Bedknobs and Broomsticks [HP fanfic; BNB Book 1]

Skirmish

Emilie and Lottie had left the Leaky Cauldron not long after the Gryffindors had started their game of Sickles, but the girls quickly separated, Lottie joining a group of sixth-years who were heading back to the castle, Emilie drifting back towards the main street.

She stopped in front of Honeydukes, and the warm glow from the candy shop bathed her face in a golden light as she peered in through the window at the array of sweets. A hand reached across a display of cauldron cakes to pick up a bundle of licorice wands before returning briefly to snatch up the only acid pop in the display. Just as she was debating whether or not she should go and buy a box of sugar quills she had been eying through the pane of glass, Emilie heard a tapping on the window and looked up to see Geoff waving at her, a large square box tucked under his free arm labeled 'Gladrags' that was identical to the one she was carrying.

She fervently hoped he had not bought the chartreuse robes.

The bell over the door to Honeydukes jingled and the lanky Gryffindor was suddenly in the street beside her. "They're blue," he said. "My new robes, I mean. What about yours?"

"Silver," she said.

His expression brightened considerably. "Mine have silver lining," he said. "Just imagine Rosier's face when he sees us matching."

"Delacroix!"

As one, they turned to see Rosier emerging from Madame Puddifoot's, one arm around Marcia Snook's waist.

"I know you're upset that we broke up, but you could have picked a better rebound than this," he said. "Even Snape would be disgusted with you, and he's all caught up on Evans."

"Evans?" James and Lily had suddenly appeared from behind the dumpster beside the Three Broomsticks. Lily looked rather disheveled. "What'd you say about my girlfriend, Rosier?"

"Stay out of this, Potter! It's none of your business," spat Rosier, flustered at this interruption. James whipped out his wand.

"If you're talking about my girlfriend, I'd say it is my business."

"If anything, it's my business," said Lily, rolling her eyes. She tugged at James's elbow. "Come on, it's not worth it."

James followed her lead warily, lowering his wand. They were three steps back towards the High Street when Rosier added. "Listen to your Mudblood whore, then, she's a smart girl. Take this mudwallower with you while you're at it." He kicked a loose clod of mud upwards into Geoff's face.

"Stupefy!"

Rosier was knocked off his feet by the jet of light that shot from Geoff's wand, and Marcia had pulled her own wand from the pocket of her robes in the next instant. In another flash of light, Marcia was disarmed, her wand flying neatly into Emilie's hand. Geoff was crouched low over Rosier, his wand dangerously close to poking the other boy in the eye.

"Never - call - me - a - mudwallower - again," he snarled through bared teeth.

Another flash of light, and Geoff's wand was jerked from his hand by an invisible force. He turned to see Snape rushing toward the group. He stood and backed away from Rosier, hands held palm-out in front of him to show he was unarmed.

Emilie's box from Gladrags fell to the ground as she rushed at Snape in an attempt to snatch back Geoff's wand, but in another flash of light, she was dangling in the air by her ankle, her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. She began firing spells indiscriminately, sending any nonverbal spell that came to mind at both Geoff and the other Slytherins.

Rosier deflected one of her spells, sending it flying in Snape's direction, and half a dozen black bats came flying out of the greasy-haired boy's hooked nose. Marcia Snook went down with a well-aimed Jelly-Legs Jinx. Geoff succumbed to a Cheering Charm and gleefully sent a Bedazzling Hex at James, who found himself covered head to toe in glittering rhinestones before retaliating with a Finger-Removing Jinx, causing Geoff's wand to clatter out of his fingerless hands and onto the cobblestones.

Another of Emilie's haphazard nonverbal spells went sailing in Rosier's direction, and he found himself scuttling around in the chaos, antennae protruding from his dark hair. Marcia Snook managed to get her wand in the chaos of her jumbled legs and shot a hex at Lily that barely missed her ear. With a strangled yell and a shower of stunning spells, Sirius leapt into the fray, immediately tackling Snape, who dislodged himself by quickly hitting Sirius with a hex that made a heavy green slime start sprouting from his pores.

Snape then was hit by a Hurling Hex. James had rid himself of most of his Bedazzlement and was charging Snape with one glittery arm raised. Snape blocked his next shot and shot something of his own that missed James by a hair. James swung to retaliate, but Snape was stunned by Lily before he could get a shot.

"Nice! Thanks!" said James, grinning. Lily opened her mouth to reply, but was suddenly struck from behind. She fell flat and James whirled around to face Rabastan Lestrange. Sirius managed to trip Rabastan with one jellied leg and he fell face first onto the scuttling Rosier. James began dueling Rodolphus Lestrange, who had taken the place of his brother without batting an eye, and Sirius was struggling to keep a grip on his wand as Kurt Lovell approached him from the mouth of the alley where the Lestranges had appeared. James dodged a hex from Rodolphus that ricochet out of the Alley and hit Mariah square in the face as she rounded the corner, knocking her flat.

"THAT IS ENOUGH!"

Wands flew from everyone's hands to the other end of the alley where Professor McGonagall stood tight-lipped and furious, wand out, observing the chaos before her with disappointment etched in every line of her face.