So, on top of my current story I've also been working on the Marauders era story, which will eventually (hopefully) lead into another story I'm also currently writing. As I said in the description this is going to be a Lily x James, Remus x OC, and eventual Sirius X OC. Hopefully I do it well and someone likes it.

As with my other story I own nothing but my OCs.

James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew crept into the common room under the assumption that it would be empty this late at night.

"Don't worry too much about her." Sirius assured James, referring to his last interaction with Lily Evans, which he'd been moping about all day now. "She'll -"

Whatever he was going to say was interrupted when the redheaded fifth year in question climbed through the portrait hole in her pajamas, tears streaming down her face.

She froze when she saw the four of them and without thinking James stepped forward and reached out to her.

"What's wro-"

Lily immediately swatted his hand away.

"Don't touch me!" She yelled. "This is all your fault!" She glanced between him and Sirius before storming passed them.

"What did we do?" Sirius asked when it became obvious from James' dumbfounded expression that he wasn't going to. "Are you talking about what happened with Snively earlier?"

"Don't call him that!"

"He called you worse." James pointed out.

"Because of you!" She shreiked. "He called me that because of you!"

"Evans-" Once again James stepped toward her and Lily immediately backed away.

"Don't talk to me. Don't even look at me. You got your wish Potter, my oldest friendship is over and it's entirely your fault!" She said, no longer bothering to hide her tears.

"We didn't make him call you that!" James defended.

"No, just took every chance you got to torment him because you could! As if you're any better." She shook her head, her green eyes glaring into his hazel ones. "We were already drifting apart. It didn't have to end like this."

And with that she stormed up to bed, leaving James and Sirius to watch her go guiltily.

She refused to even look in James' direction for the rest of the term, though she could feel his eyes on her on more than a few occasions.

She spent the beginning of her summer trying to forget about James Potter and Severus Snape, though it wasn't easy. Losing Severus also meant losing the one nearby friend she had to hang out with over the summer.

Between the solitude and Petunias painfully dull new boyfriend Vernon she assumed that the next few months would be long and boring until one day she heard a familiar voice calling her on a walk around her block.

"Lily?"

She turned, half expecting Severus and was surprised to find Remus Lupin jogging to catch up to her instead.

"Remus? What are you doing here?" She asked, smiling at the one member of the Marauders she didn't really mind.

"Just moved into the house around the corner." He said, gesturing behind them and hoping she wouldn't ask for details. His parents had decided that living in an area with mostly muggles would make it less suspicious when they took him far away every full moon. It also made it easier for him to try to get his license, so that if it was really necessary he could take himself far away when the time came.

"Oh, wow. I live right up the street." Lily nodded toward her own house.

The two of them walked together for a while, talking until eventually the conversation turned, as she knew it would, to James Potter.

Lily rolled her eyes at the mention of his name and Remus frowned.

"He's really not so bad."

"Hmph." Seemed to be the best response she could muster.

"The guys are probably going to be visiting soon. Maybe, since you said you were spending most of the summer alone you could-"

"Potter and Black are the reason I'm spending most of the summer alone, remember?" She pointed out.

Remus sighed. Through her frustration he could see that she was still upset.

"They didn't mean for that to happen. James feels really terrible."

"Oh, I'm sure he's very broken up about it." Lily rolled her eyes and Remus debated whether or not to tell her how much time he'd spent sulking after she yelled at him in the common room. Even Sirius felt bad, though that was more because he now had to watch James be miserable, but Remus suspected he did feel a little guilty about how upset Lily was, though he wouldn't admit it.

The two of them walked around the block a few more times, talking about whatever came to mind, both happy to now know someone who lived near them. Remus continued trying to convince her that James wasn't so bad until finally she started to seem annoyed enough that he thought it would be best to drop the subject for a while. He didn't bring him back up again so he was very surprised when Lily mentioned him.

"If Potter really is sorry then maybe he should tell me himself." She said, not looking at him.

Remus nodded, smiling faintly.

"Hey Sirius?" James was sprawled out on his bed, staring at the ceiling while his best friend flipped through a quidditch magazine across the room.

"Hm?" He muttered, having a feeling he already knew where this was going.

"Do you think Lily will still hate me when the summers over?"

James only ever refered to her as Lily when she wasn't around. When he talked to her he usually called her Evans, unless he was feeling creative and lucky, but that had ended up being a good part of the reason he was so good at shield charms, so it was happening less often.

Sirius glanced up at him over his magazine, trying not to roll his eyes.

"She did last summer." He chuckled, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Yeah, but this time she really hates me, Padfoot." James frowned.

He'd had this conversation at least half a dozen times with each of his friends and by now Sirius knew that he wasn't really looking for advice and was mostly trying to work out a scenario in his head where she might be able to stand him at the start of the year.

Sirius also knew that James would take his silence as confirmation that the odds were against him, which in his opinion they were, but he didn't want to watch his best friend worry his summer away so he smiled reassuringly at him.

"Maybe you should write to her?" Sirius suggested, though he instantly regretted it, knowing that if she were angry enough she'd never respond and James would spend the whole summer worrying and waiting.

James shrugged, considering it for a second and Sirius wondered if maybe he should write to her himself.

He did feel partially responsible for what had happened, and while he had no pity for Snape he truly never meant for Lily to get stuck in the middle of everything and he certainly didn't think James deserved this.

He thought back to earlier in the year, when James had been so excited to finally convince her to partner with him in Charms only to fall asleep in class the night after the full moon and wake up having caused both of them to fail class for the day. Lily was beyond furious at him.

Remus had felt so awful after seeing the look on his face when she said she'd never partner with him again that he nearly told her the truth about where they'd been the night before.

Of course James wouldn't have that, so instead Moony made up this long story about how he'd been sick and James has spent the night helping him. Not a complete lie, and it definitely earned him a few points in Lily's book.

Unfortunately, Sirius didn't see any way he could make James out to be the hero in this one.