At Hogwarts, James and Sirius's treatment of Snape had become something of a scheduled event, complete with a regular audience.
It wasn't the occasional clash. It wasn't young wizards butting heads over bruised egos, and it couldn't be waved away as youthful recklessness.
It was sustained, premeditated bullying, carried out with a sense of superiority.
Bullying was the only honest word for it. No justification softened it. It was cruel, and it was deliberate.
James's reason amounted to Snape's existence. He looked down on the boy's background, his manner, his interest in the Dark Arts. He'd built himself a righteous shell to wear over the ugliness, etched with words like he'll end up a Death Eater and he studies Dark magic.
But beneath the shell, things were simpler. He bullied Snape because he enjoyed it.
The arrogance, the contempt, the thrill of dominance, the validation that came from performing strength in front of friends. Those came first. The righteousness was packaging applied after the fact.
Snape had struck first on occasion, but rarely. Most of the time, James was the instigator.
The Marauders' offenses included the degrading nickname, Snivellus. Using the Marauder's Map to track his every movement, deliberately targeting him when he was alone.
And then there was the Shrieking Shack incident. Sirius had tricked Snape into going to see Lupin during the full moon, when the Werewolf transformation was upon him. James pulled Snape back in the end, but the motive was fear that his friend would be expelled. Kindness had nothing to do with it.
Lily had rushed in to intervene, called James an arrogant, bullying lowlife who picked on the weak. James, in front of everyone, had tried to leverage Snape's release into a date with her.
Under the weight of that humiliation and rage, Snape had said the words to Lily: "I don't need help from a filthy little Mudblood."
Lily cut ties with him after that.
But in that dynamic, Snape was the one being bullied. That was the fact of it.
After graduation, Snape sought out Voldemort of his own will. Became a Death Eater. Leaked Trelawney's prophecy. He knew it pointed to the Potters and told him anyway, and only when Voldemort moved to kill Lily did he break down and beg for her life.
On the other side, James grew up completely after leaving school. The arrogance vanished. The cruelty stopped. He became a responsible husband and father. When Voldemort came for them, he stood in the way without a wand, told Lily and Harry to run, and died to the Killing Curse.
But that was later.
Now things were different. Because of Regulus, the future had already become uncertain.
At least during their school years, James was the instigator and primary offender. Snape was the long-term victim.
None of this interested Regulus, though. Who bullied whom, who tormented whom. What did any of it have to do with him?
Nobody dared bully him. Nobody would even consider it.
Every young witch and wizard at Hogwarts ought to be grateful he wasn't the James Potter type, spending his energy making other people miserable.
His gaze never settled that low.
Not that he had any principled objection to the concept of pushing people around. He simply had more pressing concerns.
As for who deserved to be on the receiving end, once he had the strength, Death Eaters would make excellent candidates.
Regulus looked at Lily.
The young witch stood there looking troubled, brow lightly furrowed, lips pressed together, waiting for him to give her an answer.
Somewhere along the way, she'd started bringing him more than magical questions. Life's frustrations found their way to him too.
As though he had answers for everything. As though she'd believe whatever he said.
When that habit had taken root, Regulus couldn't pinpoint. But it was there now.
He didn't mind.
He knew what Lily was asking. She was looking at this through the lens of right and wrong.
Who was the bully, who was the victim, who deserved blame, who deserved sympathy.
She wanted to know whether James and Sirius had reasons, and whether those reasons held up.
She wanted to fit all of it inside a moral framework, wanted a moral explanation. That was how most people approached things.
Regulus didn't see it that way.
Why could James keep doing this? Because he had the power, so he could. No one around him was strong enough to stop it. This wasn't a moral question. It was the result of how power was distributed, determined by circumstance. The why was irrelevant.
Why could Snape only take it? Same answer. He had power, but he couldn't use it. The Dark magic he studied carried devastating force among students, but he was also someone who understood his own position. He wanted recognition. He wanted professors to see his talent. He knew the reality: Dark magic couldn't be used openly. He wasn't Hermes. Hermes wouldn't have cared. But Snape did, and so when they came for him, all he could do was endure.
That was his choice and his constraint, and the critical factor: he was one against four.
That was what actually drove this. Right and wrong were labels applied afterward. Power was the underlying logic.
Regulus wasn't going to turn this into a morality lesson, and he couldn't explain any of this to Lily. She didn't need that answer right now.
She needed a direction. Something to do.
But Sirius was involved in this.
That brooding kid from Grimmauld Place had genuinely put in the work over the holidays, and his progress showed.
But back at Hogwarts, he was spending his time tormenting people.
Regulus didn't know the specifics of Sirius's school life. Whether he was still training. Whether he was still growing stronger.
From what he could see now, Sirius hadn't devoted all his time to improvement. He still had energy left over for this nonsense.
He didn't want to see Sirius waste himself.
All that talent, squandered on this. Where would it lead?
What a waste.
He'd trained all holiday, poured that much effort in, and the moment he arrived at school it all fell apart.
Sirius needed something productive to focus on. Sending Lily to teach him a lesson would be far more interesting than doing it himself.
Regulus set the thought aside. He looked at Lily, warm and steady, and said nothing about whether James and Sirius were right or wrong, nothing about whether Snape deserved pity, nothing about how the situation should be judged.
He asked one question. "What if, next time something like this happens, you could stop it with your own strength?"
Lily froze. Then her eyes lit up, as though someone had struck a match inside her chest.
But the light flickered and dimmed. She lowered her head, opened her hand, clenched it, opened it again, clenched it again.
Not strong enough. She was thinking about all those times before. Why she'd only ever shouted at them to stop instead of stepping in directly.
It wasn't cowardice. It wasn't timidity. She knew she couldn't win.
That helplessness wasn't new. Every time she saw Severus cornered in a corridor, she wanted to charge in, but...
She raised her head and looked at Regulus.
He was the same as always. Warm, patient, accepting.
Listening to her troubles without irritation, without boredom, waiting, not a trace of impatience.
The feeling was strange. No matter what she said, he would hear her out and give her something to hold onto.
Lily's lips pushed forward in a small, unconscious pout, her voice going soft. "I've thought about it, but..."
"Afraid you're not strong enough?" Amusement glinted in Regulus's eyes.
A quiet "Mm."
He looked at her gently, the corner of his mouth lifting. "Isn't that what I'm teaching you for?"
Green eyes found his.
"Keep training," he said. "Why wouldn't you be able to beat them?"
Lily said nothing. She dropped her gaze. The tips of her ears flushed pink. Her mouth twitched upward, fought back down, and her fingers quietly seized a fold of her robe.
"Do you believe in yourself?" Regulus asked.
A pause. Then, "Do you believe in me?"
Lily's head snapped up. Whatever hesitation had been in her eyes was swept away, replaced by something clear and bright.
Her answer came fast, no wavering. "Yes."
She said it quickly, as though slowing down would make it sound less honest.
Regulus gave a satisfied nod.
Then Lily hesitated, her mouth working, her tone catching on something uncertain. "But... Sirius is part of it."
The name came out awkwardly. She usually referred to the Gryffindor Black as just Black, and not fondly. But the other Black was standing right in front of her, so she couldn't use the surname, and switching to the first name felt strange.
Regulus's tone didn't shift. "Yeah. I know."
Lily's eyes widened. "Then you still..."
Regulus paused. A rare furrow crossed his brow, his expression touched by something hard to name. Exasperation, maybe.
He looked at Lily. "Him. I have no idea what he's doing with his time, but it's nothing useful."
He went on. "I'm in Slytherin. It's not exactly convenient for me to go deal with him. Could you give him a good thrashing for me?"
Lily stared. Suspicion flickered across her face, her gaze scanning his features, checking whether he was serious.
Regulus looked back at her, expression earnest, tinged with resignation.
She thought about it. Her lips curved. Her eyes curved. Then she laughed.
She straightened up, slapped her palm against her chest, voice ringing. "No problem. Leave it to me."
Regulus laughed too. "Once you're ready. Not yet."
Lily wrinkled her nose, indignant but unable to argue. She knew it was too soon.
"Next time, we start on the Patronus," he said. "Practice the magical control on your own when you get back. Feather and water both work. Take it slow."
Lily beamed, energy radiating off her, and gave a firm "Mm," so full of determination her whole bearing had changed. Eyes bright, steps lighter, she looked nothing like the girl who'd walked through the door.
They left the abandoned classroom. The corridor lay quiet, torchlight casting long shadows against the stone walls.
Lily headed toward Gryffindor Tower, took two steps, then turned back and waved. "See you next time."
Regulus raised a hand. "Go on."
She turned and went, footsteps quick and light, her ponytail swinging behind her.
Regulus turned the other way.
Sirius had trained the entire holiday, and the improvement was real. But from where Regulus stood, he was still far off.
That wasn't the point, though.
The point was that Sirius wasn't applying himself. Wasn't training. Was wasting his time on nonsense.
The more fun he had now, the harder the regret would hit later. Once you'd picked a side, you had to be ready.
When war came, those without strength wouldn't even have time for regret.
He needed a push.
If Regulus trained Lily well enough that the next time those boys cornered someone, she could handle them on her own...
Potter and his friends held no space in Regulus's mind, but Sirius, he still wanted to see Sirius amount to something.
Getting beaten by Lily ought to shake something loose.
The embarrassment would sting, obviously. But more than that, it would force him to see it: other people were growing stronger while he stood still.
That feeling might hurt worse than any hex.
And Snape. With that fragile, prickly pride of his, the scenario would be exquisite. Getting bullied, and then it's Lily who steps in. Not just intervening, but single-handedly dismantling Potter and the rest while he could only stand there.
That image...
Regulus's mouth twitched. Snape's expression would be something to see.
Lily probably wouldn't care. She'd simply have done what she wanted to do.
As for James Potter, the arrogant young heir, humbled by a Muggle-born witch he'd never bothered to take seriously. Now that would be interesting.
Probably the most baffling thing to happen to him in his entire time at Hogwarts.
Regulus walked on. Something worth looking forward to.
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