Lily rubs her hands over her cloaked arms repeatedly to create some warmth in the frigid weather. She circles around, carefully avoiding getting too close to the Whomping Willow while trying to get the boys in their places, but it was taking much longer than she originated due to James and Sirius throwing snowballs at each other. "Boys!" she shouts. Both James and Sirius drop their snowballs and stand tall as if on the front-line. "Thank you."

"What was the first thing that happened?" Remus asks, standing behind the bush where Lily had two nights ago.

"I saw Sirius," Lily answers. "So I hid over there."

"And I was heading towards the tree," Sirius continues. "I came from over here." He saunters near the base of the hill, walking forward slowly with his wand out.

"Stop," Lily instructs. "That's where you stopped walking."

Sirius turns about face. "Yeah, I heard a noise."

"And that was Lily," Remus concludes.

"Then Lisa came," Lily explains. Peter walks over with his wand out. A piece of long brown yarn rests on top of his head and Sirius snickers. "Was the hair really necessary?"

"Of course it was Evans," Sirius says. "Look, they could be twins!"

Peter rolls his eyes, flipping the end of his scarf around his neck for more warmth. Remus groans, smacking his face. "Okay then Snape comes, right?" he questions. Lily nods. "James?"

James slouches. "Why do I have to be Snape?"

"James shut up," Lily growls. "We don't have all day to do this!" He mopes his way over into position, holding his wand out. "Snape said something to Lisa, like he knew she was going to be there." Lily stands afar, observing the scene before her. The Whomping Willow was still, as if frozen. One spot was much darker than the rest just above Sirius' head on the tree. Tapping a finger to her chin, her eyes light up immediately. "A spell came from this direction!" She rushes over towards James. "It hit the Whomping Willow, which caused the explosion."

Remus purses his lips, staring at the tree. "It had to have been Snape or Lisa if Sirius was the only one not facing the tree."

"Sirius do you remember if anyone cast a spell?" Peter asks.

Sirius stares at Peter and James with narrowed eyes, picturing the night. "Um..." He closes his eyes tightly. Flashes of the dark night come to mind, but it's a blur. "Maybe? But I can't be for sure, it all happened too fast." A bright blue beam comes at him and he opens his eyes with a gasp. The others stare expectantly at him, and he rubs his eyes. "Um...I saw a light shoot out of nowhere. I don't remember anything after that. It was too dark, it could've been anybody."

"Lily did you hear anything?" Remus asks.

Lily shakes her head. "No - I ducked when the Whomping Willow starting thrashing about causing the snowstorm. When it was over all I could hear was Lisa screaming."

"Which is when James and Peter came." Remus runs through the steps so far to make sure he hasn't forgotten anything. "So Snape and Sirius were unconscious," Remus mumbles to himself, pacing the ground. "Lisa was attacked. The curse was cast sometime in between the spell hitting the tree and Snape and Sirius getting knocked out. James, you were ahead of Peter. Did you see anything?"

"I only saw Lily," James answers.

"James, what were you doing, anyway?" Lily asks, crossing her arms. "You just happen to show up out of nowhere?"

Remus and Sirius exchange a worried look and Peter kicks the snow around him bashfully. James loosens his collar with a finger, licking his partially blue lips. "We were coming to find Sirius," he answers timidly. Lily's piercing eyes glower up at him suspiciously. "What? You think I did it?"

"Of course I don't! I'm just trying to make sense of it all!" Lily tears her gaze away from James, walking towards Peter with her head down. "Why would Snape attack Lisa? I know he threatened her, but it seemed like an empty threat. Just a way to scare her, I suspect."

"Maybe it's because he's obsessed with Dark Arts. Just a thought."

Lily scowls, brushing him off. "Unless he was trying to attack Sirius."

Sirius furrows his eyebrows, dumbfound. "Me? Why would he attack me?"

"So we can all agree that it was Snape who cast the spell," Peter clarifies, turning around to look at everybody.

They murmur an agreement, though it isn't very satisfying.

"Maybe Lisa was the one who cast the spell hitting the Whomping Willow," Lily suggests, "and Snape thought it was Sirius. So he cast the curse but hit Lisa on accident."

"That's not a bad theory," Remus states stepping out from the bushes. "He knew the spell to heal Lisa because he was the one who cast the curse in the first place."

"But he framed Sirius with his book," Peter adds. "He could've slipped it in Sirius' bag during class!"

"Or he got Avery to do it," James says.

"That would mean this was premeditated," Lily thinks aloud. "Snape somehow planted the book in Sirius' possession beforehand knowing that Lisa was going to be here that night. So he cast the curse on Lisa intending for Sirius to get the blame."

"Brilliant!" Remus exclaims. "It all adds up!"

"So we can go to Dumbledore?" James asks hopefully.

Lily shakes her head. "We have no proof."

James groans, kicking a dust of snow into the air. "Come on! We're wasting so much time just standing here when we could be getting him expelled!"

"Let's just go..." Sirius mutters. "We could use a break."

The group heads up towards the castle, but Lily trails behind. Just near the base of the hill she stops and turns around to face the Whomping Willow. Holding her wand up, she closes one eye and lines it up perfectly with the spot on the tree.

"Lily?" James calls.

Lily drops her wand. "Sorry. I'm coming."

*

*

*

Hogwarts is bustling with the news of Lisa Ward's attack since she was released from the Hospital Wing. All houses are itching to find out what really happened. The 5th year Ravenclaw, however, was keeping her lips weld shut whenever anybody asked her. Conversations bounce from table to table all circulating random theories of what could've happened.

Regulus mashes around his potatoes dozed out of the conversation his friends were discussing regarding the events of Lisa's attack. "Snape you were there," Mulciber states as a matter of factly. "What happened?"

Snape takes a long sip from his goblet, shrugging. "She got what she deserved."

Zeta leans across the table, the ends of her curly locks grazing over her plate. "Did you do it?" A devilish smirk slithers onto her face, excitement sparking in her eyes. The others gather in as well. They focus on Snape with an eagerness nobody would dare disappoint.

"It was my spell," Snape admits taking a bite of his chicken.

Zeta laughs, rubbing her hands together. "And to think I doubted you...Why didn't you go for Black, too?"

"Meant to, but Dumbledore showed up."

"You'll have to teach us the spell," Mulciber says. "Imagine what the Dark Lord will think when he finds out what we can do."

Regulus suppresses a snort; he peers beside him at Snape, whispering quietly so nobody else could hear, "You're lying." Snape stiffens, thought visibly doesn't express anything other than a straight face. He ignores Regulus' words, continuing to eat amongst the praise from his other classmates.

"Have you figured out the spell yet?" Marlene whispers to Lily down at the Gryffindor table.

"No," Lily responds. "I think it was just some dark magic, so we probably shouldn't look into it more."

"What happened?" Abigail asks butting her head in.

The girls turn their heads at the blonde haired girl. Her usually dining spot had changed since Remus broke up with her. Before she sat between the Marauders and the girls, but now she was all the way at the end, far from Remus.

"Lisa Ward got attacked by Snape or Sirius a few nights ago," Alice explains in a hushed tone.

"So we think," Lily adds shooting a look at Alice. "We don't think it was Sirius."

"Yeah we don't think it was Sirius," Hestia agrees. "It has to have been Snape."

Abigail's eyes darken, "On the night of the full moon?" she asks directed towards Lily. Lily flickers her eyes downward to avoid the other girl's confused looks, in turn answering Abigail's question.

"Bit of an odd way to track days," Alice comments, the meaning behind it blowing right over her head.

"It was Tuesday night," Lily answers.

Abigail moves her head slightly to catch a glimpse of Remus pushing aside his empty plate. The second he excuses himself from the group, she's at his heels. "Remus," she calls out. He slows to a stop in the corridor, but doesn't turn. "Remus."

Reluctantly he turns around. "Hi Abigail," he greets as kindly as he can.

"I heard about Lisa Ward."

"So has the entire school."

Abigail rocks on the balls of her feet. "The girls were talking about it and I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I look okay, don't I?"

"I'm just saying. I know you're," the words fight to spit out of her mouth, "with Black. Or seeing him, or whatever you two are doing." Remus sighs, keeping an eye on the Great Hall entrance. "But if he did it to her -"

Remus snaps out of his thoughts, narrowing his eyes at her. "Excuse me?"

"Remus I'm just looking out for you! If he did it, he's dangerous! And you shouldn't be with him!"

"What I do is none of your concern."

"I care about you still."

Pain stabs at his chest and he can't look her in the eyes. "I wish I could say the same."