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Most of the Gryffindors trickled into the Great Hall for breakfast late that morning, but it still felt far too early to the seventh years being woken in the common room by the passing students. Alice was the first to wake, as she blearily attempted to ascertain what was on her stomach. Whatever it was had a lot of red hair.
"Lily?" she asked confusedly, trying to remember what had happened the previous night.
"No," Lily moaned as her pillow started trying to slide away from her. As it kept moving, she got more irritated and tried to pull it back to where it belonged, only to find that it wasn't a pillow after all. She struggled to find a comfortable position without Alice, as Lily was determined to not be awake yet and dislodged James's head from its resting place on her stomach.
"Knock it off, Padfoot. We'll talk in the morning," he grumbled at Lily's movement, beginning his own readjustment to go back to sleep. Sirius' snores suddenly ended as his head dropped hard to the floor off of James' abdomen.
"Oi! Prongs! No quidditch!" Sirius shouted, effectively waking the rest of them while he threw his arm over his eyes, leaving his other hand still tangled in Marlene's hair. Alice, who was now actually awake, started laughing at the entanglement of bodies lying next to her. Apparently, they had all fell asleep in Lincoln Log fashion. Everyone but Remus had found a stomach to use as a pillow, Peter resting on Hayden who was sleeping on Remus, who was resting on Sirius' thighs since Marlene was on his stomach. Now that Sirius had waken them, they were all dazedly adjusting themselves and looking around to try and figure out where they were. Sirius, however, was already snoring viciously again.
"So, what'd I miss last night?" chimed Alice as her laughter subsided, making everyone that wasn't snoring groan in pain.
"Loud," moaned Hayden, "too loud."
"Other than more alcohol, what'd I miss?" Alice repeated, keeping her voice hushed this time.
"I don't even know," Hayden grumped.
"Games. There were drinking games. Maybe other games? But definitely games." Marlene suggested, ending with a yawn.
"Oh yea, Exploding Snap," sighed Lily. When James tore his eyes from her, Merlin she was beautiful when she woke up, he met Remus' eyes for a second, before Remus dropped his eyes shamefully. So, apparently they wouldn't be filling in any of the gaps for the girls. If they didn't remember it though, it wouldn't change the look in Remus' eyes that James had caught afterward, and his refusal to inform the others what had happened meant that James was right about it after all.
"It made a pretty good drinking game after all, didn't it Marlene?" James prodded, as he started pretending to cut Sirius' hair. He gently waved his wand across the ends of Sirius' hair, creating a soft breeze that was just enough to make the hair move and conjuring some black hair snippets that dropped to Sirius' chest and shoulders.
"NOT THE HAIR!" Sirius shouted as he leapt to his feet, drawing his wand. Immediately, Marlene was at his side cooing him to calmness, while the others all dove to hide their ears from the inhumane noise.
"Well, now that you're awake, how does breakfast sound?" suggested James as his sniggers subsided.
###
"Lils, it's almost one. We should go meet old Dumby."
"Potter! You're head boy! You can't disrespect the headmaster like that!"
"Evans! You're my girlfriend! You can call me James now anytime you feel like it! Or Jamesie or even Jamie. Or sexy. Or hot stuff. Or-"
"Come up with one more nickname for yourself and I'll be able to call you single again."
"Awww, Petals you don't mean that do you?" James nudged her as they walked out of the head dormitory.
"Petals?" she responded dubiously.
"Well, if Pads gets a special name for you I want one too. Do you hate it?"
"It's weird. Then again, so is the need for a nickname."
"You don't want to call me something that only you can call me? Nicknames are fun!"
"What would I call you? Bambi?"
"No. Bambi is a baby. Call me Great Prince of the Forest!"
"You know who Bambi's dad is?" Lily demanded, stopping dead in her tracks, "Tell me how you know, Bambi!"
"Wait! I said to call me Great Prince of the Forest!"
"And I said to tell me how you know his title."
"It was in that shop this summer. It looked cute. So, I replicated it so I could read it," he retorted with the quietest and meekest voice Lily had ever heard him use.
"Awww, Bambi!" she squealed at him.
"Ugh, fine, Faline, but never in front of Padfoot!"
"Oh my goodness, you really did read it!" she giggled. "And I promise he'll never hear it!"
"Ice mice," James told the gargoyle, causing it to start twisting and ascending with the staircase it concealed. They were already at Dumbledore's office and silence fell between the head students as they climbed the rising staircase to the headmaster's office. When they reached the top of the staircase, the door was already open.
"Good afternoon. I trust you both enjoyed your party last night?"
"Yes, sir," responded James, confusing Lily with his formality and level of respect once again. She shouldn't be so surprised any more, he'd been this way since seventh year had started, but it was still so weird!
"Good, good. Well, I expect you both are wondering why I invited you here today?"
"Maybe a little, Professor," Lily chimed in, wanting to make sure James didn't somehow become the defacto head student by her silence. They may be dating and doing well at sharing head duties, but now she was herself again, and they had to keep sharing those duties.
"Well," the headmaster began, "allow me to begin by telling you both how well you are doing as head boy and girl. Despite having events to deal with in your personal lives, you've ensured prefects are doing their duties and there have been no student issues reported to the other professors. I'm quite proud of how you are handling your responsibilities."
"Thank you, sir," Lily said as she blushed with pride, a look that James happened to love on her.
Dumbledore nodded a kind smile at her before he continued, "Many have expressed concerns over your appointments, but I chose you because you are leaders. Younger students look up to you. That power should not be underestimated, especially not during a war. The side of light needs leaders to head the battle against Voldemort, and I've long seen you two as a pair of those leaders. You have both fought against the dark arts every time it's been an option, and you have both found yourself or your friends in these tussles several times. Before I continue I need to know, is this a position you wish to have?"
"Yes sir," James replied without missing a beat. He was sitting straight, like a soldier at attention. As Lily looked at him, she realized this was the only time she'd known him to truly be enraptured by what a professor was saying. He'd be interested and play close attention, but he'd never been enthralled like this. He'd never been waiting to hear what came next. As she looked at him, she realized that Professor Dumbledore was gazing at her. If James was going to be a warrior in this fight, there was no way in Hell she was sitting it out.
"I'm in too," she said, meeting the piercing blue eyes of her teacher, and then feeling him x-ray her soul.
"You're both sure?" he asked while maintaining eye contact with Lily. Yep, he x-rayed her soul and knew her response had been a knee-jerk reaction. "The decision to be a leader in a war is not a simple nor unimportant one. It is one that will put you in danger and alter your life. It is one that you should be truly sure of before proceeding."
James stated his affirmation quickly, and then turned to look at Lily. She felt the weight of both stares as she tried to think. If her previous reaction hadn't been acceptable to the headmaster, then she'd need to really come to a decision for him to accept it. So, she remembered finding out her parents were missing, they were dead, Hayden's screams as she was tortured. She remembered the pain she'd endured over the past four months. It wasn't okay. There was nothing alright about her being put through the pain and loss of her parents. There was nothing acceptable about Hayden being tortured on a day trip to Hogsmeade. She had to stand against it, there's no way she could let things like that keep happening and do nothing about it.
"Yes, sir," she replied with a nod, "I want to fight."
"Very well," the twinkle faded from Dumbledore's eyes as his voice became more solemn. "What I am about to ask of you should not leave this room or your dormitory. I ask that you report any students that you see with strong leanings toward the Dark Arts directly to me. If you see any suspicious behavior that worries you at all, come to me. But before you agree, you should know that there are some of his followers within these walls already, and they will see you speak to me and you will likely be targeted for it in time."
"Severus Snape, Regulus Black, Elizabeth Rosier, and Evan Rosier," Lily blurted out the first names that popped into her head as a confirmation that she'd do whatever Dumbledore asked of her.
James nodded as he looked over at his girlfriend and saw the fire sitting behind her green orbs. Suddenly he realized that the danger would be so much worse for her, and that there was a very real possibility that this war would be the death of her. As he contemplated this thought, he also realized that he'd never be able to keep her out of the fight when she had that much passion for the it. The only way he could ever protect her was by doing whatever she did and hoping that the spells would hit him first. His mind kept whirling around the possibilities of protecting her better as they were dismissed.
As they walked back to their dormitory to prepare for the Prefect's meeting they were holding in just an hour, Lily's thoughts were focused on the war as well. Instead of worrying about keeping herself or anyone she cared about safe though, she was worrying about being able to truly make a difference in the war. She'd need to join the Order of the Phoenix once she was out of school, of course, and she was hoping to become a healer at St. Mungo's. But, those were both future events, and the war was happening now. They were almost back to their suite when she finally said something out loud, shaking James from his reverie.
"We're leaders. Leaders in this school and leaders in this war. We need to lead our classmates into battle with them prepared for it," Lily stated firmly, looking at her co-head student for the first time since leaving the headmaster's office.
"What did you have in mind?" James responded guardedly.
"I'm not entirely sure, but students are going to be fighting. They deserve to know what is happening right now. They deserve true information from the outside world. They deserve to be prepared to defend themselves. They deserve to know what they're going to be walking into after school."
"Let me talk to Padfoot and the others and see if we can come up with something," he suggested. He was already trying to work out how to keep Lily from being on the front lines.
"I think we should talk to the prefects about participating. They're leaders too, and they deserve the chance," she stated as though she hadn't heard a word he had said.
"No, Lily," James chastised, finally making her stop in her tracks and look at him quizzically. His voice stayed quiet, but it was filled with rage and incredulity as he continued, "You heard what Dumbledore said, it's dangerous to even talk about the war in public. He told us to keep our conversations in our dorm or his office. You cannot just go to a group of students and blindly offer them in. That's fucking suicide, especially for you! Especially with a group that includes Slytherins! You want to do something, I get it, but you can't do it without a solid plan. And you shouldn't even do anything at all. You're a muggleborn, Lily. Everyone will be gunning for you already. This, no. It's too damn dangerous."
Without a word, Lily turned on her heel and stormed into their dormitory. By the time he followed her through the portrait hole, she was already slamming everything they needed onto her desk. She waited for the portrait to swing close before rounding on him.
"That's all fucking bullshit, and you know it! You just don't want me to fight because I'm your sodding girlfriend and you feel responsible for me! I'm a better dueler than you are and you know it! You can't keep me in a bloody, fucking cage and only let me out when you want!"
"It is NOT because you're my girlfriend! It's because you're a bloody muggleborn! You're the kind of person they're all gunning for! It's only because you're my girlfriend that I've decided to say anything to you! Look, I fucking love you and I can't imagine my life without you! Except ever since Dumbledore's office that's all I keep seeing! I keep seeing you dead! Because I didn't protect you! And I can't live with that Lils. I- It would fucking kill me."
Lily froze as she looked into James' tear-filled eyes. She was so confused. First, he was still trying to keep her from fighting and being overprotective. Bullshit. But, he loved her? He just told her he loved her. Holy harpies. Were they there yet? And that's why he was trying to protect her? Because he kept imagining her dead? Suddenly, James' lifeless body flashed in her mind's eye and her heart clawed at her chest, begging her to never let that happen. Tears were in her eyes as well now.
"I won't say anything at the meeting today. But we will talk about this more later?" she asked with the quietest voice she had used all day. He nodded in agreement and put the stack of papers and quills she had stacked on her desk into his school bag. James offered his hand to her, which she accepted, and they walked in silence to the prefects' meeting.