Letters From A Stranger || James and Lily ||

Surprise

"I'm so happy!" Marlene exclaimed as she inspected the golden badge. "You deserve it, Lils."

"Congratulations, Lily." Mrs. Potter said, smiling warmly at her.

Lily mumbled a thank you and turned to Remus, who was opening his own letter. She prayed to every God that Remus would be her fellow Head. She didn't want to spend an year working with someone she barely knew, or worse, with someone she knew too much. She didn't know what she would do if Severus was made Head Boy.

"Remus?" Lily said, tugging on the said boy's sleeve to get his attention, "Are you Head Boy?"

Remus shook his head as he inspected the contents of his envelope. "Not me."

"It's probably the Ravenclaw prefect." he added as an afterthought when he saw Lily's face fall, "He's a pretty nice guy."

Sirius and Marlene had already opened their letters. They glanced at Lily sympathetically, knowing the cause of her worry.

But nobody noticed the absolute silence that had fallen over James. Until he dropped something shiny that hit the marble floor with a ping that caused the others in the room to turn towards him.

"Please tell me that's not what I think it is." Sirius muttered in shock as he stared at the badge that lay at James's feet, "I must have hit my head somewhere. This is probably just a nightmare."

It was the sound of Marlene's laugh that snapped everyone out of the shocked stupor. "Dumbledore has lost his mind!"

"Prongs?" Remus said, laughing himself, "You're Head Boy?"

James blinked before he bent down and picked up the badge. "It can't be me. This has to be some mistake."

"I hope so." Sirius added with a shudder, "Merlin! I can't even imagine you being Head Boy."

But the extra letter in James's envelope that clearly stated that he was chosen as Head Boy said otherwise.

Lily looked around at the others. They all seemed like they couldn't believe what was happening. James himself seemed pretty confused. So quickly making a decision, Lily moved to stand next to him.

"James?" she said as she nudged him. He turned to look at her and she smiled almost involuntarily. "I'm so happy it's you."

He could only stare at her in confusion. "Me? I don't think I'm cut out for this."

The self doubt that reflected in his eyes hurt her more than him. She'd never seen James like this. He was always the epitome of confidence. Always sure about everything he was doing. So much that it made Lily envious as to how someone could be so bold and confident.

"You deserve this, James. Don't doubt yourself."

He shook his almost immediately. "I don't think I can handle so much responsibility."

"You can." she assured, "I've seen you on the field. You can grab people's attention with a single word and honestly that's pretty impressive. Dumbledore knows what he's doing. You're a great leader."

"You really think so?" he asked, biting on his lip unsurely.

Lily nodded. "But I don't know how I'm going to handle working with you for a year."

James brightened up immediately at the thought of getting to spend an entire year with her. "Get used to it, Evans."

When Lily turned away, she saw Mrs. Potter watching their interaction with a fond gaze. The older woman mouthed a genuine "thank you" at her and Lily smiled back, proud of what she had done.