AN: None are my characters. All are either real, or belonging to JK Rowling.

Marauder Generation

The boy glanced lovingly at the red-headed girl dancing on the fallen leaves in front of him. As if feeling the adoration pouring out of him, the girl looked up, her emerald-green eyes lighting up.

They'd only known each other for two weeks, but they'd instantly connected. Perhaps it was because they could both do magic, while her sister and parents could not. It always felt like she'd known him her whole life.

She picked up a rose bud, and showed it to him. Two seconds later, it began to bloom of its own accord, its soft pink petals opening and closing.

He smiled at her teasingly. "You know, the ministry can punish you if you do magic outside school; you get letters."

At once, she threw the rose away, as if getting rid of the evidence.

"I've done magic outside school," she whispered, horrified.

He smiled a little wider. "We're all right. We haven't got wands yet. They let you off when you're a kid and you can't help it."

The girl picked up a fallen twig and threw it at him, taking care to throw it high enough to miss his head.

He laughed. "Once you're eleven, then you've got to be careful."

She sighed, looking around wistfully. "It is real, isn't it? It's not a joke? My sister say's you're lying to me. She says there isn't a Hogwarts. It is real, isn't it?"

He nodded. "It's real for us, not for her. But we'll get the letter, you and me."

The girl sighed again, but it was a happy sound, a relieved sound. He always knew what to say to make her feel better, as if he knew her mind and heard her thoughts.

You and me.

She liked the sound of that. As if together they were whole. She felt a sense of deja vu but brushed it off, spinning a twig in her fingers as she laid down on the ground.

"Will the letter really come by owl?"

He smiled at her and her curiosity. "Normally, but you're Muggle-born, so someone might have to come and explain to your parents."

She turned her strong, albeit scared, green eyes to him. "Does it make any difference, being Muggle-born?"

He hesitated, but quickly allayed her fears. "No. No difference at all."

"Good," she said, relaxing a little. "How are things at your house?"

He turned away and began tearing dried leaves. "Fine."

"They're not arguing anymore?"

He turned back to the girl stretched out beside him. She really was the only person who cared about him. His parents spent too much of their time fighting rather than looking after him. He had no siblings or friends.

She was the only one who understood him.

"Yes, they're arguing," he said bitterly. "But it won't be long before I'm gone."

The girl shifted a little. "Severus?"

He smiled when she said his name; it made him feel whole and complete. "Yeah?"

"Tell me about Dementors again."

"If you're worried they'll give you to the Dementors because you do magic outside school, they won't! It's only for serious stuff. You won't end up in Azkaban, trust me."

And Lily Evans trusted Severus Snape for another six years, until one day, one person decided to separate them.

"What are you gonna do?" Sirius Black taunted. "Wipe your nose on us?"

The crowd of students around them laughed. The greasy-haired boy on the ground swore, but he couldn't move, as though he'd been bound by invisible ropes.

"Wash out your mouth," another boy said coldly. "Scourgify."

"Leave him ALONE."

The girl who shouted pushed her way through the crowd, looking livid. Her red hair danced behind her, and her green eyes flashed dangerously. She stood in front of the boy on the ground, facing his attackers.

"All right, Evans?" asked the boy who cast the cleaning spell. He pulled a hand through his hair, aiming for a windswept look.

Her furious eyes were directed at him. "Leave him alone," she repeated. "What has he ever done to you?"

"Well, it's more the fact that he exists, if you know what I mean," he smirked, giving her one of his winning smiles.

"You think you're funny, James Potter," she retorted. "But you're not. You're nothing but an arrogant, bullying toerag. Leave him alone."

An odd sense of deja vu swept through both Lily Evans and Severus Snape, the latter of which smiled lovingly as she defended him. It was how he'd always remember her as: fierce, protective, and loving.

James Potter glared at Snape, and the greasy-haired boy noted something in his eyes: jealousy.

Again, the deja vu feeling coursed through him, as if he'd seen this scene in a dream, or a dream of a dream.

He had never wanted to wake up. Her loving protection creating a shield around him was the last memory he had of her with him, before she disappeared from his life.

He never stopped loving her.

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.

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AN:

Apologies if they're not very... linked. I tried, but I seem to have lost my writing touch these days.

Review your thoughts and opinions.