Severus Prince wasn't there. At first, Lily thought the room was empty, because all was so still. But as she took in the the room, her sense of foreboding grew. It was a terrible room when she looked closely at the details: the blood—some fresh, some old—staining the stone floor, the strange-looking instruments on the table, the chains that hung from various surfaces. It was chilling, and as her eyes lingered on the scarlet-stained stones, her stomach turned.
She saw James last. He was curled up in the corner, and at first, she didn't recognize him, because James had been wearing white this evening, not red. And suddenly, Lily was sure he was dead, just like her parents, because he was too still, and that was a lot of blood-
"Prongs-" Sirius said, running towards him. "James… come on, mate, wake up…"
James let out a small groan, and Lily could breathe again.
"Can you walk?" Sirius asked.
"Yes," James said, his voice slurred.
Lily and Sirius exchanged a skeptical look.
"Wand?" James muttered.
"I've got it," Lily assured him.
"A little help, Evans?" Sirius panted, hoisting James to his feet.
Lily hurried over, but then Sirius's eyes fixed on her broken arm.
"Never mind," he said. "Lead the way."
James muttered something.
"What?" Sirius asked.
"He's coming back," James said hoarsely. "He said he's coming back."
James lifted his head to look at them, and Lily swallowed a gasp. One of James's eyes was rapidly swelling shut, and blood had smeared across the lower half of his face, presumably from his nose, which looked broken.
Lily took a subconscious step backwards, and something cracked underfoot: shards of broken glass and other twisted remnants of James's glasses. She stared down at them, something in her stomach twisting.
Then, finally, James's words registered.
"Reparo," she said quickly.
Glass flew back into place; the frames straightened out. Lily snatched up the glasses and put them in her skirt pocket. She turned for the door, her heart in her throat, half-expecting to see Severus Prince lurking there already. She was faced with the empty darkness of the hall. The flickering torchlight of this torture chamber barely lit this room, never mind the passage beyond.
As she faced that darkness, reality hit her hard. If Sirius was helping James, he would be of little help. It was up to Lily to get them out, to fight her way out, if need be. But there was no time to panic—James didn't have time for her to panic—and so she let out a shaking breath and prepared to step into the hall-
The silence was broken by footsteps. Lily froze, feeling the blood drain from her face. She looked at Sirius, whose expression was twisted with horror, and at James, who let out a small moan.
Her heart began to beat at a frenzied pace. She could stay here and wait for Severus Prince to come into the room. But she would rather surprise him and start on the offensive.
He was one wizard, she reminded herself. She could take him.
She darted out the door, her wand raised. In its light, she could see a surprised-looking Severus Prince. He started to raise his wand. With a cry, she threw a curse at him, which he only barely deflected. He quickly shot a spell back at her.
"Protego!" Lily shouted.
Severus's face was contorted with hatred now. His spells came at her more rapidly, until deflecting them became more difficult. Neither spoke. This was now a matter of concentration, and whoever broke first would lose and face the consequences.
A spell flew over her shoulder in a blaze of light.
"Expelliarmus!" Sirius shouted.
As Severus blocked the new spell, Lily seized her opportunity.
"Petrificus totalus!"
Severus Prince's limbs froze, and he fell to the ground.
There was a heavy silence, and Lily approached cautiously.
"Nice, Evans," Sirius said.
"Thanks for the help," she replied.
Severus's dark eyes were unnervingly fixed on her. She tore her eyes away from that face, so much like her former friend's.
"We should go."
Sirius let out a noise of disbelief. "Go? We need to kill him."
She stared. "You can't mean that."
"He's an evil man," Sirius said. "Look at what he did to James! And you actually listened during History of Magic. Think of all the people we could save if we kill him."
He raised his wand, and Lily stepped between them.
"We can't become murderers," she said. "That makes us as bad as them. Mercy is what makes us different. It's what makes us better."
"That isn't why you want us to keep him alive," Sirius shot back. "It's because of Snivellus."
She lifted her chin. "Fine. We may save people if we kill Severus Prince, but we would kill more than him. That's not fair."
Sirius lifted his wand, his expression cold. "Lily, stand aside."
She lifted hers too. "You want to fight me? Fine."
"We don't have time for this," James said. "Sirius, just leave him."
Sirius scowled. For a moment, Lily thought he would still try to curse her, but then he began to help James past the stiff form of Severus Prince. Lily kept her wand trained on Sirius the entire time, until the wand was trained on his back, and James's-
Her stomach lurched. James's shirt was ripped down the back, and cuts streaked across his back and shoulders. Severus Prince had whipped him.
Lily looked down at the still form of Snape's ancestor.
"I may have let you live," she whispered. "But if you hurt James again, I'll kill you."
Without a backwards glance, she ran to catch up with Sirius and James.
They ran into no one else, thanks to a few shortcuts through secret castle passageways.
"How do you know about all these?" Lily asked, as they climbed yet another set of stairs.
Sirius ignored her.
"Almost there," Sirius muttered to James.
The witch was waiting by the statue, which Lily thought looked newer than the one she was used to. At the sight of them, the witch's eyes widened.
"You made it," she said. "Although not all in one piece."
"Why did you ask us to meet here?" Lily asked.
"The front doors are guarded. This passageway is not."
The witch murmured, "Dissendium."
The statue opened, revealing the entrance to a passageway. Lily felt her jaw drop.
"I dare not go with you," the witch said. "When they discover you gone, I want to be in my bed."
"Thank you," Lily said. "Who… why…"
The witch smiled a small smile. "My name is Maggie Ross. I'm a professor at Hogwarts, and I believe that the new laws are wrong. I help however I can." She considered them. "I'm very curious about you three. Something tells me not all is what it seems. But we don't have time for chitchat.
"This passageway will take you to the village of Hogsmeade, to my cousin's shop. I've sent an owl, so she knows you're coming. She'll make sure you get somewhere safe."
"Thank you," Lily said again.
Maggie made a shooing motion with her hands. "Now, go. There's no time to waste."
They made their way into the tunnel, and the statue closed behind them with a quiet thud.
Maggie's cousin bore no resemblance to Maggie. Where Maggie was thin and serious-looking, Maggie's cousin had a round, pleasant face that looked like it was used to smiling.
When she took in the sight of James, Sirius, and Lily, she was not smiling.
"You poor things," she said. "We'll get you to help soon enough."
Three witches and wizards were waiting in her living room. Lily eyed them warily.
One of the witches gently took hold of Lily's unbroken arm.
"Where are you taking us?" she asked.
"The Ferguson castle," the witch replied.
Lily wanted to ask her more, but before she could, the witch had apparated, taking Lily with her.
They were now on a small hill overlooking a castle a fraction of the size of Hogwarts. The sun was just starting to rise, painting the grey stones in a rosy warmth. Lily faced the castle with a mixture of fear and dread, but also with a comforting certainty that this castle couldn't be any worse than the one she had left behind.
Their group made their way though the castle gates. The courtyard was deserted at this time in the morning, a fact that Lily was grateful for; she didn't think she could deal with curious stares, not on top of everything else. She was tired and in pain and worried about James, and all she wanted was to have her arm healed and go to bed.
She wondered why they had apparated outside of the castle, when it meant having to walk so much further. Then it occurred to her that, like Hogwarts, this castle probably had magic that prevented apparition; to not have such precautions would be foolish. This realization came only when she was in the castle, and she immediately regretted not thinking of it sooner. If she had been thinking, she would have taken James and Sirius and apparated back to the stones, rather than face being trapped in yet another potentially hostile environment.
Her grip tightened around her wand. At least she still had that.
At first, it looked like her wish for a healing and bed would be answered. They were taken to a small room with several beds. It was clearly some sort of infirmary, because there were several beds, several cauldrons suspended over a fireplace, and some strange instruments lying around, such as a needle and thread. The last one gave her pause, because why would such things be needed in a wizarding infirmary?
A pretty blonde witch stood in the corner, caught mid-yawn as they walked in. She was still in her nightdress and robe, as if she had just been roused out of bed. She started at the sight of them, then lit a fire in the fireplace with a quiet curse.
Sirius helped James onto a bed, then collapsed onto another bed with a groan. He buried his face in his hands. Gingerly, Lily sat beside him, on the far side of the mattress. She tried to ignore the way Sirius stiffened, and instead focused on James, who looked like he had passed out. Lily's hand drifted to her pocket, where his glasses were.
She knew that their healer at Hogwarts could mend broken bones in seconds. This healer, however, seemed in no hurry. She passed Lily a potion.
"That's for the pain."
Lily took a large swallow, shuddering at the taste.
The witch took out her wand and tapped at Lily's arm. Lily felt something in her arm begin to shift.
"It will take about a week to be back to normal," the witch explained.
Lily started. "A week?"
"For now I'll put it in a sling," the witch said.
The history of magical medicine had only been briefly covered in History of Magic, but Lily was started to have vague recollections from that unit. Magical medicine, she realized with dawning horror, hadn't seen much innovation until the 1800s. Any spell to instantly fix her broken bone hadn't been invented yet. And James…
"You'll be able to help him, right?" she asked anxiously.
"Of course," the witch said. "I'm starting with you because you're easier. I'm still learning."
Sirius looked at her with an expression of outrage, a sentiment Lily shared. "James needs help now," Sirius growled.
The witch finished tying Lily's arm into a sling and stood back. "There we go. Now, you rest. I'm sure you need it." She turned to Sirius. "Are you any good with potions? My usual assistant is in bed."
"Then wake him up!" Sirius snapped.
"I'm good with potions," Lily said.
The witch considered her. "Wouldn't you rather be in bed?
Lily shook her head. "I couldn't sleep anyway."
The witch showed her a recipe for a potion to help with blood-loss ("I ran out yesterday") and infection ("I knocked my supply over a couple days ago") and began to clean up James. Lily determinedly turned to the cauldrons, finding some comfort in doing something that felt so familiar. She looked over the recipes, and immediately, her sense of comfort diminished. These recipes were terrible.
"Problem?" the healer asked.
"No," Lily said.
She looked through all of the available ingredients, and then improvised.
"What are you doing?" demanded the healer.
Lily jumped, having not noticed her creeping up behind her. The image of the healer was even more disturbing given that she was holding a bloody needle and thread.
"Making the potions."
"Neither of them calls for nettles!" the healer hissed.
Sirius jerked awake in his bed.
"It will work," Lily promised.
The witch swore under her breath, but turned back to James.
After what felt like endless hours, the potions were brewed. They looked just about perfect, in Lily's mind, but she supposed that time would tell. The healer looked at the potions, then at Lily, then back at the potions.
"These look good," she said grudgingly. "How did you get this one so purple?"
Lily shrugged.
"To bed with you," the healer ordered.
Her head had barely touched the pillow before she was asleep, haunted by terrible dreams: her friend turned into a heartless monster, and James Potter being tortured by his hand.