~*Chapter 11*~

Secret Studies

He told Lily everything Ruth had disclosed, and as he expected, it made her even more curious.

"I'll definitely keep an eye on the purebloods," she promised. "Especially Evaine and her creepy friends."

"Just be careful," Al reminded her earnestly. "Remember, if Evaine wraps you in a bedsheet and hangs you from the rafters in the Slytherin dungeon overnight, none of us can help you."

"Trust me," Lily said with what Al considered questionable confidence. "She'll never know."

James, meanwhile, seemed to have his own secret agenda. But this time he did not seem to share it with his cousins or Vincent.

"Where does he keep slipping off to by himself?" Al demanded as he watched his brother dart off on yet another of his his mysterious errands right after dinner one night. "He goes running off Merlin knows where at least twice a week lately."

"No idea," Vincent admitted with a frown. "Lately he seems very tired but very smug about something. He won't tell us what's up."

"Maybe he's practicing for the Hogwarts Marathon?" Felicia suggested.

Roxie and Fred had wandered over to collect Vincent, and neither looked pleased at Felicia's words. "He better not, the git," Roxie grumbled. "We-"

Fred elbowed her into silence. "C'mon, Vincent, we're going to study in the library before Quidditch practice."

Vincent rolled his eyes good-naturedly at Al. "He hides it well, but he's really stressed about his O.W.L.s," he murmured as soon as Fred was out of earshot. "Even when we can't help him out, he's usually buried under books with Louis and some other fifth-years most evenings. If he didn't have Quidditch to blow off steam, I think he'd go into hysterics like poor Tiffany Wilkins."

Two days later, the Sorting Hat was carried into the dining hall so that the teams for the Hogwarts Marathon could be announced.

"I don't know why they look so hopeful," Andrew muttered, eyeing Roxie and James further down the table. "Unless they've been secretly disappearing all school year to help poor little Slytherin first-years, they've gotta be pretty low on the list of contenders."

"I think Roxie talked Fred out of volunteering," Al said, noting that his older cousin seemed only vaguely interested in the Hat's appearance. He had brought a schoolbook with him to look over while he ate. "He's got to focus on his O.W.L.s."

Andrew turned out to be right. In fact, most of the names called for the teams were at best only somewhat familiar to Al. But he gave a surprised cheer when the Hufflepuff member for team 2 was chosen.

"Louis definitely deserves it," Felicia said with hearty approval, clapping as loudly as the others. "He's always helping anyone who asks."

"I guess I'm just more surprised that he didn't opt out," Al said, grinning as his cousin joined his teammates at the front of the hall, looking flustered. "He's got his own O.W.L.s to worry about."

As Professor Shacklebolt stepped forward to congratulate the teams and explain when the Marathon would be taking place in the following week, Trinity came twining between students' ankles, startling Dustin so badly he jumped and banged his knees on the underside table.

"Sorry," Al muttered, leaning back to allow the cat to leap up into his lap. She had a rolled-up note slipped under her collar. Tugging the parchment free, he glanced over Lily's sloppy handwriting.

Something's going on, I'm not sure what yet. But I do know that Evaine's been talking about some kind of meet-up this
weekend. I'll let you know if I figure out what she's up to.
P.S... I don't think all the purebloods are in on it. Some of them have been hassling others like Scorpius and a couple others.
Maybe they don't all agree on whatever Evaine is up to, I dunno.

Al glanced towards the Slytherin table automatically, but Lily was hidden from view. He crumpled up the note and stuffed it in his pocket. He hoped that Lily would exercise caution during her snooping. It would probably be more prudent to tell her to just leave it alone, but if he tried to stop her, he risked her doing it anyway without telling him. And he was just as curious as she was at this point about what the purebloods were up to.

"What was that about?" Felicia asked curiously.

"Nothing, she just wanted to gossip," he lied. He didn't want to talk about it in front of the others, but he gave her a significant tell you later look.

When he finally managed to pull her aside to discuss it that evening in the common room while Andrew and Dustin argued over the theme of their History of Magic assignment, she looked troubled.

"I can't believe I'm suggesting this," she said at last, "but have you ever asked Malfoy about these weird marks?"

Al frowned. "No." The thought had crossed his mind more than once, but he had always decided not to go through with it. Especially now that he knew of the tension between Scorpius and Evaine. "He'd probably just blow me off and maybe even avoid me again. I told Lily not to bug him about it, either. Evaine is already mad that he's sticking up for my sister; if she catches the two of them whispering together, I don't know what she'll do."

"Well, if something really is happening this weekend and you want to know what's going on, I think you need to ask him." Felicia chewed nervously on the tip of a braid. "I know you don't like alienating him for some weird reason, but this is more important than him being nice to you in potions. I think Rose is right, this is too many weird coincidences at once. This could be important, and you need all the information you can get." She glanced at her watch. It was a mundane Muggle watch that did nothing more fancy than show the current time, which had greatly amused Andrew when he first saw it. "Curfew isn't for another hour, and I saw Malfoy heading for the library right after dinner. You might still catch him there."

Al sighed. It seemed useless to put it off when two people whose judgement he trusted were telling him the same thing. He needed more information before the weekend, and Scorpius was the only other Slytherin besides Lily who might actually be willing to share it with him. "Okay. Tell the guys I'm returning a book or something. I'll try to be quick."

He was halfway out of the portrait hole when Vincent appeared at his elbow. "Hey," he said a little awkwardly. "You off to find James as well?"

Al hesitated with one foot still inside the common room. "What? No, I thought he was with you. I just have to, er, go to the library real quick."

"Oh." Vincent motioned for him to move along, then followed him out. "No, James is off on another mysterious little outing. I don't know where he's been disappearing to, but he's been busy doing his own thing since we got back from winter holiday. I want to know what's up."

Al walked in silence beside the older boy for a few moments, then finally blurted, "All of you have been sneaking off most of the year without letting any of us in on the big secret. Pretty annoying being on the other side of that, isn't it?"

Vincent stopped abruptly, and Al hesitated, wondering if he'd gone too far. But Vincent looked weary, not irritated. "I'm sorry about that," he said. "I know you've probably been feeling a little hurt that we're all being so secretive, but I promise it's nothing big. Half the time we're just doing intense study sessions with Fred. He really is worried about his O.W.L.s, you know."

Al blinked, surprised. He knew of his cousin's anxiety about his upcoming O.W.L.s, but had not expected the others to so doggedly help him study. "That's it? You've been sneaking off to help him study? Is Fred really so afraid of it hurting his image that he'd keep it a secret?" He paused. "Wait, you said 'half the time'."

"Wellll..." Vincent scratched at his neck, looking sheepishly away. "Okay, so remember how last year you, me, and your friends were sort of practicing spells in case we got picked for the Marathon? Well, James wanted to know how we managed to kick so much butt in the Marathon, especially you, and so over the summer I sort of told him about our training sessions." He shrugged, still not looking at Al directly. "He said we should do the same thing. Even if none of us got picked for the Marathon, he said it'd help Fred with the practical parts of his O.W.L.s and make the rest of us better wizards."

Al gaped at him. So many responses leapt to his tongue that he couldn't settle on one and instead ended up making an offended croak.

"I don't know why he was keeping it from you," Vincent admitted. "Maybe it was some dumb sibling rivalry thing, I wouldn't know. I'm an only child. Or maybe he wanted me to be a part of their training things instead of disappearing with lowerclassmen again. I don't know. It's dumb. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. But see, it really is nothing bizarre or suspicious. He wasn't hiding anything big from you." He paused, wincing slightly. "Well... except for-"

But Al was not interested in listening any more. Half of him felt like yelling, and the other half of him was sure that would seem childish and dramatic. Luckily, they had just come up on the library. "I have to return a book," he interrupted. "I'll see you later, maybe." Turning on his heel, he hurried into the library, leaving Vincent standing awkwardly out in the hallway.

He paced from one aisle to the next, staring up at the books on the shelves without really seeing them. He was struggling with his own hurt and anger, and had forgotten the reason he'd come to the library in the first place. Vincent was James's friend before he was mine, he reminded himself fiercely. What do I care if they want to go practice spells all the time without me? I did it last year with Felicia and Vincent and my friends, there's nothing wrong with James having Vincent help him out this year.

But knowing his jealousy was foolish did not magically make it go away. James had never been the sharing type, so why should his friendships be any different? He'd never been a fan of Vincent hanging out with his kid brother; why was Al even surprised?

He fumed and paced for several minutes before he finally came out of the history section and caught a glimpse of a familiar pale head bent over a thick book at one of the tables.

"Oh, yeah," he muttered, forcibly shoving all thoughts of James and Vincent to the back of his mind. Glancing around quickly to make sure no other Slytherins were nearby, he hurried over and slid into the seat opposite Scorpius. "Hey."

Scorpius slowly lifted his head to offer Al a displeased scowl. "I'm busy, Potter."

"This is important. I'll be quick." He reached out and tugged a blank piece of parchment out from under Scorpius's elbow, then quickly grabbed the quill when Scorpius belatedly reached for it.

"Hey!"

Al ignored him, biting his tongue in concentration as he tried to make a drawing that did not look like a caterpillar or a worm. "Have you ever seen anything like this before?" He spun the crude drawing around and shoved it back across the table.

Scorpius didn't even look at it. He was glaring at Al a little helplessly. "Why are you like this?" he demanded.

"What?" Al tapped the drawing. "Just look, will you?"

But Scorpius just kept on glaring. "Am I going to have to do something bad to your cat to get you to dislike me enough to leave me alone?"

"Oh, please. You like my cat." He pushed the paper closer so it was crumpling up against Scorpius's arm. "Look, will you?"

Scorpius snatched up the drawing and transferred his glare to the paper instead. He stared at it for several moments before finally growling, "What is this supposed to be, Potter? Two snakes-?" He went abruptly silent, his eyes widening slightly. He crumpled up the paper into a ball and threw it so it bounced off Al's head.

"Hey-!"

"Go away, Potter. I have homework to finish." Retrieving his quill, Scorpius hunched back over his book, his shoulders tense.

"You recognize it," Al said, picking up the wadded-up sketch and shaking it at the other boy accusingly. "I keep seeing it in the weirdest places. Did you know Lily saw it at the Carnival? In the cave. What is it, Scorpius? Tell me."

"It's none of your business, that's what it is," Scorpius hissed, hunching over even further as if trying to hide.

Al crossed his arms stubbornly. His earlier flare of emotions over Vincent's reveal was making him feel rash. "Tell me what it is or I'm not leaving. I'll just sit here and annoy you for hours and hours and hours and-"

Scorpius's head jerked up, and the glare he gave Al was so fierce that Al's words stuck in his throat in surprise. Scorpius had glared at him plenty of times, but this was the first time he'd actually looked almost...

dangerous, his mind supplied helpfully.

Then Scorpius was glancing down again, and the moment's alarm had passed. When he spoke, Scorpius just sounded defeated. "All I know is it has something to do with some of the purebloods. Obviously they haven't let me in on their little secret. You saw what Evaine was like in Hogsmeade that day." He took in a deep breath through his nose, his fingers clenching on the edge of the table. "I think my father knows, but he won't tell me. All I know is it must mean trouble. And I'm trying to stay out of it." He shot Al a quick scowl. "Like you should be doing."

Al began unfolding and crumpling the drawing over and over, a little unnerved by Scorpius's strong reaction. Doubt once again was creeping up on him. Perhaps he should have just left it alone after all. But still his curiosity prowled in the background, along with the knowledge that even if he wanted to back out, Lily knew too much already and would be less likely to let the thing go until her own curiosity had been satisfied.

Maybe Scorpius was right and he never should have started asking around about this. If it was just some dumb Slytherins in a secret club, how much damage could they really do? Okay, so the fifth House had managed to do quite a bit of damage, but nothing permanent. And they'd been stopped. In fact, was it possible he'd never have gotten hurt during that final confrontation if he hadn't kept snooping around trying to get to the bottom of that particular mystery?

"Purebloods," he suddenly said, struck by a startling thought.

Scorpius refused to look back up at him, stubbornly staring down at his book as if he could neither see nor hear Al.

Al stuffed the paper in his pocket and leaned over, trying to catch Scorpius's eye. Thinking of the fifth House had stirred an unsettling suspicion. "I keep hearing mention of purebloods come up about this, but never actually just 'Slytherin purebloods'. Is this a Slytherin thing or a pureblood thing? Or both?"

Scorpius looked up at him slowly, his brow creased. "I don't know how many times I have to tell you I don't know anything about any of this." He paused, then added reluctantly, "But it's an interesting question. Wait." He slammed his book shut, earning an annoyed hiss from the librarian. "This. This is what your nosy idiot of a sister has been up to with all her sneaking around and her clumsy interrogations and-" He shook his head in disgust. "You're both just begging to get the hair jinxed right off your heads. You already know Evaine's involved in all this. What do you think she'll do when she realizes what your sister is up to? I'm not going to protect her from her own stupidity."

Al sighed, getting to his feet. The conversation was clearly not going anywhere. "All right, all right. I'll leave you alone about it. See you later."

"Potter."

Al stopped and turned, brows raised in question.

Scorpius was staring at his book, refusing to look up at him. He looked tense again. "Just how long are you going to keep trying to pretend we're friends? Am I going to have to deal with this all the way through seventh year?"

"I dunno. Maybe." Scorpius finally lifted his gaze to shoot him a quick glare, and Al couldn't quite keep back a taunting grin. "I think I'm wearing you down."

"Hmph." Scorpius quickly returned his attention to his book, grumbling under his breath. His ears seemed oddly pink.

Satisfied that he'd had the last word, Al left him to his studies. As he climbed the stairs back towards Gryffindor tower, he glanced occasionally out of the window. Most of the snow was melting away, and he could see smoke twining its way skyward out of Hagrid's chimney. The Whomping Willow was lashing irritably at some determined birds, and...

And there was James, coming out of the greenhouse.

Al stopped and pressed his nose to the glass. The angle was not ideal; he could barely even see the greenhouse, but even from this distance he recognized his brother. James was speaking to someone. A moment later Neville stepped into view, clapping a hand on James's shoulder, then handing him something. James immediately ate whatever it was and started back towards the castle.

Al stepped away from the cold glass, puzzled. Was that where James kept sneaking off to? Was he doing poorly enough in Herbology that he was seeking out extra lessons with Neville? It might explain why he hadn't told anyone what he was up to. It must be too embarrassing. But what had he eaten? There were some plants Neville tended to that were used for medications for the school infirmary, but Al had never known him to hand out the raw ingredients to students. He briefly considered waiting for James to come up the stairs so he could confront him about it, but just then Peeves came floating down through the ceiling.

"OooOOooo," he crowed, flipping upside down and making horrendous faces. "Likkle Potter's trying to sneak out past curfewwww!"

"Curfew isn't for another half hour," Al snapped. "Get lost, Peeves."

This was, of course, the exact wrong thing to say. Trying to tell Peeves to do anything always practically guaranteed he'd do the opposite. He began bobbing in the air around Al, singing loudly and cheerfully.

"Albutt Pottree's out of bed! Alcus Porter's got a big head! And every time he shows his face-"

Al rushed past the poltergeist, swinging his arm in a futile attempt to brush him aside. "Get out of it," he snarled, trying to ignore the pair of nearby first-years who had stopped to watch and laugh. "Don't you have someone else to bother? Why don't you go drop worms in Evaine's bed or something?"

Peeves cackled, still circling him as Al raced up the stairs. "Maybe I will... Later! But don't be rude and interrupt, my song's got another five-hundred verses to go!"

He shouted more sing-song insults all the way up to the Fat Lady's portrait, and Al had to scramble inside clumsily, his hands held over his ears and his face burning. Luckily, Peeves didn't follow him inside, hopefully deciding the worm idea was interesting enough to carry out.

"Peeves?" Andrew guessed from where he was sprawled in the chair by the fire. Peeves's deranged singing had clearly been heard by everyone in the common room as Al tumbled inside. Several of the students were snickering at him.

Ignoring them, Al went to join Andrew by the fire, dumping himself on the rug because a couple of sixth-year girls were cuddling on the couch. "Yeah. I wish the Bloody Baron would scare him away from the castle for good."

"Oh, I dunno, he's good for a laugh sometimes," Fred drawled, coming and draping himself over the back of the chair and grinning down at his cousin. "He's got a real knack for songwriting."

"Oh, shut up," Al muttered, digging in his bag for his Charms book.

Roxie joined her brother, propping her elbow on his bowed back. "Hey, sometimes he picks on kids who actually deserve it. We're pretty sure he's the one who pelted Evaine and her goons earlier today with rotten eggs."

"What?" Al looked up, his own embarrassment fading. "He did?"

As Fred hooted with laughter, Roxie explained, "Yeah, her and a couple of her buddies were just walking to class, and suddenly they started getting bombarded with stinky eggs. It wasn't any student, no one was on the right side of the hall for it. We figure Peeves fired off a few eggs and got scarce because the Bloody Baron was further down the hall. It was great. Evaine was shrieking like a bat. The smell was unreal..."

Al and Andrew laughed loudly at the thought.

"I wish I'd seen it," Andrew sighed longingly. "If Peeves would just only use his evil power for good..."

"Hey, there he is!" Fred straightened up suddenly, dislodging Roxie's arm. Al turned to see James and Vincent coming in through the portrait hole. "Where have you been, James? Off in some dark corner with Emma?" Roxie made sloppy kissing noises.

James smirked, but didn't answer. Vincent grimaced.

Al returned his attention to his book, pretending to ignore the teasing. If James was just getting help in Herbology, Al wasn't going to rat him out. Fred was busy studying every spare minute, and if some of that had rubbed off on James, it could only be good for him.

"Hey." Felicia came over and sat on the rug next to Al, putting her head close as if helping him with his homework. "Did you talk to Malfoy?" she whispered.

"Yeah," he muttered. "He recognizes the symbol, but insists he doesn't know anything more about it than I do. I think he knows a little more than he's letting on, though. He didn't seem happy about the fact that we're sticking our noses into it. He thinks we're asking for trouble."

"He may be right," Felicia admitted. "Remember first year, when you thought about going to a Professor about the fifth House? You didn't because of your brother and cousins. But this is different. Maybe it's time to give one of the Professors a heads up. They might know what it is, and be able to put a stop to it. Or they might explain that it really isn't anything bad at all."

Al snorted quietly. "What are we supposed to say? 'Hey, someone's doing lame graffiti and we don't like it'? They'll just tell us to stop bothering them. We need proof that it isn't anything harmless."

"Well I hope you find it soon," Felicia sighed. "This whole thing makes me uneasy. The sooner it's all explained and over with, the better."

"Don't worry so much," Al said, trying to sound much more confident than he really felt. "It'll probably turn out to be nothing big at all."