Part 8:
"What does it mean to be of the Pendragon?" Lily asked, more urgently.
Sev continued to stare at her blankly, his mouth agape. He turned slowly to face his sister and saw her like in a dream, his vision was so hazy. "What did she say?" He asked, blinking rapidly to clear his sight. "And why?"
"She asked what it meant to be of the Pendragon. Because she is one."
"I see." He slowly said. The look on his face belied his words and his eyes asked for more information from them.
"After you left, we did some talking. I asked if she'd had an opportunity to read the book and if any of it made sense to her. Lily saw the dark arts as just another kind of magic, that you need to be dedicated and focused on what you are doing."
"But..." He started, then stopped. "Does she know what that means?"
"And is she still in the room?" Lily asked scathingly. "Would you mind talking to me?"
The twins had the grace to look ashamed of themselves. It passed after a second. "Sorry, Lily. But this information is startling. We honestly have no precedent for it." Sev explained.
"You don't know anything about it? Anything at all?" Lily asked, feeling slightly hysterical. Hours ago she had been just another wizard, albeit a mudblood. Now, thanks to Septina's tracing her family line, she wasn't sure what she was. It was all a little nerve wracking.
"No." Septina said. "We do know that it isn't an evil thing. Give us a few days to research, see what we can come up with."
"Okay." Lily agreed, staring at her plate.
"Sept, you of all people know how much I hate history." Sev complained. "Why do you have to drag me into it?"
"Because I am not going do this alone." She responded tartly. "And Professor Binns says you need to bring up your grade, you've been slipping. You can tell him that you're working on a special project-we can just leave out a few details."
He pointed at her with his fork. "History is boring. There is no life in it."
"That shouldn't matter." She reproached him, engaging his fork in mock battle with her own.
"But it does." He smirked, continuing. "And Professor Binns is not exactly the most engaging teacher. You can't deny it, I've heard you say it yourself."
"I've learned to ignore his teachings skills, why can't you?" She asked, frowning. "History of Magic is a class that should have your full attention."
"You know that I've never had much of a head for history." He smirked then. "Is it as important as your divination class?"
The glare she sent him was icy. "If you hadn't been so asinine in your revenge on Lucius, I wouldn't be stuck in that class."
"No one asked you to help me." He countered smugly.
"Except that I was as angry as you were with Lucius. And don't deny that you needed my help, you always try to do more than you should." She shot back. "So, thanks to your grandiose schemes, I got caught and had to serve detention, while the two of you got away."
"Don't start with that again. My schemes, as you call them, are highly practical."
"More like fanciful. You like to draw things out instead of driving the point home once you've got your victim bleeding before you." The fork flew from his hand and she moved in-only to be stopped by Lily.
"Please, Sept, Sev, I prefer my dinner without the bloodshed." Her voice was mild. Then she turned the conversation in a more harmless direction, ignoring the glares the twins were shooting at each other. "When do you want to start my lessons?"
"Lil, I think we need to put them on hiatus for a while." The Slytherin girl said, raising a hand to halt the protest she could see forming on Lily's face. "Don't get me wrong, I'll go through with it. But first we need to find out just what this means. We don't know if being of the Pendragon is just descended from that line or if your powers are volatile or if you're more fragile to certain spells. I don't want to end up killing you or being killed accidentally."
The green eyes stared at her, trying to read the truth in her words. "Fine. But I am not going to sit back and wait while the two of you do all the work. The time for that is past. Whether you like it or not, you are my friends. And I will not allow you to stand alone anymore."
"Well, that solves my problem. Lily can help you research." Severus smirked, feeling quite pleased to get out of it.
"And what will you be doing while we sweat?" Septina asked, before getting another fork for her brother and fixing the damage she'd caused.
"He will be tutoring Sirius in potions for me." Lily replied sweetly.
"I most certainly will not!" Severus exclaimed, glaring at both women viciously as his sister laughed. "That idiot and I will be death of each other."
Lily was smiling serenely, unperturbed by his words and look. "I can't do it and the research as well, what with the other things I've got to do. Your choice, dusty tomes or a little potions tutoring? With your abilities, it shouldn't take you long to get him into shape."
The Slytherin was torn. He hated history-especially researching it. History was dry. It was merely the memorizing of dates, facts, and places. The people they studied were static, not dynamic. They seemed to have no life, no passion. There was no scent, no touch, no taste. Nothing to connect the past with the present. But he despised Black and all he stood for.
It all boils down to this one fact: which can I tolerate more, he thought, knowing that there was no way out. Either way he went, he was going to end up doing something that he found distasteful.
"Think about it, Sev. This is your chance to show-off. You'll also have Sirius in your debt." She coaxed, appealing to the ambition in him.
Sev's lips slowly curled-whether to smile or sneer, he didn't know. Lily was good at this, should've been in Slytherin, he thought. "But the downside of that tempting thought is the fact that I will have to spend hours with Black and earnestly teach him-or watch my reputation die."
"Don't be mean, Severus." She scolded. "I promise you, it won't be bad."
"You can promise all you want to. Will he?"
With a mysterious smile, Lily responded. "I can make him see reason."
"No!" Sirius exploded when she told him. "Never! Not even for you, Lily. You cannot be serious about this plan. Severus Snape and I would kill each other first!"
"Stop being such a child, Sirius." She scolded. "Septina and I have a special project that will take up my free time. Sev has agreed to help you in my place."
"I don't believe that." He muttered. "What are you paying him?"
"Excuse me?" She asked, eyebrow raised in question.
"Don't do that! It reminds me of them." The Gryffindor boy shuddered. "I asked what you're paying him. Snape wouldn't do anything out of kindness. He doesn't even know what that is."
"Now you're acting like a baby." Lily stated. "Severus is going to help you because I asked him. There is nothing shady about our deal."
"On your part that is." Sirius muttered. "I make no promises, Lil. I want to hear from Snape's lips that he has nothing evil planned for me."
"Would you believe me if I did?" A voice asked.
"Don't do that, Sev!" Lily exclaimed. "You know I can't stand it when you sneak up on me."
"I apologize." He smiled, just a little. "Well, Black?"
"Well, what?" He asked, being stubborn.
Resisting the urge to walk away, Sev restated his question. "Would you believe me if I said I have no plans for you?"
"Probably not." Sirius glared at a point beyond Severus' shoulder. A couple of Lucius' cronies passed them, snickering as they went.
"I didn't think so. But I'm sure you agree that Lily would never lie to you and I have assured her that you will come to no harm." He said, adding quietly. "At least, from me."
"Boys, behave." Lily was stern.
"All right." They grudgingly assented.
"Good. Now, Septina is waiting for us in the library. Shall we?" Without waiting for a reply, she walked away. The two young men glared at each other for a moment, then followed after her.
"Just make sure you keep your word." Sirius hissed.
"Or you'll what? Hurt me?" Sev mocked. "What can a Gryffindor like you do to a Slytherin? You haven't the guts for it."
The brown eyes narrowed as they met black eyes, a smirk twisting his lips. "Don't make the mistake of underestimating me, Snape."
His head shook. "I'm not that impressed with idle threats, Black."
"What makes you think they are idle?"
"You are a Gryffindor. Gryffindors are all talk but they have no taste for blood." Severus pointed out, indicating that they should go in. He didn't even think about what Peter had done earlier when he took him to see Voldemort. In his mind, the boy had to have been under the imperious curse for the simple fact that he was a Gryffindor. That house was one full of 'honor' and courage, serving the dark lord wasn't something they did.
"You may find yourself surprised, Slytherin." Black said, nodding to Mrs. Pierce as they walked past her desk.
She frowned at him, watching them suspiciously until they disappeared into one of the study rooms the library had.
"Old bat." He muttered.
"Who? Mrs. Pierce?" Sev asked, looking at him in surprise.
"Who else?"
"Can you blame her? The last time you were here, you damaged quite a lot of her property." He pointed out reasonably.
"I suppose you heard about that from Malfoy. How I cornered him and took advantage of him." His voice was bitter.
Sev replied quietly. "No. I heard it from Lily. Lucius and I are currently not talking."
Sirius snorted. "Smartest thing you've ever done."
"No. I think it was quite possibly the most dangerous thing I've ever done." He stopped, shocked at the admission. Feeling he'd given too much away, he pulled out his potions book. With a quickness that left Sirius no chance to remark on his odd comments, he proceeded to give him a quick review. Once he was satisfied that Black had a grip on past subjects, he moved onto their current curriculum.
At the other end of the table, Lily sat down beside Septina and they watched the two boys for a few minutes. When it became obvious that no trouble was brewing between them, they started to read the books that Mrs. Pierce had found for them. "Now, this is interesting." Lily whispered after a while. When Sept looked at her, she pointed out the paragraph and read it quietly.
"Historically speaking, the blood of
the Pendragon is potent and seems to
have the ability to shape the destiny
of countries. This power can be used
for good or ill and those who possess
it are considered possible threats
needing supervision. In the earlier
days, there were many people in the
clan of the Dragon. But today, finding
a witch or wizard who is directly linked
to the Pendragon bloodline is nearly
impossible. In fact, this bloodline
has become so hard to find, it has been
declared extinct by a counsel of wizards.
Among these wizards are such colleagues
as Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin."
"Gryffindor and Slytherin?" Lily paused her reading, exchanging shocked looks with Sept. "They sure had their hands in a lot of things."
"That's for sure. What else does it say?" She asked.
"I don't know, the rest of it is written in German."
"Let me." Accepting the book, she started to translate it, stumbling over the words only occasionally.
"In an unprecedented move for an interview
such as ours, Salazar agreed with everything
that Godric had to say about their findings.
This was the second such move on his part.
Recently, these legendary rivals put aside
their grudges before when they united with
Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff to
form the school we know today as Hogwarts
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. When
asked to explain his motives behind working
with Gryffindor on both the school and this
particular study of esoteric history, Slytherin
only smiled. One is left to wonder what goes
on behind that smile which is an unusual
combination of innocence and menace.
"We asked Gryffindor about working with the
normally anti-social and devious Slytherin,
he kindly replied that the world is made up
of all kinds of people. He is also quoted as
saying that it was Slytherin's driving
ambition that allowed for the completion of
their study on where the Pendragon bloodline
had disappeared to. It was Salazar's dream
to find out the truth. Without his extensive
knowledge, we would have been lost.
In response to this generous comment from his
colleague, Slytherin snorted something about
Gryffindor being a sentimental, old fool.
Shaking his head in amusement by his attitude,
Gryffindor took his partner and left, both
claiming business back at the school that
needed their attention.
"Many feel that this report is the definitive
answer to the questions many have asked about
the whereabouts of the remnants of Avalon. This
decision has also allayed some fears of other
members of this community. Though Slytherin has
scoffed at these fears. He has been quoted as
saying to fear the motives of the Pendrgon is the
stupidest of all the absurdities that exist in the
world. It is not the Pendragons that present the
danger, it is those who influence them that causes
the problems. And who wants to argue with an
accredited scholar like him?"
"Avalon? As in Arthur's Avalon?" Septina asked, awed for perhaps the first time in her life.
"Can't be." Lily denied, though a part of her jumped at the thought that there was the slightest possibility that she was connected to that place of myth and legends. There was another part of her that was saddened that people would see her as a threat. Caught between two extremes, either people hate me or they fear me. It was a depressing thought.
She was trying to vocalize what her mind was trying to tell her. "But wasn't Arthur's family known as the Pendragon?"
"Yeah." She slowly answered, wondering why Septina wasn't familiar with the Arthurian legend. Most people knew that story better than they knew their own names. "Septina, why don't you know the story of Arthur? And don't tell me its because you moved here a few years ago, that story is universal."
To tell the truth or lie to her, she wondered. Finally, she decided to tell Lily a half-truth. "My mother was of the opinion that we should concern ourselves with reality and not stories hidden in the mists of time. Arthur is one of those things that has never been proven or disproven satisfactorily in mother's eyes. Consequently, we know almost nothing of him."
"That is truly pathetic." Lily said. "But that isn't the whole story, is it?"
"Don't ask me to tell you more. There is much that I can't put into words." Sept warned.
"What else does it say?" Lily turned the subject right away. Sept was opening up more than she ever had and she didn't want to lose that.
Skimming through the rest of the article, she sighed. "It's just more speculation on Avalon and the motives for Slytherin's actions. I think I'd like Salazar Slytherin. He's tough and no nonsense. Nice to know that some methods of journalism haven't changed. But at least we have something to go on."
"Sept, are you looking on the bright side?"
"Don't be ridiculous, Lily Evans. I am merely stating a fact." The rest of the afternoon passed in silence as the two pairs worked. It wasn't until Mrs. Pierce rapped on the door that they realized the lateness of the hour. With a slight nod at the librarian, she and Lily wrote down the names of the books they'd want to look at again. "Same time tomorrow?"
Sirius shook his head, hearing her question. "We have Quidditch practice tomorrow, Lily." He reminded her.
"All right. Then I'll keep working on this, Sev can help me with some of these translations." She said, ignoring his groan. Taking the books, the four went out and saw James with Remus waiting outside the door for them. "Potter. Remus." She greeted them coolly before going to speak to Mrs. Pierce about borrowing some of the books.
Severus was studying Remus closely. The other boy squirmed under those too-knowing black eyes. "I am surprised by your passable skills in potions. We'll set up another time, Black." Without another word, he joined his sister at the front desk.
"Passable skills in potions." He mimicked. "What an arrogant jerk."
The Slytherin suddenly looked at him, making him uncomfortably aware of how his word must have sounded. "I might say the same thing of you, Black." Pointedly reminding him of their earlier conversation. He and Sept nodded at Lily then left the room. Moving down the hall, Septina quickly told him what they had found in one of the books. "You're doing very well. Why do you need my help?"
"Severus, my Latin in atrocious. While I can make out a few words, a whole document is beyond my meager skills." She was quiet. It had always bothered their mother that she couldn't handle the beautiful Latin tongue that was so intricate to their world.
He didn't say anything, knowing there was nothing to say about it. Instead, he spoke of her earlier discovery. "Salazar Slytherin was in on this counsel? Do you have any theories as to why?"
"Yes." Her head tilted to look over at him as they walked into the dining hall. "I think he knew more than he was telling. Old Salazar was an excellent card shark, there is no way he would do something like this without reason."
"Then maybe the answer is among his journals." He said, sitting down. "We do have access to them, seeing that we are in his house."
Her eyebrow raised in question. "Aren't they in parseltongue?"
"Have you forgotten the translate spell we learned?"
"You learned it. I was not allowed to because of my failure to grasp Latin." She was bitter.
Black eyes widened, he felt angry with himself. "I never taught you? I can't believe that I forgot to."
Septina head shook while she began to eat what was on her plate. "If I remember correctly, we had a few other things to occupy our minds. Mother was moving us, again."
"That is no excuse. You have never allowed something like that to distract you from teaching me all you've learned." Now that he had started berating himself, Sev wasn't going to stop until he felt he had punished himself enough.
"You can be such a masochist sometimes." She commented, biting into some capon.
"I learned from the best."
"Too right." She smiled.
Potter & Crew:
"Guys, its time for dinner." James reminded them, breaking into Sirius and Lily's thoughts. "And you can't afford to miss dinner in the hall again, Lily. Professor MacGonagal was really angry with you last night."
She nodded, following after them. Remus slowed down to match his pace to hers, concerned. "Lily, is something wrong?"
"Not really, Remus." She said, forcing herself out of her thoughts. "This project is just turning out to be more fascinating than I thought at first."
"What is it about?" Remus asked.
Lily looked at him, a little suspicious. "Are you doing this because you suspect Septina or Severus of plotting something against me like those two? Because if you do, I would appreciate it if you would just come right out and say it."
"I don't." He quickly placated. "You just seem so distracted and we can't have that when you're on the pitch. I just thought you'd like to talk about it."
"Remus, that's sweet. But I really have nothing to say at the moment." Together, they joined the other three members of their group.
He looked doubtful but nodded his understanding. "Well, if you ever need to bend an ear, remember that I'm available."
"Oh, James, sounds like you have some competition." Sirius joked.
Though his friend blushed, he refused to rise to Siri's baiting. In his mind, Lily was still his friend, though he had begun to notice that she was a very attractive young woman. "How was your tutoring session with Snape? As horrible as you thought it would be?"
"It wasn't that bad. And you can take that smug look off your face, Evans." He said, taking the change in conversation with surprising grace.
Lily held her hands up in mock innocence. "I wasn't going to say anything."
Sirius continued as though she hadn't spoken. "I admit that he wasn't as obnoxious as I thought he'd be. But there is still something weird about them."
Shaking her head, Lily turned to talk to Peter. He was staring at something on the other side of the room with an almost morbid look on his face. Following the direction he was staring in, she felt chilled to realize that it was focused on the twins. "Peter, are you feeling well?"
He jumped, eyes wide with fright and guilt at being caught. "What?"
"I asked if you were well?" She repeated, feeling sorry that she'd scared him.
"No. I did pretty badly on my last quiz." Peter explained, focusing on his food. He never did like it when he was the focus of those green eyes. They always seemed to pierce right through him and see through his facade.
"I'm sorry." Lily murmured, wondering what quiz he spoke of. There were no classes that day, so how could he have gotten graded on one? Why are you being so suspicious? It's just Peter. "Don't worry about it. Quizzes merely help our teachers find out how we are doing so that they know what they need to work on."
Peter wanted to hide from Lily. She was always so kind to him. "Yeah, you're right. I won't worry about it." With an effort, he attacked his food with enthusiasm.
She smiled, then turned her attention to the twins. What was it about those two that changed her perception of things? Was she really getting in to deep with them? Glancing at them, she watched as they bickered and teased each other. They weren't perfect but they needed someone. A person who wasn't under the influence of Lucius or Narcissa.
"What does it mean to be of the Pendragon?" Lily asked, more urgently.
Sev continued to stare at her blankly, his mouth agape. He turned slowly to face his sister and saw her like in a dream, his vision was so hazy. "What did she say?" He asked, blinking rapidly to clear his sight. "And why?"
"She asked what it meant to be of the Pendragon. Because she is one."
"I see." He slowly said. The look on his face belied his words and his eyes asked for more information from them.
"After you left, we did some talking. I asked if she'd had an opportunity to read the book and if any of it made sense to her. Lily saw the dark arts as just another kind of magic, that you need to be dedicated and focused on what you are doing."
"But..." He started, then stopped. "Does she know what that means?"
"And is she still in the room?" Lily asked scathingly. "Would you mind talking to me?"
The twins had the grace to look ashamed of themselves. It passed after a second. "Sorry, Lily. But this information is startling. We honestly have no precedent for it." Sev explained.
"You don't know anything about it? Anything at all?" Lily asked, feeling slightly hysterical. Hours ago she had been just another wizard, albeit a mudblood. Now, thanks to Septina's tracing her family line, she wasn't sure what she was. It was all a little nerve wracking.
"No." Septina said. "We do know that it isn't an evil thing. Give us a few days to research, see what we can come up with."
"Okay." Lily agreed, staring at her plate.
"Sept, you of all people know how much I hate history." Sev complained. "Why do you have to drag me into it?"
"Because I am not going do this alone." She responded tartly. "And Professor Binns says you need to bring up your grade, you've been slipping. You can tell him that you're working on a special project-we can just leave out a few details."
He pointed at her with his fork. "History is boring. There is no life in it."
"That shouldn't matter." She reproached him, engaging his fork in mock battle with her own.
"But it does." He smirked, continuing. "And Professor Binns is not exactly the most engaging teacher. You can't deny it, I've heard you say it yourself."
"I've learned to ignore his teachings skills, why can't you?" She asked, frowning. "History of Magic is a class that should have your full attention."
"You know that I've never had much of a head for history." He smirked then. "Is it as important as your divination class?"
The glare she sent him was icy. "If you hadn't been so asinine in your revenge on Lucius, I wouldn't be stuck in that class."
"No one asked you to help me." He countered smugly.
"Except that I was as angry as you were with Lucius. And don't deny that you needed my help, you always try to do more than you should." She shot back. "So, thanks to your grandiose schemes, I got caught and had to serve detention, while the two of you got away."
"Don't start with that again. My schemes, as you call them, are highly practical."
"More like fanciful. You like to draw things out instead of driving the point home once you've got your victim bleeding before you." The fork flew from his hand and she moved in-only to be stopped by Lily.
"Please, Sept, Sev, I prefer my dinner without the bloodshed." Her voice was mild. Then she turned the conversation in a more harmless direction, ignoring the glares the twins were shooting at each other. "When do you want to start my lessons?"
"Lil, I think we need to put them on hiatus for a while." The Slytherin girl said, raising a hand to halt the protest she could see forming on Lily's face. "Don't get me wrong, I'll go through with it. But first we need to find out just what this means. We don't know if being of the Pendragon is just descended from that line or if your powers are volatile or if you're more fragile to certain spells. I don't want to end up killing you or being killed accidentally."
The green eyes stared at her, trying to read the truth in her words. "Fine. But I am not going to sit back and wait while the two of you do all the work. The time for that is past. Whether you like it or not, you are my friends. And I will not allow you to stand alone anymore."
"Well, that solves my problem. Lily can help you research." Severus smirked, feeling quite pleased to get out of it.
"And what will you be doing while we sweat?" Septina asked, before getting another fork for her brother and fixing the damage she'd caused.
"He will be tutoring Sirius in potions for me." Lily replied sweetly.
"I most certainly will not!" Severus exclaimed, glaring at both women viciously as his sister laughed. "That idiot and I will be death of each other."
Lily was smiling serenely, unperturbed by his words and look. "I can't do it and the research as well, what with the other things I've got to do. Your choice, dusty tomes or a little potions tutoring? With your abilities, it shouldn't take you long to get him into shape."
The Slytherin was torn. He hated history-especially researching it. History was dry. It was merely the memorizing of dates, facts, and places. The people they studied were static, not dynamic. They seemed to have no life, no passion. There was no scent, no touch, no taste. Nothing to connect the past with the present. But he despised Black and all he stood for.
It all boils down to this one fact: which can I tolerate more, he thought, knowing that there was no way out. Either way he went, he was going to end up doing something that he found distasteful.
"Think about it, Sev. This is your chance to show-off. You'll also have Sirius in your debt." She coaxed, appealing to the ambition in him.
Sev's lips slowly curled-whether to smile or sneer, he didn't know. Lily was good at this, should've been in Slytherin, he thought. "But the downside of that tempting thought is the fact that I will have to spend hours with Black and earnestly teach him-or watch my reputation die."
"Don't be mean, Severus." She scolded. "I promise you, it won't be bad."
"You can promise all you want to. Will he?"
With a mysterious smile, Lily responded. "I can make him see reason."
"No!" Sirius exploded when she told him. "Never! Not even for you, Lily. You cannot be serious about this plan. Severus Snape and I would kill each other first!"
"Stop being such a child, Sirius." She scolded. "Septina and I have a special project that will take up my free time. Sev has agreed to help you in my place."
"I don't believe that." He muttered. "What are you paying him?"
"Excuse me?" She asked, eyebrow raised in question.
"Don't do that! It reminds me of them." The Gryffindor boy shuddered. "I asked what you're paying him. Snape wouldn't do anything out of kindness. He doesn't even know what that is."
"Now you're acting like a baby." Lily stated. "Severus is going to help you because I asked him. There is nothing shady about our deal."
"On your part that is." Sirius muttered. "I make no promises, Lil. I want to hear from Snape's lips that he has nothing evil planned for me."
"Would you believe me if I did?" A voice asked.
"Don't do that, Sev!" Lily exclaimed. "You know I can't stand it when you sneak up on me."
"I apologize." He smiled, just a little. "Well, Black?"
"Well, what?" He asked, being stubborn.
Resisting the urge to walk away, Sev restated his question. "Would you believe me if I said I have no plans for you?"
"Probably not." Sirius glared at a point beyond Severus' shoulder. A couple of Lucius' cronies passed them, snickering as they went.
"I didn't think so. But I'm sure you agree that Lily would never lie to you and I have assured her that you will come to no harm." He said, adding quietly. "At least, from me."
"Boys, behave." Lily was stern.
"All right." They grudgingly assented.
"Good. Now, Septina is waiting for us in the library. Shall we?" Without waiting for a reply, she walked away. The two young men glared at each other for a moment, then followed after her.
"Just make sure you keep your word." Sirius hissed.
"Or you'll what? Hurt me?" Sev mocked. "What can a Gryffindor like you do to a Slytherin? You haven't the guts for it."
The brown eyes narrowed as they met black eyes, a smirk twisting his lips. "Don't make the mistake of underestimating me, Snape."
His head shook. "I'm not that impressed with idle threats, Black."
"What makes you think they are idle?"
"You are a Gryffindor. Gryffindors are all talk but they have no taste for blood." Severus pointed out, indicating that they should go in. He didn't even think about what Peter had done earlier when he took him to see Voldemort. In his mind, the boy had to have been under the imperious curse for the simple fact that he was a Gryffindor. That house was one full of 'honor' and courage, serving the dark lord wasn't something they did.
"You may find yourself surprised, Slytherin." Black said, nodding to Mrs. Pierce as they walked past her desk.
She frowned at him, watching them suspiciously until they disappeared into one of the study rooms the library had.
"Old bat." He muttered.
"Who? Mrs. Pierce?" Sev asked, looking at him in surprise.
"Who else?"
"Can you blame her? The last time you were here, you damaged quite a lot of her property." He pointed out reasonably.
"I suppose you heard about that from Malfoy. How I cornered him and took advantage of him." His voice was bitter.
Sev replied quietly. "No. I heard it from Lily. Lucius and I are currently not talking."
Sirius snorted. "Smartest thing you've ever done."
"No. I think it was quite possibly the most dangerous thing I've ever done." He stopped, shocked at the admission. Feeling he'd given too much away, he pulled out his potions book. With a quickness that left Sirius no chance to remark on his odd comments, he proceeded to give him a quick review. Once he was satisfied that Black had a grip on past subjects, he moved onto their current curriculum.
At the other end of the table, Lily sat down beside Septina and they watched the two boys for a few minutes. When it became obvious that no trouble was brewing between them, they started to read the books that Mrs. Pierce had found for them. "Now, this is interesting." Lily whispered after a while. When Sept looked at her, she pointed out the paragraph and read it quietly.
"Historically speaking, the blood of
the Pendragon is potent and seems to
have the ability to shape the destiny
of countries. This power can be used
for good or ill and those who possess
it are considered possible threats
needing supervision. In the earlier
days, there were many people in the
clan of the Dragon. But today, finding
a witch or wizard who is directly linked
to the Pendragon bloodline is nearly
impossible. In fact, this bloodline
has become so hard to find, it has been
declared extinct by a counsel of wizards.
Among these wizards are such colleagues
as Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin."
"Gryffindor and Slytherin?" Lily paused her reading, exchanging shocked looks with Sept. "They sure had their hands in a lot of things."
"That's for sure. What else does it say?" She asked.
"I don't know, the rest of it is written in German."
"Let me." Accepting the book, she started to translate it, stumbling over the words only occasionally.
"In an unprecedented move for an interview
such as ours, Salazar agreed with everything
that Godric had to say about their findings.
This was the second such move on his part.
Recently, these legendary rivals put aside
their grudges before when they united with
Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff to
form the school we know today as Hogwarts
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. When
asked to explain his motives behind working
with Gryffindor on both the school and this
particular study of esoteric history, Slytherin
only smiled. One is left to wonder what goes
on behind that smile which is an unusual
combination of innocence and menace.
"We asked Gryffindor about working with the
normally anti-social and devious Slytherin,
he kindly replied that the world is made up
of all kinds of people. He is also quoted as
saying that it was Slytherin's driving
ambition that allowed for the completion of
their study on where the Pendragon bloodline
had disappeared to. It was Salazar's dream
to find out the truth. Without his extensive
knowledge, we would have been lost.
In response to this generous comment from his
colleague, Slytherin snorted something about
Gryffindor being a sentimental, old fool.
Shaking his head in amusement by his attitude,
Gryffindor took his partner and left, both
claiming business back at the school that
needed their attention.
"Many feel that this report is the definitive
answer to the questions many have asked about
the whereabouts of the remnants of Avalon. This
decision has also allayed some fears of other
members of this community. Though Slytherin has
scoffed at these fears. He has been quoted as
saying to fear the motives of the Pendrgon is the
stupidest of all the absurdities that exist in the
world. It is not the Pendragons that present the
danger, it is those who influence them that causes
the problems. And who wants to argue with an
accredited scholar like him?"
"Avalon? As in Arthur's Avalon?" Septina asked, awed for perhaps the first time in her life.
"Can't be." Lily denied, though a part of her jumped at the thought that there was the slightest possibility that she was connected to that place of myth and legends. There was another part of her that was saddened that people would see her as a threat. Caught between two extremes, either people hate me or they fear me. It was a depressing thought.
She was trying to vocalize what her mind was trying to tell her. "But wasn't Arthur's family known as the Pendragon?"
"Yeah." She slowly answered, wondering why Septina wasn't familiar with the Arthurian legend. Most people knew that story better than they knew their own names. "Septina, why don't you know the story of Arthur? And don't tell me its because you moved here a few years ago, that story is universal."
To tell the truth or lie to her, she wondered. Finally, she decided to tell Lily a half-truth. "My mother was of the opinion that we should concern ourselves with reality and not stories hidden in the mists of time. Arthur is one of those things that has never been proven or disproven satisfactorily in mother's eyes. Consequently, we know almost nothing of him."
"That is truly pathetic." Lily said. "But that isn't the whole story, is it?"
"Don't ask me to tell you more. There is much that I can't put into words." Sept warned.
"What else does it say?" Lily turned the subject right away. Sept was opening up more than she ever had and she didn't want to lose that.
Skimming through the rest of the article, she sighed. "It's just more speculation on Avalon and the motives for Slytherin's actions. I think I'd like Salazar Slytherin. He's tough and no nonsense. Nice to know that some methods of journalism haven't changed. But at least we have something to go on."
"Sept, are you looking on the bright side?"
"Don't be ridiculous, Lily Evans. I am merely stating a fact." The rest of the afternoon passed in silence as the two pairs worked. It wasn't until Mrs. Pierce rapped on the door that they realized the lateness of the hour. With a slight nod at the librarian, she and Lily wrote down the names of the books they'd want to look at again. "Same time tomorrow?"
Sirius shook his head, hearing her question. "We have Quidditch practice tomorrow, Lily." He reminded her.
"All right. Then I'll keep working on this, Sev can help me with some of these translations." She said, ignoring his groan. Taking the books, the four went out and saw James with Remus waiting outside the door for them. "Potter. Remus." She greeted them coolly before going to speak to Mrs. Pierce about borrowing some of the books.
Severus was studying Remus closely. The other boy squirmed under those too-knowing black eyes. "I am surprised by your passable skills in potions. We'll set up another time, Black." Without another word, he joined his sister at the front desk.
"Passable skills in potions." He mimicked. "What an arrogant jerk."
The Slytherin suddenly looked at him, making him uncomfortably aware of how his word must have sounded. "I might say the same thing of you, Black." Pointedly reminding him of their earlier conversation. He and Sept nodded at Lily then left the room. Moving down the hall, Septina quickly told him what they had found in one of the books. "You're doing very well. Why do you need my help?"
"Severus, my Latin in atrocious. While I can make out a few words, a whole document is beyond my meager skills." She was quiet. It had always bothered their mother that she couldn't handle the beautiful Latin tongue that was so intricate to their world.
He didn't say anything, knowing there was nothing to say about it. Instead, he spoke of her earlier discovery. "Salazar Slytherin was in on this counsel? Do you have any theories as to why?"
"Yes." Her head tilted to look over at him as they walked into the dining hall. "I think he knew more than he was telling. Old Salazar was an excellent card shark, there is no way he would do something like this without reason."
"Then maybe the answer is among his journals." He said, sitting down. "We do have access to them, seeing that we are in his house."
Her eyebrow raised in question. "Aren't they in parseltongue?"
"Have you forgotten the translate spell we learned?"
"You learned it. I was not allowed to because of my failure to grasp Latin." She was bitter.
Black eyes widened, he felt angry with himself. "I never taught you? I can't believe that I forgot to."
Septina head shook while she began to eat what was on her plate. "If I remember correctly, we had a few other things to occupy our minds. Mother was moving us, again."
"That is no excuse. You have never allowed something like that to distract you from teaching me all you've learned." Now that he had started berating himself, Sev wasn't going to stop until he felt he had punished himself enough.
"You can be such a masochist sometimes." She commented, biting into some capon.
"I learned from the best."
"Too right." She smiled.
Potter & Crew:
"Guys, its time for dinner." James reminded them, breaking into Sirius and Lily's thoughts. "And you can't afford to miss dinner in the hall again, Lily. Professor MacGonagal was really angry with you last night."
She nodded, following after them. Remus slowed down to match his pace to hers, concerned. "Lily, is something wrong?"
"Not really, Remus." She said, forcing herself out of her thoughts. "This project is just turning out to be more fascinating than I thought at first."
"What is it about?" Remus asked.
Lily looked at him, a little suspicious. "Are you doing this because you suspect Septina or Severus of plotting something against me like those two? Because if you do, I would appreciate it if you would just come right out and say it."
"I don't." He quickly placated. "You just seem so distracted and we can't have that when you're on the pitch. I just thought you'd like to talk about it."
"Remus, that's sweet. But I really have nothing to say at the moment." Together, they joined the other three members of their group.
He looked doubtful but nodded his understanding. "Well, if you ever need to bend an ear, remember that I'm available."
"Oh, James, sounds like you have some competition." Sirius joked.
Though his friend blushed, he refused to rise to Siri's baiting. In his mind, Lily was still his friend, though he had begun to notice that she was a very attractive young woman. "How was your tutoring session with Snape? As horrible as you thought it would be?"
"It wasn't that bad. And you can take that smug look off your face, Evans." He said, taking the change in conversation with surprising grace.
Lily held her hands up in mock innocence. "I wasn't going to say anything."
Sirius continued as though she hadn't spoken. "I admit that he wasn't as obnoxious as I thought he'd be. But there is still something weird about them."
Shaking her head, Lily turned to talk to Peter. He was staring at something on the other side of the room with an almost morbid look on his face. Following the direction he was staring in, she felt chilled to realize that it was focused on the twins. "Peter, are you feeling well?"
He jumped, eyes wide with fright and guilt at being caught. "What?"
"I asked if you were well?" She repeated, feeling sorry that she'd scared him.
"No. I did pretty badly on my last quiz." Peter explained, focusing on his food. He never did like it when he was the focus of those green eyes. They always seemed to pierce right through him and see through his facade.
"I'm sorry." Lily murmured, wondering what quiz he spoke of. There were no classes that day, so how could he have gotten graded on one? Why are you being so suspicious? It's just Peter. "Don't worry about it. Quizzes merely help our teachers find out how we are doing so that they know what they need to work on."
Peter wanted to hide from Lily. She was always so kind to him. "Yeah, you're right. I won't worry about it." With an effort, he attacked his food with enthusiasm.
She smiled, then turned her attention to the twins. What was it about those two that changed her perception of things? Was she really getting in to deep with them? Glancing at them, she watched as they bickered and teased each other. They weren't perfect but they needed someone. A person who wasn't under the influence of Lucius or Narcissa.