Thursday, September 1, 1977

"This is our last September 1st Hogwarts Express ride," James remarked as he dropped his things and stood gazing around at the compartment. "It feels a bit weird, doesn't it?"

Sirius shrugged and chose a seat, leaning back and stretching out his legs. "I dunno, it feels exactly the same as every other Hogwarts Express trip we've taken."

Peter set down his things and sat down across from Sirius. "Where's Macdonald? I figured she'd be sitting with us."

"She is, she's just out waiting for Evans," Sirius explained. "They're both going to meet us in here."

Something in his tone made Remus raise his eyebrows. "Did you two come together?" he asked as he chose the seat next to Sirius.

"Don't give me that look, it was just easier because my flat is closer to King's Cross." Sirius scowled at Remus and shoved his shoulder. "You still have that look on your face. Cut it out, Moony."

"Don't manhandle Moony just because he called you out for couply behavior," James protested.

"That wasn't couply behavior," Sirius said, scowling.

"Couply isn't a word," Remus said.

"No, it's definitely a word," Sirius insisted. "But me coming here with Macdonald was not an example of couply behavior. By the way, Prongs, your badge is crooked. You may want to fix it for maximum impressiveness when Evans gets here."

James grinned and straightened the Head Boy badge. "Thanks, Padfoot." He leaned against his trunk, too full of excited energy to sit. "I can't wait for Evans to see it. I still can't believe she never wrote me to tell me she'd made Head Girl. You sure she didn't mention anything to Macdonald about it?"

"Mention what to me?" Mary stood framed in the doorway of the compartment, lugging her belongings and giving James a curious look.

"Nothing," James said, running a hand through his hair and looking past Mary to where Lily stood behind her. She wore a shy smile and her skin was even more tanned and freckled than the last time he had seen her.

"Hi," she said, following Mary into the compartment and giving James a little wave.

Realizing he had been staring like an idiot, he waved back at her, then wished he hadn't, because waving seemed even more idiotic than staring. "Hi, Evans." His eyes scanned the front of her robes in search of a Head Girl badge, but she didn't seem to be wearing it.

Her gaze was drawn to the same spot on his robes, perhaps because he was subconsciously angling his chest towards her so the badge was impossible to miss, and her eyes widened in surprise and flew up to meet his.

"It's you?" She took a step forward and touched the badge, then drew her hand away, blushing.

He grinned and shrugged. "It's me. Wild, isn't it? I couldn't believe it myself. I actually wrote to Dumbledore and sent it back, convinced he'd made a mistake and sent it to me by accident." He frowned and gestured at her robes. "But where's yours? Don't be shy, Evans, you worked your arse off for that badge, might as well wear it proudly."

She followed his gaze. "Oh, er, it's not me."

"What?!" His sudden, sharp exclamation cut through the casual chatter of the compartment, startling Mary so that she jumped and almost fell off Sirius's lap. "What do you mean, it's not you? Evans, this is a bloody outrage! Dumbledore picked me and not you - is he out of his fucking mind? No, this is mad. I'm going straight to Dumbledore when we get to Hogwarts, and if he doesn't fix this I'm handing in my badge. I've never heard anything so ridiculous in my entire life!" He glanced around at his friends, and they gaped back at him with a mixture of amusement and surprise. "Are you all hearing this? Why is no one as fired up about this as I am?"

Lily's mouth twitched, then broke into a smile as she pulled something from her pocket and held it out to James. "I was going to keep this going for a bit longer, but I don't want you to have a heart attack or anything." She chuckled as he studied the badge in her outstretched palm, the indignation in his face turning to relief.

"Well done, Evans," he said, shaking his head in bemusement. "You really had me going there." He took the badge from her hand and bent closer to her to pin it on her robes. The scent of her perfume was driving him mad, and he fumbled with the clasp and poked himself with the pin before getting it fastened and standing back to survey his work. "Were the rest of you in on this?"

"Just me," Mary said. "Okay, I may have told Black, but I made him swear to keep it quiet."

James nodded. "Course you did." He looked over at Sirius and raised his eyebrows. "And I assume in return you told her about me making Head Boy?"

Sirius grinned. "I may have mentioned it."

"You knew and you didn't tell me?" Lily stared at Mary in disbelief, her hands on her hips in that indignant Lily Evans way that James found so adorable.

Mary shrugged. "I wanted to see the look on your face when you saw him with the badge, just like you wanted to see how he would react when he saw yours." She slid into the seat next to Sirius and began rummaging in her bag before pulling out a Witch Weekly magazine and her Transfiguration book.

"You wanted to see my reaction?" James asked, unable to keep the smile off his face as he watched Lily blush and avoid his gaze.

"Well, you're just always so proud of me," she replied, fiddling with her badge and still refusing to look at him. "It's, I dunno, it's kind of sweet."

"Of course I'm proud of you, how could I not be?" He studied the badge on her robes and nodded in satisfaction. "It looks good on you, Evans."

Her eyes darted up to meet his, and a smile replaced the expression of embarrassment on her face. "Thanks. It looks good on you, too."

They stood grinning at each other in silence until Remus cleared his throat and stood. "Should we go, then?"

James frowned. "Go where?"

Remus grinned, enjoying the blank look on his friend's face. "To the prefects' compartment. Usually the new Head Girl and Boy introduce themselves and talk about the patrol schedule and when meetings will be held and everything."

Lily nodded, appearing flustered as she tore her gaze away from James. "Right. Yes, we should probably get down there," she said, turning and leading the way out of the compartment. Remus joined her, and after a moment's hesitation James snapped out of his confusion and followed after them, giving the rest of his friends a wave over his shoulder.

"Guess it's just us now," Sirius said, gesturing around at the much emptier compartment.

"Guess so." Peter reached into his bag and pulled out a parcel. "I forgot, my mum made us some biscuits." He unwrapped the parcel and took one for himself before passing it to Sirius.

"Bless her," Sirius said, taking several biscuits and taking a gigantic bite. "These are excellent. Well done, Mrs. Pettigrew."

Peter beamed and took a bite of his biscuit.

"Should we do the Transfiguration assignment, then?" Mary asked as she helped herself to a biscuit and eyed her textbook without enthusiasm.

Sirius frowned. "Seems a bit eager, jumping right into work. What do you think, Pete, should we play a game first then do the work we've neglected until the last minute?"

"I'm always up for a game of chess," Peter replied, smirking.

"Well that wouldn't be very fair to Macdonald," Sirius pointed out. "Chess is a two person game."

Peter frowned and chewed his biscuit. "What if you two teamed up? That'd give you a chance of actually beating me." As soon as the words were out he broke into a sheepish smile and clapped his hand over his mouth. "Sorry, that sounded a bit mean, didn't it? I just meant-"

"That I'm bloody awful at chess," Sirius finished. "It's all right, Wormtail, it's the truth." He glanced over at Mary. "What do you think, Macdonald, you up for it?"

"I'm not very good either, but maybe together we'll equal one halfway decent player," she said with a shrug. "But after one game we really have to do the homework, otherwise it's going to stress me out for the entire train ride."

"Well if you get too stressed, we can always do our usual activity to relieve stress," Sirius said, grinning.

Peter paused with the chessboard halfway out of his bag. "Ugh, you mean shagging, don't you?" he asked, disgusted.

Sirius laughed. "Course I do, but I didn't mean we'd do it in here right in front of you! Merlin, even I'm not that bold."

Peter continued setting up the chess board, his expression thoughtful. "I suppose if you were under the Cloak and did Muffliato it might be all right."

"Bloody hell, Pete, you're serious, aren't you?" Sirius shook his head in amazement.

"You're a really good friend, you know that?"

Peter shrugged, blushing but looking quite pleased. "I try. You want to be black like usual?"

The other prefects stood in little clusters, chatting and laughing as they waited for instructions from the new Head Boy and Head Girl. When Lily, Remus, and James entered the compartment, several of the prefects stopped mid-conversation to nudge each other and point at James's badge, but some of them continued talking, oblivious. After looking at James, uncertain how to proceed, Lily cleared her throat and took a step forward to address the group.

"Hello." Her voice trembled and she had to clasp her hands together to keep them from shaking. "For those of you that don't know me, I'm Lily Evans, and I'm Head Girl."

James stepped forward to stand next to her, and some of the tension left her body at the comforting nearness of him, standing there so confident and sure of himself. "I'm sure you've all had the pleasure of watching me dominate on the Quidditch pitch or the misfortune to be on the receiving end of one of my hexes, but in case any of you have been living under a rock for the past six years, I'm James Potter, and I'm Head Boy, apparently."

Most of the group looked surprised or amused, but Snape's lip curled back in anger and Bertram Aubrey drew himself up self-importantly to address James.

"This is a joke, right?" Aubrey stared at the badge on James's chest, as if the intensity of his gaze could somehow erase it from existence. "Lupin, that's your badge, right, and you and Potter are doing a prank to mess with us?" He turned to Remus, waiting for his guess to be confirmed, but Remus only grinned and shook his head.

"Not a joke, Aubrey," James assured him, "although I was as shocked as you are when I found out."

"But you're not even a prefect!" Bertram Aubrey looked around at the rest of the group, his expression begging them to back him up.

"Technically there's no rule that says Head Boy or Girl needs to be a prefect," said Stacy, a seventh year Ravenclaw prefect. "It just usually works out that way."

"Thanks, Stacy," James said. "I know this is probably a bit unexpected, but apparently I've grown up and Dumbledore thinks I'll rise to the occasion, so you're all stuck with me." He shrugged, then nodded in Lily's direction. "Anyway, Evans is the one who's really in charge. I'm just here to do what she tells me, and make sure you all do the same." He ran a hand through his hair and raised his eyebrows at her. "So we're supposed to tell them when meetings are, right? When should we hold meetings?" He frowned. "How often do we have meetings, anyway? What do we even talk about at meetings? Can we bring snacks?"

Lily smiled and rolled her eyes. "How about we meet on the first Monday of each month at 6:00? We'll meet in the room attached to the Head office, and we go over things like patrol schedules, Hogsmeade trips, and other prefect duties. I'll give out the patrol schedule at our first meeting, but until then I've drawn up a temporary schedule." She passed a stack of papers to Aubrey, who took one and passed them along to the next person. When James continued to stare at her with his eyebrows raised she continued, "And yes, we can bring snacks."

James nodded, satisfied. "And we've got to patrol the corridors for the rest of the train ride, right?" He made a face. "Do we really have to patrol the entire time? That seems like a waste of bloody time."

Lily hesitated. "Well, the Head Boy and Girl last year were quite strict about it, but the ones before that were a bit more lax. I suppose it's our decision."

"Excellent. Well, how about if we patrol for the first, I dunno, half hour? Then the Ravenclaws can go, then the Hufflepuffs, then the Slytherins? Split up the train however you see fit. And then after that we can just kind of pop out and check every so often. Anyone opposed?"

Nobody voiced an objection, so James dismissed them and set off to patrol the corridors.

"Thanks," Lily said, her voice quiet as she walked alongside him. "I don't much fancy public speaking, if you couldn't tell."

"Ugh, me neither," Remus said with a shudder.

"Well, I suppose that's why I'm Head Boy instead of you," James said, shrugging. "That's the only logical explanation I can think of." He glanced over at Lily and grinned. "I'm obviously not the slightest bit shy, as making a fool of myself in front of large groups has become sort of a hobby of mine, so I'm happy to do any and all public speaking tasks. But you'll have to help me figure out the bloody patrol schedule, because that sounds like a pain in the arse."

"Yeah, I can do that," she said, nodding. "It's not that bad, actually, once you know what you're doing."

"The Heads during our fifth year always gave the worst patrols to prefects they didn't like," Remus said, glancing sideways at James. "But of course you two are far too virtuous to stoop that low."

"Of course," James agreed. "If Snape and Aubrey end up doing Saturday night patrols for the entire year, that's simply an unfortunate coincidence." He ran a hand through his hair then shook his head, chuckling. "Who the fuck decided I was mature enough to be in charge of this?"

"Black, why would you do that when I specifically told you not to move our castle there?" Mary watched in horror as Peter's queen knocked their castle off the board.

"Because if I'd done what you said he would have put our king in check," Sirius explained. He studied the chess board, frowning, then looked up at Peter. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

Peter grinned and nodded. "So much."

Mary pointed down at the board. "What if we move the knight over there? Then we can take his bishop."

Peter smirked down at the board, and Sirius noticed his expression and shook his head.

"Nah, look at his face. If we do that he's going to fuck us somehow." His brow furrowed as he tapped his fingers against his leg, trying to outsmart Peter's tactics. "Hang on, I can't think, I need a snack."

Mary chuckled and handed him a biscuit, then continued to study the chess pieces. "I really don't see how that move will do anything bad. I say we should just go for it. Throw caution to the wind, you know?"

Sirius chewed his biscuit then nodded. "All right, fuck it." He ordered the knight to move to the chosen square, then popped the other half of the biscuit into his mouth.

"Ooh, bad choice," Peter said before sending his queen to capture their king. "Checkmate."

He shook his head. "You can't just throw caution to the wind in chess. 'Fuck it' is the complete opposite of a good chess strategy."

"Bloody hell." Sirius looked over at Mary and shook his head in disgust. "Well, Macdonald, it was fun while it lasted."

"We lasted a lot longer than I normally do on my own," Mary said, shrugging. "We'll get him next time."

"Doubt it," Peter said. "But keep at it. Maybe you'll prove me wrong."

"This means we have to do Transfiguration, doesn't it?" Sirius reached into his bag and pulled out parchment, quill, ink, and his Transfiguration book, scowling.

"Unfortunately," Mary replied. She sprawled out on the floor of the compartment with her parchment in front of her.

"Can't we try the Invisibility Cloak and Muffliato strategy instead?" Sirius suggested.

Mary shoved his shoulder playfully before opening her book. "Sod you, Black, we have to do this. Imagine McGonagall's face if she finds out you didn't do your homework because you were too busy shagging me."

Sirius sighed and opened his book. "Fine." He glanced over at Peter. "I assume you already did this and had Moony check it over?"

Peter nodded. "Yup. But I'll be here for moral support."

"What's the point of patrolling the train, anyway?" James strolled along the corridor, munching on a box of Bertie Botts they had just purchased from the food trolley. "All the mischief and degenerate behavior happens inside the compartments, everyone knows that."

"You'd know better than anyone," Lily said, helping herself to a few beans and shooting him a playful grin. "Mischief and degenerate behavior sounds like your average Tuesday afternoon."

"We're just supposed to keep an eye out for any blatant rule-breaking." Remus took a bite of his chocolate bar and lowered his voice. "We're meant to knock on the compartment door if we can smell someone smoking in there or hear anything, er, suspicious, but I hardly ever do."

James grinned. "Because most likely it's Sirius in there smoking or doing something suspicious?"

"Well, yeah, that's a good possibility," Remus agreed.

Lily watched James, an expression of wonder on her face. "I still can't believe you didn't tell me the second you found out you made Head Boy."

"I can't believe you didn't tell me!" James shot back. "Not even a hint. What other secrets are you hiding, Evans?"

"None!" she insisted, pouring a handful of Bertie Botts into her palm and picking out a green one.

Remus smirked and chuckled, then wiped the smug look from his face, but not before James had noticed his expression.

"What's that look for, Moony? Do you know something?"

Remus flashed him an innocent smile and took a bite of chocolate, stalling for time.

"Come on, out with it," James urged, staring Remus down before turning his gaze on Lily. "Evans, what does he know?"

She shook her head, eyes wide. "I have no idea! I didn't tell him anything. I hardly have any secrets, but if I had any I'd only tell Mary."

James nodded, then reversed direction. "Right. Mary must've told Sirius something, and he told Moony instead of me, which is rather rude, but I'll get it out of him."

"Where are we going?" Lily asked, turning around to follow James.

"We're going to ask Sirius what secrets he knows about you, since Moony's not giving it up." James shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe that tosser didn't tell me about you being Head Girl or whatever this secret is. Some best mate he is."

"Prongs, just leave it alone," Remus begged, jogging after them when he realized they were no longer heading in the same direction. "It's nothing, really."

James ignored him and continued along the corridor at a brisk pace until they reached the compartment and pulled open the door to find Sirius and Mary hard at work on the Transfiguration essay while Peter munched on a biscuit and paged through a Quidditch magazine.

"Oh look, it's our Head Boy and Girl," Sirius said, looking up from his essay and nodding at James. "Don't tell us off, we're doing our homework and haven't even smoked in here!"

Lily's gaze drifted to the pack of Marlboro cigarettes that lay next to Sirius's Transfiguration textbook. "Yet," she amended, grinning.

Sirius followed her gaze and shrugged. "Well, all right, it was going to be our reward for getting work done, but still! As of now, no school rules have been broken in this compartment."

James made a dismissive gesture. "Padfoot, shut up. I could walk in and find you breaking every single school rule and wearing nothing but that bloody cowboy hat and I wouldn't tell you off. But don't distract me. I want to know what secret you told Moony about Evans."

"There's an image I didn't need," Peter muttered.

"Moony, what did you tell him?" Sirius asked, pushing himself into an upright position and leaning against the back of a seat. "That was supposed to be top secret."

"To his credit, he didn't actually say anything, it was more of a knowing look," James explained.

"Fucking hell!" Lily exclaimed, then clapped her hand over her mouth when everyone turned to stare at her, taken aback. "Sorry, I just realized what they're talking about." She looked over at Sirius and fixed him with her fiercest glare. "Sirius Orion Black, don't you say a word, or I swear I'll hex you."

"Evans, don't come at me with my real middle name," Sirius retorted. "That's Sirius Michael Black to you. Now, just because of that, I am going to have to tell James, but as a compromise I'll whisper it so nobody else hears."

"But that leaves me the only one who won't know," Peter said, sighing.

"Tough luck, Pete." Sirius beckoned James over, then leaned in close to his ear and murmured something that made James's eyes get wide.

"Evans had a sex dream about me?" he shouted, his face breaking into a wide smile.

"Smooth, Prongs," Sirius said, clapping him on the back and laughing at the look of utter horror on Lily's face.

She sunk down into a seat and put her flaming face in her hands. "I hate you all. Mary, do you remember when I specifically made you promise not to tell Black?"

Mary crossed the compartment to take the seat next to her and placed a tentative hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry," she said, biting her lip. "I didn't mean to, but I get really talkative after sex, and when I'm high, so if you combine the two just fucking forget it, there's no getting me to shut up. Anyway, Black asked me if I had any new details about you and Potter, and, well, it just sort of slipped out."

"You're the worst." Lily stared down at her feet, unable to even look in James's direction.

"It's okay, Evans," Sirius said. "I had a sex dream about James once, too."

James glanced sideways at him and laughed. "Did you really?"

Sirius shook his head. "Nah, but I did have one about Professor Sprout once, remember?"

Peter burst into laughter. "Bloody hell, I remember that. Wasn't that right after I accidentally called her 'Mum'?"

"Yes, but the two incidents were unrelated," Sirius insisted. "Macdonald, have you had any weird sex dreams?"

She smirked. "I've had a couple about you, does that count as weird?"

"Wait, what about that other one?" Lily turned to her, a sly smile tugging at her lips.

"I'm not sure what you mean," Mary said, struggling to keep a straight face.

"Oh, sure you do," Lily continued. "You know the one about the bloke who works at our school? The really big, hairy bloke?"

The four boys looked at each other then dissolved into hysterical laughter. "Hagrid?" Sirius choked out after a moment. "Merlin, that's a bit intense, isn't it?"

"Shut up, Black," she shot back. "It's better than Sprout."

Sirius frowned. "I dunno if it is." He glanced down and spotted his abandoned Transfiguration essay. "Shit, Macdonald, we still have to finish this." He gestured for her to come sit beside him, then glared around at everyone else. "All right, you hooligans, no more discussing explicit dreams until we finish this essay. Do something wholesome that won't distract us."

"Fancy a game of Exploding Snap? That seems wholesome, or at least as close to wholesome as it's possible to get with friends like us." James rummaged in his bag until he found his deck of cards, then began to deal as Lily, Peter, and Remus gathered around.

They had just finished their second round when Peter went in search of more snacks and Remus resigned to read his book, leaving James and Lily sitting cross-legged on the floor next to each other.

"Evans, I'm really sorry we were arseholes earlier," he said, keeping his voice quiet so Sirius and Mary wouldn't overhear. "I would've died of bloody embarrassment if I had a sex dream about you and you found out, so I suppose it wasn't very nice of us to laugh at you like that."

She raised her eyebrows and leaned in closer. "Well, have you?"

"Have I what?"

"You know." She lowered her voice. "Had a sex dream about me."

He blushed and ran a hand through his hair. "I mean, what do you think?"

She nodded, trying and failing to keep the smirk off her face. "Right. I suppose that was a dumb question."

He hesitated. "Okay, I promise after this I'll drop the subject and won't bring it up ever again, but…"

She waited, and when he didn't continue she nudged him. "But what?"

"Er, how was it?"

"How was what?"

He grinned. "Well, me. In the dream, I mean."

She laughed, then glanced sideways at him. "It was, well…" She hesitated. "I did accidental magic. In the dream, I mean. Because of, well, you know."

His eyebrows shot up. "Really?"

She nodded.

"Damn." He mulled this over for a minute, then frowned. "Wait, that's good, right?"

She laughed softly. "Yeah, it's definitely good."

He nodded, grinning. "Fuck yeah. Way to go, dream James!"

She rolled her eyes. "Only you would be pleased with yourself for something you did in my dream."

He shrugged. "Gotta live up to my arrogant toerag reputation."

"So we're officially never going to talk about this again, right?"

"We're officially never going to talk about this again," he agreed, still grinning.

She took in his smug expression and shook her head in exasperation. "You're still thinking about it, aren't you?"

"Of course I am." James picked up the Exploding Snap cards and began shuffling them, the same self-satisfied grin still brightening his face. "Want to play another round of Exploding Snap?"

"James, come on!"

Full of food and basking in the contented, sleepy feeling that always came over him after the start of term feast, James looked up at Lily's frowning face, blinking in confusion.

"What's the hurry?"

She sighed. "We're supposed to lead the first years to the common room," she said, her tone impatient as she tugged on his arm.

"Aww, Evans, can't the other prefects do it?" He gestured at the other Gryffindor prefects standing in a cluster with Remus and the group of tiny new Gryffindors looking both intimidated and excited.

"No, you prat, we have to do it, too. Show our faces, make a good impression, that sort of thing."

"I'm only joking, Evans, of course I'm coming." He pushed back his chair and waved to Peter and Sirius. "I wouldn't miss the opportunity to share my knowledge and expertise with young, impressionable Gryffindors."

"Don't corrupt the innocent first years, James," she scolded, glancing sideways at him and grinning as they made their way over to the crowd of Gryffindors.

James. He didn't reply, too focused on the slightly self-conscious way she spoke his first name. When had she made the switch from Potter to James, and what did it mean? For a moment he considered testing out her first name, but he dismissed the idea without giving it much thought. She was Evans to him, and she would always be Evans to him.

"All right, listen up, baby Gryffindors," he called, waving at the first years to get their attention. "Can you all hear me?"

"Of course they can hear you, you're shouting. The entire school can hear you," Lily muttered.

James ignored her comment and continued. "I'm James Potter, and this is Lily Evans, and we're Head Boy and Girl, which if you couldn't tell means we're a pretty big deal."

Lily waved at the first years before rolling her eyes at James.

"I think you've already met the prefects," he went on. "Feel free to come to any of us if you need help or have questions - unless it's a stupid question, in which case we'll probably hex you."

One of the first years muttered "Bloody hell," and another one took a step back, his eyes wide with terror.

"Don't worry, he's joking," Remus said, flashing the first years a kind smile.

"Of course I was," he said, grinning. "I'll only hex you if you take my seat in the common room."

"James!" Lily glared at him and shook her head in exasperation.

"Okay, okay, joking about that as well," he said, holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Just trying to toughen them up a bit so they don't burst into tears when they run into Peeves or Filch or the Bloody Baron for the first time."

"Who's the Bloody Baron?" asked the first year girl who had sworn earlier.

"Glad you asked - what's your name, by the way?" James said.

"Kathleen Kelly," she said, grinning up at him and holding out her hand. "But you can call me Kath."

"Nice to meet you, Kath." He shook her hand, amused by her bold demeanor. "I think I like you. Come on, we'll bring you to the common room and I'll explain on the way. Make sure you're all paying attention, because I'll point out a couple of the best hiding spots if you get into a bind, and some shortcuts if you're running late to class, as well as staircases and doors that are best to avoid because they're a pain in the arse."

"But a staircase can't be a pain in the arse," Kath said, frowning.

"You'd think so, wouldn't you," he replied as he gestured for them to follow him. "Now, this is the most direct route to the Gryffindor common room, but you could also go through that door and take the staircase at the end of the corridor if you wanted to take a more scenic route…"

They made their way to Gryffindor tower, pausing to examine interesting paintings or to watch as James demonstrated how to pull yourself out if you forgot a staircase had a trick step. Lily watched as his comments and jokes coaxed smiles out of even the most terrified first years, and she reached over to touch Remus's shoulder before nodding at James.

"He's better at this than I expected," she said, watching him point out a broom cupboard to a first year boy, then lean in and mutter something that made them both snicker.

"He's like that," Remus agreed. "Just when you think he couldn't be a bigger idiot, he pleasantly surprises you."

"Oi, Moony, Evans, what's the password?" James called. He had drawn to a stop in front of the Fat Lady with all the first years crowded around, waiting and looking up at him expectantly.

"Weren't you listening?" Lily asked, torn between exasperation and amusement (this seemed to be her default response to James Potter's particular brand of adorable stupidity). "McGonagall came around and told us after dinner."

Remus shook his head and stepped forward. "The password's flimflam." He glanced back at Lily and grinned. "He never listens unless you don't want him to overhear what you're saying, then he always seems to hear."

"Accurate." James gestured for the first years to climb through the portrait hole, then ushered Remus, Lily, and the other prefects through before he followed.

"Right, this is the common room, where you can do your homework or play Exploding Snap or get drunk and dance on that table, but not till at least fourth year."

"You can't say that to them," Lily protested as two first year boys locked eyes and grinned.

"What? I told them to wait until fourth year."

"Which chair will you hex us for sitting in?" Kath asked, surveying the common room on tiptoe.

"Look at you, Kath, asking the important questions," James said, pointing at the armchairs in front of the fire. "It's that one there on the right, but I don't recommend sitting in the one across from it, either."

"That's probably wise, actually," Lily agreed, recalling the time an unsuspecting second year had sat in Sirius's chair and had fled to the hospital wing sporting a pair of antlers.

"Oh, is that your seat?" Kath asked. "Oh, hang on!" Her eyes widened as she looked from James to Lily. "Are you two dating?

James grinned. "You know, she's been after me to go out with her for years, but I keep turning her down. She never gives up though. Gotta respect her commitment." He winked at Lily. "Maybe someday, Evans. Anyway, I assume you're all tired, so I'll show the boys up to your dormitory, and Evans will take the girls."

"Right," she said, gesturing at the girls' staircase. "It's just up this way." She turned to James, toying with her Head Girl badge as she watched him run his hand through his hair for the millionth time and realizing with a start that she no longer found the gesture even the slightest bit irritating. "Thanks for stepping up today. You actually make a pretty good Head Boy."

He grinned and nodded. "Yeah, I know."

She rolled her eyes. "Modest, as usual."

"Night, Evans." He waved, then herded the male first years towards the boys' staircase.

"Night, James." She watched him go, smiling to herself, before hurrying off to show the girls their dormitory.