14: Back to Hogwarts

"Lily, have you got everything?" Called her mother as Lily dashed around her in the kitchen, a piece of toast in her mouth and her wand tucked behind her ear.

Lily twirled on the spot, her robes swaying around her as she faced her mum, "Yeah ... " She swallowed with some difficulty, "I think so."

It was the first of September and despite looking forward to this day for weeks, Lily still wasn't ready. She glanced up at the clock on the wall and nearly swore; it was already reading a quarter to eleven.

"Damn, where's my wand?!" She exclaimed, once again spinning on the spot.

Lily's mother supressed a laugh, "It's behind your ear." She informed her daughter.

"Oh." Lily stopped racing around the kitchen and reached up for her wand, flushing slightly.

Lily's mother smiled and she raised her tea to her lips, drinking serenely as she watched her daughter.

Lily strode over to her trunk and non-verbally shrunk it to the size of a shoebox. With another flick she made it as light as a feather and effortlessly scooped it up into her arms. She glanced at the clock again; ten forty-eight.

"Mum I'm going to have to go." She said, dashing back over to where her mum was sitting, "I'm supposed to get there early and see that everyone is on the train and I'm already late!" She rambled until her mum got up and gave her a tight hug.

"Good luck, sweetheart." She said quietly.

"Thanks, mum." Lily replied, breaking apart from her and holding her trunk close to her chest, "See you at Christmas, love you."

"I love you too." Her mum replied, and discreetly wiped a tear away as her daughter spun on the spot and disappeared into thin air.

Lily arrived on the platform with ten minutes to spare, she put her trunk down and returned it to its normal size before heading towards the gleaming scarlet train. She got no further than a few paces before she heard someone scream her name. Whirling around she tried to locate who was shouting but was caught unawares when she was nearly squashed in a group hug.

"Lily! We've missed you so much, you have no idea!" Squealed the girl closest to her, she had cropped blonde hair and sported a pair of glasses that were glinting in the morning sunlight.

"I think I have some idea, Jen." Lily replied, grinning at her three best friends affectionately.

"Oh my God, what is that?" Cried the second girl, pointing in awe at the badge pinned to Lily's robes.

Lily smiled shly, "I'm Head Girl."

"Lily, that's fantastic!"

"Thanks, Clare." Lily replied, ruffling the shorter girl's dark brown hair with a grin.

"Oi!"

"You could have told us though Lily!" Remarked the final of Lily's friends, trying to look reproachful.

"I wanted to tell you in person." Lily defended. She paused and then admitted; "I'm really nervous … what if I mess it up?"

"You won't." Said Hannah firmly, "You're going to do an amazing job."

"Oh, crap, that reminds me – I'm supposed to get ready for the prefects' meeting! I'd better get on the train … I'll come find you when I'm done, okay?"

"Okay." The others replied simultaniously, making all four laugh.

Lily waved at them as she headed off through the steam towards the front of the train. As she approached the carriage door she noticed a familiar mop of untidy black hair, and it's owner was facing away from her. She grinned to herself and tried to ignore the butterflies in her stomach as she crept up behind him and threw her arms around his neck.

"Boo." She said into his ear.

James jumped violently and spun around with her arms still around him, "Oh, it's you." He said, somewhat with relief, "You scared the shit out of me!"

Lily laughed and removed her arms from around his neck, "You ready for this meeting?"

"Not in the slightest." Said James and there was a definate inflection of fear in his voice which only made Lily smile more.

"Come on then, you big baby, we'd better get on the train before it leaves without us."

"That would be a very good idea." James replied, grinning down at her, "I'll get your trunk." He said, bending down to lift it.

"Wait – it's –"

Lily stopped and put a hand over her mouth to stiffle her laughter. James had bent to lift her trunk, and not expecting it to be weightless, had tugged hard and fallen flat on his back with her trunk on top of him.

"- been charmed weightless." She finished and giggled, unable to stop herself from laughing at the pure shock on his face.

She lifted her trunk off of him and placed it on the train before offering him her hand.

He took it and got to his feet, his cheeks burning with embarrassment. They got onto the train, hand in hand with Lily still laughing quietly, only seconds before the train emitted a high pitched whistle and pulled off from Kings Cross station.

Lily glanced side-ways at James once they reached the prefects' compartment; he was still slightly flushed but she decided not to comment. She suddenly realised that they were still holding hands and it was her turn to flush as she quickly pulled her hand out of his grasp before pushing the compartment door open.

There were already a few nervous looking fifth year prefects sitting in the carriage as Lily and James made their way over to the opposite end where Lily had always seen the Head Boy and Girl sit.

"Lily, what do we say?" James hissed in her ear.

"Relax." She said quietly, "We just tell them what's expected of them, that's all." She picked up an envelope in front of her, "These must be the passwords to each of the houses."

James was silent as they watched the rest of the prefects slowly fill the compartment. If she wasn't so nervous herself she might have laughed at the expression on his face.

Once every seat was taken, Lily swallowed hard and stood up with James. The chatter died away and Lily resolved to take the lead seeing as James didn't really know what he was doing.

"Um, hi everyone." She cleared her throat a little, "I'm Lily Evans, Head Girl."

"And I'm James Potter, Head Boy." James added. A few of the prefects smiled at him, including Remus who was sitting inconspicuously in the corner.

"This is just a brief meeting," Lily continued, "To inform or remind you all of your duties as prefects."

A low chatter started up and James gave them a brief glare, "If you keep talking we'll be here all day." He remarked but he said it in a way that made the prefects quieten down and listen.

"Right, so, your duties … we expect you to be keeping an eye on the younger students, the first years in particular, in case they need any help. The fifth year prefects usually escort the new first years up to their dorms so make sure you don't leave them in the Great Hall."

There was a small amount of laughter at this, as if the thought of first years being abandoned in the Great Hall was amusing.

"You will also all be required to patrol the halls in pairs after curfew at least once a fortnight." Said Lily, she handed a piece of parchment and a quill to the girl seated on her right, "Pass this around please, and write down which evenings would be more convienient for you and James and I will do our best to accommodate you when we draw up the schedule."

"Remember, you can take off house points for rule breaking but it has to be legitimate – we'll be keeping an eye on you." Said James, and Lily inwardly smiled, thankful that he had joined in instead of letting her do all the talking. "And for Merlin's sake, make sure you follow the rules yourselves – you're supposed to be setting an example."

Lily almost snorted at this coming from James but she held herself back.

"That's about it," Said Lily, racking her brains to think if she'd forgotten anything, "Make sure you all come to us to get the passwords to your respective houses as we're relying on you all to spread the word." Lily picked up the envelope containing the passwords and held it for a moment.

"Anyone got any questions?" James asked. When the assembled prefects all muttered 'no' or shook their heads James added, "Okay, great, once you've all got your passwords you can go."

There was a bit of a dash as all the prefects came to collect their passwords as soon as possible so they could get back to their friends. As all the prefects disappeared, Lily and James were left with Remus, who had evidently stayed behind to wait for his friend.

"Dear Merlin, that was horrific." Remarked James once the room had cleared.

"I thought you guys did a great job." Said Remus with a smile on his face.

"I was petrified." Admitted Lily with a small laugh.

"You were brilliant, Lily." Said James, turning to look at her, "You sounded really confident."

"Thanks." Lily replied, smiling at him, "Anyway, I'd better go and find my friends – I haven't seen them all summer."

"See you at the feast then, Lily." Said James with a small wave.

"See you later, Lily." Remus said.

"Bye." She turned and flashed them a smile as she left the compartment.

"You'd better get comfy, Lily." Said Jen as Lily sat down with her friends.

"Why?"

"Why? She says!" Clare said exasperatedly.

"We need all the gossip from your summer of course!" Finished Hannah with a grin.

"Oh. Well, there's not much to tell…"

"Oh come off it!" Clare exclaimed, "You've been staying with Potter for half of the holidays!"

"Well yeah … but it's really not a big deal." She protested weakly.

"What's his house like, Lil?" Jen asked eagerly.

Lily laughed, "Huge. I was a little intimidated at first!"

"I thought he must live somewhere pretty impressive." Mused Hannah, "I mean he's from an old pureblood family and they've got stacks of cash."

"I hadn't even really thought about it before." Lily admitted.

"More importantly," Said Clare, "He was nice to you, yeah? 'Cause I'm going to go and find him right now if he did anything to upset you."

"Oh no," Lily assured them quickly, "James has been really sweet the whole summer." Especially when he kissed me….

"James was sweet was he?" Hannah jumped in immediately, "Since when do you call him James?"

Lily felt her cheeks go red under their teasing smiles, "Oh you know, since the summer…" She answered feebly.

"She's blushing!" Jen shrieked, "Lily, you're blushing!"

"I am not!"

"You are!"

"Leave me alone." Lily mumbled, putting her head in her hands, damn her ability to blush all the time!

All three of her friends were laughing as Lily hid her face in embarrassment.

"So, Lily, what did he do to get you to call him James … and get you to blush like that!"

"Nothing!" Said Lily, lifting her head, "Just drop it."

Jen grinned at her, "You like him." It wasn't a question.

"No I don't!"

"Sweetie, you're bright red."

"I don't like him, okay? We're just friends."

The three girls exchanged a look but seemed to come to an unspoken agreement not to question Lily any more as they dropped the subject.

"So … who's Head Boy?" Hannah asked.

"James." Lily muttered into her hand.

"What?"

"James is Head Boy." Lily repeated, taking her hands away from her face.

"What?!"

"Seriously?"

"But – how?"

Lily couldn't help but laugh as her three friends spoke over each other to voice their shock.

"I think he's going to do a good job." Lily commented thoughtfully, much to her friends amazement.

"Merlin's beard, Lily…" Said Clare, shaking her head, "He must have made a really good impression on you this summer."

"I would never have thought those words would come out of your mouth, Lily!" Added Jen with a little snort of laughter.

Lily offered a small smile and half-heartedly shrugged her shoulders, "He's changed I think … he's grown up."

Lily and her friends sat down together at the Gryffindor table amidst loud and excited chatter from the students all around. People were coming up to Lily to congratulate her on becoming Head Girl and she was going rather red with all the attention.

"Everyone seems to think I'm going to do a brilliant job." Lily whispered worridly to her friends.

"You're the people's choice, Lil." Jen grinned at her.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine." Hannah reassured her.

"Hello, Ladies. Mind if we join you?"

Lily jumped at the sound of Sirius's voice and twisted her upper body to see all of the marauders standing behind her.

"Go ahead." Invited Jen, waving at them from across the table.

Sirius grinned and he and Remus vaulted over the table, sitting down innocently next to Jen who shook her head silently.

"Hey." Said James quietly, and Lily turned, realising that James had slipped into the seat on her right, with Peter on his other side.

"Hi." She responded, smiling at him.

James looked like he was about to ask her something but stopped himself as the nervous line of first years began to filter into the Great Hall.

The seventh years remained quiet as they watched the sorting take place, cheering at the appropriate moments as a new student was sorted into Gryffindor (or in Sirius's case standing up and wolf whistling loudly, causing the rest of the house to cringe).

Lily had just finished clapping politely as the last first year was sorted into Hufflepuff, when Dumbledore stood and spoke briefly, primarily to announce the commencement of the start of term feast. A few students clapped again and Sirius cheered, earning a few scattered laughs.

"Thank, Merlin." Sirius exclaimed, as he leaned over the table, reaching to pile a bit of everything onto his plate, "I'm famished."

"You wouldn't think so, considering the number of chocolate frogs you consumed on the train." Remus responded dryly, while adding his own, significantly smaller, pile of food to his plate.

Sirius said something entirely incomprehensible with his mouth full of food and Lily screwed up her face in disgust.

"That's something I didn't want to see."

Peter threw a carrot across the table at Sirius, hitting him square on the nose and commenting; "Even I've got better manners than you."

Lily glanced at James, who was successfully ignoring his friends as he steadily ate his way through a huge pile of mashed potato, and snorted into her own dinner before looking up and catching Clare's eye across the table; both girls grinned silently at each other at the Marauders eating habits.

As her friends began a light-hearted conversation, speculating on their timetables for the new term; Lily detached herself from the conversation and instead chose to watch Sirius surreptitiously out of the corner of her eye. He was eating and laughing and seeming perfectly content with his present location. She chewed thoughtfully on her food and hoped that Sirius had forgiven her for treating James like dirt after her birthday. It was hard to forget the way he had looked so coldly at her that day in Diagon Alley and she hoped she would never find herself on the receiving end of that again.

"Oi, Lily! Are you going to join us in reality?"

Lily jumped slightly and felt her cheeks tinge pink as everyone laughed at her; it seemed she had zoned out somewhat.

"Sorry – what are we talking about?"

She reached over James to pile some more potatoes on her plate and slowly joined in the conversation, feeling quite content.

Lily was exhausted by the time she pushed open the door to her dormitory and stumbled inside. As Head Girl, she had lingered a little longer in the Great Hall to ensure no first years were left behind and again in the common room to chivvy everyone up to bed. She now looked across the room and spotted her three friends all sprawled on Hannah's bed. She smiled and made her way over to join them.

"Hey, Lil. What took you so long?" Greeted Jen as Lily sat down.

"I was trying to get the sixth years to go up to their dorms." Lily explained, rolling her eyes.

"Did they listen?" Snorted Hannah.

"Sort of … well a couple of them went upstairs but then I just gave up." She sighed, "I'm just not cut out for this Head Girl lark."

"Aw, Lil." Jen said, placing a comforting arm around Lily's shoulders, "You're going to do fine – we all have faith in you."

Hannah and Clare nodded their agreement and Lily smiled at her friends.

"But, Lily …" Clare began hestitantly, "How are you doing? After everything that's happened?"

Lily hesitated, her friends were watching her closely; it was clear that they had been waiting patiently to have this converstation with her.

"I'm … okay." She finally replied with a small shrug. "I mean, I'm not fine, but I'm … you know; I'm getting on with it, I suppose."

Clare reached over to hug her tightly, "We love you, Lily." She said simply.

Lily found herself, ridiculously, holding back tears as she hugged her friend back just as tightly.

They went off to bed not long after, a resounding chorus of 'night's' echoing around the room. Lily lay in her bed, staring at the canopy above her, cursing the fact that she now felt completely wide awake. After lying in the dark for a while, listening to the soft sounds of breathing coming from either side of her, she got up quietly, resigned to the fact that sleep was not going to come to her as easily as she thought it would.

She pulled on her dressing down and slippers before padding softly down the stairs towards the common room, thinking perhaps of curling up in a comfortable airmchair next to the fire.

She glanced around the common room as she silently slipped into it, and noticed with surprise that she wasn't the only person with insomnia. She negotiated her way towards the fire where the only other occupant of the room sat; and plopped down next to him.

"Hey, Lily." Said James softly, turning to look at her, "Can't sleep?"

Lily shook her head, "Why are you up?"

James smiled at her, "Peter was snoring."

Lily had the vague impression that he wasn't being entirely truthful, but shook it off – choosing instead to stare thoughtfully into the dying embers of the fire.

They sat next to each other, shoulders just touching, in a comfortable silence for quite a while, each lost in their own thoughts – until James decided to voice a question that he had obviously been sitting on.

"Lily?" He said slowly, his voice sounding unnaturally loud after the silence.

"Mm?"

"Did you ever ask your mum about that photo?" He asked tentatively, scanning her face as he spoke.

"No." Lily replied, turning to look at him properly, "I wanted to but …. there just never seemed to be the right time, you know?" James nodded, "It was going to be hard enough for her – me coming back to school; without accusing her of … things …" She trailed off and frowned.

"Have the aurors got any new leads?" James asked.

Lily shook her head, "It all seems to have come to nothing." She paused and stared into the fire, looking thoughtful, "I wonder if anyone here would recognise the bloke in the picture."

"I dunno, Lil." James said doubtfully, "The photo is pretty old now, isn't it?"

"Mmm." Lily replied non-committal, still staring into the fire.

A silence fell between them but Lily couldn't keep from thinking about the photograph … and the idea that someone at Hogwarts might know something.

"Let it alone, Lily." James said quietly after a moment and Lily looked up to see him watching her closely, "You don't know what sort of can of worms you might open up."

"What?" Lily questioned, feeling slightly perturbed by how well he could tell what she was thinking.

"Think about it." James explained, now looking at her imploringly, "If, that photo has some link to what happened … well … is it really something you want to be showing off around Hogwarts? You could attract some … unsavoury attention."

Lily blinked at him; he could have a point … but she didn't feel completely dissuaded from the idea. The desire to discover the truth was currently overwhelming her and she knew she couldn't rest while that photograph was stashed in her pocket, unexplained.

James was still watching her closely so she shrugged her shoulders slightly, "I suppose."

"I –" James started, cutting himself off and fidgeting with his hands slightly nervously before continuing, "Lily, you have to understand … I don't want you to get hurt. I don't want anything to happen to you because of all of this." He finished rather more confidently than he started, never taking his eyes from hers.

Lily swallowed, her throat suddenly feeling lumpy and her heart beginning to race out of control at his words. She licked her lips unconsciously, thinking that this conversation was rapidly slipping into dangerous waters. She opened her mouth but couldn't formulate words so she quickly closed it again and continued to stare at him.

James sighed lightly and Lily could feel his breath on her face; she silently berated herself for sitting almost on top of him. Now, facing each other, their faces were far too close for comfort. James shifted ever so slightly and Lily could see the firelight dancing in his glasses – it was hypnotic.

Her breathing hitched as James tentatively reached out and caressed her cheek with one hand while the other hand snuck into her lap as he silently entwined his fingers with hers. Seemingly emboldened by the fact that she had made no attempt to push him away, James leant forwards and rested his forehead against hers gently.

Lily closed her eyes, unable to fight the sensations that were overtaking her body. Her heart was pounding so loudly in her chest that she was sure James would be able to hear it and her stomach was twisting in a funny, not-so-unpleasant sort of way. She suddenly found herself – quite out of nowhere – realising that she was desperately waiting for him to kiss her.

After several more seconds of non-movement from James, Lily came to the startling realisation that he wasn't going to kiss her. And really, could she blame him after the way she had shot him down so harshly on her birthday?

With this thought in her mind and all of her sense gone out of the window, Lily pulled her forehead back from James's. She almost felt his disappointment, and desperate to reassure him, desperate to keep him from disentangling himself from her and leaving, she did the only thing that felt right at the time. She moved herself even closer to him and tentatively brushed her lips against his.

James didn't respond immediately and Lily felt the heat rise in her cheeks. She made a half-hearted attempt to move back from him but almost at the same time James's grip tightened on her hand and he pulled her lips right back onto his. He kissed her slowly, as if he was testing the waters, but as soon as he felt Lily respond he hastened to deepen the kiss. Soon, it felt as if they were both throwing all of their pent up frustration into it and the kisses became more desperate, more frantic. James moved both of his hands to cradle Lily's face and run his hands through her long hair, while she hooked her arms around his neck and felt like she was holding on for dear life.

After several minutes of frantic kissing, Lily felt like she could barely breathe, James leaving her only seconds between kisses to catch her breath before capturing her lips with his again. She pulled back reluctantly, gasping slightly and watching James with wide eyes.

"Lily …" He whispered, seemingly lost for words, one hand still entangled in her hair as he gazed at her.

Lily tried desperately to return her breathing to its normal rate, taking some satisfaction in the fact that James seemed just as disorientated as she did.

"Lily," He whispered again, once he had found his voice, "That was –"

"Long overdue?" She rasped out, surprising even herself at her sudden honesty. She blushed foolishly.

James grinned, "Well, I was going to say incredible but yours works as well."

Lily couldn't help but smile at the ridiculous grin adorning James's face, "I'm going to go to bed." She told him softly.

"Is your insomnia cured?" James teased.

Lily felt herself blush, if possible, even more. She ducked her head to avoid his gaze and heard him chuckle. James then entwined her hand back with his and stood up, pulling her up with him.

"Come on then, sleepy head." He said, steering her towards the girls' staircase.

They stopped at the foot of the stairs and Lily turned back to face him.

"Um. Goodnight, then."

"'Night, Lily." James responded with a soft smile and before she could do anything he had ducked his head and stolen another small kiss.

Lily stumbled up the stairs her mind whirling and her lips still tingling from James's kisses. She discarded her dressing gown and slippers and snuggled under the covers of her warm bed; feeling a lot more inclined to sleep now than before. She closed her eyes and fell asleep almost immediately with a small smile on her face.

A/N: Hey guys, hope you enjoyed the chapter!! That ending actually wasn't in my plan but it just sort of happened while I was writing! I'm glad it did though … I think it may have been dragged out a bit too long otherwise! I hope my characterisation of Lily's friends was okay; I'm not quite satisfied with that bit but if I stare at it/ tweak it any more I may just go insane!

So anyway, thanks for reading … now press that button and review! D