Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, so please don't sue me.
A/N: This is my first attempt at writing fanfiction, so please be kind. Constructive criticism is welcomed.
Chapter One
Nobody ever seems to remember that life is a game we play.—Oasis
It had all passed by much too quickly for Lily Evans' taste. Six years—had it really been six years since she had first stood here, on this platform?—had flown by in the blink of an eye and she still felt eleven years old, not understanding her two worlds or where they met. Her Head Girl badge felt heavy in her hand; was she really standing on Platform 9 and ¾ , waiting for the train to take her to Hogwarts for the last time? Her seventh year, her final year, loomed ahead of her and her stomach lurched at the thought that the world, the real world, was out there waiting. Oh, Merlin, what if—
Someone tapped her on the shoulder, snapping Lily out of her reverie. She turned and smiled at the pretty girl behind her.
"You looked like you were thinking much too hard and school hasn't even started yet," Emmeline Vance commented cheerfully. She dropped the handle of her trunk that she had been holding; it hit the floor with a dull thud.
"So you felt it was your civic duty to stop such a truly monstrous crime?" Lily asked, amused. Emmeline pushed her blonde hair behind one ear, grinned at Lily and gestured to her trunk.
"Help me toss this load onto the train, will you?"
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"Moony, mate!" James Potter called out, pushing his way through the crowd. Remus Lupin smiled and stopped where he was, patiently waiting for James to reach him.
Throwing an arm around Remus' shoulder, James sighed dramatically. "Our last year, Moony. You know what this means?"
"That you'll finally start studying for your classes?" Remus suggested. James snorted.
"Why would I start studying for class my last bloody year, Moony? No, what it means is that—"
"Hey James, Remus," Peter Pettigrew wheezed, jogging up to the pair. "Have a good summer?"
"Yes, yes, excellent," James said impatiently. "As I was saying, this year we have to—"
"Trick Lily Evans into dating you?" a new voice offered sarcastically from behind Peter. James grinned.
"Yes, that too, Padfoot. But that wasn't my original point. Mates," James motioned the other three boys in closer and said, voice low, "in honor of our lives at Hogwarts coming to an end, I propose we pull off the most magnificent prank in the school's history. Something worthy of Hogwarts legend." He waited for their responses.
"You're Head Boy, James," Remus pointed out wearily. "You can't pull pranks and still be Head Boy."
James dismissed his comment with a wave of his hand. "So I won't get caught. When have we ever gotten caught?"
Sirius smirked and said, "Thinking we shouldn't tempt fate, Moony?"
"Yes," Remus said emphatically.
Still smirking, Sirius turned to James. "Lucky for you, Prongs, I'm all for tempting fate."
"Me too!" Peter agreed quickly. James grinned triumphantly at Remus, who sighed and said, "I guess if we're careful—"
"Excellent!" James said briskly just as the shrill train whistle blew.
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"Anything off the trolley, dears?"
Lily leaned back in her seat as Emmeline dug a few Sickles out of her jeans pocket and handed them to the trolley witch in exchange for a few Chocolate Frogs.
"So you did absolutely nothing this whole summer?" Emmeline asked doubtfully, unwrapping a Frog. At Lily's nod, she continued, "Was Petunia a simply horrid little bitch then?"
Lily snorted. "Petunia's personality has two settings. The first one is simpering and sweet fiancée to her horrible Vernon Dursley. The second is—"
"Horrid little bitch?" Emmeline finished. Lily smiled. "Exactly."
"Well," Emmeline said thoughtfully, curling her wand absent-mindedly through her hair, "once you turn seventeen, you can hex her until you're blue in the face. And if you really want to make her miserable," she continued impishly, "you would actually attend her precious bloody wedding."
Lily made a face at her. "And suffer through that awful Dursley's droning about how he doesn't deserve dear Petunia, even though they are, in reality, quite perfect for each other? No, thank you."
"Well, thank Merlin they're made for each other," Emmeline said brightly. "If they weren't, that would mean the suffering of two more people!" Her tone became more dramatic. "By marrying each other, your darling sister and her darling fiancé have saved two innocent souls from the torture of their company!" She grinned at Lily. "Imagine what Petunia would do if she knew she was the cause behind such blissfully unaware happiness!"
Lily grinned back mischievously. "She'd probably off herself, given her previous attitudes toward others' happiness."
A group of earnest-looking people trooped past their compartment, each of them sporting a badge with an elegantly curling "P" engraved on it and expressions containing varying degrees of arrogance. Lily's grin slid off of her face.
"I have to go to the prefects' meeting," she told Emmeline glumly, getting her Head Girl badge out and showing it to her. "Shouldn't take too long." She started for the door.
Emmeline suddenly burst into laughter. "Have a great time then, Lily. You and the Head Boy should get along famously."
Instantly suspicious, Lily stopped and turned. "Who's the Head Boy?" she asked, frowning. Emmeline shook her head and said, voice devious, "You'll find out soon enough. Have a grand meeting."
Lily wanted desperately to stay and grill her friend for more information, but logic forced her to admit that she would find out the new Head Boy's identity sooner if she just went ahead to the meeting. Sending a scowl Emmeline's way, Lily left.
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"You have to what?" Peter asked, brow wrinkled in confusion.
"It's not hard, Wormtail," Sirius said flatly. "He has to go make sure the new prefects know where the lines are drawn." He smirked at James. "While planning to cross every single one of them himself."
Remus frowned. "James—"
James jumped up from his seat and cut Remus off. "Sorry, prefects meeting. You coming, Moony?" He sauntered out of the compartment, Remus following with a scowl on his face.
The prefects' compartment was almost full when they reached it. Several people looked at James curiously and several whispered to their friends, clearly wondering how he had swiped the Head Boy position out from under Remus Lupin's feet.
"Never fret," James announced with mock pomp, ignoring the whispers. "I'm here." He pretended to polish his badge. Remus grimaced and sat down next to a Ravenclaw prefect.
"You—you can't be Head Boy!" a familiar girl's voice stammered. James grinned and shrugged.
"Tell that to Dumbledore, Evans."
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"Emmeline Vance!" Lily snapped, storming into her previous compartment. "Why didn't you have the—the sodding decency to tell me that James bloody Potter is the new Head Boy?"
Emmeline looked up from the newspaper resting on her lap. "Because you would've found out eventually and you were already worried about being late for your first meeting as Head Girl?" she suggested practically.
Lily glared at her and sat down, unable to find a flaw in her friend's logic.
"Chocolate Frog?" Emmeline offered, holding one out. Lily begrudgingly took it and mumbled dejectedly, "I still don't forgive you."
Emmeline shrugged and held out another Frog. "It won't be that bad," she reasoned. "He's just a boy; how bad can he be?"
Lily stared at her. "How bad can he be? He can be an absolute terror! He'll spend the majority of the Heads' meetings asking me out or bragging about how sodding brilliant he is at bloody Quidditch and be a general pain in the—"
"Now, Evans," a new, more masculine voice drawled, "I beg you, don't crush my fragile ego with your impending words."
Both girls glanced over at the door to their compartment. James Potter was leaning against the doorframe, a playful grin on his face. Emmeline, amused despite the angry scowl on Lily's face, grinned back. Lily glowered at her.
"No one invited you to join our conversation, Potter," she snapped irritably.
"Alas," James sighed dramatically, "here I am." He sat down next to Emmeline, who said as she carefully fought laughter,
"Have a good summer, James?"
James grinned at her. "Smashing, Emmeline. Yourself?"
Emmeline opened her mouth to respond, but Lily beat her to it. "Did you have a point, Potter, or did you come here simply to be obnoxious?"
"It's a bit obvious why he came here," Emmeline muttered under her breath. James heard her and gave her a curious look, as though he was seeing her for the first time. At her questioning stare, he turned his attention back to Lily.
"Just thought we might want to work on our relationship, Evans," he said, winking at her. "Our professional relationship, of course. Unless you want to work on our personal relationship as well?"
Lily glared at him and said frostily, "I'm not going to pretend as though I understand why Dumbledore made you Head Boy, Potter. You've done nothing but coast through your classes, annoy everyone with your obnoxious pranks, and be a general prat. If you think for a minute—"
"As informative as this—lecture is," James interrupted, his tone suddenly matching Lily's for coolness, "I do happen to have better things to do with my time than listen to you list the things about me that annoy you." He made to leave, pausing to turn and say, "If you think Dumbledore was so far off the mark, I suggest you tell him. See you, Vance." He left, sliding the door shut behind him.
Emmeline raised an eyebrow at Lily. "Well," she said brightly, "that could've gone better."
Lily leaned back heavily against her seat and scowled at Emmeline. "You just had to encourage him, didn't you. 'Have a good summer, James?'" she mocked. "He would've left without saying anything else if you—"
Emmeline laughed. "He would not have 'just left.' He would've continued to bait you, you would've continued to rise to the occasion like you were and he'd still be here, trying to impress you with his rapier wit. Instead, he's a bit pissed at you and might leave you alone for a few days." Shaking her head and smiling, she returned to her newspaper.
Frustrated because her friend really did have a point, Lily snapped, "You should really change into your robes, you know. We're almost there." She snatched up Emmeline's last Chocolate Frog and viciously bit into it.
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"Prefects are bloody boring," James announced, sliding into his compartment and noting that Remus had already returned.
"The meeting ended ages ago, James," Remus said, frowning. "Where've you been?"
James shrugged. "Ran into Evans."
Sirius looked up from his newspaper. "You just happened to 'run into' her?"
"Yes," James defended, helping himself to the Quidditch section of Sirius' Daily Prophet. Damned if the Chudley Cannons hadn't lost again.
Sirius gave a derisive snort. "Sought out her compartment like a bloody stalker is more likely, Prongs."
"I wasn't looking for her compartment, Padfoot," James said, rolling his eyes. "Remember that I'm in a perfectly content relationship with—"
"Your Quidditch team? Unless you're snogging a bird you haven't told us about," Sirius said, the corners of his mouth twitching.
James scowled at him. "The point is—"
Sirius interrupted him, "Unless Evans snogged you in full view of her compartment-mates—"
The words "compartment-mates" pricked something in James' memory. Ignoring Sirius, he turned to Remus and Peter and grinned. "Gents, you remember Emmeline Vance?"
Peter turned bright red and mumbled something about how it would be difficult to forget such a pretty girl while Remus merely nodded. "Vaguely," Sirius grunted, returning to his newspaper, a bored expression covering his handsome features. "Why?"
"Because," James replied, "it just so happens that summer was good to her." He winked at Sirius, whose face remained a study in boredom. "Very good to her."
"Does this mean your obsession with Lily Evans is over?" Peter asked, frowning. "Do you like Emmeline Vance now?"
Remus rolled his eyes at Peter. "I doubt that," he muttered.
"It doesn't mean anything," Sirius said flatly. "He's just making a comment about how some bird looks better now than in June."
"Oh, quit acting like you don't know who he's talking about," Remus snapped. "You know exactly who Emmeline Vance is; you copy off her in Astronomy."
Peter sat up straight. "Why would you copy off of someone in Astronomy?" he wondered. "It's not a hard class."
"To check my bloody answers," Sirius retorted through gritted teeth, eyes narrowing. Peter hunched back to his original position, mouth tightly shut. He wasn't going to be on the receiving end of the famous Black family temper.
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Oh, Merlin. This was it. This was the last time she would arrive at the castle as a student. A cold hand gripped Lily's stomach tightly as she stared up at the school, drinking in the view. It was too much to think about and someone really should make her stop, but Emmeline was staring up at Hogwarts the same way, as though the thought had just occurred to her as well.
"So this is it," Lily said softly. Emmeline snapped out of her stare and said, "What's it?"
"It's our last year. Tomorrow is our last first day of school."
Emmeline smiled at her, linked her arm through Lily's and remarked, "But tomorrow's still only the first day. We have nine whole months before you're allowed to break out the hankies, Evans."
"You're not the least bit sad? Not even a little bit?" Lily asked, surprised. Emmeline shrugged as they began to walk up to the school. Hagrid could be heard yelling, "Firs' years! This way, firs' years!"
The ceiling of the Great Wall was filled with stars winking down at the entering students. Lily and Emmeline sat down at the Gryffindor table and to Lily's immense displeasure, James Potter and his three friends sat down next to them. Really, the only one that was even the least bit tolerable was Remus Lupin. Lily glared at James, who ignored her. Well. That was certainly a lovely change.
"Have a good summer, boys?" Emmeline asked, shooting Lily a warning look that plainly said don't start anything. Lily rolled her eyes. Like she would be the one to start anything anyway.
Peter Pettigrew, whose friendship with James Potter neither Lily nor Emmeline had ever really understood, replied shyly, "It was alright. Yours?" Emmeline smiled at him, eyes amused. He turned very red, mumbled something unintelligible and became highly interested in studying his empty plate. Sirius Black rolled his eyes and, stretching his arms out behind him, drawled, "You really want to hear about my summer, Vance?" He leered at her, apparently oblivious to the small group of fifth year girls crowded together down the table, casting him longing glances.
Emmeline shot him a look of disgust; he smirked back. "I'll take that as a no."
"Please do," she said flatly; Lily raised her eyebrows at her, as if to say see how it feels?
The doors to the Great Hall suddenly creaked open and a group of terrified-looking first years entered, huddled together and casting fearful glances at the older students who were already sitting at their House tables.
Professor McGonagall walked briskly to the middle of the Great Hall. She set the Sorting Hat on its stool and its brim stretched widely as it launched into its annual song. Lily frowned as it warned of coming foes and treachery; she exchanged a glance with Emmeline, who was frowning as well. When the Hat had finished its song, the Hall broke out into polite applause and McGonagall unraveled a large scroll.
"Abernathy, Timothy!" (HUFFLEPUFF!) began the Sorting and slowly, the crowd of first years thinned. When the last one was sorted ("Wilson, Annette!" to Ravenclaw), food began to appear on everyone's plates.
Lily sat stiffly while she ate, hyper-aware of James Potter's presence next to her and how his elbow kept brushing against hers. Emmeline glanced over at her and raised her eyebrows. Lily shook her head and rolled her eyes, stabbing her fork violently into her unsuspecting slice of pie.
"It's not the pie's fault," Emmeline whispered to her, eyes sparkling amusedly. Lily was about to retort when Dumbledore stood up from the professor' table and held up his hands for quiet. The Great Hall was silent almost instantly.
"To our new additions!" Dumbledore boomed, eyes twinkling at the first years. "Welcome! To our old hats, welcome back!" He paused, blue eyes roaming over the students, and then continued, "I have a few beginning of the year rules to go over; terribly boring, yes, but a necessary evil." He smiled down at them. "First years should note that the Forbidden Forest, as its name implies, is strictly forbidden. Some of our older students should bear this rule in mind as well." As he said this, his eyes swept over the Gryffindor table, lingering for a moment on James and Sirius.
Lily began to unconsciously tune Dumbledore out as he continued listing the rules; she had heard them so many times before. Emmeline turned half-way around in her seat and met Lily's eyes. Emmeline nodded slightly at Peter Pettigrew, who, oblivious to the fact that James had transfigured his goblet into a gerbil, kept trying to grab his pumpkin juice. Lily bit back a laugh.
"...for now." Dumbledore finally concluded. "As many of you are well on your way to falling asleep, off to your warm beds you go!" He beamed as everyone stood and made their way towards their dormitories.
Lily stood up and said tartly to James, "Come on, Potter, we're supposed to—"
"Make sure the prefects tell the first years where to go," he cut her off. "I was listening during the meeting on the train, Evans."
She flushed and snapped, "Well pardon me for expecting your usual flippancy towards rules! Gryffindor first years, this way!"
Emmeline saw several of the first years wince at her sharp tone and nudged her friend. "Might want to tone down your anger, Lily. You might terrify the first years, and by the looks of them, their little hearts can't take much more." She sent an encouraging smile to a small boy who looked ready to faint. "Good luck dealing with Potter," she added as she left for the Gryffindor common room.
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"You were right about Emmeline Vance," Peter sighed as he made himself comfortable in one of the squishy chairs close to the common room fire. "She looks..." he trailed off with another sigh. James glanced at Sirius, who snapped, "We're all waiting with bated breath for your brilliant depiction, Wormtail."
Peter jerked out of his trance and mumbled, "She looks good."
"Bloody brilliant description," Sirius said flatly. "Your vocabulary is truly awe inspiring." Peter flushed a bit and Remus retorted in his defense, "What's the bloody matter with you today, Sirius?"
Before Sirius could respond, James cut in, "Stuff it, all of you. It's only our first day back and you lot are already bloody snipping at each other like bloody wankers." They glanced at him in surprise.
"Yes, Mum," Sirius said finally, his voice distinctly less hostile. James rolled his eyes at him and, propping his feet up on a stool next to his chair, opened Sirius' newspaper to the portions he hadn't yet read.
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"Sirius Black is a prat," Emmeline grumbled as she changed into her pajamas. Lily grinned at her. "That's the second time you've said that in ten minutes," she reminded her friend. Emmeline scowled.
"It bears repeating," she muttered darkly.
"Of course it does," a new voice said from the doorway. "Otherwise Emmeline here might find herself in the exact same predicament that most of the girls at Hogwarts above the age of fourteen find themselves in."
Emmeline narrowed her eyes. "And what predicament is that, Marlene?"
Marlene McKinnon grinned at her and deposited her bags onto her bed. "Desperately, hopelessly in love with Sirius Black." She twirled her dark hair around one finger. "Can't become a Healer if you get too...distracted." She winked at Emmeline, who, despite her annoyance, couldn't help but smile a bit.
"There's no chance of Sirius Black—or anyone else, for that matter—becoming a distraction to me," she assured Marlene and Lily.
Marlene shrugged. "If you say so." She turned to Lily. "So you're our new Head Girl! This is a most excellent development, I have to say, because now—"
"I'm not covering for your late-night snogging in the Astronomy Tower," Lily interrupted, eyes sparkling with amusement. Marlene's face fell. "I can, however, choose to—overlook them. Just don't get caught by a prefect. Or flaunt what you're doing. Because then I'll have to report you."
Marlene clapped her hands together. "Excellent," she said happily. "The perks of being roommates with the Head Girl!" She hopped on her bed and kicked off her shoes.
Emmeline frowned. "Where's Dorcas?" Marlene shrugged and replied, "Didn't see her on my way up from the common room."
"She should be here by now," Emmeline said softly to Lily, looking a bit worried. Lily sighed and grabbed her wand from her bedside table. "I guess I'll go look for her, then," she said exasperatedly.
"Well," Marlene pointed out, "as Head Girl you're the least likely of us to get into trouble for being out of bed after curfew." She punctuated this with an encouraging smile.
Lily rolled her eyes and left the dorm.
A/N: It's a work in progress...don't forget to review! D