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with purpose

march @jilychallenge theme: soulmates prompt: Your eyes are your soulmate’s hair colour, changes when they dye it partner: the incredible @constancezin who drew the gorgeous art!

(huge thanks to @annabtg for beta reading!)

There were only a few students over her years of teaching at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that Minerva McGonagall had really noticed. It sounded horrible, of course it did, but so many different faces passed through her classroom that they inevitably began to blend together. But every now and again, a student or two would shine through.

Of course she had noticed James Potter immediately. How could she not, when the tiny bundle of energy burst into her classroom alongside the wild spirit of Sirius Black, the two boys so small but already so smart. Black was the first Gryffindor in his family, and Minerva had been relieved to see that he’d already made a firm friend in Potter, a boy she had heard many tales about from his mother, an old friend.

And Potter was so like Fleamont, his father. He held Fleamont’s talent for learning, even if his preferred studies differed. His skill in Transfiguration was unlike any Minerva had ever seen from a First Year. He was quick-witted, determined, and boisterous. In James she saw Fleamont. But she saw Euphemia too. Saw her heart, her kindness. Her ability to care so deeply about those around her, gathering lost souls and turning them into the closest friends. Potter had done that too. Had found the rebellious son, the terrified werewolf, the social outcast. Had found the three boys that most would never choose and decided to make them his friends. James’ brain was all his father, but his heart… His heart was his mother.

Minerva knew that once James found his soulmate, found the person that would make his eyes flash the colour of their hair when he realised his feelings for them, he would be utterly besotted.

James wasn’t the only student that Minerva had noticed from the class of ‘72. No, the red-headed, quiet, muggleborn girl that had stood so close beside a sallow faced boy at the Sorting Ceremony had caught her eye. Maybe it was the slight disappointment on her face when her friend was sorted into a different house to her, or the interest that she had put into her studies. Whatever it had been, she had spotted Lily Evans.

She had noticed the soft smile that pulled at the girl’s lips when Lily thought no one was watching, as Potter cracked jokes and pulled pranks in class. Had seen her sitting with Severus Snape at lunch and dinner despite the stares that she received from the Slytherins around her. Had seen her smile fading when reading the Daily Prophet and seeing about more and more attacks on muggles.

Minerva had seen the kindness of Lily Evans, had seen her generosity, her spirit. And she spotted the looks she often shot towards James Potter, sometimes irritable, sometimes softer.

And she had been watching during a lesson on human transformation in their fourth year, when she had partnered Potter and Evans together to Transfigure each other’s hair colour. Of course the two had decided to argue through the lesson rather than work cooperatively to achieve the task. Two of the most intelligent students in the year should have been able to work quickly to perform such simple magic. But their bickering had put them behind others in the class, even Peter Pettigrew had managed to slightly lighten Mary Macdonald’s mousy brown hair.

Yet Potter and Evans were glaring at each other, wands gripped tightly in hands as they stared each other down without even having attempted to start casting any sort of magic. It seemed to be a battle of wills, that one of them would eventually have to break. Well, if Minerva didn’t get there first.

“Almost, Pettigrew!” she called out, trying to catch one of the two fourteen year olds’ attention.

It had clearly worked; both heads whipped in the direction of Pettigrew, whose cheeks had bloomed red with embarrassment. Neither of the pair wanting to be beaten to success by Pettigrew, they finally seemed to get over their childish dispute and actually focus on their work.

Minerva watched from a distance as they glanced down at their books to look over the incantation that they were supposed to be working on. Potter ran a hand through his hair, chewing on his lip a little as he glanced at Evans. A small smirk appeared on his lips, one not full of arrogance but of genuine respect.

“Okay, let’s give this a try.” Lily said, sucking in a deep breath as she turned to James, her wand pointing towards his hair.

James closed his eyes, scrunching up his face nervously. He was proud of his hair; Minerva had noticed that he could never leave it alone, resulting in it forever being messy. She watched with an intrigued eye as Evans murmured the incantation and the black of Potter’s hair gradually shifted to a bright red. Much to Minerva’s surprise, the change in colour was mirrored in the green of Evans’ irises. That flash of colour, the red replacing the green. They were soulmates.

Minerva pressed her lips together, trying to hide her smile as Lily’s eyes changed back to their normal emerald before James opened his own eyes, the usual hazel reappearing. He looked at Evans, seemingly worried.

“Don’t worry, Potter.” Lily rolled her eyes, unaware of what the Transfiguration teacher had just witnessed. “Your hair is fine, I only changed the colour.”

Potter turned to look in the window before shouting out loudly over the murmuring voices of students trying to do their work. “You’ve made me a bloody ginger, Evans!”

---

“You know, Potter, you really are just insufferable sometimes!”

Minerva sighed deeply, looking up from the essays that she was marking as the voices echoed in from her open office window. The hour was growing late, the sun already mostly set. Orange rays of light streamed in through the window, signalling the end of day. And of course the two Head students had decided that such a lovely moment was the perfect time for an argument in the grounds as the sun set behind them. Their voices carried up to Minerva’s office window, catching her attention so that she could watch the two students on the grass below her.

Lily had her hands on her hips, her eyes blazing as she looked at the boy in front of her, the boy who had shot up over the last couple of years and now towered over her. He looked sheepish, a hand in his hair as usual. But he also looked incredibly nervous. It had become obvious to Minerva that the relationship between the two had shifted in recent years. First a tentative friendship had formed, then something closer. And now, they were ridiculously close. Working together had been a good choice. Minerva had smiled smugly to Albus when he’d thanked her for her recommendation of making the two of them the Head students.

But they still bickered, of course they did. And here was a prime example of it, taking place outside of Minerva’s window on a warm October evening.

“I’m sorry, Evans, I just… I thought it would make you laugh!” James replied, he seemed almost taken aback that Lily was shouting at him.

“Charming a second year’s hair to turn blue?” Lily shook her head, her voice reaching a higher pitch than Minerva had heard in a long while. “What in Merlin’s name made you think I would laugh at that?”

“I…” James blushed a deep red, so deep that even the tips of his ears turned pink. “I don’t know… I just like making you laugh.”

They were quiet for a while, only the sound of Lily sighing as she dropped her head, her long red hair covering her face for a few moments.

“James, I… I’m sorry for yelling.”

That surprised Minerva, to say the least. She had almost been about to turn away from the window when Lily’s words made her eyes snap back to the pair. In all of her years of teaching the two of them, she wasn’t sure if she had ever heard Lily Evans apologise for shouting at James Potter.

“I just- I remember what it was like being a second year, being so intimidated by the bigger kids that I would try to shrink myself down to look as small as possible in the corridors to avoid being picked on,” Lily explained, her voice patient and calm. “I- I feel for them, I know what it’s like to be them.”

“Shit- Lily-” James sucked in a deep breath. “I guess I never thought about things that way when I was in second year, Sirius and I were so busy-”

“-So busy running around as if you owned the school.” Lily laughed, which clearly eased the tension in James’ shoulders. “Yeah, I remember.”

He chuckled too, his face no longer red, though his cheeks were still tinged with pink. “I know I was a right tosser back then. But I promise you I’ve changed. You know that I have. I…”

“James…” All of a sudden, Lily was a step closer to him, her hand resting on his cheek. Minerva edged closer to the window to watch, unable to look away. “I know. I know you’ve changed. I have too. You’re- Honestly, you’ve become one of my favourite people in the whole world. You’ve shown me the person beyond the bravado and the cockiness. You’re kind. You’re caring. You’re gentle and you’re sweet.

You’re also intelligent, so ridiculously intelligent that it drives me insane how easy it is for you to learn. You’re talented and spirited and one of the most beautiful souls that I’ve ever-”

Minerva pressed a hand to her mouth as James tugged Lily towards him by the edge of her robe, his lips covering hers in a gentle kiss. She watched as Lily’s eyes widened for a moment before they closed and she sunk into the kiss. Her hand slid into his hair, her fingers gripping at the messy strands as she kissed him back.

With a soft smile, Minerva moved away from the window and back into her chair. She waved her wand in the direction of the gramophone in the corner, soft classical music starting to play. She picked up her quill, tugged the papers back towards her and returned to work. No more shouting filtered in through the open window, in fact, she wasn’t sure if she would hear much shouting from the two of them any longer.

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