Author's Note: This is a response to a fic prompt I got in my tumblr ask box: "Lily trying to manage James' hair". As you can see, I got a bit carried away so here it is. If you enjoy it fave and review!

The Head Boy and Girl were an amusing sight on the way home from school for the Christmas holidays. They had loaded students from all years onto the Hogwarts express who were returning home for the festivities. Hogwarts may be home but there was a certain comfort for some people in returning to their houses; to the comfort of their own bedrooms where your best friend wouldn't constantly correct your grammar (Remus), where you wouldn't have to put up with snoring so loud it could wake Hagrid up (Peter) and where no one could wake you up with a horrendous rendition of 'Stayin' Alive' in the shower every morning (Sirius). Yes, James Potter was always glad to return home for a break in his chaotic yet undeniably entertaining adventures at Hogwarts.

What he wasn't quite so chuffed about was his girlfriend of only a month now, who was sitting behind him on the seat of their compartment on the train. She had her legs crossed and tucked under her and he was sitting on the cold hard floor, leaning back on the seat and resting his head on her legs. The rest of the seventh year Gryffindor's had also tried to cram into the tiny space, and the operation had been largely successful despite multiple trodden toes and trip ups. Remus and Sirius sat either side of Lily, while Marlene who was always a fidget opted to sit on the floor with him. Alice Longbottom and Mary McDonald flanked Peter, who looked highly uncomfortable and like he was trying to hold his breath.

But back to the point, while he was buzzing to be returning home, with Lily on his arm and surrounded by his friends, there was one think which was currently really irking him. He sat there, legs stretched out and arms crossed defiantly. He puckered his lower lip and scowled as a heinous crime was being committed, to which he was the victim.

Lily was brushing his hair.

He twisted his neck around to face his girlfriend and slapped her hands away whenever she reached out with the little pink brush she was using as her weapon. "Do you really have to do this?" he begged, "Have mercy on my beautiful hair Lils."

She blinked once. Twice. Then burst out laughing, the compartment filled with his friends joining in.

"Oi it's not that funny!" he protested, trying to keep a straight face but eventually succumbing to the smile he felt pulling at the corners of his mouth. He turned back around and stared straight ahead, giving her permission to start her work.

She tugged, yanked and wrenched at his hair for what seemed like ages while he endured the pain of his knotted hair being pulled this way and that. To pass the time he, began doing simple charms, conjuring wisps of snow, light and even shooting a tickling jinx at Marlene, which earned him a kick in his side. Not the best idea really, now he looked back on it.

Rubbing his side he winced again at the fiftieth time his adorable (but at this point highly irritating) girlfriend had tugged too hard.

"Lils seriously, are you trying to pull my head off?"

Sirius looked up from his newspaper to check Lily's progress and guffawed loudly at what he saw. Brushing it had only made the situation worse, and rather than having his many different locks of raven coloured hair flying up in multiple directions, every strand of James' hair was on end. It almost looked like static electricity had built up leaving James looking rather like a porcupine.

After controlling his laughter Sirius grinned, "Look Red, let's be honest with ourselves. You've done a shoddy job. James' hair will never have the prestige that my beautiful locks do, you can't control it."

James turned to glare at Sirius and the sight was obviously amusing to his best friend and not the slightest bit threatening.

"No, I can and will tame James' hair!" Lily protested, biting on her lower lip and setting to work, tugging and combing more enthusiastically than before.

"Thanks Sirius, it feels like Lily's trying to give me a face-lift from the way shes pulling my scalp back there" James growled.

He grabbed her wrists as she went to brush his hair again and tugged them down and around his neck. This pulled her forward and her arms slung around his shoulders from behind. Her chin nestled on his head, in the forest of hair which she had been trying to flatten which was going very, very unsuccessfully at this point. He fumbled with her hands which were hanging in front of his chest, and held them in his. He felt her kiss the top of his head. The small affectionate gesture made him feel like he would endure anything for her.

And so he did…even if it was the cruel, cruel torture of having his hair combed.

She moved her face to press a kiss on his cheek

For a split second it was just them two; just James and Lily. Everything around them seemed to pause, even the scenery outside the train window slowed as her beautiful green eyes caught his in their snare. Just as soon as he had caught his breath and got the nerve up to open his mouth to speak, Sirius shouted "Get a room!" and the moment was broken.

Lily whipped her head up and grabbed Sirius' newspaper out of his own hands, rolled it up and in a split second had begun hitting Sirius' arm rather aggressively. She punctuated each smack with a word, "Mind- your- own- god- damn- business- Sirius!"

"Jheeze James control your woman!" Sirius teased. She really needn't let them get her into a temper so easily.

Regardless of this, she did. She let it get to her so much that she launched herself at Sirius who looked momentarily concerned, but then proceeded to grab her and tackle her into a bear hug.

Once she had stopped trying to tackle him and had begun laughing, he smiled, "Honestly Red, you know I don't mean it."

Sitting back up and waving off Sirius' comment she laughed "I know, I know, I'm just getting irritated by my boyfriend's hair and its inability to do what it's told."

"Remind me again why you're torturing our darling Prongs again?" questioned Remus, who dipped into the conversation momentarily.

"My parents are picking me up from the station, they'll be on the platform," Lily sighed. She had almost resigned herself to the fact she would never be able to control his manic array of hair, but the image of her father soon motivated her not to give up.

"Sorry if I'm being a little slow but how does your ride home have anything to do with James' hair?" Sirius asked.

Lily looked guiltily, as though she was about to reveal a dark secret. She began to blush, looking down at James' and opened her mouth to admit the reason why she couldn't let James get off the train looking like he did…

But then Remus saved her the hassle, seeing that saying it aloud would create a lot of unnecessary trouble for Lily. If he said it, at least she could not be directly responsible, she would only have to say she agreed, "Well clearly it's because if her parents see his bird's nest they'll assume he is a ruffian, and will be highly unlikely to believe that he is in fact Head Boy and Quidditch Captain and all that malarkey that parents love."

The marauders all laughed and the girls giggled even though they did try and spare Potter's feelings. James turned to Lily, and when she expected a huge frown and those beautiful hazel eyes to be looking up at her in pain, he was in fact beaming. She grinned right back, even though she was slightly puzzled. Quirking an eyebrow she said, "What are you so happy for Potter?"

"So this is about your parents," he said, almost tripping over the words with eagerness. If possible, his grin widened even further and the energy that usually radiated from him tripled. James was happy and content as they moved further south.

This was not the case almost two hours later when Lily had used her brush, then a comb and had been using her wand for the past hour. Nothing would bloody well work! James had gone back to being annoyed and grumpy as she had begun openly complaining about that state of his hair because she had made little to no progress. The final straw which had made him give her the silent treatment (yes, James handled their disputes very maturely), was when she transfigured his hair multi-coloured.

"Evans, when are you going to be done?"

"I don't know Potter, my parents cannot, under any circumstances see your hair like this!"

"Oh I'm sorry, I'll stop it from doing that, how inconsiderate of my hair to naturally be a mess."

"James my dad will think you're a hooligan!"

"I mean really Lily, how far is that from the truth?"

The irritability of James only increased; every charm Lily put on his hair only served to aggravate him, every charm was unsuccessful in taming the chaotic frenzy. Lily was frustrated because James didn't understand how important this was to her. When he met her dad, he would be sized up and judged and she needed her father to like James. She really loved him and couldn't bear for him to be written off as just another teenage boy who she had dated. James was special. She just needed her dad to know that.

"I'm meeting your dad for less than five minutes and then we are both going our separate way- OW LILY!" James bellowed as Lily gave a sharp tug to remove a knot. Cringing inwardly, she stopped her movements and would have apologised again and again… if she hadn't had an epiphany at that very moment.

"You know what come with me Potter," she demanded, clambering towards the door.

"Where are we going now?" James rolled his eyes, but grabbed her hand anyway as she tugged him out of the compartment and down the corridor of the train.

"We're going to get some magic gel from Rowan"

Lily felt James stop. They were at the end of the carriage and he resisted her attempts at leading him further down the train. They were about to walk into the next one where they would surely find Rowan. Why had he stopped? They had about an hour left of their journey now and Lily needed to get him looking like the boy her father would like.

"Rowan… That slimy Ravenclaw that asked you out?" said James, through gritted teeth.

He realised only after her said it that he sounded incredibly jealous. But he wasn't. Well I suppose he was kind of jealous, but not the kind where he thought that Lily belonged to him. Not that horrible possessive kind, no, although he must admit sometimes it was hard when your girlfriend was so pretty. But this time he was angry.

For years he hadn't believed he was good enough. Lily went out with organised, smart-looking Prefects who didn't play pranks and didn't have out of control hair. He never thought he had a chance after that fateful day at the Black Lake after OWLS. But she had chosen him this year, and had agreed to be his girlfriend. However at the mention of Rowan he was beginning to doubt things and the fact she wanted his hair to look like his wasn't a comforting thought.

He supposed he was jealous. Not of him talking to her or trying to steal her. No, he was jealous because Rowan was exactly the kind of guy he wanted to be for Lily, because Rowan was her type. He was the kind of guy Lily would end up with, not the delinquent James.

Lily looked back into her boyfriend's eyes as he hesitated; he looked furious. His eyebrows were knitted together and that little crease between them which appeared when he was concentrating or concerned had become even more pronounced. However seeing his frown, Lily mistook his tone for being accusatory and snapped, "James, you know that really isn't relevant at the moment."

"Yes, it is."

"Look, I told you before he didn't know we were going out. He didn't mean anything by it"

"Please stop defending him Lils" James mumbled, his chest constricting with each word she said that denied it. It just added to his belief that his Lily preferred people like Rowan; how they looked and how they acted. How had he been so stupid not to realise it earlier?

"Why should I? He's a perfectly nice guy and hasn't done anything wrong!" Lily growled back at him.

"If he's so nice maybe you should go and date him then, and stop trying to change me into him!"

"Well I just might! Seeing as you seem to be trying to get rid of me so badly!" Lily retorted, her throat tightening at the idea.

She couldn't believe she had wanted him to meet her parents especially when he was now starting arguments over nothing. All to get out of it and perhaps even to get away from her. A weight dropped from her chest to her stomach where it caused a grim kind of despair to settle there.

"I can't be that Lils, it's not me" said James, as he shuffled his feet staring at his leather shoes and nervously running his hand through his hair.

It seemed to dawn on her, very slowly, that he thought that she wanted to be with Rowan.

But that wasn't the case. The thought was almost laughable.

"Oh my Godric, you giant moron," she chuckled in relief.

She wanted James, obviously, but it was her father who wanted a guy like Rowan. She wanted her father to want her to be with James, so logically she had to make James the same as Rowan. But now she realised that she didn't need to make him anything like Rowan.

No, he was absolutely charming all by himself and…

"I don't want you to be like him. You great ruddy pillock."

James' eyes snapped up.

"Well judging from the hair," he said, gesturing to his almost flattened mop, "I'm pretty sure it's not me that you want."

It was already returning to its tousled mess despite all the spells Lily had tried. She almost giggled and tried to hide her grin as she watched it curl and stick up in all directions. He looked even more disgruntled with her now that she was stifling a laugh.

"No, look, James-" she chuckled, seeming rather too light-hearted and blasé about the whole affair when the conversation they were having sounded a little too much like a break up to him. If she couldn't take this seriously then he really didn't mean much to her at all. His shoulders drooped, and he hung his dejected head.

While she was chuckling, he interrupted, "No, I get it-"

"No. James," Lily started again starting to panic at the hurt look in his eyes. "Before you even open your mouth, listen. And don't you even dare interrupt me again" she said, noticing he had opened his mouth to say something.

Lily continued, looking deep into his yellow flecked eyes. Their hazel was causing flames to travel up her cheeks as she blushed but she held her ground. She felt anchored somehow when he looked at her, and nothing else seemed to matter. Similarly, James had been mesmerised by her pretty green eyes, and how they were looking at him to adoringly.

She eyed him with a delirious sort of hunger as she spoke quietly, but firmly,

"I'm deadly serious when I say…" she stepped closer, sliding her arms around his waist and keening into his torso.

"…That you are the largest idiot I have ever met." She finished that statement with a wicked grin that made James feel like he was missing out on some massively funny joke. But the joke must have been him… or so he thought.

"Well gee thanks Lils"

Dread made his body feel hollow, and even with her warmth pressed to his upper body he felt cold. Cold and alone.

"Oh sod it" Lily said, completely giving up on getting through to him.

And then, rather impulsively, she launched herself at him.

Swinging her arms around his neck she pressed him against the wall beside the door to an empty compartment and pushed her lips against his, trying with every touch to communicate just how much she adored her dorky, messy haired boyfriend. Smothering him with kisses she surrendered to her urge to just be near him. There was no escaping this, she was in so deep that she just let it slip, "I adore you James- actually, I'm starting to think I love you."

With his hands on her hips he stared down at her, gobsmacked at her admission. She immediately blushed and loosened her grip around his neck but he pulled her closer. Staring down at her as though he was seeing her for the first time, he cracked a wide face-splitting grin.

He loved the way her hair fell in perfect curls and he loved how her voice sounded in the morning. He loved she didn't care that they were in the middle of the train corridor and he loved how she accidentally fell in love. He loved the beautiful smile he was giving her, he loved how even now her gaze didn't falter and he loved that his place was here with her. He loved her.

"I love you too Lils," he smiled.

She felt her heart begin to swell and her eyes sparkle, tackling him with another overwhelming kiss. She felt his strong lips move against hers as she moved her hands up to the back of his head and fiddled with the tufts of dark hair at his neck. The smell of James, of musky spices and citrus, enveloped her senses as she nipped and sucked on his lips. As their kiss progressed her hands moved up to grab his hair in fistfuls, bringing his face closer to hers. She felt his lips stretch into a smile against hers and couldn't help but beam. She wanted his hair tousled in his hands, she wanted it to fly in all directions and most of all she wanted to be able to clench it in her fists as she kissed the socks off of him.

They had become more and more entwined, his hand was precariously low on the small of her back and the other was balled up as he gripped the back of her robes. Her skin began tingling where she felt his thumb stroking circles against her back and she melted further into his embrace. Breaking through the happy delirium he was in, a thought emerged…they were in the middle of a train and were the Head students.

Head students who were supposed to set an example to the whole school.

He grappled with the handle of the compartment which was to his side, his lips still not breaking contact with hers once. He opened the door after a small struggle with his desire to keep all his attention on the beautiful red head. He steered her, as her eyes remained closed, into the compartment and closed the door behind him. Lily pushed him to sit down and climbed onto his lap. Looking back, he thanked Godric that he had put up with her trying to tame his hair, as it seemed that now the only thing she wanted to do more than kiss him senseless was mess his hair between her fingers.

Lily and James emerged from the cabin at the end of the train journey attempting to hurriedly straighten their clothes. James' glasses were askew as he jumped down onto the platform, his hair as shaggy as ever as he turned to extend his hand to Lily and help her down.

They levitated their trunks behind them as they walked over to greet Lily's parents, and Lily scowled as her father frowned at the sight of her and James together. What she didn't realise was that it wasn't James' hair which was the issue. For Lily's dad it was not the sight of his daughter holding hands with a boy whose hair he didn't think should look so wild, it was the fact that his daughter, the prim and proper Head Girl of Hogwarts, was looking equally, if not more disheveled.

As they approached, Mrs Evans joked, "You two look like quite a pair of rascals," winking as she pointed at Lily's messed hair.

Not the least bit fazed by her mother's comment, Lily turned to grin at James. After kissing his cheek she drew back to look him in the eye.

With her hand in his she chuckled quietly, quirked her head to the side and with a small smirk said,

"I suppose you could say we are quite the pair of troublemakers."

Thanks for reading!