'Look who it is,' sneered Sirius, flicking his wand casually.
'Snivellus! what a pleasant surprise,' ejaculated James, a leering look in his eyes.
A small boy with a shock of jet black hair passed by them with his nose in the air, not flinching twice.
'Ho! where to, in such a hurry?' James stood up from his shady spot under the tree and stepped in front of the newcomer, and thus having blocked his way, he tore a book from his hand.
'Insights into the Dark Arts?' sniggered Sirius, galloping up from his place and peering at the book over his shoulder. 'Aiming at an Outstanding in the O.W.L.s, are we?'
Sirius and James laughed. Snape looked away from them and was preparing to walk off when he caught sight of Lily Evans coming toward him. He quickly wiped his eyes, sniffled thrice and forced a feeble smile onto his face.
'Hallo,' Lily walked right up to Snape, smiling, and leaned on her toes as though to reach for his cheeks, but seemed to realise too soon what she was doing and pretended to drop the two parchments and the two quills she held in her hand. 'Oh...' she muttered awkwardly, as she and Snape fell to their knees to gather her things.
'You're late...' he whispered, grabbing the parchments as she did the quills.
'I know... Sorry,' she whispered back, and seemed to have no wish to elaborate. That agitated Snape, and just as he was about to ask her where she was, James sniggered audibly.
'Oh, lookie! the Snape boy and Evans are,' and he snatched Sirius's wand from his pocket and tapped the air with it and his to make the shape of a heart appear in red smoke, 'in love.'
Lily stood up to her full height and stalked off, pulling Snape along with her, but not before giving James a long, disdainful look of indifference.
'Your book!' called Sirius, throwing it into the air with a deliberate forcefulness and causing it to neatly land in a solid, muddy patch beside Snape's ankles, who stooped, scooped the book up in his hand as though it were a baby hippogriff and was gone in a jiffy.
'What's his problem?' cried Lily angrily, as soon as they were out of sight and hearing. 'Why can't he... And you...'
'Shall we do our homework, then?' enquired Snape, as though none of that had happened.
Lily stared up at him in awe, an eyebrow raised questioningly.
'You should report him to Professor McGonagall rightly, d'you know that?'
'And what, get him to make fun of me and call me 'the snitch' all over again? I don't think so,' cried Snape, looking away.
'You can't just let them be,' argued Lily, desperately racking her brains for something to support her argument with. 'It's you now, who knows who else will be next?'
'They're alright, Lil. I don't really care, anyway. Let them be.' Snape pulled out a pressed handkerchief and wiped the mud off his book as Lily glared at him, pitifully. He picked up his parchment and started engraving the essay on Unforgivable Curses onto the parchment in his long, slanting, and yet untidy, handwriting.