Chapter 17

The Slytherin Society

Early in the second week of school, James and Lily talked at breakfast about the prospect of sharing the second patrolling shift with each other.

"I've got something interesting to tell you," said James. "Can't tell you in front of anybody else, though." The Marauders, even a hesitant Peter, had determined that Lily had proven herself loyal enough, by standing beside them in two separate major battles, to know about the fact that he, Sirius, and Peter were animagi.

"Oh yeah?" said Lily. "So you'll tell me interesting things even when you're not going to get points from it?"

"Apparently," said James, "apparently. Although... for a long term relationship, it just makes sense, right?"

Lily faked surprise. "Wait, you're looking for a long-term relationship? Here, and I was planning to get out before Valentine's Day," said Lily, sticking out her tongue.

James rolled his eyes. "Didn't you used to be such a sincere girl?"

"Never. I just sincerely disliked you. You can ask Marietta and Chloe, I've always been a smart-ass."

James smiled, but then an owl swooped down and placed a sealed bit of parchment in front of him. The owl wasn't his parents or anyone else he knew, and his heartbeat quickened as he guessed who the letter might be from.

He opened it up, holding it close so that Lily couldn't see. It read,

Potter,

Skive off potions and meet me in the third floor corridor... directly above the Slytherin Common-Room... You ought to know exactly where that is.

-A friend of Dumbledore and Yours

James made a conscious effort not to look over at the table where each one of the two people who he expected might have written the letter were seated. He knew he had to go, but he was also aware that it was possible that someone had already somehow compromised one of the two spies and was planning an ambush. Still, an ambush during regular school hours, even if classes were in session, would be going a bit far even for the junior death-eaters who James knew the school was crawling with.

"Who's the letter from?" asked Lily.

"Sorry, can't tell you," said James.

Lily raised an eybrow. "Your secret crush from Ravenclaw?"

"No. But why Ravenclaw?" asked James.

"Well, a girl has to be a certain amount of clever to appreciate you, James, and all the cleverest Gryffindors are already taken," she said.

"Good point," said James with a grin.

"So why can't you tell me who the letter's from?" asked Lily.

"It's special business from Dumbledore," said James.

Lily looked a little hurt, but then said, "Well, you know... Whatever the special business is, I'm sure you're more appropriate for it than I am."

James didn't know how to respond. "I honestly don't know how Dumbledore made the decision. I probably shouldn't even have told you as much as I have, though. I don't think I'm more qualified than you at anything, though."

Lily countered, "Okay, that's definitely not true. We're both better at different things, I've got Charms and Potions, but you've got Defense Against the Dark Arts, and... Quidditch! Are you Dumbledore's special Quidditch agent?" Lily asked in a mockingly hushed tone.

"Yeah, Lily, that's exactly it," said James.

"Ellington," said James, nodding at the Slytherin.

"Potter," said Ellington, returning the nod.

"Good thing you were one of the two or three Slytherins who isn't in that Potions Class," said James.

"Yeah, and good that you've got a reputation for skiving off classes. No one will suspect a thing. Look, I've got a brain, Potter," said Ellington.

"Fair enough. I haven't been skiving as much this year, but your Slytherin bunch won't have noticed. Still, I'd prefer to do this sort of thing at night, when we can't get caught," said James.

"Yeah, speaking of," said Ellington, "I can't help but wonder why we haven't discreetly moved this rendevzvous to a conveniently empty classroom." He pointed at the door of the classroom they were standing outside.

James followed Ellington into the room. "I don't understand why you didn't mention the classroom in the first place. We could have been overheard." James had, of course, checked the Marauders' map before entering the corridor, to make sure any fellow skivers, or students with free periods, were in the area. But with all of Hogwarts ever-changing corridors and passageways, it was dangerous to take one's location in relationship to others for granted for long.

"Wouldn't matter if we were, we didn't say anything important. Even if someone heard the two of us speaking, we could just as easily be trying to cover up a mid-day snog between a Gryffindor and a Slytherin," said Ellington.

"James raised an eyebrow. You gay, mate?" asked James.

"Don't know, never really tried it," said Ellington off-handedly.

"Well," said James awkwardly, "I'm certainly not the person to try it with..."

"Merlin, Potter. Snape may be an evil git along with the rest of those future Death-Eaters in my house, but he got something right... You really do think everyone wants in your pants," said Ellington.

James was insulted for a moment, but remembering that he and Ellington were on the same side, he laughed it off. "Look, your sexual preferences clearly isn't what you asked me here to talk about. What's going on?"

"Well. Your little Dumbledore club has a rival. Or will have one, starting tonight. They're calling it the Slytherin Society. Tonight we're having initiation. I know you and Lily are on patrol duty tonight. I wish I was, because I shudder to think what this "initiation consists of. But anyway, I know you've got a little posse, not Dumbledore's army, but... I don't know, talk in the Slytherin Common room is you can muster a total of 9 people on your own. I don't know how many you could get to come tonight. Obviously, we figure we can take you and Lily if you stumble upon us, even obliviate the memory from your minds, which apparently Snape knows how to do. All I'm saying is that the meeting will be in this classroom tonight. You can avoid the corridor or not, your choice. The meeting starts at midnight," said Ellington.

"Why not in the Slytherin common room?" asked James.

Don't want any of the firsties snooping in or anything. Only 5th years and up," said Ellington.

"Is Voldemort condoning this?" asked James.

James was not surprised to see Ellington cringe slightly at the name. But he recovered quickly, "Yeah, Voldemort's endorsing it. By proxy. Apparently he's met in person with a couple of the brats whose parents are in the, er... association." Finally a Slytherin with a spine, James thought, mentally complimenting Ellington for saying the name. Half the Gryffindor house wouldn't even say it.

"How many you got?"

"Including Manger and I, 22. But if you can break up the meeting tonight, I think it would be a big psychological blow for the Mini-Death-Eater types. And I know you'll be outnumbered like crazy, but a lot of these idiots are more talk than wandwork, and I'm pretty sure no one will be aiming to kill, and most of them don't have powerful enough magic yet to even get the spell off. Plus Voldemort doesn't want to bring the battle to the castle. Yet," said Ellington.

"Merlin," said James.

"What are you going to do?" asked Ellington.

"I'm not sure," said James.

"So what was this secret you were going to tell me tonight?" asked Lily, as their patrol started at eleven.

James was startled at the question at first. The fact that he had been planning to tell Lily about his abilities as an animagus had slipped his mind amid a day largely spent fretting over what to do with the information that Ellington had given him.

"Oh, er..." James hesitated, trying to get his head back into the present conversation. He hoped that Lily would attribute it to him being nervous to divulge the secret. It wouldn't do to have her notice that he was acting weird. "I'm..." and now the hesitation really was about the secret, "an animagus."

Lily raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "You're not!"

"So are Peter and Sirius. We turn into animals when Remus becomes a werewolf, to keep him under control so he doesn't have to be cooped up in the Shrieking Shack the whole time he's a wolf," said James.

"Well, that does sound just like you lot. But seriously, animagi? I'm assuming you're not registered," asked Lily with a tone of disapproval oddly mixed with affection.

Not at all," said James.

"What's your animal?" said Lily, who was absolutely astonished that James wasn't gushing with pride to be able to tell Lily what he and his friends had accomplished, illegally but oh so impressively.

"A stag," said James, sounding somewhat embarrassed.

Lily looked James up and down, as if appraising him. She was grinning. "It suits you."

James had tried to go to Dumbledore, to ask him what to do. Was it worth the possible injuries or even death that a battle might bring? Dumbledore wasn't in his office. When James asked McGonagall why he wasn't there, she said he was performing some of his duties for the Wizengamot. With Dumbledore out of the school, James would have to decide what to do on his own.

"I'll have to see it sometime," said Lily. "Or, well. You as it. Er... You as a stag."

"Right. Well not now. It gets skittish inside," said James.

"Right, of course not now, silly. We're on patrol, remember?" asked Lily.

Oddly enough, James was not so much "on patrol" as he was counting down the minutes until midnight. It was now 11:07.

The minutes ticked slowly by.

Lily noticed that James seemed to be having trouble concentrating. She knew that whatever was going on in his head had to be something to do with that note he'd received that morning that he wasn't allowed to tell her about.

It was certainly annoying to know that there were things about her boyfriend that she couldn't know, but there was no reason to believe that there would be less secrets once they were actually part of the army against Voldemort. And she loved James. Part of what she was fighting for was a world where James didn't have any official secrets he needed to hide from her.

James led her a little too insistently to the third floor at 5 'til midnight. It was odd, but Lily was doing her best to ignore trifling oddities.

Lily noticed James getting more and more nervous as the minutes ticked toward midnight. She tried to distract him, just to take his mind off of whatever was worrying him, but most of his responses were half-hearted smiles and curt nods.

At one 'til midnight, James pulled out what Lily now recognized to be the Marauders' Map. He quickly activated it, lamely explaining that he had a feeling that something weird was going on. Lily thought that if James was going to be some sort of special agent for Dumbledore, he was going to have to do a better job of concealing it. Although of course if there was one person who he could slip up on this count in front of, it was her.

"Bloody Hell!" said James, a moment later, in a tone of surprise that Lily nearly believed to be authentic.

"What?" asked Lily, rushing over to the map. Her curiosity, of course, was genuine.

"Look. In this classroom, there's like... twenty Slytherins," said Lily.

"Shit!" said Lily, flaberghasted. "Well that's certainly not something we can deal with alone."

"Right. But what about us, and 5 other Gryffindors. Not to beat them in a battle, just to scare them out of the classroom?"

"What, Marietta, Remus, Sirius, Peter, and... Chloe? I guess if we're not battling to the death she'd be in... But wouldn't it be better to get some Professors instead?" asked Lily.

"Not all the professors would be good in a fight, if the Slytherins bring it to that. I mean, what's Binns going to do, float through them? And Slughorn wouldn't battle anybody, Dumbledore's not at the castle, plus, it'd take us forever to get to everyone's offfices and bring them back up here," said James, who had thought of this as a possible option earlier that day. He hoped it didn't show.

"Fine, but how much faster is it going to be to assemble the Gryffindor Seven?" asked Lily, inventing the nickname off the cuff.

James smiled, the first real smile she had seen from him all night

"A good bit, actually," said James, pulling out a small mirror from his pocket.

"Sirius!" James shouted. He shouted again.

"Oy, mate," said Sirius tiredly. "Let a guy get some rest."

"Not now," said James, sounding nervous again. Get Remus and Peter, and Chloe and Marietta and get to the third floor corridor with that portrait of Alfred the Goblin Gainsayer in it as quick as you can. And bring the invisibility cloak."

"Er... Right-oh. Is Hogwarts falling or something?" asked Sirius, mostly sarcastically.

"No, but it's not good news. I'll explain when you get here."

"Aye-aye cap'n," said Sirius.

"So you can talk through mirrors?" asked Lily, figuring that there was no reason anything should surprise her at this point in this rather eventful evening.

"Only through those two in particular," said James, still distractedly looking at the map.

"What is it, one corridor over?" asked Lily.

"Yeah," said James, thinking now that it may have been wiser to stay on a lower corridor until he had summoned the marauders and the girls."

"Thoroughly convenient," said Lily, in a way that only half implied that she was in some way onto him.

James looked at Lily worriedly.

"Look," said Lily. "Whatever secret you have that I don't even half-way understand is safe with me. You gave me the animagus story tonight, it'll be awhile 'til I get the nerve to ask for anything else. Well. Except this. How's Sirius going to get the girls? The stairs will turn into a slide."

"Yeah, Lily, I discovered that first year trying to chase you up them. Convenient thing, though, the stairs only detect human boys, I assume because it'd be inconvenient for them to change into a slide every time that a male insect crept onto them. So Sirius, as a dog, can get up there just fine, then turn to a human once he's on the landing to your dorm," said James.

"Clever," said Lily. "So when they get here, what are we going to do?"

"Not sure yet. Under the circumstances, I think we should take a vote once everyone knows what they're getting into. Of course, we can't force anyone to do it, so if the vote's 5-2 or something, we have to decide if we want to go in with 5."

"But we've got the element of surprise. And an invisibility cloak. That's got to count for something," said Lily.

"Yeah. And we'll have to decide how much," said James.

Lily and James talked minor points of strategy. James was a little bit worried to see Lily so gung-ho about going in. On some level, he had been hoping that the vote would be an overwhelming no and no one would be in unnecessary danger.

Soon enough, about five minutes after the original mirror-conversation, Peter, Remus, Sirius, Chloe, and Marietta showed up, at a run and panting.

"Geez that was quick," said James, looking at his watch.

"Hey mate, when I say aye-aye-cap'n, I mean aye-aye cap'n," said Sirius.

"So what's going on, James?" asked Remus.

"Look at this," said James, spreading the Marauders' Map on the floor. All seven spread around it, both Marietta and Chloe having been introduced to the device during the year.

James pointed to the twenty odd Slytherins in the room.

"I think it's some kind of out-of bounds Slytherins' meeting," said Lily. James was glad Lily had figured it out and he didn't have to say it.

After a couple moments pause, Remus objected, "They're not all Slytherins. Two of them are third year Ravenclaws. Marcy Stevenson and Greg Chalet. Friends of one of my cousins," said Remus.

"Oh, no," said Chloe. "We've got to save them! They could be torturing them right now!" We're going in there, right? I assume that's why you guys brought us here?"

"Er... Well... I was going to have us vote on it,, seeing as how we're outnumbered, and these Slytherins, I mean... They haven't killed anybody yet, but..." said James. "And no matter what, I'm not forcing anybody to go in. So it's not so much a vote as a call for volunteers."

"And I don't fancy becoming the first, but I'm willing to bet that we'll be able to identify the really dangerous ones almost right away, and we're good enough duelers to disarm them, if they even have the spine to try to kill us. My bet is they'll run the moment their party's crashed," said Sirius. "My vote's yes."

"Mine too, if I didn't make that clear," said Chloe.

"I'm in," said Marietta.

"Yes," Remus.

"Let's go!" said Lily.

"Yes," said James, still feeling guilty about putting his friends into danger.

"Er... Yes," said Peter, after a good bit of hesitation.

James' mind changed modes. There was still a little bit of planning to do before going in, and the idea of a battle, however minimal they were hoping it would be, was exciting.

"Okay, first things first," said James. "No unforgivable curses, that stuff is for their side, not ours. Second of all, no blocking the exits. Let anybody who wants to run, run. Only helps our odds. Third, Sirius, do you have that invisibility cloak?"

"Right here," said Sirius, tossing the silvery fabric to James.

"Great. We put one person under here, I was thinking one of you girls," said James. "And that's not chivalry either, I just think you're shorter, nimbler, and will be able to move around more quickly without being exposed. Just make sure not to trip on the fabric, but I think it should be loose enough on any one of you that wherever you step the cloak will come with you. I think it should be someone with good cursing ability, too. It'd be excellent if we had someone cursing Slytherins without them being able to curse back. Anybody game?"

"I'm not very good at curses," said Lily.

"Me neither," said Chloe.

"Leaves me, I suppose," said Marietta. "Think I'm nimble enough Sirius?"

"You're a Seeker, that question should be self-explanatory," said Sirius. "Besides, I've had to run in it before, too. Just so long as you don't get snagged on anything behind you, you'll be fine, and holding your wand out in front of you will help to give you extra room in that direction."

"Besides, it shouldn't really matter if they see your feet for a second. Just make sure that you're invisible for most of the time, so they don't have time to get a curse off at you," said James.

"Right. So... are we just waiting to give them time to curse the third years, or what?" asked Lily impatiently.

"All right," said James. "Let's go!"

Sirius grinned, ready for battle, and led the way to the classroom he had seen on the Marauders' Map.

"Have Marietta go in second," said James, wanting the element of confusion coming from an unseen curser to come in as early as possible.

"Right-oh," said Sirius.

"And wait up for the rest of us a bit!" yelled Lily. "Don't go in there by yourself and get yourself cursed into 50 pieces by the entire Slytherin House!"

Sirius and an invisible Marietta waited outside the door until the rest of the Marauders, Lily, and Chloe caught up.

"Ready?" asked Sirius, his hand on the door knob.

"Let's go," said James.

Sirius opened the door and plunged into the room, aiming two quick Petrificus Totalus curses before the Slytherins had a chance to do anything but muddle about in a general state of confusion.

By the time James got in, fourth, since Lily had cut him in line, he noticed that all the usual suspects were there, plus a number of other Slytherins.

Flint was at the front of the classroom, and James noticed the two Ravenclaws, tied down to the teacher's desk with magical rope.

At a glance, James recognized Vice, Snape, and Regulus Black in the seats of the classroom.

Snape jumped up and trained his wand on James.

"Sectumsempra!" yelled Snape, as James returned fire with a simple Petrificus Totalus.

James had never heard the spell that Snape had cast at him, but it didn't sound like something good. He didn't even make an attempt to dodge the spell though, knowing that his fellow Gryffindors were behind him and wouldn't have time to dodge the spell.

Snape didn't dodge either, so fixated was he on seeing the results of this spell, which he had never cast on a living human before.

The force of the spell knocked James onto his back, and he felt a deep, painful gash, forming from his shoulder and across his chest. He was sure he was bleeding even though he couldn't see it through his robes yet. He wondered if he could get back up, in so much pain.

Hell, he thought, I've put up with a cruciatus curse in better spirits than this, and hopped back up. He was satisfied to see that Snape was also laying on the ground, and judging by where he had landed, he had probably hit his head on a desk on the way down. None of his fellow Slytherins were helping him, or any of the other 7 Slytherins who had been downed so far by means of Petrificus Totalus. Many were too busy trying to figure out where the rogue spells cast by Marietta were coming from, and others seemingly would rather have the glory of cursing a Gryffindor themselves rather than helping those one their own side.

James did a quick survey of the front of the classroom to see how his side was doing. Peter was on the ground with boils growing out of his face, his limbs splayed out. This was clearly something other than the Petrificus Totalus curse, and James didn't know how to reverse it. He was half-ready to go over there and check for a pulse when he noticed that Lily, who had apparently been in a duel with Flint, was now on the floor with Flint over top of her, obviously holding her under a Cruciatus Curse. This was something that he could deal with immediately. The curses Peter had received, whatever they had been, were not getting any worse, and at least he could stop the pain that Lily was in. And punish the person who had put her in that pain.

But speaking of pain, the curse that Snape had dealt him was hurting worse and worse, and he was starting to feel light-headed from loss of blood. Luckily, in the heat of the battle nobody had noticed the sticky blood seeping through his robes, but he knew it wouldn't be long 'til he was too weak to stand.

He pointed his wand at Flint, knowing that magic relied on mind-power, not the amount of blood your body had to work to work with. "Petrificus Totalus!" he shouted.

Flint fell, but at the same time, James himself stumbled to the ground, ending up prone on his back.

He was too weak to get up, and he had dropped his wand several feet away. He was wondering if he would lose consciousness.

Suddenly, Vice yelled, "Those who wish to retreat may do so now without dishonor."

James could swear he hear Sirius scoffing from several feet away at the idea of Slytherins having honor to begin with.

A few 5th years cautiously snuck toward the door, clearly wondering if the Gryffindors would curse them on their way out.

"James, you okay, mate?" asked Sirius, who had come up to stand beside the spot where James lay on the floor.

"Finish up the battle, then worry about me," said James weakly.

"Merlin, mate, you're bleeding like hell," said Sirius.

"I know, Padfoot. Just win the battle. Remember, let people retreat," said James.

"Will do," said Sirius, who rushed back into the fray, cursing a sixth year and causing several others go toward the door.

James used what little strength he had to crane his neck just enough to watch the battle continue. Finally everyone had retreated or been petrified aside from Vice, Ellington, and Manger.

Nobody on the Gryffindor side had sustained any more injuries, although Chloe had been temporarily petrified, a problem which Remus was quick to make right.

That meant the 3 Slytherins were up against 5 Gryffindors, and none of the Slytherins were able to hit their marks, given that the Gryffindors were dodging like mad, and Marietta was invisible and seemingly using mostly non-verbal magic, so that the Slytherins were unable to hit her. Besides, Manger and Ellington seemed to be aiming always slightly off, although no one else in the room, under the stress of battle, seemed to notice.

"What the hell are you two waiting for?" asked Vice. "They've got us, let's go!"

"Would the Dark Lord want us to retreat from a bunch of Gryffindors?" asked Manger with a very authentic-sounding sneer.

"We have no choice!" yelled Vice.

"And let our comrades be captured? The Dark Lord won't want so many of us expelled, and you know that Godric wannabe Dumbledore will expel us on any grounds we can find," said Ellington.

James took a good bit of his last remaining consciousness to compliment Manger and Ellington on their apparent loyalty to the Dark Lord. No one could suspect people who were their up to the end begging to fight at three to five odds had tipped the Gryffindors off about the meeting in the first place.

"We'll figure it out in the morning!" said Vice, as he dodged simultaneous curses from Lily and Sirius.

"Fine, but this is on you," said Manger.

Vice cursed under his breath as he ran out of the room, hurling misplaced spells in the direction of the Gryffindors all the while.

James finally lost consciousness.

A/N: I hope you liked the chapter. If you've read this far, why not review? Also, remember, those who visit freerice dot com and tell me in a review how many grains they've earned for this chapter get a special shout out at the beginning of next chapter. And once more, anyone who would like to join fanfictioners against world hunger, just let me know. Further, I'll donate 500 grains for each review I get.