Emmeline came back, exactly fifteen minutes later, in the arms of a good-looking boy that they recognized as Kenneth Hughes, a sixth-year Gryffindor who had been prefect last year.
"Hello, Emmeline," greeted Y/N, taken aback at the sight of Kenneth.
"I'm attached now; thanks Y/N," whispered Emmeline, her eyes shining, as Kenneth followed her around like a puppy as she proceeded her prefect duties.
Violet blinked. "That was interesting."
"How did she snag Hughes so fast?" said Sirius in awe. "I heard that he was one of those hard-to-get guys!"
"Like you?" said Y/N wryly.
"Of course! I'm very hard to get, since I've had a girlfriend for seven years now. And hey, I stayed with the same one, too!"
"Oh, yeah?" said Arabella, frowning. "Then what about Alanna Macmillan? Or Lori Paterson? Or—"
The couple had gone off to another compartment to argue, while everyone else sighed helplessly.
Y/N smiled at James. "We've got a lot to do this year, Mr. Head Boy."
He grinned back. "Are you up for it, Ms. Head Girl?"
"Definitely."
"I'm not up for this," groaned Y/N, staring at her list of Head Girl duties and her homework at the same time.
James sniggered. "You said you were definitely up for this year, Y/N."
"Shut it, Potter."
"Hey, don't say 'shut it' to your boyfriend, now! Remember, we're actually going out now, and the whole school's in shock about it."
Y/N couldn't help but smile. "Well, we have hated each other for—what, five years?"
"Pretty much. I stopped hating you around the middle of our fifth year, though."
"Oh, right." She rolled her eyes. "You kept asking me out constantly like a stalker."
"I was not a stalker!" said James, pouting.
"You were!" She laughed merrily, and tumbled out of her chair in the common room as James started to tickle her.
All the younger students stared in awe as their Head Boy and Girl teased and flirted in the most immature way possible.
"Oy!" Sirius waved his arms around. "Stop it, Prongs, Y/N, before you corrupt the ickle firsties!"
"Geroff...James!" cried Y/N desperately, as James had started to tackle her mercilessly again.
"Oops..." He grinned and waved at the smaller children, who immediately turned back to their homework again.
Arabella went into a fit of giggles, while Jennifer and Violet just smiled at the scene that had just occurred. The rest of the Marauders grinned at each other. They didn't care that it was rather too mushy; they were just happy that Y/N and James were finally together and in love.
"Oh, yeah," said Y/N, perking up. "I just got a letter from Alice yesterday. She and Frank are getting married in June, and they want us all to attend."
"They're getting married so early?" said James, flabbergasted. "But they're barely nineteen."
"Voldemort's getting stronger, James, and Frank didn't want to take any chances. He proposed right after they got off the Hogwarts Express this year."
"Hey, Frank never told me a thing!"
Y/N put her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows. "Well, you didn't expect him to tell you, did you? You would've told the world already and spoil the whole surprise!"
"But he didn't seem at all excited when I went over his house on the first day of summer."
"Well, he's good at keeping his emotions in check, then. Which is more than I can say for you, by the way."
The whole Gryffindor common room watched with amusement as Y/N and James continued their little bicker. They were too used to these to even be affected by them; even the first years were starting to adapt to their little arguments.
"Do they always do this?" asked one first year to Sirius.
"Always," he corroborated, grinning at his best friends.
"Hey, Head Boy and Girl!" cried Kenneth, waving his hand. "Prefect meeting right now. Have you forgotten? You were the ones who set up the date."
"James, hurry up!" shouted Y/N anxiously.
She nearly dragged him all the way down to the Prefect Lounge, where nearly all the prefects were getting settled in and waiting for their Head Boy and Girl. Most of them smirked when they saw them come in with disheveled appearances.
"Sorry we're late," said James, flashing one of his heart-winning smiles that made all the girls sigh dreamily. "A bit preoccupied."
Regulus snorted in disbelief. Kenneth burst into the room, panting.
"Gee, you could've slowed down!" he said, and immediately seated himself next to Emmeline, who giggled.
"We have to decide on a Hogsmeade weekend," began Y/N, "so does anyone have any suggestions?"
Laura Smith's hand shot up at once. "I think it should be on Halloween."
"Anyone else with any suggestions?"
No one raised their hand.
"So is it unanimous, then?" said James questioningly.
Everyone nodded wordlessly, as they slowly raised up their hands dully.
"Why the long faces?" asked Y/N curiously. "You don't look so enthusiastic."
All the prefects, even Regulus, poured out their woe stories of too much O.W.L. homework, and for the sixth-year prefects, just homework in general.
"Ah, yes," said James sympathetically. "We know how you feel. We're taking our N.E.W.T.s this year. I remember my O.W.L.s very well."
"Were they hard?" asked Laura at once. "And what did you get?"
"No, they were not too hard, at least not to me at least. And I got fifteen O.W.L.s."
She gasped in surprise. "That's hardly possible."
"Well, I'm not joking. And Y/N got fifteen O.W.L.s herself."
"You weren't a prefect," pointed out Regulus, rolling his eyes. "How can you be Head Boy, then?"
A slight murmur of surprise rippled through the prefects as they looked up at their Head Boy in shock.
"True, I didn't get the prefect badge; my friend, Remus Lupin, did instead. However, I do believe that Dumbledore found me competent enough to ignore the usual rule of having the Head Boy have records of being a prefect as well."
"I hear your dad's Daniel Potter," said a Hufflepuff, Naomi Jones, in a hushed voice. "Is it true? The famous Auror?"
"Er—yeah, that's him all right." James laughed nervously.
"And I take it that you're following right into his footsteps," said Regulus disdainfully.
"Well, what else, Mr. Black?" He sounded oddly like Professor McGonagall scolding Sirius.
Regulus grinned. "You know, Potter, you are very useful to the Dark Lord. You can always follow his footsteps instead of your father's."
James raised his eyebrows, and looked at Y/N. What was Sirius' brother getting at? Surely, he knew that Potters were all against the Dark Arts.
Y/N froze when she had heard those words from Regulus. It was now known to the Marauders and girls that Voldemort was after James, because he had the potential to be just as a powerful wizard as he, maybe even more. But Y/N also knew that James would never turn sides for things like power and glory. However, the thought of James going over to the Dark Side still unnerved her at times.
She shook her head, clearing away all those thoughts. "I was thinking," she pronounced slowly, "that maybe we should have a Halloween dance this year. If you all want to, of course."
There were murmurs of excitement at this announcement, especially from the girls. The boys just stared up at the Head Boy and Girl blankly, as if contemplating their sanity.
"I think it's a grand idea," piped up Emmeline, her cheeks flushed. "I vote for a dance!"
"Hear, hear," cried Laura.
"Do we have to adorn ourselves in frilly costumes?" asked Irwin Macmillan, whom James recognized as Alanna Macmillan's younger brother.
"It is a choice, but I suppose it doesn't have to be mandatory," said Y/N.
"Now, for Christmas, I was thinking—" began James.
"Wait!" exclaimed Kenneth, waving his hand in the air.
"Yes, Mr. Hughes?"
"I was thinking that there might be more activities than just the dancing," he said rather timorously, for nearly every single eye was on him in the room. "You know, in cause we don't know how to dance, or something."
Y/N nodded emphatically. "Yes, all right, Kenneth."
"You don't know how to dance?" said Regulus rudely.
"N-no," replied Kenneth in an even smaller voice.
"Mr. Black, that will be all," interrupted James sharply. He was sympathetic to Kenneth, since he didn't dance very well either.
Regulus glared at him, but did not reply back. After all, he didn't want to lose his prefect badge, or his mother would be sorely disappointed.
For the rest of the meeting, the prefects and Y/N and James were planning all the other activities for the Halloween party. They all looked up to their Head Boy and Girl, for most of them knew that Y/N and James had hated each other ever since their first year at Hogwarts, so it struck the younger prefects that they were actually dating and in love.
"That's all for tonight," concluded Y/N, nodding at all of the prefects. "You may go."
Y/N and James walked out of the room hand-in-hand after the prefects had exited. James inhaled Y/N's sweet lilac scent, and sighed happily. He finally had his girl, and all was well with the world...well, except for Voldemort. But he could wait.
When they entered the common room, they found everyone still glued to their seats and scribbling on parchment or leafing through textbooks. The Gryffindors looked up briefly to acknowledge their Head Boy and Girl, but then went back to their work again. Y/N and James found their friends huddled together in a corner, with the boys muttering spells under their breaths and pointing their wands straight at pincushions.
"'Lo, guys," said James with a yawn. "What're you doing?"
"Levitation charms," muttered Sirius, glaring at his dark blue pincushion. "Damn thing! It won't budge."
"Did you do a nice swish with your wand?" said Y/N knowledgeably.
"Er—I don't think so."
Y/N then went off explaining about Levitation charms, while James just stared at her with a lovesick expression upon his face, which the Marauders found quite amusing.
"And I thought you knew everything," she finished, grinning at a red-faced Sirius.
"I need to go to bed," announced James, his eyelids drooping.
"What about your homework?" said Y/N sternly.
"Finished," he mumbled tiredly. "Stop nagging, Y/N."
"You're finished? But that Transfiguration essay is two rolls of parchment!"
"Well, that happens to be my best subject, with my wand and everything." James grinned, despite his fatigue.
Remus smiled at his friend. "Go off to bed, now, Prongs. We'll wake you up in the morning if you don't yourself."
"Thanks, Moony." He clapped his werewolf friend on the back, and headed for his dormitory.
"Isn't he wonderful?" sighed Y/N, watching her boyfriend go up to his dormitory with a dreamy expression.
Arabella exchanged looks with Jennifer and Violet.
"If we told you last year that you'd be dating James Potter later on, you would've told us we've had too much mead or something," said Jennifer, shaking her head.
"Well, I still can't believe I'm going out with James," said Y/N, with a goofy smile on her face. "But I guess it was inevitable from the start, huh? We were 'meant to be', like you guys always love to say."
"We all have our soul mates, in my opinion," said Arabella quite forcefully. "Even Vi."
"You think?" asked Violet curiously.
"I don't think, Vi; I know."
"You know, that sounded exactly like something Sirius would say," commented Jennifer.
"Well, obviously; we're soul mates, aren't we?"