This is my first fully written FanFic, I tend to write chapters, or little bits of stories but never finish them! I hope it's written well, and I apologise for any grammar or spelling mistakes, I've tried my best to get rid of any that may be in the story. This chapter isn't too long, because I was trying to set the scene more than anything else, so hopefully the chapters will be longer in future.
I will love you forever if you'll review!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, and my name is not JK Rowling.
Chapter One - Night Whispers.
The first Wednesday night of the new school year at Hogwarts was cool and crisp, and the only source of light for the head boy, James Potter, and the head girl, Lily Evans, patrolling the corridors was the moonlight beaming in through the window. A slight frown was upon Lily's pale face, her green eyes narrowed in thought. She seemed to be less than impressed with the patrolling arrangements, and still seemed to be slightly shocked that James Potter, of all people, was the head boy. It wasn't that he wasn't likable, in fact, quite the opposite, James could be quite endearing. She didn't mind rule breakers, because James and his friends had brilliant minds, it was just that he was aware of this, and that he was too often arrogant. If there was one thing Lily couldn't stand, it was arrogance. James Potter, however, had a gigantic grin on his mischievous face, his bright hazel eyes twinkling and his glasses a little lop-sided. In his opinion the patrolling arrangements couldn't be more superb.
As they walked along the dark corridors, with the shadows jumping out at them, James ran a hand through his already messy jet black hair, making it messier, and seemingly windswept. If this was intentional, orby not it was just habit, it wasn't clear, but Lily, who saw this and pretended she didn't, privately thought it was on purpose. James then glanced at Lily, who was deliberately looking everywhere but at him, and looked away quickly, as if he would burn if he looked at her too long.
James sighed, and looked back down at the floor. Upon hearing this sigh, Lily almost looked at him, but caught herself at the last second. She really didn't want to give him any ideas.
As they turned the corner, James pulled his wand out, pointing it at a dark shape in the corridor. As they walked closer, Lily laughed, and he his wand away with a sigh. This was the third time that night he had mistaken a suit of armour for a person breaking curfew.
'How was your summer?' was James' attempt at conversation.
'Good,' replied Lily shortly, once again making it so she wasn't giving him any ideas, and already regretting she had laughed at something he had done earlier, even if was at his mistake.
James sighed again, and Lily felt herself giving in.
Oh alright, she thought. 'It was alright, you know, nothing interesting. I saw my friends a few times, but I didn't really do much, I suppose. How about you, how was your summer?'
James grinned, ecstatic that she had decided to talk to him. 'Same, really, just Sirius and I at my house mostly, but Remus came over when he could.'
'Did Sirius stay at your house for the summer, then?' Lily asked.
'Well, yeah, he er, lives at my house,' James responded slightly uncomfortably.
'Why?' Lily asked, looking at James curiously.
'Well, er, you know...' James said, running his hand over the back of his head nervously, as Lily looked at him, again curiously, but didn't pursue the subject.
As they walked along, James tried to think of another topic. One that didn't involve himself, because this year, this year, he wasn't going to be arrogant, this year, he was going to follow Remus and Sirius' advice, and this year, he was going to get this amazing, radiant, red haired beauty to fall in love with him. I'd actually even settle for her just to like me, James tried to convince himself, as they walked through the hallways.
'I can't wait for transfiguration this year, can you? We're going to be doing brilliant things,' was his next attempt at conversation.
Lily raised an eyebrow, and James' heart sunk.
Not that he could blame her for her reaction, because now that he came to think of it, that had sounded pretty pathetic. He just couldn't help it though; by being this close to him, she was making him incredibly nervous.
'And you're really good at transfiguration,' James smiled at her.
Lily laughed, and then as they walked along, she watched him out of the corner of her eye. This was different, she thought, he seems so different this year. Something had changed. He was defiantly more mature, perhaps he was less arrogant too. As they turned the next corner, she wondered why Albus Dumbledore, the slightly eccentric headmaster of Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and greatest wizard of the time, had chosen James Potter, the trend setting boy who had detention almost every week, and part of the, although brilliant, mischief making marauders. She considered his actions during the patrol. He'd only talked about himself once, which was in response to a question she'd asked, he hadn't, as far as she could tell, tried to impress her, and he hadn't even asked her out yet! Of course, as soon as that thought ran through her mind, he opened his mouth to speak. Foreseeing his words, she cut him off.
'No,' she said. 'Nuh uh. No way.'
'What?' he asked defensively. 'What are you talking about?'
'I know exactly what you were going to ask, and the answer is still "no". We were having a very nice conversation, and you can't ruin it by asking me that. And I thought you seemed decent! Nuh uh. How will I be able to know if you're a nice person or not if we can't even hold a proper conversation? So no. No way.'
'I wasn't going to ask you that!'
'Oh, you weren't? Then what were you going to say?'
'I ... um, I ... er, well, I was going to say... er... we should start heading back to the common room, right, 'cause our patrol's almost over. Yeah.'
'Right,' Lily said disbelievingly. 'Well...' she looked at her watch. 'Yeah, alright then.'
'You thought I seemed decent?' James asked, as he held his breath, barely daring to hope.
'Yes I did,' said Lily matter-of-factly. 'Until you opened your big mouth again.'
'Oh,' said James. For a few moments they walked in silence, Lily beginning to doubt that James had, as she had previously thought, matured, and James berating himself for opening his mouth, trying desperately to think of a topic that showed Lily he genuinely cared about her and he actually was a nice person.
'So has anyone been giving you any trouble, then?' James asked, as they made their way back towards their common room, finally deciding on a topic that was safe, and that portrayed James as a nice person.
'No, well, not yet,' replied Lily, and as they walked, they continued to discuss the rise of the dark lord, and those now at Hogwarts most likely to join him. Lily's stomach lurched at the mention of Severus Snape, and she quickly started to talk about the other likely candidates. She didn't want to think about Severus at all, let alone about him joining the dark lord, a monster who was hunting down muggleborns like herself, and she defiantly didn't want to talk about Severus with James, who made no efforts to hide the fact that he absolutely loathed him.
Back in the common room, James paused at the bottom of the staircases to smile at Lily. 'See, that wasn't too bad, now, was it? I can be a decent person,' he grinned. 'Good night Lily.'
She smiled back. 'Good night James,' she said as she made her way to her dormitory, slightly confused over the way the night had turned out. As she laid in bed, she thought about the patrol. She'd actually had fun, she decided. She thought he'd be a pain in the neck, but he seemed to be a perfect gentleman. Admittedly, he had tried to ask her out once, but that was the only time he had showed a bit of his old arrogance.
In the boy's dormitory, James was also thinking about the way the night had turned out. He was doing well, he thought, as he realised that Lily had laughed not once, but twice, and had actually smiled at him as she left for her dormitory. Perhaps Remus and Sirius were right? Perhaps showing off was the wrong way to act around her. It had, after all, never gotten him anything except rejection, and occasionally a slap to the face. And although Sirius and Remus did move from girl to girl, like he occasionally did when trying to convince himself and his friends he was over Lily Evans, if they wanted something more substantial and meaningful than a quick fling, they were able to get it. Perhaps they did know what they were talking about.
Pondering the meaning of the night's events, the two heads fell into a deep sleep, both dreaming of the other. Meanwhile, in the headmasters office, Albus Dumbledore sat at his desk, congratulating himself on a fine decision to make them heads.
The next morning found James and his friends and fellow marauders Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew sitting at the Gryffindor table for breakfast. As Lily walked past him on her way to her friends, also sitting at the table, she ignored his attempts to catch her eye. If she said hello to him todayshe'd have to say hello to him every morning, and she wasn't yet prepared to put that much effort into a relationship with him, even if the previous night he had seemed to be different.
James looked back around, disappointed, as Remus and Sirius chuckled. James glared at them. 'She was fine last night!' he retorted. 'She said good night and everything! Besides, I'm now taking your advice. I didn't speak about myself last night, I tried not to show off, and I didn't go out of my way to impress her.'
Sirius and Remus looked at each other, eyebrows raised, and more than slightly impressed, then leaned closer to James to hear the full details of the patrol.
Further down the table, Lily's friends started at her, obviously waiting for something. A few bites into her apple, she looked up at her friends, just as the marauders bar James burst into loud laughter, with Remus snorting "You dickhead, Prongs."
'What?' she asked.
'You know what,' replied Mary, one of her closest friends.
'So how did it go? Asked Siobhan, one of her other closest friends. 'He doesn't have any injuries as far as I can tell. Why not? What happened?'
'Well... nothing really. He... he wasn't arrogant at all, he was completely tolerable, it was strange. He was almost likeable.'
Mary watched her finish her apple, with a calculating look on her face, and then, as Lily began to spread liberal amounts of jam onto her muffin, Mary turned and gave Remus and Sirius a discreet thumbs-up. They grinned, knowing exactly what that thumbs-up was about, and at the opposite end of the Great Hall, up at the teachers table, Dumbledore smiled and winked at them, as he turned to converse with Professor McGonagall, the transfiguration teacher.
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