The Broken Locket

Chapter 1. Daydreams and Drama

It had been a very long summer for Lily Evans. She could feel the beginnings of a headache just thinking about it. 'Why does it all have to be so complicated?'

She thought that after five years of being a witch and going to a wizarding school her sister, Petunia would get used to the fact that Lily was different. But, no! Petunia still whispers "Freak!" under her breath whenever she sees Lily reading her school books. As though Lily can't hear her, although Petunia makes sure that she does.

'This jealousy of hers is really out of control. She's getting on my last nerve!'

"Lily!"

She jumped and looked at up at her best friend, Adrianna Devlin standing in the doorway of the compartment, looking concerned.

"Are you alright? Don't tell me you're still worrying about your sister!?" Adrianna asked, with an accusing stare.

A guilty smile betrayed Lily. "I'm fine, really. I just got carried away. Um, did you buy anything for me from the cart?"

Adrianna smirked and threw some Chocolate Frogs and sugar quills at Lily. "I know you're just trying to change the subject, but I'll let you escape this time." She slid the compartment door closed and sat down on the wide seat across Lily. "Guess who I saw buying sweets at the cart?"

This caught Lily's attention as she unwrapped a Chocolate Frog. "Who? Oh, wait, have you seen Seath or Abby? I saw them before we boarded the train on the platform, but I haven't seen them since."

Adrianna shrugged. "I don't know where your boyfriend is, and I think Abby had to talk to Remus. Anyhow, I saw James Potter at the cart! He was buying lemon tarts, and there was some sixth year girl hanging on his arm. Can you believe it? We aren't even at school yet and he already has some drooling female following him around like a love-sick puppy. It looks like he hasn't changed a bit. Do you remember last year how he..."

Lily tuned Adrianna out and walked down a memory lane back to their fifth year... She could still remember the day she screamed at Potter and helped Severus Snape escape the Marauders. From that day on Potter ignored her whenever he had the opportunity, and Snape threw her a cold look every time she spoke to him. Not that it was a loss.

She thought Potter was a conceited ass from the moment she met him, and Snape, a stuck-up loner who seemed to despise everyone. That day had been a great opportunity for her to show Potter that, although she wasn't part of his fan club, she could still make him notice her. Not that him noticing her mattered to her. Of course it didn't. It was just annoying how he ignored every girl unless she was willing to worship the ground he walked on. She just needed to prove to herself that she was just as good as anyone else.

Of course, her relationship (if you could call it that), with Potter had never been exactly good. It got off a rocky start in their first year when Potter made fun of her Quidditch skills. Since then they had kept their distance, except for a few heated incidents and arguments. 'So, obviously, there is no "relationship". And since when do I devote five whole minutes of my time to thinking about Potter? '

A murmuring voice brought her crashing back down to earth.

"Hey, sweetness. I've been thinking about you... Lils? Is something wrong, hun?"

She opened her eyes reluctantly. Yes, it was Seath whispering in her ear. He was convinced that it turned her on, but she had never bothered correcting him. Something about hot breath and ears being sensitive? She forgot what he'd told her...

"Hello, Seath. Can you release my arm, please?" Her voice came out in a tone she was surprised to hear coming from her. Icy. Seath released her and stood up, a confused look on his round face. He was tall and well-built, a Slytherin Quidditch chaser. She supposed that what he lacked in intelligence he made up for in looks. Unfortunately for her, he seemed to be intelligent enough to figure out when he wasn't wanted.

"Sorry. I thought you were sleeping and you might have wanted to see me, and to say a proper hullo, since we haven't seen each other since last year!" he asserted, looking disgruntled and pissed-off.

Lily didn't know what to say. She didn't understand why, all of a sudden, she felt so put-off by him. 'Why am I dating this loser anyway? I only went out with him because he wouldn't leave me alone, and I was a bit desperate for some male attention.'

She couldn't believe that that thought just popped up out of nowhere. She hadn't realized that unconsciously she was dating Seath only for the, well, benefits of a boyfriend. She realized now that she had no real interest in him in the first place. 'It was all a bit more out of physical need than anything else.' Not that she wasn't a virgin, of course. She wasn't that stupid. She never let it go past snogging; not that he hadn't tried...

"What is wrong with you? You've been acting strange all summer! And now this! Why the bloody hell are you being so difficult, Lils?" He was giving her a hard, piercing stare, trying to figure her out.

She gave him a cold stare back, and immediately felt guilty for her actions, and especially her thoughts. "I've had a lot of problems this summer, and you know it, Seath! I'm sorry if I'm a bit standoffish right now, but you...you startled me whispering like that!" she stammered. It was mostly true, anyhow.

"Well whatever your problem is, work it out. I'll be back later!" And with that Seath stomped out of the train compartment and slammed the sliding door behind him.

Lily let out a sigh of relief. 'Thank Merlin he's gone. I don't want to deal with him right now.'

She looked at Adrianna who was sitting in the corner, faking sleep. "Enjoyed the drama Adri?" Lily laughed.

Adrianna opened her big green eyes and swung her long dark curls out of her face. She was one of the prettiest girls in their year. "Of course! I live for it!" She giggled.

"Wow. I thought you two would either end up snogging each other's brains out, or get in a fist fight, but I wasn't expecting him to storm out of here like that." She arched her perfect eyebrows and threw an inquisitive glance at Lily. "What is up with you, anyway? You are acting stranger than usual, and why are you so put off by Seath all of a sudden?"

But Lily never got the chance to answer, because at that moment a pretty blonde with shoulder-length hair and almond-shaped blue eyes bounced into the room. "Hullo, my pretties! Why aren't you guys dressed in your robes yet? We'll be there in about twenty minutes..." She hesitated. "Did I interrupt something?"

"No, Abby, you didn't. We were just saying that it's time to get dressed," Lily quickly said before Adrianna could utter a word.

* * *

He looked out the window at the green scenery speeding past the small window. He finished buttoning his robe and looked at the rest of the Mauraders. Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew were looking back at him expectantly.

"What? Is my hair a different shade?" James snapped at his best friends.

Sirius looked surprised, but quickly recovered, "No, it's just that you don't seem to be your usual self. We were just wondering what's on your mind."

"Nothing, I was just looking outside, that's all," he retorted, emphasizing the last two words to make his point clear.

At that moment the train's wheels screeched to a halt outside the train platform of the small village of Hogsmeade. He could already hear the mad scramble of students rushing to get off the train outside the compartment. He couldn't help but wonder what this year would bring.

"Hopefully nothing too dramatic," James murmured to himself. He had had enough of that last year.

James Potter left his thoughts behind him and left the train with his friends. They walked to the carriages that will take them to the castle pulled by the invisible Thestrals, although they were not invisible to James.

Students jostled for carriages as they were all in a hurry to get to the castle and the feast that awaited. In all the hustle and bustle James forgot to watch where he was going and tripped over a trunk without warning.

"What the he...!" James exclaimed as he tripped and landed on top of the trunk. His shin hurt like hell, and now he was really irritated. "Who left this bloody trunk out here?!" he yelled into the throngs of students leaving the train. The rest of the Marauders were trying not to laugh. It was not often that they saw James lose his cool.

Long red hair and green eyes flew into view. "Oops! I'm so sorry, I..." Lily faltered when she saw who had just tripped over her trunk.

James blinked. He felt, that, as if for a second, time froze. It was her. He couldn't believe this. First day back and they already ran into each other.

He recovered himself quickly and arranged his face into a not-so-covincing smirk. "I should've known it'd be you Evans," he remarked in an indifferent voice, trying to cover up surprise and anger.

She threw him a cold stare in response and walked away with the trunk magically levitating behind her.