Author's Note: Thank you to those who reviewed/followed! I appreciate it a lot! Sorry for skipping a week in updating, but I was having a blast white water rafting on my days off from work, so there went all my free time to write. As always, let me know if there are typos I missed when I edited, and let me know any other thoughts on the chapter. Enjoy!

Author's Note 2: So I had to come back and edit this chapter because I realized a discrepancy between the classes Emmeline said she dropped this chapter and the ones she is taking in the next...Sorry, if you even noticed!

Disclaimer: Unfortunately I am not J. K. Rowling. If I were, I would have already published a book on the Marauder era, because they are awesome.

Chapter 3

Lily was laying on her bed at home, listening for the door to open and close, and for the car to pull out of the drive, before she could safely emerge from her bedroom. Her fights with Petunia had gotten worse. And by "fights", she meant Petunia blatantly ignoring Lily's presence whenever they were in the same room, and the increase in volume of calling Lily a freak, without actually saying it to Lily's face, of course. Petunia was getting very good at pretending Lily didn't exist. It frustrated Lily, but mostly it made her sad. She missed her sister. And the way her sister was now made Lily miss her friends from school all the more. The only company from the Magical world she had was her tawny owl, whom she had named Athena back when Lily was twelve.

It was a relief that school was starting up again in just two weeks. Lily had made plans for school shopping with Marlene, Emmeline, and Mary to meet up in Diagon Alley later that day. She had gone to several Quidditch matches with Marlene over the summer, and she had surprisingly had a lot of fun. Lily had only gotten into Quidditch recently, having taken a dislike to it on principle in 1st Year since James Potter was obsessed with it; she decided in the last year that she was not going to let Potter rule her life, though, and came to the conclusion that Quidditch was better than any Muggle sport.

Unfortunately, Emmeline's and Mary's travels kept them away for the entirety of the summer, so Marlene was the only friend she had seen all of summer break. The other two did have a lot of interesting things to tell Lily in the novel-like letters they sent, though. Lily couldn't wait until she was of age and out of Hogwarts to be able to travel like they had. There were so many places she wanted to see, both Magical and Muggle, but for now she would have to live the dream through her friends' experiences.

On the up side of Lily's vacation, she had not seen Snape more than half a dozen times, so there was minimal awkwardness on that front. The first two times, he had been trying to see her, seeking her out at the old playground, she assumed because he thought since they were out of school it would change things. Since those two times in the early days of summer, he had gotten the point and left her alone, so when they ran into each other later it was only in passing. That was only one of the two major changes in her summer routine. The other change was receiving letters from Remus Lupin. He was really taking his role as her friend seriously. She got at least one letter a week from him.

It was...odd, being friends with a Marauder, Lily had decided. Even if he was the most even-tempered and least annoying of the group. It meant that when she wanted to talk to him, or vice-versa, they also had to be around each others' friends. It was more exposure to Sirius Black and James Potter than Lily was willing to put herself through at the end of 5th Year. Still, Remus insisted on sending her a letter, and they were usually entertaining. Lily even found herself wanting to write back, and so she did. She was learning a lot about Lupin that she hadn't known before. Like the fact that he still lived at home with his parents, but spent nearly all his days at Potter Manor, preferring to be with James and Sirius than home alone. And that he secretly rearranged some of James' things every day, so that whenever James went to grab something, it always took him twice as long. Lily found great pleasure in knowing that Remus was pranking Potter, even in such a subtle way.

She also learned of Sirius moving in with James through Remus, though he wouldn't say much about it. Lily knew Sirius was not close with his family. Everyone at Hogwarts did. Sirius was the only Black to be such a "disgrace" as to be sorted anywhere but Slytherin. Lily might not be the biggest fan of Sirius, but even she knew he was a hundred times better than the rest of his Pureblood-supremacy obsessed family. She was even glad that Sirius had James and his family to turn to, regardless of the fact that the pair of them together drove her crazy.

Lily's contemplation was interrupted by the front door slamming.

Finally, Lily thought as the car started up. She jumped up off her bed, grabbed her wand and her list of needed supplies, and ran downstairs. Her house was not particularly large. Just a two story with three bedrooms, a bathroom, living room, and kitchen. But it was home, and the family of four didn't need any more space than they had. Lily went to the kitchen and pulled a can of soda out of the fridge, happy to spend some time out of her room for a little while. She still had a half hour until she was being picked up for the shopping trip.

Lily sat, sipping her soda and tapping her fingers on the tabletop, when suddenly an idea popped into her head. She jumped to her feet and ran upstairs, grabbing a piece of parchment and a quill with ink. She jotted a note and rolled it up to give to Athena, who eagerly took flight as soon as Lily opened her bedroom window. She watched as her owl disappeared into the distance and hoped the letter would get to where it needed to in time.

"Now James, what did we agree was best for this outing?" Remus said to his messy-haired, glasses-wearing friend.

James raised his right hand, as if pledging an oath.

"I shall not ask out Lily Evans," he said dutifully.

"Unless she seems like she wants you to…" Sirius muttered, causing James to chuckle.

Remus rolled his eyes. He had been hanging out at the Potter mansion when Lily's owl had showed up, letting him know that she and the other Gryffindor girls were going to be in Diagon Alley that day. He was surprised, pleasantly so, that she had thought to invite him along. It proved that he had actually made headway in truly gaining her friendship. Suffice to say, James had jumped right on board with going to Diagon Alley for school shopping, as long as it meant he could see Lily before summer break was over. Remus was impressed he had actually convinced James that if he stopped asking her out all the time, Lily might actually go out with James. Not that Remus really believed that, but maybe the girls and boys of their year in their House could all hang out sometimes if Lily wasn't constantly angry with and/or running away from James.

"You know she won't actually want you to ask her out today, right?" Remus said nervously, hoping James would listen to him over Sirius for once. They were hanging out in the Alley, waiting to meet up with Lily, Mary, Marlene, and Emmeline outside of Flourish and Blotts. "She was only expecting me, not her two least favorite people at Hogwarts."

Sirius scoffed. "Like Miss Smarty-pants wouldn't realize the risk of inviting you and getting us too."

James nodded in agreement. "That is true. Maybe she was subconsciously trying to meet me here through you!" Remus narrowed his eyes at James, giving him an annoyed look. "Or maybe she just wanted to see her friend Remus," James muttered. "You're such a spoilsport, Moony. I'm just joking around. And if I start losing my head around Evans, just hit me upside the head or hex me or something."

"Oh, can I be in charge of that?" Sirius said eagerly, earning himself a scowl from James. Sirius just grinned. "I always know when you're about to do or say something really stupid."

"He does have a point there, Prongs," Remus agreed. "I therefore pass along my duty to Padfoot. Other than the hexing part. We aren't of age yet, you know. I'd rather not have the ministry angry with me for using magic outside of school."

Sirius scoffed at that, as if he didn't believe in such petty things as age restrictions on using magic, but he left his objection at that. He wasn't actually willing to pay the price for deliberately using magic outside of school.

Remus could tell the instant James spotted Lily. His hand jumped up to his hair, running backwards through it to make it even messier that it always was. Remus rolled his eyes.

"Wait here, mates," Remus said as he turned and made his way through the crowd in the direction James was looking. It didn't take Remus very long to spot Lily's dark red hair either. It kind of stood out. "Oi! Lily!" he called once he was close enough for her to hear him.

Lily smiled when she saw him. Remus took that as a good sign. He also saw the looks of surprise on her friends' faces, so she mustn't have told them about writing him. She turned and said something to them, probably explaining now, and then hurried over to say hi.

"How are you, Remus?" Lily asked, surprising him by giving him a quick, one-armed hug. "I was hoping my letter would reach you in time."

"Yeah, it did. And I'm well enough, thank you for asking," Remus responded with a smile. "I hope your vacation is going well since I last heard from you."

Lily shrugged and grimaced. "Petunia is still Petunia, and she is still dating the whale Vernon. But on a more positive note, she spends a lot of time with him, and away from home, so I don't have to deal with her."

"That's good to hear," Remus said. Then he got nervous. He had to tell her about James and Sirius before she either spotted them or they made their presence known. He took a deep breath and let it all out in a rush. "So I was sort of at James' place when your owl showed up, and he and Sirius decided to tag along, and I hope you aren't angry with me, and I told James he better not ask you out today or I'd never talk to him again."

Lily just blinked. Then she started laughing. "Wow, Remus, I don't think I have ever heard you talk that fast ever," she said after she could breathe again. "I kind of figured you would be with the dolts, since you said you spend a lot of your time there. And I'm impressed. You actually got the toe-rag to agree to not ask me out for a day? The apocalypse must be coming…"

"Did I hear that right?" Mary asked, incredulous, as she and the other two made their way over to Remus and Lily, barging into the conversation. "James Potter is not going to ask out Lily Evans?" The short-haired brunette widened her chocolate-brown eyes in shock, sharing in her surprise with the blonde Marlene and her fellow brunette Emmeline.

"Believe it, ladies, James Potter has been tamed," Sirius Black announced as he sauntered over to the group. "Hey look, it's like it's a Gryffindor gathering." He made the statement like he had just realized that this is what would happen.

James wandered over behind Sirius, and Remus could tell he was desperately trying to keep his cool. His hand kept twitching, as though he was trying to control the urge to ruffle his hair, which he most likely was doing.

"Marlene, Mary, Emmeline," James said in greeting, ending with, "Evans." He looked to each and gave each a nod as he said their name. Marlene was the only one he had known for any length of time outside of Hogwarts, but Lily was the only one he didn't call by first name. He had copied the last-name-calling from her, when she refused to call him anything but 'Potter' way back in First Year.

The other three greeted him warmly enough, but Lily only managed a nod, and then continued to basically ignore his presence. Remus supposed it was the best that could happen in this little outing of theirs. At least she wasn't yelling, he thought.

"So Lily," Remus said, drawing her attention back to him, "how did you do on your OWLs?"

Lily smirked, completely happy with her results. "I passed them all, of course. After all the preparation I put into them, I would have been very put out if I hadn't."

Marlene rolled her eyes at her best friend. "C'mon, Lils, we all knew you'd pass them all. What were your actual scores?" So far, she had been unable to get Lily to divulge them, but now she was hoping peer pressure would make Lily give in.

"Yeah, Lovely, tell us what you got. We already told you!" Emmeline said.

Mary made an affirming noise, nodding her head.

"I'll tell mine if you tell yours, Evans!" Sirius interjected. "Did you get all Outstandings? I bet you did. You're such a know-it-all, how could you not? I mean-"

"Shut it, Sirius," James said, interrupting his best friend with a slap upside the head.

"Owww…" Sirius complained, smoothing out his tidy hair. "What was that for? And I thought I was the one with the slapping privileges here, not you!"

"Just because we said you could slap me upside the head doesn't mean I can't do that to you, idiot," James retorted, shaking his head and rolling his eyes.

Lily shared a look with her friends, then looked at Remus, who had his face in one of his hands, while the two black-haired boys continued their argument. Lily sidled up next to him and asked in a whisper, "Is it always like this when you're with them?"

"Almost non-stop," Remus muttered back to her, still hiding his face.

"How do you put up with it? I think I'd go mad," Lily said.

"Remus finally looked up at her, giving her a tired look. "You have no idea," he said in a deadpan voice.

"SO, Lily," Sirius said loudly, causing her to jump a little. She hadn't been paying attention to the argument, so she hadn't realized the focus was about to shift back to her. "Tell me how you did!"

"Ugh, fine!" Lily relented, not wanting to put up with Black's pestering her the whole day. "I didn't get an Outstanding in Transfiguration and History of Magic, if you must know." She crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at Sirius and daring him to challenge her.

"So what did you get in them?" Mary asked, far too used to Lily's temper to be afraid of it anymore.

"Exceeds Expectations," she muttered, deflating somewhat in embarrassment. She was not all about rubbing her good grades in everyone else's faces.

"Would you look at that, Remes?" James said more than questioned. "She almost did as well as you did!" James turned to Lily as Remus blushed. "He got Outstanding in Transfiguration and History, but just missed on Herbology."

Lily nodded, impressed. Both with Remus' scores and with James speaking to her and not including a date proposal. "Congratulations, Remus, those are wonderful scores," was all she said, still mostly trying to ignore Potter. "Are you going to continue with all of the subjects then?"

James couldn't believe it. He had spoken to Lily Evans, the love of his life, and she hadn't yelled at him in response, or called him a name, or anything she usually did. She also didn't really acknowledge him, but not yelling and storming off was definitely a step in the right direction.

"I dropped History, Arithmancy, and Astronomy," Lily was saying when James tuned back into the conversation. "History is dead boring, at least the way Binns teaches it, and I doubt I'll have a use for Arithmancy in my future, and I am so sick of the late-night classes for Astronomy."

"I dropped History as well," Emmeline told the group, mostly for James, Sirius, and Remus' benefits, since the girls were all together when signing up for their classes for Sixth Year. "Same as Mary and Marlene. I'm continuing Divination and Astronomy though."

Everyone made faces at her for saying she was keeping on with Divination, and Sirius snorted in an almost-laugh. He only stopped himself because Marlene nudged him in the ribs with her elbow. Most students found the subject to be a joke, especially with the war that was brewing. Who needed to learn to read palms and tea leaves when they might need to be fighting for their lives in the near future?

"Just because you lot don't have a more mystical side, does not mean I am going to conform to your beliefs," Emmeline said indignantly. She was very passionate about her Divination.

"We know, Emmy, we know," Mary said soothingly. To the rest of the group she said, "Shall we get a move on the shopping? I want to have a chance to get some ice cream before I have to go home, and I promised my parents I wouldn't be long. They get nervous these days, worried I won't come home whenever I go anywhere."

This sobered everyone up, and had them moving towards the bookstore. They all knew the war was gaining in intensity, but it was still hard to wrap their minds around it. So much of their time was spent sheltered in Hogwarts, and Lily was cut off from the Wizarding World (not including Severus) almost entirely over her summers, except for this one when she went to a few Quidditch matches with Marlene. They all knew, however, that they would have to make some serious decisions about their lives in the next two years regarding the war. Would they fight? Would they run? Some of them already knew - James, Sirius, Remus, Marlene - and the others hadn't given it as much thought yet, whether because they were in denial or some other reason.

They started by purchasing their required texts for the various classes they were all taking. For the most part, they realized they were still taking the majority of the same subjects and so would have almost the same schedules as each other. Buying books was easy: the store clerks knew what the Hogwarts students needed for each year and so they generally had them already set aside. Lily perused the shelves for a little while, trying to find something new that interested her. She decided on reading The Tales of Beedle the Bard, since she had always had a fondness for fairy tales and knew hardly any from the Wizarding World.

"Why in Merlin's name are you buying a children's book, Lily?" Sirius asked.

Lily looked at him in shock. She could hardly believe he actually used her first name. It wasn't that she minded, just that he never ever referred to her as anything but her surname.

"Did you just-?" Marlene started asking, tilting her head slightly to the side in question.

"I think he did," Mary said, also looking at Sirius strangely.

Emmeline narrowed her eyes at him, speculating, "I don't think he even realized it."

Sirius was looking between the four of them. "What?" he complained more than asked. He then turned to Remus and James. James was looking at him with his mouth slightly open and Remus was chuckling.

"You called her Lily, Sirius," Remus informed him, taking pity on Sirius.

Sirius clapped a hand over his mouth, his grey eyes wide. Then he looked at Remus in mock anger. "This is all your fault! You've been calling her Lily all summer, not Evans, and now I've picked up the habit from you!"

Lily giggled. Legitimately giggled, not laughed or chuckled. She couldn't help it. Sirius seemed genuinely upset about his slip-up, more so even than Lily herself was.

"It's fine, Black," she said, sticking to his surname mostly out of habit, and partially because she didn't think he could take her saying his first name. He was freaking out enough as it was. As for herself, she was mostly amused by the whole situation. If she was going to be friends with Remus, she had might as well get used to the other Marauders as well, including finally calling them by their first names. It would take a while for her to use Potter's, though, that she knew.

Sirius sighed in relief. "At least something is still normal," he muttered. "I'm getting out of this place. I think being around all these books is starting to corrupt me."

Lily snorted. "Corrupt you to do what, exactly? Actually pick one up for once and study?"

"That will most likely never happen, even if he managed to find the library," Remus told Lily, following her out of the bookstore once they made their purchases.

"Thank Merlin," Lily said. "Nothing would ever get done if he decided to set foot in there."

"Poor Lily wouldn't have anywhere to study or do homework anymore," Marlene said in mock sadness.

"That's it!" Mary said with a mischievous grin.

"What?" Lily asked warily. She did not like the looks on her friends' faces.

"We just have to send Sirius to the library whenever we want you to stop being a good student," Emmeline said matter-of-factly, knowing exactly where her friends' thoughts were headed.

Remus fell behind the group, falling into step with James, who was watching all this with an awestruck face.

"It's fine, James, breathe," Remus said, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"I just…" James trailed off.

Remus nodded, silently agreeing. He thought it was pretty miraculous that they were all together and everyone seemed to be having a good time, including Lily, who was currently laughing and rolling her eyes at her friends and Sirius.

"I never thought I would actually get to hang out with her," James finally said.

"And now that you are, you aren't going to speak to her basically the whole time?" Remus asked, raising a brow.

James frowned at that, and then he shrugged. "I dunno, mate. She just ignored me last time I said something to her."

Remus shrugged in turn. "So what? She didn't yell or storm off. She is having a perfectly good time with Sirius right now. She will probably warm up to you when she realizes you won't be an arrogant prat around her anymore."

James smiled. "I guess you were right then," he admitted. "Lily can talk to me, as long as I'm not asking her out. I'll just have to keep with your plan of not asking her out, and learn how to talk to her without her ignoring me, and maybe she'll actually like me."

Remus nodded in agreement and said, "And you'll probably have to stop hexing random people for no good reason too." James gave him an incredulous, indignant look. "It's true and you know it, Prongs," Remus said. "She will never be your friend or do anything more than tolerate you unless you stop being a prat just because you feel like showing off some magic and using some poor sod as your guinea pig."

James turned his hazel eyes away from Remus, frowning. His shoulders drooped and his head dropped a little in shame. "Am I really that bad, Moony?" he asked.

Remus looked to the ground, still not so sure he should interfere with his friend's behavior, not so sure he should tell him off for it. Remus sighed and braced himself, turning his head to look at James once again. "Yes, James, I think you have been that bad. I think that when you get bored, you feel like you can do whatever you want, even if you feel badly about it later. I think you should never hex other people, only defend yourself against an attack. It's the mature thing to do, and sooner or later, you will either have to mature-maybe not entirely, but at least past hexing random people."

Silence followed his speech. They had fallen pretty far behind everyone else. Remus could see them turning into the Potions supply shop, Slug & Jiggers Apothecary. James stuffed his hands in his pocket, scuffing a foot against the cobblestone path.

"Alright then," he said after a moment. Remus thought he was going to leave it at that and rejoin the others, but James continued, "From now on, no more hexing people unless they attack me first. But I'm still going to pull pranks." He grinned, throwing an arm around Remus' shoulder. "What's life without a little mayhem?"

On the inside, Remus was sighing in relief. On the outside, he was laughing with his friend, indescribably happy that James was not angry with him. And who knows, maybe Remus had actually helped James in his quest of being friends with Lily. All he knew, was that Sixth Year was going to be a lot different than all the others, if James could manage to stick to his new vows.

Author's Note: Again, sorry for the late update, and thank you so much for reading! Send me a review if you want to let me know what you think! I know there was a lot of random in this chapter, but I felt it was necessary to include a chapter for the summer, but I didn't want it to drag, and I also wanted there to be and introduction into the reformed James and give a reason for his sudden behavior change in Sixth Year, as well as mention the fact that yes, they all know there is a war brewing, there just isn't much they can do about it right at the moment. So again, please let me know if you think it flowed nicely, and I hope to see you all again next chapter! It should be up in about a week!