A/N: My desire here was to do this story and try to keep James as much in character as possible. I wanted him to realize that his actions had consequences without making it too mushy or making him change too much at once. I'm not sure how much I succeeded. Read and review, please. Oh, and this is a one-shot. And I took a couple of liberties with the exact details of the prank.
Warnings: non-detailed suicide attempt, mild language.
Lily wanted to kill James Potter, resident toerag bully, but she knew Severus needed her so she headed for the dungeon instead of up to Gryffindor common room. She hadn't been there this afternoon, but the Gryffindors had been retelling the story all day long and someone had even snapped a picture. A picture that was all the more horrible because of the animated nature of pictures in the wizarding world. Severus flailing desperately in midair, making a futile effort to put his robes right that had fallen over his head. Meanwhile, his pale behind was open to the wind, leaving nothing to the imagination. It was so horrible that her stomach clenched in sympathy for him.
She didn't know the password to the Slytherin common room. She considered going and sending him an owl to meet her somewhere but then the wall separating the common room from the rest of the castle opened up and out walked Regulus Black. The wall closed back up instantly behind him. Lily sighed; it could be worse. Regulus was annoying but he was mostly harmless.
"You look like you're very lost, Mudblood," Regulus commented.
"I'm looking for Severus," she replied, ignoring the Mudblood comment, even though it stung. She wished she could teach herself not to care.
"He's in his room, I think, but I don't think he wants to talk to any Gryffindors." He tsked his tongue, though she was relieved he left off her blood status, apparently bored by her lack of response.
"Oh, we're friends and you know it. Can I just go in and talk to him?"
"Friends, hm? Well, as his friend why don't you ask your fellow Gryffindors to stop torturing him. I'm sure they'd listen to you, as a Gryffindor courtesy."
"I did tell them to stop."
"It didn't work, apparently."
"They laughed at me," she was annoyed by the memory; they'd blown her off completely. "Anyway, if you're so concerned, why didn't you say something to your brother?"
"Because it's not my job to fight his battles. I thought that was all you."
"I wasn't there," she snapped. She did blame herself, a bit, because he had asked her to come out on the grounds with her but she had wanted to play gobstones with Alice. "I can't be with him every minute."
Regulus shrugged and said, "Hurry up. The password is 'nobility'."
The wall heard him and opened itself up and Lily hurried through into the empty common room. She knew the way to Severus' dorm from the few times she had been in here previously. When she got to his door, she knocked lightly and then opened the door. He was there, lying on his bed, facing the wall. He had curled up under the blanket in his own little cocoon. She walked over and sat down on the bed, placing a hand on his shoulder and rubbing it gently in what she hoped was a comforting way.
He knew it was her because no one else ever touched him like that and he had hoped she wouldn't come. Severus hated for her to see him like this and it happened all too often. He wanted her to see him as strong but mostly he knew he came off as pathetic. He rolled over to face his only real friend and she could see he had been crying but his red-rimmed eyes that stood out starkly against his pale skin.
"You're missing Charms," he said dumbly; it was one of her favorite subjects.
"So are you," she pointed out.
They were silent for a moment. Finally, Severus let out a long breath and said, "So you heard what happened."
"Yes," another pause, "It will blow over, Sev. No one will remember it in a few weeks."
He snorted and said, "Yes, certainly, because something worse and more humiliating will take its place."
Lily couldn't argue this point because it was probably true. She wondered what the Marauders had to do in order to get expelled. "Do you want me to stay with you?"
"No, Lily. I want to be left alone."
She could tell he meant it so she rubbed his back one last time and stood up to leave, "But you're okay, right?"
He didn't answer her; he rolled back over to face the wall.
Lily ate breakfast at the Gryffindor table the next morning because she didn't see Severus. She didn't know how long he thought he could hide. A group of boys at the end of the table were recounting yesterday's prank again. She looked up at the table where the professors sat but McGonagall, Slughorn, and Dumbledore were all missing. Maybe it was best that he didn't come down after all.
Regulus entered the Great Hall and scanned the Gryffindor table for the redhead. Spotting her, he walked over and put his hands on either of her shoulders. She started a bit and then frowned up at him. He leaned down to whisper in her ear, "Did you hear? Apparently, Snape tried to take matters into his own hands last night. Up in the Astronomy Tower, but some Ravenclaw couple found him just in the nick of time. I heard it was quite bloody. They might need to get mindmenders for the people who found him."
Lily stood up, not giving Regulus time to give her anymore details. She was disgusted by the pleasure in the Slytherin's voice at her discomfort. She ran out of the Great Hall, leaving her eggs half-eaten, and Regulus watched her go with a look of satisfaction. Then he headed back to his table before he drew the attention of his brother.
Madame Pomfrey wouldn't let her see Severus, though. She tried pleading with Slughorn who knew she was his friend and who seemed to like her, but even he said no and told her to go on to class. Lily was furious by time she walked down to her Transfiguration class. She had never understood the term 'seeing red' before but she certainly did now. The class was lined up outside the locked classroom door, waiting for McGonagall to arrive. When she saw James Potter, talking to his friends like he didn't have a care in the world, she lost it.
James never saw Lily coming. He didn't generally have to be on his guard because he was well-liked and even those who disliked him wouldn't attack him because he was usually with his friends and it would always be four against one. Well, three against one, since Remus abhorred violence on principle. He did have good reflexes, though, from being a chaser on the Quiddich team so when he was shoved by a furious Evans with all of her might, he managed to catch himself before his head hit the stone floor. This was at the expense of his elbow which hit the ground painfully. His friends looked on completely stunned.
Lily had never hit anyone in her life; she had never been in a fight. But now she straddled James, and slapped at him furiously. She managed to land a few good ones on his face before he regained his composure and grabbed at her wrists. He managed to capture one but she slapped him more frantically with her other. She wasn't doing much damage with her open hand but it felt extraordinarily good.
"Stop it! Evans, are you crazy?" James said, his glasses going askew with her most recent blow.
"Did Severus ask you to stop? Did he ask you to please let him go when you were dangling him in front of a majority of the student body?"
James tried to sit up but she pushed him down with all her might, their faces a mere few inches apart. He called, "Will one of you please get her off me? She's ruining my new robes."
His flippant attitude infuriated her further. Sirius approached the situation uncertainly, looking as though he wasn't sure where to grab hold of her. If it was a boy attacking his best friend, he would punch them in the face, but that didn't seem the right course of action in this situation. He finally settled on grabbing her around the waist and heaving her off his friend. She kicked furiously and demanded to be put down which he did, a safe distance from James. Lily was crying now, all the rage seemed to have gone out of her, and she picked up her satchel containing her books and ran off.
Sirius helped James up who adjusted his glasses and dusted himself off with as much pride as her could after being attacked by a girl. His elbow was killing him but he could move it alright so presumably it wasn't broken. He looked at his three friends and said, "What the bloody hell was her problem?"
A Gryffindor in their year who had been watching the spectacle said, "I bet it's about that grease ball. I heard the little bastard tried to off himself last night."
The four Marauders turned and stared at him. Sirius let out an uncertain snort of laughter. James said, "Well, that's not my fault, why is she taking it out on me?"
Before the other boy could answer, McGonagall arrived to open the classroom door. She looked curiously at the disheveled James but no one said anything about what had transpired.
James stood outside the Hospital Wing under his invisibility cloak and waiting for the coast to be clear. It seemed like there was an endless parade of people through the wing though; mindmenders, people from Saint Mungo, teachers, Madame Pomfrey. He was annoyed; Remus was mad at him but was pretending not to be which he hated. The werewolf had a hard time being honest about what he was feeling, especially when it was negative in regards to his friends. He hadn't told any of them that he was coming up here.
He finally got his chance when Madame Pomfrey went to eat lunch in her office. She sat but the window that looked out on the beds because Severus should not be left alone according to the mindmenders. James snuck into the room, careful not to bump into anything, and when he reached the bed he cast a quick disillusionment charm which would make him invisible to Madame Pomfrey unless she was looking for him in specific. He looked at the boy in the bed who was thin and paler than usual. His arms were scarred all to hell and James knew they must have been deep to leave scars after being magically healed. The boy was snoozing, under some heavy duty potions, almost all of which had the side effect of making one tired. James carefully removed his cloak and sat it on the chair by the bed which was empty. He wondered why Evans wasn't here but he wasn't complaining since he didn't want to have a run in with her any time soon.
"Snape," he said quietly, and then he cast a quick silencing charm in case Madame Pomfrey was unusually attentive today. A little louder, he said, "Snape."
The boy's eyes snapped open and he looked around frantically. When he saw James, he yelled out, "Pomfrey! Madame Pomfrey!"
"Shut up! I just want to talk to you about something. I cast a silencing charm, anyway, she can't hear you. Sheesh." James rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably as Snape glared at him and willed with all his might for him to go away. There was a beat of silence and then James said, "I just wanted to set the record straight that this wasn't about that stupid prank."
Snape simply looked at him and James tried again, "It was just a stupid prank. Not that big of a deal."
"A prank? A prank?" Snape looked like he might get hysterical, "Just one, right? Just one every single day with not a moment's peace. Tell me, what was the next big plan? Something already in the works? Wouldn't want to lose your momentum, after all. Might be hard to top this one, though. I hope you and Black are at the top of your game."
James was silent and still. They had planned something else, in fact, with the picture one of the brilliant Gryffindors had taken. They had thought it might be a nice decoration to paper the Great Hall with. He wondered if it was too late to run interference on that one. It seemed inappropriate and morbid all things considered. Snape had said something else and he had missed it.
"What?" He asked blankly.
"I said that you always wanted me gone so you could have Lily all to yourself. Well, congratulations. I get a mandatory stay at St. Mungo's and you know what's funny? I'm relieved to be away from you lot. A locked ward is preferable, really . . ."
James grabbed his cloak and left. He knew he probably deserved to hear everything Snape had to say but he just couldn't stand there and listen. He dropped the silencing charm and ran out of the room, not caring if Madame Pomfrey saw him. He wondered if she had thought Snape was talking to himself. When he was a safe distance from the Hospital Wing, he leaned up against the stone wall of the castle, feeling slightly sick to his stomach.
He remembered something Lily had said to him a few years ago, when she'd tried to convince them to leave off Snape, "A prank is something that is funny where no one gets seriously hurt. A prank is supposed to be funny."
It wasn't funny. He wondered how many of them actually had been. He wondered if he was twisted for ever thinking they were.
Snape was back in time for their finals at the end of the year. The professors didn't say anything about his reappearance; he just showed up one day. James had hoped he wouldn't come back, honestly, though he knew that was supremely selfish. Sirius was on top of it after their first class, as though nothing had changed whatsoever.
"Snivellus," he called in a sing-song voice. James winced; it was a stupid, immature nickname.
"Just leave him alone, Siri," he said, getting him an odd look from all four boys. He explained quickly, "It's boring anymore. He's just too pathetic to even bother with."
Sirius reluctantly turned away from their old enemy and the boys set off down the hall. James looked over his shoulder at Snape, but there was no forgiveness in his eyes. Only unadulterated hatred.
Meanwhile, Sirius was fuming at the way James had looked at him as though he were doing something horrible by doing what they always did. He couldn't abide by that look which was the same look James reserved for the darker Slytherins. It was all that stupid git's fault, trying to drive a wedge between them. A plan was already forming in his mind for the best prank ever . . .
End Note: The 'best prank ever' being the werewolf incident, of course. Everything canon applies after this.