Chapter Five: The Owlery

…

After we reached the library, I found Madam Pince looked in the direction of Severus and I with her careful hawk like stare, but it instantly appeared she grew less wary of us when Emma and Fred walked in with us.

I took out a piece of parchment to start writing the paper for Frumentar while Emma began to read the book he lent me.

"This is very advanced work." Emma said, turning a page in An Endless Battle. "Professor Frumentar actually lent it to you?"

"Sort of. I convinced him I needed it for the essay." I said.

"And did you?" asked Fred.

"A bit. I also really wanted to learn more about the subject, I know we've only had one class with him but he's excellent."

"I know!" Fred said.

I mean, I still planned to lift Voldemort's curse to keep Frumentar teaching us.

Severus nodded slightly towards the book Emma was reading. "Wonderful isn't it?"

"I suppose. This is a third year book I believe, Frumentar must've really liked your work in class Robert." Emma said.

I continued to write the essay as Emma, Severus, and Frederick all began to read and compare ideas and opinions on what we read a bit later.

For once, it was rather refreshing to meet someone who didn't respect me so much based on my family. Emma and Fred were themselves of very noble birth but they didn't hold it over Severus' head like I thought they would.

Instead, I liked seeing that just like Severus, they ended up being very soft spoken and introverted people who wanted to learn as much about magic as they could. I hadn't seen all three of them speak about anything this year as much as they did about Defense Against the Dark Arts.

By the time I had finished writing my paper, the four of us just kept on reading.

Emma and Severus disagreed on the theory Trimble had used in both An Endless Battle as well as The Dark Forces, both of which were actually really excellent books.

I was able to dissect exactly how Trimble discussed the growth of the defensive spells over the years and exactly how their applications in duels and other forms of combat grew. I was expecting an easy O from the paper.

Severus and Emma as well seemed to understand the subject very well, and especially the theory, because it had been nearly ten minutes and they still didn't disagree on the specifically annotated parts of Trimble's books where he stated the theory.

Fred and I shared a look, and he stepped in to change the subject before his twin sister could keep disagreeing any longer.

"How about Charms? I hear we should be moving on to the Locking and Unlocking spell." Fred said.

I smiled. "Alohomora and Colloportus. They look rather straightforward enough."

"I agree." Severus put one of the books he and Emma were reading away on a nearby shelf. "Locking and Unlocking. Should work similarly to Nox and Lumos." he said.

"Simple enough right? I'm looking forward to it." Emma said as Fred nodded quietly in agreement.

Fellow Slytherins who didn't make fun of me for actually reading the Charms textbook well enough to memorize the incantations? What a breath of fresh air after almost a whole week of Mulciber and Rosier.

The four of us actually began to study together, we moved from subject to subject, or rather, aisle to aisle throughout the library. After quickly doing the writing for Defense Against the Dark Arts, we read and finished up on our work for Charms, Transfiguration, and had started working on a bit of Potions reading as we wanted to stay caught up on the next Potions Slughorn would have us work on.

I finished first before even Severus and decided to use a quill and some parchment to write to my father on how classes were going. It didn't take me too long as I just wrote very simply and concisely about it.

Dear Father and Mother,

The term has started off well. I was sorted into Slytherin faster than anyone else in our year. The only subject I didn't like was Herbology by Professor Sprout. Professor Flitwick, Head of Ravenclaw and Charms Master, had a great deal of respect for you mother, and said you could've been Charms Master if he wasn't, and hoped you were doing well.

Professor Frumentar is by far my favorite teacher.

I hope the broom making and work with the Ministry is going well.

Sincerely, Robert.

As the ink on my letter had just finished drying, Madam Pince came by and spoke to us. "The library is closing. Please put any books you took out back in their places and exit." she said with a hand towards the door.

"Already?" I asked.

I looked towards the window, before we had even realized it, Severus, Emma, Fred, and I had all spent an entire afternoon and almost evening studying together. It was nearly sundown.

We got our things, put the books we had read on Potions back, and all began to walk back towards the dungeons to go back to the common room.

I spoke to Severus and the twins. "You three go on, I'll see you at dinner."

"Where are you going?" asked Severus.

"The Owlery. I heard it closes at dusk." I said, beginning to walk quickly. "Have a letter to send."

…

Walking up the steps to the Owlery, I watched as the sun began to set. I had about twenty minutes at most before I was pretty late to dinner. Filch was a really strict caretaker, every first year, actually every student knew it, so I had to move fast.

I found a specifically labeled school owl, and quickly picked the fastest looking one, a young barn owl, and handed it the letter. It clutched it in its talons as I spoke, not really knowing what to do. "Um. Pelham Manor? My father? Let's see-"

I tried remembering specifically where in England the family mansion was before the owl took off and soared out of the Owlery.

I turned around and noticed two Gryffindors and a Slytherin had entered the Owlery. I would've been a bit worried about the first two except all three were rather unthreatening.

Both girls were older than me, the oldest significantly so. And when I realized who she was I was surprised.

It was a sixteen year old Andromeda Black leading Alice Fortescue and Remus Lupin to the Owlery.

Remus froze for a moment when he saw me, before quietly handing a letter to a nearby owl as Alice and Andromeda walked off to send their own letters.

"Lupin." I said as respectfully as I could.

"Pelham." He said just as quietly as the owl he sent off fly away with a screech.

I cleared my throat. "Who did you send the letter to?"

"My mother."

"She worried about you making friends?"

Remus nodded. "A bit. Well, very much so actually. Why?"

If my son was a werewolf too, I'd be pretty damn worried for him attending a school full of kids from a society as stuck in the medieval era as wizards.

"My father wanted the opposite. He was worried about me making too many friends, and said I should focus on school instead."

Remus tried putting this as politely as he could from his expression and tone. "Shouldn't have to worry about that too much should he?"

"Hm. Probably not." I said.

Cutting the light amount of tension, the two girls descended from the steps to the upper floor of the Owlery and we began to leave.

"Come along." Andromeda said. "Filch may not get us in trouble for this but he sure won't be happy."

I noticed she had a light green 'Prefect' badge tied to her robes, the perfect shield against Filch now.

When Andromeda and Alice had walked ahead of us, I succeeded in keeping Remus out of their earshot when speaking to him. "Potter upset over what happened?"

"Yes very much so," said Remus. "Said you also stomped his apology completely flat."

"It didn't seem genuine. It seemed like he was afraid of me if anything."

Remus shook his head with a sigh. "Regardless of how you must've felt, I would've thought you were smart enough to just accept James' apology and pretend the whole thing never happened."

"Never happened? After how he threatened Severus and everyone else?"

"Threatened with what? Shoving that small Slytherin with the glasses down some stairs? Scaring a few others with a few boos in the halls? You two never had to resort to violence." Remus frowned.

"I tried resolving it peacefully, Potter had none of it."

"His name is James."

I turned to Remus, stopping on the last few steps out of the Owlery. "Look ever since the train he's made it clear he feels like he could insult whoever he pleased however he pleased. You seemed smarter than the others, like you'd actually get it."

"I did. I do. That's why I wanted it to stop before the duel happened." he whispered. "Just make me a promise alright? If you and James stay away from each other, for good, I can forget the whole mess ever happened."

I liked the idea. "Fine. You got it."

We shook on it and Remus again made sure Andromeda and Alice couldn't hear what we were saying. "Just do me a favor, okay? Keep this agreement between us."

I understood why. Our friends in both Slytherin and Gryffindor wouldn't appreciate any sort of common ground after what happened last night. Maybe the Greengrass twins could get it, but with how much of a bad first impression Severus must've got from Gryffindors on the train I wouldn't know.

"Sure thing. It's a shame really, if James wasn't your best friend and Severus wasn't mine, maybe you and I wouldn't have to hide any sort of friendship."

Remus scoffed. "Friendship. Well, I wouldn't call James my best friend. And you and Snape, er, Severus only just met, correct?"

"Yes, but it's shaping up to be that way I suppose."

"Hm. I hope what you and James started doesn't spark up again."

"Well I think it's inevitable we're both facing off against each other on the Quidditch pitch at some point. And in classes. I'll try to keep things less confrontational I suppose, for your sake Remus, I think you deserve it with how kindly you requested to put the swords down."

He was surprised by my use of his first name and he smiled. "Thank you. Robert." he said as we shared awkward smiles.

Filch was in the first corridor in the castle by the Owlery Tower a bit agitated. "You lot shouldn't be out delivering letters this late. I have to close all the doors to the school by dusk."

"They're first years Mr. Filch. Well, except for Alice." Andromeda said. "Professor Dumbledore gave me many responsibilities, including making rounds at night. I think this should be one of them, don't you?" she asked, looking towards Alice, Remus, and I.

"Er, yes." Filch eyed Andromeda's Prefect badge. "Just watch the time better when you can."

"Of course Mr. Filch." Andromeda said with a nod.

We all quietly began to follow Andromeda a bit more through the castle before another person found us.

"Andromeda!" hissed Narcissa Black. "Where were you? We were going to meet outside the common room before dinner."

"I had to lead these first years to the Owlery. Or, one of them was already there-"

"Alright. Just let me know next time." Narcissa nearly tore Andromeda away as the two sisters began to walk away.

I gave a light smile to Remus. "Know how to find your way back to your common room then?"

"Don't worry," he said. "We'll be fine."

Narcissa apparently didn't mind when I joined Andromeda and her towards what I assumed was the Great Hall. "Leading filthy half bloods around like Lupin, what is wrong with you Andromeda?"

"I just-"

"How did you know Lupin was half and half?" I asked. I was pretty sick of Narcissa being so mean all the time.

"Well no one asked you." Narcissa said, caught in an obvious but correct assumption. "Don't know why Lucius bothers speaking to you, first years don't know how to get around anywhere. Cause nothing but trouble in the halls." she muttered. "Utter annoyances."

I smiled hopefully towards Andromeda. "You know why they're fighting all the time? Seems to me it's pretty obvious though."

Narcissa gave me a look that probably packed enough annoyance to slice through my eyes as Andromeda looked to be holding in a decent bit of laughter. "Um. Narcissa, can I tell him why?" Andromeda asked.

"We're not in a class." Narcissa said with gritted teeth. "He doesn't need to know this. Why are we still leading him around?"

"Not bothering anyone." Andromeda said.

"Bothering me!" she hissed before leaving.

Narcissa stormed off as Andromeda waited until her sister walked off. "I keep seeing this happen ever since the train. Lucius wants to join Slughorn's special Club. Cissa doesn't like the blood status of a good portion of its members, they always disagree on it. I think she's just mad that Lucius has less time to spend with her now."

"You seem. Less judgemental about all the blood status nonsense than her. Why were you in Slytherin after all?"

Andromeda looked at me for a second. "The Hat did consider putting me in Ravenclaw, but I asked it to put me in Slytherin instead. I was pretty surprised when it worked out, but I was glad, otherwise my parents might as well have disowned me."

I remembered the slight bit of pushing Julius had in that regard. "Trust me I know how it feels. Glad to meet Slytherins who are tired of the blood debate."

"Yes." Andromeda frowned. "I can't make friends with anyone outside of Narcissa and the others in our house without her making a fuss about it. Lucius cares too, but the fact that he's willing to keep his mouth shut about it sometimes to be in Slughorn's Club shows he has a lick of sense at least. Narcissa is my sister and all but sometimes."

She sighed. "I'm sorry, what's your name?"

"Robert Pelham." I said.

"Pelham. Well. Pure bloods of our status aren't often as open minded as you. I hope to see more of you this year." Andromeda said, noticing the height difference and the obvious fact that I was a first year. "If you need help with anything of course."

"I found my way around the castle pretty well considering it's a maze in some areas." I said as we reached the entrance to the Great Hall and parted ways at the Slytherin table as she sat with the other sixth year girls.

As I walked to the seat Severus had saved me at the table, I found it a bit odd that Narcissa was so mad over Lucius joining the Slug Club. While I knew she was never in it and he was, I don't think it was because Narcissa was mad over the blood status of its members.

It was more likely that Narcissa was really jealous over not being chosen, or that they couldn't go together. Or she had other reasons for being mad at Lucius. She was really judgemental towards even half bloods, I expect the only reason Narcissa and Bellatrix didn't say anything about Snape, a fellow first year sitting right next to me later on, was because Voldemort trusted him so much.

It was honestly a prospect that was very hard to believe right now. The only people who canonically didn't become Death Eaters who I had met in Slytherin right now were Andromeda, me, and the Greengrass twins. And the oldest among us was 15 years old and the rest were eleven.

As I ate my dinner, Mulciber and the others apparently didn't bother trying to sit close to me like they usually did, instead, Emma and Fred had taken his and Rosier's spot, and we all ate quietly.

Severus didn't really say much and Fred and Emma even less so like they always did. However, they had decided to sit with me which was a nice change. They had finished before I did because I got here later, but they were kind enough to wait before we all left.

…

As we entered the boys dormitories in the Slytherin Common Room, Fred, Severus, and I all walked in and found only Rosier and Wilkes had returned from dinner.

I wondered if Avery and Mulciber weren't appreciating me spending nearly the whole day barely speaking to them, but Emma and Fred had made their opinions known about them.

Severus barely knew enough about the matter to have an opinion, but as I stared at the roof of the Slytherin dorms from my bed, I knew I had other matters.

First figuring out how to break a curse Voldemort placed on the Defense Against the Dark Arts position that lasted from when he was rejected for the position to when he died. It was a very potent and effective jinx, one that probably would've lasted for centuries if Voldemort wasn't completely killed by Harry at the end of the Second Wizarding War.

I would first need to figure out just where exactly the curse existed, probably with an improvised version of the Revelio charm. The Gamer told me specifically my wand could handle personally made spells pretty well, so that would work.

The next step would be to find counter spells or curse breaking spells that just removed it. I really didn't know any, so I'd have to ask a teacher or something and make it look like it was just out of curiosity.

Ironically, Tom Riddle did exactly that when trying to figure out Horcruxes but my intent was the opposite of malicious here, so I didn't feel that guilty about planning to lie about it.

The best teacher to pick for something like this would be tricky. McGonagall or Frumentar were my best options, but something told me that Frumentar would be a better option based on his teaching position.

Then there was the matter of creating a perfect broom, which at this point seemed like an easier task than breaking an extremely well created curse Voldemort had used to jinx decades of teachers.

With Gamer's Mind, I quickly fell asleep.

…

I woke up first before anyone else in Slytherin's first year boys' dormitories and then quickly got dressed in my school uniform and left.

There were only a few people in the Great Hall so early including Frumentar, McGonagall, and only about fifteen people in each house at each table.

I began to eat my breakfast looking around the Slytherin table. The only people sitting there were Andromeda Black and a fifth year Slytherin girl I didn't know.

About five minutes later, I saw Remus and Alice talking over at the Gryffindor table. Without a doubt, they were speaking about me, they noticed I was looking at them and stopped talking.

I probably shouldn't have done that, but it begged the question. Did Remus tell her about the duel? About the truce I settled with him last night? He did want to keep it under wraps but still.

"Morning." chirped Evan Rosier taking a spot next to me. "You always get up so early?"

I shrugged. "Typically."

"Saw you and the twins hanging around Severus yesterday. You two, or four, were in the library, yeah?"

"Why? And how did you know?"

Evan snorted. "You and Snape practically live in the library together. If you're not in a classroom or in the common room, odds are you two are there."

I chewed my buttered toast quietly. "And?"

"Is there a reason we didn't speak at all yesterday? Or, rather, why you didn't speak to me?"

It wasn't really his fault that he and almost every boy in Slytherin in our year were raised by Death Eaters. I was just bothered by how much they seemed to worship me for just doing well in classes and knowing so much about the school.

"Evan I. I didn't mean anything by it alright? After. What happened, the whole mess with Potter ended and. I don't know, it's complicated."

"Complicated? Do the twins really not like me? Or do you?"

I deflected the question. "Emma and Frederick don't like very much besides studying and discussing books. And neither does Severus for that matter."

"They like you, right? I don't know, ever since you." he lowered his voice to a whisper. "Nearly sent Potter back to Gryffindor tower cursed to pieces, it seems like us and the lads had a good thing going. I mean, the Gryffindors won't even think of going near any of us now after what happened."

He had a point, but I actually had bigger matters to attend to today. "It's a Friday. What do you plan on doing after our flying lesson?"

"I don't know. Nelson wanted to go watch everyone train for the Quidditch tryouts tomorrow down at the field. Heard Hooch is opening it early to let anyone practice if they need it. Could learn something."

I nodded to him. "I'll see if I can go with you alright?"

Evan smiled. "Brilliant."

Luckily, Severus arrived and sat on the other side of me. "Robert," he said. "Evan." he added, noticing he was there.

"Morning Sev. Wanna come with us down to the pitch this afternoon? We can see everyone practice for tryouts tomorrow."

Severus hid how disinterested in Quidditch he was. "Uh no. And please don't call me that."

This surprised me. In the books, Snape even acted as referee during a Quidditch game in the first book to ensure Quirrell wouldn't try to kill Harry again after his first match. Then again, this was twenty years before that happened.

I also noticed that he apparently only let Lily call him this. And maybe me.

"Come on. It's our first flying lesson today. Rob's family here has been making brooms for generations. I think we owe it to him to show that Slytherin has what it takes."

"It's a lesson with Hooch Evan, not a Quidditch match." I pointed out before he shrugged.

Severus looked nervous. "Today's our first flying lesson?"

I pushed some porridge towards him. "Don't worry. If Potter tries to show off today, which he probably will, I'll shut him down. No one knows more about brooms than a Pelham. That or my father might've greatly over-exaggerated."

"Plan on proving that today?" asked Evan.

"I shall." I said.

I had gotten my Flying skill up to LV 72 from practice around Pelham Manor on the Silver Arrow my father had gifted me. And the Quidditch pitch would be open tomorrow. After that, I had to start learning how to find and break Voldemort's curse on the Defense Against the Dark Arts positions.

…

As I led the Slytherins down towards the Quidditch pitch, I spoke to Evan. "So wait, you're a Rosier correct? You happen to be related to the Blacks by any chance?"

"Not all Pureblood families are related, you know." Evan muttered.

Jonathan laughed at this as Jacob gave a rare smile.

"Well alright, now that you ask, my aunt Druella is married to the Blacks. Which makes Andromeda, Narcissa, and Bellatrix my cousins." said Evan.

"Do you have any idea why Narcissa is so, angry, all the time?" I asked.

"No clue honestly." admitted Evan.

"Bet it's because things haven't been going well with Lucius since before the year started." chuckled Jonathan as Severus, Emma, and Frederick stayed quiet.

I noticed the Gryffindors were already standing on the part of the grounds Madam Hooch had chosen to have our first flying lesson.

From the way James appeared to be bragging to the Marauders, he was done causing trouble between him and I and for Slytherin. However, it was clear he was probably going to show off today. To be fair, I was too, but only to not let him think he was better than the whole class.

I caught Lily's eye for a moment while Emma muttered quietly to me. "Anything too flashy and Madam Hooch will get Slytherin in trouble. I know what you're thinking Robert."

"I know."

I eyed the fifty or so brooms that were laid out for every first year.

Madam Hooch would probably notice that my family had made the very broom she was holding as she was walking towards us, and James and I would have a small show off contest in the air most likely. The Gamer was once again about to help me.