Those Turntable Days.
If things were simple in life, then there really wouldn't be many stories, at least not many good ones. And if life were easy, then there wouldn't be many great songs either. Life is complicated, and messy, and down right confusing. And true stories are in no way simple.
But sometimes the best stories begin simply enough.
This one started with two turntables. (And a wireless).
The Turntables were funny things. They were constants, always there, throughout the crazy, hectic events that transpired during the later years of the 1970s. The Turntables were like sentient watchers. They saw love happen, and love fall apart. They saw transformations. They saw good, they saw evil. And, on a fateful day in 1978, they saw two people find each other against all odds.
But, it all began very simply. I believe it went something like this.
In the summer of 1975 Remus Lupin bought a brand new turntable. He brought it with him to Hogwarts, along with countless records.
In the fall of 1975 Sirius Black nicked the common room wireless, its new residence, the fifth year boys' dormitory.
In the summer of 1975 Marlene Maron bought herself a turntable, too. She brought it with her to Hogwarts, along with countless records.
In the fall of 1975 Tim McKinnon switched the station on the wireless. The station played a variety of wizard and muggle music.
No one changed the station for the next three years.
But before Sirius nicked the wireless, and before Tim changed the station, there were just two turntables, (and countless records), both sitting in compartments on opposite ends of the Hogwarts Express. Four boys sprawled across the seats in Compartment K, two smoking, one eating, and the other reading. Far off, in Compartment B, four girls sat as well, two reading, one gossiping, and the other humming a tune. It was all very simple.
This day was important for many reasons. But perhaps the two most important reasons were that this was the day the turntables came to Hogwarts, and the day James Potter asked Lily Evans out for the 83rd time. Why these events are so important, well, to put it simply they were the beginning of everything.
Track One: Changes.
That first day back began simply enough, despite what anyone might say about it. Like every September 1st, the Hogwarts Express awaited the students at Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Friends greeted each other and frantically recounted the fascinating events of their holiday. They scurried onto the train, with quick last minute goodbyes to parents, and hurried waves, before locating a compartment to settle down in.
James Potter sat in the usual compartment that he and his friends occupied on every September 1st. He stared out the window at the remaining students scattered across the platform. Little first years pulled away from their parents' tight embraces and hopped onto the train. One little boy hastily pulled away from his mother as she planted a kiss on his forehead. The boy quickly rubbed away the mark. James smiled faintly, remembering how his mother had done the very same thing to him when he had been a first year. The memory of that day was just as clear as ever. It was probably the one and only day out of all his days at Hogwarts that he could recall completely, in full detail. That, of course, had been the day he had met his best friend, Sirius Black, and his other two mates, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.
Suddenly James found himself lost in thought, going back to that first day, when Sirius Black had walked into his life, quite literally.
The compartment door slid open, and a boy stood there, a big, confident, slightly manic grin on his face. "Mind if I sit? No? Splendid."
The boy sat down opposite James, still beaming. "Er–Hello," James said awkwardly, staring at the boy in front of him. "What's your name?" he asked politely.
"Sirius."
James continued to stare, this kid was weird. "Yes, I'm serious."
"No. I'm Sirius."
"O-kay, you can be serious too. Now what's your name?"
The boy rolled his eyes. "Funny. My name is Sirius."
"Wow. You must really hate your parents."
"Actually, I do. They're gits." Sirius grinned.
"Do you happen to have a last name?" James asked, warming up to the boy.
"Black. Sirius Orion Black."
"James Potter."
"Pureblood," Sirius stated, recognizing the surname.
"You too," said James.
"My whole family's been in Slytherin," Sirius remarked.
"That's unfortunate. I was just starting to like you."
At this Sirius laughed. "What house are you aiming for?"
"Gryffindor of course," James said in a matter of fact tone.
Sirius raised an eyebrow, "You're so sure?"
"My dad was in Gryffindor," James shrugged, as if this explained it all.
"And my mum, dad, aunts, uncles, cousins and every other Black have been in Slytherin; I'm determined to––well not be."
James smiled. "Trying to be a rebel?"
Sirius laughed. "I am a rebel. The whole lot of my family are prats. They're too––stiff. Dull."
"Tut, tut, speaking ill of your family. I'm afraid you're a bad influence on me."
"What are you, some prissy momma's boy?"
James smiled. "Not at all. I happen to like bad influences."
Sirius grinned from ear to ear.
"Oi! James!" A familiar voice pulled him away from his thoughts.
James turned away from the window to face his friend, one eyebrow arched. "Mhmm?"
"Fifth year, mate!" Sirius said, standing in the frame of the compartment door, that crazy grin of his spreading across his face as he threw his arms open.
James smirked. "Another year at Hogwarts, indeed."
After several more seconds of James remaining seated, Sirius let his arms drop. "Feels like just yesterday we were ickle little firsties, eh?" he said, taking the seat across from James, and nodding towards the window where a few first years could still be seen, rushing towards the train.
"I was actually just thinking about that. That first day," James admitted. "Not much has really changed, has it?"
"Um…actually, quite a lot has changed, mate. For one, I didn't even like girls back then."
"I always knew you were gay."
"Funny. I was also very much a virgin then," he said with a look.
"Oh? And you're not so much a virgin anymore?" James said with a curious little smile.
"Not since Casey Turnip."
"Turnip?"
"She's a Ravenclaw. In our year."
"Never heard of her," James said, shrugging.
Just then Remus Lupin made an appearance. "Hullo," he said, quickly sliding through the door, and sitting beside James.
"You know Casey Turnip, right?" Sirius asked the newest arrival.
"You mean Casey Turpin?"
"Er–sure?"
Remus rolled his eyes, "Why do you ask?"
"Apparently, he slept with her," James said with a smug look. "And you can't even remember her name. Nice."
Remus looked utterly perplexed. "And when did this happen? I didn't know you two were going out."
"We're not going out. And hmm…I don't know, it happened like, a week ago?"
"But we saw you on Sunday!"
"Moony's right," James nodded, "It's very unlike you not to have bragged about it first chance you got."
Sirius shrugged. "It wasn't that big of a deal."
"Of course it wasn't," Remus muttered, pulling out a book from his trunk.
"Honestly, there's way too much hype surrounding it…."
For the third time the compartment door slid open, admitting a panting Peter. "Hey," he breathed. "Nearly––missed––train." And just as he finished speaking the train lurched forward, and Peter Pettigrew fell into the seat beside Sirius.
Sirius looked around at the four of them, a mad sort of smile spreading across his lips.
"What?" the other three boys asked tentatively.
"Fifth year!" he hollered, throwing his arms wide open, an accidentally slapping Peter in the face. "It's gonna be a good one!"
"Not for my face."
"Sorry, Pete."
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"Lily!"
Lily Evans stood on Platform Nine and Three Quarters, her trunk beside her, when she heard her name called in a singsong harmony. She smiled, already knowing who the voices belonged to, and turned to greet the girls who ran towards her.
Mary Macdonald reached her first, and Lily was momentarily blinded by Mary's glossy brown hair that swished from side to side as the girls embraced. "Mary!" she cried.
Marlene Maron caught up, and threw her arms around the pair. "We've missed you, Lils!"
"God, me too. I haven't seen you girls since–"
"Diagon Ally," finished Mary, pulling out of the hug. "Bloody hell, that was ages ago. Well only a month, but so much has happened!"
"And you couldn't send me a letter?" Lily said, with a pointed look.
"Oh Lily, some stuff just sounds better in person."
Marlene nodded, and then waved over to someone in the distance.
Lily followed her line of vision, and saw Alice Prewett and Hestia Jones make their way over to the group. "Hello, all," said Alice, with a radiant smile.
"What are you so happy about?" Mary asked Alice.
"New year of course," she beamed. Then, turning to Lily, she said, "Congrats on making Prefect!"
Lily smiled, "Thanks, Alice."
"So, how were everyone's holidays?" asked Hestia.
"Alright, I guess," said Marlene.
"Un-eventful," sighed Lily.
"Splendid!" sang Mary.
Alice raised a brow. "Oh? And what's got you so happy about?"
"Harvey Davies!"
All the girls, except for Marlene looked at her in surprise.
"Really?" asked Lily. "And this couldn't possibly be said in a letter?"
"Oh hush, Lily," Mary said waving her hand. "So much more to tell you."
"Alright, alright," the prefect said with a smile. "Shall we go find a compartment?"
"We shall!" Mary said, looping arms with Lily.
"We'll see you lot later," Alice waved, before departing with Hestia.
The remaining three girls hauled their heavy trunks onto the train, and searched for an empty compartment. "Oh look, there's Charlotte," Marlene said, nodding straight ahead.
A tall girl with a mane of curly brown hair approached them. Charlotte Dearborn was a fellow Gryffindor in their year, and the fourth girl in their circle. She was on the House quidditch team, along with Marlene, and she loved every minute of it. Charlotte was also the only one out of the four who came from a wizarding household, a particularly big one at that.
"Hey!" she exclaimed, giving quick one armed hugs to each of the girls due to the minimal amount of space in the crowded corridor. "How's everyone?"
"Great," chirped Mary, still beaming from before.
Charlotte turned to the other two, "And why is Mary smiling like that?"
"Harvey Davies."
"Ah."
Eventually the four found a compartment towards the front of the train, and they settled their trunks and sat down. "So, Mare, what's all this Davies business about?" Charlotte asked as she pulled out a book.
"Well…we got together right after the four of us met up in Diagon Ally, probably two or three days later. I'd forgotten a few things the day before so I went back to Diagon to pick them up, and well we just ran into each other. And I wasn't with my parents or anything, so we hung out for a bit, and then we got ice cream and he sort of kissed me. And then I sort of kissed back. And then he owled me a few nights later and asked if we could meet up again. So we did. And then we just started dating! And well…it's been quite a physical relationship, if you know what I mean."
"Mary!" Charlotte exclaimed.
"You two didn't––" began Lily.
"Oh no! Not yet at least. But well…we've done other stuff."
"Spare me the details," said Lily, glancing towards the window. She caught sight of another prefect, a Slytherin one. Severus Snape was trudging towards the Hogwarts express, his face unsurprisingly expressionless. Lily sighed, and looked away. She hadn't seen a whole lot of him over the holiday, to be honest. At least not as much as in past years. Usually the two were inseparable during the summer months, spending most days together, but not this summer. Lily saw him very few times in August, and not too many more in July. She knew there was something off, but she hadn't a clue what, and he wasn't much of a talker.
"You'll never guess what I heard," said Mary's voice, distracting Lily from her thoughts. The redhead turned to her friend as she recounted the latest gossip to the three. "Sirius Black and Casey Turpin had sex."
"Don't you fancy Sirius?" asked Charlotte.
"Oh rubbish!" Mary said waving her hand. "That was ages ago. Besides, now I have Harvey Davies."
"Right," Charlotte nodded. "So how'd you find out about the sexcapades of Sirius Black?"
"Overheard Casey telling her mates. Bloody loud, that girl is."
"I can't believe Casey would do that though, she always seemed so... innocent."
"Looks like Black turned her bad," Mary smirked. "What do you think, Lily?"
"Hmm? Oh. Well, I don't really know Casey very much, but, sleeping with Black? That can't be healthy."
"Oh Lily! Just because he's a prat and hexes…Sna––er––people, doesn't mean he isn't positively adorable."
"I didn't comment on his looks, Mare."
"Well I doubt he's diseased."
"What makes you so sure? You've seen his dating record."
"Well, I heard he was a virgin." The corners of Mary's lips twitched into a satisfied grin. Lily stared, slightly amused. Sirius Black. Lost his virginity. To Casey Turpin. That concept just did not make sense. But Mary was almost never wrong with her gossip.
"Crazy," said Marlene, shaking her head. "I always assumed he was just––born a non-virgin."
"How can you be born a non-virgin?" Charlotte asked raising a skeptical brow.
"I'm not say there's any logic behind it, but I just can't see Sirius Black losing his virginity to anyone. I see him more of a––a virginity taker?"
"Alright then, new topic that doesn't involve disturbing images of Sirius Black's sex life?"
"Yes please," Lily agreed.
Mary stared at the three girls, another beaming smile spreading across her face.
"What now?" asked the three girls in unison.
"Fifth year!" she squealed waving her hands. "This is going to be a good one!"
Lily and Charlotte rolled their eyes, each girl turing to her own book, and Marlene just shook her head, smiling to herself.
Then the train lurched forward, and they were on their way.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
"I'll be back," Remus said, putting his quidditch magazine down, and standing up.
"Where you going?" Sirius asked, pulling his cigarette away from his lips, filling the compartment with smoke.
"Prefect meeting," Remus said pointing to the gold badge pinned to his robes.
Sirius smirked, "Right. Remus the prefect."
James cocked his head to the side, "Go on, Moony," he said shooing his friend to the door. "Go be Mr. Prefect, then come back to your wild, unruly friends."
Remus rolled his eyes, but departed through the compartment door.
James settled back down into his seat, lying down in the newly empty space beside him. He blew out smoke, and closed his eyes.
"Pete, give me some of that," James heard Sirius say, though everything sounded very far awayl everything always seemed very far away when he was smoking. The world seemed to dissolve way, and there was nothing but him and the cigarette.
"Come on! That was my last Chocolate Frog!"
"Then go get some more."
Peter huffed, and James heard him shuffle out of the compartment.
James brought the cigarette back down to his lips, and took a deep drag. He opened his eyes to watch the smoke swirl from his lips upward, towards the compartment ceiling. The smoke twisted, and curled, and then the cloud began to thin out and disperse throughout the air. James took another drag, ready to watch the smoke do its entrancing dance again, and then his hearing caught up to him, and he was pulled away from his reverie.
"Oi! James!"
James turned his head lazily towards his friend. "Mhmm?"
"Spacey much?" Sirius said waving his hand in front of James's bespectacled eyes.
James shoved Sirius's hand away and flopped into sitting position, putting out his cigarette in an empty Bertie Botts box. "Sorry."
"Have you been working on the Map?"
James shrugged. "A bit. It's hard to do when we're not at Hogwarts. You can't really plot any of it unless we're inside the castle. But I tweaked the first floor corridor and worked out a basic layout for the second floor."
Sirius nodded. "And training?"
James sighed loudly, "We went over all this on Sunday. Nothing's changed since then!"
"Well Sunday was five days ago!"
"Five days usually isn't considered a long time to most people," James explained.
"It is to me! I see at least one of you guys every other day."
"I'm pretty sure that's not healthy. And you've so gone more than five days without seeing one of us."
"Beside the point."
"Not really, no. More like very much on the point."
"Whatever! I just wanted to know if anything changed! Sor-ry for asking."
"You think I wouldn't have told you if I'd suddenly managed to master my Animagi transformation?"
"I didn't tell you about sleeping with Casey Turnip right away," Sirius said folding his arms.
"Turpin."
"Wha–? Oh shut up!"
"And why didn't you tell me? I'm still mad about that."
"No you're not," Sirius said airily.
"Yeah. I am."
"Like you would've told me if you slept with, I don't know, Evans?"
James laughed. "Like that would ever happen."
"Giving up, Jamesie?"
"Did you really just call me Jamesie?"
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't."
"You know I'm going to kill you now, don't you?"
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't."
...
"I have to go to the prefect meeting," Lily said, standing up.
"Go on then," Mary sighed, shooing her out of the compartment. "We'll manage with out you, somehow."
"God, I'm really feeling the love."
Lily slid out of the compartment and into the corridor. It was mostly empty. The prefect compartment was at the front of the train, not too far from Lily's compartment. She made her way down the corridor, adjusting her badge as she went. "Oh!" she jumped when she collided with something, or more like someone.
"Hello, Lily," said a friendly voice.
"Sorry, Remus," Lily apologized, steadying herself. "I didn't see you––badge––yeah."
"Oh, you made prefect too?"
"What? Oh yes. You're my partner then?" Lily said, noticing Remus's identical badge.
"' guess so," he smile.
"Thank goodness it's you. If it had been Black or Potter––I'm sorry. They're your mates––"
"Who definitely have their moments," Remus sympathetically.
Lily grinned. "We just... clash a bit."
"A bit?" Remus said bemused. "That's an understatement if I've ever heard one."
Lily snorted. "Alright, we're like two hurricanes colliding at the center of a tornado."
"That's more accurate."
"So are you going to keep them in line now that you're Mr. Prefect?" Lily asked with a laugh.
"I don't think me being Head Boy could keep them in line."
"I guess I'll have to be the bad cop then," Lily frowned. "I really don't want to dock points from our own house though," she groaned.
"Turn a blind eye?"
"And miss an opportunity to dock points from James? Never."
Remus chuckled. "We should get to that meeting. We might miss something big, like a mysterious prefect secret."
"Oh God, I don't want to miss that!"
They hurried down the corridor towards the prefect compartment. The meeting was already underway when they made their awkward entrance. The Head Boy, a Ravenclaw, was speaking. He stopped short, fixing the two fifth years with an unpleasant look. "Thank you for joining us," he said curtly.
"Sorry," mumbled Remus.
"Sorry," said Lily.
"Go sit down so we may continue," the Head Boy replied, dismissing their apologies. He let out an annoyed sigh. "You two really should reconsider being prefects if this is how you're going to present yourselves. Lateness to meetings in not acceptable."
"Oh calm down," Lily said rolling her eyes. "Honestly. We were minutes late. I'm sure all we missed was you introducing yourself."
"Actually, you missed a few important points. Points that I will not be repeating."
Lily didn't like his attitude and was starting to get annoyed with the boy. "Oh no," she said sarcastically. "Did we miss any big, mysterious, prefect secrets?"
"Lily," Remus hissed.
Lily ignored Remus. "No? Well then I guess we then I guess we really didn't miss much. Continue going on about whatever it was you were talking about before we so rudely interrupted," she said waving her hand carelessly.
Alice shot her a quizzical look from across the compartment.
"And who are you, exactly?" asked the Head Boy, now looking positively peeved.
"Lily Evans."
"Well, Lily, please, do have a seat," he said gesturing towards the only remaining spot available. Lily nodded grudgingly and walked towards the seat, noticing for the first time who sat beside the empty space.
Lily sat down, and then her neighbor spoke in a hushed whisper. "Why did you do that?"
"Do what?" Lily said staring straight ahead as the Head Boy began to speak.
"Snap at the Head Boy."
"Oh like you care, Sev. He's a Ravenclaw. You don't care about anyone that isn't Slytherin."
"That's not true."
"Whatever. We're not having this conversation right now."
"Why were you late?"
"I don't know, I just was."
"And you came in with him."
"Oh stop. He's nice."
"He's friends with Potter."
"Excuse me," said the Head Boy, loudly, sending Lily and Severus a look.
They remained quiet for a few minutes and the Head Boy returned to his speech.
"He's dangerous, Lily," Severus said after some time.
"We're not having this conversation now either," Lily said firmly, folding her arms.
Severus frowned, but did not speak again for the remainder of the meeting.
The Head Boy, who Lily soon found out was named Julian McLaggen, droned on and on discussing patrolling schedules and procedures for leading the students to their dormitories later in the evening. Lily found the whole meeting to be particularly superfluous, and this was only her first year as a prefect. She could not even imagine what it was like for those who had been prefects for years now. Maybe it was because she had gotten off on the wrong foot with the Head Boy, but she was extremely happy when he stopped talking and silently distributed the patrolling schedules before dismissing them. A little while later Alice was at her side, skipping into step as they walked back to Lily's compartment.
"Where did that little outburst come from?" she asked, tilting her head towards Lily.
"Honestly I can't even tell you," Lily signed. "It was really unlike me, wasn't it? I mean I know sometimes I can get a little...er...annoyed, but, snapping at the Head Boy like that? He probably hates me."
"He hates everyone," Alice snorted. "So don't worry about it. But you were kind of a total badass back there. Julian is such a prat with a head too big for his body. None of us can stand him. I feel bad for Jacqueline, if I had to be Head Girl with him I would sooner jump off the Astronomy Tower."
"He's seriously that bad?"
"Oh yeah. He's way too conceited. He talks to everyone like they're beneath him. And he always wants everything to be his way. I'm actually really glad you gave him some attitude; hopefully it'll encourage the rest of the prefects to step up to him. Or else I'm afraid Hogwarts will be going to go to shits with him running all the student affairs!"
The girls stopped short, having reached Lily's compartment. "Oh," Alice said, lowering her voice. "How are things with you and Severus? I saw you two talking. I thought you had a fall out over the summer? Something change since your last letter?"
Lily sighed. "I really don't know. He just started talking to me as if the past two months hadn't happened. I barely hear from him all summer and now we're suddenly back to being the best of friends? I really don't know anymore."
"Ah well don't worry about it too much, Lily. I'm sure everything will be alright. And you can talk to me whenever you want. Don't hesitate."
Lily nodded, appreciative.
"Alright, well, I'm off!" Alice said walking backwards to face Lily. "Gotta go meet up with Frank and Hestia!"
Lily laughed, shaking her head. "Are you three ever apart?"
"Rarely! We're like a freakin trio!" Alice turned around and waved to Lily over her shoulder before skipping away down the corridor.
Lily slid the compartment door open and found Marlene sitting by herself.
"Hello, and where did everyone else get to?" Lily asked, plopping down beside her friend.
"Mary's gone to snog Harvey, and Charlotte went to find Lucy."
"Ooh Lucy! I haven't seen her in ages, not since June I think. God I love that girl." Lily reached over Marlene and scooped up a handful of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans.
"Careful," Marlene said, eyeing Lily's hand. "Mary and Charlotte were eating those before and they said it was a bad batch. Loads of nasty ones."
"Eh...what's life without a little risk?"
"Do you really want to risk vomit flavored jelly bean?"
Lily made a face and then nodded. "Alright, I'll play it safe and stick to chocolate. Toss me a Chocoball."
The compartment door open and Lily jumped to her feet. "Lucy!" The blond witch in the doorway quickly closed the distance between herself and Lily and the two embraced in a rib crushing hug. "I missed you so much," Lily said once they pulled apart. "My mum wouldn't let me come up to your place by myself, I was quite furious with her. But you're here! And I'm here! And we're going back to school!"
Lucy smiled one of her trademark, eye-crinkling smiles. "I've miss you too, Lils. I've missed this," she said gesturing towards all of Lily. "Your enthusiasm always astounds me. Only you could be this excited to return to school."
"Oh hush," Lily said waving her hand. "You know it's not school I'm excited for. I loath all the work just as much as anyone else. It's the ca––"
"Castle. Yes, we know," chorused Lucy, Charlotte, and Marlene.
Lily rolled her eyes. "But really, the Start Of Term Scent. You can't deny you love it too."
"There is no such thing as The Start Of Term Scent!" Charlotte exclaimed, getting all frazzled.
Every year the girls had the a different variation of this conversation, and every year Lily would mention this so-called 'scent' and every year Charlotte would insist that such a 'scent' did not exist. This 'scent' was something Lily noticed, and fell in love with, on September 1st, 1971, the first time she entered the castle. There was just something so warm and welcoming about that scent. It's what made Lily feel at home right away during those first few days of school back in '71 when she was so very unsure about what wizard-life would be like. The reason Charlotte or any of the other girls refused to believe in the scent was because Lily could never accurately describe it. It was a mixture of many things really. It was old and ancient. It was parchment and books, dust and stones, grass and firewood, freshly baked bread. No spell or complex magic could reproduce the scent, and no matter how much it lingered on Lily's belongings at the end of every term, it always smelt brand new on September 1st. And it was really only on those first few days in September that she could appreciate the scent, because like every scent, one gets accustomed to it, and then they forget it's even there. That's why Lily loved the beginning of the year so much, that's why she always got excited on September 1st; she longed for the castle, for a fresh start to a new year, and for the magical scent. Lily had an immense love for the castle, it was the place where she was not considered a freak, but where she belonged.
After the obligatory 'Scent' conversation ended (with Lily getting in the last word of course) Lucy went on to recount her summer adventures where she met a boy, he turned out to be from Germany, and their summer romance met a tragic end when he had to return to his country. They promised to write. They never did.
"Oh woe is me," Lucy sighed. "I've never been able to have a proper boyfriend."
"Remember that time you went out with––"
"Lily, if you finish that sentence I will positively hex your head off."
"Davy Gudgeon."
"Lily!"
Charlotte, Marlene, and Lily dissolved into laughter and Lily ducked as Lucy tossed a magazine at her.
"That was third year!" Lucy said in her defense. "It was a stupid Hogsmead date!"
"You guys kissed!" Lily said through her laughs. "And it was the most awkward kiss I ever witnessed."
"I beg to differ," Charlotte said, raising her hand. "The Peter/Sally kiss of last year was the most awkward kiss ever."
"Oh god..." said Marlene, her eyes widening at the memory.
"Stop," Lily said fighting her giggles. "Really, Peter's nice."
"No one's saying he isn't nice, Lils. He's great," said Charlotte. "But that kiss. Not so great. I was mentally scarred. Traumatized even."
"Charlotte."
But even Lily could not fight the urge to laugh, because in reality the kiss had been quite funny, and very, very awkward.
"But now Lily," said Lucy with a wicked smile, "let us not forget your first kiss."
"Luce," Lily began.
"Eric Belby. Your lovely boyfriend of two months last year. Remind me, how did it happen again? Stroll through Hogsmead, in front of Honeydukes while snow fell around your young adolescent faces?"
Lily covered her face with her hands. "God, it sounds like a romantic cliché, doesn't it?"
"But you are a romantic cliché, Lily. You even have a cliché, persistent suitor."
Charlotte bit her lip, fighting back a smile.
"We are not talking about him," said Lily eyeing her three friends carefully.
...
It was 4:00pm and Sirius was wandering up and down the corridor in search of the food trolley because he was starving; he was always starving. Unfortunately he never found the trolley. Instead he happened across the compartment of two of his favorite Gryffindor girls. He smiled and slid the door open, poking in head in.
"Hello ladies," he said to the two girls sitting side by side. "Hey," he said turing to the other two girls who sat across from them. One of the other girls, Brianna McGuire, turned beet red and stammered out a giggly "Hey, Sirius." Brianna was always red. The girl beside her, Prudence Hartford paid him little attention, and only said 'hello' to be polite. Prudence should have been a Ravenclaw.
Opposite Prudence and Brianna sat the two girls Sirius had come to see. Alice Prewett and Hestia Jones both smiled warmly and said "Hello, Sirius," in unison. Sirius slid the door open all the way and leaned agains the door frame.
"How was your holiday?" he asked the girls.
"Oh lovely. Frank and I spent a week at his summer home on the coast. Oh and Hestia and I went to France for a week!"
"Really?" Sirius said raising a brow. "Nice."
"It was great," Hestia said fondly. "It was just the two of us, I couldn't believe out parents let us go. How was your summer?"
Sirius shrugged. "Alright, I suppose. Spent most of my time at James's. My parents went on holiday to Spain with the brother."
"You didn't want to go?" asked Alice.
Both Hestia and Sirius shot her looks. "Of course he didn't want to go," said Hestia.
"Of course I didn't want to go!" said Sirius.
"Well obviously," said Alice. "I was asking if he wanted to go to Spain. I was asking if you wanted to go to Spain," she said turning from Hestia to Sirius. "Obviously I know you didn't want to go with them."
"Why didn't you want to go with them?" asked Brianna (still red).
Sirius turned around and looked at her curiously. "You've seen my cousins, haven't you?"
"Erm...yes?"
"They're crazy," Sirius said slowly, making the fact clear enough for the girl. "And so are my parents."
"But aren't everyone's parents a little crazy?"
"My parents are blood purist gits. My whole family's been in Slytherin, my brother is a prat, my house looks like Salazar Slytherin threw up in it, and they're all obsessed with the dark arts. And then there's me, the Gryffindor blood-traitor punk who soiled the Black name. I love it." Sirius grinned and pulled out a cigarette, wedging it between his lips.
"Ooh can I snag a cig?" asked Hestia, holding out her fingers.
"You smoke?," Sirius asked, the cigarette dancing at the corner of his lips.
"Apparently," Alice said pursing her lips in disapproval.
"Oh shush," said Hestia rolling her eyes at her best friend.
Sirius produced a second cigarette, and lit it for Hestia before handing it over.
"'Scue me," said a voice behind Sirius.
Sirius turned and Frank Longbottom stood in the corridor. "After you, Frank," Sirius said moving out of the doorway.
"Oh hullo, Sirius. Didn't know it was you there. How was your holiday?"
"Good, good. We were just having a chat about that, actually. Didn't go to Spain."
"Didn't go to Spain?" asked Frank, his forehead crinkling in confusion.
"Parent's went to Spain. I didn't," Sirius explained.
"Ah, I see," Frank nodded.
"I hear you and Alice spent a week on the coast. Very nice. You know how to treat a lady."
Frank chuckled, shaking his head. "Yup, yup. But I heard you got yourself a girlfriend."
"Me? Me?" Sirius said pointing to himself. "Where in Merlin's name did you hear that?"
"Are you not going out with Casey Turpin?"
"Turnip. And no! It was a one time thing, I assure you."
"Turpin. And that's not what she's saying."
"Yeah," said Hestia, "Sorry to tell you, mate, but she thinks you two are a 'thing'."
"That's complete and utter shite! I'm going to go have a talk with her right now. Sirius Black, in a relationship! Who would even believe that rumor?"
"Half the train, apparently."
Sirius puffed out a cloud of smoke and then went on, "Well doesn't matter. Gotta set her straight before she starts planning the wedding."
And just like that, because it would just be Sirius's luck, there was a tap on his shoulder, and Casey Turpin stood before him, in the flesh and all.
"Oh hey, Casey." Sirius turned back to the occupants of the compartment, eyes wide with 'help' written all over his expression. Alice, Hestia, and Frank bit their lips and shook their heads. Sirius gave them a 'fuck you' glare and then quickly turned back to Casey, who stood uncomfortably close.
"Hey, Sirius," she said gleefully. Her hands were folded together and she was doing something with her eyes, she kept blinking rapidly and it was making Sirius feel very nervous.
"Erm...hey," he said again, taking a few steps back. "How's it going?"
"Oh it's going good. Been looking for you everywhere, actually. Went round James Potter's compartment but he said you'd gone off to find the trolley." Casey peered into the compartment behind Sirius. "Guess you stopped to see your friends. They're Gryffindors, right? In the year above us?"
"Uh, yeah. They're my friends."
"That's Alice Prewett, right? I didn't know you were friends with Alice Prewett. She's dating Frank Longbottom, yeah?"
Sirius nodded his head slowly. It seemed like with every second that passed Casey's voice got a little shriller. "And who's that other girl they're always with?"
"Hestia Jones?"
"She's very pretty," Casey said thoughtfully, staring at Hestia through the window in the door. "Don't you think?"
"Uh...I guess? Yeah sure, but um what did you want to talk to me about anyway?"
"Oh," said Casey quietly, "Um, I don't quite remember." She laughed, blushing. Then she did that nauseating thing with her eyes again. "But um, I was thinking, we should get together soon, yeah?"
Sirius knew what she meant by that, she meant a date, or a hook up, something that she could hold on to so that she could convince herself there was something there, even if there wasn't. Sirius had to turn her down, he had to set her straight now, before she got too attached. But when Sirius opened his mouth to speak the words that came out betrayed him. "Um, yeah, sure, we'll talk about it later. I really have to get going." That was not what he had planned on saying.
"Okay, sure!" Casey said smiling. "Okay, well, I'll see you."
Sirius nodded once and then Casey turned away, walking quickly down the corridor.
Sirius turned back to his friends in the compartment and they all met him with quizzical gazes. Sirius shook his head and turned away, heading toward his own compartment. He slid the door open and slumped down in the seat across from James, his face in his hands.
"You okay?" asked Remus.
James's head shot up and Peter tried to peek at Sirius's face behind his hands.
"I think I'm going to be sick," Sirius groaned.
"Told you not to eat those pumpkin pasties. They looked a little funky––"
"It's not the pasties, James. It's this bloody Casey Turpin!"
"What happened?" asked Peter leaning closer. "Did she cry when you turned her down?"
"Wha–-no. Wait, what, how do you know I was going to turn her down?"
"Erm we heard the whole story Casey was spreading about you two being a thing..." said Peter.
"And we figured once you heard you'd go set her straight. Because Sirius Black doesn't do relationships," finished James.
"Well I failed. I tried to say no, but I just couldn't. I dunno what came over me. She was doing this thing with her eyes and she was all smiley and–and she's crazy! It just made me want to vomit and now I really, really need to lie down. Budge up, Pete."
Peter slid over and Sirius reclined across the seat, closing his eyes and placing his one hand under his head, the other over his eyes.
"Oh, speaking of crazy people," said Remus, placing his quidditch magazine aside, "Snape was at the prefect meeting."
"Snape?" asked James, his eyes widening a little before settling back into an indifferent stare. "Well I guess that's not too surprising, he's always got his nose in a book."
"He was talking to Lily," Remus said carefully, watching his friend.
"Yeah?" James said, again with an aloof air.
"They're conversation seemed pretty strained. Lily didn't look too happy with him." There was a ghost of a smile on Remus's lips.
"When is she ever happy with him?" mumbled Sirius, still half asleep.
"They'er friends though," said Peter.
"But I hear they barely talked all summer," said Remus, now genuinely smiling.
"Really?" James said, now sitting up, his hazel eyes suddenly full of life and a smirk playing at his lips. "Look at you, turning into Mr. Gossip. Do tell more."
"I'm not gonna go around and spew rumors, because as we've seen today," he shot a look over at Sirius, "there is often little truth in rumors. But, nevertheless, I was talking to Alice for a few seconds after the meeting, and she commented on Lily's little outburst––"
"Outburst? In the meeting?"
"Yeah...there was this thing with the Head Boy and...it's not really important. So I was talking to Alice and she commented about the outburst and how the Head Boy is a real prat and then she said something like 'weird Lily and Snape were talking' and I asked 'what'd you mean?' and she goes 'well she wrote to me a few weeks ago that she hadn't seen Snape most of the summer and she felt like they were growing apart.' Alice said she thought they'd had a fall out or something and didn't expect to see them chummy all of a sudden. The thing is they weren't really chummy...Lily seemed annoyed. But then maybe that was just 'cause of the prat Head Boy," Remus finished.
"So you're telling me Lily may have actually come to her senses and ditched Snivellus? Is that what you're telling me, Remus?"
"That's what I'm telling you, James," Remus nodded.
"I think this is the best thing I've ever heard."
"I think you all need to shut up before my head explodes," snapped Sirius.
Remus stood up suddenly. "I have to go patrol with Lily."
"I'll go with you," James said casually, getting to his feet and stretching.
"James."
"Come on, Peter! Sirius! Let's go."
"I'm sleeping."
"Nope, we're going for a walk," James said pulling Sirius off the seat.
Sirius groaned in protest but he and Peter followed James and Remus anyway.
They strolled down the corridor until Remus spotted Lily standing outside the prefect compartment. "Hey, Lily," Remus said as he approached.
"Hey, Remus."
"Evans," James said with a nod.
"Potter," Lily said as politely as possible.
"Holiday was good?"
"Yep, very good."
"That's good," James said awkwardly. "Er...So you're a prefect...Congrats."
Lily pressed her lips together and nodded slowly. "Quidditch Captain?"
"Yeah..."
"Aren't you two adorable," said Sirius coming up behind James and clasping a hand on his shoulder.
James's hand disappeared into his hair and Lily rolled her eyes.
"Er...we really ought to go patrol," said Remus, trying to save them from the argument that was bound to ensue.
"Right, right," said James stepping aside.
At that very moment though, James Potter was knocked into Lily Evans by two girls parading down the corridor, flyers in their hands. One of the girls approached James, apologizing for knocking into him, and shoving a flyer into his palm.
"What the hell, Melissa?" asked James, still annoyed over the push, and sneaking a glance toward Lily, now was adjusting her prefect badge. "What's this?" James looked down at the flyer.
"News, James. You may never have picked up a Daily Prophet but I'm sure you know what the news is."
"I know what news is," James said quickly, growing self conscious. "And I read the Daily Prophet," he added.
"Well then I'm sure you know all about the Muggleborn discrimination, and the campaign for equality amongst blood-statues?"
"Yeah, of course."
Melissa shot him a disapproving look. "I suggest you read the flyer. All the latest in Ministry news that the Prophet isn't telling us."
"Is this another on of your activism shit things?" asked Sirius pinching the flyer out of James's hand.
"Not shit, Sirius. You should read it too. Families like yours are part of the problem. Maybe you can open their eyes to equality––"
Sirius, James, Peter and Remus laughed out loud. Even Lily looked amused. "My parents? God, why is it that I have to keep explaining how disgustingly pureblood they are? This is like the tenth time today!"
Melissa paid him little attention. She and her friend began to turn away. "Times are a changing, boys. It would do best to stay informed."
James glanced at the flyer and then towards Lily before folding it and sticking it in his back pocket.
James, Sirius, and Peter soon departed, leaving Remus and Lily to their patrols. The two prefects walked aimlessly down the corridor, going from car to car, not really sure what to do on their first patrol. They didn't expect much trouble, and they certainly did not expect a confrontation between Slytherins, but of course that's what happened when they entered the last car of the train.
Xavior Mulciber and Alaric Avery stood at the end of the corridor, a small Hufflepuff boy hanging upside down by his ankles.
"What are you doing?" shouted Lily, her voice going up several octaves. "Put him down!"
She stormed over to the Slytherins, Remus, wand drawn, following closely behind.
"Oh look, Avery, prefects. I'm so scared," sneered Mulciber.
Avery laughed an ugly and disgusting laugh.
"Put him down now," demanded Remus.
Mulciber ignored him. "Where are your friends, Lupin?"
"I dunno," Remus said quickly, "Who cares. .Down." Remus jabbed his wand in the Slytherins's direction.
"We'll dock points if you don't put him down," Lily said lamely.
Mulciber and Avery laughed even harder. "Fine, dock points, like we care."
"You can't even dock points," said Avery. "We haven't even arrived at school. You can't take points if term hasn't begun yet."
"Just put him down."
"Fine." Mulciber swished his wand and the boy fell to the ground.
"Are you okay?" Lily gasped, approaching the boy.
"Yeah," he said quietly, gripping his head. Lily tried to get close but the boy simply shoved past and ran off.
Lily was fuming. The Slytherins were going to get a piece of her mind––
"Oh." Lily's eyes widened as the compartment door behind Mulciber slid open and out came Mary and Harvey adjusting their clothes.
Mulciber quickly turned around and then jumped backward several feet. "It's the Mudblood Mary. Ugh."
Mary rolled her eyes. "It's shit for brains Mulciber. Ugh," she mimicked. "Surprised you're still here. Would've thought they'd've expelled you by now since you're so stupid."
"Don't talk, Macdonald. Your kind don't even deserve to go to Hogwarts." He looked her up and down with disgust.
"Excuse me," said Lily.
"Lily," warned Remus.
"Seriously, Harvey, man, why would you ever date a filthy mudblood like Macdonald?"
Harvey set his jaw, his nostrils flaring. Lily had her wand drawn and Remus was peeved too. Mary though only rolled her eyes, again. "It's always the same with you, Mulciber. And frankly your little insult doesn't phase me anymore. Grow up. This little act is getting old."
Mulciber sneered, drawing his wand. Mary did not give him time to cast any spells, though. She pushed past him quickly, marching down the corridor to the next car. Harvey followed after her, shooting angry glares at Mulciber over his shoulder as he went, and Lily and Remus reluctantly turned away from the Slytherins, following Mary and Harvey.
"I hate Mulciber. He acts all high and mighty, thinks he can just get away with things because he's a pureblood––"
"Lils, just drop it," said Mary, wearily. "I'm just so done with all of his shit."
"Sometimes I really don't understand you, Mary," said Lily, falling into step beside her. "How can you be so nonchalant about this? He called you a...you know."
"And he hasn't called you one before?"
"Well..."
"Look, Lily," Mary said turning to face her friend. "I'm not going to flip out every single time somepne calls me a name. Mulciber's a git. He's not going to change. He's always going to think of me as just some mudblood. But why should I care about what a foul little git like Mulciber has to say about me? I don't care what he calls me because quite frankly he doesn't matter. Him and his Slytherin friends don't mean anything to me, so why the hell should I let their words effect me?"
Lily sighed and then nodded. "You're right, you're absolutely right," she sighed. "I just hate seeing them say stuff like that to you, because you don't deserve to be treated like that, any because you're one of my best friends."
Mary tilted her head to the side and smile. "Aww, Lily, you really do love me!"
"I really do," Lily said dramatically.
"Hugs?" said Mary pouting her lip.
"Hugs."
At this moment Harvey and Remus both cleared their throats loudly, and the girls parted from their embrace.
"I suppose our shift is over by now," said Remus.
"Alright," Lily said waving to Remus as he departed down the corridor.
"I better go too," Harvey said to Mary, leaning down to peck her on the lips.
"Okay," Mary said cheerfully. "See you later!" she called after him, standing on her tip toes.
Once Mary and Lily returned to their compartment, they discovered that it was nearly six and they would be arriving at Hogsmead in no time. Mary and Marlene changed into their robes and Lily and Charlotte collected their things that were scattered across the compartment in preparation for their arrival.
...
Marlene grabbed her trunk, and followed Lily and Mary down the crowded corridor. The trunk contained a brand new turntable, and countless records.
Marlene stepped out of the train and onto the Hogsmead platform. The air was chilly and the sky dark. The horseless carriages were already filling up, and the first years hurried over to the booming voice of Hagrid the Game Keeper. Marlene carefully wove through the crowd, taking care not to bump her trunk along the way. She had nearly made it to the carriages safely, before Sirius Black and James Potter ran through the crowed jumping and shouting.
"Sorry, Mar!" Sirius said as he shoved past Marlene.
"Sorry!" James shouted, chasing after his friend.
Marlene shook her head, flustered, and hurried over to Lily, Mary and Charlotte. "My God," she huffed, lifting her trunk into the carriage. "Did you just see Sirius and James."
"I'm pretty sure everyone saw those two," Charlotte said, stepping into the carriage.
"So very like them to make a scene," said Lily pursing her lips.
"It wouldn't be the start of term without some sort of Marauder commotion," Mary smiled, as the four girls sat down.
"Oh why do you use that stupid name?" Lily asked, angrily flicking a strand of hair away from her face.
"It's their nickname."
"Yes, I'm well aware. And it's stupid. They're like a little posse or something."
"A posse?" Mary giggled.
"Isn't that a girl thing?" Marlene said.
"Gang, whatever."
"They are not a 'gang,'" Mary said rolling her eyes.
"They hex people for no reason!"
"There's nothing wrong with hexes! Everyone hexes, Lily. It's a thing. It's what witches and wizards do at school."
"But––for no reason."
"Lil, get over it. The only reason you have a grudge on them, meaning James and Sirius, but mostly James, is because––"
"I DO NOT FANCY HIM."
"I was going to say because he hexes Snape, but alright then. Do tell more. So you fancy James now?" Mary teased, propping her chin on her hand.
"Oh shut up! He's pathetic. I could never fancy someone like him."
"What, gorgeous, talented wizards are not your type?"
"If you think he's so great then you go out with him. Please. Then maybe he'll stop trying to get with me."
"What part of Harvey. Davies. don't you get? And besides, I'm more of a Sirius girl."
"HA!" Charlotte bursted. "I knew you still fancied him!"
"Ooohoohoo! You should be a Divination teacher!" Mary mocked.
"What?"
"Ugh, nevermind. Anywho, what exactly were we talking about?" Mary said frowning.
"James Potter, hexing, Snape, fancy, Sirius, Mary," said Marlene.
"Right," Mary nodded. "So you fancy James, huh?"
"Mary, you realize I'm going to kill you, right?"
"If you must."
"Oh. Guys," Marlene said suddenly.
"Hmm?" the other three said turning their attention to Marlene.
"I bought a turntable. I kind of forgot to mention it. I don't know how I forgot exactly since it was the one thing I really wanted to tell you all, but yeah. Music. Yay."
"You bought a–"
"Turntable?"
"For our dormitory?"
"Um…yes?"
"Ohmygod! This is going to be the best year ever!" Mary shrieked. "You should have told me so I could bring my records! Ugh I'll just have mum owl them over next week."
"Marlene you're the best," said Lily.
"Eh, you're alright," Charlotte shrugged. "I'm only kidding. You're my little quidditch buddy," she said giving Marlene an quick one armed hug.
The carriages were nearly at the castle by now, and soon the girls were meandering towards the giant oak front doors.
"Snivellus!" roared two voices up ahead.
"And so it begins," muttered Lily.
"Snivellus!" James and Sirius called out, catching sight of a particular greasy haired student walking ahead of them.
The boy continued walking, but Sirius and James strode faster, catching up to him.
"Do not give me a reason to dock points from you two," Remus said miserably.
"We're only going to say hello," Sirius said innocently.
"Welcome him back, you know," James added. "He must've really missed us."
"Oh terribly!" Sirius agreed.
"Snivelly!"
James took the lead, jogging up to the Slytherin. The boy continued to stare straight ahead, ignoring the pair of Gryffindors.
"You know," said James cocking his head towards Snape, "It's really rather rude to ignore someone."
"Very rude," Sirius agreed.
"Get out of here, Potter," snarled the greasy haired boy in a low voice.
"He speaks!" exclaimed James.
Severus turned to face the boys. "Don't make me raise my wand."
"I'm shaking with fear," James said in a monotone.
"You should be," he said in an even lower voice. "You do remember what happened last year, don't you?"
"I remember you were mouthing off about your Dark Magic crap, and you shot a few spells, nothing rather intimidating," James said loudly.
Severus shot James an icy glare, his wand flashing out from under his robes seconds later.
James sneered, and quickly extracted his own wand, as did Sirius, beside him.
"You never fail to entertain, Snivelly," Sirius smirked.
"I don't know, Sirius," said James, thoughtfully, "I'm still feeling a bit...bored."
Severus's face broke in an ugly smile that looked more like a grimace. His arm rose aiming for James, and James and Sirius gripped their wands ready to retaliate. Snape shot a hex, and James stumbled backwards, knocking into Sirius. A few people had noticed, and a small crowd was beginning to form. James scowled and righted himself, sending a jinx towards Snape. Snape began to writhe as his legs locked together. James smirked as Snape toppled over, his wand rolling out of reach.
Sirius roared with laughter. "The good ol' leg lock. What's that, second year?"
It took James a moment before he noticed a furious redhead storming towards the group.
"Evans," James said brightly, his hand subconsciously finding its way to his hair.
She fixed her big, green eyes on James, angrily staring him down. She flicked her wand and lifted the jinx off Snape, still keeping her eyes on the Gryffindor.
"What is your problem?"
James ignored her, and chose his own conversation topic. "New year, brilliant, no?"
Lily rolled her eyes. "Nice to see you haven't changed a bit."
"Neither have you. Except," James's eyes trailed up and down her body, suddenly feeling a burst of confidence. Lily folded her arms over her chest, her glare intensifying. "Except for the fact that you look even more fit than last year."
Lily scoffed in disgust.
"That's usually taken as a compliment."
"Coming from you it's pretty much my worse nightmare."
"You dream about me?" James said amused.
"Thankfully, no."
"C'mon, Evans, don't lie."
"Ugh. I think I'm going to leave now."
"Because you can't deny your undying love for me!" James shouted after her.
Lily snorted. She continued to walk away.
James glanced over at Peter, who stood a way to the side with the box of fireworks. James gave him a quick little nod, and then called after Lily again.
"What's going on?" Remus said suddenly looking from Peter to James to Sirius.
"Nothing," said Sirius smoothly.
"Not nothing. James just nodded to Peter, and he had that look and––"
"Evans!"
"What?" Lily whirled around, her hair flying about.
"Go out with me?"
"Why in Merlin's––"
And then there was a deafening roar and dozens of pops, and bright, bright lights.
Lily glanced up at the sky, and James smirked, already knowing what she would see.
Then, quite unexpectedly, and not according to plan, James was hanging upside down by his ankles.
Snape had cast the spell, and Lily was shouting at James and though he could not distinguish her words, he got the gist of it.
Looking back, James would not be able to explain how he could have possibly thought the fireworks would have been a good idea, but at the time it sure felt like the perfect plan. And so, when Lily rejected him (for the 83rd time), and stalked off looking absolutely livid, James was quite confused.
Snape released him, and James landed ungracefully on the ground. He rubbed his head and glanced up at the night sky. The fireworks were already fading, but the distinct words of "Go out with me, Evans?" were still etched in the sky.
"What on earth––" said Remus about a minute later, after all the commotion had died down. "Why would you do that? And why didn't I know about this?"
Sirius slung an arm over Remus's shoulder. "If we had told you, would you have let us go through with the plan?"
"Of course not."
"Hence why we didn't tell you," Sirius pointed out.
Far off James watched a head of red hair disappear amongst the crowd, a black haired Slytherin at her side. He mentally kicked himself, his little stunt had driven them right back to each other. James could hardly believe that their friendship had been strained. The way Lily came to Snape's defense so quickly, it was obvious that nothing had changed.
"Nice one, James," said a voice, stopping in front of him.
"Shut up, Mary."
"Give it up, yeah?" said Charlotte. "It's getting a little old."
"Eighty-three rejections, time to move on," said Marlene, coming up beside Charlotte.
Sirius flicked Marlene a curious little look. "You've been counting too?"
Marlene laughed. "I have some good money placed on how many times James will ask Lily out before he gives up."
James's head snapped up. "What? Who's betting on that?"
"Erm...Me, Tim, Mary, Charlotte, Lucy, Frank, Alice, Hestia, Andrew...I think Melissa and Nancy have a few sickles in the pool...Christopher..."
"What?"
"Why didn't you guys tell me, I would have put some money in," Sirius said leaning over towards Marlene.
"Same," said Peter.
"Guys!" James exclaimed.
"What?" shrugged both Sirius and Peter.
The girls laughed. "Next time we're taking bets we'll let you know."
James dug in his pockets for a cigaret. He needed one bad. He pressed the joint to his lips but it was snatched away before he could light it.
"No more for you," said Remus looking a bit exasperated. "Honestly, I haven't seen you with out a smoke all day." Remus tucked the cigaret into the pockets of his robes and began to walk ahead of James. James sighed heavily and followed Remus, trailing behind his three friends.
A few moments later, they entered the castle, passing through the giant oak front doors. The Entrance Hall was packed with students and the tip of Professor McGonagall's hat could be seen above the mass of people. The chatter was incomprehensible and all the voices of the room mingled into gibberish.
"Everyone move back!" the command was barely audible over the din. McGonagall raised her wand and colorful sparks flew from the tip. For a moment all the chatter died down.
"If you will please," McGonagall began again, now that she had the student's attention. "Move back so we can open the doors to the Great Hall and you can all get situated."
There was a shuffling of feet as the entire student body of Hogwarts shuffled backwards several steps to allow room for the massive Great Hall doors to be open.
"Every year," grumbled Sirius. "You'd think they'd learn by now to open the door before we enter the castle."
"Honestly!" exclaimed Peter, shaking his head.
McGonagall swished her wand and the doors opened, and a wave of students shoved to enter the Hall.
"Oh my!" McGonagall exclaimed, as she was jostled to the side, her hands flying to her hat, and losing her wand in the process.
James stopped in his tracks as the Professor's wand rolled to his feet. He bent down and grabbed it. "Here you go, Professor," said James, handing it back to McGonagall.
"Thank you, James," she said inclining her head in gratitude.
Inside the Great Hall everyone was dispersing to their House tables. Mary and Harvey parted (after many, many kisses), Lucy left Charlotte and Marlene to join Harvey at the Ravenclaw table, and Lily and Severus divided, going their separate ways onto opposite ends of the Hall. James caught up to his friends, just as Lily caught up to hers.
"Oh shit," Sirius was mumbling when James made his appearance. Sirius ducked quickly behind James and Remus. "Don't let her see me."
James turned his head in search of who his best friend was hiding from.
"Don't look," Sirius hissed.
"Who are hiding from again?" James asked, brows wrinkling in confusion.
"Casey Tripin," Peter replied in a whisper.
"Turpin," Remus corrected.
"Shh," Sirius snapped.
James poked his head around and spotted the girl in question, she was standing close to the Ravenclaw table but was not looking in their direction. "You're clear," James said turing back to Sirius.
Sirius straightened up, and the Gryffindor girls passed by. James caught Lily's eye and tried to blurt out a quick apology. He opened his mouth, but Lily gave him one of her looks, and then quickened her pace, moving along towards the opposite end of Gryffindor table.
The boys sat down, and were soon joined by Tim McKinnon, Frank Longbottom, Andrew Finkley, and Christopher Phelps.
"James Potter," Frank said as he sat down, "What in Merlin's name were you thinking!
"Fireworks?" asked Tim.
"Really?" said Christopher.
James threw up his hands, "It seemed like a good idea at the time!"
The four newcomers chuckled.
By now everyone had entered the Great Hall and the room had grown somewhat quiet. From the side of the Hall McGongall entered, leading the first years toward the staff table where the Sorting Hat sat on it's usual stool. McGonagall hushed the remaining voices and then the Sorting Hat came to life and erupted into song as per usual. The first years seemed delighted as they watched the hat sing about the Founders and magic and the various traits attributed to each of the four Houses. But for the older students the novelty of the hat had long since faded.
After the song, McGonagall cleared her throat, unrolled the scroll in her hands, and called the first name. A nervous looking girl slowly walked up to the stool and the Hat was placed on her head. With in moments she was placed into Ravenclaw. There was a loud round of applause and that was the last James or any of the fifth and sixth year Gryffindors heard of the Sorting Ceremony.
Alice and Hestia slid down the bench across from the Marauders and scooted up beside Frank. Hestia hissed to get the attention of Frank, Christopher, Andrew, and Tim. "Guys."
They all turned their heads towards the girls. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter poked their heads up as well.
"What were your...er...numbers?" Hestia asked, casting a quick glance in James's direction. "We're doing an update in lieu of...recent events."
"Er, I think I said 95," said Frank, shifting a little and avoiding James's eyes.
"I said 100," replied Tim.
"I had a 100 as well," said Christopher.
"I think I had 97," said Andrew.
"Are you guys talking about the bet?" Sirius exclaimed, catching on. "Marlene said she'd tell me when you guys were taking new bets!"
"Oh my God," said James, rolling his eyes.
The others went back and forth changing their bets and adding more money to their guesses. James turned away from the conversation and stared down the Gryffindor table to where the fifth year girls sat. (A plump little boy joined Gryffindor, everyone clapped.) Lily smiled at the new Gryffindor an the girls moved over to give the boy a spot to sit. Lily looked so very happy in that moment, despite James's stupid display earlier, despite her brief fall out with Snape, despite everything she still managed to look so happy, especially with that smile on, and her friends all around her. And James liked seeing her like this. But she was never like this around him. "Melissa's right," he muttered.
"Huh?" said Sirius, turing to face James.
The others sitting across from James stopped talking too, inclining towards the center of the table.
"Times are changing. Time for a change," said James, his voice still sounding thousands of miles away. He tore his gaze away from Lily and glanced at his friends. "You can all cash in your money. Eighty-three is where it ends."
Alice's mouth dropped a little, and Hestia's eyes widened in disbelief. Frank furrowed his brows, and Andrew and Christopher shot James quizzical looks.
"What?" said Sirius spinning around in his seat and grabbing hold of James's shoulders. "James, are you feeling alright?"
Remus shook his head slowly, "It's all the smoke going to his head."
James glared at them. "Come on now, it's not like she's the only girl out there. I've had plenty of girlfriends before. I'm perfectly capable of getting over Evans. There's a whole castle full of gorgeous birds, and it's about time I moved on, yeah?"
Everyone stared at James in complete silence for a few moments. And then they all turned to one another, "Um...yeah...So I say we make a new bet."
"How long can Potter last without Lily before he cracks."
"We should put some parameters on this bet, like we need to define 'cracks'."
"Well, I'd say until the next time he asks her out."
"Okay deal. I say he won't last a week."
"I'll have some faith in him...I'll say a month."
"I'll put a few galleons on that," said Sirius, fishing his pockets.
James snorted. "Some friends..."
The Sorting Ceremony was drawing to a close, a Charles Zimmerman was sorted into Hufflepuff and then McGonagall rolled up her scroll and carried the Hat and the stool away.
Dumbledore got to his feet. "Welcome all to another year at Hogwarts..."
The usual speech was made. Sirius and James mimicked Dumbledore as he spoke.
"The Forbidden Forest is out of bounds," mouthed Sirius.
"Filch has asked me to remind you that certain Dervish and Bang products are banned from school grounds. The list can be found on the bulletin," said James.
"And as always," the four marauders chorused loudly, "wandering the castle after hours is strictly prohibited!"
Dumbledore paused, giving the four Gryffindors a look. McGonagall pursed her lips at the boys.
"Sorry, Headmaster!" called Sirius.
Dumbledore's lips twitched into an almost smile. "Anyway, I shall not keep you waiting any longer. Let the feast begin."
Dumbledore raised his arms and the gold dishes magically filled with food. The first years oohed and ahhed while everyone else quickly dove in, filling their plates. Dinner went by quickly, filled with mindless chatter about quidditch and James talking about being Captain and the hassle tryouts would be. All in all dinner was over much too quickly, and the whole time James's mind had been too preoccupied with thoughts of Lily and how stupidly he'd screwed up this time. He'd taken it too far with the asking her out. And now he just looked like an idiot.
Everyone began to shuffle out of the Great Hall. Remus and Lily pushed through the crowed with the other prefects, calling the first years to follow them. Mary, Marlene, and Charlotte met up with Hestia and Alice in the Entrance Hall.
"Marlene's going to show us her new turntable!" Mary said excitedly to the sicth years. "Wanna come up to our room for a bit and see?"
"Sure!" Hestia beamed.
Alice smiled and nodded enthusiastically.
The girls pushed past James, Peter, and Sirius and hurried up the stairs.
"You coming?" asked Sirius, nodding towards the head towards the staircase.
"In a minute," said James.
"Alright," Sirius shrugged, climbing the staircase after Peter.
Once they were out of sight, James quickly escaped to the courtyard, plopping himself down on the low wall under the arches. He was completely engulfed in shadows, and so he sat invisible to the world. He drew a cigaret and lit it quickly, taking a long drag and slowly allowing the smoke to escape his lips. For a moment he became entranced by the smoke's dance, but then he heard a noise and suddenly became alert. Somewhere just ahead he could hear the hushed voices of people conversing. James hid his cigaret from view and inclined his head to hear the voices better.
"I don't know," said the first voice, "I don't think we should tell him."
"Oh come on." James recognized the second voice right away. It was Mulciber. "We can trust him."
"Can we?" asked the first voice, "when he's always hanging around with that mudblood."
"Snape is brilliant though. We could use him on our side. Of course he'll have to ditch the mudblood, but that won't be too hard once he sees what we can offer him."
"The slimy git won't be able to resist," sneered a new voice.
"I really think we should recruit him. He's better at the dark arts than any of us."
"He's not better than us––" argued the first voice.
"Wilkes, you know it's true. He's got all these spells that I've never even heard of before. He's good. He's got something special."
"Still," said Wilkes, sounding angry. "He's not better than us. We have honor. We've been graced by––"
"Hey, hey, calm down," said the other voice.
"Get off me, Travers," growled Wilkes. "Ugh, I don't even know why I bothered letting a bunch of fifth years get involved."
"Oh really," said Mulciber. "And who are the one's doing most of the dirty work here? Me and Avery."
"Yeah," someone grunted. It was Avery. Avery was there too? James sat in the dark, completely confused as to what exactly was going on.
"Whatever," said Wilkes. "We have to go. We'll talk about this again later."
James heard footsteps, and then for just a moment Wilkes and Travers could be seen crossing the courtyard and entering the castle. Mulciber and Avery remained outside with James.
An orangey glow illuminated the darkness as Mulciber lit a cigaret. James remained safely hidden, but now he knew exactly where the Slytherins stood.
"I don't trust him," Mulciber said roughly. "Wilkes thinks he's in charge of everything. He goes around acting all high and mighty, but he's all talk. I don't like him, Avery, I don't like him at all. But we're going to have to put up with him. Eventually we're going to put him in line though. Teach him who really runs things around here."
James hadn't realized that Mulciber's voice had been growing closer until now. The footsteps were so close. He cursed himself for not having his Invisibility Cloak with him. There was only one thing to do now.
"Hello!" James stepped out of the shadows and nearly collided with Mulciber.
Mulciber sneered. "What're you doing out here, Potter? How long've you been lurking around back there?"
James put on his most chipper smile and lied with ease. "Only just got here. Came out for a smoke."
Mulciber flicked his wand out and jabbed at James's chest with the tip of it. "You better watch it, Potter, if you know what's good for you. You and all of your filthy little friends better watch it."
James held up his hands. "Hey I'm not looking for a fight, alright. I just want to smoke."
Mulciber ignored him. "Things are changing around here," he said slowly. "You don't want to get caught up in what's coming."
James shot him a questioning look.
Mulciber flicked his cigaret to the ground and spit to the side before shoving past James.
James stood motionless for a few minutes, until he was sure the Slytherins had disappeared. Then he slowly crept back into the castle and ascended to Gryffindor tower. He entered the common room just as Remus was dismissing the first years.
"You got any butterbeer?" Peter asked loudly, calling to Sirius who stood near the common room desk.
"Got some in my trunk," Sirius grinned. "We'll drink later."
Remus shot Sirius a disapproving look, nodding towards the first years disappearing up the staircase.
Sirius mouthed 'sorry' before shrugging.
Tim McKinnon lingered in the common room, as did Lily, Melissa Fawcett, and Nancy Montgomery. Tim followed Peter up to the dormitory. James crossed the common room, stepping onto the staircase. Sirius still stood hovering over the desk, staring at the wireless that sat on the surface. James watched him curiously. Then, quite swiftly, and very obviously, Sirius grabbed the wireless and shoved it inside his robes.
Remus and James tilted their heads, still staring at their friend. "What are you doing?" inquired James.
Sirius glanced at James quickly and then looked away and then looked back. "N-nothing. Psh. What are you doing?"
James blinked, and then without another word, turned and walked upstairs.
Sirius scanned the room, and then maneuvered over to the staircase, pretending that no one could see him as he smuggled the wireless out of the common room. Remus shook his head, laughing, and then suddenly remembered something. "Oi!" he called, jogging upstairs after Sirius.
Inside the fifth year boys' dormitory Sirius fiddled with the dial of the wireless trying to find a station. James laid on his bed, arms behind his head. Tim was in the bathroom brushing his teeth, and Peter was opening bottles of butterbeer for everyone. That was were everyone was when Remus barged in looking a bit mad. His eyes were big as galleons and he had a giant smile spread across his face. "The turntable!" he blurted out, crossing the room in three long strides. "How could I forget? I was thinking about it all day...I was so excited...and then I just went and forgot...Between Slytherins and fireworks and prefect duties...I completely forgot but..."
"Slow down," said James, sitting up.
"What did you forget?" asked Peter.
Sirius continued playing with the wireless but he was listening.
"The turntable. I bought a turntable!"
"And you brought it here?" asked James, eyes widening.
"To Hogwarts?" squeaked Peter.
"Yes," Remus nodded.
Sirius abandoned the wireless, the horrible noise of static filling the room.
Tim entered the dormitory and Remus reached into his trunk and set out the turntable. Tim rolled his eyes and flicked the dial on the wireless before joining the boys. It clicked to a random station, but at least it wasn't static. The station seemed to play a variety of muggle and wizard music. Tim seemed satisfied, and turned off the wireless to joined the boys, all sitting around the beautiful record player.
In the fifth year girls' dormitory Mary, Hestia, Alice and Charlotte sat on the floor as Marlene placed her turntable down in front of them. Lily entered the room just as Mary squealed, admiring the turntable's beauty.
"Lily!" Mary said waving her hands. "Come, sit, Marlene's going to play something on the turntable!"
Lily quickly crossed the room and sat down beside Mary.
Mary rummaged around in the pile of records picking one at random. "Play this!"
"Alright," said Marlene, beaming. She slipped the record out of it's case and placed it on the turntable.
"Here, play this," said Sirius, picking a random record.
"Okay," said Remus, enthusiastically. He placed the record on the turntable and a few moments later the first track began to play.
In both of the fifth year dormitories the tune was the same.
Within the castle walls things were changing. The world around them was changing. And nothing would ever be quite the same.
"Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes."