“Who wants to see me take off Snivelly’s pants?” said James furiously.
A giggling group of Hufflepuffs edged closer, enjoying the fun. The Gryffindor girls at the water’s edge looked their way, appearing to assent. However, he noticed one girl walking away. She gave a backward glance, a greedy longing look on her face, a longing to see Snape’s humiliation. Then she reluctantly turned away, jogging after Lily. He recognised the short, slight figure of Mary MacDonald.
As he watched her go, a sudden movement like a streak of light, caught his eye. He swivelled round, expecting a Slytherin protagonist to come to the rescue, but there was no one there. No one had fired a spell in Snape's defence.
“C’mon Prongs,” said Sirius lazily.
Snape was writhing under their spell, comically suspended, showing shabby grey pants and stick-like legs. All thought of his predicament gone, he was no longer cursing his two enemies but yelping like a wounded animal.
“No! No! No! Lily! NO!”
James turned back still looking bemused. Peter was staring at the scene, his eyes shining. Remus had his head in a book, his knuckles white.
“Hmm,” pondered Sirius, “look at those disgusting pants, everybody! Don’t you ever wash, Snivellus? Tergeo!”
However, the pants remained grey.
‘They’re old, not dirty,’ thought James. ‘He can’t afford new ones.’
Despite everything Snape was, James felt pity.
“Sirius, leave it!” he commanded.
Sirius, unused to the use of his first name from his best friend, jerked his wand arm causing Snape to crash to the ground. Without bothering to pick up his precious exam paper or even his wand, Snape ran off in the direction Lily had taken.
“What in the name of Merlin was that all about?” exclaimed Sirius.
“Can’t explain mate,” James said, sighing heavily.
“Perhaps you’d care to explain to me!” said a stern voice behind them.
Sirius groaned. The other students disappeared as quickly as if they’d Apparated leaving only Remus and Peter hanging back.
It was Professor McGonagall. Her eyes blazed fiercely, causing even Sirius to quake.
“Brave Gryffindors all!” she said sarcastically. “Black and Potter, you will report to my office at eight o’clock tonight.”
She glared at the other two. She saw an excited Peter standing between his friends. She knew he’d wear any punishment he received like a badge of honour.
“Pettigrew,” she said sharply,” “I do not believe you were directly involved in this incident.” She waited a heartbeat before continuing, “however, knowing your tendency to be led astray, I want you to return to the Common Room and try to stay out of trouble.”
Peter debated staying but knew she was not a woman to cross. He picked up his books, stuffed them into his bag and sidled back to Gryffindor Tower.
She turned to Remus who was fiddling with his prefect badge, as if he were trying to hide it under the folds of his robe. “Mr Lupin, you will report to me with Black and Potter.”
“Oh, Professor,” exclaimed Sirius. “Remus had nothing to do with it.”
“A gallant response, Black, but Mr Lupin knows better.” She strode off, back to the castle.
James opened his mouth to protest, but thought better of it. Sirius looked mutinous and uncaring. They all started to pack up their books.
“Sorry, Moony,” chimed Sirius and James together.
“Forget it,” Remus replied shortly, “I was only going to revise.” He turned his back on them and made a show of fastening his bag.
“Does that hurt?” Sirius asked pointing to the gash in James’ face.
James raised a hand to his cheek, remembering the curse Snape had fired. What hex had that been? There was blood all over his robes but the spell had only glanced off his cheekbone.
Remus looked up. “Madam Pomfrey will sort you out. Padfoot will take you.”
“Yeah, come on, just think how much a scar will impress the witches,” teased Sirius, ruffling James’ hair. A sudden thought occurred to him. “Was that why you stopped? We had old Snivelly at our mercy, it was brilliant!”
“Nah,” said James, feigning cockiness. “Too easy,” he paused, gingerly touching his cheek.
“Look,” he said, “I’ll go and see Madam Pomfrey by myself. You two should check on Peter. He’s probably thinking up preposterous plans for taking on Snivellus straight away. I want to think about this carefully. We’ll get Snape some other time.”
Remus looked at him quizzically. Then he walked away, picking up Snape’s wand and exam paper, smoothing it out as he did so. He turned and looked squarely at his friend.
“Picking on Severus Snape is not the way to impress her, James, and you stopped far too late for Lily to see.”
James flushed as he walked off. He knew why he’d hesitated and it hadn’t just been Lily’s scorn. He’d seen something by that bush and it hadn’t been a student coming to Snape's rescue. It had been silver, fainter than a ghost and it had looked just like himself. However, it was a James Potter in shock. A James Potter with disgust on his face and just for a moment he’d felt ashamed.
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At eight o’ clock that evening, James walked nonchalantly to McGonagall’s office. He’d skipped tea, not wanting to see anyone, cocooned in confusing thoughts about the afternoon’s events. Sirius and Remus were there already, slouching against the wall. Remus looked glum, Sirius relaxed.
“Prongs,” Sirius barked, jumping up at the sight of him, “thought you’d given up on us.”
“Nah mate,” James grinned. “Just not hungry and wanted to get this cleaned up.” He showed them the cut on his cheek. It looked raw and it was still bleeding. “But the lovely Poppy’s not up to her usual standards,” he added slyly to Sirius.
Sirius blushed, or rather came as close to blushing as he was ever likely to. It was a private joke between the Marauders that Poppy Pomfrey exercised a strange fascination for Sirius. Thirty-seven years old, with chestnut hair, caught tightly in a bun, her severe yet nurturing nature caused a confusing mass of thoughts for the normally cool teenager. The door opened, saving Sirius the necessity of thinking up a sarcastic response to James’ jibe.
“Come in, boys,” ordered Professor McGonagall.
They trooped in obediently.
“Don’t shuffle, Black! Lift up your feet,” she snapped.
Upon entering the room, James stopped abruptly. Professor Dumbledore was sitting on a large, squashy chair, a chair that looked out of place in the Spartan surroundings of their housemistress' office. Remus and Sirius faltered.
“Ah, Messrs Potter, Black and Lupin,” he said lightly, but his voice belied the stern look in his blue eyes. “Professor McGonagall has been filling me in on this afternoon’s events, but it seems that there’s no explanation for such behaviour,” he finished, raising one eyebrow ironically.
James sighed; this was worse than he’d thought. He started to speak but Sirius jumped in first.
“Professor,” he said, “it’s my fault. It was a joke that went too far and um…” he trailed off.
“You admit that you started it, Black?” said Professor McGonagall, her shrewd eyes assessing the three boys’ faces.
James took over. “No. I started it. We were relieved the exam was over, we were bored and I thought…”
He stopped, trying to find a way of making the attack sound acceptable.
“You thought bullying a fellow student would provide entertainment?” flared Professor McGonagall.
“Oh, come on!” burst out Sirius. “Bully Snape? Since when has he left us alone? Look at James’ cheek! And he called Lily a Mudblood!”
“And that’s what started the fight?” asked Professor McGonagall.
“Err, not exactly,” mumbled James.
“So you weren’t rushing to her defence then? It wasn’t chivalry?” she continued mercilessly.
“When has Lily Evans ever needed anyone to rescue her?” said Sirius, laughing.
For a moment, James thought he saw Dumbledore’s mouth twitch. Then he turned to Remus.
“And you, Mr. Lupin,” Dumbledore asked, “what, pray tell, was your part in this unfortunate incident?”
“I...err, nothing,” stuttered Remus.
“You did not, perhaps, hurl a hex at Severus Snape?”
Remus shook his head.
“You cast no curses to incapacitate?”
Again, Remus shook his head.
“Did you attack him in any form this afternoon?” enquired Dumbledore.
“No. I did nothing,” he muttered, looking at his shoes.
“So why do you think you are you here?” questioned Dumbledore, his blue eyes piercing Remus through the half moon glasses.
Although Remus answered slowly, he hadn’t needed time to think. He touched the badge attached to his robes.
“Because I should have stopped it.”
“Precisely, Mr Lupin, precisely. Professor McGonagall and I gave you that badge for a reason," reproved Dumbledore, getting to his feet. “Minerva, I leave their punishment in your hands."
“B-but, but,” stammered Remus.
Dumbledore halted in the doorway.
“Do you have something to add, Mr Lupin?” His voice sounded cool. After a few moments without Remus continuing, Professor Dumbledore said, “If that is all then I shall…”
“No!” blurted out Remus. “That’s not all. I know I wasn’t being responsible. I know how much faith you’ve put in me and I know I’ve let you down but what’s the point?”
“The point? Why, what do you mean?” said Dumbledore in a surprised tone. He walked back to face him.
“Well,” continued Remus, “what was the point in making me a prefect, giving me this responsibility, when it won’t mean a damn thing?” He pulled the badge off and threw it viciously across the floor.
“Remus,” muttered James. “You’re making it worse. What’s the matter?”
“The matter? The matter?” shouted Remus at his friends. “I’ll tell you, shall I? You two continually mock me for being ‘Mr Perfect Prefect’.”
James and Sirius winced at his tone.
“Then there are all the other prefects talking about how great an opportunity it is to have the badge, because it will look so good when they apply for jobs at the Ministry. Slughorn’s favourites are already on their way to a sparkling future, thanks to him. But what about me?
“Even you, Professor McGonagall, couldn’t think of one profession that I could adequately aspire to in our careers talk last week. I could be Head Boy with 12 O.W.Ls and 9 ‘Outstanding’ N.E.W.Ts, and I’ll never be employed, will I? In the end, nothing I do will ever mean a damn thing because of what I am, a werewolf!”
There were tears streaming down his face, whether from sadness, frustration or fury James didn’t know. He felt embarrassed. Sirius, too, was uncomfortable, shuffling his feet and looking everywhere but at Remus. Professor McGonagall was still, very still.
“Remus,” said Dumbledore softly and a touch sadly. “You got the badge because you are the best, most responsible Gryffindor we have.
“I can’t pretend that life will ever be easy for you. In the end, though, you will do your best because that’s the very essence of the person you are.”
He gazed down at him and placed an arm on the boy’s still shuddering shoulders.
“Minerva, I shall take Remus with me. You may deal with Black and Potter.” Then, after picking up the discarded badge, he ushered the trembling boy out of the room.
James, Sirius and Professor McGonagall watched them go. James noticed she was pale and the usually stern eyes behind her glasses seemed wet, but then he was surprised to find his own eyes were swimming. She turned to both of them.
“You seem to seek Severus Snape out, don’t you?”
James and Sirius gulped. In the midst of Remus’ outburst, they’d forgotten why they were there.
“For five years you’ve had this feud. You may not like Severus Snape. You may dislike his house and hate his friends, but that does not excuse the fact that it was two against one for amusement. I expect better behaviour from my Gryffindors.”
They stood up straight and looked into her eyes, awaiting their punishment.
“Your stupid stunt today has cost Gryffindor fifty house points and has probably lost us the House Cup. You had better think of some way to make up those points, otherwise Ravenclaw will win again, and that will not make me happy!” She looked at them briefly then waved her hand impatiently.
“Go on! Get out of here.”
Cursing Snape and their luck in equal quantities, they made their way back to their common room. That morning the two hourglasses of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had been neck and neck with only five points separating them but now the blue sapphires of Ravenclaw were far out in front, with Slytherin in second place. They were now only marginally ahead of Hufflepuff and would not be popular with their fellow Gryffindors.
“If only we’d taken off Snivelly’s pants! Then, maybe, they’d have forgiven us,” moaned Sirius. “Are you going soft on the greasy Slytherin or something?”
“Merlin, no,” murmured James, “but perhaps McGonagall’s right, ‘two against one’ is hardly fair.”
He touched his cheek. The cut had started to heal now and barely smarted. He grudgingly admired the speed and cleverness of the spell. He could even forgive Snape for hexing him; it was self-defence after all. However, he would never forgive him for using that word about Lily.
The Lions of Gryffindor by Equinox Chick
Story Notes:
I am indebted to Terri (mudbloodproud) for the huge amount of work she's put into this. I owe you big time.
I would also like to thank Lyra (Lyratearsx) and Rhiannon (Entangled) for their part in beta'ing this tale. Another beta I owe a lot to is Cassie (ms leading) who has also put in a lot of effort for me.
Rated 3rd -5th years for later chapters.
Disclaimer- Most of the characters in this tale are the property of JK Rowling although some have been created by me. I would not dare to presume I could improve on her work- this is just my slant on her amazing world.
Chapter Notes: It’s a hot day at the end of June. The Marauders are sitting under a beech tree after their D.A.D.A. O.W.L. James is showing off. Peter is applauding madly. Remus is trying to revise. Sirius, however, is bored. Suddenly they spot their enemy, Severus Snape.It was the final straw for Lily and Snape’s friendship. He lost her forever. It was also a turning point for James and the Marauders.
I have quoted directly from Snape’s Worst Memory from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This is simply to place this chapter in its correct context.
Chapter Endnotes: I hope you enjoyed this story. Please leave a review.
The quote at the beginning has been taken directly from Snapes Worst Memory.