"Here are the keys." James Potter stepped from his black Mercedes and tossed the aforementioned keys to a driver in the valet parking. The driver raised the hand clutching the keys in triumph; all the drivers had been jostling for position, hoping they'd be the one allowed to drive the beautiful Mercedes. "Mariana Potter will be by later to pick it up."
Sirius Black stepped from the passenger side of the car, and both young men retrieved their trunks from the trunk of the car. "Off to school?" the lucky man who James had tossed the keys to asked.
"Yup," Sirius replied.
"Whereabouts?" he asked.
"Way up north," James said, with a note of finality in his voice. "Come on, Sirius, we've got to get going, or I'm going to be late."
They both walked into the train station and to the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. James hurried through the brick wall first, barely even stopping to check if there were any muggles watching. He stormed through the barrier on the other side and didn't stop to admire the intimidating beauty of the bright red Hogwarts Express, as he normally did. He pulled his trunk onto the train and stored it in the Marauders' normal compartment, before hurrying to the front of the train and the Heads' compartment. He pulled open the door and stepped inside. He stopped dead in his tracks, the compartment was gorgeous. It was huge, with a glass table with all sorts of sweets on top of it. There were two leather couches and a mahogany coffee table. On the coffee table there were two envelopes, one reading James Potter and the other Lily Evans. That answered James' question as to who the Head Girl to his Head Boy was. James opened his envelope and read the letter:
James-
Congratulations on your appointment. Miss Evans' and your duties shall begin immediately. There will be a prefects meeting in the prefects compartment (next to yours) at 12 noon exactly. The prefects have already been notified. There are two prefects from each year and house. During this meeting, you and Miss Evans will notify the prefects of their duties, and of their common rooms' passwords.
You and Miss Evans will need to meet with me after the Welcoming Feast this evening. I will alert you of your duties and of scheduled meetings. There will also be information provided about living arrangements. Thank you and congratulations.
The passwords for the houses are as follows.
Gryffindor: Mundungus
Ravenclaw: Wingardium Leviosa
Hufflepuff: Mandrake
Slytherin: Mudblood
-Professor Dumbledore
James smiled slightly, hoping he would finally be able to get on Lily Evans' good side. He resolved then and there that he would end the showing-off, the pranks, the ruffling of his hair, and the cursing of Snape and just be himself for Lily, and pray to god that that would finally be good enough for her. He collapsed onto the couch and waited for Lily to arrive, partly awestruck that she was actually late.
The taxi screeched to a halt outside King's Cross Station at quarter to 11. The backseat door flung open and a seventeen year old girl stepped haphazardly out, shoving some money to the cab driver. She removed a large school trunk from the trunk of the cab and hurriedly yanked it out. She dragged it on a trolley into the station and through the barrier onto Platform 9 ¾. She stuffed her stuff in the compartment that she and her best friends always occupied and hurried down the hall to the door to the head compartment. She straightened her emerald green polo shirt and her short white ruffled skirt which reached to just below her fingertips. She tossed her hair behind her shoulder and opened the door. "Sorry, I'm late," she began as the Head Boy turned toward her. "The taxi driver was – POTTER?"
"No, Evans, I'm sorry I wasn't the taxi driver," James replied smartly. Lily rolled her eyes but couldn't help noticing that his joke was accompanied by a genuine, yet sad smile as opposed to his normal arrogant smirk.
"Thank goodness you weren't. I wouldn't have survived the ride if you had been," Lily retorted. James thought he detected a hint of a joke in her voice. "You're Head Boy?"
"Yup. You're actually taking the news rather well, in my opinion. I was shell-shocked. Sirius, too. He probably didn't speak for a week."
Lily snorted. She couldn't imagine Sirius not speaking for an entire week. And, what had gotten into James since the end of the last year?
"Here you go," he said, flipping a yellowed envelope in her direction. "From Dumbledore. We can discuss our duties once you've read it." Lily nodded already immersed in the letter.
"How may I help you?"
"I need to rent a car," Margaret Correnti told the salesgirl.
"Well, you've come to the right place," the salesgirl smiled.
"I know that's why I came here. Not to be rude, but I really need to hurry. My train leaves from King's Cross at 11."
"Ok, well fill this out and I'll tell you the parking space number and give you the keys."
Margaret began to hurriedly fill out the form. As soon as she was finished she shoved the paperwork back at the salesgirl and shoved her hand toward her. "Keys," she demanded. The salesgirl dropped them disdainfully into her hand and snapped, "Section E, parking space 145."
Margaret said, "What type of car is it?"
"Volkswagon."
"Thanks." She dragged her trunk toward the exit of the London International Airport.
With ten minutes to spare until the Hogwarts Express left King's Cross, Remus Lupin and Morgan and Joshua Browne stumbled out of Mr. Browne's car. "Bye Daddy," Morgan said as she collected her trunk from the back of her father's car.
"Thanks for the ride, Mr. Browne," Remus called over his shoulder as he and Morgan hurried toward the barrier. They quickly hurried through the barrier and onto the train. Remus stored his stuff in the Marauders' compartment and exchanged a quick hello with Sirius before hurrying to prefects' compartment.
Morgan stowed her trunk in her usual compartment, noticing as she did so that Lily was already there, but not in the compartment. She must have been named Head Girl, Morgan noted, which would explain why Morgan had been named prefect this year. She hurried to the prefects' compartment where she met Remus, who was her good friend and neighbor.
At 10:55 Olivia Chase and Peter Pettigrew clambered out of their respective parents' cars and hurried onto the platform, knowing that if they dawdled even slightly they would miss the very punctual train to Hogwarts. Just as the door into the train station swung shut behind Olivia, a plum purple Volkswagon screeched to a halt and Margaret Correnti exited from the driver's side.
She threw the keys at an employee, screaming, "rental, from Enterprise." She collected her trunk from the car and dragged it hurriedly onto the platform and then onto the train.
About three minutes after Margaret crashed into King's Cross, three final students did so. Andrew, Katherine and Heidi Vincent flew into the station, through the barrier and onto the train, the speed that they were moving at confusing many a muggle in the station.
Lily finished reading her letter from Dumbledore and turned to James. "Alright, so we need to assign the prefects train corridor patrols and hand out passwords to each prefect. They'll only know the passwords for their own house. We're the only ones who know all four, and we're expected not to abuse that privilege," she added harshly.
"I won't abuse it. Why don't we get this meeting started? I want to catch up with my friends and I'm sure you do as well."
Lily nodded, but stopped him before he entered the prefects' compartment. "Potter, wait."
He kept his hand on the doorknob, but turned to look at her. He nodded at her, signaling her to continue. "I think we should call a truce," Lily confessed a bit nervously. "Friends?" she extended her hand toward James, who took it.
"Friends," he agreed, smiling ever-so-slightly at her. She smiled back. He seemed so different from last year. Lily was determined to avoid setting herself up for disappointment by believing too much in James.
"Come on, we have a meeting to conduct, James."
He smiled again. He loved it when she said his first name, after six years of only hearing his surname coming from her mouth. He followed her into the prefects' compartment and stood beside Lily to begin the meeting. "Hi everyone," Lily began. "My name is Lily Evans, and I'm the head girl this year. I'm a Gryffindor and a seventh year, obviously. Why don't we go around and say our name, house and year?"
"James Potter," James said. "I'm a Gryffindor Seventh Year as well."
The introductions continued through the prefects.
"Remus Lupin. Gryffindor Seventh year."
"My name is Morgan Browne and I'm a Gryffindor Seventh Year as well."
"Courtney Hallett, Hufflepuff Seventh Year."
"Lucas Washington, Hufflepuff fifth year."
"Alice Prewett, Ravenclaw seventh year."
"Frank Longbottom, Ravenclaw seventh year."
"Annie Smith, Hufflepuff fifth year."
"Oliver Hitchinson, Hufflepuff seventh year."
The introductions continued through the remaining Gryffindors, two of whom were on James' Quidditch team (Johnny Parker, a sixth year and Dylan Finch, a fifth year) Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws until they reached the Slytherins, who refused to speak. James glared at them, but they still wouldn't speak.
"Snape, Black, care to introduce yourselves or do you want me to take on that task?" James inquired sweetly.
They glared back at him. "Alright," James said. "Prefects, in the back we have Severus Snape and Patricia Parkinson, Slytherin seventh years, Rodolphus Lestrange and Bellatrix Black, Slytherin sixth years and Regulus Black and Zera Phelps, Slytherin fifth years. Now that we're through with the introductions, Lily and I just have a few announcements to make. Lily?"
"Alright, after the meeting come up to James or I and we can tell you your houses password. Don't try to trick us into to telling you the wrong house, because it's not going to work and it's just going to land you in detention before we even reach the school. James?"
"Ok, the only other thing we need to go over is patrols, so let's make this quick and painless. It's 12:30 now, so at 1 the fifth years will patrol the hallways until 2, when the sixth years will take over until three. At three, the seventh years will take over, and Lily and I will be in charge of patrolling the last hour and getting everyone off the train when we reach Hogsmeade around five. Does that sound ok, to you, Lily?"
"Fine," she answered. "Prefects, just get your house's password and then you're dismissed, remember your patrol time. James and I will know if you don't patrol, so I suggest you comply and do as we told you."
There was a scraping of chairs and all the prefects stood, forming two lines to receive their houses' passwords from Lily or James. Fifteen tedious minutes later, all the passwords had been handed out, and they were free to go. "Do you want to meet back at the Heads' compartment at ten of four?" Lily asked as James prepared to leave the prefects' compartment after the meeting.
"Sounds good. I'll see you then Lily," James smiled slightly before he left the compartment. He wound his way slowly toward the Marauders' compartment on cloud nine, not believing he had just spent an hour and a half with Lily and not gotten into one fight or made one suggestive remark. He sauntered into his best friends' compartment, dreamy facial expression still firmly in place.
"Prongs," Peter exclaimed, being the only one who hadn't yet seen James. "How was your summer?"
"Huh?" James asked, finally registering Peter's words. "Sorry, I was thinking."
"How was your summer?"
"Oh, it was ok.
"I didn't do much. I spent a little bit of time at Moony's and Mum and I went to Ireland for a week. I heard about your dad. I'm sorry."
"Thanks," James commented, seating himself next to Sirius, across from Remus and Peter.
"Ok, Prongs, spill," Sirius demanded. "What was up with that dreamy look, and why does Moony have his superior knowledge look on his face?"
"I just spent an hour and a half with Lily and we didn't get in a fight, in fact, we're now officially friends. Friendship is the foundation of a good relationship."
Sirius snorted at James' last sentence. "Whatever, Potter. But congratulations on your new friend."
James smiled slightly, his thoughts on what had happened to his father. He wished Peter had never brought it up.
About five minutes after James left the prefects' compartment, Lily exited it as well. She hurried down the hallway eager to see Olivia and Margaret and to greet Morgan properly. She banged the door of their normal compartment open, and greeted her friends, "hey, girls."
Margaret, Olivia and Morgan turned their attention to her and grinned. "Lils," they cried, standing. "How are you?" The girls tangled themselves in a many armed hug. Eventually, Lily pulled back and examined each of her friends closely. Olivia was wearing a pink spaghetti strap tank top and flared dark blue jeans. Her long chestnut brown hair was loose around her shoulders and her blue eyes sparkled as she grinned at Lily, revealing white teeth. "You look great, Liv. You're so tan. You too, Maggie."
It was true. Maggie's black hair was pulled into a loose ponytail and her brown eyes shined with enthusiasm as usual. She was wearing a short black skirt and a pink t-shirt. And Morgan and Lily didn't pale in comparison to their best friends. Morgan was wearing baggy white capris and a light blue shirt which complemented her eyes perfectly. Her blonde hair was cut in a cute style, framing her face and reaching to just halfway down her neck in layers. Lily wore a white skirt and a green polo shirt, as well as a white headband, keeping her neat, red hair back from her face. Her thick, straight hair tumbled down her neck and back to just below her shoulder blades. "Morgan, you look amazing as well."
"Well, Lils, head girl, and you're looking pretty nice yourself," Morgan answered grinning at Lily.
"I haven't seen any of you in ages. Tell me about your summers," Lily demanded sitting down with Olivia, across from Maggie and Morgan.
Morgan started. "Remus and I spent a lot of time together, and our families went on vacation to Greece together, which was a ton of fun."
"Where in Greece?" Olivia shifted her position next to Lily to look more intently at Morgan.
Morgan leaned back and glanced around at her friends. "Athens, mostly. We also went to Crete. It was paradise."
"Alright," Maggie grinned. "So really, what's going on between you and Remus? And don't say 'nothing' because we all know that's not true."
"I don't know." A pensive look spread across Morgan's face. "I wish I could tell you."
"Well," Maggie looked intently to her side at Morgan's profile. "Do you like Remus?"
Morgan blushed. "No, of course not. He's a Marauder."
"Am I supposed to believe that?" Lily laughed. "Just because I have an issue with the Marauders doesn't mean that I'm going to have a problem with you crushing on Remus, now if it was Black…"
It was Maggie's turn to blush. Morgan turned sharply on her. "Blushing, Mags? Do you like Black?"
"You're just changing the subject, Browne," Maggie defended herself. "I certainly never heard the end of the conversation about Remus."
"Do you like Remus?" Olivia asked Morgan bluntly.
"I suppose," Morgan looked toward the ground, her face turning pink.
"That's ok," Lily assured Morgan. "None of us minds in the slightest."
"Yes, but it's not like he actually likes me back, so it's not an issue. Anyway he has Veronica Samuelson, that Ravenclaw."
"They're not that serious," Maggie brushed the tidbit of information aside. "They'll break up within a week."
"I doubt it," Morgan lamented. "He got a letter from her practically every day we were in Greece."
"Well, did he like getting the letters?" Olivia inquired reasonably.
"I don't know," Morgan moaned. "Let's just see how this disaster plays out and talk about Liv's summer."
"Ok," Olivia began to illustrate her summer rather colorfully, beginning with her July visit to Hawaii with her family. "We went to Hawaii, all of us: Me, Jake, Sam and Mum and Dad. We were there for the entire month of July. There were some really handsome Hawaiian boys there, but I wasn't really interested in any of them. They were basically all arrogant surfers."
"Wait," Lily leaned forward in interest. "Did you spend any time at all with Andrew over the summer?"
"Almost none," Olivia sighed. "We got our school stuff together this summer, toward the end of August. That was fun; I never imagined that shopping with a boy would actually be a good experience though."
The four girls all laughed. "But anyway, I did have a nice summer, and the little time I spent with Drew was fun. Sam, Jake and I had a good time learning to surf in Hawaii."
"That's awesome." Maggie turned her attention to Lily. "Alright, Lils, Liv and Morgan have told us about their summers, what about you?"
"In comparison to you guys', my summer was boring. We didn't go anywhere, or do anything, other than to prepare for the wedding of the millennium."
"Wait," Morgan interrupted. "What wedding?"
"Oh, I haven't told you!" Lily exclaimed. "Petunia's evil boyfriend, Vernon Dursley proposed. They're getting married."
"Ouch," Maggie felt bad for Lily. "When's it set for?"
"December," Lily glared harshly at the ground.
"Well, hopefully by then you'll have a boyfriend to drag along with you. If not, I'm sure McGonagall would be happy to let one of us go."
"Liv," Lily groaned. "I'm not going to have a boyfriend who I'm serious enough with to drag along to my horse of a sister's wedding. But that's completely off subject, the point is, my sister is getting married and I had to spend my entire summer being measured for a pink frilly bridesmaid's dress, which clashes with my hair, I might add. Then I had to help with the wedding plans, which was a serious bummer. It was a pretty awful summer."
"Merlin, Lils," Olivia looked at Lily with a shocked expression on her face. "I feel so bad for you. If you don't have a boyfriend to bring to the wedding, for God's sake, one of us will go with you. I'll go."
"Thanks, Liv," Lily smiled. "You're all great friends. But now enough, about me, I want to hear about Maggie's summer. So, Mags, you're going to have to spill now. You've hid it from us for long enough."
Maggie laughed and flipped her dark hair over her shoulder. "Well, it really wasn't all that exciting to tell you the truth. I spent it in Italy, except for the two weeks that my Mum and Dad let Giovanni and I go to the Canary Islands."
Lily sighed. "You guys all had awesome summers, not to make you feel bad or anything, but seriously, Mags, you and Giovanni got to go to the Canary Islands, Liv, you and your entire family went to Hawaii and Morg, you went to Greece with Remus and your families. What did I do? Spent my summer break planning a pink frilly wedding."
"Oh, Lils," Maggie cried. "What's Petunia's wedding date?"
"December 28," Lily grimaced, already dreading the date.
"Well, we get out for break on December 10. For the first two weeks of break, we are going on a vacation somewhere. Just you, me, Liv and Morgan. We'll have a great time, all of us, and then we'll go to our own families for Christmas and the next few days and we'll meet you at Petunia's wedding."
Lily stood up and crossed the compartment to hug Maggie. "Thanks Mags, that's a great idea, we should start planning right now. You guys are great friends."
"No problem, we're best friends, that's what we do for each other, isn't it?" Maggie said, matter-of-factly.
"That's right," Olivia and Morgan agreed.
"Thanks, you guys really are the best," Lily smiled around at her friends.
"We know," Olivia smiled arrogantly.
"Modest, too," Lily muttered affectionately.
The rest of the time passed quickly with Morgan being required to leave them at three to patrol with Remus and the rest of the seventh year prefects. At quarter of four, Lily stood up. "Mags, Liv, I have to go patrol with James."
"Fine," Maggie pretended to be terribly offended.
"Don't worry, Morgan will be back soon."
"Good, hey, why aren't you freaking out that you have to patrol with James? What's going on here?"
Olivia looked up with an interested expression. Lily blushed a little bit, "we've just decided to be friends."
"More details to follow," Maggie promised as Lily rushed out of the compartment, her face bright red.
"So, Liv," Maggie continued, "what is up with Lily?"
"Well, it appears that James is Head Boy, and Lily has to work with him. That's actually rather surprising, I've never heard of the head's being from the same house. I bet Lily decided that they needed a truce or something to work together."
Maggie nodded and Olivia took that as a signal to continue. "I think they've decided to be friends, and James is probably finally being himself around her, and she's all confused about her feelings."
"That's a decent idea," Maggie mused.
"Decent?" Olivia glared at Maggie, "if I do say so myself, I think it's quite excellent."
"Sorry, I'm late," Lily gasped, mortified at herself for being late twice in one day.
James shifted his position on the couch and smiled slightly at her, yet again. "It's alright, although I must say I never thought the day would come when Lily Evans was twice late."
"Blame this time on Maggie and Liv," Lily smiled. "They decided the moment I had to leave to come here would be a good time for an all-out interrogation. They're probably still talking about me back in our compartment."
James laughed, "well, come on, we can start a little early, give the seventh years a break, other than Snivelly, of course."
Lily grinned, but wasn't entirely pleased with his nick-name for Snape. "Alright," she agreed and they exited the Heads' compartment in a slightly tense silence.
About five awkwardly quiet minutes later James spoke up. "Alright, Lily, right about now you could cut the tension with the knife. Is anything bothering you?"
"No," Lily said too quickly, studying her shoes.
"That's not true; you aren't a very good liar."
Lily continued to glare at the ground, but her gaze softened slightly. "Well, that's a good thing to be bad at."
"Depending on who you are," James pointed out. "Now, if someone like Sirius was a bad liar, they'd be pretty much screwed. But a well-behaved person like you is fine with out the skill of telling a good cover-up story. But something is eating you. Out with it."
"How can you be so mean to Snape?" She shifted her hard glare from the ground to James' face. "I mean, I know he certainly isn't the nicest of people, but still, I can't see how you can just treat anyone like that."
"Lily, I know you probably can't understand this, because you're so nice and kind and serious, but the fact of the matter is that Sirius and I aren't. Neither of us is a particularly good person, but that's off the point. Have you ever noticed that our animosity toward Snape didn't really start until third year? That's when Snape befriended Sirius' little brother, Regulus; he's a fifth year prefect now. Sirius was so sure that when Regulus came to Hogwarts, he'd be in Gryffindor too. He was so angry when Regulus was sorted into Slytherin. We took it upon ourselves to make Snape's life miserable and maybe, just maybe, turn Regulus away from Snape and the Dark Arts and most importantly, Voldemort. I'd say we succeeded in making Snape's life miserable, but looking back on it, it probably wasn't our best decision."
"No, I'd say it wasn't," Lily's glare softened. "But I understand it a little bit better now."
"I'm glad; I hope we can be friends."
"Me, too. It seems like it could work."
"Definitely, but good friends know each other inside out, so we need to get to know each other. Who do you live with?"
"My boyfriend, Rick," Lily laughed at the mortified expression on James' face. "I'm just kidding. My parents wouldn't let me ever live with my boyfriend until we were good and married."
"Do you have a boyfriend named Rick?" James asked.
"No, I don't have a boyfriend. I live with my parents Megan and Chris Evans and my sister Petunia. What about you?"
"It's me, my parents, Elizabeth and Harold, and Sirius at the Potter manse."
"Manse?"
"Of course. No, I'm kidding. The house was originally built for my dad's family when my dad was young. He has ten brothers and sisters, so naturally the house was rather large."
"I would think so. Are there a lot of unoccupied bedrooms?"
"Well, my parents are in the master bedroom, and Sirius and I have two of the other bedrooms. The rest are all guest bedrooms, with one bed in each and their own bathrooms connected. But there are eight rooms without occupants. My parents say they get lonely by themselves when Sirius and I are at school."
"I should think so. Your house seems massive, just by description."
"What about you, Lily? Do you get along with your sister? I always wished I had a sibling."
"Well, actually we don't get along at all. We did before I got accepted to Hogwarts. She's two years older than me and we were best friends, before I was accepted here. She began to hate me because I'm magical and ever since we've been fighting to no end."
"What," James had a look of utter confusion on his face. "She hates you because you're magical? Wouldn't most muggles kill to be magical?"
"It's kind of like the Slytherins thinking I'm unfit to being in the Wizarding world, because I'm muggle-born," Lily told him, wondering where in her mind the comparison had ever materialized from. "It's the same way when I go home. Petunia thinks I'm not good enough for her world because I'm magical. It's exactly the same concept as muggle-born hating."
"I'm sorry, Lily," James looked and sounded genuinely sorry, too. "That sucks."
"Well," Lily looked up into his face. "It's not as bad here, because I have Maggie, Liv, and Morgan. They're the greatest friends anyone could ask for. And now I have you as well."
James smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I just feel bad, Lily. If there's anything I can do…" he trailed off.
"Just don't torment the younger kids anymore, or Snape. You're changing, James and it's definitely a very good thing."
James smiled down at her. "Thanks, Lily."
She smiled up at him in return. "Tell me about your parents. What are they like?"
Sadness crept into James' eyes, but he spoke anyway. "My mum is great. She's so strong and kind and caring. I love her so much. Our house-elf, Levy, is so sweet. My mum, Sirius and I have a lot of fun together."
"It's so great how close you and your mum are. Are you close with your dad, too?"
James looked angrily at the ground. "He and I were very close." He didn't elaborate and Lily didn't pressure him to. "What are fun things to do when you're a muggle?" James asked, changing the subject.
"We have sports, like Quidditch, which a lot of us play. I play football, but only in the park, they don't have organized leagues for girls. I have some friends, though who play with me."
"I actually play football as well."
"Really? Do you play on an organized team?"
"Yeah, I do. I play for an under 18 team in Manchester. We're pretty popular."
"Do you get to leave school to play?"
"Yeah, my first game this year is over Halloween. I bet you could come, since it's on a weekend, if you'd like."
"That would be fun."
The conversation trailed off for several minutes until James spoke up fairly randomly. "Can I teach you how to fly?" James looked so excited that Lily had to accept.
"Alright," she agreed, a little apprehensively.
"Great," James enthused. "It will be so much fun. You're going to be the greatest flier."
Lily smiled and checked her watch. "There's only ten minutes before we get off the train. Do you want to start getting the students ready? We'll just warn them, and make sure they have their uniforms on."
"Before we do that, Lily," James glanced down at his grey sweatshirt, and Lily's white skirt. "We should probably change ourselves."
Lily looked at herself and James and laughed. "Good idea, it would look slightly hypocritical if we showed up telling students to get dressed when we were still in our muggle clothes, wouldn't it?"
James laughed, and agreed. They made their way back to their respective compartments to change. Lily's came first on the long train corridor. "I'll see you later, Lily," James said as she heaved the heavy door to the compartment open. Lily nodded and closed the compartment door behind her. "Hey Lils," Morgan greeted, looking up from her book.
"Hey," Lily said, looking at her three friends, who were all dressed in their uniforms. Morgan was reading a book called Pride and Prejudice, and Olivia and Maggie were involved in an intense game of chess. "Hey Mags, Liv," Lily called, not the least bit surprised when she didn't get an answer from either of them.
"What are you doing here Lils?" Morgan watched her dig through her school trunk.
"James and I are changing and then we're going to make sure everyone on the train is ready to unload."
Morgan nodded and returned to her book. Lily dug her black pleated skirt, maroon blouse, grey tights and black heeled shoes from her trunk and began to get dressed. She pulled a black robe with the Gryffindor emblem from her trunk and threw it on herself.
James hurried into the Marauders' compartment, which was the last on the train. Peter was watching as Sirius and Remus competed in a violent game of Exploding Snap. "Hey guys," James greeted his friends as he entered the compartment.
Peter swiveled around in his chair to glance at James. "Hey Prongs."
Neither Remus nor Sirius acknowledged his presence, but he didn't care. He opened his trunk and threw several items of clothing on the floor: a maroon button-up shirt, a pair of black dress pants, a golden necktie, a pair of black shoes, and a black robe with a Gryffindor emblem on it. Sirius looked up from the game of Exploding Snap as James' shoes clunked against the floor. "Prongs, are you getting dressed already?"
James looked at him, "yah, why?"
"Because, we've never worn our uniform on the first day, ever."
"I know, but I'm head boy now, that has to change." James' voice was muffled, because his head was stuck in his trunk, as he tried to find his head boy badge. He found it and changed. He left Sirius, Remus and Peter, but not before he told them: "Guys, you should probably get changed, too. Lily and I are required to come around and make sure everyone is in their robes, so I reckon I'll be back to make sure you are."
James stepped from the Marauders' compartment and wondered where he was supposed to meet Lily. He figured he'd just walk up the train corridor and run into Lily at some point. He was right, just as he passed Lily's compartment, whistling idly, and looking for the head girl, Lily stepped out of her compartment and walked into James' right arm. "Ouch," she stumbled backwards back into her compartment.
"Lily," James turned to look at what had caused the noise. "Are you alright?"
"Yah, yah, I'm fine. You ready to go?"
"Hang on a second. I want to greet your girls." He stepped into the room and his charming façade immediately fell into place. "Hello, ladies."
"Hey James," Morgan greeted him.
"Morgan," James grinned. "How have you been?"
"Great, you been practicing?"
"Of course, you?"
"Yup, I think Liv has been too."
Olivia looked up from her chess game with Maggie. "Hey James! I've been practicing, too."
"I knew I could trust you, Liv," James smiled. "I've been named captain this year, and we've got to win, it's my last year, and yours and Morgan's."
"We'll win, James, the team's going to fall right into place. We have everything we need, except a chaser," Olivia raised her hand and began counting on her fingers. "You at chaser, with Morgan, Johnny and Dylan at beater, me at keeper and Ethan at seeker. You only have to find one position."
"Good point," James grinned. "Well, Lily and I should go, because we've really got to check all the compartments."
"Later James," Olivia called, returning to her chess game.
"Bye Morgan, Liv, Maggie," James and Lily called in unison as they began to walk down the train. They stuck their heads in each compartment in the back of the train, telling the students to make sure they were in their robes by the time the train stopped. Just as Lily and James reached the first compartment with first years in it, the train began to slow down. "Hello," James smiled at the three girls and two boys in the compartment. "My name is James Potter, I'm the head boy and this is Lily Evans, she's the head girl. What are your names? Are you first years?"
A small blond girl spoke up, "Martha Hermes, I'm a first year. I was so surprised when I got my letter. My parents aren't witches."
"Neither are mine," Lily looked kindly at the small girl. "I'm muggle-born as well. If you have any questions, just come ask me."
"Thanks," the small girl, Martha, blushed.
The next girl, a black haired one, introduced herself, "I'm Catherine Anthony."
A red haired boy introduced himself next, "I'm Bill Weasley, and I'm growing my hair out really long." He smiled a self-satisfied smile.
Lily and James grinned at one another as Kingsley Shacklebolt, a tall black boy introduced himself in a rather deep voice for an eleven year old. Following Kingsley was a brown haired girl who announced herself as Julia Young. "Well," James told the small students, after they finished with the introductions. "You should probably put on your school robes, we're going to be at the train station pretty soon."
The small students smiled admiringly at James and Lily. "Well, we'd better get going," James said, steering Lily out of the compartment, softly placing his hand on the small of her back. The first years giggled. Lily blushed a bright pink, and James dropped his hand once they were in the corridor. "I think we should just trust that the students are in their robes, because the train's basically stopped."
"Ok, that sounds fine." The train halted and James grinned.
"I think we're here." Lily nodded and the two exited the train and greeted Hagrid who was waiting for the first years.
"Lily, James, how are you doin'?"
"Fine," James smiled up at the tall giant. "You here to collect the first years?"
"Yep, why are you here, James? I'd guess you were head boy, but you?"
Lily laughed, "Don't feel bad, that's what I thought too, Hagrid. But he is actually head boy."
"Well, that Dumbledore is certainly unpredictable. Great man, Dumbledore."
James smilingly agreed, as Lily tugged on his robe sleeve. "What?" he asked.
"The train is being un-boarded, we have to supervise."
"Ok, do we just make sure no students sneak into the station or away?"
"Yah, that's about it."
James stood next to Lily, watching to make sure no students escaped from the line headed straight for the seemingly horseless carriages. James and Lily stood in their positions until the conductor got off the train, and told them they were free to go since there weren't any students left on the train. Lily and James made their way over to the carriage that had been left for them to use. As Lily clambered ungracefully into it, James stopped dead in his tracks, alarmed at the sight he saw. "Is it just me, or do the carriages have something pulling them now?"
Lily looked concernedly at him, and then to the place at the front of the carriage where James was staring and the horses would have been. "James, I don't see anything, but we really need to get up to school. Come on, get in the carriage."
James obediently climbed into the carriage and sat next to Lily, but he couldn't get the image of the skeletal horse out of his mind. They sat in silence during the ride up the long pathway to Hogwarts. Lily was worriedly wondering what James had been talking about when he had said he'd seen horses pulling the carriages, because there were obviously no horses. James was confused as to why he had never seen the horses before in his seven years at Hogwarts. Surely he wasn't that unobservant. The carriage pulled to a halt outside the great oak doors into the Entrance Hall of Hogwarts. James and Lily climbed out and James made a point of not looking at the skeletal horses in front of the carriage. He decided to forget about them until he and Lily met with Dumbledore after the feast. There was no point in worrying about something he had no answer for. As he and Lily entered the Great Hall they noticed that everyone was seated and that their respective groups were sitting together in the middle of the Gryffindor table. James surveyed the tables for any girls that Sirius, Remus or Peter would be interested in.
They reached the Gryffindor table where Sirius and Remus were sitting with Maggie between them on one side and Peter was sitting with Morgan next to him. Morgan was across the table from Remus. James sat down next to Sirius and across from Lily, who had sat down next to Olivia. "Good evening." Professor Dumbledore greeted the group. "Welcome back to Hogwarts. I trust you've all had a restful and refreshing break." Sirius and James exchanged a look; both of them had had a bad summer vacation.
"I have many announcements to make, but I trust that you're all hungry, so I'll wait until after the meal to make them. So, let the sorting begin."
James shifted in his seat and smiled slightly at Lily. She smiled at him and directed her attention to the front of the room where Professor McGonagall was setting up the sorting hat and stool. He also shifted his attention there.
McGonagall immediately began the sorting. "Anthony, Catherine." The small girl hurried to the stool embarrassedly, her black hair flying behind her. She sat on the edge of the stool and the hat sank over her eyes. "RAVENCLAW," Lily and James exchanged a glance, happy that Catherine had gotten into a good house.
The sorting continued, until they reached "Hermes, Martha."
She was sorted into Gryffindor and became the second new Gryffindor after Mary Stevens. There was an empty seat between James and the other new first year, and Martha stood behind it. "James," she asked, sweetly, a blush creeping up her cheeks. "May I sit here?"
"Of course," he pulled out the chair for the blonde girl. "We're glad to have you here in Gryffindor. Martha's your name, right?"
The small girl nodded and beamed at him for remembering her name. James redirected his attention to the sorting and Lily smiled at him. He had grown up so much. Names flew by as Lily thought about James' newfound maturity. She expected it had come from something to do with his father, considering the sadness that had crept into his eyes when she had asked James about him. They reached a name of another of the kids that Lily had met earlier, "Shacklebolt, Kingsley." He was sorted into Gryffindor and sat confidently down next to Mary Stevens who was whispering to Martha. Soon enough Gryffindor got another new student in "Weasley, Bill." And the final student was sorted into Hufflepuff, "Young, Julia."
James leaned back in his chair and groaned quietly as Bill Weasley sat down next to Lily. "I'm so hungry."
Lily rolled her eyes. Maybe he wasn't completely matured yet. "Alright," Professor Dumbledore stood up. "Welcome to Hogwarts, and welcome back. As I previously mentioned I have several notices to inform you of, but we're all very hungry, so we'll wait into after the feast."
James smiled appreciatively at the Headmaster. "Thank goodness," he exclaimed as the food materialized in front of him. He grabbed a little bit of everything hungrily.