A/N: Thank you for the reviews! It thrills me to hear that people like this story. I may not be posting next week due to the holiday, but I'll be back before long.

I realized that I never have posted a disclaimer, so just in case you are unaware, everything you recognize in this story is owned by J.K. Rowling and not by me. She's brilliant, and I would never dream of pretending to have a thimble's worth of her creativity and talent.

Now...Lily! Snape! Dumbledore! It's a dramatic one, folks...

Chapter 18 - 2.8 or "A Tad Bit on the Wrong Side of Curfew"

"I'm going to kill him…"

"Where is the idiot? He's going to make us miss our chance…"

"If we're not down there in seventeen minutes, we'll have to wait until next month to get started…"

It was the night of the full moon, the night when they would have to pick the knotgrass exactly at midnight for the potion that would be their first step toward becoming Animagi. There was only one problem – it was exactly seventeen minutes to midnight and Peter was nowhere to be found. He, Sirius, and James had all shown up a solid twenty minutes late to Potions that afternoon, as they had (rather ironically) gotten held up while preparing the initial ingredients for the Animagus potion in their dormitory. Unamused, Professor Slughorn had assigned them each separate detentions, and though James had returned from his stint with Hagrid two hours prior, and Sirius finished up his work with Filch not long after that, Peter had still not returned. James and Sirius were now alone in the Gryffindor common room, growing more and more impatient by the second.

"He should have been back over an hour ago," James muttered, glancing at his wristwatch for the fifth time in a minute.

"Slughorn never keeps students in detention this late. He must be somewhere else," said Sirius, pacing in front of the fire. "What's he playing at, not being here? He knows how important this is."

"He sure picked a great time to start being more independent," muttered James darkly.

"We've got to go without him. He'll whine about it, but we haven't got a choice. We can't wait another month to get this started."

James nodded and tossed Sirius his winter cloak from one of the squishy armchairs, swinging his own across his shoulders. Once clasped, he plucked up his broomstick that had been lying idly on a nearby table, and started toward the portrait hole, Sirius following closely behind. They had decided earlier that day to take the broomstick with them as a cover story – if they were caught on the Quidditch pitch, they'd rather get detention for sneaking out for a fly instead of having some nosy teacher asking questions about why they needed freshly-picked knotgrass.

Once in the corridor, James threw the Invisibility Cloak over the two of them. It was rather bulky with the two growing boys in their thick winter cloaks and James holding his broomstick awkwardly in front of him, but after a bit of rearranging, they began their trek through the castle.

"If he whines about it, I'm going to hex his bloody lips off," James grumbled. "We've sat detention with Slughorn loads of times and he's never kept us past ten."

"One time he let us go after thirty minutes, remember?" said Sirius lowly.

James's response fell silent as they passed a pair of patrolling prefects. The boys made their way carefully down to the entrance hall, which was mercifully empty, and squeezed out through the massive oak doors and onto the grounds. It was an unseasonably warm winter night, crisp and clear. The moon was so bright and the grounds so well-illuminated by it that they didn't even need to light their wands. James glanced again at his watch.

"Five minutes," he said, picking up his pace.

"I still don't think we brew the potion in the dormitory," Sirius said, revisiting a discussion they had been having for the past week.

"I know," sighed James, "but we don't have another good option."

"But Goomer –"

"– won't ask too many questions. You know he won't, Sirius. He's not a snitch."

"And the house where Remus transforms? I still think that's our best option."

"It won't work. We'd have to skive off too many lessons to get all the way down there so many times a day. It'd get suspicious," said James, exasperated at the rehashing of the same argument.

Sirius frowned, searching his brain for a place in the castle where they could brew a potion undetected for over a month. They stumbled a bit down the hill, trying to keep as much of themselves covered by the cloak as possible, before turning onto the path toward the pitch. The tall goal posts loomed in the distance like beacons glinting in the moonlight. James checked his watch again.

"Three minutes," James said.

Sirius slapped his forehead with his hand, an epiphany striking him. "What about the secret passage behind the mirror? The big one on the fourth floor? We could brew the potion in there!"

James bit his lip, considering it. "It's not a bad idea," he conceded thoughtfully. "Only we don't know how many others know about that passageway. Anyone could stumble across it."

"Yeah, but that's a risk we'd just have to take," said Sirius as they hurried toward the pitch. "If we brew it in the dorm, we know someone else will see it. If we brew it in the passageway, there's only a chance someone would find it, and it's not as if they're going to know what it is…"

James pulled the cloak off of them and pocketed it as they stepped onto the field. He placed his broom gently in the grass and then looked at his watch once more.

"One minute," he muttered, looking around the ground for some sign of the knotgrass. Sirius, too, started searching, spreading out away from James and lighting his wand to see better. He was just beginning to get anxious that they would miss their window when he heard James's shout.

"Got it!" he called, waving Sirius over from underneath the far goal posts. "A whole patch of it."

Sirius hurried over to him. James was staring at his watch, a determined look on his face.

"Three…two…one…now!"

They both reached down and pulled up several handfuls of the grass, which closely resembled normal grass, but had tiny, clover-like flowers attached to the ends. Once their pockets were properly stuffed, they stood up and grinned at each other.

"Well that was anticlimactic," Sirius said as they began walking back to the edge of the pitch to get James's broom.

"Now the hard part, though," said James. "We'd best start paying attention in Potions. If we muck this up and have to start all over, we'll lose months of time."

Sirius nodded and continued walking as James bent down to retrieve his broomstick. "We can handle it. Potions isn't difficult as long as we're paying attention, and it'll be easier to focus without Gin as my partner, I've got to say…"

James didn't answer. Turning around, Sirius realized that James had stopped several paces behind him, standing at the spot where he had picked up his broomstick, staring longingly up at the night sky.

"What are you doing?" Sirius called to him.

James smiled back sheepishly. "It's not every day I get a chance to fly at night…"

Sirius stared at him. "You want to fly? Now?"

"Just for a bit?" James smiled even bigger. "You can have a go too, if you want. There's nothing like flying at night…"

"You're completely mental, you know that?"

"Please?" James said, his grin only broadening.

Sirius snorted and rolled his eyes. "Fine. But if you get us caught, I'm going to tell Peter that it was all your idea to leave him behind tonight. You know he's not going to shut up about it tomorrow."

"Deal," James agreed, mounting his broom with unbridled excitement.

Sirius wandered to the edge of the Quidditch pitch as James took off into the night sky. After a few minutes of standing there mindlessly, he laid down on the hard, winter-dusted grass and stretched out on his back, staring idly into the clear darkness. It truly was a beautiful night, with the stars winking at him and the moon bathing his face in a cool light. Every once in a while, James would zoom in and then out of his line of vision again and he would smile. He would never understand why James was so obsessed with flying, but more and more, Sirius found that anything that made James happy was okay by him.

Despite James insisting that he would only be in the air for a few minutes, Sirius lost track of time as he lay there, pleasantly sheathed by his warm winter cloak. It was quite comfortable, actually, lying in the grass. He had never spent much time outdoors, certainly not at night, certainly not with an unobstructed view of thousands of stars staring down at him and a best friend whooping gleefully from above. They should do this more often, he thought – maybe drag Remus and Peter with them next time, maybe bring some butterbeer and sweets from the kitchens, maybe when it was slightly warmer outside…

A long howl somewhere in the far distance met his ears and suddenly Sirius was sick with himself for being so content in the moment. Remus was not too far away, broken and in pain, and here was Sirius, lying on his back on the Quidditch pitch, admiring the moon for Merlin's sake. They had sneaked down there to get the ingredients for a potion to help Remus, not to have a good time of it.

"Oi! James!" Sirius called, sitting up. "We should get back!"

James, though, was busy looping in and out of the far goal posts and did not hear him.

"You're quite right, Mr. Black," said a calm voice from just behind him. "I'd say you're a tad bit on the wrong side of curfew."

Sirius spun around wildly and his heart dropped to somewhere around his navel. Albus Dumbledore, clad in a thick purple cloak, was sitting cross-legged in the grass, not ten steps from where Sirius had been lying.

"Professor!" Sirius squeaked, his voice about an octave higher than usual. Dumbledore smiled serenely at him, his blue eyes twinkling.

"Good evening, Sirius," he said, a slightly amused note to his voice. "Or perhaps I should say good morning, as I believe it is close to one o'clock."

"Professor, we, er – well, we couldn't sleep, and James fancied a fly, so we, erm, I guess –"

"Sneaked down to the Quidditch pitch after midnight?"

Sirius swallowed, knowing full-well that there really was no way for him to talk them out of this. Dumbledore didn't look angry, at least – he still had a warm smile on his face.

"I had received a tip-off earlier in the night that some students might try to sneak down to the Quidditch pitch after curfew. I was skeptical, naturally, as I believe all of my students are well aware of the school rules against nighttime excursions." He laced his fingers together and twiddled his thumbs idly. "I'm sure you can imagine my surprise, then, as I was walking down to the kitchens for a bedtime snack, I happened a glance out of the Transfiguration corridor windows, and what should be illuminated in the moonlight, but a lone figure flying up and down the Quidditch pitch – with quite impressive skill, may I add."

"Er, right, that would have been James."

Dumbledore nodded wisely. "I had surmised as much."

"Who tipped you off, Professor?" asked Sirius, trying to sound politely puzzled instead of mutinous.

"That is neither here nor there," Dumbledore answered, waving a hand dismissively. There was a long silence and Sirius continued staring at the headmaster with no idea what to say. He had never had a conversation with Dumbledore before. And Dumbledore seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself, sitting in the grass, watching as James – who was still oblivious to the goings-on below him – looped around the pitch with glee.

"Er, Professor?" said Sirius after a minute. "Should I call James down, then?"

Stretching out his arms behind him, Dumbledore smiled, leaned back, and craned his neck to get a better view of James.

"Let's give him another minute," he said. "It truly is a beautiful night…very rare this time of year."

"Er…okay," said Sirius, thoroughly discomposed.

"Professor McGonagall and I were discussing you and Mr. Potter, just the other day, actually," Dumbledore said as though the setting were completely natural for casual conversation.

"You were?"

"Oh yes. Professor McGonagall is of the belief that the pair of you have now set a record for the most number of detentions ever acquired by any students below fourth year."

"But we're only second years…"

Dumbledore turned his attention away from James and surveyed Sirius, his blue eyes scanning Sirius's face as though like an x-ray. Sirius blinked and looked away.

"Yes, indeed, a fact that has only added to the, er, impressive nature of your record. Perhaps detentions and letters to parents are just not a deterrent for some."

Sirius made an inadvertent noise low in his throat at the mention of letters sent to his parents. He immediately tried to cover it with a cough, though Dumbledore did not seem fooled. He was still surveying him closely.

"You know, your mother came to see me last year, right after your sorting."

Sirius glanced at the headmaster and then looked away again, embarrassed and oddly guilty all of a sudden. "I heard," he said softly.

"We don't re-sort except under extraordinary circumstances, when it's clear that the student is deeply unhappy with his or her house. It's the entire philosophy behind the Sorting Hat, which works to see you as you are, free from external considerations. And it is clear to me and to anyone who has observed you since you began at Hogwarts that you are an apt fit for Gryffindor."

"I like being a Gryffindor," Sirius told him with a sudden, uncomfortable need to express that fact.

"Indeed." Dumbledore paused and admired the sky for a few silent moments before turning back to Sirius. "I have known many generations of Blacks, Sirius," he said. Sirius felt his mouth go very dry. "I'm not sure if you're aware, but there is a portrait of your great-great-grandfather hanging in my office. Very opinionated fellow." He paused again before adding gently, "You're very different from the other Blacks I've known."

Dumbledore's words pierced through him, leaving a soft pounding in his ears. Here he was, out of bounds after midnight, breaking about ten school rules in one go, discovered by no less than the headmaster himself, and Dumbledore had just paid him about the biggest compliment he could have asked for.

"Thanks," Sirius said quietly.

Dumbledore smiled at him and looked as if he might say more, but right then there was a soft thump behind him and Sirius turned to see James landing gracefully in the grass, his mouth open and his eyes huge behind his glasses.

"Professor Dumbledore!" James yelped.

"Hello James," Dumbledore said, rising from the grass. Sirius followed suit. "Did you have a nice fly?"

"Er, yes…" he said, eyes darting between the headmaster and Sirius, who shrugged at him.

"Well we'd better be getting back to the castle, then, boys, unless you were planning on finding a new adventure to lead you into trouble this evening?"

"Yes…I mean, no…I mean, right…we should be getting back up to the school then," James stammered.

They began walking back toward the castle, James and Sirius exchanging meaningful glances every few steps as Dumbledore strolled along ahead of them, humming softly. Sirius was immensely thankful that James had pocketed the Invisibility Cloak, along with the handfuls of knotgrass. He wondered how extensive their punishment would be; they had never run afoul of Dumbledore before and did not know what to expect. No one said anything until they reached the castle. Dumbledore flicked his wand at the giant oak doors, which creaked open in front of him.

"After you," he said, bowing toward the pair of them. Sirius glanced at James again, who was still wide-eyed and guilty-looking, his broom thrown over his shoulder.

"Professor," Sirius said, as they started up the marble staircase. "Er, are we going to be punished for being caught on the Quidditch pitch?"

James threw him an incredulous look, as if he had been hoping that Dumbledore wouldn't remember that they had done anything wrong until Sirius had reminded him.

"Oh yes," said Dumbledore lightly. "I shall catch Professor McGonagall up on the evening's activities in the morning. No sense in waking her up. She doesn't like to be disturbed at night, to be quite honest, and would perhaps be a bit more short with you than her usual pleasant demeanor."

Sirius grimaced, making a note to never wake McGonagall if he could help it. A few of the portraits watched them curiously as they proceeded through the corridors and up the staircases to Gryffindor Tower. When they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, she raised her eyebrows in surprise at them.

"Headmaster!" she said. "What in the world…?"

"Just found a few wandering Gryffindors, dear Lady," he said, smiling at her. "I shall leave them here, I think. Now," he turned to the two of them, "Mr. Potter, Mr. Black – as beautiful a night as it was, there is no excuse for sneaking out so late to wander the grounds, to go for a fly, or otherwise to be out of bounds. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," they both mumbled shamefacedly.

"Good," he said cheerfully. "Off to bed with you both, then."

James muttered the password to the Fat Lady, who tsked at them but still swung her portrait open. When it had safely shut behind them, Sirius let out a long breath.

"There you are!"

They both started. It was Peter, jumping up from the chair closest to the fire, looking positively fretful.

"Where were you? It's nearly half-one, I thought you'd have been back ages ago!"

"Hark who's talking!" said James angrily. "We got caught by Dumbledore. Where in the bloody hell were you?"

"Dumbledore?" Peter whispered, horrified. "Oh no…oh no…it's all my fault."

"What did you do?" Sirius snarled, making his way closer to Peter, who stepped back automatically.

"I didn't mean to!" he squeaked, fingers twisting nervously. "It was Snape! He attacked me when I was on my way back from detention!"

"Snape?"

"He attacked you?"

"What did he do? What did you tell him?"

"I didn't tell him about the knotgrass, I swear!" Peter said very quickly, as if this absolved him from other wrongdoing. Sirius was still advancing on him slowly and Peter backed away, putting one of the squishy armchairs between them.

"What did you tell him, then?"

"I…I…I told him you were wanting to go for a fly, but I didn't tell him when or anything. I'm sorry! He had pushed me into a broom cupboard and was threatening me! I only just got out of there a little bit ago. I'm sorry, I didn't know what to do!"

Sirius stopped walking and folded his arms across his chest, his anger at Peter starting to grow into a deep rage at the thought of Snape attacking his friend. He glanced at James, who was still glaring at Peter in a disgusted sort of way.

"You couldn't have made something up?" James growled, and Peter flinched as though James had struck him. "You couldn't have said we were sneaking down to the kitchens or some rot like that?"

"I'm sorry!" Peter repeated, his voice urgent and desperate. "I'm sorry! He said he was going to put the…the Imperius Curse on me…that he'd make me tell him that way."

James huffed and sat down next to the fire, his hand raking through his hair, causing it stand up in every direction.

"Well I guess it could have been worse," he muttered. "Dumbledore didn't see us getting the knotgrass anyhow."

"So you got it, then?" Peter said hopefully.

"Yeah." Sirius pulled the handful of knotgrass from his pocket to show him. "We got it. Would have got back just fine if James here hadn't decided that it was a fantastic time for a fly." Sirius gave James a very exasperated look, to which James had the right mind to look properly ashamed.

"And Dumbledore caught you?" Peter asked in a small, fearful voice, his watery eyes flickering back and forth between the two of them. "Are you going to be expelled?"

"Expelled?" James echoed, appalled.

"Of course we won't be expelled for sneaking down to the Quidditch pitch, you moron," Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

"That's what Snape said! He said he was going to get you expelled!"

"Well then he's a bigger idiot than you," snapped Sirius.

"What a slimy little git," James said, glowering. "Sneaking 'round trying to get us expelled, attacking Peter, threatening him with some seriously dark magic…I'm going to hex him into next year when I see him."

"Can't," said Sirius dully. James stared at him, a look of incredulity on his face. "We promised Evans, remember? Gave her our word."

"What? But he started it! He attacked Peter! We're not going to just sit by –"

"Not much we can do. We're not breaking our word to Evans." The beginning of the school year and his discussion with her about Regulus had endeared Lily Evans to Sirius. He had no interest in breaking a promise he had made to her. At the look on James's face, though, he added, half-jokingly, "Though we didn't say anything to her about not beating him into a greasy pulp."

This didn't seem to appease James, but he had no argument. He huffed again and crossed his arms, frowning into the fire for a moment before nodding curtly.

"Fine," he said. "I'm going to bed. Tomorrow's going to be rough, and we've got to get the potion started too."

"And who knows what McGonagall's going to do to us," Sirius muttered, before adding sarcastically, "That should be fun."

Transfiguration the next morning was a quiet affair. Not wanting to anger an already-irritated Professor McGonagall even further, James and Sirius spent the class easily transfiguring their white rabbits into fluffy slippers and doing their best to not cause any trouble, for the first time ever. Professor McGonagall's lips had tightened into a very thin line when she had seen them walk in, but later, as she strode around inspecting the students' work, she peered down at both Sirius and James's perfect slippers (complete with fluffy white pom-poms on the heels) and nodded curtly.

"Nicely done, boys," she said as though against her better judgment. "And I will need to see the both of you after class."

When they approached her desk after the bell rang, though, she was talking to Mary Macdonald about her essay, and glanced up at James and Sirius as they lingered behind.

"Head on to my office, both of you," she said, giving her wand a sweeping wave that James understood to unlock her office door. "I shall join you shortly."

James and Sirius grimaced at each other – the fact that she was making them meet her in her office instead of just assigning them detentions in the classroom did not bode well. The pair made their way slowly up the corridor and down one set of stairs to McGonagall's office with much dread.

James had only been in McGonagall's office once before, and they had been in quite a lot of trouble then too. Upon entering, Sirius flopped into a chair in front of her desk while James paced back and forth, waiting for McGonagall to make her entrance. Feeling quite guilty about the fact that they had only been caught because of him, James fiddled with his wand and looked around the office for something to distract him. McGonagall's desk was very clean – the only things in sight were a dark blue quill, an ink pot, and a roll of crisp parchment. Behind the desk sat a large, gleaming bookshelf, filled to bursting with orderly books. He looked at them curiously, wondering vaguely what someone like Professor McGonagall liked to read in her spare time.

"What are you doing?" Sirius asked from behind him.

"Just looking," James shrugged, reading the spines of the books: Where There's a Wand, There's a Way; Theories of Transubstantial Transfiguration; Quidditch Through the Ages (James grinned at this one); Sites of Historical Sorcery…

James gasped, not believing his eyes. Sandwiched on the top shelf, between Quintessence: A Quest and Notable Magical Names of Our Times was a dark blue spine with a title printed in embossed golden text: Advanced and Radical Human Transfiguration by Falco Aesalon.

"Sirius!" James said, his voice coming out in an awed whisper, his heartbeat racing.

But at that moment, McGonagall marched in and James jumped away from the bookshelf as though he had been scalded. Sirius looked at him curiously.

"Sit," McGonagall ordered, before pointing her wand at the door, which closed with a loud snap behind her. She turned and surveyed the two of them, her nostrils flaring ever so slightly, and waited until James had made his way to the empty chair before speaking.

"I had a very enlightening conversation with Professor Dumbledore over breakfast this morning," she said. "He recounted to me the thrilling tale of your adventures from last night. What do you have to say for yourselves?"

James swallowed and tore his thoughts away from the book that was winking at him from behind McGonagall's head. "It was my fault, Professor. I couldn't sleep and I thought maybe going for a fly would help, and I made Sirius come with me…"

"You made him? Black has his own body and his own brain – though Merlin knows he does not always use it for its noblest of purposes – and I am assuming, Potter, that you did not physically force him to sneak down to the Quidditch pitch in the middle of the night with you?"

"Er – well I begged him, Professor. Pleaded with him, in fact. Like I said, it was all my fault."

"As honorable as it is for you to try to protect your friend, Potter, it's not going to work. You both are free to make your own choices and both of you made a very poor one last night."

James decided to change tactics. Trying to channel Sirius at his most charming, James smiled up at McGonagall and said, "I know it was a poor choice, Professor, but it was a poor choice made with the desire to help the Gryffindor Quidditch team. We've a match against Slytherin next month and I was just trying to get in some extra practice to keep on form."

Sirius seemed to have picked up on James's strategy. He straightened in his chair and assumed his usual expression of utmost innocence. "All of the Slytherin Chasers are sixth and seventh years, Professor. Each of them must weigh about a hippogriff more than James."

"Well that's not exactly –"

"For Gryffindor to stand a chance, you know, our Chasers have to be on top form," Sirius continued, ignoring James's protest. "Any extra practice will help."

"Right," said James. "And surely you understand, Professor, just how much we want to win the House Cup this year…"

Hands now on her hips, McGonagall stared down at the pair of them, her patience evidently waning. In the time they had been speaking, her nostrils had grown wider and her lips noticeably thinner.

"If your plan was to help the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Potter, it has failed miserably," she said sharply. James shrunk a bit in his seat. "I have half a mind to ban you from playing Quidditch for the rest of the year."

"What?"

"No, Professor, please…"

McGonagall held up a hand to silence their protests and they both fell silent at once.

"However," she said, her eyes flashing dangerously, "I do not believe it fair to make the rest of the Quidditch team suffer due to your continual inability to adhere to the school's rules." James breathed a deep sigh of relief. "Your upcoming practice time will be limited though, Potter, as I am awarding you both a month's worth of detentions. I shall also take 50 points from Gryffindor. And let me make myself very clear to both of you – if you are ever caught flying around the Quidditch pitch after curfew again, you will not only be banned from Quidditch, but suspended from this school. Do you understand?"

Both James and Sirius nodded. House points and detention? That was nothing.

"Now get out of here and to your next lesson, both of you. I already sent a message ahead to Professor Slughorn informing him that you would be a few minutes late to Potions."

They exited quickly, eager to put as much distance between themselves and McGonagall as possible. The next set of lessons had already started and the corridors were completely empty. It was only when they had hurried down the stairs that led to the Potions dungeons that James grabbed Sirius's arm and pulled him aside.

"The book," he said without preamble, about to explode from the excitement of his discovery. "McGonagall has the book!"

It took a second for Sirius to register what James had said, but then his jaw fell open and his eyes lit up with excitement.

"You're joking!" he whispered in awe. "The one we need? Are you sure?"

"Positive. Right there on her shelf. McGonagall's an Animagus, she told us so last year! How could we have forgotten?"

They started walking again toward the Potions dungeon.

"We'll have to figure out a way to nick it," said Sirius.

James nodded. "And we'll have to do it so that McGonagall doesn't even realize it's gone."

"Could be tricky…if she catches us breaking into her office…the last thing we'd need is to get caught stealing a book telling us how to become Animagi…"

"We'll figure something out. We always do," said James, pulling the door to the dungeon open.

As the lesson had already started, every head turned to look at the loud creak of the door when they entered. James smirked directly at Snape, who wore an expression of mingled shock and fury at their presence.

"Sorry, Professor," Sirius said to Slughorn, who had paused from dictating instructions to the blackboard to turn and look at them. "We were with Professor McGonagall."

"Quite all right, boys," Slughorn said cheerfully as Sirius navigated the tables to take his seat next to Gin, and James, still sneering at Snape, sat down at the table he usually shared with Remus. "We were just beginning the lesson on Hiccuping Solutions. You haven't missed a thing yet. Now, as I was saying regarding the monkshood…"

The Potions class moved slowly. Slughorn instructed James to partner with Adin and Peter, since Remus was absent. Adin spent much of the class chattering happily to him, though James barely listened, intent on watching Snape, his jaw becoming tighter every time he looked up to see Snape and Lily working together seamlessly.

"James, stop," said Adin, grabbing his wrist as he made to throw a handful of scarab beetles into the simmering cauldron. "We've got to crush those first."

Distracted, he began crushing the scarab beetles with his pestle, still watching Snape with his eyes narrowed. Lily had evidently made a joke, as Snape chuckled and shook his head in an amused sort of way as he cut up his ginger roots. Something rose up within James while he watched them, something unbidden and which he could not explain. He found that he did not want Lily near Snape at all, that he wanted to go over there and bring the cauldron full of boiling hot potion down on Snape's greasy head, wanted to explain to Lily that just because she had been unlucky enough to be partnered with Snape, it didn't mean she needed to be so friendly toward him…

By the time the bell rang, James was glowering so darkly that Adin had all but stopped talking to him, and she made a quick exit out of the dungeon, leaving James and Peter behind to finish cleaning up the work space.

"She never talks to me that much in class," mumbled Peter, watching after Adin's retreating form with a frown.

"What?" James was clearly not listening at all to Peter. "Come on," he muttered, slinging his bag over his shoulder and waiting for Sirius to catch up to them before leaving the dungeon. James had his eyes fixed securely on the back of Snape's head, which was bobbing along a little farther up the corridor next to Lily's red hair. Many of the students had dispersed and Slughorn had disappeared in the direction toward his office.

"What are you going to do?" Peter whispered, a fearful look on his face.

"What's going on?" asked Sirius, looking back and forth between James and Peter.

James ignored them both and sped up. Snape had just turned the corner into the intersecting corridor that led to the entrance hall.

"Hey! Snivellus!" James shouted as they turned the corner behind him. Snape wheeled around, his hand automatically reaching in his robes for his wand, but he was too late. "Expelliarmus!"

The wand flew in a high arc and Sirius caught it easily with one hand, his eyes flashing from James to Snape to Lily, who had jumped back in surprise at the spell and now looked utterly furious. James covered the distance between them in only a few long strides and he did not so much as pause before giving Snape a hard shove in the chest. Snape's back slammed into the corridor wall.

"What do you think you're doing?" Snape spat, stumbling a bit as he tried to straighten his robes. Several students around them stopped walking to watch the proceedings, murmuring curiously.

"What am I doing?" James said, moving closer to Snape, who edged along the wall away from him. "What were you doing, huh? What were you attacking Peter for last night?"

"Er, James…" Sirius said, watching Lily closely, but James paid him no mind.

"Are you so bored with your own pathetic life that you need to insert yourself into ours?" he said, shoving Snape again. Lily whipped out her wand and pointed it at James's neck.

"Back off, Potter," she said in a low, threatening voice.

"Stay out of it, Evans," snapped James, still glaring at Snape. "This isn't your business."

"Oh yes it is!"

James ignored her, still focused on Snape. "You attacked Peter so you could find out what we were up to. You threatened him with a bloody Unforgivable. You went to Dumbledore and tried to get us expelled. Why are you so obsessed with us?"

Snape's eyes flickered to his wand, which Sirius was rolling between his fingers tauntingly across the corridor. He was defenseless.

"I'm obsessed with you?" Snape sneered. "I'm not the one who spends all his time planning tricks and spells to use on you. But of course, you think everyone's obsessed with you, don't you Potter? You arrogant –"

James shoved him once more and he stopped talking, a thud echoing around the corridor when his back hit the stone wall.

"Stop it, NOW!" yelled Lily, moving a step closer to James so that the tip of her wand poked into his neck. "I swear to God I'll hex you."

The contact of her wand tip finally caused James's focus on Snape to waver. He turned his head enough to look at her from the corner of his eye. "Why do you care so much anyway? I gave you my word I wouldn't hex him, I never said anything about not pounding his greasy face into the ground."

Before James had even finished speaking, Lily's eyes flared wide with dread and locked directly on Severus, whose face had turned a blotchy, brick red. He was edging along the wall away from them, staring back and forth between the pair, a look of shock and embarrassment on his red face.

"What do you mean, you gave her your word?"

Lily lowered her wand, her voice tight. "Severus, don't…I can explain…"

James crossed his arms and glared at Snape. "Evans made us swear we wouldn't hex you for the rest of the year, Snivelly, didn't you know?"

"Why…why would you…" Snape seemed at a loss for words. Lily moved toward him but he continued to walk backward, away from her, his eyes still bouncing between her and James.

"I'm sorry," she pleaded. "I just wanted them to leave you alone for once!"

"I don't need your help," he said. "I don't need anyone's help."

"I know! I'm sorry, Severus, really…"

"Just stay away from me," he said, his voice quivering slightly. He turned away from her and looked at Sirius. "Give me my wand, Black," he spat, holding his palm out expectantly.

With a quirk of his head, Sirius smirked and proceeded to toss the wand to the far end of the corridor, where it landed with a clatter, several blue sparks shooting out of the tip of it. Snape hurried over to retrieve it and then disappeared down the corridor that led back to the Slytherin common room.

Lily stared after him, her mouth slightly open in shock at what had just transpired. Some of the other students had begun moving away, a few muttering disappointedly that a real fight had not occurred. Adin broke away from the dispersing crowd and approached where Lily stood frozen.

"Er, Lily? Are you okay?"

Lily, though, ignored her friend. With a flash, she stomped back over to James, who was still standing with his arms crossed, looking annoyed, and she shoved him hard with two hands. He stumbled backward and hit the corridor wall.

"OI!" shouted Sirius, approaching them angrily.

"What is your problem, Potter?" she yelled.

The look of surprise on James's face was soon replaced with indignation as he regained his footing and straightened his robes. "What's my problem? What's your problem, Evans?"

Lily could feel her face burning and could hear the heartbeat in her ears, which only somewhat drowned out the whispers by the spectators left in the corridor. "You're a jerk, James Potter. Stay away from Severus and stay away from me, got it?"

And with one last furious look at him, she turned on her heel and stomped down the hallway toward the entrance hall, Adin hurrying along behind her.

Sirius stared after her, mouth hanging open. "What in the name of Merlin was that all about?"

Severus did not turn up for lunch in the Great Hall that day, nor could Lily find any trace of him in the corridors between classes, despite searching desperately. In fact, she spent so long lingering outside of the Charms classroom hoping that he would appear that she was a good ten minutes late for Herbology and lost five points for Gryffindor. She glared at James from across the greenhouse throughout most of the lesson, though he seemed to be pointedly ignoring her existence and carrying on with Sirius as usual. When she arrived at History of Magic for the last lesson of the day, she was pleased to note that James, Sirius, and Peter had skived off and she would not have to spend the whole hour glowering at him.

But when Severus did not appear at dinner that evening either, Lily began to worry. She ate slowly, hoping that maybe he would show up late to avoid the crowds, but there was no sign of him. When Lily and Adin were the very last students left in the Great Hall, she conceded hope and dejectedly admitted that they could go back to Gryffindor Tower.

Many students – Adin included – had peppered her with questions all afternoon about what had transpired and Lily was getting tired of the accusatory nature of their interrogations. She got the feeling that Adin thought it was something akin to lunacy to have shoved James Potter into a wall and to have told him off in front of a group of witnesses, especially in defense of someone as unpopular as Severus. By the time they had climbed through the portrait hole that evening, Lily was ready to find some solitude, and excused herself to turn in early, though she was still too upset to be properly tired.

It was only once she had stepped into the shower that she finally allowed herself to cry, letting the hot water wash away the tears that slipped out. Severus's pride had always been of the utmost importance to him and she truly did not know if he would forgive her for what she had done. She had thought that making James and Sirius promise to lay off of him would allow Severus time to move on a bit, would give him the opportunity to refocus on some of his other interests, that maybe she would be able to have a conversation with him again that did not revolve around how much he hated her housemates. Yet in an effort to get her best friend back, she may have pushed him away for good.

And then there was James Potter. James Potter, who was clever and funny and very popular and had always been nice to her, and who – much to her own frustration – had made her stomach flutter nervously ever since the year before. She hated the animosity between him and Severus, and she hated even more that she did not hate James Potter. She would try to ignore him, she decided resolutely; she would ignore his existence from this point on, would smother the fluttering in her stomach with her own resolve, and would figure out how to patch things up with Severus. But would the entire school think she was a freak for doing so?

('Freak!' Petunia spat at her from the well-tread corner of her memory.)

She emerged from the lavatory a little while later, a cloud of steam billowing into the dormitory behind her, and found Gin sitting cross-legged on her bed, reading a book. Gin looked up at her and gave her a small smile as the steam began to dissipate.

"Hello," she said.

Lily crossed the room to her own bed and began towel drying her hair. "Hi."

Gin went back to her book. Lily threw the damp towel on top of her trunk and then climbed onto her bed, sitting up against the headboard, pulling her old stuffed unicorn Cobb into her lap, and staring at Gin. The other girl paid her no mind, seemingly engrossed in her book, her blonde hair falling across her face.

After a few minutes, Gin seemed to realize she was being observed and looked up at Lily. "What?" she asked, peering around her as if to discover the object of Lily's gaze.

"What are you reading?"

Gin held up the book for Lily to see it was a Defense Against the Dark Arts book. "Just reading about Occlumency," she said lightly. "It's quite interesting." She smiled at her and then turned back to her book.

Suddenly, Lily found that she desperately wanted to talk to someone who would not judge her, and she knew that Gin Leigh was one of the only people in the school who might fit that category at the moment. "You're pretty much the only person I know who hasn't asked me why I shoved James Potter into a wall today."

Gin looked back up at her in surprise and then frowned. "Did you?"

"You didn't hear?" said Lily, disbelieving. "It was right after Potions. People haven't left me alone about it all day."

"Oh!" said Gin, comprehension dawning on her face. "I didn't hear that you shoved him, but I did overhear Bertha Jorkins telling some Hufflepuffs that you hexed his eyebrows off and locked him in Moaning Myrtle's toilet."

Lily huffed but said nothing as a sudden, painful, inexplicable lump obstructed her throat; she blinked quickly and swallowed the lump down. She would not cry again.

Gin was watching her closely. "Are you all right?"

"Yes," she said automatically. When Gin didn't respond, Lily shook herself and said, "No, actually." Gin dog-eared the page in her book and set it on her bed, but still did not press Lily further. At times, Lily found Gin's strange quietness to be awkward, but at the moment, it was indescribably comforting. She took a deep breath and said, "Severus is one of my best friends and I did something to try and help him, but he found out and now he's furious with me and I don't know if he'll ever speak to me again. And on top of that, now I've gone and made enemies of Potter and Black – who tend to make the people who they don't like know it loudly and often – and the whole school thinks I'm a nutter and even though I don't want to care about that, I do."

Gin nodded, looking sympathetic. "It's okay to care about what people think."

"Says the girl who could not care less what people say about her."

"That's not true," said Gin. Lily gave her a disbelieving look. "Okay, well sometimes I don't care, that's true, but it's all right that you do."

"Why can't they just leave each other alone? Why do they have to constantly be at each other's throats? It gets so stale, listening to Severus go on and on about how much he hates them. I was just trying to help."

"I don't think you'll ever make much progress, if your goal is to get Snape and Potter to like each other."

Lily pulled her knees up to her chest, the unicorn now sandwiched against her torso. "I know. I just wish things were different, because I like them both…"

She cut off, her face suddenly hot. Gin raised her eyebrows. "You like James, then?"

"No," said Lily, a little too quickly, her face now on fire. "I didn't mean it like that. I like them both as…as friends…"

"It's okay if you do. I won't tell."

Lily shook her head. "Only as friends – I like them all as friends…just as friends."

"Okay," Gin shrugged impassively. Lily tried to determine if she believed her or not, but it was always very difficult to know what Gin was thinking.

"What do you think I should do?"

Uncrossing her legs and stretching them in front of her, Gin leaned back against her own headboard and pondered this for a moment. "Well, I reckon if you care that much about Snape – you said he's one of your best friends – you should try to make up with him. You could explain why you did what you did and he'll either forgive you or he won't. But I think that's all you can do."

"And the others?"

This seemed to take more contemplation, and she paused for several seconds before answering slowly. "If it were me, I guess I'd just leave it alone for now. They won't hex you I don't think…I've never seen them do anything to a Gryffindor, and to be honest I think they might be afraid of you. You're about as good at jinxing as both James and Sirius and they know it, they aren't stupid."

Lily gave her half of a grin and then slid down her bed until she was lying on her back, her feet flat against her blankets and her knees pointed at the ceiling. "Thanks," she said, feeling slightly better. Gin had confirmed the plan that Lily had formed in the shower. The world never seemed to make things easy between Lily and Severus, and today had just been another boulder in the stream that she was forced to navigate around. She would try to make Severus see reason and if he didn't, it just proved he cared more about his own pride than their friendship. And if that were the case, better that she know it now than to allow her relationship with him to further alienate her from the rest of the school.

She would bail the water out as best she could, but she wouldn't allow herself to go down with the boat.