The Journey Back

Summary: One-shot offshoot of Jelly Is Good! Universe. LEJP Sixth year, before Jelly Is Good! starts. Will make sense to those who haven't read Jelly Is Good

Disclaimer: Have a guess.

Yes, the Jelly Is Good! universe does belong to Larka, but she has kindly allowed both Lamia and I to borrow it for some off-shoots. So this is Hepsa writing.

Anyway, this is set before Jelly Is Good! starts, on the train ride after sixth-year. Beta-ed by Larka and Lamia. Enjoy!

Lily Evans sat contentedly in a compartment of the Hogwarts Express, reading a book, and listening to her friends bicker.

'Caroline,' said Sarah Davies loudly. Caroline Hawling was telling, or rather, rambling a particularly uninteresting story, and needed to be stopped. 'Caroline. Caroline!'

'Yes?' replied Caroline, finally stopping to look at her.

'You're an idiot, you know that, right?'

'Hooray!'

'Quite.'

Lily snorted in laugher. Suzie Gibson, who had been dreamily looking through the window, giggled and then said, sighing, 'I can't believe sixth year is ending!'

'Quite,' said Lily, getting giggles from Caroline and Sarah.

'I mean, so much has happened this year!' clarified Suzie.

'Quite,' put in Caroline.

'Shut up! And next year is going to be our last year at Hogwarts. I mean, only one more year of us being in the same dorm! Can you believe it?'

'Only one more year of Potions homework!' said Sarah.

'Only one more year of fighting with Min-Min,' sighed Caroline, thinking up more ways to torture Professor McGonagall into early retirement.

'Only one more year of James Potter,' said Lily.

Suddenly the door burst open and James Potter himself entered the room, with the other Marauders coming up behind him.

'Ah, my dear ladies, I'm afraid we're going to have to sit with you,' announced James, sitting himself down next to Lily, 'You see, Peter here was a bit lonely without Gibson, and we decided to accompany him.'

'James, you told us we were going to the food trolley,' said Peter Pettigrew.

'That's beside the point, Wormtail, beside the point,' said James, 'Now, Evans, how are you this fine morning?'

'It's the afternoon and it's raining, Potter,' said Lily dryly.

James glanced out the window. So it was.

'Well, I happen to find rain very fine,' he said.

'Not when you're playing Quidditch,' commented Remus Lupin, grinning at him from the seat across.

'What's this, Contradict James Day?'

'Yes.'

'Oh. Is that a good enough excuse for a feast?'

'No, it's really not,' said Lily, glaring at him, then at Remus, 'In fact, get out of here! More than six people in one compartment is too crowded and simply unsafe.'

'Evans, it's perfectly safe,' said James.

'No, it's not!' growled Lily, 'What if the train lurched or something, and we all got squished together, with our trunks, and our pets, and that would be a really uncomfortable situation!'

'It's not going to happen, Evans!'

'Yes it will! We will all be squished together in one big glump of people!'

Caroline suddenly had that look in her eyes, the one which meant that she was going to insinuate. Lily knew she had to get out, and get out fast.

'Never mind, then. I'll go. Thanks a lot,' she said, and she did so.

'Evans! Wait!' called James, and he hurried after her.

'Oh, now there are only six people in the compartment,' commented Remus blandly, to break the silence that was forming.

'Oh, yeah,' agreed Sarah in the same tone, 'Exploding Snap, anyone?'

'Evans!' said James, catching up to her and walking beside her.

'Why are you following me, Potter?' growled Lily.

'There were still seven people in there, someone else had to go,' he replied. Lily raised her eyebrows at him, clearly not believing him, but he continued, 'No one other than us cares about the safety regulations, my Lily Flower. We're alone, just the two of us against the world.'

'Oh, please!' snorted Lily, but she was finding, to her dismay, that her defences were lowering and her tolerance increasing.

'What matters is that I'm here, and talking to you. It doesn't matter why. Now, what are you doing this summer?'

'This summer? I'm going to my sister's wedding.'

'Oh?'

'She's marrying some great oaf, Dursley or something. I've never met him before. I don't think Petunia wants him to know about me, and, well, our world.'

'So this will be the first time you're meeting him, then?'

'Yes, I just said that.'

'Need some back-up?'

'What?'

'I'll go with you.'

'I do not need back-up! And I am certainly not inviting you to my sister's wedding! She already hates me enough as it is, without you coming along and throwing Dungbombs at her and her new husband!'

'I wouldn't throw Dungbombs at them!'

'No, you wouldn't. You'd charm their hair to fall out, or something equally embarrassing and dreadful.'

'You have no faith in me, Evans.'

'You're right. I don't."

Back in the carriage, Peter and Suzie were sitting in a corner, talking quietly and occasionally making out, which distracted all from card games whenever this happened, which in Sirius' case, lost him an eyebrow.

Remus and Sarah were sitting next to each other, sharing various goodies from the trolley and discussing boring subjects such as the weather. They were at a rather awkward stage in their relationship: not quite just friends, but nowhere near dating either. This was annoying for the both of them, as they couldn't really talk just the two of them for long without one of them saying something embarrassing, and effectively ending the conversation. This was aggravating as until a few weeks ago, they could have talked about anything, with no limits and not any particularly high amount of mortification, but now… things were different. They would have liked it if other people were talking with them, but James and Lily were gone, Peter and Suzie were snogging, and Caroline and Sirius were playing cards.

'I won again,' said Caroline, almost in a bored tone, 'You know what to do.'

'I've, um, used up all my stocks of chocolate,' moaned Sirius, 'How about you give me some?'

'Well…' said Caroline, considering, 'Nah. I won't. Accio chocolate!'

Various amounts of chocolate from Honeydukes' zoomed out of Sirius' pockets and into Caroline's outstretched hands.

'Thank you, dear,' she grinned, as she unwrapped a chocolate frog and stuffed it into her mouth.

'So… another round?'

'No, I've out-chocolated you.'

'I can provide much more than just chocolate,' Sirius shot back, grinning and raising an eyebrow.

'Maybe so, I don't want any of your other services, Black,' said Caroline, completely unfazed as she continued calmly unwrapping and consuming chocolate. She surveyed the compartment speculatively. 'I need a new victim. Suzie?'

Suzie and Peter, having been completely unaware of the conversation to this point, turned to look at her.

'Want to play chocolate poker?'

'What's that?' asked Peter.

'You play poker, and she wins, subsequently taking your chocolate,' said Sarah.

'It's like strip poker, but not,' volunteered Sirius. There was a pause as everyone looked at him.

'You idiot,' said Remus.

'Quite,' said Sarah, and she, Suzie and Caroline burst into giggles.

Lily found that she was actually enjoying herself with James. They had wandered up and down the Hogwarts Express, greeting various students, who had all been shocked to see the sight of Lily Evans being friendly to James Potter, which was a rare one indeed.

They were having a pleasant conversation about books. Lily was surprised to find that he, like her, loved the Muggle classics; she knew that he wasn't just saying that to impress her because he told her before she told him.

'I love the bit in the middle,' said Lily, as they discussed Pride and Prejudice, 'Where Mr. Darcy, when he was a complete git, proposes, and Lizzie simply refuses.'

'Yes, but in the end she does accept his proposal,' pointed out James. Lily frowned slightly.

'Yes, yes, and that's sweet, but I still like the earlier part.'

'I like the later part.'

They walked in silence for a few seconds.

'Lily,' said James. Lily looked up in surprise at the use of her first name, 'Lily sounds like Lizzie.'

'Yes, it does,' said Lily, and, remembering how she often imagined herself being Lizzie, 'I've realised that before.'

'Then I have hope,' he said, smiling. Lily looked at him, confused.

'What do you mean?'

'Well, Lizzie eventually accepts Mr. Darcy's proposal, and Lily, meaning you, Evans, will eventually accept mine.'

Lily remembered instantly why she hated James Potter.

'Just because my name's similar to Lizzie's does not mean I will ever consider going out with you, Potter,' she spat, and she stormed off down the corridor.

James paused, sighing sadly, and then yelled, 'Did I push my luck?'

There was no reply.

There was chaos in the carriage. Chocolate wrappers lay strewn about on the floor, Peter, Suzie and Sirius were lying up in the luggage rack, and Sarah and Remus were standing on the seats, desperately protecting their chocolate stash. Caroline, meanwhile, was on the sugar-high to end all sugar-high. She had decided to sing a nursery rhyme to the accompaniment of her own giggles, presumably on the mistaken assumption that it was amusing.

'I'm scared,' whispered Peter.

'Me too, Wormtail, me too,' said Remus, 'But I'm not hiding in the luggage rack; I'm facing the problem head-on.'

'That's because there's no more room in the luggage rack,' said Sarah dryly.

'True… but beside the point.'

Everyone then dropped all conversation and stared as Caroline began to dance. It was truly terrifying.

'Look at that!' squeaked Suzie, her eyes widening in horror as Caroline waved her arms around in quite violent motions.

Suddenly there was a flash of light, and although Caroline continued dancing seemingly without noticing it, it knocked Remus and Sarah into each other on the floor, both blushing madly and stammering slightly as they got up. The others, seeing this, held on tightly to the luggage rack to avoid something of this sort happening to them.

Another flash of light came, and Sarah and Remus clambered into the luggage rack into the bare minimum of room that remained so that the five of them were squeezed together in a painful way only recommended for those who don't require breathing.

'What is that light?' asked Remus.

'I can't breathe,' said Suzie, under his weight.

'It's Caroline's magic. She's gone a little stir-crazy, and her hyperness is sending out spells,' explained Sarah, as another wave shot out, turning the chocolate wrappers into birds, who all flew around the carriage and squawked.

'How do you know?' asked Peter.

'She does it every train ride. Eats way too much chocolate. It's tradition,' said Sarah, ducking as a bird swooped near her head.

'How do you stop her?' asked Sirius, 'Or does she run around and let out bursts of magic until she exhausts herself?' He laughed at the thought of them not having a solution, but soon stopped when he realised that Sarah and Suzie weren't giving an answer.

'Is that what you actually do? You wait for her energy to run out?' said Remus, slightly horrified.

'Well… yes.'

Remus, Peter and Sirius looked gobsmacked, and quite afraid. Sarah added, slightly angrily, 'If you have any ideas, share them with us, please!'

Caroline squealed joyfully as the train lurched. The other five, not able to hold on properly in their squished-up state, shot onto the floor in a heap. Caroline giggled, and the door opened; it was Lily. She looked at the birds, at the heap of people, and at Caroline, and sighed.

'Stupefy,' she said, rolling her eyes. Caroline fell onto the others, unconscious. Sarah, looking up at her from the bottom of the pile, looked dumbfounded.

'Why didn't we think of that?'

'Because you're idiots, that's why,' replied Lily, stepping over Suzie's arm and into a seat, vanishing the birds with a wave of her wand. The group pulled themselves off each other, groaning in pain.

'Shuffle back to your compartment, boys, we need to change,' said Lily commandingly.

'If that's what I'd be missing, I'm not shuffling anywhere,' said Sirius.

Lily laughed in a strange, almost eerie way.

'Oh, you're shuffling, Sirius Black, you're shuffling.'

'But –'

'SHUFFLE ALONG, PEOPLE!' yelled Sarah, and finally the boys slouched out, Peter having blown a kiss to Suzie first, Remus rubbing his arm from the fall, and Sirius glaring half-heartedly at Lily, who simply glared back, but full strength.

By the time everyone was wearing Muggle clothing, they were at Kings' Cross. The girls had revived Caroline once the boys had left; she found how she had acted in her chocolate-induced sugar-high absolutely hilarious, as per usual.

'Did I really turn the wrappers into birds?' she asked as they heaved their trunks off the train.

'Yes,' snapped Lily, 'How many times do we have to tell you?'

Ever since her argument with James, Lily had been in a bad mood, snapping more often than was necessary, and generally being unpleasant.

'Just asking,' said Caroline breezily, as she helped Suzie put her trunk onto a trolley.

'Yes, well, don't next time,' said Lily sourly. Caroline raised her eyebrows at Suzie, and the two went off to find a trolley. Sarah, meanwhile, went over to Lily.

'What's wrong, Lily?'

'Nothing!'

'Oh, don't say that, something is wrong, you just won't tell us. It's James, isn't it? You were off with him for ages, and since you came back you've been annoyed. Who did he prank?'

'He didn't prank anyone! He just went on about how we were going to end up together. But it's not going to happen, Sarah. I am a responsible, intelligent, mature girl and he's… he's James Potter! It's utterly ridiculous!'

'But… but you could end up together, Lily. He likes you; you obviously like him… what's the problem?'

'I don't like him!' hissed Lily in outrage, as the Marauders came up behind Sarah.

'Evans?' said James, hopefully.

'Potter,' replied Lily, sneering. Sarah quietly led Sirius, Remus and Peter over to the trolleys.

'Oh, Evans! Don't be like that. It was a joke, all right? A joke,' said James, clenching his teeth, irritated. He added, with a note of bitterness in his voice, 'I know it'll never happen.'

Lily felt her resistance slip away.

'I know you know, Potter.'

'I know you know I know, Evans.'

'Oh, shush!'

He grinned at her, and she smiled back, but Sarah's words were running through her head. You obviously like him… That can't be true, can it?

'Have fun at your sisters' wedding,' said James, noting her silence.

'Thanks,' replied Lily, 'And you too, have a good summer. I'll see you next year.'

'Goodbye, Evans,' James replied, and then, taking a chance, he bent down and kissed her hand in a very public and, to Lily, embarrassing manner.

'Potter!' she squeaked, grabbing her hand away.

'I couldn't resist,' said James, grinning apologetically.

'You're so immature, Potter,' snapped Lily, who was spouting out random insults because she was too annoyed to think coherently, 'Why can't you grow up?'

She stormed over to the other six, and angrily grabbed a trolley as they looked at her.

'Lily?' said Sarah, 'What happened?'

'Potter is what happened,' growled Lily in reply, as James came over to them.

'Yes, that's obvious,' said Caroline, 'But what did he do?'

'I kissed her,' said James. Everyone turned to him, gobsmacked.

'You what?' gasped Remus, on behalf of everyone.

'On the hand,' sniffed Lily.

'Oh,' said Caroline, 'How boring.'

She, along with everyone except for James and Lily, turned away, uninterested. Peter and Suzie, knowing they were leaving each other in a few short minutes, started snogging, and the others chatting. Lily butted in, 'Why aren't you more outraged?'

'It's not a big deal,' said Caroline, shrugging, 'So he kissed you on the hand – who cares?'

'I do! He had no right to –"

'Shut up, Lily,' said Sarah, in a tired voice, 'Just… leave it, OK? We're leaving in a minute or two; none of us want a big James-and-Lily-drama.'

Lily opened her mouth, and closed it again, before turning to James.

'Don't you try anything like that again,' she hissed.

'No, miss, I won't, miss,' he replied, and Lily pursed her lips, gave her each of her friends a curt hug, and left. Sarah rolled her eyes.

'I'm going after her,' she sighed. 'Let me say my goodbyes first.'

She gave Sirius, James and Peter a handshake each, and Caroline and Suzie a hug. Remus was last.

'Bye,' she said, breathlessly. They looked at each other awkwardly, in anticipation for the hug; they were close friends – they couldn't shake hands! They both took a small step forward, opening their arms… and then, realising just who they were hugging, they both shrank back, too embarrassed for contact.

'Yeah. Bye,' mumbled Remus.

'I'd better hurry,' said Sarah slowly, and she, forgetting her trolley in her rush, ran off.

Lily was waiting to be allowed through the wall. There was a large group of Muggle tourists standing there, and they had to wait for them to clear away before they could do anything. Lily was very annoyed as she wanted to get away quickly, before she saw any of her friends again, or worse, Potter.

'Lily?'

Lily turned to look at Sarah, who had broken through the crowd to find her.

'What?'

'I don't want to leave with you angry,' said Sarah, 'You didn't give me a proper goodbye.'

'Yes. I hugged you. What more do you want?'

'Lily… Don't be like this.'

'Like what?'

Sarah laughed. 'You must be joking.'

'Fine, I'm not in a good mood. You're not always in a good mood, and I don't go and lecture you about it!'

'Um, sometimes you do. And anyway, it's not that you're in a bad mood exactly; it's that you're in a bad mood and it's the end of the year, and, and I'll miss you and I don't want you to be angry now.'

'You'd be angry too.'

'If James kissed me on the hand? No, not really –'

'No! If you realised that you did like him!'

Lily expected Sarah to be appalled that this was actually true, but instead Sarah's face lit up in delight and she gave Lily a big hug.

'What's so bad about that?'

'He's James Potter, that's what.'

'Oh, Lily!'

'Don't 'Oh, Lily' me, Sarah! I'm not going to do anything about it. I'll get over it.'

'Lily!'

'I said don't do that!'

'No, you say don't 'Oh, Lily' you. I didn't say the oh.' Lily glared at her. 'Look, OK, don't do anything about it, fine, but at least come and give us all a proper goodbye. Please?'

'You don't understand what it's like to like someone.'

Sarah raised her eyebrows. 'Just because I've never had a boyfriend doesn't mean I don't understand.'

'Who is it, then?'

'Do you even have to ask?'

Lily paused. 'No. I don't. It's so obviously Black.'

'That's a joke, right?'

'Yes. Is it Lupin?'

Sarah nodded.

'Oh, Sarah! That's so cute!'

'Yes, but it's not like I'm going to do anything about it. I can't even hug him properly!'

'What?'

'Never mind. I just… I don't want to ruin our friendship if I broke up with him or something.'

'That's such a classic excuse, Sarah; I can see right through it. You're obviously scared of something – perhaps commitment? Or maybe –'

'No, that's actually my excuse.'

'Oh, Sarah!'

'See how I feel about you and Potter?'

'You can't compare Lupin to Potter! Lupin is so much more mature!'

'I can compare your feelings for Potter to my feelings for Remus.'

'But… Sarah!'

'Look, if you don't bug me about Remus, I won't tell anyone else about Potter, or bug you about it… much.'

'OK, fine. But even if I did bug you, would you actually tell someone about it?'

'Well, maybe. I don't know,' said Sarah. Lily glared at her, and Sarah grinned sweetly, 'Now you have to be extra nice to me.'

As this conversation went on, the other six were hanging about by the trolleys, delaying their departure, and waiting for Sarah to return and reclaim her trolley. James was sulking, and occasionally kicking his trolley, and subsequently stubbing his toes. Remus was also sulking, but less obviously; he was just being very quiet. Suzie and Peter were in a tight embrace, and Caroline and Sirius were chatting.

'So, Black, what are you doing this summer?'

'Running away from home. You?'

'Ignoring my holiday homework until the day before we go back to school.'

'Oh. I did that last summer.'

'I'd say the same, but… I'd be wrong.'

'Naturally.'

'Where are you running away to?'

'James'. Oi, Prongs! Can I live at your house?'

'Whatever,' muttered James sullenly.

'Yeah, at James',' confirmed Sirius, nodding. Before the two could continue their conversation, James yelled,

'Will you two stop it all ready?'

'What, conversing in a pleasant manner?' asked Caroline.

'No, not you!' snapped James, 'You're not flaunting yourselves about shamelessly, ignoring others' misfortunes. Wormtail! Gibson!'

Suzie and Peter broke apart, embarrassed.

'James!' snapped Remus, 'Just because you're in a bad mood doesn't mean you have to snap at everyone and put them in a bad mood!'

'You're snapping at me!'

'Yes, but you're already in a bad mood, so I'm not doing anything to ruin your good mood, am I?'

'What?' said Peter, confused.

'Never mind,' sighed Remus.

At this point Lily and Sarah emerged from the crowd, and came over.

'We can go through now,' said Sarah, 'The Muggles are gone.'

'What? The gate was closed?' asked Suzie.

'Yes. We thought you knew. Why else were you standing here all this time?'

'Because we couldn't be bothered to leave,' said Caroline.

'Good reason.'

'Indeed.'

'But anyway, we should leave now; everyone else is,' said Sarah. She then gasped, 'Oh! My trolley!'

Everyone snorted in laughter, except for James. Sarah glared at Sirius, as a random target out of the six, and started to walk off. Everyone followed. Sarah and Lily brought up the front, followed by Remus, followed by Caroline and Sirius, followed by Suzie and Peter, with James bringing up the rear. Suzie and Peter kept giving each other little kisses, as if hoping to fulfil the summer's 'kiss quotient' in a couple of minutes.

Once they got through the gate, the boys said goodbye to each other, and the girls gave each other a group hug. Caroline waggled her fingers at Sirius, and Sirius waggled his back, and they both started laughing hysterically, to the amusement and confusion of everyone. Suzie and Peter were taking little steps away from each other, kissing each time, until they were too far away to reach.

'Goodbye everyone,' said Lily, loudly, 'Enjoy yourselves.'

Everyone broke into saying this sort of thing to anyone who would listen, and wandering towards their families, waving and yelling. Lily broke through her friends and came to James.

'See you next year, Potter.'

She smiled at him, waved, and turned away.

'Till next year, my darling love!' he cried at her back. Lily sighed, and yelled back,

'I said see you next year… James.'

James, although she couldn't see it, grinned cheekily and replied, as she was engulfed into a crowd,

'You too… Lizzie.'

Lily smiled softly to herself. The whole summer was stretched out before her, but already she couldn't wait to be back at Hogwarts.

Now that you've read it, review.

Well, if not about this fic, then about… tissues. No, already had that session, so… hairdryers.

Also, if you have any better suggestions for the title, please feel free to offer them. If you have any ideas for other offshoots for us to write, please suggest them; we'd be happy to!

Hepsa