So, yeah, chapter 2 came along pretty quickly, and I do have a pretty neat idea on how to proceed, so the upcoming chapters should not take up much time either. Enjoy! :)

Chapter 2

Of New Beginnings

"You guys are- what now?"

"You ask me again, Marls, and I will skewer you with a quill," replied Lily, a sarcastic little smile plastered on her face.

They were out on the grounds by the lake, trying to soak in as much of Hogwarts as they could before the term ended and they had to leave for their summer vacations. This was one of Lily's favourite spots, a spot where they could just sit down, relax, gossip, tease, or just quietly watch the placidity of the lake. Today, however, seemed to be dedicated entirely to discussing the newly established dynamic between Lily and the rest of the Marauders; one certain Marauder more like.

"Fine, ginger, keep your head on," offered Marlene, sitting down leaning against a tree, the scowl on her face. Before Lily could retort, Alice sighed and said, "I can't believe you agreed to be friends with those four, I knew you were upset, but that upset..." Alice's voice broke off, but there was a smile on her face, a smile that only made Lily frown.

"You know there is no 'just me' in the picture, we all are going to be friends with them, right?" Lily quizzed, her eyebrows raised. To this, however, the girls just sniggered slightly. "We've always been friends with them, Lils," said Mary. "It's you who has always had a problem with them. Well, okay, Remus not so much, and James very much, but yeah, you nevertheless. I mean, I knew you were shaken up yesterday, but I never thought I'd see the day you would willingly become friends with James Potter-" It seemed that Mary was about to give an entire speech, but Lily cut her off.

"Look, can't you guys give it a rest. So, yes, Potter gave me a hard time, and for a very long time, agreed. And everything he did yesterday was beyond the definitions of just mean. But I slapped him yesterday, and really hard at that, and yet, he was still feeling guilty the whole time. You all didn't see him, he was genuinely sorry. And now that he is willing to change himself for one shot at our friendship, I think he deserves a second chance, don't you think?"

Everyone was silent for a moment before Marlene and Mary looked at each other and burst out giggling.

"What?" Lily snapped at them, while Alice just frowned at them quizzically.

"Oh, sweetie!" Mary exclaimed in between her giggles. "Remember a few months ago what Alica said about Frank being sorry, and how she had decided to give him a chance at 'friendship'. Didn't take time for it to bloom into a romance, did it?"

Alice blushed deeply, causing the other two to laugh even harder. Lily smiled herself, before catching the implications of Mary's words, and turning a deep shade of crimson herself.

"Nice colour on your cheeks there, Evans," came out a silky voice from behind her, and she turned around and caught sight of Sirius walking up and plopping down right beside her. "Really compliments your hair. Too much to assume that I was the one to bring that out?" She scowled at him.

"What do you want, Black?" "Come now, darling Lily," said Sirius, in that same silky, flirtatious tone. "No way to talk to your friend, now, is it?"

Lily groaned inwardly. She had been afraid of the complications that came along with being friends with the Marauders. She had to be friends with all of them. Including Sirius Black.

It seemed like Sirius was about to continue talking, much to Lil's dismay when he received a sharp blow to the back of her head. Both of them turned around to find Remus and Peter standing behind them, Remus looking at Sirius with annoyance, and Peter with amusement.

"What was that for?" Sirius asked indignantly, rubbing the spot where he had been hit. "For making Lily uncomfortable already," replied Remus, while moving towards the opposite side and seating himself against a tree, right beside Mary, who moved aside a little to make room, her cheeks a little pink. the girls shared a little smile. It was no big secret amongst them that Mary harboured some not-so-platonic feelings for Remus Lupin, though he, being a dorky boy that he was, was entirely unaware of it.

The smile on their faces, as though they knew something the Marauders didn't, was not lost on Peter, as he sat down as well, and asked, "Something we're missing here?"

"Brains by the look of it," replied Marlena, and the four girls burst out laughing. Peter, Remus and Sirius, rather than look insulted, had identical looks of amusement on their faces. "Impressive, Marls", complimented Sirius. "Quick insults of the tip of your tongue. Really impressive."

Lily looked around at their tiny little group and realised with a warm feeling that she actually enjoyed all of this. Sitting around with her friends, talking to James' was a fresh little feeling rather than sitting around with her friends and cursing the same. Which reminded her-

"Hey, where's James?" Lily asked, craning her neck and looking around. A moment too late, she realised what she had said, and stopped looking for James, and looked around her friends. Marlene and Sirius had sly 'caught-you-in-the-act' expressions on their faces, while Mary, Alice and Remus donned sweet little smiles. Peter, however, was looking from one to the other, wondering what just happened.

Lily tried to correct herself hastily. "I mean Potter, I didn't, um- I mean, I wasn't really, er- I was just thinking about-" She, however, was saved a response when Marlene leaned forward and whispered, "Lillykins, don't even try."

Her face red with humiliation, she didn't notice when a lean figure stepped towards their little group and sat down beside Marlene, putting an arm over her shoulder. "Moning, Marlene," greeted James flirtatiously, to which Marlene rolled her eyes. James shifted his gaze to Lily, who had her eyebrows raised at the sign of familiarity between James and Marlene. "Try what, Evans?" James asked, a mock-thoughtful expression on his face. Lily just smiled and shook her head, leaning back against the tree she was rested on.

"Well, seeing that this is-" Remus started speaking, but broke off abruptly, a dark expression on his face. James, Peter and Mary looked up as well, and the look on their faces matched Remus'.

Lily looked up to see what had caused this change in the mood, and her heart dropped a mile. Sirius turned around as well, and his hand immediately travelled to his wand.

Standing behind them, a complete picture of a mixture of hurt towards Lily and bitterness towards the rest, he asked in a low voice, "Lily, can I have a word?"

"You most certainly cannot," growled Mary, and Marlene reached out to grip her shoulder, even though her face was a mask of rage as well. As Lily saw James hand mirror Sirius' movement from a moment ago, she realised that this could turn ugly, and immediately stood up. "Guys, give us a minute," said Lily softly. "Lils, you don't have to-" started Alice, but Lily interrupted her. "It's fine Al." Then turning towards Snape, she added, "I can handle a little unpleasantness."

Snape's expression visibly paled at her words, but he said nothing. Moving away from their earshot, he tried to hold Lily's hand, but Lily drew back repulsed. Snape flinched but didn't try to take her hand again. In a blank voice, he said, "Lily, what happened yesterday shouldn't have happened. What you need to understand is what I said to you was under complete humiliation, and I didn't mean a word of it. If only Potter and his riff-raff of friends wouldn't have done what they did-" He stopped talking when Lily suddenly threw her head back and laughed humorlessly. "Oh, you have the guts, Severus, to try and rope off your blame, the fact that you called me something that was worse than hexing me, on to James and the rest-" "James?" Snape flared, and now there was real anger in his voice. "He is James now? After everything that he has done to me, and to you, the first thing you decided after breaking off our years-old friendship is to go to that man. Didn't you call him an arrogant toerag up until a day ago? And now this sudden change in your colours? You disgust me, Lily, how could you-" Snape's eyes widened as he realised what he had said. "No, Lily, that's now what I meant, I am so sorry."

Lily was taking deep breaths as she tried to control her anger. Never before had Severus ever so much as thought of speaking like this to her, which just made her realise how over the prospects of them ever being friends again were. Taking another deep breath in, she said, "I don't have to justify my actions to you, Severus. You've chosen your path, and I have chosen mine. Goodbye."

She walked back to her friends, not looking back at the dejected face of her friend.


All of them had decided to not ask Lily what had happened between her and Snape, as a result of which, by the end of the day, Lily was all packed, and cheerful again. Saying goodbye to all the parts of the castle they held most dear, the girls had come back and were resting in the common room, when the door burst open and in came the Marauders, with crates of butterbeer and bags of the very best of Honeydukes chocolates in their hand. One look at them and the entire common room had erupted into cheers. They set it down, and took a bow, before carrying everything over to the table near which the girls sat. They were all laughing, including Lily, who normally would've been annoyed at all the noise. This was not lost on Remus, who smiled at Lily, before passing her a butterbeer.

"You most certainly do not look like your usual self," observed Remus, and Lily laughed again. "Normally you would've been mad at all this, at us."

"Normally, Remus, I would not have realised how harmless, and rather fun in fact, all of this was over my annoyance at you four."

"And by you four, you mean my mate Prongs over here," said Remus, his smile widening. Lily felt her cheeks darkening and punched Remus lightly, frowning at how little it affected him. He gave her a warm smile. "I am glad we all are friends now."

Lily smiled back just as widely. "So am I, Remus."

"And so am I," said Sirius loudly, flinging his arm over Remus and Lily's shoulders, causing Lily to giggle, and Remus to roll his eyes. "A toast then, what say?" Sirius asked, raising his butterbeer.

"To the most unlikely of friendships, due to Lily-flower and Prongsie over here."

"Lily-flower?" Lily hissed at him in anger, but he merely flashed his cocky smile, causing her friends to roll around in laughter.

"To Lily and James finally having an opening for hitting it out," Sirius all but yelled, raising his drink. "Padfoot", growled James, but it was drowned amidst the sound of everybody chanting 'hear, hear', causing Lily to blush furiously.

"And to Marlene finally agreeing to go out to Hogsmeade with me!"

"Not happening, Black."

"Dammit!"


Next chapter is mostly going to be conveyed through different letters between the major characters, spanning the summer. Wish me luck! Oh, and don't forget to review.