Lily lowered her wand and surveyed the damage. She was torn between shock for breaking the rules in such a massive way, and pride for how thoroughly she had hexed the living daylights out of the Slytherins.

"Wow, who would have thought that Avery looked better with tentacles?" She wondered, before mentally berating herself for her marauder-like behaviour…

The Gryffindor team had fled the scene once she had drawn her wand, although they stayed during the time when she had yelled at them until her face was red. The only ones left in the hospital wing were herself and one very unconscious James who had passed out as soon as he had seen the Slytherins…

"Lily…"

…but now had just decided to wake up. Lily swore under her breath and turned to leave.

"Miss Evans, what on earth happened here?" Madam Pomfrey's shocked voice resounded through the hospital wing.

Lily gulped.

"Err…"

One of the Slytherins moaned, "She…"

"I found them fighting over who would finish off the job," Lily spoke hurriedly, stumbling over her words.

Madame Pomfrey's eyes widened.

"Well I never… Miss Evans, would you mind going back to class? I will deal with these reckless foolish students."

Whipping out her wand, she quickly cast Wingardium Leviosa and lifted the Slytherin team one by one onto new beds, muttering about Quidditch and the folly of the professors to allow this to happen.

Lily made her escape, sprinting out the door before leaning on the wall nearby and gasping for breath.

She, Lily Evans, has seriously broken the rules and on top of that, she lied… and gotten away with it. A stranger sense of pride filled her veins.

"Is this what James feels like after a prank?" she wondered, shutting her eyes.

Shaking her head to dislodge unwanted thoughts, she continued on towards the library to have some thinking time…

Little knowing that a certain hazel-eyed trickster was now wide awake and staring at her handiwork with awe.

Bang!

"Padfoot, I'd advise you stop that…"

Bang!

"It's not going to make this any better…"

Bang!

"Padfoot, calm down…

Bang!

"Expelliarmus!"

Sirius's wand flew out of his hand and landed neatly in Remus's.

"Moony…" Sirius growled. "Give it BACK!"

"Not until you see that firing hexes at the wall will do nothing to help the situation."

Sirius sighed and shoved his hands deep in his pockets, scowling.

"Moony, he almost bloody died!" he whined.

"Yes, yes…" Remus's reply was gentle. "But he's alive now, is he not?"

"I suppose," Sirius muttered. "It's just painful to see him lying there looking so dead."

"He wasn't dead, Padfoot," Wormtail remarked. "He's not dead until he stops breathing…"

"Oh thanks for that, mate." Sirius retorted, sarcastically.

Remus's was about to tell both of them to calm down when a redhead came crashing into them from behind.

"Oh, "Lily's face was ashen and drawn. "Sorry Remus, Sirius, Peter."

She pushed past them and continued towards the library, green eyes seeming blank and unseeing. Sirius started forwards, face openly curious but Remus placed a hand in front of him.

"Padfoot, I'm not sure if your gentle tact is required for this case," he remarked. "I'll follow."

"Moony…" Sirius whined, but Remus cut him off.

"Madame Pince still hasn't forgiven you for your latest prank, my friend."

Sirius, in spite of everything that had happened, grinned.

"Yeah… I suppose Pince didn't find making the books swear at the Slytherins quite as clever and amazing as I did."

"Padfoot, you outdo yourself. Again."

"Yeah, I know, my moony of a mon."

"Sirius, you aren't Jamaican. Stop with the accent."

Sirius grumbled as Remus strode after Lily.

"Well, I think I be cool, mon."

Lily sat at one of the tables in the corner of the library, pretending to read Advanced Potions again. Her mind, however, was teeming with confusion and fear.

"I cursed the Slytherins… I cursed the Slytherins… I bloody CURSED THE SLYTHERINS…"

"Talking to yourself is the second sign of madness, Lily," Remus's dry voice came from somewhere over her head.

"Oh, and what's the first sign?"

Remus smiled

"Asking."

He pulled a chair out and sat down next to her, a copy of Defence Against The Dark Arts Volume 12 in his hands. Settling down, he started to read. Lily let out a breath. She was worried he had overheard her.

"So…" Remus's voice was conversational. "You cursed the Slytherins?"

Lily shut her book with a loud bang, before spinning around wildly to look for Madame Pince. Luckily, she was nowhere close.

"Shhh!" Lily hissed.

Remus half smiled.

"All you've done, Lily, is merely live every Gryffindor's dream," he paused. "At least every Gryffindor who is not a Marauder. The question is why?"

Lily groaned softly and rested her head in her book.

"They were talking about how without James, we'd lose the cup, and I just got so upset and so bloody angry that I lost control… I didn't mean to do it. I just did."

She exhaled.

"Luckily, Madame Pomfrey believed me when I said they were cursing each other in order to see who'd finish James off…"

Remus chuckled.

"So hexing the Slytherins and lying? James would be so proud of you."

Lily hissed, going bright red.

"Don't you DARE tell him, Remus!"

Remus held up his hands, trying to pacify her.

"I won't. I do not do things like that…"

Lily sighed in relief.

"Thank you, Remus. I'm embarrassed enough as it is without that git knowing what I did for…"

Lily shut up, cheeks blaring. Remus watched her intently, amber eyes silently laughing.

"Yes Lily?"

"Nothing. Shut up. I meant nothing."

Both of the prefects went back to reading, Remus smiling and Lily trying to ignore the thoughts leading her through an unpleasant train of logic.

"Remus…" she suddenly said.

"Yes?"

"After a prank…" Lily swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. "Do you feel…"

"Yes?"

"Do you feel proud?"

Remus blinked twice, before suddenly standing, his book in his hand.

"Lily, now you understand why I'm in the Marauders. You now understand why we do what we do…"

As he turned to go, he muttered under his breath.

"I wouldn't make a habit of it. Sometimes, guilt overlies pride."

He strode out of the Library, his book open in front of his face. Lily looked back down at her book, not really reading the pages. Her mind was teeming with new thoughts and a sinking feeling that was gnawing at her heels.

"Breaking the rules is only a temporary rush," she thought. "I don't want to make a habit of doing that unless there's something worth fighting for…"

She suddenly realised where that thought left and stifled it by standing abruptly and grabbing her book. Surely she didn't think he was worth fighting for…

Did she?

Two weeks later at dinnertime, James hobbled out of the hospital wing, feeling over the moon thanks to the painkiller potion he had just consumed. Madame Pomfrey had judged him well enough to return to the common room, although had made him swear to return to the hospital wing if he even felt a twinge of pain.

He was just deciding on a tune to whistle when he caught sight of Lily sitting on a bench in one of the corridors with her nose stuck into some textbook. Limping over to her, he leaned on the cane he had been given and grinned.

"Hey Evans…" he drawled. "What are you doing out here on your lonesome?"

Lily glanced up at him, standing there with his dark hair ruffled and his hazel-eyes twinkling and sighed in annoyance.

"Potter, I'm reading" she retorted. "Surely you have somewhere you'd rather be."

James looked her up and down once.

"Nope. Nowhere I can think of."

Hobbling over, he sat down next to her with a grin.

"So what have I missed? Apart from you hexing the Slytherins from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade…"

The book thudded to the ground as she whirled around and faced him.

"You know about that? I thought… I thought you were unconscious!"

James shook his head.

"No, I was just waking up, you see. You got Avery with a killer Furnunculushex…and the Jelly-Legs Jinx to boot, very nice!"

Lily groaned and rested her face in her hands. James laughed and put an arm around her.

"Hey… I'm proud of you, you know that? They had it coming…"

Lily slightly leaned into the half hug, into James without thinking. She shut her eyes and just relaxed, feeling slightly more at ease.

"You alright?" James asked, hardly believing his luck.

Suddenly, Lily broke away from him, before standing up.

"James?"

"Yes?"

"It was a one time performance, that's all!"

She spun on her heel, picking up her discarded book from the ground as she went, bent on getting to the common room as fast as she could. James watched her go, confusion in his eyes.

Somehow, he didn't think she was entirely referring to the hexing of the Slytherins.

The next morning, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter sat in the Great Hall, eating breakfast. Remus had his book resting against a pitcher of pumpkin juice, Sirius was shovelling bacon down his gullet as fast as humanly possible, Peter was trying to remember the spell for transfiguring poodles and James was taking his time with the potion he had promised Madame Pomfrey he would drink every morning for the next week.

Suddenly, Sirius slapped James on the back. James choked and forced the potion down.

"Prongs, my stag, I'm so glad you're back!"

Remus looked over sardonically. James grinned.

"Why, Padfoot?"

"Because now I feel like a massive weight is off my shoulders mate…" Sirius was sober, for once. "I was worried you'd, you know…"

He lowered his voice.

"Never be right, you understand?"

James tilted his head to the side.

"Padfoot, were you worried about me?"

Sirius cleared his throat.

"Maybe a tad. But only because I need you to show off my amazingly handsome looks! You know; comparison and all that."

James laughed and shoved Sirius off his seat.

"You git…"

He suddenly cringed in pain and rubbed his ribs.

"Prongs, you alright?" Remus suddenly asked.

"Yeah…" James gritted his teeth. "Just my ribs. They'll be fine…"

Remus nodded and looked around to see if anyone else had noticed. He glanced at a certain redhead as she ducked her head back down into her book, as though she had never been looking over at them in the first place.

Smiling to himself, Remus turned back to his cup of tea. Some things were better left to mature.

A/N: I am so so so sorry! It's been over a year! I know… how disgraceful is that! But at least it's up! You can't be mad at me forever:) On a more serious note; thank you all so much for your reviews and support, even though it's been an extremely dormant story over the past 12 months. Thanks for your ever-lasting support, and with your continued reading and kind words, we can make it to the next 100 reviews! Cheers guys! Love from PurpleLight