Chapter 23

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Sirius paused for a moment. He seemed to be thinking.

"I'm not sure. That spell you did, to fix his ankle, what does it do?" he asked.

"It didn't fix anything, Madam Pomfrey did that. It's just a simple painkiller," Lily explained.

"Just for his ankle or for the whole of him?" Sirius asked urgently.

"Just...........I don't.........why does it matter?" Lily asked confused.

"Because if it's for the whole of him, James could be making himself worse without realising it,"

"Still not following," she replied shaking her head.

"You thought that the bludger hitting his chest could have broken a rib, yes?" Sirius ran a hand through his hair as he thought.

Lily nodded.

"And I said he couldn't because he would be making a fuss about it,"

"Yeah, you said that he wouldn't be able to ignore it," She was beginning to understand what he was trying to say.

"Well, he would if he couldn't feel it!"

"Because of my spell, he wouldn't be able to feel the pain, so he wouldn't realise that he'd hurt himself? It only lasts a few hours,"

"So? By the time it wore off he would already be unconscious. We have to go and see him, now!"

"Sirius, it's the middle of the night, leave it until morning,"

"Remember what happened the last time we did that?" Sirius asked grimly.

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Ignoring the fact that it was now very late at night, Sirius and Lily were racing up to the Hospital.

"Madam Pomfrey! James........" Sirius panted, "It's his.........." He pointed at his own chest.

"Very observant of you Mr Black," The nurse said coolly, replacing some potions by James's bedside. Looking down to James, the two noticed that someone had wrapped bandages around his chest.

"The bludger hit him," Lily explained.

"I see. And why didn't you think of telling me this before?" she asked glaring at them.

They shrugged. Their previous triumph seemed to have disappeared as they saw James, looking very small and pale in one of the hospital beds he hated so much.

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"YOU SNIVELLING LITTLE BASTARD!" Sirius roared. He was stormed through the Great Hall, grabbed Snape by the collar of his robes and dragged him back out into the Entrance Hall. He winced in disgust as he realised that he was touching a shirt that had originally been white, and was now a dirty grey. He continued his ranting, oblivious to the fact that the rest of the school and teachers were following their argument with great interest.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Really Black?" asked Snape, much quieter than Sirius was being, "You tried that once before,"

Sirius suddenly seemed to realise that they were being watched, and he dropped his voice to something barely above a whisper.

"Yeah?" he raised an eyebrow, "Well.....there's no James around to save your pathetic arse this time. Why he bothered the first time is beyond me. It's not like anyone would miss you," he hissed. He released the filthy shirt, and pushed Snape backwards, trying to clean his hands on his robes. He watched Snape's eyes flicker back to the Slytherin table.

"You really think they'd miss you? You honestly think that they would care if you weren't there? They haven't even bothered to help you now," Sirius had chosen his words carefully. He wanted them to sting and to cause Snivellus as much pain as possible. He'd learnt from experience that the right remark could cause just as much hurt as a spell, and the marks were not as obvious.

"I noticed that your little friends haven't bothered to come to your rescue," Snape hissed.

"That's because they know better than that," he directed his attention back to the Slytherin table. See? They're talking about you now," They both turned to look down inside the hall. The Slytherins were smirking and pointing at them. Sirius didn't doubt that they were smirking at him, but he wouldn't let Snape know that. He had touched a nerve with his questions and insults; all he had to do now was to work on ripping that nerve to shreds.

Meanwhile at the Gryffindor table, the seventh years were staring at the pair. It seemed very strange without James or Sirius or Remus. Only Peter knew where Remus really was. In the Shrieking Shack, sleeping off the effects of a full moon. It was very quiet without James's or Sirius's jokes and teasing, and without the rest of the Marauders, there was no one to distract Peter from his current infatuation with Mia. She was contenting herself with scowling at him across the table. She had tried flicking soggy cereals at him. But he thought she was flirting.

"Do you think we should go over?" Lily asked Belle. She shrugged in reply. Part of her wanted to go over and help her boyfriend; the other wanted to see how the scene played out.

Back in the Entrance Hall, Sirius was realising with satisfaction that he was getting to Snape.

"SHUT UP!" Snape told him, he was obviously trying to sound as intimidating as Sirius, but as his voice was nowhere near as deep it didn't have quite the same effect.

"When I've finished," Sirius replied coolly. "Let me see, I've done the house, the 'friends' or" he corrected himself, "The lack of friends, the hair, the looks, the fact that you never have and never will get laid, and well............we all know about the family,"

In truth he didn't know anything about Snape's family but he wanted to see the effect of it on him.

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Snape repeated, now very pale (even for him) and shaking with rage.

"For now. But don't worry, I'll be back," Sirius turned around to leave, before pausing.

"Don't even think about it!" he snarled before turning around and sending a freezing spell at Snape, who had his arm raised, ready to curse Sirius's back. He would have walked away, without sending any more curses at Snivellus; if Snape hadn't cursed him first.

A long gash appeared in the side in the side of his face.

"I thought you'd be a bit more original than that," Sirius said, feeling the blood trickle through his fingers.

"Now we should go," Isabelle whispered to Lily. Running out, they grabbed an arm each and tried to drag their friend back to the Gryffindor table. A few years ago, Lily would have stepped in to defend Snape. But during the incident after the OWLs she had sworn that she wouldn't bother helping him again. And she had held true to her word.

"Leave it Sirius,"

"You're going to listen to a dirty little mudblood, Black?"

"I'm dirty?" Lily asked in amazement. She stood for a moment comparing her freshly washed hair and flawless skin with the sight in front of her. He was covered in scabby spots and his hair, as usual, was slicked down on his head. "This coming from something that has never touched water in its life?"

"Unless he was drowning someone in it," Sirius added.

"Well, yeah,"

"Well, you would know more about killing someone than I would Black," Snape smirked. Sirius's eyes narrowed, but fortunately Lily and Isabelle didn't seem to notice.

Catching everyone by surprise, Sirius threw a punch, and judging by the blood and the snap, succeeding in breaking Snape's nose.

"Muggle duelling?" Snape asked trying to staunch the blood that was pouring down his face. "Mixing with a mudblood and now muggle duelling? Your mother would be so proud,"

"Well, I'm sure Regulus will kiss her arse better for her," Sirius replied coolly. Beside him, Isabelle was remaining her usual cool self, but Lily was fuming. Snape dared to think that he was better than her.

"Leave it Sirius, lets just go," they said, and pulled him back.

"Listen to the mudblood," Snape taunted as they left.

"That's it!" Lily decided, she turned around and slapped Snape hard. The blood from his nose sprayed around as his head wrenched around.

"See you in class, Snivellus" she said pleasantly, as she turned and walked arm-in-arm with Sirius back to the Hall. Even Sirius looked mildly impressed.

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Lily joined Sirius in detention that night. Neither of them mentioned what would happen next. It was as though a few insults and a punch was the end of it. But Lily knew the Marauders too well to believe that.

The attack on James had sparked a new level of hate between the Slytherins and the Gryffindors. None of them was safe in the corridors and the teachers began to dread the lessons they had with both the houses together.

"You should have seen it, his face was covered in blood!" Lily told James. She had always thought that people who bothered talking to unconscious people were wasting their time. But she found to her surprise that talking to James was making her feel better, even though he couldn't answer her.

"They'll get him back for you, all of them. But, I guess, you already knew that didn't you?" she said smiling slightly.

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Thank you for reading! Sorry it's taken me so long but the next chapter should be out by tomorrow.

Love Leo