The next weekend came around quickly. Lily and I got dressed into warm clothes before we headed down to the common room, where we met the Marauders. We all headed down to breakfast together, excitedly talking about Hogsmeade.

The trip to Hogsmeade was short, and eventually we made it to Zonko's. Sirius loaded up on pretty much everything, with the rest of us getting a few things here and there. We stopped in a few more shops before we reached the Three Broomsticks.

Sirius, Lily, and I got the butterbeer for everyone before we went to sit down at the booth. We all chatted and laughed a lot, earning a few looks from other tables.

"Hey, I reckon we should go to Honeydukes," Sirius said.

"Agreed," I said immediately. "I need more sweets."

After I almost hit James for bullying me, we made our way to the sweet shop. We all bought quite a few things, and our pockets were a lot heavier than before.

We walked through Hogsmeade, not quite ready to go back to the castle. That's how we ended up down one of the quieter streets, close to the Hog's Head Inn.

"There is no way in hell that you would be able to-"

A loud bang from an alleyway cut Remus off. We all glanced towards the sound, and James started walking towards it.

"Who's there?" he called out. "Are you alright?"

"Why do our friends all walk towards the frightening noise?" I asked.

Remus's mouth twitched upwards, and we followed after James. He was at the entrance of the alley when a fist connected with his jaw. He stumbled backwards and Lily cried his name, and I ran towards him.

He held his jaw and spat blood onto the cobblestones. I whipped my wand out of my pocket as I ran towards him. I reached the entrance of the alley when another fist connected with James's nose.

Without thinking, I yelled, "Petrificus totalus!"

The person's arm flew to the side of their body as they basically turned into a plank of wood. They fell over backwards, and I was able to get a good look at them.

Mulciber.

I looked to the end of the alley to see Rosier, Avery, Wilkes, and Snape. There were a couple more Slytherins who looked like they would be apart of Snape's little gang.

My friends crowded around James, who wiped blood from his face. Everyone had their wands pointed at each other.

"You leave us alone, and we'll leave you alone," I growled at the Slytherins.

One of them cast the counter-curse on Mulciber, who jumped to his feet angrily.

"You blood-traitor bitch," Mulciber snarled at me. He turned to James and sneered at him. "We were just trying to knock some sense into the Mudblood loving–"

Mulciber didn't get to finish as Lily stunned him. We immediately engaged in combat with the Slytherins, spells flying back and forth. I threw every legal curse and hex at them I could think of as well as watching out for my friends as well.

Lily let out a cry and I turned to her anxiously.

"Sectumsempra!" Snape yelled.

A fiery pain ripped through my wand arm, and I cried out, clutching it close to my chest. Blood began seeping through my sweater and onto the cobblestones.

"Densaugeo!" Remus yelled.

One of the Slytherins howled and clutched their mouth. They began running away, the rest of the Slytherins following suit.

Remus ran over to me frantically. Despite his anxious manner, he took my arm in his hands gently.

"Y/n!" Lily called, rushing over to me. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Remus was pulling back my sweater sleeve to survey the damage.

"I don't think it's deep," I said, avoiding looking at my wound.

"It's pretty deep," Remus muttered.

"Well, fuck," I muttered.

"Language!"

"Shut the hell up, Remus! You swear more than the rest of us!"

A breathy laugh came out of me as Sirius moved over to me and took my arm. He began muttering spells, fixing the cut on my arm. My lips tightened as I realised why he knew those spells.

If murder was legal, I would kill Mr and Mrs Black.

"I think you should go to Madam Pomfrey to get it checked," Sirius said. "It's not fully healed, and it might get infected or something."

Lily conjured a bandage and wrapped up my arm, and then we were on our way back to the castle. James held a rag to his nose, which was still bleeding profusely.

"What in Merlin's name happened?" McGonagall exclaimed as we reached the entrance to the castle.

I was sure we were a bizarre sight; me with my arm bandaged and with blood seeping through, James holding a bloody rag to his nose, and the other four fussing over us and with minor cuts and bruises.

"It was the Slytherins, Professor," James spat, his voice nasally. "Snape, Mulciber, Avery... Snape used a spell on Y/n and cut her arm."

McGonagall looked astounded.

"They will be spoken to," she said angrily, before ushering James and I to the Hospital Wing.

"I think they ought to be more than just spoken to," Sirius growled as we walked to the Hospital Wing.

All of my friends murmured their agreements, but I stayed silent.

Why would the Slytherins attack us? Sure, most of the time they were rude and horrible, but they didn't have much reason.

And Mulciber didn't have much reason to use dark magic on Mary McDonald, I thought to myself.

The Slytherins were just horrible. At least, Mulciber, Snape, Avery, and that group were.

Madam Pomfrey healed James and I within moments. She asked what happened, and we told her the same thing that we told Professor McGonagall. Madam Pomfrey was not impressed with the Slytherins and was still grumbling about them when we left.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Remus asked me quietly.

I smiled at him and kissed him softly.

"I'm fine," I assured him.

"Did anyone hear the incantation Se – Snape used?" Lily asked.

The Marauders all shook their heads, but I nodded.

"I – I think it was something like se... secton – no – secumsempra," I said.

"Sectumsempra," James muttered under his breath. "It sounds evil."

"It definitely is," Sirius said darkly. "Imagine if he'd sliced Y/n in the heart?"

Everyone shifted uncomfortably.

"They should expel Snivellus," Sirius said.

"They didn't expel Mulciber, and he used dark magic on Mary, remember?" I sighed.

"We should just kill them all instead."

We all looked to Lily in shock and surprise, and she looked at us unimpressed.

"I was only joking."