CHAPTER TWO: GREEN EYED GIRL

The rest of the train journey back to Hogwarts passed fairly quickly. When they got back to their beloved school, they all assembled in the Great hall at their house tables and watched the new first years being sorted into houses. Then of course, there was the announcement of the student council. From each house from fifth year and upwards, two representatives were chosen, one girl and one boy. In addition, there was also the head girl and boy. James and Lily hadn't told Sirius, Remus, Evelyn and Ingrid about their new positions yet, having decided they would leave it a surprise. After all the Prefects had been called to stand in front of the teachers table, Professor Dumbledore, the beloved headmaster of Hogwarts, paused in his announcement to gaze at the school with his twinkling blue eyes.

"And now," he said, 'I have the utmost pleasure in announcing the head Girl and boy for this year. Both of Gryffindor house-" Sirius turned to stare at James and Lily with his mouth hanging open "-James Potter and Lily Evans!"

The applause was tumultuous. Lily sat frozen in her seat for a moment, amazed by how loud it was. Then James was pulling her up, taking her hand and leading her across the Great hall to professor Dumbledore. He shook James warmly by the hand and kissed Lily on the cheek. "Well done," he said to both of them, "Very, very well done."

They both thanked him and stood next to all the other Prefects, hand in hand. Everyone was still clapping. By now most of the school was on its feet. Lily could see Evelyn standing on the table, whooping so hard that she fell over backwards and had to be caught by Remus. Dumbledore waited until the applause had died down.

"I will not conceal from you all that I have the utmost faith in the talent, dedication and responsibility of our prefects, and our head boy and girl in particular. Look upon them, not just as your new leaders, but as your friends. Remember- they can only encourage you if you are encouraged to encourage them." A ripple of laughter passed through the school, and Dumbledore beamed. "And now I just have one thing left to say to you all: Tuck in!"

More applause as the food appeared on the table, as well as golden plates, knives and forks. Students started loading their plates with food, but Sirius jumped to his feet and ran to meet Lily and James coming back to their seats.

"Why didn't you tell me you bastard!" he said smacking James over the head. He then bear hugged him and Lily simultaneously. "God, you two are crafty."

"Yes thank you, we know." James said, grinning

They took their places at the table, grinning hugely. Lily couldn't remember feeling this happy for a long, long time. Right then, she felt as though she could've flown.

"Do you know how good its going to be with you two in control?" Sirius was saying as he crammed mashed potato down his throat.

"How good?' asked Lily.

Sirius stared at her, a huge potatoey grin spread across his face. "We'll have the time of our lives, Lily- the time of our lives."

*

Seventh year students at Hogwarts took their N.E.W.T s- Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Levels- and it was something Lily had been dreading since she first heard about it. They were the most important exams ever, and Lily wholly intended to pass with flying colours. Unfortunately, that was something she couldn't do without studying at least twenty-two hours a day, seven days a week. Lily had a lot of natural cleverness- she was actually very intelligent but didn't have enough confidence in her own abilities to take a break from studying. In addition, as well as the ordinary subjects that every one did (Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology and History of Magic), Lily did four extra subjects instead of just two like everyone else: Divination, Study of Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy. She had become a little more relaxed since fifth year but now, seeing the stack of homework they got on the very first day, Lily realised that she would have to pick up the pace and study more than ever.

James, however, was a far different story. He was also very intelligent. He knew this, he was proud of this, and took it as an excuse not to study, and the same went for Sirius. Remus and Ingrid took a more cautious road than this, though Evelyn didn't.

From time to time, James would send Gorgon off with a letter to his father, and he would send it back describing his mother's progress. Mrs. Potter was only getting worse and worse. She had a form of pneumonia, but Mr. Potter didn't want to send her to a wizard doctor because, according to the doctors it was such a rare strain of the disease they needed to treat her very carefully. Also, the last time Mrs. Potter had gone to a wizard doctor she had returned with her ears fused onto her kneecaps. Hence, she had been put into a muggle hospital, against Mr. Potter's wishes but it was something she insisted on.

This was yet another reason James didn't feel like working. Sirius and Remus knew about his mother of course, as did Lily. But he couldn't sit down and concentrate while Lily was in the room anyway, and certainly not while he knew his mother was lying sick in a Muggle hospital miles away.

And so, that was how the first weeks of term passed, with Lily working so hard it was scary and James becoming even more lazy than usual. It was partly because of his attitude to work that Lily became snappish with him, which caused a few arguments between the two of them over the weeks. They all followed the same structure, though; Lily would be studying, James wouldn't be. He would try and convince her to take a break, she would get angry, and James would accuse her of caring more about study than she did of him. Lily would get even angrier, telling him he was being ridiculous, and that he knew she loved him. Of course then the argument would end, because James would be so happy that he was reassured of this fact he would say "okay!" and kiss her. Then she would get back to work and James would get back to being silly with Sirius and Evelyn.

But…

One night as it neared midnight and the common room emptied itself of Gryffindor students in groups, soon it was just the six of them left.

"Well," said Ingrid, yawning as she stood up, 'I'm off to bed."

"Me too, I think." Evelyn said. "Coming, Remus?"

"Yeah!" said Remus getting up. She laughed.

"You wish, boyo." But she gave him a great big kiss and a hug, then wished James, Sirius and Lily goodnight, knowing that it was pointless to try and get her friend to stop studying before one o'clock anyway.

It had gotten a lot colder, as the term had progressed, and there was seldom a day when it didn't rain, turning the lake in the grounds a murky brown and the sky outside grey and cloudy. Sirius watched the sleet hitting the windows for a while, then announced he was off to bed too. Remus followed suit, and then it was just James and Lily.

James watched her for a while, her brow furrowed with concentration, the candlelight flickering over her face. It hadn't been a very good week for them- they had been arguing more than usual. He wanted to apologise…but every fibre in his body told him to resist doing that. As much as he loved Lily, his stubbornness hadn't moved an inch since they began going out. However unreasonable it seemed, James Potter would never give in. Okay, so he had given in to Lily once or twice. But that was only because she was so beautiful, He couldn't resist her when she looked at him with those eyes of hers…

Lily felt his gaze, looked up, smiled furtively and got back to her work. James stood up, walked around so her was behind her, and put his arms around her. He felt her body tense up at once.

"James, please don't."

"Don't what?" he said, giving the back of her neck a kiss.

"Don't." she said, in a firmer tone of voice. "I need to concentrate."

"And I can't concentrate," James murmured into her hair, "Not while you're here."

"Well then, go away!" Lily snapped. James blinked and stood up immediately.

"Right," he said. "Okay."

"James…" sighed Lily, getting to her feet, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you."

James paused at the foot of the staircase, feeling angry, "You never do- or at least, that's what you keep saying. But you keep on doing it!"

"I…know…." Lily said uncertainly. James turned around to face her. She was looking ambivalent about something. "Look, I…I've been thinking for a while, and…"

"Yeees?" said James raising his eyebrows slowly.

She walked to the steps and sat down on the third one. James joined her. She took a deep breath and clasped his hand in hers. "James," she said, looking into his face. "Look. I…care for you so much, I mean…I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for you. You've done so much for me, and I love you, and I will always, always care for you, whatever happens. Okay? Always."

James felt an unpleasant feeling in his stomach. "…But?" he said stonily.

"But," said Lily, "Right now…I really need to concentrate. And well, to put it frankly- you're a terrible distraction."

"I'm a distraction." James repeated.

"Yes, yes you are!" Lily said sadly. "And I really wish you weren't but I think that, until the homework load decreases a bit, then we should…"

James' insides felt as though they had been filled with lead. "Take a break?" he said, raising his eyebrows so high they disappeared into his fringe.

"Noo…" said Lily slowly. "Just…cool off for a little while."

"Cool off?" James repeated.

"Yes!" She smiled, then saw his face and the smile was replaced with an anxious expression. "Look, James…I know this is incredibly selfish of me."

"Just a bit," James said dryly.

"But I really need this time, you see," she said, pretending not to have heard him, "I don't want to break up, and this isn't a step towards breaking up, all right? It's a just…a cooling off period." She looked up at his stony expression. "James," she said anxiously, "Please understand. Please don't get mad…."

"What do you expect me to do?" James said softly, "You just called me a distraction. Is that all I am? Like…like a bug or something?"

"No! Not at all, I'm just saying that…oh god, I don't know what I'm babbling about."

"Me neither. But if you want to break up I'd rather you just said…"

"What did I just say?" Lily said, her eyes flashing, "I said I didn't want to break up! And I don't, all right? I love being with you."

"Then why are you telling me to go away?"

"Because we can't be together all the time!" Lily cried. "We both need to concentrate right now, and I think this will do us a lot of good." She stood up. "I'm going to bed…"

James stood up too. He had the stoniest expression on his face. "I still love you," he called after her as she went up the stairs.

Lily stopped, turned around and smiled. "I know," she said, coming down again. She took his face in her hands and kissed him tenderly on the forehead, ruffling his hair as she slid her hand up his face. "But…I just don't need to be told that on the hour, every hour."

She walked off up the staircase. James sat heavily down on the step, and put his head in his hands.

*

"Cool off?" Sirius repeated incredulously.

It was the next evening, up in the boys' dorms. James was lying on his bed with his head under his pillow. Sirius was sitting on his bed, which was next to James', with a bag of Bertie Botts' Every Flavour beans, with wide eyes.
"Did she say anything else?" Sirius asked. "About, like "taking a break"?"

"She said she didn't want to have one," said James from under his pillow.

"You know what I think?" Sirius said, "I think this is like, her way of asking for a break. How do you "cool off"?"

"I don't know!" James said angrily, pulling the pillow off his face and rolling onto his back. "What does she want me to do, walk around fanning myself or dropping ice cubes down her back? It's ridiculous!"

Sirius laughed. Then seeing the expression on James' face, he returned to seriousness. 'Look…I'm sure that if she said she doesn't want to break up, she doesn't want to. I mean, come on, man! She loves you, doesn't she? Did she tell you that last night?"

James cast his mind back to the conversation. 'She said she…cares for me."

'Oh…." Sirius said. 'Well…er…I still love you!"

"Thanks," said James, giving his friend a dirty look. "Thanks ever so much." He let out another groan, and fell back on his pillow, wondering why on earth he was taking relationship advice from Sirius, of all people. Not that he didn't respect the opinion of his friend, but Sirius' track record with girls wasn't that good. Since he was fourteen, Sirius had had a string of relationships of varying torridity. Most of them ended with Sirius telling the object of his affections that, "it wasn't working out," or, "I don't feel ready for this sort of commitment," or, "can we still be friends?". And they were. Sirius' undoubtable charm was what made him so popular with the girls, and though he broke up with nearly every single girlfriend, he still managed to remain friends with most of his exes, somehow.

Sirius stared at hid friend sympathetically for a few moments, then grinned and leapt to his feet. "I have an idea to take your mind off it! Let's go post up the audition notices about the new chasers that we need! Come on, Quidditch season starts soon!"

James thought for a moment and consented. "All right."

"Ye-ess," Sirius said, dumping the half-full bag of Bertie Botts' every flavour beans down on his bed. "Then let's go to Honeydukes. I'm almost all out."

James played chaser on the team, and Sirius played beater. James had been captain of the Quidditch team ever since Bilius Weasley left two years ago. It had been his job to find a new seeker (Bilius' old position), and a new beater, after Evan bell, Ingrid's older brother, left that year as well. The previous year had been James's fellow chasers Frank Longbottom and Helena van Tassell's last year at Hogwarts, so now the Gryffindors were two players short of a team. James happened to be an astoundingly good Quidditch player, and had been on the team since his second year at Hogwarts.

They made their way downstairs and into the common room- James instinctively searched the room with his eyes for Lily as soon as he was in there. She looked up when they came in- their eyes met and she gave James a furtive smile. James managed a twisted smile back. He wasn't feeling too friendly towards her at the moment. Evelyn and Ingrid both looked up and gave them a wave- Remus wasn't there. He was "ill", but due to return that night, as yesterday night had been the last night of the full moon.

They went downstairs to the entrance hall, where there was a noticeboard, free for all students to use. James scanned the messages as Sirius wrote their audition notice. People had lost a quill, a cat and a copy of The Invisible Book of Invisibility; someone else had found a set of silver Gobstones and a teacup that bit your nose. A seventh year Ravenclaw was offering themselves as tutor in Charms. There's an idea, though James, that'd be a way to make some extra gold. Sirius looked over James' shoulder as he tacked up the message.

"LOST: One toad. Answers to Olaf. If found, please return to Ludovic Bagman, third year Hufflepuff," he read aloud. He snorted with laughter. "Toads don't answer to anything! They can't talk."

"'Course they do. Snape talks, doesn't he?"

"Ah, of course," Sirius grinned. "Silly me, I forgot." He tacked up the message next to the Lost toad one. James read it aloud.

"Urgent: Chasers needed for Gryffindor Quidditch team. For auditions, speak to James Potter or Sirius Black. Good looking female preferred- Sirius!"

Sirius started laughing. "Come on, you can't blame me for trying."

"Aren't two girls on the team enough for you, you horny bastard?" James said, grinning despite himself, as he ripped the poster off the wall and started writing another one. The girls he was referring to were their replacement seeker and keeper. Their seeker was a black fourth year by the name of Sarem Johnson. Small, light and speedy, Sarem had guaranteed Gryffindor's chances for the cup since she joined the team after Bilius left. Their keeper was a tall, blonde sixth year with deep brown eyes named Celestia Goodman. She had joined the team the year after James and hardly ever let the Quaffle get past her. Indeed, Gryffindor had been on something of a winning streak for quite a while now- since James joined the team in fact. "Sarem's too young, anyway," Sirius said, running a hand through his thick, shiny hair. 'I'm no cradle snatcher."

"I wouldn't put it past you," James grunted, fanning his hand over the ink to make it dry quicker. "Check out that," he added nodding to the notice about tutoring. "What do you reckon?"

Sirius read the notice under his breath. "Hmm…I dunno," he said slowly. "They haven't written their name down. What if I sign up for tutoring and it's not a girl?"

James groaned. "Is that all you think about, git? I didn't mean sign up for tutoring. I mean what do you think of me hiring myself out as a tutor?"

Sirus raised his eyebrows. "In what?"

"I dunno. whatever. Transfiguration I suppose."

Sirius shrugged. "Sure, whatever turns you on."

James rolled his eyes as he tacked up the audition notice. "Why must you be so seedy?"

Sirius gave him his trademark grin. "Some people find it charming."

"Well, I know you well enough to know that you're just trying to get laid."

Sirius snickered. "I cannot tell a lie, I did it with my little-"

"Oh, hi there James," said a voice behind them. James turned to see the voluptuous figure of Stephanie Brocklehurst sashaying towards them.

"Hi Stephanie. How's it going?" James said. He had noticed, in he previous weeks, an increasing amount of attention from Stephanie. Not that he minded, of course, it was just that sometimes he got the feeling that Stephanie was almost flirting with him. Surely she knew that he was with Lily? Everyone knew that…but did he? After Lily's proposal to "cool off"…he wasn't sure any more. Was Sirius right, and could it really be a step towards breaking up? James didn't want to think about it.

Sirius, meanwhile, was looking uncomfortable, as he always did in Stephanie's presence. Last year, while Sirius had been engaged in a relationship with someone else, Stephanie had thrown herself at him, leaving Sirius no option but to politely but firmly turn her down. Since then, Stephanie's demeanour towards Sirius had been less than friendly. Sirius often remarked that fighting ten or so dragons would be nothing compared to being left alone in a room with Stephanie Brocklehurst and a butcher's knife.

"Oh, just fine!" she said, flashing him a radiant smile, 'What are you two pinning up on the notice board?"

"Auditions for our new chasers," James said, "Quidditch season's coming up soon, you know."

"Oh of course I do, I can't wait!" Stephanie laughed. "You know, Ivan's already been training for two weeks." Ivan Abbot was the captain of the Ravenclaw team, and a chaser like James.

"Really?" James said. "Oh, Jesus…umm…"

Sirius kicked James in the back of his leg. 'What James means to say is- so have we. In fact, we've been training for three weeks already."

"Oh really?' said Stephanie, giving Sirius the venom filled look she reserved just for him. 'So how come you're auditioning chasers just now?"

"Er…" said James.

'Well, James is so good, you see, that we thought we'd be able to handle the season with just him as chaser. Then we decide that, well, we might as well seal our chances for the cup with two more players."

"Oh James," said Stephanie, immediately looking like sunshine again. "I didn't realise you were that good! Wow, how amazing!" She gave a tinkly little laugh.

"Mmm," said James uncomfortably. He hated lying to anyone. "Well we'd better go. Oh, wait," he said, struck by a sudden though, "Stephanie, you're in Ravenclaw- d'you know who wrote this?" He pointed to the nameless tutor notice. "Oh- well, I did!" she said, smiling. "Why, are you thinking of getting tutored?"

"Nah, course not. I was just gonna say…it's a good idea. I might try it myself."

"Really? What subject?"

"Transfiguration…"

"What a coincidence!" Stephanie exclaimed. "Transfiguration is the subject I'm having trouble with! Say you'll tutor me, won't you James?" She batted her eyelashes at him, putting a hand on his arm as she did so. James noticed Sirius rolling his eyes behind Stephanie's shoulders. James nodded. Stephanie looked as though she'd just won a million galleons.

"Oh, great!" she exclaimed. "Okay, tomorrow after dinner, in the library, okay? I'm looking forward to it!" She gave a flirtatious giggle, squeezed his arm and skipped out of the entrance hall. James watched her go. Sirius stuck two fingers down his throat and pretended to vomit.

"Gross me out," he spat.

"What?" said James, mounting the steps out of the Hall. 'What's so gross?"

" What's so gr- James, the only way she could be any more obvious about wanting to get in your pants is to dack you and try them on!" Sirius exclaimed. "Can't you tell?"

"What?" James exclaimed incredulously. "Don't be ridiculous Sirius- I'm going out with Lily."

"You hope," said Sirius dryly. "And anyway- that won't stop her. She's a slut."

"Sirius!" James exclaimed. "Don't say that!"

Sirius shrugged. "I wouldn't call anyone that if it weren't true. And I should know." He shook his head and lowered his voice, "Besides, tomorrow night you promised to help peter with his Potions assignment."

"Oh, damn, I forgot," James sighed. "Well… look, we I'm sure she won't keep me that long, will she?"

Sirius raised his eyebrows at James. "What do you think? Let's see, how long does she usually take to undress someone?"

James scowled. "Don't think that. Anyway, even if she were after me- which I doubt- I wouldn't do anything. I'm not about to cheat on Lily just because we're…"

"Cooled off?' Sirius said for him, as they mounted the marble staircase. "Look, I wouldn't worry about it, I'm sure-" he stopped, and looked around.

"What?" said James imitating him.

but Sirius was glaring at someone who had just come out of the dungeon entrance to the Slytherin common room. Severus Snape, as a matter of fact. Snape was James' and Sirius' nemesis. They had hated each other practically from the moment they met, and nothing had changed for the seven years that James had known him. Snape was a tall, thin seventh year Slytherin, also a prefect, with greasy black hair and a hooked nose between malicious black eyes. Until recently, Snape had been one of the wizards that were prejudiced against people who weren't pure blood wizards or witches- who had parents who were Muggles. As Sirius and Lily both muggle born, there had always been friction between James' gang and Snape. As it happened, most of the Slytherins were prejudiced just like Snape, and hence, all the other houses detested Slytherin house.

As Snape saw James and Sirius, he sneered derisively. "Potter, Black…" he said. "Everything well, I trust?"

"Unfortunately for you, big nose," said Sirius pleasantly.

"Where's your pal Lupin? Is he…ill, again?"

James and Sirius exchanged a very brief glance. "Why is it your business?"

Snape raised his eyebrows "I just find it odd that none of the teachers mind that Lupin is away so frequently. Every month, in fact."

James clenched his teeth. "Sod off, you git. You're talking absolute rubbish."

Snape shrugged. "Suit yourself, Potter. I'll find out myself."

He loped off, leaving Sirius and James staring after him.

"Okay," said Sirius finally, "There's no need to panic. So Snape's figured out the pattern of Remus' illnesses. No problem."

"Of course he figured it out," James hissed, as he turned and started marching up the stairs. "He's not stupid!"

Sirius sprang up the steps two at a time after him.

"That doesn't mean to say he knows what Remus is," said Sirius soothingly.

"But how many other people have figured it out?" James said anxiously. "What if someone guesses?"

"It's all right. We'll just tell everyone Remus is really a girl and gets his periods."

That was enough to crack James up for the rest of the night.