CHAPTER ONE - The Perks of Being a Head Girl

Seventh Year

"Did you hear who made Head Boy this year?" A fourth-year girl behind Lily on Platform 9 3/4 was whispering obnoxiously. "It's James Potter!"

"Oh, Merlin, he's dreamy," her friend gushed.

Lily was tempted to turn around and tell the girls exactly what she thought of their James Potter, maybe knock him down off the pedestal, but decided the girls would have to come to their own conclusions and let them be. Besides, she'd have to deal with the boy himself soon enough.

She'd known Potter would be Head Boy since her own letter had arrived, notifying her of her position of Head Girl. She had been absolutely thrilled for a whole thirty seconds, before she realized there was more writing in the letter and learned of who her new partner would be.

Her trunk was loaded up onto the train, and she had kissed her mother goodbye outside the barrier. Petunia had been with them, and she had refused to set foot in the magical world. Lily was not sure she would have even been able to make it through the barrier, and while slightly crushed, was secretly glad she did not have to find out whether or not the barrier would reject her sister.

There was a loud pop, and suddenly a voice squealed, "Lily!" A pretty blonde girl had Apparated beside her, grinning widely. "I've been practicing Apparition all summer. Nothing quite like having the Trace gone..." She trailed off, letting her smile speak for her.

Lily greeted Marlene enthusiastically. "Some of our Traces don't break until January," she scolded lightly. "So don't go around bragging."

Marlene's smile, if possible, only widened. "Jealous?"

"Of you? Never."

Marlene gave Lily a friendly shove. "Well, come on. Onto the train, and all that. I suppose you'll have to go up to the prefect's carriage...?"

Lily shuddered. "Never before have I dreaded a meeting as much as I do now."

"It's a pain you must shoulder, dear," Marlene advised. "Mary and I will get a carriage. If you see Alice or Hestia, let them know to come find us."

Lily nodded, hurrying onto the train towards the front compartments, dreading the moment she would have to lay eyes on James Potter, who was undoubtably planning to lord his new position of power over her.

Upon entering the prefect's carriage, however, she bumped into Remus Lupin. "Remus!" She said, pleasantly surprised. "I was—I thought—is Potter not here yet?"

Remus smiled warmly. "No, he said he was running a bit late today." He paused, tilting his head. "You do realize he's going to think you were looking for him."

"What? Don't be ridiculous." Lily lowered herself into a seat at the front of the carriage. "I don't think Potter's going to show. Honestly, Remus, I don't understand—"

"I'm here!" A very out of breath James Potter appeared in the doorway, his eyes sweeping the compartment before landing on Lily. As soon as they did, his hand flew to his hair. "Evans," he said, his voice lowering.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Sit down, Potter. We're just waiting on the sixth year Slytherin prefects and one fifth year Ravenclaw."

"Excellent." Potter threw himself down in the seat adjacent to Lily's. "So how do these meetings usually go?"

Remus sighed tiredly. "Prongs, I tried to tell you last week—"

"I wasn't listening," Potter interrupted airily. "You know that."

Exasperated, Lily tried to explain. "The Head Boy and Girl—I suppose that's us, now—usually welcome the prefects, give them an outline on their expected duties, and answer questions. We're also to begin assigning rounds schedules, and then we send them to patrol for a while. I have a schedule drawn up..." She rummaged in her bag for a moment, but not before she noticed the look Potter threw to Remus. "What?" she snapped, straightening with a piece of parchment clutched in her hands.

"Nothing," Potter lied easily. "I'm just very proud of how prepared you are, Evans."

The last few prefects filed in, grabbing the empty seats nearest to the doors. Lily cleared her throat. "Right! Welcome to our first official meeting of the 1976-1977 school year! Now, I realize most of you have done this before and know the drill, but it's always nice to have a refresher. And for the eight new prefects...and our Head Boy," she added begrudgingly, "this will be completely unknown. So," she finished brightly. "Let's get started! Your basic duties are to attend these meetings, of course, and patrol nightly—"

The fifth-year female Hufflepuff prefect...Aline, Lily thought her name was, raised a hand. "Um...Miss Evans?"

"Lily," the Head Girl corrected encouragingly.

"Right. Lily. Um, are patrols...scary?"

"Leave it to the Hufflepuff," Potter muttered behind her.

Lily ignored him, but her jaw tightened at the embarrassed look on Aline's face. "Of course not," she said soothingly. "Mostly you're looking out for snogging couples. Usually Sirius Black."

James snorted. "Do they really say that every meeting?"

"Yes," Lily said, trying to keep the corner of her mouth from quirking up in a smile. "There is a prefect handbook, of course, and you should all pick up a copy...the library has about four dozen."

"How will we know when to patrol?" the fifth year Gryffindor boy asked brazenly.

Lily forced a smile. "Potter and I will devise a schedule, which will be handed out in our next meeting...Tuesday, I think. Until then, the two of us will do rounds."

"What about Quidditch?" A Ravenclaw girl asked. "Last year a ton of meetings conflicted—"

"Oh, finally, I'm useful," James grumbled. "I'll make sure there aren't any conflicts in that respect. Unless they overlap with Slytherin practice." He flashed the prefects in green ties a smile. "Then you'd better be here."

Severus was glaring at Lily. Lily had managed to ignore him, forget he was there, even, but his eyes were boring into her. She tried desperately not to look at him. "Any other questions?" she asked weakly.

The prefects shook their heads.

"Good," James said, sounding relieved. "We may not be late to lunch after all."

"Actually, Potter," Lily began through gritted teeth as the younger students filed out, "I was wondering if I could have a word."

"Of course," he said. Were her eyes deceiving her, or did he look nervous?

Once the compartment was empty, and Severus had finally torn his eyes away from Lily, she spoke again. "You need to take this seriously or I'm talking to Dumbledore."
Potter looked shocked, but he masked it quickly. "Who said I'm not taking this seriously?"

Lily ran a hand through her hair, a gesture she failed to notice she had borrowed from the boy opposite her. "Look, I know you didn't exactly want this position. But I've been dreaming of being Head Girl since I was eleven—"

"I know."

"Then you understand why I need a partner who is with me, one hundred percent." She met his gaze fiercely.

James leaned in closer. "I'm always with you."

Lily drew herself back. "Stop hitting on me," she commanded.

"I wasn't."

"Don't lie blatantly either," she said, taking a deep breath. "This is going to be hard if we hate each other. I...I propose...I mean, I think...well, it'd just be best if..."

"Spit it out, Evans," Potter said teasingly. "I don't want to miss the lunch trolley.

"I think we should be friends," Lily said abruptly.

Potter's eyes widened. "Two years of me pursuing you, and now you change your mind? What happened? What did I finally do right? Do tell, Evans, I'm begging you!"

"Shut up," Lily snapped. "Nothing you did. If we're going to be Heads, we can't be hating each other. So I'm going to put forward a serious effort to not find everything you do irritating, and you have to stop flirting with me."

James smiled. "Of course, Lily. Come along, then, it's getting late."

Lily sighed irritably. "We're not sitting in the same compartment. It's my last journey to Hogwarts; I want to actually enjoy it."

"As you wish." Potter went on ahead, leaving her staring behind him. He seemed to be different, she thought. Like he was unsure how to act around her. He flickered between the old arrogance, and a new sort of shyness.

She was probably imagining it. Hallucinating, from hunger. As her stomach growled, she broke herself out of the stupor and hurried back to the compartment where her friends awaited.

Lily tried to commit every second of the Welcoming Feast to memory. The way the candlelight danced on the polished wood tables, the laughter and yells of the third years, the terrified faces of the first years. Lily sat with her friends, but stared at the ceiling instead of paying attention to them. She would miss that ceiling, she thought. All the stars moving slowly across the sky...she still had a year left, for Merlin's sake! She could be nostalgic later.

The Sorting Ceremony was the same as it always was. The Sorting Hat warned of the outside dangers, and practically begged that house rivalries stop.

Lily would never tire of Hogwarts feasts. Though she would never tell her mother, all summer she missed returning, if only for the superior cooking. House elves certainly knew their way around a kitchen.

"Lil," Mary said, poking her arm. "Earth to Lily."

Lily blinked, looking up from her plate, which was unfortunately nearing empty again. "Sorry?"

"If you're so tired we can go up to bed early," Mary said, her eyes full of concern.

Lily shook herself awake. "No, I'm fine. Just thinking." She quickly turned her attention to Alice Prewett, who sat next to her with her boyfriend, Frank Longbottom.

"—and my cousin Molly's pregnant again, with twins this time, if you can believe! They're not due until next year, but still, it's going to be busy around her house...four children, Merlin."

"At least they seem to like each other," Hestia Jones said. "I'd hate to see that many kids hate each other."

"I spoke to Bill, he says they're always underfoot...he's the oldest after all, he'd know..."

Marlene laughed. "As the oldest of three, I can agree that it is never our fault. Younger siblings are just annoying." She shuddered. "Mark once put frog spawn in my pillowcase. I didn't even notice until ages later when it was already a frog..." She grimaced at the memory as Frank and Alice roared with laughter.

Lily felt a little sick, but kept eating.

"And Martin's the youngest, he's six," Marlene continued enthusiastically. "He doesn't listen to anything I say. Thinks it's all about him. He gets away with everything! Little siblings have all the luck, I swear. I couldn't get away with anything."

Lily's ravenous appetite seemed to vanish. "Y'know, Mary, I think I'll take you up on that," she said quietly, sliding off the bench and slipping away from the table and out of the hall.

She paused in the Entrance Hall. She didn't think she'd be this affected by Petunia. She had never thought Petunia might be as hurt by their differences as she was. Her parents were always on her side, how must Petunia feel about that? Lily's stomach lurched. Petunia had been right, of course. It was all her fault, Lily was a freak...

Mary MacDonald appeared by Lily's side. "Come on," she said, gripping Lily's elbow. "Let's get you to bed."

"You don't—no! Stay and enjoy the feast," Lily protested. "Besides, I need to lead all the first years to their dormitories—"

"The prefects and Potter can do that," Mary said firmly. "The Head Girl needs her beauty sleep."

Lily's protests fell on deaf ears as Mary escorted her away from the Entrance Hall.

"Marlene didn't mean any of it," Mary said comfortingly.

"Oh, I'm sure she did," Lily said. "I just know she never meant to hurt me."

Mary nudged her. "Besides, she's talking from personal experience. Your situation is completely different. You didn't do anything to Petunia."

"Didn't I?" Lily asked miserably.

"No," Mary said firmly. "She's got her knickers in a twist for some horrible reason that's got nothing to do with you."

"You're my favorite, you know that, Mare?"

Mary sighed. "Yes. You've mentioned it. Come on. You do know the password, right?" They climbed a staircase, jumping over the trick stair in tandem.

Lily nodded. "Dumbledore included it in my letter. I get to set the common room password now, did you know?"

"That's great!" Mary said, yawning. "Set it to something like... 'Mary is my favorite'. That should do it. Those Slytherins will never guess it."

"Even if they did, they couldn't say it," Lily said wryly. "I doubt they can say the name of a muggleborn without Voldemort knowing."

Mary giggled. "Don't let them hear you say his name."

"Oh, I'm just joking." Lily held aside a tapestry that hid a secret corridor. She only knew about it from following James Potter and Peter Pettigrew after one of their midnight jaunts to the kitchens. It was an educational stalk, she had reasoned. Learning the location of the kitchens could definitely come in handy later. "Not all Slytherins are bad, after all."

Mary raised an eyebrow. "I swear, if you say Snape—"

"I wasn't going to!" Lily said defensively. "I know...I know what he's done. I know what his friends tried to do to you. But I'm just saying, all this prejudice...it's what they're doing to us, isn't it?"

"Lily, you can't do that. Make me feel guilty for hating Slytherins, I mean," she clarified off Lily's questioning look. "I liked it when things were clear. Gryffindors good, Slytherins evil gits. Hufflepuffs nice gits. Ravenclaws smart gits."

Lily rolled her eyes. "I know why you're not a smart git, then."

"Ah, but you admit I'm a git."

"I suppose as gits go, you're not the worst." They had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, and Lily smiled up at her.

"Oh, Miss Evans!" The Fat Lady was smiling back at her. "I see you've made Head Girl. Congratulations!"
"Thank you," Lily said politely. "Now, as Head Girl, I've heard I'll be setting passwords—do I need to tell you or do you know as soon as I put it up on the Gryffindor bulletin board?"

The Fat Lady shifted."You don't need to tell me, dear, but I do enjoy our chats."

"Blishwick," Lily said, and the portrait swung forward to admit the two girls.

"I still don't see why you spend so much time talking to her," Mary said, as the two ascended the staircase to the girls' dormitories.

Lily smirked. "You never know. Our friendship could come in handy if I ever feel the need to bar a certain Gryffindor access to the common room as a personal favor."

Mary raised an eyebrow outside the door to the 7th year girls' dorm. "You plan on pranking James Potter a lot this year, don't you?"

"I like to think of it more as revenge." Lily's eyes fell on a door next to the one she usually entered. "Is that..."

A small bronze plaque next to the door read 'Head Girl'.

Lily inhaled sharply. "I didn't realize."

Mary grinned. "Well, let's check out your new abode, shall we?"

Lily pushed the door open. There was a note from Dumbledore on her nightstand, explaining the spell to set a password for her own room and the common room.

The room itself was simple. It was round and had a pointed ceiling, as it was at the very top of the tower. The fourposter was queen-sized, and as usual draped in Gryffindor colors. There was an adjoining bathroom.

"Wow," Mary breathed. "I might sneak up here and share your bathroom if Hestia and Marlene hog it again this year."

"You're welcome to," Lily said, in awe of the room herself. "And if for some reason you have a row with them—which you better not—you're welcome to stay here."

Mary gave her friend a hug. "I'm absolutely knackered," she said.

"And to think it's barely eight," Lily said. "We're getting old, Mare."

Mary grinned. "I'm going to bed, unless you need anything." When Lily shook her head, Mary took her by the shoulders. "I'm serious. Get me whenever. I know you're having a bit of a tough time—"

"Mary, sometimes I think you ought to have been a Hufflepuff," Lily said loudly, mostly to shut the other girl up.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Mary sniffed. "My older brother was a Hufflepuff."

"Goodnight," Lily said, picking up the bit of parchment Dumbledore had left for her and began thinking of passwords.

"Night, dear."

As soon as Mary had shut the door Lily collapsed onto her new bed. She wasn't tired, really, just overwhelmed. Her final year of Hogwarts, her new Head duties, James Potter's insufferable personality...

She was suddenly struck with the perfect password—one no one would ever guess, because why on earth would she use it?

Muttering the incantation, she drew her wand in a circle and then pointed it to the door. "Potter," she said clearly. The door shimmered gold for a few seconds, then faded. She hurried into the hallway and shut the door, then tested it. "Potter," she muttered, then tried the door. It opened easily.

Satisfied with her work, Lily went back to her room. Her trunk had been delivered by a House Elf, as had her owl. She scrawled a quick note to her mother, notifying her of her safe arrival, and sent Mercury off, the letter fastened to his leg.

Lily heard the other girls coming up from dinner as she got ready for bed. She debated whether or not to go down to their dormitory and say goodnight, but decided against it. They'd talk in the morning.

Realizing that Hestia would not be around to wake her up in the mornings anymore, she set the alarm clock by the bed for seven in the morning and collapsed onto the dark red covers.

This year was shaping up to be a struggle, but Lily always did like a challenge.

A/N

Okay, here's the first chapter! I think I've solved my formatting issues, but we'll see! :)

Disclaimer: If you haven't guessed, I'm not JK Rowling. I wish I were. But I'm not.