Lily finally analyzed what she was pretty sure would happen if she act quickly. The only thing she could think of doing was kneeing him in the groin. She quickly pulled Malfoy in, as if about to kiss him, and then jabbed her knee into his package. Very hard. Malfoy would have screamed out, but the surging pain spread quickly through his body and Lily pushed him out of the way. She ran as fast as she could, just in case Malfoy was behind her. The tears in her eyes blurred her vision, but she kept running. She burst into the Great Hall, misty-eyed and clothing and hair askew. She saw James and continued running towards him. James stood up quickly and opened his arms for her to rush into.
"Oh James," she sobbed into his chest. "I feel so dirty." She cried. James held her close, and looked around at all the people who were staring at them. This happened to be everyone in the Great Hall, including the teachers. She couldn't stop crying, and she knew she was making an idiot out of herself but she didn't care. James' embrace was the only thing keeping her from screaming out all the sickening feelings racing through her mind.
"Shhh, shhh Lily it's ok. Lily, shhh baby it's ok." James said, kissing her for head and stroking her hair as he always did when she was upset. He pushed her away gently and bent down to look her directly in the eyes. She didn't like standing so far away from him, she felt too exposed and alone. "Lily, look at me." he said and stared into her eyes. "I'm going to take you to the Hospital Wing alright?" he said. Lily shook her head.
"No, I want to stay with you!" she said, looking at the people staring at her from the corners of her eyes.
"Look at me Lily," James said. "I'll take you to your dorm." He said finally, not really sure what to do. He wrapped his arm around her and walked her quickly to the Great Hall doors.
"Mr. Potter," Professor Dumbledore called to him. James ignored him, with a look of pure hatred on his face. "MR. POTTER!"
Lily was laying in her bed in the fourth year dorms. James was sitting on the side of her bed as Lily cried, stroking her face gently. She was still too disgusted and shocked to tell James what had happened. James just sat on her bed, hoping she would be alright. Suddenly the door slammed shut.
"James, McGonagall's on her way. You have to get out now." Felicity said. "I'll look after her." Felicity said. James was about to protest, but Felicity's eyes told him not to. He nodded and stood up, taking in a long, shaky breath. He bent over to kiss Lily on the cheek, and left swiftly. Felicity quickly sat down where James had, and a new batch of fresh tears flowed from Lily's emerald eyes. Suddenly she spewed out the story of what happened to Felicity, who hugged her tightly.
"It was so horrible," Lily sobbed. "I feel so stupid!" she yelled and continued to cry on Felicity's shoulder.
"There there Lil', he won't get away with this." Felicity promised. Lily just shuddered as more tears flowed down her high cheekbones.
James went to the common room, and saw Sirius, Remus and Peter talking quietly. Everyone else that was still up was doing the same thing, and only stopped talking when James came in. As he came out of the dormitories, McGonagall went up quickly, barely noticing James.
"Is she alright?" Sirius asked as James sat down. James shut his eyes and rubbed them, leaning close to the fire to gain all the warmth he could.
"She wouldn't stop crying. I didn't ask her what happened … she wouldn't tell me." he said, confused to the point where he wanted to scream.
"James," Peter's soft voice trailed into his ear. James didn't look up, but kept staring into the fire. "There was someone who came late, other then Lily." He said. James looked up at him. Peter looked at Sirius and Remus. "Malfoy showed up about ten minutes after you left." He said. "I don't know if that necessarily means anything," he added hastily as James' face suddenly turned into a scowl of pure disgust. He got up, knocking the chair back a few inches and walked to the portrait with new determination.
"James, not now." Sirius stepped in front of him.
"Whatever that asshole did to her, she's been crying about it for an hour. I'm not letting him get away with it."
"Do you even know what it was?" he asked.
"Sirius, move." James demanded. "I'm not gunna tell you twice." He added. Sirius' nostrils flared as he took in a deep breath.
"Then I'm coming with you." He said.
"Same with me," Remus added from behind him.
"Me too." Peter said, a little less determined then the other three had. James, in spite of the situation, smiled faintly as his friends. My best friends, he thought.
James, Remus, Sirius and Peter strode down the halls of Hogwarts. It was well after dark, and if anyone caught them they would be in a lot of trouble. James, however, didn't care. He pulled out the Marauders Map from his robes.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He whispered. Peter and Remus were on guard, their wands in their hands, making sure no one was coming from either direction. After a few minutes of quick thinking and analyzing the map, James and the others went off to find Malfoy.
"What did you do?" James yelled in Malfoy's face, who was pinned against a wall. "Answer me!" James screamed. His face was full of rage and disgust, but Malfoy's mouth was filled with blood and he couldn't answer James. Malfoy was slipping in an out of consciousness quite quickly, while Snape was being held back from his friend and master. James had given Malfoy two black eyes, and his mouth was filled with blood. Blood trickled down his crooked nose onto his lips, making the whole scene just that more gory. James wasn't satisfied, but Sirius pulled him away.
"Someone's coming," Sirius hissed. "James come on, you can finish this later." He yanked James off of Malfoy, but with great difficulty. James and Sirius were about the same height, same strength and weight, so it was difficult for either of them to defeat the other. "James!" Sirius said, the look of seriousness in his eyes telling James to stop. James heaved his chest, breathing heavily. Without saying anything, they pushed Severus against the wall and, as quietly as they could, booked it out of the halls and back to the Gryffindor tower.
Thanks for all the reviews so far! It's kept me going :) And to the person that said Lily has red hair … yeah I know but I decided that she would have brown hair during her time at Hogwarts … my hair used to be red when I was younger but it's brown now so, you know, it can happen. Thanks though!