The Rise And Fall Of The Stag And The Doe

Soldier

"Has anybody seen Lily?" Marlene asked curiously, seeing Lily's made bed.

"No," Dorcas frowned. "Maybe she left earlier to study for …something."

"Yeah…maybe." Marlene shrugged it off and left without looking for her. Not knowing she didn't have to look far to find Lily.

Lily was just worn out and completely emotionally drained. She needed sleep but was too jumpy to lay in her bed. It had been hours since everything had happened, but she still couldn't shake the feeling of being under the cruciatus curse. It lingered in her very bones, leaving her rattled and unable to completely calm down. She just kind of wanted to sit somewhere safe for a while and try and calm down. Her classes started hours ago, but for the first time in Lily's life she wasn't going to be there. She should have felt guilty, but for some reason, all she could feel was numb.

She'd heard that Sirius had grown up with this as a punishment and Marlene had suffered that curse for who knows how many hours. Both of them had shaken it off. Marlene went to class the minute she was released from the hospital wing. Lily had only had gone through it for a half hour and she didn't understand how they could have just moved on from it all. That's when it occurred to her that maybe they were just different kind of people. A special type that were made of stronger stuff because they had to be tough to face the life they were going to lead.

She heard a knock on the door, her face dropped and she didn't know what to do. Her lip was still swollen, she had bruises everywhere, her hair was wild and tangled, she looked horrible. What like could she make up that would be remotely believable?

A breath of relief escaped her lips when Dorcas slipped inside. Dorcas was level headed and wouldn't overreact, she would keep her cool and not make Lily feel any worse. For a second, her dark brown eyes just surveyed Lily carefully, taking in every bump, every dark circle, every imperfection on Lily's face. She was in pair of sweats and wasn't wearing any make-up yet. It was funny to Lily how Dorcas could pull off being twenty something with make-up, but without it she looked about sixteen years old. Still even when she looked like a sixteen year old, she still had the power to see through every façade and now who a person really was. There was a moment where Lily thought Dorcas might fuss over how beaten up Lily looked, because Dorcas had yet to say anything, but the moment passed.

Dorcas sat down next to her, cross-legged and said. "So what happened?"

Lily didn't even consider lying to her. There was just no point. She explained in a calm quietly voice and then sighed. "I wouldn't go to the hospital wing, so McGonagall had Promfrey come and heal me in her office. I had two cracked ribs and I broke my forearm, but they were all clean breaks so it healed easily. I'm still a bit sore."

"Understandably so." Dorcas nodded, curling her knees into her chest, like a cat.

"Don't tell Marlene." Lily said her eyes on Dorcas. "The last thing I need is her going all mama bear on me and picking a fight with some Slytherin's."

"Won't they be expelled?"

Lily frowned, her face tightening. "Dumbledore can expel them, but the thing is, the school governors can overrule him if they see fit. And since all four of them have a relative on the board…"

"They will say that you have a vendetta against the boys and say there were no witnesses to attest the crime." Dorcas finished in a thin tone.

"Exactly." Lily muttered softly.

"And because you are muggleborn, no one will believe you over purebloods."

Lily nodded, resting her head back on the cabinets, her eyes filled with emotionless tears. "Yep."