Last Chance
Chapter Six: The Train
Lily collapsed onto the seat as the Hogwarts Express slowly gained speed. She was finally on her way home. Lydia was sitting next to Lily, while Madeline and Daniela were seated across from them. They had read about her father's death in the Daily Prophet, and had already offered their condolences.
"So Lily," Daniela said, "how are you going to live with James all year?"
Lily groaned, "Don't remind me. I've been thinking though, and I suppose starting over would be a good idea."
"Starting over?" Lydia asked.
Lily nodded, "I thought about what you guys said about his changing and giving him a chance, and I figured that if I tried to be civil him, maybe this year wouldn't be so bad." Her friends nodded. "Well I should probably go and find Potter. We have to go over the patrols and all that." Lily stood, waved goodbye to the girls and left them behind in the small compartment.
James stole one last glance at the nearly vacant platform before turning dejectedly and boarding the scarlet steam engine. He plodded down the corridor to the second to last compartment and slid the door open, head hung low.
The three inhabitants looked up as they were joined by their fourth. Sirius frowned as James entered the small room and shut the door behind him.
"She wasn't there." Sirius said, voicing James's thoughts.
The bespectacled boy looked (if it was possible) even more miserable as he shook his head and slumped down onto the seat next to Remus.
"What about the prefect meeting?" Remus asked.
"What about it?"
"Well, if Lily isn't here, you have to direct the meeting yourself."
"Oh, no!" James slid himself off the seat. How was he supposed to direct a bunch of stuck up prefects on his own? No offense to Remus of course, but still. There would be Slytherins there. Slytherins! How was he supposed to get them to cooperate? "Lily, I need you!" he groaned loudly.
Sirius rolled his eyes, "This is getting sick." He said, smacking his hand to his face.
Suddenly the door slid back, causing the three seated Marauders to look up from their miserable friend.
"What is it now Potter?"
"Lily!" At the sound of her voice James leapt up, grabbed Lily and spun her around.
"Potter, put me down, please." she said.
James paused in their spinning and Lily steadied herself. "Are you all right?" he asked.
"Fine. Why?" she said, her tone slightly suspicious.
"Lily, there's no way you're fine; your father was killed last night." he said, reaching for her shoulder.
"I'm fine." She stressed the word, and took a step back.
"Well, if you need anything you can come to us." James said. "Right guys?"
"Sure." Sirius said, unenthusiastically.
"Anytime." Remus nodded before turning to face Peter.
The small, rodent-like boy had been staring out the window at the passing farmland, not speaking. Sirius elbowed him the ribs. "Ow! Oh. Uh…right. Yeah, anytime." Peter said. He then turned and continued his staring.
"Okay then." said a somewhat uncomfortable Lily. "Anyway Potter, I came to get you for the meeting. We have a few things to discuss."
"Oh, right." James moved to the luggage rack and dug through his trunk. He pulled out a set of school robes and tugged them over his head. James pinned the shiny silver badge to his chest. "Ready." He said.
"Come on, then." Lily turned and waited for James to follow.
"See you at the meeting, Moony." He waved goodbye to his friends before following the redhead down the corridor.
Lily stopped in front of the largest compartment at the front of the train. "Here we are." She said as she opened the door and stepped into the compartment. James followed her in and shut the door behind him.
"All right, Potter, I have a few requests." Lily said situating herself in a chair facing James. He nodded for her to continue. "I think that we should start out fresh this year. Seeing as we'll be working together and sharing a common room we should try to get along."
"Lily, that's what I've been telling you since-"
She held up a finger to stop him. "I understand that now."
James smirked. "See, I was right."
Lily sighed. "Yeah, yeah." She said, waving it off, "Also, I would appreciate it if you could at least try to be mature this year. No funny business, no pranks. Do you think you can manage?"
"No pranks? But that's a Marauder tradition! What if we cut back on them? Would that be good enough?"
She rolled her eyes. "Fine. And no picking on first years!"
"Okay, okay, I wasn't going to anyway." James said, earning a disbelieving glare form Lily. "I have a request to make as well."
"Go on. And if it involves us going on a date, the answer is no."
"Who said anything about a date? All I want is for you to call me by my first name." he shrugged.
"Oh." Lily said, surprised. "Sure."
James grinned. "So what do you want to talk to the prefects about?"
Lily reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. She looked over it once before grabbing a quill and a piece of parchment from a nearby desk. "Well, first off, we have to draw up the patrol schedule. We can post it in the meeting room at school."
"Sounds good, but I think we should let the prefects sign up on their own. That way the patrols fit easily into everyone's schedules." James sat down in a chair next to Lily so that the long parchment was between them. He pulled out his wand and traced a few lines over the surface of the parchment.
Lily watched closely as ink flowed smoothly and elegantly across the smooth surface. When James finished, she saw that he had drawn a chart. Across the top were the days of the week and on the left were the patrol shifts. Under the days, there were spaces for each shift, to be filled in with the names of the prefects who would see to them. "Nicely done, James." She said giving him an actual smile.
James's heart leapt; it was first real smile she had ever given him. "Thanks." He said, beaming.
Lily glanced at the chart. "So, we'll have each prefect write in their name for the shifts that they want." James nodded. "Good. We can explain that to them when they get here in," she checked her watch, "twenty minutes."
"Anything else that we have to sort out before they get here?" James asked.
"Nothing really. What about dances and things of that nature? I was thinking we could have one for Valentine's Day."
"Yeah, me too. But I was also thinking we could have one for Halloween."
Lily grinned. "Excellent. The Halloween dance could be a masquerade ball."
The pair continued to make vague plans for the upcoming school year until they heard a light cough from the door. Remus poked his head around the corner. "I do believe I'm here for the meeting." He said formally.
James laughed, "Get in here Moony."
Remus entered the compartment followed closely by Lydia, the second Gryffindor prefect. "Hey guys." She said. Remus turned and gave her one of his inviting smiles causing her to blush crimson. She looked away in embarrassment.
Another knock sounded on the door before it was pushed open roughly by the two Slytherin prefects, Severus Snape and Marco Jamison.
"What are you doing here Potter?" Snape spat.
"You should show more respect to the Head Boy, Snape." James glared at the tall, pale boy that stood in the door. Severus Snape had shoulder length, greasy, black hair and cold eyes. Marco Jamison was the complete opposite. He had scruffy blonde hair, bright blue eyes and a friendly smile. One would expect him to be in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw; anything but Slytherin. It was common knowledge that Marco himself believed that the sorting hat had made some mistake on his first night at Hogwarts.
"Hello Potter." Marco said cheerfully.
"Hey, how was your holiday?" James had a strict hate-all-Slytherins policy, but he made an exception when it came to Marco.
"Nothing special. I got a new owl though. What about you?"
James laughed, "Not much. Sirius was at my house all summer, so naturally there were quite a few practical jokes."
Remus, Lily and Lydia had been having their own conversation on the other side of the compartment, but now Lily stared, dumbstruck, at James. She had never seen him be civil with a Slytherin before. But then again, this was Marco Jamison. He was nice boy; well-liked and friendly to everyone.
The two Hufflepuff prefects, Margo Henderson and Jude Little entered the room. followed by Samuel Darcy and Elizabeth Green, the Ravenclaws.
James and Lily stood at the front of the room and waited for the eight prefects to seat themselves around the room. When everyone was settled, James cleared his throat. "Hello, and welcome to the first prefect meeting of the new school year." Everyone but Snape nodded.
Lily stepped forward, "Now, James and I have decided that everyone should sign up for patrol duties this year rather than us assigning them to you. This way, your shifts will not interfere with your school work or extracurricular activities."
Jude raised his hand, "What about Quidditch? Will it interfere with practices?"
"No. If your captain schedules a practice session during one of your shifts all you need to do is come to one of us and we will find another prefect that can take over your duties until practice is over." James said. Jude looked relieved. "However, if you do not sign yourselves up for at least two patrols per week, dates and times will be assigned to you and will not be changed if they interfere with your studies or activities." James looked pointedly at Snape.
"Our next meeting will be in two weeks and you will be notified of the time next Saturday. The patrol chart is on the wall by the door, please sign up on your way out."
The prefects stood and formed a line in front of the chart. Lily turned to James, "Do you think our first meeting went well?"
"Definitely." He nodded, "I think we have some great ideas and the prefects this year are great. Well, except Snape, but he doesn't really count."
Lily shook her head and glanced over to the chart. The line had disappeared. "Come on. Let's get back to our compartments. I think we're nearly there, so we should probably get changed." She turned and made her way out of the empty room, James in tow.
And Lily was right. The train arrived in Hogsmeade not half an hour later. The Marauders stepped onto the platform followed by Lily, Lydia, Madeline and Daniela. The large group found the biggest carriage they could and squeezed themselves in. Lily ended up squished against James's side as the thestral drawn carriage pulled away from the platform and began the steep ascent to the Hogwarts castle gates.
[A/N]: Reviews make Becca happy. A happy writer makes for faster updates. Hint, hint. ;]