Previously:

-Lily Luna sat with Snape's friends during dinner when he dragged her along with him, still under influence of love potion slipped to him by Sirius. Later that night, Sirius gave Lily Luna the antidote, deciding that her falling in with the wrong crowd is too big a risk to be justified by their prank war. Mary tells Lily Luna a personal story as the Gryffindor girls also attempt to convince her the Slytherins are dangerous.

-Sirius, after spending the day as a girl, apologizes to Lily for the mean things he said to her earlier, because he better understands her perspective now. Also, he tells her James won't be bothering her anymore.

Part 37: Antidotes

Walking down to breakfast the next morning, I had the love potion antidote in my robe pocket. I was at the ready to use it.

The Gryffindor girls might not trust me in general, but I knew that in this case, I should trust them. They were on the right side of the war, after all. After hearing Mary's story, the thought of chatting with Avery and Mulciber again- future murderers- made me feel viscerally sick. I had to cut ties as soon as possible, which meant cutting ties with Severus Snape.

Turned out I didn't have to wait long at all. When I reached the Entrance Hall, I spotted Severus standing at the bottom of the grand staircase.

"Luna!" his eyes zeroed in on me and he ran up the stairs to meet me. "There you are." he said, breathlessly. "I hadn't seen you in the Great Hall, so I figured you were going to come down-"

He got cut off by me whipping out the little bottle of antidote from my robe pocket. "Drink this!" I was a tad impatient.

Snape took the small phial of ashy gray liquid, looking at it curiously. "What is it?"

"Just drink it." I urged him.

But Severus Snape wasn't dim-witted enough to drink some off-colored, mysterious liquid, even if it was the "sunshine of his life" (as he'd called me the day before) offering it to him. Instead, he looked at the phial closer, a frown deepening on his face.

"It's a love potion antidote." stated Snape, his voice sounding like he didn't want to believe his own words. "Why would I want to drink that?"

I sighed, a little nervous of saying the wrong thing and messing this up. Of course he'd know what it is, he's the bloody Potions champion of Hogwarts.

It was time for a new tactic. "Please. It would mean a lot to me, Sev." I said, hoping the love potion's influence might make him eager to please me.

"I'm not under influence of a love potion." insisted Snape yet again, his expression fiercely pleading for me to believe him.

"Prove it to me." I egged him on. "Drink it."

"Why? Don't you feel how real this is?" he reached for my hand.

I evaded, and took a deep sigh of frustration before coming up with another idea. "Alright, the real Severus Snape must be in there somewhere." I met his dark, intense gaze, and spoke with pointed determination. "Snape. I'm the girl who gave you Bat Bogeys first time we meet. You remember that?"

"Well, yes, but that was before-" Snape started, and I cut him off.

"Regardless, think about this: just about a week ago you, shall we say, deeply disliked me. And, one of the most common symptoms of love potion is denying that it's affecting you. So, let's be rational here. Maybe, it's a good idea to take, it just in case? If you're really not drugged, the potion would have no effect, right?"

For a moment I witnessed a battle take place on Severus's face, between the drugged-up, lovestruck loony and the cold, sneary git we all know and, er, love?

Finally, it seemed that Snape's reason won over, and he pulled the stopper out of the glass.

"Fine. But if it doesn't work, you'll stop insisting that my feelings for you are the product of a love potion?"

I nodded impatiently, and Severus poured the contents of the phial into his mouth and swallowed. For a second his eyes went out of focus, before he came out of the daze and his face steadily got redder and redder.

"Feel better?" I pitied the bloke, imagining the truckload of embarrassment that just smashed into him at groundbreaking speed. A characteristic scowl was the first true expression to blossom on his face, following the redness. Ah, good. I thought. He's back. Then he whipped out his wand.

"If you, or Black, ever involve me in your imbecilic little games again, you'll be sorry for it." he hissed as I nervously eyed the wand's tip, which was just inches from my nose.

"Hey, I didn't ask for this either!" I exclaimed, annoyed at him implying I was anywhere near as responsible as Sirius was.

As luck would have it, guess who suddenly appeared at the stairs' upper landing, on his way to breakfast? The devil- still in all his feminine beauty- with Pettigrew tagging along.

"You!" Snape snarled, and suddenly his wand was no longer pointed at my face, but at Sirius. His face contorted with rage, Snape muttered something under his breath.

Sirius, caught unawares, choked and coughed. His surprised expression twisted into one of immense pain, and he began wheezing as though a stone ton was suddenly weighing down on his chest.

"What are you doing?" I cried as it was Sirius's face that reddened now, and Snape's spell would not let off. His face was murderous as the arm that clutched his wand shook with intensity.

Pettigrew, panicking as Sirius collapsed, made an attempt to disarm the furious Slytherin, but Snape repelled it in a quick instant, like swatting away a fly.

Sirius's desperate wheezes turned into entirely fruitless attempts to draw in air. His mouth hung open and he grasped at his chest and throat.

"Stop it!" I desperately demanded, and reached to force Snape's wand away. He shoved at me with his free hand, not breaking concentration.

"Stop!" I yelled again, and this time when Snape shoved at me, I shoved him back. He stumbled and, as we weren't on even footing, fell backwards down the flight of stairs.

I watched in horror as he tumbled over himself again and again, until he crumpled in a heap at the bottom.

Frozen, I stared, waiting for him to move. But he didn't.

"What's all this yelling-?!" The doors to the Great Hall opened to reveal a stern Professor McGonagall. The rest of what she was about to say died in her throat as she took in the scene before her: Sirius desperately taking in gulps of air, Pettigrew kneeling beside him; myself, terrified, holding the marble railing next to me for support; and, Severus Snape, who lay still on the stone floor.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Sirius, Peter, and I sat in silence inside McGonagall's office, where she had ordered us to wait for her return. Sirius, his arms crossed over his bosom, was slumped back in the hard wooden chair next to mine. I, however, was sitting up straight. The two Marauders whispered about something, but I paid no attention to them as the minutes ticked by.

After about an eternity, the office door opened, and a grim-looking McGonagall came in and sat down at her desk.

"Mr. Snape is in stable condition. Madame Pomfrey assured me she will be able to heal his concussion without leaving permanent damage, given its non-magical nature."

I breathed a sigh of relief and started to think again, whereas before I only felt strangely numb, too afraid to consider that there was a possibility Snape's fall had been fatal. What would that have meant for the fate of the wizarding world?! Arguably, Severus Snape was no less key to the defeat of Voldemort than Dad himself! And I just came this close to killing him with my own carelessness...

"I'm sure you're very relieved to hear this, Mr. Black." the professor's eyes drilled into Sirius from behind her rectangular glasses.

"It's Miss Black, actually-" started Peter, but shut up the moment the McGonagall's eyes switched targets to him.

"We'll discuss that later." the Professor waved away the distraction. "We're talking about the matter of Mr. Snape's personal safety at this school."

"As heartbroken as I would be at the loss of our dearest Severus Snape," Sirius drawled, "I don't follow why I'm supposed to be the relieved one here?"

McGonagall's mouth grew thinner. "You should be relieved because however severe the punishment for physically injuring a fellow student is, it's not as severe as the punishment for murder."

"First of all, murder?! That's melodramatic. He's fine, isn't he?" Sirius raised his voice. "And secondly-"

"I'm the one who pushed him." I cut in, realizing what McGonagall was getting at.

Now their attention was on me.

"Ms. Porter?" McGonagall prompted me to continue.

"Well..." I began, but my voice was hoarse. I cleared my throat and restarted. "Well, this morning, Severus and I were talking on the stairs. He'd been acting, er, uncharacteristically attached to me lately, so I wanted him to drink a love potion cure. I convinced him to take it, though in hindsight I shouldn't have done that on the staircase... Anyway, that's when Sirius came by and Snape.. put some sort of curse on him. I tried to stop Snape, physically, and accidentally pushed him over. I didn't mean for him to fall and... I'm really sorry." I finished softly.

The professor nodded at me, but her face was unreadable. She turned to Sirius. "Does this sound correct to you, Mr. Black?"

Sirius nodded, sullen as he averted his eyes.

"Was Severus Snape right in his assumption that it was you who slipped him the potion?" Professor McGonagall's voice was razor-sharp and her stare unrelenting.

After a few beats of silence, during which the Deputy Headmistress drilled Sirius with her gaze, the guilty party apparently accepted his fate. He gave a brief nod.

Anger turning to disappointment, McGonagall said "Detention, twice a week. Until the start of the winter holiday."

"The usual?" Sirius asked nonchalantly.

"No, Mr. Black, I daresay the Trophy Room is already as spotless as it needs to be, after all the work you, Mr. Potter, Mr. Lupin, and Mr. Pettigrew have put into shining it over the past six years." she paused. "This time I'll think of something that would, Merlin hopes, teach you some humility. A good start would be an apology letter to Mr. Snape."

"What?!" Sirius opened his mouth in protest.

"You heard me." The drilling gaze she had been sporting earlier briefly reappeared.

I guess Sirius knew not to argue, so he just slumped back in his chair with a sour pout.

"Ms. Porter." the Professor turned her attention to me again. I braced myself for a rebuke. "Although you did not harm Mr. Snape from ill intention, you must understand that Hogwarts has a strict policy against any kind of physical altercation between students. I hope that in the future, you will act more wisely and avoid putting yourself in such situations." Her eyes bore into mine until I averted my gaze. I could tell she knew Sirius' actions were not unprovoked. I mean, she probably suspected I had something to do with his current feminine form. "You'll join Mr. Black for his first six detentions. I expect this will not become a pattern for you."

I nodded as she continued to examine me over the frames of her square spectacles.

After a few moments of silence, McGonagall sighed, stood up, and went to get something from a cupboard. She came back holding a potion bottle not too different from the one I had just given Snape.

"A Transfiguration Cleansing Serum. Returns the taker to their original form, whatever that may be." The Professor explained, sounding tired, like she's had to do this before. "Of course I am assuming that you aren't transfigured on your own volition?"

Sirius took the phial from her in response.

"Mr. Black and Ms. Porter, you are dismissed. Mr. Pettigrew, I wish to discuss your last Transfiguration essay. You'll catch up with your friends later."

Relieving as it was knowing that Severus would not suffer any permanent damage, my apprehension lingered regardless. Maybe this prank war really was going too far. Not long ago it seemed like a welcome distraction from all the turmoil that came with being thrown into this other world, into the sidelines of war against Voldemort. But maybe the risks were worse than I thought.

"Snape could have died." I said quietly. "If he had broken his neck..."

Sirius, walking beside me, gave a snort. "If only the bugger was that easy to get rid of."

"Are you really not taking this seriously?" I looked at him incredulously.

"I know you aren't well aware of Snivellus and just how deep his creepy tendencies run, but trust me, even if you did more than just give him a little tumble, the world would not be any worse off."

"How can you say that?" My mouth hung open in awe. "I could have killed him."

"Oh don't gape at me like that. Anyway, he's fine, isn't he?"

"Fine? Even if Pomfrey fixes him up and all that, he's still pretty far from fine. The look on his face, and that spell he was using on you..."

"It's neither the first nor the last time Snape's shown off a spell from his repertoire of dark magic." said Sirius caustically. Then, with a slight change of tone, he noted, "Thanks, by the way. For stopping him."

I gave a nod, but my mind was elsewhere. To say the least, I found it pretty disturbing how Sirius and Snape played their childish games without boundaries, using real weapons. Or, maybe, these weren't childish games. Maybe it was me who wasn't taking things seriously enough...

"I think I'm done, with the prank war. Truce." I said suddenly, stopping in my tracks.

"Truce?" Sirius stopped as well, though his tone was a little amused. "You mean, you surrender?"

"Sure- whatever you want to call it." I said curtly.

"Is this because McGonagall ruined your fun?" He shook the little bottle she had handed him.

I scoffed. I couldn't believe he was being so flippant about another student's life, even if that student was Snape. I was reminded of what he confided in me a few nights ago- about how he got "carried away" with a prank in 6th year. But really, he seemed remorseful about that only because it upset Remus and James...

"I underestimated you, clearly."

"To be honest, I expected it to be more satisfying to hear you admit that." Though still smirking, he was looking at me intently, trying to read my face.

"Well it wasn't a compliment." I kept the same tone.

Sirius actually looked a bit crestfallen, his eyebrows knitting together. "This isn't how I imagined reveling in your defeat."

"Sorry to disappoint." I said flatly, shrugged and began walking away. I thought to myself, "This isn't how I imagined you."