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They're in: Sixth Year
Recap: By the time she was ready and the taxi she had called for was at the station it was 10:30. She wheeled her cart with her luggage into the station and looked around, hoping that no one was looking at her when she stepped through the barrier.
Instantly, she saw dozens of people: parents, students, and younger siblings, eager to get a peek inside the Hogwarts Express. She sighed with relief and found herself in the train and looking for an empty compartment.
She quickly found one and sat tiredly on the seat. Her mind was reeling with questions. Would this year be any different? What would people say? Why had she decided to do this?
But most importantly, what would James say?
THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN REWRITTEN (6/06)
Chapter Eleven: Surprise, Surprise
James was walking the hall of the train, looking for his best mate Sirius. Sirius had gone ahead and gotten a compartment while James's mother gave him a teary goodbye. Looking through each window as he passed, he smiled as he recognized his schoolmates. About halfway down the train, he spotted a vaguely familiar girl with her head in her hands and dark red, almost-brown hair.
He kept walking, noting that she was alone. Maybe he'd come by later and introduce himself. Anything to keep his mind off of Lily. A few more compartments down and James had found Sirius. Remus was in the compartment too but Peter was no where to be seen. James slid into the seat across from Sirius, listening to his intent conversation with Remus.
ABC.
Lily had her head in her hands; she was tired. She couldn't wait to get the Hogwarts and eat, her stomach was already growling in anticipation for the feast. She also couldn't wait to see her peers reactions.
Mostly the boys, but primarily James. What would he say once he saw her? And--wait, why did it matter so much as to what he thought of her? As far as she knew, he didn't care about her anymore.
So why did she keep the promise that she wouldn't cut herself?
She fell asleep contemplating the question. The train lurched and she woke up. She glanced at her watch, they were almost at Hogwarts. She quickly opened her trunk and changed into her robes.
The train was slowing down, good thing the train had lurched when it had, otherwise Lily would have stayed on the train. Slowly, the train came to a stop and she heard dozens of compartment doors flying open with students eagerly wanting to get into the school.
Lily dragged her luggage out of the train and left it in the designated area, she knew that later on the trunks would magically appear in her dorm room, ready and dry.
She climbed into a horseless carriage and waited. Three third-years eyed her and they climbed in but they ignored her.
Once the carriage stopped, it started drizzling a little bit so Lily hurried inside of the grand castle. She went into the Great Hall and sat near the front of the Gryffindor table. What if someone said something to her? Would she be able to defend herself?
Thankfully, no one said anything to her throughout the whole dinner. She relaxed and looked down the table. There was James... Sirius, Remus, and Peter were also with him. She stared at Sirius. Wow, he looked like he had been working out over the summer, he looked really good.
On her way to the Common Room, Lily tried to think of reasons why she liked Sirius. It was a very short list. Ever get the feeling that you don't like someone, but you tell yourself so often that you do that you convince yourself that you do like that person? It's a little confusing at first glance, but Lily had the feeling that is what she unknowingly did.
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It was only the second day in school and the seventh years already had an essay for almost every class due in the next two days.
Lily wrote furiously, trying to get this stupid essay done. She was still tired from the train ride and she just wanted to go to sleep. She felt as if someone were staring at her, she felt the hair on her neck prickle. Turning to glance at the students in the Common room, she made eye contact with beautiful hazel eyes.
She gave a sheepish smile and turned back to her essay. By the time she had finished her essays, it was nearly eleven o'clock and James was still working on his homework. She tried to make eye contact again with James but he was just too absorbed in his work. She sighed dejectedly and made her way to bed.
ABC.
James was staring at the auburn-haired girl again. He knew that he knew her. She was familiar to him, he just couldn't place her name. The girl turned and spotted him staring at her. She gave a shy smile and returned to her work.
So familiar.. who was she? And why hadn't he seen Lily yet? He wanted to talk to her, to apologize for ignoring her... but he could only do that if he found her.. and he couldn't.
He glanced at the Marauder's Map again to make sure Sirius wasn't getting into trouble. He wasn't. But he saw a dot that shouldn't have been where it was.
What's Peter doing near the Slytherin Common Room?
ABC.
Peter's POV
"I-I know that y-you're with Y-You-Know-Who, N-Nott," Peter stuttered when he saw Nott near the Slytherin Common Room.
"Says who?" he growled and bared his teeth at Peter, like a dog would.
"I'm not s-stupid," Peter said indignantly.
"Could've fooled me."
"Anyway," Peter continued, choosing to ignore that last comment, "I w-want to..." he hesitated for a moment, "join you."
Nott seemed to consider for a while and asked, "Why?"
"I don't want to b-be part of the Marauder's anymore," his voice gathered confidence as he continued, "I'm tired of them m-making fun of me. I want them to stop. I want revenge."
Nott thought for a while and responded, "Betraying friends? The Dark Lord will like that. Especially since those friends are part of two of the oldest pureblooded families.
"I shall be in contact soon."
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James had confronted Peter that same night about the Slytherin Common Room incident. Peter wittingly explained it away as taking a wrong turn when he wanted to get to the kitchens.
James had made a sly comment about his weight and Peter knew that he had made the right decision about joining You-Know-Who.
So now it was a few days later at breakfast and students were receiving their daily post. A large brown barn owl landed in Peter's cereal with a small roll of paper clasped in its beak. Peter took the small scroll and gave the owl some bacon.
"Who's it from?" Sirius teased, "Your girlfriend?" All four of the Marauder's knew that Peter hadn't had a girlfriend since fourth year.
"No, it's from N-" Peter caught himself and made a suitable lie, "my mother. It's from my mother."
Sirius nodded and continued his conversation with James about Quidditch.
Be in the Forrest by midnight tonight. -N.
It was very short, and Peter was glad that the full moon was last week.
ABC.
Potions was Lily's favorite class. She was smart and could follow directions perfectly. And Professor Walten was a nice teacher, unlike their Astronomy teacher who was Head of Slytherin. Lily sat at the front of the class, where anything would not escape the professor's attention, including teasing and jaunting.
"Today is Double-Potions!" Professor Walten said brightly, "And consequently we have a complex potion to brew." Sirius raised his hand quickly and anticipating his question, Professor Walten said, "No, Sirius, you may not pair up with Mr. Potter.
"You will be with Anna O'Bryan, Mr. Peter Pettigrew will be with Ms. Jopelle Perkins, Mr. James Potter with Ms. Lily Evans, Mr. Remus Lupin with..." Lily did not hear the rest. She was not planning on talking to James so soon. Once the professor had paired off everyone in class, the students were allowed to move around to get with their partner.
She glanced at the other students, couldn't she just switch with someone? She didn't want James to say anything negative about her appearance, although no one had said anything bad to her, only good things.
James was looking around the class, apparently searching for her frizzy, bright red hair. Sighing, she grabbed her belongings and headed to James's desk. He was still searching for her.
"Hi James," Lily said quietly and James finally abandoned his search and looked at Lily.
ABC.
He looked her up and down. Damn those Hogwarts robes that hung off her petite frame. "Lily?" he asked, eyeing the pretty girl's face.
"Yeah?" she said. When he said nothing, she was a bit confused but then they both went to the cupboard in the back for ingredients. "James, you're supposed to go to the professor's desk for the rest of the ingredients," Lily said when she noticed James had followed her to the back of the class.
"Oh, right," James said and made his way toward the front of the classroom to the desk. Wow, James thought, Lily really changed this summer. No wonder I thought I hadn't seen her, she changed. She's even more beautiful now.
Once back at James's desk, Lily and James began working on their Gene-Switching Draft.
abc.
The potion had to simmer for fourteen minutes. James and Lily were sitting back, looking at other students. James saw Lily turn to where Jopelle was working with Peter. Jopelle glared at Lily and Lily's head snapped away.
"They're idiots. Just ignore them." Lily looked at James confused.
"What?"
"O'Bryan and Perkins," he offered.
"Oh, I know," Lily replied.
The class was beginning to warm up because so many potions were letting off steam from the heat. James pushed his sleeves up in an effort to be a little cooler, but it did not work very well. He noticed that Lily was sweating but did not push up her sleeves.
Had she gone back to cutting? Is that why she wasn't pushing up her sleeves? James shook his head. He was being paranoid, there were numerous innocent reasons as to why she wasn't pushing up her sleeves.
Lily noticed him eyeing her arms and said, "It's been fourteen minutes."
James followed the instructions on the board and a few seconds later he heard the professor's voice, "You should be almost done. This potion is very strong so listen up: you each take only a tablespoon of the potion. If you've done this right, it should only last about fifteen minutes, the remainder of this class period. If you haven't done this right you'll be very cold for about ten seconds and that's all that happens. When you take it, you'll feel a tingling sensation. The effects are instantaneous."
Lily eyed the potion warily and said, "You first."
"Alright," James said, bravely taking a spoonful and drinking it.
"Do you feel anything?" Lily asked breathlessly.
James was about to answer no when he felt tingly. "It tickles!" James responded laughing heartily. Lily looked around the class and noticed many other students were also laughing, it must be the tingly sensations Professor Walten had mentioned.
Lily gasped. James was short with curly brown hair and dark brown eyes. He had lots of acne and was skinny and lanky. Lily laughed and took a spoonful herself.
She started laughing again but this time because of the tingly sensation. "Well, what do I look like?" she questioned.
Lily was average. She looked like the type of person who you met and forgot about the instant they stopped talking to you. She was skinny and flat, with dull brown hair that reached her shoulders with brown eyes. Not very attractive. James gave Lily a mirror to see for herself what he saw.
"Sirius!" James's voice was deeper that usual.
"What?" a voice cracked. James turned to the voice and gave a snort of laughter. Sirius looked horrible. He was short (shorter than James) and fat. He had longish red hair and freckles all over. His blue eyes did little to improve his appearance.
"You look so hot!" James said, he was still unaccustomed to his deep voice.
"I know," Sirius retorted. "If I do say so myself, I do look a lot better." His voice cracked a lot.
The two laughed at each other's appearances and pretty soon the effects of the potion wore off and they looked like they had every other day.
ABC.
Peter's POV
Peter took the Map this time, he wasn't about to be stupid enough for James to find out where he was going again. He snuck out of the castle and jogged into the Forrest.
"He's here," Peter heard Nott say to someone.
"Good," a voice hissed. "Bow down to Lord Voldemort!" Peter hastily dropped to the floor in a bow and heard You-Know-Who say, "Get up, filth."
"May I speak, Master?" Nott said.
"You may," You-Know-Who answered.
"Pettigrew has grown tired of his friends James Potter and Sirius Black. He wants to betray them and join us!"
"Is this true?" You-Know-Know hissed.
"Y-y-yes," Peter answered. What have I gotten myself into?
A/N: Thanks to those who already reviewed this chapter: Silver Mist4, reena-blue, taniita, Emrisah, FalconMistress17, mandyzcool, ZombieGurl98, and someone.
