Author's notes: Okay, I think it'd be a good idea to go ahead to the seventh year. I'll do my best to account for the sixth year, though! Okay, this chappy is prolly gonna be just as long as the last one, so bear with me! Anyways… lol, Read Review & Enjoy!

Legal Disclaimer: See Prologue.

Summary of Legal Disclaimer: I own nothing affiliated with Harry Potter, but this story line and original characters. Don't sue me, please. Do not copy any part of my story without permission and if this story appears anywhere but on FanFiction dot net,please understand thatI will not hesitate tocontact a lawyer. Yes, it has happened before. Thank you.

This chapter is dedicated to Amy, who's review made me downright giddy. Thanks!

Chapter one:

The Seventh Year Begins

Lily Evans woke up on the morning of September first, more than a year later. It was the morning before she would begin her seventh year at Hogwarts. On the nightstand next to her bed there laid a letter from Hogwarts, congratulating her on becoming Head Girl. Lily had to admit that this surprised her greatly. She had always assumed that Charity would make Head Girl before she would, but then again, Charity was awfully busy enough with her tiresome schedule and already overwhelming Prefect duties. Lily had sent an owl to Charity upon receiving this letter and received a reply soon afterwards.

Lily,

I'm so happy for you! You deserve it. When do you want to meet in Diagon Alley for school shopping? Send me a date back and I'll meet you whenever you want. We have to celebrate our total control over the school! I'm just joking! Anyways, I hope you've been all right since I've last seen you, and don't worry, this year will be the best yet, I know it! I've just had another owl, so I'll talk to you soon! Congrats again, honey.

Love,

Charity

Lily had a shrewd idea who this owl was from, and her suspicions were confirmed when she met Charity in Diagon Alley for school shopping a week later. Sirius Black and James Potter were waiting for them in front of Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions when they arrived. This greatly displeased Lily, who spent the rest of the shopping trip trying to hold conversation with Charity and Sirius (who were quite keen on keeping their conversations between the two f them), while being ignored by James. This wasn't entirely surprising, seeing as how James had ignored Lily the whole year last year. The only time James had actually made eye contact with her for more than two seconds was when Charity announced to the two boys Lily had gotten Head Girl. He's probably worried that I'll give him detentions now, she thought nastily.

Lily couldn't remain angry at Sirius or Charity for letting James come along for long. She found out soon that Sirius was living with James. This wasn't a total shock, for it was widely known that most of the Blacks did not claim Sirius as part of their family. Lily was fairly sure, however, that if she were Sirius, she would not want to be claimed by them.

Lily stared at herself in the bathroom mirror. Her auburn hair had grown quite a bit over the summer and she had to admit she was very pleased. She found herself thinking how most boys in her year liked long hair on girls, especially James Potter.

Lily shook her head, trying to clear him from her mind. She had avoided thinking about James for a while - ever since that day… The last school year had been a total disaster.

James had been right about Sirius. He fell for Charity. Hard. It was as if the two of them traded personalities or something. Sirius was no longer the boy who had five girlfriends, but the boy who loved Charity. The boy who seemed to have more or less become Prince Charming.

Charity had spent countless hours complaining about the attention Sirius was giving her, and Lily couldn't help but feel that it sounded all to familiar. Only Charity seemed to have been enjoying it much more than Lily had.

After the day in Diagon Alley, however, Charity seemed to have forgotten Sirius was bothering her. Now all she talked about was how handsome he was and how sweet he was, how much he'd changed and how much she thought about him.

Lily couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy at Charity's words. I felt that way about James, she would think bitterly, for about a week.

But after that week, all of a sudden, James had forgotten his five-year obsession with Lily. The last year at Hogwarts had proved that. James barely spoke to Lily all year, although she had caught him staring at her intently on several occasions. He just… gave up. It was as if she was just some girl he'd never talked to before, much less the girl whom he had spent six weeks trying to kiss in their first year. She especially wasn't the girl he had serenaded in the Gryffindor common room during their fourth year with a song he, himself, had composed. Lily found it remarkable that he could just pretend as though he had never wanted anything to do with her. This was a bit more bothersome to her than she was willing to admit. She often thought of that day he had been torturing Snape. She had found out since then that Snape had made it a habit of speaking ill of Lily around James just to entice him. And the thing that struck her most was that it had worked.

After that day, she had began to think of him differently… She placed a hand on her cheek, remembering, and she smiled…

So why, why, WHY was James pretending as though he couldn't see her anymore? Perhaps she had been right all along in thinking he was only after her for the chase? That the only reason he pursued her was because he knew he couldn't have her? That when she decided to be his friend, there was no challenge anymore?

If that was correct, she should have felt happy that he'd finally given up on landing her. But…

But I'm not happy. I'm miserable. There has to be some other reason for it. There has to be.

Lily brushed out her long hair and put a smidge of mascara on her long eyelashes fringing her deep, emerald eyes. She observed herself in the mirror. The dips and curves of her seventeen-year-old body, the way she looked when she smiled. She couldn't help but wonder if James thought she was attractive…

Stop it, she told herself, you DO NOT care what he thinks about you. He's a git. Forget him… the same way he's forgotten you.

Lily walked out of her bathroom and pulled out a pair of blue jeans and a pale yellow hooded jumper. After dressing, she found a pair of flip-flops and proceeded down to breakfast at her mother's call.

James Potter blinked as the sun streaming into his bedroom blinded him. He sat up looking around for a shirt to throw on and spotted his Head Boy badge that had came with his Hogwarts letter. He found out that Lily, sweet Lily, was going to be Head Girl on his trip to Diagon Alley with Sirius. He had not told her that he was her male counterpart. He had not told her much of anything since the end of their fifth year together.

He remembered that day as vividly as if it were just last night. He remembered how angry she was with him, how she had suddenly looked at him differently, how she had let him call her 'Lily'… He remembered how he had kissed her cheek as he left her outside the hospital wing.

He remembered Sirius coming in that night after curfew because Charity had kept him on the grounds, cussing her to hell and back. He remembered how he had told Sirius then that it was over, that he'd had enough of chasing Lily.

"She doesn't want me. She's too good for me anyways, and I just don't know what else to do, Padfoot", he'd finished looking thoroughly defeated.

"You seemed to be having much better luck today, though! I would've thought that'd give you fuel for another twenty years", he said, startled.

"Used to it would have, but not after today. I'll never forget the way she looked at me, mate. I don't want to see her angry with me anymore. I'm going to give her what she wants."

"She wants you to stop acting like an arrogant git every time you see her! Are you bloody stupid?"

"Maybe I am!", James started angrily, "But I know that she might be my friend now, and I don't want to ruin it! I CAN'T ruin this!"

"Prongs", Sirius started, quite unabashed, "you've got to let her know that you love her. You can't let her think you just want to shag her mate! With our reputations, I wouldn't be surprised if that's why she's been rejecting you for so long!"

James blinked. "I don't know. Is my reputation really that bad?"

Sirius grinned. "Almost as bad as mine. But Lily's not stupid. She's had to have realized that you haven't gone out with anyone since we were in third year!"

"I think she's been to busy hating me to notice my social life, Padfoot."

"Look, if Lily's worth it to you, let her know. She's special. I mean, she has to be special, lookit who she's friends with! That hateful little bat-out-of-hell… bloody wretch… bounced me around the Quidditch pitch for an hour! An hour I tell you! My ass is killing me…"

Right on cue, Charity came through the portrait hole entrance of Gryffindor tower. Rather than looking disgruntled, as James thought she would have, she threw a cheeky smile at Sirius who scowled at her until she disappeared up the stair to the girl's dormitories.

James saw that a smile tugged on the corners of Sirius's mouth right after she vanished. "Hypocrit", James muttered, smiling.

"What!". Sirius asked.

James leaned forward, " You torture her specifically because you want her."

"Hey now, I've only tortured her specifically a couple… a few… okay, okay, a load of times, but… "

"But nothing!" James said, grinning, "You look around for her! You always make the biggest commotion when she's around, and I know it's not because you like McGonagall's detentions, either."

Sirius stared at James, sputtering. "I… no, you… but she's… you… shut-… wrong…"

He stopped. "You know, Prongs? I reckon you may have a point."

James smiled sadly. "I know I do. You're treating her like I treated Lily."

Sirius's look sobered as he spoke. "I am, aren't I… So, Prongs, why're you giving up on Lily again?"

"Because. Lily's finally shown signs of not hating me anymore and I'm not going to screw it up! I'm going to leave her alone like she wants. I'm tired of having her despise me."

And that had been that. Ever since that night, he had given up on Lily Evans. This year, though, THIS YEAR he would have her or lose her forever. He had come to the decision that he would finally heed Sirius's advice: you've got to let her know that you love her.

In his mind James had a huge, elaborate plan which involved he and Lily on Head rounds, getting down on one knee and confessing his love to her while the whole school popped out of doors in the hallway and applauded.

Just as he was imagining Professor Dumbledore posing as a priest and marrying them in the Great Hall, something very heavy struck James in his stomach.

"Oufff…"

"Rise and shine", the something very heavy sang, "We have to make sure we're on time this year, Mr. Head Boy, Quidditch Captain, and soon-to-be best friend of the guy with the best looking girlfriend in the school!"

James opened his eyes and grinned at Sirius, his new housemate. "This enthusiasm wouldn't happen to have anything to do with getting to see Charity, would it?"

Sirius looked at James in mock-offense. "What ever do you mean by that? I'm simply anxious to set 'Operation: Get Charity to talk to Lily for James so I can be the hero' in action!"

"So, you really think Charity will talk to her?" James asked hopefully.

"Of course she will! She told me the other day that Lily was wondering why you don't talk to her anymore and sounded disappointed."

James looked up. "I do too talk to her! I just don't talk to her unless I have to! Like she bloody well wanted!"

Sirius laughed. "Well, mate, you'd better think of some more stuff to say to her, because she thinks you're ignoring her on purpose… or at least that's what Charity thinks she thinks… I think."

James threw his pillow at Sirius, knocking him off the end of his bed. "Shut up, you. I'm gonna get dressed, then we'll go."

Sirius got up, laughing. "Okay, I'm going to finish packing."

He walked off as James dug through his drawers for a pair of jeans, but stopped.

"Hey, Prongs?"

"Yeah?"

"What'd you think Lily'll say when she finds out you're Head Boy?"

James thought for a moment, debating whether or not to tell him the truth. "I haven't really thought about it", he lied.

He'd actually thought about it quite a lot, but all of the scenarios he'd devised involved the privacy of the Head's Compartment on the Hogwarts Express and Lily wasn't saying things as much as she was whispering sweet nothings into James's ears.

Sirius shrugged. "Guess we'll find out", and left.

Yeah, James thought, we'll find out.

As he pulled on his jeans and a tight fitting black t-shirt, James looked across his room to the full-length mirror, picturing Lily sitting beside him. He wiped a bit of sleep out of his hazel eyes, causing the fantasy in his mirror to disappear.

Shaking his head, he took one last look in the mirror before steeling himself for the day ahead.

Charity Miller was standing alone on platform 9 ¾ waiting for Lily to show up.

Head Girl and she still can't show up on time, she thought, smiling.

Charity brushed a stray tendril of long blond hair out of her eyes, looking around for the other person she was hoping to see soon.

A smile crept across her face as she heard him yelling through the barrier to the platform.

"GET OUTTA MY WAY PRONGS! I'M IN A BLOODY HURRY!"

She giggled as she heard James Potter, also known as Prongs, laugh at the voice. "You think you'll dry up and die if you have to wait an extra thirty seconds, Padfoot?"

The voice, however, had no time to answer, as the two of them toppled through the barrier on top of one another.

Charity laughed as the voice, also known as Sirius Black, spotted her and rushed forward. She waited with her arms out and welcomed his embrace as he swung her around, kissing her fervently.

"Whoa, now, honey! You're going to suffocate me."

He laughed, and loosened his grip on her waist, giving her one last, much calmer kiss.

"How have you been, love?", he asked.

Charity, noticing a group of girls sending scathing looks her way, raised a middle finger to them before answering.

"I'm better now. How's life at the Potters'?"

"Fantastic! There isn't anything black or Dark there but the inside of the chimney."

"I'm so glad you got away from that horrible, horrible place, Sirius", Charity said earnestly.

Sirius smiled down at her. "I'm just glad I'm with you now."

James watched as Charity stood on her tiptoes and kissed Sirius on the lips as Remus Lupin appeared beside him.

"They're positively disgusting, aren't they?" Remus said, smiling.

James nodded in agreement. "Yeah. So, what's been going on Moony? Mad at me? Jealous?" he said, grinning widely, knowing for certain Remus was none of those things.

Remus laughed. "Mad at you? For what? Oh, yes, for becoming Head Boy? Of course not! I think it's rather funny, actually. Dumbledore has lost his mind", he laughed harder. "Don't worry, though, I'll help you out. I know you must be terrified of what the Slytherins are going to do to you."

James felt his smile falter for a moment. That's a disturbing thought.

Just then, a familiar voice pulled James form his thoughts.

"Charity!"

Charity whipped around and out of Sirius's arms, positively bouncing with joy. "Lils!"

The two girls embraced and proceeded to make, in James's opinion, an absurd amount of noise, chattering and squealing as though they hadn't seen one another only a week ago. He smiled in spite of himself. The mere thought of Lily could bring a smile to his face. He was staring at her when she turned and caught his eye, embarrassed, as though she hadn't wanted him to see her look his way.

She blushed and he attempted what he hoped was a friendly smile. Lily looked as though she was more confused when she saw this than she had been in a long time. She immediately turned to Charity, muttered something to about going to the Heads Compartment, and positively scurried away.

Charity looked around and saw James standing alone and staring after Lily. Her heart went out to him, but she felt she owed her allegiance to Lily more. After all, James had just stopped acting like.. well, like 'James'. He no longer treated Lily like he had feelings for her, and after that afternoon in their fifth year, which Charity had heard about in excruciating detail, she felt he ought to have been beaten for leading Lily on the way he had. Sirius swore up and down that James wasn't trying to lead Lily anywhere, and that he loved her but was tired of rejection. She had to admit it made sense, but Lily's theory that James simply wanted what he couldn't have sound a lot more likely.

Charity looked around at James again and discovered he was gone, although Sirius and Remus were still standing nearby on the Platform.

"Hey, Black" Charity said.

"Black?" Sirius replied, "What's with this 'Black' business, Miller ?"

Charity laughed. "Sorry, love.. It's just, where'd James go?"

Sirius looked guilty. "He, uh, he went to the Heads' compartment."

Charity raised a perfectly groomed eyebrow, "And why would he go there without Remus?"

But it was Remus who spoke instead of Sirius. "Because I'm not Head Boy. James is."

Charity felt as though her head would explode. Lily… close confines… James… murder…

"What!" she screeched. "How could you have not told me it was James, Sirius? What's the matter with you?"

Sirius reddened. "Does it matter, really?"

"Yes!" Charity yelled, temper rising dangerously. "Do you have any idea how furious Lily's going to be that you two didn't tell her a week ago? She's in there expecting Remus who she gets on well with, not James who gives her a rash whenever he in a mile radius of her!"

Sirius looked at her meekly, willing her to calm down with his eyes. "Charity, how bad could it be?"

Lily knocked on the Heads' compartment at the front of the train. "Come in", a stern voice answered.

"Miss Evans, nice to see you", Professor McGonagall said, "Please sit down. We're waiting for Mr. – ah, yes, I believe I hear him coming now."

Lily turned towards the door waiting for Remus to walk through it. But Remus never did. Instead it was –

"James!" Lily exclaimed, aghast. This must be a joke. There's no way.

"Mr. Potter, so nice of you to join us, please have a seat next to Miss Evans."

James looked at Lily and noticed that the look on her face was not disappointment, but sheer horror.

Professor McGonagall seemed not to have noticed anything amiss for she continued on. "First of all, congratulations on becoming Head Boy and Girl. I know it must have came as a shock to the both of you, having never been Prefects, but Professor Dumbledore feels, and I must say I agree, that both of you have shown remarkable moral fiber over the past six years, yes, even you Mr. Potter, and will make a wonderful team."

She paused, looking down her nose through her spectacles at them.

"I know that the two of you have had differences, but both being members of Gryffindor House, my house, you two have seemed to overcome them. I believe that people who overcome major obstacles, especially personal ones, make the best leaders."

Lily felt guilty indeed as McGonagall spoke. She had not overcome any obstacles connected to James Potter, she had merely replaced old differences with new, albeit less noticeable, grudges.

"I'd like to say how proud I am to have both the Heads in my house this year."

She took a long look at each of them. James inclined his head and mumbled a 'thank you', but Lily's tongue was glued to the roof of her mouth, it seemed.

"Now, onto duties. You will give out passwords and instructions to the Prefects awaiting you in their compartment, two doors down and to the left of this one when you leave, and patrol the corridors every half hour. You will sit in you own compartment, across the hall from this one. I will come by in two hours time with a Patrol Schedule and directions to the Heads' office you will be sharing – Yes, Miss Evans?"

"'Heads' Office', Professor?"

"Its something like the common room in your tower where you two will put together the Prefects' patrol schedules, organize the Hogsmede trips, hold the Quarterly Meetings with the Prefects, the first of which is next Monday evening, and where you'll be planning this year's Christmas Ball. Any other questions?"

Lily shook her head. "No Ma'am."

"Excellent," she said, "Now your curfew will be 2 AM and not a minute later unless you're patrolling and you'll be in charge of all the Prefects."

She stopped for a moment before turning to James.

"Now, Potter, I'm going to want a word with you about the Quidditch team this year. Is Black still playing Keeper?"

James nodded.

"Good. Keep him there. As you know there are now three spots open on the team, two chasers and one beater. I will be in touch with you sometimes during this week with a list of names of people who wish to try for the positions and you can set up try-outs at your leisure, same as last year."

James grinned. "I remember Professor. We'll be sure to win the cup this year. Sirius is fantastic and I've gotten a bit better, I think. If the Chasers are even half as good as last year's we'll be a shoe-in."

Lily glanced at James. I can't remember him ever complementing someone else before him. Come to think of it, I've never heard him compliment anyone else, she thought.

"Well, that's good to hear Potter. I've grown accustomed to seeing that cup in my office the past five years. Let's make it six, shall we?" she smiled as James nodded again. "Good", she said. "Then here are the passwords. Again, I'll be by you compartment soon to give you the directions and the schedules. I advise you spend the time in between to get to know one another better, for you'll be spending obscene amounts of time together."

Lily reluctantly took the envelopes holding the two sets passwords and the directions to be given to the Prefects from her outstretched hand and gave a copy of each of them to James. James tried to catch her eye, but Lily wasn't having it.

"Off you go", McGonagall said and hunched over her paperwork once more as if they were already gone. James sidestepped Lily and opened the door for her. She looked at him and mumbled a 'thank you' as they walked the few steps to the Prefect compartment.

Lily opened the door and noticed Charity looked extremely nervous and jumped when Lily walked in. Remus, however, looked highly amused as he looked at James and said, "Prongs", inclining his head in greeting.

Lily was fighting to keep her anger down as James winked at Remus.

"Okay everyone," James said," I'm James Potter", a few girls sighed, "and I'm Head Boy this year. This is Lily Evans who is Head Girl. These", he held up his hand with the envelopes in them. "are the passwords to your Houses. We'll be giving you your patrol schedules as soon as possible, so don't worry about it. Also, there is a Quarterly Meeting next Monday, which you are all expected to attend, no exceptions, and we'll be in touch with you all again to give you directions. If any of you have questions as to what the 'Quarterly Meeting' is, ask Remus or Charity here, and I'm sure they'll be glad to inform you. Lily?"

Lily did not hear him. She was thinking too hard. She had never heard James address a group of people without making a fool out of himself before. Did he just make a fool out of himself in front of me? To embarrass me or something?, she thought.

"Lily?"

She looked up at James who was staring at her oddly. "Huh?"

"Do you have anything you want to say?" he asked. She looked into his eyes, and he seemed to realize that he was looking back for he turned away quickly and smiled at a fifth year Ravenclaw girl who was making googley eyes at him. Lily flushed.

"Oh, yes, we're both in Gryffindor if any of you have any questions for us. You'll be expected to patrol the hall every so often and you're allowed to take house points and assign detentions as well. You are not allowed to abuse this, however, and if you are found to be doing so, you'll be stripped of your position immediately. Also, any major disturbances, such as severe physical injuries and such should be reported to either one of us or Professor McGonagall immediately. Our compartment is two up and to the right of here and McGonagall's is across the way from our's. When we're finished in here, you can go and sit with your friends as well."

She looked at James quizzically, wondering if she had left anything out. It didn't appear so, for he said, "Alright then? Any questions? No? Well, see you all later."

Lily turned to leave, but someone caught her hand. Her fist balled by instinct as she turned to whom she thought was James Potter.

But it was Charity.

"Hey, you okay?" she asked.

"Did you know?" Lily demanded. There was no need to clarify.

"No, I swear Lily I didn't. I let Sirius have it though. He knew and didn't tell me on purpose."

Lily surveyed Charity and decided she was telling the truth, for she looked every bit as angry as Lily felt. "Okay", she sighed, "I know. I'm sorry to snap at you, but you have no idea how badly I wanted to scream when I saw him walk in McGonagall's compartment. What was Dumbledore thinking?"

Charity shrugged. "Lil, don't worry. It may not be as bad as you think, you know?"

"I hope not. I really hope not."

Charity threw her a sympathetic smile and walked out of the compartment, no doubt, to go meet Sirius and the rest of her friends. Lily stood in the empty compartment for a few minutes trying to regain her composure before she ventured into the Heads' compartment where she would be forced to sit alone with James Potter for the remainder of what promised to be a very long day.

Okay, that's it! Please, please review! I'm very fond of this story, and already have the whole thing mapped out, ready to go... I'd hate to see all my planning wasted for a lack of feedback (... yes, I know, I'm pathetic playing the pity card, but I shall do it regardles, lol. Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter. I will reply to your reviews on the review board due to a new rule on the site. Thanks so much you guys! Please Review!

BrittanyRose, the original 'Fleur'