Lily Potter grimaced as Fawkes flamed into her office with a missive from the headmaster. Teaching the first through fourth years charms classes was exhausting, and she didn't feel like dancing attendance on the old man. She accepted the roll of parchment from the Phoenix and sniffed at the scent of wood fire that always lingered after the bird visited.
She closed her eyes and considered ignoring the summons. A cup of tea would go a long way towards restoring her usual good mood, but Albus was not a patient wizard. She pulled of the ribbon and unrolled the parchment.
Skimming the words, she grabbed her wand and took off toward the infirmary. Harry had been injured. She dropped the parchment in her office without reading further. The halls and stairs all worked with her for once, and she burst into the medical ward to find Dumnledore, Peter, and Madame Pomfrey engaged in a debate.
"We put these protocols in place for a reason." Madame Pomfrey planted her hands on her hips. "The Potter boy has landed her in here regularly for some time now, but this isn't a few broken bones. There is a good chance that Miss Granger will not see the dawn. You need to send the owl to her emergency contact."
"She might die, but he will kill me." Peter whined and pushed shaking fingers through his hair.
"And you'd be deserving of it." Madame Pomfrey glared daggers at the short, round man. "Letting the boy torture that girl. He's a menace."
"Who's a menace? Where is Harry? Is he badly injured?" Lily demanded, but she knew. She knew it deep in her bones. James Potter's heir was forging further into the realms of bullying than his father had. She'd given up trying to stop him. James and the others had turned out well enough.
"Your son will be fine in a few hours. He is a hardy lad and in no way a menace." Dumbledore frowned. "He could have anticipated this."
"What has Harry done?" Lily grimaced.
"He made a mistake." Albus moved closer to her and patted her shoulder. "He used a spell without knowing what it would do to the witch. The spell is designed to cut and resist healing."
"You can distance yourself from it all you like. He cast that curse in front of witnesses. There should be an accounting. Your excuses don't mean a bloody thing to me, and I doubt Miss Granger's family will accept them easily. I've given her all the blood replenishers I can. The wound is horrible. There will be a horrible scar." Madame Pomfrey glared at Albus. "If the Riddle boy hadn't been there, she would be dead."
"He did this to Hermione Granger?" Lily felt her stomach churn. Her son had attacked a muggleborn. "Why?"
"She flaunts herself and her abilities." Peter grumbled. "She needs to be knocked down a peg or two."
"She's a student, Peter, and a gifted one at that." Lily stared at him. How was this man the one she had known since they were eleven?
"She's a pain in the arse." Peter glanced toward the privacy screens. "She holds patents and rakes in money from them. She flaunts her successes."
"She's a student." Lily shifted her glare from Peter to Dumbledore. "We are supposed to be protecting her. Owl her emergency contact."
"Snape will rip me to shreds." Peter grabbed at her arm. "There won't be anything left of me."
"You used my son to hurt another student because you don't like her." Lily jerked her arm free of his plump fingers. "You used my son. There won't be anything left for Severus."
"Lily." He grabbed his throat and kept trying to speak. She shoved him back and sent him sprawling across a bed with a silent spell.
"You can't play on the good old days with me, Peter. I'm not James." She twirled her wand and set a sticking charm to keep him in place.
"I hate to interrupt you." A good looking young wizard stepped out from behind one the privacy screens. "But, I claim right of satisfaction from the professor."
"You can not challenge a professor, Mr. Riddle." Albus stepped toward the student.
"Madame Pomfrey, would you please check on Hermione. She seems somewhat improved, but I would like your confirmation." The young wizard bowed ever so slightly to the mediwitch and watched her disappear behind the privacy screen before turning to face the headmaster. "What is your solution? I'm more than happy to entertain your ideas, but honor demands a response. Two students have been badly injured because you allowed this man to do as he wanted. Your stewardship could be called into question."
Lily watched the young wizard tilt his head. Each movement was measured. Where was his fear? Gods and goddesses, this boy was her son's age. He turned towards her and sighed.
"Your son will be fine. Hermione hit him with a bombarda as she went down." His lips thinned as his gaze strayed to the other privacy screen. "I would urge you to view the memory the headmaster gathered from Millicent Bulstrode. Your son needs you."
The door burst open and four students stumbled into the room. She took a breath as the odd tension in the air disappeared. She smiled at Neville, but he didn't even glance in her direction.
"It took a bit, but we got free of the restraining spells." Luna Lovegood glared at the headmaster. "The owls are on their way. Is she okay?"
"She will be." Riddle relaxed as the others all took up strategic positions around the room.
"You can not stay here." Albus frowned and looked at each of the five students.
"We will not leave until Master Snape arrives." Neville didn't hesitate or fumble. This boy was nothing like the one that hung back from the others every summer.
"Someone taught Potter that spell. Dark magic isn't something we study." Gregory Goyle shook his head. "We don't leave our own unprotected."
"You really need this." The Lovegood girl skipped to her and pressed a charm made from a radish into her hand along with a vial filled with the liquid silver of a memory. "Nargles are particularly plentiful in the headmaster's office."
"The vial is charmed." Neville finally met her eyes. There was no warmth in his gaze. "Hermione has it patented. Just tap it with your wand and say Memoria Revelio. It works like a telbyvision. We sent one to Master Snape as well."
"Severus will listen to you Lily." Dumbledore stepped closer to her. "We can still contain this. Harry needn't be painted as dark wizard because of this."
"The dark arts can't be worked around so easily." Riddle sighed. "You need to see the memory. You need to see what your son has done because he will need guidance."
Lily frowned. Albus was trying to brush this all under the rug. She felt the skin of the radish heat and noticed that the runes carved into it were glowing.
She tapped her wand against the vial and muttered the incantation. A light streamed up and unfurled into an oblong rectangle. The rectangular field shimmered in a silvery wash and then forms coalesced.
She watched as Peter taunted the girl and set a spell on her that kept her still. The duel was a mockery of the art. She'd watched this girl win the schools' championship last year. Her son was good, but he had no chance against her in a fair fight.
The first hex was a mere knee reversal. It was an old favorite of James', a bit painful but in no way a dark spell. The jelly legs and the tarantallegra were similarly familiar, but the look on her son's face as he cast the silencio was chilling.
"Hecate's hounds, he knew what he was going to do." Lily felt her stomach twist as the images froze in place. "He silenced her for a reason."
"He silenced her because he'd fought her like this before." The Bulstrode girl moved to stand beside her. "He knew she'd come out of the stasis with a hex on her lips, so he forced her to work silently. We practice silent spell casting regularly, so it wasn't much help."
"You practice silent spell casting?" Dumbledore looked alarmed.
"We don't have a safety net." Gregory Goyle shrugged. "They hex us in the halls and we can't complain. You won't give us any form of representation, not even a ghost."
Lily looked at this odd band of children that had been opposing the system for years. They had an agenda all their own. Any person with half a brain could see it. There was something deeper going on here, but she didn't give a good, bloody damn. Her son was caught up in this mess.
"I want to see the rest." She looked at the assembled teens. They had somehow seized the power on the room. She saw Neville flick his fingers and the memory resumed.
Harry smirked and wielded his wand with an extra flourish before sending a lavender colored curse at the girl. Her hands fisted at her sides. Hermione Granger fired of her answering hex as she fell back. Blood poured from her wound. It was gruesome.
She watched as the Lovegood girl fell to her knees and poured dittany over the wound only to have it fail.
The blood was pumping out of the wound, spilling over fingers as the others began to help. She watched as Neville sobbed and pressed his robes to the wound, trying to staunch the flow. These children moved together, even the Riddle boy. He started chanting in a language she was unfamiliar with and pulled a deep purple glowing substance from the wound.
"He pulled the dark curse from her flesh." Dumbledore whispered. "He risked it claiming his own flesh. It's not supposed to be possible."
She watched as the boy flung the curse to the ground and burned it away with a simple fire spell. The spell dissipated and she saw Madame Pomfrey talking with the children.
The purple light of the curse had been far paler than the thing that had been ripped from her body. She blinked and looked at the headmaster. He was watching the Riddle boy closely.
"I need to talk to Harry." She looked toward the privacy screen.
"He's awake." Madame Pomfrey nodded toward the screen.
Stepping into the silent cocoon of the privacy screen was a relief. She could see her son's wild hair in its usual disarray. He'd been a sweet child, affectionate and mischievous. With his uncles and father about there wasn't a chance for him to be anything else.
She reached out and stroked his shoulder. Memories of her sweet boy flooded her mind. If there was a battle for his soul, she would win it. He rolled toward her and opened his swollen and bloodshot eyes.
"They told me it was a slicing hex. I practiced it with them when they visited. We were all laughing." Harry wiped at his tears with the back of his hand. "I didn't know it would be that bad."
"You knew it was a slicing hex." Lily raised one eyebrow. "That is not a harmless jinx."
"She wears armor." Harry shook his head. "She's so hard to beat. I just wanted to show her I was better."
"She beat seventh years in the dueling tournament last year. She's bound to be more skilled. She doesn't play quidditch though." Lily patted her son's hand. "We all have our strengths."
"She's never going to notice me now." Harry grumbled. "I should have listened to Dad and Uncle Pads. They told me to use a flower multiplying charm and bury her under them. They only taught me the cutting hex to see if I could learn it."
"Attacking the girl you like is never the right way to get attention." Lily stroked his hair back and looked down into her own eyes. "Miss Granger might forgive you in time. Get some sleep."
"Check on her for me." Harry curled on his side and closed his eyes.
Lily stepped out into the infirmary proper and glared up at the ceiling. It didn't have the answers or any help for dealing with her rage.
"I'm going to rip out Sirius Black's intestines and strangle James with them." It made her feel better to say it.
"I've waited twenty years to hear you say that." Severus Snape glowered at her from across the room.