Hogwarts was a strange school, even if you took away the fact it taught magic, the subjects and the teachers. It would still be bizarre. The whole building is truly magical. It has alternating staircases, rooms that moved around or provide anything. Strange.
What's stranger are the students. Even if you took away the fact they learn magic, backgrounds and bloodstatus'. They would still be peculiar. They all excelled in different subjects, are interested in different things and have completely different morals.
'James Potter is a strange boy.' Lily concluded as she sat next to him in the astronomy tower. When she found out he'd got Head Boy and had gone through the first two weeks of term without a single prank, she had started to get along with him. It was unbelievable. It was even more unbelievable that they didn't fight while patrolling.
Well, in theory they were patrolling. In reality they were sat against the cold walls and floor, eating food James had got from the house elves in the kitchen before hand and casually glancing at the marauders map.
There were many reasons the redhead thought him strange. One was his changing personality.
"Oi oi Evans" James shouted across the hall. It was about time for the feast to begin and the hall was packed, some of the teachers already sitting in their places. "Lookin' lovely today, do something new with your hair?" He asked putting a hand through his own, messy, dishevelled locks.
Lily turned her attention from Marlene, who was telling her about her latest love interest to him and raised a brow. "Bog off Potter can't you see I'm talking?" She shot, pointing from herself to Marlene, then returning to her conversation.
His expression turned from cocky and cheeky to worried and panicked when Remus put a hand on his shoulder glancing at him almost in pain. James nodded over at Sirius and Peter and the four of them left the hall without a single word.
Strange.
Another reason was how open and secretive he was. Most of the time he wore his heart on his sleeve, and didn't even try to hide it. But Lily noticed things small things like how he hardly spoke of his family, how he never went home at Christmas or how he always kept his trunk locked.
Lily shrugged and pushed that thought to the back of her mind, nodding at what ever James had started rambling on about. It was most probably quidditch and Lily had no interest in that anyway.
He glanced over at her, "what do you think?" He waited for an answer to the question.
Lily just nodded again, "Yeah it's good, I mean yeah... Good." She watched it sink in to James, first he looked confused, slightly shocked second and lastly he simply grinned.
She'd been caught out, she knew it. 'Bloody Merlin', Lily thought over dramatically , to herself.
James didn't say anything for a minute and just sat back hugging his knees. When words finally left his lips, they came sugar coated, dripping in sarcasm. "You agree with the marauders plan to let two dozen sheep, dyed orange to look like pumpkins, go free into the Great Hall for Halloween?"
Lily stumbled on her words, "I, er, well, yeah. Okay, I dazed out." She admitted.
James smirked.
Lily rolled her eyes. "You weren't really planning that were you?" She asked hopefully, mentally praying that wasn't the marauders plan.
He chuckled to himself, pushing up his glasses that had slipped further down his nose. "I was talking about the new quidditch play tactics."
Lily nodded.
"Sirius fell of his broom practising. You should've seen him Lils," he continued laughing loudly. Lily was forced to elbow him in the ribs, so he'd stop. If he wasn't careful Peeves would find them and not shut up for the next hour.
He huffed slightly, grabbing his side in fake pain. "Your elbows are so boney, " James complained.
"Sorry," she mumbled. The two of them sat in silence for several minutes before Lily spoke up again. "Mum sent a letter today."
"Err okay? What's so important about the letter?" He asked, pushing his glasses up and his hair back.
"Vernon proposed. Cookies. Dad got promoted. That's about it." She smiled.
"Ah, what?" James paused and made a sphere shaped gesture in the air with his hands. "That Vernon?"
Lily chucked and nodded. "Yeah him, Me and Mum agree she shouldn't but Dad likes him, and Petunia will go with whatever he says," she shrugged.
"Just let her, it's not like he's that bad, I mean of he's good to get you could just ignore it?"
"Yeah I guess. It's weird, that she's going to be getting married, especially to him."
James sighed. "When my cousin got married to a muggle I still don't like, I spelled his car to play electronic music loudly and constantly. I used a simple relay charm and no one can figure it out!"
Realisation dawned on Lily and she nodded. "Something like that would work!"
"Of course, I did it didn't I?" James looked over at Lily expectantly. "You, er, mentioned cookies."
A shaking of a head, meant no to Lily, and to most overs. To James it meant 'try harder. They'll crack eventually.'
"Please Lily? The elves don't let me have cookies anymore," the last bit wasn't a lie, he just stole them anyway.
Lily raised an eyebrow. "Why can't you go get them? They're on the window sill?"
"I don't fancy rolling down the stairs like Brewan did last year," he pointed out.
"Well, I'm not going to get them alone. You know how much Mrs Norris wants to kill me."
"She just likes your perfume. It's not her fault claws get in the way of cuddles." He smirked getting up and holding out a hand for her to take. "Come on then, race you to the common room!"
Lily used his help and dragged her self up. Why couldn't he just sit still for a while, the silence would have been thoroughly appreciated. Sleep was catching up with her and the common room felt like miles away.
It turned out with James' insite of secret passageways and detours, they arrive quickly at the Gryffindor common room. Lily ran up stairs to go to her dorm, with James left at the bottom, looking up hopefully at the thought of cookies. She avoided the complaints of her dorm mates, mostly Marlene, who was the current cookie monster. If food ever disappeared, as far as the Gryffindor girls were concerned Marlene would get blame. Much to her protests the cookies were taken anyway, and given at first opportunity to James.
He squealed like a young child in a candy store, thanking her with a mouthful of food. With Lily's new 'James distractor' up and running she took control of the map and guided their way back up to the astronomy tower. With the map in hand Lily understood how so many of the marauders plans went so perfectly and without them getting caught as many times as they really deserved.
"These," he swallowed. "Are they best cookies." James finished cuddling the box, like a small child and a teddy bear. Lily chuckled quietly, "if you're that attached to them, you can have them." It wasn't as if there would be a shortage, Lily was used to receiving them week in and week out.
James nodded and in a slightly psychopathic way, he began to rock the box from side to side, cradling it like a small child.
Strange.
Not long after James had finished miming putting the cookies to sleep, came an 'aha!' and a loud clap. James had jumped up and gotten out a small mirror. "Oi Siri! Wake up" he shouted, receiving a kick from Lily and a murmur from the glass. Sirius' face appeared not shortly after, and he did not look pleased.
"If this is like last week, I'm going back to bed." Siri warned, shuffling around. James shook his head adamantly and held to map in front of it.
"Do you see?" He asked, holding the mirror up again, smirking. "It means I won the bet!" James grinned.
After minutes of hushed mumbling on both sides, the mirror was put back away. Lily did not look so impressed. Waiting for an explanation she started fiddling with her wand, charming different bricks to turn different colours.
"Evans, Bones and Prewett are getting it on," he laughed pointing down at the map. "I had a bet with McReynoldens that they would, he said they wouldn't. He bet 10 galleons on it!"
James had become accustomed to her constant raise of brow and was fully expecting it when she said, "So as Head Boy you will be going and telling them to move on?"
"I guess." James sighed, standing up. "But mostly to catch them in the act and prove to McReynoldens."
Lily shot up and took the map of him, pointing to his name. "Go on, or I'll ration the cookies." The somewhat childish threat played to her advantage and James eyes widened in shock before he ran of out of the room. Lily could hear him as he thundered down the steps, she followed his name on the map eating a cookie he'd brought up.
Using the secret pathways to aid his speed he ran around the castle, stopping at a halt outside the broom closet. He pulled open the door to a shocked couple, and calmly told them to be on their way. "You're a git, you know that Potter." Prewett glared jokingly as he walked past.
"You wouldn't have been caught in the common room," James pointed out, "I would have won the bet sooner too." He smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. Feeling that his job there was done he returned back to the astronomy tower.
James skidded through the door, furrowing his brow, before they neatly listed completely off his face. Lily had collapsed into a little ball on the floor, snoozing. "For merlin's sake," he muttered under his breath, "I was barely gone five minutes."
He sighed, defeated. It was well after curfew and the rule was really that two people have to patrol, so he gathered up the stuff shoving it in his bag before gently lifting her up from where she was laying.
The boys dormitories were silent, when he brought Lily up. She was still being fast asleep, bless her, he thought as he laid her down on his bed, covering her with his duvet so she wouldn't get cold. She snuggled into the covers almost instantly, rolling onto her side. James got into Remus' empty bed, who was recovering in the hospital wing from the night before, and within minutes was sound asleep.
Lily woke up feeling completely disorientated, this was mostly because (1) she was in her robes not pajamas, and (2) the unmistakable voice of James was screaming,"help! I can't breathe," and "there are cookies everywhere, save me from myself!" Whilst rolling around, and hitting the bed, at the same time as being completely asleep.
The night before came back to focus and she herself screamed, realising where she was. The boys and girls beds were so similar, in her sleepy state she hadn't noticed it wasn't her own!
Sat on the end of the bed, eating the cookies from yesterday and laughing hysterically at the pair of them was Sirius. "I don't know what you're scowling at love," he joked, "you're the one that he wants to marry."
Lily huffed and made an attempt of getting up. The duvet didn't quite agree, and had her falling onto the floor, only causing Sirius to laugh more. After a second attempt she regained her composure and walked over to where James was. She levitated the cup on conveniently placed water from beside Peters bed and let it fall down, helplessly, onto James.
"We normally just leave him be," Sirius sighed, getting up from where he sat and leaving the room without another word.
In response he woke up. Wiping his eyes, pushing his hair off his face and putting on his glasses, he smiled. "Thanks," he said genuinely happy and got up, making the bed after him, which sheets were now sodden with the water thanks to Lily.
He cast a drying spell on himself, messed up his hair and grabbed his cloak. "See you in potions, Evans," he shrugged and walked out after Sirius. Lily, who was stuck in a state of confusion, stood for several minutes, before leaving too.
Strange, she concluded. James Potter is a strange boy.
[AN - I honestly had no idea where I was going with this. I mean I knew what would happen, but I had no idea it would turn out like this? I don't honestly know.]