DISCLAIMER: All the characters you see here that are in any of the Harry Potter books belong to JK Rowling and I am not her. I am simply taking them out to play.

Chapter 34: The Not-So-Secret Secret Meeting

Even with the added pressure of spying on the Dark Lord for Dumbledore, Mallory was still not nervous. She had spent an hour or so alone in her dorm thinking everything through. Eagar had told her not to get involved with the Dark Lord. She had told Darcy that no one could stay neutral anymore. She had to choose sides – everyone did. If she was not siding with the Dark Lord then it made sense to side with Dumbledore. His was the only real resistance being formed, the only one on the opposite side. Otherwise she would have to go it alone and, as much as she usually preferred that idea, it wasn't smart. She knew herself well enough to know that she, alone, was no match for a fully grown Dark Wizard with a following. She wouldn't last two minutes against him. Plus she had never had anyone believe that there was good inside of her before. She thought Eagar might have believed it but he had never said as much.

Maybe Dumbledore was right, maybe she'd been suppressing the good for too long. She thought of her feelings for Eagar. Someone can't love if they don't have goodness inside of them right? She thought of how much she cared for Severus and Sophia. There had to be something in her that made her want to see them have good lives. The question she was going to have to answer now was - was there enough goodness left? She'd been stamping it out for so long – what if there wasn't enough left in her?

The slamming of the door brought Mallory from her thoughts. Sophia was sitting next to her, by the window, practically sweating bullets and jumped violently at the sound. Severus was a few rows ahead sitting near Nott. Bellatrix marched across the room to the front. Her long black cloak billowed behind her as she moved. There was something different about her that made her appear powerful. Mallory couldn't describe it but the air felt energized and alive.

"Who is here because they're tired of muggle-loving fools like Dumbledore running the world?" Her voice was forceful and carried well. A few hands went into the air rather hesitantly, "Who is here because they hate filthy mudbloods and the contamination they bring to our pureblood?" A few more hands went up, "Who is here because they're ready for a change?" Even more hands went up and a few people smiled. "Good," Bellatrix paced the front of the room. "There is a powerful wizard who is ready to lead us if we're ready to follow." Mallory sat forward in her seat, listening intently. This was what she had come for. "He is ready to take power if we're ready to help him overthrow the corrupt government that treats mudbloods and half-breeds as though they are equal to us. He will restore our right to rule over those filthy creatures that steal our magic and defile it." Malloy noticed a sort of crazed glint in Bellatrix's eyes as she paused. "This is an informative meeting," Bellatrix continued quietly, "I'm hoping to return to him with a list of the faithful who're ready to fight for our rights." She looked around the room and Mallory felt very uncomfortable. Bellatrix seemed disfigured. There was something about her beautiful face that wasn't right – wasn't normal. When Bellatrix looked at her directly, Mallory realized what it was with a shock. Bellatrix Black was smiling. It wasn't her usual indulgent smile, or the fake smile she gave to her professors, or even the smug smirk she gave her classmates - her teeth were barred and her entire face seemed to be alight. Bellatrix was ecstatic about this meeting – about this Dark Lord. Maybe the energy she was giving off was excitement. Strange really, Mallory had never seen any of her fellow Slytherins get excited before; perhaps that was why she hadn't recognize it. This was all completely foreign for her and her insides were screaming in warning. This Dark Lord had to be something if he could get Bellatrix Black wound up like a giddy school girl.

"Does anyone have any questions?" Bellatrix's voice brought Mallory from her thoughts.

At first no one moved; no one breathed. Mallory wondered if they were all as shocked by the eerie smile on their fellow Slytherin's face as she was, or whether they were just shocked in general.

"Come on," Bellatrix commanded, "I don't have all day. I know you have questions – ask them."

Parkinson cleared his throat and Bellatrix looked over at him, "Well," he said hesitantly, "I'm just wondering … er … why are you … er … why meet with us?" Bellatrix's eyes narrowed and Parkinson hastened to explain, "it's just … we're still in school … I mean … what can we do to help - what'd you say earlier - overthrow the corrupt government - ? We're right under Dumbledore's nose."

"That's a fair question," said Bellatrix with a nod, "the Dark Lord is, of course, recruiting adults to help him in this noble endeavor. However, he is also thinking ahead. He knows that Dumbledore and the ministry are his biggest opponents. So, if he can get some of us to spy on Dumbledore while we're here, while we have such close access to him, he will be able to use that information to his advantage. Plus, if we train properly here, when we leave we can get jobs at the ministry and then he will have perfectly placed spies." Mallory was impressed. This Dark Lord, so far, seemed to really have some plans.

Darcy's hand went into the air and Bellatrix pointed to her, "I want to know if he's recruiting women," she said boldly.

"Of course he is," said Bellatrix in a bored voice with a dismissive wave of her hand, "you wouldn't be here if he wasn't."

"I mean are we going to play an active role or does he expect us to cook and clean his headquarters?"

"That's something you'll have to ask him," said Bellatrix, "does anyone else have any real questions?"

Mallory watched Darcy pull her arms over her chest and glare at Bellatrix. She smiled to herself. If she knew her dorm mate like she thought she did, Darcy would not stand for being brushed off like that. Mallory actually thought her question had some validity. She was not signing up to take care of a house while everyone else was off fighting a war. Of course, she wasn't really signing up at all.

Nott's hand rose into the air next. "Does he – er – have any plans?" He asked once Bellatrix had acknowledged him.

"His current plans are to recruit followers," Bellatrix answered coldly.

"Yes, but after that," said Nott relaxing a little, "Has he thought this through completely?"

"Of course he has," she snapped fiercely, "but you must think he's a fool if you think he's going to reveal his plans to a bunch of sixteen and seventeen year olds, and I assure you he's not a fool."

"So you expect us to follow him blindly?" Candor Phelps, a seventh year, asked loudly.

"Look," Bellatrix's eyes blazed with fire, "you all are here to show your support for-"

"How can we support him if we've never even met him?" asked Mulciber, a boy in Mallory's year. The room began to come alive with soft whispers and gentle murmurs. Mallory could see that things were quickly getting out of hand.

Bellatrix pulled herself to her full height, which seemed more impressive than it actually was. The room went deadly silent immediately. "Let's get two things straight right now," her voice was a powerful bellow, "one – don't you ever interrupt me again," her eyes flashed with fire again, "two – you know what he stands for. I've told you what he will accomplish. He is a more powerful wizard than Dumbledore ever was and much shrewder. He will do as he says. His plans for accomplishing his goals are his. We are not to know them unless he wants us to." The room was silent as they all digested this, "Now, if you are on board with restoring power to the old wizarding families, with showing muggle scum their place, with riding our world of mud-bloods and half-breeds, then you support him and you won't need to meet him to do that. You will meet him soon enough."

The room remained silent after this proclamation. Her eyes still danced with fire. The air around her seemed to crack with power. "Are there any more questions?" She whispered.

No one moved.

"Good," she smiled again and it was a frightful sight. "By a show of hands - how many of you are supportive?"

Every hand in the room went up.

"Good," she repeated quietly, "he will be pleased. You may leave now if you like, in groups of no more than three at a time. We don't want to draw attention to ourselves from the wrong people."

There was a great scraping of stools as people began to leave. Sophia was positively shaking. Mallory placed her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Calm down," she whispered.

Sophia nodded and slightly relaxed her stiff shoulders.

"Well that was … informative," said Theodore Nott quietly. He was standing in front of Mallory, nearly leaning over the table between them. He must've walked over when she wasn't looking. She glanced at Bellatrix whom was quietly berating Mulciber.

"You think so?" Mallory whispered, interested in his thoughts.

"Come on," he said as he gestured to the door, "let's get out of here."

On the brisk walk back to the dungeons Nott lead the way in silence. It was as though all three of them knew it wasn't safe to talk in the open. Mallory was wondering when she could meet with Dumbledore and what she would tell him. The Dark Lord was recruiting students to spy for him, just like Dumbledore had recruited Mallory, and so that he could place them where he wanted once they graduated. She really thought it was a genius idea. No one would suspect recently graduated students to already be tied up in this mess. No one really took them seriously. But there were a lot of them at that meeting. If half of them were seriously interested she didn't want to think about the damage they could do to the ministry and to Dumbledore. She would be sure to tell him, he needed to be warned. She would also have to make sure to tell Dumbledore about Bellatrix's apparent fascination with the Dark Lord. She was quite a powerful witch and although Mallory was getting the strong impression that flipping her would be more than impossible, she still needed to be watched. On top of that Mallory was beginning to toy with the idea of telling him about Bellatrix's meeting with Lucius Malfoy and her brother. Of course if she told him she would be incriminating herself and she didn't want to do that. She would need to think about it some more.

Once they were safely inside the Slytherin common room Nott gestured toward a table in the far corner. The room was nearly deserted, only a few second and third years were crowded around tables studying and a few seventh years were lounging about on the couches by the fire talking quietly. Mallory knew the seventh years had been at the meeting she had just left and were probably discussing it. She wondered where the others had gone to talk. She wondered if anywhere was really safe from being overheard.

"So you thought it was interesting?" Mallory whispered once the three of them were seated at the table in the corner.

Nott glanced toward the entrance then looked back at Mallory, "I said informative," he replied quietly, "but yes, it was interesting as well."

"What about it makes you think it was informative?"

"I really don't think this is the place to talk about it," said Sophia as she glanced at the seventh years by the fire.

Mallory looked over her shoulder at the entrance, then to her left to the fire, then back to Sophia. "Who do you think is listening?" She asked her nervous friend.

"Everyone," Sophia replied and she jumped slightly.

"I think she's right," said Nott, "come with me to Hogsmeade and we can discuss it there."

"Do you really think that is any safer?" Mallory asked.

Nott nodded, "I think it's much safer - less chance of being overheard."

"Or more," said Mallory.

The seventh years were getting up now and stretching as though tired. The girls and boys were splitting up the girls to their dorms and the boys to theirs. Mallory watched them go and every single one of them glanced in her direction at least once.

"More?" Nott asked once they were gone.

"There are more people in Hogsmeade-" said Mallory.

"But there is also more space-"

"For more people to hide-"

"To hide?" He frowned at her, "You know, I believe you're becoming paranoid,"

"A little paranoia can be healthy. Listen, what we're going to discuss is really secretive and if we don't play it right we can get into serious trouble."

Nott continued to frown at her, "You're taking this Dark Lord rather seriously."

"And you're not taking him seriously enough," Mallory whispered furiously, "Who do you think is behind all of the disappearances and murders we've been hearing about and reading in the paper?"

"No one knows," he answered.

"I'll bet everything I own that it's him and if we're not careful it'll be us next."

Nott frowned again and looked at the entrance. He half smiled and waved at someone. Mallory turned around to find Severus Snape striding toward them quickly. He made eye contact with her, nodded once, and then headed straight toward his dorm without a word.

"What was that?" Nott asked, "I thought he'd want to talk to us."

"I think we're done for tonight," Mallory replied, "I'd love to go to Hogsmeade with you tomorrow. I'll meet you down here in the morning alright?"

"Er – tomorrow morning – yeah that sounds great. I'll see you here."

"Good," she stood up, "come on Sophia." She tugged on her friends elbow and not a minute later they were making their way to their dormitory.

"Are you going to Hogsmeade with Nott tomorrow?" Severus asked quietly. He and Mallory were in the Arithmancy classroom on the fourth floor, an hour later. The room was dark, they chose not to light the candles just incase it drew unwanted attention. The only source of light was from the candles in the hall that filtered through the small square window in the door. Since her last conversation with her headmaster she was weary about being caught out at night. What would he think if she were caught wandering around the castle in the middle of the night with Severus Snape, of all people? In the back of her mind it bothered her that she worried about what Dumbledore would think. Did she really care? Part of her said yes and part of her said no. This served to confuse her thoroughly. She shouldn't care. She never cared before. It had been her intention to make him think she cared. She was supposed to lull him into a sense of comfortable control over her. She wanted to make him trust her. She wasn't supposed to actually care what he thought.

"Yes," she said distractedly her thoughts still on her changing nature.

"You'd better watch what you say and where," Severus cautioned. "You wouldn't want to be overheard by Bellatrix as easily as we overheard her with your brother and Malfoy."

She nodded, "I know. I actually think I might do some eavesdropping of my own tomorrow. I would be very surprised if she didn't have another secret meeting to discuss the one we had tonight."

He nodded, "Just be careful. You don't want to get caught by her."

"I know," Mallory agreed.

"Speaking of," he continued, "I think she is slightly deranged."

Mallory nodded again, "I think I'll have to agree with you. This Dark Lord sure has seemed to light a different kind of fire within her."

"That meeting wasn't about giving us information it was about bullying us into a following."

Mallory nodded, "I couldn't agree more."

They were silent for a moment.

"So did it work?" She asked him.

"Did what work?"

She smirked at him. "Did she effectively bully you into joining?"

"I'd like for her to think she did," he replied, also with a smirk.

"Me too."

Mallory awoke early the next morning, before any of her dorm mates. She dressed quickly and then quietly made her way up to the owlery. By the door there was a small table with sheaves of parchment, quills, inkpots, and pieces of string on top. She walked to it and quickly penned a note. Then she looked around for a suitable owl. Most of the owls were asleep but she found a large barn owl that was looking down at her. She stretched out her arm and the owl landed on it gently.

"You don't have a long flight," she said quietly to the owl as she stroked its soft feathers, "just take this to Dumbledore." She tapped her wand on the sheet of parchment and it rolled itself into a scroll and sealed itself. Then she took a piece of string and tied the scroll to the owl's leg. "It's for Dumbledore only," she insisted. The owl hooted its understanding.

She went to the glassless windows and held her arm out. With another soft hoot the owl took off and glided south around the tower. She stood there for a moment and watched the sun rising in the east. She had a long day ahead of her what with going to Hogsmeade with Nott, spying on Bellatrix, and then giving Occlumency lessons to Snape. It would definitely be a long day.

Just as she turned from the window to the door to leave and get ready for the day the door burst open. She flinched but managed to swallow her shout of surprise. It was only a moment before she realized what the shiny red hair and bright, startled, green eyes meant. Lily Evans had stopped on the threshold of the owlerly.

"Oh," she seemed extremely surprised to find Mallory there, "Mallory," she said as she took a few steps inside and closed the door behind her. "Good morning."

"Evans," Mallory muttered with a frown. It was barely sunup. What was Lily Evans doing sending a letter this early?

"What – er – what are you doing here?" Lily asked nervously as she picked up some string from the table by the door and glanced at Mallory sideways.

"I don't think that's any of your business," Mallory replied aggressively.

"Oh," Lily walked around the edge of the owlerly looking up at all of the sleeping owls. "Can't sleep?" She asked conversationally though her voice shook.

"Again, not your business," Mallory snapped.

Lily nodded and looked down at the floor before saying, "It's my sister's birthday, and I've been meaning to send her this present all week but I kept forgetting. If it doesn't get there today she may never forgive me."

"Aren't your family muggles?" Mallory asked with a confused frown.

Lily nodded at her then stretched out her arm to an agreeable looking tawny owl that came down to her almost immediately.

"Do muggles normally receive owl posts?" Mallory asked.

"No," Lily said as she tied the package to the owl's leg, "but I think she'll accept this one."

Mallory nodded and she headed toward the door as Lily headed toward the windows. She really did need to go get ready for the long day ahead of her and standing around talking to Lily Evans seemed counter-productive.

"Mallory," Lily called as Mallory reached the door.

Mallory turned back to her. She was hanging her arm out of the window. They both watched the owl take off before Lily spoke, "I've noticed that you're spending a lot of time with Severus Snape."

Mallory's eyes narrowed. Where was this going? "And?" She demanded.

"And," Lily pulled her arm back inside and took a step toward Mallory, "well – I don't think he would like me telling you this but – well Severus and I are – we're sort of – of friends."

"You're friends?" Mallory asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Not openly or anything," Lily said quickly, "and not a lot of people in your house know about it. In fact I'm pretty sure none of you know about it. It's just that I – er – I care about him."

"You care about him?" This conversation was getting stranger by the moment. Mallory didn't think anyone cared about Snape except herself. Since when did Lily Evans, a Gryffindor, become friends with and learn to care about Severus Snape, a Slytherin?

"Yes," Lily nodded with a determined expression on her face, "don't go spreading that around your house though ok? I know none of you want to hear that a Slytherin and a Gryffindor can be friends – not to mention our blood differences that your house seems to have problems with."

Mallory's eyebrows rose again but she kept quite.

"I just don't want to see him get hurt," Lily rushed on, "You're not leading him into anything that could hurt him are you?"

"I don't think I'm leading him into anything at all," said Mallory coldly. This was getting to be too much – too strange.

"Oh please," Lily scoffed, "he has been following you around like a lost puppy for ages."

"Has he now?" This was all fascinating coming from Lily Evans. Mallory sort of got the feeling that this was more than just a concerned friend. It seemed a little strange to think that Lily Evans could have romantic feelings for Severus Snape. In fact it was too strange to even contemplate.

"Listen," said Lily forcefully, "You're not going to hurt him are you?"

"I don't plan on it," said Mallory, "but I can't make any promises."

Lily frowned. That answer didn't seem to be the one she was looking for.

"Can I ask why you care?" Mallory asked.

"He's my friend," said Lily, "I told you that."

"Oh," Mallory nodded, "well, if it makes you feel any better, he's my friend too."

Lily frowned again, "Why do I get the feeling that doesn't mean as much to you as it does to me?" she asked.

Mallory shrugged and turned back to the door. "I've got a busy day ahead of me," she said, "see you around."

"Yeah," Lily was still frowning, "see you later."

Mallory left without another word. Now she was going to need to talk to Severus about the conversation she'd just had. Didn't he know he was putting himself in danger by letting her believe they were friends? She thought he'd mastered the art of shutting out the world. It was better that way. They couldn't use the people you loved against you if you didn't love anyone.

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