MY LIFE IN A NUTSHELL

NARRATOR: Ms. Lily Evans

SUMMARY: It's the start of 7th year and things are beginning to spiral out of Lily's control. Follow her day-to-day adventures in this multi-chaptered fic about love, hate, and the many aspects of a 17-year-old witch's life.

RATING: T, for language, some visual imagery, and attempted humor.

ENJOY!

Imagine a perfectly innocent 17-year old (if you can) running into King's Cross, her trunk and cage (with complimentary owl) rattling dangerously in her trolley. She's extremely late; 8 minutes before the train that she so highly depends on leaves its station. Her stomach is in stitches and she's panting furiously, but she can't be late.

Now imagine, if you will, that this is me.

Yes, me, Lily Evans, the responsible, organized, newly elected Head Girl rushing into King's Cross.

I'm ashamed too.

I barreled into the station, and tried my best to sprint to the platforms, narrowly avoiding many disastrous crashes. Once I'd arrived at platform 9 I realized that I was smack dab in the middle of a small inconvenience. The wizened man on the bench by the clock was observing me warily, as is wondering if I was going to explode. There weren't many people in the station, and the old man wouldn't stop staring at me. How was I supposed to enter platform 9 and 3/4?

So I stood next to the barrier I was supposed to sort of...melt into, desperately wondering what I should do. I was allowed to legally practice magic; maybe a quick Disillusionment charm? But before I could draw my wand I was given a rough push and found myself falling straight through the brick barrier, my trolley, trunk, and owl soon following me. I immediately stumbled into something rather large and hard.

Spinning around and nearly knocking myself over, I stared up into a pair of twinkling hazel eyes, peering at me from wire-rimmed glasses. I gaped like a fish for a few moments before hearing something faint in the distance.

"See, Prongs? All she needed was a push in the right direction." The chortling of a certain Sirius Black came from behind me. He had also just come through the barrier, and I assumed was the person who had shoved me through. I scowled at him and tried to gather myself before walking away, but then saw a flash of gold out of the corner of my eye.

I looked at Potter. He looked at me.

"You're...Head Boy."

A smirk was slowly spreading onto his face.

"So it would seem."

"I'm...Head Girl," I said dizzily, the platform beginning to swim before my eyes.

"Oh, really? How pleasant!" he responded cheerily.

I promptly fainted.

"Geez, Evans, I know women will swoon at me, but I thought you were resistant to my charms," a chipper voice commented as I slowly came to. I opened my eyes and realized that I was on the train. Fields were already speeding by, so I assumed that we had left the platform a while ago. A surge of misery flooded through me when I remembered; James effing Potter was the effing Head Boy.

"Stop with the prick-ishness," I snapped at him, sitting up and still feeling a little disoriented.

"Now, Lily, don't go telling me that you're vocabulary has decreased so drastically over the summer hols," Remus Lupin commented, smirking slightly. Sirius was lounging carelessly next to him and Peter Pettigrew was squished up against the window. James was sitting next to me, and I realized that my head had been in his lap.

Urgh.

"You created quite a scene back there," James said, a big grin plastered on his face. "What a perfect swoon, really- it couldn't have been more dramatic."

"Tell me James, didn't she put a hand to her forehead? Fall into your arms?" Sirius volunteered.

"Why yes, Padfoot. That was exactly what she did."

"I refuse to believe you!" I countered, narrowing my eyes viciously. However, my glare did not help my situation. The four boys continued to smile stupidly.

"Tell me, Lils- why did you faint?"

Head. Boy. Potter.

Potential violence.

I voiced my opinion out loud and their eyebrows raised.

"Head Boy, are you, Prongs?" Peter Pettigrew glanced at the gleaming badge pinned to his robes.

"Never thought I'd see the day," Remus said wistfully.

"Personally, I'm ashamed. It's an omen, I tell you." Sirius was quite obviously disgusted.

"As much as I'd like to stay here and converse, I have friends. Good day," I cut in, and with only a slight wobble in my step, I stepped out of the compartment and slid the glass door shut.

"LILY EVANS! Where in the WORLD have you been?"

A small, skinny form launched itself at me, nearly knocking me over. Miranda! At last, proof of decent civilization. She quickly dragged me into her compartment and sat me down across from her. Miranda was still the small shrimp she had been, but had grown up considerably. Her jet black hair now possessed several ice blue streaks that matched her eye.

Eye, yes. Not eyes. One of her eyes was dark; so dark, in fact, that I'd never been able to get a glance at its pupil. The other was the same blue that matched the streaks in her hair. Her appearance, while sounding a little disconcerting, was actually quite attractive. So much so that she could be considered the female counterpart of Sirius Black.

This fact sometimes had me concerned, but I tried to overlook it.

"You likey?" Miranda asked me, pulling me out of my slightly concerned thoughts. She gestured to her hair. The light blue streaks were almost shimmering in the warm glows cast through the compartment window.

Alice and Marlene sat beside her, eyeing her streaked hair in a rather exasperated way.

"We're not very impressed, you know," Marlene commented.

"Oh, what do you sods know?" Miranda asked, rolling her eyes and slumping in the corner.

"Remember, Miranda? We were trying to change your image. Didn't we decide last year that you were too...intimidating?" Alice said, her tone a little anxious. She didn't want Miranda to lash out.

I was still feeling grumpy from my fainting spell, so I decided to support Miranda and her streaks.

"Oh, she can keep the bloody streaks if she wants," I said, my irritation clear in my voice. Miranda beamed at me and crossed her arms confidently as if my vote settled the situation. From the look that Marlene gave her, it certainly did not. Alice gaped at me.

"Lily, you're the one who suggested for Miranda to change in the beginning!" Alice argued.

"Bah, humbug" was my articulate response.

"By the way, how come you were gone for so long?" Marlene asked, catching on to my agitated mood.

"I..." My voice faltered.

"Go on," Miranda volunteered.

"...fainted."

"Oh, really. How'd you do that?" Alice said, clearly amused.

"You know, if you squat and take forty deep, heaving breaths, then hold the last one and stand up quickly, you'll faint," Miranda interrupted.

We stared at Miranda and her odd blurt of information.

"Ignoring that, why did you faint? Unless you did it on purpose?" Marlene asked.

"I fainted because Potter's head boy."

There was a silence.

"Say that again."

"I fainted because Potter's head boy."

Another silence.

"You know, that joke really isn't funny," Alice told me.

"It's not a joke. James Potter is the fucking Head Boy."

Dead silence.

"It's the apocalypse," Miranda whispered, awed.

More silence. Why was there so much silence?

"Well..." Alice said, drawing out the word as long as she could. "I think I understand how you fainted. Shock, right?"

"Do I really have to answer?"

"Here, have a pasty," Marlene offered, drawing out a pumpkin pasty from the pile of sweets next to her. I took the pasty gratefully and swam around my own thoughts.

"Lily, this is bad. Really, really, bad."

"You think?"

"I can't believe it! Do you know what you'll have to do together? Rounds, meetings, dorms..." A large grin took residence on Miranda's face. "Ha. Perfect."

Alice smirked alongside Miranda, and Marlene wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"Dorms. Just plain perfect."

Before I could yell at them to shut their traps, several taps were heard from outside the compartment. Fearing the worst, I dove underneath the seat to accompany several lost chocolate frog cards and many, many discarded wrappers.

Miranda immediately came to my rescue and shot up from her seat, opened the door, and said, "'Ello, James. Greetings, Groupies." She cocked an eyebrow. "What brings you dimwits here today?"

"Come to fetch my lovely Lilyflower," James responded, deliberately using the name I hated. "Prefects' meeting, remember?"

Miranda searched wildly for an excuse and blurted out, "Lily's in...BARCELONA!"

This phrase received a lot of blank stares.

"Yeah, Barcelona!" Marlene piped up, looking nervously in my direction. "She's...uhh...working on her tan!"

Alice muttered, "Lily doesn't tan, she burns." Unfortunately, the marauders caught her phrase. James' face appeared underneath the seat right in front of me.

"Go away," I said sourly.

Chuckling, he reached out and before I knew it I was sliding out from under the seat and being hoisted onto his shoulder. He carried me fireman-style towards a compartment near the end of the train.

I looked up and saw the prefects, looking mildly surprised at their head boy and girl. I struggled quickly out of James' arms and nearly fell on my bum. Several Slytherins giggled at my predicament. I shot them a dark look. We entered the compartment and attempted to break the rather embarrassing silence.

James cleared his throat. "So, you might be wondering why exactly I'm here. Personally, I'm wondering too." This comment received several nervous laughs. "But, just to console you, you shouldn't have any worries. At least you won't get a dry, humorless fellow who'll get you nowhere. I'm planning on flexibility."

A little surprised at James' slight act of maturity, I picked up from there. "It's really nice to see you all here; I was a prefect, so I have a little bit more experience than Potter-"

"James."

"Oh, alright then, James. I know how it's a little disconcerting to keep up with the responsibilities that come with your new positions, but I'm positive you'll do perfectly. 6th and 7th year prefects, you already know the drill, but I'll repeat it. First of all, you have the ability to take off house points, but use it sparingly."

"It's wrong to accuse someone of not matching their pants with their shirt," James volunteered.

"Second, please don't get distracted during patrols. It doesn't make me feel so happy when I catch two prefects-"

"Snogging the life out of each other in broom closets," James suggested.

"You know what, Potter? Just pick up from there."

"Will do, my dear Flower. Also, on the topic of patrols, we need to arrange a schedule. Do you think you can handle patrols if you pick out your partners?"

"Might not be a very good idea," I intervened, but several people groaned.

"Well, Lily the Living Sack of Fun, it seems as if they have another opinion," James said, smirking slightly.

I shrugged and said, "You may pick out your patrol schedules and partners, but, as before, please behave."

"I also think we should make several goals for the year, so we don't just rush headlong into things," James added. "The meeting's almost over, but we'll address these goals next time. Make sure to think up some ideas and write them down so we can actually progress from there."

The prefects nodded and stood up, lingering a little bit. Several of them struck up conversations outside the compartment and Remus hovered slightly, waiting for James. However, James gave him a slight nod and he left.

"I'm actually quite surprised," I commented in Potter's general direction. "This might actually work out."

"So keen to spend time in the dormitory with me, then, Evans?"

"Just when I'm impressed you have to ruin it all with your little acts of maturity."

James grinned and straightened up. "How about this- we make a pact. We'll cooperate as needed, and try to avoid huge blow-up arguments. And you have to try to stop fainting all over the place."

"I'll miss our little spats," I said sarcastically, but held out a hand in agreement. He took it and shook my hand firmly. However, he didn't let go.

"James."

"Sorry."

I laughed and exited the compartment.

Love it? Hate it? Review and tell me what you think.

Yeah, this is going to be another one of those long Lily/James fics- I just recently became obsessed with them because their love/hate relationship is too good to be true.

Review, my dear readers! The button is just right there!

-.x.