Author's Note: I do not own and never will own Harry Potter. Written for the Was That You? Competition. (This may end up even more AU than I intended, as my memory of this scene is a bit shakier than I thought.)

He fell to the ground with a dusty thump, rocks and stray branches digging into the bare skin on his legs as the wind was knocked out of him for a few minutes. At least his robes had billowed out around him, and he wasn't showing his pants to everyone anymore.

Lily-

Severus jerked his head, scanning the crowded lakeside frantically for sight of his childhood friend, but she was nowhere to be found. If he hurt her, he mentally growled, clambering to his feet and retrieving his wand.

She'd stood up for him, a fact that dumbfounded, terrified, and infuriated him. Dumbfounded because he'd never had anyone stand up for him before, never mind against the bullies who called themselves the Marauders. Terrified that Potter had hurt her (or that declaring her loyalties so blatantly would bring harm to her from his own Housemates), and angry because damn it all, he was supposed to be protecting her. He didn't need help from a girl, he could take care of himself-

Or not, as the bruises on his shins so adequately reminded him.

Finally, he caught sight of the blazing dark red of her hair, farther up the path, and he hurried toward her, just in time to watch her whip out her wand and hex James into the nearest bramble bush. Black had already fled, and Lupin and Pettigrew were watching from a discreet distance, trying unsuccessfully to mingle into the crowd.

"Snivellus," someone snorted behind him, and he felt his face flame red. This was even worse than he'd imagined. He'd been doing all right (well, as well as can be expected, when four gang up against one, anyway), until Potter had used Levicorpus (and wasn't that the cherry atop the atrociously baked cake? His own spell), before Lily had stormed up, temper flaring just as brilliantly as her hair.

Lily turned, spotting him just as he wanted to melt into the crowd himself. Fat chance of that happening, though, he thought bitterly. Most of this lot was made up of Gryffindors, and they'd rather die than let a filthy Slytherin half-blood come near them.

"Severus," she said, and he could watch the anger recede, deflating her. "Are you all right?"

"Fine," he muttered brusquely. He knew his answer hurt her, but he couldn't stop himself nonetheless. Behind her, Potter was still struggling to extricate himself from the brambles. "Can we go-"

Lily hesitated, searching his face, then finally nodded. He limped up to the castle, ignoring the twinges in his ankle, as Lily followed.

"Are you sure," she started to ask.

"I'm fine, Lily," he interrupted. There was so much he wanted to say. Wanted to demand. Now did she believe him, about how pointlessly cruel Potter and his cronies really were? How could she speak up like that, anyway, how could he let a girl protect him, a M- But even in his thoughts, he couldn't finish the slur. She wasn't a Mudblood. His anger had nearly made him spit it out, but he'd clamped his teeth over the words, so savagely he'd nearly bit his lip in two.

"You're going to the Hospital Wing anyway," Lily decided, and Severus couldn't help but smile ruefully.

"At least Potter might be in the next bed this time," he sniped, and this time, Lily laughed.