A/N: Please read the next two drabbles back-to-back. They second one takes place a few hours after the first.
The story had been buzzing about the castle like a swarm of angry bees. A centaur boy, roughly her own age, had been discovered dangling from a tree in the forbidden forest. Beaten, mutilated, unmistakably dead.
There's another rumor too. There were six Slytherin boys absent from the feast the night before the body was found. One of them was Severus.
Still, Lily doesn't believe. Can't believe.
It's not until she sees the body as they carry it down the lawn. Sees the gashes clotted with blood. She knows that spell.
Sectumsempra.
She runs to the bushes and vomits violently.