The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix - Part Two

Love is Needed

(A special thank you to @vigilant3sh1t for keeping track for me.)

James had barely left before Lily had gotten her books and settled on one of the barstools in the kitchen. She'd stared out the window for a moment, and taken one of Dora's cookies from the plate that had magically re-filled itself (how many times had it refilled that day while James Potter had been eating them half the morning? she wondered, and she made a mental note to get this recipe from Dora next time they went to Hogsmeade to visit her.)

She took a deep breath, thinking of Sirius...

Lily could smell the train exhaust, could hear the murmur of dozens of people scrambling to stow bags and get seats in good compartments. She could feel the velvet bench fabric under her legs, against the backs of her knees as she sat in her uniform skirt and knee-high white stockings. She could feel the vibration of the engine.

She could feel the stare of James Potter on her. "Are you alright?" he'd asked, and his eyes had been concerned even then.

She could feel the answer rising in her throat, how her stomach had knotted up at the kindness being shown her by the first person who had talked to her since she'd boarded the train.

If he hadn't told her not to, Lily could have fallen into memories of James right then, staring into his eleven year old eyes and falling through years of memories of him and the times he'd cared for her when she least expected it...

But, true to life, Sirius Black barged in instead.

"Can I sit in here?"

"Sure. I'm James."

"I'm Sirius."

"About what?"

It was the first time she'd ever heard the joke.

Lily's heart beat fast and she was in the stairwell from the docks, headed up to the Great Hall and there was the pressing of everyone against her, jostling. "My name is Minerva McGonagall, and I'm here to bring you all into the Sorting Ceremony..."

She was watching as little eleven year old Sirius Black had walked up the short steps to the plinth where the little stool sat and for the first time he looked nervous as the hat slid over his head. He'd been all big talk about the sorting ceremony on the Hogwarts Express, all loud and boisterous, so full of what had appeared to be confidence, but there he was as the brim fell onto his forehead, unsure and actually looking a wee bit terrified. At least until the hat made it's choice.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

And suddenly it was her, Lily, getting up from the stool on the plinth and walking down the steps toward the Gryffindor table. Sirus was grinning at her the whole way. "Gryffindor! All right!" and he shuffled down to make space next to him for her... and it was funny because she didn't notce the hurt expression on his face then when she didn't sit directly next to him on the bench, nor had she noticed then that he'd held up his hand for a high-five that was not reciprocated by her. But she noticed now and her heart ached, wanting to scream at her eleven year old self to turnabout and give the poor boy the affection he'd never had growing up.

"Look at Snivelly with his girlfriend!"

Severus's face turned red. "Shut your mouth, Black!" he growled. For the first time, she saw the cold, dead stare of anger and hatred in Severus's eyes from a whole new perspective and a chill went down her spine that even at eleven years old he could look like that.

"Ooh, you gonna take that Sirius?" James laughed from the sidelines.

"Sorry, Sev. I'll let you get back to snogging with her, then."