First only- Harry Potter fanfic! Sorry for typos and OOCS, I don't own the series. (obviously)

Takes place in sixth year.

Lily's POV

Severus and I were fighting. Again.

It was the third time this week. He cornered me after lunch, before my free period. He came trying to apologize for calling me that word, but he would not be forgiven.

When I still refused, that 'friendly' little conversation quickly deteriorated into this. A shouting match.

The next thing I knew, his fist made contact with my face.

His face went from anger, to utter shock. He looked from me, to his fist, and back to me. "Lily—" he stuttered. "Lily, I-I—"

I felt my nostrils flare, and I whipped my wand out of my robes and slashed it through the air, putting the tip right in front of his crooked nose. I blinked back a few tears threatening to fall.

"Get away from me." I glared at him. "Now."

"Lils, I-I'm sor—"

I waved my wand, shooting a non-verbal spell. He flew backward and hit the wall, several bruises on his face.

"It's Evans." I snapped. "It will always, be Evans." I locked his legs for good measure, and turned on my heel and stormed towards the Gryffindor tower.

The longer I walked, the more I thought about what just happened, which made me angrier by the second.

"Wormwood." I practically yelled at the portrait leading to the common room.

"Tsk, tsk." She clucked. "Someone's not in a good mood." She swung forward.

I crawled through quick as possible, and dashed through the room to my dorm as fast as possible. Luckily, there wasn't many people to see me pass, as not everyone had a free period.

I slammed my bookbag into my bed and dashed toward the mirror, gingerly touching the bruise that was already forming. Of all places, he had to hit me in the eye? Did you know you can break your iris? I know, it's really disgusting.

Cursing under my breath, I used my wand to make the pain go away. I wasn't going to cover it up. I don't know why. Something was just telling me not to. I didn't care who saw it. I definitely was not going to go to the infirmary for something as stupid as a black eye.

I sighed and opened the top of my trunk, rather harshly, I might add. I dug through the normally neat piles of books until I found the one I wanted. It was a muggle classic novel, one of my favorites. I closed my trunk, and stomped down the steps of the dormitory, back into the common room. The dorm was just too quiet. it was unnerving. I ignored the looks I got from the few others in the room.

I settled into my favorite armchair in front of the fire. I had only read the first chapter when four figures burst into the common room, chattering loudly.

None other than the four 'marauders', as they called themselves, had settled down into the couches set slightly diagonal to the chair I was in. I kept reading.

I noticed their talking was slowly dying down. "Lily…" I heard Potter mutter.

They had noticed.

Let me explain. James Potter and Sirius Black are insufferable idiots. Potter is completely intent on winning me over, claiming he's in love, and Black supports him completely. Peter Pettigrew, the third one, it's okay. Kind of weird though, just follows the other three around like some overloaded fan. Remus Lupin is the only tolerable one of the group. He's not a troublemaker, he's smart and loves reading like me, and he's a prefect. Since last year when we both became prefects, we've been friends, and are even on a first name basis.

"Lily..." Potter muttered again, then coughed slightly. "I mean, Evans. Evans, what happened?"

His voice sounded slightly off, like it didn't have it's usual arrogance in it. My eyes paused on the page, then continued.

"Lily." This time it was Remus. I looked over the top of my book and glared at the four. "Lily, what happened?" Remus coaxed.

"Severus." I mumbled in a low voice, and brought my eyes back to the page.

They exchanged troubled glances. The four of them knew my history with Severus, how I had been friends with him since before Hogwarts. They witnessed him calling me a you-know-what, and are even part of the reason he called me that in the first place.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the angry expressions on their faces. The anger was more prominent on Black's and Potter's face, since they despised him the most.

"Um." Remus started. "What did you do?"

I shrugged, in the best way I could in my slumped position. "Hexed him. Threw him against the wall. Gave him some nasty bruises and locked his legs together."

Black scoffed. "Really, Evans? You locked his legs together? Thats it?"

I glared at him. "I used an uncommon one, Black. It has a much harder countercurse."

He clapped. "Nice, Evans. Guess you're on our team now, huh?"

I glared at him harder and he flinched. "No, Black, I am not. I will never stoop to your level of pranking and hurting people you hate."

He put his hands up in surrender. "Hey, don't get all riled up, it was just a question. And stop glaring! You look five times scarier with a black eye."

I smirked slightly. Remus turned to me and asked, "Are you alright to patrol tonight? With... You know...?"

I rolled my eyes. "I can walk, Remus. I have a black eye, not a broken leg. Yes, I can patrol."

As prefects, we had to patrol the corridors after curfew for students out of bed. Remus and I had been assigned the first floor, which is good because you only have to patrol for an hour on that floor.

He coughed. "Well, I wouldn't know..." He trailed off and his eyes widened. "Wait! Lily, I can't patrol tonight!"

I cocked my head to the left. "Why not?"

He looked towards his friends uncomfortably. "I... Uh..."

"His aunt is sick!" Peter piped up.

I laughed. "So, it's your ''time of the month'' Again?"

The four froze. "How... How did you know about that?" Remus said in a strained voice.

I rolled my eyes again. "I've known since, like, second year. And no, I haven't told anyone."

"Well, you found out earlier than us. It took us 'till the middle of third year to find out." Sirius laughed.

I rolled my eyes and looked at Remus. "No, I don't hate you, and who are you going to have cover for you?" I asked.

He looked too the ceiling as if going through everyone's schedules. He sighed. "The only person available is the Slytherin prick."

I groaned and shook my head. "No. Not him."

Remus looked hopefully toward Sirius. "Sirius?"

"No. Not him either. I am not patrolling with that." I cut in.

Remus sighed. "James?"

"That's not any better!"

Remus sighed. "Lily, it's the only other option you have. Unless you want to patrol alone or with the Slytherin?"

I groaned and flopped my head into my knees.

"Is that a yes?"

"Leave me alone." I mumbled into my kneecaps.

"Yeah, that's a yes.

"Um, Evans?" Potter said uncertainly from where he stood near the couch. "It's time to patrol."

I groaned and snapped my book shut, then flopped to my feet. "Lets get this over with." I muttered. I shoved the book into my bag and slung it over my shoulder.

"You have your wand?" I asked.

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you worrying about me?"

I glared at him. "Actually, Potter, I am not. I am asking because often times on patrols, gangs of Slytherins come along and make trouble. I'd rather not do all the work."

He raised his hands in defense. "Okay, sorry. Yes, I have it."

I marched past him, swung open the portrait and crawled through. He stepped out as well and held an arm out to me. "Shall we?"

"Yeah, no." I said flatly, and started walking down the stairs at my usual fast pace.

Potter hurried after me until we were walking equal to each other.

As soon as we got to the first floor I checked my watch. 8:57.

"What are you checking your watch for?" Potter asked.

"I don't want to patrol with for a second longer than I have to, Potter."

He pretended to look offended. "Well, then."

We continued walking in silence.

"Say, why do you call me by my last name, anyways?" He asked. "You called me James in first year."

I rolled my eyes even though he couldn't see. "That was before I learned your personality. Before you acted like an arrogant git around me."

"Aw, come on, Evans…"

"You call me Evans," I pointed out. "Why do you call me that?"

Out of the corner of my eye I saw him scratch his neck. "I don't know." He said. "Because you call me Potter?"

I sighed. "But I have a reason to."

"And so do I."

"You're so insufferable."

"Tell me, why do you hate me so much?"

"Oh? I don't know." I said sarcastically. "Maybe because from first to fourth year you and Black would go out of your way to prank me, to make fun of me, and basically reduce me to tears. All because of this "crush" you have." I made air quotes.

He turned to me, his expression unreadable. "I did all that?"

I nodded in a "duh" sort of way.

His eyes widened. "Li— Evans, I'm so sorry."

I smirked. "You've been calling me Evans for 5 years and you're still slipping up on it."

"Well." He smiled shyly. "That's because I only call you Evans to you."

I raised my eyebrows. "Really?"

He nodded.

"Well, I refer to you as Potter to everybody." I said, matter-of-factly.

He rolled his eyes at me as we turned a corner. And almost ran into three Slytherins. Snape, Mulciber, and Avery.

"Well, well, well." Mulciber sneered. "Our favorite Gryffindors are on a date."

I quickly glanced at Snape, his expression hurt and confused. Good.

Now, should I use Mulciber's comment to my favor? I wondered. Nah, I thought. Not worth it.

"Oh, please." I scoffed and whipped out my wand. "Leave, or Ill report you."

Now it was Avery's turn to sneer. "And who will you report us to after Hogwarts?"

I shrugged nonchalantly. "No one. After Hogwarts, it won't be against the rules to hex you into the next century." I retorted.

Aver licked his lips, and as if to regain his dignity, he asked, "What about that black eye Snape gave you? It makes you a lot uglier than you were. I didn't know that was possible."

I smiled. "Oh, thank you! I was trying to look like you today. I'm practicing for Halloween."

All three of them glared at me, without a comeback.

"Whatever, mudblood." Mulciber laughed.

"Yeah, you're just a mudblood. Who cares?"

"Hey—" Potter finally spoke up, but I held up my hand.

Mulciber and Avery looked at Snape. "What are you waiting for?"

Snape looked at them, then at me.

"Mudblood." He spat.

I sighed, glad it was dark. They couldn't see my eyes watering. "Idiots." I said. "Can't you see that you can't hurt me with that word anymore?"

They were about to reply, but Potter piped up, "Leave. Now." He snapped.

Snape sneered at him. "Who's gonna make us?"

"Not me, but I can tell you Professor Mcgonagall is just down the hall." He pointed down the hall. I turned to where he was pointing, and by the time I looked back, the Slytherins were gone.

"I was lying about—" Potter started, but was interrupted.

"Lying about what, Mr. Potter?"

Professor Mcgonagall had turned the corner and was looking at us disapprovingly.

"Never mind." Potter corrected himself.

She looked from Potter, to me, and back to Potter.

"What are you doing out of bed? And Ms. Evans, I expected better from you! Aren't you supposed to be patrolling?"

I smiled slightly. "We are, Professor. Remus couldn't patrol tonight, so he asked Potter to fill in."

She nodded in understanding.

"Oh, I was lying when I told the Slytherins who were here that you were coming. But it's not a lie anymore."

She nodded, but then stopped. "Ms. Evans, what happened to your eye?"

"I was punched in the eye." I responded coldly.

"Oh, let me fix that for you." She started to take out her wand, but I stopped her.

"No, really Professor, it's alright. I've taken away the pain."

She looked at me, confused. "Are you sure?"

I nodded. "I don't want to cover it up or make it go away. I don't want to change the way I look because others want me too."

She sighed and nodded. "Forgive me. I just assumed." She looked from me to Potter. "Good luck, you two." She walked between us, and continued down the hallway.

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Now that that's over."

We started walking again. "You know, Evans." Potter said. "If it makes you feel better, you're very pretty, even with the black eye. It doesn't change anything."

I smiled at the carefulness in his tone, like I would explode if he didn't say it right. "Thanks, Potter, but I don't care much when it comes to what others think of me."

He nodded. "That's... That's good. But did you really mean what you said back there?"

"What?"

"You said the Slytherins couldn't hurt you with that word. But... When Snape said it…"

I sighed, and wiped away a tear before it fell. "Snape and I... We were friends before Hogwarts. Since I was nine years old."

He raised an eyebrow. I guess he hadn't known we went that far back.

"I knew what the Slytherins called me, to my face and behind my back." I said. "I told Snape about that, and he assured me he didn't think of me that way. That was obviously a lie. Now I know what he really said about me behind my back."

Potter made a motion as if he wanted to comfort me, but held back. "Well, they're just prejudiced Slytherins. Now you can be like us!" He opened his arms in a 'look at me!' Sort of way.

I breathed out a puff of air through my nose. "Okay, Potter, whatever." I said.

He pointed a finger at me. "You're not yelling. You're not hexing me! Why aren't you hexing me? Who are you and what have you done to the real Lily Evans?"

I laughed. "I am Dumbledore." I responded sarcastically. "I've trapped her inside a crystal ball in hopes she will make a cocoon and turn into a butterfly."

Potter looked at me in disbelief, then laughed. "Wow, Evans, you're funny. Not only did you just laugh at something I said, but who else would make up a response like that?"

I rolled my eyes. "Dumbledore, duh?"

Potter smirked. "I guess you're really warming up to me, huh?"

"Keep trying."

He pouted, then brightened. "How about we call each other by our first names?"

I looked at him and blinked. "What?"

He shrugged. "It was just a thought. I'd like to call you Lily to your face."

I sighed. "I don't know. I've called you Potter to everyone. Mainly because I hated you."

"Did you really?"

I shrugged. "Not... Not hate you for no reason. I hated you for what you did to me."

He looked at me curiously. "You're using past tense."

I smiled slightly. He had caught it.

"I don't do that to me now, do I?" He asked in a worried tone.

I shook my head. "No, not any more. But you trailing after me like a love sick puppy, that's annoying."

He turned to me, still walking. "Lily."

I raised my eyebrow at the sound of my first name coming from him. "Yes?"

"I mean it, Lily. I do. I actually love you. That's not a lie. It never was." His voice sounded tighter, and he faced forward again.

My mouth formed into an 'o' at sincerity in his voice. "Really?"

He nodded. "Yes."

I smiled with the corner of my mouth. "I always thought it was fake, and you were only doing this because I'm the only girl you can't get."

He shook his head, while I noted the disappointment in his expression. "It's not. I promise."

"Well then." I grinned. "Since you're calling me Lily, I get to call you James."

He stared at me with wide eyes, lit up like a Christmas tree. "Really?"

I nodded. "Don't get a bigger head. You won't be able to get off your broomstick."

He grinned even wider. "There's the usual insult!"

I rolled my eyes, muttering, "arrogant toe—rag." Underneath my breath.

I looked ahead, and saw we were almost in front of the portrait hole. I was about to say the password, when a hand was over my mouth.

James grinned at me. "Wormwood." He said to the portrait, and removed his hand from my face.

I glared at him, then wrinkled my nose. "Bleugh." I said. "Your hand tastes like sweat."

He shot me a playful look, then gestured for me to go into the common room first.

I shook my head. "You first."

"Lily, I'm not moving until you go in first."

"You're impossible." I mumbled, and crawled into the common room. It was completely empty and dark, even though it was only just after 10 o'clock. The fire was almost out, and it caused flashes of light to dance around the room.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" James grinned.

"Whatever, Potter." I playfully snapped.

"Oh, so it's Potter now, huh?" He asked, adopting a hurt expression, which I rolled my eyes to. Suddenly I realized how close we were standing to each other. I subtly backed up half a step.

"Lily?" James asked suddenly.

"Yeah?"

He cleared his throat. "Oh, um, nothing. It's nothing."

"Yeah, sure." I said sarcastically. "So are you going to tell me what's wro—"

A pair of lips cut me off. James's lips. Oh Merlin, what's happening.

It didn't surprise me much, to be honest. It's exactly the sort of thing he would do. What surprised me was something different.

I liked it.

What is wrong with me? I screeched in my head. I blinked, and moved my head backwards, breaking the connection.

He looked down at me, (I'm not that much shorter!) and a breath hitched in my throat as I saw the emotions swimming through his eyes. The most prominent was new- desperation.

He gulped loudly. "Lily?" He asked, his voice hoarse. "Come to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

I looked toward the ceiling in exasperation, and sighed. I shifted my weight onto one leg and stared at him, head cocked to one side with my eyebrows raised.

I watched his expression harden, and he turned away. "Never mind." He said sharply. "I shouldn't have asked."

He turned to walk away, but I grabbed his elbow. He began to yank his arm out of my hand, but before he could, I whispered, "James, wait."

He turned, glaring at me. My heart broke seeing the hurt in his eyes, but I still leaned back against the wall, an amused expression on my face.

"You suck at asking out girls." I said flatly.

He looked at me surprised, losing the cold face. "What?"

I rolled my eyes. "Come on. You don't just say the girls name, and a place to go and expect a yes!"

He squinted at me, confused. "What else do I do?"

I leaned my head against the wall. "I don't know, make it more meaningful and unique."

"But I don't know how to do that!"

"Just try."

He opened his mouth, surprised that I was giving him another chance.

"Well," He started. "Um, so, Lily Evans..." He paused, his eyes darted around as if looking for inspiration.

"Yes?" I asked playfully.

"Um, Lily Evans, will you do the honor... Will you do the honor of accompanying me to Hogsmeade tomorrow?"

I sighed through my nose at his inexperience. "Oh alright. Yes."

He looked kind of startled. "Wait, what?"

"All of that, and you still expected it to be a no?"

He shrugged sheepishly. "It's always been a no."

I rolled my eyes again and sighed.

I watched as he leaned over to kiss me again, but I held my finger to his lips. "Ah ah ah." I said teasingly. "You'll have to wait." I turned at pattered up the steps to the girls dormitory without looking back.

Maybe that wasn't as uneventful as I thought, I said to myself, and smiled.

Shall I continue?