OOO

Three Months Ago

OOO

"Look!" Petunia laughed, standing in the middle of the loch that was near the castle. "Isn't it amazing?"

Morty thought it was; Morty thought that Petunia was the most amazing girl he'd ever met in his life. She could even walk on water. He knew, of course, that she wasn't really walking on it; there was a submerged plant beneath her feet that was supporting her. But from the shore, it looked that way.

"Wow!" Polaris clapped. "Pyro and Avalanche are going to be really pleased!"

"I know!" Oleander walked across the surface of the water, carefully making sure that she was supported each step of the way. "I've been working on this as a surprise. Still haven't gotten the hang of making that stupid spoon do anything, though," she frowned as she reached the shore.

"You'll do it," Polaris assured her.

"Definitely," Toad agreed.

"And what about you, Polaris?" She grinned as they started back to the castle. "I saw you levitating that car the other day."

"Did you see me drop it right after?" She giggled. "I almost dropped it on Avalanche's head. But it was more than I've ever been able to hold up before."

"Wish I had cool powers like you guys," Toad sighed. "Not just a gross tongue and grosser spit."

"That tongue nearly broke Tabby's neck in practice," Polaris pointed out.

"Yeah, and I got the burns from her explosions to prove it," he winced. "If we were having a real fight she would have killed me."

"If it was a real fight, you never would have been facing her," Petunia said. "Unless all of us were incapacitated or dead, we're not going to let you fight a mutant who can project energy like that. I wouldn't want to fight her. You might have the best shot, Lorna, since you can make shields. But we wouldn't fight stupidly."

"If we fight with wizards, though, won't they all be able to do what Tabitha does?" He asked apprehensively.

"Not if they don't have their wands." She scowled. "Which they will unless I can figure out how to make that damn spoon do something!"

"Well you can still fight really well and there's always Wanda…"

"Shhhh." Petunia cut Polaris off and stuck her arms out to halt both her and Toad.

"What's wrong?" Mortimer whispered, his eyes darting to her.

"There's something in the woods." She narrowed her eyes. "Moving fast. I can't tell what it is though."

"Do you think it's dangero…"

The rustling that had been far off suddenly became a much louder crashing, snapping noise.

"Down!" Petunia cried and a thorny mass of vines sprouted up into a dome around them. A figure leaped over the dome, but they only caught a glimpse before the vines covered them. There were sounds, however, gnashing and snarling as whatever it was attempted to rip apart the vines Petunia had created.

"What is it!" Polaris gasped.

"Quiet!" Keeping her eyes shut, Petunia allowed her thoughts to extend outward into the vines and trees. Her snare was being torn apart, the curare she had tipped the thorns with was not working, and her ability to replace the vines was not infinite; each vine that was torn apart wracked her, however slightly. She crouched on the earth, trying to keep her composure, but she felt at the brink of collapse.

Suddenly a huge figure fell through the top of the vines. Polaris screamed and Toad's tongue lashed out, but the figure caught it in a clawed hand.

"So you're the little mutants Pyro said he picked up."

"Sabretooth," Polaris exhaled, and then stooped to help up the slumping Petunia.

"Not a bad try. But let me give you some advice." He lifted up Petunia's chin and she shuddered, feeling the drag of the thick, sharp nails on her flesh. As he leaned forward in to her face, his greasy tangled hair brushed against her and she could smell his breath, tainted with blood and rotting flesh. "Don't try to use poison against a mutant with a healing factor."

He turned and began shredding his way through the rest of the woods, in the direction of the castle.

"It's okay," Polaris breathed, "he's on our side."

"It's not okay," Petunia hissed. "I don't care whose side he was on, we didn't know who he was and he could have been the enemy. I should have stopped him."

She stomped away angrily, the plants around her withering as she went. Polaris went running after, insisting that what she had done was impressive and that it probably would have killed a lot of other mutants.

Toad watched them go, his tongue still smarting, feeling the same as Petunia – that he should have been able to stop it. With no more reason to stay on the ground, he took to the trees and bounded his way back. Inside the castle, Petunia seemed to have already been mollified. He caught sight of them through the window in Petunia's bedroom, looking at a magazine and laughing about something.

He was slightly jealous of Lorna's ability to be at ease around Petunia. Whenever they were together, it all seemed so easy, talking and laughing. But once he was alone, he found that he never knew what to say, felt like everything he could think of was silly or stupid. Clinging to the side of the stone wall, he sighed and let himself fall down, missing the moat by a narrow berth. Avalanche was outside working on the jet and Mortimer approached him shyly.

"Hey, uh," he swallowed.

"Yes?" Avalanche, tall and broad as he was, made Morty feel even smaller than usual, and he found himself crouching, a habit from which he was trying to break himself.

"I was wondering if you could give me a few flying lessons with that thing."

Avalanche looked him over with a critical eye, but then nodded. "Very well. Stay there while I finish this tune up and then we may begin."

They worked at it for almost three hours, Avalanche teaching him all of the ins and outs of the systems operation – how to fly it, how to run the weapons systems, how to use its surveillance capacities – and finally took him up in the sky for a beginning flight. When they found themselves on solid ground once more, Morty stumbled out of the plane, shaky and happy to be on solid ground, but felt a swell of pride when Avalanche clapped him around the shoulders.

"You did very well," he praised.

"Can I have another lesson tomorrow?"

"Of course."

While much of the Brotherhood was absorbed in discussion of Sabretooth's return, including the information he'd gotten on the Death Eaters, Mortimer stayed in his room and went over the schematics that Avalanche had lent him. He wanted to know where everything was and get some idea of how to fix it if something ever got damaged.

Perhaps he wasn't the strongest fighter, but he would make himself useful, he vowed. One way or another, he would show everybody what he could do. Especially Petunia.

OOO

Present

OOO

"Are you sure you'll be alright by yourself?" Lily asked anxiously.

"Don't worry Lily, I'm not going to run off."

"Tuney! That's not funny!"

"I'm sorry. But I'll be fine. I just want to explore a little on my own." She looked at Severus. "And I think your companion would rather I left you two alone also."

Severus made a noise, but didn't speak.

"Alright," Lily sighed. "We can split up and meet back here in two hours. But be careful!" She dropped her voice. "There are a lot of people like Regulus around."

Petunia nodded. "I know."

Then she moved away into the crowd, looking back just in time to see Snape dragging her sister into a store selling potion supplies. Petunia turned her back to them and strolled down the street, taking in the shops as she moved in between the wizards bustling here and there. She felt slightly out of place for not wearing a set of robes, but there were enough people dressed as she was that she didn't stick out.

Towards the end of the street there was a shop with windows full of plants and a name plate reading Shoots 'n' Roots hanging above the door. Going inside, she found it like a greenhouse, air thick with humidity. The scent of the greenery filled her breath, giving her a heady rush, and the plants around her stirred to her presence.

A little witch at the counter smiled when she came in.

"Hello dear! Looking for anything particular?"

"Just browsing."

"Well, do be careful. Some of these plants have a bite worse than their bark," she winked. "The labels will let you know which ones are safest and I'm happy to answer any questions."

Petunia nodded. "Thank you."

She went around calmly, stroking some of the plants as she went. It helped her, she found, if she wanted to manipulate a plant, to touch an actual specimen of it first. The growth always felt more organic and understandable, and she had to think through the process much less. There were so many plants that she knew she would have to return eventually. But for the moment, she contented herself with a dozen or so specimens. She thought of buying a plant, but decided to wait until she had given it more consideration.

Her next stop, after a quick duck into a clothier where she picked up a bag with an extension charm, was Flourish and Blotts. Perusing the section marked Herbology, she found several books regarding dangerous plants and their uses. As she weighed which ones to purchase, she heard a familiar voice.

"…but if I don't get a new broom, I won't be the best Seeker! I'll be letting all of Slytherin down!"

"We will see Regulus. Now please, I have business to attend to."

She watched him dart from behind a shelf to the books on Quidditch, the strange sport that Lily had attempted to explain to her in the car. Taking a quick moment to assemble herself and closing her eyes to let the now-familiar pheromones move through her, she browsed her way over to where he was. She hovered for a few minutes to let the scent permeate and then 'bumped' into him.

"Oh! I'm sorry!"

He looked at her. "You're that girl. Who was with Snape."

"That's right." She smiled, laughing so that her breath would escape. "I'm Lily Evans' sister."

She could see his eyes already starting to haze and her smile grew wider.

"I haven't seen you at Hogwarts," he said, curious.

She leaned in, filling the air with her scent as she did. "That's because I'm not a witch," she whispered, before she withdrew.

He looked at her like he was befuddled. "Oh." A blush spread across his cheeks. "You smell very nice."

"It's my perfume," she said, laughing lightly and toying with her hair. "Roses."

He bobbed his head, standing frozen. Then he stuck out his hand.

"I'm Regulus."

"I remember. I'm Petunia." She grasped his hand. "Oh! I'm sorry!" She gasped. "I seem to have nicked you with my nail."

Regulus looked down to see a tiny droplet of blood beading on his palm. "That's alright, hardly a scratch." He broke into a grin. 'I'm tougher than that you know. I play Quidditch."

"Oh? What position do you play?"

"I'm the Seeker," he said, straightening up. "That's the most important position there is."

Her lips curved further upwards. "Really."

"Yes! I end the game! And I get a huge amount of points for it. I'm usually the one who makes us win or lose."

"That all sounds very exciting," she grinned. "And I would love to hear more about it. Why don't you send me an owl? And maybe we can meet someplace where you can tell me all about your Quidditch heroics."

She sauntered away to pay for her purchases and rejoin her sister, before she or Snape saw her and got suspicious. There was little more she could do but hope the chemicals took a strong enough hold to be fruitful.

Time would tell.