Better Off (Regulus x Lily)

Chapter 3

As Lily left the Prefect Compartment, the only thing that she prayed for was a safe return to where her girl friends were sitting. 'Safe' in the sense of uninterrupted, but of course, she was holding out false hope.

"Oi, Evans!"

She heard the shout from the other side of the train car she was currently walking through. She didn't even have to squint to recognize Sirius Black, with his head full of long, dark hair and a wide grin. As she went in his direction, she smiled back at him. Somewhere between then and now, her and Sirius became something in the shape of friends. And, as per usual, in the compartment right behind him sat the rest of the Marauders, all seemingly happy to see her.

"Hi, boys," she said as Sirius moved briskly and tugged at her hand to pull her inside. She sat down where he lead her, right between himself and James.

"I already told James here," Remus started, his voice soft. "You two are definitely going to be a great pair of Heads. I have never seen a meeting so quick and so on point. It's a shame people were flooding you from every direction when it finished, I really wanted to talk to you."

"Oh yes, every prefect wanted a chance to talk to our beautiful Head Girl," said Sirius, chuckling. "My brother included. Or so I hear."

Lily looked at James who had to be the one to pass that particular piece of information to the boys.

"I'll have you know, he's perfectly nice," she replied, her voice leaving no space for argument. Sirius raised his hands in a defensive manner.

"Never said he wasn't. Blacks are known for their impeccable manners," he stated and the boys laughed. In a matter of seconds, his expression turned solemn. "But, Lily, it's not safe. He's not safe for you," he added, looking at her with fierce protectiveness in his eyes.

"I promise you I can protect myself," she replied, chuckling despite his serious face. "Besides, it's not as if you talked to him in the last few years. You have no way of knowing how he is right now."

"People like him don't change. Just, please, trust me on this. I know you think that it's your responsibility to make everyone feel welcome, but you need to take care of yourself first, okay?"

And he looked at her with such pleading, as if he was ready to beg, that she only shook her head gently and smiled at him.

"Fine. I'll be careful, I promise." Whatever else she wanted to add in defence of Regulus, she didn't. It would be pointless to argue with Sirius, who had his own views and ideas.

"Good, now that that's settled, let's move on to more interesting topics. Like, Evans, how was your summer?" James asked, a grin now back on his face. He spread in his seat, with his back to the window and his feet resting on the seat opposite of him, right next to Remus.

"It was fine. I rested a lot," she replied, putting effort into keeping her voice steady and convincing.

"Did you? And how's your family?"

"They're all good. Everything was fine, really. I spent the two months back at Cokeworth and it's always good to be back home."

Remus shot her a look and she carefully avoided meeting his eye. She knew his face expression said very clearly: 'we'll talk about it later'.

But James was satisfied and embarked on a long story about his and Sirius's summer in India, where his mother's relatives lived. Lily listened attentively, nodded her head and asked questions in all the right places, before he turned his attention to Remus.

"And Remus was... back home, just like you," James announced happily.

"How was it?" she asked, leaning towards Remus.

"Fine as well. Not much to talk about," he shrugged.

"And you, Pete?" She finally turned to the last boy in the compartment. "Did you do anything special?"

Peter lowered the newspaper he was reading and smiled at her, already having expected to be omitted by the questions.

"Not really. Me and my sister went on a trip to the seaside. But that's about it."

Lily hummed, before standing up and moving towards the door.

"Well, I'll leave you to it, whatever it is that you're planning," she grinned. "Just, please, I don't want any more goo in my hair. It's freshly washed," she said, referring to the boys' prank during the previous year's welcoming feast.

Sirius winked at her.

"I promise you'll be spared," he said and with that, she turned around and exited the compartment.

She could already feel herself getting tired. After all, she had to wake up inhumanely early that day to finish whatever needed to be packed and convince her mother that she didn't have to drive her to the station. Lily knew that if she could simply teleport by herself, it would take her more or less thirty seconds to get there, but her mother insisted on doing things the old-fashioned way. They had already had a fight about that the evening before and Lily, as per usual, let her mother win.

But driving to King's Cross meant having to wake up at least two hours earlier than she would've to otherwise, and it was beginning to take its toll on her. She couldn't wait to get to the girls' compartment and let herself rest for a little bit, before having to be up and alive for the feast.

Everyone did expect her to be her joyful, confident self. As a matter of fact, she expected herself to be all that. It was her last year at Hogwarts and who knew what would happen next. The idea of her future self resenting her for not appreciating school while it lasted was always somewhere in the back of her mind.

And so upon seeing her classmates in the compartment she left her baggage in, she plastered a wide smile on her face and only then entered.

"Hi, everyone! It's so nice to see you again," she said, before hugging each of the four girls tightly.

"Lils! I was wondering where the hell did you vanish to," said the tallest one, Marlene, taking her bag off one of the two empty seats and allowing her friend to take it.

"I told you guys, she was busy being the Head Girl!" Emmeline reminded them, rolling her eyes, but smiling nevertheless. As the Ravenclaw prefect, she had already seen Lily during the prefects' meeting, same as Remus.

"How'd it go?" she turned towards Emmy and Hestia, who was the prefect from Gryffindor.

"Oh, you were brilliant. But you don't need us to tell you that. You and James are going to be so much better than the previous Heads," Hestia stated confidently and Lily smiled at her gratefully.

"I'd love to hear all about your summers, but I'm a bit tired," she replied. "I think I will take a quick nap. Please wake me when it's time to tell the kids to put on their clothes."

She rested her head on Mary's arm and sighed, before closing her eyes. The girls continued talking in hushed voices, but it didn't matter. Lily suddenly felt even more tired than she did before and it didn't take much for her to finally fall asleep.