thinking? Lily asked herself shaking her head to keep her blush down.
James stared at the door that was just closed by Lily, and put a flustered look on his face. "Women!" He yelled, throwing his hands up in the air angrily. He was brought out of his stupor though, as there was a small explosion, and immediate stench, which notified James that is prized possessions, had finally been activated.
Looking to Snivellus, he could see that he was coughing up a storm, and trying to open up the window.
After a few moments, Snivellus finally got the window open; he began fanning the area the dung bomb went off, as to get the smell to go outside. Noticing James was looking at him, he turned around and gave him the evilest glare he could muster.
James began laughing inwardly at the look Snivellus gave him. He then decided he should go back and tell the others of their accomplishment.
Walking speedily back to his own compartment, he opened the doors and plopped down on the seat.
"I thought I smelled a dung bomb." Remus said, just awakening with a faint trace of a smile. Peter immediately looked up at James. "You planted dung bombs and didn't tell me or Remus about it?" Peter looked anguished.
"Peter, relax, we're almost to Hogwarts, there's plenty of mayhem to go around, we'll all do something during the welcome back feast." James looked to Peter to make sure he understood. Once Peter smiled he looked back to Sirius.
"I see she left you with a mark." James said with a smirk, pointing to the red handprint on Sirius face.
"Oh, yes, I'm glad you noticed." Sirius said with a scowl. The marauders knew that Jenny was the fling of the week, and that Sirius would stop at nothing until he got her.
"Well, I'm off to change into my robes." Remus said, trying to clear the sudden silence. Remus walked out of the door, and changed into his robes, and then reemerged. "You three probably want to change as well, we're almost to the castle." So, Sirius, Peter, and James left the seating one by one and changed.
Once the train had stopped, everyone began to climb off the train, in search of a carriage to ride to the castle. James was looking for a flash of red, and when he saw one, he smiled, knowing that he had just found Lily. He immediately ran to the carriage she and her friends were getting on, and called the rest of the marauders over.
Once Sirius saw why James had called them over, he cockily grinned, and ran to the carriage along with Remus and Peter. "Well babes, looks like your riding with us!" Sirius said once inside. The marauders were currently all standing up inside the carriage, but James made the first move and sat down next to Lily, much to Lily's dismay. Sirius and Remus followed suit, Sirius next to Jenny, and Remus next to Catherine. Peter scoffed seeing how there was no room for him, and jumped out of the carriage before it started moving.
"Hot head, that one." Sirius said arching an eyebrow.
"Why do you guys hang out with him anyways?" Jenny asked perplexed. Sirius looked at Jenny with mock hurt.
"Maybe we're just great guys, ya know, friendly to a fault…" Sirius paused, and then continued "But of course you'll never know because you don't give us the time nor day!" Jenny stared at Sirius with unblinking eyes. 'Wow, he's really changed since last year.' Jenny thought with interest. She then turned to look out the window, considering the conversation over.
Lily looked at Remus and Catherine, who were talking animatedly amongst themselves. It was no secret to anyone that Catherine had a crush on Remus, as she had one since 3rd year.
Deciding she wouldn't be talking to Jenny or Catherine for a while (they were wrapped in their own thoughts or in Catherine's case, actions, seeing how she was currently giggling in Remus' ear) she grabbed her purse from her lap and began searching through it for some chapstick. "Why don't they just go out?" Lily said softly to herself after glancing at Remus and Catherine once she found what she was looking for.
"That would be because Catherine is oblivious to her own feelings, and the feelings of Moony. Also, Moony has a lot of luggage, and is too stubborn to let almost anyone get too close."
Lily looked up to James startled, she didn't think anyone had heard her. "Okay, Potter, two questions. Number one, why do you call him 'Moony'?" James looked into Lily's eyes and softly smiled. "If I told you, I'd have to kill you, and I wouldn't want to waste a pretty face." James replied, gently grasping Lily's chin with his forefinger and thumb.
Lily stared into James' eyes unblinkingly as he rapidly brought his face closer. "James, no…" Lily said holding her hand to his chest, pushing him away. James immediately brought his head up and put a grin on his face that resembled a three year old's on Christmas. "You called me James…you never called me James!" "Now then, how about that kiss, you know that you're just dying to get a taste of me, the handsome hunk." James said, laughter evident in his eyes.
Lily stared at James with pure hatred. "Why do you have to be such a pervert! I don't want to talk to or see you the rest of the day…you…you...prat!"
Sirius, noticing the situation Lily was in, chuckled and began to clamber out of the carriage, being as how they had arrived to the castle.
"Sirius! Do you find something funny?" Sirius looked at Lily with a smirk plastered to his face and replied, "Well, I just saw you and James were getting a little busy…" He continued to chuckle at the look that Lily was giving him, which seemed to be engraved into her face every time she looked at him.
James, who had just gotten out of the carriage, walked to Lily to continue their previous conversation. He looked at her with a grin and in the cockiest voice manageable replied, "Oh? You don't want to talk to me the rest of the day? But I thought you had two questions? You only asked one."
Lily let out a scream of frustration, catching the attention of everyone around her. She quickly lowered her head and stared at the ground, blushing at the fact that she had made the entire station go quiet.
James and Sirius burst into laughter at Lily's embarrassed face. Remus, Jenny, and Catherine (who had just stepped out of the carriage) decided to get out of the line of fire, and walked away from them.
Lily stepped closer to James, getting ready to punch him in the face as hard as she could when someone distracted her.
"Lily lets go!" Jenny called out from Lily's left. Lily glanced to Jenny's direction and saw that Jenny and Catherine were both waiting for her. "Coming!" Lily yelled back, anger driven to attempt to shove James out of the way.
After attempting to push James for a couple of seconds, she noticed that James was clearly rooted to the spot. "Don't you dare laugh…" And with that Lily ran around Sirius and James, and met up with her friends, together walking up the stairs that led inside the castle.