Chapter 14: Fighting Back
Notes:
uh fair warning, Snape is kinda a little bit friends with the marauders in this? I just didn't know what to do with him sorry guys
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
James had heard about what Wilkes did, and had gotten him back good, just as he promised, he'd asked Lily to help him, and had charmed Wilkes so every time he tried to say something mean, he would instead shout "Gryffindor Rules!" the first time it'd happened was in the Great Hall, at breakfast the next morning, he'd tried to shout at a first-year Ravenclaw, and instead of something rude, he shouted for the whole hall to hear "Gryffindor Rules!" The hall had erupted into laughter, and he'd gone bright red, trying again, and again yelling, "Gryffindor Rules!" After that, he'd retreated to the Slytherin table, the charm had lasted two weeks, and every time it happened, he'd go bright red and everyone around him would laugh, James had even seen Snape laughing at him.
James and Snape had fallen into a sort of truce, Regulus had told James about how Snape tried to stop Wilkes, and later apologised for his own rude behaviour and for getting Regulus into the mess. He'd even apologised to Lily for what he'd said last year,
"Lily, I understand you don't want to talk to me, but I wanted to apologise, I was afraid and I lashed out, it was wrong of me and I'm not expecting you to forgive me, I just truly wanted to apologise." Snape had bowed his head and started walking away,
"Sev, wait." Lily called after him, and he turned, with such a hopeful expression even James felt bad, "I'm not saying I forgive you, what you said really hurt me, but, maybe, one day, we can be friends again, yeah?" Lily held out her hand for him to shake, he gave her a small, hopeful, smile, and shook her hand,
"I'd like that." He'd whispered, and just like that, Snape was helping Regulus with spells, and even smiling at James a few times, Sirius still called him a slimy git, but they weren't expecting miracles, Snape had also been looking better, healthier, he started gaining weight and muscle, and the dark circles under his eyes started fading.
Right now, Snape was helping James charm the Slytherin Quidditch team, it was a week until the Slytherin v Gryffindor game, so James made sure the charm would wear off before then, but Snape had shown him a charm that would mess with their sense of direction, they'd put it onto all of the brooms except for Regulus',
"You treat him well, Potter, he's been looking better this year." Snape pointed out as they walked back up to the castle,
"Is that a compliment? From hardass Severus Snape? Are pigs flying?" James exclaimed, laughing, Snape just rolled his eyes and huffed out a laugh, but James quickly sobered, remembering a question he'd been wanting to ask, "Hey, Snape, you're 16 now right?" James asked, Snape, nodded,
"Yeah, it was my birthday last week, why?" Snape looked confused,
"Has anyone asked you to take the Dark Mark yet?" James looked down at the ground as he walked,
"What? Potter, what are you talking about? For the Dark Lord?" Snape stopped walking, James turned to face him,
"Sirius was asked to take it after Christmas, he takes sixteen-year-olds, that's why they ran away, I don't want the same to happen to you, you mean too much to Regulus and Lily," James stated, looking back up to see Snape's face.
"I– no one's said anything specific, but Wilkes was talking about it, before Regulus ran into me that day, he was saying he couldn't wait to take it." Snape looked a little guilty,
"Do you want to take it?" James asked, looking Snape right in the eye,
"No, he hates Half-Bloods just as much as he hates Muggle Borns." Snape continued walking, James kept pace with him,
"If anyone tries to force you to do something, there are people that will help you, remember that, okay?" Snape nodded, and then they split up, Snape continuing to walk to the dungeons and James making his way up to Gryffindor Tower. They weren't friends, far from it, but James didn't want to see someone's life ruined, no matter who.
~
Regulus watched his teammates at practice, usually, he wouldn't, he would be practising dangerous spins and turns, but this practice was different, his teammates were a mess. They were flying everywhere, it was like they couldn't control their brooms, so far three people had fallen off, and Regulus had been able to catch them all, but they'd have bruises. It was extremely amusing, all these people that had been boasting about how good their flying was, and now they couldn't control their brooms, people had started to come out of the castle, watching the show, no one seemed to notice Regulus was flying normally, far too busy laughing at the rest of the Slytherins. Regulus spotted James smiling at him, and Snape standing next to him, those two had been an odd partnership, Regulus knew it was because of what had happened with Wilkes, and Snape's apology, but he'd expected them to keep away from each other, six years of hatred and all that, but instead, they teamed up, pranking anyone that bullied Regulus, Snape had even shot out a jelly-legs jinx when someone called their relationship 'Unholy.' Regulus landed, and walked over to join them, he tapped James' shoulder, then pointed up, then pointed at the both of them,
"Yeah, don't worry, it'll wear off before the game, just thought we'd get them back." James threw his arm around Regulus' shoulders, and Snape laughed when two of the brooms bounced off each other.
"What is the meaning of this?" Professor Mcgonnalgall's voice rang out above all the laughter, she began casting charms on the brooms, stopping them and lowering them to the ground, and everyone started to rush back into the castle, not wanting to be on the end of Mcgonagall's wrath, James and Snape both left as well, waving him goodbye as he went to go stand with his team.
"Professor! It had to have been Black! He was the only one flying normally!" One of the boys shouted, all of them had shaking legs and were leaning heavily on each other.
"Mr Black, did you charm your team's brooms?" She turned to him, he really wished he had his notebook right now. He shook his head, knowing how it looked, unless someone else owned up, he'd probably be getting detention, and he wouldn't be surprised if he was taken off the team.
"He hates us, Professor! He never talks to us!" One of the younger members, a third-year girl, yelled out, pointing at him, Regulus wasn't sure if Dumbledore had told anyone about his problem, if he had, Mcgonagall would tell the whole team and he'd be treated worse, if he hadn't, Regulus would look like a spiteful teen.
"Mr Black, if you would follow me to my office?" She turned on her heel, Regulus sighed and followed her.
Her office was quite nice, it didn't have any bright colours, and the natural light lit up the whole thing well, Regulus looked around the room, this was the first time he'd ever been in here.
"Mr Black, could you please tell me why your teammates seem to think you hate them?" She sat behind the desk, and Regulus sat in the chair in front of it, he glanced around the desk, she didn't have any spare parchment. Regulus shook his head, he wasn't sure how he was supposed to communicate with her. "Mr Black?" She raised an eyebrow at him, he knew she'd be getting angry, he must look like an angry teen refusing to admit he'd done something wrong. Regulus looked down at his lap, he was defiantly getting taken off the team.
"Professor! Minnie! My love! How are you this fine evening?" James suddenly burst through the door, he was panting, Regulus smiled at him, he was holding the notebook, Snape must've gotten it for him.
"Mr Potter, what do you think you're doing?" She looked curiously at the notebook James was holding,
"I'm letting Regulus defend himself, oh, and confessing, I was the one to charm the brooms, he was flying normally because I didn't want him to be hurt. You know how it is, young love and all that." James handed Regulus the notebook, and sat down next to him, kissing him on the cheek.
"I shouldn't be surprised, but why did you bring a notebook for Mr Black?" She still looked slightly confused,
'Professor, I can't talk, I communicate by writing, that's why my team thinks I hate them, I can't talk to them.' Regulus handed her the book for her to read, realisation dawning on her face,
"Yeah, Regulus is a little prodigy, he knows more spells than I do, and he does them all wordlessly, it's pretty cool." James looked at him, adoration clear on his face, it made Regulus' breath catch.
"I apologise, I had no idea, you may go, Mr Black, Mr Potter, a week's detention." James let out a laugh and left the office with Regulus, Regulus smiled at him, and leaned up to place a kiss on his cheek.
Notes:
McGonagall is the best and we should all take a moment to appreciate how much she deals with.
sorry about the late upload I just found out I have like 5 assignments due and I freaked out for a couple of days :') 3
ALSO ahhh 2nd last chapter??? wowowowowow I'm gonna cry