Early Autumn

Autumn Sure Is Early This Year

Lily Evans, a red haired seventh year student attending Hogwarts, a mysterious institution for budding witches and wizards, sadly looked up and down Platform 9 ¾, realising it would be the last time she would be standing there. Her breath rose in a mist as she exhaled dismally, shivering slightly as the cold September wind nipped her face. Autumn seemed to be stepping in early this year, and Lily sincerely hoped this wasn't an omen for more sinister things.

The platform was nearly entirely deserted; the only people standing there that morning was Lily and six or seven nervous looking first years. Lily never arrived this early to the platform on September 1st, but this year she felt she had reason to. She wanted to say goodbye properly, without everyone bustling around her, laughing and joking. Sighing for the second time, Lily took her new shiny Head Girl badge out of her pocket, and polished it with her coat sleeve before pinning in onto her robes.

Soon enough, the platform slowly filled with Hogwarts students, young witches and wizards darting up and down the grey stone slabs, eager and excited to start a fresh year at their extraordinary school. Lily smiled to herself as she recalled being as bouncy and youthful as they were once, she felt as if she had grown years since the summer, but wasn't quite sure why.

"Why, if it isn't Lillian Evans!" Exclaimed a cheery voice in fake surprise from behind Lily, who immediately spun round, greeting her friend with a warm smile.

"Hi Lydia. How was your summer?" Lily asked, relieved to see her best friend after so long. Lydia Woodhouse was quite a short girl, but what she didn't have in height, she made up for with her vibrant personality. She had long dark hair, and big blue eyes, which were never devoid of emotion. Although she and Lydia were very close, they never hugged, painted each other's nails or did each other's hair, the way that most girls their age do. They had a less conventional relationship, but wouldn't ever want anything else.

"It was pretty good, ta. Skiing was...amazing! I don't really go a bunch on Swiss people, but they have some damn good slopes down there!" Lydia gushed, her cheeks flushed with enthusiasm, twirling her wand carelessly through her fingers. "You reached your ultimate-goal, I see." She stated, indicating towards Lily's badge.

Lily looked down to see her shiny new badge glinting on her chest. "Oh…yeah. Head Girl at last." She replied, unenthusiastically, hiding a slight smile. Lily always hated the fact that she was naturally very bright and well behaved. She often hid her talent, fearing that if she flaunted it, or became too arrogant or confident, it would jinx her. Despite her natural excellence, she was constantly in the background, but being Head Girl made her feel…special. Almost complete.

"Don't be too sad or anything, Lils, it could be worse." Lydia teased, her blue eyes glinting, a small smirk on her lips. She knew her friend inside out, and was the only one who could constantly tease her without rousing her terrifying temper.

At that moment, the magnificent Hogwarts Express train pulled up into the platform, and Lily and Lydia, amongst others, eagerly boarded the train, happy to get out of the unnatural wintry weather. Slowly, the girls made their way down the train, looking for an empty compartment to sit in. It was easy for them because younger students scampered at the sight of Lily's badge gleaming with authority.

"Here's a free one!" Lydia called to her friend, and they both sat themselves in a deserted compartment, staring out at the frost-bitten platform.

Just as the two girls were settling down together and Lydia was regaling Lily with amusing anecdotes from her holiday to Switzerland, imitating their accent perfectly, there was a commotion outside their compartment. Small students were shrieking and scampering away from something – or someone.

"Looks like that's your cue, Head Girl. Knock the perpetrator dead with your steely glare." Lydia joked, as Lily rose to see what was going on.

Lily laughed "I always do. It's part of my charm."

As Lily stepped out into the aisle, a small mousy-haired first year ran right into her, falling back onto his bottom. She reached down to help the small boy up as he apologised profusely for running into her.

"That's alright. What are you running from anyway?" Lily asked the trembling first year. And then she noticed some sort of green growth coming out of his ears. "Euw, what's that!"

"The big boys, down there. They're sending sparks and jinxing-"

"Does one have long dark hair and the other short messy hair?"

"Yeah, I think so."

Black and Potter. She thought to herself, not needing to hear anything else from the boy. She knew Black and Potter of old, and if anyone was causing trouble with rogue jinxes it was them, or their band of followers who so appropriately called themselves 'the Marauders'.

Briskly, she strode down towards the source of all the noise, and sure enough, two seventh year boys in a compartment near the end were jinxing random bystanders as they passed. Both she knew only two well. Both she disliked, only too much.

"Hello boys." She said calmly as she appeared in front of their compartment. She smiled contentedly as she could see her reflection in the glass of their compartment doors. I look appropriately stern, she thought. Two dark haired, roguish looking boys grinned down at her, and quickly lowered their wands, trying to look innocent.

"Hi there Evans!" Said one, cheerily. He had long (for a boy) black hair, and charming looking features. Although he had black eyes, they were not cold and emotionless; they were always glinting with mischief or excitement.

"Yeah…hi Evans, what a nice surprise..." Said the other pleasantly, muffling a gruff chuckle and disguising it with a cough, rather indiscreetly. "Head Girl, eh? Nice one, Evans." He winked charmingly at Lily, flashing what he must have thought was a winning smile, but it simply irritated Lily further. He had shorter black hair than his friend, but his hair which should have been more manageable because of its length, was decidedly messier. His hazel eyes shone with twisted delight when he saw his red-haired classmate glaring up at him, her badge shining brightly on her chest.

"I beg to differ. Nice was not the word I was looking for when I noticed that when every first year student passed your compartment, they ended up with fungus coming out of their ears!" Lily replied coolly, subtly glancing at her reflection again, smoothing down her slightly bushy red locks as she noticed one side was slightly kinked.

"Really? I can't say I noticed. Did you notice, James?" The long haired boy asked his friend.

"No, no, completely escaped my attention I'm afraid, Sirius." James said with a cheeky smirk, reaching up to his unruly locks and messing them up even more than before.

"Oh, really? That's interesting because one of these first year's description of his attackers seemed uncannily similar to your two. Please suggest to me anyone else who could fit your description and I'll happily give them detention instead." Lily said sarcastically, gotcha she thought.

"That's a coincidence." Sirius replied, calmly, still smiling politely.

"Innocent until proven guilty, Evans." James stated.

Lily paused, trying to think of a witty retort, when Lydia came up next to her, holding the hand of a crying first year girl who seemed to have some sort of plant growing out of her ears.

"Was it these two nasty boys, Susan? Was it?" Lydia asked the little girl, pointing to James and Sirius. As Susan stuttered an affirmative reply, Lydia looked up at Lily discreetly, allowing her friend to silently thank her.

Lily smiled with genuine satisfaction as she turned back to the two guilty boys in front of her. "Detention. Friday at 8:00pm. I'll sort things out with Professor Slughorn, I'm sure he won't mind having his dungeons cleaned…Bye boys."

And with that she swept away from the two boys who both cursed at her retreating back.

"It's good to be back, isn't it Lyd?"

"Sure is."

The rest of the journey went uneventfully, the food-trolley-witch came and went and the girls filled their compartment with a variety of foods. They never worried about their weight, as both were decidedly skinny and very hungry indeed.

Rain had begun to thunder on the windows as they sped through the countryside towards Hogwarts, and some raindrops had escaped through a slight opening in the window.

Just as the castle was coming into view, another girl pulled open their glass door and plonked herself down beside Lydia seemingly out of breath.

"Hi girls! I took ages finding you, I was kinda late and I thought the barrier had sealed itself and was panicking but then I realised I had been running into the wrong barrier for half an hour and finally got onto Platform 9 and…hey Lily you're Head Girl! Congrats!" The sunny looking blonde burbled as she beamed at her two friends.

"Hi Audrey. Don't worry, we figured you were late, as usual." Lydia said, rolling her eyes.

"Guess what? I just gave my first detention!" Lily enthused.

"Oh? Who to?" Audrey asked, always eager to hear any gossip.

"Need you ask?"

"The Marauders?"

"Well, half of them. Potter and Black were jinxing first years with some sort of curse – all these poor kids were running around with fungus growing out of their ears…"

Audrey giggled, clearly finding the image of fungal-ears funny.

"It's not funny Audrey! Someone could have got hurt!" Lily scolded; irritated as she saw Lydia and Audrey roll their eyes at each other.

"Hey, Lily, do you know who the Head Boy is yet?" Audrey asked, with genuine curiosity.

"No, no idea. I suppose I'll find out when we get to Hogwarts – we're having an introductory meeting before the feast." Lily replied. She really hadn't given the Head Boy much thought – or who he could possibly be. She just hoped she would get along with whoever it was well enough to get her job done.

"Oh how cosy." Lydia said, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

"Cosy?" Lily asked

"Oh, come on Lily, the Head Boy and Head Girl nearly always get together. It's Hogwarts tradition – like the Sorting Hat." Lydia replied, knowingly, nodding at Audrey who nodded back in the same irritatingly knowing fashion.

"Too true. How ironical would it be if the Head Boy turned out to be someone like Peter Pettigrew!" Audrey exclaimed, laughing loudly and snorting afterwards.

"Not me. My relationship with the Head Boy, whoever he may be, will be completely professional." Replied Lily, haughtily.

Audrey and Lydia didn't dare reply. Instead they just gave each other sneaky glances, before bursting into peals of laughter all over again.

Lily turned away from her friends, looking out at the rain whipping the window. What a disgusting September she thought it really is an unnaturally early autumn.