Change of Heart
Disclaimer: Harry Potter doesn't belong to me. If it did, Sirius would not have died, and we would learn more about the Marauders' generation. But Jake Bell (Katie Bell's father), Mr. and Mrs. Potter's personalities, and Icarus, to name a few, do actually belong to me! But hardly anything else does, so don't sue me, pleeeease!
Summary: James obviously likes Lily, but she hates his guts. This is the way it's been for six years. However, in their last year, James finally has a chance, as he and Lily are Head Boy and Girl, and share a tower all to themselves. While James rejoices, Lily would rather kill herself than spend more than a nanosecond with James, who, in her opinion, is a conceited jerk. James has nine months to reverse six years of hatred for him, and will Lily have a change of heart?
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Chapter Four: The Feast
When James opened the door to his compartment, he found Sirius and Peter engaged in a game of wizards' chess, while Remus continued reading the large book he had been with earlier.
"Well, this is a quiet trip for the Marauders, isn't it?" James remarked, closing the door behind him and looking on his three friends with apparent disapproval.
Sirius shrugged. "S'pose so," he said, still absorbed in the game. Suddenly he snapped his fingers. "Aha! Knight to E5." Sirius's white knight beheaded Peter's black queen, and Sirius, still triumphant, turned to James. "So, how'd it go with Evans?"
"Not too bad," James lied as he took a seat next to Remus, his Head Boy duties obviously forgotten. "I'm keeping in mind what you said, Moony. About hate not being the opposite of love. Rather more of a pepper-upper than anything else lately."
Remus looked up from his book. "Well, I'm glad to be of service, Prongs. But Lily is a strong-willed girl, and I'm not sure if she'll give in to you if you use the same tactics you normally use," he said.
"'Course she will," said James positively. "Who could resist me?"
"I could," Sirius volunteered, watching as Peter advanced his bishop to threaten Sirius's offending knight.
"I second that motion," added Peter. "Having little deer-babies doesn't have quite the appeal it used to."
"Well, rat-children are hardly cuddly little puppies, either," James said, rolling his eyes. He turned back to Remus. "So, Moony, is there anything else you can tell me about Evans?"
"You've been in classes with her for six years, James," said Sirius, "how much is there left to know? I'm sure we could each write a biography on Lily Evans."
Peter looked at Sirius. "A biography?" he repeated.
"Well, maybe an unauthorized biography," Sirius amended.
"Perhaps you could, she doesn't hate you to your very core," James pointed out. "All I know is that she sits next to me in D.A.D.A. and doesn't enjoy it nearly as much as I do." He clapped Remus on the back. "Which is why I've turned to my good friend Moony."
"Sorry to disappoint you, James, but I know next to nothing about Lily, except that she's excellent at Ancient Runes," answered Remus.
"How can't you know anything, Remus?"
"Well, I don't make it my crazily-obsessed business to know."
"You must know something else, though. Her favorite color? Bra size? Exact specifications for her Prince Charming?" James persisted.
"Sometimes she would meet with some Ravenclaw boy – don't know his name," said Remus, "but I never saw them do anything but study. I suppose she might have been his Arithmancy partner."
James sighed. "You're no help, Moony," he said.
Sirius and Peter finished their game, and Peter squeaked, "We'll be getting to Hogwarts in ten minutes. We should put on our robes."
They all pulled their black, Gryffindor-crested robes on over their clothes, and James pinned on his Head Boy badge. He grimaced at the thing. "Well, this is demeaning," he muttered.
"Maybe the girls will like it," suggested Sirius. "I've heard they go for wizards in uniform."
Finally, the Hogwarts Express stopped, and the Marauders stepped off with their luggage. "Hey, Hagrid," Sirius called to the half-giant gamekeeper of Hogwarts.
Hagrid turned towards them from where he stood in a sea of first years and waved. "Oy, yeh came back, eh?" he shouted.
"You're not through with us yet!" replied Sirius. The Marauders and Hagrid had been friends since second year, when James and Sirius had hexed Mathias Avery for making fun of Hagrid's size.
"Get on ter th' castle!" Hagrid yelled at them as he gathered the first years around him for the boat ride across the lake.
"Watch out for the giant squid!" James warned the first years, and laughed when he saw that they looked more than a little frightened. He turned and headed to the horseless carriages with the rest of the Marauders. "Were we that small when we were first years?" he wondered aloud to Sirius.
"Hey, Wormtail's still that small," Sirius joked. "I can use him as an armrest." To prove his point, he set his elbow on Peter's head and leaned his weight on him.
Peter shoved Sirius away, but it didn't do much. Sirius was the tallest of them, at well beyond six feet, and pretty well-built. "Shut it, Padfoot!" he squeaked indignantly.
Sirius laughed at their short companion. "Calm down," he said as they reached the horseless carriage. Sirius easily tossed his things into the carriage and turned to Peter. "You need help with that, sir?" he asked, still grinning.
Peter scowled at him and said, "Wingardium Leviosa." His luggage floated into the carriage after harshly bumping Sirius, and he jumped in after it.
With a flick of his wand, Remus imitated Peter, while James showed off like Sirius had. He smiled as a few giggling sixth-year girls passed him, and then leapt into the carriage, taking a seat next to Sirius. As the carriage started off towards the castle, James said, "Hey, Padfoot, I saw one of your cousins' gang – Alecto Carrow. She's a Slytherin prefect."
"Any friend of Narcissa or Bellatrix is an enemy of mine," Sirius replied.
"Merlin forbid either of them to reproduce," Peter remarked.
"Oh, I dunno," said Sirius. "I'm willing to take a chance that Bella gets stuck with a deviant Gryffindor child like me. I can see the headline now: 'Lestrange Child Sorted Gryffindor, Mother Takes Own Life'."
" 'Wizarding World Celebrates'," finished James.
"Carrow still after you, Prongs?" Peter asked.
"Of course," said James haughtily. "All the girls are after me."
"'Cept for Evans," Sirius chuckled.
James frowned. "She'll come around," he said.
"She hasn't for six years," Sirius pointed out. He merely grinned as James glared at him. Sirius had never been affected by James's angry looks, as many others had been. "Anyway, did anyone else notice that Angelique Lamb has grown up over the summer? She's got all those curves now..."
"I'm sure she'll be delighted to hear you're interested, Padfoot," said James with a roll of his eyes.
"Yep," agreed Sirius. "What can I say? The ladies just can't keep themselves away from this Marauder." He smirked at James. "I would include you in the club, Prongs, but it seems that there is at least one girl that would prefer to keep a good distance between you two."
"I told you, she'll come around," James insisted, but even he wasn't so sure.
They finally reached Hogwarts and left their things in the horseless carriages for the house-elves to take to the dormitories. Thinking of the dormitories again made James smile – Lily had the effect on him.
The Marauders entered the Great Hall and found their usual seats. James scanned the crowd for Lily, and when she came in, their eyes met briefly. He smiled at her and gestured to an empty chair next to him, but she frowned and took one as far away as possible. She sat with her two other friends from Gryffindor – Selena Silver and Colleen O'Brian.
The Sorting Hat sang its song and placed the first years in their houses. The Marauders cheered for any that landed in Gryffindor, and booed the ones in Slytherin, as was their custom. Snape glared darkly at them from across the Great Hall, and James and Sirius returned the favor.
Finally, Dumbledore stood. James loved the old headmaster, but the smile died on his face at the sight of him. Dumbledore looked exhausted. The wrinkles on his face stood out and his hair seemed to have grown whiter. All in all, he looked haggard. James listened in concern as Dumbledore said, "Well, we've all returned one year older and what I'm sure seems like several years hungrier. There's a time for speeches, but this isn't it. Please, dig in!"
As the students laughed appreciatively as plates of food appeared before them. Sirius immediately piled as much as he could onto his plate and began shoveling it into his mouth. The first years sitting near him stopped eating to watch him. One girl's spoon had stopped midway to her mouth, and she didn't seem to notice that the soup that had been in it had spilled onto her lap.
James, Remus, and Peter, however, took no notice of their friend's eating habits, and merely ate normally, exchanging conversation.
"Did anyone else notice Dumbledore? He doesn't look so good," James said to Remus and Peter, as Sirius was too busy stuffing his face.
Remus and Peter nodded. "He looked like Remus does near... well, you know," said Peter, making sure not to hint about Remus's "furry little problem"; that was the one thing that the Marauders made sure never got out to the student body. "No offense, Moony," Peter said quickly.
"None taken, I completely agree," Remus answered. "But you have to remember, Prongs; Dumbledore has a lot on his mind right now, what with You-Know-Who and all."
"Yeah, I know," sighed James. "I worry about the old guy, though."
"Wha'?" Sirius asked through a rather large mouthful. "Wha' ah 'oo 'alking abou'?"
"Nice of you to surface, Padfoot," Peter said wryly.
"Dumbledore," answered James, used to Sirius's my-mouth-is-full-but-I'll-participate-in-conversation-anyway language. "He looked pretty bad, huh?"
Sirius nodded and swallowed his mouthful. "Yeah, but... well, the guy's old, Prongs," he said. "And he's got all this Voldemort crap to worry about, so it's gotta be taking its toll on him."
"You're right," said James with a sigh and a halfhearted poke at his food. "I probably shouldn't worry about him that much. He's probably got it under control."
"Yep," agreed Sirius. "Just focus on Evans, right?" Then he stuffed some more food in his mouth.
James tried to push Dumbledore's appearance from his mind and glanced down the table to where Lily sat, laughing with Selena and Colleen. What is it about me that she hates so much? he wondered.
"I doubt you'll have to worry about Prongs's focus, Padfoot," squeaked Peter, casting a knowing look on his friend.
"'Oo ah 'ight," agreed Sirius.
When it seemed as though the students were done eating and had started talking, Dumbledore stood again. Silence immediately fell on the Great Hall. "A few announcements before I let you go," said the headmaster. "The Forbidden Forest is still off-limits, despite popular belief." His gaze seemed to find the Marauders, who put on their most innocent expressions. "Also, I should announce the new Head Students. Your Head Boy is James Potter, and your Head Girl is Lily Evans, both are from Gryffindor." Loud applause burst from the Gryffindor table, and some from the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables. Slytherin was silent. "Now that's done, you may go to your towers, except for the Heads. Please come up to me."
Before going to Dumbledore, James instructed Jake Bell and Annette Goldwyn, two Gryffindor prefects, to direct the first years to the Tower. Then he joined Lily in front of the headmaster.
"Yes, Professor?" he asked.
"Ah, Mr. Potter," said Dumbledore with a smile. "Now that you're here, I can explain to you your duties as Heads..."
"Please do, Professor," said Lily. "I don't think Potter is clear on them." She glared at James.
"Very well, Ms. Evans," said Dumbledore. "As Head Students, you have your own Tower, complete with a common room, two bedrooms, and a bathroom. You may also visit Gryffindor Tower, if you wish. The password is Unicorn tears… I'm afraid the Fat Lady was quite upset when she made it. The entrance to the Head Tower is behind the griffin statue, and the password is Wizard's Chess. As for the actual duties, they are basically the same as a prefect's, except that you need not get a teacher's permission to give detentions, as it is assumed that you won't abuse your rights. After all, you were chosen out of all the seventh year students as the best-behaved."
"Speaking of that, Professor, why did you pick me?" asked James. Beside him, Lily seemed for the first time to agree that this was an appropriate question. "I could have sworn you would choose Remus or Davies or even Snape."
"Ah, yes," said Dumbledore thoughtfully. "Mr. Lupin did cross my mind when I was choosing the Head Students. But you'll see that there's a reason I chose you, Mr. Potter, and I think you will thank me. Even you, Ms. Evans."
Lily looked as if she couldn't fathom thanking Dumbledore for making her share a Tower with James, but didn't dare contradict the headmaster.
"If you need help finding the Head Tower, Filch can assist you," said Dumbledore. James looked past the headmaster to find Filch, the caretaker, scowling at James and Lily.
"That's okay, Professor Dumbledore," said James. "Evans and I can find it just fine."
Lily nodded, obviously not wanting the assistance of the grim-looking Filch, either.
"Well, in that case, why don't you go on up to your Tower and get used to it?" suggested Dumbledore. Then the headmaster yawned widely. "I'm certainly going to bed. It's been a long day... Goodnight." And with that, he strode away from James and Lily.
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Tempest: Wow, I've written so much of this, so quickly. Four chapters in three days... That's a lot, at least for me. But I like this story a lot, and I hope you do, too! Um... replies to reviews... yeah... Okay. Wicca Chick: I know, you're right. I reread that part of OotP after I posted that chapter. But I figured that it was okay because then Sirius says he got his own place from his uncle when he was seventeen, so he's seventeen in this. Graham-Craker-Gal: I know, I wish Peter was nonexistent as well, but, as Gypsy Lupin-Black pointed out, he was just as much a Marauder as the others when they were at Hogwarts. Personally, I think he's evil. He's in there just so I can stay accurate with the books. Next chapter: James and Lily go to the Head Tower, and participate in a one-sided pillow fight! Review please!!
7-31-07: This chapter has been revamped! Hope you enjoy it more than before. No new non-canon information in this chapter, I don't think, and in regards to my earlier response to Wicca Chick's review, one has to be seventeen before entering their seventh year, so Sirius's living at his uncle Alphard's place is in-canon, in spite of someone named Janet Beavers' insistence otherwise.