Chapter 1: Memories
"LILY!" Lily Evans smiled as soon as she recognized the voice of her best friend, Penny. An instant later Penny smothered Lily with a heartfelt embrace. "I've missed you so much!"
"Aw, you know I've missed you too. Three months is way too long to be away from you," Lily said honestly.
"Mr. and Mrs. Evans, how have you been?" Penny directed her attention to Lily's parents who looked slightly uncomfortable standing behind the two teenage girls and overstuffed trunks.
"We've had a lovely summer, it always ends too soon. But at least we know our Lily will be safe with you," Mrs. Evans said.
"Yes, you'll be sure to keep her entertained at least," Mr. Evans chimed in.
"Oh how well you know me," Penny chuckled.
"Well we really ought to be going, the train leaves in fifteen minutes," Lily said.
"Yes, that's true of course," Mrs. Evans said softly. Her eyes became noticeably moist.
"Ma, come on, you'll see me in just a few months. And this is my last year, how can you still be so sad to see me go?"
"You'll understand one day when you're a mother."
"Alright, well I'm off. Bye mom, bye dad. I love you guys." Lily quickly kissed her parents goodbye.
"Bye Mr. and Mrs. Evans!" Penny called. The two girls then disappeared beyond the wall that was Platform 9 ¾. Once on the platform they quickly boarded the train and found an empty compartment.
"So, come on tell me all about your summer!" Penny exclaimed. "I feel like we haven't talked in AGES."
"Pen, we wrote to each other all the time, what are you talking about."
"Yeah, but you know that's not the same. I need to know everything; first of all how many boys did you hook up with?"
"Come on, we're talking about me here, like I told you in my letters I hardly even spoke to any guys let alone had anything happen with them. I'm not into Muggles like you are."
"Well I don't see why not since you were born and raised as one."
"That's exactly why. Look what this has done to my family, it's completely torn Petunia and me apart. I just don't want anything like that to happen with my own family."
"Lily, you don't need to marry every guy you fool around with."
"Yeah, yeah I know. But seriously, my summer was terribly boring, let's hear about yours and that college boy."
"Well, like I said, I told him that I was home from my freshman year at school just like him and of course he bought it and well, let's just say it was the perfect summer fling."
"Alright, and it's completely over now? No feelings or anything?" Lily asked suspiciously.
"Ew, no of course not. If there were feelings this would not have been a fling now would it?"
"Yeah, I guess not. I just don't know how you do it." Lily thought back on all of Penny's previous summers. They all had some kind of crazy boy adventure, but yet she never had any regret or sadness about leaving them to return to Hogwarts.
"Well Lily, you're just looking for something more serious than I am I guess. But hey, I admire you. You're the kind of girl that would never cheat on a guy, you would probably actually be able to handle a long distance situation." Penny showed a glimpse of regret. Over the previous winter break she had been dating Kevin Masterson, a Gryffindor a year younger than the two of them. After being apart for only a week she had already cheated on him. She never told Kevin about that, but they didn't last much longer once they returned to Hogwarts. "So, any chance you and Looney Lupin are gonna get back together?"
"Come on Pen, don't call him that. He's such a sweet guy. But no, he and I are definitely over. You should know that, it was almost two years ago."
"Yeah I know, and I'm very relieved. But I'm just saying, he's the only guy you were ever with, you can't just not have any action in the guy department your 7th year."
"Alright, alright, I'm not saying I'm not looking for something. But who would I date? Who do you have your eye on this year?"
"You always assume I have a prospect, but yeah you're right of course. You may not believe this, but at the moment my eye is on James."
"Potter? But he's such an ass."
"Yeah, I know. But he has gotten better you know. You remember how cute he and Janie were last year. And she was the one to end it. He actually would've tried to keep up the relationship over the summer."
"Alright, yeah you've got a point, he's gotten better." Lily was glad to see that Penny wasn't looking closely at her facial expressions. She was usually pretty good at reading what Lily was thinking, but Lily felt pretty confident that Penny had no idea just how well she remembered James and Janie's relationship. It was then that Lily realized how sensitive and caring James really could be and she was embarrassed to admit to herself that it was he who had occupied the majority of her thoughts over the summer. And now it was as if a knife had been pointed at Lily, threatening to do damage because if there was one thing she knew about Penny, it was that she usually got what she wanted in the boy department.
Penny was every guy's fantasy. She was 5'6" with long silky blonde hair and mysterious blue eyes. She had a perfect body and was not afraid to show it off at every opportunity. While most of the girls wore jeans or sweatpants around the Gryffindor common room, she would often wear skirts and shorts showing off her long toned legs. Penny was nowhere near oblivious to all the heads that turned when she walked by. Penny was also a Chaser on the Quidditch team. Lily envied Penny in many ways; they were in Lily's eyes complete opposites. Lily was not athletic in the slightest and while Penny had the body of a model and was extremely confident with herself Lily felt too short and was generally insecure about her entire appearance. The one thing Lily had over Penny was her work ethic, Lily was a very serious student and because of that felt that people saw her as boring and nerdy.
"Well alright Lil, we need to get you a prospective boy. I think more than anything you just need to get a bit more experience and I know the perfect guy to help you with that." Penny flashed one of her typical mysterious grins.
"Penny, there's no way I would ever let that pig near me."
"Sirius Black a pig? O no, I beg to differ. Let me tell you, he certainly knows how to please the ladies, if you know what I mean. Seriously though, I'd be all over him if I hadn't been there so many times in the past." Penny and Sirius had been on again off again since the middle of their 3rd year at Hogwarts.
"Well regardless of our difference in opinions on Sirius, where are these guys? Isn't it weird that we haven't seen them yet?"
"Yeah, good point, we should go find them," Penny said as she got up. The two girls walked out of their compartment and almost immediately saw three familiar faces.
"Penny! Lily!" shouted a cute brunette.
"Hey Carine! How have you been?" Penny said. Kerri and Allyson, the other two girls began chatting with Lily about their summers. The five Gryffindor 7th years ended up spending the remainder of the train ride catching up with one another. Lily couldn't help but wonder why James and the other boys hadn't come around to bother them, she was used to them always making some kind of scene.
When the train finally began to slow down and everyone was exiting the train Lily noticed James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter gathered around a crowd of 5th year Ravenclaws. These girls were led by an adorable and witty brunette by the name of Janie who seemed to be cracking James up. Lily felt a twinge of jealousy, she thought James and Janie were over and therefore assumed the boys would be back to giving all of their attention to her group as usual.
"Hmm, well that should make my plan a bit more challenging," Penny said offhandedly to Lily when she noticed James and Janie.
"Yeah, I don't get it. I thought she broke his heart at the end of last year," Lily said.
"Well, who knows, maybe they got back together over the summer and we just didn't know about it. I'll get James to spill tonight in the common room."
After Dumbledore's speech and the feast Lily and James (head boy and girl) led the new Gryffindors and the returning ones up to the common room. Once everyone had settled into their new rooms all the 7th years found themselves gathering around the fireplace.
"So, let's keep up the tradition," Penny exclaimed. "Who's up for some Truth or Dare?"
"Come on Pen, I think we're getting a bit old for that don'tcha think?" Lily said.
"Sounds like someone's got something to hide," James said. "We've done this for six years now, we can't very well just not do it our final year." Lily thought back to her first night as a Gryffindor. Penny had suggested the game as an icebreaker and in every following year they used it to catch up with one another.
"Alright, so who wants to go first?" Carine asked.
A/N: Ok, so I haven't written a story or anything in quite a while, but hey I was inspired by the recent happenings in my life so I decided to try and incorporate it into a Lily/James type of story. Hope you liked it, let me know if you have any suggestions and I'll be posting more soon I'm sure.