JAMES POV
James woke early on the first day of December. It was a Saturday morning and also the first Quidditch match of the season. He felt confident whilst marching over to the Gryffindor tower to rouse his team. They we're well trained. Unless someone got critically injured they stood a solid chance of beating Hufflepuff.
The walk from the Head's room to the Gryffindor tower took him past the Room of Requirement, something he and Peter had found during fourth year when they we're rushing to found a bathroom after Sirius dared them to see who could last the longest without using the bathroom. Peter had won that one. He grinned at the memory. It was also the same night he'd first seen Lily Evans out after curfew – with Snape nonetheless – but still, she was breaking rules. Something James had annoyed her about relentlessly for the following week.
His smile faded at the thought of Lily now. They we're well on the way towards becoming best friends – easily – judging on the amount of time they spent together, both voluntarily and because of their close proximity. But James could sense Lily's hesitation and knew it had to do with the multiple attacks on blood traitors. The teachers couldn't pin the blame without proof but most of the school knew who the group consisted off – Snape, Avery, Mulciber, Regulus and Evan.
James was still under the suspicion that Dumbledore had scheduled him and Lily onto daily patrols because of possible inside attacks – and if that was, the old man had been right. James knew that each of the mentioned Slytherins had parents with immediate connections to Voldemort. James figured this had an important role in determining their actions, but he couldn't quite peg why.
He turned a corner, now right near the Room of Requirement. It was also the same place he'd been attacked by Evan after the incident with Moony. Therefore he shouldn't have been surprised two Slytherins here again, but the sound of Snape's voice sneering his name, filled him with a rage he couldn't quite settle.
James spun on his feet, his scarlet robes twisting around his ankles. Snape glared at him, a snobbish scowl on his face. Behind him stood Regulus, his wand held tightly in his hand. James couldn't shake the feeling that both Slytherins had a personal vendetta against from the state of their anger – aimed directly at him.
Without thinking, James drew his wand from beneath his robes. If they were looking for a fight, James wasn't about to go down easy.
"Snape," he said. "I would say it's a pleasant surprise to see you, but well it really isn't."
"Don't patronize me Potter," Snape barked. "I want you to stay away from Evans."
"Well that might be slightly difficult," James said, barely able to hide his smirk. "Since we share a suite together and all."
Snape snarled, lifting his wand. But it was Regulus who spoke next. "You'll get what's coming for you Mudblood lover," he sneered.
"Don't you dare use that language," James shouted, his smugness vanishing into raging hatred. "Didn't your mother ever wash your scum mouth out?"
"You will stay away from her, mark my words," Snape glowered.
"And how are you going to achieve that," James snapped. "Kill me?"
"Close," Snape growled.
"Or are you going to pull a Regulus?" James said. "Scar my forehead with your vulgar language in the hope that Lily will stay away from me."
"Warmer Potter," Snape said. He was inching closer to James, his greasy hair covering half of his pale face. Behind him, Regulus had his wand trained on James' chest, covering his Slytherin friend. "But I had something a lot more painful in mind."
James took a nervous step backwards. There was an evil glint in Snape's eye he'd never seen before. Something feral and malicious. He lowered his wand, realizing that a duel wasn't going to go down favorably for him.
"Look Snape," he started. "You sure you want –
"Oh shut him up already," Regulus shouted. "He's the one who manipulated my stupid brother. Who stole your girlfriend from you."
"Sirius chose his own path," James said firmly. "Ever since he asked the hat to sort him in Gryffindor."
Regulus gasped. "He did not."
James nodded fervently. "Gryffindor's chose bravery. Sirius chose to be brave when he went against his own family."
Regulus' eyes flickered uncertainly, his wand dropping a few inches. James tried to hide his smug smile – he'd always thought there was more to Regulus than his family name. Snape on the other hand, was boiling with hatred.
"You'll stay away from Lily," he said. "You're not good for her."
"That may be true," James replied. "But I'm a whole lot better for her than you'll ever be."
With that he threw himself to the right, firing a spell towards Snape. The Slytherin threw up a hasty shield, just managing to refract James' hex. Snape's next hex flew so close to James' head that he felt a few of his hairs sizzle. James grew more and more worried as Snape continued to fling hexes his way. There was something different about them – something more dangerous. He'd been in duels before with Snape – more than he'd ever admit to someone – but there had always been a limit to them, both boys unwilling to fire a curse that would lead to immediate expulsion. That wasn't the case with Snape now. James didn't even recognize some of the curses that were shot his way.
"Sectumsepra," Snape snarled.
That hex James did recognize since Snape had used it against him during their fifth year. Pain sliced down James' right arm and across his torso. He tried throwing up a shield charm, diving out of the way of Snape's second attempt.
"Use them," Regulus sneered. "Remember what she said. Use it on him."
Snape's eyes grew wide but he nodded anyway. James darted behind a suit of armor, clutching his wand to his chest. He gasped wheezy air in and out of his lungs, the pain suddenly overwhelming. Blood dripped from his torso.
"Come on out Potter," Snape cried.
James felt dizzy. His vision had gone scarily blurry and he was no longer certain that he had ten fingers. He stumbled out from his hiding spot.
"If you're going to kill me," he said, spitting blood from his mouth. "Do it." James spread his arms out. "I'm proud to be a Muggleborn lover."
Snape's black eyes narrowed. He was being stupid, James knew that, but between his fuzzy thoughts and dwindling vision he had nothing else to do but defend his pride. He would go down fighting for what he believed in.
"I'm thinking of Lily," James said, letting the image of her face fill his mind. "And Sirius. I'm thinking of Eliza Abbott. And Jones Fawley, Margo Brown and Jessica Yaxley," he mumbled around the growing pain, listing names of Purebloods who'd been recently attacked by Snape and his croonies.
Snape snarled. His wand slashed through the air, moving in a movement that drew fear to prickle over James skin. "Cruico," Snape bellowed.
The unforgivable hit James squarely in the chest. Pain beyond pain hit every single nerve in James' body. The force was so strong it lifted James off the ground and flung him backwards down the corridor. He barely registered the sound of his wand clattering against the cobbles, barely registered the cracking sound his skull made against the brick.
Darkness consumed him.
Darkness and a silence with no edges.
LILY POV
"What do you reckon," Lily said, holding her poster up at her friends.
Alice cocked her head, surveying the words, a small smile on her lips. Marlene, on the other hand, burst into fits of laughter.
"And now I understand why you chose to use Muggle methods," she said sarcastically.
Lily rolled her eyes, peering down at her rough drawing of a lion's head. Crooked words beneath spelt the slogan GO POTTER. "It's not that bad," she said.
"I doubt James will realize just how much your lion looks like a sloth," Alice pointed out. "Just the mere fact that its you holding a poster with his name on it."
"You don't think it's too flirty, do you?" Lily asked worriedly. She'd been stressing over making James a poster or not. Half of the Gryffindor girls usually made James a poster in the aim of catching his attention, but she'd done it out of friendship right?
Friendship and the tiny part of her that felt something more for James. Oh fine, the large part of her that definitely felt something for James.
"I thought you were going for flirty," Marlene said, cocking her head.
"Well kind of," Lily said. "But I don't want him to take this flirtatiously."
"Why not?" Alice ask, confused.
The three girls were decked in scarlet and gold like most of the Gryffindor table. The game started in an hour, but most of the tower came down early to support the team who were sitting in a group in the middle of their table. Since Alice and Marlene were both on the team, as the seeker and beater respectively, Lily was sitting with the team.
Well most of the team. James was yet to show, hence the freedom with their conversation.
"Because look," Lily said angrily, pointing at a cluster of sixth years at one end of the table. The five girls were all supporting GO POTTER and POTTER FOR KING posters. "They're going for flirty. I'm going for supportive."
Marlene laughed. "Maybe you should add that to the poster."
"Yeah in brackets beneath," Alice said. "Supportive not flirty."
Lily laughed, despite the feeling of unease in the pit of her stomach. It'd been over two weeks since she'd produced the doe patronus in class. To her surprise James hadn't brought the idea of souls mates or it's meant to be or any of that Romantic crap, in fact he hadn't mentioned it at all. That alone confused Lily to no ends.
It'd also been over two weeks since he'd admitted that he liked her – and that he grew to like her more and more everyday. Was that still the same? He hadn't asked her out, he hadn't tried to sweet talk her, he hadn't done anything but been a James Lily never thought existed. He was all kinds of nice, considerate and shockingly loyal. Lily had come to associate his arrogance with pride and a self-confidence that she had envied a few times.
If anything, things just felt awkward between them. Like they we're both feeling things they didn't want to express.
"We should probably head down soon to fit in some practice," Marlene said, finishing the last of her breakfast. "Where is James anyway?"
"Maybe he's already down there," Lily said half-heartedly. She was too busy fiddling with her poster to give his absence much thought. "I heard him leave this morning. Actually he banged on my door and shouted will I see you at the game Evans."
"Did you show him your poster?"
"I might've sworn angrily at him for waking me up," Lily said sheepishly.
"Oi Evans," one of the Gryffindor boys shouted. She recognized him as Benjy Boot, the keeper for the team. "You seen James?"
Lily shook her head. "Sorry."
The team, complaining about James' absence, clambered to their feet.
"See you in the stands," Alice said cheerfully.
"Kick some Hufflepuff butt out there," Lily told her two friends.
OTHER POV (I know I'm off by four years but thought it'd be cute to throw a Weasley family member into the plot – just ignore the time gap)
William Weasley hurried down the corridor but stopped when he reached a fork at the end. Admit it – the first year thought angrily – you're lost. Bill had been trying to find the entrance to the kitchens since the other boys in his dorm had told him it was a myth that house elves worked at Hogwarts.
"Have you ever seen one anywhere," his new best friend Henry Lawson had scoffed.
"I'll prove you wrong Henry," Bill had retorted.
All Bill had proven was that Hogwarts was much larger than he'd given it credit for. He couldn't be that far from the Gryffindor tower. His mum would've told him to re-trace his steps, but Bill was eleven and full of mischief. He kept on wandering around and around in circles, determined to find the kitchens.
What he found instead shocked him to the bones. Shoved behind a suit of armor, bleeding and unconscious, was his Head Boy. Well, at least Bill thought it was James Potter. Someone had snatched his glasses and blood coated most of his face.
Bill nudged James with his foot. Please don't be dead. Please don't be dead. To his immense relief, James stirred, moaning slightly.
"Merlin's beard," Bill mumbled. "I'll go and fetch Madame Pomfrey."
But then Bill remembered how lost he was. He was going to be known as the boy who let their Head Boy die because he couldn't remember whether the Gryffindor tower was on the third floor or the second floor. Determined to not gain such a bad reputation after only three months at Hogwarts, Bill roamed the corridors yelling before help. He finally stumbled upon McGonagall – who was apparently already searching the corridors for James.
"Professor," Bill cried, running up to her.
"Hello Mr Weasley," McGonagall said, sounding flustered. "I'm afraid you'll have to wait – I'm in a bit of a rush."
"But Professor –
"We've seemed to have lost our Quidditch captain," McGonagall interrupted him. She sounded worried. "The game is supposed to start twenty minutes ago."
Bill gawped at how much time had passed but hurriedly pushed back his surprise. "I know where he is," he told her. "Someone's tried to murder him."
LILY POV
"What's going on?" Lily said, shielding her face from the sunlight.
"No clue," Remus murmured. He had a book open in one hand, his other hand blocking the sun from his face.
It was one of those days were despite the coldness, the sun was determined to shine brightly regardless. Lily admired its efforts but right now it was driving her mad – she could barely make out the huddle of players on the field.
"I think Gryffindor's missing a player," she said, squinting.
"You sure you heard James wake up this morning?" Sirius asked her lazily. He had his legs propped up on the seat in front of him.
"Unless I dream about him knocking the daylights from my door," Lily told him. "I'm very sure."
Suddenly McGonagall's magnified voice echoed across the field, drawing everyone's attention.
"Students," she called. "Sorry for the delays. Unfortunately today's game has been cancelled – " an uproar of complaints drowned out her next words.
Sirius leapt to his feet, angrily joining in. Remus looked unbothered by this news, but his eyes were narrowed in confusion. He pointed to Sirius and muttered something into his friend's ear. Nodding, Sirius pulled a tattered piece of parchment from his pocket and tapped his wand against it. Lily couldn't see what was happening since all three boys were peering over the parchment.
Peter let out a low whistle. "He's not here," she said.
"Unless he's in the Room of Requirement," Remus pointed out.
Lily grew more and more bewildered. "The Room of what?" she repeated. "And who's not here."
"James," Sirius told her. "He isn't in the castle."
"How in Merlin's beard do you know that?"
"Marauder secrets," Sirius said.
"He can't have gone –
"Unless someone took him out of the castle," Remus said, interrupting her. "Like a teacher."
"For what?" Peter said, frowning.
Sirius shook his head, obviously having caught onto Remus' train of thoughts. "No," he said, his smile vanishing. "You're very wrong Moony."
"Can someone explain what's going on?" Lily growled, grabbing Sirius by his cloak sleeve and swinging him around.
Sirius yanked at of her grip, a feral look on his face. Lily dropped her hand instantly, nervous. She'd never seen Sirius looked so worked up and angry before. She knew James was worried about him – he fretted over it constantly – but what he didn't mention was why.
"Well he is a pureblood," Peter squeaked.
"So?" Lily snapped, before remembering the events that had occurred over the past three weeks. "Oh," he voice petered off into a low whisper. "But hang on – he would've just been taken to Pomfrey right?"
"Lily," Remus said, sound tense. "They cancelled Quidditch. Let me re-phrase, McGonagall cancelled Quidditch."
"And this is Snape we're talking about," Sirius finished.
(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)(HP)
Lily followed the rest of Gryffindor back to their tower, joining in on the confusion that was buzzing around the castle. No one but Lily and the Marauders seemed to have made the connection between James' absence and the cancelling of the game.
Lily threw herself onto the couch, dumping her poster onto the table. Maybe Alice and Marlene knew what had happened. The three boys joined her, their brows creased with worried. Sirius was still peering over his piece of parchment.
After thirty arduous minutes, the portrait door swung open and in piled the Gryffindor team. At the sight of their pale faces, a few of the older students stood up and began shouting complaints.
"It's rubbish," Oliver Bones shouted. "Cancel Quidditch? Who would've known?"
"McGonagall must be off her rocker," Katie Bennett added.
"Where's Marley?" Lily whispered as Alice sunk into the chair beside her. The three boys leaned closer.
Alice shook her head, sucking in a shaky breath. "Oh Lily, it's awful."
Lily blinked. "What happened? Is everyone okay?"
Alice bit back a sob. Her hands were bunched in delicate fists, her nails scraping into her skin. "It's James," she told them. "He's been taken to Mungo's."
"What?" Sirius exclaimed. "Why?"
Alice shrugged. "A first year found him shoved unconscious behind a suit of armor covered in blood. McGonagall said he showed signs of the cruciatus curse."
Lily couldn't help swearing. "Shit," she exclaimed.
Catching Sirius startled expression at her language, she fervently added, "well it is shit. Who in their right minds would use an unforgivable?"
"McGonagall said he had Mudblood lover scared on his forehead," Alice said. "So it's probably Avery or Mulciber or…" she trailed off, casting a worried look between Sirius and Lily.
"Or Regulus," Sirius muttered. "You can say it if you're all thinking it."
"And Snape I guess," Lily said, shaking her head sadly. Her childhood friend really was gone if he was firing Unforgivables at people. "He is fine, though right?"
"James?" Alice said, shrugging. "I dunno, McGonagall didn't say much. Marley's gone to visit him – they're saying its family only at the moment."
"Why the fuck did those grease balls learn how to cast unforgivables," Sirius exploded, looking angered by Alice's words. "We haven't studied them in class yet."
"There are books in the restricted section about them," Peter pointed out.
"And most of them are prefects," Lily said.
"James reckons they're up to something," Remus said, glancing at Lily and Alice. "He thinks that's the reason you two have to patrol daily."
Lily blinked. James had never mentioned anything about that before; in fact he'd never mentioned anything about the Slytherins to her. "So you're saying that Dumbledore probably has suspicions too?" Lily said.
"If James is right," Remus said, running a hand through his hair. "He reckons the attacks by the Slytherins have some sort of connection with You-Know-Who."
"How does he suppose that?" Alice asked.
"Well, firstly those particular Slytherins have close ties to Voldemort," Sirius said, ignoring the sharp gasps from the girls at the mention of his name. "And well, they're all trying to achieve the same things – ostracize Muggleborns and create hate towards Muggles."
"It's also possible that they're acting off orders from their parents," Remus said, much to the shock of Lily. "It isn't compulsory to send your kid to school, but we receive a much better education here than if we studied from home."
Sirius nodded fervently. "My parents hate Hogwarts because of how they let everyone come study here. Obviously they don't care about me but with Regulus they can make sure he gets a good education and makes connections."
"That's madness," Lily said angrily. "They can't be allowed to get away with that."
"It works," Peter said, shaking his head. "Maisy Higgins dropped out the other day because she was getting bullied so much."
Alice's eyes nearly bugged out of her head, and Lily couldn't blame her. Maisy was a gentle Hufflepuff sixth year – she literally wouldn't hurt a fly – but she was also a Muggleborn, and half squib to boot.
"It can't work for everyone," Lily muttered, than trailed off. Who was she kidding? It had worked on her – wasn't this one of the reasons she kept her relationship with James as only platonic? If James got hurt because of her, Lily didn't think she could bare it. But he did. Everyone knew James had a thing for her, and he'd been targeted because of it. And he'd gotten it worse than most because of Snape's obsession with Lily.
She could feel herself paling. Alice's expression was schooled, but Lily knew she could tell what thoughts were berating her. Surprisingly, it was Sirius who spoke up.
"Evans if you're blaming yourself – stop," he ordered, sounding angry. Lily blanched. What had she done now? "You know James won't blame you for it, so no point scolding yourself."
"I – just," she faltered at the pointed look all three boys sent her way. "What if he's really, badly hurt? You can't say it isn't my fault. I'm the Mudblood for Christ sakes."
Lily felt disgusted at herself – disgusted at the fact that she was a Muggleborn, disgusted at the fact that she drew this kind of attention.
"Lily," Remus said quietly. "I don't think –
"No," Sirius belted, earning a few reproachful glares from around the room. "Evans just shut up. Yes you're a Muggleborn but why the fuck should that matter?"
"No you shut up Sirius," Lily shouted. "None of you lot are Muggleborn. You have no clue how it feels to be discriminated against because of your blood?"
Sirius scoffed. "Yeah, I have no experience." He glared sarcastically at Lily, who wilted a little. In her own rage, she'd forgotten about Sirius' mental family.
"Sorry," she mumbled. "I didn't mean it like that."
"I know," Sirius said. "But you can't scream at us. We're in this with you Evans."
"Hear, hear," Alice said, smiling despite the past events.
JAMES POV
James woke feeling like crap. The bed beneath him was unfamiliar. So were the walls, and the view outside his window. Startled, he jolted upwards only to be yanked back by something attached to his face. He pulled back the oxygen mask, confused.
There was only one thing familiar and that was the form of his cousin curled on a chair in the corner of the room. Her golden hair was messy and tied in a knotty bun. Her skin was pale, and when she stirred James could see the worry etched in her sleeping face.
She tried to count back the events in his head. He remembered waking for a Quidditch game – maybe he'd been knocked out by a Quaffle? Then suddenly it came rushing back to him: the encounter with Snape and Regulus, the duel – the one, unforgivable.
Even to his own surprise, the first emotion he felt was surprise. Not angry or shock or anything similar. He was honestly surprised that Snape had fired an unforgivable. That wouldn't just result in a month of detentions – it was Azkaban worthy.
"James!" A startled voice shook him from his daydream.
Marlene leapt from her chair and rushed over to him. "How are you?" She said.
"Shocked," James replied, honestly. "A little sore, I guess."
Marlene beamed at that. "You've been out of it for four days now."
James blanched. "Four? Have you been here the whole time?"
She nodded. "Lily's been sending me school work." She ran a hand through her messy hair-do, giving it an extra fizz. "And you've been receiving mail." She pointed to a pile of unopened letters on a white, bedside table. James didn't recognize the handwriting of the one on top.
"Has anyone else visit?" He asked, drawing his eyes from the pile.
An image of Lily crying hysterically over his lifeless body filled his thoughts – only to be replaced with the image of Sirius berating him for being such an idiot and going and getting himself cursed.
"You mean has Lily visited?"
James shrugged, trying to look unbothered.
"She wanted too," Marlene said. "But it's family only. Your Mum and Dad are talking to the Healers. I should probably go and tell them that you're awake and –
"Wait," James said, grabbing Marlene's hand to stop her from getting up. Marlene sent him a curious glance when he didn't say anything else. He fumbled with the worries that were numbing his mind.
"Do people know who it was?" Marlene asked for him. After James had nodded hesitantly, she continued, "no," she sounded resigned, "I guess people are waiting for you to snitch on the culprit."
"So everyone knows about it?" James said, not sure how he felt about that. He was used to the attention him and his friends received – well the attention they used to demand during younger years – but he felt a weird sting of vulnerability drive through him.
James' father, Robert, was a first class Auror and James' hero ever since he charmed his teddy bear to hug him back when he was two. It didn't come to a surprise to anyone then when he declared that he to was going to become an Auror when he was thirteen.
Of course Mr. Potter had encouraged his decision, telling James about his thrilling tales chasing the bad guys. What he'd failed to mention was this – the feeling of fear, the pit in his stomach that was hollow, the unease that now drained him like a plague. He'd been attacked and he'd nearly died.
He wasn't sure how he felt because he still wanted to become an Auror – he still wanted to play his role in the up-coming war – but he'd never fully comprehended the seriousness of it.
Snape had played the first move.
And James could feel the grounds of Hogwarts crumbling because of it. Inside the castle walls, James could continue to remain relatively safe – comforted by the rules, his ability to plot out the next move.
But outside.
That wasn't a game.
CHUCK US A REVIEW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK OF SNAPE USING AN UNFORGIVABLE.