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She was going to kill him, she really was. He had absolutely no right to change and distribute the Prefects’ schedule without checking in with her, and going behind her back to edit their work before turning it in to McGonagall was a new low. She knew he was busy, but he should have just talked to her if he needed to spend less time patrolling. No need to change their hard work around – unless he was hiding something from her. Lily looked back down at the schedule she had ripped off the Heads’ Office door and actually read where the colors for each signifying Prefect had changed. Most of it was the same, actually, except for the hours for her, James, and Remus. Holding the now-crumpled paper up to her face, she realized that her and Remus’ patrolling hours had gone down, while James’ own hours had shot up exponentially. What was he playing at? Lily turned on her heel in a newfound rage and stormed away from the Heads’ Office, hell-bent on finding James.
The dim halls of Hogwarts at night were a maze for the first few years, but Lily could navigate them with her eyes closed at this point. It helped that James had introduced her to a few secret passageways as shortcuts last year, but she was mad at him, so she elected to take the long way to Gryffindor Tower. The lamps on the wall cast eerie shadows on the garish paintings of wizards past, and they all turned with intrigue at her march of doom. Her mission to storm into the Common Room was abruptly cut short, though, as she collided with a broad figure that felt suspiciously familiar to her deepest desires. His large hands steadied her, resting on her hips as he looked into her eyes.
“Alright, Lily?”
She glared at James’ messy hair with her brows furrowed. Where had he been going that he wasn’t in the Common Room already?
“Not alright, Potter. What the hell did you do to the Prefects’ schedule before you submitted it to McGonagall this morning?” Lily was teeming with rage, and she knew that James could feel it as he loosened his hold on her and stepped back slightly. One calloused hand remained hooked at the loop of her jeans, and she wasn’t entirely sure if the warmth running to her cheeks was anger or something else. A flash of understanding flickered through his hazel eyes, before it seemed like he was taken over by the same rage that Lily was beholden to by the moment.
“What did I do to it?” He started, “More like what wouldn’t you have been doing, Evans?”
His use of her last name made her step back, away from his frame entirely; they had been moving towards first-name basis since the end of last term and this was their first fight as Heads.
“You and I both follow the lunar cycle, there was no way Moony could have handled any patrolling shifts that weren’t during midday. Meaning that when he inevitably requested a change, you would have been the first to step in and be his savior, and take on too much extra work for yourself.”
“So you’ve altered the schedule before any of the other Prefects can see it so that you can be his savior and not get any attention for doing it? Because you and I both know you love attention,” Lily knew that James was right about Remus, but she wasn’t going to cede any ground on this. He laughed out loud at her retort, though, almost like he thought that she wouldn’t see the hypocrisy of calling her the savior.
“I suppose you’ve caught me red-handed then, Lily,” James pulled her arm to loop it through his, “Let’s head on up to the Common Room then, shall we?”
She sighed and allowed herself to be led to Gryffindor Tower, the shadows on the wall seeming a little brighter as her rage dissipated. About halfway to their destination, she stopped short next to a large window through which the stars twinkled.
“How exactly are you going to be making up Remus’ patrolling hours, considering that you’re Quidditch captain?”
“C’mon, you know that Quidditch doesn’t start until next month. Marlene and the sixth years can handle the tryouts for me.”