An Unlikely Ending

"Finally" Lily Evans sighed as she placed the last sweater inside her trunk. She had been packing the majority of the past week, and readying her self for her return to Hogwarts. Not only would this be her sixth year there, but she had also been appointed again as the Gryffindor prefect.

"Yet another year with the insufferable James Potter," she said to herself as she flopped onto her bed. Ever since they had gone out in first year, both Lily and James had problems getting along. Lily thought that he was an annoyingly arrogant quidditch player that couldn't think his way out of a plastic bad, and James thought that she was a stuck up know it all who needed to have more fun. Needless to say, it was always an interesting event when the two of them were forced into the same room.

"Maybe this year he will learn not to mess around with the wrong girl," she added with an evil grin on her face.

"Mom wants me to ask if you're all packed," sneered a sour voice from the doorway. Petunia, Lily's older sister, had come to hate her sister. Partly because she was a witch, and also because her parents had always seemed more proud of Lily's accomplishments than of her own. "As you know, Vernon is coming in an hour for a nice dinner and I don't want anything to go wrong." Petunia said through gritted teeth. "If anything at all out of the ordinary happens......well, let's just say that your last few days here won't be pleasant."

"I won't do anything, I promise," Lily replied, raising her hand and placing it on her chest.

"Yes, well you better stick to that promise." Petunia said, slamming the door behind her.

"Honestly, I sometimes wonder if we are from the same planet, much less related."

"Ha! I got you!" James exclaimed as he pelted his best friend, Sirius in the back with a Filibuster Firework.

"Oh!" Sirius groaned while rubbing his lower back where the firework hit. "Those things do hurt, you know."

"I know, but it's just so much fun to see the look on your face when you get hit with one from behind."

"You dirty bastard. You just wait," Sirius said with a mad look coming across his face. "I know where you sleep."

Both boys laughed as they opened the back door and walked into James's house.

"Good morning Mrs. Potter."

"Morning Mum."

"Hello boys! Wonderful morning, isn't it? Oh, Sirius dear what happened to the back of your shirt?" Mrs. Potter asked, looking at the scorched fabric that used to be the bottom half of Sirius's shirt.

"That's an interesting question. Why don't you ask James?"

"James," she said, her voice losing its jovial tone. "What did you do this time?"

"Nothing mum! I swear he had it coming though." James tried to defend himself, all the while wrestling with the toaster. "Damn thing," he mumbled under his breath.

"It's not plugged in, James. And what, might I ask, did Sirius do this time?"

"I can answer that!" exclaimed Sirius, his head still half way inside the fridge. "All I did," he explained, as he took a bid bite out of a turkey sandwich, Sirius's idea of breakfast food was whatever her could get his hands on. Swallowing, he continued. "You see, all I did was express the truth."

"Oh, and I suppose that bewitching my prefect badge to say "Pimp Daddy" is your version of the truth?"

"Honestly though," Sirius said turning to face Mrs. Potter. "You should see him at school. I think he has dated more girls than there are penguins at the zoo."

"Penguins. Really. Well, anyway I had best be getting to work. I think that some new paper work has come in concerning, well, maybe it's best if I didn't talk about it with you boys." And with that, Mrs. Potter disappeared with a small POP.

"Better finish packing, hadn't we?" James asked finally giving up on toast. The things muggles think up!

"Sure," Sirius agreed, pushing the door open with one hand, and with the other stuffing his face with yet another sandwich.

James couldn't resist, the timing was just too perfect.

"OHHHHH!" Sirius yelled, spraying half chewed sandwich all over the floor. "That hurts!"

"But you should SO see your face!" James said laughing.

"Just remember, I know where you sleep, Prongs."

"All ready?" Lily's father, Peter, asked from the driver's seat.

"Yup, Dad. Double checked last night."

"Then I guess we had better get going." The trip to King's Cross Station was only ten minutes, yet it seemed as if it was ten years to Lily. She was smiling out the window, thinking about seeing her friends and also finally making the idiot James pay. Most of the punishments that came to mind though, even the Death Eaters wouldn't use, so she came tot he conclusion that although they were fun to dream about, the likeliness of them ever coming to pass was one in a million. While she was dreaming about her latest form of torture, a voice cut into her thoughts.

"Lily, we're here honey," her mother said for the seat in front of her.

"Great," Lily breathed, brimming with excitement.

As she and her parents made their way to the barrier between platforms nine and ten, they started to say their good byes. Glancing back one last time before making the final dash at the brick divider, Lily tried to file away the image of her two parents gleefully waving at her.

"Ahhh," she thought getting her first look at the scarlet engine waiting to take them back to Hogwarts. "Home sweet home."

"Lily!" someone screamed from farther down the platform. Turning to see who had been calling her name, Lily stopped and pushed her cart in the direction of the voice. As she turned, her trolley collided with something. All Lily saw was a flash of black and then a loud grunt as something, or rather someone, hit the ground hard.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going!" Lily exclaimed as she bent down to examine the black heap on the cement. "Are you hurt badly?"

"Why don't you watch where you're going?" said the lump as it turned over to reveal its self as none other than Severus Snape.

"I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to hit you with my cart. Is there anything hurt?" Lily asked concerned.

"You mean besides me pride? No, not that I know of. I guess that the least you can do for me is help me pick up my books after you so rudely plowed me down with your cart. You're Lilly Evans, right?" said the boy with a bored look.

"Yes, but you can just call me Lily. And you are Severus Snape, I presume?" she said extending her hand.

"Yes, I guess it is nice to finally meet face to face after six years," said the boy, taking her hand, but holding it loosely as if he thought she had come highly contagious decease.

"You're in Slytherin right?"Lily asked trying to continue with the conversation.

"Yes." Said the boy, once more returning to his bored voice. "I already know what house your in"

"And what is it?" Lily asked smiling.

"Gryffindor." He stated simply.

"Really, and how would you know that?" Lily asked in a curious voice.

"Your prefect badge says so," the boy stated with a smirk, Snape didn't disclose that every male in the entire school knew what house the "red haired goddess" was in. He obviously thought it was funny he could have so easily outsmarted Lily.

"Well, I guess that I'll have to be watching out for you this year, Severus." Lily said with a smile.

"LILY!!!!! Are you deaf or something? I have been screaming you name all the way down the platform! People were starting to give me strange looks," the girl who had just emerged from the crowd informed Lily. Sure enough, most of the other people on the platform were starring in the direction of the two of them.

"Honestly, I sometimes think that I can't take you anywhere," Lily said in a mock serious voice.

"Well maybe if we got you a hearing aid, then I wouldn't have to scream at the top if my lungs to get you attention!" the girl said back. "Miracle ear!"

"Thanks Viv, I'll try to remember that next time I'm talking and you interrupt." Lily told the girl with a shove. Vivian Johnson had been Lily's best friend ever since first year. She was loud, random and borderline insane and was almost the exact opposite of Lily, partly why they got along so well.

"So we're playing ruff are we now?" Viv said with a shove to return Lily's, and also sending her crashing into Snape for the second time that day.

"Sorry," Lily apologized as she stepped back and gave her friend a menacing look, only to find that Vivian was doing the same to Snape.

"Snape," Vivian regarded him coolly.

"Vivian! Long time no see, I believe that the last time I saw you, you were pondering the origins of Chicken of the Sea. You're quite the modern day philosopher." Snape said, returning her cool glance.

"I'm sure that people all over the world wonder why they write chicken in the title, when in fact it's really tuna that's inside."

"Yes, and I'm sure they're all under the age of five."

"At least I've heard of shampoo, slime ball." Vivian said, starting to loose her cool. Lily knew that she had to do something before Vivian just abandoned words and hauled off and hit Snape. She wasn't the smartest when it came to thinking up snide remarks, so she often just resorted to various forms of violence to prove her point.

"Shouldn't we be getting onto the train?" Lily asked, as she pulled her friend with her towards the compartment door. "Nice to meet you Severus." She called as the disappeared into the train.

"What were you doing with him?" Viv asked as they sat down in an empty compartment of the train.

"I accidentally hit him with my trolley and felt bad. Nothing happened, I swear. By the way, I don't know why every one hates him; he's nice. The only reason that no one likes him is because of that pompous James Potter and his gang going around and spread rumors about him. I'd heard them all before, but when I actually talked with Snape, he wasn't half as bad as everyone has him set out to be."

"Listen to you! Taking the side of the enemy! If the marauders ever hear about you saying this, I'm not quite sure what they'd do!"

"How about make her give me a kiss?" said a voice from the doorway.

"In your dreams Sirius," said Lily, not even bothering to turn her head away from the window.

"Your right, but in my dreams we usually get a lot father than kissing," Sirius said with a grin.

"Wow, that was way more than we needed to know about you Sirius," Viv said as she covered her eyes in fake disgust.

"Just be glad that I haven't told you about the dreams that I have evolving you, Viv," Sirius smiled. "Let's just say that you're mighty flexible."

"One, GROSS! And two, I'm way out of your league, perv."

"Ah, how I've missed your biting remarks, and not to mention the mind blowing discussions on canned fish." He said as he turned to face the girl opposite Lily, and sat down next to her. "So be truthful. Were there days when you just thought that you couldn't go on without seeing my beautiful face?"

"Oh, every night was agony without you," Viv said as she rolled her eyes.

"As it should be. You haven't seen the guys have you? James said that he was going up to the prefect compartment, but I still can't seem to find Remus and Peter."

"Oh my god! I forgot to go to the prefect compartment!" Lily said as she quickly leapt for the door.

"Already spacing out and it's only the first day, tsk tsk tsk," Sirius said shaking his head. "Oh well, I guess Viv and I will just have to sit here in the compartment all alone.......with no one around..........just you and me........" He said trying his best to put on a seductive voice. It was common fact that Sirius had feelings for Vivian even though he was the biggest flirt second only to the infamous James. The whole school seemed to know it except for Vivian.

"Ummm, I think that maybe we should be trying to find Remus and Peter," Viv said nervously as she eyed Sirius's devilish grin and not liking it one bit.

"Hope you find them," Lily called as she an out the door.

"So, what do you want to do now?" Sirius asked, his grin spreading wider.

"Sorry I'm late," Lily panted as she bursted through the door and into the prefect's compartment.

"Well, well, well. It seems that you not only run people over with trolleys, but you also enjoy being late. You're on the road to Head Girl with behavior like that. Just remember us little people when you get to the top." Said a cool voice from the corner.

"Sorry. It won't happen again, I promise." Lily said blushing. She didn't really know how else to respond to a comment like that.

"No need to be sorry. It's Snape that should be sorry." Said another voice from inside the compartment.

"Umm, why?" Lily asked questioningly.

"For having a stick up his arse." replied a boy with unruly black hair and bright blue eyes that made the female population or Hogwarts, excluding Lily, swoon. As he stood and made his was to where Lily was just starting to sit.

"I was wondering when I would be seeing you, Mr. Potter." Lily said as James slid into the seat across from her and starred out the window.

"Nice seeing you too Lily. You always sound so excited every time we meet."

"Well what did you expect? On the last day of term last year you set my hair on fire!" Lily replied angrily, still remembering having to grow back her hair the night before she went back home on the Hogwarts Express.

"It was an accident, GEEZ! Your like an elephant, you never forget anything."

"Well I don't think that you would be quick to forget being completely bald, not to mention having blue flames surrounding you head. And by the way, it's so kind of you to compare me to an elephant, does loads for my self esteem."

"Well, I'm sure when we start classes up again, the teachers will waste no time in building it back up." He said coolly.

"At least I don't have to prove my magical skills and cleverness by picking on students and playing stupid pranks!"

Saying this made her flash back to the time when Sirius had messed up the bubblehead charm. Instead of performing the charm on the hedgehog that Professor McGonagall had given them to practice with, he hit Lily's butt instead. No one had mentioned anything to her the whole day and she had walked around the hallways with a butt the size of a small child. Ahh, such fond memories of walking to class and having James and his crew follow her around chanting "Bubble Butt" in her ear. The only satisfaction she got form the whole event was the look on their faces when she told them that they had lost Gryffindor a whopping 50 points each for their little stunt.

"That's quite a remark coming from someone who once had a butt the size of a small country." Said James reading her mind.

"Arrrrgggggh! Why do I even bother????" Lily said as she stormed over to the corner furthest away from where James was sitting.

"Potter troubles?" Snape asked, leaning on the table as he emerged form the shadows.

"Yes, but nothing new there," Lily sighed, shaking her head. "I wonder if his parents meant from him to become a great big git, or if that's something he picked up from Sirius."

"Sirius giving you problems as well?" Snape curiously asked.

"No, he's just being Sirius and you know how that is." Lily rolled her eyes and thought about poor Viv and what she must be putting up with at the moment.

"Yes, sometimes I wonder how the two of them can put their socks on in the morning. After all, they're not the brightest bulbs in the box, although some of their stunts make them appear otherwise."

"The thing is that they never leave the proof to get caught, which makes them seem smarter that they act. Wait, did I just defend them?" Lily thought. Damn, she was never any good at insults.

"I think that no matter how hard you try, you will always forgive those who you truly care about." Snape replied.

"Wow, I think that's Hallmark card material right there. Where did you get all this deep mumbo-jumbo?"

"It comes as a result of having nothing better to do than think of advice. I do have friends though, it's not like I'm some big loser who has no one to talk with."

"Really? Cause you had me going there for a while?"

"Ahh, we were just talking about you James. Some thing along the lines of egotistical, pig and bastard."

"Ouch Snape. Looks like you finally got some courage this summer." James smirked. It wasn't like Snape to insult him. Snape usually was too scared to even talk in James's presence without Malfoy along for protection.

"Looks like someone got an even bigger head over the summer." Snape replied.

By the looks on both the boys' faces it would only be minutes until one boy was on the ground being pummeled and that would most likely be Snape.

"James," Lily said pulling on his sleeve and leading him towards the door to the compartment. "Why don't we go and try to find Viv, and the rest of the Marauders?"

"Anything to get away from this prat."

"Finally!" Viv breathed a sigh of relief. By the looks of things, a half hour with Sirius had really been trying her patience.

"Hey! I'm sure my company wasn't that bad!" Sirius said with a hurt voice as he made his way to where Lily and James stood in the doorway. "I feel so unwanted and hurt! Why don't you come comfort me in the bathroom Lily," he said putting his arms around her pushing her into a seat and proceeding to jump on top of her.

"I think I might have to pass on that one, but I'm sure that James would be more than happy to take my place." Lily giggled as she was smothered by Sirius's weight.

"I'm sure he would," said a sandy haired boy in the doorway. He looked tired, but then again, the full moon had been only two nights ago.

"Nice to see you Remus!" exclaimed Lily from underneath Sirius.

"Come on you ol' prat," Remus said as he lifted Sirius off a crushed and slightly airless Lily. Standing up, she gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Hey, how come he gets a kiss?" Sirius complained.

"Because he isn't a randy git like you are." Viv said from her position near the window.

"I'm only randy around you my love. My feelings are just sometimes to much for me to hold inside."

"I don't really know how to take that last comment," Viv said with a confused look. She shook her head though, and said brightly, "You know what? I think that it would be so awesome to have a mascot for the quidditch team. What do you think, James? Maybe we could have some one dressed up as a bludger and they could run around the stands and hit people. Not very hard of course," Vivian was the seeker on the quidditch house team, and her mind always seemed to be focused on new and slightly crazy ideas on ways to make the games more fun.

"Umm, sounds good." Man this girl is random he thought. "Although where are we going to find someone to run around in a bludger suit across the pitch?" James asked.

"Eh-Hem! I think that I might be able to fit it into my busy schedule. Anything for my Snuffle Bunny," he said as he leaped into the lap of a surprised Vivian.

"Snuffle Bunny?" She coughed, looking down at him questioningly.

"Hey, it was the best that I could think of at the moment, but I'm sure that as our relationship progresses, I will find new pet names for you." He paused, "Come to think of it, Schnookums has a nice ring to it."

"God, I hope that I never live to see that day come."

"First years follow me!" James bellowed over the roar of voices on the platform. A small stream of students followed him to where the boats waited on the bank of the lake.

"T'anks James," Hagrid whispered in a raspy voice. "I'm afraid that I couldn't yell even with my life depending on it. Damn cold."

"No problem Hagrid, always nice to be of help."

"Be'ter be off then or else y'll be late fer the sorting and th'e feast."

As James walked back to where the rest of the marauders had waited, his mind drifting to Lily Evans. She had always been gorgeous, but it seemed that when he saw her enter the prefect compartment that morning, her beauty seemed to shine. What was he thinking? His mind snapped back to reality. It was Lily Evans, the stuck up prick who always made sure that he paid for anything wrong that seemed to happen, even when on the very few times he had been innocent of the crimes. But still......

"What you thinking about Jamesy?" Sirius asked as he climbed into the carriage drawn by invisible horses.

"Nothing, just what's going to win us the award for most detentions."

"Now don't get ahead of your self there boys," Remus chuckled. "With Lily on your cases, I think that you won't even have to try to fulfill that wish."

"She was looking mighty fine today wasn't she?" Peter, who had remained silent until then, asked.

"You thinking about asking her out, Wormtail?" Sirius inquired with a grin.
"Of course not! I was just stating what was on everyone's mind." Peter replied defensively.

"Sure."

""Could we please stop talking about ruddy Evans? I think that if I hear her name one more time I'm going to puke!" James exclaimed rolling his eyes.

"Did someone forget to take their M idol this morning or do we maybe have some feelings about Lily we would like to share with the group?" Remus asked with a smile.

"The only feelings that Evans makes me feel are annoyance and exasperation. Let's just try to think of something pleasant, like what we're going to do to Snape." James offered with an evil grin. This kept all the boys occupied until the carriages reached the great doors, all four running into the entrance hall laughing like maniacs.