A Change of Heart

Chapter 2

"Lily, come on... I know how you feel about his jokes but---" Sirius started before Lily cut him off.

"But nothing. He's cruel and he's no better than some of the Slytherins who go around cursing people just because they feel like it," she said angrily.

"Well, I use to do it too..." Sirius said regrettably. "I'm not proud of it... But Lily, he's not as bad as you think. I mean, you and I get along don't we? Besides, no one is as bad as the Slytherins."

"James sure is. He could be as bad as Malfoy or Macnair In regards to you, well, you are different. You regret it, obviously. I still catch James doing some of those stupid pranks on innocent younger kids. They don't do anything to him and he jinxes anyone who comes across his path."

She was angry at James for having sent Sirius to do his dirty work. She knew very well what James wanted with her. He wanted to ask her out, but she refused as she had ever since he had first asked her out in their fourth year. They hadn't even as much as talked. She never knew what to make of James. When she wasn't in a bad mood, when she noticed James doing something nice (which was hardly ever), she felt flattered by his persistence. He was a good-looking guy, quite a big catch according to a lot of the other girls. She didn't really think of herself as pretty so she wondered why he would bother asking her out. She wished she had raven-like hair and bright blue eyes like Sarah's, instead of her dark red hair and her emerald green eyes. She remembered having been teased at the muggle elementary school as a little girl, called a carrot head. It had been a long time since anyone had called her the annoying name, but it still made her feel self-conscious when she thought about it.

"I think you're too quick to judge... besides that twit always acts like an idiot around you," Sirius teased.

"Stop it! I don't want to hear about James anymore. Why don't you tell us what you did over the summer? Anything interesting?" Lily looked at him with interest and gave him her full attention as he hesitantly changed the topic.

***

Once Sirius had left the compartment a little bit later, Sarah started questioning Lily again.

"You do realize that you will have to tell me eventually? I mean, I am your best friend and all," Sarah looked at Lily, who had been distracted since Sirius had left. "Lily, are you listening?"

"Hmm?" Lily said turning to see her friend. "What? I'm sorry Sarah. I was just thinking."

"It's no point talking to you when you are so... dreamy. I wonder where Hannah is. We must be halfway to Hogwarts and she hasn't come by. Maybe we should go look for her," Sarah said getting up.

"You're right. Maybe she's sitting with her boyfriend. You know, that cute Hufflepuff. Oh I forgot, I was supposed to go to the prefect's cabin to tell them what they're supposed to do. Come with me and you can look for Hannah meanwhile."

They left the compartment and while Lily went to the front of the train to the prefect's compartment, Sarah went searching for Hannah.

When Lily got to her destination, she had a dreadful surprise. Standing there, talking to the prefects was James Potter. Lily could tell it was going to be an annoying experience.

"Potter what are you doing here?" she said looking at him scathingly.

"Evans! Fancy meeting you here. About an hour late, but I'm glad you finally decided to grace us with your presence," he said with a wide smile. "In case you haven't noticed, I have been named Head Boy. So I guess it's you and me for Gryffindor. Where have you been?"

She scowled at his words. She didn't find him particularly charming, especially when he tried to look smug about things. "I had important things to do."

He looked reluctant to accept her excuse but still gave her a smile. "Well, there's nothing left to be done here. They have their instructions."

"Fine then, I'm just going to go back," she said annoyed.

"Evans, wait," he said not wanting to see her leave. "We're all supposed to be here until the --- um-- prefects come back," he lied. She observed him for a bit and looked around. There were still some prefects hanging around. She could just ask them if he was telling the truth. "I'm serious."

"Fine. But I'm going to ask Phillip Patil if you're telling the truth. This better not be one of your pranks James," she said before walking towards the Ravenclaw prefect.

James tried to think quickly to prevent her from talking to Phillip. He slipped out his wand, pointed towards Lily's pocket, and muttered, "Diffindo". Her pocket ripped open and several objects she had inside dropped out. Her wand, a quill, some galleons and knuts.

While she picked up her items, James approached Phillip and explained his plan to make Lily stay in the compartment. Phillip smiled knowingly and walked over to Lily to help her pick up her fallen objects.

"Oh, I can't believe it! They're new robes!" Lily said examining her pocket. Phillip reached out his hand with some of her belongings. "Thanks Phillip."

"You're welcome Lily. I can fix your pocket if you'd like," he volunteered. They stood up and she took her wand and examined her pocket once more.

"It's okay, I can manage," she pointed at her pocket and said, "reparo". She returned her things into her pocket and saw a smiling Phillip looking at her. "I must look so clumsy."

"Not at all. You could never look clumsy," he gave her a bright smile and she felt her cheeks turn rosy color.

"Umm, you know, actually I wanted to ask you something," she said trying to make the comment go unnoticed. "Have you heard something about us having to stay here until everyone come back? I mean, I don't remember the Head Boy and Girl last year having to do it."

"Yeah, I think it's a new thing. I have heard that you have to stay. Anyhow, it's not much longer until they come back," he said nonchalant.

They spoke for a little while until they were interrupted by one of his friend's urgency to talk to him. She excused herself and sat down on the closest seat and took out a small book from her pocket. She was annoyed. She didn't want to stay in the compartment. She would rather be sitting with Hannah and Sarah talking about summer and about their respective lives. She also wanted advice on boys.

She had never really been interested in dating, up until the end of last year when she had gotten to know Sirius. She had always seen Sirius in the same light as she had James Potter. They were cocky and conceited; but last year she had seen Sirius change. He no longer picked on people unmercifully. He looked disapprovingly at James when he jinxed other people. He had been nice to Lily and her friends for a while now. Yet the most significant event that had happened to change Lily's mind about Sirius had happened a couple of months before she had left Hogwarts last year. He had rescued Hannah and Lily from a cruel joke, courtesy of Malfoy and Macnair.

The two girls had been walking around the lake when Lucius appeared suddenly before them. He looked at them angrily and began spouting insults at Lily and Hannah.

"I'm surprised at you Hannah Spinnet, hanging around a dirty little mudblood like Evans. See Hannah, things like her are below people like us. You should really mind who you hang around with... I'm sure you've heard about the rising Dark Lord---" he said smugly.

"Get over yourself Malfoy. Things like you and that Dark Lord are what make the world horrible. You should mind who you insult unless you want to wake up with your head through a wall or unless you want me to tell your dearest Narcissa that I saw you making out with Bellatrix," Lily said stepping up to Malfoy.

"You wouldn't dare and she wouldn't believe you," he replied angrily. "Anyways, in a matter of minutes, I believe you won't be doing anything at all."

Everything then happened very quickly. Out of nowhere, two thugs by the names of Crabbe and Goyle came out and before either of Hannah or Lily could take out their wands, they had placed a binding spell on both of the girls. Unable to move, they were reluctantly taken towards the forbidden forest. The boys laughed viciously as they looked around for signs of anyone else.

They were suddenly surprised by the sudden blast of a wand. Whatever the spell was, it sent Lucius flying to the floor, knocking him out. Crabbe and Goyle looked around stupidly and drew out their wands. In a matter of seconds somebody said harshly, "Stupefy!"

Suddenly, Sirius Black had appeared from in between some bushes. Muttered under his breath, "Stupid jerks", pointed his wand towards Hannah and Lily and said, "Finite Incantatem!"

He walked towards them, helping them up asked them if they were okay.

"We're good now. Thank you so much Sirius," Lily had said relieved. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were knocked out just to the side. She was furious; Hannah just looked up at Sirius timidly and smiled. The whole situation was just weird.

"What were they going to do? I mean the whole thing was planned," Hannah said upset.

"I think they just wanted to do something evil. That's how those three are, that's how everyone at Slytherin is like," he said angrily. "I'm glad I saw you guys before they dragged you into the dark forest. Whatever they had planned it couldn't have been nice."

"I- We're glad you were here. Thank you Sirius really. We owe you," Lily said smiling at him fondly.

They had then dragged the three Slytherins a good way into the forest and gone back to the school. Lily had never been so thankful to see any of the Marauders. She thanked Sirius and ever since then she had never failed to give him a smile. She could have even gone as far to say that he wasn't as bad as she thought it was.

During her summer holidays, she had begun to think about him more often than she thought about any other guy. Thinking about Sirius now, for the fifteenth time that day, had made her realize she couldn't deny it any longer. She liked Sirius, in a way she hadn't liked anyone else before.

Chapter 3

Lily's thoughts were interrupted by the voice of James Potter. He had plopped down next to her and taken her book from her hands.

"What are you reading?" he asked curiously.

"A book, or do you lack common knowledge?" she responded begrudgingly, trying to take the book from his hands.

"A book on defense against the dark arts? I would think you'd have no problem keeping up with the material in class," he joked.

"There are more things to know than what they teach us in a classroom. There's a war brewing in the magical world. Professor Dumbledore has said it himself. Things are not as safe as we might think. We need to prepare ourselves," she said in a serious voice.

Truth was that she hadn't been doing that well in Defense Against the Dark Art classes. She needed to work herself hard to keep up with the class. She wasn't going to admit that to him though; not to someone who did so well in the class. She smacked him on the head so he was surprised and dropped the book. She picked it up hastily and smiled mockingly at him.

"I didn't do anything to you. You didn't have to resort to violence," he said reproaching.

"You took my book. In some places, taking someone else's belongings against their wills is known as stealing, but that must be a hard term for you to understand, isn't it James?" she replied taunting him.

"Well, I believe that's the first time you've bothered to call me by my first name, Lily. Do I sense a change of attitude?" his smug look infuriated her as she quickly rose to the occasion.

"Doesn't anything get through to you? I can't even insult you without you making something out of it," she was suddenly reminded of Sirius's conversation about James earlier. "I also don't appreciate you using a mutual friend to come talk to me about you. You know that I don't care for you. Why do you even bother James! I can't stand you!"

Her frustrated voice was loud and when she finished her little outburst, the rest of the people inside the compartment were eyeing James and her curiously. That did little to cool her temper. She angrily got up from her seat and walked out of the prefect's compartment, giving the order of her having to stay until the prefects got back, very little importance.

She spent the rest of the train ride fuming in the compartment she had been in before with Sarah. Her friends showed up a little bit later and as she had told them what had happened they laughed.

"You have very little patience for him..." Hannah said smiling.

"You would too! He never gives it a rest. He's always teasing me! Taunting me! I just find him frustrating. I can't have a moment's peace when he's around," she said, her temper rising up. "And having Sirius come ask me all those questions! I mean, I consider Sirius to be a friend, like Remus Lupin or Frank Longbottom. I wouldn't like them prodding me for opinions on James either, or trying to make me see light. I mean it's just annoying."

"Oh come on Lily. We all know why you're so angry at James. Right now I mean, because otherwise, you just dislike him," Sarah hesitated and looked at Hannah before speaking. "You like Sirius. It's clear as daylight and you're angry that he didn't come in here to inquiry about you but because he wanted to know what you thought about Potter, but because Potter wanted to know how you felt about him. Rather, why you hate him so."

Lily wanted to defend herself, but knew she couldn't She had wanted to talk about it with them anyhow. Her silence just confirmed to her friends what they already knew. She did want to defend herself slightly. "I don't hate him."

Hannah grinned and Sarah laughed.

"So you're not denying it?" Hannah asked warily.

"No, I suppose," she looked down at the floor and then at her smiling best friends and smiled back. "I really do like him."

"So aren't you going to go back to the prefect's compartment? We're almost at Hogwarts. I think you might need to go back," Sarah said looking down at her watch.

"You know, we were so caught up in our conversation that I even forgot to say congratulations on making Head Girl Lily. It's really something," Hannah said with a small smile.

"Thank you Hannah. Look before I go back to that hell-hole, I want you to tell me how your summer went. I barely got any post from you, neither did Sarah," she said making herself comfortable in her seat. She was very reluctant to go where she was supposed to go. Besides she felt something was off with Hannah. She was quiet, more so than usual.

"I was trying to keep a low profile. You know that my parents are both Aurors, so they just told me not to send as many owls to my friends. It was just as a precaution. The Dark Lord seems to be gaining a lot of followers and being an Auror isn't exactly the safest job. There's a lot of fear about who to trust in the ministry," her face had paled up a bit as she had spoken. She appeared to have been caught up in a thought.

"Are you okay Hannah? Did--Did something happen?" Sarah inquired hesitantly.

Hannah sat unmoving from her seat. She was fidgeting and playing with her fingers, suddenly very interested in the creases in the palm of her hand. Just when Lily was about to speak, she raised her palm in the faint light of the compartment. "I always looked at the life lines on our hands and saw nothing more than a bunch of superstitions and myths. I never thought life could be so... so delicate. It could all be over, just like that."

Her eyes were filled with tears. Lily and Sarah just looked at each other confused. They waited patiently Hannah to explain her peculiar thoughts.

"My aunt... she got killed and people at the ministry suspect it was one of the Dark Lord's followers. I've been hearing a lot of stuff about them. They don't sound like a pleasant lot either. They call themselves D-death Eaters. I can't help but fear the name. I can't even say the guy's name... it scares me. They found her just lying there; she looked frozen with her eyes looking panicked. Who does that? And to someone like my aunt Nikki..." her voice breaking as she spoke. "I just couldn't really say this in letters too, could I? I was very close to her."

Sarah and Lily pulled into a hug. Hannah previous tremor turned into sobbing and they stayed there for a while, comforting their friend until the train came to stop, and they heard people outside walk out of the train. Hannah looked at her friends embarrassed.

"I'm sorry. I'm such a drama queen. I'll be alright. Thank you for being here for me," she said wiping her tears away.

"It's alright for you to be upset Hannah. If you need us..." Lily said sympathetically.

They walked out of the train quietly. They were strangers to the hustle and bustle of the platform. They could hear from a distance a voice that was calling out to the newcomers. "Firs' years firs' year over here!" they heard a booming voice call among the crowd. Hannah smiled slightly at the site of Hogwart's gamekeeper. The three girls had always appreciated Hagrid for being good company. They regularly visited him at his hut to have tea. They waved happily and he called a 'hello' back to them. They walked off the platform towards the stagecoaches. They boarded the carriage that led to the castle. As the carriage proceeded to be carried up the road to the castle, the school came into view until they were right in front of the big castle doors. All Lily could think as she stepped in to the school was that she was finally back home.