Hello! How are you all my lovelies?

Writing this from my bed because I have a severe kidney infection. Fun times! Turns out the pain in my side that I was going to brush aside as a mildly annoying pulled muscle in my back was actually my kidneys. Good thing mum forced me to see a doctor. I was going to try and sleep it off.

So things are in a rather tense spot for our heroes right now. Mary is hurting, Lily and Severus are feeling guilty, and the others are going to have to try and maintain a friendship with them all without taking sides. Not the easiest task when your teenagers and every relationship problem seems like the end of the world.

If Someone Cared Enough

Chapter Seventy-Nine: Feathery Foible

The cold shoulder from Mary carried well on into March, serving as an unavoidable spot of tension for the group. Sure, Mary was willing to work with her friends to try and solve the mystery of the diary, the diadem, and the Chamber of Secrets—she understood how serious the matter was—but only in prearranged meetings in which she could assure Severus and Lily would not be present. The general setup was that the remaining people of their inner circle that Mary willingly spoke to would then relay the key points of said meetings back to their resident pariahs.

This left everyone stretched thin. Finding a time when everyone could meet around their conflicting class schedules was hard enough, but with NEWTS just around the corner for Simone and Thea and regular exams awaiting the rest of them, dividing their time among plotting and studying was no easy feat. On top of that, most of them now had to meet twice as often in order to keep Mary, Severus, and Lily in the loops with the former refusing to speak with the two latter.

Severus had enough on his plate as it were with the looming issue of his mother's health. Reuniting her for her parents had been Severus's best hope for grounding her in reality again, something pleasant she could cling to so she wouldn't feel the need to retreat to a fantasy. Now he had to worry about the loss of a friendship on top of that.

Severus chanced a look over at Mary, sitting amongst her Gryffindor friends, a sad look on her face. Feeling eyes on her, she looked up to meet Severus's gaze, only for her expression to sour at the sight of him like curdled milk.

Severus sighed, turning back to his lunch. He really hadn't meant to hurt her. Having so little experience with girls, he honestly thought he'd done plenty to discourage her pursuit of him. He'd told her that he didn't share her feelings, that he found it unlikely to change. As far as Severus was concerned, that should have been enough to prevent her from entertaining thoughts of them becoming something more. It never occurred to him that he should have to outright say, "don't pursue me"; he thought his lack of interest spoke volumes enough.

"Is she still glaring at me?" Severus brought himself to ask.

Lupin casually glanced behind him, "…Yep."

"Does she look like she wished I would burst into flames?" Severus asked.

"Oh, definitely," Lupin said with a grimace, "Either that or for you to drown in your soup."

Severus groaned, putting his head on the table, "How many more times can I apologize?"

"Probably would help if the idiot brigade wasn't dogging her every step," Simone interjected, eyeing Jess and Mel crowding Mary over at Gryffindor table, "They don't even know you're the one she liked, but they just hiss in her ear every time you get close. Sort of undermines an apology."

"Well she can't stay mad forever," Davis stated, munching on some dry toast, "It was a silly crush. Merlin's sake; she only knew you a few months."

"Yes, but she projected her feelings on Severus as a coping mechanism for her trauma," Thea pointed out, "It will take her some time to really understand what she really felt about him."

Davis humphed, "Still, she needs to move on. We can't all keep tiptoeing around this subject when there is so much more important at stake.

Davis was right of course. As much as Severus would like to stew around in his normal, teenage drama, the truth is that a far more abnormal, extraordinary matter deprived him of the luxury.

Whoever took the diary was clearly keeping a deliberate low profile to avoid suspicion. Myrtle could attest that no one showed even the slightest interest in her bathroom, passing by it without a glance. If the culprit had made a move by now, the morose ghost would surely have seen someone making a beeline for the broken restroom only to be hit by the charms put in place and wander away in dazed confusion. But no one ever did play their hand, which worried Severus greatly. Whoever took the diary surely knew they would be watching, meaning they already knew that Severus and his friends were aware of its contents.

Subtle observation yielded fruitless results. In fact, the more Severus watched his fellow Slytherins, the more he was concerned that they none of them had a hand in the fire. Rosier showed little to no suspicion of wariness in anyone's presence, and Severus knew the boy well enough to be aware he usually went on high alert when up to something he wished to keep secret. The very fact that Rosier seemed so relaxed indicated he wasn't lying in wait to unleash an unspeakable evil; just flouncing around to set loose his arrogant brand of pompous derision and insults.

Even if he had instructed one of his lackeys to carry out his bidding, Rosier would still hold a level of paranoia towards being discovered. So Rosier and his cronies weren't involved. He would never have set Wilks up, of that Severus was sure. A future Death Eater in Azkaban was of no use to You-Know-Who, and no matter what sort of benefit stealing the diary could have to the cause, Rosier would not be received too kindly if he orchestrated the loss of another potential follower.

The other Slytherins were unlikely suspects too. Of those who hadn't aligned themselves stronger in You-Know-Who's camp, most were too timid to act on their own or too uninterested in politics in general to become involved; getting their hands messy for someone else's goals and ambitions was unwise for those who wished to succeed. Perhaps some could be prompted to act if bribed with the proper amount of power or glory, but they still lacked the skills and finesse to carry out such an elaborate plan without giving themselves away.

The other Houses held very little in the way of suspicious people as well. As much as Severus hated to stereotype, the other House seemed even less likely to produce some capable of such a grand act of villainy. The Hufflepuffs were characterized by loyalty and morality, infallible kindness being one of the key traits the sorting hat was rumored to look for when selecting Puffs. Murdering anyone was out of the question for most if not all of them, even if by some chance a few of them somehow did hold prejudice beliefs about muggleborns.

Ravenclaws were almost as ambitious as Slytherins, that was true, but they were far more fixated in perfect records and achievements, a trait that would conflict greatly with the sort of permanent blemish a criminal activity could cause. The near egotistical pride many of them were known for also went against the idea of using cheap tricks or treachery to get ahead—Davis's admitted cheating on tests being an unusual exception. To use dark magic to achieve their goal would be seen by the majority of Ravenclaws as a failure to use one's own skills and talents to succeed.

Even setting Severus longstanding grudge aside, Gryffindor still was the most likely remaining House to hold the culprit. As Brave and Just as the House was toted to be, the more selfish and vindictive actions of its two most popular students demonstrated the Houses capability to produce those of darker intentions. The willingness of the rest of the House to ignore Potter and Black's actions spoke of a surprising lack of conscience.

Still, there were few Severus could picture carrying out a task as Grievous as opening the Chamber. For one, Gryffindor had become the House holding the highest amount of muggleborns in recent years and it was unthinkable that any of them would conspire to wipe out their own kind. On top of that, Gryffindors were notoriously bad planners, oftentimes acting impulsively and without forethought. It was a trait carried through straight from Godric himself, when the famed man once leaped into a group of cave trolls to save a muggle woman, without realizing he'd left his wand behind in the glade he'd been picnicking in. If a Gryffindor had the diary, most of the students in that House would have surely blown their cover by now.

The most likely Gryffidnors to do wrong would be Potter or Black. Both had demonstrated a propensity for cruelty many, many times in the past. The werewolf incident was reason enough for Severus to not put it past either of them to set fire to a room full of Students. Their lack of contrition for nearly killing him was proof enough that they cared little for the safety of Slytherins.

Still, even if Potter's held some insane goal of killing Severus off to win Lily's affections, Lily herself was the one factor that made Severus hesitant to name Potter the culprit for the fire. Potter lacked many of the finer traits, compassion, considerations, modesty, but he didn't lack chivalry. As long as Severus ever knew the wretched boy, never had Potter attacked a girl. Even when Simone thrashed Black shortly after the incident by the lake, Potter never raised a fist to her, even hesitating to raise his wand. Given his unwillingness to harm even a girl he despised, it was inconceivable that he would willingly endanger Lily.

Whoever cast the Fiendfyre had to have been hiding nearby, waiting for the opportune chance to slip out with the diary, if they hadn't already made it into the hall. If Potter had set the fire, he'd have revealed himself the moment Lily chased Severus back into the common room. Potter would have most likely charged in after them to rescue Lily, or at the very least revealed his actions to one of the professors in a moment of panic as he pleaded for them to let him save Lily. There's no way Potter would have sat by and let Lily endanger herself for a Slytherin.

So as much as Severus would like to point the finger at Potter, the arrogant Toerag was unfortunately the least likely suspect.

But that still left Black…

Black clearly lacked the moral compass to consider people's wellbeing when it came to his pranks. Even without siccing a transformed Lupin on Severus, the former heir of the house of Black was the schemer behind some of the Marauders most bruise and welt inducing attacks. From tripping Severus down a flight of stairs to slamming him nose first into a stone column, the boy clearly had no qualms about causing harm.

Of course, there would still need to be reasonable motive in order to place the blame on Black. As much as the boy loved tormenting others, he always needed to find some sort of justification for his attacks, if only to clear his own conscience. Attacking Severus when the latter was on his own was easy enough to warp into something reasonable; he was thoroughly convinced that Severus was destine for a lifetime of nefarious exploits at the Dark Lord's command.

But a room full of people? Even if they were Slytherins, many of them were hardly older than eleven and twelve years old, mere children. Black may have had no problem turning his wand on Severus when they were that age, but only because they were on equal footing when it came to age. As Black grew, the age of his targets grew with it, focusing more on Seventh years—and Severus—than the beginning grades. There was also the little matter of Black's strong opposition to dark wizards. It was unlikely he would plot to free the Basilisk to kill muggleborns.

Or was it?

Black's stance against dark magic was rooted heavily in his overwhelming desire to rebel against his parents and undermine their every word and action. Was his siding with Potter really anything more than a drive to piss off mummy and daddy? He had no problem with hurting a half blood like Severus—thought Severus didn't honestly know if Black actually knew his heritage. What if his proud decrying of his parents alignment was solely to upset them and nothing more noble? His loyalty to Potter would surely keep him willing to continue the charade of a muggle loving ally, if only for the joy of seeing it rile his mother and father up.

And now he had severed ties with Potter…if his stance on muggleborns wasn't noble, wouldn't it be reasonable to assume then that he was capable of opening the Chamber?

"Snape? Snape!" Nesme snapped her fingers in front of his face, "You're zoning out on us."

"What?" Severus shook himself, blinking owlishly at his friends, "I'm sorry. Lost in thought."

"Care to share with the class?" Davis inquired with a smirk.

Severus cast a wary glance over at where Black sat glowering at his food, occasionally sending a glare down towards Potter's end of the table, "Not until I'm sure…"

"Because that's not cryptic at all," Lupin snorted.

"Sorry I'm late," Lily apologized as she plopped down across from Severus. She lightly tapped his ankle with her foot in greeting, giving him a shy smile.

Since the Mary fiasco, the pair had done well following Simone's advice. To avoid seeming like they were rubbing their relationship in Mary's face, the two of them decided to keep their affections for one another discreet in public. As far as anyone needed to know, they were just friends. No one needed to know what they got up to away from prying eyes.

"What took you?" Simone asked, "Lunch is almost over."

"I was with Hagrid," Lily explained, "He needed some cheering up. Poor dear's in a miserable mood. He had to bury half his chicken coop today."

Simone frowned, "Sounds like a fox got in."

"Well that's the weird part," Lily revealed, "By the looks of it, none of them were bitten or anything. Not a drop of blood on them. If anything, it looks more like they were choked to death."

Nesme stopped eating, "You mean strangled?"

Lily nodded as she went about making herself a sandwich from the meat and cheese spread on the table, "Exactly. And that's not even the strangest part. Apparently it wasn't even the chickens who were killed; it was only all the roosters."

Nesme nearly dropped her fork, "You don't say…"

"Yeah," Lily said, oblivious to the face Nesme was making, "Weird, right?"

"I'll be right back!" Nesme exclaimed suddenly, standing abruptly from the table. She scurried out of the Great Hall, only slowing her pace after an admonishment from McGonagall about running in the halls.

The others watched her go in varied states of confusion.

"Anyone know what that was about?" Lupin asked.

"Not a clue," Davis answered, "Knowing her, she probably remembered that she left her homework in a classroom or something."

"Weirdness aside," Simone spoke up, turning to Lily, "How goes 'Operation Apology'."

Lily sighed, shaking her head, "Still no progress. Mary won't even deign to look at me and whenever I get close, Jess and Mel are so hungry for gossip that they just make everything worse."

"Those two need to spend a few hours locked in a trunk," Severus muttered.

Simone smirked, "Pretty sure I saw a coffin in the Come-and-Go room one time."

Severus laughed, "Knowing us, we'd never be able to find it again once we got them in it."

Simone's grin was all teeth, "That's the point."

"Let's not 'Cask of Amontillado' my dorm mates, please," Lily said, nipping that plan in the bud, "How are…other matters going?"

"Still no closer to finding our diary thief," Davis informed her, "Strange that it's taking us so long. I mean, we've only got an entire school of students to sort through."

Simone wadded up her napkin and threw it at him, "There's enough sarcasm at this table most days already; don't go adding to it."

"It is odd that we haven't found any leads yet," Lily noted, "I would have thought the thief would have done something by now."

"So did I," Thea admitted, "From what we have learned about the first time the Chamber was opened, there were several attacks spanning across the course of the school year. Our thief got the diary with only a few months left of this school year; you'd think they'd want to put their plan into action before all the students go home for the summer."

"We've theorized before that they might not know how to open the Chamber," Severus reminded everyone, "Or where the entrance is located."

"That's true," Lupin mused, scratching his chin, "That would explain a lack of suspicious characters by Myrtle's bathroom. They might not know that's where the entrance sits."

"But what if they've opened the diary?" Thea posed, "Surely it would talk to them as it has to us."

"Then all bets are off," Simone said grimly, "If it has told them what they need to know, there's no reason for them to hold off opening the blasted Chamber. They must be waiting for us to let our guards down."

"And none of you have any idea who took it?" Lily questioned in dismay.

Simone shook her head, "We've been keeping a close eye on our housemates; nothing out of the ordinary. And trust me, we'd know if something was up. None of us could write in that diary without being noticeably affected after."

"No one stands out in Ravenclaw either," Davis said, "And the same goes for Hufflepuff."

"Who were the least likely suspects to begin with," Simone stated.

"Gryffindor doesn't have anyone suspicious either," Lupin lamented with a sigh, "Granted, it seems pretty unlikely anyway given how many of them are muggleborn or pro-muggle, but even the more reserved or neutral in the matter don't really stand out to me."

Severus wisely chose not to mention that Black had jumped to the top of his suspect list. As much as Lupin disliked Black these days, he still held some level of conviction that the boy was good deep down.

Severus would have to ask Regulus to keep an eye on his brother. As estranged as the pair had become over the years, Regulus still knew his brother better than most; he'd notice if anything was off about the boy.

"Found it," Nesme announced loudly. She slammed a large book onto the table, causing some goblets to overturn and receiving a few glares from fellow Hufflepuffs.

"You went to get a book?" Davis asked, prodded at the book's spine, "What, did you forget this in a classroom or something?"

Nesme scoffed, "Hardly. I'm not nearly as scatterbrained as you may think—hey, where'd my watch go…?"

Davis and Simone snickered as Nesme examined her bare wrist in confusion.

Lupin decided to be helpful, "It's…on your other wrist, Nesme…"

"Oh! Well, whatever," Nesme brushed it off, "I went to the library real quick because something Lily said got me thinking."

"What'd I say?" Lily asked in puzzlement.

"The thing about the chickens," Nesme answered, thumbing through the book, "You guys aren't going to like this…"

"What is it?" Davis inquired.

"Shush," Nesme hissed, "I need to find it first—there! Severus, I need you to do that thing with the sound; make it hard to hear us."

Severus dutifully cast Muffliato with a quick flick of his wand.

"It's just as I feared," Nesme muttered, her eyes skimming the pages, "Not good….not good at all."

"Not everyone can read upside down, Nes," Simone drawled from across the table, "So how about filling us in?"

Nesme shoved the book into the center of the table so everyone could see it better.

"Look at what it says about the basilisk," she said, "The thing about the roosters."

"…flees only from the crowing of a rooster…" Lily read, "Which is fatal to it…"

"You said all of Hagrid's roosters were strangled," Nesme stated, "That's not the work of an animal; someone did that by hand."

She glanced around the table, worry evident in her wide doe eyes.

"If the only thing the Basilisk fears is being killed off,' Nesme began ominously, "Then someone's preparing to let that thing out."

It felt like the air had been sucked from the room.

"And here we were whinging that the thief hadn't done anything yet," Lupin muttered, scrubbing a hand over his face.

Davis stared down at the table, mystified, "We can't stop a Basilisk. Especially not a full grown one; why, we can't even take on a hatchling."

"Now wait a minute," Lily intervened, "Just because they're killing roosters doesn't mean they're ready to release the Basilisks. I doubt they have any clue how they'll control it once it's out."

"Lily has a point," Severus said, "The creature can only be controlled by a Parselmouth, and there hasn't been one of those since Riddle came along. Right now the thief could let the creature out; but they'd only be sentencing themselves to certain death as well."

"If there were a Parselmouth in the school, I doubt that would stay a secret," Simone said thoughtfully, "A Slytherin would brag about it in a heartbeat and I'm sure a Ravenclaw would view it as a unique talent to research and study."

"A Gryffidor might not be too keen to share such a secret," Severus said aloud, fighting the urge to look over to the table where Black was seated, "They want nothing to do with traits considered inherently Slytherin."

Davis snorted, "Yeah, but what are the odds of a trait said to be passed down from Salazar himself ending up in a Gryffindor? It's impossible."

"Or maybe just improbable," Severus mused.

"Guys, focus!" Nesme demanded, "Whether they have the ability to control a Basilisk or not, clearly this is proof they do intend to release it at some point. We need to do whatever we can to stop it."

"I'm sure the school is going to replace Hagrid's roosters, Nes," Davis said.

"And the killer will keep on killing them," Nesme shot back, "How many times do you think the school will waste it's budgets on replacing a few roosters?"

"When that happens, then we'll chip in," Simone announced, "I've got money to spare for chickens."

Severus nodded, "In the meantime, I suppose we now need to do a little patrolling for rooster murderers now."

Davis massaged his brow, "Just what we need, more time divided away from studying. The exams are going to kill us all if we don't prepare for them."

"At least that is a figurative death," Severus quipped, "Rest assure, if the Basilisk is released then death will be far more literal."

"That goes for all of us," Simone stated grimly, "If the beast can't be controlled."

The rest of lunch was eaten in grim silence as the weight of their troubles hung heavily on their shoulders.

Not good. Not good at all. What are our heroes going to do if the basilisk is let out?

So, Mary is absent this chapter, sorry if anyone misses her. She just isn't comfortable being around her friends too much right now.

It was only a matter of time before Severus started suspecting Black. I mean...the guy is clearly unbalanced with how willingly he was to use his friend Remus to try and kill Snape.

The question is: is he the culprit?

Review please :)