"Hey, Lily." Called James Potter, as Lily Evans entered the Gryffindor Common Room where he was sitting next to the fire.
"Go away, James." She replied.
"Not going to happen!" He said, as she sat down at the table in the corner.
"Wow, Lily. You must be starting to like me if you voluntarily choose to spend any length of time in the same room as me. You sure Moony or Padfoot didn't Imperius you into it?" James asked jokingly.
"Don't be stupid, Potter. Anyway, why do you give each other those ridiculous nicknames? Prongs, Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail. I mean, what are thay supposed to mean?" She asked irritably. It was widely known that James had fallen for Lily, but he wasn't about to explain to her that Remus was a warewolf, and the other three were unregistered Animagi.
"Uh, they're just things we called each other when were kids, and they've sort of stuck." He said, trying to sound half-convincing.
"You're utterly rubbish at lying, James. I can tell when you're telling the truth, and when you're not. You're a real open book." She replied as she got out some books from her bag.
"well, if you're so sure I'm lying, then meybe I should tell you what the really mean." He said sarcastically.
"Don't bother. Judging by half the stuff you and your friends get up to, I probably don't want to know." She replied. "Now, if you're planning on making a lot of noise in here like you usually do, then go do it somewhere else. I've got to study for my N.E., and I suggest that you should do the same."
"Ugh. I'll pass on the studying. I got through my O. alright, and I spent all of ten minutes looking over a textbook."
"You got `acceptable` for pretty much everything, and I think you owe most of that to luck." Replied Lily. "Now will you please give me a bit of peace to study?"
"OK, Lils. I'm just going to sit over here and read, if that's OK with you." He asked sarcastically.
"Fine, so long as you keep it down." She replied, as she settled down to read over `an advanced guide to Transfiguration`. All of ten minutes had passed when James got up, and sat down oposite Lily at the table. He looked at her expactantly.
"What do you want?" She asked irritably.
"For you to put down that stupid book and talk to me. I've done my ten minutes of studying, like you told me to, and I think I deserve a little attention in return.
"In case you haven't noticed, Potter, I'm more annoyed with you today than usual. I saw you bullying Severus earlier." She said, putting down her book, and looking at him accusingly.
"honestly, Lily, I thought you'd forgotten about him. He calls you a mudblood. Not to mention the fact that he, along with his little gang of Slytherins, are Death Eaters in the making." He replied firmly.
"Severus Snape, a Death Eater? I don't think so." She replied coldly.
"Lily, have you seen him recently? He's always scribbling in this potions book of his, it's starting to look a little suspicious. His friends were talking about the Drak Arts the other day, and I heard Snape's name mentioned. Also, he's a Slytherin." Finished James, as if Snape being a Slytherin condoned any form of hurt that they could inflict upon him.
"Severus is never going to be on You-Know-Who's side. And even if he was, that doesn't necessarily give you the right to hurt him." Asked Lily.
"There's a Wizarding war going on, Lils."
"So? Does that make it alright to hurt Severus?"
"All's fair in love and war, Lils. One less Death Eater can't be anything but good." Replied James. Then, Lily gathered up her books, and headed up to her dormitory.
"Lils? Come back down!" James called after her, but she had slammed her dormitory door shut.
"No, I won't come down, Potter! And don't call me `Lils`, I don't like you!" She yelled down the stairs. Sirius then entered the Common Room.
"Have another fight with Lily Evans, Prongs? He asked. "The Fat Lady warned me that there was an argument going on in here, and I heard shouting. I recognised your voice, so I just came on in."
"Don't take this personally, Padfoot, but I don't want to talk about it. I just want to be on my own." Replied James, flopping down in an armchair in the corner of the room. "And yes, I did have a fight with Lily."
"Right. I'll leave you to your thoughts, then." Said Sirius as he headed for the stairs to the dormitories. "And what on earth are you doing, Prongs?"
"Studying for my N.E.." Replied James.
"Did Lily tell you to?"
"Meybe."
"You're pathetic, Prongs." Said Sirius jokingly. "You're like Lily Evans' puppet, you are. If she told you to stick your head in a fire, you'd probably do it if you thought it would get her to like you."
"Just go, Sirius. I'm studying." He said. It was only when one of the Marauders was really miserable that he called his friends by their names, rather than their nicknames. Sirius had noticed this, and thought he ought to leave James alone if he felt so bad.
"Right, OK. See you later, James." He said, before heading upstairs to his dormitory.