Marlene McKinnon could say, without a hint of uncertainty, that if she'd been in possession of a Time Turner, her week would have gone very differently indeed.

As it was, she was lacing up her boots for the first Quidditch game of the season, and trying not to vomit over herself.

It was a Saturday, a week and a half since Lily had been attacked, and everything had turned upside down at Hogwarts.

Marlene's stomach had been stuck in a knot ever since.

She hadn't been at breakfast in the Great Hall the morning after, instead opting to go to the Hospital Wing and relieve James of his duties.

It was clear that the poor bloke hadn't slept all night, and he'd been playing a game of Solitaire with an Exploding Snap deck when she made her appearance. He turned to smile at her, and the deck took its cue to detonate into a pile of ash, waking half the Hospital Wing and forcing the Head Boy to make his way to Transfiguration before Madame Pomfrey banned him from the facility for life.

Marlene was told later that Dumbledore had made a speech at breakfast, that he'd made it perfectly clear that anyone involved in the incident, or anything linked, would be expelled. That Hogwarts was a safe place and this war wouldn't wage inside his castle.

She could only imagine how everyone in the hall must have rolled their eyes at that. Dumbledore was a great wizard, a good man, but there was no way to keep the war from spreading into the castle. It was a virus and it had been infecting them all for a long time. In some ways, they all knew that the Head Girl being attacked was only the beginning.

Meanwhile, Marlene had brushed the remnants of James' card deck out of Lily's hair, and the two Gryffindor girls had clutched hands, their knuckles white, to speak in hushed tones as they recapped the events of the night before. Neither of them could stop crying and, when Lily explained the full extent of her injuries and when her voice had wobbled, explaining that her clothes had been ripped and what if-?, Marlene had half a mind to go and find Snape for round two.

Lily was silent as Marlene revealed what the girls had done in the dungeon – what she had almost done – nodding her head every now and again to urge her friend to continue with the story. When Marlene had muttered the word Cruciatus, she could see her friend's eyes well up again, but she pushed through. She needed to know.

"I understand if you don't want us to be friends anymore" Marlene finished, barely daring to look at the redhead. "I don't think I would want to be mates with me right now, either."

Lily shook her head, biting back fresh tears that threatened to roll down her face: "are you mad? Of course we're still friends, Mar, I just…"

She didn't have to finish her sentence. They both knew that last night had been complicated in every sense and both the girls, who usually had such clear morals, felt lost.

"What are you going to do?" Marlene asked "about Snape?"

"I don't know" Lily admitted quietly "I…I just can't imagine him hurting anybody, you know?"

"He had your blood on his robes last night, Lil. He was standing close enough to be in the action, if nothing else."

A huge sigh propelled itself from the Head Girl's lips. "I know. It's just hard to put it all together, isn't it? Is he doing it because he truly believes it, or is it because he's in with the wrong crowd? I don't know how I can help him."

Marlene had to take a few seconds to compose herself before answering, otherwise she knew she'd go the same way as the Exploding Snap deck. "Lily" she squeezed her friend's hands "he is his own person and, right this second, he is past help."

Seeing the crestfallen look on her kind friend's face, she continued: "He made a choice and, after last night, he will need to decide whether or not he wants to continue on that path. I think he probably will and you need to stay out of his way. Lily, he's dangerous and he could've killed you. You've done so well at keeping away from him, and you can't go to him for answers now. He's not the person you knew, not anymore."

Lily didn't trust herself to speak, so just nodded mutely.

"I need you to know that I'm going to see Dumbledore in a minute and I'm going to tell him everything that I did last night. Just me, not Doe or Alice. Lil, that means I'm going to give him the full list of names. Do you understand?"

"Mar, please-"

Marlene shook her head. "I'm sorry, Lil. This is bigger than you now. If he hurt someone else, or worse, you wouldn't be able to live with yourself. We both know that."

"And what will happen to you?"

Marlene shrugged, trying and failing to ignore the terror gnashing at her stomach lining. "I really don't know. I probably deserve to be expelled. We'll see."

"I would've done it for you, too" Lily assured her, giving her friend's hand one last comforting squeeze.

"I know" Marlene smiled weakly "that's the complicated part, isn't it?"

Marlene's stomach had dropped to the balls of her feet by the time she was stood in front of their Headmaster's desk. She'd been here more times than she could count – usually for something she'd uncovered for the Herald, or someone's high-society father threatening to sue the school for defamation after a particularly controversial article.

Dumbledore had always had Marlene's back, and now it was time for her to stick to her end of the bargain: complete honesty.

She accepted a sherbet lemon from Dumbledore's outstretched hand and, at his request, took a seat. She gave a small wave to Fawkes, who was cooing peculiarly, and looking a bit worse for wear.

"How long does he have this time?" Marlene nodded at the phoenix.

"If you're lucky, Miss McKinnon, Fawkes may give you a display during this very meeting. He always has been partial to over-dramatics" Dumbledore smiled, popping his own boiled sweet into his mouth. "One assumes that you are here to discuss the events of last night?"

"Yes, Professor" Marlene rolled the wrapped sweet between her forefinger and thumb, trying to quell the rising panic in her throat. "I have the names of all four Slytherins involved."

"Investigative journalism at its finest again, Marlene?"

"No, Sir" she sat on her hands to stop them from shaking. "I tortured them out of Severus Snape last night in the dungeons. I stopped short of using the Cruciatus curse on him."

Professor Dumbledore frowned, continuing to suck on his hardboiled sweet. He motioned for her to continue.

"I know it's wrong, Professor" Marlene continued, her voice shaking "and I didn't ever think I'd get to the point of using an Unforgiveable, but I was just…Merlin, I was so angry."

"I knew that Snape would have had something to do with it, or would have at least known about it, so I took a guess that he was in the Potion dungeons. I went there and cast almost every spell I could think of to get him to tell me the names. Then I cleaned up the damage and immobilised him when I'd gotten almost every name I wanted. The only one missing was Dolohov, which I got from Lily this morning."

Her Headmaster winced and Marlene couldn't tell if it was from the sharpness of the sherbet or if he was just that disappointed in her. Probably both.

"The four involved were Snape, Dolohov, Avery and Nott. I don't know what punishment you'll have for them, or for me, but I needed to tell you before they hurt any other muggleborns."

"Violence isn't ever noble, Miss McKinnon" Professor Dumbledore said sternly, finishing the sherbet with a crunch "and I find it incredibly difficult to believe you acted alone."

"I did, Professor" Marlene insisted "you can check my wand, I can give you a list of the spells that will be on there. And I'm sure Snape will give you an account that matches mine."

Dumbledore was silent for a few minutes, and Marlene felt the pit of dread in her stomach widen, until it was gaping with a thousand horrible possibilities. What would happen if Dumbledore expelled her? What would her parents say? Would Doe and Alice be okay?

"You understand that this cannot go unpunished, Miss McKinnon" Dumbledore said carefully.

"I do" Marlene sounded a lot braver than she felt.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "I will speak to Mr Snape today and, as Mr Dolohov was named in Miss Evans' recollection last night, he has been expelled. Should Mr Snape's account match yours, we will look at your punishment once more. Do you understand?"

Marlene nodded.

"As it is, Miss McKinnon, I cannot have you in a position of responsibility when you have put another student's wellbeing at risk, regardless of his alleged involvement in the attack on Miss Evans. You will step down as editor of the Herald, effective immediately, and you will have nothing further to do with the paper until I see fit."

Marlene made a noise that she was certain only Fawkes could hear.

Dumbledore continued, undeterred: "you will be banned from Hogsmeade visits, I will be sending a letter home to your parents, and you are banned from leaving the castle outside of Quidditch practice. Naturally, you will serve detention every week day until the year is out and if you are found to break any rules again, Miss McKinnon, no matter how slight, I will not hesitate to expel you."

"Y-y-you're not expelling me?" Marlene stuttered.

Dumbledore fixed her with a piercing stare. "That will all depend, Miss McKinnon, on what Mr Snape has to say in your defence. I cannot ignore the fact that you are admitting to seriously injuring another student within the castle, regardless of how virtuous you think your motive appeared to be."

Marlene nodded. "Thank you, Professor" she said hollowly, rising to her feet. "Is there anything else?"

He shook his head. "I do not think there is anything I can say to help you now, Miss McKinnon."

Marlene had vomited in front of the gargoyle immediately after leaving the office.

It had just gotten worse throughout the day. She'd explained everything to the boys, Doe and Alice at lunch – it had taken all of the Marauders to pounce on Doe and stop her from handing herself in to Dumbledore at the top table there and then.

"You can't take the blame for all of this" Dorcas had insisted, choking back tears. "Snape's going to sell us all out anyway."

Marlene shook her head. "None of you will ever get into jobs with the Ministry with something like this on your record" she reiterated "I need you to trust me, and I need you to let me take this one."

"But…the paper" Alice said weakly "what are they going to do without you?"

Marlene had already cornered Colin Kirksby outside Greenhouse Five after her meeting with Dumbledore. She'd told him, in hushed tones, that she wouldn't be returning to the Herald for a while. That he was the calmest member of staff, had the best all-round skills, and was the only one who could make the blasted printing presses work – she needed him to take her place.

"Marlene, I don't want to be editor" he'd insisted "you're brilliant – please, can we all go and talk to Dumbledore? I'm sure whatever's happened is just a misunderstanding."

She'd smiled and assured him that there was no confusion. That he'd be a wonderful editor and, if he had any questions, he could always come and find her.

It had been the hardest conversation she'd had that day. More difficult than telling Dumbledore by a mile. Everything she'd worked for, her potential future at the Daily Prophet, had gone up in smoke.

"Well" James cleared his throat at the lunch table, bringing them all back to reality "at least Dolohov's gone. That's a small mercy."

The rest of the table didn't disagree.

Lily looked up from her Transfiguration homework later that evening to see James Potter hovering at her bedside.

"You're the only person I know who wouldn't let hospitalisation get in the way of schoolwork" the Head Boy smiled. "May I…?" he gestured to the chair next to her.

Despite herself, Lily smiled back. "It's been so boring in here all day" she admitted "I needed something to get my brain going."

More importantly, she'd needed something to stop her from thinking about Severus constantly, but she wasn't about to admit that to James.

"Has Mar been to see you this afternoon?"

Lily nodded. "Yes, she told me what Dumbledore said."

James' expression was strained "and are you okay?"

"The Pepper Up Potion is working wonders" Lily assured him dryly.

James fidgeted with a book in his hands. "I just wanted to…" he paused to correct himself "I needed to apologise. You were right about the prank and the impact it would have. I shouldn't have left you last night. I'm so sorry, Lily."

The redhead shrugged. "I'd rather it had been me than anyone else, given the circumstances."

"Don't say that" James pleaded "please don't say that."

"It's the truth" Lily insisted. "I'm not thrilled that it happened at all, but at least I know that I have the right people around me to help me handle it. I'm not going to be scared into submission by a bunch of Death Eater wannabes, Potter. Even you don't have that sort of influence."

Despite himself, he cracked a small smile. "You think I'm influential?"

"A regular trend-setter" Lily snarked. She softened: "thank you for coming to apologise. I know you need to hear me say that."

"We're going to do things the right way from now on" James was insistent "we set up the support centre again this afternoon, and we'll keep it running for as long as we need to."

"Good."

James nodded "I know you're, um, bedbound, but I wondered if you wanted to go through some Heads' stuff this evening? I didn't want you to feel left out just because you're in the Hospital Wing."

Lily realised why the book in his hands looked familiar. "You've brought the bloody decorations for the Ball with you, haven't you?"

"In my defence, I wasn't sure where you'd gotten to with them last night. And we also need to talk about the new Slytherin prefect."

Lily placed her Transfiguration homework onto the side table and outstretched her hands expectedly. "If I have to see any more enchanted snowflakes between tonight and the Ball I might just murder you, Potter" she warned, flicking through the examples she'd been halfway through the evening before.

"Look, I'm just trying to make sure that all of the gross couples get a chance to snog under some fake snow, alright?"

"That's a very specific fantasy" Lily remarked "and I thought we were making gross couples mandatory for the Ball, anyway?"

James shrugged. "You can only be part of a gross couple with the right person, Evans, anyone else is just a date."

Lily snorted "and you're one of the most eligible bachelors in school? God help us all. It's a no to these weird dancing elves, by the way."

"But Evans-"

"No."

James stayed silent, making meticulous notes on the Head Girl's choices as she went through the book. Finally satisfied, she closed it with a small smile and handed it back to him.

"Thanks, Lily. I'll leave you alone soon, but-"

"I don't mind the company" Lily interjected. "It's been a long day."

James nodded "one more bit of business, and then I'm happy to treat you to a game of Exploding Snap."

"The Slytherin Prefect?"

"Yes. I know we can't pick Prefects, but the Code of Conduct says we can make recommendations to the Head of House. Seeing as you're so close with Slughorn, I was thinking we could put in a good word for-"

"Regulus?"

Lily's tone didn't give away any feeling, and James nodded half-sheepishly. "I just thought…he's a good kid, deep down, and if we could give him a chance to get away from the other Slytherins by giving him Prefect duties…"

"Like Dolohov?"

James sighed. "I know. Maybe it's just wishful thinking."

Lily shook her head "I don't think so. He's got good grades, hasn't he? I don't think I've heard much bad said about him by any teachers, so if Slughorn agrees, this could be exactly the right time to make a difference. Especially now that Dolohov's gone."

"Here's hoping."

"Okay" Lily considered it. "Go and get Slughorn for me? He should be in his office, and he won't be able to say no to me when I'm in a hospital bed, especially considering at least one member of his house put me in it."

James' face lit up. "Lily Evans" he breathed "you are…I mean, you're incorrigible."

She raised an eyebrow. "You don't get to the top without knowing how to play the game, James. Maybe we can revisit Exploding Snap tomorrow?"

"I'd like that" he smiled. "Can I get you anything in the meantime? Chocolate cake? Butterbeer? Something from the Restricted section of the library for light reading?"

"I don't want to know how you would get any of those things" Lily was quick to point out. "But I wouldn't say no to another tin of raspberry bonbons" she looked at him pointedly "mine seem to have disappeared overnight."

"I've heard they're Poppy's favourite" James winked, feeling the top of his ears flame. "But I'll see what I can do."

"Much appreciated" Lily smiled sweetly, not fooled by him for a second, "now let's get Regulus a badge."

Just when James Potter thought he couldn't be any more enchanted by Lily Evans, she managed to tie him up in knots and leave him speechless. If he was going to keep his promise and not fancy her ever again, it was going to be a very long year indeed…

Since then, everything had been a blur.

Sirius had lost his mind the following morning at breakfast when he'd spotted a shiny new badge on his brother's robes. James had bitten his smile back and laid a reassuring hand on his best mate's shoulder, repeating that it was for the best.

James and Lily had been spending every evening before dinner, and the Head Boy's never-ending detention, getting increasingly violent with their games of Exploding Snap. When she'd left the Hospital Wing that weekend, she'd waited up for him to come in from Quidditch practice, before teaching him a muggle card game called Rummy. He'd been completely perplexed when the cards hadn't threatened to explode at any point.

Lily had been flanked, much to her annoyance, by her own personal bodyguards in fellow Gryffindors between lessons, at mealtimes, and even in the library (once by Sirius, which had been a thoroughly confusing experience for everyone involved). No matter how many times she threatened to hex her friends, they wouldn't listen, and kept their wands up the sleeves of their robes. Just in case.

Everyone had been chipping in with slots at the support centre.

Marlene had found herself walking past the Herald offices at every given opportunity, feeling the sickness in her stomach worsen at the chug and splutter of the printing press and the excitable murmuring from within.

And still, she hadn't heard anything from Dumbledore and Severus Snape was walking around the school like a free man.

Her head wasn't in the game and, right now, it needed to be.

"McKinnon, are you coming?" Penny Garcia, one of the Gryffindor Chasers asked from the doorway, her face expectant.

She couldn't mess this up, too.

"Ready" Marlene smiled, tightening the straps on her gloves.

She picked up her bat, which had been resting between her ankles, and made her way into the corridor with the rest of the team, taking her place beside Sirius, who shot her a knowing smirk.

It was time to get some anger out and win the first Quidditch match of the season.