DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER.

Severus Snape was lying down on a bed in the hospital wing, shaken from the beating and the boils he had just received after a bad day. James was standing by his side as Madam Pomfrey brought a goblet of boil cure potion for him to drink after tending to his other injuries, which included an injured jaw and a broken nose.

After he had drunk the potion, he turned to James and said, "Why did you help me? Just this evening, you wanted to hex me as much as possible."

James looked at him and said, "Because it was the right thing to do. After you left, I felt suspicious about you and thought you all must have planned something sinister, so I followed you. I heard you saying that you would never join Voldemort. At first, I wondered whether you were simply faking it or not. But when I looked to see what was happening when you were getting beaten up, I couldn't just stand by and do nothing. I had to act. Otherwise, you would have been in a much worse state than now."

Snape remembered another time when he had nearly run into Remus Lupin, another friend of James who was a werewolf, on a full moon night. James had pulled him away from there and saved his life. Yet, somehow, this felt different, although he couldn't tell why.

James was about to leave the hospital wing but just then, he turned back to Snape and said, "By the way, I'm sorry for the way I bullied you earlier. I was an arrogant bully at that time. It seemed too late for us to make it up with each other, but maybe it isn't now. I hope you are better by tomorrow. Good night." With that, James left.

Snape watched him as he left, having not expected him to apologize. As far as he was concerned, James Potter was nothing but an arrogant bully and a swine.

Or was he?

But what mattered most was the fact that Lily had still not forgiven him. His heart felt like it was being squeezed as he thought about the bitter truth about himself that was, the fact that he had lost Lily because of the influence of bad company.

James had not stolen Lily from him. He had allowed his former wannabe death eater friends to steal him from his true friend.

The next day, Severus emerged from the hospital wing (Madam Pomfrey had allowed him to sleep there) and went to the Great Hall for some breakfast, but upon entering the hall, he saw Avery, Mulciber and a few others in league with them at the Slytherin table, shooting nasty looks at him. Just then, he saw Lily at the Gryffindor table eating quietly without taking to anyone. He felt tempted to ask for forgiveness once more, but something held him back. Feeling that she would not forgive him at that moment, he instantly lost his appetite, exited the Great Hall, and went to study in an empty classroom before the day's lessons began.

As expected, during the periods that Slytherins had with Gryffindors, Lily did not even look at him, much less than sit close to him or talk to him. Although Severus tried his level best to concentrate on what was being taught, he just couldn't, not even in potions. At lunchtime, he didn't eat anything save for a piece of bread. Couple of times, he looked at Lily, but she never looked at him.

However, someone was looking at him, although he did not realize it, and that person was James Potter. He had noticed the way Snape was not eating properly. James looked at him with an expression of concern on his face, wondering now if Severus had really meant what he said when he told Lily that he didn't want to join Voldemort anymore, but just wanted to be able to speak with her as a friend.

As for Lily, she was conflicted. She had been conflicted ever since that conversation with Severus. Part of her wanted to forgive him. The other part was not sure about it. She would never leave James. That was for certain. She had never been romantically involved with Snape, although they had been very close for years. But she didn't know if she could forgive him. She just didn't know what to do.

That evening, after classes, James went to the Lake to meet his best friends Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, carrying some food that he had secretly gotten from the house elves who worked in the kitchens at Hogwarts.

"Hey Prongs!" exclaimed Sirius Black, "You're finally here!" "What have you got for us this time?" he asked.

"Wait and see." said James as he lowered the basket containing the food on the ground and opened it. The Marauders' eyes widened as they looked at the food they saw. There were Mozzarella cheese sandwiches with tomato and spinach, potato fries, a great deal of blueberries and strawberries, hot chocolate with marshmallows in a flask, and some treacle tart.

As the four friends ate their snack together, looking at the lake, Sirius asked, "Hey James. What's going on with Lily? She hasn't spoken all day, and she won't respond to any of us."

James said, "It's about Snape." "What about him?" Remus asked. James then proceeded to tell them what had happened since the previous day, from Snape's apology to his depressed state that he had noted.

"What! Seriously! Snivellus actually renouncing his pureblood fanatic friends all of a sudden! I don't believe it!" exclaimed Sirius. Peter meekly said, "Yeah."

To their surprise, James said, "You know, I don't think we should use the name 'Snivellus' anymore. We used it to bully him, and calling him that will only make things worse."

Remus said, "I quite agree with James on that one. I know this may not be easy to believe, but you can't deny that they used to be close, and from the way James described it, I'm quite inclined to believe it. It's highly possible Snape really meant what he said."

"Oh yeah, you're right." said Sirius lazily.

James took a moment before he continued, "If I had not stopped being a bully, Lily would not be in love with me. I was willing to change that for her, and if I have to give up my enmity towards Snape to make her happy, I'm willing to do it."

Sirius stared at James before saying, "Are you sure about this? If you're sure about it, then I'm with you."

James then said, "I think all of us should apologize to him for what we did to him all these years. I want to show Lily that we are all comfortable with having Snape as our friend. Anyway, I'm sure by now that Snape really meant what he said. Otherwise, he wouldn't have acted and spoken the way he did. I just feel it."

Remus and Sirius instantly and enthusiastically agreed, and Peter as usual, meekly followed suit.

It had been 2 days since Snape had apologized to Lily and had still not been forgiven. He had been avoiding others as much as he could. Many Slytherins had begun to ignore him as well. Many of them were after all, biased against muggleborns. Even the neutral ones that he knew avoided him out of fear of Avery and Mulciber, who kept on making snide comments whenever they saw Snape and shooting nasty looks at him.

This was what Severus had feared when he had renounced the Dark Lord and his would-be followers when they graduated. He now had no friends, and it seemed that he had lost his true friend forever.

As he entered the Great Hall for dinner, he stopped. He wondered what he would do with his life. Everyone seemed to hate him. His father, Tobias Snape was an abusive man and his mother, though a witch hardly did anything about it. He had been bullied for several years, and had hung out with the wrong people, which made him lose his best friend. And now, even when he had finally shunned the people who wrongly influenced him, she had still not forgiven him.

"I wish I could just die!" he muttered.

He was about to leave the Great Hall once again without eating anything when he suddenly felt a firm hand grip his shoulder. He turned around, expecting to see one of the teachers, but was stunned when he saw that it was James with a look of concern on his face.

"You have not eaten properly for two days! You need to eat something!" James said to Severus. "I'm not hungry. Just leave me alone." responded Severus.

But James was not going to just let him go out again without eating. He said, "No way! I'm not letting you starve yourself to death."

Snape screamed, "I'M NOT HUNGRY AT ALL, OK! EVERYONE HATES ME! I'M NOTHING BUT A WASTE OF SPACE!"

James placed both his hands on Snape's shoulders and said, "You are not a waste of space. You never were. Would Lily want you to starve yourself and demean yourself like this? No right? You are going to have a proper meal tonight."

Snape said in a low depressing voice, "She'll never forgive me. After all I've done."

James looked straight at him and said, "Lily's not a cruel person. She will forgive you. I'm sure of it. And I will support you through it. Now come and eat."

Without even waiting for Snape to respond, James dragged him over to the Gryffindor table and sat him down next to where Sirius was sitting before sitting on Snape's left side. He immediately piled up a plate of spaghetti, bread and butter, steamed vegetables and a few other delicacies and set it down in front of Snape, motioning for him to eat.

Snape stared at James, unable to believe that the person who once despised him and brutally bullied him would actually show compassion towards him. He looked at Sirius on his right side and Remus and Peter across him, all pleading with him to start eating. He looked at all of them and asked, "Why are you all doing this?"

James cleared his throat and explained, "Snape, I was once an arrogant bully and thought it was fun to bully others and hex them randomly. I targeted you most of the time, partly because you are in Slytherin, partly because I felt jealous that you were close to Lily. I considered you to be a greasy haired git, but in reality I was the git. I was wrong to do all that I did to you, and I really want to make up. I wanted to change in my sixth year and I stopped bullying people. I thought it was too late between us, since we have always been bitter rivals with each other. But when you came and apologized to Lily that day, and I saw you openly standing up for her when Avery and Mulciber insulted her, I started to question myself about the way I regarded you. If I could stop being a bully for Lily, I can surely make it up with you, for Lily. I do not wish to consider you as my enemy any longer, but as a close friend. Please forgive us."

Sirius spoke next, "We were wrong to call you mean names and push you down the way we often did. We're really sorry about it and want to make up for it. We want to include you amongst ourselves as a friend, especially since you and Lily were close."

Remus said, "As a prefect, I should have stopped James and Sirius from bullying you. I failed to do my duty. I'm sorry for the way we bullied you. I know you may resent me for my 'special illness' (you know I mean Lycanthropy), but I am still human. We all want to consider you as our friend and make it up with you."

Peter spoke, "We were all bullies once, but we will not bully you any longer, although we still have our mischievous side. We're all really sorry for it."

James finally said, "Severus, the silly prankster side of us may never leave, but we are no longer bullies and will not bully people any longer, especially you. Please forgive us, and accept our friendship. Please!" and held out his hand.

Severus looked at them, completely shocked that they were all apologizing to him and wanted to include him as a close friend, and then he realized it.

James had changed. Sirius had changed. These were not bullies, but compassionate people who wanted to help him, even if they were still pranksters.

James had changed while Severus had remained in the dark. No wonder Lily had fallen in love with him.

He looked at them and was so moved that he nearly burst into tears as he took James's hand and said, "For Lily! At least you were never pureblood fanatics like the people I hung out with. I was a bully too, towards muggleborns except Lily. I also bullied them to show my former friends how strong I was, and that made Lily reject me the day I called her a mudblood. You all changed, while I remained in the dark. I'm so sorry."

All of a sudden, James pulled Severus into a brotherly embrace, and Severus fought the urge to cry loudly, moved as he was by their compassion. "Lily will forgive you! She will!" whispered James.

As they pulled out of the embrace, they heard an all too familiar voice saying, "Oh wow! Look at Snivelly the traitor! Going back to that weak filthy mudblood and her friends, is it? And now he's a friend to those blood traitors! Gonna cry weenie Snivelly Severus Snape?" The marauders looked up to see Avery snickering and calling Snape a weenie traitor and Mulciber snickering behind him.

Suddenly, Sirius stood up and roared, "SHUT UP AVERY! SNAPE MADE HIS CHOICE TO RENOUNCE YOU ALL, JUST LIKE I DID AFTER MY FIFTH YEAR TO LIVE WITH JAMES, BECAUSE YOU'RE ALL BLOODY PUREBLOOD MANIACS, JUST LIKE MY FAMILY! AND DON'T YOU DARE TO TRY BULLYING HIM, BECAUSE IF YOU DO, YOU WILL BE VERY SORRY!"

Avery cowered away, and Mulciber went white in the face.

Meanwhile, Lily was stunned to see what was going on. Snape was at the Gryffindor table sitting with the marauders and being welcomed as a friend, and Sirius was even standing up for him. At the teachers' table, the Headmaster Albus Dumbledore was smiling and Minerva McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistress was looking upon the scene in wonder.

Snape looked at Avery and Mulciber and said, "I made the right choice and I stand by it. These people have changed for the better. Now leave before things get worse." Avery and Mulciber retreated back to the Slytherin table.

Remus then said, "Now that we have become friends, please eat, Snape."

Snape replied, "Thank you for everything. I realize how much you have all changed. I need to change too." "You already have." said James. Snape then looked at his food, and now that he was feeling happy, suddenly realized how hungry he was and began to wolf down his food.

After Snape and the marauders had eaten, James said, "Come along. We need to speak to Professor Dumbledore about your accommodation. I don't think it'll be safe to sleep in the Slytherin Common Room anymore. You never know what they'll do next." With that, James got up and went up to Dumbledore who was just about to leave and said, "Professor Dumbledore, Snape and I need to urgently discuss something with you in private. Would it be possible now, in your office?"

A few minutes later, James and Snape were in Dumbledore's office, explaining the events of the past few days up to the present moment. James then expressed his concerns regarding Snape's accommodations. After hearing them out, Dumbledore said, "I am amazed to see such resolve on your part. Love can truly change one for the better. Your decision to renounce Voldemort, and James' decision to bury the hatchet with you; those two decisions could change things for the better as time flies by. If only others thought the same way as you, the war against Voldemort would not have begun."

Suddenly, Snape asked, "Professor, if I may ask, how is it that you are able to say the Dark Lord's name without showing any sign of fear, just like that?"

Dumbledore responded, "Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself. I must urge you to call him Voldemort. In times like these, courage is the best defense. James and his parents feel the same way, and also call him by his name. Lily has also started to call him by his name, in case you haven't noticed. You must all be able to do the same, although some are quite unwilling due to fear."

Snape now remembered the last conversation that he had had with Lily by the lake. He now remembered that she had called Voldemort by his name instead of You-Know-Who.

"As for your accommodations Severus, I cannot re-sort you into a different house. I can however arrange for a private room to be given to you. I would advise you to refrain from telling everyone where you will be living, to be on the safe side. However, if you like, I can allow you to invite Lily, James, and his close friends, who I believe you are friends with now, as long as they observe curfew at the proper time." Dumbledore continued.

Severus said, "That's alright with me. Thank you very much Headmaster."

Dumbledore said, "I shall discuss this with the Professors Slughorn and McGonagall and let you know in a few minutes. Till then, I suggest you wait outside. Would you two like a few lemon drops?"

"Err… no thank you. I had quite a large amount of treacle tart and fudge thanks to James and Sirius forcing me to eat more." Snape responded glaring slightly at James.

As James and Severus exited Dumbledore's office, they saw Lily standing there, excitement and surprise written on her face.

Lily exclaimed, "Is it really true?! Is it really true that you two are actually friends now?!"

James responded, "Yes Lily Flower. We all made it up with Snape. Lily, please forgive him. He really has renounced Voldemort. And Avery and Mulciber are no longer his friends."

Lily turned to Snape and said, "It is true after all. You really shunned them. You weren't trying to trick me after all!"

To everyone else's surprise, Severus looked at Lily and James and said, "Lily, James is truly the man you deserve. He changed for you while I remained in the dark for another year. I ignored your warnings several times and I lost you. I will never join Voldemort, and I will never ever hang out with the wrong sort ever again. Please forgive me Lily. I wish to be your friend as I once was."

Lily stared at Snape for a long time, and then suddenly threw her arms around him crying out, "Of course I forgive you Severus! How can I not be happy to have my friend back?! I should have forgiven you that day! Why didn't I?!"

Snape hugged her saying, "At least now, you have forgiven me, and now we are friends again. That's all that matters."

James said, "And we'll be your friends till the end Snape."

Severus ended the hug before saying, "You can call me Severus, or Sev if you prefer. But don't think I will join you in any of your prank schemes."
James laughed and said, "Whether you're a prankster or not, you're a marauder. You're Lily's close friend, and now you're our close friend too. That in a way makes you a marauder. I think I'll have to come up with a nickname for you!"

Severus asked, "What kind of a nickname could you possibly come up with?"

James thought about it for a while and said, "Well, how about something like Cobra, Jaguar…" and launched off into a list of animal nicknames.

Severus thought about it and finally said, "I think Cobra suits me. I'm a Slytherin after all."

"Cobra it is then!" exclaimed James.

Just then, Dumbledore emerged from his office and said, "I have discussed the matter and Professor Slughorn has agreed to share his personal quarters with you for the rest of the year. Minerva also grants you permission to sit at the Gryffindor table anytime. Professor Slughorn will take care of your things. Do not worry."

"Thank you so much Professors." said Severus.

A few minutes later, Severus and Lily were walking towards Professor Slughorn's personal quarters (James had decided to give them a moment alone). They were excitedly chatting with each other, mostly discussing latest developments regarding their NEWTs, which they would be writing soon. Just outside the chamber which housed Slughorn, Snape turned to Lily and said, "Tonight is the luckiest night of my life. Not only did I get you back, but I also gained four new friends who are not the wrong sort. James really has changed. No wonder you two love each other so much!"

Lily replied "I'm just so happy you're all close friends now, especially you and James! I wasn't expecting any of it to happen."

Snape then took a moment before slowly saying, "You know Lily, I've always felt we were much closer than just friends, even closer than best friends, but not in a romantic sense. Would you mind if I addressed you as my sister?"

Lily looked at him, and then threw her arms around him crying out, "I'd be more than happy to call you my Brother Severus!"