Chapter 36 Secrets Part II
"Oy! Sirius! I don't see them, they must have – OUCH!"
"Shhh! Shut it, you git! Do you want to wake them up?"
"They're not here, that's what I was trying to tell you!"
"Not NOW they're not, they heard YOU making enough noise to wake the dead and had plenty of time to get away!"
"Don't lay into Wormtail, Padfoot, it's not like it matters anyway; they aren't here."
Lily and James, still curled together under the invisibility cloak, woke to the familiar sounds of Sirius and Peter arguing over how to best embarrass them while Remus mediated and were forced to smother their laughter when they realized that for once they had gotten the upper hand.
"You were wrong," a familiar but completely unexpected voice called to someone out of Lily and James' line of sight, "they aren't in the common room again."
"Oh, bugger," Alice sighed in response to Morwenna's observation, "I thought for sure that we'd catch them this time." Lily stiffened in indignation as she realized that two of her closest friends had come to embarrass her and her boyfriend. So much for solidarity among witches, it seemed. She'd bloody well remember this.
"Where are they, then?" Kathleen added her voice.
"Maybe they finally got creative," Dorcas piped up smarmily. Make that all four of Lily's closest friends.
After a few minutes of discussion, the seventh years, minus Lily and James, of course, set out for breakfast, all of them a bit disappointed not to be able to take the mickey out of their friends for spending yet another night in the common room. As soon as they were sure the coast was clear, James threw off the invisibility cloak and he and Lily glanced at each other in mutual indignation.
"Our friends are a bunch of perverts!" James exclaimed irately.
"I don't know why we're so surprised, after the way they were last time" Lily huffed.
"You slip up and spend the night in the common room one time and you're branded for life," James shook his head.
Of course, Lily and James' anger might have been a bit more convincing had they not just spent another night in the common room together and if they could have stopped grinning ridiculously as they expressed their outrage.
Now that the coast was undoubtedly clear, James and Lily, after a lengthy good bye that bordered on the absurd after the amount of time they had just spent together, dashed up to their respective dormitories to change their clothes for the Hogsmeade trip. They had agreed to meet in front of the library so that it would appear to their friends that they'd come from doing some very virtuous early morning studying instead of from spending a night squashed in an armchair in the common room.
Lily dashed toward the library a scant ten minutes later, arriving at the entrance out of breath. James hadn't arrived yet, so Lily took the opportunity to stretch her cramped muscles as discreetly as possible. Even though she had cricks in her back and neck, sore muscles in places she hadn't known existed, and had had only four hours of sleep, Lily couldn't remember ever feeling better in her life. She loved James and he loved her, and nothing would be able to ruin that for them.
James arrived a few seconds later, out of breath and grinning euphorically at Lily. "Have you seen them yet?" he asked, still trying to catch his breath.
As if on cue, Sirius' voice echoed down the hall behind them. "Overslept again, eh, James?"
"Overslept?" James inquired smoothly, his tone innocently perplexed. "Why do you say that? James wrinkled his forehead for good measure.
"We were just in the library," Lily added, admiring James' acting skills.
Sirius quirked a brow. "Kinky."
Lily and James exchanged puzzled glances, trying to refrain from giggling, and James was just about to make a retort when the rest of the seventh years, Peter and Kathleen in the lead, hurried over to add to Sirius' teasing.
Even though their friends questioned them unmercifully about their whereabouts last night, Lily and James refused to admit anything, claiming to have gone to bed late last night and gotten up early to study in the library before going to Hogsmeade. Thoroughly disgusted with Lily and James' besotted grins at each other and disappointed not to have caught them being randy, their fellow seventh years were finally forced, more or less, to capitulate.
The resentment didn't last long, however, once they, minus Remus, who was in the hospital wing for tonight's full moon, and Kathleen, who had stayed with him, reached Hogsmeade. Sirius, Morwenna, Alice, Peter, Frank, and Dorcas were determined not to let Lily and James sneak off, so they all wandered the streets of Hogsmeade together, making the usual stops at Honeyduke's, Zonko's and Dervish and Bange's, constantly teasing Lily and James about their newfound state of nauseating happiness.
The ground was still covered with what would probably be the last major snowfall of the year, and Sirius and James declared a snowball fight in the yard behind The Three Broomsticks. Eventually everyone agreed to play, some more reluctantly than others, and the two teams, boy versus girls, began to construct snow forts at opposite ends of the field.
Sirius, James, Peter, and Frank had a clear lead for most of the game, all of them more than willing, especially James and Sirius, to fight dirty and make raids into the girls' fort to bombard them with snow.
Sick of losing and more than a bit cold from all of the melted snow that was rapidly soaking into their clothes, Alice, Lily, Morwenna, and Dorcas huddled together to form a plan.
Unanimously deciding that Peter was their most likely victim, they waited until Peter made his way into their fort again, ready to pummel them with snow, to carry out their plan. As Peter began throwing the snow, Alice pretended to have been hit in the face and burst into very realistic tears, burying her face in her hands.
"Ow! Ow! I think I'm blind! I can't see! Is anyone there?!" Alice wailed theatrically, rubbing her eyes.
"I didn't mean to! I'm sorry, Alice!" Peter was frantic and obviously at a complete loss as to what he should do. Uncertainly, he approached the sobbing Alice, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Oh Merlin, Alice, are you all right?" Peter had never been so relieved in his life as he was when Alice slowly began to raise her head, still crying a bit.
His relief was short-lived; Alice unburied her face and shouted: "Now!" very forcefully for someone who had been wailing about snow blindness only seconds before. But before Peter's brain could register this, he was being trussed up and gagged by the other three girls, who had taken the opportunity to sneak up on him, brandishing their Gryffindor scarves.
Alice and Morwenna pushed Peter ahead of them out of their fort, careful to stay behind him in case any snowballs flew their way.
"Come out with your hands raised!" Alice shouted, surprisingly competent in a hostage situation for someone who seemed so sweet and unassuming. "Or the little bloke gets it!" she pushed Peter, gagged with Morwenna's house scarf, as she made the threat.
"He's expendable! Do whatever you want to – OUCH!" Sirius glared at James, rubbing his ribs resentfully.
"We're coming out now," James called over the fort. He, Frank, and a grumbling Sirius made their way to the front of the fort, their hands raised, - and Dorcas and Lily instantly torpedoed them with snowballs.
Alice and Morwenna ran to join the fray, leaving Peter bound and gagged in their fort.
"Give it up, boys!" Alice exclaimed as she stuffed snow down the front of Frank's robes.
"We surrender! We surrender!" Sirius cried, trying to prevent Morwenna and Dorcas from feeding him a snowball.
Just put the snow down!" James pleaded, grinning at Lily as she held a snowball over his head with every intention of grinding it into his hair.
Satisfied, Morwenna, Alice, Lily, and Dorcas dropped their snow and headed for The Three Broomsticks. "Losers buy drinks!" Dorcas called over her shoulder as they went, leaving the somewhat subdued Gryffindor wizards to untie their fallen comrade and scramble after them.
* * *
Unlike the vast majority of his fellow students, Severus Snape had opted not to go on the Hogsmeade outing. Thoroughly exhausted after his unequivocally dreadful week, Snape was taking advantage of the quiet to fine-tune his potion brewing skills, a practice he always found to be both relaxing and rewarding.
Directly after breakfast, Snape gathered his supplies and barricaded himself in his usual study room in the Slytherin dungeons, and after spending much of his day concocting various draughts, Snape finally felt himself beginning to unwind.
He was just cleaning up in anticipation of dinner when a scratching noise outside his door caught his attention. Curious, Snape opened the door a crack and felt the color drain from his face when he saw who, or more accurately what, it was.
A certain eagle owl Snape was more than familiar with was perched on a torch facing the doorway, an imperious expression on its face. When it saw Snape, the owl abandoned its vantage point and swooped toward him, extending its leg so that Snape could remove its burden. Accepting the roll of parchment, Snape nodded curtly at the owl and willed his expression to remain impassive as he watched it glide back to its post to await his response. Only then did Snape slam the study room door shut and sink into a chair to read the parchment.
The message was short and to the point, naming only a location and time, tomorrow at midnight.
Shaken, Snape automatically reached for a piece of parchment and quill and penned a reply for the owl. Once the owl had swooped down the corridor with his response, Snape locked the door again, his hands clenched with his fear.
This summons meant one thing: the Dark Lord knew about Snape's betrayal and was summoning him to his own execution. There were no warnings or second chances in Voldemort's ranks, not for anyone, let alone someone of Snape's lowly status.
Lily Evans had told, Snape realized, fury overtaking him. The Mudblood had been unable to keep her mouth shut and her misplaced ethics would cost Snape his life. How, Snape railed at himself, could he have been so witless as to trust a Mudblood when he knew what they were?
Pacing the room frantically, Snape tried to get a hold on himself and his rage and view his situation rationally. He was going to die tomorrow at midnight at Voldemort's hands. Death was the penalty for betraying the Dark Lord, it had always been the penalty and Snape was willing to accept it.
But before he did, Snape vowed, he would keep his promise to Lily Evans. There were penalties for betraying him as well.
His decision made, Snape picked up his quill again to write a summons of his own.
* * *
Tired and chilled after their day in Hogsmeade and take-no-prisoners snowball fight, the Gryffindor seventh years returned to Hogwarts just in time for dinner, most of which was spent filling Kathleen in on Hogsmeade and the outcome of the snowball fight, which Kathleen was deeply sorry to have missed.
Immediately after dinner, which they ate in record time, the three Marauders made hasty excuses and hurried out of the Great Hall, to the puzzlement of everyone except Lily and Kathleen. The remaining Gryffindors made their way back to Gryffindor Tower for an Exploding Snap tournament.
Round seven, a school owl dropped a letter into Lily's lap, which very nearly set her hand on fire. Once she'd put her cards a safe distance away, Lily turned her attention to the letter. Only her name was written on the front, in spidery handwriting that she didn't recognize. Frowning slightly, Lily tore it open.
"Evans –"it read:
"Greenhouse 4, 9 pm tonight.
"S.S"
"Who's it from, Lils?" Alice asked, noting Lily frown.
"Er – "Lily tried to recover her composure "- it's from Marlene. She – er – wrote it really fast or something and it's a bit hard to read. I'm going to go to the library and see if I can make it out."
"All right," Alice replied hesitantly, not convinced. She seemed to be about to ask another question, but just then a rather large explosion from across the table claimed her attention. Relieved, Lily bid her friends a hasty farewell and hurried up the dormitory stairs, smuggled her cloak into her bag, and slipped out the portrait hole.
Lily killed time in the library till it was time to slip out of the castle to meet Snape and reached the greenhouse in record time. Heart pounding, Lily scanned the burnt remains of Greenhouse 4 for any signs of movement.
"Evans," a familiar voice whispered behind her, making Lily jump. But before Snape could say anything more, both stiffened as they heard footsteps crunching on the walkway and the murmur of voices coming toward the greenhouse. Snape and Lily peered out and saw Professor Sprout and Hagrid coming toward them, deep in discussion about rebuilding plans for the greenhouse.
Cursing under his breath, Snape seized Lily's arm and led her quickly toward the Forbidden Forest.
* * *
The Marauders had decided to devote this month's full moon to the exploration of the Forbidden Forest; they had just been prowling through the forset's center in search of the acromantulas that supposedly resided there. Their search having been unsuccessful, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs were heading back toward the school to decide on a new plan.
Wormtail was a good bit ahead, as usual, leaving the larger animals to herd Moony, when the crash of underbrush alerted Wormtail to the approach of what his heightened senses told him were people. Curious as to who from Hogwarts was in the Forbidden Forest at this time of night, Wormtail scampered in the direction of the noise, his senses alert.
Snape and Lily rounded a corner and came into Wormtail's line of sight, Snape retaining his vicelike grip on Lily's arm.
Shocked at the sight in front of him, Wormtail let out a loud, high- pitched squeal to alert Padfoot and Prongs and backed into the underbrush out of sight to wait and listen.
* * *
Lily shivered as she heard an animal emit a shrill squeal; she didn't want to think about its probable fate. The sound also made Lil aware of her own dangerous situation as Snape finally stopped a little way into the forest and turned to face her. Suddenly angry, Lily jerked her arm from Snape's grasp.
"What in the bloody hell do you think you're about?" Lily demanded, rubbing her arm furiously.
"Who did you tell?" Snape hissed menacingly, advancing on Lily as though she were his prey.
"What are you talking about?" Lily added confusion to her fury.
"You know," Snape gritted out, visibly fighting for control of himself. "Who did you tell, Evans? Dumbledore? Your boyfriend? The enitre bloody Wizengamot? Who?!"
"I promised you that I wouldn't tell anyone and I didn't," Lily replied coolly. "Not even Dumbledore when he asked me." Realization dawning on her, Lily frowned slightly, her eyes sharpening on Snape. "Has something happened?"
"I remember what you promised me," Snape ignored Lily's question, his tone full of intent, "but do you remember what I promised you, Mudblood? I said that if the Death Eaters found out about my role in what happened that night they'd kill me, and before they did I'd kill you," Snape drew out his wand and leveled it at Lily's heart as he finished reminding her of his promise, his voice chilling in its calm.
All of a sudden, a stag came charging toward them, heading directly toward Snape. "Stupefy!" Snape bellowed, turning his wand on the animal. Another shrill squeal came from the underbrush as the stag hit the ground and somewhere in the distance, Lily and Snape could hear a dog barking. They moved away from the Stunned stag, not anxious to have to contend with it again on top of their more pressing problems.
"They know?" Lily asked Snape a few moments later. Her own wand was clutched tightly in her hand now and she was watching Snape warily, having had a chance to recover from her own surprise.
"Yes," Snape croaked, his face impassive. His wand was still in his hand, but to Lily's relief it was no longer pointed at her.
"Go to Dumbledore," Lily advised softly, feeling sorry for Snape in spite of everything. "He may be able to protect you if you tell him what's going on."
Snape shook his head slowly. "Dumbledore can't help me now," he said simply.
They regarded one another silently, neither of them knowing what to say to the other. Finally Snape fidgeted slightly. "It would be wise to return to the ccastle now," he offered stiffly.
"All right," Lily agreed, not knowing what else to say. Saying she was sorry seemed so inadequate and pointless; it wasn't as though she were the one planning to execute Snape. But she WAS sorry; Snape wasn't the most friendly or kindhearted of wizards, but he didn't deserve to die at Voldemort's hands for attempting to prevent mass murder. Deserving or not, there was absolutely nothing Lily could do to help him, and she was even more sorry for that.
Wordlessly, Lily and Snape turned and made their way back to the castle.
* * *
A few minutes later, Prongs regained consciousness, shaking his antlered head against the pain his fall had caused him. The dog and rat standing over him reminded Prongs of what had happened, and he climbed to his feet and made for the Shrieking Shack as quickly as he could, Padfoot and Wormtail close on his heels.
Padfoot and Prongs had been escorting Moony back toward the Shack, Wormtail up ahead , when Wormtail had shrieked, indicating danger. Wordlessly, Padfoot had begun herding Moony toward the Shack as quickly as he could while Prongs set out to rescue Wormtail.
As he'd approached the clearing, Prongs saw the reason for Wormtail's alarm; Lil had been in that clearing with Snape, of all people. Alarmed and confused, Prongs had listened to Snape's frenzied accusations and Lily's stoic replies until Snape had reiterated his promise and trained his wand on Lily. Reacting in fear and fury, Prongs had charged Snape with every intention of killing him until Snape had turned his wand on Prongs instead.
Making sure that Moony was secure in the shack, Prongs, Padfoot, and Wormtail stood just outside and transformed into their human shapes.
"Where's Lily?" James demanded as soon as he was coherent. "What did that bastard do to her?"
"She's all right, mate," Sirius reassured him. "We followed them all the way back to the castle."
James rounded on Peter. "Tell me everything you heard," he demanded.
Several minutes later, James, Peter, and Sirius silently digested Peter's story, none of them at all sure what to make of it.
"So – what do we do now?" Peter hesitantly broke the silence.
"Now we find Lily and get some answers, then we find Snape and hex the shit out of him," James replied, starting for the castle.
"And what about Moony?" Sirius drawled. "We leave him in there to suffer by himself, do we? That's right sweet of us."
James and Peter both turned and gaped at him. "Lily in league with Snape and Padfoot the voice of reason? Hell has officially frozen over," Peter declared.
"Well, somebody's got to be the sensible one when Moony's not about to do it and Prongs over here is too besotted to think straight," Sirius defended himself.
"And Lily is NOT in league with Snape," James added hotly. "In case you've forgotten, he was about to kill her!"
"But he didn't," Sirius retorted, "and he won't exactly have an easy time of it now he's back in the castle. Lily's safe for right now; I say we wait out the full moon, calm down, talk to Moony, and THEN go and kill Snape when we have a rational plan of action."
"Padfoot just said 'wait,' 'calm down,' and 'rational' all in the same breath!" Peter squeaked, clearly disturbed. "Something is definitely not right here!"
"Will you just put a bloody cork in it before you wet yourself and get your bloody priorities straight?" Sirius snapped, sounding much more like himself to Peter's ears.
In no mood to listen to his mates' bickering and acknowledging that Sirius was right in spite of himself, James reluctantly transformed and made his way back to the Shrieking Shack to wait out the full moon, feeling more miserable than he could ever remember feeling in his entire life.
* * *
Despite being out for most of the night, James was up and in the common room before seven, unable to stay in bed any longer for fear of missing Lily.
After talking to Remus in the wee hours of the morning, they had all agreed that James should talk to Lily first to make sure they had a legitimate reason to kill Snape. James would explain that he'd overheard Lily and Snape in the forest, but he would reveal how exactly he'd overheard them only if necessary.
James had a long wait; Lily didn't appear in the common room till one in the afternoon, having, according to her roommates, been asleep all that time. Intensely relieved at the sight of her, James bounded over to Lily and pulled her into a crushing hug before holding her at arm's length to inspect her for any sign of injury.
Lily was pale and tired-looking despite her supposed long sleep, with bruise-like circles under her eyes, but she smiled at the sight of James and endured his odd behavior tolerantly, apparently very happy to see him as well.
"Hi," James finally said exuberantly, grinning madly at Lily.
"Hi," Lily returned, her smile a bit more restrained, bit seeming genuinely happy to see James nevertheless.
Taking a deep breath to ask her about last night, James heard himself saying: "Are you hungry?"
"No, I'm in a bit of a hurry, actually," Lily replied evasively. She's stayed up all night worrying over Snape and had decided that she had to do something. Dumbledore was the wisest, most powerful wizard alive, or so everyone said and so Lily believed; it seemed impossible that he couldn't help Snape in some way. So Lily had decided to go and see Dumbledore today and tell him everything she knew.
Recalled to her mission, Lily refused to be distracted, gorgeous boyfriend or no gorgeous boyfriend. James caught her hand as she turned to go. "Wait," he said desperately, his heart in his throat, "I need to talk to you about something. It can't wait."
Puzzled, Lily turned back to James. "What is it?" she asked curiously, smiling at him uncertainly.
Glancing over his shoulder, James led Lily through the nearly deserted common room and into a secluded corner. Then he looked Lily in the eye and blurted: "I saw you talking to Snape last night."
"What?" Whatever Lily had been expecting, it certainly wasn't that. "But you couldn't have," she said more slowly, "there wasn't anyone else there."
"It isn't important," James waved the question aside. "Lily, you have to tell me, why is Snape threatening you?"
"He isn't threatening me," Lily sighed. "Not really."
"Yes he is!" James exploded, astounded that Lily would protect Snape. "I heard him! He pointed his wand at you and said that he'd kill you before the Death Eaters killed him!"
"How could you possibly know all of this?" Lily demanded.
"That isn't important right now!" James exclaimed, raking his hand through his hair in extreme frustration. Fighting for control over the panic rising in him, James took a deep breath and said in a more even tone: "Just tell me what hold that bastard has on you and I swear to you that he'll never bother you again."
"What Snape and I were discussing is between us," Lily said stiffly, not meeting James' eyes. She and Snape were already in danger because of their involvement in thwarting the Death Eaters; she refused to out anyone else in danger, especially not James, who she loved more than anything.
"But he threatened to kill you!" James' desperation had returned in full force.
"How do you know that?' Lily repeated, her suspicion growing. "Were you spying on me?" she half-whispered, hurt.
"Of course not," James said impatiently.
"Then how did you hear and see all of this?"
"I can't tell you." James wasn't meeting Lily's eyes anymore
"Why not?" Lily pressed.
James expelled a breath that he hadn't known he was holding. "Because it isn't my secret to tell." Unable to stop himself, James asked again: "But that really isn't what's important right now. What does Snape want from you?"
"I can't tell you," Lily maintained resolutely.
"Sure you can," James unleashed his most charming grin, his most persuasive tone. "You can tell me anything."
"It isn't my secret to tell," Lily was resolutely ignoring the butterflies that invaded her stomach whenever James smiled at her that way.
"Is it his secret?" James, irrationally jealous and desperately afraid for Lily, refused to be deterred.
"Does it matter?"
"I know what Snape is, Lily! Hurting him would mean less than nothing to him and I refuse to let that happen!"
Touched by James' concern, Lily said in a softer tone: "Please just trust me; I'll tell you what I can, when I can. But not now."
"I DO trust you, it's him you've got to look out for," James replied earnestly. "What kind of secret could he ask you to keep from me and Dumbledore and the entire bloody Wizengamot? A Dark secret!"
Lily shook her head. "You're wrong."
"You're the one who's wrong to trust Snape!" James exploded, losing his patience. "He's fascinated by the Dark Arts! That slimy little git is always sticking his nose where it doesn't belong and this time it's finally going to come back to haunt him!"
Lily visibly blanched at James' unfortunate choice of words, the irony of it hitting her almost physically. "I've got to go," she mumbled frantically, crossing to the portrait hole faster than she ever had in her life.
"Lily!" James called desperately, starting after her. "Wait!"
But nefore he could catch up, the portrait hole shut behind Lily with a resounding bang.
* * *
Furious with himself for handling his confrontation with Lily so poorly and even more furious with Snape for threatening her, James collected the invisibility cloak and Marauder's Map, and, without waiting for his fellow Marauders or for any logic to penetrate his brain, James set out for the Slytherin common room to make Snape pay.
Once inside the Slytherin common room, it didn't take James long to track Snape to one of the study rooms on the second floor. Disarming the locking charm, James threw open the door and with a flick of his wand, blasted Snape unceremoniously into the wall.
Before Snape had time to recover himself, James was there, hauling her off the ground by the front of his robes.
"Potter," Snape spat, short of breath. "To what do I owe the intrusion?"
"If I EVER," James spoke in a deliberate, soft tone, "catch you threatening, talking to, or even looking at my girlfriend ever again, it will be the last thing you do."
"Subtlety never was your style," Snape sneered, his face pale due to the loss of blood flow to the head from James' grip, "and it doesn't suit you now. Don't pretend Evans hasn't told you all about our disastrous little conspiracy, Potter. I know she sold me out." Snape's lip curled as he formed the words; he hated himself for not being able to kill the Mudblood as he'd wanted to.
"I don't know what sick Dark secret you're forcing Lily to keep for you," James' face was pale now too; the stunned look on his face after hearing Snape's words almost made it all worth it for Snape, "but I promise you that I'll make you regret it. You have me to deal with now, Snivellus, and if you think you'll get another opportunity to use or threaten Lily, think again." James threw Snape against the wall and stood over him, every line of his body telling Snape that he meant exactly what he said.
Despite James' threats and the considerable pain in his throat and his impending execution, Snape's lips curled into a smile of triumph. The Mudblood had kept her word in one area at least; she hadn't told the one person Snape had thought for sure she had betrayed him to. Potter really didn't know; for once, Snape had the upper hand and he relished it.
A fresh wave of fury washed over James when he saw Snape's smile. "On second thought, why should I wait for next time when I can make you sorry now?" James snarled, moving toward Snape menacingly.
Snape pulled himself to his feet, his own hatred coming to the fore now. "Shall we take this into the corridor, Potter?" he seethed.
James gave Snape a lopsided, arrogant smirk. "With pleasure."
* * *
James circled Snape slowly, not daring to look away for a second. They'd been duelling in earnest for about ten minutes now, and neither of them was showing signs of weakening. They were evenly matched in an odd way; Snape used Dark spells that James had no knowledge of without hesitation, and James' superior reflexes and resourcefulness as well as his own magical talents made him an evenly matched competitor.
"Romprio!" Snape bellowed suddenly, gesturing at James with his wand, and James felt himself hurtling toward the wall with sickening speed.
"Lentia!" James cried, slowing his body just before he hit the wall. Safely on his feet again, he took his turn at casting a spell, hitting Snape squarely with a Jelly Legs Jinx.
"Snape! Potter!" an angry voice barked from behind James. "What in Merlin's name are the pair of you doing?!"
James turned slowly to regard Professor Astral as the professor strode past him to help Snape with his Jelly Legs.
"Well?" Astral demanded impatiently, looking from one to the other when neither of them started to explain.
Snape and James remained silent; all three of them were perfectly aware of what James and Snape had been doing; there was no need to incriminate themselves further.
Astral sighed, fed up. "Headmaster's office, NOW. Both of you." With that, Astral turned and strode down the corridor, leaving James and Snape to follow in his wake.
They waited outside while Astral spoke to Dumbledore, neither of them speaking, unable to guarantee their self control if they did.
The rumble of stone on stone filled the silence as the gargoyle statue revealed the staircase and Professor Astral once more.
"The Headmaster wants to see you separately," Astral announced, his mouth tight with anger. "Potter, you first."
Oddly relieved that Dumbledore was now involved, one way or the other, James moved past Astral and Snape and stepped onto the stairway, as he had so many times before in his Hogwarts career.
Stepping off the starircase and taking a deep breath, James knocked on the door of Dumbledore's office
* * *
Author's Note:
Hi, everyone! Even though I'm sure some of you were wondering, I did not fall off the face of the earth or suddenly contract amnesia and forget I was writing this story. I can't believe it's been so long since I've updated, but it feels good to be writing again. Thanks to all of you for being so supportive of me and this story, even with the sporadic updates.
Also, my sincerest apologies for the cliffhanger; I'm too exhausted to write anymore right now and this chapter ran long anyway. But I'll try to have the next chapter out as soon as I can.
As always, thanks to everyone who reviewed. Hope you enjoy!
"Oy! Sirius! I don't see them, they must have – OUCH!"
"Shhh! Shut it, you git! Do you want to wake them up?"
"They're not here, that's what I was trying to tell you!"
"Not NOW they're not, they heard YOU making enough noise to wake the dead and had plenty of time to get away!"
"Don't lay into Wormtail, Padfoot, it's not like it matters anyway; they aren't here."
Lily and James, still curled together under the invisibility cloak, woke to the familiar sounds of Sirius and Peter arguing over how to best embarrass them while Remus mediated and were forced to smother their laughter when they realized that for once they had gotten the upper hand.
"You were wrong," a familiar but completely unexpected voice called to someone out of Lily and James' line of sight, "they aren't in the common room again."
"Oh, bugger," Alice sighed in response to Morwenna's observation, "I thought for sure that we'd catch them this time." Lily stiffened in indignation as she realized that two of her closest friends had come to embarrass her and her boyfriend. So much for solidarity among witches, it seemed. She'd bloody well remember this.
"Where are they, then?" Kathleen added her voice.
"Maybe they finally got creative," Dorcas piped up smarmily. Make that all four of Lily's closest friends.
After a few minutes of discussion, the seventh years, minus Lily and James, of course, set out for breakfast, all of them a bit disappointed not to be able to take the mickey out of their friends for spending yet another night in the common room. As soon as they were sure the coast was clear, James threw off the invisibility cloak and he and Lily glanced at each other in mutual indignation.
"Our friends are a bunch of perverts!" James exclaimed irately.
"I don't know why we're so surprised, after the way they were last time" Lily huffed.
"You slip up and spend the night in the common room one time and you're branded for life," James shook his head.
Of course, Lily and James' anger might have been a bit more convincing had they not just spent another night in the common room together and if they could have stopped grinning ridiculously as they expressed their outrage.
Now that the coast was undoubtedly clear, James and Lily, after a lengthy good bye that bordered on the absurd after the amount of time they had just spent together, dashed up to their respective dormitories to change their clothes for the Hogsmeade trip. They had agreed to meet in front of the library so that it would appear to their friends that they'd come from doing some very virtuous early morning studying instead of from spending a night squashed in an armchair in the common room.
Lily dashed toward the library a scant ten minutes later, arriving at the entrance out of breath. James hadn't arrived yet, so Lily took the opportunity to stretch her cramped muscles as discreetly as possible. Even though she had cricks in her back and neck, sore muscles in places she hadn't known existed, and had had only four hours of sleep, Lily couldn't remember ever feeling better in her life. She loved James and he loved her, and nothing would be able to ruin that for them.
James arrived a few seconds later, out of breath and grinning euphorically at Lily. "Have you seen them yet?" he asked, still trying to catch his breath.
As if on cue, Sirius' voice echoed down the hall behind them. "Overslept again, eh, James?"
"Overslept?" James inquired smoothly, his tone innocently perplexed. "Why do you say that? James wrinkled his forehead for good measure.
"We were just in the library," Lily added, admiring James' acting skills.
Sirius quirked a brow. "Kinky."
Lily and James exchanged puzzled glances, trying to refrain from giggling, and James was just about to make a retort when the rest of the seventh years, Peter and Kathleen in the lead, hurried over to add to Sirius' teasing.
Even though their friends questioned them unmercifully about their whereabouts last night, Lily and James refused to admit anything, claiming to have gone to bed late last night and gotten up early to study in the library before going to Hogsmeade. Thoroughly disgusted with Lily and James' besotted grins at each other and disappointed not to have caught them being randy, their fellow seventh years were finally forced, more or less, to capitulate.
The resentment didn't last long, however, once they, minus Remus, who was in the hospital wing for tonight's full moon, and Kathleen, who had stayed with him, reached Hogsmeade. Sirius, Morwenna, Alice, Peter, Frank, and Dorcas were determined not to let Lily and James sneak off, so they all wandered the streets of Hogsmeade together, making the usual stops at Honeyduke's, Zonko's and Dervish and Bange's, constantly teasing Lily and James about their newfound state of nauseating happiness.
The ground was still covered with what would probably be the last major snowfall of the year, and Sirius and James declared a snowball fight in the yard behind The Three Broomsticks. Eventually everyone agreed to play, some more reluctantly than others, and the two teams, boy versus girls, began to construct snow forts at opposite ends of the field.
Sirius, James, Peter, and Frank had a clear lead for most of the game, all of them more than willing, especially James and Sirius, to fight dirty and make raids into the girls' fort to bombard them with snow.
Sick of losing and more than a bit cold from all of the melted snow that was rapidly soaking into their clothes, Alice, Lily, Morwenna, and Dorcas huddled together to form a plan.
Unanimously deciding that Peter was their most likely victim, they waited until Peter made his way into their fort again, ready to pummel them with snow, to carry out their plan. As Peter began throwing the snow, Alice pretended to have been hit in the face and burst into very realistic tears, burying her face in her hands.
"Ow! Ow! I think I'm blind! I can't see! Is anyone there?!" Alice wailed theatrically, rubbing her eyes.
"I didn't mean to! I'm sorry, Alice!" Peter was frantic and obviously at a complete loss as to what he should do. Uncertainly, he approached the sobbing Alice, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Oh Merlin, Alice, are you all right?" Peter had never been so relieved in his life as he was when Alice slowly began to raise her head, still crying a bit.
His relief was short-lived; Alice unburied her face and shouted: "Now!" very forcefully for someone who had been wailing about snow blindness only seconds before. But before Peter's brain could register this, he was being trussed up and gagged by the other three girls, who had taken the opportunity to sneak up on him, brandishing their Gryffindor scarves.
Alice and Morwenna pushed Peter ahead of them out of their fort, careful to stay behind him in case any snowballs flew their way.
"Come out with your hands raised!" Alice shouted, surprisingly competent in a hostage situation for someone who seemed so sweet and unassuming. "Or the little bloke gets it!" she pushed Peter, gagged with Morwenna's house scarf, as she made the threat.
"He's expendable! Do whatever you want to – OUCH!" Sirius glared at James, rubbing his ribs resentfully.
"We're coming out now," James called over the fort. He, Frank, and a grumbling Sirius made their way to the front of the fort, their hands raised, - and Dorcas and Lily instantly torpedoed them with snowballs.
Alice and Morwenna ran to join the fray, leaving Peter bound and gagged in their fort.
"Give it up, boys!" Alice exclaimed as she stuffed snow down the front of Frank's robes.
"We surrender! We surrender!" Sirius cried, trying to prevent Morwenna and Dorcas from feeding him a snowball.
Just put the snow down!" James pleaded, grinning at Lily as she held a snowball over his head with every intention of grinding it into his hair.
Satisfied, Morwenna, Alice, Lily, and Dorcas dropped their snow and headed for The Three Broomsticks. "Losers buy drinks!" Dorcas called over her shoulder as they went, leaving the somewhat subdued Gryffindor wizards to untie their fallen comrade and scramble after them.
* * *
Unlike the vast majority of his fellow students, Severus Snape had opted not to go on the Hogsmeade outing. Thoroughly exhausted after his unequivocally dreadful week, Snape was taking advantage of the quiet to fine-tune his potion brewing skills, a practice he always found to be both relaxing and rewarding.
Directly after breakfast, Snape gathered his supplies and barricaded himself in his usual study room in the Slytherin dungeons, and after spending much of his day concocting various draughts, Snape finally felt himself beginning to unwind.
He was just cleaning up in anticipation of dinner when a scratching noise outside his door caught his attention. Curious, Snape opened the door a crack and felt the color drain from his face when he saw who, or more accurately what, it was.
A certain eagle owl Snape was more than familiar with was perched on a torch facing the doorway, an imperious expression on its face. When it saw Snape, the owl abandoned its vantage point and swooped toward him, extending its leg so that Snape could remove its burden. Accepting the roll of parchment, Snape nodded curtly at the owl and willed his expression to remain impassive as he watched it glide back to its post to await his response. Only then did Snape slam the study room door shut and sink into a chair to read the parchment.
The message was short and to the point, naming only a location and time, tomorrow at midnight.
Shaken, Snape automatically reached for a piece of parchment and quill and penned a reply for the owl. Once the owl had swooped down the corridor with his response, Snape locked the door again, his hands clenched with his fear.
This summons meant one thing: the Dark Lord knew about Snape's betrayal and was summoning him to his own execution. There were no warnings or second chances in Voldemort's ranks, not for anyone, let alone someone of Snape's lowly status.
Lily Evans had told, Snape realized, fury overtaking him. The Mudblood had been unable to keep her mouth shut and her misplaced ethics would cost Snape his life. How, Snape railed at himself, could he have been so witless as to trust a Mudblood when he knew what they were?
Pacing the room frantically, Snape tried to get a hold on himself and his rage and view his situation rationally. He was going to die tomorrow at midnight at Voldemort's hands. Death was the penalty for betraying the Dark Lord, it had always been the penalty and Snape was willing to accept it.
But before he did, Snape vowed, he would keep his promise to Lily Evans. There were penalties for betraying him as well.
His decision made, Snape picked up his quill again to write a summons of his own.
* * *
Tired and chilled after their day in Hogsmeade and take-no-prisoners snowball fight, the Gryffindor seventh years returned to Hogwarts just in time for dinner, most of which was spent filling Kathleen in on Hogsmeade and the outcome of the snowball fight, which Kathleen was deeply sorry to have missed.
Immediately after dinner, which they ate in record time, the three Marauders made hasty excuses and hurried out of the Great Hall, to the puzzlement of everyone except Lily and Kathleen. The remaining Gryffindors made their way back to Gryffindor Tower for an Exploding Snap tournament.
Round seven, a school owl dropped a letter into Lily's lap, which very nearly set her hand on fire. Once she'd put her cards a safe distance away, Lily turned her attention to the letter. Only her name was written on the front, in spidery handwriting that she didn't recognize. Frowning slightly, Lily tore it open.
"Evans –"it read:
"Greenhouse 4, 9 pm tonight.
"S.S"
"Who's it from, Lils?" Alice asked, noting Lily frown.
"Er – "Lily tried to recover her composure "- it's from Marlene. She – er – wrote it really fast or something and it's a bit hard to read. I'm going to go to the library and see if I can make it out."
"All right," Alice replied hesitantly, not convinced. She seemed to be about to ask another question, but just then a rather large explosion from across the table claimed her attention. Relieved, Lily bid her friends a hasty farewell and hurried up the dormitory stairs, smuggled her cloak into her bag, and slipped out the portrait hole.
Lily killed time in the library till it was time to slip out of the castle to meet Snape and reached the greenhouse in record time. Heart pounding, Lily scanned the burnt remains of Greenhouse 4 for any signs of movement.
"Evans," a familiar voice whispered behind her, making Lily jump. But before Snape could say anything more, both stiffened as they heard footsteps crunching on the walkway and the murmur of voices coming toward the greenhouse. Snape and Lily peered out and saw Professor Sprout and Hagrid coming toward them, deep in discussion about rebuilding plans for the greenhouse.
Cursing under his breath, Snape seized Lily's arm and led her quickly toward the Forbidden Forest.
* * *
The Marauders had decided to devote this month's full moon to the exploration of the Forbidden Forest; they had just been prowling through the forset's center in search of the acromantulas that supposedly resided there. Their search having been unsuccessful, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs were heading back toward the school to decide on a new plan.
Wormtail was a good bit ahead, as usual, leaving the larger animals to herd Moony, when the crash of underbrush alerted Wormtail to the approach of what his heightened senses told him were people. Curious as to who from Hogwarts was in the Forbidden Forest at this time of night, Wormtail scampered in the direction of the noise, his senses alert.
Snape and Lily rounded a corner and came into Wormtail's line of sight, Snape retaining his vicelike grip on Lily's arm.
Shocked at the sight in front of him, Wormtail let out a loud, high- pitched squeal to alert Padfoot and Prongs and backed into the underbrush out of sight to wait and listen.
* * *
Lily shivered as she heard an animal emit a shrill squeal; she didn't want to think about its probable fate. The sound also made Lil aware of her own dangerous situation as Snape finally stopped a little way into the forest and turned to face her. Suddenly angry, Lily jerked her arm from Snape's grasp.
"What in the bloody hell do you think you're about?" Lily demanded, rubbing her arm furiously.
"Who did you tell?" Snape hissed menacingly, advancing on Lily as though she were his prey.
"What are you talking about?" Lily added confusion to her fury.
"You know," Snape gritted out, visibly fighting for control of himself. "Who did you tell, Evans? Dumbledore? Your boyfriend? The enitre bloody Wizengamot? Who?!"
"I promised you that I wouldn't tell anyone and I didn't," Lily replied coolly. "Not even Dumbledore when he asked me." Realization dawning on her, Lily frowned slightly, her eyes sharpening on Snape. "Has something happened?"
"I remember what you promised me," Snape ignored Lily's question, his tone full of intent, "but do you remember what I promised you, Mudblood? I said that if the Death Eaters found out about my role in what happened that night they'd kill me, and before they did I'd kill you," Snape drew out his wand and leveled it at Lily's heart as he finished reminding her of his promise, his voice chilling in its calm.
All of a sudden, a stag came charging toward them, heading directly toward Snape. "Stupefy!" Snape bellowed, turning his wand on the animal. Another shrill squeal came from the underbrush as the stag hit the ground and somewhere in the distance, Lily and Snape could hear a dog barking. They moved away from the Stunned stag, not anxious to have to contend with it again on top of their more pressing problems.
"They know?" Lily asked Snape a few moments later. Her own wand was clutched tightly in her hand now and she was watching Snape warily, having had a chance to recover from her own surprise.
"Yes," Snape croaked, his face impassive. His wand was still in his hand, but to Lily's relief it was no longer pointed at her.
"Go to Dumbledore," Lily advised softly, feeling sorry for Snape in spite of everything. "He may be able to protect you if you tell him what's going on."
Snape shook his head slowly. "Dumbledore can't help me now," he said simply.
They regarded one another silently, neither of them knowing what to say to the other. Finally Snape fidgeted slightly. "It would be wise to return to the ccastle now," he offered stiffly.
"All right," Lily agreed, not knowing what else to say. Saying she was sorry seemed so inadequate and pointless; it wasn't as though she were the one planning to execute Snape. But she WAS sorry; Snape wasn't the most friendly or kindhearted of wizards, but he didn't deserve to die at Voldemort's hands for attempting to prevent mass murder. Deserving or not, there was absolutely nothing Lily could do to help him, and she was even more sorry for that.
Wordlessly, Lily and Snape turned and made their way back to the castle.
* * *
A few minutes later, Prongs regained consciousness, shaking his antlered head against the pain his fall had caused him. The dog and rat standing over him reminded Prongs of what had happened, and he climbed to his feet and made for the Shrieking Shack as quickly as he could, Padfoot and Wormtail close on his heels.
Padfoot and Prongs had been escorting Moony back toward the Shack, Wormtail up ahead , when Wormtail had shrieked, indicating danger. Wordlessly, Padfoot had begun herding Moony toward the Shack as quickly as he could while Prongs set out to rescue Wormtail.
As he'd approached the clearing, Prongs saw the reason for Wormtail's alarm; Lil had been in that clearing with Snape, of all people. Alarmed and confused, Prongs had listened to Snape's frenzied accusations and Lily's stoic replies until Snape had reiterated his promise and trained his wand on Lily. Reacting in fear and fury, Prongs had charged Snape with every intention of killing him until Snape had turned his wand on Prongs instead.
Making sure that Moony was secure in the shack, Prongs, Padfoot, and Wormtail stood just outside and transformed into their human shapes.
"Where's Lily?" James demanded as soon as he was coherent. "What did that bastard do to her?"
"She's all right, mate," Sirius reassured him. "We followed them all the way back to the castle."
James rounded on Peter. "Tell me everything you heard," he demanded.
Several minutes later, James, Peter, and Sirius silently digested Peter's story, none of them at all sure what to make of it.
"So – what do we do now?" Peter hesitantly broke the silence.
"Now we find Lily and get some answers, then we find Snape and hex the shit out of him," James replied, starting for the castle.
"And what about Moony?" Sirius drawled. "We leave him in there to suffer by himself, do we? That's right sweet of us."
James and Peter both turned and gaped at him. "Lily in league with Snape and Padfoot the voice of reason? Hell has officially frozen over," Peter declared.
"Well, somebody's got to be the sensible one when Moony's not about to do it and Prongs over here is too besotted to think straight," Sirius defended himself.
"And Lily is NOT in league with Snape," James added hotly. "In case you've forgotten, he was about to kill her!"
"But he didn't," Sirius retorted, "and he won't exactly have an easy time of it now he's back in the castle. Lily's safe for right now; I say we wait out the full moon, calm down, talk to Moony, and THEN go and kill Snape when we have a rational plan of action."
"Padfoot just said 'wait,' 'calm down,' and 'rational' all in the same breath!" Peter squeaked, clearly disturbed. "Something is definitely not right here!"
"Will you just put a bloody cork in it before you wet yourself and get your bloody priorities straight?" Sirius snapped, sounding much more like himself to Peter's ears.
In no mood to listen to his mates' bickering and acknowledging that Sirius was right in spite of himself, James reluctantly transformed and made his way back to the Shrieking Shack to wait out the full moon, feeling more miserable than he could ever remember feeling in his entire life.
* * *
Despite being out for most of the night, James was up and in the common room before seven, unable to stay in bed any longer for fear of missing Lily.
After talking to Remus in the wee hours of the morning, they had all agreed that James should talk to Lily first to make sure they had a legitimate reason to kill Snape. James would explain that he'd overheard Lily and Snape in the forest, but he would reveal how exactly he'd overheard them only if necessary.
James had a long wait; Lily didn't appear in the common room till one in the afternoon, having, according to her roommates, been asleep all that time. Intensely relieved at the sight of her, James bounded over to Lily and pulled her into a crushing hug before holding her at arm's length to inspect her for any sign of injury.
Lily was pale and tired-looking despite her supposed long sleep, with bruise-like circles under her eyes, but she smiled at the sight of James and endured his odd behavior tolerantly, apparently very happy to see him as well.
"Hi," James finally said exuberantly, grinning madly at Lily.
"Hi," Lily returned, her smile a bit more restrained, bit seeming genuinely happy to see James nevertheless.
Taking a deep breath to ask her about last night, James heard himself saying: "Are you hungry?"
"No, I'm in a bit of a hurry, actually," Lily replied evasively. She's stayed up all night worrying over Snape and had decided that she had to do something. Dumbledore was the wisest, most powerful wizard alive, or so everyone said and so Lily believed; it seemed impossible that he couldn't help Snape in some way. So Lily had decided to go and see Dumbledore today and tell him everything she knew.
Recalled to her mission, Lily refused to be distracted, gorgeous boyfriend or no gorgeous boyfriend. James caught her hand as she turned to go. "Wait," he said desperately, his heart in his throat, "I need to talk to you about something. It can't wait."
Puzzled, Lily turned back to James. "What is it?" she asked curiously, smiling at him uncertainly.
Glancing over his shoulder, James led Lily through the nearly deserted common room and into a secluded corner. Then he looked Lily in the eye and blurted: "I saw you talking to Snape last night."
"What?" Whatever Lily had been expecting, it certainly wasn't that. "But you couldn't have," she said more slowly, "there wasn't anyone else there."
"It isn't important," James waved the question aside. "Lily, you have to tell me, why is Snape threatening you?"
"He isn't threatening me," Lily sighed. "Not really."
"Yes he is!" James exploded, astounded that Lily would protect Snape. "I heard him! He pointed his wand at you and said that he'd kill you before the Death Eaters killed him!"
"How could you possibly know all of this?" Lily demanded.
"That isn't important right now!" James exclaimed, raking his hand through his hair in extreme frustration. Fighting for control over the panic rising in him, James took a deep breath and said in a more even tone: "Just tell me what hold that bastard has on you and I swear to you that he'll never bother you again."
"What Snape and I were discussing is between us," Lily said stiffly, not meeting James' eyes. She and Snape were already in danger because of their involvement in thwarting the Death Eaters; she refused to out anyone else in danger, especially not James, who she loved more than anything.
"But he threatened to kill you!" James' desperation had returned in full force.
"How do you know that?' Lily repeated, her suspicion growing. "Were you spying on me?" she half-whispered, hurt.
"Of course not," James said impatiently.
"Then how did you hear and see all of this?"
"I can't tell you." James wasn't meeting Lily's eyes anymore
"Why not?" Lily pressed.
James expelled a breath that he hadn't known he was holding. "Because it isn't my secret to tell." Unable to stop himself, James asked again: "But that really isn't what's important right now. What does Snape want from you?"
"I can't tell you," Lily maintained resolutely.
"Sure you can," James unleashed his most charming grin, his most persuasive tone. "You can tell me anything."
"It isn't my secret to tell," Lily was resolutely ignoring the butterflies that invaded her stomach whenever James smiled at her that way.
"Is it his secret?" James, irrationally jealous and desperately afraid for Lily, refused to be deterred.
"Does it matter?"
"I know what Snape is, Lily! Hurting him would mean less than nothing to him and I refuse to let that happen!"
Touched by James' concern, Lily said in a softer tone: "Please just trust me; I'll tell you what I can, when I can. But not now."
"I DO trust you, it's him you've got to look out for," James replied earnestly. "What kind of secret could he ask you to keep from me and Dumbledore and the entire bloody Wizengamot? A Dark secret!"
Lily shook her head. "You're wrong."
"You're the one who's wrong to trust Snape!" James exploded, losing his patience. "He's fascinated by the Dark Arts! That slimy little git is always sticking his nose where it doesn't belong and this time it's finally going to come back to haunt him!"
Lily visibly blanched at James' unfortunate choice of words, the irony of it hitting her almost physically. "I've got to go," she mumbled frantically, crossing to the portrait hole faster than she ever had in her life.
"Lily!" James called desperately, starting after her. "Wait!"
But nefore he could catch up, the portrait hole shut behind Lily with a resounding bang.
* * *
Furious with himself for handling his confrontation with Lily so poorly and even more furious with Snape for threatening her, James collected the invisibility cloak and Marauder's Map, and, without waiting for his fellow Marauders or for any logic to penetrate his brain, James set out for the Slytherin common room to make Snape pay.
Once inside the Slytherin common room, it didn't take James long to track Snape to one of the study rooms on the second floor. Disarming the locking charm, James threw open the door and with a flick of his wand, blasted Snape unceremoniously into the wall.
Before Snape had time to recover himself, James was there, hauling her off the ground by the front of his robes.
"Potter," Snape spat, short of breath. "To what do I owe the intrusion?"
"If I EVER," James spoke in a deliberate, soft tone, "catch you threatening, talking to, or even looking at my girlfriend ever again, it will be the last thing you do."
"Subtlety never was your style," Snape sneered, his face pale due to the loss of blood flow to the head from James' grip, "and it doesn't suit you now. Don't pretend Evans hasn't told you all about our disastrous little conspiracy, Potter. I know she sold me out." Snape's lip curled as he formed the words; he hated himself for not being able to kill the Mudblood as he'd wanted to.
"I don't know what sick Dark secret you're forcing Lily to keep for you," James' face was pale now too; the stunned look on his face after hearing Snape's words almost made it all worth it for Snape, "but I promise you that I'll make you regret it. You have me to deal with now, Snivellus, and if you think you'll get another opportunity to use or threaten Lily, think again." James threw Snape against the wall and stood over him, every line of his body telling Snape that he meant exactly what he said.
Despite James' threats and the considerable pain in his throat and his impending execution, Snape's lips curled into a smile of triumph. The Mudblood had kept her word in one area at least; she hadn't told the one person Snape had thought for sure she had betrayed him to. Potter really didn't know; for once, Snape had the upper hand and he relished it.
A fresh wave of fury washed over James when he saw Snape's smile. "On second thought, why should I wait for next time when I can make you sorry now?" James snarled, moving toward Snape menacingly.
Snape pulled himself to his feet, his own hatred coming to the fore now. "Shall we take this into the corridor, Potter?" he seethed.
James gave Snape a lopsided, arrogant smirk. "With pleasure."
* * *
James circled Snape slowly, not daring to look away for a second. They'd been duelling in earnest for about ten minutes now, and neither of them was showing signs of weakening. They were evenly matched in an odd way; Snape used Dark spells that James had no knowledge of without hesitation, and James' superior reflexes and resourcefulness as well as his own magical talents made him an evenly matched competitor.
"Romprio!" Snape bellowed suddenly, gesturing at James with his wand, and James felt himself hurtling toward the wall with sickening speed.
"Lentia!" James cried, slowing his body just before he hit the wall. Safely on his feet again, he took his turn at casting a spell, hitting Snape squarely with a Jelly Legs Jinx.
"Snape! Potter!" an angry voice barked from behind James. "What in Merlin's name are the pair of you doing?!"
James turned slowly to regard Professor Astral as the professor strode past him to help Snape with his Jelly Legs.
"Well?" Astral demanded impatiently, looking from one to the other when neither of them started to explain.
Snape and James remained silent; all three of them were perfectly aware of what James and Snape had been doing; there was no need to incriminate themselves further.
Astral sighed, fed up. "Headmaster's office, NOW. Both of you." With that, Astral turned and strode down the corridor, leaving James and Snape to follow in his wake.
They waited outside while Astral spoke to Dumbledore, neither of them speaking, unable to guarantee their self control if they did.
The rumble of stone on stone filled the silence as the gargoyle statue revealed the staircase and Professor Astral once more.
"The Headmaster wants to see you separately," Astral announced, his mouth tight with anger. "Potter, you first."
Oddly relieved that Dumbledore was now involved, one way or the other, James moved past Astral and Snape and stepped onto the stairway, as he had so many times before in his Hogwarts career.
Stepping off the starircase and taking a deep breath, James knocked on the door of Dumbledore's office
* * *
Author's Note:
Hi, everyone! Even though I'm sure some of you were wondering, I did not fall off the face of the earth or suddenly contract amnesia and forget I was writing this story. I can't believe it's been so long since I've updated, but it feels good to be writing again. Thanks to all of you for being so supportive of me and this story, even with the sporadic updates.
Also, my sincerest apologies for the cliffhanger; I'm too exhausted to write anymore right now and this chapter ran long anyway. But I'll try to have the next chapter out as soon as I can.
As always, thanks to everyone who reviewed. Hope you enjoy!