Chapter One

Seven years later.

"Ew, Wormtail, don't do that. It's nasty," said James Potter as his friend Peter Pettigrew took his finger out of his nose.

"I had something stuck . . . never mind," said Peter, lowering his head to study his shoes.

"So, you guys . . . last year at Hogwarts, eh? How do ya think it's going to go?" asked Sirius Black, a handsome young man who sat beside James in their compartment on the Hogwarts Express. James smirked.

"It's going to be great. I think Lily is going to fall for my irresistible charm this year," said James, running his hand over his angular jaw. "I mean, how can she not?"

"I could list a few reasons," said an annoyed female voice from the hallway. James, Peter and Sirius looked towards the door to see a pretty seventeen year old girl with long, straight red hair and piercing green eyes.

"Hey, Lily!" said James, smiling sheepishly. "Thought you couldn't sit with me because you had to go do rounds or something. What brings you here?"

"Rounds," she said matter of factly. James nodded.

"Hey, Lily, you see Snivellus over the summer break?" asked Sirius, sticking out his tongue.

"Grow up Sirius. His name is Severus."

"No . . . it's Snivellus, isn't it James?" asked Sirius, smirking at James. James nodded. So did Peter.

"Whatever. No, I didn't, to answer your question. We aren't speaking anymore," she said, then stalked away, leaving the door to their compartment open.

"She wants me so bad," said James putting his hands behind his neck.

"Geez, she's gotten really high and mighty hasn't she? I think it's that Head Girl badge . . . I swear, it did something to her," said Sirius shaking his head.

"She's always been high and mighty," pointed out James. Sirius shrugged.

"True."

"Hey, where's Remus? Shouldn't he be doing rounds with Lily? Lucky bastard . . ." murmured James under his breath. Peter looked a bit alarmed, and Sirius laughed.

"Don't use that kind of language around Pettigrew, James," he said, "he doesn't understand what it means."

"I do so!" said Peter indignantly, and James and Sirius laughed. One of their favorite hobbies was getting Peter wound up, which wasn't very hard to do.

The compartment door slid open and a shaggy looking seventeen year old walked in and sat himself beside Peter.

"You look terrible," said James.

"Nice to see you too," said the boy, smiling.

"You know, you shouldn't be sitting in here with us. If Head Girl sees you she'll give you the third degree," said Sirius.

"What can she do? Take away my Head Boy badge?" asked the boy sarcastically. "Yeah, right. Trust me, I can put that Lily Evans in her place."

"You seem to be the only one . . ." said James, shaking his head.

"Probably because I'm not hitting on her all the time."

"But I never hit on her, and she's always acting all superior with me. How do you explain that, Remus?" asked Sirius.

Remus shrugged. "Because you're always breaking the rules?"

"What about Peter? He's never does either of those things."

"Maybe she just doesn't like me," said Peter, more to himself than to anyone else.

"If she doesn't like you, she's mental," said James, reaching a hand out and putting it on Peter's shoulder. Peter smiled shyly. It was moments like those that made his friendship with James, Sirius and Remus truly worth it.

"Thanks, Prongs," said Peter. James patted his shoulder, and then slumped back down into his seat.

"I should probably get back to doing my rounds," said Remus, standing up. "See you guys at the sorting ceremony." He left the three of them sitting alone in their compartment.

"He's so serious," said Sirius, and James laughed.

"What?" asked Sirius.

"Yeah Sirius, he's so serious."

"Ha-ha. I've never heard that one before," said Sirius, punching James in the shoulder.

"Hey, hey, stop! Check it out," said James, pointing to their compartment door. All three of the boys looked, but there was nothing there.

"What the . . . ? I swear I just saw someone peeping through the window on the door," said James, shaking his head.

"Are you feeling okay?" asked Sirius, putting a hand up to James's forehead. James swatted it away, rolling his eyes.

"I'm fine, thank you very much. But I'm not joking. There was someone there."

"Maybe its Lily, realizing that you're her one true love," joked Sirius.

"No, I'm pretty sure it was a guy . . ." said James, too preoccupied with his thoughts to catch Sirius's joke.

"Longbottom maybe? That's guys always snooping around. I think he might be working for You-Know-Who."

"Frank? No, not possible," said James, dismissing the idea instantly. Frank Longbottom was one of the nicest guys he knew. He didn't think that he would even consider being a follower of Lord Voldemort.

"Well, you never know . . ." said Sirius, putting his hands in the air.

"Yeah, I do. Honestly, Padfoot, Frank wouldn't hurt a fly, much less a person."

"I . . . I think that James is right," said Peter and James grinned at him.

"Why, thank you Peter! That is the first time you've agreed with me since, um . . . ever!"

"Well . . . it's just . . . I don't think Frank Longbottom has it in him. It takes a very unique person to—"

"Unique? More like mental," said Sirius, shaking his head.

"I heard Regulus is hanging out with them. You know . . . the followers," said James, whispering. Sirius turned towards him, a stern look on his face.

"Regulus can go stuff a duck, for all I care," he said, his teeth clenched.

"You know you say that, but I don't think you really want your brother to become a follo—"

"Like I said, he can do whatever he wants," said Sirius, turning away from James and looking through the compartment door. "It's his life, not mine."

James shifted awkwardly in his seat. He knew that he shouldn't have brought Regulus up; it was always a touchy subject with Sirius. Eager to change the subject of the conversation, he quickly worded the first thing that popped into his head.

"So, Sirius, how's that Muggle you were dating?"

"Don't know, I haven't seen her since we broke up," said Sirius, shrugging.

"You guys broke up?" asked Peter, looking as surprised as James.

"Yeah, after I took her home to meet my parents (she insisted, okay?) and my mother scared the hell out of her."

"You sure have guts, dating a Muggle with your parents being the way they are."

"I know, I did it to bother them," said Sirius, chuckling.

"And that poor girl was just a pawn of their annoyance. You are so heartless, Sirius Black," said James, shaking his head with a grin. Sirius grinned too.

"I know," he said, and the two burst out laughing.

James looked towards the window of the compartment door and saw a tall, skinny boy walking by wearing dark robes. His hair was greasy, his skin extremely pale and his nose rather large. James nudged Sirius who stood up and slid the door open.

"Hey, Snivelly!" he called, and the boy turned around. His eyes were like coals.

"What?" he asked in his dull, toneless voice.

"I heard you and Evans got into a bit of a spat over the holidays," said Sirius, raising an eyebrow. "What's that all about?"

"None of your business," muttered Snape, turning away.

"Oh, come on, don't be like that. You can tell me! I swear, I won't tell a soul!"

Snape turned and glared at him.

"Why don't you just get your friend Potter to ask her? I'm sure she'd tell him anything." He smiled sarcastically and stalked away.

"Okay . . . Great to see you, too!" called Sirius, and then he slid back into the compartment.

"So, how is our dear old Snivellus doing?" asked James, and Sirius chuckled.

"Touchier than usual. I think he must have confessed to Lily or something and she turned him down. I'm not sure . . . He said to have you ask her, cause she would tell you anything."

"Aha! I knew she wanted me," said James, readjusting his tie. Peter chuckled nervously and Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Like anyone but us could put up with you," he said. James scoffed in mock offense.

"Ouch," he said, "you make it sound like I'm a burden."

The door slid open and Remus peeked in.

"You three better put your robes on. We'll be arriving soon." He started to leave, then peeked back in. "Did you say something to Snape, Sirius?"

"No, why?"

"Because he seemed a bit ticked. I walked by him and he bumped me really hard and said, 'Tell your friend to get his nose out of other people's business'."

"Bah, Snivellus is just a bit on edge cause of the spat between him and Lily. He'll get over it," shrugged Sirius, putting his robes on. James and Peter did the same. Remus shrugged and walked away.

"Well guys, we're finally here. NEWT year . . . You guys ready?" asked James.

"Bring it on!" said Sirius and Peter at the same time, and James smiled as the train came to an abrupt stop.

James, Sirius and Peter followed Remus, Lily and the rest of the prefects into the great hall. It looked exactly the way it always did, except on the days of the OWL exams. He and his friends had taken them two years back, and his friend Alice Hopewell would be taking them that year. He spotted Alice and went to sit down beside her. Sirius, Peter and Remus joined them. James pointed out an empty spot in front of him for Lily, but she ignored him and went to sit at the edge of the table. As the first years were sorted, all of the new Gryffindors avoided sitting beside Lily, maybe intimidated by the fact that she was the Head Girl. Finally, a perky little eleven year old with pink hair took a stand and sat down beside her, immediately beginning to talk to her animatedly.

"I wonder if I could get that first year to help me out with Lily," murmured James, and Alice elbowed him.

"Real nice, James. Is it that hard just to go up to talk to her?"

"Uh, well, yeah. You see, she always finds an excuse to leave before I can say my third sentence."

"Hmm . . . So, do you want me to help you out?" asked the fifteen-year-old, grinning.

"Would you?"

"I can try," said Alice, winking.

"Oh my God, Alice, you know I love you, right?"

"Save it," she said, laughing, as professor Dumbledore stood up to give his beginning-of-term speech. It changed every single year, and normally James listened intently, but this year he decided to stare at Lily Evans. He realized she had been glancing at him. He felt a glimmer of hope. It probably wasn't all lost after all.

The plates filled with food, Lily started to explain something to the first year with the green hair ('Hey, didn't she have pink hair, like two seconds ago?' pointed out Sirius, his mouth full of something) and James began to dig in. The house elves that served at Hogwarts always seemed to know exactly what he was in the mood for. He ate as much as was humanly possible, then waited for Dumbledore to lay out the ground rules of Hogwarts. When Dumbledore was done, the prefects and Head Boy and Girl stood up to lead the way towards the common rooms, the first years following close behind. James, Sirius and Peter decided to take a little short cut towards the Slytherins, seeing as Remus had already told them the password was 'Globberworm'. When they got there, they noticed Snape stalking behind a girl with long brown hair. She was talking animatedly to him about something the three boys couldn't hear.

"Oh my God . . ." whispered Sirius, pointing at the girl. James recognized her as Sirius's cousin, Bellatrix Black, a fifth year who had openly pledged her loyalty to Lord Voldemort. Everybody knew of the secret group (or not so secret once Bellatrix blabbed) that called themselves death eaters. The rumors were that this group included Sirius's younger brother, Regulus, and, with Bellatrix in there, too, everybody assumed that Sirius must be a 'death eater'.

"Snivellus? No way. He's in with the death eaters?"

"Maybe he's just in the need of some new eye candy, now that Lily's out of the picture," joked James, but the look on Sirius's face said that it was no time for joking.

"I . . . I can't believe it!"

"I can," said Peter quietly.

"You know, I can, too," said James, "He's totally the type."

"Well I can't. And look, they're holding hands! It's disgusting!"

"Sirius . . . They aren't holding hands, she's just grasping his wrist," said James, looking and feeling confused. "Well, that's strange."

"Indeed," said Sirius, and Peter mumbled something under his breath that neither bothered to ask about. Peter nearly always mumbled his words, but when he had something important to say, he said it out loud.

The three watched as the Slytherins left the Great Hall, and then stood in silence for a few seconds. Finally, Sirius broke the silence.

"Come on, guys, let's go," he said. James and Peter nodded, and together they made their way towards the Gryffindor common room.