What was it about humans, magical and non alike, that made them feel that the act of calling out others on their differences was so necessary?
In the muggle word, discrimination was mostly seen in regard to colour of skin and the gender of a person. In the wizarding world, it was about blood lines and lineage.
For people who prided themselves on being so superior to muggles, the pureblood mania obsessed witches and wizards sure had a lot in common with them.

Lily Evans sighed, she wasn't being fair.

Not all muggles were racist and quite similarly, not all wizards looked at muggles as if they were scum to be scraped off the bottom of their boots, Lily pondered, her mind inexplicably flashing to a certain dark haired boy who seemed to be disgusted at the very thought of saying 'Mudblood'.

She sighed again, getting off the comfortable window seat, stretching her legs. It'd do her well to get back to her dorm before any more of the night wasted away and she was found by the older prefects or Pringle, the caretaker.

She'd seeked refuge in the library, skilfully evading the librarian as she closed up for the night until she was left alone. Severus had once mentioned that Madame Pince, who so formidably guarded her books during the day, tended to close up early every Thursday, coincidently the same night the Divination teacher had off from the teacher's 'secret' patrol schedule. Lily had remembered the words, with a pang of longing, as she walked to the Gryffindor tower from the lake and decided to take full advantage. Everyone would assume she was holed up in her dorm except for her dorm mates, who knew her well enough to understand her need to think about recent events alone.

The redhead cast a silencing charm on her feet as she left, what had till then been, her safe haven. Frome tomorrow morning, things would be different, she thought. She would no longer sit with Se-Snape in Potions or study with him in the library. The same boy who had told her that her background and family history didn't matter and wouldn't make her any different from the rest of the wizarding kind, had called her Mudblood. He associated himself with the people who thought she and others like her were worthless and he had done nothing to stop those people from hurting her friends. He was no longer the same boy who introduced her to the magic in the world; He'd changed and so must she. She would no longer tolerate such insensitive discrimination towards people of birth like hers.

There was a fast approaching war and it was about time she acknowledged it.

Lily walked through the empty hallway, deep in thought and not registering the sounds of footsteps a few corridors ahead that were clearly echoing in the otherwise silent night.

Suddenly she felt an arm grab her wand arm and another cover her mouth, preventing her from making a sound. She was pulled into an empty classroom right as she saw the light of Apollyon Pringle's lantern round the corner ahead.

She couldn't see who had such a tight grip on her and was just about to try to scream for help when she heard a familiar voice whisper furiously, "Evans, it's me."

She stopped struggling and whirled around as the hands around her dropped.

"Black?" she whispered, just as furiously.

Sirius emerged from under a shimmering cloak, lips pursed as he looked at her.

Lily stared at him, dumbfounded. How in Merlin's name…

"Is that a-"

"Yes, it's an invisibility cloak" he said dismissively, as though every other student in Hogwarts had such a thing.

"That explains so much..."Lily muttered to herself.

"Evans," Sirius started, "What are you doing out so late?"

Lily drew herself up a bit, "I'm a prefect remember? Real question is, what are you doing out so late?" she demanded.

"I wanted food." Sirius shrugged.

"Food."Lily repeated after him

"You know, the stuff you put in your mouth when you're hungry and-"

"I know what food is." Lily snapped, still a bit baffled at the newfound knowledge of Sirius Black having an invisibility cloak, as he continued on without a pause.

"Plus Prongs wanted comfort and what better way to-oh" he stopped all of a sudden, looking at Lily warily.

She narrowed her eyes at him, "Potter wanted comfort is it?"

Sirius looked away from her, clearly uncomfortable, "Look Evans, he just-"

"Save it, Black" Lily interrupted, holding up a hand to silence him.

"Unbelievable" she muttered under her breath.

Sirius remained quiet, not knowing what to do or say.

"Let's just go back to the tower" Lily said, turning away from him.

Sirius slowly stepped up to her and offered her one corner of the cloak. Lily sighed and ducked underneath it with him and together, the two Gryffindors made their way back to their tower; One, silently fuming and the other, mentally kicking himself or not thinking before he spoke.

They stepped through the portrait hole and Sirius took back the cloak, deciding to try to make things right for his mate.

"Evans, he really-"

"Sirius, please." Lily pleaded, her voice breaking.

"Just don't." she shook her head and ran up the stairs, leaving him behind.

She burst into her dorm and collapsed on her bed, crying silently, the weight of the day's events finally breaking her. And to think she'd thought James Potter could be charming... She simply couldn't like him, she just couldn't. Because if she did, what would that say about her? Liking someone who could be so cruel without regret... And Snape, what would she do without her very first friend from this world? She cried into her pillowcase, soaking it thoroughly and she heard a muffled 'Oh Lily' before she was pulled into someone's arms. She cried herself to sleep, one hand clutching Alice's sleeve while the other was tightly clasped between both of Marlene's. Both friends were rubbing her back, comforting her the way she realised, moments before she lost consciousness, Sev never had or could.

So this is my version of what happened after the incident in 'Snape's Worst Memory'

I've always sort of liked the idea of Lily starting to like James in their Fifth year itself but refusing to do anything about it because he was such an imbecile so I sort of incorporated that into this as well

Hope you liked it! Leave a like and review if you can ^_^

xx