A/N: thanks for all the reviews guys! It means a lot to me. Keep em coming! I really appreciate the suggestions and comments.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
***********************************************************
As the train pulled into the station, the seven friends got off and boarded a carriage that would take them to the castle. Remus, Sarah, James and Lily were in one carriage and Sirius, Rachel and Peter were in another.
In the first carriage, Remus and Sarah were immersed in deep conversation and seemed to have forgotten that anyone else existed. James was watching them thoughtfully. Suddenly, he got an idea.
"Hey Lil" he whispered to Lily who was sitting beside him staring out the window.
"What?" she whispered back, slightly put out that her thoughts had been interrupted.
"Look at Remus and Sarah." Lily glanced over just in time to see Sarah laugh at something Remus had said.
"Yeah, so?" she asked
James rolled his eyes at her. "Looks like there's somethin goin on between them."
"What? No it doesn't. They're just really good friends. I laugh at things you say all the time, and there's nothing going on between us. Besides, I thought you don't' believe in love." She said, raising an eyebrow at him.
"I don't'" he confirmed. "But look at the way he's looking at her"
"There's nothing different about the way Remus is looking at Sarah." Lily persisted. "Wait a minute. You're not trying to tell me that Remus likes Sarah in your own twisted way, are you?" She asked suspiciously.
"No of course not! Where'd you get that from? No where in our conversation did I say that Remus likes Sarah. I merely said that it looks like something is going on between them! Those are two completely different things! For all I know, they could just be discussing a really funny book, and Remus has something in his eye" Lily just looked skeptically at James and tried not to laugh at him. "See, this is exactly why I don't like getting emotionally involved with girls. All of you take one thing and twist it into a whole new random one! It's enough to make any guy insane." He continued, combing a hand through his already hazardous hair.
"Woah James calm down" Lily said, holding her hands up in defeat. " I was just asking a question. If I had known it would make you this upset, I wouldn't have."
James sighed and took a deep breath. "It's ok. Just that I had to spend two whole months with my parents on my back about finding a girl that I could care for and love and marry and I was about to bloody explode! And I don't think I can handle any more talk about love."
"I still don't get why you have such a problem with love. It can be a great thing once you give it a chance and open up your heart."
"yeah, sure. How would you know? It's not like you've been in love before." He said confidently. Then added, " you haven't, right?"
Lily just shrugged her shoulders and went back to looking out the window. James looked at her curiously, but dropped the subject. He had no intention of continuing a conversation about love. He shuddered at just the thought of it.
******************************************
In the next carriage, Rachel, Sirius and Peter were all discussing a certain raven-haired boy who refused to acknowledge the existence of love.
"I personally don't think it's possible." Rachel told the other two. " I mean, how can someone just write-off love like that? The world is full of love! What about his parents, they're in love, and all his friend's parents? How can he still maintain that it doesn't exist?"
"Believe me. I've tried to make him see otherwise." Sirius said. " But you know him. Stubborn as a cow. Once something is in his head, it's almost impossible to get it out. So I've basically given up. Maybe one day that one girl will come along that will knock some sense into him."
Rachel snorted. " You're one to talk. It's not like you believe in love anymore than he does."
"That's not true" Sirius countered. " I just haven't found that right girl yet. I fully believe in love. But I also believe in having fun. And if I haven't found that one girl yet, why should I just sit around and wait for her?"
Rachel rolled her eyes at this and turned to Peter. " What about you Peter, have your eyes set on anyone lately?"
"Well," he began nervously, " there is this sixth year in Ravenclaw I kinda like."
(A/N: I know most of you don't like peter, and neither do I, so he won't be in very much…but he has to kinda
exist…u no?)
"Oooo, " teased Sirius "Peter has a crush. I think you should go for it mate." He added encouragingly.
"Thanks, maybe I will" he replied. The carriages stopped then, marking the arrival at Hogwarts. All the students got down and made their way into the Great Hall for the beginning of the year feast. The seven friends, once again reunited, all sat down together, with the girls on one side of the table and the boys across from them. All four of them were talking in hushed voices and James was just pulling his wand out of his pocket. The girls all looked at each other and new that something was going on. Just then, a line of scared looking first years walked down the middle of the hall and the sorting began. After the battered old hat had sung its song and placed each new student into a house, Dumbledore stood up to give a speech.
"Welcome all to another year at Hogwarts. I hope you all are looking forward to this year as much as I am. I expect great things from all of you. I would first like to congratulate the new head boy and head girl. Lily Evans and James Potter." Everyone in the hall applauded as Dumbledore continued. "Second, I would like to remind you that the forbidden forest is indeed forbidden. Thirdly, quidditch tryout dates will be posted in each house's common room, and lastly I would like everyone to dig in!" the golden plates on the long house tables all filled with food and everyone began eating the delicious meal. Sirius was eating at such a rapid pace that it was difficult to distinguish his hands from his mouth. Only when James elbowed him in the ribs did he come up for air.
"Oi! What are you on about!" he screamed, rubbing his chest painfully.
"Well, if you would have heard me calling your name for the past five minutes, I wouldn't have had to resort to hitting you." Sirius just glared at him. "Now, as I've been trying to say, we need to get on with this prank before the feast ends."
"O yeah…the prank…I forgot. Ok let's go." He said, taking one last bite of his steak.
"Before you guys do anything, make sure that no one gets too badly hurt. Ok?" warned Sarah.
"Ok mum, we won't" Sirius said with a seemingly innocent smile. Sarah kicked him under the table. "Ow! What is it with hitting me today? What, do I have a sign on my head that says `hit me' on it?" he asked, rubbing his sore shin.
Rachel rolled her eyes at him. " She didn't hit you, she kicked you. And just make sure that no one really does get hurt."
"Ugh, not you too" James complained. "Ok, ok, fine, don't worry. It'll be a harmless prank."
"Alright guys, let's go" Remus said. " On the count of three. One, two, three!" At once, brightly colored sparks flew from all four wands and flew towards the slytherin table. Suddenly, instead of the many conversations taking place at the table, only various animal sounds were being emitted from the students' mouths. Their heads and bodies were slowly changing from human to animals, where the head was of a different animal than the body was. At first, everyone in the hall stopped talking and looked around in confusion for the unfamiliar noises. Then, all at once, everyone started laughing. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were all doubled over in laughter, wiping tears from their faces. Lily, Rachel and Sarah were also sharing a hearty laugh at the expense of the slytherins. All the first years were looking around in awe, amazed that a feat like that was possible. Then, all too soon, the noises stopped and the slytherins were once more human. The four Gryffindor boys looked up to see a livid professor McGonagall marching over to them.
"Potter, Black, Lupin, Pettigrew!" she barked. "Detention all of next week!" with that, she stalked away without looking back.
"How does she always know it's us?" Sirius questioned stupidly.
Rachel hit him over the head. "Who else would it be, you dolt!"
"Ouch! Ok, enough with the hitting." He said, rubbing his head. "God, I was just asking a question…" he grumbled.
As the plates all cleaned themselves, all the students began getting up and filing out of the Hall. The prefects from each house led the first years to the portrait holes of their respective houses. The Gryffindors all went to the portrait of the fat lady and told her the pass word "silverspoon" and entered the common room. The three girls headed up to their dormitory to unpack, as did the four boys.
Up in the girls' dormitory, each girl began unpacking her things and putting them away.
" Hey Lil, don't you and James have your own head dormitory?" asked Sarah.
"Yeah we do. We have a meeting with Dumbledore tomorrow after classes and he's gonna tell us all the details then. But chances are I'll spend lots of time up here, so I'm still gonna unpack some of my stuff." She explained. She had finished putting all her books away and was about to move on to her clothes when Rachel let out a cry.
"Bloody Hell!! What in Merlin's name is going on!" She was standing in front of her open suitcase, holding up what looked like a sweater for a doll…accompanied by a pair of pants…Lily and Sarah quickly opened their own suitcases and found that all their clothes had been shrunk as well.
"Those four prats shrunk our clothes!" exclaimed Sarah. But Rachel was already out the door. She marched down the stairs, across the common room, up the stairs that led to the boys' dormitory and began banging on the door.
"BLACK! POTTER! LUPIN! GET YOUR ARSES OUT HERE NOW!!" Sarah and Lily hurried after her to back up their friend. A few moments later, the door opened and there stood Sirius, clad only in his boxers, a white t-shirt and an innocent smile.
"yes? Can we help you three lovely ladies?" he asked suavely.
"Oh, don't give us that crap Black…you shrunk our clothes and we are demanding that you put them back right now." Seethed Rachel
"Hmmm…yeah, we could…but I'm kinda tired…what about you James?" he asked his friend who had come up to stand beside him.
James faked a huge yawn " Yeah, so exhausted. Sorry ladies, no can do. Come check with us tomorrow though. Maybe we can help you then." And with that he made to close the door, but was stopped by an angry Lily.
"James," she said sweetly, batting her eyelashes and stepping further into the room, causing James to back up.
"Yes Lily dearest?" he asked, just as sweetly.
"I would suggest that you change our clothes back right now, or you're going to seriously regret it." She warned, running a finger down the middle of chest, noticing in the back of her mind just how hard it felt. James just crossed his arms and stood his ground.
"O yeah" he smirked "And just what are you going to do?" Lily turned around, winked at her friends and stood on tiptoes to whisper in James' ear.
"Well," she began, " with Sarah's talents in potions and mine in charms, we could `accidentally' make a mistake and change your physical anatomy, if you catch my drift" James stepped back in horror and looked at Lily's face, her mischievous eyes betraying her innocent façade.
"You…you wouldn't" he spluttered, staring wide-eyed from girl to girl.
" Oh, we would," said Sarah, menacingly. All three boys visibly paled, looked at each other, and instantly told the girls the incantation of the spell that would change their clothes back.
Smirking, the three girls turned to leave the dormitory. At the door, Lily turned around and threw one last wink in James' direction, who was still looking a little nervous at the girls' threat.
"That was too easy" laughed Rachel as they entered their dorm.
"Yah, honestly, did you see them squirm! It was so funny." Added Sarah. "Hey Lil, what was with the flirting?"
"Excuse me?" Lily asked, completely bewildered.
"You, flirting with James. It was completely obvious." Sarah said, changing her and the others' clothes back.
"What? I wasn't flirting, I was just doing that to get him to tell us how to change our clothes back. I don't like James. We're just friends! And you know that boy, he's completely opposed to anything related to love!"
"Ya, but you're not" said Rachel thoughtfully. " And who knows, maybe you're the one that was meant to change James. The one meant to make him realize that love does exist."
"Woah, Woah. Hold it right there. I just told you that I didn't like James, and now you're talking about love? No, no, no. Absolutely not. I have no feelings, other than platonic ones, for James."
Sarah gave her a calculating look. "Fine, we'll let it go for now. But this isn't over." With that, she pulled back her covers and climbed into bed.
*************************************************************
That night, as Lily lay in bed, she was thinking of the conversation with her friends. She didn't have any romantic feelings for James, did she? No, they were just friends! They had known each other since they were babies. But then how come whenever James had gone out with another girl last year she had felt this odd feeling in her stomach? It couldn't be jealousy, could it? Nah, just like a sister looking out for a brother. Yes. Definitely. That was what it had been. She didn't want him to get hurt. And besides, just suppose for one second that she did like James, then she would just be setting herself up to get hurt. Because James never really liked girls. He dated them, but never anything too serious. But she didn't like James so she didn't have to worry about that, now did she? No. Even thinking about liking James was out of the question. With that, Lily rolled over onto her side and willed herself to go to sleep.
***********************************************************
Up in the boys' dormitory right after the girls left:
"Wow" breathed Remus. "Girls sure are dangerous creatures."
"Tell me about it" agreed Sirius. " So, Jamie-poo…what's goin on with Lily?"
"What?!?" he yelped. "what are you talking about? Nothing is going on at all!"
"I'd have to agree with Sirius on this one, James" Remus said. "You two did seem to be flirting quite a bit."
"Wait stop right there. I don't know how many times I've told you guys this, but I'm gonna say it again. I. Don't. Believe. In. Love. That's how simple it is. I don't. Lily and I are just friends. We weren't flirting, she just wanted to know how to change her clothes back." James said while climbing into bed.
Sirius sighed, also getting into bed. " Fine. Say whatever you want, but don't come crying to us when you figure out your real feelings and it's too late to do anything about them."
"Ok, I won't cuz there won't be any feelings. Now I'm going to sleep cuz we have classes tomorrow. And I am head boy now, so I should try to stay awake."
Remus just rolled his eyes and got into bed. "Night guys" he said.
James lay in bed later that night thinking to himself. `I don't like Lily. No way.. There is no such thing as love.' And with that, he fell asleep, not knowing or realizing just how wrong he was.
*******************************************
A/N: ok there it is! Chapter 3. It's longer than the others, and I hope the story's coming along good. Review w/ comments and suggestions!!
-->