Lily was elated. The second last OWL, the Defence one, was over at last. They were almost free!
"Come on, Lily," Peri tugged at Lily's arm. "We're going to go paddle in the lake." They linked arms and raced down to meet Iris and Amy. Over the past six months, the four had become fast friends as it became clear that James was not going to go out with anyone but Lily – and so Amy had joined the majority of Hogwarts' female population and became a Sirius Black groupie. To such an extent, in fact, that Lily had a sneaking suspicion that Amy had not done as well as she could have in her OWLs, preferring instead to gaze adoringly at said Black rebel.
Iris looked up the bank as Lily and Peri waded towards her. "Oh no. Not again," she groaned.
Lily followed her gaze. Potter and his mates were ganging up on Snape again.
"I don't know what they get out of doing that – Lily, where are you going?" Peri called.
"I'm a Prefect," Lily called over her shoulder as she reversed direction. "If Remus won't do anything, then I have to."
Snape was cussing like a sailor by the time Lily made her way through the crowd around the 'spectacle'.
"Wash out your mouth," James said coldly. "Scourgify!" Pink soap bubbles streamed from Snape's mouth at once, the froth was covering his lips, making him gag, choking him –
"Leave him alone!" Lily shouted.
James and Sirius looked around. As usual when he caught sight of Lily, James' free hand jumped to his hair. "All right, Evans?" James asked casually.
"Leave him alone," Lily repeated, doing her best to convey her dislike of James. "What's he done to you?"
Now that was one thing James couldn't say. After Peter had accidentally dropped his trunk on Snape's foot that first train ride, Snape had hexed him. Now, James and Sirius thought that that had been too harsh a punishment – especially for an accident. So they had hexed Snape, the first chance they got. Snape, git that he was, hadn't understood why James and Sirius had attacked them out of the blue, and so he hexed them back. James and Sirius didn't understand why Snape had hexed them, unprovoked, and so they had retaliated. It had gone on and on, and extra duels and pranks had occurred after Snape had insulted Lily or one of the Marauders. But James could hardly say any of this to Lily, this being secret Marauder business and all. So he thought on his feet, and answered instead, "Well, it's more the fact that he exists, if you know what I mean." There. A plausible lie. Well, not exactly a lie, but not the whole truth, either. Though, I think she bought it. And the great James Potter makes the bystanders laugh again.
Remus and Lily were the only ones – aside from Snape – who didn't laugh. It had been one of the first things they had been taught as Prefects – no matter how tempting, never laugh at the victim.
Lily decided to take James down a peg or two. "You think you're funny," she said coldly. "But you're just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter." In retrospect, she realised she should have realised what was going to happen next.
James tried to bribe her. "I will if you go out with me, Evans," he said quickly.
When will he learn to use her first name, dammit! Remus thought.
"Go on," James continued. "Go out with me, and I'll never lay a wand on old Snivelly again." In front of you, he added silently.
Lay a wand? Lily thought. Oh, it's the wizarding equivalent of 'lay a hand'. Right, got it.
Meanwhile, the Impediment Jinx was wearing off. Snape was beginning to crawl towards his fallen wand. Remus watched him warily over his book.
"I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid," said Lily. Not much of an insult, but it was the best ad lib she could do, to make him get the message that she really didn't like him, in any way.
"Bad luck, Prongs," Sirius said briskly. Lily's constant refusal of James' advances were tedious. Best to move on. So Sirius turned back to Snape, who was now pointing his wand directly at James. "OI!"
But too late; there was a flash of light and a gash appeared on the side of James' cheek. Blood flowed down his cheek and splattered his robes.
Sectumsempra? Lily thought. Isn't that a little over the top, even for Snape?
James was of like mind, only he actually did something about it. Levicorpus, he though savagely; there was a second flash of light and Snape was hanging upside down, suspended by his ankle.
I really don't want to see Snivellus' underwear, Remus thought, and returned to his book, flipping through to Vanishing Spells.
Lily, on the other hand, was finding it hard not to join in the laughter. But, remembering her Prefect status, she merely said, "Let him down!"
"Certainly," James complied with an upwards flick of his wand. Liberacorpus! Snape fell back to the ground, getting to his feet as soon as he disentangled himself with from his robes.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Sirius said. You really did not need to use Sectumsempra on James, Snivellus, he thought savagely, as Snape keeled over again, rigid as a board.
"Leave him alone!" Lily shouted, drawing her own wand. She was only just behind the Marauders, who were collectively just behind Snape, in the art of painful jinxes, hexes and curses. Remus, do something. Please do something. If I hex them, I'm only sinking to their level.
"Ah, Evans, don't make me hex you," James said earnestly. Though the Witches' Liberation was going on, Gryffindors were supposed to be chivalrous.
"Take the curse off him, then!"
James sighed deeply; it had, after all, been Sirius who had hexed Snape that time, but he complied with his reluctantly beloved's wishes and muttered the counter-curse. "There you go," he said resentfully as Snape struggled to his feet again. "You're lucky Evans was here, Snivellus."
Use her given name, dammit, Remus thought.
"I don't need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!" Snape snarled.
You'll pay for that one, Snivellus, James thought angrily. You're just bitter that a Muggle-born witch beats you continuously at Potions.
Lily merely blinked. "Fine," she said coolly, mentally praising herself for not running away as she usually did when Snape called her a – called her that word. "I won't bother in future." And I wouldn't have bothered if I wasn't a Prefect. "And I'd wash your pants if I were you, Snivellus." Not to mention get some fake tan.
"Apologise to Evans," James roared. As this was the first occasion ever that Lily had stood her ground in James' sight and hearing after being called that word, Remus felt that James could be forgiven for sticking up for her as he usually did.
"I don't want you to make him apologise!" Lily said, horrified. "You're as bad as he is!"
"What?" James yelped, severely wounded by this accusation. "I'd NEVER call you a – you-know-what!" That should pacify her. Sweet Merlin, all I did was stick up for her.
"Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look as though you just got off your broomstick," Doesn't he know the basic meaning and application of hair gel? "showing off with that stupid Snitch," There are more important things in life than Quidditch, "walking down corridors and hexing people just because you can," you great bully, "I'm surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it! You make me SICK!" She turned on her heel and hurried away, even though James yelled after her.
Lily sighed audibly as she rejoined her dorm-mates in the lake.
"Well?" Amy said. "What happened?"
"Potter and Black were harassing Snape again," Lily began tiredly. "Your darling Remus," she shot a poison glare at Peri, who was crushing heavily on Remus, "didn't even look up from his book. Potter had the nerve to try to bribe me into dating him –"
"Ouch," Iris interjected sympathetically.
"And then Snape called me a – that word – again for interfering. Potter went all righteous but I cut him down to size. Hopefully he won't ask me out again for a while. I'm not daring to hope that he'll never ask me out again."
"No chance of becoming friends, then?" Amy muttered. Lily splashed some water at her playfully. Amy shrieked. "There could be blue-green algae in that, Miss Perfect Prefect," she rebuked her reproachfully. Iris and Peri shrieked and made to wade out of the shallows.
Lily merely rolled her eyes. "Would there be mer-people in the lake if there was blue-green algae?"
Iris and Peri calmed down. In fact, Iris calmed down enough to rebuke Lily. "You don't need to take out your PMS and OWL tension on Snape all the time."
"OWLs don't come around every month," Lily muttered.
HPHPHPHP
Remus entered the Gryffindor fifth-year boys' dorm later that afternoon to finds the hangings around James' four-poster drawn shut. So he opened them. "Prongs? Sure you don't want to go over that Transfig– oh. You're asleep." So he drew the hangings shut and left the room.
But James wasn't asleep. After taking out his OWL- and Lily-related frustration on Snape (who had eventually fainted and Evan Rosier and Walden Macnair had had to carry him to the Hospital Wing) James had gone to the kitchens, eaten copious amounts of chocolate, run back up to the dorm on a chocolate high, and collapsed on his bed with hardly enough energy to close his hangings and cast a Silencing Charm on them so that no one who came in would hear him crying.
He was fifteen, for Merlin's sake! And he was losing it over a girl! Sirius was right, he was sick. Lovesick.
Lily had never blown up at him like that before. Granted, she had rejected him quite forcefully over the past year, but she'd never actually lost her temper – not even the time he and Peter had slipped love-potion into Bellatrix Black's pumpkin juice and made her confess undying love for Snape.
Why had she blown up at him? Sure, it was OWL time and she stressed over every exam but – and Snape. How dare he? How. Dare. He. He just couldn't resist, could he? Calling Lily a – that word. Again. As always, James had tried to rebuke the git, and what thanks did he get? A faceful of BS about his 'arrogance'. Lily and Snape were at least agreed on that.
Where had that unpleasant thought come from? Lily and Snape agreeing … that would be the day. Unless it was over some obscure Potions thing…
HPHPHPHP
Severus was lying on a bed in the Hospital Wing. Maybe those hexes and jinxes had given him temporary brain damage, for that was the only explanation he could give to the regret he was experiencing over calling Evans a Mudblood. Yes, that was it. It was the only explanation. It had to be the explanation. How could he, Severus Prince Snape, regret calling someone by their rightful title? Especially if they were annoyingly good at Potions, and part of the Slug Club because of it. There was another mystery. How could Evans be in the Slug Club? For one thing, she was Muggleborn, a Mudblood, and for another, she wasn't in Slytherin. Not that, with her attitude – and parentage – she would have been Sorted into Slytherin, Severus was sure.
And why was Severus wasting time thinking about the mysteries surrounding Evans, anyway? He should be using this quiet time to plot revenge on Potter and Black. After all, they had pulled another unprovoked attack on Severus, and then had the audacity to command him to apologise to Evans. Maybe I should have, Snape thought. OK, where did that come from? I took too many jinxes today.
HPHPHPHP
How dare he? Lily fumed silently at dinner, shooting the occasional death glare at Sirius Black in Potter's absence. How dare he try to bribe me into going out with him? I hate him! Can he at least return the favour?
And Snape. Oh. Snape. How dare he? How dare he call her – that name? What did birth matter? It was who you were, not who your parents were, that mattered. At least she could hold her own against the git in Potions, even when he hissed that word across the dungeon. How could he call her that name, straight after she had stuck up for him? Stuck up for him. It was an almost unbearable thought. At least, for the first time, she had stood her ground, if only to have Potter stick up for her.
Insufferable gits, both of them. They made Vernon Dursley look kind and considerate of people other than Petunia, and that was in no way a good thing.
HPHPHPHP
Lily and Remus had a Prefect patrol to make that evening. Their selected route was of the sixth floor. They walked quietly in companiable silence. After all, if they talked, they would warn trysting couples and miscreants to their presence (or at least, the miscreants), thus defeating the purpose of the rounds.
Eventually, Remus could stand it no longer. James may have cast a Silencing Charm over his bed, but it hadn't disguised his tear-stained cheeks and puffy red eyes that Remus had seen when he had opened the curtains. It took a lot to make a fifteen-year-old boy cry, and even more to make James Potter cry. Lily had been too harsh.
"Er, Lily?" Remus whispered. Lily turned to look at him. "Er, I wanted to talk to you about what happened after the OWL today," he faltered.
Lily turned back to face the direction they were walking in. "Why didn't you do something?" she hissed. "They're your friends – can't you control them?"
It's more a case of them controlling me, Remus thought ruefully. "I think you were too hard on James. He was only trying to stick up for you –"
"He was only trying to hex Snape – again!"
"Keep your voice down," Remus hissed.
A.N: I had no idea how to finish this chapter and I've never been entirely happy with it – the wavering POVs thing was a bit odd. This is a pre-DH story, but I shipped HMS Cliché (from Sev's side only) before Book 7 was released, and wrote accordingly. The next chapter takes place during the summer holidays between fifth and sixth year. Reviews are always appreciated!
