CHAPTER 2

BEGINNING OF THE YEAR

Lily's favorite part of Hogwarts was probably the library. After watching the delicious food appear on everyone' s plates, eating hastily, then sitting through Dumbledore's speech and the Sorting Hat's song, Lily escaped the Marauders and Marlene and settled herself in a corner at the library with a book. after a few precious moments of peace, Lily heard her name.

"Lilyflower?!" It was James. Lily debated staying quiet, but then James would keep yelling. Madam Pince looked like she was about to walk over and hit James with her book, so Lily guessed he had been yelling for some time.

"Potter?" she hissed. "I'm over here!" She saw James unruly head stick out from behind a bookshelf, his glasses sliding down his nose. "You realize, though I doubt you spend much time in the library, that you have to be QUIET?" He just grinned, then came closer. His nose was inches from hers.

"Am I quiet enough now?" He whispered, a small smile on his face. Lily pushed him away.

"You will only ever be quiet enough when your mouth is glued shut."

"There are other ways to shut my mouth."

"Why are you here?" Lily' s voice was exasperated, James noticed. He straightened up.

"Um, McGonagall wants us. She's gonna go over the Head's duties and rules for the Dorms." Lily noticed his voice had changed. He sounded wary. Never in her life, would she think she would ever hear James Potter sound wary. She closed her book.

"Alright." She stood and walked out of the library with James, and when they reached the dorm, McGonagall was already there. She stood outside the portrait hole.

"Hello Potter, Evans. I'll give you the tour, then we'll go over the duties of Head Girl and Boy." She turned to the portrait, it was of a Gryffindor Lion. "You two can decide the password." James looked at Lily. She shrugged.

"Golden Snitch." James said.

"Well that's not obvious." Lily said, rolling her eyes. McGonagall and the two Heads stepped into the most gorgeous common room Lily had ever seen. Red and gold was everywhere. The couches and chairs were upholstered in a brilliant scarlet. Red and yellow streams hung from the ceiling, and the roaring fire glowed. "Wow." Lily grinned and tried to look at everything.

"Yes, there are some advantages to being Head Boy and Girl." McGonagall said, smiling at both of their reactions. James was walking around, grinning like an idiot and touching everything. Lily plopped down on one of the couches. She sighed. It was possibly the most comfortable couch ever. "Now, you must not let anyone but you two enter this room. You are welcome to go visit classmates in their dorms, but they are not to come in here. James dorm is that way, Lily's is that way." She pointed in the correct directions. "You each get your own bathroom, bedroom, and living room." James was grinning even more so now. "Boys are not allowed in the Girls Dorm. You know that." McGonagall looked around the room. "You are welcome to go look around now. Meet me in my office in 10 minutes so we can go over your duties." With that McGonagall swept out of the room.

"Wow.. Look at this place." James spun around.

"I could get used to this." Lily said, curling up on the couch. James smiled at her peaceful look.

"I'm gonna go look at my dorm." James dashed up the stairs. Lily smirked and walked over the Girls Dorms. Not the Girls Dorm, just her dorm. She laughed disbelievingly as she walked into her room. All her stuff had been moved up here, and Penny hooted happily when she saw Lily enter the room. The bedroom was gigantic. She had a queen bed and a stunning window that looked out on the Quidditch fields. The bathroom was ginormous, and the living room had a few couches and, to Lily's excitement, a small library. She smiled as she ran her hands along the books on the beautiful shelves. She realized that it had almost been ten minutes, and dashed down the stairs. Not looking where she was going, she barreled right into James. He fell flat on his back, and wheezed, the wind knocked out of him, and Lily, to her horror, fell right on top of him. They laid there for a moment, in stunned silence, then Lily got up quickly, brushed herself off, and rushed out the door, James staring after her.

She debated running and hiding, but that wouldn't help. Her cheeks were burning and her mind was racing. She did not feel this way about James. She did not, at all, still feel where his body touched hers. She did not, absolutely not, want to run her fingers through his wonderful hair. And most of all, she did not, in that one moment when she was looking into his soft hazel eyes, think about kissing him. She tugged at her hair. No, she did not fancy James. The bloke had tortured her since they met. Now that she thought about it though, the last year he did nothing to provoke her. He backed off. He was kind and not at all annoying. What was happening?! She shook her head. Worrying about it was not going to help. She took a deep breath and walked to Professor McGonagall's office.

When she walked in, James was not there. She took a seat in one of the chairs as McGonagall looked curiously at her. Did she have emotion written across her face? She stared at the floor.

"Miss Evans, where is Mr. Potter?"

"I don't know, Professor." Just then, James walked into the room. He slid coolly into the seat beside Lily.

"Mr. Potter, is there a reason why you are late?"

"I got distracted, Professor."

"By what, Potter?"

"Um.. Peeves, Professor." McGonagall gave him an odd look, then nodded.

"Very well. Now, we go over your responsibilities as Head Boy and Girl." She looked at both of them. "You have authority over all prefects, and shall organize their duty schedules. You two must patrol yourselves, also. You are an example here at Hogwarts, and if I see either of you abusing your power," She glanced at James, "you shall be removed from your position. Got it?"

"Yes, Professor." The two chorused.

"Thank you, you may return now." Lily and James departed. In the corridor, Lily stopped James.

"Peeves? Really?"

"What?"

"I'd much rather it be Peeves than me." With that she stalked off, James shaking his head. What would it take to get Lily to go out with him? He'd been persistent (The first five years of his time at Hogwarts) and finally backed off last year. Then she'd fallen on him today. In her eyes.. there was something, well, not murderous. 'At least it's a start.' James thought as he went to find the other Marauders.

He came across Remus in the corridor.

"Hey Moony, where are the others?" Remus barely looked up from his book to acknowledge James.

"Padfoot is somewhere with Marlene, Peter is who knows where." James frowned as Remus walked away. What was Sirius doing with Marlene? He wasn't sure he wanted to know.

Lily couldn't find Marlene in the Gryffindor dorms. Or in the kitchen, or in the great hall. She even searched the library, though there was no way Marlene would ever be in there. Lily bumped into Remus on her was out.

"Hey Remus, have you seen Marlene?" Remus looked up from his book and smiled.

"She's with Sirius somewhere." Lily's eyebrows rose. Marlene wasn't kidding about the troublemaker.

"Oh. Okay. See you later?"

"Bye, Lily." Remus turned back to his book as Lily walked out of the library, right into Severus Snape. She gasped as her books tumbled out of her hands.

"Oh, great." Severus wasn't listening. He quickly picked up her books, and with a glare, sulked off. Lily couldn't remember the last time Sev smiled at her. Ever since the incident, he had been cold. James dangled him upside down and called him Snivellus repeatedly, while Lily tried to stop James.

"Potter, what did he ever do to you?"

"It's more the fact that he exists.." Then Severus had called Lily a Mudblood. She had been much more hurt then she had let on. Sev was the one who introduced her to magic, and the first friend she had here. They hadn't uttered more than a few words to each other since.

Lily met the Marauders and Marlene at the Gryffindor table for dinner in the Great Hall. Dinner the first night at Hogwarts is always the most welcoming. The plates filled up simultaneously as the group of seventh years ate furiously. After most of the students had finished their food, Dumbledore stood up.

"Attention." He barely shouted the word and the Great Hall went silent. "Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts. We are quite excited to let you know that we will have a few special visitors." There were excited whispers all around. "The Headmaster of Durmstrang Institute, Igor Karkaroff, and all of his fifth, sixth, and seventh year students, shall be visiting us around October 31st." The excitement got louder. "This, of course, calls for a Halloween Ball." No one was even whispering anymore. Lily leaned across James, whispering to Marlene.

"A ball! What am I gonna wear?"

"Oh, Lily, I can't wait!" Marlene grinned widely, then both girls turned their attention back to the Professor.

"I am sorry to say, that this dance will be Fifth Years and up only. Unless, of course, you are asked by someone older." There was a collective groan from plenty of students. "I expect you all to respect the Durmstrang students. Now, I dismiss you for bed. Goodnight everyone." There was a clutter as everyone stood and moved towards the Great Hall doors. Lily walked with Marlene, chatting excitedly about the ball, until she turned to head to the Head Dorms. As Marlene said goodbye, Lily saw her hook arms with Sirius. She shook her head and walked slightly ahead of James, who had appeared to the side of her.

"McGonagall said we are in charge of decorating for the ball."

"Ooh, fun. I love decorating." Lily grinned. She couldn't wait for the ball.

"She also said we have to share a dance." He looked down as he said it.

"Okay." He looked astonished at her reaction.

"You're not upset?"

"Of course I am, Potter." She smiled as she walked into the dorm room, James staring after her confusedly.