Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling owns all of these characters. I just enjoy playing with them. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1: The Tale Begins

Lily Evans stood, bewildered, on Platform 9 and ¾. She picked her way gingerly through the debris that was strewn across the platform and approached a girl that stood, gaping, near the magical walled entrance to the platform.

"Tess; what on earth happened?" Lily asked the Hufflepuff, looking back and forth from the assorted mess to the station trolley that bounded back and forth on the platform.

"Sirius Black happened." The shorter girl tucked some dark blonde hair nervously behind her ear.

Lily opened her mouth to ask what she meant, but the words died in her throat.

A dark-haired woman stood in the entrance, shrieking, "Don't expect to come back then! You'll be burnt out of the family tree; I hope you know what that means!" The woman was almost emaciated, and her skin was an unhealthy yellow colour. She stood eye-to-eye to with a dark haired youth, who appeared to be unconcerned at the number of people who were turning to watch the spectacle.

"Fine, Mother," Sirius replied shortly. "All the best to you as well. Goodbye."

Slinging his trunk over his shoulder he turned and walked straight past Lily and away down the platform. The thin lady scowled after him. She caught sight of Lily watching her and narrowed her eyes derisively. "Dirty Mudblood," she muttered, spitting on the floor.

Lily frowned and turned away, her cheeks burning slightly. Pulling her trunk behind her, she squared her shoulders and started off after Sirius. Tess hurried to catch up with her.

"Are you okay?" she asked pensively.

"Fine, fine," Lily said, shaking her head dismissively. She mustered a smile for the girl. "So how are you anyway? How was your summer?"

The shorter girl shrugged, "It was okay; the parents insisted in holidaying in France because of the recent problems here." She whispered the word as though it would bring down some sort of judgement upon her. "And you?"

Lily thought back to the summer spent being ignored by her sister and being clucked over by her mother. "Yes, the same as usual really. Read a lot of books!"

Tess smiled politely, and an awkward silence fell. Lily did not know the girl that well, but they had been partnered in Charms before so she searched aimlessly for a conversation topic or – at the very least – a legitimate reason to leave the conversation. At a loss, Lily turned her attention to the faces of the people they passed by, the clustered groups of students and their families. Impossibly fresh-faced first years stared at the scarlet steam engine in awe, moody third years endured their mother's kisses with ill-grace and the older seventh years stalked the platform confidently, climbing aboard for their final September ride of the Hogwarts Express. She smiled to herself until her sight snagged on a familiar face in the crowd.

James Potter glanced away as soon as their eyes met, turning his gaze directly back to the three youths standing by him. To Lily's surprise he seemed concerned about something as he spoke in an insistent, low voice to Sirius. Lily looked away, frowning slightly.

"Tess!" exclaimed a voice to their right. "Over here!"

Lily started, and immediately felt guilty; she had almost forgotten about Tess being there. One of the other Hufflepuffs beckoned the shorter girl over to the carriage that they were already sitting in. Tess waved back, and with a parting farewell to Lily ran onto the train to meet her friends.

The red-haired girl mumbled a goodbye, and turned to search the crowds behind her for the familiar faces that she had so missed over the summer months. Finding none, she spun back to get on the train when two blurs came out of nowhere and plastered themselves to her solar plexus sending her staggering back in shock.

"Lily!"

Lily squeaked in surprise, but then began to laugh. "Hi Alice, hi Mary." Her voice was muffled by their hair, but she hugged them back just as hard. There was a moment's pause, and then: "Guys? I can't breathe."

Alice laughed loudly, the sound vibrating through their tight hug. She peeled herself away to look at Lily properly. "Sorry Lils, we've just missed you so much!"

Mary also took a step back, giving the red-haired girl a shrewd look. "You seem thinner. Are you thinner? That scrawny Petunia hasn't been pinching all your food has she?"

Lily laughed at the thought. "If anything, it would have been Vernon pinching my food," she grinned. "No, Petunia is too busy laying out intricate wedding plans that specifically exclude me."

Alice frowned at the tone in her friend's voice. She took her bag and began hefting it onto the train. "Anyway," she said. "How are you? Did you have a good summer?" Something glinted in the morning light and girl narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "That's not a Prefect badge I see is it?"

Lily hefted the other end of the case but looked down coyly, not meeting Alice's gaze. "Well... uh... yeah. It is a Prefect badge. Again."

Mary laughed out loud behind them, following them into the carriage. "Well, I for one am not surprised that they've kept you on. In five full years at Hogwarts I don't think you've ever broken a rule, even with having the influence of me and Alice for friends." Lily coloured slightly, a blush creeping up to her cheeks. "Oh well there was that time in fourth year where you hexed James Potter... but if I remember rightly Flitwick was so grateful, he pretended that he never even saw anything!"

Lily's two friends snickered together at the memory, and the red-haired girl couldn't help the smile that broke her features as well.

"What about you guys?" she asked them. "Good summers? Mary – how was Ireland?"

The brown-haired girl plunked herself unceremoniously down on the seat nearest the window. "Oh; you know," she replied airily. "My three brothers spent the whole two months teasing me about all the boys I like and chasing off any that so much as looked at me sideways." She harrumphed in frustration.

Alice clucked in sympathy, but being an only child herself, she knew little of the trials and tribulations of having siblings. "Still, you're free this year aren't you?" She was referring to the fact that Mary's youngest elder brother had left Hogwarts the year previously, leaving Mary as the last MacDonald at the school.

"Yeah, now Mike's gone I've got the run of the school," Mary retorted, her voice laced with sarcasm. She slumped lower in the seat and wrinkled her nose in irritation at the general male population. "Knowing my luck they'll probably weasel their way back into the school just to scare any prospective boyfriends."

The train clunked slowly out of the station. The three girls watched the platform gradually pull away from them, steam billowing across the spectators that stood and waved for their departure.

"Well," said Alice, heaving a sigh. "Exploding snap anyone?"

The next few hours passed amicably with the three girls sharing some of the Pumpkin Pastries from the trolley and trading stories from their last five years. They each knew the stories so well, and had retold them so many times, that they all laughed before the punchlines and most of the plots were hopelessly exaggerated.

Finally, Lily stood and brushed the crumbs from her jeans. "Alright; I better get to this Prefect meeting."

Mary looked her up and down, shaking her head. "Oh Lily, you get more responsible every year. How will I ever sneak chocolate from the kitchens now?" she lamented.

"I don't see that anything had changed... besides: what chocolate?" the red-haired girl replied innocently. "I don't remember anything about chocolate."

Alice snorted with laughter. "We'll get you over to the darkside yet."

Lily grabbed her bag off the adjacent seat. "I'm going to change into my robes whilst I'm out as well. See you guys in a bit; think of me in my boredom."

However, to her surprise, Lily found the meeting almost... enjoyable. She was pleasantly surprised to find Remus Lupin had been made a Prefect again as well; she had spent time with him the year previously and had grown to like the boy and his mischievous sense of humour. His choice in friends seemed a little strange to her, but she supposed that living in such close quarters with the same people would inevitably evoke feelings of friendship. However, she could never imagine spending more than half an hour with Sirius Black or James Potter without wanting to wring their necks.

The new Head Girl and Head Boy seemed a little stiff and a little nervous. This was quite a change from the previous year's heads who had used the responsibility to boss all of the Prefects around and needlessly delegate every tiny task. The Head Girl was a mousy-haired Hufflepuff who spent a great deal of time studying the train upholstery as she introduced herself as Patricia Ailing. Lily thought it was a shame that the girl was so nervous, because with the right attitude she might have been quite pretty and engaging. There were a few Prefects who might take advantage of her mildness of manner as well, although they were mainly in Slytherin and were a law unto themselves anyway.

The Head Boy introduced himself as Frank Longbottom, and spent a lot of time almost making eye contact with the gathered Prefects. He did the majority of the talking, and briefed the new fifth year Prefects on what would be expected of them once they all arrived at the Sorting Ceremony and after the first years had been allotted their houses. Lily recognised him because he had played as Goal Keeper for the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team since her fourth year and his fifth. He seemed nervous but firm in his address and Lily hoped that some of it would rub off onto Patricia sooner rather than later.

After the introductory stage she sat with Remus and the two Gryffindor fifth year prefects. As though rehearsed they all looked to her for what they were expected to do next. She smiled, rolled her eyes good-naturedly at Remus and then efficiently doled out the responsibilities for the next couple of weeks.

She chatted with Remus a bit. Trying not to stare at his threadbare clothes and dirty shoes was always initially a bit hard, but he had a ready sense of humour and a witty observation to make on everyone which served to distract her to his lively disposition. She remembered back to when she had seen him in their first year: he had been so apologetic and nervous as to almost physically cringe when anyone spoke to him. He had changed a lot over the five years they'd been at Hogwarts and she supposed that that was in some part thanks to his housemates. James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew might be a lot of things, but they had certainly taken to Remus straight away and, sequestered in their steady friendship, he had grown into an interesting and talented young man.

She mentioned seeing Sirius' mother at the gates of Platform 9 ¾ and Remus went very quiet and just smiled a thin-lipped smile in response, not meeting her gaze. Regretting bringing it up, she made her excuses to Remus and the Heads and went to find somewhere to put her robes on.

In the bathroom she caught herself staring at her reflection. The girl who stared back was of medium height and verging on the skinnier side of average weight. She had auburn hair that flicked out at the shoulders and contrasted with the startling green hue of her eyes; she pulled at the ends of her hair in annoyance trying unsuccessfully to get it to lie as straight as Alice's did and then wrinkled up her eyes trying to make them look less like she was constantly surprised. Frowning, she leaned even closer to the mirror to examine her nose which she was sure was slightly wonky. Leaning further back she shook out her hair and tilted her head, like the girls in the fashion magazines did, trying to look becoming.

Finally she hefted a great sigh. It was no good; she was definitely not fashion magazine material. Scooping back her hair into a rough bun, Lily checked that her robe was all correct and sat properly, then turned and left the confines of the bathroom. She did not notice the shadow that flitted across the mirror, making the surface ripple slightly in its wake.

A/N: hey – hope you're all enjoying it. I used to be on ff. net wayyyyyyy back when i.e. don't ask me how old I am (but I lost my password and can't get onto my old user account; shit happens). I could probably do with a beta reader as some of my writing is a little rusty and so is some of my cannon HP knowledge! I know there's a beta-reader thingy on here now, but don't really get how it works? Still I suppose I can just work it out, unless anyone wants to volunteer their services :-) I'd always rather have someone do it because they like my story. Anyway, all the best x x