As we're walking out towards the lake something catches my eye. It's a ginger Gryffindor girl shouting and her black-haired friend. I can't help my intrigue and knowing that we're out of their sight I want to find out what's being said; what's gotten Snape on Lily's bad side?

"Guys." I hiss stopping them all, "Look over there." I say pointing to the pair.

They seem to immediately know what I'm doing and we move to go behind the wall behind them. We move there quickly and without them realising and crouch down to listen in.

"They deserved it." Snape spits venomously. The pronoun game…. seriously. Doesn't he realise he's got six curious students trying to figure out what they're talking about. Honestly!

"So what if they did! It was harmless fun. You didn't have to take it into your own hands just because you hate James!" Lily screeches.

We look at one another "I think she's talking about us" Sirius mimes. I roll my eyes… yeah. I couldn't work that out for myself, thanks. Useless brother.

Snape is still stuttering excuses but Lily is obviously really angry. "They would've gotten found out without you going to Dumbledore and as you're one of the only people to know about it you'll be the one they blame." He makes some half-hearted comment that we're all halfwits making me narrow my eyes but Lily pretends not to have heard him, "So, now you're in the firing line." She says, clearly worried for her friend – I don't know why though. We wouldn't hurt him too much.

"You can say that again." Sirius says standing up and glaring at Snape. Reluctantly and annoyed that he revealed us the rest of us follow his lead and come face to face with the seething ginger.

"You were spying on us." She spits glaring daggers.

"I wouldn't call it spying," James says casually, "More like picking up information."

"Behind a wall?" Lily asks, her eyes as slits, "When that was a private conversation?"

"Well yes." James says in feigned confusion, "How else would we get the information you don't want us to have."

I mentally put my head in my hands at this weird half flirting half idiocy half excuses. I can just feel Snapes hurricane of anger ripple towards me as Lily mutters, "That's what spying is."

James continues with his strange conversation, "Like how this little slimeball just got us two weeks of detention." I hold back my urge to mention that the 'little slimeball' would have no idea that this was our doing had he been able to keep his head down and his big mouth shut.

"What did you call me?" Snape hisses, clearly annoyed that we weren't getting expelled.

"I don't know – Snivellus – "Sirius spits back, "What did he call you?" The pair then high-five at their newfound nickname for their enemy.

Snape's rage was coming off of him like tsunamis and he was just shaking with his face bright red. I could've almost felt sorry for him if his anger wasn't trained at me. Almost. "How dare you." He says taking his wand out, "How. Dare. You."

In instinctive reaction the five of us and Lily all take out our own wands, Peter is a little slower. Even Lily and Ash who were not brought up in the Wizarding World have already become so adapted that their wand has become their first line of attack and defence. Lily, being the calm and sensible one here shouts to her friend, "What are you doing? You're outnumbered. Don't try to do anything stupid."

But the Slytherin is too engrossed with his rage to listen to her and he waves his wand "Petrificus Totalus" he says sending the spell flying towards James. I guess we're doing this then.

The boy has enough sense to dive out of the jet's way before standing back up. I think now was the best time so I jump over the wall, with my friends following me. If we're going to duel, we might as well do it somewhere where we have enough space to at least move. However, this quick break on our end allows the Slytherin another shot and he once more sends the body-binding curse our way. It isn't difficult for me to doge as I sidestep the blast. However, Peter, who was behind me, wasn't so lucky and the spell hit him in the chest sending him sprawling onto the ground.

I don't check on him, though. No matter how much I want to ensure that he's okay. That'll always give your enemy the advantage and, to be quite honest, I wasn't all too bothered on Snape getting the best of me – could there be anything more humiliating than that slimeball feeling pleased with himself about beating me. Heck no!

The five remaining of us face Snape and Lily. The redhead is still trying to get her friend to cool off and stop but it's not going very well. Especially as James and Sirius' mocking comments are doing the antithesis of calming Snape down.

"Come on! At least try to aim." Sirius laughs, before sending the same curse back at the Slytherin, "You could've hit someone that actually knew some spells."

Snape isn't stupid and he moves from the crossfire with ease. But when more than one person sends a spell it's hard to move out of the way and our five, simultaneous shouts of "Expelliarmus" indicate that he's not going to avoid this one. To be quite honest, I don't think that this was the best idea and I let out a shocked gasp as four of the spells hit him – not only sending the sailing wand out of his hand but also knocking him back across the field and I can't help but flinch as he smacks against the floor.

Lily is immediately running over to her friend and I can't help but follow her, overwhelming guilt washing over me. As I approach the unconscious boy, I slow down and move slowly towards the fretting Lily. As soon as she hears me her head snaps up to look at me and I suddenly see the anger explode out of her as she stands up and stares at me and my friends, who are stood behind me – still rooted to the floor in sock.

"How dare you!" She yells, "You could've killed him. Were you not thinking? I swear to god you all are the evillest people I have ever met. He might've tried to attack you but that doesn't mean that you can try to kill him." She screeches, sounding like mother.

"Lily…" James begins, seemingly unfrozen by the scathing words of his crush.

"No, Potter, I don't want to hear your stupid excuse." She snaps, losing all attention of the other four (still standing) of us, "You're a foul monster. Just because he's different to you. Just because of some childish dislike doesn't allow your big head the right to attack Severus." And suddenly she's on her feet moving towards James, "You're a pathetic excuse for a human being and I don't know why you keep looking at me like I want to go anywhere near you because I will never go out James Potter. Because I don't stand for your high and mighty belief that you're better than everyone. Because you're not. You're a monster." And as if to drive home the point as soon as she reaches him, she punches him in the face.

James recoils away from the blow – shocked at this outburst. Although, I'd be one of the first to admit that he deserves it. With her point made she tuns back to her friend – still sprawled lifelessly on the floor. I move out of her way to let her get to her friend. But I still can't stand by passively. Guilt is tearing through me and I want to do something; else I'll explode.

"Lily." I start, not wanting her to turn on me after catching James' broken glasses in my peripheral vision, "We need to get him to the hospital wing."

"I know." She says coldly.

"I know you know." I say, awkwardly as this isn't really the best of times to be having our first personal encounter, "But I was just saying that we should probably go now."

"Yeah." She says, "But how do we move him?"

"It's simple." I say with confusion coating my voice. That is, until I remember that Lily is muggleborn, which I forget due to not really ever being around her, and that magic has never been an intrinsic part of her problem solving. I can assume that, like Ash, she is slowly becoming more adapted to using and having a wand but that it's actual practicality and everyday use is coming much more slowly. "We use the levitation charm. I'm guessing that you learned it in Charms class?"

"Yeah. But not on objects this big and not for very long." She says, slightly worried and clearly concerned for her friend's wellbeing.

"It's okay." I explain calmly, hoping that my deminer rubs off onto her, "That's why we'll be doing it together and as soon as a teacher sees they'll take over then."

"Okay." She sighs readying herself.

And together we cast the spell that lifts the boy up and off the ground. It isn't too hard as we're casting together while we walk back towards the castle – we're lucky that Snape isn't too heavy. But with determination we manage to get him back to the castle without dropping him; although the temptation to hit his arm or foot against something was strong. Nearly as soon as we get inside, we're spotted by McGonagall, who immediately starts fretting about the unconscious student and levitates him herself before walking up to the Hospital Wing dictating that we do not follow.

I'm left alone stood awkwardly with Lily, "I'm sorry." I mumble hoping that my truthfulness comes through, "I really didn't mean for this to happen." I add trying to explain myself, "I just wanted to get rid of his wand – to get it all over with…I didn't think the others would've had the same idea…" I say slowly as if I were manoeuvring around a bomb.

"I know." Lily says in a small voice, "I know it's not your fault. Sorry I let my hatred of James come out and make you feel guilty." She says apologetically, "He just pisses me off to no end!" She says with frustration, "But I'm sorry I let that out onto you."

"No, it's fine." I say full of relief knowing that I can finally relax, "I know James can be an idiot sometimes – especially around you. I'd want to murder him too in your shoes." I laugh, testing the water with what to say around the ginger. "I didn't feel like you were attacking me. I mean I do kind of deserve it as I probably really hurt your friend." I say looking at the ground like a puppy who knows it's done something wrong.

"No, it's okay." She says, although I can tell that she doesn't wholly mean it. There's still some resent there, whether it's for me or just my friends, "He was being a bit of an arse." She adds looking off to where McGonagall disappeared off with her friend's body.

I didn't want to agree with her although in my head I was cheering. But I could see the worry coating her face, "Lily?" I say, "I know a way to get up to the hospital wing." I'm rather tentative on sharing my knowledge of the secret passageways of Hogwarts but I can't stand by and watch Lily's worry grow, "Nobody will see us and if you're inside the room then nobody can stop you." I finish not including myself in going inside as I'd be less than well-received when the slimeball wakes up.

"Do you?" Lily says with a sense of both excitement and apprehension in her voice. Clearly, she doesn't fully trust me yet and she isn't overly fond of breaking teachers' instructions.

"Yeah," I say heading off in the direction of the painting that conceals the entrance, "Follow me!"

I can tell that Lily is following me with interest so I head towards the painting of the wounded deer. When I get there, I check around to see if anyone could see what I'm doing. But, finding the coast clear, I place my finger on the open arrow hole and you hear a slight noise as the painting unlocks.

"Through here." I whisper to Lily before pushing open the painting and going into the tunnel.

Lily quickly follows in behind me and I shut the door behind me to conceal the entrance. The blackness surrounds us but not for long as I mutter "Lumos" and a bright light springs from the end of my wand.

"I would've never known this was here." Lily says, shocked as she looks around the tiny space.

"Yeah." I say as I start off down the tunnel, "This place is covered in secret passageways and tunnels and rooms." I say vaguely – hoping that she doesn't ask me for their location.

"How'd you find it?" She asks as we walk.

Now that is a story, "In all truth," I begin, "It was sort of an accident. I was walking along the corridor and I saw this painting with the deer. It looked so sad and depressed." I continue, "I wanted to take a close look and I saw that it had a hole where and arrow had obviously penetrated in it's leg. It just sort of came over me to touch it and when I did, I heard a noise like a door unlocking and when I tried the portrait out of curiosity it swung open."

It was so strange. It was like I was drawn to the painting and to cover the wound. It was like magic! Sometimes I feel like this castle is alive from all of the years of magic that's passed through it's walls and that it reaches out to people. It's like it has a mind of its own and is an accumulation of pure, untampered magic. It's strange and hard to understand or explain but I think it's true; I believe it's true and so when I got inside the passageway, I made sure to thank the castle for helping me. And every time since that I've found a secret entrance to something, I've made sure to thank the castle. But I mention none of this to Lily.

It doesn't take the two of us long to make it to the other end of the tunnel and when we reach the exit, I check that nobody is looking through a tiny slit in the painting before turning to Lily, "You ready?" I ask.

"Yes." She says, "Thank you, Lyra." She adds sincerity ringing through her voice, "I really appreciate it and I promise that you or the others won't get into trouble for this. I was only an accident as you tried to defend yourselves, anyway."

I blink in surprise, "Really?" I say shocked. I thought that that'd be the first thing she'd do – snitch on us to the teachers, "Well…thank you! You really don't have to do that."

"But I feel it's right," She responds definitely, "you haven't done something horrible – it was just a mistake. Although you were spying on us!"

"Wasn't spying." I giggle getting a glare of mock annoyance from Lily.

"I'm sure you six will be in enough trouble throughout your time here to warrant me adding to your pile of detentions."

I feign hurt at this, "Lily! I cannot believe you see me that way."

"You should be happy that I'm not telling." She says – although I doubt, she's actually chastising me.

"I know –" I say, "And I am. I'm really thankful, Lily!"

"Well, I should probably go." She says moving towards the exit.

"Yeah." I say peeking out through the peep hole to check that the coast is clear, "Well, good luck. And please keep Snape from killing us."

"Thank you, and I'll try my best!" She smiles while opening the door and stepping into the Hospital Wing.

I ensure that the door closes quietly before making my way back along the passageway.

I like that ginger.

~ 2,754 words ~

So, that's everything I've written. Thank you so much for reading. This honestly was my first ever proper fanfiction I ever wrote and is honestly the reason why I got into fanfiction (both writing and reading). There are so many mistakes and learning points I made while writing this that have helped me so much to improve my style. If I hadn't written this slightly cringy, self-indulgent, self-insert mess then I seriously wouldn't be where I am today in a place where brainrotting AUs (both alone and with friends) honestly makes me the happiest person I could ever be. You guys who read gave me the confidence to believe that maybe people actually do like my writing and yeah I should continue to create. Although now I'm so much more secure in myself and I've realised that the joy I get from writing is just as important as watching views and likes increase.