Written for the Quidditch League Competition Season 6 Round 9
Team: Kenmare Kestrels
Position: Beater 2 {reserve}
Prompt: Bully
Optional Prompts: "defeated" {word}; "disappointment" {emotion}; "grass-stain" {word}; "slate" {word}
Lily stared at the parchment in her hands, beyond disappointed. An A. McGonagall deemed Lily's essay worthy only of a barely-passing grade. Lily had spent at least three hours in the library working on this essay; after she'd finished, she had looked at the rest of her Fifth Year textbooks and gone to bed, feeling like she was drowning in homework. And now all her hard work, all those hours that could have been spent studying for Slughorn's text next week, all that effort had achieved a mere A.
Lily blinked back tears. She was determined not to cry in the busy corridor, with students rushing along on their way to their next class, but that did not stop a lump from forming in her throat or a knot from settling in her stomach. An A. Once again, Transfiguration had defeated Lily's best efforts.
Trying to shake it off, Lily took a deep breath. She had a free period next; she would go outside for a walk around the lake, calm herself down, and then talk to McGonagall during lunch. It was still early in the year. Lily could catch up with the lessons. She could still pass her O.W.L. exam.
Nodding as if she was trying to convince herself of her own argument, Lily stuffed the parchment into her bag and headed outside. The sunshine hit her eyes, making her squint, and Lily took a moment to orient herself. To her left, she could see the giant squid sunning a few of its legs on the surface of the lake. To her right was the Quidditch Pitch. Guessing that she would be alone by the Pitch, since no practices were scheduled in the mornings, Lily headed right.
She was halfway down the gentle sloping hill when she noticed Mary Macdonald standing rather awkwardly outside the locker rooms. Mary held what appeared to be a Beater's bat in one hand, which was not uncommon since she was a Beater, but Mary was also standing unnaturally still. As Lily changed course and headed towards her friend, she noticed that Mary had an odd expression on her face. Lily sped up, concerned.
"Alright, Mary?" Lily called, waving widely.
Mary did not respond.
Lily broke into a run. Mary's odd stance was not the only thing wrong, Lily realized as she got closer. Mary was not moving at all, even as she gripped the Beater's bat firmly, and there was a grass-stain on Mary's stocking, which was highly unusual for her tidy friend, and Lily noticed with a jolt that Mary's wand was on the ground at her feet, like it had fallen unnoticed.
"Mary!" Lily yelled, even though she was only a few yards away.
Mary said nothing, but she did turn towards Lily this time. Her face was relaxed, dreamy almost, but Lily knew her friend well enough to recognize terror in her eyes. Alarmed, Lily drew her wand and stopped a few feet away from Mary.
Mary was staring at Lily, eyes wide. Her mouth was unmoving; the whole of her face was alarmingly stiff, and Lily saw that Mary's grip on the Beater's bat was so fierce that her knuckles were white.
Cautiously, Lily raised her wand. "Finite Incantatem," she whispered, pointing her wand directly at Mary's face.
Nothing changed, but Lily heard a low laugh from the locker rooms door on her right, and she aimed her wand there immediately.
"No use, Mudblood, no use," came a voice, and then Mulciber emerged from the locker rooms, an amused grin on his face. He was shaking his head as he moved towards them, and, Lily noticed, his wand was pointing straight at Mary.
"What do you mean, no use?" said Lily, willing her voice not to shake. With one hand, she kept her wand pointed at Mulciber, and she reached for Mary's free hand with her other, but Mary shook her off. Surprised, Lily forgot to watch Mulciber as she turned to stare at Mary. Her friend had pulled her hand away, had stepped away from Lily, and was now gripping the bat with both hands.
"Finite doesn't work on the Imperius Curse. Even a Mudblood like you should know that."
At the sound of Mulciber's voice, Lily whipped her gaze and her wand back towards him. He had moved to stand a few feet behind Mary, so the three of them formed a line parallel to the locker room door. With a start, Lily understood that Mulciber meant to use Mary as a shield and —Lily's breath caught— as a weapon.
Lily was trembling, she noticed distantly, and she realized that she had no idea what she was going to do. If Finite Incantatem didn't work on the Imperius Curse, then Lily could not help Mary. She could not run for a professor, because that would leave Mary alone with Mulciber again, and who knew what he would make her do. Her only option, it seemed, would be to force Mulciber to release Mary, but how in the name of Merlin would she manage that?
Lily's throat went dry as she considered what to do. She wondered if she could jinx Mulciber hard enough to knock him out, but even as the thought crossed her mind, she worried that Mary would still be caught under his Imperio, but at least she could try and persuade Mary to go see McGonag-
A movement to her right caught her eye. Lily chanced a glance to the locker room door, and hope and fear filled her stomach as Sev slipped out of the locker rooms.
"Sev!" she cried, relief filling her voice. She ignored Mulciber's snicker, because even if Sev was in the same House as Mulciber, he would see that this was wrong and he would make Mulciber stop, or at the very least he would fetch a professor.
Sev looked at her briefly, then his eyes shifted to Mary, to Mulciber, to Mary's wand on the ground, and then back to Lily. He gripped his wand tightly but kept it pointed towards the ground, not choosing a side yet. Lily frowned.
"Sev?" she said again, disbelieving that he could comprehend what was happening and yet not take action. "Help me! We have to help Mary, she's-"
Severus interrupted her. "Alright, you've had your fun. Let her go." He spoke to Mulciber in a bored tone, but Lily could tell he was hyperalert to every movement both Mulciber and Mary made. His wand twitched slightly.
Lily turned back towards Mary; her friend looked nauseous, even as Mulciber kept her standing still. The bat swung gently from side to side, like it was blown by a breeze, not controlled by Mary's hands.
Mulciber seemed consider Sev's words, but then he jerked his wand and Mary raised the Beater's bat over her head.
"Mary!" screamed Lily.
"No!" yelled Sev, jumping towards Lily and grabbing her arm. "Mulciber, you know what I'm capable of. Let her go now and no one will get in trouble." He cast a glance back at Lily. "Alright? Let Macdonald go and we can go to lunch."
Mulciber frowned. Sev raised his wand and his eyebrows menacingly. "Now."
Smirking, Mulciber flicked his wand; Mary fell to her knees, gasping.
"She was getting boring anyway. Alright, Snape. Lunch." And with that, Mulciber turned and walked past them towards the castle.
Lily wrenched her arm free from Sev's tight grasp and rushed towards Mary, flinging herself onto the ground and ignoring the dirty look Mulciber gave her as he passed.
"Mary, are you alright, love? Oh, Merlin, please be alright," she pleaded as Mary panted and started to cough and gag, spitting on the ground.
"I'm alright, Lil, I'm alright, I just…." Mary broke off, wiped her mouth, and reached to pull Lily into a tight hug. Lily gripped her friend just as tightly, feeling her own tears start to flow. She pulled back quickly and turned around to look at Sev. He was standing in the same spot, watching them, an unreadable expression in his slate eyes.
"We'll talk about that bullying ass later, Sev," Lily said in a low voice, not wanting to disturb Mary further. She turned away from him and hugged Mary again. She heard Sev walk away, and Lily pushed aside the uncomfortable thought that perhaps Sev had been in the locker rooms the whole time…. She would deal with him later, Lily told herself, but right now Mary needed to talk to McGonagall.
"Come on, love, let's get you inside," Lily murmured, helping Mary to her feet. She bent and picked up Mary's wand and the Beater's bat. She handed the wand to Mary and was surprised when Mary reached for the bat as well.
"Give it to me," Mary said in a low voice, "because if we catch up with Mulciber, I'm going to show him that my beating arm has not been affected by his pisspoor Imperio."
Despite the horror she had just witnessed, despite her concern for Mary and her worry about Sev, Lily grinned. "That's the best thing I've heard all day, Macdonald."