AN: Please Review! Sorry, I haven't been updating very fast. School is getting hectic, but I have to do something while I procrastinate on my Government homework. This is, once again, a bit fillerly, but things are going to start picking up once they get to Hogwarts. Trust me, you aren't going to like me very much after they've been back for a few months.
Waking up beside each other in the morning was perhaps one of the perks of sleeping together. It was three days after Christmas and their holiday together would be over in a matter of mere hours. Despite the fact Lily woke up with a kink in her neck and arm half asleep, she still smiled when she felt James arm around her waist, his body curled around her as they both slept on their side.
Carefully detaching herself from him she rolled out of bed and walked out of the room down to the kitchen. Mopsy had already started a pot of tea, so she poured two cups adding a heaping spoonful of sugar and good amount of cream to one cup, the other only dribbling a bit of cream into. With that in hand she piled a plate with muffins made two days ago and went back up to her room.
James had rolled onto his back but other than that he hadn't seemed to have stirred. Smiling, she used her wand to flick the lights on and grabbed her cup of tea before opening her trunk. She set the work, packing the muggle way, knowing James would tease her incessantly before she would relent and use her wand to get him to shut up.
She was done with her breakfast and mostly done with her packing when James began to came to life. He squinted at her, fumbling around for a bit until he had his glasses on. "What are you doing?"
"We leave in an hour, you know Dumbledore made the departure time earlier. It's ten," she told him, lifting her wand to float his breakfast beside the bed. "You still need to pack and get dressed."
"I have some jeans somewhere and I can steal one of Sirius' shirts," he mumbled. "Forget to get my things ready for Mopsy to wash."
"Uniform," she said as she walked over to the closer where she had her own clothes hanging, as to prevent them from getting wrinkled. "You know you're-"
"Supposed to set an example, I know, I know…" he mumbled taking a swig of his tea, scowling and then turning his full attention to his muffin. "How about you be a brilliant role model and I'll just stand beside you and look dashing."
Lily rolled her eyes and shut the door with a flick of her wand before changing from her pyjama's into her uniform. As she was tying her tie, James came up behind her. "How about I do that?"
"If I wanted to look like a wazzock." She spun around to face, as he clapped his hands over his heart.
"I've been wounded," he replied dramatically. "Even my wife doubts my abilities."
"James…"
"I'm getting dress, but I refuse to put on the tie. It feels like there's a nose around my neck."
Lily rolled her eyes as she smoothed out her uniform, using a spell to make sure it wouldn't get too rumpled on the train ride. Carefully using an aguamenti spell she got her hair wet before braiding it tightly. As she watched herself in the mirror, her ring caught the light. "Are you keeping your ring on?"
"Why not?" James muttered, already dressed in his wrinkled uniform.
"Because, won't it be peculiar?"
"How?" he questioned, trying to smooth out his hair. Once he got it flattened, he scowled and raked his hands through it. The effect looked like he just got off of a broom. "I can take mine off, but no one will give a second thought to yours. It's not even a diamond."
"Do you want to take it off?" Lily asked, pretending to busy herself with placing bobby pins to better to keep her hair in it's braid.
"Not really, I kind of like it." He said, his mouth twitching into a smirk. "Does that sound odd to you?"
"Not at all," Lily said. "Keep it. Dare anyone to say anything."
"Cheeky little monkey." He grabbed her, pulling close for a kiss.
"James, I just got my uniform-"
"Oh, I'll even do the spell to straighten up your robes, relax."
Lily just pushed him away, and did a spell to shrink her packed bag. With a sigh James did the same, grumbling as he threw things into his trunk. Watching from the other side of the room, Lily whispered a spell to heat up her now cold tea. James had just finished shrinking his this bag when there was a pounding at the door.
"Come on you two lovebirds," Sirius shouted. "We have to get going, throw on some clothes."
Lily waved her hand, and the door flew open. Sirius' fist was poised in the air, ready to knock again. "We're already dressed," she replied dryly. "Now, we were going to head downstairs."
"Well, we have to leave now, Agatha is driving us in that muggle contraption of hers." Sirius shook his head. "She doesn't even fly it, do you know how boring it is to ride in that thing?"
"Yes, Sirius I do. For the first eleven years of my life I was regularly a passenger in one of those muggle contraptions," she said. Behind her James laughed, happy that being around the Marauder's had rubbed off on her.
"Let me take our bags and load them up, come on Padfoot," James interrupted, grabbing both of the shrunken bags, before placing a hand on Sirius' shoulder and steering him towards the door.
Lily let out a chuckle and walked over to the closet to pull out her winter cloak along with her matching gloves and scarf. Goodness knows she'd be wandering around the platform, checking to make sure all the younger students got on the train, not only that, but the carriages never seemed to stave off the cold, no matter what charms were used.
As she was bundling up, there was a knock at the door. "Can I speak with you?"
"Charles," Lily said, looking over James' father. He wasn't his usual jovial self, with mischief making his eyes shine behind his thin gold-rimmed glasses. "Sorry, if I'm making us run behind." She pushed a lock of hair that slipped free from her braid.
"No, I just never congratulated you. I told James." He smiled and raked a hand through his hair. "We Potter men are famous for our sense of humor, but talking about the important things makes us run the other direction." He laughed. "Agatha'll never tell you how happy she is, because no parent dreams of their son getting married at seventeen, no matter how wonderful the girl is. But I understand, we both understand." Taking a few steps forward he wraps his arm around her, in the same manner James would. "I always wanted a daughter, hoped she would balance out his personality and it looks like I got my wish."
"My parents would say the same thing." She hugged him a bit tighter, shutting her eyes and burying her head in his shoulder. He was so different from her father, her father wasn't a large man, but he was broad shoulder and wore solid colored flannel shirts on the weekend. The smell of tobacco clung to him from his nightly cigarette that his mother despised, but the spicy scent of his soap helped to hide it. Charles Potter was thinner and taller, he always wore Oxford shirts and trousers that were slightly wrinkled. His smell was sharp and clean….If she tried hard enough, though, she could almost pretend it was her father.
"Are you alright?" he asked when they pulled away.
Before Lily could answer James burst in the room, but paused in the threshold seeing Lily with her green eyes brightened by tears. "Lily, love, have you seen my Quidditch jacket?"
"Yes." She took a deep breath, squeezing her eyes shut to chase away the tears, as she repinned the smile on her face. "I put it in my trunk, I borrowed it when we went out in the snow."
"That's fine, dad can I take my wife now?"
"Of course." Charles watched, managing a smirk as his son threw an arm around Lily. As they walked towards the door, he put a hand on James' shoulder. "Watch out for each other."
Charles couldn't come to the station and Agatha loaded them into the car. Sirius played with radio the entire ride into the station as Agatha tried to coax them all into a civil conversation and James interrupted her to smack Sirius' head and complain about the music. Lily leaned her head against the window, her eyes scanning the snowy landscape.
At the trainstation Sirius and James leapt out of the car waiting for Agatha to pop open the trunk. Lily climbed out and wrapped her scarf around her neck before tugging on her gloves. "Boys, don't rush off," she ordered, tugging on each one of their shoulders. Giving them a smile she fix James' hair and straighten Sirius' robes to no avail. "Stay out of trouble, you've done a good job so far." Opening her arms wide she hugged them tightly, then gave them each a kiss in turn. "I love you," she whispered. "Go on."
"I'll wait for Lily, Sirius reserve a compartment for us."
"No, go," she urged, then walked over to Lily. Without a word she embraced her. "Charles and I didn't want to ruin Christmas, but...He's getting assigned to field role again, he turned it down at first, but now...Things have changed Lily and the Ministry is running me ragged, there are so many displaced children. If something was to happen to...Just be there for them. James has never really handled a loss, other than his Charles' mother and he was too young to remember that. Sirius…"
"I know." The memory of the night he was disowned filled Lily's mind. She thought of the half empty bottle of mead and Sirius laughing, despite the tears that stood in his eyes.
"It's a lot to ask, but you are stronger than you think." Giving her kiss on the cheek Agatha pulls away.
The words echo in her mind as Lily crosses the barrier, twisting her ring around her finger as she walks through the barrier. Nervousness bubbles in her stomach, but not the same way it did her first year at the beginning of the term. She knows what lies ahead on the other side of the barrier, but today what makes her even more nervous-scared really-is the fact that in five months she'll be crossing through that barrier the last time as a Hogwarts student.
"Lily!" a voice shouts. Scanning the crowd she sees Frank waving at her with his other arm slung around Alice. "How are you?" he asks.
"Fine." She forces herself to stop nervously playing with her ring. As she crosses her arms over chest she notices Alice's hand, now adorned by a slim, gold band. "I have no idea where James is though."
"You'll find him," Alice replies quietly. "We should go." These words are even quieter as she turns in Frank's arm, pecking him on the lips. "Be safe. You have to be here at the end of the term."
Frank doesn't respond, just pecks her on the lips, placing a hand on her shoulder before pulling her in tighter. Finally, words leave his mouth, "I"ll try." At that, Alice clings tighter to Frank and-even though they're in the middle of a crowd-Lily feels as if she's intruding on a private moment.
"We better go and find Marlene before she gets into a trouble," Alice says as she takes a step back.
"Yeah, you should." Frank manages to smile and he steps forward to give Lily a side hug. "Best of luck, I know you'll ace your OWLS."
"Thank you," she whispers, "For everything."
"Don't mention it, you'll return the favor some day."
Lily just nods and walks away from Frank, leaving him alone as she trials behind Alice. The ring suddenly feels heavy on her finger, she thinks that everyone can see it like a neon sign pointing straight at her, but then she realizes that Alice is wearing one too. She wonders how many more are in their situation. War changes things, it can drive people closer together or further apart.
Walking down the train Alice and Lily stick closer in companionable silence. They are about to enter a compartment when footsteps get faster and someone grabs her left wrist. "Lily, James said that we're supposed to have a prefect meeting." It's David.
"Try finding Sirius," Lily suggests. "I hate being alone on train rides." Twisting around, David lets loose of her wrist, not even paying attention to her fingers.
"Sirius?" Alice asks.
"Peter will be there too, so will Marlene and probably Athena."
Lily lets David lead her to the Prefect's compartment and as they walk he chatters on about his break. She tries to latch on to details, but they all escape her. "Enough about me, how was your break?"
"Perfect, unexpectedly perfect."