Disclaimer: If I were J., would I be uploading this in a genetics lecture? No.
The beginning of the story is a rewrite from Snapes worst memory.
It was exam time. There were more than a hundred of smaller tables, all facing the same way, at each of which sat a student, head bent low, scribbling on a roll of parchment. The only sound was the scratching of quills and the occasional rustle as somebody adjusted their parchment.
Sunshine was streaming through the high windows on to the bent heads, which shone chestnut and copper and gold in the bright light.
'Five more minutes!'
She saw the top of Professor Flitwick's head moving between the desks a short distance away.
She'd finished the exam, her paper nicely titled in big letters: DEFENCE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS - ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL.
She looked over to where James was sitting, fascinated with the boy, even though he drove her insane.
James yawned hugely and rumpled up his hair, making it even messier than it had been. Then, with a glance towards Professor Flitwick, he turned in his seat and grinned at a boy sitting four seats behind him. It was his best friend, Sirius Black. They were practically inseperable. She knew that if you wanted one, you'd have to accept the other. A smile crossed her lips as she contemplated that depth of friendship. Even she and Alice weren't that close.
'Quills down please!' squeaked Professor Flitwick. 'That means you too, Stebbins! Please remain seated while I collect your parchment! Accio!'
Over a hundred rolls of parchment zoomed into the air and into Professor Flitwick's outstretched arms, knocking him backwards off his feet. Several people laughed. A couple of students at the front desks got up, took hold of Professor Flitwick beneath the elbows and lifted him back onto his feet.
'Thank you… thank you,' panted Professor Flitwick. 'Very well, everybody, you're free to go!'
She joined her friends at the door of the hall, 'To the lake?' she asked, wanting finally to have a break.
'Bloody right!' Katie answered, pointing dramatically in that direction before walking quickly that way.
Alice smiled and followed Katie.
Susan looked at her emotionlessly. 'Shall we then?' Susan asked in a monotone voice.
'Sure...' and they began to follow the others.
'Wait up!' Mary called, running to catch up with them.
'Sorry Mary' she said, as she stopped to wait for Mary to catch up. Then they all strode off through the castle and down the lawn towards the lake.
They stopped at edge of the lake and threw themselves down on the grass. Laughing with happiness about the end of the exam, chatting amongst themselves they quickly discarded their shoes and socks.
The sunlight was dazzling on the smooth surface of the lake, and the girls sat on the bank with their shoes and socks off, cooling their feet in the water.
'How do you think you went?' Alice asked.
She groaned, 'Lets just not talk about this right now. I really don't want to go through that again.'
Katie laughed. 'My thoughts exactly! By the way, what are you girls doing for the holidays? I have the house free for the entire time.' she lowered her voice as if she were a conspirator, 'My brother is moving to the states and mum and dad are going on, what the muggles call, a 'dig'. Apparently its something to do with the uncovering of ancient materials. They use something called a shovrel.'
She laughed. 'It's a shovel Kat. Sounds like fun. I'm free to come over for a while.'
Alice nodded. 'I can't stay all holiday; Frank wants me to meet his parents, but I'll be free for some time to come over.'
Susan merely nodded, before changing the subject. 'James is trying to get your attention again.'
She sighed. 'I know.'
Alice smiled, 'I think it's cute.'
'I know' she repeated rolling her eyes.
Katie jumped up, splashing them with water. 'James loves Lily! James loves Lily!' she said loudly in a sing-song voice.
Lily sighed. 'Keep your voice down, Kat.'
Alice giggled. 'Lily loves James.'
'I do not! He's a prat. We've been through this.'
'Whatever.' Katie replied.
'Expelliarmus!' They heard shouted. She turned to look to see what was going on, noticing her friends doing the same. She turned just in time to see Severus' wand fall to the ground with a thud behind him, and hear Sirius Black let out a laugh that sounded almost like a bark.
'Impedimenta!' Sirius said, pointing his wand at Snape, who was knocked off his feet halfway through a dive towards his own fallen wand.
Students all around had turned to watch. Some of them had got to their feet and were edging nearer. Some looked apprehensive, others entertained. She got to her feet, dusting herself off, and putting her shoes and socks back on.
Snape lay panting on the ground. James and Sirius advanced on him, wands raised, James glancing over his shoulder to look at her as he went; this was obviously another attempt to attract her attention. 'Immature prat' she muttered to herself. Her friends laughed behind her.
'How'd the exam go, Snivelly?' said James.
'I was watching him, his nose was touching the parchment,' said Sirius viciously. 'There'll be great grease marks all over it, they won't be able to read a word.'
Several people watching laughed; Lily was furious that anyone could think this was funny. She began to march over, thinking it had gone far enough. The Marauders were funny enough, if only they'd stop the bullying.
Wormtail sniggered shrilly. Snape was trying to get up, but the jinx was still operating on him; he was struggling, as though bound by invisible ropes.
'You - wait,' he panted, staring up at James with an expression of purest loathing, 'you - wait!'
'Wait for what?' said Sirius coolly. 'What're you going to do, Snivelly, wipe your nose on us?'
Snape let out a scream of mixed swear words and hexes, but with his wand ten feet away nothing happened.
'Wash out your mouth,' said James coldly. 'Scourgify!'
Pink soap bubbles streamed from Snape's mouth at once; the froth was covering his lips, making him gag, choking him -
'Leave him ALONE!' she shouted at them, having finally reached them.
James and Sirius looked round. James's free hand immediately jumped to his hair.
'All right, Evans?' said James, and the tone of his voice was suddenly pleasant, deeper, more mature.
'Leave him alone,' Lily repeated. She was looking at James with every sign of great dislike. 'What's he done to you?'
'Well,' said James, appearing to deliberate the point, 'it's more the fact that he exists, if you know what I mean…'
Many of the surrounding students laughed, Sirius and Wormtail included, but Lupin, still apparently intent on his book, didn't, and nor did Lily. It was times like this when she truly hated James Potter.
'You think you're funny,' she said coldly. 'But you're just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter. Leave him alone.'
'I will if you go out with me, Evans,' said James quickly. 'Go on… go out with me and I'll never lay a wand on old Snivelly again.'
Behind him, the Impediment Jinx was wearing off. Snape was beginning to inch towards his fallen wand, spitting out soapsuds as he crawled. Lily watched, hoping that he'd get away whilst she was arguing with Potter.
'I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid,' said Lily.
'Bad luck, Prongs,' said Sirius briskly, and turned back to Snape. 'OI!'
But too late; Snape had directed his wand straight at James; there was a flash of light and a gash appeared on the side of James's face, spattering his robes with blood. James whirled about: a second flash of light later, Snape was hanging upside-down in the air, his robes falling over his head to reveal skinny, pallid legs and a pair of greying underpants.
Many people in the small crowd cheered; Sirius, James and Wormtail roared with laughter.
Lily, whose furious expression had twitched for an instant as though she was going to smile, said, 'Let him down!'
'Certainly,' said James and he jerked his wand upwards; Snape fell into a crumpled heap on the ground. Disentangling himself from his robes he got quickly to his feet, wand up, but Sirius said, 'Petrificus Totalus!' and Snape kneeled over again, rigid as a board.
'LEAVE HIM ALONE!' Lily shouted. She had her own wand out now. James and Sirius eyed it warily. She wasn't going to let these boys bully her best friend, even if he was drifting into a bad area (she knew it, she just wasn't ready to accept it just yet. She hoped he would see sense before she had to).
'Ah, Evans, don't make me hex you,' said James earnestly.
'Take the curse off him, then!' she thought it was a resonable request.
James sighed deeply, then turned to Snape and muttered the counter-curse.
'There you go,' he said, as Snape struggled to his feet. 'You're lucky Evans was here, Snivellus -'
'I don't need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!'
Lily blinked. Her heart stopped. 'How could he?? After all they'd been through together!' she thought.
'Fine,' she said coolly. 'I won't bother in the future. And I'd wash your pants if I were you, Snivellus.'
'Apologise to Evans!' James roared at Snape, his wand pointed threateningly at him.
'I don't want you to make him apologise,' Lily shouted, rounding on James. Furious at him. Furious with Severus for finally bowing to peer pressure. And furious with herself for trusting that he wouldn't. 'You're as bad as he is.'
'What?' yelped James. 'I'd NEVER call you a - you-know-what!'
'Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you've just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can - I'm surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK.'
She turned on her heel and hurried away.
'Evans!' James shouted after her. 'Hey, EVANS!'
But she didn't look back. The tears were starting to well in her eyes.
Memories of her friendship with Severus flashed through her mind.
'Does it make any difference being Muggle born?'
Snape's black eyes, eager in the greenish gloom, moved over the pale face, the dark red hair.
'No,' he said. 'It doesn't make any difference.'
The tears started flowing down her face, as she hurried quickly to the common room, to sit on a couch there.
'My friends don't understand why I'm friends with you.'
He looked nervous, worried, eyes tracing her face as if looking for something. 'Do you?'
She smiled. 'Of course Sev. You're my best friend; it would be pretty shocking if I didn't'
A large smile spread across his face. 'You're my best friend as well.'
She nodded. 'Friends forever'
Hours later, or moments, she wasn't sure, she was still sitting on the couch near the fire.
'Lily?' His tentative question cut through her sobbing.
She gave a gasp. 'Leave me alone, Potter!'
"Lily... he had no right to call you that. You're not.... how dare he... you're... " he stopped trying to think of the right words.
She shook her head, hiding her tear stained eyes behind a a wall of crimson hair. "Of course he did, he was right."
If she'd thought to look up she'd have seen a flicker of pain flash across his face, but she didn't see anything until he suddenly dropped to his knees in front of her, staring through her hair with a blazing intensity that almost frightened her.
"Give me your hand" he said in a commanding, fierce tone. She was too shocked to refuse.
She felt his calloused fingers turn over her hand. He rubbed her palm for a moment then apologised "I'm sorry - in advance"
A searing pain went through her palm; she looked away from his face to glance down at her hand, to see a large fresh cut, bleeding profusely.
Her gaze flicked from her hand to his, to see it clutching a small pocket knife.
She looked back at his face in shock.
"Does that look dirty to you? It looks the same as anyone elses to me."
A pause as he looked down. She looked down to gaze at the gaping hole in her hand, not noticing that his hands were no where in veiw.
Suddenly his hand blocked her veiw; a gaping hole to match her own on his palm. He moved to his, side by side with hers. "They look the same to me"
He placed his hand upon hers, cut against cut.
"My blood is the same as your blood. You're as pure as I am - whatever that means. And I'm as pure as you are." At this she looked up to meet his eyes, to see him staring back at her; intense, unadulterated affection in his eyes.
"Never let anyone tell you otherwise. We are not our family. We are not our history. We are only this. This moment. These minds. These hearts." He increased the pressure of his hand on mine. "You are an exceptional girl, Lily Evans. Inspite of who your family is - where you came from. You're a butterfly amongst caterpillars." A pause, and he looked down. "Severus has some good in him. I know that because you could see it -because he could love you - but he had so much pain, and those so called friends of his encouraged that - and permitted his rage to consume him. It's so easy to let rage consume you. So easy to hate the world for its injustices. It takes true courage to love the world for all its beauty - to truly let love in" he reached up to push a stray hair behind her hair."You're one of life's miracles, Lily."
Tears filled her eyes, but this time from happiness.
He pulled his hand from hers, bringing his wand close with his other hand and muttered something. The edges of the cut pulled together, leaving only the whitening of a scar and a small bump. He did the same to his own, and got up to leave.
"Wait"
He stopped. "Sit please - James" he sat down next to her "I'm sorry" she didn't need to explain. "Thank you"
He smiled at her, a true smile - not the normal smirk he normally gave her. The smile she'd seen him give his friends, and wondered why she never received it, when he claimed to care about her so much. "Anytime Lily."
And they sat there, in silence, until their friends came to find them.
AN: All of Lily's friends have been used before (In my story Bound for Disaster and He's doing it again!)
I've had this story in production for a fair while now. So glad I've finally got the beginning down!
I'll update as soon as possible.
R&R