Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows. – John Betjeman
No amount of study or learning will make a man a leader unless he has the natural qualities of one. – Archibald Wavell
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Chapter Thirteen
"Woah." Mrs. Evans said as they appeared in front of the Potter's home. "That has to be the oddest sensation I've ever felt. It's rather like being squeezed all around like you're going through a, er…." She trailed off.
"A rubber gardening hose?" Lily asked helpfully.
Mrs. Evans stared at her daughter for a moment, "Yes, actually. Bloody odd."
Lily smiled at her mother, "That's what I thought the first time that I did it. It does take some getting used to."
"Well then." Mrs. Evans said. "I suppose we should go in then."
Lily nodded in agreement and walked to the front door again; and, again, Mrs. Potter opened the door. "Hi, Mrs. Potter." She said softly.
Mrs. Potter's eyes filled with tears, "Hello again, Lily. This must be your mother."
"Yes, I'm Sarah. I'm sorry to meet you like this, but please tell me if there's anything that I can do for you." Mrs. Evans said.
"Thank you." Mrs. Potter said softly. "I'm Isadora, please come in. I believe that Michael is in the front parlor."
"Thanks." Lily said reaching out to squeeze Mrs. Potter's arms. "Come on mum, let's go find daddy."
They found Mr. Evans sitting in the parlor staring suspiciously at one of the paintings. "Sarah, Lily." He said jumping up. "I'm not sure if I'm going a little insane, but I think that that portrait keeps looking at me. Every time I move its eyes are on me." Mrs. Evans just stared at her husband as if he had two heads. "It does." He hissed.
Lily look at her father, slightly amused. "Probably."
"What?" Mrs. Evans asked.
"It probably is following daddy." Lily repeated. "You know those pictures I showed you, where the people in them move?"
"Yes." Mrs. Evans said.
"The portraits do the same thing. The entrance to Gryffindor has a portrait outside of it. You have to tell her the password to get in, which can be a problem if she's sleeping. She doesn't like to be woken up."
Mrs. Evans shook her head, while Mr. Evans smirked at his wife, "I told you it was following me with its eyes."
"Lily."
Lily turned around to see James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Gideon standing in the doorway. "James." She said walking to him and giving him a hug, and a soft kiss. "Sirius," she said stepping to him and kissing his cheek, "I'm so sorry, for both of you."
"Thanks." Sirius muttered.
Lily looked at him sadly; he looked lost. She squeezed his hand, "When I first met him he talked about you just like he did James. With equal parts bafflement, exasperation, and pride," she said looking at James, "but mostly with love."
Sirius hugged her, "Thank you for that." He whispered to her.
She nodded at him, "Hi, Peter, Remus, Gideon." They all gave her small smiles. The sound of a soft cough had her turning around. "Oh, mum, dad, I'm sorry I forgot that you didn't …. You both know James."
"Yes, we're very sorry to hear about you father, James. He was a very nice man." Mrs. Evans said hugging James while Mr. Evans clapped his back several times.
"Thank you." James replied.
"Okay, mum, dad, these are mine and James' friends; Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Gideon Prewitt. They share a dorm with James."
"Hello, boys." Mr. Evans said. They all mumbled their hellos.
"James, Sirius!" Called a voice from the doorway, "Your mum told us we could find you here." Everyone turned to see Dorcas and Emily. "I'm sorry about your dad." Dorcas said as she and Emily hugged both boys. "Marlie and Ryan and Alice and Frank are here too, they're just talking to your mum right now."
James just blinked at Dorcas, so Sirius answered, "Thanks for coming." Lily stepped closer to James and took his hand; he looked down at her gratefully.
"Of course." Emily replied. "Hi, Mrs. Evans, Mrs. Evans."
"Hi, girls." Mrs. Evans said. "Michael, let's go see if we can help with anything."
It wasn't long before Mrs. Potter came to tell them all that the service was about to start. James stopped Lily as they were all filing out of the room, "I don't know if I can do this, Lily."
Lily turned around, "Yes, you can, James."
"Lily, I can't. I don't want to say goodbye to him, I can't. He'll really be gone then."
Lily's heart broke for him, "James," she said softly. "You need to say goodbye to your dad. It will help. And you need to be strong, for your mum, for Sirius. They're both grieving too. I know that it hurts. But, James, your dad would want you to be strong, to be brave; if not for yourself, or even for him, but for your family."
James sighed rested his forehead on Lily's a moment, "You're right. I don't know what I did to deserve you, but I thank Merlin everyday for you."
Lily felt her heart summersault in her chest, "I love you, so much." She said grabbing his hand. "Let's go.
Lily and James said in the front row of the lines of chairs that had been set up. She looked Mr. Potter's body resting on a white marble slab as James' hand tightened painfully on hers. When everyone was seated Lily was surprised to see Dumbledore stand up. "Grayson Potter was a good man; a loving father, a devoted husband, a loyal friend. From an early age he chose to stand for what he knew to be right and he stuck firmly to his beliefs. Many of his best qualities live on in his son, especially his love of Quidditch." There was a slight chuckle in the crowd of people. "Everyone who knew Grayson came away better for it, and he will be missed." There was a murmur of agreement as Dumbledore turned and waved his wand. In a bright flash of light Mr. Potter's body was encased in a white tomb.
Next to James Mrs. Potter sobbed quietly and leaned herself into James. Mrs. Potter, James, Sirius and Lily were among the last to go up to say their goodbyes to Mr. Potter. Mrs. Potter stepped up first and ran her hand softly over the white marble that housed her husband. "Goodbye Grayson," she whispered in a choked voice, "we had a good life together, we raised our son, and did good things. I wish you were here to see our son finish growing into the man that you taught him to be, but I know that you'll be looking down on him, on both of us for the rest of our lives. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to do this with out you Gray, I've been with you nearly my whole life, and I barely remember what it's like to be without you." She said as tears fell silently down her cheeks, "I love you darling, and I'm going to miss you." She kissed the tomb lightly and stepped aside so that James could have his turn to sat goodbye.
James stepped up to the tomb, "I can't believe that I'm never going to see you again, dad. I'm sorry that I wasn't always the kind of son that you could be proud of. But, I've changed, and I hope that you know that, and that I did it in part because I wanted you and mum to be proud of me. You taught me to be the kind of man that stands up for what he believes in, who does the right thing because it's right, who can be relied on. I'm not there yet, not all the way, but I've started. I didn't get the chance to tell you, I didn't know that I wouldn't have the time, but wanted you to know, I'm the Head Boy this year. I know how disappointed you were that I wasn't made Prefect, but I'm going to make up for it and be a good Head Boy, like you were. I'm going to do my best to be the kind of person that you wanted me to be, I'm going to make you proud, even if you're not going to be here to see it. I love you dad and I'm going to miss you."
James stepped back, grabbed Lily's hand, and walked to his mother to give Sirius his time to say goodbye. Mrs. Potter hugged James tightly, "I miss him so much, Jimmy."
James kissed her temple, "I know mum; I do too."
"I don't want you to be angry with him, for not telling you about being sick."
"I'm not." Mrs. Potter eyed her son suspiciously. James, who saw the look, sighed and said, "I was. But I understand why you didn't tell me. Besides that's not what is important right now."
His mother sighed in relief. "Good, that's good." She sighed again as Sirius stepped over to them, "You boys are done?" Both James and Sirius nodded their heads, "Okay, okay." She said pressing her lips together as her eyes watered. "I suppose we should go back to the house then. Lily, you and your parents are staying?"
"I have to take my parents home, but I'm going to come back afterwards." Lily replied.
"Do you want me to help?" Sirius asked. "So that way you don't have to make two trips."
"Oh, er, sure." Lily answered surprised.
"James, why don't you and your mum go back up to the house while Lily and I take her parents home."
"Yeah, okay." James said. He kissed Lily softly before turning to walk his mother back to the house.
"Thanks for helping me with my parents."
Sirius shrugged, "Welcome, it's not really a big deal. But I wanted to say something to you."
"I figured as much. Can it wait until we've brought my parents home?"
"Yeah, it can wait."
"Alright then." Lily said. "Mum, dad, Sirius offered to help me get you home, so that way I don't have to make two trips."
"That's sweet of you dear." Mrs. Evans said.
"Sirius, why don't you take my mum, and I'll get my dad."
"Okay." Sirius said turning to Lily's mother. "Mrs. Evans you just need to hold onto my arm."
"Alright, down the rabbit hole we go." Mrs. Evans said.
Sirius looked at her strangely for a minute then he looked to Lily, who smiled slightly, "I'll explain later." She said before Sirius and her mother apparated away.
"Is he related to James?" Mr. Evans asked.
"Sirius?" Lily replied, "No, why?"
"He seems quite close to James' family. I thought that they might be related."
"Sirius used to live with James. He, Sirius, not James, doesn't get on well with his family. So, he is very close to the Potters, he's just not related by blood." Lily answered. "Are you ready to go?"
Mr. Evans took a deep breath, "Yeah, let's get this over with."
With a pop they were standing in Lily's living room. "Lily, are you going back to James' house?" Mrs. Evans asked when she saw them.
"Yeah, for a while anyway."
"Alright, but we don't want you there too long." Mrs. Evans said looking at her husband who was busy checking to make sure all his body parts were there. "Right, Michael?"
"What?" He asked distractedly, "Oh, right, not too late. School starts in a couple in a couple of days and you have to pack and such still."
Lily smiled at the two of them, "I won't be home late." She kissed both of their cheeks, "I'll see you later." She said, grabbed Sirius's arm as he apparated them back. They appeared about a mile away from the Potter's house. "Alright Sirius, what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" Lily asked as they began to walk.
"You really care about him, don't you?" Sirius asked.
"Who, my dad; of course I care about my dad."
"No, James."
Lily stopped, looked Sirius dead in the eye, "I'm so in love with him, I can't even begin to describe it."
Sirius smiled slightly, "You don't really have to; you can see it when James walks into a room, the way your face lights up. It's the same for him you know."
"I know, and that's the most amazing part."
"You're dating."
"Yes."
"For how long?"
"A little over four months."
"Since the night with Snape?"
"Yeah."
"Why didn't you guys tell anyone?"
"There were a lot of things going on then. With the house points and you and Remus, and the rumors that were flying around. James didn't want the rumors to ruin it. And James and I agreed that we didn't want to brag or show off how happy we were when Remus was miserable."
"Huh." Was all Sirius could manage. "I said some things both to and about you that I really need to apologize for."
"Sirius you already apologized, you don't need to do it again."
"I said I was sorry for the way I was acting. I was being a pretty big asshole, but I said things, about how James chose you over me, the reasons for it." Sirius started.
"I know." Lily said. "I heard some of them." Sirius looked ashamed and opened his mouth, but Lily cut him off, "Don't worry about it. I probably would have acted the same way if something like that happened with Emily."
"No you wouldn't have." Sirius said. "That's not all I wanted to say to you." When Lily lifted an eyebrow he continued, "You're good for James. He needs you; I don't think I really understood that until now."
"I need him too, he's…" She trailed off trying to find the right words, "He's just the best thing that has ever happened to me."
Sirius smiled as they walked into the house together, "Good, that's what I wanted to hear."
"What's what you wanted to hear?" James asked.
"Nothing. Where's your mum?" Sirius answered.
"She's upstairs sleeping, it's been a long, rough day."
"Tell me about it." Sirius said. "I think I'm going to bunk here tonight, I'm pretty tired myself."
"Yeah, go on up." James said. He watched as Sirius walked up the stairs. "What was that all about?"
"Nothing, James, it's not important." Lily answered.
James shrugged, rubbed his hand roughly over his face, "Today was a shitty day." Lily nodded her head in agreement, "I feel like I'm getting pressed from all sides all of a sudden."
"What do you mean?" Lily asked.
"Well, here, with my dad, obviously." James responded, "But also, I'm worried about leaving my mum here for long periods of time by herself. Then with school, I have to worry about being the captain of the Quidditch team and Head Boy too. I don't know how I'm going to do the Head Boy thing. I mean, bloody hell, I wasn't even a prefect."
"James, your mum is going to be okay. And I can help you with the school stuff if you want. Well, not the Quidditch stuff, because my flying ability not so good, but the rest."
"Thanks. I appreciate that." James said. "I don't even know who the Head Girl is, I wondered about it, but all this stuff with my dad drove it out of my head."
"I am."
"You are what?" James asked. Then a second later, "Oh, Head Girl, of course you are."
"I didn't want to say anything just yet; I didn't think that it was the right time." Lily said.
"Well, I guess that makes things easier then, doesn't it."
"Yeah, I suppose that it does."
"We have to be at the Hogwarts Express early, don't we?" James asked.
"Yeah, like an hour before the train leaves so that we can go over what we want to tell the prefects."
"Do you want to meet there or do you want to go together?"
"I guess we should go together; it'll make it easier." Lily answered.
James took a deep breath, "Okay." He sighed and rubbed his face again, "Merlin, I'm exhausted."
Lily took his hand led him up to his room, "Come on," she said, "let's get you into bed then." They walked quietly up to his room. Lily kissed him softly, "'Night James. I'll see you on Thursday."
"You're not staying?"
"I would if I could, but my parents want me home soon."
"Alright, I'll see you in a couple of days then."
"If you need anything, please come and get me, okay?"
"Okay."
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"Lily!" Mrs. Evans called up the stairs a few days later. "Lily, you're going to be late if you don't hurry up."
"I just needed to finish packing a few last minute things mum." Lily called back levitating her school things down the stairs. "Besides I'm waiting for James. He's going to come here and we're going to go together."
Mrs. Evans looked confused, "Didn't you say that your letter told you to get to the train station by ten so that you and the Head Boy could discuss things?"
Lily smiled, "James is the Head Boy." Then she frowned, "I hope he's alright. He was worried about leaving his mum home by herself."
"He's a good boy; it has to be hard on his mother to go from a house full of people to an empty one."
Lily would have answered, but there was a pop in the next room, "Er, Lily?"
"In here, James." Lily called, she kissed him quickly, "Did everything go alright with your mum?"
"Yeah. She says that she'll be alright, but I'm still worried about her. It's so soon after dad."
"Your mother is a strong woman, James. I'm sure that she'll be alright." Mrs. Evans said. "If it makes you feel better, Lily left me some of that Floo powder, and explained to her father and I how to use it, so that way we can stay in touch with your mum."
James looked over to Lily for a moment; she just shrugged back at him. "Er, yes, that does make me feel better, to know that she's not going to be alone all the time."
"Well, I suppose that the two of you should go. You don't want to be late your first day on the job."
Lily waved her wand and sent her things off to Kings Cross, "Bye mum, tell daddy that I love you both and that I'll miss you." She said hugging her mother.
"I will. Goodbye Lily, James." Mrs. Evans said hugging them both. "Have a good term."
"We will." Lily answered, then both she and James apparated to Kings Cross. Lily opened her eyes when they appeared at the station, "Wow, this is weird."
James looked at her strangely, "What's strange?"
"There's like five people here. I've never been here when it's this empty."
James looked around, "No, I don't think that I have either."
Lily shook her head, "Sorry, I'm a little out of it today."
"No, don't worry about it. So, what are we supposed to talk with the prefects about? The letter didn't really go into details, just said to go over some of the rules and give out the passwords."
"That's pretty much all we have to do right now. There'll be more stuff for prefect meetings and such later on in the year, but really today we just have to give the prefects the passwords for their common rooms and for the bathroom, and then we just need to go over the rules with the new fifth year prefects, everyone else knows what the rules are."
"Where are the passwords anyway?" James asked stepping on to the train, "I didn't get them in my letter."
"I have them, Dumbledore sent them to me the other day; the letter said that only one of us needed to get them."
"Okay, just as long as we have them."
"Yeah." Lily said. "We have to remind everyone that they have to tell us when they change the passwords or it gets changed on them, so that way we can let Dumbledore know."
"Some people get to pick out their own passwords?" James asked. Lily opened her mouth to answer, "Well, I guess that makes sense. I mean why else would the Slytherin passwords be what they are?"
"How do you know what the Slytherin's passwords have been?" Lily asked.
"Do you remember that map I told you about, the night that with Snape?"
Lily closed her eyes, trying to remember, "Yeah, sorta."
"One of the perks of having it was that it showed us what all the passwords in the castle were."
"Huh. I wonder what happened to it."
"I lost it somewhere after I went after Snape; Filch probably has it hidden in his office. Not that he'll ever be able to figure out how to use it." At Lily's questioning look he continued, "It just shows you a blank piece of parchment unless you pass the password."
"Yeah, I remember you telling me about that now." Lily said. "Oh, speaking of passwords, you and I have to come up with a password for the Head Students' room."
"We get a room? Why didn't I know that?"
"It's used mostly when the Head Students are in different houses, but it does have a bathroom in there. And from what I've heard it makes the Prefects' bathroom look like crap."
"Is that possible?"
"Apparently."
"Wow, it must be something then." James said. "It'll be nice to be able to get away when we want though, and get some privacy."
Lily raised an eyebrow, "Yes, I expect that it will."
They stepped into the Prefect's compartment, "Wow, this is nice too."
Lily smiled, "Yeah, they make it worth your while to become a Prefect or Head Student."
"So I see." James replied, "I really just want to get this meeting over with. I'm exhausted, I really just want to get to school, eat, and get to sleep."
Lily ran her hand over James' cheek, "At least we don't start classes until Monday; that gives us three days before we have to start classes."
"Yeah, I like when it works out like that for us. I hate when September first is a Sunday, 'cause then it means we start classes the next day. But still, I can't wait until we're done with the meeting."
"If you want you can go find where everyone else is sitting and just stay with them, and I'll handle the meeting. No one is going to blame you if you skip this one."
James thought for a moment, "Merlin, that's tempting, it really is. But I think that if I'm going to have any sort of authority over the prefects I'm going to need to be here."
"James, it's only been a week since your dad died. No one is going to think less of you if you skip this meeting."
"I would."
"James." Lily started.
"No, Lily," James interrupted, "I have to prove myself to everyone"
"James, I do too. And no one is going to think that you're a bad Head Boy if you skip this meeting."
"Lily, you don't have to prove yourself in the same way." Lily opened her mouth to protest. "No, listen, I know that you have to prove yourself to some people, because some people are assholes and think that because you're muggle born that it somehow makes you less of a witch or whatever. I get that, I do. But to people who don't have their heads up their asses you don't have to prove anything. You're the smartest, most talented witch in our year, probably in the whole damn school, and everyone knows that. You've always been at the top of our year, never been in huge amounts of trouble, and you were a prefect the last two years. Everyone, if they aren't stupid, expects that you're going to be Head Girl." James said. "But, I can guarantee that no one has even considered the possibility of me being Head Boy. And if I don't show up on the first day, they're never going listen to me."
Lily nodded, "Alright." She said slowly. "Okay, but we'll try to make the meeting quick."
James smiled slightly, "Thanks."
Lily nodded again, "We should change into our school things, people are starting to get here, and we should be out there helping and such."
Lily was surprised to find most of the Prefects waiting the compartment when she and James had finished helping the younger students. In fact the only missing Prefects were the six and seventh year Slytherins. "Well get started as soon as everybody gets here." She said to the waiting Prefects.
"So you're Head Girl then, Lily?" A blonde fifth year Gryffindor asked.
Lily smiled at the girl, "Yeah, I am, Anne."
"What's Potter doing here?" Spit a voice from behind her. Lily turned to see Severus Snape, Morgana Gamp, Regulus Black, and Isolde Rosier standing in the entrance to the compartment.
James turned as well, "I'm the Head Boy, Snape." Lily watched as the four Slytherins' mouths fell open, out of the corner of her eye saw many of the other Prefects had similar reactions.
"No you're not." Isolde said.
James raised his eyebrow, "Really, then why is it that I have this nifty badge that says I am?" He asked.
Snape narrowed his eyes, "I can't believe that Dumbledore made you Head Boy. After everything, he still saw it fit to pick you. Well I guess now we know that it isn't merit that gets one chosen as a Head Student, it's Dumbledore's favorites that get picked. No matter how unqualified they are for the position."
Both Lily and James narrowed their eyes dangerously. "You're going to want to sit down, all of you." Lily said. When none of them moved she said, "Now. I don't care if you don't like it, but James and I are the Head Students, and you will listen to us, or you will find yourself replaced." There was mumbling amongst the rest of the Prefects now.
"You can't do that." Morgana spit. Then under her breath she muttered, "You stupid mudblood."
Many of the Prefects gasped, Lily sucked in a breath through her nose and pressed her lips together in an attempt for control. "We can and we will." James replied. "Lily and I both have the authority to remove you, any of you," James said looking to all of the Prefects, "from your position. You can feel free to disagree with either or both of us, but you will do it in a respectful manner. And the very next time someone uses that word in reference to a muggle born that person will not only find themselves no longer a Prefect, but also find themselves with detention and loss of house points."
The Slytherins glared at them hatefully, but Lily felt sure that the little mutiny seemed to be under control. "Now, as we have that settled," she said looking directly at the Slytherins, "I suppose we can continue. James and I have the passwords to all of the house common rooms," she passed out four pieces of parchment, "don't worry about people from other houses seeing it, only people in your house can read them."
"Now," James said, "if for whatever reason your password changes, you are to tell either Lily or myself in a timely manner, that means within two days." James said when several mouths opened.
"How come you guys need our passwords?" A fifth year Ravenclaw boy asked.
"Quinton, right?" Lily asked.
"Quint." He replied.
"It's only so that we can give them to Dumbledore." Lily answered. "He wants the passwords and it's easier for you guys to tell us and for us to tell Dumbledore because we're the ones who have meetings with him."
"Oh, okay." He replied.
"Anyway, the Prefects' bathroom is on the fifth floor, four doors to the left of the statue of Boris of the Bewildered. The password is 'Pine Fresh.' The only people who are allowed in there are of course the Prefects, the Head Students, and the Quidditch captains. If we find out that you're bringing your friends into the bathroom we're going to have to ban you from it. Since we don't want to have to do that, just don't do it, it makes things easier. Alright, that's it for all the sixth and seventh years, you guys know what the rules are. We're going to have a meeting tomorrow at three to go over schedules for patrols and such. For now, you guys just need to patrol the train, make sure that no one is breaking rules or anything. See you guys tomorrow."
There were a couple of "Byes." As the Prefects filed out the door.
"Okay," James said, "we'll try to make this as quick and painless as possible. There were a couple of quiet chuckles. "We just need to go over the rules, if you have any questions or anything, just wait 'till the end and we'll answer anything that we need to get to."
Lily nodded, "Right, so first I want to go over points; you are allowed to take points from other students when you see them breaking the rules. If you think that you need to take points from another Prefect you need to get the approval of either James, myself, or one of the professors. And while you guys can't take points from us, we are allowed to take points from any of you. You need to keep a list of all the points that you take and what you've taken them for, and at the end of each week you all have to give James and I the list."
"You guys can also hand out detentions as punishment. And after you give a detention you need to find either Lily or me and let us know so that way we can set up the detentions with the teachers." James said. "Oh, and tonight after the end of the feast you guys are responsible for bringing the first years to your common rooms."
"You all got rules in the mail, right?" Lily asked. They all nodded, "Okay, good, now we're not going to ask you to memorize the rules or anything, but do go over them. If you guys are unsure about any rules, come to us or one of the older Prefects and ask." Lily took a deep breath, "I think that's it for now, any questions."
"How do we know how many points to take off?"
James looked over to Lily, "Well, it depends on what rule was broken, if it's someone out of bed after curfew you don't want to take off fifty points. Along the same vein if someone does something violent, of course you're going to want take off a lot of points."
"So try to keep it proportional?"
"Yeah."
"Is there a limit on the amount of points we can take off, or on the amount of detentions we can give?"
"You can take up to fifty points or give up to a weeks worth of detention." James replied.
"What if something happens and we need to take off more points or give more detentions?"
"You can either come to us or that student's Head of House to get permission."
"Why do we have to give you a list of the amount of points we take off?"
"One, so that we know what points are being taken off for, so that we can address certain behaviors if they're getting out of control. And two," James said with raised eyebrows, "so we know that you guys aren't abusing the point system."
There was a moment of silence, "Any other questions?" Lily asked. The Prefects shook their heads. "Okay, then. There is a room on the fourth floor that we use for Prefects meetings; so we'll see everyone there tomorrow at three. You can stay up here if you want or you can go back to sit with your friends, just as long as you patrol the train at least twice on the way to school."
"Oh, and before we forget, make sure you go in pairs, no one is to patrol alone. That goes for the train and for when we get back to school." James said to the Prefects as they passed by.
"At least that's over." Lily said when they were alone.
"Tell me about it. I thought we were going to have a full fledged revolt on our hands; damn Slytherins."
Lily smiled, "James." She said reproachfully. "Not all of the Slytherins are bad people."
"I didn't say all of them were, but those ones are. You're not going to tell me that you have warm and fuzzy feelings about Snape, Gamp, Rosier, or Black, are you."
Lily sighed, walked out of the compartment, "No, I can't tell you that. I just wish that not all of them were such fuckwits?"
James let out a bark of laughter as they walked into the compartment that all their friends were in, "Fuckwits?" James said as everyone in the room looked at them questioningly, "God, Lily, I love you." He said as he bent down to kiss her; neither of them noticed the raised eyebrows of their friends.
Everyone watched as Lily smiled into the kiss, "I love you too."
"So, I suppose that answers that question; doesn't it?" Gideon said.
"What question?" James asked as he and Lily sat on the floor of the compartment.
"The 'will they finally go out this year?' question." Gideon replied. "It only took seven years."
Lily rolled her eyes, but otherwise ignored him.
"Merlin," Marlie said shifting around on the bench, "I wish these damn compartments were bigger. There's never enough room when we're all in here."
Both James and Lily looked up at her, "You're seriously complaining that you don't have any room?"
Marlie shrugged, "You guys were here last, and that means you have to sit on the floor; you know how it goes."
"Oh, blow me." Lily muttered.
James sighed leaned his head back against the wall, threw his arm over Lily's shoulder, "As hard as it was to leave mum at home, it's good to be around you guys again."
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A/N: Just so you know, with school and everything starting I'll probably be able to update every two weeks or so. Enjoy and let me know what you think. :-D