'Pass me some treacle tart Padfoot' said James loudly over the table to his best friend. A handsome boy with dark brown hair that sat just a bit above his shoulders grinned back at him and passed over his desired dessert.
'Evans isn't going to like you any more if you become the size of a house prongs' Sirius said jokingly 'although she does have sympathy thing.. good thinking' he added as an after thought.
'shut up Padfoot, we both know perfectly well we can eat whatever we want and not end up like peter' James said and the two burst into laughter as the looked over at their small, rather chubby friend devour his cauldron cakes with an almost rat-like quality.
James continued 'plus, I've basically given up on Evans, I mean I still like her and all but honestly I'm over the chase, it's almost lost its fun'. Sirius mocked falling off the seat, grabbing onto to Remus' arm.
'Moony!' Sirius yelled 'moony!' 'What now Sirius?' casually asked the fourth marauder, Remus lupin, a tall boy who's handsome face and light brown hair were slightly ruined by a serious of scars running down one side.
'Moony!' continued Sirius 'prongs just said he's over Evans! Over lily Evans! Life goes on! Oh my... We will have to have a party now... Shame I might actually have some competition with the ladies now'.
Remus looked at Sirius for second, as if searching for a hint of a joke, but failing to find any flaws in Sirius' serious look he turned to look at James in disbelief. 'You're joking, over Evans?' he asked.
James casually put his hand through his hair messing it up; he could've sworn he heard some fifth year girls sigh. Smiling to himself he answered lupin's question 'ah, well, I simply said I wasn't going to pursue her anymore, and Padfoot nearly went into cardiac arrest, probably at the thought of not being Hogwart's most eligible bachelor'.
Sirius came back into conversation shooting at James 'no matter what you say James I'm still better looking' he grinned. 'Witches dig the bad boy look over the choir boy everytime'. James wasn't sure of the truths behind this statement, but he knew the Sirius definitely had the bad boy look going for him, his long messy hair, the grey eyes and the tough boy gaze. And James, knew he had the choir boy look too..the messy black hair, big hazel eyes and glasses gave the impression of a sweet innocent boy… until you knew him.
James looked up and Sirius, his best friend and smiled 'oh let the games begin... Start of term party this weekend is in order I think my fellow marauders'.
Peter started nodding his head like a sad maniac, after seven years still excited to be included, Sirius simply said 'oh it's on' and Remus shook his head, pretending to be morally above his friends bad behaviour but secretly he was very happy to be back at school with his friends, who understood him even if against his free will they were getting up to mischief.
James looked at his three best friends laughing, Sirius, the handsome delinquent and his partner in crime, Peter, his number one fan and Remus, the boy he knew would keep him out of getting expelled but not out of getting in trouble.. This is going to be the best year yet he thought.
At the end of the feast, after various speeches and warnings, the tables cleared and students began filing out to their common rooms. James stood up and started directing first years assumedly towards their respective common rooms. Well as long as they weren't rude he would, otherwise myrtle's bathroom was always and option.
Almost immediately after his opening his mouth he was interrupted 'this is going to be a long year isn't it potter, it is the prefect's duty to direct the first years towards their common rooms, don't deny the fifth years of their first chance to exercise their power, and Dumbledore wants to speak to us' cut across a pretty redhead.
James looked at her brilliant emerald eyes, milky cream coloured skin and beautiful dark red hair, a year ago he probably would've done something stupid to impress her but now he didn't really care. Shrugging he said 'Sorry Evans', she looked a little startled but began walking towards Dumbledore's office nevertheless.
James followed her silently lost in his own thoughts of the holidays and what he should do this weekend, although every time he imagined himself with that pretty blonde Ravenclaw girl she suddenly morphed into Lily Evans.
Kicking himself he kept walking. Awkwardly Lily Evans, probably trying to be polite asked him 'so how was your summer?' James awoke immediately from his little daydream and consciously stopped himself from blurting something out immediately. He was over Evans, over over over over her. Or at least he wanted it to come across that way.
After a few seconds pause he said 'oh yeh pretty good, mostly just me and Sirius hanging out and seeing friends…nothing that would interest you, how were yours?' James smiled to himself, casual tone, tick, calm, tick, relatively mature, tick, slightly vague, tick, slightly mysterious, tick.
Lily still a little surprised at James' calm and casual speech quickly replied 'oh, not too bad, I just hung out with mum and dad' as soon as she said it she was kicking herself inside. She'd sounded like a total bore. But before she could beat herself up any longer they were at Dumbledore's office 'acid pops' said lily to the gargoyle.
Once inside Dumbledore's office, and having taken a seat, Dumbledore briefed them on their roles as head boy and girl, the most intriguing of which to James was 'pre Christmas ball you will be responsible of organising' and the most interesting of which to lily was when Dumbledore offered his condolences to James about his aunt and uncle and James response of 'thank you professor, it's been pretty tough on everyone but I've stepped in to look after Helena so things should be alright, it would be naïve not to expect deaths in times like these'
Lily was shocked at James' response. When did he get so god damn mature... and handsome? Lily thought to herself. Finally after the various notes and things were explained Dumbledore said, 'oh yes, and finally, if you say 'gillyweed' to the painting of Sir Edgar Robertson about thirty feet from the portrait of the fat lady, you will find that you have your own private head student common room, I'm sure you will find it satisfactory for private study and relaxation' he finished with a twinkle in his eyes 'enjoy'.
As they walked down the corridors back towards the common room they casually discussed things Dumbledore had mentioned
… 'the prefect meetings sound like a drag'… 'I think Dumbledore's beard has grown around three inches'… 'We've three and a half months til the Christmas ball'… 'A head's common room sounds pretty cool' ...'tomorrow will be a killer'…'the weather was good in July'… 'did you see that hex?'
.. And so the conversation went on until the reached the portrait of Sir Robertson. James turned to lily 'we might as well check it out before head back to our dorms, we won't get a chance until after class tomorrow because tomorrow will be crazier than Snape when he's offered shampoo.
Lily looked back at James in slight disgust 'still targeting Severus I see, nothing's changed with you'. Her tone hurt him, and the way she said 'you' with such contempt made him want to curl up and hide. But James just shrugged, what did he care what Evans thought of him, a lot, his conscience told him. 'Gillyweed'.
The head's common room was about the size of a normal classroom, it's stone wall's were covered with assorted tapestries and shields with a large stone fire in the middle of one wall plus and assortment of large couches and armchairs, a few desks and some bookcases.
Off to one side through a wooden door, was a bathroom, with a nice spacious shower and separate toilet. 'I guess Dumbledore, assumed we'd be having friends in here, there are a lot of chairs for just us' James said casually.
'Yes, it's fantastic but I'm going to bed, night potter' said lily, James who was busy inspecting the assorted items in the bookshelves and paintings on the wall stopped himself from replying as she walked out of the room.
This annoyed lily.
James could tell this annoyed lily.