Harry Potter Isekai - Marauders Era

Chapter 13: Mudblood

Chapter 13

Marlene's POV

Fifth year was rough, like, really rough. I have only ever remembered studying this much in my past life, but never in this one before. The OWLs were monstrous, but it's over now. Today is the last day of exams. I keep asking myself "Why did I decide to do 10 OWLs?" I'm no longer an overachiever but I guess old habits die hard. Dora and I would find ourselves in the library constantly from morning to right before curfew. Because Barty and Reggie are only in their fourth years, they didn't stick around us that long on study days, although Barty would pull Dora out for study breaks/mini dates here and there. Reggie would just nag me on eating and sleeping more. He's become more like a mom than a bestie.

James would invite himself to our study sessions – not that I'm complaining. It's good to have more brilliant minds to help you get unstuck on problems. He's also brilliant in transfiguration so it's been a great help. Because James comes to study with us, his friends would come by as well. I don't mind Remus and Peter too much, but Sirius can be insufferable – always begging James to pull more pranks and making noises. Surprisingly, James rejected him multiple times. He's really been growing up and maturing more. Seeing it happen in front of my eyes is really impressive and I find myself smiling at James more and more – not that it means anything! The more James is maturing, the more irritated Sirius gets.

Today is an important day though – not just because it's the last day of exams, but it's also due to a main event mentioned in the original series: Today is the day the Marauders bully Severus, prompting Lily to speak up for her friend only to have him call her "mudblood." Today is the day Lily and Severus cut all ties with one another. It's hard to believe considering how they have been childhood friends and have even dated before. Lily and Severus are not back together however everyone in the school can tell that they still have feelings for each other by the way they would steal glances and look longingly at one another.

I sighed in relief as Dora and I stepped out of the castle and walked down the field towards the lake to meet up with Barty and Reggie. The four of us have decided to resume our plans to capture all of the horcruxes. Since the retrieval of the diadem, we have put the mission on hold to study and prepare for the OWLs. Now that it is over, we're planning to get our hands on the next horcrux this summer.

"Freedom!" I screamed and I ran towards the boys laughing with joy.

"Finally!" Barty screams back as Reggie gives us an aspirated expression, most likely embarrassed by our antics. Dora only giggles as she looks at the group. "Oh, come on, Reg. You missed them too. You're always complaining about never seeing the girls."

"You mean I complain about always dealing with you."

"Jerk." Barty pouts as Dora and I laugh. In the distance, we hear a crowd of students crowding and murmuring. We turn to see a population of students clumped together near a tree on one of the hills not too far from us. Oh no... We gave each other a look before walking towards the crowd.

"... nothing else to say, Snivellus?" I narrowed my eyes as I heard Sirius's taunting voice.

"Sirius, mate, just let it go." I hear James say softly but not lowly enough not to be heard.

"Let it go?!" Sirius scoffs, "You know you want to do this as much as I do. You've been bottling up everything because of the OWLs. Come on, James, it's over now! Let's play! Right, Snivelly? You want to play too, don't you? Let's see you play!" He laughs as he levitates Severus up into the air as the latter tries his best not to scream or show much of a reaction.

"Sirius." James always pleads.

This needs to stop. I step forward but Reggie grabs my right arm.

"BLACK!" A female voice yells from behind us. Lily.

"Ah Evans! Are you here to see the show as well? You want to join? Afterall little Snivelly here wasn't such a good boy toy now, was he?" I gasped at his remarks. I am utterly disgusted at Sirius and it seems Lily wasn't amused either.

"You are just a prat, Black. Leave him alone!"

"Hmm," Sirius pretends to think, "Fine, I'll leave him be. It's your lucky day, Snivellus. Got a witch to help you." He smirks, knowingly provoking Severus as he drops him to the ground. Lily runs to him to help him. Unsurprisingly to me, he pushes her away in anger.

Oh no, it's happening. I don't know how to stop this.

"Leave me alone! I don't need help from filthy mudbloods like her!" Everyone gasped.

"What did you just call her?! Take it back! Apologize right now!" James and Sirius lunges forward as Remus and Peter take it upon themselves to hold them back, even Barty and Reggie are helping out. I stood in horror as the infamous scene played out right in front of my eyes.

"I wouldn't want to help someone as disgusting as you anyways!" Lily calls out as she storms away from her once friend. I look back at Severus and see the hurt that very briefly graced his features before he fixed a glare and walked the opposite direction.

I ran towards Lily's direction and stopped not too far into the forbidden forest. I hear soft whimpers and hiccups. "Lily?" I asked softly as I walked towards a big tree and walked around to see the small figure huddled close to the ground. She looks up at me with a lost expression.

"Oh Lily," I dropped myself down and hugged her as she cried in my arms.

"I- I thought he loved me. I-I-I thought he cared f-for m-me." She sobbed.

"I'm sure he did. I'm positive he still does."

"Liar!" Lily pushes me away. "You saw! You saw what he said! How he looked at me! How- how.. Disgusted he l-looked."

I sighed inwardly, "I also also how regretful and hurt he looked when you walked away." She just shakes her head. "Lily, look, I don't know what your relationship with him is like and I won't pretend I know. But I do know what I saw. I think you should talk to him."

Lily doesn't say a thing but only continues to sob and shake her head.

After some time, I walked back to the castle alone as Lily asked for some time alone to process. As I walk down the corridor, I hear the all too familiar quarreling voices of one Sirius Black and Severus Snape.

Don't these two ever stop?!

"Come out tonight, if you dare! 10 sharp, forbidden forest!" The smirk can be heard through his words even without directly looking.

"Black!" A growl was heard from behind him and soft gasps followed.

"Sirius. Don't even." James growled lowly.

Sirius ignores the protests of his friends, "What? Scared?" He taunts.

I peaked my head from the end of the corridor and saw Severus's dark expression, "I'll be there," before walking away.

Remus pushes Sirius back, "How dare you?!" before he walks away towards my direction. I try to quickly hide behind a pillar.

"Sirius, that was uncalled for."

"He deserves what's coming to him."

"Mate, that's not your secret or call to decide."

Sirius sighed, "I know. I fucked up, but I'm so fucking pissed, mate!"

"That's still not your decision to make! It's no excuse, Sirius. Fix it," I can hear James walk away right behind Remus.

What were they talking about? Secret? The only secret I know they have is Remus's lycanthropy... I thought deeply as I quickly thought of the date and did my mental math. I covered my mouth as I thought "It's the night of the full moon."