The Insanity With Dating Padfoot and Prongs

"Alright, prefects! Listen up!" James yelled over the chatter. Once all lips were sealed and all eyes were on him, he continued, "Okay, so just in case this is your first year as a prefect, all you need to know is to stop someone from breaking one of the school rules. Also, I would like to add, if you can bust me or Sirius, I'll give you a Galleon-"

"James!"

"Calm down, Lils, I was only kidding. What I meant to say was I'll make your life a living hell."

"James!"

"Alright, alright, Lily," James said, giving the redhead a smirk. "So we have a new rule this year, 'There will be no beauty pageants for any reason. If you are caught trying to plan one, it will result in three weeks detention with Professor McGonagall.' Poor Sirius, he is going to be quite upset when he finds out that his magical lips weren't able to persuade that old-"

"James, I think it's time that you sit down and let me give the rest of the instructions," Lily growled, taking the sheet away from him. She mumble to herself for a moment before facing the rest of the compartment and explaining the rest of the duties to the prefects. "If you have any questions, feel free to ask either Remus Lupin or myself-" (James gave an indigent "Oi!" to which Lily ignored.) "-alright? Brilliant! Okay, Remus, can you and Mary take the first shift?" Remus nodded and Lily started going down the list. "James and I will be in the compartment all the way in the back, periodically one of us will come check on whomever is making rounds.

"Well, that does it, I think! Any questions?" No one spoke up. "Alright, good luck!"

There was a shuffle as a couple prefects moved out to other compartments, followed by Remus and a very flirtatious Mary. Lily packed up her's and James' copy of the rules before moving out of the cabin with her partner hot on her heels.

"I can't believe Dumbledore made you Head Boy," said the redhead. "What in Merlin's name was he thinking?"

"That I am dashingly handsome?" Lily scoffed causing James to frown. "Come on, Lils, we were getting along great this summer."

"You were more mature this summer," she said with a glare tossed over her shoulder to him.

James opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again and sighed, allowing the rest of the walk to be in silence.

"Lily!" the couple turned around quickly to see a blonde Gryffindor Seventh Year named Natalina Monroe walk up to them, "How have you been?"

Lily looked taken back for a moment, "Oh, good. And you Natalina?"

"Great! I had an amazing summer," she said smiling brightly. "I'm sorry I was so distant last year, family problems. We need to talk more. Would you like to be my Potions partner for this year?"

James, not getting a good vibe off of the perky girl, spoke up, "Sorry Natalina, but Lily has already promised me that position. Right Lils?"

The redhead smiled greatfully at James. She was never all that found of this specific dorm-mate, "Yes, right. James is absolutely horrible and needs my help more than anyone else I know." Natalina's eyes lit up, as if this was much better news to her.

"Oh, so would Sirius Black be free to work with, then?" she asked with a sickly sweet smile.

"Nah, he'll be working with Remus or Peter if we have a partner project," said James quickly.

Natalina's smile faltered for a second, "Oh, well, I guess maybe another class. I'll see you both at the feast."

"Yeah," said Lily before turning abruptly and walking into the compartment that held Sirius, Lyra, Peter, Remus and Mary. "That was strange."

"What was strange?" asked Lyra.

"We just ran into Natalina Monroe," said Lily. "And she was nice."

"Really? How did that happen?" asked Remus. "From what I remember of her, she came back after summer holiday and was a bitch, dumping all of her friends and hanging out with the worst of the Slytherins."

"I know. I was one of those friends," said Lily.

Sirius piped up, "Maybe shes finally seen the light." But Lily only shrugged to this, not really believing it. She wanted to mention that Natalina seem to have an unsettling fascination with Sirius, but she felt it would fall on deaf ears. Lily would just have to keep a special eye on her fellow Gryffindor for now.

"Hey! You two are supposed to be on patrol!" Lily said when her eyes rested on Mary and Remus, who were shamelessly flirting with each other.

Remus held up his hands, "We are! We already walked the length of the train, so we decided to stop and talk for a few minutes to these three-" Lily pointed to the door- "Alright, alright, we're going. See you, mates."

The rest of the ride was spent with little difference than this. The only thing slightly unnerving to both girls is when Sirius and James (followed very closely by Peter) walked off to discuss "career opportunities" to "new recruits".

"What exactly to they mean by 'career opportunities'?" Lily wondered outloud, slightly afraid of the answer.

Lyra laughed, "They plan on training a group of first years to continue their legacy."

"Great! More for me to worry about!" she said as dramatically as possible, causing Lyra to laugh once more.

"What are we ever going to do with them?"

"Lock them in the Room of Requirement and throw away the key?"

"I prefer my boyfriend somewhere close to me," said Lyra. "So what if I give you permission to slap him if he gets too out of line?"

Lily smiled, "I think I can live with that."

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" asked the old woman pushing the cart of sweets.

"Two butterbeers please," said Lily. The girls gave their sickles and knuts to the woman and she smiled, handing them their beverages before wheeling the trolley away.

"So what's the deal with Remus and Mary? They seem to be getting on," said Lyra, an excited smile on her face.

"I'm not sure, but they look like they're having fun," said Lily. The seventh year Hufflepuff had only just come out of her shell last year.

"I hope he asks her out. She's be a huge improvement over Janet. Though, truth be told, anyone would be an improvement over Janet."

"Janet meant well, I think. She was just a bit.."

"Insane? Terrifyingly clingy?" Lyra offered.

"I was going to go with intense, but I can't argue with you there," said Lily.

"She was a bit of a nightmare, honestly. Let's hope Mary will make a good impression," said Lyra.

"I'll drink to that!" The two girls clinked bottles and smiled, taking a sip of their warm butterbeers.

It seemed like a relief to finally sit down in the Great Hall. Lily smiled in joy as she set her gaze on the enchanted ceiling above and the delightful smells of the feast wafted in her nose. Although she loved her family, she felt that she didn't quite belong when she was with them; she supposed most Muggleborns felt the same. No, to her, Hogwarts was home.

"Aren't you going to eat?" James' calm whisper snapped Lily back and made her jump a bit from her seat. Wide eyed, she turned to him and his infamous smirk.

"Wha- oh, yes," she said grabbing her plate, only to find it already full with her ritualistic Start of the Term meal. "Oh... I don't even-"

"I fixed it," said James with a smile. "You eat the same things every year, and since you seemed so keen on staring at the stars, I just decided to save you some time."

Lily stared at him in disbelief. He knew her ritual? She didn't know whether to be flattered or creeped out. As she stared at him, James' smile started to falter and he started (much to his friend's amusement) to stutter and try to dignify himself again.

"Thank you, James," Lily interrupted the boy's long winded rant. He smiled again and the pair began to consume the feast before them.