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Chapter 37

The Werewolf and the Mudblood

"Sirius is really starting to warm up to you," Lisa said as she and Lily were descending the spiral staircase of the Astronomy Tower, on their way back from the midnight class. The Marauders (Remus in particular) had dropped that class like a hot potato the second they were allowed to, and Alice and Marlene complained it was interfering with their sleep, so Lily and Lisa ended up the only Gryffindors to take it.

"I think I'm starting to warm up to him too." Lily smiled. "He can be really funny, when he's not being a complete prat. And he is fiercely loyal, I'll give him that. I've never seen anyone else admit they're a part of a prank, just so their friends wouldn't have to endure detention alone."

Lisa laughed. "He did scold Peter for getting caught afterwards though."

"Still, he's not as empty headed as I thought he was," Lily giggled. "And Peter is very sweet. I'll never know why Marlene broke up with him; he seemed really devoted to her."

"Yeah..." Lisa trailed off, thinking about Marlene and Peter.

He did seem a bit bitter over the break up, but she tried to be as nice as possible to him, something Lisa had never seen her do for any of the other blokes she snogged. There was definitely something more than meets the eye going on between those two, and Lisa considered coming up with a plan to get them back together. Marlene was clearly wrong about him, he wasn't possessive of anything and he certainly didn't have that much of a mean streak. James and Sirius were also a bit out of line here and there, but Lisa knew they were ultimately good people. Maybe it was the same for Peter, but Marlene didn't bother digging enough to see that. Perhaps if she...

"—who cares? It's been weeks, get over it already!" a familiar voice drifted down the hall and Lisa immediately grasped Lily's wrist, pulling her backwards all the way to a hidden alcove behind a tapestry Remus had told her about once. The two girls held their breath, waiting for the footsteps to pass them.

"You're such a sore loser, Avery," Dorcas' voice continued, as she got closer. "So the werewolf beat you once, stop whining already."

"That thing shouldn't be allowed in the school!" Mulciber growled.

"Agreed," Snape drawled. "I've been trying to get him and his precious little friends expelled for years, but Dumbledore seems to be fond of his pet."

"Why does it matter?" sounded the significantly quieter and dignified voice of Regulus Black and Lisa's heart sank. "He tries to stay out of your way... just do the same."

"And bow before a beast?!" Mulciber exclaimed indignantly. "I don't think so! My blood is pure, so it's my right to walk these halls! Any sensible Headmaster would've seen it my way too! He has to go."

"Enough," Rosier rumbled. The footsteps stopped. "We're going in. The rest of you, you know what to do in case someone walks by. Ready?"

"Ready," Dorcas replied and they heard something swing on hinges and two pairs of feet echoed against stone.

The others remained silent for a little while, until Avery piped up.

"Personally, I think the mudbloods are the bigger problem. The werewolf is only one; the damn things have infected this school like a disease."

"Mudbloods haven't had the nerve to touch me," Mulciber pointed out.

"I wouldn't exactly mind being touched by some of them," Avery said and the girls could just feel the grin in his voice. "Evans' got some great tits on her. Wouldn't you agree, Severus?"

In the darkness of the alcove, Lily shuddered with disgust and Lisa reached over to squeeze her hand reassuringly. To his credit, Snape remained quiet.

"Disgusting," Mulciber spat. "She's hot, I'll grant you that, but her blood is dirty. I think I'd barf if I ever had to kiss her."

"No one said anything about kissing," Avery clarified. "You slip in, you slip out. I'm touching her body, not her blood."

"You two are pigs," Snape said matter-of-factly.

"I'm more of a legs man, myself," Mulciber continued, more or less ignoring Snape completely. "I'd say Fawley's the better choice."

"Now that's disgusting," Avery sneered. "She lets a werewolf between her legs. I wouldn't touch that with a ten-foot pole."

"Blood is still pure. Legs are still long. It doesn't bother me," Mulciber said and the two of them sniggered. "How about you, Reg? We already know who Snape's lusting over. Anyone caught your eye?"

Regulus said something, but it was too quiet to hear. The Death Eaters exploded with laughter.

"See, Reg has enough sense not to be going after a mudblood," Mulciber commented.

"Like it matters. His blood traitor brother is probably going to defile the bloodline with one soon enough. Merlin knows his best friend Potter's doing it already. And Fawley, too. What a waste of perfectly good families..."

"It's not a waste yet," Mulciber mused. "If we were to, let's say, dispose of Lupin and Evans... there could be hope for blood purism yet. And it would send a message to all the other purebloods to be careful who they choose to share a bed with."

Lisa's heart sank painfully. Lily and Remus, the two kindest, most loving people she knew... were being targeted. Just the thought alone made her want to be sick.

"What are you idiots doing!?" Dorcas' voice hissed unexpectedly, making Lisa and Lily jump. "We told you to keep watch! Why are you laughing like Neanderthals?"

"Relax, Meadowes. No one is going to hear us," Avery drawled dismissively.

"Did you find anything?" Snape cut through.

"A garden," Rosier responded, and there was a long, confused silence.

"A garden?" Regulus repeated skeptically. "Behind a paining?"

"What matters is what we didn't find," Dorcas interjected, "and that's the Sword. Come on, before Filch busts us."

oOo

On Friday Lisa spent the majority of the day in the Library again. She wondered sometimes why she continued to do this, when Dorcas couldn't be there anymore. A small part of her hoped each time that her best friend would come despite all odds, just stride in out of breath and apologize hastily, before telling her how Luke Tucker was a terrible snog and how she got another O on her Defense against the Dark Arts quiz. But Lisa knew it wouldn't happen. Dorcas was too smart for that, too careful. She just missed her.

Climbing into the Gryffindor common room with a sigh, Lisa spotted three of the Marauders roasting marshmallows on the fire and went over to join them. On the way she almost bumped into Lily and Remus, heading out together.

"Where are you two off to?" Lisa turned to Lily, stopping to greet them.

"Prefect rounds," Remus replied in her stead. "We've got the dungeons route tonight."

"Do you?" Lisa said, giving the redhead a pointed look. The two girls agreed the night before not to tell the boys anything. Lily had insisted that she wouldn't hide up in the Tower and let herself be intimidated by some pig-headed tossers, and Lisa's attempts to make her lay low for a while only seemed to fuel Lily's indignation even more.

"I suppose that was Lily's idea?" she added. Lily glared at her defiantly, almost daring her to speak up.

"Yes, it was," the Head Girl said firmly, as Remus looked from one to the other in confusion. "It'll be safer if Remus and I went down there, instead of sending some shivering fifth years."

"Will it?" Lisa asked again, returning the glare with full force. Lily was doing this on purpose!

"Yes, it will!" Lily snapped and pulled the bemused Remus towards the portrait, but Lisa's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.

"Lily," was all she said, gazing deeply into her friend's eyes. "It isn't safe."

The two girls looked at each other for a long minute, as the Marauders exchanged bewildered glances from where they were sitting. Lily's fuse wasn't nearly as short as Lisa's but her rage once evoked was legendary.

"Come on, Remus. We have a job to do," Lily said determinately and wrenched away from the other girl's grasp.

Lisa watched them climb over the hole and cursed her friend for being so proud. What was she hoping to accomplish with this? Well, at least Remus was with her. What's the worse that could happen?

She groaned internally. This saying was never followed by good things. She ran out after the prefects and caught up to them, just as they were about to descent the staircase.

"Wait!" she called, causing them to stop and turn around. Lily looked like she was about to start another argument, but Lisa only looked from her to Remus and wrapped her arms around him in a strong hug. "Just... be careful, okay?"

Remus had no idea what in Merlin's beard was going on, but he caressed his girlfriend's back reassuringly and kissed her forehead.

"I always am."

Lisa let go, wanting to tell him to take care of Lily, but knew the redhead would kill her if she did. So she only gave her a slight smile and a nod, and hurried back to the common room, only to find the three Marauders still in front of the fire.

"What was that about?" Sirius asked, as she walked over and sat in the leftmost chair.

"Nothing," Lisa sighed, picking up a book she had hidden under that particular armchair and disappearing behind it.

oOo

Lily was fuming. From James this sort of behavior would not surprise her in the least, but coming from Lisa? She was always going on and on about how they needed to trust each other in a time of crisis, how even a small hesitation could cost them dearly... but apparently, that trust only extended to the Marauders! Oh, she'd trust Dumbledore and go along with his life-threatening schemes, she'd trust James, Sirius and Peter with handling a werewolf, she'd trust Remus to do what he thought was best without the need to explain himself, but she wouldn't trust Lily to take care of her own damned self!? She hated being underestimated like that, being thought of as someone who needs protection and looking after. She was Head Girl, damn it, she was a member of the Order and she had been in plenty of battles before! She did not appreciate being treated as if she were made of glass!

"Are you okay?" Remus asked mildly beside her, trying to keep up with her brisk pace. She turned to look at him, and a bit of guilt twinged inside her stomach. She never meant to drag him into this, but when she told him she was going he sort of assumed he would be accompanying her as he always did, and she knew he'd never let her go alone.

"Yeah, er... I'm fine. Lisa and I had a bit of a disagreement yesterday, but it's alright."

He simply nodded and they continued down into the dark dungeons. That was the great thing about Remus, that he never pressed you for anything. Lily and him had been friendly ever since first year, but it really wasn't until both of them made prefects that they came to be good friends. Over the years, his friendship with James and Sirius had started to mar his image in her eyes a little, as she began to resent him a bit by association. But walking along the corridors with him alone, she found him very pleasant to be around. He was funny without being rude, he was always willing to help anyone they came across, no matter how trivial of an issue they were dealing with, and he always listened to her troubles, giving advice without imposing his own opinions. In fact, Lily had secretly started to fancy Remus in fifth year, but seeing him steal glances at Lisa over his pumpkin juice slowly cooled those feelings to a warm friendship.

They walked in silence for a little bit, until he decided to break the ice with a comment on how shiny the candelabra were down there thanks to the Marauders' many detentions, and it made her laugh. They continued to talk easily about random things, until it suddenly happened.

As the two Gryffindors were rounding a corner, a Leglocker curse hit Lily in the darkness and she staggered. Remus made to catch her before she hit the ground, when three people emerged from an alcove along the wall and a fist connected with his jaw. Before Lily knew what was happening, figures surrounded them from all sides and someone's hand tangled in her hair, pulling her up forcefully and putting a wand to her throat. She watched with horror as Remus was restrained by four burly blokes and the others formed a tight circle around them. He struggled to get free, when three curses hit him right in the chest and his legs buckled under him. One of the attackers approached and punched him in the stomach, causing him to double over and grunt in pain. It was Mulciber, Lily registered, and fear traveled down her spine, as she realized she had walked straight into a trap. And she had dragged Remus along with her.

"Leave him alone!" she shrieked, earning a painful jerk from the person holding her. Mulciber turned around and walked over to her. She glared at him with all the hatred she could muster in this awkward pose. He lifted his hand and struck her across the face, the slap echoing through the stone walls.

"Shut your mouth, mudblood. We'll get to you," Mulciber sneered with a disgusting grin, as Remus struggled behind him once again.

"You really are a resilient one, aren't you?" the Slytherin said, turning his attention back to him and giving him another punch in the face. "But Snape was right, it seems. You do bruise, just like any other animal." Blood from Remus' mouth splattered on the floor. "Filthy beasts like you should know their place." A kick to the ribs. "You are not worthy to walk the halls of Hogwarts." A punch in the nose. "And you are not worthy to touch a pureblood." In the gut again. "To talk to her." In the right cheek. "To even look at her." Straight on the jaw. "Let alone stick your dirty prick inside her." A knee to the face.

Lily tried to get free again, but the person holding her had her arms twisted behind her back. She was forced to watch, as Remus took hit after hit, completely unable to fight back. The snickers, taunts and encouraging calls from the surrounding students only made things worse and she felt like breaking down and crying, when a deep voice rumbled through the corridor.

"What is going on here?"

The beating stopped and everyone turned to look at the unimpressed faces of Dorcas Meadowes and Evan Rosier, walking hand in hand.

"Sorry," the person holding Lily sneered, and she recognized Avery's voice. "Did we interrupt your little snogging session?"

"Yes, you did," Dorcas said without missing a beat, eyeing Remus' bloodied face, and her nose wrinkled in disgust. "Why aren't you using your wands, like normal wizards?"

"We're teaching our resident beast a few manners," Mulciber grinned menacingly. "Animals like him only understand one thing."

"At least silence him," Dorcas rolled her eyes. "Do you want to get caught? We could hear it all the way down the hall."

"And who's going to bust us? The Head Girl?" Avery snickered, his wand pushing against Lily's throat. Dorcas' indifferent blue eyes swept her up, but she said nothing and turned her head back to Mulciber.

"Fair enough. It still doesn't explain why you had to go about it like dirty muggles.

"There is something strangely satisfying in dueling someone the muggle way. You get to feel their pain, sense their bones cracking under your fists..." Mulciber explained, rather dreamily.

Dorcas raised an eyebrow. "You do realize the Gryffindors won't take this lying down?"

"I was just sending a message," Mulciber shrugged. "But if they're so gung-ho, let them come. We'll give them the same treatment."

A few people sniggered around them.

"What if they go to a teacher, you duffer?" Dorcas snapped. "I'd like to be able to graduate before I'm kicked out because of your stupidity!"

"No one asked you to get involved!" Mulciber growled back.

"Well, thanks to you, now I am!" Dorcas bit back, drawing her wand. "Now step back and let me wipe their memory. We'll stuff them in a broom cupboard, and no one will be able to prove anything."

"You can't wipe their memory!" Avery protested. "How else are they going to remember the valuable lessons we've imparted?"

"That doesn't matter!" Dorcas wheeled on him, and Lily seized her chance.

She jerked sharply out of Avery's loosened grasp and reached for her wand. "Fumos!" she yelled, and a cloud of thick, white smoke erupted from her wand and filled the cramped space of the narrow corridor.

"Avery, you moron!" Dorcas shouted, as the Death Eaters were coughing and trying uselessly to wave the smoke away. She performed a silent Bubblehead Charm on herself and fought back the tears that were stinging her eyes long enough to send a few silent stunners at the blokes holding Lupin. The werewolf collapsed to the ground, as the confused glint of red hair was trying to reach him, stumbling blindly through the corridor, wasting precious time. 'Idiot!' Dorcas thought and waved her wand, pushing Lily to the left with a repulsing charm, making her almost trip over him. It was now up to them, she decided, breaking the Bubblehead Charm just in case someone else had enough brains to think of it, and began coughing like the rest of them.

oOo

Lisa felt exceedingly restless. Mulciber and Avery's words from last night wouldn't leave her mind and she just couldn't sit still.

"Would you stop that?!" Sirius asked irritated, as the nervous tapping of her finger against the book cover was starting to drive him insane. "What's your problem anyway? If Moony and Evans were gonna shag, they'd have done it by now."

Both James and Lisa's heads snapped to stare at him, petrified. Peter just snickered.

"What?" Sirius asked. "Isn't that what you're worried about?"

"No!" Lisa snapped indignantly. "Of course not! Who the hell would even... why would you... urg, just don't say such stupid things!"

"So what is it then? You've been on edge ever since they left!" he retorted. Lisa's eyes slid incriminatingly to James, then fixed on the page in front of her stubbornly.

"... Do you know something we don't?" James asked, leaning forward.

"No!" she exclaimed insistently, but the Marauders only exchanged a meaning look.

"What is it?" James demanded firmly. Lisa looked up from her book, only to find the three boys staring at her intently. She sank back into her chair and hid behind the hard covers. "You can't weasel your way out of this!" James persisted, snatching the tome from her hands. "Now spill."

She moved her eyes from one serious face to the next, before sighing deeply in defeat. "I'm just... worried about Lily and Remus. I don't want the two of them near the dungeons."

"Why? They can take care of themselves," Peter said.

"I know that. I just... I can't help it, I guess. They're in danger because of us."

"What did we do?!" Sirius exclaimed indignantly.

"Not you," Lisa rolled her eyes, "Us." She gestured to herself and James. "Lily and I were walking back from Astronomy the other day and... well, we happened to overhear a few of our Death Eater buddies. Some people think we're 'sullying our bloodlines' by being with people who are below us." She wrinkled her nose in disgust at the last two words. "They think Lily and Remus are corrupting us and that otherwise we'd see reason and join them, or at least find a pureblood to be with and keep some of the last few pureblood families clean. You know there aren't that many of us left."

James and Sirius got eerily similar disgusted looks on their faces and Peter shook his head in disbelief.

"And Lily's doing this on purpose!" Lisa exploded. "It's like she wants to taunt them! She's going straight into the snake pit, and seems dead set on testing the limits of her luck! And she explicitly told me she wants to do this alone, but not knowing what's happening is driving me crazy!"

"You could always stalk them," Sirius chuckled. "Prongs used to do it a lot before Evans agreed to go out with him."

James threw someone's empty ink pot at him, making Lisa and Peter snigger.

"Here," Peter said, summoning a big piece of parchment from the dormitory and handing it to her. She flashed him a grateful smile, threw a cursory glance around to make sure no one was looking and muttered 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good'.

The Map revealed itself and she scanned the dungeons for Lily and Remus' dots, while the boys made fun of James' obsession with his girlfriend. Almost immediately Lisa's attention was drawn to a bunch of students huddled in the middle of a corridor. A cursory glance was all it took to recognize all of them as Death Eaters, and she even spotted Dorcas among them. Avery, Mulciber and Rosier were there also, but the suspicious absence of Snape worried her. And then her eyes fell on two dots moving very close together along one of the secret tunnels, decidedly away from them. Lily and Remus. But what were they doing? The Map showed them moving slightly faster than normal, swaying from time to time as if they were walking drunk. And they were heading out of the dungeons and towards... towards the Hospital Wing.

"James!" she exclaimed urgently. He practically jumped from his chair and leaned over her shoulder. They exchanged worried glances and almost simultaneously made for the portrait.