Disclaimer: Professor Dumbledore and his students are the property of J. K. Rowling.
Author's note regarding dates—JKR was once asked in an interview how old Professor Snape is, and she replied that he was about thirty-five. However, it was unclear if she meant that he was about thirty-five in PS/SS or in GoF (which had just come out about the time of the interview). I've always gone with the idea that he was thirty-five in GoF, and in all my previous stories, I've assumed that he and his classmates graduated from Hogwarts in 1978.
However, after reading OotP and learning that Sirius's younger brother died in 1980, and that he had been a Death Eater for an indefinite period before that, I'm inclined to make Sirius and his generation a few years older. So—let's say for the sake of argument (and for the sake of accuracy regarding full moons) that they will graduate in 1976.
Choosing the Head Boy Chapter Four—October and NovemberAs Lily reviewed what students were and were not permitted to do during the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend, James kept one eye on Remus sitting in the corner. He looked weary and pale and was yawning frequently. The full moon had been the night before, and James had tried to talk him into skipping the prefects' meeting. Remus had said that he'd only skip if the meeting were during the full moon itself, and that he trusted James to prevent that occurrence.
James had caught Snape watching Remus with a sour expression a couple of times. He knew exactly what was ailing the Gryffindor. James kept expecting a scathing comment all evening, but none came.
"If you haven't already done so, make sure you give Lily or I a list of any conflicts you have for patrol duty. We'll post the schedule for November and December as soon as possible. Anything else?" James asked Lily.
She shook her head. "Just have fun in Hogsmeade this weekend."
"But not too much?" James asked her with a grin.
"Yes, James, not too much. Everyone else in this room, I trust your own common sense."
The prefects began to depart. A few delayed briefly to speak to others or to give a note to Lily or James. Remus gave them a quick wave as he left. Two prefects, a Ravenclaw girl and Tony Huang, a Hufflepuff sixth-year, deliberately remained behind.
"Is something up?" James asked. They glanced at James but addressed Lily.
"I know this isn't a very big deal compared with what you've been dealing with," Tony said, "but Caroline insisted that we mention it to you."
"What happened?" Lily asked.
"We've both had incidents recently where students were breaking rules but refused to listen to us because we're Muggle-born," Caroline explained in a soft voice.
It was the first time that James had ever heard her speak. He could easily imagine her quiet voice and manner failing to gain the attention, let alone the respect, of more exuberant students—such as he had once been.
"Are you certain it was because you're Muggle-born?" he asked her.
Caroline gave James a scathing look. "Maybe not. Do you think I misinterpreted, 'We don't take orders from a filthy little Mudblood'?"
"Oh." Abashed, James sat down.
"I guess we should have seen this coming," Lily said with a pensive frown. She sank down into an armchair, and Caroline and Tony both took seats near her. "The same thing happened to me when I was a fifth year."
"What did you do?" Tony asked.
"In my case, the student was a Slytherin. I told the Head Girl, who also happened to be a Slytherin. She said that she'd handle it. I don't know what she said or did, but it never happened again—until this year. Unfortunately, that solution isn't going to work for us. Those students who don't respect you aren't going to respect me either. And James isn't much better. He's a pureblood, but he's almost universally despised in Slytherin."
"One of my proudest achievements." This earned him another scathing look from Caroline. "At least Lily isn't giving me that look," he thought.
"And it isn't just Slytherins," Tony pointed out. "The time it happened to me, it was a group with two Slytherins and a Ravenclaw."
"Albert Marsh," Caroline said. Judging by the look on her face, she didn't like him much more than she liked James. "But he hangs out with Slytherins so often that your point is valid. Neither of you can solve this."
Lily looked directly at James. "You do realize who could help us—Severus."
James hated to admit that Snape was the solution to anything, but Lily was right. If the prefects were to have any hope of solving this themselves, their best hope was the assistance of a Slytherin seventh-year. Bellatrix Black wouldn't help. Not only did she openly avow her belief that purebloods were superior to Muggle-borns, but she would love to see disaster mar her rival's tenure as Head Girl. With Snape, on the other hand, they might have to contend with his desire to see James fall flat on his face, but two other factors would probably outweigh that desire. First, James didn't believe that Snape had any innate bias against Muggle-borns. He could think of only two instances when Snape had called anyone a Mudblood, and both times were when Snape was feeling especially vulnerable and vindictive. Second, Snape liked rules and order. He wouldn't allow the prefect system to fail if he could prevent it.
"He might help," James admitted, "but you'd better ask him when I'm not around. He won't help if I ask."
"On the contrary, I don't think he'll help unless you do ask," Lily replied, "and groveling may be required."
"You're a cruel woman, Evans."
* * * * *
Lily had asked Snape to meet them in the prefects' office the following evening. Even with cutting Quidditch practice short, James was the last to arrive. Lily was already explaining the situation, so James tried to slip into the room as unobtrusively as possible, but unobtrusive was difficult to achieve while Snape was watching him like a hawk.
"Are just Slytherins giving them trouble so far?" Snape asked.
"And one Ravenclaw," Lily replied.
"Albert Marsh, by any chance?"
"How did you know?" she asked in slight surprise. "Did you hear about it?"
"No, he was just the most likely subject. There are many, in every house, with similar beliefs, but Marsh has the most to prove."
A tray with sandwiches and iced pumpkin juice suddenly appeared on a side table near Lily. James smiled to himself and moved closer to the food. One of his Quidditch teammates, while making a post-practice kitchen raid, had undoubtedly asked the house elves to send this up to James.
"What do you mean, 'He has the most to prove'?" James asked as poured three goblets of juice. Lily accepted hers, but Snape eyed James with suspicion and made no move to accept his. "Fair enough. I wouldn't eat or drink anything from him either."
"What do you know about him?" Snape asked.
"Not much. He's a pretty good beater."
Snape made a sound of disgust. "Don't you ever think about anything except Quidditch?"
James had a few appropriate retorts, but since all of them would either insult Slytherin or Snape, he simply said, "Food," and selected a sandwich. "Oh, and I think his dad is my mum's second or third cousin, but she doesn't stay in touch with that branch of the family."
"Not his father. His stepfather. Albert's mother is a Liegeard, a family that takes bloodlines very seriously. She went through a rebellious period, and Albert is the result. After a brief taste of living without the family fortune, she became the obedient daughter again. The Liegeards married her off to Burse Marsh when Albert was quite young. Marsh is twenty years her senior, but he was willing to give Albert his name and a pseudo-pureblood pedigree. However, Albert hasn't been able to escape the rumors that his real father was a Muggle." As he spoke, he settled farther back into the armchair. He almost gave the illusion of being relaxed, but his wary gaze betrayed him.
"And now he's trying to out pureblood the purebloods," Lily said thoughtfully.
"Exactly."
"How do you know all that?" James asked in amazement.
"How do you not?" he shot back in disdain. "This is the world we live in, Potter. This is the world you'll have to deal with when we leave school. I've noticed your pathetic attempts to play bodyguard to Evans. How do you expect to protect her if you don't even know whom to protect her from?"
"So, what do we do about our current situation?" Lily asked, trying to get the conversation back on track. "Can we solve this without getting the teachers involved?"
Snape gave James one more disdainful look before focusing on Lily again. "We need to try. I, for one, want to see the prefects respected because they are prefects, not because they are tattle-tales who run to the teachers. And the truth is students only really need to listen to the prefects of their own houses since only they can take points from them. That they listen to prefects of other houses has always been just a courtesy."
"I guess that's true," Lily said, "but we can't exactly give prefects hall duty in teams of four. Only six students have hall duty at any given time, and if they're all together, that's a lot of uncovered ground."
"But right now, your biggest problem is the Slytherin students, correct? If Slytherin prefects worked in pairs with the Muggle-born prefects, everyone should get the message that being a prefect supersedes birth. At least while we're in school."
"And will the other Slytherin prefects agree?" James asked.
"Bellatrix won't, of course, but the four younger ones will. They like being prefects; they won't want the prefect system to fall apart. And, they each still hope to be Head Boy or Head Girl some day. Promise them that you'll tell Dumbledore of their assistance, and they'll jump at the opportunity."
"Of course we'll tell Professor Dumbledore of your help," Lily said.
Snape smiled coldly. "Getting ahead of yourself, Evans. I haven't agreed to help, yet." His gaze flicked back to James.
"What do you want?" James asked.
"I want to know that this will go both ways. You have to be just as willing to enforce the rules against your housemates. No allowing your friends to get away with murder with a wink and a smile." His eyes narrowed. "Or even attempted murder. Can you do that, Potter?"
"As long as we're talking about future events, yes."
"Something I should know about?" Lily asked, glancing from one to the other.
"No," James said quickly.
"Yes, you should know," Snape said, "but I'm not permitted to say."
Silence reigned for a few moments as Snape and James stared at each other. James knew there was nothing he could say without a risk of making the situation worse.
"O.K., so—" Lily fished for the right thing to say. "Severus, do you want to speak with the other Slytherin prefects on your own or with us?"
"Definitely without you," he replied without taking his eyes off James. He rose and headed for the door. "I'll speak with them before Saturday, and we'll keep an eye out for possible situations in Hogsmeade. Include the pairings when you write up the new hall duty schedule. I'm sure they'll say yes."
When the door closed behind him, Lily turned to James with a smile. "And you didn't even have to grovel. Are you going to be my bodyguard in Hogsmeade this weekend?"
"Of course we are," James said as he took a second sandwich off the tray. "What time were you planning on walking down?"
"About ten, I guess, but I didn't say, 'You-plural.' I said, 'You-singular.'"
James almost choked on the mouthful he had just bitten off. Over two years of being turned down by Lily, and now she was asking him for a date. He coughed and took a sip of pumpkin juice to wash the food down.
"Really? You want to go to Hogsmeade with me? Rule-breaking, detention-earning, bludgered-brained James Potter?"
"You left out big-headed," she said still smiling. "And the last time I checked, we're almost two months into the school year, and you haven't gotten a single detention nor gotten into a single fight with Snape. So, do you want to go or not?"
* * * * *
"You aren't wearing that," Sirius stated flatly. He strode over to James's trunk and began pawing through the clothing.
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" James asked. "You helped me pick out this stupid robe, remember?" He hadn't wanted to wear a school robe for this momentous event, but a daytime date in Hogsmeade was too casual an occasion for dress robes. He thought that the casual robe he'd chosen was just right. He'd worn it on his most recent trip to Diagon Alley.
"It's a robe. If you're going on a date you need Muggle clothes, especially if you're going on a date with Lily. Wear these." He pulled out a pair of jeans and a sweater the colour of oatmeal but with flecks of other colours mixed in and tossed them both to James.
"It's Hogsmeade," James pointed out as he tossed them back into the trunk. "Lily will be wearing a robe. Just because she's Muggle-born doesn't mean—"
"Trust me," Sirius insisted. "Muggle clothes are better on a first date because she's going to want to check out your ass, and she can't do that if you're in a robe. If you're in jeans, she can. Tell him I'm right, Remus."
Remus had been sitting cross-legged on his bed watching and listening to this sartorial argument with amusement, but he now ducked his head and pretended to be deeply interested in the textbook open on his lap. "Keep me out of this, please."
Sirius turned back to James with an exaggerated sigh. "Let's put it this way, Jamie-boy. Whenever Lily is at home, all the cute little Muggle boys show up at Lily's doorstep wearing tight trousers. Are you going to wear these," he held up the jeans, "and let her know that you are worthy competition, or not?"
James hesitated only a moment longer before unbuttoning his robe. "You'd better wear Muggle clothes too, Padfoot. I don't want to be the only one in Hogsmeade dressed this way."
"I always wear Muggle clothes on the weekend. I like imagining the look of sour disapproval on my dear mother's face."
"Should I change too?" Peter asked. "I have a date with Anna today."
Sirius glanced at James with a slight smile of amusement but composed himself into a more earnest look before turning to Peter. "No, you look better in a robe, Peter. It makes you look—taller."
Lily did indeed wear a robe. It was the colour of copper, and James thought she looked astonishing. The entire walk to Hogsmeade, with a few of Lily's friends a discrete distance ahead and with Remus and Sirius a discrete distance behind, James kept looking over at the beautiful girl beside him. She wore her hair loose and flowing down her back, rather than bound into the no-nonsense plait or ponytail she often wore for classes, and even in the weak sunlight, it glowed as if lit by an inner fire. Her hair was a darker shade than the robe, but when the light hit it, some strands glowed in the same shade of copper and a few glowed gold.
"Autumn is your season, you know," he said to her. "In that robe and with that amazing hair of yours, you look like a goddess of the forest. Should I gather the brightest leaves from the trees and make you a diadem to crown your hair?"
"No thank you," she replied with a slight frost in her tone. She hadn't smiled at him yet that day.
At first, James had convinced himself that she was nervous about going into Hogsmeade. It wasn't exactly a secret that Hogwarts students would be in Hogsmeade today, and there was a definite chance that one of the senders of Lily's "fan mail" would be there as well—hence the protective presence of their friends. But now it was clear that she wasn't just nervous, she was angry.
"But as long as we're on the subject of clothing," she said, "may I ask why you're wearing what you are wearing?"
James felt warmth creeping into his cheeks as he thought of an honest reply. "Sirius's idea," he said instead.
"Ah," she replied, and her frown deepened. She glanced back over her shoulder toward Sirius. "And just what reason did Sirius give for this brilliant idea?"
James's cheeks were definitely warm now, which he found surprising since it was pretty rare for him to blush at anything, but the thought of saying, "I wanted you to check out my ass," just didn't seem like something he wanted to say to the girl of his dreams on their long-awaited first date.
"Did you two think that after six years of being part of the magical world, I'm still such a Muggle that I needed you to dress the part to make me more comfortable? Or did you want to show me that you know how to blend in with Muggles so I can introduce you to my silly Muggle parents without shocking them? Or did—"
"Whoa!" James exclaimed as he grabbed her by the arm and made her stop in the middle of the path. He held up one hand toward Remus and Sirius so they would also stop and keep their distance. "My wearing Muggle clothes had absolutely nothing to do with you being Muggle-born. And if I tell you the real reason Sirius said that I had to wear this, I'll either have to die of embarrassment or kill him—probably both. But I swear, it wasn't because I thought it would make you more comfortable, or because I look down on your parents, or anything like that."
"Oh," Lily said quietly before biting her lower lip. "I owe you an apology, don't I?"
James took her hand and resumed walking. "Why don't we just go back to the moment in which I was telling you how beautiful you are?"
"I'd rather go back to the moment just after, and I'll tell you that I like that sweater on you. All those different coloured bits bring out all the different colours in your eyes." She smiled as she squeezed his hand a bit tighter.
* * * * *
"I don't believe this!" Sirius fumed just after he and his friends left the Transfiguration classroom.
James shook his head with a smile. "You didn't actually think that you could transfigure McGonagall's robes like that and not get detention, did you?"
"I don't mind detention; I'm overdue for detention—now that my partner in crime," he gave James a rueful smile, "has gone legit. But Tuesday night?" He emphasized the word by whispering it. "Any other night I wouldn't care, but Tuesday night?" Sirius swore vehemently, making the two first year students who had just stepped out into the corridor in front of him glance back and then quicken their pace toward the stairs.
All four knew the significance of the day. Tuesday was the full moon. If Padfoot couldn't be there to help control Moony, it wouldn't be safe to let the wolf run free. The presence of Prongs and Wormtail would probably keep the wolf calm. Probably. The wolf resented confinement and might become self-destructive even with his two animagi companions.
James knew that Sirius was concerned for Remus's safety, but he suspected that Sirius's anger also had a more selfish motive. Although Remus and Sirius's relationship still had some issues to be worked out, Moony and Padfoot were just fine. Perhaps the full moons had increased in importance to Sirius because they were the only time their friendship was as it had once been.
"She probably thought she was doing us a favor," Remus pointed out calmly. "You know, giving you detention on a night that, as far as she knows, we can't be together anyway."
"Mangy moggy still deserves to be chased up a tree," Sirius grumbled.
Peter laughed at that image. "And I know just the dog to do it. Right, Sirius?"
"Damn right."
"At least you'd be doing your own dirty work this time," Remus said quietly. He suddenly quickened his pace, ducked around some younger students on the stairs, and left his companions behind.
"Great. Now Remus is angry at me again."
Sirius needed a target for his anger and found one in the nearest inanimate object, a suit of armor at the foot of the staircase. The moment the bolt of light hit it, the various pieces of metal exploded outward. James ducked as the helm narrowly missed his head and straightened up with a smile. He gave Sirius credit. Even while having a temper tantrum—and the boy did have a fierce temper—he had been careful to merely separate the existing pieces of the armor, not blow apart the metal into fragments. A few students might have been bruised, but no one had been in danger.
"Watch it," James said with a laugh. "I'd prefer not to spend our first Quidditch match of the year in the hospital wing with a concussion." He was just about to repair the suit of armor when someone handed him one of the lower legs. The smile on his face died at his looked at the "someone," Severus Snape.
"A wink and a smile, Potter. I knew you wouldn't hold up your end of the deal." Snape headed toward the open doors of the Great Hall.
"Wait!" James called after him. Snape turned and watched James with narrowed eyes. "He's right, Sirius. No magic in the corridors."
"You wouldn't," Sirius said as he looked from his best friend to his worst enemy and back again.
"I have to," James said with a helpless shrug. "Ten points from Gryffindor." He saw Sirius suddenly look over James's shoulder at the giant hourglasses. His mouth tightened into a line as he saw red sand fly upward.
"He's kidding," Peter said nervously. "You're kidding. Right, James?"
"I think I'll skip lunch," Sirius said. "If that's allowed, of course." He handed Peter his bookbag and headed outside.
James had a suspicion that a black dog would soon be running through the forest. "Wonder how many points that would be?" He threw the leg onto the plinth where the suit of armor should stand. "I can't even do a spell to repair the stupid thing with Snape watching." Snape remained where he was standing, forcing James and Peter to pass close by him as they entered the Great Hall for lunch.
"Don't cheat and give him the points back," Snape warned.
"Don't need to. He'll probably earn fifty in class this afternoon. He always earns more than he loses."
None of the four spoke to each other throughout their next class, but since it was Defense Against the Dark Arts, the class that they took most seriously, that wasn't a rare occurrence. James couldn't tell if Sirius was ignoring him because he was angry or because he was deeply engrossed in the defensive wards they were studying. And he definitely couldn't tell whether or not Remus was angry with Sirius. Even when class ended, Remus's mood was still a mystery. Their next class was History of Magic, and as Remus was the only one of the four not taking the class, he generally left alone and headed either for the library or the dormitory.
"See you later," Remus said in the general direction of the other three as he left.
"Bye," Peter called after him.
They hadn't gone far before Sirius paused at an intersection that would lead them either to class or elsewhere. James picked up the hint. "Take notes for us, won't you, Peter?"
"O.K., but you have to help me with my Defense essay."
"Deal."
Sirius didn't seem to have any definite destination in mind as he and James wandered through the hallways, but when he reached an alcove with a window that overlooked the Whomping Willow, he stopped and looked out. The window was wide, and James was easily able to lean back against the thick wall bordering the window without impeding Sirius's view.
"Still angry with me?" James asked. Sirius shook his head. "Still angry with McGonagall?" Sirius smiled slightly and shook his head again.
"Nope. Only one person to blame, and we both know who he is." He looked at James out of the corner of his eye.
"Snape," they said together and laughed.
"Do you want to go to the kitchen?" James asked. "You're probably pretty hungry."
Sirius leaned back against the other wall bordering the window. "No, I ate a squirrel."
"Eww! Please tell me that you're joking."
Sirius chuckled. "If you'd like."
James shook his head as if to rid his mind of thoughts of bloody squirrel. "We'd better go back to the dormitory then. I know that if I don't spend enough time as Prongs after eating grass, I get one hell of a stomachache."
Sirius shook his head and looked out at the tree again. "That's because humans aren't ungulates; I'll be fine. Besides, I'd better give Remus some more cooling off time before I dare go back to the dormitory." He began to chuckle again. "McGonagall looked great in red, didn't she?"
"I think the length bothered her more than the colour. Why the hell did you do it?"
Sirius shrugged and sank down into a crouch on the floor. "I was bored."
James could understand that. One of the disadvantages of learning more quickly than your classmates was the stretches of boredom while waiting for them to catch up. Much of his and Sirius's mischief were offerings on the altar of boredom. However, they had also learned to use the extra time in class to work ahead and thereby gain more free time to study material that the class wouldn't cover. They had found time to research the animagus transformation that way and were now studying material they had to learn to become aurors.
"We get bored all the time, Padfoot. You don't usually take it out on McGonagall."
"She really shouldn't be wearing green though. We're playing against Slytherin tomorrow. What is she, a closet Slytherin supporter?"
James snorted at that thought. "Oh yeah. And that's why she screams herself hoarse cheering for Gryffindor. She's just hiding her true allegiance."
"It really was a hideous shade of green," Sirius grumbled as he pushed himself back to his feet and set off down the corridor again. "Same colour as my parents' dining room."