Hey there, readers&reviewers! Eep, a new story! And I'm really excited about this one-especially since it's being co-written by amazingly talented friend BondSlave!
BondSlave and I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 over the weekend, and we just got so inspired that we had to write. Here is the product of that! ^.^ We intend this to be a rather long story, as we've got lots of ideas for it, and we hope you enjoy it. x)

This story takes place during the Marauders Era of Hogwarts. (i.e., When James Potter, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, Severus Snap, Lily Evans, etc. all attended school at Hogwarts.) The first two chapters are sort of...pre-chapters to get you introduced to the characters. Then the story REALLY starts. This first one's kind of short, but the second one is MUCH longer.

Anywhoo, BondSlave and I thank you for reading, and would love to hear what you think of it! Happy reading!

-Pre-I. Third Year-
In which you meet the girls.

Alisha Spinners, Slytherin third-year, walked calmly down the stone corridors, her heeled shoes tapping quite satisfactorily against the gray and worn stone. Students rushed around her as they hurried off to their classes, the fear of detention and extracted house points causing their scuttling onward.

Alisha was an average girl—not overly pretty but not completely unattractive. She had shoulder lengthed wavy hair that was far too thick and seemed to have a mind of its own. No one was exactly sure what her natural hair color was, seeing as it changed from blonde to black and anything inbetween on a regular basis. Her skin was oddly pale and her fingernails were always painted—usually some shade of blue or black. She wore little make up save for a pale pink eyeshadow that caused her green hazel eyes to pop, accented by her long eyelashes, which were usually coated in mascara.

Alisha walked calmly into the potions class room where the students talked and laughed and were grouped together. She crossed to a back table that would seat four or five people and took a seat. She set her black and white bag on the table and began pulling out her potion books and ingredients, not forgetting her parchment, ink and quill.

Though not being an overly sociable individual, she rather enjoyed working in groups while making potions. Mostly due to the fact that she was utterly and hopelessly poor at brewing them. Either she would mix up ingredients or she would simply not be able to do all of the work in time. But when in a group, even when the people around here were rather...slow, she was able to figure things out faster by watching them. This usually got her a passing grade in the class.

;;;;;

"Excuse me! Excuse me!" said a breathless Kelsey Edwards, Ravenclaw third-year, as she pushed her way through the masses of students hurrying to get to their own classes. She did her best to be polite as she made her way towards the potions classroom, but she couldn't risk being late. She was always on time for her classes, but often only getting there a minute or two before the professor. She usually didn't leave the library or the common room or wherever she'd been until the last possible moment. Which usually caused her to rush to her classes to keep her perfect attendance.

Kelsey often described herself as "nothing special," just herself. She was rather short, just over five feet tall. Her thick, straight, short brown hair hit just at her chin, and was streaked throughout with sun-colored highlights. A fringe of bangs swept to the right across her forehead. She had one streak on the right side of her hair, though, that was different from the rest of her hair. It had been brown just like the rest of her hair when she'd been born, but now it changed color more times than she could count—changed with her mood. She found it most inconvenient, as she didn't like the entire school knowing how she was feeling or what she was thinking. She'd tried dying it and hiding it, but the streak always came back, brighter and bolder than before, as if it were mocking her.

Her skin was pale, as she often stayed inside reading or writing rather than going outside, and she would often paint her nails various colors, as if trying to match the streak in her hair. She never left the common room without a little bit of makeup, usually some black eyeliner, light wine-colored eyeshadow, and dark mascara around her bright blue-green eyes.

Kelsey stumbled into the potions classroom, almost tripping and falling over an uneven part of the floor—not an unusual occurrence. A few students looked up at her curiously. She blushed a little, her streak turned from black to a tan-brown, and she cleared her throat, straightened her robe, and shuffled off to go find a seat before the professor showed up. She sheepishly took a seat beside her friend, Alisha Spinner, and started unpacking her notebook, quill, and ink.

Alisha looked at Kelsey for a moment as she did this. "Let me guess," she said, "you were in the library reading and lost track of time again?"

Kelsey sighed. "You can't really blame me for discovering a good book, now can you?"

Alisha laughed softly. "No, I suppose not."

;;;;;

Alisha and Kelsey had known each other before attending Hogwarts and, despite having been sorted into seperate houses, they didn't let that fact keep them from upholding their friendship. They didn't think that the segregation was healthy or at all wise. So even despite sometimes getting looked down upon, they held their heads high and continued building their friendship.

Alisha glanced up from her pile of stuff. The class had filled up quickly and there was little room at any of the tables. One or two seats rested unoccupied here or there, but they were not at all welcoming. She stood up and leaned over the corner of the table gently tugging on the robe sleeve of a black haired boy. "Severus you can sit here," she stated as she sat back down.

The boy glanced at her and nodded, mumbling a thank you (that didn't sound all that thankful) before taking a seat opposite the two girls.

Alisha just nodded, seemingly not bothered by the ungrateful tone in the other's voice. She was no doubt used to it due to the fact that she was a Slytherin and was often forced to be around rather rude and rash people.

;;;;;

Kelsey glanced up slightly as Severus took a seat at the table. He was a Slytherin like Alisha, so she didn't know him quite as well as she did. She knew him to be rather shy and quiet, but not much beyond that. She did not disapprove of him sitting at the table, and tried to give him a small smile of welcome, but he just averted his eyes down to his notebook.

While Kelsey did not disapprove of Severus' presence at their table, there was one boy in particular whose precense she very much disapproved of.

She started in surprise when she felt a hand tugging on her hair—on her streak, to be more specific. She turned her head slightly to see who it was, and found it to be none other than James Potter, a cocky Gryffindor in her year.

James grinned at her annoyed expression. "Heeey, Edwards," he greeted.

She rolled her eyes and turned away. "Don't you have innocent first-years to torment?" she asked dryly.

"Nah, saving that for the weekend," he replied. He dropped his bag on the floor next to the chair next to her, and she stared at him as he sat down. Was he really stooping so low as to sit with them?

Kelsey's streak started to turn black again as she tried to focus on going over the notes she'd taken the day before.

James poked her in the shoulder. "So what's black mean?"

"It's really none of your concern," she replied, not looking at him. Now her streak had tints of red in it.

"What about red?"

"If she's not smiling, run for your life," Alisha advised.

James chuckled. "What could a little Ravenclaw do to me?"

"You'd be surprised," Alisha said.

;;;;;

Severus, who hadn't even bothered looking up from his notes, muttered something under his breath. Alisha, who was closer to him, snickered at his comment. The little exchange did not go unnoticed, however, and James turned his sights on them.

"What are the two of you talking about over there?" he asked, dull hazel-brown eyes narrowing on the two Slytherins.

Neither replied.

He sneered and loudly unloaded his book bag onto the table. "Are you flirting with your girlfriend Snivvely?"

Alisha tensed automatically, eyeing Severus as his knuckles tightened on his notebook. Neither wanted to get prevoked into a fight—verbal or not—with James Potter. It always led to trouble.

The spiky-haired brunette set his sights on Alisha, eyeing her up and down before turning his attention back to Severus and putting his wicked tongue back to work. "Seems even you can't do better," he said with a snicker.

Alisha did little more than blush at the insult, but it looked as though Severus was ready to draw his wand and curse James into next Friday. Fortunately, that didn't happen.

A notebook came out of nowhere and smacked James upside the head with conciderable force. The Quidditch player yelped and jumped, obviously surprised by the attack. He rubbed at the back of his head and twisted in his seat to see who had attacked him.

"To think you would stoop so low to insult a girl James." Standing behind James with a look of total and utter disapproval, stuffing his notebook back in his bag, was Remus Lupin. He was a tall, thin figure with peachy skin, but an overall unhealthy looking complexion; light brown hair; and blue eyes. He wore a pair of ratty old jeans that were at least two sizes too big for him and a green sweater with a whole near the bottom. His patched robes hung loosely around his slim frame.

James scoffed in disbelief before pointing towards Alisha, who once again tensed under the scrutiny. "She's a Slytherin."

"So what? That doesn't give you the right to insult her!" Kelsey snapped at him, the streak in her hair had turned a deep shade of red. It was obvious from the expression her face that she was not at all pleased.

Remus nodded at her. "Too right. James, that was low even for you. And if you do not wish me to tell Professor Slughorn that you are already causing trouble in class, I would choose seating elsewhere."

James' eyes narrowed, but Remus seemed undaunted. He nodded his head at the table on the other side of the room where Sirius was just taking his seat. "Go and sit with Sirius, James." He said before narrowing his own eyes. "Or I might just let slip some other unpleasentries that could get you detention for a month."

James scowled and grabbed all of his stuff, mumbling under his breath as he left the table. It would seem sometimes being friends with someone like Remus Lupin had its downfalls.

;;;;;

The red in Kelsey's hair started to fade as James walked away, replaced by a pale teal color. She was grateful that Remus had stepped in. She might have been a small girl, but, when she got worked up, she was ready to take people out, no matter their size or strength. Especially when they insulted her friends.

She wanted to thank Remus for what he'd done and said, but couldn't seem to change her thoughts into spoken words. Instead of a more proper thank you, what came out of her mouth was a somewhat nervous, "Thanks, Remus."

Remus nodded, giving her a small smile. "Don't worry about it. James can get a little too full of himself sometimes."

"Good thing he's got someone to rein him in," Alisha said, rolling her eyes a little.

"That's what I'm here for." He glanced around the room, seeing that all the seats were nearly filled. He turned to look back at Kelsey. "Is it alright if I sit here?" he asked, pointing at the seat James had been sitting in moments ago—the seat next to her.

Kelsey blinked at him for a moment, her streak turning an amber color. "Here?" she squeaked.

He laughed softly. "There really isn't anywhere else to sit, so..."

"Oh, right, uh," Kelsey stuttered.

Alisha shook her head. "Sure, Remus. And don't mind Kelsey. She just has some trouble expressing herself sometimes."

"I guess that's why you've got that streak in your hair, huh?" Remus asked, smiling.

The amber in Kelsey's hair grew darker, until it was almost gold, and she looked away, blushing. "Uh, yeah, I guess..."

;;;;;

Severus, who had been watching the whole exchange between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, cocked a black brow before averting his dark gaze to his notes just as the professor walked in.

"Good morning class," the pudgy man said as he waddled up to the front of the class. All chatter died down and everyone went to their seats.

Once Professor Slughorn had actually gotten all of his things out, he began the class. He waved his wand at the blackboard, and the piece of chalk rose up and began writing out instuctions. "Alright students, we will be brewing a 'hair-raising' potion today. Please pull out your potion book and turn to page 254. Now be sure to read the passage in the book and pay attention to the instructions on the blackboard."

And the class commenced. Alisha pored over the text as Slughorn levitated all of the cauldrons onto the Bunsen burners. She re-read the passages several times before bookmarking her place and grabbing all of the ingredients she would need. Remus was already crushing something into powder and had managed to get the water in his cauldron to a boil.

After the first few minutes of workingm Alisha was already reaching her wit's end. She'd done everything she was supposed to have done at this point in time, and her potion was refusing to simmer. She'd turned down her Bunsen burner, but the fluid, which had turned an odd shade of orange, had stilled completely. She turned it back up, but then it would start to burn. She slid her fingers through her hair for what felt like the hundreth time. What was she missing? She picked up her book and flipped to the page and began re-reading the passage.

;;;;;

Kelsey, her streak now a pale orange color, carefully measured out her ingredients, making sure not to mix in too much or too little of any one ingredient. In potions class, she tended to follow the text book to the letter, so as to avoid any explosions or injuries or illness or... She was rather paranoid when it came to potions, actually.

She peered into her boiling cauldron, then looked back over the passage in her book. Relatively sure that she'd followed the book properly so far, she glanced around to see how the others were doing.

"Mr. Potter, why did you put those ingredients in?" Professor Slughorn asked James. "They aren't even in this potion!" Kelsey rolled her eyes. Typical James.

Severus and Remus seemed to be doing alright on their potions as well, but, from the way Alisha was running her hand through her hair, she wasn't. There was an odd sort of smell coming from her cauldron, like something was burning, and she looked down at her book, looking utterly perplexed.

Kelsey was about to ask what was wrong, when Severus hesitantly tapped Alisha on the shoulder. Alisha looked at him curiously. He murmured something to her, and all Kelsey could catch was, "rat tail." That must've been important, because Alisha nodded and said, "Thanks!" before jumping up to go get something from the ingredient cupboard.

Interesting. It seemed Severus was quite the potions aficionado. Kelsey turned back to her potion, making sure it wasn't burning. It started to turn a green color, and her streak in turn turned a blue color.

"Going well?" Remus asked her.

"Well, it's turning green," she said after a moment. "I suppose that's a good sign."

He looked into his own cauldron. "Would you look at that... Mine is too." He smiled at her. "Looks like we're onto something here."

She smiled back shyly, her streak turning a red-brown. "Yeah, maybe."

Professor Slughorn finally made his way around to their table, looking into their cauldrons and taking whiffs of the fumes rising from them. He nodded, smiling. "Excellent. Well-done, all of you." And he went on to inspect the next table.

"Phew," Alisha said, relieved. She smiled at Severus and thanked him again.

He looked away from her, shaking his head and writing something down in his text book. Kelsey couldn't tell if he was embarrassed, or if he just truly didn't feel like talking. Severus was definitely hard to read.

Slughorn returned to his place at the front of the class and smiled. "Well, it seems that this table here—" He gestured to Alisha, Kelsey, Severus, and Remus' table. "—has produced the best batch of the potion." He looked at the table of students. "Now one of you will have to be the unlucky test subject to try the potion."

The four students looked at each other, blinking for a few moments. It seemed none of them were going to volunteer.

"Rock, paper, scissors?" Alisha suggested.

They each put a fist towards the middle of the table, one or two indifferent as to the outcome, and the rest dreading being on the losing end of this battle.

Unfortunately, Severus was on the losing end of the game.

Alisha sighed and hung her head slightly. "I'll do it," she said.

Kelsey wasn't surprised, but Remus and Severus were. "Why?" Severus asked. "I lost."

Alisha wanted to say something to the effect of, But you look so miserable. But she held her tongue. "No reason," she said. "I've just...always wanted to try the hair-raising potion."

"But I lost," Severus insisted.

"Why don't you both test it," Slughorn suggested, stepping over to the table.

Alisha and Severus looked at each other for a moment, then sighed. "Alright, professor," Alisha said.

;;;;;

Alisha gathered up the potions into two flasks since they would be only testing their potions. They walked up to the front of the class and, with some swift hand work, she handed Severus the flask containing her potion. She was 40% sure that it wouldn't work properly and 60% sure it wouldn't poison him. They both uncorked their flasks and took a swig, both making a rather disgusted face at the rancid flavor and thick goop sliding down their throats.

A few moments passed without anything happening and then Alisha let out a slight squeak as all of the hair on her body stood on end, her long hair sticking straight up as though she were upside down. She tilted her head, her hair remaining upright. "This is sooooo weird," she said in a slightly squeakier higher-pitched voice—a voice she called her chibi voice.

Severus stood there and looked at her blankly. Nothing had happened to him. The potion had been completely and utterly useless, only serving to upset his stomach.

"You gave me your potion?" he asked dully.

Alisha blushed and ran a hand along her neck. "Oh...oops I must have gotten them mixed-up."

"Oh, well..." the Professor stuttered out, looking between the two thirteen-year-olds. "Ah well, 10 points to Slytherin for effort, Severus your potion gets an A, overall class grade, O. Alisha...you get a D on your potion, overall class grade, A." He said before shooing them away.

Once back on the bench Alisha's hair had calmed down although she still felt a little "light"-headed. She smiled at Remus, who gave her a small smile. Snape didn't even bother paying attention to the teacher, merely picking up his potions book and quill and scribbling in it. Alisha was inwardly agast to see a perfectly good book ruined, but she wasn't going to say anything.

;;;;;

Kelsey wasn't a bit surprised that Alisha's potion hadn't worked. ...You might say that potions wasn't one of her best subjects. But she was slightly surprised that she'd given her potion to Severus instead of drinking her own. She thought about that for a few moments.

Probably the only other thing she knew about Severus was that he was often a target of cruel pranks and bullying—usually from James & Co. Perhaps Alisha had switched the potions to spare Severus any further humiliation? Where Alisha was concerned, the theory seemed quite possible.

"Well," Remus said, "that was quite a hair-raising sight." He grinned.

Kelsey smiled a little and shook her head, her streak turning a light green. "Oh, ha, ha," she said dryly. "You're so funny, Remus."

"Why thank you, Kelsey," he said, still grinning.

;;;;;

Once potions class ended the students would have thirty minutes before their next class. Alisha spent an awful long time gathering up her things and putting them in her bag. But once she had, she walked out into the hall and plastered her back to the wall.

"Alisha? We have Transfiguration next. You coming?" a girl asked curiously.

Alisha nodded and told her she'd catch up, encouraging the other girl to go on without her and to save her a seat.

After a few moments, Severus walked out of the class room, and Alisha followed him up the stairs.

"Are you following me?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Oh, no, we're just going the same way," she stated as they entered the large entrance hall. Alisha glanced over at the four large hourglasses that showed each house's point accumulation. "Slytherin is doing really good this year," she said with a bright smile. "We might even win the House Cup."

Snape paused and looked at her. "Why do you insist on doing..." He looked at her harder. "...all of this stuff you do?"

She blinked, a little dumbfounded. She floundered around for an answer momentarily before smiling a small smile. "Because we have something in common," she stated simply, and then walked off to attend Tranfiguration.