'I swear that Potter is going to be the death of me' Lily thought as she once again made her way back to her friends' compartment. There were a few more hours before they reached Hogwarts and she was going to make sure that they would be spent as far away from James Potter as possible.
She was still fuming when she burst threw the compartment door making all of her friends look up with curiously. The group knew that only a certain Mr. Potter was able to make Lily's infamous temper erupt like this; they even suspected that Lily's blood pressure had gone up since she'd met him. He had a way off getting under her skin that no other person was able to do.
"So..." Sam said quietly after a few seconds of silence. Lily hadn't said anything when she came in. She had just plopped down in a seat and started muttering under her breath, her face slightly flushed. Sam wanted all the juicy details but she knew Lily would most likely explode at any moment so she would just wait for the explosion to hear what happened.
"So what?" Lily said coming out of the trance she'd been in.
"So what happened?" Cat said a little more loudly. She was the only one who wasn't afraid of Lily when she got in one of her tempers. That and curiosity was really getting the better of her.
"HE SET OFF A DUNGBOMB OFF IN MALFOY'S COMPARTMENT!" Lily exclaimed after finally. "HE'S HEAD BOY!" she added disbelievingly. And Anna who thought this was the funniest thing she'd heard in a long time was soon rolling around on the ground with tears of laughter in her eyes.
"Shut up!" Lily said exasperated to her friends who were all either smiling or giggling (except Anna who was still rolling around on the ground).
"Come on Lily. It's James Potter. What did you expect?" Cat said trying to make Lily see reason.
"He's Head Boy now! I would have thought that it meant something to him. He should know the title comes with responsibility," Lily answered. "I mean I dislike Malfoy and his friends just as much as the next person but you don't see me throwing dung bombs into his compartment." Lily continued.
"Lily, you need to relax and give James a chance to show you that he's a decent Head Boy. Dumbledore wouldn't have made him Head Boy without a good reason." Cat kept going. "He's very smart. You have to give him that much credit. You and he have the best marks in every class and he somehow comes up with all the amazing pranks. And he's a great chaser. Without him on the team we wouldn't have won the last two quidditch cups."
"Yeah I know he's not totally corrupt. But if he just applied himself more to his classes instead of quidditch or his latest prank he'd keep his nose out of so much trouble and who knows how amazing his marks would be if he applied himself." Lily gave in. "I just have no patience for people who don't try to reach their full potential."
"Yeah well that's why Dumbledore appointed you as Head Girl. He can make sure that James fulfills his responsibilities." Cat explained.
"I guess so..." Lily said drifting off into thought. Maybe she would be able to change James. Make him more responsible. Maybe...
"Oh, who's up for a game of exploding snap?" Jo broke Lily's train of thought trying to cheer the mood of the compartment. So they played exploding snap for the remainder of the ride. They bought candy and treats when the old lady with the cart came by and talked about all the guys they hoped would ask them out this year. It was their last year after all, if they didn't get asked out by their crushes it wasn't likely to ever happen.
The train pulled into the Hogsmead station and all the students started making their way toward the carriages except for the first years that were making their way to the boats with Hagrid. Lily shared a carriage with Cat, Sam, Jo, and Anna. When they got to the castle they all sat down at the Gryffindor table together. Cat and Lily on one side of the table and Jo, Sam, and Anna on the other side. They were all starving and happy to be back at Hogwarts.
James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter made their way to the Gryffindor table for the start of term feast.
"My mouth is watering just thinking about the food we'll b eating soon." Sirius said as his stomach grumbled. They all found room to sit together towards the end of the table in the back of the great hall.
"Sirius how can you be hungry? You ate half of the food in the snack bar in the Head's compartment." Remus pointed out.
"Yes, but you see chocolate doesn't fill you up. It merely sustains you until you can have a decent meal." Peter, who had eaten the other half of the food in the snack bar, said logically.
"Very well put wormtail," Sirius said proudly.
"Shut up you three!" James said cutting Remus off from further argument. "The sorting is about to begin. And I thought you said your cousin was going to be a first year this year Padfoot."
"Yeah she is. Her name is Nymphadora but don't call her that. Just call her Tonks. That's her last name. She hates her first name and she has a nasty right hook so I wouldn't call her by it. And she's actually one of my few decent relatives. Her mum, Andromeda was shunned but the whole family after marrying a muggle-born." Sirius explained. It was well known to his friends that he didn't particularly care for his family so it was a surprise when he told them that he liked this cousin.
So the sorting began.
Adams, Brian...HUFFLEPUFF
Brady, Tomas... RAVENCLAW ...
Tomas, Michel... SLYTHERIN… Tonks, Nymhadora... GRYFFINDOR and she received an especially loud applause from the Marauders, which made Lily, and her friends look down the table to see what the big deal was. Tonks waved to Sirius and went to sit next to the other first years.
The sorting ended with Emily Wilson in Slytherin. Then Dumbledore started his usual speech.
"Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts. I'm sure it will be an interesting year like always." His eyes flickered to where the Marauders were sitting. "I do have a few announcements to make. First of all the Forbidden Forest is just that, forbidden, and I caution all students to stay away from the whomping willow unless you would like to spend a very painful few days in the hospital wing. Mr. Filch has asked me to remind you that magic is not allowed in the corridors and that he has added dung bombs and fake wands to the list of objects not allowed in school and will be confiscated if found. With that 'let's eat!'" And with that Dumbledore waved his hands and that tables filled with food and everyone started eating everything in site.
Peter and Sirius fed their starving bellies until they had to lean back in their chairs and unbuckle their belts to make room for their swelling stomachs. James and Remus just shook their heads and laughed at their friends but resisted the urge to loosen their belts as well.
"I hope everyone enjoyed their feast," Dumbledore stood as the eating ceased. "The first day of classes start tomorrow so everyone get a good night of sleep. The prefects are to lead their houses to their dorms and the Head students have asked me to remind the prefects that there will be a meeting on September 3rd at 7:30 pm. And quidditch tryouts for the house team will be posted in the bulletin boards in the common rooms. Madame Hooch would like me to remind you that only second years and up may try out for the house teams. That's it for now. Have a good night." With that everyone headed out of the hall following their prefects to their dorms.
"Well you all heard Dumbledore. He is expecting this year to be as exciting and enjoyable as last year," said Sirius the moment all the Marauders were all in their dorm. Frank Longbottom was also a 7th year Gryffindor in their dorm but had known the Marauders far to long to be surprised but anything they might do in the future.
"Is that all you ever think about?" Remus asked sitting on his bad and changing his shirt.
"No! Of course not. There's also girls and quidditch and... yep, that just about covers it." Sirius said after a little thinking.
"Well we'll have to keep it to a minimum this year." James interjected pulling out his pajama pants.
"Of course we will. Our dear Prongsy here is Head Boy. Can't get him into trouble. And he's already skating on thin ice with our Tiger Lily." Sirius said feigning concern.
"Shut up." James said moodily.
"Aren't you ever going to give up?" Peter asked suddenly.
"NO!" James said immediately. "I'm closer than ever and this Head Boy position is the perfect chance for me to show her that I am responsible and that I have other things on my mind that pranks and quidditch."
"Of course you have other things on your mind. Like dirty fantasies of you and our dear Lily" Sirius said innocently batting his eye lashes. Just then James attacked him with a pillow and tried to smother him.
"Go jump off a cliff." Said James as he started it change into his pajamas.
"I feel so loved," Sirius said pretending to be hurt.
"Just go to bed. We'll talk about our next prank at breakfast or in History of Magic." James said as he got into bed. Peter had already fallen asleep, Remus was in bed reading and Sirius was changed into his pajamas.
"Yeah that just means you're going to bore us with your Lily problem." Sirius muttered as he crawled into bed. He received a pillow thrown at his head from James and then the lights were turned off.
