Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. If I did, I'd be a rich woman.
Author's note: Thank you so much to GinnytheQueen for telling me Alice Longbottom's maiden name. Where did you find that, by the way? Also, I just finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and had forgotten that Snape's eyes are black. Forgive these mistakes. They will be thus fixed from here on out.
"Evans! Hey, EVANS!" a voice called. She ignored it, walking resolutely through the crowd, bumping into people and not bothering to apologize. But soon enough, James and Sirius had both caught up with her. They walked in front of her, blocking her path.
Lily stood her ground, staring hard at both of them.
"I swear you have flames coming out of your eyes, Lily, with the looks you give us," Sirius said laughingly.
Lily didn't necessarily have as much of a problem with Sirius as she did with James. She thought Sirius was brave to go against the wishes of his family, who could trace their ancestry back to hundreds and hundreds of years ago. "I'd sure like to—" she began, but stopped herself, not wanting to stoop to their level.
"Like to what?" James said curiously. But she didn't continue. James eyed her. "You aren't hanging around that git, are you? After what he called you?"
"What's it to you?" she said. For a second, Lily thought she saw James let his guard down. But as soon as it had gone down, it came back up. "You act as if he cursed me or something. He only called me a—"
"Be serious, Lily," Sirius said, looking grim. "We saw the look on your face."
"Look, he's my friend—" Lily paused. Was he really? "Er, was my friend, I suppose…"
"Well, there you are."
She rolled her eyes. "Come off it. He wouldn't be so bad if you guys would stop torturing him."
"But you would have to give us something in return," James said.
Lily raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"
"As if you don't know what he's been badgering you about for ages," Sirius said with a roll of his grey eyes.
James looked at her with some hope gleaming in his eyes.
"I've told you before! I'd rather date a toad than date you!" Lily said indignantly.
"I could arrange that," James said. "Me being the toad, of course—"
"Think again, Potter!" With a turn of her heels, Lily stomped off in the other direction, having no destination at all now. Truthfully, she simply wanted to bury herself in her new books, but the direction of the Leaky Cauldron was back towards James and Sirius.
September 1st rolled around quicker than Lily had thought. With her homework tucked safely at the bottom of her trunk and her cat in his cage, Lily and her father carried her things down the stairs and into the car. Despite Petunia's seething objections, Mr. and Mrs. Evans demanded that Petunia see her sister off at the train station. The car ride to London was cheerful, despite her older sister's attitude. Lily had the familiar butterflies in her stomach, excitement because she would be returning to Hogwarts once again.
When they reached King's Cross Station at the platform between nine and ten, Mrs. Evans was already dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief. She always acted as if she would never see Lily again even though she always visited during Christmas and Easter holidays. Petunia stood with her arms crossed. Mr. Evans handed over the trolley to his young daughter and then pulled her in for a tight hug.
"Write to us, won't you?" he said.
"I always do, Dad," Lily said.
Mrs. Evans kissed her daughter on the cheek and mumbled faintly, "Good-bye, dear."
Usually, Lily's parents would walk with her through the platform, but with Petunia here, it was a different story. Lily stood in front of her sister. "Good-bye, Petunia." She embraced her sister in an awkward hug.
Petunia broke her crossed arms and stiffly returned Lily's hug. "Right—bye."
Lily took hold of her trolley and made a run between platforms nine and ten. When she opened her eyes, a gleaming scarlet steam engine stood in front of her. She heard the whistle of the train and the chatter of students and parents alike.
"Lily, there you are!" a voice exclaimed as Lily was handing over her trunk and cat to the train worker.
"Margaret!" Lily said, smiling. Margaret Whitely smiled back at her. Margaret had thick locks of curly brown hair which tumbled elegantly over her shoulders. Her teeth were white, straight, and she was extremely pretty with her heart-shaped face and brown eyes. The two embraced quickly. "How was your summer?"
Margaret waved a hand nonchalantly. That usually indicated she did something grand but thought of it as nothing. "Went to Spain for a few weeks. Interesting people, they are."
"Wow," Lily said, truly fascinated. She had never been outside of England before.
"Let's get on the train then. Fancy finding a—oh, I forgot," Margaret.
"What?" For a second, Lily thought Margaret was going to say something about how Lily always sat with Severus. But then Lily remembered her anger towards him, and knew she wouldn't be sitting with him on the train ride to Hogwarts for the first time in five years.
"You're a prefect."
"Well, yes, but I can sit with you as long as I go to the prefects' car first." Lily remembered quite distinctly telling Margaret the exact same thing the year before when Lily first received her prefect's badge.
"Let' s find one then," Margaret nearly shouted over the loud whistle of the train.
Lily looked around to see the station nearly empty of students. Parents were waving goodbye to their children. She wouldn't see this station again until Christmas. Lily followed Margaret onto the train, where the sound of compartment doors slamming shut, feet shuffling, and students chattering made her grin.
Fortunately, Margaret managed to find an empty compartment where she plopped into an empty seat and pulled out The Daily Prophet.
"I'm going to change into my robes and head to the prefects' car. I'll be right back," Lily said.
Margaret simply nodded, not bothering to look up from the newspaper.
Lily opened the compartment door and stepped out. The aisles had cleared more now that the Hogwarts Express had started moving. Lily found an empty bathroom car and quickly changed into her robes, pinning her prefect badge on carefully. She took a quick glance in the mirror, tucker her hair behind her ears, and left, making her way to the front end of the train, and slipped into the prefects' car. She headed towards Gryffindor's Head Boy, Jackson Yates, and Head Girl, Ramona Cox, who were already in their robes, their badges shining brightly.
She greeted fellow six year Ravenclaw prefects, Mark Lee and Yuna Wen, and sat down next to them. Lily had always liked Yuna, considering they had managed to have Transfigurations with Ravenclaw for the past two years. The compartment door opened loudly and Lily heard the thud of a body hit the floor.
Some prefects stood up to see what had happened. Lily heard the familiar laughter of James, Sirius, and this time, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. Remus stood up quickly, adjusted his robes, and then shut the compartment door quietly, ignoring the laughter of his friends. He took a seat next to Lily with a wide grin on his face.
"What was that about?" Mark asked curiously.
"Oh, nothing," Remus said quickly.
Of the people that James Potter hung around with, it was Remus that Lily was persuaded had more sense than James and Sirius had combined. His light brown hair reached his ears. He looked as if he hadn't combed it in a few days, or perhaps, Lily thought, he rough-housed with his friends. His robes were a bit shabby, but they looked clean. He looked thin, thinner than Lily had remembered, and there were faint dark circles under his eyes. Despite all that, he looked quite happy.
"Lily," Remus said, "fancy seeing you here!"
"Hello, Remus. Had a good summer?" she replied.
"As good as it could ever be," he said. Lily thought she saw a flash of shame on his face, but it was soon gone.
Before Lily could say anything else, Jackson, Ramona, and the other Head Boys and Girls called the prefects to order. She listened as they introduced the fifth year prefects of each house. Lily hardly recognized fellow Gryffindor Christopher Wilkes—he had grown taller and thinned out considerably over the summer holidays. Jenny Frost, on the other hand, hadn't changed much. She was still relatively plump with plain features.
"Reckon they'll do their job?" Remus whispered to Lily.
"Hopefully, better than you will," Lily said, remembering when Remus hadn't stopped Sirius and James from bullying Severus right after O.W.L.s last year.
Remus simply grinned as he turned his attention back to the Head Boys and Girls, who began explaining the general responsibilities of a prefect and Dumbledore's expectations. They reminded the prefects to tread lightly with Argus Filch who seemed to grow increasingly agitated as each year passed.
"Nothing new," Yuna mouthed to Lily.
Lily nodded slowly. She knew most of this information was for the new prefects, but she was obedient and sat still, her eyes in front of her. Then Christopher, Jenny, Jackson, and Ramona joined Remus and Lily while Mark and Yuna went to join the other Ravenclaws.
"Let's try to keep things in order this year," Jackson said, looking hard at Remus. "Professor McGonagall wasn't happy at all this past year."
Ramona nodded. Her blonde hair was plaited in a thick braid. "Let's do our rounds and then we'll meet back before we reach Hogwarts."
The prefects nodded and stood, going their separate ways, careening through the other prefects and Head Boys and Girls. Lily straightened her robes before she stepped out of the prefects' car. As she passed each compartment, she took a quick look inside, noting the Gryffindors. Just as she reached the compartment Margaret was in, there was a loud bang from the compartment next to hers. Lily heard roars of laughter and thought she saw smoke seeping through the cracks in the door.
Before Lily could reach the compartment, Remus did all but shoved Lily aside, striding for the compartment. When the door opened, smoke billowed out. Remus waved his hand in front of his face, trying to push the smoke aside.
"Remus! Would you look at that?" Lily heard James say.
She tried to stay still, tried to focus on Margaret, but she couldn't. She bustled over to Remus just as the smoke began to clear. James, Sirius, and Peter were all standing in a compartment with Severus. James and Sirius looked quite satisfied with himself while Peter wore a stupid grin on his face. Lily looked at Severus, whose face was blackened. His Muggle clothes were singed and there was soot and ash on his lap.
When Severus saw Lily, he jumped to his feet, the ash falling to the floor. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at James.
"Severus, no!" Lily said, pushing past Remus, James, and Sirius.
"Don't stand up for him again, Evans," James said, sneering. "He'll never be able to stand up for himself if a girl keeps doing it."
Lily glared at James. "Don't you have something better to do?"
"This is so much more fun," he retorted.
Before Lily could say anything, Remus laid a hand on James's arm. "We aren't at school yet, James."
"That wouldn't stop him!" Sirius butted in.
Lily saw Severus's jaw lock tight. Rage flashed in his black eyes. "Put the wand away, Severus."
Severus hesitated. Why was it that she was always there when Potter and Black were after him? Now Peter and Remus would be trailing after him, too. Finally, he put his wand away, knowing, in the back of his head, that he couldn't do anything—at least, not until they reached Hogwarts.
"Saving the day again," James said smugly, backing out of the compartment.
Lily didn't say a word, but watched instead as James left, followed by Sirius and Peter. Remus paused just as he was leaving, looked at Lily, said, "I'm sorry" then closed the door. She wasn't actually sure who or what Remus was apologizing for. Lily turned to Severus, who looked overjoyed to be in the same compartment with her.
She pulled out her wand, waved it at Severus, and soot and ash disappeared from the floor, his clothes, and left his face clean. Stuffing her wand away, she opened the door and started to leave.
"Lily," Severus said, "I don't mind if you stay—"
She turned on her heels to face him. "No, thank you." Lily stepped out of the compartment. Closing the door behind her, it took all her strength to let go of the handle and return to Margaret.
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