What is Going on?
His best friend had him by the throat with a hatred and anger he didn't understand, and James felt his vision start to darken.
***
He pushed Avery aside firmly, then headed for the blackened mirror on the other side of the room. With horror, he saw Potter looking back at him. Potter appeared just as shocked as he felt. Behind him was the Slytherin army and their wands were aimed at him...
He had now understood the reason for their anger. If he was in their place, he would be angry too. In fact, he might have already cast a curse. He didn't know how it had happened, but it had, and he didn't know how to explain himself. There was a terrible mistake here. He cursed himself for not realizing it earlier. He needed to get out of here as soon as possible, or he didn't even want to think about what might happen. But passing through all the Slytherins and reaching the door didn't seem very likely. They had already recovered from their initial shock and were pointing their wands at him. Severus couldn't believe it and muttered a "Merlin," drawing his wand from his pocket. It didn't work...
***
When he opened his eyes, he had no difficulty figuring out where he was. He was in the hospital wing. How had he managed to come here without dying, he thought in amazement. Or without being killed? Though he felt worse than dead. He hadn't died before, but he certainly hadn't had his life cursed out of him by his own fellows. Severus was actually suspicious of them just cursing him. If he had gotten to know at least a few of these Slytherins, he'd figure they'd want to express their feelings through body language too. He was sure that he had been kicked in the face several times after fainting. How had he managed to free get here? Could Slughorn have come to the noise? That's right, he thought bitterly. Slughorn wouldn't be pleased to see one of his beloved Slug Club students covered in blood on the floor. He heard a moan in the bed right next to his. When he turned his head to look, he saw a face that he had thought belonged to him until a few days ago staring back at him. The expression on the face was exactly the same as the one he was currently wearing. He cursed himself for sharing the same emotions with Potter right now. But he didn't feel any unease knowing that Potter had experienced the same horrific ordeal with his friends, and one could even say he felt relieved. Those Gryffindors! They are so well-intentioned! So what, he might have messed up the building, right? Was it necessary for them to beat him up? Of course, Potter (in Snape's visage) seemed a lot better than Snape 9in Potter's visage), but alas! A kick is a kick! Severus examined his body lying in the adjacent bed from head to toe. He had blurred vision, Potter's glasses must have broken in the scuffle. He laughed to himself, realizing that Potter still couldn't make sense of what had happened.
***
His head was pounding quite severely. When he attempted to open the lids that he thought were his eyes, a searing white light filled the room. He closed his eyelids. Then he slowly began to open them. The blurry whiteness quickly came into focus, and he found himself staring at a familiar white ceiling. Where was he? Ah, in the hospital wing!
He tried to piece together what had happened. It made no sense. None at all. Why had Sirius beat him up like this? He had strangled him until he fainted. Then he had brought him to the hospital wing. Had he? He didn't think so. He must have been left at the entrance of the wing. He couldn't tell anyone that he almost killed him, now please fix him, could he? In the evening, there was this look in his eyes, a look that had never been used against him before, that look... He had attacked him out of nowhere. Had he heard something wrong about him? Nonsense, Sirius wouldn't attack him based on a rumor. So, what was it? He turned his head and saw himself, mocking him with a sneer. Ah, the nightmare continued!
***
Their thoughts were interrupted by Madam Pomfrey. The woman had a mixed expression of concern and anger on her face. Mcgonagall, who stood behind her, had nothing but anger on her face. Her lips were thinner than neither Snape nor Potter had ever witnessed before. Slughorn, on the other hand, seemed neither worried nor angry. He looked confused and bewildered. Unfortunately, it was Mcgonagall who spoke first.
"TELL ME IMMEDIATELY WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU! NOW!"
If James hadn't known the seriousness of the situation, he might have laughed at the high-pitched scream that came out of the woman. But he really wasn't in the mood for that now. Instead he said helplessly,
"Professor, we really didn't..."
"YOU WERE TOLD TO RETURN TO YOUR HOUSES, MR. SNAPE! BUT YOU PREFERRED TO FIGHT IN ANOTHER CORRIDOR. NOW YOU'RE SAYING YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING. YOU ARE SERIOUSLY IN TROUBLE THIS TIME! ONE HUNDRED POINTS FROM EACH HOUSE!"
"But we didn't fight!" James said in a helpless voice. This time, Mcgonagall was shouting at him rather than the two of them. And she referred to him as Mr. Snape? Mr. Snape? "We were going to..." But a whisper from next bed was cut him off. A whisper sounding a lot like his own whisper actually.
"Professor," the whisper whispered. James turned to his own scattered body lying on the bed next to him. He was talking calmly. "We couldn't stand it after you left. We're sorry!"
"YOU'RE SORRY, AREN'T YOU, MR. POTTER? DO YOU KNOW WHAT I'M THINKING? DETENTION UNTIL THE END OF THE YEAR, FOR EVERY HOGSMEADE TRIP! FOR BOTH OF YOU!"
"Oh, Minerva! This is too cruel..." Slughorn said, wobbling his belly. He was also looking at his two Slug Club members with understanding.
Well, Snape thought. They couldn't say they mixed up their houses. Although the stupid Potter was probably about to say that. He needed to summarize the situation to him as soon as possible. If his assumption was correct, getting expelled from school was not out of the question. Then he laughed to himself. At least he was in a terrible condition compared to Potter. So everyone, everyone except the Slytherin House, would think that Snape had beaten up Potter. With this thought making him cherry, he whispered to McGonagall:
"I'm sorry, really. I wanted to beat up Snivellus, oh sorry, Snape, a little. But I forgot that my three friends weren't with me to protect me so I ended up beaten very deservingly." While the teachers raised their eyebrows at this strange description, he felt a body turn on the bed next to him.
"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING, YOU IMBECILE? AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO REALIZES THE NONSENSE IN THIS ROOM?"
No, Severus thought, you're the only one who doesn't realize anything. But instead of saying this to the three adults, he signaled with his hand, "Confundus Charm. He'll be fine in half an hour."
McGonagall opened her mouth, but Madam Pomfrey had apparently pushed the limits of her patience. She sent the teachers out saying;
"These kids need to rest, Professors!"
"Oh," laughed McGonall," if they don't tear each other apart in there instead."
When the door closed, Severus made a great effort to sit up in bed. The body on the adjacent bed had also sat up, directing all the hatred to him through his own eyes.
"WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO? WHY DID YOU SAY IT LIKE THAT? WE DIDN'T FIGHT!"
"Exactly! But they thought so, and that's in our favor, Potter!" Snape couldn't miss the relief on Potter's face upon hearing the word "Potter." Perhaps he had really started to believe that he was actually Snape. Oh, how much fun it would be to leave him in such a dilemma. Potter forced to live as Snape, and believing he was him all the time! But unfortunately, it was not the time to allow this misunderstanding. "The situation is worse than you think, Potter!"
"What could be worse than this?" He made huge gestures with his hands.
"For instance, the fact that we can't tell anyone about this." "Now be quiet!" he added because Potter's mouth had opened in objection. "...And listen to me..."
***
James was nowhere to be found! Where was this boy? He hadn't returned after the party. Oh no, instead Snape had come! When the memory of that moment came to Sirius, he kicked the nearest bed that his foot stumbled upon, which happened to be Remus's bed.
"Ah! What are you doing?" the boy said, poking his head out from behind the curtains. His eyes were sleepy; he was clearly half-asleep. Of course, Sirius had to wake him up with affectionate gestures...
"Moony!" Perhaps due to sleepiness, Remus thought that Sirius's nose was emitting smoke. "What audacity! How does he enter our common room? Moreover, how does he know the password?"
"Don't think about that now, just go back to sleep! Or think quietly because I'm really tired!"
"But James is also missing! What if something happened to him..."
"Hah," Remus said mockingly, his head emerging from the curtains again. "Go to sleep now, Padfoot! Prongs is safe, I'm sure of it. Well, unless a bunch of wild werewolves kidnapped him, I can't be sure about that. But he wasn't exactly safe here either..."
Sirius's angry demeanor instantly changed. His eyes sparkled with joy. "But I did good with Snivellus, didn't I?" Remus' face changed.
"You're not expecting me to say 'well done,' are you? Look, Padfoot, I want to sleep. Please wait for Prongs in your bed. If I knew you'd sleep, I'd tell you to come to my bed, but you wouldn't leave me alone!"
This time, Sirius's eyes sparkled even more:
"Ah, Moony! You and your immoral suggestions!" When he saw Remus blushing like fire, he realized he had hit the right spot. "I would genuinely accept, you know. But I'm a bit worried about our poor boy..." He winked.
"Oh, shut up!"
"What's going on?" Peter mumbled from behind his own curtains. Remus had completely buried himself in his bed, never to be seen again tonight. Sirius continued to walk around.
***
"Can you stop this already?!"
Carmen's eyes were so swollen from crying that her blue eyes were barely visible. She pushed away the handkerchief that Lily had offered her in anger.
"How can you be so heartless? He- Black, that... that vile... Did you not see what he did? He almost killed..."
"But he didn't kill him, okay? Go sleep and get some rest! It's almost morning."
"You didn't sleep either!"
Lily's forehead furrowed, and she muttered more to herself:
"James didn't come either."
"Well, you know, he... you might not have heard, right?" A sob interrupted Carmen's sentence. "Maybe... he's in his dorm now..."
"James doesn't quietly sneak into his dorm! Especially after tonight's events... And we didn't hear any scream, did we? If James had come, Sirius would have told him that Snape entered our common room. Well, if I know James..."
"HAH!" She snorted. "What would he tell him? About his 'achievements'? He must have been fast asleep, in bliss. That bastard! Oh, let it be morning, and I'll hand him over to McGonagall..."
"Careful! Snape wouldn't like that! He doesn't enjoy being protected, especially not by a girl, especially not by a Mudblood girl." Her voice had chilled considerably towards the end of the sentence.
"They didn't even call anyone!" Carmen continued her protest. "They just left him at the entrance to the wing! I wonder if he's been found?"
"They left a signal... He's been found, don't worry." Carmen continued to worry...
***
Regulus lay on his bed, trying to think amidst the snores of the other fifth-year Slytherin boys. Tonight, James Potter had boldly stormed into their common room as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Of course, it had ended tragically...
He was still surprised that he had managed to rescue James from them. Committing murder on behalf of their house would not be pleasant, especially when it was his brother's friend, and even more so, his brother. He hadn't realized it, but his brows were furrowed. His brother liked that Potter boy very much, more than he ever liked him. After all, it was his own choice to go to Gryffindor. Being rebellious was his own choice. He had run away from home by his own desire. Of course, his family didn't love him. What was his fault? Just wanting to be accepted by his own parents? This was his crime?
When his brother found out what had happened to his chosen brother tomorrow, what would he say to him? He had tried to save him; he wasn't at fault. But he didn't think Sirius would listen.
He had succeeded in persuading his friends to leave Potter at the entrance to the hospital wing. Merlin, thank goodness Snape wasn't there! Because he would not listen him when it comes to Potter! They had dragged Potter up to the entrance. When they reached it, a surprise were waiting them. An unconscious Snape! They had left Potter there next to him, well, they had practically thrown him away, and then they had gone to Snape to check on him. Why was he there? On the floor, in that state... Furthermore, was it a coincidence that all four heads of houses were rushing towards there from the hall at the same time? Or did they know about Snape's condition? But how? Snape didn't seem to in a condition to sent a signal himself... Or did he send a signal? Could he have? Or had someone else left him there and send a signal for him to be found? But who? Regulus felt sorry for him, but on the other hand, he had thought it was for the best. Otherwise, when they left Potter, they wouldn't have left a signal. But now he knew that Potter was in safe hands, and Snape too. They just left both boys unconscious and went to their own common house.
As Regulus surrendered himself to the warm embrace of sleep, he was sure of one thing. Something had happened at Hogwarts tonight, a big something...