James POV
We all stop when Marlene hits the ground convulsing. I look up at Snivellus and his eyes are wide. He lowers his wand to his side and looks at the other Slytherins. "What spell was that?" I hear Regulus say to Snape.
"I don't know."
Remus and Sirius are instantly by Marlene's side. I rush over to Mackenzie and grab her arm. "Come on," I say fast. "Let's go."
"Who... What..." She starts to say, looking at me confused.
"I don't know."
"You'll pay for that Snivellus!" I hear Sirius shout and I groan. I turn around and grab Sirius' arm.
"Not now Sirius," I hiss, watching as the Slytherins are already ushering Snivellus away. "We need to get Marlene to the hospital wing."
We turn around to see Remus already sprinting towards the hospital wing with Marlene levitated in front of him.
Mackenzie appears next to me and tugs on both of our arms. "Let's go."
Sirius then moves forward and shrugs out of our holds. We follow after Remus a bit more slowly since he's basically sprinting.
We enter the infirmary just as Remus is told to go get the headmaster. He walks towards us, but Sirius grabs his arm before he can leave the room. "I'll go."
Remus nods slowly. "Okay. The password should be licorice snaps."
Sirius nods back and sprints out of the infirmary.
Madam Pomfrey walks over and shoos us out. "No visitors," she snaps. "I don't know what we are dealing with."
"It was a spell," Mackenzie says quietly as we back away. "It was golden, and it seemed to be said wrong."
Madam Pomfrey nods and shuts the door firmly.
I turn and walk away.
"Where are you going?" Mackenzie shouts.
I turn around and see her standing there with her arms crossed glaring at me. "She's your teammate and you're just leaving her hurt in there."
"Poppy won't be letting us in there anytime soon," I shrug, "I want some food and a shower."
Remus nods and jogs over to my side. "He's right, we might as well go get some lunch while we wait."
She sighs and stomps over to us. "Fine but as soon as we're done, I'm coming back here."
"Okay."
I lead the way up to the dorms and disappear into the bathroom first while Remus and Mack mutter to each other in the common room. When I get out, I wait on the couch for like 5 minutes before Remus joins me.
"Do you think she will be okay?" I ask softly, keeping my voice low so our noisy housemates don't overhear us.
"She'll be fine." Remus says positively. "Between all the professors here, someone will be able to figure out what happened and how to heal her. Outwardly she didn't seem too injured, just unconscious."
I nod, "But if she has internal damage..."
"Well then she might have to go to St. Mungo's."
"She's being sent to St. Mungo's?" a girl's voice says loudly.
I look up and see Mackenzie standing over me.
"Good lord woman," I say standing up and pulling her out the portrait hole after me. "Lower your voice before the rumors start flying."
She sighs, "Sorry."
"Let's go get food," Remus says softly as I drop her arm. "Then maybe we can go find a quiet place to talk."
Mackenzie nods, "I know the perfect place."
We walk up to the fruit portrait and Mackenzie steps to the side. "You can do the honors," I say kindly. "I believe you know how to get into the kitchens."
"Of course, I know how to get into the kitchens. It is one of the first places Professor Dumbledore brought me when I first came here." She reaches over and tickles the pear. The portrait swings aside and instantly we are surrounded by an aroma of sugar and spices and the sound of bustling house elves. We walk inside and instantly some house elves come over.
"How can I help you Miss Mackenzie?" one asks.
She pauses to think for a moment. "I was wondering if we could have some hot chocolate, chocolate frogs, sugar quills, ice cream, and macaroni and cheese, all gluten-free if that is possible," she says politely.
"Of course, Miss, are you going to eat down here?"
"No, we are not, so could we have it to go please? We are having a special meeting."
"Anything for Miss Mackenzie."
They come bustling back over and I take one of the large baskets out of their hands. Remus grabs the other one and turns to Mackenzie. "Now where should we go eat?"
"I know a place," She says with a wicked grin. She turns away from us and sprints up the stairs until we're on the Seventh Floor. She looks over her shoulder to check to make sure we're still behind her. She heads over to a blank wall and closes her eyes.
"Woah," I say softly as an ornate door appears on the wall. She looks back at Remus and I with a small smile. She pushes the large wooden doors open and skips through.
"What is this place?" Remus asks quietly.
I turn and look at him. "You don't even know what this place is?"
"It's the Room of Requirement," she says with a grin. "My absolute favorite place in the whole castle. I think one of the founders made it but I'm not sure. Mum doesn't even know about it."
"Wow," Remus says. "I read about this in a book but I thought it was just a made up rumor like the chamber of secrets."
"Let's go in," I say as I lead the way through the doors.
"Woah," I say again.
The ceiling is super high and is enchanted to look like the sky. There are huge, puffy couches, a large coffee table, and a roaring fire. I place my basket down on the ground and I pull out my wand to send the food out around the table.
"This is awesome!" I shout when I hear the doors shut.
Mackenzie climbs onto the couch while I plop down into the love seat. Remus looks at us both, trying to figure out where to sit. I shake my head and put my legs up across the loveseat. Remus sighs before he walks over and sits next to Mackenzie.
"Thank goodness we all have a similar taste in food," Remus says with a grin, "You chose all of my favorite foods Mack."
Remus and Mackenzie each grab a mug of hot chocolate while I reach for the ice cream. After a few moments of enjoying the house elves' creations, Mackenzie places down her mug and looks at me.
"What's wrong Mackenzie?" I ask.
"Why do you guys hate those Slytherins?"
"You mean other than the fact they are into the dark arts."
She shakes her head, "Of course that's what I mean."
I shrug, "They're jerks. They bully lots of the younger kids."
Mackenzie looks at Remus and then back at me. "You guys bully kids..."
I shake my head, "No, we pull pranks."
"What about what you do to that Snape kid?" She asks.
"Severus Snape is a foul git. He deserves it," I say flatly scooping more chocolate ice cream into my mouth.
Remus shakes his head. "He's not a git." He turns and looks at Mackenzie, "But he isn't a nice person either."
"Why do you hate him so much James?" Mackenzie said looking at me.
"Like I said, he's a foul git."
Remus sighs, "When we all got on the train at Kings Cross, we saw Lily and Severus sitting together in a compartment. It was like love at first sight, for James. He saw a beautiful girl sitting with a slimy guy and proceeded to tell us all about it."
Mack looks at me surprised. "Really? You've liked her since the very beginning?"
"Yup," I say with a wide grin.
"Does she know?"
I pause for a moment, "Of course she knows. I ask her out all the time."
"So, she doesn't know. Good job James," she says sarcastically. She reaches over to the table and scoops herself some macaroni and cheese. "I'm sorry Remus I interrupted, please continue."
"Lily and Severus live in the same town. They had been friends for a few years by now. Of course, we didn't know this. Okay, so fast-forward and we get sorted. Lily with us in Gryffindor and Snape in Slytherin. Snape is really bummed she's not in Slytherin but they stay best friends which makes James even more jealous. This is why we uh... tease him."
"You mean bully," Mackenzie says.
"Not bully," I say, "he fights back."
Mackenzie shrugs. "Same thing, but why don't you stop 'teasing' him," she air-quotes while rolling her eyes at me, "and maybe that will make Lily like you? If a guy liked me but was mean to my friends, I wouldn't go out with him either."
"I can't. He is really big on dark magic and I'm afraid of Lily changing to that. Plus, he is calls people mudbloods and blood traitors all the time around the Slytherins and basically everyone else as long as Lily isn't around. She doesn't know and I hope she never finds out," I say quietly.
"Relax I won't tell her," She says softly. "What did he say earlier that made Sirius snap? Other than that spell he cast on Marlene."
"I think he called us privileged and yeah I might be but Sirius deals with more family issues than anyone, Peter thinks we don't know his family isn't rich but we do, and..." James trails off looking at Remus.
"My family isn't well set off," Remus fills in. "We had a lot of hospital bills at one time."
She nods.
"He loves her a lot but he has two opposing sides to him and I think the dark side is winning," Remus says softly. "I'm afraid he's going to accidentally call her a mudblood some time on complete accident and that's when he will go completely dark."
"I hope he doesn't go completely dark. That will be really scary," Mackenzie whispers. "One of you could get hurt, especially if he is making homemade spells."
"Don't worry about that Mackenzie, that won't happen," I say.
She nods and reaches for a chocolate frog. "Hey look, I got Merlin!" She says excitedly and turns to grin at Remus.
"That's great!" He replies softly.
I stare at the fire and start zoning out. I really hope he doesn't go dark.