Semele Perdita

It must have been the longest day of my life.

To everyone around me, it looked like the start of any other year at Hogwarts. Like nothing had changed. In their eyes, change was something that could only happen in large amounts.
How wrong they were.

For me, this change happened so subtly that one would not notice even if they had been watching. This was the first year my parents did not come with me to the train station. Why? They were dead. Killed on their way home from a joint business endeavor. Their train derailed and flipped over, taking the lives of thirty-two people.

I looked around the station with my peers all bidding their own parents a goodbye. A smile tugged at my lips, despite my situation. The numbness of my parents' death was still in full swing and I was well informed by many sources that the shock would eventually wear off. How would they know?

With a sigh, I boarded the train and took to holing myself in the nearest empty compartment. My friends could find me if they really wanted to speak with me.

Of course, my best friend, Meara, found me first. She had no pity in her eyes like everyone else who knew did; she had some type of sympathy but no pity. Her perceptiveness on what people needed was always astounding.

"Lily." she inclined her dark blonde head in a form of greeting. "How are you doing?" Her gray eyes slid across my face in their usual examination and her mouth curved in some sort of strange approval. She was already decked out partially in her uniform, her dark blue tie looped around her neck carelessly over a standard white oxford shirt.

"If you want me to say, 'Oh I'm fine, everything's great. How about you, Meara?' Please, the door is right behind you," I answered without looking up from the book I had pulled out.

"Why on earth would you say that? Unless you were daft of course, but then that might explain some things, considering..." Meara's cat like smile was as obvious as ever as she raised her eyebrow in a mocking gesture at me.

"Ha." I resisted the urge to glare at my companion. Meara was slightly off in the aspect of banter. 'Off ' meaning, she could never resist the urge to underline her words with some sort of inside humor, funny only to herself.

However, this was how many of my housemates were. Guarded, sarcastic, and a good portion of them were chronic bookworms. Intelligent as the poor things were, they lacked the common sense for anything and were constantly overanalyzing things.

Yes, I do pity some of the people in my house. I wonder constantly what would happen if they actually took their noses out of their thick, dusty books and actually lived a normal life. This, of course, will never happen. I, Lily Evans, inhabitant of Ravenclaw House for the past five years (going on six), have been assured of this repeatedly. Some things
will never change.

We both sat in silence for the majority of the train ride, as we usually do. Exchanging dialogue only when needed, we shared a bond that confused many people. They couldn't see why Meara and I were friends, neither could I at times. It was just a natural occurrence. We didn't sit around each other's beds and giggle over cute boys like the others girls our age. Our secrets stayed our own unless one of us was compelled to share it, which was rare and far between. We had an
understanding and a silent trust in each other that was a comfort to both of us.

As the annoyingly familiar voice drifted across the entire train announcing that we would be arriving shortly, I started to get ready. I hadn't changed into my uniform yet. Rolling my eyes, I quickly rummaged through the disarray of my trunk and found my clothes. I pulled them on and was smoothing my skirt when the conductor announced that everyone
needed to take their seats and would everyone please refrain from exiting the train immediately when it stopped.

I plunked down in my seat with a sigh and grabbed my tie, which was lying hazardously across my trunk's lid. I circled around my neck, tied it in a sloppy knot, and slipped my jumper over my blouse. Shaking my hair free, I grabbed a hair tie and pulled it back into a neater bun, while attempting to pin my Prefect badge on my jumper.

I succeeded only in pricking my finger and a heap of red curls in my face. Meara, with an amused expression, crossed over the small space and fastened the pin easily on my top and handed me the dropped hair tie.
She chuckled lightly at me and her liquid eyes danced with amusement.

"Let's go, Lils, before you kill yourself," Meara chided.

----------------------------------------------------

Looking over the banister rail, I felt a grin steal upon my face as I watched them coming up the hall.

As usual, the Ravenclaws were punctual in everything they did, even leading their precious little newbies up to their commons. Their Prefect, Lily Evans, was currently explaining exactly what being in her house meant and what was expected of them.

Maybe this new batch of first years wouldn't all be incurable know-it-alls like the rest of their house. Of course, that would never happen. Hoping for something like that though was almost futile. Ravenclaws were born and bred to be know-it-alls.

Seeing as they were nearing the place was I was posted, I ducked out of sight but not before flicking my wand inconspicuously at the ceiling. I allowed my smile to become even wider at the faint sounds of sloshing from up above my head.

Risking a glance across the expansive hallway, I caught one of my best mate's eyes and nodded. It was time to have some fun.

From the four points in the hallway in which we were stationed, we all lifted our wands up and pointed at the floating cups we had placed there earlier. Hopefully, the water had filled all of them by now.

"Ibi Aspergere!" I muttered at the cups nearest to me. In slow motion, they capsized and turned their contents onto the hallway's inhabitants, namely the Ravenclaw first years and Lily Evans.

The water that they had inserted into the cups mixed with the multi-colored instant hair dye was sure to cause chaos as soon as they realized what was happening, but I didn't stick around to find out.

After all, I would hear about it soon enough.

Sirius, Remus, and Peter had been my best mates and partners in crime since our first year. We bonded on the spot when we first met each other. We are inseparable and constantly in trouble.

I am closest to Sirius, simply because we are the most like each other and at the same time easily the most diverse in our little group. Sirius is always the one that plans our little escapades in hot water. Remus is usually the one to polish these plans and come up with ingenious ways to get out of the hot water that Sirius placed us in. Peter usually sneaks around and makes sure the coast is clear and is always involved in the actual setting up of the plan. I am the one who makes sure everything runs smoothly and when something does go wrong to evacuate the troops.

We have called ourselves the Marauders for almost as long as I could remember. The group had started with only Sirius and me but was quickly expanded to include Remus and Peter.

Anyways, the four of us met up in the hallway that led to the Gryffindor common room and dormitories, all out of breath.

Remus was the first to break our silent panting and smiling.

"She is going to kill us," he said simply. He didn't have to elaborate who 'she' was. We all knew. Lily Evans was indeed going to kill us. It wasn't hard for anyone to figure out that we were the ones to do this to her and her new housemates. Lily had not parted at the end of 5th year on good terms with us and was due for something to happen to her. We had planned this hair dye thing all summer and if I do say so myself, it was rather brilliant.

"Ah, but was it worth it, Moony, my pal?" Sirius choked out. He was stumbling on his words because he was shaking with silent laughter the whole time.

"Yes, it was, I only wish we could have seen her face when she realizes her hair is turning blue," Remus replied with a far-off smile.

"You think she'll tell McGonagall?" Peter asked timidly.

"No doubt about that one, but, really, a week's worth of detentions is worth seeing Evans with blue hair!" I laughed at the question.

This comment of course cause all three of my friends to crack up in laughter once more. We all smiled and caught each other's eyes as we heard footsteps coming up the hall. Obviously, our own first years were coming to join Gryffindor's ranks.

Suddenly a thought occurred to me. Remus was a Prefect this year and that meant meetings and duties. How were we supposed to do anything with a chosen 'responsible' Prefect in the Marauder group?

Apparently though, Remus seemed to have already thought this through.

"Good thing, I'm real slippery at getting out of Prefect duty, eh, James?" He had obviously read the questions on my face.

I smiled at Remus and gave a nod of appreciation.

"Now then, lets go and see what our wonderful housemates did over the summer." Sirius broke the silence. "Er--Moony, what's our password again?"

Remus sighed as they approached the painting of the Fat Lady.

"Clara Stella," he answered and the portrait swung open without protest.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Peter wrinkled his chubby nose.

I smiled at password. I would have to discover from Remus why he had chosen 'Bright Star' in Latin as our password. It didn't seem to quite fit, but Remus always had his reasons.

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