the marauders- an inseparable bond

[4] the fight

"Don't go." Lily said

"I have to. I'm finally going to wipe that smirk off Potter's face and prove to everyone that he's not as great as he thinks he is."

"The only people who think that Potter is great are his friends, younger student and shallow girls. What could you possibly have to prove to them?"

This wasn't entirely true, the marauders were in fact very likeable, so most people in the school thought highly of them.

Severus just shook his head.

"I'm going to go Lily, and you can't stop me."

"Fine!" she yelled, attracting the attention of many others surrounding them. "But I won't visit you in the hospital wing when you get your skull cracked in half!"

Regretful that he had upset his best friend, Snape set off on his own across the grounds. Word of the fight must have gotten around, because when he arrived at the edge of the forest, a large crowd was there to greet him. James was already there, amid friends patting him on the back and ruffling his black hair. His sleeves were rolled up, wand in already in hand. When the crowd noticed Snape, they began cheering and chanting. Most of the cheers were for James, but the Slytherins who had shown up rooted for Snape.

"Ready, Snivellus?"

Instead of replying, Snape pointed his wand at James and shouted:

"Sectumsempra!"

He was too slow; James had deflected it with ease.

"Sectumsempra, eh? Never heard that one before." He grinned. "Let's see what it does. But first- Expelliarmus!"

Shield charms had never been Severus' strong suit, so before he could do anything, his wand shot out of his hand. The crowd was silent.

"You've won." said Lupin softly.

But James still had his wand raised.

"You've won." Lupin repeated, "It's over."

"Is over Snivellus?" James said softly, "Do you acknowledge that I am- the better man?"

This was too much for Snape.

"You'll be the better man when I- and everyone else in the world- are dead!" he lashed out.

With a howl of rage, James spat:

"Sectumsempra!"

Severus Snape's body crumpled, and there was a ringing in his ears. From far away, he heard someone shouting, and there was also pain. But no, the pain wasn't far, it was close, ever so terribly close, and he could feel it in every cell of his body...

Then, his whole world went black.

***

"What the bloody hell was that, Prongs?" Sirius asked

"He was asking for it." replied James, but he wouldn't look his friends in the eye.

"I thought we were past that." said Remus "I thought we'd realized that we should be decent people, not, oh I want to be popular and I want Lily Evans to like me."

"Don't you bring her into this." James' tone escalated warningly. "Don't you dare."

At that moment, who should have come around the corner but Lily herself. She was walking fast, and made a beeline to James. When she reached him, she slapped him across the face, hard.

"You! You- complete- and utter- coward!" She was almost too angry to speak. "Only attacking once you had taken his wand, I can see we have a true Gryffindor over here."

"Lily, I-"

"No! You don't get to talk! If you had had a fair fight, I wouldn't even care that Sev was hurt. But clearly, a fair fight is beneath the great and mighty James Potter."

"That's not-"

"Keep away from me." And she turned on her heel and left as quickly as she had come.

***

Snape's eyes blinked open. He saw the white ceiling of the hospital wing above him. He sat strait up in bed quickly and it all came back to him. The argument with Lily, the fight with James. True to her word, she had not come to see him. He punched the wall in anger.

"Don't go doing that!" cried the school nurse. "You're allowed to leave now, and we don't want you to injure yourself again."

Scowling, he slipped out of the bed and left. Exiting through the large hospital wing doors, Snape stormed off to his dormitory.

From afar, the marauders were watching.

"You need to apologize to him, you know that right?" said Lupin, ever wise.

James' eyes went wide.

"You're mad, Moony. Apologize to Snivellus?"

"Maybe he's right." shrugged Sirius "Maybe that's the only way to win Lily back- not that you ever had her."

"Will you all stop it with the Lily jokes?"

Remus shrugged:

"Sure, but you seriously need to apologize to Snape, Prongs. It's the right thing to do."

"Yeah," echoed Sirius and Peter.

James didn't talk for the rest of their walk to the dining hall, for he was too deep in thought.