Her bushy red hair was splayed awkwardly on the grass, matted with clumps of her blood leaking from her injured scalp. A large purple bruise covered the whole of her right cheek; her lips were swollen and bleeding. The girl's clothes were tattered and torn and greatly discoloured from the amount of blood dripping from her sides. James' face paled instantly as he approached her decaying body. Her empty green eyes stared up at him, showing no life. None of the usual emotion they usually displayed.

"Lily…" He whispered hoarsely.

He wanted to rush forward and cradle her body gently in his arms, but he knew it was not the correct thing to do. His heart was pounding loudly in his chest, his blood hissed violently through his ears. The dark-haired boy was certain everyone else could hear this. Instead of reacting, James stared, his face pale with fear at the sight that lay before him.

"Prongs!" A familiar voice called out, snapping James back into attention.

'I have to make this funny somehow!' He thought to himself, but could think of nothing. 'What did Sirius say before?' James began to panic; He did not want to fail because he couldn't think of anything that could lighten the situation. 'Oh yeah...' The boy remembered suddenly.

Not wanting to lose his opportunity, he shouted clearly as he could manage at the moment, "Riddikulus!"

The redheaded girl instantly transformed into a clown costume, though she still lay on the ground, mortally injured. Blood seeped through the bright polka-dotted yellow costume she now wore. Arms limply clutching a handful of juggling balls. 'Damn!' James thought to himself as he shouted the incantation once more. This time however, the girl had rose and started juggling with the life returned to her corpse. With another shout of "Riddikulus" the strange girl had snapped and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

James dashed to the finish line, where his best friend, Sirius Black was loudly cheering him on. Peter Pettigrew stood by his side, staring in awe at what he had just accomplished.

"Thank-you, Mr. Potter. Full marks, although, I thought I had lost you on the boggart for a moment there." The extremely fragile looking witch nodded towards James with an over-exaggerated smile.

"No sweat!" James winked at his teacher and flashed his toothy smile, "Just keeping you on edge, Professor."

In reality, James had panicked. It was not what he had been expecting to see at all, and it surprised him. He had almost thought it was the real Lily lying dead on the grass. He had been preparing himself, thinking of what he was afraid of and how to change it, knowing he would come to face a boggart in this exam. Before it had started, Sirius had told him to pretend whatever it was that he saw, was naked. His more logical friend, Remus Lupin, had pointed out that it would be more frightening to see a naked thing and might disturb the watching crowd. Thus, Sirius had then suggested imagining his fear wearing a clown suit, if nothing else.

The witch smiled at her student before returning to her list to call the next student to the exam. It was a Defense Against the Dark Arts final exam for the sixth years. Each student had to travel through an obstacle course filled with various spells and creatures to move past in order to succeed. Once a student had finished the exam, they were permitted to watch the others, so long as they did not help or hinder their peers. The Marauders, of course, did not always listen to the rules.

"Thanks for saving me there, Padfoot." James smiled.

Sirius shrugged at his friend with a cocky grin, "No worries, Prongsie old chap, merely my duty as a fellow Marauder. Look," Sirius pointed towards a white-faced boy with long dark hair who was currently running towards a large pond with a Grindylow within its depths. "Snivellus is up, let's mess with him."

Although still shook up by the boggart he had encountered earlier, James nodded excitedly at this. Snivellus baiting always made one feel better. Severus had now made it past the grindylow and was advancing towards some enchanted plants.

"Peter you know the drill." Sirius whispered in the chubby boy's ear while pointing towards the teacher. "Go distract her, while me and Prongs do some damage."

The boy called Peter stared nervously at the professor and whined to his friends. "Why am I always the distraction?"

"Cause you're the best at it." James responded quickly and rolled his eyes when his friend wasn't looking. "Now go!"

The two boys watched gleefully as Peter successfully distracted the witch by asking what had gone wrong with his exam. Being a rather weak student, the Professor broke out into a long speech with specific details of where Peter had done poorly. James and Sirius rushed forward, wands out.

"Stop right there!" A shrieking female voice called out. "Petrificus Totalus!"

Both Sirius's and James's legs snapped together when the full-body binding spell hit them, but with the momentum of their running they tumbled face first into the ground. Sirius rolled onto his back spouting several crude words at his attacker. The red-headed female simply looked down at them with disgust.

"Ten points from Gryffindor, each!" She snapped.

"Are you insane girl?" Sirius groaned. "We can't afford to lose any points. There's no school left!"

James rolled over onto his back and glared. "That was uncalled for Evans! We weren't doing anything wrong!"

She rolled her eyes. "You were about to attack Severus! I saw you! Being a prefect, I could not allow that to happen."

"Prefect shmeefect!" Sirius hollered. "Besides we were just going to have a heart-to-heart, man-to-man, friend-to-friend, little chat with Snivelly. Honest!" He spoke in what he thought to be his most innocent sounding voice before flashing Lily with his swoon-worthy smile.

"I'm sure, Black." She rolled her eyes and watched Snape cross the finish line. With a flicker of her wand she removed the spell from each of them, and briskly turned back to her friends. Lily had two best friends, Kat Thompson and Melody Abbott. Kat was a very outspoken girl with blonde curls that just barely touched her narrow shoulders. Her eyes were deep brown that seemed to flash dangerously when angry. Though a petite girl, she was known for being outspoken and tough to most people, especially to the Marauders. Lily's other best friend, who was often called Melly, had black hair cut into a short pixie cut. Her eyes, however, were bright blue and were always full of joy. She was a bit on the larger side, but it did not stop her from finging the best of people, and often encouraging Lily and Kat to be nicer towards the Marauders.

Jame's watched Lily walk away before turning to Sirius and asking apprehensively, "Do you think she saw my boggart?"

"Nah, she probably had her nose jammed up in some book. And besides, if she did see, she would have been flattered in some morbid way. Girls are weird like that."

James nodded and watched as another classmate finished the obstacle course. The Professor was still having a long chat with Peter and his many mistakes, but had started actually watching at the same time. Remus Lupin had just begun the course now and both James and Sirius cheered loudly.

"Go Moony!" They chanted together as loud as they could holler.

"Hey, Padfoot!" James said suddenly with a mischievous grin.

"Prongs, we're cheering for Moony right now. Not me. Not that I mind of course. I mean, there are so many things to cheer about… My good looks, my beautiful face, my smarts, my hair, my ability to get girls…"

"Sirius!" James interrupted, "Did you see what Lily was afraid of? When she saw the boggart?"

Sirius pondered for a moment. "Nope, I got distracted."

"By what!"

"Miranda Goshawk, the seventh year Ravenclaw girl. Shame she won't be 'round next term" Sirius grinned while pulling down his collar to present a newly formed hickey. James rolled his eyes. 'Figures.'

Remus crossed the finish line with a smile on his face, knowing he had done everything just right. Sirius whooped loudly and tackled Lupin when he approached.

"Padfoot, geroff!" He laughed, while pushing Sirius off of him.

"Let's go celebrate! End of the year drinks in Hogsmeade!" Sirius shouted.

"We still have History of Magic exam." Remus pointed out. "The year's not quite over yet."

"Bleh! Who cares about History of Magic? It should be forgotten! Just like I'm going to forget to go to the exam tomorrow!" Sirius bounded to his feet and grabbed his friend's arms and began dragging them in the direction of the old witch statue.

"Wait!" James paused. "Let's invite others."

"By other's, you must mean a certain angry, red-headed female." Sirius grinned.

Before anyone could react, over-energetic Sirius leaped over towards Lily and her friends. He wrapped his arms around Lily and Kat, pulling them into his chest.

"Dahling's!" Sirius shrieked in a horrible fake accent. "Mah, dears. You look so wondaful today, I was a hoping, that you would accompahnay my dear pahls and I to Hogsmeade."

"No!" Kat and Lily said in a calm but harsh tone, while pushing off his body and pulling his arms off them.

"We have no interest going, especially when we aren't allowed." Lily growled.

"Besides," Kat joined in, "We don't enjoy your company. Now go back to your own little world, Sirius."

"But, dahlings!" Sirius bellowed, "We are allowed. If you know the right way to get there! No one would even notice we were missing. Besides, Jamesies is loaded. He'll buy all your hearts desires."

"C'mon guys. It can't be all that bad." Melly piped in. "We're just going for drinks, right? I bet it would be fun." She stared at her friends with her large puppy-dog blue eyes.

"Mel, you can't be serious." Lily groaned.

"She can't be serious, because I'm Sirius!" He laughed loudly at his own joke, unaware that no one else joined in.

James, Remus and Peter wandered over watching the scene unfold. The two shy boys just stared and did not participate. James, however, jumped right into their conversation.

"Come on, Evans. End of the year celebration is fun for everyone. Even a know-it-all prefect like you might have a bit of fun."

Remus scowled at James. "What's so bad about being a prefect?"

"I have nothing against them." James said quickly. He grinned at Lily. "What do you say? Not scared are you?"

"Potter, I am not afraid to go with you guys. I just don't want to go." Lily snapped, very annoyed.

"C'mon Lils," Melody pleaded, "Just this once won't be so bad will it?"

Kat stared at her Melody with a knowing look. 'There is no way Lily would agree to that. She despises Potter.'

"Fine." Lily grumbled.

'What!' Kat's jaw dropped in shock. "Now wait just a minute…"

"To bad, my little Kitty-Kat." Sirius smirked, "Six against one, you are coming with us." He grabbed her arm and started pulling gently, leading her away.

Soon the four Marauders and the three girls had found themselves in front of the humped witch statue. The girls stared at it as though, it was nothing more than a marble figure.

"Shall you do the honours, Prongs?" Sirius said while presenting the statue with his muscular arms in a very show-girly kind of way.

"Most certaintly, kind friend… Dissendium!" James responded while tapping the statue on the head with his wand.

The statue jumped to life and the girls stood back in surprise. The boys crawled through the passage and started leading the way. The girls soon followed, despite Lily's protests that they shouldn't go further.

"How did you figure this out? I mean there must be a hundred statues in this school. Do you go around tapping your wands and saying random words on each one? And how do you remember where is what?" Melly inquired with honest curiosity as she wandered down the dark passageway.

"Now, Melly-Belly," Everyone except Melody and Sirius cringed at the nickname he had given, "We can't go around giving away all our Marauding secrets now can we?"

"We won't forget!" Peter piped in answering Melody's last question, "We made a map and recorded every secret passage way that we've found!"

"Wormtail!" The three Marauders screeched.

"Why did you tell that?" Sirius demanded.

"I-I dunno. It just kinda slipped out." Peter mumbled quietly.

"And what if something else were to slip out, Peter?" Remus whispered harshly.

Peter hung his head in shame, but Kat stood to his defense.

"So he told us you made a map. Big deal! We won't tell anyone if that's what's bothering you guys." She snapped.

"It's not about the map." James said. "We're just worried that…" His sentence trailed off as he glanced at his friends. 'We can't have them knowing any other information. Like Remus being a werewolf, or us being animagus.'

They reach the end of the tunnel and James put a finger to his mouth, indicating they needed to be quiet. Sirius was busy staring at the roof, searching for the hidden trap door. He grabbed the handle once he spotted it and opened it a crack. Light filtered through, and several voices could be heard.

"We need more of those acid pops. The bin is almost empty."

"Coming!" A different voice responded as they headed up the cellar steps carrying a large cardboard box.

"We're under Honeydukes?" Lily whispered in a frightened tone. "We could get in trouble!"

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Prongs, give the scared ones the cloak."

James nodded and pulled something shiny out from the inside of his robes. He motioned for the girls to get close together and then covered them with his invisibility cloak. Melody's size didn't allow for much room between the girls without their feet showing at the bottom. They had to shuffle in an awkward way to not be seen.

"This is so cool, but it's not going to work." Melody grumbled.

"I'll get out. I'm not afraid of getting in trouble." Kat hesitated before slipping out from under the cloak.

The four boys were already in the cellar room waiting for the girls to come up. Sirius bent down to the trap door and offered his hand to Kat.

"Come on Kitty, I'll help you up." He said with a sly grin.

Kat ignored his offer and his words and pulled herself up through the door. Lily and Melody went through separately and then re-covered themselves with the cloak once in the cellar.

"It will be less suspicious if we go one at a time. They probably won't notice us if it's crowed." Remus pointed out. "And from the sounds of it, we'll be fine."

Sirius went first, followed by James, the two cloaked girls, Peter, and finally Remus. Soon they were all comfortably seated in a Three Broomsticks booth. The girls all relaxed immeadiately.

"Wow you girls sure aren't very adventurous if that was frightening." Sirius laughed.

"Hey!" Kat grumbled. "We weren't frightened. We didn't even ask once where the path lead. Nor, did we turn back."

"Wormtail, go get some drinks for us." Sirius commanded his friend.

"I got them last time, Padfoot. Maybe you should for once…"

James shrugged, "I'll get them."

"Alright Prongs! Paying for them too, I hope."

James scowled at his free-loading friends, but nodded anyways. "Seven butterbeers? I might have to make more than one trip."

"To the bank or to the counter?" Sirius replied happily, knowing he wouldn't have to shell out any of his saving money.

James rolled his eyes and walked to the front of the bar. Lily stared at the Marauders with disbelief. 'How did I end up here, of all places? Sure, I had prefect duty with Remus, but I know nothing about these guys except for the fact that I don't like them. Well, I don't really know about Peter, and Remus is nice. But Potter and Sirius? Ugh.'

"Admiring my good looks, Evans?" Sirius batted his eyelashes. "It's not polite to stare. Although in my case, I can understand why."

Lily blushed and looked down at the table. Everyone had turned to stare at her.

"Actually," She responded looking back up, "I was just wondering…What's with the weird nicknames? I mean, Prongs, Padfoot, Worrmtail, Moony? What do they all mean?"

Remus's face paled slightly and he glanced at Peter, who was covering his mouth with both hands as a precaution. Sirius just grinned in a mischevious manner.

"Well!" Sirius began, "They each have to do with a part of our childhood. See Remus over here, or rather, Moony, had a bad habit, as a child of course, of bearing his wee little bottom to strangers, giving them the affect of a full moon. Although, he doesn't do it as often anymore, if you ask nicely, I'm sure he will kindly bear his behind."

Remus looked shocked and slightly appalled at his friend. The girls stared at him unblinking and he felt a blush rise to his cheeks. 'I'm going to kill Sirius later. But I can't deny it, because I can't think of any reason why they should call me Moony other than…'

"Er… James is back with the drinks." Remus changed the subject and started staring out the window.

James set down four of the drinks. One which Sirius immediately grabbed, and the other three went to Melody, Kat and Remus who used it as a way to avoid talking.

"I'll be right back with the others!"

James returned as quickly as he stated with the three remaining drinks. He approached the booth with a smile on his face. He was actually sharing an afternoon with the Lily Evans. He had been dying for an opportunity like this for ages. Even though both of their friends were there, James felt a desire to impress. 'Must not screw up…Must not screw up.' He repeated in his mind. Concentrating on not messing up, James did not notice an old girlfriend approaching fast. Just as James was about to hand Lily her drink, the girl bumped into him, hoping to attract his attention. Butterbeer shot forward, slipping through James's hand. The first mug splashed Lily in her face, while the remaining contents of the other drinks poured onto her lap.

"Oh, bloody hell." Sirius whispered.

Lily remained calm. At least she did until it registered in her mind what had just occurred. She had not seen the girl, and so saw no reason for the butterbeer to be dumped all over her. She clenched her teeth trying to refrain from screaming at him inside the pub. Instead, she rose from the table with yellowish liquid dripping from her clothes, and walked past the white-faced James, gave him a menacing glare, and went out the door. James exhaled loudly and dashed off after the red-headed girl.

"Wow…" Kat murmured, breaking the silence of the table. "I thought she would have exploded."

"She probably will…Look." Remus pointed out the window. James had caught up to the angry Lily and was confronting her.

-------------

"Lily, Wait!" James pleaded latching onto her tense arm. "It was an accident."

"I'm sure it was!" She snapped. "Just like when you accidentally dropped dungbombs in my book bag, or when you accidentally tortured other students. Or accidentally played with all those girls emotions and then accidentally dumped them. Or all the other times you said something was an accident."

"It really was, though. See there was…" James began, but Lily interrupted.

"I don't care, Potter! You tricked me. You humiliated me in front of my friends. I thought we were actually there to have a good time. What a fool I was!"

"But…"

"Who do you think you are? All these times you were asking me out, Mel thought you were sincere, but I knew better! You're nothing but a big-headed, arrogant jerk with ugly hair!"

"If you would just listen for thirty seconds..." James exasperated.

"No! I'm tired of your lame excuses Potter. You are a poor excuse for a human being! Why do think you are so above others that you can hurt them? You are worse than those Slytherins who care about blood-types. At least they know they treat others badly." Lily's eyes were tearing up, but she would not allow herself to cry in front of him.

"Shut-up for a minute Evans! Someone bumped into me and I spilled the drinks!"

"So what! You are a chaser and you manage to hold on to the quaffle despite being knocked around by other players. Why is this any different? Oh, yeah. Because you are a self-centered asshole, who can't even take responsibility for his own actions!"

James fumed with clenched teeth, "That's because…"

"Just shut-up! I hate you!" Lily screamed. "I hate you!"

"Evans! You are a fucking bitch!" James blurted.

Lily looked as though James had slapped her across the face. No one had ever called her something like that before. She narrowed her emerald eyes into a menacing glare. Her face was bright red with rage.

"Go to hell!" She spat at him before turning around and stalking away.

James threw his hands to his head in frustration and left a few moments later.

-------------

"Oh, Prongs …" Sirius mumbled shaking his head.

All the others at the table were staring at him.

"What happened?" Kat inquired.

"Well, using my immaculate lip reading skills, I've determined that…" Sirius closed his eyes for dramatic effect. "James called Lily an effin' bit and then she left."

"A bit?" Mel asked slightly confused.

"Oh Melly, think about it." Kat snapped. "Come on, we're leaving…we have to go talk to her." She added, glancing apologetically at the three boys."

Melody nodded. "Erm…see you around." She said before joining Kat outside.

"Since, James is gone, who is gonna pay?" Peter asked suddenly.

Remus shook his head and looked down at his second hand robes. "None of this was my idea. Besides, I can't waste money like that."

"I'm saving to buy a place of my own, so I can leave that hell-hole once and for all." Sirius added gloomily.

Peter glanced down into his money-bag. "Fine…" 'Shouldn't have brought it up'. He thought sadly as he shelled out his remaining galleons. The remaining Marauder's rose to leave.

"So much for celebrating." Sirius grumbled.