Severus Snape
Effie led James to the couch where Lily was sitting. "Lily, dear." Lily looked at James then Effie. "Would you watch James for a minute, please?"
"Of course, Effie." Lily grabbed James from his mother and sat him down on the couch.
"Thank you, dear. I'll be right back." At that, Effie went to the kitchen.
"James, what is wrong with you?"
"Nothing."
"Is it Regulus?"
James looked at her. "You already know how long I've liked him. I saw him on the stage, Lils. He's so beautiful."
"Believe it or not, I used to like him too."
"Everyone does, and he never gets tied down by anyone. I don't have a chance."
Emma came and sat down on the other side of James. "James, question. Can I invite my boyfriend over?"
"Sure, Em."
"You guys really need to give them different nicknames. You call Emmeline and Emma, Em." James shrugs.
"Can I add him to the group chat?"
"Sure."
James' phone dings with a notification.
'Em🫡 added 'phone number' to Bands group chat.'
Em🫡
'Sev, come to 'Potter residence'.
Phone number
'Why?'
Em🫡
'Party.'
Phone number
'Be there soon.'
"What's his name?"
"Severus Snape."
"Wait, wasn't he a bully in high school?" Lily asks.
"He changed."
The doorbell rings, and James goes to get it. He opens the door, and death glares the boy. "I knew the name sounded familiar."
"James, who is it?" A voice calls from the other room. It sounds like Frank. Frank comes up behind James. "Severus."
"James, let him in."
"Em, why him?" Emma comes up behind them with Lily on her trail.
"Emma, come on. Let's go home and sleep."
"She has a room here." Lily sneers.
"Emma, come dance." Alice calls from the other room.
"Go on, Em." Lily says. Emma leaves.
"Severus."
"Let me in."
"No." Frank says.
"It's not your house."
"Does he have a room here? Yes. Does everyone in this house right now have a room here? Yes. Do you have a room here? No. Now, stay off my property." James says.
"James! Come drink some water!" Effie calls.
"In a minute, mum!" Effie comes up behind them.
"James, you didn't tell me you invited someone else."
"I didn't, Emma did. He's not aloud in here."
"Nonsense. James, let him in." James moves aside, and Severus slips in.
James moves to Lily to hold her. Mary comes up to them after spotting Severus. "Who invited him?" Mary's voice was shaking.
James pulls her in. "Emma. He's her boyfriend. She thinks he's changed."
"Bullshit." It sounded like she was about to cry.
"Let's go write a song, yeah?"
"Can we get everyone?"
"Yeah."
James
'My room. Writing a song.'
Siri😛
'Why?'
James
'Mar and Lils need it. Add Barty, Evan, Pandora, Dorcas, and Regulus."
'Siri😛 added 'phone number' to Bands group chat.'
Phone number
'What the fuck is this?'
Siri😛
'Just add Dorcas, Pandora, Barty, and Evan.'
'Phone number' added 'phone number', 'phone number', 'phone number', and 'phone number' to Bands group chat.'
James
'Meet you up there.'
Siri😛
'Meet in James' room.'
James
'Don't let Severus see you.'
James leads Mary and Lily up to his room and wait for everyone else to show up. In the meantime, James grabs his guitar and starts playing some cords.
Sirius, Peter, and Remus arrive first, then Bellatrix, Narcissa, Alice, Ted, Andromeda, Frank, Marlene, Rita, Emmeline, Regulus, Evan, Barty, Dorcas, and Pandora. Emma comes in the room with Severus right behind her.
"Em, What the fuck?" Lily and Mary go to James' side. "You know what he did to Lils and Mar, and you still brought him here."
"We came up here to get away from him, and you brought him." Lily sneers.
"Get over it. You deserved it anyway." Severus says.
"Em. I'm going to need you to choose." James says calmly. "Us or him? Before you say anything, let me just get something out. If you choose him, you lose me, Mary, Lily, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Marlene, Alice, Ted, Frank, Emmeline, Rita, Andromeda, Narcissa, and Bellatrix. So, just think."
"I choose, you. Lily didn't deserve being treated that way, and you just proved to me that you didn't change."
"Once upon a time, Lily and I were friends. So, I'll just take Emma with me."
Severus grabs Emma' arm and drags her down the stairs. James gets up and runs down the stairs to see Emma struggling to get out of Severus' grasp. Everyone followed James down the stairs.
James races over to them and punches Severus on the nose. Severus immediately let's go of Emma and holds his nose. Emma goes over to their friends.
"You don't touch my friends. Do it again, I dare you." Severus is now death glaring James.
Severus' hand comes up to punch James, and James dives it before his hand could even come close. James' foot comes right at the bend of Severus' knees and kicks it. Severus falls to his knees.
James leans down right in his face. "You mess with my friends, you mess with me. I advise you to get out of here before I kill you."
"You can't kill me for shit." James grabs him and drags him outside.
James grabs a gun straped to his side and puts it to his temple. "Say that again." Severus stutters. "Get off my lawn before I blow your brains out."
Severus stands up and starts running and yells over his shoulder, "You're crazy!"
"Damn right, I am!" James puts the gun back at his side and looks around to make sure no one saw.
James goes back inside to see his mom making sure his friends stay inside. "All done, dear?"
"Yes, mum." He goes to Emma and pulls her out of the house. "Are you ok?"
"I can handle myself." Emma has her hands crossed against her chest.
"Yet, that's why you hired me."
"I hired a lot of people. You just had a lot more potential."
"You hired me because you knew me and knew how much I protect my friends. You knew what lengths I would go to to protect them. Protect you."
Emma sighs. "Yes, I do know."
"Come on. Let's go pass out." They went back inside to find everyone in their rooms.
"I can't believe you told your parents."
"Someone had to know."
"Emma, James. Are you two ok?" It was James' mom.
"We're fine, Effie."
"Oh, I know. I'm just making sure no one was hurt. Who was he?"
"High school bully. He bullied Lily and Mary for years."
"Regulus was missing when I tried to hold everyone back."
Emma and James gave each other a look. "Ok, thanks, mum."
Emma went to her room while James went to Marlene's. "Where was Regulus during this whole escapade?" James asked when he opened her door.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Marlene was in her pj's on her bed reading a book.
"Marls." James had closed her door and was now leaning against it with his arms crossed against his chest.
Marlene finally looked up from her book. "He stayed behind in your room, and I think he was looking out your window during the whole thing."
"God damn it, Marls!" There was a knock on the door. James opened it and saw Regulus. "Regulus."
"I'm assuming you found out I saw it from all the screaming." James looked back to Marlene to see she was back to reading her book.
"You couldn't come up here to stop him?" James let him in.
"No one told me to."
James pulled out his phone.
Em🫡
James
'Marls room, now.'
A few seconds later, there was a knock on the door. James opened it and let Emma in. "What is this about?"
James gestured to Regulus. "He saw it. He saw the whole thing with Severus."
Emma' eyes got wide. "The whole thing?" James nodded. "Marlene McKinnon. You couldn't have told me?"
"No one told me to." She was still reading her book.
"I'll tell Dorcas -" James started.
Marlene finally looked up from her book and gasped. "You wouldn't dare."
"You wanna bet?"
"Fine. What do you want?"
"Listen to Em."
"Which one?" James just glared at her. They were having a silent conversation.
'Emma, you dipshit.'
'Don't call me a dipshit.'
'Don't start.'
"Fine, ok, I'm sorry. I'll listen to Emma."
"What just happened?" Regulus asks.
"Silent conversation with their eyes. They've been best friends since they were four." Emma says. "You'll get used to it."
"Three, actually." James says. "We've been best friends since we were three."
"Not the point. What are we going to do? We can't have that many people knowing."
"It's just Marls, Mum, and Dad. Regulus doesn't even know what it was."
"It's pretty easy to figure it out." Marlene says.
"For you."
"You're the one who told me."
"Shut up." Emma says. "Regulus, do you know what happened?"
"No?" James looked at Regulus, and he looked confused, but his eyes betrayed him.
"Ok, well, you can go to bed." Regulus leaves.
Emma and Marlene stare at him. "Well? Was he lying?" Marlene asks.
"Yeah. He knows something. I just don't know what. I'll keep an eye on him."
"Ok, just be careful, James." Emma leaves.
"Where are you sleeping?"
"My room is right across his, so I'll just sleep at the door. I love you, Marls."
"I love you too." James leaves. James sits at his bedroom door, watching Regulus'. Marlene comes to a hault in front of him. "Can I sleep in here?"
"Sure, Marls. Grab a blanket and pillow from my closet."
Marlene goes to his closet and grabs them. She comes back and puts the pillow in James' lap and lays down. James runs his hands through her hair as she falls asleep.
James stays up all night watching Regulus' door, and he never came out.
***
Emma walks up to James. "Did he ever come out?"
"No." Emma stares at Marlene. "Jealous?"
"No."
"Mmh. She couldn't sleep last night." Regulus' door opens. "Regulus. Come here." He walks over. "You will drive with us. Got it?" Regulus nods his head. "We leave in an hour. Go eat breakfast."
Regulus leaves. "You need to get up before someone comes out of their room and sees." James gets up gently and carries Marlene to his bed.
"Let's go eat some breakfast."
Marlene comes down ten minutes later. "Why didn't you wake me up?"
"You looked too ugly." Marlene smacks James on the top of his head and goes to get breakfast. She comes back a minute later with some pancakes on her plate and sits down right next to James. James smiles. "You looked peaceful."
"So? Still should have woke me." Marlene started eating.
"We still had an hour. I knew you would have woken up in time anyway." Marlene just rolled her eyes.
***
Forty minutes later, James is saying goodbye to everyone. James looks at Marlene.
'Get Regulus to come to the car.'
'I know.'
"Prongs! Meet you tomorrow?" Sirius asks.
"Sure, Padfoot."
"Marls! Are you riding with us?"
"No, Siri. I'm riding with James and Emma."
James laughs. "Maybe you should ride with Dorcas."
"James." James just laughs.
"I'll meet you outside." Marlene nods.
James goes to the car with Emma and a few minutes later Marlene comes out. After everyone leaves Regulus comes to the car.
"Why am I here?"
"We know you lied." Emma says. Regulus gave her a skeptical look. "The how is not important."
"Tell us the truth." Marlene states. James starts driving.
"Where are we going?"
"Somewhere where you won't have to find out if you tell us what you know."