The Day the Head Girl Said 'Yes'

Septemeber 21, 1977

Lily Evans was an idiot. She hurried through the corridors back up to the Heads common room, where she'd left her Advanced Potions textbook that morning. She flew up the steps, and at the top, thanks to her eyes being glued to her feet, she rammed into someone. They both fell on the ground and she groaned. She stayed on her back, not really finding the desire to move - and she didn't really know if she could, either way.

"Oh, shit, I'm - oh, why, hello there, Evans," the mystery person said. Lily knew that voice. Sirius Black's head popped up above her, obscuring her lovely view of the cieling. "Quite alright down there?"

He offered and hand but she shook her head grouchily, struggling to a stand.

"Fine," she grumbled, brishing off her robes. "but I can't say the same for my backside, thank you very much."

Sirius snorted and glanced behind him. "Oi! James! Where've you disappeared off to? Your soul mate's over here, talkin' about her arse!"

James' head popped out from around the corner, and, upon seeing Lily, stepped out fully, grinning.

"Well, well. Skipping class, are we, Evans? I thought higher of you - and you're Head Girl, none the less! Oh, dear, this is a scandal." he chided mockingly, coming up beside Sirius.

"Actually, I was just off to retrieve my Potions textbook when your other half rammed into me," she corrected, putting her hands on her hips. "And you're Head Boy, Potter. You're definately not supposed to be skipping class!"

James and Sirius exchanged an amused look.

"Right then. Well, that's rubbish if you think I'm going to spare my mischief-making duties for the sake of being forced into being bloody Head Boy," he scoffed, then studied her, amused. "But since you're already out, how about you spend the rest of the period with us, eh? Not scraed of a little trouble, right, Evans?"

She scowled. "Don't you have Potions as well?"

"Ah, fancy that," Sirius said airily, leaning against the railing and frowning in mock-thoughtfullness. "Slipped my mind completely!"

James smirked. "Skipping class is a prestigous act in which you must be very courageous - "

" Or stupid." Lily interjected.

"To do," he continued, ignoring her with a grin. "Besides, who can stand Slughorn's excessive obnoxiousness the whole week?"

Lily was about to say something like 'that's how I feel about you', but then thought better of it. Him and Lily were just starting to get over their constant bickering, and Lily was secretly relieved - it was certainly a piece of work to be so consistently awful to someone. It used to be easy, when James really was an arrogant arse, but . . . he'd changed, and Lily knew it was because he'd lost his mother at the end of last year. That's when things had started to truely change between her and James - the day the news came, and the day Lily Evans had actually said something kind to him. Not only that, but she held him in her arms for a long while. Not that James had his mind on romance whatsoever then - but it still meant a lot that even Lily, who was declared to be someone who hated him to no end, was there for him - she knew that.

She didn't realize how long she'd been lost in thought and refocused in on James' hand waving in front of her face.

"Hellooo? Still with us, Evans?"

Lily cleared her throat, nodding. "Yes - well - I was just going to go get my book, I forgot it. But I'm going back after."

James and Sirius both snickered and James joked, "Scared of missing another pointless period of Potions? Or perhaps you have a little crush on Slughorn?"

"Ew, Potter, gross!" she exclaimed, grimacing.

The two boys laughed and Sirius clamped James on the back.

"Actually, I have someone in that class which I've been itching to ask to Hogsmeade this weekend - I should probably get going. See you two later," he said, skipping down the stairs. He paused, then turned back around, smirking. "By the way, the broom closet on the fifth floor's a good place for snogging, if I say so myself - "

"Oh, shut it!" LIly cut him off, but couldn't help a smile creeping onto her face.

He winked at them, and then sauntered off down the corridor and out of sight.

"So, how 'bout it, Evans? A day with the most famous prankster in school?" he asked, bowing with a grin.

"Oh, I wonder what the other little trouble-makers would say about that." she said, chuckling.

He shrugged and offered his arm. "Well?"

"Well, it's just that I haven't - I mean, I've never. . . ." she trailed off, uncomfortable.

He raised his eyebrows at her. "You're not meaning to say you've never skipped class before?"

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, so what if I haven't? That's certainly nothing to be ashamed of." she huffed defiantly.

He let out a disbelieving laugh, and then nodded. "Then it's settled. You've got to skip the whole day to make up for it." he decided.

She gaped at him. "No way! I can't - "

"I'll hold you captive if I have to." he warned, winking, and she frowned.

"There's nothing to do." she pointed out after a pause.

He flashed her a mischievious smile. "Don't be so sure. Follow me."

"So this thing shows where everyone is at Hogwarts - all the time?" she inquired as they hurried under James' invisibility cloak, which had come as another surprise to Lily. They were headed up the the third-floor corridor, and James wouldn't give away where they were going.

He nodded, grinning proudly. "Yeah. We use it when - " he cut off immediately, then continued smoothly, "When we go out after hours."

Lily didn't miss his stumble and shot him a curious glance. "What do you do after hours, anyway?"

"I think I'll keep that one from you," he smirked, "I like to live mysteriously."

Lily snorted. "Right. So, care to tell me where we're going now?"

"That would ruin it! Oh - Dumbledore's coming this way. . . . Bloody hell." James muttered, and hurried up one of the marble staircases before they could bump into their headmaster.

"We're invisible, James." she pointed out as they walked along the third-floor corridor underneath the cloak.

"Yeah, but I have a feeling that man is all-knowing," he said, over-exaggerating, "I doubt he doesn't know what we're up to right now, actually."

Lily frowned. "That's impossible."

"Not impossible," James muttered, glancing down at the Marauder's Map. "Good, no one's around. Alright, we're here."

They came up to a statue of a one-eyed witch and Lily looked at him like he was crazy.

"James, I've seen this creepy statue plenty of times," she scoffed as he took the cloak off them. "Is this really what you - "

"Honestly, Lily, you have to learn to be patient," James said exasperately, "It's what the statue leads to that's important."

Lily was suspecting one of his jokes, but he actually took out his wand and tapped the witch's hump, murmuring, "Dissendium."

The witch's hump opened to reveal a hole to which lead to what seemed like darkness. Lily looked at it, half-shocked and half-horrified.

"How many people know about this?" she gasped.

He grinned. "Only me, Sirius, Remus and Peter. Although, I wouldn't doubt Dumbledore knows. Anyway, ladies first?"

He waved to the opening and she shook her head hastily.

"No way!" she scoffed, "No bloody way!"

"Aw, c'mon, Evans!" he insisted, laughing at her horrified expression.

"Where does it lead anyway?" she asked, attempting to peek in, but she could make out was darkeness.

"That's a secret," he revealed in a mock-mysterious voice. "Look, it's just like a giant slide. I'll go first, if that makes you feel better."

Lily looked back at the hole nodded. "Well, go on then." she muttered.

James wiggled his eyebrows at her before he hoisted himself into the passageway easily, and pushed forward. He was enveloped in the darkness and Lily became more nervous.

"Lumos." she heard him mutter from somewhere below and saw a light at the end of the slope.

She took a deep breath and lifted herself in, yelping as she slid down the cold stone slide. She stumbled onto the damp ground, huffing as she did. James caught her with one arm, chuckling.

"See? That wasn't so bad."

She swallowed. "Right. Do I even want to know how long this thing goes on for?"

He chuckled. "Probably not. Let's go."

So off they went down the long, twisted passageway. Lily suppressed her questions as the minutes passed. Then, after about an agonizingly long hour, James hurried faster, grinning back at her.

"Almost there." he murmured.

Finally, they came to stone steps and they climbed relentlessly, Lily getting excited despite herself. Suddenly, James stopped and she halted right before she smashed into him. He pushed up on a trapdoor of some sort and pulled himself through. He bent down and helped Lily through. She took a deep breath and looked around.

"Where are we?" she breathed quietly, as there was no sound around.

He grinned again and lead her up the wooden staircase and through the door.

She laughed indredulously. " Of course. It's leads to Hogsmeade."

They were behind the counter at Honeydukes, Lily immediately recognized it. There were very few people there, none of them from Hogwarts, of course. He smirked at her shock, ducking under the counter, and Lily followed suit.

"I can't believe you know about this."

He shrugged. "We've been looking for passages like those all throughout ours Hogwarts years. It wasn't so hard."

She shook her head, smiling ruefully. "I'm very impressed."

He grinned. "Care for any sweets, m'lady?"

"How about some of Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans?"

James

Operation Make Lily Evans Fall in Love with Him:

Phase One: Get past the constant bickering stage - complete.

Phase Two: The actual falling-in-love process - in progress.

James smiled as Lily talked passionately about the Order of the Pheonix and how badly she wanted to join after Hogwarts. They had resided to the Three Broomsticks for a couple hours after Honeydukes, munching on their candy and sipping their butterbeer.

"What are you going to do after we graduate?" Lily asked after she got done telling him about the Order. Nothing he didn't already know, but he enjoyed hearing her talk.

He raised his eyebrows, playing with his bottle of butterbeer. "Well, joining the Order has definately always been at the top of my list. I mean, my dad is a high Ministry official who's against You-Know-Who but does nothing about it. He doesn't like the Order because he reckons they're just setting themselves up for a painful death. I beg to differ, though. I think they're doing loads of good. If no one in the Ministry is brave enough to do something about it, then I want to join the only group of people that's brave enough to try," he explained, then added, "It also helps that it would make my dad extremely unhappy."

She studied him. "Not fond of your father then?"

James grimaced slightly. "Not especially."

"Well, I have a pretty dysfunctional family, too, I must say. My sister hates my guts and has a ruddy horrible boyfriend named Vernon - what an awful name!" she exclaimed, shaking her head. Then sighed, continuing wearily, "Anyway, my parents dote over me for being a witch, and it just gets old. We've been getting in a lot of fights. That's why I'm not planning on going home for Christmas."

"Yeah, I'm staying, too. My dad'll probably complain - he's taking every chance he can get to attempt to sway my political opinions." He shrugged and looked out the window to see it was about mid-day. Classes should be about over now.

Lily seemed to notice this, too, because she looked at him expectantly. "Ready to go?"

No, he wasn't ready to go, but he would feel foolish asking her to stay, so he nodded. As they stood, he waved to Madame Rosmerta and she called her goodbyes. Lily looked at him curiously.

"Won't she tell - ?"

"No, no, I've done this many times. They've have gotten used to it," James explained with a chuckle, opeing the door for her. "Or maybe Madame Rosmerta jusr fancies me." he added cheekily.

Lily laughed incredulously as they stepped into the bitter October weather. "Probably - you can be very charming," she chuckled, not even thinking. Then, she stopped abruptly and James stopped, a small, appalled smile on his face.

"What was that, Evans?"

She cleared her throat and ducked her head, walking on. "Nothing, nothing," she muttered, then quickly continued, "You know, I knew you snuck out sometimes, but this is a lot more serious than I thought."

James shrugged, smiling. "Oh, please. We've done worse."

"Oh, yeah? Like what?" she prodded with a challenging glance.

He smirked. "I told you, Evans, I'm just a never-ending mystery. I like it that way." he joked.

She sighed and shook her head with a slight smile. "Well, Potter, I'll give you this one: you definately are."

Lily

After her and James got back from Hogsmeade, they were met with free period for the rest of the day. They crept along the third floor corridor and down to the grounds, and Lily only exhaled when they made it outside. James chuckled at her.

"See? That wasn't so bad. How was it, breaking the rules for the first time?"

Lily sighed and smiled. "Actually, it felt really good."

"Well, it looks like I've been a bad influence." he murmured, winking at her.

She snorted. "And I thank you for it. It would've been downright embaressing if I left here with a clean record."

James laughed loudly. "I really think I've turned you into a rebel! This is just too good - "

"Oi! James!"

They both turned and found Sirius, Remus and Peter waving to him with grins, Sirius amking obscene gestures with his hands. James sighed and waved back.

"Well, I guess that's my cue." he muttered.

"Thanks for today, James. It was really fun." Lily said, smiling.

"My pleasure, m'lady. And we actually got along the whole time." he pointed out with raised eyebrows.

She laughed and pushed him towards his friends. "I'll see you in the common room, Potter."

"See you later, Evans."