For the end of May the day was bitterly cold. Even being squashed between Alice and Marlene at the top of the stands, the wind still nipped at her face and hands.
"Come on Gryffindor!" Alice squealed.
"God, Al. Would you not scream so close to my ear?" Lily grumbled. The heavy book in her lap kept getting jostled every time the pair of them jumped up and down.
"Oh you spoil sport Lil". Alice jumped again, whooping and punching her fist in the air.
"Oi Hess, actually hit the damn ball!" Marlene shouted as Hestia zoomed past on her broom, wielding her bat furiously after the bludger she was chasing.
"Not you too". This was the last place Lily wanted to be so close to exams, she was wasting perfect studying time! And with no one in the castle she would finally get some peace.
"And you!" Marlene turned to Lily when she had finished yelling at Hestia, "This is a Quidditch match not a bloody library!" Before Lily could form a response Marlene grabbed the book out of her hands and shoved it into her own satchel.
"Marrrr…" Lily moaned, getting to her feet.
"Good you're on your feet, now you may as well cheer and support your house in the final for the Quidditch Cup!"
"What? I thought this was just a friendly!" Lily cried, finally turning her attention to the pitch. "What's the score?"
"110 to 70, Ravenclaw are leading" Alice piped up as a Ravenclaw player snatched the quaffle away from a Gryffindor chaser. All the players were frantically flying around the pitch: beaters swinging their bats; chasers crashing into each other in the fight to get the quaffle and the seekers scanning the stadium for the tiny fleck of gold that was the snitch.
On the pitch below Lily could just about distinguish which chasers were which as they blurred into coloured blobs. After several moments she saw the mess of black hair she was looking for. Lily followed his movement as he caught the quaffle deftly with one hand and sped up the pitch toward the Ravenclaw keeper. Then out of nowhere a large Ravenclaw chaser appeared in front of him, blocking his path to the goals. He looked left to see if he could pass off the quaffle, seeming to ignore Sirius who was next to him on his right, but he didn't pull up in time to avoid the chaser who grabbed the front of his broom and flipped him through the air. A mass of red Quidditch robes plummeted toward the ground.
The whole stadium held its breath.
"ARESTO MOMENTUM" A booming voice bounced around the stadium and the red blur slowed greatly to rest gently on the grass. Dumbledore stood out amongst the teachers who were all gathered in the stands opposite us, his wand still raised.
"Why didn't the bloody arse just pass to Sirius? He was in the perfect position to score!" Lily yelled gripping Marlene's arm.
"Lil, I thought you knew" she said quietly "He's really angry with Sirius and won't even look at him".
"What?"
In the air, the referee – Madam Campbell – was screaming herself hoarse at the chaser and, with a blast of her whistle, called for a Gryffindor penalty. The rest of the team gathered around their captain on the grass below and, after quick deliberation, he clambered back on his broom. He shot toward Madam Campbell, who was positioned in front of the Ravenclaw goal posts, his hair was -somehow- more ruffled than before. The stadium was silent again as he lined up to take the shot, and then there was cheering from the Gryffindor stands. The penalty was over so quickly that if you had blinked you would've missed it.
Play resumed as usual, the Gryffindor team working as a solid unit through the Ravenclaw players. Lily paid close attention to the chasers and saw that he still refused to pass to Sirius. She had had enough.
"For God's sake Potter! Pass to Black!" Lily screamed above the cheers. James' head whipped up at her shout as he caught the ball again.
"Look at Frank!" Alice shrieked excitedly, pointing widely at the other end of the pitch. The Gryffindor seeker had just launched into a spectacular dive. The snitch wasn't visible from this distance; one could only assume that it was beyond his out stretched hand. At the same time Lily spotted Potter reluctantly chuck the quaffle at Sirius who slipped it easily through the bottom left hoop. Madam Campbell blew her whistle to signal the end of the game and all at once every single Gryffindor went wild.
Frank landed gracefully with his arm thrust over his head as his team crashed around him, clapping him on the back and yelling. Students were now spilling onto the pitch and racing toward the red clad players. Lily was pushed along with the crowd, running with them, excited to see our house finally receive the Cup from Dumbledore.
She lost both Alice and Marlene in the throng of people, finding herself in front of the team much quicker than she had anticipated. The mass of bodies around her knocked her into someone and as she turned to apologise, she felt a warm arm snake around her waist – pulling her closer to their body. Everyone around them were still cheering and congratulating each other on the excellent win. Lily tilted my head up to see who the mystery person was and jumped in surprise.
"Lily" James breathed. She saw her startled expression in the reflection of his glasses as he lowered his face to hers, his warm lips crashing down on her startled ones. At first Lily was motionless, shock still freezing her body, but when he didn't stop Lily felt her arms link around his neck and burying her hands into his hair. She was completely oblivious to the world around her; like she and James had been catapulted into their own paradise and nothing else mattered. Their lips moved in time, a groan escaping James' mouth when she nibbled playfully at his lower lip. James' tongue flicked over her lips insistently and she accepted, parting her lips – he tasted of the syrup he'd had on his pancakes that morning.
"Hey Ja-WHAT?" Sirius had appeared next to James'- no Potter's - shoulder with his mouth open in surprise. Shit.
"Earth to Lily" Hestia said shaking my shoulder roughly. We were on the Hogwarts Express on the way home for Christmas. Wow, that had been a vivid daydream or maybe I should say memory. "Lil you looked very deep in thought, what were you thinking about?" Hestia continued.
"Oh nothing, you know just how much food I'm going to eat this holiday" I mumbled. Marlene laughed loudly from her seat opposite her. In that moment I realised that Alice wasn't in the compartment anymore.
"Hey where's Al?"
"Oh Mr Longbottom paid us a visit whilst you were out of it and stole her" Marlene smirked.
"Well, I think they're rather sweet together" Hestia interjected.
"You think everything is sweet".
Marlene McKinnon, Hestia Jones and Alice Vance had been my best friends since we began Hogwarts five years ago and not only because we had to share a dormitory together, we had just clicked straight away. Sometime during last year Frank Longbottom had finally plucked up the courage to ask out Alice and since then they'd been inseparable.
The compartment door crashed open to reveal a tall, muscular boy with jet-black shoulder length hair. "MARELY" he squealed in a high girlish voice. Sirius collapsed onto the seat next to Marlene's and flung an arm around her shoulders.
"Honestly Black you sound like a first year" Marlene giggled. Their relationship was very awkward. Oh not because they didn't suit each other, hell no, they both caused about as much trouble as the other, Marlene's older brother was the problem.
Mason had problems understanding his sister's relationship. He had specifically said that Sirius was a 'player who only saw girls as objects' and if he ever saw Marlene with him he would 'beat the shit out of him'. So, their relationship involved a lot of secret meetings and broom cupboards.
I sometimes wondered if they just used each other for the physical stuff, as neither of them had had a proper relationship before and Sirius had been known to go through several girls in a year. However, since it began in October they seemed content with their arrangement.
"So, who's excited for the hols then?" Sirius continued in an excited voice, practically bouncing in his seat.
"Hmm…sounds fun," I said looking away from the window.
"Sounds fun? But…Evans, this holiday is going to be the best you have ever had!"
"And why is that Black?" I sighed.
"Because you get to spend a wonderful amount of time with me and Prongs of course!"
I choked on my own spit. "You what?"
Hestia began to laugh from behind the newspaper she was reading. Marlene just looked at me as if I was stupid. "Lil, the Potter's are my cousins they always stay with us at Christmas".
"But you said it was only me who was staying over!" I protested.
"Yeah, that I invited" Marlene said slowly "My parents invited the Potters".
"So how does Sirius come into this?"
"I live with the Potters, they aren't about to leave me at home all alone on Christmas now are they?" Sirius grinned.
"But…but…what about Hess? And Alice?" I spluttered at Marlene, hoping that she would understand that I, Lily Evans, couldn't spend the holidays with Potter.
"Well Hestia here is apparating back to good ol' Ireland to spend some time with her family of Leprechauns and Alice is spending Christmas with Frank's family so they can try to persuade his mother to like her".
She smiled a little too sweetly at her which made me think that she could read her mind. Yes, I had successfully managed to avoid speaking to Potter or being alone with him since…well…the, err, incident after the Quidditch Cup last year. Just about anyway…
"Evans! Oi! Evans!"
Ugh. She had just stepped off the girl's staircase into the common room when she heard the voice. It was the day after the final match and her mood on a Sunday morning wasn't great at the best of times. Let alone when she had a hangover, so hearing his voice just pushed her over the edge.
"What the bloody hell do you want Potter?" Lily snapped. James was walking toward her from the fire where she could see the rest of the Marauders and Marlene lounging on the squashy sofas.
"I need to talk to you" James said, he was now standing right in front of her blocking her route to the portrait hole, great, not a quick escape then. Lily had never noticed how tall James Potter actually was but she found she had to tip her head back to see his face, as he was so close.
The motion gave her an odd sense of Deja vu. For a second she couldn't understand why and then it all came rushing back, the day before – the kiss – the sensation of him pulling her body against his and his lips crashing down on hers. Wait, he's still in front of her. Now is not the time to remember that, shit. She should probably reply.
"I can't," Lily murmured, stepping to the side to move past him. James, however, was adamant that we would talk and stepped in front of her again, catching a hold of my arm.
"Why not?" he asked, "You're not doing anything right now. Come on Lily".
"Because, Potter, the world does not revolve around you and I need to study," she said sarcastically, snatching her arm back. "Oh and did I mention the fact that our first exam is in three days?"
"Lily-" he began.
"No" she cut across. "I will be in the library studying for our Charms exam and if you follow me I will hex your ears off".
"Evans please, you do not need to study for charms you can probably recite the flippin' text book in your sleep" James laughed. Lily kept her face poker straight and stepped forward until they were practically nose-to-nose.
"I will be studying for charms and you will not follow me". Shit, too much time in close vicinity with James' lips - she could taste his minty breath on her lips. Stepping back quickly she slipped around James whilst he was momentarily frozen and escaped out of the portrait hole.
Okay, it was less than two weeks. I can do that. I'll…um…help Mrs McKinnon with some cooking, no she'll have Mrs Potter for that. I went back to staring out of the window, thinking hard; snow was falling softly over the wild countryside.
Maybe I should just visit Flourish and Blotts and pick up some new books…that would keep me busy for a while. My contemplation was interrupted by the sound of squeals. Sirius had pinned Marlene to the seat and began to kiss her face and neck.
"Honestly Mar" Hestia sighed folding up her newspaper, "What if Mason came in and saw you? Didn't you say he was going to come see us at lunch?"
"Oh shit" Marlene grabbed Sirius' wrist from beside her head and read his watch. "Shit, shit, shit". She sat up, pushing Sirius off of her. "Time for you to go, mate" she grinned and dropped a kiss on his lips.
"But-" he began to protest. Marlene gave his shoulder a push.
"No!" she giggled, "Do you want Mason to break your nose and spoil your handsome face?" Sirius hopped to his feet quickly.
"See you in a few days then, beautiful" he said with a wink at Marlene.
"Bye Sirius" Hess smiled.
"Black" I nodded.
"Evans, my darling how am I going to last these next few days without seeing your face?"
"Oh, sod off!" I said, turning back to the window. Sirius laughed and with a wave toward Hestia left, slamming the compartment door behind him.
It was silent for a little while but the silence wasn't awkward, they'd been friends for way too long for anything to be awkward between them. Sirius had barely gone for three minutes when they heard footsteps outside.
"Hey Mar, why was Sirius Black walking away from this end of the train?" Mason asked.
Mason McKinnon was a slight boy, not too tall and not too short, with golden blonde hair like his sister's which he styled into a small quiff. I looked at Marlene quickly to see if she would fluster but she kept her cool and simply said "how am I supposed to know I don't keep a tracking charm on him and hello to you too".
"Right, hi. So he didn't end up in here then?" Mason narrowed his eyes at Marlene.
"No"
"You sure?"
"Mase, it's just been us, hasn't it girls" Marlene appealed to us. Hestia nodded and Lily just murmured in agreement.
"Fine" he flopped down in the seat which Sirius had recently vacated. There was a knock at the door: "Anything off the trolley dears?"
The next half an hour was spent stuffing our faces with pumpkin pasties and cauldron cakes. Hestia lugged out her collection of chocolate frog cards and began swapping them with Mason. This resulted in an argument and Mason's eyebrows being turned blue.
"God Hess, maybe you should join Barnabas you barmy lady" he grumbled as I carefully changed his eyebrows back to their original blonde. To avoid any more arguments, I pulled out a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. We spent the rest of the journey cringing when we got a foul taste and rejoicing when we got a yummy bean.
The Hogwarts Express pulled into King's Cross Station just after three in the afternoon. The platform was busy and streaming with students calling for their parents. Owls hooted and cats meowed making the noise almost deafening. Marlene grabbed my arm and held on tight as we went to retrieve their trunks, Mason in front cutting a clear path. We said goodbye to Hestia as she disappeared through the barrier promising us that she would be around for New Year.
"Come on then Lil, you first" Marlene said gesturing for her to push the trolley through the barrier. I heard her shout, "don't crash into any muggles!" as I ran at the wall. King's Cross materialised in front of me and I'd barely caught her breath when Marlene and Mason appeared behind her.
"I said to Mum that we'd meet her in the car park" Mason called over his shoulder as he pushed his own trolley towards the exit.
It was at this point, when they were leaving the station that something would always tug at my heart. When I had first come to Hogwarts both of my parents would always be here to pick me up at the end of every term.
It was at Easter in second year that Dad turned up alone. He informed me that Mum had been in hospital and the doctors said that she had breast cancer. According to the radiation doctor she wasn't responding well to her chemotherapy.
That holiday was the worst of my life.
Mum hadn't made it out of hospital and had passed away in her sleep just before I was due back at Hogwarts. I had cried for a month straight, refused to talk to any one for longer than a minute and threw myself into my studies. I knew I was just trying to bury myself in the distraction of passing my exams but I couldn't cope.
Severus would still sit by me in class and look at me in alarm whenever I broke into tears, occasionally offering his shoulder for me to cry on. But that was before…well…yeah. It was only when Potter and the rest of the marauders picked on Severus that I showed any emotion, and even then it was only anger.
I sometimes wondered if I was actually angry at Potter or just at the world for taking the one person who mattered most in my life. My mum had been my best friend, and losing her destroyed me. The gaping hole in my chest that nobody could ever fill.
Finally, Marlene was the person to snap me out of it. She told me about the wizard who was gaining power and brutally killing muggles just for the fun of it. That was when I realised that my mother's peaceful death had been the best for her. I owed Marlene everything for helping me out of the pit of depression I had fallen in to.
"Hey Lil. Are you going to get into the car?" Marlene called from the back seat. I could see her little brother Josef already asking countless questions about Hogwarts, bless him – he was only eight.
Her mum smiled at me from the front seat: "Hello Lily darling".
Mason helped lift my trunk into the extended boot of the car before climbing in the front next to his mum. I shut the boot and got in next to Josef and then we were off, manoeuvring their way through the snow. It was a fairly long drive to the McKinnon House in Devon, so I settled in and soon drifted to sleep.