Chapter 48: Bad Company

Disclaimer:

Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

I own nothing but the original characters I create.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 48: Bad Company

"Sev? Is that really you?" Lily stared at the boy with long black hair.

"Damn it, Snape! They found out immediately who you were!"

"It's because of that greasy long hair of yours."

"Now what?"

"Now nothing! We finish what we started." The one who seemed to be in charge turned back to look at them. "We hex all of them."

Alice glanced back. "We could run back to the library," she suggested.

"It's already closed by now. It would be a dead end," Lily said.

James stared at the boys for a moment. Other than Snape, there were four others, and all of them appeared to be seniors, judging by their voices and height.

'I have to say… Hogwarts wasn't this wild during the nineties…' He had his fair share of violent encounters during his school years, but being ambushed twice by a group of Slytherins in his first trimester was not something that would have ever happened during his previous life.

"Graham, at least leave Lily out o—"

"Don't say my name, you idiot!" the group leader shouted at Snape. "I said that we hex them all, and we—"

They all heard something break beneath their feet, and then they saw broken glass and a dark liquid spilled on the floor.

"What is th—"

From the liquid, thick purple smoke began to form at an astounding speed. In just a couple of seconds, their bodies were half-covered by it, and it continued to expand.

"Cover your mouths! This is Sleeping Draught!" Snape managed to warn them, but it was too late.

The moment the gas reached their faces, they all began to collapse on the ground immediately. The effects of the potion were extremely concentrated, and even Snape, who had covered his mouth and nose, was having trouble fighting the drowsiness.

The last thing Snape saw were the faces of Alice, Lily, and James.

His old friend Lily was looking extremely angry at him.

Alice had a smug smile.

And James… was pointing his wand at him.

"Go to sleep already." A red spark came out of his wand and hit Snape in the chest, sending him tumbling down into the smoke.

They then watched in silence for a moment as the air cleared up a bit, revealing the sleeping figures of the five Slytherin boys.

"Wow… and I was getting worried for a moment there," Alice said.

Lily glanced at James with shock in her eyes. "You… you knocked them all out with a potion?"

"Well, except for Snape, but yes. I suppose I did," James responded.

"He sure did! James is going to be the next potions prodigy. I can't wait to tell Frank about this, that was incredible!." Alice said, seeming to be in a great mood now.

"What are we going to do about them?" Lily pointed at the unconscious boys.

"We can leave them there. They should wake up in a few hours," James said.

"But… what about Severus?" Lily glanced at Snape.

Their friendship had taken a toll this year, but she still felt bad about ignoring his distress and just leaving him there.

"What do you mean by that? That jerk came here with the rest to attack us," Alice said, glancing at Snape with disgust. "He doesn't deserve your kindness at all."

Lily knew her friend was right, even if she still felt bad about it. "But don't we need to report this to a professor at least?"

"That won't do much," James said. "Leaving aside the fact that those boys are all likely seniors from influential families, they didn't even throw a single spell at us. If anything, I'll be the one getting in trouble."

"No way! They came t—"

"Lily, drop it," Alice interrupted her. "James is right. The Slytherins harass students all the time, and they never get in much trouble. At most, a few light detentions here and there."

"It's not fair…" Lily muttered.

"Lily, dear… the magical world isn't a fair place. The sooner you learn that, the better," Alice told her friend with a serious tone.

"We should go before someone sees us here," James suggested. There was another reason he didn't want to report this to anyone. He was sure that these guys had just been sent by someone else.

Now that they were on the ground, he could get a good look at their faces and didn't recognize a single one of them.

The only one in that group with a grudge against him would be Snape, and there was no way he had rallied four seniors to come attack him.

Severus Snape was a very reclusive boy with no friends, after all.

However, James could think of someone who would gladly make use of others for his own benefit. He had plenty of experience dealing with that man's son.

'This has Lucius Malfoy written all over it. It looks like he's angry for turning him into a duck.'

"James?" Lily had turned around when she didn't see him at their side.

"Do you know them? You were staring at their faces," Alice asked.

"Not really," James shrugged. "Let's go. We can still make it to dinner if we hurry."

"That potion you used… was it really just a Sleeping Draught?" Lily asked as they walked away.

"It was. Why?"

"It's not supposed to behave like that, you know? It's meant to be drunk, not to turn into smoke and make people fall asleep," Lily pointed out.

"I suppose it's a modified version," James admitted.

"Ah!" Alice seemed to realize something then. "Is that what you used during the Quidditch match?!"

"Right. I remember now. The Slytherin Seeker was knocked out with a potion. You must have used the same one," Lily said.

"Yes. It was something like that," James replied. That one was an Obscuring Potion, but there was no need to correct them on that.

"Do you always carry potions with you around?" Alice asked.

"Sure, why not? My robes have many pockets," James answered. Even if he told them how many potions and other artifacts he was carrying around at all times, these two girls would never believe him.

He always liked to be prepared.

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