Chapter 8: Paying the Piper
Sitting in the row behind Lily and her friends, the Marauders noticed the Slytherins' odd behavior as well. Clearly the Slytherins were expecting something to happen, but what exactly it was was anyone's guess. However, the direction of their gazes made it crystal clear that it involved the Gryffindor girls who had had a run-in with Bellatrix on Halloween.
James' eyes met Sirius' in mutual understanding. They wouldn't let anything happen to the girls in their house. The Slytherins would have to go through the Marauders to touch Lily, Morwenna, Alice, Kathleen, and Dorcas.
Across the room, Seth Wilkes caught Evan Rosier's eye and nodded: the Marauders were playing and everything would proceed as planned. Rosier's hand slipped unobtrusively into the pocket of his robes as he returned Wilkes' nod.
* * *
Professor Colander began her lecture on the proper preparation of today's potion, and Bellatrix's eyes broke away from Lily's as she gave every appearance of paying close attention. But her mouth curled up at the corners as though she couldn't quite hide her glee. Shaken to the core, Lily took a deep, calming breath.
Noticing Lily's shaking, Morwenna nudged her. "Lily? Are you all right? You're white as a sheet."
"Morwenna," Lily hissed frantically under her breath, "Morwenna, I think Bellatrix Black is planning to do something to me, maybe to all of us." Alice looked around as she heard Lily's words, alarmed.
"We'll leave as soon as class is over and walk with Sirius and Remus and James and Frank," Morwenna said, obviously frightened but trying to hide it.
"She's right, Lily, that's the best thing to do. We'll just have to lie low until class is over. I'll tell Dorcas and Kathleen," Alice whispered and immediately turned to Dorcas on her right.
Professor Colander frowned slightly in their direction, but persevered with her instructions. On the last day of class before the holidays the student invariably became rather restless.
The class dispersed to collect their ingredients and began making their potions without any unusual incidents. But everyone was aware of the change in the atmosphere. Even the Marauders seemed less obnoxious than usual, Lily noticed.
About halfway through the class, a loud explosion and the telltale odor of a Dungbomb filled the room, potion splattering through the air.
"WHAT is the meaning of this?" Professor Colander demanded, hands on hips before Evan Rosier's cauldron.
"It was Sirius Black and James Potter, Professor," Rosier said indignantly. "And Lupin and Pettigrew helped them."
"Like hell it was!" Sirius burst out angrily before he had time to think. Professor Colander rounded on him angrily.
"Excuse me, Mr. Black?" she huffed angrily, her face going slightly red.
"Honestly, Professor, it's complete bollocks!" James jumped in. "We did no such thing." He looked round at Peter, Remus, and Frank, who all began speaking at once.
"Truly, Professor, they didn't do it, I was sitting right there -"
"Rosier's lying, they never -"
" He's just trying to get Sirius and James in trouble -"
"Enough!" Professor Colander exclaimed, her anger of moments ago now bordering on fury. "Rosier, is there anyone else who saw Potter and Black throw this Dungbomb?" Morgaine DuBose raised her hand.
"We all did, Professor," she said sweetly. The rest of the Slytherins present nodded their heads in silent agreement.
"They didn't see anything because we didn't do it!" Sirius said earnestly.
"Mr. Black," Professor Colander sighed. "All of these students saw you throw that Dungbomb and given yours and Mr. Potter's past behavior in this class, I am willing to trust their word. I want you, Mr. Potter, Mr. Lupin, and Mr. Pettigrew to report to Professor McGonagall's office immediately. As your Head of House, she will decide your punishment."
"That's completely unfair, Professor!" Frank Longbottom exclaimed. "You can't just believe them over us, how do you know they're not lying?"
"You may join your classmates in Professor McGonagall's office, Mr. Longbottom!" Professor Colander snapped, her patience finally giving way. "Now get out of my classroom immediately, all of you!"
James and the others gathered their things together, he, Sirius and Frank muttering under their breath. James glanced at Lily out of the corner of his eye just before he left the room. But she wasn't looking at him; she actually looked rather ill, as though she was thinking of something that made her feel sick.
As soon as the class had settled back into making their potions, Morwenna leaned over to Lily. "That must've been what the Slytheirns were so on about," Morwenna sounded relieved. "Guess we needn't have worried after all," Alice looked a bit doubtful about this, but Lily was completely unconvinced. Whatever Bellatrix was waiting for hadn't even begun yet.
* * *
Lily sat nervously in her chair, fidgeting about and checking her wristwatch every few seconds. Would this class never end?
Finally it was time to clear up and go home. Lily worked as quickly as possible. The Slytherins seemed to be taking their time, smirks curling their mouths as they watched the Gryffindor girls hurry. Lily gritted her teeth and willed herself to keep hurrying. This was no time for her stupid pride to be tripping her up.
Finally they were ready to go, but as Alice lifted her bag, it split open at the seams, spilling books, ink, and quills every which way. She began to scramble frantically to gather it up, the others helping her. "Please wait for me," Alice pleaded under her breath. "Please." Lily nodded wordlessly, as did the others. They couldn't leave Alice on her own when they still didn't know what was coming, especially as Lily was fairly certain that one of the Slytherins had split Alice's bag deliberately.
"Turn the lights off on your way out, won't you, dears?" Professor Colander called over her shoulder as she exited the classroom.
"Professor! Wait!" Dorcas called as the door clicked shut. She and Kathleen went over to it and, opening it a crack, peered out into the hallway.
"None of them are out there," Kathleen reported, relief obvious in her voice. "The coast is clear, the hall is deserted."
Morwennna breathed a sigh of relief and grinned at Kathleen, but Dorcas, Alice, and Lily exchanged glances. Where had the Slytherins gone and why was nobody in the hall?
They finished with Alice's bag, Kathleen opened the door, and the girls filed into the hall, their footsteps echoing on the stone tiles as they hurried toward the staircase. It was eerily quiet.
A door opened several feet down the corridor and Bellatrix Black stepped out, a maniacal grin on her face. "Hello, Mudblood," she cooed. "Still want to play with me?"
Lily didn't answer but turned swiftly and began to stride in the opposite direction, the others following her lead. But they came to an abrupt halt before they had gotten far.
The corridor behind them was filled with Slytherins, their wands drawn, blocking the way out. Lily swung again toward Bellatrix and found that the way to the staircase behind her had been barricaded with another gang of Slytherins, Rodolphus Lestrange at their head. They had appeared there so quickly it seemed they had used some form of magic. Lily and the others turned again, but they were effectively trapped.
"The time has come, Evans," Bellatrix laughed behind them, her gaiety at a fever pitch by now. "Didn't I tell you that you'd have to pay the piper?"
* * *
In McGonagall's office, things were not going well. Sirius kept insisting hotly that they hadn't done anything, and McGonagall continued to lecture them on their immaturity and selfishness at disturbing an entire classroom simply for their own amusement. Too anxious to take this calmly, James fidgeted in his chair until he couldn't take it anymore.
"Professor!" he burst out. "We're very sorry that we threw that Dungbomb and caused a disruption. We all deserve a weeks' worth of detentions for it in fact. Again, I'm really sorry and I swear I won't do it again. Sirius swears too. Now may we please be excused?"
Sirius, Remus, Peter and Frank gaped at him, mouths hanging open. Professor McGonagall looked rather shocked herself. "I suppose you may, Mr. Potter," she said abruptly, recovering herself and looking at him suspiciously through narrowed eyes. "But I shall be expecting all of you in this room at seven o'clock every night for a week as soon as you return from your holidays."
James practically ran from the room, barely stopping to thank the professor again, and didn't stop until he'd reached the Great Hall, hoping to see Lily and her friends eating dinner. They weren't there. "Where do you s'pose they'd be?" Sirius asked, coming up behind James.
"I don't know about the others," Frank said slowly, checking his watch, "but Alice was supposed to have met me in the entryway to the Great Hall at ten after four. It's twenty after now, and Alice is never late." "It was a setup," James said suddenly. The others looked round at him. "Rosier planted that Dungbomb in his cauldron and framed us for it to get us out of the way so they could have their revenge without having to worry about anyone coming to help Alice and the others. They're still in the dungeons." With that, James sprinted off toward the staircase, Sirius close on his heels. Frank, Remus, and Peter followed as well, still a bit shocked by James' statement.
James' mind was working as furiously as his feet as he ran faster than he had ever run before. He was furious at himself for not having seen it sooner. He had been neatly dealt with and now Bellatrix and Lestrange and Merlin knew who else could do whatever they wanted to Lily and the others without worrying about reinforcements.
A fury such as he had never felt filled James to the brim. How dare anyone even think of hurting Lily? He would curse them into next week, would hex them so hard that the bastards' ancestors would feel it. Nobody was going to hurt Lily Evans while he could do something about it.
Now if only he could get there in time.
* * *
Lily turned once more to face Bellatrix, her spine stiff, the tilt of her head proud. Bellatrix's eyes were dancing with her insanity. It was positively bone chilling to watch.
Before Lily could so much as draw her wand, Bellatrix cried out: "Iaculo!"
And Lily was hurtling across the corridor at a dizzying speed, mind racing, wondering what was best to do, until her body landed with a sickening crunch against the opposite wall. Bellatrix cackled wildly, gleefully, the sound bouncing off the walls as Lily had done only moments before.
Alice started toward Bellatrix with a cry, wand drawn, but Lestrange sent her spinning into Kathleen instead, the pair of them landing a few feet from Lily. Dorcas and Morwenna hastened to help Lily up, but before they could get to her, Rosier had levitated Dorcas high in the air, spinning her about at an incredible rate, and Claudia Heston had jerked Morwenna back by her hair, grinning viciously as Morgaine prepared to hex her.
In too much pain to do anything beyond make a faint noise of protest and a feeble attempt at getting up, Lily was aware of one thing:
The battle had begun.
* * *
Snape didn't care one bit for his housemates' cowardly ambush tactics.
They hadn't even given any of them the chance to draw their wands, to prepare for the inevitable. Snape knew Lily Evans and the others well, had observed them countless times as he did everyone he shared his classes with, and allowing them the one little dignity of drawing their wands would have made no difference in the end for one simple reason:
None of them would have used it.
Each of them had their reasons: Lily Evans was too compassionate, Alice Prewett too good-hearted, Dorcas Meadows too slow to act, Kathleen Kirkpatrick too easily intimidated, and Morwenna Marchbanks too insecure in her own abilities. But that one little allowance would have made the whole thing slightly more palatable, in Snape's mind.
Nothing could be done for it now, and he needed to act soon because he knew, in spite of everything that was going on, Lestrange was watching him.
No matter the humiliation he himself may have suffered, Snape could not enjoy this cowardly trap his housemates had set. It wasn't honorable, and it was utterly pointless in the end.
Nevertheless, Snape drew his wand and joined the fray. Whatever hell his conscience might make him pay, it was secondary to the hell that he would suffer at Voldemort's hands.
* * *
Before Lily could shake herself out of the stupor her painful landing had caused, she was being hauled to her feet. Expecting to see one of her friends, she recoiled as she looked up into Bellatrix Black's febrile eyes.
"Did the poor ickle Mudblood fall down?" Bellatrix taunted. "Let's help her up then. Legereo!"
And Lily was spinning round and round in the air, absolutely helpless to move any of her limbs, to scream for help or at Bellatrix, or to draw her wand.
"Oy! Bellatrix!" Wilkes called from where he was watching Rosier torment Kathleen, "Let's see the Mudblood's knickers then!"
Suddenly Lily was somersaulting through the air as well as spinning, giving the hallway glimpses of what was under her skirt.
"Lily!" Alice shrieked from where Lestrange's latest curse had thrown her. "Put her down, Black!"
"As you wish," Bellatrix sang. "Adfligo!"
Lily plummeted to the floor, the Slytherins roaring with laughter as she hit the stone with a smack.
Without breaking stride, Bellatrix hurled Lily into the wall again. "Are you ready to promise to get the hell out of our school and our world before you contaminate it with your dirty blood, or do you need some more convincing?" Bellatrix sneered, lifting her wand again. "If you promise to leave Hogwarts and never come back and ask me to stop, I will," Bellatrix cajoled, sounding like a witch in a Muggle fairytale. "All you have to do is ask."
Lily appeared to consider this offer, then murmured something indistinct. "What was that, ickle Mudblood?" Bellatrix leaned closer.
"I said: Go. To. Hell," Lily enunciated coolly. With a shriek, Bellatrix hurled Lily up into the air and dropped her even more viciously. Lily could hear someone sobbing somewhere in the room. She tried to sit up but lay back, dazed.
"Ask and ye shall receive," Bellatrix sing-songed. "All you have to do is say it," she paused, distracted at the noise further down the corridor where several of the Slytherins had gone flying.
Hoping that one of her fellow Gryffindors had managed to get help or fight back, Lily seized the opportunity. She forced herself to her feet and hobbled as quickly as her body would allow her to towards one of the empty classrooms.
Noticing Evans' flight, Snape reacted quickly. "Stupefy!" he bellowed, pointing his wand at Lily, who immediately fell to the ground, immobile. Bellatrix rushed over, her fury evident.
"Can't have that, now can we, Mudblood?" Bellatrix spat. "Let's see how well your dignity holds up under the true test." Belatrix raised her wand, relishing what she was about to do.
"Crucio!"
Lily closed her eyes, preparing herself. But just as Bellatrix uttered that dangerous incantation, the unexpected happened.
"Expelliarmus!" Someone behind Bellatrix shouted. Bellatrix's wand flew from her grasp. Enraged, Bellatrix spun around to reveal..James Potter?
"Give it here, Potter," Bellatrix hissed. "Unless you want to play too."
James raised his wand menacingly; he was so furious he could hardly think straight. He had arrived just in time to see Snivellus Stun Lily. Thank Merlin Bellatrix hadn't had time to perform the Cruciatus Curse on her. Before he was aware of doing it, he had hurtled Bellatrix into the air as she had done to Lily and was spinning her about. Lestrange, who had been watching Bellatrix's antics with Lily from a distance, advanced on him menacingly.
"Wouldn't try it, Lestrange, not unless you want to see your girlfriend spattered on the stone," James warned. Lestrange stepped back, fury in his face.
James let Bellatrix drop anyway. She fell with a bloodcurdling shriek that echoed through the hall.
Snape had seen enough. Spinning on his heel, he started down the hallway.
"Not so fast, Snivellus!" James flicked his wand and Snape went sprawling on the floor. "How does it feel to be the helpless ones for a change?" James asked Snape, Bellatrix, and Lestrange, his voice shaking with anger. "How does it feel to know that I could do anything I like to you and you wouldn't be able to do a damned thing about it? Answer me!"
James levitated Lestrange as well. He had them spinning again, both of them, and let them drop one at a time.
"James!" Remus exclaimed. "What in hell do you think you're doing? Peter's gone to get help, Let Dumbledore deal with that lot."
"They can't get away with this!" James shouted. He hurtled Lestrange and Bellatrix, back into the air and spun them, then dropped them again. They WOULDN'T get away with this.
"Stop it! Just stop it, Potter! Put them down!"
James stopped, turning to face Lily, leaving Bellatrix and Lestrange suspended in the air. Lily had raised herself to a crouching position, and the look of contempt in her beautiful green eyes made James faintly sick.
"Lily.I mean Evans," James tried to explain. "How can you want them to get some joke of a detention from Dumbledore after what they did to you? They deserve to suffer for what they did."
"You really don't get it, do you Potter?" The contempt and pity in Lily's voice was almost too much for James to bear. "You really don't understand it at all. What you're doing to them is exactly what they did to me and you're doing it for the same reason, for revenge," Lily paused, on the verge of tears. James started toward her, but Lily moved away.
Don't you get it?" Lily said again, her voice rising, her contempt even more apparent. "That makes you exactly the same as they are, you've lowered yourself to their level," she paused to take a breath, shuddering. "You're no different from them, Potter. You're no better than they are."
James felt nauseous. Little spots danced before his eyes, and he felt as though the bottom had dropped out of his world.
A commotion at the end of the corridor signaled the arrival of the teachers. No one had ever seen Dumbledore so furious. He strode down the corridor towards them, McGonagall and Peter following in his wake, taking in Lily crumpled on the floor, James' destroyed expression, Snape's inscrutable one and the two Slytherins suspended in the air. He swept forward until he came to a stop in front of Lily.
"Are you all right, my dear?" he asked Lily gently.
James slowly lowered Lestrange and Bellatrix to the ground, too stunned and sick to look at anyone. Lily's words, and the look in her eyes as she said them, would stay with him forever.
He didn't know if he could stand that, he really didn't.
* * *
Author's Note: Well, there it is, Bellatrix' revenge. Please review and tell me what you thought. The next chapter will be up soon, still plenty more to come. As always, thanks to those of you who did review, especially maggie, smol, Tropic of Scorpio, and James Potter09.
Sitting in the row behind Lily and her friends, the Marauders noticed the Slytherins' odd behavior as well. Clearly the Slytherins were expecting something to happen, but what exactly it was was anyone's guess. However, the direction of their gazes made it crystal clear that it involved the Gryffindor girls who had had a run-in with Bellatrix on Halloween.
James' eyes met Sirius' in mutual understanding. They wouldn't let anything happen to the girls in their house. The Slytherins would have to go through the Marauders to touch Lily, Morwenna, Alice, Kathleen, and Dorcas.
Across the room, Seth Wilkes caught Evan Rosier's eye and nodded: the Marauders were playing and everything would proceed as planned. Rosier's hand slipped unobtrusively into the pocket of his robes as he returned Wilkes' nod.
* * *
Professor Colander began her lecture on the proper preparation of today's potion, and Bellatrix's eyes broke away from Lily's as she gave every appearance of paying close attention. But her mouth curled up at the corners as though she couldn't quite hide her glee. Shaken to the core, Lily took a deep, calming breath.
Noticing Lily's shaking, Morwenna nudged her. "Lily? Are you all right? You're white as a sheet."
"Morwenna," Lily hissed frantically under her breath, "Morwenna, I think Bellatrix Black is planning to do something to me, maybe to all of us." Alice looked around as she heard Lily's words, alarmed.
"We'll leave as soon as class is over and walk with Sirius and Remus and James and Frank," Morwenna said, obviously frightened but trying to hide it.
"She's right, Lily, that's the best thing to do. We'll just have to lie low until class is over. I'll tell Dorcas and Kathleen," Alice whispered and immediately turned to Dorcas on her right.
Professor Colander frowned slightly in their direction, but persevered with her instructions. On the last day of class before the holidays the student invariably became rather restless.
The class dispersed to collect their ingredients and began making their potions without any unusual incidents. But everyone was aware of the change in the atmosphere. Even the Marauders seemed less obnoxious than usual, Lily noticed.
About halfway through the class, a loud explosion and the telltale odor of a Dungbomb filled the room, potion splattering through the air.
"WHAT is the meaning of this?" Professor Colander demanded, hands on hips before Evan Rosier's cauldron.
"It was Sirius Black and James Potter, Professor," Rosier said indignantly. "And Lupin and Pettigrew helped them."
"Like hell it was!" Sirius burst out angrily before he had time to think. Professor Colander rounded on him angrily.
"Excuse me, Mr. Black?" she huffed angrily, her face going slightly red.
"Honestly, Professor, it's complete bollocks!" James jumped in. "We did no such thing." He looked round at Peter, Remus, and Frank, who all began speaking at once.
"Truly, Professor, they didn't do it, I was sitting right there -"
"Rosier's lying, they never -"
" He's just trying to get Sirius and James in trouble -"
"Enough!" Professor Colander exclaimed, her anger of moments ago now bordering on fury. "Rosier, is there anyone else who saw Potter and Black throw this Dungbomb?" Morgaine DuBose raised her hand.
"We all did, Professor," she said sweetly. The rest of the Slytherins present nodded their heads in silent agreement.
"They didn't see anything because we didn't do it!" Sirius said earnestly.
"Mr. Black," Professor Colander sighed. "All of these students saw you throw that Dungbomb and given yours and Mr. Potter's past behavior in this class, I am willing to trust their word. I want you, Mr. Potter, Mr. Lupin, and Mr. Pettigrew to report to Professor McGonagall's office immediately. As your Head of House, she will decide your punishment."
"That's completely unfair, Professor!" Frank Longbottom exclaimed. "You can't just believe them over us, how do you know they're not lying?"
"You may join your classmates in Professor McGonagall's office, Mr. Longbottom!" Professor Colander snapped, her patience finally giving way. "Now get out of my classroom immediately, all of you!"
James and the others gathered their things together, he, Sirius and Frank muttering under their breath. James glanced at Lily out of the corner of his eye just before he left the room. But she wasn't looking at him; she actually looked rather ill, as though she was thinking of something that made her feel sick.
As soon as the class had settled back into making their potions, Morwenna leaned over to Lily. "That must've been what the Slytheirns were so on about," Morwenna sounded relieved. "Guess we needn't have worried after all," Alice looked a bit doubtful about this, but Lily was completely unconvinced. Whatever Bellatrix was waiting for hadn't even begun yet.
* * *
Lily sat nervously in her chair, fidgeting about and checking her wristwatch every few seconds. Would this class never end?
Finally it was time to clear up and go home. Lily worked as quickly as possible. The Slytherins seemed to be taking their time, smirks curling their mouths as they watched the Gryffindor girls hurry. Lily gritted her teeth and willed herself to keep hurrying. This was no time for her stupid pride to be tripping her up.
Finally they were ready to go, but as Alice lifted her bag, it split open at the seams, spilling books, ink, and quills every which way. She began to scramble frantically to gather it up, the others helping her. "Please wait for me," Alice pleaded under her breath. "Please." Lily nodded wordlessly, as did the others. They couldn't leave Alice on her own when they still didn't know what was coming, especially as Lily was fairly certain that one of the Slytherins had split Alice's bag deliberately.
"Turn the lights off on your way out, won't you, dears?" Professor Colander called over her shoulder as she exited the classroom.
"Professor! Wait!" Dorcas called as the door clicked shut. She and Kathleen went over to it and, opening it a crack, peered out into the hallway.
"None of them are out there," Kathleen reported, relief obvious in her voice. "The coast is clear, the hall is deserted."
Morwennna breathed a sigh of relief and grinned at Kathleen, but Dorcas, Alice, and Lily exchanged glances. Where had the Slytherins gone and why was nobody in the hall?
They finished with Alice's bag, Kathleen opened the door, and the girls filed into the hall, their footsteps echoing on the stone tiles as they hurried toward the staircase. It was eerily quiet.
A door opened several feet down the corridor and Bellatrix Black stepped out, a maniacal grin on her face. "Hello, Mudblood," she cooed. "Still want to play with me?"
Lily didn't answer but turned swiftly and began to stride in the opposite direction, the others following her lead. But they came to an abrupt halt before they had gotten far.
The corridor behind them was filled with Slytherins, their wands drawn, blocking the way out. Lily swung again toward Bellatrix and found that the way to the staircase behind her had been barricaded with another gang of Slytherins, Rodolphus Lestrange at their head. They had appeared there so quickly it seemed they had used some form of magic. Lily and the others turned again, but they were effectively trapped.
"The time has come, Evans," Bellatrix laughed behind them, her gaiety at a fever pitch by now. "Didn't I tell you that you'd have to pay the piper?"
* * *
In McGonagall's office, things were not going well. Sirius kept insisting hotly that they hadn't done anything, and McGonagall continued to lecture them on their immaturity and selfishness at disturbing an entire classroom simply for their own amusement. Too anxious to take this calmly, James fidgeted in his chair until he couldn't take it anymore.
"Professor!" he burst out. "We're very sorry that we threw that Dungbomb and caused a disruption. We all deserve a weeks' worth of detentions for it in fact. Again, I'm really sorry and I swear I won't do it again. Sirius swears too. Now may we please be excused?"
Sirius, Remus, Peter and Frank gaped at him, mouths hanging open. Professor McGonagall looked rather shocked herself. "I suppose you may, Mr. Potter," she said abruptly, recovering herself and looking at him suspiciously through narrowed eyes. "But I shall be expecting all of you in this room at seven o'clock every night for a week as soon as you return from your holidays."
James practically ran from the room, barely stopping to thank the professor again, and didn't stop until he'd reached the Great Hall, hoping to see Lily and her friends eating dinner. They weren't there. "Where do you s'pose they'd be?" Sirius asked, coming up behind James.
"I don't know about the others," Frank said slowly, checking his watch, "but Alice was supposed to have met me in the entryway to the Great Hall at ten after four. It's twenty after now, and Alice is never late." "It was a setup," James said suddenly. The others looked round at him. "Rosier planted that Dungbomb in his cauldron and framed us for it to get us out of the way so they could have their revenge without having to worry about anyone coming to help Alice and the others. They're still in the dungeons." With that, James sprinted off toward the staircase, Sirius close on his heels. Frank, Remus, and Peter followed as well, still a bit shocked by James' statement.
James' mind was working as furiously as his feet as he ran faster than he had ever run before. He was furious at himself for not having seen it sooner. He had been neatly dealt with and now Bellatrix and Lestrange and Merlin knew who else could do whatever they wanted to Lily and the others without worrying about reinforcements.
A fury such as he had never felt filled James to the brim. How dare anyone even think of hurting Lily? He would curse them into next week, would hex them so hard that the bastards' ancestors would feel it. Nobody was going to hurt Lily Evans while he could do something about it.
Now if only he could get there in time.
* * *
Lily turned once more to face Bellatrix, her spine stiff, the tilt of her head proud. Bellatrix's eyes were dancing with her insanity. It was positively bone chilling to watch.
Before Lily could so much as draw her wand, Bellatrix cried out: "Iaculo!"
And Lily was hurtling across the corridor at a dizzying speed, mind racing, wondering what was best to do, until her body landed with a sickening crunch against the opposite wall. Bellatrix cackled wildly, gleefully, the sound bouncing off the walls as Lily had done only moments before.
Alice started toward Bellatrix with a cry, wand drawn, but Lestrange sent her spinning into Kathleen instead, the pair of them landing a few feet from Lily. Dorcas and Morwenna hastened to help Lily up, but before they could get to her, Rosier had levitated Dorcas high in the air, spinning her about at an incredible rate, and Claudia Heston had jerked Morwenna back by her hair, grinning viciously as Morgaine prepared to hex her.
In too much pain to do anything beyond make a faint noise of protest and a feeble attempt at getting up, Lily was aware of one thing:
The battle had begun.
* * *
Snape didn't care one bit for his housemates' cowardly ambush tactics.
They hadn't even given any of them the chance to draw their wands, to prepare for the inevitable. Snape knew Lily Evans and the others well, had observed them countless times as he did everyone he shared his classes with, and allowing them the one little dignity of drawing their wands would have made no difference in the end for one simple reason:
None of them would have used it.
Each of them had their reasons: Lily Evans was too compassionate, Alice Prewett too good-hearted, Dorcas Meadows too slow to act, Kathleen Kirkpatrick too easily intimidated, and Morwenna Marchbanks too insecure in her own abilities. But that one little allowance would have made the whole thing slightly more palatable, in Snape's mind.
Nothing could be done for it now, and he needed to act soon because he knew, in spite of everything that was going on, Lestrange was watching him.
No matter the humiliation he himself may have suffered, Snape could not enjoy this cowardly trap his housemates had set. It wasn't honorable, and it was utterly pointless in the end.
Nevertheless, Snape drew his wand and joined the fray. Whatever hell his conscience might make him pay, it was secondary to the hell that he would suffer at Voldemort's hands.
* * *
Before Lily could shake herself out of the stupor her painful landing had caused, she was being hauled to her feet. Expecting to see one of her friends, she recoiled as she looked up into Bellatrix Black's febrile eyes.
"Did the poor ickle Mudblood fall down?" Bellatrix taunted. "Let's help her up then. Legereo!"
And Lily was spinning round and round in the air, absolutely helpless to move any of her limbs, to scream for help or at Bellatrix, or to draw her wand.
"Oy! Bellatrix!" Wilkes called from where he was watching Rosier torment Kathleen, "Let's see the Mudblood's knickers then!"
Suddenly Lily was somersaulting through the air as well as spinning, giving the hallway glimpses of what was under her skirt.
"Lily!" Alice shrieked from where Lestrange's latest curse had thrown her. "Put her down, Black!"
"As you wish," Bellatrix sang. "Adfligo!"
Lily plummeted to the floor, the Slytherins roaring with laughter as she hit the stone with a smack.
Without breaking stride, Bellatrix hurled Lily into the wall again. "Are you ready to promise to get the hell out of our school and our world before you contaminate it with your dirty blood, or do you need some more convincing?" Bellatrix sneered, lifting her wand again. "If you promise to leave Hogwarts and never come back and ask me to stop, I will," Bellatrix cajoled, sounding like a witch in a Muggle fairytale. "All you have to do is ask."
Lily appeared to consider this offer, then murmured something indistinct. "What was that, ickle Mudblood?" Bellatrix leaned closer.
"I said: Go. To. Hell," Lily enunciated coolly. With a shriek, Bellatrix hurled Lily up into the air and dropped her even more viciously. Lily could hear someone sobbing somewhere in the room. She tried to sit up but lay back, dazed.
"Ask and ye shall receive," Bellatrix sing-songed. "All you have to do is say it," she paused, distracted at the noise further down the corridor where several of the Slytherins had gone flying.
Hoping that one of her fellow Gryffindors had managed to get help or fight back, Lily seized the opportunity. She forced herself to her feet and hobbled as quickly as her body would allow her to towards one of the empty classrooms.
Noticing Evans' flight, Snape reacted quickly. "Stupefy!" he bellowed, pointing his wand at Lily, who immediately fell to the ground, immobile. Bellatrix rushed over, her fury evident.
"Can't have that, now can we, Mudblood?" Bellatrix spat. "Let's see how well your dignity holds up under the true test." Belatrix raised her wand, relishing what she was about to do.
"Crucio!"
Lily closed her eyes, preparing herself. But just as Bellatrix uttered that dangerous incantation, the unexpected happened.
"Expelliarmus!" Someone behind Bellatrix shouted. Bellatrix's wand flew from her grasp. Enraged, Bellatrix spun around to reveal..James Potter?
"Give it here, Potter," Bellatrix hissed. "Unless you want to play too."
James raised his wand menacingly; he was so furious he could hardly think straight. He had arrived just in time to see Snivellus Stun Lily. Thank Merlin Bellatrix hadn't had time to perform the Cruciatus Curse on her. Before he was aware of doing it, he had hurtled Bellatrix into the air as she had done to Lily and was spinning her about. Lestrange, who had been watching Bellatrix's antics with Lily from a distance, advanced on him menacingly.
"Wouldn't try it, Lestrange, not unless you want to see your girlfriend spattered on the stone," James warned. Lestrange stepped back, fury in his face.
James let Bellatrix drop anyway. She fell with a bloodcurdling shriek that echoed through the hall.
Snape had seen enough. Spinning on his heel, he started down the hallway.
"Not so fast, Snivellus!" James flicked his wand and Snape went sprawling on the floor. "How does it feel to be the helpless ones for a change?" James asked Snape, Bellatrix, and Lestrange, his voice shaking with anger. "How does it feel to know that I could do anything I like to you and you wouldn't be able to do a damned thing about it? Answer me!"
James levitated Lestrange as well. He had them spinning again, both of them, and let them drop one at a time.
"James!" Remus exclaimed. "What in hell do you think you're doing? Peter's gone to get help, Let Dumbledore deal with that lot."
"They can't get away with this!" James shouted. He hurtled Lestrange and Bellatrix, back into the air and spun them, then dropped them again. They WOULDN'T get away with this.
"Stop it! Just stop it, Potter! Put them down!"
James stopped, turning to face Lily, leaving Bellatrix and Lestrange suspended in the air. Lily had raised herself to a crouching position, and the look of contempt in her beautiful green eyes made James faintly sick.
"Lily.I mean Evans," James tried to explain. "How can you want them to get some joke of a detention from Dumbledore after what they did to you? They deserve to suffer for what they did."
"You really don't get it, do you Potter?" The contempt and pity in Lily's voice was almost too much for James to bear. "You really don't understand it at all. What you're doing to them is exactly what they did to me and you're doing it for the same reason, for revenge," Lily paused, on the verge of tears. James started toward her, but Lily moved away.
Don't you get it?" Lily said again, her voice rising, her contempt even more apparent. "That makes you exactly the same as they are, you've lowered yourself to their level," she paused to take a breath, shuddering. "You're no different from them, Potter. You're no better than they are."
James felt nauseous. Little spots danced before his eyes, and he felt as though the bottom had dropped out of his world.
A commotion at the end of the corridor signaled the arrival of the teachers. No one had ever seen Dumbledore so furious. He strode down the corridor towards them, McGonagall and Peter following in his wake, taking in Lily crumpled on the floor, James' destroyed expression, Snape's inscrutable one and the two Slytherins suspended in the air. He swept forward until he came to a stop in front of Lily.
"Are you all right, my dear?" he asked Lily gently.
James slowly lowered Lestrange and Bellatrix to the ground, too stunned and sick to look at anyone. Lily's words, and the look in her eyes as she said them, would stay with him forever.
He didn't know if he could stand that, he really didn't.
* * *
Author's Note: Well, there it is, Bellatrix' revenge. Please review and tell me what you thought. The next chapter will be up soon, still plenty more to come. As always, thanks to those of you who did review, especially maggie, smol, Tropic of Scorpio, and James Potter09.