Melanie nervously focused on the OWL paper in front of her, praying that she would pass the Marauders without any trouble. She really didn't want to put up with them again today. Then again, she never wanted to put up with them ever. Why they thought it was fun to be constantly bullying a girl, even she was a Slytherin, was a mystery to her since her house and Lily Evans didn't find it funny. The real mystery, however, would be why everyone thought it was funny. Even those stupid Hufflepuffs had been laughing at the situations she'd been stuck in because of the Marauders and they were supposed to be the overly-friendly type! Slytherins were probably exceptions to their kindliness.

"Excellent," she tensed as she heard Black's voice. "Melonhead."

Melanie slowly reached into her robes for her wand when Potter called, "All right, Melonhead?"

She dropped her bag and grabbed her wand. Unfortunately, Potter was too fast and Disarmed her. Shit. Then she was knocked off her feet by Black casting an Impediment Jinx on her. Oh Merlin's pants, why the hell didn't she stick with her housemates or Lily after the exam?! Hadn't she learned the first million times to never go alone whenever being around the Marauders?!

"How'd the exam go, Melonhead?" Potter taunted.

"I was watching her; her face was so screwed up with concentration she looked like she was smelling dung," Black laughed. "Better watch out, Melonhead. Your face is starting to stick already. But then again you're already hideous enough."

Melanie panted angrily as she struggled to get to her feet, but Black's jinx was still working on her. "Oh screw the both of you! And tell that squeamish fathead friend of yours to start sounding like a human instead of a rat-faced hyena!"

"Oy!" Pettigrew squealed indignantly.

Potter and Black glared at her furiously. "You shouldn't talk if you're going to insult one of us," Potter growled. "Langlock!"

Melanie glared at him furiously. How dare he use one of her inventions against her?! Now she was defenceless both magically and verbally! What was she going to do?!

"LEAVE HER ALONE!"

Oh, there was Lily. Bloody finally. Where had she been? Oh, she was with her roommates. Great. Awesome. Lily was hanging with the popular crowd again. Where did Melanie belong? With the slithering outcasts aka the budding Death Eaters aka the Slytherins.

"All right, Evans?" Potter asked pleasantly, his voice purposefully deeper. Melanie inwardly gagged. Like that was going to work on Lily. It sounded so repulsing.

"Leave her alone," Lily demanded firmly. "What's she done to you, anyways?"

"Well," Potter deliberated. "It's the fact that she exists, if you know what I mean."

Melanie hit her head on the ground. Was he serious? How did anyone find that one funny? It sounded so stupid! Apparently, even Ravenclaws can be idiots to know what's funny and what's not. She looked up at Lily, whose furious expression narrowed even more in further disgust. Good. Lily didn't find that remark any more funny than she did. "You think you're funny, but you're just an arrogant bullying toe-rag. Leave her alone."

Hear, hear. Thank you, Lily.

"I will if you go out with me, Evans," Potter said quickly, making Melanie groan with disgust. "Go out with me, and I'll never lay a wand on Melonhead ever again."

Melanie snorted as she tried to fight against Black's jinx. Yeah right. Like that would happen. Never mind the fact that she would rather put up with the Marauders than have Lily go out with the likes of Potter. Gross. Oh yes, it was wearing off on her, finally! She inched towards her wand and grabbed it just as Lily told Potter, "I wouldn't go out with you if it were a choice between you and the Giant Squid!"

"Bad luck, Prongs," Black said, his eyes landing on Melanie. "OY!"

Melanie pointed her wand at Potter and silently cast her cutting curse. It landed on his cheek, causing it to drip blood onto his robes. Too bad for him. She was probably bruising in areas that she didn't know could bruise. And then he retaliated with her Levicorpus invention. When would he learn to make up his own spells instead of stealing hers?!

"MELANIE!" she heard Lily cry out. To her horror, her school skirt flipped upside down. Laughter rang out from mostly boys. She covered her mouth to keep herself from crying out. Potter just exposed her underwear for the entire school to see! And her underwear was frayed and dirty at that! Where were the Slytherins when you needed them?! Or a professor!

"LET HER DOWN!" Lily screamed, drawing her wand and pointing it angrily. "LET HER DOWN BEFORE I CURSE YOU TO THE NEXT DECADE!"

"Prongs, please let her down," Lupin added weakly. Melanie scowled at the werewolf. Why did the staff bother to make him a prefect if he was going to let his friends get away with nearly everything? What an effing pushover.

"Certainly," Potter said, letting her drop to the floor with a thud. "It's not like I want to see such horrid-looking underwear, anyways."

Black laughed. "Petrificus Totalus!"

"Protego!" Lily shrieked. "LEAVE HER ALONE!"

Potter sighed. "Dang. Too bad, Padfoot. Looks like the fun is over for now. Lucky Evans is here, right Melonhead?"

Melanie panted angrily. She was outraged over her humiliation. They effing exposed her underwear to nearly thirty students! "I don't need help from filthy Mudbloods like her!"

She gasped. What did she just do?! She called Lily a Mudblood! Her best friend! Lily regarded her coolly. "Fine, I won't bother anymore. And I'd wash your underwear if I were you, Melonhead."

That really hurt. Melanie bent over, hoping that no one would see her tears. Brushing them away, she heard Potter angrily say, "Apologize to Evans!"

Melanie raised her head, her eyes narrowed. "Hypocrite! You can't tell me to apologize to someone for calling them a name when you do it all the time!"

"You're just as bad as she is," Lily added angrily. Melanie bent her head down again, panting. Lily compared her to Potter. She wasn't as bad as that jerk! She wasn't! Was she?

Potter objected that he would never use the term Mudblood. Melanie then tuned out whatever speech Lily was making to Potter. She already knew it all. Potter was always messing up his hair, hexing innocent people, fooling around with that stupid old Snitch, and his big head was surprisingly small enough for his broom. He made her sick.

"EVANS!" Potter yelled after her. "OY, EVANS!"

Lily ignored him and kept walking away. Melanie knew she was upset and didn't blame her. Like she slipped up and called her a Mudblood, Lily did the same by calling her Melonhead. Oh shit. Now she was defenseless against Potter and Black now that Lily wasn't going to be defending her any time soon. Where were the other Slytherins?!

"What's wrong with her?" Potter groaned to Black.

"I don't know," Black replied. "She might think you as a bit conceited, mate."

A bit? Melanie snorted. A lot conceited was more like it. Just because the git was in a stupid rich family, everyone else was inferior to him.

"Right," Potter looked furious. To her horror, Melanie was levitated up by her ankle again. Her skirt flipped to display her underwear. Oh Merlin, again?! "Who wants to see me take off Melonhead's panties?"

"WHAT?!" Melanie cried out, not caring to show them weakness anymore. "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" Now really, where were her housemates?! And why was Lily still walking away?! She could still hear what Potter was saying from her distance!

From the crowd of students, a few girls objected though some of the more perverted boys looked excited. Melanie whimpered. She didn't want her privates to be exposed! The underwear was bad enough, but her privates?! Was he evil or something?!

"Don't you think that's a bit far, Prongs?" Lupin begged quietly, looking up from his book.

"A BIT?! A BIT?! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, LUPIN?! A BIT TOO FAR?! WAY TOO EFFING FAR! YOU'RE AN EFFING PREFECT, FOR MERLIN'S SAKE! SO DO ME AND THE REST OF THE WORLD A FAVOUR, STOP BEING AN EFFING PUSHOVER, AND DO YOUR JOB!"

"What is the meaning of this?!"

Professor McGonagall arrived at the scene, looking the angriest Melanie had ever seen before. "Mr Potter, why are you planning to pull off Miss Snape's underwear?! That is borderline sexual assault! Put her down this instance!"

"All right, Professor," Potter said easily, allowing Melanie to crash to the floor. "Oops, sorry Melonhead."

Professor McGonagall flared. "Mr Potter!"

"Sorry, Professor. I was only kidding. I'm not perverted enough to remove a girl's panties in front of everyone. That's just sick."

"So is exposing her underwear to thirty different people."

"That was actually an accident. I forgot she was wearing a skirt."

Melanie hastily got to her feet and adjusted her skirt. Grabbing her wand, she spat, "I hope the Dark Lord finds you and sends you to hell!" and stormed away. She could vaguely hear Professor McGonagall tell Potter and Black that she was suspending them for the first month next year and giving them a whole year's worth of detention. They deserved more than that.

In the Slytherin common room, she was ready to just go to bed and sleep off the stress, but she was intercepted by Black's younger brother Regulus. "Melanie! We were getting worried about you! The fifth years said that you disappeared after the Defence OWL. Are you all right? You look horrible. What happened?"

Melanie slumped and started to cry. Regulus looked alarmed and quickly took her over to one of the couches and sat her down. "Melanie, what's wrong? What happened?"

"What's up with Melanie?"

"Was it those awful Marauders again?"

One by one, the other Slytherins congregated around the sobbing girl, each looking protective and determined. Through choked up words, Melanie told them all about Potter and Black attacking her, Lily coming to her defence, Potter making her show her underwear in front of everyone, her calling Lily a Mudblood, Lily turning against her, and Potter about to take off her underwear. To say that the Slytherins were angry was an understatement. Regulus was the angriest of them all because it was his own brother that participated in victimizing Melanie in such an abhorrent way. "I don't care that McGonagall already punished them. They need to pay. They should've gotten expelled, but McGonagall always goes easy on them. It's so unfair. We need to do something about this."

"Maybe we should expose their privates for a start," Mulciber suggested nastily. "They nearly exposed Melanie's so they should suffer the same except worse."

"Not Lupin," disagreed Regulus. "He was just being a stupid doormat like always. Plus, he did try to convince them to stop, if just asking to stop in a weak tone counts. No, he doesn't deserve that much of a punishment."

Melanie nodded in agreement. If only there was some way she could expose Lupin's secret. Unfortunately, Dumbledore forced her into an Unbreakable Vow to not reveal that Lupin was a werewolf or that Black nearly killed her by sending her to where Lupin was transforming. She smiled grimly. The Marauders were going to pay for what they did to her. And when Regulus squeezed her hand reassuringly, she knew that he was going to make sure they were absolutely going to.

Over five years later, Melanie was satisfied to find out that two Marauders were dead, another was in prison, and the other was left alone in the world with no one to help him. Too bad for him. As for the death of Lily Evans, well, that girl didn't deserve her friendship or sympathy anymore. The only reason she turned spy for Dumbledore was because of the death of her beloved Regulus Black.