Disclaimer: I do not own any Harry Potter Characters or related indica. They belong to JK Rowling, Bloomsbury and Warner Bros. I don't claim anything.
Chapter One
"GIVE IT BACK!"
James Potter's face split into an evil grin, "only if you go out with me," he said slyly and once again, took Lily Evan's Potion's Book out of reach. He jumped up onto the cushy compartment chair and waved the book right up near the ceiling.
Sirius Black, who was, of course, James' best friend, merely sat back, folded his arms and rolled his eyes. It had not even been five minutes after they had greeted each other after the summer holidays that James was back to his old tricks again.
"Give it up, Prongs. Leave her alone, at least let her have a train-ride's peace before you start badgering her."
"Stay out of it Black," Lily said warningly, glancing at Sirius with great disliking, "Potter, give it back!"
James adjusted his glasses after a large leap to the other side of the compartment to avoid Lily's grasp. "Like I said before, Evans," James said, as one of Lily's tag-a-longs entered the compartment, a gaze of coldness across her face, "I'll only give it back if you go out with me."
"Don't be pathetic," Lily said stubbornly, now whipping out her wand to back her up, "Accio Book!"
James was caught off guard, and the book was snatched from his grasp. Trying to grab thin air, James did a kind of flip off the chair and landed on the ground head first.
Seeing double and feeling dizzy, James picked himself up to see Lily and her friend leaving the compartment, both giggling. "Here," Remus Lupin picked up James' glasses and shoved them at his chest.
"Thanks, Moony," James said, slumped into his chair and put the glasses across his face once more. Pretending not to notice that Peter Pettigrew was looking at him in awe, James turned to Sirius, a slight look of disappointment in his eyes, "Padfoot, why do you have to always ruin all the fun?"
"I don't," smiled Sirius, "I let you do it half the time. All I suggest is you give the poor girl a break."
James shrugged, "whatever. You're a strange one."
Sirius laughed as the train started to rattle out of the station, students and parents both shouting last goodbyes to each other. Peter opened the window to say a squeaky goodbye to his mother, but James jerked him back in before he had time to finish his sentence.
"Don't be an idiot, Wormtail. You're almost seventeen, pull yourself together. You don't need to say goodbye to your mummy anymore."
Remus sniggered, "it'd be different if your mother was here, Prongs."
"That's not the point, Moony," James said coolly, although he felt a slight bit embarrassed, "I know I don't need my dear old mother anymore. Poor Wormtail here is never going to learn how to survive if his mother doesn't write her weekly letter for him."
Peter said nothing, but sank in his chair as if he had just been proven wrong, and was ashamed of himself. Sirius sniggered and stood up and stretched. There was a few moments silence, until it was broken by Remus' yawn as he looked at his watch.
"Oh well, Prongs, we've got duties to do. We'll leave these two by themselves."
James moaned, "why did they make me Head Boy? Can you give me one good reason?"
"To give you another excuse to chat up Evans?" suggested Sirius, not bothering to sit back down as he glanced out of the compartment door at a few girls walking by.
"Good point."
Remus shoved James out of the compartment and with a few hurried goodbyes, James was swept off his feet and heading to the Prefect's Carriage. "So what did you do these holidays, Moony?"
"I dunno…stuff."
"Stuff. Sounds like fun," James said sarcastically, rumpling his hair as he noticed Lily Evans exiting a compartment a fair way in front of them. Stopping absent-mindedly as he watched her ahead, Remus pushed James impatiently.
"Get a move on, you arrogant toe-rag; I don't want to be late for Prefect Duties."
"Yes, of course, it's all about you, isn't it?" James sniggered as he started moving again, Lily proceeding out of site very quickly.
"Funny, I would have thought the opposite," said Remus casually, as if he said it almost every day. James' hazel eyes turned to Remus with a look of great shock on his face.
"I'm offended, my dear Moony. I really, really am."
"Whatever, just keep moving." They had reached the Prefects' Compartment and Remus pushed James through the door so he almost fell over.
"Nice of you two to join us, better late than never, I suppose…" Lily said scathingly as Remus took a seat and she pulled James up the front, "we need to talk to the new Prefects about their duties."
"Oh yeah, I know all about Prefect Duties. I was called up a record eighty three times by Prefects last year. Mind if I do it?"
Scowling at James, Lily said flatly, "No. You just shut up and listen. You'll probably put wrong ideas in their heads."
James raised his eyebrows, but figuring it best not to toy with Evans at the present moment in time, did as he was told. James kept eyeing Remus, the only person apart from Lily he really knew in the compartment, but Remus ignored him. He was too interested in listening to Lily to care about the stupid faces James was pulling at him.
"Now as a Prefect you can dock points from people but –"
"Can we?" asked a Ravenclaw boy eagerly.
"Five Hundred points from Ravenclaw for such a stupid question."
Lily and Remus both scowled at James coldly.
"That was a perfect example of what not to do with your power as Prefects," said Lily angrily, looking at the Ravenclaw Boy in particular, "and those points taken don't include, as we have not arrived at school yet."
"That's a stupid rule," snorted James, "I have an idea –"
"Does it involve you shutting up? Because if it doesn't I don't want to hear it."
A few of the Prefects chuckled at Lily's comment as James fought hard not to blush. Remus smiled at James and put his fingers to his lips, a signal for James to shut up. James decided to take Remus' advice and he let Lily explain the rest of the basics of being a Prefect with minimal interruption.
"So I want you to patrol the corridors every so often for the rest of the afternoon – to make sure that no one is causing any trouble. Got it?"
The was a general murmur of reply to this and the Prefects began to exit the carriage, a look of slight excitement on all their faces. James waved goodbye to Remus as he held back to talk to Lily. When only Lily and James were left in the carriage, James and Lily simply stared at each other.
Lily was the first to speak, her voice sending shivers down James' spine. "Don't you do that ever again, Potter, or I'll put you in detention," she said importantly.
"Wouldn't be the first time," muttered James under his breath.
"I heard that," snapped Lily, "now I'm off to go patrol the corridors."
"I suppose you need my help –"
"No, Potter. The last thing I need is your 'help'."
"Well at least –"
"No," said Lily firmly scowling once again at James, "if you think duties are going to help you find more ways of annoying me, Potter, you're wrong. I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that we spend the least amount of time together as possible. Do you hear me?"
"It depends what part of that statement you're talking about. I heard the words 'annoying me', 'duties' and 'time together', but the rest is kind of a blur…" James said casually, his hand returning to his hair as he pulled off a cheesy grin.
"You're the most arrogant person I've ever met, Potter."
"Why thank you," smiled James pleasantly, rumpling his hair absent-mindedly.
Lily shook her head and left James alone in the Prefects' Carriage for his mind to wonder. After a few minutes of listening to the train rattle through the country side, James slowly made his way back to his compartment now that Lily had made it clear not to go near her.
A few people said bright greetings to James as he passed various compartments, all of which he replied with a wave, his head deep in thought.
"Any lunch, Prongs?" Sirius asked from behind a copy of The Adventures of Martin Miggs: The Mad Muggle as James flopped on a spare space next to him.
"Nope," James sighed, snatching the comic from Sirius and beginning to read it himself, "she's in denial."
"What a shame, you should give her a break. Leave her alone for once," said Sirius, grabbing back his comic and flicking to the right page, "why are you here, anyway? Shouldn't you be doing duties?"
James stretched out and noticed Peter was staring at him, "nah. I can't be bothered, Evans can do it by herself."
Sirius raised his eyebrows and looked at James, "are you sure you weren't an arrogant toe rag to her in the Carriage, Prongs?"
"Padfoot, you know me," James grinned, "since when have I ever been arrogant to Evans?"
"The beginning of time."
"That's not the point."
"I'm sure it is."
"Whatever," sighed James boredly, eyeing the comic in Sirius' hands once more, "oh brilliant, do you want anything from the trolley, guys?"
"Pumpkin Pasty and a Cauldron Cake, thanks mate," said Sirius as James got up to reach the Food Trolley outside the compartment door.
"Can you get me a couple of Chocolate Frogs?" squeaked Peter from the corner shyly. James grabbed the food requested, some extra for Remus and himself, and pulled out some Galleons to pay for it all.
"Here," James said, throwing Sirius and Peter what they had asked for as the Trolley moved on once more. He slumped into his seat next to Sirius as Remus entered the compartment. A grin spread across Sirius' face as James greeted Remus by shoving food underneath Remus' nose, which Remus snatched and began to eat quickly.
"So Remus," Sirius said casually, flicking the dark hair out of his eyes as some girls passed, "did Prongs act like an arrogant toe rag in the Prefects' Carriage?"
"Toe rag is an understatement," replied Remus simply.
James scowled as he put some Drooble's Best Blowing Gum into his mouth.