The four Marauders sat by their usual hangout near under an ordinary muggle tree but was still overlooked the Whomping Willow. They had just began their final year at Hogwarts. They could be sitting in the library working hard as the other seventh years were expected to do, instead they were sitting outside comparing height. Sirius, with the flowing black hair and serious jaw line, was the tallest. James, the messy-haired boy with spectacles and a dreadful uniform was next but only by a centimetre or so. Remus was then slightly shorter with his strawberry-blonde hair that was neatly combed that matched his perfect uniform. Then there was Peter. Peter was the smallest by about a foot so he didn't even bother to stand next to the others while they debated height.. He had greasy, long hair that was uncared for and his uniform was the same. While Sirius and James pretended like they didn't care, they still made sure to wash frequently. Peter on the other hand would wash his face every morning before spraying his week-old uniform in pretentious spray. No one said anything though, mostly because Peter didn't talk to many people outside of the Marauders. And the Marauders didn't say anything because they never noticed it. They weren't the most observable people at Hogwarts.

"Snivellus incoming." Peter said.

"What's that?" James said as he and Sirius continued to stare each other down to decide who that tallest was.

"Snivellus." Peter repeated. James and Sirius broke away and looked at the fuming Severus Snape storming towards them.

"Potter!" Severus shouted, drawing his wand.

"Severus!" Lily shouted as she ran at full speed towards them. She had been standing by the lake with some of her friends when she had just, by chance, turned to see Severus march towards them. Lily continued to shout his name while she ran the distance.

"I'm Head Boy, now." James said, standing tall. Severus stood at the same level as James and the two boys were about the same height, although James' confidence made Severus feel small.

"He's Head Boy now, Snivellus." Sirius said with a crooked smile. "That means we're untouchable. Better run off now, you see."

"Potter-" Lily breathed as she finally reached them. Severus lowered his wand.

"Evans." James bowed his head slightly.

"What's going on here, boys?" Lily asked. Lily was Head Girl and was one of the few people, apart from teachers, who still had any power over James.

"Potter here was just about to get his butt kicked." Severus spat.

"Calm down, you might hurt yourself." James mocked.

"Potter-" Lily started.

"I know, I've been naughty." James raised his eyebrow at Lily. "Do you need to punish me?"

"Back off, James." Severus said, stepping between James and Lily.

"I was just kidding. Evans' knows that." James said quickly. "How about you go, Severus, before you do something you'll regret."

"Yeah, get lost, Snivellus." Sirius backed him up.

"No!" Severus shouted as he raised his wand again. He didn't need to say 'sectumsempra' as he was already well-practiced so that he still hit James directly at full force. It deeply gashed James' face and chest and with a cry the young Marauder fell to the ground with one last look at Lily.

"No!" Sirius screamed. Sirius and Remus immediately fell to the ground to their best friends' aid while Peter raised his wand, aiming it at Severus.

"Potter!" Lily screamed, pushing past Severus and kneeling beside Sirius and Remus. The force of Lily pushing past him had made Severus fall to his knees but he had quickly pulled himself up.

"What'd I do?" James asked, weakly grabbing Sirius' arm.

"You did nothing- you did- you did nothing." Sirius said frantically. "Lily- have you got him?"

"Yes-" Lily said. She had ripped open James' shirt to look at the cuts in more detail. They were fatally deep. There was blood everywhere.

Sirius stood to his full height and walked towards Severus and Peter.

"Peter, I need you to go and get Madame Pomfrey. Quickly." Sirius ordered before turning to Severus. "You better hope he lives!"

"I hope he dies-"

"I did it!" Sirius spat in Severus' face. "I pranked you, so what? You decide to try kill my best friend because of a little prank that he had nothing to do with?"

"I didn't-" Severus tried to defend himself but then swallowed. "You've both tortured me! What did I ever do to you?"

"Sirius!" Sirius turned to see Lily, beckoning him closer.

"He'll be okay?" Sirius asked. Lily shook her head. Remus sat motionless, staring down at James' face. Lily held James' hand tightly. She had tried as many spells as she could but nothing was working well enough. Every spell she tried was sloppy because she was emotional. Sirius sat down beside his best friend and held his other hand. By now Peter was long gone and was already in the castle even though it had taken Lily almost twice as long to cover that distance, nothing was going to stop Peter from getting James help.

"I'm here, James." Sirius said softly and then tried to lighten the mood. "I'm still taller."

"Bastard." James tried to laugh but ended up rolling onto his side whilst coughing up blood.

"You're going to Azkaban." Remus said softly to Severus. In response, Severus took several steps back before falling back to his knees, finally realising what he had done.

"I need you to tell Lily something, Sirius." James said, struggling. "Tell her I'm-"

"I know," Lily said, rolling him back onto his back. She had manged to heal half of the gashes but he was still bleeding out at an alarming rate. Remus had also tried to heal him earlier but nothing had worked. It was useless.

"I'm so sorry." James whimpered before rolling on his side to cough up more blood. James had managed to try keep his cool for as long as he could but he had now resorted into a red-faced, runny nosed, crying child. Although his nose was running with blood rather than the alternative. Tears streamed down his face and his cheeks burned.

"I'm so sorry." James repeated, crying hysterically.

"No- I'm so sorry." Sirius said, now crying equally as hard as James was.

"Sirius!" Everyone turned to see Peter running back as quickly as he could but it was quite a distance. Closely behind him was Madame Pomfrey who had kicked up her speed and overtook Peter when she saw the crowd of people surrounded the almost-motionless James lying on the ground.

"Hold on, Prongs." Remus said, finally snapping out of it and returning to James' side.

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs." James said, forcing a weak smile, before closing his eyes.