Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot. I wish I did, though *wink*
Chapter 6
The next three weeks had passed by without incident. Classes went on, as usual, in their boringly simple ways. Sometimes, it took all my effort not to curse that stupid Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Garednon, into eternity, and teach the class something worthwhile. Even Goyle knew you could deflect the curse deflector he was teaching us by counter cursing it with a stronger one. Well, maybe not Goyle. But Severus knew, and he was two years below us, besides.
It was late in the night, and even Severus, the late sleeper, was asleep, a roll of parchment lying on his chest. I took it (rather carelessly; he could sleep through an exceptionally loud earthquake), and read through. Not surprisingly, he'd made a new hex (quite cleverly named the Hang-nail Hex, which gave your enemy such a bad case of hang-nails, he would drop his wand), his twentieth since the beginning of the term.
It was time to look for more dangerous hexes. I liked collected them and storing them in my mind. After all, who knew when they would be useful? I slipped on my invisibility cloak, and headed for the library.
The dark, dim hallways were lit poorly by a few scattered torches. The harsh, pre-autumn wind made the lights flicker, casting jumpy shadows about me.
I crept towards the library, trying to make as little sound as possible. After all, the invisibility cloak didn't stop me from making sounds, and I didn't want to wake up Pringle. Filch can be considered an absolute *angel* compared to Apollyon Pringle.
The restricted section looked the same, although I noticed a few new books: A Thousand Deaths: Fatal Curses, Hexes, and Jinxes for Every Possible Occasion, Light a Bonfire Against the Dark Arts: Extreme Defense against the Darkest Arts, The Atrocious Acts of an Active Acromantula, and Muggle Studies: The Growing Mystery of Quantum Physics (there was a label on this one that said 'DANGEROUS: STRONG CONFUNDUS CHARM').
The Thousand Deaths sounded promising. I took out an empty sheave of magical parchment and pressed it against a page. Instantly, a copy appeared. Around this time, I noticed that I wasn't the only one here.
"What do you think we'll turn into, Sirius?" I looked around, only to see the floating heads of James Potter and Sirius Black. So. I wasn't the only one with an invisibility cloak. Fortunately, both of them had been as engrossed as I had been with my book, or else they would have already noticed a floating book and a piece of floating parchment.
"Shh, keep your voice down. I could have sworn I heard footsteps. It might be Pringle." Both of them gave involuntary shudders.
"So? What does the book say we'll turn into?" said Potter, in a low whisper.
"Something about character--"
"Character?"
"Whatever that means---" I couldn't help myself. This was a perfect opportunity to stir up some mischief. I blew out their candle. It was dark, even with the moonlight shining through the windows.
"James?"
"What was that?" I could barely contain my laughter.
"Wind, probably."
Potter whispered "Illuminatum" and the candle lit up. Again, I blew the light out.
"If it was wind. . . wouldn't we have felt it?"
"Maybe it's Peeves."
"I didn't know ghosts were invisible."
"They could be. . . unless. . ." He looked around suspiciously and whispered something so low I couldn't even hear it.
"James? Sirius?" This was another voice. Lily? I couldn't be-I turned around, and found myself face to face with her. Close enough to touch. I moved away immediately.
I was behind her now, outside the restricted section, just beside the little gate that closed it off.
"Remus sent me to see if anything was wrong--"
"Your candle was out, and we could hear you arguing all the way from the other end of the library." Yet another voice said. This one sounded tired. I couldn't see it, but it must have been right beside me. I moved farther way.
Was this another invisibility cloak? I'd thought they were rare artifacts. I shouldn't have wasted time thinking about that, because my question was answered moments later when the formless voice muttered "Hurry up, it's wearing off." An invisibility potion, no doubt.
"We found the book. Did you find the charm you were looking for?" asked Black.
"Yes, we did. Thanks to Lily over here. You should come with us more often."
"I only came with you because I couldn't sleep. But why on earth would you like to learn the Findiri Charm anyway? Aside from being extremely complicated, it only has two known uses, you know. The first is medicinal, it binds broken bones together magically, and the second use is a modified personality binding spell for the Animagi."
Potter coughed. "Remus is uh, having er-trouble with his--"
"Back." Black finished. These people desperately needed to learn how to lie properly.
"I'm sure he does." She was unconvinced. A three month old *baby* would have been unconvinced. I heard her gasp when the ghostly form of Lupin appeared out of thin air.
"I told you it was wearing off. Let's go; Peter's waiting at the entrance." Those four were up to something. But what? I don't know why, but I decided to follow them. Stir up some more trouble, if possible. Pettigrew, almost identical to Lupin in his pearly whiteness, was snoring away at the entrance. He chortled and spluttered as he was nudged awake.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "Helter-skelter" Potter whispered upon reaching the entrance to their common room. The Fat Lady grunted in a very sleepy sort of way and swung open. I followed them in. The first Slytherin inside a Gryffindor common room. I resisted the urge to cackle evilly. After all, they still thought they were alone.
"Remus," Potter said, as he whipped the cloak of himself and Black and sat down on a couch, "You almost scared us, you know, with the candle thing." Lupin looked mildly surprised.
"What candle thing?"
"In the Restricted Section, our candle kept snuffing out, by itself--"
"James, I *came* with Lily *because* your light was off. . ."
"Then who---"
"Someone else. I was with Lily the whole time, and Peter. . . well. . ."He nodded towards the already sleeping form of Pettigrew, curled up on an armchair.
"Fine, it was either the wind, or somebody invisible. Nothing to be frightened about, we're not *dead* or anything." Black interrupted. "You can argue about that all you like, but as for me, I'm going to sleep. We have Potions with the Slytherins first thing tomorrow, and I might *accidentally* connect my fist with Snapes abnormally large nose if I don't get a good night's sleep." Potter laughed and stood up.
"That's not a very bad idea, you know." He said, as he woke Pettigrew up.
"That would serve the ugly git right, trying to get us in trouble." One by one, they left the common room. Potter was the last to leave. Halfway to the dormitory, however, he turned around.
"Going to sleep yet, Lily?" She was sitting, cross-legged on the floor, facing the fire place.
"I'm not sleepy. Good night James."
"Good night, Lily." He hesitated, as if he wanted to say something more but thought better of it. After a moment, he turned around, and left.
I watched her, her face warmed by the glow of the fire. But I knew any warmth she had was borrowed from the light, and that she was still as pale as ever. Almost sickly looking, like she hadn't had a good night's sleep in days. Sometimes, when I stole a few glances at her during breakfast, I'd be surprised at how much paler and thinner she'd gotten.
Her dark, wavy red hair was streaked orange in some places, and almost brown in others. Quite suddenly, and still facing the fire, she said quietly, "I know you're here, Lucius. What do you want?"
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed!
KittyKat589- Thanks so much! Your reviews always make me smile :) Are you a
Sevy-lover too? ;) If you are, here's a secret: *whispers* he's going to come up in a later chapter ;) Addy- Whoohoo! *smiles* A new reader! I hope you keep reading (and reviewing!)
Chapter 6
The next three weeks had passed by without incident. Classes went on, as usual, in their boringly simple ways. Sometimes, it took all my effort not to curse that stupid Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Garednon, into eternity, and teach the class something worthwhile. Even Goyle knew you could deflect the curse deflector he was teaching us by counter cursing it with a stronger one. Well, maybe not Goyle. But Severus knew, and he was two years below us, besides.
It was late in the night, and even Severus, the late sleeper, was asleep, a roll of parchment lying on his chest. I took it (rather carelessly; he could sleep through an exceptionally loud earthquake), and read through. Not surprisingly, he'd made a new hex (quite cleverly named the Hang-nail Hex, which gave your enemy such a bad case of hang-nails, he would drop his wand), his twentieth since the beginning of the term.
It was time to look for more dangerous hexes. I liked collected them and storing them in my mind. After all, who knew when they would be useful? I slipped on my invisibility cloak, and headed for the library.
The dark, dim hallways were lit poorly by a few scattered torches. The harsh, pre-autumn wind made the lights flicker, casting jumpy shadows about me.
I crept towards the library, trying to make as little sound as possible. After all, the invisibility cloak didn't stop me from making sounds, and I didn't want to wake up Pringle. Filch can be considered an absolute *angel* compared to Apollyon Pringle.
The restricted section looked the same, although I noticed a few new books: A Thousand Deaths: Fatal Curses, Hexes, and Jinxes for Every Possible Occasion, Light a Bonfire Against the Dark Arts: Extreme Defense against the Darkest Arts, The Atrocious Acts of an Active Acromantula, and Muggle Studies: The Growing Mystery of Quantum Physics (there was a label on this one that said 'DANGEROUS: STRONG CONFUNDUS CHARM').
The Thousand Deaths sounded promising. I took out an empty sheave of magical parchment and pressed it against a page. Instantly, a copy appeared. Around this time, I noticed that I wasn't the only one here.
"What do you think we'll turn into, Sirius?" I looked around, only to see the floating heads of James Potter and Sirius Black. So. I wasn't the only one with an invisibility cloak. Fortunately, both of them had been as engrossed as I had been with my book, or else they would have already noticed a floating book and a piece of floating parchment.
"Shh, keep your voice down. I could have sworn I heard footsteps. It might be Pringle." Both of them gave involuntary shudders.
"So? What does the book say we'll turn into?" said Potter, in a low whisper.
"Something about character--"
"Character?"
"Whatever that means---" I couldn't help myself. This was a perfect opportunity to stir up some mischief. I blew out their candle. It was dark, even with the moonlight shining through the windows.
"James?"
"What was that?" I could barely contain my laughter.
"Wind, probably."
Potter whispered "Illuminatum" and the candle lit up. Again, I blew the light out.
"If it was wind. . . wouldn't we have felt it?"
"Maybe it's Peeves."
"I didn't know ghosts were invisible."
"They could be. . . unless. . ." He looked around suspiciously and whispered something so low I couldn't even hear it.
"James? Sirius?" This was another voice. Lily? I couldn't be-I turned around, and found myself face to face with her. Close enough to touch. I moved away immediately.
I was behind her now, outside the restricted section, just beside the little gate that closed it off.
"Remus sent me to see if anything was wrong--"
"Your candle was out, and we could hear you arguing all the way from the other end of the library." Yet another voice said. This one sounded tired. I couldn't see it, but it must have been right beside me. I moved farther way.
Was this another invisibility cloak? I'd thought they were rare artifacts. I shouldn't have wasted time thinking about that, because my question was answered moments later when the formless voice muttered "Hurry up, it's wearing off." An invisibility potion, no doubt.
"We found the book. Did you find the charm you were looking for?" asked Black.
"Yes, we did. Thanks to Lily over here. You should come with us more often."
"I only came with you because I couldn't sleep. But why on earth would you like to learn the Findiri Charm anyway? Aside from being extremely complicated, it only has two known uses, you know. The first is medicinal, it binds broken bones together magically, and the second use is a modified personality binding spell for the Animagi."
Potter coughed. "Remus is uh, having er-trouble with his--"
"Back." Black finished. These people desperately needed to learn how to lie properly.
"I'm sure he does." She was unconvinced. A three month old *baby* would have been unconvinced. I heard her gasp when the ghostly form of Lupin appeared out of thin air.
"I told you it was wearing off. Let's go; Peter's waiting at the entrance." Those four were up to something. But what? I don't know why, but I decided to follow them. Stir up some more trouble, if possible. Pettigrew, almost identical to Lupin in his pearly whiteness, was snoring away at the entrance. He chortled and spluttered as he was nudged awake.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "Helter-skelter" Potter whispered upon reaching the entrance to their common room. The Fat Lady grunted in a very sleepy sort of way and swung open. I followed them in. The first Slytherin inside a Gryffindor common room. I resisted the urge to cackle evilly. After all, they still thought they were alone.
"Remus," Potter said, as he whipped the cloak of himself and Black and sat down on a couch, "You almost scared us, you know, with the candle thing." Lupin looked mildly surprised.
"What candle thing?"
"In the Restricted Section, our candle kept snuffing out, by itself--"
"James, I *came* with Lily *because* your light was off. . ."
"Then who---"
"Someone else. I was with Lily the whole time, and Peter. . . well. . ."He nodded towards the already sleeping form of Pettigrew, curled up on an armchair.
"Fine, it was either the wind, or somebody invisible. Nothing to be frightened about, we're not *dead* or anything." Black interrupted. "You can argue about that all you like, but as for me, I'm going to sleep. We have Potions with the Slytherins first thing tomorrow, and I might *accidentally* connect my fist with Snapes abnormally large nose if I don't get a good night's sleep." Potter laughed and stood up.
"That's not a very bad idea, you know." He said, as he woke Pettigrew up.
"That would serve the ugly git right, trying to get us in trouble." One by one, they left the common room. Potter was the last to leave. Halfway to the dormitory, however, he turned around.
"Going to sleep yet, Lily?" She was sitting, cross-legged on the floor, facing the fire place.
"I'm not sleepy. Good night James."
"Good night, Lily." He hesitated, as if he wanted to say something more but thought better of it. After a moment, he turned around, and left.
I watched her, her face warmed by the glow of the fire. But I knew any warmth she had was borrowed from the light, and that she was still as pale as ever. Almost sickly looking, like she hadn't had a good night's sleep in days. Sometimes, when I stole a few glances at her during breakfast, I'd be surprised at how much paler and thinner she'd gotten.
Her dark, wavy red hair was streaked orange in some places, and almost brown in others. Quite suddenly, and still facing the fire, she said quietly, "I know you're here, Lucius. What do you want?"
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed!
KittyKat589- Thanks so much! Your reviews always make me smile :) Are you a
Sevy-lover too? ;) If you are, here's a secret: *whispers* he's going to come up in a later chapter ;) Addy- Whoohoo! *smiles* A new reader! I hope you keep reading (and reviewing!)
