By the time September 1st arrived, all the parents were quite glad to usher off their children, who had spoken of nothing else for months, and had been positively giddy with excitement for the last week. Tobias Snape was in two minds about it all – on the one hand, he was getting rid of his freaky son for most of the year, but on the other, it only emphasised just how freaky his son actually was. So as not to antagonise Tobias any further, Eileen didn’t go to King’s Cross to see Severus off to Hogwarts, instead leaving him in the capable hands of Cygnus and Druella Black and Paul and Rose Evans.
Once on the Hogwarts Express, they managed to snag a compartment all to themselves, and the first thing they did, even before settling themselves, was to let their familiars out of their carry-cages. Severus had only been able to persuade his owl, Archimedes, into the cage in the first place by promising faithfully that the owl would only have to stay in there while they went through King’s Cross Station and onto the Hogwarts Express, and that he could make his own way up to the castle at the other end. Archimedes had clicked his beak sulkily and sat in the cage glowering at it so fiercely that Severus half expected the bars to melt. Lily and Bellatrix found it frightfully funny, but then again it hadn’t been easy convincing Lily’s Tabernacle nor Bellatrix’s Starberry into their carriers either.
An hour into the journey, the trio’s peace was interrupted by the abrupt entrance of two boys, who barged into their compartment laughing uproariously.
“Did you see the look on that idiot’s face?” one howled, collapsing onto a seat near the door and barely missing sitting on Tabernacle, who hissed and sprang out of the way in the nick of time.
“Or that stuck-up blond ponce,” the other added, flopping down onto the opposite seat and rummaging in his pocket. He drew out a small packet and held it out towards his friend. “Drooble gum?”
At that point, both boys suddenly seemed to become aware of the original occupants of the compartment, who were all staring at the interlopers.
“Yes, of course you can come in and share our compartment,” Bellatrix said, glaring at the two. Her eyes widened as she got a good look at the boy who’d almost sat on Tabernacle. “Sirius?”
“It’s a free train, you know,” the other boy said. “’Sides, we needed to hide from that snob who also thinks he owns the train. Not related, are you?”
“Batty Bella,” Sirius said in amazement at the same time. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be going to Durmstrang?”
“Durmstrang?” The other dark-haired boy shot a sharp glance at Bellatrix, and then looked back at his friend. “Dark family, huh?”
Sirius snorted. “Dark as they come, mate,” he said. “That’s my cousin, Bellatrix.”
“Hey!” Bellatrix and Lily protested in unison, as the strange boy drew back in wary disgust.
“Trying to corrupt others already?” he asked, his upper lip curling up in a sneer. “Or trying to gain slaves?”
“My, I had no idea that your cousin had taken so well to your Aunt Walburga’s lessons, Bella,” Severus drawled, casually placing a hand on Lily’s arm to stop her from springing at the rude boy. “She must be so proud of her boys.”
“I am nothing like my mother!” Sirius shouted, outraged. “Who are you, anyway?”
“So you barge in on other people, uninvited and unwanted, proceed to act as though you own the place, make disparaging comments about a cousin you haven’t had any contact with at all in the past three years, then allow your friend to talk down at people that neither of you know at all, and you have the audacity to say that Bella is Dark?” Severus shook his head. “I think you’re looking at the wrong side of the Black Family Tree for that.”
Sirius’ mouth opened and closed a few times, then he scowled at the three of them and got to his feet. “Come on, Jamie,” he said, tugging on the other boy’s sleeve. “Let’s go find somewhere else. This compartment gives me the creeps.” With a last sneer for the trio, the two boys hurried out of the compartment.
Lily got up to slam the door closed behind them. “Merlin, I really hope I don’t end up in the same house as them!” she said, shuddering as she sat down again. Tabernacle crawled into her lap and meowed at her comfortingly.
“I can’t believe how much Sirius has changed,” Bellatrix said. “I swear, he didn’t used to be that bad.”
“Your aunt’s doing, no doubt,” Severus said. He moved to sit beside Bellatrix and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Maybe Hogwarts will deflate that head of his.”
Chirrups of agreement came from Archimedes and Starberry, perched on the overhead luggage racks, and the trio dissolved into giggles.
The first years were gathered by a man who was almost three times the height of a normal person. With a large bellow that echoed around the rapidly emptying platform, he motioned for them all to follow him down a trail that led away from the train station towards a large lake. Large wooden boats were drawn up along the lake-edge, but they had no oars.
“Four to a boat! Ever’body in,” the tall man called, making his way to a boat at the end of the line. Like the man himself, it was larger than all the others.
A short boy who still had most of his puppy fat stumbled his way into the boat the trio had picked. His face had a strange purple tinge, and the trio had noticed how he had been making sure to keep well away from Sirius Black and his friend. He sat huddled up next to Lily, shivering, but not saying a word.
“Hold on tight, now!” the man from Hogwarts cried, and swept an arm out in an arc away from himself. With a lurch, all the boats cast themselves off the shore, and serenely floated across the lake. Halfway across, they floated underneath a curtain of trailing ivy, and then there in front of them was Hogwarts.
With candlelight showing from what seemed like millions of windows, the castle showed itself to be huge, stretching for what seemed to be miles either side, and reaching up until it looked as though it touched the sky. Almost every first year in the boats caught their breath in amazement.
“We’re here,” Lily breathed, reaching for Bellatrix’s and Severus’ hands and squeezing tightly. “We’re really here!”
When they reached the dock, the stairs leading up to the castle seemed to go on for miles, and most of the children were huffing by the time they reached the top. The giant banged on the large wooden doors, and they were opened by a stern-looking witch with dark brown hair, streaked with grey, dressed in a tartan robe and wearing a green pointed hat.
“The firs’ years, Perfessor,” the giant said. She nodded regally at him, and he turned and lumbered away.
When they were led into the crowded Great Hall, it brought another round of “oooh” from the first years. The only ones who didn’t look impressed were Sirius and his friend. They were looking around with the kind of look that Bellatrix usually saw on her Aunt Walburga, and Severus habitually saw on his father, as though everything was beneath them and not worth their time.
“I’m surprised Aunt Walburga didn’t send him to Durmstrang,” Bellatrix whispered to Lily and Severus.
Once the Sorting Hat finished singing – and from the bored looks on the faces of every student from third year up, it was obviously the only song the Hat ever sang – the professor who’d met them began calling them up to be sorted.
Bellatrix was one of the first ones, and she sat under the Hat for a good five minutes.
“What’s going on?” Lily hissed at Severus, eyeing her friend nervously.
“Probably trying to talk it out of placing her in Gryffindor,” Severus said, smirking.
Whatever the problem was, it was resolved in short order, and the Hat gaped open to shout, “SLYTHERIN!” Looking relieved, Bellatrix slipped the Hat off her head, and winked at Lily and Severus before moving off to the left-most table which had a green banner with silver trim hanging above it.
Sirius was the very next person called, and he took just as long as Bellatrix had. Everyone in their group appeared to be holding their breath. Eventually, the Hat opened and yelled, “GRYFFINDOR!”, and amidst the shocked buzz, Sirius gleefully tossed the Hat back onto the stool and strutted towards the table just to the right of the centre, underneath a deep red banner with a golden trim.
“Right, well, that’s one House we definitely don’t want to end up in,” Severus said, catching a very relieved Bellatrix’s eye.
When Lily was called up, she too was a long time under the Hat, longer than anybody else so far. Severus could see her lips moving soundlessly, and figured she was arguing heatedly with the Hat. Was it trying to put her in Gryffindor? He exchanged a worried look with Bellatrix. Students at the tables began to shift and murmur in confusion.
Apparently, though, Lily was more stubborn than the Hat. “Oh, all right,” it finally said, in a very exasperated tone. “SLYTHERIN!”
Beaming, Lily replaced the Hat on the stool and all but skipped over to sit next to Bellatrix, who grinned at her.
Severus didn’t pay much attention to anyone else being sorted after that, although he heard, “Longbottom, Frank – HUFFLEPUFF”, “Lupin, Remus – GRYFFINDOR”, “Murphy, Alice – RAVENCLAW”, “Pettigrew, Peter – GRYFFINDOR”, and “Potter, James – GRYFFINDOR”, which turned out to be Sirius’ friend from the train. Frank Longbottom had turned out to be the boy who’d shared a boat with the trio, and he looked beyond relieved to have been placed in Hufflepuff – although Severus could have sworn the Hat had been about to say Gryffindor first.
Finally, it was his turn, and with “Snape, Severus” ringing in his ears, he stepped up and placed the Hat on his head. It seemed to be much bigger than it looked, as it slid down over his eyes so that he couldn’t see the Great Hall anymore.
“Well, now, where shall I put you?” a voice purred in his ear. “My, my, you’re joined to the other two!” it suddenly said, sounding very surprised. “Should I expect anyone else?”
“No, it’s just us three,” Severus whispered back in his mind.
“Hmm.” The Hat hummed thoughtfully, and Severus felt as though something was rifling through his memories. “You are a conundrum, young Severus. Smart, brave, loyal, cunning. You embody all four Houses equally.”
Brave, him? Severus barely held in a snort of disbelief. He wasn’t brave. Smart and cunning, he’d give the Hat that. And he’d do anything for Lily and Bellatrix, but they were his friends, his blood-sisters. Why wouldn’t he be loyal to them? But brave . . . no, he wasn’t brave. If he was, he’d have stood up to his father years ago, protected his mother.
“You will see, in time,” the Hat said, discerning his thoughts anyway. “You have more courage than anybody I’ve had under my brim in years, dear boy. It will appear when you have need of it, even if you don’t see it that way. Now, where should I put you?”
“Please, if I’m cunning, put me in Slytherin,” Severus requested.
The Hat gave a snort of silent laughter. “Very well. It will be interesting to see what you three manage when you’re together. SLYTHERIN!” it shouted, and Severus realised the last word had been out loud.
Grinning triumphantly, he dropped the Hat gently back on the stool and raced over to join an enthusiastically cheering Lily and Bellatrix.
Breakfast the next morning included announcements, the arrival of their timetables with their Head of House, Professor Slughorn, and the appearance of the new Care of Magical Creatures professor, Professor Kettleburn, who had been delayed from appearing at the Welcome Feast by having to collect some of the creatures he’d be teaching about. As they wouldn’t be allowed to take CoMC until their third year, the trio largely ignored the middle-aged professor, aside from idly noting that his deep auburn hair was almost the same bright shade as Lily’s.
“Think you’re related?” Bellatrix asked, reaching past Severus for a platter of sausages.
“How could we be?” Lily replied. “There’s no Kettleburn in my family tree. Plus, he’s obviously a wizard, and my family are muggles.”
“You could share a Squib ancestor,” Bellatrix suggested, unwilling to give the idea up.
“It’s not like it will make any difference if we are related,” Lily said, huffily. Bellatrix was keeping her from eating her breakfast, and she was not a morning person.
Bellatrix opened her mouth to continue the argument, but Severus nudged her in the ribs with his elbow, and silently passed a platter of toast to Lily. Taking the hint, Bellatrix subsided and focused on her own food.
Once Lily had finished eating, and was making gestures that she was prepared to interact with the world again, they pored over their timetables. Their first class was going to be Potions. There were small letters in the corners of the larger boxes. In the Potions one, there was a tiny G in the upper right-hand corner.
“What does the G stand for?” Lily wondered out loud. Severus and Bellatrix only shrugged, but someone else further down the table overheard.
“Means you’re with the Gryffindors,” the boy said. “Bad luck for your first lesson! What class is it?” He reached out a hand, and Bellatrix, who was closest to him, handed over her timetable. The boy quickly scanned it, and then whistled in surprise. “Potions! Your first lesson is Potions? And with the Lions, no less. What on earth is Dumbledore thinking? First years are usually started on History of Magic.”
“What’s that about History and Potions?” one of the boy’s friends enquired, leaning over.
“Dumbledore’s changed things. The firsties this year have Potions first thing,” the boy explained, tilting the timetable so his friend could read it. He glanced back up at the trio. “Potions usually isn’t until later in the week. It’s supposed to give you a chance to settle in before you start blowing yourselves up.”
“Well, hopefully the Headmaster knows what he’s doing,” said somebody else, but the older students all looked doubtful at this.
Taking back her timetable, Bellatrix exchanged worried looks with Severus and Lily. This could be a disaster.
It almost was.
James Potter and Sirius Black had not been thrilled to discover their first class was shared with the Slytherins, and had made plans to empty the class of as many of them as possible. It was just their bad luck that the first cauldron they had attempted to throw something into happened to belong to Lily, Severus and Bellatrix.
As Lily had stirred their potion, and Severus had prepared the next ingredient to go in, Bellatrix had been startled by something flying past her nose. Jerking backwards, she had been just in time to see it splash into the bubbling cauldron.
Just as Lily had cried out in surprise, Bellatrix found herself crying, “Severus, Scarlet Tongue!”, and Severus was instantly reaching for a green plant at the edge of the table, tossing it into the cauldron which had begun to belch pink smoke.
Within seconds, it was all over, and the students nearby gaped at the shocked trio, who barely even understood what had happened themselves.
After issuing James and Sirius with the loss of 25 points each and a week’s detention, Professor Slughorn had dismissed the class, awarding the trio 10 points each for their quick thinking.
Of course, that did nothing to diminish the animosity growing between the Gryffindor first years and the trio, and their future Potions lessons regularly found them inundated with flying ingredients heading for their cauldron.
It was Lily who eventually found a way to halt the attempts. After one very strange dream, she had done a lot of research and, consulting with the Charms professor, Professor Flitwick, had come up with a transporter spell. Any ingredient heading towards their cauldron winked out of sight as soon as it reached a certain spot above them. Usually, the ingredient re-appeared above the thrower’s cauldron, and eventually James and Sirius had to give up under pressure from their own Housemates regarding the constant drain of points.
Not that they were stopped for long. The trio grew used to checking everywhere for pranks or traps. Other students were not so lucky. It seemed that James and Sirius didn’t care who else might get caught, as long as they found it funny.
As it happened, this led the trio to make another discovery about their blood-bond. One of their year-mates, Adlington Carrow, had been caught in a shower of gloopy blue mud. The trio had been nearby, and had escorted her back to their dorm to help her wash it out of her long blonde hair. Ensconced in the girls’ bathroom, the trio had thought nothing of the fact that they were all circling Adlington and one of the sinks, all scraping mud from a section of hair, until one of the Prefects had walked past, casually glanced in, then done a rapid double-take and come to a halt.
“What in the world are you doing in here?” the girl demanded.
“Helping Adlington get this stuff out of her hair?” said Lily, questioningly. Wasn’t it obvious?
The Prefect waved a hand through the air. “I don’t mean what are you doing, I mean what are you doing in here,” she repeated, stabbing a finger at Severus. “You’re a boy. You’re not allowed in the girls’ side.”
Puzzled, the trio exchanged glances. Severus had spent a great deal of time in their room, and nobody had said anything about him not being allowed before.
“How did you get past the wards?” the Prefect continued. When she was only met with blank stares, she gaped at them. “Boys stick to their side, girls stick to ours,” she said, eventually. “The other Houses only have wards over the girls’ dorms, but one of the previous Heads of House decided that was plain silly and put wards over the boys’ dorms, too. Boys can’t get into our side, we can’t get into theirs. So how are you in the girls’ bathroom?!” she demanded of Severus.
“I . . . don’t know,” Severus stammered, taken aback. “We’re always in each other’s rooms.”
The older girl looked even more shocked. “They can get past the wards, too?” she gasped. “But . . . but . . . that means the wards aren’t working!”
“Wait, are the wards those alarms we heard the other day?” Bellatrix asked, her brow furrowing in confusion. “When Evan Rosier tried to get into Michelle Trawler’s room?”
“Yes, that’s them,” the Prefect agreed. “So they must have stopped working in the last day or so—” She trailed off as Lily shook her head.
“Sev’s been in our room before then,” she said. “And we were in his just two days before Evan tried to get into Michelle’s.” She glanced down at her hand, then up at Bellatrix and Severus, who caught her drift, and nodded. “We did a blood-ritual two years ago. Apparently it was stronger than we expected, and it’s bound us pretty much into three pieces of the same person.”
Yet again, the Prefect was gaping at them.
“Our wands are all bound together,” Bellatrix added. “We can all use them with barely any difference in results.”
“Our familiars chose us, and respond to all three of us,” Severus put in. He glanced back down to Adlington’s hair in his hand and idly scraped away another bit of mud. “Even the Sorting Hat said we were bound together. So it sounds like the wards consider me as part of Bellatrix and Lily, and them as part of me.”
“Does Professor Slughorn know about this?” the Prefect asked, gulping slightly.
“We don’t know,” said Bellatrix. “If he does, he’s never said anything to us.”
“Excuse me,” Adlington said, plaintively. “As fascinating as this is, I still have mud in my hair.”
Jolted back into action, the trio set to work again, leaving the shocked Prefect to take her leave.
The rest of the year had them settling into a steady routine. Potions was the only lesson they had with the Gryffindors – apparently Dumbledore thought that was danger enough for them – so the trio only had to worry about being pranked in the corridors between classes. With their bond, they usually managed to avoid the worst of it, but this only seemed to spur on James Potter and Sirius Black, and so by the end of their first year, the two boys had gained the nickname ‘Marauders’, along with two other Gryffindor boys. It perhaps wasn’t surprising that Peter Pettigrew had become one of their followers – he was a plump, awkward boy, who giggled a lot at James and Sirius’ jokes, and enthusiastically endorsed everything they did – but the addition of Remus Lupin to the loud group had been a shock.
Lily in particular had spent hours looking for some clue as to how the Marauders had done it. Remus was very shy and introspective, so she believed they had to have a hold on him somehow. Although Severus and Bellatrix found it confusing, too, they were nowhere near with obsessed with it as Lily was, and so she was thwarted in her desire to “set him free”.
Their second year was almost the same as their first had been, except that Bellatrix’s younger sister, Narcissa, and her younger cousin and Sirius’ brother, Regulus, arrived at Hogwarts. Both were Sorted into Slytherin, much to Sirius’ obvious and vehement displeasure. Dumbledore also seemed to be trying to heighten the enmity between Slytherin and Gryffindor, rather than lessen it, as now the second years not only had Potions with the Gryffindor second years, but Charms, Transfiguration and flying as well.
James Potter tried out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and gained a place as Chaser. He and Sirius were more arrogant than ever after that, although Sirius sulked badly when it turned out that being on the team excused James from the flying class. The Marauders’ pranks seemed to grow more widespread every day, and Dumbledore did nothing to curb them. He just sat in his place at mealtimes, smiling down at them benevolently.
As the trio were the most obviously aimed-at victims, Professor Slughorn found them an area where they could practice how their magic was affected by their bond. It was a room up on the seventh floor that appeared as anything they needed it to. It was a very good area for safely practising their charms, jinxes and hexes, as their joined magic was more than the sum of its parts. It wasn’t unusual for a simple banishing charm to blow a hole in whatever unfortunate wall was behind the item they were attempting to banish.
Third year was electives year. After thoroughly discussing it the previous summer, Lily, Severus and Bellatrix all signed up for the same three new classes; Care of Magical Creatures for Lily, Divination for Bellatrix, and Ancient Runes for Severus.
Divination had seemed to be a useless subject to Severus, but when looking through the information packs about each class, Bellatrix had been drawn to the small deck of tarot cards. In fact, she had been unable to put them down for a good half an hour, and even then she kept going back to them, until finally Lily had consented to a reading.
“A dark-haired man will change your life,” Bellatrix said, almost dreamily, trailing her fingers along the cards Lily had chosen. “A stranger who’s not a stranger, he will give you your most precious thing in the world. Of the three and by the three, it will be loved, and its shadow will tower over the wizarding world.”
Blinking, Bellatrix had come back to herself to see Lily and Severus gaping at her.
“So . . . definitely divination, then,” Severus said, finally, and he shuffled that pack off to the side.
They were not pleased to discover that, yet again, they were sharing even more classes with the Gryffindors.
“How does Dumbledore expect to promote House unity when he never pairs us with the Ravens or the Puffs?” Lily complained, glaring at their new timetables.
“Because he doesn’t want House unity between all Houses, just those of the light or that he can manipulate,” Bellatrix snorted, taking a sip of her pumpkin juice.
“Dumbledore thinks we Snakes are all lost to Riddle already,” Severus added in a low voice. His eyes flicked over to some of the seventh years, who had been overheard boasting the previous night about their new “employer”, and how they were going to help return the wizarding world to greatness.
“Doesn’t he realise that if he offers no choice, then of course they’ll be more eager to follow that quack?” hissed Lily.
“He doesn’t care,” guessed Bellatrix. “Why take the chance until we prove that we want to stand against Voldemort?”
“Shhh!” hissed Severus, suddenly. “McGonagall!” With the understanding they’d continue the conversation later, when they were alone, the topic changed back to the amount of lessons shared with the Gryffindors.
Unfortunately for the trio, they were now sharing two of their electives with James Potter and Sirius Black. The Marauders had obviously wanted classes that would gain them an easy OWL score with almost no work, such as Divination and Care of Magical Creatures.
But their plan backfired in a big way. For whatever reason – and Severus was convinced it was their arrogance – none of the creatures would go anywhere near either James or Sirius. Even the most mild-mannered wouldn’t stay with them, no matter what Professor Kettleburn did. It became the talk of the Slytherin common room, how for the first time in three hundred years, somebody was going to fail Care of Magical Creatures. Even the year there’d been a professor fascinated with manticores and chimeras, everyone had passed the class. Several had been killed, but they’d all passed.
The two Marauders were not enjoying this new facet to their notoriety. They were convinced they were jinxed or cursed, but no amount of examinations by Madam Pomfrey and the current DADA professor or threats by the Marauders themselves helped in any way.
“I bet you they try and drop the class next year,” Bellatrix said one night, lounging sideways in one of the overstuffed armchairs by the fire.
“No bet,” Severus said absently from the floor, where he was finishing his Ancient Runes homework.
“Fine,” Bellatrix said, huffily. “I’m sure I can find someone who’ll take it.”
Lily snorted from her armchair, not even taking her nose out of the Charms book she was reading. “Only the first years would be stupid enough to do that,” she said. Several of the students nearby who’d overheard laughed. Bellatrix had turned out to be very gifted at Divination. Her readings were scarily accurate, although, as with all things, when it came to the trio, it was as if she’d been there and done it already. It had even gotten to the point that she could scan the week ahead, looking for whatever pranks the Marauders were planning. Forewarned, the Slytherins avoided everything, and Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff got the worst of it. This was not making the Marauders – or even Gryffindor – any new friends, and twice fights had broken out in the halls. Dumbledore was summarily ignoring everything, and leaving the discipline to Professor McGonagall. Inevitably, it wasn’t Gryffindor that were losing points or landing in detentions.
Bellatrix’s hand dangled off the chair, and brushed the ends of Severus’ hair as he bent over his work. “Better check that again, Sev,” she said, casually. “Otherwise your lesson tomorrow will be . . . interesting.”
Severus straightened up, and ran his eyes over his work, muttering to himself under his breath. “Oh, Merlin!” he breathed when he found the problem. “Thanks, Trix.” He scribbled the rune out and carefully placed another one in the sentence. “Yeah, that would have been interesting, to say the least!”
“What did you do?” Lily asked, curiously, peering over the top of her book at him.
“Instead of saying, ‘I gift you this bouquet’, I put, ‘I gift you this Brahma Elephant’,” Severus said, sheepishly.
There was a beat of silence as everyone imagined the chaos that would have caused in class, and then the entire group of students around the fire burst out laughing.
By the time the trio reached the end of their fifth year and their OWLs, the unspoken, mostly harmless rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor had become very much spoken of, and not so harmless anymore. The Marauder’s pranks had grown ever more complicated, and ever more widespread, and only Bellatrix, who had gained quite a reputation within Slytherin as a Seer, was able to help them avoid the worst of the so-called pranks – almost none of which were funny to anybody else apart from the Marauders.
Dumbledore’s Golden boys also had no compunction about the victim of their pranks being a Ravenclaw or a Hufflepuff. Of course, they preferred to catch a Snake, but really, they weren’t bothered who got caught, as long as they were nearby to witness it and laugh.
Although many of the professors tried to help curb the two ringleaders, Potter and Black, they swiftly made back any lost points by sucking up to McGonagall or Dumbledore, and any detentions were nullified by the Headmaster as well. Professor McGonagall had always been respected as a strict but fair teacher, but when it concerned her four Lions, it was obvious that impartiality went out the window.
It was, therefore, unsurprising that Lord Voldemort – whose star had been rapidly rising in the ministry over the past three years – was gaining support left, right and centre, and not just from Slytherins.
Lucius Malfoy had joined as his political advisor, after being failed on the last important Transfiguration project of his NEWT year, all because, as Head Boy, he had caught the Marauders out of their dorm after curfew and had docked points from them. Barely scraping an Acceptable on his Transfiguration NEWT had dashed his dreams of being an architect, and he had joined Voldemort’s group after being given a promise that those with unfair biases would be removed from positions of power.
Sadie Nuttlewheel, a Ravenclaw, had also been marked down on her Transfiguration projects. It meant that, rather than going out and getting a good job and getting married, she’d had to remain living with her parents while she studied the two years over again, to retake the NEWT privately.
Mandy and Treverson Carlisle, Hufflepuff twins, had barely passed their Transfiguration OWL, even though the pair of them were considered the top students in their year. They had not been allowed to take the subject at NEWT-level, and, like Sadie, were reduced to having to hire private tutors to re-do the OWL, and subsequently take the NEWT, in their spare time, or else suffer through being held back for a year to retake the exam.
After several letters of this sort reached him, Orion Black did some careful digging at the Ministry. He was not pleased with what he found. Despite the fact that the OWLs and NEWTs were supposed to be proctored by neutral Ministry workers, the only students who got good grades in Transfiguration were Gryffindors. Neutral Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws never got higher than Acceptable, and the outspoken ones sometimes barely even managed that. Slytherins could only dream of getting an Acceptable, with almost all of them getting Poor, Dreadful, or Troll.
Despite Dumbledore’s sunny dismissal of this as just student laziness, with a high number of Os and Es among the other subjects, it was obvious to anyone who cared to look that the failing Transfiguration grades weren’t just due to poor students.
With findings in hand, and three-quarters of the members behind him, Orion called for a meeting of the Wizengamot and for a vote of no-confidence on Dumbledore.
By the time the trio started their sixth year, it was all but outright war between Gryffindor and the other Houses. Dumbledore had managed to survive the vote of no-confidence, if only barely, and the outraged Lions were up in arms over the “unfair treatment” of their beloved Headmaster.
Wary of any backlash, quite a few of the trio’s OWL year – and even some of those taking their NEWTs – had secretly taken their exams for a second time at the Ministry, in disguise and under pseudonyms. When it came out that the two lots of exams had been taken on the same day, with two different sets of papers, but the grades of the pseudonyms were much higher than the original OWL, there had been a deluge of Howlers for Dumbledore and McGonagall, screaming against unfair grading practises and outright cheating, and calling for their dismissal.
They both hung onto their positions by the skin of their teeth, but McGonagall went around the school with her lips pinched so tightly together they turned white, and Dumbledore took to giving everyone who wasn’t dressed in red and gold severely disappointed looks.
Orion, along with a large group of concerned parents, had arranged for private tutors to come in to teach Transfiguration fairly to anybody who wasn’t a Gryffindor. It wasn’t that McGonagall had refused to have them in her classes – although nobody was under the impression that she wouldn’t have liked to have done just that – but it was more of a precaution.
The trio, meanwhile, had grown into unofficial leaders of their year, and were well on the way to being considered leaders of Slytherin. They weren’t fond of Dumbledore, but yet they refused to fawn over Lord Voldemort, either, and were gaining quite the reputation as neutral players. By now, everyone in Slytherin House was well aware that together, the three of them had the power to overthrow Voldemort if they had so desired, and most people thought it was lucky that they just wanted to be left alone.
“Honestly, this either or nonsense is . . . well, nonsense,” Lily complained one day at lunchtime. “There’s more than just black or white in the world!”
“But it’s hard to see that when you are black, or white,” said Bellatrix calmly.
“You’re not Black at all, are you, Trix?” Severus teased. Bellatrix stuck her tongue out at him, and several people laughed.
“So what other options are there?” a small third year asked. “You’re either evil, or you’re not.”
“See, that’s the problem,” Lily said, gesturing wildly with her fork and splashing the people near her with gravy. Severus and Bellatrix – well used to her by now – had already leaned back out of her way and placed small shields between them, and remained safely food-free.
“Calm down, dear, and eat your lunch,” said Severus, patting her on the shoulder. “We’ll explain.” And he stuffed a piece of toast into Lily’s mouth when she opened it to argue with him, causing her to glare at him.
Bellatrix looked around at the students who were avidly listening. “First of all, you get someone who comes along, decides they don’t like the way things are done, and decides the normal route to change is too slow for them. They want it done their way, and they want it done now! They don’t care who has to die, or who suffers, as long as their will is done. We saw that in Grindlewald, and in Mercana before him, and Shelyan before her, and so on and so forth right back through time, because there are always people who think they could do things better and want them changed right that second.”
“Then there’s those who like the way things are done, or who think it should be changed the natural way,” Severus continued. “These two voices clash, things get done, or not done, and suddenly, any lesser or neutral voices are shouted down, and the only ones left are the two contenders. If you don’t agree with one, you must be for the other, and vice versa.”
“And if you don’t agree with either, then you must be a silent supporter of the opponent, just waiting for the right time to show your true colours,” added Lily, who had finally finished chewing the toast enough to speak clearly.
“The trouble is,” mused Severus, “it’s very hard to be powerfully neutral, because neutral by its very definition means you agree with parts of both, and disagree with parts of both. If you truly have enough power to remain out of the battle, then both sides want you for their cause.”
“But what if being neutral drew more people to you?” a fourth-year chimed in.
The trio glanced at each other. “Let’s put it this way,” Bellatrix said, quietly, leaning in. “If there were to be a third side, apart from Voldemort or Dumbledore, do you think either one would accept that? That there were people who frankly just didn’t care about either of their causes?”
The rest of the students with them also exchanged looks. They themselves were a wonderful example. They were really too young to care much about politics until their NEWT years, and by that point, Dumbledore had all but pushed them into Voldemort’s arms.
The bell rang before anyone could say anything else, and the students scattered. The trio gathered their bags and headed outside for Care of Magical Creatures. The class was much more peaceful, now that James Potter and Sirius Black weren’t in it.
“Right, folks!” Professor Kettleburn clapped his hands together, producing a dull bonking sound. He’d lost his left hand two summers ago – nobody knew how, although most people said he’d had it bitten off by a rampaging Swedish Shortsnout – and now sported a wooden replica. “Today’s lesson is going to be split into two – one part for the boys, one part for the girls. So, boys first. We’re raising a new herd here at Hogwarts. The Headmaster has requested that we not use Hippogriffs to pull the carriages anymore—” There was a snort of laughter at his words.
There had always been problems with the temperamental creatures pulling the carriages getting offended by students not showing them enough respect, but the problem had peaked the previous year, when all of the Hippogriffs had bolted back to the castle, rather than let James Potter or Sirius Black anywhere near them. The Welcoming Feast had been delayed for three hours as everyone had trudged their way up to the castle. Dumbledore had been furious.
“Therefore, hopefully by the end of this school year, but if not, definitely from next year onwards, we will be using—”
“Thestrals!” Lily interrupted, sighing joyfully. Her eyes were fixed on a point somewhere to the left of the professor, just inside the Forbidden Forest.
“What? Really? Where?” the rest of the class chorused, in varying tones.
“There!” Bellatrix exclaimed, although she was pointing off to the right.
“And there, too,” added Severus, gazing straight ahead.
Professor Kettleburn’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “You three can see them?” he asked. Then he shook his head. “Why am I even asking you three that?” he said. “Can anybody else see them?” Everyone else in the class shook their heads. “Okay, not to worry, that’s probably a good thing. Thestrals can only be seen if you’ve seen Death.” Gasps of alarm met his words, and caused several birds to fly, shrieking, from the Forbidden Forest. “Now, now, I know the rumours about them. As I’m sure these three can attest, Thestrals aren’t evil, or nasty.”
As he was speaking, the professor had dropped a pile of rare meat close to himself. Ever so slowly, the Thestrals were inching out of the Forest to investigate.
“So who have you known who died?” Lily asked Severus, softly. A Thestral had stealthily moved towards them, and now nudged her gently in the back. Absently, all three began stroking it.
“As far as I know, nobody,” Severus replied, frowning. “Mum’s family disowned her when she insisted on marrying Dad, and if any of Dad’s family are still alive, he doesn’t have any contact with them either. How about you? You’re the one with the Thestral hair.”
“My grandparents died before I was born,” said Lily, shaking her head. The Thestral snorted and lipped at her hand. “And my parents were both only children.”
“Just leaves you, Trix,” said Severus. Bellatrix was frowning.
“There’s talk in my family,” she began, slowly, “that when my great-grandmother Belvina was dying, she called the family together, but halfway through saying her goodbyes, she died suddenly. They say that she instantly became a ghost, laid a hand on the head of every child she hadn’t said goodbye to, drew her hand across my forehead, and then turned all silver and disappeared.” She gave the other two a worried look. “But I was only a year and a half old. I don’t even remember it myself.”
Lily made a humming noise. “Guess you don’t need to remember seeing Death,” she mused.
“Or perhaps it’s Trix’s Seer blood that’s doing it,” Severus pointed out. “Sounds like your great-grandmother woke it up, Trix. Or at least brought it into being.”
They were interrupted by Professor Kettleburn, who was gathering the girls off to one side, well away from the boys and the Thestrals. With his arm looped over its neck, the Thestral was quite happy to follow Severus to join the rest of its herd.
Loud gasps of awe and the sound of cooing made the boys look up. Ranged in front of the girls was a herd of fully grown unicorns. Now they understood why they’d been split up. The adult unicorns wouldn’t allow the boys close to them.
Except then Severus discovered something about the bond that made him very happy as a potions-maker.
The unicorns had split themselves between the girls, and what looked to be the lead mare of the herd was standing beside Lily and Bellatrix. Although she was accepting their gentle caresses, she was also whinnying, tossing her head around as if looking for something. None of them, not even Professor Kettleburn, could figure out what that something was.
Suddenly, with a shrill squeal, the mare leapt forward . . . directly towards the group of boys who were still fumbling around the invisible-to-them Thestrals. Most of the boys scattered with cries of alarm, but Severus had been concentrating on the Thestral and hadn’t moved.
“Sev!” screamed Bellatrix and Lily, in unison. Severus looked up, and his mouth opened in alarm, just as the unicorn slid to a plunging halt in front of him . . . and then bowed before him.
Seventh year – their NEWT year – was surprisingly stress-free. The Marauders kept up their campaign of terrorising the rest of the school in the guise of ‘pranks’, and had apparently developed a map of Hogwarts that showed where everyone was. This had at first played havoc with Bellatrix’s Seer powers, since it enabled Potter and Black to quickly change their plans if necessary, but then Severus invented a spell that, to the map, showed the person going along their original route, whilst actually going a different way. Judging by their reactions, the Marauders were disgusted that their fool-proof map had failed, although it didn’t stop them from using it to avoid getting caught out of their dorm after curfew.
As the NEWTs neared, the trio made their plans for after Hogwarts. Severus was well on the way to becoming the youngest Potions Master in a century, Lily had plans to gain her Charms Mastery and then go into teaching, and Bellatrix had been offered a position in the Department of Mysteries as a Seer.
In an effort to prove that fair grades were being given for both the NEWTs and the OWLs, proctors were brought in from Europe, and the papers and grades were checked every time they were moved, ensuring that if there later turned out to be a problem, they knew where in the chain to start looking.
However, this didn’t prevent both Dumbledore and McGonagall from insisting that the trio not sit anywhere near each other, or even in the same room. The trio didn’t object, although they were very scathing in the Slytherin common room about the implications of the charge.
“Honestly, do they think we have the power of telepathy?” stormed Severus, pacing angrily.
“Even if we did, separating us wouldn’t make a difference,” Bellatrix added from where she was sitting, filing her nails into sharp points.
“They’re idiots, trying to prove that we cheat and therefore discredit us,” said Lily. Usually she was the most explosive of them – it was the red hair, everyone always said – but on this occasion, she was almost scarily calm. “They’re scared,” she added. “Scared of us individually, yes, but more terrified of what we can do together.”
“Good,” Severus snapped, dropping into a chair and drumming his long, elegant fingers on the arm of it.
“Ohhh,” Bellatrix suddenly breathed out, in awe. “Lily, that’s brilliant!”
“What is?” Severus asked, rolling his eyes. Sometimes, Bellatrix’s Seer abilities allowed her to see the plans others made before they’d even made them. And sometimes, she just plain forgot that not everybody could see it as she did.
“When I go into teaching, I won’t teach here,” Lily said. “I’ll go somewhere else to start, build connections, then start my own school.”
“And within a decade, Hogwarts won’t be the most prestigious school in England anymore,” Bellatrix added. She obviously wasn’t guessing. “Dumbledore and McGonagall will be shown for the prejudiced teachers they are, and no-one aside from Gryffindors will accept their letters anymore. The Sorting Hat will cry,” she said, contemplatively, after a small pause. “It will cry for the Founders’ Unity which is no more, then it will go dormant, never to speak again until a worthy descendant comes to take over.”
Lily and Severus glanced at each other. It sounded as though the Gryffindors – all of them, past and present – were going to get a harsh lesson on what ‘unity’ really meant.
The NEWTs passed with little trouble, and the seventh years started gearing up for their graduation. Immediately after the Leaving Feast, the Great Hall was transformed into a ballroom, and it wasn’t long before the alcohol was flowing freely. Silencing spells had been set up around the dorms of the younger years, since it was practically a given that things would become raucous.
When dawn arrived, Bellatrix was making her wobbly way back to the Slytherin common room for the last time. She thought she’d seen Lily talking to Remus Lupin, but had lost track of her. She discovered Severus lying on one of the settees in front of the fire, his eyes squeezed shut.
“Has the room stopped spinning, yet?” he moaned, piteously, gingerly cracking one eye open to find out.
“The room isn’t spinning,” Bellatrix pointed out, grinning at him. Looked like they’d all had fun. “Just how much did you drink?”
“Not much. One cup, if that,” Severus said. He shuddered, then winced as the movement jarred his head. “You know I don’t want to risk ending up like my old man.”
Bellatrix frowned. That was true. Severus almost never drank, and when he did, it was never more than one cup or glass. Lily and Bellatrix had never pushed him, knowing all too well what he feared drinking to excess would do to him. And it wasn’t possible for someone to spike the graduation punch – mainly because the alcohol had been out in the open, and there wouldn’t have been any need to hide it from the professors.
All of a sudden, the world shimmered and seemed to explode around them. Bellatrix cried out and stumbled against the wall next to the fireplace. Severus arched on the settee with a harsh yell, and only the wild flail of an arm prevented him from falling off it.
“What in Circe’s name was that?” Severus gasped, once it had stopped. He levered himself upright, looking wild-eyed.
“I don’t know,” Bellatrix admitted, gingerly letting go of the mantelpiece. “I wonder if Lily felt that, too?”
“I wonder if anyone besides us felt that,” Severus said, shaking his head as though to clear it. “Weird, I feel alright again now.”
“You think it was the build up to . . . whatever that was?” asked Bellatrix.
“Maybe. You aren’t as wobbly as you were when you came in,” Severus pointed out. He got to his feet. “We need to go check—”
Before he could even finish his sentence, the door to the common room opened, and Lily all but fell through it. Her dress was rumpled, and the slit up the side had torn even further, showing almost the whole of her leg. Her hair was half out of the twist she’d piled it up into, and her eyes were wide, gleaming against her pale skin.
“Lily!” Bellatrix and Severus chorused in alarm, and they both lunged for her.
“What happened?” “Are you alright?” they spoke over each other as they guided her towards a chair beside the fire.
“I-I-I don’t know,” Lily stammered, raising a hand to shakily brush the hair out of her eyes. Severus sat on the arm of the chair beside her, pulling her hair completely out of the twist and then tying it back in a simple ponytail. “It’s just a blur.”
“The last time I saw you, you were talking with Lupin,” Bellatrix said, sitting on the other arm of the chair.
“Lupin . . .” Lily said, slowly. “Yes, I remember that. I was speaking to Remus, then he went off to get me another drink. I . . . I asked him to get me a glass of punch. I think,” she added, hesitantly. She glanced up at first Bellatrix, then Severus. “I’m sure I wanted punch. He left to get it. It seemed to take an awfully long time. Then when he came back, he said . . . he said . . .” Lily’s brows drew together as she struggled to make sense of her memory. “He said he had something to show me, something unforgettable.”
Unseen above her head, Severus and Bellatrix exchanged grim looks.
“He led me somewhere, somewhere dim, but not dark,” Lily continued. She clasped her hands together to stop them from shaking, but Bellatrix prised them apart so she could grip one hand tightly. Severus took an equally hard grasp of the other hand. “And then everything suddenly seemed to get so bright, so loud and so . . . fast. I think I stumbled, and he propped me up against a wall, and started saying something about my dress. How nice it was, and how much better it’d look once it was off me.”
Lily started to shake again. Severus looked murderous, and Bellatrix reached out her free hand to stop him from moving. Once they were all connected, the warm flow of their combined power circling between them seemed to soothe Lily somewhat. She leaned her head sideways to rest against Severus’ hip.
“After that, it’s just . . . sensation. Something good was happening, but at the same time I knew it was bad. I-I-I couldn’t stop it, it flowed over me as though I were drowning. It built and built . . . and then it was like the whole world tilted sideways and exploded. And then I could see and hear and speak again, and suddenly it wasn’t Remus holding me up.”
“Potter,” Severus growled, his voice deep and dangerous. “It was Potter, wasn’t it? Under Polyjuice.”
Lily sniffed, hiccupped, and then started sobbing. The other two wrapped their arms tightly around her, and the three rocked together for a while.
“We need to contact the Aurors,” Severus said, eventually. “Not even Dumbledore and McGonagall can talk away this.”
“Of course they can,” Lily said, bitterly. “I was drunk, and I’m a Slytherin besides. I was teasing, leading him on, begging—”
“We can’t, anyway,” interrupted Bellatrix.
“What?! Of course we can – we have to!” Severus protested. “If they get away with it now, who knows how many more times they’ll try it again?”
“Sev, haven’t you been paying attention to the bond?” Bellatrix said, gently. Puzzled, Severus and Lily both closed their eyes to concentrate on the magic shared between them. A few minutes later, as one, their eyes shot open and they gasped. Bellatrix nodded. “Precisely,” she said. “A dark-haired stranger who’s not a stranger will give you your most precious thing.”
“Oh,” Lily said, almost soundlessly.
“Oh, Lily,” sighed Severus.
“Of the three and by the three, it will be loved,” Bellatrix added, softly.
Together, all three of them placed a hand over Lily’s abdomen, and felt the incredibly tiny flutter of the new, barely-there magical life begin.
To be continued...