#teacher!lily

[handostone]

silly Hogwarts teachers au

[alexsays-no]

Art teacher and Daddy AU part.5

We're getting closer and closer to graduation day. Stay tuned ♡

[lampyoil]

Hm

[almostdecaffeinatedfun]

Single mother Pandora Lovegood falling head over heels for her daughter's elementary school teacher Lily Evans who flirts with her every time they meet for a parents teachers meeting

Someone write it before I do

[maluceh]

mini matilda au that @daiziesssart planted on my head

[managone16]

Fun fact: The Magical gene in the HP universe is a recessive gene. How do I know that? Well, my biology teacher made a whole fucking ppt analysing the genes, from Muggle Borns to Purebloods to Half Bloods. (I will post it when I get my hands on it) Here is how to works: The Dominant gene, Muggle gene, is M while magic is m. Therefore, Lily's parents most likely had the genes Mm and Mm, meaning when they had her her genes were mm, while Petunia could be Mm or MM. If she was Mm and Vernon was also Mm, there was a chance that Dudley would've been a Wizard. Next we go to Sirius. His parents both had the mm gene, making him and reggie both have this gene. Easy as that. As for Remus, Hope definitely had the Mm gene, as if she had MM gene and Lyall had mm, then Remus would have been a muggle. But he could have also been Mm, chance of him being a muggle increasing. As for Harry being half-blood, he has the proper mm gene, along with every wizard and witch, regardless of blood status, proving the fact they should all be treated equally. (Not kidding, someone add this to their fic please) Finally, we have Filch, the squib. Squibs are tricky, but my teacher also discovered that a squib may be produced due to a mutation in the mm gene, making that even if the person's parents were both magical, they wouldn't hold any/limited magical abilities.

[bimoonphases]

@wolfstarmicrofic June 15 - prompt 15: Drawbridge [word count 703]

Slowly, deliberately, Sirius licked from Remus's collarbone up to the side of his jaw, smiling as he felt his boyfriend shiver in his arms.

"Pads... Please," Remus's voice was barely more than a whisper.

"Yes, my love?"

"Not here... Someone might see us."

"Don't worry," Sirius nipped at Remus's earlobe. "We're safe, this is the perfect hiding spot."

It was true. Everyone knew that when summer was approaching the small alcoves at the sides of the stone bridge leading to Hogwarts' main entrance were the ideal place to go with your crush or lover. They were secluded and dark enough that no one passing the bridge could see inside, and they always had that cool temperature useful when you were getting hot. Sirius had often wondered if whoever magically built the stone bridge to replace Hogwarts' old wooden drawbridge had imagined those alcoves expressly for snogging students.

"Are you sure?" Remus asked.

"We won't go in detail about why but yes, I'm sure."

Sirius quickly moved up Remus's jaw to properly kiss him and he felt him relax in his arms, his hands moving up and tugging at his hair in the exact way he loved.

"You know if you keep it up like this I'm gonna have to do more than just snog you senseless," he murmured against his lips.

"Oh yeah?" Remus smirked, his pupils wide. "Like what?"

"Like taking advantage of this place to hear how prettily you can make my name echo."

"Fuck, Sirius..."

There was an echo. They both froze as the bridge almost vibrated with an amplified echo of Fuck, Sirius... They stared at each other, as suddenly the bridge started echoing again, very, very loud.

Not so cheeky now, McKinnon?

Never thought you'd look so good on your knees, baby...

I don't give a fuck about marks, just don't stop!

I'm sure my dorm is empty, please let me get you into bed, love, I'm begging here.

"All of you. Come out now."

McGonagall's sharp voice cut through the echoes, silencing them.

"You said..." Remus started, glaring at Sirius.

"I know!" Sirius rolled his eyes.

"I honestly don't care who you're with or what you're doing, even if I ask you to make yourselves decent before coming here," McGonagall continued. "But all of you are out of bounds past curfew."

Remus sighed and Sirius followed him on the bridge proper, slowly walking up to their professor who had her arms crossed and a stony expression.

"Black, of couse," she sighed as they stopped in front of her. "I'd be grateful if you didn't take my prefects down your undisciplined road."

"You wound me, Professor," Sirius pouted.

"Five points from Gryffindor," McGonagall rolled her eyes. "And five for you as well, Lupin."

"Sorry, Professor," Remus muttered, his cheeks still flushed.

As they walked towards the main entrance, Sirius listened in, curious to hear who else had been caught in awkward positions by the implacable Head of Gryffindor House.

"Five points from Slytherin, Meadowes, and five from Gryffindor, McKinnon. You are both Quidditch players, you should be in bed asleep at this hour the day before a match."

"We were fraternising with the enemy, Professor!" came Marlene's laughter.

"Rosier, Crouch, five points from Slytherin each and I will be confiscating those handcuffs, thank you."

Sniggers echoed along the bridge.

"Evans. I was not expecting you here. Five points from Gryffindor, and five for you too MacDonald."

"Sorry, Professor," Lily's voice was contrite.

"Black."

Sirius stopped walking, about to whirl around and protest he had already had points taken.

"Five points from Slytherin, you should know better than to entertain the Gryffindor captain this late when you'll both be on the field tomorrow."

Sirius's mouth dropped open as he turned to look at the slim silhouette of his brother standing in front of McGonagall, the very familiar and taller one of James right by his side, an arm slung over his shoulders.

"And five points from Gryffindor, Potter. I won't tolerate any yawning during the match, I'm warning you."

"Sorry Professor, I'm actually too happy to apologise," James grinned.

The next thing the bridge echoed with was Sirius's shout.

"PRONGS WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING WITH MY BROTHER?!"

[bamf-prongsminiprongs]

Marauders propaganda I will not fall for:

That Lyall and Hope (Especially Lyall) were bad parents

Abusive Black family

Sirius isn't exactly like his family (Minus the blood superiority at some degree)

Perfect, kind, accepting Euphemia and Fleamont

Lily not loving truly James

Flawless Lily Evans

Lily Evans hate

Lily Evans being friends with all the boys and every girl in the school

The marauders calling McGonagall "Minnie"

Dumb James and Sirius

Casanova Remus

Idiotic / left out Peter

Sirius caring about Remus

Feminine Sirius

Evil Pandora

Sirius not being suggested for Slytherin

Walburga Black hate (At some degree)

Albus Dumbledore hate

Drama queen Sirius

James dating dark arts-loving students

Sirius apologising to Remus about the prank

The fandom interpretation of the prank

Alice and Frank most likely being in the marauders era (I still love them)

Absolute genius Remus Lupin

Twink Regulus Black

Dumb Barty Crouch Jr.

James constantly asking Lily out

James stalking Lily

James harassing Lily

Lavender marriage Jily

Harry hating James

Perfect, kind, blood equal Alphard

Tall Remus

Short Sirius

Popular Remus

Everyone loving quidditch

Everyone is gay

James not being suggested for Ravenclaw

Bart not being suggested for Ravenclaw / not being in Ravenclaw

Teenage Andromeda being a blood traitor

Mvdbl00d not being censored

Insanely muscular, jock, hunk James Potter

Twiggy Sirius Black

Physically abusive Barty Crouch Sr.

Anyone else knowing about the marauders being Animagi

The marauders calling themselves 'The marauders'

Skirt wearing Sirius

Dorcas being friends with Snape's gang

Baby girl Regulus, Barty, Evan, Severus, Mulciber, Avery etc.

Victim Severus Snape

McGonagall being the marauders whole life inspiration

Lily, Regulus and Remus being a trio

Short Black family

Short Black brothers

Short Sirius Black

Short Sirius Black

Wolfstar

Wolfstar

Wolfstar

Jegulus

Jegulus

Jegulus

[artachokie]

i need a 300k word wolfstar teacher au on my desk by monday

[lullabysbride]

As someone who has never watched the Soul Eater anime, I love your au.

Soul Eater AU 🍰🍴

.

Awww thank you so much!! 🤍🤍🤍 You’re so sweet, it means a lot to me that so many of you have been enjoying my AU as I plan to continue to make content for it, so stay tuned !!

.

.

Unrelated Bonus Comic

[arianatwycross]

it's coming back!! new chapter coming soon so make sure you re-read 🎉

WE’LL BE A FINE LINE

a chapter a day for jilytober / a muggle au

James ‘accidentally’ agrees to a date over the phone, having no idea who she is - just that she sounds hot and 'her legs are on the new James bond poster’. Except its not a stranger he’s meeting up with but instead it’s his high school crush/frenemy Lily Evans.

Read Chapter 1 here

note: these chapters will be fairly short

[loonyloopylupin96]

"Does it hurt?" asks Harry.

"Easier than falling asleep," says Sirius never-experienced-the-killing-curse Black.

[hufflepuffchic]

But She’s My Teacher // part two

The continuation of the one where Remus has a crush on a beautiful woman who happens to be his Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Oh, and by the way, he knew her when she was still wearing her student’s robes. And now he’s trying not to get too hot by just listening to her voice while she’s teaching.

✶Part one ✶Part three ✶Part four ✶Part five

✶Masterlist

Warnings: mentions of war, sex and sexual fantasies, masturbation and cigarettes

Words Count: 3,3k

Pairing: Remus x fem!reader

I am so fucked, thought Remus when he was following Lily to one of the empty classrooms on the first floor. Right before dinner, you sent a note to them and to each Prefect, informing them what time and place you chose for the meeting. Remus was glad none of the boys were supposed to be there, too.

Lily was kind, gentle and considerate enough to not make it more difficult for him than it already was. At least he hoped so. She calmed his nerves anytime they had a Prefects meeting during their fifth year, and he tried to look as normal as possible. Not blushing or stuttering etc.

“Nervous?” she asked, glancing at him.

He was. Hell, he was much more than just nervous. Not seeing you for the full year made him feel like thirteen years old again, with the small difference of this time being perfectly capable of imagining you the way he shouldn’t, but which seemed to come to his mind way too often.

You were his teacher, after all. He had to keep his cool and act like he didn’t spend the last years fancying you from afar.

“Yeah,” he said instead, leaving all these thoughts to himself. He really shouldn’t share them with anyone, a woman especially. Lily always respected him, and he didn’t want to destroy that.

“One more year and maybe you could ask her out,” she said, and he frowned.

“What?”

“Oh, come on,” Lily laughed softly. “Remus, you have had a crush on this girl for four years now. Maybe it’s time to finally act on it, don’t you think?”

“These are not your words,” he said, shaking his head. “Did you talk to James about that?”

She hesitated for just a second but that was enough for Remus to get his answer.

“What the hell do you guy do, talking about me instead of, I don’t know, making out or something? That’s sad.”

The redhead laughed again.

“We want you to be happy, Rem. And Sirius wants you to,” she grimaced, “finally score.”

He sighed.

“I’m not a… you know.”

She looked at him, frowning.

“What?”

“I’m not a virgin, Lily,” he said quietly, as if a bit afraid someone may hear that. Well… maybe he wasn’t afraid, but it also wasn’t because he was ashamed of something. It was just way too private to share with strangers.

“Oh, I know that Rem. Girls talk.”

“Wait.” He stopped. “What?”

Lily stopped, too, just a few steps in front of him and turned to look him in the eyes with an innocent expression.

“Did she,” he cleared his throat, suddenly very aware of his every breath, “tell you?”

“Well…”

“Oh, for Merlin’s sake,” he groaned, hiding his face in his hands. “Why? Why do girls tell each other everything?”

The girl that he lost his virginity with was Ravenclaw, same age as him. It happened last year, when his teenage sexual frustrations turned him into an easily annoyed grump who barked at everyone who tried to tease him about it.

It was probably the lack of your presence.

Sirius was the one that suggested he finally gets his shit together and just do it, otherwise someone might murder him very soon and it’ll be seen as self-defense. So, he did. He talked to this girl a few times before, she was nice and attractive, and above all, wanted to sleep with him. No strings attached, of course. She was just horny for this quiet and socially awkward boy, and he gave up. He actually liked the idea. He never wanted to have sex with a random girl because he didn’t want to break anyone’s heart but in this deal the two-sided satisfaction was granted.

Only he never thought she could tell other people.

“She made you look good, Rem. I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you,” Lily said, walking up to him and he looked at her through his fingers.

“What?” he whined, and she shrugged.

“Not that I wanted to know the details, but she was pretty happy with everything.”

Remus couldn’t believe he was standing there, in the middle of a corridor, talking with Lily about his sexual experience.

“Lils, I’m begging you.” He was blushing so much even his ears were pink.

“Oh Remus,” she giggled. “You know that some younger Ravenclaws have a crush on you after hearing this story?”

He let his hands down, raising his eyebrows, suddenly interested in the turn this conversation took. No one ever had a crush on him, at least no one he knew about. Not that he wasn’t seen as a handsome guy, he just didn’t care enough to make any girl have any interest in him.

“You have more options than you think,” Lily said, as if she read his minds. “If you want, of course. If not, maybe you could,” she stopped mid-sentence looking at something behind him and pressed her lips together.

“Hi, guys!”

His heart skipped a bit. It was you. Your voice behind him, echoing in an almost empty corridor. You sounded like you were smiling and when he turned around to look at you, you were, indeed, smiling. Very pretty and very wide.

“Is everything alright?” you asked, catching up to them.

He forgot the feeling of standing right next to you. You were shorter than him, smaller and so incredibly beautiful. Still fierce and full of energy. This mischievous glow in your eyes, that he liked so much, was still there, playing and teasing when you looked at him.

Oh, how much he missed seeing you.

“Yeah,” he said, hoping you didn’t notice his pink cheeks.

“How’s teacher’s life treating you so far, Y/N?”

Thank Merlin for Lily and her ability to swoop in and take the heat off of him. She dove into the conversation with you so smoothly and quickly you didn’t even have the chance to take a good look at him. You moved down the corridor again, with the Redhead on your left and Remus on your right, feeling like a student again.

Not that it was anyone’s business, but you missed walking around the castle with the biggest worries being your class assignments, lost Quidditch game and if you’ll have the time for a stroll through Hogsmeade on the weekend. You were out there, in the big world, for only a year but it was enough. On the outside, you seemed to have it all together so well but deep inside, you sought the comfort of familiar stone walls, cracking fireplaces, and protective spells bubble.

The outside world was big, dark, and scary. But you managed to survive it, and Dumbledore knew that. That’s why he offered you this position. You were scared but good and what you were doing.

You were tough. Tougher than you even thought you might be.

“Take the seats, please,” you said, when you opened the empty classroom and let the two Gryffindors in. “The rest will join us in about half an hour. I wanted to run an idea past you first.”

Both Lily and Remus looked at each other and you grinned.

“Don’t worry, the idea was accepted by the headmaster.”

Remus leaned back in his seat, looking at you with both admiration and intrigue. He was impressed by the way you fit in the new position already. It was your first day as a teacher and you already looked like you belonged. You sat on the main desk, crossing your ankles and put your hands on the both sides of your legs. You leaned forward, looking at them with a smile on your face and Remus tried his best to not let his gaze slide off of your face.

“What is it, Y/N?” asked Lily. “We’re curious.”

Oh, you were so happy it was Lily and Remus that were the Head Pair this year. You knew them, and that made you believe your cooperation will be successful. They were both smart, ambitious, and responsible.

You smiled, looking first at the girl and then at the boy.

“The staff think we should do some kind of training with all the students.”

And she was all in for this idea. She saw what’s happening out there, in the real world. She experienced that. And she wasn’t properly prepared for all that happened. She shared her feelings and worries with Professor McGonagall. She described her concerns for all the young wizards who didn’t know what was waiting for them behind the Hogwarts’ walls and the woman agreed that something should be done about it.

“Like the more advance DADA class?”

You looked at Remus whose brows were now furrowed in concern.

“Exactly like that,” you nodded. “We learn the basics during our lessons but no one actually shows us how to really defend ourselves. The spells we have in the textbook? All extremely useful on the schools grounds but out there?” You sighed.

There was much more to this than just the need to help students and Remus felt that in his bones. You suddenly looked smaller, more fragile but at the same time desperate to do something about it.

Something happened the last year, he could easily tell. But what?

“I think that’s a great idea.” Lily seemed very eager to take part in this project. “What’s our job in it? Why did you want to talk to us in private?”

You smiled gently.

“I want you to help me teach the younger students,” you said, biting your lowers lip.

This damn habit of yours. Moony clenched his jaw, watching you scratch the flesh of your pink skin with your teeth. Oh, how badly he wanted to do that yourself. If he could just come up there, he would put his hands on top of yours, trapping you between his arms, and he would lean forward, looking you so deep in the eyes you would melt under his gaze. He would lick your top lip, then the bottom one, and then he would take it between his teeth, biting and licking like a starving man.

“Remus?”

He snapped out of his filthy thoughts, feeling an uncomfortable sensation between his legs. His dick was semi-hard, pressing on the inside of his jeans.

“Yeah?” His voice sounded harsh. He cleared his throat and shifted slightly in his seat. “Sorry, I was thinking about that idea,” he said.

He didn’t look in Lily’s direction. She would see the lie in his eyes.

“So, what do you think? Are you down for it? Helping me, I mean.”

“Of course,” he said quickly. You could’ve asked him to help you rob the Gringotts and he would’ve said yes.

He was an idiot. A sad, desperate, and so very under your spell idiot.

“I’ll do my best.”

“Great.” You clasped your hands and jumped on the floor. “I want you to help me with the youngest students. First and second year, if that’s alright with you. Prefects will have to gather everyone and try to make a schedule. You’ll be coached, too, of course.”

Remus couldn’t wait to be coached. Merlin, he was excited at the single thought of spending more time with you this year. Tutoring younger students, taking your class, learning from you, and looking at you all the time – this was as great as it could be.

He was smiling like an idiot all the way back to the dormitory. Lily left him right after the meeting because she had plans with James and he headed back alone, thinking about you and the way your face brightened when everyone decided it was an amazing idea to have more advanced training.

“Remus!”

He froze.

“Remus, wait!”

Oh, he was waiting. He was waiting for you for so long those few seconds of waiting for you to catch up to him was literally nothing compared to his last four years.

He turned around to look at you, speeding towards him with a small smile on your pretty face.

“Sorry, I don’t want to take any more of your free evening, I just wanted to make sure you’re really fine with this idea,” you said, stopping in front of him. You had to tilt your head up to look him in the eye. He was very tall.

Did he grow up even more during the last year? You always knew he’s tall but never actually noticed how tall. Or maybe it was you that was short. Anyways…

“You seemed a bit… distracted during the meeting. I thought maybe you didn’t want to say anything in front of anyone but if you have any objections…”

He shook his head.

“No, no.”

Oh, fuck.

He didn’t want to seem not interested. He was, he really was very much interested in spending more evenings with you. Well, he was distracted, you were right about it, but the reasons were completely different than you thought. And he was glad you didn’t know the truth.

“I’m sorry, I am all in for this idea,” he said. “I didn’t mean to seem like I wasn’t.”

“You sure about it? Because I’m not going to be mad if you don’t want to take part in it. I know it’s a responsibility, but I need to do this. But I don’t want anyone to feel responsible for my ideas. I guess I thought that could be good.”

“Y/N stop,” he said, smiling at you. Did you all of a sudden become nervous? He never heard you blabbing so much about anything. “I want to help you.”

That. Fucking. Bottom. Lip.

“Thank you, Remus,” you said quietly. His heart skipped another beat when you looked at him with these big, brown eyes, sparkling in the dim light of the corridor lamps.

He was fucked, he really was.

“You’re a great guy. I always knew that.”

Something heavy left his body when you said that. Always knew that. Did you think about him more often than he thought you did?

“Goodnight, Remus.”

You patted his arm when you walked past him, gave him one last smile and just like that, you disappeared around the corner.

“Goodnight, Remus,” a man’s voice reached him from the opposite direction. He looked there; an annoyance painted on his face so clearly it could as well have been written all over his forehead. He shot a deadly stare toward a black-haired guy walking towards him and grinning, as if imitating your voice was the best joke ever.

“Cut it out, Padfoot.”

Sirius laughed, putting his arm around Remus” shoulders.

“What was all of this about? Tell me.”

Lupin sighed but he knew there was no way he could get out of it now.

“Is Pete in the dormitory?”

Black nodded.

“Okay, let’s go. Lily will tell James everything and I’m not going to repeat myself later, when Peter asks the same question. I’ll tell you both about it.

And he did. He walked with Sirius to the boys’ dormitory and told him and Peter everything about the meeting, your idea, and the new teaching responsibilities.

„It’s great,” said Pettigrew, taking a cigarette out of Sirius’ hand and took a smoke. It was 10pm already and they were sitting by the wide-open window, waiting for Potter to return. “We need that.”

“I think so, too.” Remus nodded and let a puff of smoke cloud leave his mouth. He didn’t smoke often but he liked the feeling of relief in his body from time to time. Sirius was mixing some herbs in his cigarettes, and it has a healing effect on Remus” tense muscles.

“Yeah, that pretty girl of yours sure is smart, Moony.”

“She’s not my girl, Padfoot.”

“She could be.”

Remus rolled his eyes at this comment. You couldn’t, of course you couldn’t. You were not only older than him but also his teacher. He could not just go and hit on a teacher. Not that he would even if you weren’t one. He never had enough courage to come up to you and say anything but now especially you were out of his reach.

Plus… he would never do that to you. To any girl, in that matter. He fancied you, had a crush on you and visualized you while stroking himself under the shower but he promised himself he’d never destroy any woman’s life with his pathetic self.

He was a werewolf, after all. No woman would be happy with him.

“You’re way too serious about it, man,” said Sirius, giving him the cigarette. “Just tell her she’s pretty or that you like the way she smiles. Compliment her. Make a small move. Girls love to hear that shit.”

“It’s not shit,” protested Peter. “She is pretty.”

Remus leaned his head against the wall behind him and sighed.

“She’s beautiful,” he whispered. The herbs were clearly starting to work his magic on him. He kind of felt like he was floating.

Black looked at Peter and they both smiled. They both went with Remus through his little crush journey. They saw him staring at you, they tried to encourage him to make a move plenty of times and they were there for him when you left Hogwarts and he felt like the castle was now empty. Just like his heart was.

“Moony, you’re torturing yourself.” Pettigrew sat next to him. “What’s worse that could happen if you tell her how you feel? You’re seventeen now, you’re not a kid anymore. Two years gap is not that huge.”

He tried to be supportive, Remus knew that, but it didn’t actually matter.

“She could lose her job, Wormtail.”

And he knew he was right. You probably would lose your job or just leave yourself if you knew that your presence torments him. He couldn’t do that to you. He had to hide his feelings for one more year. Nothing big, he did already, didn’t he? For so many years he was hiding his crush it couldn’t hurt to continue doing that for a little bit longer.

“I’m just gonna admire her from afar, guys. Let it go.”

“Rem, I gotta tell you that and I mean it in the sweetest way possible,” Sirius gave him a meaningful look, “but you’re a sucker for her.”

He was a sucker for you. He would follow you with his gaze when you entered the Great Hall, when you walked past him in the corridor, when you came into the classroom for the first coaching session. There was no way you would be there, and he didn’t notice you. It was like all of his senses were tuned to your vibration and the entire world went silent anytime he caught a glimpse of you.

The time before the full moon was the worst. His hormones were out of control even without you around but the first two months he found himself wandering around the castle, hoping he could run into you. Just to look at you, of course. To take in every single detail of what you were wearing, how you did your hair and makeup, the way you smiled back at him.

Every single night, when he was laying in bed, he made imaginary scenarios in his head with you as a main character. Sometimes the plot was becoming so filthy he felt ashamed of himself the next day and tried not to look straight at you. He didn’t want to sexualize you, but Merlin, he was crazy about you.

Maybe he wasn’t that mature after all.

[pandoras-prison]

[yallthemwitches]

The Sound of Silence

Minerva always had a soft spot for Potter. Maybe that's why when it was time to choose a Head Boy alongside Lily Evans, he was was clearly the only option--- A series of vignettes of James and Lily's seventh year through McGonagall's POV.

AN: Posting this one a day early because I won't have time tomorrow (sorry) Written for Jily Week 2024, Day 5: Matchmaker (hosted by @kay-elle-cee and @sunshinemarauder)...Fully dedicate this one to the many teacher meetings I've sat through where we all devolve into gossiping about students. AO3 Link Here

I.

They sat around a circular table which always reminded Minerva of a story she heard as a child. Her colleagues had shuffled in slowly, still rosy with summer and the ever rejuvenating feeling of silence after a school years worth of endless noise. 

Filius sat next to her, pulling out a pipe and stoking it with a flame emitted from his short stubby finger. He sighed and a puff of smoke wafted into the middle of the table. 

“Here we are again—” he said to no one in particular. Minerva just clasped her hands on the table and waited for the final stragglers to trickle in.

Albus sat on the other side of the sphere and regarded his staff with half-amusement. Many of them had been long friends—giving centuries of their lives to the school. How many powerful witches and wizards had they watched slip out of these doors with their collective spirit within them? If the thought wasn’t so saccharine, Minerva would have perhaps felt a little proud. 

Albus cleared his throat and the staff settled. At this point they needed no commencement speech on why they all were called from their little parts of the castle to assemble, nor did they want one. The golden rule was short meetings were the best ones.

Horace spoke first. He always did. 

“Obviously I think there’s no arguing that Lily Evans should be the first pick.”

There was a rumble of agreement. Even Filius made a reluctant nod. He never willingly wanted to agree with Horace on much of anything.

“That’s a fine choice Horace, but are you not worried about the matter of her blood status? I’m sure you are not ignorant of the current news and I can imagine your house is quite…vocal about these happenings.”

McGonagall heard a snort from Filius which was hard to miss seeing as it bounced his whole body slightly off his chair. 

“Oh, Albus, must we always make these things so political,” Horace whined, “Evans is a brilliant witch…the best of her year—I’m sure we can—we can—” He teetered off, not knowing how to finish. It wasn’t a secret that despite his affinity for the muggleborn, his house was not so keen to accept her. They all would be idiots to disregard the dangers of putting someone of her status in charge in the current climate. 

But Albus didn’t press further. It was never his nature. “Then it’s settled. Lily Evans is Head Girl.” There was another mumbled agreement. Horace’s face was pink and slightly sweaty, but he nodded all the same.

“So onwards to—” 

There was a shuffle of teachers. Sybill spoke first:

“Oh, Oh! I choose the Delile boy. His tea leaves have always shown potential.” A couple seats down, Pomona snorted. 

“Colin Delile? That boy tried to eat a handful of nightshade thinking it was mint last year—”

“Well, I vote for Ambroise Cunningham: smart, good quidditch player (“mediocre quidditch player,” Minerva thought) and has a good head on his shoulders!” Interjected Rolanda.

There were some nods in agreement but Filius started to tut. 

“Are you all forgetting that Cunningham and Evans dated two years ago? They’ll kill each other!”

“Oh, I would hardly call that dating,” Horace scoffed.

“They certainly looked like they were dating when I found them in the charms broom closet that October!” Filius shot back. 

He had a point. She wouldn’t call Filius her friend per se but she had a fond appreciation for him being insightful when it came to the students’ lives. He was very discreet, perhaps with the help of his size, but he always was up to date on each of their lives. 

Minerva mulled a thought around for a minute while drowning out the verbal quidditch that was occurring for the rest of the staff. It was a gamble, certainly. But she had never been the one to shy away from a challenge. 

Raising her voice above the riffraff she called out, “I say James Potter should be Head Boy.”

The room went silent. Around the table, every set of eyes peered at her with mixtures of shock.

Chaos erupted. 

“Potter can’t keep himself out of detention to save his life,” screamed Aurora.

“That and his little group were growing muggle drugs in the west greenhouses!” Pomona chimed in. 

Albus didn’t even try to get order. He just continued to stare at her with an expression that twinkled beyond the room.

Minerva huffed. “Well, can any of you deny that he is brilliant?” Everyone paused. A wave of indecision rushed through the group. 

“And we know he’s a good leader. The Gryffindor team has won every year since he became captain.” Horace grumbled something under his breath but she ignored it. 

“---And, we are going to need someone who is willing to help, Hecate forbid, if there is an attack of some sort due to all this Dark Lord bunk. He might be scrappy and a fool sometimes, but he’d be able to hold his ground for the others.”

There was a hesitant noise of agreement around the table. People shifted in their seats, not able to find fault in her logic but also not enjoying its outcome. 

“And what about Evans then?” Horace had his arms crossed against his chest. “Potter has been tormenting the poor girl for years. They would be rubbish, absolute rubbish—”

“Ah, shut it Horace,” Filius scoffed, “We all know those two have been clouding up this school with sexual tension for a better half of a year now.” More nods all around. 

Minerva had hoped that no one would make the romance argument, but it couldn’t be helped. Potter and Evans had been making all of their lives unbearable, with their oblivious pining and rowing. It was like watching an ouroboros eat itself the way the two provoked each other. There was a small part of her that even hoped that matching the two together would end their purgatory. 

“Ah, the ancient magic of young love,” Albus mused to himself, stroking his beard. “I won’t deny that I like the idea. Are there…any others who seriously denounce the decision to make Potter Head Boy?”

Horace made a few grumbles, but ultimately kept quiet. He knew once Albus made a decision, he wasn’t easy to sway. 

“Then it’s settled, Lily Evans and James Potter.”

“Hecate help us,” Pomona mumbled under her breath. 

II. 

She watched as they shifted next to each other uncomfortably. Both of them dawned golden badges with encrusted initials on them that looked too heavy to be pinned to their robes. She had honestly expected more hiccups on the first day back, but something had already seemed to have shifted between them. Evans actually smiled when Potter offered her some dessert, took it from him and blushed when their hands grazed. She said something and James let out a laugh that made her smile as well. 

“Now, that’s interesting.” Filius whistled, sitting next to her at the great banquet. “Maybe your little matchmaking stunt was unneeded.” He side-eyed her and she didn’t entertain his amusement.

She looked back at the young couple. Potter had begun to explain something with extreme animation. He waved his hands around and Lily actually laughed at his antics. When he finally finished whatever he was saying, his hand rested on the bench between them and Minerva swore she saw Evans place hers on top of his.

“Oh Merlin, what have I done.”

III. 

“I think we have Miss Evans to thank for his rehabilitation. That girl can do anything,” Horace chortled at lunch a week later. 

“What are you talking about? He blew up the Slytherin bathroom just yesterday.”

“Well—he would have done it six more times already if it wasn’t for her influence!”

No one could argue that there was a great change between the two Heads. Horace wasn’t wrong, Potter was being better behaved this year and in turn Evans had started to cozy up to him more and more. Even at that moment, they entered the great hall together. Potter had both of their bags slung over his shoulder and his eyes were glued to her. As they sat, Evans pulled his glasses off in a fuss, cast a cleaning charm on them, then put them back on his face. Her hand lingered to push some of his unruly hair away and he made a dopey swooning smile. 

“It's like watching a dead body be reanimated,” Filius nodded towards the two. 

“You’re being dramatic.” 

“Don’t act like you aren’t seeing this. At this rate they’ll be married by graduation.”

She looked over again. They were sitting so close that their shoulders were touching. Black was engaging them in conversation with a lively reenactment of some muggle movie they had watched, but the couple seemed to be hardly listening. Slowly, like attempting to touch fire, Evans leaned her head onto James shoulder—slightly hovering it in indecision for a moment before putting her weight fully on his. Potter perked up, then dared to place an arm around her waist.

Filius let out a low whistle. Horace moaned.

“I was really hoping she would get with one of the Black boys..” Horace mumbled, “ blood purity aside, I do think they would be better suited…”

But he got cut off by Pomona who came half sprinting down the table. 

“Are you seeing this?? Potter! Evans!” 

VI. 

Christmas break was already upon them, which meant all of the professors were stretched too thin to think. Heads of house always had the worst of it. On one hand that meant she didn’t have to see Horace chortling around the castle half as much, but on the other she now had the Gryffindor house and the two Head students to preside over. As she walked, she mumbled to herself about how she would never offer up a Gryffindor into the Head position again. 

She mounted the stone steps towards the Heads’ office, trying to balance all the rolled parchments in her arms. Entering the small elaborate passage, she could see the light of the office was on. 

As she approached the image of them became more clear. Potter was elongated over the couch with his feet dangling lazily over the edge of the armrest. Evans laid between his splayed legs and over his torso. Using her forearms, she propped up on his chest and seemed to be drawing small circles into his shirt. Potter fiddled with her hair, twisting it through his fingers as though it was a snitch evading being caught. 

They spoke in low tones so she could hardly make out what they were saying. Potter said something to make her laugh tinkle into the cavernous room before tugging lightly on her to become eye level. Minerva watched with a sinking feeling as her two Head students locked lips, and proceeded to not break away from each other for a long time. 

She stood there in the passage, feeling a bit sorry for herself for being in this position: busy, overworked, trying to teach a class while helping Albus get a counterforce together...and now apparently being too sheepish to tell her Head Students to stop snogging long enough to take some of the work off her hands. 

With a little shriek from Evans, Potter flipped them over so he was now hovering over her while a hand disappeared somewhere Minerva did not want to guess. Admitting a sort of defeat, she spun on her heel and left the way she came. 

V.

The morning of the last day of school started like all of the other 200 times she’d done it. She woke up, made herself some tea, shifted into her cat form and curled around her bedroom window. 

A knock rattled the door. She lifted her head and hoped that whoever was bothering her would take the hint. Another set of knocks, and distinctly not Albus’ typical rap. She did a cat’s equivalent of a sigh and changed herself human again. 

She opened the door to find Potter looking out of breath and somewhat sheepish. Not a good start. 

“Good morning Minnie,” he beamed at her. 

“Mr. Potter, can I help you? It’s 6am…”

Potter ran a hand through his hair. On a glance over he looked suspiciously put together for the time of day. 

“Er, yes actually. I’m hoping I banked enough goodwill with you to ask for a favor?” Even he sounded unsure of himself. She didn’t know what it was about him, but he always knew how to hit her soft spot. 

“I don’t know about this goodwill, but I’m listening.”

He let out a relieved huff then suddenly became very animated. “Brilliant—ok. I can’t really tell you right now, because it's kind of a secret, but I would really really love it— and be forever grateful to you— if you kept students away from the lake this afternoon.”

Minerva blinked at him. There was no bone in his body that was not being sincere, she could see that, but how often had he looked the same when he wanted to do one of his little stunts. 

Seeing her pursed lips, he continued. “I swear. I solemnly swear it's not a prank. Just please.”

“Ok.” 

“Wait, what?” he blinked at her like she had grown two heads.

“Don't make me regret this decision Potter.”

“I won’t— would never. Ah, Thank you Minnie! You’re a doll!” He turned and bounded down the stairs.

XXX

It turned out to be quite difficult to keep students away from the lake, but she managed. The clock was ringing 3pm and she was starting to wonder how long she was supposed to keep things up when she spotted them. Potter and Evans were walking hand in hand. They both hadn’t changed into their regular clothes yet and Evans was talking softly. Potter looked like he wasn’t hearing a word of it. Honestly, he looked wrecked. Whatever was on his mind was clearly eating him alive—not at all the same collected boy that had knocked on her door that morning. 

The lakeside was cleared as promised and they walked beside it before stopping and looking out at the mountains far away. It struck Minerva this would be the last time she would see these two in this setting. The next time they would meet they would be equals, fighting what now felt like an impossible war. She savored the moment of seeing two people in love, unaffected for perhaps the final time by death and sadness. 

Potter turned to Evans looking like he was about to combust. Evans must have noticed because her brow furrowed and she placed a hand on his chest, which he immediately grabbed and held in both hands. Very shaky, he lowered himself onto one knee. 

She waited for noise. For some sort of big show that Potter and his mates set up for the occasion, for students to come bursting at the seams of the castle to ruin the moment, for even just the sound of a yes.

Instead, there was silence. A blissful, pure silence. She must have blinked and missed it because Potter’s arms were wrapped around her now, lifting her off the ground. Tears poured from both of their eyes as they in turn tried to wipe the other's face—opting finally for kissing each tear off each other’s cheeks. There was no noise—just sweet relief. 

For a split second, the two reverted back into their eleventh year selves. Small, unsure, and holding onto each other tightly against the weight of a world still unknown to them. It was the first time in a long time she wanted to cradle something in her arms. To tell them it was going to be alright; to keep them whole.

[0m3n-0f-d3ath]

Kat the knight

Pleading her allegiance