Chapter Two- Bully

It was a frosty January day and Lily was eager to get inside after a freezing morning spent in the Greenhouses with her for-once subdued house and an equally downtrodden Hufflepuff second year class. She overtook her classmates, who were trudging through the slushy snow dispiritedly, and entered the castle with a relieved sigh as the magically contained warmth of the castle seeped into the frozen shell of her body. Slapping her pink cheeks to try and get some feeling back in her face, she stopped abruptly after realising how stupid she must look, standing in the middle of the hall and hitting herself as the rest of the school bustled by. Brushing down her robes, she looked around in embarrassment and headed towards where she knew Slytherin should've just finished History of Magic, only a few corridors away.

Just as she rounded a corner, a hoard of Slytherins and Ravenclaws flooded into the corridor, pushing past her without a second glance as they compared notes and complained about their workload. When the last Ravenclaw picked up a dropped book and scurried away, a slouching figure came out of the classroom; bag slung over one shoulder and hands in pockets, black hair shielding his face.

As Lily as about to call out a greeting, the boy's bag split in two with a loud crack and several bottles of ink crashed to the floor, staining his textbooks. A loud laugh came somewhere to the right and as Lily blinked, a group of boys in Gryffindor robes appeared in front of a tapestry depicting two trolls grappling with each other. Despite the fact Lily vividly recalled seeing them that morning when they'd spilled a whole sack of dragon manure, the four of them didn't look the least bit cold. They had their backs to her and were smirking at the efforts of their victim as he scrabbled around collecting quills with a scowl on his face. The one who laughed loudest also had black hair, sticking up at unnatural angles, and as she watched, he ruffled his hair, grinning at the trio around him. He still had his wand out.

"Snivelling around on the floor, are we, Snape?" mocked his tall friend.

A strange, clawing feeling in her heart, Lily stomped towards them.

"JAMES POTTER!"

The four boys jumped and spun around, and the looks on their faces, ranging from scared to coolly unflustered, would've been comical but for her anger.

"WHAT do you think you're doing?" she shouted, crossing her arms when she came to a metre in front of them.

James' hand flew to his hair, and Lily clenched her teeth as he grinned, somewhat sheepishly, at her.

"Didn't, er, notice you there, Evans," he said.

Sirius Black beside him smiled. "Here to help the ickle Slytherin, Lily?"

"Evans to you, Black." she retorted, "Now go away!"

Peter, another of the 'Marauders', as they liked to call themselves, looked all to ready to scamper away as soon as the words left her mouth.

The fourth addition to their group, a strange, quiet boy called Remus Lupin, merely lurked behind them unsurely, head down and eyes darting between his friends and Severus. Lily grudgingly respected him for his good marks and polite demeanour, but he was still unopposed towards this shameful bullying.

A quick look passed between James and Sirius, the latter giving a slight raised eyebrow. Turning back towards Lily and ignoring Severus (still collecting up books and glowering at them), James gave a bright grin.

"It's all yours, Evans! Enjoy playing with the scum."

Lily thought she let out something akin to a growl as the four brushed past Lily to leave.

"Wait!" she called out angrily.

They turned back, though Peter continued inching along the wall as if hoping to make a quick getaway, his eyes darting between them. James raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"Yes?"

"Apologise," Lily said firmly.

"What?" Sirius asked incredulously. "For what?"

Lily looked at him coldly. "To Severus. Apologise for destroying his bag."

"C'mon," James said, "all that dragging along the floor would've done it sooner or later… Terrible posture, don't you agree?"

Lily stayed resolutely silent.

"Sirius!" James cried exasperatedly, throwing his hands up into the air. "Explain to Evans that I am not apologising to that Slytherin git!"

Sirius shrugged helplessly, looking bemused.

Severus, having finally mended the bag with a quick spell and stuffed all his belongings in, stood up.

"Lily, let's just go, c'mon…" he implored, but trailed off and fell silent as Lily ignored him, still staring defiantly at James.

James ruffled his hair again, with a quick, angry movement.

"Fine," he said angrily, "but I'm not apologising to Sniv- him. So I'm so very sorry, Evans, for damaging your precious sense of righteousness."

He turned a heel and walked away, Remus and Peter following hurriedly. Sirius- did he just snort?- gave Lily a look she couldn't decipher and strolled after his friend.

Lily looked at their retreating backs with disdain. James bloody Potter couldn't even bring himself to apologise? Her righteousness indeed. He clearly didn't possess a jot of anything moderately righteous.

"Lily," Severus touched her arm gently, "Should we head to lunch?"


The Marauders, James at the lead, headed into the Great Hall a while later. Plonking themselves down at the Gryffindor table, they were just in time to see Lily and Snape leave together, probably heading towards the Library, horrifyingly studious as they were.

"Argh!" James gave a small cry of frustration, throwing his hands dramatically into the air. "How can she be friends with him? She's a Gryffindor, for goodness sake! She's not supposed to be consorting with that… that snake!"

"That rhymes," Remus remarked idly as he helped himself to shepherd's pie, earning himself a 'hmph' from James.

"Why do you care, anyway?" Sirius asked, amused at his friends' antics. "Are you jealous?"

Peter laughed. "Yeah, James, angry that she likes Snivelly rather that you?"

James spluttered with outrage. "What are you talking about? It's nothing like that! It's just- she's a Gryffindor, that's all."

"That's all, is it? Merlin, we should get Evans around him more; this is funny…" Remus said, smiling as James ruffled with hair again, bright spots on his cheeks.


Leaning against Severus, shaking from silent bouts of laughter, Lily glanced over at the librarian.

"Stop it!" she whispered, hitting him in the arm. "You're going to get us into trouble!"

Sev ducked his head, pleased that he'd made her laugh, and went back to his homework.

As Lily, still stifling the odd giggle, distractedly went back to reading about heating charms, she temporarily forgot about the boys whose nagging not-cold-ness had got her curious in the first place.