The Potions class was unbearable. Down in the dank dungeon, the humidity was sweltering in the summer. And with exams being tomorrow, the anxiety made the whole thing an unbearable mix. The whole class was struggling with Purification Potions - well, almost the whole class. James Potter and Sirius Black were back in their corner, already finished, whispering with each other over some piece of parchment. Annoyed, the teacher had tried giving James and Sirius extra work to do, warning them they would lose House Points for anything less than a perfect score. They had finished that already too, and had corrected two of the questions. Sulkily, the teacher had given them five points apiece and let them whisper, content they were being quiet.
Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were next to them, putting the finishing touches on theirs, as was Severus Snape, just behind Lily. Severus was rather odd. The Slytherins normally hated Gryffindors, but Severus had been downright nice, in his own sort of way.
"Ugh. I *hate* these potions with bubotuber pus. It boils off too quickly!" Lily's groan was seconded by several sitting around her, they'd been struggling far into the lesson with the brew.
"Blackroot."
The quiet voice from over her shoulder startled her. It had been Severus. She regarded him in a puzzled fashion. "I'm sorry?"
He explained, unusually patient - "A solution of powdered blackroot. If you add it to your potion, it serves as a catalyst to speed the reaction, and stops the pus from boiling away."
Lily regarded him curiously. It wasn't like him to offer help like that. Especially under the circumstances of their respective Houses.
But still, with exams starting tomorrow...
"Severus?"
He glanced up sharply, startled.
"Could you help me study this evening? The Potions final is tomorrow, and I never did get those notes on the curses we studied last month when I was sick."
His pale face flushed slightly. "I suppose so," he managed in his rather quiet voice. "Perhaps after dinner."
Lily's beaming face tested his stoic control.
"Thanks millions, Severus! See you then."

Snape ambled into the Great Hall after Transfiguration that day, having a seat at the Slytherin table near his group of friends. 'Friends' being used somewhat loosely, being more of a gang. Rosier, Wilkes, Avery, Nott, Crabbe, Goyle, and Lucius Malfoy. None of them were the sort you would trust.
"You haven't been falling all over the Mudblood again, have you?" Lucius Malfoy's sneer was all too expected.
Snape didn't even dignify his question with an answer, simply pulling out parchment scrolls for homework, scritching away. Lucius heaved an exasperated sigh. "Merlin's beard! Severus, that's disgusting! You *know* -"
"Please do shut the oversized, gaping orifice you call a mouth, Lucius. You might let out too much air. Your pithy little taunts fit for a baby are just that."
"So you're leading her on." Lucius' cold smile curled in approval.
"Naturally," intoned Snape, feeling less enthusiastic about the idea as he sounded.
"Then we can all pitch in. Everyone knows the whole school dotes on the pathetic common-blooded twit who thinks she is a witch

So many Slytherins hanging around in the hallway so near the Gryffindor Tower was definitely a cause for suspicion. They were all looking at her, at that. All except Snape.
Lily passed through the silent group, glancing warily at them as they closed in behind her.
Feeling the need to break the oppressive silence, she spoke quietly. "Hi, Severus. Are we still on for tonight?"
Snape merely snorted in a loud, contemptuous fashion.
Lily gazed at him in confusion. "I don't understand, I thought you said you'd help me study this evening? After dinner?"
"Only in your own pathetic dreams, Mudblood."
Lily seemed rather stunned at Severus' treachery. The other Slytherins had her backed into a corner, tossing jibes at her still. One of the girls had produced her wand, a malicious grin in place, muttering something about mudbloods and popularity.
The girl was distracted from her curse by the bear-sized black dog barreling through the crowd, knocking them all aside like tenpins. It snapped threateningly at the cowering Slytherins, sending many of them running.
Snape had been jolted aside, the wind knocked out of him when he had collided with the wall, but now had his own wand out. He'd been researching the Forbidden Curses, and felt rather frustrated to find it was illegal to use them on humans. On dogs, however.....
The clopping noise behind him made him turn. Had those been hooves? Indoors?
They had been. A magnificent white stallion had reared up, planting its back hooves solidly into Snape's chest, sending him flying. The suit of armor he collided with was not very good at catching, and both clattered to the ground in a huge ruckus.
Snape, in his dazed state, was rather disoriented and foggy, but still spotted the purple cracker roll past him, where it exploded, emitting a blinding white flash, and filling the hallway with a thick, purple smoke.
Coughing and wheezing ensued until the smoke cleared, revealing a mess, several stunned Slytherins, and a glowering Professor McGonagall. She was tapping her foot. Many of them gulped. This would not be pretty.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lily was still rather dazed herself. One minute she had been near tears with the Slytherins rather cruel remarks, and then a horse and a dog had come to her rescue, and then James Potter had appeared, throwing a cloak over her and ducking down a secret passage with her.
"James Potter?" She seemed amazed to see him, much less to see him pay attention to anything outside of Quidditch or his antics with his friends.
"Ususally. I also like to go by the name Bob Thimblefeather. But only on Thursdays, mind you."
The last few minutes, being somewhat life-rattling, had caused her to miss to sheer ridiculous humor James was infamous for, aside from Quidditch talent and magical brilliance.
She shook her head, as if trying to clear it.
"So do you often run around looking for 'damsels in distress?"
"No, do you?"
He maintained a passive and calm face as she heaved an exasperated sigh. "James," she began, as he finally explained.
"Yeah, well, we heard the little gits sneaking down the hall. Lucius Malfoy giggles like a girl, so we heard them coming a mile away, and we just....improvised a bit."
"Really? You have a problem with girls, James?"
James Potter was never one to be caught in a corner, embarrassed, etc. Especially not when it came to wit. "No. Do you?" His voice was the epitome of casual indifference. Her wry grin was the epitome of smugness.
"So that's why you're sneaking down a *secret* passage with an Invisibility Cloak? Are you so ashamed to be seen with a girl?"
"Exactly. I am making a special exception for this."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Mind if I make another high demand of you and your invaluable time?"
"I suppose you could."
"Can you help me study tonight? I need help on those curses in Defense Against the Dark Arts from last month and in Potions. My marks in there aren't so good right now, and I could really use the help."
He studied her carefully. "Sure. Just meet me in the Common Room this evening after Dinner and we can go through it. It's all simple stuff, you should get it in no time."
Lily wanted to roll her eyes, but felt too darn grateful to note on how *everything* was easy for Mr. Brainchild Potter.
Tired though she was the next morning, Lily had aced all her exams with James' help. It had only sweetened the pot after the school saw the House Point scores, Slytherin being down 200 points, leaving Gryffindor a huge lead over everyone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The final Quidditch game had been something akin to a furious battle. The Seekers had been tirelessly chasing the Snitch, but had yet to catch it, the Snitch somehow more elusive this game.
Lily had not taken her eyes off the game much at all, the charged atmosphere keeping everyone's attention raptly on the game. James was chasing down the falling Quaffle, dropped by a Slytherin Chaser when a Gryffindor Beater had expertly sent a Bludger into his midsection. The Lions held a bit of an edge, outscoring Slytherin 80-30, but it was still up in the air.
James caught the Quaffle almost at ground level, raking the grass as he pulled out of his dive. Racing for the goalposts, he dodged a Bludger, but noted the Seekers. The Slytherin Seeker was gaining inch by inch on the Snitch. To everyone's surprise, James veered away from the goals, running down the Seekers. The Chasers weren't allowed to catch the Snitch, but nothing said someone couldn't 'accidentally' help a Seeker catch it.
Getting in front of the Seekers, James spun around, hurling the Quaffle at the Snitch, knocking it back into the waiting hand of Gryffindor's Seeker.
The dumbfounded crowd erupted in cheers as they realized what had transpired.
The victorious Chaser looped around the field rather rapidly. Boasting? Celebrating? The Gryffindors certainly didn't care, they had won. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw joined in the cheering also, always glad to see the arrogant Slytherins taken down a notch.
James swooped wide over the stands on his way down, dropping a small wildflower into a surprised Lily's lap. The girls around her broke into fits of giggling as she smiled slightly to herself, tucking it behind her ear with a feigned casual air. The girls whispered gossipy sorts of things to each other behind their hands. Lily staved off her own grin as best she could, settling on a simple smile, marveling a bit at James' skill to be able to snatch a flower while pulling out of a dive.
Far down the field, though not many noticed save the Slytherins, Sirius had orchestrated the deployment of a large quantity of dungbombs, which had now gone off, several from the very pockets of Severus Snape, to whom the initial blame was pointed, as the grime-covered students skulked off to wash up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The train's brakes hissed, and it slowed to a stop. Students ambled off, collecting their things, and meeting their parents. The Marauders were loading their own things onto trolleys, when Remus Lupin glanced up and noted rather casually - "I think you have a visitor, Fearless Leader."
It was Lily. Stepping to one side, James had to cast something of a sharp glance at the others as they made a show of pretending not to listen, speaking loudly and bawdily about nothing at all.
"James," began Lily, regaining his attention, "I just wanted to say thanks. For everything." She was pleased and amused to see the look of abject horror on the faces of the Marauders as she kissed him on the cheek. James looked rather shocked, but James Potter was never shocked for long. Irrepressible souls never were. He simply rose to the occasion.
"It was, of course, my pleasure." James bowed theatrically, kissing her hand in an oh-so-gentlemanly fashion. The other Marauders suddenly appeared, mimicking James. "We can't stand by idly while James binds himself to such public humiliation as this," explained Remus Lupin. Lily was amused, but asked anyways. "You mean for kissing my hand?" Sirius nodded in a bad imitation of exasperation, throwing his hands in the air. "Exactly! You've ruined him forever!"
All of them laughed uproariously, the boys darting off to their parents, while Lily turned to face hers, a slight flush in her face after the scene. The Evans looked rather amused themselves. At least, all except Petunia, glancing with a timid paranoia from behind their legs.
"How was your term at Hogwarts, dear?" Mrs. Evans question was laced with simple innocence and affection, trying hard not to laugh and grin.
"It was..." She paused to glance over her shoulder at James Potter, who was speaking with his own parents with Sirius. She caught his eye, flashing a dazzling smile his way. James grinned rather rakishly in return before turning away.
Lily smiled once more at her parents. "It was just fine."