The next few days of August seemed to fly and before Lily knew it, she was standing in the middle of her room with clothes and books scattered everywhere, staring at an open and empty trunk. The chaos from the past few days between shopping for books, getting new robes, and finishing homework had kept her busy resulting in her continual procrastination to pack her things.
Lily had stayed up late the night before putting final touches to her Transfiguration essay on animal transformations (which she still did not fully understand) and as a result had overslept. Looking at her watch, which read quarter till eleven o'clock, she hurriedly threw books, robes, quills, and anything else within reach that she thought she might need at Hogwarts into her trunk. With ten minutes to go, she grabbed a bagel, pecked both her parents on the cheek, and apparated to Kings Cross Station.
As Lily crossed the barrier between platforms nine and ten, hair a mess and the bagel still in hand, she breathed a sigh of relief to see the train still there and people milling about the platform. Most of these were parents of children already aboard, but others were older students who, like Lily, had probably overslept and rushed out the door, too.
There was one small girl, however, that caught Lily's eye. She had long brown hair tied in pigtails and looked as though she could be a first year. She stood alone on the platform with a small backpack and looked lost and afraid. More than ready to begin her Head Girl duties, Lily took her last bite of breakfast and approached the small girl.
"Hello, sweetheart," Lily began uneasily "Do you need any help?"
The girl nodded and wiped her eyes with her sleeve.
"I can't find my sister," whimpered the little girl. "She said she would stay with me and now I'm lost and I don't know what to do."
"You'll be okay with me. I'm sure she can't be too far."
"Lizzie!" a new voice called.
Both Lily and the little girl turned to see another girl of about thirteen carrying an overweight cat and rolling her trunk towards them. At the sight of her sister, the little girl's face lit up and she ran over to her.
Lily smiled fondly as she watched the two sisters make their way down the platform and disappear onto the train. Lizzie reminded Lily of how small and scared she had been her first year. Lily was a Muggle-born and had known nothing about magic or Hogwarts when she first received her letter. How long ago that had been! Gathering up her belongings, Lily turned around to head onto the train herself but instead walked straight into someone.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to--" Lily started but faltered when she saw the person she had collided with. There stood James Potter, taller and more handsome looking than she remembered. Throughout all her years at Hogwarts, Lily had never gotten along with James very well. She found him to be extremely arrogant and annoying. Today, however, instead of his usual cocky grin plastered across his face, he looked at Lily coolly and expressionless.
"Evans," he said with a nod. "I've been looking for you."
"Potter!" Lily exclaimed with frustration, "We've been through this time after time. No, I do not want to go out--" She stopped at his raised eyebrows and inquiring look.
"I think you misunderstood me," he said matter-of-factly. "I was asked to look for you because you hadn't shown up. We've got to hurry back, or we'll miss the train."
And with that, he turned on his heel and disappeared onto the train, leaving Lily with no choice but to follow him.
As she stepped on the train, keeping an eye on the jet black hair walking down the aisle, she heard a voice call her name. Lily looked around for the source and spotted one of her best friends, Andy Wolf, walking towards her. Andy was a boy who, unlike the four Marauders, had developed a sense of responsibility early in life and had been one of her best friends since first year. Lily knew that Potter was jealous of her close relationship with Andy, but he had no idea that it was only platonic. She loved Andy like a brother and he felt the same way about her.
"Hey, Andy!" Lily interjected before he could speak. "Let me catch up with you and everyone else in a little while. I'm kind of in a hurry. I'll explain later."
"I...uhh--okay then. Come by our compartment later. We're in the back of the train," Andy said, looking mildly interested and partly confused.
Lily turned around to look for Potter and spotted him approaching a compartment a ways down the hall. She ran to catch up with him and followed him into the compartment.
The Prefect meeting was fairly short. Much to Lily's surprise, Potter had been prepared and was able to help Lily conduct the meeting in a mature and orderly fashion. In fact, Lily caught herself staring at him several times trying to find out what happened to the overconfident and bothersome boy she had known these past six years. Instead, she saw a stranger in Potter's body. This was such an astonishing change in his character that Lily approached him after the meeting, wanting an explanation.
"James," Lily called after him as he exited the Prefects' compartment. The raven- haired boy turned at the sound of his name and Lily saw a surprised expression etched across his face.
"So I'm James now?" he asked.
"I uh...no..." she said indignantly. "I just wanted to talk to you for a moment."
They were walking together now down the aisle of the train.
"Shoot," he replied.
"I wanted to thank you for what you did during the Prefects meeting," she said.
"What do you mean?" Potter said, looking at the floor as he walked.
"You know what I mean; you didn't act like Potter. When I saw that you were Head Boy, I was shocked beyond belief. I didn't think you were capable of handling something so maturely." Lily looked slightly embarrassed. She couldn't believe that she had just said this. She was complimenting Potter of all people!
"Thanks, Evans. That means a lot coming from you," he said, again not meeting her eyes. Lily ignored the new distance he was keeping between them and tried to continue the conversation.
"Oh, and by the way...how did you manage to know what to say at the meeting? You weren't a Prefect last year," Lily pointed out.
"Remus told me about the Prefect duties," Potter answered matter-of-factly. "Head Boy isn't something to be taken lightly, no matter how much Sirius wants me too, so I did my homework and came prepared."
By this time the two had arrived at the Marauders' compartment. Standing outside the compartment was a gaggle of girls, chattering away enthusiastically.
"James!" called a particularly petite blonde girl.
"Olivia," Potter said with a nod.
Lily rolled her eyes as she saw Olivia Brooks break free from her friends to give James a hug. As a popular prankster and Quidditch star, Potter always had various girls fawning over him.
"I guess I'll see you later," Potter murmured to Lily as he shook off Olivia and stepped inside the compartment.
Lily stood rooted to the spot, dumbfounded. What could possibly have happened to Potter to make him change his attitude so drastically? Usually, he would have taken advantage of every second of adoration the girls gave him. Why did he pay Olivia and her friends so little attention?
Then a sudden uproar of noise from within the compartment made her jump.
"Prongs!"
"How are you, mate?"
"How'd it go with Evans, Prongs?"
Lily recognized these voices to belong to Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Sirius Black greeting Potter.
"Not too bad. How was France with your family, Moony?" Potter replied enthusiastically. "You can't possibly be trying to finish your entire Transfiguration essay now, can you Wormtail? Here, I'll let you look at mine. And Padfoot, how'd you know--?"
"Oh, I have my ways, good friend," joked Black.
"Before I let you start into your favorite topic," interjected Remus, "let me show you a new addition I've added to the map..."
Lily frowned to herself as she continued to listen to the conversation. Now Potter was laughing and joking with his friends like his old self and this confused Lily. Why did he suddenly change the way he acted towards her?
More than Meets the Eye by lilybobily7
Chapter Notes: Disclaimer: I do not own this world, JKR does.
Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter Endnotes: Hope you liked it! Chapter 3 will hopefully be up soon!