A/N: I am looking for a beta reader or two who is willing to read chapters as they're about to be posted to help spot inconsistencies, errors, and plot holes. For this as well as New Dawn. Send me a PM if you're interested!

Chapter 36: Research and Experiments

"There's nothing in here, either." Severus hung his head over the back of his chair, his eyes closed. He and Lily were in the library, as they had been every possible moment for six weeks—barring the time Severus put in with the Slytherin clique and in-between tackling their ever-increasing homework assignments—looking for any mention of Luminis Praesidium.

Lily eyed the Restricted Section. "I'll ask Professor Flitwick to sign a permission slip for me. He told me the other day that I was miles above everyone else, so a bit of advanced research shouldn't throw up any flags."

"Except he knows we're looking for information on this. They all do."

They'd approached their professors two weeks ago. Every one of them had told them the same thing: it was nothing they should be concerning themselves with. Melison had even gone so far as to tell Severus he'd take points from Slytherin any time he brought it up again.

Their insistence that the duo stop digging made them work all the harder on finding it.

"Melison did say it was a rare gift," Lily said. "Maybe they just don't know anything about it."

"They know," Severus said, his mood darkening. He lifted his head and stared at Lily. "They just don't want us to know." His eyes flicked to the Restricted Section. "Something I learned from Mulciber—it's an honor system. I'll sneak down tonight, grab a few books, and-"

"And get caught again. Maybe expelled this time." Lily's voice was hard. "No, Sev. Don't do it."

He stopped his lips from twitching at the use of the nickname. She'd been using it more and more as he didn't push against it. And every time, it made him want to grin like an idiot. He didn't know why.

"If I don't, we're never going to get a chance to look in there," he said. "And I'll bet you a hundred galleons there's something there."

"It isn't worth getting expelled over," Lily said. "Let me just ask Flitwick for the pass first, please?"

Her eyes pleaded with his, and his resolve crumbled. He sighed. "Fine. But he isn't going to give you one."

"Detention! Detention!" Lily paced beneath the beech tree angrily. She'd asked Flitwick for the pass, and he'd refused as Severus predicted. When she'd pressed him, he'd given her a detention.

"I've never had a detention in my life," she muttered, sinking to the ground.

"I'll sneak in tonight," Severus said. "Before they've had the chance to take out any of the books."

Lily eyed him, her face pinched with anger. "No. If they really don't want us knowing about Luminis Praesidium, they'd have taken the books out already. Which is why I don't understand why Flitwick got so angry with me! All I did was ask for a pass—to read a couple of books!"

"No," Severus said, trying not to laugh as he pictured the scene. "You asked for a pass, then when he said no, you refused to leave his classroom until he did. He warned you twice; I heard him."

"Well, he could just as easily have walked out of the room. I wasn't preventing his going anywhere."

"I still can't believe you tried to bully him," Severus said. His grin was plastered on his face now. It faded at the annoyed glare from Lily.

"I didn't bully him! I just—forget it. I'm doing this for you, you know."

"I know. Thank you. But I don't want you getting detention over it. Maybe if you apologized, he'd reconsider?"

"Already tried that." Lily laid back on the grass, long hair splayed around her face. "He said he was sorry for losing his temper, but the punishment stood." She sighed. "I'm sorry, Sev. I don't think we're going to find the answer at Hogwarts."

Severus agreed. But why? What was this ability his sister had that nobody wanted to talk about?

"You've had them for weeks." Nikolas caught up to Severus in the hallway after breakfast the next morning, ignoring—or not noticing—the annoyed glare from his dormmate. "If you aren't going to work out how to create the spells, give them back."

"Did you forget what they were already?" Severus said with a derisive sneer.

Nikolas's jaw tightened. "Of course not." He jogged to keep up with Severus's pace up the stairs. "But I don't want you to have them if you're not doing anything with them."

Severus cocked an eyebrow. "Because I don't know how to copy words from one parchment to another?"

Nikolas flushed. "Dammit, Severus. You were meant to help me. I gave you those spells so we could figure it out. Not so you could take all the credit for it."

"I've been busy," Severus said. "Exams are in a month. And really—" he stopped, turning to face the smaller boy. "I don't know why you thought I was your friend."

"I'm not an idiot."

Severus sniffed. He begged to differ.

"I know we're not friends. I've already figured out some of it," Nikolas said. "I just need—"

"What did you figure out?" Severus asked.

Nikolas exhaled heavily, his shoulders rising and falling with the breath. "I want a guarantee that if I tell you, you'll get me in with Lucius."

"I'm not his bloody gatekeeper, Avery. I don't have any influence on who he invites to his house."

"That's bullocks and we both know it," Nikolas said. "He'd probably invite that mud—"

"Go on," Severus said smoothly, already picking out which curse to use on him. "That what, Avery?"

"Evans. If you asked him to, he'd let her in his precious meetings."

Severus snorted. "You really don't know Lucius that well." He thought back to the spells Nikolas had scrawled down. Lily was right—they shouldn't become spells at all. But if Nikolas had figured out any part of it—"Fine. Tell me what you've figured out. Next year, when I'm in charge of the Slytherin group, I'll tell them we need to let you in."

"What? Next year?"

"Take it or leave it. It'll probably get you invited to the Christmas party—everyone else in the group goes."

Nikolas glared at him. Severus shrugged and began to walk away. Nikolas darted a hand out, catching Severus's arm. He dropped it at Severus's icy stare.

"Fine," Nikolas said. "I don't think just anybody can do it. But once the creator casts it, it's out in the world."

"That's it?" Severus rolled his eyes. "Of course other people will be able to use it, or everyone would have to create their own spells for everything."

"Yeah, but you can't just think up a spell and write it down and that's it," Nikolas said.

"I hope you don't expect any of that to get you into the group," Severus said, turning away.

"Wait!"

"We're going to be late to History of Magic."

"It's to do with the intent, I think," Nikolas said quickly. "You have to know exactly what you want it to do, and have a clear picture of it before you cast."

"That's true for every spell," Severus said. "If all you had to do was imagine it—" he stopped. Maybe that was all you had to do. Focus and imagine exactly what you wanted. "Come on. We've got to find a place to practice."

"But we've got class."

"It's just History of Magic. Binns will never notice if we aren't there."

"What if Filch catches us? Or another teacher? If we lose House points—"

"If you're that worried about it, go to class." He began walking away, smirking when the slapping of Nikolas's feet behind him indicated his dormmate had followed.

"Where are we going to practice?" Nikolas asked, voice resigned. "I don't know of any hidden rooms."

"Neither do I—yet. But we'll find them. In the meantime, this will do."

He slipped into an unused classroom, locking the door behind them and casting the Imperturbable Charm to soundproof it.

"Right." Severus glanced around, his mind whirring. What could he try? He looked at Nikolas. "Stand over there."

"You're not using me as a practice dummy," Nikolas said. "I kind of like my body parts attached, thanks."

"I'm not going to do your stupid spells," Severus snapped. "Nothing dangerous. Just—" he racked his brain to come up with something suitable. It couldn't be anything too complicated, not at first. And he needed an incantation.

Nikolas narrowed his eyes as a smirk crept up Severus's face. "Just what, Severus?"

"Stand over there," Severus repeated, pointing to the front of the room. "By the larger desk."

His jaw clenched and his eyes flashed with annoyance, but Nikolas obeyed, backing up to the desk and folding his arms over his chest.

Severus closed his eyes for a moment, picturing what he wanted. Something he hadn't found in any of the charms, hexes, or jinxes he'd poured over for years. He opened his eyes and lifted his wand; Nikolas cringed, squeezing his own eyes closed.

"Nasum Crinus Muto!"

Nothing happened. Severus tried again.

Nothing.

Nikolas cracked open an eye. "So that didn't work. What were you trying for, anyway?"

"Grow your nose hair," Severus said. "Thought it might be easier to change an existing spell rather than start from nothing."

Nikolas snorted. "Maybe we need a different incantation?"

"You said it was about intent," Severus said.

"Well, maybe it's both. Nasum Crinus Muto doesn't quite fit, does it?"

"It's the Hair Changing Charm—"

"With 'nose' thrown on, yeah I got it," Nikolas said. "What if we tried something else? Maybe Nare Crinus Muto."

He flicked his wand as he cast, and Severus braced himself. Still nothing.

"Maybe it's the word order," Severus said. "Crinus Muto Nare."

Nikolas swore, his hand going to his nose. The hair wasn't growing.

"I felt—something," Nikolas said, tilting his head back and advancing toward Severus. "Can you tell—"

"I'm not looking up your nose," Severus said, holding him back with a hand on his chest.

"How are we supposed to tell if it did anything, then?"

Nikolas still had his head tilted back. Severus set his jaw but cast Lumos and peered into his classmate's nose anyway.

"Well? Did it do anything?" Nikolas asked.

"No."

Nikolas lowered his head, scowling. "Damn—"

"Unless your nose hair wasn't purple this morning?" Severus smirked.

Nikolas grinned, slapping Severus on the arm. Severus tensed, and Nikolas pulled his hand away, but his grin didn't fade.

"Right, so we just need to practice. Crinus Muto Nare!"

Nikolas tilted his head to look into Severus's nose, his grin turning into a scowl. "It didn't work. You're not having me on, are you? Mine's really purple?" He straightened and crossed his eyes to look down his own nose, as though he could see the hair through the skin.

"It's really purple. Let's keep trying."

By the time the bell rang to mark the end of the first class period, Severus had changed Nikolas's nose hair every shade imaginable. But he hadn't been able to make it grow. Nikolas hadn't been able to change Severus's hair color once.

"You said not everybody could do it," Severus said when Nikolas grumbled about the failure.

"But once it's cast—"

"It hasn't been, not really. What I've been focusing on never happened."

"So we're no further than we were when we started."

Severus unlocked the classroom door and slid into the stream of other students, Nikolas on his heels.

"Something is happening," Severus said. "Do some more research tonight. We'll meet here tomorrow after lunch and try again."

Severus had never felt so exhausted—and so eager—in his life. It seemed every spare minute he had was being devoted to research and experimentation, and even though he was frustrated at not making progress with either spell creation or information on Luminis Prasaedium, he was enjoying himself.

And then there were the odd tasks Mulciber would assign him to keep the other students at bay. Most of it was harmless at its core, but seemed ominous or daring—letting himself be seen sneaking into or out of the Forbidden Forest often enough for rumors, but not routinely enough to be caught by Filch or a teacher, muttering hexes under his breath as he passed by groups of students so that they continued to give him a wide berth—and Mulciber had made him perfect the terrifying stare he'd used on Severus the first day they'd spoken.

All-in-all, the end of the term came much too quickly for Severus's tastes. There were sure to be no answers at home about his sister, and if he tried to experiment with spell creation, he'd be in direct violation of the Decree for Underage Wizardy. If he got caught breaking the Decree, expulsion would be inevitable. He was even less excited for the holidays than he'd been the year before.

He arrived at his final Occlumency lesson of the term in a sour mood. It was the night before exam results were due out, and Severus had anticipated being allowed to have the week off completely to relax. Or practice spell creation.

Melison put him through his paces, and by the time his professor called an end to the lesson, Severus was dripping with sweat. But he'd succeeded in blocking nearly every intrusion Melison had cast.

"Well done," Melison said. He handed Severus a bar of chocolate and a slip of parchment. "These are the books you're to read over the summer. We'll have the same sessions next term."

Severus chewed on a chunk of the chocolate, glancing down the list. But he wasn't seeing the titles. His mind was spinning. It was the end of term. The House Cup had already been given out. He needn't fear losing points by asking about Sabine's gift again. One last shot before he was thrown into months of seeing it and not knowing what it meant.

"Sir?"

"Hmm?"

"There's nothing in the library about Luminis Praesidium," Severus said.

Melison let out a beleaguered sigh and leaned back in his chair. He scratched at his head, then, "No, there isn't."

"I've thought there might be something in the Restricted Section. Will you give me permission to look?"

"It is not my practice to allow second year students access to the most dangerous texts in the school."

"So then just tell me about this thing!"

"There is nothing to tell, son. Let it lie." A hostile silence settled over them. Melison brought his eyes from the desk to Severus's face. "I've yet to receive your class selection for next term. If you have questions –"

"I don't," Severus said shortly. "I've been busy." He'd gotten the form weeks ago but hadn't taken the time to fill it out. He had been too busy to think about next term.

"Severus—" Melison sighed again. "There are no books on Luminis Praesidium. In our library or elsewhere."

"That's impossible."

"I told you it was a rare gift. That is true. Because of this, it hasn't been studied as extensively as it might. There aren't a lot of subjects to…observe."

"But it has been studied. So there would be manuscripts, somewhere."

"Perhaps there are. But not at this school."

"So how do you know about it, then? If there are no resources?"

Melison matched Severus's angry glare with a cool one of his own. For a moment, Severus though he was going to get detention with barely a day left in the term.

But Melison took a deep breath and cocked his head to the side, his hand fiddling with the papers on his desk as he broke the gaze. "I was at school with a wizard who stumbled across it."

"How?"

"He never said. But it became an obsession. It cost him everything, son. His friends, his relationship with his family, his wife." The last word was barely a whisper. It hung in the air for several moments before Melison cleared his throat. "I'll not see the same happen to you. Your sister has a gift. Leave it at that."

Severus frowned. "But that means there must be some information—"

"For Merlin's sake, son, leave it!" Melison slammed his hand on the desk.

Severus started. He'd never seen his head of house behave this way. His eyes were glittering—and were those tears?

"Now," Melison said, his tone even. "Have you the class selection form with you?"

Severus shook his head, too stunned to find his voice.

"Fine." Melison dug in his papers and pulled out a blank form. He held it out. "Fill it out now, or I'll put you in every class. Perhaps I should. Maybe it would keep you out of trouble."

He attempted a smile, but it just looked forced to Severus as the boy took the form.

"Quill and ink," Melison said, placing both in front of him. "And be quick about it."

The impatient irritation had crept back into his voice. Severus scribbled out his selections and handed the form back.

"Have a good holiday, son."

Severus managed a shaky, "You too, professor," before being ushered out of Melison's office, the door slammed in his face.