A head peeped out of the front gates. It could be seen to look very slowly to the left, and then once again to the right. Then the head could be seen tilted upwards, looking at the sky. The head nodded to itself, then finally the rest of the body could be seen.

The figure could be seen walking across the grounds, finally stopping at a tree that was battering everything around it. The figure looked around it again, as if to make sure it hadn't been seen, then picked up a stick.

The stick was rotated, then pushed against a knobby spot on the tree.

The tree froze, and a sigh, barely audible could be heard from the lips of the figure as it started to advance towards the base of the now frozen tree.

.oOo.

Another lone figure could be seen by the lake. She, for the light fell upon her in such a way that it was obvious that the figure was female, was in the fetal position.

Had there been a person nearby, then someone might have been able to hear her sobs penetrating the heavy silence.

But there was no one nearby.

.oOo.

There was another figure slipping out of the front gates, not ten minutes after the first. It didn't even bother to look around, and was soon sprinting in the direction of the now frozen tree.

It arrived and seeing the tree already frozen, and the long stick discarded, it swore under its breath.

"Damn you Sirius. You just had to tell him how to freeze the whomping willow. What were you trying to do anyway? Gain another werewolf in the school? As if one werewolf wasn't enough."

By the this point, the figure had reached the base of the tree and was in the middle of lifting the trapdoor. It continued to rant as it moved along.

"I swear I'll learn that muggle form of torture. What's it called? Oh, Chinese water torture. I'll learn Chinese water torture and I'll practice it on you. If that idiot gets bitten. I'm gonna kill that mangy cur. Check that I'm gonna kill both of those mangy curs. I'm friends with an idi-no not and idiot, I'm friends with a dead idiot. There's a big difference. A big difference."

.oOo.

The girl by the lake started.

She wasn't alone anymore. She turned to face the new figure who had been slipping his hand around her waist, and quickly slapped it away, glaring at him viciously all the while.

"What the hell do you want, Malfoy?" she spat in his face.

"What's the matter with you right now? You're usually so sweet and gentle. Why the sudden change?" His silky voice made the girl nauseous as she continued to glare at him.

She stayed silent, trying not to give him the satisfaction of answering.

In response to her silence, Malfoy tried to slip his arm around her waist again.

She did nothing.

Taking her response, or lack of response, to mean that she was enjoying his ministrations, he slipped his hand into the back of her shirt.

She turned very suddenly, and before Malfoy realized what had happened, he had the full body bind put on him, and a wand pointed straight at him, making him look at the world cross-eyed.

The girl stood less than an inch away from him, and simply stared. And then she began to talk; her voice dangerously quiet, and just as calm.

"Look, Lucius, I just don't see you that way. I don't want to see you that way. I never want to see you that way. What I really want you to do is to leave me alone. I understand that this might be hard for you.  That it might be difficult to lose someone to tease, but I really want to be left alone to my own devices."

"MMMMMMmmmmmmmmMMMMmmmmph."

"Shut up for a minute, and listen to me for once in your life. I understand that it is hard for you to believe that a mudblood could be better than you at something, but you know what? Point one, I don't care. Point two, you need to get used to it. In other words; deal."

She slapped him viciously, then decided that she was done talking.

"Finite Incantem."

He got up extremely slowly, and eyed her cautiously. It was as she was a whole new girl.

She was around 5'4", although because she usually stood up straight, she had a tendency to look taller than she actually was. Her body had some nice curvature to it, she was obviously in good shape, most likely because she went running every day, as well lifting the muggle weights that she had brought with her. Malfoy wasn't to know about that, though. All that he could tell was that she had an awesome body.

He started to walk back up towards her, when he noticed something ever more odd, then the rest of her looks. Her eyes. Her eyes usually appeared a gorgeous green color, flecked with blue, that contrasted perfectly with her red hair. However, he noticed something extremely strange about her eyes; they changed colors with her emotions.

Lucius knew from what he had learned that muggles sometimes had eyes that changed colors, although he had never actually seen a muggle that had that…shall we say…ability. Nothing that he had ever learned had prepared him for this girls eyes, though.

Right now, as she was absolutely livid, and probably would have killed him had she known the killing curse at that point, her eyes were the same shade of red as her hair. He thought back to when he had first seen her by the lake, not too long ago, and realized that before he had startled her, making her eyes change to that shade of red, her eyes had been a lovely violet.

Lucius Malfoy was completely taken by the girl standing in front of him. Now all he had to do was win her affections. Easier said then done.

.oOo.

It continued to advance on the tree, and arrived at the base. Seeing a trapdoor of some sort, it quickly pulled out its wand, then languidly pulled up the door.

Within the minute it was inside the room. It paused for a minute, contemplating the trapdoor, then decided to shut the door.

That decided, the figure reached up and yanked the trapdoor closed. The darkness closed in very fast around it.

"Lumos."

It strode forward, towards the innermost chamber, only stopping short when it heard a thud behind it.

The figure pivoted around and found itself face to face with another creature, presumably human, although around Hogwarts, how was anyone supposed to know what was human and what wasn't?

.oOo.

"Severus, stop. Please. You don't want to know what is at the end of that passage, honestly you don't."

Snape eyed the figure for a moment the turned around and continued down the passage.

"Look, I know that we aren't really the best of friends. Okay, well, enemies, but if you were ever to listen to me now would be the time."

For the first time, without turning around, Severus spoke, "Maybe it would be a good idea if you told me who you are, because at this point you have yet give a good reason to listen to your so-called advice. All you've done is made me more curious. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some detective work to finish up." He started to walk down the passage again.

The other figure eyed its own wand, thoughtfully for a minute, then sprinted after Snape. It put its hand on his shoulder, making Snape turn around quickly and throw a punch at the figure.

The punch went wildly astray.

The figure blinked then grabbed Snape's already lit wand, and held it high up in the air, effectively illuminating its face.

Snape flicked his eyes up and down the character, and then coldly reached for his wand, saying, "Leave me alone, James. I can fend for myself. You don't always have to play the hero in every situation. You're not always right. Deal with it."

"What do I have to do to get you to understand?"

"How about leaving me alone and letting me see for myself."

James reached out towards Snape, as if to stop him.

.oOo.

The werewolf smelt blood. Fresh human blood.

It was just so hungry.

It wanted food.

It wanted to bite something other than the annoying wooden tables and chairs scattered around the room.

The wooden tables and chairs were already in rotten shape due to it clawing them into bits.

A werewolf isn't particularly dangerous when it has been isolated from other humans, because there isn't any scent to make it vicious and to want to attack. However, once the human scent is there, the werewolf becomes pure instinct.

In other words, you can't stop it.

This werewolf had caught the scent of human prey. Two humans.

The werewolf stood up lazily, stretching; its entire demeanor saying 'easy prey'. Then it began to pursue the humans at the end of the hallway.

.oOo.

Snape saw the werewolf first.

The mystery that he was trying to solve was solved.

Severus Snape blinked for a minute staring at the werewolf in front of him. Then he did the most manly thing that he's ever done in his life. He screamed, a very high-pitched, frightened scream, but a scream nonetheless, "AAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!!!"

In that one moment between when James saw the werewolf and Snape had started screaming, James burst into laughter.

That lasted for about five seconds.

Then the werewolf was there.

James grabbed Snape by the collar and shoved him up the trapdoor, while at the same time, trying to reassure the werewolf in front of him.

"C'mon Moony, you know me. You won't bite your friend. Remus, dammit, you know better than to bite a friend. Think, Remus, think."

Finally Snape was out of the room, and was panting by the base of the tree. James hurriedly boosted himself out, none too soon. He felt the wind whistle past his foot, and heard the sound of the werewolf's jaws closing behind him.

"Whew. What a close call." James sighed.

Then he remembered Severus Snape.

.oOo.

The last thing that Snape could remember was that he had screamed like an idiot while James had laughed at him when the werewolf had appeared.

The next thing he knew, was that he was being boosted-more like shoved-out of the trapdoor that he had come down in the first place.

Then he saw a head go after him, followed by the rest of a body. It was James, panting like the idiot that Snape thought of him as. Snape glanced at James, then remembered the werewolf below, and together the two boys, enemies though they were, slammed the trapdoor shut together, in agreement over one thing, for once in their short lives.

As soon as the two were safe, Snape had some questions to ask.

"Tell me Potter, why did you call that werewolf Remus? Isn't Remus one of your friends. I think you know something about this werewolf that you aren't telling, so I suggest you start talking if you don't want the entire school to know about your little friend in there."

"You know, Snape, you weren't exactly that confident when you were screaming your head off in front of the werewolf there. Wait, did I just hear you tell me that you wanted to the entire school to know that you scream even worse than a girl. Okay, Snape. Thanks for giving me permission, I'll make sure that they all know about it by the end of dinner, tomorrow."

"Why, you, little. Potter, I oughta…"

"You oughta what? Tell the entire school for me? But that takes all the fun out of it. Of course you can't tell the entire school about it."

"No, you little skank, I don't want anyway else to know about this, including your dumb little friends. Is that so much to ask?"

"Yep."

"Why can't you ever just leave me alone?

"Cuz you're so easy to pick on."

"And how am I supposed to help that?"

"You're not. That's what you're there for. You're there to have pranks played on you. That's the fun in life."

"Fun for who?"

"For whom, Snape, not who. And fun for everyone but you. But you're not supposed to have fun with life. Why else are you in Slytherin??"

"As if I could have helped being sorted into Slytherin. It's where the sorting hat placed me. Deal with it."

"Oh, I have dealt with it. In ways that I found completely fun, mostly consisting of pranks."

"Like the little prank that your friend Sirius decided to play on me. Raising my curiosity. Trying to kill me, your friend was."

"And he damn well nearly did. Y'know. You owe me your life. Ew. I just saved the life of Severus Snape. Oh, well. One good turn deserves another."

"What did I ever do to help you?"

"Good point. Severus Snape owes me a debt. Oh my god. But that still means I saved your life. Disgusting."

"Would you please shut up about that little fact already, Potter?"

"Why? If it annoys you, then all the more reason to keep talking about it."

The two were silent for a minute as they saw the castle doors looming in front of them. They were about to go in, when the bickering started again.

"After you, my dear Snape."

"No, no, no, James. I couldn't. I insist you go first."

"Really Snape, I never thought you had it in you, but do go in."

"One good turn deserves another, so it's only right that you go first."

"Ladies first."

"What the hell is your problem, Potter?"

"Oh, wait, you can't be a lady. Ladies wash their hair much more frequently then you do. Speaking of which, when was the last time that you washed your hair?"

"None of your business."

"Fine, we'll go at the same time. Ready?"

"Ready."

"One."

"Two."

"Three."

The two boys stepped through the door, and promptly fell flat on their faces. James sat up for a minute and glanced around. "Peeves." He roared.

The poltergeist appeared and promptly started to laugh at their predicament.

"Peeves!" James hollered again, and waited as the laughter abated. "A job well done, although in the future, it would turn out better for you if you were to leave me alone. I don't mind Snape, but do you remember what we told you about what would happen to you if you attacked me or any of my friends?"

Peeves nodded.

"Then I suggest you be wary. Very wary. You know us, and never know when we'll strike, nor how. See you soon, Peeves"

A very sulky poltergeist floated off, and Snape simply stared at James.

"What?"

"Y-y-you got rid of Peeves."

"So?"

"I thought only the Bloody Baron could do that."

"Apparently we've pulled so many pranks on Peeves, and other people that he greatly dislikes, that he likes to think of himself on my side. My meaning my friends and me. He rarely pulls pranks on any of us. I suggest you wipe some of that garbage off now, because that look really doesn't suit you."

"Garbage?" Snape looked down and saw his robes completely covered in garbage. His face turned a bright shade of red, and he quickly brushed off as much of it as possible.

As soon as Snape was ready, James motioned to him, saying softly, "This way."

"Since when do you get to lead me along?"

"Do you know the way to Dumbledore's office?"

"No."

"Then that's why you're following me."

"So then you know how to get to Dumbledore's office. Is that something to be proud of?"

"Well, I'm not going to be ashamed of it. C'mon."

"Fine."

.oOo.

The two boys finally reached the stone gargoyle. And James groaned, as he realized that he didn't know the current password. Then he started guessing.

"Bertie Botts?"

Nothing happened.

"Jellybeans?"

Still nothing happened.

"Chocolate frogs. Cockroach cluster. Mustard seed. Honeydukes."

Still nothing, and Snape was getting confused. "What the heck are you doing."

"Trying to get into his office. You wanna help?"

"No. This is much more amusing."

"Then shut up and let me concentrate. Butterbeer."

The gargoyle stepped away for them.

James blinked. "Woah. That worked."

.oOo.

The top of a long staircase, and two very tired boys later, found James and Severus collapsing in the headmasters office.

James caught his breath first and glanced around to see who else was there. He saw Sirius, and rolled his eyes, seeing as it was all Sirius's fault that they were here in the first place. But he looked around the rest of the room and was surprised to see Lucius Malfoy. The biggest shock, though, was that Lily Evans was there too. 'Wait a sec. Lily Evans??' he did a double take.

Dumbledore nodded. "So glad you two could make it." He surveyed the room. "I see everyone is finally here." He eyed the boys for a moment, and they could see the twinkle in his eyes. "Have a nice climb?"

"I am amazed that so many students were out of their rooms in this one night. Five students." Dumbledore began.

Lily hung her head, but all of the boys looked unrepentant.

"Sirius, Severus, and James, come into my office, please." Once they were all inside of the headmaster's office, Dumbledore began to speak again. "I believe that punishments are in order. Sirius, for unnecessarily putting someones life in danger, I am taking 50 points from Gryffindor, and detentions for one week. You will be informed about what your detentions will be at a later date. You may go now."

Sirius got up and left the room, only glancing back once with a look of pure hatred in Snape's direction.

"Severus, I ask that you keep what you have seen secret from the rest of the school. I believe that it will serve no point for everyone to know about what you saw down there. I am also taking 10 points from Slytherin, for not thinking through what you were doing. Go back to your common room now."

Snape stood up, and walked stiffly out the door.

Dumbledore turned to face James, and he could see that the twinkle had returned. "I award 100 points to Gryffindor for facing one of the people that you dislike, and then saving his life. I applaud you James for an amazing show of bravery. You may go now."

James had a grin that stretched across his entire face as he got up, and without a single look behind him, turned to leave the room.

"Oh, and James?"

"Yes, professor?"

"Could you please send Mr. Malfoy, and Ms. Evans in?"

"Of course."

James left the room, and walked out into the entranceway. He saw Lily sitting in a chair with her head in her hands, and Malfoy twisting around in his seat, so that he could see who had come. He was panting, and had obviously just run back to his chair, which was right next to Lily. "Go on in." James said to them curtly, then left.

Lily, and Lucius got up and walked into the main office, and waited for the headmaster to speak.

Finally Dumbledore acknowledged their presence. "I thought that two prefects would know better than to be wandering after dark. 10 points from Slytherin, each. In the future, stay in your common room, and help to supervise your bunkmates. Mr. Malfoy, please leave, as I would like to talk to Ms. Evans for a minute."

Lucius stood slowly, cast an adoring look at Lily, then left the room.

"Ms. Evans, please refrain from wandering at night, or creating any more incentive teasing. I understand how you might feel, but wandering around at night and losing points for your house is definitely not the best way to win their approval."

Lily nodded, the quietly got up and left. When she finally had reached the exit, she found Lucius Malfoy waiting for her. She glanced at him once, then sprinted away from him. She only stopped when she had reached her room, and fell face-first into her pillow, crying as if there was no tomorrow.

****

A big thank you to Ariana, my beta.