Remus put his face in his hands and was silent. Professor McGonagall spoke up. Thank you, Mr. Lupin, I realize how difficult this whole ordeal must have been for you. She turned to Sirius and Peter. And I know it must be hurtful for you two also, but I still need your version of the events. She sighed. Mr. Black, please give me your version of these events.

Sirius nodded and closed his eyes. He opened them and stared at the floor. We were all in the Great Hall, wondering what we were going to do with our last day. James realized that Lily hadn't been around, and he wanted her also to do whatever we were going to decide on eventually. So we left for the dorms and we found the Common Room deserted when we got there. We all sat down and waited for her.

After about 30 minutes, both James and I were getting impatient. I wanted to leave and go do something and catch up with her later, but James wanted to wait there, so I wasn't going to leave and do something all by myself. It's our last day together, we had to stick together. So we waited for Lily.

In between our arguing, when we weren't speaking, I heard a scream. At first I thought I imagined it, so I asked the others if they had heard it. I hadn't imagined it, because they had heard it. That scream was unnerving... it was one of pure terror. James... he soon recognized it as Lily's voice and that it had come from her dorm. So he raced to the stairs to take that complicated spell off of it, and I went to help him. Two people can break that spell quicker. I heard Remus shout for Peter to go get you, and I noticed he was behind us only a few seconds later.

Sirius frowned, he wasn't one for being so humorless, but at a time like this, humor was not a good option. Remus noticed how annoying this must have been on his part, and how it would soon be distressing, just as it been for him. But he almost smiled as he realized that at any other time Professor McGonagall would want to know how they knew how to remove the spell on that staircase and for what purpose, but since this was a very solemn moment, the matter was not pressed, especially since their mischief-making had resulted in saving a person's life. But Remus kept his steady and masked face staring at Sirius without even showing the slightest hint of emotion about what he had been thinking of.

We finally removed the spell from the staircase, but before we could react... we heard an extremely loud noise, almost as if the ceiling had collapsed upstairs. We all stood still. James asked what was the noise we had heard. His voice shook, I don't blame him, my heart was in my throat by that time too. Remus recognized the sound though. He said it was a gunshot. At that, we ran up the stairs faster than any broom could fly. His voice suddenly grew grim, and he tensed. When we arrived at Lily's dorm room, James threw the door open. Snape was there.

Sirius suddenly stood up and paced a bit, looking pained and angered. I didn't know how the bastard got up in our dorms in the first place. He glared and you could see his teeth clenched together in a timeless snarl as he relived the previous events. Sirius then swore, to which Professor McGonagall said nothing. He was standing over Lily, with two wands... both emitting the Cruciatus Curse on her. Sirius kicked the wall and continued to pace.

We had no time to compose ourselves, much less disarm Snape. He pulled off the curse, and turned to face us. Lily was crying on the floor, well as much as a person under a Silencing Charm can cry. Pure hatred filled his eyes as he thought of Snape. James yelled at him, ordering Snape to say what he had done to her. He replied with a sneer of triumph only. Remus went to help Lily, but of course that foul excuse of a person raised both wands again, one pointed at Lily and one at us. He warned that he would kill Lily if we moved. So we remained still.

Sirius paused and stretched out his neck and arms, as if the tale was personally straining them. Snape walked over between Lily and ourselves, and turned to face us as he tossed Lily's wand on her bed, while keeping his own wand on us. It was then that Lily noticed how he had tossed her weapon aside in perfect position to steal back. We all saw this as well, we lucked out that Snape was more of a fool than he was proving. James started to stall Snape by asking him again, what he had done to Lily.

He stopped pacing and closed his eyes, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth and scratching his chin. His eyes shot open. Peter gasped while Remus looked startlingly at his friend who had a look that could have wiped out the entire Roman army. When James asked him what he had done to Lily, he sneered and asked if James would want a demonstration'. Sirius spat these last words out and stopped pacing, dead in front of the girl's dormitory staircase. He glared up the stairs and then, out of no where, started to stride up the staircase and pull his wand out.

Sirius, NO! yelled Professor McGonagall as she leapt from her seat only a second after Remus and Peter did. The latter ran after Sirius.

That BASTARD! He should pay! Torturing innocent people for no reason, besides the fact that he's as evil as the devil that placed him on earth out of spite! yelled Sirius, as Remus started to pull him back.

Sirius! Revenge is NOT going to get you anywhere! All it will do is lower yourself to his level! Now stop! Remus shouted.

Sirius struggled against Remus' and now Peter's hold trying to get up the stairs. Professor McGonagall was trying to get Sirius to stop also, but nothing was working.

James wouldn't WANT you to get in trouble on Snape account for this purpose! argued Remus. Padfoot! STOP!

Sirius finally stopped, and Remus and Peter let go of him. Sirius sank to the stairs looking like he could still kill Snape, but wasn't going to do so. That curse, it's the most painful feeling in the world! You feel like you're about to die, and when you realize that you aren't, you wish you would so that you wouldn't have to live through that PAIN anymore! Uncontrollably, he shivered, and he stood up and strode down the stairs and collapsed in a chair at the far side of the room.

Sirius' anger turned to fear and his rather red face turned a pale gray. He put his face in his hands and said, And I only had one curse. Lily had it twice as bad as I did. Sirius groaned and sank lower into the chair.

Remus' face was mingled with terror, hatred, and disgust. He strode slowly across the room and sat in the chair that was right next to Sirius. he started quietly, we did all we could. Lily will be alright, because we stopped Snape before anything worse could happen to her. Remus opened his mouth but couldn't find the right words, and so instead remained silent and, getting up, clapped a hand on Sirius' shoulder. Sirius looked up at him with hurt eyes and nodded. Remus nodded in return and took his seat again. Peter and Professor McGonagall looked at Sirius concernedly and sat down once again.

Sirius' shuddered but pulled himself together and sat up straight like he was perfectly fine. After that incident, I vaguely remember James telling Snape to stop, or something along those lines, and he pulled off the curse. Remus helped me up, and James continued to stall for time. He asked how Snape got our passwords, and he told us that he had blackmailed some sniveling friend of his. Lily was inches from her wand, and Snape continued to ramble, thank God he didn't see her. Finally she was able to get it, and she hid behind the bed so Snape couldn't see her. Then she crawled up behind him. We were still staring at Snape, so he wouldn't notice how she was about to attack him, but he saw her reflection in James' glasses. He spun around, but she put the Full-Body Bind on him and he fell over.

We stood there, staring at Lily for a while, with mixed feelings of being concerned for her, awe and wonder that she was able to pull that off, relief that he couldn't do anything anymore.... But Lily had a look in her eyes... which I will never forget. She looked as if she was about to cry, but she had something beyond that, like anger, but more focused, as if she had something on her mind that she had to do. She stood up and we were still rather, stricken by the whole- everything. The she walked over so slowly, as if she was trying to stop herself but couldn't, to her gun and she picked it up. Ugh! What idiots we were! We just stood there like nothing was happening! She then walked over to Snape, and still we stood looking at her mindlessly. But we all snapped out of it as we saw her raise the gun and point it at Snape head.

Sirius paused for a long moment, and the look on his face changed several times as he was thinking. Then he looked directly across the room at a wall with a look of realization on his face. I shouldn't have done anything at all....

Remus winced and shut his eyes. No Sirius. We did the right thing.

Sirius turned and looked straight at Remus and glared. Oh really Remus? We did the right thing? We've allowed that evil bastard to live, for what? So that he can walk free in time and do the same or worse to someone else?

No, so that we wouldn't lower ourselves to his level! Remus snarled back at Sirius.

Sirius was about to retaliate when Professor McGonagall stood up. That's enough, boys, she snapped. Fighting will not help the situation, it can only make things worse. What's done is done. It will not change with your bickering. She gave them both a threatening look and sat down again. Sirius, please continue.

Sirius let out a low growl as he continued. We sprinted the short distance to reach Lily before she could shoot Snape. James grabbed her hand, and tried to pull her fingers away from the trigger. I grabbed her around the waist with one arm and held her arm as steady as I could with the other so that she would stop moving. Remus held her other arm down and tried to get her to calm down. Finally James was able to get the gun away from her and he tossed it aside. Lily was still struggling with all her might. Then James told her.... Sirius winced as he remembered what James had said and that while he was ranting and raving about letting Snape die, he hadn't even thought of his friend's words. He told Lily, I don't want to see you in Azkaban for killing this bastard. And he deserves much worse than death for what he has done!'

After she heard this, she stopped moving, so we all let her go. She looked at James, and Snape and the gun and her hand. She backed up slowly, until she hit the wall, and then she slid down it and burst out crying. James rushed over to her, and Remus and I stood there for what seemed like ages. Then you and Peter burst through the door and saw what happened. The rest you saw. Sirius slumped in his chair again, looking a little relieved to finally be done.