Mudblood. Mudblood. Mudblood.
Severus had called her a Mudblood. He had called her a Mudblood, and he had meant it, and she hated him. She hated him, she hated him, she hated him.
These were the thoughts of Lily Evans as she ran through the castle, half-blind from the tears pooling in her eyes. She had no clear notion of direction or intended destination; she just had to get away from stupid James Potter, stupid Sirius Black, stupid Marauders, and stupid Severus. She had to go as far away from all of them as she could, and maybe if she ran fast enough she would never have to see them again.
Over and over in her mind played the look on Severus's face as he used that word. Mudblood. He had gone so far from the Severus she had known, the one who had told her she was a witch and supported her through all of the ensuing Petunia drama. That Severus wasn't there know; he had been replaced by hatred and meanness and Dark magic. Maybe she had just fooled herself and he had never been there at all.
Mudblood. Mudblood. Mudblood.
All of a sudden, Lily turned a corner and ran straight into a suit of armour standing there in the middle of the hallway. It was probably the work of Peeves, as it was set up to be as inconvenient and annoying as possible. She rebounded backward a little and fell to the floor. Once there, however, she found she had no energy to get up. She would not be doing any more running today, and she hoped that the running she had done already would be enough to keep her as far away from Severus Snape, James Potter, and the whole lot of annoying fifth years she needed to avoid. Lily inched herself over to the wall, curled up with her arms around her knees, and began crying.
Mudblood. Mudblood. Mudblood.
"Evans?"
Lily had been crying for several minutes when she was jarred from her tears by one of the last voices in the world that she wanted to hear. She looked up quickly to confirm that it was indeed the messy-haired Quidditch-playing git she so desperately wanted to avoid. Upon seeing him, she sprang to her feet angrily and pushed the tears away from her eyes.
"What do you want?" she shot. He busied himself shoving a piece of parchment into his robes, but it wasn't nearly enough time for Lily to calm down even a little.
"I… er… wanted to check up on you."
"Well, I'm fine, thank you very much."
"No, you're not."
"Well, I'd rather not speak with you at the moment-"
"Evans, I'm sorry."
James Potter was sorry?
"He… he shouldn't have called you that. You're so much better than him, and you… you didn't deserve that… and… I guess I just… I'm sorry, too, of course. I was thinking the whole time I was running after you, and he probably wouldn't have done that if I hadn't… you know… so I'm sorry I did what I did, and I'm sorry you had to get involved, and I'm sorry that Severus…" His voice trailed off.
Severus had called her a Mudblood, and she hated him, and she hated James Potter but he was apologizing and trying to make her feel better, and there were far too many emotions inside her. They spilled over in another bout of tears. Lily buried her face in her hands as James rushed forward to hug her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.
Eventually, her eyes dried out, and she pulled away from James. His smirk was gone, and instead his hazel eyes looked serious and sad and searching, like they were looking for a way to help that they hadn't quite found yet. "Thank you," Lily sniffed.
"No problem," James said, biting his lip. Lily nervously tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear, gave one last fleeting glance at James, and darted back the way she had come. James had helped, certainly, but she still needed to be alone. She didn't deserve his comfort.
Mudblood.