Chapter 2.

Hogwarts never looked better than the first day of term, Lily mused to herself as she sat at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, watching the Sorting Ceremony. The Hogwarts banners hung proudly from the ceiling, which was bewitched and filled with stars tonight. As soon as Dumbledore's speech was over, she was able to tuck in to a marvellous feast with her friends Alice and Marlene. She looked around her, taking in the fine scenery with an air of nostalgia, as this was her last year. As she looked round the room, her gaze momentarily paused on the group of Marauders, as they liked to call themselves, who were watching James do an impression of Professor Slughorn, holding some Pumpkin juice. His impression was rather good and made Lily laugh out loud, at which point Sirius turned to see who was laughing and caught her eye with a devilish grin. She immediately turned away, to see that she was being watched by Severus, who looked even more angry than usual. Sighing, Lily turned her attention back to Alice and Marlene, who were discussing Alice's boyfriend Frank, who had left Hogwarts last year.

Halfway through the feast, Lily noticed the Marauders had mysteriously disappeared, until she felt a tap on her shoulder and looked up to see James.

"Alice, Marlene, Evans, may I join you?" he smiled.

Alice and Marlene exchanged glances, knowing full well the past consequences of James' efforts to get Lily to go out with him. But to their surprise, Lily smiled back and replied "Sure, where have your pals gone?".

"Back to the dorm I presume, I said I wanted to wait here" replied James.

Lily's brow furrowed. "For me?" she asked.

"Yes Evans, haven't you forgotten? Heads meeting with McGonagall in five minutes".

Lily blinked. She had totally forgotten. And it was unlike James to remember a meeting with a Professor. Nevertheless, Lily excused herself from her friends, who started giggling the minute she left with James.

"Well done for remembering about the meeting Potter" Lily remarked, just as they were exiting the Great Hall.

"Evans, I told you, I'm taking my duty seriously this year" he smiled "well, mostly".

Lily smiled back. She was still slightly sceptical about this 'new James' but was willing to go with it.

"Anyway Evans, I just wanted to talk to you for a moment before we get interrogated by McGonagall" James suddenly looked a little nervous, but Lily let him carry on. "My whole family have always had respect for Dumbledore, and I do too which is why I want to make sure I don't disappoint him. But I also wanted to apologise to you Evans. I realise I've not exactly made life easy for you recently at Hogwarts, and what with everything going on with Voldemort" – Lily shuddered – "I want you to know that I will stop bothering you and instead propose we become friends and look out for each other".

"Wow. Really? Potter, I never thought this day would come" replied Lily, who oddly didn't feel as good as she thought she would.

James laughed "I know I can be quite persistent, but I have realised that the only way that this will work is if I stop being an idiot and just be your friend."

They had reached McGonagall's office. James knocked and entered before Lily had a chance to respond.

"Ah Potter, Evans, have a seat" said Professor McGonagall. "Now this is a standard procedure, I am to inform you that you need to organise nightly patrols patrol for half an hour after curfew. You may deduct points for misdemeanours, but not unjustly" her eyes focused on James. "Remember you are an example to the rest of the school, so please, Potter, no more practical jokes. You can leave those to Peeves."

James grinned. "Don't worry Professor, I was just telling Evans here that I intend to hang up my prankster boots for good now. Head Boy at your service!" he jokingly did a salute to Professor McGonagall, who did not return his smile. Instead she turned to Lily and said "well Evans, it seems you have him in order already. I hope this year brings success and happiness to you both. Remember, Potter, I can remove you from your position at any point and choose to appoint someone else. You are dismissed".

As Lily and James left, Lily looked round at the Professor who had transformed into cat, and Lily could have sworn she saw the cat smile.

"Evans come on we don't have all day!" James called out to her. Lily rushed to keep up with him.

"Right, let's meet for patrol duty every night at the portrait of the Fat Lady. Please don't be late" Lily informed James.

"That's fine Evans – although I, er, can't make next Tuesday" James stuttered slightly.

For a second Lily was about to ask why, then realised she didn't need to.

"Full moon is it?" she asked.

James looked somewhat alarmed. "I don't know, maybe" he mumbled.

"Must be then. Don't worry, I'll make sure you and Remus are crossed off the patrol list for that night, and I won't spend too long outside the Gryffindor common room".

James was taken aback. "Lily". He stopped to face her. "Lily, do you know about Remus?" he asked.

"That he's a werewolf?" Lily replied casually.

James gasped. "Yeah! How did you know! I bet Snape-"

"Actually I figured it out a couple of years ago" Lily interrupted him. "Remus is my friend too Potter, friends notice things".

James smiled. He was not in the least surprised that Lily hadn't told anyone about this. Of course she hadn't. Lily Evans was one of the most loyal people there was.

"You know Evans, despite all these years of hating me, you're actually not that bad" James smiled at her.

Lily chortled. "Not that bad? Cheers".

They had reached the Gryffindor common room.

"Password?" asked the Fat Lady.

"Acromantula" replied Lily.

The common room was surprisingly empty, most people had probably gone to bed following the large feast Lily thought to herself.

"Well, I guess this is goodnight then Evans" James smirked at Lily, who suddenly felt warm as if she were at home again.

"Sleep well, er, James" Lily replied.

James blinked. She had called him James. There was a first for everything.

"See you in the morning, Lily" replied James, smiling uncontrollably. He watched her go up the girls staircase, the grin not leaving his face. When she was out of sight, he leapt up his own stairs till he found the familiar door to his dorm room. He opened it to find his three room mates singing along with each other, all badly out of tune, Sirius holding a bottle of Firewhisky.

"Prongs! Where did you get to?" asked Sirius.

"Were you with a girl" squeaked Peter.

"Maybe" replied James.

"That's a big fat no then Pete" said Sirius. "If he was with a girl he would've told us everything by now".

"Shut up Padfoot" said James, although he couldn't wipe that smile off his face.