Disclaimer: All the Characters belong to J.K. Rowling. The not amazingly original plot and characters you don't recognize belong to me.
A/N: I would appreciate it if you would review! It's always nice to have feedback, and if you have any constructive criticism, go for it! Thank you Aladailey and Senator Padme for your reviews.
Chapter Two: Wary of Potter
"Yes, I remember that you are Head Boy, Potter. I'll see you in the front of the train and please try to act like a human being for once," Lily said to James as he tried to help her put her trunk on the train.
"Don't James. I can do it fine, myself," she said magicking it onto the train with a flick of her wrist. "I'm not helpless."
"I didn't say you were. I was just trying to help."
"Go be helpful to some of the younger students then." She stepped onto the train and dropped some of her stuff in the seat next to Tia. To her annoyance Potter came in followed by his gang of friends. She frowned.
"There's no room for all of you."
"Six seats, Evans. Six of us."
"Well, we're expecting someone else…right Tia," she said staring pointedly at her.
Tia shrugged smiling at Lily. It figured her best friend would throw her into this type of position.
Luckily, someone walked into the compartment and sat down across from Tia. It was the woman from Tia's party.
"It's all full Black. You and Potter can find another compartment that is not located anywhere near this one," came a tone that had complete authority in it.
Black's eyes filled with hatred. "Don't worry. I wouldn't spend a minute with you if it was the only thing that was going to save my life," he said leaving with Potter reluctantly following him out.
Lily stared at her in amazement. "Thanks. I have to go to the Head Compartment now but at least some of the ride will be peaceful."
All right, so he might have failed at getting to sit in the compartment with Lily but it wasn't like he wasn't going to see her when they addressed they addressed the Prefects. The beginning of the year had given James a fresh surge of hope for the year. Lily had managed to stay in his company for two hours during that party at Tia's house where there had been no yelling, no dirty looks, and her actually seeming to be having a decent time in his presence.
That was an improvement no matter which angle you looked at. James was determined to be responsible this year. After that trick that Sirius had played on Severus last year he had grown up a little and doing well in his position of Head Boy had the added gift of impressing Lily. He had drawn up lists with ideas and pelted Remus with his owl for every scrap of information of what was expected of Prefects. He hadn't been one in his fifth year but he was prepared to know exactly what to tell the Prefects about their new duties.
Lily was already there when he entered the compartment and many of the new Prefects were still filing in. He grabbed some of his notes from his bag and placed them on a table that had been provided for Lily and him.
Lily began by introducing both of them and began to talk about what was expected of new prefects for the year. "You are allowed to take points but you will be monitored on this so do NOT abuse your position," she finished turning at James to give him a dirty look.
He didn't think that was fair. He had never been a position of power before, so how would she know if he would abuse it. He took it though, because it was Lily and he was hardly going to impress her by arguing with her in front of the prefects.
"These aren't your only responsibilities," he added. "You are required to help with all of the events that the Head Girl and I decide to throw. If it's a ball," he paused to let the gasps of excitement fade, "Or, if we are organizing something for charity you are all required giving your time and energy. Speaking of balls, we were thinking of a costume ball for Halloween."
Everyone's eyes lit up. If James Potter was throwing a ball, it was sure to have the mark of the Marauders and being able to help in it would be a great boon to tell their friends. Lily's face had started to get a little red. He could tell she was holding her temper but she was obviously mad that he was making her sound like the boring one, her explaining rules and he explaining the interesting stuff.
"I'm glad you all like the idea. You can give a round of applause for Lily here. It was all her idea," he lied and everyone started to clap for her. Her face had turned a different shade of red, this time from embarrassment he was sure.
As the prefects all filed out Lily packed up her stuff and turned to him.
"You didn't have to lie to them, you know. I actually was thinking of a ball but you
said it first," she said bitterly.
"Look, Lily. I'm sorry. You just went on about all the rules and didn't let me get a word in edgewise. I wanted to make sure everyone knew I was going to put effort into this," he said hoping this would help.
"Like you knew what the rules for them were. You weren't a prefect."
'Yeah, but I asked Remus what was required of them. I have notes." He waved them in front of her.
She seemed to be fighting annoyance. "Okay, I concede. I'm going to back to the compartment." She walked down to the end of the train.
"See you at dinner," he called after her. Well, she hadn't been able to yell at him and he had proved, even it was to her annoyance, that he was responsible.
When Lily and James arrived at dinner they were both surprised to find out that there was actually a separate dormitory for the Head Boy and Girl. James was obviously rejoicing the extra time he would get to spend with Lily, while she was just as obviously dreading it.
Lily had quickly grabbed two seats empty seats on the Gryffindor table that were surrounded by people. There was no way James would be able to find room for himself and his friends near them. They were seated at the end of the table where a not surprising number of girls had congregated to sit near them. Sirius and James always seemed to attract attention even when they weren't doing anything. It was just another thing that seemed to irritate Lily.
"Tia, I would rather just sleep with the rest of you than spend anymore time with him. I won't get anything done there," Lily said looking up from her roast chicken and boiled potatoes.
Tia swung around quickly her curly hair flying with an incredulous look in her blue eyes telling Lily that she clearly thought her crazy. She held up her hand and started to tick off points.
"You have your own common room where you will not be disturbed by first years, you have your own bedroom that won't be littered with makeup from the other girls, and you have a place for me to completely relax without interference. James is only a minor detail, the pros outweigh the cons," she said her hands mimicking a balance.
It was true. James was Quidditch captain so he wouldn't be around for a few hours of the day for practices. During that time she would have the common room to herself and unlike in the library she would be able to eat while she worked and spread her work out on the table taking up as much as she wanted. It would be nice not having Madam Pince breathing down her neck all the time.
She could invite Tia up with her so she wouldn't be lonely. Merlin, that was another thing she was scared of. She didn't want to be alone anymore; she actually wanted to sit in the Gryffindor common room surrounded by all the traffic of students playing games, doing homework, and causing trouble. The common room had always been comforting because of the presence of people that surrounded her.
Tia seemed to be able to read her mind. "I'll be up there all the time for you. Don't worry. Believe me, if you're not in the Gryffindor dormitory I won't want to be and I can't have you studying without causing a little bit of trouble for you."
Lily smiled. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Tia seemed to be able to cause trouble wherever she went and most times it wasn't even on purpose. She was beautiful, confident and so friendly sometimes Lily didn't think she could possibly understand it. She had already made Lily promise to let her help with all events that the Prefects did this year because she was an excellent planner, knowing exactly what everyone would enjoy.
"Okay. You definitely have to spend all your free time with me though," Lily answered.
"How else am I going to study and get my notes?" she laughed.
The Head Dormitory turned out to be beautiful and well worth moving out of the Gryffindor Dormitory that had been home for six years. Her bedroom had a nice view of the Quidditch pitch, a big bed stuffed with down, there was a wardrobe and a desk provided just for her.
She and James shared a common room and a bathroom, both of which were equally as nice as her bedroom. Being Head Girl did have its perks. The workload this year was up from the year before because of NEWTs and Lily spent most of her time working which gave her little time to dwell on daydreams or memories.
James did spend a lot of time on the Quidditch pitch and that left her and Tia to enjoy the common room to themselves. When he didn't have Quidditch he seemed to actually spend time doing work, something that Lily thought was a miracle.
It took Lily a couple of weeks to notice that James was not in fact really working hard for that whole time. He seemed to spend most of his time staring at her.
"James, if you don't have work to do, why don't you go find your friends," said Lily exasperatedly. This had been going on for almost two weeks now and while she had tried to ignore it, it was unnerving.
"I am doing work, Lily," he said holding up his notes.
"You probably spend a total of fifteen minutes doing work, James. You spend most of the time staring at…," she left off.
It seemed really full of herself to say he was staring at her; she hated when girls imagined attention. Then again this was James Potter, he was always paying attention to her.
"You," he finished smiling.
Why wasn't he embarrassed he had been caught? He really had no shame at all.
"You noticed, so you must've been looking at me. Interested?" he asked mischievously.
"James," she said trying to sound disinterested instead of annoyed, "it would be pretty hard not to notice that you were staring at me. How do you get your grades? You never do work."
"Comes naturally, I guess," he shrugged.
He was so arrogant. Naturally, of course, because he was just that amazing. She had to work for her grades and he received his by doing almost nothing.
"No wonder your head is so big. It just absorbs information and keeps getting bigger," she said angrily shutting her notebook.
"Come on, Lily. I wasn't trying to get you mad. Look, if you ever want anyone to talk to, I'll be here. I…uhh…heard about your parents and all. I'm really sorry."
He had to go and bring that up. She had been blocking it out, working herself hard enough to forget it. She couldn't believe he was using that to get her to go out with him. He was even more of a jerk than she thought. He didn't really want her to talk to him he just wanted her to trust him so she would go out with him.
"That was low, Potter," she said stuffing the rest of her books in her bag and left the common room.
"That's not the way I meant it, Lily!" she could hear him yelling at her. She couldn't believe him. He was worse than Sirius Black. Sirius would break a girl's heart but at least he didn't bother the ones that were smart enough to stay away.
She went to the library. She would just bury herself in her work. She would dwell on how much of an idiot Potter was. She wouldn't let the memories come flooding back in, she couldn't. She wasn't going to break down in the middle of the hallway.
He was a toerag. He had a big head and she would never acknowledge him again for the rest of his life. She would ignore him…BANG.
Oh, God. She had just run into someone. She was sitting on the floor but the person still seemed to be standing.
"Do you need glasses?" a cultured voice asked her.
She looked up and there was Callie Rave standing up over her. Just what she needed to insult Tia's friend.
"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention," she said and found herself being hauled up.
"Thank you," she said wondering why the woman was so rude.
"Studying." It was a statement not a question. "The common rooms are ridiculous. You can't find any quiet there. The library is much better plus the books are easier to access," Callie said.
"Yes, and the library is miraculously Potter-free," she answered steadying herself and finding a table.
This time the woman did laugh and joined her. She was a year younger than herself but Callie exuded an elegance that became a woman. Her eyes held knowledge beyond their years.
"Thank the heavens you weren't saddled with Black. Potter likes you, he tries to stay on your good side."
Finally, someone who shared her opinion on the two troublemakers.
"Why do you hate Black so much?"
"Probably for the same reason you hate Potter. They are both obnoxious smartasses and because they are smarter than most get away with it."
Lily didn't want to say anything but she rather thought that Callie was like them. She didn't say anything, just began her work. Lily poured herself into her work and managed to actually get ahead, which was good because she had so many other duties now. She noticed, that Callie, on the other hand seemed to be taking out books that definitely did not fit a sixth year curriculum.
"What are you working on?" Lily asked peering over at the book.
"Research." She pulled out a necklace with a blue sapphire from her robes. "This has been in my family for years and I'm sure it has a protective charm on it. The problem is I don't know how to activate it. I'm trying to find out if there's any record of this particular necklace and different ways of activating the charms. The usual methods do not work."
This was advanced stuff, research work that was usually done by professionals. How was Tia friends with her? They were nothing alike.
"Research. The library here is exceptional," she said simply.
Lily checked her watch. It was late. "We should get going. Would you like me to walk you to your common room so that you don't get caught?" she offered.
"I don't need an escort. Thank you for the offer anyways," she said putting away her books and leaving.
It was pretty late and Lily wasn't back yet. He had been waiting in their common room for the past five hours and she still wasn't back. He hadn't meant to mention her parents; it was just that she was so mad at him. He wanted to show her that he would be here for her, that the reason he stared at her was because he cared. He was used to getting what he wanted and he had never wanted anything in his life as much as he wanted her.
Where was she? She had been gone for way too long. Hogwarts was probably the safest place in the world to be right now, but it still wasn't without its dangers. What if she had been coming back and had been hexed by some Slytherins? He was willing to bet his life some of them were Death Eaters already.
He would have to go find her that was all. He put his wand in the inside of his rooms and swung open the portrait hole. There was Lily, with her knapsack full of books coming in just now. She was fine and he had been sitting up waiting for her like a mother hen.
He grabbed her arm and pulled her inside. "Where were you?"
"None of your business," she said angrily pulling her arm away.
"It is my business. I'm the Head Boy and you were out after hours."
"Don't try to act all responsible now, James. What are you so upset about anyway?"
"I was waiting for you. You just storm off and who knows where you went or what could have happened to you!"
"I had a knapsack full of books. I wonder where I went," she said sarcastically.
"Do you read the papers? Have you see what has been going on the past three years? It's not safe when the corridors are empty."
"If anyone knows it's not safe, it's me. By the way, I don't need you or anyone to look out for me. There's nothing you would be able to do that I couldn't do alone," she said coldly going to her room and slamming the door.
He was worried about her. If she weren't so mad at him she would actually think it was kind of sweet. It would've been nice to know he actually cared about her safety if he wasn't so bigheaded that he believed that he would be able to protect her from everything. He was safe of course. Never mind that full-grown powerful wizards weren't able to protect themselves from what was going on these days.
What was with him anyway? Who waited up like a parent for someone to come back to a dorm? He would never deflate his head. He made her angry like no other person on earth. How could any of the girls that dated him possibly deal with it? How did they make it past the week that it took for him to dump them and not get rid of him first? They really must all be blind or something.
At least one thing was a constant in this universe; James was a prat and she would never like him. Lily laid her head back down on the pillow and smiled as she fell asleep.
James was in his room staring at the ceiling and thinking of a way to make this up to her. He would just have to learn to hide how much he wanted her. If he managed to hide how he felt he could become friends with her. That was his goal now to become friends with Lily. He could move on from there later.
He would tell her they had to start the Halloween ball and this would give him time to spend with her because they both had to plan it. He would show her how responsible and organized he could be. Those were two qualities she valued more than anything.
He would make sure he would charm her with jokes so she went to bed at night thinking of him, like he did of her. He couldn't randomly ask her out anymore or ask her anything personal. She would retaliate against that, but a slowly growing platonic relationship? She wouldn't be able to fight that. That was his next course of action.