This is my first story originally posted on Death-Curse.

A/N: italics taken from the Canadian edition of the Order of the Phoenix pgs. 566-572.

Rated: R for language and mature themes to come.

Both Sides of Life

Chapter Fourteen: OWLs

The months flew by and the work load got harder and the weather nicer, much to the chagrin of the fifth years as the OWLs drew closer. Remus' life had seemed to drastically improve over the course of that one night, he had been able to forgive Sirius, he no longer worried about Snape telling the school or lie to Isobel about his absences but above all else he was to the moon (HeHe I'm evil) about Isobel saying she loved him.
Life was even happier now for Isobel too; her little plan seemed to keep Snape from daring to tell anyone. Every full moon they, The Ravens, would sit outside his window and howl like wolves. The next day Snape would emerge from the Slytherin common room paler than ever and noticeably jumpy. The girls would titer and laugh watching him. Remus and she had fallen into comfort zone now that there were no secrets, or at least less secrets, between them.
Titania had begun operation LJ. She had begun to try to befriend Lily Evans and get her to see James as a saint, which in the shared opinions of Isobel and Remus was impossible.

The OWLs test soon arrived and everyone felt caught off guard, even if they had been studying for months. Nearly the last day of testing had brought good weather much to the chagrin of the fifth and seventh years trapped inside. All the fifth years sat for their Defense against the Dark Arts OWL. The Marauders had taken seats relatively close to one another and were working away at the questions.
'Hey Polaris! What's the negative log of the square root of pi inverse?' she heard Theasus ask panicking in her head.
'Why the HELL should I know and why are you asking me, you're writing a history final. Anyway how do you defeat a....' but she was cut off when another member of the group entered the conversation.
'Yo. I was wondering if anyone knew the answer to twenty two on my Law exam.' asked Melanie. This continued on throughout most of the exam, everyone got someone else to help them with a question they didn't get.
'Hey you guys do know that this is cheating?' Isobel stated. Everyone nodded.
'Yeah, so.'
'Just thought I'd point that out.' She said checking over her answers. Isobel looked over at the four boys finishing up their tests. She had been done for fifteen minutes now, thanks to the groups help. In the back of her head she could hear one of her friends, most likely Ursula, singing some dumb pop song she got stuck in her head.
'My god, that was sooo hard!' Titania sarcastically remarked.
'Yeah it's so much easier when there are fifteen of you writing your test.' Medea added, she sat a few rows away from Sirius and two
seats over from Isobel and Undine. Titania sat close to Adrian and Ursula sat off in the far corner. They didn't need to sit near each other to talk so they had spread out.
'Don't he look cute?' asked Ursula slyly, knowing full well about the couple's pledge of love that Isobel and Remus had sworn days before St. Valentine's Day.
Isobel scowled even though Ursula couldn't see it.
"Quills down please!" squeaked Professor Flitwick. "that means
you too Stebbins! Please remain seated while I collect your parchment! Accio!"
The flying scrolls knocked down the tiny professor. A few
students at the front ran up to help.
They were dismissed and the girls gathered and headed out of the Hall after grabbing Lily and guiding her out.
The crowd passed by the boys, Isobel standing at the edge brushed her fingers against Remus' as they all spilled out on to the grounds. The boys settled down under the Beech tree while The Ravens and Lily sat dangling their feet in the water.
"Sooo, what do ya think of James Potter? I know you're not too keen but why? He's not that bad."
Titania asked drawing patterns in the water with her toes.
Lily gave a little grimace "Well he's arrogant, he's cocky, and he picks on everyone. I'm surprised his broom can get off the ground! Augh, I hate him!" she fumed.
Ursula laughed "Maybe it's because he's desperate to impress you but you keep shutting him down. He acts up more to try to get you to notice him. If you got to know him a bit you'd
probably see he's a really a nice person, or....." she gave everyone a naughty smile "He's a total ass!" she gaffed.
"Oh shut up you're not helping." Medea said smacking her arm "He really isn't that bad. He's insecure I think, just like Ursula said. Get to know him. You'll be surprised."
The girls began to notice a bit of a ruckus starting behind them. Titania flicked her gaze to the Marauders who were beginning to pick on Snape then to Isobel giving her the look 'Go and stop them now, before Lily sees. Isobel rose and slipped over to the boys. Snape lay panting on the ground. James and Sirius advanced on him, wands raised. James glanced over his shoulder at the girls at the water's edge as he went.
"Oh great!' Isobel thought sarcastically as she looked where he was looking. 'He is sooo going to blow this. Lily was just reconsidering. He's gotta learn.'
"How'd the exam go, Snivelly?" said James.
"I was watching him, his nose was touching the parchment"
said Sirius viciously. "There'll be great grease marks all over it, they won't be able to read a word." The crowd was getting darker by the moment. No one liked Snape, not even Isobel but that wasn't her concern. She caught Remus' eye, he seamed busy trying to pretend he didn't see anything. "Are you really going to allow them to get away with this? Lily is beginning to actually like James and he's going to royally screw it!" Remus didn't look up at her.
"Wash out your mouth," James said coldly "Scourgify!" Pink soap bubbles streamed from Snape's mouth at once; the froth was covering his lips, making him gag, choking him-
"Leave him ALONE!"
Isobel's head whipped around, Lily was attempting up behind her unaware of the people behind her trying to stop her. (pg 570 "All right Evans?" – pg 572 "Who wants to see me
take off Snivelly's pants?" I'm too lazy to type this all out you gotta read it
yourself.)
Isobel couldn't stand it any longer. James was digging his hole deeper and deeper with respect to Lily. "Alright that's enough people!" she bellowed. The crowd looked over at her. "Nothing more to see. Mr. Potter please release Mr. Snape. Now!" James glared at her. She walked up close to him as though to intimidate him. "Listen I don't want to get you in trouble but picking a fight with Snape is precisely the reason why Lily will not go out with you. So stop now or you'll never get her." She hissed.
James seamed to struggle with this for a moment. "Alright Snivellus it's your lucky day. This nice lady has convinced me to let you go." He released Snape, who dropped like a sack of potatoes on the ground.
Isobel huffed off, not even looking at Remus.
Titania and the other Ravens stood in a tiff. "How could you let that happen?! We almost had her!" Titania hissed venomently to her.
"I know, I know! But what was I to do? Anything I could have done would have gotten her attention pretty quickly." Isobel yelled back. "Get off my back!" she ran off back to the castle.
Remus saw her run pass. He took off after her. He chased her through the halls back towards Ravenclaw Tower. He had almost caught up to her when see disappeared inside. "Damn it!" he swore stopping at the end of the hall.