Disclaimer: All characters belong to the queen J.K. Rowling and this is just a work of fanfiction.

Author notes:

Huge thanks to everyone who reviewed, favourite and followed. One hundred followers! *Jaw drop* O_O I never expected so many would like this story! You guys made my day!

This story is inspired by 'They didn't know we were seeds' by LucyLuna. That story is mind-blowing and you should check it out.

Extra special thanks to my awesome beta, HogwartsDreamer113!

This chapter will have lots of changes in POVs.

The Second try.

Chapter 7: The Hogwarts Express.

The day dawned like any other day and like every day Lily woke up and then blearily saw the calendar and the packed trunk and squealed with joy. It was today! The first of September! She would see her friends and her boys. She got up, did her morning ritual and got dressed at top speed. She raced downstairs for breakfast and sat at the table, practically vibrating with excitement. Her parents were no better. After breakfast, they all got ready to leave, and her father came upstairs to get her trunk. Lily showed him the handy charms she had 'found' in her textbook, which could shrink her trunk and make it weightless, much to her parents' excitement and Petunia's shock. She stashed the small trunk in her handbag. Owl cage in hand, they left for King's Cross station.

Lily and her family walked up to Platform nine and ten and ran through the barrier, ignoring Petunia's hurtful comments. They soon met Severus and his mother. Lily and Severus said their goodbyes to their parents because they needed to hunt for seats before they got full, and climbed the train. Lily dragged Severus to the end of the train where the Marauders usually sat and found a thin boy sitting in the last carriage. Lily smiled when she recognised him, one of the kindest men she had ever befriended.

"Hi there, can we join you?" she asked.

Remus looked up startled, and his eyes widened when he saw the girl with red hair and green eyes. Behind her was a pale boy with black eyes. Lily and Snape. He couldn't believe he was seeing the girl who was like his sister in all but blood.

"Hello. Sure, no problem" he replied with a smile.

"I am Lily Pot-Evans and this is Severus Snape," she said pointing to Sev, who was glaring at her for her slip up. Remus's eyes narrowed briefly, and then his smile widened as his inner-self started dancing with joy.

"My dear sister, I'll make sure that you will be Mrs Potter once again," he told Lily with a straight face. Lily gasped and Severus's eyes widened as Remus gave them a mischievous smile. Lily jumped up from her seat and hugged Remus. He returned the hug just as tightly.

"So, you are dead too huh, Lupin?" Severus asked in a quiet voice.

Lupin stared at him and answered, "Yeah, I fell to Dolohov's curse. I take it you are dead, too?"

"The Dark Lord's snake ripped my throat out and left me to die. I did see Potter, though. I gave him my memories of why I did what I did. Yes, I killed Dumbledore, but he asked me to do so as he was already dying and young Mr Malfoy was tasked with killing him. If he failed, then I was ordered to complete the task. Albus did not want Draco to be a murderer, and I had to keep the Dark Lord's trust, so I did it," he explained.

Remus did not trust him, but he saw a flicker of emotion in those dark eyes. Guilt. Sadness. Pain. He did say he would treat Snape nicely, didn't he? He extended his hand to Snape. "I believe you. I also apologise for our behaviour in our previous years of Hogwarts. We were prats and bullies, and I'll make sure we don't repeat those mistakes this time. Let's try to get along this time, shall we?"

Severus looked genuinely shocked, but took the hand after a moment's hesitation. He thought the Marauders would fall to their old ways but this was a start. Lily was beaming; her eyes were bright with unshed tears. She got up and gave a light hug to Severus and then Remus. At that moment, the compartment door opened and slammed into the wall, while a messy haired boy with hazel eyes entered, staring at Lily and Remus who had pulled out of their hug.

"Lily?" James whispered. Lily gave a sob and flung herself into James's arms, sobbing to his chest. She felt him bury his head in her hair and his arms were trembling as he held her. She heard Severus give a slight sigh at her roller coaster emotions, but he didn't say anything. She pulled herself out of James's tight hug and looked at him. He gave a broad smile and kissed her forehead.

"I missed you Lily. I am so sorry. I should have been more careful. This is…" James was silenced by a soft hand over his mouth, cutting him off. Lily pressed a soft kiss to his cheek and gave a sad smile.

"Stop. None of this is your fault, James. What is done is done. Now we need to make sure it doesn't happen again."

James heart bloomed at those words. He had missed her so much. She stepped to the side and Remus came forward with a huge smile on his young face. James pulled him into a tight hug. James sat beside Lily, holding her hand and Remus sat down next to Snape, who looked just a bit uncomfortable. James gave a tentative smile, and when Lily gave a not very subtle pinch and a pointed look, he immediately apologised for his past behaviour and shook hands with Snape. It was awkward, but he meant it. He did not want to be a bully again.

As eleven o'clock neared and students were crowding into the train, James, Lily, Remus and Severus sat exchanging their stories about how they died, and for the benefit of James, telling him about Harry and wondering if Peter and Sirius also remembered their previous life. Severus cast a nifty charm at the compartment door, the Muffliato Charm he called it; a charm of his own creation which caused nearby people to hear only a buzzing sound, and to prevent them from overhearing their conversations.

James hung on every word of Lily and Snape, with inputs from Remus as they told him about his son. James jumped up from his seat with a whoop when he heard about Harry being a seeker in his first year.

"First year! He was a seeker from FIRST YEAR! Yes Harry way…" he trailed off mid-sentence when the door opened. Unfortunately, the person who entered knew who Harry was. The mousy brown haired boy paled considerably having heard the name James had whooped. He took a deep breath and entered the compartment while its occupants were still frozen.

He took another shaky breath and spoke, "I know my actions were more than disgusting. That is not how a friend should behave. I was a coward and I will try to be braver. Please give me another chance, but I will understand if you don't want me to be your friend anymore. I just want to say I am truly sorry for everything I did."

James was standing with his fists clenched. "You are not off the hook Peter, but I forgive you. There will not be a third chance," he warned. Peter was completely at a loss for words, so he simply nodded. James offered his hand which he accepted with his own trembling ones.

Remus stood up and added, "Remember Peter, betray us again and I will come after you as Moony. No pressure." He grinned and offered his hand, which Peter grasped. Lily came forward and enveloped him in a hug.

"You have already made a difference, Peter. You are forgiven," she whispered to him. The lump in Peter's throat was growing bigger. As Lily let him go, he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to get punched in the jaw. He stumbled back and hit the floor, his hand holding his aching jaw and looked up to find a handsome blacked haired-grey eyed boy smirking at him.

"Now we are even, Peter."

That was the last straw. The dam within him burst, and he burst into tears incoherently sobbing out "I am sorry…" over and over. A warm hand grasped his shoulder and he was pulled to his feet and into a quick hug by Sirius. Peter sunk into the seat next to Remus, as Sirius was tackled by James, followed by Lily. Sirius was laughing and crying at the same time as Lily did her best to squeeze the life out of him. After extracting himself from her, he walked over to Remus and embraced him.

After everyone had calmed down and Sirius gave an awkward apology to Severus, they sat relaxing. Peter was dozing off; Lily, Remus and Sirius were entertaining James with stories of Harry's school years while Severus was scribbling in his Potions textbook. Around mid-day, the food trolley appeared and James and Sirius treated everyone with sweets and pumpkin pastries. After they had eaten their fill, the topic shifted to their back-in-time situation.

"Sirius, do you want to come over from this summer itself, to get away from your parents?" James asked.

"Na mate, thanks, but I got it all worked out. My family thinks I have finally began to accept the responsibilities and the role of being the heir to the Noble and Ancient Family of Blacks. I have been on my best behaviour in the last three days. Even today, I parted with an 'I will make the Blacks proud' and Reggie was ecstatic to see me get along with my parents," Sirius replied, by making a face to show how he really felt about it.

"It's all fine and good now, but what about the sorting? You will be in Gryffindor. What will you do then?" Lily asked, worriedly.

"Don't worry Lils, I have thought about that too," Sirius replied with a smirk. After rummaging in his bag, he pulled out a letter. "Going to post this the moment, I enter the common room," he said.

"Let me see that!" James exclaimed and pulled the letter out of Sirius's hand and started reading. When he reached the end of the letter, he burst out laughing.

Lily just thrust her hand out with an impatient, "Give it."

James handed the letter with a meek, "Yes dear."

"Whipped!" Remus coughed out. Severus chuckled and everyone had to smile at that. They had never seen him laugh so genuinely before.

"The hat declared that Gryffindor is the path I must take, to bring my family honour and greatness?" Lily asked Sirius with a laugh.

"Yep," Sirius replied, popping the 'p', "She will eat it up. She has to. I thought about going to Slytherin, but I won't fit in. I belong with the lions. What about you Snape? Still going to the snakes? " he asked.

Severus gave a nod and replied, "Yes. I'll be with the Slytherins. I can handle them this time. Somebody has to keep them in line and I want to change things there. Maybe, I can change their minds and prevent a few from joining the Dark Lord."

Everyone soberly nodded at that and Sirius hesitatingly asked, "If so, would you look after my brother when he comes along? Don't let him go with the Malfoys?" Severus nodded and Sirius smiled his thanks.

Peter, to give a moment of laughter away from the dark topic asked, "are you sure you belong with the snakes Snape? I think red and gold will look very good on you!" Severus' look was pure horror as the rest burst into hearty laughter.

They all sat exchanging information about what they wanted to change and who they had to keep an eye out for. Severus and Lily told the rest about Voldemort's soul that had been in Harry and Sirius offered to help with their research, by looking through his home library which was filled with books on dark topics.

Remus, deep in thought said, "I think it would be helpful to write a journal about everything we remember, such as the dates or events when important things had happened. We can prevent problems, accidents and also spoil plans of Voldemort which had happened when we were still at Hogwarts."

Lily added, "I think we need to tell someone about our situation. It has to be someone who would believe us and not chuck us into 's, someone who can take the proper action to foil Voldemort's plans."

"How about Dumbledore? He is the head of the Order," Peter remarked. Severus grimaced. He felt horrible to go up to Dumbledore and explain what he did. The last time he had been to that office, the portrait of Dumbledore was giving him battle commands. Now, he had to face the real one. Lily reached across and squeezed his hand, acknowledging his turmoil and offering her support.

"Oh! I almost forgot to tell you!" James exclaimed, "I accidently transformed into my Animagus form on the day I woke up. We still have our abilities. We don't need to do it all over again!"

"That's fantastic! Now we can join Moony from the next moon itself!" Sirius declared, thumping Remus on the back. Then, he regarded Severus and added, "And this time, you stay far away from us."

Severus raised his arms in surrender, "Trust me Black, I am no longer curious about where you all sneak away every full moon."

James added, "We might have to register this time. My parents found me when I changed into a fawn. I told them I would do it for extra credits in N.E.W.T.S Transfigurations and you three boneheads will join me."

Peter laughed out, "You got caught Prongs? Got old Marauder?"

"In your dreams, Wormtail. By the way, would you both like to join us in our full moon escapades and learn how to an Animagus? We can teach you!" James asked Lily and Severus, excitedly.

Severus hesitated and replied, "Thank you for the offer Potter, but I think sneaking out will just bring curiosity and harm to Lupin. Nevertheless, I think I would like to learn to be an Animagus." Lily also echoed the same. The other nodded and agreed.

"We can start working on the map soon, and I might ask Dumbledore whether I could transform in the Room of Requirement instead of the shack. I can just ask the room to make it inescapable and safe to transform." Severus nodded, looking impressed while other just looked confused. Remus explained about the room Harry and other used in Hogwarts which transformed to whatever they needed, called the Room of Requirement.

James added, "It sounds perfect. We'll also test it, to ensure it's completely safe, for us to transform and for the rest of the students. It would be terrific if we can spend every full moon there. I mean, it's not suspicious to find the nurse walking on the seventh floor in the morning and we all can reach there using my cloak to avoid people.

Everyone nodded in agreement. Remus's smile could have rivalled the sun. They all knew their future would be different. They would stop at nothing to make it better. If they had to personally fight Voldemort again, they would.

The rest of the journey passed in laughter, teasing, playing Exploding Snap and cheering Snape and Remus as they battled in a game of furious, even matched Wizard's chess. They were a team now, they would help the Order with information and events and save as many as they could. For now, they could not wait to see their home away from home, Hogwarts, and walk in her halls again.