James was furious. His enemy, Severus Snape (or as he and his friends called him, Snivellus) fancied Lily, his Lily! James went to find his friends Sirius, Remus, and Peter. He knew exactly where they would be. Sirius would be flirting with girls around the castle, Remus would be in the library, and Peter would be with one of them.
He found Sirius (and Peter) just as expected. The two were standing outside the entrance of the castle. Girls flocked around Sirius, who was grinning, his arm slung around one girl's shoulder. Peter stood just a short ways away. James rolled his eyes, figuring Sirius had made him keep his distance from all of his "lady-friends". Sirius said something James couldn't make out, and all of the girls giggled.
"Sorry to intrude, mate," James said as he approached Sirius and his "lady-friends." He habitually brushed his fingers through his hair. "But we've got work to do."
"Aw, now?" Sirius whined. His ladies would miss him, and he didn't exactly want to leave them, either.
"Yep," James replied, "It's important, mate." The straight-faced expression James sported was enough to make Sirius behave any other time, but all of the ladies…
"Oh, don't make him go!" one of the girls said, and the others added statements of agreement like, "Yeah!" or "Stay, Sirius!" Sirius couldn't help but grin.
"Now, Padfoot," said James with a sense of finality. Sirius freed himself of the girls' grasp (apparently, the girl had thrown his arm around her) and began to exit with James.
"Where are we going?" Peter asked, following close behind. Though a subtle shift, Peter wasn't standing as close as usual, which seemed off, but neither of the others noticed.
"Wait, hang on," said Sirius, stopping abruptly. He spun around to see all the girls still standing next to the building. He blew a kiss in their direction. As the three boys continued walking away, the girls fought over at which the kiss had been blown.
"Are we getting Moony?" Sirius asked, "Whatever we're doing, we're going to need the innocent-boy, else we get detention."
"What are we doing?" Peter wondered out loud. The blank curiosity in his eyes shined through brilliantly.
"Yes, what are we doing?" pestered Sirius. He whined and pouted like a four-year-old until James would finally tell him.
"Killing Snivellus," James replied, "This time, I'm serious - " He would have continued, had he not been interrupted.
"No, I'm Sirius," Padfoot injected, grinning like an idiot, his usual grin.
" - We're killing Snivellus," James growled, true anger glazing over his eyes, "The git fancies my Lily!"
"You just figured that out?" chuckled Remus's familiar voice as he approached. Unsurprisingly, there was a book in his hand.
"What are you talking about, Moony?" James demanded. The anger in his eyes was now directed at Remus.
"Snape has fancied Lily at least since first year," Remus informed his friends, "if not longer."
"Why didn't you bloody tell me, Moony?!" gasped James. He felt almost betrayed by his friend, practically his brother, and this secret.
"Because I knew you'd do this," Remus gestured to Sirius, James, and Peter, hunting for Snape, "and try to murder him."
"Smart boy," Sirius chuckled happily, and a cruel smile came over him.
"Well, we're killing him," James said finally, "Are you coming? Because we have other minions willing to follow us around pretending to think our actions are stupid while in denial that he loves to watch and sometimes participate."
"…Fine, I'm coming," said Remus, taking his place following Sirius and James. Though he disliked Snape, he still thought that not even he deserved the torture James would soon unleash upon him.
The four found Severus near the quiddich pitch watching his house practice. James boiled over instantly and would have changed blindly if Remus had not taken the precaution of grasping James's shoulder with a grip like glue.
"You greasy, low-life, unforgivable git!" James spat from afar. Snape's head perked up remorsefully, and he saw the Marauders charging at him. James struggled and swung his arms to get free of Remus's grasp, but Remus was strong, and his grip would not be broken.
"What is it now, Potter?" Severus sighed. Though common sense told him not to get nearer to them, his curiosity told him other wise, and he listened to the latter.
"You creep!" James shouted angrily, still struggling to break free of Remus's grasp. "You damn well know what this is about!" Sirius glared at Severus to support James's anger, and Peter tried his best to look menacing.
"I do?" Severus questioned. "Well, if I do, care to remind me, Potter?" Severus honestly had no idea what on Earth this whole thing could be about besides James having an unreasonable hatred for him.
"You fancy Lily!" James growled lowly, then begin shouting. "You're in love with my Lily!" He finally broke himself free of Remus's grasp, but Remus had held tight to the other shoulder. "Damn it, Moony, let go of me so I can teach this bum a lesson!"
"She isn't your Lily, Potter!" Severus yelled back. "If I remember correctly, she hates you about as much as she hates me! She'll never be your Lily, but at least I have memories of the time in which she was my Lily!"
"That's it!" James screamed with the ferocity of a starved lion. He managed to break Remus's grasp, and even break Remus's wrist. James lunged at Severus and wrapped his fingers around his throat.
"P-Potter!" Severus wheezed, running low on air. James let go of Severus's throat, which now had finger-sized bruises forming, and began punching him instead.
"James! James, quit it!" Remus cautioned, slightly afraid of his own best friend for the first time in their lives. He had a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach that said this could not possibly end well for anyone.
"Yeah, Prongs, knock it off!" Sirius said, which meant it truly must have been terrible; if Sirius "Padfoot" Black was warning you to quit something, that meant nothing good could come of this.
Eventually, James stopped pounding. Unfortunately, that was fifteen seconds after Severus stopped breathing and his heart stopped beating. James looked at his friends, thoroughly terrified of himself for what he had done, and there was blood all over his hands. He looked at the body and could hardly recognize it.
"S-Snape?" James spoke, but of course he got no response. Sirius placed a hand on James's shoulder, and James began to cry - actually cry - not only for what he had done, but for the man who just lost his life. The dead man, Severus, had his life cut short to only seventeen years. James could scarcely believe it; he had committed murder with his bare hands.