Dancing in the Moonlight

Chapter 2- The Boys Are Back In Town

Lily walked down the aisle of the train, looking in every compartment. Severus had told her he would sit with her and her friends until she had to do her prefect duties.

She still didn't know how she felt about him, the things he had said last year were apalling, to say the least. After a summer full of relentless owls begging for her forgiveness, she had finally relented and told him she'd give him a chance to explain when the holidays were over.

As she pushed her way through the aisle she suddenly spotted Marlene and Alice in a compartment and ducked her head in.

"Hi Mar! Hi Alice!" she squealed.

They both jumped up and wrapped Lily in hugs.

"Sit with us!" Marlene demanded, hand on Lily's arm as if to pull her into their compartment.

Lily just smiled pulling her arm away with a little pat to Marlene's hand.

"I'll try and find you later after my prefect meeting," she said, turning to keep walking, "I'm going to find Severus first."

Lily turned her back on her friends and didn't see the pinched eyebrows and frowns she had received.

She also didn't hear their giggles as they saw who was still behind Lily.

James smiled at Lily's friends as he passed. It couldn't hurt to stay friendly with them, he thought to himself.

He certainly knew how much stock he took of his friend's opinions.

Lily stopped abruptly after looking in one of the compartments. James could see the tension in her back and looked down to see her hands curled into fists.

He stepped forward curiously to see what had caused such a reaction in her, instinctively reaching in his pocket and gripping his wand's handle.

Severus was sitting in a compartment with a group of Slytherins. James maintained his usual anti-Slytherin biases, but these particular Slytherins were different, they were the Marauder's sworn enemies.

On one side of the compartment sat a boy with dark hair and small eyes that appeared to be permanently narrowed in anger. Resting below his eyes was a skinny and bumpy nose, laying a twisted road to his thin mouth. An antithesis to his slim facial features, he took up what seemed like half of the compartment with his hulking muscles.

Mulciber was an ever so appropriate name for an ugly boulder in his opinion.

Squeezed in next to him was a much smaller boy, Avery. Although the same age as James, his appearance was anything but youthful. His sallow skin sagged like the pages of a book lost in the deepest corner of a library. His eyes never stayed focused on one spot; they darted around the compartment like a rabbit in fear for its life.

As they stood there James noted that Avery held his wand gripped in his hand; even though he appeared to be in the presence of friends.

James neither knew nor liked much about these two, but he certainly knew who sat across from them; and who Lily had been staring at as they stood there.

His jealously flared for just a second before he saw the sad look in Lily's eyes. He sighed to himself, resigned to keep his cool for her sake.

Severus had already put on his school robes, and was talking animatedly to Mulciber and Avery.

Lily was a statue. They had talked over the summer, and Severus had promised her he was done supporting them. He had spent countless hours badgering her until she had finally, reluctantly, agreed to listen.