Chapter 17

Secrets and Lies

Dropping a teacup in the kitchens was, Severus imagined, something akin to dropping a vial of biotoxin in a cleanroom. As soon as the cup was dropped, a high-pitched cry went off like an alarm bell. Severus was immediately set upon by a swarm of dismayed house elves, who quickly, and with great efficiency, cleared away the broken cup, mopped up the tea, cleaned and freshened the tablecloth, sanitized his robes, and left him holding a full, fresh cup of steaming hot tea.

"What just happened?" Lily said, bewildered, as the storm of elves subsided.

"James," Severus said, putting his teacup down carefully, this time. "I will show you the same courtesy you have shown me. I won't pressure you to share anything you aren't comfortable sharing, but in light of your recent revelation, I have to ask; is there something you aren't telling us?"

"Oh, yeah!" Lily said, snapping her fingers. "I'm just now realizing how weird that tour of your house was: the portraits who accused us of snooping, the staircase that went nowhere, and how nervous you seemed about the whole thing. Why did you invite us over, if you didn't want us to see your house?"

"I- I knew we could have privacy at my house," James said, looking around like a deer caught in headlights.

"As I said- you don't have to tell us, if you aren't comfortable," Severus said firmly.

"The truth is that I have a few secrets, but they aren't mine to tell," James said, "and this one- it's big. Really big. I'm dying to tell both of you about it, but I can't."

"Why not?" Lily asked, cocking her head to the side.

"There's a geas- a magically binding order not to tell. The geas isn't just on me, but on my whole family. I can't tell you about it until we get married, which is frustrating. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Severus said. "Your secrets are yours to keep."

"It would be better if I could tell you now, because I'm going to need your help. Plus, it's unfair that you have to get involved before you can even know what it is- but it's nothing bad," James said quickly. "Don't get the wrong idea. This isn't a deep, dark family secret. It's a deep light family secret."

"James," Lily said quietly, covering his hand with her own. "I think it would be best to change the subject. You're just getting frustrated, and you're making us more and more curious."

"Ok- yeah," James said with a nervous laugh. "Let's get back to the study group, then."

"Alright," Severus said, and then paused. "Am I allowed to ask how you learned mind magic?"

"My parents hired tutors for me," James said. "I was too dense to learn it on my own. But I think I could help the two of you, now that I have it down."

"If we got really good at legilimency, and succeeded in breaking through your occlumency barriers, then would we be able to see the secret in your mind?" Lily asked.

James's eyes went blank, and he spoke in a monotone voice. "I can neither confirm nor deny that."

Then he shook his head, his eyes cleared, and he reached out for a biscuit.

"That was weird," Severus remarked.

"I think it means that I'm onto something," Lily said gleefully. "That was the geas taking effect- wasn't it, James?"

James's eyes went blank once more. "I can neither confirm nor deny that." Then he shook his head once more and groaned in frustration. "Please, Lily- stop that. It feels really weird."

"I have incentive, now," Lily said with a wicked gleam in her eye. "Can we meet here on Saturday morning to get started on mind magic? Sorry- I can't do Friday night because of prefect duties, and I can't do Saturday night because of Astronomy club."

"That's fine," Severus said. "It will look less suspicious if I get up early once in a while, rather than always coming in late."

"In the meantime, you two can practice on your own," James said. "Try meditating for 10 minutes every day. It will help."

"Any specific type of meditation?" Lily asked. "Mindfulness, transcendental…"

James shrugged. "Just try and clear your mind."

"Alright," Lily said. "We should also try to make some progress on our individual projects. As I said before, I'll be adding wards and glamoury to my current project list."

Severus nodded. "Then I'll look into advanced spellcraft, and try to create some more powerful hexes. I want to be armed, if things go wrong."

Lily grimaced, but did not object. "Let me know if you need any help."

Then Severus and Lily looked up at James.

"I actually want to study-" he paused. "Promise you won't laugh?"

"Promise," Lily said with an encouraging smile.

"I'm most interested in healing magic," James said.

"That's going to be incredibly useful," Lily said. "Why would we laugh?"

"Well, because I'm not exactly the type, I guess?" James said, his face growing red.

"This is about survival, James," Severus said firmly. "Whenever you find that you're worried about what people will say, or worried you will be embarrassed, ask yourself if giving in to that worry will make you weaker, or stronger."

James blinked, as though this way of thinking was unexpected, and then he nodded.

"Alright- so here are our assignments," Lily continued in her businesslike tone. "I will practice meditating, work on wards and glamoury, and try to find a way to warn Slughorn that Slytherin knows about his loyalties. Sev- you will practice meditation, work on your spellcraft, and keep an eye on the aspiring death eaters. And James- you will work on healing spells and try to find a secure way to pass Dumbledore information."

James groaned. "We're taking on too much, aren't we?"

"We are, but if things get really bad, Sev and I have found a way to keep up with extra work." Lily made a face. "I don't like it, though, so let's save it for an emergency."

"If you say so," Severus said with a shrug.

Lily finished off her tea and put the cup down with a sharp clink. "I hate to say this, but it's getting late, and I have charms early tomorrow morning."

"In that case, we have one last item of business to attend to," James said, his voice matching Lily's crisp tone.

"What's that?"

James grinned. "Goodnight kisses, of course."

#

When Severus returned to the Slytherin common room, the air had taken on a distinctive chill.

The eerie green light that filled the common room during the day had gone. After the sun set, there was no light to trickle through the murky lake waters and spill through the massive windows that lined the room. Instead, the darkness outside had transformed the windows into massive mirrors that reflected silver lamplight, making the room appear twice as large as during the day.

Many older Slytherins were still awake, but most of them were sitting idly on sofas or reading textbooks, so that the room was very still. Severus's footsteps echoed off of the marble floors, announcing his arrival to the few who were still present.

"Snape!" a voice echoed through the room, and for a moment Severus could not tell from where it had come. Then the echo repeated, and Severus could see Avery and Black waving at him from the green couch on the far side of the room.

"Out studying this late on the second day of school?" Avery said, shaking his head. "You're going to drive yourself mad before your NEWTs."

"Some of us actually care about our scores," Regulus Black said in his quiet, prim voice.

Looking at Regulus, Severus had to marvel that he and Sirius were actually brothers. Sirius was brash, loud, and messy, with black hair past his shoulders and a manic look in his eye. Regulus, on the other hand, was tidy and quiet, with perfectly groomed hair and a thoughtful disposition. If one looked closely, they would be able to see the family features in each, but the outward mannerisms of the brothers were so different that they overwhelmed any other resemblance.

"I thought you'd want in on what me and Reggie are planning," Avery said, grinning. "Reggie's ex-brother has made it clear that he stands against his family and against wizard-kind. We thought we'd do something about him and those three Gryffindors he hangs around with."

"I thought I told you that Potter was mine," Severus said.

"Listen mate, it was obvious in defense today that you'll need help dealing with Potter. His friends will always bail him out," Avery said.

"This way, we can get all four of them out of the way, at once," Regulus added.

"Don't worry," Avery lowered his voice and leaned closer to Severus. "We'll make sure that Potter and his goons never cause trouble again. Are you in?"

Severus swallowed. He could see no way out. If he agreed, he'd at least be able to warn James and the others of the plan. Hopefully, he would find a way to conceal the fact that he'd betrayed Avery and Black.

"I'm in," Severus said. He cast muffliato, and then sat. "What's the plan?"