Chapter 1

I ran through the barrier between the platforms of 9 and 10 after saying farewell to my parents. I felt like I almost blew them off, but I was just excited to see my friends and get to start my 6th year of school. Last year was stressful because of the O.W.L.s and even though I would be taking the more difficult N.E.W.T.s, I felt like last year was a practice run and I was going to have to buckle down and spend a lot of long nights in the library, but I was going to be okay!

Alice was there waiting for Marlene to get her trunk on to the train, without bothering to make a move to help her. I pushed my trolly over to them as quickly as possible to ensure they didn't walk off without seeing me. But seeing as Marlene was a weak little thing, I had plenty of time to approach.

"Lily!" Alice saw me first and nearly leapt over my trolly to hug me.

"Merlin! We have so much to catch up on!"

"How was your summer?"

"Amazing!"

We then dissolved into a chaotic series of oh I'm so excited to be back . . . I'm so sad the summer is over...but I can't wait for classes to start; they're going to be so challenging this year; but so interesting; I hear we get to study unforgivable courses; wow you're so tan; well, I spent the whole holiday at the lake; Meanwhile, Marlene was still struggling to get her trunk onto the train. She finally managed to heft it up and she turned around and huffed.

"Thanks for the help, guys." Marlene said with plenty of disdain in her voice.

"So sorry, Mar!" I said with as pitiable tone as possible. "It's just that I tore my rotator cuff last weekend water skiing." I lifted my arm and winced as it came to a 90-degree angle, for effect.

"Oh, Lily," Marlene sighed, instantly changing her tone. "I should've known you wouldn't leave me to struggle with this absurdly heavy trunk without a reason. You, after all, are my sweet friend."

Alice started to chuckle in response "-wait, what does that make me?"

"Exactly," Lily said, trying not to crack. "And you are my sweet friend…" Marlene smiled sweetly back at me, then her face fell as her eyes moved to my trunk and she realized what I was insinuating.

"Oh no!" I started bending down and feebly trying to move my trunk. "I wouldn't expect you to-"

"-I'll get it. I'll get it." Marlene said quickly. "I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself." It was such a sweet gesture I almost felt bad. Alice clearly didn't. She continued to stand there watching without trying to make an excuse.

I did have a change of heart when Marlene had the trunk halfway up and it slipped, almost crushing her. I whipped out my wand and levitated the trunk the rest of the way into the train. She turned around, her face red and puffy.

"Right," Marlene said, brushing her hair back from her face, trying to compose herself. "It's my new year's resolution, I'm trying to get into shape."

"And we were both helping with that." Alice chortled. Marlene joined us in our laughter by the time we were boarding the train and looking for an empty compartment. Joking and chatting about our summers, we stumbled down the hallway. I was leading the way and therefore looking back over my shoulder to talk to them and not looking at where I was going. This was what led me to run smack into a solid object.

"Whoops!" I jolted to a stop and started to ramble out an apology, until I saw who it was. James Potter. Or as I liked to call him, an arse in a tie. My apology caught in my throat as I tried to gauge the mood of the four Marauders (as I heard them call themselves), I tried to see if they were planning anything.

"Evans." He said with a devil-may-care smile that seemed to charm everyone but me.

"Potter." He glanced up and down as if deciding which way to go, sometimes we did just witty banter and sometimes it was digging for some insults that could packed a punch.

"You look… different." Potter said as if confused. "Did you get up to anything interesting this summer?"

"Ah, Potter," I said trying to sound like I wasn't trying to sound indifferent. In the past five years of dealing with the ego maniac, I had found that any reaction encouraged him whether it was swooning at his 'charm' or screaming at him that he had noodle arms. "I had a lovely summer, did you? -oh wait! I don't care!" I shoved him aside and continued walking down the corridor. I was almost to the other side of the car when I looked over my shoulder and Marlene and Alice were still back with Potter and his goons. I paused and a few moments later they had caught up to me and we found an empty compartment.

"Sorry, Lily." Marlene said as we settled in. "I kinda forgot about that whole vendetta you had against Potter."

"What do you mean?" I asked puzzled. "It's not a vendetta. And it's against the Marauders, not Potter."

Alice sighed and sank onto the bench. "It's amazing how much a summer can change."

"Yeah!" Marlene agreed. "Do you think it's some sort of potion? Or did they go on some diet?"

"What are you guys talking about?" Did I miss something? When I first saw them, it was just like every other year after we had met at Platform 9 ¾. Somehow, between the platform and the compartment my friends had changed into cackling hens.

"I bet I can guess exactly what they were doing." Alice said in a dream tone, completely ignoring my confusion. "I think Lupin spent the whole summer hitting the books, volunteering, and eating his carrots. He is still so pale like he spent it all inside, and thin, like he wasn't just sitting around listening to the Weird Sisters, but I swear he's grown like 10 inches, but I bet he hasn't figured out what do with all the extra length, so I bet he's a bit of a klutz. I say we get a couple months of watching him adorably fumble around. Did you notice how calloused Black's hands were? He must've been working quite a bit on that muggle motorcycle he got his hands on. And, Potter, did you see how tan he was?"

"And fit!"

"Yes, I heard his family has a beach house. I can just imagine him surfing and running along the beach, really defining all those muscles."

"What is with you guys?" I asked. Usually, our train conversation consisted of our summertime adventures. We had three months to catch up on. We wrote letters but trying to fit everything in was too difficult to attempt. "Since when are the four pranksters our main topic of conversation?"

"What's with you, Lily?" Alice responded. "We're sixteen! We are no longer girls. We are women and we are hunters."

"Well, I don't know about being a hunter," Marlene cut it. "But, I mean, you know we're past the awkward phase of puberty, you know. And it's time that we stopped viewing them as cootie factories and maybe see what they have to offer." Marlene and Alice spent a few more minutes chittering about how cute the marauders had become and speculating about the other boys in our class. Eventually, I was able to turn the conversation back to our summers. I was rather surprised to learn just how much of Marlene's and Alice's summers had been taken up by boys. I guess I knew it was something that happened. Girls went boy crazy at some point in their life. I guess I just still thought there were a lot more things in the world to care about other than how cute or 'kissable' boys were. Luckily, they hadn't changed too much, and we were still able to giggle over our inside jokes and pass the time away until we arrived at Hogsmead station.

I loved living in London. I loved my family and our little cottage on the outskirts of town. I loved the neighborhood kids that I was still friends with, but riding those carriages up to the castle, every time, truly felt like a homecoming. I felt a warmth in my heart seeing the countless windows glowing with torch light. Alice started listing off her classes and everything about them that both excited her and made her nervous. Then Marlene would interject with what she really cared about.

"We get to study venomous tentacular this year in herbology!"

"I heard Barmy Spencer on the train saying he is taking it too, so I'll be spending most of my time studying him." Marlene said waggling her eyebrows.

"Oh! But I'm even more excited for potions-"

"Yes! I found a nest of lacewing flies in our attic this summer and my mom gave me an old family recipe for an anti-acne potion. Seven sickles a pop and I can buy the entire inventory of Honeydukes by the second Hogsmead weekend."

"I heard our new Care of Magical Creatures professor is supposed to be really hands-on and she's bringing all sorts of things in for us to get practical experience."

"I just want to learn how to tame a wild hippogriph."

"Why?"

"So I can ride it, duh."

"What's wrong with a broom?"

"My mom says they're too dangerous."

We pulled in front of the castle and as I stepped out of the carriage, a hand appeared in front of me.

"Ah, Remus Lupin, what a gentleman. Thank you, sir." I said graciously accepting the help. Lupin really was a gentleman and he helped each of my friends out; however, Marlene declined the help and tried to get him to give her a piggy-back ride up to the castle. When that didn't work, she leapt over his shoulders. Alice tried to pull him into a conversation about the new Transfiguration textbook and Marlene started shoving her towards the great hall.

"How was your summer, Remus?" Before he could respond, he was tackled by a large furry ball. Sirius Black had a few too many chocolate frogs from the trolly on the train and was on a sugar high.

"Moony! Moony! When are we releasing those dungbombs? Should we start the year off with a bang or should we build up to Halloween Hell Raising?" Black suddenly became aware of me, shocked that he didn't notice me when he nearly ran me over like a freight train in the midst of affectionately tackling his best friend.

"And by dungbombs I mean textbooks and by hell raising I mean learning." He spoke facing Remus but kept glancing back at me out of the corner of his eyes.

"Don't worry, Black." I said rolling my eyes. "Yes, I am a prefect, but this year I will be too busy preparing for my N.E.W.T.s to put too much effort into foiling your childish shenanigans."

"Alright, I can work with that." He responded, nodding. "And for the record, both of those dates are now out of the running so that it is a true and fantastic surprise!"

"Fantastic."

Sirius looked around like he was missing something. He found it and shouted back over his shoulder.

"Oi! You two! What are you pussyfooting around for? Hustle up!"

The rest of the, self-proclaimed, "Marauders" were catching up to us. Peter, a stout little boy, tripped over himself and Potter kept walking, chuckling and shaking his head. It did seem a little cold and then I remembered all the other times I had seen Peter fall over himself and realized that they were just used to it. He was such a klutz, but he always managed to bounce back up and be perfectly fine, it was hard to feel bad for him every time.

"Alright, Evans?" Potter said with a nod.

"Alright." I said, somewhat hesitant. Usually, our conversations did not start this civilly. Or end civilly. Or have a civil middle.

"How was your summer?"

"Good, I got lots of sun."

"Oh," He chuckled slightly. "It doesn't look like it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I said apprehensively. It didn't exactly sound like an insult but that was all I had come to expect from Potter. He always found a way to turn a good day grey.

"It's just that you're so pale. It doesn't look like you've been outside since winter."

"Just because my skin lacks the proper eumelanin and pheomelanin levels doesn't mean I'm lying about GOING OUTSIDE."

"And those big fancy words you learned by going outside?"

"What is that supposed to mean?!"

"It means you don't get out much."

"I get out!"

"A trip to the library does not count as going out."

"Are you implying that I'm some kind of recluse."

"No, I just think you care more about your accomplishments than about people."

"Just because I find it important to edify myself-"

"Ok, teachers' pet," Potter said, throwing his arms up. "Classes haven't even started yet, no need to bore me."

"I'm not a teachers' pet!"

"Really? You're telling me that you haven't cracked open your books yet and read them cover to cover."

"I have not read them cover to cover."

"But you admit you've read them."

"Well-but-ugh-"

"Poindexter!"

"What?! Did you spend your summer with your grandma? Poindexter… worrying if I got enough sun."

"I wasn't worried if you got enough sun. You clearly get the perfect amount. You look fit."

"What did you just say to me?"

"You wanna go out sometime?"

I had no idea what to say to that. Was he serious? Or was this some sort of set up to a joke? Then I realized that this was childish. This dumb back and forth. And if it continued it would probably end with me punching him in the face and I did not feel like getting detention. My friends were walking up the front steps of the castle. I simply turned on my heel and flicked my hair over my shoulder with a scoff to show my indifference and rushed off to join Alice and Marlene.

"Potter has not changed one bit." I huffed as we entered the entrance hall, warm torch light washing over us. "He never misses a chance to insult me."

"Wow," Marlene said. "Getting an early start, are we?"

"Come on, Lily." Alice cut in. "We're sixteen now. We're practically adults, he's bound to grow out of it eventually."

"He is still an immature pompous arse."

"I don't know Lily." Alice replied and gestured over to the first years. Potter was helping to dry off a few kids who had evidently fell into the lake while crossing. It made him look sweet. I knew better. I knew he was a rotten worm. Alice had just caught him at a bad, or rather good, moment. I meant to continue walking away, but it was like a car crash, I couldn't look away. I watched Potter to see if maybe it was a set up to a prank where he used too much heat and lit the kid on fire. It was their first night at Hogwarts, there was no need to traumatize them before supper. I thought about going over to stop him, but then he knelt down to eye level with the first year.

I knew the kid was only eleven, but it was surprising that Potter was tall enough to require him to bend a knee to meet eyes with the boy. I found myself staring at the scene openly. Potter seemed to be talking softly and sweetly to the first years. He seemed to be assuring them that everything was going to be ok. I remember how nervous I was on my first night at Hogwarts. I was terrified and when I heard that there was a sorting ceremony I nearly fainted, thinking I would be completely unprepared because I came from a Muggle family.

Potter stood up and started walking toward the Great Hall and I realized I was staring, and I quickly continued trying to make it look like I hadn't noticed him.