His Greatest Wish

by AndromedaMarine

It has been Severus Snape's greatest wish to go back and fix his life with Lily. What happens when he suddenly gets the chance, remembers everything, and has changed enough to avoid Slytherin? Marauder-era, pre- and established Severus/Lily. 50/50 COMPLETE!

44. The Wound that Never Heals

His Greatest Wish, by AndromedaMarine

A/N: *TRIGGER WARNING!* PLEASE READ THIS NOTE BEFORE PROCEEDING! This chapter is RATED M! The overall story rating will remain at T, but this chapter will contain triggers for attempted rape. If you choose to skip this chapter to avoid the trigger, I understand, and can send you a brief one paragraph summary of what happens herein if you so desire. Just PM me if you want to avoid the trigger but still want to know what generally happens in the chapter.

44. The Wound that Never Heals

The train to Hogwarts left on January second with an atmosphere of apprehension. With the Minister dead and his killer on the run, no one felt safe, and families who read the Muggle papers immediately saw the Amersham murder for what it was—Greyback's final victim of that day.

Renly found the Circle almost instantly upon boarding the Express. He shared Siger's map with them, regretful that he hadn't seen the pattern before the attack. "I should have spotted it straight off," he said miserably. "My brother could have been a victim—he was there for the defense testimony; the only reason he wasn't outside when it happened is because Dumbledore asked to talk to him for a moment."

Jackie patted his shoulder comfortingly.

"They won't know until Wednesday if anyone actually contracted the curse," Lily said from the comfort of Sev's side.

"Good riddance for Umbridge," Sirius said from an unexpected amount of venom in his voice.

Remus touched his arm. "Don't say that. I wouldn't wish this on anyone, including her," he said softly.

Sirius reddened. "Sorry."

Frank redirected the conversation to the upcoming Apparition lessons. Of the group, only Alice, Peter, and Jackie hadn't experienced Side-Along Apparition, and they were also the only three who wouldn't turn seventeen until after the Ministry-proctored test at the beginning of May. Severus was obviously the most comfortable with it though only two of them knew why.

As the train sped north the snow fell thickly on the fields that raced by, but with the gloom of thick clouds it gave everyone in the carriage a feeling of foreboding. Nobody knew who to blame for the tip about Remus, but did it matter anymore now that Umbridge was, more or less, out of commission?

With a week to Severus's seventeenth birthday, everyone was excited for the third coming-of-age among their friends. Sev never liked having a huge deal made over his birthday, usually since it made him think of how long he'd actually been alive, and what the Ministry would do to him if they ever discovered his secret. He brooded over this for a while on the train, coming back to company when the lunch trolley rolled into view.

The group lost track of time as they talked, and when Peter checked his watch with an hour to go they all decided to change into their robes. The compartment grew messy and crowded for a while, but after so many trips like this it phased no one. When they filed into the common room some hours later they took note of the posted reminder that Apparition lessons would begin that Saturday, and continue for twelve weeks. Regular lessons began the next morning, so after giving their partners kisses good night, they split to the boys' and girls' dormitories, weary from the trip and sleepy from the well-made food at dinner.

Lily felt good about the upcoming term. Exams would be a breeze with Sev as her study partner, she would be seventeen in less than a month, and Apparition lessons meant not having to rely on Eileen to take them to the Weasleys whenever they needed an emergency babysitter or two. With three boys, Molly had much to do when Arthur was at work. Lily loved imagining her own wedding, tried to picture what her and Sev's children would look like. She knew without a doubt that she and Sev would marry one day, so that might she fell asleep with a contented smile on her face, her thoughts only on the man who'd changed time for her.

---

On Saturday morning the first Apparition lesson took place in the Great Hall, attended by all the sixth years in the school. On the floor were around a hundred wooden hoops. The students divided themselves by House, except for Jackie, who remained with Sirius. Severus wasn't surprised to see the wispy little man who'd taught during his own Professorial days; the man must have been in his eighties and still going strong. As usual he instructed the students to stand in front of a hoop and try to Apparate immediately. Sev patiently watched everyone else try and fail, some with panicked expressions on their faces, and others who toppled over after performing ridiculous pirouettes.

Lily shot him a grin. "Go on, do it!"

Sev smirked, closed his eyes, and turned on the spot, disappearing into nothingness and emerging with a loud crack inside his hoop an instant later.

Lily cheered, Remus smiled, and everyone else in the hall stared in shock. The instructor came over to congratulate him, a bit shocked that, after a quick inspection, no Splinching had occurred.

"Well done, sir!" he squeaked. "Few students indeed can Apparate perfectly on the first attempt! Might you try again for me?"

Sev obliged, Apparating to McGonagall's seat at the dais.

Twycross clapped and nearly fell over when Sev appeared right in front of him an instant later. "A natural!"

Sev cast his gaze around the room, and besides his friends, the face that stood out belonged to an angry James Potter. Two hours later, after advising his friends on how to feel into nothingness, Alice was the only other of their group to Apparate, though she Splinched her right leg below the knee. She was immediately put right again by Twycross and McGonagall, and she wasn't the only one to Splinch—one from Slytherin and two from Ravenclaw managed to, and at the end tensions were running high.

"That was awful," Alice shuddered as they climbed stairs, Frank's arm around her. "How can you do it so easily?"

Sev exchanged a glance with Lily. "I've Side-Apparated so many times I've lost count—"

"We all know that, but so has Lily and she didn't even go an inch."

"I don't really know what to tell you, Alice. Twycross said it does come naturally to some people."

Alice huffed and Lily's expression turned gloomy.

Sev nudged his shoulder with his. "You're not upset you couldn't do it yet, are you?"

She sighed. "A little, I guess. We've gone back and forth from the Burrow so often that I'm used to the sensation, but I never really paid attention when your mum or Arthur was turning on the spot."

"There's eleven more weeks, Lil. You'll get it by the end."

"You make it look easy," Peter said from behind them on the stairs. "And watching people Splinch…ugh. So scary."

They continued chatting all the way up to Gryffindor Tower where they retrieved their book bags and went to the Room of Requirement. Regulus was already there, up to his eyeballs in the O.W.L homework assigned the first week back. He looked up, a bit desperate. "Help," he said sort of feebly. "The Professors. They're mad."

Sirius laughed; Jackie smacked his shoulder.

Peter and Remus went to lend assistance, while the rest unloaded books and parchment and quills on the table to attack their own, harder assignments.

They passed the afternoon this way, the Circle thinning when dinner approached and finally the only ones left were Severus and Lily. The door clicked shut behind Regulus and Renly, who'd showed up a little after themselves, and Lily shut her book abruptly.

"How old are you tomorrow?" she asked, staring at him.

"Seventeen, you know th—oh." He had to think for a moment. "Forty-six." He grimaced. "I certainly don't feel that old."

Lily smiled. "You don't look it, either."

"Is it weird?"

She shrugged. "A little. I don't think about it much. Did your mother give you a watch when you turned seventeen the first time?"

"I don't remember," he replied honestly. "If she did I didn't appreciate it enough to wear it, and if she didn't, I probably didn't care enough to want one."

"Do you think you'll get one from her this time?"

"I hope so," he smiled. "We'll see what Artemis brings with the post tomorrow."

Artemis did have a package when she swooped down the next morning, as did Ares, both delivering presents from Ottery St. Catchpole. His friends all patted him on the back and congratulated him on his coming-of-age when he unwrapped the gift from his mother to find a beautiful golden watch engraved with his name. Thank you, Mum, he thought to himself, grinning like an idiot. Lily helped him put it on, and gave him a kiss when she finished.

---

As somewhat of a last resort, Dumbledore turned to the House Elves. Nearly always out of sight, it was easy to forget that among them, they really knew about everything going on in the castle. He went down to the kitchens early on the morning of January the twenty-second, and asked for their attention. Always eager to please, this didn't take long.

"Undoubtedly you all have heard about the recent events having to do with someone anonymously informing the Ministry that a student here is a werewolf. I have exhausted my avenues of inquiry outside the school, and now I turn to you for help. Did anyone see unusual behavior or hear something about this during the week before the fifteenth of November last year?" Dumbledore scanned the sea of floppy ears and Hogwarts tea towels, until he spotted a tiny hand in the air near the massive stone fireplace on the Slytherin side of the kitchen. "Come over here, please," he requested kindly, and the remaining elves returned to preparing breakfast. "Nelly, am I correct?"

The House Elf shook her oversized head. "Nella. How is you needing help, sir?"

Dumbledore squatted so he wasn't towering over her. "I need you to tell me what you saw or heard."

Nella looked around the kitchen for a moment. "I is cleaning Gryffindor Tower one week before, after Quidditch game," she said as quietly as she could. "I is trading with Cheery and Brolly. Me is taking too long by myself in fifth year boys room—so messy, sir, so messy. Needs two elves. I is almost done on that night and door opens, by itself! It closes by itself too, but someone is in room because makes noise like student make noise. I is making myself invisible, I is, out of sight—we is not supposed to be seen—but I is not done tidying. I don't know what to do."

She trailed off, and Dumbledore gently asked her to continue.

"I watch the room, and is sudden—a boy appears! He is having Cloak of Invisibility, he is, and is muttering about werewolves and the kind boy in Gryffindor, good Master Remus, and then he is gathering parchment and quills and his inks, and I is watching him write a letter. I is forgetting to leave now, and when I is remembering, the boy is taking his wand and making his words on the parchments change their shapes. I getting scared by then so I leave and I forget it until you is asking us to remember."

Dumbledore hid his shock and thanked Nella for her honesty. As usual, though, he didn't leave the kitchens empty-handed, and ended up arriving at the Great Hall with coffee and toast already in hand.

Minerva eyed him with blatant curiosity. "House call?"

"In a manner of speaking," he replied, sitting down heavily. The only ones awake this early besides the elves were himself and his deputy, and five fifth- and seventh-years devout in their O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. revisions. "The House Elves know everything—"

"Common knowledge—"

"—including the identity of our tipster."

Minerva froze with her fork halfway inside her mouth. She removed it, set it back on her plate, wiped the corners of her mouth with her serviette, and looked over at him. "Could you repeat that?"

He sighed. "Nella was late in her cleaning of the Gryffindor fifth-year boys' dormitory when the door opened by itself the evening following the opening Quidditch match in November, which of course was the night of the full moon. A moment later she witnessed James Potter removing his invisibility cloak, muttering about werewolves and our Mr. Lupin, before taking out his supplies and quilling a letter."

None of the students in the hall were within earshot, but Minerva checked anyways. "Bloody hell," she swore, losing all interest in her food and instead grabbing her goblet, thinking about replacing its contents with a form of alcohol. "That boy has something coming, I can tell you that—"

"I know," he interrupted, his voice full of anger and disappointment. "I will speak to him, and he will be punished—"

Minerva started to turn red as she held in her rage. "Punished? Albus, if I may suggest so, I would see him expelled—"

"No."

The Deputy Headmistress slammed her goblet on the table, sloshing its non-alcoholic contents onto the tablecloth, eliciting glances from the upperclassmen at the Hufflepuff and Slytherin tables, the Ravenclaws didn't bother looking, and none of the Gryffindors were present. "Then what, pray tell, is your idea of an appropriate punishment for putting a student's life in danger?"

Albus stilled. Severus had made it quite clear just how much his counterpart had favored the Marauders—how Sirius Black's punishment for attempted murder had been a mere string of detentions. "This is not the place, Professor." He would need to tell Remus and Severus, and talk to James, alone. Too angry to be good company for anyone, he left his breakfast on the table and disappeared from the Great Hall to consider next steps in his office.

Minerva watched him leave, also having lost her appetite.

---

Artemis delivered Dumbledore's note with the rest of the post to not look suspicious. It was addressed to Remus and Severus in Dumbledore's distinctive flowing script, and thankfully Remus had sat beside him. Sev casually opened it, and they read it together, with Lily reading along from Sev's right. It lacked a salutation.

Come to my office this afternoon at three.

I may have discovered the identity of the one responsible for the tip to the Ministry.

Cauldron Cakes.

Remus and Severus stared at the letter, then at each other, and Lily's hand found Sev's elbow and squeezed. All three of them looked up at the teachers' table, but both Minerva McGonagall and Albus Dumbledore were gone. Not many students woke early on Saturdays (except for the sixth years participating in the Apparition lessons), and the only other member of the Circle sitting with them was Regulus, who had just spotted Emily coming into the Hall and waved her over.

"Might as well properly introduce you…" he trailed off, when he saw the identical expressions on his friends' faces, and none of them were looking at him. "Guys?"

Lily snapped her head around. "Oh! Hello Reg. This must be Emily?"

Emily Winston, not at all shy when not being caught snogging by professors, smiled and stuck out her hand. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything…"

Lily elbowed Sev. "Not at all, why don't you sit with us?"

Sev folded Dumbledore's note and slid it into his pocket. "Hi Emily, I'm Severus." He shook her hand as well. "Nice to finally meet Reg's girlfriend."

Regulus narrowed his eyes at Severus.

"I've been looking forward to getting to know all his friends," Emily said eagerly. "We've just been busy with O.W.L. revisions."

"Sure you have," Sirius said snarkily as he came up behind Emily.

"Oh, shove it," Regulus replied, and pulled Emily down to sit beside him.

Severus and Lily had rearranged their features to rid themselves of the blind shock, but Remus couldn't control his paleness or his slightly trembling hands. Sirius noticed and crammed himself between his brother and his best friend.

"Rem?"

"'S nothing," he lied poorly, forcing himself to pick up his fork and stab a sausage.

Sirius stared at him. "Like hell it isn't," he rebuked as quietly as he could so Emily wouldn't hear.

Severus quickly intervened by withdrawing the note from his pocket and pressing it into Sirius's hand as he leaned behind Remus. "Read and return. Straight face," he murmured. "Rem, fancy a coffee?"

"Yes," replied Remus, startled.

Sirius handed the note back, slightly crumpled. "What's the plan?"

"Meet up in the Room after the Apparition lesson." The Circle's usual Saturday routine consisted of meeting in the Room of Requirement for study time before relaxing, sometimes elsewhere, but with Apparition lessons they'd changed it up a bit.

Sirius nodded sharply, gently nudged Rem's shoulder with his own, and gave a supportive smile when their eyes met.

Sev put a coffee in front of Remus, sweetened exactly how he liked it.

"Thanks," he said, sipping it gratefully.

Regulus vaguely noticed that something had happened, but also had enough sense to guess it had to do with Rem's furry little problem, so he kept Emily distracted. The minutes trickled past until Severus and Lily rose together, to go up to the tower to get ready for Apparating. Remus excused himself a moment later to hurry after them, and Sirius sat still as stone for another moment.

"Siri?"

He turned to his brother. Emily had left as well, to join other friends in the library.

"What's going on?"

"They know who told."

Regulus's eyes widened by a fraction. "Who?"

Sirius shook his head. "We're meeting everyone like usual in the Room at ten, Sev has a plan."

The younger Black nodded. "Okay. It's about time."

After the lesson, everyone gathered in the Room—Frank had brought Renly, who by proxy knew about Remus and was basically a member of the Circle by now—Severus gave the note to Peter, who read it and passed it around. "Dumbledore knows who tipped Umbridge off about Remus."

The reactions were, for the most part, positive, but Jackie remained unmoved in her expression, and Peter exuded worry.

"I know you all want to hear it from Dumbledore himself," Remus said, talking over the din, "but he addressed it to Sev and me specifically."

"Rem—" Sirius objected, but immediately cut off when Remus shook his head.

"Just this once we're going to do it the way he wants us too."

"He's right," Renly said to break the uneasy silence. "Just Sev and Remus, and when they come back we'll all get it from them."

"The waiting is the worst part," Alice complained grumpily.

The group dispersed, sort of, to sit at the table or on the couches with their schoolwork. Peter offered to help Regulus study for his O.W.L.s while Remus asked to speak privately with Severus. Lily kissed her boyfriend and went to join Alice, leaving the two boys alone near the door.

"What if it's someone we know?"

"Honestly I don't doubt that it is."

Remus bit his lip, his brow furrowed. "Who do you suspect, really?"

Severus sighed. "It won't do any good speculating right now, Rem. I did think it might be Potter, though I didn't say anything before Christmas. Dumbledore went to his father and the cloak is still locked up in his desk. I'm as in the dark as you, and I hate it."

Nobody could really concentrate on schoolwork right up until a quarter to three, when Remus and Severus began packing up their things to drop off in the tower before meeting Dumbledore. Remus tried to tamp down on his overwhelming nervousness, and Sev's grim determination helped keep him grounded. They arrived at the stone gargoyle guarding the Headmaster's office with a minute to go.

"Cauldron cakes," Sev said, and the gargoyle moved out of their way.

Dumbledore opened the door himself and asked for them to sit. Severus declined, but Remus accepted. "Well?" Severus prompted from where he stood by Rem's chair.

"On the night of the full moon in November, a House Elf witnessed James Potter removing his invisibility cloak and write a letter, which he then charmed to alter his handwriting—Severus Prince, do not leave this room."

He stopped in his tracks, Dumbledore's command ringing in his ears. I will not get into a shouting match. I will not get into a shouting match, he thought as he spun on his heel to get into a shouting match with the Headmaster. "I told you it was him! I said so, didn't I? Was I not clear enough that he would do something else if he wasn't stopped?"

"Severus—"

"For the love of Merlin, Albus, stop thinking like a grandfather and start thinking like a bloody Headmaster—"

"Severus."

Sev finally realized it was Remus calling his name, not the headmaster.

"Calm down," he said bluntly, his fingers gripping the arm of the chair so tightly they had turned white, "and let him finish."

Breathing hard through his nose Sev returned to his friend's side, half blind with anger.

"Thank you, Remus," Dumbledore murmured before continuing where he'd left off. "I met with Mr. Potter earlier today. He has denied everything, including being in possession of the cloak. When I asked, he agreed to let me search his dormitory for it. I could not find it, with either my eyes or my wand.

"There are three possibilities here. One, the elf, whose testimony led us here, lied. Two, the elf was given a false memory, or three, Mr. Potter is lying. Considering everything, I am not the right person to make this determination, nor would it be acceptable to give my opinion, as it is likely that you will both disagree.

"My hands are tied until we have that cloak, and Henry Potter will no longer take my Floo calls. Since my visit over the holidays he has rescinded my standing invitation to do just that, and the owl I sent returned without having delivered my letter.

"I must warn you. James does not know that I have met with you two. I forbid you to say anything to him about this, or try to discover the cloak yourselves."

"Why tell us if you won't let us deal with him ourselves?" Sev asked, his jaw tight.

Dumbledore's eyes grew cold. "Because Remus deserved some kind of answer. We are all aware of your deep-seated animosity towards James for acts committed in a different lifetime, but in this life he is only responsible for his actions here. He has done plenty wrong—I will not do you the disservice of denying that—but he is, as the Americans say, innocent until proven guilty. I have set the elves with the task of finding the cloak, and to report back to me if they witness you—any of you—interfering."

Furious, Severus wanted to grab something and throw it, but knew that would only frighten Remus and anger Dumbledore. He let out a roar of frustration, directed mostly at the Headmaster. "I swear, if you do not resolve this by the first of February, I will do something about it myself, consequences be damned."

"Understood," Dumbledore replied, to everyone's astonishment, including the portraits pretending to snooze. "While I would not do the same myself, I understand completely that it is well within your character as a man to take whatever steps you feel you must to protect your friends.

"Thank you," Severus said, resting one hand on Remus's shoulder. "Is that all, then?"

Dumbledore nodded. "It is. You may return to your friends. Make sure they understand."

---

Sirius looked ready to strangle a giant barehanded. The combined effort of Remus and Renly kept him back from charging right back to Gryffindor Tower to hand James Potter his arse on a platter, and he made noises like an enraged bull when Regulus tried to talk sense into him.

It finally took Jackie stepping into his line of sight for him to stop struggling towards the door.

"Sirius Orion Black, if you don't stop acting like an enraged manticore I will slap you six ways to Sunday."

Sirius gave up, and Remus and Rely took a step back to give him some space.

"No one is angrier about this than me," Severus said to him from the table, "I can guarantee that."

"Then why aren't you up there teaching him a lesson?" Sirius asked forcefully, ignoring his girlfriend in favor of letting his rage out at his friend. "Why am I the only one ready to go kick his arse into the North Atlantic?"

Dangerously calm, Sev met Siri's infuriated stare. "'Teaching' him will do nothing. He cannot learn—this is obvious from what he's done to us since first year. Don't make the mistake of assuming I'm doing nothing. He will mess up, again, and it will be the last time he does. The only reason he hasn't been expelled yet is because nobody can find his bloody invisibility cloak, and we have been forbidden to interfere in the Headmaster's plan to corner him.

"Since when have we bothered listening to Dumbledore when it comes to things like this—" Sirius sneered, but abruptly ceased when Sev fluidly rose to his feet and approached the elder Black.

"Since doing so would be the worst idea anyone has ever entertained. If, and I stress if Potter has offended again or Dumbledore hasn't found anything by the Tuesday after next, then I will deal with him myself. Harshly."

While Sirius knew better than to doubt him, it didn't stop him from voicing his dissatisfaction.

"What are we going to do?" Jackie asked, finding Siri's hand and threading her fingers through his.

"Right now? We wait. And we treat Potter no differently than we have been."

"Fat chance," Sirius muttered, but Jackie shushed him.

Lily drew Severus aside. "You're being awfully reasonable about all this," she said, a little skeptical.

He gave her a grim smile. "Since when have I been 'reasonable' when it comes to James bloody Potter?"

"Never," Lily replied, "which is my point."

Sev drew her close and kissed the top of her head. "Just stay safe. Watch your back, and have someone with you all the time."

"I will," Lily promised through she didn't agree with her boyfriend's unvoiced reasoning. He's still afraid Potter's going to do something to me, she thought, disappointed.

---

The Circle maintained an uneasy, potentially volatile atmosphere for the next week. With Lily's coming-of-age approaching on Sunday they organized something of a party for Saturday night following the Quidditch match, regardless of the victor.

Peter, Regulus, and Renly had already arrived in the Room of Requirement when Remus and Jackie walked in, discussing the finer attributes of Apparition.

Lily and Alice were still in their dormitory but Alice was taking longer than expected to get ready.

"It's just around the corner—you'll be all right, yeah?"

"Yeah," Lily replied, laughing. She sheathed her wand up her sleeve where it could easily release into her hand. Not worried in the slightest, she descended the staircase from the girls' dormitories, leaving through the portrait hole without noticing the soft whisper of a silky cloak over the stones of the corridor.

She turned down the seventh-floor corridor towards the room of Requirement, and just passed the tapestry of Nimue and her lover when she heard the scuff of a shoe against rock. Her wand went into her hand, but it was too late.

The nonverbal Silencio caught her off guard. James, under the invisibility cloak, shot out his hand and gripped Lily's right wrist before she had any idea what had happened. He wrenched her wand away and threw it down the corridor, and it landed well out of reach. She struggled against the invisible force, not understanding what was happening, and as she strained against the iron grip around her wrist, James threw the cloak away from his head and dragged her down the corridor away from her wand, behind Nimue's tapestry that hid a narrow passage leading to a small, circular room.

Lily's heart pounded in fear. She couldn't speak, so she struggled against his grip, clawing at his hand with her free one.

Suddenly he turned on her, and the abruptness made her stumble. She fell, and James wrenched her upwards by the wrist. She felt a pop in her shoulder and suddenly pain spread from the dislocated joint up her arm, and she tried to cry out, but could not make a sound.

"If you don't stop trying to get away," James snarled, "I'll use Incarcerous on you and drag you along the floor."

Lily glared at him, tears in her eyes from the pain shooting through her dislocated shoulder. She found her footing and he wrenched her forward again, and she followed him because any resistance would send fire through her arm. A sudden thought made her reach for the phoenix-and-garter necklace, but as her fingers scrabbled at her neck she realized she'd taken it off the previous week before showering and had forgotten to put it back on.

They reached the small room and James threw her forward onto the ground, and casually flicked his wand. Restraints burst from the tip and bound her hands above her head; he flicked his wand again and the restraints attached themselves firmly to the wall. Her chest heaved with a combination of fear and pain, and she couldn't twist up or away because of her deadened arm.

"Surely you know what's going to happen now, don't you?" James asked, his voice low and dangerous, and his eyes a bit wild. "I told Amos you'd be mine…he didn't believe me. You and your stupid 'Circle of Seven' have humiliated me too many times. If you're not going to leave that slimy wretch," James growled, "then I'm going to take you. And all you'll be to him is a used cunt. Who wants another man's leftovers? He's too much of a wet rag to properly please a woman—is that why he hasn't shagged you yet? I'm going to give you a birthday present you won't ever forget."

As James spoke, Lily's fear turned to white-hot dread.

Almost as suddenly as he stopped talking, he Vanished every scrap of her clothing. With her wrists bound and her shoulder dislocated, she could not move except to cross her legs as tightly as she possibly could. Tears blurred her vision, but she fought to keep her eyes open because she knew if she didn't it would feel like giving in, and so Merlin help her, if James Potter raped her she would make sure he saw the pain it would cause. The knots tightened in her stomach as she saw him push down his trousers and then his pants, and she tasted revulsion at the back of her throat.

James pressed his knee to the crossing of her legs and pushed down until the pain made her muscles loosen; she tried to kick him, but he straddled her and shoved one hand to the juncture of her thighs while he roughly grabbed her breast with the other and leaned forward to forcefully kiss her. She struggled, but agony shot up her arm again.

The tears rolled down her temples and she stared at him, her jaw clenched and her lips firmly pressed together.

She knew what would come next.

---

Severus, Frank, and Sirius were on their way up to the Room of Requirement to meet Lily, Alice, and Jackie, but when they walked down the corridor Severus spotted a wand lying on the flagstones.

He knew that wand.

He would know that wand anywhere.

Sev rushed forward and picked it up; it tingled in his hand. "Frank, Sirius…" he trailed off and stood, casting his gaze around the corridor, until it landed on the tapestry several feet behind them. He'd prowled these halls for almost half a century; he knew these corridors better than anyone except perhaps the Headmaster himself, and he knew that behind that tapestry was a long, thin passageway leading to a small, circular room used by students who wanted a lot of privacy.

He also knew that Lily would never, never leave her wand in the corridor unless she'd been forced to.

Which meant—

Sev put on a burst of speed and raced to the tapestry, Sirius and Frank on his heels.

When they reached the end of the passageway Severus felt time slow down.

He saw James Potter straddling Lily Evans, who was bound at the wrists to the wall and completely naked. He saw her face covered in tears and the odd angle her right arm made with her shoulder, and he saw James Potter with his pants down and his hands violating her. Severus saw and processed this sight within half a second, and half a second later he'd flicked his wand into his hand with Lily's and yelled, "Arania Exumai!" James was thrown from Lily and Severus charged at him, leaving everything to instinct as he attacked.

While Severus fought with James, Frank and Sirius looked in horror at the scene before snapping to their senses and rushing to aid Lily. Sirius shrugged off his outer robes and covered Lily while Frank undid the restraints; he eased her arms back down and calmly instructed her to brace herself against him before he popped her shoulder back into place. Despite what she'd just gone through she curled up into a ball and clutched at the shirts of both her rescuers, tears streaming down her face. After a moment she realized her voice had returned, since James had lost his wand immediately following Sev's first spell. She drew in a great breath and sobbed, finding relief in being able to press her forehead to Frank's chest as he held her.

Sirius turned and rose to his feet to assist Severus, and found him beating James to a pulp. In a flash Siri had his arms around Sev, pulling him backwards away from the unconscious James Potter.

"Sev, he's out! He's done, stop—stop before you kill him—"

"He deserves it," Severus snarled, aiming another kick at Potter's prone form. "All the chances I gave him, he's exactly the same as last time, right down to his sick, twisted—"

"You have to get Lily to the Hospital Wing, make sure he didn't rape her—"

Sev broke from Sirius's hold and spun around, falling to his knees beside Frank and gathering Lily to his chest. She instantly transferred her grip from Frank's shirt to Sev's and he lifted her easily, carrying her bridal style from the alcove, leaving Frank and Sirius to deal with what was left of Potter. He murmured to her as he walked, and he could feel her tears soaking into his shirt as they descended each staircase. With each step, he thanked every existing god that Potter hadn't dragged Lily into the Room of Requirement.

He pushed the Hospital Wing doors open and called out to Madame Pomfrey, his voice a mixture of panic, worry, and blinding anger. He kept Lily tight to his chest, reluctant to put her down and remove the comfort a solid, familiar body provided.

The matron hurried out and stopped in her tracks when she saw one of her favorite students standing with Lily in his arms, covered only by a robe that wasn't hers.

"Great Godric, Mr. Prince, what happened? Come, bring her here."

Severus gently laid her on the closest hospital bed, taking care to keep Sirius's robe draped over her modesty. When he tried to straighten, Lily's grip on his shirt tightened, so instead of standing he sat on the bed and gently stroked her hair. "I caught Potter—assaul—" his voice faltered "—assaulting her. Her clothes were gone and he—he—" but Severus couldn't finish his sentence, filled to the brim with anger and anguish as he was.

The expression on Poppy's face communicated horror and shock before she composed herself, with difficulty, and began casting diagnostic charms to ascertain whether or not Potter had gone that far.

"Keep talking, dear," Poppy said softly as she continued casting.

"Frank, Siri, and I were on our way to meet her…came across her wand in the corridor. Knew she'd never go anywhere without it, and remembered the hidden room behind the tapestry…" as he spoke he continued to comfort his other half. "When we reached them—I saw—God, he was on her, Poppy, he was on her! He was going to rape her! I knocked him off with a spell, then—I—I attacked him. Until Sirius pulled me off." He put his face in his free hand, his shoulders shaking. He hadn't called the matron by her first name since his previous lifetime, and was too shaken to notice his slip-up. "I wanted to use an Unforgivable on him. I—I almost did. I almost killed him, Poppy. I almost killed him." He sucked in a breath, carding his fingers through Lily's tangled red locks. "Is she—did he—"

Poppy Pomfrey did not look at Severus Prince. She kept her eyes on her patient, still working her spells.

"Poppy."

"One more moment, dear. Keep talking."

Severus cradled his best friend, the love of his life, as much as he could without disturbing her. "I want to murder him," he said, his voice infused with hatred.

The telltale golden shimmer of the results issued from the tip of Poppy Pomfrey's wand. She studied them, and let out a breath. "He did not rape her," she said softly, unsure if Lily could hear her or not. "He did, however, dislocate her right shoulder, bruise her right wrist, pelvis and right breast, and tear," she stopped to compose herself, "tear the vaginal wall." The Healer inhaled deeply. "Her shoulder has been reset already, though I'm not sure who did that. I can treat her now, Severus."

Hearing her injuries listed aloud was too much for Severus Prince to actually handle, and he was powerless to stop the tears. "F—Frank, Frank reset her shoulder," he managed to say. "Please, fix her."

"I'll do my best," Poppy replied empathetically, "but I cannot fix the psychological trauma she endured."

Severus kissed Lily's forehead, still crying. "I don't what to do."

A second of silence passed between Severus and the Healer, and then the door to the ward opened again, with Sirius and Frank levitating an unconscious James Potter inside, Alice trailing tearfully behind them. They took him to the furthest bed from Lily, and managed to put him onto it without any further damage than what Severus had inflicted, but once finished the two boys crossed to their friends and stood at the foot of Lily's bed, hovering in worry.

"Did he—" Sirius asked, but couldn't finish his sentence.

Severus shook his head, but Poppy answered for him. "No, but he did enough damage as it is. Frank, be a dear and pull a curtain around the bed, please."

Alice approached Lily's hospital, her hands covering her mouth as she cried. Frank gently put her arm around her in a hopeless attempt to comfort her. "This is all my fault," she sobbed into Frank's shoulder, "I shouldn't have told her to go without me."

Severus had blocked out everything except Lily and the matron, focusing his energy on ignoring the fact that James Potter had also been brought into the ward.

"Someone needs to go tell the others. Make sure it stays among us," Frank said quietly, hugging Alice to his chest.

"I'll go," Sirius offered quietly. The invisibility cloak hung from his hand, partially pooled on the floor as he stared in near disbelief at the heartbreaking image of Severus and Lily. "I'll get Dumbledore and McGonagall too. Show them this." He held up the cloak, glaring at it, but nobody had to look at it to know what he was talking about. He left then, and shortly thereafter Frank guided Alice out too, to give the remaining three some modicum of privacy.

Sirius ascended the four staircases in something of a haze. He bundled the cloak under his arm as he walked, trying to get the awful picture of James on top of Lily from his head. His fists balled so hard he didn't even notice his nails break the skin. Sirius reached the entrance to the Room of Requirement and forced himself to think of the Circle's space; the door appeared a moment later. He pushed inside, leaving blood streaked on the door handle.

Silence greeted him. When his eyes focused, he found his friends all staring at him, and he realized that in addition to his bleeding hands, his robe was still in the Hospital wing and he'd been mussed when pulling Sev off James. His disheveled appearance must be strange.

"Sirius?" Remus said, breaking the eerie quiet of the room.

"Um. James—James assaulted Lily."

He counted three seconds of dead silence before chaos erupted around him. With everyone speaking at once he couldn't hear himself think until Remus yelled at everyone to shut up and let Siri talk.

"Sev's with her in the hospital wing. James. James, he…he—Frank, Sev, and I found him on top of her." Sirius sucked in a breath and focused on Jackie, who came to him and quietly healed his hands. "We got there just barely in time to keep him from raping her. Sev attacked him, and Frank and I went to Lil. Frank put her shoulder back, and I gave her my outer robes."

"Holy Merlin," Regulus swore under his breath.

"What do you mean, Frank put her shoulder back?" Renly asked abruptly, his face hard, "and why did she need your robe?"

Sirius met the gaze of their resident Holmes. "James had dislocated it, and then chained her to the wall," he revealed, sickened. "He vanished her clothes."

Jackie instantly made a dangerous noise, and Peter wore an expression of deepest revulsion and anger.

Remus couldn't believe his ears, but knew he had to. "Is Lily all right?" he asked, so incredibly worried for his friend.

Sirius shook his head. "Lil's injured, but it's not just her body that he hurt."

"What did Sev do to him?" Jackie asked; though unconcerned for James's welfare, it couldn't be ideal if Sev had killed him.

Sirius felt the cloak with his hand. "Beat him unconscious, and kept on him until I pulled him off. Frank and I brought him to the hospital wing too. As awful as he is, and what he did, he needs a Healer's attention too. Sev really worked him over."

"Can we see her?" Renly asked, feeling faint even from his seat on the couch.

Sirius shook his head. "That would be a bad idea right now. She needs to heal. We can, however, find Dumbledore and McGonagall, and give them this." He shook out the cloak and partially disappeared behind it. "Potter's cloak. Proving that he's the one responsible for trying to out Remus to the Ministry."

While Remus wanted to accompany his friends to find the Headmaster and his deputy, he knew he had to go to Severus and Lily. He said as much to Sirius, who knew that trying to stop him would be about as effective as trying to stun a dragon by himself.

They met Frank and Alice coming up the stairs as they went down; Jackie and Peter decided to stay with them, leaving Regulus, Renly, and Sirius to find their Heads and Remus to go to the Hospital Wing. Remus split off from the rest when they reached the third floor. He cautiously pushed one of the double doors open and slipped inside, immediately seeing the curtain pulled around the bed closest to him.

"Sev?" he asked softly, afraid to disturb Lily.

No one answered, but a moment later the matron emerged. "Hello, Remus," she greeted him heavily. "Has Sirius told you the extent of what happened?"

Remus shrugged, a little helpless. "He told us that James assaulted her but didn't manage to make it as far…as far as rape."

Poppy nodded. "Correct. I have set her injuries to healing, but nothing but time can heal her psyche."

Remus took a deep breath. "Can I see them? Please, I need to know they're both okay."

Her eyes full of sympathy, Madame Pomfrey drew the curtain open and turned to let Remus past. He edged inside, his heart breaking as he took in the sight of Lily, curled into the fetal position with her hands gripping one of Sev's with all her strength. Siri's robes were draped over the back of one of the visitor's chairs, and Pomfrey had conjured clothing right onto Lily's body. Sev sat, bent over the bed with his right cheek resting on her head, his other arm protectively wrapping between her shoulders to her back.

Lily didn't move except for the tremors caused by her sobs. Sev's eyes glanced up and met Remus's, and the depth of pain and hopeless agony living there made Remus's heart skip a beat. He had never seen Severus cry, and felt like the universe was wrong to have shown him. Remus took a tentative step forward. Sev's eyes flickered to the chair covered with Siri's robe, and Remus interpreted that as an invitation to sit. He didn't even think of touching her, knowing that an extra, unfamiliar hand on her back may would her further emotionally.

"What can I do?" he asked softly, feeling tears prick his eyes. "Siri's gone to get Dumbledore."

"Thank you," Sev said, equally soft. "I don't know if you can do anything yet."

Remus nodded. "I understand."

They sat in silence, Sev comforting his best friend, his soulmate, while Remus lent his support by simply being there, though wishing he could do more.

After nearly ten minutes, the hospital doors opened again, admitting Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall, Sirius, Regulus, and Renly. Pomfrey came from James's bed, where she'd been patching him up and fixing the worst of Sev's inflictions, though he had not yet woken from his unconscious state. Sirius, Regulus, and Renly waited by the door while Dumbledore and McGonagall followed Pomfrey into her office to discuss what had happened.

Remus quietly slipped back into the hospital proper just in time to keep Regulus from advancing on Potter's sickbed. Placing a hand on his chest he walked Reg back to Siri and Ren, who hadn't noticed him leaving, as they both had their eyes on the curtain blocking Lily and Sev from view. "No," he said firmly.

Regulus didn't even scowl, let alone protest. He just stared past Remus at Potter's still form at the end of the row of beds, unmoving.

"What did Dumbledore say?"

Sirius shook his head. "He didn't say anything after asking what happened. He took one look at the cloak, and followed us here, listening the whole time. I told him what we saw and I can't get the picture from my head, and it's making me sick." He did indeed appear rather ill.

Renly wore the most vulnerable expression of them all, and for once he looked all of his thirteen years. "I feel useless," he said to the rest of them. "All my stupid deductive power and superior intellect and I feel useless. I should have known—"

Remus rounded on him, irritated to find himself as the voice of reason again. "Nobody is to blame except James fucking Potter," he said forcefully, letting some of the wolf into his words. "Don't let yourself feel guilty. Turn it into anger, or rage, but don't blame yourselves."

"Wise words," Dumbledore said from behind him. "Mr. Black, if I could have that cloak now…"

Sirius hesitated. "Who's going to get it?"

"Rightfully it belongs to Henry Potter, but until such time as we can contact him the cloak will remain in my office."

Sirius handed him the silky cloak, which he folded over itself into a neat bundle.

"Sir, what's going to happen now?" Renly asked simultaneously with Remus.

Dumbledore remained silent for several moments, listening to Minerva and Poppy converse over James's immobile form. "When Mr. Potter wakes he will be expelled, and charged with sexual assault."

"You can't wake him up? What about Ennervate?" Remus asked, glancing around Dumbledore to look at the far bed.

More silence. A deep breath, followed by a defeated sigh. "The damage inflicted by Mr. Prince has left Mr. Potter in a coma that, if he is forcefully awakened, has a high probability of leaving him permanently brain dead. Mr. Black, Mr. Potter is lucky you pulled Mr. Prince away when you did."

Remus, Regulus, and Renly all stared at Sirius, who looked like he couldn't decide if stopping Severus really had been the best thing to do. If James had been permanently damaged by Severus, even killed, Sirius saw it as well-dealt justice for what he'd done to Lily Evans. He'd imagined James doing something stupid that resulted in expulsion, like trying to out Remus, but not attempting to rape a classmate. The number of male friends Lily had should have deterred him on some level, even if he hadn't registered the attack itself as wrong. She was surrounded by protectors, three of whom had nearly been too late. Sirius set his face in stone. "I shouldn't have stopped him."

"If you hadn't, your friend would be guilty of murder."

"Actually, no," came a voice from the door. Peter had decided to come down. Dumbledore, not usually directly told he was wrong, frowned. "Defense of the victim isn't murder. If your soulmate were seconds away from being raped and you attacked him to save her, and that resulted in the rapist's death, it's not murder."

Apparently being the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot didn't mean he knew all the laws offhand. "Nevertheless, being responsible for someone's death is an enormous burden to carry for those unprepared."

"Sev is more than capable," Remus reminded Dumbledore.

"That is not for you to decide. Things could have gone in a far worse direction had Mr. Prince killed Mr. Potter." With that as his final word he returned to Minerva and Poppy, the latter of whom went to check on Lily again.

"Where did you learn that?" Regulus asked Peter.

"I—I ducked into the library before I got here. I knew I'd read it before, but couldn't remember the right wording. Dumbledore likes to make things more dramatic than they need to be. How's Lily?"

Remus answered. "Not good. Pomfrey healed her physical injuries, but…"

"…but she was nearly raped," Renly finished quietly. "Yeah. Not good."

Sirius, Remus, Regulus, Renly, and Peter stood silently by the door until McGonagall came over to them. "This is not the place for you right now," she said brusquely. "Go back to Gryffindor Tower, and I will bring updates as I am given them."

"I'd like to stay with Lily and Sev," Remus informed her.

McGonagall looked ready to protest when Poppy emerged from behind the curtain again. "It's all right, Remus may remain with them. Might do a world of good to have an extra shoulder to lean on."

"Right then." McGonagall chivvied the other boys from the ward, leaving Dumbledore still by James's still form, casting spells on his wand to determine the sequence of magical events from a mere hour and a half prior.

Remus ducked back into the private space, his chest constricting again at the sad sight before him. "Dumbledore's here," he said gently, even though Sev had probably heard them talking. Severus didn't react; he simply remained as Lily's rock in the turbulent waters of her shock and trauma. Remus didn't quite understand why Severus wasn't raging against James to the Headmaster, wasn't demanding his head on a platter for what he'd done to his best friend, his girlfriend, his other half. Remus sat down. "Anything you need form us, the Circle will do it."

Sev didn't look at him. "I know."

Lily cried herself into a restless sleep.

"Was…" Remus paused, carefully picking his words, "was he like this, you know, before?"

Sev frowned, lifting his head from Lily's to properly face Remus. "Remember what he did to Peter in the courtyard? He did that to me. But he never tried to take her by force, at least not like this." He looked down at her sadly. "I have no idea what to do. No idea how to help her except just being here." He kissed her temple gently. "This hurts almost as much as it did when I found her in Godric's Hollow." His eyes squeezed shut and Remus saw a tear. He looked away for a moment, wanting to cry himself. "He doesn't deserve to live after this."

"He almost didn't. You put him into a coma that Pomfrey can't heal with magic."

A flicker of satisfaction passed over Sev's face.

"They're going to wait for him to wake up on his own, then Dumbledore's expelling him and charging him with…well, with sexual assault. With memory evidence and Veritaserum he's going to Azkaban—"

Severus was shaking his head. "He's sixteen. They won't send a minor to Azkaban, not even for this. They'll slap him with a fine, make him do community service or something but he won't go to Azkaban." He sighed. "Dumbledore wouldn't let them, either."

Uncertain, Remus remained silent, watching his friend comfort Lily in her restless sleep, listening to the murmur of Dumbledore's and Pomfrey's voices at James's bed. Alone with his thoughts, he started when Lily jerked awake, a raw scream tearing through her throat.

Sev gathered her in his arms, moving to sit on the bed with her as he whispered reassurances to her. "I'm here, you're safe now. He'll never touch you again…Shhh. It's okay. It'll all be okay."

Remus couldn't stop his own tears from flowing. He rested his elbows on his knees and put his face in his hands.

Lily knew nothing beyond the bodily barricade Sev provided. She gripped his arms with great strength and screamed into the hollow joining his neck and shoulder. Her cries brought both Dumbledore and Pomfrey over; the Headmaster appeared shell-shocked at finally seeing the emotional damage wrought by his own pseudo-grandson. "He's inside my head," she managed to say hoarsely between gasps for breath. "I can't shut him out, his hands—his hands, Sev—I feel so filthy—"

Severus took her face gently in his hands and urged her to meet his gaze, oblivious to his silent audience. "Sweetling, look at me. That's it. Do you still trust me?"

"Always," she whispered, crying.

Sev kissed her forehead. "Legilimens," he incanted, surprising Poppy, since he'd done it without his wand in hand. As the connection remained between them Lily's tears slowed to a stop, and finally her eyelids fluttered and she slumped against him, her emotional exhaustion pulling her back down. "Hold on, sweetling, don't sleep yet. Madame Pomfrey, a dose of Dreamless Sleep, please."

Silently the Matron summoned the requested potion and handed it to the remarkably talented seventeen-year-old, who coaxed Lily into swallowing it.

"Sleep now, darling," he murmured, settling her back down onto the pillows and blankets. Lily's hands relaxed as the potion took hold, and soon she was finally at peace in her induced slumber.

"She will need to retell what occurred," Dumbledore said into the silence.

With Lily now unable to hear anything, Severus finally looked up to face them, his emotions clearly roiling just beneath the surface. "Remus, please stay with Lily. Hold her hands so she doesn't know I'm gone." Remus switched seats and took over his new duties while Severus stood and rounded on the Headmaster. "Madame Pomfrey, may I have use of your office to discuss something with the Headmaster?"

Bewildered, she agreed.

Severus stalked to her office in tight fury, Dumbledore a half step behind him. He closed and warded the door.

"Severus—"

"No." His voice sharp and filled with Anger with a capital A, Severus cut him off. "You have a lot to answer for, and you don't get to say anything until I am finished." He took three deep breaths in an effort to calm himself a little, but found it ineffective. "If James Potter isn't gone from Hogwarts by the start of classes on Monday morning I swear I will murder him in his bed. He does not get the luxury of remaining at this school after each and every thing he has done to me and my friends, especially Lily and Remus, and especially after what he just did.

"You will bring his parents here so they can see the damage their son has caused. If you think for one moment that I am out of line I will remind you exactly what I told you would happen. After he struck Lily in June I told you that you were underestimating him. I said he would attack her again, and you sat there like Slughorn, refusing to believe me. James Potter is nothing more than a cancer on the reputation of this school. He has besmirched all our names, cast an awful light on us, all because you refuse to finally see him for what he is: a monster." He fell silent then, but he was far from finished and signaled as such with his finger when Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak.

"Potter was less than a minute away from fully raping Lily when we arrived. One minute more and her trauma would be ten times worse than it is now, if not a thousand, and right now she…she's broken. I was able to calm her by joining our thoughts, having my happiest memories of our friendship wash over her, but that is far from a permanent remedy.

"She will need to relate what happened, yes but not until she is ready, not with Potter still in this ward, and most certainly not with you in the room. I don't care that you're the Headmaster. You failed to keep two of your students safe—no, three, including Peter—and we get hurt every time you sit on your hands. Potter is the one who caused all this damage. Potter is the one who nearly destroyed Remus. Potter is the one who bullied and humiliated Peter and Potter is the one who attacked and assaulted Lily. But you—you—are the one who enabled him." Now done, he didn't object when Dumbledore made to speak again.

"I won't defend him," he said quietly, remorseful. "I am truly sorry for what he has done under my watch. But Madame Pomfrey wishes to keep Mr. Potter here until he wakes, though if he doesn't within a week he will be transferred to St. Mungo's. I cannot authorize moving him by Monday, in the interest of preventing further damage."

"Fuck that," Severus snarled venomously. "Where is the anger you displayed when he struck her in June? Where is the concern for Lily's wellbeing? She has just experienced the worst thing in life, and is still suffering through it! This is harder than her father's death, can't you see that? Can't you see what your inaction has cost?"

Dumbledore held up a hand to cease Sev's tirade. "Of course I am angry about this. How could I not be? The most talented witch I've seen at this school for an age has been reduced to what feels like nothing. There are no excuses left, I know. I will do everything in my power to rectify what I can."

"Then start with casting the monster out from this castle. Forever."

Dumbledore hesitated, and immediately realized his mistake.

Furious, Severus ran his hands through the dark hair that hung a couple inches above his shoulders, desperately trying to make the lacking Headmaster understand. "I can feel her pain, Albus. Even before I entered her mind I could physically feel her pain."

"You share a powerful bond," Dumbledore replied. "I will be sure to inform your professors that you will be missing however many days of classes it takes for Miss Evans to recover. You are also relieved of you Prefect duties for the time being, though I am unsure who should don that mantle in your absence—"

"Remus. He was your first choice anyway."

"As you wish. As Gryffindor doesn't have another match until March, I will not relieve Miss Evans of her captaincy, though Mr. Black should step up for your next several practices if that is her wish."

Sev tugged at his hair. "She won't care about that, Albus. Nobody cares about that. She won't give a second thought to Quidditch for a long time."

Dumbledore began fidgeting with his hands, clearly trying to decide whether to tell Severus something. He must have ruled in favor, because he reached into his robes and withdrew the Invisibility Cloak. "Sirius retrieved this from the seventh floor."

Already spent with anger over what happened to Lily, Severus simply stared at the cloak. "Expel him, now," he finally said.

"It will be done," Dumbledore replied, "though not until he has awoken. On that I will not waver."

Still furious, but unable to do anything more, Severus gave a short, curt nod, still glaring at the cloak.

"I will inform you after Mr. Potter's parents have been summoned; I daresay you will wish to speak on Miss Evans' behalf."

"Yes," he replied tightly.

Dumbledore studied his unusual student in silence for a few moments. "Severus," he said, "please do not make the mistake of thinking I do not understand the pain you and Lily are currently experiencing. I will admit I am not the Headmaster you hoped for or deserved, and I do take responsibility for my inaction against Mr. Potter. You and Miss Evans have long been favorites of mine—"

"You don't get it," Severus interrupted without looking up at him. "You shouldn't have favorites. That's why Potter ended up like this, because you favored him too much to enforce a lasting punishment." His gaze returned to meet Albus's directly. "And the only reason you have 'favored' me is because this is my second chance with Lily, my second life, and I made the mistake of telling you about it. I'm your curio. Don't deny it."

Dumbledore said nothing, only gazed at Severus through sad eyes.

"I'm done trying to make you see reason." And Severus left Pomfrey's office, leaving the Headmaster of Hogwarts standing awkwardly within, clutching the Cloak of Invisibility to his chest.

---

Remus glanced up to meet the sad, agonized eyes of one of his best friends. Severus gave the impression of being so highly strung that one wrong move would snap him, even though he was really already past that point. The werewolf did not move from where he sat at Lily's bedside, her small hands wrapped around his larger ones, oblivious in her dreamless sleep that the man to which she clung so fervently was not in fact her Severus.

The thoroughly broken sixth-year Gryffindor stood at the foot of the bed for several long minutes, watching Lily's dreamless slumber, watching Remus and silently thanking Merlin for granting him friends of the highest quality this time around. "Thank you, Remus," Sev said so quietly Remus wasn't quite sure he'd heard him.

"You're welcome," he murmured back, suddenly aware that his thumbs were stroking Lily's hands and that Severus didn't seem to have noticed. He ceased the movement, embarrassed, but simultaneously protective of the fragile, shattered woman whose hands he held. "Shall I…" he shifted in his chair to communicate his intent to switch places with Severus again. Severus slowly moved around the bed, nodding while he kept his eyes on Lily. Remus stood, and after a brief hesitation put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Sev." His friend turned to face him, and Remus drew the older boy into a comforting embrace. "She's not alone. Neither of you are alone. You've got us. Just don't forget that." After a moment Severus returned the embrace and Remus felt him begin to shake, and realized that Severus Prince was currently crying into his shoulder.

Several moments passed before Sev pulled away and dried his face with the sleeve of his robe. "I'm sorry," he whispered, slumping into Remus's vacated chair.

Rem knew it would be useless to tell him not to be sorry, so he simply sat at the foot of the bed, his eyes on his friends and his mind cluttered with what he and everyone else wanted to do to James Potter.

"I gave Dumbledore an ultimatum," he said, twining his fingers with Lilly's. "Potter is out of the school and expelled or I'm going to kill him. I should have killed him when we found him."

"What did he say?" Remus asked, ignoring Sev's last sentence.

"That he can't expel Potter until he wakes up, presumably to hear his 'side of the story,' and that he can't be moved to St. Mungo's until next Saturday."

Remus made an indistinctive noise.

"I don't fucking care anymore. I'm done with Dumbledore, done with Potter. Fuck them both."

"Sev."

"What?" he replied, looking up with weary eyes.

Remus tried to smile. "You're right to be. But don't let it blind you."

Sev looked back to Lily. "I won't. That would be too much effort wasted when I need to be strong for her. I just don't feel strong right now." He dropped his head to rest on their hands, the slight shiver of his back the only indication of how badly he hurt.

---

Dumbledore Apparated to the gates of the Potter Estate. Henry had not warded the grounds against him, only his fireplaces and owls from Hogwarts, which had been a very bad idea considering what had befallen James. Albus walked down the driveway to the mansion, and knocked sharply upon the door. A house elf answered it, and immediately ushered him inside. The elf popped away to fetch someone, either Eleanor or Henry, though he would need to see and speak with both of them.

Henry Potter burst from one of the doors, followed closely by his wife, who seemed equally displeased. "What is the meaning of this intrusion, Albus? I thought I made it clear you were no longer welcome in this house—"

"Henry, stop. I would not have come if I did not need to. If we could go somewhere more comfortable… You will wish to sit for this news."

Eleanor led the way to one of the drawing rooms where she and Henry took a seat on one of the sofas.

"What is it?" Henry asked irritably.

Dumbledore took a deep breath. "James was discovered in the act of attempting to rape Lily Evans. He was attacked in her defense by another student, and during the fight received a number of injuries that as a whole left him unconscious. Madame Pomfrey cannot wake him without causing further injury to his brain. Miss Evans—"

"You're lying," Eleanor bit out.

Taken aback, Dumbledore blinked and frowned. "I assure you that everything I am telling you is truthful. Your son sexually assaulted a student with whom he has been obsessed for several years. Additionally, at the scene of the attack was the Invisibility Cloak I had previously thought locked in your desk, Henry. Either you lied to me and gave the cloak back to James and took it back for my visit, or James has found a way to break your wards undetected. Given his school performance I am inclined to believe the former, but arguments aside I now have proof that James is the one responsible for a different invasion of privacy." He'd spoken over every attempt at interruption, and when he finished he yielded the floor to the Potter patriarch.

"I demand to see my son," Henry roared.

"Indeed, that was the point of coming. I could have told you sooner had you not barred me from your fireplaces and warded the grounds against Hogwarts owls," Dumbledore said sharply.

"You mock us," Eleanor accused, rising to her feet.

"I do no such thing," Dumbledore countered strongly. "It was your poorly made decision to deny me access to your home when your son attends my school."

"What are we waiting for?" Henry snapped, and a few short minutes later Dumbledore was leading them through the Hogwarts gates and up to the castle.

McGonagall warned Severus that the Headmaster had gone to retrieve Potter's parents, and suggested he remain with Lily behind the curtain until it came time to face them. Fortunately, the Dreamless Sleep given to her wouldn't wear off for several hours, and she wouldn't have to endure Potter's parents and whatever accusations they might throw at her.

The doors to the wing opened and Mr. and Mrs. Potter rushed inside, Dumbledore in the lead. "Over here," he said, taking them to James's bed.

Eleanor gasped and then began sobbing. "My baby!" she wailed, collapsing to her knees at the bedside, while her husband looked on in shock and disbelief.

"Whoever did this shall know the meaning of retribution," Henry snarled.

Dumbledore interrupted, "Did you not hear what I told you? He sexually assaulted Miss Evans, and is in this condition only because her rescuers did not use lethal force!"

But Henry wouldn't listen. "Show her to me then! Give me proof, you old windbag! My son is not a rapist!"

Severus couldn't take the stupidity anymore. He emerged from Lily's private enclosure and crossed to the three adults, danger rolling off him in waves. He spoke while he walked. "I should have killed him the moment I saw him with his pants down, straddling my restrained, naked best friend. I should have castrated him and made him beg for mercy. You want proof? Madame Pomfrey! The official results of your diagnosis charm on Lily Evans, please! You want evidence? That's your evidence," he snarled, pointing at James's still form. "His wand is proof enough: a silencing charm, a binding curse, the vanishing spell. Your vile offspring dislocated her shoulder when she tried to get away from him. He bound her in chains to the wall of a hidden chamber, and he Vanished her clothing before he tried to force himself upon her." Breathing hard through is nose, he stopped short of Henry Potter's punching range. "The only spell I used was the Knockback Jinx, but I should have killed him. I wish I had."

"Severus," Dumbledore warned.

Henry turned purple with rage. "How dare you," he seethed, fumbling for his wand. "How dare you—"

Dumbledore disarmed him before he even managed to point his wand in Sev's direction. "Severus, return to Lily at once. Madame Pomfrey's diagnosis shall be sufficient evidence for now." The matron had come when Severus called, Lily's chart in hand and an unreadable expression on her face. Severus threw one last, filthy look at Potter and his parents, and stalked back to the curtain hiding Lily's bed.

Poppy quietly listed Lily's injuries for the Potters, irritated and appalled that they would accuse Dumbledore of lying about something this serious.

Eleanor slowly got back on her feet, aided by her husband. "What makes you think my Jamie did those things to that girl?"

"Three witnesses, Priori Incantatum, and a long history of obsession with her. 'That girl' has a name, Eleanor, and your son almost succeeded in reducing her to nothing."

"That Evans girl must have done something to provoke him—"

"You will not place the blame for his actions on her," Dumbledore thundered, and for a second the room darkened with his fury. "When he wakes he will face the consequences for his abominable actions, including expulsion. I will not abide him in this school any longer."

"She did do something," Severus couldn't resist saying loudly. "She chose me. And he couldn't accept that." He slipped behind the barricade before anyone could reply, least of all Henry Potter. Breathing hard, he blocked out the sounds of the ward, and sat back down next to his best friend, his other half. "He couldn't accept that."

---

McGonagall escorted the Potters away when Dumbledore had finished wasting breath on convincing them of their son's guilt, and deemed it time to bring the awful news of her daughter's condition to Rose Evans, and by extension, Eileen Prince. The next morning his thoughts were with Lily as he Apparated, for the second time in as many years, to the front door of the Prince-Evans household. He knocked, and waited for the door to open.

Petunia must have come home for the weekend from Exeter, as it was she who greeted, rather confusedly, the Hogwarts Headmaster. "Hello sir," she said, ushering him inside. "Is everything all right?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "No, I am afraid it is not. I should like to speak both with your mother and Mr. Prince's."

Petunia hurried to the kitchen while Dumbledore seated himself on the armchair by the hearth. A moment later the three women joined him and Rose immediately asked what was wrong.

"It pains me greatly to tell you this. Lily was attacked by a fellow student yesterday."

"What?" Rose said faintly. Petunia gripped her arm.

Dumbledore continued. "James Potter sexually assaulted her and was moments away from fully raping her when Severus, Sirius, and Frank stumbled upon the scene and saved her."

Rose barely heard anything following the words 'sexually assaulting her' and groped for her daughter's hand. "Lord, give me strength," she whispered. "How badly did he hurt her?"

Dumbledore sidestepped the question, not wishing to cause her more distress than he needed to. "Madame Pomfrey has healed or set to healing all the physical injuries she received. The mental and emotional injuries will take far longer to mend, I fear, though Severus will be with her every step of the way. They are both excused from classes until Lily feels strong enough to return."

"I want her there," Rose said quietly through her tears.

Dumbledore didn't want to infringe upon a mother's right to protect her child, but… "Madame Pomfrey and I do not advise removing her from the castle. Her best chance at healing is to be with her friends, a magnificent support system, the greatest of which is Severus. I can, however, place a spell on yourself and Petunia that would counter the Muggle-repelling wards on Hogwarts and allow you inside to visit her."

"I need to see my daughter."

"You shall."

Eileen spoke up, her voice shaking. "Isn't Potter the boy who slapped her in June and then kept sending her letters last summer? The one who kept harassing her?"

"Yes, he is," Dumbledore confirmed sadly. "He was punished for that infraction, though I now see I was not harsh enough."

"That's the understatement of the century," Petunia said angrily. "I hope the boys beat him bloody for what he did."

"Petunia," her mother said, "that's—" but she hiccupped and dissolved into tears again, unable to finish her sentence.

"Severus did attack Mr. Potter," Dumbledore carefully revealed. "Misters Black and Longbottom put Lily back to rights as best they could. Mr. Black pulled Severus away when it was clear that Mr. Potter had been knocked unconscious."

Eileen wore an expression of grim pride.

"Mr. Potter will face the consequences when he wakes, including expulsion. As such, Severus caused enough damage to put him into a coma that my matron cannot reverse with magic." He saw Rose about to speak and hurriedly added, "That being said, Severus will not be punished in any manner, as his actions were rightfully in the defense of your daughter. I am further ashamed that I could not mend my blindness to their feud until this occurred."

Petunia held her sobbing mother.

"Lily should be waking within a couple hours from the potion provided by the matron. I trust you would like to see her at once?"

"Yes," Eileen answered for the Evans women. "I will be coming as well."

Dumbledore must have expected this, for he did not protest. Her son was something of a victim as well. "As you wish. Eileen, if you could side-along Petunia, I will do the same with Rose. You need not bring anything with you, unless of course there is something of Lily's here that might give her more comfort."

Rose stood, wiping at her eyes. "Yes. Um. Petunia, could you go get the music box from the top of my dresser?"

Petunia left silently and returned a minute later with the music box.

"Jumpers," Eileen said, and summoned them from the hallway closet. She handed two to Rose and Petunia, and they all shrugged them on.

"Ready?" Dumbledore asked. "Apparate to just outside the school gates. I will perform the spell there." He instructed Rose to tightly grasp his arm, while Eileen did the same with Petunia.

Dumbledore turned into nothingness, pulling Rose with him, and a brief second later they popped into existence just outside the gates. Eileen and Petunia arrived a moment after.

"That's Hogwarts?" Rose asked as she stared up at what, to her and Petunia, looked like a dilapidated, dangerous ruin. "Why do I feel like I need to leave?" she asked Dumbledore, who pulled out his wand.

"Anti-Muggle wards, nothing more. If you and Petunia could stand still for a moment, I will make you immune to them." They did as he asked and a minute later following a lengthy spell, he inquired, "What do you seen now?"

Rose and Petunia stared up the hills to the enormous, sprawling castle in which Lily attended school. "It's incredible, but will it take long to get to Lily?" Petunia asked.

"No, I've had Hagrid tether a Thestral to a carriage." Sure enough, the half-giant came into view on the road to Hogsmeade, leading what appeared to be a carriage pulling itself. "Inside, please. Thank you, Hagrid."

Hagrid hadn't been told why Lily's family was visiting the school, but knew it must be for something serous, since Muggle parents usually only were given permission to come during graduation, to minimize risking the Statute of Secrecy.

"Thestrals? Are they invisible, then?" Petunia asked, as they climbed into the carriage.

Dumbledore confirmed her inquiry, and following that the company fell into a tense silence until they pulled up at the castle doors, where McGonagall was waiting for them.

"Mrs. Evans, Mrs. Prince. And you are Petunia?" When McGonagall had come to the Evans household to explain Lily's acceptance letter so many years before, Petunia had hidden in her room, frightened and angry at her sister's special abilities. As such, the two women had never met.

"Yes," Petunia replied.

"I am Professor Minerva McGonagall. Come with me, the hospital wing is on the third floor. Lily should be waking within the hour."

True to his word, Severus had not left Lily's bedside. He'd slept there, in an adjacent bed pushed next to hers, his meals brought to him by Cheery at regular intervals. James had been moved to the private room most often utilized by Remus leading into full moons, and when McGonagall and her entourage arrived, Remus, Sirius, and Renly were keeping Severus company. Lily still slept from her first dose of Dreamless Sleep.

Rose immediately rushed to her baby's side, tears streaming down her cheeks. Severus saw her and made a feeble attempt to stand and give Lily's mother room, but instead she wrapped her arms tightly around him and whispered, "I don't know how to thank you for saving her."

Severus held her with the remainder of his sapped strength. "Don't thank me," he replied quietly, so only she could hear. "I could have killed him, and I didn't."

Rose wept, holding Eileen's son with the strength of her sadness. "Dead or not he was stopped, and won't ever hurt my baby girl again. So I will thank you, until my dying day."

Severus gave her a squeeze and disentangled himself. "Take my seat. I need to see my mother." Rose did just that and dabbed at her eyes. As Severus pivoted to go to this mother he found himself in the embrace of the third Evans woman.

"Tuney?"

Petunia let go of him after a moment, wiping her own tears away with the back of her hand. "I'm so, so sorry I ever compared you to—to your father." When his face began to frown she continued, "I judged without knowing you, and I know it's been a while since we began getting along…I just never apologized and after what you did for Lily—you deserve more than an apology, Severus. So thank you."

Feeling slightly suffocated by all the thanks and gratitude being heaped on him when he hadn't even done the world a favor by riding it of James Potter, Severus gave Petunia a meagre smile, patted her shoulder, and went to his mother's open arms.

"Oh, my boy," Eileen said to him when he met her. "You did what was necessary."

"Then why do I feel like I didn't do enough?"

Eileen swayed a bit, soothing her son. "Every man would kill for the woman he loves, sweetie. You had the forbearance to spare him, even if you did so because Sirius stopped you. Death would have been a kindness, and killing can leave scars no one sees." Abruptly Severus remembered the image of his mother arriving at the Evans house, pale and shaking, fresh from lethally defending herself from Tobias. Petunia's words ran through his head. "Forget him, Severus. I doubt he will ever see the inside of the castle again—"

"Lily?" Rose's voice interrupted everyone, and Sev instantly returned to the bedside where Lily had begun to stir.

"No crowding," Poppy ordered as she bustled over. Remus, Sirius, and Renly scrambled backward to give the matron room on the side of the bed not occupied by Rose and Severus.

Lily blinked her eyes open and frowned. "Mum?" she mumbled. "Why are you at Hogwarts?"

Rose gave a watery smile and smoothed her daughter's hair back. "Dumbledore came and told us what happened, darling."

For a moment she just stared, confused, still foggy from the Dreamless Sleep. Then her eyes widened, and she remembered. "I'm not at home, please don't say I'm at home—" she tried to sit up and hissed when the residual soreness from her bones shot through her—"Sev, Sev, where—"

Sev caught her as she tried to stand, and when she saw his scared eyes she fell into him and began sobbing again in earnest.

Dumbledore quietly herded the three boys from the ward, leaving his deputy standing at the foot of the bed with Petunia, watching the scene. While Severus held Lily, Pomfrey cast some spells and found her mostly healed from her physical injuries. Rose sat in Sev's chair, unsure of what to do. Lily's tears slowed to an occasional tremor, and Severus knew it was now or never. "Sweetling, I need you to tell me what happened. I know you don't want to, but waiting will only make it worse."

Lily's eyes darted around to her mother, her sister, her House Head.

"Just focus on me, Lil. Tell me, don't think about anyone else here, just tell me. Can you do that?"

Lily nodded haltingly, and after a minute of obvious struggle, she told Sev how she'd gone alone to the Room, not worrying since it was so close to the Tower; the terror of her voice being stripped from her, and the sinking horror when she realized she'd forgotten to replace the necklace. The rest came in short spurts, punctuated by tremors and sobs for breath, all the while in the safe cocoon of her friend's arms.

McGonagall listened intently, since she would be recording it for further evidence against James Potter. Lily finished and Sev changed places with Rose, so Lily could draw comfort from her mother as well. Petunia quietly opened the music box and set it on the bedside table, its quiet tinkle washing over them. Sev sat on the end of the bed, exhausted, and jerked in surprise when Petunia sat next to him and put her head on his shoulder. He briefly hesitated before putting his arm around her, thankful that the awkwardness between them had finally completely evaporated.

Lily's seventeen, Sev realized with a start, and his realization turned to anger. Her birthday would forever be tainted by what Potter tried to do, and the only way to distance themselves from it was time. Happy birthday, he thought, feeling sick. Happy birthday.

A/N: Sorry. Don't hate me. Or do hate me, and channel it towards Potter. Chapter 45 will be up the first or second week of June 2015.