"What is that?" James held his hand up, perfectly catching Sirius's face and pushing him back so he could actually read the letter he was holding. He'd been confused by the weight of the letter, considering he already had his Quidditch Captain badge. He didn't think he would be getting a new one. His eyes flicked across the elegant scrawl as fast as they could, and he deflected Sirius again. "James!"

He looked in the envelope at the badge, his mouth falling open slightly. Remus being a prefect made sense. But this, this was . . . He was a decent Quidditch Captain, but this . . .

"I'm Head Boy," he whispered, fishing out the badge. Sirius finally tore the letter out of his shaking hand. He stared at the gleaming Hogwarts crest, thumbing over those two words. It didn't make any sense at all. Yes, they'd had to give up a little of their pranking as tensions rose between Death Eater cronies and those who would stand against that sort of Pureblooded bigotry. They were still Marauders though, he was still a Marauder. Just as Remus was.

"Nice," Sirius beamed, offering his fist. James mirrored his sly smirk.

"We're going to get away with so much shit."

.o0O0o.

Lily changed into her robes before making her way to the first carriage, eyeing nervous first years and glaring at any upperclassmen who dared to attempt to intimidate the little ones. She swatted Sirius in the back of the head as she passed. Remus offered her a bright smile, Peter that smirk that made her immediately stop and ask, "Where is Potter?"

"Not sure. Shall I tell him you're looking for him?" Sirius asked, rubbing the back of his head irately. Lily gave him a flat look. She could smell one of Sirius's lies about James anytime. Not that she cared that much about James, but things had been . . . better for the past year. He hadn't annoyed her. He hadn't been particularly endearing either though.

"That won't be necessary. I swear to Merlin, Sirius, if this train doesn't make it to Hogsmeade-"

"Remus will go with you to look for him," the long haired boy grinned fiendishly, shoving his friend at her. Remus looked back to scowl at him for a moment.

"We have to go to the front of the train, Sirius," Lily rolled her eyes. Sirius grinned wider still. "If James is there-"

"Why on earth would James be in the front of the train when he could be back here with us?" Peter asked innocently. Lily did not appreciate the way Sirius snickered at his remark.

"He did get on the train, didn't he?" Lily demanded. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do with herself if he wasn't causing trouble for her to stop.

"Come on, Lily, it'll be fine," Remus said, in a tone that made her suspect that it would, in fact, not be fine by any stretch of the imagination. She pinned Sirius with another glare before following Remus through the crowded train to the first carriage.

"How was your summer, Remus?" Lily asked softly. He had a new scar on the side of his neck. She wished he would let someone at least try to heal them.

Remus shrugged, eyes locked on the end of the train, "As good as it could be."

Lily touched his shoulder gently and smiled at him, "That's all we can hope for sometimes."

"Yours?" Remus asked. Her hand slipped off as he dodged around a fourth year. Lily gave the young girl a wink and she skittered back into her compartment, gaping.

Lily smiled tersely and pressed herself against the walls to squeeze past the food trolley and its caretaker. "My, uh, my dad . . ."

"Marlene told me," Remus said softly. Lily nodded and tried to focus on what was happening now. Her eyes burned and she swiped at them hurriedly.

"All right, Evans?"

She hadn't paid much attention to James Potter in the last year. Her friends constantly giggled over him and his friends, but she had better things to focus on.

His glasses made his face more symmetrical, but he would've been just fine without them. They were just a gentle reminder that he was actually intelligent. He'd gotten bigger over the summer, in a way that made Lily's eyes linger on his crossed arms. His hair was so incredibly messy, more than usual, and it didn't detract from anything. His jawline was criminally hard; she couldn't believe how well and truly adult he looked, despite being seventeen like she was.

Worst of all, he wasn't smirking at her, and he actually looked concerned.

Lily Evans was in deep shit the moment those hazel eyes met hers.

"Evans?" His brows furrowed. Lily blinked and dropped her hand to her side.

"I'm fine," she lied quickly. "What are you doing here, Potter?"

James pointed to the badge on his chest. Lily frowned at it. It didn't look like his Quidditch Captain badge. In fact, it was the twin to the badge on her own robes. She glanced at Remus.

"I didn't steal Moony's badge. It's mine," James said, with enough lingering confusion that it must've been the case. Lily smiled, even though her insides were twisting.

"We might make a respectable human being out of you yet, Potter," Lily said. She moved past the Marauders into the carriage with the rest of the prefects.

"Don't count on it, Evans," he answered.

While she gave out assignments to the prefects, James lingered just behind her and to her right. She noted Severus glaring at him, but James didn't seem to care. She nearly asked him what was wrong, but she didn't want to ruin it either. Once the prefects were out patrolling, she turned to face him. He spoke before she could.

"It's not fair if they all have to do things and we just get to stand here."

Lily's mouth opened and shut twice. Maybe he wasn't such a terrible choice for Head Boy. "I was going to show you the ropes, since you were never a prefect."

"Show me what ropes, Evans?" James looked around the carriage suspiciously. Lily couldn't help the small laugh that left her.

"No, Potter, it's a Muggle expression. It means show you how to do things the right way so you know what to do on your own," she shook her head. She grinned triumphantly when he turned a delicate shade of red. She placed a hand on her hip, "You know, I didn't think that you could be embarrassed, Potter."

"Embarrassed? Oh, Evans," he stepped closer to her. He was taller than her, by quite a bit. That annoying smirk of his that should have made her see red made her blood roar differently. "You have no idea the meaning of the word."

"Too bad I have no one to show me," Lily put a hand on his chest. She was surprised by the lithe strength there, but not enough to keep her from shoving him back. Merlin, what was wrong with her? She cleared her throat and leveled a glare at him. "If you see anyone doing what you think is a decent joke, they're probably breaking school rules-"

"Evans, I know the school rules better than you do," James said cockily. There it was, that arrogance that made her want to hit him. If he could keep it up until the school year was over, she wouldn't have any issues. "How else am I supposed to finesse my way out of detention?"

"By not getting in trouble in the first place," Lily suggested blithely.

"Why should I show someone respect when they wouldn't do the same to you?"

"Because then you're no better than them," Lily shot back. James let out a humorless laugh before the traces of joy left his face entirely.

"I said you, not me. I don't discriminate by blood purity, thank you very much," James said angrily.

"You still think you're better than everyone else," Lily pointed out, crossing her arms over her chest. James didn't smirk like she expected him to. Instead, his hand ruffled his own hair, which would've annoyed her endlessly had he not been looking so sheepish that it must've been a nervous habit.

"I know I can be arrogant, Evans. We all can. But I'm trying to work on it," he said quietly. "I didn't realize just how much I was shoving everyone else down to boost myself up."

"Who are you, and what have you done with James Potter?" Lily demanded lowly. He laughed, meeting her eyes.

"Can you just show me these mysterious ropes?"

She rolled her eyes at him, "They aren't real ropes."