A|N : This incident happened before Sirus' prank because that's the order in the prince's tale.
It was Gryffindor vs Slytherin today .
Lily though didn't like playing quidditch much but loved watching it , it reminded her of Football games to which she used to go with her family, her family was great football fan.
Lily sat in the stands with Alice ,Mary, Remus and Peter. Today's match was important for slytherins more if they wanted the cup. Gryffindorshowever were looking to secure their top spot.
"This is the last year for Frank Longbottom as a captain to win the cup they lost it last year to Rvaenclaws and before that Hufflepuffs were winners. Gryffindor won the last match easily thanks to their seeker's quick reflexes. But today he will be facing Regulus Black a very good seeker himself." echoed Jacob Lee's voice , a third year Gryffindor who had impressed everyone with his voice.
"Here comes Gryffindor quidditch team : captain and keeper Frank Longbottom , chasers: James Potter, Marlene Mckinnon and Aditya Patil , beaters: Sirus Black and Nancy Robins, and seeker Kevin Bell. Now Slytherins make their way captain Nott in lead and Regulus Black at last."
James got hold of the quaffle immediately , and rushed to Slytherin's goal post ducking Murk and then passed the quaffle to Patil , who did a 180 turn and threw the quaffle at Marls who was at back and she passed the quaffle to James who rose in time to prevent himself from being hitten by a bludger and shot the quaffle at one of the post.
"Potter scores , Gryffindor 10 to nil " shouted Lee, the Gryffindors cheered.
After 2 hours, it was turning into a dirty game as the players tried to score goals , but the Gryffindor chasers were now in sync being playing together for 2 years , they were able to score goals after goals and Frank's amazing keeping skills kept them at top , Gryffindor lead with 290 to 120.
"It seems as though slytherin seeker has seen the snitch he is rising in air with speed , Bell on follow , Bell just behind him , it's a close one and down there Marls had scored another goal and oh shit ....... What has happened there?"said Lee.
As the keepers rose to catch the snitch , Luttle the slytherin beater had hit Marls with a bludger after she scored , but Hooch hadn't seen it as she was looking at Regulus who had caught the snitch.
"Gryffindor wins though Regulus Black caught the snitch. And it seems Sirius is shouting at Luttle , that Luttle is a fucking ...*****...." concluded Lee.
"It doesn't hurt much , and I am happy that we won " said Marlene when they were in the common room.
"Here have a butterbeer " said James passing her one .
"Where did you get that ?" asked Lily but James just winked at her.
"Tell Potter " Lily pressed.
"From kitchens ?" said James more like a question. Lily rolled her eyes but left it .
James was walking back to the Gryffindor common room one evening after quidditch practice, he left early than others as they stopped to take quick shower when he heard an angry voice and laughter of some people coming from the next corridor.
"NO , leave Ivy, what harm has it done to you ?" shouted a girl , James recognised it .
"Because the fact that you exist. We are giving you just a lesson Mudblood. You should thank us that we are not doing this to you first, but don't worry you are next." laughed a voice ,a familiar voice.
James broke into a run , his eyes widened at the sight ,Mary was on ground a cut below her right eyes, her wand a few feet from her discarded on ground. Avery , Snape and Murk were there also Mulciber's wand was pointed at a brown fur cat, it was unconcious, a word was being etched into it's body . 'M U
"Expelliarmus" shouted James , Mulciber's wand flew and James caught it."You all leave , otherwise the consequences will not be good."
"Playing hero are we Potter ?" asked Snape " But where's your little gang , who's gonna help you?" the other slytherins laughed.
"Hurting animals , attacking an alone girl , this is so low of you Snivellus. Now leave or you all will regret." roared James.
"Oh I am scared Potter " said Avery.
James was outnumbered and Mary was wandless , he looked at Mary who nodded slightly than moved her eyes towards her wand.
"Fumos" he said and then ducked as the slytherins sent spell in his direction.
Mary has moved far from the Slytherin towards James with her wand in her hand.
"Now Leave " barked James.
"You are still outnumbered and do you think this injured Mudblood could fight ?"
"Impedementa "
"Protego"
"Confundo"
"Flippendo"
"Stop you all " said a voice behind , James looked as Frank arrived , Aditya just behind him , both having wands out. "To McGonagall office all four of you know"
"And what will you do if we deny?" sneered Avery.
"I am a headboy , and you should very well know what I can do ." said Frank.
Murk muttered something and they all left . James ran towards Mary who was having struggle standing at caught her , she broke into sobs.
"What happened Mary?" James asked.
"I....Ivy , he is hurt " said Mary .
" We will take it to hospital wing , Pomfrey will heal her " said James.
"I assume they attacked Mary and her cat ?" asked Frank , James nodded holding Mary in a hug. "Adi you take the cat with you I am going to see McGonagall "
"If you have hurt yourself again Potter by playing quidditch than I recommend you to quit it otherwise I will have to............ Oh Merlin, what happened ?" Madam Pomfrey face was horror-stuck when she saw the cat.
"Slytherin gits" muttered James " Can you cure her?"
"I am not very expert at animals , but yes I can."
"Is he okay?"asked Mary sitting on bed still crying. James sat beside her and rubbed her back to comfort her.
"It will be alright Mary , don't worry"said James in soft voice suppressing his anger.
"She is alive and out of danger but is deeply hurt." sighed the nurse after 10 minutes.
"What about those cuts , can you heal it ?" asked Mary pointing at cuts in shape of M U
Pomfrey took a moment her face sad "Patil, go and call Minerva here " the boy nodded and left "It's dark magic dears ,it cant be healed , if more injuries would have done then the cat might have died."
James clutched his fist , anger rising. he was gonna kill Mulciber, but he was distracted when Mary began to cry again.
"It's my fault , they hurt him because I am a Muggle-born , a mudblood ."
"Its not your fault Mary , it's their fault , don't you feel guilty about others' fault" said James.
"Yes dear Potter is right, they harmed an animal, they used dark magic, its their fault not yours said Pomfrey as she applied lotion at Mary's cut.
And then a furious looking MacGonagall entered the hospital.
"What happened Poppy?"
"It was dark magic that was used on the cat , two letters are carved on the cat , I think they wanted to write...."
"Mudblood" completed Mary.
"Was it Mulciber ?" asked Minnie , Mary nodded. "Can you tell from starting what happened?"
" I was returning from Grounds with my cat to Gryffindor tower when I ran into them , I tried to ignore them but they called me 'Mudblood' and then shot a spell at me , my cat tried to run but Mulciber petrified him and then started hurting and writing on him. Then James came and they asked them to leave but they started fighting." sobbed Mary. James rubbed her hands gently.
"Very well , I will inform Dumbledore"said MacGonagall " Is the cat okay?"
"Yes but I will keep it here for two days , it was deep injury and more could have killed it ."said Poppy "If you want you can leave Mary."
"Potter take Mary back to the Gryffindor room , Pomfrey will take care of cat."
James nodded and helped Mary to get up and took her to Gryffindor tower , all while trying to calm her .
"Where the fuck were you Prongs ? You left before us but ......." Sirius stopped when she saw red eyed Mary with a injured face . "what happened?"
Marlene and Lily immediately stood up , they were watching a chess match between Renus and Peter , both looked up and gasped.
Everyone in the common turned towards them.
"Not here " said James quietly to others
"Let's go to our dorm" suggested Remus, others nodded .
"Here Mary eat the chocolate it will help" said Remus handing her a chocolate.
"Thanks" said Mary slowly.
James had just told them all what had happened.
"It was dark magic " said James , others gasped.
"Ivy will always have that mark," said Mary tears falling from her eyes. Marlene soothed her.
"How did you got that bruise?" asked Peter to James who was having a bruise on his arm but hadn't noticed yet.
"I must have got it during fighting , Avery , Snape and Murk were all sending hexes at us." said James.
"I am gonna kill them" muttered Sirius.
" I cant believe Severus was there , he is good , he should have stopped ...."Lily was saying but was cut off by Marls.
"Oh please Lily don't lie to yourself , you knew what he could do , just because he shows you some respect doesn't mean he is a good person. I don't even understand why you are still friend with him , the whole school knows that he knows more spells than any seventh year and that too dark spells, you very well know it and you still try to ignore it just because you think he is good to you, which he is not , haven't you noticed yourself that he doesn't talks to you when other slytherins are there? Havent you noticed that he is ashamed of YOU ?....But no you still had to be good to everyone . Come on Lily open your eyes, I am your friend , I have said it before and I will say it again that you just try to see good side of everyone. Open your fucking eyes and look what has happened today....." Marlene said angrily . This is Marlene for you .
There was silent for few moments, no one crosses with Marlene so they all remain silent ,then Marlene took a deep breathe and said, "Sorry Lily I shouldn't have shouted, I was just angry about the attack on Ivy and Mary and I took it out on you."
"But you are right, you said the truth I have been making excuses for him always and ignored his other side. I just don't want him to become one of the death eaters" said Lily , her eyes filled with tears.
"Oh Lily remember about what your sister said, she might be dumb and all jealous, but what she said was right. Her advice is right" said Marls still ribbing Mary's back.
They all fell silent again.
"We will make them payback, Mary" said Remus sitting next to her.
"Oh don't you all go fighting now. " said Marlene.
"Who said anything about fighting, we are going to get all the Slytherins with double Prank. Who is in?" smirked Sirius.
"I am in "said Lily at once. The others looked shocked at her. "Oh come on I am not always a good one"
The others too joined.
"Let make life hell for slytherins" said James.
They all sat in the boys till late laughing, playing, joking and planning the prank.
Lily was back on her bed, she had hide her pain from others after Marls had burst at her, though she had saw James looking at her concernly but didn't say anything. She was sad and hurt, she couldn't believe how bad people can be, attacking animals just because there owner is a muggle born. She has always liked Ivy and hoped to have a cat herself, she was more hurt by the thought that Sev was there and didn't stop them, but then he has always been quiet in front of them and has even ignored her, but was mostly nice to her. She didn't want to lose her childhood friend, she was all confused what to do, she hoped she could be like James for this bit he was always confident about his feelings and actions but she ? She just felt confused , she wanted to maintain her friendship with sev but also despised Snape's company and his obsession for dark arts.
She decided to ignore Sev for Mary's sake and then confront him and do what his sister had advised, because now she was just sick of all the dark arts and its praise. And she knew that Sev would listen and leave dark arts. She hoped that he leave those disgusting things behind.
Few days after the Marauders and the Valkyries were sitting in the great hall earlier than any one else, they were waiting for Slytherins to come.
The first slytherin came in after 40 minutes, till then the rest of three tables were filled , he was looking all tired and was continuously scratching his body. Then slowly rest of the Slytherins started coming all looking tired and scratching their bodies, soon the entire hall noticed the odd behaviours of all the slytherins, they were all having red scars from scratching and all were irritated and tired.
"Hey why that Luttle is normal?" asked Peter pointing at a slytherin who was normal and looking with odd expression at his house mates.
The marauders and girls laughed "Because he didn't took a bath, oh it became more funny than I expected." said Remus not able to suppress his laughter.
"Hey look Snivellus he is all looking red." said Sirus laughing.
"Now Padfoot give me 10 galleons, I won." said Peter.
"Why?" asked Sirius.
"Remember you had a bet that '10 galleons that Snivellus doesn't baths'" said Pete happily as Sirius groaned and handed him the galleons, the others burst out laughing even harder.
"So, was it you four?" asked a voice. They all turned to see MacGonagall.
"No, professor we didn't " said Remus with an innocent look.
"Ok, its quite strange Poppy wasn't able to found out which potion or magic caused that." said Minnie.
"I think they might have been doing some odd experiments and had a side effect." suggested Lily.
"We also think so , anyway you will tell if you know who was behind it."
"Sure we will Professor we always leave our signature behind, but this was not the Marauders we are planning something different" winked Sirius.
"I know it was you four because whenever something happens its always traces back to you 4 " she said and left while they laughed,
"Itching powder rocks" said James.
"All the slytherins are so proud of their wizarding nobility that they cant think a muggle thing could do this much." said Marlene.
"Great idea Lily, we are all proud of you and that is coming for Marauders." said Sirius grinning.
"Thank you" laughed Lily.
"Now the effects will wear off by noon and they will not be expecting another prank for some time, so that's why we will do our second prank tomorrow, that will be just for Mulciber and his little gang."said James.
"But I can't believe he got only a month's detention and 30 points deducted, it's not fair." said Marlene.
"That's why we have taken the responsibility to punish them and have some fun out of it."
Next day Mulciber, Avery, Snape and Merk could be seen followed by four silver birds which kept singing odd insulting songs at horrible voice in their voice, when they tried to catch or curse it, it would fly quickly faster than snitch.
By the end of day the four boys could be seen very annoyed and irritated.