A/N: I apologize for the wait on this one. I've been buried in papers for my classes lately..... The good news is that a lot of the next chapter is already written in my notebook and will come to you much faster than Chapter 5.
Please review- it makes me happy...
Chapter Five: A Beginning
"James...James..."
In one part of his mind, James could hear Lily saying his name gently and trying to shake him awake. "James..." Her voice was like a gentle caress as she said his name. "James...wake up, James." Soon, the rest of his brain caught up. He opened his eyes. His glasses were falling off of his face, so Lily was only half in focus.
As he sat up, he set his glasses right. Lily was kneeling in front of him. "Hi," Lily said, smiling kindly.
"Hello," he said, his voice cracking.
"Hi," she said again. "We've just pulled into the station; up and at 'em."
"Quick ride," James muttered. He stood to stretch.
"Not really," Lily contradicted. She reached up to stretch, but winced.
"Are you alright?" James asked. He cleared his throat to stop his voice from cracking.
"I'm fine," said Lily. "...thanks to you," she added after a moment. James turned red. "Most people are out on the platform already. The prefects are getting students in their own houses organized and into the carriages. We should probably go help sort out the first years." James nodded.
Lily led the way off of the Hogwarts Express and onto the bustling platform at Hogsmeade Station.
"Firs' years, this way! Firs' years, over 'ere!" James turned to see the exceptionally large silhouette of Reubeus Hagrid, the half-giant game keeper. He was towering over a group of assembled first years. "Hiya, James!" he called once he saw James looking over at him.
James waved to Hagrid and was soon leading three confused first years over to the group. "How are you, Hagrid?" he asked. The three students ran to join the group.
"Not bad," said Hagrid through his large, bushy beard. "You'll have ter come down to me cabin fer tea soon. Maybe Saturday afternoon, eh?"
"That should be fine," said James. "You can head out now, by the way. I think those were the last of the stragglers."
Hagrid tipped an imaginary hat to James and turned to address the first year students. James returned to the main part of the platform to help Lily and the rest of the prefects to get students into the carriages.
"Looks like we're in this one," Lily said when he reached her. The last of the prefects had just piled into a carriage and set off. "It went pretty fast this year." She climbed into the last horseless carriage. James made to follow her, but then stopped short. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a newspaper laying forgotten on the ground. He dashed over to collect it and then finally climbed into the carriage.
As the carriage set off, James unfolded the paper and began to read. Lily moved to sit next to him rather than across from him so that she could read the paper as well.
Early this morning, Ministry of Magic officials discovered the body of Brent Porter. The body was found in the mountains overlooking the village of Hogsmeade alongside those of seven unidentified muggle children. The Daily Prophet has learned that the Muggle Liaison office is working closely with the office of the Muggle Prime Minister to identify the bodies.
Meanwhile, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement is working hard to catch those responsible for the eight deaths.
"We are certain that these tragedies are again the work of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," says one Ministry official who asked to remain anonymous. "We are working around the clock to hunt down him and his followers."
The article went on, but James couldn't bare to read it. He was sickened. "This is getting more and more insane by the day," he said through gritted teeth. "Seven kids..."
"When are they going to catch this maniac?"
"He's elusive," said James quietly. He was staring blankly at the empty seat in front of him. "He sticks to the shadows. He sends his cronies to do the really publicized stuff...so even if they get caught, he's still out there. And he's got people in the Ministry, so even if his people wanted to turn on him, they'd be dead in minutes."
James became lost in thoughts of himself dueling a faceless man-he had no idea what Voldemort looked like. Lily sat in silence as well, she was taking James in... She was worried about him.
As the carriage came to a halt, Lily stood. "Do you want to sit together at the feast?" she asked awkwardly.
James snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of Lily's voice. He too stood. "Yeah," he said quickly. "I mean, I do want to sit with Remus as well...and I know you'd probably like to sit with Annie, so..." He trailed off as he opened the carriage door and jumped out. He offered his hand to Lily, who took it and climbed out carefully.
To both Lily and James' delight, however, Remus and Annie were already sitting together at the far end of the Gryffindor table. When the Heads joined their friends, they were talking about the rights of muggles and muggle borns, half-breeds and 'muggle-lovers.' Apparently Annie had had words with some Slytherins and Remus had stepped in when one of the sixth year boys drew a wand.
"You're the big hero today, aren't you?" James said, clapping Remus on the back. Remus blushed. James lowered his voice as Lily and Annie began to verbally abuse the dark arts. "What's up with Snape?"
"Dumbledore can't expel him," Remus whispered.
"What?" James hissed. "Why the hell not?"
"Just because he used dark magic doesn't mean that he's a Death Eater, James," Remus said, guessing at what James was thinking. "We have no real evidence against it. Normally he'd be expelled for the attack but then Dumbledore would be forced to repeal his decision and he'd have to expel Sirius and Peter as well. Not only that, but I'd be chucked out as well because it'd make the papers. People would find out that I'm a werewolf..." Remus paused for a moment. When he went on, James knew that he was restraining himself from going off on a werewolf rights tangent...not that James could blame him for such a thing. "Unless we have solid evidence that he's a Death Eater, you're not going to get him thrown out, James. I think you should drop it."
"What's his punishment?"
"Detentions on Friday, Saturday and Sunday every week for the entire year," said Remus. "No Hogsmeade weekends and no Quidditch."
James bit his lip, but his reply was lost. The doors to the Great Hall had opened and Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House, marched in carrying a stool and the Sorting Hat. In her wake trotted the group of first years that James had just left near the shores of the lake.
As the Sorting commenced, James retreated once again into his own head. He thought of Snape...he was certain that Snape was a Death Eater. As these thoughts began to form, they began to lead toward thoughts of his parents. James had not thought about his family in a while. As he did, he could instantly feel the prickling behind his eyes, the telltale sign of tears.
Lily happened to glance over at James as the another first year was sorted into Ravenclaw house. His face was pained as he fought against the prickling behind his eyes. Silently, Lily reached across the table and placed a hand on his. Both of their friends were watching the Sorting, so this small gesture went unnoticed. James refocused his eyes to stare at his and Lily's hands. She squeezed his lightly and then her hand was under the table again.
When it was time, Dumbledore stood and opened his arms in a welcoming gesture. "Welcome, everyone!" he said happily. "Welcome to, or back to, Hogwarts! We are going to have a very nice year together, I'm sure. I would like to go over some of the newer security measures that we have put in place this year, but I am sure you are all very hungry, so we shall have to speak later." With a beaming smile, Dumbledore clapped and the feast appeared in front of the students' eyes.
James began to collect a hearty amount of food on his plate. As he did so, he stared at Lily. All thoughts of his parents had been reigned in by her touch. An electric shock coursed through him from his hand down to the very tips of his toes.
His thoughts turned to panic.
Merlin, what was that...? I can't feel that. I'm not allowed to feel that. She's my friend now... She's my friend, nothing more than that. She cares about me now, LIKE A FRIEND... Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no...
"Right, James?"
James snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of his name. Lily, Annie and Remus were looking at him expectantly. "I'm sorry, what?"
"Where are you?" Remus asked with a laugh. "I'd have thought talking about Quidditch would be an attention getter with you."
Annie chuckled. "Great, now the Gryffindor captain hates Quidditch. We're going to hit bottom this year."
"Nah," James said smoothly. "You wait, I'm going to put together a smashing team this year."
"When are tryouts going to be, do you think?" Lily asked.
James shrugged. "Sometime next weekend, I suppose," he said after swallowing a good deal of mashed potatoes. "Yeah...because I'll need to get a lot of training in before the first match. I'll probably set it for Saturday."
"You're looking for a new beater, right?" Annie asked. "Too bad...I'm a keeper. I've always wanted to play on the team."
"I'm looking for a new beater, a new chaser and a backup keeper, actually," said James. "I like to run scrimmages with the team, so I like to have a second keeper who attends practices and can serve as a backup for the games just in case something happens. You should come to trials."
"Lily should too," Annie said before Lily could stop her. Mischief was leaking from her smile. "Lily's a smashing chaser, you know."
"Shut up," Lily hissed.
"I didn't know you played Quidditch," Remus and James said in unison, raising their eyebrows.
"I don't-"
"She's been the MVP of her league on the championship team three summers running," Annie said proudly, clapping her friend on the back. "We play on a summer league together."
"You have to try out," Remus said, leaning in.
"I don't have time for Quidditch," said Lily.
James, Annie and Remus were all about to say something, but they were cut off by Professor Dumbledore, who stood again to speak to the school.
James Potter had never been much of a morning person.
On the first day of classes, he groggily made his way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. He was almost positive that he wouldn't have a class in the first hour, but he needed to get his schedule from Professor McGonagall. James smiled slightly as he thought of how light his load was going to be this year. He had taken many of the required classes in his fifth and sixth years, having tested out of lower level courses like sixth year transfiguration.
When he finally made it to the Great Hall, he almost fainted. There, sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table together, was Sirius, Remus and Peter. They were chatting about something that was apparently quite funny. James blinked a few times, rubbed his eyes and cleaned his glasses...but he wasn't seeing things.
"Good morning, sunshine," Sirius said as James sat down across from him and next to Remus. He flashed a smile. "How's the lap of luxury treating you?"
"The Heads' Tower is smaller than Gryffindor," James answered, grabbing a piece of toast and beginning to spread strawberry jam onto it. "It's no lap of luxury. ...comfortable though..." He took a bite of his toast. "What happened last night?"
"What do you mean?" asked Peter.
"I mean you're all...friends again?"
"We had a heart-to-heart-to-heart last night," said Remus, smiling slightly. "We decided that our friendships are more important than attempted murder."
James chuckled.
"Good morning, gentlemen."
"Morning, Professor," said James. Professor McGonagall nodded to him.
"Have you set a date for trials yet, Mr. Potter?" she asked.
"Yes, ma'am," said James. "I'm holding them on Friday evening at six. Are you going to come down?"
"I may," said McGonagall. "You know it's supposed to rain quite heavily on Friday?"
"Yeah," said James. "Anyone can make themselves look good when the weather is agreeable. I need a team that isn't going to fall apart from a little rain."
McGonagall nodded again, an amused smile on her face. She handed James his schedule. "Mr. Black," she said, turning to Sirius. "Have you decided what track you are transferring to, seeing as you are no longer allowed to become an auror?"
Sirius nodded glumly. "I've decided on healer, Professor," he said.
McGonagall tapped a schedule with her wand and handed it to him. "That's good. Miss Evans has just transferred from that track."
"She did?" said Remus.
"Yeah, I'm going to become an auror with you boys." Lily, coming seemingly from nowhere, dropped into the seat beside James. Annie sat beside her. McGonagall handed them both their schedules.
"Good choice, Evans," James said, grinning. This meant that he now had every single class with Lily.
"Indeed," said McGonagall. "And perhaps you would be willing to bring Miss Evans up to speed in the subject of Transfiguration so that she doesn't feel behind. You both have free time before my class."
"Of course, Professor."
McGonagall moved down the table to the next cluster of students after she finished handing out schedules near James. He looked down at his schedule and groaned. "Double potions first thing in the morning three times a week..."
"You don't like potions?" Lily asked. "I got the impression that you were good at it."
"I like it just fine," said James. "I just hate having to think this early in the morning."
"You'll be fine," Remus said, rolling his eyes.
The bell finally rang signaling that students had five minutes to get to their lessons. Remus, Lily and James headed for the dungeons for Professor Slughorn's potions class while Sirius and Peter headed out to the greenhouses for their Magical Medical Plants lesson.