Lily Evans shook her head as she looked back at the man that had just brushed viciously past her on the street of Diagon Alley.
"Sorry for bumping in to you," she said sarcastically, repositioning her bag on her shoulder. The stranger, however, turned around and spat the words:
"Filthy mudblood whore."
Lily was not shocked or surprised as he did, but continued walking next to her husband, James Potter.
"I can't believe people sometimes," she muttered, heaving a heavy sigh. James looked at her, his eyes bright, intrigued.
"What happened?" He asked softly, laying an arm across her shoulder.
"Oh, just some guy who called me a mudblood whore…"
"He did what!?" James screamed, his face quickly turning to a light shade of red.
"James, don't!" Lily yelled, her hand on his arm. James was not listening as he stormed back across the street, dropping the bags he held and grabbing the shoulders of the retreating man.
"You think you can call my wife a mudblood whore and get away with it?!" He spun the man around and held his collar in his hands.
"Get off me!" The man yelled back, grabbing his wrists and pushing James away.
"Say sorry, now!" He threatened in a growl, getting close to the mans' face. Instead of speaking, he spat at James' feet and turned to walk away.
Without thinking it through, James grabbed the man's shoulder and spun him around, his fist connecting cleanly with his jaw. The crowd around them gasped as his turned back to face James.
"How dare you!?" He lunged for James and wrapped his fingers around James' collar before a voice called out:
"Petrificus Totalus," Both men were as still as statues as the red-haired woman approached.
"You two are acting like children," she looked at her husband and shook her head. "James, baby, sometimes you need to just let things go," then she looked to the stranger, who had fear in his eyes, "and you need to be less rude to strangers." She let them both out of the body-bind curse and nodded her head.
"I hope you've both learnt something!" She said as she turned to walk away. James slumped his shoulders as he turned to follow her but was stopped by the man.
"Hey, I- I'm sorry," he said, his face scruched as though something sour had invaded his mouth, looking at James. Then he turned to look at Lily, "I didn't mean what I said," he muttered at her. She smiled.
"Apology accepted, thank you," as she walked away James narrowed his eyes at the man.
"Sorry about punching you," he said, as though he was spitting out poison. The man just grunted, his face turning into a scowl as he walked away. James followed his wife away from the scene, cheeks still red from embarrassment.
"Sorry, Lils."
"No," she looked at him, then kissed his cheek," Thank you for sticking up for me."
Written for Herbology 10 :) Words: 502