James and Lily: A History

Chapter 3: Unpleasant Surprises

Walking through a row of compartments, Lily peered into each one to find her fellow prefect, Remus Lupin. They were scheduled in the Heads' compartment in fifteen minutes, and Lily was in no mood to play hide-in-seek. Before embarking on the Hogwart's Express for her sixth year at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Lily had been forced by her parents to give her sister Petunia a hug. Considering Lily endured all of Petunia's over summer--that she was psychotic and resided at a mental institution during the school year, as Petunia's friends so gleefully spouted. Lily had not intended to give Petunia a hug at all; she hadn't even expected to touch her. Being forced into sisterly affection put Lily in a distinctly foul mood.

"Frank!" said Lily, peering into his compartment. "Sorry to bother you, but do you know where I might be able to find Remus?"

"Yeah, he's sitting with James and Sirius two compartments down," replied Frank, unwrapping Chocolate Frogs with his friend Ethan Grey, a seventh year Gryffindor.

"Thanks," said Lily, shutting the compartment door harder than intended from her impatience.

Lily had never liked James and Sirius. They were both a pair of delinquent, immature boys who took advantage of every opportunity to play a prank or a joke to become the center of attention. They were cruel, hexing first years and second years in the hallways for entertainment and flaunted their supposed talent. During their first year, while Lily was being alienated by the Slytherins, James and Sirius increased the frustration ten-fold by showing off at every moment during classes. She was forced to constantly set new expectations to prove she was just as knowledgable as pure-bloods.

Lily especially disliked James. Not only was he extremely immature, but James--Sirius' best mate--also never missed a moment to ask Lily out on a date. James was so entranced by his own ego he was dumbfounded every time she refused. Last year, Lily had gotten so fed up, she'd screamed to all of Hogwarts that she preferred the giant squid over him. Between James and Sirius, Lily had to admit that James took first on her list of least favorite people in the world, simply because he couldn't understand that she did not have (or want) any interest in him.

"Remus!" Lily ordered, opening their compartment door. "Patrol time in ten minutes. Come on."

"Well, hello Lily! I'm fine, thanks for asking. Absolutely spiffing to see you," said Sirius, lounging back in his seat luxuriously and placing his feet on the opposite side.

"Evans! Did you have a good summer?" asked James, who jumped up from his seat as if he was sitting on a burning cauldron, running his hand through his hair to make it look more windswept.

"I hear enough of your voice in school, Black, so please try not to speak. I find no pleasure in

listening to what pranks you've got planned this year. Potter, next time I want a slimy git to be concerned about how my summer went, I'll make sure you know," Lily snapped. Her voice warmed considerably when she turned to Remus. "Do you need help carrying your bags?"

"Nah, thanks Lily," replied Remus gratefully. "I guess I'll see you guys later then?"

"Count on it Moony," winked Sirius, pulling James back down onto his seat to avoid further embarrassment.

Just as Lily and Remus were about to leave, a boy with straight, dark brown hair and blue eyes appeared outside their compartment, breathing short and deep breaths from running.

"Hi Lily," said Kyle Murray breathlessly, a sixth year Ravenclaw who had been very taken by Lily since last year. "I was, uh, looking for you, and Frank told me you were looking for Remus for patrol duties."

"Yeah, I was," said Lily smiling, her face blushing a faint tinge of pink. Lily secretly fancied Kyle, although she and Kyle had only remained good friends their fifth year.

"Well, uhm, I guess you're busy now, so I'll see you later," replied Kyle. As he walked away, his face blushed bright red as a tomato, and he berated himself for acting like such an idiot in front of Lily.

Not noticing the crimson color of Kyle's face, Lily stared blissfully down the train at his retreating back, unaware of James looking at her in disbelief. As usual, Sirius was there to break the silence.

"Gee, nice going Lily. What did you do to him? He's so shy; he can't even talk to you! Fat chance you guys will ever get married," said Sirius, snorting and turning his head away in profound skepticism.

"I don't appreciate your insinuations Black," retorted Lily, her face burning red from blushing and anger. "Come on Remus, let's go." Pushing Remus out of the compartment, Lily followed him down the train to receive their instructions.

"What would I ever do without you Lily?" said Remus, grinning and making his way through a compartment of second years.

"You would be late," said Lily smiling behind him. At least one of them has his head screwed on straight, Lily thought.

"What the hell does Murray have that I don't have?" ranted James furiously, causing the windows practically to shake and Peter to double-back before entering the compartment to bring them their snacks from the cart.

"Mate, look, it's not what Murray has and what you don't have. It's all about what she thinks about your personality and whether she finds you attractive. Unfortunately, for some inexplicable reason, she thinks negatively of you in both manners," finished Sirius as though he was giving James a therapy session.

"I know Padfoot! But Murray?" said James, sighing and looking towards the ceiling in incredulity.

"Prongs, you are a very good looking and intelligent guy and an excellent Quidditch chaser. Open your eyes. Get over Evans. She doesn't like you. Go for someone else!" exploded Sirius, running both of his hands through his sleek black hair. "It's about time Prongs!"

"Yeah James, lots of girls find you very attractive," said Peter in a squeaky voice. He awkwardly offered a pastry, "Cauldron cake?"

"Thanks Peter," said James gratefully. He didn't feel hungry at all.

The Heads' compartment was double the size of the regular compartments. Each house had two fifth year prefects, two sixth year prefects, and two seventh year prefects; one of the male seventh year prefects became Head Boy and one of the female seventh year prefects became Head Girl. This year, the Head Boy was Gryffindor Mike Mitchell, and the Head Girl was Ravenclaw Nicki Leila.

Taking seats near the window, Lily and Remus sat down and greeted the new fifth year prefects. After a few minutes, Lily realized the sixth year male prefect from Slytherin, who was chatting quietly with Bellatrix Black, was someone different from the previous year.

"Hey, isn't that DeGrasse? Wasn't Turner the Slytherin prefect last year?" Lily whispered to Remus, watching DeGrasse sitting smugly next to Bellatrix Black. Seeing Lily, Bellatrix gave her a chilling stare from her empty, gaunt black eyes and mouthed "Mudblood," and licked her pale, thin lips.

"Yeah, while I was spending a few weeks at James' over vacation, he told me that Turner's father transferred his son to Durmstrang because Dumbledore didn't place enough emphasis on the Dark Arts," answered Remus seriously.

Lily pondered Turner's absence while the prefects waited for the Head Boy and Girl. Over the past

six years, the wizarding world had begun placing greater emphasis on the Dark Arts, aided strongly by the belief that wizarding blood should not be tainted by muggle borns. Lily was grateful Dumbledore did not run his school according to the wishes of others, instead doing what he thought best for Hogwarts and its students. Lily's thoughts ended abruptly, though, when Nicki and Mike entered the compartment to distribute assignments.

"Lily, you're okay with covering for me once a month again when I go visit my mother again... right?" asked Remus tentatively, as they moved down to the middle of the train for patrol duty.

"Remus, how many times do I have to tell you that you never have to worry about that? I've got it under control. Is your mom getting better?" asked Lily, her warm, almond-shaped green eyes reflecting genuine sympathy. Before Remus told her why he had to leave every month, Lily thought Remus was a werewolf, since werewolves transform every full moon. However, she dismissed the idea quickly, ashamed that she actually related good, kind and normal Remus to a monstrous curse.

"Oh... yeah... she's getting much better, but she still has trouble... uh... walking," answered Remus without meeting Lily's eyes. After asking Lily to cover for him for the second year in a row and lying to her in return, Remus felt extremely uncomfortable, but he couldn't--would never--reveal the truth that he was a werewolf.

"I don't know how you do it, visiting your mother once a month and keeping up with your schoolwork. That's quite amazing," responded Lily with a smile. "It's hard to believe sometimes you hang out with Sirius and James, who never grow-up."

"Well, when they're down to business, they're pretty serious..." replied Remus with an amused smile, thinking about James, Sirius, and Peter's Animagi transformations, their monthly full-moon adventures, and their plots to escape detention and humiliate Snape.

"Right, when they get down to business to make trouble," rebuffed Lily, reading Remus' mind. "I can't imagine Sirius and James sitting, doing homework diligently."

"You're right Lily," said Remus. "James would be too busy staring at you."

Slightly blushing, Lily responded, "Which is a complete waste of time. Sorry, Remus."

"It's okay Lily," reassured Remus. "But James is truly a great guy."

Lily scoffed, and their conversation ceased, arriving at their destination. Stationing themselves evenly throughout the middle compartments, Lily and Remus paced around the first years until the sun faded away, leaving behind a dark, stormy sky, rain splattering the foggy windows.

"Ouch!" said Roxy Abin--one of Lily's best friends--carrying a stack of sixth year schoolbooks for all her NEWT-level classes. Since she had returned from visiting her grandparents in the United States only a few days ago, she had no time to venture into Diagon Alley for schoolbooks and had to ask her fellow Gryffindor roommate, Kristen Foutine, to purchase them for her. She had been walking slowly back to her compartment, carrying seven large text books, when a blonde boy with messy, dirty-blonde hair blindly walked into her, causing all the books to tumble from her arms.

"You should watch where your going, carrying all those books. It's very unattractive. Why don't you have someone help you?" asked the boy arrogantly, rubbing his shoulder and without even thinking to help Roxy pick up her books.

"Excuse me? I should watch where I'm going? You're the one that walked into me!" said Roxy bitterly glaring into Logan DeGrasse's dark grey eyes. Logan was actually a very charming boy. His dignified features, slightly tan skin, and strong physique made him extremely attractive. He had messy blonde hair; it looked like he just woke up in the morning and decided he liked his hair that way, sticking up in all the right places. However, because he was in Slytherin, many girls outside of Slytherin refrained from flirting with him.

Logan smiled vainly and looked at Roxy curiously, his grey eyes glimmering. "It's Abin is it? Your family has a small catering business that sponsored one of my father's parties over the summer. My father loved the martinis. Keep the business up and we just might ask for you again," replied Logan smugly, as though serving his family once was not to be taken for granted. "I tipped quite high for that Italian cherry soda. Hope that was helpful."

"Plenty," replied Roxy through gritted teeth as Logan strode away.

When patrol hour was up, Lily immediately bid Remus good-bye and walked back to her compartment, which she was sharing with her two best friends, Roxy Abin and Alice Dalbey. However, as she neared the compartment, she saw Logan DeGrasse--who was on the wrong side of the train for his patrolling--standing with his armed crossed, watching Roxy pick up her textbooks amusedly. She caught the last line of the conversation, which sounded extremely condescending--""I tipped quite high for that Italian cherry soda. Hope that was helpful."

"What was that about?" asked Lily concernedly, helping Roxy pick up her books after Logan had left.

"Oh, nothing. My parents sponsored one of his family's ballroom parties, which gives him a reason to feel superior over me," replied Roxy nonchalantly, leading Lily back to their compartment.

"But your catering business is very successful!" exclaimed Lily. "Didn't you tell him that?"

"Lily, DeGrasse thinks he owns the world, and he probably can with all the galleons his family is rolling in. No matter what he says, if he thinks he's better than you, there's nothing you can do to change his mind," finished Roxy, entering the compartment as Lily held the door open for her.

"Wow, and I thought Potter was bad. Well, at least DeGrasse keeps to himself," said Lily shrugging, although she vowed she would catch DeGrasse shirking out of his patrol duties as payback for treating Roxy condescendingly.

"Hey! Where have you girls been?" said Alice, as she stood up to help Roxy dump her books in an empty seat.

"Walking around the same place for the past two hours. I'm starving, got any food left?" asked Lily, taking the last book from Roxy's arms.

"Yeah, I saved some Cauldron cakes, pumpkin juice, and chocolate frogs for you Lily," said Alice, smiling kindly.

"Yay--food," garbled Lily, taking a large bite from her Cauldron Cake. For the rest of the train ride, she sat there eating wizard food, talking about her summer, and mocking Petunia in front of Alice and Roxy. It was back to old times again: laughing, joking, and holding each other in suspense as each revealed their new, juicy secrets and gossip. Even though Lily loved being with her parents, she preferred the wizarding world with its spontaneous surprises and magical people. All in all, she was really one step closer to being home.

After the Sorting Hat Ceremony ended, Dumbledore stood to make his traditional welcome speech to his students. In robes of dark green covered with gold, silver, and blue sequins, Dumbledore looked around the Great Hall smiling, his blue eyes twinkling behind his half-moon spectacles.

"Before we become absorbed in our feast, I need to dish out a few reminders before our start of term. No student is allowed to venture into the Forbidden Forest. First through fourth years must be back into their common rooms by nine 'o' clock each night. Fifth through seventh years are allowed to stay in the library until eleven 'o' clock...," said Dumbledore, pausing before his tone grew serious. "It would be wise not to sneak out-of-bounds these days, due to the rise of the Dark Arts..."

An awkward silence followed Dumbledore's words. Students stared wide-eyed at Dumbledore, except the Slytherins who snickered and giggled, unperturbed by their headmaster's grave words.

"I have only five words left," said Dumbledore, his voice less serious now. "Don't make your

stomach explode."

"Thank God," Lily praised, scooping mashed potatoes and beef stroganoff onto her plate, along with some buttered asparagus and treacle tart. She poured gravy over her potatoes, then added a few rolls for good measure.

"Really Lily, you ate on the train," Alice said, munching on her asparagus.

"She's right, you know," Roxy added, seasoning her tofu. "I mean, what are you, a grease bucket?"

Lily looked pleadingly to Kyle, who had sidled up to the group of girls. She blushed a little, "Hi

Kyle."

She was suddenly very aware that the amount of food in front of her made her look like a starved

cow. She swallowed, in what she hoped was a surreptitious manner.

"How were prefect duties?" he asked, apparently not noticing.

Lily blinked, mesmerized by his lip movements. "Oh, er... they, uh..."

Alice, sitting to Lily's left, answered for her. "She said they were excellent."

Sirius, ten feet away from Lily and her friends, was staring pointedly between James and the

green-eyed wonder. He didn't think James could stop staring if he'd been given a love charm to fall for his cousin, Bellatrix.

"Food goes into your mouth," he said dryly, watching as James noticed he'd been spooning mashed potatoes onto his lap.

"He's trying to make the moves on her, I can just tell, she'd better not fall for it, or else... why is she talking back?! What is this girl doing?"

"Talking to a boy," replied Remus. He looked at Sirius and Peter, smiling slightly. Sirius appeared annoyed, and was attempting to ignore James' bitter mumbles.

James flopped onto his four-poster bed after eating three helpings of everything at the start-of-the-year banquet. Sirius, likewise, looked as if he was just going to fall asleep without changing.

"Were you watching when Kyle talked to Lily?" asked James to Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Frank.

"No, unlike you James, we actually keep our options open," said Peter, his voice muffled against his pillow.

"Right Peter, at least I wouldn't get turned down by a second year," replied James, snorting.

Ignoring James' comment, Frank attempted to brighten James' hopes. "Hey James, if I can get a date with Alice this year, do you want me to try and get you in on a double date with Lily?"

"NO! James is going to go and ask a different girl this year!" interrupted Sirius loudly, sitting up on his bed. "Frank, good luck with Alice, and James--we're changing the subject. Remus, how did Lily respond when you asked her to fill in for you again?"

"Fine," answered Remus annoyed, as he was falling asleep. "Don't worry about it. She's cool with it."

"Good, as long as she doesn't find out," muttered Sirius, who couldn't bear if anything happened to Remus.

"So Lily, is Kyle stepping up this year or are you going to have to wear the pants in the relationship?" asked Roxy, as she changed into her pajamas.

"No... I think he might ask me to Hogsmeade this year," Lily replied, pulling back her covers and fluffing her pillow.

"Oooh--if Frank is going to ask me Hogsmeade, we can double date!" said Alice excitedly, her round face brimming with happiness.

"It's not that big of a deal," said Lily, laughing at Alice's sweet smile.

"Lily, sweetie, I think sometimes you're so caught up in your academic life that you don't really stop to look at the guys around you," responded Alice before saying goodnight.

Alice's words kept Lily up for most of the night. For the past six years, she had been very academically driven and as an unforseen consequence, she hardly knew when a guy friend was acting like a friend or when he was flirting with her, except, of course, the idiot James. Over the years, Lily had gained confidence, especially being promoted to a prefect for her fifth year. The fruits of her accomplishments were blooming, and her parents were extremely proud. She was finally fitting in with her friends--Roxy and Alice were sisters to her; Kristen and Vivian were always there to help with Bellatrix Black. Although it made Lily feel extremely guilty as her parents loved her very much, Lily was home at Hogwarts.

Chapter 3: