The Marauders; A Generation

When the Hogwarts Express arrived at Kings Cross Station hours later, Lily and the rest of her friends got off exhaustedly. They dragged the luggage off the train with them and went to meet their parents. Lily's eyes scanned the crowd until she found her mother whose long red hair she had inherited stood out in the crowd. Next to him stood her tall proud father. When they spotted her they waved merrily at her to come over. She said goodbye to her friends, making promises of owls and such and went to see her parents.

"Lily! My darling, I've missed you so much!" her mother cried as she pulled her daughter into a warm hug. After she released her, she was enveloped again by her father.

"Hi mum, hi dad, I've missed you too! I've got so much to tell you- hey, where's Petunia?" she asked, frowning. Lily didn't miss the look shared between her parents.

"Darling, Petunia had to work today, she wasn't able to make it," her mother finally replied. Lily looked crestfallen. She knew the real reason her older sister had not come. Ever since Petunia had found out Lily was a witch, the two had barely spoken. Petunia thought she was some kind of abnormal science experiment. She had very shaded views on things that weren't strictly normality. Lily tried to smile.

"Oh, okay, I guess I'll see her tonight then," she said hopefully. Before her Hogwarts letter had arrived, Lily and Petunia had been very close. Her mother sighed softly again.

"She's going to be staying at Andrea's house for a few days," she said. There was no other way to hide it. Lily looked close to tears.

"Okay ..." she said softly. Elizabeth Evans wrapped her arms around her daughter again.

"Don't worry about it sweetie, you'll see your sister in a few days. Now cheer up! Your father and I want to hear all about your time at Hogwarts!" her mother exclaimed. Immediately, Lily's mood lifted, and she chattered to them happily all the way home.

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"Hello James." James looked up to see Sirius' mum, Mrs. Black standing in front of him, smiling warmly. She hugged him for a long time. It brought up a lot of emotions inside of him that he'd been trying to keep down for so long, making him cling onto her. When he finally released her she stroked his hair softly.

"How are you doing sweetheart?" she asked in a motherly fashion, as if trying to make him feel as loved as he felt when Cynthia was usually around. James smiled feebly.

"I've been better Aunt Venus. Thank you for letting me stay with you this summer," he replied.

"Oh darling, you're always, always welcome in our home. You're part of the family, don't you ever forget that," she said, her eyes becoming glossy. Sirius walked up to them then and she hugged him as well.

"Hi mum! Ready to go?" he asked. Both James and Mrs. Black nodded, and the three of them made their way to the car where Mr. Black was waiting.

"Howdy boys, did you have a good year?" he greeted them. Immediately, James and Sirius took turns in telling them all the wild tales that had happened to them.

"You boys sound just like me in my Hogwarts days! I hope you didn't get into TOO much trouble," he tried to say sternly amongst his merry chuckles. Sirius and James grinned at each other before shaking their heads innocently. Once they arrived back at the Black's house, Sirius took James up to the spare room. James looked around the barren space and turned to his friend.

"Do you mind if I bunk in the spare bed in your room?" he asked hopefully. Sirius nodded, understanding.

"No problem mate, that way, we can stay up all night talking like we do at school!" he said happily. They put their luggage into Sirius' room and went back downstairs. Mr. Black had his wand pointed at the stove and was starting up on dinner.

"Dinner won't be ready for another half hour, why don't you boys go out and play some Quidditch?" Mr. Black suggested. The two jumped up immediately and went to get their brooms before rushing outside excitedly. When James stepped up onto his broom and took off, he felt as if all the worries in the world had left him. He closed his eyes and drifted along at a moderate speed, just feeling the wind brush against his skin. He turned to Sirius.

"Gods I've missed this. Those flying lessons at school just aren't enough, especially since we're not allowed to fly without supervision. I can't wait until second year, are you going to try out for the team?" he asked his friend. Sirius looked at the sky thoughtfully.

"I dunno mate, I'm not sure I'm good enough," Sirius replied after a while. James snorted.

"Of course you are, I've been watching you fly forever, and I don't think I've ever seen you miss a block ... except for that one time when you were-"

"Okay okay, point taken Potter," Sirius interrupted, glaring at his best friend who was laughing. "Is there a keeper spot even open this year?" he asked James.

"Not really, but you can always try out for the position, even if you don't get it, it's good practice," James replied, thinking about John Spinnet, who currently held the Gryffindor Keeper position.

"What about you?" Sirius asked him. James nodded immediately.

"Jaden Thomas just finished, so there's a chaser spot open," he said.

"You'll get it for sure!" Sirius said, patting his friend on the back. James shrugged, and then got a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Race you around the block?" he took off before Sirius could even answer.

"Hey! No fair!" Sirius said, and he rushed after him.

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Lily was sitting in her bedroom at home a few weeks later when she heard a tapping noise at her window. Looking up, she saw the most beautiful bird she'd ever seen waiting there to deliver her a letter. Opening her window, the magnificent bird glided in and landed on her desk, holding out the letter importantly. Lily stroked it's back gently and smiled when the beauty nuzzled her arm happily.

"Hey beautiful, where did you come from?" she asked the bird, offering it a treat. The bird took it gratefully and then pointed it's beak at the letter. Lily opened it curiously.

Dear Lily,

How have your holidays been so far? I'm sorry I haven't written earlier, but I've been catching up on a lot of work. I can't believe how much holiday work we got! Especially for Potions, I mean come on; we're only in first year!

Anyway I hope you have been having a nice break, and I hope to hear back from you, just send a letter back with Argenta if you don't have an owl, she is a fast bird - a Perugian Falcon to be exact. Anyway, speak to you soon hopefully.

Sincerely,

Lucius Malfoy.

Lily looked up at the bird again and stared at it in awe. Lucius owned this bird? Wow, was all she could think. Picking up her pen and rummaging around to find a piece of paper she began to write a reply.

Dear Lucius,

Thank you for the letter. Argenta is the most beautiful bird I think I've ever seen in my life, where did you find her? Enough about that though-

She was interrupted as someone rudely entered her closed door without knocking. It was Petunia.

"What. Is. That." Petunia asked, disdain dripping from her voice. Lily looked slightly hurt.

"It's a Perugian Falcon, my friend Lucius sent her to-"

"Oh, so you have a boyfriend. Is he a little freak like you as well?" she asked scathingly. Lily was close to tears.

"Why do you have to be so mean about this? I don't understand why you can't accept me for who I am! I am a witch-"

"A FREAK is what you are Lily! And I don't want to associate with freaks, so you may as well learn to live with that. As far as I'm concerned ... I don't have a sister," Petunia said, delivering the final blow and then turning her nose up and walking out, slamming the door behind her. Lily dropped to the floor as the tears slid down her cheeks. Sobs started to wrack her little body as she curled up against her desk. Why couldn't Petunia see how much this was hurting her? Why did she have to be so cruel?

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Petunia stalked back to her own room and the door banged loudly against the hinges as she threw at back with force. Why couldn't she have a normal family? How could her parents just ... rejoice in the abnormality which was her sister, how could they accept it? Magic was make-believe, magic was stupid, magic was for freaks! She vowed never to give into whatever had sucked her parents in, no; Petunia Evans would have a normal life.

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The holidays seemed to fly by for the new Gryffindors, especially as all the boys had traveled up to the Black's home for the last two weeks of August, with Lily joining them in the last week. Venus had taken them all to get their new books and such at Diagon Alley but had given them a lot more freedom then they'd gotten when they'd been starting first year.

Lily and Lucius had been owling each other frequently and in secret; Lily didn't want to tell any of her other friends about it - they would go mad! Even Ciss! So she ceased doing so when she arrived at the Black's, telling him she'd speak to him when they were all back at school. Lily only stayed at the Black's for the last week of the holidays as she'd promised Narcissa that she'd stay with her for a while. Anything was better then living with Petunia at the moment, she'd made Lily cry more times in that short space of time then she'd ever cried in her whole life. This quickly evaporated from her mind when she went to stay with the Delacroix family ... life was plenty different there!

Narcissa had come to the home of the Evan's to help Lily travel to her own home through the Floo connection. Lily had never done this before and had to register the grate and connect it to the Floo Network. The whole Evan's family sat around the fireplace, watching it nervously. Petunia had a look of utter disdain on her face, but had come to watch the 'freakshow'. Suddenly there was a spark in the hearth; a crack of fire and then Narcissa appeared out of the green flames before they suddenly disappeared again. The whole Evan's family except for Lily looked absolutely shocked.

Narcissa, as per usual, looked perfect as she smoothed down her golden hair. She smiled up at Lily's parents.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Evans. I'm Narcissa Delacroix. How do you do?" she asked politely. The Evan's, with the exception of Petunia smiled back at her, impressed with her excellent manners.

"Hello, Narcissa, it's lovely to meet you, and what house are you in?" Mrs. Evans asked her daughter's best friend.

"I'm in Ravenclaw," Narcissa replied.

"Yeah, the smart house!" Lily added, smiling. Narcissa rolled her eyes.

"I may be in the smart house, but I'm not topping the year like SOME people am I?" she said, looking pointedly at Lily who blushed.

"Lily! You didn't us that! We're so proud of you dear-"

"Pfft! Top of your year, at that stupid crazy school of yours? You must be kidding, who in their right mind would be proud of THAT!" Petunia spat out before stalking off, slamming the door behind her - she'd been doing a lot of that lately.

"Petunia!" Mr. Evan's exclaimed sternly.

Narcissa looked on in shock, feeling uncomfortable. Lily had told her about her problems with her sister but she hadn't realized she was THAT bad! Lily looked upset again so she decided to cheer her up by changing the subject as her parents were torn between going after their eldest daughter to reprimand her and staying to comfort Lily.

"We'd better get going Lily, mother and father are expecting us," Narcissa said.

"Yes, let's go, I'll see you at Christmas, and I'll owl you when I get to school," Lily told her parents, giving them each a kiss on the cheek.

"Bye darling, be careful!" Mrs. Evan's said, looking at the fireplace wearily. Narcissa took out a little pouch full of floo powder and let Lily take some. She instructed her on what to do and waited for her to go.

"It was nice meeting you," Narcissa said after Lily had disappeared through the flames. She walked into the fireplace, threw her powder down and stated; 'Delacroix Chateau' and she too, disappeared. When she arrived back at her house, Lily was waiting for her, looking around the current room in wonder.

"It's beautiful!" she exclaimed, marvelling at the rich, elegant décor. Narcissa led her through a door and down a hallway to her parent's wing and Lily was once again astounded. Mr. And Mrs. Delacroix were very elegant and youthful looking for their age. Mr. Delacroix shared Narcissa's pale hair and was very tall and tanned. He looked like he may once have been a Quidditch player. Mrs. Delacroix was slightly shorter with long curly light brown hair and she had Narcissa's beautiful blue eyes. They were a very good-looking family.

"Lily, this is my mother and father," Narcissa introduced them. Mrs. Delacroix stuck out a dainty hand politely and said hello, but Mr. Delacroix strode across the room and gave Lily a big smile and a big handshake.

"It's very nice to meet you Lily, Cissy has told us so many things about you!" he sai. Narcissa rolled her eyes.

"Dad! Don't call me that," she said, blushing. Mrs. Delacroix looked a little peeved about the nickname as well.

"She's right you know Christophe, it is such a childish nickname, why must you insist on calling her such things?" Mrs. Delacroix said in a heavy French accent. Her husband too had a strong accent, but had been subdued due to the amount of time he had been living in England.

"Pas Laetitia de début, nous avons un invité," (do not start Laetitia, we have guests) he replied, giving his wife a look. She shrugged it off.

"Narcissa, why don't you show Lily to her room?" Mr. Delacroix said. They both nodded and headed off back to another end of the castle (in Lily's opinion).

"Sorry about that," Narcissa said once they'd reached the room Lily would be staying in. It was beautiful, just like the rest of the house, with rose-pink walls and rosewood furniture. The bed was white and had a soft transparent pink canopy over the top.

"Don't be sorry, there's nothing to be sorry for," Lily replied as they both tumbled back onto the comfy covers.

"The thing is Lily, I've never told you this ... my mother ... she's um ... well, she ... she used to be a Slytherin," Narcissa said quietly. Lily looked at her in surprise.

"I thought you said that all of your family was either in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor!" Lily said in confusion. Narcissa cut her eyes to the ground.

"Well, they are, all of them are, except for my mother. Father has all but been cut off from the family because of it ... I don't really get to see my cousins and relatives a lot. It's not like it really mattered; mother has enough money for my grandchildren's grandchildren to survive ... anyway, I just wanted to tell you that because ... I trust you, I've never told anyone before ..."

Lily gave her friend a big hug.

"Ciss, did you really think that I would think differently of you because your mother was in a House that had a lot of gits in it?" she smiled. Narcissa sighed in relief.

"I guess not ... thanks Lil', you don't know how much it means," she said softly. "That's why she acts like she does ... don't look at me like that, you'd be a fool not to notice." Lily shrugged.

"I guess, but is it really that bad?" she asked.

"Lily, you are so lucky, your parents love you so much, you can just tell by their faces, and even your sister, I saw it in her eyes ... she loves you too. My mother has never shown me what real love is like, and she hardly ever lets my father do all the things that fathers are meant to do because they're too 'childish' or 'immature'. I have wealth, I have stability, but is that really worth not having a loving family?" tears were beginning to build up in her eyes. Lily hugged her friend again.

"I guess I am lucky, but you know, it's impossible for your mother to not love you, and I could definitely see that your father does ... Ciss, you're a really special person, and you're my best friend. If it makes you feel any better, I love you!" Lily cried, hugging her tighter. Narcissa burst into tears. She said something that was muffled against Lily's shoulder but Lily understood all the same.

"Best friends forever?"

"Best friends forever."

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"POTTER!" Sirius yelled as he sped down the length of his Quidditch pitch clutching the Quaffle, ready to throw. James nodded and sped up so he was next to him. Sirius threw him the ball and James took off, even faster then Sirius had been. Remus and Peter struggled to catch up, but weren't quite fast enough and James easily dropped the Quaffle through Sirius' makeshift rings.

"AND THAT'S GAME!" Sirius yelled, pumping his fist into the air. The boys all laughed. It hadn't been even a remotely serious game, especially as they only had four players.

"Guys we'd better go in, Lily should be arriving any moment," Sirius said, glancing at his watch. They four of them aimed their brooms downward and leapt off, hurrying towards the backdoor.

"Good game boys?" Mrs. Black asked them, as she started to cook dinner. They all chorused a cheery affirmative before going off to clean up a bit. They came back downstairs after four very quick showers in four very elegant bathrooms and went to wait by the fireplace. Just as Peter walked in last there was a crackle, and Lily tumbled through and landed on the ground.

"Hello!" she exclaimed. James laughed.

"Hey Lily, good uh ... trip?" he asked, mirth bubbling in his eyes. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Well excuse me if that was only the second time I've ever travelled by floo powder! I AM muggle-born you know!" They only laughed harder before being interrupted by Mrs. Black calling them in to dinner. The rest of the week was jovial, the five of them getting along splendidly. Peter began to open up more to the others and Remus was found to actually have a whacking sense of humour!

On the morning of September the 1^st it was chaos. There was yelling in every which direction, clangs and howls of pain as trunks were moved and dropped on feet, but finally, they were ready to go. The ministry had sent them a car to take them to the station which had been magically enhanced to fit the five of them, their luggage, their pets and Mrs. Black. Mr. Black was unable to come as he'd had an important meeting at work - the subject of which was suspiciously a mystery.

They reached Kings Cross Station and Mrs. Black saw them all onto Platform 9 ¾ and left them at 10:55am to get loaded onto the train themselves.

"Now behave Sirius! I don't want to be getting any more owls about you sending filibuster fireworks into ANYONE'S cauldron, and yes, that includes any of the Slytherin's, understood?" she said sternly. Sirius nodded innocently up at his mother and kissed her on the cheek.

"Bye mum!" and she disappeared through the barrier.

"FREEDOM!" Sirius cried, jumping into the air. The others just laughed as they pulled their belongings onto the train and found a compartment. Once they'd all piled in they plonked down on the seats and sighed happily.

"I'm so happy we're going back to Hogwarts, nothing else feels quite the same," Lily said, smiling.

"I know what you mean ... and I'm itching to try out for the Quidditch team! Gods I hope I get in!" James said, his face suddenly turning serious. As the boys began a lively chatter about the game, Lily decided to wander down the train and see if she could find Narcissa. She'd sent her friend a few owls since she'd left her place but hadn't got any back, leaving her quite worried. Not really paying any attention to where she was going, she accidentally bumped into someone.

"Lily!" it was Lucius.

"Hello Lucius how was your holiday?" Lily asked, smiling at him happily. He was really a very nice boy once you got to know him. His eyes flickered behind her for a moment before replying her.

"It was alright, how about you? How was the Black's place, Potter getting on okay?"

Lucius had been trying to have a nice conversation with Lily but had seen Arvan looking at him meaningfully from the door of the compartment behind her and thought he'd better get his act together or he'd get another beating from his father. Lily didn't seem to notice this, as her face was still glowing.

"It was good, and yes James is alright, he's a lot happier, I think his mother is getting better from what I hear, but don't say anything Lucius, it's not really common knowledge about what happened," she said, her face turning serious for a moment. Lucius regretted the next words before they even came out.

"Don't worry. You have my word."

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After talking a little more with Lucius, Lily continued her search of Narcissa and found her sitting alone in the very last compartment. She was shocked at the expression on her friends face.

"Ciss? Hey, what's wrong!" she cried, rushing over. Narcissa looked up and gave her a small smile.

"Hey Lily, I'm really sorry I didn't write back to any of your owls ... my mother and I had a huge fight and she confiscated Amelie from me." Lily was honestly shocked; she'd never seen her best friend so depressed before.

"Hey that's okay, but you're not, do you want to tell me what happened?" Narcissa looked at her as if studying her face before smiling sadly again.

"No it's okay, you know I trust you and I tell you everything, but I really just haven't got the effort to right now," she said, as flashbacks of the last week of her holidays came rushing back to her.

'How can you associate with such filth? Have we taught you nothing Narcissa? You are a pureblood, our family's lineage dates back to the days of Salazar Slytherin himself. Now you are associating with mudblood's? It was bad enough that you didn't get into Slytherin, but now you have to drag my reputation down even further by becoming friends with a MUDBLOOD? That is IT, no more owls, bring Amelie to me and stay in your room for the rest of the week. I'll have the house elves bring you your meals." Laetitia Delacroix had ranted on for hours.

"Okay. Do you want to come and sit in my compartment? I'm down the other end with James and the other Gryff boys," Lily asked her, searching her face. Narcissa shook her head.

"No, honestly Lily, don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I'll grab a carriage with you on the way up to the castle okay? I just want to get some sleep." Lily nodded and hugged her friend again before walking back to her own compartment.

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful, except for when Malfoy walked into their compartment and traded insults with the boys. Nobody noticed the private looks he and Lily shared briefly and left soon after. When they arrived, Hagrid was there to take the first-years and the rest of them all got the horseless carriages up to the castle. As promised, Narcissa waited for Lily so they could get a carriage together. The blonde girl still seemed slightly depressed but had brightened considerably to the shape she'd been in before also due to seeing Lily again. When they got to the castle they all hopped off and headed for the Great Hall. Once the preparations for the sorting ceremony had been administered, Professor McGonagall led the trembling, soaking first-years in. Lily and the other Gryffindor's were not really paying much attention as the sorting began but stopped talking when it was over and Professor Dumbledore stood up to make an announcement.

"Congratulations to all the first-year's! I'm sure you'll all find your new houses very welcoming. This year, a new student joins our second year from overseas. I have left the sorting hat on the stool as he remains to be sorted and I'd like you all, especially the second years to make him feel welcome-" at that moment, the doors to the great door opened and a dark boy with midnight hair stalked in. He was dark in appearance, actually, his hair and eyes were but his skin was very fair. Lily caught his eyes for a moment and she almost gasped in shock. Who was this boy? Something in his dark eyes had glinted at her and she shivered unintentionally. He walked to the front of the hall and nodded at Professor Dumbledore.

"Please welcome Severus Snape, who has joined us this year after having been at the Durmstrang Institute in Bulgaria." The occupants of the hall broke into a scattered, nervous sort of applause. Severus didn't seem to mind or even notice for that matter. He just looked at Dumbledore as he was handed the hat. Sitting down on the stool he pulled the hat over his head. After a few short moments it screamed out the name of the house that he would become part of. The house that would determine the rest of his life.

"SLYTHERIN!"

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