Priori Incantatem [HARRY POTTER FANFICTION]

Chapter 1: The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

Chapter 1: The Best of Times, The Worst of Times 

Hogwarts Express, 1976 

James Potter had just spent one of the best summers of his entire life. 

Of course, this was due mostly to the fact that his best friend Sirius Black had finally run away from his rather twisted home in Grimmauld Place permanently and had been taken in by James and his family on their estate. 

James had opened the door one rainy July night to find Sirius Black standing on the front steps soaking wet, his trunk and broomstick in tow. "I can't take it anymore," Sirius had said simply, his eyes not quite meeting James'. "Could I stay with you?" 

"Of course," James answered nonchalantly, reaching to grab an end of Sirius' trunk. He kept his tone and actions deliberately casual; he knew how hard it was for Sirius to ask anyone for anything. 

"Thanks," Sirius half mumbled, still looking down. James touched his friend's shoulder. 

"I'm glad you're here, Padfoot," James said with complete sincerity. He hadn't wanted to think about Sirius living in that house with his demented mother, his spoiled, Dark Arts-obsessed younger brother, and the family's disturbed house elf, all of whom viewed Sirius as the greatest "blood traitor" and disappointment possible. James had been afraid that one day his best friend would crack under the pressure and either start acting the way they felt a pureblood should in order to please his family, which was doubtful, or, the more likely alternative, murder them in their beds. 

James' parents had taken the news that Sirius was now living with them quite calmly. In fact, they were delighted, as they heartily disapproved of the Blacks and were quite fond of Sirius. They wisely stayed mostly out of the boys' way as James and Sirius practiced their Quidditch skills at all hours of the day and night, clambered around the house as loudly as any herd of elephants, ate meals large enough to feed a small army, sent owls to what seemed like half of the Hogwarts population, and bought jokes from Zonko's by the dozens. 

Now back on the Hogwarts Express, James and Sirius were more than ready to see their fellow Marauders, as James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter called themselves, to make plans for the year ahead. Sirius especially was anxious to get down to the planning stages of their second to last year of mayhem. Reclining on the window seat and impatiently surveying passersby in the hall for any sign of Remus or Peter, Sirius occasionally waved to people he knew and liked and commented to James on those he didn't. 

"There goes Snivellus," Sirius sneered. "Wonder if he's a Death Eater yet or is he too slimy even for Voldemort's taste?" But James didn't laugh at his best friend's joke and didn't watch Snape pass their carriage. He didn't want to look up at Snape and be reminded of what had happened last spring after O.W.L.s. 

Last spring, in what the Marauders now referred to as The Lily Evans Incident, James had been engaging in his fairly routine torture of Snape, aka Snivellus, when Lily Evans had intervened on Snape's behalf. The whole humiliating episode had culminated in the great love of his life calling him a bullying toerag, telling him that he made her sick, and announcing that she would rather go out with the giant squid than with him. Much as James hated to admit it, her words had rankled, had haunted him all summer, as a matter of fact. But that wasn't going to be the case anymore, because now James had a plan: he was going to make Lily Evans love him. 

James was going to find out what exactly about him bothered Lily so much, and he was going to stop doing it, no matter what it took. He couldn't stand the idea of Lily hating him anymore. 

A feminine laugh attracted James' attention back to the train's hall. James knew that laugh, even though she rarely laughed when he was around. Jealous, James poked his head into the hall to see who had made Lily Evans laugh.