Disclaimer: Characters and settings are property of J.K. Rowling. What you don't recognize is mine. And I wish I owned the Marauders (specifically Sirius and Remus) but most unfortunately, I do not.

X-X-X-X-X

James woke up in a very comfortable bed that was very soft, very silky, and also very much not his own. He jolted awake, shouting, "Padfoot!" There was a sleepy grumble that came from somewhere beyond the curtains of his canopy bed. Pushing aside the curtain – they were a soft, golden color – he peered out at the next bed, from which Sirius's sleepy head emerged.

"Bloody hell, Prongs," he grumbled disconcertedly. "What'd you go waking me up for?" Yawning, he added, "By the way, you owe me ten galleons. You and everybody else."

"Why? Is this 'Pay Sirius Black Ten Galleons Day'?" demanded a very tired voice. Sirius and James turned – Janine was standing the doorway, rubbing her red-rimmed eyes.

"You bet me I couldn't stay awake the longest. I stayed awake the longest. Ergo, you owe me ten galleons."

"I didn't bet you that!"

"Yes, you did!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did not!"

"Hah! Lily already tried this trick with me. Did not!"

"Did… Wait, am I supposed to say did not, or did too?"

"Er…"

"Belt up," said James with an irritable scowl. "You two bicker like a married couple." They glowered at him. "Right, right. No commitments. I get it. You won't be getting married anytime soon."

"You guys are awfully loud," complained Remus from nearby. "And when did my bed get golden sheets?"

"Good point. S'far as I know, we've never had golden sheets at my house. Speaking of which, why are you at my house?" The question was directed at Janine.

She smirked. "Silly. You're at my house. We fell asleep on the sofas. I think."

"Oh."

"You won your 'who-gets-more-room-on-the-sofa' game with Lily," she added helpfully.

"Good! Take that, Evans."

"Which is possibly not the best way to win her affections," said Remus with a sleepy grin. He waved at Janine. "Hullo."

"Hi there." Janine flopped on the carpet, sitting Indian-style as she leaned over her feet, looking eagerly at them all. "Did you get my presents? Is Peter awake?"

"Yes and no," answered Remus. "Yes, we got your presents. No, Peter's not awake."

A soft snoring noise abruptly cut off, replaced by, "Yes I am!" Peter poked his head through the hangings. "I am awake! Janine, what're you doing in Prongs's house?"

"Someday," she replied thoughtfully, "one of you is going to tell me the secret behind these stupid little pet names of yours." The three of them glared at Peter. "Oy! Don't glare at Peter or I'll kick you out!"

"Kick us out?" echoed Peter.

"You're in my house, Petey."

"House!? This is more like a sep-"

"-Arate country," finished Remus. "We know, Wormtail."

"And there we go with the silly pet names again…"

"Shut up, Janine!" all four boys chorused. Janine rolled her eyes.

"Well excu-use me," she grumbled.

"God! You guys are bloody loud – how's anybody supposed to get some sleep around here?" snapped Lily, poking a tousled red head through the door. "We can hear you down the hall!" James's eyes widened. No, it was not the first time he had seen her in a white nightgown, although, admittedly, this one was quite a bit shorter than the last one. James screwed up his eyes, trying to remember what the other one had looked like, but he couldn't. Then again, he supposed, he'd been more preoccupied that night.

Apparently, Lily had realized that she was wearing a thin nightgown the same time he had, for in almost an instant, a pink robe had settled itself around her shoulders. She pulled it tightly around her form while Sirius and Janine sniggered. "It's rude to stare," Remus joked, hitting James on the shoulder.

Janine snorted, and then rolled her eyes. "Right. Now that we're all cheery and happy and awake, can we get some breakfast?"

Sirius shot towards the door. "Finally! Tell you what!" he added, racing down the hall. At the opposite end, Alyssa, Jen, and Marlene poked their heads out. "If I make it to the dining room first, you all owe me another ten galleons!"

"No fair!" shouted James, and raced after him.

X-X-X-X-X

Earlier That Morning

"Severus?" Severus glanced up as his mother walked into his chambers, her gait a bit unsteady. Selena Snape had always been a pretty woman, if a bit on the thin, pale side. Now, she was paler than ever, her dark eyes were red-rimmed, and she was far too thin for a woman of her age.

Severus could guess what had happened – in a drunken fit of rage, Sebastian Snape had turned his wand on his wife. That was not unheard of in the Snape household.

"Yes, mother?" he asked, his voice quiet. Loud noises tended to upset her fragile condition.

"I'm not feeling well." That much is obvious, he thought sardonically. "Do you think you could ask the house-elves to make breakfast, and lunch, too, for you whenever you're hungry?"

"Yes, mother." Not mum. Mother. How strange. Janine's family was as old as his way. Potter's family was as old as his was. Black's family was just as old as his. Many of the pureblood families were just as old, rich, and respected as his. Strange how all of those children called all their mothers 'mum.' He didn't.

"And don't bother your father," she added in a tiny voice. "He's in the library with some… friends, of his. He doesn't want to be interrupted."

Severus never interrupted his father, even when he didn't mind being interrupted. (That happened very rarely). "I won't."

She smiled, and held out a hand to him. Even in her weakened state, she still managed to act the perfect pureblood. He took her hand, kissed it, and then kissed her cheek. "Good night, Severus," she said with an unsteady smile.

"Good night, mother." She left him.

Severus returned to his notes, thinking of the night before.

Flashback – Last Night

"…You like Lily, don't you?" Severus started and turned back to Janine. She was watching him as he watched Sirius and Lily dance. She wasn't a very good dancer, but – although it killed him to admit it – Sirius was. A very good dancer.

Ignoring her question, he asked, "What do you see in him, Janine? In Black, I mean?"

She smiled. "Roguish good looks."

"I'd rather hoped that you were one of those girls who went for important things – personality, brains, that sort of thing. But I'm beginning to realize that that is a rather foolish hope."

"Oh, shut up. You make me sound like a shallow-minded flirt." He raised his eyebrows. "I will not deny the flirt part, but I'm not shallow-minded. Yes, I've gone out with good-looking boys all my life… but I've never been serious about them. I never really… considered them for… well… you know."

He knew she was referring to marriage. "Didn't you?"

"Well, no." Janine rarely got flustered, except for around him. Severus wondered what it was that made her flustered now – perhaps, talking about an impending marriage was embarrassing. Not that he blamed her. Like many pureblooded families, hers expected her to marry into a good family. But that didn't seem to be what she wanted… "When I get married," she said quietly, "I want somebody who's going to make me happy. All the time," she added with a scowl as Severus opened his mouth. "Not just in the bedroom. He can't be just good-looking, either." She was staring a point somewhere over his shoulder. "He has to be smart… have a good personality… he-"

"Heaven forbid, don't tell me you're planning on marrying Lupin."

"Good God, Severus, why would you think that?" He'd startled her out of her reverie.

He whirled her around, suddenly. "Because you were staring at him over my shoulder. I did notice, by the way. Would you rather dance with him?"

She made a face. "No. And no, I'm not going to marry him."

"Your parents don't approve of lycanthropes?" he questioned in a low voice, smirking.

She scowled again. "I thought Dumbledore made you swear never to tell anybody about that."

"You already know. But I'm guessing your parents don't."

She looked shifty. "Dad wouldn't care, but Mum… she means well, and she adores Remus – she thinks he's a great bloke, and he is, but – well, she's got standards. What pureblood family doesn't?"

"Potter's family doesn't care that he's practically in love with a Muggleborn witch, and the Potters are as pureblooded as we are."

"But not one like ours," she said pointedly. "Anyway, I don't like this topic. Let's talk about something else." For that was her way. If she didn't like something – she ignored it, didn't talk about it, pretended it wasn't there. Severus preferred to bring things into the open and discuss them until a solution presented itself, or at least until it had been discussed far enough that there was nothing more to talk about.

Ignoring her request (or command, depending on the way you looked at it), he said, "You could find men like the ones you want to… well, keep, if you looked hard enough. Why waste your time?"

"I'm not wasting my time!"

"Then why do you date Black?"

She looked away. "He makes me laugh," she confessed softly, at last. "And yes, he's good-looking. I'll even admit that that's why I dated him at first. Well… first I wanted a good snog. But now, for all I care, we can come out as a couple when we get back at Hogwarts. And you know what? It's probably because he is good-looking. He's like a trophy – the best one, and I can show him off if I want to. Part of that is still true. But… but he makes me laugh. In a way that James, and Remus, and Peter, and even you don't. He's sweet to me, too. Not in front of others…"

"Perhaps his image matters more to him than you do."

She shrugged. "It probably does. But then… my image has always mattered to me more than anything. I've ignored people and made friends with others based on how they reflect on me."

"You made no qualms befriended Evans."

She was silent. "Because Lily has an aura about her. The kind that makes you want to pay attention to her." She looked at him, hard. "Does that make sense?"

Severus thought of his deeply-buried feelings for the Muggleborn witch, and nodded. "Yes, it does."

Somebody tapped Severus's shoulder, just as the song changed to a much slower one. He turned, and was faced with smoldering hazel eyes. Nonetheless, Potter attempted to give him a polite smile – he failed miserably, too. Severus didn't even try – he just sneered coldly. "Mind if I cut it?"

"Actually-"

"Not at all, James," Janine interrupted with a meaningful look in Severus's direction. "Severus was just about to get some punch for himself. Weren't you, Severus?"

"Yes," he managed with difficult, and left Janine in the hand of his James Potter. As he left, he heard James hiss, "What were you and old Stinky talking about?"

Stinky. Huh. I almost prefer Snivellus.

Almost

…Potter is a stupid bastard.

End Flashback

Severus sighed, and cleared up his notes. It was ironic, how he had seemingly "fallen" for the one girl he could never have – the one girl who, if he was unlucky, would end up with one of his arch-rivals. How even more unfortunate that her best friend – the other girl that he had "fallen," for lack of a better word, for, and might have actually had a chance with – would probably end up with whichever arch-rival was left. Either that, or she'd end up with Lupin, which, in Severus's mind, was highly unlikely, but still a possibility.

His door opened; he glanced up, and fought to keep a grimace from coming onto his face. Lucius Malfoy entered the room, holding his cane – his cane, in which his wand was concealed. Most men attempt to look younger than they are, but Lucius Malfoy seems to want to be older, and thus carries a cane. It's… strange, for an eighteen-year-old to carry a cane.

"Severus, my friend," said Lucius, sitting in a chair across from Severus. "The hour is early, and yet you are not asleep."

"Neither are you."

Lucius's eyes flashed. "No, I am not. I am here to show you something."

And the winner for making the gayest comment ever is… Severus put a disinterested look onto his face, although he could not deny he was curious. "Well, what is it?"

"Be patient," said Lucius, and rolled up his sleeves. This time, Severus could not hold off a grimace. The ugly mark was on the inside of his left arm – it was burning red, and the skin around it was irritated and inflamed. It appeared recent. "The Dark Mark," said Lucius with relish. "Isn't it beautiful?"

That's a matter of opinion, thought Severus darkly. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," was his only response. "Why are you showing this to me? And what is it?" He had a feeling he knew.

"The mark of the Dark Lord," said Lucius, covering it up. "Father doesn't know – I told him that I was visiting you to request that you take care of Narcissa once her older sister is gone. That's what he believes."

"Did you come to show it to me, Lucius?" The older boy – if he could be called that, at eighteen – nodded. "Why?"

"So that you may understand what it means – it means power. Power that, one day, will be shared with you." His eyes, ordinarily a gray color, appeared dark and stormy, suddenly. "Should you choose to follow the right path," he added softly.

Severus knew what answer was expected of him. And he was a Slytherin, from an all-Slytherin family. He knew what to say. "Must you even ask?"

Lucius smiled – it wasn't a sincere smile, but then, Lucius was never sincere. "I was making sure. And now I'm sure." He turned and stared out the window. "Ordinarily, you would not receive your Dark Mark until you are at least eighteen. Some receive it later." He spoke the word, 'receive,' as though the Dark Mark were a gift. Then again, Lucius might very well think it was.

Lucius lowered his eyes, and Severus could tell he was a bit angry, although he didn't know why. "What?" he snapped, annoyed.

"There are some," he continued in a low voice, "that will get theirs earlier. Bellatrix Black – no doubt you know her-"

Who doesn't know her? In the yearbook, they give out names to people. Hers will probably be 'Insane Bitch,' or something of the sort.

"-And so I hardly need tell you this, but she is one such. She received hers last night, the same time I did."

Severus frowned. "She was at the Garnet Masquerade last night."

"Last night, this morning. It depends on how you look at it. I recognized Bella by her dress – the one with the huge rip in it, from her darling cousin. We are not to see one another's faces. We apparated there immediately after the Masquerade." It occurred to Severus that Lucius had probably been at the Masquerade, although they'd never come face to face. "It is my belief that you will be one of the… 'privileged' few who receive their Dark Mark at seventeen. Consider yourself fortunate."

Severus said nothing.

"I will take my leave – hopefully, Father has finished his business with your father in the library." He glanced around the room. "This study… it is a nice room." And then he left.

Severus waited for a few moments, but Lucius did not return, and nobody else entered. Sighing, he got up and went to the corner of his study. He pulled the bell-pull, and a house elf appeared at once. "Get me breakfast," he ordered irritably.

"Yes sir," squeaked the house elf – Severus could hardly be bothered to remember its name. "Would Master like his eggs scrambled, or-"

"Get out!" snapped Severus. The house elf squeaked and ran out the door. Severus massaged his temples. The Dark Mark. A Death Eater.

In one year exactly, if Lucius was right, he would be one of them.

And then another thought occurred to him.

Oh, God. Now that she's a Death Eater, Bellatrix is going to be unbearable when we get back to school.

X-X-X-X-X

"So, what's the plan for today?" asked James through a mouth full of bacon. The girl gave him slightly revolted looks, and Mrs. Garnet clucked her tongue disapprovingly.

"Close your mouth when you chew," instructed Mrs. Garnet as she swept by. James flushed, and swallowed. "And for your information, we'll be spending the day at Diagon Alley. While we're there, you're welcome to shop – Janine, your grandmother left you some pocket money and a note as a New Year's Gift – and we'll meet up for dinner. Your parents, James, will pick you boys up after we have dinner. Oh, and Alyssa, darling, your aunt Cecilia asked you and the girls to stop by this afternoon, if you have time."

"Thanks, Mrs. Garnet. We'll do that." She nodded and left through the wood doors.

Janine reached over to the wall and rang a bell-pull; three house elves appeared at once. Lily sniffed disdainfully. "Get me my grandmother's gift," she ordered.

The house elves bowed humbly and disappeared as quickly as they'd come. Janine pretended not to hear when Lily muttered, "Like slaves." The other three girls hid sniggers behind their hands as the boys looked perplexed.

"What about saves?" questioned Sirius. Lily just shook her head.

"Nothing, forget it." Lily stood up and stretched, barely managing to keep her pink robe closed (to James's immense disappointment). "D'you mind if I go change?" she asked Janine.

"Go ahead. We'll probably leave in an hour or two – until then, go wherever the hell you want. I'll send a house elf to get you."

"Slaves," said Lily again.

"Oh! That's what she said!" Sirius said suddenly. He was ignored.

Lily disappeared, just as Janine put a restraining hand on James's shoulder. "Forget it, Potter, you can not follow her and watch her undress."

Thirty minutes later, Lily slipped out of the bathroom, pushing her wet curls back from her forehead, feeling refreshed after such a long soak in the bathtub.

She stopped dead, shutting the door behind her. Perry was sitting on Janine's neatly-made bed, and he looked upset. "Perry?" she asked gently. He whipped his head around, and looked startled. "Are you all right?"

"Sorry," he admitted, blushing faintly. Lily was glad that she'd decided to put on her clothes before coming out of the bathroom. "I thought you were Janine. I was looking for her."

"Why?" she asked curiously.

He shook his head. "Oh… never mind. It's not that important."

"The hell it isn't." Something gripped Lily's tongue, making her very blunt and frank. "Something is wrong. You look upset."

He looked disturbed. "I wanted to know if Dad told her that… thing that he wanted to talk to us about." He's being deliberately evasive, Lily thought grouchily. "The day of the attack," he clarified. And then Lily realized something – she and Janine had been together almost constantly since then. There was no way Mr. Garnet would have managed to pull her aside and tell her whatever was so important. What was even stranger was another startling realization – aside from the night before, at the Masquerade, Lily had not seen Mr. Garnet once since the start of holidays. And surely she would have known if he'd had a Quidditch match. Janine traditionally plopped herself in front of the Wizarding Wireless

"Janine doesn't know. I don't think I've even seen Mr. Garnet for a while." Lily glanced at him shrewdly. "Why? Do you know?"

"If I did, d'you really think I'd tell you?" Lily's mouth snapped shut, and he gazed at her apologetically, his cheeks tinted red. "Sorry; that was rude. I shouldn't have said that. But anyway, I don't know."

"I thought you knew everything," teased Lily.

"Well, I don't know for sure. Let's just say I've made an educated guess."

"Oh." Lily shifted from foot to foot. "Oh," she said again. "Well…"

"Yeah," he said at last, and walked past her. "I guess the others'll want to use the bathroom and all. And Janine's probably still having breakfast. Sorry for bothering you, Lily." He ran down the hall.

Lily poked her head out the door and watched him disappear through a pair of double doors. She sighed, rubbing her face. Shopping. It was going to be a long day.

And she did wonder what Perry knew that everybody else didn't, of course…

X-X-X-X-X

A/N: Sorry, I guess that's a bit shorter than I've been writing lately. But what's upcoming needs to be included in the same chapter, rather than splitting it up. And my apologies to Shadowrayne, as I did not update the day after I got your review… I ran out of ideas. Sorry, sorry, sorry!

All right, well, I finally took it upon myself to visit JKR's official website – so here's my rant. If you haven't gone there, go. I think. Anyway, what's following is stuff found on that site. It's not big, so you should be able to find it yourself. In any case, if you'd rather find it and not read it here, go ahead. I guess this could be a "Spoiler Alert" – you decide.

First things first. About the whole prefects-taking-points thing… well, there you go. Apparently they can take points. So there. I was right (in a weird, twisted sort of way). Ron was wrong. Next thing. I do not like Ginny's name as Ginevra – I much prefer Virginia. But hey, I'm trying to keep this as canon as possible, so… fine. Ginevra Weasley. Because, at some point, (although probably not in this story) Ginny Weasley will be mentioned. It'll come in the story that I may or may not eventually write about Harry's sixth year. I don't know. Whatever. I don't like it, but it'll do. Next thing – I fully plan on entering the Weasleys in this story. Why? Because, apparently, Molly Weasley was, before she was married, Molly Prewett. And seeing as I've already included Fabian and Gideon… I suppose I have to include their older sister, right? And she is older because… well, come on. Look at Bill and Charlie. Charlie is twelve years older than Ron, I think – there is textual evidence of that in the first and third books. In the first, Fred and George (I think it's them, anyway) say that Gryffindor hasn't won the cup since Charlie Weasley. In the third book, McGonagall tells Harry to win his match against Ravenclaw because Snape has just reminded her that if they lose in that year, they'll be out of the running for the Quidditch Cup for the eighth year in a row. I figure that the last year that Charlie Weasley won the Quidditch Cup was his seventh year – thus, he must have been about seventeen. Eight years later, he'd be twenty-five. Harry and co. are thirteen. Twenty-five minus thirteen is twelve. Thus, Charlie twelve years older. Bill is even older than that. Because of that, Molly Prewett would obviously be far older than her brothers, assuming they were at school the same time as Lily and James, which I had made them so. And I've probably bored you to death by now (don't worry, I don't like math either), so… yeah. Um. Okay. And the last thing – Yes, I know Remus does not have a twin brother. I never said he did. I just said he had an older brother named Romulus. Not twin. So there. Nyah! (I've just stuck my tongue out at you, if you didn't get that – although I don't know why).

Okay, that's the end – now, my endnotes on THIS chapter. I wanted to give Snape a bit of depth – so I did. I hope I did a fairly decent portrayal of him. And I also do know that the idea of him being in love with Lily is somewhat… cliché. And we all hate clichés. Right, I know. But there's a reason I wanted to do that – it gives Snape more of a reason to really hate James Potter and Sirius Black, who have, thus far, gotten FAR more action with Lily than he has. Sucks to be Snape, I guess. Oh well. He can get his action later.

I'm really going to try and speed up the story. Important note – I did not say speed up chapter UPDATES. I'm updating as fast as I can – I just have problems getting my ideas typed out. It's called Writer's Block, and there is no real cure, although all us writers wish there was. If anybody ever develops a real cure, let me know. I will buy up your entire supply.

Couple of last things – first, around Friday, Saturday-ish, I'm going away for a few days. I'll be back not long after, and then, on the 28th, I'm going away for three weeks. I come back, spend about five days at home, and then go away for another week. Don't expect a lot of updates in that time, because I'm probably not going to have access to a computer. Sorry, but… assuming I get another update or two out in the next week, those'll probably be the last ones until around… August. Sorry; I know it sucks. I hate being away from my computer where I can write for that long. But there's not a lot I can do about it.

Okay, and directly to Dreammergurl2007 – Yes, I KNOW! DANIEL RADCLIFF AND TOM FELTON ARE SOOOOOOOOO HOT! I TOTALLY AGREE! Um, yeah. Now that I've sufficiently embarrassed myself, I'll end the author's note so you can go and read whatever you want (unless some of you want to read "What It Takes", my D/Hr fic. I would most appreciate if you left a review – and I know the updates on that one are painfully slow, but I can't help it – it's REALLY hard to write. Except for the chapter where they've FINALLY gotten together. That one's easy. Now I just have to get there).

All right, and to all my reviewers – life-size… um… I'm running out of ideas here, folks. So we'll go to the norm – life-size Remus and Sirius dollies! Yay!

XOXO

Peaches