The Law of Unintended Consequences

Chapter 36

Seeding Hatred, Restoring Friendship

Dumbledore's 'power of love' will be no match for our hatred...

Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.

Monday September 14th, 1975

"As the first order of business for the year, I, Severus Tobias Snape, propose that we cease all attacks on Muggleborns, save for those in rival power groups, henceforth."

As everyone else gasped, turning their heads to look at Severus in shock, Arcturus quickly said, "I, Arcturus Mulciber second his proposal."

Arcturus had to hide a smirk as he glanced over in Severus' direction; with the graduation of Macnair, there were, in addition to Severus and himself, only two other officers, Darius Yaxley, and Alecto Carrow, and Yaxley was serving detention that night, for hexing Alexandra Gregory until she had resembled a human-shaped mass of year-old porridge. 'In other words...'

Alecto Carrow, shocked, said, rather stupidly, "Uh, I oppose this proposal..."

Arcturus then said calmly, "With the absence of Darius Yaxley, Severus Snape's proposal is passed with a two-one majority. As it cannot be repealed by any means until a majority of officers agrees, it will stand until at least the next meeting. As such, unless any of you have a list of targets other than Muggleborns..." He paused for a moment, then said calmly, "...This meeting is adjourned. Knights! On our honor!"

As the rest of them were still rather stunned, the usual "WE SHALL REDEEM OUR TAINTED WORLD!" fell a little flat. Soon though, the murmers and talking started, and Arcturus and Severus left before they could get out of control and start shouting at them. As they did so, Severus gave a tight smile over to Arcturus, saying, "Thanks, Arcturus. I owe you one..."

Shrugging, Arcturus said with a smirk, "Don't worry, I can wait for a little bit while Mary gets her stuff set up; after all, you guys are doing this on behalf of the Dark Lord, so it would behoove me not to assist in any way that I can...Besides, we are friends after all, and I owe you some help getting back to your girlfriend, even if I can't say I care for her blood status..."

Severus looked a little annoyed at him for the last remark, but said, "Nonetheless, thank you. I assume that you plan on reversing your position once Mary gets the ball moving and I 'clear out my desk' and join her group, right?"

Arcturus nodded, then excused himself, for he had plans of his own to make; while he had been honest in what he had told Severus about his reasons, he had, as any good Slytherin would, an ulterior motive to his official reasons. He had carefully thought it over when he and Severus had been working on the wording and realized that, with no other Muggleborn targets officially allowed, everyone would happily jump at the chance to attack the one Muggleborn in a rival power-group. 'After all, as she has dated James Potter, Lily is technically part of the Marauders, and between what the Marauders have done and what Lily has done, I'll bet that half of Slytherin will be aiming to stick her head on the end of a spear...'

Arcturus then smiled, with a touch of glee, at how his plans were coming together; with almost all of the Knights gunning for her, Lily would be in for one hell of a rough time, plus, he had his own movements to prepare. He knew that, sooner or later, the opportunity would come when Lily Evans was vulnerable, and when that moment came, Arcturus knew that he would be ready to capitalize on it. Severus had stopped him last year before he could REALLY start working Mary over, but he planned to give himself hours to work on Lily Evans. She had hurt Arcturus' friend, so she would pay with a scream for every ounce of pain that Severus had suffered through.

'When I'm through with her, I'll bet that she won't be able to leave the Hospital wing for weeks! She deserves it if Severus gave up on her; he is nothing like Potter after all, so whatever she did it must have been truly awful, and truly deserving of all the pain I can inflict...' Licking his lips with anticipation, Arcturus then decided to go and surprise his girlfriend with a nice snog session, as nothing turned him on more than thoughts of inflicting pain on the deserving...

Two Days Later Wednesday September 16th, 1975

As Severus patrolled the seventh floor, he allowed himself a small grin at how things had been going for him, Mary and their plans; to his modest surprise, being in classes with only her, other Slytherins, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had been quite a blessing. While he was still unsure about how to deal with Lily, it was comforting to know that he could avoid her as much as he needed, as Mary had said; plus, there was the fact that, with no Gryffindors in his classes, that meant no Marauders.

Although Potter seemed to have other things on his mind, such as boasting about how he helped Severus, Mary and Lily deal with fifteen werewolf thugs while protecting his friend, and seemed to have, more or less, buried the hatchet, Sirius and Peter were still on the warpath. 'While I can easily handle those toerags without their precious leader, it is certainly much more relaxing not to have to do so. Although, now that I am a prefect, I suppose that our confrontations will be far more...enjoyable...'

Ever since he had gotten his status as prefect, one thing that Severus had been considering was the perfect punishments for each of the Marauders, if he could get his hands on them, which shouldn't be too hard, even with Potter's invisibility cloak, as he still had the monocles that could detect the cloak that he had made for his and Mary's little prank last December. 'Let's see...Potter has probably never worked a day in his life, so I'd assign him duties cleaning the potions classroom, without the use of magic, Black hates Slytherins and 'Dark wizards' more than anything, so I can assign him to clean all of the Slytherin house trophies, again without the use of magic, and Pettigrew is a cowardly rat, so I should probably assign him to helping Hagrid deal with his beasts and mongrels...

Severus grinned maliciously at the thought of what the toerags would be suffering through. 'Yes, being a prefect will be quite enjoyable indeed. I wonder if it would be feasible to watch them suffer one or two times... Watching Pettigrew squeak like the cowardly rodent he is will certainly be quite enjoyable...'

As he continued his patrolling, he heard the sounds of a scuffle occuring down one of the nearby passages; frowning, he quickly went into that direction, only to see a sight that he recalled to some extent from the Hogwarts Express, although far worse in this case, making Severus shudder. It was Justin Avery and Celeste Greengrass; Avery had Celeste backed up against a nearby wall as she ineffectually tried to shove him away with her hands, Avery's left hand on her stomach just underneath her breasts, and his right hand holding her left hand to her mouth, preventing her from saying anything other than angered squeaks. Leering, Avery put his face to her hair and gave it a sniff, with her trying to draw her head as far away from him as she could, when Severus suddenly said coldly, "Justin Avery, release Miss Greengrass now."

Avery, still holding Celeste's mouth shut, turned around and said angrily, as Celeste's eyes took on a pleading quality, "Can it, Snape! I've had about enough out of you; ever since last year you've been pushing me down, taking credit for my work. Now, if you will, I'm busy, so go away!"

Remembering Lily's words back from last October about Avery showing some of the signs of a future rapist, Severus was beginning to think that she had far more than a good point. In a voice that could have frozen Fiendfyre, Severus said to Avery as he drew his wand smoothly, without flourish, but with great speed, "Step away from Miss Greengrass, Avery, if you don't want a month of detention..."

Avery hesitated as he looked at Severus' prefect badge, then said, "Fine, Snape. Have it your way!" Avery then rudely shoved away Celeste, slamming her rather roughly into the wall and started to walk away, only to halt when Severus said calmly,

"Now then, two weeks of detention ought to sort you out..."

Whirling suddenly, Avery shouted, flecks of spittle coming out of his mouth in his rage, "How DARE you, Snape!? REDUCTO!"

Although Avery had improved significantly during the ongoing battles with the Marauders the past term, he was still woefully outmatched by Severus, who quickly deflected Avery's spell and fired a pair of spells, expeliarmus and depulso, almost before Avery could blink. Although he was able to shield himself from the disarming charm, the depulsomanaged to hit him dead on, sending him crashing into the wall ten feet behind him with a groan. Pushing himself back up, Avery said furiously, "Why, you littl-"

Severus quickly and smoothly interrupted with another expelliarmus, then interrupted, saying coldly, "Avery, I cannot condone what I saw you doing, just be thankful that you have only gotten detention; if things had gotten a bit further, I believe that I would have sliced that disgusting head of yours off of its perch. The next time something like this happens, you won't be so lucky, got it!?"

Avery spat, then said, "So much for our friendship Snape; I should have known that blood would tell with such a greasy git as yourself..." He then hurried down the hall, leaving Severus standing there, until he remembered that Celeste would likely need him right then. Swearing under his breath, Severus muttered, appalled at what his now ex-friend had been trying to do,

"So much for our friendship indeed, you disgusting freak..."

The Next Day Thursday September 17th, 1975

Lily sighed as she looked dismally around her fifth-year Potions class; somehow, it had gone from being one of her favorite classes, even surpassing Charms class, to one of the most boring ones in only one term. Ever since their first year, in both time-lines, Lily and Severus had had a running rivalry in Potions and, even after Lily had ended their friendship and they had changed to other partners, the rivalry kept going strong, as both were Potions prodigies and enjoyed being the best.

Now, however, without the thrill of competing with Severus, who had managed to catch up to her in skill quite well despite the fact that she had a whole other lifetime on him, Potions had become incredibly boring. Sure, Lily was making the same perfect marks as she always had, and her potions were still always perfect, but she was so much better at the art of making them that she had nothing to strive against; all that was left to compete against was herself, and that had never been half as satisfying as competing against Severus...

It was also made her feel like something was out of place, as she was sitting in the same seat as she always had, save for the two years when she and Severus had stopped being friends, and it seemed like the ghosts of the past, or future depending on how you looked at it, were sitting there beside her. James and Sabrina had offered to partner with her, but Lily had declined because she didn't want any partners except Severus and Mary anymore, as the three of them had deepened their friendship and relationships with one another to the point that it felt like , without them, there was a pair of wounds gaping in her chest, always bleeding.

Even when she had given up on Severus, in her foolishness, in the past time-line it hadn't been close to this painful, as she had managed to convince herself that she was doing the right thing at the time. That time, it had been the result of months of having to deal with how he seemed to be drifting further and further away from her and the side of the Light, and how he had started lashing out at everyone but her and laughing when her other friends were being attacked by his. Back then, if Lily recalled correctly, Mary, Sabrina and the others had begun to actively hate Severus, and the feeling was mutual, leading Lily to feel torn apart, and it had eventually just seemed easier to give up, as he seemed to not even care about her anymore, getting more and more interested in the Death Eaters and such.

In the end, Lily had become incredibly frustrated at how Severus had seemed not to understand what she was saying, and the 'Mudblood' incident had been the last straw. Now however, she realized that she had been so busy talking AT Severus that she had forgotten the basis of their relationship: mutual trust and understanding. In many ways, she had become so focused on 'what' Severus was doing, that she had forgotten to ask herself 'why' he was acting that way, completely missing how he hadn't been walking away from the Light so much as getting shoved out of it by almost everyone inside it.

'Now that I think about it, it really was perfect karma; James and I created the perfect instrument of our own demises through James' bullying and my incredible stupidity. If it hadn't been for the two of us and our actions, Severus probably never would have become a Death Eater in the first place, meaning that Voldemort never would have found out about the prophecy until it was too late, no danger from the prophecy, no search for us, and no reason to try to kill Harry or us, save for the fact that we were with the Order...'

As Lily rested her head in her hands, not even bothering to take notes, for she had long surpassed the point in skill that the material taught in this class would be helpful to her, she suddenly heard a voice in her ear, that of Professor Slughorn saying worriedly, "Are you alright, Miss Evans? You seem to have been quite out of it since the end of last term, what with how little attention you seem to be paying..."

Lily quietly said, "You are mistaken professor, it wasn't until after last term that I was really paying attention; only now do I realize just how much I have missed...'

Professor Slughorn looked rather confused, but nonetheless returned to the front of the class to continue his lecture...

As Severus and Lily talked about the punishments they had assigned the night before, with both of them generally agreeing on the other's decisions, Severus was thinking to himself, weighing his options based on what Mary had told him earlier that day...

Flashback:

Severus and Mary were hanging out by the lake after their Transfiguration class, as their homework was already complete, and neither particularly wanted to return to the Slytherin Common Room at the moment, as Mary had left the Knights and Severus had put a halt to their favorite past-time of tormenting Muggleborns. The physical distance between the two was a little bit strange, as neither seemed to really know how close to be to each other. The two of them were talking right then, discussing spells that Mary might teach in Terranum.

"Hmm, I dunno, Sev; I think that Incarcerous might be a bit too advanced for the students coming. Don't forget, some of them are only in their third year..."

Severus, back against a rather large stone, said calmly, "That may be the case for them at the beginning, but we are talking a bit of the ways into the term, you know? By that time, the students should be much more experienced, plus, at that point, I should be able to jump ship and give you some help."

Mary nodded, agreeing, then put her finger to her lips, a habit which Lily had told him meant that she was thinking hard, which she had stopped using ever since the night at the end of last term, when he had returned to his dormitory, only to find Lily's owl on his bed, having come in through the tunnel that Slytherin house had had installed long ago to permit owls to deliver mail, even after dark... Severus shook his head, not particularly wanting to remember that night, then Mary started speaking, quietly, "Severus, there is something I have to tell you..."

Nodding, Severus waited, then Mary looked at him nervously, before saying, "Before I tell you, promise me that you will listen until the end before you get angry at me. OK?"

Worried, as Mary had never been the type to engage in nervousness, Severus nodded slowly, only for Mary to say, "You remember when Lily was sending us those letters? Well, while I was telling the truth...I kinda shaded it. She didn't apologize for her actions, but her letters seemed to imply that she didn't know what she had done, which now I think might mean that it was an accident. Also, she said that she really, REALLY wanted to talk to you, just to see if you could forgive her. I thought that she might be trying to get you alone with her so she could finish what she started, but now I'm not sure."

Before Severus could even think of a response, Mary grabbed his hands and looked towards him with pleading eyes, asking, "I honestly thought that I was doing what I needed to do to protect you, but now I think that I might have been punishing an innocent woman. Please Severus, please forgive me!"

Severus searched her eyes with his penetrating gaze, which, even if he hadn't learned Leglimency yet, was still excellent at making you feel 'like you were under a microscope', in Lily's words. Seeing that she was genuinely remorseful, and having an annoyingly forgiving disposition to those he loved, Severus said quietly, "I forgive you, Mary."

Mary then smiled...

End Flashback:

With the official business completed, Lily then said, "Severus, I have been doing some investigating, and I was wondering if you could answer some of the questions I have..."

Severus simply said, "I will answer what I can, Lily."

Nodding, Lily then asked, "OK, first question, is the reason that you are having difficulty answering my questions Dumbledore?"

Severus immediately said, "Yes, Lily."

Glowering at a random spot on the wall, Lily's eyes started flashing in anger and she started swearing profusely, so Severus waited for her to calm down so that she could ask more questions. Lily then asked, "OK, were you attacked in the Shrieking Shack by Remus in werewolf form?"

Shocked that Lily had figured it out herself, as he hadn't offered her any hints since before the first Werewolf incident, Severus was about to ask about it, when Lily said, "I figured it out myself, don't worry. Just answer the question."

Severus then simply said, "Yes."

Lily then took a deep breath, before saying, "Would you recommend that I go ask Dumbledore about what had happened that ni-" She stopped talking abruptly because Severus had already started shaking his head.

Apparently she didn't have any more questions, as Lily then nodded and said, "Thanks Sev..." Oddly enough, Severus no longer minded hearing her say his nickname, but couldn't dwell on it because she was still talking, "...I'll ask you and Mary more questions when I think of them, if that's alright with you..." Severus heard her mutter something about 'why?', but let it go.

Lily was clearly about to leave, but then paused, before saying, "Sev, could you tell Mary that I am sorry for giving her a hard time? I honestly didn't think that what had happened was that bad, so I was rather annoyed at her. For what its worth, I really am sorry what happened, and I will keep investigating until I find out what happened."

She then started walking out of the room, but Severus, thinking of something, first said, "Lily, would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me and Mary? I mean, once the first Hogsmeade visit rolls around that is..."

Lily beamed at him, nodded, then left, doing some weird hair-toss thing as she did so; Severus couldn't see why she did it, but he had to admit that he enjoyed watching her hair flow like that. After her eyes, it had always been one of her best features in Severus' mind...

Two Days Later Saturday September 19th, 1975

Mary was as nervous as she had ever been; before Severus had bumped their prestige to this height, she had never met any crowds before, and now she had to deal with about thirty students, a couple of whom she had never met before, and others who she knew all too well. Nonetheless, she breathed out her fear, and started talking, walking to the front of all of these students and fixing them all with a imperious stare reminiscent of Severus as she did so, "Hey everybody, welcome to Terranum! As you know, we are a Dueling/Auror Prep club, can any of you tell me what that would entail?"

Not much to Mary's surprise, no-one in the enchanted tent that Severus had managed to purchase as their meeting place answered, so she said, "Dueling, as most of you can guess, is the art of combat between those capable of spells, like witches and wizards. What we will be doing is focusing on the ancient art of dueling, with a focus on what would be necessary for you to become an Auror upon leaving the school..."

Mary continued on in that vein for several minutes, answering questions, until she came to her conclusion, "...Regardless, if you choose to stay, we, the members of Terranum, promise to protect you from the Knights, the Marauders, or anyone else who might seek to harm you, while training you to the point that you can go toe-to-toe with trained Aurors and hold your own. Now then, everybody pair up! I want to see how you are in dueling skill already."

Mary was glad that the number of students who had wanted to join was an even number, as it gave her leave to go around, watching each of the fifteen pairs practice,grading them mentally. 'Hmm, not too shabby, not too shabby, needs to diet, should quit before she leaves in pine box, very nice!' Stopping at the last one, a Ravenclaw seventh-year by the name of Broderick Bode, she said, after signalling for a break in the combat,

"Not bad at all. Tell me, where did you learn that particular spell?"

He seemed to glow slightly pink, causing Mary to mentally sigh, before saying, "Uh, you mean Incarcerous? Its not that uncommon you know..."

Mary nodded, then said, "True, but making it fire off the ropes in an arc rather than a straight line is a rather interesting touch that I haven't seen before. How did you do that particular trick?"

He mumbled something, then ran away, red-faced, causing Mary to want to laugh at him; she held it in, as it would be cruel to laugh at a boy who was so obviously crushing on her, yet tried to pretend not to have any interest in her, and she did understand unrequited love to some extent, what with Sabrina and the 'great' Sirius Black. 'Besides, I do need all the manpower I can get...'

The club soon finished, and the other students started chattering. Mary, smiled, as she had already begun her objective, which would have to be done with great care, as it would be a long, slow process making the students hate Dumbledore and believe that anything he did was wrong, solely because it was him who did it. She would need to shatter their faith in him, destroy their trust, and make them feel like he was the lying hypocrite that he really was, and that wasn't something that could be done in one lesson. 'I don't mind though, as it will be a nice project, and I have the rest of the term to work on it. Besides, its the Ministry's orders...'

Although she was surprised that the Ministry was interested in making everyone in her group hate Dumbledore in particular, she certainly didn't mind, as she might have gone for a similar idea on her own. Still, it was strange to say the least, as it seemed that the Ministry should have far better things to do with their time. 'Ah well, when Mr. Crouch and I have our meeting the first Hogsmeade visit, I can always ask...'

Soon, the other students started to leave, but her thoughts were then interrupted when, to her great surprise, Lily walked into the tent and over to her, saying softly, fidgeting as she did so, "Hey, nice turnout I suppose..."

Mary took a quick survey of everyone there and shrugged her shoulders, replying, "Yeah, but the dueling club will probably take a bit of time to get off of the ground, as I doubt that too many of the students here have the necessary willpower to handle this course. It shouldn't be a problem though, not in the long run at least..."

Lily then quietly said, still fidgeting nervously, "I am sorry that I did not send any letters to you, Mary. I just got so caught up in trying to regain Severus' friendship again, that I forgot to try and regain your's..."

Mary shrugged, as, honestly, it wasn't that important to her, and she had a confession of her own to make. Swallowing, Mary said, "No, I'm sorry that I didn't let Severus see any of the letters your owl sent him since the evening of the last Sunday of the previous term. If you really are innocent, and not some she-devil in the guise of a teenage girl, then I spent the whole summer preventing Sev from seeing one of his best friends, and I am truly sorry for that..." Mary wasn't one for tearful reconciliations, and she could sense that, if this kept going on, it might happen, so she said flippantly, "Anyway, I gotta go now, so I'll see you later!"

Lily nodded, and Mary left, soon making her way to a secret passage she could use, and smiled at the thought of the three of them becoming friends again, even tearing up a little, although she knew that she hadn't quite reached the point that she could really trust Lily again. Still, it was nice to imagine. 'Win or lose when it comes to Severus, if she is innocent, I don't want to lose my friendship with her ever again. She really is one of my best friends, and anyone who would work so hard to regain someone's friendship is someone I would be thrilled to have as my friend...'

As Lily laid down on her four-poster, trying to get to sleep, she couldn't help but get this niggling sensation that she missed something important that day, and it made her...rather annoyed. There was something about the encounter with Mary that was bugging, and she didn't want to stop until she had it.

'OK, let's see, she is clearly planning on building a rather tough training group, she wants to make up, and she is sorry about stopping all letters I sent by owl to Severus since...the evening? I hadn't sent him anything by owl for weeks before that, so why the evening specifically? If she specifically thinks the evening, and thinks I sent it, then it must have been by my owl, and that means...SIRIUS BLACK!'

Author's Note: The Ministry is plotting to make Terranum hate Dumbledore, to what end? The reconciliation of the three friends proceeds apace, and Lily has come upon the final clue to the puzzle, but will she be able to provide proof? You won't find out until Chapter 38, as Chapter 37 is going to be an interlude of the likes of Chapters 17 and 27, even if it is without Lily...

Chapters 1 and 2 have been revised btw.=)