Sorry about the wait! It's been busy! Here's the next chapter. HUGE thank you to MoonlitRainDrops and xokittykat5xo for reviewing, and to everyone else who has read, favourited or alerted!
Lily jumped up as the rest of the Marauders trooped into the compartment, which was getting a little cramped, and gave a shout of protest.
'What the hell are you all doing in here?'
'Just popped in for a chat,' Sirius said easily as he took a seat opposite Danni. 'Nothing to get so het up about, Evans.'
Lily turned her gaze to James, who seemed determined not to catch her eye, though he was looking a little sheepish. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Tarragon looking at her with a meaningful look, so, as much as she would have liked to order the boys out, she just sat down and sighed in a resigned way.
'So, everyone have a good summer?' Sirius asked, breaking the uneasy silence that had fallen on the group. It may have been a general question, but Lily noticed that he was looking at Danni when he spoke.
'Not bad, you know,' she replied, looking a little flushed, but pleased none the less.
'Where's Celia?' Remus asked, glancing quickly around the compartment.
'You know, I've been wondering that,' Lily said. 'Did you guys find her? She looked around at her friends.
Mary shook her head. 'We looked into the compartments we passed, but we didn't see her or Helen.' Helen was Celia's fourth year sister who was in Hufflepuff.
'We assumed we missed her in the crush,' Tarragon said. 'I thought she'd have come by to look for us by now.'
'I'll go have a look for her,' Mary said standing up. 'Anyone want to come with me?'
'I'll come,' Peter said after a moment's hesitation. He was blushing and looking at the floor, and Lily thought she had espied a nudge from Remus, who was sitting next to him. Mary raised an eyebrow at Peter's offer, and sent a glance at Lily, who returned the puzzled look, but she didn't say anything, and together, they left the compartment.
'I hope she hasn't missed the train,' Tarragon said, staring after them.
'I've always wondered what would happen if you did that,' James said, speaking for the first time. He had found Lily's gaze, finally, but she pointedly looked away from him.
'You need to get out more,' Sirius said with a smirk, and Danni burst into laughter. Sirius seemed to like this and grinned cheekily at her. She blushed.
'Oh, shut it, Padfoot,' James said. 'I think you need to get out less. Turning the lawn in front of the castle blue at the end of last year wasn't one of your best send-offs.'
'Hey!' Sirius shouted. 'That was an accident, you know it was!'
Danni burst out laughing, along with the rest of the group. Lily frowned, trying to hide a smile (after-all, McGonagall's face had been priceless, especially after Professor Dumbledore had commented that blue made a very nice change and that there should be more blue lawns around), but was unsuccessful. It had been hilarious. However, she could never show James Potter that she thought anything he or his friends did was funny. Especially not now she was Head Girl, and she tried to turn the smile into a yawn, but it was too late, James had already spotted her.
She glared at him, her red eyes flashing dangerously, daring him to say anything, but, thankfully, he remained silent. He knew what would happen if he teased her about it when she was looking that angry; he had been on the receiving end of the wrath of Lily Evans before, and didn't want to repeat it. He did give her a knowing smile, though, and Lily cursed herself internally. She was afraid she had given him new ammunition, and she sighed in frustration.
The afternoon passed sluggishly for Lily as the train sped northwards, the countryside outside the windows getting gradually wilder as they passed through the moors of Derbyshire and North Yorkshire, before taming again into the neat meadows and arable fields of the boarderlands. Lily always loved to watch as the countryside flew past, and gladly retreated from the conversation that was growing steadily rowdier in the compartment. Peter came back within twenty minutes to report that he had been feeling hungry and returned to catch the food trolley, but Lily rather suspected, from the flush on Peter's cheeks when Sirius and James began questioning him, that Mary had got irritated by his fumbling presence and sent him away to carry on the search without him.
It was not until well after noon that Mary came back.
'I couldn't find her,' she announced as she slid the door to the compartment open. 'Helen wasn't there either, I found some of her friends coming to look for us to see if Celia was with us.'
'That's odd,' Lily said with a frown.
'I bet they've both missed the train,' Danni said as she swallowed the last of a Chocolate Frog.
'It's unlike Helen, though,' Mary said. 'She's always the one ushering Celia around, making sure she doesn't forget her head. Perhaps they were just late.'
'Perhaps,' Lily said, although she wasn't reassured, and neither, she could tell, were her friends. She exchanged significant glances with Mary as she sat down opposite her and grabbed a Pumpkin Pasty, taking care, Lily noticed, to avoid looking at Peter.
A tight knot gripped Lily's stomach as she went back to staring out of the window. What if something had happened? Of course, she tried to tell herself, it was unlikely something had happened. The most likely explanation was that Celia had forgotten something essential, or had delayed her family in some way and they were unable to make it in time to the train. Her parents had probably Apparated with them straight away up to Hogwarts. They were there now, surely, waiting for everyone to arrive, laughing at Celia's forgetfulness, Helen shaking her head in a motherly way.
Darkness fell, and the girls ordered the boys from their compartment so they could change into their robes, and Lily half expected James to protest, to come up with some line that would have the others in fits of giggles, and leave her silently raging. But, to her surprise, he obeyed without a word, though he did try to catch her eye and grin. She ignored him. It was Sirius who actually made a play of wanting to stay behind, trying to conceal himself rather unsuccessfully behind his cloak, before Danni grabbed him by the arm and bodily threw him out of the door. He didn't seem to mind.
By the time Lily and her friends had finished changing, the boys had vanished, presumably going back to the compartment their trunks were in, the compartment they had spent so little time in during this journey. Lily pressed her face up against the cool window, her breath fogging up the glass. There were lights in the distance, the warm orange glow of the lanterns at Hogsmeade station. She smiled to herself, it felt like coming home. Somewhere behind the hill behind the tiny station building was the magnificent castle. Mist would be strewn lazily across the lake, and the whole scene would be illuminated by the comforting light from the castle windows.
The train slowed to a halt, and Lily heard the noise of the carriage doors being magically swung open, and the din of hundreds of students beginning to gather their luggage together in preparation for departure. Lily and her friends lugged their trunks off the racks they had been left on and, chattering excitedly, joined the throng of students in the corridor. From a few compartments back, she could hear Sirius shouting excitedly, and, unusually, James shouting at him to shut up and get a move on. Sighing to herself, Lily stepped out into the cool, fresh air, and was immediately buffeted by the press of students.
'Come on, this way!' Tarragon shouted, grabbing her hand to prevent them from being separated. Looming over the students at the end of the platform, surrounded by a nervous gaggle of eleven-year-olds, was Hagrid, the friendly school gamekeeper.
'Firs' years!' he was calling out into the chaos. 'Firs' years teh me! Tha's it, over here!'
Lily shot him a warm smile; she had always been fond of Hagrid and the care he showed to any animal. When he saw her, however, he frowned.
'Lily!' he called to her. 'I've a message from Professor McGonagall. Yeh and yeh friends are to take the firs' carriage and go straigh' up to the school. She's waiting to speak to yeh.'
'What's it about?' Lily asked him, but he merely shook his head.
'I can't say. Best get up there quick, though.'
There was something about his expression that made Lily's stomach plummet, and an icy cold grip took her heart. Something was wrong. She looked nervously at Tarragon, who shook her shoulders, and, finding Mary and Danni, the four of them got into the waiting carriage.
:O What's going to happen? Why is Lily so worried! Next chapter coming soon guys! Thanks for reading. I would really, really, REALLY love it if you left me a review telling me what you thought!