Title: Glass Hearts

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: All books.

Genre: General, Romance, Humor.

Era: 1970-1981.

Main Characters: MWPP, Lily.

Ships: James/Lily, Remus/Marlene McKinnon, Sirius/OC

Summary (for chapter): 7th year begins! James and Lily begin their tense reign as Head Boy and Girl, Lily tries to stifle her feelings for James, and James has to bat off Juniper.

A/N: This is a sequel to Glass Hearts: the Sixth Year, but you don't need to read it to pick up on this part of the story. It was mostly humor, but the seventh year gets into the war and relationships. The main events of sixth year: James and Lily fight - a lot, over Snape and Lily's boyfriend Paul, and their kiss under the mistletoe. Sirius begins going out with Jewel, and there are pranks galore. As for Voldemort and his Death Eaters, they're gaining momentum, hospitalizing Marlene's brother, attacking Liverpool (and Sirius), turning werewolves on a night without a full moon, and killing Alice Hodge's brother and grandmother and the father of a Gryffindor girl in Lily's year. Recently, Lily has been trying to distract herself from her own feelings for James Potter by dating a Healer named Dennis, and Sirius is frustrated with his brother.

--

It was September 1st yet again and Hogwarts students were bustling about Platform 9 ¾, boarding The Hogwarts Express.

James was none too prepared to walk unto a crowded, loud platform, especially with the hangover he had. He suspected that once Sirius and him got unto the train, they could perform all the necessary spells, but his mum was watching them like a hawk. She had not forgotten the two of them coming home at ungodly hours in the morning, and had woken them up at nine o'clock in the morning, hardly five hours after they had gotten to sleep.

Sirius and James tried to convince Mrs. Potter that they could sleep another hour and a half and be to the train on time, but she hadn't known that they hadn't even started packing. She let them sleep for another thirty minutes, but then thundered through the room, yelling at them. This did nothing for James's head.

Any teenager could see that James was on the worse end of the situation. Sirius looked like he had meant to come to school a bit messy-looking, like he had just rolled out of bed. James merely looked exhausted. The two of them also had a great deal of interesting bruises, cuts and even burns from the previous night.

"If I move my arm like this," Sirius said as they walked along King's Cross, "I think I'm going to die."

"Your arm, hm?" James asked. "My ankle really hurts, it's got a nasty bruise on it. It sort of looks like a map of –"

"What are the two of you talking about?" Mrs. Potter asked, turning her head and looking at them sharply.

"How lovely you look today," James said quickly, giving his mum a smile.

"I wish I could return the compliment," Mrs. Potter said, narrowing her eyes. She fell into step with the two of them. "Did you even iron that shirt?"

Truth be told, he had found it on the floor. It might have been the one he wore a week ago.

"I can't believe the two of you hadn't even started packing until this morning," Mrs. Potter said, shaking her head. "Are you sure you have everything?"

"Yes," James said. "If we forgot anything, I'll send you a letter or two."

"Or three or four or five," Mrs. Potter said, shaking her head. They approached the platform barrier. "All right, James, you go first."

James walked casually, then broke into a run towards the platform barrier. He slid through the barrier to enter a crowded platform full of noises. His head was pounding, and he wanted nothing more than to lock himself in a compartment and take care of it.

Sirius entered the barrier right behind him, and groaned at the noises. Mrs. Potter came next. "All right," she said. "You've got fifteen minutes."

"We could have had another ten minutes of sleep," James groaned.

"Do you need help with your trunks?" Mrs. Potter asked.

Sirius laughed. "No, we're fine," he said.

"Tell Lily I said hi, both me and Herbert," Mrs. Potter said. She paused, putting one hand on each of their shoulders. "Oh, this is seventh year. My boys."

James rolled her eyes. "I'm going to sleep in a compartment for the next ten minutes before I'm forced to follow the rules and act responsible," he said.

"I love you both," Mrs. Potter said. She pulled each of them into a long hug. "Write me if you need anything. Write even if you don't need anything. Keep yourselves in line. Good luck with Quidditch. Don't worry about it, you two are the greatest boys I could ask for."

"We're adults now, you know," Sirius said knowingly.

Mrs. Potter's eyes shone with tears. She hugged them both again. "I'm just glad neither of you will be able to have any of that horrible firewhiskey at Hogwarts," she said, pulling at their ears.

The two of them yelled out, identical looks coming to their faces. She laughed, but then her laugh turned into something of a sob. "I have to go before I become a mess," she said. "Tell Remus and Peter and Jewel and Juniper and Lily I said hi – don't forget Lily, please, James. I love you both."

"Love you, too," they both replied. They began to push their carts to the train, waving over their shoulders.

"Your father loves you, too!" Mrs. Potter called to them. "Oh, goodbye!"

They pulled their trunks, cages and the rest of their luggage to a compartment and collapsed on the seats. "My . . . back," Sirius groaned.

The compartment door slammed open. James looked up. Lily was standing in the door, her face flushed, her Head Girl badge pinned unto her shirt. "What are – did you – how - you look horrible," she finally said.

"Oh, thanks," James said sarcastically.

"It's your first day as Head Boy and you look like hell!" Lily exclaimed. "Good lord, James, I have no idea what I'm going to do with you –"

"Love me and stroke me?" James suggested meekly.

Lily pursed her lips. "Where's your badge?" she asked.

James motioned to his trunk, which was on the floor next to Sirius's. "Somewhere in there," he said.

"We've got a meeting in the first compartment in ten minutes, do you understand?" Lily asked. "If you're late, I'll box your head."

"Don't worry, Evans," the-lump-that-was-Sirius groaned. "Go away, shut the door, it's too loud."

Once she had left, the two of them played around with spells until they finally felt their hangovers lessen. They weren't completely gone, they now merely felt like a headache. "All right, mate," James said. He brushed his hair, straightened his shirt and found his Head Boy badge. "See you on the other side."

--

The scarlet train rolled out of the station as students waved from windows to parents, siblings, and friends. The first compartment, larger than the others, reserved for prefect meetings during the train ride at the beginning and the end of the year, slowly filled with prefects.

Remus had pulled his things to Sirius's compartment. Sirius was snoring on one of the seats, Peter on the opposite one, looking through a book of crossword puzzles. "See you soon," Remus said to Peter.

In the first compartment, there were prefects seated around. Some of them were new fifth years. Lily and James were standing by the glass door. "Hey, mate," James said enthusiastically, hitting Remus in the shoulder. "Just in time."

Remus smiled at James and sat down next to a fifth year Gryffindor girl. "Well, hello," Lily said. "Welcome to the first prefect meeting of the year. I'm Lily Evans and this is James Potter, we're Head Girl and Head Boy this year."

"See the badges?" James said, pointing to his own badge.

"This is going to be a short meeting, because there's not much to say," Lily said, shrugging.

"Not like last year?" Jonathon Smith said, raising his eyebrows.

"Definitely not," Lily said, smiling. "Since there are new prefects and a Head Boy who wasn't a prefect last year, I thought we could just go around and say our names and all, so we know who everybody is. So, your name, year and House. I'm Lily Evans, I'm a seventh year, and I'm a Gryffindor."

They went around the compartment, introducing themselves. James looked as though he didn't know how he'd remember all of these names. "Er, right," James said once it came to him. "I'm James, a seventh year Gryffindor. Pleased to meet you all, even though I've already forgotten half of your names."

Lily rolled her eyes a little bit. "Well, the next prefect meeting will be Saturday night at five o'clock in the prefect's room, which is," she looked at certain fifth years, "on the east end of the fourth floor. You'd be better off to find another prefect to help you get there. The first time I tried to get there, I got lost and I was twenty minutes late to my first real prefect meeting. It was really embarrassing."

Lily took out a folder and started handing out pieces of parchment. James looked as though he had never seen these papers in his life and Lily handed him one as well. "This is a schedule of rounds for the first week of school. At the next meeting, we can talk about them more. I never really liked how they just stuck you with a time, even if you hand something else going on. We'll work on making rounds more flexible this year."

Now Lily looked at James. He was busy looking at the schedule, so she said, "James."

James looked up. "What?" he asked. "Oh, right. Um, seventh years will patrol the halls until lunch. Sixth years will go until four and then fifth years will do it during the last shift. That just means going up and down the corridor a few times, making sure everything's all right. No fights, no drinking or smoking, no snogging without clothes on."

"No snogging at all," Lily corrected him. "I mean, kissing is all right, but there are only eleven year olds on the train."

"And during your time, check the bathrooms a few times," James added. "Now, er, the sixth and seventh years can go, but we're going to talk to the fifth years for a bit."

The sixth and seventh years left, talking and saying hi to the Head Girl and Boy. Remus grinned at James, who made a face at him. "Tell Sirius to save me some Frog's," James told him.

"Will do," Remus said.

--

Once Remus was out of the compartment, Lily sat down in one of the empty seats and looked at the fifth year prefects. James thought some of them looked familiar, but he couldn't remember any of their names for the life of him.

Lily went on to explain the duties of a prefect, the prefect bathrooms, privileges, and more. When they had met over the summer, Lily had given him specific areas to explain and she had kept using the phrase, "I'll be damned if I do this all by myself, James." He told the fifth years about rounds, about how your grades affected you being prefect, and what you could or couldn't do to punish someone.

Some time later, Lily nodded. "Well, we're all glad you're prefects this year," she said. "You can go back to your compartments now. We'll see you Saturday at five o'clock. If you guys have any questions, you can just ask us. And, if you haven't been to the prefects' room, it's best if you come with someone else who does."

They all filed out, smiling and talking amongst themselves. "Blimey, I've starving," James said, stretching.

"We're not done yet," Lily said.

"We're not?" James asked, his eyes widening. "Why not?"

"We've still got things to go over," Lily said coolly. "Sit back down."

"I've had a long, rough night, Evans," James said, plopping back down into his seat.

"Was it a surprise that you were going back to school today?" Lily asked. She paused, smirking. "It won't take long, don't worry. I just want to talk a bit."

"How exactly am I to manage all of this?" James asked. "It's my seventh year. I'm Quidditch Captain, Head Boy, and it's my NEWT year."

"I'm sure you'll manage just fine," Lily shook her head at him. "Tonight, we've got rounds 'til twelve."

"What?" James asked, groaning. "It's the first night of school! No one in their right mind is going to go prowling about causing trouble!"

"Yes, but someone has to be walking about," Lily said. "Also, Dumbledore wants to talk to us at eight o'clock in his office. I'll meet you by the portrait of the Fat Lady, all right?"

"All right," James said. "And after that, we're doing rounds?"

Lily nodded. "Here's a schedule of this term," she said. "Here's a list of all the prefects. Here's another copy of the rounds, just in case you lose one."

"Hey, James said slowly. "There's no Hogsmeade trips."

Lily shook her head, sighing. "They've cancelled Hogsmeade trips this year," she said.

"Why?" James asked incredulously.

"Because of the attacks there," Lily said. "Dumbledore doesn't want us off school property."

And when were you going to tell me this?" James asked.

Lily shrugged, raising her eyebrows. "I didn't know it was my job," she said.

"Well, I'm Head Boy," James scoffed.

"Very true," Lily said with a nod. She stood up. "Don't worry, I'm sure the cancelled Hogsmeade trips won't keep us from having fun this year."

"Of course not," James said. "This is going to be the best year of my life."

Lily smiled. He opened the compartment door for her. "Where are you sitting?" he asked.

"With Mary, Debra, and Candace," Lily replied.

"You're going to get sick of them fast," James said. "You should sit with us."

Lily rolled her eyes. "I'm going to get sick of you fast," she said.

James made a face at her, following her down the train's corridor. He then remembered the article about the attack on Candace's family, and his expression changed. "How is Candace?" he asked.

"She's all right," Lily said, pausing before going into her compartment. "Do you want to talk to her?"

James shook his head quickly. "It's all right," he said. "I'll talk to her later." He started to walk past her. "You sure you don't want to sit with us?"

"Thanks for the offer," Lily said, politely declining.

James smiled, backing away from her. "You know, this is going to be the best year of our Hogwarts years," he said. "I guarantee it, Lily Evans."

--

It was the first class of Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts. The new teacher was a professor who had worked at Beauxbatons. Professor Pierre was a tall, muscular man with a thick French accent. He wore light blue and silver robes and James hoped against all hopes that he wasn't a dud. This was his last year of Defense before going into Auror Training – provided, of course, that he passed the NEWT, which would require a good Advanced Defense class.

Professor Pierre towered into the classroom while seventh years were talking and laughing, waiting to be allowed to evaluate the new teacher.

"Quiet down, please," Pierre said, his voice thick. "I am Profezor Pierre. I am your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I taught at Beauxbatons Academy for zirty years, but desired a change in climate." He gave them what might have been a smile. "Now, I weell take role."

He called out everyone's name. The class was one of James's largest. This was partly because the fifth year Defense teacher had been a brick, and because Defense was a popular subject. Most parents expected their kids to take the class, regardless of their future career.

"Ziz year of Defense ees extensive in material and depth," Pierre said. "We weell have a review of all zix years, since you 'ave 'ad so many different teachers. Then we well go into extensive training in curses, counterjinxes, defense against the dark arts devices, get a general 'eestory of the dark arts and dark wizards. Well, eet weel all come in good time. Today, we start review!"

The teacher, though not always very easy to understand, was what James had been hoping for. He was very serious about his subject and didn't waste any time. They went through first year in the first week alone. He went over the second year in the second week. James hadn't remember half of this stuff, but was grateful for the review. Unfortunately, he assigned them an essay about how one would or could use the first year defense class in everyday life. Well, if he was going to be an Auror . . . of course, he was also Head Boy and Quidditch Captain. But Lily was right when she had said he would manage. He had survived so far, right?

--

For September, it was still quite warm. Lily was reading outside by the lake. Candace was doing Charms homework next to her. Lily looked up at the clouds over her, the clear blue sky behind them. There were students scattered around the grounds, enjoying the sun while it lasted.

The Gryffindor Quidditch team was having tryouts on the pitch. They were trying to fill two positions, Keeper and Beater. Paul had left school, and Jasper Bundy wasn't playing this year after permanently damaging his arm in a Death Eater attack that summer. Lily frowned as she remembered Bundy telling them about the attack. Only a fifth year, he saw his dad get tortured for information on the Ministry. Fortunately, everyone had survived, but not without a price. His dad had permanent injuries as well.

Lily saw James from afar, sitting and watching the tryouts. He was captain again this year; last night he had been telling her about his excitement for the year. It was a bit contagious, too. Lily had been dreading the busyness of the year, but James's rhetoric was beginning to wear off. This was their last year, their last days without too many cares in this dangerous world.

Lily smirked, looking down at her book. Only James Potter could make her want to have the most fun in the world and, at the same time, embody all of her views on justice and right.

She saw a few girls coming out of the castle. Juniper Mufflet and Holly Nice walked towards them and sat down a few feet away from them. They sat close together, whispering and giggling to each other. Lily glanced away from them. James and Juniper were still flirting. From the rumor mill, Lily heard they weren't officially dating. From Remus, Lily had heard that James didn't really like Juniper all that much. If that was true, Lily wondered why he flirted with her so much.

She noticed Juniper walking over to her. "Hey, Lily?" she said. She sat on the grass by her. "I was wondering about . . . you and James."

Lily raised her eyebrows. "Me and James?" she repeated.

"Does he still like you?" Juniper asked.

Lily paused. Well, last night, he had told her she was the prettiest girl in the whole school. "I think so," she said with a shrug.

Juniper nodded, looking thoughtful. "Do you like him?" she asked.

The only people Lily trusted with the answer to that question - that she absolutely did not - were Marlene and Remus. Lily shrugged. "I'm sort of going out with this Healer named Dennis," she said.

"You are?" Candace asked.

"Well, it's not official," Lily said. It wasn't really in the question at all. She had hung out with Dennis a few times after that dinner, and they had exchanged a few letters, but it was clear they weren't going anywhere. And yet, here she was, telling Juniper something completely different.

"Was that guy you were eating with when we saw you?" Juniper asked.

Lily nodded. "He's a Healer at St. Mungo's," she said casually.

"I just . . ." Juniper trailed off. "I like James a lot, but I don't want to try anything if it's not going to go anywhere."

"Yeah," Lily said.

"Be careful," Candace said. "James isn't exactly the most serious guy, especially when it comes to relationships."

"Girl relationships," Lily said. She was pretty sure she hadn't seen a group of friends caring more seriously for each other.

"Yeah," Candace said, nodding. "He seems inept with females."

Juniper laughed. "He's liked you for a while," she said to Lily.

"Only because I don't like him," Lily said.

Juniper nodded. The three of them were silent for a moment. She smiled at Candace. "He's a good snogger, though, isn't he?" she asked.

Candace let out a laugh, and then agreed. "All right, too much information," Lily said, holding up her hands.

--

James looked at his announcement on the Gryffindor board, smiling approvingly to himself. He had posted all of the Quidditch practice times, three nights a week and Sunday afternoon. He had tried to get more time, but the Slytherins had reserved the pitch for a lot of the week, and three of his team members had pretty full schedules.

Their team was pretty solid this year. Marlene and Nick, both sixth years, were pretty good Chasers. Sophie was better than ever, getting comfortable with her broom now. Sirius had a few things to teach their new Beater, but Josiah Turner was a third year who had the build of a seventh year. And their Keeper was a fifth year named Karl Sanders who seemed pretty quick on a broom. James was looking forward to winning the Cup this year, just like last year.

James saw Lily walk into the common room. He jogged over to her, giving her a smile. "Hey," he said.

"Hi," she replied, smiling back at him. "How's it going?"

James shrugged. "Just posting the practice schedule," he said, motioning over to the board.

"Oh, cool," Lily said. "I need a copy of that to see when you'll be busy."

"Sure," James said. "I'll get you one later on today."

Lily glanced over towards Mary, who was arguing with Marlene about something. She looked back at James. "How's that Charms essay coming along?" she asked.

"Oh, fine," James said. They had an essay due in a week, but he hadn't started it. He didn't ever start anything sooner than he absolutely had to.

"You haven't started it yet, have you?" Lily asked, raising her eyebrows.

James grinned. "You caught me," he said.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Have fun," she said. She walked away and sat next to her friends.

James stood there for a moment, looking at her. Her hair was pulled back into a plait, her dark red hair weaving together and falling down her back. She looked over at him, catching his eyes on her. "What?" she said, laughing.

"Nothing," James said. "I mean, I can't look at you?"

Lily laughed again, looking away from him.

James walked over to Sirius, grinning. He sat down next to him, letting out a happy sigh. Sirius rolled her eyes. "I don't even want to know," he grumbled.

--

Later on that day, on the way back from dinner, James ran into Juniper. "Hey, Junie!" he exclaimed.

Juniper gave him a smile. "Hey, James," she said.

"Where you headed?" James asked. He rested his arm on Juniper's shoulders. "You want to sneak into Gryffindor Tower?"

Juniper paused. "Actually, can I talk to you?" she asked.

"Sure," James said with a shrug.

Juniper started walking away. He let his arm slide off of her shoulders. She took his hand and led him to an empty classroom. She closed the door behind her. James raised his eyebrows at her. This was developing into an interesting situation. The last time he had been alone with Juniper . . . well, actually, James didn't think he had ever been alone with Juniper.

"What's up?" James asked.

"I was . . . I wanted to talk about us," Juniper said.

James paused, looking at Juniper with a confused look on his face. He cleared his throat. "Us?" he repeated.

Juniper seemed to notice the look on his face and the tone of his voice. She crossed her arms. "Us," she clarified. "I mean, we flirt all the time. We snogged like three times this summer. I just . . ." she trailed off, then seemed to make a decision in her head. "Look, if you just want to flirt and snog and have fun, I think you should find some other girl."

Oh, gods. James cleared his throat again, scratching the back of his neck. This was awkward. Sure, Juniper was fun and cute and all, but . . . maybe he was being a jerk. He remembered Jewel saying something to him about it a week or so ago. "I, uh . . ." he trailed off, exhaling a breath. "I like you."

Juniper scoffed. "It doesn't seem you like me the way I like you," she said.

Twist the knife, please. He shrugged helplessly. "It's not that," he began. "I mean, you're fun and cute and cool."

"But . . .?" Juniper asked.

"But . . ." James trailed off. "I just don't . . . see us going anywhere. And there's - you know - other things . . ."

"You mean Lily Evans?" Juniper said.

James opened his mouth, then shut it. "I don't know," he said.

"I heard she was going out with some Healer from St. Mungo's," Juniper said tightly.

James looked at her, his eyebrows furrowing. Dennis? That ponce from the restaurant? Why hadn't anyone told him? He shoved his hands in his pockets. "Really?" he said.

Juniper rolled her eyes. "Ask her yourself," she said. She paused. "I like you, James. But I guess that's all there is. I like you, and you like Lily."

James tried to think of something to say. When Juniper realized he had no response, she left the classroom.

--

A/N: Be sure to add the story to your alerts if you had the previous story added! Next chapter will have Sirius and James in battle of pranks, the boys play with the Marauder's Map, and Marlene and Sirius fight about Regulus.