Remus Lupin stalked towards the prefects' carriage in the Hogwarts Express, about to embark on his sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He had grown a lot over the summer and was considerably taller than he was in fifth year; he had sandy blond hair which fell over his bright blue eyes. He had a long nose, square jaw and full lips; he had a fit physique with broad shoulders and large biceps. It was common knowledge that he was one of the best looking boys in Hogwarts… and he didn't even know.

Of course, everyone in the castle wouldn't have known his name if he didn't hang around with the infamous group consisting of James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin. They called themselves the Marauders and they were the most popular people at Hogwarts. They had a reputation of pulling pranks and James and Sirius getting a detention at least twice a week.

As Remus walked towards the compartment, a lot of girls turned his way and giggled while some went out of their way to say a simple "Hi". Remus, who got tired of his friends' endless jokes, pranks and girlfriends, merely rolled his eyes and continued to the compartment. He was the smartest Marauder and also the shiest.

Remus opened the door to the compartment and sauntered inside. He spotted his friend and fellow sixth year Callum Fletcher from Hufflepuff. He edged inside and sat down beside Callum, ignoring all the fifth years' gazes of admiration and dirty looks from sixth year Slytherins.

"Hi Callum," Remus smiled whilst he sat down.

"Hey," Callum said. "Did you have a good summer?"

"Yeah, it was alright. Sirius almost blew up my house though."

Callum, who was on good terms with all the Marauders, laughed.

"I'm sure your mum wasn't too pleased with him."

Remus wrinkled his nose. "She found it in her heart to forgive him."

Remus's mum loved James, Sirius and Peter because they stayed with her son even though they knew he was a werewolf. Nobody but they and the teachers knew about Remus being a werewolf.

Callum smiled at him and looked up at the door as it slid open and Marlene McKinnon, the other Hufflepuff prefect, and Lily Evans, Remus's fellow Gryffindor prefect, walked in. Lily was a small, studious, quiet girl, with flaming red hair and bright emerald, almond shaped eyes; she had a freckly nose and thin lips. It was also common knowledge that James Potter had an obsession with Lily and he never missed a chance to ask her out. However, Lily couldn't stand James or Sirius or Peter; in fact, Remus was the only Marauder whom Lily liked and was actually friends with. She thought he was a gentle, kind person; Lily would have much rather had Remus ask her out than James. Much to James's dismay, Lily would class Remus as one of her best friends and someone who she could trust with her life; Remus felt the same way about her. She was a welcome peace into Remus's life of constant pranks.

"Remus!" she grinned and slipped into the seat beside him.

"Hi Lily," Remus replied, equally happy and gave her a one-armed hug. "Did you have a good summer?"

"It was really good thanks. We went to the south of France," Lily said.

"Sounds nice," Remus smiled. "Your sister didn't give you too much trouble then?"

Remus knew how much Lily's older sister, who was a Muggle and despised magic, didn't like Lily. Sure enough, Lily wrinkled her nose.

"Well, she was bearable this summer –" Remus raised his eyebrows, "- let me explain," Lily laughed. "She's got a new boyfriend – called Vernon, or Vermin as I like to call him – so she was with him a lot of the time while we were at home and when we were in France she spent every single moment writing to him and on the phone. Mum wasn't too pleased to say the least."

Remus laughed at this story but was glad to see the Lily had finally looked past the fact her and Petunia didn't see eye to eye and could make fun of her sister.

"So how was your summer?" Lily asked.

Remus thought over his summer. The first two weeks of July he had been in Spain, he came home and then there was a full moon, during which James and Sirius had snuck out to spend with him in their animal forms. After he'd recovered, he had gone to stay at James's house along with Peter; Sirius had temporarily moved out of his family home and stayed with the Potters all summer. Remus then went home for the second full moon of the summer and all his friends joined him then. After that everyone had stayed at his house until term started. All in all, it was a good summer full of banter and memories.

"It was good thanks," he finally answered to Lily.

Just then, that year's Head Boy and Head Girl walked into the compartment.

"Okay folks," the Head Boy started, "another year is about to begin. My name is Henry Macmillan from Ravenclaw and this is Andromeda Black." he gestured to the Head Girl whom Remus recognised as Sirius's cousin. Unlike Bellatrix, who Sirius hated with a passion and was also a prefect in sixth year, Andromeda was actually quite nice and the only member of Sirius's family whom he liked.

"Congratulations to all the fifth years for being made prefects and sixth years – welcome back!" Andromeda continued. "I'm sure you've all guessed what you have to do. If sixth years patrol the aisle until midday then fifth years can take over until we arrive at Hogsmead. There will be a meeting tomorrow afternoon and half past four where you will all be given a timetable of the duties you will carry out during the year."

Henry and Andromeda talked for a while more before dismissing the compartment. Everyone stood up and trudged towards the door. Remus and Lily turned to their right to supervise the Gryffindor and Slytherin carriages with Bellatrix and Severus right behind them.

"EVANS!"

There came an unmistakable yell from Remus and Lily's right. Sure enough, James Potter came hurtling out of his compartment, stopping them in their tracks. Lily became rigid and her hands clenched into fists by her sides as she stared at the tall, messy-haired boy with hazel eyes. James on the other hand, looked as if Christmas had come early. There was a gleam in his eyes and a spring in his step as he soaked in Lily.

"Out of the way Potter," Lily growled.

"Charming. Two months away from me and this is what I get," James rolled his eyes. "Fancy going out with me?"

"You arrogant, conceited, pompous git!" Lily spat and, without warning, raised her hand and smacked James right across his cheek. Momentarily stunned, James gaped at Lily in surprise. A large, read handprint was quickly appearing on James's right cheek. He rubbed it absent-mindedly.

"Moony! Prongs!" Sirius came bounding up the aisle of the train with a large grin spread across his face. "Wormtail and I didn't get the message of this cosy gathering. Hello Evans."

Lily almost growled at Sirius who had a curtain of healthy black hair; he had a buff build and had a very, very handsome face with a straight chin and stormy grey eyes that from a distance looked black. Remus thought it best to intervene.

"Did you know Andromeda is Head Girl this year?" he addressed Sirius.

"Andy's Head Girl? No I didn't know that. I shall have to congratulate her later. She's always wanted that title." Sirius smiled, genuinely happy for his cousin.

"Why would you even care?" came the sneering voice of Bellatrix Black from behind Remus and Lily. Sirius's smirk turned into a mischievous grin.

"Ah, Trixie, of course I care what Andromeda does. She's a lot more likeable than you."

"Do not call me Trixie."

"But why ever not? We are cousins after all. I call Andromeda Andy and Narcissa Cissy. What's wrong with calling you Trixie? I would allow you to call me Padfoot but unfortunately only my friends are allowed to call me that."

"First of all, I've grown past the days of stupid nicknames –"

"That's ridiculous –"

"Second or all, nobody calls me Trixie –"

"That's just more reason to call you that then –"

"And thirdly –" Bellatrix said loudly, "- I would rather die than call you my cousin."

"As charming as that is, Trixie, I haven't been disowned just yet so you still have to call me your cousin," Sirius joked.

Several things happened at once. Bellatirx's hand flew to her pocket and grabbed her wand, pointing it at Sirius's face; Sirius did the exact same a lot more fluently. There was a bang from further down the aisle which caused Peter to jump violently and bang into Remus who wobbled against Lily who lost her balance and fell into James's arms with a small scream. In among this whole kerfuffle, Bellatrix and Sirius's moment almost went unnoticed.

Bellatrix's face was twisted in disgust and hatred as she held her wand steadily at Sirius's face. Sirius's gaze hadn't broken with Bellatrix's and his wand still pointed at her heart. His smirk hadn't faltered one bit.

"You're disgusting. Betraying. Horrible. Pathetic."

"You're just the same, Trixie my dear."

"I could kill you with a flick of my wand."

"I don't doubt you could. The question is: Will you?"

At this point everyone had noticed what was happening between Sirius and Bellatrix. Remus heaved Peter off of him and stumbled to his feet; Lily shook with fear and incredulity, not even realising she was hugging onto James who wasn't protesting. He embraced her, shielding her with his arms but at the same time, watching his best friend possibly inches away from death.

"You're going to kill your own cousin? Come now, Trixie. You and I both know that you wouldn't stoop just quite that low."

Bellatrix's face twisted even more as, with extreme difficulty, she lowered her wand from Sirius's face. He did the same.

"All happy families now," Sirius grinned then bolted into the nearest compartment in fear of being hexed.

Peter laughed rather wimpishly and followed him. Lily however, had just realised who she was leaning on and who was comforting her. She quickly backed away from James and instead knocked into Severus. She yelped slightly then finally retreated behind Remus. Severus scanned Lily with pain in his eyes before turning to Bellatrix who was still seething over Sirius.

"C'mon Bellatrix, we'll start down here," Severus muttered and started off down the opposite end of the aisle. Bellatrix let out one last deep breath then followed him.

James, however was examining Lily cowering behind Remus, her cheeks blazing and tears sparkling in her eyes. James shook his head and then walked into the compartment where Sirius and Peter already were.

Remus and Lily stood in silence for a moment. Remus didn't miss the two tears the fell to the ground from Lily's eyes. He felt obliged to comfort his friend.

"Lily," he began tentatively, "are you okay?"

Lily sniffed loudly then wiped her cheek. Her enthusiasm from earlier in the morning seemed to have diminished since she banged into Severus. Remus couldn't help but painfully recall the incident last year that caused a huge fight between James, Lily and Severus. Since then, Lily had lost some sort of light she'd always had before.

"I-I'm fine," she stammered. "Let's just get this over with, yeah?"

With that she walked off at an alarming pace, leaving Remus to hurry along in her wake.

AN: This is my first fic so thanks for reading :) I know that Andromeda and Narcissa are both older than the Marauders so I'm sorry if that annoys you but it's my fanfic so I can do what I want :P
Thanks again for reading and I really hope you like it :)
LupinsGirl98 xx