James Potter was furious, so furious that even hexing Snape wasn't giving him the sick pleasure he used to. He had used a bat-bogey hex the day before; a good one too. Sirius had laughed heartily and James had chuckled a bit, but then Evans had walked by, glaring at him. That removed any enjoyment the action would normally have brought. He had noticed that Moony was back in her good graces and the two of them spent an alarming amount of time in class talking. How could Evans do that? Shouldn't she be taking notes?
This was exactly the thought that was going through his head in the middle of his latest Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Yes, the class was a bit of a joke, but Evans and Remus were unbelievably chatty.

James nudged Sirius. "They sure are talking a lot," he whispered harshly.

Sirius shrugged. "I guess so, but, you know, they are friends, and since you're not speaking to him…"

"Shut up Padfoot."

Sirius was supposed to be on his side. This whole situation was completely wrong. Remus Lupin was supposed to be sitting in front of him, next to Peter, taking extensive notes that James could copy later and occasionally telling him and Sirius to shut up. The idea of him chatting up Lily Evans in the middle of class made him fume. It just wasn't right. He should be chatting up Lily Evans; she should be laughing at his jokes, not Remus Lupin's.

Next to him, Sirius was winking at Professor Arden again. She noticed and, batting her long false lashes, sighed and went back to the lesson. Stupid Sirius, he couldn't pay attention to anything for longer than twenty seconds, well excluding his libido. Now annoyed with his friend, James leaned his chin against his fist, glaring at Remus.

After a few seconds, he felt Sirius nudge him.

"What?" he snapped quietly.

"Snivellus," Sirius gestured with his head. "He's practically drooling."

Sirius was right. Snape was completely engrossed in the back of Lily Evans' head. It was disgusting, really. James watched the scene for awhile. Eventually Remus caught a glance of Snape and whispered something to Lily. She turned around slowly, caught Snape, and smiled slightly at him. He immediately bent low over his notes, trying desperately to keep people from noticing him.

But the class did notice, especially James. Something about the smile Lily had given Snape made James crack. He was suddenly so angry he had to do something about it. Whipping out his wand and pointing it at Snivellus, James thought "levicorpus" very hard.

Snape suddenly rose into the air and began scrambling for his wand. James flipped his wrist and Snape flipped upside down, his wand tumbling out of his pocket. Experience had taught Severus to use his arms to hold his robes up over his legs. "Leave me alone, Potter," he sneered.

"Mr. Potter," Professor Arden looked terrified. "Please put Mr. Snape down."

"Not until I tell him a thing or two," James stood, angrily walking forward so that he was directly in Snape's view.

"Mr. Po…"

"What are you thinking staring at Evans?" he interrupted the professor. "I can't even imagine the sick thoughts running through your head, the disgusting wank-fests you've had. Do you honestly think that she would ever even consider you?" James said viciously. "That you are worth even a fraction of her? You don't even deserve to breathe the same air, let alone stare holes into the back of her head."

The entire class was watching the scene. A few looked concerned that Snape might fall on top of them and had moved to the side of the room. Lily, Remus, and Sirius had stood immediately. Lily looked absolutely furious. Peter watched with vested interest, obviously happy to be on James' side in this little tussle.

"Mr. Pot.." Professor Arden tried again, louder this time.

"Why would I stare at a little mudblood like her?" Snape spat. James heard Evan Rosier laugh behind him. Turning on his heel, he pointed his wand menacingly at the dark-haired Slytherin, and Snape dropped.

"Don't you dare laugh at that, Rosier," he growled.

"Or what Potter?" Rosier didn't look concerned at all. Victoria Avery sat next to him with a similar look on her face. "Soon you and your blood traitor family won't mean a damn thing."

Now Sirius turned on Rosier, turning his back on Snape. "Save your damn blood talk for the rest of your filthy kind, or I will kill you."

"That filthy kind happens to be the rest of your family, Black," Rosier sneered. "How do you think they would feel knowing that you're standing here defending a mudblood?"

"I could bloody well care less," Sirius said through his teeth, extending his wand farther towards Rosier.

"Mr. Bl…"

"Oy Prongs," Remus yelled.

James turned quickly to see that Snape had fallen and recovered. He was now standing with his wand raised to Potter. Remus had obviously interrupted some spell.

"Expelliarmus," James yelled, and Snape's wand flew towards him. He caught it easily.

"MR. POTTER! MR. BLACK! MR. SNAPE! MR. ROSIER!" the four boys looked to the front of the classroom. McGonagall stood there, looking terrifyingly furious. "MY OFFICE! NOW!"

Professor Arden stood there sheepishly, whispering her thanks as McGonagall rolled her eyes.

James had received detention every night for the next two weeks, Sirius had received four nights, Snape three, and Rosier four. Ten nights of detention seemed a little excessive to James, but he had taken the punishment with as much bravado as he could. He had to clean out the broom cupboards for Filch, but with Sirius' two-way mirror the task went somewhat quicker.

"Did you see what Remus did?" he asked one night while brushing out cobwebs.

Sirius had nodded.

"Do you think I should forgive him?"

Sirius had shrugged. "He did snog the girl you fancy."

"Yeah, he did."

"Of course, he did help out with the Snivelly situation."

"Yeah, he did."

After his fourth detention, an awfully exhausted James had climbed the stairs to Griffindor tower. Covered in dust, he climbed through the portrait hole and immediately faced a very angry Lily Evans.

"HOW DARE YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT?" she bellowed. Obviously, she had been waiting for him.

"Come on Evans," he shrugged. "Do you want Snivellus staring at you?"

"I really don't care if he stares at me," she threw back. "And that had absolutely nothing to do with me; it was all about you showing off."

"Actually Evans," he ruffled his hair. "It had everything to do with you."

She narrowed her eyes. "I don't believe you Potter," she said.

He raised his eyebrows at her.

"You are so horrible," She shook her head. "I can't believe you would pull a stunt like that in the middle of class."

"I was hardly interrupting anything."

"That is NOT the point," she said, her face almost twitching in to a smile. "I can take care of myself, you know. I don't need or want you showing up to fight all my battles for me Potter. Besides, Snape is harmless. He would never do anything but stare."

"He shouldn't be staring at you," James said

"Why not Potter?" she marched up closer to him. "Do you have dibs on that particular action?"

"He doesn't deserve to look at you," he spit.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Do you get to decide who gets to look at me, Potter? And you want me to go out with you." She scoffed.

"He's a dirty arsehole who is up to his neck in the Dark Arts. He should look at the floor when you walk in a room."

Lily paused, looking away from James for a second. "He was only looking at me, Potter, that's no reason to hex him. You just wanted to show off, you arrogant bully."

"Come on Evans…"

She went on. "And who do you think you are? Almost pummeling Remus because I kissed him? Honestly, Potter, you think that the only thing in this world that matters is whether or not you get what you want. Have you ever once thought about someone besides yourself?"

"That's not fair," he said quickly, his emotions coming to the surface. Then covering it up with a smooth smile, he added, "I am not responsible for my actions when you are involved."

Lily made a sound that conveyed her utter disgust at this comment. "Is that supposed to make me want to date you? Honestly."

"Well what then, you're going to date Moony now?" he asked, trying to sound like he didn't care.

Lily scowled. "No," she said. "I don't have any romantic feelings for him. What happened before the holiday was just me getting carried away. Remus Lupin and I are not, and will not soon be, dating."

She said the last word with a finality that James could only respond to with a quick "well… good."

"I'm going to bed," she sighed, turning on her heel. She looked him up and down, crinkling her nose at the cobwebs in his already mussed hair. "And I would recommend showering tonight before you go to bed."

James rubbed his head and sighed.

Sirius glanced out the window as Professor Flitwick demonstrated a Confundus Charm for about the fiftieth time. He and James had, of course, gotten it right the first time and now had to wait for the rest of the class to catch up. He saw Julia Connors out of the corner of his eye, concentrating on Muriel McKinnon very hard. A part of him felt a little guilty about what he had done. A very small part. Lily and Dorcas were sitting near the front of the classroom. Since they too had already mastered the Charm, they were chatting animatedly. He smiled slightly at Dorcas, hopeful that she was getting some good information. She caught his glance and with calm, welcoming almond-shaped eyes, kept it for a few seconds. She smiled her close-mouthed grin and went back to chatting with Lily.

Suddenly a small boy entered the classroom.

"Professor," he said, holding out a piece of parchment. "I'm supposed to give you this. It's from the headmaster."

"Thank you," Professor Flitwick jumped from his desk to the floor. He walked, or rather waddled, to the boy. He took the note and the boy left immediately. A look of shock and horror crossed the small man's face as he read the note. "Class dismissed." he said, without looking up. "Miss Connors, if you could please remain."

The rest of the class all turned their heads to look at Julia, who had a look of utter terror in her blue eyes. Everyone knew what a note like this would mean, and Flitwick was her head of house.

"Class Dismissed." He repeated.

The class slowly and silently gathered their things and began filtering out. Sirius and James were some of the last to leave. As they exited the classroom, Sirius caught sight of Dorcas' head sticking out from the small crowd leaving the room. He wondered if she had the same sick feeling of shame in her stomach.