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“You know, Padfoot, if I had known that you never wake up on time, I wouldn’t have let my parents take you in this summer!”
It was 10 AM on the first of September, and James was making frustrated “ albeit half-hearted “ attempts to wake Sirius up.
“Ugh,” groaned Sirius, “it’s not my fault. I’m normally an extremely punctual person. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“You? Punctual? Since when? Back when you still lived at home?” joked James. However, neither Marauder failed to notice how all of the humor had mysteriously vanished from the air. Sirius turned to face James, fixing him with a weak glare.
“Prongs, I know it’s been three months since I ran away from home. But I keep thinking about Regulus and I…” Sirius stopped talking and embarrassedly looked down at the bedroom floor, leaving behind an awkward pause that the two best friends were not familiar with.
“Look, Padfoot,” James said gently, “I’m sorry about what I said. I wasn’t thinking. But you made an effort to convince Regulus that the Dark Side isn’t the place for him. That’s all that you could’ve done.”
For a long time, neither one of them spoke; they simply absorbed the renewed silence. Finally, Sirius glanced back up again. James was shocked to see that his best friend’s eyes were full of pain and remorse.
“Maybe we haven’t exactly acknowledged it this summer, James, but other than the occasional foul humor and Lily-pining… we’ve grown up too fast, haven’t we?
James realized how worried Sirius was; he never would have used his given name otherwise. Slowly, James nodded, letting the anxious words wash over him.
“Yes, Sirius. We have.”
They held their unsteady gaze for a few seconds longer, and Sirius grinned.
“Well, bloody hell. I have no intention of acting like a sullen prat for our last year at Hogwarts! I think I should Siriusly get ready,” he managed to say with a relatively straight face.
James smacked Sirius with a pillow and, after insisting that the “Sirius” joke had gotten old three years ago, left the room to hear his co-Marauder roaring with laughter behind him.
Ten minutes later, they were both packed and ready to go. After taking a rather long while to say goodbye to Henry and Emile Potter “ who were both fairly old “ they cracked identically wicked grins. For the first time in all their years at Hogwarts, they would be Apparating to Kings Cross Station. With one last look back at James’s smiling parents, they turned on their heels and disappeared instantaneously, leaving a patch empty space where they had been just moments before.
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“Lily… I understand that you’re Head Girl, but could you please explain to me what we’re doing at the station this early? It’s only 10:15!” Harold Evans, though certainly not irritated with his younger daughter, was fairly confused by Lily’s excessive punctuality.
“I need to set an example for the other students, Dad. I also need to be here before Potter.” Lily’s jaw was set, and she clearly did not want her intentions questioned.
“But isn’t he the Head Bo--” Mr. Evans abruptly stopped talking upon seeing the warning look clearly displayed on his wife’s face. “Oh, but of course, Lil,” he corrected himself hastily. Lily turned around and smiled up at her parents for being so understanding.
“I’m sorry Mum, Dad,” she said sincerely, “I know it’s hard having a witch in the family, but even after all these years, you haven’t complained once. I just hope you’re not mad at me for splitting up the family like I did, what with Petunia refusing to come within ten feet of me.”
Lily’s parents were speechless. Apparently, they had no idea their daughter was feeling so guilty and conflicted.
“Oh, Lily, sweetheart…” Genevieve Evans embraced her daughter and held on tight “ she hated saying goodbye to her precious second child. Lily was always so thoughtful and sensitive; she just wished that Lily’s special talents hadn’t divided her and Petunia so.
“Lils, I expect you to write home to us weekly,” her father attempted to say sternly, but failed miserably in the process. At last he just gave her a weak smile, and followed his wife’s example by hugging her lovingly.
Lily didn’t quite know what to say. She opened and closed her mouth, before finally choosing her words. “You’ll stay with me until I have to leave, right?” Her parents quickly nodded and reassured her that they wouldn’t depart until she was ready. This was hard on all three of them “ it would be the last time her parents saw her off to Hogwarts before she entered the Wizarding world as a fully qualified witch.
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At precisely 10:45 AM, James and Sirius boarded the Hogwarts Express. By this time, the train was bustling with students earnestly searching for empty compartments.
“So Prongs, mate,” Sirius said casually, “ready to go get our compartment for one last time?”
“Sorry, Padfoot… I have to go up to the Heads’ compartment. We have to give the Prefects instructions and divide up the patrol schedule. I’ll be back here within the hour, though.”
Sirius initially looked disappointed, but he quickly brightened and said, “Whatever you do, mate, don’t go making a bloody fool out of yourself in front of Evans.”
James turned a bright shade of red and walked away, muttering to the heavens. Sirius could only smirk as he went the opposite direction, attempting to locate the Marauders’ famous compartment.
Meanwhile, James was having a tough time of getting to the designated location for the Heads and Prefects’ meeting. He broke up a bunch of duels that had been started over compartments, while at the same time kindly showing several nervous first years where they could sit and meet other people.
When he finally got to the Heads’ compartment, he prayed that Lily wasn’t already in there. Holding his breath, he slowly slid the door open. He automatically let out a sigh of relief “ nobody was there yet.
He walked to the furthermost seat by the window and carefully sat down. Fishing around in his pocket, he withdrew his Head Boy badge and a list of all the dormitory passwords for the upcoming year. He pinned his badge onto his shirt just as somebody else walked in.
“Hey, Prongs. Have a good summer?” Remus Lupin said quietly, taking the seat opposite James.
“Hi, Moony! Yeah, I did. Sirius ran away “ of course, I already owled you about that over the summer. He stayed at my place and we kind of just lazed around. Oh, but there was something I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Yeah?”
“Well, you know how I sent you a letter right after I found out I was Head Boy? Well, I sent another letter…”
“To who?” Remus asked, though he looked like he already knew the answer.
“To me,” said Lily snidely, as she entered the compartment.
To James’s utmost horror, however, Lily was not alone. Tate Voleur, a seventh year Ravenclaw, had accompanied her inside, and they were holding hands.
Before Remus or James could so much as open their mouths to respond to Lily’s remark, Lily had leaned up to kiss Tate. James felt his blood boiling as he watched the girl of his dreams kissing some stupid Ravenclaw git. How could he have forgotten that Lily had a boyfriend? What must she have thought when she read his letter?
“I’ll meet up with you later, Tate,” Lily whispered, giggling.
“Of course, Lils. And Potter!” he said loudly, glaring in James’s direction. “Stay away from my girlfriend, do you understand me? I’ll excuse that letter you sent her over the summer, since you probably just had a lapse in thought. But try anything like that again and you’ll find yourself somewhere you won’t want to be.” With another nasty look at James, Tate kissed Lily on the cheek and strolled out of the compartment.
James was finding it extremely difficult to fight the temptation to go pound Tate into a pulp. He caught Remus’s eye and the latter shook his head by a mere fraction, but it was enough to calm him down. He drew in a deep breath, exhaled, and said pleasantly, “Good morning, Lily. Did you have a good summer?”
If Lily looked surprised at James’s calm demeanor, she didn’t show it. Instead she said, “It was fine. Just fine, Potter.” James winced at her tone and her use of his last name, but did not say anything more.
Just then, the Prefects began filing into the compartment, and all tension between the Head Boy and Girl was quickly forgotten. The last person to enter was Severus Snape, and he also happened to be the last person James ever wanted to see. Although, he thought viciously to himself, Tate Voleur had just been added to the list.
“Oh-ho, so the Mudblood has been made Head Girl!” he said tauntingly as he sat down. They were several shouts of indignation from the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw Prefects, but the Slytherins simply sniggered.
Now James was really having a hard time restraining himself. He took another deep breath to calm himself and said, “Snape, that kind of language isn’t accepted from a Prefect, nor is it tolerated from anybody else. You should apologize to Lily.”
Neither Snape nor Lily was adept at hiding their surprise toward James this time. Snape had placed one hand over his wand, while Lily’s eyebrows contracted and shot up into her hair.
James, however, maintained a straight face and said, “Now, if that’s settled, we really need to get on with this meeting. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is James Potter and I will be your Head Boy this year. This is your Head Girl, Lily Evans,” he said, gesturing to the still speechless Lily. “We have with us today a list of passwords for each of the dormitories, so if all of you can come pick them up after the meeting, that would be appreciated. Now, we also have schedules so that each of you knows when you have to patrol. You will have to do this twice a week…” James rambled on, but all the Prefects were paying him their undivided attention “ aside from Snape, naturally. Occasionally, he would glance toward Lily to see if she wanted to help him explain the proceedings, but she didn’t seem to know what to do. Never in his life had James seen Lily lack confidence, and now that he had, he wished he hadn’t. It was unnerving for a girl like Lily Evans to be rendered so speechless that she couldn’t even carry out her basic duties.
At long last, the meeting was over, and everyone except James, Lily, Remus, and Snape retreated from the compartment. Once they were all out of earshot, Snape turned to Lily.
“So, Evans, you just sat here for an entire meeting and let Potter here do your dirty work for you. You let him defend you. I’m disgusted,” he said. His angry façade had long since faded, but the disappointment was evident in his words.
“For your information, Snivellus, Potter here has just as much right to speak as I do. Although I will never be all right with it, he is Head Boy. He is an arrogant toerag who doesn’t deserve the position, but for whatever reason, Dumbledore chose him. It’s not dirty work; this is our job. Now, it would only be good for you if you were to leave.
Snape had finally run out of things to say, so he left the compartment without so much of a backwards gaze.
“Well, Lily, if that’s all,” said James, standing up and stretching his sore limbs, “I think I’ll be off. Coming, Remus?” Remus nodded and stood up to follow James, but Lily stopped him.
“Just a moment, Remus. I want to have a word with you.” Lily half-glanced at James, expecting him to get angry or look at her suspiciously, but he did neither of those things. Instead, he just nodded and walked off to the Marauders’ compartment.
“What’s bothering you, Lily? What happened just now?” Remus immediately asked, concerned.
“For whatever reason, Potter is actually being… civilized. This isn’t just an act, right? This is going to last?”
“Well for your sake, Lily, I certainly hope it lasts. But the only person you can openly discuss that with is James himself.”
“I just hope he stays how he is. I don’t want him ruining my relationship with Tate. He was mad enough as it was after James sent me that letter,” Lily said nastily. After abruptly hugging Remus, she left the compartment. Remus was left standing alone, shaking his head in a bemused manner. No matter how much advice he gave James and Sirius, he would never truly understand the female species.
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“Oi, Potter! Get over here.” James turned around to find Lily gesturing toward him. His heart leapt, but he was quickly saddened to see the furious expression on her face. He vaguely wondered why she had sought him out instead of Voleur, but he was quite sure he was about to discover the reason.
“Potter,” stated Lily.
“Lily.”
“I failed to say this earlier, but what you did back in the Prefects’ compartment was unacceptable.”
James was bewildered. He had been mature, he didn’t curse anyone, he had been tolerant of Snivellus, and he had defended Lily. What could he have possibly done this time? The confusion must have been displayed on his facial features, because Lily immediately resumed her tirade.
“As Head Boy and Girl, it is our responsibility to equally divide our duties. Taking over the Prefects’ meeting just because you think you’re the only one suitable to rule the school and trying to discipline Snape just because you thought it’d make you look good “ why can’t you just stop being a pig-headed bully? And by the way, I can defend myself!”
Without waiting for a response, Lily turned and stalked off down the aisle to join Tate, who was waiting for her nearby. As James jealously watched the couple, he was left wondering why his very existence seemed to anger the only person he made an effort with.
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Tragic Glory by Daughter of the Light
Chapter Notes: Hello, everyone! Here's the second chapter. Just a warning, though: Please don't hate me for how Lily behaves. I assure you she will not keep acting in the same manner. I hope you enjoy chapter 2! ~
Chapter Endnotes: Well, as always, please rate&review!
Thanks, everyone. :]