Chapter 1
26 February 1975
The death of a student is not something Dumbledore can simply bury. So when the Ministry intervened and realised that the old man was trying to save the skins of four students, two of them filthy rich and another a werewolf, he was quickly suspended for obstruction of justice and obvious favouritism.
And It wasn't until months after the tragedy that Dumbledore asked himself when he had sunk so low, what went through his mind to convince himself that covering up a murder to protect potential future recruits was a good idea? How the mighty have fallen.
Shocked, heartbroken and disgusted by the behaviour of her favourite students, Minerva McGonagall refused to break the news to the other students the morning after the tragedy. Responsibility fell to a Ministry official.
No one in the Great Hall had any idea that something terrible had just happened, the absence of the Marauders and Severus Snape was not unusual given the frequency with which they all ended up in the Headmaster's office, and Lily Evans was already rolling her eyes at the Marauders and their incessant childish taunts, and at Severus for encouraging them.
For the last few days the Slytherin had been talking about how the four boys were hiding something and how he was going to find it, well he must have found it, she thought annoyed.
"All right Lil's? You look upset," Marlene asked her as she served herself some eggs.
"The boys are not here. Again," she said bitterly.
She snorted, "I can't believe you're still friends with Snape, he's so... pathetic," Mary giggled next to her.
Lily blushed a little, Severus... was her first real friend and he had been so nice and cool when they were kids but now... everyone saw him as weird, dangerous and ugly, everyone made fun of him and in turn they made fun of her but Severus was brilliant, they could talk about a lot of things and it made her feel so smart. She didn't want to lose Severus, but she didn't want others to see her with him.
"Your attention, please" A grave and serious voice grabs their attention at the staff table. A middle-aged man with salt-and-pepper hair stood there, wearing the Auror robes, his face stern. Lily noticed McGonagall behind him, she was pale, very pale and looked as if she had been crying, Slughorn was almost transparent and the other staff member did not seem to be in any better shape. Her heart missed a beat.
"I am George Philippas, Head Auror. As you may have noticed, your Headmaster is not here, for the simple reason that he has been suspended..." Cheers erupted from the Slytherin table. Mr Philippa's eyes turned to her and Lily swore she saw his face drop slightly, "I regret to inform you that a student has died tonight." A stony silence fell over the room, Lily felt like she wasn't even here anymore. "Mr Severus Tobias Snape succumbed to his wounds after one of his classmates lured him into a werewolf den."
The silence grew, no one knew how to react, everyone knew of the legendary rivalry between Snape and the Marauders, but it seemed that no one thought it was that serious. Until Snape died.
Lily put a trembling hand to her mouth to keep from vomiting, tears rolling freely down her face, a cold sweat running down her back.
"Lily..." Marlene's voice called to her.
"Shut up. Shut up. What have I done?" She whispered.
"...not your fault..." She barely heard Mary's voice.
For years Severus had talked to her about those boys, how cruel they were, how violent, for years she had watched those boys torment her first friend and she did what? She brushed off his concern with a wave of her hand, comforted in her decision because McGonagall, Slughorn, even Dumbledore had always called it 'childish taunts'. And she liked them, they were handsome, funny and charming.
But how far did it really go if Severus was dead now?
Oh my God, Severus was dead.
Lily rose to her feet, her whole body shaking with grief, anger and disgust at the boys and the professors and disgust at herself for being so mean and superficial when it came to Severus, when he only treated her with kindness. For God's sake, why was she realising this now? Now that he is dead.
She ran towards the exit of the Great Hall.
"Miss Evans!" It was McGonagall's voice.
She turned, her face a grimace of rage, "What? Are you going to tell me that those responsible will be punished? With what? Three hours detention and the line 'Killing a classmate is bad' to write ten times? I trusted you!" She shouted, "I trusted you because you are adults! When you said it was just teasing and boy rivalry, I thought, well, she is old and wise, she must be right! For fuck's sake, why did I listen to you? This school is madness! Severus is a Slytherin and you're a Gryffindor, so of course you didn't want to protect him! Gryffindors and Slytherins don't help each other, do they?" She grabbed her hair and took a ragged breath, her heart thundering in her chest. "I can't believe... God... This is my fault if he dies, I was his friend, his only true friend and..."
She ran.
- - - ✦ - - -
With a precise, determined pace she climbed up to the Headmaster's office, faced the gargoyles guarding the entrance and coldly asked them to move. It didn't move.
"Move. or I. will. blow. you. up," she seethed. It moved.
Luckily the four boys were alone, their parents not yet here.
"Lily!" James Potter had the sheer nerve to smile at him, a small smile, but still? She felt a hysterical laugh threatening to escape her, but she bit it back.
"How dare you even say my name, how dare you smile like it was another one of your stupid, pathetic pranks! You killed my best friend!" She screamed, feeling her magic crackle around her.
Black snorted, "Killed? Don't be so dramatic! He just got a scratch!"
Remus looked at her with tears and terror in his eyes, he was shaking violently and had several cuts all over his face and arms, his restraints were silver and his wrist behind them was burned and Lily understood. Remus was the werewolf.
She tried to keep her tone calm, "Oh my... Black, you called a scratch on the jugular a scratch? Severus died of blood loss less than an minute after he was taken from the hut! He had a punctured lung, his rib cages were broken, and...and..." Her voice wavered, she had memorised the summary of Severus' wounds, she had spent two hours with his cold body in the infirmary, Mrs Pomfrey could not stop crying and Lily felt just empty.
Black looked at her with horror in his eyes, Remus was vomiting and James was dead silent. Pettigrew...Pettigrew did not seem overly affected by the event, she gave him a look of pure, unadulterated hatred and he finally seemed to squirm in his seat.
"I had nothing to do with any of this, Lily! I swear! I didn't know Sirius told Severus the way to..." He began to babble before Lily sent him a powerful stunner that knocked him unconscious, his chair flipping over. It did little to ease Lily's grief, but it did ease her anger.
"You killed him, Sirius, you killed him in cold blood, using your best friend as a weapon in your premeditated murder. You are a monster. We all have a part to play in his death, but you, Black... I hope you rot in Azkaban for the rest of your life," Sirius' face was frozen with shock.
"Lily..." James pleaded, real fear in his eyes, something she had never seen before, because James Potter was not afraid of anything, he was handsome, charismatic, funny, clever, but he was also selfish, arrogant and cruel. How could she ever think of him as... She shook her head.
"I hope you rot in the cell next to him, Potter."
She turned to Remus, "You should have stopped them..."
"I didn't know Lily! I didn't know!" He pleaded.
"You should have stopped her from bullying Severus! I know you are not responsible for what happened that night, but if you had done your job, if we had done our job as Prefects, we would have stopped them from harassing Severus and this... this would never have happened! It's time we took our responsibilities here, Remus!" She spat at him and he cowered, she snorted, "Don't let lycanthropy define you, Remus".
Then she left the office.
✧ ✦ ✧
A few days after Severus' death, the atmosphere at Hogwarts was still very subdued, the Slytherins furious that one of their own had been killed and the Gryffindors shocked that one of their own had committed murder, but he was a Black, so it made sense...
Rumour has it that when Black's parents arrived at the castle, they were both grinning.
Lily was asspent her time alone, she did not talk to her friends, she did not talk to anyone, even in class she did not participate. McGonagall tried to reach out to her, but she refused any attempt at conversation.
She waited for the announcement of the boys' sentences, hoping that Remus wouldn't be killed and that the other three would go to Azkaban, because unlike in the Muggle world, there were no laws for minors who committed crimes like murder, so they could very well end up being the youngest Azkaban prisoners of the century.
So she waited, a day, a week, a month, and finally, in March, the Daily Prophet had the results of the trial of the century on its front page.
James Fleamont Potter and Sirius Orion Black were saved from Azkaban, but barred from returning to Hogwarts and fined ten thousand galleons each, to be given over to Mr and Mrs Snape.
Peter Pascal Pettigrew was sentenced to three years in Azkaban for being an accessory to murder.
Finally, Remus John Lupin was miraculously saved from death by Lord and Lady Potter, who declared that Remus did not deserve to die as he was also a victim in this tragic event, but Remus was also unable to return to school and Albus Dumbledore was finally dismissed and stripped of his title of Chief Warlock.
Lily clutched the newspaper in her hand, cold rage coursing through her veins. Those monsters were going to walk free after what they had done? They thought because Mummy and Daddy were so filthy rich they could escape justice?
They were so goddamn wrong.