"One more?" Sirius shouted down at Marlene, steadying himself as a particularly rough gust of wind almost sent him sideways on his broomstick.

They'd been outside for half an hour in the weak September sunshine. No-one had booked the Quidditch pitch in the middle of a Wednesday afternoon, and the Gryffindor beaters had been unable to pore over textbooks for much longer.

It also meant that they could practice without crowds of girls watching (mainly for Sirius, but some for Marlene) and interrupting their session or, worse, James inviting himself along to critique their technique.

They tried to do this once a week, just the two of them. They'd always found it a good way to clear their heads and get some fresh air when everything else felt like it was a bit much and, in their last year, they knew it would be more crucial than ever. It had been an unspoken rule over the past four years that when one of them came down to the Common Room in their Quidditch gear, the other would follow suit, no questions asked.

It was a strange thing, being paired up in Quidditch. Sirius and Marlene were never quite sure if other Beaters felt the same, but when you were on that pitch, you needed to be two halves of one brain and, often, one set of eyes. It meant that things could get intense between the pair very quickly, and that they had a clear method of communication. It was usually nonverbal after four years of practice, but when things went wrong, or got too close for comfort, it became explosive.

Neither of them were particularly aggressive people, there was just something about the way emotions ran on the Quidditch pitch that was completely removed from the rest of the world. You needed another half of you to back you up or pull you out of trouble. Sometimes, Sirius wasn't even sure James would get it if he tried to explain it.

But, as intense as it could be, Quidditch could be a great remedy for some things.

Sirius found that physically being above the world, up in the air, tended to give him a new perspective on whatever was bothering him. Not that he tended to have a lot of time to dwell during these sessions, what with the Bludger trying to take him out at every available opportunity and all.

Despite having lived with Prongs for the whole summer, he could feel that his body was reacting to Quidditch in a more sluggish way than usual – he was out of practice. He didn't quite feel like his body was his home at the moment.

It was like he'd had a second growth spurt over the summer, finally creeping closer to the six feet two he'd always dreamed. He'd never been gangly and goofy like James, or naturally svelte like Remus, but he'd been working on it. He'd been working out a lot in other ways – spending most days in the summer running or, much to James' amusement, swimming in the lido at Chiswick. He could feel his body had changed, and it had been confirmed when he'd overheard some third years swooning over his arms and broad shoulders at dinner the night before.

He just needed to get that Beater's arm back in action and he'd be laughing.

Marlene waved at him from down on the ground, her hazel eyes communicating with his grey ones to check he was ready for the release.

She'd changed over the summer too, Sirius had noticed. Her hair had been dyed a darker blonde and she was wearing it up more, which he knew was usually a sign of stress in his normally amiable Quidditch partner. If they were side by side, she was about half a foot off of his height, and lithe like an athlete. When she moved on the pitch, it was with the grace of a dancer and the ferocity of a firework.

Sirius had a strict rule that he couldn't fancy Marlene during the official Quidditch season, but, seeing as tryouts weren't for another week and a half, he'd settle on winding her up a bit more than usual just to see the skin around her eyes crinkle when she laughed.

And, of course, he'd check out her great arse as covertly as possible. It was the gentlemanly thing to do.

Her feet were currently planted firmly on either side of the box where they kept the Bludger, which was crashing into her ankles at every opportunity. She bent down and held her fingers up to count: three, two, one…

She gave it a helping thwack on its way up to Sirius before swinging a leg effortlessly over her own broom and racing to join him.

Sirius had been ready for the ball, and batted it back in Marlene's direction with his infamous underhand swing, propelling it into the atmosphere before it came colliding back down at speed.

The blonde laughed as she was forced to turn upside down to avoid the ball, diving for the floor. She practiced her backhand – not her strongest suit, even after all these years – and sent it back in the direction of the boy above her.

"Need to work on those wrist exercises, McKinnon!" Sirius guffawed as she shook out the tightness in her right hand.

"You offering, Black?" she teased, flying for the hoops at the end of the pitch.

He didn't answer, just kept grinning at her in that infuriating way of his, as he dodged the Bludger and challenged it to come back to him. It did, aiming squarely for his forehead. He hit it with all his might, sending it spiralling down the pitch, where Marlene was waiting eagerly.

The Bludger had gotten increasingly irate as their practice went on. A whistle from below signalled that the Hufflepuff captain, who had booked the team out for an unofficial session with their soon-to-be-Seeker, had arrived and that it was time to wrap up, but it wasn't proving easy.

After Marlene had taken a blow to the stomach, and Sirius several to the knees, they succeeded in wrestling the ball to the ground and – after Sirius lay flat on it and inched it forward with his full body weight – back into the box.

"Getting back into the swing of things, eh?" Bert MacMillan beamed at the pair, who were trying desperately to catch their breath.

"I wish" Marlene gasped "at this rate, we might be yours for the taking this year."

Bert winked at her, still smitten by their kiss at a party the year before, "don't worry, I won't tell your Captain. Have you met Amber Coutts? She's looking to be our Seeker this year."

Marlene beamed at the fifth-year, who she'd met at the first Hogwarts Herald meeting of the year the evening before. She'd assigned her a short piece on the gossip column about this week's feud between the Bloody Baron and Nearly Headless Nick. "Hi Amber, good to see you again."

"I don't think we've met" Sirius held out his hand to shake "Sirius Black."

Amber snorted to herself "I know who you are." She shook his hand anyway, so Sirius reckoned that it couldn't have been that bad a comment.

"Your reputation precedes you again, Black" Marlene laughed. "I'm not going to ask how or why" she assured the Hufflepuff "it's safer not to."

"Well, it's either the charm, the wit, my good looks, my ability to pull off a prank and still look devilishly sexy-"

Marlene saw a faint blush under Amber's bravado and held a hand over Sirius' mouth to shut him up. She knew that look on girls around Sirius, and it didn't tend to end well. She wasn't going to let him put his foot – or anything else – in it on the third day of term.

Not that he was like that, not as much as everyone thought he was, anyway.

"I think we've taken up enough of your practice time, Bert" she said warmly "good luck, Amber, and maybe we'll see you on the pitch soon."

Sirius removed Marlene's hand from his mouth: "yeah, and we'll try not to break your face when we do."

"I'd like to see you try" Bert called to the two Gryffindors as they walked away, carrying the boxed Bludger between them "she moves like a feckin' rocket!"

"I'll bet she does" Sirius muttered, for Marlene's ears only.

Marlene groaned "can you just keep it in your boxers, please? You do not have the spare time to get into whatever drama that situation is going to cause you."

Sirius was positively offended. "Oi, she could be the love of my life!"

Marlene raised an eyebrow. "Mhmmm."

He shot her a fiendish grin. "Are you jealous?"

"I'm too busy to be jealous, and you're too busy to be horny" she retorted, loading the box into the shed at the end of the pitch.

"I knew I'd wear you down eventually" he joked, slipping a casual arm around her shoulders as they walked back to the castle.

"Sirius, we both know you're not completely repulsive, you're just incredibly fucking annoying most of the time."

"I think that might be one of the nicest things you've ever said to me, McKinnon."

She didn't disagree.

***

James' palms were sweating.

He wasn't quite sure why. He'd never been this nervous before a Quidditch match or even when the Marauders had pulled off a particularly grandiose prank and, yet, here he was, stood outside the Head's office he was going to share with Lily, and rubbing his clammy hands on the front of his robes.

Taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open, and greeted the Head Girl with: "evening, Evans."

Lily, sat at one of the two desks in the room, barely looked up from the parchment in front of her "you're late, Potter."

"I am not!" James yelped in indignation "you said the meeting started at half seven! I'm fifteen minutes early."

"I told you to be here at seven so we could go over the plan for the meeting, James" Lily barely bothered to propel the sigh from her lips, which somehow made her disdain for him even worse. As if being disappointed by him was the default expectation, and she couldn't be bothered to make a big show of it anymore.

James took in the large office in front of him – the two desks sat on the back wall, one tucked in either corner. Lily had, predictably, started sticking up complicated scribbles on her side of the wall and had a jug of wildflowers on her desk, but his own looked lonely and a bit too academic for his liking. She'd lit the fire, which roared in front of three sofas, presumably for the Prefects to sit on when they came in. James vowed not to let Sirius know about the size of the office, for fear that he'd finally his lifetime dream of a threesome on the spacious sofas. All in all, it would be nice to have somewhere to come for a bit of peace and quiet.

Moving across to his own desk, James kicked back his chair and swivelled to face the Head Girl. "Okay, I'm sorry. We still have some time though, don't we? Can we go over some stuff now?"

"Fine" Lily snapped, spinning to face him. She unceremoniously dumped a pile of papers into his lap "these are the rotas for Prefects patrols for the next fortnight. I've cross-checked them across the pairs we've had before and made sure that Dolohov is paired with a pureblood that's sensible and obviously you and Remus aren't on for any full moons, so…"

"Obviousl-wait, what?"

Lily dismissed him with a flick of her hand and bulldozed through her agenda: "I was thinking if we keep them in these pairs for two weeks, we can then take stock and see what's working and what isn't. I also looked at the amount of house points that were given by Prefects last year, and reasons for them being taken away too, and I think we need some clearer rules about acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, so you and I have a meeting with McGonagall about that next week. Obviously, we'll have a ten minute QA at the end and give everyone a chance to speak about any issues that are impacting them, or any ideas for the Christmas Ball, and" she paused momentarily for breath "I think that's it."

James nodded slowly "oh-kaaaaaay. Um, what's left for me to do?"

Lily frowned "what do you mean?"

"Well, I mean, it's great that you've done all this work Lily – really, it's amazing, but this is a partnership. It would have been nice to have been consulted before you did all this, so we could set the agenda together."

"James" Lily let out a sharp, sarcastic laugh "you're not actually going to take this seriously, are you? Shouldn't you be teaching the Quidditch team how to pass a ball properly or something? Everyone knows that you think this is beneath you."

"I do not!" James was indignant "Dumbledore's given me a job to do, Lily, and I'm going to do it as best as I can, but I need you to let me in on this, or it's not going to work."

"It will work perfectly well if you just stay out of my way" Lily told him. "I've spent years planning how I can do some good as Head Girl, Potter, and your laziness and complete disdain for the rules are not going to stop me from making a difference at this school."

He wasn't quite sure how they'd both moved to be standing, but their bodies were suddenly very close together and he could almost feel the air between them vibrating with rage. "That's what this is about, is it?" he hissed "you running Hogwarts with an iron fist so that it becomes the Lily show and everyone hates you for your schedules and rules? We're teenagers, Lily, you have to let people live a little for Merlin's sakes!"

If he saw Lily flinch at the insult, he didn't react. The problem with insulting Lily was that it just made her more spiteful: "what's the matter, Potter?" she snarled "worried that it will stop being the Marauders' show and all of a sudden you'll realise you're actually nothing special at all? You don't deserve to be remembered in the footnotes of Hogwarts history as Head Boy – it's an insult to all of the people who have worked hard to clean up your messes over the years, Remus included."

"Don't you dare bring Remus into this" James warned the redhead "this is between you and me, Evans, and you can't tell me I'm a shit Head Boy without giving me a chance."

"What's the point?" Lily threw up her hands in exasperation "you'll just skate through and do a great job without putting in any effort or doing any preparation whatsoever, just like you always fucking do and everyone will talk about you like you're the best thing since sliced bread."

"Then let me actually try" he pleaded "please, Lily, let me run next week's meeting, and I'll run the committee for the Christmas Ball. If the patrolling timetables don't work, I'll re-do them, but I need you to let me play the game here."

Lily shook her head. It had been a long day already and they had to survive this meeting without killing each other in front of the Prefects. "The Prefects need a Head Boy and Girl who are on the same page. We're never on the same page, Potter, and any time we are you use it as an excuse to humiliate me or try and get in my knickers."

James' voice softened "that's not true, Lily. I think you're brilliant, and I'm sorry if I make you feel like your opinion only matters when it matches mine. That's not what being a good leader's about and, if we're not at least presenting a united front, the Prefects will use it as an excuse to be arseholes and rule the roost."

"Is that what you teach them in Quidditch?"

"It is, actually" James smiled ruefully. "You should see Marlene and Sirius when they're on one – they're absolute terrors."

Despite herself, Lily let out a small smile. "I still remember the fight they had in the Common Room after the Ravenclaw semi-final in fourth year. I don't think they talked to each other for three weeks afterwards."

"They bloody well did when I put them in a room, confiscated their wands and made them talk about it" James told her. "Look, Lily, I'm not very good at the admin stuff, but I am good with people, okay? I'd like to learn the other side of it so that we can be the best Heads that Hogwarts has ever seen. Please let me help."

"Will you put as much effort into it as you do into Quidditch?"

James hesitated "I can match the time I put in, but I can't promise I'll be as enthusiastic about it."

"And we'll present a united front for the Prefects?"

"Where we can. If I disagree with you, I'll do it constructively and respectfully. If we need to, we can always put stuff to a vote."

Lily bit the inside of her cheek so that her face didn't betray the shock she felt at Potter's newfound diplomacy. She tried one last tack: "and you won't try and get into my knickers this year?"

The boy in front of her let out a heavy sigh "Evans, I'm not making any promises. If by some miracle, you fall madly in love with me this year, then of course I'm not going to say no, but if you're asking me if I'm going to pursue you, the answer's no. I don't have the time and you've made it crystal clear that you despise me, but I hope we can be friends."

"Fine" Lily said coolly.

Looking at the clock on the wall, she turned back to the matter at hand: "You can hand out the timetables when everyone sits down and I'll let you lead the discussion about the Christmas Ball tonight. If it goes well, we can pitch to McGonagall that you'll head up the committee when we see her next week."

"And the timetables?" James persisted.

"If they don't work, we'll re-do them together" Lily conceded "I've got the knowledge about who should and shouldn't be put together, but it wouldn't hurt you to actually do some writing for a change."

"Thank you. And I'm sorry for shouting at you."

"I'm sorry for shouting, too" Lily admitted "I meant every word of it, but I shouldn't have yelled."

"You've got some lungs on you, Evans" James snickered "maybe there's a spot for you as Quidditch commentator this year?"

"Shut up, Potter, and get the schedules ready."

With a knock at the door, the first Prefect arrived, and the legacy of Lily Evans and James Potter as Head Girl and Boy at Hogwarts officially began.

Whether or not they'd kill one another before the end of the year, though, was a completely different matter.