~ROAC~ (incomplete)

~FORTY~

The night before, while her friends plotted and planned, she'd remained quiet for the most part, working on something she'd only let Remus glance at before it was finished. At 2:07 am, she put the finishing touch on the piece and looked up, announcing that she'd made something, speaking up for the first time in over an hour. Using a spot of magic to dry the watercolors immediately, Persephone glanced over her painting one last time before holding it up. It was Lily, smiling, her bright green eyes shining even in the still painting, red hair blowing about as if in a soft breeze. She was tucking a lock of her ginger locks behind one ear, blushing slightly, and gazing at something beyond the frame with a clearly-loving gaze.

"She's looking at you," explained Persephone into the silence that had fallen, speaking to James, and the moment she saw the tears that bubbled up in his eyes at her words, she knew without a doubt that he would risk everything for his darling Lilyflower, the true love of his life.

Persephone would be a fool not to help him.

Glancing back out the doorway now as McGonagall, brushing her spectacles further up on her nose, flipped through the textbook she used for Persephone's advanced Transfiguration class,  the quiet Hufflepuff saw Sirius turning the corner, a grim expression on his face. She raised her eyebrows at him just barely and he nodded- got him. Persephone looked back into the room as two pairs of footsteps came clattering down the other hall, one of them stumbling as a muffled swear was given by likely the same person, and she crossed her fingers inside her pocket.

By Merlin, this had better work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bell raced after Marlene, her cloak flapping around her as she ran down the halls. Up the stairs, to the left, straight ahead, up two more flights, take a momentary breather, then back into a full sprint. At one point, she stumbled on a loose stone in the floor and ran right into Marlene, knocking them both over. Still, neither had time for apologies nor a pause, so they helped each other up and continued on, wobbling for a moment. As they hurried down the corridors, growing ever closer to McGonagall's classroom, Bell cast simple healing charms on the scrapes on both her and Marlene's knees, as well as her own elbow. Twice, they missed from the speed of her gait and hit portraits along the walls- the elephant in the first painting spooked and trumpeted, the gathering of card players in the second shook their fists at the Gryffindor girls despite the charm doing no real harm to their game other than blowing about the cards.

Turning the corner a bit too abruptly, Bell saw Persephone in the doorway of their aimed location, Sirius approaching from the other end of the hall, and alas, she only noticed her flipping-about robes a moment too late. Tripping for a second time, she fell, skinned her knees again, and when Marlene helped her up, she offered a sheepish smile at her friend. Now was not the time for thanks or self-deprecating jests at one's own hurried clumsiness, however; this was the time for sweet justice. Arriving at the door around the same moment as Sirius, Bell blushed a little at how he frowned, glancing to her knees then back up at her face. As if he knew she needed a little support, he slipped his hand into the curve of hers and held it as the three new arrivals poked their heads around Persephone, asking in a clamor to come into the Transfiguration classroom.

Just then, James and Peter came flying down the hall from the Grand Staircase, both short of breath (as were Bell and Marlene, though the girls were not gasping as much as the boys), followed by Remus, who was coming from Dumbledore's office with said headmaster close behind, and so it was that the whole entourage swarmed into McGonagall's classroom, clearly intent on some aim. At first, the Head of Gryffindor House seemed startled but not particularly annoyed, then when Sirius waved his wand so Snape, invisibility cloak drawn off swiftly by Sirius before he entered the classroom, floated in, still poised like a mummy, she gave a yelp.

"Mister Black, I understand there are bad feelings between you and Mister Snape-"

"Bad feelings?! Professor, he nearly killed Lily-"

"-but I must insist you put him down at once!"

"As you wish, Professor."

Quite unceremoniously, Sirius freed Snape, both from the hovering and the body-bind curse, so the Slytherin fell in a heap to the ground. He was only able to give a groan of discomfort before Marlene and James hauled him up by his arms and forcefully sat him at one of the desks. McGonagall started forward as Sirius put his wand at Snape's throat, but Persephone quickly distracted her by loudly spouting some nonsense about 'is it true that Dumbledore likes lemon drops?'. The headmaster of Hogwarts himself was just turning into the classroom from the hall, his shockingly-white eyebrows quirked in a questioning manner as he, to put it candidly, wandered in.

"Mister Lupin, I trust whatever you are taking me to see is of great impor-" Dumbledore cut himself off, most likely in shock, at the sight before him. Bellamy Griffin was tapping the contents of a small vial into the mouth of a sputtering Severus Snape, who was being held at wandpoint to his neck by Sirius Black while James Potter and Marlene McKinnon restrained him to the desk chair, and Persephone Vidal and Remus Lupin stood on either side of Professor McGonagall, carefully keeping her away from the scene without ever actually touching her or saying that she should stay back.

Three drops were all it took, Bell, Peter, and Marlene had found out in Potions earlier. The effects would last for thirty minutes, as this was a weaker brew made by Slughorn only for demonstration, as the Potions professor had mentioned himself when giving the lecture last week to Persephone's advanced Potions class. Still, it was a somewhat-unreliable potion, rarely used in official court proceedings due to the potential of its recipient resisting its effects successfully, which was the vital piece of information discovered by Remus and Persephone in the library. Should Snape resist the potion well, he would be in no more trouble than he already was, but the seven who had dragged him here against his very will, breaking at least ten school rules in doing so, would likely be considered for expulsion.

Everything hinged on these next few moments, and Bell could feel the collectively-held breath among her friends. To use a cliché term: this was now or never. She stoppered the bottle and her gaze was drawn to the unreadable expression of Professor Dumbledore. Her heart skipped a beat, and for the first time in the last 24 hours, she considered that this stunt could very likely get her and all her friends kicked out of Hogwarts for good. Her eyes returned to Snape, narrowing as they did so, and she nudged James' arm. It had been unanimously decided in the earliest hour of this very morning that he would be the one to ask the questions, as it seemed only fitting he be the one to ultimately swoop in and deal the righteous revenge Lily deserved.

From the corner of her eye, Bell saw James opening his mouth, and it seemed as if the world had slowed for an instant.

Here goes everything.