Two days later Carmina was walking through a shortcut leading to a corridor near the History of Magic classroom, when she heard a yell.
"Snivellus! Take you hands away from Carmina, she's mine!" A bang sounded, followed with a sound of small piece of wood rolling on the stone floor. A second bang and painful intake of breath. Carmina recognized Severus even with the minimal use of voice. Same as she recognized Sirius with the first voice.
"Nice shot, James!" Black laugh, pleased.
Another voice was heard.
"Severus, two on one again? Care for a company?" drawled the voice.
Carmina thought it might belong to one of the Slytherins who Severus was friendly with. His name was Avery if she remembered correctly.
Carmina pushed aside the curtain hanging over the shortcut's entrance and emerged. Severus's wand lay on the floor under Sirius's foot, seemingly intact. Severus was standing five meters away, pale faced, his hand firmly on his belly. Avery was standing next to him, along with three other Slytherins. Carmina turned her eyes at Sirius. She made sure they both understood her warning, so they had the grace to look unsure at least.
Her eyes resembled two pieces of green-blue-grey ice, and her voice was even colder when she spoke, "Move your foot from his wand."
Sirius obeyed instantly and Carmina accioed the wand. It was all right fortunately, not even scratched. She threw it to Severus, without a glance in his way. Her eyes were fixed on her prey, who didn't dare to as much as move under those eyes.
"Do you remember what I told you the last time?" she hissed through clenched teeth.
"Err… yes?"
Carmina looked at Severus. "Stand still," she said quietly and turned her wand his way. She narrowed her eyes in concentration, her wand identifying what it was that James did to him. Then she waved it slowly, first at Black, then at Potter and gave it a slight flick. They screamed in pain and grasped their stomachs. Carmina wasn't finished, though. They needed something to last them longer than one visit to the hospital wing. Turning her wand on Sirius she narrowed her eyes again. He cared about his appearance very much, thus he needed a repulsive one. She concentrated on awful, pus-ejecting boils appearing on his face, which stayed there for a whole month, despite all kinds of spells, medicine or power. Her wand needed a while to grant her wish, but in the end it trembled slightly. With a bright orange ray it made Sirius's appearance something that was difficult to even look at without the urge to be sick. Carmina smiled coldly in satisfaction. No counter spells, make-up, or glamour spells would hide it. That was his punishment.
"Sirius! What… Ugh, that's awful!" exclaimed James. Carmina's wand lit up again, pressing his hair firmly down to his skull and making it repellent green-yellow colour. He was looking awful and ridiculous at the same time.
"If you do it one more time, it will be a lot worse. Get out of my sight!" she hissed menacingly. They both fled, as if they were only waiting for her allowance. She turned to Severus and his Slytherin friends. Severus was smiling at her, despite the pain the must have been in. His friends were laughing maliciously, while watching the fleeing pair.
"Severus, me or Madam Pomfrey?"
"You," he said quietly and smiled at her. "Thanks. That was nice."
"My words," joined Avery, looking her up and down with interest. "What did you do to them to make them scream?"
"The same thing they did to Severus."
"Pity they won't maintain such a visage. We could take a photo then. They're probably at Pomfrey's now, with how fast they were running."
"It will remain like that for a month. Magical and muggle ways both will be good for nothing. After a month, it will disappear." Carmina said, making it to Severus's wound through his clothing. She got an answer in form of another laugh explosion from the Slytherins, except for Avery, who was studying her intently.
"Timed permanent spell of your own choice? That's extremely difficult to cast."
"I am twenty with a finished education. Furthermore, I am satisfied with my life the way it is." she said firmly.
Severus came to her help then, he knew well enough, what Avery was preparing to ask.
"Leave it be, she is neutral."
"You looked?" the Slytherin looked at him.
Severus nodded.
"No chance at all?"
"Don't try it, she's better as neutral should she throw herself to the opposition due to pressure. That would be a problem."
Avery looked mournful. "Pity. What about you then?"
Carmina made sure not to look up from his wound and to make it seem that the point of their conversation was slipping her, hence she was not interested in the conversation at all. She was healing his wound slowly.
"I am not quite sure yet, but I am inclining to your opinion, to be honest. I just don't know if I won't be a burden in he end. I have no contacts, except for Slytherin schoolmates."
"That surely won't be a problem, the more we are, the stronger we become."
"That's true. I'll give you my answer in a short time."
"Excellent," Avery nodded, satisfied.
"Done, Severus. Are you going to the library, or outside?" Carmina asked, putting her wand in her pocket again.
"Wherever you want to go. See you later, Avery. Thanks for help." he nodded to his friends. They nodded back and walked away. Carmina and Severus headed out of the castle, to the Lake. They kept their silence until they reached the shore and sat down. Carmina searched the surroundings for prying presence with her wand and raised a Silencing charm.
"May I assume that Avery is already serving the Dark Lord then?" she glanced at him.
He glanced back and nodded.
"Thank you for stopping him. I'm not that good with diplomacy."
"You're welcome. At least you will be safe while they think you are harmless to them. If you want to fight against them though, you will have to be very inconspicuous. I'll not be able to protect you then."
"I'm not going to fight. I really am neutral, as you said. I don't need to fight."
"Do you mind I want to… join them?" he asked her hesitantly. He wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer.
"I don't. I know you only ever do what you have to or what you want to do. I won't like you any less, whatever happens."
"You think that now, but they—the Death-Eaters—don't only recruit new members."
"I know what they do, Severus. I know things, remember? I know what to expect. I know things about you, too, and I know you. I will be your friend regardless of what happens and I will still care for you."
He was silent for a while, but then he smiled. "Thanks."
"Will you promise me something? Promise me you'll never tell anyone what kind of wand I have."
"It wouldn't even cross my mind, Carmina. He would go after you immediately, neutral or not."
"But you must never say it. Not even should you hate me and cease to be friends with me. Please, can you promise me you'll never say? If only for the sake of friendship we have now?" she was staring at him intently. When he finds out—if he finds out—that she knew what was going to happen to Lily and did nothing, he will probably really hate her. What else could he be feeling, when she let Lily be killed? She prayed so much she could avoid it, but her death was essential. Without it there would be no Harry Potter, no one would kill Voldemort in the Final Battle.
He looked at her intently. "Why should I hate you?"
"Please, will you promise me?" pleaded Carmina.
"You cannot tell me, right? You know something that could make me not like you like I do and you cannot tell me."
Carmina nodded and watched him pleadingly. He thought about it for a long while.
"Because of what we have now—yes, I will promise you. I promise you I will never tell anyone about your wand. If I will be able to stop it, they won't be able to get out of me any other way," he said seriously.
"Thank you," Carmina said quietly and turned away.
When he gets a word of the death of his only original friend, he will hate her for sure. There would be no chance to get him to be friends with her again, Hufflepuff or not. After all, he loved her, and still loves her. Carmina was only his friend. Lily meant more to him, even though she was with another man now. She succeeded in making friends with him, but she was going to lose that friendship in three years. She'll never get it back. Tears flooded her eyes again and she gritted her teeth, as she always did. She was not going to cry again.
"Carmina," she heard a quiet voice and Severus touched her hand. "Whatever happens in the future you know of, I care for you. I trust you and that is more that what anyone else can say. So worry about nothing now, OK? I hate it when you cry."
Carmina smiled and nodded. She pushed her tears back, while she could. She would not cry again. That was no help whatsoever.
Black and his gang tried nothing on Severus any more, they were careful not to overstep boundaries again. Carmina's stunt made them a target of ridicule for well over a month and no points were taken by the Professors for it, even Carmina wasn't ever punished. Headmaster Dumbledore talked to her the next day, but she emerged from his office as calm as she could be, as if it was just an ordinary meeting. A huge blow to their egos, to be honest.