Chapter 2

Remus Lupin was the first to break the tense atmosphere. "Hey, Lily." He gave her a small, sheepish smile, before hanging his head back over his book.

Smiling back, Lily said hi nervously, then continued with "I'm sorry, normally this booth is free... I thought it would be now... I'll just go..." Lily nodded to the rest of the Marauders, and turned on her heel to leave.

"Can't get enough of me, can you Evans?" Potter stuck his hands behind his head and leaned back, grinning at her. Sirius' laugh boomed, as he squirmed in his seat giving James a high five, whilst Remus rolled his eyes and Peter forced a chuckle.

Lily spun around, and looked James in the eyes. "Potter, tell me why I shouldn't just Hex you right now." She scowled at him and Sirius, who was now grinning at her too.

James tapped his chin as if he was in deep thought, and then replied "because you love me?"

"Let's get this straight, Potter," Lily huffed, "I never have, I don't, and I will never love you. Not even if you died and became an angel; I would still hate you."

Remus looked up from his book whilst James and Sirius acted offended through fits of laughter. "Hate's a strong word, Lils."

Lily smirked. "Well, it's the truth. I'll see you later, Rem." She smiled at him politely.

"Don't go, Lily, if there are no other booths. Stay here." Remus patted the space beside him, beckoning her over to sit with him.

"Yeah, Evans, stay!" Sirius winked at her playfully. "I'm sure James would love the company." James snarled at Sirius and tackled him into a headlock, both of them trying to do more damage to the other. Peter looked from the fight, then back to Lily.

As she sighed and rolled her eyes, Lily plonked herself in the empty space near Remus, muttering "If he does anything, I'm going Rem." which he answered with a nod.

James looked up from play fighting with Sirius, stopping, making Sirius look up too. "Remus, swap places with me, you know I don't like travelling backwards." James smirked.

"What do you mean? I've never heard of – oh. Right, sure." Remus shrugged and got up, allowing for James and him to change places.

Lily stifled a whine towards them both, but it must've shown in her eyes when Remus mouthed a quick 'Sorry' to her, making Sirius laugh once more. James leaned dangerously close to her, smiling rather than smirking at her for once. "How was your summer, Lily?" This had been the first time since – well, Lily couldn't remember – that James had called her by her first name, not to mention asking her a normal, decent question.

She looked back from Sirius and Remus, who although looked as if in deep chatter were probably listening in. "It was okay; it got a little boring towards the end though. I'm glad to be coming back to school. And yours?" It felt strange to her, to be nice to the boy, but he wasn't being cocky to her, so it wasn't like she could tell him to go away; she wasn't that cruel.

James looked at her, his smile fading. "Not good... you don't by any chance order the Daily Prophet?"

She cocked her head questioningly at him. "No, I used to, but Petunia would take them before I read anything, saying it was all a load of rubbish..." She frowned at the memory, and then asked "Why?"

"It was in there; my Mum, she, uh, she's gone missing..." His shoulders dropped a little, sighing. At this point, Remus, Sirius and Peter looked at James in sync, all three of them frowning.

"Oh Merlin, I'm so sorry, James..."Lily put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "How long has it been?" She whispered.

James shrugged. "2 – 3 weeks? It feels like longer though." His lip trembled towards the end. Sirius got up from his seat, and sat on the other side of James, patting his back.

"C'mon, Prongs, cheer up mate. She'll come home eventually."

"Yeah, Siri's right, James. It'll be okay." Remus smiled at James, and Peter nodded in agreement.

Lily had never seen the Marauders this vulnerable; it made her feel like she was intruding in on their lives, so she gave them some space by staring out of the window. James sniffed and nodded feebly. "Thanks guys." He muttered, rubbing his cheek. Sirius patted him on the back once more, and returned to his seat. "So..." James looked at Lily, and she broke her trance off the passing trees, and smiled at him. Scratching the back of his neck awkwardly, he chuckled "Sorry for that, it kinda killed the mood."

Lily blinked at him. "Oh, no, it's okay, you haven't really." She knew as much as him that was a lie. Remus had now returned back to his book, Sirius twiddling his thumbs and Peter staring out of the window.

He chuckled again, this time at her. "Sure."

A few minutes passed before anything interesting happened. A wrinkled witch who usually patrolled the corridors selling sweets arrived.

"Can I get you anything, m'dears?" She croaked to the five students.

James, Peter and Sirius' face lit up, and Remus folded the corner of his book before returning it to his bag. Lily arched an eyebrow at them all, rather confused at the sudden excitement.

The four then began taking heaps of candy between them, paying equal amounts for their share. Depositing the mass onto the empty space on the seat, they began unwrapping chocolate frogs, cramming Bertie Botts into their mouths, and sucking on sugar quills, oblivious to Lily gaping at them all.

With chocolate smudged around his mouth, Remus looked up at Lily, and chuckled. "It's tradition. Want one?" He offered her a cookie, and she took it thankfully, nibbling at the edges.

James laughed at Lily trying to be clean and tidy. "C'mon, Evans, just eat the thing before I do!" and with that, he shoved another liquorice wand into his mouth.

She shook her head, rather disgusted with them all. "That's gross, can't you eat normally? And we've got the feast later. I wouldn't be surprised if you have to throw up by the end of the night."

Peter heard this, and shrugged. "Sometimes they do." Lily grimaced.

"Aww, poor ickle Evans having to watch!" Sirius snorted, and Potter shoved him in the shoulder hard. "OW! What was that for?"

James shrugged. "Do you want some, Ev... Lily?" he picked up a Chocolate Frog for her, smiling. She found it a bit weird that he was being nice, but she took it anyway, muttering her thanks. Sirius wolf-whistled. "OH SHUT UP!" James bellowed, his boyish grin gone, and replaced with an angry stare.

Silence fell in the carriage, and Lily broke it with: "It's alright, James, he's only messing..." She'd never seen him this angry, especially with Sirius; they were like brothers.

He looked down at his lap, hiding his reddening face. "Sorry Padfoot."

Sirius sighed, but nudged James' shoulder with his elbow. "Eh mate s'alright. I kinda deserved that."

The nudge made James look back up, and he punched Sirius in the chest playfully. "Yup, you did." This made Peter and Remus chuckle, and Sirius grin.

"Hey, Lily, I bet you can't eat more than Pettigrew." Remus smirked at her, challenging her to fight back. Peter rolled his eyes, muttering 'Don't drag me into anything...'

She placed a hand on her chest, and faked a gasp. "You think I can't eat as much as a Marauder? I'm offended." Grabbing the chocolate bar Remus was about to bite into, Lily ate it in two swift bites.

James laughed and winked at Remus. "Prove it, Lils, and I'll... I'll kiss Padfoot." He shrugged, and Remus fell off his seat in shock, whilst Sirius snorted and replied "You'll never get a kiss then, Prongs."

"James Potter," Lily smirked, "pucker up." She grabbed a box of edible Galleons, and began to work her way through them.

Arching an eyebrow, Lupin looked back at James, unwrapping another chocolate bar. "She'll actually do it, you know." Lily had now finished the Galleons, and was now onto her 2nd liquorice wand.

"Yeah right, Evans'll give up after her 4th piece of candy." Sirius stated, and Peter nodded in agreement.

"She won't do it, I can eat lots" Peter beamed proudly, making the other three boys chortle and Lily gasp.

Chewing her way through a sugar quill, Lily winked. "For that Peter, I'm going to have to prove you wrong."

"URGH!" James roared, pulling away from Sirius and wiping his mouth. "You could at least brush your teeth Pads! Tasted like dog..." He shuddered.

Lily laughed with Remus and Peter, watching Sirius spit into his jumper. "Nice one, Prongs. 'I'll kiss Padfoot!' What were you thinking? Dragging me into it..."

Potter shrugged, still wiping his mouth. Remus answered for him though. "He didn't think that she'd do it. Actually, neither did I."

"Thanks guys, you must think so highly of me." Lily felt incredibly sick; she'd just finished the remainder of the sweets, including all of the Bertie Botts, one of which was toilet water.

By that time, the dull grey sky had begun to darken, and the carriage lights started to flicker on and off.

Sighing, Remus stood up, pulling down his trunk. "Better start getting ready guys." Sirius, James and Peter followed him, whilst Lily yanked hers down and slid open the door.

James cocked his head to the side. "Er, where are you going, Evans?"

"I'm not getting changed in here. I'll go somewhere else." She ignored the fact he'd called her Evans, and stood between the doorway.

"Aw, come on Evans, show us your knickers." Sirius winked at her.

Peter rolled his eyes. "If she wants to go, let her."

Smirking, James laughed with Sirius. "What's the matter Pete, don't want a girl seeing your six pack? Well, if you won't show her, I'll show her mine."

"Oh! Prongs, we could get her to judge once and for all who's the sexiest..." Sirius grinned.

"Lily, I'd go if I were you." Remus sighed, looking up at Sirius, who was now grinning back down at him, his shirt half pulled over his head which put him in a tangle.

Lily laughed half-heartedly. "Already way ahead of you, Remmy. I'll come back once I'm done. See you in a minute."

James grabbed her arm. "But Evans! You haven't told us who's sexiest. It's me, isn't it? It's alright, you can say, I don't mind." Sirius snorted.

She smirked back at him. "Remus is." Disappointment shadowed James and Sirius' face, and Remus and Peter began laughing at them as Lily walked out.