A/N: I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed last chapter, I appreciate each and every one of them! :)

This chapter is short, but the next chapter is very long, so I suppose they balance each other out. Enjoy~

Severus knew it was coming: Dolores' chubby lips were moving, but he could not hear what spell it was over the roar of the crowd surrounding him. It was as though everything was being played in slow-motion before his very eyes, and his mind simply wasn't registering the urgency of the situation. Her wand was pointed directly at his face, and he could see a jet of light forming at the tip of it, but he still had no defensive spells ready, let alone a counterattack.

From the Gryffindors' side, he could hear his friends screaming for him to do something...anything! Dolores was going to tear him to shreds, and Professor Umbridge, who was currently cheering on her daughter just a few feet away from Severus, would do nothing to stop it. Judging by the tone of her maniacal shouts of encouragement, she was actually hoping that Dolores would totally and utterly destroy him.

Severus did not know what he had done that had ticked her off, but he highly doubted that he deserved anything as horrible as this. With just a couple of milliseconds to go until his doom, he held up his wand, but his mind was too distracted by the deafening noise to formulate a plan of attack.

The bright blue jet struck him squarely in the chest, and he flew backwards, flipping over in the air at least three times before gravity kicked in and he painfully reunited with the ground. The Slytherins screamed their delight at seeing him lying face-first on the stage again, and much to his infuriation, he could hear Umbridge cheerfully providing her own commentary in the background.

"And that students, is the worst example of defensive magic I have seen in years...what a pity, he can't even block the simplest of spells..."

"Sev get out of the way!" he heard Lily shriek somewhere in the crowd on his left. He looked up: another spell was already on its way. Dolores had waited a few seconds before striking again; not to give Severus time to recover, but to allow her mother just enough time to disgrace him with snappy comments regarding his supposedly nonexistent duelling abilities.

"— what terrible form...just look at that stance! Oh dear, here comes a Stunner…"

Severus, having been preoccupied with Umbridge's remarks, lost his focus, and soon found himself hurtling through the air once more. The impact this time was agonizingly painful, as one of his legs had gotten crushed underneath his body once he landed. He felt a crack in the bone near his right shin, and his body trembled violently from the extreme pain shooting up from his lower limb. His breathing was shallow and he wanted to cry out for Professor Umbridge to end this torture, but he knew that neither Umbridge slow up just because he was injured.

"—now watch and learn why those with slow reflexes don't stand a chance against highly-skilled duellers..."

I'll show you slow reflexes, Severus thought angrily, trying to block out her patronizing tone and focus on the task ahead of him. He did not bother getting up from the ground— knowing he would not be able to support himself on just one leg— but this wasn't going to stop him from trying to protect himself. He wasn't sure what kind of spell that was, though he knew from the purplish glow that it was actually a curse. Relying solely on instinct, he whipped out his wand and shouted the first thing that came to mind.

"PROTEGO!"

The curse bounced off of his invisible shield just centimetres from his face, and returned in the direction of its caster. Dolores had not been prepared for such a quick reaction, and was soon hit by the spell directly in the face. She was sent rocketing upwards— screaming all the way— and only when she was just a couple of feet from the tip of the enchanted ceiling did she begin hurtling towards the ground. Due to her excessive weight, the wooden stage splintered and cracked beneath her bum upon landing until she finally fell through with a deafening thud.

The entire hall immediately fell silent, unable to comprehend what had just happened. The Slytherins were utterly stunned to see that their beloved Head Girl had been beaten by a spell as simple as Protego, and the other three houses couldn't believe that Severus had actually held his ground, rather than running away as most of them would have done.

I guess I have more Gryffindor in me than I thought, Severus mused to himself as the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws all burst into applause. Only one person from Slytherin was cheering, he noted with a smile: Lily.

James and Sirius, ignoring the rules regarding outsiders in wizards' duels, jumped onto the stage at once and pulled him to his feet. Once Severus steadied himself on his only good leg and faced the mob of newfound supporters, they broke into another explosion of applause, which even droned out Darcy's panicked screaming. Down at the other end, the Slytherin prefects were forced to manually pull Dolores' unconscious body out of the enormous fissure in the platform; it probably didn't help that their leader was hysterical beyond control and kept impeding their rescue efforts.

"I personally would have used the Petrificus Totalus, but I suppose that worked too," James had to yell over the crowd's animated chants of "Severus! Severus!"

Severus shrugged it off, too exhilarated for words at the moment. It had been the shortest duel ever, and while he was pretty sure he had fractured a rib or two (in addition to his swollen leg), he felt happier than he had felt in a long time. It was quite a change from how he had felt just ten minutes ago, when Professor Umbridge had tripped him in front of everyone and he never wanted to show his face to the world again. Now he was sort of like a...hero.

xXxXxXxXx

"I dunno, Sev...you may be Gryffindor's hero for now, but there may be a new one after this Saturday."

Severus looked up from the book he was reading and rolled his eyes. James was at it again: flexing his muscles and admiring himself in the mirror, something he had been obsessed with lately.

It had been two days since Severus' victory over Dolores, and the Gryffindors were still treating him like he was the greatest person on the planet. Personally, Severus hated it, but was glad to have friends like Sirius and James, who gladly soaked up all of the attention for him. The entire school had learned of his amazing feat by now, and even the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws respected him. It was bizarre being liked by so many people; having always been a bit of an outcast, Severus was used to being ignored by everyone, and not the other way around. Some of the first years had even asked him for autographs.

"Yep, a new champion for Gryffindor," James continued in his typical self-absorbed tone. "You're coming to watch my moment of glory, aren't you?"

"Of course," Severus replied in a dull voice, then returned to his reading.

Severus didn't care much for Quidditch, which had been the only thing on James' mind lately. Tryouts were on Saturday, and he was determined to make the team this year, saying that Potters always made the team before third year. He already had an excellent broom waiting for him at Quality Quidditch Supplies, which was one of the family businesses. All he needed to do now was make the team.

"That's right. Both you and Remus are coming...you two seriously need to get outside more...Sirius is trying out of course, but since he probably won't make it, I'll need you to be my number one supporter...hey, do you think I should do more push ups? My biceps are looking a little smaller than usual..."

Severus couldn't believe how arrogant his friend could be sometimes. He was just twelve years old and already concerning himself with his physique. Honestly, it's just Quidditch. For the record, Severus would be going to watch no matter what, but only because he wanted to be a good friend. Pretending that he was genuinely enjoying himself would be a whole different matter...

xXxXxXxXx

"So...any ideas yet?"

Lily looked up at Regulus: he looked just as bored as she felt. She sighed and shook her head. While they had intended for this to be a productive brainstorming session, the lack of any logical plans had made it a complete waste of time. They had been staring at each other for nearly two hours now, trying to come up with a plan to get the Malfoys' locket back from Dumbledore's office, but so far the task appeared impossible to accomplish.

It had been worse when Lily was by herself, and was grateful that Lucius allowed her to tell Regulus so that he could assist her. So far, however, he wasn't much of a help. Whenever Lily would get frustrated and say they should just charge into the office and nab the locket— ignoring the consequences, of course— Regulus quietly reminded her that only Gryffindors did idiotic things like that, and they were back to zero.

"We obviously can't get in without some sort of concealment," Regulus said after several minutes of concentrated silence.

"You mean we need to be...invisible?"

Regulus considered this for a moment, then nodded. "That way, if Dumbledore suddenly shows up, we can just wait until he's distracted, then leave completely undetected."

"So how do we become invisible?"

"Invisibility Cloaks work—"

"Do you know anyone with an Invisibility Cloak?"

"Well...no," Regulus admitted, feeling a little irritated with Lily's pessimism. "Do you?"

"Well...Laika did have one, but Filch confiscated it," Lily sighed again. Sometimes she wished that Lucius would just get the locket himself, so she could just ignore the problem and enjoy her free time. But the image of Melika's almost-dead body kept trickling into her thoughts, and she couldn't help but worry if her friends would meet the same fate if the locket wasn't delivered to its original owner...whoever that person was...

She wished Severus was here. He would know what to do, but the only problem was that he wouldn't approve of the mission Lily and Regulus were trying to complete. Their friendship was already shaky enough as it was, and getting him involved in something without telling him the truth would only shatter his trust in her.

But Severus did tell me something about invisibility one time…was it something about a potion or…no! No, it was something about a cloak…

"Potter has a cloak," Lily said suddenly. "Potter has a cloak!"

Much to her dismay, Regulus did not look very excited by this, but rather skeptical.

"Reg! Potter has a cloak!"

"I heard you the other two times...but there's one little problem: how would we get it?"

Lily's shoulder's drooped. Damn Regulus and his pragmatic thinking!

"I don't know...he probably keeps it somewhere safe, though."

"My guess would be his trunk...everyone keeps their important things in there...too bad we'd have to be in Gryffindor to get it..."

I could ask Sev…wait, no I couldn't. There's no way he would steal from his friend…

They'd have to be Gryffindors to get inside...somehow Lily thought there could be an exception to that. Surely students of other houses have gotten inside in the past? Heck, she knew the current password, thanks to Severus; what would stop her from going inside?

People would know I'm not in Gryffindor.

"But what if we become Gryffindors?" Lily pondered aloud.

Regulus looked up, expecting this to be just another crazy idea. "Huh?"

"We become Gryffindors!" Lily repeated excitedly. "Reg, don't you realize how perfect that would be?"

"Er...no."

"Library!"

"What?!"

Regulus didn't have much time to protest as Lily grabbed his arm and jerked him out of the room, sprinting at top speed down the corridor that led to the school's library. He had no idea where this idea had come from, and although Lily sounded pretty confident, he didn't see how it would be possible. Honestly, become Gryffindors? Unless they were Resorted or something, they were Slytherins for life.

"Uh, Lily?" Regulus tried pulling his arm out of her grasp, but it was no use: Lily had a plan and nothing could stop her now.

They were both completely out of breath by the time they reached the library, but when Regulus tried slowing down, Lily tugged on his arm and pulled him into the Potions section.

Huh?

"Lily?" Regulus tried sounding as gentle as he could, but his patience was wearing thin at this point, "—what's going on?"

Lily continued searching the shelves for several seconds before backing away, frowning. "It's not here."

"What's not? Lily, could you please tell me what's going through that thick skull of yours?"

"Polyjuice Potion. Slughorn told us about it last week...he said that when you drink it, you're transformed into someone else."

Regulus' eyes widened. "You mean we would turn into someone from Gryffindor? But what if it's permanent?"

"It's not...though actually; you don't need to use it at all."

"Why not?"

"Reg, you're the splitting image of Sirius! You could just pretend that you're him!"

"That's a lot harder than it sounds," Regulus mumbled quietly, though it did sound like a brilliant plan. "So...if you're using the Polyjuice...who would you be?"

Lily grinned.

xXxXxXxXx

"Oh come on, where are you?" Lily muttered under her breath.

It had been over an hour since Slughorn had gratefully accepted her offer of cleaning out his potions cabinet, which hadn't been organized in years. Normally he wouldn't trust students near his own supplies, but seeing that Lily was a charming young girl and undoubtedly his favourite student, he had allowed her inside. Her thoughtful gift of crystallized pineapple didn't hurt, either.

Lily tried to do as much as she could with magic, but quickly found that her magical cleaning abilities were nearly nonexistent and was forced to complete much of the task manually. It was worth it, however: instead of risking a break-in to the restricted section of the library— not to mention a month's wait for the brewing process— she was going to steal some of Slughorn's pre-brewed Polyjuice Potion. All she had to do was find it first.

"Aha!"

Here was the Polyjuice Potion, in a cauldron at the very back of the room, hiding in a corner. Lily had passed it four times already, and only now did she realize what potion it was. She excitedly pulled a small bottle out of her robe's pocket and gently scooped up a healthy sample of the gurgling liquid. By the looks of it, the potion was hardly what she'd consider delicious, but she didn't care.

She and Severus had been working on the day's lesson together, so getting a hair had been no problem. Sure, Severus wasn't too pleased when she 'accidentally' got her bracelet stuck in his hair, but after apologizing profusely, he had forgiven her for her clumsiness.

Not only that, but she had found a perfect day: Saturday. Apparently Gryffindor was having its Quidditch tryouts, and nearly everyone in the house was attending the event. Severus invited Lily to come along, but she quickly made up an excuse about a library date with Regulus.

Severus had not been pleased by this, but didn't tell Lily. Merlin, he hated Regulus. Lily was always doing something with the git, and never seemed to have time for him, Severus anymore. He couldn't see what was so great about him anyway. The only advantage Regulus could possibly have over him was that he was in the same house as Lily. But he definitely seemed to be lacking in the intelligence department— from Severus' point of view, anyway— and he would probably prove to be a negative influence on Lily later on if Sirius' descriptions of him were accurate.

Back in the dungeons, Lily had finally finished up, and left a nice note on Slughorn's desk, thanking him for his invitation to join his 'Slug Club.' The first meeting was in two weeks, and she was thrilled to hear that he had invited Severus as well.

There were just three days to go until she and Regulus executed their plan, and Lily could not believe how lucky she had been so far. She could only hope that her luck would hold out— Severus must never find out what she was doing...

A/N: Kudos to anyone who caught the reference to the curse that had hit Hermione in OotP (in the DoM, obviously). Next chapter will be really fun to write, and I sincerely hope you all enjoy it as much as I do.

.....9 chapters and 30 days to go.....

As always, I appreciate any and all reviews :)