Chapter 2:

I make absolutely no money off of this endeavor, and wish JK Rowling all the best.

Chapter 2: Incongruity

To say that Lily was shocked was perhaps the understatement of the decade. James Potter—arrogant bullying toe-rag extraordinaire—had actually paid attention to her when she explained what they would be doing in the Prefect's meeting. And not only that, but appeared to be taking his Head duties seriously, as well!

He had assured the Prefects that while he had been one of the biggest troublemakers in the past, he would be taking his role seriously. He had supported her position on patrolling and helped distribute passwords. He backed her up when she pointed out that there was to be no favoritism or antagonism shown to any house. He even gave a short speech on how important Prefects were to the running of the school, and that the responsibilities were not to be taken lightly. In fact, if she was honest with herself, he had made a perfect first impression with the Prefects and with her. Who was this boy and what had he done with James Potter?

"Evans!"

Lily turned to face James where he was standing behind her—apparently he had called her name a few times while she was lost in thought—to see him run his fingers through his already-messy hair. Perhaps there was still something of the boy that she had disliked in him. She had always despised that maneuver, as it seemed he was trying to impress her when he did it. Although, he didn't appear to realize he had done it this time.

"Yes, Potter?" She calmly replied, choosing to ignore his hair ruffling for the moment for the sake of civility.

He looked confused for a moment, as if he had expected some other response entirely. He worked his mouth a bit, trying to remember why he'd called her name to begin with. "Oh… um, well… I was just… Right. " He shut his mouth with an audible clack, and stood with his hands in his pockets, attempting in vain to look like he hadn't said anything to begin with.

And suddenly, Lily couldn't help herself. Her lips began to turn upwards, and as much as she resisted, she let a little giggle through. Who knew James Potter could be so incoherent? Certainly not Lily. To her, he always seemed to be putting on a show, and this was nothing like she'd ever seen from him before. Even when she was yelling at him, he always had a witty line ready. The James in front of her was truly and utterly foreign to her.

James glanced up at the sound of her laugh, and began to smile a bit himself, although he wasn't quite sure why. For years, he'd tried to make her smile on a daily basis, and now when he'd finally stopped trying so hard, he elicited his first giggle. He shook his head, grinning. "Alright, Evans?"

She giggled a bit more and finally asked him, "Who are you, and what have you done with James Potter?"

He once again opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't seem to find the words. This set Lily off into another giggle, and he began to laugh, as well. "Well, I suppose he finally grew up. Either that or he's still at home on holiday and sent me to do all the hard work. That would be just like him." He smiled tentatively at her, trying to gauge her reaction.

She shook her head, a hint of a smile playing on her lips. "Well, I'm not sure if I believe you just yet, but that was… a brilliant start to the year," her tone sounded a bit begrudging. "I hope everything else goes as smoothly." She also hoped she hadn't just made a massive mistake by complimenting him on his mature, responsible behavior.

He nodded and agreed that he too hoped for a smooth year, and then started to head towards the compartment door. "Well, I'm going to head back to sit with the guys. We're supposed to make sure the younger ones all make it to the boats and carriages, yea?" She nodded in affirmation and he continued, "Right, well I'll see you when we get there, I suppose."

"Ok." She gave him a little smile and watched as he backed out of the room awkwardly before bidding her a final "Cheers, Evans." This was going to be an interesting year, that was for sure.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

James was still a bit befuddled as he made his way back to the compartment he'd left his friends in. Lily Evans had never—NEVER!—laughed in his presence before. Neither had she really smiled at him or made idle chit-chat before today. He was truly and utterly at a loss for words.

Finally sliding back the glass doors that separated him from his three best friends, James hesitated over the threshold.

The fight over the chocolate that had just been warming up when he left was over; apparently Sirius had gotten enough of Remus' chocolate to satisfy him, but not enough to put Remus in a bad mood. They'd all joined in a game of exploding snap, and looked up at him expectantly as the doors opened.

James opened his mouth to say hello, but then was caught off guard with a memory of Lily giggling at him, and floundered a bit while the boys watched him curiously. Sirius narrowed his eyes, and brushed a hand through his shaggy black hair, waiting patiently. Remus put down his cards and evaluated James' appearance. Peter kicked back, expecting him to plunge into an entertaining tale of woe.

James continued to stare unfocusedly at the floor.

"Umm… James?"

James snapped his eyes from his internal remembrances back to Sirius' face, and saw that Sirius was beginning to look a bit worried. "Sorry, sorry. Just a little…" He trailed off, his gestures indicating that he couldn't figure out how to finish any of his sentences today.

Sirius shared an incredulous look with the boy sitting across from him, then both turned to look at Peter. Finally, they all shrugged and looked back at James, not quite knowing what was going on. Sirius spoke again: "So, you've seen our wonderful Head Girl, then? Miss Evans must have really been on her game today to have you speechless still. Did she confund you when you weren't looking?" Sirius grinned, Remus groaned, and Peter carefully examined James to determine what the heck was going on.

James shook his head a bit, as if to clear it, and then stepped into the compartment to cuff Sirius on the shoulder. "You know, she might have?" He closed the compartment door and plopped himself down on the floor next to the other three boys.

Remus looked sympathetic, at least. "It went that badly, huh? I was sure she'd give you at least a fighting chance to prove yourself." He frowned, as if he was re-evaluating his red-headed friend. "That just doesn't seem like Lily."

James threw his hands up in the air. "No, no! That's just it: you weren't wrong!" He placed his hands behind him and leaned back, forming his next words carefully. "She was perfectly pleasant, once we got past the part where she threatened to hex me into next century if I messed this year up for her. She was helpful and kind, and… and… she giggled!" His gaze lifted up and the expression on his face transformed into that of a little boy on Christmas morning. "Lily Evans had a normal convers… well, I suppose it wasn't much of a conversation and it was mostly business, but we exchanged some words without her getting mad at me or looking like she was wishing I was on another continent!"

The other boys in the compartment were silent, and Peter was the first to recover from the shock. "Well, James, I think you owe us a highly entertaining story."

James grinned at the smaller blonde boy, and began to recount his tale.

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

Meanwhile, Lily Evans was still evaluating the Prefect meeting and its aftermath. She was still extremely satisfied with the results: while some of the Slytherin prefects had looked positively livid that she and Potter had been chosen as Heads, the other prefects had smiled at her and nodded when she and the Head Boy had explained the expectations for the coming year.

Most everyone, again, had seemed to take their words about house preference seriously, and smiled at the list of passwords they'd received. The patrol schedules would be out tomorrow, but everyone had seemed satisfied with their duties, even the new fifth-year Prefects who were going to be learning the ropes soon.

All in all, not too bad. It seemed her first impression as Head Girl was a success. Now all she had to do was keep up the good work, and cooperate with James Potter.

James Potter, who had so totally surprised her with his earnest desire to learn what was expected of him, and seemed to be an entirely different person than the boy she had known before. He even seemed a bit… Shy? Humble? Lily couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something very new in his attitude towards her. Most of her was distrustful of this change, regardless of her reaction when she confronted him about it, but part of her hoped he was being genuine. It would make her life so much easier if he were.

She resolved to keep an eye on him, and see whether he lived up to his promise.

A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this out! I got married this past month, and that took a bit out of my schedule. Now I get to write as part of the procrastination for writing thank-you notes. Yay! Please review if you feel so moved!