Severus Snape was currently settled in the middle of the Great Hall. In the place of the four house tables stood more than a hundred smaller tables, all facing the same direction, at each of which sat a student, head bent low, scribbling away intently on a roll of parchment. The only sound was the scratching of quills and the occasional rustle as somebody adjusted their parchment. No surprise there. It was exam time, so that was sort of a given. Everyone was too busy concentrating on their papers. They had to do well on their OWLs. These were no regular end of year exams.

Sunshine was streaming through the high windows on to the bent heads bellow, which shone chestnut and copper and gold in the bright light.

Severus had a rather stringy, pallid look about him, like a plant kept in the dark. His hair was lank and greasy and was flopping on to the table, his hooked nose barely half an inch from the surface of the parchment as he scribbled on a piece of parchment headed: DEFENCE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS - ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL. This particular subject was one of Severus' best, next to Potions. Severus had always been more suited to the world of academics than to the usual teenage antics. He had a distinct preference of being in a library or sitting in the common room in an enjoyable book over most social endeavours. To put it bluntly, he rather disliked being social. Oh, he could be social when he wanted to. He just didn't have the patience most of the time to deal with halfwits.

Quite proud of the fact he was far from a dunderhead, he had little problems with any of the written questions. In the same vein, he took particular pleasure, during the practical examination, in performing all the counter-jinxes and defensive spells correctly. In fact, the examiner was especially delighted when he performed a perfect nonverbal Reductor Curse.

In any case, his hand was currently gliding swiftly across the parchment; he had written at least a foot more than his closest neighbours, and yet his writing was, as usual, minuscule, and cramped.

"Five more minutes!"

At this, he hastily moved to finish his last question and check his answers. Nothing stood out, and he felt quite satisfied with what he had written.

He had been quite thorough and didn't think he'd missed anything important. He may have gone overboard on a point or two, but that fact would likely work in his favour, frankly. It was an exam meant to test knowledge, after all.

"Quills down, please!" squeaked Professor Flitwick. "That means you too, Stebbins! Please remain seated while I collect your parchment!" At that, Severus couldn't hold back a smirk. Small pleasures. "Accio!"

Everyone's parchments soared to Professor Flitwick's outstretched arms, knocking him off of his feet. Several people laughed, but Severus ignored the scene, bored. All he wanted was to find a place to sit and review the examination paper. A couple of over-helpful students near the front got up, took hold of Professor Flitwick beneath the elbows, and lifted him onto his feet again.

"Thank you ... thank you," panted Professor Flitwick. "Very well, everybody, you're free to go!"

With that, Severus picked up his bag, sticking his quill into it, and swinging it onto his shoulder. Making his way through the tables, towards the doors to the Entrance Hall, he picked up the examination paper and began to look it over. He immediately dismissed question one, it had been easy…

A gang of chattering girls separated him from Potter, Black and Lupin, not that he noticed the fact, absorbed in his paper as he was. The group of Marauders were happily chatting away, discussing the exam.

"Did you like question ten, Moony?" asked Sirius Black as they emerged into the Entrance Hall.

"Loved it," a second boy, Remus Lupin, said briskly. "Give five signs that identify the werewolf. Excellent question."

"D'you think you managed to get all the signs?" James Potter inquired in tones of feigned concern.

"Think I did," said Lupin seriously, as they joined the crowd thronging around the front doors eager to get out into the sunlit grounds. "One: he's sitting on my chair. Two: he's wearing my clothes. Three: his name's Remus Lupin."

Wormtail was the only one who didn't laugh.

"I got the snout shape, the pupils of the eyes and the tufted tail," he said anxiously, "but I couldn't think what else—"

"How thick are you, Wormtail?" said Potter impatiently, turning to Peter Pettigrew. "Your best friend is one!"

Severus remained close by, still buried in his exam questions. Unbeknownst to him, when Potter and his three friends strode off down the lawn towards the lake, Severus unwittingly followed, still poring over the exam paper and apparently with no fixed idea of where he was going. Question nine had been somewhat difficult…

Moving to towards the edge of the lake, he settled himself on the grass in the dense shadow of a clump of bushes, where he would be less likely to be noticed, and where he could go over the exam paper in peace. It didn't take that much longer; most of the questions he had had no real problem with…

While Severus was as deeply engrossed in the O.W.L paper as ever, the Marauders were gathered under a nearby tree. The sunlight was dazzling on the smooth surface of the lake, on the bank of which the group of laughing girls who had just left the Great Hall were sitting, with their shoes and socks off, cooling their feet in the water.

He got up, stowing the O.W.L. paper in his bag, thinking vaguely that he might go up to the library and work on Transfiguration in preparation for that exam the following day. With that thought, he began making his way up towards the castle.

Unfortunately, as he left the shadows of the bushes and set off across the grass, just out of his line of sight, Potter and Black stood up.

"All right, Snivellus?" asked a loud, arrogant voice.

Severus whipped around, dropping his bag, and plunging his hand into the pocket of his robes for his wand. Potter was always hexing and cursing him. This was nothing new. He was sick of it. Oh, how he'd love to hex the arrogant git. His wand was halfway into the air when Potter shouted, "Expelliarmus!"

His wand shot out of his hand, landing with a little thud in the grass behind him. Black let out a bark of laughter at seeing Severus' agitation. He never did well with feeling helpless.

Burning with anger, Severus dove for his wand.

"Impedimenta!" Black said, knocking Severus off his feet, not for the first time in his life.

Students all around had begun turning around to watch. Some of them had gotten to their feet and were edging nearer. Some looked apprehensive, others definitely had an entertained air about them.

Severus lay panting on the ground. Potter and Black advanced on him, wands raised, Potter glancing over his shoulder at the girls at the water's edge as he went. Pettigrew was on his feet now, watching hungrily, edging around Lupin to get a clearer view.

"How'd the exam go, Snivelly?" came Potter's voice.

"I was watching him, his nose was touching the parchment," Black said viciously. "There'll be great grease marks all over it, they won't be able to read a word."

Several people watching the spectacle laughed; Severus was hardly the most popular student. Well, frankly that was an understatement. Severus was far from a people person, which was perfectly justified in his opinion. In any case, the Marauders were rather high up the Hogwarts food chain. If James Potter, Gryffindor golden boy, said something was wrong with the bookish, socially awkward, impoverished, Slytherin then there was. That was all there was to it.

Of course, he did have one or two friends, but honestly... next to none of them would bother standing up to a pure-blood over a mere half-blood from working-class Manchester that they more or less just tolerated. His friends actually found half the occurrences funny, unfortunately. He'd tried to cover up his working-class accent, but still. His rough background still found other ways to show. The second hand, tattered, robes and books were not so easily fixed.

Pettigrew sniggered shrilly. Severus 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 Potter with an expression of purest loathing, "you - wait!"

"Wait for what?" said Black coolly. "What're you going to do, Snivelly, wipe your nose on us?"

Severus let out a stream of mixed swear words and hexes, but with his wand ten feet away nothing happened. He was out of luck. Damn it all.

"Wash out your mouth," said Potter coldly. "Scourgify!"

Pink soap bubbles streamed from his mouth at once; the froth was covering his lips, making him gag, choking him. Merlin, the soap tasted ghastly.

"Leave him ALONE!"

Potter and Black looked around. James Potter's free hand immediately jumped up to his hair.

One of the girls that had been relaxing by the lake edge has made their way over. If he hadn't been able to see her, he would have recognised that lofty voice anywhere. How could he not? It was Lily.

His best friend.

Lily had stunning green almond-shaped eyes and thick, dark red, hair that fell to her shoulders. She also had a fiery temper to match. She also happened to be one of Severus' only real friends. They had met well before ever attending Hogwarts. He'd been the one to tell her she was a witch. Not that that had particularly gone well.

"You are," he said to Lily. "You are a witch. I've been watching you for a while. But there's nothing wrong with that. My mum's one, and I'm a wizard. "

Petunia's laugh was like icy water.

"Wizard!" she shrieked, her courage returned now that she had recovered from the shock of his unexpected appearance. "I know who you are. You're that Snape boy! They live down Spinner's End by the river," she told Lily, and it was evident from her tone that she considered the address a poor recommendation. Well, he couldn't exactly blame her. Not when he agreed completely. He didn't appreciate it being thrown in his face, however. "Why have you been spying on us?"

"Haven't been spying," he said, hot and uncomfortable and dirty-haired in the bright sunlight. "Wouldn't spy on you, anyway," he added spitefully, "you're a Muggle."

Though Petunia evidently did not understand the word, she could hardly mistake the tone.

"Lily, come on, we're leaving!" she said shrilly. Lily obeyed her sister at once, glaring at Severus as she left. He stood watching them as they marched through the playground gate, and Severus was unable to hide the bitter disappointment he felt.

Thankfully, their next meeting had gone a lot smoother, and they had quickly become good friends. They'd spent most of their time together, before Hogwarts. Even after starting Hogwarts, they were inseparable the first few summers.

These last few years though, something had shifted. They'd both been growing apart. They knew it. If only the Sorting had gone differently… The House rivalry between the Gryffindors and Slytherins wasn't exactly helping things.

"All right, Evans?" said Potter, and the tone of his voice was suddenly pleasant, deeper, more mature. The arrogant show-off.

"Leave him alone," Lily repeated. She was looking at Potter with every sign of great dislike. "What's he done to you?"

"Well," said Potter, 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, Black and Pettigrew included, but Lupin, still apparently intent on his book, didn't, and nor did Lily.

"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 Potter 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. Severus was beginning to inch towards his fallen wand, spitting out soapsuds as he crawled.

"I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the Giant Squid," Lily retorted.

Ouch, that had to hurt Potter's overinflated ego.

Severus wondered briefly where he measured on that scale. He snorted. At least he knew he was still higher up than the Giant Squid – if only marginally. Not that anyone would find that a particular challenge… Not even Pettigrew, Severus suspected.

"Bad luck, Prongs!" said Black briskly, and turned back to Severus. "OI!"

The warning came too late; Severus had already directed his wand straight at James Potter; there was a flash of light and a gash appeared on the side of Potter's face, spattering his robes with blood. Potter whirled about: a second flash of light later, Severus 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; Black, Potter and Pettigrew roared with laughter.

Lily's furious expression twitched for an instant as though she was going to smile. How could she find this funny? Did she really...? The thought of her actually finding this amusing stung. Wasn't she supposed to be his best friend?

"Let him down!" she said, restraining herself.

"Certainly," said Potter and the boy jerked his wand upwards; Severus fell into a crumpled heap on the ground. Disentangling himself from his robes he got quickly to his feet, wand up, but Black said, "Petrificus Totalus!" and Severus keeled over again, rigid as a board.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Lily shouted. She had her own wand out now. Both Black and Potter eyed it warily.

"Ah, Evans, don't make me hex you," said Potter earnestly.

"Take the curse off him, then!"

Potter sighed deeply, then turned to Severus and muttered the counter-curse.

"There you go," he said as Severus struggled to his feet. "You're lucky Evans was here, Snivellus -"

Severus was seeing red. Lucky? Lucky!

"I don't need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!"

With a wave of horror, Severus realised what he'd just said. Oh, Merlin... of all the things that he could have said to her, he had to say that. Lily blinked, evidently shocked at what he'd said. It was really demeaning, and for it to come from Severus himself…

"Fine," she said coolly. "I won't bother in future. And I'd wash your pants if I were you, Snivellus."

He winced.

"Apologise to Evans!" Potter roared at Severus, his wand pointed threateningly at him. Not in front of you, I won't. That'll only make the situation worse. He'd apologise but NOT here and not like this.

"I don't want you to make him apologise," Lily shouted, rounding on Potter. "You're as bad as he is."

"What?" Potter yelped. "I'd NEVER call you a - you-know-what!"

As usual, Lily didn't miss a beat.

"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!' Potter shouted after her. "Oi, EVANS!"

But she didn't look back.

"What is it with her?" said Potter, trying, and failing to look as though this was a throwaway question of no real importance to him.

"Reading between the lines, I'd say she thinks you're a bit conceited, mate," said Black. Damn straight you are, you complete arse.

"Right," said Potter, who looked furious now, "right -"

There was another flash of light, and Severus was once again hanging upside-down in the air.

Just bloody brilliant. Where's Slughorn when you need him? Probably planning his next little party.

"Who wants to see me take off Snivelly's pants?"

Oh, bloody hell. Bracing himself, he closed his eyes. It was a futile gesture, but his brain was telling him if he couldn't see the crowd's reactions he could pretend this wasn't actually happening.

Of course, that didn't stop him from being able to hear the taunts and jeers.

He was absolutely mortified as he soaked in the laughter. His head was beginning to spin. He'd never live this down for as long as he'd live. So much for trying to keep any amount of dignity intact.

When it was finally over, Severus ran from the scene with a speed he didn't know himself capable of – head down, as he was unwilling to meet anyone's eyes. All the while, cheeks burning, he was trying to ignore the laughter that was coming from behind him and praying to whatever deity out there that Lily would forgive him for the earlier transgression.