I'm back! Note: for this story I have loads of additional info that will always be at the BOTTOM of the chapter. Skip it if you want, you'll just miss out. :)
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It was the morning of September the first, the day when Hogwarts students went back to school. The day was foggy and gloomy, and tension radiated through Lily Evan's house.
"Mum," Lily said coldly. "I love you, but you're being ridiculous."
"Ridiculous?" Caroline Evans snapped. "It's not ridiculous to tell you you can't go somewhere where people want to kill you!"
Lily Evans sighed irately and ran a hand through her hair.
"I'm of age, mum." Lily said. "I'd prefer to have your approval, but I don't need it anymore."
Caroline Evans frowned.
"You're not of age in this world," she said sharply.
"Doesn't matter," Lily said coolly. "I can apparate out here right now, or summon the Knight Bus, or Disillusion myself and fly to King's Cross."
Caroline's frown intensified then slid away.
"Why do you feel like going back to where people hate you?" Caroline pleaded.
Lily sighed.
"That world is irrevocably a part of me," Lily said wearily. "If I leave, that's one person less to fight for Muggleborns. It's one more victory for the pureblood supremists. Our rights will reduce to nothing and we'll be oppressed even more."
"Just leave them," Caroline said. "I've lost your father; I can't lose you too."
"Leave?" Lily said angrily. "How selfish is that? People are dying every day! Even if I wanted to leave, do you think that makes me safe? Makes you safe? These people have no respect for nonmagical people! Unless they're stopped, they'll take over this world and make the muggles slaves, merely there to serve or to provide entertainment."
Lily stopped, flushed and breathing heavily. All color had drained from Caroline Evans' face.
"Killing normal people?" Caroline said faintly. "They're killing us?"
"The Liverpool murders? That's them. The freak storm in Yorkshire? A cover-up. The Wales' controversy? Their fingers were all over it." Lily rattled off. "The London disappearances? Muggle torture for the Death Eaters."
Caroline Evans paled even further.
"There's no running from them, mum. All I can and will do is fight and finish my schooling. I'm Head Girl this year, did you know? And in this kind of environment, that's a clear challenge to the supremacists. My job this year at Hogwarts is to prove that Muggleborns can equal and surpass purebloods and reassure other Muggleborns." Lily finished wearily. "I told you about Voldemort for a reason, mum. Not to scare you or make you protect me. But because I want you to know what's going on. I don't want to shut you out of my life. I don't want to lose you in any way either."
Caroline Evans trembled and her eyes teared up.
"I suppose, "she said. "It would be best for you to….go back."
"Thanks mum." Lily said quietly.
Caroline seized her in an unexpected, but welcome hug.
"I'm proud of you," she whispered fiercely in Lily's ear. "Don't ever think otherwise. I'm just scared because I realized you've grown into something so strong and beautiful that I've realized you're not my little girl anymore. But you'll always be my daughter. My flesh and blood. My nine months and twelve hours of labor."
Lily let out a weak laugh at the old family joke about her birth.
"Go back to that school and show those 'pureblood' arses who they're dealing with." Caroline commanded, squeezing Lily one more time before releasing her and walking toward the kitchen.
Lily smiled at the profanity and the fighting spirit that her mum held, and turned to walk up the stairs to her room.
"Congratulations on your Headgirlship." Caroline called in a normal tone. "I'll cook you breakfast while you pack."
Lily grinned, and said her thanks before starting up the stairs, staring down at her feet contemplating what she needed to pack. She had almost reached the top, when a voice startled her.
"Is it true?"
Lily jumped. Petunia, Lily's estranged sister whom she had not exchanged a word with other than "hello" when they saw each other at King's Cross, stood at the top of the stairs, arms crossed, horsy face intent.
"What?" Lily said in surprise.
"About that Vol-bloke."
Petunia narrowed her eyes at Lily's barely suppressed snort of laughter that threatened to escape. It was truly amazing that her friends that could hex the balls off of a Death Eater were terrified of saying a name, while Petunia, who was afraid of spiders, dirt, and anything remotely terrifying, could say it with nary a stutter. But her amusement died as she remembered the topic that Petunia was inquiring into.
"Yes," Lily said quietly. "Every word and worse things unmentioned. And the bastard's just getting worse everyday."
Petunia stared at her for a few more minutes before stepping back and vanishing into her room. The door nearest the stair shut with a slam.
Lily stared at it for a few seconds before continuing on to her room.
Her room was painted white and green with white wood furniture and green accessories. Her carpet was unremarkably beige. Moving pictures of Hogwarts friends were tacked messily across along the border of the vanity mirror across the bed. Posters depicting various Wizarding paraphernalia were stuck along the walls. The white desk was covered with strewn papers and schoolbooks. On sunny or normal days, the room gave off a cheerful fresh air, but under the unnatural gloom of breeding dementors (one of the "worse things unmentioned") even the light, airy white curtains hung from the two windows looked forbidding.
Lily plopped carelessly onto the green bedspread on her bed with a sigh. Two open Hogwarts letters lay on the bedside table with two badges gleaming on top. Lily stared across the room into the mirror on the vanity, idly reminiscing on the happier days preserved in the photos.
Two heart stopping double bangs made Lily jerk upright, heart pounding, as the two windows flew open and the doubly sinister curtains seemed to reach for her. Rushes of cold air blasted into the room sending her letters, badges, and schoolwork flying. Open books' pages fluttered wildly, adding to the overall chaos. Lily's door slammed shut and a photo flew off the vanity and swept toward the window furthest from her.
"No, no, no!" Lily muttered, desperately lunging for it. The photo slipped through her clammy and sweaty fingers, lifting out of the house.
"No, damn it!" Lily cried. "Accio!"
The photo paused, the corners waving wildly as it fought against the wind.
"Accio photo!" Lily yelled again.
The photo fluttered once more before zooming toward her. Lily caught it gratefully as the windows shut as suddenly as they opened. The door swung silently open once more and her letters and schoolwork returned to their original positions. Lily felt a chill as she examined her schoolbooks. The pages were opened exactly to where they had been before.
"What the fuck?" she muttered.
There were no annoyed screeches from Petunia or concerned calling from her mother. Lily was even more freaked out by the apparent fact that they had not heard the racket.
Glancing down at the troublesome photo in her hand, Lily saw the cheerful face of a Hogwart's student. With a sigh ("The things I do for my photos"), Lily stuck the picture back onto the vanity—this time with a sticking charm. When she pulled away the hand that had been holding the photo, Lily felt a fresh jolt of shock mixed with dread.
Her hand was bleeding.
Wide-eyed, Lily did her best to ignore the dread and rationalize the situation. The edges of the photo had cut her when she grasped it. It wasn't symbolic or a portent of doom.
But watching the red liquid trickle slowly, pooling in crevasse and spilling over the edges of her palm, Lily couldn't quite find it in her to feel like a seedy fortuneteller.
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At Platform nine and three-quarters, Lily Evans stood alone. Her mother had prior appointments, and Petunia hadn't come since Lily's second year when Petunia could argue that she was old enough to stay at home alone. Everyone bustled around her, stiff backed purebloods that strode imperiously about, eager muggle families experiencing a taste of the magical world, happy magical families bidding fond farewells. It was like the world was rubbing it in that no one stood by her. Even family-less people had friends crowded protectively around them. Lily hadn't seen any of her friends. Perhaps with Voldemort on the rise, they had decided that is was unwise to be around a "Mudblood" like her. Lily felt a pang at the thought.
Staring at the world rushing around her, Lily felt like she was in a separate bubble that couldn't be popped or affected by anything or affecting anything. Sounds were distant and everything felt meaningless.
"Lily?"
The word punctured her unpoppable bubble instantly. Lily turned slightly to see four boys staring at her with varying expressions of concern.
"Yes?" Lily inquired distantly.
Remus Lupin eyed her warily as Sirius Black and James Potter exchanged a look. Peter fidgeted nervously under Lily's apathetic gaze.
"The, uh, train is about to leave." Remus said nervously.
"Oh, is it?" Lily said uncaringly. "I suppose I ought to get on then."
Lily pulled her trunk along behind her as she walked calmly to a distant train door through scarlet steam. The four boys walked around her, looking more worried by the minute.
Funny that immature boys would care more about her than her so-called "friends", Lily thought.
Lily entered the train and turned to pull up her trunk. The boys, however, had already grabbed it and were pulling it up along with their luggage.
Maybe there were benefits to having males as slaves—friends.
The boys sequestered a surprisingly empty compartment, and almost pushed an unresisting Lily into it. They placed her trunk up in the luggage compartment along with their own and sat in the compartment with her, not trusting her to be alone. All four of them had relaxed enough to speak quietly to each other, when Lily abruptly stood up muttered vaguely about a Prefect meeting, and left without any badge whatsoever adorning her body. The four shut up and watched her leave.
Remus raised an eyebrow as he pinned a prefect badge on his muggle clothes.
"She's really out of it," he marveled. "Did you see her staring out that window without blinking for five minutes straight?"
Sirius Black shook his head.
"I knew she was going to crack eventually, being a redhead and all, but I didn't expect it to be this soon." He replied.
James Potter frowned as he rose with Remus to go to the Prefect's meeting, also pinning a badge to his chest—although this one read "Head Boy".
"I never thought I'd say this, but I'm actually glad that I'm Head Boy so I can help Moony keep an eye on Evans. At this rate, she'll walk through the metal walls of the train right out onto the railroad tracks."
Sirius snickered.
"That badge already is working on you," Sirius shook his head. "I remember the days when we made fun of Moony for being a prefect. Now look at you! Glad to be Head Boy."
James scowled at Sirius as he opened the door.
"Shut it, Padfoot," James said threateningly. "If you keep bothering me, I'll sic Evans on you."
"Like she's any danger the state she's in," Sirius snorted.
James sent him a final threatening glare before following Remus out the compartment door and slamming it shut.
"He's a goner," Sirius said knowingly, shaking his head.
Peter raised an eyebrow.
"Goner for what?" he asked.
"For Evans," Sirius said sadly. "The day she dumped that butterbeer over his head, he was in love."
Peter sniggered.
"That's ridiculous," he said. "Evans hates James with a passion. James likes Dara Yarrow."
"Likes, Wormtail, likes," Sirius said. "Prongs loves Evans. There's a difference."
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Outside of the compartment, Remus glanced over at James.
"Looks like Lily isn't the Head Girl after all," he said.
James frowned.
"I was so sure it was going to be her," James muttered. "Now who could it be?"
Remus snickered.
"With your luck, it'll be Black, or Whatsherface, that girl who's so in love with you that she gets physically violent."
James glanced sourly at him.
"Keep aggravating me like this and I'll make sure you're permanently assigned to prefect patrols with that girl who pants after you, literally."
"Going to abuse your power already?" Remus smirked.
James snorted.
"Like you never looked the other way when we did something illicit."
Remus just laughed as they continued up the train corridor toward the first compartment.
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Lily Evans opened the door to the prefect's compartment. It was the very first compartment after the engine and was just like any other compartment on the train until the Head Girl or Boy activated the room. Then it turned into a conference room completed with charts, diagrams, maps, a rectangular wooden table, and plush chairs for the Heads.
Lily noticed that all the prefects were accounted for except one Gryffindor male as she went to sit in a corner by the window. The Head Boy was missing however. She missed the soft stir by everyone at her badgeless state, and glued her eyes to the foggy window.
The door slid open again, and Lily could see Remus' reflection in the mirror, quickly followed by James Potter's.
There was a quiet uproar to the Head Boy badge pinned on James' chest.
"Good one, mate!" A tall, burly seventh year Gryffindor prefect shook James' hand.
"Congrats," A few female prefects giggled.
"Dumbledore is mad," muttered a few fifth years in awe.
But all the complimentary comments were abruptly cut off by sixth year Narcissa Black.
"Potter," she said coldly. "You don't deserve that badge. You never were a prefect or dealt with any responsibility whatsoever. You never cared after the school. In fact, you destroyed property several times along with setting a bad example toward the lowerclassmen. There are prefects here that have worked their arses off and have earned that badge several times over.
James pinned her with an icy glare.
"Like your boytoy Zabini over there?" He said scathingly.
"I think even Lupin would be a better choice than you, Potter." She replied icily. "At least he's participated in patrolling, even if he's incapable of reining in his friends."
"And you think that being Quidditch captain isn't a shitload of responsibility too?" James demanded angrily. "You're such a—"
The door slid open yet again and the entrance of a group of witches and wizards cut off the brewing fight.
The prefects and Head Boy eyed the six adults with trepidation, while Lily continued her gazing out the window. It was starting to rain, she noticed idly.
"Hello, prefects." The lead wizard said calmly. "We are a mixed group of Aurors and Law Enforcers. We're here to ensure the train's safe arrival to Hogwarts and inspect the luggage for suspicious artifacts."
James raised an eyebrow, surveying them.
"Your point?" he asked coolly.
Everyone looked shocked at his behavior, except Lily, who was still looking out of the window, and the lead wizard who merely arched an eyebrow.
"Why are you announcing this to us? Shouldn't you be springing this on us unsuspectingly?" James elaborated.
"Because, Potter, we're in charge." Lily interjected coolly, before anyone could make a move. She was still steadfastly staring out the window. "They're searching our luggage right now while we're all cooped up in here, and they'll announce it to each student either directly before or after searching their compartments. Did you really think only six ministry workers would be all that the Ministry would send, even if they did have extensive budget cuts?"
The wizard arched his other eyebrow.
"Your name, miss?"
Lily remained silent, ignoring him.
"You haven't introduced yourself," James said, more to take the attention off of Lily than anything.
Narcissa Black rolled her eyes as the Aurors and Law Enforcers looked annoyed and startled.
"Joseph Brighton, Auror. Leading Hogwarts' defenses." The lead Auror said in a frozen voice.
"Sophia Allen, Auror." A woman with short, brown hair said curtly.
"Daniel Steele." A tall, brunette man said softly.
"Melaine Fuller, Law Enforcer, along with colleagues Steven Gerald and Hestia Jones," said a blond, cheerful looking witch. "As prefects, your first order of business is to cooperate with us in all matters. Your duties this year are to help us patrol and reprimand misbehaving students, and to report any suspicious behaviour in anyone, including professors, to us."
She smiled at everybody benignly.
"We will begin this course of action immediately. Meeting dismissed."
The prefects eyed each other nervously, then started to stir uncertainly. James frowned, unfamiliar with Prefect etiquette, feeling out of his depth yet knowing that there should be more covered in a meeting.
"No one move," Lily Evans snapped, suddenly returning to life, eyes finally torn away from the window. She rose from her corner and strode imperiously to the empty chair next to James reserved for the Head Girl.
"Young lady," Fuller said, looking bemused. "Are you supposed to be in this compartment?"
Lily blinked at her, then glanced down noting her badgeless state. She shrugged and sat down in the chair.
"Lily Evans, Head Girl," she said boredly. "Thank you for coming in and introducing yourselves, but you'll have to leave now."
Lily waved her wand and papers appeared. The prefects found themselves sitting at a table and the Ministry workers found themselves outside of the compartment door looking in.
"Your suggestions will be considered, but it would be best if you spoke to the Headmaster," Lily said, smiling benignly at the shocked Ministry workers. "We need to start the meeting."
And with a wave of her wand, the door shut and shutters blocked the window.
Lily briskly handed out papers and checked roll.
"Full attendance of forty-eight prefects and two leading Heads.(1) Twelve from each house, four from each year, fifth through seventh, two boys, two girls, correct?"
The seventh year "head" prefects of each house nodded.
"Excellent. This meeting on September 1, 1977 has now begun with Olivia Danforth as recorder. Welcome, new fifth year prefects. The Hogwarts rule books were sent over to you during the summer in order for you to familiarize yourselves with it. If you feel any are unfair, outdated, or need revision, submit the rule with the citation from the rulebook, along with a thorough explanation of why you find it unfair, outdated, or in need of revision. It will be considered by the Heads first, then passed through to the Headmaster, and if it reaches the Headmaster's approval, it will go under inspection from the school board members.
"The prefect badge is to be worn at all times outside your common rooms. Prefects cannot dock points, but can refer detentions to teachers through the Heads.
"The first duty of fifth year prefects is to lead the first years to your common rooms and give them a guide of their new house. Seventh years are to decide their house passwords and send them to the Heads. Also, seventh year prefects are to patrol the hallways from tonight until the next meeting reveals the order of patrols. However per tradition, you may choose where you patrol as long as it is in the school and may stop at midnight. Any questions?" Lily glanced down the table.
A fifth year Ravenclaw raised his hand.
"Why do we need to keep the badge on at all times?" he questioned.
"To show the students we have authority over them, duh." A Slytherin fifth year sneered, before turning red under Lily's raised eyebrow.
"The way the Head Girl phrased the command implied that there was a specific reason other than menial identification," the Ravenclaw retorted dryly.
"Dylan Lake, right?" Lily asked him.
Lake nodded.
"You are correct. The badges serve as a communications device, both connected with all the prefects and connecting only with your house prefects. It comes in handy when a password is changed or if you have a problem that requires more prefects."
The fifth year prefects glanced at each other with surprise.
"That's a good idea," a Hufflepuff prefect said.
A few Slytherins looked as if they wanted to comment on the obviousness of his comment, but desisted under another one of Lily's raised eyebrows.
"Sixth year prefects, you will be patrolling the train," Lily glanced over at everyone. "This year will be difficult, I won't lie to you," she said coolly. "No doubt Headmaster Dumbledore will go more into this, but Voldemort has risen."
This was greeted with several hysterical shrieks as everyone reacted to The Name. James' only reaction was his own raised eyebrow.
So Evans doesn't piss in her pants over Voldemort's name.
Lily ignored the chaos, and motioned for silence.
"People this year will be terrified, more prone to accidents. And there will be people trying to take advantage of this fear."
Lily stood up, and James admired the fierceness projected by her posture.
"No matter where the fuck your personal loyalties lie, no matter how the fuck you feel about certain people, understand this."
Lily swept the room with a piercing gaze.
"This is a school, not a warzone. There are children here that should be protected until they can learn to protect themselves. As prefects we have the duty to protect this school and look after the students. We are the leaders of this school, and people look to us for reassurance. Once you're out of here, do whatever the hell you want if you want to face the consequences. Here, you will do your duty for the school. And I will see none of this foolish house rivalry, if any of you have any sense."
Lily directed a frozen look first at the Gryffindors, then turned her gaze on the other houses.
"If you feel you can't do your duty, I would suggest resigning your position now."
Lily sat down and shuffled some papers.
"Anything you want to add, Potter?" Lily asked, her passionate tone gone, replaced by one of boredom.
"Nah, I think you've got it all covered, Evans," James replied lightly.
"Very well," Lily said calmly. "The extra patrols proposed by the Ministry will be considered and dealt with," Lily told the prefects. "But I doubt they'll be approved. Next meeting will be on the eighth. Also, five minutes before we arrive at Hogsmeade, prefects are to report back to this compartment where you will get to know each other and when the seventh years will show the fifth years how to operate their badges."
Lily stood.
"Meeting dismissed."
The prefects stood and milled about. A few came to congratulate her on her Headship.
"Lily!"
Lily was tackled by a small hurricane with dark brown hair.
"Hey, Emmeline," Lily gasped out.
"Hey, yourself. Summer was good to you?"
Lily shrugged.
"I'll tell you later."
"Ooh, juicy secret, eh?" she teased. "Well, I'll be in a compartment somewhere, hopefully one without gooey sucking face couples, oh that reminds me Mark St. Clair and Anna Lustig were caught snogging in a compartment somewhere, and your Head Boy is escaping."
"What?"
Lily whirled around to see James sauntering out the compartment door.
"Potter, we've still got a Head meeting," Lily called after him.
James stuck his messy head back in.
"Seriously?" he said, disappointed. "I wanted to go see what Sirius was up to."
"Hurry up," Lily sighed. "The sooner we get started, the sooner we're done."
James sighed and came back in.
"Shut the door please," Lily absently ordered, looking through papers.
James glanced out the door and saw the Ministry workers approaching with determined looks on their faces. Their number had grown by seven. With a wicked smirk, James shut the door in their faces.
"Hey, Evans, this thing has an automatic lock, right?"
"Yes," Lily replied. "Why—?"
She looked up at the door's slam and saw the faces of some very pissed off Aurors in the compartment window. James walked casually to his seat.
With a shrug, Lily waved her wand toward the window and turned it a solid red.
James raised his eyebrows.
"I can't and won't deal with them now," Lily said by way of explanation. "And I don't want to look at their faces longer than I have to."
"You don't like the ministry, do you?" James asked rhetorically.
"I don't like them interfering with Hogwarts," Lily replied. "They're unable to deal with Voldemort at their own place, why should they bother our system when it's working?"
James shrugged.
"What are we supposed to be doing?" he asked.
"Drawing up patrol schedules, scheduling Hogsmeade visits, planning out Quidditch practices and so on," Lily said briskly, handing James a stack of paper.
He willing took it, and starting working.
After an hour of silence, James pushed his finished stack away with a sigh. Lily was on a final sheet and signed it with a flourish. She gathered up her papers into a neat stack with a flick of her wand.
"So enlighten me, Evans. I know not of this world of prefects."
Lily sent him an exasperated look.
"Your responsibilities were listed in the letter that was sent to you," Lily said. "Or were you too busy crowing over getting the Head Boy badge?"
James rolled his eyes.
"I wasn't talking about that," he said. "I've read that so many times I've almost got that memorized. I'm talking about the unwritten, unspoken rules and traditions one has to experience. That shit."
"Well, this may come as a surprise to you, Potter," Lily said snidely. "But you have to experience them to get the experience. It's one of those learn as you go things. It's not something I can teach."
James disregarded the snideness.
"C'mon Evans," he begged. "Please? I don't even know why Dumbledore picked me; I'm not the Head Boy type. He should have picked Remus."
"No," Lily snorted. "Remus is okay, but not Head Boy material. I think you have the wrong idea of what exactly is a Head."
James raised an eyebrow.
"Stuffy, prudish, rule-abiding?"
"Potter," Lily sighed. "The Head Boy is not an overgrown prefect with a stick up his arse. He is a leader that can reassure the students and have them rally around him."
James listened carefully, then snorted.
"Two problems with that idea, Evans," he said. "First, Marcus Davis from second year. He was a stuck up prick of a Head and I know no one was reassured by him or would rally around him. Second, isn't that what the headmaster is for? To reassure the students and provide leadership?"
James thought it might be his overactive imagination, but he could have sworn that Evans had actually brightened at the chance of debating.
"Davis was the only viable candidate for Headship that year. He was also a Head in peacetime. Voldemort was nothing but a political activist then. Now he's a real threat. I think, as surprising as it may seem considering your ego, you don't know how popular you are, Potter. People look up to you and will follow you. Dumbledore's just augmenting that power with legitimate authority," Lily said.
"As for Dumbledore, he may be the official leader, but he's not the peer leader. Students don't think he's in touch with their lives because he doesn't experience daily life with them and because he lives in a tower most never will see. Think about it. The most contact the average student has with Dumbledore is at the Welcoming speech at the beginning of the year and the end of the year and also the occasional Quidditch game.
"You, you're one of them. You know what's going on. You're cool. Someone worth following. At least, that's their thinking."
James blinked at her.
"Slytherins hate me," he pointed out.
Lily shook her head.
"They know you're smart, powerful, and pureblood. They're just displeased you consort with 'filth'."
James scoffed.
Lily pointed to herself.
"I was friends with a Slytherin once, remember?" Lily said. "I got a lot of interesting inside information."
James acknowledged this with a shrug.
"If everyone does depend on me as much as you say they do, then what are you here for? The wild ride?" he asked.
Lily was silent for a moment.
"Think about it, Potter. I'm a Mudblood."
James made a sound of protest. Lily ignored him and soldiered on.
"There's a Mudblood-hating maniac out there. I'm a grand gesture of defiance. And there'll be plenty of shunned muggleborns around. There has to someone for them."
"And you have no problem with being a 'grand gesture of defiance'?" James said skeptically.
Lily's answering smile was so terrifying, James had to feel pity for anyone who incurred the wrath of Lily Evans.
"If it shoves a stick up Voldemort's arse, so be it."
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Lily and James were walking back to their compartment. Lily was basking in the glow of triumph of a successful first meeting and the glow of embarrassment from making a speech of her private thoughts in front of Potter. Lily hoped that the memory would leak through his ears as quickly as everything else seemed to do.
"So, Evans," James said conversationally.
"What?" Lily replied warily.
"What was up with the crazy act this morning? You had Sirius worried; he thought you were under some sort of curse of something."
"Yes, I'm sure Black was quivering over my health," Lily said sardonically.
"Listen, Evans, if you're going to be a 'grand gesture of defiance'—"
Lily flushed in pure embarrassment.
"You can't let go of anything once it's stuck in that mophead of yours, can you Potter?"
"At least that means I can hold onto my ideas and thoughts," James snapped back.
"Oh, yes, I'm sure making first years cry is very applaudable as an idea—"
"Don't be such a bitch, Evans—"
"Don't swear in public, Potter! You're setting a bad example for—"
"God, you're so fu—"
"If you complete that sentence, we'll be pulling into Hogsmeade with half a Head Boy." Lily snarled, fingering her wand.
"Threatening me, are you Evans?" James retorted, but keeping a hand on his wand just in case. "Isn't that forbidden by one of your precious rules?"
"Potter, I swear on Morgana le Fay—"
"What's this? Our beneficent Heads having a squabble outside of my compartment?" A light playful female voice said.
Lily turned pale as she recognized the speaker. Turning slowly, she prayed to any deity listening that it wasn't—Lily's heart fell a hundred metres underground. Of all the people that she wouldn't want to hear, Kaylie Halloway had to be at the top of the list.
Kaylie Halloway was unnaturally perfect in Lily's opinion. Some god had decided to interfere in her birth or something. How else would she be so tall, slim, beautiful, smart, and athletic with a spill of coffee black hair and with so light brown eyes that they looked almost gold?
"Hello Kaylie," Lily said, hoping her face and tone were neutral.
Kaylie had made constant overtures to be Lily's friend which Lily hadn't quite shot down or accepted. Lily had found that it was hard to articulate her feelings on Kaylie when confronted face-to-face with an offer of friendship in a nice, considerate tone.
James raised an eyebrow.
"Lily, congratulations on making the Headship!" Kaylie said enthusiastically.
It was really hard to hate someone that gave such a genuinely happy congratulation.
"I knew you would be picked," Kaylie said with a perfect smile. "This year is going to be amazing with you as Head Girl."
"Thanks," Lily mumbled.
"You too, James." Kaylie said cheerfully. "I know that people will probably doubt your claim to Headship but—"
Kaylie peered intently into James' eyes. He looked disconcerted, Lily was pleased to see.
"—You'll do fine." Kaylie said with a pleased smile.
"Well," Lily said quickly. "It was nice talking to you, but Potter and I have to go."
"Oh, here, I'm all alone in this compartment, could I sit with you?" Kaylie glanced over her shoulder into her compartment.
Lily was appalled and tried to peer over Kaylie into her compartment, but Kaylie was simply too tall.
"Um…." Lily appealed to James. "Our compartment is kind of full."
"Sirius, Remus, and Peter won't mind," James said cheerfully. "C'mon, Halloway, let's go."
Kaylie smiled, pleased, and levitated her trunk down from the overhead compartment.
"So you two are in a compartment together?" Kaylie inquired idly as they strode, well James and she strode, Lily had to hurry to keep up, down the hallways, past compartments full of chattering students. Lily could not see how Kaylie would have a compartment to herself unless everyone had grown sick of her perfection.
"Yes," Lily said brusquely, slightly out of breath from the exertion of keeping up.
James glanced at her then subtly slowed his stride to match Lily's pace. Kaylie blinked, then smiled and did the same.
"Wow. It's great to see you two are becoming friendly. Or friends. And it's even better that you two are both from Gryffindor." Kaylie laughed. "Go lions!"
Becoming friendly? Friends?
"Uh, Potter and I aren't friends." Lily said quickly.
She glanced out of the corner of her eye to gauge Potter's reaction. He just looked amused.
"We've just decided to act maturely as befitting our station and work together this year."
"Oh, okay." Kaylie looked disappointed. "Still, working together. That's good."
"Yeah." Lily replied.
An awkward silence ensued.
Lily desperately wondered when the train had gotten so long and where her compartment was.
James idly wondered why Lily seemed to be more on guard around Kaylie than when she was around him.
And Kaylie wondered what exactly was wrong with herself that Lily acted to strangely around her.
When they finally reached the compartment, Lily breathed an inaudible sigh of relief.
James slid open the door, and Sirius' loud voice greeted them.
"James! Who'd you bring back?"
"Two birds." James grinned. "One stone."
"Stone is right," Lily heard Kaylie mutter. "Stonehead"
"Nah, Evans doesn't count," Sirius said dismissively.
Before Lily could decide to be offended or not, Sirius continued,
"Halloway, however…." He waggled his eyebrows up and down.
Kaylie's smile disappeared and she looked disgusted. Her trunk flew up with a loud bang into the luggage compartment right over Sirius' head. His smile wavered slightly before returning with twice as much gusto. Kaylie swept huffily into the seat next to Remus, who was reading.
"You're Lupin, right?" She said.
Remus looked up and nodded, surprised and slightly inquisitive.
"Kaylie Halloway," Kaylie said curtly, grabbing his hand and shaking it. "Pleasure to meet you. What's that you're reading?"
"Ah…." Remus looked nonplussed. "It's nothing, just a muggle book."
Kaylie's expression became even frostier.
"I'm half-muggle." She said disapprovingly. "Are you saying I'm half-nothing?"
"No, no, no!" Remus said hastily. "I'm a half-blood too!"
Kaylie's frown deepened.
"Half-blood?" She repeated. "I hate that derogatory term. It's as bad as Mudblood. What are those inbreds implying? That our blood's half-what? Real? Human? Worthy? That we have half the required—no, right—kind of blood and that we will only amount to half what the so-called 'purebloods' will? They have the dirtiest blood of all, marrying their relatives! If anyone should be called Mudblood, those 'pureblooded' overbred, recessive traited, deficient slime balls are the best fit!"
Lily blinked at Kaylie in shock. What the fuck was that?
"Half-blood refers to a person having one pureblood parent with the other not being a pureblood." Sirius drawled. "And James and I are both purebloods."
"Well, so's Bellatrix, Malfoy, Lestrange, Nott, Avery, Crabbe, Parkinson, Zabini, Avery, and Rosier." Kaylie retorted. "And even allowing oneself to be called a half-blood is allowing the continuation of discrimination that rots this 'superior' magical world!"
"You're mental, Halloway, no one really cares about that rubbish—"
"No one cares?" Kaylie's voice shot up two octaves. "Voldemort fucking cares you asshole! And I think you should be just as sensitive as I am over discrimination, Black."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Black snapped.
Kaylie shot him a furious look.
"Tu as un copain qui est un enfant de la lune, n'est pas?(2)"
The blood drained from Sirius' face. Lily felt nothing but confusion from the obviously foreign language, but James and Peter looked like Sirius, and Remus shook with terror and scooted away from Kaylie.
"Wha-what are you talking about?" Sirius repeated weakly.
"Don't act stupid." Kaylie said dangerously. "I know perfectly well both of your big secrets; I would have thought you'd defend your friends better."
Lily felt frustration. What the fuck was going on?
Sirius and Kaylie engaged in a staredown. The atmosphere was so tense in the compartment that Lily was surprised the glass hadn't shattered and the metal of the train hadn't warped. The door slid open, and while the visitor was unwelcome, at least she broke the awful tension that had begun to build into something magical.
"Cousins," Narcissa Black said coldly, nodding to James and Sirius. "Kaylie Halloway, do you know her?"
"Don't cousin me, Black," James said angrily. "As far as I'm concerned, we're as unrelated as can possibly be."
"And I'm afraid that courtesy of my dear mum, we are no longer related either, Cissy dear." Sirius added. "Go off and play with your other pureblooded friends now."
Narcissa eyed then coldly.
"Answer my question." She commanded.
Sirius grinned.
"Don't know a Kaylie Halloway myself. You mate?" He asked James.
"Nope, never heard of one." James said boredly. "You sure you have the right name?"
"Maybe there's one in Ravenclaw or something." Remus mused casually.
"I dunno, Remus," Peter replied just as casually, "Maybe it was Katie Hathaway you were thinking about. But she's in Hufflepuff."
Narcissa eyed them irately and glanced at Lily and Kaylie. Lily let her shoulders lift in a shrug and turned away for some miscellaneous paperwork. Kaylie glanced away and fiddled with her hands. Narcissa let out a sigh of exasperation and slammed the door shut behind her.
James waited a few moments before pouncing on Kaylie.
"What does she want you for?" he inquired.
Kaylie was pale.
"I don't know," she said, "Must be some crazy pureblood thing or something."
Then she turned away and busied herself with a schoolbook.
Lily watched her for a few moments before looking up to catch the gazes of the four boys. She shrugged again before returning to her paperwork. But Lily had a feeling that Kaylie was lying and that she knew exactly why Narcissa Black had come looking for her.
-OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO-
(1)It always made no sense to me that there would be two from each house which would make it eight prefects with two heads. All in all 10 people to patrol the school, along with whatever teacher can make time among all their lesson planning/grading/etc. I know in the books it seems there are 10 students to a year, five girls, five boys. That would make 70 students per house, and 280 students in all. In a ginormous castle. With seven stories in it. Sure. Besides, it's impossible that every year they'd have precisely the same amount of new kids. Also, if Hogwarts is the best school in Britain/Scotland, most of the population not homeschooled/schooled elsewhere would attend. Even accounting for the fact that the magical population is smaller than the muggle (and the population of the UK in 1977 was about 56 million), I still say that there must be at least 2000 magical children for Britain, Ireland, and Scotland. At least. Therefore, ten people patrolling a ginormous castle with 2000 students ready for mischief? No no. So, I put 16 prefects from each house, four from fifth, sixth, and seventh year. That gives us 48 prefects, and along with the heads, 50 people to patrol.
(2) This means "You have a friend that/who is a child of the moon, don't you/isn't it?" Yeah, french for werewolf is loup-garou, but cut Kaylie some slack. She doesn't want to TOTALLY blare the fact that there is a savage man-hunting full moon beastie loose.
(3) Yes, I know there is no three thingy. Cut me some slack. :) This is a note about the names. In dialogue, people refer to other people according to their relationship. Ex: Lily to James is Potter. Sirius to James is James. Etc. However in the rest of the story, people will be referred to as according to their standing in the story. Like the Marauders, even though Lily would refer to them by their surnames, are called by their first names, while Snape and such are surnamed (is that a word?). Narcissa, however, is addressed by her first name to prevent confusion as there are loads of Blacks. All Blacks will be "firstnamed".
(4) Yes, I know there isn't a four either. Whatev. As the main characters are TEENAGERS, they will act like TEENAGERS. Shocking, I know. Therefore, the TEENAGERS will use "bad words" and the boy TEENAGERS will be kinda gross. Because that's how they are, unfortunately. But, as they are TEENAGERS, they will not act like hyper, crazed, unrealistic four year olds either.
(5) I promise, last one. I've always hated stories that had Lily and James as wimps. You know, James is a wimpy hyper, crazed, unrealistic four year old and Lily is a "spitfire" that is easily run over. And everyone else is wimpy too. Shudder. There'll be none of that, but also none of the super!powered people. They'll be normal, well as normal as can be.
(6) Okay, I lied. This time for real, last one. The title? Yeah, it'll make sense in a later chapter. Maybe chapter three? Hopefully.
~Nsisdazl :)