Lily stumbled blindly into the Gryffindor common room. She was angry. More than angry. She was livid. With Severus, yes, but even more with herself. For letting herself waste so many years protecting someone who didn't care fore her at all.

No, that was a lie. She knew Severus cared for her, that was just her damn temper speaking.

She threw herself on the empty couch that was in front of the dying fire. Heaving out a loud sigh, she sat there for several moments gathering her thoughts until she was interrupted by one of her closest friends, Alice.

"Lily?"

"Yes?" She said, rather irritated. Apparently it was evident in her voice because Alice looked dejected and turned to walk away. "No – Alice, I'm sorry. It's just....I just had a huge fight with...with Snape."

"Oh," She said, and sat down on a `chair nearest to the fire. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"There's not much to it. I told him we've chosen different paths, and tat we couldn't be friends anymore."

"Wow..so this is serious," Alice contemplated. She knew, along with everyone else, that Lily and Snape were constantly getting into fights, but never stopped being friends. Lily had even gone as far as calling him by his surname.

"I suppose," she sighed. Her anger was slowly diminishing. All she knew now was she knew nothing, and that she was tired.

"It will be fine Lily. It was time you two both went separate ways. He made you cry many more times than he made you happy."

But it didn't matter to Lily. Her and Sev—Snape shared something special. He taught her about the Wizarding world, and she taught him how to love and be loved. Both learned on each other and even relied on each other. It made no sense for them to allow silly things such as bloodlines and prejudices to get in their way now. But he had made his decision, and she hers.

"Well I just wanted to see if you were alright. I'm going to get to bed now." And with that Alice went up the stairs to the girls dormitory with a "good night" from Lily, who still sat idly on the couch.

It was time to forget Snape. Forget all the wonderful memories they had with each other. She detested the person he became, and she realized she'd been holding onto that childhood version of him for so long. She would forget him, alright.

–

--

"That stupid, arrogant prat!" Lily shrieked as she entered the Gryffindor common room 2 years later, her Head Girl badge pinned neatly on her robe.

Alice and Mary, whom were sitting at the table in the corner doing their Transfiguration homework, looked up at their distraught friend.

"What happened?' asked Mary as she put down her quill.

"Potter," Lily spat the name. "We were being shown the heads dorm, and as soon as McGonagall left do you know what he said??"

"Enlighten us," Alice said, particularly bored with Lily's constant rants about Potter. They were a daily occurrence now.

"By the end of the year, I think we'll only need one bedroom," mimicked Lily, who had deepened her voice to sound more like a boy. "The nerve of him, honestly!"

"You know Lily, you've been talking about Potter an awful lot lately." Alice said pointedly. Mary caught on. "Oh! Yeah, you really do. Ever since you heard about him being head boy in the summer."

"And you know...Remus and Black and Peter were there right after McGonagall left, like they already knew where – wait, what are you two on about?"

"Just that you fancy Potter."

"What?!?"

"Oh come off it Lily. It's obvious! You know he's very handsome, and smart too. He's had top marks in Transfiguration for the last two years. He's extremely loyal to his friends, and --"

"Arrogant, rotten, spoiled," Lily began ticking off her fingers.

Alice rolled her eyes. "Lily, I know why you truly don't like James."

Lily's eyebrows raised high up on her forehead. "Oh?"

"Snape."

Lily's stomach dropped. That name still had an affect on her.

"You're still trying to play nice girl with him." Mary stated matter-of-factly.

"What? How so? I'm really not following this logic."

"Don't you see? Snape hates James, and now you're denying yourself what you truly want simply because you want to stay true to Snape, even if neither of you are friends now."

"But I don't even want Potter," Lily said confusedly.

"When have you given him a chance? First year maybe, but that was so long ago. And yes he was a conceited jerk for the longest time, but Frank and I, we met up with James and Sirius at the Three Broomsticks while on break. He's changed so much, Lily. Don't look at me like that. Really, he has. I think mostly because of his parents."

"His parents?"

"Yea, they fell terribly ill over the summer. They're really really old, and they say that the two don't have much more time," Alice concluded.

"Oh," Lily didn't know what to say. It was unfortunate, but she still didn't have to give him a chance.

"When is the last time he's even gone out with a girl, Lily?" asked Mary. She knew just about everything about anyone. She could recite random facts about anyone, it was a gift, truly.

"I don't know," Lily replied, disgusted. Potters' romantic history was not a subject she followed thoroughly.

"Fifth year, Jordan Johnson, and he broke up with her right after the Incident." The Incident Mary referred to was the time in which Snape had called her a Mudblood, resulting in the loss of their friendship.

"What does that, or the thing with his parents have anything to do with it? I do not fancy Potter."

"Ugh...Lily you're really not that blind and stupid are you?"

Lily's eyebrows shot up her forehead.

"Sorry, but he knows you and Snape are no longer friends. He realizes that he actually has a chance now. Not that he didn't try when you two were friends, but now it's just that much easier."

"I'm not some prize to be won, Mary."

"Whatever, Lily," Alice interrupted. "The point is, don't let your stupid quarrel with Snape affect any other aspect of your life, especially your love life." And with that, they turned back to their homework they had abandoned when Lily had came in.

"Love life, brilliant," snorted Lily, and she went and laid down on the couch. Like hell she would be caught going back to the heads dorm with all those bloody Marauders there.

And Lily had too much to think about. Could she still be holding onto what Snape believed in? Maybe...but why? It's not like they were friends anymore. They never spoke, never looked each other in the eye.

And what about Jam—err, Potter. Was what Mary and Alice said true? Could he have changed? No..Lily doubted that. But when was the last time she actually paid attention to any of it?

--

–

By the time Lily reached the Heads dorm early next morning, she prayed Potter was done with the bathroom she was forced to share with him. The head dorms were conveniently located only minutes from both the Gryffindor tower and the Great Hall.

Though clearly, Potter was done with the bathroom. When Lily entered the common area, he was walking towards his room in nothing but a towel, a book he must have came out to grab in his right hand.

"Oh!," Lily exclaimed, turning her head, but couldn't help but taking a short, fleeting second look.

"Morning Love." He grinned largely, stopping in front of his door.

"Uh...er...morning, Potter."

He laughed loudly and walked back into his room and shut the door. Lily let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. It was Potter, yea, but he looked good. Suddenly she felt like she may not be worth of him.

With her head semi-clear, but definitely no more half-naked man standing in front of her, she yelled at him, "I'd appreciate it if you could keep your clothes on, Potter!" She heard him laugh out loud again, and she couldn't help the smile that was playing on her lips as she went to her own bedroom and got ready for the day.

–

–

By the time Lily was ready to go, it was late. Too late to make it to breakfast, which irritated Lily.

"Stupid Potter, running me out of the dorms...making me late...no breakfast," she muttered to herself as she walked towards her first class of the day, Potions, down in the dungeons.

"Lily!" yelled the said person she had just been cursing in her head. She spun around and saw Potter running up to her. "Walk you to Potions?" He asked when he caught up to her.

"You're in Advanced Potions?" She asked, beginning to walk again. She couldn't afford to be late, especially on the first day.

"Yeah, why, is it that hard to believe?" He chuckled. "Here, I didn't see you at breakfast so I snagged you some toast. Hope that doesn't sound too stalkerish." He extended his arm and held out 2 pieces of toast neatly wrapped in a napkin.

Lily slowly grabbed the toast, examining it carefully.

Potter laughed. "Go on...I didn't jinx it or anything, if that's what you think." However, she was still careful, and took a bite, chewing slowly as they walked. She grabbed a strand of her hair, examining it to make sure it hadn't changed color. Then she glanced down at her still-black robes, just to be sure they hadn't changed colors as well.

She wouldn't have put it past Potter to have a vital piece of clothing missing as well.

But alas, all was well.

Potter just continued walking, silently smiling broadly next to her.

"Er...thanks," She said, grateful for having some food.

"You eat a lot." James noted.

Lily coughed and choked on the bit of toast she had just been swallowing when Potter had made that statement.

It took him only a moment of Lily coughing to realize how someone – especially a female – would have taken that statement the wrong way. His eyes widened in realization.

"Oh! No no no! Evans I didn't mean it like that, I just --"

"You just what? Enjoy teasing me? For your information Potter, I rather like my size. As it is --"

"That's what I meant! I didn't mean it in a bad way. I like that about you." He spluttered, beginning to turn red. She didn't interrupt him so he kept going. "It's nice knowing there are some girls who know how to eat, and don't care what people think of them."

Lily contemplated if this statement he was saying were true, but seeing how red he got and..what was that..embarrassed? James Potter did not get embarrassed easily. In fact, Lily couldn't recall a time he ever let anything get to him like that.

"Er..thanks Potter..I guess," Lily said, turning red now as well. Never in her 7 years at Hogwarts had she seen James blush.

It startled Lily that they had reached the Potions room already. It was a rather long walk normally, and she hadn't even noticed she had been allowing Potter to lead the way. Would she dare say she was so enthralled in their conversation she hadn't paid attention?

"How did we..." Lily trailed off.

Potter smiled one of his crooked smiles.

"Marauder," he simply said, tapping his temple with two fingers. Lily looked at him incredulously and walked into the dark potions room, Slughorn welcoming two of his favorite students warmly.

–

–

By the time lunch came round, Lily was definitely suspicious. Not only did Jam-- Potter-- walk her from class to class(they took both Advanced Potions and Advanced Charms), but he was actually being civilized. This wasn't the Potter she had remembered.

Lily determined that her two best friends Mary and Alice had something to do with it. They had, however, sat with the Marauders during lunch that day before Potter and herself had even gotten there, so she could not talk with them there.

"Afternoon, Miss Evans," Black said nonchalantly. He stood up and bowed quite unceremoniously.

"Stuff it, Padfoot," James laughed and shoved his shoulder.

Lily smiled at the antics and sat across from the two and Pettigrew, in between Remus and Alice.

"Hey Remus," Lily smiled brightly at him. He was her favorite Marauder by far, even if he broke the rules and allowed his closest friends to run a mucus around the school. From the corner of her eye she could have sworn she saw Potter watching them, glaring at Remus slightly. She quickly shoved it to the back of her mind.

"Hello Lily, how did you enjoy Advanced Charms? I heard that class was pretty hard."

"It was great..not too hard at all. Though I didn't know James was so good at charms. He was brilliant," Lily turned and smiled at him. The moment Lily had said his name, both Alice and Mary choked on their food. Sirius, who had been taking a sip of pumpkin juice, spluttered it out on Pettigrew, and Remus' eyebrows shot up on his forehead. James just smiled broadly, obviously pleased with himself.

"Where..." cough. "did that come from?" Alice spluttered, still choking on her food. So her and Mary weren't apart of James being so nice.

"Well, James and I are both Heads, so it's perfectly normal to be on a first name basis with someone you have to interact so closely with. He calls me by my first name."

"But you complimented him," Sirius informed her.

"Brilliant observation, Black." Lily rolled her eyes. "He is brilliant at Charms. I was just merely making a statement."

"Yea Sirius. You saying I'm not good at Charms?" James asked him jokingly. Sirius snorted.

"Lily Evans just called you by your first name and complimented you in the same sentence. Sirius Black will not comment on your abilities to perform magic!" He exclaimed, standing up, spotting the Ravenclaw girl he had been interested in since...well yesterday when he had spotted her at the welcoming feast, and walked over towards her.

The Gryffindors all laughed loudly at the outburst and Sirius' lack of concentration and continued to enjoy their lunch peacefully.

–

–

Severus had watched both Heads all day. It was what he had feared the most. Lily, his only best friend and true confidant throughout their childhood, was falling for the meddlesome idiot. How could she be so stupid. He still had feelings for the fiery red head, oh yes. They were perhaps stronger than ever. Nothing would stop those dreadful feelings he had for her.

He loved Lily. She was the only person who could look past his outward appearance, his clothes,his hair, and actually got to know him. She taught him compassion and how to love.

But more than anything, she was an amazing person. She was so kind to everyone and anyone, no matter how deserving.

And now she wasn't his anymore. She was never his, really, but how she was moving on and he wasn't...that was what truly hurt.

Severus envies potter for just that. Lily would love Potter, yes he could see that. Potter was a trickster, and a conniving one at that. He could easily make the trusting red head fall for him. As long as Lily could look past all the years of teasing and conceitedness.

And that would give Potter, the ungrateful, pigheaded, disgusting fool the one thing he wanted but could never have – Lily Evans.

–

–

The day continued not unlike the first half, and Lily was exhausted. She sat down at a table in the Gryffindor common room, still unwilling to share the Heads dorm with James. She was expecting Mary and Alice to show up in about an hour, so she began working on her Advanced Potions homework.

Apparently though, Lily would have had better luck avoiding James by going to the heads common room, because moments after she began working, all four Masqueraders strutted in, all talking extremely loud.

"Did you see his face? Bloody hell that was brilliant Prongs." Black exclaimed, plopping down not so gracefully onto one of the open couches.

James wasn't listening to his best mate though. He had spotted Lily and grabbed Remus by the arm of his robe quickly before he had the chance to sit down as well. James dragged Remus over and happily sat across from Lily.

"Ah, Lily, we meet again."

"Hello James, Hi Remus," Lily said curtly. She returned abruptly back to her work.

James looked at her funny. She had been so nice earlier. Remus nudged James, caught eye contact, and looked pointedly at the work in which had his fair Lily's attention.

"Ah...I see. No talking with Lily while she is at work." He pressed both hands flat on the table and raised himself, Lily looking up at him only with her eyes for a moment, a small smile playing on her lips, then again went back to her work.

James sauntered back to his friends along with Remus, and they began speaking in hushed voices with all four heads together in a circle.

–

–

And that was how the first few months of Hogwarts went. James getting to know Lily, and Lily learning to trust him a bit more and more as each day passed. Hogwarts was calm and at peace. Full of studying students and friendly banter.

But not all was what it had seemed. A dark shadow loomed over the Wizarding world when January finally rolled around. A shadow that threatened all students, faculty, and family members. And while people were turning to the dark side and being recruited younger and younger, no one remained safe.

This darkness is what brought the Marauders, Lily, Alice, and others to Dumbledore's office on the dreary Monday night in January.