A/N: Hey to all my silent readers, here's another chapter for you to hopefully review! *wink wink*

XXX

Chapter 1: Discord

XXX

James slapped his hand on Snape's desk and loomed over him. "Hey Snivellus, what're you reading? A book on how to clean your hair? Merlin knows your mum was never there to raise you properly."

Slap. "James Potter!" A furious Lily Evans stood before James Potter, her left hand on her hip and her right hand by his left cheek. James could feel her handprint on his face and he felt his face get warmer.

"What was that for?" He hissed, quickly looking around at the Slytherins to see if anyone had seen.

"That's going too far. Why do you pick on Severus every day? He's twice the wizard you'll ever be, so shut your mouth or I'll shut it for you."

Sirius laughed from behind James. "You better watch it James, I hear this girl knows a mean bat-bogey hex. Besides, she and loverboy over there obviously have something going on." Lily already had her hand on her wand and was about to hex Sirius before Professor Flitwick clambered into the class.

"Nothing's going on here, is that right students?" Professor Flitwick questioned, eyeing Lily and James suspiciously. Shaking her head angrily, Lily quickly turned on her heels and walked towards the Slytherin table to sit next to Severus, but not before giving James a murderous glare. Something stirred in James' heart as he watched her put a comforting arm around Snape, but James quickly shook it off and smirked at Sirius.

"Students, today we will be learning the Tickling Charm. It is particularly useful in warding off those pesky Fire Crabs you have been learning about in Care of Magical Creatures. Just point your wand at them, repeat the spell Rictusempra, and they'll be knocked onto their backs, allowing you to move them at your will. Now due to the flammability of some of the objects in this classroom, we will be using spiders instead. I want you to pair up right now and practice saying the spell. Repeat after me: Rictusempra."

"Rictusemptra." The class repeated.

"Very good. Now the spiders are up here in this jar. I want you and your partner to take turns saying the spell and maneuvering the spider. Alright class, pair up and get to work!"

With a thunderous scraping of chairs, the class stood up and got into pairs. Sirius punched James in the arm and James punched him back. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Lily had paired up with Snape and he watched discreetly as she walked to the front of the classroom to get their spider. Sirius gave James a funny look before going to get their spider. When he got back, they sat back down next to Remus, who had paired up with Peter.

"What was the spell again?" Peter asked, nervously fingering his wand. His small watery eyes darted across the room to see what the other students were doing.

"Rictusempra." Replied Remus, swishing his wand to show Peter how it was done. The spider immediately flipped onto its back. "Well done Mr. Lupin!" exclaimed a passing Professor Flitwick. Remus smiled and flipped the spider right side up again.

Next to him, Sirius sat with his legs on the table, twirling his wand and ignoring his spider, which was surreptitiously trying to get away. Absentmindedly, James jabbed his wand at the spider, meaning to scare it in the other direction, but accidentally squishing it. He paid no attention to the twitching spider though because at that moment, Professor Flitwick squeaked, "Now look here, Lily's made her spider do acrobatics!" As the rest of the class glanced over to see the spider do summersaults in the air, James sniffed and muttered "Showoff…".

"Now for homework, I want a research paper on the history and the uses of Rictusempra! Twenty centimeters, due next class. Class dismissed! Miss Evans, Mr. Lupin, a word if you please," said Professor Flitwick.

"Yes Professor?" Remus asked as he gathered his books in his arms and walked up to the front of the classroom with Lily. He motioned to his friends to wait for him.

"Mr. Lupin, Miss Evans: how would you like to tutor another student in Charms? You both have exceptional talent in this class and I have another student who would surely benefit from some extra help." Flitwick offered, looking up at them hopefully.

"Professor, I would love to, but I'm afraid I am extremely busy this year…" Lily apologized.

"That is quite alright, young lady. Professor McGonagall tells me you're taking an extra class this year. Of course your own studies come first, I understand. How about you Remus?" Professor Flitwick turned to him.

"Of course Professor. Who is it?" Remus asked.

"He is a 4th year Hufflepuff and he's been having a little trouble with the new curriculum. I will let him know right away that you have agreed to tutor him. I'll tell you know where and when during the next time I see you. Thank you, both of you. Off you go!" Professor Flitwick smiled and turned away.

Remus smiled at Lily and walked towards his friends, who were waiting by the door. As they left the classroom, the remaining Marauders saw Lily hurry past them, her back straight and her nose in the air. Sirius chuckled and prodded a bothered-looking James. Sirius laughed again and turned to Remus. "So Flitwick wanted to ask you to tutor eh? Putting that big brain of yours to work Moony. Push that Hufflepuff around a little bit okay Remus? Remind them who won that last Quidditch game!" He winked at James, who grinned.

"So James, any news…" Remus began.

"About the werewolves?" James finished. Remus nodded once. James glanced at Remus and continued, "Actually, yes. I heard my dad talking to my mum last week when I was back home. Apparently, the attacks haven't stopped yet, actually, they're getting more and more numerous and people are scared. The Ministry of course has no idea what's going on or how to stop it. Evidently, there's been talk of a new law being passed…"

"Which would rip werewolves of the few rights we have…" Remus interrupted, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

James put his arm around Remus. "Essentially, yes. I heard my dad say that they're banning the werewolf vote in the Wizengamont, and something about not being able to work with young children."

"That's outrageous, how has that got anything to do with these attacks?" Sirius said angrily. James shrugged. "It's the Ministry of Magic, since when have they ever been reasonable?"

"And the problem is, with all this negative attention drawn to the werewolves, we'll be discriminated against in the Ministry as well. We'll have even less power and say in the wizarding world than ever before…" Remus continued, his brows furrowed.

"Well, it might be for the better…my grandmama tells me the worst stories about Fenrir Greyback…" muttered Peter. Remus chose to ignore the comment. They had gone over this topic many times before, but no matter what he told Peter about how Fenrir Greyback was an exception and how most werewolves did not intentionally bite victims, Peter didn't seem to understand.

James, on the other hand, had enough of Peter's insensitive remarks. He seized the front of Peter's tattered robes with his right left hand and loudly hissed "Now you listen here, Pettigrew. You and I both know that –" He was cut off when Sirius nudged him in the rib. Lily, who had been walking in front of them on their way to History of Magic, had turned around and was now scowling at James again.

"What?" called James, his hand still around Peter's robes.

"Picking on Slytherins not enough for you? You have to go pick on your own friends as well? What a great mate," scoffed Lily as she continued walking with her back straight as a rod.

"What's gotten into her?" asked an annoyed and confused looking James. Absentmindedly, he let go of Peter, who quickly straightened himself out and scurried ahead to get into the classroom.

"I don't think she likes the fact that we pick on her oily friend, Snivellus." Sirius snorted.

"It's not like we're picking on her…" James muttered, entering the History of Magic classroom. As he passed by the Slytherins, he gave Snape a harsh shove. Snape leapt to his feet but Lily acted first. The toe of her boot made contact with James' shin and he gritted his teeth in surprise. James watched as a satisfied looking Lily stormed off, locked arm and arm with Snape. As he got to his seat, James gave Sirius a look that clearly said "What did I do?" Sirius simply snickered and shrugged. The rest of the Marauders sat down next to James—though Peter sat farther away from James than usual.

"So Prongs…" Sirius began casually, averting James' attention to his still throbbing shin.

"You want to be careful Sirius, we don't want people to start wondering why we call each other that, especially with everything else that's been going on right now. We need to keep this in private, and that includes our nicknames as well." Remus reasoned. James nodded from behind him.

"Alright, so James," Sirius started again, "You excited for the Hogsmeade weekend? We need to restock our supplies in Zonko's soon; we've been wasting too many items on Snivellus and his posse."

"Yeah, sure…" James replied, distracted.

"Hey –" Sirius said, looking at James. "Hey, mate. Don't worry about her okay? Lily Evans obviously doesn't see Snivellus as we do. Shame, I always said." Sirius winked. "We can always get him back with the new products that Zonko's just released."

XXX

A/N: Constructive criticism is appreciated, but flames will be roasting our marshmallows. Yum… s'mores.