SUMMARY: Lily goes to Hogwarts, and James goes to Beauxbatons. They've been writing letters to each other since their 3rd year. What happens when James gets transferred to Hogwarts?

A/N: Okay, well, I really enjoyed writing chapter one, so I figured I should put a move-on on chapter two, right? Right. Well, here it is! Oh yes, Floo Powder hadn't been invented yet, okay? Okay.

Chapter two: The Train ride to Hogwarts

For James, the next day was very hard. Saying goodbye to his parents for Lord knows how long was one of the hardest things he had ever done, and though he was still ecstatic about never having to set foot in Beauxbatons again, the sadness outweighed that by about a ton. The car ride to the train station was miserable. With James' mother crying silently in the front seat, his father looking grim, knuckles white on the wheel, and James himself trying to be a man and not cry, it was one of the worst experiences of his life. As they got out of the car and approached the train station, he wondered if this was the last time he would ever see them, and cursed himself for not wanting to spend more time with them when he had the chance. As they broke through the barrier where the French Wizarding Train waited, he realized this would be the last time he saw them in a very long time. His Grandmother was okay... but his parents... he needed them. Finally letting the dam behind his eyes break, he turned to his parents with tears running down his face.

"I-I'll miss you," he said, voice shaky. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused in the past, and. and I'll try and be better at Hogwarts for you."

"I'll miss you too, James," his father said, smiling at him, eyes shining. "I love you."

"I love you too," he said, and gave them a very, very long hug before getting on the train slowly, reluctantly. Walking down the isle and getting in the first empty compartment he found, he James quickly rolled down the window to wave to his parents as the train took off. "I'll miss you," he said quietly to himself, waving goodbye to the people h loved most in his life.

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James walked off the train about an hour later at Kings Cross. Looking around, he saw a rather large old lady with a big grin, and immediately recognized her as his grandmother.

"Hello, my Jamsie-wamsy!" She said as he approached her, enveloping him in a humongous bear hug. "How was your trip?"

"Err... it was... fine..." he said, attempting to smile.

"Of course it wasn't." She said, smile fading a little. "I know it was hard."

James didn't say anything, only nodded his head, looking at the ground.

"So, are you ready for a big dinner?" She asked, as they started walking across the train station. "I have quite a large meal prepared for us, and you must be starving!"

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Lily and Janelle walked through a very crowded Diagon Alley, shopping for their school supplies. Janelle seemed to be having quite a nice time, with all the reunions of she and Lily's 'friends', but for Lily, lets just say this was her idea of hell, and she wouldn't be surprised if that's where she was. As they squoze their way through the packed street, Janelle waving to people, million-dollar smile on, she fought the urge to break down and just scream. Little did she know that a certain French boy she knew was going through the exact same trouble as her.

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By the third day at Grandma Potters house, James was far past ready to go home, or at least have a moment to himself. He was sure her intentions were good, but she never got out of your face. He liked being fawned over like a baby for the first day, and even halfway through the second day, but not being able to do anything for yourself got just a bit annoying. By now, James was surprised he even got to go to the bathroom by himself. His very short temper wasn't helping much either. This had gotten to the point that whenever his Grandmother would even walk in the room, he would feel like screaming. In fact, just then, Grandmother Potter walked into his room (without knocking, in fact... he could have been changing!) and headed towards him with that 'Poor baby!' look on her face.

"Would you like anything honey-buns?" She asked, pinching his cheek.

"N-No, I'm fine, Grandmother," James said, fists clenched.

"Are you sure pookie?" She asked, sitting down on his bed.

"100%," he said, trying to put on one of those 'I'm a trooper!' smiles she seemed to love so much.

"Okay," she said, getting up slowly. "I'll be down in the kitchen if you want anything, okay?"

"I'll make sure and call if I need anything," James said, thanking his lucky stars that she was leaving after only a few minutes. Laying on his bed and looking at the ceiling, he wondered if he would ever get out of here.

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Dear O'Ryan,

Hello! How are you doing? I'm doing pretty well... I just got my shopping done, which actually wasn't a very enjoyable experience, but I did get some pretty good things. Err… I don't like yourself in the last mean to be nosy, but are you okay? I know something is wrong, and you don't have to tell me, but I would really like to know. I want to know if I can help you with anything. We don't even know each other, so you can tell me, and I won't judge you or anything. Well, even if you don't tell me, I hope your problems get sorted out and you feel better soon.

Nuria

Lily looked at the letter, frowning slightly. She knew she sounded nosy, but it wasn't because she wanted to have the pride and joy of knowing someone else's secret. She was truly and honestly concerned about O'Ryan, and she wanted to know what was wrong with him. Sighing, she folded the letter and attached it to her owl, Winston. Lily watched the tawny owl fade off into the setting sun before going downstairs to what was going to be a very painful dinner... her parents had just had yet another fight, and from the looks of it, things weren't going to be forgiven soon.

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James was starting to get sick of his room. He had barely left since he had gotten here, since every time he came out, his Grandma would hug him, and ask him if her little 'trooper' would like anything. Just then, taking his mind off of crazy Grandma Potter, a very familiar-looking, tawny owl swooped through the opened window, landing on James' bed. Opening the letter from Nuria hurriedly, he read through it, rolling his eyes. It seemed she knew everything about him. Right away he got out his favorite quill and parchment, and wrote back.

Nuria,

It scares me how much you know sometimes. Yes, there is something wrong... but I can't tell you. It's top-secret, and I promised my family I wouldn't tell anyone... even random people that live across the continent. I am truly sorry, but it was one of the last things I promised them, and if that promise isn't kept, I would feel horrible. Thank you for your concern, I really do appreciate it, and I would really like to tell you, but... well, I can't.

O'Ryan

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A week later, Lily boarded the Hogwarts express, halfway happy, halfway miserable. On one hand, she would get away from her parents', and Petunia. On the other hand, however, she would be stuck being Ditzy Lily until next June, and that was never a good thing. Walking to the back compartment where here very select friends sat, she passed an open (and very full) compartment of people talking and laughing, and sighed. What she would give to be in that compartment... Just then, she heard a very familiar, annoying voice, and groaned loudly.

"Oh my GOD, Lily?!" Cheyenne, a very annoying girl, with a voice that somewhat resembled fingernails scratching on a chalkboard squeaked. "Is it REALLY you?!"

Fighting the urge to plug her ears and run away screaming, she put on a fake smile, and the ditzy part of her kicked in. "Oh my God, I've like-missed you so much sweetheart! Like-you should have come and visited me over the vacation!"

"Oh my GOD!" Cheyenne said, as if talking to herself. "Lily EVANS just said that I should have visited her over summer!" Realizing that she had just said that out loud, and Lily heard it, she quickly changed her words. "I mean-Lily Evans should have come and visited ME over the summer!" She laughed her squeaky laugh, wiggled around a bit, and to Lily's great displeasure, started talking again. "You should like-stop standing out here with all these stupid people and join us!"

"Okay Hun, just let me grab my stuff, okay?" She called, and as soon as Cheyenne turned around, let out a silent scream she had been doing for quite a bit after her friends left. Turning around, she saw a dark-haired, tall boy standing behind her.

"So... I'm guessing you don't enjoy her... " He said, smiling.

"Like-what would give you that idea?" She asked. She would have loved to talk to him... he didn't sound from around here… he had a slight accent. Lily didn't know why, but he seemed like one of those people you could just talk to.

"Oh, I don't know... maybe because you screamed silently after she turned around... " He said, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Um... that was like-from the excitement of going into that compartment." She said in a matter-of-fact tone. Damn, this boy was good.

"Ahhh," he said, nodding his head at her like he didn't believe her. "Well... you have fun in that compartment!" He said fakely.

"Ugh!" Lily said, and turned around to leave this mysterious, unknown boy alone.

James O'Ryan Potter watched the "ditzy" redhead stalk down the hallway angrily, amused. He would have to watch that girl... she seemed like a good subject for some future pranks he had planned. Smiling to himself, he turned the opposite way from her, and went in search of an empty compartment. Nearing the front, he finally found an empty one, he slid in, and relaxed against the soft, cushiony, slightly faded ruby seats. James hadn't been sitting there for over a minute, before he heard the door slide open. As he opened his eyes, he saw possibly the worst sight he had ever seen. Two boys, one with long, slicked-back blonde hair, and the other with chin-length, greasy ebony hair stood in the doorway, both sneering unpleasantly at James.

"Yes?" He asked in his almost-perfected British accent. He didn't want to stick out too much at Hogwarts.

"There's talk on the train of a new boy." The blonde-haired one said, raising his eyebrows unpleasantly at James. "I'm guessing that's you."

"Then you'd be right," he said, wondering what they wanted. "Now are you planning on leaving anytime soon, or are you just going to stand in the doorway, staring at me with your abnormally large noses the whole train ride?"

The two made noises of displeasure, and, not saying another word, turned around and exited the compartment, sliding the door shut behind them rather hard.

"Finally," James muttered to himself, and closed his eyes once more, in hopes to get some sleep... unfortunately, that didn't happen. Not thirty seconds later, the compartment door opened once again, but instead of hook-nosed, greasy-haired slime-balls, he saw three boys. One slightly pudgy and short, with sandy brown hair and watery blue eyes, another quite a bit taller than the first, with dirty blonde hair, cinnamon eyes, looking quite tired. The last boy, however, looked much different than the other two. With slightly longer jet-black hair, lively sapphire blue eyes, and a bright smile, he looked happy and joyful.

"D'you think we could sit here?" The third boy asked, and, without waiting for James to answer, made himself comfortable next to him, and motioned for the other two to come in.

"Actually... " James started, but was cut off by the black-haired boy.

"Why thank you!" He said pleasantly. "Sirius Black, by the way. This here is Remus Lupin," he motioned towards the tired-looking one. "And this is Peter Pettigrew." He nodded to the short, fat one.

"Hi," Remus said, giving James a half-smile. "Sorry about Sirius," he half-whispered. "He… err... well, I'm not sure why he's like that, but I'm pretty sure he got dropped on the head as a baby... or he's high on some kinda drugs he got at the train station... "

"Yup, I'm high!" Sirius said, hopping up and pulling the shades on the closed window, making James squint in the bright light. "High on life!"

James didn't say anything, only nodded slightly, knowing these were not going to be the people he hung out with when he got to Hogwarts. Especially not that Sirius person.

"Do you think that the food is going to come soon?" Peter asked in a high, squeaky voice that matched his appearance. "I'm hungry."

"The train hasn't even started moving yet," James said, giving Peter a strange look. "I highly doubt it'll be here anytime soon."

"Oh," Peter said sourly, and returned back to his silent self, staring out the window.

"Well, we introduced ourselves, so now it's your turn!" Sirius said like this was all some big game.

"James," he said slowly, wondering if it really was a good thing to tell this strange person his name. "James Potter."

"Well hello James Potter!" Sirius said giddily, and started jumping up and down on the seat cushions for a minute. "Hey, wait a minute!" He said after about thirty seconds of his bouncing. "You don't look like a first-year!"

"I'm, err, going into my 4th year," he said, hoping they weren't in the same year as them. "I'm transferring from Beauxbatons."

"Really?" Remus said, suddenly becoming interested. "What's Beauxbatons like? Is it anything like Hogwarts? Did you like it there? Do a lot of people go there? Do they speak French? Can you--"

"Wwwoooaaahh, slow down Remmy!" Sirius said. "We wouldn't want him to think that we're all crazy, now would we?"

"No, I think you've already made him think that, dearest Siri," Remus said, getting up and pinching Sirius' cheek. "Okay, now back to my questions... "

"Okay... " James said. Just as he started speaking, however, the train gave a big lurch, and they were soon moving. "Err... just wondering," he said. "How long have you been in here?"

"Um, going on three minutes!" Peter squeaked.

"Joy... " James muttered under his breath. This was going to be a very long train-ride.

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Okay, well, this would be longer, but I cut a whole huge part out (with it, it would be 3,000 words long), but I decided to get rid of it, since it had no relevance to the story. Ahh, oh well. Well, thank you all for reviewing! If you've read my other stories, you know that I usually have thank-yous, and I'm going to go it with these, but I'll only pick out 2 or 3 I really want to thank or whatever. Thank you ALL though for reviewing, I seriously appreciate it TONS. Also, I think my beta-readers computer crashed or something, because she hasn't been replying when I send her chapters to fix ::frowns:: So if you find any mistakes, I'm sorry! I corrected it by myself.

HPDreamer15: Yes, and I'm DONE with the edits!!!! I just got done today, actually (the 18th). But this idea had been in my head for a looonnnnggg time, and I was in the mood to write it, so I did! Thanks for reviewing!

Jess the Great: THANK YOU for reviewing all my stories! I LOVE faithful reviewers! ::smiles:: Thank you soooo much!

Myrtle: Yeah, I kinda noticed how a lot of stories had Lily as a French girl… I always thought it would be kinda cool to have James be French, so I did! You speak English very well! I've started taking Spanish, but, since I'm only in my first year, I can't quite read and talk fluently ::winks:: Thanks for reviewing!