Chapter 35

The weather was lovely. The sun was shining and the day was clear and Bea was basking in the warmth of the air with her friends around her. She was rather glad that James and the boys had finally left her alone, seeing as Bertie and Violet, and Lily Evans too, were much less protective of her doing what she wanted.

Of course, Bertie was rather scared that if she moved she would hurt herself, but Violet told him to stop when he wouldn't let go of her, and Bea, of course, laughed it off as usual. It was rather lovely that her friends cared for her so dearly, and even though what happened to her was a dreaded nightmare she wished she never had to go through again, she gained a friend from it, the lovely redhead who saved her.

Lily was hilarious, kind and sarcastic and she even helped Bea with the multiple pieces of potions homework that she had pushed to the side. She had a knack for potions and was even Slughorn's favourite student which everyone had to know at this point, even though Bea and Lily weren't in the same year, Slughorn went on and on about her regardless.

"Are you fancying anyone, Lily?" asked Bertie as he pulled on the head of a jelly slug. They were talking about people they found attractive, and people they had fancied in the past and even present. Bea said James, of course, even getting a chorus of 'aww's' when she said that he was the only person she had ever liked.

Course Bertie nudged her so hard she fell over and he was still occasionally apologising, but that didn't stop the, "Hey! What happened to me being a good kisser?!" and an explanation for a very amused Lily who never would have thought Bea and Bertie even remotely liked each other like that once upon a time.

"Well no," Lily shook her head, "I mean there's always that person you fancy a bit, right?"

"Yes, but we want to know who?" Bertie winked whilst the two girls laughed, "anyone we know?"

"Nope," Lily smirked, wiggling her eyebrows, "he's a sixth year."

"An older boy?!" Violet gasped dramatically.

"Not that older, though," Lily chuckled. She was tapping her fingers on the book on her lap, playing along to the small rhythm she had created, "what about you, Vi, are you fancying anyone?"

"No," Violet spoke after a few minutes. She was unaware of Bea's eyes on her, though the girl wasn't treating her best friend any differently, she was just...surprised.

There was a part of Bea that always thought of the possibility but every time the thought entered her mind she merely waved it off. They were so close, the closest that two people could get, she was pretty sure they had shared everything imaginable at this point but it still managed to catch her off guard and surprise her.

Violet could throw someone off of the astronomy tower and Bea would still be her best friend, she could never think of a world without Violet in it, so a confession like this, though big, wouldn't dent anything they shared.

Bea loved James with all of her heart, she was young, yes, she knew that, and it was her first love but for the time being she was blindly in love with him. She was happy with him, and she loved to be with him, he took care of her and she took care of him, it was a mutual relationship, it wasn't silly, but lovely and she couldn't see herself without James.

But she couldn't see herself without Violet either, she wondered if telling Violet, she knew of her feelings was a good idea because she knew how Violet was when it came to having feelings. She wasn't the relationship type, that was what Bea thought until Violet fully admitted to her crush on Remus, but now she sort of realised that her crush on Remus was actually a crush on her and yet again, every piece of the large puzzle shocked her more and more.

"Bea, you alright?" it was Violet's voice and it snapped her back to reality, bringing up her head to stare at the girl in front of her who was clearly amused, "you spaced out!"

"Oh, I'm fine," she laughed. She was picking at the daisies that sprouted around them, twisting them in her hand and piercing a small cut in the stem in order to link them together to make a flower crown, "I was just thinking."

"Can I have that?" asked Bertie, gesturing to the flower crown she was working on, "please?"

"Course Bert, just let me finish it," Bea spoke quietly, she could feel eyes on her and she knew it was Vi's, though she wasn't sure what the girl was thinking.

"You got something on your mind, Bea?" she asked, "you've been spacing out a lot lately."

"I have a lot to think about, Vi, I'm fine! Really I'm fine, I'm great actually! I've never been better!" she smiled at the girl reassuringly, dropping the flower crown to the grass and leaning over to squeeze her hand comfortingly.

It was an ache to tell her, to tell her how much she loved her, that she was the best person she ever knew and having her in her life was the best privilege, but she didn't Violet to turn away, to feel as though she didn't have her best friend anymore.

She didn't want Violet to realise her one secret she never wanted anyone to know was known.

But Bea loved her truly, she knew that if she spent her entire life with just one person and that person was Violet then she would die after living a happy life. She wished she had the same feelings for Violet that Violet had for her, but those feelings were reserved for one boy, and that boy held her heart close to his own.

"Can you hear something?" asked Bertie. He had finished off the flower crown himself and placed it atop of his head, and Bea turned to fix his hair for him.

"I hear...something," Violet nodded, turning her head in all directions until the sight of a crowd attracted her attention, "are we feeling nosey today?"

"I would say yes," Lily nodded, sharing a look with Violet and soon did both of the girls catch up.

"Oh, come on!" Bea groaned, her head thrown back and a look shared with Bertie, "it's probably a silly little fight, do you seriously want to walk all the way over there?!"

"Of course, we do!" Violet exclaimed, soon sticking out her hand for Bea to take, "come on, it'll be good, we can just take a peek and come right back!"

"Fine!" Bea grumbled, pushing herself up from the grass and pulling Bertie with her.

She really wasn't sure what she was expecting when she wandered over to the crowd, hearing the shouting and the loud laughter. She wondered what was so interesting that a crowd that big had formed but she realised when she pushed herself through that what was so interesting, was actually just plain cruel.

Her heart clenched in her chest and the words caught in her throat when she saw James in the middle of it, laughter falling from his lips, throwing harsh insults at a levitating Severus Snape who was struggling in the air because of a spell James was doing.

She was speechless, shocked, hurt, and so terribly surprised that the four boys she had grown to love, her best friends, her brother, the boy she loved thought it was okay to bully someone, and regardless if it was someone she didn't like, it was wrong.

"James!" her voice boomed and Severus dropped to the ground. She stood out from the crowd because regardless of the shocked faces of students, hers was the one that broke him.

"Bea...Bea what's wrong?!" he asked. He had turned to her, he was actually confused and that just angered her more.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?!" she screeched, frantically pointing to Severus on the ground, "that is what's wrong, James! you were bullying him!"

"It wasn't bullying-"

"Don't interrupt me!" she snapped, glaring at her boyfriend and pushing past Sirius with her wand clutched in her hand, "how would you like it if I did that to you? or to Peter? Or anyone?! Just because it's Severus doesn't mean it's okay!"

"It's not like that, Bea!" James exclaimed. Lily had pushed herself onto the scene, anger pulsing through her, she had fallen beside Severus in the best attempt at helping him even though he was trying his best to push her away.

"Then what is it like!" she shouted, "this isn't the James I know! I don't care if you like to prank, James because it's funny and it's what you do! but this isnt pranking, this is laughing at someone unable to defend themselves and you have taken it too far!"

"You don't understand-"

"I don't need your help, you...you mudblood!"

Bea stopped. James did too.

There was a silence over the looming crowd and no matter how angry Bea was, no one suspected what she would do next.

Severus found himself in the air once more, not by James but Bea and he was brought roughly back down again all in the spur of her anger, "how dare you speak to her like that!" she screeched, her voice was so loud that the silence continued. No one had ever heard Phoebe Lupin shout so loud before.

But it felt good for her.

Lily was shocked but she wasn't mad at Bea, she was helping her and Lily didn't know what to do, she was overwhelmed and tears streamed down her face, her tears nipping at her cheeks but she was frozen to the spot, and Violet's arm wrapped around her shoulder and a glare was thrown in Severus' direction.

"He...he knew, Bea," James whispered, "he helped the boys find you. That's how you got hurt. He helped them."

"W-What?" Bea choked out, eyes wide, staring at Bertie and then James.

"I overheard them talking today, I overheard them thanking him, telling him he was brilliant, that you were in the greenhouse when they went looking for you. If the greasy haired git didn't say anything then you wouldn't have gone through that pain!" the anger was coursing through James with every word he spoke, explaining it to Bea, seeing the look on her face just infuriated him more.

"Is...is that true, Severus?" Lily whispered, wide-eyed, seeing the glare in the boy's eyes. He looked up at her with anger on his face, looking at her with a glare, he was mad and he didn't need Lily anymore, and he nodded and he watched for a minute as she broke down sobbing for her lost friend and he stood up and he walked away.

And when James went to stop him, Bea stopped James.

"Fighting fire with fire just burns more people, James," Bea whispered softly, stepping forward and taking his hand, "all four of you shouldn't have done that, and you know it, I know you do...but I get why you did.

You hurt Lily, though, she didn't need to see that or hear that and now she has officially lost her friend!"

"I had lost him a long time ago," Lily whispered, wiping furiously at her tears, "he isn't the boy I used to know."

"An arse is what he is," Sirius spat, rolling his eyes and watching the last of the crowd slowly disappear.

"Can you all please stop fighting my battles for me?" asked Bea, "Severus might be an idiot but he is not my problem, and I'm okay, really!"

"But that doesn't mean we aren't worried about you, Bea!" Peter sighed, throwing his arm around her as she nodded.

"I know. But just be grateful that I'm not really mad at you all!" Bea exclaimed, glaring at the four boys whilst her hand gripped James', "this could have gone an entirely different way!"