Disclaimer: Harry Potter is NOT mine! I do not own any part of the amazing world that JK Rowling created, aside from copies of the books and films. I am just trying to add my own twist to a very undiscovered part of the Harry Potter world and universe.
Diagon Alley
London, England
"There you are Juliet," Lily said with a touch of exasperation as Hermione and Harry arrived at the Leaky Cauldron. "We have been waiting."
"Sorry Lily," Hermione said. "Had trouble convincing Patrick to let me come along today."
"Oh don't worry Patrick, Juliet will be fine," Lily said to a grumbling Harry at being made the scapegoat. Inwardly Lily was squealing with glee, she could see that Patrick certainly held stronger feelings for Juliet than just being friends, and Lily could also see that while Juliet was acting annoyed with Patrick's behavior, she was also pleased with his protectiveness.
"All right," Harry said. "Just send me a Patronus if you need anything."
"I will, don't worry Patrick," Hermione said. "What are you planning on doing for the rest of the day?"
"Lord Potter wishes to talk with me," Harry answered. Lily and Hermione both nodded, though for separate reasons, Lily thought that Patrick would be talking with Charlus' about training herself and the other Marauders, while Hermione knew that Harry was going to talk with his grandfather about the war and the Horcruxes.
"Well have fun," Lily said before grabbing Hermione by the arm and pulling her deeper into the Leaky Cauldron. Harry just shook his head before leaving the pub.
"So what are you planning Lily?" Hermione asked when she yanked her arm free of Lily's grip.
"Well, I figured that you could use a girl's day since we both have been surrounded by the boys for so long," Lily said. "And I want to introduce you to my girlfriends, Alice and Mary. There they are."
Hermione looked ahead and saw two young women waving at she and Lily, one a brunette and the other had black hair. As Hermione and Lily approached, Hermione realized that the brunette was Alice Longbottom, or she would become Alice Longbottom. Hermione could see the resemblance that Neville had to his mother, the same kind and slightly rounded face along with the brown hair. Inwardly, Hermione realized that Neville was the opposite of Harry, where Harry looked much like his father though with his mother's eyes, while Neville looked much like his mother but with most likely his father's eyes.
"Alice, Mary, this is Juliet," Lily introduced Hermione as the pair reached the table that Lily had reserved at Fortuscue's Ice Cream Parlor. "Juliet, these are my two best friends from Hogwarts, Alice Stewart and Mary MacDonald."
"Hello," Hermione said, "nice to meet the both of you."
"So Juliet, you are the one that had Lily here all in a tizzy," Mary said with a smile that seemed to belong on Sirius or James' face.
"What does that mean?" Hermione asked sharply.
"I don't mean anything bad," Mary said. "It is just that Lily was the best of us in DADA, and she told us all about how you took down a DMLE training golem by yourself. That's really impressive, and none of us could have done it, that's for sure."
"Oh," Hermione said while Lily beside her blushed in embarrassment. "Well, Lily is still very talented with Defense. I have just had a bit more experience in dueling and fighting than she has."
"But I hear your boyfriend is even better," Mary giggled.
"H…He is not my boyfriend," Hermione said. "We are just best friends, almost brother and sister in fact."
"That's not what Lily thinks," Alice said with a grin. "She told us how he has always treated you like you are the only thing in his world. From what has told us, you two don't act like brother and sister."
"Well we are," Hermione said sharply.
"All right Juliet," Alice said, putting her hands up. "Why don't you both just sit down and we all can talk?"
Hermione nodded, and she and Lily sat down across the table from Alice and Mary.
"So how did you all meet?" Hermione asked, as a waitress brought over a cup of tea for the group.
"Well, we all met on the train," Mary said. Hermione could tell that Mary was the most outgoing of the group. "And it all sort of just clicked. You know that Lily is a muggleborn," Hermione nodded, "well Alice is a pureblood from a pretty distinguished family, and I am a half-blood; wizard father, muggle mother. Me and Alice took Lily under our wing, we could see that she was struggling to adapt to the wizarding world."
"Were you all in Gryffindor?" Hermione asked.
"No, I was in Ravenclaw," Mary said, "and Alice was in Hufflepuff."
That was a surprise to Hermione; she had thought that Alice would be in Gryffindor like Neville. "You all stayed friends even though you were all in different houses?" she asked.
"It wasn't easy," Mary admitted, "but it did help that none of us were in Slytherin. The divisions between the Houses are growing wider, no thanks to this Dark Lord proclaiming that all muggleborns are not worthy of having magic, and a lot of Slytherins are falling in line with that rubbish. So where did you go to school Juliet? You obviously didn't go to Hogwarts."
"Beauxbatons," Hermione answered. "After my parents were killed, I saw sent to live with family in France."
Mary nodded though Hermione could tell that Alice was a bit more skeptical. She recalled that both of Neville's parents were Aurors as well as members of the Order of the Phoenix, so Alice was probably more suspicious of strangers in the current climate than some others might be.
"So what do you both do Mary, Alice?" Hermione asked.
"I am an Auror Trainee," Alice said, "the same class as James and Sirius are in."
"And I am working in the Department of Magical Cooperation," Mary said. "What about you Juliet? What do you want to do?"
"I don't know honestly," Hermione answered. "I think once the war is over I will be able to have some time to figure it out."
"I suppose that is wise," Lily said. "No one really knows if they will even survive the war, perhaps it is better to wait."
"Oh no Lily, don't you even think of turning down Flitwick's offer!" Mary said.
"Flitwick's offer?" Hermione asked.
"You didn't know?" Mary asked. Hermione shook her head. "Our little genius here was offered an apprenticeship under Professor Flitwick in order for Lily to get her Mastery in Charms."
Hermione snapped her head around at Lily. "Lily, that's amazing!" she exclaimed. "Why are you even thinking of not accepting? That would be an amazing opportunity!"
"I know it would," Lily said. "And I really want to take it but if I do, I would be away from James, and I feel that I would just be hiding behind the wards at Hogwarts while others are out risking their lives."
"Don't think of it like that," Hermione said, "you are getting an opportunity people would kill for, to learn under Flitwick. I am sure that James will support your decision."
"Oh I know he would," Lily said. "In fact, he has been very supportive, almost like he's trying to make me take the apprenticeship, like he wants me out of the way."
"I am sure that he just wants you safe Lily," Mary said. "You-Know-Who has been targeting muggleborns, half-bloods and blood traitors, and you, as the Brightest Witch of the Age and muggleborn to boot, blows any pureblood supremacy belief out of the water. You are a huge target."
"And even though You-Know-Who has been revealed to be a half-blood, there are still a lot of purebloods out there who hate to see a muggleborn succeeding in the world," Alice said.
"You know you can call him Tom or Riddle," Hermione said, somewhat surprised that an Auror Trainee like Alice would still be using the You-Know-Who moniker.
"Sorry, habit I suppose," Alice said. "In the Academy, we were taught not to call him by the V-name since Intelligence had found out that Riddle was making notes of who called him what in order to discover targets."
"Oh I see," Hermione said, surprised at the actual logical answer. Hermione wondered if the Taboo that Riddle had placed over Britain in the future was the culmination of this idea. "Well, I always felt that fear of a name only increased the fear you felt of the person or thing itself. How can you fight against him if you can't even say his made-up name? And besides Voldemort is French for 'Flight from Death'."
"Really?" Mary asked.
"Yes," Hermione said. "Not remotely as scary as you might have thought. Almost as if he is the one afraid of death."
"Afraid of death?" Lily asked. "Well aren't you afraid of dying Juliet?"
"Dying, yes I suppose I am," Hermione admitted. "But of death, no I am not afraid of that."
"Really?" Alice asked. "Why not?"
"Because I know that my parents and my former boyfriend, and many of my friends will be there waiting for me," Hermione said. The three young women were all surprised at the calm answer that Juliet provided.
"You believe that there is something after death?" Lily asked.
"Yes," Hermione said. "You are a muggleborn Lily, surely you attended Church services before Hogwarts, didn't you?"
"I did," Lily said. "But I guess once I entered the wizarding world, I removed myself from the Church, mainly because I was afraid of what might happen if the Church found out about my magic."
Hermione nodded. She too had felt frightened after reading about the witch burnings in Salem, Massachusetts, and the Spanish Inquisition in regards to the magical world, and had distanced herself from the Church as she grew older.
"Former boyfriend?" Mary asked, in an obvious attempt to change the subject. "Don't you mean your ex?"
"No," Hermione said. "I mean former, Ron was killed by Death Eaters about a year ago."
Mary's face went ghostly white. "I am so sorry Juliet," she stammered. "I didn't know."
Hermione gave Mary a weak smile. "It is all right Mary, as you said, you didn't know," she said.
"Perhaps we should get moving," Lily said, aiming to move the group along. She knew that Juliet's past was something to be steered away from, and Mary had already put her foot in her mouth.
"Let's just finish our ice cream and then we can go shopping," Alice said. The three other girls nodded and dug back in.
"So where do you want to go first?" Lily asked the girls as they left the ice cream parlor.
"No clue," Mary said. "Why don't we just wander around? There isn't anything specific you need, is there Lily?"
"Lily?"
The four girls turned at the sound of a man calling Lily's name. Hermione froze when she recognized the speaker as a younger looking Severus Snape. The future Potions Master looked very much like he would in the future; sallow skin, hooked nose and lank hair. But the man was much younger looking, no lines creasing his forehead, no dark bags under his eyes and his eyes were not filled with anger, rage and hate like they had been in the future.
"Mr. Snape," Lily said sharply, her eyes narrowing at the young man. Hermione knew some of the story between Lily and Snape, her knowledge coming from Harry. She knew that Lily and Snape had been friends since before they attended Hogwarts up until their fifth year when Snape had called Lily a Mudblood while being bullied by James Potter and Sirius Black.
"Lily please," Snape pleaded. "Just let me explain."
"There is nothing to explain Mr. Snape," Lily hissed. Snape's face folded in on itself at Lily's acid tone. "You have made your choice, and I have made mine. We have nothing to talk about. Good day Mr. Snape."
Lily quickly spun on her heel and stalked off up the Alley away from Snape, Alice and Mary followed quickly behind while Hermione brought up the rear. Hermione glanced back over her shoulder at Snape, who was still looking after Lily with a stricken look on his face. But when he caught Hermione watching him, Snape's face twisted into a very familiar sneer, one that Hermione had seen on the man's face nearly everyday in the future.
"Juliet!"
Hermione turned and jogged to catch up with the other girls, who were waiting for her by Flourish & Blotts.
"What were you doing Juliet?" Lily asked.
"Who was that man Lily?" she asked. "He seemed to know you."
Lily's face fell slightly while Alice and Mary both gave Juliet harsh looks.
"I mean, you don't have to tell me if you don't want too," Hermione said quickly.
"No, it is all right Juliet," Lily said. "When we finish our shopping, I will tell you. I am going to need a stiff drink with this talk."
"If you are not comfortable with talking about this Lily, then you do not need too," Hermione said.
"No Juliet, you need to know about this story," Lily said. "And I need to get this all off my chest."
Alice and Mary looked at one another, knowing that Lily had a lot of baggage when it came to Severus Snape.
Two hours later, the four women found themselves in a booth in the back of the Leaky Cauldron. Tom the barkeeper had come by and handed drinks to each of them.
"Thank you Tom," Lily said, picking up her butterbeer. The barkeep nodded and shuffled off. Lily glanced around before palming her wand and whispered, "Muffliato!"
Hermione was surprised at Lily's knowledge of the Half-Blood Prince's spells. She knew that the Prince was actually Snape but for Lily to know one of Snape's spells raised several questions.
"What was that?" Hermione asked.
"A spell that will keep others from overhearing our conversation," Lily said. "Not many people know this story, or at least all of it, and I don't want it to become public knowledge. The Order already doesn't trust me very much, they think that I am just a naïve woman who doesn't understand the magical world because I am just a muggleborn."
Hermione frowned at Lily's comments, she could understand where Lily was coming from, especially the fact that the old crowd would not believe the younger generation because the older generation could never believe that they were wrong about something, solely because they were older and had more experience.
"And if they found out that I had been friends with a Death Eater, then I would be treated with even more mistrust," Lily finished.
"That man was a Death Eater?" Hermione asked, even though she knew the answer.
"Well, I am pretty sure that Severus Snape is a Death Eater, but not 100% sure," Lily admitted. "He hung out with a lot of Slytherins who are most certainly Death Eaters while at Hogwarts."
"How do you know this Snape person?" Hermione asked.
"We grew up together," Lily said. "We both lived in Cokeworth before Hogwarts, though Snape lived in a different part of the town, a place Spinner's End. It was…" Lily paused.
"The wrong side of the tracks, right?" Hermione suggested.
Lily nodded. "Yes, Snape lived on the poorer side of town," she said. "But he was the one who introduced me to magic. He is a half-blood; his mother was a witch and knew about magic before Hogwarts. We were best friends while growing up; he understood what was going on with me, and could answer most of the questions that I had about magic. But…"
"But what Lily?" Hermione asked.
"That friendship ruined my relationship with my sister Petunia," Lily said. "She became jealous of me having magic and not her, and I think Severus was jealous of how close I was to Petunia while he was all alone. Snape was my best friend, he and I had a lot in common especially when we were younger but Petunia was my sister as well. And then when we got to Hogwarts, we began to drift apart. I was Sorted into Gryffindor and Severus went to Slytherin."
Lily paused and took a sip of her butterbeer before continuing on with her story. "The fact that we were Sorted into Gryffindor and Slytherin made it difficult to spend time with one another. And the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin made it even worse. I think I always knew that Severus was drawn to power; his home life was not the best. His father was a drunk who did not like magic, and Severus' mother while a witch, seemingly would not use magic to protect herself or Severus from him. I think that is where is started, Severus saw magic as a way to protect himself from his father, and anyone who wanted to hurt him. And then being immersed in Slytherin helped feed Severus' belief that being magical meant you were better than anyone else."
"I thought that Severus would be able to stand up to those in Slytherin," Lily said. "Whenever the Slytherins had classes together with Gryffindor, I would try and partner with Severus but there was always something that gave me pause about Severus. He began to change as our Hogwarts years went on. He started hanging around with some of the older Slytherins who were just foul."
"Foul?" Hermione asked.
"They were bigots," Alice said. "They thought that just because they were purebloods, they could do whatever they wanted. They bullied, hexed or cursed anyone who got in their way."
"Didn't the staff do anything?" Hermione asked.
"Couldn't or wouldn't," Mary growled. "Say what you want about the bastards but they were smart enough to not get caught or they had powerful enough friends and families that would protect them, and they would also go after victims who had no one to protect them."
Hermione frowned, her mind going back to her own Hogwarts years and how easily bigots like Draco Malfoy or Pansy Parkinson got away with bullying and tormenting muggleborns while essentially being protected by Snape and Dumbledore.
"How did this Snape change then?" Hermione asked.
"It was subtle," Lily said. "It wasn't until our third year when I started to get suspicious of Snape. When we studied together or partnered together in class, Snape was fine if only just quieter than usual but whenever I saw him outside of class, Snape would glare or sneer at me or anyone who wasn't a Slytherin or pureblooded. When I would confront him on it, Snape would only say that he had to act a certain way while in Slytherin in order to not be targeted."
Lily paused again to take a sip of her butterbeer again. "Obviously that was a lie," she said. "But I was young and naïve, and Snape was still my best friend, really my only childhood friend. I wanted to believe that Severus was telling me the truth, that it was he was only acting that way to protect himself. But I learned my lesson at the end of the fifth year when Snape called me a Mudblood."
Hermione's eyes narrowed at the epithet while her hand twitched to rub her left arm.
"That was the final straw for me," Lily said. "While I know that Snape was being humiliated and embarrassed by James and Sirius, it didn't give him the right to use that word. I also knew that it wasn't the first time he had used the word, he had been calling other muggleborns that when he thought I wasn't around or couldn't hear him. Snape tried to apologize after that but it was just too much. I thought that our friendship was stronger than his need to fit in and belong, but I was wrong. I also thought that Snape was smarter than to fall in with that crowd."
"It's all right Lily," Alice said, reaching over and patting Lily's hand. "Snape made his choice and you made yours."
"I know," Lily said. "It is just I never thought that we would be on opposite sides of this war. I still remember how much fun we would have together while we were growing up."
The other three women looked at one another, not knowing exactly what to say. Alice and Mary knew that Lily was still hurting over what Snape had done, though they were not exactly sure why. They had seen how Snape acted when Lily wasn't around, and also when the pair was together, and they could see that Snape was not the friendliest of people even when he was putting on a nice face, mainly due to their distance.
"All right, what's the plan for after lunch?" Hermione asked, trying to raise the spirits of Alice, Mary and Lily.
"Well done Harry," Charlus said as he immobilized the training golem that Harry had been dueling. "You have certainly improved these past few weeks."
"Thank you grandfather," Harry said wiping his face down with a towel. He hopped down from the dueling platform and took a glass of water from a nearby table.
"You obviously excel at Defense with spells," Charlus said, "but you could use work on your Transfiguration and Charms abilities. Dueling and fighting are not just casting spells at one another. For all my distrust of Albus Dumbledore, he is an excellent duelist and magical fighter due to his ability with Transfiguration. There is also Filius Flitwick who is the Charms Professor, and a former European Dueling Champion before joining the Hogwarts staff. I believe he won the European Championship three years in a row in the late 1950s. His use of Charms during those Tournaments was revolutionary. The rumors that I have heard about Riddle, along with your own tales, tell me that Riddle likes to overwhelm and overpower his opponents."
Harry nodded, thinking back to all the duels he had had against Voldemort over the years as well as the duel between Voldemort and Dumbledore at the Ministry. Voldemort had always used powerful spells, especially the Unforgivables, to batter down his opponents' will and defenses. Harry's research into the Unforgivables showed him that the power requirements for each of the spells were immense, and the casual ability and use that Voldemort had with them showcased his magical strength and that aided to the fear that Voldemort held over the magical populace of Britain.
"What were your OWL scores in Transfiguration and Charms?" Charlus asked.
"I got Exceeds Expectations in both," Harry answered to which Charlus nodded.
"Good, that will make things easier," he said. "We will focus on your Transfiguration and Charms abilities for the time being. That should help you against Riddle and his followers. Most Dark witches and wizards only use curses to battle their enemies, and thus most Aurors or magical law enforcement officers only use counter curses or jinxes and hexes. Using Transfiguration and Charms will give you an advantage. Now the first thing I will be teaching you is to conjure a rock slab."
Harry set aside his glass of water and picked up his wand. "Ready," he said.
"Now the spell is Sielapis," Charlus said. "The wand movement is a clockwise twist followed by an upward flick. Depending on the amount of magic you put into the spell, that is how high and thick the wall will be. Also, if you are around rock or stone you can use another spell to draw the material from the earth. That spell is Ortumlapis, and the movement is a counter-clockwise twist and then an upward flick of your wand."
Harry nodded and quickly began practicing the wand movements for the two new spells. Charlus grinned as he saw his grandson eagerly practice the spells; he could see James and Lily's enthusiasm for learning shining through Harry.
"I would wait until we go outside to actually use those spells, Anne wouldn't like us ruining the floor in here," Charlus chuckled. "Also there is one more spell I want to show you." Harry paused in his practice and looked up. "Now this Charm will turn pretty much anything into stone. The incantation is Duro and the wand movement is an upward flick followed by a downward clockwise twist."
"Oh, Hermione used that spell in the Battle of Hogwarts to turn a tapestry into a stone wall," Harry said.
"Yes, that is a common use of the spell," Charlus said. "It is also much less strenuous magically than conjuring stone. Now let's go outside and practice."
Harry grinned and the two Potters left the Kiln and went outside to the backyard.
"All right Harry, once I am sure that you can perform the spells properly, I am going to start casting spells at you," Charlus said. "Those spells are primarily used for defense. So whenever you are ready."
Harry wet his lips but nodded. He pointed his wand at the ground and said, "Sielapis!"
Immediately a slab of stone about three feet tall and two feet wide faded into existence in front of Harry.
"Well done," Charlus said. "Now do it again," he added after Vanishing the stone slab. "You will need to be much quicker than that if you were to use that spell in an actual combat situation."
Harry nodded. "Sielapis!" Another slab faded into existence, this one appearing slightly faster than the first one but it still took a full ten seconds for it to solidify before the two wizards.
"Better but not good enough," Charlus said. "Keep going until you can conjure that slab in under a second."
Harry blinked at the instructions but nodded. He Vanished the stone slab and then took a deep breath before recasting the spell. Again a slab shimmered into view in front of Harry. Harry then Vanished the slab and recast the conjuring spell. This time he could feel the slight strain on his magic as he cast the spell for the fourth time. Harry could see why conjuring was such an advanced magical act.
"Good Harry," Charlus said after Harry had managed to cut down the time it took him to conjure a stone slab from ten seconds to eight seconds.
Harry fell back onto the grass, panting heavily. Charlus handed Harry a hand towel and a glass of water. Harry wiped his face clean and quickly drank the cold water.
"You've done well Harry," Charlus said. "Take a break, you don't want to completely drain yourself. I will have Milly bring you something to eat."
"Aren't you going to join me?" Harry asked.
"I am afraid not Harry," Charlus said with a smile. "I need to take care of some things in my office. When you are done with lunch, continue to work on your conjuring."
"Ok grandfather," Harry said, taking another deep drink from the charmed glass.
Charlus grinned at Harry before leaving the young teen, 'No not a teen, Harry is a man grown after all he and Hermione have been through,' Charlus thought.
"Are you two done then?" Anne asked as Charlus entered the kitchen.
"Harry is just taking a short break," Charlus told his wife. "I need to check on some things in my office. I shall be there if you or Harry need me."
"Of course dear," Anne said. She then looked out the kitchen window, seeing Harry getting back to his feet and resuming his practice. "How is Harry doing?"
"Quite well, especially for someone who did not complete his seventh year at Hogwarts," Charlus said. "But there are obvious holes in his abilities, we are working on conjuring right now, and once he has that done we will move on to adding to his Charms knowledge though you might be better for that than I would Anne."
"I might just do that, Merlin knows the trouble you have with basic Charms," Anne chided her husband, to which Charlus just rolled his eyes but didn't disagree. He did struggle with many basic Charms, usually overpowering them. It seemed to be a male Potter tradition, as most Potter males were gifted with large amounts of magic, and that lent itself to their talents with Transfiguration and Defense, both very power heavy magical disciplines.
Charlus was still chuckling under his breath when he entered his office. His chuckling quickly died away when he spotted a large black raven sitting on his desk. The raven turned and watched as Charlus closed the door and walked around the office before sitting down behind his desk. The raven then stuck its leg out and Charlus quickly untied the letter.
"Thank you Ares," Charlus said, stroking the raven's plumage. He unfurled the letter and flattened it out on his desk. It was blank. Charlus took out his wand and laid its tip at the top of the letter and then channeled magic into the parchment. The parchment glowed a low golden color for a brief second before black ink began appearing on the parchment.
Potter
Your information about this new Dark Lord is most troubling. If what your sources say is true, then this Riddle is truly lost and mad. Our ancient mutual friend has discovered that the procedures he had undertaken will have stripped away much if not al of his humanity, making him less human and more animal-like. This, as you know, will make him even more dangerous, more prone to uncontrolled outbursts.
The team has been notified and all have agreed to your proposal. They will be contacting you through the usual methods when they have arrived in country.
May Merlin protect you my friend,
Henry
Charlus leaned back in his chair and ran a hand through his hair. With a pop, a glass of whiskey appeared on the desk. Charlus picked up the glass with a mental thanks to Milly. After taking a sip, Charlus reread the letter. He was glad that the others had agreed to return to England, they had rarely set foot in Britain since the War, having to deal with the experiences and memories of surviving the War. Charlus had been the only one who had family to go back too afterwards, so the others had decided to traverse the world instead. They had all stayed in touch but with the group being scattered around the globe it made keeping in regular contact difficult.
Charlus set his glass down and looked at the framed photograph that was on his desk. It showed a younger looking Charlus with his arm around a good-looking young man with short wavy hair. Next to them was a group of four men and two women. The eight all had big smiles on their faces. The photo had been taken just after the group had completed basic training and were getting ready to ship out to the continent with the muggle armies.
Their smiles weren't around for long as by the end of the war, the group would be reduced by half, with only Charlus, Henry, Nigel and Christine surviving the war. And Charlus hoped and prayed that this brewing war wouldn't claim anymore of his friends or family.
A/N: Howdy all, I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to update this story. Real Life has been kicking my ass recently, with job hunting, moving and then starting working again. But things have settled down somewhat recently so hopefully I will be able to start updating more regularly in the coming weeks. Anyway, hope you all enjoy this chapter. Til next time,
SlyNinjaKnight