Part 42 – Hogwarts: A History Mystery

"Hey! Severus!"

Severus groaned as he heard the silky tones of Lucius calling from across the common room. He turned to face the older boy, a forced smile on his face.

"You'll be passing the library on the way to class this morning, won't you?" Lucius asked.

"No," Severus replied with a shake of his head. He tried to continue on and explain that he actually had flying that morning and wouldn't be passing the library at all but Lucius clearly wasn't listening and cut him off with an airy wave of his hand.

"Well you'll be passing some time over the next few days and it won't be any trouble to drop this book back in will it?" Lucius held out the book and waited for Severus to take the same from him.

Severus looked in dismay at the Hogwarts: A History book that had caused so much grief to Justin earlier in the month.

"Won't you be going to the library before me?" asked Severus, without moving to take the volume from Lucius. "You've far more free classes than me."

"I have NEWT level work to do," Lucius replied with a glare. "You can't imagine the amount of time it takes up to get through all of our assignments."

"B-but isn't that book from the restricted section?" Severus asked nervously, pointing to the hook attached to the spine that was used to keep it chained to the shelves.

"Oh, so it is," Lucius commented as he looked at the hook. Severus could tell that despite his pretence at ignorance he knew very well where the book had come from. "You'd better get it back to the Pince quickly in case you're caught with it in your possession."

"But why c-c-can't you take it b-b-back?" Severus stammered. "You're allowed b-books from there. I'll get in t-t-t-trouble."

"I thought you had brains," Lucius sneered. "Just take it in with a bunch of other books, leave them with Pince and leave before she gets to it. As long as she gets the books back she'll never notice who brought them in."

"I don't have any books to take back at the moment," Severus mumbled.

"So go and check some out," Lucius snapped. "Just don't get caught with this book in the meantime."

Severus knew there was nothing else he could say to get out of the latest of Lucius's errands and wondered why he'd even bothered to try. He took the book reluctantly and turned back towards the dormitories to hide it until he could return it without drawing attention to himself. He spotted Justin sitting near the fireplace; the other boy shrugged and cast him a look of sympathy before turning away.

Severus buried the book under his bed and wondered once again why it was that Lucius had wanted this specific edition of the book. His own copy of the book was safe at home but he wondered if Lily had her own copy at the school. He knew that she'd purchased one and made a point to ask her about it as soon as he saw her. In the meantime the copy from the restricted section could remain hidden.

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"Yes, I've got my copy here," Lily answered as she took aim at the oncoming bludger and sent it careering across the field to where James and Sirius were messing around by juggling three of the quaffles between themselves.

"Excellent aim Evans," Madam Hooch called out as James and Sirius dropped the quaffles and swerved out of the way. "A bit more strength behind it and we'll make a beater of you yet."

"Not that excellent," Severus commented. "You missed both of them."

"Their heads are getting bigger by the day," Lily retorted. "By the end of the year anyone will be able to hit those targets."

Severus laughed but his mirth was soon cut short by a bludger aimed his own way by Peter.

"So can I borrow your book?" Severus asked once they were back on the ground after the lesson was over.

"Sure," Lily replied. "I'll fetch it after lunch and let you have it in Herbology."

"Thanks."

"What do you want it for anyway? I thought you had your own copy."

"It's at home and I wanted to check something in it."

"What do you want to check?" Lily asked curiously.

Severus hesitated to reply, not sure that he wanted Lily to know that he had a book in his possession that he shouldn't have.

Lily looked at him steadily as she waited for an answer and Severus mumbled a nonsensical reply before looking away.

"Well you don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Lily muttered. "I only thought you might be looking up something I've remembered and could save you the time."

Severus sighed as he realised that he'd inadvertently hurt Lily's feelings by not answering her question. He turned to apologise but she'd already disappeared down the corridor. He wondered whether she was still going to let him borrow the book but was not prepared to hurry after her and ask.

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Herbology was the last class of the afternoon and Severus found himself at the opposite end of the greenhouse to Lily. He had no way of telling whether she had brought the book for him or not. Unfortunately Lily and the book were on his mind far more than the plants he was supposed to be tending and he found himself covered in scratches from the prickly plants by the time the lesson ended.

"And here was me thinking he couldn't be as bad in any subject as he is in flying," James snickered as he caught sight of Severus's scratches.

"I don't know," Sirius commented idly. "He got a D on that History of Magic essay last week."

"Everyone got a D on that essay," Remus pointed out. "I doubt Binns read any of them."

"I didn't get a D," Sirius replied with a smirk.

"Only because you didn't hand it in at all and Binns never noticed," James laughed.

Severus ignored them and ducked out the greenhouse door whilst they were distracted by teasing each other.

"Severus, hold on," Lily called after him as he made his way back to the main school. "I've got that book for you."

"What's that?" James asked. "Broomsticks for Babies?"

Severus turned just in time to see Lily shoot a venomous look at James as she pushed past him and made her way out into the open. She hurried across to him even as she rummaged around in her bag, finally pulling out a rather battered copy of Hogwarts: A History.

"Thanks," Severus muttered. "I'll let you have it back by the end of the week."

Lily shrugged. "Keep it as long as you want. With so many reading assignments for classes I hardly have time to open it anyway."

Severus nodded as he tucked the book into his own bag and carried on his way.

"You're still not going to tell me what you want it for?" Lily asked. Severus jumped slightly at the sound of her voice; he'd not even noticed his friend keeping pace alongside of him.

Severus looked at the ground, towards the school, back to the greenhouses and at the ground again before he looked at the slightly impatient Lily awaiting his answer.

"I just don't want you to get into trouble," he finally offered.

"Why would you get in trouble for looking up something in that?" Lily asked. "It's a popular book and quite a few students have their own copies."

"I want to compare it to another copy," Severus admitted. "One that's from the restricted section."

"Why would a copy of Hogwarts: A History be in the restricted section?" Lily asked in confusion.

"I don't know. That's why I want to compare the new edition with the older one."

"Is it one of the original copies?" Lily asked after pondering his words for a few moments.

"No, that's what's so confusing."

"Well I'm sure we'll figure it out," Lily said with a smile. "Do you have it with you?"

"No, it's hidden in the dormitory."

"Well what are you waiting for?" Lily asked. "Go fetch it and meet me in the entrance hall."

"We don't need to look at it today," Severus pointed out.

"You've got Astronomy tonight so you'll be up late anyway. You go get the book, I'll get some food from the kitchens and we can have dinner in one of the classrooms and look at the book at the same time."

Severus suppressed a small smile as he realised that Lily knew his timetable as well as he knew hers. He could see that there would be no point in arguing with her any further. Now she knew what he wanted her copy of the book for she appeared to be as curious as he was about why the book was in the restricted section.

Ten minutes later and Severus and Lily were ensconced in an empty classroom with a pile of cakes from the kitchens.

Lily smirked as Severus saw what she had acquired for their tea. "The house elves seem to like me. They always give me the best stuff when I go into the kitchens."

"You go there often?" Severus asked.

"Sometimes at night we have midnight feasts," Lily replied. "Don't you have them in Slytherin?"

"Sometimes," confirmed Severus as he silently wondered what it would be like to join in one of the midnight parties in the Gryffindor quarters. Somehow the Slytherin feasts centred around Lucius and his friends and everyone else spent the night running around after them.

"We'll have to find somewhere to have a midnight feast for students from both our houses," Lily suggested, her thoughts clearly having gone in a similar direction to his own. "Veronica will probably be up for it and you can bring one of your friends from Slytherin."

"I guess Justin might like to join in," Severus agreed.

"How about Wednesday night then?" Lily asked. "We can relax a bit before the Potions test on Thursday morning."

"Like you need to study at all," Severus commented with a snort.

Lily glowed with pride at his praise before turning to the two books. "Well let's take one each and go through them together to see what's extra," she said as she took her own book back from Severus and settled down at one of the desks.

An hour later and they had skimmed through half the contents of the books but still had no clue as to what they were looking for.

"How did you get this book from the restricted section anyway?" asked Lily as she leaned back stretching.

"I didn't," Severus told her. "Lucius had one of the other first years sneak in to get it for him."

"Why didn't he get it himself?" Lily asked. "He's allowed in there."

"I don't know," Severus admitted. "I thought maybe the answer might be in the book itself. He asked me to take it back for him so I thought I'd look at it properly before I do."

"But you could get into trouble for having this book," Lily pointed out.

Severus shrugged. She wasn't telling him anything he didn't already know.

"I thought he was your friend," Lily continued.

"He is!" Severus replied, feeling all the more defensive because Lily was only speaking aloud thoughts he had had too.

Lily looked like she was going to say something else but apparently thought better of it. She turned back to the book and they started checking the next chapter.

"Awards and Honours Bestowed by Hogwarts," Lily read aloud. "It looks like the current list is longer than the older one," she added as she looked at Severus's book.

"Makes sense that they'd have added some over the years," Severus replied as he skimmed the list.

Lily turned over the page of her book. "Awards and Honours Received by Hogwarts," she continued.

Severus turned over his own page and drew in a breath when he realised that there was more to the chapter in the volume he had. A horrible thought entered his mind as soon as he saw the contents of the next page but rather than give voice to his suspicions he turned the page again to find the start of the chapter that matched Lily's.

Lily hadn't noticed Severus's reaction and continued to skim the contents until he had to leave for his Astronomy class.

Severus hurried to the classroom in the tower with the suspicion of what he had seen firmly lodged in his mind.

The older edition of Hogwart's: A History contained details of the exact spells that protected the awards and cups that were kept in the Trophy Room. It was natural to assume that they'd been removed at some point for security reasons.

"But thefts were occurring before Lucius borrowed the book," Severus muttered to himself as he climbed the winding staircase.

Unless there were some spells he couldn't get past, Severus reasoned to himself.

He already knew that Lucius had no qualms about taking potions ingredients from the school supplies rather than getting his own. He saw the school items as his own because of the money his family had donated over the years.

But why take the cups?

He couldn't sell them on any more than anyone else could. Even if he could, he certainly didn't need the money. The Malfoys were amongst the most wealthy of the pure-blood families and one of the few that hadn't gone into decline over the centuries.

It didn't make sense and Severus wondered whether his overactive imagination was playing tricks on him.

Whatever the case he knew that he couldn't go to the teachers with his suspicions. He had no proof at all, Lucius had no motive and he would risk getting into trouble himself for being in possession of a book from the restricted section.

If he was right about the identity of the thief he would have to figure it out for himself before going to those in authority.

But, he thought to himself, perhaps Lucius had a good reason for what he'd done. He was his friend and a small part of him was reluctant to get the older boy into trouble at all.