Hey guys! This chapters a bit longer, but I'm not sure I like the way it turned out... lemme know what you think! :)
~Kat
PS- Message me any mistakes you find, there's bound to be some.
"James… This is foolish." Remus whispered later that afternoon, rubbing his head. He had a headache. "We all know Snape fancies her, but it's quite obvious she doesn't fancy him back…"
James nodded. "Which is why we need to help her get rid of him. He practices dark magic, Moony." Remus took a deep breath but nodded.
"I still don't want any part of it." He added firmly.
James shook his head. "C'mon mate. Just tag along. You don't have to do anything. Besides, you're going to want to get some fun in before tonight…"
Remus considered this, and eventually sighed, giving in.
"I have a date with Rachel Abbott." Peter squeaked excitedly. "So I can't come."
Sirius turned around, his eyebrow raised. "That Hufflepuff 4th year… ?" Peter nodded, while grinning and turning then leaving.
James let out a breath and shook his head. "Gross… Okay, Sirius you ready mate?" Sirius grinned and nodded.
Remus shook his head, trailing behind.
"I'll be right back, Sev." Lily said as jumped up suddenly. "I'm gonna' go get my book from the library." He nodded. "I'll be around here somewhere."
He was pacing. It helped him think. Somehow, Severus was determined to get Lily to understand his actions pertaining to the Dark Arts. They were beautiful really, she just didn't understand yet.
When Mulciber decided to do the same with Snape, (showing him the beauty of the Dark Arts) he used the Cruciatis Curse on him. When he did, Severus's life flashed before his eyes. He really hadn't had that great of a life, but the memories he saw were only the good ones—His days with Lily. It made the pain bearable, getting to remember the days spent with Lily. She would get over her bad memories too, and she would thank him—yes, he was sure of this. He ran his hand through his greasy hair.
The memories were what made it worth it. That's why he considered Dark Arts exactly that—art. It was beautiful and deadly at the same time. Opposites. Him and Lily were oppisites. He stuck his hand into his robes, pulling out a note that had been delivered to him by an owl shortly before Lily had arrived.
He hadn't read it yet, but he knew who it was from by the cream colored owl that matched its owner's hair color. Lucius Malfoy, a Death Eater; a follower of one of the most dangerous wizards of all time. But also a follower of the only person Snape felt understood his love for this Dark Magic. This was the main reason Severus was interested in joining his forces.
Severus,
I have told Him about your achievements, and He is greatly interested. He would like to meet you. I will send you another owl letting you know when.
You have come far, Severus. Don't give up now.
LM
Severus took a shaky breath and read the letter again. And again. He couldn't believe it. He wanted to meet him? He hadn't even requested Mulciber's presence yet.
He read the letter again. Lucius has been Severus's guide since the beginning, he couldn't let him down now…
He read the letter again, so enveloped in his own thoughts, he didn't even notice James and Sirius sneak up on him, with Remus trailing behind.
James stuck his head up around Severus's shoulder and read the letter, his mouth falling open slightly. "LM? Lucius Malfoy, you mean?" James was shocked, he knew Snape was up to no good, but he didn't know the Slytherin would go that far. He would deal with that mess later. For now, he just wanted to make sure Lily was as far away from him as possible, so she wouldn't get caught up in this mess.
Severus jumped, shoved the letter into his robes, but realized it was too late.
"Potter!" Snape shouted. "What do you want?" He glared at him with distaste. James smirked.
"My mates and I believe that you need to leave a certain Gryffindor alone before she gets hurt with that Dark Magic of yours." He turned serious. "You need to leave her out of this mess, Snape." He said, basically repeating himself.
Severus was shocked, somewhat. He should've known Potter would confront him sooner or later about Lily. But didn't he care about what the letter said…?
"I've known her longer than you, Potter. Besides, what would make you think she even cares for you at all." Snape spat.
James chuckled, looking down at his wand and back up at Snape.
He shot a spell at Snape suddenly, catching him off guard. It sent him flipping upside down and into the air. The letter and Snape's wand fell out of his robes while James sent him hanging from a nearby tree.
"Potter!" Snape frantically swung his arms in the air, trying to grab onto something. "Put me down, Potter!" James and Sirius were bent over laughing, while tears were forming in Snapes's eyes out of frustration.
A crowd was forming, and even the Slytherins managed a chuckle.
"Potter, you insolent little git..." He was cut off by Lily Evans storming through a bunch of Ravenclaws.
"Potter!" She screeched, throwing her book on the ground and stomping towards him, stopping inches from his face. "Potter, put him down." She spat.
He hadn't expected her to come, but that's alright, he can work around it. "I will… If you date me." He smirked, looking down at her through his glasses.
"You… you…" Lily was so angry she couldn't think of anything to say. "Potter, if you don't put him down right now…" She pulled out her wand. Why didn't she just wave her wand and have Snape come down? Honestly, she didn't know the spell.
Alas, he looked scared enough. She shoved her wand into his face. No, of course she couldn't really hurt him… He didn't know that though.
Snape was flabbergasted. She was picking him over Potter! He could fly, if he wasn't dangling from a tree…
The crowd hadn't dispersed yet. "Look, he needs his little Gryffindor to protect him…" He heard around him. "Relying on a Mudblood, pathetic."
Snape then realized how awful this was making him look and his feeling of glee was replaced by embarrassment. This made him seem awful, especially to the Slytherins. "I don't need your help, Lily…" He said earnestly.
Lily turned around, confused, but she chose to ignore him. "Potter, I'm warning you…" She stuck her wand closer to his face.
"Alright, alright!" He said, upset that he had to let the soon-to-be Death Eater down. With a flick of his wand, James sent Snape freefalling from the tree and onto the grass.
"Lily!" Snape said, sitting up. "I didn't need your help!" He said angrily.
Lily ignored his statements again. She bent over to help him pick up his things. She lifted the note from Lucius Malfoy, not intending to read it, but hand it back to him. Nevertheless, Snape panicked, afraid she would find out the truth about of.
"That's enough! I don't need your help, Mudblood!" Snape yelled at her out of his frustration and embarrassment.
Lily she fell backwards, so shocked. Her best friend had just called her a… a…
"I see." She pursed her lips and stood. Trying to ignore the pitied look James and his friends were giving her, she made her way back to the castle. She gulped down tears.
The crowd parted for her, avoiding her eyes.
She buried her face in the armrest of her chair (yes, her chair) in the library, trying to muffle the sounds of her sobs. She was so sick of crying.
She didn't know what James had done in the Great Hall earlier that day, so she figured everyone still hated her.
Now she didn't even have her best friend.
She stayed that way in the library until the clerk walked up to her and patted her back. "Lily dear, you need to go back to your dorm, its late…"
Lily wiped her eyes and nodded. "Sorry." She mumbled. "It's quite alright dear, rough day?" Lily nodded again. "The worst." The clerk smiled sadly.
"That Tiffany's a piece of work, huh?" Lily looked at the clerk curiously. How did she know about that?
"Us teachers know more than you kids give us credit for." She smiled, patting Lily on the shoulder and taking a seat across from her, where James sat earlier that day.
"My advice?" Lily felt this woman was being a bit intrusive, but she urged her to continue.
"James Potter is a good man. Much better than that Severus Snape fellow. He's up to no good… But James isn't a saint either, I wasn't sayin' he is."
Lily lifted one eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"I think you should ask them about that." The clerk patted Lily's leg and sighed. "You need to head back to your common room, dear." She said again.
"Thank you." Lily smiled and waved a goodbye before exiting her hideout.
Thinking back on the conversation, Lily wondered how she knew so much of Lily's situation. But like she said, teachers pick up on a lot. She then realized she doesn't even know the kind woman's name…
It was dark out, so Lily was rushing through the corridors of the castle. She almost smacked into him, sitting outside the Gryffindor common room.
"Lily…" His nasally voice was sincere.
"Snape. I don't want to hear it." She responded curtly, stepping through the portrait hole after whispering the password.
"No, Lily, wait—"
She could hear the Fat Lady ask him, "Password?", silencing his attempts to call Lily back outside.
She let out a deep breath, collapsing into the chair next to the fireplace. She was freezing. The more she thought about her evening, she realized how strange it was that James, or any of his friends for that matter, didn't show up to comfort her in the library. Surely James or someone would have worried about her…
A chill went up her spine. She looked out the window, gazing at the full moon. She wasn't tired. She didn't want to sleep.
She needed air.
She ran up to her dorm, quietly pulling out warmer clothes. A black pea coat, her Gryffindor scarf, her white knit hat, grey pants, and black rain boots with fuzzy socks to keep her feet warm; hand-me-downs from Petunia.
Thank god Severus had gone back to the Slytherin common room, because she didn't see him when she stepped out the portrait hole.
She stepped into the cold winter air, loving the sound of snow crunching beneath her feet. She walked around the perimeter of the castle, but ended up on one of the many trails around Hogwarts. She even passed by Hagrid's hut a few times. He was the gamekeeper at Hogwarts, a brand new one, in fact.
She stopped short when she saw a black dog, a stag, and a rat running side by side into the Whomping Willow, a famous enchanted tree.
It stopped waving its branches for a moment to let them into the tunnel beside it.
How often do you see a dog, stag, and rat get along? Not very often, I would think.
She brushed it off and continued walking along the trail, looking down at her feet, not realizing that the trail actually made its way to the Whomping Willow. She couldn't help but think about how beautiful the stag was. She loved deer…
She finally looked up when she heard a howl coming from inside the tree. Not a dog howl, not even a wolf howl.
She knew for a fact it was a werewolf. She thought back on Snape's theory. He thought Remus was a werewolf… No. She willed herself to not believe it. Remus was back in his dorm, asleep or maybe even studying. Yes, that sounds correct.
She wanted to scream, she wanted to yell and run and not stop running until she was in China… But she couldn't move.
She was frozen on the spot.
She heard the stag's hooves clanking around beneath her, the tunnel must run under where she was standing… The howling was getting closer to the entrance of the tunnel. She stopped breathing.
The dog barked loudly, emerging from the tunnel, wagging its tail happily until it saw Lily.
It barked and whined, turning around and running back into the tunnel, its tail between its legs. She heard the stag's hooves clap frantically, until it too emerged from the tunnel, watching Lily.
Lily's head leaned to the side a bit, confused. These animals were acting really strange…
But she turned and ran anyway, having regained her senses, before tensing up again, goose bumps crawling up her arms and legs.
Another howl, this time, really close. The stag ran past Lily and disappeared behind her, the dog following soon after. She didn't think much of it.
They had a lesson on werewolves. They will kill any human they see, even their friend, and not even realize it.
She ran again, but she knew the werewolf would catch up and eat her alive. Her heart was racing, she couldn't think straight.
So much for bravery, Gryffindor.
She heard rustling behind her, but she didn't turn around until a hand wrapped around her waist. She screamed until she realized it wasn't the werewolf. "Lily…"
"Potter?!" Lily asked, flabbergasted.
"Lily, we need to go." He said sternly. Sirius then materialized from behind a bush, nodding.
"C'mon, Evans."
Lily looked from Sirius and James. "What the bloody hell is going on!" She yelled finally.
They were about to answer until another howl pierced the night air. Lily whimpered, falling into the snow. Her knees had given out.
"Shit. I knew we shouldn't have left him with Peter." Sirius said angrily, turning and running towards the sound of the howling. "Get her out of here!" Sirius yelled back at James before disappearing in some trees.
James nodding, looking down at Lily. She was dazed and confused. She had hit her head on something, a rock perhaps, so she was rubbing it under her long snow covered hair.
"Lily?" James spoke softly, not sure how she was going to react. "Lily, I'm going to pick you up now, okay? We're going to go back to the castle…"
"What about Sirius?!" She motioned back towards the wood. "And Peter!" She clapped a hand on her mouth. "Remus? Did he get him?!" She scrambled up from the snow. "We have to help."
"No, no. Everyone's fine." James assured her calmly, before his eyes widened. "Lily, you're bleeding…" She gingerly placed a hand back on her head, wincing.
She looked at her hand, now covered in her own blood. "Bloody hell…"
"C'mon." James said firmly. He became very forceful after he saw she was hurt. "You need taking care of. Everyone else is fine, it's you who needs help." He held his arm out, thinking she needed support.
She pushed it away, but tried taking a step and became very dizzy from loss of blood and toppled over. James's eyes became wider than saucers, sprinting over to catch her. He lifted her up and carried her back to the castle, glad that she finally stopped complaining.
He kicked open the portrait hole and lay her down on the red couch in the Gryffindor common room, running upstairs and coming back with a slightly damp towel.
She cringed when he put it on her head, but she made no objections. "No good at healing spells, yeah?" She said, managing a smile.
He chuckled softly. "The worst." She nodded slightly, "Same."
James looked away from her but took a seat and pulled it closer to the couch. His eyes returned to hers.
"I'm a git." He said softly. "And I'm really sorry." He looked away. "I hate how often I'm having to apologize to you, Lily."
She nodded. "Me too." She took his hand, making him look back at her. "But it's fine." She could hear the clerk's voice echo in the back of her head. 'James Potter is a good man.'
He smiled broadly, leaning down to kiss her, but she turned away. "I… I can't."
His smile disappeared, but he nodded. "…Alright. Uh… why?" He really didn't know what to say.
"I need to figure some things out." She said suddenly. James wanted to tell her what he had found out about Snape, but he figured he should let her rest. She really didn't need to worry about that now.
He nodded, not saying anything.
Sirius stepped through the portrait hole. Lily attempted to sit up, but failed and fell back. "Sirius!"
He smiled. "Miss me, did you?" Lily smiled, realizing he was alright.
James and him chuckled.
Lily suddenly gasped. "Where's Peter and Remus?!" She demanded. Sirius motioned out the portrait hole. "They'll be back soon, it's alright."
When they thought Lily wasn't looking, Sirius gave James a slight nod, making James stand. "I'll be back in a bit, Lily. I need to go… check something."
James looked over to Sirius. "Watch her." He pointed to Lily.
Sirius nodded, watching James shut the portrait. He clapped his hands together. "So! Lillers. Can I call you that?" He smiled. "That's your new nick-name, kiddo."
She laughed, but immediately had to stop; it made her head hurt. She managed a small smile.
"So… how's James?" Sirius asked, smirking playfully. Lily rolled her eyes.
"Potter? Don't know why you're asking me." She crossed her arms across her chest.
Sirius rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, imitating her. "You do know how much he fancies you, right?" Lily looked up. "Well, I uh… Yeah." She admitted.
"And you do realize he saved you from a lot of crap today." She raised an eyebrow. "Twice." Sirius added.
She was so intrigued she managed to sit up.
"Explain." She demanded.