The Corsaires and the Marauders

Lily waited at their meeting spot, a statue of Berliose the Bold on the first floor, nervously tugging at her hair. She was incredibly early; she found it difficult to sit still when she was anxious. Her friends had given her words of support, but she couldn't help being overly nervous. She saw a figure making its way down the hallway. She squeezed herself into the tiny space behind the statue; it was past curfew, and as a Prefect she certainly could not afford to be caught out of bed after hours. But it wasn't a teacher; it was Severus. He was early, too. Lily wriggled out from behind the statute.

"Hey, Sev!" she said quietly. Severus jumped; he hadn't seen Lily until she snuck up on him. Lily giggled.

"Lily! You scared me half to death!" Severus said.

"Sorry," she said, still trying to hold back giggles. Severus smiled and shook his head.

"You're ridiculous."

They snuck onto the grounds and out to the lake. The moonlight washed the grounds in a beautiful pale haze. They walked around the perimeter of the lake. Eventually, Severus broke the strained silence.

"So, uh…why did you want to do this?" he asked.

"Well, I just…I don't know. I felt like maybe we should talk about things again. Except this time, you know, I'd actually listen," she said, sitting down in the grass. Severus joined her.

"I really am sorry Lily. I wish I could make you see how sorry I am. I was humiliated, I—"

"I was just trying to help you," Lily muttered defensively. Severus looked hurt.

"I know, Lily. I just, I was so angry, so embarrassed, and everyone was there, including the guys from Slytherin, it just…it just slipped out. It was terrible. I'm sorry."

"Still…how did it just 'slip out'? Obviously you have a prejudice against people like me or it would have never come to your mind anyway…" she said, tugging at blades of grass. Severus sighed.

"Well, I guess I am. It's hard not to be. I hated Muggles ever since my dad and then your sister—"

"Don't say anything about Petunia!" Lily said suddenly, glaring at him.

"I wasn't! She just was never nice to me, or you for that matter," he said, shying away from her sudden outburst. Lily sighed.

"Yeah, I suppose that's true. But still, that's two people. Two people don't make up an entire populace," she said.

"I know, Lils. Until that day, you were the only exception for me. I didn't care that you had Muggle parents because you were Lily, and you're so…so…" He faltered for a minute, seeming to struggle to find the right word. He looked immensely embarrassed.

"So what, Sev?"

"Special," he said finally.

"Special?"

"Yes. You were my first real friend. My only real friend," he said softly. "And because of that, it's easy for me to forget you have Muggle parents…but the guys would never leave me alone about it. They teased me constantly, and I guess just with that on my mind, something in me snapped."

"I guess I understand that," Lily said slowly, lying down in the grass. "But it still hurt, Sev. And I still don't like your creepy Slytherin friends. You were the one person that told me being Muggle born didn't matter, and then for you to call me…to call me that…" Tears started up at the corner of her eyes. Severus laid down next to her and rolled over on his side to look at her.

"Lily…please don't cry. I'm sorry. I'm an idiot, a complete and total git." He wiped one of the tears off her cheek with his thumb. "I'm so sorry," he said again. Lily smiled and took hold of his hand while it was on her face. His hand was surprisingly warm and soft, and there was a moment where the whole world suddenly seemed to be full of electricity; it crackled through the air and Lily felt her stomach clench up through the tension. Her eyes were locked on his; there was so much pain and regret in his dark eyes that she couldn't even think of what to say or do.

"Don't say those things," Lily whispered finally, releasing his hand. The air slowly returned to normal and she turned to stare fixedly at the sky. They were quiet for a minute.

"It's going to take some time for me to trust you again," Lily said finally. "But…I have missed you." Severus was lying on his back now, but still looking at her. She scooted closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder. "I missed my best friend," she said quietly.

Severus awkwardly wriggled his arm out and put it behind her, around her shoulders.

"I missed you too, Lils," he whispered.

Lily rounded the corner to the Gryffindor common room and stifled a yell. She hadn't expected the entirety of the Corsaires to be awaiting her return.

"Bloody hell, you girls scared me half to death!" she hissed.

"Did you really think we were just going to go to bed?" Lindsey asked, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, Lily, we want to know what happened!" Cassie whispered. Lily let them into the common room and they all took seats on the couch, where she began telling the story.

"Wow. So he didn't kiss you?" Chloe asked, sounding a bit indignant.

"Er, no. I wasn't aware he was supposed to," Lily retorted.

"But you guys definitely had a moment," Lindsey pointed out. Lily blushed and shrugged uncomfortably.

"I mean…I don't know. I never thought about it that way, but it did give me butterflies when he touched my face." Her blush was now matching her hair.

"Awww! That's so cute, Lily!" Lindsey squealed.

"So what are you going to do? What's the next step?" Chloe asked eagerly.

"Well…I don't know. I'm still working out our trust issues, so I suppose we'll just take it day by day," she said. "Now you girls really need to get to bed. I'm a terrible Prefect for allowing you to stay out like this," she joked. They obliged and made their way to the portrait hole.

As Lily turned and started for the dormitories, she heard the portrait open again. She turned, and James was stepping through.

"What kind of mischief has you out at this hour?" Lily asked casually.

"Oh, you know, just setting a few traps for unsuspecting first years," he said with a wink. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Nah, I was really just practicing Quidditch," he said. "No mischief…for now."

"Practicing? I thought all your skill came out of that big head of yours," she teased.

"Ahh, you would think that, but the big head is just for attracting beautiful ladies. The skill comes from sweat and blood," he said, shooting her a wink. Lily rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but grin.

"Goodnight, you arrogant prat," she said, turning back to the staircase.

"Try not to dream about me too much, will you? It may make your dorm mates uncomfortable!" James called, laughing as he retreated up the other staircase. Lily's face flared up again, and she went to bed feeling annoyed and confused.

A few days later found Chloe stomping out onto the grounds in a huff. She was headed for the Quidditch pitch to alleviate her frustrations through some practice. She knew the Marauders were annoying sometimes, but today she was just not in the mood for having every statue in the castle jump out and grab her. After being late to class twice, she finally encountered James in the hallway and yelled at him to reverse the spell. He merely laughed and walked away, leaving her fuming. She spent all of her Charms class trying to figure out the counter spell, which eventually she did, though now she was a bit behind on her notes in Charms.

All of this made her extremely unhappy. When she heard someone yelling her name and trying to catch up with her, she didn't slow down. Unfortunately, they caught up with her anyway.

"Hey Quinn, what's the rush?" Sirius Black asked, trotting up beside her. She turned her furious glare on him.

"You stupid boys! Making me late to class when I've already had a bad day and getting me behind in Charms and just…UGH!" She threw up her in hands in frustration as she continued her march to the Quidditch pitch.

"Hey now, that was James's idea, not mine!" he said defensively. "Though I did bewitch the ones on the third floor…" he muttered. Chloe glared at him.

"Well, thank you so very much," she snapped.

"You're welcome. Why are you having such a bad day?" Sirius inquired.

"As if you are truly concerned," she snapped, unlocking the door to the locker room. "You're not following me in here," she said. Sirius shrugged.

"If you insist. I was just wondering why your day was so bad," he said. Chloe rolled her eyes and shut the door in his face.

As Chloe changed into more comfortable Quidditch attire, her anger ebbed and she started to feel bad for her icy treatment of Sirius. This did nothing to elevate her mood. Sighing, she grabbed her broom and headed out the door with the Quaffle. She mounted her broom and rose into the sky. She conjured up a fake goalie to hover around the posts as she zoomed about the pitch. She made every shot she took, and was feeling especially good about a backhanded throw when she heard someone yelling from the stands.

"Beautiful shot! Very nice!" someone was yelling. She flew a bit lower and nearly fell off her broom; Sirius was sitting in the stands, watching her practice! Shaking her head, she got rid of the goalie and made her way back down to solid ground. Sirius met her outside the locker room after she had stowed her broom and Quidditch clothes.

"You've got a real skill for Chasing," he said, grinning. They started walking back toward the castle.

"When did you get so nice? What are you hiding up your sleeve?" Chloe asked suspiciously. Sirius laughed.

"Can't I just be nice? You were nice to me when I had a bad day, so I'm just returning the favor. We can call it even and go back to barely speaking after, if it makes you feel better," he said with a shrug.

"No, that won't be necessary," Chloe said, shaking her head rather fervently. "But you never told me what was wrong, so you obviously cannot reciprocate an action that was never taken," she said, feeling smug that she had found the hole in his logic.

"Ah, yes. Well, I was just having family problems," he said, somewhat bitterly. "My parents are rather against my choices that don't involve associating with future Death Eaters. So basically, everything I do, they hate," he said. Chloe nodded.

"And here I am irritated that my mother can't seem to break up with my ex-boyfriend," she muttered. Sirius stared at her.

"Sorry, come again?" Chloe laughed.

"No, not literally! I just mean that my mom simply adores my ex-boyfriend, and if anyone needs to be broken up with, it's her. She doesn't understand why I don't give him another chance," she said, rolling her eyes.

"And why don't you? Found someone else to shower your affections on?" Sirius said, wiggling his eyebrows at her. She laughed again.

"No. You look ridiculous when you do that."

"Are you sure you haven't?" He wiggled his eyebrows again, which made Chloe laugh harder.

"Stop doing that!" she giggled.

"Why? I like your laugh. It's adorable," he said, throwing an arm around her shoulders. Chloe stopped laughing, and her breath caught in her throat. She blushed, and then shrugged out from under his arm. They were in the castle now, nearly to Ravenclaw tower.

"I, um, I have to…I have to go," Chloe mumbled, sprinting down the hall and up the stairs, leaving Sirius feeling confused and, for once, rejected.