Lily's first impression of her dormitory was that it was very, very green. It almost hurt her eyes—the varying shades of evergreen, mint green, spring green, and deep forest green in the trimmings of her wall.
Lily had read in Hogwarts, A History that the Heads' dormitories magically recreated a room to fit the personalities, or souls, of its inhabitants. Lily wondered whether her soul was green.
If she closed her eyes a little and let everything blur, it was nice, she decided. She could imagine she was in a field of grass, or in the hills near her house. She breathed in and could almost smell the trees. She opened an eye and saw again her dormitory. She was being silly, she told herself. Lily imagined the first years that were supposed to look up to her, seeing her in her room giggling like an idiot, imagining fields of grass.
She sat down on her bed, which was fitted with a spring green silk bedspread with embroidered trees, their little branches crisscrossing on the bed. Lily wondered what James' room looked like, then quickly shook off the thought. Why would she care what that arrogant prat's soul looked like? It was probably all gold and Quidditch in there.
Speaking of James, Lily could hear him talking from the other side of the floor. Lily frowned. Was he talking to himself? No, most likely was that he was talking to somebody else.
Lily stepped towards her door. Who had he brought? Marauders? A girl? He most definitely wasn't allowed to do that, Lily reasoned. It was her responsibility as Head Girl to see what was going on.
Lily loped easily down the stairs then back up James', stalking closer to the door he'd left nonchalantly open. Now she could catch bits of his conversation, though she wasn't close enough to see into the room.
"…can't tell you the password," James' voice said.
"Why not Prongs?"
"No, no I'm not."
At the mention of passwords Lily stepped closer to the door, with a surge of newfound bravery. She saw James on his bed, absentmindedly ruffling his hair and…looking at himself in a mirror?
"You're no fun," said a voice that was most definitely not coming from James' mouth. Lily thought she recognized the voice…was it Sirius Black? No, but it couldn't be. She scanned the room—it most definitely wasn't coming from the furniture, nor James, so that only left the mirror.
Lily felt a small smile spread on her face as she figured it out—it was an enchanted mirror that allowed James and Sirius to communicate. She backed away from the door quickly before James could see her.
As she walked back up to her own room, she felt a sort of loneliness come over her. She missed her friends already—she didn't have a mirror, or any sort of magical object to keep contact with them. She knew she'd have classes with them the next day, but she missed the first night back, where they'd all talk about their summers until they passed out from exhaustion.
Lily sat in her green room and watched the light drain out of the sky as night fell. "Expecto Patronum," she said softly, picturing the texture of the tablecloth again, and the burnt-caramel color of the parchment envelope.
When she opened her eyes, her vaporlike, silvery bird was perched on her finger, and she could feel its warmth spreading through her. It opened its minute beak and sang one shrill note for her, and Lily smiled at it.
It seemed to encourage her to take action, and ten minutes later a shriek could be heard in the seventh year girls' dormitory.
"Lily!" Marlene McKinnon exclaimed.
Sheepishly, Lily waved at her old friends. "Didn't want to be alone first night back," she said.
Lily found her old bed, in its usual spot next to the window, and surveyed the common room from her familiar spot. Hestia Jones tossed her a bag of assorted Honeydukes candies, and Lily felt some of her worries evaporate as she settled into her bed, her real, proper Hogwarts bed.
! #$%^&*
His watch, a family heirloom, woke him up at a relatively early time for his first day of school. "Come on, James," it wheezed in a voice that might have belonged to a great-uncle.
"Too early," he mumbled, but the enchanted watch wouldn't listen to him.
"It's the first day of class, time to uphold the Potter family honor like your—"
A tap of James' wand silenced the watch. He really hated the old thing, but it was enchanted to think for itself, which did come in useful when it shouted at him to get up for a Quidditch match he'd forgotten.
He dressed quickly, threading his Gryffindor tie through the familiar movements until it was loosely hanging from his neck. He stepped into his new common room, still not used to having his living quarters so…so deserted.
Last year there was always the stray Gryffindor hanging around the common room, sitting near the fire doing last-minute homework or talking to a friend; James could count on the Marauders talking, scheming, or sleeping in a corner when he returned from Quidditch practice.
Even when his friends weren't there, the Gryffindor common room was anything but empty and desolate. James looked at the luxurious deep red velvet curtains that sat in thick folds covered in dust; no wind had stirred them from those seemingly permanently shut windows.
James sighed and pushed the wooden door open to go down to the Great Hall for breakfast.
! #$%^&*
Lily was rifling through a book, checking a list of the prefects, and writing something on a piece of parchment all while managing to shove copious amounts of breakfast food into her mouth.
"Head Girl overwhelmed by her duties?" Marlene asked.
Lily glared, but knew Marlene was joking by one look at her face. Lily chewed furiously, scratching something out in her parchment and circling another line of text.
"I'm managing," she said, even though every aspect of her behavior indicated that she was not. Lily tugged at a strand of her hair that she twirled pensively around a finger, putting down her fork for a moment.
"If the two Hufflepuffs go there… no, I'll have to put the Ravenclaws in their own tower, can't have them patrolling their friends…"
"Ask James for help," Hestia suggested, and Lily looked at her, eyes bulging like she'd suggested something totally insane. Mary shot a dubious look towards the four Marauders, whose voices didn't carry to their end of the table but were visibly laughing, clutching the table for support.
"So… I can put Frank there, yes, I trust Frank…" Lily muttered, adding to her parchment Frank Longbottom, 6:00-7:30, dungeons.
Hestia was about to ask Lily another thing about her planning, but Marlene shook her head seriously; it was best if Lily wasn't disturbed. She had a look of utmost concentration, and it was at these times of stress that shouting matches most often arose.
She wrote in James Potter, 7:30-9:30, Astronomy Tower with unnecessary vitriol, ripping the parchment slightly with her quill and leaving blots of ink in James' name. Lily's friends exchanged anxious glances and left her to her violent planning.
Further down the table, the Marauders were still chortling slightly after a Sirius' wonderful account of how, over the summer, he and James had found Regulus and followed him under the invisibility cloak.
"So, the first night at the Heads' dormitory…" Sirius said, edging the conversation away from his frankly rather brilliant ploys to rob his younger brother of his sanity, towards the much more interesting topic no other Marauder had been brave enough to ask James about.
"Good," James muttered, suddenly closed off and not at all laughing.
"Good?" Remus raised an eyebrow.
"It's just a new room," James shrugged, poking at an egg and stabbing its yolk, making the yellow flood out of it like thick, oddly colored blood.
"With Lily on the other side," Sirius persisted.
"Did you kiss her?" Peter asked in an excited squeal.
"No," James said shortly. He looked as though he was going to add something then thought better of it and picked at his food moodily.
Drama queen, Sirius mouthed at Remus when James wasn't looking, and Sirius saw Moony's eyes crinkle slightly. He supposed the rest of his face was smiling as well, but it was hidden behind another thick and boring-looking book.
Sirius was about to poke some more fun at his best friend, but he found McGonagall giving out their schedules. Though she was one of the younger teachers at Hogwarts, her strict and stern demeanor made her look much older, and she was still one of the scariest people the Marauders had come across.
She let out a disapproving "hmpf" noise as she gave the four boys their schedules. Sirius thought about asking her whether she was glad they were finally leaving this year (rude or clever remarks always seemed to pop into his head), but she had already moved down the Gryffindor table, towards the younger students, and past them Lily and her friends.
Sirius looked at Lily. Sure, she wasn't bad-looking, but he couldn't understand what about her made James' brain turn to mush and get progressively moodier the longer he thought about her.
She looked a bit unhinged at the moment, Sirius thought to himself, her hair tied up haphazardly and scribbling furiously on a piece of parchment she was tearing unconsciously.
But then again, James had always been a bit off, and living with him now Sirius confirmed his theory; his mate Prongs was off his rocker. But then, a mate's a mate, Sirius reasoned. He'd have to put up with his insanity.
It was almost time for classes, judging by the wave of students deserting their breakfast tables. James stood up, seeing that he had Herbology first, and headed out of the Great Hall in no hurry, letting his feet guide him where he had to go out of habit.
His descent to the greenhouses was halted when something was shoved in front of his face. James blinked, and realized it was parchment. He grabbed it and as his vision cleared, Lily appeared in front of him.
"Schedules for the prefects' patrols," she said shortly.
"Oh. Right," James said, not sure why his brain suddenly seemed to move more slowly and struggle to find words that together made up coherent English. He looked down at the list of names, hours, and locations. "Is there anything I can-?"
"No."
"Right," James said again. Lily gave him a strange look and started to catch up to the other Gryffindors which were nearly at the greenhouses. James found his name among the others, and his seven thirty to nine thirty rotation. James' stomach sank when he realized Quidditch practice this year was from six o'clock to eight, something he himself, Quidditch Captain had decided.
James ran down to where Lily was. "Lily!"
She turned and he thought quickly how to tell her without making her angry. "I—I can't at seven thirty, Quidditch practice is until eight…"
Lily frowned slightly, looking upset that her planning had been disrupted. "Well…I suppose I can switch the Ravenclaws… and you can do the late night rotation, with me."
"Cheers," he said, allowing himself a grin. Lily quirked an eyebrow like she wasn't sure how to respond, then ducked into the greenhouse. James followed the streak of red hair into the glass building as well; he was already late for class.