Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Harry Potter. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Lily woke to some noise. Oh, Sev was snoring. She looked at the time. Just past four in the morning. No, too early. She pushed Sev to get him to roll over and be quiet.

After a sharp indrawn breath, Sev muttered, "What?"

"You were snoring."

"Something wrong with your wand?" he replied in a sarcastic low voice. How could Lily expect him to lie next to her in bed and not eventually fall asleep after hours of lying dully in the dark listening to her breathe?

"Don't start, Sev."

"I can sleep on the other side of the room," Severus suggested again.

"No, you can't."

"I need some sleep."

It was fine if Lily wanted the closet, more drawers and to keep her own chemist's shoppe in the loo, but although he needed little sleep, Severus needed some.

"Can I cast a silencing-?"

"On yourself, not me. I want to be able to hear anything."

"But Sev-"

"I'll sleep over on the other side of the room."

Lily was protesting, "No, you -" when she felt the movement as Sev got up. "Get back in bed."

"I need some sleep. When I sleep, I make noise. I'm not denying it."

"But we're married."

From across the room, Severus answered, "What does that have to do with me sleeping?"

"You're supposed to sleep next to me."

"Not if you're jabbing me."

"I thought you'd roll over and stop, not wake up."

When Severus did not answer how unlikely it was that Lily would stop abusing him till he was silent, she said, "Well?"

"Good night."

Some marriage this was, Lily thought to herself and with a huff, pulled the covers up and rolled into the middle of the bed. What Severus said about not wanting to argue was certainly untrue.

Lily laid awake in bed, listening for anything for long moments. Severus must still be awake since he was not snoring. Unless he did not snore all the time. If he did snore all the time, wouldn't he have woken Lily earlier in the night?

"Severus?"

"Yes?"

"Please come back to bed. I'm sorry."

Severus knew better than to repeat Lily's historic declaration back to her to get clarification.

"And get under the covers this time, Sev," Lily added when she felt movement in the dark.

"Lily-"

"I said I'm sorry, Sev. I don't want us to argue either. I'll get used to you snoring."

"I do not do it intentionally."

"I know," Lily responded, rolling over to get closer to Severus.

Severus tried to remain still as Lily pressed up against him. When her hands got under the front of his jumper, he asked, "What are you doing?"

"We're supposed to make up, Sev, so we don't stay angry with each other."

"One time is not worth getting angry over."

"Hmm," she agreed, leaning against the full length of his body and using her lips to find his.

"Maybe we should get more sleep."

"I'm awake now and not the least bit tired."

Severus was tired, yet he doubted Lily would let him sleep now. He suggested, "I think you should stop till I'm in a better mood."

"This is supposed to get you in a better mood."

"It's not," Severus deadpanned.

"You're angry with me?"

"Tomorrow, or later today, we are going to be in the halls. Dumbledore won't be watching out for us. I need my rest to remain sharp to protect us."

"You-" Lily started, then stopped. She wanted to argue Sev's statement on multiple levels. Accusing him of being paranoid wasn't going to work. It was likely that something would be cast at them. She saw the way the Marauders swanned into the Great Hall tonight ready to make a scene. If Dumbledore did threaten them before, it was obvious they would only back down after the headmaster put himself in their path to repeat his warnings. She frowned in the dark. Was there ever going to be any punishment for them, other than harsh words? Oh yeah, Potter was off the quidditch team. Whoop dee do. She wanted them to cast something at her. Mark a rude gesture, smirk in her direction, quirk an eyebrow, and then she'd flatten all four of them so bad that Madame Pomfrey would have to send them to St. Mungo's for a specialist to fix.

Sev asked, "What?" when Lily stopped speaking.

"-won't be alone," Lily concluded. "We'll protect each other. Get some rest. We'll show them how dangerous it is to mess with us."

*** I solemnly swear this map is bloody broken! ***

"Why aren't they on the bloody map?" Prongs asked for the twentieth time, giving the parchment a poke with his wand.

Remus reminded him again, "We never found the staff quarters, only their offices. They disappear."

"They're not bloody staff. They're students."

"Shut up!" Sirius snapped. He was trying to dictate a letter to Wormtail, and they were ruining his concentration. "Read that back to me."

Peter cleared his throat, and began, "Dear Sir, Since you are a former student of Hogwarts, and a proud member of Gryffindor house, I am writing to you on behalf of all the current students of your house, or in other words your family, to inform you that the honor of our house and Godric Gryffindor himself -"

James wailed, "What are we going to do? We need to save Evans!" He resumed throwing items from his trunk and held up his invisibility cloak.

"What are you going to do with that?" Sirius asked.

"Wait by the kitchens for them," James answered. "I'm off."

"What makes you think they're going to the kitchens?" Remus said, trying to understand James's plan enough so he could try to talk him out of it.

"Where else would they go after Dumbledore just throws them carte blanche?"

"What's that?" Peter asked.

Sirius scoffed, "Snape'll be too knackered to nip down for a snack after pounding that ginger pussy for hours."

Prongs roared and lunged at Sirius, hands outstretched to grab him by the neck.

Peter squealed and got out of the way, knocking over ink and quills on Sirius's desk in his haste to protect himself.

Getting his fingers under James's wasn't easy for Remus, but he did get them off one at a time as Sirius jabbed his best friend with some rib and kidney shots to help.