Chapter 5: A Bond is Formed

Author's Note: Sorry about the lack of updates lately. Just survived two computer crashes, sadly the second crash happened about the time I had finished this chapter, and right before my backup so it's a little late. I apologize in advance if this chapter doesn't hold up well, I'm not good at rewrites.

John walked down the hall towards the library with a quick deliberate pace, clenching a rolled up sheet of paper in his hand. Elanus had disappeared into the library for the last several weeks. Everyone in Hufflepuff knew that Elanus would occasionally disappear for several days at a time, only coming out of the library for his classes. This time though, Elanus had missed two classes, something everyone knew he never did. Those that knew him knew of his near legendary distaste for the school. Despite his dislike for Hogwarts, his grades were likely some of the highest in school, though no one could ever remember them being posted.  The only other thing that really stuck out about Elanus was his staunch adherence to the rules. He was a bit confusing; after all it was Elanus that helped with the brooms that allowed John and the team to make a victory over Gryffindor, and all but assuring them a place in the final games of the year. For that, John owed Elanus, as did the whole Hufflepuff house. John knew just the way to repay the favor. He found Elanus sitting in a back corner at a table with several neat stacks of books on it. John sat down quietly.

"Hey, Elanus," John whispered, "What are you reading?"

"Oh," Elanus said, closing an old leather bound book, "Just something for an end of term project for next year. It's on lycanthropy."

"Werewolves huh?" asked John, "That's going to be some graduation project."

"I hope so," Elanus said, "What can I do for you?"

"Well, my friend," John said, "It's not so much something you can do for me, but something I can do for you."

"Oh?"

"Listen, tomorrow we're going to Hogsmeade right?" John whispered, "There's a student gathering, a party if you will, going on at one of the old warehouses. This is an invitation," he said, handing the paper to Elanus.

"I don't know," Elanus said, "Parties aren't really my thing."

"Oh I think you can handle it," John said, "I insist, we owe you a lot, think of this as a down payment. Only the most popular students, meaning fifth year and older, get these invitations, and I think you should come."

"Really? Will there be girls there?" asked Elanus.

"You know it," John said, "Just make an appearance, man, alright? It's casual, but dressy."

With that John stood up and waved to Elanus. Elanus unrolled the paper and read it thoughtfully. He closed his books and strolled out of the library and back to his dorm room. The evening turned to night, and the night became morning. Friday classes went slow, as normal. Finally, that evening Elanus went through his clothing and found a muggle suit he had brought over. It was one of the few pieces of muggle clothing he brought to Hogwarts as he never wore anything but the school uniform while at school. Several minutes and much straightening later, he walked out of the Hufflepuff common room and down the halls with a cloak draped over his arm.

"Lookin' sharp," one of the male students commented as he walked by, several girls nodded in agreement. Elanus nodded his head to them and smiled as he walked past. Most of the students had already left for Hogsmeade, which was alright with Elanus as he didn't want to walk with a crowd. As he turned a corner he quickly draped the cloak over himself and disappeared. After quickly slipping behind a hidden panel and a few short paces, he found himself outside Hogwarts and a short distance away from the Whomping Willow. He deftly ran up to the tree, touched a knot on its trunk and slipped into a passage beneath its roots. Several minutes of walking later he took the cloak off and folded it back over his arms and made his way through the streets of Hogsmeade. Unrolling the invitation and looking around he spotted the warehouse where the party was being held.

An oddity of the current headmaster was that he enjoyed parties and fun much more then any of the professors at Hogwarts. This particular party was held annually, and though none of the students knew, it was organized and chaperoned by professors. The professors wore disguises or transfigured themselves usually. One professor, an animagus by the name of Minerva McGonagall simply turned herself into a cat, and watched from the rafters. Almost no one knew of McGonagall's gift, but Elanus did. He handed his invitation to the seventh year at the door and walked in and looked up at the rafters. There was a grey and black cat with oddly shaped rings around her eyes looking at him. He winked and nodded then looked around the room.

A great many of the students in the room were wearing colored robes instead of the usual Hogwarts' black. A few students were wearing black dress robes, and a surprising number were in muggle clothing. After spotting John's hand waving at him and hanging his cloak, he made his way to a small ring of people near the far wall. John shook Elanus' hand enthusiastically.

"You clean up nice," John said looking Elanus over, "Guys, I'd like you to meet Elanus Green, he's a fellow Hufflepuff and a great motivational speaker."

"Are you the one responsible for Hufflepuff's incredible victories on the Quidditch field?" one of the students asked, "Everyone is still talking about that Gryffindor game."

"Careful how you answer, the Slytherns might kidnap you, I hear they're going to tie scarves to their brooms for the next game," another student said, with a chuckle.

"It's all the team," Elanus replied, "They're fantastic."

A redheaded girl in a black dress walked up to the crowd, standing between John and the person to his left.

"Oh, Elanus, there's someone I'd like you to meet," John said, putting his arm around the girl's shoulder, "Lily Evans, meet Elanus Green."

"A pleasure," Lily said with a curtsy.

Elanus took her hand and bent down to kiss it, winking to her quickly as he stood, "Believe me the pleasure is all mine."

Lily blushed slightly and smiled. A band started to play from a small stage. Several people paired off and started to dance.

"I'd ask you to dance," Elanus said, "Sadly, that was one of the few skills my Baptist uncle didn't teach me."

"It's a shame," Lily said, "You look like you'd make a wonderful dancer. Perhaps a walk then?"

Elanus extended his arm, and Lily wrapped hers around it. They walked to the door, turning a few heads as they did.

"You can't dance either," Elanus said as he grabbed his cloak and they exited the building.

"Not a bit," Lily replied.

"Where shall we walk to?" Elanus asked.

"Somewhere in sight, but out of hearing," Lily replied.

The two strolled towards the lake, making small talk as they did. They reached the lake shore and began walking along it, carefully staying out of the mud that surrounded it. Lily smiled up at Elanus. "So who are you?" she asked.

"I'm Elanus Green, Hufflepuff," Elanus replied.

"No, I mean really," Lily said.

"What do you mean?" Elanus asked slowly.

"You must be very talented or a special student," Lily said, "Or both."

"Why would you say that?" asked Elanus.

"First of all, you have the highest grades in school," Lily replied, "Severus Snape and I are at the top of the printed list, but your grades are much higher then ours. Your name isn't even listed."

"So I asked them not to print them," Elanus replied, "I'm sure there are several students who have done the same thing. How'd you find out?"

"I have my ways. You're right on that, but I also found out you'll be done with all your classes the first part of next year, and likely graduate early."

"So?"

"No one except Tom Riddle has ever managed to even come remotely close to that," Lily replied, "Ever, not even Dumbledore when he was a student here."

"I don't like to draw attention to myself," Elanus said with a shrug.

"Well you should, you've done three amazing things all in the span of a few months," Lily said.

"What's that?"

"That disk you made us, for starters. I've never seen or heard of anything like it. That invisibility cloak on your arm, there are only a few you know. No one has been able to figure out how to make them for centuries," Lily said.

"It's not perfect," Elanus replied, "I got lucky."

"It's closer then anyone else has been able to achieve," Lily replied, "Believe me I did a report on them my fourth year. I don't think luck has anything to do with it, Elanus. If those two things weren't impressive enough you managed to tamper with the Hufflepuff brooms somehow. You also created a totally new spell that confounds a certain map that's quite possibly the closest thing to a major magic artifact that's been created in years. All without knowing that much about either."

"How did you know about the brooms?" asked Elanus.

"Come on, scarves around the broomstick? You suddenly being John's best friend?" Lily asked.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Not to most people," Lily replied, "Where did you learn all these things?"

"Well, if you must know," Elanus said, "My uncle is a machinist, he graduated from university with majors in engineering and physics. I work at his shop in America during the summer. He knows about magic, but more importantly he knows a lot about how things work."

"Is he a muggle?" asked Lily.

"Yes," Elanus replied, "Most of the things wizards haven't been able to do for a long time is simple physics to muggles. They may not know how to do it either, but they have a pretty good idea what would need to be done."

"Like the invisibility cloak?" asked Lily, "You still have to be pretty powerful to make one, even if muggle scientists did have a theory."

"You're wrong," Elanus replied, "The ancient wizards bullied magic into doing what they wanted. They held their hands a certain way and burned pixie wings because it worked, not ever bothering to figure out why. Once I learned a little about how light works and how it can be bent and refracted all I had to do was nudge things along a little until I got the desired effect. I worked with nature, rather then forcing to do what I wished. Muggles do it all the time without magic, I didn't see why it couldn't be done with magic."

"So how do you bend light to make yourself invisible?" asked Lily.

"Well, think about it like this," Elanus said, "Imagine I'm standing in a room with my back to a wall. There's a mirror in front of me facing, and one behind me facing the wall. Several other mirrors are arranged in the room so that the mirror in front of me reflects the wall behind me. If the mirrors were really good, and you didn't know they were there, you might never even notice the trick until you ran into it, or saw yourself in the mirror. You could even shine a light into the mirror, and the light spot would appear on the wall."

"Because it's reflected around you," Lily said, "But what if I stepped beside you, or looked on top? Or directly in front of the mirror?"

"Well, imagine hundreds of thousands of perfect invisible mirrors arranged around me and in the room at every possible angle," Elanus replied, "You couldn't see me, you'd see the effect of the mirror, or a distortion. For all practical purposes I'd be invisible though."

"You couldn't see out," Lily commented.

"What if some of the mirrors were two way mirrors? Reflective on one side, and transparent on the other?"

"It's that simple?" asked Lily.

"It's simple yes, but it's not perfect, nor is that a perfect description of how it works. It's the best I can give without going into muggle technology," Elanus replied, "Think of it as really good camouflage."

"I see," Lily said, "and the silencing device."

"That's just a silencing charm in reverse," chuckled Elanus.

"Well I think we're going to get along very well," Lily said.

Elanus smiled at Lily, "Oh my."

"What?" asked Lily.

"It's late, we better get back to school," Elanus said.

"Like either of us are concerned about curfew," Lily said, jokingly.

"True, but the locks on the gates are a bit harder to bypass then the ones inside," he said, leading them back towards the school.

"Potter and his minions do it all the time," Lily said, "Any idea how?"

"Secret passages," Elanus replied.

Several minutes later the two joined the small crowd that filed back into Hogwarts. They parted ways, but not after Lily had whispered the location of their next meeting in his ear. Lily made her way towards the Gryffindor common room, and spoke the password to the Fat Lady in the picture. The picture swung aside, graciously letting her through. Lily made her way up to the girl's wing, not bothering to talk to anyone along the way. As she made her way up the stairs she removed the pins and clips holding her hair up. She found her room, and one of her room mates waiting for her. Mindy Carlisle, her long time study partner, was sitting on her bed, brushing her long auburn hair.

"So, how'd it go?" Mindy asked, "That guy you left with was very handsome. What's his name?"

Lily smiled as she pulled her dress off and changed into her pajamas. "His name is Elanus Green, a Hufflepuff," she replied.

"So, is there a boyfriend in the near future?" Mindy asked teasingly.

Lily blushed, "I could only be so lucky. No, he's too familiar somehow, like a brother I guess. I don't see any attachments of the romantic kind between us", she said as she filled a small basin up and began washing her face.

"That's so sad," Mindy commented, "So if you're not going to take him, can I have him?"

Lily laughed, "Let's not go there just yet. I said I don't see any romantic attachments between the two of us."

"Hmmph," Mindy pouted, "You never introduce me to your friends."

"Because I know how you are," Lily said with a laugh.

Mindy threw her brush at Lily, who instinctively stepped aside. The brush slammed into the wall, but didn't hit the floor. It just floated towards Lily, who grabbed it from midair without taking her eyes off the mirror.

"How do you do that?" asked Mindy.

"It's just a simple levitation charm," Lily replied.

"No I mean without a wand?"

"If you practice a spell enough you can do it without a wand, I've been telling you that for years," Lily said, running the brush through her hair, "Practice it enough without a wand, you don't even need your hands."

"That's so much work," Mindy commented.

"Nothing worth having ever comes easy," Lily replied, tossing the brush back to Mindy, "Remember that."

The two girls chatted idly for a few minutes before their other room mates came in. Soon the lamps were snuffed and they all fell quietly to sleep. Everyone slept except Lily, who snuck out of the tower to a stairwell not far from the entrance. She pulled a small journal, a candle, and a pen from a small compartment underneath one of the stairs and began to write. A wolf howled in the distance, and the full moon illuminated the night.