All he could think of was the girl across from him. He'd given up studying nearly an hour ago, after an entire evening spent in books, and yet she still read on, oblivious. He could see the emotions drawn out by everything she read, written plainly across her face. They were expressions so intense, he couldn't imagine what could be suggesting them in a Potions book, of all things. And yet – he couldn't imagine her any other way. One lock of curly brown hair continually plagued her, falling out from behind her ear only to be swept back up again. Something in him itched to replace it for her, but he couldn't quite bring himself to do so, as it might interrupt her reading. He never thought he'd have a friend who could understand his love for books, let alone one who understood him, as well, and didn't hold the Wolf against him.

Remus was broken out of his reverie by an amazingly loud bang – followed shortly by the sound of screaming. By the time he, even with the enhanced reflexes his condition granted him, had looked up to try and figure out what was going on, Hermione was on her feet, wand in hand. Worried at what could have caused such a reaction, Remus' first thought was Death Eaters, but that would be impossible with Hogwarts' wards. Heart in his throat, Remus met her gaze, unable to sort out what was going on.

"That's Harry." She said, half choked whisper, half shout. She paused only a heartbeat, only long enough for them to hear another scream and determine where it was coming from. "And that's Draco." She breathed, and was gone running before he could even think to ask how she knew her friends' screams so well.

He wasn't really sure what good he could do if there really was some kind of attack, but leaving Hermione to face whatever-it-was alone just wouldn't be right, despite her advantage over him where training was concerned. Deciding it was better to think later, and to follow now, Remus ran after her. It didn't take long to catch up, and she shot him a worried half-smile of thanks. It wasn't hard to figure out what the destination was, considering the screams were still coming from Harry's room intermittently. Thanks to both adrenaline and the Wolf, Remus got to the dungeon rooms first. The chaos that met his eyes made it nearly impossible to sort out what was going on.

Feathers fell and floated like a never-ending snowfall from the ceiling, clouding the air, even making it difficult to breathe without swallowing a few. Beyond even what one might expect from a hundred-person pillow fight, it looked more as though the ceiling were pouring forth feathers like snowflakes in a blizzard. It looked nothing like a blizzard, however, nor even a pillow fightj; it was more like the feathered equivalent to Bertie Bott's. The feathers weren't nearly all white; instead, they seemed to be of every color and size imaginable.

And even when he managed to look past the torrent somewhat, Remus couldn't comprehend the situation. Furniture was overturned; cabinets and bookshelves pulled out from walls, chairs on their sides, and random bits of everything-that-had-been-on-a-shelf-or-table scattered about. The couches, turned on their backs across the room from each other, were the closest thing to any sense of order in the place. Not even a hurricane could have made such utter chaos from the formerly tidy room; if there was the least bit of rhyme or reason for where anything had landed, it was beyond his comprehension.

And that was just the physical disaster of the room. Spells of every color shot across the room. Obviously, there were people hiding behind the overturned couches, and firing at each other. But Remus neither recognized the spells, nor could hear an incantation that might give him a hint as to their purpose. They might have been anything from a tickling charm to the blackest magic, and it didn't make him feel a touch better to know that, somewhere in this, the younger version of the savior of the wizarding world was hiding.

Just as he thought this, however, a messy-haired green-eyed head shot up from behind one of the couches for half a second, and half-smirking-half-grinning aimed, wandlessly, another torrent of spells at whomever was behind the other couch. As quick as he had appeared, however, he was gone, and his blonde-headed opponent popped up from behind the opposite couch just in time to be caught by the last spell, and fall back, shrieking with laughter from some sort of tickling spell. Remus could only stare in shock. So long as that was all that was going on here, and despite his amazement at an untrained Harry Potter sending out controlled wandless spells, it was only a bit of over-enthusiasm, and most likely would result in nothing worse than a great deal of cleaning, and a good number of repairing charms.

"What on EARTH is going on in here?" Hermione, apparently, had arrived, and didn't share his view of the situation.

The room fell suddenly silent.

The spells ceased, the shouting and shrieking stopped, and the ruckus of swift movement disappeared. The feathers in the air drifted slowly towards the ground, coating everything in a multi-colored blanket. And as they settled, no more appeared at the ceiling to take their place. Everything went still.

Two boys, both the picture of innocence (if not for the carnage surrounding them), poked their heads up from behind the upturned couches. They glanced towards each other, and then looked back up at Hermione.

"You told us we could do whatever we wanted, so long as we stayed in these rooms." Said a somewhat haughty, though far more petulant and childish Draco.

Remus groaned, and flopped himself against the wall, sliding down until he was sat on the feather-covered floor. However odd and amazing the situation, it was only two foolish boys making idiots of themselves, something with which he'd had a great deal of experience. He suddenly had a great deal more sympathy for the teachers that put up with him and his friends than he'd ever managed before.

"I can't believe the two of you would do this! I said you could do as you pleased, becaue I trusted you to think, and not to behave like... like… children! What were you thinking?" Hermione continued.

Young Harry got to his feet, but his gaze snapped to the floor. He was obviously shaking, and looked positively terrified. "I-I-I'm s-sorry, Ma'am. I won't ever do it again, I swear, just please, don'… don't be angry… don' … don't hurt Draco, or …" He let the sentence trail off, obviously too afraid to finish it.

Draco crossed the room immediately, and stood beside the frightened Harry. "It isn't your fault, Harry." He turned a glare onto a very surprised Remus and Hermione. "They said it was alright. It's hardly your responsibility if they won't stand by their own words."

Flustered, Hermione snapped back. "I didn't mean to destroy the rooms! It will take hours to clean this, and some of it might be irreparable."

Draco looked at her oddly. "Of course it won't. We're not infants you know. We'll clean it up ourselves."

"And how, exactly, do you expect to accomplish that?" Remus questioned, rather in awe of the destruction that could be wrought by a couple of eleven year olds.

"With Magic, of course." Draco responded, looking as though he thought they must be quite stupid.

Remus, having witnessed Harry's wandless spells, was perfectly content to believe them. Hermione, who hadn't gotten there in time to see them, snorted. "You can't even do any magic. You don't even have wands for Merlin's sake!"

"I don't think they believe us." Harry said, quietly, in what was obviously meant to only be heard by his companion. "I told you, we should have made a spell for keeping things quiet."

Draco shook his head, and answered in the same not-quiet-enough whisper. "They're just not being fair. Grownups never think we can do anything. We're just going to have to show them." He reached out a hand to Harry, and both boys simply said, together, "Cleanup."

Hermione stood there, jaw dropped, and in awe.

Every feather, every speck of dust, every misplaced book or bit of bric-a-brac was gone or returned to its proper place. The couches and chair were righted, the carpet was straightened (even as they boys stood on it), the bookcases were replaced in their proper locations. There hadn't even been the hint of things returning to any location. One moment, all had been a disaster, and the next, everything was as though the fight had never been.

In the middle of it all, Harry still regarded the floor, clutching Draco's hand, and looking as though he thought he was about to be punished severely. Draco, on the other hand, was smirking proudly, obviously certain that they couldn't be punished now, considering there was nothing to be punished for.

Hermione still hadn't moved. Not even an inch. It was doubtful she was even breathing.

Remus couldn't help it. He burst out laughing.

"So you're saying there's what?"

Sighing, Lilly responded, "A secret organization of students that needs your help, only they can't reveal themselves until you swear not to reveal them." It had sounded good when she, Remus, and Hermione had planned everything out this morning. The second she'd tried to tell it to Severus, however, it had come out sounding utterly idiotic, and more than a little far-fetched.

They'd been tucked away in this abandoned classroom for over an hour, now, and she really didn't think they were getting anywhere. Unfortunately, there was no way to tell Severus what was going on without telling him more than they could afford for him to know. If he did still become a Death Eater, there was no way they could risk telling him of the existence of the Time Travelers. And Lilly, despite her magical abilities, was fervently wishing Hermione had come with her, to administer a secrecy charm, so that this conversation could be a little more straightforward. Unfortunately, if Severus had spotted an unknown in the room, he wouldn't likely have even stayed to say hello, let alone listen to them, no matter how much he trusted Lilly.

Severus smoothed the surprise from his expression, however, and regarded her evenly. "How powerful an organization?" He asked.

Lilly heaved a sigh of relief; at least he was finally taking her seriously. Still, she wasn't really sure how to respond to his question. Something about the way he'd said it suggested that she needed to measure her words carefully. She thought of saying "very powerful", but she wasn't certain that was the reassurance he needed, and it was only halfway the truth. On the other hand, saying "not really very powerful" wasn't likely to convince anyone to helplet alone join, a secret organization, and also had the problem of only being half-true. After all, there was a great deal of power in knowing something of the future, and a great amount of magical power in Harry alone, let alone the powers likely to result from the bondings…

In the end, Lilly decided to trust Hermione's judgment, and simply give the answer she'd been told to give. Bracing herself for the outburst she was certain would come, she said, "You'll have to judge that for yourself. I'm only to tell you that, should you choose not to join, you will be permitted to do so, provided you submit to being obliviated of all knowledge of them beyond what I've already told you."

Snape looked surprised for the second time that evening. His eyes went out of focus, then, for a moment, as though weighing every possible meaning of her words carefully, or perhaps seeing a memory. "And if I refuse, that will be the only consequence?" He asked.

Lilly was the one surprised, now. "Yes, of course." Keeping to herself that she rather thought being obliviated was bad enough.

"Powerful, then, but not willing to be forceful." Snape muttered to himself, mostly under his breath. Then, he spoke louder. "But why the secrecy?"

"I can't tell you that." Lilly said, biting her lip.

Something seemed to occur to Severus, and his gaze snapped up to meet hers. "This isn't the doing of Potter and his little fan club, is it?" He asked, sharply.

Lilly hesitated. "They are somewhat involved, but no, James is not the cause or the leader of any of this."

He began pacing again, obviously thinking. Then he stopped, and snorted. "They wouldn't find it morally acceptable to obliviate anyone, anyhow, even if they did have the magical prowess to be capable of it." He smiled at her, but it was a self-deprecating smile, as though he were certain he was walking into a trap. "Alright, I'll come with you. But I'll hold you to your word, Evans, that I'll have the right to choose." He stopped, and then frowned. "I want you to give me your word, also, that obliviation is the only harm I could come to in this… meeting."

Lilly paused a moment, a thought striking her. It would certainly reassure him, but it was really too risky. And then, with a complicated twirl of her wand, she did something she'd never really thought she would do, and could easily regret for the rest of her life. "I offer you, Severus Snape, the protection of myself and of my kin. I give you my word as a Witch, that no harm shall come to you whilst under my protection. And I do swear that this bond of protection will extend until such a time as you release me from it, or I perish."

Snape merely stared at her, his expression unreadable. Lilly's heart was in her throat, it was no small thing to offer the Wizard's Bond of Protection to another. She knew he was aware what she'd just offered, and what she'd just risked, especially as he never had to release her from it. It was surprising, really, that she even knew such a thing; very few other than purebloods were aware of the old wizarding rituals, as they were typically passed down from generation to generation, and never written down. She only knew it because the rituals themselves were often mentioned in texts, if not described, and, curious what they were, she'd eventually pestered McGonagall into teaching them to her. Even her muggle-born status notwithstanding, it was almost unheard of for the bond of protection to be offered in the modern age.

Snape, however, hid his response well, whatever response that might have been. After an eternity that still must have been only seconds, he responded. He brought up his wand, repeated the movement (though much more smoothly, and with a great deal more confidence) and said, "What has been offered is accepted."

Lilly nodded, and made to move, but Severus held up his left hand to halt her, his right continuing the complicated wand pattern in a way she wasn't familiar with, his eyes glittering with a strange intensity as he watched her. "Yours is the burden of protection, and the blessing of my allegiance." He finished, quietly but firmly.

Lilly stood stock still, and didn't move. That had certainly been unexpected.