Prophecies and Betrayals (sequel to The Marauders)

8

My fault my fault my fault my fault

Two very different people, haunted for the rest of their lives by the same two words.

One of them wondering if they had just pulled up a fraction of a second earlier, the injury would have been prevented.

The other haunted by the fact that it was his word that sent one of the most powerful Dark wizards blasting down her door that fateful night.

Ironically, both now waited with baited breath outside the Hospital Wing, and although they would someday come to understand one another's pain, today was not the day.

"You know Lily isn't supposed to fly!" Severus Snape raged over over the clattering of the rain hitting the window. Miserable weather for a miserable situation.

"HOW THE HELL WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT?!" James retorted, his usual hatred of Snape intensified by his fear for Lily's health.

Saying that Lily Evans was afraid of heights was an understatement. She was utterly petrified. And James hadn't known that until that terrifying moment, when Lily looked down at how high up she was and froze. Then he knew the truth that she had hidden from him out of embarrassment. The reason she had been excused from flying lessons for the past five years.

"She could have died!" Snape screamed, spittle flying from his pale lips. His black eyes, full of feral loathing, held James' with such intensity that James felt as if his soul was being damned to Hell.

"But she didn't!" James yelled back, taking a step forward. Snape instinctively took a step back, an involuntary retreat that send him stumbling over one of the small wooden chairs in the waiting room.

As he struggled to pick himself up from the hard floor, Snape fixed James with glare that scared even James. However, he would not let Snape see his fear.

It was James after all that had cornered Snape in this small, empty room full of chairs. It was James that threatened to smash Snape's head through the single glass window and into the hail storm beyond. He would not show fear. Not now, not ever. He owed Lily that, at least. He owed it to her to destroy Severus Snape, like he had destroyed her arm.

Lily might not have noticed it, but Snape had been on that Quidditch pitch. He had been with his team, trying out for Keeper. It was he who drew Lucius Malfoy's attention heavenward, to that little orange speck in the sky that had been Lily Evans, invisible except for her fiery hair, like some otherworldly creature.

"I am going to tear your arm right out of it's socket, you little-" James didn't finish his threat, for Snape had lunged up with surprising agility, and wrapped his scrawny freckled arms around James' neck.

"YOU KILLED HER! YOU KILLED HER!" Snape was screaming in his ear, voice cracking from his late-hitting puberty.

"I DID NOT KILL HER, YOU IDIOT! YOU DID! YOU WITH YOUR FOUL WORDS, YOUR DISGUSTING FRIENDS! YOU ARE A PREJUDICED LITTLE BACKSTABBER, A LIAR, A FILTHY HALF-" James gasped as Snape suddenly loosened his grip. James was shaking, and he could barely think past the roaring in his ears. Had he really almost said that? No...there's no way. He would never. It was just because Snape was strangling him, James wasn't thinking clearly. Regret roiled in his stomach, mingling with the pain of what had happened to Lily. James wished he could take that word right back, wished he could undo it. But just like Lily's injury, it could not be undone.

"Say it," Snape breathed in James' ear, his breath hot against James' sweaty skin. "Say it. Prove to her that you are no better than I am. Prove to her that you are a prejudiced little backstabber, just like me."

James gritted his teeth, shaking his head slowly. He would not say it.

"Good," Snape snarled. "You have restraint. A quality that will get you killed, no doubt."

"At least I'll die with a free conscience," James hissed through his teeth. The next thing he knew, Snape had jammed his fingers into the pressure points of James' neck. James' vision went splotchy.

He would always look back on this moment and wonder. If Madam Pomphrey had not come in at that exact moment, if she had not intervened...would Snape have killed him? He certainly looked like he would, with those beady black eyes full of death.

When Madam Pomphrey walked in, she froze in place and merely gawked wide-eyed. Then she swallowed her surprise and strode toward them with a ferocity that matched the storm outside.

"BOYS! YOU STOP THAT RIGHT NOW, OR I SHALL CALL FILCH!"

An extremely effective threat.

Snape reluctantly released James, throwing him to the ground in a coughing heap.

James massaged the bruises on his neck, glaring at Snape over his shoulder that sent a very clear message. This is not over.

"Severus Snape? And...is that..." Madam Pomphrey squinted at the two boys, who were both nearly unrecognizable through the bruises they had acquired during the scuffle. "James Potter." she said it like a curse. James supposed that wasn't so far off from the truth.

"I can't believe you two. Out here roughhousing, while that poor girl is in there-"

"Is she alright?" James interrupted. Madam Pomphrey stared at him intensely for a moment before answering, as though choosing her words carefully.

"When she fell, she landed on her arm. Her forearm took the brunt of the fall, breaking apart like glass. My skills are better than most, but even I have not tried to stitch a bone back together again." Madam Pomphrey looked at both boys in turn, taking in their panting breathing and red faces. "Miss Evans' bone was put back together reasonably well, and I expect she'll recover well. However, I am sorry to say that although the bone will heal, her arm may never function the way it did before. Too many nerves were severed, or demolished entirely."

James gulped. "Ok. What's the best case scenario?"

Madam Pomphrey gave him an odd look, as though considering whether she had discharged him too fast and his concussion was still in effect.

"Mr. Potter...that was the best case scenario."

James staggered. What have I done?

Another thought that would plague Severus Snape as well. Although it would be a lot more severe. Because unlike James, Snape would never be able to apologize to Lily for what he had done.

A\N K So this chapter has some mild language, I thought that it would suit the moment...but if it makes you guys uncomfortable I can omit the language! It's only there to add emotion to the moment, but I don't want it to be distracting or off-putting. Let me know what you guys think in the comments!

This chapter was a lot of foreshadowing for the next few chapters, which will be done somewhat differently from these first 8 chapters. Different in the way that we will be fast-forwarding through several years, past their graduation from Hogwarts, and into the early years afterwards. However, there will be flashbacks when I see fit (mostly to really 'add life' or whatever to James and Lily's relationship. This will be hard because...well...I don't know how I feel about James yet XD)

Thank you all so much for your support though! Love you all, and stay safe! ❤