Blood Traitor

Over the next few weeks, Lily fell into a sort of routine; she went to lessons, she did her homework, she chatted with the girls and she spent time with James.

Of course, he still sat with the Marauders during lessons and went to Quidditch practise; he still had a team to run. But when he was free, they would curl up in the Common Room, or sneak off to an old, abandoned teacher's office he had found and snuggle up together on a sofa in front of the fire.

Whether they were doing homework, or simply sitting and talking about… well, stuff.

They would be sitting side by side, scribbling down a Transfiguration essay and suddenly James would laugh, break off writing and lean back in his chair. She would look up and be unable to do anything but grin at him, before asking, 'What's so funny?'

'It's just this:' he would reply, gesturing at the foot or so he had already written, 'you know, there's a Spanish Wizard who has this theory that the basic laws of Transfiguration are utterly wrong. If he's right, then everything we are learning is utter rubbish!'

Then he would be off, trying to explain the complex laws of Threndall's Transubstantiation and how that related to the four principles of elementary switching while Lily could only sit in bemused wonder, caught up in the simple excitement of his words.

It was wonderful and, yet, she wasn't sure what to make of it; everywhere she went there whispers and looks from everyone. She was James Potter's girlfriend.

Some of the things she had heard people say were downright rude.

Things came to a head when she and James were walking back to Gryffindor Tower after a rather exciting session in the abandoned Teacher's Office; James had found a sofa to drag in there and things had got a bit hot, cuddled up in front of the fire together. Lily's hair was rumpled and James' shirt sleeve had somehow managed to get torn.

They were walking back though, having repaired his sleeve, when they bumped into Wilkes, Mulciber and Compton. They had surrounded George Hill near the painting of Inias the Intelligible and he was down on the hard stone floor, gasping for breath.

James immediately pulled out his wand and said urgently, 'Lily, go find a teacher.'

'James, you can't-'

'Damnit, Lily; they're hurting him and I can't take on all three: just go!'

As he said it, Compton heard them and turned around, 'Well, if it isn't Potty and his pet Mudblood.'

'Say that again, Simeon, I dare you,' James growled, 'Lily go!'

Lily took one last, frightened look at them and sped off down the corridor.

The other two turned around, leaving George pale and gasping on the floor; Wilkes grinned when he saw Lily run off and his eyes locked on James'.

'That's right, Potter, send the filthy little Mudblood on her way like a good house-elf, you're a blood traitor you know. I thought screwing with scum like her was below even you. Apparently not.'

Three against one was poor odds, especially with someone like Wilkes facing him.

James tried not to listen to the words though; he was now alone and they were going to make the most of it.

Wilkes fired something silvery at him and James ducked to avoid it, coming up smiling, 'Now, now, boys-'

A bludgeoning hex hit him in the ribs.

He came spluttering for air, seeing red and rasped, 'Repulso,' as a third spell went over his shoulder.

It was a fairly simple spell and it had a fairly simple effect; Mulciber flew backwards and crashed into a suit of armour. It also had the effect of creating a hell of racket as the lot tumbled to the floor in a din of clanging metal and Mulciber's swearing.

Wilkes and Compton on the other hand went full out; hexes, jinxes and the occasional curse flew past James in a barrage. It was all he could do to put up a shield charm and try and hold them off. He'd never been particularly great at defence though and his charm soon shattered, instead he levitated the shield from the suit of armour in front of him, transfiguring it until it was nearly five foot high and three wide. Spellwork dented it, but it kept the worst off until Wilkes' bone-shattering curse bounced off the wall and hit his left elbow, he had to bite down on his lip to stop himself screaming and it was all he could do to keep the shield in place as he fell to one knee with the sheer, overwhelming pain of it.

Hopefully the clanging armour would have alerted someone… His left arm hung at an impossible angle and he tried to let it move as he ducked again, feeling blood flow down his chin where he had bitten through his lip.

He hung on as more spells buckled the shield in front of him and then it was wrenched to one side and he almost went with it. He saw a glowing orange jet shoot towards him and he knew he was going to end up in the hospital wing, or worse, by the end of the day. He had lost his wand somehow and it was over.

The jet stopped in mid-air and dissipated though; a shield charm had formed between James and the Slytherins. Then Wilkes went down under a barrage of hexes; sprouting antlers and what look like warts as he went down. Mulciber scrambled out the armour and legged it down the corridor, getting out sight before anything could touch him. Compton tried to follow him, but George suddenly sat up, still wheezing and grabbed his leg as he went by.

Compton hit the ground with a crash and a yell of pain as James turned to see his rescuers were Benjy Fenwick and a Seventh Year that James recognised as the Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain; Harvey Kayser, along with Lily who was brandishing her wand at Compton and looked ready to hex him if he so much as looked at James.

'You alright, mate?' Benjy asked, helping James to his feet as Compton groaned.

'Elbow's shattered,' James said evenly through gritted teeth; he was white as a sheet and blood had soaked into his collar where it had run down his neck from his mouth. It looked like he had bitten through his lip, Lily thought.

'Oh my God,' she whispered when he turned to face her; it had barely been two minutes since she had run for help, but James' left arm was twisted and hung at an obscene angle, his right hand clutching at the elbow, 'Flitwick's on his way,' she said, her voice shaking,

Why had she run off? She should have stayed and stopped them; now James was hurt, badly.

Kayser walked across and pulled George to his feet, collecting the stunned Wilkes' wand as he did so. Benjy and Lily both stepped forward to help James, Lily retrieving his wand as she did so, but he stumbled away towards Compton hissing, 'You… are… a… complete… bastard.'

He punctuated the last word by pulling back his right foot and kicking Compton squarely between the legs, right in the crotch. Lily tried to look away, but her gaze was caught by James' left arm swinging wildly as his foot connected with his target and she watched him collapse against the wall, trying to not scream in pain as the bones grated.

Unfortunately it was at that moment that Flitwick came round the corner.