Lily entered the room filled with members of both the Moon Knights and the Slug Club, the first thing she noticed was the strange quiet that had settled over the room; the boys who were usually annoyingly loud and showing off were quietly sitting and whispering or speaking in lowered voices. Lily noticed their eyes shift every so often to the dark haired young man sipping tea, Bella took her hand and practically dragged her to the man; a smile played over her features as she waited for him to put his tea down to introduce Lily. Before she could speak Tom extended his hand, "Lily Evans." It was not a question; his eyes took her in and seemed to be weighing her up in silent judgment. "So this is the mudblood who infiltrated our group." He laughed as though he'd made a very funny joke. Lily did not smile and Bella seemed a bit unsure of how to move forward. "No matter, talent is talent after all." He finally released her hand and picked up his tea cup again to sip it. Lily took this as a dismissal and took a tentative step away; Bella did not move rather she asked if Tom needed anything else. He assured her he was fine and then she finally walked away from the table.
Bella and Lily found seats towards the center of the group and waited with everyone else as Lucius talked quietly to Tom at the table. There seemed to be a lot of nodding and glances in Lily direction before Tom cleared his throat and stood to join the group. The little whispers that had been peppering the room with noise ceased when he took his chair, he bestowed a smile on the group of around thirty students. "Thank you my friends, thank you." He said with a nod, "It means so much to me that you've all gathered here today and given up part of your day. Loyalty, true loyalty is lacking in the wizarding world today and to see you all here gives me hope." He leaned forward, "Look around you my friends, what you see is the best of the wizarding world, the best of what we are."
A student at the back cleared his throat, "So mudbloods are the best are they?" He laughed but nobody followed and soon it sounded pathetic and nervous the longer that Tom fixed the boy in his stare.
"I assume you are referring to Lily Evans." Tom said gesturing towards Lily who tried hard to keep her cheeks from blushing. This was a bad idea she knew that not all the Slytherins accepted her. "She is both a Moon Knight and part of the Slug Club; you on the other hand are only here because of affiliation with my former house. Now perhaps you will learn to keep your mouth closed or I shall come up with creative uses for your tongue outside of your body."
The venom in his voice made the group give a collective shudder, Tom Riddle was not one to be bullied or spoken to in any manner that did not immediately please him.
"I do detest stupidity; let us hope that before we meet again you will have gained some intelligence." And with that the statement was forgotten. Lily listened as Tom spoke of loyalty, of restoring the wizarding world and how the future of all of this lay in their hands. He spoke like a politician and by the end of the meeting most of the students assembled felt they were ready to take on everyone who opposed the idea of a better life for wizards.
Bella left with Lily to sneak her back to the tunnel to return to Hogwarts before she was missed. "What did you think?" She asked, her eyes shining slightly with excitement.
"He's very charismatic." Lily admitted pausing to let a group of fourth years pass. "He makes it seem like war will happen any day."
"Well, it will happen if the Ministry doesn't listen to the demands of the youth. They will leave us with no choice." Bella said with passion.
Lily nodded as Bella repeated Tom's rhetoric. "Only, well where do I fall, in this new wizarding world? His focus is on pure bloods isn't it?"
Bella frowned at her, "No his focus is on talent, you heard him, besides you're one of us even if you're not a pure blood."
Lily was quiet as Bella kept bringing up her favourite parts of his speech, what the next plans were and how he was going to bring the petitions they had all signed to the Ministry that week.
"Why doesn't he work in the Ministry? I am sure Slughorn could have found a job for him with all his connections." Lily wondered aloud finally.
"He didn't want that, he wants to work for it, work with the people not be some stuffy shirt in dress robes behind a desk."
Bella checked that the coast was clear before leading Lily to the store room. "I'll see you later." She said with a smile and then she was gone, the door closed and Lily was alone in the tunnel. She quickly changed back into her regular uniform and made the long trek back to school. Bella wouldn't return until that afternoon, she was off to the pub to enjoy drinks with everyone and Lily was stuck doing homework.
Lily met Bella that afternoon under their tree; Bella dropped a parcel of sweets into her lap and a bottle of butterbeer. "Since you couldn't join us in the pub." She said blowing on the top of it to make it foam up. Lily sipped the butterbeer and smiled a thanks, she was still a bit overwhelmed with meeting Tom.
"Bella- you wouldn't…well you wouldn't just start hating me because I'm- well I'm a mudblood." Lily asked after a moment.
Bella looked surprised at the words, "Of course not and don't call yourself that, besides, I told you already you're one of us. You're not like the other mud- muggleborns you're special." She said as if that was the final word on it. "Now, tomorrow is the first match of the season, shall I catch the snitch for you?" She said with a wink that reminded Lily of their earliest interactions. "I rather like the idea of you having a trunk full of my winning snitches." And Lily did in fact have every one of Bella's snitches that she had given her. Each one had the date and the final score engraved on them after the match by the head of house.
They sat happily for a moment before Bella spied Severus coming over the hill, "Oh great, Snivelus is here." She said and then sighed, she did try to like the greasy haired git for Lily's sake.
"Lily, Lily!" He called excitedly waving a flyer in his hand, "Did you see this, did you see it?" He asked landing in a huff of excitement and shoving the piece of parchment at her.
"Dueling Club?" She asked raising an eyebrow reading over the information about the club, when it was to meet and where. Each house was comprised of a team of eight and tryouts were in a week.
"You should do it." Bella said picking through the parcel to find a piece of toffee. "I'm going to, so is Antonin and Lucius."
"I am as well." Severus piped up so that Bella wouldn't leave him out of the conversation, after all he had been the one to bring it to Lily's attention in the first place.
"I'm counting the people who will actually make the final cut Snivvy." Bella said after a moment before she unwrapped the brightly coloured toffee.
"I can duel." He said in disgust.
"I am sure you can Snivvy only they don't take beginners do they?" She said back with a laugh.
"But Lily-"
"Lily can duel better than any Gryffindor, you on the other hand…" Bella rose and drew her wand. "Come on then Snivs, let's see you. Give it your best shot."
Lily's eyes were wide; Bella was a third year and was at good at dueling as she was at Quidditch. Severus hesitated but then stood. As Bella began to pace off James and Sirius spotted them and came over the hill. In the moment Severus was distracted by the newcomers Bella upended him and he was on the ground. "Come on you're not even trying." She goaded and marched him over to the proper position. "Really if you're going to try out at least look like you know what you're doing." She paced off again.
"Ready-Turn." Lily called and this time Severus was ready with a stinging hex that Bella easily deflected. They circled one another, Sirius cheering on his cousin when she managed to hit Severus to deliver a nasty cut to his cheek. The duel ended with Severus flat on his back panting once more. "That was two minutes. You're going to have to get up to five before tryouts." Lily said reading on the paper.
"We'll help you out, won't we James?" Sirius replied grinning at his friend.
"Of course we will, hell we'll even throw some special spells in just for you."
"I don't need help from you." Severus said standing up and brushing off before holding his hand out to Lily for the flyer.
"What do you want anyway?" Bella asked in a good mood after impressing Lily at upending Severus.
"Can't I visit my dear cousin without wanting something?" Sirius asked, his dark eyes mirrored Bella's.
"No actually you can't."
"Well if you must know I wanted to check a rumour I heard about a certain Gryffindor being seen in Hogsmeade today."
Severus looked shocked and Bella glared, Lily looked between the pair and then focused on Bella. If it was found out she was going to lose house points, get detention or worse…
"Don't know what you mean." She answered with a shrug before digging out some toffee. "Would have saved myself the trouble if Evans here had been in Hogsmeade, wouldn't have had to bring back all these sweets now would I?"
"Your act isn't going to work on McGonagall, in fact, she's looking for you now Evans. Best be off towards the castle before she hunts you down." He said with a laugh though James did not join in.
Lily stood to go and Bella grabbed her hand, James watched as something flashed between them and Lily nodded before gathering up the candy and heading off towards the castle.