A/N: A friend pointed out to me that James waiting for Sirius for forty five minutes it out of character. Pretend it said it just felt like forty five minutes, and he was actually waiting just like, ten minutes tops.

So far: Lily lost a pink teddy bear named Melody. After asking James if he's seen it, she figured out that Severus stole it and threw it away because of Mulciber. Sirius and James, under the cloak, heard the whole thing. James somehow found the bear with the help of Sirius, and they vanished Severus' hair, though it was grown back. James plans to return the teddy sometimes during the next day, when they're on the Hogwarts Express.

Chapter 2

Or

Of a Train Ride and Lily Evans Saying Yes

(Evening)

The thing about train rides is that they're both extremely long and extremely short.

The Hogwarts express, for example, took approximately seven hours, thirty five minutes and twelve seconds to get from Hogsmeade to King's Cross, approximately six times a year. When considered within the grand scheme of things, seven hours, thirty five minutes and twelve seconds is not a long period of time, but it could also be what changes everything. One second could be, in such a case, an eternity.

Lily hated change. In fact, that was probably one of the reasons she was so hesitant when it came to ending her friendship with Severus. But change was about to hit in her in the face.

"Ow!" she yelled when a furry object hit her in the face.

"You're welcome, Evans," said James sarcastically. "And you're absolutely right, by the way. I should have never come near you in the first place."

She glared at him, looking down at the object which fell to the ground. When she saw what it was, though, her expression was fundamentally changed.

(Late Afternoon)

"She'll be the death of me," said James. His glasses were askew and his lip was bleeding, and his hair, normally a messy halo of darkness, had clumps that seemed both damp and sticky.

"Yeah, she will," agreed Sirius. "But at least you'll go down fighting."

"If she ever lets me fight for her," he sighed.

"If you ever understand she's perfectly capable of fighting for herself," said Remus, "maybe then she'll speak to you again."

"She'll speak to me again," answered James. "By the end of the day. I haven't given it to her yet."

(Morning)

"James, when are you planning on actually giving this stuffed… creature… back to its original owners?" asked Remus, eying the teddy suspiciously.

"It's not a creature!" said James. "And I will do it when I see Evans."

"You might not see her until next year, at this rate, and I fear that might be too late," Remus pointed out.

(Early Afternoon)

"I'm hungry," said Sirius suddenly.

The other marauders didn't blink. Peter, who was reading that morning's newspaper, looked up slowly and said, "If you're going to the trolley, could you get me a pumpkin pasty or two?" and then looked back down. James and Remus continued conversing amongst themselves, and barely noticed when Sirius walked out.

"Where the hell is that trolley," muttered Sirius to himself fifteen minutes later as he walked across the train, his stomach rumbling loudly. "I'm famished."

The thing about long train rides is a boy is bound to get hungry. He's also quite likely to get bored, so when he glances inside a compartment and sees none other than the one and only Lily Evans, surrounded by candy, he thinks nothing of it. It's just natural for him to open the door and slip in, a smirk already slowly growing on his face.

Lily was laughing. It was in moments like these that Sirius understood, on some level, why James was so attracted to Lily: when she laughed, she put her whole heart in it. Sirius, who was very much the same in that regard, appreciated that about her.

"What's so funny?" he asked, leaning on the doorframe.

Almost instantly, all traces of humor disappeared from her face. "None of your business, Black," she spat.

Before his retort – which would come, of course – Sirius took the time to look around the compartment. There were five inhabitants, all in all: Lily, of course, was one of them. There was also a blonde sixth year that he had seen around the common room, but didn't know by name, sitting on the floor; two of Lily's roommates, namely, Marlene McKinnon and Dorcas Meadowes were there as well. Lastly was Frank Longbottom, also sat on the floor, the only truly friendly face in the compartment. Frank, though a prefect since the year before, was always quite happy to help with the less harmful pranks, and helped him recover from the shock of Remus being made a prefect in the beginning of this year.

"Well, I still have the right to ask," he said finally. It wasn't the wittiest line that he had ever said, but he was willing to accept it as passable. "What's up, Frank?" he asked.

"I'm good. You?" Frank was holding hands with the unnamed blonde, and Sirius, incredibly observant, took that to mean that the two were dating. Surprisingly enough, he didn't particularly care.

"Simply dashing. Actually, Peter wanted a pumpkin pasty, and I couldn't find the trolley – but I seem to have stumbled upon the equivalent," he grinned. "I don't 'sppose you want to donate a few sweets to a noble cause?"

Lily and Dorcas snorted in unison. The blonde was suppressing laughter, and sat up, straightening her back, as she said, "You're welcome to stay and eat some of it. My treat," she added.

Sirius' grin became impossibly wide as he found a spot on the floor besides Frank and his girlfriend. He should probably figure out her name, he thought.

Over three quarters of an hour and lots of sugar later, Sirius had learned the sixth year's name – Alice – and had found out that this bunch weren't terribly boring. In fact, they were quite entertaining, and much more willing than Remus to listen to his stories.

Muffled voices were heard from outside the compartment just as Sirius was finishing a joke – even Lily, having gotten used to him slightly now, laughed freely, which Sirius enjoyed thoroughly – and then, for the second time within an hour, the door was forced open.

"Remus!" cried Sirius. "Come, join us. We have chocolate –"

Remus didn't answer him, though, and instead turned back and called out to someone in the hallway. "He's in here, guys! He's fine!"

Not even three seconds had passed before James appeared at the door of the compartment. "Thank God you're okay," he said, his face red.

"Yeah," Sirius said, confused. "Why wouldn't I be okay?"

Peter squeezed into the compartment, James and Remus having both stayed in the doorway. "Mulciber – we were looking for you and he said – well, anyway, we've been looking for you for like fifteen minutes."

"Glad you're okay," added Remus. "Hi, everyone."

"Hi, Remus," said Marlene. "Have you come to take your runaway son back home?"

Remus and James both cringed at the thought of Sirius being their son. "Actually, we just wondered if he had found the trolley after all," said James. "But he seems to have found an even better alternative. Hi, Evans."

Remus kicked him.

"Ouch! I mean, uh, Evans, will you talk to me outside for a second?" he said quickly.

"Why?" was all she said. James took that to be a good sign. Usually she would've outright refused him and he didn't particularly want to give her a teddy bear in front of so many people – including near-strangers, and even worse, including Sirius.

Sirius laughed. "You should let him speak here, Evans," he advised. "This is going to be hilarious, and I wouldn't want to miss it." James sent a warning glare at him, but he didn't catch it, or maybe he ignored it.

Lily shook her head and sighed again. "Yeah, fine, I'll go with you. But no tricks."

As James left and Lily followed him, Remus said, "I reckon I should take you up on that offer of chocolate."

Sirius grinned and pointed at the mountain of chocolate and other, less important candy on the seat.

"And maybe a pumpkin pasty for me?" suggested Peter.

"Tell me though," asked Marlene, ignoring Remus and Peter and looking straight at Sirius. "How did you vanish Snape's hair?"

They had been walking for at least ten minutes before Lily caved and asked, "Where are you going?"

"Back to the compartment we were staying in," said James, picking up his pace. "I left something there."

"I thought we were going to talk."

"We are," he promised, his hand reaching up to his hair. When they finally reached the compartment, he made her wait outside. "Just stay here," he told her. "It's worth the wait, I promise. I just didn't want to carry it along the whole of the train when we went to find Sirius." And before Lily could ask what "it" was, she was left alone in the corridor, waiting for James sodding Potter of all people.

Perhaps this is an appropriate time to explain what Lily was doing there in the first place, considering the distaste Lily harbored for the poor boy. It seems like only a couple of days ago that she yelled at him that he was a bullying toerag that should be pushed off his high horse – and that was because it wasn't that much longer than a few days ago. But there was more going on.

Firstly, she hated James, but right now she hated Severus more. He had humiliated her in front of so many people, and that was the least of it. He had defended his friends – like she defended him – and had lied through his teeth. And perhaps if he'd see her with his enemy he would be so angry at her that he would leave her be.

Secondly, Sirius had gotten to her. They really were quite similar in many ways, wearing their hearts on their sleeves, and they both had trouble at home – it was no secret that Sirius and the rest of the Black family did not get along, though the extent of it was not known to her. They both only confided with few people but got along with most, and, right now, they both hated Severus Snape. So after close to an hour of laughing with him, she would give his best friend a chance, not to mention spare James from whatever humiliation Sirius was threatening him with.

Lastly, she was curious. It was one of her defining characteristics, in her nature to ask questions and to want answers.

And so when James Potter asked her, rather politely, to talk to him, she said yes.

She hadn't been waiting for very long when James' face appeared again, looking flushed. "Okay, you can come in now." He opened the door to the compartment, and she slipped inside, shutting the door behind her.

James opened his mouth to speak when suddenly, the door flew open.

A/N: This chapter ended up being over 4000 words, so I split in half. Soon - part two!

I have like six projects and four tests in the next two weeks, and soon the equivalent of NEWTs start, and I just... I'm not looking forward to the next two months at all. So I'm writing instead of studying for me English test tomorrow. Really, it's all your fault.

Dubious Sight: Firstly, thanks! Secondly, as someone close to me pointed out, the whole Melody plotline probably came from me, as I recently lost my own version of Melody... and I would do anything, anything to get her back. There are simply different sort of people - and Lily is the emotional type. One of the reasons I'm writing this fic in the first place - Lily is crying in almost/all scenes we see her in, in canon, and I'm sick of aloof, closed Lily. So yeah.

calypso: Thank you so so so much. That means so much. I plan to keep writing for quite a long time, so thank you once again :)

Reviews will not just make my day, but will probably make me update sooner.