A/N: As requested by Yasmin, this chapter is longer, so I hope you all enjoy it. And remember to Read and Review!

Chapter 3: First Impressions

'Young ladies,' she said, 'I wish to introduce you to our new companion.' All the little girls rose in their places, and Sara rose also. 'I shall expect you all to be very agreeable to Miss Crewe; she has just come to us from a great distance – in fact, from India. As soon as lessons are over you must make each other's acquaintance.'

- Frances Hodgson Burnett - A Little Princess

When the threstral-drawn coaches pulled up to the castle, all the students jumped out, and ran for the doors, their only wish to get inside and out of the pelting rain. Lily did the same, rushing for shelter along with the throng, which once inside, swept her away towards the great hall, not giving her the chance to get her bearings. On stepping into the great hall, Lily let out a gasp of amazement. The vaulted ceiling seemed virtually nonexistent, seemingly exposing them to the elements once again. The black rain fell from the thundering clouds, now and then illuminated by a flash of forked lightning.

Once Lily managed to tear her eyes away from the enchanted ceiling, her gaze travelled across the long tables standing in rows throughout the hall, each adorned in its own colour and adorned with floating candles.

Seeing the Griffindor crest on the robes of the laughing students seated at the table closest to where she was standing, she made her way towards it, taking a eat at the furthest end, a few seats away from a group of third years, happily conversing amongst themselves. Once seated, Lily turned her gaze once again to the ceiling and watched the rein fall with a calm detachment, blocking out the surrounding chatter.

'Hi' said a voice in Lily's ear causing her to jump a foot in the air and knocking her out of her reverie. Lily turned to see who had spoken and a pair of smiling blue eyes met hers. Next to her sat a slightly tired-looking but fit guy. He had dirty blonde hair and onto his robes was pinned a prefect badge.

'Hey' she smiled back, his prefect badge giving her some confidence in the fact that he was unlikely to be a brainless womanising maniac like Potter and Black. Yet, of course, Potter was head boy…

'I'm Remus Lupin'

'Lily Evans'

'Our new head girl' he grinned

'How did you know?' she asked, frowning. The only people she had talked to had been Black and Potter.

'Oh, I uh, saw your badge'

'Oh, ok' Lily wanted to slap herself for jumping to conclusions.

'How did you manage to get head girl before even entering Hogwarts?' he asked

'How would I know?' Lily said, slightly more curtly than she had intended. Remus pretended not to notice, but changed the subject.

'So what school did you come from?' he wanted to know

'I was home schooled. You see, my parents are muggles, and my mum was so proud of me that she didn't want me sent off to some school which she knew nothing about and where she couldn't see me for months in a row.' Lily found herself blushing slightly, embarrassed about her mother's over protectiveness. 'But then my mum…had an accident. We couldn't…afford to keep the governess, so I got sent here to finish off my education.'

'I'm sure you'll fit in no time. I could show you round if you like' Remus said, for some reason sounding slightly nervous.

'Thanks, but I have to patrol tonight and Dumbledore said Potter would show me round then.' Lily said regretfully, inwardly cringing at the thought of having to see Potter again. She was surprised to see Remus flinch slightly.

'James?' he said in a slightly annoyed tone, barely noticeable, but Lily picked up on it. Just as she was going to ask what the matter was, in came Black, Potter and a short, fat boy, plonking themselves down around Remus.

As James entered the great hall with Sirius and Peter, he scanned the Griffindor table, looking for a certain very attractive redhead. The moment he had seen Lily Evans, he had decided she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. The instant he had laid eyes on her he had regretted the prank (a first. Since he had never regretted playing a prank on anyone in his entire life). His 'cool' attitude had also failed him for the first time in his life. Perhaps it was because of this that he was intent on getting her – because it would be a challenge. Whatever the reason, James felt a rush of anger when he saw Lily talking to Remus. She was smiling, not sarcastically like she had at him and Sirius, this was a real smile, lighting up her emerald green eyes and making her look even more beautiful than she already was. James subconsciously clenched his fists, as he stared at Remus and Lily. He hadn't been able to make her smile; yet Remus had managed to do it with the utmost ease.

'Don't worry, we'll get her properly mate' said Sirius, grinning as he misinterpreted James' clenched fists and the direction of his gaze. James just nodded, calming himself and putting on a customary grin, a hand automatically jumping to his messy hair, as he approached the Griffindor table.

As soon as she saw James deposit himself in the seat opposite her, hiding behind that stupid cocky grin, she threw Remus a wide-eyed glance.

'Hey Remmy' said Sirius dropping into the free seat beside him and putting an arm round Remus' shoulders in a hug.

'Hey Sirius' smiled Remus, shrugging Sirius' arm off his back.

'How's it going Evans?' grinned James. Lily chose to ignore him. Instead she chose to turn to Remus

'You're friends with them?' she asked

'Yes' he said more coldly 'do you have a problem with that?'

'Of course not. Apart from they're inconsiderate assholes' she snapped. Remus Raised his eyebrows and gave her a quizzical look 'I just wouldn't have thought you would've been friends with them…' she muttered, standing up and moving to a free space further down the table. The last thing she heard was Remus turning to James and Sirius and hissing angrily:

'What the fuck did you do to her?' this gave Lily a grim sort of satisfaction. Though she felt guilty about snapping at Remus who obviously was only trying to be nice and make her feel more at home.

There weren't many empty spaces left at the Griffindor table now, so Lily couldn't sit alone as she had before. So she picked the first empty place she saw to sit at. She perched half-heartedly on the edge of a seat and tapped the girl next to her on the shoulder.

'Excuse me, is it ok if I sit here' lily, said nervously, any traces of her earlier forwardness gone. The girl turned towards her and smiled.

'Yeah of course, it's free.' Lily gratefully sank down into the chair, turning to the girl beside her. She was extremely pretty, her dark, almost black hair falling round he face in gentle waves and curls. She had deep brown eyes that somehow seemed to glow with warmth.

'I'm Lily Evans' Lily said awkwardly, giving a small smile.

'Hannah Somani' smiled the girl. 'I haven't seen you round before, are you new?'

'Yeah, I was home schooled, until my mum had an…accident. So I got sent here to finish my last year.'

'I'm sorry' Hannah said gently, sensing that Lily found it hard to talk about her home and that there was something more to what had happened which she wasn't saying. But then her face lit up again: 'I almost had to be home schooled too. My dad's from India you see, and there all girls have to be home schooled' Hannah's simple statement explained her complexion. The Indian blood gave her a subtle beauty and the warm brown colour to her skin. 'My, mum however, insisted that I should be sent to Hogwarts. I have to say, I'm glad she did. It's great here.'

'It's been great so far, apart from those guys over there.' Lily said, motioning in the direction of James and Sirius with a pained expression on her face.

'Who, the marauders?' Hannah asked, and burst into laughter.

'What's so funny?' asked Lily frowning.

'The marauders are the mischief-makers and womanisers of Hogwarts. James is pretty much their leader, closely followed by Sirius. They're generally the ones who go sleeping round with every passably attractive girl they come across. Then there's Remus, the brains of the group and I don't know what part Peter plays in all of it. He's basically their tail and when they get bored a source of amusement really.' She laughed again 'I don't know how he managed to get in with that lot.'

'Remus was ok, but Potter and Black certainly need to deflate their ego's before they hurt themselves' Lily grumbled, causing Hannah to laugh again

'I think you're the only person in this entire school who doesn't love the marauders.'

'What's there to love?' Lily asked, genuinely puzzled. Hannah shrugged

'Their so-called charm has never worked on me' she shrugged 'but believe me, Sirius has tried.' She grinned 'but they're really not that bad, they're a great laugh.'

'With a reputation like that, how did Potter manage to get head boy?' Lily laughed, feeling the more and more relaxed.

'He's what?' Hannah stared wide-eyed. 'You're not serious are you?'

'Yeah he is, Dumbledore told me and he has the little badge thingamy.' Hannah let out a whistle.

'No idea how he managed that one' she grinned 'we should go ask him' she started getting up, but Lily pulled her down

'Dude, I just ran away from them, I'm not going back any time soon' Hannah rolled her eyes.

'Ok, don't worry, I'll ask him later.' As an afterthought she added 'I wonder who's head girl.' Lily felt her face starting to go red. Hannah lifted her eyebrows in surprise as her eyes flitted towards the badge on Lily's chest, which had previously gone unnoticed. She let out a low whistle as hush began to fall upon the great hall. 'Congratulations' she hissed, before turning her gaze to the front of the hall where the first years were filing in ready for the sorting ceremony.

Once the sorting was over and the first years had taken their seats at their house tables, Dumbledore rose from his seat.

'Welcome, to a new year at Hogwarts, I would like to introduce our new head girl and boy. Miss Lily Evans and Mr James Potter' Lily threw a horrified glance at Hannah when she heard her name and Hannah motioned for her to stand up. She was greeted by a smattering of polite applause. When James stood up, however, he was met by roars and cheers, causing Hannah to grin beside Lily. 'And now, as I'm sure you're all starving, I have two words for you: tuck in!'

At this the tables were filled with hundreds of various dishes, and the whole population of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry lunged for them at exactly the same time. Just as Lily realised that she too, was ravenous.

A/N: Thank you to: Hannah for letting me include her in this fic

Yas

Lauren

lily&jamesmeant2be

Maiden of the Pink Heart

Akt5us

Hannah

Lady of Thieves

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