A/N: This story was entered for the Muggle Mayhem Fanfiction Contest. It had to be set in the HP Universe and had a limit of 800 words (which I only just managed... had to delete about 20 adjectives to get it down!) and it won first place!! =D
Author:Hannah Dare
Time line: Marauders, 7th year
Story Length:796 words
Rating: PG, a few very mild swear words
Head Boy
Negotiating the chaos of Platform 9¾ on September the first took a certain amount of skilful concentration. It involved dodging escaped pets, avoiding displaced luggage, ducking the odd broomstick and, most importantly, evading all the people that were milling about saying goodbye.
Lily Evans, seventh year Gryffindor and newly elected Head Girl, was not in a state of mind to concentrate on where she was going. Instead, her mind was somewhat fixated on that most worrisome of questions: who was the Head Boy?
It was quite a valid concern. There were four possible candidates for her counterpart... and each of them had their own particular flaws.
First of all, there was Godfrey Fawcett, the prefect from Hufflepuff. How he ever got elected prefect, Lily would never know. He was one of those simpering types, who could never make a decision themselves, instead always looking to one of the other prefects.
Carter Bryce, the Ravenclaw prefect, was the complete opposite of Fawcett. He was utterly convinced that everything he thought was correct and would never listen to any other ideas or suggestions brought up in meetings. He would blunder along until a teacher stepped in and stopped him.
By contrast, Alexi Rustin was intelligent and had a sharp wit about him... which would have made him perfect, save for the fact that, as a Slytherin, he hated her passionately. Lily wasn't sure she could stand having him sneer at her and call her mudblood all year...
And, last of all, there was Remus Lupin, her fellow Gryffindor. Remus, on the whole, was the best choice. He was clever, responsible, judged fairly and was a decent conversationalist. All in all a perfect choice.
So what was the problem?
James Potter.
Remus Lupin was part of a gang of four Gryffindor boys, so-called the Marauders, whose sole purpose in life seemed to be create chaos for the rest of the school. Oh, they were clever and highly charming, but they could also be rude, big-headed bullies and none more so than their unofficial leader: James Potter.
Lily ground her teeth thinking of him. Ever since first year James Potter seemed to have decided that Lily was his own personal target. Only James Potter didn't bully her, or prank her... it was far worse than that.
James Potter wanted to date her.
Lily shuddered. 'Well,' she told herself, 'if Remus is Head Boy then I'll just have to ignore him...or, you know, curse him.'
Eyes closing blissfully at the thought, Lily's concentration disappeared... just as the object of her thoughts shot out from a side group.
"OOW!"
Lily suddenly found herself flat on her back, head throbbing, and staring up into the startled brown eyes of James Potter.
"Hey, Evans."
"You GIT, get off me!" Lily snapped in reply, stabbing at James with her wand until he got to his feet. Scrambling up – and turning red when she saw everyone tittering at her – she added, "Why don't you watch where you're going?"
James looked at her incredulously. "Me? You were the one with your eyes shut, Evans."
"No I wasn't," Lily loudly denied before stopping suddenly. The sun was glinting on something on James' chest... something that looked strangely like...
"The HEAD BOY'S BADGE?!" Lily shrieked, looking up at James aghast. "YOU'RE THE HEAD BOY?!"
James immediately smirked. "No need to sound surprised, Evans," he said, flicking it with a finger. "I must admit, I'm looking forward to spending some – "
"How in MERLIN'S NAME are YOU Head BLOODY Boy?!"
"Well, Evans, I got the badge in the – "
"You're not even a prefect – you're not ELIGIBLE!"
James looked hurt. "I'm Quidditch Captain, Evans."
"Quid – " Words failed her and anger began boiling up inside. "What the BLOODY HELL does whacking balls with sticks and flying have to do with being Head Boy?"
James smirked. "Probably more than you think," he said. When Lily just gaped at him, he added, "And you should be careful, Evans. I'm beginning to think you don't want me to be Head Boy."
"Don't want..." Lily repeated faintly. She couldn't believe this was happening. Clearly Dumbledore had either made a mistake or gone horribly mad.
'Although he is quite mad already,' Lily realised suddenly, dread building up. 'Oh Merlin... what if I'm really stuck with him?'
"...go out some time?" James voice belatedly penetrated her thoughts and she realised he'd been asking her out.
Again.
Well, she'd just have to stick to her original plan.
"James," Lily said sweetly.
He looked up at her, hope filling his features.
"Never in this lifetime." And before his face had time to fall, she snapped, "STUPEFY!"
As Potter flopped to the ground, Lily felt a triumphant smile light up her face.
Yep, she could definitely work with this.