Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the plot. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Chapter 2 - The Hogwarts Express
"James, Sirius, wake up!" Melinda Potter yelled up the stairs to the boys. "It's already 10 o'clock and the Hogwarts Express leaves at eleven. Get up now!" she finished.
Upstairs in their respective rooms James and Sirius bolted out of their beds and into some clothes. They opened their doors and simultaneously pulled their trunks down the stairs. They then loaded the trunks into the ministry car that Edward Potter had gotten his wife for the day.
"You think she would've woken us up earlier," Sirius complained half-heartedly. "Now I won't have time to eat the huge breakfast that I was planning on. You know, it is gonna be a very long time before we have your mum's wonderful cooking again. I don't know how I'll be able to survive. At least I can look forward to the opening feast tonight though."
"Will you stop talking about food. It's starting to really get on my nerves. Is that all you think about?" James somewhat snapped at his best friend.
"Oh sorry, Jimmy-boy, I forgot you are sometimes the worst morning person in the whole entire world," Sirius shot back at him. "Aren't you excited that we are going back to Hogwarts? This year is gonna be great!" Sirius exclaimed while taking off to the kitchen to eat as much as possible before they left to catch the train.
"All right everybody. Time to go," Mrs. Potter called out. "James, go get your sister. She's up in her room." James dashed back up the stairs and knocked on his sister's door. "Jackie, come on, we're leaving for the train station right now," he shouted. "Okay. I'm coming," she replied.
Jackie slid down the banister and joined James, Sirius, and her mum in the ministry car. "Everybody ready?" Melinda asked. She received a bunch of nods in return. "Okay. Let's go then," she said.
The ride to King's Cross Station went very fast for the three kids. Sirius and James were busy thinking and talking about all of the different pranks they were going to pull on the Slytherins when they got to Hogwarts. Jaclyn had thoughts about how much she didn't want her big brother to leave.
At quarter to eleven they arrived at King's Cross Station. They had to hurry through the station, seeing as Sirius and James only had 15 minutes until the train was to leave. Two at a time the group vanished through the barrier between Platforms nine and ten. When they looked up, they were standing on Platform 9 and 3/4.
"Now you two have a good year and please try to stay out of trouble. There will be no more owls sent home from Dumbledore about you two misbehaving or there will be howlers. That is a promise," Mrs. Potter threatened. "Now give me a hug and get on the train," she said to the boys. Sirius and James each gave her a hug and Sirius disappeared onto the train. James turned to where his sister was standing.
"Hey Jack," he said. "Remember what I told you yesterday. I'll see you at Christmas. Love you," he said giving her a big bear hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Love you. See ya later," she replied.
James then went and joined Sirius and his other two best friends in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express. Soon after the train left for it's long journey to the school. Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were the other two members besides James and Sirius in a group they dubbed the Marauders. The four boys became friends in their first year and decided to become the best pranksters in the history of Hogwarts. The official name 'Marauders' didn't come until later in their second year.
Peter Pettigrew was a little shorter than average for his age. He had beady blue eyes and thick blonde hair. Remus Lupin was of average height and had neat, dirty blonde hair. He also had soft brown eyes.
Remus came across as mysterious because he was a werewolf. Only the other Marauders and Dumbledore knew of his condition. Every month during the full moon, he disappeared under the womping willow tree and into the Shrieking Shack. Lupin's transformations into a werewolf took a lot of energy out of him.
Another hidden secret that the Marauders had was that James, Sirius, and Peter were animagi. This allowed them to change into a specific animal of their choosing at their own free will. James was a stag and his nickname was Prongs. Sirius turned into a black dog and went by Padfoot. Peter turned into a rat and was known as Wormtail. And since Remus was a werewolf he was nicknamed Moony. They became animagi to help Remus deal with his time spent as a werewolf during the full moons.
"Hey guys! How was your summer?" James asked Peter and Remus. "It was really cool. I spent the holiday in France on vacation," Remus replied. "Yeah, well I was stuck at my grandparents house for a whole month during the summer," Peter whinned. "It was awful."
"It couldn't have been that bad, Wormtail," Sirius chipped in. "I mean, I was stuck with James and his sister at their house the whole summer. Nothing could have been worse than that," Sirius joked. "You're so funny, Padfoot. I can hardly stand it," James shot back. James sometimes got very angry when people poked fun at his family, especially his sister. "You know you don't have to stay at my house. You can always move back in with your own family," James suggested. "Whoa, Prongs! Just a joke. No need to get so hostile," Sirius said. He backed off because he knew that he had touched a nerve on that one.
"I'm gonna go find the food cart," James said quickly to get out of the awkward conversation. He left the comparment and made his way toward the front of the train. On his way he glimpsed a flash of red inside one of the other compartments. "Evans. This should be fun," he thought to himself as he entered the compartment.
"Ah, Evans. Long time no see," he said. "I hope you had a terrible summer. You know, I really feel bad for your parents for having to put up with you. When they had you they were probably horrified," he concluded.
"Is that the best you can come up with, Potter," Lily Evans asked. She and James Potter were complete enemies even though they were in the same house and year. She was somewhat tall and had shoulder-length curly, auburn hair. She had sparkling green eyes that flashed when she got really mad. "Really, Potter. You would think that you could come up with some decent insults over the holidays," Lily said.
"Evans, I'd watch my back if I were you this year," James said glaring at her. "Have a good day, Kaylie," James directed at another girl in the compartment and left. "See ya, James," Kaylie returned.
Kaylie Wickman, Lily's best friend, was also a Gryffindor sixth year. She had long blonde hair that came down to the middle of her back. She had bright blue eyes and was short compared to Lily.
"Uh, I can't believe the nerve of the prat. He thinks he can come marching in here insulting me left and right. He is so full of himself," Lily burst as soon as James was gone. "Why did you call him James anyway?" Lily asked Kaylie. "I thought you hated him as much as I do."
"Lils, just because you and James aren't friends doesn't mean that I can't be friends with him," Kaylie answered. "I really don't understand exactly why you two hate each other so much anyway. What did he ever do that was so horrible to you?" Kaylie asked.
"Well, he's stuck up, full of himself, egotistical, and over-confident. Not to mention he is the biggest git in the universe, he goes out of his way to annoy me, and he pulls pranks on me all of the time," Lily concluded.
"Okay. So James is a little full of himself. I'll give ya that one. But his pranks are all in good fun. Sometimes you should just laugh when he pulls a prank on you instead of just going off on him. You know he only does it to get a rise out of you," Kaylie explained.
"You just don't understand how much he infuriates me, Kay. Can we drop this conversation. Please, it's making me miserable," Lily practically begged. "Okay," Kaylie agreed.
The two girls spent the rest of the train ride chatting about anything and everything. They got changed into their Hogwarts robes when the train got closer to Hogsmeade.
James arrived back in the compartment his friends were in after getting a huge stack of sweets for the group to share. "You guys should have just seen Evans when I totally destroyed her with insults. I just can't stand that girl!" James said.
"Jimmy-boy, why exactly do you hate Lily so much?" Sirius asked. "I mean we all think she's really nice," he said meaning himself, Remus, and Peter. "I just can't stand the way she acts like she is so much better and smarter than everyone else. I can not wait to pull some major pranks on her this year," James said.
"Whatever, James. We better get changed into our robes since we will be in Hogsmeade in five minutes," Remus said.
AN - This is a bit longer than the first chapter with the first major confrontation of James and Lily. I'm just starting out so the story should get a lot more interesting within the next few chapters. I hoped you liked it. Please review with any questions, comments, or criticisms. I don't care which. Thanks!