James hopped up on the windowsill in the empty classroom dejectedly, "Lils, do we really have to do this? I don't want to speak to a bunch of snotnosed prefects!"

Lily sighed, "Yes, Potter. We have to talk to the prefects. Don't worry, it will only last a few minutes."

He shrugged, "Couldn't we just yell at the lot of them and tell them to go snuff it instead?"

Lily glared at him over the top of her clipboard, "NO! Absolutely not."

James grinned, "Joking, Lils. Yeesh!"

Lily turned away from him in anger and watched the door, readying herself for the prefects.

Before they could speak another word, eight teenagers trotted into the room. Leo Wood, Dorcas, Regulus Black, Frank and Alice, their arms around each other, Remus, and the two Prewett twins.

Lily smiled warmly at all of them, but James scowled at everyone but Remus.

Lily opened her arms, "Hello, fellow students. We are hoping that this year will be a great year, and that all of you, and James and I will make a great team to keep the rest of our fellow Hogwarts students in line. Now, after calling role and assigning duties, you're free to ask questions or leave if you wish."

Regulus scowled, "How did that fool get to be Head Boy, and how did a mudblood like you get to be Head Girl?"

Lily glared, failing to remember that she had wondered the same thing yesterday, "The question period isn't until after role call and duty assignments, Regulus."

James's upper lip curled menacingly, "Keep your thoughts to yourself, Black."

Regulus's eyes widened and he raised his wand in warning pointing it at James's heart. James responded quicker than quick. Before Regulus could speak a word, James's wand was pointed directly between his eyes.

"Now, really!" exclaimed Lily, confiscating both of their wands while the rest of the prefects watched on disapprovingly.

James turned his back on the rest of them, while the rest of the meeting commenced, staring out the window a surly look adorning his face.

Once the meeting came to a close, Lily rounded on him angrily, "Potter! How-how could you?! You're supposed to be setting a good example for the rest of them!"

James waved her off, "I don't need your input, Evans. I wish you would have let me curse him. That filthy, conniving, death eater would have deserved it. I don't know why I listened to you. He should have got what he deserved! When i think of all the things he's done, I just feel like-like--", James broke off and slammed his fist down on the table in frustration.

Lily frowned, "He's a death eater?"

James sneered, "Lily, please. Didn't you hear how he called you a-a--" He broke off and closed his eyes in agony, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Lily laid a hand on James's shoulder, "James, many people have called me a mudblood. That doesn't mean they're death eaters, that just means they were brought up the wrong way, taught to fear those that weren't exactly as they were.

James sighed, "That may be so, but I swear to you, Black is a death eater. That's why Sirius ran away from home. Well not entirely, his mum had some to do with it, but it was mostly Regulus that he couldnt stand."

Lily intertwined her fingers with his, "James, I know it's hard, thinking of the injustice, and the cruelty. And i know it's hard thinking that your best friend came from a family rooted in the middle of all of that, but I've made my peace with the fact that some think of me as inferior. I know that that's just silly. They're in the wrong, and I'm in the right, and as long as you believe in yourself, what everybody else thinks doesn't matter anymore."

James looked down at her smiling, suddenly realizing how close she was, how her fingers were clutching his, "Lily..."

She smiled, "What?"

"You...you called me James."

She smiled wider, "Yes, well. That's neither here nor there."

"No-Lily-just...why?"

She sighed, "You're the only one that understands. Well, not the only one, but one of the very few. And, as much as I hate to admit it, you have matured, and I think it would be better, and more reasonable, if we were friends."

James brought her hand to his heart, "Do you want to sit with me and the boys at dinner?"

She raised a calculating eyebrow.

He grinned, pulling her back to the common room, "What? It's what friends do, right?"

"Prongs, I don't know how you did it!" exclaimed Sirius, gazing wonderingly at Lily.

Lily laughed, "I know, I know, me and James are friends now. Shocking! right?"

Remus's fork, speared with sausage, which had come to a halt in front of his mouth in shock when James and Lily walked in laughing together, dropped with a loud clink, "You're telling me!" He exclaimed.

James shrugged, "Me and Lils understand each other now."

Lily's eyes flashed, "Yes, but James, you will soon be very misunderstood if you call me Lils one more time!"

James hid a grin, "Whatever you say, Lils."

Lily dropped her fork in mock anger, "I don't know why I waste time sitting with you. I'm going to go sit with the girls." She said, indicating Dorcas and Emmeline, sitting at the other end of the table, their eyes widened in shock.

James smiled, "Sit with us at breakfast? I promise I'll refine my manner."

Lily sighed theatrically, "I suppose I should indulge you just this once, Potter."

James smiled, "See you tomorrow morning, Lils."

As the four boys watched her go to sit with Dorcas and Emmeline, an expression of disbelief adorned every single one of their faces.

James turned to the rest of them, "Can you believe it?!", he asked gleefully, "Lily Evans is my friend!!"

The rest of them whooped and slapped hands.

Sirius grinned, "The finale of our final act of mischief is nearer in sight."

Remus leaned back in his chair, "So, first things first, Prongs. How did this happen?"

James shrugged, "Regulus tried to curse me," Sirius gave an unfriendly intake of breath at the mention of his estranged brother's name, "So I obviously raised my wand, then Lily went all on me about how I'm supposed to be setting an example, and then I was talking about how much I hate all those death eaters and their cruelty, and their prejudice, and how terrible they are, and she told me that it was ok because even though lots of people call her--well you know, she rises above it, and that i should too."

Sirius's upper lip curled uglily, "Did the bastard call her a--you know?"

James sighed, and ran a hand through his uneven hair, "Well...yeah. Thats what provoked me."

Sirius's hands clenched into fists, "You just wait--I'm going to go find that filthy, that-that conniving..."

James grabbed his arm, "No Sirius! Imparting violence would only be sinking to their level!"

Sirius wrenched his arm out of James's grasp, "No! I'm going to-to find him, and-and hit him until his filthy death eater head looks like a crushed soda can!"

The other three marauders stared at him in shock.

Remus stared at him hardly, "Sirius, sit down!"

"I won't go after him now," Sirius said, sitting down and breathing heavily, "But not a single one of you know how it is...hating all of those who are prejudiced and discriminatory towards muggles and muggle-borns, and then everyone thinking that you're one of them because you were brought up in a dark family, in a house where your own mother didn't love you, where your father believed that he, the stupidest man alive, was more valuable than fifty muggle-borns put together."