Chapter Two

James sat in one of the carriages on board the Hogwarts Express, eyes narrowed darkly. The weather perfectly matched his mood, rain lashing viciously against the glass, the sky grey as far as the eye could see.

"I hate her. I hate her. Guess what…"

"You hate her?" suggested Sirius calmly.

"Hell yes," James snapped back. "More then anything in the world. I mean, this year was supposed to be a great year for me. THE year, you know? But then she had to go and ruin it!"

Sirius shared a look with Lupin, who sat opposite them. "Don't kill me for pointing out that it wasn't exactly her fault James," said Lupin as he turned another page of the Daily Prophet. Both he and Sirius were used to James's little outbursts - ok, so they weren't that little!

"What's wrong mate?" asked Sirius. "We're used to you going on about Evans. We make her life hell all the time and she does the same to us. It's always been that way, since first year, but lately you've been…"

"Kind of obsessed?" put in Peter Pettigrew, the other member of their little gang.

James took a while to say anything. "Sure I am. She's head girl now. She's just made my job ten times harder then usual. That's why I hate her…more then I did before".

Remus sighed. He knew that Lily and James had always been rivals, as did everyone else. It had started in their fifth year when he had jokingly asked her out - and she'd turned him down. Furious at how she'd humiliated him, James had made it his personal goal to make her as miserable as possible. But ever since learning that they'd been made head boy and head girl, his mood had been worse then ever.

"You realise this means we're going to be working together…a lot? You guys, we're gonna have to come up with …."

"Even worse then what we did last year? That'll be hard to beat!" laughed Sirius. " Remember? With the magic ink all down her dress when she went on that date with Danny on valentines day? And the worms that she almost ate? Oh…and then when we accidentally turned her into pig and she stayed like it for the whole week?"

"Like it was yesterday," sighed James. " Wish I could remember how we did that! We'll just have to think of something…." his voice trailed off. "Anyway," he finished abruptly. "Enough talk about Lily…I mean…Evans. Did you hear who we're up against in Quidditch first this year? It's…"

"Stop trying to change the subject!" they all said at the same time.

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"I can't believe it! I just can't!" said lily. Her carriage was as different from James's as you could get. It was so crowded you could barely see the door leading in. Both sets of seats were packed with students who listened to her every word in awe.

Her closest friends sat by her side. "Lily, it'll be ok," said Astrid, who grinned at Sarah when Lily wasn't looking. Sarah sat on Lily's other side by the window. People were still trying to get in to the carriage, everyone wanted to be around Lily Evans.

"I think Dumbledore's gone crazy myself," Astrid continued as comfortingly as she could.

"Absolutely. I mean, James Potter as head boy? Please," added Sarah.

"Right," nodded Lily. "All he cares about is Quidditch and making people's lives a misery. Remember all that stuff he did to us last year?"

"Do I ever," said Astrid, narrowing her eyes. "I'm never going to forgive any of them in a million years - especially Sirius!"

"You watch," said Lily, stealing some chocolate from someone opposite her. "He can't go more then a second without breaking the rules. This won't last long and then the nightmare will be over!"

The trio continued to talk of anything besides the marauders gang. What they had done that summer, what their plans after school were, anything. Lily laughed and joked with the rest, trying her best to get the image of james out of her mind - which was surprisingly hard to do.

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"So they didn't get off to the best start then?" asked Harry.

The adults in the room smiled at each other. "Something like that," said Dumbledore kindly.

"Hated each other," laughed Sirius.

"Couldn't stand being in the same room together, let alone anything else," added Remus. "It had always been that way".

The room became quiet again as everyone got lost in their memories of the famous Lily and James feud.

"So?" asked Harry. "What happened next?"

TBC