Prologue

Lily Evans and James Potter never got along. It seemed to most that they were complete opposites, but in reality, they were very much alike. They were both the top of their class, very stubborn, and they were very close to their friends. But, when Lily looked back, it was one event that had started it all.

Flashback to First Year:

Lily, who was sitting quietly in a corner with her book, didn't glance up when the compartment door opened. She didn't want anyone to see the tears that ran down her face, especially not the two boys that sat chatting in the compartment with her. She glanced up briefly when someone sat down across from her. "Oh. Hi, Severus."

"What's wrong, Lily?"

"I'm not really in the mood to talk right now," she replied, looking down at her book.

"Why not?"

She glanced up at him and more tears filled her eyes. "Tuney h-hates me! Because we saw that letter from Dumbledore."

"So what?"

Lily stared at him in disbelief. "She's my sister!"

"She's only a mug-" he started to say, but quickly stopped himself. Luckily for him, Lily hadn't heard, because she was busy wiping away the tears. "But we're going! This is it! We're off to Hogwarts!" he said in attempt to cheer her. She nodded and smiled at him halfheartedly. "You'd better be in Slytherin," he added confidently.

"Slytherin?" came a voice from the corner next to her, a voice she would soon come to recognize as James Potter's. Lily looked up to see of a boy her age, his messy black hair falling in his hazel eyes, which were directed at Severus with disgust. "Who would want to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" he asked turning to the boy across from him.

"My whole family's been in Slytherin," the boy stated gloomily.

"Blimey! And I thought you seemed alright, Sirius!"

Sirius grinned at James and said, "Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you headed off to, if you've got the choice?"

James lifted an imaginary sword and swiped it through the air. "Gryffindor, where dwell the brave of heart! Like my dad." Severus snorted at James, who turned on him at the sound. "Got a problem with that?" he asked in disgust.

Severus sneered at him. "No, if you'd rather be brawny than brainy-"

"Where are you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" Sirius interrupted.

James roared with laughter in his seat and Lily stood up, flushing with anger. "And what would you know about being brawny or brainy, much less, brawny and brainy?! Come on, Severus. Let's go find another compartment."

"Ooooooo..." Sirius and James said, trying to imitate her. She glared at them both in dislike before pulling Severus to the door, but not without James sticking out a foot and nearly tripping Severus as he passed.

"See ya, Snivellus!" one of them called before the compartment door closed with a snap.

Lily had never forgiven James and Sirius for their bullying ways. And that wasn't the last time she had had to put up with them. Not only did they love to prank people to no end, but James had set his sights on Lily, asking her to Hogsmeade every chance he got. And it didn't help that everyone, including the teachers, loved him.

Flashback to Fifth Year:

She had been reading by the lake in fifth year after O.W.L. exams and James and his friends, which now included Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin, had decided to pick on Severus. Lily had jumped up to stop them, yelling at James in her usual way, when in a burst of anger, Severus yelled, "I don't need help from filthy mudbloods like you!"

She spun around to look at him, he was glaring at her. Without a second thought, she whipped out her wand and yelled, "IMPEDIMENTA!" The blast of her spell, caused by her anger, sent him flying into shallows of the lake. She stood there for a moment, breathing heavily, when a hand touched her arm.

"Lily-" She whipped around, yanking her arm from his grasp.

"Leave me alone!" she hissed, before turning on her heal and running for the castle, leaving a shocked James and a soaking Severus in her wake.

A few days later, Severus had tried to approach her about it in the library and she had whipped out her wand so fast he didn't see it coming. "Stay away from me!" she hissed at him.

"Lily, I'm sorry!" he said, desperately.

"You were supposed to be my friend! I would have expected something like that from one of my enemy's, but from my best friend?" she whisper-yelled at him, her body trembling with rage and hurt.

"I'm sorry," he whispered again.

"This isn't something I can forgive," she replied, still shaking. With her wand still pointed at him, he turned and left, never looking back. She dropped into her chair in exhaustion, her face buried in her hands. How could her best friend do this to her? She suddenly felt drained. She stood wearily and shoved her books into her bag and left, never realizing that James had seen the whole episode from behind a bookshelf.

And that had been the end of her friendship with Severus Snape. She still hated James bitterly, but she loathed Severus with a passion. Severus rarely ever spoke to her after that and James left her alone, knowing that she would not tolerate his pranks. And so that incident was the last of James's and Lily's huge battles...that is, until the beginning of their Seventh and Final Year.