Um... Professor?

Chapter1: Um, Uh, Well.

Lily sat in a compartment on the train awaiting her friends' arrival. She had been sitting awhile due to her hardwired need to be early. She tried reading a book to curb her boredom, but her mind wandered to the year in front of her. Her final year at Hogwarts. And only as Head Girl.

Her two best friends came barging into the compartment, interrupting her thoughts. She checked her watch, 10:54, undoubtedly Elizabeth's fault. Chloe Kounodis and Elizabeth

Rodgers. Now, Chloe was the maternal side that everybody has, and a compulsive baker to boot. She was like everyone in Gryffindor's mother away from home. She was a shoulder to cry on for any who needed or wanted it. She had medium length thick dark brown hair and olive skin.

Elizabeth for-GOD's-sake-do-not-call-me-Liz,-Lizzie,-Beth...etc Rodgers was well, the normal teenager, easily/overly stressed and anal when it comes to her work. She was frustrated and chill and angry and sweet all at the same time. Unfortunately though, it was either one or the other at any given time with Elizabeth. She had short light brown hair and eyes and where as Chloe was petite Elizabeth was a little taller and slender.

"Oh my goodness, how I've missed you! Haven't you ever heard of a letter? One every 2 weeks, are you insane?"

"Hello Chloe. I missed you too." Lily squeaked out as she was wrapped in a tight hug. And then she smelled it on Chloe with her basset hound nose. "Come on fork 'em over Chloe. I'm shocked you would try to hide them from me."

"What? What's she got?" Elizabeth said breaking them apart.

"Brownies. The special ones"

"Ha. I knew it. No one could be as chill as Chloe without a little Mary Jane on the side"

"Oh really Elizabeth. She's obviously talking about the caramel swirl, chocolate swirl, and chocolate chip brownies." Chloe replied as she pulled out the brownies that were spoken of.

"Mhm. Whatever you say." And they continued to chat about the summer and what they hadn't told each other through letters, up until lunch when Lily ventured off to find the lunch trolley, not about to wait for it to find her like her friends were. After a minute or two, she saw it and started to hurry for it.

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James Potter was standing at the lunch trolley deciding what to get, contemplating a turkey sandwich. 'This is definitely a pro to being back here,' he thought to himself, remembering his father's reaction to his decision, when he told him he would be accepting the teaching position as DADA teacher at Hogwarts. His father sat him down, trying to act rationally, made him write a pro/con list while breathing down his neck. All of a sudden he felt something hard run into him from behind.

"Oh gosh I'm so sorry I wasn't paying attention," said the voice of, apparently, the girl who had run into him.

"Oh no, I was in th-" he stop when he caught sight of her as he turned around. She was breathtaking. She had flowing, rich red hair, a gentle pale face, and captivating green eyes. He stood, doing his best to take her all in. She was about 8 inches shorter than him and had a slim, but not scrawny figure. A great body in fact. Curvy in all the right places, or well, all the wrong places considering all the things running through his mind at that point.

Lily was absolutely struck by this man. He was nothing short of beautiful. A face, no doubt carved by angels, messy black hair, and hazel eyes she wouldn't mind staring at all day. She had to snap herself out of her revere, to stop herself from gawking, and looked back up at him.

"Um... so, sorry again. Like I said, I wasn't paying attention. I'm such a klutz," she stammered.

She was so adorable. He had to say something, show her he was smart, charming, funny, something! "Uh... hi," he practically whispered. 'Smooth, real articulate there Prongs,' he mentally smacked his forehead.

"So, uh, excuse me," she tried to get around him awkwardly in the tight corridor. 'Is it me or did he just check me out?'

"Yes?" he asked hopefully taking a step forward as she seemed to have been. She was taken aback now that he was mere inches from her.

"Uh..." confused by him now, "...the trolley..." she said lamely.

Understanding what she was trying to do now, he stepped aside to let her pass.

"Thanks," she said and began to walk past him.

"Wait!" he yelled at her and she spun around so quickly she almost lost her balance. "Hi," he said again.

"Hello," she said getting a bit annoyed now. She stood there waiting for him to say more, when he said nothing she began to turn back around. 'Weirdo.'

"Who are you?" he said exactly what he was thinking.

"Um..." now even more weirded out now, "Uh, Lily Evans"

"What a beautiful name," he had meant to say that in his head. "I mean, I mean well, you know uh... yeah. It is," he decided there wasn't anyway to play that one off without seeming like an ass.

"Well thanks? And you are?" trying to make this exchange as easy as possible with this strange, beautiful man.

"Um..." 'Damn who am I?' "James Potter, yeah that's him. Um, me. Me, I'm him. I m-mean" 'Aww crap, just shut up now,' "yeah," he finally spat out.

"So... you're the new professor?"

"Y-yes. I am," then he realized that he was a professor and she a student, that he shouldn't be interested in her or trying to think up ways to impress her, like he was.

"Well I'll see you in class then. Professor Potter," she said as she paid for her sandwich she blindly picked and walked away.

"Lily," he breathed, watching her retreat. When she got halfway down the corridor, she looked over her shoulder to see him still staring. She quickly looked away and shuffled off.

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At the feast, James felt odd being on the opposite side of the teachers' table. The first years had been sorted, but he was less than enthusiastic during the ceremony. He was having an argument with himself in his head. Responsible James and Prongs did not see eye to eye on this situation. Prongs, of course, thought that James could totally have this girl without any repercussions. RJ (for short) knew that this was completely out of the question, he was her professor now and five years older than her ('not that much' Prongs would pipe in) if he was right and she was a 7th year.

Lily didn't tell the girls about who she met, but her lack of conversation the rest of the ride made them a bit suspicious. During the feast, she stole furtive glances at Professor Potter, while the girls around her talked about him.

"He was an Auror."

"He is soooooo gorgeous."

"I'd like some private lessons with him."

At the last one, Lily scoffed.

"What is it, Lils," Elizabeth asked.

"Oh. Nothing. Except I thought we're were supposed to be 7th years," Lily replied with contempt.

"I know what you mean," she said understandingly. Giggly girls made her gag too.

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"So, Professor Dumbledore," James started, trying half-heartedly to make conversation, "Who's the Heads this year?"

"Colin Crags from Ravenclaw and Lily Evans from Gryffindor," At this, James dropped his fork. "Oh, there you go," and Dumbledore conjured him a new fork, "Yes they are excellent students. Colin is somewhat quiet but smart and well loved by his peers. Lily has the highest marks in her year, for the most part, rather popular but very responsible, and all the teachers love her," he ended contently.

"Ah, yes," he replied dully as Dumbledore was caught in conversation with McGonagall.

James quickly scanned the students and found her at the Gryffindor table, not talking much but not looking unhappy. Then she looked up at him and their eyes met. They were both a bit surprised to catch the other looking at them, but James smiled at her a bit and surprised, she did the same then looked away. He was rather pleased with himself at the moment and allowed himself to take in his other students. However, he was displeased to see a good portion of the male pupils were also enjoying staring at the lovely Miss Evans. He felt a tear of jealousy as questions began to arise. Did she have a boyfriend? What were those boys thinking (although he was pretty sure he knew)? Did they plan to act on these thoughts? Did she have feelings for any of them? He was so sure that they had had a moment on the train, but doubted himself a bit, scrutinizing her expressions in his memory.

He then realized that this was going to be hell.