Part 38 – The Other Recruit
Severus waited with mounting trepidation at the thought of what Lucius would request of him next. The only good thing to come out of his recent decision was that he was no longer required to pretend to be friends with the Gryffindors.
He was still wondering what task would next be required of him when one Monday morning he found himself distracted from his own problems by the strange behaviour of one of his fellow first year Slytherins, Justin Wilkes.
The first thing he noticed was that the student, who was normally one of the first in the Great Hall for breakfast, missed the meal entirely.
Then in their morning flying lesson the normally quite steady flyer was going off course and struggling to hold onto his broom as though he'd never ridden one before.
By the end of the lesson even Madam Hooch had noticed that something was amiss.
"Wilkes, watch where you're flying," she shouted across the Quidditch pitch where their lessons were now taking place. Severus turned to look behind him and saw that Justin had crashed into Lily's friend Veronica who looked ready to knock him off his broom for his clumsiness.
"Sorry," Justin muttered, although he sounded far from it.
Once Madam Hooch's attention was focused elsewhere Severus turned back towards Justin and guided his broom in the direction of the other boy.
"You alright?" he asked as he kept an eye open for the bludgers that James Potter seemed to aim solely in his direction.
"Just a bit tired," Justin replied with a shrug before glancing away.
Two swift and well-aimed bludgers in his direction soon drew Severus's attention back to the practice though and it wasn't until lunchtime when he noticed that Justin was missing once again, that his thoughts turned to the other boy once more.
Justin only reappeared a moment before their History of Magic class started and there was no time for Severus to say anything as Justin slipped into the seat in front of him.
Whilst Severus was unable to speak with Justin in class due to their seating arrangements he had no problem with whispering to Martin Avery who had taken the seat next to him.
"Have you noticed Justin acting a bit odd lately?" Severus whispered as soon as Professor Binns had started his monotonous lecture on one or another of the goblin rebellions.
"Odd?" Martin whispered back as he looked up from where he had been using his wand to magically scorch his name onto the desk.
"He wasn't at lunch or breakfast," Severus pointed out. "And he was really clumsy in flying practice."
"Perhaps he's having a bad day," Martin replied with a shrug, the other student clearly not of great interest to him. "Or got something on his mind."
Severus didn't know what it was in Martin's tone that led him to the conclusion, but he knew that the instant he realised it, it was the right one. Lucius was recruiting others as well as himself. Justin had been talking to Lucius in the common room a few nights ago, and it was since then that he'd been acting strangely. Lucius had asked him to do something, just as he had asked Severus, and Justin was now struggling with the task that he'd been set. And if his task was anything like Severus's then it was no wonder he was distracted.
Severus tried to get Justin's attention as they left the classroom after the lesson had finished but he didn't quite manage it and it wasn't until their evening astronomy class that Severus found himself with the opportunity he'd been waiting for.
Severus forced himself to wait until the lesson was well underway before whispering his question to Justin.
"What's Lucius asked you to do?"
Justin looked up and after a quick glance towards Professor Sinistra whispered back "later."
Their class was just finishing when Justin suddenly pulled out his wand and with a nervous glance and a whispered spell he neatly unscrewed the telescope from its stand.
Professor Sinistra came running across the room at the sound of the crash and the cheers and laughter from the other students.
"It just fell off," Justin explained with a hidden warning glance at Severus.
"I'll fix it," Professor Sinistra said. She glanced at her watch before pulling out her wand and Severus watched as Justin visibly held his breath.
"You two might as well go back to your common room," Professor Sinistra said with a sigh. "The class is nearly over anyway."
They didn't need telling twice and Severus followed Justin as he gathered his scrolls and bolted for the door before the rest of the class finished clearing away. As soon as they were outside the classroom Severus stuck close to Justin as they descended the spiral staircase down from the astronomy tower. Once they were safely out of earshot Justin picked up his pace until he was practically running through the corridors, Severus close at his heels.
"Where are we going?" Severus asked as he realised they weren't heading for their common room, but instead were in an entirely different area of the school.
"The library," Justin replied. "There isn't much time before Pince closes up for the evening."
"Since when is the library locked at night?" Severus asked.
"Since just after the thefts started," Justin replied with a hint of annoyance in his voice at such an obvious question.
"Well can't it just wait until tomorrow?" Severus asked.
"No."
"But Madam Pince will clear out the library before she locks up," Severus pointed out.
"Yeah, she has done the last two evenings," Justin muttered as they reached the corridor that lead to the library.
"So how are you planning on making sure she doesn't this time?"
"You're going to distract her," Justin said with a smile that was ever so slightly malicious.
"What?"
"Distract her," Justin repeated. "I'll go and hide at the back of the library where the lights are dimmer, and you distract her so that she's running late for supper and hopefully she won't check properly. She always checks the library in a particular way, I just need to keep quiet and make sure that she doesn't see me as she does her round."
"What do you want from the library?" Severus asked, curious to know what it was that Lucius wanted so badly.
"Just a book."
"Which one?"
"One from the restricted section," Justin replied.
"But why doesn't Lucius get it himself, he's a prefect," Severus asked with a frown. Why ask a student without access to risk getting into trouble to fetch something that he could easily get for himself?
"I don't know, why did he want you to try to get Sirius into Slytherin House when it's obvious he isn't one of us?"
Severus shrugged unable to answer the question and a little taken back that others in his house knew about the task he had thought was a secret.
"Ready?" Justin asked when they reached the door to the library. "You go in first and distract her and I'll go in whilst she's not looking so that she doesn't know I'm in there."
Severus nodded his agreement and pushed open the door. Madam Pince was clearing away the papers on her desk and the only other students in the library, two fifth year Ravenclaw girls, were likewise packing their things away.
"I'm closing up now," Madam Pince said with a nod to the door behind him, a subtle hint that he should turn around and follow the girls' example and come back another time.
"I just need a book for my Defence Against the Dark Arts essay, it's due tomorrow," said Severus, pointing towards the section of the library. "I know which one. I'll be quick."
"Okay," Madam Pince agreed. "But hurry along."
Severus scuttled towards the shelves that held the Defence Against the Dark Arts books and waited a moment.
"It's not here," he called out. "Is it checked out?"
"Well which one is it?" Madam Pince asked with a long-suffering sigh.
Severus gave her the name of the book and she hurried into the back room where the catalogue cards were kept. He watched out the corner of his eye as Justin came into the room, quietly hurrying past the desk, before disappearing out of sight behind the high bookcases at the far end of the room.
"It's been checked out by a Remus Lupin," Madam Pince said as she emerged from the back room.
"Oh," Severus replied, feigning surprise and hoping that Madam Pince didn't realise that he knew very well that Remus had likely still got the book he'd seen him check out just the previous day. "I'll see if I can borrow it from him."
"Just remember to bring it back here when you're done," Madam Pince warned.
Severus nodded and hurried out of the library and down the corridor. He found a small alcove out of the way and on the main route to the Slytherin common room and settled down to wait for Justin to catch him up.
The minutes ticked on and Severus wondered if Justin had been caught after all and was even now on his way to Dumbledore's office.
He was about to give up waiting and return to the common room alone when the sound of footsteps coming towards him just a shade too quickly signalled that Justin had not been caught.
He stepped out of the alcove and Justin approached, startling the other boy into dropping the book he'd taken such pains to retrieve.
"What took you so long?" Severus asked.
"I don't want the job of taking it back again so I put Lucius's name on the card so he can take it back himself. I had to practice getting my writing to look like Madam Pince's, it took longer than I thought."
"But won't she remember someone getting a book from the restricted section?"
"I hope not, but it's in Lucius's name now anyway."
"What is it he wanted you to get?" Severus looked towards the heavy and cumbersome book. Justin nodded towards a darkened classroom and they ducked inside.
No sooner had the door closed behind them did they realise that the room was not as deserted as they had thought. Hovering high up in the far right corner, was Peeves, who could not fail to notice both them and the book that they shouldn't have.
They stood rooted to the spot, waiting for Peeves to launch his attack on them. It was nearly a full minute before they realised that it wasn't coming and that Peeves didn't even seem to be aware of their presence.
Backing out of the door quietly Severus and Justin hurried away and found another empty room.
"What was that all about?" Justin asked. "It's not like Peeves to miss a chance to make trouble."
"It's like he didn't even see us," Severus replied, equally confused.
"He's probably plotting something big," Justin commented.
"Yeah, that must be it," Severus agreed before looking pointedly at the book.
Justin placed it on the table and Severus read the title aloud.
"Hogwarts: A History. So what's so special about it? Why is this book in the restricted section?"
"Let's find out," Justin opened the book and flicked through the pages randomly.
"Is it a first edition?" Severus asked, as they continued to skim the pages. Justin turned to the front of the book and shook his head.
"So what's so special about it?" Severus asked. "Why not just get a copy of the latest edition from Flourish and Blotts?"
"I don't know," Justin replied. "But let's get this to Lucius and maybe he'll fill us in on what he wants it for."
Severus nodded his agreement and they headed off to the common room.
