A/N: Hello again to all you wonderful readers out there! I seem to be running slightly ahead of schedule on my writing, so here is an early update for you, AND I'm currently editing the next one, so it may be even be a double update weekend! This is the last of the chapters covering the summer break, we'll be on our way to Hogwarts by the next update and the plot will start moving a little faster. This is fluffy because fluff makes me happy - I hope it makes you happy too. X

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Five weeks later James could be found sitting at the table in his kitchen, playing with the single piece of toast on his breakfast plate and watching Sirius inhale more food than any human ought to be able to. It had been a week since Lily had last written to him, and he was more worried than he should have been about the lack of communication; while their initial letters had been slightly tense, they had quickly settled into greater familiarity and had written regularly. Her last letter had been full of enthusiastic reports about the number of useful spells she had found in his books, so presumably she was just caught up in that – knowing her studious habits he wouldn't be surprised – but he found that he was both anxious and disappointed each day he didn't receive a letter. He had considered using the mirror to check on her - or just apparating directly to her house to see her - repeatedly this week but had decided she would disapprove and consider it unnecessary hovering.

His eyes were drawn back to his best friend who was still massacring his way through a plate of breakfast, and who had somehow managed to combine scrambled eggs, ketchup and sausages into an unholy mush on his plate. Faintly nauseated by the sight, James pushed his plate away and rose to refill his coffee. He never used to touch the stuff – he preferred tea - but since Lily had stayed with him drinking it was a habit he had fallen into. He could imagine her drinking coffee in her kitchen at breakfast, and the smell always made him think of her. Not that he didn't think of her often anyway, but this was something more tangible, a lingering reminder of her presence in his house and the change in their relationship it had brought about. He stood in front of the window, staring out into the back garden and sipping his coffee, not noticing the exasperated eye-roll Sirius aimed in his direction. Sirius Black did not approve of his best mate's new tendency to brood.

James' sharp Quidditch-trained eyes spotted the morning post owls flying in, and he stepped forward to open the window for them. Apollo was first to land, followed by a tawny owl that both boys immediately recognised as a Hogwarts owl.

'Ha! About bloody time for our letters, I was starting to think they'd forgotten us Prongs! Can you imagine Hogwarts without us?' Sirius dragged them from James' hand and threw his back at him. 'Dumbledore had the good sense to send Moony's letter here too, I'll take it up to him.' He raced from the room before James had managed to get a word out in reply. Shaking his head, James sat back down at the table with his coffee and his mail.

He put his Hogwarts letter to one side – not like it was going to be much different from any other years after all – and opened the letter Apollo had brought, noting immediately it was not in Lily's handwriting, and doing his best to ignore the squirming mixture of resignation and concern that stimulated in his stomach. He scanned through the letter from Marlene, pleased that she was having a good time staying with the Prewetts, and happy to note the cheery tone of her letter made her sound almost her old self again.

He put her letter aside and reached for his Hogwarts one, which actually looked a little thicker than normal now he came to think about it. He opened it and a badge fell onto the table with a clunk. He briefly wondered why Dumbledore would have sent him a new Quidditch Captain badge; he was sure he still had his from last year, and he'd never heard of people getting a yearly replacement either. He began to think back over the last few days of term, trying to remember the last time he'd seen his badge, thinking that perhaps he'd dropped it at school and Dumbledore was simply returning it to him, but his thought process faltered and came to a complete stop as he picked up the badge and turned it over; Sirius came back into the room two minutes later to find him still frozen in place, a look of sheer disbelief etched onto his face as he stared at the small badge in his hand.

'Prongs? Mate what's wrong?' Sirius' voice trailed off as he registered the badge in James' hand. 'No fucking way. Dumbledore's nuts, but he's not that batty. It must be for Moony.'

'What must be for me?' asked Remus cheerily as he entered the kitchen and headed straight for the coffee pot; James' new caffeine habit was one he heartily approved of. He wandered back over to the table and peered over James' shoulder at the small badge, still sat in the palm of his large hand. 'Oh. Oh. No, I'm pretty sure that's not for me. I had a note from Dumbledore outlining some changes to prefect procedures this year, and I'm sure he would have mentioned it if I was Head Boy.' James' throat made a sort of strangled sound as the words were spoken aloud for the first time.

'Er, Prongs? Did you read your letter yet?' asked Sirius. James shook his head slowly, eyes still fixed on the badge as if he was mesmerised by it. Sirius pulled the parchment out of the envelope and read through the pages quickly, eyes full of disbelief. He placed the sheaf of parchment down in front of James and shook his head. 'I take it back. Dumbledore isn't nuts. He's surpassed nuts. He's so far past barmy he can't touch it from the other side anymore.'

'So...do I assume from all this that Prongs is Head Boy?' Remus asked with a huge grin. 'Because I hope you're going to give him as hard a time as you gave me when I made Prefect. Just think of it – fifty percent of the Marauders on the side of school discipline.'

'Shut up Moony, we'll corrupt him just like we did you. It won't be that difficult, he's a reprobate anyway...'

James blocked out the sound of his two best friends bickering behind him and picked up the letter that Sirius had placed in front of him.

Dear Mr Potter,

I'm sure by now you have found your new badge enclosed in this envelope. Let me be the first to congratulate you on your appointment as Head Boy. I'm sure you were a little surprised to be chosen, but allow me to reassure you that I have every confidence I have made the right decision. The leadership skills you have demonstrated in your role as Quidditch Captain have only confirmed my belief that you will be a wonderful leader for the entire student body.

I'm sure you will have your work cut out trying to keep up with both the Captain and Head positions as well as your studies, but I have every faith in you.

I should also say that I am positive that this year's Head Girl and yourself will make an admirable team; you have both been chosen not only for your individual merits (which are plentiful) but also for the formidable leadership and example you will provide as a pair.

I look forward to meeting with you both on September 1st.

Yours

Prof. A. P. W. B. Dumbledore

'Who's Head Girl?' They were the first words to make it out of James' shell-shocked throat, and both Sirius and Remus stopped bickering and turned to face him. 'Dumbledore says I've been chosen because I'll work well with the Head Girl, so who the hell is it? If he's stuck me with someone like Roberta Watson with her continually flapping mouth, I will go mad...'

'Mate.' Sirius was looking at him with an odd expression. 'It's going to be Evans. You'd know that if your brains weren't so addled right now.'

'He's right.' Remus butted in. 'She's the obvious choice. If she didn't get it then Dumbledore has gone nuts.'

Without another word James dropped his letter, picked up his badge and legged it from the kitchen. Sirius turned to look at Remus, who just raised an eyebrow and shrugged. 'I find it's usually best not to ask.'

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James pulled his mirror out from under his pillow and sat down on his bed. He took a deep breath and looked directly into it. 'Lily.' His voice sounded clearer and stronger than he thought it had any right to at that moment. The glass frosted over for a moment then cleared to reveal Lily's concerned face.

'James! Is everything okay?' It took him a moment to find an answer, to remember to speak instead of just looking at her face and absorbing the details – the long eyelashes, the tiny freckles, the strands of hair escaping her braid. It seemed so long since he'd seen her in person.

'Yeah, uh, everything's fine. I think. No, everything's okay. I just...can I come over and see you?' He blurted it out, deciding on the spot that it would be easier to speak to her face to face.

'Oh. Uh, sure. Are you sure there's nothing wrong? You look...flustered.'

'Uh, yeah. Weird morning. I'll explain when I get there. Is now okay?' He noted the slight frown creasing her forehead, and he hated that he was making her worry, but he didn't quite have a grip on himself yet.

'Sure. Everyone's out, it's just me, so just... come in.' Her mouth curved up into a smile. 'You know where the back door is.' His mirror frosted over and he knew that she must have put hers down. Grabbing the badge from his bed, he apparated on the spot.

He arrived in Lily's back garden in Cokeworth in almost exactly the same spot he had five weeks ago and he had a strange moment of déjà vu. It was odd how so much had changed since then, but so much was exactly the same. He sucked in a breath, reminded himself that he was a Potter and a Gryffindor, and walked towards the house, hoping like hell he wasn't a Potter and a Gryffindor about to be jinxed by Lily Evans.

The back door was open, so he tapped lightly on the frame. Lily appeared from one of the other rooms, slightly out of breath and frantically using her fingers to comb her hair out of its messy braid. She was wearing a forest green sundress and her feet were bare.

'Hi!' She shot him a dazzling smile, and he found himself speechless for a minute. Not once, not once before had she ever smiled like that at him – like she was completely pleased to see him and not even slightly annoyed with him.

'Hi Lily.' Her name still felt slightly strange on his tongue. 'I'm sorry for disturbing you, but it's kind of important.'

'It must be for you to come all the way here!' she laughed. 'Anyway, you timed it well, I was just about to make coffee.' She paused for a second before blurting out 'And you aren't disturbing me, you're always welcome. I mean, you don't need to ask permission to come and see me.' She could feel the blush spreading across her face and she found herself unable to meet his eyes for the minute, so she took the opportunity to busy herself with the kettle.

James felt a smile appear in response to her statement – perhaps this wasn't going to go as badly as he'd thought – and to spare her blushes he chose not to respond to her outburst. 'Coffee sounds great. I've developed a bit of a habit.'

She shot him a grin over her shoulder. 'That's probably my fault isn't it? I'm a total addict.' She paused in her coffee making long enough to slide a plate with a mixture of chocolate chip and toffee cookies towards him. Noting his raised eyebrow and sceptical expression, her grin grew even wider. 'You're safe with those, Mum made them. Wouldn't even let me in the kitchen.' James picked one up and bit into it and she turned back to the coffeepot. 'Anyway, what did you want to talk about? You can tell me while I'm doing this, I'm an ace multitasker.'

James cleared his throat and chose the safe option of not looking at her as he spoke, breaking his cookie into pieces to keep his fingers busy. 'We got our Hogwarts letters this morning. Me, Padfoot and Moony.'

'Oh!' She span round quickly. 'I can't believe I almost forgot to tell you! I got mine too, and I'm Head Girl!' If her last smile had been dazzling, this one was a supernova. She looked so totally, unbelievably happy, so thrilled with her news, and he felt a quick burst of pleasure somewhere low in his belly that she had wanted to share it with him.

'That's great Lil.' He meant it, honestly and sincerely. 'Not that I'm surprised at all. We were just saying this morning you were the only choice. Actually, that's sort of what I wanted to talk to you about.'

'Oh?' She placed a mug of coffee in front of him and took a sip of hers before she cocked her head to one side and looked at him expectantly. He reached a hand into his jeans pocket and pulled out his badge. He held it out on his palm for her and she reached out to take it with her free hand.

There was silence between them for a moment as Lily looked at the badge she was holding in her hand. 'I thought...Remus. I just thought...It never occurred to me that it might be someone from outside the prefects.' She put her mug down and turned his badge over in both hands.

'Lil, I...I just came to say that if you want me to, I'll send it back to Dumbledore. It'll be easy for him to pick another Head Boy, but you're the only choice for Head Girl, and if you'd rather work with someone else, then I'm okay with that.' He called it quits there, took a nervous sip of coffee and just waited for her response, whatever it was going to be.

She looked up at him, a glimmer of something he didn't recognise or understand in her eyes. Then she walked directly into arms and wrapped hers tight around his waist, burying her face into his chest. Recovering from his shock, he put his mug down and brought his arms around her, placing one hand low on her back and resting the other between her shoulder blades, while he tried to work out what emotion could possibly have provoked this response.

'Lil?'

He felt her chest heave against him, and for one truly panicked moment he thought she was crying, but she tilted her face back to look up at him and he could see the laughter on her lips, and the look of sheer relief in her eyes.

'I was desperate for it to be Remus, and I've been so worried it was going to be someone else, and it's you!' She laughed again, relief was coursing through her veins, making her feel giddy and light-headed. 'When I read the letter and Dumbledore was talking about the Head's complementing each other and being a good example, I started to panic that he was trying to make a point and he was going to stick me with Snape or someone – you know, a Slytherin and a muggleborn Gryffindor to show we could all get along? It would have been awful.'

She unwrapped her arms from James' back, leant back in his arms, grabbed a fistful of his t-shirt in both hands and stood up on her tiptoes so her face was level with his. 'I could just kiss you James Potter! I'm so bloody relieved right now!'

Trying to ignore the little bounce his heart had done at hearing her words, he made himself look directly into her eyes. 'So...you're not mad?'

Lily dropped back down onto the flats of her feet and loosened her grip on his shirt. Her smile had been replaced by a slight frown. 'Why would I be mad?'

'Because it's me. You know...me. Marauder, toerag, resident rule breaker and idiot. And you're stuck working with me for a year. I just thought you might not be okay with that.' James' hands were both resting on the small of her back now, and she could feel his fingertips digging in slightly as his hands clenched nervously.

'James.' She stepped back out of his embrace, and tried not to notice how much colder her skin suddenly felt. 'You haven't been that person for a long time now, and it's about time I gave you credit for that. I'm...happy...that you're Head Boy. I am. I'm glad to be working with someone decent. And yeah, I'm sure you're going to annoy me a fair few times over the year and we're going to have our fair share of fights - more probably - but at least I know I can trust you.'

The corners of his lips started to tug upwards of their own accord. 'You trust me?'

Lily slapped his arm playfully. 'Of course I do stupid!' She stepped back, put her fists on her hips and looked him up and down critically. 'And I'm glad you're wearing muggle clothes because we're going out.'

'We are?'

'We are.' She confirmed, prodding him in the chest with one finger. 'For late breakfast or early lunch or whatever. I'm too wired to stay in on my own, and you're a convenient distraction. I just need to grab my coat and everything, give me two minutes.'

She darted out of the room, and James absent-mindedly finished his cookie while he mulled over the morning's events, wondering whether he'd woken up in a parallel universe that morning. She came back a few minutes later with a white jacket over her dress, tugging tan sandals onto her feet. There was a spring in her step and her cheeks were flushed with happy colour, and when she grabbed his arm and pushed him out through the door, laughing the whole time, he decided that he didn't care either way.

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A/N: Just a quick question, does everyone prefer regular updates to longer chapters? Because I prefer to post short and often, but I could combine chapters to be longer and post less regularly if that's what people prefer (no promises).

Also, have I ever said how pleased I am that people like my Lily? I think she's often portrayed as a bit too whiny and uptight, when she must have had a streak of mischief in there. I mean, the woman married James Potter for God's sake, she had to have some sense of humour surely?

Let me know what you think, reviews are appreciated! X