Hi guys. So the first chapter was, to be honest, quite boring, but I swear its going to get pretty good. If anyone can come up with a better title for the story I'd really appreciate it. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters sadly enough

Chapter 2

The Hogwarts Express

Lily reached Platform 9¾ with butterflies in her stomach. She dreaded the idea of working with the new Head Boy (she wouldn't even say the name to herself) but had decided to make the best of a bad situation.

It was a few days after her seventeenth birthday and the 'Letter Incidence' and she was still feeling irritated as well as nervous at the prospect of having James as a partner. She was a bit disappointed in Dumbledore, be honest, for choosing James as the Head Boy.

Potter? She thought to herself, the infamous Marauder James Potter. Why would Dumbledore possibly choose him to be Head Boy?

She was thinking deeply along the lines of 'Dumbledore faced a moment of temporary insanity' and 'Dumbledore must've been thinking of James Potter's arrogance and accidently written his name on the note' when she heard a scream.

She turned just in time to receive Hestia in a bear hug. She laughed and hugged her best friend back with as much enthusiasm. Although they were a group of four, with her, Hestia, Gwenog and Alice, she had always felt closest to Hestia. They were the complete opposites of each other; Lily was studious while Hestia was not, Lily was school oriented whilst Hestia was boy crazy. There were so many differences between them, but that's what drew them closest together.

"Ohmygosh how ARE you!" Hestia screamed into her ear, still hugging her, jumping up and down, she pulled herself back from Lily so she could give her a once over, "Ah I see you're looking as beautiful as ever if I may-" Hestia cut off short as she looked at Lily's top, where Lily had pinned the Head Girl badge on her muggle clothing.

"NO WAY! HEAD GIRL!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, causing everyone in the vicinity to turn around to see what was going on, "LILY I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU!" she squealed and pulled her best friend back into another hug. Lily couldn't help but smile. What would she do without Hestia Jones?

"What's all this screaming?" Lily heard a familiar voice say and turned around to see her friend Alice standing there, watching them with a smile on her face. Hestia squealed once more and launched herself at Alice while Lily stood there smiling. Once Hestia was done, Alice walked over to Lily and looked down at her golden badge.

"Well I can't say I'm surprised," she teased smiling at Lily, "of course the know-it-alls would get the head of school badges." Alice laughed and hugged Lily, considerably more calmly than Hestia had done, "I'm so proud of you Lily-petal!" she squealed into her ear. Lily laughed and hugged her friend tighter.

"It's not only the know it alls thank you very much," she said, feigning a hurt look, "you need to be gorgeous," she winked at her friend, and the three of them burst into a fit of giggles, neither of them noticing the group of people who had approached them.

"Well it's nice to know you think I'm gorgeous Evans," said James, smiling down at Lily. Lily turned at the sound of the voice and her eyes narrowed when she realized who it was.

"Don't flatter yourself, Potter," Lily said, huffing. James' smile faltered.

"Why would that be flattering him?" Alice said, looking from James to Lily with a look of confusion on her face. James opened his mouth to answer but it was Hestia who beat him to it.

"No. Way." She said, a look of shock on her face, "You're Head Boy?" she asked skeptically, as if waiting for James to yell out 'JUST KIDDING'.

"You're WHAT?" said another voice behind them, and Lily turned to see Gwenog standing behind them, with a look of shock on her face, "You, James Potter, are Head Boy?" she said, just as skeptically as Hestia had done.

James smiled at them, "Well of course I am. As Evan's just said herself, you need to be gorgeous to get the position of Head Boy, and here I am as dazzling as what is needed to fill in the criteria," he said, causing Sirius to laugh.

Lily looked at Sirius, and, as usual, felt herself sigh internally. She had never liked the Marauders, but she had to admit they were a good-looking bunch, but James and Sirius, by far, were the most handsome. James had his dark hair that was always messy, and chocolate eyes that seemed to be permanently smiling, but were mischievous at the same time. Sirius had dark hair that fell into his eyes, but not in a messy way, more like in a majestic way, which accentuated his eyes, which always seemed to have a twinkle in them.

"Hello? Earth to Evans…" said Sirius, waving his hand in front of her face.

"Huh?" she said, looking up to look Sirius in the eye, causing Sirius to smirk.

"I was just wondering if you were planning on catching the train or not," he said, still smirking, gesturing to the Hogwarts Express.

"Right!" she said, and, ignoring the Marauder's snickers, hopped onto the Hogwarts Express, Hestia, Alice and Gwenog right behind her. Once they were in a compartment, Lily turned furiously towards them, "They are so infuriating!" she huffed, and collapsed onto a seat. Alice and Gwenog flopped down across from her while Hestia sat down next to her.

"Yes they are, but you have to admit they are one hot bunch," Hestia said, winking, causing the rest of them to laugh.

"Yes well there's no denying that," Gwenog said through her pants of laughter. Lily shook her head and stood up suddenly, causing everyone to look at her.

"Where are you going?" Alice asked, looking curiously up at Lily.

"I have to go to the Prefect compartment to meet Potter," she said, her nose scrunching on his name causing her friends to snicker, "and then we have to finish before the prefects get to the compartment, and instruct them on our plans for the year," she said, turning to Alice, "so that means you will come to help me fight of my doom of having to plan with Potter for the entire year," she grimaced at the thought, "I'll see you in a bit," she said, and with a wave to her friends, she stepped out of their compartment and walked down the train towards the Prefects compartment.

She was lost in thought, wondering how she was going to be able to withstand Potter for the whole year, when she passed by the Slytherins compartment. She looked inside and spotted Severus, sitting by the door with his head leaning against the glass. He looked up at exactly the moment she walked past, and when their eyes met, Lily turned her nose up and kept walking towards the Prefects compartment.

Once she reached the compartment, she stopped just out of view, and took a deep breath. This is it, she thought to herself, now you have to control yourself. No yelling at James Potter.

She shook herself, pasted a smile on her face and pushed the door open. James Potter was sitting on the other side of the compartment and looked up when she pushed open the door, a radiant smile on his face when he realized it was her who had opened the door. James had been in love with Lily since their first year at Hogwarts, and the fact that he had to spend a whole year with her made him euphoric.

"Hello Lily-petal," he said, smiling at her. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Let's establish some ground rules shall we?" she said, sliding onto the seat across from him, James, thrilled with the closeness of Lily smiled, "First off, you are not allowed to call me Lily-petal. No. Only a select few, like my mum, are allowed to call me that," she said, and shut her mouth. Why had she said that? That wasn't something James Potter needed to know. He seemed fascinated by it though.

"Your mother calls you that? That's nice" he said, giving her a genuine smile, which caused her to blink in confusion as her stomach did a little flip. Since when did James Potters smiles cause her stomach to flip? She ignored it. I'm probably just hungry, she thought to herself.

"Yeah, its real nice," Lily said uncertainly, then, shaking her head, she continued, "Rule number two, you have to behave, Potter," she said, looking him straight in the eye, but his smile did not vanish. To be completely honest, James was used to Lily acting mean around him but it didn't bother him anymore. He loved her, and there wasn't much he could do to change that.

"I always behave!" he said, putting on an expression of faux innocence, causing Lily to smile and roll her eyes. James was shocked. That was the singularly friendliest reaction he had ever gotten out of Lily Evans.

"Yeah, okay Potter," she said, rolling her eyes, causing James' stomach to swoop, "but if you defy these rules, ever, I will hex you into the next century," she said, her eyes turning hard, looking at James, who's smile still didn't falter, "Do you understand?" she said, narrowing her eyes at him, attempting to look threatening.

James rolled his eyes and turned to look her in the eye, "Yes O high and mighty," he said sarcastically. Lily's face split into a smile, surprising not only herself, but James as well, "Lily Evans, is that a smile I see?" he said, the corners of his mouth twitching, a mischievous glint in his eyes. Lily rolled her eyes and pulled out her wand, which, much to her satisfaction, wiped the smile off of James' face to be replaced by an expression of mild fear.

"Another rule Potter," she said, "To you, I am Evans. Not Lily Evans. Not Lily. Not Lily-petal, not Lily-flower, just Evans," she said looking at him watching as his smile reappeared, "and you will always just be Potter. Got it?"

James was openly laughing by the time she had finished her sentence, and even her pointing her wand at him couldn't stop it, "Yes Evans. I get it." He said, his shoulders still shaking from laughing. So he found her rules ridiculous? Well he'd see what would happen if he broke them. The thought of hexing James Potter brought a smirk to her face. She started to run a list of curses through her head, but was snapped out of her trance by James' hand waving in front of her face.

"Seriously Evans. Stop zoning out, we have work to do," he said, mimicking, what Lily recognized to be, her bossy voice in class. She smiled, relaxed and put her wand away.

"Alright, so our plans for this year," she said, looking expectantly at him, only to see that he was giving her the same expecting expression, "any ideas?"

James looked at her with a slight smile on his face and shook his head, "Seriously, I think Dumbledore lost his mind when he decided to put my name on the letter for Head Boy. I wasn't a prefect! I have absolutely no idea what I'm supposed to do," he said, smiling at her apologetically, "but," he said, straightening up, "I'm going to try to make the best of this situation, the Head Boy thing, and," he said, hesitating, "you," he mumbled looking anywhere but at Lily, who felt her eyebrows fly up her forehead.

"What do you mean by that?" she said quietly, looking at him. He just looked away, nervous. Lily hadn't expected James, the boy who teased her, the boy who asked her out all the time, the infamous Marauder, planner for so many pranks, to have fears.

He looked up at her and took a breath before continuing, "Well Lily," he started, then when realizing what he'd said, his eyes widened, "I mean Evans. Evans. Look, I know you don't like me, and you also know that I feel the opposite for you, but I'm not going to bother you this year," he said, looking up at her with big genuine eyes, which caused Lily to freeze, "I'm not going to pester you about going out with me, I'm not going to tease you, I just," he took a deep breath, "I want us to be friends."

Lily looked at him for a few minutes, thinking it over in her head. So he wasn't going to ask her out? He wasn't going to tease her? Was he serious? Just friends? Where had this come from, after 6 years of constantly asking her to go out with him? After chewing it over, Lily gave James, who was beginning to panic, a small smile.

"Okay Po-James. We can be friends."

"James?" he said, smirking, his eyes twinkling.

"Yes. James." She said, beaming.

"Alright, that's fine with me Evans."

"It's Lily," she said, "Lily."

When the prefects walked into the Prefect Compartment, it was to see their Head Boy and Head Girl sitting across from each other, talking. Alice, among them, was shocked. She had never seen Lily and James have a conversation that didn't involve screaming by Lily, hexing by Lily, or asking out by James. She cleared her throat, bringing it to their attention that she and the rest of the prefects were there.

Lily and James's heads snapped around at the noise, Lily looking curious, whilst James looked irritated. Once they realized the prefects were there, Lily stood up and smiled, James following.

"Hey guys," she said, offering them a smile, "take a seat."

Alice took the seat next to her best friend, giving her a look saying 'we will discuss this later'. Remus, who was also a prefect, sat next to James and clapped him on the shoulder as he sat down. Lily smiled at him. They had been Gryffindor prefects together, and therefore had spent a lot of time together, them and Alice. Remus offered her a smile in return. He had never had anything against Lily Evans, even though his best mate had been in love with her since he had first seen her, and she kept shooting him down, breaking his heart. To be completely honest, had he been in Lily's place during those last six years, he would've done exactly the same thing.

Lily turned to look at James, who was looking at her expectantly, and raised her eyebrows. Obviously waiting for him to say something. Remus had to hide a smile, anticipating James's speech. James cleared his throat nervously, and turned to smile at the compartment of prefects.

"Hey," he said, his voice shaking. He cleared his throat once again, and when he spoke he sounded much more confident, "so many of you must be wondering, as I am, why in the name of Merlin Dumbledore decided to make me Head Boy," he started, earning a lot of snickers and giggles from around the room. The whole school had been wondering, since the moment they'd found out, why James Potter had been elected Head Boy. He and his friends, with the exception of Remus, were the most mischievous and most notorious trouble makers in the entire school.

"Well that question I cannot answer for you," he said, smiling at the room. A couple of fifth year girls giggled when he smiled, and Lily had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. It was true, James Potter was gorgeous, but he was really nothing to fawn over. He was, after all, a big headed, over confident, Marauder. Lily had always thought it a wonder how he could get his big head off the ground on his broomstick. Maybe his broomstick was designed to be able to lift heavy heads. She was brought back to reality when James cleared his throat.

"Well, to get back on topic, this meeting isn't going to take very long, because I know exactly what it feels like to have to sit there, bored, wanting to get back to your friends, but where you guys learned this in these prefect meetings, I learned this in detention," the room erupted in laughter once more and even Lily couldn't hold in her smile. James turned to her, and smiled, proud of himself, and Lily rolled her eyes, imagining his head inflating even further. Really, she thought to herself, If his head inflates anymore even his extra special broomstick won't make it off the floor.

"Alright," she said, turning back to the rest of the prefects who turned their eyes from James to her, "As James said, we're going to keep this meeting short. We'll basically be talking about corridor patrols and responsibilities today and we'll get into the finer details on Saturday at around 3pm. That alright with everyone?" she said looking around the room to see nods in every direction.

Man, James thought as he watched Lily address the room, She actually knows what she's doing. I'll have to ask Moony to fill me in so that I'm better prepared for Saturday.

"So patrols," Lily said, picking up the piece of parchment she and James had been working on, that was lying on the table and beginning their meeting, every eye on the room, especially James', on her.

"So was that alright?" Lily asked Alice for the thousandth time on their way back to their carriage. Alice sighed. She was going to have to deal with a paranoid Lily all year now that Lily was Head Girl. Alice loved Lily, she really did, but sometimes Lily could be too much of a perfectionist for her liking.

"Yes Lily, that was perfect," she said, turning her head to smile at Lily, "Now will you shut up or I will go back there and fetch James to shut you up," she said, winking at Lily. That comment had the exact effect Alice had hoped for.

"WHAT? No. Never. Yuck. Gosh. Seriously Alice what is wrong with you? Who jinxed you?" Lily said, her nose scrunched up, "Merlin Alice why would you say that!" Lily exclaimed, hitting her friend in the arm, causing Alice to laugh.

"Only to get you to stop asking me how perfect you were," Alice said, laughing, and gave her friend a one armed hug.

On the way back to the compartment, they passed by the Slytherin compartment again, and Severus watched as his Lily walked by the compartment without as much as a glance at him.

Back in the boys compartment James flopped down onto the seat with a smile on his face, looking into the distance.

"Prongs?" Sirius said, sitting across from him, "Prongs mate you there?" he said, waving his hand in front of his best friends face. James ignored the hand and kept looking out the window thinking of the hour he had just spent with Lily having a civilized conversation.

"No he's not in there mate," said Remus, sitting down next to Sirius, and looking at James with the same intensity, but didn't have the same curiosity etched on his features as James did, Remus looked more amused.

"What? What's wrong with him? Where is he?" Peter said, getting up off the floor where he had been sitting to sit on the other side of Sirius, so the three of them were staring at James, sitting side by side.

"He's probably back in the prefects compartment," Remus snickered but when James' eyes flashed to Remus, he put his fist in front of his mouth to disguise his snickers as a cough.

"Why is he back in the prefects compartment?" Peter said, still sounding worried, but it was Sirius who answered instead of Remus.

"Ah of course. Evans," Sirius said, a snicker escaping him, "how was your one on one time with the Gryffindor know it all?" Sirius gave James an expression of faux innocence, causing James to turn and narrow his eyes at him.

"Hey! I think you picked up the narrow eyes thing from the flower herself," Remus said beaming, causing both Sirius and Peter to laugh. James, however, rolled his eyes and lay down on the seat.

"The flower Moony? Your prefect mind couldn't have come up with something better?" James said, turning his head to grin at Remus, who glared at James.

"Well I'd like to hear you come up with something better," he said with a scoff, crossing his arms in a challenging manner.

"No I don't think anybody wants to hear the mushy names James would come up with for Lily," Sirius interjected, giving James a cheeky grin, "I say we call her Lily-flower. That way we use Moony's extremely brilliant name as well as the name of the devil herself. All in favor?" he said, raising his arm in the air. Peter followed suite, which was to be expected, and Remus, rolling his eyes, raised his hand in the air as well.

"Are you serious?" James said, sitting up to look at his best mate.

"Why yes, yes I am," Sirius said, grinning at James who erupted in laughter.

"Oh, so very original Padfoot," Remus said rolling his eyes once again, but with a smile on his face. No matter what, the plays on Sirius's name were always funny. Peter, on the other hand, who worshipped James and Sirius's every act clapped and laughed so hard he fell off his seat. The rest of the Marauders, used to Peter's hero worship, ignored him.

"She hates people making up nicknames for her!" James said, looking at Sirius earnestly, "I don't want to get on her bad side," he said sadly, looking down at the floor. Remus looked at his friend in pity. James had been in love with Lily for so long that everything, even the good things, had started to hurt because he knew he couldn't get her. Sirius, on the other hand, did not approve or pity his friend's behavior.

"Prongs mate," Sirius said gently, "Don't you think you should, I don't know, get over her?" he said quietly. Remus stiffened and observed James; James and never taken well to this question. Peter, thinking along the same lines as Remus, looked worriedly between James and Sirius.

James however, instead of yelling at Sirius, turned to Sirius and smiled, "As if I haven't tried Padfoot," he said. Sirius sighed, as did Remus and Peter. Peter, changing the topic, turned to Remus.

"So when's the next full moon Moony?" he said. The question had the effect Peter had wanted, and the conversation blew up, discussing their plans for the upcoming full moon.

Severus stood up and walked out of the compartment, deciding to go after Lily who had walked by no less than 5 minutes ago. He had seen the gleaming Head Girl badge and had decided to go congratulate her. So what if she was angry at him? Head Girl was a prestigious position, and it was worth congratulating. At least, that's why he told himself he was going to talk to Lily.

He walked swiftly down the corridor, knowing which compartment she was in. She always sat in the same compartment, on the other side of the train from the Slytherins with her fellow Gryffindors.

He stopped a few compartments away from her and stood for a few seconds, resting against the door of the compartment with the back of his head pressed against the glass of the door, not caring who was inside.

"Is that who I think it is?" Sirius said, a smirk on his face as he looked towards the compartment door where what looked like a bat was leaning against it.

The rest of the Marauders turned towards the door and James felt a habitual smirk play up on his face, "Snivellus," he said, narrowing his eyes at the door. James had hated Severus since the first day of first year in the Hogwarts Express when Lily and Severus had walked out together.

"Excellent, let's go have some fun," Sirius said, standing up, pulling out his wand. Peter stood up after him, an anticipated smile on his face. Remus, who had always hated being involved in this, shifted towards the window of the compartment and pulled out one of their textbooks and started to read, "Prongs, let's go," Sirius said, looking down at James who hadn't moved. James looked up at Sirius and shook his head.

"I can't," he said regrettably, "Head Boy remember?"

Sirius grimaced and flopped back onto the seat, "that's going to get annoying," he said, turning to look at James, "does that mean you're going to be boring this year?" he said, the corners of his mouth twitching.

James smiled, and rolled his eyes, "You wish Pads," he said, pulling his wand out, "I'm just going to be sneaky," he winked at Sirius who barked out a laugh. James pointed his wand at the door and tied the laces of Snapes shoes together.

"What did you do?" Peter asked, disappointed at the lack of suffering on Snapes part.

James just turned to Sirius, who was also looking confusedly at Severus, "You'll see."

Severus, after catching his breath and gathering his courage, turned towards the direction of Lily's compartment. He looked inside the compartment and saw the infamous Marauders looking at him expectantly. He gave them the nastiest look he could muster, and took a step, only to fall over onto his face. He heard laughs erupt from the Marauders and looked down at his shoes to see the laces tied together.

He leaned down to untie his shoelaces, muttering about immaturity. When he finally got up, he stalked off to Lily's compartment without sparing a glance for the thick-headed Marauders.

He took another breath and opened the door to Lily's compartment, causing Hestia, Lily, Alice and Gwenog to turn to look at him. Once realizing who it was, all of them, including Lily, he noted with a frown, narrowed their eyes at him.

"Can we help you?" Gwenog asked in a nasty voice. Severus turned to look at her, and felt a little sad. He had been good friends with Gwenog when he and Lily had been friends. Hestia and Alice had never fully warmed up to him, even though Hestia and Lily were the best of friends, Gwenog, who he knew Lily was the least close to, had been the only one to accept him. After that dreaded day, where he had accidentally called Lily a mudblood, he had been shut out of their lives.

"I wanted to talk to Lily," he said, his voice coming out more quietly than he had anticipated. Gwenog rolled her eyes, and Severus, trying not to look to hurt, turned towards Lily.

Lily was glaring at Severus. She had trusted him, and had stood up for him in front of all her friends, only to be let down by him. Ever since the day he had called her a mudblood she hadn't talked to him. It made her summers extremely lonely, with no one but Tuney to talk to, who was busy running around with her whale of a boyfriend called Vernon of all things.

"Well Lily doesn't want to talk to you," she said, trying to look confident and cool, while on the inside she was pained by what had happened between her and Severus.

"Well I would really appreciate it if you could please come out and talk to me," he said, his eyes hardening. He could see through her little act, she knew it, but she didn't care. He had done something unforgivable, and it didn't help that she was a notoriously stubborn person. He didn't break eye contact with her until she finally sighed and stood up.

"I'll be right back," she said to her friends, and walked past Severus into the corridor of the train. Severus gave her friends a tentative smile, to which they all scoffed and turned away, and turned to follow Lily out of the compartment, closing the door gently behind him.

Lily stood there with her arms crossed, looking at him with a harsh expression. He suddenly felt his stomach drop. What was he going to say?

"Uh…hi?" he said, looking anywhere but at her. Lily didn't respond. She looked towards another compartment, where she saw James and Sirius dueling. James had just blown Sirius' head up to twice its size and she laughed. She saw Severus smile out of the corner of her eyes and turned back to give him a hard glare.

"What are you smiling at?" she said, narrowing her eyes at him. She saw the smile wipe of Severus' face.

"Nothing. I, uh, I just wanted to, um, congratulate you," he stammered out. His answer shocked Lily and her eyebrows shot up her forehead.

"Congratulate me? On what?" Lily asked, dropping all harsh pretense. Severus relaxed a little at her familiar tone.

"Head Girl," he said, raising an eyebrow as if it was an obvious answer. Lily blushed, it was an obvious answer.

"Oh, right. Thanks," she said with a small smile.

"Who's Head Boy?" Severus asked, hoping to keep up a civilized conversation with Lily.

"James," she said, and looked over at the Marauders again, to see James and Sirius looking at them. Sirius was curious where areas James looked furious.

"James?" he asked, and Lily snapped her head to look back at him, "James who?"

"Potter, what other James is there?" she asked irritated. Now all four Marauders were looking at them curiously.

"SINCE WHEN IS HE JAMES?" Severus yelled, causing Lily to jump and James to narrow his eyes.

"What do you mean?" she said, looking around to see people looking out from all compartments to see what the yelling was about.

"I CANT BELIEVE YOU WOULD BETRAY ME LIKE THAT!" Severus yelled at her, causing her to flinch.

"Betray you?" she said angrily, feeling all her emotions rise up to the surface; in her case, the fiery red-head stereotype was right, "How did I betray YOU?" she said dangerously.

"YOU SWORE!" he screamed at her. Lily saw her compartment door open and her friends walk out to glare at Severus, "I CAN'T EVER TRUST YOU AGAIN! YOU BEFRIENDED HIM?" he screamed tears forming in his eyes. Lily felt herself turn red.

"Why are you suddenly so sensitive?" she yelled back, "You call me a mudblood and then you think you have the right to yell at me and tell me what to do?" Severus froze, looking down at Lily, "We aren't friends anymore."

With that, Lily turned around and stalked off towards her friends, "Don't let me see you hanging out with him!" Severus yelled after her, and she turned around and gave him a look of astonishment, before heading over to the Marauders compartment, with all eyes on her, and kissed James full on the mouth.