Lily sat at her desk in Professor Montespan's third year class, surrounded by students waving their wands at teapots of all shapes, colours and sizes.

Many of the students had rushed forward to take a teapot off of Montespan's desk which was of a similar colour and texture to that of the Indian Star tortoise they were attempting to transfigure them into. But Lily had been distracted by Poppy who was sitting behind her hissing her name and thus ended up with a yellow, floral patterned monstrosity, the type of which her grandmother Molly might have adored.

Nevertheless she had managed to ignore Poppy's hushed attempts to get her attention long enough to transfigure it into a rather funky looking lemon tortoise with a shell covered in Bougainvillea. It was far from a perfect transfiguration but after years of failing to do anything at all with her wand in the class, Lily was quite happy with how successful her wand-less magic was proving to be.

A few moments later, she heard the scraping of chair against stone floor as Poppy stood up and marched over with her transfigured tortoise in one hand and her chair in the other to sit at Lily's desk.

Lily could feel Alanna and Hazel's eyes boring into her from either side. She couldn't blame them- the last time Poppy and Lily had attempted to communicate amicably with one another during class was in first year.

'Potter, we need to talk about this blood bond business-' Poppy hissed putting her squirming tortoise down on the table. The perfectly transfigured Indian Star Tortoise began munching on the leaves of the flowering vine that covered Lily's yellow one.

After having spent much of the lesson ignoring the girl, Lily's eyes darted sideways to glower at her.

'This isn't the best place to talk about that' She shot back out of the side of her clenched mouth.

'Your plan is insane!' Poppy whispered back forcefully, ignoring her warning.

'Do you have any idea what the ramifications of broken blood bonds are? Because everything that I've read on magical pacts and vows leads me to believe that these types of magic usually have serious ramifications! And that's in the case of magically enforced contracts between humans. Who knows what could happen to a broken alliance that was made between animals which, as it says in the diary, is supposedly stronger!'

'Alasdair thinks it might be the only way to stop Noirmorter-' Lily retorted under her breath.

'Well that's the other thing! Why on earth do you all trust this ghost boy? If this really is the best way to stop Noirmorter from spreading at Hogwarts then why isn't the Headmistress attempting it? She knows about the diary!' Poppy whispered angrily into her ear.

'Well, I don't… I suppose she hasn't…' Lily became flustered, having only just thought about this for the first time. But she was sure that there must be some explanation and felt frustrated at Poppy's inability to just trust her instincts on this.

'…maybe she hasn't read it so carefully and connected the dots like Alasdair has…' Lily finished, avoiding Poppy's skeptical stare.

'Like Alasdair has?' Poppy mimicked her. 'The only pure blood to have ever died from Noirmorter at Hogwarts? Someone who can't even die properly because something is keeping them attached to the living realm? And you don't think there is anything he's not telling us? Hiding from us?'

'No' Lily mumbled back with a displeased frown. Poppy didn't know Alasdair. She had hardly ever spoken to him. And she had no right to accuse him of being disingenuous.

'Well then you really are duller than a deluminator!' Poppy exclaimed, forgetting in her aggravation to keep her voice down.

Every student in the class, many of whom were still mid-incantation, stopped and fell silent at Poppy's sudden outburst. Wands were left raised mid-swish. Montespan, who was standing leaning against his desk at the front, folded his arms and frowned disapprovingly at them.

'If you're going to fight, do it in the corridors where it won't be my responsibility' He drawled.

'We're not fighting!' Lily and Poppy spoke back in unison, before turning to narrow their eyes at each other.

'Well if this is what you call getting along, I don't want to see that either' Montespan warned them with a raised eyebrow.

'Back to your own seat please Miss Balfour!' He commanded her.

Poppy shot upwards and snatched up her tortoise which retreated inside it's shell in fright. But before she stormed away she bent down again to whisper one last time into Lily's ear.

'Alasdair is playing you all for fools! He's a crook and I'll prove it!'

Lily's mouth flew open in outrage. Of all the ridiculous things she'd ever heard from Poppy Balfour, this took the cake.

'He's our friend' She hissed angrily at Poppy's retreating back. Lily felt her temper flare but she managed to stop herself from adding 'unlike you' at the last moment.

'Don't take it out on the poor tortoise' Montespan moaned, putting a hand to his forehead.

Lily's eyes shot down to discover that she had accidentally turned the creature in front of her a horrifying black colour and it's beady eyes an angry red.

A few days later, Scorpius's was sitting cross legged on the straw-covered floor of the Owlery, hand-feeding worms to the large black raven that belonged to his family when Lily stormed in. She was holding the Marauders map in one hand, her pocket watch in the other and had an exasperated expression on her face.

'What's wrong?' Scorpius asked immediately.

'Poppy!' Lily seethed.

'Oh…' Scorpius didn't seem surprised.

'I know you had good intentions but I really don't think letting her join us was a good idea… she's trying to turn us against each other, Scorpius. Have you heard the way she talks about Alasdair? She's got it into her head that he's somehow scheming against us!'

'I have heard actually…' Scorpius replied with a muted expression. He looked down at the straw covered ground and fiddled with a piece of it between his fingers.

'What?'

Lily knew he had something to say but was hesitating to do so. She might not have been able to pick up on his minuscule signs of discomfort when she had first met him, but after having spent so much time away in France together, it was now immediately obvious to her when something was bothering him.

'Well… it's just that Nicolas… agrees'

Scorpius kept his eyes firmly on the ground as he spoke.

'Nicolas?' Lily shot back with distaste. 'With Poppy?'

She didn't try to hide the fact that she didn't regard either of their opinions in high regard.

'I know he's not…' Scorpius began carefully.

'…that he wasn't the most moral of wizards when he was still alive. But that's just it- he understands how scheming minds work Lily. If anyone should be able to spot disingenuousness it's him. And he just couldn't believe that Alasdair would know about something as precious as a replica of Slytherin's locket just by hearing it on the grapevine…'

Lily let out a sigh and folded her arms.

'Why would Alasdair lie to us? What has he got to gain from it? He's dead for Merlin's sake!'

Scorpius finally let the piece of straw fall to the ground and looked up to catch her eyes.

'Not properly'

Lily frowned back at him. What on earth was he suggesting?

She didn't have time to fully consider it however because just then, a remarkably cheerful looking Lysander bounded into the Owlery with his pocket watch and greeted her with a hug.

'I got them!' He announced with a wide grin as he pulled away from the embrace.

'Got what?' Lily and Scorpius asked in unison.

Lysander pulled out two crumpled pages from his bottomless pocket.

'The missing pages of the diary' He replied triumphantly.

Lily's jaw dropped.

'Who told you to do that?' She seethed.

Alasdair glanced from between Lily's furious expression to Scorpius's weary one in confusion.

'We need them to understand the bond fully before we do it, don't we?'

'Is that what Poppy told you?' Lily buried her face in her hands in horror. This was already getting out of hand. She would have to learn how to wipe Poppy's memory before she made any more of a mess of things.

Lysander nodded quickly and innocently, unaware of the fury that Lily felt pulsing through her.

'So you're saying that Poppy Balfour told you to break into the room with the Quill of Acceptance and the Book of Admittance… and you did?' Lily asked, forcing herself to take a few breaths.

'Poppy was able to disable the charms and then I knocked down the door in my bear form!' Lysander was just as upbeat as ever.

Scorpius exhaled loudly whilst Lily put a hand to her forehead in horror. If Lysander was expelled because of this she would never forgive Poppy.

'But it's a good thing I did, because it says here…'

Lysander held up one of the pages and traced the Lingualatis over it eagerly as though presenting them with an exciting treasure map.

'…Yes it says here that this blood bond between animagus- if broken- may result in eternal misfortune followed by certain heartbreak and or death'

Scorpius scrambled to get up and without a word he walked over to Lysander and grabbed the pages and the magnifying-glass like object out of his hands to read it for himself.

Lily on the other hand stood very still, taking deep breaths. The straw at her feet began to blacken and shrivel up.

'Best to know what we're in for' Lysander smiled serenely.

'It certainly is'

Poppy's pompous voice sounded from the entrance of the stone room. Lily clenched her fists.

'How did you know where we were?' She asked scathingly.

Poppy held up a clenched fist. A golden chain was wrapped around her fingers. Then she opened her palm and let the golden pocket watch within it drop.

It dangled from her fingers, twirling around catching the light of the setting sun.

'You said to meet here didn't you?'

Lily shot a look over at Scorpius who was looking downwards again. She couldn't believe that he'd gone and given her a pocket watch already. Was she really the only one of them that had the sense not to trust Poppy Balfour so quickly?

Poppy stood staring expectantly at Lily who simply glared back.

'Well? You've seen it haven't you?' Poppy prompted her.

Lily kept her mouth shut, letting an aggravated sigh escape her nose.

'So you've seen that I was right!' Poppy burst out in frustration at Lily's silence.

'Alasdair purposefully left out those two pages about all the risks involved, conveniently just giving us the ones that detail how to make the bond!'

Lily didn't flinch. She just stood silently shaking her head at Poppy. This seemed to infuriate the girl further.

'In Helga Hufflepuffs own words, right there, it says that the dangers of breaking Ravenclaw's protective animagus blood bond are so great that it will surely lead to the eternal misfortune of all involved!'

Scorpius, who was still reading over the pages with the Lingualatis stopped for a moment to nod in confirmation that Poppy was right.

'And we don't need proof of that either, do we?' Poppy carried on.

'She and all the other founders have already given us that. Their bond was broken when Slytherin left them, and look what happened to them! All four of them dead, in the most horrid of ways imaginable…'

Poppy reached into her school satchel and pulled out her copy of Hogwarts; A History. She began flipping violently through the pages and pointing to different sections as she spoke.

'Rowena Ravelclaw, betrayed by her own daughter, died of a terrible illness! Goodric Griffindor, killed in battle! Helga Hufflepuff, drowned and devoured by a Kelpie!'

'-Oh and Salazar Slytherin' Poppy paused for effect. 'Murdered by his own wife!'

Lily gradually began to shake her head even more forcefully.

'Alasdair might not have known… might not have read it all properly…' She retorted feebly.

Poppy clicked her tongue.

'Why would he take some of the pages and not others? He must have known there was certain parts that would inspire you to perform the bond and certain parts that would cause you to hesitate… He must have known the contents of that diary very well. Which leads me to believe that it was no accident that you asked him to get it for you.'

'Why did you ask him to get it for you?' Scorpius piped up, suddenly curious.

Lily swallowed and thought back on it. It seemed like an age ago now.

'Well I… I saw it when Professor Longbottom took me to the tower in which it was held to show me that my name was in the Book of Admittance… and it just sort of caught my eye…'

'Caught your eye?' Poppy repeated in a high voice. 'Did it sparkle perhaps?'

Lily felt her throat go dry.

'And did you think about it for days afterwards? Obsess over it?' Poppy probed.

'I was curious about it that's all' Lily shot back defensively.

'In the same way that I was curious about your wizarding radio…' Poppy said softly.

'You're suggesting…' Lily's voice grew fainter.

'...that Alasdair used my Pixie dust on it?'

With a bolt of anxiety, Lily remembered about how knowledgable Alasdair had been about it's usage- and about how he had already known that it was in her trunk.

'But he can't have known that Professor Longbottom would take Lily there…' Scorpius pointed out quietly.

Poppy whipped around to look at the blond haired boy, who still held the diary pages in his hands.

'Alasdair has been around for a long time' Poppy reminded him.

'I bet he knows a lot of things- that he's seen a lot of things that go on within these castle walls. Perhaps he even saw Professor Dumbledore taking Professor Longbottom there when he was a boy…'

Poppy turned back to Lily to look her in the eyes.

'And if he knew that, then he would have known that it would only take one push in the right direction to get the Professor to take you there. One little push to get everyone whispering about whether you were a squib or not… to make the Professor feel sorry for you…'

'No-' Lily's voice came out in a croak. 'Alasdair would never- he's my friend…'

'Who else could have done it Lily?' Poppy demanded, her tone much more forceful now. It was rare for the girl to call her by her first name and for the first time Lily felt a sense that maybe Poppy wasn't saying all this out of spite or ill-feeling.

'I certainly didn't and I didn't see Alanna do it either. Hazel was with you and I doubt she'd have it in her to do something so nasty. But Alasdair… well he can already walk through walls. It would have been so easy.'

Lily felt her eyes blur up and she blinked automatically. She was shocked to feel a tear running down her cheek. Then she felt angry at herself. How could she let herself feel so betrayed when there was no certainty that what Poppy was saying was right?

Lily stepped backwards away from Poppy, her face scrunched into a look of utter contempt.

'You're wrong' She choked out as the tears continued to stream down her face.

Then she turned and leapt forward landing in her animagus form and running as fast as her four paws would take her down the owlery stairs towards the castle.

A/N: Just wanted to say thank you for all the reviews and feedback. I've put a lot of thought into the storyline and into my characters so it's really nice to get feedback. Thanks especially to the person who gave me constructive criticism on my spelling. It certainly is a weak point of mine but I'll try harder to proof read more from now on.

If you have any thoughts on this latest development with Poppy and Alasdair I'd love to hear them! I've been building up to this chapter since I started writing so it was a lot of pressure to put into words. But anyways, please please please review and let me know what you think and I'll get the next part up asap.