𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡...

prologue - i

"Sorry to interrupt this delightful moment." Lily mocked, "But I need to talk to you lot, just the girls." she looked pointedly at Sirius.
"I think that's my cue to leave." he nodded his head at the others curtly before turning to leave, but just as he stepped into the corridor, he glanced back at Christina, shooting her one of his signature winks, and headed away.

"What was that about?" Marlene smirked.
"Oh nothing, you know what he's like." Christy slumped back down into her seat next to Dorcas, rolling her eyes.
"Anyway, like I said, I need to talk to you guys." Lily said, lowering her tone significantly.
"Silencing charm?" Alice asked.
"Please."

A few moments later, once the charm was casted, all eyes were on Lily expectantly. Taking a deep breath she looked up from where her eyes rested on the floor.
"My parents.... they didn't want me to..... to come back to Hogwarts." she hesitated between phrases, but earned a few light gasps from her friends.
"What? They can't be serious!" Christina exclaimed.
"I have to admit, even my parents weren't too keen on me coming back, with everything going on, I mean." Alice added.
"But, it's Hogwarts! There's no safer place!" Christy argued.
"That's what my parents said, in my opinion, we're all far more protected at Hogwarts." Dorcas said. "Besides, with Dumbledore around, You-know-who wouldn't dream of attacking us."

As much as she wanted to kid herself, Christy couldn't deny that more and more attacks had been reported in the Daily Prophet recently. Hell, even killings! Voldemort and his followers had only been growing more powerful, it was simply a matter of time until he strikes
big-time.

Truthfully, Christina had pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind, facing reality was just too frightening. You see, her Mother was a muggle, and her Father was a ministry official, specialising in the department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. He was renowned for saving 13 muggles from a house fire just 7 months ago. And with everything 'going on' her entire family has been on edge.

"Well, that's what made them finally see sense." Lily concluded.

The rest of the journey was filled with light hearted chatter, and a few visitors. James Potter, who was attempting (yet failing miserably) to woo Lily, had dropped by, sharing a few of his disastrous pick-up lines.

'Are you a dementor? Because you take my breath away.' 
'Did you actually just compare me to a soul-sucking, happiness-draining, torturous dark creature?'   
'I...er...um...'

Frank Longbottom briefly popped his head in to say hi to his girlfriend of two months, Alice.

But other than that, the trip was wildly uneventful. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for the Marauders compartment.

"Hey, where did you go prongs?" Sirius asked, when James reappeared after around ten minutes of his mysterious departure.
"Just to see my dear, Lilypads." he replied, grabbing a handful of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans before grimacing at the taste.
"Honestly, i'm surprised that poor girl hasn't bloody well pitched herself off the astronomy tower, all the grief you've given her." Remus said, without tearing his eyes away from the page.
"Now, now Moony, listen here, hasn't James told you of his master plan to woo Lily Evans?" Sirius smirked.
"Well, if it's anything like the last one, trust me, I don't want to hear it."
"You want to hear it don't you Pete?" James asked, nudging Peter in the ribs. He momentarily paused from shovelling fudge into his mouth, nodded, then resumed.
But before he could begin his extraordinarily complex and unnecessarily long-winded explanation, the door was slammed open to reveal a tall, blonde haired slytherin, accompanied by two cronies, one with wildly frizzy black curls, and a deranged twinkle in her eye, and the other with, quite frankly, rather disgusting, greasy, black, shoulder length hair, and an abnormally large nose.