Peter frowned as he looked at the examination before him. What was the hand motion for the Shield Charm again? He couldn't remember it for the life of him. Defense Against the Dark Arts was an easy subject for James and Sirius, but he found it much more problematic. Then again, he found every subject more problematic than James and Sirius did; they were brilliant. They would probably walk away with a dozen O.W.L.s each; Peter would be lucky to get half as many. He knew his mother would be proud of him no matter what marks he received, but he really did wish that just once he could truly impress her. She had given him so much, and he wanted to make her happy in return.

As he followed the other three Mauraders out of the exam, he rethought his answers to several of the questions. Then he reminded himself that that certainly wasn't doing him any good. They sat down under a tree to discuss the exam; James was playing with a Snitch, on which he had scratched Lily's initials. Over the course of this year, she had gone from completely ignoring him to giving him begrudging acknowledgment, which James seemed to take as a great sign, but Peter was pretty sure it was just her being nice. He, Remus, and Sirius had a betting pool going on when/if James and Lily would ever get together; Sirius had bet on by the beginning of sixth year, Peter had gone for Christmas break of seventh year, and Remus had bet on "never, unless James stops acting like a prat around her." It certainly didn't appear that Sirius was going to win the bet, or the affections of Marlene McKinnon.

When Snivellus came over to where they were, Peter couldn't help but internally roll his eyes a bit. Sure, he was obnoxious, annoying, and bordering on possibly being a Dark Wizard, but quite honestly, he didn't think the obsession James and Sirius had with him was entirely necessary. Still, friends stuck together, so Peter wasn't going to say anything to them. And it was fun making him squirm. Only this time, it was possible that James had gone too far. In fact, Peter was pretty sure he had.

As he watched the scene unfold, James using Levicorpus on its inventor, the threat to remove his trousers, and then his shocking use of that word, that terrible, forbidden word, Peter could see the threads of normalcy unravelling. And as Lily Evans stormed off, fuming at what Snivellus had called her, he had the feeling that something fundamental had just changed. And all he could do was watch, watch as James flicked his wand to expose him to the onlookers, and then Remus said feebly, "James, don't you think that's maybe enough?"

"Before he called Evans that word, maybe," said James through gritted teeth. "Not anymore."

During their Transfiguration exam the next day, Peter couldn't help but notice Snivellus looking over toward Lily, and her refusing to meet his gaze. Their friendship had been a part of why James disliked him so; now that it was over, would things change? Things between James and Lily certainly didn't seem to have; she was firmly avoiding his gaze, too.

When all of their exams were over, and the year had ended, they boarded the carriages to Hogsmeade station.

"This was quite a year, wasn't it?" said James as they sat in their cabin on the Hogwarts express.

"You could say that," Peter agreed.

They arrived at King's Cross station, and saw Lily on the platform. "Have good summer, Evans!" James called out to her.

She walked away without a reply.

"Damn," said James. "All the progress, reversed."

"Maybe the incident with Severus had something to do with it," Remus, who had joined them, suggested.

"That git called her a you-know-what, why would she still care about him?"

"I don't know whether she does," said Remus. "But she cares about you, and she thinks that you showed her who you are that day. Would you like someone who would do something like that to somebody you had ever cared about?"

James frowned. "I guess I hadn't thought of it like that."

Peter saw his mother waving through the crowd. "Oh, there's mum, I'd better go. See you all later."

"See you," they chorused, waving at him as he walked over to his mother.

"So, Peter, dear, how was the school year?" his mother asked.

"Eventful."

"Oh. And your exams?"

"We'll see."

"Yes we will. Let's get you home."

They got in the car to drive home, and Peter wondered vaguely what the future had in store.