"Hey, when did you take this?"

Lily glanced across to where Daxia was sprawled out across her bed. Laying in her hands were the three polaroid pictures Lily had snapped since September First "Yesterday," Lily shrugged turning back to continue doing her makeup in the mirror.

She knew exactly which picture her friend was talking about; the one she had quickly taken as they had wandered through the grounds the previous day; a clear Sunday for September. The four dorm-mates had woken earlier than usual and headed down to a peaceful breakfast in the great hall. Mary continually commented on the dress Daxia was wearing as they wandered toward the lake, asking whether she was sure she didn't want to head back to the dorms to get her robes.

Being determined to make that Sunday, the first since arriving back to the castle, 'more fun' Daxia had waved her off before winking toward a shy looking (bright red) passing second year boy. Her skirt had swished around her legs as she danced through the long grass singing muggle music at the top of her voice. Knowing it had all been for her benefit, to get her back to her 'normal' self, Lily had taken the photo with a smile on her face.

"These are the memories you want from this year?"

Lily shrugged once more as she ran a brush through her hair "I want to remember this year how it happened," She explained plainly "Not posed or fake just…us."

Daxia smiled with an understanding nod, Lily had become extra sentimental ever since the starter rumours about this 'Dark Lord' bloke and his Death Eaters had surfaced a couple of years previous; convinced something was going to happen to at least one of them. The increasing attacks over the summer clearly hadn't helped.

"So are there going to be any pictures of you and Potter?" Daxia asked slowly and innocently, glad she was a safe distance away from her friend. Pulling on her bottom lip with her teeth to hide her smirk she kept her eyes on the Polaroid pictures laying in her fingers, her thumb tracing the words Lily had written on the first.

In the mirror Lily pursed her lips. Ever since his apology James had, for lack of a better phrase, backed off; she barely saw him. He didn't sit with her purposefully at meal times, didn't ask her questions on the work in their classes, he practically kept himself to himself (and the rest of his Marauders) until they had their head-duties together where he remained professional (if that word even existed in his world).

The Lily from previous years would have basked in the peace and quiet but this seventh year version of herself, the version who had spent a portion of the summer with James Potter and who shared the responsibility of being a head student with the Marauder, was bothered. It wasn't the normal type of worry many Gryffindors felt when the Marauders went silent but the uncomfortable clench of her stomach while her mind tied itself up in knots of confusion. She wasn't bothered because she thought he was up to something but because she found herself missing him. She missed the jokes and stories at the breakfast table, missed sitting on edge as they awaited the next prank, missed looking into his hazel eyes as he spoke to her…

Her back straightened as she thought to how well they had been getting along during their duties, how easy he had become to talk to, before she continued to brush her hair "Why would you say that?"

Daxia rolled her eyes. As she remembered it James had met Lily in the very first week and it had practically been that he had fancied her on first sight. Both she and Sirius (vaguely knowing one another from pureblood parties they'd been forced to attend) had been sat with James on that very first train ride to Hogwarts when Lily had burst into their carriage with Snape. Eleven year old James Potter had blushed and stared before making a prat out of himself in front of Lily Evans for the first (and definitely not last) time.

He had kept his distance from her at first, waiting until Daxia became a fully-fledged member of the Marauders towards the end of second year before he spoke of his infatuation with the pretty redhead. This, slightly older, version of James had progressed from the mildly prattish eleven year old catching sight of Lily Evans on the train to the cocky youngest star of the Gryffindor Quidditch team with a strong group of troublemaking pals around him. Second to fifth year James had been a pain in the arse. Sure Daxia and the rest of the Marauders found him to be hilarious in his antics but the mischief and rule breaking surrounding him hadn't boded well for any kind of relationship between him and Lily Evans. Especially when one of the main recipients to his prank pulling was the Slytherin boy who had been on the train and just so happened to be Lily's childhood best friend.

Obviously knowing about one best friend falling for another best friend Daxia had taken it upon herself to play cupid (dragging Sirius into it of course) only finding that neither Lily nor James (who were both the most stubborn people Daxia had ever met) would take a second to get to know one another properly. It seemed all Lily wanted to believe was James Potter was a git and all James wanted to do was have fun without thinking of any consequences. Either that or they enjoyed their bickering a little too much.

Of course Daxia didn't know of the time James had spent hiding in Lily's treehouse over summer to discuss their upcoming head-duties. Or the easy, funny conversation they shared during said duties.

"I thought you were giving him a chance this year," Daxia observed lightly, not daring to look across to her friend. It had been toward the end of their previous year after a night sat with the Marauders, Benji and Mary in front of the fire that had persuaded Lily to finally agree to give the boys a chance and Daxia never planned on letting her forget it.

Lily glanced over to her best friend, sprawled across her bed on her back with her hair thrown over the side and her legs bent at the knee. Had she looked up she would have seen the smirk on Lily's face and been allowed a head start on what was about to come out of her mate's mouth.

Because James Potter had also mentioned something else during his few days stay in her old tree house. It had been late at night when they were discussing their friends and the upcoming year that he'd accidentally allowed it to slip, her eyes had grown wide along with the smile on her face as he spoke. He had made her promise not to speak of his suspicions but she just couldn't help herself given the current predicament.

"I'll give Potter a chance if you give Black a proper chance."

"What?!" Daxia laughed sitting upright and dropping the pictures back into their tin.

Lily turned on the stool she was perched upon in front of the dressing table. A wide grin stretched cheekily across her pretty features, knowing this subject would be one to strike a chord with Daxia "You must be the only person in the whole of Hogwarts who doesn't realise the two of you are perfect for one another!" She exclaimed. Sirius Black may see himself as some sort of ladies' man and serial flirter but James (and now Lily) hadn't been the only one to notice the stolen glances and hidden smiles towards his best friend.

Daxia rolled her eyes as she shuffled off Lily's bed "Stop being ridiculous, Sirius is too busy being a rebel for anything like that," she grumbled scooping her hair into a messy high ponytail (something which Lily had recently learned Sirius admired). Her best friend had never settled for one girl, knowing what was happening on the outside and how much danger he was in as a disowned member of the Black family he had always told her he would never bring someone else into it "I'm going down to breakfast," she continued knowing Lily would wait for Adiya to be done in the shower before going down to the great hall.

Lily laughed as her friend slipped out of their dorm calling "Not nice is it!" after her.

Daxia's eyebrows fell into an irritable frown as she hurried through the empty common room, each of their fellow Gryffindors either down having breakfast or sleeping for those extra few minutes before class. Lily could turn things on her and Sirius all she liked; it didn't take a genius (even Severus Snape knew for Merlin's sake) to see she was head over heels in secret love with James Potter.

"Sirius! Hey Sirius!" The exclaims left her mouth before they even registered in her brain.

Before her Sirius was sighing both jokingly and overdramatically, his shoulders rising and falling easily noticeable as he didn't bother to turn around when he heard her stumble out of the portrait behind him. It was just too damn early to be listening to Daxia's rambling.

"Don't ignore me you git," She grumbled once she finally caught up with him, nudging his arm with her elbow.

He turned to her with a sparkling grin "Aw I could never ignore you Daxy, my shining star and the most important person in my otherwise incredibly boring life," he teased sending James (joining them from the prefects bathroom) a nod before blowing a very sarcastic kiss Daxia's way.

Her eyes narrowed up to him as a jolt shot through her body, gripping onto her stomach as he nudged her back with his arm. Frowning in confusion she shook her head, gathering her senses back to normal.

The trio of friends spoke easily as they walked, James telling Daxia about their recent plan to collaborate with Hogwarts Poltergeist Peeves with excitable animation. They joined the Gryffindor table with laughs lighting up their faces, Daxia sitting beside Remus and Peter while James and Sirius took the empty bench space opposite. Their talk of Peeves immediately became more intense now they were all together, Peter even bringing out the Marauders' sacred planning-notebook.

"You lot are the only people in the entire castle who can persuade Peeves to do something," Daxia mused piling her plate with breakfast goodies as she noticed Lily and Adiya arriving. There was an art to getting the poltergeist to do something only the four boys had seemed to master, sure between collaborations he terrorised them as well as the other students but they really managed to get him to focus when they worked together.

"Oh please don't put Peeves up to something," Lily sighed as she flopped into the space beside Daxia, finally catching up with her. The last time the Marauders had put Peeves up to something all of the suits of armour around the castle revolted and interrupted their Care of Magical Creatures O.W.L. trying to escape into the Forbidden Forest. It was never proven who put Peeves up to the task but it had been quite obvious knowing there was only a certain group of students he listened to.

"Of course not," replied James a little too quickly, Peter scrambling to hide the notebook once more "We were just talking about how we were going to use our power for good."

"Right," Lily replied slowly and doubtfully, eyebrows twitching as she glanced across to James. He was sending her his best (well Daxia thought it was leaning towards creepy) smile.

Daxia almost choked on her orange juice as Sirius sent both James and Lily a disbelieving look. Surely Lily didn't believe this.

As the head boy and girl slipped into conversation about controlling Peeves on their rounds (James lying with every word he spoke and Lily clearly falling for it) Sirius kept catching Daxia's eye. His grin stretched across his face each time her eyes met his, the grin which made most females go weak at the knees.

She had never really appreciated his grin before that moment. His eyes practically sparkled as his lips turned upwards, small crinkles appeared just above his cheekbones as he showed off perfect teeth. It wasn't even just his face the grin affected; his entire being seemed to light up, his shoulders squaring and his chest puffing out slightly without him even noticing. His fingers tapped on the fork he was using almost in time with his eyebrow twitching. The same jolt from earlier shot through her body, gripping onto her stomach once more as she dragged her eyes away from his handsome features.

…handsome?

She scoffed to herself as she reached for more breakfast goods. The muggle she had met over summer had been handsome; Sirius was, well, Sirius.

She silently cursed Lily Evans for putting silly ideas into her head. She and Sirius were nothing like Evans and Potter; they were in denial while she and Sirius knew exactly what they were – friends, partners in crime. Glancing up, as she shook her head in disbelief at what was going on in her mind, to reach the toast her eyes caught James's. A smirk lifted the corners of his lips and he raised his eyebrows knowingly.

She rolled her eyes, shuffling further along the bench away from Potter's gaze "Heeeey Remus!" she grinned ignoring Lily's owl dropping off the morning paper.

"Hey Dax," Remus grinned back, his tone only slightly suspicious as his eyes lifted from the Quidditch section in his own morning paper "How are you?"

"Good, good," she nodded looking up to him from her full plate "How are you?"

This time his eyes narrowed "Why?"

She shrugged innocently "Just awaiting an update on your furry-little-problem," she explained with a smile fuelled by mischief.

Clearly not up for jokes Remus rolled his eyes with a sigh "You know I hate you calling it that."

Daxia smiled widely once more as she nudged him with her elbow. It had been quite clear to his new group of friends that there was something amiss with Remus Lupin right from their very first day. He was quiet, mysterious and…always missing around the full moon. His warm, friendly face was marred by scarring he never liked to talk about; he walked around with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Not that they liked to admit it but it had taken Daxia and the rest of the Marauders up until the back end of their second year to figure it out. Remus Lupin was a werewolf.

As soon as they had confronted him about it (totally the wrong way) (apparently presenting your friend with a cake reading 'We Know Why You Hate The Full Moon' was inappropriate) he had freaked out. They were the first people in his life to look past what he really was and actually like him for him. They had never looked at him with fear in their eyes and were the first since he had received the bite.

It had taken days before he would speak to them again, before he would even slightly believe that they didn't care. That he was in their lives and they liked it; no matter what happened nothing was going to change that.

"There's been more attacks!"

Frown on her face Daxia spun back to glance at the newspaper over Lily's shoulder. The headline was bleak, the picture dark, the article –

"Muggles," Lily breathed speeded reading ahead of Daxia, Adiya and Remus before providing commentary for James, Sirius and Peter on the opposite side of the table "They're targeting muggles and muggleborns."

James's jaw tightened as his fingers curled into fists. If there was one thing senselessly against Lily Evans in the wizarding world it was her parentage. She had always been proud to teach her friends and classmates about her muggle life, loved watching the amazement on Daxia, Sirius, Peter and James's faces as she told them of her muggle upbringing. She had always been proud of who she was right up until the end of their fifth year. Childhood friend and neighbour (enemy to the Marauders and Slytherin student) Severus Snape had dared to lash out during a confrontation with James. By calling her a 'mudblood', a disgusting and degrading word used by purebloods to demean witches and wizards with muggles for parents, he had triggered a doubt in Lily's mind and dented her confidence in herself.

The new Dark Wizard and his Death Eaters attacking muggles and muggleborns could only push her over the edge.

Before anyone could speak Daxia had reached across and gathered up the paper "One off," She mumbled quickly shooting an angered James a glare; if there was one thing she wanted in her life it was to protect her best friend from the prejudice surround her blood status. Though James's parents had always been on the good side both her and Sirius had grown up with old-school purebloods. All their childhood they had listened to their family members judge, listened to them downgrade any witch or wizard as soon as they knew of their parentage. It was a side to their world that she would protect Lily from with all her being, her kind and caring best friend was the last person who deserved anything like Daxia had witnessed throughout her life "We need to get to Potions."

As the group of friends stood, Daxia and Adiya giving Lily supportive one armed squeezes while James and Sirius grabbed Peter and Remus into (what looked like) a scheming session, said Slytherin greaseball from earlier wandered into the great hall.

"Lily," He breathed almost like he was shocked to see her as Daxia sent the boys a warning glare over her shoulder.

"Not the time Snivellus," Adiya snapped letting go of Lily to stand in front of the two girls defensively. The boys exchanged proud glances.

Before Snape, reaching for his wand, could retaliate Daxia grasped onto Adiya's hand "Potions," She insisted through gritted teeth not looking up to the two boys stood behind Snape.

Her cousins were the last people she needed to see.

"What's up with them?" Rabastan Lestrange scoffed, turning around to watch his cousin pull her friends away. He unsurely chewed on his bottom lip slightly as he turned to watch her disappear.

On the outside both he and his elder brother Rodolphus – stood on the other side of Snape – were dedicated Slytherins and members of the Lestrange family. They hated Gryffindor, they hated both James Potter and Sirius Black, they…did anything and everything for their cousin.

She was the only disowned and ignored spoiled brat on earth.

"They've despised Sev even more ever since he called Evans a mudblood at the end of fifth," Rodolphus explained patting Snape on the back. They may love their cousin but it didn't mean they approved of her friends.

Severus Snape flinched as they reached the Slytherin table and sat beside an awaiting and eager looking Bellatrix Black and her shy younger sister, averting her eyes when the three boys took their seats.

If there was anything in the world he hated talking about it was how he lost his best friend at the end of their fifth year. He had always looked to Lily Evans in any kind of situation he found himself stuck in; she gave him advice, helped him study and kept him out of trouble. She was the first best friend he had ever had, the first person who had loved him unconditionally (not like that of course, Severus had never been so lucky) while all his parents did was argue.

Then he was sorted into Slytherin on that very first September First while she was sent to Gryffindor.

No matter how much they tried to work at their friendship they always came across some sort of barrier; mostly him and his friends. His fellow Slytherins didn't understand the relationship he had with the muggleborn Gryffindor; they thought it both wrong and unnecessary. They'd always been taught that any blood status lower than pure was immoral and not worth their time, of course not taking into account that Severus himself was merely a half-blood.

He had been in the middle of an altercation with James Potter (another of their constant barriers) when it had slipped out of his mouth. She'd tried to stick up for him just as a group of Slytherins were joining the commotion in the courtyard, he had snapped without thinking and called her the worst thing he possibly could; a mudblood. After that their relationship was officially severed for good. He'd slept in front of The Fat Lady outside the Gryffindor common room, he'd thrown stones at her bedroom window when they were home, he'd bought her bouquet after bouquet of her favourite flowers…nothing seemed to work.

(Of course he'd never actually uttered the word 'sorry' just 'I didn't mean it', 'it just slipped out' and even 'I didn't know it was you!')

Without Lily there to rein him back he'd found himself slipping further and further into the Slytherin stereotype; his heart even jumping when he noticed the headline on the latest Daily Prophet "There's been more attacks!"

Rabastan and Rodolphus sat on either side of him at the table, glanced to the front page of the Prophet over Snape's shoulder "It's finally happening!" Rabastan whisper exclaimed. The Dark Lord portrayed ideas and demands fully supported by most pureblood families in the wizarding world; ideas and demands previously downtrodden by the Ministry of Magic and the Daily Prophet, hidden away from the public eye.

"Can't wait until I'm out of here," seventh year Rodolphus grinned as his eyes scanned the article before him "Eh Sev?"

Before Snape could answer Rabastan arched his eyebrows "So you're definitely joining…him then? When you leave at the end of the year?"

"Are you not?" his brother asked almost in offence. Ever since The Dark Lord had announced his presence families like the Lestranges and the Blacks had begun to drill into their children just how important this man could be to their futures. It seemed only right that they join his cause as soon as they left Hogwarts.

"Of course," said Rabastan straightening up in his chair "Can't wait."

Potions. The hour passed in a blur of three explosions (otherwise occupied Daxia, Sirius and James), one base of a cauldron melting away (Peter) and three perfect potions (Remus, Lily and Adiya).

"You guys are a disappointment, letting me down like that in front of all those people!"

Lily rolled her eyes as she glanced up to a smirking Daxia; her friend shaking her head and grumbling about perfect potions "Are you going to start your essay or not?"

"Not," replied Daxia lounging back into the sofa "Seriously though; perfect potions?"

Adiya chuckled as the four Marauders stormed into the common room (the fourth year girls skiving lessons on the other side of the room exchanging whispers and giggles) "Yes Dax because we actually want to pass potions!"

"Uch, why would you want to do that?" Sirius pulled a face, sending Lily a cheeky grin to confirm he was only joking, as he dropped down into the seat beside Daxia "'Ello beautiful," he greeted throwing an arm around her shoulders.

"Your cockney accent sucks," she teased folding her arms over her chest "While you're here; Lily wants us to tone down on the pranking this year."

He raised his eyebrows as he glanced down to her "Lily always wants us to tone down our pranking," He pointed out with a shrug (Lily scoffing to herself as he sent her another grin) "The question is; do you want us to tone it down Vix?" He asked using her Marauders nick(code)name for full effect.

"No!" She suddenly exclaimed sitting up and almost clashing heads with Sirius. A quick glance around her revealed a few rather strange looks "I mean…of course not," she added in a quieter tone.

"Good," he grinned tapping her shoulder with his fingertips, pulling her closer into his side causing her to rest her head on his arm "Because I was thinking…"

Just as he began to question her on some upcoming wind-up she dared a glance across to the opposite sofa.

Wishing she could hex the looks right off Lily Evans and James Potter's faces.