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Sixteen-year-old Lily Evans grinned as she threw her ocean blue sheets and blanket off of her pyjama clad body and whipped her legs onto the pearl tiles of her long-time home. The Spanish villa had originally belonged to her grandparents but when they got to old to keep it, they had given it to Lily's parents, Allessandra and Ryan Evans. It was situated close to the central core of the small Spanish town and Lily positively loved it. She grinned as she stretched, wincing only when the odd stiff joint popped. Lily Evans was going back to Hogwarts. Her brilliant green eyes sparkled as she skipped to her closet yanking open the mahogany doors carved with faeries and griffins. She scanned her many light green and blue tops before selecting a maroon tank top and beige pants. She pulled them on wandering into her adjoining bathroom. She quickly brushed her teeth and pulled her auburn hair into a low ponytail.

'I'm going back to Hogwarts,' Lily sighed mentally as she skipped down the stairs to breakfast.

"She'll be here, Alaura, she's never once missed the train," Liandra Winters chastised gently for what felt like the millionth time.

"But she's never been this late before either," Alaura Cook replied to one of her best friends as she turned her lavender eyes to meet Liandra's blue ones. Liandra was the quiet one of the trio – consisting of Lily, Alaura and Liandra – and usually the rational one as well. Lily preferred all of the bookwork, though her temper was legendary throughout Hogwarts. Alaura was a completely different story. She had transferred to London from New York a year ago and had been enrolled in Hogwarts. Since their first ride on the train, Lily, Liandra and Alaura had made fast friends. Alaura still hadn't really caught on to all of the British terms – loo, lift etc – and so still used all of the slang she had been used to at home. Lily and Liandra had gotten used to all of this and didn't mind her slang, in fact, they could understand it. Being in New York for her first fifteen years had moulded Alaura to become tough and rebellious fitting in quite well with the Hogwarts resident pranksters, James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.

"I'll take a wild guess and say you're looking for Lily," James said as he poked his head into the compartment.

"You haven't seen her have you?" Alaura said in answer.

"No, we have not seen hide, nor hair, of your feisty red-headed friend," came Sirius' charming drawl as he slid open the door wider also bringing Remus into view.

"Well it really doesn't help you sitting on the train does it? There could be millions of compartments I could have looked in before I found you."

"Lily!" James, Sirius, Liandra, Remus and Alaura all chorused at once. Lily smiled slightly, eyes sparkling.

"Who else would it be?" Liandra and Alaura tackled their friend to the ground in a large hug. Lily laughed before managing to choke out that she needed air. Liandra and Alaura quickly got off of her and helped Lily back to her feet. Lily looked for the first time in three months at her best friends. Liandra's beautiful sky blue t-shirt brought out her blue eyes against the blackness of her hair. She wore a white skirt that dropped to just below her ankles and white flip-flop sandals. Alaura was wearing her customary black though Lily couldn't say she'd done a bad job in choosing the loose fitting t-shirt and jeans. Her dirty blonde hair was left long, though under a black bandanna, dropping down to her mid-back. Lily noticed her black backpack her parents had given her for the purpose of putting her robes in for changing on the train ride. She grinned as she realized that the bag also held Liandra's Hogwarts robes.

"Missed me?" Lily asked rhetorically. Alaura rolled her eyes.

"Missed ya? Ha! I don't miss anyone," she said sarcastically, her American slang sneaking into the sentence. Lily turned to the three boys who were now standing at her back. She grinned wider and hugged each one in turn to say hello.

"I'm guessing Spain was a blessed break this summer?" James said taking in the tan complexion of one very grown up, very hot, Lily Evans.

"You have no idea," Lily replied flashing James a prize-winning smile, "but enough about me, how were your summers?"

"Boring. I did nothing but read all summer," Alaura said watching out of the corner of her eye as Sirius shivered.

"Scared of books, Black?" Liandra asked lifting a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at the black haired young man. Black nodded enthusiastically.

"I'm still trying to get over why people. . ." he shuddered, ". . . read." Lily grinned before motioning the boys to sit with them in the compartment. They didn't need another invitation and quickly sat Liandra and Remus on one side, Alaura and Sirius on the other side and Lily and James opted for spots on the floor. The talk was pleasant all through the trip with Alaura only threatening to kill Sirius once for being a prick. Lily smiled as she watched Alaura and Remus break into a heated debate. She had missed this so much during the summer. She caught James' eye and grinned wider.

"Alright! You two argue more than. . . I don't know! More that something that argues a lot but that's not the point here. What on earth are we going to do for our start of term prank?" Sirius said all at once. Lily blinked. She hadn't thought about their annual start-of-the-year prank on the Slytherins.

"Dung Bombs?" Remus suggested. Lily shook her head.

"Too easy."

"Too normal," James agreed. They lapsed into a thoughtful silence. What prank could be slimy enough for the Slytherins? They'd done all of the customary, dung bombs in their food, dying hair, changing clothes. . . what was there left to do? Love potion? No too standard and no one wanted to get expelled. Lily was good at charms, James at transfiguration could they use that to their advantage? Probably.

"Transfigure their food?" Lily started.

"Charm it to sing?" James added.

"Transfigure Snape's robes?"

"Charm them multi-coloured and translucent?"

"Okay! Enough! No more of this stupid finishing each other's sentences!" Sirius exclaimed as Lily blushed and James looked away.

"We could do all of that you know," Liandra said thoughtfully.

"Can we put in something with Malfoy? Please? I've been dying to kick his ass for. . . well. . . ever," Alaura added. Lily went into think-mode again pondering what could be done with both Snape and Malfoy involved.

"We'll transfigure Snape and Malfoy into meatloaf," she said absently.

"That'll go over well with the profs," Alaura said. The boys looked at her strangely. Alaura went over what she said and rolled her eyes.

"The professors?" Realization dawned on James, Remus and Sirius' faces as they caught onto Alaura's American reference. Liandra grinned widely.

"You really need to learn 'American'" she commented making air quotes with her fingers.

"Were you going to teach me? Then I might consider it," Sirius said grinning. Alaura slapped him in the arm.

"If any one should be teaching you the slang it should be me. After all, I'm the one that came from NYC," Alaura said glancing up at the boys' confused faces again. "New York City."

"So tempting though Lils. . . we'll have to save it for later," Sirius said turning back to the prank.

"What else could we do though?" Alaura asked. Lily snapped her fingers.

"We'll transfigure their benches into toilet seats. It's a really simple spell and this will be great for James to show off," she replied shoving the last sentence in only for fun.

"Only if you charm them to sing," James replied shortly. Lily stuck her tongue out at the black-haired boy across the compartment from her. He narrowed his eyes playfully in response.

"The national anthem?" Liandra suggested.

"Nah. . . Hogwarts anthem in different tunes?" Sirius proposed. Alaura shook her head.

"Too many different charms." Alaura was interrupted by the sliding open of their compartment door making James fall backwards onto the feet of none other than Lucius Malfoy.

"See now, Potter, this is really where you should be," he sneered as James righted himself and threw Malfoy a look that could kill.

"Well isn't that funny! That's where you'll end up!" Lily retorted a look of pure innocence on her face. Malfoy looked about ready to kill Lily but Alaura stood up and between them.

"Woah there dude. You don't wanna do somethin' you'll regret," she said carefully watching Malfoy's face. Malfoy was confused. He had never seen Alaura before and the language was new.

"So you bring in a foreigner to take care of your battles Evans?" Alaura hid her anger behind a cool mask she had learned from Lily the year prior. Lily's eyes darted from Alaura to Malfoy and back again.

"So I'm a foreigner now? Gee last time I looked I was still human. A lot more than could be said for you dude," Alaura replied her voice full of forced calm.

"You'd be smart to think of who you're talking to. . . " Malfoy began.

"Really? So you're above us all now? Well there's somethin' different 'bout our cultures dude. We treat every one equal. . . then again that ain't a word in your dictionary is it?" Alaura interrupted smiling sweetly. A look of confusion flitted across Malfoy's face much to the amusement of the compartment occupants. Sirius and Remus were tucking into little balls shaking to stop their laughter from escaping where James opted for grinning and shaking instead. Liandra was more worried for Alaura's well being than laughing at the fact that this was the first time some one had stood up to Malfoy.

'Got to love America,' Lily thought to herself the corners of her lips twitching in a smile.

"Now we've got that all settled, you can turn your little hiney 'round and head back to the sewer ya came from," Alaura continued motioning with her finger what she wanted Malfoy to do. Malfoy spluttered for a minute before turning and stalking back down the hall. Alaura closed the compartment door with a snap and fell back into her seat. Sirius, Remus, James and Lily all burst out laughing as soon as the door clicked. Alaura looked confused.

"Wha'?"

"No one has ever stood up to Lucius Malfoy and gotten out of it in one piece," Liandra explained patiently. Alaura's eyes widened.

"Ya mean to say that that git," Alaura began picking up Lily's most used name, "has never had any one stand up ta him? That is so bogus! Why not?" Lily shrugged catching her breath.

"No one really knows how. He's a 'pure blood' Alaura. He believes that his family and all other pure blooded families are the superior race," she explained patiently.

"And the inferiors are. . ." Alaura began motioning for her friends to finish her statement.

"Mudbloods," James began looking straight at Lily. Lily gasped and narrowed her eyes dangerously.

"Don't get me wrong Lils, I'm not calling you a mudblood. It'll be easier if she knows what we're talking about before she hears it from Malfoy," he said spitting out Malfoy as if it was a rotten banana.

"Mudblood?"

"A really foul name for a witch or wizard who is muggle born," Sirius filled in.

"So me?" Alaura said turning to him. Lily and Liandra nodded.

"And me," Lily replied eyes taking on a sadness that was usually out of character for Lily.

"It literally means dirty blood," Remus elaborated. Alaura looked as if she just swallowed a whole lemon.

"The whole reason we prank them every chance we get," James said. Alaura's eyes glinted with both anger and mischief.

"Toilets it is. One thing. . . we're charmin' them to spew sewer junk," Alaura said grinning. Lily smiled back getting the meaning behind Alaura's statement. Sewer garbage for the sewer rats. Perfect.

"We will be at Hogwarts in five minutes. Please stay seated until the train has come to a complete stop. Leave all baggage on the train. It will be taken to the school separately," a voice said throughout the train. The girls and the Marauders changed into their Hogwarts robes, Lily and James pinning on red and gold prefect badges onto their black robes.

"Prefect there Jamesie? Well there! You got more time with our Tiger Lily without even having to ask!" Sirius grinned at the glare James sent his way. Remus, Sirius and the other Marauder, Peter Pettigrew, all knew of James' infatuation with Lily. It was the constant topic of taunting the Marauders all preferred to used on James. Lily blushed.

"Jeez girl! Why dontcha both just admit ya like each other and go out already!" Alaura exclaimed turning Lily a darker shade of red and causing a splattering of pink to cross James' cheeks.

"And of course she chooses me to tease instead of Liandra and Remus," Lily muttered under her breath.

"What was that Lilykins?" Sirius asked sweetly. Lily glared at him. Oh if looks could kill.

"I said, and of course she chooses me to tease instead of Liandra and Remus," Lily retorted irritably. Alaura's eyes widened as she turned to face a very red Liandra Winters. Before any comments could be made, the train slowed to a stop and the students disembarked. Lily, Alaura, Liandra and another sixth year Gryffindor Dawn were in one of the horseless carriages heading up to the school and James, Sirius, Remus and Peter took another one. The school loomed ahead of them as beautiful and luminous as ever. Lily grinned as she linked arms with her two best friends and made her way up the front steps into the Great Hall. They spotted James, Sirius and Remus at one end of the table and wandered towards them.

"After Dumbledore finishes his usual start of term announcements," Sirius whispered. Lily rolled her eyes but nodded anyway. The doors to the Great Hall burst open as the ever-strict head of Gryffindor house, Professor Minerva McGonagall, entered leading what seemed like a small army of first-year students into the hall to be sorted. She set the sorting hat and its stool in front of the teachers and students. (A/N: I'm not really good at writing Sorting Hat songs so pick some song or if some one wants to write one it would be greatly appreciated) After the hat had finished it's song and was sitting primly, yet immobile on the three-legged stool, Professor McGonagall pulled out a long roll of parchment and unrolled it.

"Now when I call your name, you will place the hat on your head and wait to be sorted," she said lifting the parchment to reading level. "Aarons, David!" There was silence as the hat thought about where to put the new student.

"Ravenclaw!" The table to the left of Gryffindor cheered and applauded loudly.

"Avery, Louise!"

"Hufflepuff!" The scared looking blonde rushed quickly to the table on the furthest right of the hall.

"Abbott, Kristina!"

"Ravenclaw!"

"Bowler, Richard!"

"Slytherin!" The table between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff clapped loudly as the arrogant looking Richard Bowler swaggered to an empty spot on the benches.

'Poor kid,' Lily thought, 'First night in the castle and he'll already get pranked!'

"Bardsley, Jillian!"

"Ravenclaw!"

"Carlson, Nicholas!"

"Slytherin!"

"Cook, Tanice!"

"That's my little sis," Alaura commented quietly to Lily and Liandra. The smiled at the small girl as she shakily approached the hat and set it on her head.

"Gryffindor!" Alaura clapped and cheered loudest as Tanice took a seat beside her older sister. Lavender met lavender as the two girls smiled at each other. Lily grinned.

"You can really tell that you two are sisters," she commented as "Dahl, Vivica," became another new Gryffindor. The sorting went on and on until Lily didn't know how much longer she could wait. Her stomach had been grumbling loudly for the last ten minutes. As if the scroll had read her mind, the last student, "Zea, Natalie," became a Hufflepuff and Lily turned her attention to the headmaster who was beaming brightly.

"Welcome back students. There are a few start of term notices that I wish to bring to your attention. First and foremost, the first years and some of our older students are reminded that the Forbidden Forest on the edge of the school grounds are what the name implies: forbidden," he said looking pointedly at the Marauders. "Also, please note that the Whomping Willow is not something to play with or around. It is vicious and will attack when provoked. Now, with that done, Zippity mimble wimble." Professor Dumbledore took his seat as the food sprung up on the plates in front of the Gryffindors. Lily nudged James in the ribs to remind him of the prank they had planned. He shot her a heart-melting smile before pulling out his wand. He elbowed Sirius, who had a mouth full of food, and Sirius kicked Remus. The three boys said the correct words flicking their wands at the Slytherin table. James then stole a forkful of Lily's potatoes and she nudged Alaura out of her conversation with Tanice. Alaura quickly explained to her sister what was going on and Lily lightly kicked Liandra under the table. The girls grinned at each other before chanting the charm needed to make the toilets the Slytherins hadn't noticed they were sitting on spew sewer garbage. It was a matter of seconds before the Gryffindor pranksters heard the shrill screams and yells from the Slytherin table. They turned and burst out laughing. Malfoy was covered from head to toe in sewer garbage. Not only had the dirty sewer water sprayed out of the toilets but rotten banana peels, old chucks of what appeared to be potatoes and other vegetables and mud had come with it. Lily gripped her aching sides. The hall was in tears. They also understood the dramatic irony the Marauders and Lily, Liandra and Alaura had provided them with. Dumbledore was chuckling slightly.

"Well, we'll give the customary detentions to Mr Potter, Mr Black, Mr Lupin, Miss Evans, Miss Winters, and Miss Cook before we proceed to the rest of our dinner," he said waving his wand and cleaning the sewer materials and smells out of the Great Hall. "Please note that these detentions will be served tomorrow night with our caretaker." Lily tried to keep her face straight; she really did, but the reminder of the caretaker, Cesspit Conduit (A/N: Look 'em up in the thesaurus. They mean sewer and pipe), made her laugh even harder. She would never be able to look the poor caretaker in the eye after the prank they had just pulled. Lily could barely eat through her bouts of laughter. Each time she calmed down something reminded her of the Slytherins covered in sewer grime and she burst out laughing again. James held Lily steady as they headed to the common room after eating a hearty meal as Lily's sides were aching and she was laughing again. They got Lily calmed down enough to extract herself from James and head up to the sixth year dormitories. They collapsed on their beds later followed by the two other sixth year girls, Amanda and Jessica.

"I have never laughed that hard in my life," Lily said breathing deeply. She couldn't help but think about how helpful James had been on their way up to the common room that evening.

"No kidding! You're still all pink in the face," Alaura replied pulling out a pair of pink plaid pyjama pants and a black baggy t-shirt from her trunk. Lily followed soon after with a pair of green silk pyjama pants and a sea green tank top. Liandra opted for blue pyjama pants with sleeping bears on them and a blue t-shirt. The girls, no matter how funny the prank was and how much they wanted to talk about it, fell asleep instantly as the silence of night settled upon the school.

The new school year for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had begun.

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Wow! I finished it! Over 3000 words in one chapter and the first one at that is a record! Anyway, review it and I'll see if I continue it from there.

Thanks!