Beth was woken by the furtive sounds of someone moving around near her bed. She opened her eyes blearily to see Lily quietly pulling a sweater over her damp hair. Beth rubbed her eyes, and Lily turned to her.
"I didn't wake you, did I?" Lily asked. "Sorry."
"That's okay," Beth yawned. "Are you going down to breakfast? If you give me five minutes to shower, I'll come with you."
Lily nodded and Beth hurried to take a shower. Several minutes later they stepped out of the portrait hole in the quiet castle. "No one else seems to be up this early on a Saturday," Lily observed.
"Why did you wake up this early?" Beth asked, stifling another yawn.
"I have an idea for our potion project," Lily's smile was blinding. Her excitement was contagious and Beth perked up. "Severus and I aren't meeting until 10:00 this morning but I couldn't sleep. I think I figured out something that will work."
"That's great, Lily." Beth touched Lily's arm. Lily's exuberance radiated from her, her eyes sparkled and her cheeks had a slight flush.
"This potion could be really important," Lily's tone became serious. "There are many wizards and witches who could be helped with it."
They entered the Great Hall. Lily and Beth sat at the near empty Gryffindor table and filled their plates. Beth saw Snape enter the hall a few minutes later. He looked at Lily and she smiled at him, her excitement obvious. Snape gave a curt nod and then went to the Slytherin table.
Lily turned back to Beth. "I might end up having a career in Potions. Professor Slughorn has been encouraging me. He said I'm one of his top students ever." She blushed slightly and looked at Beth apologetically. "Sorry, that sounded like I was bragging."
"No, that sounds like the truth," Beth said honestly. "Lily, you are amazing with Potions. I think it would be a great career for you."
Lily grinned. "I'm too excited to sit still. Maybe I should do some research this morning."
"That sounds like fun on a Saturday," Beth said drily. "Where is James this morning?"
"He has a Quidditch meeting with McGonagall at 8:00 this morning. He'll probably roll out of bed five minutes before that." Lily checked her watch. "It's almost 8:00 now. Are you finished eating?"
Beth nodded and they stood up. She noticed Snape watching them from across the room. He wasn't alone, Wilkes sat next to him. Beth was surprised to see that Snape's eyes were narrowed and Wilkes' were calculating as they followed Lily's movements. Beth felt a tinge of uneasiness. She looked towards Lily, but Lily was chatting about James and hadn't noticed. Beth decided to tell Sirius later and see if he felt there was any cause for concern.
"Let's ask James and Sirius to take us to Hogsmeade this afternoon," Lily suggested as they walked up the marble staircase. They had stopped for Remus and Peter as they passed through the Great Hall and chatted a few minutes before the two Marauders went outside. "I think I'll be in the mood for a celebration after working on the potion."
"Sirius suggested we go to Hogsmeade this afternoon too," Beth replied. "I'm out of chocolate so I'm all for it."
"I'm heading over to the library," Lily told Beth when Beth turned to head towards Gryffindor Tower. "I'll see you this afternoon."
"Okay," Beth nodded. Lily turned the corner towards the library and Beth remembered she hadn't asked Lily where and when they were meeting later. She hurried after Lily.
"Lily," Beth heard Snape's voice call. Beth was almost around the corner but for some inexplicable reason, she froze. Snape's voice did have his usual deadpan emotionless delivery. He actually sounded keyed up. Was that possible?
"Hi Severus," she heard Lily answer buoyantly.
"Can we work on the Sanare Potion now?" Severus asked quickly. "I have something else that came up to do later this morning but I really don't want to postpone our meeting when our time is running out."
"Sure," Beth could hear Lily's vibrant voice. "I was thinking about where we might have gone wrong last time and—"
Beth could no longer hear them as they moved down the corridor away from her. She paused, worried. Something felt wrong about this last minute change. She knew Sirius and James had been keeping watch, albeit distant, when Lily worked with Snape. Now he had changed their meeting at the last minute and Beth was the only one who knew. Snape had seen Lily in the Great Hall and hadn't told her then that he needed to meet earlier, he had waited until she was alone. She checked her watch. James was in his meeting with McGonagall. She turned back towards the Gryffindor Tower. She needed to find Sirius.
Beth ran up the stairs, her unease deepening. She entered the Common Room out of breath. It was quiet with only a few students lounging on the couches. There was no sign of Sirius and she headed to the boys' staircase.
Relief flooded through her when she heard footsteps and looked up to see Sirius walking down. He smiled when he saw her, his eyes bright. "Hey babe, loo-" Sirius stopped when he saw her expression. He rushed down the last steps to reach her. "What's wrong?"
"I'm not sure, but I'm worried about Lily," she said quickly. Sirius' eyebrows drew together and he listened intently as she continued. She told him about Snape and the other Slytherin wizard watching Lily at breakfast and Snape changing the time of his meeting with her. "Something just felt off when I overheard Snape talking to her," Beth continued. "His voice was eager, but there was a tension to it."
"Wait here," Sirius told her. He went back up to his room, returning with a silver cloth. "We are going to need James' invisibility cloak."
Beth touched the cloak gently. She was still awed by the power of its shimmering fabric.
Sirius took her hand and they hurried to the potions classroom. Sirius slipped the cloak over both of them and eased open the door a slit to look in. It was empty.
"This is where they usually work, isn't it?" Beth asked Sirius. He nodded, looking more anxious.
"I don't have the Marauder's Map," Sirius grimaced and then swore. "Remus and Peter went out early this morning to look for something Remus dropped and he took it to watch out for Filch. Filch has a vendetta against Remus right now. I don't know why, Remus is the only one of us who tries not to antagonize Filch." He frowned. "This is shitty timing."
"Should we check all of the classrooms?" Beth asked. There were so many, it could take them a long time.
Sirius sighed "I guess we have to." They started working their way quickly down the hall. Twenty minutes later, they reached a small classroom that was out of the way from the rest near a small back staircase. "I should have thought of this," Sirius muttered. "This is an old classroom Slughorn uses as a Potions lab. He has supplies stocked up here." Hidden under the cloak, Sirius pulled the door a fraction open and peered through the crack. He gave Beth a nod when he saw Snape and Lily working over a cauldron.
They opened the door wider and slipped through when Lily dropped something into the cauldron that caused the mixture to send out a puff of steam capturing her and Snape's attention. Quietly, Beth and Sirius moved along the side wall of the classroom and positioned themselves where they could watch but were in the shadow of an alcove. Beth checked the cloak to make sure their feet weren't showing. Sirius had to stoop especially when someone else was under the cloak with him.
For the next half hour, they watched as Lily and Snape worked on the potion. Beth and Sirius had quietly slid into a nearby chair, Beth perched on Sirius' lap so they fit under the cloak. Her tension slowly melted away as the time passed and she leaned her head against Sirius' chest and relaxed. Maybe she had been wrong and nothing was going to happen.
She jerked slightly when she felt Sirius' muscles tense. His eyes were gleaming in the shadows and she followed his gaze to see the door to a supply closet across the room open a few inches.
Neither Lily nor Snape could see the closet door from where they were standing. Beth and Sirius watched closely but the door gently closed. They stared at each other in bemusement under the cloak. Sirius' right arm was anchored around her waist and he carefully moved it so his wand was in a ready position.
"Severus, I think it's done," Lily announced eagerly a few minutes later. "Let's run the tests for potency."
Snape looked over her shoulder. "Those aren't obscured in the book?"
"No," Lily barely breathed as she stared down at the potion intently. She gently dropped a few drops from a beaker into the potion and they watched entranced. Lily picked up the book. "That worked." Beth and Sirius looked at each other. They couldn't see the liquid in the cauldron, but it seemed to be going well.
Snape took a strange-looking leaf from a jar and dropped it in the potion. "It changed to bright purple, just it should," he said with grim satisfaction.
Lily went to the cupboard and returned with another beaker. She carefully added three drops to the potion and their eyes widened as they watched the potion bubble up almost over the edge. "Yes!" Lily exclaimed. "Perfect. Severus, I think we're ready to have someone drink it and test i-"
The closet door was thrust open so hard behind them, the door bounced against the wall. Wilkes stepped out with his wand and before Lily could react, he sent a spell that spun her wand to him. "What do we have here?" His voice sounded both derisive and satisfied. "You figured out how to make the Sanare potion, eh?"
Lily's mouth dropped. "Wilkes! What are you doing here?" She turned to Snape. "Severus, where's your wa-?" She froze when she saw his wand was out and pointed at her also. She looked between the two of them. "W-what's going on?" Under the cloak, Beth stood quickly up, followed by Sirius who then pushed her behind him.
"We want to thank you for contributing to our cause," Wilkes said coldly. "This potion will be very useful for our friends." He smirked at her scornfully. Snape kept an eye on the door, keeping his wand ready if it moved.
"What do you m-mean?" Lily stuttered. "You want a potion that would help heal people who have been tortured?"
"Are you mental? This potion has practical applications not mentioned in that stupid book," he gestured to the potions book. "With this, we could destroy people's sense of safety and then interrogate them. Breaking Aurors and other Ministry arseholes would be a piece of cake."
Lily blanched, her eyes flicking between Wilkes and Snape. Sirius had heard enough but he waited for an opening when both Death Eater wannabes were only watching Lily.
"This might hurt less if you turn your back." Wilkes lifted his wand close to Lily's face.
"You promised she would not be hurt," Snape snapped over his shoulder, without bothering to turn to Wilkes. Lily's eyes widened.
"Just a little bump on her head that she'll think came from her fall," Wilkes sounded disappointed. "It's a shame you are such a klutz, Evans. You see, you're about to trip and hurt yourself."
"We had an agreement," Snape stated to Wilkes in a cold emotionless tone.
Wilkes snorted. "She can't be allowed to realize she came up with the directions for the potion and that we stole it. She'll be fine in a few days. I just need to wipe the last hour from her memory and she'll wake up refre—"
"No!" This time Snape angrily turned quickly to Wilkes, his back momentarily towards Sirius. It was just what Sirius was waiting for. Sirius whipped the invisibility cloak off but managed to leave it over Beth. He shot a spell at Wilkes and the two wands sailed from his hands towards Sirius. As they were still arcing through the air, he flicked his wand at Snape, looking all too satisfied when Snape fell down senseless. Sirius slashed with his wand again and cords wrapped around Wilkes' arms and legs causing him to crash to the floor.
Beth stayed huddled under the cloak knowing that Sirius didn't want Wilkes to see her. Sirius tossed Lily her wand and walked to stand over the thrashing Wilkes. "So," he drawled and even Beth's skin crawled at how cold his voice was. "You were planning to share this potion with your Death Eater friends."
Wilkes glared at Sirius but did not speak. "Come on now, Wilkes." Sirius' voice was silky smooth but even Wilkes flinched a little at the thinly disguised venom in it. "Tell me your little plan. It sounded to me like you wanted to pass the Sanare potion along to Death Eaters to use to torture wizards. You decided it would be better used to break minds rather than heal them. Aren't you just a sodding radical thinker?"
Wilkes squirmed and swore when it just made the cords binding him tighten. Sirius continued thinking out loud. "You had to have a good reason for making the extra effort to make Lily forget that she recreated the potion. You not only wanted to steal the potion to use for your fucked-up Death Eater reasons, but you didn't want it passed on to be used the way it was meant to be."
"Sod off," Wilkes hissed. He thrashed again futilely.
"I don't believe I will," Sirius' icy control was more frightening than anger. "I seem to be on the right track here." He regarded Wilkes closely. "You didn't want it to be used for healing, and you didn't want the Ministry to know what you were using for your torture." He paced around Wilkes, pausing to twitch his wand to make a cord pull tighter around his chest until Wilkes groaned. "If the Ministry didn't know what the potion was that you were using for torture, it would be harder for their healers to help your victims, wouldn't it?"
Sirius could see he'd guessed correctly. Wilkes' eyes bulged with anger and he swore once before compressing his lips. "What a quandary you were in," Sirius said. "You found a potentially valuable potion. You needed the brains of a muggleborn because you're too stupid to figure out how to make this potion yourself." He prodded Wilkes ribs none too gently with his foot. "Yet you are planning to use this potion in the fight against muggleborns. Am I close?"
Wilkes flinched against Sirius' foot. Sweat dotted his forehead. "The truth hurts, doesn't it?" Sirius said conversationally. "Maybe you're too pathetic to see the irony of the situation."
He turned to Lily whose hand was clearly shaking even as she held her wand ready. "Are you alright?" Sirius asked her, his voice radically different from his chat with Wilkes. She nodded and he pointed to the cauldron of potion. "You're going to need to destroy that. We're going to have to keep this potion secret from some of our fellow friends here at Hogwarts."
Wilkes couldn't stay quiet. "Speaking of secrets, watch your back, Black." Wilkes sneered, his voice low and menacing. "There's a rumor that Gryffindor Tower has one. Don't think you're safe outside of Hogwarts."
Sirius felt his blood run cold. His mind screamed with panic that he struggled not to show and it was with an effort he was able to keep himself from looking to make sure Beth was still hidden. "Shut the fuck up!" He yelled, losing control for the first time and shot a spell at Wilkes that knocked him out.
Sirius stared at Wilkes' unconscious form and forced himself to calm his breathing. He needed to think quickly in case Wilkes and Snape had any backup that might arrive. His hand was clammy on his wand and he wiped it quickly on his pants. "Beth, come here." Sirius called. Beth pulled off the invisibility cloak and rushed over to him. Lily's eyes widened further at the sight of Beth, but shock was making her legs unstable and she sank into a chair. Sirius saw how shaken Lily was and he turned to Beth.
"I need you to help Lily make it look like their potion exploded. We have to make them believe Lily never discovered how to make the Sanare potion or they'll come after her. I'm going to wipe Wilkes' memory and take him to the back stairs. Fortunately, he is the one who is going to have an accident coming down them. One that leaves him more than a few bumps and bruises." Sirius let a small gleam of satisfaction cross his face before he was back to business. He turned to Lily. "Lily, I need you to obliviate Snape's memory of this." Lily nodded and shakily pointed her wand at Snape, turning it gently.
Sirius turned his own wand at Wilkes and the frown still on Wilkes' face melted away. Lily waved her wand at the cauldron and the potion disappeared. "We can't leave any of this," Lily told them with a waver in her voice. "I don't want Severus to be able to figure out what is in it." She rushed over to a large container set on the counter. "This is the stock we used to start it. I'll add a few different ingredients to it to use as splatters for our explosion."
"Good thinking," Sirius said approvingly. "Lily, I need to destroy the page in the book with the instructions. I don't want Snape to be able to recreate this. I'll make it look like the potion burned it." He looked at her until she nodded grimly, her face tight. Sirius pointed his wand at the book and scorching liquid sizzled on the page, burning down through most of the book.
Under Lily's direction, Beth put away several of the ingredients scattered around the table. Lily took out a few different ones and left them casually strewn near their workspace. Sirius made the unconscious Snape's body fall back against a table so that the back of his head hit it hard. "That will leave a bump," he muttered with a fierce satisfaction. "Now we need a few bruises." He caused Snape's arm and one of his legs to rise and then fall against the hard flagstone floor. He whipped his wand again and a few spots on Snape's flesh turned red as if he'd suffered a burn from hot liquid. Beth met Sirius' eyes and seeing the suppressed fury in them decided that Snape was being let off easy.
Sirius took the invisibility cloak from Beth and lifted Wilkes' inert body in the air with a flick of his wand. "I'm going to take him to the scene of his accident. Then I'll alert James and McGonagall that the potion exploded." His eyes flicked to Lily. "Lily, we can't tell James what really happened until we have him somewhere private. He would not be able to stop himself from attacking Snape and we need McGonagall and Snape, when he becomes conscious, to think that James is only upset you were hurt."
Something flickered in Lily's eyes. She opened her mouth to protest, but Sirius forestalled her. "I know, but it won't be long until we'll get you away and we can tell him everything," Sirius reassured her. "You're going to need to put some fake injuries on your body. Maybe some liquid burns and a cut. You can say Snape was closer to the potion when it exploded and you fell to the ground to avoid the hot potion."
Sirius turned to Beth. "Keep a look-out at the door for James in about five minutes. He'll come at a full sprint and will get here before McGonagall and me. As soon as you see him coming, help Lily to lay down a few meters away from the cauldron and then kneel next to her as if you arrived a few minutes ago and are helping her. I'll be right behind him and then McGonagall will be here. We'll act it out until we're safely away."
Lily flicked her wand and what looked like a cut appeared on her face. Sirius covered Wilkes' body with the invisibility cloak and left, giving each of them one last meaningful look. Beth went to Lily and put her arm around her. "What else do we need to do?" She kept her voice calm and practical to stave off the shock that she knew Lily was fighting off.
Lily allowed herself to lean against Beth for comfort for a few seconds and then straightened up. "I'll show you," she said. She reheated the cauldron with her wand so that it burned fiery red and poured the stock potion in it. She and Beth added the new ingredients to the hot potion. Lily flicked her wand and caused some splatters of the new potion to shower around the cauldron, making sure a few fell on Snape. Beth flinched when Lily sprinkled some of the hot liquid on her own face and arms, causing red burn marks from the boiling liquid. She made larger droplets of the potion spray in various directions around the room. She looked around and nodded. "I think we're ready." Beth took her arm and they picked a spot a few meters in the other direction from where Snape lay. Lily sat on a chair near it shivering, relieved she didn't need to lie on the cold floor for very long and Beth started for the door.
"Go ahead and think about what almost happened now, Lily." Beth told her quietly. "Let yourself go into shock. It'll seem more natural if you're shaken." Lily looked at her with hollow eyes and nodded.
It was actually more important to listen than to watch for him. Beth heard James running well before he was visible and she let the door fall shut and signaled Lily who dropped to the floor. Beth barely had time to kneel next to Lily before the door flew open and James barreled in at full speed.
"Lily!" he cried in relief when he spotted her and saw she was conscious and not badly injured. He was on the floor at her side in a split second and he touched her carefully. "Are you alright?" he asked, gently gathering her close. Lily nodded, closing her eyes against his chest. Now that James was here, tears sprang naturally to her eyes.
Sirius burst through the door. "Is she alright?" he called out and James nodded. When James looked back at Lily, Sirius flicked his wand at Snape who started to moan as he regained consciousness. McGonagall came in thirty seconds later. She took in the situation at a glance and wasted no time. "Mr. Black, go get Madam Pomfrey. It appears Mr. Snape will need to visit the hospital wing."
She moved over to Snape who was struggling to sit up. McGonagall kneeled beside him and seemed satisfied his injuries were not serious. She stood up and walked over to the cauldron, looking around the room, her eyes noting the splatters of potion.
Lily spoke up from James' arms. "Our potion exploded, Professor McGonagall. I don't know what happened." She was trembling, tears pooling in her eyes. "I thought this one might work."
McGonagall threw her a strange look but Snape made a noise and she turned back to him. "Mr. Snape," she said as his eyes opened. "Do you remember what happened?"
Snape looked around confused. He looked startled when his eyes found James, ashen faced and looking more distressed than he'd ever seen him, holding a shaking Lily with Beth squatting next to them. He shook his head. "No," he managed to croak. "I…remember coming in here and setting up our workstation and adding a few drops of…" He frowned, thinking. "..something. The rest is blank."
Madam Pomfrey bustled in, followed by Sirius. She summed up the situation in a quick glance and went to Snape's side. The next few minutes she checked over Snape and then summoned a floating pallet to convey him to the hospital. She came to Lily, who was quaking in James' arms. "Let me give her a quick look over, Potter." Madam Pomfrey ordered and James reluctantly let Lily go. Madam Pomfrey seemed satisfied after examining Lily and she nodded briskly. "You'll be fine. Just minor burns and a scrape. I'll get you some salve to put on those burns."
The door swung open and a wizard Beth remembered seeing at the Slytherin table came in. He stopped, shocked when he saw the scene in front of him. His eyes went from Snape, grimacing as Madam Pomfrey helped him to settle more comfortably on the pallet, past the still steaming cauldron with splatters of liquid around it to McGonagall staring at him icily and then on to James, paler than usual and looking somewhat ill as he held tightly to Lily who was obviously in shock and last to Beth, kneeling on the floor, her eyes wide with Sirius holding her shoulder standing behind her. Beth felt the tension in Sirius' hand on her shoulder but his face only showed concern for Lily.
"There is quite a lot of traffic to this remote classroom on a Saturday," McGonagall said acerbically. "What brings you here, Mr. Rosier?"
Rosier started and stammered. "I…I was looking for Snape." His eyes went to Snape who stared at him coldly.
"Is that right?" McGonagall pursed her lips. She let the question hang but Rosier did not speak. "Well, you found him. Why don't you accompany Mr. Snape and Madam Pomfrey to the hospital wing. Miss Evans and Mr. Snape had an accident while working on their potion."
Rosier nodded and he left with Madam Pomfrey and Snape floating on the pallet soon after. Professor McGonagall quirked an eyebrow at Lily once the door had swung shut. "Now, suppose you tell me the full story, Miss Evans. What happened?"
Lily looked confused. "I told you, Professor McGonagall. Our potion exploded. Snape was closer than I was. He stumbled backwards and fell. I heard a sound, maybe he hit his head on the table. I dropped to the ground to avoid the hot liquid splatters. There's not much else to it."
McGonagall's piercing glance moved to Beth. "Miss Peterson, how did you and Sirius become aware of this situation?" Sirius made a move as if to speak, but she raised her hand to silence him. "I'm asking Miss Peterson."
Beth's mind raced. "Sirius and I were walking down the corridor—" she started.
Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "A classrooms corridor on a Saturday?"
Beth gulped. "Yes, well, we were trying to go somewhere, um, private." She blushed as she looked at Sirius. The lie must have rung true as McGonagall nodded looking unsurprised at this. "We heard a noise. I th-think Lily shrieked. We burst in. When Sirius saw Lily was conscious and not badly hurt, he ran to get James…and you."
"Mr. Black didn't notice Mr. Snape?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"Um, he saw him but he didn't check him." Beth swallowed, hoping this sounded believable. McGonagall looked at Sirius who shrugged.
"Sorry, Professor," Sirius added. "I'm afraid I was less concerned with Snape than Lily. You know there's no love lost between us." McGonagall looked less suspicious. She turned her attention to Lily and James.
Professor McGonagall tilted her head at Lily and studied her without speaking. Her eyes moved to James, worry over Lily etched across his face. "I can see you're shaken up, Miss Evans," she said finally. "I'll let you think about it. If you have anything else you would like to add, please come see me." She moved her wand and the room was restored to order. She gave Sirius one more quizzical look and left.
Lily, Sirius and Beth all exhaled a sigh of relief as the door closed again. James frowned, looking at each of them suspiciously for the first time. "What's going on?" he finally said.
"Can we go upstairs to explain?" Lily asked him plaintively. "I really want to leave this room." Her face was white and her hand shook as she picked up her wand and stowed it away.
"Lily," James started.
"Please, James." Lily said shakily. James nodded and helped her up.
Sirius came over to Beth and took her hand. "Are you okay?" he asked her quietly. She leaned her head against his chest for a minute, wrapping her arms around his waist. Sirius put his arms around her and held her close, feeling the slight tremor in her arms. Beth let herself be soothed by the sound of his steady heartbeat. After a quiet minute, they followed Lily and James out the door.