The evening of 31 August, Mrs. Evans made shepherd's pie for dinner and Lily sat at the table, staring at her plate, wishing she was off somewhere with James Potter. Instead, she was stuck sitting at the dinner table, listening to another of Vernon Dursley's long winded stories which would inevitably end with the count of the number of drills he'd sold that day - all of his stories ended with a count of the number of drills he'd sold in a day. Lily stabbed a carrot with the violence that she was restraining from taking out on Vernon. 

"And so the bloke bought a total of seventy-nine drills!" Vernon chuckled, "Such an odd number, threw my entire quota out of balance for the day. Had to write on my report I'd sold 879 drills -- the quota minimum was four hundred of course, so still had sold more than twice my lot!"

Instead of responding to this declaration, Mrs. Evans turned to Lily. "Are you all packed for the train tomorrow?"

"Mother, really." Petunia flushed and turned to Vernon, petting his hand, "You did such a grand job of it, popkin."

Lily ignored Petunia. "Yes, I packed this afternoon."

"Are you excited to be going back to school?" Mrs. Evans asked, then, smiling, "It's your final year."

"My final year starts tomorrow, too, mum," Petunia intoned.

Mrs. Evans nodded, "It certainly does."

Lily said, "I'm excited but also sort of sad about it. It's the last time. The last time I'll push my trolley to 9 3/4 --"

"9 3/4? What?" Vernon looked at Petunia, who rolled her eyes.

"-- the last time we'll find Hagrid at the other side, calling the first years --"

"What on earth is a Hagrid?" Vernon asked.

"-- last first night feast..." Lily sighed. "The whole year's going to be bittersweet, isn't it, mum?"

Mrs. Evans nodded, "Obviously my experience with it is closer to your sister's, meaning much more boring, but --"

Petunia looked offended.

"-- it's certainly bittersweet, doing all of the lasts. But think of all of the firsts that are coming, too, and it will get you through." Mrs. Evans smiled at her plate for a moment, then, "And one day, you'll go back to 9 3/4 with your own children, and see them off on the train to Hogwarts." Her eyes sparkled at Lily. "...Perhaps with James?"

Lily blushed.

Petunia cleared her throat. "I'll have children one day, too," she said regally. And, for good measure, she grabbed onto Vernon Dursley's pudgy hand and squeezed it. "Perhaps with Vernon."

Vernon Dusley sputtered on the drink he'd just taken, flecks of purple juice dotting his pressed white collared shirt. Lily laughed as Petunia leaped up to get the club soda before the stains had ruined it completely.

Next morning, Lily said goodbye to Petunia, who only grunted in response, and stuffed her trunk into the back of her mum's car. Mrs. Evans drove them to London, and up to the unloading curb at King's Cross. Lily got out of the car and saw James coming toward her, pushing a trolley. "Morning!" he called, coming up to the curb. "Here, I'll get that." He dodged around Mrs. Evans, who'd been about to try to pull Lily's trunk from the car herself, and lifted it before she could.

Lily smiled.

James piled her trunk on top of his own on the trolley and said, "There we are."

"Thank you James, what a gentleman." Mrs. Evans smiled at him, then winked at Lily.

James wheeled the trolley about and stood, waiting while Lily said goodbye to her mum and they hugged. "Have a wonderful year," Mrs. Evans whispered in her ear, "And remember to take it all in and enjoy every moment."

"I will, mum."

As they broke apart, Mrs. Evans held Lily at arm's length, then she said, firmly, "And remember what we talked about the other day, too."

Lily flushed. "Mother. Really." She pecked Mrs. Evans on the cheek and said, "Bye, mother."

"Have a good year!" Mrs. Evans waved, and to James, "Take care of my Lily."

"I will, Mrs. Evans," James waved to her, and they started off on the walk to the platform. Other Hogwarts students were going by - some easier to spot than others by the awkward attempt to wear Muggle clothes, others by the hooting owl cages perched on their trolleys. James pushed their trolley along, humming to himself absently for a few moments before he finally asked, "So what is it that she talked to you the other day about that made you blush like that?"

Lily blushed again. "Nothing."

James laughed. "I reckon my mum just had the same talk with me is why I ask."

"Oh?" Lily looked up at him, raised eyebrow.

James nodded, "Yeah. Blimey. Most awkward conversation I've ever had with the woman in my entire seventeen years."

"For real!" Lily exclaimed, "Like mother, relax, we've only just started seeing each other."

"Exactly," James said, "It isn't as though we're rabbits or something."

"Yes, not rabbits," Lily shook her head.

"Perfectly respectful non-rabbits," James said.

"Absolutely." Lily nodded. "We're ages away from anything rabbity."

James paused walking. "Ages?"

Lily nodded firmly. "Ages." She kept walking.

"Oh." James trotted to catch up. "So when you say ages..."

"I mean ages."

"Alright. But... like... ages, like, we're eighteen in the Spring and that's a new age, or ages like... The Dark Ages. Like centuries difference from then and now?"

Lily stopped in front of the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10. "I suppose we'll see," and she ran for the barrier and disappeared beyond the brick.

"Bugger," James muttered, wishing he hadn't brought it up. He took a deep breath and ran at the barrier, too.

Lily was already a couple steps away, tugging her Gryffindor robes from her book bag on her hip. James hurried to catch up. "You're putting your robes on already?" James asked, pushing the trolley along.

"I thought that as Headgirl I ought to set an example," Lily explained.

"Oh right."

"I have to find the Headboy, too, and talk to them about how they want to conduct the meeting with the prefects," Lily added, tossing her hair over her shoulders as she buttoned the robes at her chest. She reached into her jumper pocket for her badge and looked up as James took his robes out of his ruck sack. "You're putting your robes on now, too?" she asked.

James nodded. "Following the example of the Headgirl."

Lily smiled. She held out her badge, "Would you mind pinning it on?"

"Sure." He took the badge, pulled the backer off, and attached it to her chest, adjacent to the Gryffindor crest. He used his jumper sleeve to polish it off for her. "There you are," he said, smiling at the gleam of the badge.

"Thank you," Lily said. "Gods, I wish I could sit with you on the train. All those years we could've sat together on the train and I was an idiot."

James said, "It would be nice to sit together, wouldn't it?"

"Yes," Lily nodded, "But I've got to go do my duties first."

"Right," James said, "Because you're the Headgirl. I suppose you'll be sitting with the Headboy, then, for most of the ride."

"No reason to be getting jealous over it," Lily said, hearing the tone of his voice and taking it for jealousy. "It isn't as though the Headboy means anything to me. He's just... a sort of co-worker. Entirely platonic relationship. All business."

"I see," James said.

Suddenly Remus and Sirius came up behind them - Remus pushing the trolley with their luggage, Sirius riding on top. He howled loudly like a train whistle as they rolled to a stop beside James and Lily. Sirius grinned, "Hullo Seventh Year Gryffindorks. Ready for another year of pranking, spanking, and tanking - on our grades, that is?"

Remus said, "You best not tank on any grades this year, it's your N.E.W.T...."

James grinned, "I'm so ready for all of it."

Lily rolled her eyes, "Bloody hell."

Sirius's eyes twinkled, "Why Lilith Judith Evans, what a lovely Headgirl badge you've got there."

"Don't make me use it to give you detention, Sirius Ostrich Black."

"Oh never," Sirius said. "Don't be using your power to dole out unjust punishments to the innocent."

"Innocent," Lily snorted. "You've never been innocent a day in your life."

Sirius mocked horror. Then, "Punish Potter. I'm sure he'd enjoy that."

James said, "Perhaps in a few ages."

Lily smacked his hand as Sirius and Remus looked confused, not getting the joke. She changed the subject before they could ask, "Have either of you seen the Headboy yet?"

Sirius looked at James, then looked back to Lily. "Yes, I have."

"Who was it?" she asked eagerly.

Sirius shrugged, "Some tosser."

"Sirius."

"Lily."

"Ugh. Fine. I'll go find out myself, then. I'll see you lot on the train somewhere north of York, I imagine..." and she left.

Remus stared after her, then looked at James. "How long are you going to let her search for you?"

James smirked, "Six years?"

Sirius snickered.

Lily kept asking up and down the platform - had anyone seen the Headboy? But she kept being told that no, nobody knew who had been assigned Headboy - not even the kids whose robes were pinned with Prefect badges knew who the Headboy was.

Lily was frustrated. First day on the job, and already the Headboy was shirking off responsibilities. After all, he was supposed to help with getting everyone on the train properly and so far the only person she'd seen helping in anyway was James Potter down the far end of the Platform, helping the cluster of confused looking first years figure out where to put their luggage. While she appreciated James Potter looking out for the little seagulls, she knew that was really a responsibility that ought to be done by the Headboy.

She was going to have to make her first official order of business talking to McGonagall or Dumbledore about this!

She worked at doing the best she could helping to facilitate the boarding of the train, seeing to it that students got to sit down and could put their bags in the overhead, helping a couple who were too short to do it themselves. She picked up a couple dropped Chocolate Frog cards, and helped a little girl find a lost toad, and she reminded the prefects she saw that they were to meet in the prefect's compartment in the first car. She greeted the witch with the sweets trolley, who smiled at her, and she paused to take a look at herself in the mirror outside the prefect's compartment before stepping inside.

The room was already crowded, prefects sitting in nervous clusters at little tables, and Lily looked around, trying to spot the Headboy but all she saw was James, smiling at her from across the room. He stood up as she walked over, her face red, "You're not supposed to be here," she whispered, glancing at the prefects staring at her. "Ugh and look at your robes, they're wrinkled from your ruck sack." She took out her wand and performed a quick ironing spell, flattening the creases in the robes. "You ought to go with with Sirius, Remus, and Peter in your compartment until I'm finished up here and I'll come sit with you then, alright? It seems the Headboy's shirked off his responsibility and I've got to do this all myself and --"

"Evans?" James interrupted her.

"What Potter?"

He reached into his jumper pocket and withdrew his badge, handing it over to her.

She stared at it in her hand for a moment.

"Would you mind pinning it on?" he asked.