This chapter came out much longer than I intended.

Second Year

Lily Evans was in a slight panic as she rushed along the empty hallways, her book bag bouncing against her back. Honestly she hadn't meant to spend so long doing her homework in the library; she just wanted to get it over with. Transfiguration was always a tricky subject for her and required extra studying and attention. Before she knew it, it was dangerously close to curfew; she barely paused long enough to shove her books and notes into her bag before sprinting from the library, her long braid swinging behind her.

She didn't want to get detention for running in the halls but she didn't want to get detention for being out past curfew either. She had almost finished her second year of school and her record was spotless; she intended to keep it that way. Or at least she did before the staircases moved, dumping her into a completely unfamiliar corridor. Instead of going back the way she had come and waiting for the staircases to move again, which would have been the sensible thing for her to do, but she was far too flustered to think properly at that point, she had hurried down the unfamiliar hallway, getting herself well and truly lost.

'Way to go, Lily; you'll end up in detention for sure now,' she thought bitterly, her eyes welling with tears at the thought. 'And they'll write Mum and Dad and they'll be so disappointed. They trusted you to stay out of trouble and you can't even make it back to the common room on time. And you'll never be prefect because they don't pick bad students to be prefect and if you never become prefect, you definitely won't become Head Girl in seventh year since they're always former prefects.'

Her spiraling thoughts were abruptly stopped as she heard voices coming from the next corner down the hall, a wave of relief washing over her. The voices were a little hushed because of the distance, but she definitely heard talking. If there were people, that meant maybe someone could give her directions back to the Gryffindor Tower and maybe she wouldn't get detention. She was sure if she just explained the situation, they'd be happy to help. Her mood brightened considerably at the thought, her footsteps quiet in her leather shoes as she hurried, hoping the people talking wouldn't walk away.

As she neared the corner, she felt her stomach drop. 'Oh no,' she thought as she recognized one of the voices, a scowl forming on her face. 'Sirius Black.' It was a well-known fact that there was no love lost between her and her fellow Gryffindor. Sirius had called her a stuck up, know-it-all and Lily had called him a bullying slacker. Black and Potter were constantly pulling pranks on students, mean, cruel jokes that no one found funny but themselves. She also didn't appreciate that they constantly bullied her best friend, Severus, when he had done nothing to them. Lily was normally a calm girl, but she had had more than a few screaming matches that year with Potter and Black. If she had to choose between getting detention for being out past curfew and depending on Black for assistance, she would take the detention in a heartbeat.

Her head held high, Lily prepared to walk around the corner past Black and whomever he was with, hesitating as she listened to the voices. There were other people there with Black, but it didn't sound like Potter and the others. Sticking close to the wall, she cautiously peered around the corner, her curiosity getting the best of her. Black faced away from her, his posture stiffed as he faced down three Slytherin boys; all four had their wands drawn. 'Oh no,' Lily thought fearfully.

"Not so brave without your mates here, are you, Black?" one of the boys sneered, eliciting chuckles from his companions.

"A Gryffindor is always brave," Sirius replied haughtily. "Not that you slimy snakes know anything about that."

"That's big talk coming from a git who's gonna end up in the hospital wing," another boy snapped. "Let's see how brave you are for a three-on-one duel."

Lily paled at the boy's words. Dueling was strictly forbidden outside of Defense Against the Dark Arts class, but she had a feeling that these boys didn't care. And they were right; three against one for dueling would get Sirius injured badly, possibly even killed. Even if they weren't as skilled as Sirius, and he was rather skilled though Lily was reluctant to admit it, he was outnumbered.

"Ha! I can cast circles around you idiots," Sirius retorted, his nervousness only given away by the slight tremor in his free hand.

Biting her lip, Lily debated running for help and hoping to find a professor before anyone could get hurt. It was the smarter thing to do, the safer decision but it felt like a cowardly choice, to abandon Sirius when he needed help. 'A Gryffindor is always brave,' she thought. 'Especially now.'

Lily didn't know what set off the fight, but suddenly one of the Slytherin boys shot a hex at Sirius, who barely managed to avoid it before firing back his own. Dropping her backpack onto the floor, she stepped around the corner, quickly casting a shield charm as another hex was shot at Sirius. To say the boys were shocked to see her was an understatement; the fighting paused for a full five seconds while they all gaped at her before returning to its previous ferocity. "Evans," Sirius greeted her as they exchanged hexes with the Slytherins, sounding as if they were chatting over breakfast instead of fighting for their safety. They were holding their own pretty well but it was still three against two.

"Black," Lily replied, his name coming out as a squeal as a hex bounced off of the edge of her shield. She knew she should be more terrified about dueling in the hallway, something that would definitely land her in detention if it didn't land her in the hospital wing, but she was too focused on the fighting and the adrenaline pumping through her to worry about being scared. "You do know it's forbidden to duel in the hallway right?" she asked dryly.

Sirius laughed loudly, throwing his head back. "Don't think the Slytherins got the update. Why are you here?"

She glanced at him before turning back to her opponent. "A Gryffindor is always brave," she replied. "Even when the situation is borderline suicidal."

"We'll just have to stay on the right side of the line then, won't we?" Sirius answered cheekily.

Lily couldn't help the laugh that slipped out of her, the sound getting louder at Sirius's surprised yet smug look. She was finally having a decent conversation with him and it was happening in the middle of a duel. She managed to hit one of the boys with a leg-locker curse, causing him to tumble to the ground and yank one of his friends down with him.

"Who's out here?" a gruff voice called from down the hall. "Students out of bed past curfew! Detention for all of you!"

Her eyes widened at the voice, turning to glance at Sirius. "We've gotta go before Filch catches us!"

Sirius glanced at the Slytherins who were trying to help their friend up and hurry away before nodding in agreement. Grabbing Lily's backpack off the floor, he gripped her hand, leading her full speed in the other direction.

If you asked her, Lily couldn't have told you how she got back to Gryffindor Tower; it was all a blur of running down halls, jumping over trick stairs and darting behind tapestries that held unknown hallways. All she knew was that she had never been more grateful to be back in the common room, even if it was empty.

As the portrait shut behind them, Sirius doubled over with laughter, his hands planted on his thighs.

"What exactly is so funny?" Lily asked, trying to sound stern but unable to fight the smile forming on her lips. "We could have gotten detention! Or expelled!"

"That was bloody brilliant, Evans," he finally said as he calmed down, though a chuckle still escaped him. "I didn't know you could duel like that! Did you see those Slytherins' faces? You mopped the floor with them."

"Shh, you'll wake the whole house," she laughed softly, secretly proud of his comment.

"Remind me never to cross you," Sirius commented as he held her bag out to her. "You'll hex me into the hospital wing."

"I would not!"

"But you could," he replied easily, slinging his arm over her shoulders and leading her to the dormitory staircase. "I was wrong about you, Evans; you're not half bad. A true Gryffindor through and through."

Lily smiled slightly, heading up the girls staircase. "You're not so bad yourself, Black. I'm glad we came out on the right side of the line."

Sirius laughed as he headed up the staircase. "Good night, Evans," he called to her.

"Good night, Black," she answered softly, the girls' dormitory door shutting quietly behind her.

Shaking his head in amusement, he pushed open the door to the boys' dormitory. The lads were never going to believe him.

"Wait, just wait. You're trying to tell me Lily Evans, goody two shoes, teacher's pet, Lily Evans, fought with you in a duel against three Slytherins," James said incredulously. "I don't believe it. It's impossible."

Sirius nodded as he pulled on his t-shirt before lying on his bed. The moment he entered the room, he had been bombarded with questions about his whereabouts. A quick re-telling of the events left his three best friends shocked to say the least; they were ready to rush to the girls' dormitory to hear from Lily if the entire story was true.

"Are you sure you didn't fall and hit your head somewhere, Sirius?" Peter joked, leaning against the side of Sirius's bed. "Lily's never broken a rule before. Dueling in the halls is a big rule to break; they'd have our head for it."

He gave Peter a dirty look before nodding. "I know," Sirius replied. "We were all shocked to see her there. She was pretty fantastic too; guess all that studying in Charms paid off."

"She probably saved you from getting sent to the hospital wing," Remus commented. "You wouldn't have survived a three against one fight."

"Only Slytherins fight dirty like that," James muttered. "Spineless snakes."

"I got lucky she was there," Sirius agreed as he opened out his blanket. "I didn't expect her to be so brave."

James nodded in understanding. "Lily Evans, brave enough to take on a group of Slytherins and risk getting a month of detention. I guess Hogwarts will never stop surprising me," he laughed as he lay down on his bed.

Sirius laughed, "Now we know, next time we cross her, she can definitely hurt us."

He laughed with him, setting his glasses on his nightstand. "I don't doubt that she's brave enough to hex us. She's a Gryffindor after all."

Next chapter, Remus!