Disclaimer: sadly I do not own these characters, well I own the ones I made up, but anyway.

This is my second fanfic, still new to this, so please read and review.

Chap 1

She didn't hate him but they weren't exactly friends. She had her friends, he had his, and for years they coexisted with only the occasional flirtatious comment from him, casually discarded by her.

She was a hardworking sort of girl, supportive muggle parents and a tight group of friends; she enjoyed working, even though she was bright enough not to have to.

He on the other hand never bothered to work in his life; he was too busy fooling around with the marauders.

Although the flashback from Snape's memory may seem to have implied that James Potter and Lily Evans were enemies of some kind, the truth of the matter was that they hardly knew each other. James was an arrogant bastard, through and through, and teasing Lily was one of his preferred pastimes. It never got further than that at this stage as Lily saw straight through him and brushed him off. They knew each other in the sense that they had many lessons together and teased each other in the common room but Lily wanted to work and James wanted some fun.

Fifth year:

Lily walked over to her friend Amelia and sat down next to her, the bright summer sunshine reflecting off her gorgeous copper coloured hair. They both pulled out their transfiguration books, 'Transfig. Stage 5' by Griselda Lemming, and began reading. Lily glanced up from a page on a particularly difficult spell involving a tea cosy and the head of a bullfrog, to see James Potter sitting under a tree with his three best friends. As far as she could see they were not getting up to any mischief yet so she had no reason to speak to them, but the prefect's badge pinned to her chest forced her to take a quick look every couple of seconds.

Well known as the most mischievous, roguish band of troublemakers that Hogwarts had ever seen, even in these fearful and terrible times the Marauders managed to seem indifferent to anyone's feelings but their own. Although Lily was a prefect and had the duty of telling them off, it was truly her belief that the things they got up to were insensitive and wrong and was glad of the fact that she could punish them with authority.

She was disdainful of their childish games and pranks; she herself was more concerned with getting through school with good grades and going to work. She wanted to help those who needed it, of which there were more and more as Voldemort grew in strength and followers.

Lily was one of the most kind-hearted souls that anyone had ever met but she was forceful and opinionated as well, which made her a very strong young woman, strong in the way only very beautiful people can be. Because Lily was very beautiful. She grew to realise this as she went through puberty, suddenly having to cope with all the attention that beauty brings. And although some people become arrogant and manipulative with this knowledge, she used the attention to do good. She only had one major flaw (or two if you counted her magic hating elder sister Petunia) which was her temper. Although she learned to control it as she grew older, it still occasionally flared, mainly directed at Voldemort and his followers when she read about their actions in the Daily Prophet.

She looked at the little group around James again, watching the way he brushed his hair backwards to make it stand up and winking at girls as they walked by, she turned away in disgust. She hated attention seekers, especially James, because he did so many appalling things to get the attention. For example just the other week she witnessed him summon his broomstick from the North tower, it knocked over dozens of people on the stairs before crashing into Professor Orly and knocking him cold for an hour.

James sat on the lawn, under a tree, playing with a snitch he had stolen. Lupin sat reading next to him and Pettigrew was at his feet, attempting to transfigure a pencil into a chocolate bar.

'Mooney, my man, why are you studying? You know you're gonna pass anyway.'

'I'm sorry, I'm not so cocky as you. I might pass, but I'll have more chance if I do this reading, everyone else did it last full moon.'

'That's your problem, not cocky enough. Anyway, none of us did the reading either, remember what we did last moon?'

'Wow, yeah! It was so groovy! You were like sooooo amazing with the chase. I think that Alison Murphey will never creep out to Hogsmeade alone ever again,' said Pettigrew with an adoring smile on his face.

'Peter, I don't think Ally was out there alone on purpose, idiot, she was waiting for James, wasn't she?'

'Yeah, I did kinda tell her I'd meet her in the Three Broomsticks, for a little after hours...But then it was full moon, and I didn't tell her not to come. What can I say; I'm a sucker for a good chase.'

'

James! I'm shocked! That's awful, why would you do something like that...'

'...and not tell us.' Sirius sauntered up, and finished Lupin's sentence. 'I mean you never told us you got that far with Ally!'

The dynamics of the Marauders little gang was complex and confusing to the outsider. Lupin, the werewolf, was the sensible one, the only one who understood what the word 'moral' meant. Little Peter Pettigrew was the tagalong, who followed them and did their bidding. Sirius was the player of the group, enjoyed playing with peoples feelings, most of all girls'- lots of girls. And then James, the, one could say, ring leader. The Quiddich player, the attractive, smart and arrogant prick of the little group.

James saw Lily across the grass.

'Yo Evans, wanna go out with me yet?'

'Never gonna happen Potter.'

'That's what you think, but. you'll see.'

'Unless you have a personality transfiguration, that will never happen. By the way, I know you stole that snitch so detention tonight.'

'Awwww, Evans, you know my soft spot well. You, me, a classroom with a view,' said James, one of his more satanic grins spreading across his face.

'Grow up Potter.'

Lily walked past the Marauders and then past the little gaggle of girls hanging around nearby, James' fan club. He knew exactly how to rub her up the wrong way.