James Potter was having an internal rage fit right in the middle of the Great Hall, as you'd expect him to. It has been three days since the incident and his knuckles have taken a permanent shade of pale white from grasping every little thing a little too hard - the broom, the quill, the cutlery and sometimes, Sirius's poor shoulder, which now shows a hint of a permanently etched scarlet hand-print. It is difficult enough for Sirius that his long term love interest is being overly competitive against James in her conquest for ownership but having James's hand-print etched on his shoulder may have been the last straw to put a damper on their overly complicated, casual relationship.
James suddenly rises from the table, having spotted Snape briskly walking out of the hall with Mulciber and Avery, and starts to follow suit. Sirius wordlessly follows James, tapping Remus and Peter on the shoulder as he passes them. From the corner of his eyes, Sirius sees Marlene perk up at the sudden commotion and then look sideways at Lily intently to gauge her reaction. Usually Lily would be running behind the Marauders with the intention of saving Snape from a humourless prank - as it has lately been a bit intense - but this time she seems to be staring at her untouched plate of food trying to convince herself not to meddle. The battle is evident on her face. Marlene shrugs at Sirius apologetically before turning to her friend to cheer her up.
This whole exchange between Sirius and Marlene only takes a moment before Sirius rushes after James who is long gone by now. Sirius's long strides break into a galloping sprint as he rounds the corner.
James is, for once, not trying to attack Snape which is odd as well as expected in Sirius's opinion. He knew from the moment Snape called her Mudblood that James would try and make him apologise to her no matter how humble he'd have to be to him.
No matter how rough the four boys can get at times they are never truly evil. Being born to two pure-blood families, one of contempt and one of royalty, the two boys know what the word Mudblood truly means. It hasn't even been half a century since the Blood Purification was put to an end by Dumbledore but the wizarding atmosphere of Britain is cautioning against another similar war, this time led by the infamous Voldemort. The initiation of the Death Eaters have only made it tangibly real despite how many people are in denial of the fact that they'd have live to see two great wizarding wars in their lifetimes.
James disappears out of sight briefly as a loud bang reverberates through the castle walls, snapping Sirius out of the reverie just as he rounds the corner fully to see the entire corridor. His body freezes at the sight of James sprawled half against the wall and half on the floor, his body severely convulsing against the cold stone. He's bleeding profusely from multiple cuts which seem to be opening up everywhere all at once.
Sirius's body only takes mere seconds to process all of this before his arm reaches inside his robes pulling out his wand. His body seems to be thinking and acting on its own. He is aware of the fact that James was cursed by Avery and Mulciber before he actually sees them and his wand seems to be throwing hexes at them whose arms are still outstretched from having cursed James. He's acutely aware of Remus and Peter rushing behind them and immediately screams at them over his shoulder.
"Stop the bleeding and take him to the Wing. Now"
"Finite" Sirius is shocked by the sudden appearance of Lily, Marlene and Alice. Seeing the state of James, Marlene and Alice seem reluctant to come closer. Sirius turns his face sideways to nod at Lily in gratitude without taking his eyes off of Avery and Mulciber who are lying on the floor bleeding, much less than James, after being thrown at the walls multiple times in his frenzied state of anger.
"Step aside, Black" it was not a request. It was an order.
"Save it Evans. This is not a prank, as you can see" Sirius sounds more venomous than he intends to, but this seriously isn't the time to be handling this kind of immature drama from Evans no matter how infatuated James might have been with her for years. In his opinion, even Evans, being as self-righteous as she is, must see his treatment of the Slimy Three as deserving.
It all happens in a flash of a second. Sirius feels the non-verbal hex building up inside Snape and raises his wand in response, a Protego ready at his tongue in case he targets James again. But a large beam of over exaggerated red hits Snape square in the chest before the green hue could take form outside of his wand. Snape barely has time to contort his features into one of shock before he hits the far away dead end with a loud thud.
"I said step aside, Sirius."
"Lils, WATCH OUT"
Sirius is in too much of a shock to notice the stirring bodies of Avery and Mulciber until James lets out a forced cry. Despite the fact that his body seems to have stopped opening cuts in multiple places, his wounds are still unhealed and he has lost a lot of blood. Remus and Peter instinctively throw their arms around James to stop him from jumping into the scene in his poor state.
Sirius lifts his wand to throw a shield around the six of them but before he could recite the spell in his head, Avery and Mulciber are thrown at the same wall Snape was thrown at a moment ago.
Sirius snaps his head around to look at Lily, dangerously letting the Slimy Three out of his range of sight. He notices that she hasn't moved even a little from her initial pose when he half turned to nod at her but he has not realised at that time that she was staring at James intently.
"Crucio"
She doesn't shift her gaze from James when she utters the spell, her wand pointed in their direction. Avery and Mulciber, who are lying on top of each other right in front of Snape start to convulse on the floor, their screams reverberating through the castle walls. Remus acts on instinct, sealing off the area so that no one might accidentally walk in or hear what's going on here. Ordinarily he would be the first to stop Lily, but even Sirius could feel that that would put them in a seriously dangerous predicament.
Snape looks gobsmacked into inaction. She holds out the curse for far too long but none of the unhurt Marauders nor the girls are able to stop her, only partly proud of our very own Evans (as the other part seems to be properly terrified of her power). They stay frozen in time for half a minute which seems to drag on for hours in their minds until James flops himself over to lie on his stomach.
"That's enough, Lils"
His tone is both gentle and firm. Lily doesn't take her eyes off of James but she lowers her arm, effectively putting a stop to the curse.
As if suddenly awake from an epiphany, she walks over to Snape slowly, despite James's protests. She stops a few feet away from them and lowers herself to one knee, balancing her weight on the balls of her feet.
"I would say this is what Pure-bloods are reduced to in the presence of a Mudblood" the five Gryffindor wince at the word Mudblood but Lily doesn't seem to be phased by it. She doesn't seem to have perceived their reaction as she continues in the same breath, "If I didn't know James and Black. Seems like the ones who are willing to torment others in their quest for power are the truly weak."
"In other words, Severus Snape, you're one hell of a pussy"
A flicker of green lights his eyes momentarily as Snape jumps to his feet in rage, pointing the wand at her chest. She matches his movement calmly.
"Sectumsempra"
Snape 's eyes shimmer with moist before the curse hits him square on the chest.
Despite norm, none of the previous day's events seem to have circulated throughout the school via the grapevine. Lily was vaguely aware of being dragged away by someone who smelled like blood and sweat right after she hexed Severus. Everything feels like a blur in her head after that. She vaguely remembers herself being handed over to Marlene and being fussed over by Alice throughout the short journey to the Gryffindor common room. She remembers being thrown on top of her bed, a potion shoved in her hands and being left alone for goodness knows how long. She has stayed in her bed perfectly still, the drapes around her bed fully drawn and sealed magically so as not to be interrupted by person or sound. She wasn't ready to hear what was being said about the incident or to answer any of the questions Marlene and Alice might have, which they definitely would.
Right now she's hiding in the Astronomy Tower. Hiding is the accurate term as she's sitting on top of the railing on the balcony with a disillusionment charm hiding her from anyone who might wander in here in the dead of the night. She has timed it perfectly, hiding in her perfectly charmed bedpost for an entire day and half the night. She hasn't stepped out until the Perfect and Staff patrols end for the night (at one in the morning, to be accurate). She has to confront herself before facing the rest of the school.
If she is being completely honest she would admit to herself that she is hiding from the Marauders. But right now she's all about denial.
She has been gazing at the vast black scenery for about two hours now without letting her mind confront the situation. Not only did she use an Unforgivable on two students, but she also used a hex which she was pretty sure belonged in the Unforgivable category. It's not as if Sev told her about the hex he came up with. She once spied it off his book while studying with him on the library. He isn't gallant in that sense. He doesn't like passing on the best bit of knowledge he has.
Sev... The name itself brings a sting to her eyes. She still couldn't believe Sev wants to become a Death Eaters but to actually use a spell like that on a student three days after calling her a Mudblood... There isn't a fragment of her own Sev, her best friend that she recognises in this hull of a man anymore. No, there is something sinister growing within him and she feels the need to be as further away from it as possible every time she thinks about it.
Letting herself think about what Sev did brings a flood of images to her mind, images she has been successfully blocking out since last evening - of James sprawled on the floor like a beat up dog, deep slashes opening up all over his body over and over again, the pool of blood he was lying in and his eyes - that last one was definitely the hardest to remember. James wasn't letting out a single cry of pain and his eyes held so much of fighting power it was as if he was trying to block the curse from his mind. Even at a situation where most people would show their most vulnerable side, James Potter manages to show his best.
She slowly remembers the order of events, reluctantly. She remembers deciding to run behind the Marauders knowing something bad would happen to someone and she vaguely remembers thinking that James might walk into a horrible situation all on his own. She remembers jumping to her feet at this thought and running after Peter, the last of the gang, disregarding the cries of Marlene and Alice who, without a second thought, followed her. She remembers hearing a loud thud and picking up her stride rounding the corner, only to see Black battling Mulciber and Avery alone while Sev just watched the situation, smirking. She remembers how her eyes searched the entire corridor for the one person she was after and seeing him being torn apart over and over again in a pool of his own blood.
She averts her eyes away from the scenery as if forcing her mind to stop the flow of memory. She doesn't want to confront the rest, not yet.
But then again, she hates unresolved issues. Even if it's a tiny knowledge gap felt after hours of studying. She has always loved this about herself but right now she wishes she didn't have such a personality trait because her mind automatically goes back to following the previous day's events.
She members what she felt when she saw James on the floor like that. There was rage. Pure rage. She wanted to rip through everyone who had a hand in it, one by one.
Realisation suddenly hits her, making her heart rate pick up.
No. Absolutely not.
She thinks to herself, shaking her head furiously. She springs to her feet wanting to her away from here as soon as possible, as if this revelation would be deemed null if she got away from this place.
Because there is absolutely no way she would have feelings for him. Absolutely no way.
She turns to run, her disillusionment charm forgotten, but freezes on that spot, inches away from a presence. She can't quite see who it is yet as her eyes are beginning to adjust to the darkness of the inside of the tower, but she can feel that her face is inches away from someone's chest.
And she instinctively knows that it's his.
Her heart rate elevates and she can feel warmth creeping up at the back of her neck. Her breath hitches up and she tries really hard to keep it hidden. Even the sound of a pin drop can be heard in the isolated Tower. She can vaguely see him flick his wand in her direction and suddenly the disillusionment charm peels off of her.
She can feel him watching her and swears that she can hear him smirk and steals a quick glance to confirm this. He's looking at her with so much longing that she almost lets out a sigh. He holds her gaze for a long time until the blush that is creeping up her neck overtakes her face entirely. His eyes are accustomed to the dark as he has been watching her for a while now. He can see every single reaction on her face - the blush, the realisation, the panic and the retaliation. She tries to quickly turn her gaze downwards but he holds her by the chin before she can. He slowly leans his head down and she feels the blush deepening as his lips come down to hers slowly...
Until his forehead rests on hers. An unfamiliar feeling settles at the pit of her stomach. It takes her a moment to place this feeling. Oh dear lord. I'm disappointed that he didn't kiss me.
"There is no way Avery, Mulciber or Snape would ever admit to anyone that they were beaten up by a girl alone" he puts extra emphasis on the world alone. "Thanks to Remus's quick thinking, no one else witnessed the scene either. Obviously there's no way in hell either my boys or your girls would spill this anywhere".
All she can do is gaze into his eyes like a deer caught in headlights. His gaze is so intense that it is impossible for her to tear her eyes away from his.
He brings a hand up to her cheek, striking it slightly, and in an instant, he's gone.
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