"Snape?!" came the surprised and disbelieving voice of Emma Vanity.
"Shush, you are going to wake up everyone!" said Evelyn.
It was Sunday night, and the girls were in their room getting ready for bed.
"But… I mean... Are you sure? Isn't there anyone more suited for this?" asked Emma, lowering her voice and Evelyn just sighed.
"We went over it so many times. We have spent the majority of the day going through each and every male student and he is the least annoying choice," sighed Evelyn.
"But... It's Snape! He is... Uh... Weird. You are way out of his league."
"Look, we already talked about this. I refuse to spend more time and effort on such a silly thing. It's either him or no one," said Evelyn.
"But! We don't know anything about him!"
"That's why we made a plan!" cut in Lucinda as she emerged from the showers and Bonnie just giggled.
"What plan?" asked Emma and Evelyn at the same time.
Bonnie, who was sitting on her bed, squeezed her pillow in excitement as she shouted, "We are going incognito!"
Lucinda, who just sat down in front of her vanity and started to brush her hair, turned to her roommates suddenly and pointed her brush at Evelyn.
"That's right, girls! Tomorrow we are going to follow him around and learn as much as we can about him!"
"This is stupid. He is intelligent, he will see right through you," said Evelyn.
"Ohohohoho! Don't underestimate us! You know, Kethar, my brother, has grown fond of the Muggle spy movies over the summer, and I might or might not have joined him on one of his secret movie nights. Trust me, I know what I am doing!" smirked Lucinda as she gave a thumbs up and turned back to the mirror.
Evelyn just sighed. 'What did I get myself into?'
The next morning, the girls were sitting in the Great Hall having breakfast. Or at least three of them were.
"Where is Lucinda? She said that she will be with us in a minute and it's already been twenty minutes. Is she even coming?" asked Evelyn.
"Let's give her another five minutes," said Emma as she put some butter on her toast.
"Uh, girls, I think she is here," said Bonnie as she pointed to the door.
There she was in her usual Slytherin attire, however, what was unusual was her dark lipstick and large black sunglasses.
"Why is she wearing that? It's not even that bright in here..." mumbled Evelyn.
Their friend just sat down next to them, ignoring the questions her friends had about her appearance, and helped herself to some toast.
"No eggs today?" asked Bonnie.
"I have to be careful to not ruin my lipstick. I'm still waiting for a sale to get Evelyn's mom's new Everlasting Lipstick, so no."
"Oh, come on, Lucy, what's with the look?" asked Emma, frustrated from being ignored by her friend.
"Cool, right? If I am going to do that, I might as well look the part." smiled Lucinda proudly, "Now let me finish this and we will get started."
The girls just looked at each other and shrugged.
After Lucinda finished eating, she turned to her friends. "Ladies, today's mission might be our first, but that does not mean that we can afford to fail. If anything, we have to work harder and do our best to help out our nerdy little friend here," said Lucinda motioning to Evelyn.
'Nerdy little friend?!' thought Evelyn, confused.
"Since I'm not the creative force in our team, we are going to go by our names. Emma," she turned to her friend, " your task will be to gain information about the target from the best source, someone he is close to - Regulus Black." whispered Lucinda as she slipped a note to Emma under the table "This paper contains everything you need to know about his schedule - courtesy of his fangirls."
"He has fangirls?" asked Evelyn, surprised.
"I will tell you about it later," said Lucinda quickly, before she turned back to Emma, who went to open the folded piece of paper.
Seeing that, Lucinda's eyes went wide, and she got hold of her hands. "What are you doing? You can't open it until I leave, and you have to burn it afterwards!"
Emma just shot her friend a confused look. "Why?"
"Because that's how it's done!"
"O-okay... And pray to tell, how I am supposed to inquire about Sn-"
Just as she was about to say the boy's name, Lucinda's hand was on her mouth, "You can't say that name out loud! Someone might hear us! Use the term "target"."
Emma and Evelyn just rolled their eyes at their friend, while Bonnie just giggled.
"Just relax, you are the team Captain, start with Quidditch and go from there." smiled Bonnie.
"Good idea!" said Lucinda as she removed her hand from Emma's mouth and gave her friend a thumbs up. "So, while Em works on getting information out of Regulus, we will watch the target closely with Bonnie! Nothing will get past us!"
Bonnie just grinned and gave a salute. "Yes, boss."
"And Evelyn... Uh... You just do whatever you usually do. We will take care of everything!" finished Lucinda, and Evelyn didn't know if she was supposed to be happy about not having to play a part in this play pretend or be disappointed.
"Alright, ladies! Let's synchronise our watches! The next meeting will take place after supper, in our room, at 7 PM sharp! Good luck, ladies!" said Lucinda as she suddenly stood up and dramatically fled the Great Hall.
Her awe-struck friends just watched her leave.
"Where is she going? We have potions together..." said Evelyn, confused.
"I bet she just wanted to be dramatic..." said Emma as the girls turned back to their meal.
When the girls entered the classroom, Lucinda was already sitting at their table in the back of the room. The girls sat down next to her as the other students filled the room.
"Target sighted," whispered Lucinda as the group of young Slytherins entered the classroom and made their way to their seats.
"The target is with his roommates; Rosier, Avery, and Mulciber," noted Bonnie.
"If you are going to whisper about his every move, you are going to be found out," whispered Evelyn, but Lucinda just shushed her.
Soon, professor Slughorn arrived, and the class started.
"Miss Talkalot, would you be so kind as to remove your sunglasses? We are in the dungeons, after all."
"Uh, I apologise, but I cannot do that, sir. You see, I, uh... I caught something, and my eye looks disgusting," said Lucinda.
"Yes, sir. It's not a nice sight." agreed Bonnie.
"Oh my, then you should visit Madam Pomfrey. I am sure she could help you."
"Yes, yes. Well, I didn't want to miss any of your classes, as they are always so educational and pleasant. I will pay her a visit after classes, sir." smiled Lucinda, and the class went on with a small pop-quiz on Scarab beetles and Armadillo bile.
"Exactly, Miss Evans. Now, who can tell me the uses of Scarab beetles?" asked professor Slughorn and a hand instantly shot up.
"Miss Evans?"
"Evans, Evans, of course, Evans... No one is such an over-achiever..." whispered Emma as she rolled her eyes and her friends just nodded.
"Scarab beetles are used in the Skele-gro healing potion and the Wit-sharpening potion," answered the witch proudly.
"How right you are! Ten points to Gryffindor." smiled the professor "The topic of today's lesson is the Wit-sharpening potion which allows the drinker to think more clearly. Now, open your books and carefully read the instructions. After you are done, you may begin brewing the potion. Please note that this is a moderately difficult potion, so no group works, except for Miss Talkalot, who can work with Miss Travers." said the professor and he didn't have to wait long for the sound of disappointed students.
"Alright, change of plans. Emma, observe Evelyn, Bonnie do what Emma does and I will continue to observe the target," whispered Lucinda.
At the end of the lesson, the professor walked around the room to check on each potion.
"It seems that you accidentally boiled it instead of just simmering. Pay more attention next time," he said to Lucinda and Bonnie as he looked into their cauldron, which was full of dark brown liquid.
"Miss Vanity, your potion is almost perfect. However, it seems that you forgot to add more ginger root after simmering it for ten minutes," he said as he moved to the next one.
"And finally, Miss Williams. Ah, beautiful potion, as always. Such a nice colour, well done," he smiled as he returned to the front.
"The three best potions belonged to Miss Williams, Miss Evans and Mr Snape, well done, 20 points to each of you. The class is over, no homework for our next lesson, and have a nice day." finished Slughorn and the students started to gather their things.
"I told you to copy Evelyn. Why didn't you do that?" asked Lucinda as the girls left the classroom.
"It seemed easy enough," said Emma.
Suddenly, there was a shout, and the girls turned around.
"Williams, wait!" ran up to them the person that none of them wanted to see.
'Oh, yes, I forgot about him…' though Evelyn, reminding herself that she wanted to have a talk with Sirius about causing a scene in the Great Hall.
"What do you want, Black?" asked Emma.
"None of your business, Vanity," said Sirius, "Uh, good job today, Evelyn," he said awkwardly, and Evelyn just raised an eyebrow.
"Thank you?" she replied just as awkwardly.
Sirius never complimented her potions. There was something fishy going on.
"Look, uh... Could we talk for a while? Alone?" asked Sirius and the instant reaction of the three girls was the same.
"No."
"No, you are not going to talk to her, especially not alone, not after that little stunt you pulled in the Great Hall," said Emma.
"When have I asked you, Vanity?! You continue talking even when you have nothing to do with it. Could you just get lost?"
"Evie, do you want us to leave?" asked Bonnie and Evelyn just nodded.
"That's fine, you girl should head to the Divination tower. It takes a lot of time to get there and I don't want you to be late," smiled Evelyn.
"Alright, but if you hurt her, I will hunt you down," warned him Emma, as they left.
"What is it?" asked Evelyn, after the girls left.
"Look, I want to apologise. I went overboard, and I am terribly sorry. I don't expect you to forgive me since I was an ass, and I made a scene, even though I know how much you hate being at the centre of attention," said the boy as he conjured a red rose from his wand and offered it to the girl, "But I hope that you will find it in your heart to forgive me," he added with a charming smile adorning his face.
Evelyn just sighed as she took the rose.
"Alright, I will forgive you. Just don't do anything like that again… I don't want to give anyone more reasons to talk about me more than they usually do," sighed the girl.
"Is it still that bad?" asked Sirius quietly.
Now he was really starting to feel bad.
"I mean, it has gotten better now, but you know, I don't want to press my luck," mumbled Evelyn.
"I'm really sorry. I didn't think…"
"Yeah, I figured. Just don't do anything like that again, or I will hex you. Understood?"
"Perfectly. Thank you!" smiled the boy as he went to hug her.
The girl looked both ways to see if there was anyone before she gave him a quick hug.
"And don't hug me like that in the middle of the hallway. People might think that something is going on…"
"Okay, right, boundaries," mumbled the smiling boy.
"By the way, don't you have a class to attend?" asked Evelyn, remembering that Sirius took the same classes as her friends.
"I can just skip Divination," smirked the boy.
"Please don't. Do me a favour and stay out of trouble."
"Alright, alright. See you around, Evie." laughed Sirius as he left and made his way to his class, leaving Evelyn in the corridor.
"I don't like this," said Emma as the girls sat in the classroom waiting for the class to start.
"I don't know, I think the new design of the place is quite charming," said Bonnie as she looked around the classroom, while Lucinda continued to watch the Snape boy.
"That's not what I am talking about! Black! That boy is trouble! I fear that he will make Evelyn fall for him and cause her problems," explained Emma.
"Honestly, I don't think that Evelyn is capable of falling for someone," said Lucinda seriously. "She is always researching something and writing in her notebooks. There was a time when I wanted to sneak a peek, but everything there was written in some code that no one understands. It's weird. If I didn't know better, I would almost take her for a Ravenclaw."
"Well, I am glad that she is so passionate about something," smiled Bonnie.
"By the way, how is your observation going?" asked Emma and Lucinda just sighted.
"It's so boring. It was more exciting in the movies,"
"What did you expect?! We are in a school,"
"Still... He is so boring! Exactly like Evelyn. He doesn't say much, mostly just sneers and rolls his eyes. It looks like he also pays a lot of attention to Evans from Gryffindor,"
"Aren't they friends? I distinctly remember seeing them a couple of times together in the corridors," said Bonnie.
"Oh... Well, that could be a problem," said Emma.
"Hah, so now you are pro-Snape?" asked Lucinda.
"You said his name!" shouted Bonnie, but Lucinda just rolled her eyes.
"It's not like any of you referred to him as Target..."
"It made me feel like we are about to assassinate him..." mumbled Bonnie.
"Anyway! Better Snape than Black. We can take care of him if something happens. But Black is problematic. Being pure-blood and all…" confessed Emma.
Just when Emma finished talking, Sirius Black walked in with a triumphant expression on his face. He jogged to his friends, where he hopped down, overjoyed. He told them something and they all high-fived him.
"I don't like this. Not one bit. They are up to something..." said Emma darkly as she watched the boys.
While the others were having their Divination lesson, Evelyn went to her room. Since her Arithmancy lessons started after lunch, she had 3 hours to do whatever she pleased. As she sat at her desk, she took out the letters she received yesterday and looked through them. Each of them was from a different sender, but about the same person. It was just like Evelyn thought.
'This will be easy,' she thought with a smirk as she took out a parchment and started to write
If there was one thing her father taught her, it was that every agreement had to be in written form and signed by the hand of the parties concerned. Being the successful businessman he was, Evelyn did not doubt her father's advice.
'If I am going to make it a business deal, it should look the part,' she thought as she continued writing.
At the top of the page, the words THE RELATIONSHIP AGREEMENT were written in cursive and Evelyn made a couple of notes regarding the content.
As she was writing, the door to her room burst open and her friends, except Emma, ran in.
"Evie, we might have a problem," said Lucinda.
"What happened to the meeting in the evening? We even synchronised our watches..." joked Evelyn.
"There is no time for jokes! This is an emergency!"
"We were doing some warm-up exercises - reading tea leaves and such - when Mulciber found a heart in Snape's cup. Do you know what it means? It means love!" said Bonnie.
"Bonnie, it's just Divination, and honestly, I wouldn't trust Mulciber's prediction even if it was Arithmancy." sneered Evelyn.
"That's not all. Apparently, Snape is on friendly terms with that over-achiever, Evans, from Gryffindor. She might be a problem." said Lucinda.
"Evans, huh?" said Evelyn as she looked at the letters, before she added, "I'm not worried about her. Do you know why?" she asked with a smile.
"Why?" asked Bonnie and Evelyn just laughed.
"Really? She is a nobody. Just a dirty little Mudblood playing witch. I have it all. Prestige, connections, money! If Severus is as smart as he looks, he will make the right decision." smirked Evelyn.
"... Now I see why you are a Slytherin," said Bonnie.
"By the way, where is Emma?" asked Evelyn.
"Probably somewhere cornering Regulus," said Lucinda and Evelyn just sighed.
"Well, now that you are here, we could brainstorm," said Evelyn, as she handed the parchment to the girls.
"Wow, so you put so much thought into this!" said Bonnie, amazed.
"Of course, I am not going to waltz up to him with some half-assed proposal. After I am done with the draft, I will contact my lawyer to start working on the official document."
"What? You will take it to him?" asked the astonished Lucinda.
"Of course, I want it to be as legal as it can be. It's his job to deal with things like this. He also swore secrecy to every member of the family, so I don't have to worry about him telling anyone. I would hate if my parents were to hear about this."
"Remind me to never cross her," said Lucinda to Bonnie, who just nodded.
It was just after Divination that Emma Vanity decided to look for Regulus Black. According to the information the fangirls provided, he was supposed to be in the middle courtyard with his mates. As she neared, she could see him with Snape, Rosier and the rest of their group.
"Excuse me, may I speak with Regulus for a minute?" she asked with a kind smile.
"Why?" asked Evan Rosier.
"It's – "
"It's probably about his poor performance during the training." sneered Avery.
"I wouldn't call it poor, but yes," said Emma, and Regulus paled as he stood up.
The two of them walked at a safe distance, but before she could have started, Regulus turned to her with a startled expression.
"I know what you are going to say, and I am sorry! I am better than that! Please, don't kick me off the team!" pleaded the boy.
"Calm down, I am not here to kick you out. It was your first-time training with us. I understand that it might have been a little overwhelming. I know that you are better than what we have seen, so don't worry. We have a month to prepare and I will make sure that you are up to the game, even if I have to train with you every evening," she said and the boy visibly relaxed. "What I ask of you is to try to think of how we could make you more confident. I remember my first time with the team. I was so nervous, but my friends sat in on our every match and practice, to cheer on me. So, after a while, I became more and more confident and now look at me! I am ready to take on the world!"
"Hm, maybe that would help…"
"Well, try asking that group of yours. I saw Snape on our last training,"
"He was just there to – "
"Relax. We only made it private so that people from other houses wouldn't spy on us. Especially Potter and his gang of misfits,"
"Alright, I will keep it in mind,"
"However, please try to ask calm people, like Snape. We don't want people disturbing us. Snape looks like the calm type; you know, with his books and all. I guess if you couldn't find anyone else, we could also make an exception and tolerate him bringing his Muggle-born Gryffindor friend along," said Emma nonchalantly.
"No need. They are not that great friends. I heard that they are childhood friends, but the girl is pretty much ignoring Severus," said Regulus.
"Oh, I see. I just saw them a couple of times in the corridors, so I only assumed. Well, it was nice to talk to you Regulus. See you later," smiled Emma as she left.
"… And that's what Regulus told me." finished Emma, telling the story.
It was the hour after the break when the girls had a free period. They were sitting in their room, each of them on their beds, only Evelyn sitting in front of their desk.
"See? Nothing to fear," said Evelyn smugly.
"You are strangely sure of yourself," noted Emma, and Evelyn just smiled.
"I have every reason to be," she said as she took out the letters from the drawer.
"This is from my mother," she said as she held out one of them for Emma to take. "it contains information on the Prince family. Family members, dates, marriages, property and wealth. So, I know exactly how much is at the stake for Severus. This one," she held out another, "is from Narcissa Black… or Malfoy now, I guess. You know how she is. She knows everything about everyone. This letter contains everything she heard about the Snapes, and she also let it slip that Lucius Malfoy is fond of Severus. Which brings us to the last letter," she finished as she held out the last one, "since my father has been doing business with his father, we have known each other for a while, and he gave me quite a few details about his little charity project. I know everything I needed to know. All that remains is to write the proposal and make him agree to it," smiled Evelyn.
"And if he says no?" asked Bonnie, "I mean, this is really impressive, but you know, he could just refuse..."
"If he refuses, he is nothing more than a dunderhead. He is a Slytherin, he made friends with the right sorts. Malfoy, Black, Rosier and so on. This," motioned Evelyn to the pieces of parchment lying on her bed, which contained the notes they made for the agreement, "is the next good choice he has to make to get where he wants to be," smirked Evelyn.
"You know, I don't know if I should be freaked out or impressed," mumbled Lucinda and Evelyn just sighed.
"It doesn't matter. I will get what I want. One way or another..."
"Seriously, stop, you are starting to scare me," said Lucinda.
"Alright, so are we settled? Can I write to my lawyer?"
"Uh, I believe that we covered everything," said Bonnie and Evelyn started to write the letter.
Now she only had to wait for her lawyer to write the agreement and convince Snape to agree.
'And after that, I can finally return to my research...' thought Evelyn happily.
The poor girl had no idea what she got herself into, by owling her lawyer...
