A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, favourite adds and alert adds, everyone! It's great to see that people read my random ramblings. So to say a proper thank you, here's another update! It's all because of you lovely people. Thank you *hugs and virtual cookies for everyone*
Usual disclaimers apply: Thanks to Ms Rowling for letting me play ball with her creations.
And now on with the chapter.

It was only a dream, nothing was real, and it can't hurt you, Lily scolded herself. But the nightmare was so vivid in her head, she could not see anything else. James Potter, holding his wand aloft. Hogwarts was crumbling in the background. And Severus, his face utterly blank and lifeless, was dead at James's feet.

Sighing, she ran a hand through her long red hair and swung her feet out of bed. She padded over to the windowsill and poured herself a glass of water from the jug that stayed by the window. She sighed again and sat down on the windowsill.

It's the stress of the exams and everything else, that's all, she told herself firmly, Severus is not going to die and Dumbledore will not let anything bad happen to Hogwarts. We're going to be fine.

A tiny part of her brain hoped that her common sense was right.

She drained her glass of water and went back to bed. Within a few minutes she was sleeping again, and the dream was forgotten.

--

There were three exams that day, Defence Against the Dark Arts written in the morning, Transfiguration practical in the afternoon and Defence practical after dinner that evening. Remus was certain that by the end of the final exam, James would have rejoined the group and the trio would once again be a foursome. It was lonely without James. Sirius was sullen without his best friend to talk to, and Peter was frequently annoying and frustrating.

He was proved right when James sat beside Sirius at breakfast and muttered, "You were right. I'm an idiot, I'm obsessed and I need to move on with my life."

Sirius was taken aback and stared at James for a full minute, his mouth open.

"Well go on, say it." James looked as if he was readying himself for the worst.

"Prongs, you bloody idiot! Of course I was right, I'm always right. Now about this moving on plan, I know just the thing…"

Remus smiled to himself and poured some milk onto his cereal. Everything was back to normal - or at least as normal as it had started out. Life was good.

--

Lily woke late, owning to the fact that she had been awake the previous night. She strained to remember why she had been awake and couldn't. Shrugging mentally, she quickly got ready, pulled her backpack onto her shoulders and ran down for breakfast.

She sprinted through the corridors and down the marble staircase. It was only when she reached the door to the Great Hall that she slowed to a brisk walk. Crossing the Hall, she could hear a crowd at the Slytherin table calling after her, but held her head high and ignored them.

Sitting down at the end of the Gryffindor table, Lily threw her bag at her feet and reached across to grab some toast and pumpkin juice. Before she could so much as take a bite of her toast, brown hair trailed across her face and a voice was hissing in her ear.

"Hey, Evans. I hope you aren't going to be sitting too close to me today, I've only just had my robes washed. And you know that you can't get the stench of Mudblood out."

Lily looked up just in time to see Lisa, the girl from Slytherin who had been friends with Severus, walking back to her place at the Slytherin table. She scanned up and down the table and realised that Severus was not there.

Puzzled, she took a bit of her toast and decided that there would be plenty of time to see Severus during the day - after all, they had the same exam timetable.

Finishing up her breakfast, Lily got to her feet and stretched. Out in the Entrance Hall, she happened to run into Severus, quite literally.

"Sorry, I was…"

"Don't worry about it," Lily answered, rather coolly.

"Lily, you have to listen to me. I didn't say that, I would never!"

"Sev, I really can't take much more of this lying and deceit. Just answer one question - did you honestly think that I wouldn't find out?"

"Lily, I didn't ever say that I hated people from Muggle families. Why should I say that? And I never said that I was going to ditch you, I never said I didn't care. Lily Evans, I don't care what sort of blood you have, I love you. Hell, you could be part troll and I wouldn't care!"

Lily smiled in spite of herself, but quickly sobered. "But why would they say that, Sev? You're a Slytherin, surely they wouldn't lie about their own Housemates!"

"Of course they would Lily. If they thought that it would mean us breaking up and me being with someone more suitable, a Pureblood, then they would curse McGonagall inside out. Lily, you cannot understand what these people are like. Everyone in Slytherin hates me; they thought I was just playing with your head so they approved. But when they found out how much I care for you, they flipped. Lily, I couldn't sleep in the dorm room last night because I was afriad of what they would do to me. I have nobody to turn to in the House and nowhere to hide from them all!"

Lily was shocked. "Sev, where the Hell did you sleep then?"

He looked away and muttered to the floor, "Classroom. Used Alohomora to get in."

She shook her head and laid a hand on his arm gently. "You should have said yesterday instead of letting this go on. And you should see Professor Slughorn about getting things sorted out, maybe he could keep an eye on things for you?"

"Well, you'd be better asking him than me. He loves you. Maybe as much as I do," he added.

Lily laughed, then looked at Severus. "I really hope you mean everything you've just said, because I really care about you. You're my best friend, I love you and I couldn't stand to think of you bitching about me behind my back."

"I would never do that. I swear."

A group of Slytherins passed them, Lisa in the front, scowling.

"You can do better than that piece of Mudblood slime, Snape!" one of them called.

Severus whirled round, drawing his wand from under his cloak.

"Stupefy!" more than one voice cried.

Two of the Slytherins collapsed to the floor, the rest bunched closer together and looked nervously around. Severus was standing there with his wand pointed at Lisa, and James Potter was standing beside him, his wand aimed at the unconscious boys on the floor.

"Well, Snape, never thought I'd live to see the day you would be best friends with Potter. Maybe the two of you can get together sometime and talk about how much you love Mudbloods," Lisa hissed.

Severus kept his wand trained steadily on her.

"No! Sev, she's not worth it. Come on." Lily tugged at his arm.

"Evans, keep out of this," James warned, his hazel eyes flashing up to her from under his untidy black hair.

"Yes, let us sort this out," Severus agreed.

Lily threw her hands into the air. "If this is about me, I think I should get a say in what happens, and I say leave it be!"

"What on earth is going on here?" Professor McGonagall cried.

Lily glanced around and saw that the spectacle in the Entrance Hall had drawn the entire population of the school away from breakfast and out to watch.

"Magic in the corridors? Twenty points each from Gryffindor and Slytherin!"

"But Professor!" James cried, outraged.

McGonagall looked sternly through her glasses and said, "You had better go and get ready for your exam Mr Potter, before I do or say something I might regret. You too, Mr Snape and Miss Evans."

James scowled at the group of Slytherins once more, turned and stormed up the marble staircase.

Severus took Lily by the hand and they followed.

James Potter was sitting against the wall halfway along the first floor corridor, breathing heavily. He looked up as they approached. "Look, Sniv… Snape. I know you and Evans are a couple now, but I still care about her, so I won't let them say things about her like that."

Severus nodded. "I appreciate that, you know. They deserved a lot worse."

James gritted his teeth and glared at the wall.

Lily sat beside him. "Look, James. I know how you feel, but you have to understand I don't like you in that way. I would like for us to be friends though."

James looked up, his expression softer. "Friends? Really? Yeah, friends is good."

Lily smiled and nodded. "Thanks again. It was very brave of you. Stupid, but brave all the same."

James just continued to stare vacantly into space. Finally he stood up. "Guess I should see where everyone else has gone. And I mean it, Evans. I don't want anyone to hurt you." He glanced at Severus, and left.

"That was a nice thing to do. Considering all the torture he's put you through," Severus commented lightly as they followed James down the marble staircase a few minutes later.

"Yeah, well. It's all I can do. Besides it's nice to know you have friends who are willing to stand up to a group of bullies for you. And I should apologise to you for not believing you. I mean, why would you defend my honour if you hated me?"

Severus grinned. "Easy mistake to make. I mean, you know what those evil Slytherins are like. We'll do all sorts of crap to get our own way."

Lily laughed and slipped her hand into his.

--

The written Defence paper was easy. Lily was finished in next to no time and was pretty certain that she had just gotten at least an 'E'.

During lunch, she sat with James, Remus, Sirius and Peter under the big beech tree. She had decided that this was the best way to prove to James that she was serious about them being friends.

"So Evans, are you coming to the big party in Gryffindor Tower after the final exam?" Sirius asked, casually lounging against the tree trunk as Lily and Remus tested each other on Transfiguration incantations and wand movements. James was playing with a Snitch, letting it go and allowing it to get about 10, sometimes 20, feet away before he grabbed it again. Peter was cheering James on.

Lily flushed and looked back down as Remus's notes.

"Yeah, I should be able to make it. Might be a bit late getting there though," she looked sheepish.

"You and Snape got plans then?" James asked.

"Well, yeah. We were thinking of going into Hogsmeade for a while."

James nodded. "Well, since you'll be there, can you get us a pile of Honeydukes sweets for the party? We'll give you the gold for it."

Peter and Sirius were nodding enthusiastically. Remus nodded with less enthusiasm than his friends.

"Sure. But only if you pay up, Potter."

James grinned and let the Snitch loose again.