James Potter kissed his mother on the cheek as he bid them goodbye. He had done this each time he said goodbye to her, but it felt more important than ever in the dangerous times in which they lived.
"Goodbye James sweetie," his dark haired mother grinned, "we are so proud of you" she beamed as she glanced down at head boy badge that was pinned to his chest.
His father, who was in every way just an older version of James himself pulled him into a hug "Goodbye Kid", whispering his ear too low for Mrs Potter to hear "I have a funny feeling this is the year she will say yes."
James pulled away laughing at his dad's optimism, and glanced over to the girl they discussed, who was currently looking frustrated at a slightly older girl in muggle clothing that James assumed was her older sister.
"See ya mum, see ya dad. Stay safe." He said, forcing a smile at his auror parents.
"You too baby," his mum smiled, "and look after Sirius."
"I will." James Potter smiled at them one more time before grabbing his trunk and throwing it up onto the train where his best friend was already waiting for him. Sirius waved one more time at his adopted parents, the Potters before leading his friend away to the compartment that already housed Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin.
James shoved his case into the luggage holder before sighing. " Remus and I have a prefect meeting."
Sirius grinned, "Our wee Jamsie. Head boy, who would have thought?"
Peter laughed, "Evans is going to freak when she finds out you are going to be heads together this year."
"She got head girl?" James' tried to act nonchalantly, pushing his hair out of his eyes as he spoke.
Remus answered, "yes, she told me when she wrote during the summer."
"Great" James replied, trying to supress the pang of jealously he felt towards Remus. He knew it wasn't Remus's fault for being friends with the girl he fancied. He checked his watch and seeing it was almost time for the meeting announced; "Come on Remus, let's not give her a reason to be annoyed with me before we even get to Hogwarts."
Remus led the way to the prefects meeting in the back compartment of the train. When they got there the room had already been largely filled with the prefects. James left Remus to join Lily at the front, going through the list of information Dumbledore had sent them to share with the prefects.
"Hey Lilybean"
She jumped at the sound of his voice in his ear. "Potter!" she turned to face him, "so the rumours are true. Congratulations on making head boy."
"Thanks, Think Dumbledore might be doting in his old age. No idea why he would pick me"
"Me neither." She replied sharply.
He decided to be polite in the face of her hostility. After all, they needed to work together for the rest of the summer and he had decided at Christmas last year he needed to change tactics if he wanted to get Lily Evans to go out with him. "Well you are the obvious choice for head girl. Congratulations."
She looked back at him with a slightly surprised expression on her face for a second before schooling her expression. "Thanks Potter."
"So I have never been to a prefects meeting before. So how about you take the lead. Set an example for me to follow." He suggested shrugging.
"Is that the mighty, wise James Potter admitting he might not know something?" she said in a joking tone, trying to hide her genuine surprise. When he didn't reply she just nodded and started the meeting.
At the end of the meeting James told Remus to go on without him, telling him he had offered to help Lily clean up. James gathered up some papers while Lily listened to Alice Prewett talk about her new boyfriend Frank; a guy who had finished Hogwarts a few years earlier and was training to be an auror. When Alice left Lily helped gather up the remaining paper cups and throw them in the bin.
"Thanks for helping." She smiled.
James was pretty sure Lily Evans had never smiled at him before. It was enough to make his heart to that flippy thing it sometimes did around her. "You're welcome. How was your summer?"
"It was good. My sister has finished school and got a new job so she wasn't around much. It was nice to get some peace and quiet away from her."
James smiled, "Yeah, sometimes family can be a wee bit too much. My mum is constantly trying to set me up with daughters of her friends. One of them was fourteen. I told mum she was too young, but she wouldn't let it go."
Lily smiled, "That's so funny."
"Yeah, my mum is mental but she means well" he leaned back against a table and looked over at Lily who was standing a few metres in front of him with a small smile on her face. Her hair has grown over the summer and now reached half way down the back of her navy jumper. "Wow she is beautiful" he thought. After a few minutes he realised he was staring at her. He frantically searched his mind to remember what they had been talking about. "What is your mum like?"
She looked down and paused for a second before replying. Lily was determined not to get emotional in front of Potter. Only four months earlier Lily had got a letter from Hogwarts telling her that her mum was ill. She had barely left her side all summer and it had pained her to watch her mum get sicker and sicker. She had tried her best to help her dad but it had been a hard process. The only positives was that Petunia was out of the house. Just thinking about her mum made her want to cry. So she took a deep breath, checked her facial expression and replied "She is wonderful."
They talked for a few more minutes before Lily told him she would see him in Dumbledore's office later that night.
He had barely responded with "Yeah sure" when Lily had spun around and raced out of the room
She walked frantically until she reached her friends compartment and sat down with her friends, delving into their meaningless conversation with a fake smile on her face, trying to push Potter being head boy to the back of her head.
Meanwhile James returned to his best friends who were in the middle of planning their next Full Moon adventure. He leaned back, thought of Lily smiling back at him. She had definitely warned to him. Maybe his dad was right, maybe this year she would say yes.