Chapter 1
It was her seventh year and she had finally gotten her dream and been made Head Girl. She couldn't wait for this year to start. She had been up all night thinking about what the year would bring, how she would present herself as a leader of the school, and how she would be the best Head Girl yet… and now she was running late because she had overslept. Some Head Girl she was going to be! This wasn't exactly the way she wanted to start the year.
She pushed her cart through Kings Cross as fast as she could, bumping into people and their carts unapologetically. She had to keep moving or she was going to miss the train. She didn't have time to apologize to these strangers. She ran through the barrier to platform 9 3/4 and crashed into someone on the other side sending her sprawling on the ground.
"Fuck! Merlin's fucking balls!" She cursed as she grabbed at her bruising shins.
She felt a chuckle and looked down to see who she'd landed on.
"Damn it, Sirius. Fuck off, ok? I don't have time for your crap." She started to push-off him.
He chuckled again.
"Sorry, but you're rather mistaken. I'm not Sirius." He said.
She glanced up from dusting off her jeans.
"Oh, I, you look so much like him!" She said.
The guy righted her trunk for her and smirked.
"Yeah, family resemblance." He said.
He had the same dark hair as Sirius Black, only his wasn't as long. His hair was just past his ears in a shaggy, carelessly sexy, way where Sirius' smooth silky hair was past his shoulders and always tied back perfectly. This guy was just maybe an inch shorter than Sirius as well. But they both had the same stormy gray eyes. Sirius was a bit broader too, but this guy still had that lean muscular look. He looked dangerously sexy.
The trains whistle blew and snapped Lily from her ogling. That boy sure looked fine in those dark jeans and fit black t-shirt.
"Er, right. I'm actually in a bit of a hurry." She said running off toward the train without a look back.
She stored her things and headed up towards the front of the train looking for her friends. She found them, finally, and burst through the door as the train gave its final whistle to board.
"Lily!" Alice and Marlene squealed and jumped up to hug their friend.
"I've missed you guys! It was a bloody nightmare getting here. I didn't think I was going to make it!" Lily said.
Marlene hugged her after Alice and pulled away laughing at her friend.
"Damn Lily, you weren't kidding in those letters. Your boobs are huge." Marlene laughed.
Lily blushed.
"Shut up Marlene!" Lily hissed with a smack at Marlene's arm.
"Yeah Marlene, Lily can't help it that she's a late bloomer." Alice chuckled.
Lily rolled her eyes and reached into her book bag that was slung across her. She yanked out her robes and wand and uniform. She knew she didn't have time to change completely when the train started moving so she pulled on her robes quickly.
"I've got to go, Prefects meeting. I'll see you after!" Lily called.
She was vaguely aware that it probably wasn't the most professional looking outfit: tight jeans and a tight white shirt with a muggle band on it. She fished in her pockets for her Head Girl badge but couldn't find it. She must have left it in her bag. With a sigh and a mental reminder to herself to look for it later, she slid open the compartment door.
Apparently she was last to arrive because everyone in the full compartment turned to stare.
"Ah, seems our Head Girl has finally arrived". Remus Lupin said with a teasing smile.
She put on her most charming smile and walked to the front of the room.
"Ready to begin?" She asked him.
"Oh, um, we are still waiting on the Head Boy." He said awkwardly.
"Oh! Sorry I just thought that it was, um..."
Him. She was sure it would have gone to Remus.
"No, no, I'm just a Prefect." He said kindly.
The door opened again and in strolled James Potter. Lily immediately saw the badge pinned to his chest. How could she miss it when he walked in with his chest out like that? Clearly he intended everyone's eyes being drawn to it.
"You've got to be fucking with me, yeah?" She blurted.
Several prefects laughed and she blushed slightly.
James just shrugged and stood next to her. Remus patted her arm sympathetically before he sat down and gave Potter a discreet thumbs up.
"Um, ok. I guess we'll start. I'm Lily Evans, Gryffindor. This is James Potter, also Gryffindor. Apparently we're your heads this year. Most of you know how this goes. For all the new Prefects, welcome and congratulations! Being a Prefect is a responsibility and privilege. You can take points and assign detentions if necessary. You have to keep tabs on all detentions you hand out and report them to James or myself, otherwise they aren't valid. Do not abuse this power or you will have your badge taken away. Absolutely no fighting or dueling will be tolerated. Got it? Now, when we get to school James and I will make a patrol schedule and post it in your common rooms. All Prefects are required to serve their schedule and help patrol the castle after curfew. We'll have mandatory meetings throughout the year, and James and I will pick the Hogsmeade dates. Any questions?" She asked.
Several Prefects raised their hands about the schedules and Quidditch team practices. And a couple of fifth years had some questions on Prefect perks. The Prefects bathroom wasn't that great... Lily would swear they were just trying to get on her nerves. Honestly, 'how many perfumes does it have'?
"Ok, that's enough. For today, all Prefects will take turns patrolling the train. Front half will be patrolled by Slytherin and Ravenclaw. Second half by Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. Fifth years take first shift for an hour, then sixth years for an hour, then seventh years will patrol until we stop. Also, all seventh year prefects help students off the train and to the carriages. Any questions?" Lily called out.
Nobody spoke up.
"Make sure you've signed the roster here, and you can go." Lily said.
James turned to her.
"Hey Evans. I knew you'd get it. Nice shirt, by the way." He said.
She knew he was staring at her larger boobs. She rolled her eyes.
"Keep dreaming, Potter." She said.
He smirked.
The annoying fifth year girls with all the bathroom questions were giggling their way forward and eyeing James.
"Er, I'll catch you later, yeah?" He asked.
She nodded in amusement as she watched him take off in a hurry.
Slowly the Prefects all filed out after signing the roster and Lily rolled up the parchment until she felt someone standing in front of her.
She sighed and stood up to see Severus.
"Can we talk?" He asked quietly.
"Go fuck a unicorn." She bit back.
She heard someone laugh and turned to see Severus glaring at the guy she had bumped into earlier.
The guy winked at her from the back corner of the room before she left the compartment. When she got back to her friends she saw that they had a few new additions. The Marauders were there. And conveniently, the only seat was next to James. He grinned and patted it for her.
"How did you rig this, Potter?" She asked.
"With chocolate!" Marlene piped up.
"Where's Mary?" Lily asked when her other roommate had failed to make an appearance.
"She's with David. She stopped by when you were in your meeting." Alice said.
Lily nodded. David was Mary's boyfriend since last year.
"Might as well work on some Head stuff, I suppose." She said.
She reached up to grab her bag from the luggage rack and her robes fell open, revealing her stomach from the shirt that had ridden up with her stretch.
James' eyes went wide as he stared.
"Damn, Evans." Sirius said.
"Shut up, Sirius." Lily said with a blush.
Marlene chuckled.
It wasn't her fault that most of her shirts now barely covered her stomach. It were her stupid breast that finally decided to grow more than the flat chest she had before. While it was nice to finally be bigger than the thirteen year olds, it was very inconvenient on her wardrobe.
Lily sat down next to James, reluctantly.
"So how was your summer?" James asked her, sliding his arm behind her on the seat.
"She got boobs James, what else matters?" Marlene joked.
Everyone turned and looked at her.
"Right, Alice, remind me to pitch Marlene off the astronomy tower as soon as we get to Hogwarts." Lily grumbled.
"What? People should look, I think they're lovely! I'm quite jealous." Marlene said seriously.
"They are rather nice." Sirius said.
"Ok Sirius, nobody needs to look at them anymore." James said leaning forward and blocking Sirius' view.
Lily smirked.
"What's the matter, Potter?" She asked innocently.
"Well, you know, it's just disrespectful to you. That's all." He said.
"Is that all?" She asked.
He swallowed.
"Um, yeah. Yeah, I think so." He said.
She shook her head.
"My summer was ok. My sister got married. Pretty boring really." She said.
He smiled, grateful for the change of subject.
"That sounds nice. I wish I had some more boring. Sirius was always getting me into trouble." James said.
"Like you didn't plan the custard explosion." Sirius scoffed.
Everyone laughed as the two boys bantered back and forth.
"I think I'm gonna go do a quick patrol up and down the train. I want to check on the fifth years." Lily said.
"I'll come with you!" James jumped up to follow her.
She raised her eyebrow when he got into the corridor.
"Never knew you were so enthusiastic about responsibility." She said.
He shrugged.
"I like to think I've grown up a bit from the prat I was back in fifth year. And I wanted to talk to you.. I'm going to take this seriously. I know I don't have any idea what to do, and you probably have every reason to not have faith in me, but I'll help you out and split the load with you. I mean it. And just for the record, I'm in no way enthusiastic about patrolling. " He said.
She stared at him skeptically.
"Is this a prank?" She asked.
"What?" He asked.
"Who are you and what have you done with James Potter?" She asked.
He rolled his eyes.
"No seriously, you haven't even asked me out once!" She said.
"Do you want me to ask you out?" He asked.
It was no secret James had harbored a huge crush on her before.
"No. It's just not like you." She said.
He nodded.
"You don't need to worry. Like I said, I was a prat before. I was young and stupid. Besides, I don't have a crush on you anymore. So you don't need to look so uncomfortable around me." He said laughing.
"Oh. Well, that's good then. I mean, I'm glad you're taking this seriously." She said.
He leaned in close to her.
"But just so you know, they are nice. Marlene has every reason to be jealous.." He whispered.
She jerked back and punched him in the arm.
"You're such a tosser!" She said.
He laughed as she walked off, calling over her shoulder for him to check the front of the train.
"I swear, those kids are idiots! How do you flip three boats?!" James said.
Lily and James had caught the last carriage after helping the first years to the boats with Hagrid.
"It was valiant of you to jump in for that girl, though." Lily chuckled at his scowl.
"I didn't even think of levitating them like you did. I'm such a bloody tosser." He shook his head.
"A valiant tosser." She corrected.
"Don't rub it in Lils." He said.
He had never called her that before, but strangely, she didn't mind half as much as she thought she would have.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" He asked.
"Erm, you have some lake scum in your hair." She said.
He glared at her and she burst out laughing.
"Here, let me get it." She said.
She waved her wand and cleaned him off, did a quick drying and heating charm and he was good as new.
"You're an ace at charms, thanks!" He said.
She shrugged.
"The smell was getting to me." She said
He shook his head with a small smile.
When they reached the castle they slipped into the Great Hall and joined their respective group of friends.
"What took so long?" Alice asked.
"First years flipped three boats and James took a swim." Lily explained.
Marlene and Alice laughed.
"Congrats on Head Girl, Lily!" Mary McDonald, their other roommate, said.
"Thanks Mary!" Lily beamed.
The first years marched in for the sorting.
"So, is everything ok with you and Potter?" Marlene whispered.
Lily shrugged.
"He said he was going to take the Head Boy position serious. So as long as he doesn't make me do all the work, I guess it's fine. I mean, it could be worse... A Slytherin Head Boy." Lily said.
But they knew who it would have been. Who Lily refused to speak to or about. Marlene nodded sympathetically as she clapped for a first year that made it into Gryffindor.
"Well I'm just proud that Lily is handling this so maturely. You have to admit Lily, when it comes to James Potter you do have a tendency to 'flip the cauldron', if you know what I mean." Alice said.
"That's putting it rather mildly." Marlene said.
"He was a prat!" Lily defended.
"Well, I just hope for the sake of the school that's over now." Alice said.
When the sorting finished, the feast appeared and everyone dug in with gusto.
"Hey, does Sirius have another cousin that goes here besides Bella?" Lily asked.
Alice shrugged.
"I'd say so. I mean, Sirius is my cousin very distantly. Like 7th or 8th? Most pure bloods are related in some way or another. Why do you ask?" Alice asked.
"Well, I ran into this guy today and I thought it was Sirius at first. He looks almost dead on him at first glance." Lily said.
Marlene leaned forward.
"You mean Regulus Black? Sirius' brother?" She asked.
"Sirius has a brother?" Lily asked.
"Lily, how do you not know him? He's such a dish!" Marlene gushed.
"With a reputation to prove it." Alice countered.
"Wait, why don't I know this? He was really hot." Lily said.
"Probably because he's a Slytherin. You've avoided them since fifth year." Marlene said bluntly.
Alice shot Marlene a reprimanding look for her insensitivity but Lily just nodded, twirling her fork around in her peas.
"Yeah, probably right. That sucks he's a Slytherin then. He seemed decent enough." Lily said.
Marlene shrugged.
"He's an excellent kisser. So I've heard. He is a bit like his brother when it comes to girls. But not as bad as Sirius. I don't think anyone is as bad as Sirius." Alice said.
Lily nodded.
She looked over at the Slytherin table until she spotted Regulus. He was sitting between a blonde guy she didn't know and Marcus Rookwood. Regulus laughed and then, as if sensing her gaze, he looked up and spotted her. He smirked and winked at her. She looked away quickly.
"Is he a sixth year?" Lily asked.
Marlene nodded.
"Why the sudden interest? Though I can't blame you, he's hot." Marlene said.
"Just didn't know who he was. I did knock him down and all." Lily laughed.
When the feast ended Lily held back and waited for James so together they could lead the first years to their common rooms.
"Alright, first years, all of you gather over here!" James shouted.
When everyone else cleared the hall, Lily gestured for James to take the lead. He grinned.
"Alright, I'm James Potter and this is Lily Evans. We are the Head Boy and Head Girl and we are also both in Gryffindor. If you ever need anything, at any time, you can come to us. Right, we are going to take you to your common rooms. Remember, stick to your own common room. And try not to forget the way. Oh, and try to keep up! The staircases like to change so watch out." James and Lily led them out of the Great Hall.
"This will take forever. Let's split them." Lily suggested.
He nodded.
"Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, follow James. Hufflepuff and Slytherin, follow me!" She said.
James looked at her with unease.
"Maybe I should take Slytherin." He said softly.
She rolled her eyes.
"No, it's fine. I have to drop off some papers for professor Slughorn anyways." She said.
He watched her as she walked off with confidence and he frowned.
"Ok, come on. Follow me!" She said.
She took them through several halls towards the kitchens where the Hufflepuff common room was. Once she dropped them off with the seventh year prefects that were waiting for them, she turned and backtracked towards the dungeons with the Slytherin first years. Once she gave the password they all climbed through and Daphne, one of the seventh year prefects, took over. Lily was climbing out when someone grabbed her arm. She turned to see Severus, and he pulled her down the hall.
"Let go of me!" She screamed.
He pulled her in a classroom and silenced the door so nobody could hear through it.
"You have to listen to me! It's been over a year." He said.
"I don't have to do anything." She said.
"Lily, how long are you going to do this? I'm sorry! I didn't mean it, you know that! Please!" He said.
She glared at him.
"I didn't, I swear it!" He said.
She shook her head and walked up to him. He froze at her closeness until she yanked up his sleeve. He jerked away.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"Seeing if you had the mark." She said bluntly.
"Satisfied now?" He asked sarcastically as he glared at her.
"No. I know it's probably just a matter of time. I know you're not going to leave that terrible group you're always hanging out with." She said.
"It's not that easy, Lily." He said.
"It is that easy. How can you follow him? He wants to kill people like me. You think muggleborns are below you!" She said.
"Not you, Lily. You're different." He said.
"No! No, I'm not different. I'm a muggleborn, Severus. And you'd kill me if he told you to." She said.
He shook his head and tried to grab her arms.
"Listen, I wouldn't. I will keep you safe, I swear!" He said.
"Don't! Don't treat me any differently than any other muggleborn. Because when you become a Death Eater Severus, I'm going to put you away." She said.
He glared.
"Our friendship means that little to you?" He yelled.
"No! It meant that little to you! You were my best friend!" She screamed.
She turned away.
"You told me it didn't matter. You swore it didn't matter to you." She whispered.
He knew what she was talking about. He had told her not to tell anyone she was muggleborn at first. But he told her it didn't matter to him, that it was ok.
"It doesn't matter to me, Lily." He said.
She sighed.
"Maybe not. And I forgive you, for what you said." She turned and saw the hopeful look on his face.
"But I can't forgive you for what you're going to become. When you get marked, you're dead to me." She said.
His face steeled.
"Lily, no, please-"
"I have to go." She interrupted.
She opened the classroom door and walked out, tears threatening to slip out. She needed to drop off her extra summer assignments to professor Slughorn but decided it could wait for tomorrow. She just wanted to get away before Severus came back out.
Regulus was standing in the hall, leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets.
She stopped.
"What are you doing out here?" She asked.
He shoved off the wall.
"What are you doing in the dungeons?" He asked.
"I'm Head Girl, I can go wherever I want." She said.
He smiled.
"And here I thought you came looking for me." He said.
"Why would I do that?" She asked.
He reached in his pocket and pulled out a gold badge. It was her Head Girl badge.
"Hey! Where did you get that?" She exclaimed, walking forward to take it.
He pulled his hand back.
"You dropped it when you used me to break your fall this morning." He said.
She frowned, hands on her hips.
"Why didn't you hand it over on the train?" She asked.
"Ah, well, I was going to until you mentioned something about fucking unicorns and ran out." He said.
She blushed.
"Oh, right. Well, hand it over then." She said.
He shook his head with a smirk.
"Let's have an apology, Evans. You did plow into me, you know?" He said.
She crossed her arms.
"You should know better than to stand in front of the barrier!" She said.
He laughed and walked forward.
"Fiesty. I like that." He said.
He reached forward and grabbed her shirt collar slowly, his hand going beneath her shirt and trailing slowly against her skin to her chest just above her breast where he pinned her badge on for her. She was frozen to the spot. There was nothing intimate about what he had done, and yet, she felt her face heat up with the contact. The way he leaned in so close, the way his fingers slid so slowly down her skin… She shivered involuntarily. He looked up and his stormy gray eyes met her green ones. He pulled back slowly with a smirk.
"See you soon, Lily." He said.
He sauntered away.
"What the hell?" She murmured.
She could feel her heart beat racing and briefly wondered if he had felt it as well. She shook her head and quickly made her way back to the tower, silently mulling over that strange encounter.
She looked for him the next morning at breakfast. She didn't tell Alice or Marlene what had happened, she wasn't ready to explain it. How did you tell your friends that a guy sexily pinned a badge on you? She felt silly just thinking of how that conversation would go. She was just about to make another visual sweep of the room when someone stepped into her view.
"Hey Lily." She looked up to see Ryan Harrow, a sixth year Gryffindor.
"Hey Ryan, what's up?" She said with a smile.
Ryan had brown hair and beautiful sapphire blue eyes. He was rather good-looking and happened to be the Keeper on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. He was friendly, but a Gryffindor at heart. She had seen him in a couple of detentions for fighting with the Slytherins.
"Ah, well, I was wondering if you had any idea about when the first Hogsmeade trip will be? I know it's only the first day of classes and all." He said.
"Oh. Well, Potter and I are still working on it. Hope to have it posted by the end of the week." She said.
He grinned.
"Er, right. Well, I suppose it would be too soon to ask you out then?" He said.
Lily froze and Marlene grinned.
"She'd love to!" Marlene said.
He smiled but looked a bit unsure.
"Right, Lily?" Alice said as she kicked her under the table.
"Ow! Um, yeah. That would be great. Thanks." Lily said.
He grinned and went back to his seat.
"Uh oh." Marlene teased.
Lily turned to her.
"Did that really just happen? And bloody hell, Alice! I'm already bruised there!" Lily said.
Alice laughed.
"Yeah it did. And Potter looks like he's about to have steam come from his ears." Marlene said.
Lily refused to look.
"Lily, you're blushing. Because of James or Ryan?" Alice asked, raising her eyebrows jokingly.
Lily rolled her eyes.
"Please. Potter doesn't like me anymore. He told me so himself yesterday. And I'm not blushing." Lily said.
Alice and Marlene looked confused.
"But, he's liked you for years!" Mary said as she had just sat down and heard the last of their conversation.
"Everyone moves on eventually." Lily said.
Her friends gave her dubious looks as she sneaked a glance down the table. Potter was chatting with his friends as if she didn't even exist.
McGonagall came by at that moment and handed them their schedules.
"Aw, damn it. Double Potions with the Slytherins first thing on a Monday? And double Transfiguration on Friday?! Kill me now." Marlene moaned.
"We have Potions together. I have Transfiguration on Tuesdays and Thursdays with Hufflepuffs. I have a free period Friday after lunch." Lily said.
Marlene rolled her eyes.
"Lily always gets lucky." Marlene said.
Alice, Mary and Lily laughed.
"It's the boobs." Marlene muttered dejectedly.
Lily shook her head.
"Marlene, sweetie, I say this because I love you... You really need to stop being jealous of my boobs! They aren't even that big. Yours are just fine!" Lily said.
Marlene pouted.
"Yeah but because you got yours late, everyone's noticed. The rest of us got them at the same time and it wasn't big news then." Marlene said.
"I don't think you have any problems getting attention Marlene. You're gorgeous. And athletic." Lily said.
"Yeah Marlene, and you're so outgoing. I wish I was more like that." Mary said.
"Really?" Marlene asked.
Lily frowned.
"Marlene, what's going on? This isn't like you at all. You're always so confident and sure of yourself." Lily said.
Marlene sighed.
"It's Adam."
"Adam McKinnon?" Lily asked.
Marlene nodded.
"He came over to my house this summer to practice plays. You know, since we're both chasers and all. And well, we kind of sort of... made out." Marlene said.
"Marlene! Why didn't you tell us?" Alice asked.
She shrugged.
"I don't know! I couldn't face him afterwards. It was too weird. I mean, he's one of my best mates." Marlene said.
"Oh honey, you have to talk to him." Lily said.
Marlene shook her head.
"I don't know. Maybe. I just, I hate this. I want to be friends again." Marlene said.
Lily glanced down the Gryffindor table until she saw Adam McKinnon sitting next to Frank Longbottom and the Marauders.
They had to leave for class so Lily stalled in her walking so that Adam and the Marauders would catch up. When Marlene noticed, it was too late to run ahead. She glared at Lily.
"Hey guys! Where are you headed?" Lily asked.
"Double Potions." Sirius grumbled.
"Us too. Hey Frank, Adam. I haven't seen you guys yet. Have a good summer?" Lily asked.
Frank nodded.
"Yeah thanks. Spent most of my time in France with my family. How was yours?" Frank said.
"It was pretty boring. Just stayed at home." Lily said.
They started on the steps down to the dungeons.
"What about you Adam? Good summer?" She asked.
He glanced past Lily to Marlene who was staring straight ahead.
"Uh, well, it was ok." He said.
They walked into the Potions room and took their seats. Marlene kept glaring at Lily who shrugged innocently. Professor Slughorn walked in and started towards them.
"Miss Evans, I'm delighted you're still in my class. Wouldn't want a brilliant mind like yours to go to waste!" He gushed.
Lily smiled while Marlene rolled her eyes behind Slughorn's back.
"We're going to start the year with a brew. I want you to pick one of the potions on the board and brew it. You will be graded on the difficulty of the brew and how well you've executed it. Begin!" Slughorn addressed the class.
The chalk board filled with the names of brews and page numbers in the book where the instructions were located. Lily was surprised to see they were all rather moderate to extremely difficult. She noticed a lot of health potions and chuckled. No doubt Slughorn was hoping to use those potions the students brewed that were acceptable for the hospital wing. It was no secret that he brewed all of their stores.
Lily looked through the list and decided on a salve. They were towards the top on the difficulty list and she was confident she could do it with ease. Marlene chose a pepper up potion, as did the majority of the class.
Half way through the lesson her potion was looking like sludge. A failure to the untrained eye, but she had bypassed some steps in order to save some time. She added some eye of newt, and it turned a brown color. Marlene smirked and Lily rolled her eyes.
She crushed some beetle and Slughorn came up.
"Ah, miss Evans.. what's this?" He asked.
"Burn salve, professor." He looked at her beetles.
"Beetles, my dear? Did you misread the ingredients?" He looked disappointed.
"Not at all Professor. I merely improvised them. Beetles can be substituted for Grinkems and the brew time is cut in half, as you know." She said.
She dropped in the beetles and gave It 4 final stirs. The salve turned clear. It was perfect.
"My my! A perfect burn salve in half the time! Top marks Miss Evans! We shall use your entire Cauldron for the hospital wing stores." He said.
He looked at her larger than most cauldron and raised an eyebrow at her.
"I thought to donate it ahead of time and made a larger batch." She said.
He laughed heartily and patted her shoulder.
"I trust you'll be at my first party this year!" He asked.
"Of course, professor! I look forward to it!" She beamed.
He walked away and Lily caught Severus' eye. He was watching her.
She looked away first.
"You always have all the luck. I hate you." Marlene muttered.
Lily laughed at her friend.
"Add some lace wings. 3, to be precise. Trust me." Lily said looking at her friends cauldron.
Marlene shrugged and added the ingredient carelessly.
It turned sky blue. The exact shade it was supposed to be.
"I take it back, I love you." She whispered.
She threw up her hand to call the professor over to check her cauldron.
At the end of class the professor called her over.
"Miss Evans, I was wondering if you'd want to help me with hospital wing stores this year? Extra credit of course. And access to the supply closet any time you'd like to practice brews out of class." He said.
She raised her eyebrows in surprise. Access to the ingredients closet?
"Of course! I would love to! What an honor, professor." She said.
He beamed.
"I'm having a little meeting tonight, just to go over everything. I'm hoping to have a couple other students helping. 7pm." He said.
"I'll be here." Lily smiled.
She handed him her summer work and extra credit and left for her next class.
At lunch, Lily sat down in the Great Hall next to Alice and across from Marlene.
"Hey Lily! Marlene's still a bit cross with you". Alice said.
"What's new, she's always cross about something. How was Arithmancy?" Lily asked.
Alice launched into this year's guidelines and Lily got excited for her class Tuesday. Marlene rolled her eyes at them and shoved a spoonful of mash in her mouth.
"Marlene? Have a minute?"
Marlene turned to see Adam McKinnon behind her. Lily kicked her in the shin.
"Of course she does." Lily said.
Marlene gulped and slowly got to her feet as she followed him out of the hall.
"They really are perfect for each other." Alice commented.
"Speaking of perfect for each other, when are you and Frank going to stop dancing around each other and kiss already?" Lily asked.
Alice blushed.
"He hasn't asked me out yet." Alice said glumly.
"He will!" Lily said encouragingly.
"What about you? Think Ryan's gonna be boyfriend material? He is quite dishy." Alice said.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe. I guess we'll see if we have chemistry." Lily said.
"And when is the first Hogsmeade trip?" Mary asked as she took a seat across from Alice.
"Ugh, I have to talk to Potter I guess." Lily said.
"Good luck with that. I heard he's having Quidditch practice tonight." Mary said.
"Already?!" Lily asked.
"You know how he is." Alice pointed out.
Lily looked down the table towards the Marauders. James caught her eye and nodded at her with a smile.
"I guess I should go talk to him really quick." Lily said as she saw them get up.
She grabbed her bag and ran up to him.
"Hey Lily." He greeted.
"Hey, have a minute?" She asked.
"Sure." He said nicely.
He turned to his friends.
"I'll catch up with you guys." He said.
They nodded to her and left.
"What can I do for you?" He asked.
She moved over as a bunch of people walked past them to get to class.
"Well, I think we should get together tonight to go over the patrol schedules and set the Hogsmeade dates but I heard you're having practice? " She asked.
"Yeah. Practice is at 7 but I'm free before if you want to do an early dinner and head to the Heads Common Room at 6?" James asked.
"Great! That would be perfect. Well, I better get to class." She said.
He nodded.
"Me too. Where are you headed?" He asked as they made their way from the Great Hall.
"Advanced Runes. You?" She asked.
He shot her a grin.
"Same. We can walk together, I know a shortcut so we're not late." He offered.
She grinned.
"You're in Advanced Ancient Runes?" She questioned.
"Yeah. Well it conflicted with my schedule last year so I had to do independent work with professor Kettleburn. Good thing she loves me. And not to brag because this probably makes me sound like a complete dork, but I kinda love Ancient Runes." He said.
"You're kidding me?!" Lily said.
"No, really! Sirius makes fun of me all the time." He said.
"But nobody loves Ancient Runes. It's interesting, but it's so difficult." She said.
He shrugged.
"I do. It just makes sense to me. I don't know, maybe my brain is just programmed for it. Kettleburn even had me working on a translation this summer from a dig in Egypt. She says I'm a prodigy." James laughed.
Lily froze.
"Not the dig from Asyut?!" Lily asked.
James looked surprised.
"You heard about it?" He asked.
"Of course! James, that's amazing! I'd love to see those Runes! You're so lucky." She gushed.
He blushed and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Well, they are supposed to be classified. But I could let you look at some, if you want". He said.
"Are you allowed?" She asked.
"You won't tell, right?" He smirked.
"Come on, behind this tapestry there's a secret passage. Takes half the time." James pulled her elbow towards the tapestry.
She shook her head.
"You are full of surprises, James Potter." She said.
"There's a lot you don't know about me, Lily". He said as she made to squeeze in past him.
They stood chest to chest. He smiled and slid past slowly.
"Come on, this way." He said.
She followed him through the dark tunnel, glad that he couldn't see the faint blush on her cheeks.
What was that about?
They made it to class just as the bell went. They took the last two seats at the front as professor Kettleburn walked in. She made them fill in the seating chart she passed around and James shrugged apologetically at having to be her partner all year. But really, it was advantageous to her if he was as good as he said he was.
After Runes Lily met up with Alice and Marlene in the library.
"How's the load on your first day?" Marlene asked.
"No way, spill about Adam." Lily countered as she took a seat at their table.
"It's nothing, really. He just, he said he wanted to forget what happened and go back to being friends." Marlene said.
"Well that's excellent!" Lily said.
Marlene didn't answer and after a moment she slammed her book shut and left.
"What was that about?" Lily asked Alice.
"I think she wants it to mean something. Though she doesn't want to admit it." Alice said.
"Well that's a step in the right direction." Lily said.
The two girls did their homework until dinner when Alice left and Lily stayed to finish her Runes review.
Kettleburn wanted them to decipher 3 pages of runes as a review. And since Lily was in her advanced class, she was given harder runes than the regular class. She wondered how everyone else in her class was faring on them or if they were meant to be unsolvable.
"Thought I'd find you here." Lily glanced up to see Remus.
"Hey Remus, how are you?" She said.
He glanced over at her Runes spread over the table.
"In the same boat as you, I think. Mind if I join you?" He asked.
She gestured to the seat in front of her and he pulled out his work and spread it out on the table as well.
"I think Kettleburn hopes we're all on the same level as James." Remus said.
"I'm stuck on the end of the first one." Lily said.
"I don't know anyone who has gotten past the first one. Except James, of course." Remus said.
"Good thing I'm here to save you." James said.
They looked up to see him standing over them.
"You've finished them?" Lily asked.
"I did them in class." He said with a shrug.
Lily balked.
He flipped over her book to see what she was using.
"No, this won't help. The class book is good for modern Runes but for a basic review and translation you need Marskinsky's Runes and Rules." James said.
He got up and went to find it for them.
"This is going to take some getting used to." Lily muttered.
Remus chuckled.
"You know he's taking all advanced classes, right?" Remus asked.
"I mean, I know he's one of the top of the class on skill alone but advanced classes require a lot of work. He's a bit anti homework." Lily said.
Remus laughed.
"That's because he does it in class, mostly. It's Sirius that refuses to do homework. They're both annoyingly able to retain any and all information they hear. So they don't need to study like the rest of us." Remus said.
"Must be nice." Lily said.
"Tell me about it." Remus said.
James walked back and sat next to Lily and pulled over her work.
"Ok, this one here is wrong so that's why your translation after makes no sense. See this can mean Hypo but when it comes after this rune, it's an ending rune. Because this one is a dominant rune. So the actual translation would be..." He trailed off when he glanced at Lily and saw her expression.
"What?" He asked.
She jumped.
"Nothing. Nothing, sorry. Continue." She said.
Remus smirked at them when James blushed.
"Yeah, so, here. This is what it should be." He said taking her quill and scratching out the correct translation on her parchment.
"Thanks." Lily said.
"Well, it's 6, I better head to dinner before it's over. See you guys." Remus said.
He packed up his stuff and left.
"Well, I suppose I should put this away so we can work on the patrols." Lily said.
"Oh, right. I hope you don't mind, but I did up a rough one if you want to look over it? I already knew what the practice schedules were for the Quidditch teams so I made it around those. Nobody else had turned in a request yet." He said.
Lily's eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"You already did it?" She asked.
"Ah, well, I finished my runes so I had some time." James said.
Lily looked over the patrols and glanced at James.
"The Heads aren't required to patrol together." Lily said.
James rubbed the back of his neck.
"Er. Did you want to switch that then?" James asked.
Lily took a deep breath.
"No. No, it's fine. We can post this. I'm sure we will have to switch people around every now and again anyways due to tests or detentions and the like." Lily said.
James released the breath he was holding and nodded.
"Right, so, Hogsmeade dates? " He asked.
They worked on the dates referencing the calendar for suitable weekends that didn't conflict with Quidditch or holidays or vacation. The library clock chimed.
"Oh! It's 7 already!" Lily started packing her stuff up.
"Where are you going in such a hurry?" James asked.
"I was supposed to be in the dungeons at 7. Can we finish this later?" She said.
"Er, yeah. Why are you going to the dungeons?" He said.
"Slughorn wants me to help him brew." Lily said.
"I'll walk you down there." James said following her out of the library.
"I'll be fine, Potter. Do you think the Slytherins are all going to attack me or something? Besides, don't you have Quidditch practice?" She said.
"Well, Evans, I'm the captain so it's not like they'll start without me. And I need to ask Slughorn about something." James said.
She rolled her eyes.
"You're a terrible liar, Potter." Lily said.
He chuckled.
"It would make me feel better." He admitted.
She shook her head.
"The gallant Gryffindor." Lily said with a laugh.
James smiled.
When they reached professor Slughorn's classroom, James opened the door for her and followed her inside.
"Sorry I'm late professor!" Lily called.
"Ah, there's our Head Girl." Slughorn said.
"My apologies, professor. Head business held her up." James said.
Slughorn waved a hand.
"Right. Right. Good night to you Potter." He said.
James nodded and turned to Lily with a wink before he left.
"Now that you're all here I'll go over everything." Slughorn said.
Lily turned to see Severus and Regulus standing by the windows.
"You're my best brewers! And of course you're Slytherin, well, Lily my dear you know I think of you as an honorary Slytherin. Now, on the far wall there is a list of brews the Hospital Wing requires to keep stocked. Any time Madame Pomphrey uses anything her stores numbers are automatically adjusted on this list so we'll know what's needed. I'm giving you each a key to the supply cupboard so you can brew at your own time. Just sign out anything you need so I can keep those filled for classes. And any time you brew for the hospital sign off on the list too. That should be about everything. I know you three shouldn't have any troubles." Slughorn said.
He handed out their keys and left with words about a staff meeting.
Lily tucked away her key and made to leave quickly but Severus blocked her.
"Lily. Wait." He said.
She glared at him.
Severus glanced over at Regulus, waiting for him to leave.
"Apologies. I need words with the Head Girl about patrols." Regulus said.
Severus gave a defeated look and swept out of the room.
Lily turned back to Regulus.
"What is it?" She asked.
"Nothing. You just looked like you needed an excuse. Lovers quarrel?" He said.
"We're not lovers and it's none of your business." Lily said.
He followed her out of the room.
"Should I not intervene next time?" He said.
She stopped walking and he stopped next to her, looking down at her.
"Thanks for that. But really, I'm not discussing it with you." She said.
"Fair enough." He said.
"Why are you still following me?" Lily asked.
"Enjoying the view." He said.
She turned and cocked an eyebrow at him.
"Just seeing what it is about you.." He said.
"What?" She asked.
"You've got half the male population lusting after you, you must know? Potter's been threatening any bloke who looks at you twice." He said.
"No he has not!" Lily said disbelieving.
"That can't be news to you. He's been doing it for years ." Regulus said.
"If that's true then what do you think you're doing talking to me? James would kill you too." She said.
He smirked.
"I'm not afraid." He said.
He closed the distance between them until he had her backed up against the wall. Her heart was racing as he pressed into her, leaning down slowly.
"Are you?" He asked softly.
She swallowed thickly and slid past him.
"Do you have no respect for personal boundaries?" She asked.
He laughed.
"Do I make you uncomfortable?" He asked with a grin.
"I barely know you." She said.
"And what a tragedy that is." He said.
She rolled her eyes.
"You really are like your brother. Do those lines work on all the girls?" She asked.
He shrugged.
"Most of the time, yeah." He said.
"Well, I'd say I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not." She said bravely.
That damn smirk was still plastered on his face.
"Not yet, anyways." He said.
She rolled her eyes.
"Sure, whatever you say Regulus." She said.
He stuck his hands in his pockets casually and winked before turning back towards where she knew the Slytherin common room to be.
"See you soon, Lily." He called as he walked off.
She shook her head and went to the great hall to catch the end of dinner.
"I'm going to rip my hair out." Lily sighed in frustration.
"What's wrong?" Alice asked.
"Potter and I posted the patrol schedules this morning. I had three change requests in the first hour alone." Lily explained as she filled her plate.
"Already? Why?" Marlene asked looking up from her lunch.
"No valid reason! Because they don't like who they are patrolling with or because they like who someone else Is patrolling with... idiots." Lily sighed.
"So that's why James was plowing down people in the halls." Marlene said.
"Probably. These Prefects are driving me crazy already." Lily said.
Alice smiled sympathetically.
"So Transfiguration today… can't say I'm excited for that. I heard McGonagall is even harder this year." Alice said.
"I don't know how that could be possible. I barely passed with an Exceeds Expectations last year. And that included all the extra credit I had to beg for! I have to get an O on my NEWTS to get in the auror academy." Lily dropped her head on the table with a loud thunk.
"Well, hopefully its just rumors." Alice said sympathetically.
Marlene stayed quiet for the rest of lunch, even when Mary tried talking to her about the latest Witch Weekly gossip articles. Marlene loved those!
Alice and Lily sat next to each other in Transfiguration and waited for the bell to ring.
She noticed James and Sirius laughing a couple of rows over and wished she could feel that carefree in this class.
The bell went and McGonagall walked in with a snap of the door shutting behind her.
"Good afternoon class! This is your seventh and final year of Transfiguration, and your most important. If you are in this class then you all have career goals that require Transfiguration and I will tell you now that this will be your hardest year. We will be going beyond the normal courses of Transfiguration and focus on advanced Transfiguration. You must maintain at minimum of an Acceptable throughout the year. If you fall below I will be forced to cut you from this course, there is simply too much to go over and if you fall behind it will be next to impossible to catch up. So I suggest you all take this class very seriously, as your future depends on it. Now, we do not have time to go over a review so it will be an assignment that I will give you to be completed by the end of the week on top of your regular class assignments. We will start today with new material so take diligent notes. Everything we cover in this class can be on your NEWT exam. Now if you'll look to the black board, I have outlined todays lesson. Please turn to page 32 in your books." McGonagall said.
Lily's head was already spinning as she reached for her book and parchment and quill. She shot a look of dread towards Alice and began taking notes. This was her hardest subject and now it looked like it was going to be the hardest class as well. She looked over tonight's assignment and groaned at the 6 inches due on Thursday and then the review by the end of the week. Plus she still had her Runes review to finish and then patrols and Head stuff on top of everything.. And it was only Tuesday! She still had more classes she hadn't even started. She was starting to wonder if she was in over her head.
"Today has been miserable." Mary huffed as she sat down at the dinner table.
Lily nodded.
"Classes this year are going to be extremely difficult." She said.
Mary waved her hand flippantly.
"Who said anything about classes?" Mary said.
Marlene perked up from her sour expression when the opportunity to gossip presented itself.
"Do tell!" Marlene urged Mary.
"Well, there was a huge fight in the corridors this afternoon. And they were both Prefects!" Mary squealed.
Lily snapped towards her.
"What? What happened?" Lily asked.
"Well, Mark Haggington, the Ravenclaw sixth year, went to Potter about switching the patrol schedules or something. Apparently his fifth year Hufflepuff girlfriend was scheduled with the 6th year Hufflepuff and he wanted them to switch. Potter told him that wasn't a real excuse and he wasn't changing them for that. So Mark got mad and said some words to Potter. In the middle of his rant the sixth year Hufflepuff, I think his name is Andrew, overheard them and then he was yelling. You see, they were both dating the fifth year girl over the summer and then it came to blows right in the middle of the corridor and the Head Boy had to separate them!" Mary said.
"What? That's ridiculous, I've seen the Hufflepuff fifth year prefect. Her names Karen or something, right? She's not even pretty! How could she get two boyfriends?" Marlene said.
"Marlene!" Alice giggled.
"I don't know. I just felt bad for poor Mark at first. He's actually really nice most of the time. But then, well I heard what he said about Lily." Mary said.
"He said something about me?" Lily asked.
"Er, yeah. He said Potter must love being able to schedule all his patrols with you since everyone knew he'd been chasing you for years." Mary said.
Lily blushed.
"Potter looked like he was going to deck him. But he took points and threatened a detention. Well, until Andrew showed up." Mary said.
And just then Lily caught sight of James walking in to the Great Hall. She got up and ran over to him.
He sighed when he saw her approach.
"Listen, I took them both to Dumbledore and I will rearrange the patrols tonight. So don't worry, I didn't fight anyone either. And no, that's not true what Mark said about you." He said.
"I was just going to say good job… but let me know if you need any help with the patrol schedule." She said.
James looked at her with shock.
"You're not going to yell at me?" He asked with surprise.
"Why would I do that?" Lily asked.
"Er, well, I refused to change them and started the whole fight." He said.
"James, we are not changing the schedule every time someone wants to work with their girlfriend or has an argument with someone. That would be ridiculous." She said.
He was still staring at her with shock.
"You know, I think we should switch out Karen and make Mark and Andrew patrol together. Serves them right. And then they can resolve their differences." She said.
James smiled slowly.
"Yeah, that's kind of devious though." He said.
Lily shocked herself by the wink she gave him. But she liked the way he threw his head back and laughed.
She left him and made her way back to her friends.
"What was that?" Mary asked.
"What?" Lily asked innocently.
"Were you flirting with James?" Mary asked.
"What?! No! We were just talking." Lily said.
"That's the point! You weren't fighting!" Marlene said with surprise.
Lily rolled her eyes.
"Well, we are both the Head students. We are supposed to be setting a good example for the younger students. We can hardly do that if we are shouting at each other and fighting all of the time." Lily said.
"So, what? You just decided to ignore him when he makes you mad?" Alice asked.
"I haven't had to, actually. Now that he's not asking me out every day and acting like a fool I have no problem with him. And he seems to be really trying with the whole Head Boy thing." Lily said.
Her friends just stared at her before Alice' eyes lit up and she smiled down the table at the Marauders.
"You are so busted, James Potter." Alice said.
The Marauders all looked up when they saw Alice standing in the doorway of their dormitory. Alice knew she would find them up here, she'd asked Frank and Adam during their chess game in the common room. She'd been sitting around anxiously after dinner waiting for the perfect opportunity to talk to James.
"Er, Alice, um, everything ok?" James asked.
"You are in love with my best friend and I am on to your plan of acting like you aren't to get closer to her. I have you all figured out." She smiled.
"Shit. Game's up, Prongs." Sirius said.
James sighed and waved Alice inside.
"Alice... before I say anything else, I need to know... can you keep a secret?"
A/N: Hey readers, this is a new story I've been wanting to try out... I'd love some reviews to let me know what you all think! Or if I should even continue? Thanks!