Eye of the Serpent | HP MARAUDER ERA [2]

Chapter Twenty-Three

I was momentarily stunned at what I was experiencing; at the scene that was playing out before my eyes. Isla and Muriel were being bullied by the seventh-year Slytherin boys who had cornered them. The words they were calling them—'Mudblood' being one of many—made me feel sick to my stomach. Not only were they saying awful things about Isla's blood status, but they were also picking on Muriel for her race and skin colour.

I had gained an affinity for the two first-year girls in Gryffindor, and it was heartbreaking to see them put in this position. I could see in their eyes a sort of innocent wonder at why people in the world would do and say such things.

Muriel was already in tears. She hid her face from the older boys, who were sneering at her. Isla looked a lot angrier than she was sad and had placed herself between her friend and the boys. She was attempting to defend herself and stand her ground, but she looked scared as well—and rightfully so, since they were a lot older, stronger and more powerful than she was.

I felt a wave of sympathy for the two girls, along with an immense amount of anger directed at the Slytherin boys, knowing I had to intervene... I had to do something to help these poor eleven-year-olds. I looked at James, Sirius, Remus and Peter, who looked both as shocked and as angry as I was.

They had been bullies at some point, so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from the Marauders. There was a part of me that feared that they would do nothing, because the memory of what they had done to Snape the previous year still felt fresh in my mind... But I knew them well enough, and I knew that they hated prejudice against Muggle-borns.

"Oh hell no," Sirius growled.

Sirius's fists were clenched at his sides and he was the first of us to surge forward and push himself between the younger girls and the Slytherin students.

"LEAVE THEM ALONE, YOU BASTARDS!" he bellowed. He let out a string of the most foul swear words which were directed at the Slytherin boys, who only laughed at his anger.

Muriel, shaking, grabbed onto the back of Sirius's robes with one hand and Isla's arm with the other. She was sobbing silently.

My feet moved of their own accord and I was suddenly standing next to Sirius, right in front of Isla, who was looking extremely grateful and relieved to see us. She cowered behind me as I stood up straighter to cover her.

James ran forward and shoved one of the boys who was towering over Muriel and he almost fell to the floor with the force of James's push. The boy quickly dusted himself off and reached for his wand, but James was even quicker and had already drawn his own. He pointed it at the boy's throat.

"STOP!" Remus bellowed, walking over to the group with his arms held out. Being a prefect, he clearly had to take control of the situation and refrain from using violence. "James, don't hex him—you'll get in trouble for it. Everyone just calm down!"

A memory flashed before my eyes suddenly and I recalled how, the previous year, I had defended Severus Snape in a way quite similar to the way the Marauders and I were now defending Isla and Muriel. The helplessness of the two girls reminded me of how helpless Snape had seemed, dangling upside down in the air, wandless, his mouth foaming. I had gotten over that memory and what James and Sirius had done to him, but the current situation reminded me overwhelmingly of that horrible moment when I'd had to stand up to two of my best friends.

Yet here they were, defending the two girls against students who had a year's worth of magic knowledge more than they did. They were defending these young girls without thinking of repercussions for themselves. James and Sirius had stood up for much more than this in the past: they had even battled Death Eaters on the Hogwarts Express mere weeks ago; but standing up to bullying was something else entirely.