Authors note: so, this is the rewritten chapter 3! I'm still not 100% happy with it, but more so than the previous one!
So, in a review (from chapter 37!) someone suggested doing a little recap paragraph at the top of each new chapter, so if you guys want it, I'll try to do it! So I'll be adding a recap paragraph at the top of each new chapter – if you think you know the whole story, you can just skip it as usual, if you read this chapter and prefer the old one, let me know and I'll send you it right, thank you and remember to review!
Recap: Lily gets her Head Girl badge and wonders who the Head Boy is, she thinks it'll be Remus or Benjy Fenwick, her fellow prefects and get a massive shock when it is James Potter who gets the badge. James acts more responsible and surprises Lily (and Sirius!) by taking his position seriously, Lily realises having James Potter as a Head Boy might not be so bad, if only she could ignore the butterflies in her stomach every time she looked at him…
Chapter 3 – The Sorting Ceremony
Lily's breath caught in her throat as she entered the Great Hall, it was easy to forget how truly magical Hogwarts was during the school year or holidays, but now on September 1st the Great Hall looked stunning. Lily's sense of euphoria was somewhat dampened when a sudden pang of sadness hit her; her friends seemed to come to the same thought.
"Just think," Alice said, the other three listened intently. "That's the last time we'll walk through those doors on the first day of term." Hestia squeezed Lily's hand as they all realised Alice was right, this was their last year of school, the last year of Hogwarts. This time next year they wouldn't be boarding the Hogwarts Express on September 1st, but going out into the real world, getting real jobs and facing the harsh reality of the unsettled world outside of the confines of the Hogwarts Castle.
The three girls turned back to face the doors, and it truly hit them, this really was their last year, next year they would not be coming back. The girls were silent for a few moments as they somewhat glumly made their way down the Gryffindor table to somewhere near the front. Just as they had taken their seats, they were joined by the Marauders and Frank Longbottom, another Gryffindor student from their year.
"You mind if I sit here?" Frank asked, gesturing to the seat next to Alice, who blushed pink but nodded. Jessica rolled her brown eyes as Hestia watched them intently, for a few seconds Alice said nothing and stared at her lap.
"For Goodness sake Alice – talk to the boy!" Jessica hissed from the seat next to her, on a command from Hestia across the table who was grinning at the two of them. "You've had a thing for him since fifth year – now act on it!" Jessica added. Alice, whose face was now returning to a normal colour, swallowed and started up a conversation with Frank, somewhat shakily but it was conversation nevertheless.
The Marauders flopped down in the seats the other side of the girls to Sirius and Remus next to Lily and Hestia, and James and Peter next to Jessica, Alice and Frank. Remus smiled at Jessica and blush crept up the cheeks. Remus hadn't noticed Jessica's blush, but Hestia had, she noted it and decided to confront Jess about this later. Frank and Alice seemed to now be in comfortable conversation which including less stuttering and more flirtatious giggles, Lily had to stop herself from rolling her eyes as another set of Alice's giggles could be heard over her conversation with Remus with random (inappropriate) interjections from Sirius.
Several minutes later, Professor McGonagall, followed by a bunch of anxious first years entered the Great hall. Memories of Lily's own sorting came flooding back, she was convinced someone would jump out at any second and yell 'Got you!' and that the whole thing would just be a cruel prank, however that thankfully didn't happen. Lily smiled to herself at remembering the excitement of being sorted into the same house as her new friend Hestia and meeting Alice and Jessica for first time whilst huddled together waiting to be sorted. Then she remembered the look Severus had given her for not being sorted into Slytherin, unconsciously her eyes trailed over the table decorated with green and silver until her eyes found the boy she'd been looking for. Her eyes lingered on him for a second, before she let out a sigh and returned her attention to the sorting ceremony which was about to start. No-one else had noticed Lily's wandering eyes, no-one that was except James who had watched her demeanour change as the memory filled her brain.
"You alright?" James asked, squeezing her hand lightly from across the table. The sudden contact made Lily jump, but she didn't pull her hand away when she realised whose skin was against hers, James noted.
"Um... yeah, just remembered something." She stammered, slightly flustered. James pulled his hand away and smiled, he'd flustered her – was that a good thing?
"Good." He replied, her eyes still trained on his hand. She looked up and smiled back and James struggled to hold onto the rational part of his brain. It was just a smile, it means nothing more he tried to tell himself, but then he caught the sparkle in her eyes and wondered, was there something more going on? Sirius arched an eyebrow at James who shrugged at the look from his best friend and grinned cheekily, as the sorting ceremony started.
The students all seemed to notice that Professor Dumbledore was strangely not present for the beginning of the sorting ceremony, no-one was quite sure why, even some of the teachers looked slightly confused at his to whereabouts. Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout exchanged glances and shrugged, Professor Hubert, the Divination teacher, stared at the ceiling apparently not interested in the sorting ceremony. The Astronomy and Care of Magical Creatures conducted a hushed conversation in which their eyes kept returning to the empty Headmaster's chair. Professor McGonagall however, pressed on with the ceremony.
Aisthorpe, Penelope, was the first to be sorted, she went to Hufflepuff. Lily looked down the Gryffindor table, there were relatively large gaps in between the groups of people, the spaces of the seventh years who had left, and then Lily wondered how many students they'd get that year, 12? 13? Maybe more? Their year had been a relatively small one with only 9 students, herself, Alice, Hestia, Jessica, the Marauders and Frank Longbottom, hopefully they'd get more this year.
Two or three students in, Peter's stomach rumbled loudly and caused the seventh years to break into fits of giggles, Professor McGonagall sent them a furious glare, before returning to conducting the sorting ceremony.
"What? I'm hungry!" Peter protested quietly and Lily giggled again, she looked up to the Teachers table, Dumbledore was still absent, it was strange that the Headmaster would be absent; he never missed the sorting ceremony, let alone the Welcoming feast. Lily's stomach growled, albeit more silently than Peter's, she rubbed her stomach and tried to focus on the sorting going on before her but her eyes trailed back to James.
Lily and James locked eyes again but she quickly looked away. She couldn't get her head round the fact that James Potter was Head Boy. It didn't seem possible, but yet the proof was there right in front of her – the red badge pinned to his robes inscribed with HB. She wondered if Dumbledore had gone slightly mad, maybe he was in his office crying over his poor judgement? Lily wondered, then she decided that was mean and pushed the thought from her brain. It was true that James had somewhat cleaned up his act over the last year, fair enough he still got the odd detention and played pranks with the Marauders, but it wouldn't be Hogwarts without those! Lily wondered if that was why he'd got the badge, he'd shown development over the past year and shown he was up to the job? His friendship with Lily was evidence of James' flourishing maturity and this year he did seem different this year, not something physical but something internal. Something about James seemed different, Lily couldn't put her finger on it, James seemed confident without being cocky, and responsible, it seemed implausible but he did. He had helped the second years into carriages and herded the first years towards Hagrid with Lily, and all without being sarcastic or rude, that must be it, James had gained a sense of responsibility and Lily thought it suited him. Although she had still caught him watching her, he hadn't made one inappropriate comment, Lily almost missed them… Even during their new friendship last year James couldn't resist the odd comment about her backside or legs every now and again. Almost as if he knew she was thinking about him, he threw her one of his wonky smiles and she couldn't help but grin back.
Once again Lily's thoughts returned to her own sorting, she wondered why the sorting hat had chosen Gryffindor for her, the hat had spent 7 or 8 minutes deciding on which house to put her in, switching between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, and even Hufflepuff and Slytherin for thirty seconds or so. She still sometimes had doubts about her own sorting, it was clear she was clever, her marks reflected that, so why wasn't she in Ravenclaw? She wasn't in the house for the intelligent; she was in Gryffindor, the house for the brave. She didn't think she was brave, she was just a girl from Cokeworth Manchester, who knows she thought, maybe I'll save the world one day! She had a little chuckle to herself at that, like that would happen she mentally added.
Hestia was too lost in her own thoughts to take the slightest bit of notice of the sorting ceremony, it was pretty boring anyway. The topic that monopolised her thoughts a certain wizard named Sirius Black. She didn't know what was going on between the two of them, everything had been so perfect over the summer, then he'd just taken off, stopped replying to her owls and ignoring any attempt she made to contact him and then today – he ignored her face to face too. What in Merlin's name is wrong with him?! She thought. Then there were the rumours about him and Marlene McKinnon, the pretty witch a year ahead of them, if they were true… she didn't think about that, the possibility of it being true made her blood boil. The two of them had been so close and everything had been just where she wanted it, just the right level of commitment, and then it had all gone to pot. Hestia curled her hands into fists thinking of Marlene McKinnon again, Lily noticed.
"You alright Hest?" she enquired, worried Hestia might actually punch someone. Hestia seemed to snap out of it at the sound of Lily's voice.
"Um, yeah… fine." She replied, slightly embarrassed she hid her hands under the table to hide the crescent shaped indents in her skin where she'd dug her nails into the soft flesh on her palm. Then the voice they'd all wanted to hear filled the room.
"Students! I apologise for my lateness. Professor, please continue." Professor Dumbledore spoke, gesturing to Professor McGonagall, his voice was barely louder than anyone else's in the room yet he commanded silence, no-one else spoke when Professor Dumbledore was speaking. Lily smiled at him, which he returned with a slight nod of his head. Lily felt safe when Dumbledore was around, he really was the greatest wizard alive, and that wasn't a bad thing to have around in the current climate. With everything that was going on outside of the Hogwarts walls, it was reassuring to have someone like him around.
"Wilson, Taylor" was placed in Gryffindor and the sorting ceremony was finished. A small blonde girl with big blue eyes removed the sorting hat and merrily skipped off towards the other first years now settled at the Gryffindor table, which was now completely full, the ranks now filled.
Professor McGonagall seemed in high spirits, her house had grown significantly over the last hour; swells of new students had joined the house of the brave Godric Gryffindor, the house which she herself had been sorted into on her first day at Hogwarts. Standing up and straightening his robes, Professor Dumbledore held his hand for silence. Instantly silence fell over the students.
"Welcome," he said simply, the corner of his mouth pulling into a smile "To those students, new and old! I know the world is an uncertain place at the moment…" pausing, the Headmaster looked towards Minerva McGonagall; hushed whispers broke out amongst the students but were silenced as Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak again. "But, I promise that Hogwarts will always be the same. Here for whoever wishes to further their education and the development of their magic. It will always be a safe haven for those who need it. And lastly, I would like to say thank you to all our Prefects from the previous years and good luck to our new fifth year prefects. Will all Prefects please stand." He gestured for the students to stand, six students from each house, a boy and a girl from the fifth, sixth and seventh years got to their feet, Remus and Alice stood. Alice had been appointed as the new Gryffindor Prefect to replace Lily and once again balance the amount of prefects, as the Head Boy himself had not been a prefect. Normally a new Prefect would not have been appointed, but due to the odd number, which would wreak havoc on the patrol schedule, Alice had been appointed to cover Lily's old patrol with Remus.
Alice looked terrified. Attempting to reassure her Remus smiled, it however had little effect but Alice was thankful all the same. A round of applause ensued.
"And finally," silence once again covered the student body, everyone knew the announcement for Head students was coming, everyone guessed it would be Lily Evans, however since James had been cooped up in the train compartment for the whole ride to Hogwarts, no-one yet knew of his identity. A few glances were thrown in the direction of Remus, he was not wearing the badge, a few more to Benjy Fenwick, but he wasn't wearing the badge either, some even looked towards Frank, no-one paid looked towards James, which unsettled him more than he realised. James felt himself move his robes to cover the badge, then stopped, he was proud of the badge, what was he hiding it for? "A welcome to our new Head Girl, Lily Evans," standing confidently, Lily felt a surge of pride, Head Girl was the thing she had been working towards since her first year, and the look on the Slytherin prefect, Danha Greengrass' face had been priceless, seems purity of blood didn't guarantee everything. "And our Head Boy James Potter." Nervously James joined Lily in standing. A huge round of applause started, Lily doubted much of it was for her; James as it happened was a popular student, she was well liked herself, but not in the same realm of James or his friends. The Marauders were the guys that every other boy wanted to be and the guys every girl wanted to be with. Still Lily found amusement at how uncomfortable James looked, dragging his hand through his already messy black hair; he looked like he might vomit. There were hushed whispers up and down every table; could a Marauder really be Head Boy? It seemed so! Wrinkling his nose, James pushed his square glasses up his nose, he looked towards Lily and smiled, returning his smile, she sat down.
The new James is actually growing on me… Lily thought to herself, at realising what she'd just thought, she tried to supress the feeling of butterflies that were once again trying to break free from her torso, and this time they'd brought friends, friends with dynamite. Her stomach exploded with jitters. Yes, she felt something when she looked at James Potter, but this wasn't a crush, definitely not. 'I will never ever ever like James Potter. And that I promise myself.'
Watching Lily's face, Albus Dumbledore knew exactly what was going on inside Lily Evans' head, she might have been able to hide it from her friends and even herself, but she couldn't hide it from him, he knew her too well. 'We'll see Miss Evans, we'll see…' pulling himself to his feet once again, he felt his stomach grumble, 'About time!'
"And without further ado, let the feast begin!"
Authors note: hope you like, remember to review!