Chapter 58

                                    

                                          
James stepped through the barrier onto platform nine and three-quarters at precisely quarter till eleven, Sirius in tow. The latter was grumbling about the fact that they'd never arrived early before, and how bored he'd be sitting in their compartment alone, but James didn't listen to him. He had his shiny Head Boy badge pinned to his chest, something he'd almost forgotten in the scramble of leaving until Lily's words from her letter rang through his mind. It was almost like she'd known that he'd forget. He ran his thumb over it for the third time, just to make sure it was still in place.
"If you start polishing your badges, I swear I will strangle you with your own tie," Sirius said, watching James with his eyes narrowed. James grinned and removed his hand from the badge.
"Relax," he said. "I'm still a Marauder. I have my dignity."
"Funny," Sirius remarked, smirking. "Where exactly have you been hiding it?"
James grabbed for Sirius and the two boys tussled lightly for a moment, Sirius eventually getting hold of the taller boy in a headlock and liberally messing his hair up with a fist. James shoved his laughing friend away.
"Go," Sirius said, grinning widely as James tried to smooth his unruly locks back down to their normal state of messiness. "Tell the lovely Lily hello from me."
"Oh, shove it," James said, aiming one last kick at Sirius before he leapt onto the train, leaving Sirius with both of their trunks to haul up to the Marauders' usual compartment.
James made his way down the familiar passageway, heading towards the end, where he knew the prefect compartment was located. He checked his watch as he walked up, confirming that it was exactly 10:50 a.m.. Looking through the compartment door, he saw Lily, her dark red hair falling in a curtain to hide her face as she bent over a notebook. Smiling, he slid the door open, and she looked up at him.
"Hey, Lily," James said, closing the door behind him again. This time, unlike when they'd seen each other over the summer, there was no hesitation on her part. She placed her notebook beside her on the seat, stood, and reached up to wrap him in a friendly hug. He smiled, his chin fitting neatly on top of her head, breathing in the smell of her hair.
"Hi, James," Lily said finally once she drew back, beaming up at him. "Welcome to the prefect compartment."
"Thanks," James said, grinning and taking a seat across from her. "Now I finally get to know what happens behind the scenes in the running of this school."
"I wouldn't go that far," Lily said, flashing him an amused smile. "Anyway, prefects will probably be arriving in a few minutes, so we should make this quick. Mostly, the Head Boy and Girl give a short talk about how being a prefect is a responsibility, blah blah blah, then tell us the duties and let us go."
"Okay," James said, smiling. "Seems like you'll do better than me on the whole 'explaining responsibility' part."
"Probably," Lily said, smirking. "I doubt you'd be able to keep a straight face doing it, or that anyone would take you seriously. You can tell them what their duties are, and say we'll post a patrolling schedule within a week. They'll need to let us know what their conflicts are before we can make the schedule."
"I can do that," James said.
"Well, then hopefully it'll go off without a hitch, and we don't have to spend too long here," Lily said, sighing and pushing back her hair with her hand. James' eyes followed her hand's progress, then flicked back to her face and smiled.
"I think we're going to make a good team," he said. Despite herself, it seemed, Lily smiled back.
The prefect meeting did, in fact, go off without a hitch, though both Remus and Kingsley—who'd just been appointed a fifth-year Gryffindor prefect—looked like they were trying to keep straight faces throughout. Remus shot James a grin as he left, eyebrows raised with a look that said he was surprised but impressed with how James had conducted himself. James smiled back, watching his friend leave as he stayed behind with Lily to record the prefects' time conflicts for patrolling.