Lily was sick of everyone. Severus was avoiding her because of a bruised ego; she was avoiding the Marauders because of James's unprecedented levels of arrogance. She tried to default to hanging out with the girls, but even they were getting on her nerves lately. Alice wouldn't shut up about how much she was in love with Frank and how upset she was that they hadn't taken the next step in their relationship. Meanwhile, Emmeline was sulking over the fact that Sirius seemed to have gotten bored with her and hadn't flirted with her in weeks.
"Lily, do you think I should go talk to him?" asked Emmeline in the library, as Sirius sat with James, Remus, and Peter. Peter was apparently quizzing Remus, though he kept getting the questions wrong, and Remus had to keep grabbing the book back; James had his tongue between his teeth as he folded a piece of parchment intricately; Sirius was lounging back, tilting his chair onto its back legs and looking terribly bored.
"Though, of course, I don't want to seem too interested," continued Emmeline, despite the fact that Lily's face was pointedly hidden in her book. "But maybe he's waiting for me to come to him –"
"Have you seen Frank?" interrupted Alice as she came rushing into the library. "He was supposed to meet me three minutes ago just outside –"
"Evans!" said James, coming over to her and placing a lump of paper in front of her. "It was supposed to be a lily, but I guess I'm not that good at origami. Anyway, it's the thought that counts, so I figured, if you're free this weekend –"
"SHUT UP THE LOT OF YOU!" yelled Lily, causing Sirius to fall backwards in his chair as Emmeline, Alice, and James froze, wide-eyed.
"I. Am trying. To read," said Lily dangerously. She stood up, shoving her books into her bag haphazardly. No one else dared make a move. "I'm going to find a secluded corner of the castle. If any of you tries to come and find me, I swear I will use every hex that I've just learned from this book to practice on you. Got it?"
They all nodded quickly, even Benji, who had just walked in and had done nothing to disturb Lily.
Lily quickly gathered her things and stormed out of the library.
"So that's a no, then?" asked James. He ducked as a book went flying over his head and hit the bookcase behind him with a loud smack.
A week before their very first O.W.L., even James and Sirius started to study. Up in their dorm room, away from the babble of the common room, the Marauders sprawled across their beds, surrounded by books, and throwing out quiz questions to each other.
"Should we do some practical – er – practice?" asked Remus.
"Nah, I'm good with performing spells," said James offhandedly.
"I'm not!" cried Peter. "I'm going to fail everything."
"No you're not," said Sirius. Then, as if getting a sudden thought, "But that would be the most amazing prank ever – making someone you hate fail all their practical O.W.L.s."
"Don't even think about it," said Remus sternly. "That's where I put my foot down. Besides, I doubt you could trick him into messing up anyway. Snape is extremely good with spells. He even…" Remus stopped quickly, unsure if he should go on.
"'He even' what, Moony?" said James, sitting up abruptly.
"He…well…Okay, Sirius, remember the spell Lily put on you on Halloween? The one that made you get lifted into the air by your ankle?" Remus said slowly, still unsure whether he wanted to be saying it or not.
"Yeah," said Sirius. "I never did find out what that spell was. Prongs and I tried looking it up. Thought it could be useful."
"Well, there was a reason you couldn't find it in any of our spell books," said Remus.
"What are you saying, Remus?" said Peter curiously.
"Well…Snape sort of…invents spells."
"WHAT?" James, Sirius, and Peter yelled in unison.
"Exactly."
"But, Snape…he's not…" struggled Sirius.
"He is smart enough, Padfoot," said Remus seriously. "That's why you should be careful. Levicorpus seems to be a pretty innocent spell, but we have no idea what other things he's capable of inventing."
It was extremely doubtful that James heard the last part. Upon hearing the name of the spell, James pointed his wand at Peter and shouted, "Levicorpus!" Immediately, Peter was lifted into the air by his ankle. James and Sirius roared with laughter, and even Remus laughed a little.
"Let me down!" Peter squealed.
"I don't know how!" James gasped while laughing harder than ever. Sirius fell off the bed, positively barking with laughter.
Remus, still grinning, pointed his wand at Peter and said "Liberacorpus." Peter fell back onto his bed with a dull flop.
"Oh, that is brilliant," said Sirius, wiping tears from his eyes.
"Make sure to tell Snape that," said Remus sarcastically.
"Oh, we'll find a way to show him," said James, grinning mischievously.
