Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Lily's POV:

I couldn't help myself. I really couldn't. The story Sirius was telling me now had to be a prank. There was no way James would ever actually hurt Sev, and Remus. It just wasn't in his nature.

My uncontrollable giggling finally got to him, I guess because all of a sudden his gray eyes flared and he gritted his teeth together. His aristocratic drawl was threatening now, "Do you honestly want to see Remus' eye? 'Cause to get you to believe me, I will. I don't even care what your stomach can stand and what it can't."

That I had to admit caught my attention. Even Sirius wouldn't play that kind of card with me. He wouldn't bluff Remus hurting. He knew he was one of my few soft-spots.

"Can I see him?" I asked, still not quite believing. I guess part of it was also test for Sirius in a way, to make sure he wasn't lying to me, although I highly doubted he would to that.

He growled a stream of profanities under his breath, but grabbed my forearm gently and led me to his dorm. Sure enough, lying on the couch snoring was Remus. And lord did he look tired. The bags under his left eye were evidence enough, but his whole body just sagged with the weight of his exhaustion. I didn't want to wake him up. Especially if I were to tell him it was to see his black eye.

I looked pleadingly at Sirius who chuckled slightly, "He's knocked out, Lily. He took a punch for me and ran about four miles to get here after he heard what James was going to do. There's no chance of waking him up, trust me. I've tried multiple times and considered pulling multiple pranks on him."

Four miles? What was he doing four miles away? Exploring the grounds? That couldn't have been it. My train of thought was interrupted by a movement on Sirius' behalf.

I noted how gingerly Sirius treated Remus, like his head would break with the slightest pressure. He looked at me with warning, and I nodded surely, positive I would be able to handle it. Once the right side of his head was exposed, I could see it, clear as day. And like Sirius had said would happen, my stomach lurched at the sight.

His perfect cheekbone looked like someone had crushed it. There was a large, tennis ball size lump on that side of his face that was turning green. The rest of his eye was the color of a plum, purple and navy blue.

I gasped and Sirius put his head back on the soft pillow, his eyes sad and regretful, "Pretty nasty, huh? Took that one for me, this bastard did." He chuckled slightly, and it was an insane sound, like someone mad with guilt would have.

"James tried to punch me out but he caught Remus instead. There's your proof. Do what you want with it," he said, his grey eyes scorching. I had the feeling he wanted me to punish James, but the reality of the situation still hadn't set in. He left me alone in the common room.

For a moment, I wasn't exactly sure what to do, how to act. If there was ever a wild card, this was it. But Remus' eye.

The sight of his face would haunt me for the rest of my life, I was sure. While one half was its normal, perfect sculpture, the other was smashed, broken, and purple. The difference between the two was shocking, and sickeningly so.

An epiphany broke through the surface of all those thoughts.

My boyfriend had done that. He had: assaulted my once best friend, tried to punch his best friend, and ended up giving his other best friend a terrible black eye.

One thing was for certain: there would be hell to pay for that.

I stomped through the Gryffindor house looking for him, and I found him. I was screaming before I knew it.

"You bastard! You hurt Remus! You assaulted Severus! You're a complete and total arse!" I was breathing hard, and was sure I looked about as red as a tomato.

He winced, "You sound like Sirius." He ran a hand through his hair. One of his knuckles was swollen. Seeing that made me even madder than I was before, because that was the hand that had connected with Remus' cheek.

You only care because you love Remus. It doesn't matter that Sev was hurt. It matters to you that Remus does. That's why you're so mad. One half of my mind was traitorous and it fueled my fire.

"Maybe it's because we both know what we're talking about!" I shouted, despite having almost the entire Gryffindor house watching our entire conversation.

James stood up then, pulling himself up and making himself look gargantuan. I didn't back down, "You two have absolutely no idea what you're talking about! If you did, you would understand!" His chest was heaving and his normally calm hazel eyes were fiery.

I pushed closer to him, "Care to share, James? Because I'm fairly certain any reason you give me won't be good enough for what you did!"

His breath was coming in short, furious bursts and I was beginning to get afraid. His meaty hands shook with the intensity of his anger, and his rock hard body was poised and ready to punch. I stepped a millimeter back.

He suddenly dropped all fight in him and crumbled at my knees. After all that had happened today, that was the thing I had been least expecting. "I'm so sorry. Lily I'm so sorry," James pleaded at my feet. The sound of his voice evaporated my anger almost immediately.

Standing like some shock-crazed idiot was going to get me nowhere, so I sunk to his level. "James," I murmured, taking his face into my hands, "Just tell me why you did it so we can get through it and move on. You know I hate to fight."

The tears streamed down his face begged me to forgive him, and the part of my heart that belonged to him produced his pardon, "It's alright, James. It's alright. Just swear, to never, ever do that again."

He looked at me, pulled me close into a hug, and I saw a weight of bricks removed from his shoulder, "You have no idea how much I've wanted to hear those words fall from your lips. Remus and Sirius still haven't forgiven me."

I pulled back slightly, disbelieving, "I'm not sure Remus will be forgiving you anytime soon."

He looked puzzled, "And why is that?"

I scoffed at his lack of empathy for his friend, "Maybe it's the tennis ball sized lump on his face that's also purple and black. That might have something to do with it."

Then, to my surprise, his face turned triumphant and smug, "Well at least you picked a boyfriend who knows how to throw a solid punch."

With that comment, I threw a punch of my own, straight into his gut, turned around and walked away. I was fuming mad at him and I wanted nothing to do with the boy at the moment.

Or possibly ever.