Diametrically Opposed

CHAPTER ONE

~ Midnight homework and new realisations ~

It was with a weary heart that Lily Evans, a fifth year Gryffindor prefect, dragged herself into the astronomy tower to finish off an assignment that was due the next day. For her, it was unusual to not have her work finished a week before, but astronomy was her less favourable subject. In actual fact, it was probably because it was her weakest subject. She just could never understand what was so important about astronomy. It was comparable to divination sometimes, and it was an understatement to say that Lily detested divination.

Lily grumbled to herself as she set about preparing her charts.

“Lily, what are you doing here?”

The voice unexpectedly brought her out of her sombre mood and she spun around. She gave a small smile in return, but wrinkled her nose when she gestured to her charts.

“I have to finish my charts by tomorrow. What are you doing here Sirius? Surely you don’t have to do any astronomy work tonight.”

Sirius Black laughed. It was a known fact that Sirius was a natural at astronomy; his name was the first and most obvious clue. He grinned ruefully but pointed up at the sky.

“Just wanted to see my namesake,” he joked, lowering himself to sit by her. “Need some help?”

Lily was about to decline his invitation as they weren’t really friends and she never accepted help from anyone, but after glimpsing at her messy charts and the genuine look on his face, she sighed and reluctantly accepted.

“Alright thanks, you have no idea how much I hate astronomy.”

Sirius laughed again, his eyes twinkling before replying slyly, “Oh I think I have a slight idea, after seeing you attempt to throw your telescope out the window last year.”

Lily inwardly cringed, but smiled fondly as a vision of Sionell Prewitt - one of her closest friends - grabbing the telescope from her hands flashed past in her mind.

“It was lucky that Sionell was there to snatch it from my hands, otherwise there would have been one less telescope for astronomy,” admitted Lily. “Although I wouldn’t have cared much.”

“This is a different Lily Evans than the one I know.” Sirius noted, sneaking a glance to look at Lily.

“Yeah well, I just don’t like astronomy. I just can’t for the life of me know where anything is up there.” she complained, jerking her arm up to point exasperatedly at the sky.

Sirius thought for a moment, looking at the charts before answering.

“You seem to know all the names of stars and planets though, all you have to do is formulate a plan. I cheat a little. See where my star is?” he asked, pointing.

Lily nodded.

“Well I usually just-”

~*~

They spent the next two hours writing the chart, until Lily finally finished with locating the last star.

“There.” said a much relieved Lily. She turned to Sirius smiling gratefully, and then thanked him profusely.

“I don’t know what I would have done without your help Sirius.”

“Probably busy throwing all the available telescopes out the window.” Sirius smoothly responded, slowly standing up. He offered a hand to Lily, but she was too busy playfully glaring at him.

“And here I thought the marauder in you had disappeared tonight.” she huffed, referring to Sirius and his three friends James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, who were called the Marauders, the group of four 5^th year Gryffindors infamously known for their pranks and mischievous stunts.

Sirius shook his head, grinning evilly.

“Nah, don’t worry, the marauder’s still here, and I’ll make sure that you never run out of reasons to use your prefect privileges on us.”

Lily narrowed her eyes, and brushed off the dust from her skirt as she rose from the ground.

“Talking about the Marauders, where are the rest of your troublemaking group? I thought you and Potter were practically attached at the hip.” she asked suspiciously, a thought suddenly popping into her mind that Potter was up to wreak havoc, whilst Sirius distracted her.

“Hey don’t look at me, I haven’t done anything.” insisted Sirius, raising his hands over his head.

“Right.” Lily clearly didn’t believe Sirius, but didn’t let on as she gathered her belongings. “Well, I’ll leave you to your marauding then, because I am going to bed. Thanks again for your help.”

Sirius dismissed it with a wave.

“No problem, but maybe in the future you can do something for me?” he asked suggestively, wagging his eyebrows at her. He was answered by the slam of the astronomy tower door and a loud laugh as she walked down the corridor.

“Sure Sirius, in your dreams.” Lily muttered under her breath, half flattered and half insulted at his attitude. She cursed the Marauders under her breath as she remembered some of the pranks that they had all pulled in the last five years.

James Potter was the undisputed leader of the Marauders, and was also a fellow 5^th year Gryffindor prefect like herself. His ruggedly handsome good looks earned him a place amongst the most popular students in Hogwarts and on the most wanted list by the vast majority of girls as well. Some wagered that it was his messy raven black hair that attracted the girls; others thought it was his trademark grin and his warm hazel eyes that were covered by a pair of obviously expensive glasses. Lily always personally thought it was just his blatant disrespect for all the rules that attracted everybody’s attention, the same with Sirius.

Sirius Black was James Potter’s best friend and has been ever since they were young. Both being pureblood wizards, they had met up at a party when they were only children and though their parents moved in different circles (an understatement), they had hit it off almost instantaneously. Sirius was alike James in many ways. Same height, same colour hair, and the same rule-breaking tendencies that separated them from the rest of the school. He was also just as popular as James, however Sirius wasn’t a prefect, not to mention he was a much bigger flirt and immensely enjoyed the attention of the female population at Hogwarts. His eyes were also blue instead of brown, and his shaggy hair was a bit longer and much, much tamer than James.

If James was the tall, dark, handsome one and Sirius was the mischievous and flirty one, then Remus Lupin had to be the practical one. Remus always had an aura around him that nobody would dare mess with. He wasn’t a prefect either, but only because of his continuous absences from school. Remus had light brown hair, with natural streaks of silver, and he had the most soulful blue eyes. He was quite different from Sirius and James in another respect, as he also studied hard for his grades. Lily often caught him reading an advanced Defence against the Dark arts textbook by the fireplace in the common room. Out of the four Marauders, Lily liked and knew Remus the best. He was more quiet, and understanding. However, that isn’t to say that he didn’t fit in with the marauders. Although less discreet than Sirius, he was often the mastermind behind the pranks that were planned out.

Lily shifted her thoughts to focus on the last member of the Marauders, Peter Pettigrew. Lily often wondered how Peter managed to fit in with the rest of them. Whilst James, Sirius and Remus were tall, Peter was short, and whilst James, Sirius and Remus were at the top of most of their classes, Peter was closer to the bottom. His beady eyes, and light blonde hair gave him the appearance of a small, wounded animal, and as Lily thought further, she realised that was how the other guys treated him. Sure they made fun of him, but they were also fiercely protective of him, and made sure to include him in most of their pranks. It was a nice gesture Lily had to admit, as no one else had tried to befriend him when they had first started at Hogwarts.

Thinking about Sirius and the way that he helped out tonight, Lily realised he had proved her theory about the marauders to be wrong. He was in actual fact, rather smart, contradicting her thoughts that it was his looks and charm that got him everywhere. He was also more sensitive, and rather funny once she got past his ‘dirty’ mind.

Lily laughed aloud, as she reached the portrait of the Fat Lady and gave the latest password ‘Porskoff’, no doubt one of James’ creations. Tipping her head in greeting at some remaining Gryffindors, she brought her mind back to James. In truth, Lily couldn’t stand James, and it was more than often that she referred to him as ‘Potter’. For some reason (actually to be more specific it was one past experience in first year), they had never hit it off, and Lily wasn’t the least bit regretful for it. Personally, she thought he was too big-headed and cocky for her, and his grades were always achieved without any real, hard work, and she resented that.

Lily sighed, and walked up the stairs to the 5^th years dormitory. As she walked into her room, she was greeted by her two best friends, Arabella Figg and Sionell Prewitt.

“Where were you?” asked the always blunt Bella, as she looked up from her bed.

Arabella Figg, to put it simply was not shy. She had to be the most outrageous and outspoken girl in their group, and was on a first name basis with everyone, except the Slytherin’s of course. Her shoulder length black hair and blue eyes completely contradicted her sunny disposition and cheery attitudes that she displayed every day of the week. She was known as a ‘player’ among the guys as she switched boyfriends every week, but still no one could resist her charms. She contrasted sharply to Lily’s shy and gentle personality, and it was surprising that they even had anything in common. Where Bella was loud and boisterous, Lily was quiet and kept to herself. Lily was top of the class and studied all the time, whereas Bella tended to just do everything at the last minute. Most of the time, Bella treated Lily like a younger sister, and protected Lily from anyone (mostly the Slytherins) or anything, which dared to hurt her.

Lily smiled affectionately at the sight of Bella, and dumped her things on her bedside table.

“Astronomy.” Lily replied simply. Bella laughed, but was silenced by a pillow coming from Sionell’s direction.

“So … are you done already?” Sionell interrupted, always the peacemaker between the two.

Sionell was slightly less outgoing than Bella, and she often came across to people as being more girly and in touch with her feminine side (as Bella loved to say). This was because in actual fact she looked it. She had short blonde hair, blue eyes, and a body to die for. However she was far from that as she was a diehard Quidditch fan (being a chaser on the Gryffindor house team), but nonetheless she enjoyed the extra attention that boys seemed to throw her way and just seemed to lap it up with flair. Like Lily, Sionell also cared about her studies, so whilst Arabella would be playing with the other Gryffindors or planning pranks, Sionell and Lily would spend their time together talking and finishing homework. Sionell was more sensitive than Arabella, and Lily found that no matter how hard things were in their lives, Sionell was always there for her, whether it was to make her laugh by playing pranks on people or just to sit and comfort her.

Lily looked up to smile sheepishly at the two curious girls as she replied, “Yeah … I had some help though.”

This got Bella’s full attention and her eyes lit up.

“Who helped you and why did you let them?” she demanded.

“The only person who can say that they are a star in the sky.” Lily answered cryptically, choosing not to bother with the last part of the question.

“Sirius then?” guessed Sionell, after noticing that Bella was still processing what Lily had said. (“Ah, I get it now.”)

“Yeah, it was weird,” Lily stopped to brush her hair before continuing on. “He wasn’t acting as …”

“Blonde?” Bella supplied, which landed her another pillow fiercely thrown in her direction. “Ow! Nell!”

“In case you haven’t noticed these past five years but I’m blonde, Miss Arabella Figg.” Sionell tartly replied.

“You know I didn’t mean you, it was just an automatic response, sorry.” Bella apologised. “Anyway, Lil continue on, I’m waiting for the sordid part to start. Oww!”

This time it was a brush that hit Bella and it wasn’t from Sionell.

“No sordid parts Bella, I just needed help that’s all, and he offered.” Lily stated firmly, turning around as she was unable to brush her hair any longer (for obvious reasons). Bella reluctantly nodded, but smiled impishly.

“Yeah, we all know how hopeless you are in astronomy.”

“It’s not Lily’s fault that she isn’t taken by astronomy.” reprimanded Sionell, glaring at Bella whose eyes had taken on a mischievous look.

“Oh I don’t doubt her inability for astronomy, I’m just remembering how violent she can get in those lessons. Last week I caught her glaring at her charts homework as if she was contemplating to murder it or something. Not to mention the whole telescope incident last year.” Bella teased.

Lily did the only mature thing she could think of in the spur of the moment, and poked her tongue out at Bella. Bella laughed, as she rolled onto her stomach.

“That’s real beautiful Lil. I’m sure most of the guys would die to see this side of Lily Evans.”

Lily quickly retracted her tongue and tried to ignore the blush creeping up her cheeks.

In most people’s eyes, Lily was considered to be the most beautiful of the three; with her wavy, long, dark red hair, and her sparkling emerald eyes. She had an unconscious grace about her that no one could compare to and most people admired and liked her. However Lily always brushed aside these comments when her friends repeated them and would merely add that she was no beauty compared to them. Truth be told, she felt like that deep inside (from past experiences), and no one could convince her otherwise. As a result, she was the more studious of the two and most nights could be found studying in the library or simply just reading a book next to the fire in the Gryffindor common room. Although she was muggle-born unlike Bella and Sionell (who were purebloods), she was always at the top of her classes (except in Transfiguration and Astronomy of course), and as mentioned before, as this year was her fifth year at Hogwarts, she had been chosen as a school prefect, a very high honour for her.

“Oh stop it Bella.” Lily admonished playfully, swiftly changing into her pyjamas.

Sionell propped herself up on her elbows to look meaningfully at Lily.

“Honestly, don’t you notice how the guys look at you?” asked Sionell, incredulously.

Lily shook her head in disbelief before answering cheekily,

“No, usually I notice they’re too busy staring at you two beauties.”

Before Bella could speak up, which Lily could see she was about to do, Lily quickly switched off her light, and climbed into bed.

“And if you two want to be beautiful for tomorrow, you better get some beauty sleep. Night.”

Bella mumbled a grumpy goodnight before lying back into bed.

“Your hopeless Lil.” Sionell supplied for Bella, who was still mumbling incoherently in bed. They didn’t receive an answer and they sighed, eventually proceeding to fall asleep as well.

~ * ~

Forewords: Ok I realised that I didn’t do a disclaimer so here it is for the remainder of my story. Harry Potter and all things related belong to JK Rowling, not me … no matter how much it pains me to say it *sob*. He he just kidding. Anyway, only Sionell and some other pitiful original characters I have yet to write about belong to me.

CHAPTER TWO

~ Pranks and payback a coming! ~

A couple of weeks passed without incident between the Marauders and Lily, because of Sirius’s help in her astronomy homework, which she surprisingly received an A for. For her part, she kept her conversations with them civil, choosing to ignore their outrageous pranks that were popping up every so often, instead of taking away points. It wasn’t until the Hogsmeade weekend that things took a turn for the worse.

Lily hadn’t planned on going to Hogsmeade that weekend, but her friends, more specifically Bella, had managed to rope her into going with them. So it was near noon, and Lily was found sitting in the Three Broomsticks, sipping a butterbeer and listening to Arabella talking about her latest conquest Amos Diggory.

“You wouldn’t believe how arrogant he is about his Quidditch. I swear if he had mentioned Quidditch one more time, I was going to ram that damn snitch up his-“ Bella was saying.

Lily choked on her drink and cut Bella off before she could continue.

“Bella!” she exclaimed, horrified at the very thought of something like that happening.

Bella laughed, and patted her arm reassuringly.

“Don’t worry, he didn’t, I think he got the picture.” Sionell snorted in an unladylike manner.

“It would have been the only way for him to actually catch the snitch though.” Sionell said unexpectedly. Lily, who had just taken a sip of her drink, choked again, and Arabella had to thump Lily on the back between her laughter.

After finally catching her breath, Lily glanced up through watery eyes to stare accusingly at the two girls in front of her, who were sporting very innocent expressions.

“This is why I didn’t want to come today.” Said Lily, irritably, although she couldn’t help but smile.

Bella laughed, “We got a smile out of you though, which is something that you need. All you seem to be doing lately is work.”

Lily sighed. “I know, I just want to do well …”

She was interrupted by an irate Bella.

“Well? You’re already doing bloody brilliant. You don’t need to do any better.”

“Alright, I’m sorry, I promise I’ll work less.” promised Lily, finally able to successfully drink the remains of her butterbeer.

Arabella seemed satisfied by Lily’s response, and leant back in her chair with a grunt.

“Fine, that will do for now.”

Sionell let out a sigh of relief, and was about to say something, before three shadows appeared over her shoulder.

Lily frowned slightly, but politely acknowledged three of the Marauders presence.

“Good afternoon, may I ask what you are doing here?”

James chose to answer for them all, by swiftly sliding in to sit beside Lily.

“Just thought we could spend some time with our fellow 5^th year Gryffindor girls.” He said charmingly, flashing them a grin. The girls weren’t impressed, as they each shared the same dislike for James that Lily did, but nonetheless allowed the other two boys to sit next to them.

Sionell raised an eyebrow as she noticed the absence of Sirius.

“Where is your sidekick, Potter?”

“Right behind you my fair lady.” Sionell jumped at the voice behind her, and turned around to narrow her eyes at Sirius, who was carrying a tray of butterbeers.

“Don’t kill me, I have a peace offering.” he objected, carefully placing the tray onto the table and handing everyone another drink.

After looking suspiciously at the butterbeer in front of her, and weighing her previous luck with the drink today, Lily decided to push the drink away.

“No thanks, I’ve had enough today.” she declined.

James raised an eyebrow, and pushed the drink back to her.

“Come on, it’s just a butterbeer, surely your pride can accept something.” he protested.

“Since when do you care?” retorted Lily, and the others inwardly groaned. Once again, the two had found something to argue about.

“We’re just trying to be nice.”

“How do I know you haven’t done something to this drink?” Lily continued on, pointing towards her drink as if it was something poisonous. James followed her direction and smiled.

“Look I promise you that we have done nothing to that drink.” He said, guessing Lily’s thoughts correctly and comically pointing at the mug.

Lily crossed her arms over her chest, but her face softened slightly.

“Fine, why don’t you have my drink then if you’re so stubborn.” James offered, swapping his drink for hers.

They all waited for a reaction, and Lily finally relented.

“Alright, thank you Potter - I mean James.” she hastily added, picking up the mug and taking a small sip.

Almost immediately a weird sensation went down her throat, and Lily knew that something was up. She couldn’t help but gasp aloud and the boys cracked up laughing, Remus though was noticeably subdued. Lily desperately turned to her friends for help, who were looking less than amused.

“What on earth have you done to her?” Bella demanded furiously, grabbing James by the collar of his robes.

“What?” Lily tried to say, but all that would come out was a distinct and loud meow.

This didn’t help her situation as the boys started laughing even harder, and soon enough they had the attention of the whole place. Everybody except Lily, Bella and Sionell were laughing, and by then Sionell had reluctantly handed over a pocket mirror.

Lily shrieked (“Meoow”) at her appearance. The only familiar part of her face she could recognise was her green eyes, everything else had been transformed into a … cat’s face!

“Thought you might want another pet cat for your collection, Arabella.” James finally managed to wheeze, before tears began to roll down his face.

Not wanting to or able to say anything without needing translation, Lily abruptly stood up from her seat and fiercely pushed James onto the ground so she could walk away. Tears were pricking the corner of her eyes and it was taking all of her strength to hold them back as she ran out of the Three Broomsticks and up to Hogwarts, without her friends.

The worst part was definitely the trip back; everyone would stop and laugh at her as she came running past, a tail that had appeared flying behind her with the breeze.

It seemed like hours before she finally made it to the doors at Hogwarts, and if possible even longer to reach the hospital wing. By then, she had managed to keep her tears at bay, and all that remained on her face was a determined expression.

Potter and his goons would get their payback and soon was all that flew across her mind as Madam Pomfrey fussed over her ‘state’.

~*~

Lily was released from the hospital wing a week later, and needless to say, she was less than pleased at missing so many classes.

It was that very night that Lily was brooding in her dorm with Bella and Sionell. The event still hadn’t left the minds of many Gryffindors so she decided to spend it away from their jibes and laughs.

Whilst Arabella and Sionell were playing a game of exploding snap, Lily was lying flat on her back beside them, staring up at the ceiling. She stood up suddenly, throwing Arabella and Sionell off balance.

“I’ve got it!” she exclaimed excitedly. Bella and Sionell shared a look before Arabella spoke up.

“What is it this time?” Lily fumbled with her hands as she unsuccessfully fought to hold back a maniacal grin.

“We stoop down to their level, and play the most memorable and spectacular prank that Hogwarts has ever seen!” she replied.

Sionell buried her head in her hands, smiling ruefully and replied.

“Oh no, Lily Evans prank extraordinaire has finally submerged, and is on the rampage. It’s going to be bad when the smartest witch at Hogwarts uses her power for pranks and not schoolwork.”

Lily chose to ignore the comment and paced up and down the dorm, madly trying to think of a suitable prank that would make James fall to his knees begging for mercy.

“Any more pacing and your going to fall down to the next floor.” Arabella commented impatiently, breaking into Lily’s thoughts. “Let me guess, right now you’re at the stage where you’re murdering Potter?”

Lily shook her head and chuckled. “No, even better, begging.” she replied smirking. Sionell tutted disapprovingly.

“Since when have you been the irrational one in the group?” she asked.

Lily glanced up as if it was obvious. “Since Potter has humiliated me and insulted me in every way possible. I will not tolerate it any longer,” she announced, before wryly adding, “Besides, I don’t appreciate the fact of having a tail and fur for the past week.”

Nell giggled, but then stopped as a pillow was suddenly thrown in her direction.

“Alright, sorry it’s funny now that you think about it.” she protested, wiping away a fake tear.

Bella snorted impatiently, but then turned to Lily.

“Well out with it already. What’s the plan?” Lily smiled deviously as a plan began to form in her mind.

“Ladies, it starts with their beds …” she began softly, leaning in so that only the girls would be able to hear.

~*~

Lily crept up quietly to the boy’s 6^th year dorms, Bella and Sionell closely behind, only armed with their wands. They had comically smeared black paint over their faces (“muggle camouflage” Lily had explained rationally – to which Arabella had grumpily replied, “I think you’ve just gone barmy.”), which contradicted their slipper-clad feet.

It was past midnight and for once nobody was up and about, mainly because the girls had planted a dozen dungbombs in the common room an hour earlier.

Bella chuckled as she remembered how the Marauders had been accused of doing it and had been chased up to their dorm by Professor McGonagall who had unfortunately walked in as one of the dungbombs exploded over her head.

Lily spun around and placed a finger to her lips.

“Shhh.” Lily scolded sternly and she would have pulled it off if she hadn’t been grinning maniacally, the same grin that had been planted on there since last night.

Arabella threw both hands in the air in mock surrender.

“Sorry.” whispered Arabella, conjuring a white flag from the tip of her wand and waving it fruitlessly in the air. Sionell fought back a snort, and even Lily couldn’t contain a chuckle.

Finally taking control of herself, Lily straightened up and whacked Bella on the upside of the head.

“Ow.” Bella protested indignantly, rubbing her head.

“Jokes later, but right now we have a prank to pull.” She stated, in a business-like tone, pointing her wand to the door and whispering “Alohamora.”

Bella mock saluted and Sionell giggled again, earning herself a disapproving glare from Lily.

Lily sighed inwardly, there was no hope of Bella acting serious in this kind of situation. Naturally, it was quite serious for Lily, it was all a matter of principle, and there was no way that she would stand around watching Potter upstage her in everything.

He would pay.

Opening the door slowly and cautiously, they finally all entered into the boys dorm, only to be met by a chorus of snores.

This time it was Lily’s turn to giggle as she caught sight of James’ sleeping attire.

“We won’t even need to cast any clothing charms on them, by the looks of it.” she whispered in glee, as she walked closer to James bed.

“Although, it wouldn’t hurt to add a few things …” she added slowly, another ingenious idea creeping into her head.

Muttering a few charms, Lily and the other girls quietly charmed the boys pyjamas to sport different looks.

Arabella grinned wickedly as she conjured a teddy bear and some matching teddy bear boxers for Sirius. Sionell had a similar look as she changed the pattern of Peter’ blue pyjamas to little red hearts and added a cute little Santa-like pom pom hat.

Remus had been previously declared not to be involved in the prank, partly because he wasn’t at fault and in Lily’s opinion, which she supplied to Bella, was partly because Bella had a crush on him. (This later resulted in an all out pillow war and Lily almost being smothered).

Lily’s creation for James definitely topped them all though. Somehow, Lily managed to make her pattern move, quite like wizard photos do. But that wasn’t the best part. The actual pattern consisted of figures of actual witches residing at Hogwarts who James had snogged …in rather bizarre looking outfits.

Suffice to say, there were quite a few witches present (who weren’t on the girls’ good sides) on his boxers, which pleased Lily to some extent.

Speaking of seeing them, Lily whacked her forehead with the palm of her hand and cursed her stupidity. Bella turned to look quizzically at Lily before Lily finally cast a sleeping charm on the four boys.

“I can’t believe I didn’t do that sooner.” Said Lily, whispering no longer but keeping her voice down nonetheless.

Bella nodded in understanding, amusement evident in her voice as she replied,

“Me too …”

Sionell let out a loud breath, and started to laugh uncontrollably, her words hardly decipherable between the laughter.

“You … funny … flag … couldn’t stop … he he.” Sionell clutched her stomach, falling to the ground and it wasn’t long before both Lily and Bella joined her.

Bella was the first one to recover this time. Her voice was strained as she fought back the bubble of laughter threatening to emerge again.

“Time to proceed with Part 2 of the prank.” she finally managed to gasp, grabbing Lily’s wrist to glimpse at her watch.

“We’re running on schedule.” Lily noted with satisfaction.

Sionell grunted in reply.

“I think I’ve got a stomach ache.” she complained, her knees protesting as she picked herself up from the ground in a very un-lady-like manner.

The sides of Lily’s mouth twitched upwards, as she mock frowned.

“You young people these days, always getting yourself into trouble” she reprimanded, wagging her finger at Sionell, and imitating Madam Pomfrey’s voice.

Bella let out a snort, bringing Lily back to reality.

“Alright, sorry.” Lily cleared her throat. “Wands at the ready then girls?” she observed. Bella and Sionell nodded in reply.

“Ok, then, activate part 2 of operation BFM … Beg For Mercy … Honestly!” she exclaimed, as she saw the blank looks that Bella and Sionell threw at her.

Lily pointedly ignored their cheesy grins, and pointed her wand once more at James bed, except this time it was also pointed at his bed …

~*~

The three girls purposely woke up earlier than usual to view the result of their prank down in the Great Hall. Granted their eyes were still half-closed and they were yawning non-stop, but nonetheless they were eager.

“Oh this is going to be so good!” Lily exclaimed, attempting to jump in excitement, but failing miserably as she tripped over her shoes.

Bella sleepily grunted and nudged Sionell who had fallen asleep on her shoulder as they walked.

“Haven’t seen her this excited since they invented those frog-spawn teacups!” she remarked.

Lily sighed as her mind recalled the incident where Petunia had begun to drink from a tea-cup, only for it to change into frog-spawn. Priceless. Those were the days where she could flaunt her magical ties instead of having to hide them from her sister, like it was now.

“Ow!” Lily cried, rubbing her head and glaring at the doors that she had collided with. Without realising it, the three girls had already made it to the Great Hall doors. Sharing a sly look, they entered the Hall together.

The sight that greeted them first wasn’t anything unusual. People were starting to come in for breakfast, conversing with friends, and what not. Actually the only difference was three rather unusual objects in the aisles of the House tables and a caution sign pointing towards each of them.

Each of the objects were miniature beds, each with a little doll, quite similar to the muggle barbie and ken dolls. The only difference was that they were snoring and quite alive.

Waiting for the majority of the school to arrive, Lily, Arabella and Sionell finally pointed their wands discreetly over to the beds and muttered the counter curse to the shrinking charm.

Simultaneously three beds sprung to their original size and it now became apparent to the school exactly who occupied these beds. Snoring loudly were three of the infamous Marauders; James, Sirius and Peter.

The whole school erupted into laughter, but as the Marauders were still under the effect of the sleeping charm, Lily decided to give them a hand at waking up. Still concealing her wand under the table, she cleverly managed to levitate three cups of water and simultaneously pour them over each of three boys.

Spluttering, the three boys shot up in their beds, struggling wildly with their sheets. Unluckily for them, it hadn’t yet hit the boys where they were.

James thought the laughing in his head was from a pounding headache until he managed to free himself from the sheets and roll onto his side.

“Ahhhhhh!” he screamed as he caught sight of all the students hysterically laughing and pointing to him.

After hearing the scream, Sirius jumped out of bed, and accidentally onto the Slytherin table, the teddy bear still glued to his arms. Peter followed suit, with a little red pom pom hat on his head.

If it was possible the laughter became even louder, and pretty much the whole school were crying.

But the best was yet to come, and Lily personally couldn’t wait. She watched in anticipation as James sprung out of his bed.

To her surprise the Hall grew silent as James’ full attire came into view. James looked on helplessly, until he followed everyone’s gaze down to his shorts.

… Then the Hall roared with laughter again. Lily was almost hyperventilating from laughing so much, and she thought it was even remotely possible that she had managed to break a rib.

It was definitely worth the look on James’ face, as he turned red with embarrassment … and the stunned looks on all the girls who had appeared on his boxers.

But what was really priceless was the look on McGonagall’s face. Steam was practically coming out of her nose and her lips had never been pursed tighter than that moment.

“POTTER. BLACK. PETTIGREW” McGonagall screeched hysterically as she transfigured the beds back into a miniature size and handed them back to the boys.

Even under pressure, James managed a weak, innocent smile.

“Yes, Professor?”

McGonagall was at a loss for words. “You three … never have I seen … get out NOW!”

The boys sheepishly nodded and silently walked out, but not before James caught the smug look on Lily’s face. He silently fumed and glared fiercely at her, who merely shrugged and mouthed back ‘nice boxers’. A sudden thought came to him that Lily was behind this, but the absurdity of Lily pulling a prank was just that, absurd, so he diverted his attention over to the Slytherins as he walked out. One of those slimy gits had managed to prank them … and they would not get away it. Imagine people thinking they could successfully prank the Marauder’s and not expect something in return for Merlin’s sake.

After they left, Lily turned back and let out a contented sight. As Arabella went to speak, Lily put up her hand.

“Don’t. say. Anything.” She smiled wistfully. “I’m never going to forget that moment as long as I live … the Marauders … uncovered.”

Sionell let out a shrill giggle, as Lily stood up with a dazed expression.

“I think I need to take a walk. I’m not hungry anymore.”

Arabella voiced her concern.

“Lily, you really should eat.” Lily shook her head in reply.

“I’m fine … I’ll see you guys later alright?”

Without a reply, Lily sauntered out of the Hall, only to be greeted by a confused Remus.

“Lily, what the hell happened?” he blurted out, “I woke up to find out that I’m the only guy in the dorm, not to mention bed. And then on the way down here, I meet the guys clad in nothing but boxers … Lily?”

Lily couldn’t reply; she was too busy laughing again. All she could do was point towards Bella and Sionell and say breathlessly,

“Ask … them.” before stumbling out of the Great Hall.

Lily felt oddly content as she walked out to the Great Lake. At that moment, she felt on cloud nine. Never again could Potter intimidate her to the point of hysteria. She could give just as good as she got and there was no way possible he would be able to forget this moment.

How right she was.

It wasn’t until Lily had completed a circle around the lake that someone came up to meet her. To her dismay it was a very, very fuming (and fully clad) James Potter who strode over to her.

Lily decided to play it cool and tried to shove past him. No such luck. James roughly grabbed her arm and spun her around.

“Thought that was funny, did you?” snarled James, the intensity of his voice more noticeable than ever.

Lily flinched and tried to wrench her arm away from him.

“What’s funny?” she asked innocently. “Your boxers, or the girls you have chosen to go with?”

James let out a growl before gruffly answering, “Don’t patronise me Evans. I don’t appreciate being laughed at.”

Lily shrugged.

“Tough, it happens to everyone.” she replied indifferently, finally pulling herself away from him as he loosened his grip. “Don’t see why you should be so vexed at me, anyway. I wasn’t the only one laughing at you.”

James snorted angrily. “Your not worth it Evans … you really aren’t.” he hissed, physically shoving her away from him as he stalked back to the Great Hall.

Lily rubbed her arm, glaring at James’ back. Oh how she wished right now that she could just strangle him. He was supposed to be begging for mercy, not act like this.

She sighed as she looked at the time. Class would be starting soon and she didn’t have her bag yet.

~*~

CHAPTER THREE

~A never-ending bad day for Lily~

Although the events of that morning were more than hilarious for Lily Evans, the rest of the day wasn’t. Double potions had been first, and Potter and Black decided it would be funny to accidentally crash into her potion, resulting in it crashing to the ground, and a detention for her, the first one she had ever had as a prefect at Hogwarts. She was to report to Professor Resten (the Potions mistress and all time Slytherin fan) in two nights time to collect armadillo bile.

This little incident caused Lily to discard her previous thoughts on Sirius and things reverted back to its original place; Lily hating ALL the Marauders with a passion, and vice versa. Well except Remus, he still hadn’t done anything personal towards her, so she kept her hostility towards him at a bare minimum.

By the time Potions class had finished, Lily was definitely on the verge of crying. But to her dismay, her day wasn’t finished yet. After lunch was transfiguration, where Potter found it amusing to accidentally (there’s that word again she had thought bitterly) miss his target and transfigure her into a peacock. That was definitely an experience she would rather forget. It was even worse when Black decided to make some smart comments about how feathers suited her more than the fur did. He became the next peacock, five minutes after Lily was transfigured back.

In Lily’s defence, she insisted it was because her arms were still feeling wobbly because they were recovering from being wings. James had also received a murderous glare from Lily’s direction at that comment, to which he had swiftly snickered too. That didn’t go well with Lily, not at all.

Still more was to come for Lily. In Divination, her teacher, Professor Vasilkus predicted her death, saying to beware of black-haired men for they would be her downfall. Black and Potter were suffice to say, smiling smugly the entire lesson, for once believing their nutty professor.

Lily had cracked again, and had artfully predicted the most horrific deaths for these black-haired men using her teacups, earning her an appraising glance from Vasilkus, and no homework for her, which made the day slightly better.

The worst part of the day came at dinner though. Whilst Lily had finally unwound from the day, and was enjoying her favourite dinner of spaghetti Bolognese, her owl Nefertiti (I luv Egyptian stuff so sorry) unusually delivered a late letter to her. Lily disregarded this as she read the letter, absentmindedly stroking her owl.

Her eyes brimmed with tears as she skimmed through the content and she resisted the urge to burn the letter right there and then.

James and the others had also noticed this letter, and James felt it was his duty to speak up.

“Whatsa matter Evans?” he asked, not sounding concerned in the least. Lily fixed her gaze on him, and James saw the unshed tears in her eyes.

“It’s none of your business.” Lily said softly, her voice almost sounding defeated.

James, either was incredibly dense, or just downright foolish, but he ignored her soft tone, and continued to taunt her.

“What? I can’t hear you Evans. Speak up, your beak is still muffling your voice.”

Lily snapped and the letter dropped from her hands as she suddenly stood up and shouted dangerously,

“I said it was none of your damn business Potter so just butt out you insensitive git! Thanks to you and Black, I have had the worst day, so why don’t you quit now while your ahead, before I do something I’ll regret.”

When Lily had finished, she noticed with embarrassment that the Great Hall had become completely silent. She lowered her head down to look at the floor, before walking out of the Great Hall.

It wasn’t until she reached the safety of an empty classroom that she finally let out all her anger. There her red-headed temper was released, and desks and books went flying via her wand, only to be immediately repaired by the very same wand (cant have Lily leaving everything broken now can we?) after they had been broken.

~*~

Meanwhile James eyes were still fixated on the door that Lily had exited from. He only returned back to Earth when he received a hard whack on the head. Turning irritably, he faced an equally irritated Bella.

“You really have no compassion for anyone at all do you?” she exclaimed.

James shrugged, rubbing his head, “Not for Evans I don’t.”

This was the wrong thing to say Bella, and soon enough James found his face squished into the spaghetti. He came up spluttering indignantly and was about to retaliate, but stopped as he noticed that Bella had shifted her attention to the letter that Sionell had discreetly picked up. Bella’s murderous expression softened into pity, as did Sionell’s.

“What letter?” Bella demanded in confusion after she had finished reading the letter.

“I can’t believe she would do that …” breathed Sionell, shaking her head at Bella. James curiosity was piqued and he couldn’t help but ask,

“Who do what?” whilst wiping the remaining spaghetti sauce off his face.

Arabella gave a bitter laugh, without bothering to face him, “Don’t you think you should take Lily’s advice, and mind your own business, you self indulgent, nosy lit-“

“Bella don’t, we need to find Lily. She must be devastated.” Sionell broke in firmly, her voice cracking slightly at the last sentence.

Bella sighed in defeat, “You’re right, who knows where she’s wreaking havoc right now.”

With that the two girls followed Lily’s example and exited the Great Hall, intent on finding Lily and stopping her from doing … whatever it was she was doing.

They of course, like Lily, had inconveniently forgotten to take the letter with them, and it didn’t take long for the Marauders to notice.

~*~

James was fighting an inner struggle to listen to what the girls had said, or take the letter, but thankfully was saved by Sirius, who snatched up the letter eagerly. He read the letter for a few moments, before his expression turned sympathetic.

“What is it?” Remus blurted out concernedly. Sirius frowned, before saying slowly,

“I don’t really get everything … but I kinda get the gist of it. Lily’s parents are angry with her for a letter that she sent to her sister. They expressed their immense disappointment in her for sending it. Here listen to this part …

Lily, we are still unable to accept the letter that you sent to Petunia a couple of weeks ago. She has been gracious enough to send you weekly letters, and you respond to her in such a manner that disappoints us. Petunia showed us your latest letter and we are ashamed in that you have learnt such vulgar language at your school. Although we are proud of your studies, we are not happy that you are choosing that over keeping in contact with your sister. Surely she is more important. We always thought that Petunia was the reason behind your differences, but now we have finally realised the extent of jealousy that you hold towards your sister. So we will not be sending you any extra money for the rest of the month, and you will send a letter of apology to your sister immediately. It is too late to take back what you said in the letter, but not to re-mend your ties with your sister …”

Sirius looked up to look quizzically at the other boys, all of which were looking equally as confused. Peter was the first to speak up.

“Vulgar? … Lily? Are they sure they have the right person?”

James missed the comment, as he was too busy thumping his head on the table.

“No wonder she was so upset at me.” he mumbled miserably, emphasising each gap by a thump on the table. Sirius stopped him, by wrenching his head up by the collar.

“Well, losing brain cells over it isn’t going to make things any better,” he joked weakly.

James jumped up as a cute Hufflepuff girl caught his eye and smiled at him. He immediately lost his train of thought as he smiled back, and the girl giggled, turning back to talk with her friends.

“Yeah, she’s not really worth losing anything over …” he said haphazardly,

his eyes still fixed on the Hufflepuff girl. Remus cast him a disapproving glare. “What? I’ll apologise later or something.”

“Nothing.” Remus answered curtly, shaking his head before he continued to eat.

~*~

It didn’t take long for Bella and Sionell to find Lily, they could hear the crashing noises all the way down the hallway. When they finally entered the room, they were surprised to find Lily sitting on one table, and another table zooming past their heads. Sionell ducked automatically, pushing Bella down to the ground.

Lily broke out of her trance to cast them an apologetic look.

“Sorry.” she mumbled softly, levitating the table back to the ground, and mending one of its legs.

Arabella casually pulled herself up from the ground and dusted herself off, but not after throwing a dirty look at Sionell.

Lily was too busy to notice that, as she retreated back into her own thoughts. The only question that was running through her mind was what letter? Petunia never sent her letters, and ditto. If anything, Petunia always steered clear of owls and Lily’s ‘freakish’ life.

“Lily?” Sionell’s coaxing voice broke her thoughts, and Lily turned her face to look dully at them. Her eyes had lost their twinkle, and were noticeably darker than usual. Lily knew by her tone that they had read the letter, so she automatically began to defend herself.

“I never sent Pet a letter … I never even knew about it.” she said helplessly. A reassuring arm was placed around her shoulders, and Lily smiled gratefully as Sionell hugged her.

“We know Lily. Your sister must have forged a letter from you because she wanted to get you into trouble.” spat Bella who had spread herself across one of the desks.

“You know what I can’t believe?” Lily began.

“What?”

Lily took a deep, steadying breath before continuing on,

“That Pet would go this far, just to get me out of her life. What have I done that was so bad to her? I don’t understand it.”

“You have done nothing Lil, and you shouldn’t dwell on it. Petunia is not worth your worrying. She obviously does not worry about you in the slightest.”

Sionell nodded her agreement.

“Bella’s right Lily, your better than her and you shouldn’t waste your time on her.”

It was a hesitant moment when Lily thought about her parents.

“What am I going to do about my parents though? They think I wrote that letter.” she said cringing.

Arabella raised an eyebrow and asked in the most cheekiest tone.

“Got any frogspawn?”

They all couldn’t help but crack up laughing, but Bella sobered up as she added.

“We could always say that it wasn’t from you, but from someone else.”

Lily gasped. “I can’t tell them that Petunia faked the whole thing.”

“No, no, I didn’t mean it like that. We could just say that there was a mixup in the mail, and Petunia didn’t get the right letter. That she maybe got a letter from the … Marauders or one of the Slytherin’s.”

“I can’t do that,” refused Lily, “I’ll just have to apologise gracefully, and throttle Petunia when I see her next …”

And throttle her I will, Lily thought bitterly.

~*~

Lily strode furiously down the halls of Hogwarts, every now and then aiming her wand at couples snogging in the corners. It was three hours after Arabella and Sionell had found her in the classrooms, and she had finally decided to vent all her frustration out into her duties, rather than the ‘poor desks and ickle bookies’, as Bella had said so compassionately before she left.

“Honestly, what is everyone’s problem tonight? Has everyone but me gone mad?” she exclaimed to no one in particular.

“No, you’re just the only one who doesn’t have a social life other than ruining others.” James appeared from behind a knight, a giggling Hufflepuff in tow.

Lily sighed. All she needed now was a confrontation with Potter, the guy who had practically single-handedly snogged every girl at Hogwarts (as evidenced by the boxers incident). Except her (and her friends) of course, Lily reminded herself, straightening slightly.

“Do you have to annoy me now? Didn’t you have enough at dinner?” she asked, her eyes flashing dangerously.

James shook his head ashamedly, “I didn’t come to annoy you Evans, I was just joking. I never meant to upset you. Sometimes things just slip out, like just before.”

It took a while to sink in that Potter had actually come close to an apology, and Lily nodded mutely before her senses came rushing back to her.

“Hang on, why the sudden change in attitude?”

“Do I need a reason?- Ok, ok fine, you … left your letter at the table, and I uh … happened to-“ Lily interrupted angrily.

“Stick your prying nose into the letter and read it?”

“Well I was going to say skim my eyes over it by accident … but I guess your way was fine.” James added hastily, as Lily had taken a menacing step forward.

“Why must you be so meddlesome?” cried Lily, “You are always prying into other people’s lives, especially mine. We can’t even stand each other and you have to know about my life!”

James lost his temper, and forgot about how he was trying to treat Lily nicer.

“Aren’t you the hypocrite?” he muttered sarcastically, and continued on before Lily could respond, “What do you think your doing right now by coming down here and taking points away from everyone? I’d say you were doing the same. Interrupting people’s lives and meddling in their private business.”

“This is my job as a prefect Potter, yours too I might add.” Said Lily, impatiently tapping her foot, anxious to leave his obnoxious presence. “You weren’t supposed to be joining in.”

“Oh I forgot, Lily Evans always follows the rules. Never strays from the line of the rules. Well if you ask me, I just think it’s all an excuse.” He smirked, crossing his arms smugly.

“Excuse for what?” demanded Lily.

“That you can’t get anyone who would want to snog you.”

Lily gasped and lost her grip on her wand. It clattered to the floor but Lily was too busy glaring at James as if her life depended on it. She was aghast at what he had just said. It was more hurtful than James could have realised. She opened her mouth to reply before she had even thought about what she was going to say.

“It’s not my fault that everyone’s snog-crazy, and it most certainly does not give you an excuse … to attack me like this … I never mention your nightly escapades or doings.” Lily retorted angrily, casting a meaningful glance at the now red Hufflepuff girl.

James stiffened and Lily was too charged up to cheer her success. Without meaning to, she had struck him where it hurts.

“You think your so smart don’t you Evans?” James barked angrily, pushing away her thoughts. “Always holding it over everyone that your top student … prefect … most likely to be Head Girl … That’s your problem, your too damn big-headed and conceited to have anyone who could care about you. Who do you have that actually cares about you?”

At that comment, Lily lost all her strength, all her adrenaline that usually popped up whenever James turned up. Figuring that this conversation was over, James haughtily pushed past her, his hand gripping the girl’s hand tightly.

It took all of Lily’s remaining strength to shakily bend down to pick up her wand. There was nothing left to say to Potter. He was right, nobody could care about her the way that they cared about him. James always had hoards of girls after him for his good looks and all the guys were envious of him for everything else.

And who did she have? Lily answered the question aloud after James had stalked off.

“Nobody …”

She never noticed the shadow flicking behind one of the knights as she wearily walked back to the common room.

~*~

CHAPTER FOUR

~ Detentions and surprising revelations ~

Two nights later, and it was time for Lily’s dreaded detention. To her knowledge, she would be undertaking the detention alone, and she didn’t mind in the slightest. Being alone was much better than putting up with Potter and his friends.

Since the little fight in the corridors, Lily had become more reserved towards Potter and chose to avoid him at all costs. Potter’s comments had worried her, as he had hit frighteningly close to the truth, and she wasn’t willing to hear any more observations on his part. Not to mention she didn’t think that anyone would appreciate or approve of the words she was itching to say to him if she ever bumped into him.

What he had said had sunk her level of confidence to a new low and did little to help her situation with her sister. Yesterday she had sent a letter of apology to her parents and sister, and was anxiously waiting for a reply. Lily could almost imagine the smirk that Petunia would be wearing, knowing that she had succeeded in getting Lily in trouble. Like James, Petunia had always said that Lily acted superior to everyone, but Lily had never truly believed that she treated everyone inferior to her until now. She always tried to blend in with people, not stand out. Granted her marks were high, but the only reason they were so high in the first place was to prove that she belonged and fit in with everyone else at Hogwarts.

To her knowledge, she was the only muggleborn in her year, so her determination towards her studies was the only way to prove that the prejudiced purebloods were wrong about her. And the whole comment on nobody caring for her? Well James was right about that one. Not even her own sister cared for her, so what hopes were there of ever finding a guy capable of ‘snogging’ her or loving her, like James’ girlfriends had no problem doing, not to mention having hoards of friends, which he seemed to always have around him.

The only thing that had stopped her from taking Potter’s words too much to heart and going into depression was the fact that the past couple of days had been considerably more pleasant for her, than previous ones at Hogwarts. For one, people were still eager to bring up the incident in the Great Hall, which was now widely known to everyone as the ‘prank that pranked the pranksters’ or Bella’s had joked, the ‘foxy boxers’ incident. It was pretty lame, but the second one had stuck more in the Gryffindor common room to Lily’s delight, and it still hadn’t been forgotten yet.

After all, Lily had to admit, never before had anyone dared to face up to the Marauders, much less actually triumph over, so it came as a shock to everyone to find that no one had owned up yet. It had made Hogwarts history in many peoples opinion, so it was only sensible to accept responsibility and ‘reign the throne’ as Lily had overheard Sirius grumbling reluctantly at lunch yesterday.

At first, rumours spread that a group of Slytherins, including Snape and his friends had been responsible, but Snape was no actor, and it was obvious to everyone that he was as dumbstruck as the rest of the school … so it remained a mystery to who pranked the Marauders, except the three girls of course, and the Marauders were not pleased.

In fact, Lily thought in satisfaction, they had become quite paranoid about who was behind it, Peter being the main example, by making sure he was never alone down the corridors or anywhere else for that matter. Lily had laughed last night after leaving the Great Hall, to find that Peter was walking quickly behind her. He had said that he had forgotten the password to get into the common room, but it was obvious that he was frightened. After all flicking his frightened eyes over to every shadow, and jumping at any moving ones had been an obvious giveaway. She had purposely changed her direction halfway, as if she had forgotten something, and it had amused her to find that Peter had hastily followed. He hadn’t yet lived that down …

Grinning goofily, Lily tuned back into the conversation that her friends her having at dinner that night.

After noticing the grin, Arabella knowingly nudged Sionell who was in the process of spearing her potatoes. Because of the nudge, Sionell’s fork completely missed its target. Instead, the sleeves of her robes fell onto the plate, and Sionell shrieked in annoyance as they became mushed with potatoes.

“Bella!” Sionell complained, desperately wiping her sleeves on the shoulder of Arabella’s robes.

This would have started an all out food fight between the two, if it wasn’t for Lily deftly interfering.

“So what were you about to say Bella?” she asked, shifting all available plates of food over to her side of the table.

Bella abruptly stopped flicking mashed potato on Sionell, and turned around smiling,

“I was just about to say that from that goofy grin you were sporting, you were obviously thinking about the prank again … right?” she guessed. Lily nodded in amusement. Her friends knew her way too well.

“Bits of it.” Lily replied merrily. Sionell smiled in return as well, her attempt at strangling Bella forgotten before saying,

“Well think about the prank when you are in detention tonight. That would sure bring your spirits up.”

Lily frowned, casting a spiteful glare towards the Marauders who were currently in the process of … well Lily couldn’t say what exactly. It looked like a combination of eating then occasionally regurgitating mouthfuls of food whilst talking.

She stifled the gag of disgust as she watched their childish acts, and then silently fumed. While she had detention in the dungeons, those idiots would be back in the common room, doing nothing or stuffing their faces like they were doing right now! How unfair was that?

Bella snorted again, and Lily focused back onto her friends.

“I can’t believe YOU of all people has a detention. It is only a month into school … it’s like you’ve turned into this full rebel now Lil.” Bella joked, laughing.

Lily scowled. “The day I become a rebel is the day that you actually grow up, Bella. It wasn’t my fault anyway.” she added in defence.

“Fine be that way.” Bella retorted cheerily. “Actually, you seem pretty down a bit lately … and before you say its about this detention, let me warn you, if you deny it, I will make sure that you suffer for the rest of your life, got that? So spill.” she continued on, waving her fork around menacingly, before clumsily dropping it to the ground. She bent down to pick it off the ground, flushing slightly, and not noticing that Sionell had put some more potatoes in her hair.

Lily laughed; it felt good to be around friends … friends that did care about her. Who needed dozens of friends or boyfriends when she could have two wonderful best friends who knew her like the back of their hands? Potter had to have been wrong, and he wasn’t worth her time after all. She shook her head in wonder. How did she ever let Potter get the better of her? In the future she would just ignore him, she thought stubbornly.

“Nothings wrong Bella, just had a tough few days if you know what I mean.” Lily answered in a convincing tone. Who she was convincing though, Lily wasn’t entirely sure of.

~*~

After parting from Arabella and Sionell at the Great Hall, Lily started walking slowly towards the dungeons. Lily scowled at the thought of spending hours collecting armadillo bile. She could guarantee that by the end of it, there would be more than just armadillo bile available for her potions mistress to bottle up.

She turned into the potions room, and stopped dead in her tracks. It turned out Lily wasn’t alone in detentions after all. Severus Snape, a Slytherin 5^th year was snarling as he caught sight of her. Lily presumed she had a similar expression on her face as her heart sunk to the floor.

Like most Slytherins’, Severus Snape had a definite grudge against everyone, especially Gryffindors. His hallow skin and hooked nose often provided problems for this bad tempered prefect, as well as his freaky aptitude for potions, and accustomed late night visits to the dungeons. Black, greasy shoulder length hair did little to improve his appearance, only adding to his fierce disposition.

Lily mused there were acceptable reasons behind his ill will towards nearly everyone of the human race, as it was a known fact that the Marauders constantly targeted him for pranks. It was also common knowledge that Snape along with his group of friends, Rosier, Lestrange, and Wilkes to name a few, had no problem returning the gesture. It was even said that Snape had known more hexes and curses than even the seventh years when he first started Hogwarts, so it was certain that he had only extended his knowledge over the years, guaranteeing trouble for anyone who crossed his path, which almost always included Potter and/or Black.

It wasn’t hard to notice that out of all the Marauders, Snape especially held a great deal of animosity towards Potter, rumour being that he was jealous of Potter’s natural and flawless ability to play Quidditch. (Potter was recently named Captain of Gryffindor’s Quidditch team where he played Seeker.) Many times Snape and Potter would be found throwing punches, hexes and what not towards each other, and it would often end in a trip to the hospital wing and many, many detentions. Not that Lily minded of course, both of them got on her nerves, so it was no problem for her that they were punished continuously.

Shaking her head wryly, she brought her mind back to the present. Great, a detention with armadillo bile and a slimy Slytherin, she thought sullenly. Funny, it was impossible to determine which one was worse. She had never gotten along with any Slytherins’ before, and had never had to work with Snape before either so it was definitely going to be an. . .interesting detention to say the least.

“So are you going to stand there all day, or are you actually planning on doing some work, Evans?” Severus snapped suddenly, proving Lily’s suspicions to be correct.

Lily bit her tongue before replying sweetly,

“Now that I think about it, I’d rather just stand here.”

A cough was the only reply from Snape, but to Lily, it had suspiciously sounded like ‘Gryffindorks’. She pointedly ignored this as she walked over beside him, sighing in defeat.

Professor Resten walked in soon after that and pointed them towards about 50 empty bottles.

“I want you to fill up all these bottles with the armadillo bile that I collected today.” was all she said before leaving them alone to do their detention.

They worked in silence for a while, Lily with permanent disgust planted on her face, as she gingerly poured the bile into the little, slippery bottles. Soon enough, her hands were covered with bile as well, making her mood even worse. She was good at potions, but bottling armadillo bile and having to work with other disgusting ingredients was something that was not normal for her. Back home, she would have never even seen these things before, let alone have to come into such close proximity with them. She groaned inwardly, she was bored and the silence wasn’t helping … in fact the muggle saying was right, silence was deadly in this instant. Snape’s lack of noise was making her feel slightly uncomfortable, but she wasn’t about to say anything willingly to him, not if she could help it.

Surprisingly it was Snape who first broke the silence … with a chuckle. Lily looked over curiously, wiping her hands on a nearby towel. Seeing Snape doing anything other than sneering was a rare sight for anybody and she would be stupid to deny that she wasn’t fascinated and slightly annoyed by his sudden noise.

“What?” she asked cuttingly. Snape shook his head, smirking; his eyes still focused on the bottles as he expertly filled them. To Lily’s disappointment, Snape’s hands were free of armadillo bile.

That was probably the reason for his chuckle, Lily presumed silently, wrinkling her nose in annoyance and glaring at her own sticky hands.

“Just wondering what you did to get a detention. Perfect Evans never gets a detention.” He replied smoothly, if not a bit bitterly. Lily growled before answering.

“Potter and Black.” Snape nodded his head in understanding.

“Ah, why am I not surprised. What did they do?” he asked.

“In potions the other day, when you were absent, they bumped into my cauldron, resulting in it spilling everywhere. The stupid prats, I can’t stand them.” she explained, noticing that Snape had raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“I didn’t know that you weren’t one of their fans. Sure I noticed the arguments between you and Potter, who couldn’t? But I never thought that you actually hated them.” said Snape, dryly, reaching for another bottle.

Lily followed suit, trying to think of something to say in return. She began slowly, “Well I wouldn’t say that I hated them, hate is too strong a word. I don’t hate anyone really-“

“What about me?” Lily turned in surprise, splashing some bile on the floor. Her stomach churned at the sight of it, and she mentally promised to not step in that spot in the future.

“No, Snape, I don’t even hate you. Annoy me occasionally sure, but I don’t even really know you so how can I pass judgement.” She replied honestly.

“Even though I’m a Slytherin?”

“Yes.” Lily hesitated before continuing, “I’ve been brought up to never hate anybody, no matter their heritage or …” She trailed off uneasily. Why on earth was she telling this to Snape, a Slytherin who hated her kind?

“-Or blood right?” Snape finished knowingly, causing Lily to jerk her eyes away. Snape sighed.

“I don’t care that you’re a mu- (Lily cringed) –ggleborn.” He said, without the usual sneer that would pop up during conversations. “After all, anyone who can tie with me in Potions has got to be proof that these discriminations and prejudices are just fabricated. So I guess your fine by me in that respect … not to mention that we do have some common ground.”

This got Lily’s attention, and she abruptly stopped working. She was genuinely touched by his thoughtfulness, and she could not believe that she was hearing this from Snape, of all people. He, like the majority of Slytherins’, was pure blooded, so it was a very rare event for her.

“Thank you.” Lily stuttered slightly, feeling slightly overwhelmed. “But what common ground?” she asked suddenly, the last words sinking in.

“Potter.” He snapped impatiently, as if it was obvious.

“Oh right.”

Another silence grew between the two of them, until this time Lily decided to pipe up.

“Why are you here?” she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

“Same idiotic gits.” he replied angrily, turning to face her, “They deemed it suitable to arrange a prank for me, which would result in me getting a detention … all because they were angry at me for denying any responsibility for that prank the other morning.”

A slight lump of guilt lodged itself in Lily’s throat at the thought of someone else taking the blame for her prank.

“I’m sorry.”

Snape frowned, “What for? It wasn’t your fault Black and Potter have a stick permanently lodged up their-“

Just like with Bella, Lily did not want to hear the rest of that sentence, and abruptly cut him off, without thinking what she was saying.

“-Because it was me.” she blurted out. Realising her mistake too late, her eyes widened, and she reluctantly turned to see Snape’s reaction. To her astonishment, Snape was … laughing? Actually after a while, Lily realised it wasn’t actually laughing, but just a longer version of his previous chuckle. Still, it didn’t seem to fit him.

“It was you?” He spoke up eventually. Lily nodded shamefully, but the corners of her mouth were twitching slightly, remembering everybody’s reaction to the prank.

Snape was almost talking to himself as he thoughtfully scratched his chin, “To think that these past few days, the Marauders have been frantically searching for the culprit and all along it was under their noses … A Gryffindor.”

Lily flushed involuntarily, shifting her gaze to the floor.

“They were really getting on my nerves.” she mumbled weakly in defence.

“With the whole cat episode?” he guessed, dryly.

“That topped it I guess,” admitted Lily, nodding slowly. “Up until now I’ve refused to let them get to me, but I guess it got too much for me to handle anymore.”

“I can’t believe it was you … I mean nobody has even given you a thought, much less any suspicion …”

“I know, that’s what so good about it, because I know its driving them nuts.”

“Your different than I thought you’d be … you’re not so bad for a Gryffindor, Evans.” he said unexpectedly, smirking. Lily laughed. She was glad she had someone’s approval, other than her two best friends.

“And you’re not so bad for a Slytherin, Severus.” She said, copying Snape slightly and smirking. “Just please don’t tell anyone, I wouldn’t want to ruin my reputation.” she added, pleadingly, and Snape grudgingly agreed with a grunt.

The detention went rather well after that, other than the occasional gagging from Lily as she desperately fought to hold back her … disgust with the armadillo bile. Of course, Severus, as she now decided to call him, would still deliver his typical Slytherin comments, but it was without the usual edge and some were even rather humorous at times.

By the end of the detention, Lily could honestly say that she believed he wasn’t as bad as everyone had thought him to be. It also took her mind off other … unpleasant thoughts, so she could even go so far as to say she was grateful in a way.

As they finally finished and bid their goodnights, Lily was too weary to explain to her friends how the detention went. All she said before she walked into the bathroom to have a shower was

“It was definitely a different experience …”

~*~

Remus cautiously approached James that same night in their dorm.

“When are you planning on giving Lily a proper apology?” asked Remus, watching James closely as he went to answer.

“It’s almost impossible to apologise to Evans. I tried, and then she just … I dunno, she gets on my nerves and I can’t help but say something back to her.”

“Well, you gotta stop treating Lily like that.” Remus said sternly. James head popped up in irritation.

“Your joking right?” asked James, his eyes narrowed. “I just told you I cant help it with her. She’s no angel either.” Remus shook his head.

“What you said the other night really got to h-“ James cut him off in confusion.

“Hang on, how do you know what happened last night? You weren’t there?”

“I was sneaking back from the kitchens after missing dinner…and then I heard something so I hid behind a knight.” explained Remus, before sheepishly adding, “I didn’t have the invisibility cloak, and it was right next to where you two were arguing. There was no way I was going to be involved in your little fight. I’m still recovering from last time, where you both decided to start a duel, ending me with jelly legs for the next hour.”

James cringed as the image of Remus getting caught in the crossfire of Lily’s and his duel, popped across his mind. Remus hadn’t been too happy having to shakily walk back to the common room to find the counter curse, and James had definitely paid for it. When Remus was angry he sure could shout loud … and he didn’t read all those defence books for nothing. James suppressed a shudder, and finally replied,

“I still don’t get why it’s so important to you. Hang on…” James broke off to fix Remus with an incredulous look, “Don’t tell me you fancy Evans?”

“No, no James I don’t.” reassured Remus, hesitating slightly as he continued on, “But she is a friend.”

James jumped up in surprise.

“How can you be her friend? She’s such a know-it-all, good for noth-“

“James, she is my friend. You only see her as those things because of the way you antagonise her. She just naturally reacts to you in that way.” Remus stopped and seemed to ponder something for a moment or to before going on. “… and I shouldn’t be telling you this, but after you left I overheard her talking to herself. She agreed with what you said, meaning she actually believed that crap you dribbled to her about.”

“Believed which part?” interrupted James, thoughtfully sifting through the comments he had made to her. There were quite a few of them, and he didn’t want to incriminate himself anymore, as he wasn’t sure how much of the conversation Remus had heard.

“The part where you said she had nobody and that nobody would want to ‘snog’ her.” Remus answered promptly, glaring meaningfully at James as he emphasised ‘snog’.

James gulped and managed a feeble, “Oops.” as he remembered.

“Oops? That’s all you can say?” Remus stood up in outrage. He began to walk out of the room, shaking his head and still mumbling, “Oops … how you get any girls is beyond me.”

“Alright, I will apologise to her tomorrow … I promise.” James announced loudly, turning back to his homework. “I will!” he insisted, catching a glimpse of Remus in a nearby photo who was smiling innocently back at him … too innocently, he thought grumpily.

~*~