A/N: This is the second installment of The Life and Lies of Lily Evans and James Potter! First off, let me thank a couple of people:
JamesxLilY4eva: My very first review! Thank you so much for your words of praise, and your advice! I took it into account while writing this chapter; it makes a difference!
hiitsbarbara719: you don't know how honored I felt when I saw that you added me to your Favorite Story Alerts! Thank you!
picklemaniac9: It feels great to see that someone likes your story so much that they add it to their Alerts! If you have any advice, please tell me!
Also, a HUGE thank you to my beta, siriuslydangerous!! You're a GREAT help, especially with my spelling, grammar, and story ideas! You're great to work with, and I look forward to working with you for the remainder of my story! Thank you!
Chapter Two
James
I had practiced my swagger off the train many times; it had to be cool, confident yet casual, and demanding attention. On the way to Hogwarts I had taught it to Sirius, and he caught my eye as the scarlet engine (Gryffindor colors, I thought with a smile) slowed to a stop.
"C'mon," Sirius nodded towards the exit once the mad rush of people dispersed. We, of course, had to be last. How could we get attention if we went first?
The two of us sauntered to the door, pulled in open, and together we slowly made our way down the aisle.
"Aren't they adorable?" was the first comment we heard. Sirius and I shared a mortified look: adorable was NOT supposed to be said! Cute, maybe, if said the right way, like "Wow those boys are cute..., but adorable? Never. I glared at the offending seventh year while Sirius checked for possible eavesdroppers.
"They're seventeen," muttered my friend encouragingly. "The think everyone third year and down is 'adorable'." Sirius spat the word out as if it pained him.
We waited until the seventh years were out of sight before resuming our swagger. We were just about to step out into the crowd—oh, that fateful moment—when Sirius crashed into a boy standing there, which caused me to trip, which caused all three of us to tumble to the ground.
There was some laughter among the upper forms (i.e fourth year and up), some rolled eyes among the rest, but most of the first years had already walked off with Hagrid, who was the Hogwarts gamekeeper, and as the three of us looked after them, they disappeared.
We all shared a look in silence, before Sirius spoke up.
"Bollocks."
"My sentiments exactly," I replied.
••••••••••
Lily
Aliya and I hurried out of the train the moment it stopped, eager to get our first glimpse of Hogwarts. Unfortunately, we had pulled up in an ordinary station.
"Wicked," breathed Aliya, pointing to my left. "Lily, look."
I turned, wondering what had got my friend so shocked. An absolutely huge man was walking up a path towards the station, swinging a giant lantern. Evidently he did this every year, because some of the older students called out greetings as they passed him in order to get to a line of carriages.
"Hiya, Hagrid!"
"Hey Hagrid! How're you doing?"
"We're Seventh Years now, Hagrid! We rule the school!"
The man—Hagrid—waved a dustbin-sized hand at them, before spotting us, that is, the huddled group of first years.
"All firs' years come this way!" Hagrid called out in a deep, booming voice.
Sharing an excited look with Aliya, we traipsed after the giant, and towards our new school.
Apart from seeing Hogwarts, the only thought on my mind was—where's Potter?
Not that I cared. It would just…look bad if he was late. Yeah. That was it. Of course I didn't care.
••••••
James
I watched the first years go with a shocked look at first before the boy I crashed into spoke up.
"I think we should follow them," he suggested in a small voice. I snorted in agreement.
"We could take a shortcut," Sirius had an unruffled air about him that was rather annoying.
"Yeah, that would work," the boy said before adding despondently, "If we knew any."
"That is where you are wrong, mate," Sirius smirked again. The boy looked rather shocked at being called 'mate'. "I have a cousin here who told me secret passages around the school grounds."
"Show us the way," I told him, and he led us around the station to where the upper classes had gone.
"This way will lead right to school," he said, grinning triumphantly. "Imagine their surprise when we daring adventures are already waiting for them at the school. It'll be priceless!"
The boy looked hesitant. "I'm not sure this is a good idea…"
"C'mon, mate! Where's your sense of fun?" Sirius cajoled.
"Fine, but it's your fault if we get caught," the boy conceded. He gave in with a small grin. I think he liked the idea of having us, the devilishly handsome marauders of the world, as mates. "I'm Remus Lupin."
"Sirius Black, dashingly handsome adventurer and mischief maker," preened Sirius as he led us up the path.
"I'm Potter; James Potter," I ruffled my hair and grinned at Remus. "Pleased to meet you. I, the devilishly handsome prankster and mischief maker here, at your service."
Sirius and I laughed (Remus gave a small smile) and the three of us ran, whooping and laughing, up the path where we passed through a small village ("Hogsmeade," said Sirius knowingly) and came to a stop in front of—
"Whoa," breathed Remus, his eyes reflecting the huge castle that lay in front of us. "Is that—Hogwarts?"
Sirius and I merely stared.
The castle was huge. There were lights in every tower, and we could hear laughter and talk from inside.
"Look!" Sirius pointed down towards a giant lake around the side of the castle. "There are the first years!"
"They're going on…boats?" I said, scanning the crowd. They weren't too far away from us; we could see them quite clearly although they could not see us. But, boats aren't exactly classy. My stomach felt a thrill as my eyes landed on a shock of red hair.
Stop, I told myself firmly. You don't even like her, remember? Don't go acting like you fancy her!
I tried to convince myself of this fact before I saw something that made my head spin, my heart pound, and all the blood rush up to my face to make me feel dizzy, nauseous, and sick.
Lily—my Lily, damn-it!—kissed a boy—one with greasy hair and an unfriendly scowl—On. The. Cheek.
All notions of feigning dislike for the Green-Eyed Girl vanished as that ugly little green monster, jealously, reared in my chest. I didn't stop to think why I was feeling this way, or why I suddenly wanted to rip that little greasy haired git's head right off his skinny neck, but I knew I had to do something, anything, for him to understand that Lily was off limits!
Sirius turned to me, probably to discuss how we would sneak into the eating hall, when he caught a look at the ferocious look on my face. He didn't waste time with pointless questions, didn't try to talk me out of it, he said just four words.
"Who, when, and how?"
••••••••
Lily
"No more then four per boat!" Hagrid called out as we approached a large, black lake with rows of small boats bobbing on the surface.
Nearly bubbling over with excitement, Aliya turns to me and pulled me towards a boat with two other people already sitting down.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see a familiar, skinny boy with long dark hair smiling nervously at me.
"Lily," he said.
"Sev! Where were you on the train? Come sit with me—oh," I said as I realized our boat was already full. "I'll see you after the boat ride!"
I impulsively kissed my first magical friend on the cheek and grinned at him, before I sat down in the boat with Aliya and the two others. Severus was the first one to tell me I was a witch, the one who I could escape to when Petunia was being 'too cool for a witch like you', and the one who introduced me to the wonders of magic, who took me shopping in Diagon Alley. Severus was my best friend, my truest friend, the one who never told you a lie and trusted you with his secrets and kept your own.
"I'm Alice Winter," one of my 'boat mates' said, a kind-looking girl with a round face and brown hair pulled into pigtails. "Isn't this exciting?"
"I'm Lizzie," said the other. "Lizzie Donnels."
"Lily Evans," I said.
"Aliya Patil," Aliya smiled. "I'm Muggleborn, so this is so exciting! When I first got my letter I thought it was a joke; I have twin brothers that are always causing trouble…"
As the other three girls prattled on, my eyes were drawn to the side of the lake, near a forest. Three shapes were prowling around, and one of them nudged the other and pointed to…Severus?
I glanced over at Hagrid, who was busy trying to find someone's kneazle (whatever that is), so I nudged Aliya.
"Look, over there," I pointed to the shapes, one of which was definitely Potter.
Lizzie leaned around me to look. "I know who that is," she giggled. "It's James Potter. My sister says he's going to be hot when he's older."
"He's already hot," Aliya giggled back, and the two of them snickered with laughter. "But he's off limits—he only has eyes for Li-ly. He called her, what was it, "slim, beautiful, pretty, delicate and unique"! All in one go!"
"That's so sweet!" squealed Lizzie. I rolled my eyes, feeling my face heat up with embarrassment.
"You guys—quit it! Potter's a prat!"
"A cute prat," Lizzie sang.
"I think they're plotting something," Alice jumped to my rescue. "Look, they're throwing something into the boats."
Sure enough, zits were breaking out all over the crowd where whatever they were throwing hit, causing disruption and our boat ride to be delayed.
"Isn't that the boy Lily kissed earlier?" Aliya said, pointing to a familiar figure who was heading towards the shape.
"What? Sev? Where?" I looked at his retreating form for a second and swore. "Damn Potter!"
Lizzie and Aliya looked at me in surprised while Alice laid a hand on my arm. "What are you thinking, Lily?"
"Potter's going to do something awful to Sev," I said, feeling my heart race speed up as I said it. "Look, we aren't going to get to Hogwarts anytime soon. Not with—" I gestured to the chaos unfolding in the crowd.
The kneazle (it looked like a cat to me) had seemingly multiplied, and one had escaped into the lake, where a boy had dived in to get it, and Hagrid had jumped in to get to the boy, which caused water to swell over those nearest to him (the ones with the zits), which caused the zits to swell.
"Yeah, but—Lily, you're not thinking of going after them, are you?" Aliya laughed weakly, but stilled when she saw the look on my face. "Are you?"
"I'm not going after Potter," I told her, but her relief was short-lived as I added, "I'm going after Severus. Who's in?"
The three girls shared a look before Aliya—and, surprisingly, Alice whom I had thought to be shy—both nodded, and glared at Lizzie when she didn't follow their lead.
"What?" She nodded resignedly. "I'm going, I'm going. If we get into trouble, though—it's Lily's fault."
"Hey!" I protested quietly as we slipped out of the boat and silently made our way to Potter and Severus.
Why, oh, why was Potter always involved?
•••••••••••••••••
James
"Did you see that? I never knew water and this powder would work that way!" Sirius said gleefully as he flung the Zit-Inducing Powder into the crowd.
"So, once you lure that boy away, what, exactly, are you planning on doing?" Remus asked. Once he got past his fear at being discovered, he had gotten into the scheme, even showing us a nifty spell that had multiplied some boy's kneazle. He would definitely be helpful in any pranking that was going to be going on.
"I hadn't thought of that," I admitted. "What do you think?" Remus seemed to have a logical mind that was creative and smart, so I figured his opinions would be worth hearing.
"I know! How about we shove that snivelly git into the lake and be done with it!" Sirius cheered. He struck a heroic pose. "Nobody messes with the pranksters!"
Remus looked thoughtful. "He would tell on us."
I rolled my eyes, though the prospect of shoving the Git-Who-Dared-To-Let-Lily-Kiss-Him right into the lake was rather tempting.
"No, he wouldn't know who we were, since—" Sirius looked sideways at me, silently asking if it was okay to divulge our secret.
Might as well tell him. If he's to become a prankster with us, he'll need to know. Plus, if the git sees him, Remus will get blamed for it all.
I nodded back at Sirius, who gleefully told Remus all about the benefits of having a cloak that turned you invisible.
"Guys," I said suddenly. I pointed down at the lake, where a figure with awful, greasy hair was coming towards us. "The Greasy Git has joined us."
We all hid under my cloak, which I snatched out of my pocket just in time.
"Let's just push him into the lake, please, James! It'll wash his hair," breathed Sirius in my ear. He nudged me. "And it'll be fun."
I was still undecided, though. How would pushing him in the lake warn him to keep his greasy git self off of Lily. It wouldn't, I told myself. But it would make you fell better, and if you prank him every time he invades Lily's space, he'll soon learn.
It seemed very appealing. I nodded, Sirius celebrated, and Remus kept a look out.
The git came towards us, and nosed around. "I know someone's there."
We held our breath. If he caught us now…
"It couldn't be first years," decided the git after a few heart-stopping seconds. "That charm was too complicated for first years."
There was a taut silence before Remus, hand clamped firmly over his mouth, pointed in the direction of the boats. They had left, and were bobbing serenely on their way to the school of magic. 'Now', he mouthed to me, and Sirius nodded. They were too far away to see us push him in, and I highly doubted they could hear Greasy-Haired Git.
Without stopping to think about the repercussions of our prank, or the cruelty of it all, I reached down, picked up a stone and I carefully exposed only part of my arm while throwing it in the lake.
Snivelly-Nosed Snot immediately rushed towards the sound, and we advanced behind him.
"On three," I mouthed, and they nodded. Together we counted down…Three—we positioned ourselves to run if he turned…two—we cracked our knuckles and held out our hands, ready to push…one—
"Potter!" a screech spilt the air and I pulled back at the sound of my name. My movement caused the Cloak to sway, and Remus to fall backwards, pulling Sirius with him, and we all fell down, our legs exposed. Damn. Of course, Git-face jumped away from the lake, causing our prank to be called off. Double damn.
"Lily!" he called, and through the cloak I saw my Lily run up to the Git and hug him.
"Did they hurt you, Sev?" she asked worriedly as she let go of him. "Damn that Potter, anyhow! They were going to push you into the lake, Severus!"
Severus, was it? So, Lily refused to call me James, but she calls him Severus?
Three other girls came huffing towards us. One of them was that girl who was with Lily on the train. Another was a pretty, blonde girl who was looking me up and down appreciatively, and the last, a fair-looking brunette, was glaring at the three of us in disgust. Much like Lily was, actually.
"Lily—I, er, well…" I stammered. Get a grip on yourself, Potter! "Will you go out with me?"
What did I just say?
••••••••••••
Lily
I stared at him, unsure on what to say. Did he really say that, or was I imagining it?
Behind me, Aliya, Alice and Lizzie were giggling, but I paid them no heed. I had just run for my life in order to get here, after seeing them disappear and lure Sev towards the lake, and here Potter was, along with two other brainless fools, having the nerve to Ask. Me. Out!
"Potter, you better listen because I'm going to only say this once, and only once," I said, my voice low and deadly. My eyes flashed and if looks could kill, this boy would be dead a million times over. "I will never, ever go out with a prat like you! I'd only ever go out with you if you pushed yourself into the lake and drowned! You've been nothing but mean to me since the moment we met, and I'm telling you, leave me alone, or else!" I spun on my heel, fully intending to swim all the way to Hogwarts if I had to, when a rude voice from behind me stopped me.
"How, pray tell, are you going to go to Hogwarts?" a boy with shaggy black hair asked me snob-ishly.
"Why should I tell you?" I asked right back. "You're just as awful as Him." I looked hard at the boy on Pot—I mean, His left, expecting him to say something along the same lines, but he looked guilty and ashamed at himself.
What?! Why would anyone associated with Potter be ashamed of themselves? It didn't make sense.
"I'm sorry," the boy said, not meeting my eyes. "I didn't mean to hurt him, I swear. I got left behind, really, I did. I'm not mean. I swear."
"Maybe you aren't," I said bitterly. I jerked a head towards Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb (note: emphasis on Dumb). "But they are."
I walked away, and sat down on a rock, putting my face into my hands. I felt a hand on my shoulder, but I shrugged it off.
What had happened? I was supposed to be indoors, happily looking around at my new school as I talked and ate (my stomach rumbled mournfully), not sitting out here, freezing cold and having a horrible prat ask me out!
Why had he done that? Did he fancy me? No; he couldn't. If he did, he would be nice, and sweet, and charming. He wouldn't force me to buy him chocolate, or capture my best friend in order to push him into the lake.
If the circumstances had been different, I asked myself, would you, perhaps, have accepted?
Would I have? If we had been playfully arguing in the dining hall instead of here, and he had sincerely asked me out, would I have said yes?
I immediately told myself 'no, absolutely not', but if that was the truth, why did I feel so confused?