Written for Jily AU Week. Don't own Harry Potter.

jily au week, day one, school au
in which petunia is the witch and lily's not but she still meets james anyway

The End of the Train Tracks
Summary: It's where his life really began. AU - Petunia was the witch, and James meets Lily on the platform.
Pairing: J/L
Word Count: 2,040
Rating: K+

"Are you sure this girl exists, Prongs?"

Sirius looks dreadfully bored as he hauls his trunk off the train. James just glowers at him before turning his attention back to the swell of people, looking for a distinguishable shock of red hair.

"Of course I know she exists, I'm not that pathetic," he grumbles, frowning.

"Well, that's debatable."

James isn't listening anymore; he's found what he was looking for. "There!" He grabs Sirius' arm and points – rather indiscreetly – across the platform, to where a short, red-haired girl is standing with who are undoubtedly her parents. She's searching the crowd as well. "That's her."

"How do you even remember these things?" Sirius demands, shaking his head. "We haven't been here since –"

" – Easter."

" – And you don't even know the girl's name, and she's clearly not a witch."

James shrugs, tugging his trunk behind him with one hand and Sirius with the other. "I just want to know who she is, that's all."

Sirius groans behind him. "James, just because some pretty girl smiled at you about three months ago, it does not give you the right to act like a complete stalker."

"Shush." James hits his arm and scowls, pulling him off to the side. They wait, and no less than a minute later, someone clad in Hogwarts robes joins the redhead's family. Sirius, who has engaged in conversation with the nearest sane person, as he puts it, whirls around when James lets out a noise of alarm and confusion.

He peers over at them, and the next thing out of his mouth is an odd combination between a snarl and a scoff and a cough. "Evans? Evans? Your dream bird is Evans' sister?" James says nothing, admittedly caught off guard. The redheaded girl is nothing like her sister. She's shorter and she looks bubbly and her eyes are glinting a little bit. She looks a bit vivacious, and that was the farthest word from Petunia Evans.

"Good luck, mate," Sirius says solemnly, clapping him on the shoulder. James doesn't react for a second or two, and then resolutely straightens up and drops his trunk, ignoring Sirius' cry of protest when it lands on his toe.

"I'm going to go talk to her," he announces.

"What?"

"Yeah." James nods, blinking over at the Evans family. Petunia looks a lot like the man, their father. His nose seems to turn up the same way, but he doesn't look mean. He surveys the family, but his eyes slide back to the redhead quite quickly. She is so much prettier than her sister. She looks warm, and nice, and beautiful and –

And he's staring.

And – oh Merlin, oh Merlin – she's looking back at him. He doesn't realize he's been staring until her gaze slips to his. She looks a little startled, but she sends him a smile and tucks a strand of dark red hair behind her ear.

"Blimey," he mutters.

"Oh, bloody – you're a sod, you know that?" Sirius grumbles. "You don't even – hello? Hello? Blimey, you're like something straight out of a fairy tale, I'm telling you. EARTH TO PRONGS. YOU ARE NOT IN LOVE."

He bellows so loudly that the whole platform hears him, including the redheaded girl. He watches as her cheeks go scarlet and she smiles sheepishly. Right. Now or never.

He makes a note of smacking Sirius over the head as hard as he can before fumbling through the crowd, his own cheeks a little warm. She can see him coming. She looks back at her family – and a new arrival. It only gets worse. Snape. Maybe she's best friends with him too. And that would quickly put a stop to anything James might have thought up already, if she were, because that would never work out and –

He cuts himself off, because he's reached her and she's turned around, away from her family, who carry on chatting as if they haven't noticed. Maybe they haven't.

And he's not making this up – she does look familiar. He feels like he knows those startling green eyes, and they don't look easy to forget. "Hi," he forces out, his breath abandoning him.

She blinks back at him, and he realizes that she was probably expecting something a little grander, so he continues quickly. "Listen, I know this is going to sound like a line, and you'll probably think I'm making this up. But I feel like I know you from somewhere."

"You don't," she tells him, holding out her hand. "And that is a line. I'm Lily."

Lily. It suits her. It suits everything about her, and when he says it, he likes the way it wraps around his tongue. He feels like he's known that, somewhere in the back of his mind.

"I'm James," he tells her, and as he takes her hand to shake it, he's rewarded with the corners of her mouth curling upwards into a warm smile.

"Are you a wizard too?" she asks him. He nods. "Are you allowed to talk to – what is it you call us again?"

"Muggle," he laughs, raking his fingers through his hair. "Yeah. I am. And I'm glad I am, too," he blurts out. He curses himself internally, but she doesn't seem to mind. She just grins at him.

"Should I be flattered?"

"Oh, definitely," he tells her, and he's not being cocky for a change. He just likes her smile, and he likes seeing the way she chuckles and blimey, he's known this girl about a minute, what is the matter with him?

"So are you in – my sister, she's in... Oh, what's it called ..."

He shakes his head. "Nah, I'm in Gryffindor."

"Gryffindor," she repeats slowly, nodding. He nods, pulling at his sleeve. "Are you the ones who jump off buildings for fun?"

He laughs again, pondering that. "Well, no," he says thoughtfully. "But we would."

"I see," she says, smirking at him. "A bit of a daredevil then?"

"Oh yeah. All about taking chances." He nods slowly, acutely aware of his stomach doing somersaults. He knew he wasn't wrong, he knew there was something special about this girl and all he had to do was talk to her to know that he was right, and he couldn't wait to rub it in Sirius' face –

She's speaking. Shit. "Sorry, what was that? I – er, zoned out for a minute there."

"Got lost in my mesmerizing eyes, did you?" she jokes, leaning against the wall beside her. He risks a glance over her shoulder. Evans – the other Evans – is now eyeing them curiously, and she looks at him disdainfully, like he's a rotten smell under her nose.

"Would you hit me if I said yes?" he asks Lily, grinning.

She looks at him for a few seconds, and when she speaks, she catches him off guard. "Do you think I'd be a Gryffindor?" she asks, completely ignoring his question. He blinks, surprised, and then nods. "Yeah. Yeah, I'd say you would. You look like you've got a bit of an impulsive side to you."

"Mmm." She smiles wryly, fidgeting with her sleeve as she surveys him. "Do you know what a telephone is?"

That's even more surprising, and now he's smiling like an idiot because he has never met a girl who is full of surprises. "Er, yes," he says, shrugging his shoulders. "I took Muggle Studies."

"Muggle Studies?" she repeats keenly, her sharp eyes narrowing. "Is it good?"

"Well, I'm hardly an expert, so I can't judge."

She grins again, eyeing him. "How'd you do?"

"Got an O."

"Is that good?"

He smirks at her, just barely giving her a shadow of a wink. "The best."

"Smart, then," she remarks, and for some reason her cheeks go a little pink again. "And do you know how to use one?"

He nods, his hand in his hair. "Uh – in theory. I'm sure I can figure it out."

"And you think I'd be a Gryffindor?"

He just blinks at her, lost for words. She seems to know where she's going with this, and James is completely, utterly and blissfully lost. He's been talking to her for five minutes, and already she's done two things that no girl has ever done to James Potter – she's surprised him, and she's confused him, and what's more, he's so absurdly happy that she has, it should be a feat all on its own. He wonders what else she's going to do.

"Yes, yes I do," he says again. "Or maybe I'm just biased. You seem like my type of person though."

She grins and nods. "Right. Well then in true Gryf – Gryffindor, right?" He nods. "Right, well in true spirit of – that – I'm going to take a chance here."

He's lost. He's so lost and he doesn't care, and out of the corner of his eye he can see Sirius glaring at him, but also looking a little surprised. He knows his parents are going to be here any minute, and he deflates slightly. He hadn't realized until now that he wants to keep talking to her. He could listen to her all night.

But when he focuses his attention completely on her again, she's not looking at him. She's digging through her bag, and a second later, she brandishes a notebook, from which she rips a scrap of paper, and a pen, those things Muggles use instead of quills.

She grins at him, and gestures for him to turn around. Even more perplexed, he does, and he can feel her hand on his back, pressing, and then her wrist – she's writing. She taps his shoulder and he turns back around. He feels like the wind's been knocked out of him a little bit, and tingles are rippling through him by mere contact.

"You know what this is, don't you?" she asks, holding up the scrap of paper. She's scrawled something on there. He nods, clearing his throat.

"Ph-phone number."

She grins, pressing the piece of paper into his hand carefully, keeping her grip for a second longer than she needs to. His fingers just start to curl around hers when she backs away, grinning at him.

"So. James. What's your second name?"

"Potter."

"And how old are you?"

"I'm seventeen."

"Right, that's good. Me too." She asks him his birthday, and whether his parents are Muggles or not, and – now he understands – how is he going to access a phone.

"Lily, sweetheart, we're going." He resists the urge to snap at Lily's father that they're not done here yet but he doesn't because that probably wouldn't be the best first impression to make. She sighs, and it does make him feel a little better to see that she looks as disappointed as he feels. He can see her mother eyeing the two of them with curiosity.

"So, James Potter of Gryffindor," she says quickly, smiling at him as she shoves her notebook and pen back inside her bag. "Give me a ring sometime. Preferably soon." He nods. "And if you don't, I will assume you have either lost my number, in which case you are far too careless, or you are a worthless ape who's too thick to manage a telephone, in which case I won't be wasting my time anyway."

He blinks. "Did – did you just – was that an insult?"

She laughs, a hearty, genuine laugh, and in a strange sensation that he's sure he's never felt before, his heart lifts. "Just give me a ring, okay? If you want to."

He nods, smiling at her.

"It was nice to meet you, James Potter," she tells him, waving over her shoulder as her family starts to leave.

"Yeah," he calls after her, out of breath. "You too."

He stumbles back to Sirius, a little dazed. "How'd it go?" he drawls, still looking at him darkly. He holds up the scrap of paper, and Sirius stares at it, before cursing under his breath.

"I don't know how you fucking do it, Prongs, let's get out of here." He nods, glancing over his shoulder again, but the Evans family are no longer in sight, and he follows Sirius without question, the piece of paper folded carefully in his packet.

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