A.N: Okay so this is my first Jily fic! Second favourite ship so I tonight I'd give it ago! This chapter is unusually long for me-and it's only the first one! The others will probably be shorter! Please give reviews and follow the story if you wish me to continue. Thankyou :)

"I wonder whose head girl?" James Potter's deep voice called over the crowd to his friend, as he heaved his trunk onto the train, which was due to leave any minute. The busy platform was packed with witches and wizards, all shouting and crying to their children who were quickly getting endless amounts of luggage onto the large Hogwarts Express.
"Bet its Snivellus!" Sirius Black shrieked back, as he shoved his own large trunk onto the carriage.
"I said girl, Padfoot!" James laughed as they entered the compartment together and pushed their luggage inside.
"And so I named one." The taller boy laughed, his long black hair rubbing against his shoulders as he placed his heavy suitcase on the rack above their heads.

"Where are the others?" James asked, ignoring his friend and pinning a shining badge to his black robe, which he wore over his muggle clothing of jeans and an old blue jumper.
"Who'd have thought, one of the Marauders being Head Boy," Sirius pointed to the gleaming red badge on his friend's chest with a smile as he sat down on the seat across from him. But James cast him an annoyed look, Sirius had been skitting him all summer since he got his letter, it had been an unexpected position all around. No-one could understand why Dumbledore had given him the position; he honestly didn't seem like the likely candidate. Hopefully, the new head girl would be better at keeping to the rules than he was. James had no idea who was going to be joining him with the headship. Of course, he had many guesses, but there was only one woman he wanted to be joining him in the head prefect's chambers.

"There's Peter." Sirius announced, interrupting his thoughts of a certain red-headed girl, as he pointed a long finger to the window where a small, quite chubby boy was weaving through the crowd with his trunk held to his side as he ran to get near to the train. But James wasn't looking at Peter; his attention was completely focused on another figure out of the window. Lily Evans, with flaming red hair and emerald green eyes, was waving goodbye to her mother. James watched as the girl moved out of the way to let Peter past to get on the train, and then walked on herself, blowing one last kiss to her mum before her streaming red locks were out of eye line. "James!" Sirius was clicking his thin fingers in front of James' face, bringing him out of his trance.
"S-sorry." The boy said, finally peeling his eyes from the window and turning his attention to Peter Pettigrew, who had just entered the small compartment, his cheeks bright red and breathing rapid as he thumped himself down on the seat beside Sirius.
"Where's Moony?" The small boy breathed out as the train began to move. Sirius and James looked at each other and rolled their eyes,
"Probably with the Prefects." James laughed, sinking deeper into his seat.
"Where you should be." Sirius smirked at his best friend.
"As if you'd see me with that snobby lot!" He laughed, his eyes moving to the corridor where Lily Evans had just walked past, not even glancing in his direction. His eyes fell downwards to the floor in disappointment at the un-acknowledgement, but suddenly he looked back up again, as his eyes skimmed over a shining mark on her chest. Was that a badge on her cardigan? "I'll just be a sec," he mumbled to the boys as he jumped off his seat and opened the compartment door a bit too quickly.

"Evans!" He called out and walked towards her, his hand held out to stop her walking away from him, which she often did.
"What do you want James?" She asked, rolling her eyes and turning to face him. "Oh no." Her eyes had caught James' own badge, shining in the light, clearly stating the words 'Head Boy.' Her usual shining green eyes had gone wide in horror and sheer disbelief as the girl switched her gaze from the badge to its owner's face.
"Looks like we'll be seeing a lot more of each other this year." James smirked, walking up to her as she stared at his badge. It was identical to hers, except for the gender, but the status was the same. She could feel her world crashing down. She had been looking forward to spending this year being able to prove to everyone that she had what it took to be Head Girl, and James Potter would only ruin that for her.
"Y-you?!" It was all she could say, words seemed to have failed her as she stood dumb-struck at the very idea of James Potter being made Head Boy.

"Yes me." The slightly younger boy smirked, his head held high, but his eyes still watching the small badge shine in the light of the carriage.
"But…" Lily mumbled, heaving her suitcase under her arm more, "Why you?"
"I have no idea," James stated, walking towards the girl, "it came as a shock to me aswell. But I guess I'm not as bad as I was at fifteen." He smirked again, remembering the troublesome mess him and the marauders got into only a few years before. He laughed to himself as he took the girl's trunk from her and lifted it over his shoulder; not even looking at her protesting face.
Walking forward a few steps, fixing the box to a more comfortable position under his neck, he turned to face her; "The perfects compartment, ma lady?"
She gave a slight nod, her mind still blank as to what to say. She was completely in shock. She would have to spend a whole year, locked in a dormitory alone with this arrogant man. But could she really call him a man? She walked silently down the passage of the train, following after James' footsteps as she kept her head down low, her mind swimming with thoughts of how badly this year was going to go.
She couldn't stand Potter. Dumbledore knew that, so why had he made them both Head's? It made absolutely no sense. Why had James been chosen? True, he had grown up a lot in the past few years, but he was still a troublemaker, and prone to break the rules with them friends of his. At least Remus was there to keep them in line. She had honestly believed that Remus had been in the running for headship, she would never have expected James to get the post though.

Still watching James' heels, she followed them as they turned into a compartment; only looking up as the noise of numerous claps and cheers finally reached her ears. Numerous amounts of students from each house were all stood in the cramped carriage, the applause led by Lupin as the new Head boy and girl entered. Returning back to their seats with a wave of the hand from James as he set down Lily's trunk; the girl cleared her throat.
"Thankyou everyone," she smiled brightly, her sweet voice interrupting the whispering coming from the small crowd of students in front of the couple. "we'll all introduce ourselves first I guess, and then we have to give you a few instructions for what happens once we are off the train," she looked around at the dull faces, all staring up at her in anticipation; occasionally glancing in James' direction. "Well I'm Lily Evans, I was a prefect last year, so a few of you know me already. I'm in Gryffindor, and I guess I got this job because…well because…" her mouth went dry as she looked into every set of eyes that were staring at her, but most of them had been drawn away, attention slipping as her words failed her, "becau-"
"Because you're a damn good student," James' voice interrupted through the stunned silence, Lily glanced at him, a small smile on her thin lips to show her appreciation, the boy gave a small wink before carrying on, "I'm James Potter, excellent Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, I expect most of you know me." His confident voice, much louder than Lily's brought the attention back to life in the room,
"Though mainly not for good reasons." Lily laughed, looking back to the prefects, her voice regaining itself. Her response brought about a few giggles and more whispers amongst the group.
"Yes, well, I don't quite know how I got this badge either," James smiled widely, watching as Lily smiled around at him, "But I know Lily will be an excellent…asset…to the school, and will be a great deal more helpful to you than I will be. So if any of you have any questions, I expect that you take them up with her. See you later." With a last smirk, he turned to leave, before being held back by a tug on his robe. Surprised, he turned back around to face Lily, whose face was now sharp again.
"Instructions?" The girl questioned, reminding him of the one job of the day he had to do.
"Oh…yes," he gave a small laugh at his own forgetfulness, and tuned back around to face the students, who now all seemed to be whispering amongst themselves, "Erm…Lily?" He looked at her, waiting for her to start talking. He had no idea what to say, and by the look on her face, neither did she.
"This must be the first time in your life that you've ever been quiet!" The familiar voice of Remus Lupin called out. James' heart lifted as he heard his friend's voice, breaking the tension that lay in the room.
"Remus, mate, how have you been?" James asked over the room.
"Good thanks, yourself?"
"Excellent actually. Can't believe it's not you stood up here!"
"Oh no mate, you're the best man for the job!"
"Ha, you think?"
"Sur-"
The conversation was interrupted by a slight cough from Lily; clearing her throat to get the attention back to the matter in hand.
"Sorry Lily." Remus mumbled, sitting lower into his seat and looking expectantly up at the couple, along with everyone else, now waiting to be told what to do.
"Right. So, everyone," she addressed the heads that were still facing elsewhere, "when we get off the train, I need you all to line up next to each carriage door and show the pupils the way to the horseless carriages, where you will organise the groups." She waited a moment to let the instructions sink in, and then carried on, "After the start of term feast, you will all be expected to lead your younger house mates to the dormitories. See me and James beforehand and we will give you the new passwords for each house, which you will need to let everyone know." She smiled and looked around at the prefects, "any questions?"
The faces started blankly up at her, the silence seeping across the room again as Lily waited for James to speak.
"Oh," He said, realising that Lily's repeating glances at him, were to show that she expected him to say something, "it's best that you get into your robes now and patrol the corridors on a rota. Me and Lily will go last, and make sure everyone is ready. Start with Slytherin, and every half hour change over." He smiled broadly at Lily, pleased that he had remembered what to say.
"Alright guys, that's everything. See you when we get off." Lily called as she walked out of the carriage.
"Moony?" James called over again to Remus, jerking his head towards the door to signal him to follow, at which the boy got to his feet and exited the carriage after his friend, pulling his trunk behind him.

"You suit that badge." The other boy laughed, his shabby hair moving in the wind as James lifted the other end of his battered trunk.
"I prefer the Quidditch one myself." He smiled, standing up straight and walking backwards, his hands carrying Remus' suitcase.
"Yeah but, this is going to be an exciting job." The boy said in ore, watching as James took a glance behind him, to check that the passage was clear.
"Why didn't you leave this in there?" James asked, ignoring the statement.
"Oh, I have something to show you all." He said excitedly.
James smiled; he had missed Moony, "Great."
"So what do you think to you and Evans sharing a dorm?" He asked with a sly smirk, knowing just how greatly his friend fancied Lily.
"I was wondering if I would still be allowed to sleep in my old room actually, I'm going to miss you guys." He said, slightly disappointedly.
"You could ask."
"But not every night." James reassured his friend, his mind racing with what he and Lily could get up to in that common room alone together.

"Moony!" Sirius jumped up and patted his friend on the shoulder as soon as they reached the familiar compartment, which they just happened to get every train ride. It was as if it was reserved for the Marauders, even the newbies seemed to know what would happen to them if they sat in Sirius' seat, or even attempted to get two steps into the compartment.
"So what have you made for us this summer?" James asked with a smirk to Lupin once all the friends were sat back down.
"What's this?" Sirius and Peter asked together, turning their heads towards Remus.
"Apparently he's got something to show us." James smiled, looking eagerly at Moony; who was always making new inventions and finding new creatures over the summer, which he would bring and show the rest of the boys.
With a smile, Remus looked at each of the face of his best friends, loving the look of struggled anticipation and longing on each of their faces, he loved winding them up like this; Sirius could never wait for news, especially if he thought he could use something of Remus' to his advantage. Not being able to keep them in suspense any longer, Lupin drew himself up to his full height and pulled down his trunk from the rack above James.
Opening the battered suitcase on the floor, he rummaged through his clothes until he found what he was looking for, lying at the bottom of the case. Pulling out a long thin box and several rolls of parchment, he laid them on the floor beside him and shut the trunk again. Sighing, he sat back on the chair and placed the cardboard box on his lap, and handed out the scrolls to each of his friends.

Peering at the parchment, looking puzzled, the three other boys scratched their heads in confusement as they watched the many little drawings and sketches move around the page in demonstration of the new technology Remus had made.
"Nope, still don't get it." Sirius sighed after the first rough sketch had shown itself for the ninth time.
"It's this new idea I had." Lupin smiled enthusiastically, excited for the other boys to be as excited as he was.
"Yeah, we get that much Lupe." Peter replied, equally as puzzled as Sirius.
Rolling his eyes, Remus grabbed the paper from Sirius and began to explain, pointing to each diagram as he explained, "It's a simple idea really, I'd be surprised if it hasn't been done before, but still, it could be used for some funny things. I got the idea after you said last year," He looked up at James momentarily, "that you wish you could be attached to Sirius so you always knew where he was, well this is the same sort of idea they use to stop Muggle children from running off, but like we'd use magic so it couldn't come off until the deed was done." Remus smiled at the boys, who looked much more confused than they had been before.
"That explained nothing Moony." Sirius said, exasperated.
Remus gave another sigh at his friends' lack of wisdom, and went on, "It's a sort of rope, but it can pass through walls. So it ties to the wrist of two people, connecting them together and only allowing them a distance of 2 meters away from each other. There are still some improvements to be made, but I hope that by the time I've finished," he pointed to the last sketch at the bottom of the page and showed the others, "that it will know if the two people don't get on, it will shrink to make the distance smaller, meaning that simple tasks would become very hard." He smirked, looking around at the others, hoping that they would now understand. The baffled looks had seemed to have lifted, but there was still some confusion.
"So it's like a chain?" Peter asked.
"In a way." Remus replied, still smiling.
"But what's it for?" James asked, still quite unsure what to think.
"Now that's the good bit," Remus smiled menacingly, "it could be used for, like you said, friends, to keep them together at all costs-no matter what family think," he said, catching Sirius' eye before looking down at the paper in his hands, "but it could also be for, not only mischief," he smirked, "but to get…say, two people that really hate each other, to be forced to get on-or one person who is completely in love with the other; but they do not feel the same, it would get them both to become extremely close."
"Genius!" Exclaimed Sirius, now excited at the word 'mischief'.
"Would you be able to get it off?" James asked quickly, not quite wanting to think of the amount of trouble they would all get in if they were to tie two people together forever against their will.
"Only if the aim is completed. So if the end goal was to fall in love, once they have truly fallen in love, then the magic will leave and they will be able to untie the knot." Remus smiled, thoroughly impressed with himself.
"I can't believe you've actually come up with this with no persuasion what so ever." Sirius beamed, feeling quite proud of his friend as he watched Remus open the long box.
Inside, was a long, thin, piece of pale blue fabric, that illuminated in the dark box; it looked as though it was barely a wisp of cold air that was beaming in the dark night, but the string was quite noticeable under the brightness of the light.
"I can't believe I actually allowed myself to make it. We could get into so much trouble." Remus' proud voice faulted with the thought.
"That's so cool Moony." Peter breathed in ore, as he watched Lupin shut the box again.
"The first person it comes in contact with it will automatically tie to them." He smiled sadly, still unsure whether it was a good idea.
"It's an amazing invention Lupe." Sirius exclaimed, reading his thoughts.
"Just promise me you won't be stupid with it?" He spoke directly to Sirius, knowing his friend all too well.
"You know I make a promise that I can't guarantee I'll keep." Sirius smiled mischievously at James, who was smirking wildly, just thinking of all the situations and pairings he could put people in.
"Sirius…" Remus said darkly, but he knew his friend was only joking, and that he wouldn't ruin Remus' good reputation…he hoped, "Anyway, it's going to take a while to perfect. I still need to put anti-charms on it."
"Did you make anything else?" Sirius asked, excited now.
"Yes actually," Lupin said, putting the scrolls and the box back into his trunk, but I didn't make it, I just found this new spell."
"Go on…" James said, hoping nothing more than it was a new hex.
"I think it's a called a Patronus charm." Said Remus, straightening up and taking out his wand from his robe pocket.
"My dad's told me about them once!" Said Peter wildly, "It's really difficult though he said."
"It is," Remus stated, "I've only managed to create a small one. It doesn't really do much."
"It's to protect against Dementors." Wormtail informed the slightly confused looking James and Sirius, who kept giving each other slight glances of bewilderment.
Remus shut his eyes tight and gripped his wand firmly in his hands, before stating the words "Expecto Patronum."
A gush of bright white mist erupted from the tip of his wand, a wolf's body emerging from the light as Remus opened his eyes, watching as the distinct animal moved silently around the small compartment, vanishing quickly as he lost concentration.
He smiled proudly as the others looked impressed, and all got out their wands to try.

Hours passed as the four practised together the spells they had learned over the summer, all showing and teaching one another, laughing together when something went wrong or clapping enthusiastically when something went extremely right; Remus occasionally having to leave to patrol the corridors, which James refused to do.
"I think we best get into our uniform now." Remus said as he popped his head back into the compartment, checking the time on his battered watch, as the sky outside began to grow steadily darker..
"Yeah, we're nearly there." Agreed James, pulling his recently discarded jumper back over his head and scooping up a last chocolate frog from the now gone pile.
"You best go do your job." Scoffed Sirius, snatching the chocolate from his friend's hand and showing him to the door before taking a bite.
With one last look of mock annoyance, James turned to face the opposite compartment; which housed a couple passionately kissing, obviously forgetting that the windows were actually transparent, and that anyone happening to pass down that particular carriage at that moment, would be able to see Amelia Bones, (who James knew only by passing in the common room), sitting half-naked on the lap of a Ravenclaw boy, who seemed to be having the time of his life as he covered the girls breasts from view-much to James' disappointment. A split seconds decision made him pass by on the corridor, allowing the couple to have their obviously much needed time alone. Oh how James wished he could be doing that right now; sneaking off with Evans to the Head's Carriage…leaning in for a kiss…gently stripping off her shirt as she pushed her hands through his hair…Lily lying on top of him as he kissed her passionately…

James snapped himself out of his trance, his daydream disintegrating like a puff of smoke before his eyes, he had come to a halt just in front of that very girl he was fantasising about, pushing all fictional thoughts to the back of his mind, he stumbled out the only words he could manage as he pushed himself against the wall of the small walkway in the carriage,
"All looks okay down there." To his own horror, his eyes had darted to the direction of his crotch, checking absent mindedly that he hadn't received an erection by the images his brain had conjured.
"You mean the train right?" Lily blushed slightly, obviously having noticed James' sudden glance at his penis region.
"Erm, yeah." He said nervously, mortified as he looked back up at her.
"I've told the Slytherin boys that they've got one last chance, if they don't…"
James couldn't concentrate, she was just so beautiful. Her voice flooded in and out of his ears, washing over him as he just stared at her now slightly flushed cheeks, her skin so soft and radiant, and her bright red hair adding a sense of menace to her young face. She was so innocent, so pure, he couldn't even believe himself that he had thought things about her; in fact, it wasn't the first time James had found himself loosing sense of his surroundings and just dreaming of him and Lily, together.
"James, are you listening to me?" Evan's voice suddenly brought him out of his trance, but this time, he couldn't get the thoughts out of his head. His mind was still whizzing, giving him mixed messages as to what he should do, what to say.
"Yes, of course I am." He answered.
"Good, because I asked you to check on the first years about two minutes ago."
"Right."
He was staring at her lips; they were such a sweet, ripe pink. He just wanted to kiss them, to taste them.
"Are you going to go…?"
"In a minute." He didn't want to lose this moment. They had never been so close, they were practically touching, he could hear her every breath as she leant against the opposite wall to him, her arms crossed in anger, but her face was a mix of amusement and waiting. Her eyes were gleaming at him, searching at him for an answer, an explanation, waiting for him to say something. But he had no words. But he couldn't seem to move; it was as if his feet had suddenly been glued to the floor, and his eyes glued to Lily Evans. No matter the amount of times before that he had started at her like this, this time was different. This time, she hadn't turned away. This time, it was him who needed to go. And with one last long look at her beautiful face, he walked past her; his arm brushing hers as he went to do his job.

Who would have thought it, James Potter, putting his badge before his lady. If you could call her his lady.