The Law of Unintended Consequences

Chapter 55

Wars of Blood and Hearts

I will never give up, not so long as there is something worth fighting for...

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

"So, Sev, I'm going to drop off Mary at her house after stopping at mine, then head back. That alright?"

"Sure, Lily, but before you do..."

"...sounds good..."

Mary said nothing as they returned home through Lily's apparition, merely staring numbly and grunting when it proved necessary, too busy thinking about what she had witnessed in that shed...

Watching Severus and Lily kissing like that had been very painful indeed, painful because she suspected that it meant that he had chosen Lily...chosen Lily and not her.

It was especially painful when she saw Lily's brilliant smile, cheerfully smiling like she could take on the world. Severus' own smile had been small, but Mary could see the utter bliss behind it. She hated those smiles, hated them because it wasn't because of her that Severus and Lily were smiling like that...but all the same, she loved those smiles because it meant that Severus was happy, even if she couldn't be with him.

Laughing bitterly for a moment, she mused to herself, 'I'm really screwed up, aren't I?'

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump slightly. Turning and seeing that it was Severus, she raised her eyebrow at him, only for him to say with a touch of sheepishness, "Err, Lily's waiting to take you home and such. She's in the kitchen..."

"Right..." drawled Mary, brushing his hand off of her shoulder, leaving it hanging as she watched his eyes flicker slightly. She wanted to say something, ask him what was going on with Lily, perhaps tell him about her dream, but in the end she just slowly walked away. Wanting to cry, she was unprepared when Severus spoke again quietly.

"Mary, I...I think that we need to talk sometime, sometime soon. Not tonight, but soon... I-I need to think about something first..." he mumbled slightly, before saying with a sigh, worry audible in his voice, "Just...just make sure you're alright, OK?"

Understanding that he wasn't just referring to the battles tonight, Mary nodded without looking at him. "Sure, Sev, I'll make sure that I'm fine. Don't worry..."

For a moment, she thought that Severus might say something, but he let her walk over to the kitchen where Lily was finishing her explanation about what had happened during the battle to her mother. Lily had a smile on her face that couldn't be wiped off, but Marigold was looking very apprehensive, probably worried at how there had been a battle that night...

"And so the three of us managed to take 'em out, forcing them to retreat and killing at least one of them. I just hope that we didn't break the Statute of Secrecy with how we set the forest ablaze..." Lily said with a slight sigh. However, Mary could tell that she was still unable to stop grinning. It was probably due to that kiss that she and Severus had shared... By the end of Mary's relationship with Severus, he had become a very good kisser indeed

Still, Mary clenched her hand into a fist, irked at how Lily was so happy while she was so miserable. It was almost as if she were adding insult to injury, what with how it seemed that Lily was rubbing it in Mary's face as to the reason for her happiness...

Meanwhile, Marigold Evans spoke with a frown, her eyebrows both raised as she gave her daughter a stern look."Lily...are you sure that you should be doing this? Going around and fighting these...Death Eaters? I mean, you're a bright young woman...but don't they have an army or something to handle this?"

Deciding to back Lily up, in spite of how annoyed she might have been with her right then, Mary spoke up, "Mrs. Evans, I'm sorry to say it, but the 'army' of the wizarding world is...less than adequate to fight those Death Eaters. Besides, in a manner of speaking, we are part of the army. We're training to fight the Death Eaters so that when we leave school, the wizarding world will have a means to stop them."

Marigold blanched, then narrowed her eyes at Mary. "'Mary' was it? Well, I can't say that I'm comfortable with the idea of my fifteen year-old daughter fighting in a war, even if it's NOT until she leaves school! In fact, I'm very much against the idea of such a thing! What kind of moron was the person who came up with the idea to have children be the ones to fight in this war!? And you, Lily!"

The red-headed woman whirled on Lily, who backed up quickly, clearly afraid of her mother in this state. "What could you have possibly been THINKING!? Why, I have half a mind to have you leave this 'wizarding world' if they want you to die for it!"

Lily then rushed over to Mary, saying hurriedly as her mother started shouting even louder than before, "Come on, Mary. We're already late, so we'd better get going, NOW!" Grabbing Mary before she could respond, the two of them apparated to the front of Mary's house.

Not expecting a sudden apparition, Mary promptly started throwing up into a nearby hedge, during which Lily apologized profusely for not warning her. Although it annoyed Mary even more on a night where she had already had to deal with far too many annoyances, it wasn't too awful, although she was glad that Severus wasn't there to see her puking her guts out. Regardless, it sure beat having to deal with that demented demon that Lily called her mother.

Besides, Mary needed time to plan out her next move. First she would ask her new sister for advice in how to 'woo' Severus; after all, Celeste had been getting boys to drool in her presence almost since she had first arrived at Hogwarts. How hard could it be for her to find a way for Mary to win Severus? 'If Severus chooses Lily over me...I can live with that, but I'm certainly going to make it as hard of a choice as I possibly can!'

Nothing less than that would suffice.


Three Days Later Saturday January 7th, 1976

'OK, just focus on the light-bulb in the ceiling, Severus. Look at how brightly it illuminates the room, making everything...'

Severus stared up at the pristine, whitewashed ceiling of the Evans family guest bedroom, idly wondering how they managed to keep it cobweb-free without the use of magic...or a truly ridiculous sum of money like that which Mary's parents had. Somehow, every surface seemed to sparkle even after several weeks of his staying there. Even the sheets seemed untouched, as if someone had put a spell on them to keep them clean. Severus supposed that perhaps it was because Mrs. Evans seemed to translate her more aggressive tendencies to cleaning.

If this was so, he couldn't blame her.

There were far worse things to channel one's anger into, as Severus' own father demonstrated. The man's rages could put any of Severus' to shame; his dad just didn't have the same temper control that Severus did. 'Hell, even Mary has better control of her anger than my father does, and she likes turning it into angels made out of fiendfyre...'

Snarling as he was reminded anew of the subject he'd spent three hours trying to avoid thinking about, Severus realized that he'd failed miserably. He muttered several destructive curses that would have demolished the room had he been holding his wand, glaring at the ceiling overhead and its blasted, useless light-bulb. 'OK, let's focus now. What would Lily...argh! Oh to hell with it...'

Giving up his attempts at avoiding the situation as a bad job, he then sighed as he sat up. Severus glared moodily at the nearby window, drumming his fingers against his hip as he ran things over once more. 'OK, so I kissed Lily, who I love and is quite frankly an amazing kisser, but I also love Mary and I don't know if I want to give up on her. After all, she's brilliant, understanding, has a truly incredible body with amazing breasts...But I also want Lily, and quite frankly...THIS IS STUPID!'

Annoyed, Severus hurled his pillow against the nearby window with a soft 'thud', before glaring at his reflection in the un-streaked glass. "This is just perfect... What do I do now!?"

His reflection provided no answer, a fact which didn't surprise the Slytherin boy in the least. Still, he was able to release a bit of the anger he was feeling with the exclamation, although that didn't help him much. One of his biggest weaknesses had always been making choices for himself, as he was always more than afraid of rocking the boat, and he knew from Lily's tale that he had avoided a very dark fate by barely a few inches. If she hadn't come back in time...he could have very easily seen her reality's future happening.

Although he felt that he had gotten a bit better about it, what with how he had changed sides of his own accord when he had finally admitted the truth to himself, Severus knew that he still had a tendency to avoid making difficult decisions until they were forced upon him. This time though, it was about something more important than war; it was about the two people he valued most. He couldn't afford to make the wrong choice...not this time.

However, he was distracted from his thoughts by a knock at the door and Petunia's quiet question, "Excuse me, Severus. Mind if I come in? You've got everybody worried with how you've been holed up in your room..."

As she let her words hang in the air, Severus felt a flash of guilt; he hadn't realized that they would have worried about his absences, figuring that they would have assumed him to be studying. As such, he opened the door and allowed Petunia entry before returning to sit on the bed again. At least it wasn't Lily, who was more observant than her sister...and was the primary reason for him being holed up in his room.

Instead of questioning him though, Petunia looked around the room slowly, before saying peevishly, "Geez, Severus, you may be our guest but that doesn't give you the excuse to mess up our guest room. It's positively filthy!"

Severus rolled his eyes, never able to understand how a perfectly clean room could look filthy in the eyes of either Petunia or her mother. However, Petunia had already continued talking. Speaking excitedly, she quickly asked, a slight tinge of pink adorning her cheeks, "In any case, why have you been avoiding my sister? Was the kiss really that bad? Lily said that it was pretty good and all, but she always thinks that she does a good job with everything..."

"I...it was... Lily told you?" Severus asked weakly as Petunia simply nodded, a mischievous grin on her rather-reddened face. As his face heated up from embarrassment at the idea of Petunia of all people being involved in his 'love life', Severus wondered just how many people Lily had already told about the kiss. 'In hindsight, expecting her to keep something like this a secret...not one of my better assumptions. So much for keeping it from Mary until I had decided what to do...'

Still grinning, apparently enjoying how he was on the wrong foot for a change, the blond girl then sat next to him on the bed. Petunia then asked with a touch of teasing audible in her voice, sounding almost eager for some reason, "So...how was it? Did my ickle little sister scare you off with her gross kissing skills? Or are you just THAT scared of kissing someone?"

Glaring at the elder Evans sister, Severus quickly retorted, "It wasn't like that! I just didn't want her to tell everybody; that's all! Mary wouldn't want to hear-" Severus quickly cut himself off, but it was too late. Petunia had clearly heard him.

There was a brief pause as Lily's sister seemed to digest the information, but soon her grin turned feral. Looming over him, her eyes turned as frosty as her tone as she spoke coolly, the pink tinge gone completely, "So...planning on cheating on Lily already I see, and with a-"

"It's not like that!" Severus shouted, interrupting Petunia's sharp-tongued rant. Mumbling slightly, he said quietly, looking away from Lily's sister in shame, "It's just...I didn't mean to kiss her. She was just so...so beautiful, and I couldn't stop myself..." Seeing Petunia's face soften, he pleaded to her, "I don't know which one to choose, Lily or Mary, Mary or Lily. I don't know! I wanted...I wanted to decide which one I wanted before I did anything past hugging, let alone snogging Lily! Why do you think I've been hiding in my room for the past few days!?"

"Well, Lily said that it might have something to do with how you almost beheaded a man, survivor's guilt or whatever. You don't really seem the type though." Petunia said with a shrug, reminding Severus for a moment of how she had treated him in previous years, with her seemingly endless sneering disdain. He couldn't blame her though; she was right about the lack of guilt. He had already killed close to a half-dozen after all, back before the school-year started.

Petunia's voice then turned almost tender, and she put a warm hand on his shoulder as she spoke, "Severus, it really isn't worth agonizing over it so much. Just go and have fun with them, dating one of them if you want to, and just hanging around them if you don't. Don't spend an eternity agonizing over the right choice." She then smirked, chuckling as she said, "Besides, you ARE only fifteen after all. It's not like you'll die if you choose the wrong one to date!"

Laughing as she walked out of the room, Petunia called back, "Oh, and I was supposed to ask you if you wanted to play Monopoly with us tonight. I suggest you do it. It's gotta be better than hanging around in your room, AS USUAL."

Severus thought for a moment before nodding and following Petunia. He still was a bit leery about her, but the girl did have a good point...


Two Days Later Monday January 9th, 1976

Arcturus nervously walked up the steps to the summer home that Selene was staying at over the holidays. Ever since he had transferred from Hogwarts to his new school, Grungess, she had become very distant with him; in fact, he hadn't seen her for weeks. No-one in her family had been willing to put her in touch with him, although that might have been simply because her brother didn't care much for him.

However, yesterday he had received an owl from her, asking him if he would come to meet her here today. As such, here he was, slowly walking toward the brightly painted home--an great source of irony for anyone who had any sort of acquaintance with the Malfoy family. Perhaps that had been the point of buying it in the first place, as no-one would expect a home that appeared to be a solid block of gold to be one that the Malfoys owned, as bright and garish colors were the exclusive domain of the Potter family after all.

Still, apart from the bright colors, the rest of the property was clearly that of a Malfoy-esque home--cold, pale beauty in every square foot of the marble walkways, not a single flower in sight among the perfectly-manicured dark green hedging. 'It certainly seems to be something quite like what Selene would like.' Arcturus mused, slowly walking up to the gold-painted double-doors. 'It has all the appearance of icy royalty from outside, but there is an element of strangeness in the center, out of sight of the common viewer...'

However, as interesting as those thoughts were, they did little to distract the former Slytherin from the concern he was feelin. Selene's message had been short and to-the-point, very different from her usual messages which always had a sense of warmth to them in spite of the endless formality. Between that and her reticence to see him the past few weeks, he couldn't help but imagine that she only wanted to see him to tell him something horrible, like she was seeing someone else or was dying...

Deciding that it was best to do something, sitting around and waiting not being his style, Arcturus swallowed his nervousness and made use of the knocker. It was shaped like a lion with a metal ring clutched in its jaws, fitting perfectly with the painful-to-view Gryffindor decor.

The knocker made a roaring sound reminiscent of the animal it was a copy of, the blast of noise echoing across the property, causing several nearby birds to frantically fly past Arcturus in desperate bids to escape. It lent even more to the strangeness of the atmosphere...

Shivering slightly, Arcturus waited for his girlfriend to let him in, starting to feel rather annoyed at the run-around. He swiftly embraced the emotion, as it helped him to avoid thinking about his worries for their relationship...

He didn't have to wait long, as Selene soon appeared at the door, serenely smiling in that way that Arcturus knew was only a mask for her true thoughts. Having been in a relationship with her for nearly a year now, he could tell that she was suppressing something that seemed like...worry. Unsure of what to do, he tentatively offered her his hand and softly said, "Hey."

"Hello...Arcturus." The blond-haired beauty's response was equally soft, if somewhat cold. However, she held his hand lightly, pushing it away from her body as she gestured inside of the un-Malfoyish home. "Come inside... We need to talk."

He allowed her to lead him inside the warmly decorated home, something which seemed ironic given how worried he was. Whatever was going on, he didn't like it; it was just too strange for Selene to act this way. While she was always in control, even when she wasn't dominating the situation, she had always been very open around him. Why was she acting so cold and closed-off now?

They made their way into the sitting room, which had no less than five inviting orange chairs ready and waiting for them to sit in them. A glass coffee table sat in between them, with a single pot of tea resting idly on a coaster and two steaming cups already laid out on wooden coasters of their own.

Taking the opportunity to prepare himself, as he was getting quite worried because of Selene's behavior, Arcturus made a show of settling himself comfortably into the chair he selected. Selene, in that way of hers that always reminded him of a veela somehow, lowered herself into her seat gracefully, completely unruffled. Mirroring each other, the couple then reached for their cups of tea at the same time and began sipping, neither taking their eyes off of the other.

After nearly a minute of this, during which Arcturus began to feel quite perturbed from her endless staring, Selene spoke in a tone of sadness and disappointment, "Arcturus...how could you? How could you betray us, betray ME like how you have?"

"I...I didn't... You know, don't you?" Arcturus finished quietly, realizing that Selene must know about how he had joined Aduro Terranum.

She nodded once, tears in her eyes as she whispered out, quietly at first but with growing force, "How could you join the sides of those...those monsters!? Don't you know what they're trying to do? They're trying to destroy everything that separates us from common MUGGLES! Not only that, but they're trying to kill everyone we love, like they're Mudblooods too! They've already given out so many of the secrets of wizard-kind to those pieces of dirt, shattering all of our traditions in the name of taking everything from US, the chosen ones of the wizarding world! AND YOU'RE HELPING THEM!"

Suddenly, her teacup shattered, and Selene started to cry. "Why, Arcturus? Don't you remember how you promised me, promised me that you would do whatever it took to protect our world from those vermin? You said that you'd make their blood rain if it was necessary to stop them, and now you're on their side... They...they nearly killed my brother, and you're...you're trying t-to help th-them..." She then looked him straight in the eyes, glaring hatefully. "How could you, Arcturus? HOW COULD YOU!?" she screamed at him, before going silent, save for her hiccuping sobs.

Arcturus winced, guilt filling him as he looked sadly at his girlfriend. He had only joined for the sake of his friendship with Severus; he hadn't meant to..."I...it's not like that, Selene. I just wanted...I wanted to..." He trailed off, not knowing how to say it to her. As Selene's tears fell down from her face, her nose starting to run like it always did when she was like this, Arcturus found that he could only whisper, "I'm sorry..."

As Selene looked at him with broken eyes, Arcturus started to realize the price of keeping his honor and Severus' friendship...might just be too much for him to pay, if it required him to forsake right and wrong to do so...


Three Days Later Thursday January 12th, 1976

Lily sighed as she walked with Severus to his family house, where they had agreed to meet with Mary and Celeste and Floo to Hogwarts. They hadn't wanted to take any chances with running into another set of Death Eaters at King's Cross, not after Severus and Mary had been ambushed like they had last week. Unfortunately, while Apparition was the safest and probably best option, it would have led to awkward questions if anyone had found out; after all, as Severus himself had pointed out, Lily wasn't supposed to know how to Apparate.

Lily looked up at Severus' face, which was taut with concentration, much like it had been for the past week. He'd periodically look furtively at her, eyes hidden beneath his low-hanging fringe, then start mumbling under his breath. It was starting to drive Lily insane with worry, especially as she knew why he was acting the way he was... 'At least it distracted Mum from her anti-war tirades... She may have a point, but she doesn't realize just how bad it would be if Voldemort won. Still...'

After she had told Severus how she felt about him last week, Lily had dared to hope that he would instantly go out and date her, much like James had in both this life and the previous one. However, as she was strongly reminded of again and again, Severus was not James in any real way, save for in the fact that he loved her. Even knowing this, the lack of communication the past week from her best male friend was particularly painful, but Lily endured.

For all of his good sides, Severus' biggest flaw in Lily's opinion was generally that he was slow to act when it came to people, as even now he was frequently prone to a great deal of self-doubt and fear. All of this was compounded by the fact that Severus, for all his bravery and passion, was rather prone to letting other people make decisions for him. Even though he had changed in some ways in this life, mostly for the better, that didn't mean that he wasn't still governed partially by his flaws.

"Um, Lily?"

In her past life after all, whenever they had had problems, Severus had generally done nothing but watch sadly and hide his thoughts and feelings. Even when the proverbial make-or-break moment of their friendship had happened, he had chosen to simply let her walk away rather than admit how much he cared about her. There were exceptions of course, such as how he had chosen to change sides when he found out about the danger she was in, but generally he had been quite passive.

"Lily!?"

Lily was admittedly rather afraid of having such a thing happen again, with Severus refusing to make a decision until someone with a stronger will made the decision for him. After all, although Mary hadn't done anything too direct yet, she would sooner or later; when she did go on the warpath, it was quite possible that he would fold before her, ending up with her rather than making a choice for himself.

It was for that exact reason that Lily had been very careful not to pressure the boy, although she had admittedly pumped Petunia for all the information she could get. She didn't want Severus to choose her, then regret doing so. 'He's already had one lifetime he regretted thanks to me; I won't let it happen-'

"LILY!" shouted Severus into her ear, causing Lily to jerk in surprise. This resulted in her tripping and landing on top of her companion, and they crashed to the sidewalk in a painful heap. Severus then groaned slightly, muttering to himself sarcastically, "And people wonder why I dislike surprising her. Just typical."

Blanching in embarrassment even as she let out a short giggle at Severus' exasperation, Lily decided to get up...slowly, taking her time to feel Severus' body warmly pressed against her own. Standing once more and letting Severus scramble to his feet, Lily allowed herself a smirk; she could almost feel Severus' face heating up even from ten feet away. 'He might have had Mary as a girlfriend, but he's still my Severus...' mused the girl fondly.

Coughing slightly, Severus then said awkwardly, a touch of pink still gracing his face, "Anyway, I was trying to ask you if..." He paused for a moment, seeming to be searching for words. "...if you might want to err...spend Saturday together." His voice then dropped to a whisper as he continued hesitantly, making it sound like he was questioning what he was saying, "It would be like...like a d-date?

Lily blinked in surprise; after her worried pondering over the subject a couple minutes ago, it seemed rather anti-climactic, almost like ending a novel with 'Oh, by the way, the hero and heroine ended up together'. Still, she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. With Severus watching her with bated breath, clearly worried as to her answer in spite of her confession of love to him, Lily replied with a wide grin, "Yes, Sev, I'd really like that."

Severus let out a relieved sigh, then said in a much calmer tone of voice, "That's good. Meet me at the entrance to the Great Hall at..." He seemed to think it over for a moment. "...noon. Don't bring a lunch. OK?"

Lily nodded, and the two started walking again, both with a bit of a spring in their steps. Severus especially seemed to have had a large weight taken off of his bony shoulders, something which made Lily smile mentally. 'He's had more than enough stress put on him; I'm glad that this is one thing he doesn't need to worry about-'

"Hey guys!" Celeste's voice suddenly broke into Lily's thoughts. "I'm glad to see you've made it here OK!"

Lily frowned at the girl's perkiness, confused at how a girl who had just killed someone could be so...upbeat. 'It just doesn't make sense... She shouldn't be sounding nearly this...normal.' She turned to respond, only to be frozen in shock at the sight of her other best friend. 'Wow, Mary looks really, REALLY good today!'

And indeed, while Mary wasn't fully dolled up or anything like that, only making use of the lightest amount of make-up, her appearance had changed drastically. Her hair had been mostly tamed, only curly instead of bushy, but she had changed the layout of her school clothing a bit; instead of it mostly covering up her body, it seemed to frame it, emphasizing her voluptuous figure.

As eye-catching as her physical change was though, the way she was carrying herself was what Lily noticed the most; Mary seemed to exude confidence and flirtatiousness to the point that even Lily had to blush. It wasn't that Lily hadn't seen her act this way before, but it had never been to this level. Severus seemed to have become frozen, eyes completely fixed on the busty brunette. 'Wow...'

Seeming to notice their attention, Mary smirked, before saying , "And it's nice to see you too, Sev. Lily too. How've you been?"

Voice cracking slightly, Severus spoke, "We...we've been good, how about you, Mary?"

Celeste smiled mischievously, before turning and whispering something in her adopted sister's ear. Mary gave her sister a reproachful glare, face going slightly pink at something Celeste had said. The grinning blond then flounced into the building, her peals of laughter echoing in the wind around them

With Celeste gone, Mary then cleared her throat, her voice then turning more grave as she spoke in a low tone of voice. "Guys, we need to talk about what's going on when we get the chance. The Death Eaters have made it quite clear what they think of the D.E.S.A. and it's bad, REALLY bad."

Severus seemed to draw himself up, looking around furtively, then said quietly, "How bad are we talking, Mary?"

Mary's face suddenly seemed made of ice, so cold and stony it was. "Let's just say that they weren't just going after us last week; they were trying to take out most of the leadersh-"

Suddenly, Mary's voice was cut out by a scream from inside the house. Springing into action, Mary hurtled inside, Severus and Lily right behind her.

What they saw when they entered was far worse than anything they could have expected, not for what it was, but for what it implied...

Author's Note: Sorry for both the LONG period without posting, and the giant cliffie. I've been trying to finish up some other fics and start on a new one ('Cursed to Relive' for those who are wondering). I'll try to post more frequently, but don't expect too much.

In regards to the Mulciber-Selene scene I show: remember, just because the Death Eaters may be the wrong side, that doesn't mean that it's impossible for them to be human too.

As for the romantic pairing stuff...you'll just have to read on=). I'd like to break at least 10 reviews per chapter on average if you please=). I'll be trying to catch up to all of the reviews left in the past few months that I haven't responded to yet. I apologize for taking so long!

Again, sorry for the cliffie!

This Chapter has been betaed by the brilliant Anachronistic Anglophile. Thanks!