Disclaimer: All of this is the creative property of J.K. Rowling.

A/N: Here's the next chapter for you! Enjoy (:

Chapter One: The Train

Autumn was decidedly Lily's favorite season. She loved the rich colors and textures of the crunchy leaves underfoot, the crisp breezes that came as such a relief from the oppressive heat of the previous months, and the feeling of beginning anew that always accompanied the start of term at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As she stood on Platform 9 3/4, with the gleaming scarlet steam engine before her, she was acutely aware of the fact that this was her last first day of school.

"You have everything then, do you?" her mother asked nervously, adjusting Lily's tie and tucking her red hair behind her ears.

"Mum, I'm fine," Lily insisted, not for the first time that morning. "I packed by magic, remember? And besides, even if I forgot something, you could always send it to me by post."

"Right," nodded Mrs. Evans. "Right, right, of course. Silly me."

Kitty Evans was a petite, round woman with shoulder-length blond hair and the same sparkling emerald eyes as her daughter. Normally, she was a sweet, calm woman, but Lily's departure from school always brought out the worrisome part of her nature.

Lily gave her mother a small smile.

"I'll be okay, Mum. You know that."

Mrs. Evans sighed, all traces of her previously flustered state disappearing. She pulled her daughter in for a hug.

"I know you will, pet. I'm just going to miss you is all. What with Petunia gone, and your father at work…" she trailed off, shaking her head helplessly.

"I'll write. And I'll be back in time for Christmas," she promised, her voice muffled by her mother's shoulder.

Mrs. Evans released her daughter, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. She touched the shiny badge pinned to Lily's jumper and smiled weakly.

"Hogwarts will be needing their Head Girl," she said, sniffling. "And it's nearly eleven. You'd better get a move on, pet."

Lily kissed her mother on the cheek.

"I'll be back before you know it."

Mrs. Evans just nodded, clutching her handkerchief close to her heart as she watched Lily walk to the end of the platform. She turned and waved one last time before boarding the train.

For James Potter, fall meant Quidditch, so it was safe to say that the season ranked pretty highly in his esteem. The four-player games he organized with his friends over the summer, while enjoyable, didn't quite measure up to competing for the Cup in Hogwarts' pitch. It was hard for him to imagine, however, as he observed that the scarlet train before him was the same color as his Quidditch uniform, that this would be his last year of playing for Gryffindor.

He ran a hand through his messy black hair as he attempted to block out the way his mother was fussing over him and his best mate, Sirius Black, whom she treated as her second son.

"You'll remember to write, won't you, darling? And you too, Sirius, dear, don't think that I won't expect your owls regularly as well."

Sirius grinned.

"I wouldn't think of disappointing you, Luce."

Lucy Potter nodded distractedly as she glanced at her watch. She was a tall, slender, hazel-eyed, and rather elegant woman, whose auburn hair bore visible streaks of gray. She doted on Sirius just as much as she doted on James, and always found it hard to part with them when the school year started.

"It's just about time for you two to board," she said with a sigh, glancing at James once more. "James, darling, where's your badge?"

James tore his eyes away from a certain redhead situated slightly further down the platform.

"Hmm?"

"Your Head Boy badge!" persisted his mother. "Why aren't you wearing it?"

"It's, er, in my bag. I'll put it on later," he mumbled, as Sirius suppressed a laugh.

"Don't worry, Luce," Sirius assured, "I'll make certain that James puts his badge on just as soon as we board."

James rolled his eyes at his friend's cheeky grin, but his mother did not notice. She was glancing at her watch again. The trio jumped when the Hogwarts Express uttered its shrill warning whistle.

"That's your cue, then," said Mrs. Potter, ushering the boys towards the train. "Quickly, quickly!"

"Bye, Mum," said James, giving her a brief hug.

"Bye, Luce. Thank you for everything," Sirius echoed as he followed suit.

Mrs. Potter kissed the both of them on the head.

"Make me proud, boys."

She twisted her watch around her wrist as she watched them board. She smiled as James waved and Sirius gave her a parting salute.

Lily slid open the door to the familiar compartment, and was immediately greeted by a hug.

"I missed you too, Alice," she laughed, as she was squeezed by a familiar pair of arms.

The significantly shorter girl grinned, brushing her curly black hair out of her brown eyes and giving her friend a quick once-over.

"You look superb, Lil! And—" she stopped as her eyes landed on the gleaming badge pinned to her friend's cranberry cardigan.

"Lily!" she admonished. "You didn't say a word! I mean, congratulations, but you didn't say a word!"

The redhead smiled.

"I wanted it to be a surprise."

Alice rolled her eyes.

"As if it could ever really be surprising, Lily. You're a prefect! And you're at the top of our year! Honestly, I was more surprised when I didn't get a letter from you…"

She trailed off as the compartment door slid open again, revealing a tall, athletic blonde carrying a newspaper and a book bag.

"Marlene!" Alice squealed, rushing to hug their other friend.

Lily watched, amused, as Marlene McKinnon patted Alice Fawley awkwardly on the back. The tomboyish blonde was never one to be affectionate.

"Hello Alice. Hello Lily," she greeted, once the short girl had released her and they had all taken a seat. "Good summer?"

"The best," Alice responded, her voice full of enthusiasm. "I mean, working at Flourish and Blotts was alright, but I saved up some extra cash and met some very interesting people. The holiday in France was infinitely more exciting. Frank and Augusta joined us…"

Frank Longbottom was Alice's best friend, and Augusta was Frank's mother. The Fawleys and the Longbottoms had been close since Frank and Alice's childhood, so it didn't come as much of a surprise to Lily to hear that they had vacationed together.

"How was Quidditch camp, Marlene?" Alice asked.

Marlene shrugged.

"It was decent. I expected the practices to be more intense, but I suppose when your captain is James Potter, even professional camp seems like a snooze."

Lily rolled her eyes at the mention of James Potter. Marlene liked him well enough: they were teammates on the Quidditch pitch and often chatted outside of practice. She used his name casually, as if it were of no real consequence. Lily, however, could not behave similarly. In her eyes, James Potter was an arrogant, spoiled boy who picked on people just because he could. He split his time at school between playing Quidditch and getting into trouble with his friends, the notorious Marauders. His sole interactions with Lily over the last few years had consisted of him asking her out for sport, often in flashy, obnoxious ways and in front of large groups of students. She always refused, quite vehemently, but no matter how insistent her words were, Potter never gave up the act. He infuriated her with his stupid pranks, and they'd had a number of arguments over the years. It was safe to say that Lily Evans and James Potter were not friends.

Marlene noted her friend's stiffness at the mention of their classmate.

"You should learn to like him, you know," she said in an offhand way, glancing at the front page of the newspaper in her lap. "From what I hear, the two of you will be spending a lot of time together this year."

Lily blinked, confused. Alice looked at Marlene questioningly.

"What do you mean?" asked the former.

"I mean," said Marlene, finally lifting her eyes from The Daily Prophet, "that James Potter is going to be your partner."

Lily still didn't understand.

"My partner for what?"

Alice's eyes wandered to the badge on Lily's chest and back to Marlene.

The tall girl nodded, flipping her long blond braid over her shoulder as she stood.

"James Potter is Head Boy," she stated matter-of-factly. "Now, I'm going to get some food. Anyone else care for a Pumpkin Pasty?"

"Yes, please!" Alice rummaged through her purse for some money.

Lily said nothing, her head swimming with this new information. James Potter? Head Boy? What?

"It's about time the two of you joined us," said Remus Lupin, looking up from the thick book he was perusing. The compartment door slid shut once more, and James and Sirius took their seats.

"My mum was pulling the usual. Hullo Pete," James greeted, nodding to the short, mousy boy sitting beside Remus.

"You studying already, Moony?" Sirius shook his head in mock disappointment, putting his feet up onto the cushioned seat opposite him and crossing his arms behind his head lazily.

Remus shot him a dirty look.

"I'm surprised you even know what studying is, Sirius, as you do so little of it," he retorted.

"Some of us like to devote our time to worthier pursuits," his friend replied simply, grinning. "Speaking of which, what's our first order of business, oh majestic Head Boy?"

"Oh sod off, Padfoot" was the response.

"I don't think it's so bad," Peter Pettigrew remarked thoughtfully, studying the badge that rested in the palm of James's hand. "It certainly opens a lot of doors for us, doesn't it?"

"What do you mean, Wormtail?" asked Sirius, frowning. "It's a travesty. It's even more of a disgrace than Saint Moony here getting the prefect badge."

Peter shook his head, ignoring Remus's eye roll.

"Think about it, Sirius. We're the Marauders, pranksters extraodinaire. Our only trouble rests in getting caught in the act, which will be so much easier to avoid with James's new authority."

Sirius snorted. "Been mulling that one over for a while, then, have you?"

Peter blushed.

"Personally," Sirius continued, "I don't much care whether we're caught or not. It's not as if detention is anything new to us, really. I've almost begun to consider it one of my extracurriculars."

James grinned at that one. "One of your extracurriculars? What are the others?"

"Well," Sirius began, pretending to be deep in thought, "I suppose the others would be maintaining my reputation as the most sought-after bloke in the castle, playing Beater for Gryffindor, and continuing to disgrace the name of Black in every way possible." He smirked proudly.

"What good is it being the most sought-after bloke in the castle if you never do anything about it?" Peter wanted to know.

"Because, my dear Wormtail," said Sirius confidentially, uncrossing his arms and leaning forward towards his friend, "it's about the principle of the thing. The possibilities, so to speak."

Peter furrowed his eyebrows. Remus attempted to aid his friend's confusion.

"He just likes the attention," he said dryly, turning a page.

"Aw, Moony," Sirius protested, "you don't really think I'm as bad as all that, do you? After all I've done for you? Have you forgotten all of our midnight frolics on the grounds?"

Remus smiled. "I think you're worse, Sirius." He closed his book.

Sirius thought this over for a minute before nodding, conceding the point.

"Maybe," he agreed, "But if I weren't…"

He trailed off, reaching down for his book bag and pulling out four glass bottles of butterbeer. He passed them around.

James waited until everyone had uncapped their bottles to hold his up in the air and proclaim with all of the dramatic flair that the moment deserved,

"To Padfoot! And to how grateful we all are that he is the way he is."

"To Padfoot," echoed Peter dutifully.

"To Sirius Orion Black," followed Remus, still smiling.

They clanked their bottles together and sipped.

Lily was nibbling absently on a Pumpkin Pasty, thinking furiously of James Potter, when Alice brought her out of her reverie. The three had been sitting in relative silence, with Marlene reading The Daily Prophet, Alice looking through the album of her vacation photos, and Lily sitting slumped against the window, lost in thought.

"Lily? Shouldn't you be heading off right about now…?" inquired Alice, who had finished perusing the album and glanced at the time.

The redhead sat up quite suddenly, remembering the prefect meeting she was supposed to lead. She checked her watch and cursed under her breath. Grabbing her bag, she got to her feet and quickly exited the compartment.

"Isn't she still wearing her street clothes?" Alice mused after her friend had gone.

Marlene simply shrugged in response.

"Pass me a Chocolate Frog, will you?"

Alice complied, tossing the frog across the compartment. Marlene caught it expertly with one hand, her nimble Seeker reflexes kicking in. She hardly had to look up from her paper.

"What is it you're reading so diligently?" asked Alice, moving to the opposite corner of the compartment to peek over the other girl's shoulder. Her expression turned grim.

"More attacks." She shook her head. "I can't understand them, the 'Death Eaters.' To be so obsessed with blood status as to kill other human beings over it? I'm a pureblood myself and I can't fathom it."

Marlene nodded her agreement. "It certainly makes one wonder… I mean, what with recent events, and this being our last year of school and all… We're going to be going out into the real world soon. That world. It makes me wonder if we're—If I'm quite ready for that." She looked uneasy.

Alice placed a sympathetic arm on her friend's shoulder.

"It's why I'm going to be an Auror."

Marlene looked at her friend in shock. "An Auror? I thought you wanted to teach Herbology?"

Alice looked down at her lap. "I did. But times are changing. And we're a part of it, Marlene. When Frank and I were in Paris, we got to talking about events and the future and all of that… It shamed us to think that families like ours, old, pureblooded families, are behind all of this. And we want to help. We want to make a difference."

"That's amazing, Alice."

The dark-haired girl looked up to see her friend smiling at her.

"You think so?" she asked, her voice taking on an uncharacteristic shyness.

"I do. I think it's very admirable of you, and of Frank. You're giving up your dreams to help other people. It's selfless… and brave."

Alice smiled as well.

"Thanks, Marlene. I owled McGonagall about it while I was still on holiday. She helped me arrange my N.E.W.T. classes accordingly. It will be a lot of work, and I'm going to need really good marks, but I think I can do it."

Marlene nodded, biting her lip.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she assured Alice. "Nothing at all… You just gave me a lot to think about."

Her friend nodded sympathetically. "War gives us a lot to think about," she said sagely.

Lily rushed through the train's corridors, nearly knocking over a few first years in her hurry.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" she called over her shoulder, as one of them shot her a dirty look.

In her preoccupation with the first years' well-being, she neglected to look ahead of her in time. Consequently, she found herself nearly colliding with another student.

"I'm so sorry, I'm just late for—" she started, before realizing who it was she had almost run into.

Severus Snape's black eyes surveyed her intensely. Lily's words died in her throat.

"Lily, I just wanted to say—" he started, his expression pleading. She knew what was coming.

She put out her hand to stop him, shaking her head.

"No, Severus. There is nothing more to be said between us, remember?" She prayed that her tone didn't give away the anxiety she felt.

He nodded, his face changing from earnest to stony in a matter of seconds. He continued to stare at her, searching her face for something.

"I had just thought that maybe the new year…" he trailed off. "But now I know that nothing's changed. I apologize for wasting your time."

He gave her a cold, curt nod and slipped past her. She watched him walk purposefully down the corridor, his black robes billowing behind him in that characteristic manner of his, and she felt her heart sink.

No matter how hard she tried to get over it, she simply wasn't. Severus used to be her best friend. She knew him before Hogwarts, before Marlene and Alice… He was the one to help her discover who she was. He revealed a new world to her and she trusted him. Over the years, she couldn't fail to notice the company that he attracted. His other friends were mean, spiteful bullies who were inevitably pursuing dark paths. Lily tried to warn Sev of their influence, but he simply shrugged her off or made excuses for them. His friendships made her uneasy, but she continued to believe and trust him. Until that fateful day by the lake, that is…

His words had hit her like a slap in the face. Mudblood. He was angry and humiliated, but she had only been trying to help him. In return he hurt her in the greatest way possible. That was when she finally realized that the two of them had chosen different paths.

And even though it had been over a year, she still felt a pang when she saw him.

"Lily?"

She turned to see Remus Lupin approaching her from the direction of the prefects' carriage.

"Are you alright?" he asked, noticing her expression.

Despite his being a Marauder, and consequently one of the best mates of her greatest annoyance, Lily truly liked Remus. In a simply platonic way, of course. He looked trustworthy, she thought, with his neat light brown hair and clear blue eyes. His face was scarred, and he often showed signs of weariness; he had a reputation for frequently skipping classes due to some sort of reoccurring illness. Unlike his friends, Remus didn't hex other students in the corridors, and Lily had never known him to take part in any of James and Sirius's bullying. He was gentle, sweet, and hard-working. Lily had become better acquainted with Remus during their last two years as Gryffindor prefects, and was happy to have done so.

She looked back in the direction Severus had gone, but he had disappeared into one of the compartments and was no longer visible.

"I think so," she said.

Remus looked as if he doubted this, but he merely nodded.

"We're all waiting for you, when you're ready," he said quietly, gesturing to the prefects' carriage.

"I'm ready."

And she followed him inside.

James had always been a strong leader. It was natural for him, he supposed. He organized many of the pranks that he and his mates played, and the Gryffindor Quidditch team ran like clockwork under his tenure as captain. So when he'd received notification that he'd been made Head Boy, he didn't worry about the responsibilities of his job. He assumed he could handle them.

It was only now, as he stood at the head of a compartment filled with expectant prefects, that he realized he had no idea what his job entailed.

He ran his hand through his messy black hair and smiled awkwardly at the assembled students around him.

"Well, I expect Evans—Lily will be here soon, and then we can, er, start," he said lamely.

Where was Evans, anyway? It wasn't like her to be late for a meeting. She loved these sorts of things. In fact, she was usually early.

He met Remus's eye. The former was smirking at him, no doubt amused by the unspectacular way he began his new position.

"I suppose you can talk amongst yourselves until Ev—Lily gets here," he said to the prefects, before sitting beside Remus.

"A fantastic job you did up there," his friend teased. "Very smooth."

"Oh, hush, you know as well as I do that I'm rubbish at being a good example. I don't even know what prefects do. What was Dumbledore thinking, giving me this job? And where the bloody hell is Evans?" His words came out in a rush as he continued to nervously mess up his hair.

Remus frowned. "Lily's usually early for meetings. This is very unlike her. I hope she's alright."

A new kind of worry flooded James as he imagined scenarios of Lily being cornered and hexed by Slytherins on the train. She was a Muggle-born, after all, and the war had heightened so much as of late…

But he couldn't very well skip out on all of the prefects. And besides, she hated him. She wouldn't appreciate his help, even if she needed it. It would just be another thing to hold against him.

"Could you find her?" he asked Remus. "At least make sure she's okay… And if she is, tell her we're all waiting for her in here."

Remus nodded and immediately left the room to fulfill his friend's request. That was the thing about Moony, James mused. He never asked any questions, and always pursued what he thought was the right course of action. Even Lily liked him. He'd seen them chatting in classes, over meals, and in the common room. He knew they were friends.

Remus was more cut out for this sort of thing than James was, if he thought about it. Remus worked harder, didn't get into trouble as often, and never hexed anyone just for the sake of it. He never bullied Snape like James and Sirius often did. And he was bloody brilliant at spells. If it weren't for his help, they never would have been able to create the Map.

Yes, Remus definitely deserved the position of Head Boy more than James did. But there was the matter of his "furry little problem." His monthly transformations would make it difficult for him to be in such a demanding position, especially because of the level of scrutiny that accompanied it. Enough people already noticed that Remus Lupin was constantly skipping classes due to some closet illness, or to visit his mother, or one of the other several excuses that the Marauders and Dumbledore had coined. If Remus were Head Boy, his frequent absences would become even more apparent, and for Remus, the spotlight was dangerous.

Lily burst into the room, with Remus in tow. She looked disheveled, she was still wearing her blue jeans and red sweater—although her badge was pinned on dutifully—and her green eyes were clouded with something akin to worry. But James doubted anyone who didn't pay as much attention to her as he did would notice that.

She put on a brave smile for all of the prefects, and despite her appearance, managed to come across as cool and collected as she introduced herself and gave a brief introductory speech. James just stared at her, amazed. Had she rehearsed that speech beforehand? Was she really this prepared? And that poise… Lily looked comfortable at the head of the room. James wasn't sure if he was envious or simply awed.

The Head Girl led the meeting with hardly any input from her partner; in fact, she never so much as spared him a glance. She went over the prefect position for those new to the job—even James learned a thing or two from her presentation—as well as composed a tentative patrol schedule. She answered questions, arranged the first of their monthly meetings, learned the names of all the new prefects, and instructed that anyone with further questions reach her by owl.

The meeting was over, the prefects were dismissed, and James realized he'd barely uttered a word. As a last attempt to contribute, he called out to the retreating students:

"Thank you all for coming!"

Though it scarcely garnered any attention from the prefects, it certainly provoked a response from Lily, who was still in the room, using her wand to stack the folding chairs set up for the meeting.

She raised her eyebrows.

"That's all you had to say?" Her tone wasn't hostile, exactly. It was merely cool, almost uninterested.

James blushed, but he didn't let this unnerve him.

"I didn't want to ruin your fun, Evans. I know you live for this sort of thing," he quipped.

She lost focus on her magic, and the chair that she was levitating fell to the ground with a crash. She seemed not to notice however, as she was eyeing James sternly.

"Make fun of this if you want, Potter, but I'll have you know that the position you neglect is an honor for some people."

The Head Boy snorted. "Like who?"

Lily crossed her arms. "Like Remus."

James felt the blow of her comment. She couldn't know how much those words affected him. She was simply being candid. The truth was, James agreed with her. Remus had probably wanted the position, but couldn't get it because of his lycanthropy, and it had been handed off to one of his best mates instead, who was taking it for granted. Lily's words had a definite effect on James, whether or not she it was the one she had intended.

"You're right," he admitted, sighing defeatedly, his hand going to his hair.

Lily blinked. "What?"

James levitated the last of the chairs to its place in the stack.

"I'm not going to take the job for granted. You're right; it is an honor, and I'm going to try to do my best at it. Thank you for running the meeting today. You were brilliant."

His hazel eyes bore into her emerald ones for a few seconds longer, and then he turned to exit the compartment, leaving a speechless Lily Evans behind.

Lily returned to her compartment, now dressed in her school robes, and was surprised to see that their usual group had gained one in number. Frank Longbottom, who was usually off with his mates from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, was sitting beside Alice. They were both laughing at something, while Marlene observed them, a curious look on her face. All three looked up at Lily's arrival.

"Welcome back," chirped Alice. "And how was the meeting?"

Lily smiled her hello to Frank before sitting down beside Marlene. Her friends had changed into their school robes as well, she noted.

"It was alright," she said casually. "Although the Head Boy made for a rather useless partner. He just stood there and didn't say a word throughout the entire meeting. I had to run it entirely by myself."

"Well, it was the first prefects' meeting he'd ever been to," remarked Marlene, "you could cut him a little slack on that, Lils."

Lily nodded, allowing this. She was too stressed out to discuss the point further. The interaction with Severus, the pressure from the meeting, and Potter's weird closing statement had worn her down.

"What have I missed?" she said instead.

Alice beamed at Frank.

"Frank here was just sharing a very amusing story from our holiday together," she said cheerfully.

"Oh yes," muttered Marlene, a sly smile playing at the corners of her lips, "a very amusing story, indeed."

Alice didn't hear her comment, but Lily did, and shot her a questioning look. Marlene simply shook her head and urged Frank to continue.

Frank's story, which was about a drunk wizard near the Eiffel Tower, did prove to be amusing, but no one laughed as hard as Alice did. She simply couldn't keep her eyes off Frank, and her attention encouraged him to go on. Lily now saw what Marlene had been smiling about. Alice and Frank were flirting. Now this was a new development.

Alice Fawley was pretty and well-liked. Cheerful, affectionate, and friendly, the petite girl had always been dubbed "cute." She'd had more than her fair share of boyfriends, and an even larger amount of dates, but she'd always managed to find something wrong with the blokes she went out with. This one was conceited, that one was too sensitive, this one spent too much money on his clothes…, etc. Lily had learned long ago that Alice was very picky when it came to men. The only one she had even tolerated for a long period of time was Frank, who was only a friend. It had never occurred to Lily that there would ever be something more between them.

Frank wasn't bad looking or anything—he was tall, with dark brown wavy hair cut short, and dark blue eyes. Like the three of them, he was a Gryffindor, and Lily had always pitied him for having to share a dorm with the Marauders. He got fairly good marks in his classes, and he was funny when he wanted to be, but… He just wasn't Alice's usual type. He was shy, not one to be in the center of attention, and he often escaped notice altogether.

But that didn't seem to matter now, Lily thought, as she watched the two of them reminiscing and laughing together. It struck her that they wouldn't be a bad match. He could balance Alice out, keep her in check. And she could bring out more of him.

She exchanged a knowing look with Marlene, who winked at her.

"Lily," she said quite loudly, interrupting Frank and Alice, "would you care to take a stroll about the corridors with me? I fancy some Drooble's, only I don't know where the trolley witch has got to."

"Sure," Lily acquiesced quickly, standing up. "We'll just be a moment, then," she said to the others.

"Okay," responded Alice, shrugging, before returning to her conversation with Frank.

"Alice is flirting with Frank!" Lily blurted as soon as they were a safe distance away.

Marlene smiled wryly. "I know. Who would have thought? Something must have happened between the two of them in France."

"I don't think it took much persuasion on Frank's part. He's always seemed to admire Alice."

Marlene nodded contemplatively, but didn't respond.

Lily glanced at her friend, wondering at her silence.

"Is anything the matter, Mar?"

"No, no," Marlene protested quickly. "I'm fine. It's just… I've been thinking about my future. You know, beyond Hogwarts."

Lily laughed. "It's only the first day of term! I reckon you've even got me beat for being the first to worry!"

But the blonde wasn't amused. She played nervously with her long braid as they walked through the corridors.

"Do you ever wonder if you're on the wrong path, Lil?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know," she continued uneasily, "like if maybe the plans you made for yourself aren't really what you need to be doing."

Lily considered this. "Well, you can always change them, can't you?"

"Yes, yes," Marlene replied impatiently, "but the question is, should you? Should you just toss aside everything you've been so carefully working toward, just because you get a weird little feeling?"

Lily stopped walking and looked at her friend, her eyes serious. "I think," she said, her tone cautious, "that you should always go with your intuition, Mar. That 'weird little feeling' is often right."

Marlene bit her lip, and the two walked back to their compartment in relative silence, as each tried to perceive the other's meaning.

Butterbeer wasn't the only thing Sirius had brought along in his school bag, as it turned out. He'd also packed a rather large bottle of firewhiskey, which he was sharing with Peter and Remus upon James's return from the meeting.

"Oi! Prongsie! Care for a little sip? It'll give you a better appetite." Sirius offered him the bottle.

It was the type of thing that James never would have refused, on principle. The Marauders weren't drunks by any means, but a little bit of underage drinking never hurt them, especially on a special occasion. And their last first day of seventh year definitely counted as a special occasion.

But he thought of what he'd said to Lily in the prefects' compartment. He was the Head Boy. He had to set an example. Moreover, he and Lily were due to meet with Dumbledore later that evening. It wouldn't do for him to show up at the headmaster's office with the distinctive scent of firewhiskey on his breath. It wouldn't be trying to do his job to the best of his ability.

So he shook his head. Sirius looked surprised, but merely shrugged, and took a hearty swig from the bottle. Peter followed suit, but Remus opted out as well.

"That's already enough for me," he said, waving the bottle away and immersing himself in the book he'd brought along.

James rummaged through his bag, trying to find something to occupy himself with. His fingers found the little gold snitch he had once been accustomed to carrying around. He felt its wings flutter against his palm, and he brought it out.

"Oh hey," Peter spoke up, "I remember that snitch. That's the one you had the day of the Defense O.W.L."

Sirius elbowed him in the ribs, but Peter didn't get the hint. The alcohol had taken its effect on him.

"What d'you want from me, Padfoot? Don't you lot remember? It was that day that Lily told James she'd rather date the Giant Squid."

James felt his insides clench at the memory.

"I remember, Pete," he said softly.

He looked at the little metal ball in his hand, touched one of the quivering wings, and then tossed it through the open window.

Peter stared at him, dumbfounded.

"What on earth did you do that for, Prongs?" He grabbed the firewhiskey bottle from Sirius, but before he could put it to his lips, Remus put a hand out.

"I think that's enough of that for you, Wormtail," he said, his voice quiet but firm. He capped the bottle and put it in his own book bag, stowed under his feet, and went back to his novel as if nothing had happened.

"Bloody lightweight," Sirius muttered, glaring at Peter.

James could feel Remus's eyes on him as the latter pretended to read. Remus was the sensitive one, the gentle one, the one who stepped in and established justice. No wonder Lily liked Remus.

The messy-haired boy removed his glasses, polishing them on the bottom of his shirt. It wouldn't do to just try to be a decent Head Boy. If he ever wanted a chance with Lily, he had to change the way she saw him. He had to grow up. He had to be more like Remus. This year was his last shot.

James replaced his glasses on the bridge of his nose.

"What is it you're reading, Moony?"

A/N: There's the end of it! Next chapter will pick up right where this one left off. Reviews are always appreciated (: