Disclaimer: Characters are J.K. Rowling's creation except Beth. She's mine.

I switched how I broke up the chapters. Sorry to those of you who already started reading this!

Lily grabbed James' hand as he came out of Great Hall. He grinned at her, surprised, as she pulled him out of the traffic of students next to the wall by the door and kissed him in greeting. "You'll never guess what I just found out," she told him, her voice rife with suppressed excitement.

"The house elves went on strike," James guessed. "Which does not bode well for us because—let's face it—we'll cave in about two days without someone cooking our food."

Lily laughed and shook her head. "No, we are going to have an exchange student! And she'll be staying with me in the seventh year Gryffindor dorm."

"Exchange student?" James frowned as he idly brushed a strand of Lily's hair off of her face. "Hogwarts doesn't exchange students. Where's she from?"

"She's from the States. It's even weirder than that. She's a Muggle!" She grinned as James' mouth dropped open in shock.

"Why would Dumbledore allow that?" He shook his head. "We never let Muggles in here. What's the point?"

Lily shrugged. "I don't know but he asked you and I to meet him after lunch. That's why I came to get you." She tugged his hand and they started walking towards Dumbledore's office.

"I'm hurt you only came for me because I'm Head Boy," James told her. "I was all excited you were desperate to spend every minute possible with me since we just got back from the holiday break."

"That too," Lily smiled fondly at him. "You're a perk of my head girl position."

James laughed. "So I'm a perk, huh?"

"The best," Lily laughingly kissed him.

Dumbledore greeted them with his usual enigmatic smile when Lily and James entered his office. They sat in the two chairs facing his desk and waited while Dumbledore finished writing in a huge ledger in front of him.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice." Dumbledore set aside his quill and Lily and James nodded. "We have an exchange student that will be arriving tomorrow." He looked at Lily. "Miss Evans, I believe you've already heard that this student is a muggle." Lily nodded again, her eyes wide. "She will be our first muggle exchange student."

James and Lily shared a glance but did not speak. Dumbledore leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers together and considered his words carefully. "Her uncle, John Peterson, is a muggleborn wizard. He is the head of the States' Department of Magic so she knows about witches and wizards."

Dumbledore paused and waited as if expecting a question. When Lily and James remained silent, he continued.

"I know it is confusing why I'm allowing a muggle as a student of Hogwarts even for a short time. She is very interested in coming here to learn more about the wizard world. It's a gesture of goodwill for us to accept her."

"As you know, Voldemort is gathering his forces and I believe the wizard war will get significantly worse in the near future." He paused a moment to let that information sink in. Lily swallowed, her eyes meeting James' for reassurance. James covered her hand and squeezed.

"Hogwarts is one of the safest places for witches and wizards to be so Miss Peterson will be safe with us," Dumbledore picked up a quill and inspected it idly. "I am hoping I will be able to request assistance from the U.S. Department of Magic at a later time if it is necessary. I am also counting on you and your fellow students to help Miss Peterson learn more us. John Peterson is very close to his niece and trusts her judgment. She may provide him with a more personal realization of the danger of Voldemort controlling the wizard world in the U.K.. It's a very slim chance that her influence will make any difference, but there's very little effort or risk to us in hosting her."

"There are a few classes she can take here and she will work as a guest lecturer in several Muggle Studies classes." Dumbledore said. "She's interested in becoming a teacher someday and will get practical experience here."

"What classes can she take?" James interjected. He moved restlessly on his chair and regarded Dumbledore warily. Lily wasn't surprised. She knew James was thinking Dumbledore had gone over the edge with this one.

"Arithmancy-she's very advanced in mathematics. History of Magic requires no magic skills. She can also take Divination, which might prove interesting to her." James had to hold back a snicker. Dumbledore had pretty much just admitted Divination had very little magic involved.

Lily was still not sure she understood why a muggle was going to be at Hogwarts with them, nor how said muggle could make any difference in the wizard war Voldemort was concocting but having someone so different stay with them would at least most likely be interesting.

"Won't she feel isolated?" Lily asked quizzically. "Surrounded by witches and wizards who can do magic when she can't?"

Dumbledore nodded, his eyes gleaming. "Most assuredly so. I trust you and our other students will be welcoming to her."

"Do we need to tell her about Voldemort?" James asked.

"She already knows a great deal," Dumbledore said. "You don't need to make an issue of it. Let it come out naturally. I'm pretty sure she'll hear plenty from many students and will form her own opinion."

"Will she be in danger from any of the students here? Some of them might be leaning towards becoming Death-Eaters and might not appreciate a muggle around." Lily phrased it as diplomatically as she could, but she was worried.

Dumbledore's gave her a nod of approval. "You're right, some of them will not be pleased. I will be talking to each house and letting all of the students here know that Miss Peterson is under my personal protection. It would actually be against Voldemort's best interests to harm her while she is a guest here. Her uncle would most certainly become involved, and Voldemort would prefer that the Department of Magic stay out of this war."

There was a short silence when he finished. Dumbledore waited patiently in case they had any other questions but neither Lily nor James spoke. After moving on to a few minutes of discussion about other Head Boy and Girl issues, James and Lily said their good-byes and left Dumbledore's office.

"I don't know if this is a great idea," James said slowly. He laced his fingers through Lily's as they ambled down the empty hallway toward Gryffindor Tower.

"I feel like there's something he's not telling us," Lily frowned. "Not that it matters. He certainly doesn't have to explain anything to us."

"You may be right," James said. "Dumbledore is pretty careful about sharing information."

"Still, I'm excited." Lily grinned at him. "It'll be fun having someone different in my dorm. We've been with the same people for six years."

"The sixth and seventh year blokes will look forward to a new girl too," James put his arm around Lily's shoulders as she turned and lifted her eyebrows at him. "That is, the ones who don't already have the perfect girlfriend." He grinned at her as Lily muttered "Nice save."