Summary of recent events:
-Lily Luna's roommates(Lily, Emmeline, Mary) are angry with her because they suspect she spread rumors about them to the school. However, Dorcas did talk to Lily Luna in the last chapter, and tried to warn her about hanging around Slytherins.
-Sirius Black is currently a girl, thanks to a potion slipped to him by Lily Luna and Snape.
-Severus Snape is still in love with Lily Luna, thanks to Sirius's love potion.
-James has been acting strange, sort of cold, about Lily.
-A Slytherin girl, Ethelyn Cavanagh has been talking and being friendly to Lily Luna during class.
Chapter 36: Dinner with Slytherins
"Why don't you come sit with me this time?" Severus asked as he and I made our way to the Great Hall for dinner.
I hesitated at the suggestion. I was starting to feel a bit bad, constantly trying to shake him off when he dedicated so much of his time to worshiping and trying to please me. Even though I knew it wasn't real, it was still awfully uncomfortable being mean to someone who wanted nothing more than my company and my affection.
"I don't know. I don't think I'd really get along with your friends." I replied. That was the mildest way to describe my unease about sitting next to a bunch of future Death Eaters.
"Just this once?" he asked, his black eyes boring into me.
"I would just feel out of place at the Slytherin table." I avoided his pleading gaze.
"But I sat with you and the Gryffindors. And trust me, my history with them is a lot worse than whatever conflict you may have with my friends."
"Well..." I considered. What was the worst that could happen, in the middle of the Great Hall? And honestly, I was rather curious about these Slytherins. Were they really as bad as my housemates were making them out to be? I wasn't too keen on accepting their judgements, at the moment. Though I still remembered Dorcas's warning, from earlier in the day, not to affiliate myself with any of them. But it's not like sitting with someone is the same as befriending them, per say..
The smell of delicious food, clinking of silverware, and chatter of students filled our senses as we walked past the double doors. On instinct, my eyes jumped to scan up the Gryffindor table. However, instead of seeing a place to sit I only saw where I shouldn't sit- Mary, Lily, Emma, and Dorcas were in their usual spots; the Marauders weren't even there yet.
"Come on." Severus gave a tug on my sleeve and pulled me in the direction of the Slytherin table. My feet complied without my brain really participating in the decision.
When Snape found his friends and took a seat across from them, I still considered just walking away. I made eye contact with one of them, and immediately recognized his icy blue eyes and angular features. He was the one who made that comment about my 'talent' after I beat Sirius in our DADA duel the previous week.
"Luna," Severus motioned as he introduced us, "Hammond Avery, Eldrich Mulciber, and Alvina Burke."
Avery smiled, Mulciber raised an eyebrow, and Burke seemed rather disinterested.
"Hello." I said, rather awkwardly, still standing. Severus looked at me with expectation, and I gave in and lowered myself onto the bench.
"So, the new girlfriend that Severus has been raving about has finally agreed to grace us with her lovely presence." Avery drawled, his pinprick pupils piercing into me. I felt rather unnerved by the sudden scrutiny.
"Not his girlfriend. More of a fellow victim of some unfortunate circumstances." I retorted in annoyance. I mean, Snape had an excuse to be delusional at the moment, but his friends didn't need to be encouraging it!
"But the two of you have been spending so much time together! We were sure you must be planning the wedding by now." This time it was Mulciber speaking, a smirk on his face.
"Shut up, Mulciber." Severus snapped at him, looking a little embarrassed. "I didn't ask her to sit at this table so you could mock us."
"It's rather refreshing to see Severus here taking a fancy to someone." Avery spoke again. "He's not usually one for dating, more of the studious type-"
"We're not dating-" I interjected, but was ignored.
"-and somehow you've managed to thaw out his cold, icy heart."
"You idiots do realize he's been slipped a love potion?" I burst out, glaring daggers.
But the two of them only laughed in reply, while Severus muttered a pointed, "Why do you keep insisting that."
Burke rolled her eyes at he housemates' antics. "You transferred here from the States? Ilvermorny? " she asked dully. At least she changed the subject, for which I was grateful.
"That's right." I replied as I reached for some food.
I was quite used to explaining my cover story by now, and the lying came easily as Avery and Mulciber began to ask me a whole bunch more questions about my "old school." I tried not to act too friendly and keep my emotional distance.
"I heard the Americans have laws against wizards even associating with Muggles. Seems they're more advanced than us, in that regard." Mulciber pondered aloud.
"I wouldn't call that advanced." I said bitterly. I knew it would be pointless to argue with a blood purist, but the nonchalance with which he voiced his disturbing views bothered me. Maybe I should have resisted Snape's stupid suggestion to sit here more strongly.
"Don't mind Eldrich here." Avery tried to assure me. "He can be a bit tactless."
I shrugged. Tactless was the least of Mulciber's flaws.
"So you miss your old school? Or are the Gryffindors making you feel nice and welcome?" Avery asked.
"I do miss my school." I ignored the second part of that question.
"And your friends?" pressed Avery. Why was he so interested, anyway?
"They're fine." I faked a smile, though I'm sure, in that moment, my eyes outmatched Avery's in their iciness.
I mostly kept quiet for the rest of the meal, as the topic turned to more mundane things such as Charms homework. Severus did try to feed me a spoonful of strawberry ice cream once desert appeared on the tables, but I resisted.
"I'm pretty full. Not feeling like having desert." I stood up, grabbing my bag.
"See you." Avery said, and the others gave me nods of acknowledgement.
Walking away, I still felt their looks on my back. It was disconcerting, to say the least. I knew that was a bad idea.
Snape, of course, chose to escort me on my way up to Gryffindor Tower. As we walked down a corridor, I heard a female voice some distance behind us shouting. As it drew closer, it became possible to decipher the words.
"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, CAVANAGH?! I already told you A DOZEN TIMES to SOD OFF."
"But Siri! All I'm saying is-!"
"DO NOT CALL ME THAT!"
"-you haven't even considered!"
"WHAT THE FUCK IS THERE TO CONSIDER? I am a BLOKE. I am into GIRLS. WHAT DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?"
Snape and I exchange looks, and paused to let the arguing couple catch up to us. I could feel the bubble of glee growing inside me with every screamed syllable.
"I swear, I WILL BLOODY HEX YOU AGAIN. And this time you will spend MORE than thirty minutes in the hospital wing. In fact, I'll be aiming for thirty DAYS." Sirius raged as he rounded the corner in all his angry, feminine beauty. Following him was a boy I could only assume was Ethelyn Cavanagh's cousin.
"But you're not a bloke NOW. C'mon, don't be so stubborn! Only one snog! What'll it cost you? You've already snogged half the school anyway-" Cavanagh was barely a step behind him.
When Sirius saw me, he stopped right in his tracks, whirled around and grabbed the Ravenclaw boy by his collar. "Tell me the truth, did SHE put you up to this?!" Dramatically, he pointed in my direction with his free hand, as the other tightened its grip on the boy's collar.
"I don't even know her!" replied Cavanagh, trying to loosen Sirius's grip on his clothing.
"I don't know him either." I innocently put in. "Must just be your natural charm, Siri. Impossible to resist."
Sirius scowled at me, before whipping out his wand and jabbing it at the Ravenclaw boy's exposed neck, who immediately stopped struggling.
"I am going to my room now." Sirius spoke in a voice both soft and deadly. "You will not follow me. If you continue to stalk me despite this last warning, you will find that you won't be a bloke anymore either. Permanently."
And with that and one last dirty look, Sirius stalked off.
"Merlin." said the Ravenclaw boy, rubbing his neck, "After that, it's Ethelyn's turn to owe me a favor."
Later that night, I was sitting in the Gryffindor common room, writing an essay. Or, rather, chewing on the end of my quill in frustration, staring at the blank parchment in front of me. It was hard to concentrate, and I gave up altogether once I witnessed this scene:
Lily Evans was sitting by the fire, also working on homework, when none other than Sirius Black - or Siri, I guess? His feminine form - came up and tapped her on the shoulder. Judging by her expression, it took Lily a second to remember the very hourglass-shaped girl standing in front of her was actually Sirius.
Her expression soured. It was only a couple days ago that Sirius said all that stuff about her being a "slag."
"And what do you want?"
"Just a quick word with you." Sirius, surprisingly, sounded genuine.
"And why would I give you that?"
"It won't take long." And then, seeing that that didn't convince her, he added an uncharacteristic "Please?"
Lily seemed a bit taken off guard by this. "Well, alright." she replied.
Sirius sat down next to her. I cast a quick Hearing Enhancement Charm on myself again. Awful useful, for the regular eavesdropper such as myself. I would have thought twice under different circumstances, but everything happening with Lily and the Marauders was too important to me.
Lily crossed her arms. "If you're wondering if I can reverse the Gender-Switch Potion the answer is yes I can, but no I won't."
"It's not that."
"And if this is about Potter then you might as well go talk to that wall over there-"
"It's not about James." Sirius replied sincerely, but hesitated to continue further.
Lily sounded curious but but still on guard. "What is it then?"
"I just wanted to say that, er, I underestimated how.. unpleasant.. it's been for you."
"How unpleasant what's been?"
"Not having someone take no for an answer."
Lily paused, processing Sirius's words. "Why are you saying this now?"
The boy took a deep breath. "It's been a long and frustrating day. And a lot of that is due to this one complete arsebag who would not bugger off and accept that I didn't want to touch him with a twenty foot pole. And I was trying to explain how frustrating it was to Peter and James, and they kept laughing and giving me shit for sounding just like you."
Lily gave a small snort of appreciation for this piece of information, before Sirius continued. " So I guess I wanted to say that I think I get it now. I mean, I'm in no way implying that James is anything like that bloody tosser Cavanagh, but the persistence thing.. one can draw a parallel there."
Although her tone was softer, there was still some bitterness left when Lily responded. "Good on you for widening your perspective on the situation, but I don't exactly need your validation. Why don't you go discuss this revelation- that Potter needs to leave me alone- with your friend?"
To his credit, Sirius didn't get more annoyed at this. "I only wanted to say I was wrong to dislike you so much on the premise that you were shitty to James. It was a.. complicated situation."
I looked over at them to see Lily nodding softly before Sirius spoke again.
"And another thing- about the other day- I shouldn't have, er, called you a slag. That was a bit out of line, and I only did it because I was angry on James's behalf." He paused. "I guess I just wanted to say, I'm sorry."
There was a silence for a few beats, and I snuck another peek. Sirius was looking away at the fireplace, while Lily's gaze rested down in her lap. Nonetheless, thanks to my charm, I heard her utter a small "Thanks."
Another moment passed before Sirius spoke again, in a familiar tone this time. "And I want you to know that anyone spreading gossip about what you did or did not do is an arse, and if you like, I'll start slipping Itching Powder down the backs of their robes."
Lily laughed lightly. "I'm afraid, as Head Girl, I am not allowed to officially accept that offer."
"That's unfortunate- the official part's non-negotiable. I only work with a contract. Especially if there's payment involved- it's for tax reasons."
I could hear the smile in Lily's voice when she said, "Well, I should probably get back to my homework."
"Classic Evans." said Sirius, but not unkindly. He stood up, but then paused again. "By the way, you don't have to worry about James bothering you anymore."
"Oh, why's that?"
"Well, I think that incident at the party gave him the push he needed to get over you. So, he's not going to be asking you out anymore."
"Oh. Well. I'm pleased to hear that." Lily replied, but it was hard to read her tone. I thought she sounded strangely formal.
"Yeah. See you around." Sirius said before walking off towards the boys' dorms. Lucky for him girls were allowed in there.
I looked over in Lily's direction again. She was curled up on her armchair, the position she was in before she was ever disturbed. However she seemed to be staring into the fire rather than working on homework.
"Audius Minima." I removed my hearing charm before looking down once more at my empty parchment.
I was practically chewing my quill in frustration when I heard Sirius Black's girly voice again, this time right behind me.
"Having trouble?"
"Ugh." was my sound of confirmation. "But why do you care?" It might have been touching to see Sirius be nice to Lily for once, but I wasn't expecting the same treatment.
"You're right, I don't. I just wanted to give you this." He took a small phial of grayish liquid out of his pocket, and set it on the table in front of me.
I looked up at him quizzically, "What's that?"
"Antidote for the love potion." His pretty, feminine face had a dark expression.
"Really?!" I picked up the small bottle of potion. "Why? Merlin, you're a lot more generous as a girl..."
"I'm not being generous." his voice was biting. "I hope that's the only time I'll ever see you sitting at the Slytherin table. With them."
Not waiting for a reply, he walked away.
It was almost one in the morning when I decided to go to bed. I had first started feeling tired before midnight, but I wanted to increase the chances that my roommates would be asleep, so I could avoid them.
However, when I entered the room, all four of them were still up, though in their night gowns. I put down the essay I had been working on on my night stand and turned to go brush my teeth.
"Luna, wait." Dorcas said suddenly.
I paused at the bathroom door. "What's up?" I asked her, trying to keep my tone of voice casual. After all, Dorcas was the only one who was still cordial with me.
"There's something we want to talk to you about." This came from Emma. I rolled my eyes at the severity in her voice and the way she crossed her arms as she leaned back on her bed post.
"Let me guess," I began, my tone bitter. "You're all going to lecture me about how I need to do this or that to keep out of trouble."
"This is important." Lily said, her tone much less brash than Emma's. But it didn't matter, I was already annoyed.
"Of course! It would have to be a pretty important lecture if the four of you stayed up so late just to give it to me." I was tired of knowing that I was talked about behind my back, and feeling ganged up on.
"It's not a lecture." I guess Mary had also decided that whatever they wanted to talk to me about was worth breaking their silent treatment. "We're not going to tell you what you should or shouldn't be doing. We just... thought we should share some things with you. Some information about what things at Hogwarts are like, since you're still new here and have no way of knowing."
I took a moment to think, and then left the door frame of the bathroom to sit down cross-legged on my bed. "Alright, I suppose I'm listening."
"You know I used to be friends with Snape, right?" Lily asked me, continuing after I nodded. "And that I stopped being friends with him after he called me a Mudblood?" I nodded again. "Well, I think the real reason our friendship ended was because he hung around so much with Avery and Mulciber. He didn't used to be so.. awful and prejudiced. But being in Slytherin, it brought out the worst in him."
"Yeah, ok." I said rather carelessly. "But I don't see why you felt the need to tell me this? I'm not going to keep hanging around him. In fact, you'll be pleased to know, I just acquired the antidote to the love potion. So you won't be seeing us together starting tomorrow morning."
"But you sat at the Slytherin table today." pointed out Emma.
"Yes, well, Severus practically dragged me with him. And we just ate and talked. It wasn't exactly friendly."
"You're calling him Severus now?" Emma said with disgust.
"Just temporarily." I shot back.
"Ok, whatever you're calling him, it's not really our business." Dorcas interjected, mediating the situation. "That wasn't the point here..."
"The point was you don't know Snape, Avery, and Mulciber the way we do." Mary picked up where Dorcas trailed off. "They're evil."
Emma nodded. "Not only do they throw around that awful term for Muggleborns as though it's their favorite word, but they're always talking about how much better Hogwarts could become if we just 'get rid of all the worthless filth polluting up the school.' That's a direct quote."
"I can't count the number of times I've walked down the hallway, all of a sudden tripped on nothing at all, and then looked up to see Mulciber and Avery grinning, one of them stowing away his wand." Lily recalled. "They do it to all the Muggleborns."
"That one attack that happened a few weeks ago, which was so bad that they decided to instill a curfew.. I'd bet my money the Slytherin 7th years had something to do with it."
"Yeah, that's pretty awful..." I said softly, but none of it surprised me that much. I knew they were shady people, though it was interesting to hear concrete evidence of it.
"And then there's what they did to Mary."
There was a moment of silence, during which I could do nothing but wonder, what on Earth did they do to Mary?
Mary wrapped her arms around her knees and looked at the floor when she finally spoke up.
"It was 5th year. When I got dressed that morning, I put on the standard boring school robes, but, as was typical of me, livened them up with a few jewelry pieces. A necklace and a ring made of white daisies. I mean, it was painted like white daisies; technically it was some kind of metal.
"Well, in Charms class, this one Hufflepuff said it looked awfully pretty and asked where I got it. I told her, I suppose rather loudly, that I borrowed it from my mum. And she, of course, got it from a Muggle jewelry shop, seeing how she is a Muggle. We talked some more and I explained that I love Muggle fashion, because it's always changing, so it's new and fresh and fun. While every single piece of jewelry in the wizarding world looks like a centuries old antique. I believe I called wizarding fashion stale.
"Anyway, later on that day, I'm walking down a corridor, all alone, when I run into Eldrich Mulciber. He was just standing there, and naturally, I just ignored him. But as I walked past, I swear I heard him say, 'Nice necklace.'" Mary paused, and swallowed. "Next thing I knew I couldn't breath, and my neck seared with pain. I was disoriented for a moment, but when I realized what was going on I tried to pry it off myself... I struggled with it for I don't know how long. It felt like an eternity, but it couldn't have been more than a few minutes... Less than six minutes, to be precise. That's how long it takes for a person to die of strangulation. Obviously, I didn't die.
"It stopped because the necklace broke. I suppose the links weren't strong enough to withstand applying that much force.
"A prefect did come running to help out, but that was after it was over. She said she heard the sounds of my coughs and gasps for air. Of course, at that point, Mulciber was nowhere to be seen. The only real evidence of what had happened were the awful bruises. They were daisy-shaped." Mary touched her neck, as though remembering the feel of them.
My mind felt numb with this new information. "He almost killed you?" I asked, rather stupidly.
Mary nodded slowly. "I don't know if he meant to. Probably not, since that'd be Azkaban for life. But.. he came close."
I sat still, at a loss for words.
"And the moral of the story is," said Emma in a concluding tone, "that Mulciber, and anyone who chooses to be his friend, is sick in the head."