MENTOR Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply; believe me when I say I don't own 'em-I'm merely a 14 year-old gal struggling with an absurd world by means of literary ways.


Summary: James and Lily's love story, with the involvement of one of J.K.R's more unlikely characters, concerning a certain debt involving the moon and a certain violent tree...


A/N: Hallo, people! This is my second fanfic, but it's sort of my first time to write one in the famous era of the "Almighty marauders" and it was quite a struggle to write this one, so if you're a Marauder fan yourself or perhaps already a master of tales when it comes to James and Lily, I beg thee all to have patience with me. ^_^


Chapter one: Doused Victory


The Gryffindor common room was a whirl of colors that one starry night. The yellow-orange lamps on the ceiling illuminated everyone's faces as they sat on the warm, squashy armchairs.

And, oh, the light on the fireplace was burning brightly, spreading warmth inside the whole room. But that was not all that filled it. Friendly faces among thousands of sweets for the celebration in honor of the Quidditch team crowded inside as well.

On the sofa nearest to the fireplace sat James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, beside them Lily Evans and Peter Pettigrew. People kept bursting in laughter, music playing loudly in the background.

"So, James, any plans on taking out the girl of your dreams any time soon?" Sirius said loudly. 'Come on, tell us!"

"Shut up, Sirius!" James told him.

"What, I didn't do anything! Right, Lily?" The redhead turned to them in an angry way, but her eyes showed a hint of amusement. "How should I know? Like any girl'd want to be James' girlfriend."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" James said, eyes widening, a clear blush on his face. "What would you know about my love life?"

Lily squinted her emerald green eyes and shook her head at him. "What love life? You don't even have a social life, Potter." She told him, making Remus spit his pumpkin juice out at the carpet, he and Peter laughing hysterically.

"I do so have a social life! I just won Gryffindor a game of Quidditch!"

"Oh, right. And I suppose that's all you have to offer your girlfriend? A round, annoying little ball called the snitch to buzz around her for all eternity-really romantic, Potter."

"She's got you there, James,' Sirius said, taking a swig of Butterbeer. "You've got to have some real hunky charms like me.'

"That's disgusting, Sirius, we're eating!" Peter commented.

"Well, Peter,' Sirius said smugly. "It takes appeal, you know."

"Sirius Black, please." Remus begged, his shoulders slumping. "Not now."

"Weirdos." Lily muttered under her breath, while the rest of the Marauders made barfing sounds at Sirius. "I'm going to bed." She declared, standing up and looking at the four, who were all wrestling, all except Lupin, who was shaking his head at them.

"Goodnight!" She tried to tell them, but only James raised his head as the air was pumped out his lungs by Sirius as he pounced at him on the floor, Peter hitting the two of them with an empty carton box of Flinney's Muddy Gumdrops.

"Goodnight, Evans." He said before Sirius snatched his glasses away.

Lily shook her head, smiling. "Weirdos." She repeated softly to herself, the joy and excitement of the evening still fresh in her mind as she headed for the Girls' Dormitory.


***@***


Lily woke up the next morning still feeling very tired. The song that was playing last night was still stuck in her head. She fingered her long red hair as she sat up in bed. 'Cheer up,' she told herself. 'Today's bound to be relaxing.' She smiled as she thought of that and headed for the bathroom near the window.

As she opened the door, a loud creaking sound was heard, waking the other girls in her dormitory. The next second, ice cold water poured from a pail atop the door.

***@***


"I still can't believe you guys did that to Lily." Remus told his friends, although he couldn't stop a grin.

"Relax," James said. "She'll get over it. All we had to do was use my invisibility cloak to get inside the girl's dormitory and set he pail on top of the door. Of course Sirius had to cast a strong Cooling charm on the water because Peter didn't know how to do it and you were already fast asleep."

"Gee, Potter, thanks a lot."

Remus and James stopped walking towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and turned around to see Lily Evans. Her flashing green eyes told Remus she wasn't exactly in a good mood, her long fiery red hair still quite wet. "Er, morning, Lily." he managed to say. "Good morning Remus." She said, narrowing her eyes at James and walking ahead of them.

The rest of the day would have been nice, that is, had Lily, who stayed with Remus for some peace from James, controlled her from flashing James with glares every hour, and if James, who then stayed with Sirius had stopped teasing and making faces at her.

Only Peter got stuck in the middle of everything, not knowing whether to side with James or Lily. "Maybe you should calm down," He whispered to Lily during Potions as they concocted a Staunching Potion with the Slytherins. "I will be," She said. "As soon as Potter stops acting like a child."


***@***

Entry in Lily Evans' diary that night.

That James Potter! Who does he think he is, anyway? All day today I tried to stay away from him, but since we're in the same house, I have to see that pighead in every one of my classes. He's really nice, but when he plays those pranks!!! It's so annoying! If he ever plays a prank on me again, I'm going to forget how nice he can be and hex him so bad he'll never play another game of Quidditch EVER!!!


***@***


The following day was perfect for Quidditch practice as James Potter stepped out into the sea of green grass, the high stands towering over him and his teammates. Sirius and a seventh-year Arthur Weasley were the beaters, Michael Montana, the team captain and one of the chasers, aside from Martin Wood and Lisa Frick, and Jessica Lorenz was their keeper.

"Alright, people," Michael said, clapping his hands for attention, "Today we fly a few times round the field, following my lead. After that, we divide into groups. Sirius, Arthur, the two of you exercise on that side of the field. It'll be more challenging, since we've got a couple of new bludgers. They're heavier and more stubborn than the last. You're jobs to keep those bludgers only on that side of the field, I don't want any wild balls whizzing around me and James while we train with the snitch. Martin, Lisa, practice shooting with each other and take turns trying to let Jessica block some of your shots."

Soon they began to work and James found himself bathing in sweat as he flew around with Michael and the snitch. A whole fifty minutes later they were ready to stop. " Bring your brooms inside the shed," instructed an equally tired and breathless Michael, as he brushed a couple of strands of his dark brown hair away from his face.

They all nodded and crowded inside the small shed where the brooms were kept.

James put his in last, as his teammates all headed outside. He wiped the sweat on his forehead and fixed his broom in its proper position. He stepped back and started taking his heavy Quidditch gloves to lessen the burden.

As he did so, he heard a noise behind him and saw a tall, thin boy about his age fixing his broom on the Slytherins' corner.

"Severus?" He said, accidentally using his first name.

The boy turned around, and James realized he hadn't known James was in the dark shed, either. "Er, I mean, Snape."

Snape looked at him, his pitch black eyes searching James'. "Uh, yeah?"

"Did you practice on your own again? I'm sorry you had to. My house was practicing in the field." He waited for him to answer, not really sure if he would talk to him, especially that he'd brought up the subject of the Forbidden Forest, not mentioning they'd really avoided each other after the incident with Remus last month.

It was really a good thing that the match he'd won as against Ravenclaw, not Slytherin.

"Oh, er, " Snape said, shrugging. "That's alright. I was just warming up, anyway."

"Right." James said. "We better get going. It's uh, getting late."

The two headed outside the shed and both turned t each other before heading up the castle. "So, I'll be seeing you around, Snape."

"Right, uh, Potter."

James nodded and headed for the huge Hogwarts Castle, but he heard something from his companion as he did so.

"Thanks for saving me, James."


End of Chapter 1:

A/N: That was it for ch 1, I hope you guys liked it!! Read and review! Oh, and by the way, the reason why Snape and James aren't killing each other off is because they are still kind of shocked about the Lupin incident. Domo arigato to the following people: Az, Attila, Annak, AnaI, Carat (also known as the ever-famous Japan), and everyone else. Por favor, forgive me for being too much of an HP fan, guys! As Bony says, Adios, amigos! Sayonara, tomodachi!!!