Mischief Making, Heart Breaking, and Snivellus

Chapter One

Lily's POV

It's September 1st, 1975, and I'm about to board the Hogwarts Express. I see one of my best friends, Clara. She is waving me over.

"Hey!"

"Hey," I reply.

She asks me the classic, "How was your holiday?"

I am about to tell her about Petunia and her friends when I see Potter and his companions strutting towards us. They are trying to act cool, but in reality, I know this little confrontation was previously planned. Clara sees me staring off and follows my gaze.

"What should we do? What should we do?" she is panicking because she has a huge crush on Sirius Black.

"Leave it to me," I tell her. They are several paces away when James Potter shouts my name.

"Evans! Hey Evans! Welcome back. Clara." I sense Clara wince next to me. She knows my retort will be venomous.

"We aren't even at Hogwarts yet, Potter, so I wouldn't exactly say 'Welcome back.' Now, what do you want?"

He responds with this deep voice that gives me goose bumps, "I was just wondering if you would like to accompany me on the train? I was thinking you, me, and roughly eight hours of snogging."

"I wouldn't snog you if we were the last two people left on the planet. Now get out of my way before I hex you." Clara and I start to walk away, and I hear Black say something muffled to Potter.

"It's okay mate. You know what they say- 'If you don't succeed today, try again tomorrow.'"

Remus says something, but I can't hear because we're too far away. Lots of snickering is followed by his comment, though.

It is now 10:52 am according to the train station clock, so Clara and I board the train. We head to a compartment in the middle of the locomotive and wait for Severus.

He comes in after about five minutes and says, "Greetings! Sorry I took so long, that wretched Potter and his friends tried to... ah... never mind"

"Tried to what?!" I respond exasperated.

"N-nothing. It doesn't matter anyway."

"Severus," I say, "If they're being rude to you, just tell me. I can make Potter shut his mouth real quick."

"No, it's fine. I can handle myself."

"Sev-"

"Just forget about it," he replies quickly, cutting me off. I can feel the tension, but I want this trip to be enjoyable.

"Okay." I wait a few seconds and go with the very generic, "What did you do this summer?"

"Nothing much, I mostly relaxed at home," he says.

"Same," Clara puts in.

I tell them about Petunia- how I was ignored unless she needed something from me. One time her friends came over, and they were, like, spying on me. It was totally creepy and weird. I am so fed up with Petunia and the way she acts. Sev said it's because I'm a witch, and she is just a muggle, so naturally, she is jealous; I'm special in ways that she is not. This breezy conversation in which I vent my bitter feelings seems to lift the weight of the last discussion from my shoulders, from all of our shoulders, and I am grateful for it. I think, thanks Petunia, for being such a bloody git.

***

James' POV

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" the trolley lady asks. Sirius buys ten whole packages of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

"Man, you are crazy... crazy AWESOME! Let's see who can fit the most in their mouth at once!" I declare.

Remus mumbles, "Sounds..."

"Amusing?"

"Ingenious?"

"I was thinking entertaining, but those words also equally fulfill the end of my sentence." Remus finishes.

"Okay, well I have to go the toilet, so DO NOT start without me. I want to be here when Peter starts choking on one that slips done his throat while the other three of us are all laughing until we cry," I chirp.

"Fine, just hurry up."

I rush out of our compartment that is between the middle and the end of the train. I am not really going to the toilet, I am going to find Evans and ask her if she has changed her mind yet. I know she'll be somewhere in the middle of the train with Snivellus. I honestly don't know why she hangs out with him; he's such a dork!

I am walking past each compartment and starting to pick up speed when a head of luscious red hair catches my eye. I stop, backtrack about three steps, and a half smile becomes plastered across my face. I open the sliding door and, standing in the doorway, I say, "Come on, Evans, there is only a few hours left until we arrive at Hogwarts, and I'm sure we could find an empty compartment somewhere."

"Why would you think I would say yes now if I didn't say yes a few hours ago?" she rolls her eyes, "Maybe I would finally accept your perpetual offers if you made some miraculous change in the way you act... and treat Severus. I might think about it then, but that will never happen because you are too immature to change for me, so keep dreaming."

I could only think of one comeback, "Why do you even like him? He's a loser, Evans!"

"Yeah? Well I don't think so. It is actually quite rude of you to question my choice in friends, not to mention what you just called Severus, and this is exactly what I am talking about- immaturity. Here's a tip, why don't you get some manners and try again tomorrow?" she's raging now.

"If you say so," my smile has disappeared, replaced by a frown. I start trudging back to my compartment, and I decide that I'm going to make Snivellus pay for the way he's brainwashed her. Brainwashed Lily. I also think about what she said, about the fact that I need to get some manners. It's not untrue, but I would have manners if she wasn't friends with that pathetic Snape. Maybe I could start calling her Lily...

I am already back to my compartment before I have time to finish my thought. Sirius is yanking me in and opening the first box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.