A/N: Ah, well no one had any suggestions, so I am just going to go with the working title (Moving On). Starting with chapter three, it will have switched to that name, so you know. Thank you to all of you who have read and review. This one is probably going to be more `involved' when it comes to plot (and possibly longer). So if it feels slower, sorry… I'm trying to make sure that each chapter is of decent length and it bounces back and forth between the POV of our two primary main characters…
Standard disclaimer: just borrowing the characters for my own warped sense of creativity.
Chapter Two
The train had already departed from King's Crossing and was on its way. Lily sighed, and turned after breaking up the third squabble between students since she had climbed aboard the train to Hogwarts. Lily inhaled sharply as a first year crashed into her, spilling a glass of ice cold pumpkin juice down the front of her shirt and skirt.
"I'm sorry!" The first year exclaimed as she burst into tears. The girl ran off before Lily could stop her.
"Kids," Lily grumbled as she headed back toward the head carriage. She had been pleasantly surprised when she had received the letter announcing that she had been chosen as head girl. She was certainly thankful for the private carriage. She didn't want to face anyone quite yet. She had spent the entire summer lazing at her aunt and uncle's house. She hadn't talked much to Petunia, who threw herself into a relationship with Vernon Dursley, an older boy whose hungry demeanor had bothered Lily a great deal.
Lily rummaged through her case and pulled out a fresh shirt and skirt. She pulled her shirt off and pulled the clean one on her body. Before she buttoned her shirt, she whipped the damp, sticky skirt off and threw it to the floor. The door to the compartment slid open and Lily jerked her head around to see James Potter standing there. Lily's mouth dropped open in surprise.
"Lily, I… uh… wow, uh," James said standing there with the door wide open. Lily deftly pulled the skirt on and buttoned it.
"This is the head compartment," Lily said as she turned to look at him, her fingers buttoning the pressed white shirt. Heat rose in her cheeks as the thought that James had seen her quite indecently.
"I know," James said tossing his duffle bag on top of the trunk tucked in the corner. "I'm assuming that you got your letter over the summer, as did I."
"Professor Dumbledore made you head boy?" Lily asked as she tucked her shirt into her skirt. "Why?"
"I don't know," James said shrugged. He grinned at Lily wide. "Perhaps he thinks I am charming."
"At least somebody does," Lily said flippantly as she straightened her shirt.
"Hey, now, Lils don't be that way," James said. He threw himself casually into the seat. Lily rolled her eyes.
"If you expect that this year's going to be any different than past years, save your breath, James," Lily said as she smoothed her hair down.
"Oh, I don't expect anything," James promised with his hands up in defense. He smiled at her. "You've got to admit though it's interesting that of the entire seventh year student body you and I became head boy and girl."
"I don't know if interesting is quite the word that I would use," Lily said raising her eyebrow. "Annoying, maybe, but not interesting."
"Well, I'd love to sit here and chat up semantics with you, Lily, but Sirius lost a little bet with me over the summer and I plan to start collecting now," James laughed as he stood. He headed out the door, stopping to glance back at her. "By the way, I've got to tell you that I never took you as a black lacy panty kind of girl." He laughed heartily.
Lily made a sound of outrage but James had already exited the carriage on his quest to find Sirius. Lily couldn't even pretend that she was interested to know what James and Sirius were up to this time. Lily shook her head. Whatever it was, it was sure to be something stupid and dangerous, and was probably something that was breaking the rules.
Lily headed out to see how the prefects were getting along. She saw the Remus had managed to pull himself away from James and Sirius long enough to deal with his duties. He acknowledged her as she walked into the prefect carriage, but remained seated. Lily looked around at the prefects, her eyes sliding across each of them without change. She didn't even change her expression when her eyes fell on Severus, though inside the blood boiled with such anger and hatred. He was supposed to be her best friend, he said that he loved her, and yet he couldn't pull himself away from his summer activities long enough to support her at her parents' funeral. So much for an unbreakable, undying love.
"All right, as many of you know, we are the leaders of the school, and it is our responsibility to ensure rules are enforced. I don't want any repeats of last year where houses retaliated against each other. If a Slytherin gives a Gryffindor a detention, Gryffindor is not to turn around and give Slytherin detention. We're not out there to fulfill our own personal vendettas, ok?" Lily said as she perched herself on one of the chairs.
"Who died and made you queen of the rules?" Narcissa Black asked from her seat next to Severus Snape.
"I'm head girl, so that would be Professor Dumbledore," Lily said without blinking an eye. "As I've always said, it's a pleasure being on the same team."
"Oh, I agree," Narcissa said with her normal bored, airy sarcasm. Lily felt her stomach clench unpleasantly at the thought of having to spend yet another year with Narcissa on patrol. Lily took a deep breath and relaxed.
"So, assuming no one had any complaints in regards to last year's rotations for patrol, I think we'd best not mess with a good thing, right?" Lily asked as she conjured up her notebook.
"Well," Severus drawled slowly. Lily frowned, wondering if only Slytherins spoke in haughty, drawled out syllables.
"Yes, Severus?" Lily asked as she crossed her ankles and turned to look at him. She was certain her face was indifferent, though inside she felt homicidal.
"I was just wondering if the `Golden Boy' will be on the rotation list," Severus asked. Lily nodded.
"Naturally," Lily said. "He and I will fall into the places of the heads in the rotation, and, well, ok, so I'll rewrite up the rotation."
"I thought so," Severus said smirking at her. Lily felt her hand clench on her wand, but she forced herself relax.
"For now, I think that we should wander about and make sure that all is on the up and up, ok? Say once an hour until we arrive at Hogwarts. Prefects are responsible to guide students from their house onto the carriages from the train. Hagrid will naturally deal with the first years, since they belong to no houses yet," Lily said as she stood. "I look forward to a great year."
Lily held the door open and walked out, followed by Remus. He walked behind her, reaching forward and touching Lily's hand. She turned around and smiled at him, letting him fall instep beside her. Lily looked over at Remus, thinking he look tired. She mentally ran through the lunar calendar. It was nearly the full moon.
"How're you feeling, Remus?" Lily asked as Remus shoved his hands into his trouser pockets. He grinned.
"I'm fantastic, Lily, really," Remus said though he sounded as tired as he looked. "And you? How are you?"
"I'm doing fine, actually," Lily said as she brushed some hair behind her ear. "This is never a good sign."
"Shades drawn?" Remus asked as he looked at the window to Lily's right. She rapped on the door with her knuckles before entering. "Wait, Lily, no."
It was too late. Lily entered and was immediately covered in green, sticky goo. Sirius and Peter were laughing hysterically and James had a look of sheer horror on his face. He jumped up immediately and began siphoning it off with his wand. Lily stood there, arms outstretched, with a look of outrage on her face. James was blubbering an apology to her, the words lost on Lily's ears.
"This is why you missed the prefect meeting!" Lily practically screeched as the goo continued to drip down her face. She turned on her heel, slamming the door on James, and marched back to the head compartment. Anger boiled within her, and she nearly ripped the door off its sliders. Severus was sitting there, his wand lazily spinning between his fingers.
"My, my, my Lily," Severus drawled in his regular, monotonous voice. Lily didn't say anything at first, just glared at him with her hands on her hips. "Aren't you just a sight for sore eyes?"
"What do you want, Severus? I'm not in the mood to deal with you," Lily snapped at him.
"Ooh, temperamental aren't we?" Severus teased as his dark eyes met hers. "Yes, I can see that I'm not wanted here. Perhaps we'll chat later then." Severus rose and let himself out of the head compartment. He slowly walked down the corridor, wanting nothing more to have her watch him but she slammed the door.
"Green, nasty goo," Lily practically shrieked into the mirror as she retrieved her own wand. She did a much better job siphoning the goo into a container she conjured. When she was very nearly clean, she inspected the goo now fighting to escape the glass jar. At first, she thought of vanishing the jar of goo but she thought better of it.
"You may serve me well yet, goo," Lily coaxed to the jar as she placed it safely between her clothes. She slammed the trunk shut and locked it as the train lurched to a stop. Pulling her school robes on over her shirt and skirt, Lily headed to the corridors to start shuttling the students off the train. Lily didn't bother herself with any of the prefects, nor with the head boy, who didn't seem to care much about his responsibilities.
When the last student was on the carriages and the final first year students were on their boat ride to the castle, Lily climbed onto the last carriage. She sat down, her hands folded in her lap, as she waited for the carriage to head toward the school. Three more people climbed aboard the carriage and Lily barely looked up to greet James, Remus, or Sirius.
"We're really sorry about the goo, Lily," James explained as he picked the last little bit out of Lily's hair and flung it out into the bushes. She shrugged, not really wanting to say much of anything to them.
"No, really Lily," Sirius said. "That wasn't meant for you."
"Save it, Sirius," Lily said without emotion. "Nothing more can be expected from you."
"Ah, now Lils," Sirius said as he put his arm around Lily's rigid shoulders. He nudged her chin with his knuckles. "Deep down, you know you secretly love us."
"Hardly," Lily said as she pushed Sirius away. "You would be wise to remember that I'm head girl, and I'll not hesitate to give you detention."
"Ooh, Evans, that stings a bit," Sirius said as he pulled away, making a face. He crossed his arms, not used to being rejected.
"Mind yourself, Sirius," James warned with a devilish grin. "The challenge."
"The challenge, the challenge," Sirius grumbled pouting a bit. "Aye, the challenge."
"Now you sound Scottish," James said shaking his head. "Is `yes' the only thing you ever pick up in other languages?"
"Well, no sounds the same in most languages," Remus said knowledgeably. "Not that Sirius has ever heard a woman tell him `no', apart from Lily."
"And I never asked," Sirius said quickly looking at James. James shot him a look.
"I never said you did, Sirius," James said.
"You two are acting so odd," Lily commented as the castle came into view. Her breath caught in her chest as the castle loomed in the nearly full moon.
"Breath taking as always," Remus said wearily as he looked at the castle and avoided looking at the moon. Lily looked up for a moment, focusing on a single, solitary star as she collected her thoughts and fought the tears that inexplicably threatened to fall. She wasn't weak, and she wasn't about to show weakness in front of any of them. Maybe she would cry later, but she would sneak out of Gryffindor tower and head to the astronomy tower. No one needed to see or hear her cry.
"So," Lily sounded a little louder than she intended. Blushing, she lowered her voice some. "You aren't going to be well to patrol in three days, so James'll have to take your place."
"Oh, no can do, sweetheart," James said coyly.
"Don't call me sweetheart," Lily said affronted. "And why can't you cover his patrol. You, above all, should understand why Remus isn't going to be available."
"I've got plans already," James said as he picked at his cuticle.
"Plans? Honestly, James," Lily said as she stood up, placing her hand on his shoulder accidentally as she steadied herself. He looked up at her, his eyes wide, and she withdrew her hand quickly as if the very act of touching him burned her.
"I'd love to patrol in Remus' place, but like I said, I have plans," James said as he collected himself. Lily sighed.
"Fine," Lily said as she hopped free of the carriage. "I guess I'll just have a Slytherin patrol in Remus' place."
"I'm really sorry, Lily," Remus apologized.
"It's never a problem," Lily assured him. "It's not your fault that Potter is selfish."
"I'm not selfish!" James hollered at her as she headed toward the castle. Mr. Filch raised an eyebrow at the three Marauders headed through the door.
"I've got my eye on you this year," Mr. Filch said in his wheezy voice. "Mrs. Norris and I'll catch you up to no good and then we'll finally get to toss you bunch out on your backsides."
"Fabulous," James grumbled as the three headed into the castle. "Lily's already pissed at me and Filch already has it out to get me. We're not even a full day into the new term."
"You think you've got it bad," Sirius challenged. "I've got a best friend that has decided to ruin what should be my best year with a silly challenge."
"You lost the bet, my friend," James reminded him as they pushed through the doors to the great hall. "You can admit defeat now and crown me king."
"No freaking way, dude," Sirius said as he flipped his hair back a second. "I can do this."
"Sure you can," Remus said laughing in disbelief as they took their seats and the sorting began.
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