Okay so I'm updating really quickly now because I have exams next week and I have gotten caught up. So I'm going to have to lock my computer away during Exam Week because I don't particularly want to fail ha-ha. So enjoy the fast updates!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything except this story
Previously:
"Don't let me see you hanging out with him!" Severus yelled after her, and she turned around and gave him a look of astonishment, before heading over to the Marauders compartment, with all eyes on her, and kissed James full on the mouth.
Lily pulled away from him, feeling triumphant, until she saw the expression on his face. WHAT in the name of MERLIN have I done? She screamed in her head. Ignoring the gasps and whispers all over the train, she walked away from the shocked Marauders, walked past a furious and upset Severus, and into her compartment. She shut the door behind her and fell onto the seat, putting her face in her hands.
"I am such an idiot," she groaned into her hands.
"Actually I'm really proud of you if I might say so myself," Hestia said suddenly sitting across from her. Lily's head snapped up, she had thought she was alone. Hestia, knowing what Lily was thinking, grinned, "Creepy eh?" she grinned causing Lily to laugh, "Seriously though, great show, you really got Snape back for being such a tosser."
Lily looked up at Hestia miserably, "Yes I know I did. But did you see the look on James's face?" she dropped her face back into her hands and could sense Hestia's face draining.
"Oh. Right," Hestia swallowed, then grinned, " Yes I did actually. I was amused, but he heard the whole thing so I don't think he could have taken that as you loving him or anything," she said confidently, sitting up straight. Lily looked up at her best friend.
"You think?"
"Of course I do! He was standing there listening, not that he could've helped it you were so loud, so he would know that you kissed him just to get back at Snape," Hestia said. Lily felt her heart rate slow down. She did not want to have ruined her newly found friendship with James over a stupid act to get back at Severus.
Lily exhaled and leaned back against the seat, "Anyway, let's talk about something else," she said.
"No no no no no!" Hestia yelled, jumping off her seat to sit next to Lily, "I want details!" Lily looked at her, confused, "You just kissed one of the most incredible looking boys at Hogwarts and you expect me to sit here and act as if it never happened?" Hestia pretended to look insulted and Lily laughed.
They heard a loud noise from outside and Lily ran out to see what all the commotion was. Severus had his wand out, looking murderous, and there was a hole in the glass door to the Marauders compartment. Sirius, Remus and Peter had pulled out their wands and were glaring at Severus, and Lily watched as James walked out of the hole in the door, evidently just having been blasted through it.
Lily watched as James pulled out his wand and pointed it at Severus, who had all four Marauders' wands on him. Lily, angry, pulled out her wand and pointed it at Severus, "Expelliarmus!" She yelled, and Severus's wand flew towards her. Severus turned furiously to see who had disarmed him, and his expression changed to one of fear when he saw it was Lily who had done it.
"What do you think you're doing!" she yelled at Severus, indicating to James and the door to the Marauders compartment. Severus stood there, dumbstruck. Lily exhaled before calmly saying, "I think you need to go back to your compartment," tossing his wand back to him. He stood there for a few more moments, looking at her with an unfathomable expression in his eyes. Lily lost her patience and pointed her wand at him. Afraid, Severus turned around went back to his compartment, his head hung.
Once he was gone, Lily turned to the people who were watching, "Back inside your compartments, nothing happened here," she said in a voice of authority, and watched as everyone went into their compartments. Alice and Gwenog, who had stayed outside instead of following Hestia smiled at Lily and gestured towards their compartment, as if to say 'we'll be in here'. Hestia winked and started to follow after them, but Lily grabbed her sleeve.
"I am not going to go talk to them by myself!" Lily whispered causing Hestia to chuckle. Taking a breath, Lily walked over to the Marauders compartment, ignoring the Marauders, and muttered, "Reparo," to fix the door before gesturing for the Marauders to go inside. She turned around to head back to her compartment but felt something grip on her arm. She turned around to see James Potter holding onto her arm. He gestured down the corridor, suggesting they go for a walk, and Lily groaned internally. Now they were going to have to have the awkward talk.
Lily sighed and nodded, turning to Hestia, who offered her the thumbs up, and walked side by side with James down the corridor.
"Prongs mate, where are you going?" Sirius whined. Sirius wasn't the brightest when it came to girls, considering he'd never had a long-term relationship. Remus rolled his eyes, muttered something about Sirius's lack of tact and pushed him into the compartment, followed by Peter whose eyes were following after James and Lily.
They walked down the corridor without speaking. James cleared his throat, "So, um…" he started, looking around him for inspiration to continue. He took a breath but Lily pinched his arm to shut him up.
"Not here" she hissed, "Prefect compartment." James nodded in understanding and walked with Lily to the Prefects compartment feeling as if his heart was going to jump out of his chest. Yesterday, if someone had told him he'd be friends with Lily Evans, he would have been thrilled. Not only was he 'almost friends' with her, but also, Lily Evans had kissed him.
Two compartments from the Prefects Carriage, Severus was sitting with his head pressed against the window, tears forming in his eyes, furiously blinking to make sure they didn't spill. He turned as he heard the word mudblood, and saw Lily and James walking by their compartment, heading for the prefects compartment. He felt his throat close up and leant his forehead against the window once again, feeling tears escape his eyes.
James opened the door to the compartment for Lily, and then walked in after her, making sure the door was closed before turning to face her. Lily was sitting on the same seat she had been on earlier, next to the window, and James went to sit across from her. She looked up at him and gave him a nervous smile when he sat down, which he returned.
"I'm guessing you want to discuss what just, um, happened out there." She said it like statement, not like a question. James nodded and she took a deep breath, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done it," she said quietly, looking down at the floor, "He was just being so, so, so commanding and it was driving me crazy, then he was telling me not to talk to you and next thing I knew I was kissing you," she said, blushing on the words 'kissing you'.
James was quiet. He had expected that to be her answer, but he had hoped. Lily looked up when he didn't reply, looking extremely guilty and James laughed, "You look like you've just committed a serious crime," he said, "Look. I didn't mind, but next time, please give me some warning?" he gave her a cheeky smile and Lily rolled her eyes. He was making a joke, "Come on Evans, you want to laugh don't you?" he said, sitting down next to her and nudging her shoulder. Lily laughed and slapped him on the arm.
"In your dreams Potter," she laughed, "But, we're…okay right?" she said uncertainly. James looked at her, shocked.
"Why wouldn't we be okay?"
"I...I don't know. I was just..." Lily trailed off and James looked at her. He had never seen her so vulnerable and uncertain. It was so out of character. James rolled his eyes and stood up, offering her hand.
"C'mon Evans. I need to get back to the Marauders and plan, um, stuff." Lily narrowed her eyes at him and he smiled cheekily and shrugged, "Just because I'm HB doesn't mean I'm going to stop being a Marauder, Evans. I thought you were smart," he teased. Lily rolled her eyes, and ignoring his outstretched hand, stood up.
"I don't want to know," she said, and walked out of the compartment, James following after, smiling.
"Lily-flower!" Sirius yelled when James opened the compartment door. Lily, who had been passing by the compartment to go to her own froze, and turned back.
"What did you call me?" she asked, looking at Sirius.
"Nothing Lily-flower," he said cheekily, throwing her one of his most charming smiles. Lily crossed her arms and glared at Sirius while James, who'd been standing in the doorway next to Lily went to sit down next to Remus, who was watching the scene play out before him with an amused expression on his face.
"Do not call me that," Lily said, "or I will put you in detention," she smiled at the idea, waved to Remus, and walked out of the compartment. Once the door closed behind her, James, Remus and Peter burst into laughter.
"Ooh you're going to be put in detention by Lily-flower!" Peter said, punching Sirius on the arm. Sirius was looking after Lily with an expression of fascination on his face, which James did not like.
"Don't even think about it Pads," James said dangerously.
"I cant promise that Prongsie-pie, but I can promise not to do anything about it," Sirius said, blowing James a kiss which James rolled his eyes at.
"I guess that's the best deal I'm going to get," he said, "and do not ever call me Prongsie-pie," he said giving Sirius his best impression of Lily's death glare.
"Yeah Sirius, its not very manly," Remus chuckled.
"Manliness doesn't apply when best mates are involved," Sirius said philosophically, causing the other boys to snort, "Anyway, I wasn't thinking about Lilykins, I was thinking about asking her to introduce me to her friend."
"Which one?" Peter said tentatively from Sirius's side.
"Does it matter?" Sirius said, winking at James who, like Remus, rolled his eyes.
"Anyway, I'm hungry," Sirius announced, rubbing his stomach.
"I thought you were Sirius," Remus muttered under his breath, and James burst into laughter.
"Oh ha-ha you're so funny," Sirius said, but couldn't manage to get the smile off of his face, "but seriously," he whined, ignoring the snickers on the word seriously, "Lets get something to eat!"
"There's no point Pads, we're reaching to school soon. You wont have any room for the feast," Peter said, looking out the window.
"Since when do I not have space for food in my exceptionally well toned sexy stomach?" Sirius said giving Peter a look of astonishment. James rolled his eyes and stood up.
"Yeah okay c'mon Pads lets get something to eat, let's go Moony, Wormtail," he said, leading Sirius out of the compartment. Remus stood up to follow them, as did Peter, and they walked down the corridor to the front of the train where the trolley was usually parked.
Lily had walked into her compartment to find it empty except for Alice, who was sitting in the corner reading The Daily Prophet.
"Where is everyone?" she said, looking at Alice whose head snapped up at the sound of a voice.
"Oh the Jones's went to have some cousin bonding time," she said, turning back to her paper. Hestia and Gwenog were cousins, and spent a lot of time discussing their families and updating each other because they didn't get to see their aunts and uncles. Lily sighed and sat down.
"At least its not where we have to listen to it," she said, and Alice laughed.
"You've got that right, it's so irritating having to listen to them talk about Uncle Albert and Cousin Bill," she said, rolling her eyes, "Hey do you remember Arthur Weasley?" she said suddenly, looking up at Lily, who nodded, "he's getting married."
"Really? To who?" she squealed. She had known Arthur really well. He had been a seventh year when she had been a first year but somehow they had found time to talk.
"Molly of course," Alice said, rolling her eyes. Arthur and Molly had been together since their second year at Hogwarts.
"Oh that's so sweet!" Lily squealed, "I'll have to send him a letter."
"You want to come visit Frank with me?" Alice said a little quietly.
"Frank who?"
"Longbottom."
"Sure! We haven't said hi yet? How rude. Let's go," Lily said enthusiastically, pulling on her friends arm. They got out of their compartment and walked over to Franks compartment, which was one over from the Marauders.
When Lily and Alice walked by, James' head snapped and watched as Lily walked by, chatting animatedly with Alice. He smiled and went back to his game of wizards' chess, feeling as if becoming Head Boy hadn't been such a bad thing after all.
When they reached Hogsmeade, Lily walked out with her friends and went off to find a carriage. She heard a familiar voice yelling "Firs' yers" and turned around to see Hagrid, who was about 3 times the size of a normal sized man, and waved to him. Somehow, Hagrid managed to see her, and he waved back.
"How'sit goin' Lily?" he yelled out.
"Good yourself?"
"Pre'ey good! See you 'round" he said, and continued calling out for the first years. Lily was about to climb into her carriage when she felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned around to see James.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Uh, to school?" she said, confused. James rolled his eyes, amused.
"Head Boy and Head Girl don't go up in the carriages," he said patiently, as if it was common knowledge, "we go from there," he said, pointing to a little boat at the corner of the Black Lake.
"No, first years go up in the boats, older kids go up in…" she trailed off as she saw James start to smile.
"I'm not stupid Lily, I asked Remus. Let's go," he said, pulling on her arm. She sighed, waved to her friends who were trying their hardest not to laugh, and walked towards the little boat with James.
"Why do we have to go up separately?" she whined, not liking the idea of having to go up to Hogwarts with James instead of her best friends. James chuckled at her whining.
"Because we have to get there first to talk to Dumbledore about the plans for this year," he said, rolling his eyes, "I don't really see why. I mean, what difference does it make doing it now, as opposed to tomorrow?"
"I don't know why are you asking me?" she said, "and this is horrible. I hate boats," she said as they stopped in front of the little boats. She sighed and stepped down into the little boat, expecting it to rock back and forth, but it stayed steady. She sat down so that she was facing the school, meaning James would have to go to Hogwarts backwards.
James stepped into the boat and sat across from Lily. He liked the fact that they had to sit so close to each other; their knees were touching. Lily, however, hated the prospect of having to sit so close to him. She had agreed to be friends with him, but she still didn't like him that much. Six years of strongly detesting someone's every aspect was a huge habit for her to get rid of.
They sat in the boat, waiting expectantly for it to move, "Why isn't it going anywhere?" Lily asked, looking around.
"Maybe we have to say something for it to move?" James suggested, "Hmm, let's see. Go?" The boat didn't move.
"Oh this is ridiculous!" Lily exclaimed, "We have to get to Hogwarts!" The boat lurched forward, and Lily almost fell off, while James fell forward so that his face and Lily's face were only a few inches away from each other. Slowly, James got back to his seat, not breaking eye contact with Lily, whose face had turned a bright shade of red.
What is wrong with me? Why is he having such an effect on me? Lily thought to herself, attempting to slow down her heart rate and drain the blood from her face.
Prongs my man, you've got it bad, James thought to himself as he straightened out his robes.
After a few seconds of awkward silence, James cleared his throat, "Well I guess you got the boat to move," he said matter-of-factly. They looked at each other for a second before both of them burst into laughter.
When they had calmed down, James removed his glasses from his face, to wipe the tears with his robe. Lily, for the first time, noticed how bright his eyes were without his glasses on. His eyes weren't chocolate at all, but a beautiful shade of hazel. Lily shook her head and looked over at Hogwarts, which they were almost at already.
"Well that was fast," she mused, "The boats in first year seemed to take forever."
"That's because they're supposed to," James said, looking at Hogwarts over his shoulder, "The boats are enchanted to take about 10 minutes longer than the carriages so that the second years and above can get seated and relax before the first years come in for their sorting."
Lily looked at James, stunned. How did he know that? James turned his head when Lily didn't say anything and smirked.
"I read too Evans believe it or not." Lily laughed and felt the boat lurch to a stop with such force that they fell over again. This time, however, Lily fell onto James, and found herself, somehow, sitting on his lap. James' arms were protectively around her, making sure she didn't fall, and she felt her face heat up again. What is going on? she thought, trying to push her blush away, thankful that it was dark and that James couldn't see it.
She jumped off of James and waited for him to climb out of the boat. They walked up to the castle, engulfed in another awkward silence.
When they pushed open the doors of the Great Hall, it was empty, except for the teachers up at the top table who were mingling.
"This is weird," James whispered, and followed Lily into the Great Hall. When they walked in, the teachers looked over at them and burst into applause.
"What do we do?" Lily whispered over to James.
"Smile and take a bow," he said. Lily looked over to see him smiling, so she smiled up at the teachers too. Then James bowed. Lily burst into laughter, as did the teachers, and James stood up straight, "told you the bowing thing would be the right thing to do," he said, giving her a cheeky smile before walking up to the high table, Lily struggling to keep pace with him. He was so much taller than she was, and she found herself almost jogging to keep up with him.
Minerva McGonagall stood up and walked over to the Head Boy and Girl and, much to their surprise, smiled, "Congratulations on being appointed Head Boy and Head Girl. I am delighted to have two from my own house appointed in this prestigious position, even if I was a little shocked when Professor Dumbledore told me," she said, glancing over at James who smiled wider, "Well, you two have to go discuss with our headmaster. The password is 'skittles'. Apparently its some muggle candy that Professor Dumbledore finds appealing," she said, shaking her head, and with another rare smile, turned back to the high table to continue her discussion with Professor Binns.
Lily turned and headed out of the Great Hall, towards the marble staircase, James on her heel, "What's a skittle?" he asked her as they walked up the marble staircase.
Lily laughed and shook her head, "You have no idea how weird it is to have someone ask a question like that, especially since I've grown up sneaking them from the kitchen," she said, smiling at the memory, "they're muggle candy. They come in different colours and each colour tastes different," she said.
"Do you have any?" James asked, fascinated.
"I think I have some somewhere in my trunk," she said, "why, do you want to try one?"
"Well yes, I'm curios!" he exclaimed, causing Lily to giggle.
They reached Dumbledore's office, and Lily took a deep breath before knocking on the door with the brass knocker. They heard a voice say, "Come in!" so James pushed open the door.
"Ah! Lily, James!" Dumbledore said, standing up to shake their hands, "My head pupils," he smiled at them before gesturing towards the seats in front of his desk, "Please, have a seat."
Lily and James sat down and Dumbledore sat down across from them, putting his hands together and x-raying them with his piercing blue eyes. After a few moments of silence, Lily felt James squirm and a smirk crept up on her face. Dumbledore, noticed Lily's smirk and smiled at her before clearing his throat.
"What I must discuss today, is not the most happy topic, but I think it crucial that you are aware of the severity of this situation. Voldemort is recruiting," Dumbledore said solemnly. The atmosphere in the room changed and Lily felt James straighten up in the chair next to her.
"So it's true then sir, that Voldemort is building up an army?" James said seriously. Lily turned to look at him; she had never seen him this serious in anything.
"Yes James, it is quite true. Am I to understand that your father has already warned you of this situation?" Dumbledore asked, looking at James, who nodded, then Dumbledore turned to Lily, "What about you Lily, are you fully aware of this situation?" Lily shook her head.
"Well. Lord Voldemort believes in the purity of blood," he said, and Lily felt both men turn to look at her, and squirmed, "and he believes that those who are not pure should be vanquished. He wishes to bring forth a new pure blood regime and exterminate all those who are not worthy of magical blood," Lily noticed how Dumbledore's tone had turned extremely bitter; obviously he didn't approve of Voldermorts actions.
"What does this have to do with Hogwarts Professor?" Lily asked, looking at Dumbledore, "Surely Voldemort isn't going to break into Hogwarts and attempt to recruit people," she said matter-of-factly and Dumbledore smiled and nodded.
"That is correct Lily, but that does not mean he will not attempt to persuade the students otherwise. It is my guess that he will be sending letters to students he wishes to become part of his army," he said, looking at Lily, "And I also believe that he will attempt to recruit the two of you," he said solemnly and quietly.
"Why both of us?" Lily asked, "You just mentioned that Voldemort desired a pure-blood regime, surely he wouldn't attempt to recruit…well…me," she said, looking down. Lily felt James' eyes on her but ignored them.
"Lily," Dumbledore said, and waited until Lily met his gaze, "Even though you may be a muggle-born, you possess a lot of talent, and you are talented enough to be Head Girl," Dumbledore said, smiling at Lily, "It's only natural that he will attempt to target those in positions of power. This basically means you and the prefects, and most of the Slytherins," he added bitterly, "I understand there is not much you can do to control the Slytherins decisions, however, I do believe you should inform the prefects at the very least of this movement," he said, looking at both James and Lily sternly. The two of them nodded, and Dumbledore smiled, satisfied.
"Now let us go down for the feast shall we? I am craving the house elves' pumpkin pie," he said jollily, and opened the door of his office to allow both of them through, "and Lily," he said before she exited the room, "You being muggle-born is not something to not be proud of," he said quietly, "No matter what people may say, most of the most talented witches and wizards I know have been muggle-born. Blood isn't everything," he said, smiling. Lily smiled back and walked out of the door.
When they reached the Great Hall, they walked together to the Gryffindor table, each looking for their friends. Lily found her friends and sat down, while James continued down the table in search for the Marauders. He found them and took his usual seat next to Sirius, who was staring at the golden plates in front of them as if willing them to fill up with food.
"Don't worry Pads, they'll fill up soon enough," James said, as he sat down next to Sirius.
"Prongsie!" he yelled, causing people in the vicinity to turn to look at him. James rolled his eyes and looked across the table at Remus, who was laughing.
"What's so funny?" he said to Remus.
"Peter slipped some Essence of Euphoria in Pads pumpkin juice," Remus snickered. James looked back at Sirius, who was grinning and looking around the Great Hall. James laughed and looked for Peter to high-five him.
"Where is Wormtail?" he asked Remus, who looked around.
"I don't know. He was here a second ago," Remus said, confused.
"Wormtail!" Sirius yelled loudly, causing James and Remus to jump, "Wormy! Wormy wormy wormy!" James and Remus laughed at the expense of their friend before deciding to give him the antidote. Once Sirius was back to his normal self, which wasn't so normal in the first place, he leaned forward, in all seriousness, looking at the two of them.
"So what's our welcome back prank?" Sirius said, looking from Remus to James. James looked around to make sure nobody was eavesdropping.
"I say we do something to the ceiling," he whispered, looking up at the ceiling of the Great Hall, which was a calming night sky.
"Yes that's a good idea!" Sirius said, beaming at his best mate, "what should we do?"
"I have a great idea," Remus said, and whispered it to his two best mates, and the three of them grinned at each other, drawing out their wands.
"Welcome to a new year!" Dumbledore said, spreading his arms, after the sorting and the feast, much to Sirius's pleasure, was over. The Marauders, minus Peter who was nowhere to be found, had their prank set up, and were waiting for the right moment, "to our new students, welcome! And to our old students, welcome back! First years, you have a lot to look forward to in your magical education, but, sadly, that is when you learn all the boring stuff," Dumbledore said, bringing about lots of chuckles from the older students, and grimaces from the first years, "second, third, fourth and sixth years, your magical education will continue. Nothing terribly exciting this year, unfortunately, but you'll have fun. Fifth years, your O.W.L.S are upon you and seventh years, your final year, and your N.E.W.T.S are here!"
"I would like to introduce our new Head Girl and Head Boy, Ms. Lily Evans, and Mr. James Potter." As anticipated, there were a lot of whispers, gasps and shocked laughs at the mention of James' name, causing Dumbledore to chuckle.
"Anyway," Dumbledore continued, "I have only one last thing to say," he began, but was distracted by a loud banging noise, startling the whole student body, who all began to squeal and laugh as the ceiling of the Great Hall began to rain gold, and the ceiling turned bright pink, as the stars began to rearrange themselves. The whole Great Hall watched, enchanted, as the stars stopped, forming the words
'Marauders, final year! Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs'.
The student body clapped and cheered, many of them giving standing ovations, and Remus, Sirius and James, stood up on the bench and took their bows, causing even more cheering and applause. Even at the high table, teachers joined in, in clapping and cheering. James spotted Lily, who was clapping and laughing, and felt elated.
Dumbledore held up his hands after a few moments and the hall went quiet, "It was about time," Dumbledore said, looking at the Marauders, "I was expecting that a lot sooner," and the hall laughed as the Marauders grinned at Dumbledore, whose eyes twinkled, "but you forgot one detail," Dumbledore said, and drew his want, pointing it at the ceiling. There was another bang, and the words then read,
"Marauders, final year! Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and (our 'respected' Head Boy) Prongs'
The hall rung with laughter and James stood up on the bench to receive more applause and wolf whistles. He looked at Lily again who was laughing once again, and James smiled up at Dumbledore, who winked.
After the feast, Lily started to walk towards the marble staircase, but was stopped by McGonagall who brought her over to the side, and then caught James and pulled him over as well.
"Let's go to your new living quarters," she said, and gestured for them to join her.
"Our new living quarters?" Lily asked in a small voice.
"Yes, of course. The Heads of school get their own living quarters," she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and started up the marble staircase. She went up to the seventh floor, the same was as Gryffindor Tower, but instead of turning to the left and going up to the Fat Lady, she turned into a secret corridor and lead them to a mahogany door, "The password is 'Caput Draconis," she said, to the both of them before offering them another rare smile, "Enjoy," and with that, she walked away.
"We have to live together?" Lily whispered to James, looking at the mahogany door with a wary expression.
"Apparently," James said, and swallowed, pushing the door open.