The four Marauders walked into the Great Hall and smiled, happy to be back in the building they had learned to call home. The magical ceiling showed the pink, red and orange of the fading sunset. Dumbledore and the other teachers were sitting at the Staff Table on the dais. James caught Dumbledore�s eye and smiled; for however much Dumbledore upheld the rules, he still smiled at many of the Marauders� pranks.
The four took their place at the Gryffindor table and waited to hear the song that the Sorting Hat sang every year.
Then, Professor McGonagall started calling names of the timid first years.
�Adams, Lara,� was the first called, and everyone cheered as she became a Hufflepuff.
�Baden, Joshua� was next; James�s eyes narrowed with the recognition of the familiar face. When the kid was Sorted into Slytherin, James didn�t cheer as exuberantly as he normally did for the other houses; his shin was still throbbing from being hit by the new Slytherin kid.
A few names later �Donnelly, Samuel� was called and James smiled broadly as he watched the other boy he had met on the train step up to the hat. When he became a Gryffindor, James made everyone between him and the front of the hall move down a seat, just so young Samuel could be seated next to James. McGonagall looked as if she were hiding a smile to see James doing something so unlike him, and yet very characteristic.
�Terra, Monica,� came to the front quite a few names later, and James recognized her as the feisty girl from the train. He clapped extra loud when she, too, became a Gryffindor. Once again, James made everyone move down a seat.
When the Sorting was done, McGonagall brought the stool away and Dumbledore stood.
�And so begins another year. To the first years: do not be shy; make friends, for the people sitting all around you will be here for you for many years. And older years: do not be afraid to slide over a bit to make room for a person who may become a friend.� Dumbledore seemed to smile right at James, Samuel and Monica. �And now, we will eat!� Dumbledore clapped and the food appeared. James and Frank Longbottom, a fellow seventh year, had to make sure Samuel and Monica didn�t fall out of their seats when the food appeared.
When the shock had washed over, Monica looked up and down the table in awe. Her eyes stopped on a certain face. She gasped. �Miss Evans!� she called and starting waving. Lily looked up in surprise, but grinned nonetheless, returning the wave.
�Hey, Lily,� said Frank, �Switch seats with me so you can sit next to your young friends.�
�Oh thanks, Frank!� said Lily, rising. �Oh Alice, you don�t mind, do you?�
James only assumed Lily asked this out of politeness, but detected a bit of teasing in her words�just another thing he liked about her. She knew full well that Frank and Alice Walker didn�t mind sitting next to each other at all. Everyone in Gryffindor knew that they fancied each other; it was just a matter of time until they admitted their feelings, shy lot that they were. Alice blushed and shook her head. Lily walked around the table and squeezed Frank�s arm in thanks as they passed each other. As she sat down, James winked at her and she glared back; thankfully the younger ones didn�t see her decidedly un-Head-Girl-like action.
�So, how was the boat ride?� asked Lily, scooping some casserole onto her plate.
�Oh, I nearly fell in, but it was great!� announced Samuel with a grin.
Everyone who heard his excitement laughed.
�It was pretty fun!� said Monica. �And cold, too!�
Lily smiled and kept asking the two children questions. She and the Marauders and everyone else who was listening learned all about the two first years sitting in the middle of upperclassman.
Monica had a Muggle mother and a Wizard father. She claimed that as they were so in love when they met, that he told her all about himself and his world and she was as right as rain with that. She also had a brother who had graduated from Hogwarts. James recognized the look of concentration on Lily�s face: she was trying to match the name with something or someone she had read about in the library. After a few moments, she squealed.
�Oh! You mean that Zachary Terra! He was your brother?�
Monica nodded.
�Who was Zachary Terra?� asked Peter, �Other than her brother?�
Lily rambled off a bunch of clubs and awards he had received, and nobody seemed to understand. Noticing this, she ended her speech with: �He was a Ravenclaw Seeker.�
James, the other Marauders and Frank gasped, finally recognizing the name.
�Oh, right! He helped win the Quidditch Cup for Ravenclaw a couple times! I heard he was really good!� said James, and Sirius nodded.
Lily sighed and rolled her eyes, like she did so often. James saw this and said: �Samuel, Monica, if you ever need help with homework or anything, Lily is the person you need to talk to.� Monica smiled excitedly, and James could see the makings of another Lily Evans right before him.
�And if you ever need to get a detention,� started Evans, fixing an expression on mock kindness on her pretty face, �Potter and his friends are the ones to see.�
James did an excellent job of hiding his frustration, even while he pretended to bow in his seat, catching the eager look Sam threw him. Only Sirius seemed to sense his hidden emotion.
Evans then asked Samuel about his family and received a brief family tree. He came from a wizarding family, but he was one-fourth Muggle. His grandmother had been a Muggle and therefore her child had been a half-blood, and that half-blood married a full-blood wizard.
After everyone told Sam and Monica a little about them, dinner was over and the prefects led the first years to their dormitories. James and Lily headed to the place where McGonagall had asked them to meet her to give them instructions.
When Lily asked her Head of House how James had been made Head Boy, McGonagall�s eyebrow lifted.
�I do admit it is a bit of a shock but, Miss Evans, Potter did receive better marks than Mr. Lupin last year, and therefore earned his spot as Head Boy. That is, after all, what the Head Boy and Girl are, of course; the best in their year. While you have remained at top for all of your years, Miss Evans, Potter was not far from the top. I believe it was Potions that pushed Remus back, was it not?� McGonagall looked to James as they began to walk.
James nodded. �He�s miserable at Potions.�
�Yes, poor fellow. It is important to be able to brew a good potion. Now, if you will follow me to the dormitories.� They followed their professor to somewhere near Gryffindor Tower. They stopped before a portrait of an old man with purple hair.
�The Head Boy and Girl are given a dormitory of their own every year. Inside, you will find a common room, two bedrooms, and a rather nice bathroom. Also, you will find a passageway to the Gryffindor common room, along with ones to the other common rooms, but you do not need to go there,� said McGonagall. She spoke the passwords for the dormitory, and for the hallway to the Gryffindor common room: fiddlesticks and Gillyweed, respectively.
�Don�t forget that you will be required to do patrol on certain nights. Potter, Miss Evans will be able to explain that to you. Make sure you do not shirk your duties,� McGonagall said, glaring at James.
He gave her a smirk, and nodded. She said goodnight, and left.
James bowed to Lily Evans, allowing her to enter first. She rolled her eyes, pushed open the door behind the portrait, and walked in. Just over the threshold she stopped, and James walked into her.
�Wha-� he started to say, but stopped as he looked into the room.
Before him, other than Lily (who smelled wonderful and had never been so close to him, really), was the common room of the Head Students. It was a small room�much smaller than the Gryffindor common room�but it was comfortably so. A mahogany table was set against a pair of windows on the right. The night sky outside the window was a deep blue, and speckled with stars. Four chairs were set around the table, each upholstered in the colors of each house: gold and red for Gryffindor, green and silver for Slytherin, yellow and black for Hufflepuff, and blue and bronze for Ravenclaw.
A fireplace was directly opposite the main entrance; a bright fire was burning behind a wide sofa and two armchairs, all a deep purple. A woven blanket was thrown over the back of the sofa. Two archways stood on either side of the fireplace; in the right a door stood ajar, and in the left, an archway opened onto a darkened hallway. The trim and floors of the room were all a rich mahogany wood, though a deep navy rug had been placed in front of the fireplace. A chess table stood against the left wall. A tapestry of a universe hung above on the grey stone walls.
�Wow,� muttered Evans, taking a step forward. James kept walking until he was able to flop over the back over the couch and onto the seat.
He sighed contentedly.
Lily walked over to the partially opened door on the right and gasped as she opened it fully.
�Uh... James,� she said. The young man started, surprised at the surname-only-rule slip. Lily was gesturing to him, however. He groaned, but walked to her side.
�Swish!� he James, and pushed into the room. A bathroom of rich cream marble tile greeted them. The in-ground tub was wide and deep. A curtain hung from the ceiling, hiding the shower. James walked over to a small closet and opened it. A gold and red towel fell out into his hands.
�It must have been those house-elves,� said James, commenting on how the towels were neatly folded and stacked. �I swear, one day someone is going to come up with some stupid organization to help them. And it�s going to end up having some weird acronym for a name, like �E.A.R.W.A.X.� or �V.O.M.I.T.��. Evans didn�t seem to appreciate his humor. Naturally.
Each of the four shelves in the closet held a set of towels, each of a different color: again the colors of each house. James nodded his satisfaction and met Lily�s green eyes. She allowed a smile.
James gestured to a smaller door opposite the entrance. �Wonder where this goes...� He opened the door.
They saw only another hallway and windows behind that door. James gestured that he would find out where the hallway led. He stepped through the hallway and found nothing more than two set of doors and windows on the left, and windows in the wall on the right. He walked down to the end of the hallway just to see if there was anything special about it. There wasn�t. It was just a hallway.
He stepped up to the first door on the left, and jumped when the window cleared; curtains had been thrown back, pushed apart by the red-haired Head Girl.
(Lily hadn�t followed him into the hallway. Instead, she left the bathroom and walked across the common room to the archway to the left of the fireplace. There, she had found another hallway in which four paintings hung on the left wall, and two doors stood along the right. Above each of the paintings was a House symbol; Lily suspected these were the passageways to the different common rooms, as McGonagall had said. Assuming the other two doors were bedrooms, she opened the first door on her right. Her eyes widened as she took in the d�cor.
It was a bedroom, decorated in blue-purples, grays and whites. The bedspread was heavy white brocade, embroidered with lily-of-the-Nile flowers. The other bedclothes were periwinkle blue, as was the dressing gown laid across the foot of the bed. The carpet was a dark blue, and the hangings of the canopy bed were a light grey. A pine desk, chair, short wardrobe and nightstand stood in their proper places. A fireplace (lit with a hearty fire, of course) and a sofa occupied the corner to the left of the door. Her own brown trunk and school bag sat at the foot of her bed.
She found the presence of a window next to a second door rather curious, so she walked over to the window and pulled back the curtains.)
James watched as she jumped, then disappeared from view. The door opened, and Lily walked out into the hallway where James was standing.
�How did you get there?� she asked, hands on her hips.
(James thought it was a very adorable pose.)
�That other door in the bathroom leads to this hallway.� He pointed to the door that led from the bathroom. �It doesn�t continue past that wall. I was just about to open this door when you showed up through the window,� concluded James.
�Oh,� said Lily. She looked back down the hallway, and then said, �I guess the bathroom and the two bedrooms are aligned, with hallways on either side for easy access.�
�Nice,� James said. �What�s in the other hall?�
�Portrait passages to the four common rooms.�
�Well then, if this is your room�� He stuck his head past Lily (ignoring her squeak of displeasure) and examined the room. �I guess the other door leads to mine,� James said, withdrawing and beginning to walk to the other door.
However, he stopped suddenly and examined both the window to his left, and the one to his right. They lined up perfectly. He realized that this allowed for the light to flow from outside into the hallway, and then into the bedroom.
He explained this to Lily; she only nodded.
A room that was identical in content to Lily�s awaited James. It was laid out differently, and was decorated with a color scheme of royal blue and browns.
�Not bad, huh?� James asked, flopping onto his four-post bed.
Lily made a noncommittal sound. �I�ll miss the girls though.�
James sat up and looked at the Head Girl. �You�re right. There�ll be empty beds in the dormitories, right?�
�I suppose so,� said Lily. (She had a feeling she�d enjoy the peace and quiet of her own common room to study for NEWTs, but she also felt she would like to spend a few nights in her old dormitory.) �Well, I am going to go to the common room. The one where everyone else is, I mean,� said Lily, turning and leaving James�s room.
He realized he had missed a moment to tease her about being in his room, alone with him, and just as quickly realized it was probably a good thing he hadn�t said anything. He smiled, glad that he had shown some self-control.
�All right; I�ll meet you out there,� he called after her. However, he crept back to her room, and glanced into the clear, diamond-paned window in time to see Lily Evans flop onto her bed. James chuckled and went back into his room.
He walked to the other door and out into the hall, seeing the four paintings for the first time. James waited for Lily, then spoke the password��Gillyweed��to the belle who was in the portrait under the Gryffindor lion. The portrait swung forward and, after a fair-distanced walk, they came to the small space that was between the portrait of the Fat Lady, and the common room. Judging from the way people walked past, the hallway was not visible to anyone but Lily and James.
�James!� shouted Sirius, as Potter and Evans walked into the common room. �Wonderful! Now that you�re here we can work on that prank!� Sirius pulled James over to the fire and pushed him onto the floor. The four began talking in hushed tones.
Lily, though, turned to watch her two friends run down the dormitory steps.
�Oh! Lily!� cried Nikeia, rushing to stand beside her. Josey was right behind her.
�How is your own private room? It is such a shame that we can�t throw pillows at you anymore,� whined Josey.
�Don�t worry, I�ll come visit you,� responded Lily. �My room is rather gorgeous, though. Come on, I�ll show you.� Lily grabbed each friend�s hand and led them to the corridor. They paused before the hallway.
�Um, Lily�there�s nothing there,� said Josey, confused. �It�s just a blank stretch of stone.�
�I think only Potter and I can see it. We couldn�t have other people sneaking into our common room, could we?� she said, smiling at her friends. �Here, take my hands, and step through.� The three young women did this, and Josey and Nikeia made comments of surprise. Really, it wasn�t much different from stepping through the barrier at King�s Cross.
When they came to the apparently double-sided portrait, Lily spoke the passwood after telling Nikeia and Josey to cover their ears. Just as Lily had suspected, the two girls gasped and squealed as each new room was revealed.
Lily just smiled and chuckled.
Later that night, Lily was sitting in her own common room, reading a course book. She looked at the clock on the mantelpiece and noticed it was nearly time for her patrol shift to start.
�Oi, Potter!� she said. Potter had fallen asleep on the coach, his head hanging off one side and his over-robe in a pile on the floor. �Potter!� Lily called again, louder this time. Potter jolted and rubbed his eyes. �Come on, we have rounds to make.� Lily picked up his robe and threw it at him. He brushed it away and groaned as he got up.
�Can�t you just do them yourself?� he asked, groggily.
Lily scoffed, but in her head she realized this was something Potter would do.
�No, I can�t. You�re Head Boy and it�s your responsibility as well. And, if McGonagall caught either of us alone, we would both get in trouble,� Lily said heatedly. �And I don�t want to ruin my detention-free record because of you, thank you.�
Potter rubbed his eyes once more, grabbed his robe and stood. As he put it on, he said, �Well, I hate to pass up any chance to be alone in your company.�
She glared at him, turned her back and walked off.
(James mimed strangling himself with his tie, realizing that was not a good way to start the year if he was going to try and win Lily, at last, to friendship.)
They caught no one out after hours except Peeves, hanging a bag of chalk from the ceiling, probably with the idea to drop it on some poor, unsuspecting first year�s head. Lily managed to get him away by scaring him with the only person he listened to: the Bloody Baron.
They returned to their common room and, after a race to get the bathroom, Lily was first to shower.
James was sitting on the window ledge when Lily walked out in her bathrobe. She glared at Potter, figuring it was a pretty rude thing to wait outside the bathroom door, sitting on her windowsill, no less. Nevertheless, she didn�t spare him a glance (though she did blush slightly at his raised eyebrow and smirk) and entered her room. She immediately pulled the curtains of her window shut.
James laughed softly and walked into the loo.