Chapter Thirty Four
Sure enough the next day she received a letter from Cassie which she read as she sat down to breakfast; there was nothing unexpected there – most of it was incredulous phrases followed by unnecessary numbers of exclamation marks – and then some news about what she'd been doing in America before she was told about James being made Head Boy.
I suppose it makes sense really, she had written at the end of her letter, returning once again to the subject which had prompted her to write to Lily, he has grown up a fair amount and pretty much everyone in the school loves him. I wonder who his Head Girl will be though, Sirius didn't tell me that. I'd laugh so much if it's Azalea, he'd hate her so much! Well it's obviously not you because I assume you would have told me so it'll either be Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff... Whatever they're called. Oh well, they're nice.
Lily was seized with guilt as she read this; if any of her friends understood her situation it would be Cassie and it wasn't fair to keep secrets from her. She struggled with this issue for nearly four days before she sat down and wrote a letter out to her best friend which included in it the information that she had been made Head Girl and a plea not to mention anything about James to her. Look I know you'll all find it absolutely hilarious that it's us together but I've moved past that now, she had said, and I don't want to... affect our working relationship in any way. We need to be professional about it and leave the past in the past and having you lot hanging around and laughing at me isn't going to help. And I'll need you to pretend like you didn't know anything about it when we get back to school or Alice and Mary will skin me alive for not telling them.
The letter lay on her desk for another couple of days, only half pushed into its envelope, before she finally left for the Post Office and sent it off; just over a week later she was having a very late breakfast – putting it more aptly she was having cereal for lunch – when she heard a tapping at the window and opened it to the enormous owl who deposited a letter on the table and vanished again.
Hey Lily,
Thanks for the extremely delayed reply to my letter... I thought you were never going to answer it but I suppose that something must have got lost somewhere across the ocean... I don't know if I trust these American owls! Well... your letter wasn't quite what I was expecting...! I suppose I'll get the boring stuff out of the way first: yeah America's alright, we're coming home in a couple of days but it's been really interesting and it was nice, if really weird, to meet some distant family...
Now onto the interesting stuff... Lil I promise I wouldn't do that... Okay well I might want to but I will rein it in for you! I'm sure you can be perfectly professional about it and be civil to James without falling in love with him or anything, although I don't see why that would be such a bad thing. You guys got on really well last year, I'm sure it'll be fine, don't worry. Look I know that this is in no way what you were asking for when you wrote to me (not that you were asking for anything but I'm going to tell you this anyway) but this is what I think (and please don't flay me alive next time you see me for saying this)... I know you're dead set against James and you always have been but, since I've started doing Quidditch with him, I've become quite fond of him and you know that... He's actually a really nice guy Lil and if he hadn't been such a berk when we were younger I reckon we would all have learnt that much earlier... I love you Lil but you're stubborn and you know it; now I'm not saying that you do like him but if you did... well he's improved a lot (besides, if Sirius can manage it so can James) and it probably wouldn't be the worst decision that anyone's ever made. Still, I know that you'll probably start reading this and just roll your eyes and skip to the end because you refuse to admit that James Potter could possibly have grown out of the stage where he was immature and cruel – and Merlin knows if there was one person in Hogwarts who agreed with you about him it was me – but I think he's changed a lot recently and I think it'd be wrong of you not to give him a second chance. He can be lovely when he wants to be, so can Sirius, and I think (and I don't know whether this is just me being soppy and imagining something which isn't there because now I'm with Sirius so they've shown they can be nice and less... boyish) that if there was anyone in Hogwarts he would want to be nice to, it'd be you. Anyway I'd better go because my parents want to take us on a hike to see some wood which is famous for its fairies or something, I don't know, and my hand is starting to hurt from writing for so long... I guess I just want to say, because I know you will be, don't worry Lily. Dumbledore's not an idiot, he chose him for a reason and you know that you two got on.
And hey, if you were to end up together... Well would that really be that bad? He's good looking, kind, funny, clever, stupidly talented at Quidditch and annoyingly charming; we've refused to acknowledge it for years but there is a reason everyone at school loves him and he really has grown up recently... Besides you'd really piss some of his groupies off and their faces would surely be a good enough reason anyway...! (Did you see that girl he kicked out of the Quidditch after-party last year?!) Plus we could totally double on Hogsmeade visits... although considering that that would put Sirius and James together maybe it'd be a bad idea... they seem to attract trouble without even trying.
Okay I actually am going now... Anyway I'll see you in Diagon Alley I guess. I'll send you an owl when we get home on Thursday.
Lots of love,
Cassie
A sigh escaped Lily's lips as she finished reading her friend's letter; it was filled with exactly what she had suspected it might be filled with and yet somehow Cassie's letter seemed to lift her spirits slightly; of course it would be fine having James as a Head Boy, it would be good. People respected him so their job would be easier and Cassie was right, he had somehow managed to get rid of a lot of his more unsavoury qualities; she hadn't seen him hex anyone in months and he seemed generally kinder in the common room. Cassie had been right in the letter; Lily would be kind and civil to him because there was absolutely no reason why they couldn't have a professional relationship. It wasn't like anyone had ever said that they had to be best friends, and they didn't have to spend every waking moment together, all they had to do was co-operate, control people and help Dumbledore; all of those were easy jobs and aside from that Lily's life could remain absolutely the same. There should be very little disruption to her daily life and her relationship with him.
Of course one thing she refused to think about was how kind he had been to her when he had found her in the Room of Requirement crying over Petunia's letter; Petunia hadn't been home all summer and so she hadn't had to face it. In response to the shock which her mind had experienced after seeing James be so attentive, it had locked that memory away and refused to confront it. He had probably, she had rationalised the night that it had happened – the only time that she had thought about it – just been looking for her because he wanted help with homework or something and hadn't known what to do when he had found her; as she had lain in bed that night Lily had flushed as red as the hangings which she was staring at – how embarrassing, to be found crying over a silly letter from her pathetic sister by James Potter, of all people. Still she couldn't deny the fact that he had been incredibly kind to her and it had shaken Lily's view of him more than it had already been disrupted over the past year. She didn't want him to be kind because it was so much easier to dislike him, and not to want anything to do with him, when his thoughtfulness and compassion had been hidden under his smirking superiority and conceit. In truth she wasn't sure where they had gone but she missed them; they had made her life so much easier. Now that she knew he was actually a decent person she couldn't escape the knowledge and she recoiled from the eagerness with which she wanted to talk to him and be friends with him. Lily was ashamed of her traitorous heart – she had disliked him for so long surely it could have managed just a year longer? Then she would have been safe from his frustrating magnetism, safe to find someone who had never inspired an infuriating combination of anger and amusement, someone she had never, out of the corner of her eye, seen look at her like she was the answer to an unknown question.
With a shake of her head Lily stopped her train of thought and banished it to the back of her mind; she had nearly a month before she had to worry about James Potter and she was going to make the most of her period away from the cluttered thoughts of her time at school. She left the letter on the kitchen table and ran upstairs to grab the book which she had started before her growling stomach had forced her to emerge from her bed; it wasn't the most intellectual thing she had read but she was enjoying it so far and she tucked it under one arm before heading out to sit in the sun and read.
The summer passed faster than they had expected and, before long, all of the new seventh years had been to Diagon Alley and picked up the supplies that they needed for each subject. James and Sirius had been forced by Mrs Potter to add in another stop at Madam Malkin's to replace their robes.
"Honestly Mum, they're fine! What are you complaining about?" James had moaned as she ushered them inside.
"Did you see the state of them; you are not going back to school like that! Holes in the sleeves, fraying hems, burn marks – it's a wonder they're still in one piece and Sirius' are hardly any better. Honestly I don't know what you boys get up to! These things are supposed to last for years, or at least until you grow out of them. I feel like all I'm ever doing is replacing your school robes," she had said as she had manhandled both boys onto the stools and settled her beady eyes on them. "You're not to move an inch while Madam Malkin measures you or you'll have me to answer to."
"Mum-" James groaned again.
"Don't you 'Mum' me James Potter, you need to look smart, especially since you're the Head Boy now. You have to set a good example this year and that means you have to look neat and tidy. It won't take long, just don't fiddle or cause any mayhem and I'll let you off some of the rest of the errands."
"You mean we can go and look at the new Comet?" James cried as Sirius threw his arms in the air and cheered. "I heard it's the fastest broom ever made!" Sirius cried excitedly.
"It must outstrip their others by a mile," James added. "Personally my heart will always belong to the Nimbus One Thousand Five Hundred which you got me for my birthday a few years ago but I always like to see what's new in the world. I don't think that Comet will ever catch up to Whitehorn's Nimbuses though."
"James I swear your love of Quidditch will be your downfall one day," Dorea sighed as her two boys launched into a discussion of the benefits of birch tail twigs against hazel tails.
"But the birch gives you such tight cornering," Sirius continued to say as Madam Malkin flitted around him, "and you can't argue that that's not useful, especially in professional Quidditch."
"I agree that tight cornering is useful but I think that the added speed which hazel brings is better in general," he argued.
"But you can make brooms faster by other means," Sirius rebutted. "Surely you could have a rowan or an ash handle and slim everything down, plus the player could make themselves as streamlined as possible... I think a lot of speed is in the technique of the player."
"So's the cornering though, isn't it," James replied. "Besides it doesn't matter how well you can corner if both Seekers are diving for the Snitch – the one that's going faster will win."
"It's not just about the Snitch though, is it Prongs?"
"I'd say the Snitch is fairly important. Don't waste your time chasing the Quaffle if you've got the chance to get the Snitch; it is worth more points after all. The game is founded on the Quaffle but the Snitch brings the flair," he shrugged. Madam Malkin hissed in displeasure and Dorea glared at him.
"And the excitement," Sirius laughed.
Eventually Madam Malkin had finished with them and packed them off with a new set of robes – "James has gone up a size in length since last year because he's grown but that's it Mrs Potter," she had said – and Dorea let them wander away to drool over broomsticks and Quidditch supplies.
Not long after this all of the witches and wizards who attended Hogwarts congregated in King's Cross, strolling through as they tried, and failed, to look inconspicuous.
"There really are an awful lot of these funny dressed people about," one large Muggle had remarked disdainfully to his colleague. "Is it always like this in London?"
"Not usually," he replied in a reedy voice. "Normally the oddest dressed person you see here is wearing tails for some fancy occasion or a pinstriped suit." His rather large colleague ran his hand self-consciously down the fabric of his suit and wondered why he had thought pinstripes were a good idea. Still, his companion seemed completely unaware both of the man's action, and the fact that he was wearing pinstripes and continued to push his way through the brightly dressed crowd, all of which were chattering about some school. "Probably some odd Christian denomination," the larger one of the pair muttered, "maybe they're Amish. I expect they don't understand the way decent people dress. Probably think they're still living in the Stone Ages or Medieval times."
On Platform Nine and three-quarters Lily was sighing with happiness at the sight of the gleaming red train which would whisk her away. She never ceased to be amazed by her luck at being thrust into a world which she had thought existed only in dreams.
Suddenly she was accosted by various friends, all of which squealed and chattered at her when they saw the badge pinned to the front of her robes. For once, and for two reasons, she had put them on before she left and braved the confused stares of the people in the station; she no longer had Petunia complaining in one ear about 'at least trying to look normal' and she felt a pleasing sense of freedom because of this; the other, and more practical reason, was that she knew Prefects' Meetings could sometimes drag on and she had no idea what she would be needed to do when she finally made it onto the train; it was possible that she wouldn't have a chance to change. Her stomach did a nervous flip as she saw James striding through the crowd, standing about a head taller than most of the other pupils assembled on the platform and parting them easily; with a hearty laugh he turned back to grab Remus in a hug and waved at Peter as he leant out of one of the carriages, scanning the crowd. An enormous grin spread across his face and he beckoned the two boys over; they were racing towards the smaller blond boy when Sirius, his arms flailing comically, leapt enthusiastically on his friends and smothered them in hugs.
She turned away from their reunion; James wasn't heading towards her and that was the most important thing.
It was impossible, however, for Lily to avoid him forever and, thanks mostly to Cassie and Sirius wanting to be together and have their friends with them, she found herself being bundled into a carriage which was about to burst, filled with the daintier giggles of Alice and Mary and the raucous antics of the Marauders. They were passing one of the nondescript towns that lay on their route across the country when Alice gave up and stood up to leave. "Where are you going Alice?" James asked.
"To see Frank," she replied bashfully.
"Bring him in here," Sirius crowed and Alice shook her head vehemently. "Why not? We're all friends here. Nobody bites... Well apart from Remus."
"Sirius have you seen how cramped it is in here? No, I need a break from you lot and some fresh air," she chuckled as she made her escape. Lily checked her watch, stood up and began to pick her way through the tangle of legs and cloaks too, her arms outstretched in an attempt to regain some semblance of balance.
"Not you too Lily," James moaned.
"We have a Prefects' Meeting James," she reminded him as Remus emerged from him corner and nimbly negotiated the maze of limbs. James groaned and stood up too, following the others down the corridor and listening as they chatted about their holidays. Eventually they reached the first carriage and stepped inside; it was more luxurious than the other carriages and larger, with upholstered seats which ran all the way around the outside, a couple of plush chairs in the middle of the room and a small mahogany table in the middle which had teacups, a teapot, sugar lumps, spoons and milk standing on it.
There wasn't anyone in the carriage yet; they had arrived five minutes earlier than it was supposed to start – the last thing Lily wanted to do was make a bad impression on her first day as the new Head Girl. "Want some tea?" James asked as he poured a cup for Remus and put three sugar lumps in.
"Merlin James, he's not a horse!" Lily said in surprise as she saw what he was doing.
"I like things sweet," Remus replied with an embarrassed grin as he took a seat and the cup which James handed to him. James was still holding one for Lily and she shook her head as she too sat down, "No thanks, I'm fine."
As they lounged around, deciding who would say what, the other Prefects began to file in and take their places; a variety of expressions crossed their faces as they saw who the new Head Boy and Girl were – some could barely conceal their delight and a number of the people in their year, as well as the Gryffindor Prefects from the year below, congratulated James and Lily heartily while others' surprise was just as obvious. Only two people seemed to be displeased, Azalea Cassavan whose cold eyes bore into Lily as she took her place, and the Ravenclaw Prefect Mark Burrows who whispered something which was almost certainly "Why on earth did they pick Potter to be Head Boy? He's not even a Prefect" to another boy as he sat down. Eventually the murmurs quietened down and Lily and James stood up together, standing side by side and drawing all of the Prefects' eyes to them. "Well," Lily began, clearing her throat before she started in case it cracked out of nervousness, "it's lovely to see you all again. As you can obviously see, James and I are your new Heads of School." She pressed her lips together and dug her nails into her palm as she tried to not to throw up. "Congratulations for everyone new who's joining us; we don't have to cover much today just some basic guidelines and things, reminding old Prefects of what they can and can't do." Her eyes instinctively found Azalea who was spread out regally on one of the sofas, looking as if caring less about the meeting would be a colossal effort for her; last year Lily knew that she had had to see the Heads numerous times because she was awarding points to Slytherins for doing absolutely nothing. "Obviously it is the job of the Prefect to maintain order throughout the pupil body but we're also there to help – if someone in your house has a problem they shouldn't be scared to come and see you and likewise you shouldn't be afraid of coming to see us. The day to day duties of making sure that people follow the rules are this though: all Prefects can give or take points from any pupil apart from another Prefect. All Prefects will also have to patrol the corridors after lights out to make sure that nobody is out of bed and James and I will organise the rota for that once this meeting is over; don't worry about it too much, your turn should only come round every couple of weeks and it won't take too long. Aside from that..." She looked at James for help as she ran out of things to say and he stepped in saying, "There's not much else aside from that – we have to help decorate the castle for festivities and things but we'll make announcements in common rooms when that happens. There are two things you must remember though, firstly that Quidditch Captains cannot take points away from people so don't even bother trying because the system won't recognise you, and that you must not, under any circumstances, favour your house. We'll treat any complaints about Prefects being unfair severely; this isn't a game or a reward which means you can abuse your power, this is serious – you have all earned the trust of the teachers over the years and that's why you're here, and it is your duty to uphold the rules of the school." As he looked around the room he saw some of the Prefects squirming uncomfortably under his gaze and he glanced anxiously at Lily; perhaps he had been a bit too passionate in his speech. She, however, gave him a small smile and he cleared his throat, looking away from her as he continued. "Well with that over I suppose it's time for something a little lighter," he smiled, "the new password for the Prefects' Bathroom on the fifth floor is 'squeaky clean'; I know hardly anyone ever uses it but it's there if you want it. Oh and try to remember not to wander through the corridors in just your towel, none of us want a repeat of Michael Brunt's... mishap a couple of years ago." All of the older Prefects who could remember the boy's towel being whipped away from him by Peeves as he stood outside the bathroom and, unaware of the Locking Spell which most Prefects put on it as they went in, wondered why he couldn't get in when he was saying the password chuckled.
As they left Lily and James cornered a couple of the younger Prefects and asked them to patrol the corridors of the Hogwarts Express. "It's not serious," Lily had explained, "it's just to make sure that no idiots," here she glanced pointedly at James, "are setting fireworks off or anything. And don't worry, you haven't done anything wrong but all of the new fifth years have to do it, that's just the way it goes." Once everyone had been ushered out of the carriage Lily, James and Remus – who had had his arm twisted by James into staying to help – sat down to work out the rota for night patrols.
"I'm surprised you laughed at that Lily," James remarked as she dug around for some parchment.
"At what?" she mumbled past the quill clamped between her teeth.
"At Michael Brunt being trapped naked in a corridor by Peeves," he said.
"Oh that. Well it was funny," she admitted, "I mean it was bad luck for him that he was only made Quidditch Captain in his seventh year so he didn't know but then you'd think that a Ravenclaw would have more sense than that. And that he'd be able to work out why he couldn't get in."
"He's very lucky that he was clever enough to Transfigure some clothes out of a tapestry," James laughed.
"Yeah I don't think that the medieval wizards in the Order of the Ash were particularly happy about being used to cover him up though," Remus added, making Lily let out a little giggle.
"I don't know, Sir Aelfred didn't seem to mind," he replied with a lascivious wink as Lily put the parchment on the table. "Right, let's get this over with then."
"I think we should stick to the normal plan and have two Prefects on duty each night," Lily started, receiving nods of agreement from both boys, "but I think we ought to split years and houses up." James felt his stomach sink as he realised that Lily didn't want to do patrols with him.
"I agree," Moony said, James' last hope betraying him in moments, "it doesn't make sense to have two fifth years doing a patrol together because they would barely know what to do if something serious happened. I don't know why we have to split houses up though... surely it might work better to keep them together because a fifth year Gryffindor, for example, will get on better with you than with Mark Burrows because they know us better."
"I see where you're coming from Remus," James agreed, wondering if his avenues weren't quite shut yet.
"Me too," Lily said as she chewed on the end of her quill, "but I'm worried about Azalea. If anyone's going to make trouble I reckon it will be her and there's no way I want her to have free rein with another Slytherin, especially one who's in a lower year than her because she'll be able to overpower them so easily..."
"That's true... Could we make it so that the sixth years have fifth years in their houses and then the seventh years swap around?" Remus asked.
"I don't know," Lily said as she thought about it, "it might end up being quite confusing... Well I suppose we have one spare Prefect because of James so we could always just leave her out."
"The others might get a bit annoyed though," James said.
"Well I know that... We'd have to rotate it anyway so that there's always one person who has longer off because otherwise it wouldn't be fair."
"We could have one seventh year that stays with the Prefects in their house and one who goes with the others," Remus suggested. "I'm not sure how it would help though and... actually ignore that because then we'd have odd numbers of Prefects from the same house to go together."
"Couldn't you just go with Azalea James?" Lily moaned. "It'd make life so much easier because you'd never let her get away with anything."
"What?" he exclaimed. "Every patrol? I don't think so!"
The three of them stayed sitting around the table for nearly an hour as they worked out a combination which would work; once they had found something which they thought would work Lily wrote it down on the parchment and it was copied across to the Prefects' Schedule which was pinned up in each common room. Not for the first time in her life Lily was thankful for magic; it made a hard job slightly easier and she knew from past experience that the schedules would now update themselves automatically. All she had to do was check that people actually did what they were supposed to. Once they had finished they rejoined the carriage which contained all of their friends and Cassie, in a moment of stupidity which bested almost every other, had forgotten that James was Head Boy and refused to believe it when Lily first told her.