Beautiful Beginnings
Chapter 1
"Who do you think is the Head Girl?" James Potter wondered. He ruffled his untidy jet black hair as he grinned at a couple of swooning girls. He and his friends, the Marauders, were about to start their last year at Hogwarts. Peter Pettigrew, a blonde haired mousy boy, blushed as the girls giggled.
James leaned against a wall as Remus Lupin replied "I have no idea, Prongs. Where the hell is Padfoot? He's going to be late for the train." James looked around Platform 9 and 3\4 searching for him, until he spotted him flirting with a girl, and smirked.
Remus looked at where James was looking and shook his head "And he says he doesn't like her."
"Black! Get away from her!" Lily Evans roared at the Marauder who flirted with her friend, Marlene McKinnon. Marlene and the boy parted as they heard Lily.
Marlene's dirty blonde head turned to Lily as she defended him "He didn't mean any harm, Lils. We were just talking."
Lily's emerald eyes flashed with anger and she dragged Marlene away from Sirius Black. He ran his hand through his shoulder length wavy brown hair and chuckled. He had one thought on his mind: 'This will be one hell of a year.'
"I can't believe that you actually talked to him! He's friends with Potter, for crying out loud." Lily exclaimed.
Marlene decided to change the subject and asked "Where's Dorcas?"
"Here I am!" A short, plump brown haired girl with chocolate eyes approached them. "Dor!" They shared a hug.
"I've missed you so much!" Dorcas Meadows said to the girls. "
We've missed you too." Marlene smiled at her.
"I absolutely loved your love letters to moi!" Dorcas gushed. Marlene kissed her cheek.
"Do you need help with your luggage?" Lily asked her.
Dorcas sighed in desperation "Yes, please!" They shared a laugh and helped her with her luggage.
Nearby, James heard Lily laughing. His head swiftly turned to her direction and he watched her glow with joy. He has been in love with her since their 4th year. He pranked her sometimes, badgered her and hexed any guy who tried to talk to her. To him, she was perfect. He inspected her dark red hair shimmer in the sunlight as she tucked it behind her ears. 'Did she cut her hair?'
"Prongs!" Remus bellowed.
James snapped out of it and looked at his friend "Huh?"
Remus chuckled and said "You've been staring at her again, mate. What are we going to do with you? Come on, Sirius is here. Let's get on the train." James complied, following him to the Hogwarts Express.
"I swear I don't like her!" Sirius insisted.
Petter Pettigrew, their friend, snickered and muttered "Yeah right."
Sirius looked at the chubby boy and said mischievously "Oh yeah, Wormtail? How about I tell Prongs and Moony about your crush on the Muggle Studies professor?"
Petter squeaked "Oh no!" and buried his face in his hands. James and Remus laughed hard; she was strange, to say the least.
"So who do you think is the Head Girl?" James asked again. Remus rolled his eyes; James has been wondering about it all day.
Sirius shrugged "Why? What's it to you?" James pulled out from his pocket a badge. "You've got to be kidding me! You're Head Boy?! Why didn't tell us before?" Sirius yelled.
"Does that mean we're not doing anymore pranks?" Peter asked worriedly.
"No! It means that Prongs won't tell on us. Am I right?" Remus said mischievously. The other looked at him, shocked.
"Merlin! I thought you would never say something like that, Moony. You surprise me, for someone who usually regards the rules." James said. Remus merely shrugged and opened his book where he stopped.
Their compartment door opened to reveal Lily and Dorcas. James quickly noticed Lily, asked her in a lower voice "Alright, Evans? How was your summer?"
"It was great. How was yours?" Lily answered coolly.
"Brilliant!" James answered happily.
"Has anyone seen Tickles?" Dorcas asked them.
"Your cat?" She nodded when Sirius responded.
"Nope." He answered shortly.
Remus looked up from his book and answered "Maybe he's after the trolley."
"I haven't thought about that. Thanks." They shared a smile. Marlene came up from behind Lily and Dorcas and put her arms around their shoulders "Congrats, Head Girl!"
"Who is?" James inquired.
"Why, our Lily of course!" Marlene replied. James' face lit up.
"What's that in your hand?" Lily asked James. He opened it to show the Head Boy badge. The boys were excited for him but Lily was both surprised and disappointed. She muttered "You've got to be kidding me."
They finally arrived. The Marauders sat down at the Gryffindor table. James noticed that Lily hadn't arrived yet. He saw Marlene and Dorcas sitting near them and decided to ask them "Where's Lily?"
"She's with Mark." Dorcas blurted out before Marlene gave her a 'shut the hell up' look. Dorcas mumbled a curse word under her breath.
"Who's Mark?" he asked. Dorcas pointed quickly to Lily' direction. James followed her finger and saw Lily and a Ravenclaw kissing. His heart ached; the girl of his dreams was in the arms of another. Now he knew he'd never have a chance with her. To his relief, Sirius caught up with the conversation.
Sirius, who was equally curious, wondered "How long have they been dating?"
Marlene answered "Since we left for summer vacation." James had an idea.
As Lily and Mark were kissing, he pulled out his wand and muttered a spell at Mark. He resumed eating and gave Sirius a wink. It wasn't long before he heard Lily bellow "POTTER!" He looked up from his plate to see Lily marching to his direction.
"What did you do to him?!" She pointed at Mark, whose face was covered with boils. James gave her an innocent look "It wasn't me, I swear!"
Lily shook her head "If course it was you, you arrogant pig! You can't bear to see me happy with someone else! I've had enough with your behavior, Potter. Grow up already!" and went back to take care of her boyfriend.
Sirius stopped laughing when Remus gave him a look. They both looked at their heartbroken friend and decided to take his mind off it, but in vain. James did it to get Lily's attention and just for a laugh, but instead infuriated her. Dorcas shook her head, as if ashamed of James.
After the Welcome feast, Dumbledore had a talk with Lily and James about their new duties as Head Boy and Girl. As they walked back to their common room, there was a weird silence between them. Lily was still mad at him and James wanted to apologize "I'm sorry. I'm an idiot. I was hurt when I saw you with him and I couldn't control it."
Lily looked at him and said "If you truly care about me, then let me be."
He looked down at the ground in defeat and nodded "You're right."
Lily's eyebrows shot up; she didn't think he would take it seriously. James said "You told me very clearly last year how you felt about me. I didn't expect you to give me a chance."
She looked deep into his hazel eyes and said nothing. He had no choice in the matter; if seeing her happy with someone else made her happy, that's all that mattered to him. He muttered the password to the portrait as it swung open to reveal their common room.
James was about to go up to the boy's dormitory when Lily called out his name "James!"
He turned around "Yeah?"
"Thanks."
He mirrored her weak smile and bade her goodnight. As he entered his room, his friends wondered how it went.
James dismissed that and said "She called me 'James'." The boys mirrored his grin.
Lily sat down by the fireplace. She expected him to claim his love for her repeatedly throughout the day, but he didn't. She could understand what he must have felt when he saw her and Mark together, but she really had enough with his childish behavior. "Lily? Are you alright?" She heard Marlene asked from the bottom of the stairs. She joined her.
"I'm fine, just wondering."
"About what? James?" Lily's eyebrows shot up.
"How did you-?"
"I had a hunch. How was the meeting?" She asked Lily.
"It wasn't that bad." She told her about their conversation.
"As soon as he saw you with Mark, his attitude changed." Marlene added.
"Maybe he's doing this for attention."
Marlene rolled her eyes "Don't be daft, Lily. He likes you."
"Well, he has to face the facts: I like Mark and we're together now."
"Do you really think he'll give up, just like that?" Marlene asked. Lily thought about it. She had never seen James like his, so wounded and defeated.
"Yes." Lily answered.
Marlene was unconvinced that he would stop wooing her, but she left it at that. "I see. Well, let's go to bed." And with that, their day ended.