Chapter 2: No Yelling?

Lily awoke bright and early on September 1st, eager to be returning for the last time to her home; Hogwarts. The summer had been horrible for Lily. Yes, she got to see her loving parents again, but she couldn't help but feel that they could no longer understand her because she was a witch. She also felt isolated; she was now a legal witch living in a Muggle world, not knowing what was going on. Sure, she got the Daily Prophet, but really, what use was that when they would report bollocks about the growing attacks on wizard and muggle families?

Everyone knew that these attacks were caused by the ever rising Lord Voldemort, a constant threat to every family, besides those faithful to him; the families of Death Eaters and those who support him. It was sick how the people ruining families got to keep theirs. Lily's heart would ache just thinking about it. He was so threatening even, that many people stopped saying his name. That is just absurd! exclaimed Lily when she first heard of this. Why be afraid of a name? It won't hurt you. Being afraid of a name will just cause him to grow stronger and more confident. Virtually everyone was in danger and the Ministry was doing nothing. They had ordered the Daily Prophet not to reveal any pressing details about deaths or anything that really mattered. The Ministry had informed the public that there was nothing to worry about and they would be catching Voldemort soon. Lily scoffed.

Lord Voldemort was another reason that she did not enjoy her summer. Nightmares of him coming to her house and killing her parents scared her immensely. She hated how her being a witch was putting her parents' lives in danger. She knew that as a Muggle born, there were many consequences for her and her family. Her parents didn't know about this man called Voldemort, although, they had heard of his evil doings. He was killing innocent Muggles, and the Muggles could not figure out how these people were killed. She didn't want to tell her parents because she was afraid they wouldn't understand; yet again. She also didn't want to scare them and take her out of Hogwarts. Hogwarts was the safest place for her to be, but she knew her parents would still be worried. Lily sighed while she finished some last minute packing and changed into her clothes.

"FREAK! GET DOWN HERE! BREAKFAST IS READY!"

Lily rolled her eyes and made her way downstairs. Another reason to be going back to Hogwarts. Petunia. She had been dreadful the last couple of months. She seemed to be even more unpleasant than usual. Any time she was away from her new boyfriend, Vernon, she would call Lily "freak" or taunt her about not having any friends at her school. This annoyed Lily to no end. Lily had vowed to herself at the beginning of summer that she would not hex her sister, no matter how unbearable it became. She was making an effort to be kind to Petunia. Of course she was used to this un-sisterly behaviour, but she still couldn't help but feel a little hurt as she had done nothing wrong to make her hate her so much. Being nice didn't help the situation much. Finally, during the middle of the summer, Lily simply gave up.

"Good morning, Mum, Dad, Petunia," Lily chanted as she entered the kitchen.

"Good morning, Sunshine. How's our little Head Girl?" asked her father, looking up from that morning's paper.

Lily smiled and responded, "Just fine, thanks. I'm really excited to get back." Yes, Prefect Lily had been up-graded to Head Girl. She was immensely proud at having obtained this position. She knew that the Slytherins were not going to like this; responding to a Mudblood. Haha. Oh well. she thought happily.

Lily wondered who the Head Boy was. She really didn't mind who it was as long as it was NOT a Slytherin. Head Girl was an extremely difficult job, and didn't need a Slytherin throwing insults at her every 5 seconds to make it worse.

After finishing breakfast, Lily and her parents got into the car to King's Cross Station. Lily said goodbye to her sister, who merely grunted in response. Lily knew Petunia was celebrating inside, but she would not show it because their parents were watching.

At the train station, Lily's mother was in tears. "Oh, Honey, you're all grown up! Our little Head Girl! Oh, I'm going to miss you so much!" She pulled Lily into a fierce hug.

Lily's father simply said that he was proud and loved her very much. Oh how Lily loved her parents; they were so supportive. Lily was close to tears herself as she smiled brightly at them and made her way to the barrier. She said goodbye one last time, returned their love, and set off.

On the platform, Lily saw many familiar faces. Many waved a hello and Lily waved back, smiling broadly. She even smiled at Sirius Black; she was in such a good mood. How she missed the wizarding world!

"LILY!"

Lily turned around searching for the voice of her best friend Marlene McKinnon. Marlene ran towards Lily and gave her a huge hug. Marlene was not gorgeous, but she was fairly pretty. Her hair was just past her shoulders and was light brown. Her eyes were slightly darker and she had a pretty face. Marlene was in Gryffindor with Lily as well.

"MARLY! How have you been! I missed you so much. Summer was so boring without you, and God, was Petunia a nightmare!"

"Aw, poor you! But you made HEAD GIRL! CONGRATULATIONS!" Marlene shouted happily.

"SHH. Bloody Hell. You should not be allowed shout, you almost broke my eardrum," said Lily. "I still don't know who Head Boy is."

"Well, come on then. Let's get on the train and wait for Melissa and Nicole." The two girls gave their trunks to the boys who took care of the luggage and boarded the train. They made their way to the familiar compartment they had shared with the other two girls. Lily wasn't as close with Melissa and Nicole as she was with Marlene, as the Nicole and Melissa were best friends, but they were friends all the same.

When they arrived, Nicole and Melissa were already sitting in the compartment chatting contently.

"LILY! MARLENE!" they shouted in unison.

"NICK! MEL!" Lily and Marlene replied.

The four girls hugged and caught up with each other just before Lily announced she had to make her way to the Prefect compartment. She was finally going to see who the Head Boy was. Finally.

Maybe it's Remus, she thought hopefully. Naw, never mind, he has too much to worry about being a werewolf and all. Lily opened the compartment and stopped abruptly. Sitting there, were the Marauders: James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. They were all laughing heartily at one of the jokes they had told.

James Potter. Lily's heart pounded a little faster. During the summer, Lily spent a lot of time just thinking in her room in order to get away from Petunia. She decided that after all, not being different just for James Potter was what she really wanted. She was FINALLY going to loosen up a bit for her last year, stop being so obsessive of her need, and let her heart take control for once.

Lily eyed them strangely but asked pleasantly, "Hello boys, what are you doing here?" Although Lily seemed uptight, she really wasn't, it was just around Potter that she would change her personality, just to be different, she thought bitterly. The boys stopped laughing and looked at her.

"Lily! I see you're Head Girl! Congratulations! I knew you'd get it," said Remus as he smiled.

"Thanks Remus, so what are you doing here?" Lily asked again.

"Well, it turns out that one of us have made Head Boy," Sirius responded, looking at her with a mischievous look on his face.

Curious, Lily asked, "Who? Remus?" she said looking at him.

"Nope," answered Remus, his smile growing.

Lily stopped to think. It can't be Pettigrew obviously; he isn't nearly as smart as the other three. That leaves Potter and Black. WAIT. POTTER OR BLACK. DAMN. Knowing Black, he would just goof off and have three girls hanging off him during meetings. And if it's Potter, than I would act like a complete fool and totally scare him off. GREAT.

"So, which one of you is it?" said Lily nervously, looking a little scared.

James coughed and Lily groaned and shut her eyes. "Oh no. Oh no. OH. NO." Being so close to James virtually everyday was enough to make a girl go crazy. Not in a bad way of course. Sirius snickered at Lily's obvious distress. James glared at him, but remained quiet. Remus smiled sympathetically at her and Peter looked on in confusion.

"What's so bad about Prongs being Head Boy?" Peter asked, still confused.

By this time, Lily had taken a seat to stop from falling over. She put her head in her hands and asked, "So, it's true then?" Her voice muffled by her hands.

"Yup," Sirius and Remus answered. "Turns out that our little Jamesie here got top marks on last years exams and OWLS, and –what did the letter say Prongs?-'showed an astounding amount of responsibility' last year" Sirius mimicked, snickering again.

"Shut it, Padfoot," said Remus, laughing quietly. James was still unusually quiet.

Lily took some calming breaths, reminding herself not to completely freak out. She sighed, "Well Pot-I mean James, if we are going to be working together, we might as well act like friends…" she said somewhat reluctantly. She was grimacing as she tried to get control over her emotions.

The four boys stared at her in shock. They wore identical faces; eyes popping out of their faces and mouths hanging open.

"W-w-h-whaatt…?" Sirius sputtered, "No yelling? No slapping? No insulting? No 'is Dumbledore off his rocker' speech? Act like friends?!" he finished; looking as though Lily had declared she was pregnant with his baby.

"Umm…no?" Lily responded, regretting it a little because of the reaction she had caused. She was still slightly grimacing.

"O-okaayy," said Remus carefully, "Uhh, Sirius, Peter and I will just be leaving now…Right guys?" he said dragging Peter and Sirius, forgetting that he was a Prefect and had to stay for the meeting. James still had that shocked look on his face.

"Moony, why isn't she yelling? That's why we came here with Prongs! To see her yell! Moony, WHY ISN'T SHE YELLING?!" Sirius finally managed. He was very upset that he wasn't able to see the entertaining shouting match resulted from Lily Evans' temper.

Remus quickly dragged the two Marauders out the door before shooting, "Tootles!"

Lily was now very uncomfortable as James was staring at her as though she had sprouted a plant at the top of her head.

"Umm…James? Could you please stop staring?" Lily asked impatiently after many loud coughs. James shook his head, coming out of his shock.

He cleared his throat, "Oh, uh, sorry Lily, I was kind of expecting you to yell at me, you know, what Sirius said," said James sheepishly.

Now VERY uncomfortable, Lily replied, "Yea, umm, I guess we should start the prefect meeting?" He nodded and they opened the door to let the prefects in.

The meeting went smoothly, Lily and James getting over their awkwardness and both proving to the prefects that they were chosen rightly. Lily was impressed by James, but she chose not to show it. He was acting mature, cracking a couple of jokes here and there and Lily actually smiled for some of them. She was thankful he didn't try and ask her out during the prefect meeting, forcing her to reject him yet again in front of all the prefects. She wasn't ready for that step yet.

After the meeting, James called Lily back. She hoped to God that he wasn't going to ask her what she thought he was going to.

"Um, I just wanted to say that, uh, I was just as surprised as you that Dumbledore picked me for Head Boy. You know, with my background, I swear I should be expelled by now," he said unbelievingly. "And I promise that I will try my hardest to live up to your expectations, I won't let you or Dumbledore down," he said.

Now it was Lily's time to be shocked, although her mouth wasn't hanging open like the boys' were. She knew he was somewhat mature, but wow, this was really grown up. "U-umm…" she started, "okay, well, uh, thanks…" she finished uncertainly. She turned and started to leave. "See you later, Po-James." And she left.