AN: Hello, Just a not quite brief note before you begin reading and then I will let you read in peace. This story is the first ever fan-fiction that I started writing back in May of 2003. I had been reading fanfic since about Feb 2003, and I'd fallen in love with the stories about the Marauders. I noticed a trend though, and the majority of those stories that I was reading were focusing on James, Remus, and Sirius (with very little Peter) and Lily only mentioned here and there. So I set out to write a Marauder Era fic based upon Lily's side of the story.

I have long since finished writing, and posting, all three books of this series, this being the first book – though this is the first posting of this story by me on this site. (There was one incident of another claiming both my penname, with numbers, and this story as their own, but that was resolved well before I began posting my other stories here.) I have edited and revised nearly the entire story – in order to fix many of my rampant mistakes that I made the first time I wrote it. I have also been adding in a few new scenes and rewording others as well as adding a more in-depth summary at the beginning.

I hope you enjoy reading this story (as much as you enjoyed it the first time for those of you who have read one or both of the original versions on other sites). Thank you, and enjoy the story! – Jenn

DISCLAIMER: ALL HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and the respective publishing companies. I do own Jenn Parksen, Lori Wilson, and Monica Sinclair as well this twisted version of the plot. This is, of course, a simple Fan-Fiction that I have written in order to retain some semblance of sanity and dignity.


SUMMARY:

Lily Evans: A talented and fiery red-headed witch with a passion for learning and following the rules. She'd been appointed Head Girl at the beginning of her seventh year and hopes that she'll take many happy memories home with her when she leaves the school and heads off into the world to make her own way. There are only three things standing in her way: James Potter, a mysterious book, and the wrath of a rising Dark Lord.

James Potter: Renowned for his repertoire of tricks and pranks, his ability to hex anything that moves, and his determination to date one Lily Evans. He is never very far from his small gang of friends that has been christened 'The Marauders' and would live on his broom if he could. As this year's Head Boy he thinks life would be perfect, if not for Lily's constant refusal to go out with him. Will this be his lucky year? Or will his life get turned upside down as a mysterious book haunts his dreams and a red-head's growing temper dashes his dreams?

Their very lives may depend on them 'Discovering the Future'.

A MWPP era fic by Mrs. Insane One...


Discovering the Future
Revised Alternate Version for Re-posting on

Chapter 1: Back to Hogwarts, Seventh Year

September first had arrived at long last. Lily Evans had been both dreading this day and looking forward to it all summer long. This was to be her seventh and final year at Hogwarts School of Witch Craft and Wizardry. Her trunk was packed and waiting in her parents' car; all she had to do was get her wand and her ticket, her last ticket she'd receive as a student, for the Hogwarts Express. Smiling sadly, she hurried down the stairs and passed her sister, Petunia, on the way.

"Bye Petunia" Lily politely called when she was an arms' length away from her.

"Good riddance, freak," Petunia sneered as she brushed passed Lily.

"Yeah, and have a nice year to you too!" Lily retorted in an over-friendly voice that dripped with sarcasm. "Glad to see you are your usual kind and cheerful self. What, did you catch the neighbor's dog digging in old man Higgins' yard again? How many people did you spread the news to on your way home?"

"Shows what you know," Petunia shot back with a glare.

"Oh really? Should I let mum know that you were hiding beside the house snogging with that dreadful prat you call boyfriend again? I'm sure she'd be very interested to know what you were up to," Lily countered sweetly, smirking as her sister's face turned beet red with guilt at having been caught.

"You wouldn't dare!" Petunia gasped.

"Wouldn't I?" Lily threw back smugly as she headed down the stairs. "See you in June!" She loved getting the last word in an argument with her sister. Yet it saddened her as well, knowing that they weren't as close as they once were. Lily and Petunia had not gotten along since Lily had received that very first Hogwarts letter on her eleventh birthday. Lily had long since come to expect her sister's slights and small cruelties, but it still pained her to know that her sister felt the way she did. Putting her sister firmly out of her mind, Lily skipped out to the car where her mum was waiting and climbed in beside her smoky gray cat named Ashes.

"Are you ready dear?" Mrs. Evans asked.

"Yes, Mum, I have everything now," Lily replied.

"Is Petunia coming?"

"No, you know she never comes with us to the station. Not unless you drag her to the car by her ear!"

"Lily! You really should be nicer to your sister; she loves you just as much as she always has. Besides, she's the only sister you have."

"I'm sorry, Mum, I try to be nice – I really do. I even said goodbye to her. If she still loved me, she wouldn't call me a freak all the time." After saying this, Lily turned to look out the window and Mrs. Evans signed before pulling out of the drive way.

The drive to King's Cross took no time at all. And before she knew it, Lily was slipping through the barrier and loading her things into a compartment near the front of the train. She lovingly hugged her mum goodbye and climbed aboard feeling the familiar wave of excitement building in her chest as the new term edged closer. She was heading up to the first car, to attend her first meeting with the Prefects as Head Girl, when her least favorite person called her name.

"Hey Evans! Wait up will ya?" James Potter shouted by way of a greeting.

Closing her eyes in annoyance, Lily turned to tell him to sod off, but was startled to see the shiny silver Head Boy badge pinned to his jumper. Swearing to herself, she snapped, "What do you want, Potter?"

"Now really, Evans, is that any way to greet this year's Head Boy?" James chided as he grinned like a fool.

"If it had been anyone but you, I would say no and apologize. But, seeing as how it is you, I don't see anything wrong with it. What did you do? Hit Lupin over the head and steal it from him? Or did you get your faithful shadow, Black, to snatch it for you? I know you couldn't have possibly earned it, Dumbledore isn't that mad."

Frowning at Lily's words, James made as if to reply but was cut off when the train's whistle blew and the train jerked and clattered loudly as it started rolling out.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to meet the Prefects up front. I've been named Head Girl without any help from my friends… or family," With that Lily stalked up to the corridor and slipped through the connecting door that led to the Prefects compartment.

"Hello everyone," Lily said in greeting as she was tried to close the door, only to realize that someone on the other side was trying to get inside.

"If you don't mind Evans, I'll be joining you for the meeting. The Head Boy is required to attend all Prefect meetings after all," James remarked as he pushed past Lily, stepping on her foot in the process. Lily growled and tried to step around him, but he leaned down so he could whisper in her ear, "By the way, I really am the Head Boy. You might want to get used to it, Evans."

Fuming, Lily sat down as far away from Potter as she could and then rubbed the top of her foot where he'd stepped on it. As far as she could tell, this was going to be the worst train ride ever. What was Dumbledore thinking when he made that fool the Head Boy? It could still be a mistake; after all Dumbledore couldn't have possibly wanted Potter in such a high position of authority – not after all those dangerous pranks he'd played over the last six years.

The whole front compartment was chilly while the Prefects, Head Boy, and Head Girl went over their new duties and the school rules as they had been laid out in their letters. The tension between James and Lily blatantly obvious to even the newly raised fifth year students. Once all topics had been covered, the Prefects hurried out of the compartment at a near run, to patrol the corridors and make sure the rest of the students were behaving. James got up and stretched, then turned to stare at Lily, waiting for her to acknowledge him.

"What do you want now Potter?" she demanded, when she finally noticed that he was still there.

"Will you go out with me to the first Hogsmeade visit this year?"

Here we go again, Lily thought to herself as she answered. "Not in your wildest dreams Potter. You would think that it would penetrate that big head of yours by now that I want nothing to do with you. For once, can't you just leave me alone!?"

Grinning, because this was exactly the reply he expected, James answered back, "And I have said it before, Evans, I will keep asking until you say yes." Chuckling to himself, he backed out of the compartment and headed off to find his friends and fellow Marauders; Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew.

Back in the compartment, Lily was fuming again. What right did that infernal creep have to make her miserable in her last year at Hogwarts? It was a shame McGonagall hadn't seen fit to expel both Black and Potter when they pulled that horrid prank on Snape in fifth year, whatever it was they did, it had Remus snarling at Black and all three boys walking softly until two weeks before term ended while Snape seemed to hate them even more then usual. It was not that she liked Snape, the rotten little bugger that he was; it just would have been nicer to not have to worry about the Marauders pranking her – and every other student within the castle walls – yet again this year, and Potter in particular pestering her to go out with him. Every day, without fail, for the last three years he had asked her if she would go to Hogsmeade with him on a date and Lily was extremely fed up with the whole idea.

Sighing at the awful possibility that she had truly been saddled with a complete moron for a Head Boy, Lily got into her school robes and strolled out into the corridors to check on the Prefects and find her best friends Lori, Jenn, and Monica. She was walking past a compartment about midway down the train when she heard her name. Pausing outside, she stood listening to see what was being said about her.

"So, Evans turned you down again, did she, Prongs?"

"Yeah, she gave me the standard 'Not in your wildest dreams Potter!', too. You would think that after three years of saying no, she would say yes at least once!"

"You expect her to change her mind about you? You are a complete idiot, you know that!"

"Well thanks for that assessment, Padfoot. You are such a friend!"

Three voices, those of Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew all laughed at that response. Lily could only imagine the sarcastic smirk that must have been on his face at that moment.

"Are you really going to torment her all year long by asking her out every day again?" Sirius asked.

"Of course I will, I swore I'd ask her out every day until the end of our seventh year as long as she continues to turn me down. I won't stop asking until she says yes."

"Then it'll be a long year of hearing 'Not in your wildest dreams Potter!'" Sirius snickered back.

"Too right you are, Black, or how about this one instead? It will be a cold day in hell before I even think of considering going out with you, Potter. You are the worst thing that has ever happened to Hogwarts, and the whole lot of you, are the most pathetic students to grace its halls since the day it was founded! I'm just saddened that they sucked you into their mist, Remus, you're so much smarter and better then them," Lily huffed loudly at the boys' shocked faces before she moved on down the train.

"Now just one minute!" James roared as he struggled to climb to his feet. Lily didn't bother turning around or answering though; she just kept walking away with her nose in the air. Sirius and Remus had a hard time getting him to sit back in his seat while exchanging a significant look over his head. Eventually he stopped resisting and slowly sagged back into his seat, a worried frown on his face as he asked, "Do you really think she meant that?"

"Well, she did sound fairly put out," Peter stated obviously. Sirius snorted and rolled his eyes before the four of them settled into a round of Exploding Snap to pass the time as the train wound through the surrounding country, bringing them ever closer to Hogwarts.


Five minutes later, Lily was sliding back the door to the compartment where her friends were sitting and chatting happily about the up coming school term. The four girls had become fast friends when they first started at Hogwarts, and willingly helped each other with homework assignments and boy troubles. The three of them inside the compartment looked up at the sound of the door opening and smiled warmly in welcome as Lily collapsed into an empty seat and offered a halfhearted smile in return.

"Hey Lily!" the three girls called out cheerfully.

"Hey girls," Lily replied listlessly.

"What's wrong? Did Potter ask you out again?" Lori asked as she scooted over to make room for her best friend. Lori Wilson was a skinny brown-haired and brown-eyed seventeen-year-old was Lily's first friend at Hogwarts; like Lily, she was the only witch in her family.

"Yes, he did. And he dares to claim he was named Head Boy this year. Can you believe it? That insufferable jerk as Head Boy? Remus wouldn't even meet my eyes during the whole meeting, as if he was ashamed! I swear Dumbledore must have lost his mind." Lily continued to rant as she opened the door on Ashes' cage and stroked the back of his head. "Then on my way here I walked by his compartment, and I overheard him saying that he would ask me every day this year, same as last year and the year before. Why does he make my life miserable?"

"Head Boy? Do you really think he is the Head Boy? As far as the rest, well, I think he likes you," Jenn countered. Jennifer Parksen was Lori's complete opposite, with long blond hair, bright blue eyes, and a ready smile. Called Jenn by her friends, Lily had also met her in her first year at Hogwarts and though she rarely talked about her family, she knew that Jenn's father was a respected wizard and her mum a muggle. "He makes these moony, love-struck eyes whenever he sees you and I'd swear he tripped over his feet in the halls whenever he passed you last year on the way to classes."

"Please, he does it just to annoy me, and I am seriously hoping the Head Boy thing is just another of his stupid, and childish pranks."

"Who knows, but my guess is that it had to be a dare or a bet between the four of them!" Monica stated. Monica Sinclair was youngest of the group, a full year below them; she had joined them in their third year – in the middle of her second – when Lily and her friends had been asked by Professor McGonagall to tutor her in transfiguration. She was a shy girl, prone to clumsiness, with hazel eyes and short black hair that framed a heat shaped face. Monica had no idea who her parents were; she was orphaned when just a babe and adopted by the time she was five and had no memories remained of her birth parents.

"I think you're right Mon, why else would he have asked me out everyday for the last four years? Dumbledore couldn't be that senile either," Lily agreed.

Lori sat up and grinned at Lily. "Careful, Dumbledore likes Potter you know, and he's fond of a good joke. I think you should say yes just once. Or at least give him a different reply then 'Not in your wildest dreams Potter.' You never change what you say!"

"Well, I'm not going to give him the satisfaction. At least not any more then I did when I passed them earlier. I would rather get him back. Maybe this year I'll hex him or something. He is so stuck up; I used to like him before he got such a swollen head!"

At this all the girls giggled.

All too soon the whistle was sounding once more as the train slowed to a stop at the Hogsmeade Station and it was time to disembark. Excitement filled the air as all the students began gathering their trunks and pets before crowding into the corridors of the train, pushing their way past their fellow students in a desperate rush to be out the door first. Anticipation on nearly every face as thoughts of the upcoming feast and sorting filled everyone's thoughts.

Hagrid could be heard calling above the babbling stream of children for the first years to follow him to the boats while Lily and the rest of the students moved off towards the seemingly horseless carriages that were to take them up to the castle. Lily quickly commandeered a coach for her and her friends and the four of them settled back as it swayed into motion, following the other carriages up to the castle.

The carriages soon whisked them through the school's gates and delivered them safe and sound at the front of the castle, where they quickly climbed down and hurried up the stairs and into the Entrance Hall. As they walked through the doors, they heard the four Marauders laughing loudly behind them. The girls ignored them as best they could and headed into the Great Hall to take their usual seats at the far end of the Gryffindor table nearest the staff table.

Once all of the older students were situated, the first years were led in by Professor McGonagall for the Sorting ceremony. Lily craned her head around to get a clearer view; she had always enjoyed the Sorting Hat's songs and poems. Eagerly, she watched and listened as the hat opened its mouth and sang out – its voice filling the hall easily.

"It is the same most every year,
each and every new child quivering,
their hearts brimming full of fear,
so scared that we hear them shivering.

Those who are older, sit with knowing smiles
as each child places me on their head;
sitting but for a short while
as I decide where they should bed.

You might belong in Gryffindor,
where bravery is the thing.
Or you may do well in Hufflepuff,
where the loyal get their wings.

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
where intelligent thoughts are to be freed.
Or perhaps you are for Slytherin
whose cunning may turn to greed.

Yet heed me now, my voice does warn,
of coming perils and desperate needs.
beware division or you will mourn,
as darkness plants its evil seeds.

Houses four, must stand as one in the darkest hour
or walls will crumble from within.
You have been told, you have been warned...
now at last, let the Sorting begin.

Silence rang through the hall as the hat finished its song; even the teachers seemed a bit shocked and shaken by the hat's dire warnings. Hesitantly, after glaring sharply at the now silent hat, McGonagall moved forward and began calling out the names of the new students, and one by one they warily placed the hat on their head and were sorted into one of the four houses. When the last of the new first years took his seat at the Ravenclaw table, Professor Dumbledore stood up and made his usually short welcoming speech.

"Welcome students, both new and old. I hope you are all feeling up to tonight's feast. You may begin!" With that, the dishes filled with all kinds of delicious foods.

The students quickly began piling their plates with all of their favorites and catching up with old friends whom they hadn't seen since the end of term last year. The new first years soon found themselves relaxing amid the friendly banter and began making friends with the other students within their House. Excitement filled the hall and made the meal seem extra special in the eyes of all students, regardless of age or year. In no time at all, they had eaten their fill, and the last of the food disappeared from the dishes as magically as it had appeared. Silence fell once more as Dumbledore rose from his seat once more.

"I trust you enjoyed your supper," he began as he looked over the students at each of the four tables in turn. "Just a few notices before I send you off to bed now. All students should kindly take note that the Forbidden Forest is strictly off limits." Here Dumbledore looked pointedly at the Gryffindor table where the Marauders sat trying to look innocent. "Next, I would like to remind all students that magic is strictly forbidden in the corridors between classes, and an updated list of banned items may be found posted outside of our caretaker's office. Now, Prefects, if you will kindly lead your new classmates to their dorms. Thank you and goodnight."

As Dumbledore sat back down, the students rose and began making their way out of the Great Hall. Several Prefects could be heard calling, "First years this way, hurry please!" Lily watched the process with a careful eye on the new Prefects to ensure they didn't forget any of the first years by accident. As Head Girl, it was one of her jobs to make certain the Prefects did their job properly.

Satisfied that all was going as it should, Lily headed wearily towards the Gryffindor tower. As she entered the Common Room she paused and listened to the chaotic noise of close to seventy students all talking at once as they moved in the direction of their dorm rooms.

Smiling to herself, Lily at last felt as though she was home. Here, there was no stuck-up sister calling her a freak, no funny sideways glances from old muggle friends who no longer spoke to her at home (courtesy of the same sister), and nothing to stop her from practicing what she learned. Hogwarts was a wondrous place full of magic and learning where Lily could just be herself. Lily's happiness only lasted a whole five minutes, unfortunately, as she made her way across the Common Room; for just as she reached the stairs that led up to the girls' dormitory, a voice called out to her above the rest.

"Why, Evans, have you no good night wishes for this year's Head Boy?" James cried out from where he was huddled with his buddies near the fireplace.

Lily paused briefly without turning around and fought for a moment to keep her temper in check, and then addressed the entire room. "Goodnight fellow students and classmates, I will see you tomorrow." Finished, she made her way up the stairs and to her dorm room, never once looking back.


James frowned up at Lily's retreating back, while Sirius and Peter smothered their laughter over her response. He had thought that being Head Boy would benefit his cause somehow, but he just couldn't quite figure out how that was supposed to happen if she wouldn't even give him a chance.

For three long years, he had been trying, unsuccessfully, to convince her to go out on a date with him; trying to get her to change her opinion of him. And for three years, she had turned him down flat, no matter how big of an audience had gathered around or how nicely he'd asked. Sighing softly to himself, he muttered a goodnight to his friends and a few other students as he made his way up to his own dorm room.

Sirius and Remus exchanged yet another significant look before they too climbed up the stairs with Peter trotting along behind them. They both knew that James would take it harder then usual if Lily didn't relent this year – and they didn't expect her to budge one centimeter. At least, not in a favorable direction – given her parting shot earlier on the train when she'd eavesdropped on their conversation.