In the Corridor
AN: This is a short little ficlet that has been buzzing around my ears for quite a while. Enjoy!
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"Did you understand anything Flitwick said today?" Alice asked over the noise of the crowd.
"Some," Lily replied.
The two girls walked down the crowed corridor, mindful not to bump into anyone else. The rush after lunch was always hectic, students rushing out the front doors, hurrying across the entrance hall to the dungeons, getting stuck on the wrong case of stairs and having to backtrack down to the floor they wanted. Lily was almost bowled over by a quartet of third year Ravenclaws who flew down a staircase and took a turn too sharply. Now that they were near the fourth floor, the number of people had diminished, however.
"I don't know. That Fidelius Charm seemed really comp—"
But Alice cut herself off as they came across a crowd of people in the corridor up ahead. They were forming a circle around a Slytherin seventh year and a Hufflepuff fifth year. The Hufflepuff looked rather green, but nevertheless gripped his wand steadily.
"—and your daddy, too," the Slytherin hissed. Lily recognized him as Antonin Dolohov. "You pathetic little whelp."
The Hufflepuff sent a puff of purple smoke at Dolohov, but he sidestepped it and grinned sneeringly.
"What is going on here?" Lily asked loudly, stepping forward. She could feel half of the crowd staring at her Head Girl badge.
"And here's the Head Mudblood, come to save your sorry little arse," Dolohov said. The Slytherins behind him chuckled. He was still addressing the fifth year Hufflepuff. "Are you going to hide behind her robes—"
But the Hufflepuff had sent a curse at Dolohov, knocking the wind out of him. Another Slytherin—Evan Rosier—sent a blast of red light back, but it missed the boy and ended up hitting a marble statue of Doris the Doomed. Her left arm was on the floor after the dust cleared.
"No magic in the corridors!" Lily cried, stepping between Dolohov and the Hufflepuff. The crowd was silent. "Get to class everyone."
"Don't speak to me," Dolohov sneered, apparently able to breathe again. "You aren't fit to wipe the mud off my shoes—you'd only dirty them."
Lily could feel her face flush. Her fingers were itching to draw her wand and hex him, but she was Head Girl, and she knew she mustn't. But the temptation was still there.
"I'd appreciate it if you'd stop talking and get to class, Dolohov," Lily said, gripping the strap to her bag. "Get to class!"
She looked at the crowd. A few people grumbled and scurried away. The Hufflepuff boy had disappeared.
"Sorry?" Dolohov asked, cupping his ear. His turned to Rosier. "Did you hear something? It sounded like mud squelching under my boots." The Slytherins chuckled again, louder. Dolohov looked at Lily, his long, pale face twisted in a grin. A strange light burned in his eyes and Lily felt her insides turn to ice.
"Get to class before I report you—"
"It is the Mudblood speaking!" Dolohov exclaimed. "But she is not dressed befitting her station."
Lily's cheeks burned as she heard the Slytherins' laughter. The rest of the crowd was silent. Lily wondered if Alice was still there or not.
"Maybe we should remind the Mudblood of her place. Maybe she should remember what she is."
Before Lily could blink, Dolohov had raised his wand again and sent a blast of white sparks at her. Lily stumbled back and felt something sharp pierce her skin. She looked down and heard the gasp of the students around her. Her robes were covered in mud and blood, some of it her own, as evidenced by the bleeding palm of her left hand and the blood trickling down from a cut above her right eyebrow.
Shocked silence permeated the corridor, until someone shoved his way through the crowd to see what was going on. Lily met James' eyes and felt her shame and anger rise. But before anyone did anything, James strode up and stood in front of Lily, glaring eye to eye with Dolohov.
"Ten points from Slytherin for using magic in the corridors," he said. Lily was surprised. Wasn't he going to grab his wand and start hexing people? "Twenty points for using inappropriate language," he went on. James motioned to the seven or so Slytherins behind Dolohov, but didn't break his eye contact with him. "Ten points each for goading Dolohov on, and," he motioned to the rest of the crowd, "five points each for not stopping him and standing around to watch."
Silence settled once again. James finally broke eye contact and surveyed the crowd. "Get to class," he said coolly, but the steel tone in his voice got their attention.
As the students sped away, James turned back to Dolohov. The Slytherins behind him hadn't moved.
"Detention," James said, "for attacking the Head Girl."
Dolohov didn't even blink. "I was merely reminding the Mudblood of her place."
"Another twenty points from Slytherin. Watch your mouth, Dolohov."
Dolohov smirked. "How cute. The bloodtraitor is protecting his little Mudblood whore—"
"Another detention," James spat. "I thought I told you not to swear." He wasn't facing her, but Lily could see how tense he was from his rigid back.
"You can't give him detention," a Slytherin protested. "His Head of House—"
"Yes, I need Head of House approval. I'm certain Slughorn would agree with my punishment."
Dolohov shrugged. "Like I care about detention," he mused flippantly. His eyes met Lily's and he grinned again, his face twisting unpleasantly. "The Dark Lord will get you one day." He looked back to James and put his wand away. "Both of you."
And with that, the Slytherins marched down the hall in a wave of black. Lily shivered.
As soon as they were out of eyesight, James spun around and strode up to her. The commanding stance gone, the look of certainty in his eyes was replaced with concern.
"Are you alright?" he asked, touching her arm. His eyes were wide behind his glasses. Lily could see the anger smoldering in them and quickly averted her own eyes.
"I'm fine," she said, looking down at her bleeding palm. It stung horribly. She didn't know what else to say.
"Those bastards," James muttered, eyeing her soiled robes. He sighed. "Listen, you go up to the hospital wing. Madam Pompfrey will clean you up and fix your cuts. I'll talk to Slughorn tonight and—"
"No," Lily protested. "We have Transfiguration next and McGonagall would kill me if I missed it."
James looked at her incredulously. "Lily," he said weakly, "you were just attacked. Go clean up. McGonagall will underst—"
"No," Lily repeated vehemently. James dropped his hand away form her arm, which he'd still been holding. "Look." Lily licked her lips. "I'm grateful, I really am, but I had it under control, and you didn't need to butt in—"
"Butt in?" James hissed. "Under control?" He took a step closer and Lily was keenly aware of just how close he was to her. "Those Slytherins are capable of anything. Dolohov's right. What do they care about House points and detentions when as soon as they're out of school they'll join up with Voldemort? We're lucky they stopped before a teacher came—"
"I said I had it under control," Lily interrupted.
"Well excuse me, but from where I came in it didn't look that way to me. It looked like you had just been called a bad name, hexed, and was at a loss as to what to do next—"
"At a loss?" Lily was fuming. How dare he say such things to her. How dare he butt in where he wasn't wanted. How dare he assume—
"Yes, at a loss," James said. He touched her arm again. "Lily." He took a breath. "Go to the hospital wing. Really."
Lily was suddenly choking back tears. What was wrong with her? She nodded weakly. James stepped back.
He gave her a fleeting smile. "I'll try and stay awake and take notes for you, okay?"
Lily knew this was supposed to be a joke. James Potter was the best Transfiguration student in their year—now, she supposed, in the whole school. He was a child prodigy, but he loved it.
"Okay," she whispered softly.
They started down the corridor together, and at the end she turned left while James turned right.
Halting suddenly, Lily looked back and called, "James?"
He turned. "Yeah?"
"Thank you." She meant it.
James smiled. "You're welcome." His eyes were soft.
And with that, they both continued on their separate paths.