Disclaimer: Not famous, either.

SEPTEMBER 1ST  THIRD YEAR

Lily waited nervously for the train. She fidgeted, trying to keep her bruises from sight. She hadn't been able to apply enough coverup to her black eye. Of course, she had a story ready to tell the school's healer. Lily Evans always had a story. She fell down the stairs. It wasn't a lie, either. She had fallen down the stairs. Of course, her stepfather had helped her fall.

Jay slung an arm over her shoulders, and Lily had to bite her lip to keep from crying out. She tried to turn her face away, but her friend caught sight of her eye.

"Holy crap Lily! What the hell happened to you!"

"I-I fell down the stairs," she muttered.

He held her at arm's length and looked at her, noting the bruises that she hadn't been able to cover up.

"I'll bet you did. The stairs busted your lip, blackened your eye, and overall beat you up all in one go, huh?"

"Look, Jay, I fell down the stairs, okay?"

"Nokay. Lily, I always wondered why you, a muggleborn, seemed to hate muggles so much. Now I know why."

"Jay, I'd really like no one to know about this."

"People will know, Lily, not everyone is as stupid as you'd like them to be."

"You never know…" Jay gave her a look.

"Hey!" said Shawn, appearing out of nowhere. "Holy shit Lils, where'd you get the shiner?" good old annoyingly blunt Shawn.

"Fell down the stairs."

"Like hell you did! Unless your stairs have fists, of course."

They found a compartment and piled in.

"I don't want to talk about it," murmured Lily.

Trista pulled her trunk in. "Hi guys! Oh my god, I mussed you all so much! Uh, Lily? Did you know you have a black eye?"

"Yeah," said Lily, not bothering to offer an explanation.

"So…" said Jay.

Evan and Ty pulled their trunks in.

"Good summer?" asked Evan.

"Shawn, Trista, and Jay nodded.

"The best," said Lily sarcastically. She turned her face away from the window. The boys gaped.

"Um, Lily? What happened?" asked Ty.

"No idea what you're talking about."

"Well," said Evan. "You're all bruised up and stuff."

"No I'm not. It must be a trick of the light."

"It is not! Lily, what happened?"

"Alright, I fell down the stairs."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Look, I did if I say I did, alright?" Lily snapped.

Her friends all glared at her.

"Okay, so who helped you fall?" asked Ty. If looks could kill, he'd be six feet under and pushing up daisies two feet high in the Hogwarts in the sky. "Look, we're your friends, why cant you tell us?"

"Looks like little Evans is ashamed that she isn't on top of something for a change," said a drawling voice at the door. :all Slytherins turn to face door. Door, Shawn, door, NOT floor: And of course, guess who was standing in the doorway. If you guessed Pettigrew, you are absolutely incorrect! Because our dear Jamesie was standing there!

:James looks at author.: "Why do you keep doing that?"

:author gives him cutely confused look. "Doing what?" innocent look.:

"Making people call me Jamesie?"

: "Because it pisses you off.:

"I'll go on strike if you don't stop it!"

:snorts "You can't go on strike; I control you.":Lily makes popcorn:

"Damn. Well, I'll—I'll… I'll get killed by Voldemort! That's what I'll do!"

: "You do get killed by Voldemort. As in, in the future, you're dead, so I had to come back in time to use your character.":

"Oh, okay. I guess we can resume, then. Where were we?"

:Lily chucks the bowl of popcorn out the window:

"You were pissing me off, so I was about to start screaming at you."

"Oh, yeah. Right."

"I'm not ashamed, as you so kindly put it, Potter," Lily spat. "If you had any idea…"

"So please, enlighten me," said James sarcastically, folding his arms across his chest.

Lily opened her mouth, then snapped it shut. The evil git had almost made her admit to it!

"No, I don't have to tell you anything."

"I knew it."

"You don't know anything."

James smirked triumphantly. "Some Hufflepuff probably beat you up."

Lily snapped like a twig. "WELL I'M PRETTY EFFING SURE MY STEPFATHER WASN'T A HUFFLEPUFF, POTTER! HOLY SHIT I CAN'T BELIEVE I JUST SAID THAT!" she screamed.

All occupants of the compartment except James were gaping at her. "Satisfied?" she asked, picking up her trunk and shoving past him.

In a huff, Lily found a compartment and evicted its residents, who literally ran out, terrified.

Why does he get to me like that? He pisses me off so much I wind up telling him what he wants to know. I hate that! He knows exactly how to get me exactly what he wants to hear. It's like he's a bloody mind reader!

All of a sudden, Lily heard Jay's voice, as if he were right next to her, speaking softly into her ear.

"How does Potter do that? For twenty minutes, we try to get this out of her, and it takes him twenty seconds! What the bloody hell is up with that? Personally, if he wasn't a Gryffindor, I'd get the girls to set them up. (Lily made a mental not to kill Jay for that later) He knows where her pressure points are, and he knows how far he can push her without dying. It's like he can read her mind or something."

Lily was confused. How could she hear Jay if he was at the other end of the train? She looked suspiciously around. At least she wasn't the only one who pondered how Potter could get to her like that. She'd have to ask Jay about that later. Like after she killed him and resurrected him.