Chapter 1: Let's Play Ball!
Lily Evans, a tall red-haired seventeen-year-old with dazzling green eyes, stared up at her father.
"Are you ready, Dad?" She asked as she took his hand.
"Let's do this," he said with a grimace. Mr. Evans squeezed his eyes shut as Lily pulled him quickly forward through what appeared to be a solid brick wall.
His eyes snapped open to see a glimmering red train appear before him. It was surrounded by a mob of people dressed in what looked to him like dressing gowns. Everywhere he looked there were children saying goodbye to parents or greeting old friends. There were owls in cages and cats leaping about. To say that Mr. Evans felt uncomfortable in this strange world would be the definition of an understatement.
Fortunately for Mr. Evans, Lily was entering her seventh and final year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Mr. Evans would never need to enter this platform again as long as he lived.
"Here we are Dad!" Lily announced.
She was ecstatic to be re-entering the world in which she belonged. Hogwarts was her true home. Growing up in a family of muggles, Lily had been shocked to learn of the existence of the hidden wizarding world, and had quickly grown fond of anything and everything to do with magic. Her parents tried their best to be supportive after learning what Lily truly was. After all, she was just eleven years old when they discovered she was a witch. Despite their best efforts to be accepting of their daughter's new life, Lily knew that her parents drew straws each year to pick who had the unfortunate task of taking her to the train station.
"See any of your friends, Dear?" her father asked, hoping to get away as quickly as possible.
"Lily, Mr. Evans!" A boy named James Potter called from across the platform.
James was a tall, handsome young man who had fancied Lily since the first day of their first year at Hogwarts. James' athletic build, intriguingly messy brown hair, and warm golden-brown eyes made him quite popular among the ladies. Lily was very possibly the only exception to his charm. She had always found him to be arrogant, obnoxious, and juvenile. Unfortunately for her, Lily and James shared the same house and the same friends, which meant they were often forced to interact.
Over the summer, Lily had experienced what she referred to as a "momentary lapse of judgment", and allowed James to enter more deeply into her life. They had spent several days together, during which time Lily had begun to see James in an entirely different light. Spending time with him had challenged every conception she had ever had about him. She had discovered him to be caring, generous, and actually enjoyable. Naturally, Lily was left feeling perplexed and uncertain of how to react when she saw him again at school.
Lily was hoping to ignore James as much as possible and avoid talking about what had transpired over the summer. So when she saw him waving and grinning like a maniac across the platform, she tried to walk the other way. Regrettably, her father had seen him first and was already pulling her in James' direction.
Please behave, Potter, Lily pleaded in her mind as she approached him. He was standing with his best mate, Sirius Black, or as Lily referred to him, James' partner in crime.
"Hey there, Son," Mr. Evans greeted James by clapping him warmly on the shoulder.
"Hi Mr. Evans. It's great to see you again! And you too, Lily," he said with a wink in her direction.
Lily couldn't help noticing Sirius, smirking with interest next to James.
"Hi James," Lily forced herself to reply warmly. "I've-erm- missed you," she flicked her eyes toward her father as if to communicate to James that it was all part of an act.
"I've missed you more," James responded a bit too earnestly, causing Sirius' jaw to drop in utter disbelief. As far as Sirius knew, Lily despised James and would rather chop off her own foot than speak civilly to him.
"I'm sure you've already heard Lily's big news," Mr. Evans said, wrapping his arm proudly around Lily's shoulder.
"Dad-" Lily tried to interject as a blush rose in her cheeks.
"I'm afraid not," James replied, looking to Lily for an explanation.
Instead of explaining, Lily reached into her pocket and pulled out a shiny gold badge that read "Head Girl" in elegant script.
"Head Girl! Lily, that's great. Congratulations! I mean, I suspected they'd choose you." James pulled her into a hug. He felt her stiffening uncomfortably in his arms and quickly released her.
"Lily, I can't believe you didn't tell your boyfriend you were chosen as Head Girl," Mr. Evans interjected.
"Boyfriend?" Sirius snorted, physically unable to hold in his laughter.
Lily glared at Sirius, her arms folded across her chest. "Dad, this here is Sirius Black, James' best mate. Don't' mind him... we think he's deranged."
Sirius reached his hand out to Mr. Evans. "Oh Lily-flower, you slay me with that wit of yours. It is a pleasure to meet you, Sir. You have raised a lovely daughter. And let me tell you, Lily and James are quite the couple. You never see one without the other."
"I see what you mean," Mr. Evans whispered to Lily, who was preoccupied shooting Sirius a death glare.
"Prongs, don't you have something to tell Lily-flower?" Sirius nudged James with his elbow.
"Not now," James replied to him through clenched teeth.
The train whistled, announcing its imminent departure. Saved by the bell, James thought.
"Oh dear, I better let you get going then," Mr. Evans said, turning to his daughter. "I love you Sweetie, and I'm so proud of you. Have a great final year."
"Thanks Dad," Lily felt a lump in the back of her throat. She hated saying goodbye to her father. Fighting back tears, she released him. "Love you too."
"Goodbye James. Take good care of my daughter this year," he instructed. "And goodbye Sirius, it was a pleasure to meet you."
As Mr. Evans walked away, James picked up Lily's trunk and hoisted it onto the train.
"Padfoot, I need to talk to Lily for a moment, can I meet you on the train?" James said to Sirius, who replied with a knowing look and a salute as he jumped aboard.
"Look, Potter, I don't really want to talk about it, ok?" Lily sighed, trying to brush past him.
He stopped her by taking hold of her shoulders.
"Talk about what?"
"You know... what happened this summer," Lily blushed.
"That's actually not what I wanted to talk to you about."
"Oh. Well, whatever it is, I don't have time. I have to go get ready to lead the prefects meeting," Lily said.
"That's actually what I want to talk to you about," James said. Lily thought for a moment that he looked hesitant.
"If you're going to ask if I will give you special privileges as Head Girl, I am not even going to answer that," Lily scowled. She broke free of his grasp and jumped onto the train.
"No, it's not that," James followed her nervously. "I actually have something to tell you. It's sort of important."
"What?" She spun around with her hands on her hips.
James reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a gold badge that was nearly identical to Lily's apart from displaying the words "Head Boy".
"Where did you get that?" Lily asked dumfounded.
"It's mine, Lily."
Lily shook her head. "No. It can't be. You weren't even a prefect."
"I know. I was just as shocked when this came in the mail. I wrote to Dumbledore, but apparently it isn't a mistake," James ran his fingers through his untidy hair. "I'm sorry."
"You're sorry?" Lily sighed. "You've done a lot of frustrating, idiotic things in your lifetime, but this one wasn't your fault."
The engine roared to life as the train lurched forward, the momentum knocking Lily forward into James. He caught her under the arms and lifted her back to her feet.
"Are you ok?"
"I'm fine," she said, clearly flustered and a bit annoyed that James had come to her rescue. "Look, let's just get to the front compartment and get this meeting over with." Without another word, Lily spun around, and made her way up the train. She had never imagined that she would be spending the year working alongside James Potter. How had this happened?
"What's he doing here?" Asked Rodolphus Lestrange, sixth-year Slytherin prefect, as he entered the meeting. He was pointing angrily at James.
"Nice to see you too, Lestrange," James sneered. Before he could spout out a witty retort, James glanced at Lily to see her watching him. She was waiting for him to screw up and let her down. "Hope you had a good holiday," he finished painfully.
"What the hell, Potter? What are you doing here?" Lestrange demanded angrily.
"James is our new Head Boy, which means you need to treat him with respect," Lily said, a note of authority in her voice.
"What?" Several students asked at once.
"He can't be Head Boy. He was never even a prefect," said a Ravenclaw seventh year named Hazel Broughton.
"That's actually not true," said Remus Lupin, another of James' best mates, who was also a Gryffindor prefect. "Each year one male and one female seventh year student will be appointed to serve their peers as Head Boy and Head Girl of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. A candidate for each position will be nominated by school faculty and chosen by members of the Wizengot based on moral integrity, leadership skills, and goodness of character," Remus recited. "It's in Hogwarts, A History, and nowhere does it say the Head Boy must be a prefect first."
James nodded appreciation at Remus before clearing his throat. "Listen, I don't know why I was appointed to this position, but I do know that I take this responsibility very seriously. I am here for the same reason as all of you. We were chosen to represent the best and brightest of our school. Like Moony - I mean Remus- said, we were chosen based on integrity and on our potential to lead our classmates not only through words, but also through actions. We aren't only considered leaders when we sit together in meetings or when we patrol the hallways at night. We have opportunities to lead our classmates every moment of every day simply through the way we choose to live out our lives. Right now times are changing. Our world is facing fear and turmoil. In the midst of this upcoming year, we will no doubt experience challenges and hardships. It will be in those moments when our classmates will look to us to guide them and to lead by example. I am confident that all of you are up for the challenge, and I vow to lead you - alongside the talented Lily Evans - to the best of my abilities."
The compartment fell silent. Even Lily found herself speechless.
It was nearly an hour later when the meeting finally ended.
"Pfew," James sighed as the prefects filed out of the front compartment. He flopped down into a seat across from Remus. "That was brutal. I felt like I was on trial the entire time."
"For what it matters," Lily began, (she avoided looking at James by busying herself with cleaning up papers.) "I was impressed with how you handled the situation. I think you earned their respect."
Remus' jaw dropped. In six years, he had never heard Lily compliment James.
Before James could retort, the door to the compartment squeaked open, and a young looking girl with strawberry blonde hair and freckles poked her head in.
"Hello," Lily greeted. She instantly took in the girl's red puffy eyes and tear-stained cheeks.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know anyone was in here," the girl said, making to close the door.
"Wait," Lily reached out and held the door open. "Please, come in. Join us."
"Ok," the girl mumbled trying to mask a sniffle.
"I'm Lily Evans, and this is Remus Lupin and James Potter."
"Pleasure. I'm Tonks," the girl introduced herself and sat down tentatively next to Remus.
"Tonks, that's a cool name," James said. He took in the state of her and exchanged a glance with Lily who also looked concerned.
"Thanks. It's my last name actually. But nobody calls me by my first name."
"Nobody really calls us by our first names either," Remus said gesturing to himself and James. "James here is Prongs, and I go by Moony."
Tonks laughed. "Prongs and Moony are worse than Tonks."
"Are you a first year then?" Lily asked as she sat in the seat next to James, as far away from him as she could make herself.
"I am," Tonks said sadly.
"Why so blue?" James asked her.
Tonks sighed and began to pick at the hem of her robes. "I'm not sure coming to Hogwarts was a good idea."
"Did something happen?" Lily asked. She had a hunch that the girl's tears were about more than homesickness.
Tonks nodded. After a moment she explained: "I found myself sitting in a compartment with some older students. It turned out that one of them was my cousin, so I thought she would be nice to me. Instead, when she found out that my dad is a muggle, she called me a filthy... you know, and then she and her friends pushed me down and lit my robes on fire." She picked up the bottom of her robes, which were charred and fraying.
"What?!" James roared, startling Tonks. "Who is she? Your cousin I mean."
Lily couldn't help but notice the veins in James' neck bulging and his hands balled into fists.
"Bellatrix. Bellatrix Black."
Lily, James, and Remus knew Bellatrix all too well. To put it simply, she was pure evil. She lived to torment first years and was constantly flaunting her blood status. It was hard to believe that she was Sirius' cousin, who couldn't have been more opposite of her.
"That b-" James was interrupted by Remus.
"Tonks, not everyone here is like her. In fact, there are very few people at Hogwarts who think that they are God's gift to the wizarding world and who have to make themselves feel better by putting everyone else down. Everyone else here is really nice and welcoming," Remus said.
"He's right," Lily agreed. "I am muggle-born too, and I have great friends who always have my back. You're going to love it at Hogwarts, I promise."
"Thanks," Tonks smiled. "You all are really friendly at least."
"Well you should stick with us, girly," Lily said.
"Yeah, stay here. We'll take care of you!" James agreed.
"Ok," Tonks said with the first genuine smile she'd shown all day.
"There's actually something I have to do, but I will be right back," Lily announced. She glanced skeptically at James and Remus then back to Tonks. "Are you three going to be ok if I go?"
James grinned mischievously back at her. "Oh we'll be great." He winked at Tonks, who shook her head in agreement.
"You go ahead, Lily," Tonks encouraged. "We promise not to break anything."
"We do?" James teased.
"I've got my eyes on you," Lily laughed. She had to admit that it was adorable to see James interacting with the young girl who seemed very comfortable with him. She couldn't help but admire his ability to make anyone feel at ease.
It wasn't hard for Lily to find who she was looking for. Bellatrix Black and her friends were only two compartments down from them. There were five other Slytherins besides Bellatrix sprawled throughout the compartment.
Rage boiled up inside of Lily. She imagined poor Tonks surrounded by the evil gits as they laughed and tormented her for their own entertainment. Even through her anger, Lily recognized that acknowledging that she knew what they had done would put Tonks in future jeopardy.
She took a deep calming breath and pushed the door open.
"What do you want Mudblood?" Bellatrix screeched.
"I merely wanted to say hello, Bella," Lily smirked. "Of course I missed you over the summer."
"What the hell are you playing at Evans?"
Lily shrugged and leaned casually against the wall. "I didn't realize I was playing at anything."
"You're not welcome here, mudblood," sputtered Thorfinn Rowle, a massive, blonde, dimwitted Syltherin.
"That wasn't very nice, Rowle," Lily said with a fake pout. "Hasn't your mother ever taught you to mind your manners?"
"Enough, Evans," Bellatrix roared, rising to her feet. "Get out, or get hexed."
"You're threatening me now? Wow, it's so negative in here. Doesn't anyone have anything nice to say?" Lily goaded, wondering how far she could push before Bellatrix would snap.
"That's it," Bellatrix spat, brandishing her wand and shouting "Stupefy."
Lily ducked out of the way of the spell and pointed her own wand at Bellatrix.
"Dicogratia," she muttered as she spun her wand clockwise.
The room fell silent as the spell hit Bellatrix. Lily waited eagerly to see if her charm would be successful. She had spent a good part of the summer researching the charm, and had yet to actually try it out.
"What did you do to her?" Asked Rodolphus Lestrange.
"Nothing bad, I assure you," Lily replied.
"No, nothing bad indeed. In fact, that was some great wand work, Lily," Bellatrix said, her eyes round with surprise.
"Thank you, Bella. That was awfully nice of you."
"You are so welcome Lily. Lily. That is such a pretty name. Just like a beautiful flower," Bellatrix slapped her hand over her mouth in an effort to stifle her own voice.
"Aw, you are such a sweetheart, Bella," Lily grinned. "I have a random question for you. You see, I got my hair cut a few weeks ago, and I'm wondering what you think?" Lily tossed her hair over her shoulder for dramatic effect.
"Oh, I just love it! You have such beautiful red, silky hair."
"What the hell did you do to her?" Lestrange asked again. The rest of the group was still gawking at the scene unfolding between Lily and Bellatrix.
Lily shrugged. It took all her energy to stifle her laughter. "You know, I should probably be going," she said slyly.
"Goodbye Lily! Have a lovely day," Bellatrix was trying to cram her entire fist into her mouth.
Lily pulled the door open. "Oh, and Bella?"
"Yes?"
"I'm giving you a week's detention for trying to assault the Head Girl. Tata!" Lily said, beaming as she strode out of the compartment.
"Very good idea, Lily. I definitely deserve it," Bellatrix had called after.
Lily waited until the door slammed shut before she lost her composure. She was nearly hysterical by the time she reached the front compartment where she had left the others. The charm had worked perfectly. It was designed to cause the recipient to speak only kind words. It was a challenging spell that required great concentration in order to make it strong enough to override the receiver's free will. Lily was proud of how well it worked on her first attempt.
She couldn't wait to tell the others what she had done, but when she pushed open the compartment door, she was distracted entirely.
It was no longer just James, Remus and Tonks in the compartment. They had been joined by Elise McKinnon (Lily's very best friend), Sirius, Peter Pettigrew (another of James' mates), and about five other young students who looked to be first years. Someone had managed to produce music from an enchanted record player. Who knows where they had found that. Hadn't she only been gone ten minutes?
It also looked as if they had ordered all the food on the entire trolley. Wrappers littered the seats and chocolate frogs were jumping everywhere. Then again, so were people.
At first Lily thought they were just jumping over the seats at random, but then she caught a glimmer of gold out of the corner of her eye just before Sirius and a kid she didn't recognize went leaping past her. A snitch. They were playing some strange modified version of quidditch.
She couldn't resist. As quickly as possible, Lily reached out her hand, anticipating the snitch's last minute dive out of the clutches of its oncoming assailants. She closed her fingers around the tiny ball, and felt it go limp in her hand. One by one everyone froze. Even the music somehow went quiet.
A few seconds of silence passed. Those who knew her well were anticipating her heated reaction.
"I want Lily on my team!" Tonks cried, breaking the silence.
"That was amazing!" The others began to comment. "How did you do that?"
"I thought you'd never played Quidditch," James exclaimed, reaching out for the snitch.
"I thought you weren't going to break anything," she retorted, pulling her hand away, but he was too quick. He caught her wrist and pried the snitch from her fingers, flashing her a comical grin.
"We didn't break anything, did we Tonks?" he asked over his shoulder.
"No, we've been extra careful," Tonks agreed. "Prongs was just teaching me to play quidditch. He even recruited all these people to help."
Lily turned back to James, realizing that he was still holding her wrist. But she didn't pry it away.
"Aw come on, Lil. We're just having some fun," Elise chimed in from where she sat on the back of a seat.
"Even you?" Lily asked in mock disappointment. But no one failed to notice her grin. Especially not James.
"Potter, as head students we're obligated to enforce the rules, aren't we?"
"That is true, Lily. But can you remind me where the rule is written that says no quidditch on the train?" he replied.
"I don't know. I don't think there is one," she laughed.
"Then let's play ball!" James announced, throwing the snitch up into the air. And the chaos resumed.
Author's Note: Thank you for reading! I've been working on this story for quite awhile and just began organizing my thoughts to get it posted. There are a few different directions I might take it, so I would LOVE for your feedback and ideas. Please review! More to come very soon.