Chapter 4
Lily got James' letter the same time she got her Hogwarts one. She had been a little worried when it didn't come when it usually did, two weeks earlier into the summer. Of course, she figured that there might be security measures that Dumbledore had to go through, or maybe he didn't get a DADA teacher until later than usual. But it felt like a load had gotten off her back when she saw the owl fly in with a Hogwarts seal on the letter it carried.
She opened the Hogwarts one first, because she knew James' might be long and would require time to write back, and she wanted to plan a trip to Diagon Alley as soon as she could if she needed new school supplies.
She thought she might need new ones, because she'd never gotten a letter as thick as this one. Something nagged at the back of her mind as to what it might be, but she pushed it away. She didn't want to assume or get high hopes over nothing.
But when the Head Girl badge fell into her open palm, she couldn't make herself surprised in any way. Only very, very happy.
"Mum! Dad!" She shouted. "I'm Head Girl!" Normally, she'd get reprimanded for yelling while the people she was yelling to were in the same room as her, but her mother's angry face changed as she heard the words 'Head Girl.'
That day, Petunia was very put out when she came over to plan the wedding and learned that Lily had taken over the day.
Once the excitement had died down and her mother had finally been dragged off by Petunia, Lily set about reading the letter that had come with it.
Dear Ms. Evans, I am proud to inform you that—she skipped ahead. —along with James Potter as Head Boy—she skipped ahead again, then her eyes sprang back up to the words 'James Potter.' No. It couldn't be! But—she raced back up to her room, tearing open his letter and scanning it for any word about being Head Boy, but he had sent it before getting his Hogwarts letter. She dropped it, rummaging through her stuff to find a letter he had sent her with his address on it. She had apparated before she had time to close her eyes.
Too late, she realised that she had no way of getting through the wards. Nevertheless, she decided to simply walk along the road until she reached Potter Manor.
The house, if she were to even call it that, was the biggest one she had ever seen. The front door was at least as big as those of Hogwarts, and for a few seconds she simply stared at the big double doors, certain that this wasn't someone's home, it was a community center of some sort, surely it didn't house only three people and a house-elf. Blimey, did Poppy have to clean that entire thing?
Finally, she snapped out of her stupor and pulled on the rope beside the door. Almost immediately, the door opened to reveal… no one. Was the door magicked to open automatically?
"Hello, miss!" A squeaky voice forced her eyes downward, and Lily saw the cutest creature she had ever seen since first being incorporated into the wizarding world.
"You must be Poppy!" She realised. "I'm Lily Evans." She stuck her hand out, kneeling down slightly so that the house-elf could reach her. Poppy bowed.
"House-elfs don't shake hands, Ms. Evans." He said as he straightened. "We bow to our masters and our masters' friends."
"Oh." Lily retracted her hand, standing up.
"Please, come in." Poppy stepped aside, opening the door wider, and Lily found herself in a vast hallway with portraits lining the walls. Just typical nobility portraits, only they moved. She could see them whispering to each other, sneaking glances at her.
"Master James didn't tell Poppy that miss Lily was coming today." Poppy said as he walked down the hall, Lily following.
"Oh, I wasn't going to… It's a surprise." She replied lamely.
"Master James would love that!" Poppy's ears perked up at the thought. "Master James loves surprises, he does. Always trying to surprise Poppy and Master and Mistress Potter. But today Master James has had enough surprises, Poppy thinks." Do they always refer to themselves in the third person? Lily wondered vaguely.
"Why is that, Poppy?" She asked.
"Because Master James has got his letter now, and is Head Boy. Master and Mistress Potter are overjoyed, they are, but Master James and Master Sirius are very devastated."
"I can imagine."
"But Master James must have known Miss was coming, or else Poppy would have had to find Miss wandering around outside the grounds because of the wards. It is very hard to get through wards that Master and Mistress Potter put up."
"Huh. No, he must've done that before, for any time I just decided to pop in."
"Yes. Master James is thoughtful that way." Lily tried not to laugh at the thought of James being thoughtful, but then again, he did suggest that Poppy knew him better than anyone. If he thought of James as thoughtful, then he probably was, somewhere deep inside.
"Here we are, Miss Evans." Poppy stopped in front of a nondescript door, knocking once before entering. He was too short to turn the knob, but it turned when he pushed against the door anyway, letting them in. "Masters and Mistresses, Miss Lily Evans has arrived." He announced.
"WHAT?!" Lily wasn't sure which of the men in front of her said it, or who was more surprised, but she did know that the one woman in the room was the only one who looked amused, a facial expression Lily quickly realised James had gotten from her.
"Lily?" James asked, clearly shocked.
"How'd she get in?" The older man, clearly Mr. Potter, looked pointedly at his son.
"Oh. Um. We thought just in case she would want to come…" James' hand was in his hair, and Lily felt a rush of annoyance, just as she always did, at the bad habit. James glanced at her uncertainly, seemed to see her frown, and his hand shot down. "Yeah. Should've told you?" He tried.
"This is Lily Evans, then?" Mrs. Potter stood, hands on hips, appraising Lily. She resisted the urge to cross her arms to cover herself up—she was dressed modestly enough, but somehow she knew that there was nothing she could do to seem good enough to Mrs. Potter. Not that it really mattered, she just liked to be liked by adults.
"Yes, mum, this is Lily. Lily, this is my mother, my father, and Sirius you already know. That's Poppy, too, but I'm sure you know each other enough by now." He grinned at her and winked at Poppy, who piped up a quick 'yes, master James.'
Lily stuck out her hand, a greeting and "pleasure to meet you" on the tip of her tongue, but Mrs. Potter regarded her hand with distaste before saying, quite simply, "No, no, it is not smart to shake the hand of a stranger." She said primly. "If you cannot trust them completely, you do not allow them to touch you."
"Mum!" James groaned. "That's so old already! Everyone shakes hands now, no one shakes hands with those not introduced properly, and you benefit more from being able to touch them than otherwise. As long as you're aware of the implications and the possibilities the other person can do! Even dad agrees with me, right dad?"
"What does Moody say about it?"
"I don't know what your star student says about it, it's not like I converse with him daily, and certainly not about his stand on shaking hands. But it's not as if anyone will want to shake his hand, so it doesn't really matter, now, does it? Look, Evans can be trusted. Can you please not give her a hard time?"
"It's alright." Lily quickly said, having stuck her hand deep in her pocket at Mrs. Potter's words. "I understand. It must be a shock, me coming here uninvited and everything. And nowadays, you can never be too careful."
Mrs. Potter nodded. "And what are you doing here, girl?"
"Mum." James hissed, but both women ignored him.
"Well, I just got my Hogwarts letter, and I suppose I needed to make sure that James… really was the Head Boy. I'm Head Girl, you see, and…" Lily trailed off, unsure whether to voice her opinions of James' behaviour at school, whether Mrs. Potter knew about them or not.
"What, is it unbelievable that my son is Head Boy?"
"Just not who I thought it'd be, that's all."
"So you'd assumed you would be the Head Girl, is that it?"
"I am top of my class, but that's not why I thought it wouldn't be James, it's because he wasn't even a Prefect." Lily shot a pointed look at James, who had his head buried in his hands, then a glare at Sirius, who looked like he was suppressing laughter and succeeding instead to simply look constipated and amused.
Suddenly, Mrs. Potter's serious mask broke as she grinned. "I like her." She declared. "James, you'll do well to learn a thing or two from her. Good thing you're Head Girl, Miss Evans, we all know my son will need proper guidance this year about how to be properly responsible. Now, Poppy, why don't you make some snacks and tea for the children, let them spend some time together. James, we'll be in the library." With that, Mrs. Potter walked out of the room.
Mr. Potter stayed a bit longer, shaking Lily's hand and apologising for his wife's behaviour. "She's always been the more cautious one, which is funny, because I was the auror. I suppose being around sick and injured people put things into perspective for her." He smiled kindly at Lily. "That, and we've heard a lot about you, dear, and we want to make sure you're everything that boy over there promised us. Well, I'd probably best get over to the library before she decides to kill me for tardiness!" Mr. Potter chuckled a bit and followed his wife out the door.
"Lily, I'm so sorry." James said as the door shut, finally raising his head.
"Hold on, since when has it been 'Lily' and 'James' to you two?" Sirius asked, genuinely confused.
"Oh, I know this!" James thought for a second before announcing, "three weeks ago." He turned to Lily. "Did you get my letter? I spent all of yesterday reading our past letters due to utter boredom. Should've known today'd be absolutely different." James groaned again. "This day has been terrible."
"Not really." Lily teased. "I've had a wonderful day."
"Of course you did. Probably going mad, when your letter didn't get to you when it usually does."
"Was not!"
"Alright, I'm being completely serious—both Sirius'—what is up with you two?!" Sirius finally seemed to have regained from his confusion, replacing it with anger.
"We became sort-of friends. Friendly." Lily replied with a grin, walking over to the couch and sitting beside James. He mirrored her smile, raising his eyebrows at his best friend's face.
"You alright, Padfoot?" He teased.
"I'm still trying to process this. Is this about that major change you said I was hindering or whatever?"
"Yup." James said, and Lily laughed, getting up again to wrap her arms around Sirius.
"Don't worry, Sirius, I still love you." She cooed, missing James' face behind her. Sirius, however, merely smirked at his friend.
"As long as you love me more than him, there's nothing else I can ask for." He replied dramatically, and the two of them collapsed in a fit of laughter. "Prongs!" He said in between gasps. "You—should—see—your—face!" Lily glanced over at James, whose face had changed from obvious jealousy to a scowl just in time.
"Aw, James, we're only joking." She said, sitting beside him again. "Don't worry, I'll never ever fall in love with Sirius. And if we do go out, you'll be the first to know." She paused. "Well, maybe the second. We might tell Remus or Marlene or Alice or even Peter first, but you'll be one of the first to know."
"Or we'll never tell you at all, and I might live long enough to break up with her and make it seem like it never happened before." Sirius corrected. He flopped onto the couch beside Lily, casually slinging his arm around her and ignoring James' glare.
"Alright, so spill, both of you. What happened after James got his letter?" Lily asked, smirking at James. "What was your face when you saw your badge?"
"I don't know about my face, but I know I yelled, dropped it onto the kitchen table, and flooed Sirius right away. I thought it was a prank, you see."
"But I was just as shocked as he was, I wanted to go straight to Dumbledore and tell him he made a mistake, but then James saw his name on the paper and yours and Mr. and Mrs. Potter came down and we figured it wasn't a mistake at all, Dumbledore had simply gone mad."
"He spent the rest of the day making fun of me and trying to figure out what I'd done to Dumbledore."
"Current hypothesis is the Imperius curse."
"You're both idiots." Lily announced. "Dumbledore is the smartest wizard currently alive, he must have calculated that James would change this summer, become a better person. And frankly, I think you'll do wonderfully as Head Boy, if you work to do well and not abuse your power."
"Right. James Potter, Head Boy." Sirius barked out a laugh, punching James lightly with the hand he had around Lily. James grumbled.
"Poppy thinks that Master James will be a very good Head Boy, Master Sirius." Poppy said as he walked in, tea sets and snacks floating behind him. "Master James is a very good boy."
"Not in school." Lily said with a giggle. "But if you think he's a good boy, then maybe he is."
"Don't make fun of him." James hissed in her ear "He won't get it, but I will, trust me." There was something dark in the way James said it, and Lily flashed him a sheepish grin.
"Sorry." She said uncertainly. "And I wasn't making fun of him. Just… He raised you, didn't he? Shouldn't he know you better than anyone else?"
"Not all house-elves are seen like that, is all."
"Oi, it's rude to whisper at the tea table, didn't your mums teach you that?" Sirius said loudly. "Unless, of course, it's lovesick poetry, then by all means, keep it between the two of you, I'd like to eat and keep my food down."
"Where's Remus?" Lily asked, changing the subject. "I'd like to see him again."
"Thought he'd be a bit of a downer today, to be honest." James replied. "Didn't really want to… remind him." Poppy had finished setting up the table and bowed out of the room.
"He'll be even sadder to know that we didn't invite him."
"I got it." Sirius sprang up, moving over to the fireplace. With a roar of green fire, he was gone.
"Er…" James said awkwardly in the few seconds of silence after Sirius had gone.
Lily debated whether to show her own feelings of awkwardness, or to simply pretend to be more confident than she felt. She decided on the latter.
"Are you going to serve me tea, or do I have to?" She asked with a grin. "No need to act all strange on me. You seemed perfectly normal in your letters, are you secretly mad or something?"
"Very funny, Evans." James reached over to serve her tea. "How are you, by the way? We kept talking about me, what did your parents say when you told them you were Head Girl? Or better yet, how did Petunia act when she found out?"
Sirius and Remus found them laughing over tea and so different from the last time they'd seen the two together, Remus' mouth actually dropped open for a few seconds. Lily went home with a smile on her face, an agreement to go shopping in Diagon Alley the next day and to do 'Head's stuff,' as James called it, within the two weeks before school started, and when she got an earful that night by her parents for disappearing on them, she decided that she wouldn't have changed anything that day.
Yeah. So... Review. Please. This is important to me. Please Review.
