September 1, 1977

Lily boarded the train with all her things neatly tucked in to her bags, one suitcase, one backpack, and one purse. She looked up and down the aisles, searching for an empty compartment. She hadn't written to any of her friends all summer except Remus who kept her just enough in-the-loop as to not feel excluded, so she was excited to see them and hear all about what she had missed while she was home. However, what she was most excited about was to find out who the new Head boy was. Remus had written her just enough that she knew he was keeping secrets, and certainly the secret was that he had been given the position.

As she moved through the aisle, Lily's mind wandered thinking how amazing her year was going to be as Head girl. She was going to be the best Head girl that Hogwarts had ever seen. She had a new scheduling system for daily prefect patrols and new ideas on how to expedite all of the introduction tours so even the muggle born students would be able to find their way around the school. She made a promise to herself to be completely unbiased and loved by as many students as interacted with her while also fulfilling every single duty placed on her by Professor Dumbledore.

As Lily searched for a cabin, her train of thought was interrupted by a chipper voice behind her. "Aye, Lily! You aren't going to hold up the line forever, are you?"

Lily turned and grinned widely at a sweet familiar Remus Lupin, who had his arms open wide for a hug. Lily embraced him tightly, and asked him the question she had been dying to know all summer.

"Are you excited to be Head boy?" she said, too confidently for something Remus hadn't confirmed yet, but there were simply no other options, at least not as far as she was concerned.

"No, I am, however, very excited to be working as a prefect once again, this year under who I am positive will be the best Head girl this school has ever seen." Remus continued to grin despite seeing the excitement drain from Lily's face. He knew exactly what shock was coming for Lily soon, and he didn't want to be the one to bear the bad news. "How about we sit in here?" Remus pointed to an empty train car and shuffled in without first hearing Lily's response.

Lily followed in the car, pushing her things into storage below her. She began to question Remus, "how could they not give it to you, who else would be better for the job? Certainly there was a mistake and you will be told upon arrival."

Remus laughed and interrupted her rambling, "I think this year is going to be great despite that I'm not the head boy. Trust Dumbledore, he always knows what's best anyway."

Lily shook her head and turned the conversation away from the dreaded topic, since Remus obviously didn't seem to know either. She began asking him how his summer had been, how had his friends' trip to the beach go, how home life had been since school was out. The two caught up, watching people pass their car in and out, waiting for more friends to arrive.

James hugged his mom and dad one last time before boarding the train. His things were a mess and his mom had been nagging all morning and he was excited to get away from them, no matter how much he loved them and how much he reminded himself they only had good intentions. His things were thrown together in several duffel bags and one gigantic suitcase, which he struggled to maneuver through the aisle. Suddenly, he dropped all of his things and sprinted back off the train, apologizing to the two younger boys he nearly trampled getting out.

"MUM, I forgot my le-" His mother handed him his enveloped, stamped in the recognizable purple wax, as if she knew that James would somehow forget to take the most important thing to school with him.

He hugged and thanked her quickly before getting back on the train and picking up his things, on his way to find Sirius and Remus to gloat- no, not gloat. He promised himself he wouldn't gloat this year. He promised himself and his mother, which was even more important, that he would be poised and respectable and well-behaved and a good Head boy. He had been given an opportunity to show that he was the leader he wanted to be, not just an immature prankster. He wasn't going to give that up this year.

James trudged down the aisle, looking for anybody to sit with, when he crossed a car with a smiling Remus in it. He began to reach for the handle until he saw Evans sitting across from him and decided to just walk off with a quick wave and smile. He needed to be on her good side, and he wasn't going to ruin that by inviting himself into her train car. Besides, she probably needed to hear the news from Remus since he was way better at handling Lily than James would likely ever be.

From the inside of the car, Lily was glad that James didn't get in, but assumed nothing of it until he waved at them. Clutched in his hand was an envelope that looked awfully familiar, but no... it couldn't be James. Then Lily caught a glimpse of the purple wax and immediately knew.

As soon as James was out of sight, Remus prepared himself for the worst.

"HIM?" Lily proclaimed, "Dumbledore chose HIM over you?"

"I think we have to trust Dumbledore this time. Sure, I was a little upset, but it isn't like I'm not still a prefect."

"But James Potter... over you? He has no experience whatsoever and more than that, I think he has lost our house more points himself than any other student combined!"

James, still in earshot, wanted to go and defend himself as he listened to Lily protest his appointment and Remus weakly defend him, but he reminded himself what he had promised himself before leaving and searched for another train car on his own.