Lily rejoined her friends once the train arrived at the station. Imogen was quick to fuss over her, tucking away any fly-away hair strands Lily might have possessed. "I'm so happy to see you!" Imogen practically blubbered, tears in her eyes. Despite her imposing height and pristine appearance, Imogen was frequently in tears either from joy or sadness.
"Merlin, Imogen," Lily laughed, giving her friend a tight hug.
Sniffling, Imogen gingerly wiped the tears away from her face, "I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"
Mary grinned at the two of them, standing on her tip-toes to sling and arm around both of their shoulders, "Nice to be back, isn't it girls?"
Attempting to ignore the incredible weight of Mary's muscular arms on her shoulders, Lily looked up at the castle in the distance and smiled, "It always is."
The three of them chatted excitedly as they walked over to the carriages that would bring them to the castle. Apparently, Mary and her boyfriend had vacationed with her family in Cornwall this summer. "My mum loves Bilius." Mary gushed, unable to contain the fact that she too felt that way about him. And why shouldn't she? Bilius was wonderful: funny (not maliciously), studious (but not too serious), and generous to a fault.
Imogen's summer had been very eventful. By the end of their conversation, Lily was certain her friend had dated at least three different boys in her village. "How do you even have time for all that?" Lily asked, simply amazed at her friend's romantic abilities.
With a coy smile, Imogen winked at her red-haired friend as they approached their carriage, "Let me show you." As Lily and Mary climbed in, she turned and called out to a group of boys wandering up behind them. "Boys- we've got room!" Lily turned in her seat to see who Imogen had invited for the ride to the castle, and quickly felt a mixture of emotions at the three boys joining them.
First to sit down, across from Mary, was her boyfriend Bilius Weasley. He greeted Lily with a smile and a nod, only to then reach out and give his girlfriend's hand a quick squeeze. Next came Lily's current favorite, James Potter, who sat across from her. Somehow emotionally recovered from the embarrassing incident on the train, he seemed to be full of laughs as he climbed aboard. Though, this seemed to halt as soon as he made eye contact with her. For possibly the first time since she'd ever encountered James, he seemed to be near frozen on the spot. It was incredibly odd.
Of course, she did not care about his strange behavior as soon as Tiberus McClaggen sat down across from Imogen."'Ello ladies!" His voice boomed, his brilliant smile practically blinding Lily. Even with the dried blood on his robes from the duel on the train, he was still so handsome.
Beside her, Lily felt Imogen shift in her seat ever so slightly. "Got the bleeding to stop, McClaggen?" Imogen quipped with a laugh.
He nodded, pushing his golden-blond curls out of his eyes. "Aye, took Frank Longbottom a solid twenty minutes to figure it out." He laughed, wrapping an arm around a near-silent James, who looked like a doll in Tiberus' massive arms, and squeezing the younger boy close. "Thanks to this one, Rosier and Wilkes lost their wands before they could do worse."
James smiled, his pride almost made Lily roll her eyes. "I can't believe you started a fight on the train," She said, half-smiling despite herself at the boldness of the boys. It was so stupid.
At that, the boy across from her perked up. "It was self-defense. They attacked me unprovoked." James insisted, his hazel eyes wide and imploring.
"For once," Lily scoffed, despite herself.
Tiberus let out a laugh that sounded more like a hoot, "Go easy on my boy, Evans. It really was this time." Emphasis on the words 'this time', Lily thought but decided it was a lost cause. To be fair, knowing the Slytherins that had been involved… she could easily believe it had actually been self-defense.
"Who used the expanding head charm?" Mary's voice could hardly contain her glee. She had a deep-seated hatred for those Slytherins, due to their viciousness on the Quidditch pitch.
Tibrus wiggled his eyebrows and then pointed to himself, "Did good work, didn't I?" He released James from his grip and tapped Lily with his foot, "Don't tell McGonagall, eh prefect?"
As they walked into the castle, the group of six unconsciously split into pairs as they moved, with Mary and Bilius in deep discussion at the head of the group and Imogen and Tiberus trailed behind. This, unfortunately, left Lily walking alongside James Potter. She took a deep breath, giving him a sideways glance. Perhaps he'd changed over the summer? Perhaps James had grown up a little? Lily liked to give people the benefit of the doubt, but the Marauders made it so difficult.
Though, Remus had proven not all of them were terrible. Even Peter was quite sweet sometimes, when he wasn't acting like a sneak. "So you're a prefect." James' voice cut through Lily's thoughts, and she blinked at him a few times in confusion.
"Is that a question?"
He laughed, albeit nervously, his hand ruffling the back of his hair. "More of an observation."
"Astute." Lily said with raised eyebrows, turning away from him to focus on the approaching entrance doors.
Lily heard a soft chuckle beside her, "I try." As much as she tried to conceal it, a slight smirk developed on her lips. James was acting so oddly that she couldn't help it. It was almost as if his entire personality had been overhauled, leaving this nervous, almost sweet teenager behind.
After moments of silence, Lily decided perhaps she was being a touch unfair. Perhaps James Potter could be saved from a life of being a prat. "How were… your holidays?" Lily asked after a slightly loud inhale (that sounded suspiciously like a sigh). She glanced to her side, his eyes snapped right to her face- causing her heart to skip a beat. For all of his faults (and there were so many), James was really not terrible to look at. If only his personality could match.
He smiled, again Lily felt something in her chest that she decided to ignore, "Sirius stayed with me for most of it, we went on some adventures." The tone of his voice suggested that many of these adventures were probably not safe. Or legal. "What did you do, Evans? Read all summer?" He winked at her, and Lily tried to fight the feeling of indignation in her gut.
"Har har, Potter." She scoffed, "I only read half of the time, obviously- I spent the other half polishing my new badge."
"Touche," He laughed, the lack of malice in it almost made Lily feel uncomfortable… but not necessarily in a bad way. His opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off.
"Lily!" Imogen turned around (her arm lightly touching McClaggen's arm), "Make sure you sit with us for supper! Tiberus has the funniest story to tell you about some kelpies he saw outside of Glasgow."
James laughed, almost voicing Lily's thoughts: "I can't help but wonder how funny a story about kelpies really is."