Among the crowd of excited students and fluttering owls, four boys stood in a close huddle.

Peter Pettigrew took a huge bite out of a sandwich his mother had packed for him.

"Will you ever stop eating?" Sirius complained, half-joking and half-annoyed. "There is food on the trolley, you know."

James and Remus grinned.

"This year is going to be a tough one," Remus said, changing the subject.

Sirius snorted. "As if. We're the ones who figured out how to become Animagi in the fifth year. That's nothing compared to the dung load the teachers at Hogwarts pile on us."

"Don't speak too soon, Padfoot," Remus said in a serious tone.

Sirius snorted again.

"C'mon, let's get on the train or else all the compartments will be filled," said Remus. We can't wait for the crowd to clear out forever."

"C'mon," Prongs," Sirius said after James hadn't moved. "Prongs?"

James was craning his neck above the crowd, searching.

"Who are you looking for…?" Sirius started. "Oh, I forgot," he said, grinning.

Peter snickered.

"James, you have the whole year to search for her," Remus said, annoyed, "c'mon!"

James finally looked back at his friends at grinned.

"Alright, at least I'll see her in the Prefects carriage."

His friends grinned, and Sirius tugged at his arm until he finally gave up and followed his friends into the train.

"C'mon," Remus said, "there's an empty compartment."

The boys bustled in; now no one would dare encroach this compartment – they had claimed it. Sirius lounged casually on one side, while Remus and Peter plopped down on the other.

"James, you're expected at the prefect carriage now," Remus told his friend sternly as he started to sit down next to Sirius.

"Aw, come on, Moony, he has forever!" Sirius whined.

"It's not a very good way to start the year," Remus persisted sternly, "to be late for your first meeting.

"Moony's right," James said, resigned, but he was only thinking about Lily. He wanted all the time he spent with her to be perfect, and Remus was right; as it his, he would already be quite late. "See you guys later."

He strolled casually out of the compartment, but inside, he stomach was in a huge knot. How would Lily react to him being chosen as Head Boy?

It wasn't as terrible as he feared, though. When he reached the compartment, his eyes scanned the compartment as he searched for her. He felt a smile slowly spread across his face as he finally saw her.

She was standing in front of the prefects, already changed into her school robes. Her long, dark red hair fell lightly over her shoulders, cascading down to her waist. Her bright green eyes sparkled; there was a small smile on her lips as she spoke, and not even a drop of makeup obscured her face, very thankfully. James knew that she never wore makeup – and didn't need it either, most of the girls in the school would die to have the cream-colored skin she had. She was even more beautiful than he remembered.

James casually strolled over to where Lily was standing, and enjoyed – for a split second – as the shock played on Lily's face when she saw his Head Boy badge. She composed herself quickly, though.

"Hi, James," she said slowly and carefully, shock saturating her honey-sweet voice. "Where were you?"

"Sorry," he said casually, "we were waiting for the crowd in front on the train to clear out."

Lily stared at him skeptically for a moment and then finally said slowly, "Alright, then." She turned back to the prefects and said, "As I was saying…"

James waited patiently throughout her instructions to the prefects, but not really listening to the words. He mostly watched her – her eyes, her hands pushing her long, dark red hair behind her shoulders, her lips brushing against each other as she spoke…

Prongs, get a hold of yourself! He rebuked himself internally.

"That's about it," said Lily, finally. "After you finish patrolling the corridors, you're free to go back to your friends' compartments."

James watched the prefects leave the carriage and then turned to the beautiful girl standing beside him, grinning.

"How did you become Head Boy?" Lily demanded in an undertone, her shock unflattering but not unexpected.

"I dunno, maybe the old man really is losing it," James joked, referring to Dumbledore.

Lily frowned but didn't say anything.

"Shall we?" he said, gesturing to the entrance of the compartment, where the prefects were departing.

She nodded wordlessly, her eyes full of suspicion.

"Surprised?" James said, enjoying himself.

"Very," Lily agreed, and gave him a tiny, reluctant smile.

"And I am not – not in the slightest," he continued. "You probably thought Moony would be Head Boy, huh?"

"I was sure…I suppose Dumbledore has his reasons, though."

James grinned. "So how was you summer?"

"Fine," she said, but her voice faltered, giving her away.

James gazed down at her, concerned, but knew from her tone that she probably didn't want to discuss it. He'd have to find a way to bring it up later.

They had finally reached the compartment where Remus, Sirius, and Peter were waiting. Lily looked up at James, looking as if she wanted to say something but wasn't quite sure how to phrase it.

"Thanks," she said finally, in a small voice. "I'll see you, I guess."

"Yeah, see you. Bye," he said lamely, internally cursing himself for not coming up with something more impressive.

Lily smiled at him and then walked away. He gazed at her until he could no longer see her.

"Prongs!" Sirius hissed, snapping his fingers in James' face.

"Huh?" James looked up, confused.

Sirius sighed, a little irritated.

"Stop gawking at her so much, mate, that's detractive."

"I don't gawk at her that much," James insisted, but after catching the looks on his friends' faces, he added, "Well it's not so obvious, is it?"

Sirius struggled, trying to word his answer carefully, so James wouldn't be offended.

"It's alright, Padfoot, you can answer truthfully," James told his friend, grinning.

"Well, sort of," said Sirius.

"Why doesn't she like me?" James complained.

"She likes you," Sirius tried to assure him, "she just doesn't know it herself. It won't be long until she realizes, though."

"She won't like you if you continue to make a fool out of yourself," said Remus wisely. "Sometimes, your idea of what's impressive doesn't really match hers."

"What is her idea of impressive, then?" James asked.

"That's up to you to find out," Remus said in a tone that suggested that he didn't want to be responsible for any of it.

With a groan, James plopped down next to Sirius and helped himself to a Pumpkin Pasty.

"You're joking."

Mary stared, wide eyed, at her friend, and gasped when Lily didn't crack a smile.

"You're serious?" she said, her eyes widening so much that Lily thought they might pop out of their sockets.

"What?" Marlene whined from the other side of the compartment.

The five Gryffindors had each been having their own separate conversations, too preoccupied to notice Lily and Mary's conversation.

"Lily's just told me that James Potter is Head Boy!"

"What?"

The compartment was suddenly full of screaming and giggling; Lily almost wished that she hadn't said anything; she wasn't quite in the mood for this kind of reaction. Right now, all she wanted was to fall asleep. She leaned against the compartment door, irritated at herself for saying anything at all.

Well, she thought, At least James will be pleased.

She knew James would enjoy the attention very much; she could almost picture him standing, surrounded by lovesick girls, maybe rumpling his hair a little…

Somehow, she didn't think of the idea as extremely irritating as she might have only a year ago. She thought of it more…like a fond parent looking back on her child's old habits. Maybe it was because she truly felt that James had matured; she had enough faith in Dumbledore to know that he had a very good reason for choosing him to be Head Boy. It wasn't as if James' troublemaking undermined his schoolwork much; he still got excellent grades for the most part.

With a swell of shame, Lily realized she was becoming just like every other girl in the school. She was falling into his trap, allowing herself to become his puppet like the helpless pushover she was.

She unconsciously folded her arms firmly against her chest. She was not a pushover. She would not allow James to control her. Just because he was Head Boy didn't mean that anything was different. He was still an arrogant bully and she would never give in to him.


A/N: Hope you liked it! I apologize to the people who subscribed to the alerts and got about 3 emails - I have been trying to edit my story and I haven't quite figured out how to replace documents. Anyways, reviews are appreciated =D.