Shaking off her lingering feeling of uncertainty, Lily continued down the train corridor, eventually coming to a stop in front of her compartment. She stopped outside, hand on the door, frowning slightly. The compartment doors were glass, therefore, you could see into the compartment. And from what Lily could see in hers, it was empty. With a feeling of uneasiness, she slid open the door slowly and glanced around, confirming what she already knew; no one was there. The compartment wasn't completely empty however. There was a miniature owl, a tiny little thing really. It was perched on one of the seats, gazing up at her expectantly, its left foot outstretched.

Recognizing it as Dale's, Lily reached down and quickly untied the letter attached to its foot. Her name was written on the envelope in the sloppy handwriting she knew to be her friend's.

"This is getting a bit weird," she muttered to herself, and she looked back down, only to see the owl was gone. "Alright, very weird," she amended quietly. It wasn't so much the disappearing owl that was odd. She was a witch, after all. She was used to things magically appearing or disappearing. But owls usually didn't leave right away, unless they were given specific instructions to. They usually would stick around, in hopes of an owl treat, or time to rest, depending on how far they had come. Well, whatever the reason, she thought, there's no point stressing over it. She'd seen weirder in this world after all.

She turned her attention back to the tiny envelope in her hand. With a growing sense of dread and a quick tear she had it ripped open in seconds. Her eyes scanned the paper quickly, getting wider with each word.

Lily,

Firstly, this has to be short, and I'm sorry for that. I don't have much time to write. I wasn't even supposed to write anyone in the first place. So, that said, I'll just get right to it. A month into summer break my parent's were approached by Death Eaters. They turned them down, of course, but you know as well as anyone that the Voldemort situation is getting worse by every day. They both reckon that they'll be back, and not so forgiving when turned down a second time. So we're leaving, going into hiding, a prolonged vacation, whatever you want to call it, I won't be there for the school year. I don't know when we'll be back.

Can you pass this along to Cassie and Marlene for me? I can't stand to write this out again. Once is more than enough. Also… Sirius. Tell him that I'm sorry… Merlin, that was hard to write. I hope he'll understand.

I miss you, and congratulations on getting head girl: I knew you would. It's what you've been dreaming of getting for years Lily. So be happy. Don't worry about me.

Love Always,

Dale

She stared at the letter a second more before tucking it into her pocket. Dale was right: the letter was brief. Especially compared to the notes the two usually owled each other over break. They sometimes stretched out over multiple pages.

Lily felt her stomach dropping out. Dale was gone? She couldn't quite grasp it. She knew that the Death Eater situation was getting bad, but she didn't know they were so blatantly recruiting. She turned to her side, intent to start discussing it with Marlene and Cassie, only to remember they weren't there either. The knot of worry that had formed inside her stomach after reading the letter tightened. The note explained Dale's absence, but what about the other two?

Putting more thought into in, Lily finally came to the conclusion that she had no reasonable explanation for the pair of girls' absence. And she doubted that it was for the same reason as Dale. While Cassie was admittedly a pureblood, her family was so blatantly on Dumbledore's side, there was no way Voldemort thought that they would join him. And Marlene was a half-blood, therefore not someone he would want, but not necessarily have a particular problem with. And so Lily, being the intelligent witch she was (and with great reluctance), decided there was no logical answer, and she would just have to wait it out. If I don't see them until tonight, she thought, I'll speak with McGonagall.

And the last part… Sirius… that was one conversation she wasn't looking forward to, and she felt her heart tighten in sympathy. Sirius had been known as the Hogwarts play boy for years. It had been Dale who finally gotten him to settle down, and they had been dating for the better part of a year. She'd find a way to tell him before they got to Hogwarts, and he found out the hard way, she decided. She wasn't about to let him find out by hearing a couple of third years gossiping about it. Since his involvement with Dale, the she and him had formed somewhat of a friendship. That is, she considered him sort of like a brother, and vice-versa. A brother who she wanted to hex much of the time for the stunts he and Potter pulled.

With that decision set in her mind, Lily stood up and took a deep breath, smoothing the frown off of her face. She made head girl this year. Dale was right. She should be happy. She would be happy as soon as she found out where Cassie and Marlene were. Dale wasn't here, and there was nothing she could do about it. She knew that. Besides, she had said she might not miss the whole year, right? So she straightened out her shoulders, absently rubbing a stray tear from her watering eyes. She wasn't going to cry about this. Yes, she was on her way to Hogwarts for her last year. Alone. But she was going to be happy. Just like Dale wanted. She rolled her eyes as she looked around her empty compartment. This was going to be harder than she thought.

Half an hour later of sitting alone in her compartment and she realized with relief that it was almost time for the prefects meeting. She got up quickly, grateful to have something to do. On her way to the slightly larger-than-regular prefect compartment, she wondered idly who the new head boy was. McGonagall hadn't mention who it was, only that she would be sharing a dorm with whoever it was. Just another perk of being head boy or girl: you get your own dorm, complete with your own common room.

She supposed it could be Remus. But, she amended, it was unlikely. It's not that she didn't like him. The opposite actually. They got along quite well, both being the more studious of the Gryffindor 7th years. It was just that he didn't do anything to stop his friends from causing trouble, and they would often use him as an excuse to get out of punishment, leaving her doubting his leadership skills.

So no, Lily thought, it probably wasn't Remus. He was usually a good prefect, but head boy would be too much power… not for him, but for Potter and Black. Maybe it was the Ravenclaw prefect, she thought. Cale Windington. She shuddered at the thought. She hoped it wasn't him. He was…. sleazy. Sure, he put on an act for the teachers and headmaster, but as soon as their backs were turned, he would be grabbing some random girls' butt. He'd tried it on Lily several times before and needless to say, he spent several days in the hospital wing. Not that he ever got the message though.

Well, I guess I'm about to find out, Lily thought, finally having reached the compartment. She took a deep breath, composing herself. Focus on the meeting now. I'm head girl. I can do this. And so, with a bright, fake smile plastered on her face, she stepped into the compartment.

Heads automatically turned in her direction, as murmurs of 'head girl' swirled around. She was also greeted by quite a few friendly smiles: while she might not be friends with many of them, she was on friendly terms with most of Hogwarts. The exceptions of course, would be the students now glaring at her, the Slytherin prefects. She turned quickly away from them; she really was in no mood to get into a fight with them about her 'blood status' again. She did a quick head count and glanced at everyone's badges. Everyone was here from last year, including the new 5th years, yet they all had prefect badges. No head boy.

They wouldn't just not assign one, would they? Lily thought worriedly, quickly counting again. Yes, she wanted to be head girl, but she knew it was a lot of work. A lot of hard work, during NEWT year too. And if she was going to be honest with herself, she knew she needed the help of a head boy with this.

Mellie Simpson, a relatively shy girl with brown hair and blue eyes, a Gryffindor and in Lily's year, spoke up.

"Hi Lily. Uhm, McGonagall wanted me to tell you that since you're head girl, I'm going to be the new Gryffindor prefect… congratulations on that, by the way, I knew you'd get it." She finished with a smile that Lily returned.

"Hey Lily," she turned to see Remus Lupin grinning up at her, stretched across one of the seats next to Mellie. "Good summer then?"

She smiled. "Pretty boring actually. Just wedding plans for my sister," Lily replied, scrunching up her nose. "Yourself?"

He shrugged, his face darkening for a moment before it returned to the smile worn previously. "Same as usual. I stayed at James' for a couple weeks," he said, ignoring Lily's grimace at James' name. "That's pretty much it. So, sitting through your sister's wedding planning? Sounds brutal," he laughed at the end, obviously remembering everything Lily had told him about her sister.

"Trust me, it was." She looked around the room again, but still, no head boy. Well, she thought, irritated, there's no point waiting for this mysterious head boy to get here. She could just start the meeting, and he'd catch up when he finally decides to show up.

"Alright, since the head boy decided not to show up on time," Lily started, slightly louder so everyone knew she was addressing them. The room quieted almost immediately, but not because she had started talking like she hoped. She stopped talking once she noticed no one was listening, instead she saw that most of them were looking over her shoulder with wide eyes. She also saw that Remus was trying, and failing, to hold back laughter. She decided to ignore it. It was probably just some second year making faces outside the compartment. She inwardly rolled her eyes. The second years always seemed to think they ruled the school just because they were no longer in first year. "We can just start without him," she continued, narrowing her eyes at the chuckles that followed her statement. Something was going on. "Speaking of which, does anyone know who….?" She trailed off, leaving the question in the air. Maybe one of them would know who the head boy was.

It was Remus who answered. "Um, Lily?" he stopped, glancing around at everyone who were now laughing outright. He gestured behind her.

She turned on her heel quickly, only to find her self face to face with none other than James Potter.

Her mouth dropped open. She couldn't help it. There was no way. No. Freaking. Way. But sure enough, there pinned on the front of his robes almost exactly as hers was, a shiny head boy badge.

"Please tell me this is another one of your jokes," she demanded quietly, putting as much venom in the words as possible. She was very much aware of the prefects behind her, none of them even bothering to hide the fact that they were eavesdropping.

His mouth twisted up into a wry smile. "Nice to see you too Evans." He said, raising up his eyebrows. "It's not a joke! I was just as surprised as you are, trust me," he quickly said, recognizing the fire beginning to build behind her eyes.

He should, he's seen it enough, she thought smugly. It was good, she reckoned, that his brain, however small it might be, allowed him to learn at least that much.

"Lets just get through this meeting, and then we can discuss it? I don't think you really want this lot listening in," he said, gesturing to the prefects behind her, a few of them blushing at been caught, while others, namely Slytherins, stared unabashed.

Lily was speechless. And that didn't happen often. Was Potter being…. responsible? There's no way, she protested again, although it was weaker than before. He probably just doesn't want to get hexed in front of so many people.

"Errr… Lily? The meeting?" James prompted, looking at her as if worried for her mental health. She didn't blame him. She had been just standing there staring at him in what she would accurately describe as horror for a long time, lost in thought.

"Yeah… right. The meeting. We'll talk after," she said, giving him a sharp look, leaving no room for argument. He looked rather relieved, and she had to fight back a smirk. She turned her back on him to look at the prefects, all of them had stopped laughing, except for Remus of course from whom a chuckle could be heard escaping every now and then, despite the kick that James had sent his way.

The meeting went quickly: Lily admitted she probably rushed through it a bit. As little as she wanted to spend time with Potter, she wanted to know just how he got to be head boy. Especially since he hadn't even been a prefect.

Even more surprising though, was Potter himself. He actually contributed to the meeting, which was something she wasn't expecting. Lily obviously did most of the talking herself, but at least he wasn't laughing at her, or making jokes out of what she was saying, like she expected him to be. And he did have several instructions for the prefects that she had forgotten. She felt rather like she was having an out-of-body experience. Because there was no way this could be real.

"Okay everyone, you know when your rounds are, and don't forget to patrol the corridors here on the train too. You don't have to do too much of that though, just walk up and down the hall a couple times and you'll be good. Any questions?" Lily finished, looking around expectantly. No one spoke up, so she continued on. "Okay you're all good to go now. And I will know if you don't do your weekly rounds," she tacked on, sending them all a warning glance.

That got a couple chuckles from some of the older students, and a couple scared looks from the new fifth year prefects. Needless to say, they got out of the compartment rather quickly. As soon as the last one was out the door (Remus, who had lingered, she suspected to try and distract her from killing James), she turned on Potter immediately.

"Talk Potter. How. How, could this happen." Lily accused, glaring at him. "What did you do?"

He widened his eyes and put on an innocent expression. An expression that Lily had learned very quickly not to trust. Seeing she wasn't buying it, and still glaring at him, he gave up and changed his face to look slightly apologetic.

"Honestly Lily, I had nothing to do with this. Do you really think I would want to be head boy?" he laughed. "I happen to agree with your assumption that I'm pretty much the opposite of a model head boy." Lily opened her mouth to reply, but was cut of. "Wait a minute. Just listen. Regardless of that, I didn't do so bad in there, right? Okay, well in the… spirit of co-heads, can't we just get along this year? Please? Truce?" he asked, holding his hand out.

Lily eyed him suspiciously. Her first thought was a loud and resounding NO, that this was all a joke, but… but she couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't. The expression on his face was too… honest, for this all to be a prank. It was one that she rarely saw on his face, and it made her rethink.

"No more asking me out?" she asked slowly

"Not unless you want me to."

She rolled her eyes. "No more getting other people to ask me out for you?"

"That was tone time! And no again, not unless you don't want me to."

"Don't hold your breath"

"Ouch," he brought a hand dramatically over his heart. "Seriously though. Friends?"

Lily considered it. Friends… with James Potter? that was something she wouldn't have expected. Honestly though, she was tired of the ongoing fighting between them. Besides, if she agreed to this, he said he'd stop bugging her. Just the thought of that threatened to bring a smile to her lips.

"Okay. Friends, Potter. Only if you keep your end of the deal."

A strange look crossed his face, but it was gone before she could tell what it was. Instead, it was replaced with a broad grin as he slung his arm around her shoulders.

"Excellent! Well, now that that's settled…" he trailed off, leading her out of the compartment and down the hallway. He came to a stop outside her own compartment, and she wondered vaguely how he knew which one it was.

Catching her confused looked, he shrugged, a slight pink tinge to his ears. "You sat in the same compartment for 7 years, it wasn't that hard to figure out," he mumbled, his hand raising to run through his hair.

Not knowing what to say to his admission, she stepped into the compartment, instead focusing on trying not to smack his hand out of his hair. She hated when he did that.

He glanced inside after her, his brow furrowing. "Where's your friends?" he asked, noticing the empty compartment in confusion.,

Lily's stomach twisted. With the news that Potter was head boy, she had forgotten about Dale. "They're not here. At least, not until later probably, I don't really know when. It could be anytime really, I mean," she shut up suddenly, very aware that she had been babbling.

James, thankfully, didn't seem to notice. He was looking at her thoughtfully, and she squirmed under his intense gaze. "So you were just going to sit alone?"

She shrugged, suddenly embarrassed. Because yes, for the rest of the train ride she had been planning on sitting alone.

James shook his head and clucked his tongue. "Well, we can't have that now, can we? C'mon," he said, holding out his arm to her.

Lily eyed the arm in question untrustingly, suspicious at once. "Where are we going?" she asked slowly, still not moving forward to take his arm.

He sighed. "Just to my compartment Lily. You can sit with us. We have to start somewhere, right?" Seeing she was about to deny his offer, he took her arm himself and started pulling her down the corridor. "It has to be better than just sitting alone. C'mon."

She allowed herself to be led down the hallway, but not before she had tugged her arm back out of his grasp, uncomfortable with the way her skin was tingling where his hand had lain. She wondered vaguely what she had gotten herself into. It seemed that being friends with James Potter was actually going to include spending time with him. Shame.

She took a deep breath and told herself to suck it up. She looked up to see James looking down at her, his eyebrows drawing together. When did he get so tall, she wondered, distracted.

"You all right? You don't have to if you really don't want…"

"I'm fine, Potter. We're here, aren't we?" she said, surprising herself. But really, if she were honest with herself, she almost liked that he worried about her. No, NO, she thought. He wasn't worried. He just didn't want to be embarrassed in front of his friends, she scolded herself. That's it. Nothing more.

And she wasn't going to chicken out. She was in Gryffindor, wasn't she? And they had called a truce, so maybe it would be tolerable. The thought of her and James Potter being friends was strange. Absurd even. But in some weird turn of events (and the fact that he hadn't tried to grope her yet helped too) they were. Or they were going to try to be.

"James," he said quietly, surprising her out of her thoughts.

She looked at him oddly. Was he just now learning his name? She knew he was thick, but surely not that thick…

He must have seen the confused look on her face, because after only a moment's pause he elaborated. "You can call me James. We're friends now, aren't we?"

Lily stared at him. She was almost getting used to being surprised by him today. Almost. She honestly didn't know it bothered him so much that she called him Potter. He called her Evans, didn't he? Well… actually, he hadn't been calling her that so much lately. Sure, he did some but looking back she definitely remembered him calling her Lily just about as much.

"For now," She said, "It's still Potter." She looked away quickly, trying to forget the sad look that had flashed across his face.

"Have you…" she trailed off, looking up at him, wondering how to ask what she wanted to know.

"Have I what?" he asked softly, gazing down at her with an intensity she'd never seen before in his hazel eyes.

"Have you…" she stopped again. She hated how insecure he was making her! She was never like this. She never had any trouble saying whatever came to her mind, especially around him. She wasn't the kind of person to be scared to say something, she was in Gryffindor for Merlin's sake! But there was just something about his sudden change in personality that made her hesitant. Not that she was about to let her guard down. No matter how much he's said he's changed, Lily thought, he was still Potter and this sudden maturity of his could disappear as quickly as it had come.

" You've already said that," he replied, grinning cheekily. His face then went from joking to serious. "Lily… you can tell me. Please."

Why he was acting like this and what had caused it were just two of the many questions swirling her mind. Would it last? –Doubtful. Was this all some elaborate prank? –Probable. After all, how could she go from hating him, to being his 'friend' so quickly? She knew she was a relatively forgiving person, but Potter had always been an exception to that.

Whatever the answers she thought, he's not going to truthfully answer. Of course he's going to say he has. Why wouldn't he say that? It's all probably part of his game, she thought bitterly. Because that's what she knew this was: just a game. Well since I've nothing better to do without Dale, I guess I'll play. So with that mindset, and the promise to stay as detached as possible- she shook her head, placing a fake smile back onto her face.

"Never mind. It's nothing," She said trying to ignore the sceptical look on his face.

The face that said he didn't believe her. She knew she wasn't a good liar. She'd been told so many times. But thankfully he let it go with only a shrug, then opened the compartment door, gesturing for her to go first.

She walked in cautiously and was amazed at how cluttered it was. Honestly, they had only been on the train for an hour. How much mess could four boys make in that little time? The answer, it seemed, was right in front of her.

All three boys were lounged comfortably around the compartment, seemingly unaware of the mess. They would be, she thought, it was them who had made it.

Remus Lupin was sitting on the right bench, his nose buried in a book. He was an average height as boys went, and had shaggy brown hair that kept falling into his face. While he wasn't as attractive as Sirius or James might have been, he was still a good looking bloke. He would glance up every few seconds only long enough to roll his eyes at Sirius and Peter, then return to his novel.

Peter Pettigrew, a short (yet still taller than herself), rather plump boy with a bowl cut of brown hair was lying on his stomach on the floor, examining what looked to be several boxes of Bertie-Botts-Every-Flavor-Beans that had been dumped out to form a massive pile in front of him. He was evidently trying to figure what flavour they were. Currently they were sorted into two piles, and Lily thought that he was fighting a losing battle - he had no chance at figuring it out. What could be toffee could also be wood. Or even worse: ear wax.

Sirius Black was lazily stretched out on the left side bench, quite effectively taking up all of it. His arm was behind his head; his long dark locks falling into his face, which he didn't bother to move, as his eyes were closed. While at first he might have seemed like he was sleeping, his foot was periodically kicking Peter in the back of the head, who seemed dense enough to not know that he could easily scoot over, away from Sirius's kicking feet.

They all looked up when the door opened, and all of their mouths dropped open in shock. Except for Remus of course, who only smiled knowingly.

Sirius was of course the first one to snap out of it and break the silence. He sat up, eyeing her critically. He held up his hand, right in front of her face.

"How many fingers am I holding up Evans?" He asked, eyeing James suspiciously.

"I don't need glasses, Black, that would be James," she replied testily, narrowing her eyes. She didn't even notice that she had called him James for the first time. But standing behind her, James' face split into a wide grin.

At the sound of her actually not using James' surname, Sirius' eyes grew even more alarmed.

"Answer the question Evans," He demanded.

She sighed impatiently. "Three. You're holding up three. Is that all?"

Her answer seemed to confuse him even more. Puzzled, he turned to look at Peter. "She's not confunded then…."

"Of course she's not," Remus said. "If she was, her eyes would be glazed over. But you can still clearly see her pupils."

Sirius snickered, his apparent concern for her mental health momentarily forgotten as he muttered 'nerd' under his breath, to which Remus studiously ignored.

"And besides," injected James, who had been standing in the compartment behind her. "Do you really think Lily would let anyone confund her?"

Sirius pouted. "Stop gaining up on me. Why else would she be here? It wasn't a bad question,"

"I'm still here, you know," Lily interjected, growing annoyed at been spoken about like she wasn't in the room.

"Of course not," Remus placated Sirius, casting him a sympathetic look while still somehow managing to roll his eyes at the same time. "Hi Lily," he added as an afterthought. "As interesting as Sirius's confunding theory is, I assume that's not the real reason you're here?"

James took the opportunity to stand next to her, once again throwing his arm around her shoulder. "Is it really that hard to believe that she's here with me?" he demanded, a broad grin on his face.

"Yes," chorused all three of the boys, smirking slightly.

"Me, on the other hand…" Sirius started, a smirk on his face, only to receive an elbow to his stomach from James. "Oi!"

Lily sighed. She knew this was going to be a bad idea. "I needed somewhere to sit, and Potter and I have decided to be civil toward one another," she said, noticing how Sirius' eyes shot towards her when he picked up that she wasn't going to be with Dale or the others. Lily, the only one who noticed his sudden change in demeanour, caught his eye, mouthing 'later' at him, to which he game a slight nod, the worried look still in his eyes.

"I think the correct term there is 'friends' Lily-kins" James said in a singsong voice, taking a seat next to Remus.

She narrowed her eyes. "We said we were going to try. Not that we actually are yet. And don't call me Lily-kins."

"She's got you there Prongs," Sirius laughed, joking once more, but Lily could see concealed worry still there. "And in honour of your not being confunded," he gestured widely with his hand to the seat next to him where is feet had once been, "You can sit next to me."

Lily looked around, and, after seeing that the seat next to him was indeed the only one left, she sat down, dodging the arm he stretched out, obviously intending to put it over her shoulders.

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Blimey Evans, you sure you're not under some kind of spell there?"

"Her eyes-" Peter began, obviously trying to replicate what Remus had said earlier, obviously in the hope of sounding intelligent.

Sirius flapped his hand impatiently, cutting him off. "Yes, yes, I know. Glazed over eyes. Got it the first time Wormtail."

Throughout the whole exchange, Lily couldn't help but notice James had been unusually quiet. She looked across at him, only to find him staring at her. Which was nothing new, but when she caught his eye he looked away swiftly, a faint pink tinge covering his cheeks. Lily blinked. Since when did he blush?

James coughed loudly, slouching down in his seat. "Has, err, the lunch trolley already been through? I'm starving."

Lily knew it was an attempt to cover up his whatever it was he was embarrassed about, and a bad one at that, but she had to admit that he had a point. She found herself quite hungry also, having not had time for breakfast. She stood back up, causing everyone's heads to swivel around to look at her.

"I'm going to dress into my robes – my trunks back at he other end. I can stop by the front and find out when the trolley's coming through, yeah?" She phrased it as a question, but was already half way to the door.

"You know you could always change in here Lily-bean," Sirius suggested, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Choosing not to dignify that with response, she walked the last few steps to the door. But not before hearing a muffled thump, and Sirius crying out, "Oi! What was that for? It was a bloody joke…"

Resisting the temptation to turn around and looking to see what James had done, she slipped out the door, only to run straight into someone coming the opposite direction, sending them both toppling to the ground.

"Sorry, my fault," she apologized, sitting up on the floor. "I should've been–" she cut off, finally getting a good look at the boy she knocked over. "Severus."