Lily had gave her parents a quick departure and walked away. She was delighted to be going back to Hogwarts and she was probably the only one. Everyone else always wanted the holidays to be longer, but not Lily. Lily had always wanted them to be over as soon as possible. It's not that she disliked seeing her parents- in fact, she enjoyed that. Seeing her sister though, she did not.

What she missed most was the feeling of magic. She loved the butterflies raging in her stomach as she ran into the wall, the better part of her mind telling her she'll smack into it instead of walking right through it. She loved listening to the buzz of other wizards and witches alike. It was just completely different to what Lily had grown up with. I guess you'd say it was magical…

So with all this in mind, she briskly walked through the wall and landed up on the other side. Lily inhaled the smoke that the train had let out and smiled to herself, she was that much closer to home.

The train had finally started to move. Lily had yet to see her friends so she went straight to the prefect compartment, while doing so she found Remus Lupin walking the same way.

"Lily!" Remus exclaimed happily, "Good summer, I hope?"

Lily shrugged, "Could have been better. You?"

Remus smiled half-heartedly, he knew much about Lily's sister, Petunia. "Was alright, did you go anywhere?"

Lily paused, she always noticed that Remus would try and pry the conversation away from him as much as possible. Just as she was about to reply the train made a jolt and Remus knocked into Lily slightly, but steadied her soon after. She would of said thank you if she hadn't noticed two other people stumble too.

It was James Potter and Jenny Paul, and they were holding hands. Lily's eyes narrowed as the two started to walk closer to Remus and her.

"Hey-" Lily's stomach curdled at the fact he was speaking to her, after all that had happened. She lifted her head to retort only to notice him patting Remus on the shoulder, "-We'll be in the usual compartment, come find us once your done" and as quick as he'd appeared, he'd soon disappeared.

Lily looked behind her, eyebrows furrowed. James would never miss a chance to flirt Lily, let alone not even say 'hello.' Lily heard a chuckle from her left and turned to look at Remus who had his lips poised as if trying to not laugh.

"What was that about?" Lily questioned.

Remus shrugged, "I don't know what you're talking about-" he looked briefly down at his watch "-we better hurry up, don't want to be late!" With that Lily put the questions about James Potter behind and continued keeping up small talk with Remus.

"This is my compartment then, see you later Lily?" Remus said opening the door. Lily smiled but just as she saw Remus close the door, a brief image of a familiar raven-haired boy kissing a blonde girl danced in front of her eyes. It was making her feel sick and she quickly walked away not even bothering to see who it was. Lily had finally found the compartment her friends were in and noticed both girls were sat eating some sweets. Lily rolled her eyes but took her seat next to Millie.

Millie was a blonde haired girl with deep blue eyes. She wore purple framed glasses and hated when people took them off, claiming she had small eyes. She was also tall for her age, not by much but she was the taller out of the three. Millie was the funny one of the group; however she just said that she had her moments

Becky on the other hand was the smallest out of the three and she wasn't bothered by this, she just disliked certain people saying so. She also had blue eyes but they were larger than normal eyes and she had a habit of dying her hair frequently. At this particular moment it was Orangey/Red but she was toying with the idea of it being green.

"Want my liquorice wands?" Millie asked, her mouth full and offering the paper bag, "You know I hate them."

"Then you shouldn't buy them," Lily said quickly but gave into the mouth-watering bag of treats and picked one up, "Thanks."

"What's up?" Becky asked, taking a wand, "You look confused."

Lily opened her mouth to burst into a big rant about James Potter but she stopped, mid-breath. It would be selfish to dump all her problems on them when they were two minutes into the train ride and had only just seen each other. She'd wait 'till later.

"Nothing." She admitted, "How was your summer?"

Lily sighed as the two immediately joined together with a big conversation on 'What we got up to in the holidays'. Millie and Becky lived just down the road from each other while Lily lived half an hour drive away, an hour bus ride away. Apart from Becky and Millie visiting once using Side-Along Apparation with their parents to see her (which they decided against after both vomiting) Lily's summer had been friend-free. Half-way through the ramble, Becky realised her friend was staring out the window, eyes glazed and she threw a liquorice wand at Millie to stop her talking.

"How was yours?" Becky grinned and Lily blinked twice.

"It was fine," She mused, "Nothing much happened apart from Severus trying to make up with me."

All three girls shuddered at the thought, but Lily most. She hadn't divulged them into what had happened the night he kissed her, she just told them she had an argument. It was a good thing they always had a horrible feeling about him though, because she didn't want anyone to try and tell her she was now wrong about him.

"Anyway..." Lily said, changing the subject. She decided to just bring up the strangeness about James earlier, whether they liked it or not, "Something weird happened earlier. James was with that Jenny Paul-"

"Oh, so it finally happened!" Becky smiled and Millie snorted, not capable of saying anything as she was munching on a chocolate frog. Lily looked mildly puzzled but carried on.

"Yeah, and he completely ignored me!" Lily said, chuckling. She didn't notice the looks being swapped between her two friends.

"Maybe that's because you told him to, in some words, piss off?" Becky replied.

"I didn't-!"

"Oh look," Millie interrupted, holding a card out from the chocolate wrapper, "Bathilda Bagshot. She's famous now, apparently!"

Becky and Lily both rolled their eyes.

"Anyway, I thought you wanted him to leave you alone?" Becky asked.

"Yeah..." Lily said, "I did..."

The rest of the train ride went smoothly. Lily was happy to set foot back in Hogwarts and currently she was walking with Becky and Millie. A group of Second Years rushed past them and she could hear a horribly familiar giggle followed by an even more familiar laugh. Lily's stomach contracted but she ignored the horrible feeling in her gut.

The Marauders started to overtake the three girls and Millie smiled at Remus out of courtesy. Remus half smiled back but made an odd noise, cleared his throat and looked the other way. She looked confused but ignored it.

As Sirius followed in pursuit, he nudged Becky's arm and she looked up.

"Ow," She joked. Sirius didn't even acknowledge her, staring straight ahead. Becky looked to Millie who shrugged.

"What's got into them?" Becky asked.

"No idea," Millie answered.

"I think James may have actually done what I asked..." Lily mumbled, trailing off as James strode past.

Becky and Millie looked towards the boys; they were now just entering the great hall. No one said anything after awhile, Lily smiled to herself; maybe this year would be a good year.

"This has to be my favourite part of the first term" Lily said changing the subject.

Millie grinned, "The food is the best I have to say." Lily and Becky rolled their eyes at Millie's antics but walked into the great hall feeling happy none the less.

Once settled in their usual seats, the whole school watched as the Sorting Hat and stool were brought out and placed in front of the teachers table. As the Hat began to sing, the first years, anxious and waiting, watched in awe. Some were smiling carefully, others chewing their lips or wringing their hands but you could tell they all couldn't wait to be sorted.

Millie was staring at the empty dished, eyes glazed over. Becky, trying to show some respect, sat hunched but at least watching the hat. Everything seemed to be the same as before however Lily couldn't help but notice the Marauders sat much further down the table, blanking them. She sighed.

Soon enough the first years had been sorted, and the headmaster gave his usual speech and the food magically appeared with a wave Dumbledore's arm. Millie sighed out loud as she plonked some carrots, roast potatoes, beef, and everything a hungry homeless person would desire onto her plate.

Lily's throat was feeling dry, it was also starting to itch, she looked down the table to grab a jug of water but in doing so she noticed Jenny and James. Lily didn't mean to stare, honestly. However they were just going at it. Right in public view, it was starting to make Lily feel sick. Forgetting about her throat and wanting a glass of water she pushed her plate in front of her, not feeling too hungry anymore.

A few people looked up, "Lily?" Becky asked puzzled.

Lily just smiled half-heartedly, "I'm feeling a bit ill... I'm just going to the dorms early. I'll see you there." Lily briskly stood up and began to leave the table. Millie looked towards Becky, "What was that about?"

Severus was sitting the other side of the room, moodily poking a potato with his fork. Over done again, he thought, sighing. He leaned his chin on his palm when suddenly a burning sensation, too painful to describe fired up on is arm.

"Ugh," He moaned through his teeth and stood up quickly, grasping his left arm. As soon as he did so, he let go, glancing around to make sure no one saw. Closing his mouth, he swiftly walked from the room, ignoring the stares.

"Oi," Sirius muttered under his breath to James and rolled his eyes when he continued with Jenny, "Oi!"

James detached himself, cheeks slightly red but grinned, "What?"

Sirius looked at Jenny who covered her mouth, giggling, but looked away, "Really, for one thing, we're trying to eat here. Secondly, look at Snivelus."

He said the last thing quietly but James looked over his friends shoulder to see Snape standing, holding his left arm. James and Sirius both locked eyes and mouthed, 'The dark mark'.

"I'm gonna go... to the toilet." James muttered the lie unconvincingly.

"I'll come," Jenny crooned, giggling again. James winced slightly.

"No, doesn't worry," He awkwardly patted her shoulder, "Be back in a sec."

"I'll come too then," Sirius said and they both stood, Remus looking at them questionably.

"Eh," Jenny said, she flicked her fringe and went back to eating her food, pretending that she didn't care.

Sirius and James both exited the hall without much notice. They closed the door behind themselves started walking down the corridor. "Do you really think he's got the mark?"

"Without a doubt," Sirius mumbled.

James pulled out his wand and held it at arm's length, just in case. "I can't believe we've already got death eaters in Hogwarts"

Sirius shrugged, "Could be worse..."

James laughed bitterly, "How so?"

"Well we could-" Just as Sirius was about to continue James lifted and hand to silence him.

"-I think he's round there," he said pointing around the corridor. Sirius and James tip toed around the corner, poking their heads out to get a better look . Sure enough there he was, knelt down on the cold stone floor near the wall.

"Nice night, hey, Snivelus?" James' voice rang out loud and clear and Severus stiffened, pushing his sleeve over his arm, "Why are you missing the fun?"

Severus slowly stood up and turned around, watching James advance on him, wand out and Sirius following.

"I could ask the same question," He muttered slowly, staring from one to the other.

"Nothing for us to be suspicious about then, Sniv?" Sirius jeered, looking at his arm. Severus tried to show he didn't care about the obvious hint and raised his eyebrows coolly.

"What on Earth are you talking about?"

"Show us you arm," James ordered, pointing his wand out.

"I don't have to do anything you two tell me," Severus sneered, silently reaching for his own wand in his pocket.

"Exactly what a Death Eater would say," Sirius said loudly. Severus jerked as if he'd been slapped.

"You'd know all about it, wouldn't you," He hissed, "Your brother seems to know enough-"

"-Oh piss off!" Sirius said getting annoyed, "Stop trying to make us angry and show us your arm." He instructed/

Severus glared, "No. Why don't you two go back to that stupid girl and loser werewolf-"

"Shut up!" James shouted furious, he flicked his wand and Severus was jolted into the air and in another swift flick he dropped to the floor with a horrible sounding 'thump'.

"Why do you just-!"

"What in Godric's name is going on here?" Lily shouted perplexed as she looked at Severus on the floor to James and Sirius. "Potter, you can't just go around hitting people with spells just because you-" Lily started, full blown lecture at the ready.

"You don't get it, do you Evans?" James spun on his heel, not giving another glance back at Severus. Lily stepped back slightly, "This thing of a person-" He continued.

"A thing? Oh very mature, Potter," She snarled.

"You're going down to who's mature?" James said in disbelief, "You don't even care that he's a death eater!

Severus snapped again and stood up carefully from behind Lily who also froze.

"What?" She mumbled faintly.

"I'm out of here," James said, shoving his wand in his pocket. He turned on his heel and walked from the room. Sirius gave one last withering look to Snape and followed.

"Lily," Severus started, moving towards her, "Lily-" Snape placed his hand lightly on her shoulder and without thinking she batted it away. Severus inhaled audibly, Lily eye's narrowed and she turned on him.

"You really did it didn't you?" She accused.

Snape winced, "I don't know what you're on about" it was a bad lie, she saw through it right away.

Lily looked disgusted; she flipped her hair over her shoulder and stormed off down the corridor, ignoring Snape's constant shouts.

"They've been gone long enough," Millie said, starting to get up but sending a longing look at the food on the table.

"We're not their parents," Becky said but she also looked out of the door both the boys had vacated.

"But they've gone after Lily. Snape has too. I don't like it," Millie said, chewing her lip. She stood up, "I'm gonna go."

"Ugh, fine, okay," Becky said, following, "But remember, they're not exactly welcoming us, are they?"

Millie just shrugged not really caring. Millie was walking at a fast speed, as was Becky. They'd exited the hall and were now on their way down to the common room.

"She better be okay," Millie said looking behind herself to catch Beckys eye. Becky sighed but didn't bother to look up, "i'm sure she's- ah!" Both Becky and Millie looked up, simultaneously.

Opposite them were James and Sirius. "Either of you seen Lily?" Millie asked.

"So what if we had?" James replied, crossing his arms.

"Wow, brooding over something?" Becky commented, Millie sighed.

"What happened?"

"Why don't you ask her?" Sirius replied stiffly.

Becky and Millie shared a look, "what's wrong?" Millie asked again.

Becky let out a frustrated sigh as she watched James look down and Sirius scratch the back of his neck. Both boys tried to walk around the two girls who stopped them again.

"Why are you acting so off? It's really starting to annoy me," Becky burst out, studying their faces.

"Well, go away then!" Sirius raised his voice, rolling his eyes.

Millie stepped forwards, pushed James back and said, "Tell me what's wrong!"

"Why don't you ask Lily, she's the one still protecting Death Eaters!" James spat the last two words.

There was a large pause while Millie and Becky absorbed the information just thrown at them.

Millie laughed, "Oh ha, ha...That's really not funny" she replied bluntly.

"Who said it was meant to be funny?" James replied and he and Sirius successfully walked past the girls this time, pushing Millie's shoulder.

When Millie and Becky had finally found Lily she was in the girls dorms. She appeared to be sleeping but that didn't stop the two other girls waking her up.

Millie took to shaking her back and forth annoyingly calling out her name every 30 seconds. Eventually Lily's daze subsided, "Millie? What's wrong?" She asked cleaning her of sleep out of her eyes.

"What's this about you and protecting Death Eaters?" Becky almost shouted.

Lily jolted up, very confused, "Who told you that?"

"James and Sirius," Millie confirmed.

Lily audibly growled, "For goodness sake..."

"Lily, what's going on?" Millie asked, it seemed like the seventh time today.

Lily replayed the story back to her friends who listened intently.

"We've got to tell someone," Sirius stated matter-of-factly as James directed them through a secret passage in the castle, "If Snivelus is a Death Eater then there's definitely more here. It's not safe-"

"I know, I know," James muttered and started picking at his thumbnail, "But we cant... we can't snitch on someone can we?"

Sirius stopped in the path, "Prongs, mate, this isn't someone pranking something. He's in line with Voldemort. Of course we have to-"

"How do we even know? We just think... Can't we just wait and figure out what to do ourselves?" James tried.

"No, we can't," Sirius said and they both started to walk, "From what you told them, Becky and Millie already know and so does Lily! And anyway, you saw the way he grabbed his arm-"

"Whatever! Let's just continue ignoring them," James said, his bottom lip poking out. Sirius stifled a laugh, trying to keep a straight face.

"Okay, okay, fine, we'll wait," He gave in, "Why exactly are we ignoring them? You never told us."

"Oh, right," James replied and they both pushed what seemed like a solid wall but was actually the back of a portrait. Stepping from the secret path, they sealed it and continued their way to the kitchens. Remembering the question Sirius asked James began to answer, "Well, i was thinking about Lily over Summer..." James ignored the laugh Sirius gave, "and i've decided that if she wants me to leave her alone then i will." James held head high in the air as if he was proud of the fact.

"Well... Why do i have to ignore them?" Sirius asked, curious.

"Why do you care?" James replied smirking, Sirius shrugged, "I don't, it's just they were all so easy to annoy, and now i can't, this may be hazardous to my life."

James just looked at Sirius and laughed, "sure..." came his reply, not really believing any of that.

"Anyway, is that why you're going out with Jenny?" Sirius said changing the subject.

James looked sheepish, "no, I do like her."

"Really?" Sirius asked shock evident in his voice.

"Yes! I really like her, I don't really see your problem with her." James said defensively.

"Really like her? You really like me but you don't snog me every time you see me!" He laughed and James pouted, "What do you like about her then?"

There was a short pause as they walked, Sirius looking at James, grinning. James glanced around for an aversion, "Oh, look, we're at the kitchens!"

Sirius looked to where he was pointing, "James, it's down the corridor."

"Let's go," He said, ignoring Sirius.

They walked in silence for a few seconds, tickled the pear and went to the kitchen. As soon as the usual swarm of elves disappeared, the two sat down eating bagels.

"What do you like about Lily then?" Sirius asked through a mouthful of bread. He snuck a look at James who was thinking but responded quickly.

"Her hair. And her eyes. You know, because they're-" He stopped short and slowly took another bite of bagel.

"Prongs, why are you now just in denial?"

"What?"

"You like Lily publically for ages, then she shouts at you which she's done a billion times before and you pretend you don't. You go around sucking the face off of Jenny of all people-!"

"You can hardly talk," James said dropping his bagel onto the plate, "You go through girls more than Remus goes through chocolate!"

"Wow. Offended."

"Well- Sirius, you- Oh, don't worry," He said, standing up and dragging his bag over his shoulder swiftly.

"More bagels for me," Sirius laughed as James walked out the kitchen.

Lily had discussed with Becky and Millie after telling her what had happened, however they all knew there wasn't much to do about it, not to mention they didn't know if he really was, even if it did seem probable. However Lily now was doing prefect rounds, by herself. She'd usually do them with Remus but he'd been ignoring her so she just decided to go alone.

She was just about finished, she was about to turn the round the third corner to get to the common room when she heard someone's footsteps. Lily paused listening to them, suddenly she had the urge to go hide but she didn't, not like there really was a place anyway.

Soon enough the person to who the footsteps belonged to round off round the corner nearly banging right into Lily. It was James potter. He awkwardly stopped and looked at Lily, his hair was more of a mess than usual, his glasses were askew and his lips were slightly more red. Not that Lily was looking his lips. Lily waited to see what James had to say to her, he wasn't looking at her anymore but running his hand through his hair. Lily contemplated where he could have been, she got to two conclusions. One, he had been having a make out session with Jenny, two, he was out on his broom. She hoped it was the latter.

Noticing that he wasn't going to say anything she decided to, "Potter."

James licked his lips and opened his mouth slightly, but then obviously decided whatever he was going to say wasn't worth it.

"Evans," He eventually replied curtly.

"Where were you? You know it's after hours-"

"I was just flying, alright? Jeesh..."

Lily swallowed and tried to carry on the lecture without faltering as if the information hadn't been a massive relief, "Hm. Well, you're still not allowed there at this time of-"

"I'm the Quidditch Captain, Lily, I can go out there when I need to." He interrupted in an exasperated voice. Lily made a mental note to check that rule but looked at him confidently.

"Right. Well," She said and it suddenly hit her that he'd called her Lily for the first time in that year. It felt strange but her stomach seemed to turn to jelly.

James looked at her and realised his mistake, that he was meant to be ignoring her. He knew, he could tell what was going on in her head and it felt like something inside of him was twisting, contracting. It took a lot of self-control to say, "I'm going to the Gryffindor Common Room."

He strode past Lily, making sure not to brush her arm and Lily stood still, listening to his footsteps get farther and farther away until she couldn't hear them anymore. She stared into the empty corridor and bit her lip as a few tears started to roll down her cheeks. She sniffled and wiped her tears, why was she crying? So what? A stupid immature boy was avoiding her, it wasn't the end of the world.

It felt like it though, every muscle in Lily wanted to run, catch up with James. Shout at him until he told her what he was doing... Why he wasn't talking to her? Yes, she'd told him not too but over the years she'd told him to go jump into the lake and he didn't do that. Why wasn't he talking to her? She just didn't get it, she wanted him to, yet at the same time she didn't want him to. She didn't really care, she had no need to care. Right now, more than anything she was confused…