As she reached the wall, she shut her eyes and quickened her pace until she heard the sound of a train whistle blowing and students laughing and shrieking as they saw their friends for the first time in months.
“Lily!” someone behind her squealed. Lily turned around to see a tall girl with long, straight blonde hair pushing her way through the crowd.
“Kylie!” Lily shouted back as she threw her arms around her best friend. “How was your summer?”
Kylie shrugged. “It was ok. I’m glad to be back though. How depressing is it that this is our last year?”
Lily smiled. “It is sort of sad, but it’s exciting too. Do you have a compartment?”
Kylie nodded. “Suive moi,” she said and turned and stepped onto the train.
Lily grinned. Ever since Kylie had spent a summer in France, she was always using French phrases for no discernible reason. After a year of asking Kylie to repeat herself in English, Lily picked up on the phrases Kylie used most often, and so followed Kylie onto the train.
The got to the compartment and Lily neatly slid her trunk above the seat.
“Well, I have to go to the Prefects’ Compartment for a meeting. Head Girl, it’s a curse,” Lily apologized. “I should be back in a bit.”
Kylie snorted. “Curse. Abomination, more like. I shudder to think you call yourself a Marauderess. And the leader of us, no less.”
“Well James is Head Boy! And he’s the leader of the Marauders,” Lily argued.
“Just another reason you two are so perfect for each other. Traitorous brown-nosers the both of you,” Kylie muttered.
“See you soon,” Lily laughed and headed off towards the front of the train.
On the way, Lily bumped into one of her good friends Remus Lupin. “Have a good summer?” she asked.
“Yea. James already headed to the Prefects’ Compartment,” Remus told her, answering her unasked question.
Lily smiled at him. “Kylie’s in the sixth compartment from the back,” she said, walking off once more.
Lily reached the compartment and slid the door open to reveal all of the Prefects already assembled. Standing before them was a tall, dark-haired young man with round glasses and a charming smile. Lily smiled at him before entering and beginning the meeting.
Lily and James slid open the compartment door to find all of their friends already there, talking about their summers. Lily glanced around the compartment. There was Sirius Black, with his trademarked black hair and handsome smile, Remus, with light brown hair and ever serious eyes, although his lips always seemed to be twitching into a grin. Then there was Peter Pettigrew. “He’s grown up a lot,” Lily admitted to herself. He had gotten taller, and thinned out, and was no longer the uncertain, pudgy youth he had been in their first years. James plopped himself down next to Sirius, completing the Marauders.
On the opposite seat sat the Marauderesses. Emma, a short, brown-haired girl with piercing blue eyes, Jess, who had lighter colored brown hair and large hazel eyes, and Kylie. Lily sat down across from James and grinned. It was good to be back.
That evening, after a long Sorting Ceremony and an amazing feast, Lily, Kylie, and Emma were unpacking their things, while trying to help Jess finish last minute homework.
“You know, you really should have done that last night,” Lily said, very Head Girlishly.
Jess’ quill paused for a moment as she looked up and glared at Lily. “Not everyone is as responsible as you are. Now will you please tell me why the Goblin Rebellion is still important today?”
Lily smiled and set her own History of Magic book on the table next to Jess’ homework and flipped to a marked page. “It’s right there. In the highlighted section. Exact answer.”
The only thanks she got was the furious scratching of quill on parchment.
Kylie and Emma watched as Lily returned to her unpacking, practically dancing around the room. Her face was glowing and she was smiling lightly, humming softly to herself.
“So she really loves James, huh?” Emma asked Kylie softly so Lily wouldn’t hear, even though she wouldn’t have cared anyway.
Kylie smiled at Emma, thinking how hard of a fight Lily had put up before finally agreeing to go out with James. “Yeah, she does.”
Meanwhile, the Marauders were in their own dormitory, and Sirius and Peter were copying Remus’ History of Magic essay.
“I don’t know why you lot don’t do your homework. It’s not as if you don’t know the answers,” Remus said.
“Aw, but Moony, you like your homework. It’s much easier to let you do it. It would just be a waste of time for us to do it. And we could be doing something much more important, like pranking people,” Sirius whined.
Remus smiled and looked over toward James, who was lying on his bed, playing with a Snitch.
“Did you do the essay, Prongs?” Sirius questioned.
“Uh huh, whatever,” James said, waving his hand in the air.
“He didn’t really hear you,” Peter put in, crossing out his latest sentence. “Probably thinking about Lily.”
“So he really likes her, huh? Like really, head-on, with-his-whole-heart, run-off-and-marry-her, likes her?” Sirius asked Peter and Remus.
“He’s only been after her for five years,” Peter said sarcastically.
Remus smiled. “Yeah. Yeah he does.”
The first day of classes was a blur for Marauders and Marauderesses alike. They got their schedules at breakfast in the morning, and scurried from class to class, listening to each teacher give more or less the same speech about working hard and concentrating so they could do well.
Their first break all day was at dinner. The four Marauders walked in to find Lily, Emma, Jess, and Kylie already at the Gryffindor table, piling food onto their plates.
As the four boys sat down, Sirius sighed heavily, James let his head slump forward onto the table, and Peter merely stared off into nothingness.
“What a day,” Remus stated.
The girls nodded, and James grunted in agreement.
“I’m just glad it’s over,” Emma said.
“It’s not over for all of us,” Lily pouted. “You and I have patrol duties already, James.”
James groaned and Kylie and Emma shared a smile.
“Would you rather go alone?” Lily asked him.
James lifted his head. “No, of course not.” He smiled across the table at her.
Sirius rolled his eyes. “Would you two come off it already? You’re not going to get any patrolling done.”
“Oh, bugger off Sirius,” James said, shoving him playfully into Remus, who choked on his pumpkin juice.
Sirius righted himself and slapped Remus on the back a few times. “Don’t die on us, Moony! I’m too young for you to die! You can’t leave me like this! It’s not fair! Cut down in your prime,” he wailed hysterically .
Remus grinned. “You’re an idiot, Padfoot.”
“Well, sure. But honestly, you lot, you would be perfect little school boys it I wasn’t here to keep you out of line,” Sirius said grinning at them.
“Yep, because James never pranks anyone or ever has the best ideas for pranking people,” Lily said, nodding violently in mock agreement of him. She smiled at James as he grinned at her.
Sirius looked at the other Marauderesses, with a hurt look on his face. “None of you are going to stand up for me like that?”
“Nope,” Kylie said.
Emma shook her head no.
“Why bother?” Jess asked.
“Well I would think you being my girlfriend would be reason enough,” Sirius said exasperatedly to Jess.
Jess laughed. “Not for me!”
Sirius hung his head in defeat.
James punched his shoulder lightly. “Don’t get too down on yourself, Padfoot. One day you’ll have a beautiful girl and a fan club just like me!” Lily rolled her eyes at him.
“I have a beautiful girl already,” Sirius said, making Jess blush. “And I do have a fan club!” Just then a large crowd of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw girls walked past giggling like mad, each of them ogling Sirius. He winked at them to prove his point, and a few squealed in delight.
“Point taken,” James said, and dove into his plate of food. Sirius and Peter quickly followed suit.