*Disclaimer*- Messrs. Fuzzbutt and Fantail do not now, nor will they ever, claim to be J.K. Rowling. They own none of the characters or situations presented by Ms. Rowling in any of her brilliantly written books.

Authors’ Notes: Hello, and welcome to Catching A Flower (which may or may not be referred to as CAF in the future…pronounced ‘calf’…so I may start calling it ‘cow,’ instead…*ahem*). I’m Fuzzbutt, quite a creative name if I do say so myself- and I do. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this, it’s been a long time coming…well, sort of. And now, some words from my dear co-author, Fantail.

Greetings, I am the one known as Fantail. I am proud to be co-writing this fic with my dear friend Fuzzbutt!

And without further ado, Messrs. Fuzzbutt and Fantail proudly present (no, not your dinner!) ((that was an allusion to Beauty and the Beast, by the way)) (((you know, before Be Our Guest))) ((((ah, never mind)))) (((((ahem, like we said, we proudly present)))))…

Chapter One- Going Back Home

Lily Evans looked toward the scarlet steam engine. ‘The Hogwarts Express,’ it said in shimmering letters. She grinned. Her deep red hair framed her face as her twinkling green eyes took in the sights around her- the busy station, the excited students, the owls, cats, and rats.

She turned at the call of a voice. "Lily!" someone squealed before running at the red-head. The someone stopped in front of Lily, and another someone followed after, at a slower, calmer pace, shaking her head at the eccentricities of her friend.

The first girl smiled widely, her dirty-blonde hair in a ponytail and her brown eyes looking happy and excited. The other girl, brown-haired, and blue-eyed, said cheerfully, “Hello, Lily. Did you have a nice summer?”

Lily smiled and pulled her friends into a group hug. When she pulled back she answered her friend’s question. “A nice summer?” She shrugged. “With Petunia around I’d have to say it barely qualified as bearable.”

"But look on the bright side, Lily dear," said the blonde with a dramatic flourish. "Next summer you won't even have to go back home."

“Too right, Emm,” Lily said to the blonde, Emmeline Vance, (Emm, for short). She smiled grimly. “But I have the feeling I will be, anyway.”

“Marlene!” Called someone from further down the station, putting a stop to the current conversation. The brunette, Marlene McKinnon, turned, grinning when she saw who had called out her name.

“Remus!” she said excitedly. She blushed, though, still shy around Remus even though they had been an item since Valentine’s Day the previous year, when Remus had finally worked up the courage to ask her out. Remus took Marlene’s hand in his.

“Hello, Remmy,” said Emmeline cheerfully as she looked on. Remus rolled his eyes at the nickname, but smiled anyway.

“Emm,” he said, with a nod of his head.

“Remmy! There you are!” cried a voice sounding much like a worried mother. (The girls snorted in laughter, as Remus had rolled his eyes at the name again.) The voice, however, had come from a handsome boy with dark hair that fell elegantly about his face. His name was Sirius Black. “You had me worried sick!” Sirius exclaimed, putting a hand to his heart.

Remus rolled his eyes, but grinned fondly. While he and Sirius caught up with each other‘s summers, Lily turned to Marlene and Emmeline. “Have you got a compartment saved?” she asked.

“Yeah,” said Emmeline, “Right over there. Coming Marlene?” Marlene nodded, and she, Emmeline, and Lily walked to the compartment, which Lily put her trunk in.

“Well, I’m off,” said Lily. Emmeline gave her a questioning glance. “I was made Head Girl,” Lily continued.

“Excellent!” said Emmeline, grinning, and clapping her hands together. “Congratulations. And now I won’t get in trouble so easily! The Head Girl is one of my best friends!”

“Congratulations, Lily. I knew you’d get it,” said Marlene, smiling.

Lily rolled her eyes at Emmeline, but grinned at Marlene’s comment. “Thanks,” she said. “Well, I’d better be going, I have to be on time if I’m to set an example.”

“I’ll save you a seat,” Emmeline said, waving.

Lily walked to the Heads’ compartment, where the meeting was to be held. Remus was already there. “Oh, hello again, Remus,” Lily said, smiling warmly. “You’re Head Boy, I’d assume.”

Remus shook his head. “Actually, I’m afraid not. Just a Prefect.”

“Oh,” Lily replied. “Do you know who is?” Remus seemed about to reply when Lily felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see a boy with hazel eyes framed by glasses, messy black hair, and a grin on his face that Lily had dubbed the ‘arrogant bastard’ grin. Lily sighed exasperatedly. “What do you want, Potter?”

“Well, I couldn’t help but over hear that conversation you were having with Remus, here, and I just thought I might be able to help you,” the boy, James Potter, replied.

“I don’t think you can,” Lily muttered.

“Well, I know who the Head Boy is.”

Lily raised an eyebrow. “Who is he, Potter?”

James gave her a smile. “Me,” he said, pointing to the Head Boy badge she had previously failed to notice, gleaming on his chest.

Lily felt her jaw drop. Then she shook her head as if shaking off the absurd idea, and glared at James. “James, this isn’t the time nor the place for your little jokes. Who did you steal the badge from?” Lily whirled on Remus before James could reply. “Remus did you give that to him? Why would you give that to him? Are you trying to scare the other Prefects away?”

She said this all very fast, and James had a little trouble figuring out what she was saying, as he watched Remus shaking his head ‘no.’ When James did figure it out, however, he had a hard time not feeling offended. “Wait, a second, Evans. I know it’s surprising, I was wondering if Dumbledore was on drugs, too, but aren’t you going a little over board?”

“No!” Lily yelled. “Overboard would be fainting! Overboard would be ripping out my hair, your hair, or Remus’ hair! Overboard would be-” Lily put a hand to her head. “Oh, my head hurts,” she said, sitting down warily.

“And she thinks I’m going to scare off the other Prefects…” James muttered to himself, quietly. Not quietly enough, though, it seemed.

“I heard that, Potter,” Lily growled.

“Er…” said a timid voice from the door. “Is this the right place? I’m looking for the Heads’ compartment but I don’t think this is it…” A fifth-year girl was standing in the doorway, one that Lily recognized as Beatrice Mackenshire, a shy Hufflepuff that she’d never really spoken with.

Lily and James each opened their mouths to reply, but Remus responded first. “You’ve found the right place,” he said quickly. “The Heads were just…er… discussing the meeting.” Lily blushed at her own previous behaviour and James rolled his eyes.

The other prefects soon began arriving, and when everyone was accounted for the meeting began. Lily took control, discussing the Prefect duties, passwords, and when the next meeting was scheduled for. James just stared into space (and at her), which made Lily want to find a fish, name it Mr. Brain, and whack poor James over the head with.

Thank Merlin Lily’s Head Girl, James thought, watching as Lily explained the duties of a Prefect once again to the Hufflepuff, Betty, or something, (James had never been very good with names). I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing. Not to mention I have an excuse to spend time with her. James smiled at the thought. This year I will get her to go out with me! I WILL! Determination filled him.

Suddenly a beautiful, annoyed voice broke into his thoughts. “James! Do you have anything to add?” Lily asked.

“Er…no. I think you covered just about everything,” James responded. Lily sighed exasperatedly and turned back to the other prefects. “Alright, you’re all free to go. Remember to check in with one of us after patrolling, although we won‘t be in this compartment.”

As the Prefects left, Lily turned on James. “Did you pay attention at all?” she hissed.

James blushed guiltily. “Not exactly… I was busy…er, thinking.”

“About what?” Lily demanded.

“About how great a Head Girl you are, of course,” James said with a grin.

“Cut the flattery, Potter, I’m not going to buy it,” Lily said angrily. She muttered something that sounded like “You’d have to be thicker than a mountain troll to have not realized that yet…” She sighed again. “See you around, Potter,” she said as she left the door. “Though no matter when I see you again, it’ll be too soon.”

James sighed and noticed Remus was still in the room, and was looking at him. “Remus,” James addressed.

“James,” Remus replied.

“How bad was it?”

“Seriously Prongs, (Prongs was James’ nickname) you completely blew it.” Remus gave his friend a sympathetic smile. “I think you’ll have to actually work like you said you would to get Lily to fancy you.”

James sighed and ran a hand through his hair in a frustrated manner. “I am trying…”

“If that was trying…I think we’ll need some help,” Remus said, wanting to help his friend.

“Help?”

“Yes, I think I’m going to talk to Marlene, ask her why Lily hates you,” Remus clarified.

“Moony,” James said sincerely, using Remus’ nickname, “You’re a lifesaver.”

----------

Lily stormed down the train. Finally, she found the compartment with Marlene and Emmeline in it. She opened the door, and her mood wasn’t helped by the scene she met.

Emmeline, with her back to the door, obviously hadn’t heard Lily enter. “Oh, James,” Emmeline said in a high-pitched voice, “I love arrogant prats like you!” She lowered her voice considerably. “Well, Lily, of course you do. It’s me, by Merlin, how could you not?” She sighed quite femininely as Marlene made frantic gestures that should‘ve been interpreted as ‘Emmeline, stop, Lily‘s at the door,’ but Emmeline failed to pick up on them. “Yay! My dream come true! My knight in shining armour! My-”

“Your what? You better not be talking about me,” Lily all but growled. Emmeline immediately dropped her ‘acting’ and her eyes widened as she turned to face Lily, an apologetic look on her face.

“Er…Lily, you okay? We were only joking…” Marlene said timidly.

Lily didn‘t seem to be worrying so much about Emmeline‘s dramatics, however, as she was something else. “That arrogant…arrogant…ARG! That toerag is Head Boy! HEAD BOY! How in the bloody hell did he make HEAD BOY! What is Dumbledore on? I mean, he struts around, pranking, pranking, PRANKING, and then Dumbledore says, ‘Gee, this kid really is an irresponsible bad influence, prankster, and all around jerk. Yes! He’d make a fine Head Boy!’”

Emmeline and Marlene, knowing Lily to complain so vehemently about only one person, immediately knew that James Potter had been made Head Boy. They decided it would be safest not to interrupt and to simply allow Lily to continue ranting. They’d had enough experience in Lily’s temper to know not to interrupt her when she was on a rage. That didn’t stop them from wondering, in Emmeline’s thoughts’ words’ “What the hell was Dumbledore on?”

“He didn’t even pay attention! All through the meeting, just sitting, staring, stupidly being stupid and not commenting! He doesn’t even know what a prefect should do, let alone Head Boy! How will I survive?! I’ll be carrying all the weight! All of it! He’s a bloody nuisance! WHY ME?!”

Lily went on like this for several minutes until finally sitting down. Marlene and Emmeline glanced at each other and came to a silent decision- Lily needed cheering up.

“Lily,” Emmeline said suddenly, interrupting her mid-rant. “Let’s throw you a party.”

Lily looked up startled at the topic change. “For what, luck at surviving the year with Potter as Head Boy?”

“No,” Marlene said, “No, for making Head Girl, and for being a fantastic friend. And for our last year at Hogwarts.”

Lily, though startled by the fact that Marlene was willing to have a party at all, especially on a school night, grinned. “Alright. To Seventh Year, then!”

----------

James sullenly wandered with Remus, both looking for the compartment with Sirius in it. It didn't take long for the two to find him, unfortunately for Remus. Though used to finding his friend snogging some random bimbo, it was still a bit disturbing.

James pounded on the door, trying to get Sirius’ attention. No response. James opened the door. "Sirius," he said. No response. James kicked Sirius in the shin.

"Bloody hell!" Sirius looked up at who had kicked him. Before he could say anything else, James hauled him up and out of that compartment. The girl was too dazed to notice. “James, what the hell?”

"Did you even know her name?" James demanded distractedly, as they walked on to find a different compartment.

"Er...was I supposed to?" Sirius shook his head. “What’s the deal, anyway? I’ve snogged plenty of other nameless girls, you didn’t care. I liked that one,” he said wistfully.

“Don’t you even want to know who the Head Girl is?” James asked. Remus chuckled slightly, although James didn’t notice.

"No, Prongs, not really, I want to go back and snog-" Sirius said, cutting off when James glared at him. "But since I can tell you want to tell me, who's head girl?"

James suddenly sighed and grinned. “Evans,” he said dreamily.

“Mate, that’s disgusting,” Sirius said, referring to his tone.

"No," James said, "She's beautiful."

Sirius rolled his eyes. Remus laughed. "You should be used to this, Padfoot. He's only been going on about Lily since fourth year."

"Yeah, but it's gotten worse. He sighed dreamily!"

Remus chuckled again as James sputtered indignantly. "I did NOT sigh dreamily!"

“Yes you did!" Sirius said.

"Did not!"

The two continued, not noticing a compartment door nearby open. "Didn't what?" asked the person in the doorway. It was Marlene, looking for Remus.

"He sighed dreamily, Marlene," Sirius said, fluttering his eyelashes.

“Thinking about Lil, eh, Potter?” she asked? Before he could mutter an indignant (again) reply, she continued. “Anyway, you boys want to join us?”

A disgusted noise came from the interior of the apartment as a voice whined, "Marlene!"

“Lily, he’s not going to give you rabies,” Marlene said, rolling her eyes.

“You don’t know that…” Lily muttered.

"Maybe I should just go...we haven't found Peter, after all," James said, referring to the fourth of the infamous 'Marauders' to which James, Sirius, and Remus belonged. Peter Pettigrew was a rat like boy, and had the nickname Wormtail.

"Don't be silly," Emmeline said, suddenly appearing next to Marlene. Grinning mischievously, she pulled him into the compartment before Lily said something.

Sirius and Remus came into the compartment, James sitting opposite Lily, rather than next to her. He avoided looking at her- she was already upset enough at him. Emmeline sat next to Lily, so Remus and Marlene sat on the side James was on, Sirius left to sit next to Emmeline.

Marlene and Remus were soon smiling shyly at each other, holding hands, and generally being cute. Sirius made a gagging sound, which went unnoticed by the couple.

Emmeline scoffed. “It’s not like you don’t snog every little tart with two legs and two lips that walks by,” she said.

“Haven’t snogged you yet, though, have I?” Sirius asked with a wink.

Emmeline rolled her eyes, although a faint blush was evident on her cheeks. She started to list every girl she’d known Sirius to snog, counting them off on her fingers to keep tally.

James chuckled, and heard Lily chuckling a bit, as well. She has such a beautiful laugh. He looked up, and caught her eye before quickly glancing away. He blushed and cleared his throat.

“Sara Mae Beehull, she’s number 38-” Emmeline continued, but Sirius cut her off.

“Bloody hell, are you stalking me?” he demanded. James, Lily, Marlene, and Remus burst out in laughter.

Emmeline blushed and didn’t answer. "You are, aren't you?" Sirius demanded.

"Of course not!” Emmeline said, regaining her composure. “Anyway, it's not like you hide your snogging, and we are in the same house!"

"Yes," Marlene agreed, still laughing, "But I'd only known of 15 of the girls you listed."

The six chatted away the hours, and amazingly, Lily even got along with James. (Which James, of course, was thrilled about.) All too soon, they were nearing Hogwarts, and all changed into their robes.

When they reached the school, they all climbed into the same thestral-pulled carriage. Lily watched as they reached the school, grinning in excitement. She was Head Girl, this was going to be a fantastic year.

----------

The feast and party the girls had passed in a blur. When Lily finally crawled into bed, she had quite a lot on her mind.

She thought to the train ride. Remus and Marlene looked so cute together. And Emmeline definitely fancies Sirius. I'll have to bug her about it some time. And then there was James...

Other than the meeting, he was actually being quite civil. I don't think he even asked me out. Why was he avoiding meeting my eyes, though? Or am I just paranoid? Maybe he's finally over me... No, don't push your luck, Evans.

Do I want him to be over me? What? Where had that thought come from? Of course she wanted him to be over her. He was a good for nothing prat. She looked at it logically. Everyone wants someone to fancy them...even if they are a prat, so, I'd feel upset if I didn't think anyone fancied me. That's it.

She sighed. At least I’m back home.

----------

James finally got into his bed and pulled the hangings closed. He sighed. I knew that Lily would end up being Head Girl. She's the only one for the job. I only wish that she didn't hate me...and I don't even know why! Although...she did talk to me on the train...maybe she doesn't hate me quite as much as she lets on...or maybe I'm just getting my hopes up.

He sighed. At least I’m back home.

----------

Authors’ Notes: Tada! The first chapter! You know, it was really hard just not killing Peter off right in this chapter... But we decided that that is for later. For this is, by the way, an AU. The Potters will live! If we get all three of the planned stories done…ever…

Anyway, we’d be extremely happy if you: REVIEWED! Thanks! :D

Fuzzbutt: sw00t! CHAPTER ONE COMPLETE!
Fantail: YIPPEE!!!! I'M SO PROUD OF US!!!!

Review!

Oh, and by the by, we’re not sure how soon the next chapter will be ready to put up. However, Christmas break starts on Saturday, so we’ll have more time to write.

Again, review!