"Parker! Cohen! Wait up!" Rain and Tina turned at the sound of someone calling their names. Claire turned to look as well, even though her name hadn't been called, because she was used to being forgotten about when she was with her friends. Rain and Tina rolled their eyes together at the sight of Sirius, Remus and Peter coming toward them.
"What do you three want?" Tina asked, hands on her hips. She looked behind them for James, but he wasn't there. "And where's the other oh-so-annoying one?"
"Yeah, doesn't every circus need their ringleader?" Rain said, smirking.
"Let's go somewhere less…crowded," Sirius said, motioning to the Hogwarts Express. They were on Platform 9 3/4, and they were being jostled and pushed around by other students and their families.
The girls looked at each other, eyebrows raised, but followed the boys onto the train suspiciously. They walked all the way to the back of the train and entered an empty compartment. Remus closed the doors behind the girls. Tina and Rain stood beside each other, but Claire sat down on a seat. Sirius and Remus also sat down, and the jittery Peter followed their example and sat, too.
"Take a seat, ladies," Sirius said, motioning for Tina and Rain to take the seats across from them. "We have business to discuss, and this could take a while." Reluctantly, the girls sat beside Claire. "Atta girls. Now, down to business."
"Drop the act, Black," said Rain, crossing her arms over her chest. "Just tell us what you want so we can find a separate compartment, away from you guys."
"What act?" asked Sirius, placing his hand over his heart dramatically. All three girls rolled their eyes at him. "But seriously. Remus and I---" Peter cleared his throat, and Sirius looked at him irritably. "Okay, me, Remus and Peter here have been thinking…"
"That's dangerous," Tina said, and Rain laughed. Even Claire smiled a little. "Did it hurt?"
"What Sirius is trying and failing to say is, we've decided that we should get James and Evans together," Remus said while Sirius huffed in annoyance at Tina's remark. "They've been fighting since day one, and to be truthful, we're getting kind of tired of it."
"Well, we are too, actually," Rain admitted reluctantly, looking at Tina and Claire, who both nodded in agreement.
"We've decided that, with your help, we might be able to pull it off before the year's over," Remus continued. "We just need help planning what to do, and then of course executing the plan. We've been trying to work something out all summer but we haven't come up with anything good yet."
"Where is James, anyway?" Tina asked.
"In the Heads' compartment of course," Sirius said smugly. He and the other boys grinned at the girls' shocked looks.
"So the rumours I heard were true?" gasped Tina, and Rain's mouth dropped open. "You've got to be joking! How could James Potter be Head Boy? He wasn't even a prefect!"
(----Meanwhile, in the Heads' compartment…----)
"You! What are you doing here?" shouted Lily, her hands automatically balling into fists at the sight of James Potter.
James whirled around to see (one of) his least favourite people standing in the doorway to the Heads' compartment. He glared at her. "I'm here because I have to be. I'm Head Boy this year, you know."
"What? The rumours were true?" she gasped, staring at him.
He smirked. "I guess we're going to be working together this year. We're going to be seeing a lot of each other, eh?"
"That's what I'm afraid of!"
His smirk faded. "Why are you like that, Evans?"
"Like what, Potter?"
"You can't even be happy for me once!"
She stared at him. "Why on earth would I be happy for you, Potter? Have you forgotten that I don't like you? Sometimes I think you're blonde under all of that messy black hair of yours!" I'm sorry, Tina, she apologized silently, knowing how angry that comment would have made her blonde friend. (A/N: Also sorry to all of the blondes reading this; I don't mean to offend you.)
"Ah, Evans, your words hurt me," he mocked, pouting. She rolled her eyes. "Don't you roll your eyes at me."
"You sound like my mother when you say that," she snapped. "And that's not a compliment, either."
"Come on, Evans, lighten up already! You're so uptight. It's no wonder you were chosen for Head Girl."
This time it was her turn to smirk at him. "Is that why you made Head Boy then? Or have you forgotten already?"
James stared at her, his mouth open, absolutely at a loss for words, for the first time in his life. She was NOT supposed to have that kind of power over him! He fumbled around for something to say. "Oh yeah? Well…you're stupid!"
She laughed in his face. "You sound like a three year old, Potter! Oops, I forgot; you have the intelligence of exactly that age range!"
His eyes flashed, and his grip on his wand (which was in his robe pocket, out of her vision) tightened so that his knuckles turned white. The two of them glared daggers at each other, James fighting to think of something to say in response to that. Usually he could come up with a comeback in nothing flat, without even having to really think about it, but Lily was starting to get good at this catty responses thing. She used to sulk and get angry, but she usually stayed silent. But now…she was better at this than he was! It was ridiculous, that's what it was.
"What's wrong, Potter? Cat got your tongue?" she said smugly, crossing her arms over her chest.
"More like a three headed dog," was his reply.
"What did you just say?"
"I said, 'more like a three headed dog,'" he repeated, gaining ground in the fight finally. "Meaning, you have the likeness to a three headed dog."
"Why you---"
"Miss Evans! Mr. Potter!" They both whirled around to see Professor McGonagall standing, hands on hips, in the doorway, tapping her foot. "I cannot believe the two of you! I told the headmaster that I was doubtful that the two of you would be able to work together, but he assured me that he'd made the right decision in assigning the two of you to the Heads' positions. Do not make him regret his choice!"
They both hung their heads, ashamed and appropriately chastised. When McGonagall wasn't looking, Lily glared full heartedly at James, who glared right back.
(Back with Rain, Tina, Claire, Remus, Sirius, and Peter….)
"I'm not saying that getting Potter to be nice to Lily is a bad idea or anything," said Tina slowly, after listening to Sirius's latest plan, "it's just, I thought he hated her as much as she hates him. If that's true, how are you going to get him to be nice to her?"
"Ah, good point," Sirius said, scratching his head while he thought.
"What if we put a spell on one of them?" asked Sirius excitedly. "A spell that would…. oh, I dunno…. a love spell! Or something."
"No, because then it wouldn't be true love," Tina told him, and he sank back against his seat. "This is getting ridiculous. We're supposed to be able to think of a plan right away, because that's what would happen in the movies---" There were several confused looks; Tina was Muggle-born, and often forgot that the others weren't. "Okay, bad example. But you get my point."
"I suppose just making them spend a lot of time together isn't going to cut it," Rain said gloomily. She was starting to get a little depressed; they'd been thinking up ideas for what seemed like forever now, and yet every time someone thought of something, someone else thought of how that plan wouldn't work. They were running out of ideas.
Just then a look of brilliance appeared on Claire's face. Smiling, she declared, "I've an idea!"
