IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE, PLEASE READ: hey! basically I had major writers block and just couldn't write the next chapter. After a few days of trying to write I realised that I couldn't because I felt like this (the chapter below) was missing, so yeah, this chapter is out of place (it happens right before the first detention) so I am very, very sorry for any confusion. anyway, plase read on... :)
James had been aimlessly wandering the corridors for the last half hour. His detention wasn't for another three hours and, as Sirius and Peter were still in dinner (having what James could only assume were thirds) and Remus was cooped up, working in the Library (a place James detested and refused to enter), James had decided to waste his free time 'exploring' the school. It didn't take long for the boy to realise how trivial a task this was and quickly grow bored without someone to talk to. It felt weird to be by himself; he was almost lost without someone to interact with having been in constant company his whole life. Up to this point there had always been someone to talk to or someone to annoy at Hogwarts. And, despite being an only child, he never seemed to be alone at home either; the McKinnon's, other relatives and family friends often came round for anything ranging from a quick chat to a couple months stay. James sighed, sitting himself down on the cold stone floor of the corridor. He really should just go back and do his homework.
He shuddered automatically at the thought.
He was considering doing Homework! Merlin he must be bored.
James frowned, thinking he had heard a scuffled noise from down the corridor. He waited in silence, straining his ears for further sounds, hoping they would indicate that someone to play with was not far away. Suddenly a high pitch squeal cut through the silence, making the messy haired boy straighten, tensing in fear as his heart rate quickened in panic. The scream was abruptly silenced; in its place James could now hear other hushed voices talking quickly, their speech broken only with hollow laughter. Immediately James rose from where he sat, blood pounding in his ears and mind racing as he began to run down the corridor, sprinting in the direction that the shriek had come from. He only had to turn into the next corridor before seeing a young girl lying rigid on the floor. His heart dropped upon seeing the immobile body and, immediately fearing the worst, his eyes pricked with tears. He didn't however have time to dwell on this as four other pupils were also in the hallway, running in the opposite direction, away from James and their unmistakable crime. Acting instinctively, James thrust his hand into his pocket for his wand, pulling it out and pointing it instantly at the attackers.
"Oi!" James shouted after them. The boys didn't stop running, but two turned their heads at his voice.
"Snape?" James said, faltering slightly, momentarily lowering his wand as he recognised the young boys paled face. Snape looked at him, half in fear and half in manic, adrenaline filled glee before turning his head back and continuing to speed down the corridor. The other boy who had turned was also familiar but, apart from deducting that he was a Slytherin, James couldn't place him and the four had soon raced out of sight. Not even daring to waste a second, James immediately turned his attention to the body on the ground. She was a tall, gawky girl James thought he recognised from Charms and History of Magic, making her a first year Hufflepuff. Her round, thick glasses lay skewed across her face and her bushy hair had flared out behind her head, sprayed across the floor, indicating that she had fallen quickly. She looked at him, unable to move, eyes full of fear. James couldn't help but smile: the girl was alive. As relief flushed through him he felt immediately stupid for having thought otherwise. He shook his head, inwardly laughing at himself.
"Don't worry," he said softly, giving the girl a comforting smile, "I think they've just used a body binding curse or something, it'll wear off soon." The girl continued to look at him in utter terror, her face contorted in pain.
"You're going to be fine," James said. Despite believing this to be true, the boy couldn't help but have the unnerving sense that something was deeply wrong. "I'll stay here until it wears off, but I promise you will be…" His voice trailed off. James had bent down to be closer to the girl and, in doing so, had involuntarily but his hand in a thick, blue liquid that lay in a pool around her head.
"Merlin," he breathed, looking at her aghast. The liquid had already begun to soak itself into her hair and appeared to be coming out of her ears. James felt his stomach squirm as he continued to stare. He gulped, unsure of exactly what was happening.
"Are you in pain?" As soon as he said it, James knew it had been a stupid question. The girl not only had a blue fluid running from her ears, but was immobile and unable to talk.
"Ok," James said, still trying to recover from the initial shock. "Ok, um, if you look up and down for yes and across for no then we should be able to talk. Ok?" he added, unsure if the girl could hear him.
The Hufflepuff looked up and down.
"Great," James said, smiling again, trying to convince not only the girl, but himself, that everything was going to be alright. "Are you in a lot of pain?"
The girl looked left to right.
James raised his eyebrows to show just how much he doubted this. "You don't have to be brave for me, just be honest. Does it hurt a lot?"
Once again the girl looked from left to right.
"Does it hurt at all?"
The girl looked up and down, indicating that it did indeed hurt. James nodded, worry etched deep into his face.
"Do you want me to go and get help?"
The girl hurriedly looked left to right.
"Don't worry," James said quickly, "I won't leave if you don't want me to, but I need to get you some help- I can't carry you to Madame Pomfrey, and I don't trust myself enough to levitate you." James paused, wracking his brain for ideas. He knew it would be pointless to shout for help as most of the school was at dinner and those that weren't were unlikely to be wandering the corridors far from their common rooms. It was then that he saw the paining of an old 13th Centaury Wizard hanging on the wall opposite him. The old man was asleep in his chair, owl loyally perched by his side.
"Hello," James said loudly, leaving the girls side to approach the painting. "Excuse me, you really need to wake up."
The Wizard stirred, but refused to wake.
"HELLO!" James repeated, practically shouting at the painting, "I-NEED-YOUR-HELP!"
The owl hooted and the wizard opened one bleary eye, giving James a scornful look.
"I'm sorry for waking you," James said quickly, words tumbling out of his mouth in renewed panic, "But this girl has just been attacked, she can't move and I really need you to go and get some help!"
This wizard frowned slightly, looking quizzically at the immobile girl on the floor. "Are you sure that it isn't a simple jinx?" He said, a prominent drawl dictating the tone of his voice.
"Well, no, but there's a blue liquid coming out of her ears and-"
"Fine," the wizard interrupted. "I will go and get help." He stretched, giving a long sigh before casually strolling out of his painting.
"Please hurry!" James shouted, though he doubted the wizard could hear him.
It took an agonising fifteen minutes of waiting before help finally arrived in the form of a flustered Madame Pomfrey. The young Medi Witch immediately conjured a stretcher and levitated the girl onto it before sending it off to the hospital wing. She gave James a pained look.
"James Potter isn't it? You're Remus's friend?"
"Yes."
"Did you see what happened?" Madame Pomfrey began to make her way towards the hospital wing as she spoke, walking so quickly that James felt as if he was jogging to keep up.
"Briefly- I was in a nearby corridor when I heard a scream." James recounted the events of the previous twenty minutes, including recognising Severus's face.
"Are you one hundred percent sure that it was Severus?"
"I was at the time."
"But now?"
James frowned as self doubt began to wade into his mind. He was sure it had been Severus- he could recognise the greasy haired boy's hooked nose anywhere. But the boy had only turned round for a few seconds and they had both been running high on adrenaline and fear at the time. How could he have been so sure that it was a boy he had known for only two months?
"Ninety percent," he said finally. Madame Pomfrey nodded and continued to question him in a similar fashion until they reached the hospital wing and he was asked to wait outside. The wait was once again agonising; James felt as though each second drew out into a minute, and each minute into an hour. The reality however was that the wait was brief and James was soon called in to the hospital wing.
"Margo, this is James. He's the boy who rescued you," Madame Pomfrey said warmly, leading James over to where the Hufflepuff lay. Her face was still very pale and she was visibly weak.
"Thank you James," She said quietly, giving him a small smile.
"It's nothing," James said. "Are you ok now though?" Margo nodded and Madame Pomfrey began to explain to James what had happened. As he had originally suspected, The Hufflepuff's immobility had simply been caused by a body binding spell, one most first years could easily perform and thankfully something Madame Pomfrey could easily rectify. The blue substance that had poured from the young girls ears, however, was much more sinister. Whilst Madame Pomfrey had quickly fixed it and Margo had said it caused her no real pain, the hex had been dark. Madame Pomfrey admitted that whilst she had never encountered the particular spell before, it seemed to be a knock off of a curse that made the victims blood turn blue and slowly flood out of the body, draining them to the point of death. Margo's face paled further as she heard this.
"Don't worry Margo," Madame Pomfrey said quickly, "The substance that came from your ears was certainty not your blood. I'm not entirely what it was but, apart from being a little shaken, you are now in perfectly good health so you haven't lost anything important." Margo smiled weakly at this.
"The people who did this will still get expelled though, won't they?" James said quickly.
"Enforcing school rules is not my area James, but if it were up to me they would at the least be severally punished," Madame Pomfrey said before asking, in a gentler voice, "Do you know who did attack you though Margo?"
"No," the girl replied a little too quickly.
"James said he saw Severus Snape, was he one of the people who attacked you?"
"No," Margo repeated.
Madame Pomfrey narrowed her eyebrows. "If they have threatened you with anything then-"
"They haven't threatened me!" Margo said, again too quickly to be believed.
"Ok," Madame Pomfrey said, nodding, not wanting to distress the girl any further. "Now I need to go and do some paper work, is that Ok? Will you be ok with James here or do you want me to stay?"
"I'm fine, don't worry."
"Good. Now, I have left a light sleeping draft on your bedside table," Madame Pomfrey indicated to where a hot mug was sitting, "Please feel free to take it if you wish- sleep is, I believe, the greatest heeler of all and will honestly make you feel so much better. You won't have to stay here long, just overnight so if there is any side effects we're unaware of we can deal with them." Madame Pomfrey gave Margo a warm smile, offering further words of reassurance before finally leaving to her office.
"Have they threatened you?" James asked as soon as Madame Pomfrey was out of earshot. Margo gave him a guilty look.
"I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to, I just want to know what happened."
"Yes," she said, still not daring to reveal the names.
"But why?"
"Because I'm a mudblood-"
"Don't use that word," James said quickly. "And no you're not: you are a muggleborn and your blood is just as clean as mine or theirs is." Margo gave him a small smile. "You're ok now though, aren't you?" James asked.
"Yes," she said, "But if you don't mind I'd really like to sleep so…" she gave him an apologetic look.
"Oh, ok, sorry," James said quickly.
"It's fine," Margo said, giving him a genuine smile. "And thank you." James nodded, returning the smile before making his way out of the Hospital wing and allowing the girl time to rest.