Seventh Year

by Pluie Douce

My my, he thought to himself as his weary eyes looked her up and down, I daresay little Lilykins has done a bit of growing up.

Seventh Year

By Pluie Douce

Disclaimer: HARRY POTTER and all related characters, places, etc. are property of JK Rowling and Scholastic Inc. I do not own anything except for this story's plotline and newly invented characters.

Chapter 1

Reunion

Aboard the Hogwarts Express

          Another year had dawned—life at Hogwarts was revived once again. James Potter stared out the window of the Hogwarts Express train compartment. He heaved a sigh. Where were his friends?

          He grinned slightly as a scream was heard down the hall. Whatever could that be? He wondered, already knowing the answer. A peek out of the compartment's open doors confirmed his answers. Quietly he slid the doors into a closed position.

          "JAMES POTTER!"

          "Show time," he said to himself, checking his hair in the reflection of the window. With the proper amount of imagination, he did look rather slick, didn't he?

          Who was he kidding?

          Ah, to hell with it, he thought. It wasn't like his unmanageable black hair would ever have mercy on him and stop sticking up in the back like it always did. If Remus Lupin were here, he would have remarked that James was acting like a conceited bloke. And in fact, he was acting rather high and mighty at the moment. He just didn't realize it.

          The compartment doors slammed open. A medium sized girl stood there, fuming. "JAMES POTTER!" SHE REPEATED, FURIOUS. Emerald eyes blazed threateningly as she stopped to catch her breath. James, seemingly amused, could only watch as she stared at him. He took this spare moment- this moment, in which the monster-like girl was resting- to get a better look at her.

          My my, he thought to himself as his weary eyes looked her up and down, I daresay little Lilykins has done quite a bit of growing up.

          If she ever heard that come out of his mouth, he would be done for sure.

          Good thing she can't read minds, James thought gratefully.

          "Wipe that grin off your face!" scowled the redhead before him. "I can't believe what you…you had the nerve to do!"

          "And what did I do?" James questioned lazily. If he was going to get screamed at on the first day of his last year at Hogwarts, he was at least going to have some fun before it came.

          "You…you!" She was positively tomato red in the face now. He had to look away to keep from laughing.

          "You conceited bastard! Sealing me off of the Heads Compartment! Hexing the first years on your way to your compartment in the train! Hiding Longbottom's toad!" She glared at him. "What is wrong with you? Can't you control yourself for just one bloody day???"

   James was about to give a smart reply but thought better of that. Instead he raised an eyebrow. "Why would you need to get into the Heads Compartment anyway?"

"I'm Head Girl, that's why!" Lily showed him the part of her robe that the badge was pinned onto. It glinted in the sunlight, and James had to blink twice until his vision returned to normal.

Lily could not believe that Potter boy. She could tolerate him pranking her—hell, she knew quite a few ways to get him back for it as well—but hexing the innocent, unaware first years? Hiding a fellow student's toad? What was wrong with him? Especially that bit about locking her out of the Heads Compartment. Really! Earning that bloody Head badge was the fruit of her labors— six years of obedience and hard work. She deserved it, for Christ's sake! Why did he have to go after her one piece of sanity? And it wasn't as if things at home were much help either. Her father had recently gotten a job transfer and they were forced to move into a flat in London, away from the suburban home they were used to being in.

"You? Head Girl?" he replied stupidly, blinking his intolerable eyes again, ruffling his hair. Oh, how she HATED it when he did that.

"Yes," she said stiffly, offended, "is that so hard to believe?"

He must have realized that he had struck a nerve because he quickly replied, "No, no, of course not." He peered at her harder, shifting his glasses. "Just surprised….that's all." He cast his eyes down and fumbled with something in his pocket. She was about to say something when-

"JAMES!"

Sirius Black burst into the compartment. "I'm back, dear, did you miss me?" he chided cheekily, pinching James's cheek lightly. He did not notice that his friend had failed to reply. "Lily!" he exclaimed, pulling her into an awkward embrace. "How are you?" he said, pulling him apart, looking at her. Her expression softened—she was actually on friendly terms with this boy.

          She smiled and said, "I've been great! In fact, I was just telling James here-"she cast a sidelong glance at him before continuing, "- that I'm this year's Head Girl." She puffed out her chest proudly and beamed.

          At once Sirius's face split into a smile. "That's great news!" he said enthusiastically. "Now we can finally get some serious…er….pranking done," he said, lowering his voice and giving a mischievous wink. He gazed out the window dreamily. "Finally, the days of glory have come!" He gave another wink and Lily rolled her eyes. That Sirius Black….he would never change! Then he stopped short.

"Wonder who's Head Boy?" he pondered thoughtfully. Then his attention was back on his red haired friend. "Hrm…planning to have a bit of a romance with him, eh Lily?" She only blushed at the thought. "Ah…Head Boy and Girl…just made for each other!" He feigned a faint and then clasped his hands together. "Oh, how romantic!" he giggled in a high-pitched voice.

          "Grow up, Sirius," Lily groaned as he broke into fits of laughter, but it was only a halfhearted reprimand because she too joined into the fun.

          She had to admit that she had thought about a possible romance between Head Girl and Head Boy. It seemed so perfect…more like a dream than a real life possibility. Still….she could dream if she wanted to…couldn't she?

          "Er…"James interrupted, turning quite red, "actually I don't think that will happen."

          "Why is that, mate?" Sirius gasped, trying to recover from his aching stomach muscles.

          "Er…" James said, turning even more crimson, "because I'm Head Boy." And to prove it, he took his hand out of his pocket and sure enough, a Head Boy badge lay in the middle of his sweaty palm.

          There was an awkward silence as the full meaning of his words sunk in. "Oh…"Lily said in a small voice. All the thoughts of romance slipped away as she registered the fact. James Potter….Head Boy? How was that even possible?

"Er…yeah," James finished lamely. Sirius sat in disbelief. He had originally thought that James had as much of a shot as he did at getting to be Head Boy—which, he admitted to himself, was close to none. But lo and behold, somehow Dumbledore seemed to have overlooked the fact that Sirius and James had enough detentions to feed the hungry for three years, if each detention counted as a meal card.

"Well?" James said nervously. "Say something, will you?"

Finally, Lily broke the silence. "Potter, if you give me any trouble this year, then you will be dead meat." For once, James was relieved to hear those words. 

"No problem," he said, his spirits lightened.

      "James," Sirius said softly, still in disbelief, "Prongs, have you gone mad?"

"Er…."

Luckily James never had to finish that sentence. Just then, a boy with sandy hair entered, a smaller boy in tow. "We're here!" the first boy announced. "Sorry for being so late."

"That's okay," Sirius replied, at once breaking out of his trance. "Where were you guys? Trying to score a few dates for Hogsmeade in advance?"

"No, nothing of that sort," the first boy replied. "We had…business…didn't we, Peter?"

The smaller boy nodded feverously. "Yes. Business."

James sighed. "Was Malfoy picking on you again, Wormtail?"

Peter nodded sadly. Of the four, he seemed to be the weakest and most vulnerable to emotional or physical harm.

"Yeah, he was," sighed the first boy. "Stupid git. He did a leg-locker curse as Wormtail was passing by his compartment. Luckily I came along and saw the poor boy hopping awkwardly in the hallway and performed the counter curse."

"Ah, once again wizardkind have encountered the kindness of Remus Lupin," James said absentmindedly.

"Well, we're all here now," Remus replied, tossing his knapsack onto the train seat. He noticed Lily sitting there and remarked, "Hey Lily! Didn't notice you were there!"

Glad to be in the conversation, she replied, "Oh, it's no big deal," and proceeded to hug him and Peter. "Now you must excuse me…we're starting to leave soon and I must get back to my compartment." She threw them an apologetic smile.

"Lily's Head Girl," Sirius added. "And guess who's Head Boy?"

"Amos Diggory?" Peter offered.

"No," Sirius answered, breaking into a huge grin. "It's James!"

"Congratulations," Remus said to James, smiling widely. "Wonder what hit Dumbledore in the head before he made that decision?"

"Hey!" James said playfully, but it was all in good clean fun. "Well, excuse me, I've got to get the Heads compartment…. Duty calls, you know."

"Yeah, okay," Peter replied. Soon the other boys were deeply involved in a game of Exploding Snap.

He barely out of the compartment door when he spotted Lily moving fifty paces ahead of him in the same direction. Working with her is going to be great, he thought to himself secretly. When he came to the Heads compartment he found an impatient Lily there, tapping her foot. "Okay, okay," he said, trying to hide his tone of excitement. Muttering the counter curse, the door promptly slid open. "Ladies first," he said, sweeping his arms toward the interior of the compartment. Lily gave a rather haughty sniff and entered, and James followed closely behind. They sat on opposite sides.

"So," he said, trying to start up a conversation.

Her green eyes bored into him. "So," she replied through clenched teeth. Apparently, she was still upset over him being Head Boy.

"Um…"

"Listen," Lily snapped, "let's cut the crap. I don't like you and you don't like me. But we're going to have to work together this year so I expect your full cooperation and help. There will be no pranking of the first years, no hexing in the hallways, nothing. This year is actually going to be a good year and a normal year. Go it?"

"Yes," he replied, groaning inwardly. There went this year's fun.

"Good," she said coldly and went back to staring at him.

After a few moments he spoke again. "Could you please stop that?"

"Stop what?"

"Looking at me like…that."

"I can look wherever I want, thank you very much."

Her glare intensified and he had to look away to avoid making eye contact.

This certainly was going to be a long train ride.

Author's Note: How was that for a first chapter? Comments are always appreciated. If you want to criticize my work, feel free to, but please try to make criticism constructive.

Next Chapter: The Meeting