Standing There By You

Join the Hogwarts gang as Sirius Black leads them through love, dangers, and friendship using his cunning- ow, James! Sirius, you know very well this story is all about me, right Lily? POTTER! THIS STORY IS NOT ALL ABOUT YOU, YOU ARROGANT, EGO- ::Remus covers head with pillow::

::Author interrupts and introduces summary of her own::

This novel of a fic will go through the lives of the characters who remain most mysterious- Lily Evans and the Marauders- from first year until the start of the scar. The point of views will vary according to certain events; the Marauders' POV will be used mainly throughout second through fourth year, with the occasional mix of Lily and friends. The main goal of this story is to use J.K. Rowling's words to their fullest extent, all the while adding twists of my own. Amongst many adventures and late night escapades, affection and friendships prevail, testing the boundaries of loyalty and love. Please feel free to strut along with the Marauders, recite Lily's much-too-familiar rants, and even join in on a prank or two. Hold on to your... keyboards... for this enchanted tale, and prepare for this long and twisted journey.

Disclaimer: Let it be known... I hereby declare that by legal binding matters, any recongnizable material belongs to the infamous J.K.Rowling.

a.k.a- it's not mine.

Ch.1- Enchanting New Places

Lily Abigail Evans lay in her bed one warm summer night, staring wistfully at the pile of books beside her. Lily was a girl with many interesting characteristics. One was her appearance, having an uncommon shade of auburn hair and inquisitive green eyes that set her apart from others, and another was the fact that she always seemed to be absorbed in a novel of some sort. She loved reading in general, but her favorite books were always the ones that took her out of this world, and on wonderful adventures. After a particularly good story she could often be found daydreaming of enchanting new places, and being whisked away from her dreadfully boring life. Her heart longed for something amazing to happen, and she just knew that one day it would. Little did she know how soon that day would come.

"Ahhhhh!" Petunia's shrieks could be heard throughout the house. "Get that, that thing out of my waffles!"

Lily walked slowly out of her room, wondering what her sister was on about now. Rubbing her eyes sleepily, she began to make her way down the stairs, but stopped abruptly as an owl flew directly at her. Eyes wide, she blinked several times in surprise. It was, in London at least, very peculiar even just to see an owl in a tree, but in your house...

The owl dropped a letter onto her head, and flew off with a hoot, obviously annoyed at Petunia's previous antics. Lily grabbed the envelope, and looked it over. Amazed, she read:

Lily Evans

Upstairs hallway

London

She turned over the envelope with interest, and tore open the wax seal. A piece of parchment fell out, and she unfolded it carefully.

Lily thundered down the stairs, the letter still clasped in her hands. "Mum! Dad! Where are you? Come quick!"

"What is it Lily?" Mrs. Evans asked, walking over to her from the foyer. Lily handed her the letter, and her mum read it silently.

"Is something the matter?" inquired her father, joining the two. "Oh, you've received a letter."

"Yes, but.. well, read it dad."

Mr. Evans stood behind his wife, and read over her shoulder. After a few antagonizingly long minutes, they both looked up.

"Well..." prompted Lily.

The two adults shared a look before turning back towards their daughter. "Sweetheart," her father began, "I think somebody's playing-"

"What've you got there?" Petunia interrupted, and snatched the letter from her mum. She quickly scanned it, before snorting with laughter. "This is great! Wow, look how much detail they went into, there's even a map of how to get there." Glancing over it once more, she added as an afterthought, "I wonder who'd go through this much trouble for a prank."

Lily's heart fell. A joke, that's all it was. For a couple of blissful minutes she had actually thought it was real, the magical escape she'd been waiting for. The look of disappointment must have shown on her face, because Petunia laughed once more.

"You actually believed this?" she asked incredulously. "Wow, and I thought-"

"Petunia," Mr. Evans cut in sharply. Then softening his voice, he said to Lily, "Don't feel bad, whoever sent this..."

"Well, how do we know it's not real?" interrupted Mrs. Evans, looking back at the letter. Three heads turned towards her.

"What?!" exclaimed Petunia, as Mr. Evans began, "Now, dear, we don't want to make things worse, you know."

"Hmm, well to me it seems a little too thought out for a simple joke, and look, even the seal goes along..."

"You truly think it's real, mum?" Lily asked excitedly.

"You know, even if it is a joke, it's a very good joke, and I think it deserves for us to at least play along. I'm off work tomorrow, and we don't have anything planned, so we'll set out for er-" she checked the letter before continuing, "Diagon Alley, after a quick lunch."

"Thanks mum." Lily said, loving her more than ever. "You're the best."

The next day Mrs. Evans and Lily entered the Leaky Cauldron, looking around apprehensively. Mrs. Evans grabbed her daughter's hand tightly, and walked over to a counter where two men sat drinking, and one man they assumed was the bartender was polishing glasses.

"Er- hello sir. Could you tell me, do you know anything about... well, just look." Mrs. Evans handed the bartender the letter Lily had received.

The man didn't even have to read the letter. He just smiled and asked kindly, "You're a muggle, eh ma'am?"

"Um.."

"Oh, silly me, of course ya are," the bartender chuckled, "but I suppose you wouldn't know if ya were, now would ya?" .

"No, I suppose I- uh, muggle did you say?" Mrs. Evans inquired.

"Yes, means ya've got no magical blood whatsoever." The bartender turned towards Lily. "Ah, but this young lady here's not a muggle. She'd be a witch. Lily is it?"

"Yes, er- I'm a witch, sir?" said Lily.

"Yeah, now you two follow me," he said, beginning to walk over to a large brick wall. He studied it for a moment, before tapping the bricks in some sort of sequence. Before Lily had a chance to ask what he was doing, the bricks all broke apart to reveal a busy street.

"Diagon Alley," Mrs. Evans and Lily chorused in awe.

"Yeah, that'd be it. Go on, I believe the second piece of parchment there has everything you'll be needin' for school, have fun now," the bartender departed, turning back to his customers.

Mrs. Evans held Lily's hand even tighter, as the two stepped onto the stone paved street. Lily held her breath, and heard her mother doing the same, taking in everything around her. All sorts of different people filled the alley, filing in and out of rather interesting looking shops and buildings. Lily and her mother turned towards each other wide eyed, each maintaining an expression of astonishment. The eagerness in her mother's eyes matched exactly what Lily was feeling, and smiles stretched across their faces as they stepped into the flow of the crowd. They walked down the street in wonder, captivated by all of the intriguing sites that surrounded them. Lily's smile grew wider as she spotted something pleasantly familiar.

"Look mum," said Lily, stopping in front of Flourish and Blotts, "there's a book store. Shall we start there?"

And that is how the rest of their day went, as they walked along the alley Lily or her mum would spot a shop they would need to purchase from, and they would stop there. It was by far the most interesting day Lily had ever had, and the whole thing seemed to be a wonderful dream. One of her favorite events of the day had to be when she bought her wand, 'Springy, made of willow. Wonderful for Charms, young miss,' the old man had told her. Wondering what the heck Charms was, she couldn't wait until she could get home and read all of her new books.

When they arrived back home with all of Lily's new school supplies, it caused quite an uproar. Petunia still refused to believe it, and made a terrible fuss. Her complaining and bantering made Lily think September the first just couldn't come soon enough. Lily filled the rest of the summer with reading; she wanted to know everything and anything there was to know about the Magic World. Hoping desperately that she wouldn't be too far behind all of the other students (for they had known of their magical capabilities their whole life, and she only a week), she anxiously awaited her first day of school.

A/N: Thanks for reading,Hope you enjoy, read and review!!