Hey Guys – I've decided to put my last story on hold and take another stab at the Lily and James story. I've always wanted to create a story that contained the true story of L&J whilst including the numerous pranks of the marauders and the story plot outside of Hogwarts. So here it is… hope you like it

Disclaimer: This belongs to JK Rowling

When Lily pushed open the door to her usual compartment the scarlet seats were empty – except for one boy with sandy blonde hair. Remus Lupin glanced up from his tattered book, startled, but grinning as he saw her.

"Hey Remus," Lily said, using her wand to heft her trunk into the overhead lockers.

"Hey Lily," Remus replied evenly. "Good summer?" He dog-eared the page in his book – something that made Lily frown – before closing it and placing it down on the seat beside him.

"Mmfphht," Lily groaned, shrugging her shoulders. She threw herself onto the seat beside him. Remus cocked an eyebrow but Lily really wasn't in the mood to explain the nightmare that was her sister and her new fiancé. "Not to be rude but why are you here and not in your usually compartment?"

Remus looked unfazed. "Sirius and James are having an argument," he said in way of explanation.

Now it was Lily's turn to look interested.

"You'll see what its about in say…" Remus quickly glanced at his watch. "Another ten minutes."

"Have the girls been through?" Lily asked. Usually Lily was the late one – late to the station because her family was always in some rush, late to get onto the train because her mum got teary eyes, late to find their compartment because she was Lily and at least three Hufflepuff boys and two Gryffindor girls were trying to duel in the corridor which she wasn't going to simply walk past. Potter probably would've given them some tips, Lily thought.

"I saw Marlene," Remus said. "She's in our compartment laughing her head off."

That sounded like her.

"And Alice… ahh there she is," Remus continued, his eyes on the door.

Lily spun around excitedly to face a beaming Alice. Alice wasted so seconds to quickly bundle her up in a hug, before dumping her trunk with Lily's and herself opposite Remus.

"Congratulations by the way," Alice said cheerily, pointing at Lily's Head Girl badge. "Although I can't say I was surprised. Me and Marly have had a beat going since third year – which speaking of beats Remus you owe me three sickles."

Remus frowned lazily. "What for now?"

Remus was the only marauder Lily, Marlene and Alice were brave enough to place a beat against. Potter and Black were too arrogant about the whole thing, whereas Peter had this annoying habit of always winning that all three girls had given up on him a while back.

"On Head Boy," Alice said chirpily. "I called it, you didn't – that's three sickles please."

Remus laughed, handing over the money from his pocket. Lily, on the other hand, instantly turned curious. She'd been fretting over who would be given Head Boy the moment she received her letter. In her head she had compiled the list of sixth year male prefects and when faced with it only Remus sounded appealing. He was also the most obvious choice in Lily's mind but now – thinking about – she couldn't remember a time when Dumbledore selected both Head students from the same house.

Harvey Griffin – the Ravenclaw prefect – would be her next choice. If Dumbledore had selected Snape as Head Boy Lily thought she might actually have a fit. Oh god – noticing the evil glint in Alice's eyes Lily could feel dread rising in her stomach.

"Merlin it's Snape isn't it," Lily blurted, feeling horrified.

Both Alice and Remus broke into fits of laughter.

"Is that a no?" Lily said worriedly. "That better mean no. I really don't think I could handle that – I really couldn't think of any one worse. I reckon I'd even prefer Potter – no offence Remus."

Remus waved her away, trying to keep a straight face. "How about we go find out," he said, offering her a hand. "Your Headship." He added as an afterthought.

"You're actually enjoying this," Lily said, wincing. "Just a little?"

"Sixty eight percent," Remus replied swiftly. "The rest is yet to happen."

Groaning, Lily waved goodbye to Alice before heading to the Prefects compartment with Remus.

"If it's not you or Snape it's either Harvey or Billy," Lily said, speaking through her train of thought. "My guess is Harvey – Billy's a bit of a joker really. He doesn't take his role very seriously, does he?"

Remus couldn't reply. He was too busy stifling a laugh by trying to turn it into a series of coughs. Lily patted his back only half-heartedly, still worried that Dumbledore might've thought it a good old laugh if he partnered her up with Snape. See Gryffindor's and Slytherins can work well together – she could practically hear him telling the entire school. Maybe he missed their showdown in fifth year.

"Okay," Lily said, calming herself as they reached the door. She twisted the handle and stepped inside, briefly scanning the room.

Most of the prefects were already there – including Snape, Harvey and Billy. She noticed that all three of them were sitting amongst the other prefects and none had a Head Boy badge pinned to their cloak. Frantically grabbing onto what she thought was Remus cloak sleeve and swinging both of them back outside to give him a proper grueling on what time was suitable for a prank and what time wasn't she yelped in shock when Potter's startled wide eyes stared back down at her.

"I must say I'm just as surprised as you Evans," Potter said, grinning with his stupid, cocky grin. "But no time like the present, huh?"

Lily thumped him hard across the chest. "What are you doing here Potter and where did Remus go," she cried.

Potter shrugged. "Inside I'd guess," he said. "Now if you don't mind I think I'm late as it is."

Confused, Lily followed Potter inside wondering if the boy had perhaps gone a little mental over the summer and thought the prefects compartment was his compartment. When he settled himself comfortably into a chair Lily grew angry.

"Whatever prank your playing on us I suggest you don't," Lily snapped, pointing her wand at the door. "Here's the exit."

"No fair," Potter complained. "I just got comfortable. Besides I thought we had to give these guys prefect advice and device a patrol's roster or something."

Lily laughed, before realizing that he was actually being serious. She stopped abruptly, eyeing the badge pinned to his robes. "If you think I'm going to believe your Head Boy your gravely mistaken. Now whoever's badge you've taken can you please give it back and get out of here."

James stroked his chin. "Wow this is next level arguing," he said. "Did you actually just say please? To me?"

A small cough broke them apart. Growling, Lily turned onto Remus. "Yes," she said, her anger running thin.

"He'd not joking," Remus said in his calmest, quietest voice.

Lily quickly looked around the room at all of the prefects – new and old. Everyone was here and no one was laughing. In fact, a few of them looked annoyed at her for wasting their time. Nervously, Lily cleared her throat.

"Ah okay – well sorry about that. I'm Lily Evans for those who don't know," she started. For some reason she felt like storming from the room. Here was the one thing she'd been working for since fourth year and Potter was just handed it – probably on a golden platter served by one of his house elves. Now he'd caused her to create a fool of herself in front of everyone.

Part of Lily had forgotten that she'd stopped talking. Snape was staring at her with two different expressions on his face; none that made Lily feel any better.

"Anyway – that is James Potter," she continued, pointing at the messy haired boy behind her. "If you're having trouble with getting detentions I suggest you go ask him about it." That earned her a few chuckles at least. Maybe she would be fine. After all, most of the prefects – except for the greasy Slytherins – were actually appointed because of their leadership qualities and willingness to do the right thing. Unlike the toe rag behind her.

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Lily stormed out of the meeting only half certain on how it'd turned out. Potter had barely said a word, but then again she'd barely left him space to breathe. Hopefully it would stay that way. Behind her, Remus and Potter walked in a more sensible fashion back towards their compartment. She tried tuning into their conversation, a small part of her curious to hear what Potter had to say about the meeting.

"Did you find anything interesting," she heard Remus asking. From the tone of his voice, Lily deducted that Potter had been snooping – she wasn't really surprised.

Potter made a disgruntled sound. "It doesn't look too good. And Dad's barely at home these days even though they've taken him out of the field."

Lily frowned at that. What were they talking about? Potter sounded serious which wasn't really that uncommon when Lily thought about it. He talked about Quidditch seriously. And he was always reading the Daily Prophet. But this didn't sound like either of those topics.

"Yeah Mum's being called out more too," Remus said. "More families wanting stronger protection I suppose."

Since most of her concentration was being used to listen intently to their conversation, Lily didn't even notice that she'd walked straight past her compartment and was only two doors away from the Marauder's compartment. Then Remus and Potter stopped talking.

"Hey Evans," she heard Potter call.

It was at that second she realized her mistake. Pulling on a straight face, Lily turned around. "Yes Head Boy," she replied which caused Remus to laugh.

Potter shot him a pointed look. "I think all that eavesdropping knocked a few senses from your head," he told her. "Including your sense of direction and memory."

Lily grinned politely. She wasn't going to let him bother her – not this year. "Thanks Potter but –

Her words were cut off by a squeal and the bang on doors. "Lils!" Marlene shouted, throwing herself onto the red head. She then started ruffling Lily's hair. "Good job of Head Girl. Sucks that my idiot of a cousin is Head Boy but you're more than up to dealing with him and two roles." Lily knew Marlene was joking – since she maturely stuck her tongue out at Potter – but also because Marlene was always pestering Lily on the detailed and minute reasons on why she couldn't just be friends with him.

"Nice to see you to Marls," Potter said, patting Marlene on the head before wandering inside.

Marlene dragged Lily in behind him, cheerfully babbling about her holiday in Croatia and boasting about her new tan. Marlene was the kind of girl who instantly grew one shade darker on the skin and one shade lighter in the hair as soon as she touched sun. Whereas Lily just burnt and peeled.

Inside the compartment Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew were in the middle of a game of exploding snap. From the looks of things Black was definitely winning and Peter had lost one or two chunks of mousy hair. Alice was sitting cross-legged next to Peter holding a sowing pin and an embroidery circle. A coil of navy blue thread was being held between her teeth. Potter had thrown himself down on top of Sirius who laughed, before knocking the boy to the floor. Then there was Remus who decided it was safest to sit next to Alice.

Still grinning, Marlene pulled her down onto the empty space between Potter and the door.

"Since when have we hosted girls in our man compartment," Black asked, slamming a card down before Peter.

"Since you started dating one," Marlene replied, blowing him a kiss.

Black pretended to look disgusted but was smiling regardless. "Still if we start a sowing club I'm out."

Alice didn't miss a beat. "So embroidery is fine with you?" She asked, mock sweetness, holding up her piece.

Black and Peter both mimed gagging and fake death on the compartment floor – Sirius adding a couple of dramatic breathes in at the end.

"Enjoyable," Marlene commented.

"I personally think our new Head Boy and Girl are enjoyable," Peter said, stilling lying closed eyed on the floor.

"Mmm I do quite like my partner," Potter commented, winking at Lily who scowled back. "But it's the title that has to do. Clashes with my reputation."

"How about Big Head?" Remus suggested which caused Alice to snort quite un-lady like.

"Or Captain Magnificent?" Black put in.

"How about Head nothing and giving your badge to someone else if your not going to take it seriously?" Lily countered, glaring at Potter.

"Way to ruin the mood Evans," Sirius said to her.

Potter, on the other hand, merely shrugged. "Can I actually do that?" He asked her.

She wasn't sure if he was joking or not this time.

"Naww," Black said, scuffing his hair. "But haven't you been dreaming of sharing a Head's tower with Evans since first year?"

"Even if I have better not mention them," Potter replied swiftly. "Nice to keep the conversation G rated." Then, of course, he had the nerve to turn and wink at her.

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"He's only joking around," Marlene told Lily as they made their way towards the Great Hall. Lily was fuming though, and most of Marlene's words were going straight over her head. "That's what they do. If you weren't so stubborn you might've even think some of its funny."

That caught her attention. "I'm not stubborn," Lily hissed furiously. "He's arrogant and stuck up and always up to no good. Who does he think he is just sauntering around the school as if he owns the place?"

Marlene signed. There was truth to Lily's words, she couldn't deny that, but she also knew that Lily hadn't properly gotten over the events of fifth year. Sometimes Marlene thought that Lily aimed all her anger at Snape unfairly towards James.

"He also needs to grow up another ten years," Lily added, when Marlene didn't reply.

Marlene laughed at that. "Can you imagine a twenty seven year old James," she said, trying to defuse Lily's anger before they entered the Great Hall.

"No," Lily said stubbornly before storming inside.

She quickly found a seat next to Alice. Further down she watched as Potter and Black clambered into their seats, wondering if maybe Marlene was right about them but then she saw Potter aim a charmed goblet against the back of Snape's head and went right back to being angry with him.

This was definitely going to be a long year.