Lily's POV

The afternoon passed quickly and they arrived at the station by nightfall. Lily pulled her Hogwarts clock around her and she and her friends headed towards the carriages. They parted with the boys and climbed into one of the empty carriages. Once inside they all began to talk at once (AGAIN!)

"Boy! Sirius was looking pretty good today wasn't he Nairi?" Jaden said slyly looking at her friend.

"Of course he was! He's probably the best looking guy in school except for Christopher Wood the Quidditch captain." Nairi grinned

"I dunno girls, James Potter was looking pretty good today. It's adorable how his hair sticks out all over the place" Kiara said gleefully.

"Well James is cute but I don't think he likes me you guys" and I'd really like him to like me Lily added silently to herself.

"Ohhh please how could anyone who's not a Slytherin, not like you?"

"But Jaden he never talks to me alone!"

"Maybe he doesn't know what to say" Nairi and Jaden said simultaneously. They both grinned ruefully, they had a habit of doing that.

"Hmmm I dunno I still think that he doesn't like me" Lily said doubtfully.

"Whatever Lils he probably LIKE likes you and so he's shy about talking"

"Kiara you're such a blond!"

"Yeah hun but I'm your blond unless James, Sirius or Chris Wood decide to take on that responsibility"

As the carriage exploded in laughter Lily knew why she was so eager to return to Hogwarts.

James's POV

As he climbed out of the carriage, or rather was pushed out by Sirius he caught a glimpse of Lily's long red hair. He and the other students hurried into the Great Hall, all the while he tried to keep her in sight.

"Jamesie my lad why don't you go sit next to the poor girl and be happy?" whispered a voice in his ear.

He turned around and glared at Sirius and asked "what are you talking about stupid?"

"Ohhh please Jamesie! You can't take your eyes off her and you ask what I'm talking about? You should be trying to figure out what you'll talk about when you sit next to her at the feast."

"I'm NOT sitting next to her!"

Yes you ARE cuz I want to sit by Nairi"

"Why so she can beat you senseless again?" he asked sarcastically.

"My dear Jamesie how many times must I tell you? That was an act of pure passion."

"Really we'll see how 'passionate' she gets when I tell her you said that"

"No you won't lad because you will be wowing Miss Evans with your, ummm, stunning intellect"

As they neared the Gryffindor table and sat down James glared at Sirius and said "I'm gonna beat you senseless"

Sirius was about to reply when Nairi leaned over to James in front of Sirius and said "James that's my job, I'll do it ever so much better than you would"

"Of course you will doll" Sirius said gravely, slipping his arm around her. "After the feast you can beat me as much as you want"

James grinned as Sirius ducked the spoon that threaten to bonk him on the head. Btu his grin faded as he turned to Lily.

"So ahhh Lily how was your summer?" oh that's great Potter you ask about the stupidest stuff sometimes.

"It was fine thank you and yours?" Her voice was cool and collected and definitely not interested.

"Ummm it was good thanks-"and with that she turned to face Kiara who was sitting across the table with Remus.

'Well there was a cold shoulder if I ever got one' he thought grimly. Next to him Sirius was still trying to put the moves on Nairi, across from him Remus was holding an animated conversation with Kiara and next to him Jaden was holding Peter and Chris Wood captivated with whatever she was saying. 'Probably more interesting than how was your summer?' honestly sometimes I'm such a git I wonder why people call me clever.

Just then the new transfiguration teacher McGonagall drew their attention to the front where the 1st years were being sorted. Memories of his first night in Hogwarts surfaced and he zoned out while the youngsters were sorted into each of the four houses. It wasn't until a sharp smack in the head that he came out of his musings.

"What was that for Sirius?"

His best friend merely nodded towards the table now loaded with food "ohhh" Sirius grinned and went right on stuffing his face.

Finally they were as Dumbledore put it "fed and watered" and the whole school rose and sang the school song and went to bed. As he lay down in his four poster bed his last thought was whether he would ever be able to talk to Lily without sounding like he was stupid cuz he couldn't think of anything to say.

Lily's POV

She and her friends stayed up late into the night discussing (you guessed it) the Marauders. Their other housemate Meranda Daae was dating a Ravenclaw 6th year, Sam Chang who was Seeker for their Quidditch team but she still liked discussing James, Remus, Sirius, and Chris. Actually Meranda was always up for a conversation on all topics.

The first time Lily met Meranda she was expecting a snob. With her dark good looks Meranda was from a long line of Egyptian wizards who were very well off. However as soon as they started talking Lily was pleasantly surprised by Meranda's down-to-earth attitude.

Bright and early (too early) the next morning Lily heard her alarm go off. Groggily she looked though the hangings around her bed and saw her housemates starting to awaken. Just then Nairi and Jaden jumped out of bed each intent on being the first into the shower. Lily laughed, those two especially where always trying to out do each other. Just then Kiara said indignantly "hey what about me?"

"What about you Kiara?" came Nairi's unrepentant voice.

"Yeah there's still gonna be hot water left, geeze Kiara what do you take us for?" Jaden joined in.

"What about poor Lily and Meranda huh Kiara? You're always thinking about yourself, honestly."

"Nairi do you really want to be thrown into the common room naked?" Kiara threatened.

"Well that depends will Sirius be there? And will he be naked too?" Nairi laughed

"NAIRI MADDEN!!!"

"Ouch Jaden!" Nairi came out of the bathroom rubbing the back of her head grinning.

Moments later Jaden came out of the bathroom glaring at her, Lily heard her muttering "honestly...needs help...crazy"

Lily laughed and hurried into the bathroom for a chance at the shower.

James's POV

"Well 4th years welcome back, I hope you enjoyed your summer because you won't be getting another break until June." The whole class groaned loudly, but Professor Montag didn't even raise an eyebrow, "As you all know you will take your OWL's 5th year and I want you to be adequately prepared!"

"But Professor we don't take OWL's until the end of 5th year!"

"I am aware of that Mr. Black however since you have yet to manage a simple repelling charm from last year you should be anxious for all the help you can get."

James grinned; as much as he liked his best friend he knew Sirius wasn't a top student. "Hey Sirius!" he whispered, "Maybe you should study with Nairi"

"Why so she can have an EXCUSE to repel me!?! Sure..."

The rest of the class period was spent taking notes and reviewing things from last year when Montag finally let them break for lunch James wondered how he was suppose to remember all that and the things in other classes.

Luckily, or maybe unfortunately the person that was best a t Charms was none other than Miss Lily Evans. To James this meant and opportunity to be with her, IF she was willing to tutor him in Charms. He really didn't need that much help but for the sake of conversation he was more than willing to pretend.

As he approached the Gryffindor table he saw Remus and Kiara already deep in conversation. He smiled, there was a good match and it wasn't event the end of the 1st week. He sat down next to Sirius who was looking rather grim, probably at the reminder that he didn't get the best marks on his Charms exam last year.

Rather ruefully he wondered if his tongue would work if/when he asked Lily to tutor him. From previous experience he had the feeling that the answer was no. After lunch on the way to Professor Savera Lee's class he caught up with Lily.

"Ummm Lily will you hold on a minute?" She looked somewhat surprised but complied," Ummm will you tutor me in Charms?"

The question came out in a rush. She looked even more confused and said, "But you got good marks last year"

Bloody hell! "Well ummm that was last year and I studied really hard."

"Well, sure if you think you need help how about Thursday nights in the library?"

"That would be great!" He could have done a victory dance. w00t w00t!

Lily's POV

As she and her friends trudged to Professor Lee's class she wondered why James Potter would need her help with charms, she would have expected Sirius to try and get her to tutor him but James was a good student and athlete.

Once they reached the classroom thoughts of James flew out of her mind. Potions was a hard class but one of her favorites Professor Lee was a graduate of Hogwarts and one of the few teachers that actually remembered what it was like being a student. Not that, that time was too far off. Rumor was that Professor Lee had graduated 2 years ago and gotten her teaching credentials really fast. Most of the students figured she was more than 21. Too bad she isn't head of Gryffindor House, Lily thought that would be major fun.

The rest of the afternoon was spent relearning things that they had forgotten and when dinner rolled around everyone looked worse for the wear.

"Hey kids what do you want to do after dinner?" Even Jaden's usually cheerful voice was strained and tired.

"Sleep until next summer break, that's what I wanna do" mumbled Nairi "No jokes!" She said to Sirius who had opened his mouth and looked like he was going to say something naughty.

"I wasn't going to say anything nasty", he said indignantly," why is it you always expect the worst from me?"

"So when you actually say something pervert free she can be doubly excited" interjected James who smiled evilly at his outraged best friend.

A/N: ok I don't really know where this is going, well I have a whole other section written but I don't know how to connect the two, I guess I have section on the lessons and such that Lily is going to be giving James, then the part i've written but still need to type. ok this could take me awhile, so bear with me please