A/N: So thanks to all those of you who have reviewed so far, and thanks for being patient with me. In reply to Emily as a guest reviewer, Lily and James have pursued a physical relationship. At the end of chapter fifteen, after the encounter with Voldemort Lily tells James that she is ready for that and in chapter sixteen, the two are in bed together and get interrupted by Sirius.
Enjoy this chapter, Jeremy's about to hit rock bottom :)
There was commotion everywhere as the teachers rushed onto the pitch to put James onto a stretcher. The teams landed onto the grass to surround the unconcious chaser who was now being levitated off the pitch by Dumbledore and McGonagall. Flitwick and Slughorn instructed the students to go straight back to their common rooms, all of them chattering about what had happened. Lily was fuming, she marched onto the pitch and went straight up to Jeremy, slapping him round the face as hard as she could.
"Ouch!"
"Be thankful that's all you're getting at the moment!" Lily growled.
"He had it coming for a long time."
"Why do you have to ruin my life?"
Jeremy smiled sickly, causing Lily to glare at him.
"You hurt me."
Lily scoffed in disbelief, she hadn't meant to hurt him through any of it. She couldn't help it that she had fallen in love with James and she felt like she had done the right thing in telling him that she had only seen him as a friend when she realised her feelings. But as always, Jeremy liked to be one step aheadd to stop her from being happy.
"So hurting James was to hurt me for rejecting you?" Lily asked.
"Not as such, the bludger was to teach him a lesson. To settle the score between us." Jeremy replied.
"So how have you settled the score with me?"
Jeremy raised an eyebrow, "By dating your best friend of course."
Marlene. Her suspicions had now been confirmed.
"A love potion on my best friend? To what? Drive a wedge between us?"
Jeremy didn't say anything and Lily had begun to feel that she had never really known Jeremy. For the boy who stood before her now was not the one she had dated and liked so about Sirius?
"What about Sirius and Georgia? They've done nothing to you!" Lily exclaimed.
"Let's just say that they were nothing more than collateral damage, they were simply there at the wrong place at the wrong time."
How could he not care about all the hurt he had caused? Especially to those who had done nothing wrong?
"You won't get away with this." Lily vowed.
Jeremy smirked and placed his broom over his shoulder, "Oh Lily, don't you see? I already have." and then headed back towards the castle.
She returned to the common room, never having felt this angry in her entire life. As she walked through the portrait hole, she noticed that everyone who had been gossiping about the match had stopped to watch her climb the girl's staircase. Lily opened her dormitory to see the girls sat on their beds and watching her nervously. She rummaged through her trunk, pulling out various belongings until she came to the conclusion that the box of chocolates that Jeremy had given her were gone. Marlene met Lily's gaze and tried to stop Lily from going through her trunk but Alice held her back. Lily and Mary pulled out Marlene's stuff from the trunk and Lily smiled triumphantly as she pulled the box out of Marlene's trunk and left the dormitory without another word.
Lily wanted to go straight to James but there wasn't a chance of seeing him until Madam Pomfrey had tended to his injury and head wounds tended to take some time. James had only been admitted to the hospital wing for half an hour so she vowed silently to herself to get Marlene sorted out first. Heading down the passageway that led to the dungeons, she made her way to the potions master's office.
Knocking on the door three times sharply, Slughorn opened the door in surprise to see Lily outside.
"Miss Evans, I'm sorry about Potter."
"Thank you Professor, but I'm not here about James."
Slughorn frowned, "Then what are you here for?"
Lily held up the box of chocolates.
"Professor you may be aware of what's been happening surrounding Jeremy Thomas?"
Slughorn nodded, "Well one tries not to listen to school gossip but yes I am aware that he is the father of Georgia Huntley's unborn child and I am aware that he is increasingly jealous now that you are dating James Potter. I am also aware that he has grown rather unpopular in his house and many students are saying that he should have been placed in Slytherin due to his scheming nature."
Lily held up the box of chocolates, "Jeremy gave me these for my birthday recently and I have reason to believe that they have been spiked with a love potion."
Slughorn raised his eyebrows, "By Mr Thomas? If what you say is true Miss Evans, there could be serious consequences."
"I came to request that you test them, Marlene McKinnon has been acting out of the ordinary and seems to be infatuated with Jeremy when she used to hate him."
"And you believe Miss McKinnon to have consumed these chocolates?"
Lily nodded, "She told me she had and during the match she confessed that she had been dating Jeremy in secret. I have confronted Jeremy who told me that he was using Marlene to get revenge on me hurting him."
Slughorn sighed and took the chocolates, gesturing for Lily to come into his office. Lily shut the door behind her as Slughorn examined the chocolates and tore one open, noting the significant aromas that he smelt whenever he saw Amortentia. Lily sat in the seat opposite the desk, watching Slughorn closely. After a few minutes, Slughorn looked back up at Lily.
"You were right Miss Evans, these chocolates contain Amortentia."
"What happens now?"
Slughorn rummaged through a drawer before pulling out a small vial that was labelled as an antidote to Amortentia. He placed it in Lily's hands and smiled.
"Give this to her straight away, I'm sure you'll come up with a way. I'll get the headmaster down here and explain the situation."
"Thank you Professor."
Lily left the office with the antidote and headed back to Gryffindor Tower, glad that most of the students had gone to bed. Tearing off the label on the vial, she hurried into her dormitory and went straight to Marlene.
"Marley, I've had a chat with Jeremy."
"About the match? Wasn't he amazing? He should have been made chaser." Marlene sighed dreamily.
Lily smiled, "I've had a chat with him about you two and I've come to accept it."
Marlene raised her eyebrows in surprise, "You have?"
Lily nodded, "In fact he asked me to give you this." she replied and handed over the vial.
Marlene eyed up the vial curiously, "What is it?"
"Jeremy's got a surprise planned for you tonight and he knows how nervous you've been about keeping your relationship with him a secret. This is a tonic that he put together to calm your nerves."
"Awwh he's so thoughtful." Marlene gushed and without a second thought, she opened the lid on the vial and drained the mixture in one.
Lily, Alice and Mary watched Marlene closely for a few minutes and all of them smiled when Marlene leapt up from the bed in horror. Marlene began to pace around the room in a panic.
"Eugh did I really kiss Jeremy?"
Lily nodded, "I guess so."
Marlene flung her arms around Lily causing Lily to jump unexpectedly.
"I'm so sorry Lily."
"It's fine Marley, you weren't yourself. Go and find Sirius, you may be able to fix it."
With that, Marlene rushed out of the dormitory. Lily sat down on her bed and tried to process how badly the day had gone. At least the situation with Marlene was now sorted. Hopefully Slughorn would have told Dumbledore by now and the headmaster would drag Jeremy into his office.
"Lily, are you going to the hospital wing yet?"
She snapped out of her thoughts and turned to Mary, nodding and rising from the bed. Hopefully James would have been treated by now and she could see what was going on with him. Lily left the tower and headed straight for the hospital wing. But stopped in her tracks when she saw that all the beds in the hospital wing remained empty.
"Miss Evans, is there a problem?" Madam Pomfrey questioned.
"Where's James?"
"Professor McGonagall was on her way up to speak to you. Mr Potter has some swelling on his brain, it is too much for me to treat so he's been transferred to St Mungo's where he will stay in an induced coma until the healers can get rid of the swelling. It's the only safe option for him presently, he was drifting in and out of conciousness. The healers will be able to tell me more once they've ran some tests, it could be that he has severe brain damage or just that the bludger to the back of his head has caused the severe swelling and nothing more. I'm sorry Miss Evans."
Lily was led into the office and made to sit down as she processed the news about James's current state. It was very rare if Madam Pomfrey couldn't treat an injured student, and James was one of the rare cases. As she accepted a hot chocolate from the matron, she hoped quietly that Jeremy got his wand snapped in half and expelled from the school, he was nothing more than a piece of scum who hurt the boy she loved.
Marlene rushed up the boy's staircase and was relieved to find Peter, Remus and Sirius sat on their beds. All seemed to be taking the news about James pretty badly and she wasn't sure if now was the right time to speak with Sirius. But when Peter and Remus smiled slightly and left the room, it was evident to her that Sirius needed someone else to talk to. She sat next to him, not sure whether to hold his hand or not.
"What do you want Marlene?"
"Sirius, you have to know that I was never in love with Jeremy."
"You made it pretty clear how you felt about me."
"I was under the influence of a love potion, it wasn't real."
"Marlene, can we do this another time? My best friend is in St Mungo's with a swelled brain!"
"I'm sorry." she whispered.
Sirius sighed and placed an arm on her wrist to prevent her from rising from the bed, he was just hurt and angry right now. He rather liked that she was here and they were talking again.
"How do you know it was a love potion?"
"Lily worked it out."
"Smart one isn't she that Evans?"
Marlene nodded, "Sirius I'm so sorry for the hurt I've caused you. After our argument I ate some chocolates as a source of comfort food and didn't realise about the love potion."
Sirius sighed again, "Marley, I'm sorry for that argument. This could have been prevented, we would never have broken up."
"Can we try again?" she pleaded.
Sirius looked into her eyes and stroked her cheek before pulling her in for a hug.
"I'd like that more than anything." he whispered.
"I love you." she whispered back.
Jeremy walked up the winding staircase to the headmaster's office, having no idea why he had been summoned by Dumbledore at this hour. Everyone was heading to bed or gossiping about the match if they still remained in the common room. He knocked on the door and entered when he heard Dumbledore's voice instructing him to do so. Jeremy closed the door behind him and was surprised to see that Professor Slughorn and Professor Sprout were in the office as well.
"Good Evening, Mr Thomas. Have a seat." Dumbledore said, gesturing to the seat opposite him.
Jeremy sat down and met the gazes of Slughorn and Sprout.
"May I ask why I'm here?" Jeremy asked.
Dumbledore nodded slowly, "It has come to my attention Mr Thomas that you have a very hurtful nature to your peers. Whilst I understand that you are in love with Miss Evans and have not gotten over her decision to date James Potter, you should not have sought to hurt her or her friends."
Jeremy gulped, wondering just how much Dumbledore knew.
"I have been informed by Professor Slughorn that the chocolates that you gifted Miss Evans for her eighteenth birthday were filled with Amortentia, Miss Evans has also said that she wasn't the one to eat the chocolates and it was in fact Miss McKinnon who did. She also told us how you confessed to trying to drive a wedge between the two girls by dating Miss McKinnon and that Miss Huntley and Mr Black were as you said 'collaterol damage' in the process."
Jeremy said nothing, clearly he wasn't going to get away with it as he had originally thought.
"There is also the matter of the match today. You deliberately took the bad and hit a bludger to the back of Mr Potter's head. Mr Potter has been taken to St Mungo's hospital due to the swelling on his brain caused by the bludger. The healers will be keeping me informed of his progress."
Shit. Shit. Shit. Jeremy thought to himself, he hadn't intended for Potter to get hurt that badly.
"Until I know of Mr Potter's longterm condition and after dicussions of your future at Hogwarts with the Ministry are concluded, you are disqualified from your potions NEWT examinations. You know that love potions are banned with the exception of educational purposes for sixth year and above. You made one without permission from myself or Professor Slughorn and used it for personal gain. You ruined romantic relationships and some friendships. There is also the matter of Miss Huntley's condition to which you have chosen not to acknowledge your responsibilities as the father to her child. Due to all these factors, it is no longer up to I to expel you from my school."
Shiiiitttt.
"Mr Thomas, you are to go back to your dormitory and your wand to be confiscated by Professor Sprout. You will be escorted to and from lessons and to mealtimes as well as back to the common room by a teacher every day. You will only use your wand for lessons, you have detention every night from now until the last day of the school year. You are not to speak or have any contact with Miss Evans, Mr Potter, Mr Black, Miss McKinnon or Miss Huntley. Until the Ministry and I can come to a decision about your future at Hogwarts, you will be treated like the child you have been acting like since you returned here."
With that Dumbledore dismissed Jeremy and Professor Sprout escorting him from the office and back to the Hufflepuff common room. Jeremy had never felt so low as he did right now, he wished he could turn back time and be a better person. All the things he had done, he had only thought of how he would feel himself after it all happened. A few hours ago he had felt satisfied that his revenge had been fulfilled and now he felt lousy.
He vowed to himself silently as he walked into his dormitory and climbed into bed that he would try and make amends. If only he knew where to start.
A/N: So I hope you're all happy with this chapter, I certainly enjoyed writing it. There's more to come soon as there's the aftermath of James's coma and Georgia due to have the baby so watch this space and I'll update when I can :)