Eye of the Serpent | HP MARAUDER ERA [2]

Chapter Thirty-Two

"Merlin's dinglydong!"

"Don't swear, Sirius."

My mouth was still hanging open in shock and I hadn't once torn my eyes away from the scene unfolding before me. Sirius and I, discarding our brooms, began bolting as fast as we could towards where James and the redhead were. Sirius got there first as he was a faster runner due to his long legs.

There was dread building in the pit of my stomach as I neared them. Lily was on the ground clutching her nose, a very anxious James kneeling down beside her. He was speaking very fast.

"Lily-Lily, darling, I'm sorry-I'm sorry, I didn't do it on purpose-I would never-Lily, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry-"

"Oh, you expect me to believe that nonsense, do you?! After all you do and all the innocent people you hex in the corridors!"

I was reminded yet again of the day Lily had defended Snape. She was saying somewhat the same thing she had said to James back then. But James had changed in the past few months-he really had. He had grown and he was still growing as a person. Lily didn't know that because she didn't give him a chance and never spent enough time around him. She knew only of his past.

"I-Lily, please, I don't do that anymore. And I would never hurt you!"

"Potter, get off me! Don't touch me!" she yelled at him, angry tears, running down her face as her nose gushed blood. I knelt down as well, getting a closer look. There was no doubt that her nose was broken; it looked quite crooked, unlike her usual dainty nose. "You idiot, I came out here to study and of course you have to come here and ruin everything! Now I have no go to the Hospital Wing and have THAT GODDAMN SKELEGROW!"

James looked nervous to the point of almost crying. His voice shook. "I'm sorry... You can just use that spell, Episkey, can't you? Let me take you to the Hospital Wing, darling-"

"NO! Absolutely not-I don't need you, I can go alone! AND STOP CALLING ME 'DARLING'! GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD: I WILL NEVER FANCY AN IMMATURE, EGOCENTRIC ARSE LIKE YOU!"

With that, the redhead jumped up from the ground abruptly, still clutching her bleeding nose. She began staggering away, headed for the Hospital Wing.

I glanced sideways at James, wincing as I saw his facial expression. Suddenly, he picked up his broomstick and, with a loud, frustrated yell, slammed it into the ground... Crack.

Sirius and I watched James self-destruct before our eyes as regret flooded his face. He fell down onto his knees in front of his Nimbus broomstick, which was now in two perfectly even pieces. "No," he said, shaking his head. "No!"

Sirius and I exchanged pitiful looks. I couldn't believe the amount of bad luck James had had on that particular day. Sirius tried to go over to give James a hug, but the bespectacled boy shoved him away and began sobbing over his broomstick. I grimaced, rubbing my temples-then I had the overwhelming urge to turn around, as though someone was watching.

I didn't expect to be correct in assuming that. A few feet away, lurking creepily around a beech tree and eyeing James and Sirius with the utmost contempt was Severus Snape. He sneered at them, but didn't notice him-only I did. Suddenly, I knew; I just knew what the reason behind all of this was and I found myself strutting over to him purposefully.

Snape's gave cut to me, his greasy black hair flipping to the side due to his abrupt movements. Fear suddenly replaced the obnoxiousness in his black-coloured eyes and he turned to leave, but I caught up to him and called out his name.

"Snape," I said loudly, walking right up to him with a determined expression on my face.

The thin, pale boy reluctantly hung back and turned to me with a frown. He cleared his throat and raised his eyebrows. "Yes?"

"I know what you did," I said sternly, furrowing my eyebrows in anger.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he drawled.

I scoffed, giving him a fake, tight-lipped smile. "Yes you do," I told him. "You know exactly what you did. It was all on purpose. You took your Felix Felicis this morning."

He sucked in a sharp breath. "No, I—for your information, I used that last week for something—"

"No you didn't," I said adamantly. I wasn't sure where this sudden sureness was coming from, but I was one hundred percent certain that I was correct. "You used it this morning. I must say, mind you, that it's kind of sad that instead of anything good happening to you, it's just been bad things happening to others. Honestly, that's perhaps the saddest thing I've ever heard."

"I—I don't—"

"Really, Snape? Really? Because what I think is that your idea of good luck is bad luck befalling James Potter." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Bianca, what's going on there?!" a voice yelled to me. I whipped around to see Sirius standing beside James, looking positively menacing.

"Nothing, Sirius!" I yelled back. "Stay out of this, I'm handling it!"

I looked back at Snape.

"You," I said, pointing my finger at him. "I have it all figured out... James has changed and continues to change. Meanwhile, you're just stuck in your childish, immature ways. You know, Snape, you had a chance to change.

"You and James have taken your turns being the villain and the victim. Back in fifth year, I defended you because you happened to be the victim on that particular day. I knew that what James was doing to you was wrong. But he has moved on and is never going to do anything of the sort again. I can't say the same about you... So I'm going to tell you once. Listen very closely.

"If you ever go near James and hurt him-or any of my friends, for that matter-I will destroy you. You've seen what I can do... what I did when I was defending you against James and Sirius. If I wasn't afraid to do that to my own friends when they were in the wrong, rest assured that so much worse will happen to you. Do you understand?"

Snape neither nodded nor shook his head. He just looked back at me, wide-eyed.

"That's good enough," I said. "Enjoy the rest of your luck!"

I turned on my heel and strode back towards James and Sirius.

"Bianca, did he give you any trouble?" Sirius asked, narrowing his eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes he did, Sirius, but I can handle myself. In fact, I can do so even better than you can."

He poked my arm. "Of course, Muzzles. But what happened? What did he say?"

"Never you mind," I told him. "At least, not for now." I lowered my voice. "I'll tell you later, OK?"

Sirius nodded reluctantly and returned to James's side. James had stopped sobbing over his broken broomstick and was now lying on his back, tear tracks still visible on his cheeks.

"Mate, careful, there's some blood on the ground," said Sirius.

James only grunted and remained unmoving.

"C'mon," Sirius whined. "Let's sing a song." He took a deep breath. "'TIS THE SEASON TO PLAY QUIDDITCH, FA LALALALA LALA LA LA! TAKE YOUR GLOVES AND YOUR BROOMSTI-ICK, FA LALALALA LALA LA LA! CHUCK THAT QUAFFLE THROUGH THE HOO-OOPS, FA LALA LALALA LA LA LA! WRONSKI FEINTING, LOOP-THE-LOO-OOPS, FA LALALALA LALA LA LA—"

I beamed when Sirius was interrupted.

"No!" James yelled in frustration, his hands over his eyes. "Padfoot, that is verse two—it comes later!"