Well... Hello there xD I'm still here! And I brought a new chapter! Enjoy :D
Chapter 12 - New Role, New Responsibilities
The Great Hall was filled with loud and excited chatter the next morning as Lily sat down at the Gryffindor table. As soon as her legs touched her seat, a golden plate and goblet appeared in front of her.
"Oh, how I have missed the food at Hogwarts," Marlene all but groaned as she reached for the first platter she could find – which just happened to be scrambled eggs. "There's nothing better."
"Not even your mum's cooking?"
"Especially not my mum's cooking," Marlene scoffed and reached for the sausage plate. "Back when our house elf was still alive, he'd cook up a feast. I'm telling you – Mazy's roast was to die for! But he died two years ago and Mum and Dad didn't have the heart to get a new house elf."
"You don't need house elves to run a household," Lily said as she added milk to her cereal. "Muggles don't have house elves and they're doing just fine. There's a reason why household charms exist, after all."
Marlene shrugged. "I guess it's just a matter of what you're used to. But ever since Fabian and Gideon moved out and it's just me and my parents, there really is no need to get a new elf."
"What are they doing, by the way?" Dorcas asked.
"They've signed up for the Auror programme, I believe," Alice said before Marlene had the chance to answer. "They're a year above Frank, so he's not seeing them that often."
"They've just started their on-field sessions. After a year of just theory and new curses and spells, they are now joining their mentors on real missions." Marlene winced. "It's a bit scary. Last week, they ran into a wizard who was trying to curse a Muggle. I don't know why – they're not allowed to talk about ongoing investigations – but their mentor was at a nearby public restroom and they were just supposed to wait for him to return, and instead ended up in a full-on duel with that guy."
Dorcas gasped. "Are they okay?"
"Yeah, they're fine. They were showing their scrapes and bruises to everyone who wasn't fast enough to get the hell away from them. They couldn't be prouder."
"Are you talking about me, McKinnon, because I'm sure I could think of some things that could make me prouder." And before anyone could react, Sirius Black nudged Dorcas to the side, so he could sit next to Marlene.
"Good morning to you, too, Black," Marlene said and instantly pushed her plate out of the boy's reach. "But I will make sure that stealing my sausages isn't one of those things you can be proud of."
"Aw, come now, McKinnon. Why so salty this morning?" Sirius winked at her flirtatiously. Marlene just picked up a sausage from her plate, bit into it and smirked back.
"Morning, Evans."
Lily's stomach made a somersault as James sat down next to her. He reached for the pumpkin juice, filled his goblet, and moved over to hers.
"Did you sleep well?"
"I did, thank you," Lily managed to say as she smiled at him before taking a sip from her pumpkin juice. "I'm glad to be back."
"Yeah, it's good to be back. Although it'll take a few nights to get used to Peter's snoring again." James laughed as the mentioned boy glared at him from across the table.
"I do not snore!" he said with emphasis, only for Sirius to start cackling.
"Yes, you do, Peter," Remus said calmly. "And there's nothing bad about it." He offered the blond the platter with the roasted tomatoes and mushrooms, but Peter shook his head and instead went for the sausages.
"Talk about yourself, Moony, but I for one do think it's bad to pester your dorm mates with your unnecessarily loud breathing." Alice glared at Sirius, who just shrugged. "What? It's true. I need my beauty sleep."
"Beauty sleep won't help you anymore, Pads." James waved his fork at the affronted-looking Sirius. "Nothing can help with that."
"At least my hair doesn't stick out into every direction as though it's desperately trying to get away from my brain!"
James just smirked. "At least my hair hasn't given up on trying."
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"It means, Sirius, that you need to spend less time in front of a mirror and more time wondering about what you can do to get me a cup of coffee." Sirius gaped at Marlene incredulously.
"Coffee?" he asked dumbfounded before turning around and looking up and down the table. "There're literally multiple pots of coffee on this table. Just grab one."
"I didn't ask what I could do to get coffee, I asked what you could do to get me a cup of coffee."
Sirius just narrowed his eyes at her and waited for her to say something else, but as Marlene continued to bat her eyes at him flirtatiously, he grumbled something unintelligible and trudged off.
"Anything special planned for the try-outs?" Marlene raised her eyebrows as she bit off another piece of her sausage.
"I'm definitely looking for a new Keeper," James said firmly before glaring down the Gryffindor table. "There's no way in hell that McLaggen will be on the team this year. This is my last chance to win the cup and if he's the one ruining it, I might actually contemplate killing him."
"We wouldn't want murder to be added to your legacy, Prongs," Remus deadpanned, causing Peter to snicker.
"He really was rather bad last season…"
"'Rather bad?' Lily, he literally dove in the wrong direction, hit the hoop, and knocked himself out!" James picked up his goblet and rather aggressively took a huge gulp of juice to calm himself down. "I swear to Merlin, if I see that guy turn up to try-outs in uniform, I'll single-handedly kick him off the pitch!"
"Count me in to help you with that, Captain," Marlene said calmly. "I'll be the one chasing him to make sure he won't come back."
"Thanks, Marly." James sighed. "And we're gonna need a new Chaser. That'll be another challenge we'll have to face," he said towards Marlene, who nodded glumly.
"Maybe I can talk Dirk into trying out. I remember seeing him fly during my free period last year and he was decent."
James winced. "Ah. Well, I should probably apologise to him before you do that."
"Apologise?" Lily turned to James, a frown on her face. "Why apologise?"
"Becau—"
"Because," Sirius said loudly as he came back from his coffee-hunting mission. He was holding two pots of coffee in each hand while four additional pots were floating around his head as if he was the sun and they were planets orbiting him. "We accidentally hexed him in second year and made his head turn double its original size. What we only found out a year or so later was that his head actually continued to grow until his muscles couldn't support it anymore and Cresswell had to be dragged into the Hospital Wing by his feet."
"Bloody hell, why didn't I know about that?" Marlene asked flabbergasted.
"Because that's not something we run around telling people," James said begrudgingly before motioning to Remus and Peter. "And they didn't say anything because they accidentally stumbled into a secret passageway, which helped them escape. Sirius and I were stuck in detention for literally three whole months."
"Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday." Sirius shook his head, disappointed. "For four hours each. It was harsh."
"Well deserved, I'd say." Alice raised her eyebrows, as if in a challenge.
"Yes, yes. I know."
Lily looked from Sirius, who was still standing behind Marlene, loaded with coffee pots, to James, wondering why it had taken them nearly five years to apologise to a fellow Gryffindor, as the voice of their Head of House reached her ears.
"My, Mr Black, I must ask you to refrain from drinking all that coffee as I don't want to see you spending your first period on the toilet."
Sirius opened and closed his mouth, looking beyond shocked. "But I haven't—"
"Of course you haven't, Mr Black, that's why I'm asking you to stop before you start. Now, here are your timetables. Please hurry along, no teacher will wait for you to start their classes. Ah, before I forget it, Mr Potter, Miss Evans, might I have a word?"
As everyone stood up, Sirius unceremoniously dropped all of the coffee pots onto the table, and Lily shot Marlene an amused glance. Her friend pulled out her wand, waved it over the remaining food, and watched as a piece of cloth appeared out of thin air to wrap around the sausages, hard-boiled eggs, and toast.
"There you go, Black," Marlene said triumphantly and handed Sirius the pouch of food. "Wouldn't want you to starve just because you decided to rob every Gryffindor of their coffee for me to have a cup."
Sirius' eyes widened slightly as he accepted the packed breakfast. "Wow, thanks, McKinnon."
"Don't mention it." Marlene sniffed, poured herself a cup of coffee, and marched out of the Great Hall without another word.
Lily looked after her, amused, before turning to James and Professor McGonagall.
"How did the first Prefects meeting go on the Hogwarts Express?"
"It went well, Professor," Lily said while subconsciously rightening her robes. "We asked everyone to keep an eye out for suspicious behaviour or bullying and told them to let us know as soon as they stumble across something."
Professor McGonagall nodded. "Very good. This year, we will all be faced with more challenges than we're used to." She sighed and shook her head. "As you must already know from your father, Mr Potter, things are looking rather dire currently and we're hoping that you can support the cause by keeping an eye on the students and protecting those that need it."
"'We,' Professor?"
"The Order, Mr Potter."
James' eyes widened slightly before he shot a quick sideways look to Lily. "Ah. Of course."
"I trust that this will remain between us. If you must take your friends into your confidence, do so at your own risk. But until we know more, we should all keep our eyes open and that includes looking for a new Keeper and another Chaser for the Quidditch team. When do you plan on holding tryouts, Mr Potter? I expect that Gryffindor will win the Quidditch Cup this year."
"Oh, um…" James blinked, having clearly been taken off guard by the sudden switch in topic and level of seriousness. "Soon, I guess. I was thinking maybe next weekend. I wanted to book the pitch before my first class today."
"Very good, Mr Potter. I expect great things from the team this year, so it's only right to start as soon as possible. I just cannot grin my way through yet another day in the Professors' common room with Professor Slughorn reminding me how Slytherin once again beat Gryffindor. I know you are doing your absolute best, Mr Potter, and you winning the Cup last year was proof of that, however, losing against Slytherin really isn't doing a lot for my mental health." She huffed and nodded at them before saying, "Have a good day, you two. And don't be late for your Arithmancy lesson, Miss Evans. It's about to start, so you better hurry along."
"No pressure, then," James mused as they watched Professor McGonagall walk briskly out of the Great Hall. "We only lost our last match against Slytherin because McLaggan knocked himself out by flying right into a hoop."
Lily snorted and hoisted her bag further up her shoulder as they, too, made their way out of the Great Hall. "She really is rather ambitious when it comes to Quidditch, isn't she?"
James hummed. "I just can't get the picture of the Professors making fun of each other in the teachers' common room out of my head. It'll stay there rent-free for the rest of my life."
"Same." Lily laughed as they turned right towards the big set of stairs that would lead them to the moving staircase. "It's kind of cute how invested all of the Heads of House are, isn't it? There's truly a rivalry going on and not just between the Houses themselves."
James snickered.
"So, what's your first class today? I know you didn't sign up for Arithmancy this year."
"Oh, um, I have a free period now. After that, I have Transfigurations. That gives me time to book the pitch for Saturday morning. I want to scare off as many lazy students who play with the thought of trying out by having try-outs as early as possible, so only the truly invested ones show up."
Lily blinked, astonished. "That… is actually pretty clever."
"Thanks." A blush started to creep up James' neck as his right hand which wasn't holding onto the strap of his backpack jumped up to his hair. "Didn't keep McLaggan away last year, though, so 8 am wasn't early enough."
"He actually showed up at 8 am?"
"Unfortunately. The earliest time slot is 7 am, so I'm hopeful that he'll be too tired to show up. And if he still does, I will just tell him to shove off." He shrugged. "There's no way in hell that idiot makes the team this year."
"I'll keep my fingers crossed you'll find a better Keeper, then." Lily shot him a smirk, which James retaliated.
"That really shouldn't be a big problem."
"So why are you walking away from the Professors' common room, then? The blackboard for booking classrooms and the pitch is in there, isn't it?"
An awkward chuckle escaped James and Lily saw his hand tighten around the strap of his backpack. "It is, but I thought I could walk you to your first class?" That came out more like a question than a statement and Lily had to bite her lip to keep from giggling when she saw James visibly wince.
"That's very nice of you," she said softly and hurriedly glanced down to her feet as she felt her cheeks heat up once again. Gosh, dang it, Evans, you can't even compliment him without turning into a tomato!
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw James smile tentatively, shoot her a glance, and then push his free hand through his hair before burying it in his trouser pocket as if to keep it from messing up his hair. Had he remembered how, in fourth year, she had yelled at him about how ridiculous his constant hair-ruffling looked? Her stomach dropped uncomfortably, eyes jumping back to her feet, as they walked side by side in awkward silence.
She sighed silently. She really hoped he didn't think about that moment… It wasn't that it hadn't been true back in fourth year, but that didn't mean that she still meant it. In fact, she thought as her blush darkened, she found that insecure gesture of his quite endearing.
James cleared his throat and turned to look at her. "Can you believe that McGonagall asked us to help the Order?" A grin appeared on his face and Lily could help but grin back, relieved about the change of topic. His eyes sparkled excitedly, which sent the butterflies in her stomach into a frenzy. "I know we're not allowed to officially join yet, what with the whole graduation thing they've got going on, but this is huge! We could help them from inside the castle. Most of the Professors are part of the Order, but you know yourself how difficult it is to go to a Professor to ask for help. We could really support the cause and help students!"
"Do you have an idea of how we could do that?"
They had reached the fourth floor, much to Lily's dismay. The suits of armour that were flanking the archway leading into the corridor the Arithmancy classroom was located on were humming softly, some were coughing or snickering as younger students walked past them. The summer sun was shining through the open windows, lightening up the entire corridor and filling it with warm air.
A sigh caught her attention and she turned back to James, who looked a bit dismayed. "I don't, no. Maybe that's something we should ask the Prefects in our first meeting tomorrow. Maybe they could come up with ideas on how to support Muggle-borns and half-bloods, especially. Maybe… Maybe some type of support group?" He scratched his cheek. "We've talked about complaint boxes in Muggle studies last year. They're these wooden boxes that the Muggle schools put into the entrance area of the school so that students can throw in suggestions or worries anonymously… But I guess you know of them…" James faltered slightly and a light blush dusted across his cheeks as he realised that he had just explained a Muggle invention to a Muggle-born.
Who, by the way, was looking at him with a tender gaze that did all sorts of things to James' heart, imagination, and concentration.
"I didn't know Professor Burbage covered complaint boxes in class."
James shrugged. "It was part of an assignment," he muttered softly before clearing his throat. "So, what do you think?"
Lily narrowed her eyes slightly as she watched him closely. If someone had told her in fifth year – preferably right around the time when James had hexed Snape's trousers off while dangling him upside-down on the grounds – that she would one day actually admire him, she would have hexed that someone to the moon and back. He had come a long way – an obnoxious, big-headed, arrogant idiot to the kind and compassionate man who was walking next to her, trying not to shy away under her scrutinising gaze. Although she had been surprised at first of Dumbledore's choice for Head Boy, she could see it now. Dumbledore had seen the potential in James Potter that nobody else had seen, himself – and herself – included.
"You will be a great Head Boy, you know that?"
His right hand reached up to scratch his blushing neck. "You think?"
"Yes. I actually do." She smiled at him before focussing her gaze back on the corridor in front of them. They had reached the Arithmany classroom and most of the students had already taken their seats. Professor Vector was nowhere in sight.
"We should definitely keep that in mind," Lily said before turning back to James. "The complaint box. Or the support group. It could turn out to be valuable if we established something that shows open support and encouragement as early on as possible."
"I agree." James nodded along before adjusting the backpack strap on his shoulder, clutching onto it with both hands. "Well, see you in Transfigurations?"
Lily bit her lip and nodded shyly as she glanced up at him. "Yeah," she said, and before she could do more, James flashed her a cheeky grin, turned around and strolled down the same corridor they had just come from.
"I'll be here in an hour to pick you up," he called over his shoulder before turning around the corner and vanishing from sight, leaving Lily standing in front of the classroom, not knowing what to feel – excitement, nervousness, or annoyance.
Maybe a bit of all three, she thought as she fought the butterflies in her stomach back down. But definitely more of the first two.