The second chapter, as promised! Much longer, much better. So, if you have already forgotten the first "chapter" then read it again because it leads into the beginning of this one and it will take you less than a minute. Ok, so this chapter is called "The Ride In," and I'm sure you can guess what it's about. Please read and review, and I will see you at the bottom of the page!
James Potter moved through the train, going as far back as possible. Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew, two of his longest and best friends, trailing behind him.
"Done with what?" Peter asked James, who had spoken before him. The boy was smaller than the other two, and slightly more round. His hair was a light—one could say mousy—brown and his eyes were small and beady. He had to walk quickly to keep up with his friends, who took long easy strides, but never complained.
"That," Sirius said, sighing, "is a question that I don't want to hear the answer to again."
"Lily Evans," James answered Peter, as if Sirius had not spoken.
"Oh," Peter said softly. Then, after only a moment: "Wait. Why?"
"Again," Sirius said, letting out an overdramatic sigh, "an answer I do not—"
James stopped suddenly and turned to Peter. Sirius had just enough time to stop before hitting James; Peter was not so lucky, only having enough time to slow down and bump into Sirius.
James gave him a hard look, causing Peter to be very frightened that he would be on the receiving end of one of James Potter's hexes. But, seeing the fear on his friends face, James thought better of yelling at him, and simply turned and walked on.
"Don't you remember the last few years?" he asked Peter. "Don't you remember the rejections and the cruelty and the waste of our time?"
"Gee, I don't know," Peter said timidly. "She mostly rejected you, and was really mostly cruel to you. And we didn't really waste our time with her."
James stopped short again. This time Sirius, not wanting Peter to bump into him or knock him into James, plastered himself against one of the doors to a compartment, allowing Peter to see that James had stopped. He stopped where Sirius had been a moment before, directly behind James. He cast Sirius a grateful glance, who nodded in return.
James, upon stopping, had closed his eyes and taken a deep breath. He really wanted to hex Peter, but he couldn't. Why? Because, as much as James hated to admit it, Peter was right.
James had been the one to constantly bother Lily Evans, wasting the last five years of his life, finding new ways to get her attention or ask her out. At first, when he was eleven, it was puppy love. It was cute. Then, when he was twelve, he wanted her to notice him, to recognize how smart and amazing he was. At thirteen and fourteen, his only goals were to get Lily Evans on a date. Why wouldn't she say yes? Every other girl had. Then, last year, at fifteen, he realized he really did like her. Fancied her terribly.
However, Lily had been the one to constantly reject James. At first, she was polite and kind, giving herself the chance to learn who he was. But over the years, she learned exactly who he was: and arrogant git who amused himself by bullying those who were "not as good" as him. So she had grown to be cruel to him, because he needed it. The rest of the school worshipped him, she did not.
But James, it appeared, had had enough of her. He was sixteen, he no longer wanted to chase after some schoolboy crush. He was done with her. Absolutely done.
The train started to move, and James opened his eyes. "Shit, all the compartments are probably full. Let's go." James silently blamed Sirius for their lateness.
Sirius had moved in with the Potters over the summer, having left his prejudiced and pureblood family of elitists. Mr. and Mrs. Potter unofficially adopted him as a son, without question. However, he was a drama queen and took his sweet time getting ready, making sure he had everything. Then they had to pick up Peter, whose disabled muggle mother and absent magical father made it hard for him to get to King's Cross.
They had arrived with 5 minutes to get onto the train at King's Cross, and to the back of the train, where their other friend, Remus Lupin, waited. As they got to the last few compartments, they found fewer and fewer people. Finally they opened the second-to-last one and found Remus.
"It's about time," he said, looking up from his book as they sat down. He was taller than the three other boys, about six feet. He had scars on his face, which was worn and tired, far more than any sixteen-year-old's should be. "I thought you might have missed the train."
"Sirius took his sweet time getting ready," James said, finally voicing his thoughts.
Sirius shrugged, not denying it. He sat down across from Remus, throwing him a chocolate. Remus caught it and looked at it.
"What did you do to it?" he asked, as he started to get up.
"Nothing!" Sirius said, indignantly. "I swiped it off the snack cart on our way here. Hey! Where are you going? Tell me you're not going to return it."
"For your information," Remus said turning as he opened the door to the compartment to look at them, "I am going to the prefect meeting. And yes, if I see the snack cart I will return it. If not, I'll eat it." He winked before leaving.
"Suck up," Sirius muttered.
But as Remus Lupin started to walk away from the compartment, he started to open the chocolate.
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Marlene McKinnon had waved to her housekeeper after boarding the train, making sure that the old woman saw her hand firmly gripping the hand of her little brother, Bradley McKinnon. Then she quickly dragged him to where she assumed his friends would be, around the middle of the train, with most of the other third years. She opened a few compartments before she found a few of his friends. Four third-year boys watched with wide eyes as Marlene shoved her brother into the compartment.
"Sit," she ordered, pointing at a seat next to a very frightened looking boy. Her brother sat down, glaring up at her. She addressed the other boys: "Now, I assume you all have wands?" They nodded. "Good! Now, if Bradley even puts a finger out the window, I expect at least one of you to jinx him, and at least one of you to come find and tell me. Understand?" They nodded again. "And if he gets off this train before we get to Hogsmeade and you don't tell me, I will personally make sure that none of you ever see Hogwarts again!" she slammed the door.
"Wow, Marlene," a girl said from behind her.
"Yeah, geez, one would think your threat to Bradley on the way here was good enough, but apparently not," a boy said.
Marlene turned to face her two younger siblings. Twins Valerie and David were, arguably, the two smartest people at Hogwarts, and the fact that they were only fourth years infuriated Marlene.
"Hey, I'm not getting blamed again if Bradley 'misses' the train. You two saw me put him in that compartment, right?" she asked, pointing at the door she had recently slammed.
The twins both sighed and said, in unison, "Yes."
"Good, now scurry along to your freaky Ravenclaw friends," she said, making a shooing gesture for them to leave. She turned and moved back through the compartments to find the one with her friends.
Two years ago, Marlene's parents, who worked in the Department of Mysteries, had to leave. Their work took them to America, but they couldn't say what for. Marlene had been put in charge. For a fourteen-year-old, it was a lot of work. The twins took care of themselves, but Bradley? He was a whole other story. He never listened, he always fought with her, and he hated being told what to do. Marlene had made the realization early on that he was exactly like her.
Marlene's parents had been communicating, secretly, with the housekeeper. She only discovered this fact after, on the train ride to her fifth year at Hogwarts and his second, Bradley decided to get off the train before it had even left the station.
His excuse? "Marlene left me on the platform! Didn't even check to see if I was on the train! Just left me as soon as we got there!" The school didn't know who to believe, so each received a month of detentions. Luckily, they chose not to take points away.
Since then, the housekeeper, Mrs. Peters, watched what Marlene did very carefully. She insisted on watching them get on the train this year. Mrs. Peters didn't like sending bad news to the McKinnons, but she would never lie. She suggested it, only so that there was a witness to see all four kids board the train, and told Marlene to take the twins as witnesses, too.
But, now, Marlene was free. After walking for only a minute, she found Maria Cooper, one of her best friends. She was talking to her boyfriend, Hufflepuff Albert Fulker.
Marlene, determined not to be the third wheel, grabbed Maria by the back of her collar and pulled her along.
"Hey!" Maria cried out. "Bye Al! I'll see you at the feast!"
"Um, ok. Bye Maria. Bye Marlene," he called after them.
"That wasn't cool Marlene! He was just about to kiss me! It would have been our first kiss! More importantly, my first kiss!" Maria hissed at Marlene.
"Sorry," Marlene said, halfheartedly. She spotted Lily Evans and Elizabeth Smith as they claimed a compartment.
Lily was already in her school robes, and had her prefect badge perfectly pinned on her chest. "Oh! Look at the perfect prefect!" Maria said, loudly.
Lily blushed. "Shut up, Mar!" they entered the compartment, sitting down and immediately talking.
"So, Maria, I heard you have a new boyfriend!" Elizabeth said, excitedly turning her, and everyone else's, attention onto Maria.
"Only for about a week," she said, softly. She was obviously embarrassed, but that didn't stop her friends.
"So that's why we didn't know!" Lily said, smiling at her friend's shyness. "We only heard today, from Ralph Pledger, his best friend."
"Yeah, apparently Albert had enough time to tell his friends," Elizabeth accused.
"Eli! He hates his full name. It's just 'Al,'" Maria said.
"Don't change the subject!" Eli cried.
"Well, I knew," Marlene said, casually.
Three pairs of eyes fell onto Marlene.
"How did you know?" Eli asked, her eyes, narrowed, flicked between Marlene and Maria.
"I asked her for advice," Maria said, so softly that the three other girls thought they had imagined it.
"You asked Marlene for advice? On dating?" Elizabeth wasn't mad, or hurt, but just confused. "I've been in a successful relationship for almost a year."
"No," Maria countered, "you've been having affairs with the same guy for almost a year. It's not a relationship! And besides, I just asked whether or not to accept or decline his offer of a date."
"You would have just said yes, no matter what, Eli," Marlene said.
"Well, yeah! Maria hasn't even had her first kiss yet! Even Lily's had that—" ("Hey!") "—so of course I would make her say yes! She needs excitement!"
The train started to move, cutting off their discussion. They looked at each other and smiled.
"Chins up," Elizabeth said. "We're on our way home!"
"Yeah, I need to go check on Bradley," Marlene said.
"Need to make sure he's still aboard?" Eli asked, snickering.
"Yes," Marlene said, annoyed by her brother. "Anyone wanna come?"
Lily nodded, "I have a prefects meeting in a few minutes. Hey, have any of you seen Tommy?" She asked, referring to her boyfriend of four months.
The other girls shook their heads. Lily sighed, "I was hoping to see him before we left, but I'll see him at the feast, I guess."
She and Marlene exited into the corridor. The food trolley was only a few feet from their compartment and the aisle was filled with students.
Marlene and Lily started toward the front of the train, away from the trolley. As they came upon Marlene's brother's compartment, she signaled for Lily to keep quiet as she moved up to the door.
She slid it open fiercely, making all five third-years jump out of fright.
"Marlene?! What are you doing here?" Lily heard the voice of Bradley from inside the compartment. She moved next to Marlene and leaned on the door casually. Upon seeing her, Bradley blushed slightly. "Oh, hi Lily."
Lily smiled, "Hey, Brad."
Marlene glared at him. "I have every right to be here. Did you think I wasn't going to check on you, to be sure you 'found your way onto the train,'" she used her hands to quote what McGonagall had said to him the previous year in one of their detentions.
"Well, I was hoping you wouldn't! Not after you threatened to kill my friends!" He said.
Lily stared, wide-eyed, at Marlene, who forced herself not to look at Lily.
"I didn't threaten to kill them! I just said they wouldn't see Hogwarts again!" And as both Bradley and Lily tried to speak, she put her hand up to silence them. "I'm done here! Make sure you get onto the grounds before the gate closes!" She shot him one last glare before slamming the door shut.
Lily started to walk toward the front of the train again. "So you're threatening children now, eh, Marlene?"
"I was simply making sure that Bradley would not leave the train before he was meant to," she said, running to keep up.
"Look, Marly, Brad feels really bad about what happened last year, can't you see?" Lily asked. But before Marlene could answer, she kept talking: "He needs to talk to someone, he has not been happy since your parents left."
Marlene nodded. "I know, but I am not our mother! I can't fill a void! I know that, he knows that! Hell, the twins know that, and they are as self-sustaining as fish," Marlene said.
They walked up to the door of the first compartment. "We can talk about this later." Lily said. "Wanna come in with me?"
Marlene thought for a moment. She did not want to be in that stuffy room with those annoying rule-abiders, but she had a feeling Snape would be in there, and she didn't want Lily to have to be in there with him alone. She sighed, and nodded.
The carriage was completely open, lacking in individual compartments. It was some sort of dining car, but there was only one large table in the center. The head boy, Frank Longbottom, and head girl, Kim Orwin, were already there, talking about the meeting. Both Ravenclaw prefects were there, Aurora Prime and Russell Selmen. Albert Fulker was also there, the Hufflepuff prefect.
"Oh, you should have brought Maria," Marlene said. "Then she could be with her boyfriend!"
Lily hushed the girl. "Don't be too loud!" she was about to wonder where Remus was, as she assumed that he was the other Gryffindor prefect, but just then the door opened and the Slytherin prefects walked in. Seren Crabbe, and, to Lily's disdain, Severus Snape.
Lily had grown up with Severus, he had lived not far from her. He was the first to tell her that she was a witch. He was her first true friend, other than her sister. She had loved Severus, he was like a brother to her, but, at Hogwarts, they were sorted into rival houses
That's when it started to go downhill. Severus's "friends" pulled him away from her. He became increasingly interested in the Dark Arts. Lily denied this change in him for most of their friendship, but in fifth year, when she had saved him, he called her a mudblood, a
horrible slang word for a witch or wizard with muggle parents, a witch or wizard with dirty blood.
She had not spoken to him since. Did not answer the letters he sent. Did not study with him. Did not sit with him. Did not look at him.
You see, Reader, in life, people change, and not always for the better. Lily's best friend changed, but she refused to change with him.
Lily looked away as Severus entered. He looked from Lily, to Seren. Seren Crabbe would most certainly tell the other Slytherins if he was talking to a mudblood, so he held back, but listened to Lily's conversation.
Lily, wanting to talk to Marlene to make it clear she was not available to speak to anyone in the room named Severus Snape, voiced her thoughts from earlier, asking where Remus was.
Marlene shrugged. "I'm not sure. I saw him on the platform when I first got to King's Cross, but I was with the ungrateful brats, so I didn't get the chance to talk to him."
Lily laughed. "They're not all ungrateful brats."
"You're right. The twins aren't brats, but Bradley is. And they are all ungrateful for what I do for them!" Marlene grew unreasonably angry just thinking about them.
Remus walked in and, upon looking around, went up to Lily and Marlene. "Good morning," he greeted. "You two look lovely today."
"Oh, please," Marlene said. "You're just saying that. We all know I look like crap."
Remus smirked, "You do look tired. May I ask why?"
"I had to get up at five o'clock this morning. Had to make breakfast, pack Bradley's things, go through the twins' stuff to make sure they didn't have more illegal potions—" Remus raised his eyebrows at her. "—I know, it's a long story. Then I had to get Bradley up. Go through the twins stuff again—they're very sneaky—then make sure everyone ate and had money for the trolley, inform Mrs. Peters—my housekeeper—that we were leaving and then actually leave." She took a breath.
"Why did you have to pack Bradley's things?" Lily asked.
"And when exactly did you get to King's Cross?" Remus added, amused by Marlene's tale of woe.
"Because he insisted that he wasn't going to Hogwarts, and that he would not pack his own bag. And I got to the station around ten forty."
Remus opened his mouth, but the last Hufflepuff prefect, Kathryn Hayes, walked in with her friend Ellen Redwood. Kathryn blushed upon entering, "Sorry we're late."
Frank Longbottom sighed. "It's fine, Kathie, just have a seat. Anyone who's not a prefect, if you could just stand along the wall." Marlene and Ellen Redwood moved to the wall. Cynthia Gibbon, a Slytherin who had come in a minute after the Slytherin prefects went to the opposite wall.
"Now let's begin," the head girl, Kim Orwin, said loudly, silencing the room.
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"It's about time," Sirius said, quoting Remus from earlier, as Remus himself walked into their compartment. "We thought you had fallen off the train."
"Frank Longbottom and Kim Orwin are the heads this year. They were very thorough in their briefing," Remus said, sighing tiredly. He noticed the vast amount of chocolate frog wrappers and cards and added, "I hope you paid for those."
"We did!" James said, rolling his eyes. "Have a little faith!"
"She would have noticed if we had taken this much without paying," Sirius said, earning himself a kick from James.
Remus sat down and picked up an unopened chocolate frog. "We'll be there soon. You guys should get dressed." The others grumbled, but took their robes out of their trunks and started to change.
"You know," Sirius said, looking through the window at the sun that was starting to set. "I think we need to add our own little flair to the Welcome Feast tonight. Something that says, 'The Marauders Are Back!'"
James grinned, "I was thinking the exact same thing."
In their first year, when these four friends were in their first detention together, Professor McGonagall made the mistake of referring to them as the Marauders. The name stuck, and they were referred to as the Marauders by students and teachers alike.
They also gave nicknames to each other. Moony (Remus), Wormtail (Peter), Padfoot (Sirius), and Prongs (James). The origin of the names, however, is a story for a different time.
For now, the Marauders took to plotting their next devious prank.
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Lily and Marlene sat down in their compartment, greeting Eli and Maria.
"Sorry, the heads were very detailed in their explanation of…well…everything," Lily said.
"It's ok," Eli said. "We were just talking about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."
"Apparently it's a woman this year," Maria said, Eli nodding in agreement.
"Really? We've never had a woman teach Defense before!" Marlene said, grinning. "How did you find out?"
"Well, Amy Sans," Eli began, but at the mention of the annoying fifth year, there were groans of disapproval. "Yes, I know, groan, but bear with me. She was talking to her friends and mentioned that her mother had worked with the new professor. Apparently she was an auror."
"An auror?" Lily repeated, excitement growing.
"Why is she teaching at Hogwarts, then?" Marlene asked.
"I don't know know…" Eli said, thinking.
"Maybe she was sacked for something?" Maria suggested.
"Like what?" Eli asked, somewhat condescendingly. "Do you think Dumbledore would let some sacked Ministry auror into the school? You only get sacked from that job if you're a criminal, or mess up really bad."
"And they wouldn't let either of those types of people teach kids," Marlene agreed.
"Well, do you geniuses have a better idea?" Maria asked, slightly annoyed.
"Maybe," Lily cut in, "she got tired of her job and wanted something different."
"So she decides to teach annoying, bratty children?" Marlene asked, not buying into it. "I think there's something more to this."
Eli nodded vigorously. "Definitely! There's something going on! Something fishy!"
"Well, then, we'll just have to ask her, won't we?" Lily asked.
"I suppose we will," Eli said, glaring at Lily. "But you'll see. Stuff won't add up. Conspiracies, I'm calling it now!"
"Conspiracies? That's just ridiculous!" Maria rolled her eyes.
"That's what you say now," Eli said, her voice low. "Just wait 'till people are dying and that new professor can't answer where she was at the time of death!"
Eli and Maria started to argue, Marlene throwing in unhelpful comments to keep them going. Lily looked out the window and only then realized how close to Hogwarts they were. The sun had already started setting.
"Guys. Guys!" Lily had to shout to get the attention of all three arguing girls. "We're almost there, you better change."
The girls mumbled their closing arguments while taking out their school robes. However, as they started to change, their conversation grew excited and light, with talk of the new school year, and new opportunities to behold.
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As the girls stepped onto the platform at Hogsmeade Station, they looked around. The last of the sun's rays stretched out across the evening sky, illuminating clouds in oranges and reds, and bringing smiles to the faces of students, ready for the new year.
Lily, Marlene, Maria, and Eli piled into a carriage. As soon as the door was shut, the carriage began to move bringing them up the hill towards Hogwarts.
"Eli," Lily asked, addressing the brunette girl across from her, "how is Jack? I haven't seen him since last year." Jack Powell was Eli's on-again-off-again boyfriend for the past year. He was in the grade above them, and in Ravenclaw, so they did not see much of him, but knew that Eli still fancied him.
"Oh, he's good!" Eli nodded, genuinely smiling. "He got me this for my birthday last week." She held out her right wrist, showing off a charm bracelet with glittering charms on it.
"El," Marlene said, tentatively, "your birthday was two months ago."
"Oh, yeah, well, he was saving up," Eli said, her tone and her smile were innocent, and none of the other girls wanted to risk damaging that innocence, so they let it go. Besides, the carriage was starting to slow down and they had a feast to get to.
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The Marauders stepped out of their carriage, onto the damp grass in front of the school. They followed the crowd in, through the Entrance Hall, and then to the Great Hall. Here, the crowd split, members of each house, going to their respective tables.
The Marauders hurried to the Gryffindor table, securing their seats for the optimum position for their addition to the Welcome Feast.
Eric Tomkins, the fifth and final Gryffindor boy in their year, sat next to Remus.
"Eric!" James greeted, from across the table. "I haven't seen you in forever! How was your summer?"
"Oh, shut it, Potter!" Eric snapped. "I'm out for the season. Doc said it needs to rest."
"What does?" Peter asked, from next to James.
"My arm," Eric answered. "That's all that James cared about." James shrugged.
Last year, in the last match of the season, Gryffindor had been playing Slytherin. Eric, who played keeper, had been hit by a Slytherin player. He had broken his arm in eleven different places. To ensure victory for Slytherin, one of the players put a spell on Eric's arm. It healed much slower than normal, and most magical cures either did not work, or worked extremely slowly.
"Prongs, that means we have two open positions!" Sirius hissed at James.
"I know, I know!" James grumbled. The other open position was chaser, the last person to fill that spot having graduated the year before.
The Sorting Ceremony began, the first years walking down the center aisle to meet the Sorting Hat at the front of the Hall.
James, bored by the familiar spectacle, scanned the table, looking at how people changed over the summer. He spotted Bradley McKinnon, his star seeker. Then there was Frank Longbottom, talking in low voices with his girlfriend, Alice Fawley. Angie Rodwell, the best chaser James had ever seen, second to himself, of course. Marlene McKinnon, the ever radiant beater. And just next to her was—
No! James tried to look away but found his eyes glued to Lily Evans, and, of course, her boyfriend. Ravenclaw Tommy Petch had his arm slung around her shoulders, his face angled toward her ear to whisper into it. She laughed lightly, causing Marlene to roll her eyes, saying something to them. James couldn't hear what she said, but was able to read her lips, it was a simple sentence he had seen/heard many times: "Get a room!"
James grew angry at the sight and distracted himself with Dumbledore's speech. It wasn't very good. But the food that came directly after was.
Halfway through the feast James looked at the other Marauders. "Well, I think everyone's enjoyed the feast."
"Think they'll mind if we cut it a bit short?" Sirius asked, grinning.
"Let's hope not," Remus grumbled.
Under the table, they brought out their wands. James nodded to the other three and they all cast the same spell at about the same time.
In result, the hundreds of candles drifting in the air above the students began to take shape. They made the shape of a leprechaun, then a dragon, then a dementor. Then, they split into four smaller groups of candles. Each group started to form shapes of things, as directed by the wand of their respective Marauder.
The audience loved it, until the finale. One group of candles formed a large snake that slithered across the Slytherin table, sending food in every direction, mostly onto the kids, however.
A candle-badger waddled across the Hufflepuff table, its large paws plastering students with food.
A large eagle made of candles flew over the Ravenclaw table, using its claw to viciously throw food at students.
A lion galloped across the Gryffindor table, even getting some food on the Marauders.
After a few minutes of pure chaos, James nodded to the others, and the candles drifted back to the air, as if nothing happened.
Students were yelling and whining, some even crying. James took the most satisfaction from Lily Evans's stunned and upset face.
Dumbledore stood, called for silence, and ordered everyone to go to their common rooms. Remus and Lily led the Gryffindors to the Tower, while the head students talked with the professors.
In the sixth year boys' dormitory, Sirius Black complained to Remus Lupin about potato salad in his hair.
"I'm sorry, but it would have been very suspicious if we had been the only ones without food on us!" Remus defended.
"That's the last time you ever get to control a giant candle-lion in my presence." Sirius said, glaring.
"Yes, I'm sure you'll have that problem many times in the future," Eric said, sarcastically, from his bed. "Can you guys go to sleep now?"
"Tomkins, the opportunity to control a giant candle-lion is going to fall into my lap one day, and I will use it to destroy you." Sirius said, but he and the other Marauders were already complying with Eric's request. Within a few minutes, the dormitory was asleep.
Within the hour, Gryffindor Tower was asleep. And it was nice.
Well? Not too shabby. Well, it was better than the first "chapter," at least. So, tell me if you liked it! Tell me if you didn't like it! As long as you are nice, I'm always happy to hear feedback!
The next chapter is called "It's a Wonderful World" and will be published soon. Until then, stay safe and stay happy!
~Jill
MissSlytherinxoxo
XOXO
