Oh, I really am getting a little too excited about this fic- I'm severely neglecting my other one. Ah well, I'll get back to it soon- promise!

Thank you so so so so so much for my reviews, they really are my inspiration to keep going. I'd like to see how quickly I can get to 100…. Dunno if it'll ever get that much though. Well, a girl can hope!

I probably won't be able to update again 'til next weekend as I'm back to school on Monday :P

Well, that just gives you time to write really really lovely scrumptiously (good word!) long reviews (nudge nudge, wink wink!).

Stay groovy-

R xxx

Lily smiled, really truly grinned for the first time since last term, when she saw how quickly everyone had accepted Chrissy as one of their own and not an impostor (which of course she wasn't really, but it was a niggling fear of hers).

'So have you lived in Spain most of your life?' asked James who was still seated firmly on the ground but seemed to be making the most of his situation- so far he had conjured up eight cushions and pillows to spread himself on and was taking it in turns to use peoples' knees as head rests. He was currently residing on Peter's who, from the very strained smile plastered on his face, was in a substantial amount of discomfort from it, but not wanting to complain to his idol.

'Most of it,' replied Chrissy. 'We moved when I was about three, so I don't remember much of England before Hogwarts.'

'So you speak Spanish then?' asked Gideon which pronounced interest. Chrissy nodded.

'Very sexy language,' said Fabian.

'Seconded,' came Frank, Gideon and Daniel's voices, earning Frank a swift punch on the arm from Alice.

Chrissy blushed deeply. 'Gracias,' she said quietly, grinning.

'Oh come on, you're going to have to teach us some now,' said Dan laughing.

'Yeah, girls completely dig guys with accents,' agreed James.

'Boys,' mumbled Lily, Alice and Clarissa, and then laughed simultaneously. The boys all put on identical mock affronted looks and turned all their attention to Chrissy who couldn't have gone a deeper shade of red if you'd paid her twenty galleons. Lily smiled inwardly but it must have shown on the outside because…

'Lily Felicity Evans, don't you dare.' Alice was turned towards her, arms crossed firmly over her chest and a very serious expression resting over her normally genial face.

'What?' said Lily with all the innocence she could muster.

Clarissa leaned forward and looked straight into Lily's eyes, staring intently into them for a minute before turning to Alice. 'Yep, she's got that look in them again.'

'Look? What look?' asked Lily, slightly concerned and pulling her compact mirror out of her pocket to check them.

'Don't play naïve with us Lils,' Alice said, now taking hold of one of Lily's shoulders and giving it a little shake. 'Under no circumstances are to do your 'match-making' thing again, do you understand?'

Lily huffed slightly, looking injured and said, 'Never in my life have I done any match-making dear friends. It's true!' she elaborated as their eyebrows rose simultaneously. 'It's just propi-'

'Oh, stuff and nonsense to that "propitious persuasion" crap Lils!' said Clarissa.

'Yeah, come on Lils, what if,' Alice lowered her voice slightly, 'what if she gets hurt?'

Lily thought about it for a moment, still basking slightly in her glory from Alice and Frank's match. Maybe it wouldn't hurt just to let Chrissy get with one of them herself. Goodness knows she had all their attention already. But sometimes people really didn't know who was good for them or not… if she could persuade her to fall for the right guy, then that would be all she needed.

Alice's eyes narrowed as she all but watched the cogs of Lily's brain tick round the problem that faced her. Honestly that girl was just an open book waiting to be read.

Finally, Lily took a breath and said, very slowly and with slight reluctance, 'Okay.'

'Good,' said Clarissa. 'Well, that's that then,' and she turned back to her book- Love Potions and their History, by Ruby Valentina. Lily rolled her eyes. Hypocrite.

Lily turned to Peter who was seated next to her and whose face was demonstrating more and more pain as the minutes whiled away.

'Hey, you alright?' Lily whispered.

Peter started slightly but then grinned slightly. 'Yeah, it's just that… J-James is making me lose the feeling in my feet.'

Lily nodded sympathetically. 'Yeah, I hate pins and needles. Why don't you just ask him to move?'

'I dunno… he's comfy where he is I s'pose…' Peter explained lamely.

Lily remedied his problem with enthusiasm. 'Oy, Potter! Move your arse!' and she kicked him, not all too softly in the back.

'Ow. What the-?' James turned to the grinning red-head. 'What was that for?'

'Your hurting Peter,' explained Lily, jerking her head to her right where Peter looked at James with extreme apology.

'Am I? Sorry mate,' and James moved obligingly off Peter's legs. Lily started slightly- the James she thought she knew wouldn't have moved. He'd have laughed it off and probably stayed there until Peter's feet fell off for lack of blood supply.

'That's okay,' muttered Peter, who took the opportunity to massage his aching feet. James turned to Lily and glanced at her legs.

'Would you mind if I-?' and without waiting for an answer, he plonked himself against Lily's legs as he had with Peter. Lily sighed, that was the old James.

'Of course you may…' she muttered under her breath. However, James was near enough to have heard. He turned around and gave her his most dashing smile- the one he used on girls if he wanted them to swoon/gasp/fall at his feet/etc- but Lily had seen it so many times that she had become immune to its effects.

'Hey Lils, check this out,' James cleared his throat for attention and dramatic effect and recited- 'Querida Lirio, tu pelo es como el feugo y tu ojos son el color de las esmeraldas.' James grinned and everyone clapped, Chrissy beaming at her prowess as a Spanish teacher. Despite the fact his accent was truly appalling, Lily decided it might be nice to pay him a compliment for once in a while.

'Very sexy,' said Lily laughing.

'Really?' asked James hopefully.

'No not really. Mainly because I don't have a clue what you just said.'

'But if you did know, then it would be sexy?' pushed James, eagerly.

'Well, the question remains, do you what you just said Mr Potter?' Lily asked, actually quite wanting to now what it was he'd said.

'I did…' James screwed up his face, trying to remember which of the things he'd asked Chrissy to translate he'd just said. 'Damn, what was it again Chrissy?' But it was not she who answered, but Remus who, behind his enormous volume of 'Hogwarts, A History' that he was re-reading for the eighth time, had been almost entirely excluded from all conversation.

'Dearest Lily, your hair is like fire and your eyes are the colour of emeralds.'

A slightly stunned silence met his small declaration.

'Dude,' said James, at a slight loss for words. 'Since when do you speak Spanish?'

'Oh, I've just picked a little bit up from holidays and stuff.'

'Say something!' said Peter eagerly.

Remus drew breath, not altogether pleased from having been dragged away from his favourite chapter ("1,782 secret passages- a guide").

'Fine. Prongs- tu es un idiota. Tu nez es demasiado pequena para tu cara pero tu boca compone para lo.' Chrissy snorted at this. Remus continued- 'Tambien, debas ya comprender que Lirio no te quiera, y nunca haga. Pues, renuncas y permitarme de leer mi libro.'

He gave a wry smile and turned back to his book, Chrissy doubled up with laughter, half at what had just been said and half at the looks on everyone's faces. James' in particular was quite an interesting picture- awe mixed with humour and disgust.

'I think I heard the word idiot in there,' James said to the room in general. Remus only smiled blandly at page four hundred and three and continued in reading. Then he paused and turned to Chrissy- 'Did I make any mistakes?'

'No, I think you completely your task in insulting him very effectively,' she giggled. 'And may I compliment you on your accent?'

'Why thank you.' Remus smiled and instead of turning back to his book, began engaging in conversation with her. This unsettled Lily slightly, but before she could interject, the lady with the food trolley arrived.

'Thank heavens this thing automatically refills itself,' sighed the lady as she collected all their proffered money and emptied what seemed like at least three quarters of the trolley's contents into the compartment. Most of it went onto the floor (as there was very little room left on the seats) much to James' delight, and they immediately began filling themselves with Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron cakes, Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans (they had a short competition to see who could find the most vile one- Fab won with compost with Clarissa a close second with Skelegro potion). The consumption of Pepper Imps was put on hold when Frank accidentally set fire to James' hair, something James told him he would never forgive until his dying day. James was a little touchy around the hair department- it was his pride and joy

When they had polished off all the food, they looked forward to a nice relaxing rest of journey with a few games of exploding snap. Alice agreed to exchange places with James in order to prevent any stray cards causing any more damage to his beautiful locks. Lily was less than happy about this as James appeared to be getting a little too comfortable sitting next to her and had contented himself with lying his head on her shoulder, which was now beginning to ache.

However, all plans for a peaceful journey were put on hold with the arrival of one Camilla Bates, a third year in complete awe of everyone in the group, but Lily above all. The door to the compartment slid open so quietly that no-one noticed there was another person in their presence until the unmistakeable, very high-pitched squeak that was Camilla penetrated their ears, causing immediate attention to her. This of course, was represented by Camilla as their being pleased to see her which, although not false, was not without its doubts. There was no better creature in the world, but alongside the good in her was blended the ridiculous, and one really had to be in the mood to talk to her if you were going to.

She was very short, with dark brown hair, huge blue eyes and very pink cheeks. She was extremely pretty but possibly the biggest chatterbox in England, if not the whole world. However, she was very generous and loved giving people gifts just to see their happy reaction- she had actually given Lily seven Christmas presents last year. Seven! And each was as thoughtful as the next, either something Lily really wanted or something she realised she wanted when she received it. Of course, this always made the receiver feel a little awkward if not a little guilty for only getting her one gift.

'Lily!' Eleven heads snapped to the doorway, seven put on forced smiles. Lily, Alice, Frank and James all smiled genuinely at the little girl, knowing her the best of the group. Camilla climbed across all the legs to the other side of the compartment to hug the four.

'Hi Millie,' said Lily, pulling the girl into a tight hug. 'Did you have a good-'

'Oh it was great thanks. Just great. We had a- Hi James!- we had a fantastic time in Italy, we went for three whole weeks you know!'

Well seeing as you sent me six postcards… thought Lily. 'What was the weather-'

'Oh it was just fantastic. We went swimming every day. Literally every day! And- Alice, you have got a tan. Did you go somewhere nice?'

'Well, I went to C-'

'Oh yeah, you went to Cornwall didn't you? I got your postcard- thank you so so much. I love getting postcards. Just love them. It looked so pretty there. I - Frank! You sent me a postcard too! Thank you too! So did you go to Cornwall together or were you just both there by coincidence?'

'No we-' started Frank.

'Oh, you went together? Did your parents go too? I love Cornwall so much except the last time I went there I got ill because I ate an oyster and it was disgusting. Have you ever tried oyster?'

'Well, I-' tried Gideon, but he wasn't allowed to finish.

'They're disgusting aren't they? Seriously, if no-one's tried them, just don't bother. They'll make you ill and they're really expensive too. Anyway, while we were in Italy we went to these amazing waterfalls, and they were just so so beautiful that we were left speechless. Really quite quite speechless-'

And you haven't stopped talking of them since…

'Millie, have you met Chrissy?' asked Lily, amazed to have got more than two words in edgeways.

Camilla looked at Chrissy who smiled weakly at her, clearly slightly overwhelmed by the tiny girl. 'Well, it's always a pleasure to meet any friend of Lily's,' said Camilla, quite solemnly extending a hand which Chrissy shook. 'Is Chrissy your full name? That would be quite a strange full name wouldn't it?'

'No, it's just a-'

'Oh, it's just a nickname I suppose isn't it? What's it short for?'

'Christiana.'

'Oh, that's a very pretty name. Very very pretty- I think I should like to be called Christiana if I could my own name. You know, you look quite like my cousin you know.'

Oh here we go…

'Do you know her? Her name's-

Fedora

She's not in school very much nowadays because she-

Gets ill quite a lot

'But she's in the year below you, and she's from-

Italy.

'Are you from Italy?'

'No, Spain,' replied Chrissy as quickly as she could in order to get the words in.

'Oh I adore Spain! I had a fantastic trip there last summer. But I'll have to tell you about it another time- I have to go and see my sister. She's starting this year and she's really really nervous! Cross your fingers she's in Gryffindor?'

'Sure,' smiled Lily, wondering what on Earth a mini-Camilla would be like in addition to the big one.

'Thanks! See you soon!'

And with that, she left. The whole compartment let out a collective 'woosh' of breath, as though they had been holding the air Millie should have been using but didn't seem to need.

'She's a sweetheart,' said Alice affectionately.

'You can keep her,' muttered Gideon who looked very much as though he had had his 'Camilla' dose for the entire year.

'I think she's really nice,' said Chrissy, smiling.

'You are more giving than I thought,' grinned Fabian.

'Well, at least she has good taste with names,' said Remus very quietly. 'Christiana really is a beautiful name.'

RIGHT! THAT IS IT! Lily's mind screamed. There was far too much flirtation going on around here to be good and this was not Lily's plan. Christiana and Remus? Come on Chrissy, we can do better than this.

It wasn't as if she had any particular problem with him, nothing vast at least. It was just little niggling things- he was a total bookworm (not that she wasn't one herself, but she decided to let that one slide), he was always slightly scruffy and looked perpetually tired (not that a relationship should be based on looks, but with such a choice of fit guys around, why go for the least good-looking?), he had read Hogwarts, A History SEVEN times (normal people either only read it once or never at all, prefects usually read it twice, maximum three. But seven!) and finally… actually, Lily hadn't come up with a final point yet. But when she did, it would be the best one yet.

She was sure Remus was a perfectly nice person, but he was so distant, so secluded. Any time she had tried to befriend him, he pushed her away or just put on a façade of disinterest. And then there was the fact that he kept disappearing…

Yes! That's the final point- How can a girl expect to keep a steady boyfriend if he insists on being permanently absent. No, all in all, Remus was a bad choice… bad bad choice. Now what about Gideon? That was much better. Even though he was in Ravenclaw like his brother, he possessed may fine qualities- good looks being one of them. Good sense of humour, kind, interested. Yep, he was the one.

…you think Lily? Lils? HELLO, EARTH TO MISS EVANS!' Lily awoke from her stupor with every occupant's head turned toward her.

'Err, sort of…' Lily supplied, not having a clue what they were talking about.

'If it helps,' murmured James in her ear, 'the question was, "Do you think Frederique is a good name for a girl?"'

'Oh, well…' Lily paused to think about it. 'It's pretty in itself, but calling a girl Fred could get slightly confusing.'

'Well, we call Chrissy Chrissy,' said Dan.

'Yeah, and guys are called Chris,' retorted Clarissa.

'You can call a guy Chrissy if you wanted.'

'How many guys do you know called Chrissy!'

Removing herself slightly from the petty argument that had started, Lily turned to the window, looking at the hills now speeding by. The grey cloud of the morning was dispersing to reveal a fat yellow sun moving ever so slowly towards the horizon. Lily's thoughts wandered closer to Hogwarts, of her bed, the food and the friendships. After receiving twelve OWLS that summer, she was looking forward to honing her skills in her favourite subjects (finally allowed to drop Potions. Finally!) and developing new friendships.

Of course, there was the niggling feeling of the wedding looming ever nearer. Petunia had wanted quite a long engagement and the actual day was set in April. Lily still had yet to decide whether she would attend.

She drew her gaze away from the window towards her friends- Clarissa was now berating Dan for thinking that Blaise was a girls name. Lily sighed- if ever there was a match made in heaven, it was those two…

That would pair most people up in the carriage, although there was quite an excess of the male species. But not as many as there should have been as Lily glanced around. She couldn't quite believe she'd neglected Sirius' absence for so long. She'd noticed he wasn't on the platform but had just assumed he hadn't arrived yet. But he wasn't here.

'Hey Potter?' she nudged James slightly in the ribs.

'Please, do call me James,' he said, for possibly the millionth time in his school career.Lily ignored him.

'Where's your other half?'

James laughed slightly, but the look in his eyes told Lily quite plainly that even now, he was missing his friend. 'I assume by that, you mean out dear Sirius 'Siriusly-good-looking' Black?' Lily nodded, smiling. 'Well, he has apparently been detained at home due to 'family problems'.

'But,' said Lily puzzled, 'he hates his family. Surely problems would be a welcome excuse to leave?'

'He didn't tell me what the circumstances were, but if he's not telling me, there must be something up.' Lily agreed silently. If she didn't know better, she would have guessed that Sirius and James were just replicas of the same personality. They even looked slightly alike- dark hair, dark eyes, rakish grin, same old same old.

'I'm sure it's fine. He'll be back in no time.' Lily laid a comforting hand on James' forearm and he covered it with his own, instinctively.

'Yeah, but we always kept this tradition of guessing what house each kid would be in before they get sorted- it's usually in the name you know? I've won fifteen galleons, seven sickles and a knut over the years. Be a pity to miss it.'

'Well, why don't you just double the odds next year?' suggested Lily with a grin. James smiled but didn't say anything.

It was only half and hour later, when the food trolley came along later that Lily realised that her hand was still in James'. He had fallen into a quiet doze, his head on her shoulder and possessed quite a strong grip even his unconscious state. So Lily was forced to eat her chocolate frog one-handed. Quite a feat really.

Two hours later, they were drawing near to Hogsmeade and needed to change. The event was not terribly eventful- the girls kicked the boys into the spare compartment to give them a bit of peace and quiet. Then James got clobbered by a conjunctivitis curve by Alice when they caught him looking in through a hole in the wall separating them. Eye red and weeping, he exited the train with the others into the cool evening breeze of the platform.

Lily breathed in, smelling the characteristic smoke and honeysuckle of the guard's house. The moon hung in the air- a gash of silver against the indigo sheet above them. In the distance, Lily could make out the glittering lights of the castle and owls from cages on the train were being released into the air to make their own way to the citadel.

Looking around at her group of friends, she let out a contented sigh.

She was home.

I should like to take this opportunity to say that if anyone has read the book or seen the film of Emma, the first 3 chapters really are just introductions to characters and building the story. So I think I've more or less introduced everyone that needs to be introduced for this story so far, so hopefully, we can get on with a little plot! Thank you to all my lovely reviewers! I love all you to absolute pieces!

R xxx