It was pouring. Large drops of water were falling from the menacing dark sky; plummeting down to earth, splattering on the pavement, the stalled train, and drenching the young witches and wizards returning to Hogwarts.
“James, promise you’ll write to us tomorrow-”
“I will, Mum.”
The Potter family was huddled under an umbrella that they had enchanted to hover over them. The few areas by the train station that had awnings overhead were overtaken with first years and their families. James was taking advantage of the rain to say goodbye to his folks sooner than he’d anticipated. He loved them dearly, but their affection could sometimes be smothering.
“Perhaps you could cut down the detentions? We don’t expect miracles, but maybe lessen it to half from last year, son?” Mr. Potter asked. His hair which had been as dark as his son’s was now grey, but as full as in his youth.
“Well “ I’ll try,” James answered. It was an impressive feat for anyone to elicit any guilt from James about his tendency to cause trouble and thus earn detention. James couldn’t imagine any other father requesting, not that their son not get into any trouble “ just lessen it, which would still be more than most students received. His parents were indulging and James was aware of this fact.
“Wish Sirius well for us and Remus also, and tell Peter we’re sorry we didn’t see him this summer and give them the-” Mrs. Potter rambled.
“I will!” James hugged his mother once more. “See you at Christmas.”
“Take care, James,” his parents called together.
James sprinted toward the Hogwarts Express using the full length of his legs. It was no use “ even the fastest person in the world would have been soaked in seconds. Inside the train finally, James looked back, barely being able to discern his parents from the other huddled masses through the curtains of rain. James waved one last time, and then dried himself off with a flick of his wand.
James was glad to going back to Hogwarts and be amongst his peers again. James was sociable by nature, and during the summer he missed not being constantly around other people his age.
A student exiting a compartment a few down from where James stood called out, “Good summer, Potter?” It was Terry Keeler, a dark skinned boy, tall and thin, known for his clumsiness and his guitar playing. He was one out of James’s six dorm mates.
“All right. You?”
“Went by too bloody fast. Do you know who made prefect? It’s Evans for the girls. I know it’s not me or Newbell.”
Derek Newbell was another of James’s roommates. His three mates, Sirius, Remus, and Peter also shared the dorm with them.
James shrugged; it had slipped his mind completely that prefects were being “ or had already been “ selected for their year.
“Not me or Sirius, which leaves-”
“Pettigrew or Lupin.”
“Yea,” James agreed thoughtfully. He’d been in contact with both over the past week and neither had mentioned it. James doubted it was Peter; he didn’t have the resilience needed for the job. Was it Remus? One of their gang had been elected prefect?
“There goes my sister. I need to remind her about something…see you at the feast,” Keeler said.
“Yea, ok.”
James began making his way down the train. He wasn’t seeking a specific compartment, just as long as it was in the back area of the train. Finally reaching the part of the train that James considered to be far enough back, he slid open one of the compartment doors to find Derek Newbell and Jamie Gordon. They were interlocked in a kiss, or in a more appropriate description - eating each other’s faces in a rather repulsive manner.
James backed out of the compartment, not bothering with uttering an apology. The couple hadn’t even noticed him, which on further contemplation, might have been intentional. At the end of last year Derek’s kissing skills had come into question. Derek probably hoped James would report to his friends what he had witnessed and that it would spread around the school dispelling any rumor that Derek still lacked in the kissing department.
Of course, just because Jamie was allowing Derek to kiss her didn’t automatically mean Derek had improved. Now James didn’t usually put much thought into another male’s ability to kiss, but there was more to the story. It had all started because the Gryffindor girls in their year had decided to play a game called ‘Truth.’ One of the questions posed to all the girls was which boy had given them their ‘best kiss.’ Jamie Gordon (the same Jamie who had just been kissing Derek) had revealed that her ‘best kiss’ had been by Sirius.
Word had gotten around about this proclamation and it wouldn’t have ordinarily been a big problem except Jamie had been already going out with Derek at the time for a few months (and it was only natural assumption that the two of them had kissed).
So upon hearing this Derek became rather humiliated; especially when rumors began spreading that he was a horrible kisser. Instead of blaming his girlfriend, who did nothing to alleviate the rumors, Derek turned on Sirius. Sirius really wasn’t at fault since the kiss between Jamie and Sirius had occurred before Derek and Jamie had been going out. James felt that Jamie should have used better discretion in answering the kissing question.
Since Derek blamed Sirius for this particular problem, a coolness had settled between them. Derek had started glaring daggers at Sirius from a distance and then began ignoring him completely whenever they were within a few feet of each other. This had caused some tension to arise between the six roommates and as expected they had all taken sides. Derek and Terry on one side and James, Sirius, Remus and Peter on the other side.
The tension had interrupted their ‘live and let live’ atmosphere of the dorm. Derek and Terry had always turned a blind eye whenever James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were plotting pranks in the dorm. James hoped all bridges had been mended and that Derek wouldn’t bring up the kissing matter again. With a new school year beginning, there would be lots of prank plotting, and James didn’t want to have to worry about a snitch.
James moved on to the next compartment, and upon finding it empty, he stowed his trunk inside it. He returned immediately back to the corridor to hail his friends; they all should be arriving soon as the train would leave in a few minutes. Sure enough James spotted Sirius making his way down. His younger brother was in front of him and Regulus paused suddenly at a compartment five up from where James stood.
James couldn’t make out their words, but from the gist of their expressions Regulus was trying to get Sirius to sit in a Gryffindor-free compartment.
Sirius finally getting agitated stated loudly, “Then lie to her! If you are so worried about Mother, then tell her I rode in your compartment! No one will know.”
Regulus looked ahead, searching for words to berate his older brother, when his eyes took in James, he closed his mouth; the argument was over, Regulus knew he had no chance convincing Sirius with James nearby and disappeared into the compartment.
Sirius gestured rudely to the back of his brother, before smiling and waving at James. James looked over his friend carefully. Sirius was as downtrodden from the rain was everyone else, but somehow, as always, he made the look work for him. On closer inspection, Sirius looked a little paler than usual, but not as thin as when he’d come back from previous summers. James absentmindedly ran a hand through his own hair. He’d given up trying to get it to lie flat. Now he embraced the messiness “ even ruffling it on purpose “ and it had become habitual.
“All right, Sirius?” James asked.
“Yes, now that I’m away from that Merlin-forsaken house.”
“Just think, if they don’t make you come home for the winter holiday, you won’t have to see them for-”
“Ten months…I’ve counted,” Sirius said.
James helped Sirius put his trunk away in the compartment.
“Cheers, mate,” Sirius replied lounging on one of the seats. “Mum pack any of those cookies?”
James rolled his eyes. “Yes, I’m fine, Sirius, thanks for asking.”
Sirius laughed. “I know you’re fine. We spoke a few days ago, didn’t we?”
“Common courtesy, didn’t your mum teach you manners.”
“Hmmm…well since you are a blood-traitor, I don’t suppose, according to my dear Mother, any courtesy would be necessary…”
James laughed flinging the bag of cookies toward Sirius “ his mother’s cookies. They were a favorite among his friends and every student at Hogwarts who had tasted them. He’d lost count of the number of fellow classmates who had declared them ‘the best cookies in the world’ after one bite.
“So anything life changing happen since I talked with you?” Sirius asked him mouth full of cookies.
“Well, no-” James admitted peeking out of the compartment hoping to spot Remus or Peter.
“See, I knew it.”
Though he didn’t see Remus or Peter in the mess of students clamoring to find an open seat, Aidan Gallagher, Captain of the Quidditch team, since last year, was stepping out of the compartment across the aisle.
Aidan at least had the decency to greet him before asking, “Mrs. Potter make anymore of those cookies, Potter?”
“Help yourself. You better hurry or Sirius will have eaten them all.”
Gallagher entered the compartment, taking a seat after wrestling away a few cookies. James took a seat as well.
“So I owled McGonagall over the summer…I was hoping she’d allow us to start practicing this week, but unfortunately she said she could not bend the rules for us. The rule doesn’t make any sense. Why can’t we practice the first week back? It isn’t like we need to put a new team together “ all we need is one Beater. After a whole summer, everyone will be rusty. If McGonagall wants us to win the Cup again this year, she should want us practicing as soon as possible,” Gallagher grumbled.
“Right,” James agreed. Though practices could be tiring and arduous, James couldn’t wait for the Quidditch season to begin.
As the boys continued to discuss Quidditch, the compartment door opened and a slightly plump blonde-haired boy entered. “I’ve done it! I’ve done it!” Peter exclaimed and he stopped short seeing Aidan inside.
“Done what?” Aidan inquired interestedly.
“Er-” Peter stammered looking like a deer caught in the headlights.
“Snogged a girl,” Sirius replied smoothly in Peter’s stead. Peter colored, but Sirius’s quick thinking did the trick. It wasn’t as if they could tell Aidan that Peter had finally made advancement in his Animagus training.
Aidan, trying not to laugh, said, “Well, congrats I suppose.”
Peter took a seat next to Sirius. “Oh! Cookies!” Peter cried, immediately forgetting about his moment of embarrassment. James carefully looked at Peter’s robes “ no prefect badge on there. The door slid open once more, and Remus Lupin entered, or at that moment his trunk, since it was being pushed in front of him.
James and Aidan jumped up to help Remus get his trunk on the rack above where they’d been sitting. Remus looked harried and tired “ full moon was still two weeks away though, and he never showed symptoms this early. Remus straightened; he was the only one already in his school robes, and there pinned on his robe was a golden ‘P.’
“Running late?” James asked.
“Yes, my mum was sick-”
There was a long pause of silence when James, Peter, and Sirius all stared at Remus with expressions of surprise. Before they had known Remus was a werewolf, during nights of the full moon, Remus had used the excuse of visiting an ill mother for his absences.
“No “ she - really is sick. I had to call all the children’s parents she watches…”
Remus’s mother owned a small daycare for magical toddlers. “Anyway it was a nightmare “ all the mothers yelling at me like it was my fault.”
Remus glanced down at his watch. “Bugger and I’m going to be late for the-”
“Prefect meeting,” James supplied for him with a smirk.
“Prefect?” Sirius asked bewildered, and for the first time since he sat down discarding the bag of cookies. “You’ve been made prefect?”
Before Remus could reply, Olivia Pritchard, Keeker of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, was knocking on the door, a small first year with tears in her eyes clutching her hand. “Gallagher, your sister is looking for you.”
Aidan stood up and little girl threw her arms around him and in the commotion of two other extra people in the compartment, Remus made his escape. “I’ll be back in a bit!” he called. He disappeared down toward the beginning of the train where the prefect compartment was rumored to be located. James didn’t know for sure “ he’d never had any inclination to check it out.
Olivia left with Aidan and his sister, finally leaving the three friends alone.
“Prefect?” Sirius repeated, incredulous, his gaze on the spot Remus had stood. “You knew about this James?”
“Not until this morning.”
“I figured Keller “ even Newbell before one of us.”
“I know,” James agreed. Not that Newbell or Keeler had any specific leadership qualities that Remus lacked. In comparison to James and Sirius, Remus was very well-behaved, though that wasn’t a difficult achievement. And Remus had plenty of times taken part in their ‘marauding,’ which was how they referred to their plans. It sounded so much more grownup than ‘pranking.’ Even if the Professors and Headmaster weren’t aware of Remus’s involvement since when Remus did involve himself he didn’t get caught very often, it was still strange for them to consider anyone who was so closely associated with the two biggest troublemakers at Hogwarts.
“I can’t believe he didn’t tell us,” Sirius said indignantly.
“I wouldn’t have,” Peter said.
“Why not?”
“As if you’ll ever let him live this down.”
“Of course we won’t. What kind of friends would we be if we didn’t tease him about it?” Sirius said with a grin. “It is, after all, our right as his friends.” Sirius paused a moment. “Anyway I warned Remus about this. I told him his being ‘the good boy’ of the group would have repercussions.”
“Well, most people see being elected prefect as something praiseworthy, Sirius,” Peter said. “You know, having all those privileges.”
“Such as?”
Peter thought for a moment. “The Professors trusting and respecting you.”
“Ugh! Not something I’d want. Who would want that sort of worry and responsibility?”
“Being able to give out detentions,” Peter added.
“Why would you want to give out detentions? It will just make everyone else mad at you,” Sirius said
“How about use of the prefect bathroom?”
“Wow…a special bathroom…sign me up,” Sirius replied sarcastically. “So Peter, if you’d been selected, you would have accepted?”
“Yea, I suppose so.”
“How about you, James?”
“Nah. Though it would be quite cool to be able to put Snivellus in detention for just looking at me funny.”
“I’d rather just curse Snivellus; much more satisfying,” Sirius replied.
“Hmm…true,” James agreed.
“Where is Remus anyway?” Sirius asked.
“Don’t worry he can’t hide from us forever,” James said.
Remus could, however, prolong coming back to their compartment. It wasn’t until forty-five minutes later that Lily Evans slid open the door to their compartment.
“Oh, it’s just you lot,” she remarked.
James suddenly felt his stomach flip “ the sort of feeling he always got right before a flying onto the Quidditch pitch.
Remus appeared next to Lily looking a bit colored in the face.
“I offer my condolences on being elected prefect, Evans,” Sirius stated somberly.
“Condolences?” Lily repeated, her eyebrows raised.
“I can’t imagine anyone wanting to be a prefect…just think of all the students targeting you and all the troublemakers you’ll have to deal with…I don’t envy the job ahead of you.”
“Such as yourself?” Lily questioned.
“No worries about James and me. Remus will keep us in line. He already put me in detention for putting my feet on the seat. When’s the detention again?”
“Friday, and you’ll have one Saturday too if you don’t stay quiet,” Remus said, his tone too mild to be taken seriously.
“See, Evans. James and I will be whipped into shape in no time. Between you and me, I think the power has already corrupted him,” Sirius said.
Lily turned to Remus, a perplexing look on her face. Remus shook his head. “Don’t pay any attention to him, Lily.”
James had not involved himself at all in the conversation. Instead, he found himself unable to tear his eyes off Lily. She had her auburn hair down “ not in braids or in a pony tail like usual “ her green eyes sparkled with an extra brightness. She’d grown and her body had developed since James had last seen her. Lily looked rested and healthy “ the sprinkle of freckles along the bridge of her nose and cheeks stood out more than before. James had never given Lily anymore thought than any of the other Gryffindor girls in his year. He knew she was intelligent and a bit cheeky, and she didn’t giggle or pay as much attention to his and his friends’ antics as the other females at Hogwarts.
“What, Potter?” Lily asked. She’d noticed his attention.
“Er- nothing.” James looked at Sirius in hopes that his friend could help him divert the fact he’d been staring. His eyes immediately took in the bag of cookies and he grabbed onto the subject. “Want a cookie?”
“A cookie?” she asked.
James nodded and motioned to Sirius who held out the bag toward her“ now half full.
“We wouldn’t poison you,” Sirius said when he saw her hesitation. “Even though you are a prefect.”
Lily rolled her eyes. “Thank you, Black. Very kind of you.” She removed a cookie and took a bite out of it. “These are really good. Who made these?”
“Mrs. Potter, of course!” Peter supplied. “After four years in Gryffindor you’ve never tasted them before?”
“No,” Lily admitted.
“Blimey,” Peter said. James had to agree with Peter. His mother owled packages of sweets and goodies, including these cookies, often enough throughout the years that it seemed impossible that anyone in Gryffindor (especially anyone in his year) hadn’t tasted her famous cookies at least once.
Finished eating the cookie Lily turned to Remus and asked, “Are you returning to the prefect compartment or staying with this lot?”
James could see the wheels turning in Remus’s head. He was debating whether it was better to face them now about being a prefect or delay it until the feast.
Remus hesitated for a moment and then replied, “I’m sitting with them.”
“I can finish up with the last two compartments then. See you at feast.” She was almost out the door when she looked back. “Thanks for the cookie.”
“You’re welcome, Evans,” James said. Lily smiled at him and James’s stomach flipped again. He wondered if anyone had noticed his strange reaction to Lily; it didn’t appear they had.
Remus sat down with resignation. He gazed at them silently each in turn.
Though when no one uttered a sound, Remus said, “Pass the cookies, Sirius.”
“Right away, sir!”
Remus caught the bag of cookies, but did not open it. “So, Peter, how was your summer? I barely heard from you.”
“Busy, but boring. I helped my mum in the shop a lot.”
Remus nodded and the silence around them widened.
Remus ate two cookies before he finally burst out, “Can you just get it over with already?”
“Get what over with?” James asked innocently.
“About me being prefect! Come on I’m prepared. Just get it out of your system. I’m ready.”
“Oh, that…” Sirius said. “Congratulations.”
“That’s it? You’re congratulating me?”
“Yes. What did you expect? For us to harp on you for keeping being a prefect a secret? Tease you for being the ‘good boy’ of the group? Ask you to put Snivellus in detention for the rest of the year?” James asked.
“Yes!”
“Sorry to disappoint you,” Sirius said with a wide smile.
“Look I know I should have told you sooner I was prefect.”
“Especially after we agreed we wouldn’t have any secrets between us,” Sirius chimed in.
“I wasn’t sure I even wanted to be prefect…” Remus explained.
“Really? Why?” James asked in surprise.
“I was worried how it could complicate things. What if I have duties on the night of the full moon? What if someone notices the pattern? But my parents were so proud. They never believed I’d be admitted to Hogwarts after you-know-what, and to be elected prefect they said was a great achievement for “ for my kind.”
“No, it isn’t a great achievement for your kind,” James said causing Remus to look up suddenly. “It’s a great achievement for you, individually.”
“That’s right,” Sirius agreed and Peter nodded his head vigorously.
“You know of all the possible scenarios I thought this conversation would go, I never imagined it to go this way… you three convincing me that I should be prefect,” Remus said with a laugh.
“Well, it isn’t like we don’t have the entire year to tease you about it,” Sirius stated.
“Just one very important question,” James added.
“What?” Remus asked apprehensively.
“Would it be terribly inconvenient to put Snivellus in detention, say for the next two years?” James questioned, his voice in the perfect tone of innocence.
Remus pretended to give it some thought. “I don’t think my prefect power could quite accomplish that.”
“Oh well,” James said looking disappointed. “A week perhaps?”
“Not unless he does something wrong. We do have to write a report for each detention we give out,” Remus explained.
“I can arrange that.” James grinned wickedly.
Remus groaned. It was going to be an interesting year.
Another’s note: Thanks for reading! Leave a review and let me know what you liked and didn’t like about the chapter!