Lily was crying. She had been crying for a solid hour now. James couldn't understand how a person could mean so much when it was obvious that Lily had been putting up with Snape's bullshit for years. It baffled him to the point where he was rendered completely speechless. Sirius couldn't care less about what else had happened after the escapade that they had with Snape near the lake earlier that afteroon. He didn't remotely care that Lily was upset by this, and actually thought it was a good thing since it meant she was free from Snape's pathetic hold over her. Peter didn't exactly know how to react. He wanted to side with both James and Sirius over this, but they were both in separate minds about what had happened.

Remus had done what he always did when faced with terrible confrontation. He had gone to hide in the library under the guise to study for their D.A.D.A exam.

Lily sat in the common room sobbing as she tried to work and study. It left many uncomfortable causing them to leave for bed early or take off for walks. Mary was doing her best but her attempts were failed as Lily told her that she didn't want to talk about it.

Mary kept shooting dangerous looks towards James and Sirius, believing that they were the cause of it all. However she wasn't there when it happened. She didn't hear what Snape called Lily. It clearly boiled James' blood.

James sighed closing his books. Sirius glanced up his hair falling over his face. He blew it away, exasperated slightly and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm just going to…" James motioned to Lily.

Sirius shrugged before bending over the large parchment he was working on. James couldn't actually tell if it was work or some grand glorious prank that Sirius would pull before they left for home.

With that thought, James sighed and stumbled over towards Lily. Mary gave him a look but he ignored it, stuffing his hands into his pockets and looking sheepishly over at Lily. "Could you give us a moment?" He asked, directing the question to Mary despite not looking once away from Lily who was avoiding his gaze.

She let out an exasperated sigh. "Yeah, sure whatever. I'm going to get a book from the library. I'll be back in a moment." With that she gathered her books and tumbled them into her bag, swinging it over her shoulder and storming out. James saw Sirius watch her leave and he instantly knew what was going on in his friends head. He decided he'd ignore it for now and speak to Sirius about it later.

Lily wiped her face with the back of her hand. "What do you want Potter?" Her voice was sore and scratchy but sharp and ordered precision. This made James very nervous.

"I wanted to apologise." James said, sitting down, clasping his hands together.

Lily raised her eyebrows and let out a laugh. "Apologise?"

"For what happened by the lake today," James continued.

Lily shook her head. "It was arrogant and stupid."

"I know."

"And pathetic."

"I know." James agreed pushing his glasses further up his nose.

"And you didn't need to counterattack." Lily said.

"It was either counterattack or be seriously injured." James said. "Lily, you know how dangerous Snape is. Half the spells he uses I've never heard of before."

"You're missing the point." She snapped, tears falling again.

"In all seriousness," James said. "How much longer would you have defended Snape if he hadn't called you a you-know-what?"

Lily shook her head. "He's been slipping from me," She said.

"Tell me," James said earnestly leaning forward.

"You don't want to listen." Lily laughed.

"Would I be asking if I didn't?" He replied shrugging.

Lily gave him a look, her eyes upturned and nose red. She looked ill. Her curls hung limply around her face. Evidence that her heart was broken, James concluded. She sighed and shook her head. "He's gotten obsessed with the dark arts. Not like we have a keen interest in it. No, it's scary. It's all he can think about. He attacks people who aren't Slytherin, I'm not stupid. He's been doing it for a while now, just not while I'm in the vicinity." She blinked back tears and wiped her eyes. "I lost him James. I didn't do enough to save him. I'm so scared at what'll happen cause of it."

"Hey," James reached out and touched her arm, but she retracted, not wanting to be near physical contact. "Don't blame yourself."

She shook her head. "This doesn't mean I'm going to start standing up for you Potter," She said.

"I wouldn't expect you to," James said.

"He's been trying to find out about Remus for months now. He's obsessed with that too. Determined to find out about Remus'…" She trailed off.

This sparked Sirius, he raised his head slightly, now listening intently to the conversation. Peter caught his gaze and shook his head as a warning. James looked over, narrowing his eyes.

"I've been trying to keep it hidden for months," Lily said. "Helping Remus cover his tracks. Thing is he doesn't even try to come up with cover stories any more. Not since you lot found out and he didn't need to continue to hide what he was from you. Suppose I don't need to listen to his theories anymore." She said.

"Lily…"

"Oh shut up Potter," She sighed. "I hate when you get all caring. It's not natural."

James smiled slightly.

The common room door opened and Remus and Mary stepped in. Mary was looking severely angry as she dropped her books onto the floor. Remus, red slightly in the face, sat down between Sirius and Peter and didn't say a word as she began to rage.

"He's bloody well threatening to sleep outside," She shouted, making sure whoever was threatening to sleep outside was able to hear her. "Nasty little piece of SCUM! VILE DISGUSTING EXCUSE FOR A HUMAN!"

She kicked over a table.

"Who is?" James asked.

"Severus," Remus said quietly. "I kind of told her what he had called Lily."

"You idiot," Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

Lily stood up and James with her. "Severus," She murmured.

"Go tell him what a worthless piece of garbage he is," Mary bellowed, pointing at the door. Remus shrank deeper into the sofa quietly praying for a firewhiskey to help him from jumping out of his skin whenever Mary shouted.

"Mary calm down," Sirius got up and moved towards her.

"Oh go away, you're just as bad as him," Mary snapped she folded her arms and looked away pointedly.

"Yeah but you and Snivellus never dated," Sirius said. "Come on, sit down."

"I should go and…" Lily stumbled over her feet towards the door.

"Do you want me to…?" James asked, starting after her.

"Piss off Potter." She said opening the door and climbing outside.

James looked around the room and sighed. He always hated complications. Why weren't things ever simple? But then, he supposed, life would be boring.

…

It was the last Friday of term and tomorrow they would be saying goodbye to Hogwarts for another two months. The feeling around the air was one of grief, knowing that many had to go back to families that they had no special connection for. Remus was not looking forward to going through two transformations whilst James was away in Calcutta. Sirius had pretty much been banned from leaving the house for the next two months by his mother and Peter had to go to Tibet to visit his brothers.

But for the precious moments that they had left with each other before parting their separate ways, James, Sirius, Peter and Remus all sat under their favourite oak tree, resting calmly together before things got insane. Remus was half-asleep, not for any particular reason other than James had woken everyone up in the dormitory the night before declaring that a feast was needed to say goodbye, much to Frank's argument that they were going to have a feast before they left only it would be in the Great Hall. This had no effect on James' enthusiasm and thus several hundred cauldron cakes found their way into the 5th year Gryffindor boys dormitory along with a crate of butterbeer.

Peter was just watching James play with the snitch he had nicked from the Quidditch equipment locker, though after a while James grew tired of it and pocketed it away.

He then tried to hold a conversation with Sirius about the seriousness of Chudley Canons losing one of the best keepers they had for years through a transfer to the Wasps. This was going well until Mary arrived.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, will you two please unlock your lips from each other's faces for five minutes?" James said exasperated. "I'm trying to hold a candid conversation with my best mate here,"

Sirius looked over and unlatched himself from Mary's face and grinned. "Jealous much?"

"I'm more jealous that I'm not a well hung centaur with wings that I am of you and your tongue battles," James said, peering over his glasses in a condescending manner.

"Oh, he's jealous," Sirius informed Mary, leaning back against her lap, letting her play with his hair.

"I think you should cut your hair," She said absent-mindedly.

"Don't touch my hair," Sirius murmured.

James kept glancing over at Lily who was sitting by the water's edge, her shoes and socks off and her toes gently submerged in the water. "EVANS!" He called, waving over to her.

She looked over to see where the noise was coming from and immediately dismissed it. Sirius kicked James and rolled his eyes.

"Just because she no longer hangs out with Snivellous does not mean that you have a chance with her." He muttered.

James gave a small pout then stood up. He then began to remove his robes. Remus looked over, beadily opening his eyes, shielding them from the sun. "What on earth are you doing?" He asked.

"Something that I always wanted to do," James replied, now down to his boxers.

"If you strip any more I will string you up by your ankles and sing to you," Sirius said. Everyone winced. Sirius had not improved his singing technique despite arguing that he had.

James glared at his friend and then shook his head. He pulled off his socks and threw them over onto Peter's head before turning and jogging over to where Lily sat. Lily stared at him for a brief moment before laughing manically and shaking her head. James struck a pose then tried to wave the others over.

Then to all of their surprise, James catapulted himself into the lake, yelling as he did so. Lily was swearing and cursing him as he did so, her robes soaked and her hair drenched from the impact. Sirius and Remus glanced at each other before Sirius leapt to his feet and began running towards the water, pulling off his robes as he did so. As he almost dodged Lily, he tumbled head first into the water and resurfaced a few seconds later, smiling madly.

Lily looked furious. She got up and picked up her shoes and socks and began to move away only to be stopped by Remus and Peter whom had gotten up. They lifted her by her arms and marched her back to the lake and playfully threw her in.

"REMUS JOHN LUPIN I WILL SLAUGHTER YOU!" Lily bellowed, trying to get out.

Remus merely shrugged. "You were already wet," He said. "And you need cheering up." With that, he pulled off his robes, but not his trousers nor his shirt, self-conscious of his scars. He kicked off his shoes and dived in after them.

James was swimming on his back, relaxed and watching the sun pass over them. Sirius was paddling alongside his friend, urging Mary to join them. Mary was not having it and instead began to fold their robes and such into piles.

Lily got out just as Peter dived in, getting - if it was at all possible - more wet. She whipped around angrily, staring at them.

"Lighten up Evans," Sirius said. "We were just trying to cheer you up. Snape's a dick and you looked lonely."

Lily's mood did not change. She still looked angry but her gaze softened as she saw James was clearly just enjoying himself being with his friends. They all looked happier and calmer. Not the way they looked when they were confronting her or Snape.

She sighed. "Next time, just warn me. And Remus…"

"Mm?" Remus looked up vaguely scratching the bridge of his nose.

"You're doing patrol on your own for the next two nights." With that she took off.

Mary smiled and knelt down at the lake edge. Sirius swam back up to her and gave her a small kiss. James rolled his eyes and swam up behind them, grabbed Sirius' shoulders and dragged him back deeper into the water. Mary rolled her eyes and waved them goodbye before following Lily up to the common room.

James rolled over to his back again and lay flat against the water. His eyes caught something lurking out at the corner of the sky. He couldn't make it out but it looked like it was travelling at an incredible speed. It was like smoke. James knew in the back of his head what it was.

Only, he didn't want to think about it.

It would only ruin a perfectly good day.