Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
You got problems in your life of love?
You got a broken heart?
He’s double dealin’ with your best friend
Thats when the teardrops start, fella
9th June 1976
With the end of their OWL exams came an uneasy calm. As though they stood in the eye of a storm - watching it rage on and knowing they were doomed to face it anew.
Each day, the papers reported less and less actual news. It was a summer of gossip over Pureblood princesses and if Madame Gniwesah would truly be able to bring her muggle-infused fashions from the continent.
It all felt… odd. As though they were being drip-fed utter toddle by the press.
There was something wrong outside their castle walls. Something grave and terrible, with its echos felt in the coolness that lingered in spite of the June heat.
“You’ve been in a mood since Easter.” James frowned, looking over his best friend cautiously.
The pair were sat on the grass by the Black Lake amongst the throngs of relieved fifth and seventh years. Girls with their faces tilted to the sun as they leant back on picnic blankets. Gaggles of boys playing cards and gobstones by the side of the water - pressed against each other.
Apparently every student that was not currently in class had elected to visit the meadows by the Lake, that day. Whether due to the heat, the glow of the sun, or the relief to be done with exams, laughter and joy bounded across the grass and buttercups. That is, save for the four boys sat underneath a willow they’d claimed.
“I dunno.” Sirius shrugged, tugging to loosen his tie. “Just…” his eyes flickered around the clearing before resting back on his friends. “Can’t you feel it too?”
“Feel what?” James frowned, eyes darting to scan the happy crowds - hand reaching to scratch the back of his head.
“Never mind.” Sirius sighed dismissively, looking up at the drifting willow. Caught in the soft breeze like a dancer’s skirt. Pale and unbleached.
“No, mate. Tell me.”
“Fine.” He sighed, rubbing his face. It smudged the black liner around his eyes slightly - a sliver running down his cheek like a dark tear. “It’s like… I just know something bad is coming. Like the smell of lightning before the storm.”
“Is it an animagus thing?” James asked.
The twins had definitely lucked out in regards to their transformation. Their senses were heightened, even out of their animal forms. They could smell things that only Remus had been able to before; hear conversations that should have been out of range. Sometimes, James could swear he saw their ears twitch at loud noises.
All James had got was some highlights and a different prescription. And all poor Petey had gotten was a slightly squashed nose and a penchant for cheese.
“No. I don’t know. Maybe?” He mused. “There is that saying that dogs are the first to know before something bad happens.”
“Plus, grims are all in tune with omens, right?”
“Grims are omens, Prongs.” Sirius rolled his eyes. “I just… Ara’s been having headaches since Christmas. And I now she still dreams of awful things, I know it.” He ran a hand through his curls, wincing as his fingers caught on knots. “But I can’t see them anymore. She won’t… I’m out of the loop.”
“Can you blame her?” James sighed, wincing as his best mate shot a reproachful look his way. “You tried to ignore them even after you told everyone, and you managed to convince her to stop sharing. Good job, mate, she’s stopped sharing.”
“Fuck, mate. I get it, alright?” Sirius winced, glancing back to the tree. With a sigh, James looked to their friends.
Peter and Remus were sat next to them, but engaged in a separate conversation as Peter tried once again to teach Remus origami. It was not going well. The werewolf had very clumsy fingers. Still, they’d try it every few months; with ranging success.
As Sirius glanced his way, his face pinked. James had to suppress his own shudder of understanding, considering the pair had caught Remus and Ara in the dorms. They were lucky it had only been snogging. James was fairly certain that if he’d seen any more, he would have had to blind himself. Perhaps run away to a commune until the heartbreak cooled.
Sirius offered a wry smile, met by one of James’s lopsided grins as he shrugged. With that, the disagreement was settled as the two two boys watched the clearing - eyes caught on their fellow Gryffindors.
Ara Black and Lily Evans were traipsing through the grass - sharing a single cigarette between them. As was their post exam tradition; a way for Lily to get access to a little rebellion, while making sure her friend wasn’t overdoing hers. Their hair pulled up due to the heat - Lily’s in a braided crown, Ara’s in a simple ponytail. Her dark fringe sweeping over her eyes, layers of hair escaping the borrowed elastic.
Pandora had wandered off with some classmates - her Ravenclaw nature prevailing as she simply had to compare her answers with others. The other Wildflowers had chosen blissful ignorance instead.
Near the Ravenclaws, sat some younger Hufflepuffs guarding clothes. Regulus Black and his friend David Moon had dragged half their older classmates into the water to help them destress after the exam. Amelia Bones was swimming on her back in lazy circles, the Abbot twins splashing each other in some kind of game.
There was such a perfect sense of tranquility that at first, James could not figure why his friend felt as he did. With such a perfect day, a cloudless sky - how could anything feel foreboding?
He looked up at the sky again, blinking at the brightness of the wash of blue. It stretched as far as the eye could see. Further, likely. The grass was completely green and littered with small flowers. Everyone was laughing and joyful.
And it was too much. James understood Sirius’s trepidation as he followed his friend’s eyes to a group of Slytherin’s walking along the grass - sour faced and bitter. This day was too perfect. Something had to give.
Indeed it did, in the form of Rosemary Avery’s taunting as the Slytherin quartet strolled past. Her twin on one side, both utterly loathing of the Blacks. Mulciber and Snape on her other side, faces like they’d eaten a lemon.
“I wonder how Black did on his OWL. Do you think he can even spell Transfiguration?”
“Piss off, Avery.” Sirius growled. “Not in the mood.”
“Oh poor little Black!” Snape seethed from beside her. “With a family like that, no wonder your sister’s insane.”
“You take that back.” Sirius stood, James quick to follow as he tried to hold his friend back.
“Why? We all know it! She’s crazier than Bellatrix. At least she’s easy on the eyes. Tell me, is it just your pet that’s fucked her? Or do your friends take it in turns?” Snape’s eyes narrowed in victory, his friend looking on with dread at the exchange. Even the Slytherins were less than enthusiastic about the feud.
“Shut the fuck up! Shut the fuck up or I’ll make you!” Sirius lunged at him, fist colliding with the boy’s cheek - a crunch reverberating through the trees. It sounded through the clearing, all heads turning to the scene.
“Didn’t mean to touch a nerve.” He sniggered, wiping the blood from his lip. “It’s nice for you to stand up for your pet’s honour. Or do you also partake in the Black family tradition of sister-fucking?”
Sirius didn’t utter another syllable - instead lunging for his wand and tossing a stinging hex directly at Snape’s chest. The boy was pulled backwards by the force, baring his teeth as he cast a spell in return. A protego enveloped Sirius; James jumping to his side.
Further down, Ara Black vanished her cigarette with a snap and grabbed Lily’s hand, dragging her to investigate.
Students surrounding stopped to eavesdrop, a few coming over to circle the scene as the Slytherins vanished into the crowd - unwilling to join Snape’s fight.
The sour faced boy noticed, squaring his jaw as he cast “Levicorpus!” at James, the boy being yanked by an invisible string on his ankle. He hung upside down, grabbing onto his glasses as they tried to slip from his nose.
“This is between us.” Sirius spat, casting a finite on Snape’s spell. James fell to the ground in a heap, jumping to his feet and adjusting his glasses.
Snape merely growled in reply, casting a hex that Sirius easily deflected.
“See how you like it, eh? Levicorpus!” Sirius cast, the spell pulling Snape up by the ankles. His robes pulled over his head, revealing tattered old trousers - too short for his legs. The assembled crowd let out a laugh at the sight. All Sirius could do was wince, wishing he’d picked a different spell.
Remus stood by the tree; unmoving but ready to step in. Willing to let his friends take the lead, wand primed in his palm - Peter matching his position as they waited for Sirius. James stood by his best friend, his brother in all but blood; wand drawn but unused. Waiting to stop it if it went too far.
“Let him down!” Lily screamed across the clearing, a murderous expression contorted over her pretty features. Ara rushed with her, a look of murder on her face - her sleeve caught in Lily’s grip as she stormed down. Pandora spotting the two from her spot a little aways; immediately grabbing her bag and bidding her classmates goodbye.
“Lils, let it go.” Sirius warned, still holding the boy up. The look of absolute rage that steeled his features was enough to make Lily blink back in alarm. Especially in conjunction with her nickname.
“Let him down first.” She retorted, though it held far less bite than her first words. Sev had done something awful if Sirius was looking at him like that. Ara’s hand made it’s way into Lily’s again and the Muggleborn looked down at her friend with utter confusion. All she could do in reply was to shrug bewilderedly too. Sirius was keeping a firm lid on the bond.
There was a moment of tense silence. A breath held in by all watching, as they wondered whether… well, would Sirius Black actually listen.
And to their surprise, he did.
With a look of absolute loathing and disgust, he dropped the Slytherin back onto the ground and tossed his wand on the ground beside him.
“There you go, Snivellus. You’re lucky Lily was here.” Sirius bit out as he moved to go back towards Peter and Remus. James stood by his shoulder - his face pinched at the whole affair but conceding.
It would have been far simpler for them all if Severus had counted his losses. If he had picked himself up and simply walked away.
But this was a boy scorned. Embarrassed in front of a clearing of half his year group. In front of all his classmates and his best friend. His best friend that wouldn’t take a bloody hint; kept pushing, kept making everything worse for him.
Who would never look at him the way he looked at her.
The words ripped themselves from his mouth before he thought it through. Tumbling out as some retort to the other boy’s words as he brushed himself off and got to his feet.
“I don’t need help from filthy Mudbloods like her.”
His eyes went wide as he registered his words, flickering to Lily as she stood by him.
He watched as she stepped backwards - an expression of absolute hurt and horror. Pointed at him.
The looks from the others were no better.
Sirius Black had paused in his walking away, to look back at Snape with what could only be described as absolute surprise. Potter looked positively green; horribly nauseated and disgusted by the entire affair. Remus’s hands were shaking as he threw his wand at Pete, making to stalk towards the dour Slytherin. Those sat around them were looking on with stunned expressions; only a handful of Slytherins amused by the event.
The worst expression, however, was Ara Blacks.
It was luck that had kept him from her wrath until this point. Luck and the gift of Lily in both of their lives. He had inadvertently started a feud with her brother in first year, and she had never once stepped into it. Whether out of respect for Lily, or compassion for his original sin; he would never be sure. Either way, he had received a comfortable five years of missing her wrath.
He had heard tales of the Mad Heiress, of Angry Ara, but he had only once been too close to it. Only once had he seen her anger in its glory; wrath as she beat Dolohov to a bloody pulp. The boy still hadn’t recovered socially.
Sweet Salazar, he wished he’d never spoken.
Because the look on Ara’s face was not murderous or vengeful. It was some great combination - with scatterings of pure madness and loyalty bubbling under the surface. It was one that promised he would never speak that word aloud again.
Before Remus could reach him, face red and filled with fury, Ara did.
“Apologise to Lily, you little bitch.” Ara’s fist collided with Snape’s jaw - his wand lost immediately in the scuffle as he tried to fight off a tiny but ferocious witch. Face twisted into a sneer as she glared down at him with those odd glowing eyes. As feral and flashing as that of Lupin. She got a hit in on Snape’s side and he fought back - hitting her across the head with a loud snack.
Gasps could be heard throughout the clearing.
His hands reached for her hair, but she was one step ahead - twisting his arm until a resounding snap sounded. He howled in pain, using his uninjured arm to snack her nose. Blood sprayed over them both.
Pleas for them to cease sounded around them, hands now moving to pull them apart.
They simply had no effect, not when Ara was finally unleashing five years worth of anger toward this boy. Not for herself, but for those he had harmed in his bizarre vendetta against her.
She twisted her fingers into his hair, tugging his head downwards onto her knee - the sound of his hair ripping, still caught in her fingers as he fell to the floor. He grabbed onto her, twisting to try and pull her beneath him. But his rage minored compared to hers. And as she forced him below her, he could finally see it. Finally see how much he had pissed her off.
At least he had the decency to look afraid.
“Ara, stop!” The indigo-haired witch looked up through her fringe, huffing the strands away as she regarded her friend.
Lily looked as though she didn’t know whether to be outraged or pleased. She’d never had a friend quite so willing to get in a scrap for her.
“Why?” The girl titled her head at her curiously, something unreadable in her eyes.
The question froze her. Because, genuinely, she couldn’t think of a single reason why to stop that didn’t have another reason to continue that trumped it. Sure he’d get hurt, but he’d hurt so many others.
And he had called her that word. That awful word that he’d used before, but never for her.
Except he clearly had. How long had he been calling her a Mudblood behind her back? How fucking long?
All this time; so many conversations debating whether to stay by his side. And for what? For what? For him to call her that despicable word in front of their classmates. For him to cast her aside so openly, so callously.
Years of being his friend despite it all.
“He’s not worth it.” Lily sighed, finally. “Don’t get kicked out for his sorry arse.” She moved over the the girl, offering a hand. With a flicker of a glare at the bloodied boy on the ground, Ara begrudgingly accepted Lily’s hand.
Quickly, the ginger wrapped an arm around her friend’s waist - holding her up as she looked around. She couldn’t even think about the witnesses right now; too caught in seeing the horror in Severus’s face.
Not guilt, but terror. Genuine fear for what would happen now. He would be alone.
“Lily-” he started desperately.
“Don’t.” She grit out, shaking her head as she looked down at the boy that had once been her best friend.
But he hadn’t been that for quite some time.
“Honestly, Severus.” She shook her head at him, grief in her gaze. “I can’t believe I genuinely thought you were a better person than that. So much wasted time.” With that, the redheaded girl adjusted her arm around her friend - supporting her as she limped out of the clearing. Their blonde friend caught up with them finally, wrapping an arm around Ara’s other side as they made their way to the Castle.
Students remained fixated on the boys; stunned at the very public severing of Lily Evans friendship with the sour Slytherin.
Remus stalked back to Pete, accepting his wand with a grimace. The other boy offered a shrug of his lips, collecting their bags from the base of the tree.
“Let’s go.” James sighed, bumping Sirius with his shoulder as he moved back to their tree to collect his bag.
Their werewolf friend had already gotten half-way up the path, nearly reaching Ara’s side as Lily helped her towards the Hospital Wing. They spied him catch up with an arm around her side.
“Told you.” Sirius muttered, nudging James as the boy handed over his bag.
“S’pose so.” James sighed, wrapping an arm around Sirius’s shoulder to carry him towards the path.
“We won that, right?”
“Oh, yeah, we trounced Snivellus.”