"How can we play this properly when it's just the two of us?" Lily asked the figure opposite her, reaching her hand to spin the empty bottle of Butterbeer.
The bespectacled boy smirked. "I suppose we'll just have to risk it, Evans."
The Common Room fire had died down to embers, but the Head Boy and Girl couldn't deny the heat in the room.
Lily didn't break eye contact with him as the bottle spun between them. She didn't doubt that he'd used a non-verbal spell to bring it screeching to a stop at his feet.
"Was that necessary?" she asked him, leaning over onto all fours to get closer to him.
"You might've decided to snog yourself" he reasoned "or one of the portraits."
Lily rolled her eyes and tugged at the collar of his shirt. His breath was hot on her face, and she could've sworn that his glasses were about to steam up.
She'd thought about kissing him more times than she cared to admit and, as she sank into him, her mouth on his, it was even more glorious than she'd been led to believe.
Their kisses became more desperate, from sumptuous groaning into open mouths to furious, scorching attacks against one another. She wasn't sure if he'd break first, or if she would, but as she reached across to unbutton his shirt, she felt her actions matched.
She was going to fuck James Potter, she was sure of it.
"Lily" James' voice was panicked as his mouth detached from hers "what's that on your, um-?"
His fingers had stopped undoing the buttons of her school shirt and, confused, she looked down at herself.
Only to see the word Mudblood etched into her chest, over and over and over again.
"Sweetheart, you're bleeding" James' voice was hushed, almost awe-struck, as he watched the slur slither and slice against her alabaster skin.
She could see that.
Slowly, Lily ran her fingers over the main culprit, a jagged slash across her breasts. Her blood was heavy and stained her fingertips black.
James made a bizarre noise and she could see the same thick liquid oozing from between his lips, staining his school shirt. He was choking on it. Had she done this to him?
She was strangely calm about it all, really. As if she'd been here before. She could feel the tell-tale pinpricks of the words beneath her knee-high socks, spilling out between her thighs, catching the lining of her skirt.
When James next spoke, she didn't recognise his voice. When she looked up, she couldn't make him out. She was falling into an impossible blackness.
"You muddy, scummy cunt" the shadows spat at her "did you think I'd ever touch you?"
Lily woke with a start.
Instinctively, she threw her covers aside and pulled down her nightie, just to be sure. All clear.
And Potter wasn't dead, was he? Because she definitely hadn't kissed him the night before.
Lily didn't buy into Divination. She didn't trust horoscopes, visions, and she'd been to too many bad village fetes to trust any crystal ball, but she felt sick to her stomach.
Did you think I'd ever touch you?
"Lil, you awake?" Alice called softly from the other side of the curtains. "Want some of your excellent hangover cure?"
The Head Girl caught her breath and pulled the drapes open. Maybe it could all be written off as the hangover from hell. "Please" she croaked, holding out her hands expectedly.
"You sound delightful" Doe noted, passing her a small bottle of the purple potion.
Lily knocked it back effortlessly. "Weird dream" she admitted "probably too much Firewhisky. Where's Emmeline?"
"She went to get breakfast" came the reply "we were waiting to see if you would emerge at any point today."
"Em worked up an appetite, did she?" Alice asked dryly, dodging the pillow that came flying her way in response.
Lily nodded at the empty bed next to her. "And Mar?"
Doe shrugged "we think she's either gone for a run or to strangle Sirius in his sleep."
Both seemed like plausible options after the events of the night before. The whole room knew that Marlene was trying not to lose face, but the spark between the two Gryffindor Beaters had always been undeniable. To be embarrassed like that at a party, surrounded by everyone, must have been difficult.
"Ready to face the day?" Alice asked cheerily. "We've got an exciting day of breakfast and Charms homework ahead."
Lily shrugged, trying not to think about their Concealment Charm essay, "if I say so myself, the potion's a lifesaver. Has anyone been to give the boys theirs yet?"
Most of the Gryffindor students had had Lily's hangover potion on constant order since her fourth year, and the Marauders were no exception. Remus had once told her that it tasted like Parma Violets, which was the biggest compliment the muggleborn could ever have hoped for.
"I'm sure Alice can deliver them" Doe beamed. "You could take one for Amber and drink it in front of her, as a favour to Mar."
Alice's middle finger did the talking for her.
"I might come with you. Can I shower first?" Lily's enthusiasm surprised the whole room.
"You don't usually deliver, Lil. Are you sure you're feeling alright?"
"Something to do with last night's outrageous flirting, probably" Doe stage-whispered, as if Lily couldn't hear them.
"We could've done with some good soft porn last night, Lil, you let us down" Alice teased. "Poor James nearly had a heart attack with all your dirty talk."
Lily ignored her friends as she breezed towards the bathroom. There was no harm in checking that Potter was still alive, was there?
Predictably, Remus and Peter were the only ones who responded to the knock on their door half an hour later.
"It's so loud" Peter whined as Remus ushered Lily and Alice into the dorm.
"Don't worry" Alice reassured Pete, pressing the potion bottle into his hands. "Lily's sorted us all out."
"Lily, I love you" Pete wheezed, before sucking at the bottle enthusiastically.
"Thank you, Lil" Remus added, swigging his down in one "and welcome to our humble abode."
The other girls had been in the boys' dorm hundreds of times before, whether it was nicking Firewhisky from their trusted stash (Doe), arguing about Quidditch tactics (Marlene), or playing late-night games of Exploding Snap (Alice), or the particularly memorable time when the three of them had used physical force to rouse Sirius before a Quidditch match in sixth year.
Whilst her friends had made a million memories inside these walls, it was Lily's first time there and she drank it all in greedily.
On the whole, it was tidier than she'd expected, but then she supposed the House Elves were to thank for that. A sagging bookshelf filled with their schoolbooks lived near the windows, it also boasted practical joke manuals, books on obscure magical practices and, of course, Quidditch strategy.
They'd scrawled their silly nicknames onto a banner and draped it around half the room, presumably so they couldn't forget their own identities, and Lily thought she spied a trunk full of Zonko's products at the bottom of Sirius' empty bed. The leftover bottles from the night before littered the floor, and it was a wonder that no-one had put their foot through one in their hungover state.
The maroon drapes around James' bed remained closed. Disappointed, Lily turned her attention back to the two boys in front of her. "So, how many more potions are we leaving?"
Pete frowned. "Just two, obviously. Padfoot will be back soon."
"No-one got lucky last night, then?" Alice joked "and Pete, you were doing so well!"
"Don't remind me" the boy groaned, flopping back onto his mattress in defeat.
"We'll get you there, Pete, don't worry" Lily told him.
She hadn't noticed James' curtains open, so it was a surprise to her when he spoke from behind her: "Wormy just needs a good shag, Evans, so go and find some volunteers."
"I thought you lot were meant to be the Casanovas of the castle, can't you help?" Lily shot back.
He looked even scruffier than usual, if it were possible. His blue Tutshill Tornados t-shirt was crumpled, and she pointedly ignored the fact that he only had boxers on his bottom half. His brown eyes were watery behind his glasses and his hair…well, it was best not to even start with the hair.
And yet, all Lily wanted to do was kiss him, to see how his mouth would feel on hers, like she'd wanted to do at the party last night. The sitting dread in her stomach warned her about the thick glob of blood that had caught around his tongue in her dream. Her dirty blood.
She swallowed. "Hangover cure?"
The Head Boy took the proffered bottle gratefully. "You're my hero" he declared "and I liked the karaoke segment at the party last night – it's good to know you have some flaws."
Lily felt the tips of her ears tickle as they turned pink. "Jog on, Potter."
"Gladly" he finished the potion and pressed the bottle back in her palm. "Shall we go and get some food?"
She ignored the butterflies in her stomach and nodded "sounds like a good idea. We'll wait downstairs?"
"Unless you want to stay and watch me change, Evans."
Lily didn't need to look at the size of the smirk on his face. Six months ago, she'd have hexed him for a lesser comment. But now, here she was, in his room, rolling her eyes.
"Better luck next time, Potter" she said coolly. "You've got five minutes."
As she and Alice made her way back to the Common Room, the Head Girl wondered, not for the first time, how on earth she'd managed to get herself into this situation.
And, more importantly, how she was going to get herself out of it.
When Sirius Black thought back on his time at Hogwarts, he had loads of moments to be proud of:
The first time Peeves had used his name as a swear word; his first detention; his greatest prank of all time in fifth year, which had flooded three separate floors of the castle (including the dungeons and Slytherin Common Room) and seen him inflate four of Lily Evans' rubber ducks to transport the Marauders from classroom to classroom amongst the chaos; the first time they'd succeeded in transforming into their Animagi selves and Moony had cried and then ignored them for three solid days; yesterday's blinder of a Bludger.
But the proudest, and most useful, by far was sat in his hands at that precise moment.
The Marauders' Map had taken years, tens of quills and hundreds of feet of parchment to get right. The third attempt had been accidentally set on fire by Pete, the thirtieth had been a mania-fuelled weekend that had left them all with severe hand cramps and stained their hands black for a week, but now they had parchment piece number one hundred and twenty-two. The finished product.
It had come in handy for the important things: dodging Filch, setting up more glorious pranks, sneaking out from various beds across the castle and back to his own in the middle of the night, and ensuring that they weren't being followed in the run-up to Moony's time of the month.
Right that second, stumbling through the castle grounds, he needed to find Marlene.
He was drunk and determined and this was going to be the best way to-
Sirius stopped when he saw Marlene and Hagrid in intense conversation outside the gamekeeper's hut. He wasn't sure if he was imagining that both of their hands were covered in blood, but there was only one way to find out.
He wiped the map quickly and hurried down the slope. The closer he got to the scene, he could see that Marlene's grey t-shirt was stained red down the front, and Hagrid was sobbing.
Marlene was trying to stop her hands from shaking when she heard Sirius call down to them: "what's happened? Are you okay?"
"It's alright, Hagrid" Marlene tried to reassure the gargantuan figure in front of her. His shoulders were wracking as his tears kept coming, and between them they looked down at the lifeless animals between their feet.
Sirius recognised the six illegal Lobalugs that Professor Kettleburn had procured for their Care of Magical Creatures lessons. Their normally bright-coloured bodies were sallow against the morning dew. It took a few seconds for him to realise that they'd been sliced open neatly from head to tail, their venom sacs popped and entrails hanging from the carcasses.
"What the fuck?" he breathed, taking a step closer. He laid what he hoped was a comforting hand on Hagrid's back "mate, what…?"
The gamekeeper's eyes were red-rimmed and he took an impressive breath in, sucking in the snot that had started to hang from the end of his nose. "Marlene found 'em on her run" he croaked, nodding to the blonde in front of him. "She came to get me to see if I could help, b-but it was too l-l-late."
As Hagrid broke down again, Sirius met Marlene's eyes. They both knew that the creatures had been kept in a charmed classroom on the second floor. It had been pitch black in there, with a freezing cold tank taking up most of the room. Professor Kettleburn could be a bit of an acquired taste, but he was meticulous in the care of his charges. As a non-student, Marlene had only been allowed in the room as part of a piece for the Herald on creature classification, and Professor Kettleburn had been present the entire time. This made no sense.
"They were in the Forest" Marlene said quietly. "Like someone had taken them out there and…"
"They wouldn't have lasted long out of water" Sirius told her, unsure if that was meant to make the situation better or worse.
"What can you use the venom for?"
"I don't know" Sirius admitted "we hadn't gotten that far yet."
"I s'pose I'd better find Professor Kettleburn" Hagrid's voice was gravelly with emotion. "See if 'e wants ta bury them…"
"Hagrid" Marlene's voice was small, and Sirius could tell she was trying not to cry. "Do you want us to stay? Help?"
He shook his head. "You've bin brilliant, Marlene. Go inside and get cleaned up, right?"
Instinctively, Sirius took Marlene's hand in his, ignoring the red staining her palms. "C'mon."
She let him guide her through the castle, barely registering the stares of other students as they passed through the corridors. She wasn't sure if they were staring at the bloodstains on her clothes, or the fact that Sirius was holding her hand after the party last night.
The Common Room was, thankfully, empty when they entered. All Marlene wanted to do was crawl into bed and not move for the rest of the day.
"Do you…" Sirius cleared his throat "do you want to take a shower in our room? If you don't want to be alone?"
Marlene shook her head. A heavy sigh made its way out of her mouth. "It doesn't feel safe here anymore, does it? Or am I going mad?"
"You're not going mad."
Every inch of her felt heavy. "I'll see you later, Sirius" her voice sounded defeated. "Thanks for the help."
He fought every muscle in his body not to take her chin in his hands, make her look at him, so that he could be the one to look after her. Make her feel alright.
Instead, he watched her walk up the stairs to the girls' dormitory without a word.
Marlene slipped out of her trainers and pulled off her socks. She flexed her toes against the carpet to try and feel more grounded.
She pulled something the pocket of her joggers and checked it in the light, to make sure she hadn't imagined it in the Forest.
She'd been running her usual route to clear her head. To try and get the sinking feeling that she wasn't good enough for Sirius Black out of the pit of her stomach. She hadn't needed to pay attention, her feet had been moving automatically, and she'd made that journey hundreds of times before.
After she'd tripped over the first Lobalug and gone flying, it had taken a few minutes to realise what she was seeing. They were all in a circle, tails eerily against each other, stomach contents splayed across the dirt.
As her eyes had followed the entrails in horror, she'd spotted it. She'd thought it was skin from the dead animals at first, but it wasn't, it wasn't the right colour and it didn't have the same rubbery texture.
It was human skin, and it was burned black.
She may not have the coveted title of editor at the Herald anymore, but there was one thing that had made Marlene a great journalist: her determination to get to the bottom of a story.
She just needed to figure this one out.
Lily had just finished stuffing scrambled eggs into her mouth when Professor Dumbledore appeared over her shoulder.
"Hi, Professor" Doe beamed, spearing a roasted tomato with her fork, "how's your weekend going?"
"I felt I should come and congratulate you all on an excellent match yesterday" the Headmaster smiled. "I trust everyone celebrated responsibly last night?"
James ignored the headmaster's pointed stare. "Thank you, Sir. It was a really good game."
"Wonderful" Dumbledore absent-mindedly twiddled with the end of his beard "Miss Evans, I apologise for interrupting your breakfast, but I wondered if you'd be so kind as to join me in my office when you've finished?"
Lily nodded, mouth still full.
"She'll be five minutes" Alice translated.
"Do you want someone to come with you?" James asked, watching the Head Girl with curiosity as she finished chewing.
"No, I'm okay. I'll try and remember to sneak some bon-bons out though."
Doe saluted Lily as she slipped out of the room and through the familiar maze of corridors and stairs to the headmaster's office.
After she'd guessed the new password – chocolate limes – she was back in Dumbledore's office. Cosy, yet cavernous, with the familiar clicking of Fawkes' beak against his water bowl in the background.
What she hadn't been prepared for was company and, yet, there were three chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk. The one closet to the door was empty, waiting for her.
She could see Sev occupying the one furthest from the door and Marlene, ever letting the loyal part of her brain overrule everything else, had plonked herself in the middle chair to put as much space between her and her former best friend.
"How was your run?" Lily settled down in the empty chair, pretending that this set-up was the most normal thing in the world.
Marlene's hair was still wet and she looked deeply unimpressed. "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you" she responded. "Any idea what we're here for?"
Before Lily could say anything, their Headmaster appeared from the side of the room and took his place at the desk.
"Apologies for commandeering your weekends, especially with some of you having a late night yesterday, but it was imperative that we have this discussion before the school week begins."
Shit. Marlene groaned inwardly. She was going to be expelled.
Dumbledore rested his elbows on the desk, his hands clasped together, as if he were about to pray. He turned to Lily first: "Miss Evans, I trust that you are recovering well after your assault?"
Marlene could've sworn she felt Snape flinch next to her.
"I…I suppose" was Lily's response. She didn't really want to go into the detail of last night's ridiculous dream, or the fact that her friends were still refusing to let her go anywhere alone. The surface answer was fine.
"And are you satisfied with the measures that have been taken?"
Lily wasn't sure what to say. She rolled her answer on her tongue for a few seconds: "I'm happy that Dolohov has been expelled, Professor, but there were several other people involved in the…incident. I'd like to know what efforts have been made to trace them, so that other muggleborns aren't put at risk for the rest of the year."
Dumbledore nodded. "Of course. Miss McKinnon, you may remember that you came to me with a list of names in the day following the incident."
"I did, so I'd quite like to know why he's still here" Marlene snapped.
The Headmaster sighed. "Marlene, you informed me that those names had been gathered through intimidation and harm, isn't that correct?"
"It is" Marlene didn't even blush "which is why I'm no longer on the Herald, and why I'm serving detention for the rest of my natural life."
Despite herself, Lily allowed herself a small smile at her friend's bullishness.
"Mr Dolohov confessed to being involved in the attack on you, Miss Evans, which is why he was expelled with immediate effect. All of the others named, including Mr Snape, have been questioned and deny the allegations."
Well of course they bloody would was Lily's first thought.
"Furthermore" the headmaster continued "Mr Snape fervently denies the account that you sought retribution against him, Miss McKinnon."
The only sound in the room was Fawkes' beak knocking against the metal of his water bowl. The two Gryffindor girls were too stunned to speak for what seemed like minutes.
"I…I'm sorry?" Marlene choked out, her cheeks turning red.
"As such, I will be reinstating you as editor of the Herald this week and your detentions will end after tomorrow night."
"I don't understand" Lily said. "How…?"
"Check my wand" Marlene threw it onto the desk in defiance "use your weird Pensieve thing to extract my memory, there is no way this fucking slimeball is telling you the truth. You must be able to see that he's trying to save his own skin?"
"Professor" Lily interrupted before Marlene could start the next phase of her rant "are you saying that there will be no other punishments for the assault? That you won't keep looking for the others?"
"Miss Evans, I promise you that we will continue to try and find those responsible. The safety of all students at this school is our utmost priority" Dumbledore was barely meeting her eyes.
"You've got the names of those responsible" Marlene spluttered "and you're content with just kicking out the ringleader? Like that will make it stop?"
"Mar" Lily put her hand on her friend's arm in warning. She knew if Marlene went much further, she'd get the Herald taken away from her again, or worse. "We should go."
Marlene stood and surveyed the scene before her. Her Headmaster, the most powerful wizard in the country, bowing to the pressure of a seventeen-year-old Slytherin. Forsaking the safety of the most vulnerable in the school.
"If I'm in charge of the Herald again, I won't stop reporting on this" she told Dumbledore sternly "there is something horrible happening at this school, and it's your duty to find it and fix it" her eyes flitted to Snape "not to protect cowards who are ruled by hate."
Dumbledore's voice was measured when he spoke next. "I look forward to reading your return issue, Miss McKinnon."
Lily felt like her stomach was going to fall out of her arsehole. Marlene, sensing the impending panic in her friend's throat, took her by the elbow and shoved her into a nearby broom closet for an urgent debrief.
"What on Merlin's green earth just happened?" the blonde hissed. "Lil, are you okay?"
Lily kept trying to wet her lips with her tongue, but they were too dry. It was like she'd run out of words to say. "Should I have told him, about Sev?"
Marlene shrugged. "I told him for you, remember? He's chosen to ignore it."
"Maybe he thinks…maybe if he keeps them in the castle, it's better than-"
"Than them going out to join You-Know-Who without any NEWTs?" Marlene snorted.
Lily shook her head. "I can't believe I'm about to ask this, but can we trust Dumbledore after this?"
"I don't know" came Marlene's soft reply. "I think maybe we're going to need to rely on each other for a while. Just to be safe."
"But it's not safe here, is it?" the anger that had been building throughout the meeting with Dumbledore was spilling out of Lily now "I was….they…they did vile things to me and I'm the fucking Head Girl. I'm having fucked up dreams, I hate being anywhere on my own, I can barely concentrate on my work and I have to see Sev every single day. What are they going to do to a first-year, Mar?"
Her friend couldn't answer.
"We need to do more" Lily concluded. "What more can we do?"
Marlene grimaced. "You're going to hate this."
"I don't think I can hate much more about today but go on."
"We need to do our own digging" Marlene told her "and we're going to need all the help we can get."
That's how, ten minutes later, the girls found themselves knocking on a familiar door.
Remus opened it and frowned. "Ladies" he stepped aside to allow them into the boy's dormitory "to what do we owe the pleasure?"
And then four words came out of Lily's mouth that the Marauders couldn't have predicted: "we need your help."