Dumbledore was laughing at me. Sure, he seemed to be in conversation with McGonagall, but I knew better. Dumbledore loved being right. At the beginning of the year I claimed he was loony and old for making me Head Boy, and now, four weeks later, I was the best Head Boy this school could have. At least, that's what Lily Evans said. She was never wrong.
I had to admit, after I got over the prejudice of my position as Head Boy, I found I liked being an authority figure. I could leave class early for whatever excuse I could come up with, the teachers gave me less homework so I had more time to do my Head duties, and I got to spend quality time with the love of my life.
Though that last one could also be counted as a con. It was very difficult for me to be alone with Lily and not snog her. I only managed to refrain myself by thinking about how annoyed she'd be that I was wasting working hours on frivolous activities. That, and the fact that we weren't actually dating.
I still wasn't sure why we weren't dating. She had admitted last week that she liked me (sure she made it sound platonic, but I knew the deeper meaning) and even held my hand twice. I felt we were ready to move on to the next step, but she stubbornly insisted that she just wanted to be friends. We spent practically every moment together, yet she claimed it was just business.
Business was precisely what we were doing at the moment. Lily had interrupted my lunch to go over some minute points for our prefects' meeting tonight. I wasn't really interested. I trusted Lily's judgment and would go along with whatever she planned. My main concern at the moment was Dumbledore. He threw little glances our way and then smiled to himself. That's how I knew he was laughing at me.
I hadn't yet talked to Dumbledore since I decided I wanted to stay being Head Boy. I'd have to talk to him eventually, but I wanted to prolong that as long as I could. I didn't want to be close enough to hear him chuckle or see his eyes twinkle. I hated being wrong just as much as he loved being right.
"James, stop staring at the Headmaster and focus." Said Lily, scolding.
I turned back toward her. I hadn't even noticed I watching Dumbledore. She was frowning at me, but there was a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"I know you find old men with beards attractive and all," she said, "but you can ogle Professor Dumbledore later when I'm done talking to you."
Sirius, Peter, and Remus –who were sitting across from us- burst into laughter. I glared at them and kicked one of their shins. I was satisfied to see Sirius wince.
"Lily, love," I said sweetly, "you're the only one I ogle."
She rolled her eyes and pointed to the parchment I was supposed to be reading. "No one finds you charming."
"I do." Sirius piped up.
Lily ignored him. It was amazing how well she adjusted to being around my friends. "I was thinking that we should have some of the prefects start tutoring. Younger children are too afraid too ask for help from older kids, but you and I can ask the teachers which children they think need help and we can match the children with the appropriate prefects."
"Mmmhmm. That sounds like a great plan."
She narrowed her eyes. "It would be nice if you cared for a second."
"I do care, but you prepare everything so nicely that you don't really need my help. I'm the idea man; you're the planner. I suggested a tutoring program, now you plan it out."
She sighed. "You're such a child sometimes."
"I am not!"
"Then why do you have sauce on your face?" She grabbed a napkin and wiped off my chin. I felt myself blushing and I avoided the eyes of my friends. I had a habit of looking foolish when Lily was around.
"Stop doing that!" I whined and pushed her off. "You aren't my mother."
"Well I sure feel like I am at times!" She said back angrily. Despite our new, closer relationship, it was still too easy to get into a fight with each other. In fact, we seemed to fight more now then ever. Lily would find something to complain about, I'd get defensive, we'd fight, and an hour later we'd apologize and get back to work. It was our pattern and sometimes happened more than once in a day.
"Nobody asked you to raise me. I'm an adult." My eyes fell on two boys leaving the Great Hall. "I'm going to talk to Derek and Jacob."
Lily huffed. "Oh yes, Mr. Adult, run away from an argument to go play with your first year friends. That proves just how mature you are."
I didn't say anything to her; I was not in the mood to make it better between us. I ran out of the room to catch up to the younger boys and looked back once to make a face at Sirius. He understood I wanted him to calm Lily down. Avoiding looking at Lily, I caught eyes with Dumbledore. He chuckled.
Of course, now I was in an even worse mood. I hurried faster and caught up to Derek and Jacob. They were the two first years I had befriended two weeks ago and I had grown fond of them.
"Hello boys." I greeted them.
"Hello James." They said simultaneously and smiled identical smiles. They were always perfectly in sync with each other. Sirius and I weren't even so well timed.
"How are classes?" Being around them made me feel important. I liked the way they looked up to me – but maybe they only did that because I was so much taller than them.
Jacob made a face. "Professor McGonagall took ten points from me today because I didn't complete my homework. I thought teachers didn't take points from their own houses."
"Professor McGonagall doesn't care what house you're in. That's the only drawback of being in Gryffindor." I said with a grin.
Derek snickered. "I can think of a few other reasons to not be in Gryffindor."
The most amazing thing about Derek and Jacob was that Jacob was in Gryffindor and Derek was in Slytherin, yet they were best friends.
Jacob and I frowned. Even as best friends, they couldn't help but tease the other about his house.
"Gryffindor is the best house in the world." I said, offended. Even if I liked Derek, I was too full of house pride to not defend Gryffindor. "Dumbledore was in Gryffindor you know."
"Are you still swooning over Dumbledore?" said a voice behind me. I twirled around to see Lily, standing with her arms crossed.
"Are you following me? I'm not mature enough to be out of your supervision?"
Derek and Jacob shifted awkwardly beside me. I briefly thought about the bad example I was setting, but didn't care enough to stop fighting with the Head Girl.
"I am not following you. I came out here to settle our differences like adults, but apparently you aren't mature enough to do so!" Her eyes narrowed and her body stiffed in defense.
"I am capable of acting like an adult. You're the one who can accept that I've grown up." I crossed my arms too and we stared at each other angrily.
"Ahem."
Lily and I both turned to Dumbledore. I hadn't noticed him approach. Derek and Jacob were no longer around and students were walking quietly around us, avoiding us.
"If I may interrupt," said Dumbledore. "I've been observing you two very closely the past few weeks and I think I could shed some light on the situation."
Lily and I gaped at him. The Headmaster chuckled.
"I'll assume you'd like to hear my wisdom, which I must say is very good wisdom. We can't have our Head Boy and Girl fighting so frequently."
"We wouldn't have to fight if Potter would stop being himself." Lily said in a tone that I never thought I'd hear her said to a teacher.
"You've come right to the source of our problem." Dumbledore said.
"Wait!" I interjected. "Are you agreeing with her? You think I'm too immature to be Head Boy?"
"Of course not. I have already told you my opinions of your satisfactory performance in your job. By the way, thank you for deciding to keep your job."
"I meant to talk to you about that." I said, ashamed. He shrugged.
"Professor," said a very unhappy Lily. "Can you please tell us what you think our problem is and how we can fix it? I'd like to get this over with as soon as possible. I have a tutoring program to plan. Alone."
Dumbledore winked at me. "Miss Evans, you are the problem."
Lily's eyes opened wide and she started stuttering. I was both delighted and flabbergasted. I would have never expected Dumbledore to tell off Lily, and so bluntly.
"Me?"
"Correct me if I'm wrong – and I don't think I am – but from what I've seen, Miss Evans, you aren't treating Mr. Potter like and equal. Rather you degrade him every chance you get."
Lily opened her mouth to protest, but Dumbledore held up his hand and silenced her.
"I've noticed that you're uncomfortable being around Mr. Potter so often. His new found maturity confuses you, so you push him away in the manner you know best: by calling him immature and starting a fight."
I smirked. Lily's face was bright red, and she had no answer.
"My suggestion," the professor said wisely, "is for you, Miss Evans, to recognize Mr. Potter as he is and stop treating him like your inferior. You have no more power than he does and I advise you to respect that. I chose you both to be Heads because I thought you would work well as a team." He paused and then grinned widely. "I also thought you made a rather cute couple."
With flair only Dumbledore could have, he turned and walked back into the Great Hall. I took a deep breath and looked to Lily, but our Headmaster stuck his head through the door.
"One more thing Miss Evans. Professor McGonagall has asked me to advise you to keep certain whispered discussions out of her classroom. She isn't quite as interested in hair as you are."
He was gone again, and I turned to Lily once more. But she was running down the hallway. I groaned and ran after her. I should have fallen in love with someone that took less work.
Lily wasn't fast enough to escape me. Grabbing her arm, I pulled her to the side of the hallway we were in, thanking Merlin the hall was empty.
"Who's running now?" I said feeling frustrated with her. Seeing the blush across her face, I became a little more compassionate. "Look, I'm sorry that Professor Dumbledore criticized you like that."
"It wasn't your fault." She mumbled, staring at the floor. "His accusations were right and it is his job to make sure the students don't fight."
"His accusations were right?" I asked. This situation was confusing. Lily was purposely finding fault with me? I would have believed that last year, but I could have sworn she actually seemed to want to be my friend this year.
Lily didn't answer and she still refused to look at me. I wasn't going to leave her with out some resolution. I needed to get her talking.
"What did Dumbledore mean about you in McGonagall's class?" I asked the first thing that came to mind. Lily blushed even more.
"I'll tell you," she said after a moment of hesitation. She looked around the hall, saw that it was empty, and took a deep breath. "but promise that you won't move and you won't laugh."
"I won't laugh," I promised. "and I won't move if you promise not to run away."
"I promise."
I let go of her arm and she took a step closer to me. Surprised, I step backward.
"You said you wouldn't move." She stepped closer again. "I was telling my Transfiguration partner, Emma, that I've been wanting to do this."
Lily took another deep breath and slowly raised her right hand. For a second, I thought she was going to slap me. Instead, she ran her fingers through my hair. My eyes widened, not believing what was happening.
"Hmmm, does it ever go flat?" She pondered, her hand still in my hair.
I shook my head, too afraid to open my mouth and ruin this perfect moment. She was staring at my hair, biting her lip, her face inches from mine. I had not seen this coming.
"I'm sorry." She whispered. "You aren't as childish as I pretend you are. You're impressive as Head Boy. Much too impressive."
Her hand tightened into my hair and she yanked my face onto hers. Her lips moved against mine and her left hand joined the right hand in my hair. My arms encircled her waist and I prayed she wouldn't come to her senses.
"Dumbledore should criticize you more often." I said as we broke apart.
"I hope I won't give him any reasons to." She rested her head on my shoulder. I had definitely not seen any of this coming. Snuggling with Lily in a hallway always seemed like an unattainable dream.
"Is this really happening?" I questioned.
She giggled softly. "Shall I pinch you so you know you're awake?"
It turned out that Lily was a much nicer Head Girl after she kissed me. Our prefects' meeting when more smoothly than any before, she didn't have one single complaint. I gave her two weeks before she started nit picking at me again, because that was her nature. I wouldn't love her any other way.
The next morning at breakfast, Lily was again talking to me about our tutoring program. Only now she was sitting so close we were touching and kept giving me flirty looks.
I looked over to the teachers' table. Dumbledore was watching. When I caught his eye, he winked.
"James, you're ogling Dumbledore again." Lily said with a laugh.
"I was just thinking about what a genius that man is. It's like he's trying to make my life perfect." I said as I cupped my girlfriend's face in my hand. "I feel so happy I could kiss him."
She rolled her eyes and leaned closer. "I'd rather you not do that. Imagine the scandal of you cheating on me with our Headmaster. Can't you just kiss me instead?"
"Gladly." I said with a smirk and kissed her. "Maybe I'll send him a card instead."
A/N: I originally wrote this as a ONESHOT but this little feeling kept nagging me to write another chapter. Three and a half months later here it is. This is one of my favorite stories that I've written and I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I've loved writing it.