Heading the School

"When I lost hope,
You were there to remind me
This is the start."
- At the Beginning, Richard Marx and Donna Lewis

Chapter Four

James stared at the Hogwarts Express with grim fascination. He had been on it so many times before, but he'd always been just a spectator. Now he was in charge. All of the children around him looked so...young. He was sure that he wasn't this young when he started Hogwarts.

"Prongs, whatcha dreaming about?" Sirius smacked him upside the head. "We gotta load our stuff onto the train."

"Sorry," James apologized. "I was just thinking...were we this young when we started Hogwarts?"

Sirius looked around and nodded. "Yeah, I guess," he took in James' ashen complexion and patted him on the back. "Look, I'm sure you'll be a great Head Boy. Nobody'll cross you because they're too afraid of the rest of us. All the guys look up to us, so respect'll be a breeze."

"I just...Padfoot, I've never done anything like this before. There's so much..."

"Responsibility?" Sirius offered. James nodded. Sirius hoisted his trunk onto the train and sighed. "Look, Prongs, I'm not one to preach about responsibility or anything like that-don't snort, James, it's unbecoming-but I know that you've been able to handle responsibility, though it's been masked as Quidditch."

James shook his head. "That wasn't responsibility, that was...fun."

"Exactly. This Head Boy nonsense can be fun, if you make it."

James nodded and put his trunk beside Sirius'. "I get ya. So if I just think of this as fun, I'll be able to do it?"

"Sure, just think about how you get to work with Lily and you'll be fine."

Together, the two of them hopped on the train and found a spare compartment. Sirius stretched out on one of the seats and sighed when James didn't even sit. He kept his eyes glued on the window, watching the people that seemed so young to him.

"I feel kinda bad for Wormtail," Sirius said, thoughtfully. "He didn't even come to Remus' house the other day."

"I imagine it's a big blow for him," James said, finally sitting down. "His mum was so proud of him and for him to fail it by such a wide margin was probably disconcerting."

"What's he gonna do?" Sirius asked. "I mean, with us busy so many nights of the week, the poor bloke's not gonna know what to do with himself."

"We should get him a girl," James said, thoughtfully. "He'd be good with a Hufflepuff, wouldn't he?"

"Yeah," Sirius sniggered. "Though I don't think that Moony would agree. With me and my girls, Peter and his girl, and you and Lily, well we'd be making so much noise that-"

James blushed and shook his head. "You wouldn't have to worry about us, Padfoot. Lily's not...there yet."

Sirius sat up a bit and cleared his throat. "You've been going out for how many months and you've not gotten any?"

"Didn't you just tell me that she wanted to move slow?" James blanched at him.

"Yeah, I meant, in public. In the bedroom, it's a completely different story. So, how far have you gotten?"

"She said that she's not ready to go anywhere beyond kissing with clothes on."

Sirius blinked and looked as if he hadn't heard what James had said. "You've not even seen her in her knickers yet?"

"Sirius, not every relationship is about sex," James defended. Sirius gave him the once over.

"You're bloody miserable, aren't you?" James let out a large breath of air.

"You don't know the half of it," he sighed. "But the problem is, I don't want to break up with her over that because, most of the time, I have fun with her and I don't want her, you know?" James allowed a goofy grin to spread on his face. "She's so...perfect."

"I take it from the stupid grin on your face that Lily is the chosen topic of conversation?" Remus interrupted, walking inside.

"We're talking about how James hasn't gotten any yet," Sirius explained. Remus looked at James and nodded at him.

"It's about time one of you grew up and saw that a relationship is more than just the physical sense." Sirius' jaw dropped.

"You can't be serious, you too?" he exclaimed. Remus raised his eyebrow and looked around as the train gave a giant lurch.

"Neither of you have seen Peter, have you?" They shook their heads.

"We've been wondering the same thing," James shrugged. The compartment door opened, and, instead of Peter, was Lily, looking quite excited in her school uniform.

"Can I borrow James for an hour or so?"

"Why, you aren't going to go sha-oof!" Sirius' snide remark was cut off by James squarely kicking him in the shin as he got up.

"Remus, you too," Lily said. Sirius glared at James as he sat and rubbed his shin by himself.

"What was that all about?" Lily asked. James laughed it off and shut the door behind him, ignoring that question.

"What do you want, besides my humble presence?" Lily rolled her eyes, but had to smile.

"Prefect's meeting," she said. "We get to orchestrate it, remember?"

"O-Orchestrate it?" James stuttered. "You mean, like we're in charge?"

"James, it'll be fine," Lily soothed, tugging on his hand. "You'll do great, just listen to me and add in anything you think is important."

"It's not that hard," Remus said, coming up beside him. "You just basically tell everyone what they're supposed to do and pick some passwords for the houses and pair up a few people to do some rounds. Usually 5th years."

James perked up. "Can I use ‘Slytherins Suck' for the-"

"No James," Lily rolled her eyes. "For the time being, you have to be non-partisan."

"Aw shucks," James frowned.

"If Dumbledore picked such a Head Boy, I suppose that we're all in trouble," came the first comment from the peanut gallery. To James' dismay, Snape was sitting next to another prefect from Slytherin. James was immediately on the offensive.

"Sorry Sniv-" Lily squeezed his hand ever-so-lightly and James backed down a bit "-Snape, I suppose that you'll just have to settle with me as Head Boy." Snape gave a light sniff as he watched James and Lily assume the position at the front of the table.

Remus gave him a discreet thumbs up from his perch next to Emmeline as Lily began the meeting.

James was amazed at how Lily could conduct the meeting with such efficiency and then keep such a comforting hold on his hand. He spoke up rarely, to crack a joke or two to lighten the mood or to add something that he thought was important. When the meeting was over, James hung around with Lily while she answered some questions of the new prefects and talked over old times with the more experienced prefects.

After all that schmoozing, James lead the way back to the compartment. He found it annoying, however, that people kept coming out of their compartments to ask them if they were going out or not. Apparently, the fact that James was walking down the hall with Lily's hand entwined with his was a hot topic, so it took them 10 minutes to get to the compartment.

"There you are, Pete," James grinned as they walked inside. Peter was looking pale and a little down, but well all the same. "We've missed you."

"James did excellent," Lily smiled to Sirius. "Very, very professional."

"No, honestly, how did he do?" Sirius grinned. James took a shot at his head but he ducked.

"No offence, Prongs, but your mum doesn't do justice to the Hogwarts cooking," Sirius grinned, sitting back and rubbing his stomach. James mirrored the act and nodded.

"I'll agree with you there, Padfoot."

"I don't understand how you boys could eat that much," Lily shook her head. "You split that turkey down the middle, along with two helpings of potatoes and gravy, two helpings of vegetables, and three pieces of cake each."

"We're growing, active boys," Sirius defended himself. "You barely ate anything, I'll be you've got some kind of eating disorder or something."

Lily put her fork down and gave Sirius a piercing glare. "I had quite enough thank you very much. Just because I don't pile food on my plate, doesn't mean I'm not eating anything."

"All right, all right, now time for bed," Dumbledore called out to them. James stood up began following Remus and Sirius, but Lily pulled him back.

"We have a meeting with the teachers, now, don't you remember?" she said, tugging him in the direction of a little room off the side of the hall. James frowned, but followed her into the room. He didn't realize that she had let go of his hand until he had stepped into the room and really felt its coldness aching on his hand.

All of the teachers were surveying him and sizing him up, it seemed like. He sat down quickly next to Lily and decided that he was going to keep quiet for fear that they would get some kind of impression one way or another.

"Welcome and Congratulations James and Lily," Dumbledore beamed, sitting down at one end of the table. "I heard you two did exceptional on your first year Auror exam."

James nodded and Lily spoke, "Yes, sir."

"Excellent, excellent. Now, the first order of business are a few reminders..." and he conducted business as usual. James wished that he had a quill and parchment to take notes in because it seemed a lot to understand. The meeting dragged on forever it seemed like, and James' attention span was waning. Finally, Dumbledore dismissed them all except for James and Lily.

"Come down here so we can be a bit closer," Dumbledore beckoned. James sat down on one side of him and Lily sat on the other. "Now, just a few reminders for the two of you. Remember that you are a role model for younger students, so be aware of your actions and words." James saw his eyes dart in his direction for a moment. "Also, know that from time to time, you will be called upon to tutor students, give counseling, so on and so forth. Do your best, and if that doesn't work, ask a professor to step in and assist." His eyes twinkled. "As I can see the two of you are tired of listening to an old man wheeze, off to bed with you."

"Professor, can I talk with you, please?" James asked and Dumbledore nodded. Lily shot him a glance that said ‘I'll wait outside.' "Well, I was just wondering why you chose me to be Head Boy. I haven't exactly been the ‘role model' that you're talking about-"

"Ah, but you are, James," Dumbledore said. "Though I'll admit that the troublemaking must come to a veritable end, you've exhibited leadership skills on the Quidditch pitch and with your team. You've always made top marks in all of your classes, and I'm sure that you'll be an excellent tutor."

"But, honestly, wasn't there someone else more suited to be Head Boy? Like Remus?"

"Mr. Lupin specifically requested that he not be Head Boy, Mr. Potter, though I was not considering him. To be Head Boy, or Girl for that matter, it takes a person who has the kindness to assist his fellow student, but also the determination to censure them when they are out of line. As kind as your friend Mr. Lupin is, he would not have had the gusto to stop either you or Mr. Black, which leads me to my final two reasons for picking you." His eyes twinkled. "First, I knew that if I put you in a position of responsibility, you would shape up both yourself and Mr. Black, and second, because no one would have confidence in your abilities, save myself, and your father, you would work that much harder to prove them wrong."

James desperately wanted to have a snappy comeback, but Dumbledore was absolutely correct. He grinned and stood up, shaking Dumbledore's hand.

"Thanks, Professor," he said.

"Off to bed with you James, you've got a busy year ahead of you."

"And then he said, ‘you'll work that much harder to prove them wrong,' and I realized that's true!"

Lily grinned and opened the door to the Common Room. She was not surprised that it was empty, for the Welcoming Feast always put the students to bed early. James hadn't stopped beaming since he had left the little room where he spoke with Dumbledore.

They stopped at the junction between the two dormitories and James put his hand on her face, smiling.

"And the best part about this is, I get to kiss you goodnight whenever I want to," he leaned in and gave her a very small, but very sensual kiss. He got the feeling because she leaned forwards when he leaned back that she didn't want it to end, but, in all honestly, he was tired.

"Night," he opened the door for her and she dazedly walked through it. He bounded up his own stairs and burst into the dormitory, glad that his mates were still awake.

"Why're you so chipper?" he asked, raising his eyebrow.

"I'm Head Boy, Dumbledore has faith in me, Lily's my girl, and all's right with the world!" he exclaimed, diving into bed. "Aw, this year is going to be great!"