This chapter is dedicated to Hermione_130503. Love you! :)

Lily looked stupified for a moment. But when she opened her mouth, her voice was cold.

    "Very well. Have it your way. And I would wash your pants if I were you, Snivellus."

    With this last words, Lily turned on her heels and strod off in the opposite direction, but not before Ginny saw her eyes glistening with tears.

    James turned on Severus again. "That clears it off then." Once again, Severus was hovering in the midair. "Who wants to see me take of Snivelly's trousers?"

    Finally, Ginny could take no more. Standing up, she shouted "Expelliarmus!" James's wand flew out of his hand, and Severus was back on the ground. James looked utterly bewildered.

    "STOP IT!" Ginny shouted. "DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW SICK IT LOOKED?" Sirius's smile dropped, as well as Peter's. They stared at Ginny, who looked positively terrifying. James however, was quite undisturbed.

    "We are just having a bit of fun...." He started, only to be interrupted by Ginny.

    "Is that your definition of FUN?" She glared at James, who finally seemed to be squirming under Ginny's glare. Ginny was going to say more, but she realised that they had quite a large audience.

    "Let's go to the dormitory." She said as calmly as she could. She vaguely felt Remus standing up besides her, and she walked off towards the castle, to calm herself in the Gryffindor common room. She heard James and Sirius whispering behind her, and their gazes on the back of her head as she walked.

    Back in the Gryffindor Tower, in the boy's dormitory, the scene was as follows.

    Remus was half-lying on his bed. Having finished 'Use and Abuse of Felix Felicis', he had taken up 'A Compendium of Common Curses and their Counter Curses' and was totally engaged with it. Peter was biting his nails and once or twice tried to peek into Remus's book. Sirius was twidling his thumbs. Ginny and James were having a heated arguement.

    "Come on, you can't deny it was fun."

    "No, it was not! It was SICK!"

    "I can't believe you are actually taking his side. After what he called Evans!"

    "I am NOT taking his side. I am merely stating the facts. I am not saying what he did was right. But it was YOU who provoked him at the first place!"

    "I did not! Everyone knows he is a nasty piece of work...."

    "Well he was perfectly nice to me all these days! Just because you are jealous of him...."

    "Wow wow, wait wait wait...." James interrupted Ginny, "I am jealous of him? What am I jealous of? His silky hair? Or expensive robes? Or perhaps his pretty hooked nose? It is HIM who is jealous, not ME!"

    "You are just jealous because Lily cares about him more!" Ginny's voice had started to crack of all the shouting. "You just think asking her out umphteen times a day, ruffling up your hair when she is around is enough! But it is not! This is the exact reason why she hates you - you just proved her right again!"

    "She needed to know what Snape is actually like!" James shouted. "I showed her...."

    "YOU JUST TOOK AWAY HER BEST FRIEND FROM HER!" Ginny shouted over him. "YOU PROVOKED HIM UNTIL HE SAID SOMETHING TO HER HE NEVER WOULD'VE SAID IN HIS RIGHT MIND!"

    James looked shell-shocked at her sudden aggression. Sirius looked worried, but cleverly kept silent. Peter looked plain horrified. Even Remus had looked up from the book in his hand and was eyeing her rather nervously.

    "Ginny-" James started weakly, but Ginny wasn't finished yet.

    "YOU SAY YOU LOVE HER...."

    "I do!" James shouted.

    "WELL YOU HAVE A FUNNY WAY OF SHOWING IT!" Ginny was breathing heavily. "I THOUGHT PEOPLE USUALLY TRIED TO KEEP THE PERSON THEY LOVE HAPPY! BUT YOU JUST MADE HER CRY.... IS THAT WHAT YOU CALL LOVE?"

    For the first time since the incident, James had the grace to look ashamed.

    "But, I just thought it would be good for Evans to keep away from him...." he mumbled.

    "If Lily wanted to stay away from him, she would've done so without YOU intervening or YOUR persuasion! People don't control the persons they love, nor do they control whom he or she should talk to! NEVER! I am sure Harry would've NEVER done it!" Ginny snapped, initially unaware of what she had just said.

    "Who is Harry?" Sirius asked, opening his mouth after a long time.

    "NEVER YOU MIND!" Ginny shouted.

   James looked thoroughly ashamed and guilty. "I am sorry...." he mumbled.

   "Oh don't apologize to me, apologize to her! Though I don't think if she'll listen.... and I am not persuading you apologize to Severus because as much as he deserves it, you are too proud to do so!" With a last crack in her voice, Ginny stamped her way out of the boy's dormitory, slamming the door behind her. Before climbing down the stairs, she heard Remus's voice - "I don't think it's the right time for me to say anything Prongs, but whatever she said was true."

    Breathing heavily, Ginny came down to the common room, which was quite deserted as people had gone down for dinner. She didn't know why she had reacted like that. She just knew, there was something really barbaric in the way James was bullying Severus. Something which strongly reminded her of the Carrows. She knew that the spell James had used on Severus wasn't potentially harmful. Nor would James ever dream of killing Severus. But it was just the way of talking.... James was enjoying Severus's humiliation. He was enjoying bulling him....

    Ginny's eyes started to water. She was upset, the event and its consequences had taken up most of her energy. She was feeling thoroughly tired.

    She had said Harry's name in front of them. Sooner or later, they are going to pester her about him. Remus may even work out who he was. But somehow, she was least concerned about that now. She wanted Harry near her, more than ever. She wanted him to hold her, to say everything was going to be okay. Ginny felt that she wanted to just go back in her own time.

    Feeling an irresistible urge to try, Ginny took out the time turner of under her shirt and tried to turn it. But it remained stuck as ever. Exhausted, Ginny put it away and walked the stairs upto the girl's dormitory.

PLEASE READ
Guys, I just want to say one thing. I know you are super pissed off at me for late updates. I really have no choice. I hate late updates myself and I hate to keep you waiting. On March, I have my boards exam, which are crucial for my carrier. I hardly get any time to sleep, eat, or come on Wattpad. So please be a little patient with with. I don't know when I'll be able to write more. The next update will probably be in February first week. That's not very far. Please don't say things like just 'update'. I don't really mind that but for these two months, I just feel guilty when I see that because I feel like I am being unfair to you guys. Sorry but for these two months, updates will be really slow. Hope you understand. Love you all.

Keep reading! :)