AN: I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I hate myself, I cry in a corner merely thinking about your rightful distain! Okay, so… I am repentant :) I never FOR A MOMENT considered giving up on this story but I'm lazy and all together worthless. I was taking exams and finishing up end of term projects and there were people at my house EVERY DAY over break. I slept in my bed all of two times because it was constantly being offered up to guests and even during those two times it was with another person (wink wink). But not really *wink *wink… I'm too sad and alone for *wink *wink :( Anyway! I'm so sorry, but here you go!

Lily's POV

Lily felt her heartbeat quicken in her chest as she tried to gain control of the all to familiar scene.

"Evans!" she heard, quietly hissed behind her, "Get out of here, alright?"

Without looking behind her, Lily knew that it had been Potter who had spoken, "What? So you can get you and your friends killed? I don't think so," she said, making no attempts to keep her voice down.

"Evans!" he almost groaned, obviously trying to hold back his anger, "Can you just let it go and keep your bloody nose out of it for once? This has nothing-"

"Well if you two are quite finished," drawled Lucius Malfoy from Lily's other side, "I do believe we were in the middle of something. Something that you really don't need to involve yourself in, Mudblood."

Lily heard a sharp intake of breath behind her and willed Potter not to do anything stupid.

"I suggest that all of you put your wands away and move along before this goes any farther,"

"I would love to see you make us, Mudblood," Bellatrix Black said, redirecting her wand so that it was pointed directly at Lily's face.

"Don't think I won't give you a detention just because it's the last week of school, Black."

"Oh, a detention!" Bellatrix cried in false terror, "Haven't you learned, Mudblood, that we don't care about your ridiculous, little, child's punishments? What is an hour or two of writing lines when we can do whatever we want in exchange?"

"Whatever you want, Bella, dear?" Sirius cut in in a sickly sweet voice, startlingly similar to the one just used by his cousin, "Is that what you've traded your soul for? The sanction to do what you want? And how long do you think that will last before Voldemort tightens your leash?"

"Don't you dare speak his name with your blood- traitor lips!" she shrieked, sparks shooting out the end of her wand.

"He wants servants Bella, or did that never occur to you?"

"Silence!"

Sirius grinned, obviously enjoying getting such a rise out of his cousin, "Do you really think anyone will care how pure your blood is when you and the rest of these nutters are rotting in Askab-"

A jet of yellow light shot out of Bellatrix's wand toward Sirius, which he easily deflected.

"Tut-tut, Bella," Sirius cooed, shaking his head, "How long will Voldemort be willing to keep you around if you can't even hit a standing target?"

"Enough!" Lily cried as Bellatrix moved to aim her wand again, "Both of you, enough!"

"I don't know how many times we have to warn you," growled Dolohov, "before you mind your own business and move the bloody hell along,"

"I'll second that," James said impatiently from behind her.

Lily whipped around, her eyes wide in amazement, "Excuse me, Potter?"

"You heard me," His voice lowered, but the hardness remained in his eyes, "Just move along,"

"Oh," Bellatrix cut in, her eyes glinting mischievously, "Oh, I think I see. Potter doesn't want his little mudblood pet to know what our little disagreement was about,"

Lily looked at James's face quickly and saw his jaw tighten.

"You see, little one," Bellatrix murmured, now prowling across the circle toward Lily, "noble mister Potter didn't want you to hear the nasty things we'd just been saying,"

A low chuckle came from the Slytherin side of the circle and Bellatrix grinned, "What was it again, Jimmie, dear?" she said, keeping her eyes locked on Lily as she spoke, "What was it that had you so, so upset… Oh that's right! My friends and I were talking about you, love," she said, now pointing a long finger at Lily.

Lily raised her eyebrows coolly, trying to keep the surprise off of her face, "Is that so?"

"Well, not you exactly. People like you. And what will happen to them when the Dark Lord is in charge of things," her last words were a whisper, but they somehow conveyed more hate to Lily than if she had been shouting.

"Shut up, Black," James growled, "I'm warning you,"

"Potter, you're not helping. Just walk away before this gets violent and I have to report it,"

"Yes, walk away," Malfoy jeered after them as Lily tried pushing James and Sirius away from the scene while Peter followed along nervously, "Mudbloods like yourself won't have the appendages necessary to walk away when my lot are done with you,"

James swung around and, before Lily could do anything to stop him, fired a stinging hex at Malfoy. Malfoy clutched at his face and she saw that the skin over his left cheek was red and blistered.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" She yelled at James as he lowered his wand slowly to his side, not meeting her eye, "Now you're going to have to spend one of your last nights here in detention! And for what? So you can get the last word-"

All of the sudden James eyes, which had been defiantly focused over Lily's shoulder, widened in surprise and he yanked her to the side- but not quickly enough. She felt a searing pain across her cheek and when she drew her hand away from the source of the pain, her fingers were sticky with blood.

The entire street was silent as Lily turned slowly to face the Slytherins. She felt her hands ball into fists of their own accord and wasn't entirely sure if the buzzing noise that filled her ears was a result of proximity of the hex or the rage now boiling inside her stomach. Before she thought too much about the action, she raised her wand.

"Evans? Are you-" James said tentatively before Lily interrupted.

"Who?" She asked simply. The silence dragged on for several seconds before she asked again in a voice impossibly quiet and yet dangerous, "Who?"

Finally, Malfoy stepped forward with a sneer on his face, but Lily noticed that it was barely held in place and didn't conceal the nervousness in his eyes.

"We warned you-"

Lily didn't bother letting him finish. With a flick of her wrist, a jet of blue light erupted from the end of her wand and struck Malfoy in the chest. He flew back several feet before crumpling on the cobblestones of the street.

There was one moment of still shock before absolute bedlam broke out. Spells were being fired from all directions and Lily found herself participating fully in the heart of the fight, deflecting hexes, which quickly grew to curses. She saw Sirius gracefully dueling his cousin as well as three of the other Slytherins with a look of glee on his face. Even Peter shot the occasional leg-locker hex from behind Sirius and Lily was impressed with how often he struck his aim.

Potter, she realized, was standing firmly a her side, and their curses and defensive spells often overlapped to each other's targets, aiding one other.

"To your left!" he shouted, and Lily spun just in time to deflect another cutting hex. They grinned at each other briefly before returning to the fight.

Just as James commented on the truly magnificent Furnunculus Curse that Lily had just shot at Dolohov, an all too familiar voice came from over Sirius's shoulder.

"What, precisely, is going on here?"

Lily felt as if a caldron of icy water had been emptied down the back of her robes. Very slowly she turned around and, to her horror, looked directly into the enraged visage of Professor McGonagall.

Realizing that her wand arm was still dumbly extended in the direction of a writhing Dolohov, she quickly snapped it to her side, hoping beyond hope that McGonagall hadn't seen. Judging by her flared nostrils, these prayers were made in vain.

"Well? Who can explain this? For I certainly can't imagine why a dozen of Hogwarts's students felt that it was acceptable to begin dueling in the middle of the street." She glared, challenging anyone to answer her biting and obviously rhetorical question, "Anyone?"

Lily, in an attempt to not meet her professor's eye looked to her left and, in doing so, saw James's expression out of the corner of her eye. Unlike her own, Potter was not shamefaced and flushed. As a matter of fact it looked as if he was trying desperately to suppress laughter.

Lily looked around the scene confusedly trying to imagine what about it could bring on Potter's near hysterics, and indeed, she could see that tears were now forming in his eyes. She had just about come to the conclusion that the boy had merely cracked under the pressure and stress of his delinquent hobbies when her eyes fell on Sirius.

In an instant she completely understood. Sirius, while standing directly next to the now lecturing professor, still had his wand drawn. Malfoy was at his feet and from the look of his snarling, but silent, mouth Sirius had cast a very effective silencing charm on him that had evidently withstood several minutes even when mixed with the alternating Talantellegra and body binding hexes. Just as Malfoy would stagger to his feet, shouting silently, after being released, Sirius would strike him with yet another hex, either sending him into a fit of dancing, or falling rigidly back onto the street. McGonagall was completely oblivious.

Lily quickly snapped a hand to her mouth to hide her own grin and stifle laughter. Although such disrespect for McGonagall's authority would usually incite a glare from Lily, there was something about the scenario that was simply too funny for her to bear. In addition to this, her cheek still stung and she couldn't help but feel a little bit more lenient towards Sirius's blatant misuse of magical punishment.

"And the fact that three of you are prefects is completely unacceptable. I fear that I've come to accept such behavior from Ms. Black and Mr. Malfoy, but you, Ms. Evans-"

"Oh come off it Minnie," Sirius cut in unexpectedly, "you don't honestly think this is Evans's fault, do you?"

Lily and McGonagall both looked at him in amazement, but the older woman recovered herself more quickly.

"It is close to irrelevant who started it Mr. Black, from what I saw, all of you, including Ms. Evans, were participating equally. Therefor, you shall all receive equal punishment. The only exception to this," she said, turning on Bellatrix and Malfoy, who was still sprawled dejectedly on the ground, "are our two Slytherin prefects, here. You have both received warnings in the past and I believe that it is safe to say that you are both out of the running for head boy and girlship next term. If the two you would be so kind as to escort yourselves to the Headmaster's office, I'm sure he will be interested in seing you. And for heaven's sake, get up off the ground Malfoy."

At this, Potter was no longer able to contain himself. He threw his head back and laughed fully, tears streaming down his face. It was several moments before he could collect himself. All the while Sirius looked on cooly, not showing even the smallest hint of amusement or knowledge of what his friend was laughing about. Lily fully understood what the professors meant when they said that he could get away with murder. She made a mental note to never play poker with Sirius before shaking herself for even envisioning a universe where she would be tempted to spent time with a marauder.

"If you've finished, Mr. Potter, I'd like to remind you that your participation in today's events will not go unpunished,"

"Oh that's fine. I completely understand," he said, wiping the tears of mirth off of his still grinning face, "You can hardly let me off all the time of the parents might start to wonder if there was something untoward going on between us,"

Lily's jaw actually dropped.

"Oi, hands off, Prongs!" Sirius exclaimed, grinning, "You and Moony can keep fighting over Poppy as much as you like, but Minnie's all I've got!"

"That," cut in the aforementioned 'Minnie,' "Is quite enough. Slytherins, you will be reporting for detention this evening with Professor Slughorn, And you four will be with me. I would normally combine you, but given recent evidence of your violent and barbaric natures, it would seem folly to tempt fate so close to the end of term. As a matter of fact," she added upon seeing the mischievous glance exchanged between James and Sirius, "It would also be foolish to leave you two together in a time meant to instigate reformation. Mr. Pettigrew, Mr. Black, you will report to my office after dinner, this evening. Mr. Potter, Ms. Evans, I believe I remember Mr. Filch mentioning the amount of work he had to do before the end of term. I'm sure he will be delighted to have some assistance. You two will meet him in the trophy room directly after dinner."

McGonagall strode away, back toward the castle and the group of Slytherins followed at a distance, occasionally shooting evil looks back in her direction. The rest of the street cleared as well, leaving only James, Sirius, and Peter, who were talking, completely unfazed by the altercation, and Lily, who was too stunned to move.

"You see that, Prongs," Sirius stage whispered to his friend, "She wants me all to herself."

"Yeah? Then why's Peter coming?"

"To take notes I suspect," Sirius said, wriggling his eyebrows.

"Lily!" Someone shouted from down the street. She slowly turned to see Lorelei sprinting towards her, laden with the parcels they had purchased earlier in the day. Lily's eyes widened and she quickly felt for her own packages in the deep inner pockets of her robes. She was relieved to feel the worn parchment and twine that wrapped her two treasures under her fingers. She wasn't entirely sure of their practical worth, but she felt positive that they were irreplaceable.

"Lily," she panted, coming to a halt, "What the hell did I just hear about you hexing Dolohov?"

"Just Dolohov, then?" Sirius inquired draping an arm around Lily's shoulders, "they didn't mention Malfoy, Lestrange, and Mulciber?"

Lorelei's violet eyes bulged, "what?"

"I know, I know!" Lily groaned, burying her face in her hands.

"Don't let McGonagall get you down, love," Sirius said, playfully shaking her shoulders, "she doesn't actually mean any of it. She just has to put up a good show so that no one can accuse her of favoring her own house,"

"It's not that!" she said, shaking off Sirius's arm and turning to face the three boys, "I completely lost it! I've never done anything like that before!"

"Not even that time you set Prongs on fire because he wouldn't stop singing to you?"

"Yeah, or that time you levitated him into the lake when he tried to sneak into your dormitory?"

"Right! And remember when she made his cauldron explode in potions when he kept naming off there future children?"

"All right, all right!" Lily broke in, glaring at a chuckling Lorelei, "That's completely different,"

"How so?" Sirius asked coyly, "So you mean to say that my dear, old chap James here is different?"

"I certainly would say that. But then again, I could say as much about Filch, or the Giant Squid,"

"You know, as unique as your fetish for marine animals may make you, I find your obvious preference for the squid over my charming self quite hurtful,"

"I think that's rather the point," Lorelei mused, linking arms with James and Sirius, "But why are we wasting time talking about it when our Lily Evans has just bloody hexed a few Slytherins! Tell me everything,"

So the five Gryffindors retreated back into the Three Broomsticks and spent the rest of the afternoon laughing over the various elements of the day's events.

"So let me get this straight, there were… eight Slytherins?" she clarified, ticking them off on her fingers,"

"Yes," Lily answered with a nod.

"And three of you?"

"Yes?"

"And, for all intents and purposed, you lot won?"

They looked around at each other in surprise, "You know, I hadn't thought of it that way before…"

"We did, didn't we?"

"Yeah, probably thanks to Evans over here," said James grinning.

"Sweet Merlin, yes," chuckled Sirius, "I don't think I've ever come so close to pitying a Malfoy. Bloke looked like he was about to wet himself right before you hexed him,"

"Ugh!" Lorelei exclaimed, "I wish I could have seen it!"

"Wait a moment, why weren't you there? When I left the Three Broomsticks, you were with this lot,"

To Lily's surprise she saw Sirius's expression darken slightly and Potter shot him a highly amused look.

Lorelei, completely oblivious, said, "Oh, you know that Ravenclaw bloke, Gwilym Roberts? Well, he asked me to meet up with him, but when he got here he looked really uncomfortable around these three," she said gesturing around the table, "Which makes me wonder, have you ever done something horrible to him?"

"Not that I can remember," James said.

"But I'll certainly make a point to," Sirius muttered, darkly.

"Sorry, didn't quite catch that," James said, grinning evilly.

"Well, what happened after you left with him, then?" Sirius said impatiently, completely ignoring his now smirking friend.

"Hmm? Oh, right! So, I suggested we take a walk or something, so he wouldn't feel so uncomfortable. We walked up to the Shrieking Shack and back,"

"And?" Sirius asked.

"And, what?"

"Well, were you completely silent on your little jaunt? Why the hell did he want to 'meet up with you' anyway?"

Lorelei looked at him in surprise, finally noticing his odd behavior, "Are you sure you don't have something against him? You look about as happy with him as if you'd caught him shagging your mother."

"To the contrary! I wish that he had shagged my mother, for he certainly wouldn't have survived the experience, and we'd be well shot of him,"

"For Merlin's sake! Why do you hate him so much?"

"I don't!"

"Good. Because he asked me to be his date to the end of term party and I said yes,"

"What?" Sirius asked, in disgust.

"All right, well, it's high time we get back up to the castle," Lily cut in, eager to avoid being an unwilling witness to this argument.

Peter, who had been silent for the most part, enjoying the light bantering of his friends, nodded vigorously and began to quickly scoot out of the cramped booth. James followed suit, smiling slightly and shaking his head as he pulled out his money pouch and laid two Galleons on the table.

"Oh you don't have to do that!" cried Lily, groping for her own money.

James waved her off, still grinning, "You can get it next time,"

Lily flushed slightly at the thought of there being a 'next time.' She allowed herself to fall behind the rest of the group as they exited the pub. Sirius and Lorelei were at the front of the group, still bickering wildly. James was watching on amusedly and occasionally rolled his eyes. The sight made her smile.

"You've certainly had a change of heart, haven't you?"

Lily jumped in surprise, spinning around to see Peter at her side.

"Merlin, Peter! You just about scared me to death!"

He gave an apologetic look before prompting, "Well?"

"Well, what?"

"How is it that you went from public shouting matches with Prongs one minute to having a drink with him the next? I mean, don't get me wrong, I prefer this to you hexing each other, but I've never known you to be so forgiving."

"And I've never known you to be so talkative," Lily joked, smiling at him.

If Lily were being perfectly honest with herself, she had been wondering very much the same thing. Feeling guilty about it, even. Despite Potter being almost innocent for the events down by the lake, she had never liked him before. Or, at least, she had tried not to. He was a bully after all, and Lily knew and firmly believed that no one deserved to be tormented the way she had seen Potter torment.

But hadn't that changed? She couldn't help but think, even as she tried to fit Potter back into the role she had always seen him as. Can you even remember the last time he taunted someone, other than Severus?

The alarming truth was that she really could not. Although his aggravating habit of acting like he owned every room he walked into had kept Lily sneering at his very presence, he hadn't really done anything other than being exceptionally irritating since the beginning of the year.

'And now,' the little voice pointed out, 'he doesn't even seem to irritate you much does he?'

No, she couldn't help but agree. After spending the better part of the afternoon with his friends and him, which Lily still couldn't quite wrap her mind around, he hadn't said a single thing that made her roll her eyes or accuse him of having a 'big head.'

"Damn," Peter groaned next to her, shaking her out of her thoughts, "I forgot I had these," he said, holding up an obscene amount of dung bombs, "McGonagall'll skin me alive if I show up to detention with these."

Lily checked her watch, "Don't worry, you've got time to run them up to the dormitory,"

Peter nodded thoughtfully, "Yeah, I… I'd better," he said before waving slightly and running up the path towards the castle.

James looked back toward Lily in surprise when Peter sprinted past him, and started to walk back towards her, leaving Sirius and Lorelei to argue as they wished.

"Merlin, Evans, did you threaten him or something?" he asked upon reaching her.

Lily laughed, "No, he had to go stash some contraband items before his detention,"

James nodded in complete understanding before saying, "Can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Is this your first detention?"

She looked up at him in surprise and stopped in her tracks, "Sweet Merlin,"

"Evans?"

"I have a detention!"

"Urr, yes?"

"I'm a prefect for Merlin's sake!"

"Oh, don't worry about it!" James said, understanding finally washing over his features, "you heard McGonagall, most prefects get detentions! Bellatrix Black almost got suspended last year!"

"Yes, but-"

"So this is your first, isn't it?" he said, his face split with an almost manic grin.

"Yes, as a matter of fact. Mind my asking why that seems to please you to the point of wetting yourself?"

"But only ever to the point Evans, dear- never past. As you can see, I've somehow managed to keep myself quite dry. Anyway, I'm just excited to be a part of such a momentous occasion! To think that it will read on my headstone 'James Potter- Loving Husband, Caring Friend, Partially Responible for the Corruption of Lily Evans the Prefect.' Well, by then I suppose it will be Lily Potter, but ah well."

"Ugh, and you were doing so well!" Lily said, surprising herself by smiling at his jests.

"At what, exactly, Evans? You see, I do well at most things, so you may have to refresh my memory,"

"You had almost gone an entire afternoon without making me want to vomit,"

"Alas," he said shaking his head and sticking his hands into his front pockets so that only his thumbs protruded, "I suppose we'll have to try again tomorrow?"

As Lily smiled up at him, they ascended the steps to the castle and came to a halt in front of the large doors.

"Tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I mean, I'll… I'll probably see you around tomorrow. Won't I?" he said, looking almost nervously away from her, his hand anxiously running through his hair.

"Well right now we have a double detention to attend in the trophy room," she reminded him.

His head snapped up, and he finally met her eye, "Oh that's right!" he chuckled, "It almost felt like…"

"Like what?"

"Like it was the end of a date," he said quietly.

Her eyes widened in surprise, but she didn't look away and she felt as if her libs were glued in possition.

"But," he said quietly, taking a step closer to her, "If it were the end of a date, and if I'd had as wonderful a time as I've just had with you… I would probablytry to kiss you."

Lily felt her heart hammering in her chest and was sure that every inch of her skin was glowing red. He took a step closer.

She had never been so close to him before and was startled by the little details of his face that her eyes were now flitting to of their own accord; the almost invisible freckles dusting his face, and the gold flecks in his hazel eyes. His eyes, she noticed, lacked their usual confidence. There was a hope there that clutched at her insides and closed her throat.

"Lily?" he said tentatively, her first name sounding wonderful, but alien from him, "I know this wasn't a date, but… I would still really like to kiss you,"

She couldn't bring herself to say what she knew she wanted. Although every muscle in her body strained towards his and every sense was somehow focused on his mouth she couldn't say so out loud. So she took a step closer, just allowing their torsos to brush against each other.

The sharp intake of breath of came from James's chest indicated his surprise at her unspoken consent. Keeping his eyes on her own he moved his hand carefully to her cheek and allowed his long fingers to settle in her hair. Very slowly he began to lean towards her.

"Lily?" came a slightly strangled voice.

Lily sprang back from James in alarm, her heart still pounding sporadically in her chest. Severus stood at the top of the stairs that lead to the dungeons with a look of utter betrayal on his face. Lily felt as if a rock had been dropped into her stomach.

"Severus, I… It's not like…I'm-"

James looked down at her in surprise and annoyance, "Are you apologizing to him? You're going to apologize to him for wanting to kiss me?"

"Shut your mouth Potter!" Severus snarled drawing out his wand, startling both James and Lily, "She would never- she'd doesn't-,"

"What? Want to kiss me? Unless you're as blind as you are dimwitted, I think you know that's not true,"

"Stop it," Lily hissed, not liking the way his eyes hardened or the way his voice, moments ago so sweet, now dripped with mockery, "That's completely unnecessary,"

"Why do you think you need to protect him even after what he said to you? You don't owe him anything!"

"You don't have to owe someone something to be a decent person, Potter,"

The sneer fell away from James's face and he looked down at her with an expression that flashed with hurt.

"Right then," he said brusquely, brushing past Lily, "I'll just leave you to be a 'decent person' to this prat. I hope you have a jolly good time being the better person when he votes again muggleborn rights and goes around murdering you neighbors and loved ones for sport,"

Lily let out a gasp that was half anger and half hurt. James moved toward the staircase and began to climb them. Before Lily could call after him a group of Hufflepuffs flooded out from the dungeon staircase and moved toward the great hall. Within a few moments, several dozen students were in the castle entryway on there way to dinner and Lily really did not feel like causing a scene by either running or calling after James.

She looked irately across the hall and saw that Severus was still standing there, staring at her with the same expression of betrayal. Lily dropped her eyes quickly and moved towards the laughter and clinking of silverware emanating from the Great Hall, wondering how such a perfect afternoon had gone to complete and utter shit.

AN: Well, what did you think!? It was all going so well and then that fuckhead Snape had to come and ruin everything! AGGHGHGHG! Sometimes I forget the fact that I am in fact the one responsible for these plot developments… it seems easier that way.

PLEASE REVIEW! I would really appreciate some feedback whether it be good or bad. If you have any hate mail regarding my sh** work ethic don't be afraid to send that to my PM! It might even be motivational :)