A/N: Hello! This has been on my mind for a while, and I haven't been able to decide whether to continue with the story or not, so I decided that, if people enjoyed the concept and my writing style, I would. Please, please, please, review, and tell me anything you don't like or you'd rather I changed! This is a total learning curve for me, and I'm trying to find my style and my 'voice' as it were, so I'd really appreciate any tips or whatever! Thank you so much, and I hope yo enjoy this first chapter :) just a side note and some shameless self promotion, the more reviews I get, the quicker I'll update - that is, if you want me to update...?
Disclaimer: No matter how many houses and books I wihs I could buy, it is extremely evident I am not JoRo.
She finished piling up her things and turned to her mother. A light breeze blew Lily's vivid red hair into her eyes, which were starting to water, no matter how rapidly Lily blinked, and she tucked the wayward strand behind her ear.
Lily hugged her mother tightly, and buried her face in her mother's hair, committing the scent of her perfume to memory. She finally sighed and pulled away.
"I have to go, Mum. See you at Christmas!" Lily forced a grin.
"Bye, darling. I love you," Mrs Evans smiled back. "And Tuney does too, don't forget," she added tentatively.
Lily heaved one last sigh and arranged her features into a wan smile, the best she could manage at the blatant stretching of the truth from her mother. Even on the best days, her sister merely tolerated her.
"Love you, Mum," she replied, and began pushing her trolley, jolting it over the uneven surface of the train station car park. Mithienne hooted indignantly.
"Sorry, Mitsy!" Lily apologised to her grumpy owl. She twisted to blow a kiss to her mother, and forced her trolley into the enormous station, feeling her mother's eyes on her retreating back.
Lily jostled and bumped her way through the crowd, ignoring the strange looks she was getting for her owl and conspicuous luggage. She was so used to them that she barely noticed. After checking cautiously around her for watching Muggles, she satisfied herself that they were all preoccupied, and briskly trotted toward the barrier between Platforms Nine and Ten. Though she was as subtle as she could manage, it was not an easy feat when accompanied by a large tawny owl and a teetering pile of luggage. She sighed with relief when she made it through inconspicuously. However, her relief was short-lived: in her haste she had almost crashed into an innocent looking first year with blonde pigtails tied with little bows. The cowering girl was immediately herded away by her disgruntled mother, but not before the reproachful woman shot Lily a glare.
Lily gave her an apologetic look, but knowing she was okay, spared no more thought to the little girl. She and her bows would be fine, and Lily had more pressing matters on her mind. The Hogwarts Express had filled the spacious platform (able to accommodate what Lily thought would be more than thirty double decker buses) with thick steam making it difficult to see more than five feet in front of her own face, but Lily persevered, knowing her way round well enough, now, that the her fear of falling onto the tracks from her first year was left far behind. Once she reached a carriage that looked mostly empty, she unloaded her many bags from the trolley onto the train and then struggled to drag her heavy trunk up the elevated train steps. She struggled for a few moments with the brute of a case, and eventually succeeded to force one end into the train, but the other was left precariously balanced like a goat on a mountain. Wincing, she straightened up her back; as she bent over again to start on the other side another pair of hands beat her to it, sliding the battered case easily through the door.
Lily breathed a sigh of relief, turning to see who had relieved her struggles. "Remus!" she exclaimed, noticing the sandy haired boy and hugging him tightly. "How are you? How was your summer?"
"It was good, thanks. Not bad," Remus smiled warmly once they'd pulled apart. "And yourself?"
"Yeah, it wasn't too bad," Lily agreed. She suddenly thought of her mum and the aching compulsion to see her again had soon returned in full force. She even missed her disenchanted sister, despite it being less than two hours since she'd last seen her.
"You okay? You seem...I don't know," he asked, concerned.
"Yeah," Lily breathed. "I'm fine. I just always hate leaving mum...you know what it's like! Just homesickness, that's all. Besides, I just spent my entire summer 'helping' plan my sister's wedding! I think that would put anyone off their colour for a bit," Lily grimaced, bending her first two fingers to emphasise her point. "She didn't even want my help, Mum just made her give me jobs to include me."
Remus patted her arm comfortingly, his eyes a bit too understanding, and tactfully changed the subject. "How is your sister these days?"
"We'll, she still treats the cat better than me, but at least she's got Vernon now to take her mind off me," said Lily bitterly. Anyone who knew her less might have mistaken Lily's tone for jealousy, but Lily didn't envy Petunia her fiancé in the slightest. It was pure dislike that tinged her voice - she couldn't for the life of her understand what Petunia saw in the awful man.
"Vernon?" Remus looked puzzled.
"Petunia's fiancé," Lily stressed, making a face. "He's awful, really," she commented. "Speaking of awful –" Lily brightened. "– where are the rest of your Marauders? I thought you were attached at the hip."
"Haha," Remus said dryly. "They're not far. I think Sirius was distracted by some girl," he mused thoughtfully.
"I thought he was too good for all of them?" she raised an eyebrow sardonically. Remus smiled.
"Not all of them, apparently."
Lily snickered, checking her watch. "Look, I better get going, I still need to find a compartment. It was good to see you."
"You can always come in ours if you need to. It's usually just us four – Sirius tends to scare people away," he offered, chuckling.
"I can imagine," Lily laughed, thinking of the boy and realising how intimidating he could be if you didn't know him very well. Add to that the fact he could be overzealous sometimes, and he was extremely formidable. "I'll bear that in mind, thanks," she said, both of them knowing she'd rather let a hippogriff scratch out her eyes than actually volunteer to put herself within ten feet of the Marauders – aside from Remus of course. "I need to talk to the prefects soon anyway." She glanced at her watch. "I'll see you in the prefect meeting then." She went to walk away, but stopped. "Oh, Remus? You don't know who the Head Boy is, do you?"
"I – er…" he seemed to hesitate slightly. "Sorry, Lily."
"Okay, no worries! Bye!"
She climbed up the carriage steps onto the scarlet train, somehow managing to drag her copious amounts of luggage in just two hands, and, panting, collapsed into the nearest empty compartment.
"Oh, crap!" she exclaimed, catching sight of her watch. Realising she needed to be in the Head's compartment before the all the prefects to meet the Head Boy, she mentally slapped herself, wondering why she hadn't just taken her luggage straight there. She huffed at her own stupidity, and bent back down to drag her luggage to the front of the train, cursing under her breath.
A good five minutes later, she finally relaxed into the soft cushions of the Head's carriage. It was five times the size of the usual compartments, and had an oval mahogany table in the centre. A single lamp glowed brightly overhead, but it wasn't making much difference because of the sunlight streaming in through the window. She sank gratefully into the seat even more, soothing her now-aching back muscles. She was just about ready to go to sleep when she heard the glass door at one end slide open.
Lily opened her eyes and gasped.
"You have got to be kidding me!" she protested.
"Lily-Petal, I'm offended you think so little of me! I had so hoped to get off to a new start this year."
"Potter, what the hell are you doing in here?" Lily glared at the messy-haired boy leaning casually on the door frame. The two had barely exchanged three words for the past year, ever since he had started to leave her alone after their encounter after the OWLs. He had tried to apologise for a few days before apparently deciding she was best left alone to deal with her anger. The following year had been tense and all conversations were conducted in overly polite, clipped tones that were rare for both parties. Only in the last few days of term had James become confident enough to tease Lily ever so slightly again.
"Oh, I'm looking for the lady who pushes the trolley. I've always thought she was really hot, so I decided to ask her out," James said.
"Potter, she's in her sixties, you pervert. What's wrong with you?" Lily asked, disgusted.
"Merlin, Evans! I thought even you would think more of me than that!" he exclaimed, adopting an affronted air Lily could see straight through.
"Get lost Potter. I'm not in the mood for your crap," she conceded grumpily. "What the hell are you doing here anyway?"
"Ah, Evans, I knew you always wanted me," James winked suggestively. "No need to get jealous of old Maggie." He was acknowledged by a cushion to the face; Lily refused to waste the energy to pick up anything heavier to throw at him.
"Potter, what the hell are you doing in here?"
"I thought you were smart, Lily-Petal!"
"Stop calling me that," she responded automatically.
"Hmm," James said. "Well, if you insist upon knowing my exact reason for existing right here, right now, in this particular compartment instead of the one filled with my best mates, then… I guess the answer is quite simple, really..." He paused, carefully monitoring Lily's expression with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "I'm Head Boy," he revealed dramatically, sweeping his muscled arms out for effect, entirely ignoring her protests at what he considered his 'adorable' nickname for her.
Lily laughed cynically. "Yeah, right," she snorted. "Bugger off."
The smile faded from her face, however, as she glanced at James and saw his expression was blank. Watching him, she thought she saw a glimmer of actual hurt in his eyes.
"Oh god," Lily was horrified. "You're serious."
"Well, actually, I'm James—"
Lily promptly tried to suffocate herself with one of the aforementioned soft cushions.
"But yes, I really am Head Boy, if that's what you meant. I did want to talk to you, though," he continued. Lily peered out bleakly from her chosen suicide instrument (she was starting to realise it smelled funny, anyway) and looked at James in a way that said "If you try to pull any crap, you'll be very, very sorry" but nevertheless allowed him to continue.
"Since we are both Heads, we'll have to work together a lot. I think we should maybe try to be more polite to each other, and not have enormously violent rows you can hear from the dungeons," he declared. "It'd just make life easier, you know?"
Whatever Lily was expecting, it wasn't that. It seemed as if James was actually taking his appointment seriously. 'Could that really be it?' Lily thought, shocked.
"I – um," she faltered, surprised by the maturity of the suggestion. "Yes, of course. Good idea," she mumbled. "So, does this mean you won't ask me out again? And you'll stop harassing me?" she asked, daring him to contradict her.
"I'm making no promises, Lily-my-love" he smirked roguishly.
Lily scowled, and allowed herself to fall back onto the cushions once again.
She had no time to wallow in self-pity, though, as the first prefects had started filing in through the door James had been leaning against moments before. The Head Boy had taken the seat right next to her, to presumably to 'show their solidarity as a team' or some other rubbish she knew he would spout if she asked him. Which, at the present moment she'd rather not do. Remus wandered in among the last few people and greeted the pair with a small wave, at least having the decency to look slightly ashamed at not telling Lily of James' appointment. She narrowed her eyes at him, and he shrugged as if to say 'Sorry! He wanted to tell you!' She narrowed her green eyes to cat-like slits.
Lily pushed herself into a more professional seating position, and waited for all the prefects to take seats, before she started.
"Hello," she began, slightly nervous. "I'm Lily Evans, and I'm the new Head Girl for this year. This is –" she gritted her teeth, hating to use his full name for the first time in several years. "– James Potter, your Head Boy." He raised a hand in casual acknowledgement and grinned lopsidedly.
"Now, for those of you that are new: prefect duties are fairly simple. Mostly, you just have to patrol - the train for an hour today, and for a couple of hours every few evenings when we get to Hogwarts. You can give out detentions, and take points away from students in your own house, but not from others. Understood? We'll divide into pairs according to house, and try to work out nights to suit all of you. Any questions?" she finished, relieved she hadn't stuttered or otherwise embarrassed herself. So far so good.
A few people stuck their hands up with questions. James looked quite happy lounging on his seat letting Lily do the talking, so she stepped forward (metaphorically: the carriage wasn't quite that big) and answered them.
"Oh! I forgot!" She added. "You also have the privilege of using the prefect bathrooms on the second and fifth floors. The password is Fig Leaves for both. Look after them."
For the short remainder of the meeting, she notified the prefects of any other duties and answered questions for around twenty minutes of everyone complaining over one another. The noise in the compartment had gotten very loud very quickly near the end, and Lily had felt like her head was about to explode. Her brain was like a ticking time bomb.
"Alright, shut up!" The prefects had fallen abruptly silent, and Lily looked up, surprised at who had managed to discipline them. "If you shout again, I'll feed you to the Giant Squid when we get to Hogwarts, alright?"
Lily looked at him gratefully, but still not sure quite what to make of the apparent new leaf James had turned over. She finally managed to dismiss them and keep herself sane.
"So, that should be all," Lily announced, thankful the meeting could now be drawn to a close. "You each need to turn up to your duties on time, and do them for the entire scheduled period." She shot a warning look to those she thought most likely do skip out on their duties. "Your title can still be revoked, so please prove you are worthy of it! Don't forget to patrol the train now. Thank you for being so patient, and – well, good luck!"
Remus told James he'd see him later, and left the carriage with the other prefects. When all the students had filed back into the corridor, Lily collapsed into a seat, exhausted.
She sighed blissfully. She opened her eyes and looked at James. "Thanks for shutting them up, I suppose," she forced, attempting to get along with him. He nodded in acknowledgment.
"When do we need to do our duties then?" he asked.
Lily checked her newly made rota. "12:00. And its nearly twenty to now...oh, that took almost half an hour?"
"Yeah," he sighed.
"We've still got a bit, then," Lily said absently. She pulled out a well-worn copy of Hogwarts: A History from the bag at her feet and leafed through it to her bookmark, resuming her spot. She thought she heard James sighed disappointedly, but ignored it and concentrated on her chapter The Hogwarts Library. He settled for tossing a chocolate frog packet up and down in the air, enjoying the rattling sound it made. Lily didn't. She glared at him over her book. James hurriedly caught the packet and stuffed it in his pocket.
"I'm gonna go find the others," he said quickly. He didn't need to clarify who 'The Others' were. "I'll meet you here before twelve to patrol, okay?"
Lily nodded. "Don't be late."
"I won't," he smiled angelically. Lily glared at him and went back to reading.
James slid open the compartment door, and slipped through it, closing it carefully behind him to make as little noise as possible. The door clearly didn't understand James' good intentions – or possibly was attempting sabotage – and only rattled more, squeaking on its hinges at the same time. James cursed under his breath, wondering if it should even be possible for something to squeak and rattle at the same time.
Apparently so.
He wandered up the train, looking interestedly into each compartment, searching for his friends. He found them near the middle of the train, in a compartment to themselves, and slid open the door.
"Prongs!" Sirius greeted.
"Alright, Padfoot?" James replied, but Sirius ignored him.
"Right, come here and help me. I'm trying to convince Moony that dark haired girls are always better looking. "
"No, Padfoot, come on. No one hair colour makes a girl hot," Remus reprimanded.
"Exactly. Besides, if there was, it would always be red heads," James interjected.
"Damn! Okay, who had less than a minute?" Sirius called, checking his watch.
Remus chuckled and shook his head. "Me!" Peter piped up.
"What? What's going on?" James queried.
Remus and Sirius each reluctantly handed Peter five sickles. Wormtail grinned like a first year in Honeyduke's.
"We had a bet on how long it would take you to bring up Lily," Sirius said, grumpily flicking his dark hair from his eyes. "Could you not have mentioned her faster? I had less than thirty seconds, and Moony had between one minute and a minute and a half. You're selfish, Prongs!"
"What? How is that– ugh, never mind." James broke off. He had more important topics to discuss. "So, any plans for start-of-term havoc?" James rubbed his palms together.
Sirius straightened, a glint appearing in his eyes. "I think we should have all the Slytherin snakes come alive and eat them all. Mind you, they might choke on Snivellus..." Sirius pondered thoughtfully.
"Padfoot, your pranks are tasteless as always," Remus commented dryly.
"Ah—you're right, I'm so sorry," Sirius said, an expression of sarcastic woe on his face. "Even I could not inflict that upon innocent animals."
"What about some – shall we say – extra house pride?" James grinned wickedly. "We'll need some harmless animals though, and easy to train." The three of them turned to look at Sirius, who had begun examining a chocolate frog. He went to tear off the wrapper, but Remus stopped him.
"No, Padfoot. Chocolate is poisonous to dogs. I don't want you puking over my trousers again," Remus shuddered. "Hand it over." He held out his palm.
Sirius squinted at him. "No," he said, defiantly popping the frog into his mouth, whole, and clamping his jaws down. The three watched him closely for any signs of sickness (Remus knew deep down that the unfortunate incident from before was more likely due to the inordinate amounts of liquor Sirius was prone to consuming on a monthly basis), leaning toward him slightly as if to see better. Nothing changed. Almost disappointedly, the trio leaned back again.
"Anyway, easy animals to train?" James pulled his friends back to task.
"Dogs?" Sirius suggested.
"Well…" James said hesitantly, privately thinking that they couldn't be that easy to train seeing as Sirius was still a law unto himself. Then again, he didn't really think that normal dogs would drink themselves into a stupor every other month. "It's the best we'll have within the next few hours, isn't it? We need...err, two, I think. We also need a small snake and any kind of bird – an owl would work."
"There's a pet shop in Hogsmeade," Peter suggested from his position in the corner. "We can go there, then use one of the secret passages to get up to the castle in time for the feast."
"Good idea, Wormy," James congratulated. Peter puffed out his chest, proud of his involvement in the plan.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Peter remembered the layout of somewhere we've been four hundred times. Yip-de-fucking-doo," he muttered under his breath. Peter didn't hear, but Remus hit him in the head with a nearby magazine.
"Stop being so cynical," he hissed quietly. "It's cruel. Besides, you didn't think of it." Sirius pursed his lips but nodded all the same.
"Sorry, Wormy," he apologised.
"What? What for?" Peter looked up surprised.
"Oh. Doesn't matter." Peter sat back, but still looked confused, his untidy eyebrows knitted together.
"Right, I've got to go," James announced, quickly telling his friends his plan, then dashed back down the train to meet Lily. Despite his haste, he was still late, and she was outside the compartment, tapping her foot impatiently.
Lily curled her legs up underneath her, kicking off her ballet flats, and continued to leaf through a chapter about the library and its books. After reading the same paragraph three times over without any of it sinking in, she sighed and defeatedly put the book down.
"This is no use," she muttered to herself. No matter how hard she concentrated on the words before her, they squirmed and wiggled out of shape, and the only thoughts in her head were that of James Potter and his mysteriously changed demeanour. Could he really have changed his entire personality from the last six years? That seemed to Lily like an enormous feat over just one summer.
Lily was so absorbed in her own thoughts that before she knew it, it was 12:03 and she was late for her patrols. 'Great start, Lily,' she thought. On the other hand, James wasn't back either, so she stuffed her book quickly back into her bag, and stood outside the door of the train carriage to wait for him.
Less than two minutes later, he turned up, panting and red in the cheeks.
"You're late," she scorned unfairly. Maybe he hadn't changed that much after all.
"I had a hellish journey..." he tried nervously.
"You were just up the train." She clearly wasn't buying his excuse.
"There were... leaves on the carpet?" he attempted, looking down at his feet.
She huffed. "Whatever, Potter, let's go."
For the rest of the train ride, the two patrolled the train looking for any trouble, but they didn't find much. Most people were just catching up with holiday news, although there was one Hufflepuff couple that had already broken up and were attempting to hex each other through the compartment doors, resulting in to several broken windows and a terrified second year.
When they pulled into Hogsmeade station, James herded the first years up to Hagrid as fast as possible, then dashed off.
"Potter! Where are you going?" Lily called after him, but didn't receive a reply. She sighed, herding a few straggling first years up to the humongous man.
"Hi, Hagrid," she greeted warmly.
"Alrigh' Lily? How was yer Summer?" he asked, smiling at the redhead. His dark eyes glinted warmly underneath his bushy eyebrows.
"Not bad, thanks," she grinned. "I've got to go, Hagrid, sorry! See you later," she said apologetically, and jogged up to one of the carriages, spotting a girl with long dark hair, and a bob of curly blonde hair walking alongside.
"Marlene!" Lily squealed. "Dorcas!"
She leant in and hugged her closest friend and one of her other roommates.
"Lily!" they both shouted.
"Where were you on the train? We thought you'd missed it or something!" Dorcas chuckled.
"No, I had to go to the Head's compartment," she revealed.
"You're Head Girl? Lily, that's amazing! See, Dorky, I knew she would be!" Marlene chimed in.
"Who's Head Boy?" Dorcas asked.
"Uh, it's Potter," Lily said, pulling a face.
"Oh," the two exclaimed, surprised.
"Why not Remus?" Marlene questioned.
"Yeah, I thought the same, but I don't know. Maybe Potter turned over a new leaf?" Lily mused doubtfully. "He even told me he wanted to be more mature with each other, which I didn't expect," she added cynically.
"Ooh, you two being mature together," Dorcas winked. "I see how it is."
Lily raised her eyebrows and pulled a face.
"Oh, come on! Even if you don't like him, you have to admit, he's gorgeous. Sirius too..." Dorcas sighed.
Marlene nodded in dreamy agreement.
Lily pulled a face, pretending to gag.
"Lily!" Marlene snorted, nudging her friend to tell her to stop. "Hey Andrew! Andrew, over here!" Marlene called, catching sight of an attractive dark haired boy walking past their horseless carriage.
Andrew Abbott wandered over and smiled at his girlfriend.
"Hey, Marls," he grinned, leaning in to kiss her forehead. "Lily, Dorcas, did you have a good summer?"
"Yeah, thanks," Lily said. Dorcas nodded in agreement.
Andrew pulled himself up next to Marlene, and put his arm around her shoulders. She flushed, huddling into him and resting her head on his shoulder as the carriage jolted forward.
"You know, if you two were any less adorable, you'd be disgusting," Lily teased as she bounced along with the carriage. Marlene stuck her pointy tongue out at Lily, who returned the gesture, and smirked at her best friend.
The four looked up in awe as the carriage convoy rounded the bend in the uneven road and Hogwarts came into view. The giant castle, silhouetted against the clear navy sky, was framed by twinkling stars blinking against the brightness of the yellow light shining out through the many windows.
"Wow," Lily breathed.
"This is the last time we'll see it like this," Dorcas realised.
Marlene stopped her. "Don't!" she warned. "I don't want to think about it. We've still got a whole year left, so we don't have to think about leaving yet!"
The convoy finally reached the castle and the students exited. They walked and jogged – one second year girl even skipped – up to the Entrance Hall steps, and filled into the Great Hall for the start of year feast.
Dorcas rubbed her hands together gleefully at the prospect of so much food.
Lily looked at her in mock-disgust, "I hate that you can eat so much and still stay the size of a stick." Dorcas merely grinned in response.
"Shove off."
Andrew kissed Marlene goodbye, and went to sit with the other seventh year Ravenclaws, and she took the spare seat next to Lily.
The trio chatted exuberantly, filling the time while all the other students were finding seats with anecdotes about their summers. Among the very last few to be seated were four boys, who decided to sit themselves in the empty spaces around the girls.
"Ladies," James greeted them charmingly. Dorcas smiled, and Marlene grinned at him. Lily tossed her red hair agitatedly and said nothing.
Remus smiled at the girls, and Sirius winked roguishly, but Peter just looked uncomfortable, looking anywhere except at them, including his own lap.
"Wormtail, we know you think a lot of yourself, but can you not admire your crotch at the dinner table?" Sirius drawled cruelly, noticing where Peter's embarrassed gaze had stuck. James chuckled, and Remus rolled his eyes.
"So, do we have everything sorted?" James whispered to Remus.
"I think so. Transfiguring's done, and they're shut in those cupboards up there. We just need to let them out," Remus pointed discretely to two cupboards on opposite sides at the back of the Great Hall.
"OK, great," James let out a sigh of relief. "I –"
He was cut off by the headmaster standing from his seat at the teachers' table, who then raised his hands for quiet. McGonagall brought the scared looking first-years through the centre of the hall, carrying the tatty sorting hat and the three legged stool under her arm.
Sirius' eyes gleamed wickedly. He leaned into one of the passing first-years – the girl with the pigtails she'd nearly impaled with a trolley, Lily realised guiltily – and bared his teeth in what he hoped was a menacing growl.
"Fresh blood!" he whispered menacingly to her, causing the girl to hide behind the boy next to her, to escape Sirius' eerie gaze. James laughed, but pulled him back around to stop scaring the girl, who looked obviously unsettled.
Professor McGonagall began to call out names, all the way from Alexander, Charlie ("Ravenclaw!") to Zablinski, Amy ("Slytherin!"). All the while Sirius moaning that he was hungry, and Lily continually hissing at him to shut up, more and more resentfully each time.
"Now, I am aware you must all be very hungry, so I shall keep this short," Dumbledore smiled serenely, blue eyes twinkling as soon as Amy Zablinski had taken her place in Slytherin. "To our new students, welcome! To our old ones, welcome back! Now, I shall allow you to get on with the feast. Tuck in!"
Large mounds of delectable-looking food appeared immediately on the gold plates in front of them.
"Yum!" both Sirius and Dorcas exclaimed at the same time. The two looked at each other for a moment and snickered. Marlene narrowed her eyes at the two, and stabbed a potato from the dish next to her.
Every person in the hall, student and teacher alike, attacked the mounds food with the ferocity of angry Bowtruckles.
"I'm sure the House-Elves get better every year!" James stated. "This is amazing!"
Lily nodded in agreement. "Mm, James is right," she said, too absorbed in the delicious food to remember to be sarcastic to him. He looked up in surprise but made no comment on the use of his first name.
Even if he had wanted to reply, he wouldn't have been able to because, at that moment, several surprised and scared screams erupted into the Great Hall, cutting off the cheerful chatter that had been going on. Lily's head whipped round, searching furiously for the source of the noise. Remus concentrated even more on what was evidently to him a perplexing plate of chicken.
Over at the Slytherin table, what looked like a huge green python had appeared, making its way down the centre of the house table, ignoring all the broken plates and upturned goblets left in its wake. At the same, keeping perfect pace with the snake, a regal-looking gold lion paced down the middle of the Gryffindor table, commanding all the attention, and a large, proud badger waltzed through the stunned Hufflepuffs. Lily was surprised that, even in the midst of the complete and utter insanity, she still managed to wonder where the Ravenclaw symbol was. She didn't have to look far: a few feet above the startled Ravenclaws flew a beautiful bronze eagle with white tipped wings and shimmering feathers.
The whole hall was quite quiet aside from whimpers and breaking china; everyone was watching the four animals slowly making their way to the teachers' table. Too shocked to say a word, the hall was stunned into silence. The procession neared the end of the tables, and each carefully dismounted, the eagle swooping to rest neatly on the badger's back.
The quartet faced the Headmaster, bowed, and vanished with a small pop.
The Headmaster stayed silent for a few moments, and lifted his hands, slowly beginning to clap. The whole hall looked at him as if he was mad, (which some people did think, mind you) but slowly, one by one, began to join him, until the whole hall was full of applause.
"This was you!" Lily whispered to James incredulously, leaning over the table. "This is why you were late!"
"Dear Lily-flower, you should know by now that a Marauder never reveals his secrets," Sirius winked slyly.
"How?" she asked eagerly. "I hate to admit it, but that was some...pretty good magic!" she praised grudgingly, apparently remembering her distaste for the foursome's pranks.
"Maybe later," James whispered to her. Lily looked disgusted at having his lips so close to her ear, but settled back in her seat without a word.
"Well, what a welcome to our new students!" Dumbledore chuckled. "I can assure, this is not customary for our welcome feasts. I expect some of our seventh years just wanted to start their final year with a bang!" The corners of his mouth twitched up as he looked directly at the Marauders, three of whom squirmed in their seats under his amused but intense scrutiny. Sirius smiled innocently at his headmaster, and raised his goblet in a genial salute. McGonagall glared daggers at him. Anyone else would turn to stone under her ruthless gaze. Sirius, however, winked audaciously at her, knowing she had no proof it was them. She could punish them anyway, of course, because this sort of thing almost always was the Marauders' doing, but he hoped he could sweet talk her out of it with his undeniable charm.
The rest of the feast passed without incident, and once the desserts had disappeared (much to Dorcas and Sirius' joint disappointment), McGonagall called James and Lily to follow her.
"Er, where are we going, Professor?" James asked nervously as the two of them confusedly followed her up a flight of stairs.
"To your Head's dormitory, of course, Potter," she answered briskly.
"Our what?" Lily spluttered, hurrying to keep up with the professor. They turned up another flight of stairs hidden behind a tapestry of some goblins.
"Head dormitory, Miss Evans," McGonagall repeated.
"What for?" James questioned curiously. Professor McGonagall stopped, and turned to address them.
"It is the view of the Headmaster that the Head students should be awarded private dormitories and a shared private common room, along with their titles, to help cope with their extra workload, away from the commotion of the house common rooms. He hopes you will use them responsibly," she said, looking pointedly at James.
"No way! I can't share a dormitory with him!" Lily exclaimed.
"Miss Evans, it is a great honour, and one you have both undoubtably earned," the professor replied. "However, if you'd prefer to stay in the House dormitories—"
"Oh, no, professor," Lily felt ashamed. "Sorry, it was just...a surprise..." She tailed off.
She finally stopped walking in front of a painting of a trio of women playing cards in a rose garden.
"This," she announced, turning to face them, "is the entrance to your common room. Your dormitories lead off of it, and your luggage has already been sent there. The password is Olive Garden, but that can be changed at any time if both of you consent to it. Any questions?" She bestowed the pair with a rare smile as they looked on, still shocked at the sudden revelation of getting their own rooms.
"N - No, thank you, Professor," Lily stammered.
"Well then; good night," she said briskly, and swept away back down the empty corridor.
"I - er... Did you know about this?" Lily asked, flustered. She still didn't want to look directly at him after her outburst.
James shook his head, "Nope. Cool though, eh?"
"Mm hm," Lily mumbled. "Well, then," she took an anxious breath. "Olive garden."
"Certainly is," the woman in the centre of the painting smiled warmly, and swung forward to admit them. Lily ducked inside the portrait and gasped. James followed.
The portrait opened into a wide open space, circular in shape, with a roaring fireplace directly in front of them. The room was tastefully adorned in Gryffindor colours, with red and gold furnishings, and red curtains over the large windows, letting in just the faintest moonlight through the small crack between the thick fabric. Even through her shoes, Lily could feel the plushness of the soft red carpet underfoot, and she was itching to collapse into what looked like the softest armchairs either side of the fire, or the sofa in between them. A low coffee table, polished to a sheen, centred the whole set up. On either side of the room were two gleaming mahogany staircases, with the same plush red carpet, leading up to beautifully carved wooden doors, and near the foot of each was a large desk and chair set, complete with inkwells, quills, parchment and who knew what else, with candles joining the light from the chandelier overhead. Little drips of wax melted onto the sconces and tinged the air with a faint scent Lily couldn't place.
"Wow," Lily didn't really have much else to say.
"Nice," agreed James appreciatively. "Which one's which?" he gestured to the doors leading to what he presumed were their bedrooms.
"Um, I don't know. Check?" she suggested.
Lily walked up the staircase closest to her, and jogged up it eagerly. She opened the door, and entered a large bedroom, smaller than the room she'd just left, but still larger than the entire dormitory of Gryffindor tower (although this room was rectangular). She looked around.
The bedroom was decorated similarly to the common room, with warm wood and red, and gold accents. In the centre was a huge four poster bed, with red drapes and gold tassels, and crisp white sheets with a red and gold embroidered runner. On each side stood a small bedside table complete with lamp, and one wall was almost entirely taken up by a window, offering a fantastic view of the Hogwarts grounds. Or it would do in daylight, anyway.
To her left was a large dresser set up against the white wall, and a wardrobe alongside. On the adjacent wall, opposite the bed, was a white door with a brass handle. When Lily peeked into it she discovered a small bathroom, containing a large mirror along one wall, a shower cubicle, a bathtub, a toilet, and a sink. On the towel rail next to the shower were fluffy white towels, and on them had been embroidered a red and gold pattern and the head of a lion. It was certainly a room full of Gryffindor pride alright, but Lily loved it. The dark reds and golds were her favourite colours.
Lily exited back into the bedroom again, and searched for her trunk. She still wasn't sure if this was her room or James', so decided to look in the trunk to see whose luggage it was. She discovered it resting at the foot of the bed, and knelt to open the clasps. When the lid opened, an ungodly stench met Lily's nostrils, along with the sight of several pairs of blue and black boxers.
'Oh, so boxers over briefs, huh?' Lily's traitorous brain began the thought before she could stop herself. When she did she cringed outwardly, and turned her attention back to the smell emanating from the case. Something between dead hippogriff and owl droppings.
"Eurgh! This definitely isn't mine!"
She slammed the lid back down and left the room, jogging down James' staircase and up what must be hers, eyes still watering slightly.
"Potter!" she shouted, halfway up the stairs. "Potter! That's my room!"
He came out of the door hurriedly, face flushed, looking mortified.
"What's wrong with you?" she asked.
"I – well, I couldn't tell who's room it was, so I decided to look in the luggage," Lily nodded curtly, arms crossed, realising they'd done exactly the same thing. "And, er – well – Lily, you shouldn't – um – you shouldn't keep your – um – delicates right at the top of the case." He blushed even harder. Lily cringed, mortified, but decided to at least try to maintain a nonchalant façade.
She forced a fake-sounding chuckle. "On the subject of luggage, why does yours smell like something died in it?" she asked, trying to turn the attention back to James.
"Oh Merlin! Have my – er, Sirius' dung bombs exploded in there?" he asked worriedly. "Shit."
Lily rolled her eyes. "Night, Potter."
She patted his arm as she pushed past him on the stairs up to her room. It was almost exactly the same as Potter's but the opposite way around, with a few more feminine touches. A vanity table had been put where the dresser was in Potter's room, and the dresser was instead in front of the large window on the other side of the bathroom door.
There was a little stool stood underneath the vanity, and centred on top was a silver hairbrush and comb set along with a few burning tea lights scattered around the edges.
"Nice," Lily said appreciatively, echoing James' earlier comment about the common room.
Too tired to do much more admiring of the room, Lily pulled out a pair of pyjamas from her main trunk and put them on, hurriedly brushed her teeth in the little bathroom, snuffed out the tea lights and collapsed into the fluffy bed sheets.
On the other side of the tower, James had done much the same, trying to block his nose against the dung bomb smell with what he thought were clean socks.
No such luck.