Chapter – 1

Lily Evans P.O.V

Lily was bored.

She was bored of homework, and studies, and working herself to exhaustion. She was bored of sitting in her room and studying, while her dorm-mates slacked off and went out with their boyfriends. She was terribly bored, because she already knew the entire theory that the textbooks could explain to her, and most of the practical magic.

The only consolation right now, was that she wasn't studying, or doing homework, or sitting in her dormitory. In fact, she was sitting in the Great Hall, without any of her friends and moping. There was nobody else in the Great Hall, mainly because classes were still going on. And yes, she had decided to bunk her classes today as she felt it would be better to mope.

Unfortunately, it seemed that fate didn't want her to mope because someone sat down next to her at the Gryffindor table. She didn't even have to look to know who it was – the quite presence and uncomfortable, shifty movements alerted her well enough.

"Do you want to take a walk in the forbidden forest?" Severus Snape asked, poking her shoulder. She looked up from the textbook she was pretending to read and glared at him.

"It's called the Forbidden Forest for a reason, Severus. Not the Let's go gallivanting cause we're bored forest." Lily bared her teeth at her friend, cursing her lack of self-control.

Sometimes, she felt the red hair was a curse, and she was truly the embodiment of the devil's child those times. Other times it was wonderful, and she was the embodiment of the angel's child. This time, it was the devil's child.

Severus didn't even flinch at the glare and the snarl, he simply sneered at her. "I think this is the first time a Gryffindor is admitting something is too dangerous for them to rush into! Are you too scared, Lily?"

And dammit, Lily knew he was taunting her and manipulating her into doing what he wanted her to do. But that was really going too far, and her already fragile self-control shattered. She smiled at Severus sweetly.

"I honestly hope you don't regret your brashness, Sevvy!"


They never actually entered the forest.

Before they could, they were stopped short by a burst of bright light that blinded them.

When Lily could see again, she noticed a paper fluttering to the grass. Shoving past Severus, who merely blinked at her in amusement, she bent down and picked up the paper. Opening it, she read the contents.

"So, what is it?" Severus' voice pulled her from her staring match with a paper. "What does it say?"

Lily was tempted to go back to the moping. She had read enough adventure stories to know that whenever something interesting happened to the main character, it turned out to be horrible for that person.

"You know, Severus. If the person who wrote the letter wanted you to know what was written, they would have sent it to you." Lily snapped, hoping that Severus would leave if she irritated him enough.

Sadly, the Slytherin guessed what she was trying to do and just smirked an infuriating smirk. Why was he her best friend again?

"Now, Lily. That's not how you treat your friends!" Severus teased and reached for the letter. She reflexively pulled it away from him. "Whatever would your parents say?"

Lily grumbled, but she knew that he would actually get her parents involved. And they would definitely give her an extremely long lecture, when she could rather be doing something fun. Cursing her luck, she handed the letter over to Severus, pushed him hard so he fell backwards and then walked towards their spot just inside the forest.

He followed after her slowly, clearly unwilling to risk her wrath anymore much to Lily's satisfaction.

"Huh. So, everything goes to shit in the future then?" Severus checked the letter for any magical signs that would show where it had come from.

"If we believe the letter, then yes." Lily answered, curious despite her mood to sulk. "I can't believe what the letter says about the marauders! They're a bunch of uncultured swines! Maybe excluding Remus, but he's just included in their madness because he spends most of his time with them!"

Severus only resisted the urge to bang his head against the nearest trees because of his extremely good self-control, which he was very proud of.

"You do realize that the letter is actually true, right?" Severus asked, loathing himself for supporting the marauders. He couldn't help it, but he knew for a fact that the marauders were constantly holding back, probably due to Lupin. And damn them all to an extra amount of torture because he was supporting those bullies!

If Lily's look was anything to go by, she couldn't believe that he was supporting them either. But before she could argue against them again, he held up a hand to stop her rant.

"Look Lily. I know that right now they are bullies, but they still aren't doing their best. They aren't putting in all the effort they could be." He grimaced as he spat the words out, unable to stop his observations now that he had started. "Think about it. They consistently prank the entire school, teachers included, and usually no one can disable them until the spells have run their course."

Lily nodded reluctantly. She knew that the marauders were good at what they did, but she still didn't want to interact with them for anything. Severus seemed to think that she should talk to them though, and she knew that he was better at this, this social networking, than her. And this was despite the fact that he was an anti-social and nasty person by nature.

"Why should I talk to them anyways?" Lily groaned. "I still don't like them! They're horrible people!"

Severus rolled his eyes at her dramatics. He knew for a fact that she would talk to them regardless. "They're horrible people who you want on your side." He told her, nudging her shoulder as she dramatically fell against him.

"I don't want anything to do with them, Severus!" She almost yelled. "They bully you on a daily basis, and they aren't even sorry about that. And if I befriend them, then it's as if I'm betraying you!"

Lily was blowing this out of proportion, and Severus was in no mood to see her go all mopey again, or worse – feral.

"Lily, my bestest friend anywhere," he said, hoping she would listen if he was being as dramatic as her. He wasn't being as dramatic as her, but he was trying! And he did not actually want to talk to the marauders, but if it would get them off his back then he would do almost anything. "All you have to do is offer friendship with them as long as they lay off me. And I can be there while you extend your offer, if you wish?"

Lily actually turned to him in consideration. And then she nodded decisively. "Alright, we'll talk to the morons tomorrow. Now, can I go back to moping?"

"Absolutely not!" Severus snapped, scowling at her. "I did not go through such dramatics and so much trouble like a sappy Hufflepuff for you to go back to moping!"

Lily only response was to laugh in his face.