I'm really sorry that chapters 4 and 5 haven't been beta read yet to get rid of all the mistakes. My old beta is too busy to read through my stories now and I'm in the process of looking for a new beta reader. As soon as I've found one I'll try and get the corrected chapters posted as soon as possible.

Thank you to all the people who have been reading my story, to those who have commented and to those who have added it to their favourites or alerts. It means a lot to me. Special thanks to Queen Moanna of the Underworld for your feedback because it helps to encourage me to keep writing, especially when I feel a bit discouraged by my family and friend's reactions to my writing.

Hugs and stuff

Katie

P.S. sorry this chapter is so long, I just couldn't reach the point where I wanted to end the chapter in any fewer words…

Edited 25/1/2009: Okay, so I managed to persuade my friend to finally spare the time to beta read this chapter so with any look, any of the grammer/spelling mistakes should be gone by now. If you spot anymore in here, let me know and I'll correct them a.s.a.p.

Disclaimer: I do not own or have any rights to anything mentioned, described and included in any Harry Potter related book/movie or product. This is just my interpretation of how Lily and James got together. All rights reserved to J.K. Rowling.

Chapter 5

James's P.O.V.

I've noticed in life that sometimes, when you need help the most, help will come from the most unexpected places. People often underestimate Peter and wonder why on earth we befriended him in the first year because it was quickly obvious that he wasn't a massively, naturally talented wizard like perhaps Sirius and I but neither was he naturally a hard grafter like Remus who works his pants off to get some of the highest marks in the years. Peter is a strong all rounder, good at every subject but not amazing at any of them. Peter's strength lies in his loyalty to his friends because he's never had a bad word to say about any of us, even though sometimes Sirius can tease him quite mercilessly and Remus sometimes doesn't have the patience to put up with some of Peter's occasional struggles with some of our classes.

He's not the most extrovert of our group and sometimes people's eyes seem to just pass over him as though he isn't there if me or Sirius aren't there and because of this he often overhears things that the rest of us wouldn't because people are more guarded around us. It's this skill of his that has provided us with some of the best opportunities to cause maximum mayhem in the past and also to find the ways to get us out of trouble on the rare occasions the Slytherins actually come up with a plan to try and get us expelled.

I'd been lying on my bed after Quidditch practice, idly reading my Transfiguration textbook as I tried to decide whether I could be bothered to make a start on the homework now or whether I should wait until Sirius gets back from whatever he is up to and for Remus to get back from his unscheduled patrol duty and do it with them when we could laugh and joke about it as we did it, when Peter came rushing in looking flustered. I was pretty sure, without even checking the Marauder's Map, he had been down in either the Library, working on one of the many essays that we've been set this week or in the kitchen, munching away on an early supper because let's face it, boys our age can never have too much to eat, either of which would have meant that normally he wouldn't have come back up to the dorms for at least another three quarters of an hour.

"Prongs!" He called out to me as he dashed into the room, skidding to a halt in front of my bed. "You'll never guess what I've heard," He told me excitedly, his watery blue eyes glittering.

"You finally got round to hexing Filch's cat into oblivion? A huge black hole randomly appeared in the middle of the Slytherin common room and sucked the whole foul, lot of them into it never to been seen again?" I suggested dryly. How on earth was I meant to guess what had got Peter so excited? This was Hogwarts and anything could have happened.

He glared at me. "Be serious, James," He told me sternly and for a moment I thought that he sounded eerily like Remus does when someone is annoying him while he's trying to do his homework or read on of his many thick books. "This is important,"

"Well then why don't you just tell me what it is then?" I asked calmly. Unluckily for Peter that tone never really works on me when Remus uses it so someone trying to copy it will have no luck making it have any effect on me. "Why try and make me guess what's happened when you know as well as I do that there are million things that could have happened to get you so excited,"

"True," Peter admitted unwillingly.

"So are you going to tell me what happened?" I asked curiously, seriously wanting to know whatever it is that Peter had to tell me.

"Well I was walking back from the kitchen down in the dungeons to see if Slughorn was in his office so I could get some help off him with that essay we have to write for Monday," He started slowly, quickly justifying his reasons for being down in that area of the castle, before spilling the beans on what has happened. Peter tends to do that a lot, constantly feels the needs to justify his actions to us as though he thinks we'll think the worse of him or judge him some how for it. I wish he would have a little more confidence in himself to know that he doesn't need to justify every little thing he does to his friends. "And I was just walking past that abandoned class room just further down from the entrance to their common room when I overheard them talking,"

Trust Peter to miss out the important details in that sentence. I could have done without the exact location of where he overheard whatever it was but it would be more useful for me to know who had been involved in the conversation. "Heard who talking?" I prompted him, knowing that if I didn't prompt him for that detail he might forget it.

"Nott, Avery and a couple of the younger years, can't remember their names," He shrugged. "It seemed like they were giving orders out to the other kids or something. I peeked in through the doorway and watched them as they ranted on and on,"

"So," I shrugged. "That's just the way they do things in Slytherin house. It wouldn't be the first time one of us have heard them having on of those little pureblood gatherings." I shrugged, wondering if this was Peter making a mountain out of a molehill. He's normally quite reliable with some of the stuff he overhears, but just occasionally he does make some things out to be more important than they actually are.

"But then we never heard them outright threatening anyone," Peter shrugged. "All those times they just tended to rant and rave about hexing any Muggleborn they liked. This time it was all aimed at one of them in particular,"

"Who is it they're targeting?" I demanded, feeling sorry for whoever it was that the Slytherins had decided to target. Me and Sirius would go out to make sure that the Slytherins completely and utterly failed in whatever it was that they were planning but I just hate the fact that this kind of prejudice exists in our world and is considered acceptable by some people. "I don't care if the person they pick is an irritating, pompous little git like Lockhart, I swear I won't let the Slytherins get anywhere near them without being hexed within an inch of their lives," I swore angrily.

"I don't know," Peter said unhappily. "They never mentioned who it was by name, just that it was someone who before now they'd been warned that if they harmed so much as a hair on her head, all hell would be let loose on them. That they could do what they wanted now so long as it wasn't anything that would get them expelled," He confessed shakily.

"Since when did Avery or Nott worry about being expelled? Their parents have so much influence with the Ministry that no matter what they did, the most they would ever get is a week suspension," I grouched unhappily. At home last summer, I'd overheard my Dad moaning about how much influence these old, openly pureblood obsessed families were gaining within the Ministry. He was worried that pretty soon, there would be no one left working there with any political clout that would support Muggleborn witches and wizards. "And besides, I thought all Muggleborns were all equally despised and it was pretty much open season on all of them," I said thoughtfully.

"Apparently not," Peter shrugged. "One of the younger years was grumbling about how it was about time they were allowed to attack this person, that she had been asking for this for ages and he would be only too glad to put the 'foul Mudblood bitch' in her place, once and for all," He said the last bit quietly so that I had to strain to hear the insults that had been poured out by some malicious, cowardly poisonous tongue because Peter knew what this would do to my temper.

He was right to be cautious. The person who they were threatening to harm was a girl and in my moral code of ethics, it is flat out wrong for a man to raise their wand and attack a woman at all like that. It is just wrong to try and hurt a woman in anyway like that. When we targeted the Slytherins in our pranks, apart from changing the colour of their hair or harmless things like that, we never directly targeted the Slytherin girls, even the ones like Bellatrix Black, a malicious, crazy cousin of Sirius who was up to her eyeballs in the dark arts who left school two years ago and who had never missed a chance to attack any Mudblood who so much as even breathed wrong near her.

I had to grab hold of one of the posters on my bed so tight that the knuckles on my hands went white to stop myself from hauling myself to my feet, heading down to the dungeons and hexing every Slytherin male I met senseless. Some people just shouldn't be allowed to live if they are going to deliberately treat certain people like animals just because they have had a different upbringing from them.

"Are you sure they never mentioned any names at all?" I asked him through clenched teeth, rage starting to burn in my veins. Peter shook his head and took a step back from me nervously. "No other clues as to who it might be?" I demanded knowing that there were quite a few Muggleborns in fifth, sixth and seventh year. I systematically ruled any Muggleborns who were in the first four years off the list on the grounds that none of them could have done anything to upset Avery, Nott and their cronies. We couldn't run around keeping an eye out on all Muggleborns at once because there were only four of us against the whole of the Slytherin house. The odds just weren't in our favour unless we could narrow the list down to one or a couple of people.

"Only that it's a girl that they're targeting," Peter shrugged. "Probably someone who was friends with or had some close connection with someone in Slytherin who has enough power that he can effectively warn the entire house to leave that girl alone and be obeyed by every single one of them,"

"Anything else?" I prompted, watching his face wrinkle up in thought as he tried to remember any other important detail that might help us.

"Well I reckon she must be quite popular if they're so keen to make an example of her. I mean they wouldn't just target anybody, would they?" Peter considered carefully. "If they're trying to prove some kind of a point then they have to chose someone who everybody knows and will show an interest in because otherwise they'd just be wasting their time,"

"Wasting whose time?" A voice in the doorway made me jump. I'd been so engrossed in my conversation with Pete that I'd completely zoned out the rest of the world, which was kind of surprising when you considered the amount of noise that was echoing up the stairway from the common room. Heaven only knows what is going on down there and I was too lazy to go and check. If Lily had been down there now trying to work on her homework, her poor head would probably be in agony right now. "Are you discussing things that might be considered as Marauder business without the presence of half this prestigious group's members?"

"Probably," I shrugged. "But I was too lazy to come and look for you and Remus so that you could both listen to what Peter had to say so I figured we'd just start without you. After all, the most important member was here," I joked with him.

Sirius's eyes narrowed slightly. "Low blow, Prongs. Very low blow," He told me mockingly.

"What can I say?" I shrugged again, going for nonchalance as I subtly reached out to try and grab my want without Sirius noticing. We've been in these situations before and normally they end up with one of us hanging from the ceiling or twitching around on the floor like a rabbit or something. "The truth hurts," I told him. Pete sniggered at this but muffled it as a cough when Sirius turned to look at him, raising one of his eyebrows as if to say what on earth do you think you're laughing at?

"The truth, eh?" Sirius turned back to look at me. "Sounds more like the inane babbling of that delusional mind of yours, Prongs," He strode across the room to his bed, pulling his robes off and dumping them on the floor before collapsing onto his mattress, turning to that he could sprawl across its length while still facing Peter and me.

"Maybe," I shrugged with a forced chuckle as my dark mood, which had temporarily disappeared when Sirius had arrived back but had now reappeared full force as a nagging, disturbing thought entered my mind.

"Okay, Prongs, spill the beans. What's troubling that little mind of yours now?" He demanded, wanting to be let in on whatever was pissing me off.

"The Slytherins are planning something big against one of the Muggleborns," I explained shortly, thinking to myself that when you put it like that, my worries and anger seemed like a bit of an overreaction. They were, after all, just doing what came best to the sneaky, sly little brains.

Sirius must have agreed with that. "So?" He said slowly as though he was thinking through my words looking for some deeper meaning or hidden message that would explain my bad mood. "What's so new about that? We'll just lie in wait for one of them to make a move, completely sabotage their plans, get them into as much trouble as we possibly can and then go back to pulling pranks against them. It's no big deal,"

"It is if the person they've suddenly decided to target is Lily," Peter muttered under his breathe, echoing my thoughts.

"What was that, Peter? Can you repeat that a little louder?" Sirius told him imperiously. "I didn't quite catch that,"

"It is a big deal if the person that they've suddenly decided to target is Lily Evans," Peter repeated much louder in an exasperated tone of voice. He hates having to repeat himself to people, even if this time it was sort of his fault for talking so quietly.

"Why the hell would they suddenly target Lily Evans?" Sirius snorted in disbelief at this. "Anyone who touches her faces being hexed within an inch of their lives. No one in that house is stupid enough to do that," He said seriously as he dropped this huge bombshell into the conversation.

"How the hell do you know that?" I demanded off him, struggling to come to terms with what Sirius had said. Why on earth would someone in Slytherin make a threat like that? She's only a scummy Muggleborn in their eyes and as such should be as much as a target for their abuse as any other Muggleborn in the school.

"Overheard my darling little brother moaning about how much he'd like to transfigure her into the hag he thought she always wanted to be for putting him detention for being out of bounds at the end of his first year to one of his little cronies during the summer break," shrugged as a glint of malicious pleasure appeared in his eyes. "Apparently he had to go into the Forest and almost got eaten alive by a bunch of giant spiders or something. Hagrid said he wet himself and dear old Regulus wanted his revenge for that humiliation,"

"What a pansy," Peter snickered at this. I had to bite back a laugh at the thought of Sirius's little brother being chased out the Forest by some spiders.

"Who on earth would make a rule like that though?" I asked Sirius, still amazed that such a weird thing would have existed. It just went against all the laws of nature. It would be like the lion suddenly stopping hunting altogether and becoming a vegetarian or Snivellus and I becoming best friends me naming my first born child after him. That should be the kind of thing that will never, ever, ever happen.

"Isn't it obvious?" Sirius asked sarcastically. "Who is the one Slytherin in this school who was close if not best friends with Lily Evans for the best part of five years at the very least and who has always since he first stepped foot on the Hogwarts Express known more about dark magic, hexes, curses and spells than any other kid in the history of the school?"

It was obvious when he put it like that but I still couldn't believe it. "Snivellus?" I guessed, the shock plain in my voice.

"Right in one, Prongs," Sirius laughed sarcastically.

"But why the hell would he do something like that?" I demanded.

"For someone who is normally considered to be an extremely intelligent and bright, I have to say you seem to completely lose any trace of that intelligence whenever Lily Evans enters the equation." Sirius started laughing and Peter joined in with him.

I glared at them for laughing at this. "I do not!" I defended myself vehemently. "Just because I haven't had the best history with her doesn't mean…" I started but Sirius quickly interrupted me.

"Prongs, you completely do," Sirius managed to stop laughing to say this. "He was her best friend for ages, of course he wouldn't let any of the other Slytherins have a go at her for any reason. And you were the one that worked out that he had a crush on her all these years. It wouldn't make sense for him to let them do that to her if he loves her."

"True," I scowled blackly at the reminder that Snivellus had been friends with Lily for all those years when I would have done anything to have been friends with her and have her laugh at my jokes and stories. "But why would he suddenly change his mind and let them have free reign. I mean it's pretty obvious he still adores her," I pointed out logically, determined to prove that my intelligence didn't disappear when I talked about or even saw Lily.

"Maybe he's decided it's a lost cause," Peter shrugged. "I mean it's pretty obvious to anyone with eyes that the two of you have grown closer together now,"

"And for all he knows it could be just a matter of time before you two start dating," Sirius pointed out lazily. "I mean she has agreed to go on a date with you,"

"It's not a date!" I glared at him. "I don't take you guys with me on my dates and she only agreed to come to The Three Broomsticks with me because you, Pete and Moony will be there," I pointed out smugly. I was trying to downplay this meeting we'd planned as much as possible, not wanting to get my hopes up just for it for them to just be dashed because Lily only looked at me as a friend. I don't think I could bear that rejection.

For the second time tonight I almost jumped in shock as someone else appeared in our doorway and spoke. "You know that's just what she said earlier," Moony grinned from the doorway. My observational skills must clearly be going if I don't notice people coming towards the doorway. Maybe I should booby trap one of the steps leading up to our dormitory so that whenever someone tries to get up to our dorm it would set off an alarm so they could never surprise me. It would work after all, because our dorm is right at the top of the tower so none of the lower year guys could set it off.

"See!" I grinned in thanks for the support at Moony before turning back to smirk at Sirius triumphantly at the fact that my argument had been backed up by Lily herself. "It's not a date! Even Lily agrees with me,"

"That's just a technicality," Sirius shrugged.

"Great minds do think alike, after all." Peter said sarcastically. I glared at him.

"Or fools seldom differ," Moony added in. I spun and glared at him. He was meant to be on my side while the other two were too busy making fun off me.

"Oi! Lily isn't a fool!" I defended her hotly. "She's the smartest, prettiest girl that Hogwarts has ever seen,"

"Notice how he didn't try to claim that he isn't a fool," Moony laughed. "Good to see you've got your priorities in the right order there." I frowned in confusion. What did he mean by that? Of course Lily comes before me. I love her so much that how could I possibly sit by and let them anyone mock her like that, whether they're my worst enemy or best friends. It's just something as natural as breathing, I don't even think about it now.

While I was trying to work out what he meant by that, Sirius decided to try and turn the conversation back to the original topic of conversation before any arguments broke out. If its one thing Sirius hates doing, it's arguing or fighting with his friends. He does enough fighting with his parents whenever he sees them to want to do any more arguing with the people he actually cares about than he really, really has to. "Besides, as soon as word gets round the rest of the kids, and you know it will, everyone else will think that it's a date, whether the whole of the Chudley Cannon's team is there or not!" Sirius pointed out patiently. "You know the gossipers will twist anything to make it more interesting and Snape is probably going to hear it from one of them,"

"But that doesn't stop the fact that he adores Lily," I pointed out desperately. I really didn't want it to be Lily that was targeted by all the Slytherins. None of them would get near here if it was her they were after because I'd hurt anyone who tried to hurt her but I hated the fact that people would be willing to hurt her in the first place. It just wasn't right for people to hate and malign a girl who's so honest, unselfish and gentle just because of her family background.

"James, after two years of her not speaking to him, I think Snivellus has finally got the message that she wants nothing to do with him," Remus stopped leaning against the doorpost at this moment and entered the room, collapsing on his bed with a tired sigh. "He was ever so leery about openly hanging around with some of the other dark arts obsessed kids when he was in the past because it upset Lily but now that she doesn't care two hoots what he does anymore it's okay for him to hang around with the crowd of people who accept him and look to him as a leader,"

"And look at the way that the war is going outside," Peter said solemnly. "We're losing the war and You-Know-Who is getting stronger and more demanding in what he expects his followers to do."

"So?" I said belligerently. "Voldemort has always hated Muggleborns, that's nothing new,"

"But we're going to be leaving school soon, Prongs, and leaving the protection of Hogwarts behind us," Sirius said calmly. "Snape can't have people thinking that he's soft and a Muggleborn lover, he'd get crucified by all the other Death Eaters and he's too much of a coward to want that to happen."

"And the easiest way to get rid of rumours like that would be for him to let the Slytherins know they can do as they please to Lily and not have any repercussion from him," Remus said logically. "If he's going to go to the devil, he might as well do it properly."

"Besides," Peter broke in at this point. "What better way to get his own back on you than by hurting the girl everybody knows you adore? It would be the perfect justice for him because Lily would never expect it and neither would you,"

"If he hurts her, I kill him!" I swore angrily to myself.

"I doubt he's planning to do the dirty work himself," Sirius said reassuringly. "He's not crazy enough that he would be able to hurt her himself. He'll get the other Slytherins to do it for him and it will be easy for us to stop them. They won't get anywhere near her while we're around, Prongs,"

"But we don't know they were talking about her!" I admit that I was grasping at straws at this point, desperately searching for another scenario so that Lily would still be safe from her old friend's housemates. "For all we know it could be some other Muggleborn girl."

"Like who, Prongs?" Sirius said irritably. "There is no other Muggleborn in the school that has ever been friends with Slytherin,"

"Apart from that Meadows girl in Ravenclaw," Pete said suddenly as if he'd only just remembered. "She dated Nott for a few months last year when he thought she was related to Dorcas Meadowes's family."

"Oh for Pete's sake," Sirius groaned and jumped to his feet. "Instead of standing around here, going round in circles, why don't we just go and ask one of them,"

"Somehow, I don't think the Slytherins are going to tell us what we want to know," Moony said dryly as he sat up, resigned to the fact that we'd probably all have to go with Sirius to make sure he didn't injure anybody too badly.

"Regulus will if we 'ask nicely'" Sirius said sarcastically using air quote marks to get his point across. "You do know the password to the Slytherin common room, right?" He asked me quickly, as he bent to root through his trunk, looking for the Marauders Map.

"Yeah," I shrugged. Lily and I were the ones that had to come up with the passwords for the Slytherin common room because if left to do it themselves they would come up with some pretty nasty things. "But we're not allowed in there, Sirius, I can't be caught doing anything like that now that I'm head boy,"

Sirius rolled his eyes as he straightened up, the map in his hands. "Stop worrying, Prongs, I'm not going to go storming in there, looking for him." He chuckled. "Why would I want to go into that damp, dump?" He demanded.

The others headed towards the door to the dorm and made their way down the stairs. I grabbed my invisibility cloak and stuffed it inside my robe. We didn't need it anymore to sneak around the castle when we had the Marauder's Map to warn us whenever a teacher or Filch was anywhere near but once we'd spoke to Sirius's little brother I wanted to sneak into the Hospital Wing to see Lily and I knew that that was one trip the others wouldn't want to come on with me.

I followed them out the room and down the stairs. "But why do you need the password then?" I demanded of Sirius.

"Because it's well past curfew now and I doubt the Slytherins are brave enough to be out this late," Sirius sighed as though this was something that was extremely obvious. "I'm just going to stand at the doorway and bellow for him until he shows up or someone drags him over,"

We were silent as we headed through the silent corridors. It was just like a habit we'd gotten into through spending years roaming around under the cloak when we didn't know who might be hiding around the corner, waiting to dock points off us or put us in the detention if they caught us and we just hadn't been able to break it.

I've always loved walking round Hogwarts at night. It all looks completely different at night when the halls are dark and empty. I suppose I've never really got over the childish thrill of breaking the rules for the first time and doing what I wanted to do. The first time we stayed out after curfew in my first year I nearly had a panic attack every time I heard something or saw something move out of the corner of my eyes. I was terrified I would get caught but it was one of those good kinds of terrified, like the ones you get when your diving 50 feet from the air in a Quidditch match as fast as you can go and you pull out of the dive just before you go crashing into the ground. The adrenaline rush is unbelievable, one of the reasons I've so repeatedly bent, broken and flouted the rules in all my times at Hogwarts.

The Slytherin common room is hidden by a wall, deep in the dungeons of the castle. It took us about twenty minutes to get there, never once seeing any sign of Filch or the teachers who by now, seemed to be all safely tucked away in their beds. I stood at the wall and whispered the password and watched the dungeon wall slide away. I was sort of curious to see what the Slytherin common room looked like inside because it was one of the few places I've never been in inside the whole castle. I was a bit disappointed to see that it looked pretty much like any other dungeon room I'd been in with a low ceiling, lots greenish lamps and sofas and plenty of skulls scattered around to add to the whole 'homely' effect, I thought to myself sarcastically.

"Oi! You there!" Sirius called to a small first year who was sat by the stone fire place, scribbling away on a piece of parchment. The kid looked up and almost wet himself in shock to see four Gryffindors stood at the entrance to his common room. "Go and get Regulus Black for me right now and tell him his brother wants to talk to him right now! I'll be waiting outside in the corridor and if he isn't out in five minutes I'll come in and get him myself!" Sirius threatened impatiently before turning his back and retreating back into the shadowy corridor. I watch the kid hurry off towards a pair of doors, almost completely shrouded in shadow at the far end of the room, almost tripping over his own feet as he hurried to do as Sirius demanded.

I turned and followed Sirius and the wall shut behind us, blocking our view of their common room. We waited in silence, none of us really having anything we wanted to say just for the sake of breaking the silence. It was just naturally understood that none of we were here to do something important, not to mess around, and that jokes and flippant comments would just be inappropriate. This just wasn't the time or the place for them.

Two minutes went by before the dungeon wall once more slid open and Regulus Black appeared in the gap. He stepped towards us and the wall swished shut again behind us. It's a little eerie looking at Regulus because he looks so much like Sirius that if it weren't for the sneer and the hard, cold eyes that Regulus always had when I was around, I would have found it almost impossible to tell the difference between the two. The only difference between them is the fact that Regulus is slightly shorter than Sirius and has a much slighter build, something that helps him when he plays seeker for the Slytherin Quidditch team. As much as it pains me to admit this, he's the only one of the Slytherin team with any real talent.

"Well, well, well," He drawled sarcastically at us as he walked over to us. "What do we have here? My darling, blood traitor brother and his pathetic bunch of friends,"

That was the wrong thing to say to Sirius, especially on a day when he's been banned from hexing or tormenting Snape at all. Sirius didn't bother replying to his younger brother's insults, instead his arms flashed out and grabbed the front of Regulus's robes before he lifted the boy up and slammed him against the wall. "Don't mess with me tonight, little brother, I'm really not in the best of moods,"

"Go to hell," Regulus spat in his face.

"I'm already there," Sirius spat back unconcernedly. "Now you're going to tell me what the hell you guys are planning towards Lily Evans and if you do it quickly enough, I might consider not hexing the crap out of you after enough,"

The sneer on Regulus's face intensified. "The Mudblood is finally open season!" He crowed happily. "We can do what we want and Snape won't do a thing to stop us!" His eyes lit up at this and I just wanted to punch him in the face for that.

"Well you tell all of your foul, pureblood friends that if any of you so much as even hurt a hair on her head, I'll make you regret the day you were even born!" I couldn't hang onto my temper at Regulus's confirmation of my darkest fears. I had to turn and walk away before I tried to strangle the boy with my bare hands, leaving the others to finish getting what they could out the slimy bastard.