Disclaimer: I own nothing, all courtesy of Ms Rowling.

Just testing

Lily sat calmly in the D.A.D.A lesson. Playing with a lock of hair between her fingers, her mind was obviously on other things.

"So, how would you repel a Grindylow? No-one?" Professor Montague surveyed her class with displeasure. "Miss Evans?" she asked, picking on the Gryffindor purely because she disliked people prettier than her.

Lily took a couple of vital seconds to work out she had drawn the short straw of the lesson. "Um," she couldn't meet the Professor's gaze, instead opting to stare studiously into space.

"And now a more eloquent answer?" prompted the teacher.

"By... um..." She caught sight of a certain James Potter in the corner of her eye. "Smelling really bad?"

The professor's already annoyed disposition quickly converted to towering rage. "Do you listen to anything that happens in class?" she exclaimed rhetorically. "I think that merits a detention tonight," Montague announced coolly before turning to the rest of the class, "and let that be a lesson to all of you." She eyed the two dark-haired Gryffindor fourth years that were silently shaking with laughter dangerously. At a quick nudge from their friends they soon got their giggles under control though.

"What do you reckon's wrong with her?" James asked his now-sober friend.

Sirius shrugged. "PMS maybe?"

Remus elbowed them both sharply. "Don't push it," he warned, never taking his eyes off the teacher who was sitting at her desk far-too-calmly and quietly.

"You're too paranoid Moony," dismissed Sirius drawing an interesting pattern on the desk that looked a lot like a pair of breasts. "It's not like I've never made a lady mad at me before," he winked suggestively.

"Then," said a voice alarmingly near to them, "you won't mind having a week of detentions and twenty points from your house Black."

Sirius gulped audibly. "Yes, Miss." He scowled murderously at her retreating back though.

"Good. On to Hinkypunks we go."

Lily retreated back into herself. A whole evening with Sirius Black? She'd probably want to kill herself by the end. She threw a dirty look over her shoulder at the four 'Marauders', but didn't feel particularly much better about it.

None of the Gryffindors understood Lily Evans very well; she was something of an enigma to all of them. Of course, in the first year some of them had tried to befriend her, bring her out of herself, spend time with her, but she had never been particularly warm to them or involved in the world around her. So they had stopped, and the Gryffindors fell into a social pattern.

Four boys friendships had slowly stood out from everyone else's, these four boys soon earned a reputation as troublemakers, lawbreakers, pushing the limits and stretching the rules. They called themselves the Marauders. Led by Sirius Black and James Potter, with Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew not far behind, they had created quite a storm of both disapproval and admiration solely by the end of the first year.

Throughout the first two years of her schooling life many students had picked on her because she was different. But none more so than the Gryffindor gods themselves. Lily was nothing if not a grudge-holder.

So she had become more withdrawn than anyone thought possibly, barely exchanging words, even with her roommates, despite their best efforts. Finally, everyone left her alone, even the four boys forgot of her existence. That suited her fine; she needed nothing from no one. It was simply a higher state of independence.
---------------

"Oh please," gloated Sirius adding another fig leaf to the subtly burning cauldron in the common room. "The Chudley Cannons would cream the Dartmoor Dragonflies. It's a fact of nature my friend."

James surveyed the room quickly to make sure no one was paying attention to their escapade in the corner. Peeves had drenched two-second year girls; they were rather hysterical and so distracting everyone from doing anything that required hearing themselves think. "Only in freak weather conditions Black," he retorted.

Sirius shrugged. "If you like to live in dreams..." he let the sentence hang, smirking all the while.

James sent a glare his way. "Shouldn't you be at detention?"

His friend arched an eyebrow derisively. "Trying to get rid of me?"

Taking the stirrer out of Sirius' hands, James added two tiny pink pebbles and watched the potion sputter slightly. "It needs to stand for three hours now."

"I know how to make an Invisibility Potion," replied Sirius. "Where's Remus anyway?"

James shrugged. "Out," he offered.

"No way!" exclaimed Sirius mockingly. "Really?"

James pushed him non-too-gently in the direction of the common room door. "Detention. Now," he snapped, losing patience with his sarcastic friend and feeling a bit of worry for his missing friend. Remus went missing far too often for it to be normal.

"Yes, Sir!" saluted Sirius rolling his eyes before turning towards the common room door. He winked at a couple of fifth years that giggled and blushed. Sirius smirked to himself, taking it only as his due.
-------------

I realised only after writing it that some of the characters are slightly different than they are portrayed in the book. However, they are only fourteen at the moment, they still have a lot of time to grow into the characters that we know and love! Sirius isn't actually nasty he just 'knows it all' like any other teenager ;) but things will all change soon enough!

Sweetginny86 – I hope you liked this chapter also. You are my only reviewer so far, so gold star for you :)

Xx Susannah xx