Previously: The Marauders find a place in the Forbidden Forest where they can work on their Animagus transformations. Jenkins is replaced as MoM. Lily runs into Mulciber and his friends. They chase her, and Lily stumbles across the Room of Requirement, which she quickly hides in. Lily's housemates worry when Lily doesn't show up for DADA. Mulciber taunts James about Lily's absence just before Lily herself shows up. Mulciber grabs her wrist in anger, she unintentionally gives him a magical shock, and the Slytherins and Gryffindors end up dueling while Oggins sleeps through it all.


Chapter 59: Sirius Trouble

James had been in trouble plenty of times before – it was impossible to claim the title of "Marauder" and not expect to get caught from time to time. He had been causing all sorts of mischief since he was born, and upon acquiring his wand, the mischief had only increased by ten-fold. First, it was his mother who had to deal with him. Euphemia Potter did a decent job, all things considered, but she could not stop the force that was James Potter. Then, it was Professor's McGonagall's turn to keep him in line.

And James may have finally pushed her past the breaking point.

The Gryffindor fourth years – all of whom were still nursing the various wounds that they had received in the scuffle with the Slytherins – were lined up in front of McGonagall's desk, standing shoulder to shoulder as they kept their heads lowered. Not even one of them seemed willing to look the fuming McGonagall in the eye.

"Twelve students in the Hospital Wing; hundreds of galleons worth of damage to school property; cursing a teacher – am I missing anything?"

Silence.

Professor McGonagall's fury was so great that it was almost palpable. It filled every inch of her office as she paced up and down in front of them, making sure that each person was subject to her venomous glare. James, however, kept his focus fixed firmly on the floor. On his left stood Sirius, who was choosing to stare out the window, and Lily, whose dark red hair had fallen in front of her face, obscuring her from view, stood on his right.

"Ms. McKinnon."

Marlene lifted her chin up to meet McGonagall's stern eyes as the head of Gryffindor stopped and stared down at her. Generally, Marlene was a force to reckoned with: her exotic beauty was surpassed only by a formidable demeanor and knack for nasty hexes – but now, her confidence had disappeared. Instead, she visibly shook under the watchful eye of McGonagall, and her normally tan skin was pale.

"Who cast the first curse?"

Marlene's chin trembled as she worked up the courage to open her mouth – finally, she was able to say, "I don't know, Professor – it all happened so fast …"

"I will take that as a 'no', Ms. McKinnon – Mr. Lupin," demanded McGonagall, transferring her questioning to Remus, who stood next to Marlene, "Did you see who cast the first curse?"

Every single one of Remus's scars were visible under the harsh lighting as he stood before McGonagall. Somehow, though, he managed to look McGonagall square in the eye as he said with a shaky voice, "I can't be sure, Professor McGonagall. Like Marlene said – it all happened so fast."

"Did it?" muttered McGonagall as if she did not fully believe Remus's excuse – which, James reminded himself, she probably didn't.

James watched as Professor McGonagall interrogated his housemates one at a time, slowly making her way down the line. The answers remained more or less the same: it was impossible to tell who had cast the first curse, everything happened at once, and so forth. Nobody was willing to infuriate McGonagall any more than what she was – poor Peter looked as if he might faint when McGonagall reached him – but at the same time, none of them were quite sure who had cast the first curse.

"And what about you, Ms. Evans? Or have you, like your classmates, suddenly developed a knack for Self-Obliviation?"

Although Lily had kept her head down until now, she must have realized that she would have to face McGonagall sooner or later because she slowly lifted her chin up and pushed her hair from her face as she stared determinedly up at McGonagall. All the blood drained from her face as McGonagall stared her down, but to Lily's credit, she did not break – apart from her tightly curled fists, she could manage a calm façade.

"Mulciber was the one who grabbed me," she stated – unlike the others, there was no tremor in her voice.

"Yes, I gathered as much – but that does not answer my question, Ms. Evans."

"I pushed him away."

That's not entirely true, thought James, but he kept his mouth shut.

"Again, Ms. Evans, that is not the answer I'm looking for – now who cast the first curse?"

"I … I don't know," admitted Lily in defeat, once again returning her gaze to the floor.

McGonagall was plainly frustrated with that answer, and as she came to a stop in front of him and Sirius, James could see her visibly sigh with exasperation. From her pursed lips, James gathered that she was torn between anger and defeat, and James knew they were both thinking the same thing – that they had lost count of how many times he and Sirius ended up in front of McGonagall, and this routine was starting to wear thin on her.

"Mr. Potter."

There were a thousand different emotions put into that one word.

"Am I right in assuming that you will join your classmates in conveniently forgetting who started the duel?"

"Well, my excuse was a lot better …" said James as he shot her an embarrassed grin.

McGonagall rolled her eyes, but James was pleased to see that, judging from the twitch of her lips, she was fighting back a smile as she said, "Potter, I will remind you that you've already used the 'my glasses fogged up' excuse on me no less than seven times."

James helplessly shrugged his shoulders, and McGonagall gave another visible sigh as she turned to Sirius, who appeared the least concerned of any of them – to the casual observer, he would appear bored.

"And you, Mr. Black? You wouldn't happen to know who cast the first curse, would you?"

"Er … yeah – I did."

Eight pairs of stunned eyes swiveled towards Sirius.

"You?"

"Yep."

"You cast the first curse?"

"In my defense, McGee – it was a damn fine curse."

McGonagall closed her eyes – her lips were all but nonexistent now, and James knew that she was silently counting to ten in her head. Finally, after taking several deep breaths to steady her shaking body, she opened her eyes – if looks could kill, Sirius would have been beaten to a bloody pulp ten years ago.

"Ignoring the sheer stupidity of such an action, Mr. Black – just what was the point of instigating an all-out duel between twenty-one students?"

"We had some unresolved issues."

Scratch that – if looks could kill, Sirius would have been beaten to a bloody pulp a hundred years ago.

"Dozens of broken bones; several concussions; Madam Pomfrey is still trying to give Professor Oggins his arms back; the house elves will be working overtime to repair the damage; thirty desks have to be replaced, not to mention the other classroom supplies; Professor Slughorn and myself now have to oversee twenty-one detentions; both Slytherin and Gryffindor have lost all their house points along with any chance of winning the House Cup – Mr. Black, do you honestly expect me to believe that these are all the result of 'some unresolved issues'?"

"Well … not all of them, no – we were also supposed to be practicing the Shield Charm with a partner."

Professor McGonagall was positively trembling with rage now.

"Practice the Shield Charm with a … with one partner? THEN EXPLAIN THE OTHER ELEVEN STUDENTS MADAM POMFREY HAD TO SEE TO!"

Pause.

"I was multi-tasking."

~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ 1975 ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~

It was a school record. It had to be.

Lily had never, in all her years at Hogwarts, thought it was possible for one student to be the cause of so much trouble.

The fallout from the duel was immediate. By dinner that day, everybody knew why both Gryffindor's and Slytherin's hourglasses now stood empty, why twenty-one students had a full week's worth of detentions, why the classroom on the sixth floor would be closed for the rest of the year due to "repairs", and why all further Defense Against the Dark Arts classes for the fourth year Gryffindors and Slytherins were required to have at least two prefects supervising them at all times.

And through it all, the Marauders would brag to anybody and anything that stood still long enough that Sirius Black – who would have weekly detentions for the remainder of the year – was officially the greatest troublemaker in the history of the school.

But as much as Lily hated to admit it, she could not help but be amused when she watched Black stand up on the dinner table that night, proudly proclaiming that he was the mastermind behind one of the biggest fights in Hogwarts history while the other Marauders pretended to bow down before him and the other students cheered – it seemed that so long as the Slytherins were also punished, loosing every single ruby in the Gryffindor hourglass could be forgiven.

And yet, there was also a fair amount of guilt there as well: everything that had happened … it was all because one boy had called her a Mudblood.

Lily ran her hand over the smooth expanse of the wall where the door had once again appeared for her, and she knew that this would not be the last time that Mulciber would try to hurt her …

"Damn it! Damn it – damn it – DAMN IT!"

Mulciber punctuated each phrase by banging his fist against the wall. Beside him, his friends tried to help by feeling the wall for a crevice that might yield the doorway that Lily fearfully crouched behind.

She was not sure where she was. The door had materialized at the last second from within the wall opposite the tapestry, much to everybody's surprise. Mulciber clearly had no contingency plans that included magical doors appearing out of thin air, and though he had broken into a run as soon as the initial shock wore off, he had reached the door too late – Lily had wasted no time scurrying through the door.

The room that she had hidden in was roughly the size of her garage back home, but it was indeed a curiosity: on one side was a table full of Sneakoscopes and other instruments of similar functions while the other side contained all her things that she would need for Defense Against the Dark Arts class that morning. But while Lily would normally be fascinated with the room's strange knack for knowing exactly what she needed in that moment, all her attention was currently focused on a peephole that the room had provided her.

For some reason that Lily would be eternally grateful for, Mulciber and his cronies were unable to follow her through the door, and judging from the lack of handle-pulling, she figured that the entire door had simply disappeared into the wall. After a full minute of trying, he gave up – but unfortunately, the Slytherins did not leave the corridor quite yet, and Lily was forced to wait, watching them from the peephole.

"Where the hell did she go?" demanded Mulciber.

Avery shrugged as he stood up – previously he had been running his finger along the floor as if hoping to find the crack between the bottom of the door and the floor.

"For all we know, she could be in Timbuktu by now."

"Damn it!" repeated Mulciber. "The one time that jumped-up, little Mudblood is all alone – and we blew it!"

"What's your deal with her, anyways?" asked the fifth year.

"She's been a right pain my arse these past couple years – I've been trying to repay the favor for a while now," growled Mulciber, and he cracked his knuckles for good measure. "One of these days, I'm going to get that little bitch alone – and I'm not going to stop until I – have – her – begging – me – for – mercy."

… but so long as there were good people like Alice and Potter out there, Lily knew that she would never be alone.

With a sigh and one last look at the wall – the door must have sensed that Lily did not want to enter it because it faded back into the wall – Lily turned to leave. As she came to the intersection where Mulciber and the fifth year whose name Lily had never learned stood not that long ago, she glanced back: the corridor was completely still. It was as if nothing had ever happened. With another sigh, Lily made her way down to the Great Hall.

However, it would appear that things were not about to get better: The Daily Prophet was propped open in front of Alice by the time she sat down, and Lily's friend looked furious.

Lily cautiously extended her hand to take it, and when Alice said nothing, Lily grabbed it with both hands and started to read:

MINCHUM IS IN: ARE MUGGLE-BORNS OUT?

By Betty Braithwaite

Mr. Harold Minchum, 54, has been voted in as Minister for Magic after previously serving as acting Minister following the abrupt resignation of Eugenia Jenkins. Upon his appointment, Mr. Minchum's decision to station more guards at Azkaban was met with some criticism on both sides of the aisle. However, that controversy was nothing compared to the outcry over legislation that was passed, 26-24 in the Wizengamot, only four hours after Minchum was officially voted into office.

"It is no secret who the ultimate target of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and his Death Eaters is," says a spokeswizard for the Ministry. "While the Ministry will continue to do everything in its power to prevent the chaos that You-Know-Who hopes to create, however, it is imperative that we address the legitimate issues brought to light during recent events. Therefore, it is in everybody's best interests that we start keeping track of the Muggle-borns currently in our society. Muggle-borns will be responsible for submitting themselves for review, and the newly created Division of Muggle-Born Integration will be in charge of maintaining the registry. We realize that this is a difficult time for people, but please, realize that this is done to ensure the safety of everybody within the Wizarding community."

This new registry is in addition to the requirement that all Muggle-borns submit their W.O.M.B.A.T. scores with any job applications, as well as the ban on Muggle-borns occupying higher positions of authority. Taken together, many Muggle-borns and their supporters –

Lily did not get a chance to read any further because just then, a red-faced and fuming Alice yanked the Prophet out of Lily's hands.

"Stupid –" Alice ripped the article in half "– prejudice –" She ripped it into fourths "– moronic –" She ripped it into eighths "– useless –" She crumpled the pieces together into a little ball "– bastards!"

Alice stabbed the ball with her wand, and it quickly went up in flames.

"They can't actually do something like that, can they?" asked Mary quietly.

"Sweetheart, Minchum's just getting started," muttered Marlene darkly. "I overheard Dad telling Marius that – even though he's tough on Death Eaters – Minchum's not exactly sympathetic to Muggle-borns either. I suspect we'll be getting a lot more laws like that over the next couple of months."

Lily opened her mouth to respond, but before she could get anything out, she was interrupted when a quiet – but no less noticeable – voice called her name.

"Lily."

Fumbling for the fork that she nearly dropped in surprise, Lily quickly put it back next to her knife before turning around to see that Severus was standing directly behind her. In a motion so brief that she nearly missed it, his eyes flicked to the Slytherin table before settling on her. Lily followed his gaze – a sneaking suspicion told her that he was double-checking that none of his friends were in the Great Hall, which they were not.

"What are you doing here?"

Both Lily and Marlene had spoken at the same time – Lily's tone was curious while Marlene's was accusatory, and Lily quickly shot Marlene an imploring look. Marlene either did not notice or did not care because she refused to soften the glare she was directing towards Severus.

"Can I speak with you? Alone?" asked Severus, pointedly ignoring Marlene.

"Why?" asked Marlene loudly. "Scared that your mate Mulciber will notice you getting friendly with Muggle-borns and blood traitors?"

"Marlene!" hissed Lily. "I don't want to have to keep telling you to be nice."

"I'll be nice … when he stops treating every Muggle-born whose name isn't 'Lily Evans' like filth. But then that begs the question, Snape – why are you so obsessed with Lily?"

Marlene – Lily suspected that it had been her strategy all along – was starting to draw a crowd. Everybody within a ten-foot radius was staring at them. While Lily appreciated the fact that Marlene was not the type of person to back down from a confrontation, the girl sometimes overstepped her boundaries – and this was one of those instances.

"That's rich coming from the girl who won't let her have even five seconds with her best friend. Tell me, McKinnon – do you not like me because Lily was my friend first, or is it just because I'm better than you in nearly every class?" sneered Severus.

"Uncalled for, Sev – very uncalled for," snapped Lily.

"One more word, Snape, and I'll show you just –"

"Both of you, stop it – stop it right now!"

By now, Lily was on her feet, and she was giving both of her friends a healthy glare – it was impossible to determine who disliked the other more. At her outburst, though, the two fell silent, and while they both were still glowering at each other, neither Marlene nor Severus said anything more.

"I know that two of you don't like each other –"

"Three," injected Alice, who had also narrowed her eyes at Severus.

"– but for the sake of everybody's sanity, I am now forbidding the three of you –" Here, Lily shot a very pointed look Alice's way, which the girl in question shrugged off, "– from talking to each other. Sev – you don't have a monopoly on me. Marlene and Alice are just as much my friends as you are. Marlene, Alice – I'm going to walk away so that I can talk to Severus, my friend, alone, and if I hear so much as a peep from either of you about it, so help me Merlin, I will jinx your mouths shut for the rest of the day."

The three of them were not exactly apologetic by the time Lily had finished speaking, but they were not showing open dislike towards each other either, which she decided to take as a small step in the right direction. Without waiting for a response, Lily hooked her arm around Severus's elbow and all but dragged him from the Great Hall, leaving Marlene and Alice to finish their Saturday brunch alone. Thankfully, the Entrance Hall was emptier, and Lily gently released Severus's arm as she stepped in front of him so that they could talk face-to-face.

"So … what exactly was it you wanted to talk about?" she asked, her tone much softer than the one she had been forced to use in the Great Hall.

"It's just … er …" started Severus, nervously scratching his nose, "… I – I wanted to apologize for everything that happened in DADA the other day."

Lily stared at him, unsure whether to laugh or not.

"Um … Severus, that was a while ago – I'm fine, really."

That was not – technically speaking – true. While Lily was over the fact that she and twenty other students had to all serve a week's worth of detention and that she had taken away any chance of Gryffindor winning the House Cup, she could not shake the image of a furious Mulciber growling about how he was going to have her "begging" him for mercy – for the first week after everything had happened, Lily had woken up several times in a cold sweat as Mulciber invaded her dreams, quickly transforming them into nightmares as he whispered all the things that he would do to her in her ear.

"I know that! I just – I wanted to say that I'm sorry for what happened. I didn't know that they had tried to chase you down in the corridors until Cadmus mentioned it in the common room this morning."

Lily felt a hot flash of anger towards Mulciber and Avery at that.

"And what exactly were they saying about me?" she asked slowly.

Severus fell silent – he clearly had not expected the conversation to take a turn that way. He fretfully tucked a stray lock of hair behind his ears as he avoided looking directly in her eyes.

"They didn't really go into details that much. Lycoris was talking about how you taunted him, but then you left before –"

"And you actually believe him?" demanded Lily, and when Severus said nothing, she gave a derisive snort before continuing, "Sev – your pal Mulciber was toyingwith me."

"I'm sure that's not exactly –"

"No, Sev – it was exactly that. He was toying with me. He and his friends were chasing me, blocking off all my avenues of escape until they had me cornered in a corridor on the seventh floor. The only reason nothing else happened was because I was able to find a room to hide in until they gave up and left. That's why I was so late to Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Your friends despise me – just because of the mere fact that my parents happen to be Muggles."

"Well … that's – what about your own friends, McKinnon and Prewett? Theycertainly don't like me, if what just happened in the Great Hall is anything to go by," snapped Severus indignantly.

"But, Sev, that's different," said Lily, half-pleading and half-angry. "Mulciber wants to punish me because of who my parents are. Marlene and Alice just don't like you because you're surrounding yourself with a bunch of … of Death Eater-wannabes."

"And you're surrounding yourself with a bunch of blood traitors!" he yelled.

Not many things could have shocked Lily into silence – but that did.

Severus must have realized his mistake because he slapped his hand over his mouth, and his eyes were wide with fear as he spluttered out, "That came out wrong … Lily, I didn't mean it like that …"

Lily took a step back from him, and all the anger had evaporated – instead, there was only hurt as she said in a choked voice, "Marlene and Alice are my friends. Why would you say something like that? Where is this all coming from?"

"I'm so sorry, Lily – I never meant it like an insult. It's just – I'm going to be spending the summer over at Cadmus's house, so I've had to … to practice talking like them. Otherwise, I would stand out like a dragon among Kneazles – you know how it is …"

"I can't believe you," said Lily softly.

"Lily, I –" started Severus.

He reached for Lily, but Lily took another step back to avoid him, holding her hands up as if he was contagious. She stared at him, trying to reconcile what she was seeing. Marlene had warned her a hundred different times that something like this would happen, but Lily had always dismissed her accusations that the Severus she met on the playground when she was only nine years old was not the same Severus that was standing in front of her.

"Just … don't," mumbled Lily. "I – I'll see you later."


In case you lovelies didn't realize it, that italicized section was meant to be a flashback. I didn't want to have to type "Flashback", but I still needed some way to indicate that the part was a flashback. Thoughts?

Is my attempt at humor coming through like I'm wanting it to? Because while it'll seem funny to me at the time, I have no idea if other people find it funny. Let me know with a review!