A/N: Thanks again to everyone!!! You rock!!!

Chapter 24

Lessons went on as normal. When they did weekly assignments and the marks came back it showed that all of the students did well in their lessons. Except Peter. He just couldn't seem to learn anything. It all just went in one ear and out the other. He always came bottom of the class.

James was exceptionally good at transfiguration; there wasn't a spell that they had done so far that he couldn't do. Pins into pencils, colour changes and everything.

Lily was best at charms, even if she didn't get off to a very good start she was well on her way now. It was the easiest lesson for her. There was something about it that she could just…do, she couldn't explain it. She could do the theory side, that was simple but what surprised her most was the fact that she could also do the practical side. She didn't expect to have much confidence when she first arrived at the school. Which was why she didn't really do very well at first. But as soon as she warmed into it she was fine with it.

Sirius and Katie seemed to get good marks in most lessons and they mucked about most of the time. Gemini got good marks as well but she really worked hard for them.

Lily had made her revision timetable already. It was before Easter and she'd already started revising. She was revising an hour a night as well as homework. Socialising had been completely cut out of her schedule. She also spent a lot of time with Peter now, so that might be why.

Peter still went on about James though, which really annoyed Lily. He never said a bad word about him. He went on about how amazing James was, and how sorry he was and how he wished James would accept his apology and let them be friends again.

Lily pointed out that James was never his friend in the first place.

Now Lily didn't have any friends at all.

This was when her depression started. She was alone, among people that she'd only met months ago and in a whole new world that she wasn't used to. Yes the teachers still liked her, and yes, they talked to her and wanted her to share her problems with them so that they could help. But that wasn't enough.

She wanted friends. Real friends. Friends like she used to do at Whinging Primary. Friends like Pip and Kate and Arabella. Arabella Figg, her former best friend, was odd. The oddest girl at her old school. She used to hang around with Lily and claim that she was her best friend. After time Lily started to believe this and eventually it was true.

Arabella had got a bit annoying at times. Like when she jumped and remarked that she looked like a frog or when she called people 'poor child.' Lily remembered a particular incident when Arabella had randomly said; out of nowhere that 'swans don't make a noise until they die!' She really was weird!

Lily was walking along the corridor on her way back to the Common Room after Herbology one day when she tripped up and landed on her face. She was just walking along, reading her revision timetable and seeing what she had to have achieved by tonight when she caught her foot on something and fell. Everything she was holding fell everywhere. She looked back to see what she had tripped over and she found it, or should I say him, straight away.

"Snape? What do you want?" she asked, gathering in all her stuff.

"To talk to you, of course mudblood!" he said and some Slytherins around him laughed.

Lily didn't know what he was talking about, "What's a mudblood?"

They laughed even harder; she had obviously proved his point somehow. He held out his hand to help her up, she took it gratefully and began to stand up, only to have him let go. She fell down, again.

"You didn't really think I was going to help a filthy little mudblood like yourself, did you?" tears filled in her eyes, "Oh you did! That is so sweet!" he said in a fake high voice, clasping his hands together. More slytherins crowded round and more slytherins laughed.

"Look at that! She's crying!"

Crying. Crying. Crying.

That one word echoed in her head over and over and over again. Crying. It wasn't her fault that her emotions sometimes overcame her. It was whoever made them happen and, and, and her parent's! For giving her that gene!

"What's happening?" came a voice from somewhere behind the crowd of slytherins.

"Yeah, let us pass!" came another.

The slytherins jeered and pointed at Lily as she sat helplessly on the ground. Snape stood at the front and they all pressured him to make fun of her more. He looked rather uneasy; he'd obviously not wanted it to go this far. He just wanted it to be a little joke, he didn't want to torture someone like this, he might be evil, but not that evil.

"Oh my god, Evans! What are they doing to you?" said the voice from the back.

"Potter?" she said in astonishment.

"Yeah, and Sirius' here as well!" came James' voice.

Snape looked scared, he tried to escape but the Slytherins were still urging him to make Lily mad. They forced him to the front no matter how hard he tried to escape.

"I'm fine Potter! I don't need your help!" the Slytherins roared. "It's true! I was perfectly fine before they came along!" she said, addressing no one in particular.

"What are you on? Can you see yourself?" James cried from somewhere near the back of the crowd.

"I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself!" she said, picking up her things and standing up but the looming crowd of green and silver made her fall back down again.

"Well if you don't need our help then me and Sirius will just leave…" James said.

"NO! POTTER DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE!" she shouted.

Sirius and James laughed and barged through the crowd. They caught Lily, one on each arm and dragged her off. Sirius fired random spells at the Slytherins and they ran into someone and fell over in a heap.

"Tsk tsk tsk, what have we got here? A Black, a Potter and their girlfriend disturbing the peace and quiet of the Hogwart's halls. It won't do, it really won't do. And to do it in front of me and to my own house. I think that detentions are in order here." Professor Kondola said in his icy voice.

"But Professor! Didn't you see what they were doing to poor Evans?" said Potter.

"They weren't doing anything to me! I was perfectly fine!" Lily said angrily.

"Exactly," said Professor Kondola, "You three just barged in their and started bullying pupils from my house!"

"THREE?" screeched Lily.

"Miss Evans, I must kindly ask you not to burst my eardrums. I did indeed say 'three' as in the three people who are lying on the floor in front of me."

"That is so unfair!" Lily murmured.

"What was that Miss Evans? I don't think that it was remotely unfair!"

Lily was amazed, did he have super hearing or something? She looked around to see who else had seen the whole fiasco with Kondola. She saw the Slytherins looking on eagerly, a couple of Ravenclaws who were laughing and… She had to look again to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Sure enough, Professor Dreamstone was stood there smiling to herself.

"Professor!" Lily called out in surprise.

"Miss Evans," said Professor Dreamstone acknowledging her.

Professor Kondola's eyes widened and he span around. "Ingrid," he said nastily, "how nice of you to come and see three of your student being put in detention.

"But what you didn't realise Sabre, is that I saw the whole thing. You will not put these students into detention and you will come with me now to Albus' office where you will face an inquiry." She smirked.

"You can't prove that I did anything!" he laughed.

"Can't I?" she said dangerously and left with him following in tow.

"Well that was…weird!" said Sirius, pulling himself off the floor.

"Yup, can't believe that she didn't say something sooner though," James said, standing up. They both held out their hands like perfect gentlemen to help Lily up. She just looked in disgust, stood herself up and left.

"Friendly!" said James sarcastically.

"Ah well, can't please them all can you Jamie boy!" Sirius laughed, clapping his friend on the back. "Now let's go prank some Slytherins!"