"So, Ms. Mckinnon will you tell us what you are so happy about?" asked Mary, the Valkyries were walking out of the castle to go to the grounds to relax after a hectic day of classes.

"Well something good happened last night at the party," said Marls smugly.

"What?" asked Lily.

"Well, Sirius got really jealous, and Keeva noticed, then they broke up," said Marls.

"So, the devil costume worked, huh?" smirked Mary.

"It did indeed," winked Marls. "Thanks for the advice Lils."

"No, problem, it took me just a few potions classes to open Sirius' mind, I used some of James' tricks and found out the big crush of Sirius Black on you," said Lily. "Though that boy needs to learn how to control himself."

"I would want that some of his traits transfer to Remus," sighed Mary sadly.

"Why?"

"He is a very shy person, not confident at all," Mary replied. "He doesn't like to display his affection at all unless we are alone, he thinks hundred times before even snogging me."

The three girls sat on a bench on the grounds, half the school was roaming around playing and talking or relaxing as they all knew soon winter will arrive.

Snape sat on the other side of the bushes alone, not wanting to engage in conversation with the other Slytherins or his girlfriend, it was then that he heard the voices of three girls nearby over the sound of others, he immediately recognized one of the voices.

"James always says that Remus needs an extra push to do anything so don't worry about that," said Lily.

"But he should have gained confidence by now, I tried to kiss him but he just brushed me off, and later when I recommended we go outside and makeout he said James has asked him to look over the party or something about James asking him to wait there," mumbled Mary.

"That's not true James was with me the whole time," informed Lily.

"I know, do you guys have any advice to tackle this situation?" asked Mary hopefully.

"I have one, and it's a good one too!" said Marls. "Make him crave for you, don't go after him or kiss him, avoid him and let him come to you."

"That actually is a good idea, use it, Mary, then Remus will come running to you and kiss you in front of the whole school," smirked Lily.

"Okay, I will try if you both are saying so," said Mary. "But isn't it harsh?"

"No, it's not," answered Marls. "Do you want him to be more open or not?"

"Of course I do," said Mary.

"Then follow the advice," said Marls.

"Idiot," laughed Lily, the other two girls turned to look at Lily who was looking at James, the four boys had picked up sticks and were sword-fighting with each other, James had spotted Lily and waved at her, Peter has used that opportunity to bring James to ground, James mimicked a dying soldier while looking at Lily and expanded a hand towards her before dropping his head. He then stood up and bowed at her before giving her a flying kiss. Lily caught it and returned one too.

"And I thought he has grown up," said Lily laughing and shaking her head as the boys began another round of the fight.

Snape didn't need to be told who she was talking about.

"Where were you both last night, you returned at three in the morning today," asked Marls.

"We were in quidditch stands," Lily told them.

"Doing what?" asked Mary giggling.

Snape was interested too, he was curious, his heartbeat has increased, and he was praying that they didn't do what he thought they might have done, each time this thought about them having has sex crossed his mind he has discarded it by thinking Lily wouldn't do that, she is not like that.

"We were talking, he was a little worried about his parents," said Lily. "So, we talked about that and then about other things."

"Don't tell you both just sat there talking, because I would have given anything to be there with Remus and eat his face off," said Mary, making the other two girls laugh.

"Really we talked mostly," replied Lily, her ears and cheeks turning red.

"Don't be shy, tell us," pressed Mary.

"Okay, okay, so we snogged then talked and talked and . . ." Lily blushed.

"And?" asked Marls grinning.

"We did it, okay? Happy? After talking we both wanted to use the opportunity to do it in that dress so we did it there, we were lucky to be on that top spot, so we had enough privacy."

"Knew it!" said Marls and Mary together.

"So, how was it?" asked Mary.

"It was like heaven but it was hot," blushed Lily.

"So, that's why you both were smiling like lunatics all day," smirked Marls.

"He was smirking like an idiot because his dream fantasy came true," sighed Lily.

"What fantasy?"

"Me, him, quidditch pitch, snogging me, shagging me. Get it?" replied Lily. "Sometimes I doubt he will try to shag quidditch."

The three of them burst out laughing. "And you know what? The idiot has named these two, I hit him hard when he uses the name though it makes me laugh," she whispered. The three girls were laughing hard now.

"Hey! Evans! What's so funny?" came the voice of James Potter.

Lily looked at him, he has stopped playing and was looking at her with a smile on his face. "YOU DORK! We are laughing at your stupid sword fight game," she shouted back.

"It was my pleasure to make you laugh," his grin widened.

Sirius hit him on the back of his head and scolded him for abandoning the game, resulting in their defeat at the hands of Remus and Peter. James shrugged and waved at her before returning back to the game. She waved back.

"OH! You two are so in love," remarked Marls, Lily just smiled as she watched the boys begin running after one another with their swords raised.

She was happy to see him happy, this is what he needs in these difficult times, he has asked her not to tell others about his parents as they all will just worry.

"Wanna pull a prank on the pranksters?" she asked the other two.

"You hexed Sirius because he pulled a prank on you past week by making your ink an invisible ink that disappears after an hour and now you are going to prank them?" asked Marls.

"I hate being pranked, but I like pranking," winked Lily.

"Oh, dear Melin, what has James done to you," snorted Mary.

"Shut up," murmured Lily. "I have been thinking about it for quite a time, I have made the plan and have the ingredient to pull it off but we have to go to the castle now before them."

"So, let's go," said Marls standing up.

Snape watched the three girls returning to the castle looking excited, he, on the other hand, was feeling like a heavy rock has fallen on him, she has slept with that Potter, she has crossed the barrier and had slept with that arrogant, how could she do that? How could she have fallen so deeply for him? How has she allowed him to take her? Snape wanted to throw up at the thought.

Lily was the most stupid girl he has known, she has willingly given in to Potter. How can she fall so low, she should belong to him and not Potter. He felt betrayed, she has betrayed him, first, she kissed him, then she started dating him, he has hoped each day that they will fall out of the relationship soon but to no avail, and now, now she has gone so far as to sleep with that git.

He stood up and saw the four Marauders sitting tiredly and laughing, he saw Potter in the middle talking to that werewolf, anger rose in him, he wanted revenge, all this has happened due to Potter, he has taken his Lily, he has spoiled his Lily, he will not leave Potter, he will make him pay for taking his Lily.

He walked back into the castle, though angry he couldn't stop imagining himself in place of Potter, he couldn't stop thinking what it would be like to make Lily laugh, to have her to himself, to touch her like Potter does, to kiss her, he wanted to be in place of Potter.

His train of thought was disrupted by the appearance of Sally in front of him.

"Where were you? I was looking around for you for about an hour," she said to him.

Snape was already riding high on hormones from the thoughts, and anger and jealousy didn't help so he acted without much thinking, he did it under the influence of the chemicals, he held Sally tightly and kissed her hard, he pushed her against the wall of the corridor, he was dominating her releasing all his anger, jealousy and hormones there, Sally groaned painfully as her head collided with the stone wall but Snape didn't care, though he was kissing Sally his mind was on a different person.

"Stop, my head hurts," Sally managed to say.

"Keep quiet," he said aggressively, he didn't want to hear her voice. Sally went silent, that was the fear of dating a death eater, but it will be beneficial for the future, she told herself, so she remained quiet.

"Whoa! Didn't knew that you had it in you Snivellous, way to go," came a voice, Snape pulled back and turned to look Sirius Black smirking at him, followed by the other three boys, they all were covered in dust, the arrogant group has played in the ground and fought for it as though it belonged to them.

"Leave it Sirius," adviced Remus.

Snape glared at them, he was looking loathingly at Potter, who was sniggering along with Peter.

James nodded at Remus."Yeah, Padfoot, we should better go or I might puck here, no offense . . . um. . ." Peter whispered in his here, "Yeah, no offense to you two just lots of grease around here."

The four boys laughed quietly.

Snape wanted to hex them all but the most he wanted was to hex Potter.

"How many points can be deducted? James? Remus?" asked Sirius.

"We are not deducting any points, Pads, if we started doing this then you would have lost half the house points of Gryffindor," laughed James along with Peter and Remus, Sirius hit his head. "Carry on Snivellous, we will leave you to your business."

"Though a piece of advice . ." Sirius began and turned to Peter, who muttered in Sirius' ear, "Sally. Beware his personality might rub off on you along with grease, and also you might turn into an unfriendly and boring person and a death eater too."

"Sirius," warned Remus and James together but too late Snape's wand was out, James immediately reached for his wand and cast a shield around the four bits but too late a spell has already hit Sirius and a bluish bruise appeared on his eyes.

"Don't attack," Remus warned James before James could hex Snape. "Sally might get hurt." James nodded and pushed back the spell with which he was going to attack him.

"5 points from Slytherin," announced James sneering at Snape. "Another spell and it will be detention."

Snape muttered to Sally who ran away, he then turned to Potter. "Afraid, are you Potter? No guts to face me? I know the real you, you haven't changed, you are just fooling her."

"Think what you want Snivellous," James replied through gritted teeth

"You are the evilest person, it was because of you that she stopped being friends with me, you manipulated her, it's all your fault," snarled Snape. "You forced me to say that word, you manipulated her to ask me to choose so that our friendship breaks and you can have her."

James walked towards Snape furiously and stopped inches away from him and spoke in a dangerous voice, "Don't you dare blame me for your filthy actions, you slimy git, it was your and only your fault that your friendship fell apart." He pointed his finger hard against Snape's chest, "It's you who has hurt her, you think you were her friend? But friends don't hurt friends, they don't call them slur names, or abuse them, that was the worst thing you could call a muggleborn. It was you Snivellous that betrayed her and hurt her. Trust me I wanted to make you pay for every time you had made her cry but she has stopped me each time. If you had valued her friendship even a little bit, you wouldn't have joined the death eaters."

Snape was frozen on the spot, this was not what he has expected, he wanted to fight Potter and let out all his anger on him, he wanted to hurt him badly and still does but has frozen at Potter's threatening words.

"You know what Snivelous? You think I manipulated her to stop being friends with you, so here, I will give you a piece of advice, leave behind the death eaters then there might be a chance that she will forgive you." James sneered at Snape, "Don't blame others for your filthy actions, you think you had a shitty childhood? Hello! Welcome to the real world, here many have just as shitty childhood as yours and if not then even worse, many had lost their parents at a young age, and many grew up in a muggle world and were treated badly still they knew what was right and what's wrong, many had at the hands of your master but they didn't turn into a death eater, so stop using your father as an excuse to hate muggles."

James turned on his heels and started walking off, with instincts Snape threw a hex at him but he didn't know that James was ready for it, the shield around him deflected the hex, James turned around and hit Snape with a stinging jinx. "I was expecting it, that's why you should never turn your back on an enemy."

The four boys left after throwing Snape a dirty and triumphant looks.

Snape just stood there, messaging his shoulder where the spell has hit him as he made sense out of Potter's words, 'Lily has cried for me', she has cried for Snape, and she has stopped Potter and took Snape's side. Maybe there's still a chance left, Snape thought of the stupid Potter's advice, 'leave behind the death eaters, there will be a chance she will forgive me.'

He has now hope, she will forgive him and take him back into her life and leave behind the stupid Potter. Though Snape has a big decision ahead, but it was worth a shot, and then once he will have Lily he will make her understand that the other side has a better chance and that she will be safer there with him.

"We are not talking about this in front of them," James told the others before entering the common room, they all nodded.

James found Lily sitting on an armchair, she was helping some fifth years with potions, a bored look on her face, but nevertheless, she was helping the students. James knew that Lily would rather brew a potion than teach the theory but she has always been patient and helpful to others which included her teaching him in the fifth year. At that time James didn't know but over time he has learned that Lily Evans liked practicals more than theory. She looked up and caught his eyes, a smile appeared on both of their faces, James sat with the others as he too began working on his essay with others.

The next weekend was the first Hogsmeade visit, Aurors were stationed all over the village with the rumor that Dumbledore himself will be present there.

The seven friends had decided to go together and stay together just in case.

They all decided to go in Honeyduked first, James was hesitant a bit to go but followed them in, all of them brought there favorite sweets, except for James who bit his lips and stayed away from the counter pretending to be interested in the new sweets, and only came out when all of them has purchased the sweets.

"Where are your sweets?" asked Peter.

"I have used an undetectable extension charm, I will eat my sweets later," he answered winking at them.

Sirius forced them all to go into Zonko's, here to everyone's shock James refused to buy anything.

"I am a Head Boy, I have to put forward a good example," he said to the others and received a kiss from Lily.

The group made their way to Three Broomsticks, James and Lily in lead, walking hand-in-hand.

"James your robes are short," pointed out Marlene, who was walking behind them.

James looked at his robes and pants, they indeed were short.

"And now that I notice it looks old too," said Sirius.

James shrugged as they entered the Three Broomsticks.

"The extension magic must have wore off," he muttered.

"Didn't you buy robes before the start of term?" asked Remus.

"I forgot to buy them," answered James but biting his lips.

"No, you didn't, when I was in Madam Malkin's shop buying my robes you said you have already gotten yours," said Lily looking at him.

"Really James, Euphemia would have scolded you badly if she knew that you weren't dressed properly," said Marls shaking her head.

"Anyway, you can get one here in Hogsmeade, they are not as good as Malkin's but you can wear them," said Mary.

"We can go to the shop after having butterbeer," said Lily.

"No, I don't need robes, these are good, I can still wear them," protested James.

Before anyone could say anything, Madam Rosemarta appeared at their table. "Seven butterbeer?"

"Six, I will not take," said James turning red at ears.

"Started liking Hogs Head drinks, Have you?" asked Rosemarta.

"No, just not in the mood today," James defended.

"Seven butterbeer Rosemarta, he will drink," said Sirius examining James. Rosemarta looked between the boys, then nodded and left to get them drinks.

"Now, what's going on? You never say no to Butterbeer," asked Sirius.

James shifted uncomfortably in his seat and rubbed the back of his neck, he was looking embarrassed.

"Answer James," ordered Marls.

"Well. . . my. . . I have no pocket money left," James confessed looking down.

"Bloody Hell mate! It's only our first trip in here and it has been barely two and half months here and your pocket money is over? What did you do with all that money?" asked Sirius looking amused just like the others.

"I . . . I left . . . I forgot it at home when I visited there," James replied and Lily could easily tell that he was lying, just a few days ago she has seen him making a receipt where all the money balance was written, she remembered one regarding him spending 750 galleons when she has asked about it, he has said that it was nothing important.

"That's it? Don't worry mate, it's bloody time that we all pay back your debt, though don't hope to get all back," laughed Sirius, James grinned at him.

"We will get you the robe, don't worry," said Mary smiling at him.

"No, you don't need to, I will get one during Christmas," James tried to protest but the six of them shook their heads, they all put in money together and got him the robe.

While returning to the castle they were all thankful that nothing bad happened.

"You all are coming to the training match tomorrow, then?" asked James.

"Tight schedule but I wouldn't miss it," Lily replied.

"Neither would I," Sirius winked at Marls who rolled her eyes, though Lily could see the smile forming on her face.

The next week was the first match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, James and Marlene were practicing hard this week, and James has booked the pitch each day in the morning as the other teams has practices in the evening.

The entire next week James and Marlene along with other team members would go to the quidditch pitch for two hours of practice, the early birds of Gryffindor's house would go and visit the pitch to boost the morale of their team and watch them practice.

Lily was a sleepyhead but would go to the pitch to cheer James a few days although he has asked not to but she did because she knew he liked it, Sirius would accompany her there, and would take lessons from her on how to treat and respect girls and win back Marlene.

However annoying Sirius was, he was a good person with a good heart, Lily noticed though he would joke around about other girls he really liked Marlene. She along with James has studied Sirius' expression and attitude towards Marls. Marlene knew she was winning in improving Sirius by ignoring him, so she continued her act.

"I want him to come to me, and stop fooling around with others," Marlene has told Lily. "I know he has worked on it, but I want to push it a little. Don't worry he will come around."

"I don't know why we fell for these two," shivered Lily to Sirius, hugging herself tightly as James and Marlene approached them all sweaty.

James wrapped his arms around her, "I told you to stay in the castle, you will catch cold."

"You are all sweaty Potter, stay away," she said though made no attempt to leave his warmth.

"Can I get a hug too? It's so cold here," asked Sirius shaking violently to show how cold it was, to Marls, who rolled her eyes but hugged him.

"Drama queen," snorted James receiving a glare from Sirius.

"We should go on a double date," suggested Sirius, and received a hit from Marls.

"I am not dating you," she said. "I hugged you just because it's cold."

The match was neck to neck but Ravenclaw won it at last by 430-410, as Ravenclaw's seeker caught the snitch, at last, to finish the match and ensure her team's victory.

The next day the girls sat in the Great Hall with smug looks on their faces and were looking at the entrance with great expectations.

Then they heard it the four boys arrived, shouting at each other, everyone turned to look at them and laughed, the four boys' hair had turned to white blonde.

The four of them blame each other for the change in their hair color.

"It's Sirius' mistake, he has always been so obsessed with his hair, surely he might have done something," said Remus, the other two boys nodded in agreement.

"Trust me I didn't do anything," Sirius protested.

James took his seat opposite to Lily, picked up a plate to see his reflection, and then pointed his wand at his hair and muttered a spell, his hair turned black, and he looked triumphant but the black color disappear again and his hair turned blonde.

"Bloody hell! the transfiguration isn't working," he exasperated. "What have you done Pads?"

"I have no idea, and for your information, I hate this hair as much as you, blonde doesn't suit me," said Sirius.

The three girls exchanged knowing looks and smirked, looking proud of their work.

That day the four Marauders walked around the castle, looking odd and funny, Peter commented that blonde suits Sirius and received a hit from the said boy. Even Minny's transfiguration spell failed to restore the boys' hair.

"It seems it is done by potions and then a strong charm is used to prevent it from transfiguring," she told the boys. "Don't worry though, I talked to Slughorn, the potion will wear off eventually."

Realization dawned on the four boys and they all exchanged knowing looks.

"Do you have any idea who did it?" asked Minnie, the boys shook their heads.

"It was you, wasn't it?" asked James trying to bite back his smile.

Lily smirked at him, "Blonde doesn't suit you."

"You used a strong charm, even Flitwick was impressed," he informed her.

"Did you tell them it was me?" Lily asked panicking.

"No, I don't want you to get detention just for ten points," he told her.

"Thanks," she smiled. "It was a hard and tricky charm but not one that Lily Evans couldn't master."

"Arrogant," James snorted and Lily hit him on his hand.

"Not arrogance Potter, it's called confidence," she winked at him.