Elephant Love Medley

CHAPTER ONE: BACK TO HOGWARTS

As the Hogwarts express pulled out of Platform nine and three quarters, Lily Evans settled back in her chair with a contented sigh. It was going to be her fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and she had never felt so happy to be going back. It wasn’t that she didn’t love going home for the summer to see her parents- she did, very much- it was just that she felt that five years boarding at Hogwarts had created a gap between her and the rest of her family. Particularly between herself and her elder sister, Petunia. Lily sometimes wondered how she fitted into the Evans family at all. With her dark red hair and emerald green eyes, Lily looked totally different to her brown-haired father and blonde mother and sister. And of course, being told that she had magic inside of her, that she was a witch, made her feel even more different to the rest of her family.

Lily turned and watched houses flashing past outside the window. Never mind Petunia, she told herself sternly. I’m going to be back at Hogwarts soon.

Her two best friends at Hogwarts, Evelyn O’Kelly and Ingrid Bell walked in. They had been storing their trunks and things in the luggage compartment.

"All right?’ Lily said when they came in.

‘Fine," said Evelyn, brushing her sandy coloured curls out of her face. "Nearly dropped my trunk on a first year when they ran into me, but. Idiot first years…" She was a short girl, but always full of energy and spirit. She hailed from Ireland, had large eyes, and was constantly getting scolded by teachers for speaking her mind at the wrong moment.

"Evelyn, remember when you were in first year and you nearly fell off the train on your way to Hogwarts because you were so excited?" said Ingrid pleasantly, sliding the compartment door shut behind them. Lily and Evelyn laughed. Ingrid was very tall and slim, with jet-black hair that was very straight and very long. She had piercing blue eyes, and was the shyest of the three girls. Her older brother, Evan Bell was in seventh year and very protective of her, as Ingrid’s father had died when she was very young.

"Lucky James Potter was there to pull me back in," Evelyn said, laughing again. Lily groaned at the mention of the name. Evelyn and Ingrid both turned to each other and rolled their eyes. They were quite used to the battle between Lily and James Potter, a fifth year Gryffindor like themselves.

Since first year, for inexplicable reasons, James Potter and Lily Evans had hated each other from day one. Maybe it was because James poked fun at Lily’s red hair, calling her a carrot top. Maybe it was because Lily dropped her trunk (accidentally) on James’ foot on that very first train ride to Hogwarts, causing him to drop his owl’s cage, breaking it, and letting the owl fly around King’s Cross Station, hooting madly. All they knew was that from the very first moment they met, things had gone wrong. Things weren’t made better when James and Lily were put into the same house- Gryffindor. Things were made even worse when they both came top of the year- and every year after that. Lily often called James an immature, attention-seeking spoiled brat. James often called her a snobbish, unpopular talent-less prude. Lily couldn’t stand James, and James couldn’t stand her. It was a very simple relationship, based on feelings of mutual dislike. People couldn’t figure out why, however. It was as though they were almost too alike to accept the other’s existence. Both of them were highly intelligent, determined, brave and popular. They were both notoriously stubborn, and would never take no for an answer. Both were known for their phenomenal talent at Transfiguration and Charms, and both of them could fly a broomstick with amazing ability.

"Lily when are you and James ever going to get over it?" said Evelyn wearily. "I mean, what’s not to like about him?"

"What’s not to like?" Lily repeated, her eyes flashing. "Maybe the fact that he’s a prat may have something to do with it."

"He’s not a prat," said Ingrid earnestly. "He’s sweet, and funny, and he’s always nice to me."

"And me," said Evelyn. ‘Besides which, he’s really cute, and sure, he’s an idiot, but a good looking idiot."

"Well, I’m glad you two are so Pro-James," said Lily evenly. ‘Why don’t go and marry him?"

"I just might," Evelyn said, winking, "before someone else snaps him up."

Ingrid giggled while Lily made retching noises.

"Can’t you just accept it?’ Evelyn said with some satisfaction. "You only hate him because of a stupid four year-old vendetta."

"I don’t like him," said Lily firmly, "because I just don’t. He’s not my kind of person."

"Maybe he is, said Evelyn, smirking. "You just don’t know it yet."

Lily snorted. "Believe me. I know James Potter. And I don’t like what I know."

Down the corridor of the train, they could hear thumping footsteps and the sound of laughter.

"Don’t run! Don’t run!" they heard a boy yell. "I learnt a lovely hex over the holidays!"

"Yeah sure, who taught it to you- your Muggle mum?" someone else shouted back breathlessly. More laughter, and the sound of scuffling. Then a third voice joined them

"What are you two gits DOING?" the third person laughed.

"We’re drilling holes in London Bridge, Moony, what does it look like?"

"Looks like you’re in a clinch to me."

"Oh, EW! EW! You’re disgusting Moony!" Sounds of more scuffling followed.

"Well I’m not the one hugging Sirius."

"I know, lucky you. You STINK Sirius!"

"Hey! Speak for yourself you four-legged moron!"

Inside Lily, Ingrid and Evelyn’s compartment, Lily rolled her eyes at the other two.

"Good god, it’s the three idiots. I hate it when they’re all together."

There was a thump as someone hit the compartment door and slid down to the floor. Obviously the scuffling was reaching a height.

"Ow!" the person who had hit the door yelled. Someone laughed.

"See who’s in there, James!"

The door slid open. James Potter was lying on his back on the floor, having opened the door from there.

"Hey girls!"

"Hi James!" chorused Evelyn and Ingrid.

James rolled over onto his stomach and propped himself up on his elbows. His rumpled jet-black hair was looking particularly messy this morning and his glasses were slightly askew from the scuffle. He grinned rakishly, a dimple appearing in his right cheek as he did so. This was the smile he used to charm everyone, to get him out of trouble when he’d been up to no good. As usual. But teachers didn’t seem to mind, that much. (Well, none of them except Professor Dolohov, the Potions teacher), and they were all lenient on James and his friends. It was a well-known fact he was Madame Hooch’s favourite student and not just because he was a star player on the Quidditch team. People just seemed to be drawn to James and his mischievous nature. He and his little gang of friends were well known throughout the school for constantly playing pranks, and sneaking out of their dorms every night to cause havoc around the school. None of this seemed to bother the teachers, especially when he flashed them that smile. Many girls at Hogwarts thought he was the cutest boy ever to grace the earth. (Lily pretended not to notice, but the fact was James was quite good looking.)

"You girls look better every time I see you," he said earnestly. Ingrid and Evelyn giggled. Lily made a vomiting noise and picked up a book. James looked over at her, and raised his eyebrows, giving her the "I-don’t-like-you-very-much-at-all" look he reserved just for her.

"Oh it’s you, is it?’ he said giving her a curt nod.

"Yeah. And you." Lily said, shooting him an equally distasteful look.

Sirius Black, James’ best friend and partner in crime, appeared at the doorway. An exceptionally handsome boy, Sirius had a knack for charming people into doing things they didn’t want to. He was as popular as James, as intelligent, and as brave. He had thick dark brown hair and deep brown eyes, a million-watt grin and a flirtatious way with girls. Sirius had always been nice to Lily even though his best friend couldn’t stand her. Lily found him a bit overbearing at times but other than that she enjoyed his company very much.

"Hey girls," Sirius said. "Lily," he added, giving her a little wave.

She smiled and waved back. James pulled himself off the ground and plonked himself between Ingrid and Evelyn on their compartment seat.

"So what’s the buzz girls?" he said, straightening his glasses. "Tell me all your sordid secrets."

Sirius laughed. "Gossip queen Potter strikes again."

Remus Lupin appeared at the doorway behind Sirius.

"What are you two doing- Oh. Hi." He waved at the girls in the carriage. Remus Lupin was one of those people who seem to be permanently tired or ill. The bags under his light gray-green eyes gave him the appearance of being exhausted, all the time. He was more shy than James or Sirius, but no less brave and talented. He seemed to keep to himself a lot, and was frequently out of school for being ill. Lily sometimes caught herself wondering about the mysterious Remus- he was quiet and earnest, and Lily’s favourite of James Potter’s friends. She caught his eye and grinned at him. He smiled shyly back. (Whenever he was in the presence of Evelyn O’Kelly, Remus tended to become even more introverted. He’d had a crush on Evelyn since third year.)

"Remus, my loony old friend," James said. "Come, join our party!" (Evelyn and Ingrid giggled. Lily gritted her teeth and rolled her eyes despairingly.) Sirius and Remus came into the compartment and slid the door shut behind them. Sirius sat down next to Lily and stretched his arms luxuriously.

"Did you girls have a good break?" he said, giving them a cheerful grin.

"’Course," said Evelyn. "And are you boys ready for another school year?"

"More than," said James. "Nothing ever happens at home. That’s why it’s always good to go back to Hogwarts." Remus laughed dryly. "You’re only happy to be back because this is when your reign of terror begins, James."

"What?" laughed Ingrid. "Reign of terror?"

"Ah, yes, that’s right," grinned Sirius, settling his arm comfortably across the seat behind Lily. James grinned proudly.

"Yes, my faithful minions, soon you will all be working under ME!" he gave a demonic laugh.

"What are you talking about?’ said Lily tersely, looking up from her book.

James stood up and bowed. "Friends, it is true. I, James Potter, have been voted in Prefect of Gryffindor Hou-"

"What?" Lily exclaimed- rather too shrilly. James, Sirius and Remus stared at her. Evelyn snorted into her hand and tried pretend it was a cough.

"What’s your problem?" he said. Ingrid, meanwhile, was looking excited.

"You’ve been voted Prefect, James? That’s fantastic! Lily was voted Prefect too!"

"What?" James said, in a voice nearly as shrill as Lily’s. They stared at each other in horror for a few moments.

"I can’t believe this," Lily said to herself.

"Me either," James said. "You’re a Prefect?"

She nodded miserably. "And you are too?"

"Yeah," said James crossly. Evelyn tried in vain to contain her laughter while Ingrid looked worriedly from Lily to James glaring at each other. Remus looked uncomfortable and started staring out the window. Sirius however, stood up and grinned.

"Well, looks like there’s a fraction too much friction with these two."

"No kidding," sniggered Evelyn. Sirius, still grinning, extended his hand to Lily.

"Way to go," he said.

"Thanks." She shook his hand, still feeling dismayed. The Prefects of a house always had to work closely with each other, organizing Quidditch cheers and collecting house points; being part of a student council and approaching teachers with suggestions from the student body. It took a lot of organization and responsibility, and the thought of working with James Potter- who hardly knew what the word "responsible" meant- the thought of working with James Potter for the next three years made her feel sick. And it was clear, from looking at James’ angry expression that he felt the same way.

"Congratulations," said James finally, with a petulant glare.

"You too," Lily said coolly. "Excuse me," she made her way past Remus to the compartment door. "I need to use the bathroom." She could feel James Potter’s eyes on her as she went. She stormed out of the compartment, nearly running into the fourth member of James’ little gang, Peter Pettigrew- a chubby brown-haired boy who idolised James. She waited until she was a way down the train corridor until slamming her fist against the wall in frustration. She’d been so happy when she received the letter in the holidays, telling her she had been selected to be a Gryffindor Prefect. Her mum and dad had both been so proud of her. And now the whole experience would be ruined, because of that irresponsible prat.

"Darn you James Potter," she said aloud savagely, causing a passing group of second year girls to giggle. Lily sighed. What a mess everything was now.

And she’d so been looking forward to this year!

But, despite Lily’s disappointment, her bad mood cleared up by the time they reached Hogwarts. The start of term feast was a most pleasant affair, though Lily and James steadfastly ignored each other and Evelyn kept on sniggering at them behind her hand.

However, another nasty surprise came when the Prefects for the years were announced. Two students from each house of the fifth, sixth and seventh years, as well as the Head Boy and Girl, made up the student council. Both James and Lily were equally disquieted when Professor McGonagall read out the fifth year Slytherin Prefects and announced that, "Severus Snape" was Prefect for his year!

Severus Snape happened to be James’ arch-rival. In much the same way Lily and James had got off on the wrong foot, so too had Snape and James in their first year, and they had hated each other ever since. Snape was intensely jealous of James’ talents and popularity, as he himself was hated by the majority of students from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw House, though Lily, too had her own reasons for hating Snape. Sirius, James, Remus and Peter glared murderously as Snape, his greasy black hair slicked back and dark eyes shining smugly, stood up and walked to the teacher’s table to shake Dumbledore’s hand. He had already put his Prefect’s badge on, and it glittered by the light of the thousands of candles suspended magically in the air. He was followed by the female fifth year Prefect for Slytherin, "Samantha Avery."

"Fifth year Gryffindor Prefects," called Professor McGonagall. "James Potter."

There was tumultuous applause from the Gryffindor table. James, still frowning, walked up to the teachers’ table. Lily watched him walk to Dumbledore, noticing that he had grown at least a foot over the summer holidays. He walked up and shook Dumbledore’s hand grimly. Dumbledore said something quietly to him, and James smiled. Self-consciously Lily straightened her robes.

"…And Lily Evans." Professor McGonagall read. More loud applause. Lily blushed automatically. She hated having attention drawn to herself. She forced herself not to hurry to the teacher’s table. "Be dignified," she told herself. As she reached Dumbledore, his piercing blue eyes twinkled merrily. "Congratulations, Miss Evans," he said quietly, shaking her by the hand.

"Thank you, Professor," said Lily, as calmly as she could.

"I think we can expect great things from you this year, my dear," he said. Lily grinned, feeling better. She joined the end of the line where the new Prefects were standing next to James.

"You look nervous," James said out of the corner of his mouth. "Sure you can handle this, Evans?"

"Can you?" she said, trying not to make her lips move.

"I asked you first," he retorted.

"It’s not a question of handling it," she whispered, as a fifth year Hufflepuff Prefect ("Kiki Kessavat") joined the line next to her. "It’s a question of wanting to."

"Huh," snorted James. "I and I suppose you think I don’t."

"Quite frankly, no," she said coolly. "Now shut up. We’ll get into trouble."

James remained silent after that. When all the Prefects and the Head Boy and Girl had been announced, Professor McGonagall, who was head of Gryffindor house, took the new Gryffindor Prefects aside.

"Now that you have been accepted into these positions of responsibility, I trust you will uphold the respect it deserves," she started. Seeing the glazed looks and yawning mouths, though, she decided to keep it short. "The new password for the Gryffindor common room is "Canis minor". Your first official student council meeting will take place next Saturday directly after dinner. Congratulations once again on being chosen to represent your house and years."

And with that, the Prefects dispersed, following the rest of their house up the marble staircase and onwards to the common room. The crowd milled about in front of the portrait that was the entrance to the common room.

"What’s the password?" several people were yelling.

James cupped his hands to his mouth and bellowed, "PASSWORD’S CANIS MINOR!"

"Canis minor!" several other people echoed. The portrait door swung open and there was a press of people. Lily stepped back to avoid being pushed over by a crowd of fourth years, but she stepped back right on someone’s foot and stumbled.

"Oh, sorry! I’m so sorry," she cried, as the person held out their hands to steady her. She turned to see that it was James Potter. He let go of her at once as if he had been burned, and Lily herself jumped away so quickly she nearly knocked over a first year. There was an awkward moment where neither of them said anything, but just stared at each other. Suddenly James, probably for the first time, smiled at her. Lily, to her utmost annoyance, found herself smiling back, automatically. Quickly she wiped it off her face.

"Sorry,’ she said again.

"No problem," said James, shrugging. He smirked, and held out his hand. ‘I’m looking forward to working with you, Evans."

"Sure, you too," she said, equally as insincerely. She didn’t take his hand, instead gave him a curt nod.

"Night," said James, and disappeared into the crowd moving into the portrait hole.

CHAPTER TWO: MEETINGS WITH MUDBLOODS

Lessons started the very next day and the fifth years were very soon made aware of the fact that this year at Hogwarts was going to be the hardest yet. This was the year they took their Ordinary Wizarding Levels, and, as Professor McGonagall explained, they needed to be prepared for them. Hence, when the weekend arrived, everyone was even more glad than usual.

"I am exhausted already and it’s only been one week," Ingrid complained to Evelyn, Sirius, James and Peter at breakfast on Saturday morning.

"Buck up, old girl," said Sirius bracingly. "Only three more terms to go. Where’s Lily this morning?"

"She’s coming," Evelyn yawned, nodding towards the staircase. "She was up late last night doing that Transfiguration essay."

"Oh no…" groaned peter, ‘I haven’t even started it!"

Sirius craned his neck so that he had a clear view of the marble staircase. Evelyn gave him a shrewd look.

"You sweet on her, mate?"

Sirius turned and grinned. "Who isn’t?" he said, without a trace of embarrassment. "She’s hot!"

James nearly choked on a mouthful of porridge.

"What?!" he coughed in disbelief. "Don’t tell me you have a thing for her?"

"Why?’ said Sirius, raising his eyebrows. James shook his head, giving Sirius a despairing look. "Honestly, I thought you had better taste than that!"

Sirius smirked. "Well obviously I have better taste than you, if you can’t see that she’s hot."

Evelyn and Ingrid were both frowning at James, so he decided that he’d better keep quiet.

"Well, I just wish I was in your position," said Sirius. "James you are such a lucky bastard."

"Huh?" said James.

"Well, jeez, with you and her both being Prefects you’re going to be able to spend so much time with her, I mean, you’ll see her like, twenty-four-seven!" he shook his head "I could handle being Prefect if Lily Evans was one too."

James stared at Sirius for a moment in bewilderment, but once again decided to keep his mouth shut.

Secretly, he happened to agree with Sirius. He had noted Lily Evans’ beauty, of course- it was hard to miss. In first year Lily had been nothing more than a little girl with red pigtails and metal strings across her teeth (Muggles called them ‘braces"). But since then, she had grown up a bit, and really, she had blossomed. This year, it was even more apparent. She was definitely growing up, and as James was too, he noticed it. She had grown taller, the braces had long since come off, and her smile much better for it. He had never met anyone with hair as dark a red as hers was. And her eyes…they were the greenest James had ever seen. A strange, emerald green they were. Whenever she glared at him, James was drawn to the intensity of those eyes despite himself. Of course Lily was beautiful.

But all that didn’t change the fact that she was a big-headed know it all.

"Is Remus around?’ said Ingrid, interrupting James’ thoughts. Sirius looked at James and said, too quickly to be casual, "No, he’s sick."

"Again?’ said Evelyn incredulously. "It’s only the start of term!"

"Yeah well, Remus has always been delicate," James said, kicking Sirius under the table.

"Ow! What was that for?’ said Sirius, glaring at James. James clenched his teeth and tried to give him a meaningful "shut up" look without being too obvious.

"Chill out," he said through clenched teeth. Evelyn was looking at them shrewdly. Luckily, Peter deftly distracted them all. "Oh, look, here comes Lily!" he said quickly. The four of them turned to see Lily descending the marble staircase. James swallowed hard. She had neglected to tie up her long red hair this morning, and it swished behind her, just reaching below her shoulder blades. She spotted her friends when she reached the door of the Great hall, grinned and headed straight for them. Sirius watched her walk towards them, eyes following her every move.

"James, you lucky, lucky bastard,’ he said under his breath, ‘what I wouldn’t give to be working with her."

Just as Lily passed the Slytherin table, Severus Snape provided another distraction. Like most Slytherins, Snape was a pure-blood wizard and saw Muggle-born witches and wizards as terribly inferior. Like most Slytherins, Snape saw Muggle-borns as sport.

As Lily passed the Slytherin table the usual jeers and catcalls followed her. For Lily was a Muggle-born, and everyone knew it. "All right, Mudblood?" Snape called, at which several of his Slytherin friends laughed nastily. Lily ignored this, but Sirius couldn’t. He, too, was Muggle born and nothing angered him more than use of the word ‘Mudblood" which was a very offensive term for a Muggle-born witch or wizard. James also found himself clenching his fists; he hated the prejudice against Muggle-borns. Why couldn’t people see that it made no difference who your parents were as long as you had magic inside and could learn to do something with it?

Sirius had angrily gotten to his feet, fuming.

"Oh, Sirius…d-don’t do anything stupid…" mumbled Peter, looking frightened. Sirius ignored him and marched angrily over to the Slytherin table, looking ready to kill.

"What’s wrong?" Lily said, catching him by the arm as he strode past her. Sirius gestured angrily towards the Slytherins, who were still laughing.

"Are you just going to let him call you that? How can you do that, Lil?" He glared at the Slytherins murderously. "Doesn’t it make your blood just boil?"

Lily rolled her eyes. ‘Of course it makes me angry but those prats will get sick of it after a while. I just ignore them, and I think you should do the same."

"I can’t," Sirius growled. "I can’t! It makes me so angry."

"Well, someday they’ll learn," said Lily soothingly, patting his arm to placate him. "Come on. Just leave it Sirius."

Sirius sighed. "Okay. But I’ll get him. He can’t get away with it."

"I know," said Lily, leading him back to the Gryffindor table. Lily sat down next to Sirius, gave everyone a warm hello (except James) and inquired about Remus. She seemed concerned learning that he was sick again.. Watching her, sitting next to Sirius, giggling when he tried to put his arm around her, reassuring Peter that the Transfiguration essay wasn’t that hard, and all the while steadfastly ignoring himself, James felt strange. He felt something that he could only describe as resentment. But what did that mean? Could he possibly be jealous of his best friend and the others that Lily Evans bestowed attention upon? She certainly was as popular, if not more so than James, so what was so special about her? What was there that he couldn’t see about that drew people to her?

James made up his mind. He was going to find out exactly what.

*

That night was the Prefects’ first official meeting. Professor McGonagall usually sat in on the meetings, but as tonight was the first one, then all the Heads of House were there, as well as Professor Dumbledore himself. The meetings were held in the Trophy room. This was a room on the third floor, with dusty cabinets full of trophies lining the walls. A large, wooden rectangular table stood in the middle of the room when Lily, James and the other Gryffindor Prefects got there. Professor Dumbledore was already there, sitting at the head of the table, flanked by two Heads of House on either side. Professor McGonagall stood to his right, along with Lily’s least favourite teacher, Professor Dolohov, who was head of Slytherin. He was a thin, weedy man with long, grey-streaked brown hair and a long moustache. He taught Potions, and was always favouring his own house above the others. On Dumbledore’s left stood Professor Flitwick, a tiny little man with a shock of white hair, who taught Charms and was head of Ravenclaw. And next to Professor Flitwick stood Professor Sprout, the dumpy little Herbology witch who was head of Hufflepuff. Dumbledore smiled at them all and bade them sit down.

Lily felt slightly apprehensive and sat down quickly. To her irritation, James sat down in the chair to her right. After the Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Prefects had filed in, Professor Dumbledore began the meeting.

‘Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts I would like to begin by going around the table and one by one, introducing ourselves." His eyes twinkled, "I would like us all to get to know each other better, as from now you embark on a journey that you must travel together. So please, give us your name and tell us something about yourself."

He indicated to the sixth year Hufflepuff Prefect on his right and she stood up.

"My name is Jessica MacMillan, I’m sixteen in January and I have a pet cat called Ferdinand." She beamed at them all and sat down. One by one, each of the Prefects introduced themselves, most of them already wearing their shiny Prefect badges. Lily patted her pocket, where she was keeping her badge. She hadn’t pinned it to the front of her robes just yet. She didn’t feel it was right when, as a Prefect, she hadn’t actually done anything for the school yet. Dumbledore nodded to her. "Miss Evans?"

"Oh!" she stood up, flushing as all eyes landed on her. "Um, My name is Lily Evans, I’m from, um, London…I’ll be fifteen in October, and I…like Butterbeer?" she said uncertainly. The Prefects chuckled appreciatively and Lily looked up and smiled, pleased that she didn’t embarrass herself. She happened to catch Severus Snape’s eye. He smirked at her and mouthed, "Mudblood!" Lily stopped smiling and stared at Snape. He actually had the nerve to call her a Mudblood in front of all these teachers? Lily was momentarily stunned.

"You may sit down, Miss Evans," Dumbledore said. She sat down quickly, fleeing another flush travel up her throat, stinging her eyes. She looked up again to see Snape shaking with silent laughter, smirking at her from behind his hand. She felt her cheeks grow hot. Next to her, James stood up at Dumbledore’s indication.

"Hi there, my name is James Potter. I turned fifteen three weeks ago, I have a pet owl named Gorgon, and…" He paused, glanced at Lily, cleared his throat and said, "…And I think everyone should know that nothing annoys me more than Wizarding prejudice like Severus just displayed."

Lily looked up at him quickly. He was staring quite calmly at Snape, who was sitting opposite him at the table. Snape was glaring at James, a slight blush colouring his normally white face.

"Whatever do you mean, Mr Potter?" said Dumbledore, also calm. Everyone else looked confused. Lily shook her head at James, but he ignored her and continued.

"I’m just saying, Professor," said James slowly, "that it shouldn’t matter who your parents were as long as you have magic inside you and can learn to do something with it."

"Precisely," said Dumbledore, as the teachers around him nodded, as did several of the Prefects.

"So that is why, sir, that it angers me to see people of Muggle parentage being insulted-" (And here he glared at Snape malevolently) "-being taunted with insulting terms simply because their parents are Muggles."

"As it should," said Dumbledore quietly, now looking grave. "I myself feel angry anytime I witness a display of prejudice. But what does this have to do with Severus?"

James looked at Lily again, and she knew for sure what he was talking about. She shook her head again and whispered, ‘Shut up, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter!"

James ignored her and carried on talking. "He mouthed an insulting term at Evans, sir. I saw him. I think you must know the term I mean, sir." There were a few gasps and a flurry of whispers. "I saw him too," Lily heard Kiki Kessavat, the fifth year Hufflepuff who was sitting on Lily’s other side whisper. Everyone stared at Snape and Lily. Lily felt her fact going even redder and bowed her head, feeling her eyes sting again.

"Miss Evans?" Dumbledore said softly, in a very grave voice. Lily raised her head slowly and looked at him. "Is this true?"

The room went absolutely quiet. All eyes were on Lily. "I…well…um…" she faltered.

"It is, Professor," said James earnestly.

"Yeah, its true," Kiki added. More whispers from around the table. Snape was looking absolutely livid. His face was as flushed as Lily had ever seen it. Lily bit her lip and finally, nodded. A gasp from around the table, and even more whispers, angry whispers this time, people glaring at Snape. The Slytherins looked uncomfortable. Some of them were looking at Snape in a way that clearly conveyed they thought he was an idiot. Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Sprout all immediately looked to Dumbledore. Professor Dumbledore turned to Dolohov.

"Anton…he is in your house. What are you going to do?"

Dolohov’s greasy moustache twitched. He was looking angry but Lily didn’t think it was because Snape called her a Mudblood.

"Severus, stand up please," he said sharply. Snape reluctantly got to his feet, and the room went silent once again. This time, all eyes were on Snape.

"Is Potter telling the truth?" said Dolohov crisply. "Did you insult Miss Evans?"

Snape opened his mouth and shut it again. He was looking extremely nervous. Suddenly he raised his eyebrows so high they disappeared into his greasy black fringe.

"No, Professor," he said softly.

"That’s a lie!" James said angrily, but Dumbledore held up his hand to silence James.

"James- let him speak."

Snape took a breath, ‘What I really said was…"well done". I mouthed it across the table so I, I suppose Potter just mistook what I was saying for…you know…the "M" word…"

"Well, there you have it Professor Dumbledore," said Dolohov eagerly. "Potter merely mistook what Severus was mouthing." He turned sharply to James, looking disdainful. "Apologise, Potter."

James started. "I will NO-" but Lily gave him a sharp kick under the table.

"Potter, please…" she said under her breath. James set his jaw.

"Sorry," he said through clenched teeth, as though the apology was going to make him throw up. Snape smirked, his expression almost perfectly matching Dolohov’s.

"That’s fine. And I’m sorry to you," He directed his smirk at Lily, "For mistaking my congratulations."

"That’s all right," Lily said, cringing as everyone turned to look at her again.

"May we continue?" Dolohov said to Dumbledore. Dumbledore paused momentarily, looking from Snape to Lily.

"Yes, of course. Please continue the introductions. We are running behind time."

Lily could tell no one believed Snape of course. Everyone’s eyes kept flickering onto her, including James Potter’s. She couldn’t stand being stared at, so, halfway through the meeting, she asked to be excused, saying that she felt sick. She hurried out of the trophy room, glad to be away from everyone else and their stares.

Lily ran to the bathroom at the end of the corridor, breathing heavily. As soon as she as in there she splashed cold water on her burning face. She had never felt so embarrassed in her life. Why had James insisted on making a fuss about it? It was none of his business!

And really, Snape called her a "Mudblood" at least twice a day. She couldn’t pretend it didn’t upset her, but she had gotten used to it.

So why on earth did James do that? There was really no need to make such a big deal over nothing!

Lily looked at her dripping face in the mirror, feeling angrier by the second. What on earth was James Potter’s problem?

*

And so the term wore on, the weather getting colder by the day. Remus returned to lessons, and then a month later, mysteriously fell ill again. Lily’s birthday was on Halloween, so the Gryffindor students threw her a party. (Wheee! Celebrations!) Quidditch season began too. James Potter and Sirius Black were both on the Gryffindor Quidditch team; James a Chaser, and Sirius a Beater. Three nights a week, the team was put through vigorous training, and the two of them would always come back muddy and tired. James had been on the team since his second year at Hogwarts, so he was quite used to the hard training sessions. Sirius, however, was only made a Beater last year and found it more tiresome than James. One night near the end of term, James and Sirius returned from a particularly long training session to find a nearly empty common room. Lily, Evelyn and Ingrid were sitting at a table near the fire, talking quietly as they did their homework. There was a sixth year reading in an armchair and two first years writing a letter near the window, but that was all.

"Jeez, it must be late. What’s the time?" Sirius yawned, dumping his broomstick on the ground and plonking himself down in an armchair.

‘Well past ten o’clock, boys," said Evelyn, looking up from her Divination homework. "How was training?"

"Muddy," said James, collapsing in the chair next to Ingrid. He kicked off his Quidditch boots and wet socks and leant his head on the desk, looking morosely at Evelyn’s Divination homework.

"When’s that due, Eve?" he asked her.

"First period tomorrow morning," Evelyn said calmly. James’ head came off his arms.

"Oh, shit!" he exclaimed, then clapped a hand over his mouth and looked around the common room. Then seeing it had emptied since their arrival, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"What?" said Sirius sleepily.

"Last time I swore in a corridor McGonagall swooped down on me and told me I was setting a bad example for the younger years and took ten points off Gryffindor."

"Don’t worry about it," said Sirius, "you know McGonagall never ventures in here."

Evelyn laughed. "Never mind, love. You can copy mine."

"Seriously? Jeez, thanks Eve. You’re a lifesaver!"

"I know," said Evelyn. She pushed back her chair and yawned. "Just don’t spill Butterbeer on it like you did last time to my Potions essay."

"I told you, that wasn’t me, it was Sirius’ fault!" James protested. Evelyn laughed again.

"I don’t mind boyo. But I’m off to bed, so just leave it on the table, all right? Coming girls?"

"Yep!" Ingrid agreed, looking satisfied as she wrote the last word on her star chart. She too pushed back her chair and stood up. "Lily? Bedtime!"

"What?" Lily said, looking distracted as she pored over a rune diagram. "Um…yeah, in a minute…"

Evelyn rolled her eyes. ‘So you’ll still be here in the morning, then?"

"Mmm," said Lily vaguely, tapping her quill on the table and pulling some parchment towards her. They all grinned.

"Night, guys," Ingrid called over her shoulder as she and Evelyn went to the dormitories.

"Night," they called back. There was a silence as Lily continued working, and James started copying out Evelyn’s zodiac chart. Sirius stayed in his armchair and began pulling clods of dirt off his Quidditch robes. Eventually Lily looked up and blinked.

"Oh. What are you two doing here?"

"We came in about half an hour ago Lily, didn’t you notice?" said Sirius sleepily.

"Oh….oh, right, so you did. And where are…?"

"Evelyn and Ingrid? Your two best friends?" Sirius said teasingly. "They went to bed."

"Oh, ok," said Lily, stifling a yawn.

"Maybe you should join them?" Sirius suggested, noticing with concern the grey bags under here eyes. He grinned wickedly. ‘Or better yet, you could join me."

James’ arm jerked, sending a bottle of red ink onto the rug. It spilled, leaving a large red puddle. Lily stopped giggling and frowned.

"Well done! That was clever," she said sarcastically. James glared at her as he retrieved his wand from inside his robes.

"Returno," he said sulkily, and the ink returned to its bottle. He picked it up and continued copying the zodiac chart, feeling his face turn red. The way Lily was looking at him made him feel like he was two inches tall. (But no one ever did that to him apart from her. No one could glare at him so and make him feel so stupid.)

Lily shook her head and continued working. Sirius picked up a book from the table and idly flicked through it, yawning hugely.

"Finished," said James sleepily, after a while. "Do you need to copy it too, Sirius? Sirius?" he turned. Sirius had fallen asleep in the armchair, the book lying open on his chest.

"Oh…" James groaned. Lily looked up from her work.

"Oh…is he asleep?’ she said softly.

"Yeah," said James. He got to his feet. "Oi! Wake up, Sirius!" he shook his friend by the shoulder.

"Sod off…" Sirius murmured, and turned over.

"You can’t sleep out here, idiot!" James said, shaking him again. ‘Sirius. Yoo-hoo, Sirius! Wake up, you great prat!"

But Sirius remained asleep, despite James’ violent shaking.

"Just leave him there," said Lily. "The fire’s still going, he won’t get cold."

James raised his eyebrows. "You want me to let him sleep in a chair?"

Lily shrugged. ‘What’s the problem?" She frowned at him. "You’re making a lot of noise. I need to concentrate, all right?"

James rolled his eyes at her and continued trying to wake up Sirius. ‘Sirius, wake up! Wake up!" he took a deep breath and put his face close to Sirius’ ear. "WAKE UP SIRIUS!"

Lily jerked, causing her quill to go all the way up the page, drawing a neat line through all the work she’d just done.

"Oh, no!" she exclaimed, leaping to her feet. "Oh, look what you made me do!" She slapped herself on the forehead. ‘Now I have to do it all again, and it’s due in a week! Oh…" She sat down heavily in her chair, hand over her eyes, apparently distraught.

James stared at her in disbelief. "Are you…all right?"

Lily brought her face up savagely, sniffling. "No, I’m not all right! That took me so long to write, and it’s two whole rolls of parchment, and…" her voice broke form tiredness and she leant her head on the desk, groaning.

"Calm down," James said. "Let me have a look." He picked up the parchment. "Jeez, it’s really not that bad. Look, I’ll teach you a spell."

He picked up his wand again, and said, "Erasario." The tip of his wand started glowing. He then traced along the line Lily had accidentally drawn with the tip of his wand. The line disappeared.

"See? Nothing to it." He handed her back the parchment.

"Oh." Lily said. She looked slightly embarrassed. "I’ve never heard that one before. Um…thank you."

"No problem," said James quietly. He held her gaze for a few seconds. (How he loved the colour of her eyes. They were so green…)

Lily, embarrassed, sat down quickly and tucked her hair behind her ears quickly. James sat down again as well, and twiddled his wand between his fingers. He looked at Lily. Feeling his gaze, she glanced up, but then back down to her work. Several minutes ticked by in silence, with the two of them glancing at each other. Finally, Lily couldn’t take it anymore.

‘What is it?"

"Huh?"

‘Why do you keep looking at me?" she frowned at him. "It’s very distracting."

"Sorry," said James, shrugging. More silence. Then;

"What exactly are you still doing down here?’ Lily snapped irritably. ‘Why don’t you go to bed?"

James gestured towards Sirius. "I can’t leave him down here by himself. I’ll just wait until he’s awake." He tilted his head a little and looked at her. She was looking at him quizzically.

"Tell me something, Evans…" James said, suddenly curious. "Why do you work as hard as you do?"

"What?" Lily said.

"I mean…look, obviously you’re a smart, um, girl, so why do you feel the need to stay up so late every night, scratching away with that quill?"

"It’s called work," she said frostily. "I don’t suppose you’ve heard of it."

"No, I don’t suppose I have," said James, laughing softly. Lily frowned at him.

"So how do you manage to pass, then?"

"Hmm?" he said, lazily sending swirls of purple smoke into the air from his wand.

"How do you pass? I’ve never seen you do any study, but you…you still manage to turn out top grades!"

"Grades as good as yours, you mean?" James said, grinning at her.

She raised her eyebrows. "Don’t be an idiot. You know as well as I do you get the best grades in the year."

"Well, so do you," said James graciously.

"That’s only because I work hard!" Lily said, thoroughly exasperated. James laughed softly again, and she glared at him. "You are so annoying!"

James sat up straighter. "That was very rude," he said quietly. "You really want to know why I manage to pass?"

"I would like to know…yes…" she said softly.

"It’s because I know I’m smart enough to handle it." He shrugged. "So I don’t gotta worry."

"I can see that," said Lily dryly. He looked up at her, and she was smiling, very faintly, but it was there. (Even at midnight she was pretty. How did that work?)

"Maybe your problem is you’re totally hung up about stuff," he said. "You’ve just got to relax sometimes."

"Relax," she said, mirthlessly, "hah."

James raised his right eyebrow at her. (He’d been practising that talent in his mirror for weeks). "Something funny about it?"

"Not at all," said Lily. "Ironic, really. I’m the one always telling my parents to relax. When they first heard I was a witch, I had to work at them for at least a week for them to let me come here. Even now, they worry. They think the Wizarding world is so dangerous. I have to keep saying, "relax I won’t get eaten by a dragon". Or, "Relax, I really do know how to transform petunia back from a fruit bat."

James started at her for a moment, then burst out laughing. ‘Who’s petunia?"

She grinned shyly. "My sister."

He laughed even harder. "Are you telling me, Evans, that you turned your sister into a fruit bat?"

"It was an accident!" she protested, "It really was, I was just practicing that cricket bats to real bats spell and she kind of…got in the way…"
Now James was laughing so hard there were tears in his eyes.

"It really wasn’t that funny at the time…" she murmured, watching him laugh.

"But it’s funny now!" James exclaimed. Lily grinned. She’d never thought of it that way, he could tell. Suddenly, she started giggling. Then chuckling, then full out laughing. For a while, neither her nor James could stop.

With a snort, Sirius jolted awake. "Hm? Wha? Whass so funny?’ he said sleepily.

"Oh, good, you’re up," James giggled, wiping tears from his eyes.

"What’s going on?" Sirius yawned.

"Nothing," Lily said, brushing her hair off her face. "Sorry we woke you."

"‘S’all right," Sirius said, getting to his feet. "I’d better go to bed anyway… Christ! Is that Zodiac chart thing due tomorrow?"

"Yeah,’ said Lily, "but don’t worry about it." She started packing up her things.

"What, you’re going to bed?" Sirius said in disbelief, rubbing his tousled hair.

"Yeah, I’m kind of tired."

"Jeez." He glanced at his watch. "And it’s not even one o’clock yet."

James and Lily exchanged a glance. Lily turned away first.

"I know, I just thought I should…relax a little."

"Well, you deserve it, Lil." Sirius said sleepily. "Goodnight."

"’Night Sirius…night Potter."

CHAPTER THREE: ANIMAL INSTINCTS

Christmas came along, bringing pure white snow that covered the Hogwarts grounds and turned everything a dazzling white. James, Sirius and Remus were among the few Gryffindor students that decided to stay at Hogwarts over Christmas. Evelyn had invited both Ingrid and Lily to her house over the holidays, but Lily’s parents insisted that she go home for Christmas. She seemed, to James very glum about it, but it only took a few jokes from Sirius to make her laugh. On the first morning of the holidays, the girls appeared in the common room, each holding a small bag with some books and clothing in it. Evelyn gave all the boys a friendly kiss on the cheek goodbye (causing Remus to blush terribly and stutter a goodbye.) But Lily was the one who blushed even more, when Sirius gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Oh!" she exclaimed in surprise, as Sirius wrapped his arms around her, but feeling pleased all the same. "Oh, what was that for Sirius?"

"To cheer you up," said Sirius, standing back a little to look at her. "Don’t let your Muggles get you down, okay?"

"Of course not," said Lily, "it’s just my parents and my sister."

"Yeah, but they don’t really understand, do they? Not like you and me."

"No…not like you and me," Lily agreed, still blushing, as she pulled away from Sirius’ grasp. She turned. James had watched the whole thing, but he had assumed a poker face.

"Um, bye," she said.

"See ya," James said casually. Their eyes locked momentarily. Then Evelyn tugged on Lily’s arm, and the girls had to go.

So James, Sirius and Remus basically had the run of Gryffindor tower for the holidays. Christmas morning arrived, white and cold. After exchanging presents, the boys enjoyed a fast and furious snowball fight in the grounds, of which Sirius came out the worst after both James and Remus bewitched their piles of snowballs to fall on him. Christmas dinner, which at Hogwarts was always fantastic, would have been more enjoyable if not for the presence of Severus Snape.

They came up to dinner straight from their romp in the grounds, pink-cheeked and breathing hard. They reached the entrance of the Great Hall- but James, leading the way, stopped dead at the sight of Snape just sitting down at the Slytherin house table. Sirius and Remus bumped into him.

"Oof! What are you doing, you git?’ Sirius said.

‘What’s he doing here?" snarled James. Remus peered round James shoulder.

"Hmm," he said loftily, "Guess his parents hate him too."

"Parents? He hasn’t got any," Sirius laughed, "he came straight from the bowels of Hell."

James, however, was wary. Since the incident at the Prefect meeting, their mutual hate for each other had intensified, if that was even possible. Every time Snape saw Lily or Sirius in the corridors, he would yell out, "Mudblood alert!" and since James was usually around, he would smirk deliberately at James, as if daring him to retaliate. James nearly did, every time, but knew it was more important to hold back Sirius, who couldn’t stand the sight of Snape since his Muggle-born prejudice was being displayed even more blatantly.

But what really annoyed James was the fact that no one seemed to want to do anything about it, not even the teachers. It was mainly the Slytherins who were blatant about using the term "Mudblood", but James had heard a Ravenclaw say it to someone once, and most people, upon hearing it, turned away looking embarrassed, as though they had heard someone tell a big nasty secret they didn’t want to hear. And James was sure the teachers knew what was going on- how could they not notice? It seemed that they all turned a blind eye to it though, even Dumbledore! Dumbledore always knew what was going on inside the Hogwarts’ walls, it was almost like he was ubiquitous. But strangely, about the wizarding prejudice he was so blatantly opposed to, Dumbledore said nothing.

James kept glancing over at James during the meal, but he was absorbed in talking to his Slytherin friends ("Probably planning an apocalyptic attack on all the Muggle-born in school," Sirius muttered.) After the three had stuffed themselves full of delicious food, they stood up to leave the hall, waving at Dumbledore as the made their way out. He waved back merrily, a bright green bowler hat from a Christmas cracker perched on his head.

Reaching the foot of the marble staircase, however, they saw Snape and his Slytherin cronies just going down the dungeon entrance to the Slytherin common room. Snape saw them and smirked, and, never able to resist baiting James, Sirius and Remus, he paused.

"So, Potter, how are you and the rest of your Mudblood friends finding a real wizard Christmas? I suppose it’s a bit overwhelming, you know, with all the magic around."

"Sod off," said Sirius, by way of his standard greeting to Snape. Snape raised his eyebrows.

"Temper, temper, Mudblood," Snape said.

James had grabbed Sirius’ arm before Snape had finished speaking.

"Sirius is a wizard," Remus said quickly, grabbing Sirius’ other arm. "We all are. Why else would we be here?"

"I don’t know, I’m sure," Snape said, giving Remus the special disdainful look he always saved just for him. (Snape, though knowing Remus was of pure wizard blood for at least seven generations, always looked down on Remus for his slightly shabby robes and sickly demeanor.) "So, where’s that Mudblood girlfriend of yours, Potter? I suppose the red head has gone home to practice her charms…"

"You…what are you talking about, she’s not my girlfriend!" James snapped, feeling his cheeks redden. "And…and Lily’s a witch!"

"Or is it…"bitch"?" Snape said nastily. At this point James had give a great heave backwards to stop Sirius throwing himself at Snape. Snape grinned and continued. "Touching really, that you should stand up for such a worthless Mudblood. Guess I was right about the girlfriend thing." He frowned at them, black eyes glittering with malice. "I expected something like this from you, Potter. Already disgracing the name of wizard with your obvious Muggle fascination. And now, consorting with Mudbloods. It’s wizards like you that don’t deserve your title. In fact, I’d say you’re not much better than them."

James forgot all about holding Sirius back. He forgot all about Lily Evans and how much he disliked her. There was a ringing in his ears as a hot swoop of anger bubbled up from his stomach. Snape was stood right there, in front of him, that sickening smirk all over his stupid face! With two quick steps forward, James had grabbed Snape by the front of his robes and shoved him against the wall.

"James!" Remus cried behind him. James took no notice.

"The only disgrace to the wizarding race here," James snarled, his face very close to Snape’s. "Is you."

"Let-go-of-me!" Snape cried breathlessly, squirming in James’ grasp. He had such expression of shock on his face it was clear no one had ever dared to grab the front of his robes before. James wasn’t much taller than Snape, but he was holding him up against the wall so that his toes just touched the ground. James shoved him again, so that the back of Snape’s head hit the wall. "Isn’t it funny," growled James, "that despite the pure blood in your veins, you are possibly the least liked person in the school. Guess blood doesn’t count for much after all." His grey eyes locked with Snape’s black ones. They looked into each other’s eyes momentarily, mutual hate burning in both sets. James gave Snape one last shove, then let go of his robes and let Snape slide down onto the floor. For once, Snape was speechless.

"Let’s go," James muttered, turning to go up the stairs. He felt Remus’ hand on his shoulder as the walked up the stairs, an attempt to pacify him, he knew. Sirius was still red in the face, and kept glancing over his shoulder at Snape. They walked up to the portrait hole in silence, but Remus kept his hand on James’ shoulder. Once they were back in the common room. Sirius vented his feelings by attacking one of the cushions.

"You should’ve let me take him, James," he said savagely, pummeling the orange cushion with his fists. "I could’ve got him. I could’ve-" he threw the cushion across the room, "-wasted him!"

James didn’t say anything. He sat in front of the fire on the sheepskin carpet and stared into the flames. He couldn’t believe it. He had finally let Snape get to him. He’d always longed to punch Snape’s overly large nose, but knew he never would. Sirius was the bad tempered one- not James. James had a calm temperament, he was the one who was always holding Sirius back. So why had Snape gotten to him this time? Why this particular occasion?

Unconsciously, James stared at the table where he, Sirius, Remus, Evelyn, Ingrid and Lily did their homework every night. Sirius was still expostulating in the background, but James wasn’t really listening. Somewhere at the back of his mind he was a little afraid…about what Snape had said about Lily. Was that why he got angry? Certainly, he was enraged every time Snape called Sirius Mudblood, but this was the first time he had actually used physical violence on Snape. Was it possible that Snape’s insults towards Lily had pushed him over the edge..? No…it couldn’t be…

"James? James?" Sirius was snapping his fingers in front of James’ face. "Wake up, git!"

"What?" James shook himself out of his reverie, realizing that he had been staring at the chair Lily Evans usually sat when she did her homework.

"Have you been listening? I asked if you wanted to go and visit Honeydukes?"

"Not so loud!" James hissed automatically.

"There’s no one else here," said Remus. James blinked.

"Oh…right…that’s right. Um- yeah, sure, I’ll come."

Honeydukes, the sweet shop in Hogsmeade often mysteriously found lots of their stock missing. That was because, in their second year, James and Sirius had discovered a secret passage that led right to the basement of the sweet shop. Raiding the store supplies had become one of the boys’ favourite hobbies.

James was preoccupied though, for the rest of the night. He kept seeing a pair of green eyes in his head…

*

As the boys were better left to their own devices, they found it great fun to have the run of the Tower all through the two week break. Quite apart from the mischief-making possibilities, James and Sirius had their own project to work on. This project went on unbeknownst to Remus. Remus’ frequent bouts of "illness" weren’t due to him being "delicate", as the students were led to believe. Only James, Sirius and Peter knew the truth about the fact that he went missing every month, during the three days that the moon was full.

For Remus was a werewolf, and had been since a young age. James, Sirius and Peter had known since the end of their first year at Hogwarts, and ever since then had been figuring out a way to help him.

It was James’ idea- but just a passing fancy. It had been Sirius who had really got them all serious about it. Peter had been scared at first- what they were doing was very advanced magic, and very against the rules. James and Sirius were the smartest students in fifth year though (apart from Lily). They could handle it easily, and they were getting very, very close.

Animagi. That was what they were attempting to become. (Animagi being wizards who could transform into an animal.) James had first thought of it when Professor McGonagall, who taught Transfiguration and was an Animagus herself, transformed into a cat for the class in second year, and told them all about it.

Every month, when Remus went through his own transformation, he was smuggled out of the school, and into an underground tunnel built especially for him, which would lead him to a shack in Hogsmeade. There, he was still a werewolf, but not a danger to anyone else. (The villagers, meanwhile, had dubbed the shack, the "Shrieking Shack", as they assumed the howls and yelps coming from the little house were particularly violent spirits.) To ensure that no one else could follow Remus down the tunnel, a rare tree had been planted over the tunnel entrance. The Whomping Willow, as it was called, lashed out at any passers by. Students, until recently, had played a game, trying to see who could get closest without getting hit, but last year, a third year Gryffindor named Davey Gudgeon had lost as eye, so now no one went near it.

After hearing about Animagi, James reasoned that, as animals, maybe they could exhibit some sort of control over Remus, so that they could traipse around the grounds and not be a danger to any students. It was just an idea at first, but Sirius found it so appealing he convinced James and Peter to do it. After they became serious about it, Professor McGonagall unwittingly helped them by pointing out several books on Animagi, thinking that they were simply interested in the theory.

This year, they were the closest they had ever been. They had chosen the animal they wanted to become wisely- Peter was to be a rat, Sirius a large dog, and James a stag. Having the Gryffindor tower all to themselves gave Sirius and James more freedom to practice their skills than they’d ever had before. Remus always fell asleep earlier than them and slept in until noon some days, so it was while he slept that James and Sirius would practice.

"Practice makes perfect," Sirius whispered to James one night, as they snuck out of the dorm to practice in the common room. "I know this is going to work."

CHAPTER FOUR: A STARTLING SURPRISE

Lily met up with Evelyn and Ingrid at Kings’ Cross Station on the eighth of January (lessons were due to start on the tenth). The girls hugged each other and exchanged holiday gossip on the trip to Hogwarts. Evelyn was gushing about her new boyfriend- someone named Tommy Ryan. Lily caught Ingrid’s eye while Evelyn was raving on about him, and she shrugged helplessly. "Poor Remus..." Lily thought. Evelyn must have been the only person who didn’t realize about Remus’ crush on her. She hoped he wouldn’t be too disappointed.

"He’s lived on my street all my life- I’ve known him since we were wee babes," Evelyn explained. "But I never dreamed it would turn into…" She put her hand to her heart and looked heavenward, "…Love!"

"Evelyn," said Ingrid gently. "Are you sure it’s going to work? I mean, Tommy’s a wonderful boy, but isn’t the distance thing going to be a problem? And when are you going to tell him you’re a witch?"

"He’s a Muggle?" Lily said, surprised. She had never actually heard of a Muggle- Wizard relationship before, as they were more rare these days than they had ever been. Pure blood wizards never were able to understand the way Muggles lived, and unfortunately, Muggle-born wizards tended to think themselves better than ordinary Muggles once they found out that they were a wizard or witch. (Lily tried very hard not to fall into that category.)

Evelyn herself came from a Muggle-Wizard family, though- her mother was a Muggle and her father a wizard. She had been brought up in the Muggle world but with wizarding ways, so maybe, Lily reasoned, Evelyn would be able to handle a Muggle-Wizard relationship.

"I’ll tell Tommy about it when I’m ready," said Evelyn firmly. "I’m sure he’ll understand."

"She’s utterly convinced that Tommy will simply accept the fact that she’s a witch," Ingrid said quietly to Lily later on, while Evelyn was in the bathroom. Ingrid sighed, and ran a hand through her jet-black hair. "I wanted to stop the relationship before it got off the ground, but…I couldn’t- it didn’t seem right. I mean, she’s absolutely besotted with him, and he seems to like her a lot. But…" She sighed again. "Poor Remus."

Lily nodded in agreement. Poor Remus. He was so shy when it came to girls, it was unlikely that Evelyn would ever have found out about his crush unless Remus came out and said it.

Just then, Evelyn bounced back in. "You know what else I love about Tommy?" she said happily, "He’s got the nicest hair, it’s so soft and thick…" And things continued in this vein for quite some time.

"So, anyway, Lily," said Evelyn, pausing in her Tommy-worship halfway through the journey. "What are you going to do about Sirius?"

"What?’ said Lily, jerking out of her reverie. She had been staring out the window, tired of hearing about the flecks of green in Tommy Ryan’s eyes.

"Yeah!" Ingrid agreed. She had also been staring out the window, bored of the Tommy talk. "I mean, he likes you, doesn’t he?"

"D-does he?" stammered Lily. "…What makes you say that?"

Evelyn grinned at her, a dimple appearing in each cheek as she did so. "It’s only obvious to the rest of us. I say go for it."

"Yeah, you should," Ingrid said enthusiastically. "He really likes you Lily."

"Did he say that?" said Lily, startled.

"He has commented numerous times on how hot he thinks you are," said Ingrid. She giggled. "I think that’s cute!"

"Oh…" Lily said. ‘I don’t know…I’m not sure I like him that way."

"Picky, aren’t you?" Evelyn said, but she laughed. Lily stared out the window again. She had been beginning to suspect the motives behind Sirius’ over friendliness towards her. She did love Sirius, but definitely only in a friendly way! No, she couldn’t go steady with Sirius Black.

But as Evelyn settled into another spiel about her boyfriend, Lily did feel a certain yearning for someone to gush over…but there was no one she liked right now.

Or, was there? For, to her utmost confusion, during the past two weeks at home she had found her mind sometimes drifting off to thoughts of James Potter. She liked to think about that night they had sat in the common room and laughed about turning Petunia into a fruit bat. (Petunia had never forgiven her for that one.) She liked the way he laughed. It was honest, enjoyable, and loud; Lily got the feeling James just liked to laugh, at anything that was funny.

"This is ridiculous," Lily chided herself. "James Potter? Ridiculous. He’s an obnoxious prat with a great smile, that’s all."

A few hours later, the train pulled back into Hogwarts and Lily heaved a sigh of relief, glad to be home once more and to have some distraction from her thoughts about James Potter.

*

Students soon settled back into a routine of classes, meals and homework. People who hadn’t done their homework over the holidays soon found out why they were given it In the first place; the workload seemed to have doubled since last term. Tentative winter sunlight shone through the windows, making the snow-laden grounds glisten magically.

"I love this place," Lily sighed to Evelyn and Ingrid one Saturday morning, as they ventured down into the common room, pulling their dressing gowns on.

"I miss Tommy," Evelyn moaned. "And I can’t send him owls because he’ll freak out. I have to owl letters to my parents and they have to post them to him. It sucks!"

"Don’t worry Eve," said Ingrid soothingly, "It’ll be the Easter holidays before you know it. Then you can go home and see him again."

"Are you kidding!" Evelyn cried. "I’m not going home for Easter!"

"Why not?’ said Lily, startled. Evelyn had been groaning about missing Tommy since their first day back at Hogwarts. Shouldn’t she have jumped at the chance to see him again?

"It’s the Prefect’s ball in those holidays, spammy!" Evelyn cried, "And I’m not missing that for anything!"

"Of course!’ Ingrid cried, "oh, I can’t believe I forgot!"

Lily groaned inwardly. She had forgotten about it too.

The Prefect’s Ball. A ball held in honour of the Prefects to which fifth years and above were also invited to attend. This was the first year Lily would be going to one- obviously- and for the occasion she had been required to purchase dress robes at the beginning of the year. She felt an unpleasant feeling in her stomach at the thought of the ball. At the start of the evening, she had been told, there was a procession for the Prefects, and then the Prefect’s dance…. Lily was dreading it already. She didn’t like getting dressed up and having everyone look at her, to have all the Slytherins thinking, ‘Worthless Mudblood" as they looked at her….

"I’m going to down to breakfast!" Evelyn announced. "Coming?"

"Yeah, sure," said Ingrid. Lily declined though, and the two of them walked off to the Hall chattering about their dress robes. Lily sat, feeling the warmth of the fire and thinking about the Prefect’s Ball.

"Oh, hell," she said aloud, "I hope I don’t have to partner James Potter."

*

Meanwhile, the boys were treating Remus to a surprise. James had unceremoniously dragged Remus out of that bed that morning and, after allowing him to get dressed, dragged him down the stairs to the third floor.

"Come on," James cried, pulling Remus along by his arm.

"What the hell is going on?" Remus said, not being a morning person.

James stopped next to the statue of the humped witch, behind which was the passage that led to Honeydukes’ basement.

"Is this what you had to show me?’ Remus said, raising his eyebrows. "Um, James, you know I’ve known about this for some time…"

"Something else," James said quickly. "Wait…" he glanced down the corridor, where a group of third years were coming towards them. James leaned casually against the wall and Remus imitated him, so they didn’t look suspicious.

"Do you think Sirius is serious about Lily?"

James looked at Remus in surprise. The question had come out of nowhere. "What?"

"I mean he really seems to like her. He’s never spent so much time around a girl her likes. It’s weird."

James shrugged. "Well, if he likes Lily Evans then he really IS weird."

Remus sighed and shook his head at James. "If you would just get to know her…"

"I know enough to not like her, okay?"

"Whatever," said Remus grumpily. ‘Shall I do the honours?" he added, drawing his wand.

"Yeah, sure," said James quickly.

"Dissendium!" said Remus, tapping the statue with his wand. The witch slid back, allowing enough space for a fairly thin person to squeeze through.

"So what did you want to show me?" said Remus, as James squeezed through the gap, taking his wand out of his pocket as he did so. "You’ll see. Lumos!"

He hoped Sirius was in position. (Peter wasn’t there- he wasn’t quite ready with his transformation yet, so, they decided not to let Remus see him yet.)

Remus squeezed through the portrait hole and hopped down onto the ground. James held up his wand so they could see what they were doing.

"Okay, tell me now James," Remus said impatiently, dusting himself off. "What’s the big- OOF!"

The breath was knocked out of him as a large, black dog suddenly came bounding out of the darkness and jumped on Remus, landing with both paws on his chest.

"ARRGH!" Remus screamed in surprise. The dog shook its shaggy head and barked. "Help me James!" Remus cried. Suddenly he screamed again, as the dog disappeared- and he found himself pinned to the ground by Sirius.

"We’ve got to stop meeting like this," Sirius said, grinning.

"AAH! AAAH! AAAAAH!" Remus screamed, again and again.

"Shut up!" Sirius laughed, clapping a hand over Remus’ mouth. "You want to get heard?!"

James, meanwhile, was now laughing so hard he had to lean against the mossy wall of the tunnel for support. When Remus had stopped screaming, Sirius removed his hand. Remus lay on the floor of the tunnel, breathing hard.

‘Did we scare you?" Sirius said. Remus didn’t answer- just stared at Sirius as though he had just grown an extra arm out of his ear. He had gone very pale.

"What the HELL is going on?" he said eventually, when he could speak again.

Sirius laughed, and pulled Remus to his feet.

"These are the results of a three year-long project, my friend," he said. ‘Want to see it again?"

"See what again?" Remus said shakily. "I don’t even know what’s going on!"

Sirius winked, and then, with a soft popping noise, disappeared, In his place was the black shaggy dog. Remus gasped and clapped a hand over his mouth,

‘Sirius- you- you’re-"

"An Animagi!" Sirius said happily, re-appearing. Remus’ expression was now one of amazement.

"Oh my GOD!" he exclaimed. "You really are an Animagi? You’re not just pulling my tail?"

"No way Moony!" Sirius laughed. Once again, he turned into the dog before their eyes, then turned back into Sirius.

"Isn’t he cute!" said Sirius (referring to the dog he turned into). "I call him Padfoot."

Remus laughed, then stared at Sirius in amazement. ‘Wow! That’s like, really, really advanced magic!" he turned to James, "how long has he been able to do this?"

"About as long as I have," said James loftily.

"What?" exclaimed Remus, leaning against the wall. "You mean…"

James nodded. "Watch." He closed his eyes and concentrated. (His always took longer than Sirius’ because it was larger.) And suddenly, he was a stag, his magnificent antlers almost touching the ceiling. Remus gaped at him as James pawed the ground with his cloven hooves. With a soft noise James reappeared again. His knees felt a bit wobbly, as they did after the transformations.

"Ow," he said, making a face and falling against the wall. "It still hurts a bit."

Remus laughed. "I can’t believe you guys became Animagi! How long did it take you?"

"About three years," said Sirius.

"But…but why’d you do it?’ said Remus. "You could have killed yourself! Or stuck as half an animal! Or…do you know how much trouble you guys will be in if someone finds out?"

James nodded. "We took all that into account when we started." He stood up straight again, and Sirius handed him his wand, which he’d dropped when he transformed. "Look, Moony," said James, looking at his friend. ‘We did this for you."

"Huh?’ said Remus.

"Well, we can’t let you have all the fun every month," Sirius said matter-of factly. "I mean, turning into a wolf, getting to have your own little house in Hogsmeade? You werewolves have it pretty sweet."

Remus just stared at them open mouthed.

"So, we decided we wanted to see what it was like being an animal," said James, ‘and you know what? We can all hang out together. Us three animals. And Peter too."

"Peter too?" said Remus faintly.

"Peter too!" Sirius exclaimed. "So there you have it Moony. It can be us. Moony, Peter, Padfoot…and Prongs." He grinned at Remus. "What do you say? We can protect everyone from your wolfish tendencies, don’t worry."

"I…what if I hurt you guys?" Remus said in a choked voice.

James shook his head. "You won’t. When werewolves are transformed they actually seek out human flesh, as opposed to eating anything they can get their teeth on." He smiled sheepishly. "Guess you can’t remember feeling like that, right?"

"…Right…" Remus whispered. He bit his lip and stared at them again. "I…can’t believe what you guys have done…I…God…" He rubbed his face with his hand, rubbing at his eyes at though he had something in his eye. He looked up at them again, sniffling. "Thank you both so much," he said quickly, in a choked voice. Then, startlingly, he rushed forward and gave both of them a hug. James and Sirius were very surprised, and even more so when Remus gruffly said "You guys are the best." Remus, by nature, wasn’t a very huggable boy, and it was rare for him to show physical- or indeed, any- affection like this. James clapped Remus on the shoulder affectionately, and Remus stepped back quickly, furiously rubbing his eyes.

"Sorry," he said, taking a hankie out of his robes and blowing his nose. "I just…I’m so grateful. I really can’t believe this…"

James grinned. "Believe it Moony. And get used to it, because the full moon every month is party time!"

Sirius laughed and grabbed Remus around the neck.

"This’ll be the best years of our lives, boys! You’ll see!" he crowed.

CHAPTER FIVE: TWO WIZARDS, A WITCH AND A FIGHT IN THE CORRIDOR

"What on earth is wrong with that boy?" Evelyn muttered that night. They were in the common room. It was noisy and full of students as usual. But the noisiest group of all was James, Sirius, Remus and Peter, sat in a corner at a table. That wasn’t what was so unusual. It was the fact that Remus was making most of the noise. As he was usually the quietest out of James and Sirius, it was quite odd to see him yelling and laughing at the top of his lungs. Lily was confused. The last time she had seen him, Remus had been miserable. And suddenly he was acting crazy. It was great to see him so happy, though, Lily had to admit.

"It must’ve been that "surprise" James had to show him. Must have been pretty good," she thought to herself. Remus looked up, noticed the three girls staring at him and waved, grinning. Lily, Evelyn and Ingrid waved back. Remus jumped to his feet and skipped over to their usual table.

"Hey!" he said. "Hey girls! How’s it going tonight?"

"Fine," said Evelyn. "But I don’t need to ask how you’re doing. It’s written all over your face. What’s with the smile, ‘Mopey’?"

Remus grinned. "Oh, this?" he said, pinching his cheeks. "Don’t worry-it’s only temporary."

The girls laughed along with him as Sirius came up and grabbed Remus around the neck.

"Look at you, chatting up the girls without me!" Sirius chided him as Remus struggled to extricate Sirius’ arms. "Isn’t he a psycho tonight?"

"For sure," agreed Ingrid. "But at least he’s a happy psycho."

"Must be the full moon tomorrow night," Sirius said, winking at them. "You know how strange people act around the full moon. Right Moony?"

"Damn straight, Padfoot," Remus agreed. The two of them broke into hysterical laughter. Ingrid and Evelyn exchanged a confused glance. They looked at Lily and she shrugged. "Beats me," she mouthed.

As Remus and Sirius started to tango around the common room, Lily felt someone else’s gaze on her. She swivelled in her chair to see James Potter staring at her. As soon as she looked at him, though, he blushed and quickly bent over his work again. Lily frowned. She had barely exchanged two words with James Potter since the holidays, but this wasn’t the first time she had caught him staring at her. Ever since she got back, she had felt his eyes on her during class, during Prefect meetings, during evenings in the common room, even at mealtime. Annoyingly, she had to confess that his gaze made her flush uncomfortably. Weirdly, though, James had, on more than one occasion, gone out of his way to avoid talking to her. Just today, she had been walking down a corridor, and he had turned around the corner, seen her, and promptly run off in the direction he had just come. It was getting very awkward, as they’d been alone on many occasions this term with an uncomfortable silence hanging in the air.

Just then, the portrait door opened and Professor McGonagall walked in. It took a little while for silence to settle- people were so unused to seeing her in the common room that they were shocked in silence. She clapped her hands.

"Quiet please! Lupin, Black, settle down, settle down." She waited until everyone had shut up and Sirius and Remus had stopped trying to leap over a pile of cushions. "Now, as you all know, this week is the first Quidditch match of the season. We will be playing against Ravenclaw-"

"Crush ‘em, team!" yelled a second year, and everyone cheered. Professor McGonagall coughed.

"Yes, quite. Now, it is compulsory for all to attend but Dumbledore has asked me to warn you all there is a storm predicted, so everyone, remember your umbrellas and cloaks." She permitted a rare smile. "I trust the team are all raring to go, Weasley?"

Bilius Weasley, a tall and gangling seventh year with bright red hair and a spattering of freckles across his nose, stood up and saluted. He was captain of the Quidditch team as well as a house Prefect, and had an enthusiastic nature and almost manic passion for Quidditch.

"Right you are, Professor!" he said excitedly. "Ravenclaw don’t stand a chance! We’re sure to win the cup!" Everyone cheered again and Bilius grinned. He played Seeker on the team- the most difficult position, and it was largely thanks to his and James’ talent on the pitch that Gryffindor had been doing so well in recent years.

"Excellent, Weasley," said Professor McGonagall crisply. "Now, Potter, Evans, I’d like a word with you two outside."

A few people "oooohed" ominously as James and Lily got to their feet, exchanged a glance, and followed Professor McGonagall out of the portrait hole.

"As you may have realised," she started, peering at them over her square rimmed spectacles, "The Prefect’s Ball is less than three months away."

Lily heart sank. "Yes, Professor," she and James chorused.

"The Prefect’s procession and dance is at the start of the evening, and one of the most important parts, to honour the long hours of work you have put into being Prefects.

"Now, rehearsals for this event will soon take place, as it has to be carefully orchestrated. It is probable that you will have to take time out of class for rehearsals. I trust this is all right with you two?"

"As long as it’s Potions we’re taken out of," James said cheerfully, as Lily nodded.

"Excellent," said Professor McGonagall, sounding satisfied. "I trust you will both be able to catch up."

"Professor," said James, as she turned to go. ‘Er- I don’t understand- why do we need more than one rehearsal for the Procession? I mean, it can’t be that hard to walk in a line can it?"

"Of course not Potter," said Professor McGonagall. "The first dance of the evening is danced by the Prefects. Surely you knew that?"

"Huh?" said Lily and James in unison.

"You will have to partner each other for the first dance, of course."

"I don’t dance," said Lily quickly.

"Of course you do, Evans." Professor McGonagall said unsympathetically. "Now, you will be notified of the dates as soon as possible. And…" she inclined her head towards the common room, from which a loud crash followed by hysterical laughter (Sirius and Remus, of course) was audible. "Do try to get Black and Lupin to settle down, would you?"

"Right, Professor," said Lily miserably. She walked off down the corridor. Lily turned with a groan and rested her head against the cold stone wall. A Prefect’s dance! It was worse than she ever could have imagined. With everyone watching, it was certain she would make a mistake and look like a royal idiot in front of everyone.

"I’ve never met a girl who didn’t dance before,"

Lily jumped. She didn’t realise James was still there. She turned to look at him. "Well, now you have,’ she snapped. "I don’t dance, I never have, and I never planned to."

"But now you have to," said James.

"Yeah, no kidding!" Lily said angrily, leaning against the wall again.

"If it makes you feel any better, Evans…’ said James slowly, "I can’t dance either."

Lily gave a little groan. He was trying to make her feel better.

"Look, I really don’t need you to feel sorry for me right now," she muttered.

‘Who said I felt sorry for you?" James said, shrugging his shoulders. "I’m just saying…if you look like an idiot, well, I’ll probably look even worse."

Lily gave a snort of laughter despite herself. James grinned.

"Ah-ha," he said, "We have a smile, ladies and gentlemen."

"Oh, sod off!" Lily said, frowning at him. "I don’t need you to try and make me feel better, alright, Potter?"

"Oh, right, do pardon me for that then,’ said James sarcastically. "So sorry."

Lily glared at him. He glared back. "So, what is it, you need Sirius to make you happy?"

"What?"

"You and Sirius. I should have known that you two would-"

"What are you talking about?" Lily snapped. "Me and Sirius?"

"Yeah, you and Sirius!" James snapped back. "I mean, he never said anything to me about it, but it’s obvious to me now, I mean, you’re always hanging around him and sitting on the arm of his chair, and-"

"Hold on, hold on," Lily said, putting a hand to her forehead. ‘Are you getting angry because you think that Sirius and I…are going out?"

"I’m not getting angry!" James yelled. "Besides!…aren’t you going out with him?"

"Well not that it’s any of your business but no!" Lily snapped. "And even if we were, then what right have you to be getting angry?"

"I’m not getting angry!" James expostulated, going very red in the face. "And quite frankly, I wouldn’t care if there was anything going on between you and Sirius!"

"Well, good!" Lily yelled back. "Because it’s none of your business!"

"Why would I want to go into your business anyway!" James rejoined angrily. "You’re such a stuck up snob!"

"And you’re such a selfish brat!" Lily yelled back. "Stay away from me, all right? I don’t want to talk to you again!"

"Well the feeling’s mutual!" James yelled after her as she turned on her heel and stalked off down the corridor.

*

Lily didn’t tell her friends about her fight with James. Looking back on the argument she and James had had she felt a bit bad about some of the things she had said- but only a bit.

Evelyn, Ingrid, Sirius and Remus did notice a greater animosity between the two, but decided not to mention it. Certainly, Lily had vowed never to speak to James again, and he had vowed the same applying to her.

That Wednesday, when Lily was hurrying to her next class, shoving books into her bag and not really paying attention to where she was going. The corridors were crowded, but rapidly emptying as students went to their classes. She had to hurry or she’d be late for Transfiguration, and then Professor McGonagall would give her a lecture on how Prefects shouldn’t be tardy-

"Oof!" She bumped into someone and they both went sprawling onto the ground. Her book bag dropped to the floor, and they all came spilling out onto the floor.

"Sorry, Lily. Are you alright?" It was Bilius Weasley, rubbing his elbow where he’d landed on it. Students had to make their way around the two of them, and Lily narrowly missed being stepped on by a fourth year. "Sorry, Bilius!" she cried, scrambling to pick up her belongings. "I wasn’t watching where I was going, my fault!"

"Nah, I wasn’t really paying attention either," Bilius said, helping her pick up the books, as the crowds of students surged around them. He grinned excitedly. "See, I just had an owl from my brother, Arthur. Guess what?"

"What?" said Lily breathlessly, packing quills into her bag. Bilius grinned.

"His wife just had a baby! I’m an uncle!" he said proudly.

"That’s fantastic!" Lily cried. "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"A boy," said Bilius happily. "A boy called William. Isn’t that great?"

"Yeah!" Lily said enthusiastically, looking around on the ground. She’d dropped her diary along with the other books, and now she couldn’t find it. "Are they happy about it?"

"Who? Arthur and Molly? I’d say so," laughed Bilius. "The handwriting on the letter was so shaky I could hardly read it." He looked around the ground with concern, as Lily was still on her knees, searching for her diary. "Can you not find something?"

"My diar-" Lily began, but she was interrupted by familiar laughter from behind her. She looked. Snape was standing above her, holding her diary in one hand and looking very smug indeed.

"Lost something, have you?’ he said in a silky voice.

"Give that back," Lily said calmly, getting to her feet.

"Why? It’s just a book," Snape said, grinning. "An ordinary, boring, Muggle book."

"It’s mine," Lily said, struggling to keep her voice steady. "Give me the book, Snape."

"Come on, mate," said Bilius. "Don’t be a prat. Give her the book."

Snape ignored him. "What’s important about this book, then? Maybe I should just take a loo-"

"No, don’t!" Lily said, too quickly, too urgently, before she could stop herself. Snape smirked. He knew the book was important to her now, he had the upper hand. Students running to classes had stopped to watch the exchange- there was silence in the corridors, Lily realised, silence because they were all watching…

"So, what are you going to do, Mudblood?" Snape said nastily. "How are you going to get your book back?"

Everyone gasped, though Lily heard a few people in the crowd chuckle- they must have been Slytherins.

Bilius stepped forward, looking angry. "Watch your mouth!" he snapped. "That’s ten points from Slytherin- Professor Dolohov’s going to hear about this!"

Snape sneered at Bilius. "Go on, stand up for the Mudblood- she’s too scared to defend herself."

Lily drew her wand before she could stop herself. Everyone gasped again.

"I am a witch!" she yelled angrily. "And no amount of names can change that!"

A few people in the crowd cheered, and soon the crowd’s applause echoed around the corridor.

"Lily…" said Bilius warningly. "I can’t let you do magic in the corridors…"

"It’s nothing to worry about, Weasley," Snape said, a grim smile on his face. "She can’t do real magic anyway- no Mudblood can. So let her try."

Suddenly, a hand reached over Snape’s shoulder and snatched the book from him. Lily’s stomach flipped over- it was James Potter.

"There you go," he said, calmly throwing the book to Lily. She caught it and quickly stuffed it in her bag. She was blushing- everyone was still staring.

"Stay out of this, Potter," said Snape levelly- though his cheeks had gone slightly pink. "This is between me and the Mudblood."

"Stop saying that!" roared Bilius.

James glanced quickly at Lily. "Severus," he said jovially. "I was just wondering if you remember that little conversation we had at Christmas. Remember that?"

Snape’s cheeks went pinker. "Sod off, Potter," he hissed.

"I remember it well," James said, continuing as though Snape hadn’t spoken. "And you know, I was hoping that you might have listened to me," he sighed in a disappointed way. "But apparently not. So, I’m going to have tell you again." With one swift movement, James had grabbed Snape by the collar of his robes, and pushed him against the wall, scattering the ring of students watching the show, who all gave excited gasps.

"James!" Bilius cried.

"Potter!" Lily said through clenched teeth. "Stay out of this!"

James ignored the both of them and spoke to Snape. "Never say it again," he hissed. "You slimy bastard. Never call her, or anyone else, that name again, you hear me?"

"I hear you," said Snape, his eyes glittering, "And so does Professor McGonagall."

"What?’ said James, dropping Snape abruptly. There was a silence in the corridor, but that was only because the students had scattered at the sight of Professor McGonagall. She was standing behind James, breathing heavily through her long nostrils. James swiveled around and jumped in surprise, nearly landing on Snape, who was still in a heap at James’ feet.

"H-hi Professor," James said, looking at his feet. "Um…guess this looks pretty bad, but-"

"Never in al my time at this school," said Professor McGonagall in a terrible voice, "have I seen such behavior from a Prefect. This is the very least I would have expected from you, Potter. To use physical violence upon another student…" She stared at him imperiously. "Well? What have you got to say for yourself?"

"He just attacked me!" Snape said, stumbling to his feet. "I didn’t provoke him at all, Professor."

"It wasn’t James’ fault, Professor McGonagall!" Bilius Weasley said urgently. "Severus was calling Lily names- he stole her diary- he called her a Mudblood, Professor! Lots of times!"

Professor McGonagall’s beady eyes widened. She looked at Snape, who had gone pale, and then to Lily, who looked at her feet, blushing.

"Is this true, Evans?" she said slowly.

"Yes, Professor," Lily whispered. A terrible silence descended on them, and Professor McGonagall stared at Snape, apparently too furious to speak.

"Weasley," she said eventually, obviously having trouble keeping her voice steady, "How many times was the word used aloud? Can you remember?"

Bilius bit his lip as he tried to remember. "Uh…about four times I should think, Professor."

"Forty points from Slytherin," said Professor McGonagall, "And detention, Snape. I’ll see you in my office after dinner. Professor Dumbledore will hear of this, make no mistake." Her nostrils twitched. ‘It will be up to him whether or not you’ll be able to remain a Prefect for Slytherin."

"Yes, Professor," Snape muttered, looking at the ground.

"Go to class."

"Yes, Professor." Snape picked up his book back and hurried off, pink in the cheeks again.

"As for you, Potter," said Professor McGonagall. "As noble as you think you may have acted, the fact remains that, as a Prefect, you’re required to set an example to other students."

"I know, Professor, and I‘m sorry!" James cried, "But you don’t understand. It makes me so angry! I hate that word, it just angers me so m-"

Professor McGonagall held up her hand, ‘yes, yes, Potter. Unfortunately I have no choice but to ask you to serve a detention with Snape. Oh, and ten points from Gryffindor."

James opened his mouth to protest, but looking at her face, thought the better of it.

"Yes, Professor," he mumbled.

Professor McGonagall turned and nodded to Bilius. "That will be all, Weasley. Five points to Gryffindor for attempting to keep the peace."

"Thanks, Professor. Gosh, I’m late for Charms…" he rushed off, after giving Lily a grin and a little wave.

"And now, for you Evans," Professor McGonagall said, turning to Lily. Lily looked up, and her expression had changed form stern to…was it gentle? "Are you all right?"

"Y-yes, of course, Professor," Lily stammered.

Professor McGonagall sighed. "I must stress that if you are being bullied because of your…parentage, then you should come to a teacher, or the Head Boy or Girl, and tell them. Only then can we get rid of the problem."

"Yes, of course, Professor." Lily said. "But this is the first time it’s happened, really."

Professor McGonagall gave her a shrewd look. "Hmmm…" she said, and then gave a slight shake of her head. "Now, you should both go to class immediately, you’re very late. I believe you have Defence Against the Dark Arts?" they nodded. "Right. I shall tell Professor Fubroogle that you have reasons for your tardiness."

"Thank you, Professor," they said in unison. She gave them a nod and then walked off down the corridor. James and Lily shouldered their bags, glancing at each other, and headed of towards their Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.

James couldn’t take the awkward silence. "So…" he said conversationally, as they passed an empty classroom. Lily stooped, turned, grabbed James by the front of his robes, and pushed him into the classroom.

"Hey, hey!" James cried. ‘What are you doing?"

Lily shoved him against the wall, in much the same way as James had done to Snape.

"Why do you always have to interfere?" she hissed at him.

‘What?" James said, bewildered.

"You always have to interfere!" she said angrily. "Look, I told you to stay out of my business! I don’t care how fired up you get at Snape, but it’s none of your business if he wants to carry on insulting me!"

James laughed incredulously. "You’re getting angry at me for defending you? That’s pretty stupid Evans, even for you!"

"This isn’t a joke!" Lily snapped. "Not everything’s a game, all right? I’m getting angry because I asked you to stay away from me and you keep on butting in!" She tried to calm herself down a bit, and let go of the front of James’ robes. "Look…if Snape wants to try and provoke me then it’s between me and him, okay? It’s nothing to do with you."

"How terribly noble," James said sarcastically. "For your information, I wasn’t doing it for you. It’s because…I hate prejudice. I really do. I hate the word "Mudblood". And I hate Snape."

"That doesn’t give you any right to butt in and embarrass me like that!" Lily cried.

"My best friend is Muggle-born." James said stoutly. "Snape needs to learn he can’t treat Sirius like that."

"He wasn’t insulting Sirius, he was insulting me" Lily snapped. "So…look, just stay away, all right? Don’t interfere again!"

"You got it," said James, leaning off the wall and straightening his robes. "I won’t defend you again, Lily- you’re just not worth it." He stalked out of the classroom, closing the door behind him.

Lily sat down, in shock. She couldn’t believe what she had just done. She had been driven to physical violence because James had annoyed her so much! What was happening to her? She’d never laid a hand on anyone before, not even James Potter.

Suddenly she realised something that made her clap a hand to her mouth in surprise. James’ parting words- for the first time ever, James had used her first name.

END OF PART ONE…