CHAPTER 55 - Hit and Hold Your Ground
Sirius was uncommonly silent as the Marauders sat around in the library, finishing up their homework. Remus knew that Sirius and James were transfiguration geniuses and hardly ever needed to look at their materials to intrinsically grasp concepts that flew over the heads of their peers, but Sirius hadn't touched his book all night. Instead he'd chosen to sit and glower, bringing down the cheer of the entire table for the past two hours without a single explanation.
Remus let it be, positive that eventually Sirius wouldn't be able to hold himself back and would explode in a cathartic rant. That, or James would just force Padfoot to talk.
Just as predicted, it only took another stress-filled twenty minutes for James to break, tossing a crumpled piece of parchment at the surly boy's head. "Godric's puffy pantaloons, Padfoot, what's eating you now?"
Sirius slapped away the parchment before it could reach his face in a display of his excellent Quidditch reflexes, pinning Prongs with a heated glare.
"Have any of you been checking on ol' Snivellus lately?"
Peter looked up from his messily scrawled essay, frowning in confusion. "Snivelly? He'd been pretty silent lately, why?"
The look on Sirius' face wasn't pretty; in fact, Remus would say it was downright ugly.
"He's been sniffing around where he doesn't belong. I think he's been long overdue for a visit from us anyway, don't you agree, Prongs?"
Prongs shrugged, looking unruffled. "You know me, Padfoot, I'm always up for buggering up Snivellus' day, but what brought this on?"
Sirius scowled, the legs of the chair he'd been leaning back in hitting the floor with a crack. "Since when have we ever needed a reason to teach that git a lesson?" he demanded, and Remus was instantly suspicious.
"He's been spending more time around Waterbrooke, hasn't he?" Remus asked, and was met with three pairs of disbelieving eyes.
"You knew?" Sirius hissed, his entire body radiating betrayal, but Remus didn't falter.
"You knew too, you moron," he shot back hotly, "Sarah and Jenelle have both mentioned before that they have study sessions with Evans and Snape for DADA and nonverbal casting."
James was now the one to sport a betrayed look. "What?" he demanded quietly, not wanting them to get kicked out of the library. "Since when?!"
Remus shrugged. "Since near the beginning of the year, as far as I can tell. Don't tell me you don't remember Sarah telling us that she was holding tutoring classes with people separate from our practices because 'we would get along like oil and water?'"
"She never said it was Snivellus!" Sirius exploded, a fist slamming onto the table in his fury. The three other Marauders winced, looking around furtively for the sound of the librarian coming to throw them out, but luckily there was only silence.
"Merlin, Padfoot, calm down," James groused, pulling out his wand and casting a muffliato. "There," he huffed, "now you can be as pissy as you need to be."
"I have every right!" Sirius defended loudly, his eyes blazing with anger. "If it's not that creep Malfoy, it's another slimy snake thinking he can worm his way between me and Waterlily and I'll go back to 12 Grimmauld Place on my knees before I let that happen!"
"Malfoy?" Peter spoke up, looking at Sirius in trepidation. "What are you talking about, Padfoot?"
Remus was curious too. Sirius had never mentioned anything about Lucius Malfoy, although they'd all noticed how ever since the Harvest Ball Sirius had become much more antagonistic towards the pureblood-minded egomaniac.
Sirius looked like he was struggling to put his emotions into words, gnashing his teeth as his jaw worked furiously. "He, he said some things that night, at the Ball," Sirius ground out. "I thought he was just talking out his arse, trying to get a rise out of me, but lately I'm not so sure."
"What kind of things, Pads?" James asked, looking uncommonly focused.
Sirius spat out his next words. "Some rubbish about how I should basically watch my back, or else he might try and steal Sarah all for himself."
"That's a load of dragon dung," Remus spoke up, "He's engaged to your cousin, isn't he? The Blacks and the Malfoys would never break that off for someone as unknown as Waterbrooke, no offense of course.."
"See, I thought so too," Sirius argued, "but just the way he said some things then, and the way he's been talking to her lately? I think he's actually been harassing Waterlily for a while now, and..."
Sirius hesitated, which set off alarms in Remus' mind. Sirius never second-guessed his words. The fact that he was doing so now showed how serious he was being.
"...I think he may have talked to his father about arranging something between him and Waterlily."
"No bloody way." James shook his head vehemently. "There's no way. Sarah's nice, sure, but there's no reason for Malfoy to do that. She'd have to be pure blooded at the very least right?"
"Who's to say she isn't?" Remus' words grabbed the attention of everyone at the table, but he was too busy reviewing old memories in his head to acknowledge them. "James, Sirius, you were there during Slughorn's Party, remember? Didn't Sarah look uncommonly panicked when Malfoy and the Professor started talking about powerful families of the States?"
"Blimey," James breathed out, "I'd forgotten all about that. We all got so caught up in Monty's health, then Siri and Sarah got together right afterwards..."
Sirius looked torn between anxiety and impatience. "So, what?" he challenged, his arms crossing defensively. "Waterlily might be from an old family, doesn't make her Dark. There's no way that's true, and the Malfoys would never go for a Light family, influential or not." He looked disgusted discussing pureblood politics as if it brought him right back to bad memories with the Black family's scheming and plotting.
"Have you asked her, Sirius?" Peter spoke up, and Sirius shook his head.
"Yeah, a day or so after the Ball, actually." Sirius looked uneasy about his next words. "She said that he's been an antagonizing git, but nothing out of the ordinary for a snake."
Remus made an agreeing gesture. "There you go then, Padfoot," he said. "It's not like you like talking about your family either, so if you plan on bringing it up just make sure you try to be patient. Maybe she hasn't said anything for reasons similar to your own."
Padfoot looked mutinous but eventually nodded slowly. "Fine," he spat out. "I'll talk to her about it soon. In the meantime though..."
Sirius' eyes held that dangerous glint again, the look that always made Remus feel sick to his stomach.
"How about a little Snivelly hunt?"
Jenelle was curled up on the dark green sofa by the fireplace in the Slytherin common room. She had a few books stacked up on the side table and her quill was waiting patiently in it's inkwell, waiting to write the Potions essay Jenelle was dreading. She had a sketch pad on her lap that Remus had bought for her during their last trip to Hogsmeade and was absentmindedly sketching flower after flower with her neatly sharpened pencil.
She tugged on the fluffy brown scarf around her neck and flipped the end over her shoulder. It was getting colder now in Scotland and the dungeons were particularly drafty. The fire had started to die down and the last few pulses of warm air were whispering against her exposed ankles.
"Would it kill you to tend to the fire?" a gruff voice called out from behind her. Jenelle turned in her seat and looked over her shoulder, already smiling because she knew who the speaker was. But when she saw the dark blotches spread over Severus' face she felt her stomach lurch and her heart race in quick, skipping beats.
"Severus! What happened?" she asked in shock, placing her pad and pencil on the sofa and standing up to come around and inspect her friend. Severus cringed as she reached out to him and Jenelle pulled her hand back quickly.
"Nothing. Just a normal encounter with your friend's depraved choice of life partner," Severus said quietly, with the slightest bit of trepidation in his voice.
Sirius, it had to be. There's no way Sarah would go along with this, it had to be his idea.
"Sev, Sarah would never condone that sort of thing. I know she seems intense, but she's your friend too, and you know she couldn't-"
"Well, apparently she could allow it to happen."
"Why would you say that?" Jenelle asked apprehensively.
Severus shrugged off another helping hand of Jenelle's and walked over to the sofa. Jenelle noticed then that he was limping slightly and wouldn't uncross his arms over his chest. He was covered head-to-toe in his black pajamas but she could tell there were likely bruises in other places too. He sat gingerly on the far end of the sofa and Jenelle scurried over.
She pulled the heavy plaid blanket off the ottoman and ignored Severus' protests as she carefully draped it over his legs and took the seat next to him. She twisted her fingers about and did a quick wandless levitation charm, floating her empty mug over from the side table and transfigured the remaining water into a frothy, steaming cup of cocoa. She passed the cup to Severus who handled it tentatively and took a sip, easing back into the crook of the seat.
"Will you tell me what happened?" Jenelle asked gently.
Severus looked at her uncomfortably with a scowl on his lips, but after a moment of the unbreaking gaze he turned back to his cup and sighed. "I almost don't know what it is about me that they find so repulsive."
"What do you mean, 'almost'?"
"You should know," he said sarcastically, "being sorted into Slytherin seems enough to warrant any number of persistent, ugly comments or the occasional bashing."
"I've had mean things said about me, of course, but no one has ever harmed me physically. I seem to do a fine job of that on my own…" Jenelle added the last part quietly. Severus looked up and passed his gaze over her face. He was too steely to show any real pity, but in his current state he was likely too tired to know how he was staring at her.
Jenelle shook her head tightly and turned back to him.
"Anyways, was it Black? Potter?" she pushed.
"It doesn't matter."
"Of course it matters! They need to be punished for this!"
"It won't fix anything. And besides, the golden boys are too untouchable. They have their whole house eating out of their hands, and now Waterbrooke is getting swept up as well."
"I wouldn't say that..."
"No? And how much have you seen of your Gryffindor mate lately? Seems to be pretty preoccupied with her new pet, wouldn't you say?" he spat harshly.
"Well I-" Jenelle started, starting to doubt herself. It was true, she hadn't spoken seriously with Sarah in awhile, not since Black's birthday dinner. She had figured they were both busy studying for exams and didn't want to bother her. But perhaps it had more to do with Black and his drama than their mounting Potions practicum.
She instantly felt bad. Could she have done more to prevent this? If she had been there, perhaps she could have put Black in his place before Severus had been harmed. That smirky, cocky bastard; what on earth did Sarah see in him?
And Remus? He wouldn't do anything like that, would he?
As if reading her mind, Severus took another sip of his cocoa and looked off into the fire. "He was there too," he said shortly. Jenelle's eyes widened and her mouth went slack, ready to protest. But she knew in her heart that if the Marauders acted at all, they acted together.
"Sev, I'm so sorry," she said helplessly, starting to cry.
"Why? It's not your fault."
"But I could have done something to help."
Severus scoffed. "You seriously believe you would have stepped in and took the blows yourself? From your best friend's boyfriend, from your boyfriend?" He made an ugly snorting noise and leaned over to place the mug on the table beside him. As he stretched he grimaced and clutched at the sore spot on his ribs. Jenelle felt her throat tighten in guilt.
"I-, I want to believe I would have done something," she said.
"You and every other student that was watching," Severus said shortly.
"Every other? There were people around?"
"Oh yes, they all got a right laugh out of it I wager. A raucous event; dinner and a show. I should start charging a fee," he said, dabbing a finger lightly to the bruise on his eye.
"That's disgusting! Someone should have stood up for you!"
He paused, his eyes betraying his feelings for just a moment. "Someone did."
Jenelle looked at him blankly for a moment before she figured it out. Of course, Lily would do anything for Severus. They were joined at the hip, far more than Lily and James, which was probably motivation enough for James to want to hurt the boy.
"I'm glad you have her, Lily," said Jenelle gently.
"I don't have her."
"Of course you do. Look at what she's willing to do for-"
"I DO. NOT. HAVE HER," he said loudly, the sound of his voice reverberating off the stone walls and bouncing back at them, only emphasizing his point.
"No, no you're right. It's not the same. I understand," Jenelle agreed. "Had you ever, I don't know, considered telling her how you feel?"
He chuckled meanly. "And what? Parade ourselves around the school like your friend and that dolt Black? Look what that got her, getting hounded by jealous birds day in and day out. I wouldn't do that to Lily." Severus was the only boy that Jenelle had ever heard call Lily by her first name. It made what Severus was saying all the more heartbreaking to hear.
"I wish you would stop calling Sarah 'your friend', like you don't have any relationship to her at all," Jenelle said grimly.
Severus huffed. "She is an acquaintance at best. There's nothing advantageous about being friends with a Gryffin-git."
Jenelle raised an eyebrow at him. "Except Lily."
He caught her glare and conceded. "Except Lily."
"You know, Sarah is my Lily. Maybe not exactly the same, but I would do anything for her, and I would rather someone hex me into puking up slugs for an lifetime than let someone hurt her." That got the slightest smirk out of the corner of Severus' mouth and Jenelle laughed lightly, glad to be changing the mood up a bit.
"Not a pleasant visual, is it?"
"Ghastly, to tell the truth."
"I wonder what they taste like…"
"Why, on Merlin's green earth would you wonder such a thing?" Severus asked abhorred. "You Americans are truly a... unique breed."
"The colonial apple doesn't fall far from the tree, don'tcha think?"
He laughed at that and Jenelle leaned over his lap to grab the mug of cocoa, pressing it into his hands. "Drink. It'll help you heal. We can't have any Gryffindors seeing a Slytherin like this."
He nodded agreeably and took another drink, downing the last of the contents in one go. Jenelle clapped in approval and they continued to chat in the dim light of the fire until the two of them had curled up in the early hours of the morning fast asleep upon the sofa.
