Chapter 26:
They've Approached Me
Towards the end of February another full moon found the marauders heading down towards the whomping willow under James' invisibility cloak. As they made their way down the grand staircase, they saw a group of Slytherins making their way into an empty classroom. James couldn't help be curious about what they were up to. He exchanged a look with Sirius and the three boys changed their direction, Remus can wait for a few minutes…
The Gryffindors followed the Slytherins into the empty classroom. They were shocked to find the classroom full of Slytherins; there were at least ten of them leaning against the walls and sitting on the desks. Sirius' breath caught when he saw his little brother, Regulus sat towards the back with his friends. Alderete was stood at the front of the classroom, "Right – none of you know why we're here but we've finally been given a mission."
There was a murmur of excitement from around the room. "The Dark Lord wants us to break into the headmaster's study."
"Why?" Macnair asked.
"That is not of your concern," Alderete replied. "I will tell you this; we are stealing something…"
Alderete took a breath before saying to the student Death Eaters, "Black, Rowan – you guys, with the help of the other fourth years and perhaps some younger students will be responsible for causing a diversion."
Regulus and Alfredo nodded, "just make sure they don't know why they are doing it. If they ask, it's just a prank – perhaps attack some Gryffindors, they are always up for that."
"Fifth years – you'll be responsible for keeping watch. Get the girls to help you if you can. I know they're a little less keen to expose their allegiances. Try and talk Snape into it too – even if you have to lie to him – I want him in on this. I'm fed up of him avoiding me and I know that the Dark Lord is getting impatient too."
"Yes sir," Avery replied.
"The sixth and seventh years have all booked themselves appointments with each of the head of departments; McGonagall, Slughorn, Flitwick, Sprout, Sinistra, Babbling, Vector, Kettleburn, Liffliliee, Pulham… One of them has even made an appointment with Binns."
There was a burst of excited laughter at Lacerete's last comment. "Myself and a few others will then break into the office and take what the Dark Lord wants. So… next week an hour after dinner the fourth years will form a distraction somewhere near Filch. Filch will fail to find any of the teachers because they will be with the sixth and seventh years, so Filch will have to go to Dumbledore. The fifth years will then keep lookout to make sure old Dumbles doesn't return before we're out of the office."
Half an hour later, the marauders made their way out into the grounds before transforming into their animagus forms. Their friend was waiting for them, his yellow eyes questioning why they were late. Soon the four friends were racing around the shack, having a whale of a time. They completely forgot about what they had overheard the Slytherins talking about.
Before they knew it the sun was starting to rise and the friends had to part. James led the three animagis out of the shack and back up to the castle. When it was finally safe to do so, they transformed back to their human forms. "Can you imagine how much fun we could have with Moony in the forest?" Sirius asked.
"It's too dangerous," James replied.
"But Prongs," Sirius frowned, "we could keep him in check. You know we could!"
James almost grinned, "We probably could… but let's see how things go in the shack for a while first."
Sirius nodded, "alright… Prongsy."
Lily and Severus were sat in the kitchen drinking hot chocolate. "What's going on with you Sev?"
"What do you mean Lils?" The Slytherin replied.
"You've not been yourself recently," Lily answered.
"I've been distracted."
"Distracted by what?" Lily asked.
"Stuff."
"Slytherin stuff?" Lily pressed.
"I wish it were that simple," Severus muttered.
"Why won't you tell me?" Lily frowned.
"They've approached me."
"They?" Lily frowned, confused.
"The Dark Lord."
Lily's eyes grew, "what did you say?"
"The Dark Lord wants me to join them," Severus told his best friend.
"What are you going to do?" Lily asked him sadly.
"I… I haven't given him an answer and I don't plan to."
"He won't like that," Lily whispered.
"Probably not," Snape laughed bitterly.
The Gryffindor girls sat together in the common room working on their defence against the dark arts homework. They were writing an essay on the Bat-Bogey Hex. Alice was flicking through her textbooks. Marlene was writing her essay in her elegant hand. "The Bat-Bogey Hex was invented by Miranda Goshawk and turns the target's bogeys into large, black bats that flew out of their nose. The spell was invented by Goshawk in the early 20th Century. Growing up as the youngest of nine sisters, she often found it difficult to get her older sisters to listen to her, and sometimes relied on the bat-bogey hex to silence them long enough to allow her to speak.
Alice laughed, "did you know that Goshawk used the hex on her sister Diadema to get her to return clothing she had borrowed without permission."
"Yeah," Marlene smiled, "she also used it on her sister Romilda to get her to keep out of her room when she didn't want to be disturbed."
Lily smiled, "not to mention that she used it on Tangwystl, her other sister to keep her quiet so she could do her homework… ring any bells…" Lily smirked at her friends as she twirled her wand in between her fingertips.
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Coming Next... the Slytherins Plot...