Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Rowling, except what my fellow-fanfictioners and other various sources have inspired and, well... theoretically the work that I put into coming up with this story.

Note: I use www hplex com for chronology. To clarify one thing in advance, it seems that students used to be allowed into hogwarts at 10, meaning that they would turn 17 during their 7th year. I could be wrong about that, but just take my word for it and accept the creative license please.

Chapter 1

What the Hell?

It was a hot morning in early August in Northern England where Lily Evans spent her summers. Her parents were both at work, and Petunia was no longer living at home, so Lily was lucky enough to have both fans pointed at her. Her family could only afford two fans. It was hard enough to keep food on the table, pay rent, the electricity, the phone bill, the clothes, and all the other little necessities of life. Lily Evans family was not, by any stretch of the imagination, rich. It had only been two years ago that they were able to afford the second fan anyway.

Sitting in the cool of the two fans she was able to remember with a smile the days before the second fan when all four members of her family would huddle in front of the one fan, never sure if they were creating so much body heat from their proximity that the fan was irrelevant.

But if there was one thing that the Evans didn't do, it was give up, and it would have seemed like giving up to spread out and not even try to use the fan. And her parents had worked hard for that fan, damn it.

Lily wished, for about the thousandth time in her life that she had enough money to buy an owl. She felt so cut off from the wizarding world without one. Sure, her two best friends, Marietta Jones and Chloe Stevens wrote often, but they wrote to each other too and owls could only fly so fast. Throw one more owl into the mix, and she'd be able to write to them more often, they'd be able to respond more often and the world would be, as far as Lily was concerned, a far better place.

It was almost enough to make her wish that she had accepted Potter's offer that time that he had offered to buy her an owl if she would go out with him. One date couldn't be that bad, even with Potter. But going on a date in exchange for Potter buying her something sounded a little too much like prostitution. Especially considering how dirty-minded she expected Potter was.

It wasn't her parents' fault that they didn't have money. Lily knew that full well. They tried so hard to make as much money as they could, but the economy in the area was rubbish and it didn't seem to matter how hard you tried to work to make an honest living, there just wasn't enough money to be had. Leaving the area would have been giving up, too, because the Evans and the Scotts (Lily's mother's family) had lived in the area for generations.

Her mother worked as a waitress in a diner and her father was a welder at a car manufacturer that was always on the verge of going under. Both respectable professions, as far as Lily was concerned. Her mother served people who needed to be served, and her father made things that needed to be made. But respectable jobs didn't necessarily pay the bills.

That's why Petunia had married rich. Petunia was the only one of the Evans who did give up. In fact, she probably would have left the fan if she was smart enough to think about things like combined body heat.

Lily scolded herself, reminding herself to at least try to be nice to her sister, even if her sister had hardly said a kind word to her since she got her letter from Hogwarts 6 years before. But Lily realized that she hadn't even been thinking of Petunia as an Evans when she originally thought of Evans not giving up.

But that was partially fair, Lily reflected, given that Petunia was officially a Dursley now.

Of course, that didn't mean that Lily would stop thinking of herself as an Evans once she got married, even if she did change her name.

If she ever got married. She hadn't dated anyone in months and frankly there was nobody at Hogwarts at the moment who impressed her enough to start dating. And she wasn't in to older guys either. They always seemed to think they could tell her what to do. Like when she had dated that git Scott Michaels back when she was in fifth year and he was in seventh.

So maybe she'd never got married. She wasn't overly concerned about that now, though. She was basking in the cool air of the two fans pointed directly at her, one at her top half and one at her bottom half.

Lily jumped about a foot in the air when she heard an owl knock at the window. "Maybe it's from Marietta!" she yelled. She talked to herself sometimes when she was alone.

Her first emotion, when she looked closely enough at the owl to see that it was a school owl was disappointment. Just another stupid book list. Oh well. At least it would necessitate a trip to Diagon Alley where Marietta would insist on buying Lily lunch, ice-cream, and the half of her school supplies that her parents couldn't afford to buy her.

Marietta came from a rich old wizarding family. Almost as rich as the Potters. That was why Lily felt ok with letting Marietta buy stuff for her. That and she figured it was just about a fair wage for the amount of work she put into helping Marietta with her Charms and Potions homework. And the tutoring. Marietta had gotten gotten Charms and Potions on her O.W.L.s almost entirely because of Lily's hours of work with her.

Of course, the hours of teaching helped reinforce the concepts for her, too, but, although Lily felt a little conceited even thinking it, Marietta needed the help way more than she did.

Lily actually squealed when she actually opened the envelope that the owl was carrying and a badge fell out that read "head girl".

But her mood went from excited to frustrated in about a second when she realized that she couldn't tell anybody the news that she was so ecstatic about because she didn't have a bloody owl!

"Merlin," muttered Lily. "Maybe I should have prostituted myself out to Potter." She thought a moment and added, "At least he's good looking."

James woke up to the sound of an owl knocking on the window. He had a head-ache.

"Sirius!" he yelled, and then immediately regretted making so much noise.

Sirius, who was on the next couch over from James shot up into a sitting position.

"What?" Sirius yelled back, then grimaced.

"You hung over?" asked James, quieter this time.

"Of course I am, I drank 8 pints last night," said Sirius with an eye-roll and another grimace.

"You know, if you didn't drink so much you wouldn't have so many hang-overs, said Lupin, who conspicuously did not grimace when he spoke.

"Prat," said James.

The owl tapped on the window again. "In a second!" whispered James frustratedly. He did not want to get up just yet.

"How the Hell's Peter still asleep?" wondered Sirius quietly.

"I dunno, maybe he's still drunk. He kept up with us last night and... well, he's tiny," said James.

"Yeah, he's got a problem," said Remus contemplatively.

"Stop being so critical. He was happy last night," argued James.

"Was he?" asked Remus.

"Er... oh wait, that was me, wasn't it?"

"I would say it was everybody but Peter" said Lupin with a note of pity in his voice.

"Always seems like he's scared of something, doesn't it?" whispered James, who was now making an actual attempt not to wake up his sleeping friend.

"A lot of people are scared of something nowadays," said Lupin with an eye-roll.

"Oh yeah, that Voldemort prat. Well, at least he didn't crash our party last night," said Sirius. He talked a bit too loud, as he normally did when he told jokes. He grimaced again.

The owl knocked on the window again as Sirius cracked his joke. No one noticed.

"Could you not say the name?" asked Peter groggily from across the room.

"Could you grow some balls?" retorted Sirius.

"We don't have to say it in front of him if it bothers him," said Lupin.

"But it shouldn't bother him, it's just a name," said James.

"Do we have to fight about everything?" asked Lupin.

"When we're hung-over we do," opined Sirius.

"Yeah, Merlin's beard am I hung-over," said Wormtail.

"You going to throw up again?" asked Sirius.

"No- Maybe" said Peter.

James rolled his eyes. "Try to make it to the bathroom."

The owl tapped on the window again, louder than ever. James finally got up, mostly because the noise made his headache worse.

"Why do you suppose he throws up the morning after he drinks?" asked Sirius curiously.

"I would assume it's involuntary," answered Lupin.

"Oh, shit, it's a school owl," said James, as he opened the blinds which had been conveniently kept closed to keep the light out from the oversleeping teens. James opened the window and let the owl in.

"How are you boys doing?" asked Mr. Potter jovially.

Sirius grimaced, and then responded cheerfully, "Your son's hung-over!" He grimaced again.

"Yes, well, he'll learn how to hold his pints someday," responded the gray-haired Mr. Potter with a gentle smile.

"I hope it's soon," said Lupin.

"Once again you're the only one not hung over?" asked Mr. Potter to Lupin.

"Yes, Mr. Potter," said Lupin.

"I've told you to call me Larry," said Mr. Potter.

"That's not your name, you-" said Sirius.

"Merlin!" yelled James, who had just gotten around to opening the envelope that he had untied from the owl's leg.

"Stop yelling!" yelled Peter from the bathroom.

"I'm head-boy!" yelled James.

"What the hell?" asked Sirius and Lupin in unison.

"Congratulations!" said Mr. Potter, and hugged his son. "Now go tell your mother."

"Where is she?" asked James.

"Kitchen," responded Mr. Potter. "So another legendary Potter party last night?" he asked Sirius as Lupin and James left the room.

"Yeah. Sorry that you slept through it," said Sirius.

"You know I'm too old to stay up that late," said Mr. Potter.

"Congrats, mate," said Lupin, as he and James walked through the massive house toward the kitchen.

"I thought it'd be you mate," said James honestly.

"So did everyone else in Gryffindor," said Lupin. "But I'm content just to be a prefect.

Besides, can Gryffindor really afford to lose a prefect?"

"They could have appointed a new one," said James.

"Who?" asked Lupin.

"Er... me I guess?" asked James.

"Would you have accepted?" asked Lupin.

"Not a chance," said James with a laugh. "All having to follow rules and no glory? Who

wants that? I mean. Aside from you?"

"I don't follow all the rules," said Lupin with a frown. "You know that full well."

"Yeah, but it's harder for you not to get caught. Anyway, I'm willing to put in extra work into getting away with pranks if I get a head-boy badge" said James.

"Right," said Lupin with an eye-roll. "I'm sure that's exactly what Dumbledore was hoping for."

"You know no one's ever going to know what that man's thinking," said James.

They reached the kitchen.

"Are you hung over?" asked Mrs. Potter halfway accusingly.

"Er... maybe," said James, somewhat embarrassed.

"Here, take this potion, but this is the last time I'm giving it to you," said Mrs. Potter.

"No it's not," said James with a smile.

Mrs. Potter rolled her eyes. "Well, I wish it were," she said. Do Sirius and Peter need some.

"Of course they do, Mum," said James cheerfully. Then, slightly more cheerfully, "Oh by the way, I'm head boy!"

"What the hell?" asked Mrs. Potter, dropping the cup of potion to the floor, where it shattered.

Six hours after she got the notification that she was head girl, Lily finally heard another tap on the window. She jumped up again, thrilled to see Marietta's owl.

She ripped open the letter.

Dear Head-Girl Lily (You are, right? I bet Marcy from Ravenclaw a galleon you would be).

You'll never guess who the head-boy is... Ok, so, get this, I heard from Electra who heard it from Sirius who she's dating as of last week that James effing Potter is Head Boy. Is Dumbledore trying to torture you?

Write me back immediately to confirm that Marcy owes me a galleon!

Yours,

Marietta.

"What the hell?" asked Lily.

A/N Ok, so, I never thought I'd write a James/Lily fic, but... now I am. I'm doing a special version of review bribing for this story. For the next chapter at least 3 people must review. The catch is that everyone who reviews (even if you're not one of the first 3) must go to www dot freerice dot com and earn two hundred grains of rice for the hungry by answering 20 multiple choice vocab questions correctly. It's the least you could do for the free entertainment I just gave you, if you enjoyed it. Tell me in the review whether you actually went to freerice dot com or not. Thanks! (I've been on this kick about wanting to help feed the hungry lately). -Gryffindor777