Lily never knew what to make of James.

She remembered meeting him on the train to Hogwarts and almost instantly being a little put off with his personality because of the way he had spoken to Severus. She had always been the type of person who defended her friends to the death, and hearing him talk like that to Severus had given her an immediate dislike of him. However, being in the same house as first years, they'd had little conversations here and there. She wasn't rude to him up front or anything like that, but she felt like her opinion of him was rather set in stone.

In fact, she was rather surprised at how much everybody else seemed to like him. Being as good at Quidditch as he was, people seemed to know his name pretty soon. If anything, that made Lily dislike him a little bit more, and she found it reassuring that neither of her closest friends were as enchanted with him as the rest of the school. She liked to think that she had picked friends with a little more substance, with more independent thinking skills than to be distracted by fast broomsticks.

However, despite what she told herself, sometimes she wondered if she did genuinely like talking to him. He always made her laugh when they talked, always. And Lily knew she had always taken life a little too seriously, so it was just nice to be around someone who seemed to know how to lighten her mood. As much as she adored M&M, they weren't exactly bundles of joy. Marlene was ever the pessimist, and Mary was often moody and deadpan. Lily was the positive one in that friend group, and she wasn't even that optimistic.

But it didn't matter if she felt a little lighter, a little happier when she spoke to him, because she simply didn't like the idea of him. She didn't like the way he treated the younger students, the students who weren't as good at Quidditch or for whom school didn't come as naturally. She wasn't sure that he was a kind person, and that was enough for her. Sometimes she had a feeling that he liked her, but they were twelve, thirteen. What did that really mean, anyways?

She noticed that James would try, in little ways, to spend more time with her, like asking her to be partners in class, or sitting down next to her at the library. But Lily was always dodgy, being careful not to spend too much time with him. It wasn't until third year that he asked her to Hogsmeade, and she turned him down. He didn't ask her again, and in fact, avoided her for weeks after. Eventually, they returned to some cordial amicability in their fourth year. They weren't friends, but they were friendly enough.

Lily messed up in fifth year.

Mary convinced Lily and Marlene to go to a party with her, and there'd been a little bit of firewhiskey involved. Lily, not really knowing what kind of effect it would have on her, had a little too much. She didn't throw up or anything that bad, but it made her set her inhibitions a little too far off to the side. She'd spent the entire night talking to James, for hours. She had no idea what they'd even wound up talking about, and she wouldn't ever admit it, but she couldn't remember the last time she'd laughed that much. She had genuinely had a good time, but it must've just been the firewhiskey.

Apparently, that was all the boost that James needed. He casually asked her out the next weekend, and Lily had been evasive about it. She felt guilty that she had spent all that time with him, knowing that she didn't want to be involved with him, so she didn't have the heart to turn him down explicitly. He took that to mean he should try harder, and each time he asked her out that year, it was a little bit grander than the previous time.

Lily couldn't lie, it was a little endearing, the way he just shamelessly put himself out there. He was comfortable with all eyes on him, putting it all out there for the world to see, and on a good day, she thought it was adorable. Part of her wondered if he noticed that, the way she could feel a smile playing on her lips when he had her attention again. Perhaps he saw it not because he knew her so well, but because he'd spent so long waiting to see any semblance of that in her gaze.

But Lily snapped at the end of fifth year when James had Severus strung up in front of a crowd of students, and that was it. She saw his face pale as she called him arrogant in front of a group of students big enough for the entire school to know within a couple hours. Summer started, sixth year started, and he barely looked at her again that year. She started dating Edgar Bones, he dated a couple people, and she figured it was over.

Maybe a small part of her had been disappointed, but she told herself it was a relief not to be ambushed by a public presence, like Peeves dropping in on a class. Edgar was the type of person she'd always imagined that she would date. He was calm and grounded, kind and chivalrous, smart and caring. They'd dated for a good part of sixth year, and he really had made Lily happy. Or at least, it fit into the narrative in Lily's head of what life was supposed to look like.

When she found out that James Potter was Head Boy, she immediately felt a sense of dread. She'd always avoided spending too much time with him, and now it felt inevitable that she would have to see him more. A part of her also genuinely worried that he would pull the same antics that he'd pulled their fifth year, but he was surprising her so far. He wasn't asking her out, he wasn't complimenting her, he wasn't being overly sweet. He was just being a person, a coworker for her Head Girl duties. That was it.

It was almost confusing.

"Alright, here's what I was thinking for Homecoming," James said, handing her a piece of parchment. "I wanted to get down some of my Wizarding world ideas before you infuse some Muggle culture into the mix, and then I figured we can show it to Dumbledore."

Lily met his gaze, almost suspicious. She simply didn't understand why he'd even wanted this position, why he was taking the initiative to do all this. It didn't make sense to her, didn't conform to the idea she had of Potter in her head. However, she took the piece of parchment from him.

"You're looking at me funny," James noticed. As always, he seemed to be watching her a little too carefully for her own liking.

"No, I'm not," Lily lied, finally dropping his gaze to look at the paper.

"You are," James insisted. "What's on your mind?"

Lily sighed, and put the parchment down. "I was just trying to figure out why you even wanted the job. You didn't apply to be prefect two years ago, did you? This… being Head Boy is just boring, administrative stuff. It's hanging around people that aren't exactly your crowd."

"And your big brain didn't think to just ask?" James teased. "Alright. Since you were trying to figure it out, what was your guess?"

Lily shook her head. "I couldn't come up with anything."

"No answer? Your professors are speechless."

Lily tried to repress it, but she was smiling. "Alright, Potter, give it up," she said playfully. She caught herself as she was saying it, noticing how flirtatious it sounded, but it was already out there. She mentally chided herself, but it always seemed to slip it around him. She was just matching his energy, his playfulness - that was all. What else could it be?

James hesitated, resisting the urge to label what she had said as flirting with him, and fighting the urge to flirt back too much. "I just started to feel like it was time to grow up, take a little more responsibility. Being Quidditch Captain isn't new for me. I love it and it's challenging sometimes, but I guess I was looking for something a little more. Something that makes me focus on my grades and think about my future. Maybe that's why I'm choosing to spend time with people who 'aren't exactly my crowd,'" James explained, sounding thoughtful as he spoke.

"Hm," Lily said. She was trying to figure out if she believed him, and against her will, she was impressed. He definitely had seemed childish to her in the past, but his energy was definitely different this year. Maybe he really did mean it, but she still wondered what had brought about this change. However, she didn't want to ask. This conversation already felt personal enough, and she didn't want to give him the wrong idea.

"Wow, I open up, and all I get is 'hmm'?" James asked, noticing how abruptly it had ended.

"And 'yep,'" Lily responded, dropping her gaze to the parchment again. She skimmed it in a matter of a couple seconds, and then turned to look at him again.

"This is a good plan," she said, matter-of-factly.

"The tone of surprise."

Lily shrugged. "I'm not surprised. You're in most of my N.E.W.T. classes. I know you could be smarter if you actually tried."

"You wound me. How do you know I'm not already trying my hardest?"

"Call it a hunch."

"Aw, well, isn't this cute," Michelle Wilkes said, striding in, a little earlier than the other prefects. Right on her heels was her longtime boyfriend, Thomas Avery. Both of them tall and pale, with dark features and sharp eyes, they looked even more intimidating as a set. The thought briefly passed through Lily's mind that if she were a Slytherin first year, she'd be terrified of them too.

"Welcome," Lily said, cordially enough.

"I see we're a little early," Avery said coolly. "Be back in a couple minutes." He put a hand on Michelle's waist, guiding her out the door, and they walked down a couple doorways.

"I have an idea," he said.

"I already had it," Michelle said. "It's too early to play the hand that's Charity Burbage. Evans doesn't like him enough to care that he's sleeping with her yet."

"I disagree," Avery said "He'll break up with her sooner or later. I say we play it while we can, before Evans finds out on her own or something."

"Come on," Michelle said. "Look at their relationship."

"Whose?" Avery demanded.

"Both," Michelle insisted. "Evans still looks at him like she did in fifth year, when she kept turning him down. Meanwhile, Potter is free to sleep with whoever he wants, and that empty headed Burbage is happy to keep things quiet. He's getting the best of both worlds, and he's been shot down by her so many times, I guarantee you he won't end things with Burbage until he thinks it's a sure thing with Evans. He's having his cake and eating it too. Would you end it with Burbage if you were him?"

Avery hesitated. "Okay, maybe you're right."

"I know I'm right," Michelle said. "Keep an eye on them."

"Apparently, you should be the one watching them," Avery returned. "Are we making any moves tonight?"

"Spreading the new prefects' bathroom password they give out tonight," Michelle said. "Going to write it in the Quidditch locker rooms before the Gryffindors go in. Make it seem like Potter is handing out favors to his players. His team won't be able to resist. You just make sure Hooch catches wind of it."

"Done," Avery said, gesturing to the younger prefects heading into the meeting. "Looks like it's showtime."

The meeting ran about as smoothly as it could've, and once it was over, James and Lily spent a couple minutes resetting the classroom back to what it had been before.

"Good job," she said.

"It was all you," James said, holding his hands up.

"I appreciate you letting me run the meetings," Lily admitted.

"You have way more experience than me doing these things," James said. "It's only right."

Lily paused. "Thank you for saying that. I'm just glad you're not trying to compensate for your imposter syndrome by bossing everybody around during the meetings. I was afraid of that."

"Evans, as much as you like to think so, I'm not a complete Neanderthal," James said, and there was a note of genuine exasperation in his voice.

Lily heard it, and she softened. "You're right. I'm sorry, James."

She paused as soon as his name came out of his mouth, realizing that she hadn't called him Potter. To be honest, it was throwing her off lately that Mary was referring to him as James. And Remus had just said his name at the end of the meeting, too. It was just closer to the forefront of her mind lately than Potter. It didn't mean anything.

James raised an eyebrow at Lily using his first name, and opened his mouth to respond. However, almost immediately, Lily beat him to it. "Don't make a big deal out of it."

James laughed. "Okay, Lily. I promise I won't."

Shaking her head, Lily gathered her things. "You ready to head back to the common room?"

"Ready when you are," James said. As they found a deserted hallway, he lowered his voice a bit. "You think we need another strategizing session? The Slytherins have been pulling some stunts lately."

"Tell me about it," Lily said, nervously running her hands through her hair, as if afraid to find another spider in there. "I still feel like there's bugs on me when I lay down to go to bed."

"I still feel like my own broom is going to knock me off," James muttered. "Look, let's take ten when we get back to the common room, and you bring your friends over to ours."

"Okay, deal," Lily said, as they parted ways at the staircase. She went upstairs to find M&M chatting in the common space. "We're going to James's room, it's time to give the Slytherins some payback."

"You owe me twenty Galleons," Mary said to Marlene, ignoring Lily.

"I do not, she's only using his first name!" Marlene protested.

"Whoa, what?" Lily asked.

"Nothing," Mary said dismissively, knowing full well Lily had enough pieces of the puzzle to put it together.

"Wait, did you bet on something happening between me and - "

"And James?" Mary asked, using a baby voice as she said his first name. She and Marlene exchanged gleeful looks, and Lily smiled in spite of herself. Her friends were usually so moody that it was nice to see them entertained, even if it was slightly at her expense. "Big upgrade from Potter. And what an offensive thing to accuse us of. Does that sound like something we'd do?"

"Yes," Lily said flatly. "Absolutely, it does."

"Yeah, you're right," Mary said, shrugging.

"What was the bet?" Lily asked indignantly.

"I said the two of you would be snogging by winter break," Mary said. "Marlene disagrees. Twenty Galleons. That's all it was."

"Oh, is that all?" Lily said sarcastically.

"Aw, baby, don't be in denial," Mary said, stroking her arm sympathetically. "It's good to accept our shadow sides. Now come on, don't we have to go to his room?" She laughed, and added. "Really, don't feel like you have to invite me and Marlene next time."

Lily scowled. "I hate you."

"You love me," Mary said in a singsong voice.

"Ignore her," Marlene said. "Don't worry, Lils. I believe you," she said seriously, nodding somberly.

"She just doesn't want to be out twenty Galleons," Mary said in a pretend whisper.