Disclaimer: J.K Rowling is legendary, and I do not own any of her ideas, as much as I wish I did. I'm like the parasite that sits there taking all the credit…

CHAPTER ONE

On a scarlet steam engine preparing to depart, sat a young girl of seventeen, staring wistfully out of the window. Donned in black school robes, she looked every bit the perfect role model and angel every mother wanted their girl to grow up to be. Her hair was a deep auburn red and her eyes danced, vividly with multiple shades of green.

Whilst she was the girl every other girl dreamed of being, she was also the type of girl every boy dreamed of dating. One in particular. She was gorgeous and sweet, and there was simply no disputing that.

However… this 'sweetness' was only on face value. This girl, was a very different cup of tea underneath. Not quite a dash of milk and two sugars, she was more of a; hold the sugar and a shot of firewhiskey please. It was for this reason that the particular boy aforementioned had never once been successful in his attempts to woo her. Lily Evans, was cool, calm, collected, calculating, clever and… well conniving. She was as much of a fairy princess as a Cornish pixie was pleasant. Oh she was noble, kind, funny, very caring and if you got close to her, the best friend a person could have, but she refused to be patronized or degraded, and that was why James Potter, now watching her cautiously from outside the train was thinking very carefully about how to make his next move.

James was starting to get desperate. And this was not a fact that a marauder liked to mention too often. In fact, it was more something that a marauder would avoid mentioning at all costs, but it had reached the point where James could no longer ignore it. This was his last year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and therefore his last year with the lovely Lily, and therefore… he'd better not screw it up. James looked down at his feet, a slight frown on his face as he considered this fact. His untidy, dark hair fell into his brown eyes as he tilted his head and shifted the position of his glasses on his nose. Suddenly, a high voice broke into his thoughts.

"Dreaming again Potter? Me too... I've been thinking about you aaaalll summer and I have to tell you, I can't control it anymore…" James frowned as he felt a small touch on his shoulder indicating that the speaker was right behind him. Trying desperately to place that unusually high and soft voice he started to turn to see who it was as they continued to speak in his ear. "I need you James, I want you James, I have to become Mrs Lily Pot-" at that James swung around triumphantly and slugged his best mate and fellow marauder Sirius Black hard in the stomach. This was no easy feat as he was already bent over and clutching his gut in tears of laughter. He continued to speak in a ridiculous falsetto in between boughts of laughter at James, "Oh Potter my love, you are as dumb as a dove, they say you are pretty, but not very witty, and that I can see, because you took me to be, your one and ooonllyyyy…" Black continued to serenade his best friend all the way back to their other friends and marauders, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. Peter was howling with laughter and Remus was chuckling quietly at the sight of the James Potter believing for a moment that Sirius Black's voice was that of his dream girl, Lily Evans; the red head still seated on the train.

When all the commotion had died down, Remus turned to James.

"Still dreaming then Prongs? I would have thought that perhaps seeing as it is your last year, you would have given up?"

"Or tried to get in as many other girls as you can, while you still can?" continued Black, lazily leaning against the door of the red steam engine and winked casually at a group of giggling girls walking past. James shrugged looking at his two friends, his face breaking into his unmistakable mischievous grin. "A marauder never gives up. You lot should know that by now! And there's always time for something else along the way." He added with a wink to Sirius who grinned an equally devilish grin back at James, and smoothed his hair back, surveying the scene before him. James knew that he was probably searching for a particularly pretty girl amongst the gigglers, and he smiled before shaking his head and looking at Lupin. Remus smiled back at his friend, knowing fully well that there would be no "something else along the way" for James. Whilst he bragged and strutted around being… well… James, he also took this thing with Lily Evans seriously and Remus knew that he would be feeling more than a little bit nervous about the year ahead.

A whistle sounded overhead and the boys moved their trunks onto the train hastily, not wanting to be left behind. Once they had found an empty compartment, they settled in for the ride.

Back towards the front of the train, Lily Evans shifted her legs to get comfortable and looked up as her three good friends entered the compartment. Sally, Kate and Alice placed themselves around Lily smiling.

"Ok, so what's this big news then little miss secretive? Said Kate matter-of-factly. She studied Lily with her dancing blue eyes, and flipped her long sand colored hair over her shoulder. Lily merely grinned at her and leaned back comfortably into her seat, as though to say "not telling."

Sally giggled and grinned at Lily, "Oh come on stubborn-bum! We've been looking for you everywhere to come and ask you! What's going on?" Sally was blessed with a pair of the darkest eyes, to match dark, long curls, but they didn't seem that dark or mysterious as she looked at Lily with excitement shining in them. Alice, with grey eyes and short brown hair grinned at Lily displaying identical dimples on each cheek. "Yeah, come on Lil!"

Laughing at her friends' persistence, she sat forward and showed them the small badge on the front of her robes. It read quite clearly, "HEAD GIRL."

There were simultaneous squeals of delight and congratulations as all three girls jumped on Lily showering her with hugs.

"I knew you'd get it!"

"I'm so proud of you!"

"I'm so using your new bathroom."

That last one was Kate, grinning broadly and laughing. "Everyone knows that the two heads get the best bathroom there is! I'm so jealous!" the other girls rolled their eyes but smiled all the same.

"Yes well, I'm sure that something can be arranged there." Said Lily wryly. She then broke out into a dazzling smile and cried excitedly, "I can't believe I actually did it! I'm actually Head Girl!" she laughed and fell back onto her seat grinning from ear to ear.

"Hey," said Kate abruptly. "Speaking of the two 'headsss." She continued pointedly, "who's head boy?!"

There was a slight pause and every trace of a smile fell instantly from Lily's face and was replaced by the unmistakable traits of her famous scowl reserved for one messy-haired boy only.

"Potter." She said, clearly annoyed and almost disbelieving. Sally turned to look out of the compartment door, "where?" she asked plainly. Kate rolled her eyes at Sally's obliviousness and turned back to Lily in earnest.

"Are you serious?" she asked.

"Deadly." Lily replied. Kate gasped and seemed incapable of talking.
"Deadly for him." Alice stated.
The girls gave words of comfort and sympathy that Lily accepted gratefully, but they didn't stop her from dwelling on that bespectacled boy, whom she had grown almost fond of hating, her past years at Hogwarts. It wasn't even the fact that James was a bully, or a bad person that bothered her, it was more the way that he was. Always so arrogant and sure of himself. Sure that people would fall at his feet, sure that girls would adore him, and sure that if there was a God, he was it.

Lily despised him. She suspected that this was the reason that he went after her so much. Because she refused to give in, and be the giggling twit that so many other girls had become. Sometimes she thought it would be easier just to give in and have him leave her alone, but then everything would have to change completely, and she was so happy hating him in peace. Lily sighed and smiled weakly.

"Oh well, it's only one year. Plus, I'll have so much to keep me busy." Sally nodded encouragingly but Kate bit her lip.

"Just don't… kill him." She offered whilst Sally and Alice burst out laughing.

"No I'm serious!" She said loudly. "You two are going to have to share a common room, and a bathroom. You'll be spending a lot of time together just living let alone all the meetings and-"

Lily swore and clapped a hand to her head.

"Meetings!" she exclaimed and ran out of the compartment to round up the prefects for the first gathering of the year.

Down the other end of the train, the four marauders were settled into their compartment and eating away at a large pile of sweets that the witch with the food trolley had provided them. Taking a large bite into a particularly jumpy chocolate frog, Sirius turned to his friends.

"So, what have we got planned this year in the way of pranks fellas? Shame we don't have another prefect amongst us, then we could do some serious damage to Slytherin." he stated, smirking around at them all and winking at Remus. James grinned.

"You know Padfoot, for someone who spent pretty much all summer at my house, you're rather slow." The other three boys looked at James in confusion, especially Sirius.

"What are you talking about?"

James grinned and breathed in deep, turning his back to the compartment door and facing them all. "I have some news that will greatly add to the power of the infamous marauders at Hogwarts." There was a dramatic pause, which was quickly and rather unceremoniously broken by Sirius,

"How does that make me thick?"

James rolled his eyes and continued. "Boys, look at this." With that he pulled out from his pocket a small badge not unlike the one Lily had just shown her friends and flicked it into the air, similar to the way one would flip a coin. Sirius and Peter scrabbled on the floor searching for the artifact, and when Sirius came up triumphant, there was a collective gasp and a low whistle from Lupin. James leaned back against the door and rested his hands behind his head grinning. Sirius realizing what the badge was, collapsed against his seat and looked at James, clearly impressed. With a short laugh he asked, "When on earth did you find time to do this?"

James raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"He's bloody gone and stolen the Head Boy badge!" Sirius exclaimed and reached out to show it to Remus, who was now chuckling quietly.

"Padfoot, you really are daft." Remus said as he took the badge from him. James sat up straight and spluttered in indignation, "Stolen it! I didn't steal it! I bloody earned it! I'm Head Boy you great prat!" Sirius stared at James in shock.

"Are you serious?"

"No you are."

Sirius scoffed at the joke towards his name. James allowed himself a smirk before continuing.

"Yes Padfoot I am actually. Deadly serious." James continued. "And you didn't notice all summer."

Sirius grinned and clapped his hand on the back of his best mate in congratulations. There were a few more moments of celebration and then Peter raised his voice in question, "Who's Head Girl?"

At this, James resumed his position leaning against the door and grinning devilishly. "The one and only Wormtail. The beautiful and bold, the charming and cheerful, the clever and-"

"Creepy?" interjected Sirius. James chose to ignore him and continued,

"My very own Head Girl, Miss Lily-"

"Evans!" Sirius exclaimed, looking just above James' head. James looked at him for a second in confusion. "How did y-" he was cut off by the door behind him being opened roughly, causing James to fall flat on his back in the middle of the carriage. He swore loudly and then blinked a few times before realizing who was standing over him, wearing a look that could kill. His hand instantly flew to his hair as he sat up and smiled charmingly.

"Why, Evans! How lovely to see you!" he said as he winked at her. Lily Evans scowled and placed a hand on her hip, tossing her red hair over her shoulder.

"Get up Potter. You look ridiculous. And you're late."

James grinned and pulled himself off the floor. Sirius and Peter snorted loudly behind their hands and a smile played on Lupin's lips as he slid a book up to cover his face.

"Late?" he asked once he was standing once again. He leaned against the door of their compartment casually and tousled his hair. Lily rolled her eyes and her scowl proceeded to grow even more dangerous. "Prefect meeting? Ring any bells?" she hissed. A flicker of realization passed over James' face. Remus chuckled and stood up. "I was just on my way Lily." He said to the fiery red head now staring daggers at James. She turned to him and smiled sweetly, "Oh no Remus, you don't have to worry. The heads are meant to round up the prefects this year. It was in the letter we got." Her eyes flicked dangerously to James who smiled weakly and kicked Sirius who had started to whistle a tune that sounded rather like "Potter my love…" his earlier serenade.

Lily sighed and turned on her heel. "Meet me in the first compartment in five minutes please." She said as she walked off. Sirius clapped James on the back. "Smooth." He said approvingly. Remus chuckled. "Come on James." They both followed Lily towards the front of the train, leaving Sirius and Peter whistling "Potter my love" in between snorts of laughter.

Lily stormed off towards the compartment that held all the other prefects in the school, whilst pondering on the ringing laughter of the marauders in her ears. This was the last year that she would ever have to deal with them, she reminded herself, but there was still the matter of actually having to complete the year first. And of course, Kate was right. She would be spending a lot of time with Potter. Sighing she walked into the compartment that she'd arranged for the meeting to be in, and took her place amongst the other prefects and leaders of the school.

"Ok, so welcome everyone." She began as Potter and Lupin sat down, having arrived just behind her.

"This year at Hogwarts we intend on doing things a little differently, and relying on students a lot more to provide us with the information that we need in order to make our school the right place for all of-"

"We?" interrupted James. Lily looked at him.

"Yes Potter, we." There were several chuckles around the room as James looked at her, and retorted. "What we would that be Miss Evans? I was under the impression that the heads together as a team were to decide the on-goings of the year ahead. And I've heard nothing of this."

Lily looked at him and replied without hesitation.

"Well they are, but seeing as you've obviously done nothing, and couldn't even remember that you had a meeting this morning, I took control." She paused and looked at him. "Sorry." She added sweetly, as an after thought. James looked around him as though to find some support.

"So then how is it a 'we', shouldn't it be an 'I'? Or to be more specific, a 'you'?" Lily paused as though to consider this thought.

"I suppose so." She continued without so much of a glance at James.

"So in that case, I have decided that we should run the school this way. This means that students can offer suggestions at any time and they must be considered by the overall student leadership team and voted on." She stopped and looked around at them all. Frank Longbottom spoke up from the back of the room, "I think that's an excellent idea Lily."

James stood and started spluttering, "But hang on, that means I get absolutely no say at all! As Head Boy, I demand that-"

Lily held up her hand and spoke over him. "You really must learn to listen James. Or do you not understand the concepts that I'm suggesting? Every student has a say. That's exactly the point. You can suggest whatever you want and then we all have to vote on it." There was a pause in which Remus hid a smile and turned to his fellow marauder. "So do you have something to suggest Prongs?" James glared at him, "Actually I do. I suggest we vote on this proposal." Lily smiled to herself and looked at the other prefects. "As you wish Potter. All in favor?" Nearly everyone's hand went into the air. "All against?" James shot his arm up so fast he nearly knocked Remus out. Lily grinned and looked around. "Over-ruled." She winked at him sarcastically and then turned to complete the meeting.

James slumped back in his chair crossing his arms and inwardly swearing that Lupin would never hear the end of this. His mind skipped over thousands of threats and punishments that could possibly be appropriate as he watched Lily talk. She absentmindedly flicked a strand of hair behind her head as she gestured to enhance the effect of whatever she was saying (James had stopped listening long ago) and the sunlight caught it magnificently, making it glow and shine like rubies. His breath caught in his throat as he looked at her. Her eyes were alive as she spoke animatedly about all the plans that she had devised for this year, and James felt a pang of guilt when he thought about all the effort he had put in, which was so far non-existent. He let his mind slip again to the wink that she had given him a few seconds earlier, and he felt a grin creep up onto his face as he remembered the way that her eyes had lit up when he had interrupted her. Admittedly, they had only done so out of frustration, but James still loved it. If only she would wink at him and have her eyes light up in a different way. A flirtatious way, he sighed loudly as he thought about how magnificent that would be. Unfortunately that was the wrong thing to do, because everyone had heard him. Including the girl he was dreaming about.

"Yes Potter?" she asked, turning to him. Her eyes flashed dangerously and James felt his stomach take a jolt.

"Uh… I was just thinking… how wonderful all this is..." he glanced around at the room to see if that had been the right thing to say. Frank Longbottom and Remus were both looking very determinedly at their feet and shaking with laughter. Uh oh... James thought as he reluctantly turned to face Lily again. She was furious. "Oh, wonderful is it Potter? Wonderful that student co-operation has been gradually slipping below standards for years now? Is that wonderful? Wonderful that in our lifetime at Hogwarts bullying has reached an all-time high?! No thanks to you I'm sure!" James shrugged.

"Well if they'd stop letting in idiots like Snivellus then maybe that wouldn't be the case." There was an instant hush. The two Slytherin seventh year prefects scowled and stood up suddenly. Lily, seeming to notice before being able to retaliate herself quickly said, "The patrol roster will be posted tomorrow night outside the Great Hall and we'll continue this meeting at a later date. Please ensure all students are fully dressed in robes before the train arrives at Hogsmeade. That is all." The other students quickly stood up and the two Slytherins were lost in the hurry to leave the compartment, and they seemed to have agreed to postpone their disagreement with James until a later time. Remus stood up with a grave look on his face, "C'mon Prongs" he said. Lily placed a hand on Remus' arm. "If you wouldn't mind Remus, I'd like a word with the Head Boy." Her voice was low and she didn't look at him. "In private." She added quietly. Lupin watched her for a moment, and then decided that he would prefer not to witness the explosion, muttering to James about seeing him later.

When everyone had left, Lily turned to James furiously. "Do you even understand what you just did Potter?" she said in a deadly soft voice.

"Gave a few Slytherins what was coming to them and their slimy friends?"

A strangled cry came from Lily's throat and she stormed over to where James was now standing. "You've just ruined our first student leadership meeting. This is meant to be the year Potter! The year that everything changes around here and we finally get some good things happening in this school. I've worked so hard for this Potter! Dumbledore has been trying for years now, but due to lack of student co-operation as I mentioned before when you were apparently not with us, nothing has happened!" she paused for breath and James looked down into her eyes that were flashing violently in his direction. They were so close, and he felt the sudden urge to lean down and kiss her. Struggling to hold back he said, "Evans, it's not the end of the world you know." Apparently this was the wrong thing to say however, because she only glared at him harder. He quickly back-tracked, "And uh… I promise that I can redeem myself?" she paused and fumed for a second quietly. James watched her and tried very hard not to focus on the fact that when her eyes glittered like that, they stood out more than usual, and that when she shook her head at him, her auburn curls cascaded down her back gracefully, enticing him to run his fingers through them and hold her face gently. She sighed and looked up at him as though he were a lost cause. "Fine. But be warned, this isn't so much of a 'second chance' as it is a, 'I can't be bothered dealing with you right now' so you'd better pick up your game Potter. Or I might just try out a new hex I discovered this summer, and put it on the door to your bedroom." James grinned at her cheekily (to which she responded with a sarcastic smile) and couldn't believe his luck. They both left the compartment together, James breathing in deeply the sweet smell of her perfume as he remembered the way she tossed her head, and he sauntered off to find his friends.

Author's Notes: Ok so this is the first time that I've uploaded anything on here, and I'm sitting here biting my nails in anticipation hoping that people will actually read it.

Please let me know what you think, I have many plans for this fic, so I need to know right away if it's boring, or too much like others (although I promise it wont be for long. Lily's character is going to be different to how she's usually portrayed, and there will be scandals. Because quite simply, I cant live without them!) I'm most of the way through Chapter 2 already, and so far going strong. By the way, it is rated M for a reason, I just haven't written that reason yet because we are only in Chapter 1, but it's coming, so if you aren't mature enough to handle something that's 'M', possibly this wont grow to be a fic for you.

And now that I've pretty much written another chapter in Author's Notes, I'll head off.

R & R please!