YEAR 3

THE SERPENT'S MARK

~*Chapter 1*~

Snakes in the Alley

It was a week before the start of Al's third year, and Diagon Alley was full to bursting with students and their families shopping for supplies and meeting up with friends. Lily's eyes were practically popping out of her head as she followed Al down Diagon Alley, her hand clutching his. Every now and then she'd pull him over to look at something in a window or squeal about something magical she'd just seen.

Al had offered to take her around on a quick tour while Harry and Ginny waited in line to pay for their schoolbooks, and James had predictably run off to meet with Fred and Roxie. Al was a little glad it was just him showing Lily around, if he was honest with himself. He was willing to be more patient with her, and had been looking forward to seeing her reaction to Diagon Alley.

Plus, James had been more of a prat than usual during the summer, and he didn't feel much like talking to his brother at the moment. James was still sore about Al losing Gryffindor the House Cup during his second year.

"Brooms!" Lily squealed, hauling on Al's arm and pointing at the broom shop. "Al, can we look?"

"You can't have one yet," Al reminded her, amused. She'd gotten a practice broom the previous Christmas; it didn't do anything more exciting than hover two feet off the ground, but she'd floated around the yard on it constantly. "First years aren't allowed to have brooms or try out for Quidditch. Dad was... a special exception."

"I just want to look," she wheedled, dragging him over. She'd already been to get her robes fitted, and had insisted on wearing them around, proud to be recognized as a new student. She looked like an excitable little blackbird as she pressed her nose to the glass, bouncing on her toes. "I'm definitely trying out for the team next year," she said with absolute certainty. "I'm gonna be great at it, just like Mum and Dad. Just like James."

"Not me," Al said firmly, looking in at the brooms without any longing. "Quidditch is loads of fun to watch, but I'd rather swallow a Quaffle than be Seeker again."

"Like anyone would let you after how bad you played last year," sneered a familiar voice behind him.

Grimacing, Al turned slowly on his heel. "Evaine," he greeted in a noncommittal tone of voice.

Evaine Engelton had never been very pleasant in general, and had picked on Al once or twice during second year because he was an easier target than the person she really despised- James. She'd never forgiven any of them for the humiliations the House of Judgement had rained down on the Slytherins during her first year. Al had been a bit sympathetic at first, but that had waned quickly.

Al had grown an inch or two, but Evaine had shot up in height already. She looked closer to fourteen than thirteen, and could probably look James right in the eye. Her two friends hung back, snickering. Evaine curled her lip, looking Al up and down as if he were an ugly stray dog she'd run across. She'd cropped her dark hair very short so that it barely touched her jaw, and her amber eyes were meaner than ever. "Who's your little friend, Potter? Tell her to stop smudging the shop glass with her dirty nose." Her friends broke out in peals of laughter.

Lily came to stand beside Al, glaring up at Evaine pugnaciously. "I'm his sister," she said, affronted. "Who are you, the Mayor of Rudeville?"

Al winced internally, shifting slightly so he was between the two of them. Lily was usually shy and sweet, but her temper often turned her into a little pitbull when pushed.

"Thinks she's ten feet tall and bulletproof," Harry had muttered in amusement once after she'd squared off against her older cousin Fred in a fit of indignant rage. The Muggle phrase had puzzled Al at the time, but now he only wished Lily would go back to looking at brooms and not picking fights in the middle of Diagon Alley.

Evaine narrowed her eyes at Lily. "Another Potter. Just what Hogwarts doesn't need. So, are you just as mean and dumb as your brothers?"

"Get lost, Evaine," Al snapped before Lily could respond.

"Yeah, don't you have puppies to kick or something?" They turned as an older boy approached, dark-skinned, lean, and very handsome. Evaine faltered, glaring at him. Then abruptly she gave a toss of her head and spun on her heel.

"Whatever. Better watch your back, Potter. Both of you."

"Hey, Vincent," Al said with a relieved smile. "Thanks."

"That girl is nothing but trouble," Vincent growled, watching Evaine and her friends flounce off. "I can't believe she's still trying to pick a fight with you." He turned back and offered Lily one of his bright, infectious smiles. "You must be Lily. Heard you're going to be a famous Seeker someday."

Lily flushed, looking down at her toes. "Yeah."

Vincent laughed. "C'mon. Let's go grab some ice cream. Then you guys can help me pick out an owl. I've been saving up all summer. Mum thought I was crazy when I said I wanted one. Finally said I'd have to pay for it myself if I wanted one so badly." Vincent's mother was a Muggle, and was still trying to wrap her head around the things her son could do.

"And I want to see Uncle George's shop!" Lily put in eagerly, practically skipping ahead of them down the crowded street.

They grabbed some cones at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and wandered down the street at a stroll as they ate their ice cream, waving to familiar students and looking in windows.

At one point, after a young Gryffindor had called hello to both of them, Vincent leaned down slightly and said quietly, "You see? I told you they'd be over it by now. No one's going to care about losing last year's House Cup. Just try to get as many points as you can this year. Dazzle Flitwick in Charms class and that should do it."

Al nodded, but couldn't respond. Vincent's face so near his own had left him curiously flustered. He'd been looking forward to their meet-up all summer. Vincent was really more James's friend than his, even if Vincent had hung out with Al and his friends for a good portion of Al's second year. He'd been half afraid that Vincent would no longer be interested in hanging out with a lowerclassman.

Lily led them to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, claiming she wanted something to play tricks on anyone "as nasty as that Evaine girl". While Al privately thought their parents would disapprove, he let her drag him inside. Even if they didn't buy anything, looking at all the tricks and jokes was always amusing, and sometimes his uncle George was there to say hello to.

George wasn't, but his children were. As Lily and Vincent laughed over a book that shouted insults, Al wove his way through the crowded shop to where Roxanne and Fred were arguing over whether to buy more canary creams or rubber wands.

"Hey," Al greeted them a little warily. They had been angry with him the previous year for splitting up the points he'd earned in the Hogwarts Marathon- Fred in particular. He had avoided them the few times they'd been over to visit during the summer holiday, and was not sure what to expect. "Planning on scaring the pants off the first years their first night?"

Roxie flashed him a grin. "Only get one chance before Neville shows up and confiscates everything he can find. I think he lets us get away with the first night on purpose, but he seems to think we'll use this junk in class, too."

Fred barely glanced at him. "James is over by the love potions."

Al deflated slightly. Was Fred still prickly? "Oh." He turned, scanning the crowd. Belatedly he realized what his cousin had said. "Wait, what? Why? Mum's always told us to steer clear of that rubbish."

The siblings laughed. "It's because Emma is over there," Roxie explained.

Al stared at them blankly, but they had already returned to their previous argument. He made his way back to Vincent. "Who's Emma?"

"What?" Vincent looked up, puzzled, from where he was checking the label on a set of Extendable Ears. "Who?"

"Roxie said something about James going to talk to some girl named Emma." He paused. "By the love potions."

Vincent's friendly smile slipped a bit. "Emma Robinson," he explained, setting the Ears down. "She was a Chaser on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team last year, remember? They were always heckling each other in the halls and stuff. She's a fifth-year now, I think. And cute. Maybe James thinks he has a shot with her. I hear she likes some Prefect, though. Maybe that's why she's hovering over the love potions."

Al blinked, a little taken aback. He'd never really considered the fact that James might be interested in dating girls already. Sometimes it seemed like James's only passion was Quidditch. He said as much, and Vincent gave a casual shrug, studying a box of puking pastils intently.

"Well, he's found the next best thing, I suppose. A girl who plays Quidditch."

"Yeah." Al fell quiet. It had suddenly occurred to him that Vincent might start dating soon as well. He'd never mentioned any girls before, or at least not that Al remembered. But what if he met a girl he liked? What if he started seeing her so much he didn't have time to hang around Al and his friends any longer? It was a deeply disturbing thought.

"Vincent!" An older boy Al vaguely recognized as a fellow Gryffindor came over, all smiles. "Good to see you, mate."

"Bernard," Vincent said with some surprise. "I thought you weren't due back from vacation for another couple days."

"Mum got sick, had to return early. Say, you're still going to try for the Quidditch team this year, yeah? I was thinking I might try... Oh, hullo, Potter. How about you, you trying for Seeker again?"

Al winced, recalling the final game of his second year. "No, I don't think so," he said quickly. Then, hoping to avoid an awkward conversation, he turned and pretended to study a box of screeching erasers Lily was looking at.

Bernard ended up talking to Vincent for some time, even calling over a few other fourth-years and making it difficult for Vincent to escape the conversation without seeming rude. Then James showed up, and it was one big group of popular kids catching up and horsing around, and Al might as well have been a fly on the wall.

"C'mon," he muttered to Lily. "We told Mom and Dad we'd meet them to get your wand."

Mention of a wand was more than enough to get Lily moving. She put down what she'd been looking at and hurried towards the exit. Al caught Vincent's eye just long enough to wave goodbye, then followed Lily out.

So much for spending the whole time hanging out, Al thought with some irritation. James must have come over on purpose, surely. He found it annoying sometimes that Vincent was pals with his little brother.

Lily kept drifting away a bit to peek into windows, and at one point she lingered long enough outside Obscurus Books that Al impatiently went back to her. "Come on, we need to go."

"What's that?" she asked in a small voice, pointing.

Al looked, puzzled by her sudden tension. On the wall under the windowsill, almost small enough to be taken as a smudge at a casual glance, was what looked like a rough drawing of a snake coiling around a wand, snapping it in half. For a moment he felt an odd chill.

"Is that... you know, the image Dad used to talk about?" Lily whispered, her eyes wide.

"No," Al said quickly. "That's not the Dark Mark. I've seen pictures of it in a textbook. This is just someone's doodle. It's nothing." He took her hand, steering her away from the shop. The last thing they needed was her magical day in Diagon Alley marred by some jerk's idea of clever graffiti.

He led Lily down the street to Ollivander's, but their parents weren't there yet, so they sat down on a nearby bench to wait and watch the crowd flow by.

"Ollivander, he's got to be ancient by now, right?" Lily asked, kicking her feet and looking around eagerly for her parents. She seemed to have gotten over her temporary fright. "He gave Dad his wand, and Mom, too."

"He died, I think. It's his son that runs the shop now," Al said distractedly. He was studying the faces of those passing, wondering if Felicia or Andrew were shopping today as well. He'd forgotten to ask in his letters, he realized with a twinge of guilt. He'd been looking forward to showing Lily around and meeting up with Vincent, and hadn't thought about trying to meet with his other friends as well.

The bell on the door to Ollivander's rang, and Al glanced over automatically. A tall, thin man was stepping out, his shock of white-blond hair combed neatly back. He had a pinched face that looked somehow familiar. Then a boy, presumably his son, followed him out, also skinny and pale, and Al gave a start of surprise.

The Malfoys.

Curious, Lily followed his stare. Now a woman was coming out of the shop, smoothing down her robes and talking in a quiet but pleasant voice. She was dark-haired and pretty, and ruffled her son's hair affectionately as she stepped onto the sidewalk.

"Who's that?" Lily asked, a little too loudly.

The Malfoys looked over at them.

"Hey, Scorpius," Al said lamely. It was very odd seeing the boy outside of school, and even more unsettling seeing him with his family. To see him treated with affection by his mother and to come face to face with the man who had made his father's school years a torment was a little surreal. Like Al, Scorpius seemed to have grown a little, though he still had the gangliness of adolescence.

"A friend of yours, Scorpius?" Mrs. Malfoy asked brightly. Her husband, however, was staring at Al with his mouth pressed tightly shut. Perhaps he could see the family resemblance and knew just whose son Al was. Al couldn't help but notice that his eyes were bloodshot and there was a faint discoloration on his face as if he'd used magic or cosmetics to cover up bruises. It reminded him sharply of his own father after certain tough jobs when Al had been younger.

"Just someone from Potions class," Scorpius muttered.

"Come along," Draco Malfoy said brusquely. "We still need to get your robes." And he led them down the street with long strides.

Lily watched them go, mouth hanging slightly open. "Wow," she said at last. "Scorpius? So that's Draco Malfoy, the git Dad used to talk about?"

Al suppressed a grin. "He says Mr. Malfoy isn't nearly as bad as he used to be," he reminded her.

"I wonder what they were doing in Ollivander's," Lily mused, seeming not to have heard him. "I mean, Scorpius has already got a wand, hasn't he?"

Al blinked. "I don't know," he admitted. He'd only ever seen first years going into Ollivanders during his trips to Diagon Alley the last two years. He looked in the direction Scorpius had gone, puzzled.

"There you are!" Coming from the opposite direction were Harry and Ginny, smiling. "Ready to find your wand, Lily?"

She bounced to her feet in excitement, all questions about the Malfoys vanishing. Al got up as well. "I'm going to drop by the Magical Menagerie and get some treats for Trinity."

"All right, dear." Ginny smoothed back his hair with her hand, reminding him briefly of Scorpius's own mother. She'd seemed nice, and surely a nice woman wouldn't have married an unkind man? Perhaps Draco really had changed. Certainly Scorpius, though annoying, had never shown himself to be cruel or unhappy, so his home life couldn't be bad.

"We'll meet you and your brother at the Apothecary in about half an hour," Harry said, opening the door for Lily, who was practically dancing in place.

"Right." Firmly shoving thoughts of Scorpius from his mind, Al set off down the street. As he passed the Owl Emporium, he felt some guilt for having left Vincent behind in the joke shop. He'd been, in hindsight, unreasonably annoyed at Vincent being so distracted by his other friends. Vincent had always been fairly popular, and he couldn't exactly tell everyone to get lost just so he could hang out with James Potter's kid brother. He'd seemed excited about getting an owl, and Al had wanted to help him pick one out. With that in mind, he backtracked, deciding he'd wait outside the shop for Vincent.

He didn't have long to wait. Vincent came threading through the crowd not five minutes later, and seemed pleased to find Al waiting for him. "Sorry about that," he said sheepishly. "Bernard and I got pretty chummy last year during Herbology and Divination, and he wanted to tell me all about his vacation."

Al shrugged. "It's all right. I had to get Lily to Ollivander's anyway. She's stoked about her wand selection." He paused, noticing the distracted look on his friend's face. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just... odd rumors some of the lads mentioned back there after you left. Martin Heed's mum works at the Ministry, and he says there's been rumors of some odd disappearances this summer. Even Oliver, who's Muggle-born, said he saw something in the news about some woman just vanishing from inside her locked apartment a couple weeks ago." He paused, staring off into space with a worried frown. "It's probably nothing. It's just... Well, some of the grown-ups are worried. I guess you'd know why better than most."

Al nodded, his skin prickling. He'd heard the stories from his parents. Disappearances had been common during both Wizarding Wars. "This can't be anything like that," he said firmly. "It's just coincidence, that's all. Voldemort's gone. Nearly all his surviving Death Eaters are in Azkaban."

"Yeah," Vincent said. "It's that 'nearly' part that's got me a bit worried."

They lapsed into an uneasy silence for a few moments, then Vincent gave himself a shake and offered Al an embarrassed grin. "You're right. It's probably a coincidence or something. Those days are over, your dad saw to that. Come on, let's find the most awesome owl in the shop. Well... the most affordable awesome owl, anyway."

As Al was nodding in agreement, he caught a glimpse of a familiar face across the street. It was a girl, small for her age, with a long braid and large glasses. She seemed to be staring at them, though she was too far away to have possibly heard them. Al felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

Teresa Hernandez. Rumor was that her mother had been a famous spy for the Death Eaters and had fled to America, only returning years later so her only daughter could attend Hogwarts. But nothing had ever been proven, and surely the Headmaster would not have allowed Teresa entrance if the rumors were true. Still, she gave him the creeps. She was very quiet, and had a steady, unnerving gaze. She'd also displayed surprising power during the Hogwarts Marathon, or so his friends had told him afterwards.

A moment later she had looked away and was wandering down the street without a backward look. Al shuddered and hurried into the Emporium. Stop it, he told himself firmly. All that talk about the old wars has you spooked.

There had never been any real proof that Teresa's mother had anything to do with Death Eaters. And Teresa had never so much as jinxed anyone at school that he knew of, not even during the mess with the fifth House in his first year.

He poured all his attention into helping Vincent pick out an owl, and by the time they left with a handsome red hawk owl, he had almost completely forgotten about the whole thing.