Lily Evans was sprawled out on her four poster bed, crying her eyes out.She'd run up there after a scene by the lake involving Sverus Snape, and James Potter's gang. She hated them, the lot of them. In fact, she decided, she hated boys in general, they were all unfeeling little scabs. The room was empty, save for her; she'd left her other three roommates by the lake.

Anna had followed her, of course, after disarmind the boys to make sure they didn't kill each other. This was the worst they'd ever fought by far.

But Lily had refused to talk to Anna, refused to listen to Anna's blunt words of comfort. Anna'd told her that Severus had been a git all along, and that she shouldn't have taken his words to heart. That Potter'd only been looking out for her... but Anna-- Anna didn't understand how Lily was feeling.

Lily heard the door to her dormitory open, but she didn't look up. She heard Anna say to her: "Lily, listen, we have to talk about this," but she still didn't look up, until she heard a voice say: "Erm, Anna, I really think I ought to come back later." Because that was the voice of James Potter himself.

Lily sat up with a look on her face that had made weaker men quail. James stood his ground. However, that did not deter her from losing her temper completely.

"What the HELL," growled Lily Evans, "Are you doing in my dormitory?"

And it wasn't even just him! His silly mates had followed him up, so now it was a complete Marauder circus! Just peachy, thought Lily.

James swallowed and Anna coughed.

"Erm, Lily," she said, " I brought them up."

"You brought them up? Anna--"

"I'm sorry," said Anna, visibly upset, "But you both really need to have this conversation! Look, Lily, you're both my friends, and I hate to see either of you hurt, but you both just keep on hurting each other, and it's... it's silly, all right?"

"I am not having any conversation of any sort with James Potter." said Lily firmly. Anna started to speak, but James beat her to it.

"All right. No conversation. But at least let me apologise?"

"For what, Potter?" spat Lily. James looked a little taken aback.

"For tormenting Sniv-- eh, Snape. I know the two of you are mates, and--"

Lily stared at him, growing more and more frustrated by the minute.

"Mates?" she yelled, "Mates? We were best friends, Potter! Do you even understand why I am so upset? Because everything, EVERYTHING isn't about you Potter, strange as it may seem. What you did today was nothing worse than what I usually expect of you. It's what you CAUSED somebody I CARE ABOUT to say to me..." Lily broke off, tears still straming down her red face.

"He called you Mudblood..." said James, understanding dawning on his face.

"Yes," sobbed Lily, "He called me MUDBLOOD. And I don't think I can forgive him-- he clearly doesn't care as much about my feelings, or he'd have guarded his tongue a bit more..." She looked around at James and Anna, Sirius frowning in the background, Remus looking sympathetic, and Peter looking a little frightened. "He's outside, you know. At the Fat Lady's portrait. Waiting for me... and I don't know whether I should just accept his apology, or if this is too big a thing to get over so easily."

"Accept his apology?" Anna stood up, livid. angry red blotches had appeared suddenly on her cheeks. "Accept his apology. because he let his tongue slip and called you Mudblood. Don't be such a blithering idiot, Lily. You know quite well he's always thought people of our birth are inferior. Just because this is the first time Severus Snape's opened his mouth against you, doesn't mean he's been an angel before this. The only reason he's nice to you is because he fancies you, everyone knows that! But just bacause you've turned a blind eye and a deaf ear each time he's called me Mudblood, or Ellen Whittaker, or Connan Fenworthy, or Grace Collins, doesn't mean that this is one tiny mistake that you will forgive him for and he will never repeat!" Anna finished, her chest heaving, angrier than Lily had seen her in years.

"I..." she didn't know what to say. Lily knew that, as a rule, Severus wasn't nice to other muggleborns, but... had she been turning a blind eye and a deaf ear? She saw James hold Anna's hand as she sat back down, and rub her back soothingly. She felt a sudden surge of irritation and anger against him. This whole damn thin was his fault, anyway.

"What did you have to go and start teasing him for anyway, Potter?" she asked spitefully. "None of this would've happened if you hadn't gone and tormented him... not that I'd expect anything better from you."

James looked surprised, but his expression soon changed to annoyance.

"Yes, pin the blame on Potter again, why don't you?" he said. "It was Potter's fault that Snivelly's a prejudiced git, it was Potter's fault he called the one person who didn't think he was slime Mudblood, and of course, if it hadn't been for Potter, he would have never hurt and insulted other Muggleborns the way he's been doing since first year! Potter, who still thought it would be polite to come up and apologise to you, just because you were feeling bad about what somebody else had done--"

"Oh please, you know you thought this was about you, just like you think everything is about you--" began Lily, but this time Remus stepped forward and interrupted her.

"That's enough," he said, and there was a rare note of steel in his voice. "Lily, stop venting your temper on James. James, you know very well that you started this whole huge fiasco by tormenting Snape down by the lake."

"Ah, Moony, you're wrong there," said Sirius, looking earnest for a change. "I reckon Lily'll thank us later when Snape's a Death Eater. At least this way she's seen his true colours before it's too late."

Anna nodded and said: "Yeah, Lily, look. I, of all people, know that he's a git, and that he's always been one. He only pretended for you, because he fancied you. Anyway, when you two became friends, you were little kids, now you're older, you've grown up different. And I forgive you for not having stood up for me and chucked Snape before, when he's insulted me, because I know I'd've done that for you, but come on. It's high time you got rid of him.

Lily looked at Anna and James and Remus and Sirius. Finally, she nodded.

"All right. All right. You're right, he's a git, and I will stop being friends with him."

James grinned widely.

"Great! Does that mean you'll--"

"No, Potter, I will not go out with you.""Well. Just thought I'd try."

"No go, Jamesie!" said Sirius, with an expression of overdone misery upon his face, the corners of his mouth drooping down sorrowfully. Everyone, even Lily, had to laugh at his ridiculous playacting.

Mary MacDonald put her head through the door.

"Erm, am I disturbing you?"

"No, come right in." said Remus

"It's nothing... only, Snape's threatening to sleep out by the portrait hole if you won't speak to him, Lily."

Everyone looked at Lily expectantly.

"I'll go and tell him now, shall I?" said Lily, getting up. She left the dormitory.

A/N: Anna's a character I invented. She's muggleborn, but her cousin (Also muggleborn) got into Hogwarts four years before her, and she grew up next to James, whose parents recognized the symptoms of magic in her at the age of three, and taught her all she needed to know about the wizarding world.

Also, I know boys can't climb up into the girls' dormitory, but I'm guessing if you're a Marauder, you'll figure it out.