Chapter Seven

James spent much of his break lounging around with Sirius and messing around with the gifts they had received. The box Lily had given to James had turned out to be a midnight black scarf and a matching pair of gloves. Lily had gotten them personalized with James' initials in a beautiful gold cursive font. James' mother had insisted that he write Lily a thank-you card but he hadn't heard back from her.
In early January the weather turned unseasonably warm and the WWS (Wizard Weather Station) had predicted the temperatures to stay high until well after Hogwarts students would be returning to classes so James put the gifts aside with his clothes to pack for school.

On January 5th, James and Sirius caught the bus to the train station and made the walk through the wall onto platform 9 3/4 together. They walked down the train until they found an empty compartment to put their trunks in. As they stepped down from the train, they spotted Remus walking towards them through the thick crowd.
"Hey, guys," he said as he reached them.
"Hey, Remus, had a good break?" James replied as he helped his friend with his trunk.
"Yeah, great, thanks."
But James had spotted a mass of red locks dragging her trunk through the crowd.
"I'll be right back…I'll uhh, meet you in the compartment," he said before walking over.
"Hi, Lily," he said, his lips turning up at the edges.
Lily lifted her head to see who was addressing her. There was a slight pink in her cheeks and she was breathing heavily.
She dropped her trunk and it hit the floor with a loud bang.
"Oh, hey James," she replied.
"How was your break?" he asked.
"Oh really good, thanks. And sorry I didn't reply to your card but I was traveling, visiting friends all break, you know, doing anything to get away from George. So I was really busy." Pause. "I really liked your gift though...it's beautiful." She held her hand up to show him the ring on her finger.
"I'm glad you liked it," James replied. He glanced at her trunk. "Do you need some help with that?" he offered.
"Oh, umm, yeah sure...if you don't mind. That would be great."
"No problem...our compartment is just there," he pointed.
"That'll be fine, thanks," she replied and followed behind James as he carried her luggage onto the train.

"Lily!" they heard a voice call behind her. The pistons hissed to announce that they were ready to leave. Lily turned.
"Ben?" she asked as she saw a tall boy with wavy brown hair run towards her compartment.
He reached where she was standing and stopped to catch his beathe. Steam billowed from the train.
"What is it, Ben? Quickly, the train is leaving!" she urged.
"You forgot something," her replied, pulling an envelope out of his pocket.
"Oh..thanks-"
"Lily, is this your..brother?" James asked, hesitating slightly.
"Oh, sorry," the boy said, looking over at him. "I'm Ben, Lily's boyfriend."
He held out his hand to shake James'. James just stared at him.
"Right..Ben this is James, my uhh, friend. Look you really have to go now," she said hurriedly as the train began to roll forward.
"Oh, yeah, right. Have a great term and I'll write you soon" he said.
"Bye," Lily replied quickly.
"Nice meeting you," he said to James. He kissed Lily lightly, "See ya, Lils."