Heya alla you! This is my SeCoNd ficcy on this Pen name...but like my seventh total...no...more. But that's ok. I DO NOT own 'The Pink Ladies' that belongs to whoever made 'Grease' up. snaps for them btw. This one WILL branch off into Romance...just a warning. And this beginning bit is just kind of a background...so, I'll let you read and review chappy the first!! Au Revoir!
-Il Pleut
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-In Which We Begin the Beginning-
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It was Year the First at the Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. James Potter and Lily Evans were best friends, always chatting, always laughing. But nothing more.
Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were best friends, pulling pranks, laughing it out, messing around, joking consistently.
Lily couldn't STAND Sirius and Lupin. James thought they were the coolest thing to ever walk the planet.
Sirius couldn't STAND Lily and James. Lupin thought they could be pretty cool to hang out with.
One day, Lily made another friend. One of her dorm roommates, Alyssa. Soon she began to hang out more and more often with Alyssa. Sharing secrets with her that she used to only share with James.
In retaliation to this blatant attempt to sabotage their friendship, James hung out with Sirius and Lupin. Together they were some team. Wreaking almost more havoc than Peeves on a sugar high.
By Year the Second at the Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, James Potter and Lily Evans were friends, sometimes chatting, sometimes laughing. But nothing more.
The gap between the two friends had widened considerably. No longer would Lily even THINK of sitting with James and his cronies at breakfast. No, Lily would hang out with HER friends. Alyssa, Tara, and Mariel.
No longer would James even CONSIDER sitting with Lily and her friends. No, James would hang out with HIS friends. Sirius, Remus, and Peter.
By Year the Third at the Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, James Potter and Lily Evans were acquaintances, rarely chatting, rarely laughing. But nothing more.
Aside from the occasional 'hi' in the hallways, the fact that Lily and James were once inseparable was taken to be a myth.
The Marauders, as James and his friends had dubbed themselves, got into mischief and mayhem whichever way they turned.
The Pink Ladies, as Lily and her friends had dubbed themselves, were perfect angels, acing all their classes, and generally being know-it-alls and tattle-tales.
By Year the Fourth at the Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, James Potter and Lily Evans were oblivious to the other, never chatting, never laughing. But nothing more.
The Marauders would play a prank, The Pink Ladies would report them. The Marauders would crack a joke, the Pink Ladies wouldn't laugh. The Pink Ladies would pull a prank. Everyone blamed the Marauders. The Pink Ladies would crack a joke, The Marauders wouldn't laugh.
It was a game of tug-of-war between the once very close friends.
By Year the Fifth at the Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, James Potter and Lily Evans were Mortal Enemies, spitting insults at each other, and laughing at the other. But nothing more.
James Potter would pull multiple tricks on Lily Evans, prefect. Lily could do nothing about it for the other prefect for Gryffindor, was Remus.
Lily Evans would get back at James Potter. James could do nothing about it for the other prefect for Gryffindor, was Remus.
The gap between the two once best friends, was wider than the Grand Canyon.
Whenever they made eye contact, one of them would hiss an insult at the other.
The Marauders declared war on The Pink Ladies.
The Pink Ladies agreed readily.
The War waged on throughout the year.
By Year the Sixth at the Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, James Potter and Lily Evans wanted nothing to do with the other, completely ignoring each other, no longer even laughing at the other. But nothing more.
No longer was there an in-house war. The War between the Marauders and The Pink Ladies was over. So much over in fact, that each group was so furious with the other, that they completely ignored them.
If one of them were assigned to do a project with a member of the other group, they'd both turn in the assignment, utterly refusing to work with the other.
James was the biggest flirt. Him and his gang were the best-looking boys in the entire school.
Lily was the exact opposite. She hated when guys tried to get her to go out with them. Her and her group were the best looking girls in the entire school.
Everyone thought that each group of friends should hook up with the other. If only they weren't ignoring the existence of the other group.
Countless guys pleaded with Lily, Alyssa, Tara, and Mariel to go out with them. All were shot down, getting the excuse that they were saving themselves for another. But in fact, there was no 'other'. None that they knew of anyway.
Countless girls pleaded with James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter to out with them. All were readily accepted, with the excuse that no girl was the same. But in fact, all the girls that threw themselves at them, WERE the same. Same personality, friends, etc.
Then one day, pandemonium ensued when James Potter turned down his first girl, saying that he was saving himself for another.
Hundreds of girls spent the entire day, crying. Until they realized that they had the rest of The Marauders to flirt with.
More pandemonium ensued when Sirius Black stood by his best friends side, and announced that he too, was saving himself for someone.
Thousands of weeping girls consoled themselves with having Remus and Peter.
Until Remus too, announced that there was someone special that he wanted.
Only the really desperate girls followed Peter around. But they had not given up. Although The Marauders might be saving themselves for a certain girl, they never specified WHICH so, it might have been one of them.
Needless to say, what The Marauders wanted, was something they never could have. The Marauders wanted the mirage in the middle of the desert. The last page that was torn out of a book. The calm in the middle of the storm.
The Marauders wanted The Pink Ladies.
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It was Year the Seventh at the Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Well, technically, it wasn't. I mean, well it was. But it wasn't.
The students were all congregating on Platform Nine and Three Quarters, wishing last goodbyes to their parents, telling them they'd write.
All the soon to be first years were crying and hugging their parents as if they'd never see them again.
All the soon to be second years were looking at the soon to be first years and hoping that they weren't like that.
All the soon to be third years were looking at the soon to be second years and hoping that they weren't like that.
All the soon to be fourth years couldn't bother with petty things like staring at other years, and instead wished their parents love, and promised to write.
All the soon to be fifth years were standing around wishing their parents love, not promising to write, because they knew they would forget anyway.
All the soon to be sixth years were hugging their parents goodbye, and wishing them love, knowing that even if they were to write to their parents, it wouldn't be anything worth knowing.
All the soon to be seventh years were standing around talking to each other, having been hugged and kissed goodbye in the car, before they were dropped off.
Except for Lily Evans. She had insisted that her parents come and see her off on her last year. They had obliged, and she was currently hugging both of them and promising that she'd write.
"Give Petunia my love for me."
"Of course we will. What'd you think that we'd make it sound like you went off without even thinking of your sister?"
Lily laughed. The train whistle sounded.
"Well, that's my cue. Bye mom. Love you much. Bye dad. Love you too. I promise I'll write! Don't give Petunia any of my stuff! Bye!" she yelled, running toward the train and joining the last few soon to be first years that were boarding. "Come ON you lot! The train will leave without you if you don't get moving!"
The sight of an angry soon to be seventh year was enough to spur on the movement of the frightened soon to be first years. Lily had never gotten on the train so quickly.
She had just stepped onto the train, when she felt it move beneath her feet. "Good thing you lot moved. I could just IMAGINE what Dumbledore would say if the Head Girl missed the train." She grinned at one frightened boy who seemed to be holding onto the door for dear life.
"Aw come on. It's not THAT bad. Here, I'll help you find a compartment." She shepherded the soon to be first years in front of her, and found an empty compartment for them to sit in. "There you go, I expect you'll find that comfy. See you around then." She shut the compartment door and walked off to go find her friends.
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"THERE you guys are!" Lily said exasperatedly after looking in every single compartment from the front of the train to the back of the train.
"Yeah, well we thought a change for our last year would be fine. How do you like – Oh My God. Lily Evans. You got Head Girl and you didn't TELL us???" Tara said in shock.
"LILY! I am your BEST friend and you didn't tell ME?" Alyssa whined playfully.
"Well I just wanted it to be a surprise. I guess you guys were surprised huh?"
"Yeah, no really Sherlock." Tara said sarcastically.
"So, do you know who Head Boy is?" Alyssa asked.
"Nope. Probably Remus though, because I mean, he was the most responsible out of all the boy prefects."
"I wouldn't be so sure. Sometimes the headmaster chooses someone who wasn't a prefect to be head boy or girl, you know, to spice things up a bit without two goody-two-shoes running things. No offense Lils." Mariel commented dryly.
"Well whoever it is, I'm sure I'll be fine with them...so long as it's not one of those STUPID Marauders."
"Oh lets not get on the topic please. We've exhausted it so many times going over how much we hate them." Tara said pointedly.
"I know I know." Lily replied, "It's just that I hate them so much. And James and I used to be FRIENDS!" She shivered as if to accent her point.
"He's so stuck up. I mean, walking around all day with that stupid fake snitch. Everyone KNOWS that it's programmed to zoom back into his hand!"
"I don't know Mar, it looks pretty real to me." Alyssa commented.
"Or how about the HAIR! Oh my Gawd! Can he NEVER get it to lie FLAT?" Tara asked laughing.
They continued to talk about The Marauders for a few minutes, cracking jokes at them in the safety of their compartment.
"Ohmigosh! Wouldn't it be weird if the Marauders were right outside our door LISTENING to everything we're saying?" Alyssa giggled.
"That's silly. Everyone KNOWS they sit up in the way front! I HATE JAMES POTTER." Lily yelled as a joke, causing everyone in the compartment to crack up.
And at precisely that moment, the object of her 'affections' tumbled in, along with the rest of his gang.
"Oh shoot." Mariel said, covering her mouth with her hands.
Lily snickered, "Well, speaking of the devil."
"What's your PROBLEM Evans?" James yelled, picking himself up off the floor.
"I don't know. What IS my problem?"
"I have been NOTHING but NICE to you since the day we-" he broke off, as The Pink Ladies busted out laughing.
"YOU have been nothing but nice to us? Well That is the LIE of the year!" Tara shouted at him.
"Ok, so maybe I haven't. But that doesn't mean you can treat us like dirt, talking about us behind our backs, insulting us when you think that we can't hear you."
"Oh I knew you could hear me...that's why I brought UP the topic in the first place."
James narrowed his eyes at her, "You WITCH!"
"Takes one to know one Potter."
"Is that all you got Evans?" James yelled angrily.
"No." she replied simply.
"James just forget it. We can't get into a fight in the middle of the train." Remus said pointedly.
"We're not in the middle of the train. We're at the end. So no one will hear them scream." James spat through his teeth.
"You know, I liked it better when you DIDN'T talk to us. It was much quieter and it smelled a lot nicer." Lily retorted coolly.
"You watch your back Evans. You're talking to the Head Boy here."
Lily didn't loose her calm exterior, despite the fact that she now knew what was Head Boy.
"Yeah, well you're talking to the Head Girl, so I suggest you hightail it out of here."
"What? You're Head Girl?" James sputtered.
"Yeah. Head-Girl. I can say it slower. Or are you too daft to even comprehend that?"
James glared at her and marched out. Sirius, Remus, and Peter followed silently.
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"What does she think she IS? Better than me?" James said, marching into THEIR compartment across the way.
"Apparently yeah." Sirius replied, shutting the door to their compartment.
"Sirius. Shut up." Remus said, hoping that Sirius would get the hint that James was furious and wasn't in the mood to be joked with. But unfortunately, Sirius was a bit slow when it came to people's emotions.
"Jamsie. Don't let Lily from the STUPID EARTHEN VALLEY get you down." Sirius said, not picking up Remus's hint.
"Sirius. Shut UP." Peter said. (Ok, PETER picked up Remus's hint. CUMMON SIRIUS)
"I don't get it...WHY IS EVERYONE TELLING ME TO SHUT UP??"
"SIRIUS! SHUT THAT ANNOYING HOLE IN YOUR FACE UP!" James yelled angrily.
Sirius got the hint and shut up.
"You're mad."
"Yeah, no really Sherlock!" James snapped, completely unaware that Tara had said the exact same thing only a little while ago.
"I'm just trying to help." Remus countered
"Well go help somewhere else!" James shouted angrily.
Remus stood, "Fine."
"No, I'm sorry. It's just that I am SO mad at her!" James said first apologetically and then angrily.
"Yeah well, no need to take it out on US." Sirius pointed out.
Remus sat down again, "James. You really need to be a bit more polite whenever you encounter Lily."
"Of the STUPID earthen valley." Sirius added.
"I mean, you really haven't been helping the situation."
"I know. I try though."
"Talking us into eavesdropping on their conversation and then getting into a yelling match with Lily is trying?" Peter asked honestly confused, "I don't get it James, what planet are YOU from?"
"Nothing. Sorry you guys. I know all of your feelings were hurt. I know it wasn't just me...but you'd think they'd try to help a little!!"
"They don't like us. We like them. See the problem?"
"Don't they get the HINT??"
"Well, we haven't exactly been 'hinting'." Remus said.
James put his head in his hands. For a few minutes, there was silence but for the rattling of the train beneath them.
"Sirius? When was it exactly that you started...liking Alyssa?" James asked, breaking the silence.
"Why do you want to know?"
"Dang it Sirius I just want to KNOW!" James said, losing his temper.
"Ok Ok Ok, Sorry for asking. Sheesh. I guess about the beginning of our third year..."
"Remus? Since you started liking Tara?" James asked, a hint of desperation in his voice.
"Since around the middle of our second year."
"Pete?"
"Who Mariel? I don't know honestly. Around the same time as Remus I think."
James lifted his head out of his hands.
"Second year?"
"Yeah about." Peter responded.
"James, when was it you first started liking Lily?" Remus asked, throwing oil on the fire.
James sighed angrily, "Since she moved into our neighborhood. I mean, at first I thought we were just good friends. I- I was SIX for crying out loud!"
Sirius whistled, "James finds his first love that will never love him back at the age of six. Oh dear."
James grinned, "Shut up Sirius, you sound like my mom."
"Ah your dear ol' mum. Wonder how she's fairin' with you out of the ol' house an' all."
The Marauders started to laugh.
James thought to himself, 'In spite of anything that happens, we are and will always be, The Marauders.'
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Lily was sitting alone in their compartment because her friends had gone to find the lady with the food trolley.
Lily sighed and noted how nice and peaceful it was rattling along in the Hogwarts Express, watching the scenery go by.
That is until Lucius Malfoy decided to show his pretty little face in the compartment.
"Ah, pretty little Lily. Grown more lovely over the summer I see. Would be a shame to destroy that heavenly face. So I suggest you don't get on the wrong side of me." He finished, grabbing her shirt collar.
"I wasn't intending to Malfoy. And DON'T call me 'Lily'" she said, looking down at his hand pointedly.
"Snappy today are we?" Lucius hissed.
"Yes, WE are. So I suggest you let go of my shirt collar before I let loose on you."
"Oh I wouldn't be so sure of that. Pretty Lily beat ME up?"
"I TOLD you not to call me 'Lily' and let GO of my shirt!"
"Oh but Lily I WANT to hex you and curse you and slam you up against walls for even THINKING you belong to this school you filthy mudblood. And I can't do any of that if I relinquish my hold on your shirt." He said, slamming Lily up against the window.
"LET GO OF ME" Lily said, a little louder this time.
Lucius took no heed, "None of your little friends to save you this time Pretty Lily."
"I don't NEED to be saved." She spat at him, "and DON'T call me 'Lily'!"
"No one to hear you scream." Lucius countered dangerously. Suddenly, he crumpled to the floor, unconscious.
"I said that first Filthy Pureblood." James said, holding a large book in one hand, and glaring angrily at the still form of Lucius Malfoy.
"I don't NEED to be saved." Lily repeated for James's benefit.
"I know. I did it out of the kindness of my heart."
"Oh yeah right. Like there's KINDNESS in there." She said, pointing at where his heart was located.
"Yeah. Yeah there is. Evans, listen to me."
"Why?" she asked, fixing him with a piercing stare.
"Because I need to talk to you. Now. Before we get to school."
"Well maybe we could get the idiot out before you spill your secrets to little petty me." She said, grabbing Lucius's wrists and trying to pull him out of her carriage.
James grabbed Lucius's ankles and helped her tow him out to the hallway, then he had Lily sit down in her seat, and he shut the door, and locked it.
"What do you want Potter?"
"I want to be friends...again."
"Fat chance."
"Why."
"Why what?"
"Why is there a fat chance that we'll be friends again?"
"You're a complete prat to me! You NEVER since we were in 3rd year gave me the time of day. Oh sure you played multiple tricks on me. Countless of times I lay awake, hoping my hair would turn back to it's NORMAL COLOR. Dozens of times I slept by the fire because my bed was infested with insects! HUNDREDS of times I had to RE-WRITE FOUR FOOT essays because you 'ACCIDENTALLY' spilled something on it! THOUSANDS OF TIMES I had to spend an ENTIRE DAY in the hospital wing because you decided it would be FUNNY to have things randomly DROP on me! MILLIONS OF TIMES I've lain awake in my bed CRYING because of the EMBARRASMENT AND HUMILIATION you PUT ME THROUGHT THAT DAY! You expect me to just say 'Ok James, lets be best friends again'???"
"What do you mean I was the prat??? EVERY SINGLE LITTLE PRANK you and your stupid friends pulled on someone, it was ALWAYS OUR fault! You know how many times we have been in detention for something YOU GUYS did??? It's up in the HUNDREDS NOW EVANS! THE HUNDREDS! Not ONCE not TWICE, HUNDREDS OF TIMES we served YOUR detentions for you! And never. Not even ONCE did ANY of us tell the teacher it was you guys that did it. You know why? Because we are chivalrous like that."
"If I had pumpkin juice, I would have spit it out all over you after that last line."
"What? You don't think we are chivalrous!"
"Do you even KNOW what that MEANS?"
"YES! IT MEANS NOBLE, GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP-LIKE. SOMETHING YOU OBVIOUSLY DON'T HAVE!"
"What did you want to talk to me about?" Lily said, suddenly calm.
"To be your friend."
"And I've already said fat chance. So there was no point in yelling at me."
"Me yell at YOU? You started it!"
"I would NEVER start yelling. I have to be provoked by yelling first."
James laughed angrily at the hypocrisy of that statement, "Look, just forget it. I knew you wouldn't be able to get it through your thick skull that I wanted to be friends." He marched out of her compartment, and a minute later, her friends came back.
"GOD I HATE HIM!" Lily said vehemently at them.
"Yeah, I heard you guys yelling at each other from two cars down. What was the argument about?" Mariel asked, munching on a chocolate frog.
"Nothing really. He wanted to be my friend again. I told him fat chance with him treating me like he did. He went off and yelled at me about how he never said a word about how it was us pulling the pranks when he served our detentions. It never occurs to him to just GIVE UP because EVERY TIME we talk, we end up yelling at each other and I just can't STAND IT!" Lily practically shouted.
"Well, how do you expect to be Head Girl if he's Head Boy?" Tara pointed out matter-of-factly.
"I don't know...I guess I'll just resign. I mean, I really CANNOT work with that THING they call a boy. Really I can't." Lily sighed bitterly. "I'm going to go walk up and down the cars, you know, get some thinking done.
"Ok." Alyssa agreed sympathetically.
"Just watch out for Malfoy...for some reason he decided to take a nap right outside the doorway." Mariel said.
Lily almost laughed, until she realized just who had made Lucius take this said nap. "I'll be back soon you guys. Save some food for me." And with that, she was gone.
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"What's eating her?" Tara asked as soon as Lily had gone.
"Just James Potter the oversized moth." Alyssa said.
"And Lily is the cloth." Mariel added.
"It's just so stupid. Potter wants to be her friend, why can't she just accept it? She doesn't have to hang out with them, just talk to him once in a while, not shout at him every time they talk. Is it really that hard?" Tara asked pointedly lowering her voice as they heard the door across the way open and shut again.
"Well I guess for Lily it is. You have to understand though, Lily is really a great girl. It's just that when she gets mad at someone, it's normally for good, unless the other person takes the initiative and apologizes first, and even then sometimes she doesn't forgive them. Potter didn't apologize, and he never will apologize. Sometimes I think that even if he did apologize, the hurt in Lily is so big, that even then she won't accept it. Honestly though, I really think she needs to get over it. One way or the other, she needs to let go. Either he doesn't exist, or he is a friend. But it needs to happen. I can't bare to see her this upset all the time."
"But" began Tara, "whichever way she chooses she needs to be happy."
"Oh of course."
"The only thing I don't get, is why the sudden interest? I mean, he never used to give her the time of day, much less HIS time of day." Mariel piped in quizzically.
"Yeah...I was wondering that too..."
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Lily was walking down to the front of the train. She didn't know what teachers were up there talking to the prefects or whatever they did, but she desperately needed to talk to one of them.
She got to the compartment that said 'Teachers'. She could see the silhouettes of the teachers. Her two least favorite teachers. Of course. It HAD to be them. Professor Stelts and Professor Gorbanza. Stilts and Beans. She sighed. OF course.
She turned around and walked slower down to the end of the train, this time, she really did do some thinking.
'What is with James? Why does he suddenly want to be my friend? Have I done anything to give the impression that I wanted to be his friend? I don't think so, except for maybe the thing with Lucius...not a hint. Argh. What have I done to deserve this type of friendship? I mean, Ok, so we were best friends since I moved to his street...how old was I anyway? Six? I have to admit that yeah I had a crush on him for a while...maybe from six to twelve? Just a little while. (sigh) Lily! You idiot. I don't know why you fell for him in the first place. Then he started to hang out with Sirius. Ugh. I don't know what those girls SEE in him. Remus was ok, I mean, we were both Gryffindor prefects, he had to have SOME control. So I guess you kind of-no. That's a lie. You were the one who made a new friend and started to spend less time with him, so he made new friends. He always admired them anyway. What am I saying? I'm going off topic. Why did he want to be my friend?? There's really only ONE explanation and I REALLY don't like it. I mean, he can't like me. Not now. Not here. Maybe in another life, but he can't. Because I hate his guts and he hates my guts. Right? Oh I don't know. You know I must look really funny walking from one end of the train to the other. (laugh) I don't know. WHY is he even AFFECTING me like this??? I mean, ok. It's understandable. The thing has made my life a living NIGHTMARE. And granted the nightmare didn't begin till year four...but really, I mean, why did we get so far apart? Was it just because we had new friends? Or was it because our interests were different? Or was it because I wasn't fun? Or it embarrassed him to hang out with me? And why did I make a new friend? Oh. I remember now. Because I was having boy problems, and I couldn't talk to James about it. God I hope he doesn't like me.'
Lily came out of her trance to find that she had walked back and forth from the front of the car to the back of the car, to the front of the car, to the back of the car.
She sighed as she found herself in between her and James's compartments. She was about to open up the door to her compartment, when she decided against it, and instead, knocked tentatively on James's door.
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"Oi, James, door." Sirius mumbled, rolling over.
James sighed. 'That's what you get for being the only one awake.' He thought to himself.
"How can I help-oh. You. What do you want." He asked coldly.
"I just wanted to apologize for the way I've been acting...lately. If we're going to be Head Boy and Girl, we might as well cooperate."
"Fat chance." James said, slamming the door in her face.
Lily glared angrily at the closed door and shoved her way into her own compartment.
A/N: Wow, first chappy over and done with...second chappy coming up soon! Reviews welcome! (I'm hoping for at least 5!) Aur Revoir!
-Il Pleut