Notes
Not mine, no beta.
Dialogues taken verbatim from the 5th book starting from "Wash out your mouth, Scourgify!" until "Ah, Evans, don't make me hex you," (and James Potter did threaten earnestly to curse Lily in canon) with an exception after "I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid!"
Warning: not really for you if you love the Marauders. I don't consider it bashing, because for me I didn't devy from canon as far as their characterizations go, but please be aware I have a rather low opinion of the Marauders in general and in here, I chose to focus on some of their worst traits.
Lily turned her head towards the setting sun and sighed in bliss, basking in the residual warmth she could feel from the tendrils of light caressing her face.
She was beginning to feel drowsy when a commotion erupted a few feet away from her. Without getting up, she turned her head just in time to catch sight of a figure struggling on the ground before a student blocked her view.
Her blood ran cold. Her best friend was there, defenceless. She didn't need to see more to know who the culprits behind this attack were. Only one group of people could go around cursing people left and right as a form of crowd entertainment.
She got up, nearly tripping over her bag in her haste. She eyed it for half a second before stepping over it. It would only slow her down.
How had they managed to catch Sev unawares? He must have been distracted. Her stomach churned with guilt and she tripped over a dip in the ground. It was her fault. She had promised him they would meet up after their written Charms O.W.L. but her housemates had distracted her and she had forgotten.
She increased her pace, mindful of her steps on the uneven ground, until she heard Potter speak: "Wash out your mouth, Scourgify!"
She heard her best friend choke against the bubbles suddenly filling his mouth and clogging his throat, drowning him, and she ran. He had no-one but her. His housemates liked him about as much as they liked her because of his parents. The other students couldn't care less about him at best. He had no-one but her to watch out for him.
« Leave him ALONE ! » she cried, shoving a seventh year Ravenclaw aside.
The ring of onlookers made way for her, only too happy for the additional participant to this sordid spectacle they seemed to be enjoying so much.
Wizards were in many ways more violent and crueller than Muggles, especially the wizard-raised who seemed to consider some horrors just par for the course. Situations like this one sometimes made her wonder if Magic was worth this price.
Her shout had made Potter and Black turn to look at her. Potter's free hand jumped to his far too shiny hair to give it more volume.
"All right, Evans?" he asked, and the tone of his voice was suddenly deep and deceivingly warm and pleasant, nothing like the cold spiteful tone she had heard him use just a handful of seconds earlier.
Taking a good look at him, she wondered how she could have ever bought his act.
"Leave him alone," she repeated through gritted teeth, trying and failing to contain the fury rising inside of her, unsettling her magic and charging the air with electricity. "What's he done to you?"
"Well," Potter drawled, pretending to be thinking about his answer. She regretted giving him an opportunity to speak.
"It's more the fact that he exists, if you know what I mean..."
Lily didn't laugh along with the leader of the Marauders. How had she missed all the times he had given her a similar explanation for his bullying before? 'I'm bored', 'I don't like his face', 'look at me instead of him Evans and I'll stop'. As she clenched her fists, a sizzling noise sounded to her right. She blinked. A bush to her left had self-combusted.
She chanced a look at Severus, still struggling against the bright pink bubbles that kept pouring out of his nose and mouth, before sweeping her eyes in a wide arc around her when she heard the gathered students echo Potter's laugh. She tried to remember most of the amused faces. She would make sure to report every single one of them to their respective Head of House, even though she knew they would suffer no consequence for both their actions and lack thereof. Her gaze landed on Lupin and she felt her lips curl back in a snarl.
That coward.
What was he doing, pretending to be reading? He was a Prefect, just like her. He was supposed to intervene here. Was she supposed to be grateful he wasn't participating because he felt he had done his part under the Whomping Willow that other night? Because he preferred tormenting her friend when he was sure no-one was looking?
An unnatural gurgling sound from Severus pulled her back to the here and now: the effects of the spells he was under were waning. Reassured, she rounded on Potter, intent on distracting him.
"You think you're funny," she said coldly, slowly walking around him to place herself between him and Severus. "But you're just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter." A wanna-be murderer and a liar too, she completed silently. A fake Gryffindor. There was nothing brave or chivalrous to any of his actions. Sev was more deserving of being a lion than him. He'd always been. She could see that now. "Leave him alone."
"I will if you go out with me, Evans," Potter said with that disgusting self-satisfied smile that rarely left his mouth. "Go on ... Go out with me, and I'll never lay a wand on old Snivelly again."
She gagged. He was disgusting, trying to coerce her into going out with him once again. Behind her, the Impediment Jinx had finished wearing off and she heard the sound of Severus reaching for his wand on the grass, still coughing out soapsuds as he crawled.
Cold crept up her spine. This wasn't going to end well. She could take a step back and bump into Sev to stop him. But she didn't move and the moment passed. She'd chosen to keep on shielding him with her body instead.
"I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid! Perhaps unlike you, it'd be able to understand what 'no' means!"
"Bad luck, Prongs," Black said with a shrug, before peering around her too look at Sev. "OY!"
She bit back a vindictive smile. Black had been too late: though he'd mostly missed his mark, Severus had managed to cast a cutting curse at Potter and a gash appeared on the side of his face, spattering his robes with blood. For a brief second, she hoped it would scar, but a moment later she found herself on the ground and Sev was hanging upside down in the air, his robes falling over his head to reveal his legs and underpants both.
As the ring of people around her cheered in answer to Potter, Black, and Pettigrew's roaring laughter, and while Lupin kept on pretending he was existing in a parallel dimension, Lily spared a moment to be grateful that Sev had decided to only partially follow the Pureblood tradition of wearing robes: forgoing pants but not going as far as dispensing himself from underwear.
She picked herself up from the ground.
"Let him down!" How many times would she have to ask them to leave Sev alone before they heeded her order and finally started behaving like decent human beings?
"Certainly," Potter said and he jerked his wand upward.
Lily let out a strangled cry as Severus fell into a crumpled heap on the ground, meeting it head first with a sickening crack. She dropped to his side, carefully cradling his face between her hands. She felt tears of relief gather at the edge of her eyelashes when she heard him moan, his features scrunching up with pain. He was still conscious. That had to be a good sign.
Her relief was short lived.
She barely heard Black exclaim "Petrificus Totalusl" before her best friend froze within her arms, rigid as a board.
This was the last straw.
Her eyes landed on Severus' wand, just within reach of her fingers. What had Severus said again last week? That spell for enemies he was creating. To defend himself from the Marauders. So she could also defend herself should she need to. A secret spell, just for them.
"For the last time, leave him alone!" she shouted, fingers closing against Sev's wand. It had always liked her, it would work for her today too. The wood warmed pleasantly under her fingers, as though agreeing with her thought.
She got to her feet and took aim before lowering Sev's wand in the same movement. She was a Prefect. She was supposed to be above this. That and the spell wasn't finished yet and there were enough horrifying stories circulating about failed spell experiments.
She noticed Potter and Black's eyes had followed the movement her wand hand had made. Good. They should be wary.
"Ah, Evans, don't make me hex you," Potter said earnestly.
She snorted. "Is that how you're hoping to convince me to go out with you? You're thinking of upgrading from blackmailing me by tormenting my best friend and verbally harassing me to cursing me now? What, will you arrange a date for me with your Werewolf pet under the Whomping Willow too if I don't comply?"
She grinned savagely when she saw him falter. Even the cheering noises of the crowd spoiling for a fight dimmed and a worried murmur rippled through it.
"Wh-What? No. No Evans it didn't go like that! I saved him," Potter stammered, throwing panicked glances around him. Had he thought her so dumb as to take his version of the events without worrying for her friend? Without asking Sev about what had happened?
"It's not saving when you're the one putting him in danger in the first place Potter, or don't they teach lessons on responsibility and being held accountable for your actions in Pureblood Land? So much for the Old and Honourable House of Potter." She was standing tall now. The tide was turning, and it was in her favour.
"He owes me a life debt! Dumbledore said he did and made it valid!" Potter's voice was frantic now and Black was stepping in front of him, just as she had done for Severus. She felt anticipation coil in her gut, sending warm sparks through her magic and making her feel restless. She raised Severus' wand again.
"Snivelus walked into that one himself." Black's harsh tone rang loudly in the now silent ring of onlookers. From the corner of her eyes, she spied a few figures running in the direction of the Castle. For shame. She hadn't wanted a fight. But she was starting to realise she wouldn't mind too much if Black, whose actions had nearly cost her her most precious friend, was her opponent. It could be a good catharsis, she thought with a wry grin.
"Stop spreading false rumours Lily, please. It was just a prank. Snape took it too personally and blew things out of proportions, like usual."
So Lupin was finally getting involved. Fighting back because he had believed Severus would have heeded Dumbledore's order not to tell anyone anything. They didn't understand their relationship at all.
Opposite Lupin, Pettigrew was slowly drawing his wand out too.
Four against one, with an incapacitated Severus to protect. She could do that. Sev had stood his ground enough times against such odds and they mock duelled often enough. She just needed an opening to strike first before they could coordinate their attack or before Black released the spell sparkling at the tip of his wand. A purple one. She knew that shade, it was the ice lightning he loved using so much.
On his right was Potter, who seemed to have finally decided he would rather fight her instead of kiss her. At least one good thing would get out of this mess.
And on either side of the two were the sidekicks.
Time suspended itself until a male voice reached them.
Lily saw Black's wand slacken as he turned to look behind him. She dived to avoid the released bolt of lightning and felt the electric cold singe and freeze the end of her hair. Instinct took over. One knee on the ground, she cast a shield to her left and an acid green curse splashed over it before she closed her eyes and swiped Sev's wand in a wide circle in front of her, a yellow light shining as bright as the sun temporarily blinding her opponents.
She faintly heard someone sounding like Professor Flitwick asking for some people to stop doing something, but she didn't have the time to listen to him. She had to act fast before they could see again. What was the spell's incantation again? Oh yes. She felt Sev's wand hum a sort of encouragement at her magic. It would help her cast it.
She violently slashed her wand in an upward diagonal, focusing all her pent up feelings of pain, anger and frustration in the movement.
"Sectumsempra!"
A flash of white light filled her vision before she felt a burning pain travel up her wand arm and the world went black.
.
Hearing came back to Lily first. Some incomprehensible murmurs around her. Had she fallen asleep in the middle of the Library again? She opened her eyes and blinked incomprehensively at the white ceiling above her head. This wasn't the Library. This was the Infirmary? What was she doing there? Wasn't she supposed to be outside?
With that thought, everything came back to her in a rush and she whipped her head around, surprisingly short strands falling before her eyes. Severus was in a bed next to her left, whispering with Madam Pomfrey.
"Sev! Sev, did I get them?"
The nurse forgotten, Severus scrambled out of bed, a relieved smile breaking on his face, softening his usually severe features. "You're alright! You've finally woken up!"
"Finally? No, wait, it doesn't matter. Did I get the Marauders?" she rushed out, her hand pushing her hair out of her face and following the strands to discover it had been cut short.
Severus' hands grasped hers in a fervent, oddly intimate embrace that made her skin tingle pleasantly and distracted her from half formed plans of revenge towards Black.
"Who cares about the Marauders! Lils, you nearly died and –"
"Good to see you awake Miss Evans," Madam Pomfrey interrupted. "Back to your bed young man, I haven't finished examining you yet."
"I... died?" Lily asked with a toneless voice and the nurse turned back to her.
"Mister Snape is exaggerating," she answered, waving a hand to shush his incensed reply. "But you were lucky Filius was on site else you could have been in grave danger. Trying a new, unfinished spell while your emotions were riding high, one of a violent nature at that, and with a wand that wasn't even your own was thoughtless on your part Miss Evans," she said, her eyes flashing with unrestrained disappointment, before she threw an oddly soft look in Severus' direction. "You're lucky Mister Snape's wand Sacrificed itself to protect you from the backlash."
"Sacrificed?" Lily asked with a small voice.
"It shattered," Severus offered, extending a small box in her direction. She forced her heavy muscles into action and stretched out her left arm to take it.
Inside was a pile of broken and charred pieces of wood along with a blackened tube that must once have been a dragon heartstring.
"Oh Sev I'm so sorry, I didn't know, I don't even know what I was doing I just didn't think of using my wand."
"You should consider yourself happy about your oversight Miss Evans." Madam Pomfrey interrupted her lamentations. "Yours wouldn't have reacted in such a way."
Lily tore her eyes from the wand fragments and turned them in the nurse's then in Severus' direction. His sallow skin had taken a pink tinge and he wasn't looking in her direction anymore. What had she meant by that?
Probably sensing her confusion, Madam Pomfrey continued, "perhaps you could accompany Mister Snape when he will get his new wand and ask Master Ollivander about it? He will be able to explain this topic better than I and was quite excited at the idea of examining the fragments."
Lily nodded, the words taking time to sink in. Severus didn't have a wand anymore. How was he going to undergo the rest of the practicals?
"The O.W.L.s!" she gasped.
"You and Messers Snape, Potter, Black, and Pettigrew will be allowed a special summer session of exams at the Ministry to take those you missed."
Lily frowned and made to ask Madam Pomfrey for more information, but she had already walked away to get a mirror of all things.
"I am going to be abrupt Miss Evans. While you are in no danger, magical scars like yours cannot be toned down."
Lily felt herself pale and scrunched her eyes closed. She had forgotten about the heat she had felt. She opened them again and trailed her hands all over her face. At least she could still see from both eyes, though the colours seemed a little off, and her nose was still in place. Scars Pomfrey had said. Not maimed. She heaved a relieved sigh and dropped her head back on the pillow.
Her movements brought her attention to her right hand and she took it away from her face to examine it more thoroughly. Fine white lines were shimmering on her skin. Her right hand was nearly glowing with them. Pushing back the sleeve of the medical gown she was wearing, she saw the lines drew fractal shaped patterns all the way up to her elbow and probably even went up to her shoulder. There were none on her left hand.
She looked up into Madam's Pomfrey's kind eyes to gather her strength before lowering her gaze to the mirror she passed to her. At first, she was relieved. Beyond her shortened hair, there was nothing different about her. Then she leant closer to the mirror and realised there were more tendrils glittering like diamond powder sprawling on the right side of her face and curling over her nose and chin. There was just a smaller amount so the network of curves and angles drawn on her skin was less dense.
It was pretty, she thought, surprising even herself. The places where they crossed her freckles seemed to make them glow like drops of fire. She now resembled exactly what she had imagined battle hardened fairies to look like when she had been a child, when Petunia was arguing that fairies didn't fight and anyway they didn't exist, she thought with a suppressed giggle. A line had even gone right through her right eye, but instead of blinding it, it had merely left a striking glowing line that bisected it in two green halves, turning her iris into a glowing white circle in the process. So that's why the world was looking different.
"The glow will subside when the residual protection the Wand Sacrifice afforded you will wear off in the next few months. Though you shouldn't feel any after effect, you'll be expected at Saint Mungo every three days for the next month so they can monitor your eye. On the other hand, I am afraid your scars will never pass for natural in the Muggle World. Master Ollivander said they could even react to you casting magic, getting charged again with residual energy from your spells. When you go back home, you will have to look up Muggles concealment methods so you can get out of your house without threatening the Statute of Secrecy."
Lily nodded, more by reflex than true comprehension and after a light squeeze on her shoulder and the strange recommendation not to attempt to conceal her new scars while in the Wizarding World, Madam Pomfrey took her leave to tell her Head of House she had woken up.
She kept on gazing sightlessly into the mirror until Severus' voice broke through the silence that had fallen on their corner of the Infirmary.
"You've been asleep for nearly two days. The train back is the day after tomorrow. They were thinking of transferring you to Saint Mungo had you not woken up by then." She raised her head to look at him and raised an interrogating eyebrow.
"She kept saying you were fine, that your magic just needed to settle down but you were out of danger thanks to Flitwick's intervention and Ollivander specially coming to help you and you just needed rest." He hugged his arms around himself. "I thought you were going to die," he finished with a small voice that made her heart ache.
"But I'm not," she said, as much to reassure him as to comfort herself.
"But you're not."
And with that, the last of her worry left her. "I rather like my new look," she grinned, pushing her hair over her right ear to fully put her new scars on display. "The Purebloods won't be able to say I'm not magical enough now that I look more like I'm magic than any of them!"
Severus's small smile froze, putting a damper on her all too brief cheer.
"About that, Lucius wrote that he'd be interested in meeting you. 'Said maybe he was seeing why I'd stuck by your side all these years, what with you trying to use a nearly Dark spell on Blood Traitors and a Werewolf and living through a Wand Sacrifice." He took an unopened envelope on his nightstand and threw it at her. The cream parchment was thick and smooth and heavy under her fingers. It clearly was expensive. On it was her name in an elegantly tilted dark green cursive. "That's probably him inviting you to Malfoy Manor some time during the summer."
Lily stared in open-mouthed shock at the envelope in her hands before putting it away. She didn't want to think about the implications of that yet.
"You're not opening it?"
"Not before I know what happened to the Marauders that would make us have to take our catch up O.W.L.s with them."
A wicked grin bloomed on Severus' face and she felt a thrill of satisfaction go through her. So she had gotten them.
"They were thrown out. Lucius, as a show of 'good will' on his part," he said with air quotes, "got his father to help things along. Black's going to be homeschooled by his family, same for Potter. You should get a visit from his parents, I heard them scream at him for dishonouring the Potter name for, and I quote, 'attempting to blackmail a young lady into an unwanted relationship' and how 'he'd have deserved it had the curse you'd tried to cast done him more damage'. It was glorious Lils, apparently you calling him out about his family motto forced them to examine their heir's behaviour and now they owe you reparation or something," he laughed before frowning again. "Pettigrew might come back though, he was just suspended until the end of the year. And I don't know what happened to Lupin, he just vanished."
"So I didn't hurt them?" she didn't know if she felt relieved or disappointed by that. She wouldn't have wanted to maim any of them by accident just because she had been too angry to think. Not that it would have been too much of a loss has they gotten a scar or two out of the experience.
"A few first degree burns but nothing serious." He frowned, "dunno what went wrong. It's supposed to cut through people, not burn them." He shook his head, bringing his focus back to her question. "They didn't even spend the night here. Flitwick's shield had come in just in time and it protected everyone but you."
"That's... good."
She truly was happy nothing too bad had happened, she realised.
"What about you?"
"Pomfrey was angry I didn't go to her after my run in with Lupin and has been running test upon test over me as a revenge since they got me into the infirmary," he said with an exasperated roll of his eyes and she couldn't help the laugh that escaped her.
"So we'll be free of the Marauders next year?" she switched the topic, allowing herself this tentative hope.
A blinding smile answered her and made her heart soar. "Sounds like it. Our Hogwarts life will finally be able to start."
End notes
I hope you liked this short story.
Whether you found it enjoyable or not, if you want to share your impressions, I'd love to read them.
Lily's wake up impressions were directly taken from that time when I fainted in the middle of a museum a few years ago. I don't recall having ever been that disoriented, it took me a good minute or two to realize I wasn't at home or in the flat I was in at the time and that the bed was so strangely hard and lacking covers because I wasn't on a bed at all but on the ground. That wasn't a pleasant experience.