Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters

James Potter drummed his fingers impatiently on his legs, waiting rather restlessly for his mother to call him from down the stairs. After what seemed an eternity, Mrs Potter shouted up to him.

"James? Are you ready to go?" she asked.

"Yep, coming mum," he replied. He didn't understand why he was so nervous. He had been schooled at Hogwarts for six years, and had never in the slightest been bothered by nerves. Although, to be fair, this year something was different.

All the summer, James and Sirius had been wondering who their Headmaster would choose as head boy- James possibly more so than Sirius. Not obsessively worrying- only in an interested sort of way; James didn't give much thought to those kinds of things. Usually.

Instinctively, his first thought was Remus, who would be a natural, although he had also considered that Amos Diggory, who was a Hufflepuff in his year, might be chosen- regardless of how much he would dislike that decision. However, somehow, it was worse this way. James Potter was head boy of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and no one could have predicted it.

James didn't think of much of himself as a head boy. He also hadn't even thought to contemplate himself as the choice; he had caused too much havoc, served too many detentions, missed one too many homework assignments. Now that he was in the position, a whole lot of worry had set itself upon James' shoulders.

Sirius had almost laughed himself unconscious when he had seen James' badge. Their letters had come about two weeks beforehand, and Sirius had not stopped harassing him since.

James' letter had landed on the kitchen table with a slight clunk. The two Hogwarts barn owls, their job finished, flew off through the window they had come through, hooting to each other.

Both James and Sirius had stared at the letters, wondering what on earth was inside, and who's letter had made the odd noise.

Finally, James' parents Daniel and Emily, had walked in. Daniel had asked them what was wrong, but James and Sirius had not replied, and simply stared into space.

So the two parents, figuring something was up, had each waved a hand in front of the two boys, then picked up the letters and handed them to their respective owners. This brought James back to his senses and he felt the weight of his letter. His heart had half stopped, as he realised that the letter that he and Sirius had been gaping at was his.

"M... Mum?" he had stuttered.

"Yes, dear?" said Emily, who was holding back laughter, though she hadn't been sure why yet.

"I think... Um..." James cleared his throat and tried again. "Mum, you might want to look at my letter..."

Emily had picked up his letter, and slid her thumb under the yellowing parchment, and lifted up the flap. After taking out the usual letters, she had found that there was another letter in there. And a badge. With trembling hands, she plucked the badge from the envelope. Slowly, she turned it over, and gasped.

"H-head boy? MY Jamesie is HEAD BOY? Oh, sausage, this is amazing! I'm so proud of you! YOU'RE GOING TO DO SO GREAT!" she had squealed in delight, every sentence getting higher in pitch.

Sirius had chosen that moment to interrupt her ramblings and snort loudly, recognising the nickname she had given James when he was one, and finding the situation too hilarious to stop himself.

Emily had taken no notice, and had swooped down on James and smothered his face with kisses, whilst he attempted to fend her off.

This had gone on for forever, and by the time Daniel stepped in, Sirius was laughing uncontrollably on the floor banging it, as he had fallen off his chair minutes earlier, not being able to support himself long enough to stay on it, only adding to the hilarity of the situation. Daniel had grasped his wife's shoulders, clapped his son on the back, and whispered "You'll do great, James. I know you will," and left with Emily, who was trying desperately to squirm out of her husband's firm grip, and get back to James.

James smiled fondly at the memory, though his expression hardened a little when he remembered his nerves. He wiped his hands on his jeans, checked his badge, trunk and owl, and focused on the task of pulling his heavy trunk down the stairs.

When the household heard the crashing and bumping, each Sirius, Emily and Daniel rushed up to him. James, confused, sent them a bewildered look.

"Oh, James! You keep forgetting! You're seventeen!" said Daniel exasperatedly. "You would think that after all these years of waiting, complaining and whining that you would actually remember!"

James, who was obviously a bit slow at that moment, sent him a perplexed look.

"You. Can. Use. Magic!" He said, adding jazz hands on the last word. "We're so lucky to have such a smart son, aren't we Em," Daniel added, chuckling and ruffling James' hair.

"DAD!" he shrieked, nervously trying to flatten it, as Sirius snorted.

"Oh shut your as-" he started to say but was interrupted by Emily.

"Are you sure you want to finish that sentence James?" she said sternly, raising her eyebrows at him.

"Sorry, Mum," he apologised sheepishly. He strolled subtly over to his best mate and rumpled Sirius' perfect hair abundantly.

Sirius screamed and tore out the room, heading for a mirror, which he could use to repair what awful damage had been done.

"He'll be back," chuckled Daniel.

"Oh yes, he will," said James evilly, a smirk appearing on his face, while he tossed something pink in the air and caught it. "I stole his lucky comb this morning."

Daniel and Emily laughed, remembering the last time James had stolen Sirius' 'lucky comb'. It had ended with Sirius jinxing James so that every time he said the word 'and', he jumped up and down uncontrollably until smoke blasted out of his ears. When the smoke subsided, James' whole body would go purple, ever so slowly fading back to his normal skin tone. It had taken two months for James to finally apologise, and in that time, more pictures of James had been taken than ever before. Sirius had made sure of that.

At that moment Sirius stormed back in, about to scream every obscenity he could think of at
James when Daniel ran in between them, swiped the comb from James and pushed it into Sirius' hand.

Sirius immediately calmed down and kissed his pink comb.

"Come on, before you two tear each other to pieces." said Emily, snorting.

"Lily... Lily... Lily... LILY... LILY!" a loud voice shouted up the stairs. Lily groaned and rolled over to face her alarm clock, which read eight thirty.

"Too early," she murmured quietly to no one in particular, before snuggling back into her covers, intending to get a few more hours sleep, at the very least.

She heard footsteps pounding up the stairs and moaned loudly. Lily Evans might be the perfect example of a school student during school days, but when it came to holidays she became a complete and utter slob.

A few seconds later, a very angry Petunia Evans burst through the door, letting it slam against the opposing wall. Lily opened one eye to see who was interrupting her favourite time of the day then, sighing, she closed it again knowing that Petunia would soon be hassling her.

Petunia stomped over to Lily's bed and forcefully sat down.

"Mum told me to wake you up and I'm not going to stand here all day. I have a date. So get up, freak. Now." she said, roughly shaking Lily's shoulder.

"Go away," Lily mumbled.

Petunia exhaled loudly, and Lily felt the weight leave her bed. Feeling victorious, she wriggled under her covers to get more comfortable. The next moment, Lily heard a rattling noise, and then a huge burst of light filled her room.

Lily squeaked and hid her face under her pillow. Petunia huffed, obviously annoyed, and grabbed Lily's duvet and blankets, pulling them off, leaving them in tangles at the foot of her bed.

"Now get up, freak. It's time to go to freak land."

Lily took a moment to translate what Petunia had said then sat up in realisation. It was time to go to Hogwarts.

Lily leapt out of bed, and rushed down the stairs, her thick, flaming red hair flowing behind her. She walked to the kitchen, to find Kate and Charlie Evans talking quietly.

She immediately made her way to the fridge, taking out a carton.

"Morning Lils," said Charlie, holding a mug of coffee in both hands. "Did you know your mother made me get up at 7:00? 7:00!"

"Oh Dad, how dare she? I honestly don't know how you do it!" gasped Lily, pouring herself a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.

"I'm really not sure, Lilykins. I don't know how much more I can take!" he said, feigning seriousness.

His wife gave him a stern look. "I won't make your double shot, chocolate at the bottom, whipped cream, grated chocolate and a wafer, vanilla syrup, caramel sprinkles, a cinnamon stick and extra, extra-foamy every-fifth-Tuesday-when-I-get-to-actually-enjoy-my-coffee coffee tomorrow," she threatened, reeling off the list by heart exceedingly fast, only half serious.

Charlie gaped over-dramatically. "Katey- Watey, my special cream-bun darling, you would never commit such a crime!"

"Okay, okay, I think we've had enough melodrama now," said Lily, laughing, putting a piece of bread in the toaster.

It was then that she realised she could use magic.

She had come of age in the wizarding world in late January, and had been practising hard for school ever since. However, being able to use magic at home came with a downside. Though it was a whole lot easier than muggle cleaning, Lily had taken over all of the cleaning duties on most days, and was happy to do it since her mum had cleaned the house almost single-handedly for about ten years, even if it got a little exhausting. However, when Lily left, her family would have to clean again, so it was fair. But Lily had thought ahead.

She had been so excited to use magic again, that she had apparated to Diagon Alley the day after her birthday, purchased numerous books on household spells, and mastered them that day, and a few spells that she had altered to her needs.

The next day, she had gotten to work, her plan to have the house sparkling when she was finished with it. Starting with the bathroom, being the most germy room of the house, she worked her way through every crevice of every room, cleaning, disinfecting and putting spells on various objects that repelled any germs.

Lily had repeated this basic routine through the house, modifying it for the different rooms, and when she was finished, the house had shone like the syrup on pancakes in the morning- a direct quote from her dad.

She ran up the stairs, grabbed her wand from her bedside table, and ran back to the kitchen. She pointed her wand at the toaster, and her toast popped up, just right. Lily grinned. It still gave her such joy to be able to point a piece of wood at something and make it do what she liked. That in mind, she decided to give her parents a treat.

She sat down, munching her toast topped with strawberry jam, and subtly pointed her wand at the middle of the table. All at once, a huge platter appeared, and on it was a carton of eggs, a packet of rashers of bacon, and some small frozen sausages that were summoned from her fridge.

Once again, Lily pointed her wand at the table. The food suddenly became hot and cooked, ready to be eaten.

Lily's parents heard the sizzling, and turned around, startled. Their eyes widened when they saw the feast awaiting them, and quickly came to their senses. In unison, they picked up their plates, and started grabbing things off the platter.

"Umm... You're welcome?" snorted Lily, digging in too.

"Fanks," said Charlie, through a mouthful of food.

"Manners!" said Kate sharply, the corners of her mouth threatening to twitch into a smile.

"I don't need manners."

"Oh yes, you do."

"Oh no... I don't."

"This is going to be a long breakfast," said Lily, smirking.

Once they had all finished, Lily went upstairs to get ready. She realised she had forgotten to bring up her jumper, and went down the stairs to get it. As she was about to go into the kitchen, she saw Petunia, standing near the fridge, eating the food that Lily had made. Lily felt a smile appearing on her face.

She knew for a fact that her sister was aware Lily had prepared the food, because when Lily and her parents were nearly finished eating, Petunia had come downstairs, and Lily's mum had offered her some food, saying Lily had made breakfast.

That had been a mistake, as Petunia had turned her nose up at it, like she always did, saying she wanted to eat normal food that wasn't 'ruined' by magic.

Lily knew Petunia's morning habits, that she was always starving and ready to pig out, and definitely wouldn't even notice a sweater flying out of the kitchen.

As Lily smiled to herself, she took what Petunia was doing as a compliment, and summoned her sweater, then ran upstairs.

She closed the door behind her and picked up a brush, running it through her hair, finding it oddly soothing to do things the muggle way, then straightened it. She put on the usual mascara and eyeliner, cursing her red hair genes as she did so and then walked over to her closet.

Eventually, she chose a pair of light blue skinny jeans, and a tight halter, that had black and cream stripes, then slipped on some black sandals to match.

Lily grabbed her cage for her owl, Anna, and lured her in with some owl treats.

"I'll let you out as soon as I can." she promised, softly stroking her beloved owl's head.

She picked up her wand, non-verbally levitated her trunk- which she had packed about ten days in advance- and followed it down the stairs.

She reached the bottom, and lowered her trunk onto the soft white carpet. Then a thought occurred to her. She set down Anna's cage, and stuck her wand in her pocket.

She quietly padded up the stairs, and stopped in front of a door.

After knocking softly, the voice in the other side of the door spoke.

"Come in," it said, sounding flustered.

A/N

Hope you liked the first chapter! I've edited this so many times I think I know it by heart, so I hope it's okay. I'll update maybe on Friday as well, and I'll try and get the new and improved chapters to you ASAP, so thst I can update the new ones. The other chapters have more bits that are added on, so you won't just be reading the same thing. Hope you like the new cover!