The Marauders (minus Peter, who still hadn't come back from the 'bathroom'. "I told him he shouldn't have eaten all those pumpkin pasties!" Sirius said, laughing) playing Exploding Snaps for the rest of the train ride, until they saw the school in the distance.
"Home sweet home," Sirius sighed, looking through the fogged window at the distant castle. James and Remus exchanged glances; they were unsure what to say to this statement, since Sirius had run away from his home that summer to live with James.
James coughed lightly. "Let's get our robes on," he suggested, making Sirius jump slightly.
"Yeah," he said, recovering from his surprise. "Seventh year, it's time you've met Sirius Black."
Peter suddenly barged into the compartment, wheezing and rubbing his left forearm subconsciously. None of the Marauders noticed a thing, though, as they were preoccupied with putting on their robes. "Hey guys," he squeaked. "What did I miss?"
"Too much for us to explain," Remus said, trying to hide his laughter.
Suddenly, the door burst open again, and there stood Lily in the doorway. James sucked in his breath, and for once Sirius could understand why. After reapplying her makeup (though James didn't know it, she had to reapply it after crying over him…if he would've known he probably would've snogged her right then and there), her green eyes stood out drastically against her smoky black eyeliner. She blushed slightly as she spotted James, topless, putting on his robe in the corner of their compartment. "I just wanted to make sure you guys were getting ready," she said in a rush, "but I can obviously tell that you are." She smirked as she saw James look down and realize that he was shirtless.
James opened and closed his mouth several times, giving him the look of a fish out of water, before he found his voice. When he did, he was surprised at the cold tone it took over as he addressed her. "Evans, we need to change."
Lily didn't seem phased. She walked over to him and placed a polished finger on his chest. "I will not be talked to like that, James." Her voice sound amused, and James kept looking from her face to her finger on his bare chest, and back again. "You might want to put a shirt on before you get into the castle, James," she said coolly. "You don't want your fan club to tackle you, now, would you?"
And then she turned and left, swaying her hips as she walked out of the compartment and into her own.
"Bloody hell," James said, pinching his arm to make sure he wasn't dreaming. "Ouch!" He wasn't.
"You know, Prongs," Sirius said with a hint of laughter in his voice, "Lily was right. You really should put a shirt on."
James pulled on his shirt and robes in a dream-like state before turning to face his friend.
"You know, Padfoot," James said, sighing as the Hogwarts Express stopped and the students started filing out into the hall and out of the train, "this is going to be a lot harder than I thought…and I thought it was going to be hard to begin with!"
Peter emitted another high-pitched giggle, and Sirius turned to face him. "Wormtail," he said, exasperated, "you've got to stop doing that. It's embarrassing."
"Sorry, Padfoot," Peter said, still giggling. "It won't happen again."
"Yes," Sirius said, "it will, because you just did it again."
This just caused Peter to giggle even higher and louder, which caused Sirius to throw his hands up to the sky and sigh, "Why me?"
"Relax, Padfoot," Remus said calmly, "we all have to deal with him, don't worry about it."
"Okay," James said, shaking his head and running a hand through his extremely messy hair, "let's go. Almost everybody's getting into the carriages to take us up to school. At this rate, there won't be one for us!"
He slammed open the door with unnecessary force, and walked out into the corridor and off of the train, the rest of the Marauders following him close behind.
"Bloody hell," he said, as he was pelted by rain. No, the rain wasn't what was bothering him. What was bothering him was the fact that there was only one horseless carriage left, and three girls stepping into it. Those three girls happened to be Lily, Shayna, and Jocelyn. His dislike of the rain was battling his desire to make Remus' plan work, and it didn't take long for the rain to win. "Come on guys, let's go into their carriage," he said to his friends, then, breaking into a sprint on the slippery ground, "EVANS, WAIT FOR US!"
Sirius, Remus, and Peter had more sense than to run in the rain. Lily was halfway into the carriage when James slipped in a mud puddle. "James!" she exclaimed, running to help him up.
James didn't realize whom it was who was pulling his arm. "Thanks, Padfo—" he began, before looking into a pair of eyes that were not gray but green. "Hold on a second…you're not Padfoot." When James realized that Lily was helping him, he froze. She was less than a breath away from his face. She wasn't yelling at him. And she looked worried…not to mention incredibly pretty.
He gulped as he remembered the plan that he, Sirius, and Remus cooked up. Okay, mostly Remus. "I'm fine, Lily," he said gruffly. She was still close to him. Very close to him. He could count her eyelashes if he had the time.
"Good," she whispered, and goose bumps erupted on his arms. "You should probably get into the carriage before we all catch a cold."
"Yeah," he said, his voice catching in his throat.
She cleared hers. "Let's go, then?"
"Right," he said, shaking his head and spraying her with rainwater. She shrieked in surprise, and then laughed. Bloody hell, James thought sadly, she's too cute when she laughs. Her nose crinkles up! If she keeps this up then the plan is going to be a disaster.
Still holding onto his arm, she pulled him into the carriage. Once in the carriage, James pulled out his wand to perform a drying spell.
"Don't," Lily said, and Jocelyn and Shayna had to suppress giggles.
"Huh?" James said, still in a daze that Lily was actually talking to him.
"Don't dry yourself off," Lily said.
James grinned foolishly and said, "Why, you think I'm hot when I'm wet? Because I know other girls do, and—" he stopped as Sirius and Remus gave him warning looks from beside Lily. He had to remember the plan. "Oh. I suppose it's because we're going to get wet again when we walk out of the carriage. Sorry." He then proceeded to stare out the window for the remainder of the carriage ride, leaving Lily looking confused and slightly hurt.
Remus was talking to Jocelyn animatedly, and Sirius was trying to get into a conversation with Shayna. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't working very well. Peter was talking to Lily about Herbology, and Lily was trying to act interested. Inwardly, though, she was wondering about James's odd behavior.
I wonder what's gotten into him, she thought. Usually he would be asking me out by now. Maybe I was right. Maybe he did move on. "No," she told herself sternly, not realizing that she had spoken out loud.
"No?" Peter said, "I always thought that the Mimbulus Mimbletonia was the one that had the Stinksap, but I guess not."
"Oh," Lily said, realizing she had spoken aloud, "you're right. I'm sorry, Peter, my mind was on something else." Rather, someone else, she thought wryly.
Peter giggled, once again disturbing Lily from her thoughts.
"WORMTAIL!" Sirius, Remus, and James exclaimed in unison. They all exchanged glances and burst into laughter, as did Jocelyn, Shayna, and Lily.
Maybe I am getting somewhere with this, James thought. I just wish I could end soon so I won't have to deal with the torture of not being able to talk to Lily. Especially since she's so keen on talking to me this year.
A/N: School's starting, so I won't be able to update as often…I have more chapters written up, so all I have to do is put them on, but it may be a bit slower than before. Review, please!