Previously on Deals with Life and Lilies:
"I'm Prefect!" Lily squealed.
"Congrats, Lily. I knew you would be McGonagall's choice. Ha! You can give the Marauders detention now. Revenge must be so sweet."
"This means that one of the Marauders is Prefect," Lily said, her smile vanishing quickly. The thought of Potter or Black as Prefects, roaming to school with no authority to stop them, was quite terrifying to Lily.
Alice froze for a second, then burst out laughing. "Pettigrew, Black, Potter, and Lupin. Hmmm, it's hard to decide which one will be given the badge." Alice put on a mocking thoughtful face.
"Lupin," Alice and Lily said together.
Prefect Meetings
"What happened at the dinner?" Mary asked Lily as the Hogwarts Express picked up speed, and Lily had lost sight of the Platform 9¾ with waving families disappearing from view. Her parents waved from next to the doorway to the platform, keeping true to their promise of seeing her onto the train while Petunia shopped with her friend, Yvonne.
"I got a little mad," Lily responded without any emotion in her voice. She didn't feel like talking about it much.
Mary nodded with understanding. It certainly paid to have friends who knew what to say and what not to ask.
Several kids in the next compartment poked their heads out of the doors. They were laughing and pointing at someone, and Lily had a very shrewd idea who. There were only four people who drew such crowds in Hogwarts.
"I have to go," Lily announced, jumping out of her seat. They hadn't even gotten to Hogwarts yet, and those four boys were already bullying Severus or some poor first year.
"Excuse me. Out of the way." Lily squeezed her way through the onlookers to the compartment.
Inside she could see Potter and Black with their wands out, and Pettigrew watched hungrily while two unfortunate second years dangled upside down by their ankles.
"What did we do?" the girl cried.
"You were a stinking Slytherin," Black laughed.
"Potter, Black! Stop this instant," Lily yelled. She pulled out her wand and performed the counter-curse. The two second years crashed to the floor, scrambling to pick up the candy which had fallen out, but Black beat them to it.
"We'll take that. Accio!"
"Protego!" Lily yelled, and Black's Summoning Charm stopped short. The three Marauders stared at her: Petttigrew with amazement, Black with irritation, and Potter with a look Lily only knew too well.
"And good day to you to, Ms. Evans. Would you be so kind as to join me at Hogsmeade?"
"Keep dreaming, Potter. How could you do that on unsuspecting second years? Second years! At least last year you picked on people your own age. Now don't let me catch you again."
Black grinned. "What makes you think that you'll stop us from giving people a little laugh?"
Lily glared at him while someone stepped up behind her and said, "Leave it, Sirius. We have to find a compartment."
The calmness in Remus's voice surprised Lily. She had rarely ever heard him speak except to answer questions in class, and being a Marauder and all, Lily didn't hang around him much anyways.
Black, to Lily's amazement, lowered his wand. She couldn't believe that all it took to stop them was a simple word from Remus. If she had known that, she would have dragged Lupin around with her whenever the Marauders were taunting some poor student.
"Fine, Remus. Let's go, Sirius." Potter grabbed Black's arm and dragged him away.
"What are you looking at? There's nothing here for you to see." Lily ushered the bystanders quickly away from the spot, and they left, clearly disappointed that the "show" had been stopped.
"Thanks," Lily said to Remus. She pointed at the prefect badge on his chest. "Only boy in Gryffindor who could have gotten that. Congratulations."
Remus smiled shyly. "Thanks. You too. We have our first meeting in one minute, and we should probably get going." He stepped aside to let Lily pass first.
"So are you the only person who has any control over Potter and Black, or can I take some Marauder Handling 101 course?"
He laughed lightly. "Sometimes James and Sirius will mind what I say, but the only person James will always listen to is Sirius and vice versa."
Lily groaned. "So nobody but Dumbledore can always make them stop?"
"You only see the meaner pranks they do. If you knew them like I did, you would realize they can be funny without dying Snape's hair pink."
"Funny way of showing it. Why do you hang out with them anyway? There are so many other people who are a better influence."
"They are the best friends I could ask for, Lily," Remus said suddenly. "They've been extremely loyal to me in ways you couldn't imagine, doing stuff I would never have asked them to do."
Lily could think of nothing to say to that. Remus clearly knew Potter and Black better, and while they were arrogant toe rags, she didn't doubt they were loyal to Remus.
"Hello, Lily, Remus," a deep, reassuring voice said as they entered the Prefect's compartment.
"Kingsley, how are you?" Lily hugged the tall, black boy.
"Good. How was your summer?" the seventh year asked in the same soothing, reassuring voice as he embraced Lily.
Lily noticed a silver badge with the initials HB gleamed against Kingsley's black Hogwarts robes. Personally, she couldn't think of anybody better than Kingsley. He could keep a cool head in any situation, and was excellent at balancing rules and exceptions.
"Head Boy and Captain of Quidditch. Ready for the most difficult year possible for a Hogwarts student?"
Kingsley shrugged. "I'll manage."
A beautiful girl with long, brown hair and an air of command stood up behind Kingsley. A silver badge was also pinned to her chest with the only change of Head Girl instead of Head Boy. Lily had seen her around school but never really paid much attention to her.
The brown haired girl held out her hand. "Bridget Williamson, Head Girl and Ravenclaw."
Lily took it. "Lily Evans. I'm one of the new Gryffindor prefects."
Bridget looked surprised. "The same Lily who James Potter won't stop asking out?"
"Unfortunately."
The other prefects entered the carriage, and Lily recognized several of them. The fifth year Ravenclaw prefects were Jesse Corner and Lisa MacMillan, and Lily didn't recognize either of the sixth years or the seventh year boy. Geoffrey Fudge stumbled in, a Hufflepuff prefect badge on his chest, with Elena Smith trailing in after him. Amelia Bones, Lily knew her from Slughorn's parties, entered with three other Hufflepuffs.
The Gryffindor prefects grinned at Lily and Remus and moved to take a seat next to them.
"All right, Lily?" Teresa Brown asked while Harper Ferris plopped into the seat closest to Remus.
Lily opened her mouth to respond, but the Slytherin prefects appeared. The two oldest prefects glared at Lily, angry that a Muggle-born had become a prefect. Holding hands with her boyfriend, Sergio Greengrass, Astoria Gamp nodded politely at the Gryffindors while Sergio ignored them; it was probably the nicest greeting Lily would ever get from a Slytherin except Severus.
Severus himself entered, and he just nodded and said hello. Lily blinked at the coolness of his greeting while he sat himself among the Slytherins; it was the first time that a Slytherin had been nicer to her than Severus.
"Good morning, everybody," Kingsley announced. "My name is Kingsley Shacklebolt and this is Bridget Williamson. We are your Head Boy and Girl for this year. Fifth year prefects, your job is to lead the first years to the common rooms after the feast; sixth and seventh years will patrol after the feast to make sure everybody goes up or down to their respective common rooms."
"And what makes you think that we'll take orders from any Gryffindor, Shacklebolt?" said the seventh year boy from Slytherin.
Kingsley laughed. "Then you might want to take it up with Professor Dumbledore about why you didn't get the badge. I seem to recall you last year saying that once you are Head Boy, there would be changes, Jugson."
Jugson scowled at Kingsley but shut up after Astoria Gamp elbowed him and whispered, "Be quiet. It's not worth it."
Bridget continued where Kingsley left off. "We'll be having a prefect meeting this Saturday at six. We'll hand out patrol schedules, talk about Hogsmeade visits, and go over upcoming events. Any questions?"
Jugson raised his hand.
Bridget took a deep breath as if to prepare for whatever Jugson wanted to say and said, "Yes, Jugson?"
"Do we get to have any say in who we patrol with? I don't fancy being stuck with a Gryffindor."
"Suck it up, Jugson. You're patrolling with whomever Bridget and I choose you're patrolling with. It's not like anybody wants to patrol with you, either," Kingsley responded calmly, and Jugson looked like Kingsley had punched him. Turning back to the compartment at large, he said, "You will usually be with whoever is in your House and year, but that is only half the time. That's means sometimes Gryffindors will be with Slytherins."
Bridget cleared her throat. "Before any fights break out with people I won't name," she glared at Jugson, "I suggest you go back to your compartments and have a good ride back to Hogwarts."
"That was quick," Remus said as the prefects left in twos and threes.
"It was interesting. There is a reason Dumbledore made Kingsley Head Boy and not the Jugson person. He really has a way with words."
They laughed at the memory of Jugson and Kingsley. It was several minutes before Lily realized this was her first time around the Marauders without any yelling, threatening, hexing, or detentions, even if it was just Remus.
"What's that?" Lily asked as Remus opened a compartment door. It was empty, but obviously the Marauders had already claimed it with a huge banner across the windows spelling, Marauder's Compartment. Do not enter unless you want to be pranked as bad as Snivellus.
"Seriously?"
Remus grimaced as he withdrew a cauldron already full and a procedure next to it. Inside a potion bubbled sluggishly with the color of deep purple.
"Can I see?" Lily held out her hand for the instructions, her curiosity overcoming her. Remus glanced over her shoulder almost too quick for Lily to see, but she caught nonetheless. She jerked her head around and saw an incredibly brief flash, but it happened to quickly for her to process it.
Remus handed her the guidelines. The name of the potion was too smudged for her to fully make it out, but the potion was one of the most difficult potions she had ever seen. However, Lily was hardly fazed.
She ran her finger down the list of ingredients and the steps. According to whoever invented to potion, it should have been a light shade of lavender at the end. She laughed at the frustration of Remus because it was such an easy problem to fix.
"You didn't add enough juice. You must have cut them."
Remus nodded, still lost as to what Lily was saying.
"Here," Lily took the tiny, shriveled beans from Remus. He watched with interest as Lily took a silver knife and crushed the bean with the flat side. She held it over the fire, and excessive amounts of the grayish liquid poured out of the bean. The potions hissed and frothed. Gradually, the dark plum color lightened and turned a light lavender.
Remus leaned over and sighed with relief. "Thanks, Lily, you have no idea how frustrating it was for the entire summer to not quite get it right."
"No problem. I should get back to my compartment. Alice is probably wondering where I am."
James whipped off the Invisibility Cloak as soon as Lilyhad left the compartment. He had stood with Sirius and Peter, watching Lily correct the potion in less than a minute when he had spent the entire summer working on it and complaining that the only people capable of making it were Slughorn and Dumbledore.
The only difference between his professors and his fellow Gryffindor was that Lily was Lily; with her beautiful dark red hair, which now fell to the middle of her back and her brilliant emerald eyes, James had never seen anybody so gorgeous. Last year, it was just a game to him. She was another Target, and James had refused to be the first Marauder to be turned down besides Peter. Admittedly Remus had never asked out any girls, due to his lycanthropy, so it was really only between Sirius and James.
But when he saw her, it was something different from all the other girls he had dated.
And James refused to leave Hogwarts without ever kissing Lily Evans.
"Um, James?" Sirius asked.
James jumped, not noticing that he had been staring at the spot where Lily had been.
"What is with you and Evans? It is unhealthy to try to get a girl to say yes this long. Just move on to the next girl already."
"But…" James sighed. He could not think of a way to tell Sirius what he was feeling.
"Whatever. I want to know how our sweet Flower got this potion in ten seconds. Moony?"
Remus shrugged. "There is a reason why she's Slughorn's favorite. She's good with potions."
James snorted. "Good? I think you mean bloody brilliant."
"Whoa, Jamie," Sirius held up his hands, "Who are you, and what have you done with James Potter?"
"I think, Sirius, that our Jamsie-Boy might be falling for a certain Gryffindor," Remus said knowingly.
Sirius pretended to faint girlishly. "Ah, Jamie, I never knew you felt that way! I know I'm devilishly handsome, but you'll have to wait your turn."
"Oh, shut up. She's pretty and nice, that's all," James attempted to defend himself, but that was the wrong thing to say.
Sirius gave a dog-like bark of laughter. "Have you forgotten the time she removed your hair?"
"If you're not James Potter or Sirius Black, she's very kind to you. Even after one day I can see that," Remus pointed out. "It's just that you two seem to have a gift for ticking off Lily."
James frowned. "So what do I do?"
Remus shrugged. "I've only hung out with her for a day. I couldn't tell you much."
Sirius sighed. "Girls like boys who can be fun. Show off a little. Let her know what she's missing."
James grinned. "I think I can do that."
"Uh, Sirius? I don't think that's the best idea," Remus interrupted, but his friend waved him down rather rudely.
"Since I have the most experience with the ladies, I think James would have the most luck listening to me. You need to show her what you know. Lily-Bean probably likes smart boys."
"Trolley's almost here," Peter squeaked. "Lily secretly loves you. She's just too stubborn to admit it."
"Pete, Lily doesn't secretly love him- yet," Sirius explained to Peter the way one would explain things to a five-year-old.
Prefects
Gryffindor: Lily Evans and Remus Lupin (5th year); Teresa Brown and Harper Ferris (6th year); Miriam Strout (7th year)
Hufflepuff: Cornelius Fudge and Elena Smith (5th year); Amelia Bones and Oliver Quaid (6th year); David Heatram and Gladys Stoutmill (7th year)
Ravenclaw: Jesse Corner and Lisa MacMillan (5th year); Dawn Vasquez and Eric Rogers (6th year); George Madison (7th year)
Slytherin: Severus Snape and Astoria Gamp (5th year); Sergio Greengrass and Nilla Parkinson (6th year); Aperto Jugson and Victoria Embers (7th year)
Head Boy: Kingsley Shacklebolt
Head Girl: Bridget Williamson