The other black brother
Lily lay on top of her sheets, blanket tangled in a knot by her feet. She had been trying to fall asleep for hours, tossing and turning frustratedly. Ever since her run-in with Severus a few days prior, sleep hadn’t been coming easy. It was a sobering reminder that she had not moved on as much as she thought she had over the summer holidays.
She eventually gave in and sat up in her bed, deciding to force herself to stop wallowing any longer. As quietly as possible, she drew back the curtains around her bed, grabbed her school bag from her nightstand, and slipped out the door of their dormitory. Since she clearly wasn’t going to fall asleep anytime soon, she might as well get something done.
As she made her way down the stairs, she heard the quiet murmurs of the few students who were still up at this time of night. Lily found a table tucked in the back corner of the room, pulling her History of Magic essay and quill out of her bag.
“Lily?” Mary said, confusion in her voice. She was standing at the base of the stairs to the girls’ dormitories, blinking sleepily. “What’re you doing?”
As she was about to respond, Lily was suddenly struck by how ridiculous she must look. Her fluffy pajama pants, her hair falling out of its braid in chunks, and oddest of all, the essay in front of her that wasn’t due for another week.
“Couldn’t sleep.” She settled on responding. “How about you?”
Mary walked over, taking the seat beside her. “Me neither, then I heard you getting up and followed.”
She glanced at the papers in front of Lily, frowning. “Why in Godric’s name are you working on Binns’ essay right now?”
“I don’t really know.” Lily sighed, slumping in her seat. “Trying to distract myself, I suppose.”
“From what?” Her expression immediately turned to concern.
Lily hesitated over her next words, not knowing if she should say anything. It wouldn’t be fair to burden Mary with her conflicting feelings, especially when it could come across as sympathizing with Severus and his nasty friends. She couldn’t risk making Mary feel that way, not after the horrible attack she’d endured from them last year. The memory of that empty look in her eyes, shaking in her bed in the hospital wing, was burned into Lily’s mind.
“I was thinking about Petunia, how we’ve been drifting. Not a big deal, I just wanted to get my mind off of it.” It wasn’t a lie exactly, it was true that thinking about her sister was upsetting. Except she was more of an annoying constant, always lingering in the back of her mind.
“Oh, love.” Mary pulled her into a hug, immediately reassuring her. “You don’t need that narcissistic, controlling freak. You’ve got me.”
Lily let out a small laugh; Mary had inadvertently given her advice on Severus without even meaning to.
“You’re right, I don’t.” She had Mary- she had real friends, and that was enough.
“When am I not? C’mon, let’s get your stuff and go to sleep.”
~
“Is it supposed to look like that?” Sirius prodded at the cauldron in front of him cautiously, which contained a bright green mixture that was furiously bubbling and threatening to spill over.
Lily glanced at it, reaching for some pearl dust and dropping a pinch in. “That should fix it.”
“You’re brilliant.” He said as the potion immediately calmed down, returning to a pleasant blue much like Lily’s.
She shrugged, stepping back from her own cauldron to allow the liquid to simmer. “Potions just comes to me naturally, I suppose.”
“I wish. I’m shite at potions when left on my own- and you remember how bad Remus and I were as partners last year.”
Anyone who had been in a potions class with Remus remembered it- while incredibly smart in every other subject, he simply could not grasp potions for some reason. He had a penchant for accidentally blowing things up, setting his cauldron on fire, or on one occasion, disintegrating part of the table.
“It’s hard to forget.” She snorted.
Lily paused for a moment, in thought. “Well, if you hate potions so much, why are you taking the NEWT level?”
“My parents wanted me to.” The usually lighthearted expression on his face slipped, an emotion she couldn’t quite place peeking through.
“Oh, okay.” She vaguely knew about the fights he had with the rest of his intensely pureblood family, and she felt awkward for having accidentally brought up the subject.
Slughorn thankfully saved her from having to think of a further response. “Time’s up! Everyone drop off a vial of your potion to me, then you are all free to go.”
Lily filled a vial and cleaned up the ingredients scattered around their table as Sirius silently did the same next to her. They dropped off their vials, following the crowd of chattering students out of the classroom. As they trudged up the stairs out of the dungeon, he turned to her.
“You know, Evans, we never talk.”
“We literally just talked for an hour and a half.” She pointed out dryly.
He sighed melodramatically, rolling his eyes. “Boring school talk, though. I meant that we’ve known each other for five years now, and I doubt we could even name each other’s favorite colors.”
“Bet your’s is maroon.” She assumed it would be the Gryffindor colors, considering his outspoken pride about his house.
“Lucky guess!” He dismissed, waving his hand as they emerged on the ground floor and turned to go up yet another flight of stairs. “My point is that we’re not really that close.”
“Is that so bad?”
“Oh, you wound me. C’mon-” He stopped talking abruptly, eyes trained on something down the hall.
Lily glanced over, following his gaze to see what caused Sirius to stop in his tracks. There were only two other people in the corridor, two boys in Slytherin green robes. The taller one was familiar in a slightly unsettling way, but the one next to him bore such a resemblance to Sirius it was eerie. The same grey eyes, sharp cheekbones, and pale skin- the only difference between the two was that Sirius’ dark hair was longer and his robes were red and gold. That was undoubtedly his brother, Regulus.
The two brothers stared at each other in an extremely tense manner, for a moment that stretched on until the other Slytherin boy broke the silence.
“Something you want to say, Bloodtraitor?” He regarded Sirius with a look of disgust.
Sirius finally tore his gaze away from Regulus, turning to glare at the other boy. “Don’t fucking call me that, Rosier.”
Rosier!
Of course, Lily remembered. Evan Rosier, he was one of Mulciber’s friends, Mary’s attacker last year. She couldn’t help the way her lips curled at the realization, anger replacing apprehension.
“Did I hit a nerve there?” Evan stepped closer to Sirius, goading him. His eyes found Lily next, still grinning. “You and your Mudblood friend?”
She felt her blood boil, but forced herself to remain calm. There was no point in starting a fight, that was exactly what he wanted her to do.
Sirius ignored him, fixing his gaze on Regulus. “Do you always let your thick-headed friends run around insulting people for you?”
Regulus’ face morphed from a cold expression to an angry one. “Did he say anything that wasn’t true? You betrayed your family.”
Sirius let out a humorless laugh in return, and it was beginning to scare Lily how unlike his usual self he sounded. “You lot, my family? That’s the biggest joke I’ve ever heard.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw Rosier’s hand creeping towards his wand as Sirius got closer to Regulus. She grabbed a hold of her own wand, using the fact that no one’s attention was on her to her advantage. Just as Rosier was about to raise his wand, however, a loud voice interrupted them.
“Oi!” Potter was rounding the corner down the hallway, loud and confident as per usual, and tucking a piece of parchment into the pocket of his robes. “I’d keep that wand in your pocket, Rosier.”
“Why, because the mighty James Potter has arrived?” He scoffed, spitting out the word Potter like it left a bitter taste in his mouth. “Gonna string me up by my underpants?”
James came to a stop in front of Rosier, wand drawn. He glanced between Sirius and Regulus, who were still having a staring contest of sorts, then let his eyes drift to Lily’s. He seemed to consider something for a moment, before letting his arm fall slack at his side.
“You’re not worth my time. Just piss off, yeah?” James regarded Regulus with those last words.
This infuriated Rosier, and he opened his mouth to say more, but Regulus muttered something that made him stop.
Sirius turned away from his brother at last, grabbing James’ arm. “Let’s just fucking go.”
He glanced at Lily for the first time since this whole confusing interaction began, motioning for them to continue on to the Gryffindor tower. Not really seeing where else she would go, she loosened her grip on her wand and followed. Once they were a safe distance away, James broke the thick silence that had fallen upon the three of them.
“You alright, Evans? You’re a bit quiet.”
“Maybe I’m a bit quiet because we almost got into a duel with some blood supremacists.” She snapped.
He was, as usual, infuriatingly unphased by her anger. “I wouldn’t have let Rosier do anything to you, you know that.”
“Grindylow.” He told the fat lady, and the portrait hole swung open.
Lily spun around as soon as they all climbed through, all her anger with Rosier, Sirius’ weird brother, and Potter’s conceited attitude suddenly bubbling up to the surface.
“I don’t need either of you to protect me, especially not you, Potter.” She jabbed a finger at his chest. “I can handle myself just bloody fine, even if I am just a stupid Muggleborn.”
“No, that’s not what-” He drew back from her accusing finger, frowning. “I know you’re capable, more than me even. I just mean, you were backed into a corner.”
“I wasn’t backed into a corner, I just don’t go around starting fights for no reason!” She felt her face turning red, and grew aware of the fact that there were people staring at them by this point.
“That is not fair!” James exclaimed. “Rosier was just trying to start a fight and I didn’t do a single thing!”
“Oh, excuse me!” Lily threw her hands up, voice thick with sarcasm. “Right, because he ‘wasn’t worth your time’? Your humility astounds me.”
James opened his mouth to retaliate, but swiftly shut it when he caught sight of Sirius. Lily had momentarily forgotten he was there to be honest, it was so easy when his outspoken personality was gone. The absence of his chatter revealed just how much he truly talked. James must have been having a similar thought process, judging by the concerned look in his eyes.
Sirius sighed at James, reading his thoughts. “Prongs, it’s fine. I’m fine.”
“The hell you are.”
He grabbed Sirius by the arm, dragging him up the stairs to the boys’ common rooms and whispering something as they went. This left Lily standing awkwardly by the portrait hole, brimming with anger and nowhere to direct it to. A table of first years who had been watching the entire ordeal were still staring at her shamelessly, only serving to annoy her further. Eager to escape their curious gazes, she made for her dorm room quickly.
Honestly, Potter was enraging. To rile her up like that, then not even have the decency to allow her the satisfaction of finishing the argument? She scoffed, banging open the door and tossing her bag by her bed as she stormed into the dorm. Thankfully, there was no one else there.
“Typical.” She muttered, sinking into her bed as the last of the sun’s rays peeked over the horizon. “Just typical.”