Lily Evans’ short red hair swished behind her as she stepped into one of the last empty horseless carriages after her best friend, Alice Vivir.
Once she was seated, she turned to Alice and asked, “Do you know where Alex is?” Alex Suerte was another fifth year Gryffindor girl, and one of their best friends.
“Oh, she’s coming. You know her. She probably found a group of Ravenclaw boys or something along the way.” It was true. At five foot six with long, wavy blonde hair and bright sapphire eyes, Alex was legendary for her major flirting tendencies.
The two girls heard the carriage door open. Turning, expecting to see Alex, they instead saw a tall, dark-brown haired boy climb in. “Hey Lily…Alice.” Frank Longbottom’s cheeks went slightly red as he took the seat across from Alice, who blushed and tried to hide it behind her shoulder length light brown hair.
“Oh, hi Frank.” Alice’s voice came out a little higher than usual, and Lily grinned. She had known about Alice’s crush on Frank probably longer than Alice herself. It looked as though the feelings were mutual. However, her grin died on her face as she saw who climbed in next. With shaggy black hair hanging on his shoulders and inquisitive bright blue eyes, the boy was unmistakably Sirius Black. He was like a male form of Alex- never passing up the opportunity to flirt.
Unfortunately, Lily knew who was coming in next. Sure enough, James Potter scrambled in after Sirius, his lanky form extending in the roomy carriage. His dark hazel eyes found Lily’s bright emerald ones and his hand instantly went up to rumple his already messy jet-black hair. Lily scowled. He knew how much she hated that. “Evans,” he said, nodding formally.
“Potter.”
Alice raised her eyebrows in an unspoken question, wondering if anyone else thought it was a bad idea to have the two rivals sitting in the same carriage. Their fights were legendary, and Alice was inwardly concerned for their safety if the two were in a small, enclosed space together. “Frank?” she asked, thinking that he might agree with her.
“Sirius, Alice!” Sirius exclaimed, obviously thinking they were doing some form of re-introductions.
“Sirius.” Lily said threateningly, her scowl deepening. She didn’t have much patience for the best friend of her archenemy.
“No fair! I already said that,” he complained. He stopped when he saw Lily’s eyebrows rise threateningly. “Er… all right then. Where’s Alex?”
“Right here!” Alex stepped lightly into the carriage, and then took in the assortment of students before her, the majority of them looking either agitated or concerned for their well-being. “What did I miss?”
“Just-” Alice started to explain.
“No. Don’t tell me. Lily and Potter, right?” She smirked as everyone nodded. “I should have known.”
For the rest of the ride to the castle, for the safety of all, the girls kept to themselves, and boys returned the favor.
“No way!” exclaimed Alex. “You’re a prefect! Oh, Lily! I’m so happy for you! I mean, I always knew it would be you, but this is great!”
James snapped to attention. “Evans is a PREFECT?! That’s not fair!”
Lily glared at him. “Oh, be quiet,” she said, smirking. “You’re just mad that I can give you detentions now.”
“No I’m not!” James mumbled, crossing his arms and sulking back in his chair. “I just don’t think it’s right that you can dock points when you want. Prefects are stupid, anyway.”
“Um… James?” Sirius interrupted. “Remus made prefect too.”
“Oh.” For once, James seemed to be at a loss for words.
*
When they finally arrived at the castle, James hopped out of the carriage first. Lily started to follow, but paused before dropping to the ground. She looked around, four years of memories coming back to her, and breathed deeply. She was home again.
“Oy! Evans! You going to move or are we going to have to wait in here all day?”
Lily’s face flushed. She hated being sentimental. “You can stay in here all year for all I care, Black!”
“James, you mind helping us out?”
“Sure, Sirius!” Lily didn’t like the mischievous gleam in Potter’s eyes. “Down you go, Evans!”
“Potter! Don’t you- argh!” James grabbed her swiftly around the waist and started lowering her down, Lily trying furiously to punch him. “Let (punch) go (punch) of (punch) me (punch) Potter (punch)!” The last one connected with his jaw, and he quickly set her on the ground.
“Evans! What was that for?”
“That was for touching me.” Lily walked off huffily, leaving James scowling at her back. Alex and Alice hurried to catch up with her.
“Wow! Lily! Do you know how many girls would die if James Potter held them?” Alex was flabbergasted.
“Probably all of them. His breath does stink something awful.” She retorted.
“No, it doesn’t! I mean, it didn’t.” Alex protested.
“Yes it- hang on. How would you know?” Lily asked, very curious, and also somewhat afraid of the answer.
“Er… remember that time last year? When I didn’t have a boyfriend?”
“Yes.” Alice said slowly, wondering what that had to do with anything.
“Well, I did.”
“You don’t mean…” Alice asked, shocked. Alex nodded miserably.
“You didn’t!” Lily gasped, her hand covering her mouth in shock.
“So what if I did?” Alex said defensively. “He’s not all that bad.”
“Yes, he is! Potter is a conceited, self-absorbed git!” Lily insisted furiously.
Alex sighed exasperatedly. “Is there any hope in convincing you otherwise?”
“NO!” Lily said forcefully.
“You never know Lily.” Alice cut in. “Someday you and Potter might actually get along. You two might actually end up liking each other. It could happen.”
“Yeah, right.” Lily snorted. “That’ll happen when- well, it won’t.”
As they walked into the castle, the other two girls could hear Lily muttering distinctly under her breath, “Me and Potter! Are they completely nuts?”