There was something about that summer. Perhaps it was her parents. Perhaps it was Petunia getting married and Lily being expressly uninvited. Perhaps it was the fact that she didn't care at all.

Perhaps it was living between Libby's house and her uncle's house, the latter a place where magic was only found on the television, witches and wands and broomsticks all part of a world of fiction. At seventeen, it was difficult to revert back to keeping her magic a secret, and disappointing to have to adhere to the "no magic outside Hogwarts" rule despite being of-age.

Worse, Lily often felt herself missing a certain Gryffindor boy, and the feeling confused her; surely she must have imagined their growing closeness over the past term? Her life changed so much so fast that Lily felt that she no longer knew the person who left Hogwarts in June.

Beneath her resentment, Lily had to admit there was something about a Muggle's life that Lily quite enjoyed. It was much simpler, and less dangerous, and these days Lily would be lying if she said she felt a total sense of belonging in the wizarding world. With the current state of things, Lily felt her connection to Muggles more than ever.

It was a sweltering July day at Libby's house, and Lily was happy that Maggie and Alice had come by. They spent the afternoon in the garden practicing spells, and Lily celebrated finally mastering Occlumency, something Severus had tried to teach her several times, but she always got the impression that he enjoyed her failure more than her success in that area; he seemed to enjoy breaking into her mind far too much. Mastering it was a strange, private victory for her.

When the girls washed up and sat in the living room waiting for dinner, they finally opened the letters that they had neglected that morning, too engrossed in conversation and spell-play to pay them any interest.

Lily's Hogwarts letter was rather heavy this summer.

She opened the envelope and several papers got away from her. In their haste to scoop them all up one of the girls knocked something to the floor.

"What was that?" asked Libby.

"No idea," Lily muttered, examining the booklist for the coming term.

It was silent save for the occasional sound of rustling parchment.

Libby threw her booklist aside and swept up another piece of parchment. A moment later—

"Oh, sorry, Lily! I thought this was mine! Here," she said, handing it over, "it's got your name on."

"What is it?" Lily asked distractedly, looking over her list of supplies.

There was a moment of silence, and when Lily looked up she found Libby reading from a letter with the Hogwarts watermark. She read silently for a second and then said, "Lily! You've been made Head Girl!"

"Really?" said Lily excitedly. She had forgotten all about the Head Girl selection! Suddenly something made sense—she dipped down and peeked under the table and found something gleaming against one of its legs. Her Head Girl badge had fallen out of the envelope and Lily lifted the gold, shining object and examined it with excitement.

She reached for her letter, but Libby held it away from her. Her eyes had gone wide, flitting wildly across the letter, and before Lily knew it, Libby had inexplicably fallen to pieces in hysterical laughter.

"What?" demanded Lily, feeling affronted by Libby's amusement over Dumbledore's choice for Head Girl.

"Oh—my—god!" cried Libby, clutching her side. "This is brilliant, Dumbledore's gone mad!" She could barely speak for laughing.

"Hey!" said Lily, and she made to snatch the parchment angrily away, but again Libby held it away from her. "You lot have got to see this—oh, go on, Lily, let them see just a moment and then I swear I'll hand it over."

Lily folded her arms and huffed as Libby passed the letter to their friends.

And just like Libby, Alice and Maggie read the letter in silence for several seconds before they both burst into laughter.

It was easier to snatch the parchment away from Maggie and Alice, and Lily had to block out the three girls' laughing fits to concentrate on reading:

Dear Miss Evans,

It is my pleasure to inform you that you have been selected among your peers as Head Girl for the upcoming term at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

After careful consideration, you have been chosen for your exemplary academic performance as well as your fine leadership qualities. I am confident that you will make an excellent role model to your fellow students and hope you will assume all the responsibilities entrusted to Hogwarts Head students with the utmost decorum.

You will accompany our selection for Head Boy, Mr. James Potter, into the Hogwarts Express Prefects' compartment on the first of September, where you both shall receive further instructions regarding your duties and responsibilities as leaders of the student body.

I look forward to this term with particular enthusiasm, as you will be leading your classmates with yet another member of my House. I have no doubt you will both do Gryffindor proud.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Lily stared. She squinted at the parchment and tried reading it again. Perhaps the second time around, it would make more sense.

She tried again, and then once more, and on the third time reading it she focused her eyes on the third paragraph and willed it to make sense.

James Potter was still spelled J-A-M-E-S-P-O-T-T-E-R, wasn't it?

Perhaps if she read it one more time, the universe would make sense again. But oddly, the name that followed Our selection for Head Boy said James Potter no matter how many times she looked at it.

Her heart skipped a beat.

James Potter's heart did not skip a beat. He was not remotely excited, nor nervous, nor surprised.

Because even by the middle of August, James Potter's Hogwarts letter remained sitting, unopened and a little dusty, on top of Sirius's on a shelf in the Potters' kitchen.

It was this that started Euphemia Potter yelling at Sirius and her son one August morning.

Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew had arrived the previous night to stay for the remainder of the holidays, and perhaps seeing them, completely prepared for the coming term after their visits to Diagon Alley over a week ago, was the last straw for Mrs. Potter.

"Alright, alright," James grumbled over his scrambled eggs. "We'll open them after a spot of Quidditch. That do?"

"No, it will not," she thundered. "Because we're going to Diagon Alley after your last bite of breakfast and not a moment later. I've a lot to do over the next couple of weeks and I don't have time for you boys to be so lazy! Anyway, you ought to be excited. It's seventh year!"

"Yeah, NEWT year," Sirius said, smiling falsely. "I can hardly contain my joy."

James choked on some bacon, laughing.

Mrs. Potter rolled her eyes. "And speaking of seventh year… I suppose I shouldn't bother hoping one of my boys is going to get the Badge?"

"Oh, cheers, Effie," James said dryly.

"Well…you four get a bit…" she muttered.

"And what's this hoping?" her son added. "No one hopes to be Head Boy, Mum, they get stuck with it and they feel too guilty about Dumbledore choosing them to let him down."

"That is rubbish, your cousin Ricky was thrilled."

"Yeah? And where is he now?"

"He's doing quite well."

"Mum, he's a secretary. And his nose is so far up the Minister's arse he'll be dead from suffocation by next week."

"The way you talk sometimes, James," she said, trying not to grin. "What your father would say…"

Sirius leaned in. "What, agree?"

James snorted. "Well no point in wishing, Mum. I reckon McGonagall is working out whether she ought to just stick detentions in with my regular class schedule to save her the bother, and Peeves has asked Sirius to join him as a Poltergeist after he dies. So. That's that."

"Anyway, it probably won't be a Gryffindor boy," said Remus.

"And what's wrong with a Gryffindor boy?" Mrs. Potter demanded.

"It's just that I don't think they've ever had a Head Boy and Girl from the same House. And we all rather suspect the Head Girl this year will come from Gryffindor."

James smiled slightly.

"Still," Mrs. Potter sniffed. "I always thought it would be you, Remus! Prefect and everything."

"Oh sure," came Sirius's bark-like laugh. "'Welcome back to Hogwarts, Mr. Lupin,'" said Sirius, in a rather good impression of Professor McGonagall, "'Cheers on your excellent work keeping your rogue mates out of trouble as Prefect. It was everything we were hoping for. This has inspired us to make you Head Boy. We're certain you'll have no trouble balancing your new responsibilities with becoming a blood-thirsty animal every month, and we feel the added attention from the student body is a completely wise decision under these circumstances.'"

Sirius had not gotten halfway through this when the whole kitchen, except for Mrs. Potter, who regarded Remus's condition as no laughing matter, had erupted in laughter.

Mrs. Potter ruffled Remus's sandy brown hair and sighed, "Never mind all that. We're going to Diagon Alley today." She flicked her wand so that Sirius and James rather unexpectedly received a parchment envelope each to the forehead.

"Ow!" James whined, as Remus and Peter laughed aloud. "Fine, fine. Keep your hair on, lady."

Mrs. Potter began clearing away breakfast. James palmed the envelope, rolled his eyes at Sirius, and said, "At least let me finish eating." And he flung the envelope to the middle of the wooden table.

Clunk.

James froze. Sirius's eyes found the center of the table mid-bite, and Remus looked up so quickly he got whiplash. Mrs. Potter turned abruptly on her heel, and Peter stared, agape, at James. The silence hung between them for what could have been seconds, or minutes, or an hour, and the only moving thing in the kitchen was the bit of egg dangling from Sirius's chin.

And in the same second of tremendous commotion, all five of them dove for the envelope.

The first thing on James's list at Diagon Alley was not books, or new robes, or fresh Potions ingredients. It was getting as far away from Sirius, Remus, Peter, and his mother as he possibly could.

It wasn't that he wasn't amused, too. He laughed just as hard as anyone else did when the badge fell out into his hand. But it got old, and quickly.

Because Remus and Peter had already finished their shopping, they opted to explore Diagon Alley and find somewhere to have lunch, agreeing to meet James and Sirius at 3 o'clock. When Sirius and Mrs. Potter dipped into Madam Malkin's, James made his escape.

After the morning he'd had, he enjoyed an incredibly pleasant hour on his own. It was a particularly sunny day, and very warm, and just when he was thinking how nice it was to be away from anyone who knew what the words Head Boy meant, he saw a mane of red hair from the corner of his eye.

The double-take nearly sent his glasses flying into the road, and on second glance, James suddenly got the impression his legs were made out of foam.

The girl was on tip-toe, one hand pressed against a shop window as she peered inside while the other held onto several shopping bags. James gawked as the girl pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, and through the reflection of the shop window he could just distinguish the outline of a heart-shaped face. Though her back was to him, it was unmistakably Lily Evans.

But this Lily Evans was not wearing her black Hogwarts robes, her tie secured snugly around her throat, her shirt pressed, her shoes shining and black. This Lily Evans was devastatingly adorable in jeans and a soft, well-worn T-shirt. Under the sun, her long, wavy red hair was nothing like it looked in candlelight. It was red, and ginger, and plum, and—

"Prongs? You still in there, mate? I've been calling you," came a distant voice.

"I…it's…what?"

"Where've you been?" asked Sirius. When James did not answer, he followed his friend's line of vision.

"Cor," Sirius breathed. "Tasty ginger there, eh? It's one of nature's rarer gifts, but will you look at—"

"That's Lily, you idiot."

"I know, it's just, I'd forgotten how fit she is."

Just then, Libby Eaton came out of the very shop Lily had been gazing into.

"Eaton looking alright as well," Sirius said casually, commenting on the short, curly-haired blonde as if appraising a piece of jewelry.

Lily turned to meet Libby at the same moment Sirius shouted, "Oi! You birds! Care for a day out with a couple of handsome gentlemen?"

The girls turned and, squinting through the sunlight, looked pleased to find James and Sirius standing there.

James tried not to break into dance.

"Hey!" Lily called, and she leapt into the road and jogged toward them.

A bit dazed, James was shocked when he felt something solid hit him, and it took a moment to realize that Libby was hugging him.

"Hello titchy one," he said hoarsely as she kissed both his cheeks.

"How are you?" asked Libby enthusiastically.

"I'm…"

Lily's eyes didn't leave James's face—the expression on which James now seemed to lack control—as she dropped her bags and hugged Sirius.

"I'm…fine. You, Libby?"

"Doing fine, it's been a good summer, been practicing a lot and there are a few things I want to talk to you about. Have you been practicing? I was wondering if—" Libby stopped in her tracks. "OH. MY. GOD. I nearly forgot—you've had an exciting summer, haven't you, Head Boy?" And she fell to pieces laughing, and every joke James had already heard all morning came flying at him. But he hardly noticed.

James swallowed as Lily approached him. "Hi, Potter. Good summer?"

When James made no move to greet Lily, she waved uncertainly in his face. "Hello, Potter?"

Potter?

James groaned internally. "Erm. Hi."

"You alright?"

He tried to make himself stop staring at the way her brilliant green eyes threw the sunlight, or the way her shirt clung to her body. "I…your eyes."

Lily paused. "Yes, I've got two of them!" she said awkwardly, in a tone consistent with speaking to a very young child.

James shook his head dazedly, wishing now that she were wearing her loose-fitting, black Hogwarts robes. "Just. It's the black. I'm used to the black."

"What?"

James tore his eyes away from Lily's, but they landed very unfortunately on her collarbone, which not only looked good enough to eat, but also happened to be dotted here and there with the most appealing, fawn-colored clusters of—

"Freckles."

Lily looked down self-consciously. "Are you quite alright, Potter?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, this has been a lovely conversation," said Lily, laughing a little, and she wrapped her arms around James's shoulders. "What is wrong with you?" she asked so only he could hear.

Over Lily's shoulder, he saw Sirius make a gesture that very clearly said You are acting like a lunatic.

Perhaps it was because he hadn't seen her in so long, and he was now realizing how much he'd missed her. Perhaps it was that they had come to a sort of crossroads last term, growing closer and closer without really being sure why, and had to separate during that very critical time in their relationship. Perhaps it was the way the sun was hitting her, or the way her shirt revealed a bit too much skin for James's brain to continue functioning. Whatever it was, he had to snap out of it.

He squeezed her back. "Do you know, Evans, I think I've quite missed you."

Lily laughed as she pulled away. "Fancy that."

James chuckled, vaguely noting that Lily had not said anything at all about his making Head Boy, even after Libby had so obviously brought it up. Thinking about this, he chuckled again, his eyes rather unfocused, and looked up at Libby and Sirius. They both looked very confused. Sirius closed his eyes and shook his head, as if recovering from witnessing some kind of freak show. Drawing breath, he said, "Right. Well. I'm starving. Gonna head off for a bite. Care to come Libby?"

"Actually, I'm a bit peckish myself," said James, snapping out of his reverie at the thought of food. "Where you headed?"

Sirius glared at his best friend.

James raised his eyebrows.

"James," said Sirius very deliberately, "I think Libby probably wants to say hello to Remus and Peter. We'll go find them and we can meet you two later."

"Oh!" cried Lily, "I'd love to see Remus and Peter! Shall we all go?"

"Oh for f—" Sirius spluttered. "Have it your own way then, and don't ever say I've never tried to help you." And he stalked off. Libby, James, and Lily watched in confusion as Sirius marched away. A few paces away, he turned on his heel to face them again. "Well? Are you coming?"

Lily, James, and Libby hurried after him.

As it turned out, they ran into Frank, Alice, and Jasper along the way, and as Lily had already seen Alice quite a lot this summer, she did not feel badly saying "See you at Hogwarts!" and parting ways to avoid awkwardness with Jasper. And as James and Jasper were not exactly best friends, the pair sought lunch elsewhere.

Given the heat and the pleasant surprise of running into one another, James and Lily opted to order drinks with their lunch, and the latter ordered them bright red, slushy drinks that James would not have been caught dead drinking in front of Sirius.

"Sorry I never responded to your second letter," Lily took care to tell him a few moments after their food arrived. "It's been a really…strange summer."

"Ah, that's alright, Evans. I can imagine."

Lily surveyed James for a moment. "It's nice to see your temporary madness has subsided," Lily remarked.

"Temporary madness?"

"Yes. Or would you like to talk more about 'freckles' and 'the black'?"

"Evans, bite your tongue. You don't know what it's like to be a bloke these days."

Lily laughed. "What do you mean 'these days'?"

"Well, this day. A warm day outside Hogwarts. I'm used to dress codes, Evans. Collars and sleeves and decorum and all of that rubbish. You can't just go around in scanty Muggle dress and expect me to speak the language of wisdom or something. It's just completely unreasonable."

Lily breathed a short laugh through her nose. "Yes, Potter, jeans and a t-shirt is practically in the nude."

James was not sure what had got into him. He was feeling a lot like he often had in the fourth and fifth years, when he could not seem to control what came out of his mouth when it came to Lily.

But she smiled, her cheeks faintly flushed.

All through lunch, the only thing able to distract James from how happy he was to see Lily and how pretty she looked was the same thing that had been weighing on his mind all summer—how she was coping. Whenever he hinted at the subject, however, Lily seemed focused on avoiding it completely. James convinced himself he ought to wait until she was ready, and reveled in the way it felt to make her laugh instead.

"Finished with your shopping?" she asked, selecting a chip from her plate.

"Yeah, I think so" James answered, pulling his Hogwarts letter out of a pocket to double-check it. In doing so he accidentally exposed his shiny new gold badge, and he was sure Lily had seen it.

Now that he thought of it—why hadn't she said anything? Was she so horrified by the idea that she was hell-bent on pretending it had never happened? Sure, James was horrified at first too but now he was beginning to take umbrage.

He glanced awkwardly at her. Her chewing had ceased. James could see that Lily nearly smiled, but fought it, her green eyes attached to his. He eyed her warily, and as they both sat frozen, James shrugged with an expression of utterly baffled amusement, as if inviting her to enjoy the hilarious irony of it all.

After a pause, Lily began chewing again. "Congratulations on that, by the way. I wanted to tell you before, but…well…with Libby cracking jokes it…didn't seem like the right time."

"Yeah."

"…Yeah."

"Hey, so…congratulations to you, too. Always knew you'd get it."

"Thanks."

The silence was so tense that James began to toy with the badge in his pocket. He caught her watching this, her lips pursed very tightly. James raised an eyebrow.

He smirked. "You can laugh, you know."

"I don't think it's funny," Lily said, all too quickly.

"You don't?" he asked, becoming amused by her discomfort.

"No, of course not."

"Hm." James nodded for a moment, his eyes on Lily's. Hers were wide and guilty, and she sat with her hands clasped in front of her as if trying to contain herself.

Wordlessly, James extracted the badge. He held it up for a moment, testing Lily's resolve. "So you don't think this is funny?"

Lily shrugged her shoulders slightly, unfazed.

James nodded, as if observing some scientific phenomenon and collecting data. "Mhm."

James raised the badge to his chest, fastened it to his robes, and looked directly into Lily's eyes, his hands in his lap. He didn't say a word.

He thought he caught the corner of her mouth twitch. Despite being made fun of all day, he was having a rather good time making fun of himself to Lily.

"What about this?" he said finally. "Do you think this is funny?"

"No," said Lily, shaking her head and looking beautifully guilt-ridden.

James felt another smirk twist his lips. "That'll be ten points from Gryffindor."

And as if she'd been holding in laughter all her life, Lily positively exploded with it.

James was laughing too, and the pair was making quite a spectacle of themselves.

"James Potter, Head Boy," Lily cried, wiping her eyes. "What's next? Oh, you've no idea what it was like reading that."

"What do you think I felt like?" said James sheepishly, holding his hand to his chest.

"Stunned?"

"A bit, yeah," James chuckled. "Don't even ask me who I had to shag for this gig."

Lily shrieked with mirth. "Dumbledore's completely lost it!"

"I know! It's sort of brilliant, isn't it?"

"Well, it'll certainly make for an interesting term. But listen, Potter," Lily said, pointing her fork at him. "No funny business. I'm serious. I'll still cover for you and your antlers and your furry mates but that's it. Got it?"

"You're just scared you're going to get dragged down with me," James smirked.

"A bit, yeah," Lily laughed. "Honestly, what was he thinking?"

"I think he might be trying to scare me straight."

"I never thought I'd see the day when I agreed with the people who called Dumbledore a fool. But here we are."

"Cheers, Evans," said James.

She smiled widely, reached across the table, plucked the cherry from James's drink, and popped it into her mouth.

James stared. "I was going to eat that, Evans."

"Yes, I suppose you were," she said airily, licking her lips.

James fought the urge to leap across the table.

Lily lifted her glass. "I've got to go soon. I'm spending the rest of the summer at my uncle's and I have to find a way to hide all the evidence of my deep dark secret. So 'til Hogwarts…what shall we toast to? To the Head Boy? To Dumbledore going mad? To the resistance?"

"How about to delicious drink garnishes that have been lost to greedy gingers?" James said, raising his glass too.

Lily rolled her eyes. "To Head Boy then," she grinned.

"And to Head Girl."

They both drained the remainder of their drinks. As they stood up, Lily asked, "Potter…are you going to give me hell this term? Or are you going to be good?"

"A little of both, I imagine."

Lily did not bother trying not to smile.