Epiphany

3 ~ Back To Fighting

Lily stepped onto platform nine and three-quarters with her luggage on one arm, and a moaning lump of a cat on the other. Almost as soon as she arrived, Pepper- the lazy cat in question- had begun complaining as loudly as she could, which was peculiarly loud for how small she was. Pepper's squirming only increased now that Lily was actually on the platform.

"Will you shut it?" Lily hissed under her breath, cautious not to make a scene.

"Pepper's still a menace I see," Announced Sev as he appeared by Lily's side, "I'm glad that hasn't changed at least." From the sound of things, he was slightly bitter about the fact that she hadn't been able to write to him as often as she had most years. Lily thought he would be happy that she wasn't stuck at home the whole summer, but apparently not.

"Good morning to you too."

"We better get on the train."

Rolling her eyes, Lily followed Severus as he disappeared into the crowd. It was good that he was talking to her, she supposed, but there was really no need for him to be as annoyed as he was.

Minutes later, Lily, Severus and- however unwillingly- Pepper sat in a compartment alone together. Sev was staring off out of the window whilst Lily struggled to pick which book she read next. Over the holidays she had exhausted her large to-read list and she needed more material. Eventually she settled on an old favourite that she had reread many-a-time, a battered copy of Hogwarts A History, she would have to visit the library as soon as they arrived.

Lily was only a few chapters into the book when a knock sounded at the compartment door.

"Come in!" She called, not looking up from what she was reading.

"Alrighty then." Said an ever so annoying, ever so familiar voice.

She glanced up, and there stood James Potter in the flesh. Her day was about to get a whole lot worse. As he sauntered on in, ignoring the disgusted look from Severus, a somewhat apologetic looking Peter followed after.

"Where are the rest of you lot then?" Lily asked sarcastically, "Do we only get the discount 'Marauders'?"

Potter scowled at her and sat next to Sev, directly opposite to her, leaving Peter to sit by Lily.

"So, how was everyone's holidays?" Asked Peter, breaking the awkward silence. To his disappointment, instead of a friendly chat about the summer, an argument ensued.

"How dare you pretend to be civil after all you've done to us!" Severus shouted, the previously contained rage bubbled over.

"And how dare you turn the civility into a shouting match!" Potter shot back, mocking Sev's anger.

After a moment, it was only Peter who kept quiet. The three of them had been in the presence of one another for around five minutes and already chaos had taken over. No one was quite sure how long the verbal battle lasted, but at some point Peter and Lily's cat had left and a strangely bedraggled looking Remus had entered.

"Enough all of you!" He yelled, startling them enough for them to shut up for a moment. "Now, James. Our compartment. Now."

And with that, Remus dragged an annoyed James into the corridor and away. Lily and Severus were left alone feeling rather concerned about how the next year would play out. The feeling didn't last long, however, soon Lily returned to her book and Sev to his sulking. Though Severus was perfectly content continuing their silence, Lily had other plans.

"We can't let them get to us this year." She said gently, not wanted to cause another outburst. "But we also can't pretend they don't exist, we both know that doesn't work."

Sev grunted in response.

"How do you feel about getting them off our backs permanently?" At this, Severus looked up at her, encouraging Lily to continue. "What do you say about pulling a prank on the so-called pranksters?"

Sev grinned mischievously. "I'm in."