"Promise me, Severus!" I demanded once Lily left the compartment to perform her prefect duties. (It was our fifth year, and so the train ride to Hogwarts was Lily's first experience being a prefect.) My oldest friend rolled his eyes and sighed with annoyance before reluctantly making eye contact with me.

"Promise you what, Wright?"

"Wright?" I repeated back to him, "That's a bit cold, isn't it?"

"Answer the question, Christabel."

"Better."

Severus raised his eyebrows, waiting for me to explain myself. Ah, yes… the promise that I fully expected him to fulfil this year, regardless of whether or not I told him what it was. Though, I supposed it would help if I just told him.

"This year, it is your duty - your responsibility - to tell Lily that you are madly in love with her!"

And, if you thought the Slytherin was pale enough as it was, you wouldn't know that even more colour could be drained from his features. And yet, at the thought of finally professing his love to the unbearably oblivious (and intolerably perfect) Lily Evans, Severus seemed to become a few shades paler. But, his colour returned with a vengeance as he began to sputter out some pathetic form of an excuse and, soon enough, he became the black-haired tomato I knew him to be whenever the topic turned to Miss Gryffindor.

"I don't want to hear it, Severus! You might think it will be hard to spill the truth to Lily after all these years of doing what you call "concealing" your feelings, but it is so much more unendurable for me! Imagine having to watch you two awkwardly beat around the bush since first year! Be considerate towards me! I am, after all, your self-proclaimed best friend!"

That, at least, had earned me a smirk and a snort from the normally introverted boy. Of course, he would have said that Lily was his best friend, not me, since he had known her longer. But, I never did count one summer as a significantly longer period of time, in the long run.

"I can't," he said, now calm, emotions more balanced.

"Why not?!"

"We're in different houses!"

"So what? You can be friends, can't you? What's wrong with dating?" But, Severus had made a face at the word 'friends.' "Don't tell me… You're worried about what the other Slytherins will think? How could those losers ever get between you and Lily?"

"They can't!" Severus exclaimed. He would never let anyone or anything get between him and Lily so long as he could help it, I was sure. "And they're not losers - they're my house mates! But, they are quite… disorderly. I wouldn't want to get Lily involved. But, if we started dating, I'm not sure how I would keep them separate…"

"Disorderly? I hope you're not referring to Mulciber and Malfoy! Severus, those guys are downright barbaric!"

Now, Severus was glaring at me. The average student would be frightened, but I had long ago learned that the glare of Severus was nothing but an empty threat.

"That's rich, coming from a Gryffindor. Let's compare house mates, shall we?"

"Well, there's Lily Evans, for starters!"

"That's not who I was referring to!"

As always, I was in the mood to play games with Severus, and was about to feign ignorance and ask 'Then who?' when my would-be answers came barging through the compartment doors.

"Did I hear someone say Lily Evans?"

Now, I liked to think of myself as a good self-proclaimed best friend, and I also liked to think that I could be very empathetic - especially towards my best friends. So, when Severus' worst enemies intruded on his life, I liked to think that they were also my worst enemies, and that I felt the same amount of anger and resentment that he felt.

If I was right about my empathy, then the level of anger and resentment that Severus felt must have been agonizing, because that was exactly how it felt to me. Our worst nightmare - the Marauders - came marching in the compartment with the confidence, conceit, and corruption of kings - no, absolute monarchs - and paused for a moment, as if waiting for some applause, or perhaps instrumental fanfare and some guy in a fancy suit to announce their arrival.

Potter was the first to speak, after looking from Severus to me. "What a disappointment. No Evans?" I wanted to die and I wanted to murder them at the same time - which is an overwhelming feeling, if you think about it.

"Well, Prongs," Black said, elbowing his friend and winking at me, "I wouldn't say it's a complete disappointment." How revolting.

"Careful, Padfoot. I hear she's Severus' bird, and you'd have to be completely mental to get within a few feet of his greasy mop." That was the last thing I needed - some rumour flying around that Severus was interested in me. What if Lily heard?

I wanted to react, perhaps by strangling him, but violence wasn't really my strong suit, and though I had known the Marauders for as long as Severus had, I was still unaccustomed to such needless crudity, so just how I should have reacted was beyond me. Severus' fists were balled on his lap and were turning white from how tightly he was clenching them.

"I would add desperate, but she doesn't appear to fit that description." Black and Potter talked as if no one could hear them. To them, I guess, no one could hear them - at least, no one important.

"Must be a mental disorder, then."

In order to spare Severus' self-esteem and to avoid conflict, I actually preferred it when they insulted me, as I knew how to handle being made fun of by idiots (whereas Severus secretly struggled with it) and Severus never seemed to feel inclined to defend my honour, so that would avoid us having to try and fight a losing battle against four delinquents.

I wanted to avoid looking at them, too, as ignoring them sometimes (albeit rarely) made them bored enough to leave if there was something distracting nearby, but something on Lupin caught my attention.

"Oh dear God, no…" I said, my eyes widening and my voice thick with hyperbolic dread. This caught Black and Potter off-guard and made them curious for a moment. "What has this world come to?" I continued.

"What are you going on about, Wright?" Black asked, smirking, "Or are you just speaking with the voices in your head?"

I now pointed to the badge gleaming on the chest of Lupin's school uniform. "What was Dumbledore thinking making you a prefect?! I suppose Lily is going to be doing twice the amount of work, now!"

"Oh, didn't you hear?" Potter spoke with his usual arrogance, patting Lupin proudly on the back. Lupin's eyes widened as it looked like it was suddenly dawning on him that he should be helping Lily at that moment. "Our own Remus Lupin has been honoured with the title of prefect! So, he'll be able to bring justice to the more dodgy Slytherins… such as yourself, Snively!"

That was it, the Marauders had officially overstepped their boundaries, and now I was mad. I stood and pointed menacingly at them.

"You four prats are the worst representatives of Gryffindor Hogwarts has ever known!"

"Meanwhile," Black said coyly, "Snivellus is the shining example of the house of Slytherin! Why do you hang around him, anyway? You're not actually mad, are you? Are you just taking pity on him? You needn't take the time-"

"I think you are the shining example of the evil, pureblooded snobbery of the Blacks!" I interrupted, turning my hand to point at him, now. There was an odd silence, during which time Black's face became completely devoid of emotion, while Potter's become filled with rage that he normally reserved for Severus.

"Oh, you've done it, now!" Potter hissed, pulling out his wand. Black was pulled out of his temporary stupor by something he noticed outside of the compartment. He tried to stop his friend.

"Prongs, no-!"

But, before Black could stop him and before I figured out that I should probably pull out my wand, or at least move, Potter had shouted, "Everte statum!" and I was frustrated and frightened to feel the train's wall and window hit my back and my head. There was a time lapse in which I lost consciousness. I don't remember, but I've been told, that I was lifted off the ground and onto a seat, and Lupin had retrieved Lily. I had the good fortune of waking up to the sound of Lily screaming at Potter.

Now, here's the general routine of the fights between Lily and the Marauders.

Lily, starts it off and - with the heart of an angel - attempts to determine if the Marauders feel any remorse for the suffering they've caused Severus, to which they reply with an insult towards Severus and an inquiry as to why such a noble Gryffindor like Lily would waste her breath defending him. Lily, now enraged, tells them how insufferable or childish they are, sometimes throwing in that she wonders if they will ever grow up, to which the boys argue with some sort of praise towards Potter before trying to convince her that she should go on a date with him. At which point, Lily, now feeling humiliation on top of her fury, becomes fed up with trying to change them and leads Severus and I away with "C'mon Sev and Chris! Let's not spend any time with these-" and whatever insult she feels appropriate, today, and the boys snicker and act generally exactly like the adjective Lily had used (and the one time she called them apes, they really did begin acting like apes and Potter and Black - taking the joke too far - threw figurative shit at Severus) and watching us leave.

On this particular day, the word of the day was 'morons,' because I suppose Lily wasn't feeling like being creative, and so they simply stood by, grinning like the morons they are, letting out poorly restrained chuckles.

The only action that stood out came from Black, who had taken a moment to look at me as if he had never noticed that I existed, before. Which, he had, actually, because he usually insulted my mental stability. But the look he had given me at that time seemed to suggest that this was the first time he had noticed me - and simultaneously actually saw something interesting.

I was unsure as to what was could possibly have been wrong with me to justify the hint of interest that I believed I saw in his eyes, but I was very extra sure of one thing: there was no way Sirius Black would ever find something about me interesting to the point of being attractive, because we were archenemies.

And you know what? I was Severus' self-proclaimed best friend. At that time, I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Much as I am a fan, my HP knowledge may be rusty. Let me know if I mess something up. (And hello, Harry Potter Wikia.)

Also, I hate Sirius Black. For reals. I've been a Snape fan for 12 years (so, come book five, my hatred for the Marauders began). But I'm testing the waters with this story. Want Christabel Wright to date Sirius Black?