Back At Hogwarts

"Oh look! I can see Hogsmeade! We must be close." Alice exclaimed happily. I walked over to the window and looked out. Sure enough, I could see the twinkling lights of the little town of Hogsmeade. We were close to the castle, finally.

"You guys should change into your robes. I have to go meet with the prefects and the Head Boy before getting off the train. We have to make sure everyone gets up to the castle safely." I said as I pinned my Head Girl badge back onto my robes, right over my heart.

"Okay Lily! Have fun doing your duties. Will we see you at the welcoming feast?" Marlene asked, pulling her trunk down from above the seat so she could get her robes.

"I'll definitely be there. I love the welcoming feast!" I grinned. After waving goodbye, I headed down the corridor to the back of the train where the prefects compartment was located. Time to find out who the Head Boy was, and explain to the prefects what needed to be done. It was going to be tough, being in charge of them all, but I knew I could handle it.

It was the beginning of my last year at Hogwarts, and though I was excited to start another year, I was sad that this would be the last time I ever rode this train to Hogwarts. When I arrived at the last compartment, I paused before entering. Hopefully I liked the Head Boy enough to work with him for the whole year. It wouldn't be very pleasant if we didn't get on well with each other.

"What're you waiting for Evans?" asked a familiar voice from behind me. I turned quickly, pulled out of my thoughts.

"James! I missed you and you're pranks! How was your summer?" I asked, throwing my arms around James in a friendly hug.

James Potter and I had been good friends since fifth year, when he had stood up for me when Severus called me a Mudblood. The memory was a bad one and a good one at the same time. I had been insulted by and lost my childhood friend, but I had befriended James and his mates-Sirius, Remus, and Peter.

James laughed and hugged me back. "My summer was great. Sirius and I got into loads of trouble, but you know what I say…what's the point of life if there isn't a little mischief once in a while?"

I grinned at him, shaking my head. James and the other boys were notorious for the pranks they pulled at Hogwarts. Everyone knew it was them, but they never got into trouble because nobody could ever prove it. "So what are you doing at this end of the train? Shouldn't you be headed up to the castle with Sirius and Peter?"

Remus, being a prefect, would be waiting in the compartment that we were standing outside of, but the other boys were supposed to be headed up to the castle, James included.

"Didn't anyone tell you? I'm Head Boy this year." James explained, grinning widely. My eyes widened.

"Really? Who would make you Head Boy?" I asked, semi-jokingly. James and his mates were grade A trouble makers. They were late to class, hardly ever did homework, and always found new ways to break the rules. Remus was the exception to their group, as he did everything he was supposed to, but still managed to have fun and pull pranks along with the others. I would have understood completely if Remus was Head Boy, but James? Dumbledore must have had a scheme in his mind, or his own idea of a prank. I had to admit, it was funny.

"I know! Who would've thought right? My parents were shocked too." James laughed.

"Well this should make for an interesting year." I grinned. James chuckled and nodded his head towards the door to the perfects compartment.

"You think we should go in there now?" he asked, his eyes twinkling. I nodded and pulled the door open. James followed me into the compartment and all the prefects turned their attention to us but the Slytherins, who were grouped in a corner, muttering under their breath and glaring at me. I could only imagine what they were saying.

"Hello," I started, looking around the compartment, seeing a few familiar faces, including Remus's. "For those of you who don't know me, I'm Lily Evans, and this is James Potter. We are Head Boy and Girl this year. Now, I want to remind you that your job is to reprimand students who are breaking the rules. You can serve them a detention, or take House points, but those are the only punishments you are allowed to hand out. If you think the punishment needs to be greater, you are to take the student to a professor, who will then decide what the punishment will be."

Most of the prefects were nodding their heads, but the Slytherins were rolling their eyes and making comments, most of them just directed at me and my blood status. That was definitely going to get old, but i had learned to ignore the rude remarks after my fifth year.

"Also, James and I will have to put together the schedule for rounds, but when we finish with that, it will be posted near the Great Hall. Until then, just keep your eye out for troublemakers."

i glanced over at James, indicating that if he wanted to add anything, now would be the time. His eyes roamed the compartment and landed on the Slytherins in the back corner.

"I just have one thing to add-as Head Boy and Girl," James indicated himself and me, "we have more authority than you. If you break any rule, which includes making rude comments and insults, we can give you a detention and take house points." James ended, keeping his eyes on the Slytherin group in the back the whole time.

The group fell silent, glaring heavily at both James and me. i rolled my eyes. Slytherin students were so…frustrating. They thought they were better than everybody else, and it was really ridiculous.

"Well, I think that covers it then! If you have any questions concerning your responsibilities, please feel free to come and talk to either of us." i said, clapping my hands together. The other students nodded and smiled at me as they stood, ready to get off the train and head up to the feast.

James and I waited until all the prefects but Remus were off the train before we began our trip up to the castle.

"Remus it's so good to see you!" I said happily, squeezing Remus's arm. He smiled down at me. We had been prefects together last year and shared a lot of good memories from doing rounds together.

"It's good to see you too Lily. And congratulations on the Head Girl thing, you deserved it."

i grinned up at him. Remus was always so gentlemanly and chivalrous-and handsome to boot. I always wondered why he didn't have girls pinning after him the way James and Sirius always did.

"What about me? I'm one of your best mates, and you tell Lily congratulations before me?" James scoffed, faking a pout. I burst out laughing as Remus shook his head, grinning.

"James, I honestly have no idea why on earth Dumbledore would make you of all people Head Boy, but all I know is this year is going to be very interesting." Remus said, still not congratulating him.

James grinned. "It's our job at the Marauders to make life interesting. This just gives me a little more leverage in my duties."

Before Remus or I could reply, a carriage full of fifth year Ravenclaw girls passed by, and a voluptuous girl with black hair that I recognized as Lizabeth Vane stuck her head out the window and blew a dozen air kisses at James, wore swore and turned his head away, trying to duck behind Remus.

"See you at the feast Jamesie!" she called as the carriage got farther away although she proceeded to hang out of the window until the carriage turned to corner and disappeared from view.

Remus and I burst out laughing and James turned red, still cursing.

"What….was….that…..about?" I managed to choke out between fits of laughter. James glared at me half-heartedly.

"Wasn't that Lizabeth Vane? She's like, a fifth year. And she's a Ravenclaw." Remus gasped as his laughs subsided. James punched him in the arm and bumped me with his shoulder.

"She cornered me on the train and declared her undying love for me! I didn't know what to do-she's a bloody fifth year for crying out loud!-but I didn't want to hurt her feelings either, so I just mumbled something about Head Boy duties and took off in the other direction." James explained, his face still a slight shade of red from his embarrassment.

"Just tell her you aren't interested." I suggested, trying to calm the new fits of laughter that James's explanation had caused.

"I tried! She told me she knew I was single, and that she won't give up until I'm off the market for good." James groaned.

"Oh, that could be a problem then." I replied. James Potter, off the market? Hah, James and Sirius were well known for their reputations of being single, but still snogging almost every girl they could. But even James had standards now that he was a seventh year, apparently fifth years were too young for him, which was a relief.

I could only imagine all the little broken hearts there would be if James and Sirius stooped to snogging any of the fifth years. They would get the crazy notion that they were in love, and that they were meant to be together forever. I had watched it happen to my own best mate, Marlene, when she snogged Sirius. And like all the other girls before her, she was forgotten about as soon as a hotter girl came along.

At least they can still be friends, I thought. Marlene had no hard feelings against Sirius, though she had been hurt at the time. Now they were all just really good friends, who got along well together. Sometimes the Marauders would even recruit the girls to help with some pranks, but that was pretty rare.

"Yeah, it could be. I just have to figure something out, but I'm not going to worry about that right now. After all, it's our last welcoming feast. Might as well make the most of it!" James said easily. He was so carefree, it made me jealous sometimes. I wish I could be that easy going and reckless, but no, I was reliable Lily. Everybody could count on me to do the homework, or follow curfew. Sometimes it was hard being the responsible one in my group of friends.

James, Remus, and I walked the rest of the way to the castle, catching up with one another and talking about the events of our summers. James had the most exciting stories, as he was with Sirius and they were always doing crazy things. Remus had had an average summer, having gone to his cousin's wedding in France and staying with them and a few other family members for a month.

I-by far-had the worst summer out of all of our friends, having spent the summer doing nothing but reading through this year's books and avoiding my sister and her walrus of boyfriend, Vernon Dursley. I didn't mind being a muggle-born, but sometimes it was really hard. Especially when it made my own sister hate my guts and call me a freak.

We had finally reached the main entrance to the school, and we walked through the halls quietly, making our way to the Great Hall. Luckily, there were still huge crowds of students filing in the doors so we joined the crowd and let ourselves flow into the Hall.

I felt the familiar feeling of excitement flood through my body. I was back at Hogwarts at last, and I was going to make sure that this year turned out to be bloody incredible, even if it damn near killed me.