Phoenix Song

James Potter rubbed a hand vigorously over his messy black hair. Usually this would have been an attempt to achieve that bed-head look he was known for, but today it was simply to dry off his head. That September first was a rainy one, and looking around the platform, one could see that James was not the only person who had gotten caught on his way to King's Cross Station and, ultimately, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The smart students had haphazardly thrown raincoats, umbrellas, and galoshes of various colors among black and brown trunks - peppering the gray gloom of the day with bright splashes. The lanky boy sat on his trunk mindlessly twirling a golden snitch which occasionally caught the precious light. Sighing loudly, he checked his watch.

"Don't look now." A low voice next to James chuckled.

James turned his head to look at his best friend and, since he had run away from home in April, his surrogate brother. Droplets of rain flew from Sirius' wet dark hair as he shook his head like a wet dog from his seat on the concrete floor. James leaned out of the way to avoid the water and Sirius laughed loudly. When he stopped shaking, an arrogant smirk appeared on his face and he stretched his long legs out in front of him as he leaned against the brick wall of the platform, his hands behind his head. Sirius raised his eyebrows and cocked his head to the right, as if to gesture for James to look at something.

James looked in the direction of Sirius' head. He swallowed hard and sat up a little straighter at the familiar sight, shoving the snitch into his pocket and adjusting his glasses. He followed the bright blue figure closely with his eyes as she met and embraced a pink-clad Gwendolyn Abercrombie and Annabelle Idle in a yellow plaid rain hat. Her back was to him as she wrung the water out of her thick red hair. James could tell she was laughing by the way she brought her thin, graceful shoulders forward. She took the green ribbon that Gwendolyn found in her pocket and tied the wet locks out of her face. James stared at the back of her exposed white neck, his throat feeling rather dry.

"So Prongs, are you going to shag her somewhere besides in your dreams this year?"

Sirius' blasé drawl brought James out of his dream world. "Shut up Sirius." Sirius shrugged as he smiled back at Moira O'Neill, a voluptuous 6th year Irish Hufflepuff who had amused him for a few weeks at the end of last term.

"If I wanted, I could have as many birds as you, Padfoot," James went on, his eyes still glued to that green ribbon. "I am Quidditch Captain after all. I just choose quality rather than quantity."

"Evans doesn't seem very impressed." Sirius' smirk turned into a grin. "Being a one-woman man doesn't seem to be doing you much good."

James shook his head as he looked back at Lily. She was now talking to Cade Bradley - the very tall, very fit, and very handsome Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain. Cade's sandy blonde hair, blue eyes, and muscular physique had tempted the vast majority of girls at Hogwarts. Even Lily had been on a few dates with him back in fourth year.

Lily laughed, her shoulders shaking, and James' entire body filled with jealousy. He'd kill Bradley on the pitch. His rage lessened as he saw the tall, purple-clad figure of Dorcas Meadowes wrap her arms around Cade. The blonde boy turned and kissed her hard on the lips.

"Hey, Meadowes is dating Bradley." James nudged Sirius.

Sirius shrugged. "She's a tasty little treat, isn't she?"

"You are the kind of bloke that women are warned about," a voice said flatly.

Two black haired heads turned to face a skinny, pale boy of average height with thin light brown hair and big golden eyes. He was wearing a tattered brown overcoat that was covered in rain spots. The boy smirked.

"Moony!" They both cried, jumping to their feet.

James patted Remus Lupin hard on the back and Sirius shook his hand furiously.

"Did you miss us?" James smiled. "How's the furry little problem?"

"Rather the same." Remus smiled slightly, rolling his eyes. "And actually, I quite enjoyed not having to explain to Dumbledore why you two were indiscriminately hexing the Slytherins for three months."

"Come on, Moony." Sirius forcefully wrapped an arm around the noticeably shorter boy.

Remus ducked out of Sirius' grasp, and a serious look crossed his face. "Have you two heard about Owen?" he asked.

"Nice subject." Sirius sighed and slid back onto the ground, a concerned look furrowing the dark brow and narrowing the deep gray eyes.

James nodded. "My father told us about it. He and Owen's grandfather were good friends."

"I saw his editorial in the Daily Prophet," Remus said, referring to the letter Douglas Potter had had published in July after an attack on a well-known muggle born wizard.

"He told us all about the attacks," Sirius said. "How they did them and everything. It's just getting worse."

The attacks had been happening for as long as they could remember. At first it was just muggles and then, the occasional muggle-born. By the time James was nine, ten members of the Association for the Advancement of Muggle-Born Magicians' fifteen person executive board had been murdered mysteriously. It had disbanded soon after that. The month before the friends came to Hogwarts, the culprits had taken responsibility for their crimes, leaving a 14-year-old girl alive after she watched her muggle-born parents, her older sister, her brother-in-law, and her brother tortured and killed. She told the Aurors who arrived on the scene two hours later that it was the work of Lord Voldemort. She immediately collapsed and died at St. Mungo's two days later. After that, the attacks had gotten worse. Since the announcement of the murderer's name, the attacks had increased exponentially. The latest had hit hard for the 6th year Gryffindors. Owen Towler was one of five boys in their house and year. His grandparents, aunt and uncle, and three young cousins had been murdered two weeks ago.

"Do you reckon he'll come on the train?" Remus asked, leaning against the brick wall of the platform. James and Sirius both shrugged.

"Mind if we change the subject?" Sirius asked, scowling slightly. "I'm sure we'll have plenty of opportunity to discuss You-Know-Who this year. Probably more than we would like."

"Good point," James said, leaning against the wall between his two friends and crossing his arms. "So, how am I going to finally snag Evans this year?" His hazel eyes moved to the spot where Lily was standing, now chatting with Julia Connors and Muriel McKinnon - two rather pretty Ravenclaw girls.

"Uhh..." Remus shrugged. "Use Polyjuice Potion and become a different person."

"You don't have a chance." Sirius laughed. "A better question would be who will be the first lucky lady to be picked by one Sirius Black this year." Sirius began to scan the platform, occasionally smirking in appreciation.

This appraisal of the female population of Hogwarts came to a halt as a short, plump boy came bounding up to the three friends.

"Hi guys," he said, his watery blue eyes gleaming. He was staring at James and Sirius and beaming. "How was your summer, James?"

"Sirius and I watched muggle girls go skinny dipping," he said, rather bored.

"One of them did have red hair, Prongs." Sirius smirked up at his best friend.

James rolled his eyes.

"Really?" Peter smiled broadly, sitting on the ground in front of James.

Remus remained standing off of Sirius' right shoulder.

"So, Prongs." Sirius hit James' leg and cocked his head toward a gaggle of girls standing near the back of the tracks. "What do you think about Yolanda Cummings? She's got hair almost as red as Evans'."

James turned his head and unenthusiastically looked the Hufflepuff 4^th year up and down. He shrugged.

"Well mind if I try?" Sirius raised his eyebrows in excitement. "What do you think, Moony? Yolanda Cummings?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "As if what I say will really affect whether or not you take her to the stacks."

Sirius shrugged; turning his attention to one of Yolanda's girlfriends.

"You know who I think is the best looking girl at Hogwarts," Peter said timidly.

Sirius scoffed, his eye now on a skinny 5^th year with a thick blond plait down her back. "Who, Peter? Who is the lucky girl who has caught your discerning eye?"

Peter shrunk a little, but went on. "Brigid Davies," he muttered.

James and Sirius both burst out laughing. Remus sighed.

"Seriously, Wormtail?" James took off his glasses to wipe away a tear of laughter. "You mean the girl who is practically engaged to Roland Fitzgerald, the model and Quidditch star? The girl who even Sirius couldn't get."

"Excuse me." Sirius held up his hands in protest as he scanned the crowd for the blonde 7^th year they were discussing. "I have had Brigid Davies. I got her before everyone else. Way back in third year."

"Third year, Sirius," Remus looked unconvinced; crossing his arms tighter across his chest. "Back when you were shorter than James and she had her pick of all the 5^th, 6^th, AND 7^th years?"

"Obviously she recognized talent when she saw it."

James smirked at Sirius. "Well whatever happened between you two, I think its obvious Peter hasn't got a chance."

Peter shrunk again; his already small frame balling up further. His glance shifted downward to the concrete floor of the platform.

"Ah, don't feel bad, Wormtail," Sirius slapped the boy on the back. "There's always Teresa Cox."

Sirius gestured to a short, rotund girl with a profusion of red and white pimples covering her pale face. She was standing by herself near a second-hand trunk that was falling apart and wearing a red and green plaid muggle raincoat over her too-big pink polka-dot robe. Her thin dirty-blonde hair hang lank around a round face which exhibited her anxiety about returning to school. The 6^th year Hufflepuff had a large amount of black hair covering her upper lip and connecting her eyebrows. Suddenly aware of the four boys staring at her, Teresa looked painfully at them. Sarcastically, Sirius gave her a wink and nudged Peter, who had suddenly turned bright red. This time even Remus couldn't resist a giggle.

Suddenly, a flash of dark red caught the corner of James' eye. He turned in its direction and saw Lily Evans walking towards him. His breathing stopped, he was going to faint, he knew it. The wet ponytail bounced as she walked, her wet clothing clung to her body, and James suddenly wanted to issue a note of thanks to the rain. She grew closer, James stood up straight, and before he knew it she was there.

"Evans." He nodded, his voice sounding strange to him. "How was your summer?"

She glared at him with those glorious green eyes narrowed. "If you think I came over here to talk to you, Potter, you are seriously delusional."

Sirius stuck a fist in his mouth to keep from laughing and sat up a little straighter.

James shrunk a little, but bolstered himself up with an easy comeback. "If you've convinced yourself that you aren't attracted to me, than you're the one having the delusions, Evans."

"What girl in her right mind would be attracted to a cocky, lazy, rude, idiotic bully?"

"Little harsh, Evans." Sirius winked at her. "Don't you think?"

She scowled. "Any girl attracted to you has her fair share of delusions as well."

"Well then, I guess that all females are a bit mental." He flashed her a smirk and turned back to scope out the possibilities.

Glaring at Sirius, she continued, "How dare you treat Teresa Cox like that? She hasn't done anything to deserve that kind of contempt."

"Yeah Padfoot," James smirked at her side. "How dare you? Teresa helps all the other, uglier girls feel so much better about themselves. We should leave her alone."

Sirius and James laughed silently with each other and Sirius put up his hand. Slapping it, James looked rather pleased with himself.

Lily flipped back to James; grabbing his arm in anger and throwing it down. "You...you...." Her face was coloring.

"I wasn't talking about you, obviously." He raised his eyebrows suggestively and leaned in closer to her. "Merlin, you're beautiful when you're angry."

Lily's face twitched again and she looked away suddenly; refusing to let herself smile at the compliment. "I don't want to hear that, Potter," she spat as she backed away. "You don't get to tell me how I look."

"Why not, Evans?" He smiled at her smoothly.

"Because I do not want to hear the opinions of such a toffee-nosed arsehole as you. I do not want to know that you think I'm beautiful when I'm angry." She said the last phrase imitating James' slick voice.

"But you are..." The aggravatingly conceited look on his face simply grew more annoying.

"Well then, I suppose it's good that you like it." She was frowning. "Because this is the only way you will ever see me."

"You seem rather eager for a chat, Evans." He smirked at her. "What's really on your mind?"

"I would never walk all the way over here to talk to you, Potter." Lily stared in to James' hazel eyes angrily. "In fact, I would walk a distance 50 times longer to avoid talking to you."

"For your information, Potter," she went on, spiting the last word. "I came over here to talk to Remus, my fellow prefect and the only person over here whose summer I care a tick about."

"Are you sure you weren't just going to stand there until I asked you out again?"

"How many times do I have to tell you?" She fumed, clenching her teeth. "I will never go out with you, Potter."

"Oh that's right," he mused sarcastically. "What did you tell me in June after I hexed Snivellus? That you'd rather date the giant squid. That seems a bit extreme, Evans."

"It's true." She sniffed, sticking up her chin. "I would."

"Come on, Evans," James smirked, eyes twinkling behind his glasses. "Admit it; you want to go out with me."

She turned her back to him dramatically to face Remus. "Hello Remus." She smiled a little too brightly. "How was your summer?"

He chuckled slightly. "Good, pretty typical, yours?"

"Very nice, thank you," she said sweetly. James stared at the back of her neck, it looked soft. He wanted to touch it. "How were your O.W.L. results?"

"Not bad." He shrugged. "Four O's, Four E's. Let me guess, you got straight O's?"

She blushed a little.

"I got six O's," James said loudly.

Lily spun on her heel and faced him. "Well, considering I got nine, I don't really find that very impressive."

Sirius had to employ his fist again.

Lily looked back to Remus. "Well, it was nice to see you Remus; I'll talk to you on the train in the prefect's compartment." And with that, she stormed off.

"Look likes you've got your work cut out for you mate," Sirius said, the laughter finally breaking through his hand.

James watched Lily's ponytail as she bounced away. "No." He smiled weakly. "She's just playing hard to get."

"Or impossible," Sirius clucked.

A look of anger mixed with desperation crossed James' face as the whistle blew and everyone began to board the train.