7 Emotions

What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione asked sharply, her hazel eyes narrowing. She stood up and went toe-to-toe with the slightly older boy. Old Hermione realized with a sense of shock that it was a very young Antonin Dolohov.

"I think you know exactly what it means," he sneered at her. Hermione's wand was in her hand before she could credit it and she jabbed him in the chest.

"I want to hear you say it," she hissed back at him, her hazel eyes sparking with anger, her wand digging into his chest.

"Come on, Severus, obviously what passes for mudblood manners rubs off on everything it touches," Dolohov drawled viciously, an arrogant smirk on his lips. Hermione's eyes widened furiously. Her hand flew of its own accord and the crack of her palm on his cheek echoed in the library.

"How dare you!" Hermione breathed.

Tears sprang to her eyes and she grabbed her books and ran. Lily had not understood most of the conversation, but she understood that the blond haired boy had insulted both of them. Severus hadn't done anything to stand up for them. He looked miserable, but he wouldn't look at her. Lily gathered her books and hurried after her friend. She arrived in the Gryffindor common room just after Hermione, and saw her race up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. James was standing at the foot of the stairs calling after her, his face reflecting his worry.

"Hermione! You know that I can't go up there! What's going on?" He turned and saw Lily. He hurried over to her. "What happened?"

"I…I don't know. We were in the library studying and this Slytherin boy told Severus that he shouldn't hang out where it was so dirty, which is odd because the library is very clean." James sucked in his breath and his face turned a funny color. Sirius moved next to James, his face absolutely furious. Lily swallowed nervously. "Um, Hermione sort of…flipped out. She jumped up and…and she wanted to know what he meant. Then he said…um, something about mudblood upbringing and manners. She slapped him really hard and then she ran out of the library crying."

"He didn't!" James hissed, anger making his hands shake. Sirius grabbed his arm and started whispering into his ear. James seemed to calm down a little. Lily looked even more confused.

"What exactly did he mean?" Lily asked finally. James snarled his anger just barely under control. Sirius turned his grey eyes to hers and blushed.

"It's a really rude, really foul word that polite people don't generally use," he muttered with a wry twist to his lips. "It's meant to be an insult to people who were born to non-magic parents."

"People like me," Lily whispered, the blood draining from her face. "But, Hermione isn't like me, is she?"

"No," James growled, still trembling with rage. "But we were raised better than that, no offense meant, Sirius. No, I bet Hermione was angry on your behalf, Lily. She can be protective of those she likes."

"Oh," Lily murmured, her cheeks pinkening. She liked Hermione, and considered her a friend—even if she hadn't known her as long as she'd known Severus. "Um, I'll go see her then, okay?"

"Can you please have her come down?" James begged his hazel eyes filled with worry for his twin. Lily looked at him for a minute. Whenever James was around his twin, Lily could almost tolerate him. She nodded. Hermione was curled up in a ball on her bed, her back to the door. Lily sighed and moved to stand by Hermione's bed.

"He's worried about you," Lily said quietly. Hermione scrubbed her blotchy cheeks and looked at Lily. "Please come down?"

"Okay," Hermione said quietly. She straightened her school robes and fidgeted for a moment. Then she looked at Lily uncertainly, out of the corner of her eye. "You know that not everyone is like Dolohov, right?"

"I know you're not," Lily said sadly, thinking about Severus who had done nothing to defend her. Hermione looked very sad, and strangely old and wise for a moment.