A/N: Hi!!! Sorry this was so long coming, I have a toothache! It's really sore, and I'm full of painkillers, which will hopefully explain some of this chapter … well, read n review!!
DISCLAIMER: Nothing is mine. It all either belongs to JKR, Aaron Sorkin, or the Monty Python people. And god knows I'm not nearly as good as them. The Monkee walk belongs to the Monkees, coincidently … I do own Lena, Ally, Kim and the families. Oh, but not Ally's dad … And Aisling, my sister, made up the Pixie Song.
Chapter 4: Trains, Badges Slytherins and … Pixies?!?
Lily wheeled her trolley with her trunk into the station. She noticed Lena waving to her. Well, it was hard not to as she was jumping up and down waving her arms frantically in her direction. Lily tapped her mother on the shoulder.
"Mum …" she said. Mrs. Evans smiled and took Lily's trolley.
"Go on," she said. Lily ran over and hugged Lena. They screamed and jumped up and down.
"Lena! Your hair is gorgeous!" Lily exclaimed.
"Ooh, you got new make up!" Lena exclaimed, noticing Lily's sparkly green eye shadow.
"'Kay, now you've got to compliment me!" Sirius said, jumping up and down to get attention.
"Hmm, ok then, I love your make up too," Lena said. Sirius grinned stupidly and twirled and imaginary piece of hair in his hand.
"Do you really think so?" he asked, in a very squeaky voice. "'Cos normally I wear pink, and this morning is said, what the hell, and I said I'd wear purple." Lena laughed, and Lily raised her eyebrows. Sirius noticed the expression on her face. "'Lo Lillian, pleased to see you again. If you don't mind, I'm going to find Prongs. Bye!" she said, taking his trolley and bouncing through the barrier.
"He's acting strange," Mrs. Evans said, catching up with her daughter. "If they don't notice the owl, they'll notice him."
"Believe me, it's normal for Sirius," Mrs. White said. "Him and Lena have been like that all summer."
"Poor you! Do you want to come round for a cup of tea when these lot get off?" Mrs. Evans asked.
"I'd love to," Mrs. White answered. Lena and Lily were already through the barrier, scouring the crowds for Ally and Kim.
"Can you see them?" Lily asked.
"No, but there's the Potter Fan Club," Lena said, indicating to a group of girls from their year who were watching Sirius and James talking.
"Idiots," Lily said. "Oh! There's Ally! Ally!" she called, and waved.
"Hi!" Ally said, once she'd made her way over to the other two girls, Kim coming up behind her.
"Hello!" Lena said, and Kim spotted something shiny on Lily's shirt.
"Oh my god! You're Head Girl!" she shrieked. Lily grinned sheepishly.
"I should've known," Ally teased.
"Yeah, I told her that she was Dumbledore's pet," Lena said. Kim giggled.
"Hey, who's Head Boy?" Ally asked. Lena couldn't help but grin wider.
"James Potter," she said, and the girls turned to Lily.
"Oh, no," Ally said.
"How did you find out?" Kim asked.
"Siri told me," Lena answered.
"Siri?" Ally said. "Do you mean Sirius black?"
"Yeah," Lena answered.
"Pet names, eh?" Kim asked, grinning.
"Bugger off," Lena replied.
"I thought his nickname was Pondfoot or something," Lily said.
"Padfoot, actually," Lena told her. "But that's James, Remus and Peter's nickname for him."
"Let's go find a compartment," Lily suggested. Ten minutes later, they were looking for their parents to say goodbye. They found Ally's parents first.
"Bye Mum, bye Dad," she said, hugging them both.
"Bye, Ally, have fun and behave yourself," she mother said. They set off to find Kim's father.
"Bye dad," she said, reaching up to hug him. He stiffened and scowled.
"Bye," he said gruffly and walked away.
"Wow, he's just a really affectionate guy, isn't he?" came a voice from behind them. Sirius was standing there with James, Remus and Peter.
"Hi, Siri. These are my friends, Kim and Ally," she said.
"These are James, Remus and Peter," he said. "Have you seen your parents, Lee? I want to thank them."
"So polite," James said to Remus.
"We did a good job raising him," Remus replied, grinning.
"We were looking for them, too," Lena said. "Did you call me Lee?" Sirius shrugged.
"Yeah," he answered.
"Well, please don't," she said. "It makes me sound like a boy." she scanned the crowd, and spotted her parents talking with Mr. and Mrs. Evans. "There they are!" she said, pointing over at them. They all walked over to the parents.
"Bye, mum," Lena said, and her mum hugged her.
"Bye, honey. Owl me, ok?" Mrs. white said.
"Thanks, Mrs. white, I had a great summer," Sirius said.
"You're welcome, Sirius," she replied. "We were happy to have you."
"Where's Mr. White?" Sirius asked.
"He's over there," Mrs. White said, pointing to a few feet away, where Lena and Lily's dads were talking. Lily said goodbye to her mother, and they walked over to the men.
"Bye, dad," Lena said.
"Bye, baby. Have fun at school," Mr. White said.
"Bye, Mr. White," Sirius said. "Thanks for everything."
"No, thank you," Mr. White replied. "You got Lena interested in culture. Before it used to be hard to keep her awake during a production of Shakespeare. Now she's quoting it." Sirius grinned and Lena rolled her eyes.
"Ay me!" Lena said in an exaggerated accent.
"She speaks!" Sirius exclaimed, just as ridiculously. "O, speak again, bright angel!"
"O Romeo, Romeo! – wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name. Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet," Lena went on, accompanied by exaggerated hand gestures.
"Mr. White, what have you done?" Lily asked. "She's worse than ever!" Mr. White grinned. The train was just about to leave, so Lily kissed her father goodbye and the girls boarded the train. The boys rushed to find their own parents.
"They're gone for another year," Mrs. White said when the train left a few minutes later. "How about that cup of tea?" she asked Mrs. Evans.
//Lily's House//
Mrs. Evans and Mrs. White sat in the kitchen of the Evans' flat in Tooting.
"Thanks Mel," Mrs. White said as Mrs. Evans handed her a cup of tea.
"So you had an eventful summer, then," Mel said.
"Yeah, but Sirius is a good kid, though I don't know where he gets it from," Helen said.
"Why? Are you and his mum not close?" Mel asked.
"No," Helen said. "She's my boss, and doesn't approve of me because I married a Muggle. Sirius is staying with a friend. She never speaks ablout him, him getting into Gryffindor came as something of a sock. It's all Regulus, regulus, regulus. They've disowned him,." Mel looked shocked.
"She did that to her own son?" Mel asked.
"Yeah. She's – excuse the phrase – a bitch. I remember her in school, she was the most popular girl in Slytherin," Helen said, making a dace.
"That's the house that hates Muggle-borns?" Mel asked.
"Yeah," Helen said. "I have afeeling that she's trying to transfer me somewhere else in the Ministry."
"Really? What kind of job?" Mel asked.
"It's at the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office," Helen answered. "It's in charge of confiscating Muggle things that people bewitch. I wouldn't mind, anyway. It'd be better to just get away from her."
"So Sirius isn't like his mother at all?" Mel asked.
"No, he's not, he's a Gryffindor, and he's convinced Lena to try out for the House Team. They're so alike! Him and lea, that is. I pity him, having parents like his," Helen said.
Meanwhile, in the living room …
"Say what you want, but I really don't think Arsenal have the staying power to win," Mr. Evans said, handing Mr. White a beer. "It has to be Wimbledon."
"But David, we're higher on the table," Matt pointed out.
"Anyway what were you at over the summer?" David asked.
"Oh, the usual, lectures and that," he answered.
"Bet you had your work cut out for you with Sirius there all summer," David said.
"What do you mean?" Matt asked.
"It didn't bother you that he was there all summer with Lena?" David asked.
"No, there wasn't anything going on," Matt said.
"Are you sure?" David asked.
"Yes, well not yet, anyway. I have a feeling that there will be soon enough, though," he said
"And you don't mind?" David asked.
"I trust Sirius," Matt said.
"Your first mistake," David said. "Never trust a boy who's dating your daughter. They always have sinister intent."
"Lena's got a good head on her shoulders," Matt reasoned.
"You think she'll keep it when he starts to woo her?" David asked.
"I don't think he needs to. She's crazy about him," Matt said. "Anyway, are you speaking from experience? How many boys has Lily gone out with?"
"One that she mentioned. It lasted about two months. I don't think it was serious. He was someone from Hufflepuff," David said.
"Lena went out with some Ravenclaw, I know nothing about it, except that it didn't end amicably," Matt remarked. "And Petunia?"
"Just Vernon," he said, making a face.
"The one she's engaged to?" Matt asked, and David nodded. "So what's wrong with him?"
"He's too … respectable," David replied.
"That's a bad thing?"
"Yes. He doesn't have any fun. He is acting really cold to Lily, worse than Petunia ever was," David said.
"Are you playing favorites?" Matt asked, grinning.
"No, it's just that Petunia can be really rude to Lily. I was shocked, to say the least when we found out, but it doesn't make Lily any different. It makes her even more special, if you ask me."
"You were shocked?" Matt said. "Helen was my best friend in primary school, she went to boarding school when we were eleven, and I didn't meet her again until we were about twenty. We started dating, and then I proposed. She was absolutely shocked, and had to tell me that she was a witch. It was a huge surprise, but I didn't mind."
"It can be scary sometimes, though," David said. "It's a dangerous place, the wizarding world."
"But, then again, so's our world," Matt pointed out.
"Yeah, but I meant that dark wizard guy, what's his name?" David said.
"You-Know-Who? Yeah, he is kind of scary," Matt said.
"I hope my little girl will be ok," David said. "I know she'll stay in that world, she loves it. One day she'll marry a wizard."
"Hopefully he won't be a bit respectable," Matt said, grinning.
"Lily has better taste," David said confidently, swigging the last of his beer. "Lets go and see if our wives have stopped chatting."
"Yes, we have and are waiting for you two to stop," Mel said from the door. Matt got up and headed over to his wife.
"Thanks, David," Matt said, and they headed down the stairs, calling goodbye.
//Hogwarts Express//
"So, Prongs, how was Mrs. Figg's?" Remus asked.
"Boring. I turned into a vegetable," James said. "I sat around on her couch all summer."
"Hmm, what kind of vegetable?" Peter asked. James rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, was it a boring vegetable, like a parsnip, or an exciting one?" Sirius asked. It was Remus' turn to roll his eyes.
"What kind of vegetable is an exciting one?" Remus wondered.
"I don't know, potatoes, maybe," Sirius shrugged.
"Potatoes are interesting?" James asked skeptically.
"Well, they can be boiled, mashed fried, baked, made into crisps," Sirius said. James rolled his eyes again.
"Have you noticed that we're standing in the middle of the corridor?" Remus asked.
"Oh, yeah. Let's find a compartment," Sirius said, heading down the corridor. But they were to late, there wasn't any free compartments left. Sirius peeked through the glass of the very last compartment and saw Lena. Lily, Ally and Kim. He shrugged and went to open the door.
"Wait!" James said, grabbing his arm. "We are not sitting with Evans."
"Oh, don't be a baby. It's either sit with the girls or sit with Snape. Your choice," he said. James felt as if he'd rather Snape. But Sirius had already opened the door, so he had no choice.
"Hi, can we come in? We have no-where else to sit," he said with puppy-dog eyes.
"Yep," Lena said and patted the place beside her. Sirius flopped down on the chair, and Remus and Peter followed him in.
"Hi," Remus said to the girls as he took the seat beside Sirius. Lily, Ally and Kim were looking around uneasily. Sirius noticed this.
"Don't worry," he said, "we won't bite. Well, just be careful around Remus." The girls giggled, while Remus shot Sirius a look that plainly said: 'Shut-the-hell-up-or-I'll-bloody-bite-you.' Sirius merely shot him a dazzling smile. James was still standing at the door, weighing up his options. It looked as if Sirius would be spending more time with Lena, which meant he would be forced to be around Lily more than just in classrooms. He could sulk and be miserable, or he could make it fun for him by being incredibly charming and flirting with her. He'd go for the second one. He walked in to the compartment and sat down beside her.
"Did you have a good summer?" he asked casually. Lily glared at him.
"Why are you sitting beside me?" she asked. He grinned. It was working.
"I thought you were saving it for me," he said brightly.
"I wasn't," she replied coldly. "Tell you're ego that. I'm surprised you could fit it on the train."
"Someone's got their Head Girl badge in a twist," he said.
"And where's your Head Boy badge?" she replied. "Are you not using it to get to girls?"
"But Lily, I have all the girls I need right here," he said, smiling.
"Stay away from my friends, Potter," she hissed. James leaned in closer to her.
"I'm not talking about your friends, I'm talking about you," he said, smiling. Lily stormed over and sat beside Ally.
"I hate him," she said.
"So, Lee, are you looking forward to seventh year?" Sirius asked.
"Well, not the NEWTs, but it will be cool to be finished school," she said. "The summer was fun, though."
"Yeah," Sirius said wistfully. "Remember all the sugar highs?"
"Yep," Lena said, and looked at him. They grinned and started singing.
"There was something in her hair that night …"
Remus, Peter and James burst into hysterical laughter. So did the girls. Soon the boys were singing along. There were tears of laughter flowing down Ally and Kim's faces. The compartment door slid open, and the boy's dorm mate, Frank Longbottom entered.
"Oh, hello," he said. "I heard the laughing and was wondering what was so funny," he said.
"Sirius and Lena are botching songs," Remus explained.
"Oh," Frank replied.
"Ooh, I've got another one!" Lena exclaimed. Sirius' eyes lit up.
"What's it about?" he asked excitedly.
"Pixies!" Lena exclaimed.
"Yay! I LOVE pixies!" Sirius exclaimed, bouncing in his chair. "Go on, sing it!"
"There were some things in the air that night,
They were small and white,
T'was pixies.
They were crawling over you and me,
To try to see,
More pixies!"
Sirius and Lena collapsed in giggles. The other seven people in the carriage looked at each other fearfully.
"OH, NO, NOT TWO OF THEM!" they exclaimed in unison.
"They definitely march to a different drummer," James remarked. Lily almost laughed, but stopped herself. She was Lily Evans, and had a reputation to uphold. Especially now that she was Head Girl. It wasn't as if she was a fuddy-duddy like Petunia, it was just that she took her schoolwork seriously. She always had, but particularly since she started at Hogwarts, she felt that she needed to prove herself to someone, because she was Muggle-born. Or maybe she only genuinely wanted to do well at school. She could still be loopy, but just not on as large a scale as Lena.
The rest of the train journey passed without incident, and soon they were disembarking at Hogsmeade and climbing into the horseless carriages. The four girls got into one, and the boys into another.
"Thank god," Lily said as she sat down. "I don't think I could have stomached another second with him."
"So, Lena," Ally said, "you and Sirius get on well. Any possibility of romance?" she asked suggestively. Lena shrugged.
"Worse things happen at sea," she answered.
"What?" Kim asked, bewildered.
"Worse things happen at sea," she repeated.
"Lena!" Lily exclaimed, knowing that she was only trying to avoid the question.
"What?" Lena asked. "They do! People get seasick, the wind blows their hat off, if you had a sandwich it could fall out of the boat, you could fall out of the boat, there could be a sea monster, the boat could hit an iceberg, it could get sucked into a whirlpool –"
"You're not going to answer the question, are you?" Ally asked.
"No," Lena replied, smiling.
"Well, we tried," Kim shrugged.
In the boys' carriage, Sirius was smiling broadly.
"What are you so happy about?" James wondered.
"Oh, nothing," Sirius replied, in a tone that mad it perfectly obvious that he was smiling about something.
"I know," Remus said. "He's thinking about Lena."
"No, I'm not," he replied coolly.
"Yes, you are," Peter said.
"Do you like her?" James asked.
"What makes you think that?" Sirius said.
"You spent the entire summer together, is all," Peter said.
"Not all of it," Sirius said.
"Did anything happen between you two?" Remus asked.
"None of your business."
"Answer me."
"No."
"Answer me."
"No."
"Answer me."
"No."
"Answer me."
"Fine. You asked for it," Sirius said. "The Spanish brought chess to the court of Charlemagne in 760 AD. Charlemagne is French for 'Charles the Great.' The 'Charles' is a river in Boston. The Hudson river isn't actually a river –"
"Ok, ok, we'll drop it," James said.
"Why is it called a river if it isn't a river?" Remus asked.
"It is at first, but once it reaches Manhattan it's a tidal estuary," he informed them.
"A tidal estuary?" Peter asked.
"Yeah. It's deeper than the body of water it flows into," Sirius replied.
"Sirius, how do you know all this? Remus wanted to know.
"I'm just a mine of useless information," Sirius said.
"Nah, you're just plain useless," James said, grinning.
"Yeah, go on, grin," Sirius said. "You grin all you want. You won't be grinning for long."
"What?" James said. "What have you done?"
"Nothing," he said innocently. James looked at him suspiciously.
"I'm in to you," James said. Sirius chuckled.
"No, you're not!" he said.
*****
The girls climbed out of their carriage and ran up through the light drizzle and up the stone steps.
"How come it always bloody rains on our first day back?" Kim wondered aloud.
"I don't know," Lily replied, smoothing out her hair. She took her Head Girl badge out of her pocked and went to put it on. Something caught her eye, however, and she gasped. "I am going to kill him!" she exclaimed.
"What?" Lena asked.
"Look!" Lily said, holding her badge out so the girls could see it. But it wasn't Lily's Head Girl badge. It was James' Head Boy badge. "It was Potter, I know it," Lily ranted.
"I don't know if it was," Lena said. Catching the look Lily was shooting at her, she went on. "I mean, he wouldn't want to wear a badge that said Head Girl, would he?"
"I suppose not," Lily admitted. "But who then?"
"Sirius," Lena said.
"But when did he do it?" Ally wondered. "You had it on the whole time."
"No, I took it off when I changed into my school robes," Lily said. "He must have switched them when they came back in."
"So what do we do?" Kim asked.
"We wait for them to get here, swap badges, and kill Sirius," Lily said.
"Suits me," Lena said. They weren't waiting for very long before a greasy-haired, sallow-skinned boy came over to talk to Lily.
"Hell, Lily," Snape said. Lily looked around uneasily.
"Um, hello," she replied.
"Did you do that potions essay over the summer?" he asked.
"Why are you talking to me?" she wondered.
"Yeah, that's a fair question," piped up Sirius, who had just entered along with the other three Marauders.
"Go away, Black," Snape spat.
"But what reason could you possibly have for talking to Lily? Sirius asked again.
"She's the only one in our year who takes potions seriously, apart from me," Snape replied. Lena looked offended.
"Hey! I got the same marks as you last year!" she protested.
"Well, Lily's the next best, then," Snape tried.
"Nah, sorry Sevvie, that's me," Ally said. "Lily's third."
"Oh, let's all discuss how horrible I am at potions, why don't we?" Lily exclaimed. Snape opened his mouth, but Lily cut him off. ""And you," she went on. "If you want to talk about potions, talk to Lena. Or else, bugger off."
"Preferably the second," Lena added.
"Oh, but Lena, he can't do that," Sirius said.
"Well, he's not talking to me!" Lena exclaimed.
"He doesn't want to talk to you, he wants to talk to Lily," Sirius said.
"Why doesn't he want to talk to Lena?" James asked.
"Because Lily has lovely red hair and emerald eyes," Sirius said, "and big –" He stopped abruptly.
"Big what, Sirius?" Lily asked dangerously.
"Big … big book bout potions!" he said. "Bigger than Lena's – no! – I mean – Ok, I'm going to stop digging right about now."
"Wise choice," Lena said, looking at him almost as dangerously as Lily had.
"A wise choice for Black? How … rare," someone drawled from behind Snape.
"Oh, look, everybody," Remus said. "It's Lucy!"
"Lucius," Malfoy corrected. Remus shrugged.
"Potato, patato," he said casually. Lucius turned to Snape, but not before giving Remus a cold stare.
"What's going on here?" Malfoy asked Snape. Snape was forced to do some quick thinking. ("Looks painful," Sirius commented.) He couldn't say he wanted to talk to Lily, so he just shrugged and turned to Lena.
"Um … Mudblood," he said. Lena grinned.
"What do you mean, 'Mudblood'?" she asked, pretending not to understand.
"You're one," Snape replied.
"A what?"
"A Mudblood," Snape repeated, getting frustrated.
"No, I'm not," she said. "I'm half Muggle."
"Same thing," Snape said, waving his hand impatiently.
"No, it's not," she said matter-of-factly.
"Well, it's still a bad thing," Snape said.
"Not necessarily. I like it," she said brightly.
Snape pursed his lips and stalked away, furious, whereas Lena remained calm, she was actually smiling.
"What are you so happy about?" Malfoy asked, stepping closer to Lena. "Don't think you can get the better of a Slytherin like that, little girl. You could be hurt. And we wouldn't want that, would we," he added menacingly. Lena's smile was gone, but it had been replaced by a look of determination.
"No, we wouldn't," she replied. "Because if I was, I have a wand –"
"You'd dare curse me?" Malfoy asked.
"No, I was going to say I'd shove it somewhere unpleasant, but you're used to that, eh, Malfoy?" Lena said.
"What are you insinuating, you little mongrel?" Malfoy asked.
"What did you just call me?" she said, angrily.
"You heard me. What are you going to do?" he challenged.
"Malfoy," Sirius said in a warning tone.
"What, are you going to defend her honor?" Malfoy replied scathingly.
"Lovely party last year, by the way," Sirius said. "Malfoy Manor was a bit whiffy, though. And I lost my way while looking for the bathroom I wandered into your room, as look would have it. Interesting décor." Malfoy paled. "Yeah, I was a bit disturbed by the picture of Narcissa topless," Sirius went on. "Incidentally, why is it laminated and blown up to 2 by 4 foot?" the boys snickered.
"Well, I guess it was blown up to enable you to see it properly," James sniggered.
"And laminated because it's easy wipe clean," Sirius finished.
"And where's your latest fling, black?" Malfoy asked. "Oh, yeah, the first years haven't been sorted yet, have they?"
"Mr. Malfoy," interrupted professor McGonagall, appearing behind the group. "Shall I ask you to explain that last comment or would you rather just go into the feast?" Malfoy didn't reply, but shot them a look before heading into the feast.
"And why are the Gryffindor seventh years blocking the hallway?" McGonagall asked. Without waiting for an answer, she told them to hurry in. James was walking away when Lily cleared her throat. James turned around.
"Do you want me, Lily?" he asked charmingly.
"Never," she replied scathingly. "I was just wondering whether you looked at your badge at all before you put it on." James smiled, and glanced down. Realization dawned on him, and he glared at Sirius, who laughed.
"Got ya!" Sirius said. James took off his badge and handed it to Lily. She gave him his, and they walked into the hall. The sorting was held first as usual, and a new Gryffindor sat beside Sirius. Sirius then proceeded to try and make the first year as welcome as possible, but ended up making him even more nervous. As soon as the feast itself was over Dumbledore stood up to make his speech.
"Welcome back, everyone. I have a few announcements to make. Firstly, the Forbidden Forest is still forbidden. Exploding Quills are now on the list of banned items. I would like to inform the first years, in particular the Gryffindors, that the seventh year Gryffindor boys are incredibly dangerous and cannot be trusted." Sirius grinned at the first year sitting beside him, who looked petrified. "And I would also like to announce that our new Head Girl and Boy are Lily Evans and James Potter." The hall rang with applause, mostly from the girls who were infatuated with James. Dumbledore then bid the students goodnight.
"Albus, may I ask why you made them two Head Boy and Girl?" McGonagall asked. "Do you want a civil war in the school?"
"No, Minerva, but they will finally be forced to talk," Dumbledore replied.
"Are you sure it is wise?" McGonagall asked. "You are not a matchmaker."
"Quite the contrary, Minerva, I am incredibly good at this."
"Well, there's a couple who definitely don't need any help," McGonagall said, indicating Sirius and Lena, who were teaching the first years they were meant to be escorting to their dormitories how to do the Monkee walk.
"The two groups are becoming closer," Dumbledore observed.
"The Dark side isn't going to like that," McGonagall said.
"I know," Dumbledore replied. "But the two groups must become one. It is their destiny."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: I'm very excited, I'm going to see CoS tomorrow!!! Yay!!! My sisters and me are dressing up! I'm Moaning Myrtle, and my sisters are Ginny and Salazar Slytherin, and my youngest sister is the cutest Dobby ever! I can't wait!!
Anyway, please review! If you'd like me to email you when the story is updated, leave you're email address with your review!
Review!!!!!!!