It started out the way it always did. James and Sirius knocked Snape off his feet and stole his wand. Lily came over and defended him (or she would, if she were there).

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"Knock it off!" an angry voice yelled through the crowd of students. James looked up. He knew that voice, because she'd yelled at him the previous year (O.W.L. year to be exact).

"Knock it off!" Lily repeated.

James looked at Sirius and shrugged. He lifted his wand with a jerk and stepped back.

"What's going on out here?--Really!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed. She'd come out of the great hall to see what all the racket was about, and seeing Snape on the floor, yelled, "Accio wands!" pointing her wand at James and Sirius.

James felt his wand fly out of his slack grip, but didn't grab for it.

Instead, he turned his head in the direction of Lily. She seemed rather satisfied that James had gotten into trouble (AGAIN! James thought.) and just stared at him impassively.

Told you to knock it off, her eyes mocked him. Her mocking hurt but James pretended to not see it.

"Potter, Black, what on earth were you thinking?" McGonagall yelled at them. "Fifty points from Gryffindor for this outrageous behavior."

"Well, that's not so bad, seeing as how we always got a detention," Sirius said without thinking.

"And a detention," the professor finished. James glared at Sirius. Sirius backed away.

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"Look, I'm sorry," Sirius said for the tenth time.

"Next time, shut your mouth," James said through clenched teeth. He'd managed to keep his temper under control, until they'd reached the Gryffindor table.

"James, Sirius, it's bad enough you have detention but give it a rest okay?" Remus implored. He was very tired of their bickering, as they did it every time they got detention.

They looked shocked, but managed to eat without glaring at each other.

"Finally, silence," Remus sighed, leaning back.

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"Lily, Lily, wait up!"

Lily turned around, knowing who to expect. "What? Is it because you got detention that you followed me?" she snapped.

James stopped, looking shocked, though he was used to it by now.

He shook his head. "No. I just wanted to apologize for my actions today." He was lying to her, but he couldn't tell her the truth.

"Fine, apology accepted. But you should be apologizing to Snape, not me. He'd the one you humiliated, not me. Now, get to class," Lily said, rolling her eyes.

James watched her turn around and walk down the hall, feeling worse then he had before talking to Lily. If that were possible, of course.