Fourth Year

"Lily!" Severus Snape came running over to the girl with fire red hair and attempted to catch his breath.

"Are you alright, Sev?" She asked, noticing something wrong. Lily didn't know it then, but he just came from being harassed by a group of students going by the name of the Marauders.

He looked around. "Nothing. So have you studied for Potions yet?"

Lily ignored his worried looks and nodded. "Well, of course! I've read the book already."

"School just started! You honestly can't be telling me that you finished our fourth year's Advanced Potion Making book in a matter of two weeks!" He exclaimed incredulously.

She nodded. "It was simple. Most of it was review from-"

A shrill scream interrupted her conversation with Severus and she went to go see what was going on. A large crowd started to build up around a wobbling student and a few students with their wands out.

Severus immediately recognized the few students with their wands out as the Marauders, the people who had bullied him earlier. "I think we should ignore this, Lily."

"No, we need to help-" she started to say but when she looked back, he was gone. "OI!" Lily walked over, a little nervous but she tried to show her confidence.

"What is she doing?" A couple people murmured from the crowd as they stepped back to make a path for her.

"I think that's Lily Evans," Sirius whispered and James nodded. He could recognize the red hair from a mile away.

Remus was leaning against a tree with a book out. He didn't bother to look up from his book when the Marauders were toying with the helpless student but when Lily shouted, he was watching very intently.

"What do you think you're doing to this poor student?" Lily asked, her voice shaky.

James watched her plant her feet behind the victim and he smirked. "Teaching him a lesson, if you couldn't tell."

Sirius chuckled and tugged on the student's robs menacingly.

"What did he do?" she asked and stepped around the student so she was closer to the boys.

Peter scurried over to Remus and kept his mouth shut.

"Walked in my way, I think." James glanced over at Sirius, who gave him a thumbs up.

Lily scowled. "Excuse me? Are you meaning to tell me that you are torturing this poor boy here for no reason at all?"

James's eyebrows narrowed and he snorted. "We did have a reason. He walked in my way."

"James, is it?" She asked and he grinned. "That is hardly a reason at all."

Remus closed his book and got up from leaning against the tree.

"I don't think you have a right to tell me if I have reason or not to have a little fun," James argued.

Lily was getting angrier by the second. He couldn't do this to innocent students and she wasn't going to let him. "Fun?" she chuckled sarcastically. "If you call hurting random, innocent students fun, you are one sadistic git."

The crowd gasped and Lily smiled slightly. James's glow disappeared, although. "Sadistic?"

"Sadistic and childish." She agreed.

"You have no place to tell me who I am," he growled.

Lily opened her mouth to argue some more but Marlene cut in. "Sorry to close the show but we have places to be."

"Marly! The student!" Lily exclaimed as she was being dragged away and Marlene sighed.

"Unjellify!" She shouted and the counter course stopped the student from tripping over himself for the umpteenth time.

James and Sirius scrambled to aim their wands at someone but they were still trying to sort out what had just happened.

The student, Lily, and Marlene all got away just in time before the Marauders even sorted out the crowd that hadn't dispersed yet.

"That bitch!" Sirius screamed but James wasn't so quick to agree. He didn't know if his challenger made him as angry as he thought he'd be. A challenge made the situation a whole lot more interesting. Merlin knows he had fun.