Chapter 4
When James and Lily arrived inside the commons room, it was a mess. Sirius had found some exploding crackers that he and James had hidden after Christmas in fifth year and forgotten that they were there. Sirius had given them out to the first years after Rose had told everyone to go to bed and gone to bed herself. The first years snuck back down and began to fill the scarlet and gold common's room with streamers and banners that were found inside the crackers.
James and Lily found the whole common's room trashed with a sign that said, "Congrats James and Lily on becoming the Heads" and it depicted them as giant heads floating over the sea of Hogwarts' students.
"I'm gonna seriously hurt one of your best friends soon, James, and I'll give you two guesses as to who its gonna be," Lily growled looking around in anger.
"I might just help you. If McGonagall comes up and finds the common room like this, we're in so must trouble. We might actually be forced to go to class," James said.
"Even worse, they might decide that we're not mature enough to handle the assignment," Lily suggested in horror.
Both turned towards each other and groaned. "I'll get over here if you get over there," James suggested pointing in opposite directions.
Lily nodded and began to work furiously to clean up Sirius's mess.
The sound of Rose and Josie banging on her dorm room awakened Lily the next morning. She had her own room now. It was beautifully decorated in gold, white, and silver, a room for a princess.
"Lily! I'm hungry! You had better not still be in bed, classes start in thirty minutes and I haven't eaten yet!" Josie yelled through the old oak door.
Lily sprang from the bed and ran to the door, opening it so quickly that Josie fell to the floor. Rose was scowling at her, and Josie was clutching her side in pain. She motioned for them to enter.
"Girls, I have something I really need to tell you, but until then, go to breakfast without me. I'll meet you in Browen's dungeon, alright?" Lily asked hurrying over to her dresser and throwing it open to find clothes.
"Alright, but don't be late. It really wouldn't look wonderful for the Headgirl to be late to the first day of classes," Rose answered pulling Josie from the room and shutting the door behind her.
Lily threw on some flair jeans and a t-shirt. She jammed her feet into running shoes, ran a comb through her hair, and donned her black Hogwarts' cloak with maroon and gold trim.
She ran swiftly and barely made it into the potion's dungeon before Professor Browen came gliding in with an unhappy sneer on her face. She began the lesson and was halfway through explaining their yearlong project when the Marauders came running in.
"What's your excuse this time?" Browen sneered as they quickly took their seats.
"It's my fault, Professor. I was up late last night and they couldn't get into my rooms to wake me," James answered pinning his Headboy badge onto his chest.
"Yes, well, I assume that next time your friends will be smart enough to make it to class on time without or without their precious Potter. Five points from Gryffindor…each," she scoffed.
Sirius looked ready to bust. He growled and was about to answer back when Remus put a hand on his arm and shook his head. Browen turned her attention back to the class.
"Now I'm going to place you into groups. The groups were going to be mixed house, but Professor Dumbledore has asked that some of you work together because of some… special circumstances. So here's the list. Potter -- Evans, Black -- Rose Pederson, Lupin -- Chevius, Pettigrew -- …"
Lily tuned out her grumpy teachers rambling. How dare she have to work with Potter once again, but – oh – poor Rose. She was with Sirius, and Lily knew how much Rose hated working with him. Oh well, at least Josie got to work with someone she could get along with.
The rest of potions passed without a hitch, as did Arithmancy. Before Lily knew it, it was time for lunch, and boy was she starving. She barely was aware as she grabbed an apple from a bowl in the middle of the table.
"Incoming," a voice said into her ear as an owl flew over the table to drop a letter in her lap.
Lily turned to smile at her ex-boyfriend Emlyn Wood who was sitting next to her. "Thanks for the warning, Emlyn."
"Any time, Lils," he answered turning back to talk with his friends on the other side of himself.
Lily slowly opened the letter shielding it from everyone's view.
Dear Ms. Evans,
I trust that you are ready to begin your tasks as Headgirl and my helper. Have you told your friends yet? Has James? I have a task for you. Tonight after dinner, come to my office with your friends. Don't forget to bring James and his friends, even if Miss Pederson tries to talk you out of it, and I will not except I forgot as an excuse.
Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore, Head Master of Hogwarts
Lily sighed and slipped the note to James thinking about what the future held in store for them.