A/N: Im really really sorry to post this twice but some people said they couldn't access the new chapter and it also wasn't showing up for me. If anyone can see this and the other (same) chapter I posted last night, could you let me know? Im trying to get to the bottom of this weird glitch...


Lily had no idea what time it was.

But from the pain in her stomach and the darkness of the only piece of sky that could be seen out of the small window in Raleigh's office, she guessed that it must be around dinner time. By now the door which Raleigh had blown off its hinges had been resealed to the frame with a number of complex looking spells that communicated to Lily very clearly that there was no way out for her.

After forcing her inside the cage, the Professor had placed it on his desk and was now sitting across from it peering lazily at his catch. From between the bars of light Lily was trying her best to avoid looking back into his piercing blue eyes. He had been sitting there watching her like that for hours, an eery calm radiating from him. It was only a matter of time, she thought, before he attempted a Revelio Charm or an animagus reversal spell on her.

'Do you know what I can't quite figure out?' Raleigh said suddenly, breaking the long silence.

Lily's ears twitched before she could stop herself. She didn't want him to know that she had understood, but it was hard to ignore his menacing tone.

'There's you, obviously…' Raleigh mumbled thoughtfully, 'those eyes, if not your conduct towards me thus far, are a dead giveaway,'

Lily's fur stood up on her back. If he truly knew that it was her, why didn't he hurry up and force her to transform back?

'And I'd wager you'd have talked Scammander and Balfour into helping you' Raleigh muttered to himself. 'You're always with them, who else could it be?'

Lily turned her snout away and laid her head down on her paws. The mention of Lysander and Poppy had sent a chill down her spine, but it wouldn't do to let him see that.

'But you see, what I don't understand is-' Raleigh went on perfectly calmly, not seeming in the slightest bit concerned about whether she was actually listening, '-who is the fourth?'

Lily couldn't help it; she looked around at his face. He was watching her with a smile that made her shiver.

'To create a Hetaeria Sodalitas, you need four, don't you?' his voice fell to a whisper.

Then suddenly he shot up out of his chair and approached the desk, leaning forward against the desk so that he was eye to eye with her. Lily backed up inside the cage, shrinking against the rear set of bars.

'I will admit Potter that I was somewhat surprised when all of a sudden the curse stopped working. I wondered if I'd done something wrong, made a mistake in performing it. But then I thought that couldn't be the case, because I'd done it so many times before…'

Lily's heart was beating fast; both out of fear and an exhilarating sense of triumph. There it was; his admission that she had been right all along. That he had been behind many, if not all, of the Noirmorter murders.

'For months I couldn't figure it out' Raleigh went on. 'But then I remembered an old rumor passed down by the Anguis- a tale about how the great founder Slytherin formed a blood bond with the other founders. A blood bond so strong that it was able to prevent Noirmorter from being cast on anyone within the castle- so strong that it was able to prevent that atrocity being committed by lowly muggle kings and queens upon our people'

Lily's sense of triumph was slowly dwindling at the realization that he still had the upper hand. By attempting to use their animagus powers to stop him, they'd given themselves away. Using Poppy's horse and Lysander's bear form as a distraction had seemed like a reasonable plan at the time, but now Lily deeply regretted it. As Lily's closest friends, of course they would be his number one suspects when it came to finding out who her co-conspirators were. She was sure that he would go after them after he had finished with her.

'I imagine you must know all this. That you learnt about the history of this blood bond from wherever or whomever you learnt the process for undertaking it from. Really, I should have known that the secret to performing the blood bond was buried somewhere here at Hogwarts; it was after all the home of the founders for so many years…'

As Professor Raleigh had arrived at the school after Alasdair had stolen the pages for Lily, he had no reason to know about Hufflepuff's diary, but Lily had always harbored a fear that perhaps McGonnagall might mention the disappearance of the pages to him one day. But apparently she hadn't said a word and the method to create the blood bond had remained a secret from him. Lily took comfort in the fact that even though Raleigh had somehow won enough of McGonagall's confidence to secure a teaching position, there was still some part of the Headmistress which didn't fully trust him.

Raleigh was looking up at the ceiling now, lost in thought.

'I suppose I just never thought that you would be capable of performing such ancient and powerful magic…' he muttered to himself '…but now I see that I was wrong'

He turned back to look at her again.

'They don't teach you much about the true history of Noirmorter at this School do they Potter? No one likes to look back on how insidious, how hateful, the mudbloods were towards us when they knew of our existence. Nobody wants to admit that our peaceful co-existence will crumble the moment they found out about us. Or that they'd come for us again and recruit some of us to execute the others just as they did before…'

Lily could hardly follow along with his mutterings. The more vehement he became, the more inclined Lily was to want to shut him out. Nothing could justify the cold blooded murders he had committed from afar without even looking his victims in the eye.

Raleigh paused for a moment. The silence was more unsettling to Lily than his words had been. Surely his next step would be to reach for his wand and turn her back into her human form.

'You do know what this means, don't you Potter?' Raleigh breathed the words in a low voice. 'The fact that I'm talking to you like this?'

Lily swallowed hard and pushed herself further back against the cage wall.

'It means you're going to die'

His eyes flashed with a bone-chilling look of glee.

'And I must say, I'm going to enjoy watching it happen'

Lily's mind went blank. She could see Raleigh's hand entering his robe pocket in search of his wand. She found that she was suddenly filled with a deep and urgent desire to see Scorpius again, if only for a moment one last time. Lily could picture him waiting with Poppy and Lysander for her to come back to the Shrieking Shack, where they had agreed they would meet up afterwards. She was glad that she had stashed the Marauder's Map in the velvet bag along with all her other magical tools. If he could see that she was trapped inside Raleigh's office, she had no doubt that he would come banging on the door to demand her release; and that that alone would be enough to inform Raleigh exactly who the fourth participant in their blood bond had been.

Raleigh produced his wand and aimed it through the bars at her.

Lily closed her eyes. As the tense seconds ticked by, her father's kind face appeared in her mind. She wondered if, if nothing else, her sudden disappearance would prompt him to thoroughly investigate the Professor whom she had tried so many times to warn him about.

She waited for the flash of green light that her father had once described to her in a hushed tone, one evening by the fireplace of their living room in Thiramard. Instead the room remained dim from behind her eyelids. There was no warning of the sudden stabbing pain that overtook her entire body.

Lily let out an excruciating cry, her small canine body twisting, her four legs thrashing about as she tried in vain to escape the hold of the Professor's silent Cruciatus curse. It felt as though her entire self had been set alight; as though not only her body but also her mind was being impaled with hundreds of white-hot nails.

'But not of course until you tell me who the fourth is- we can't have any of you making things difficult for us' Raleigh told her, his voice barely audible over her yelps.

The pain evaporated as suddenly as it had begun and Lily was left lying on the floor of the cage panting. Her vision had gone blurry but she could just make out the sight of Raleigh's pale fingers encircling the door of the cage and opening it.

'All you have to do Potter is come out and tell me who the forth is' Raleigh told her, his wand still pointed at the opening to the cage.

Lily's head spun as she looked out of the cage door. She tried to force Scorpius from her thoughts; his warm hazel eyes, smooth skin and delicate fringe. She tried not to think about his handsome grin and calming presence. She could feel the Professor watching her keenly and, though she knew it was impossible, it felt as though his eyes could see through her right into her mind.

Waves of pain crashed over her and then resided, again and again, over and over. At some point, somewhere in the maize of muddled thoughts that came to her, she realized that the reason Raleigh wasn't forcing her to transform back was because he didn't need to. Once she couldn't stand the pain anymore, she would be forced to do so herself, begging him to stop and giving him the information he demanded. And even if that didn't eventuate, even if she was able to resist, it would be more convenient for him to kill her and dispose of her as a fox.

Lily felt the hot pain of his Cruciatus curse for hours. Then just until she felt she was on the verge of madness, she blacked out.


When Lily came to, the office was flooded with morning light and the door to her cage had been sealed shut again. Raleigh was moving about the room, picking up pieces of parchment here and there, as though in preparation to leave. Lily felt a flicker of hope at the thought that she might be spared his presence for a few hours whilst he taught his classes. But then he grabbed the handle at the top of her cage and carried her straight outside with him.

Lily soon found herself sitting instead on the desk at the front of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Her eyes darted around the empty classroom, wondering in panicked confusion why Raleigh had taken her out of the private confines of his office.

'Since you were less than cooperative yesterday, we're going to try something different' Raleigh called out to her from where he stood at the entrance to the classroom unlocking the door.

When Lily saw the first student arrive, a sixth year Hufflepuff boy with sandy hair whom Lily had occasionally seen Scorpius chatting with during lunch, she jolted in surprise and attempted to turn herself back into a human so that she could cry for help. But it was no use; whatever magic had been used to prevent her from getting out of the cage was also preventing her from transforming.

Instead she was forced to scuttle around the cage in a flurried panic, trying her best to get the boy's attention.

'What's that Sir?' he asked Raleigh, a crease forming on his forehead. Other students were filing into the class now, each looking just as curious about the sight of a caged wild animal.

'I found it trapped in my office yesterday evening… no idea how the creature got itself in there' Raleigh's eyes flickered about, watching the expression of each student carefully as he spoke.

Lily caught sight of a shock of tussled black hair. Albus was standing by one of the desks in the back row absentmindedly taking out his text books. He didn't look the slightest bit interested in the commotion occurring up ahead. Lily ran faster, looping around her cage and ramming her small body into the bars. The thudding and rattling sounds she was making eventually caught Albus's interest and he briefly looked up.

Lily immediately stopped moving and looking meaningfully into his emerald eyes with her own identical ones. He paused for a moment, looking her up and down vaguely, before taking his seat and looking away.

Lily let out a long, high pitched howl of despair. But it soon caught in her throat.

Standing by the entrance, staring down the aisle at her was Scorpius. His eyes were round and unblinking, his face pale.

Lily froze. If Scorpius didn't move, if he didn't take his seat like she so wished he would, the Professor was sure to notice. But of course, that had been his plan all along, Lily realized. She was the bait in his scheme to uncover the forth animagus.

Even as all of the other Hufflepuff and Gryffindor six years took their seats, Scorpius remained stock-still at the end of the aisle, his eyes darkening. It wasn't long before the Professor addressed him.

'Is something the matter Mr Malfoy?'

The whole class turned to look at Scorpius, who seemed to be carefully considering his response. Lily could sense the anger bubbling below the surface of his impassive face. He took a deep breath before asking;

'Don't you think it's cruel Sir?'

'What's cruel?' Raleigh returned Scorpius's look with a steady gaze.

'Keeping a living being locked up like that' Scorpius responded. His breathing had quickened and his hands curled up into fists by his side.

'Well, let me ask you a question Mr Malfoy' Raleigh responded in a light tone. 'Do you believe in such a thing as a 'necessary evil'?'

Scorpius blinked back at him, his features becoming more tense. Raleigh waited a few moments as the silence dragged on before opening his mouth to speak again.

'A necessary evil is something one does even though it is unpleasant in order to produce a desired outcome' he explained in a low drawl.

'For example, breaking Magical Laws set out by the Ministry by performing unsanctioned magic in order prevent deaths from a curse' Raleigh's eyes were boring into Scorpius's unblinkingly.

'Does that seem justifiable to your Mr Malfoy?'

Scorpius let out the breath he was holding before answering.

'I'm not sure Sir. It's hard to imagine a circumstance in which someone might do that'

'Is it?' Raleigh's eyes flashed with irritation.

'I don't see what that has to do with keeping that animal trapped' Scorpius said slowly. The entire class was watching him, occasionally shooting each other glances to see if anyone else had any idea why the usually silent young Malfoy was so upset to see a caged fox.

'This too is what you might call a necessary evil' Raleigh said softly.

Scorpius's face twitched, and Lily could see that his hands had begun to shake with anger. She silently pleaded for him to leave; to get as far away from the vindictive Professor as he could before his distress became undeniable evidence that he was the fourth member of their blood bond.

'It could be construed as evil because, as you say, I'm keeping an innocent creature locked up… but it's also necessary. For you see Mr Malfoy, there are some defensive spells that are simply not able to be mastered unless they are practiced upon a living target'

Scorpius let out a low gasp of outrage. He gave up on trying to hid his feelings and let his expression form into one of utter disgust. Lily's chest tightened painfully. Scorpius's obvious concern for her was putting him in danger and she was powerless to help him.

'I thought perhaps we might practice some of those spells today' Raleigh finished cheerfully.

It happened within a matter of a few moments. Scorpius's entire body suddenly jerked forward; he was charging at the Professor with his wand raised a look of utter fury on his face. Several of the students sitting at the desks closest jumped up out of their seats in surprise. Though he was sitting far at the back, Albus did too, looking utterly startled.

'What are doing Malfoy?' he yelled to Scorpius.

But Scorpius had already reached Raleigh. He sent a blast of golden light out of his wand, directly at the Professor's neck. But with a quick flick of his wand, Raleigh deflected the spell. Then to Lily's horror he held his wand at Scorpius.

A white jet of sparkling light flew out of the tip of his wand and hit Scorpius in the chest. Lily watched his knees buckle as he tried to step forward and she thought she saw him mouth her name before he fell to the ground unmoving.

Lily let out another harrowing howl. She pushed at each side of her prison with her paws but only succeeding in tipping it over onto its side.

Raleigh stepped forward to where Scorpius lay unmoving in a heap on the stone floor. His eyes were closed and his white blonde fringe stuck mattered to his forehead with sweat. The entire room had fallen into a shocked silence.

Raleigh still had his wand out and pointed at Scorpius.

'What did you do to him Sir?' Albus asked in an agitated tone.

Raleigh looked up at Albus with barely concealed irritation in his eyes. Lily feared for a horrifying moment that the Professor was about to raise his wand at her brother too.

Suddenly there was a loud bang as the door to the classroom flew open. Lily had never been so happy to see Professor Montespan as she was in that moment. He flew over to where Scorpius lay and fell onto his knees to check his pulse.

Then he turned to look up at Raleigh.

'What on earth has happened here?'

Lily had never heard Montespan speak to another member of the teaching staff in such an aggravated manner. Rather than answering directly, Raleigh turned to the sandy haired Hufflepuff boy in the front row.

'Tell Professor Montespan what happened here Baker'

The startled Hufflepuff dutifully turned towards Professor Montespan.

'Malfoy attacked the Professor so he shot a stunning spell at him'

Montespan looked from the boy's expression to Raleigh's impassive one and back again as his mind ticked over. He looked like he wanted to say something biting to the Professor but instead he clenched his jaw and threw one of Scorpius's limp arms around his shoulders.

'I'm taking him to the Hospital Wing' he announced roughly, hauling Scorpius up into his arms.

'We'll need to discuss this with the Headmistress later' he added forcefully.

'Yes. She'll need to think of an adequate punishment I'm sure' Raleigh responded silkily.

Montespan turned his head briefly to shoot Raleigh a dark look as he carried Scorpius out of the room.

Once they had disappeared, Lily felt she might feint from relief. How Montespan had known to come just at the right time she did not know, but she was incredibly grateful for it.

There was a tense silence as the other students looked around at each other, breaking out into hurried whispers about what had just unfolded. Professor Raleigh silenced them, announcing that due to the circumstances the class would be suspended.

Albus stood uncertainly up out of his seat and began packing away his books. He lingered by his desk at the back of the room as the other students departed. When the room was empty apart from him and Professor Raleigh he cleared his throat.

'Was that really necessary Sir?' he inquired hesitantly.

'He was out of control' Raleigh said shortly, giving Albus a brief smile. 'It was for his own safety as much as for mine'

There was silence for a moment as Albus appeared to gather up the courage to speak again.

'But he seemed upset about the fox… so couldn't you have just let it go? To calm him down a bit I mean-'

'Bending to the demands of those who threaten violence is not something I am in the business of doing' Raleigh replied firmly. 'I'm not sure that I think it's something anyone should think to do- not least of all young wizards who are aspiring to be a part of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, don't you think?'

Albus slowly let a sigh out through his nose.

'No Sir… I suppose it isn't'

He turned to leave, throwing his brown leather satchel over his shoulder.

'If you'd be so kind, could you step into my office for a moment?' Raleigh called to him.

'I have something I would like your assistance with'

The Professor picked up Lily's cage and retreated towards his office door.

Albus turned to look at Raleigh, before giving a nervous nod of consent. Lily was yelping, begging for Albus to leave. She pounced around inside the cage again, rattling the bars. But it appeared as though Albus was too lost in his own thoughts to notice her as he followed diligently after the Professor into his office.

Raleigh directed Albus to take a seat in the armchair facing his desk, the same one that Lily had attempted to hide under. He then took at seat himself and folded his arms.

'What do you know about Mr Malfoy?' he asked.

'Malfoy Sir?' Albus asked in surprise.

'In order to understand why he did what he did, I need to know about him' Raleigh said simply. 'Yet I must confess that I do not know the boy very well myself'

'I don't really know him that well either Sir' Albus avoided Raleigh's eyes.

'He was your second at the Tournament' Raleigh pointed out.

Albus didn't respond. He fiddled with his hands in his lap.

'You must have some memory of him; something that might tell me more about the boy' the Professor urged him.

Albus shrugged.

'I can't really think of anything specific Sir…'

Raleigh lent back in his seat and let out a sigh.

'Who can I ask then?' he demanded irritably. 'Who was he close with?'

Albus frowned at the question.

'Well no one really… he's famously quite a recluse'

'What about with you sister?' Raleigh hissed, leaning forward over the desk. 'You never saw him with Miss Lily Potter?'

Albus looked down at his lap and swallowed hard.

Please Albus, Lily begged him silently. You promised you wouldn't tell anyone… you promised you'd let us be.

Slowly Albus looked up again at the Professor.

'No. I never saw them together' he said flatly.

Lily jumped at the sound of Raleigh's chair hitting the stone floor. The Professor marched angrily around the desk and grabbed Albus by the collar.

'LIAR!'

Albus's face paled in shock. But before he could open his mouth to say anything Raleigh had taken out his wand and pointed it directly at his face.

'Petrificus Totalus!'

Albus went limp where he sat in his chair, his astonished expression freezing in place.

'Think back on it- think back on every experience you have ever had with Malfoy!' Raleigh directed him menacingly. He moved the tip of his wand to Albus's temple.

'If you refuse to tell me the truth, I will have to see it for myself'

As Raleigh withdrew the wand a stand of silvery substance came away, stretching from wand tip to temple. It broke as he pulled the wand back falling into a small glass jar that Raleigh held underneath it.

'What else is there? What else did you see Malfoy do?' Raleigh hissed menacingly into Albus's ear. He continued to pull silvery strands from him over and over until there were four full jars.

'And now, if you don't mind, you're going to give me this memory too' Raleigh announced, extracting one final thick strand of silver. This he placed inside a vial full of a black potion. After swirling the vial three times clockwise he lifted the silver thread straight back out again and placed it in another jar.

Then with a few flicks of his wand he levitated the black liquid out of the jar and coaxed it back into Albus's temple. Despite is motionless face, Albus's eyes watered in discomfort. But as the last of the potion entered his skull, he slumped back into the chair unconscious.

Lily howled in horror, terrified that whatever that black liquid had been it had killed him. But then Raleigh waived his wand once and Albus's eyes snapped back open.

'As I was saying Albus, I'm very impressed with how your defensive spellwork has improved. With a few more private lessons, I'm certain you will be a shoe-in for the Auror Office.' Raleigh's face had suddenly broken out into a charming smile.

Albus's blinked a few times and he looked around himself, as though having just awoken from a dream. But upon seeing Raleigh's breaming expression, his own soon brightened.

'Do you really think so Sir? Thank you very much!' Albus then jumped up out of his chair with an eery enthusiasm. As he walked out of Raleigh's office, Lily could see a spring in his step. He was smiling to himself as though nothing at all strange or disturbing had occurred over the past hour.

As the door clicked shut behind him, Lily felt an overwhelming sense of dread take hold of her. Raleigh had seen more than enough to be suspicious of Scorpius and now he appeared to have all of Albus's memories of him to back those suspicions up. Whats more, whatever he had just done to Albus had exhibited to her just how much control he had over her brother.

Raleigh picked up the bottles full of silver strands and moved behind the desk. Lily broke out into a sweat as he bent down to open the bottom drawer.

He pulled the thing roughly open and made to throw the bottles inside. But before he could drop them, his arm froze. Laying on top of a pile of bottled memories was Lily's velvet bag.

Lily cursed herself for having been so rash in her choice of hiding spot, as the Professor snatched the bag up and turned it upside down, emptying the contents onto the desk in front of him.

The wooden poppets fell out into a heap along with all of Lily's tools; the Marauder's Map, the Gemino Cup and the Glammer Goggles. He pushed aside Lily's things as he scrambled to pick up the wooden effigy of her father.

Raleigh let out a startled yell that made Lily jump. He spun quickly around and pelted through the bookcase. From inside the small chamber with the fountain, Lily could hear him screaming in anger. She had never heard such a terrifying sound.

He bolted back out through the bookcase and into the office as quickly as he had left it, gathering up the poppets haphazardly in his arms and throwing them back into the velvet bag. Then to Lily's great surprise, he dashed towards the door, leaving her completely alone.