Chapter 9: The Private Car
The rest of the week seemed to have passed by in the blink of an eye. Soon Lily and Severus were at the barrier that separated King's Cross from platform nine and three-quarters. When they reached it they leaned casually against the cold metal and came on the other side, looking at the scarlet engine of the Hogwarts Express.
As they were making their way to the train many heads and eyes turned to the direction of where the two were walking, all gazes on Lily, who was already in her school uniform, save for her long black robes. She had on a sleek, black skirt that came just above the knees, a button-down white collared shirt and tie with the Gryffindor House crest, and a gray sweater vest. Her red hair was currently flowing down over her shoulders, and held back by some plain white clips on the sides of her temples.
When they came to the first open door of the train, a few of Lily's male admirers came and offered to take her trunk to an empty compartment.
"No need for that," Severus said in a cold, irritated voice. "I've got it."
Helping him, and refusing anymore offers from the boys, Lily and Severus got onto the train before the warning whistle sounded for the train to depart the station.
"Come on," Lily said as they were walking down the aisle of the train. "Let's go find a compartment before the Prefects' meeting starts."
Along the way many more boys were pushing themselves close to glass windows of their compartments, trying to get a better view of the fiery red head they had dubbed their queen. Many shouts of invitations and wolf-whistles could be heard as they walked past each one. One compartment, which was halfway up the train, opened and out came the Marauders, James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew.
James Potter had untidy black hair, which he kept running his hand through whenever "Queen" Lily was around, black-colored glasses that covered hazel-brown eyes, and was currently wearing his school uniform, save for the vest and his shirt was untucked.
Sirius Black also had black hair, but it was sleek and came to his chin, and grayish black eyes. He had on his own school uniform, except the tie and vest was missing, and he had his shirt unbuttoned and wrinkled, like he had just slept in it.
Remus Lupin, on the other hand, looked like the prime example of how a private school scholar should look like. He had his entire uniform on, including the black school robes, and it was pressed to perfection. His brown hair was well kept in natural waves and his golden-brown eyes shown with laughter and respect.
"Hard to believe he's a Marauder and the brains to their pranks," Lily thought with a smile.
Peter Pettigrew was entirely different from his other three friends. Whereas they were tall, well-built, and in their uniforms, he was the opposite. He was dressed in over-baggy Muggle clothes, consisting of plaid pants, a canary-yellow shirt and black dress shoes. His eyes, a pale blue, were constantly watery and beady, and he had a twitchy manner that Lily could recall was like that of a scarred rat.
"Why if it isn't the Queen of Hogwarts! The angel sent from Heaven itself!" Potter declared. "She has once again come to grace our unworthy eyes with her beauty and our humble lives with her presence," he added, bowing down low as if meeting the Queen of England herself.
Placing her trunk quickly in front of her legs as James was making his bow, she turned her attention to the other Marauders, "Hello Sirius, Remus, Peter."
"Hello Lily," Remus said with a shy smile. They had been on good terms with each other since first year.
"H-H-Hi, L-L-Lily," Peter stammered, before promply collapsing in his seat in a faint, a silly smile on his face.
"Hullo Evans!" Sirius said, clapping a hand on her shoulder. "Ready for this year's Dueling Club tournament?"
Laughing at her persistant competitor Lily said, "Yes I am. But I believe the real question is: Are you ready to lose for the fourth year in a row? Or should I count that as fifth year in a row, considering that you lost to me in first year when you tried to use a bat-bogey hex on me and I countered with-"
"Hey!" Sirius replied in the same teasing manner. "That does not count as a duel! I was merely trying to help Prongs here improve his wrist movements," he said pointing to his still bowing friend.
"Of course you were," Lily said than walked off, Severus following close behind with a smirk on his face.
When they were further away and out of earshot of the band of troublemakers, Lily turned to Severus and asked, "Alright, what did you do?"
"What do you mean?" he countered in a nonchalent voice.
"You know exactly what I mean," Lily said in a low voice, thought she could not keep a small smile from creeping on her lips. "Usually Potter gets out of his bowing position and starts trying to flirt with me before his fellow Marauders are finished talking. So, what did you do?"
Smiling at Lily, Severus replied, "I simply placed a imbolizing charm on him and used that new spell I perfected last year. You know, the one that glues his tongue to his mouth."
Placing a hand over her mouth to stiffle her laughter Lily opened the door to an empty compartment where she and Severus placed their trunks in the overhead shelf. Once they sat down they noticed they still had a good thirty minutes left, so they started talking about what they expected Hogwarts was going to be like that year.
"It will, no doubt, be very hard," Severus commented. "This is the year of our OWLs, and the teachers are going to be expecting us to remember everything we've learned since first year. Not to mention all of the extra courses we took."
Nodding in agreement the red head then cracked a mischievious smile.
"What is it?" Severus asked curiously.
"Just wondering, do you think Potter is still under the impression I'm taking Divination classes?" Lily asked, her smile widening.
When the students had started choosing their courses at the end of second year, James Potter had just announced- publically and loudly on top of the Gryffindor table during break- that he was in love with Lily Evans, and had made it his mission to know what classes she would be taking so he could join her.
Fortunatly, Lily got wind of his plan and started spreading rumors that she was taking Arthimacy, Ancient Runes, Divination, and Care of Magical Creatures in that order. What Potter did not know is that Lily was actually taking all of those classes, except Divination, at the same time as Severus. So Potter had missed his chance at trying to join her in her classes, and was stuck in Divination for one period while Lily spent that time with Severus in the library studying.
"If he is, he's probably more dense than we gave him credit for," he said, then they both started laughing at the thought of Potter still looking for Lily in the cramped tower room.
"So that's why he was always looking so defeated after every class," a voice replied.
Severus and Lily turned in time to see Bellatrix in her usual school attire, leaning on the side of the door and smiling at Lily like she had just won first place in a school fair.
"Who ever knew you had such a sneaky side, Lily? Except for maybe you, Severus," she added, smiling wider.
"It wasn't exactly sneaky, per se," Lily said, trying to hide the small smirk that was trying to be seen. "It was more of a way for me to get Potter away from me for a few hours a day. He practically smothers me when we're in the Gryffindor common room, and he has an annoying habit of trying to corner me alone in the corridors."
Laughing more definatly, Bellatrix came into the compartment, sat down beside Lily and placed an arm around her shoulders.
"Now Lily, there's no reason to deny it," Bellatrix said, as though she were speaking to a child. "Everybody already knows you're quite cunning, so why bother trying to hide it? And speaking of hiding," she added, looking around the compartment in a disapproving way, "why are you two in here? It's way too cramped in here."
"Well, Bellatrix," Severus said, "We wanted to be closer to the Prefects' car for when the meeting comes around."
Making a shooing motion with hand, like she did at the Silver Tongue, Bellatrix got up and pulled Lily with her, saying, "There's plenty of room in our car and you're both welcome to come join us."
"We couldn't impose, Bellatrix," Lily replied, trying to figure out who the "us" was that the black-haired witch was referring to.
"Oh, nonsense," she said, summoning their robes from the overhead shelves. "Just put these on and we'll be on our way. You can leave your trunks here, nobody will bother them."
Leading the way once more, Bellatrix took Lily and Severus further up the train, past the Prefects' car, and into a more spacious car that was decked out in the Slytherin colors. There were crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, tables along the wall and the seats were padded in emerald green with silver buttons along the outline. The tables were packed with food, and sitting at the tables were most of the fifth year Slytherins and a few younger students.
There was Bellatrix's seventh year sister, Andromeda, Rudolphus, Regulus, Avery, Mulciber, Karkaroff, Rookwood, and some girls that Lily did not know, but could guess were either the former four's girlfriends or Bellatrix's dormmates. Possibly both.
"Hello there, Lily, Severus," Rudolphus said, greeting them both with a smile.
"Hello," Lily said hesitantly while Severus just nodded in acknowledgement.
"Have a seat over here, Lily," the girl, Andromeda offered, patting on a seat next to her. She looked a little like Bellatrix in the face, but she had brown hair, blue eyes, and had a kinder, sincerer smile than her sister's. Upon looking closely at the emblem on her robes, which had a black background and a yellow otter, Lily saw she was from Hufflepuff.
"Oh yes," Andromeda said, smiling down at her patch. "Looks like Sirius was not the only one to break the tradition. 'All Blacks go to Slytherin'," she quoted in explaination to Lily's questioning look.
"Yes, well, we try to overlook that," Bellatrix said, smiling at her sister in a false manner.
"So Evans," Mulciber said, trying to distract her from the tension between the two sisters, "what brings you here to our private car? With the exception of Andi there, we usually don't allow people from other Houses inside. OW!"
"Don't mind him, Miss Lily," Karkaroff said in his heavy Bulgarian accent. He was a transfer student from Durmstrang School of Sorcery, who arrived last year. "Mulciber here just doesn't like change. He veally needs to get vith the times."
At that Severus got up and motioned for Lily to follow, "Speaking of times, I think it's best that we head to the Prefects' car. We only have five minutes left."
"Is it time already?" Bellatrix asked in disappointment. "Oh well, we'll be right back. By the way, Mulciber?" she added, walking out the door. "Don't eat all of the food. Okay? Bye!"
Closing the door on the rowdy laughter, the trio of Prefects went to the Prefects' car and found some seats around the table that was there.
At the table was the Head Boy and Girl, Armand Shore and Ariel Gasp, the sixth year Ravenclaw Prefects, Uther Cleawater and Morgana Freeman, the sixth year Hufflepuffs, Amos Diggery and Shelia Masterson, and, finally, the other Gryffindor Prefect...Remus Lupin.
"Well," the Head Boy said, rubbing his hands togther, "now that our other Gryffindor and Slytherin Prefects have arrived, let's get started. Our first oder of business..."
As the meeting wore on Lily noticed that Remus' eyes were constantly going back and forth between her, and the two Slytherins she came in with. The golden orbs kept giving her a worried expression, and Lily knew she would have to explain the situation to him sooner or later.
Once the meeting was ajurned the Prefects and Heads proceeded out of the car, but Remus pulled Lily aside so he could talk to her in private.
"You two go on ahead. I'll meet you back in the car," Lily said to Bellatrix and Severus as they exited to their car.
Rounding on Remus Lily said, "I assume you want to know what I'm doing with Severus and Bellatrix. Correct?"
"Severus I can understand, considering he's been your best mate since before Hogwarts," Lupin confirmed. "However, it's Bellatrix I'm worried about. Lily, she's been your rival since day one, and now you're actually hanging out with her?"
"In a way I am," Lily answered, folding her arms over her chest. "She met Sev and I at the Leaky Cauldron and said she wanted to make peace with me before school ended."
"You actually believe her?" he asked incredilously.
Smirking Lily replied, "Not by a long shot. I have a feeling she's up to something, so I'm just going to wait and see what it is she's planning. Especially if Sev's involved. You know how unpopular he is, even amoung the Slytherins. She may try to harm him if we're not too careful."
"He's suspecious of her, too?" Lupin asked, eyebrows raised.
Rolling her eyes she said, "Of course he does, oh Brains of the Marauders. Sev isn't stupid. And neither am I," she stated shutting the door behind her.
As Remus and Lily were having their talk, Bellatrix was having onr of her own with the other Slytherins. Andromeda had left eariler to find her boyfriend, Ted Tonks, and the other girls left to get ready for their arrival at school.
"Everything seems to be going according to plan," Bellatrix said.
Mulciber grunted.
"Is there a problem, Mulciber?" Bellatrix asked, eyes narrowed.
"No," though his tone indicated differently. "I just don't really like the thought of the Dark Lord wanting a Mudbl- AHHHHH!" he screamed.
Bellatrix kept her wand held at him while he gasped and cried in agony, her eyes glistening with enjoyment mixed with anger.
"Guess what," she said, finally lowering her wand, "it doesn't really matter what you like. If the Dark Lord wishes for her to join our cause, then she will join. We just have to stick to the plan and get her more interested in the Dark Arts. Once that is done, and she starts to enjoy their uses, then we will have another witch inducted into the his services."
"That won't be easy," Severus spoke up. Then turning his full attention to Bellatrix, "She is still suspecious of you, and is waiting to see what is really going on. She may figure out the plan before its completion."
"How would you know that Snape?" Avery asked with a leery smile.
Smirking back, Snape replied, "I've known her since we were nine years old. She is intelligent, cunning, intuitive, and, most of all, patient. She will play along for a while, but will not get too absorbed into the world we are introducing her to. She dislikes Dark magic, and would never use it by any means."
He remembered the internal fight Lily had with herself a few weeks ago, and knew, if worse came to worse, she would rather die than use Dark magic.
But Bellatrix replied, "Yet you're not intirely convinced of that, are you, Severus? I saw how she handled herself in Knockturn Alley. I saw how her eyes lit up when she saw that dress and those snakes. I saw how well she handled that boa back in Claude's shop. She looked like she felt at home there.
"It seems as though little goody-goody Lily has a stronger Dark side than either of us have thought," Bellatrix continued. "And, from what the Dark Lord has informed me, her happy little home life seems to be crumbling and revealing its true nature. She's already at odds with her full-Muggle sister, and her parents seem to have been regretting her being a witch."
This little bit of news had peaked Severus' interest. How could Harry and Adriana Evans, the best people Severus had ever met in his life, who had supported Lily in her journey to becoming a powerful witch, just say they regretted her being what she is? He would have to talk with her later and see.
Hearing footsteps approaching the door Bellatrix made a motion with her hands for everybody to start talking.
When she entered, Lily saw everybody deep in discussion and Bellatrix motioned her to seat between herself and Severus. Then everybody grabbed something from the table, except for Mulciber who was hunched over in pain.
"What's wrong with him?" Lily asked, actually concerned for him.
"Oh nothing," Bellatrix answered dismissfully. "He just tried to eat too much too fast."
Somewhat satisfied with the answer, Lily joined in the conversation that had just accumulated around the table.
A few hours later everybody got off the Hogwarts Express. Lily decided to get a carriage with her other friends, Mary MacDonald, Amelia Bones, and Sheila Finnigan, and so waved good bye to her Slytherin companions. She quickly found them in a carriage and was pulled in by all three girls. The carried moved on its own accord and headed for the castle.
On the way Lily's friends quickly bombarded her with questions.
"Where have you been?" Mary asked.
"I tried to find you in Diagon Alley last week, but you weren't there!" exclaimed Amelia.
"I heard you were hanging out with the Slytherins on the Express. Is that true?" Sheila demanded.
"Enough already!" Lily shouted. "Okay, first of all...Mary, I've been busy these past few weeks, so I'm sorry I didn't owl you about what was going on. Amelia, I went school shopping the week before, that's why you haven't seen me. And Sheila," she said turning to the girl in front of her, "I was only in their private car for only a few minutes. It was next door to the Prefects car, and I wanted to check to see if it wasn't too rowdy."
"You made Prefect!" they all exclaimed with awe.
"Yeah, I did," Lily said, slipping her wand back into her sleeve.
"Wait until Severus learns that you used a non-verbal Confounding spell," the voice inside Lily said, teetering.
Yet, Lily did not really seem to care.