Alas, I still don't own Harry Potter.

Chapter 5 The Last September 1st at 9 ¾

James woke up at 5:00 a.m. on September 1st. After half an hour he gave up trying to sleep. He had packed his trunk the night before and had even managed to force Sirius to pack his.

Sirius couldn't understand why they couldn't just wait until the next morning to finish packing. James, however, wanted to be early so that he could have time to talk to Lily and prepare for their briefing with the Prefects. Sirius told James he was crazy but James simply ignored him. Dumbledore had given him this responsibility and James was going to prove that he deserved it. He took a quick shower and was downstairs at 5:50.

When he walked into the dining room to go to the kitchen he was surprised to see both his parents sitting at the dining room table. His father was eating eggs and sausage while he read the Daily Prophet. His mother was enjoying a croissant and tea while flipping absentmindedly through one of her favorite books.

"What are you two doing up so early?" James asked curiously.

"We," said his father without looking up from the paper, "are always up this early. The real question is, what are you doing up this early?"

"Couldn't sleep anymore," James said with a shrug, trying to make it sound as though this were perfectly normal.

"Nervous, huh," his father said, it wasn't a question.

"No, no, not really," James said trying to sound like he meant it.

His father folded his paper and placed it on the table. He looked at James over top of his glasses. He only did this when he was in what James referred to as, "serious mode." James often made fun of his father by imitating it. Despite that fact that James looked much more like his mother, except for his father's extremely messy hair, when he imitated "serious mode" the resemblance between the two was uncanny. However, he reminded himself, his father was in "serious mode" and this was, therefore, not a time for jokes.

"Maybe a little," James confessed. "I mean I'm not worried about it being too much work, I'm up to the challenge, but I've spent my life getting into trouble, who's going to listen to me when I tell them to behave?"

James's father chuckled. "Don't worry son, I'm sure you'll be fine. You've done an excellent job as Quidditch Captain from what Horace Slughorn tells me and seeing as he's head of Slytherin House, your arch rival, that's saying something."

"Yeah, but that's Quidditch, I'm good at Quidditch," James responded giving up trying not to look or sound nervous.

"Yes, but from what I'm told the reason you're such a good Captain is not because you're good at Quidditch but because you are a good leader and that is what will make you a fine Head Boy."

His father said this as if it settled the matter and James didn't respond but instead decided to focus on the eggs, bacon, sausage, and toast Winnie had just placed in front of him.

His stomach was a bit queasy but he knew he'd feel worse if he didn't eat.

At 7:30 James went back up to his room to wake up Sirius. He was still determined to be early and by early he meant to arrive no later than 10:30, something he had never accomplished before. He knew that Sirius would make this difficult, however, and last night had resigned to the fact that he might have to leave without him, even though he knew his friend would not be too pleased with him. He hoped that if he started trying to get him up now that they might actually be able to leave together.

James was happy that at least he would be able to apparate this year, which would mean he could wait for Sirius until 10:20 giving him ample time to refuse to wake up and possibly shower and eat. At 10:20, however, James was forced to bow to the inevitable, he would have to leave without Sirius. His parents told him not to worry that they would make sure Sirius got there with at least ten minutes to spare and that they would accompany him as they wanted to say goodbye to them both and wish them luck. James didn't bother to tell his parents they didn't have to come, he knew they'd come anyway, they wanted to see their son off on his last September 1st trip to Hogwarts.

When James arrived on the platform hardly anyone else was there save a few first year students whose parents were clearly nervous about missing the train. He dragged his trunk to the Head's compartment and changed into his robes, pinning his Head Boy Badge to his robes. Just as he was checking to make sure his badge was straight Lily appeared.

"Hi, Lily," James said seeing her reflection in the mirror he was checking his badge in.

"Hi, James, feeling any better?" Lily asked with a smile.

"A bit," James responded.

"Don't worry," Lily said nervously, "we'll be fine."

"Are you trying to reassure me or yourself?" James asked smiling nervously.

"Both."

They both laughed nervously.

"I'll leave so you can change," James said.

Lily was caught off guard by his thoughtfulness but she smiled anyway.

"Thanks," she replied.

"The letter from Dumbledore says we're supposed to keep an eye on the platform, make sure everyone gets on okay, and that the first years get settled, so I'll meet you back on the platform?" James asked.

"Okay, see you in a few minutes, and again, thanks."

"No problem, Lily, just doing my job."

And with that he left the compartment carefully sliding the door shut.

Had she and James really just had a conversation that didn't involve, 'Lily will you go out with me?' 'James for the thousandth time, no I won't,' Lily wondered?

Lily changed quickly, she didn't want to leave James to have to deal with the task of making sure the train was loaded in a semi-orderly fashion all by himself. She checked herself in the mirror and then headed out of the compartment.

When she stepped off the train she looked around for James. She saw him talking to a girl who had to be a first year. She looked rather upset and was holding on tightly to her mother. James had bent down and was talking to her. Quietly, Lily moved closer to hear what was going on.

"Don't worry, you'll love Hogwarts. It'll be the best seven years of your life. You can owl your Mum and Dad every day. And trust me they'll keep you so busy it will be Christmas and time to go home before you know it."

"What if everybody hates me, what if I fail the Sorting?" the little girl said sounding close to tears.

James smiled, "Don't worry, Hogwarts has never failed to sort a student yet. Just remember the trick to wrestling a mountain troll is to remember that while it may be bigger, stronger, and smellier, it's also stupider," James said knowingly.

A look of horror spread over the little girl's face.

"Don't worry," James said chuckling, "you don't really have to wrestle a troll. It's actually a giant."

The little girl giggled.

"Here," said James picking a dandelion and transfiguring it into a rose. The little girl looked at the flower and smiled. She turned to look at her mother.

"Okay," she said, still sounding a little shaky, "I'm ready to get on the train now."

He's going to make an excellent father some day, Lily thought. Then realizing what had just gone through her head she shook it vigorously.

"Lily!"

Lily was snapped out of her thoughts by Marlene's shouts.

"Hi," Lily said smiling.

"How's the Head Girling going?" Mary asked.

"Good so far," Lily replied. "I haven't actually gotten to do anything yet. I changed and just stepped on the platform a couple of minutes before you got here."

"James where are you?" Sirius called as he and the Potters appeared on the platform. He looked around and didn't see James but suddenly Remus and Peter were by his side.

"Hey Wormtail, Moony. How are you guys doing?" Sirius asked smiling.

"I will never understand where you four came up with those nicknames," said Mrs. Potter chuckling. The three boys just grinned at her.

"Where's Prongs?" Remus asked. "You're here and his parents are here but he's not."

"Yeah," said Peter, "it's usually you two who are cutting it close and it's only 10:40, you're never here this early."

"James has been here since before 10:30," said Sirius shrugging. "He said I was taking too long and he needed to get here, so he left without me."

Remus and Peter just stared at him.

"James is never here before 10:50," said Peter in confusion.

"Apparently, since he is Head Boy he decided showing up early would be the responsible thing to do," Sirius said with a shrug.

Suddenly Sirius spotted James heading over towards Lily.

"I still can't believe Dumbledore made him Head Boy," Peter said shaking his head in confusion.

"Where is he?" Remus wondered.

"Over there by Lily," Sirius said pointing towards the front end of the train.

"Oi, Prongs," Sirius called.

The Marauders pulled their trunks quickly to catch up with James.

"Hey, Lily how are things goin' over here?" James asked her.

"Smoothly it seems. What was wrong with that little girl?"

"You mean over there, she was just nervous. I think mostly that she wouldn't get sorted into any of the houses."

"And what did you tell her?"

"That the secret to wrestling a mountain troll is to remember that they're stupid. And then when she looked panicked I told her to relax, she didn't really have to wrestle a mountain troll, it's actually a giant. Then she laughed and I think she felt better," James stated.

Lily already knew this of course, but she didn't want James to know she had been eavesdropping.

During this exchange the Marauders had caught up with James. Lily and James suddenly realized that all their friends were staring at them as if they'd lost their minds.

"Hey, Moony, Wormtail. Padfoot you finally made it," James said grinning.

"I still say that Dumbledore was hit with a confundus charm while making the Head Boy selection," Peter said with a laugh.

"Now that, is a sensible explanation," Sirius agreed, grinning broadly.

"But by whom?" Remus asked chuckling.

Lily then turned her attention to her friends.

"And what are you two staring at?" Lily asked, slightly amused.

"You two called each other by your first names," Marlene said, as if she still couldn't believe it.

"Oh my God, she's right, you did!" Sirius exclaimed. "This may be the scariest experience of my life," Sirius said while hiding behind Remus in mock terror.

"Shut up, Padfoot," James said. "You guys better go find a compartment before they all fill up and we can't have one to ourselves."

"Are you gonna sit with us?" Peter asked looking at James.

"Of course," James replied. "I just have Head stuff to take care of and as soon as that's settled I'll come join you. This is our last trip after all. See you in the Prefect compartment in a bit, Remus."

"Okay," Remus replied.

"Marlene, Katie, I'll come find you guys as soon as we're done," Lily said.

"Okay, see you in a bit," Marlene said.

"You will tell us everything," Katie stated.

Lily rolled her eyes.

On his way to the Head's compartment James stopped to say goodbye to his parents. Once he had said goodbye he went and joined Lily in the Head's compartment

"See," James said, "my own friends don't take my being Head Boy seriously, how can I expect others too?"

Lily smiled, "I think you'll probably have less trouble with other people than your own friends," she informed him. "They're the ones who you're going to have problems with."

"No," James said, "Peter and Remus will be fine, just Sirius will be a problem. He's not going to be happy when he forces me to put him in detention or dock points from our House."

"What makes you think he'd do that?" Lily asked.

"Because he's Sirius," James stated. "He's like my brother, so despite what I've told him he's going to continue to believe that I'll let him off the hook, until he does something that forces me to prove otherwise."

"So is that what you're really worried about? That Sirius won't respect your authority?"

"No, I'm worried that no one else will respect my authority. I know that Sirius won't respect my authority. At least until I catch him at something and have to apply it. And believe me I will catch him, because he'll think he can get away with it."

"Ah," Lily said, "I see the problem."

"Yeah, well, I guess there's nothing I can do about it right now. What do you say we get ready for this prefect briefing?"

"Sounds like a plan. Oh, and James…"

"Yeah?"

"Don't worry, you're not the only one who's nervous."

James smiled at Lily and picked up the instructions they had been left for the Prefect briefing.