Lost in spells and shadows

Chapter 21: Alice's revenge

February 1973

James and Sirius, sometimes with the help of Remus and Peter, would hex unsuspecting students and laugh it off. They targeted them for little to no reason. Sometimes it was due to some encounter from before or sometimes they would «feel like it».
But their usual target would be Severus. While in first year, their spats were verbal and it wouldn't really escalate but nowadays, it was common for them to be surrounded by other people who would watch them cast spells and hexes towards each other. It was especially common for those Gryffindor boys, especially James and Sirius, to be found in detention, but Severus sometimes managed to get away with it.

While Adelaide wanted to believe, as much as Lily, that Severus was a victim and never initiated attacks against them, but she held him accountable for some of his actions. As much as Severus would disappear into the shadows after som public spat, everyone knew of his vendetta against James, and Sirius never stopped from supporting the latter. Sometimes even, the Slytherin would unbeknownst to them, send some hex towards them and start the fight first. Yes, as much as Lily wanted to lie to herself, Severus could be the perpetrator as well.

Adelaide knew these situations would get worse since he was already friends with Mulciber. William was also friends with them and they were becoming a questionable trio, a fact that both Adelaide and Lily disliked. Mulciber was trouble and a bad influence, and it seemed that he already managed to somehow land his marks on them. Severus hated being near the girl's Gryffindor friends and was always uncomfortable, and William never acknowledged that Adelaide had Dorcas, Mary, Marlene and Lily as friends. Lily didn't like William that much, though the hatred wasn't as much as the one against Mulciber, but it was something that both girls failed to acknowledge, leaving many conversations unsaid.

The Slytherins were becoming increasingly horrid in their ideas of supremacy and many were more or less naming the muggle borns with «mud blood» instead of their actual name. There was rarely any hexes being exchanged between the prejudiced students and their victims but their spats were still provocative and hurtful. Next year, Adelaide vowed that she would bring a shield just so she could protect herself from incoming hexes that would be intended for the muggle borns.

Adelaide was in Potions class, with the Slytherins, and had finished her potion. She was writing down notes from the board.

"Hey, Mulciber! Why did you do that?" Jack, a Ravenclaw, shouted looking at his fallen cauldron, all his hard work destroyed.

"Well, that's easy. You were being such a proud mud blood, that you needed to be put in your place." Mulciber said giving them an easy smile.

"Well, that was not bloody nice." Alice said glaring at the boy.

"Shut up Fortescue and stay out of it, if you know what is good for you."

"Oh, really? Why don't you stop being a bully and return to your sorry excuse of a potion?" Alice replied now fuming.

"Al-" Sarah warned her, pulling her sleeve.

"Mr Mulciber! What have you done?! I am absolutely against this type of behaviour. You will a get a detention and 20 points from Slytherin. As for you, mr Peters, i will put your assignment score for next week as you score, don't worry."

Mulciber looked away, glaring at Alice. He lowered his voice and said:"If you kept your mouth shut, i would have gotten away with it." He turned away and left.

At the end of the class, when they were packing their supplies, Adelaide said: "Alice, i don't think he will let this go so easily."

"I don't care. If he tries to sabotage my school work, then i wish him good luck, since i am quite a good student and he needs to try more than pushing my potion vials and stealing my papers to bring me down."