There is a saying in the wizarding world, "Never mess with a goblin". Around Hogwarts, there is also a saying, "Never mess with a Marauder… the others will find out". Everybody in Hogwarts knows of the Marauders. Everyone knows that they are fun loving pranksters, and while they can be assholes, they are also pretty nice too. But all of that changes when you mess with one of them. You think you'll be fine, there's only one of them. But sooner or later everyone learns that word will get around. The rest of the Marauders will find out, and when they do. Run.

"Remus, no!" Lily shouted.

But it was too late. Remus's fist connected with the boy's face and he crumpled to the ground.

"Say that again Jackson and you'll meet the same end, my fist in your face." Remus said, his voice deceptively calm. But everyone could see the anger that was threatening to bubble over. Students all over the class looked at Remus with a mixture of curiosity and fear. Never had they ever seen their perfectly calm and polite classmate lose it like that.

James, Sirius, and Peter on the other hand, were laughing their asses off. They knew Remus could handle what he started. They had no idea what the boy had actually said, otherwise they wouldn't have been laughing.

McGonagall had left the room for a moment at the request of Professor Sprout for a private word. In the meantime, Lily and the Ravenclaw boy, Daniel Jackson, had been arguing about transfiguration techniques. When Lily had torn apart each of his arguments with her logic the boy had resorted to the last thing he could think of. Insults.

Hissing, 'What would you know about magic, Mudblood?' was never going to fly. Remus had jumped up before he had known it, his fist slamming into the kids face with ease. He didn't feel a thing.

"Detention, Mr. Lupin." McGonagall said now, appearing in the doorway.

"Of course, Professor." Remus said, his voice perfectly polite as he sat back down next to Lily.

"To the infirmary, Mr. Jackson. Madam Pomphrey will have you fixed up easily." McGonagall said as she walked past the boy bleeding on the ground with barely a glance his way.

The boy muttered something darkly as he walked out of the classroom. Remus was nearly on his feet again, only Lily's gentle touch stopped him from following the idiot and really showing him how angry Remus was.

And honestly, the guy was lucky. He was lucky he had been sitting near Remus and Lily and nowhere near the rest of the Marauders. Because if he had… It would have been a massacre. Between all the charms, transfiguration, and prank spells the other three Marauders knew, there would have been very little Madam Pomphrey could have done for Daniel Jackson.

"Remus, you didn't have to…" Lily started in a low whisper.

"Of course I did." Remus said, sitting there calmly, like he hadn't just punched some kid in the face. Like there was no other reaction to someone calling Lily a Mudblood.

Because there wasn't.

…..

Sirius Black stepped out into the hallway after having a private word with Professor Gellar after class. Sirius couldn't actually believe what had happened. Instead of accusation of him pulling pranks (that he probably did do), the Professor had instead congratulated Sirius. He had been the only one to get the advanced shield charm that they had been trying to work right. Sirius felt positively giddy. He had finally done something on his own accord. Sirius knew he was smart, but applying himself in certain areas of school just didn't always seem worth it. But defense against the dark arts was different. Sirius worked so hard, studying ahead and even getting extra books from the library. He wanted to do good. He wanted to prove that he could defend against the dark arts, not do them like his family wanted.

And all his hard work had paid off. Professor Gellar had commended him on his improvement in class and on his homework. No wonder Remus was such a swot, Sirius thought, if it felt that good just to accomplish something in class.

"Well looky what we got here." Two boys rounded the corner and faced Sirius.

"It's Black, looking like he's king of the world just because Professor Gellar gave him a gold star." One of them said mockingly. Sirius didn't even know who they were, just two Hufflepuff guys. They looked somewhat familiar but he didn't know their names.

"Funny, isn't? I've been working for two months on that shield and nothing. Black gets it like it's a first year charm. How do you think that happened?" The taller one said.

"Hmmm. Takes one to know one I guess. The Black's are known for the dark arts, and he's probably been learning since he was a baby. If you know the dark arts and how they work, you must know how to defend them." The blonde said.

"I've met his mother unfortunately. Piece of work she is." The tall one replied.

"Evil." The blonde one hissed.

"They're all evil. Always have been, always will be."

Sirius said nothing. His hands shook but he kept them in his pockets. There was nothing he could do. There was no denying his family was evil. And if he did what he actually wanted to do, he would just prove them right. But if he said nothing, well, they still got what they wanted. They got to say anything they wanted to him. It was lose-lose for Sirius. So he stood there and he took it, desperately trying not to think of his parents. Think about everything they had ever said or done to him. He never wanted to think of them again. But it didn't work like that.

As Sirius's hands shook and his mind raced of every nasty word his mother had ever called to him, his saving grace had arrived. An angel with flaming red hair and claws.

"How dare you?" She hissed, her hair whipping behind her as she stormed towards the two boys. Both were very tall, at least a foot taller than Lily Evans, but that hardly mattered. What mattered was that these boys now had an incandescently angry Lily Evans at their throats.

"How dare you talk to him that way? What has he ever done to you?" She screeched as she backed them into a corner.

"Everyone knows…"

"Knows what?" Lily hissed. "That you two are bastards. Yes, everyone knows. But this is low. Sirius has never hurt a single person. Everyone knows he hates his family and yet you throw them in his face?"

Both boys had wide eyes as they watched actual flames roll down Lily's hair. Sirius, especially, had wide eyes. He had seen Lily angry (that was for damn sure) but he had never seen her so angry that her hair actually started on fire.

"You have no idea what Sirius puts up with. You have no idea just how much compassion and kindness this boy has. So both of you go take the sticks out of your ass or go take your shitty attitude out on someone else, because if I ever hear you talk bad about him again, you'll want to sleep with one eye open."

And with wandless, wordless magic a flock of birds appeared and dive bombed the two boys until they ran away.

"Lily…" Sirius said, his hand on her shoulder.

"And they call themselves Hufflepuffs." Lily scoffed, her chest heaving with deep breathes.

Sirius tentatively patted out the few small flames that were rolling through Lily's hair. And even though his hands still shook and his mother still flashed around in his head, he felt a hundred feet tall.

"You've got to do the hair catching on fire thing next time James pisses you off. I'd love to see the look on his face as you literally start on fire!"

Lily smiled. And Sirius grinned as they walked to lunch together, leaving behind a slight trail of smoke.