Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter


Her heart belongs to another, Lucius Malfoy idly thought to himself as he studied his intended from across the table in the less formal dining hall in Malfoy Manor. Or at least she is on her way to giving it to whoever they are. I doubt she even knows it.

He wondered who was managing to steal her gaze away from him, the wealthy and devilishly handsome Heir Malfoy. No matter. Whoever they were, they would have to die. Lords might be allowed to take on a mistress or two, but Ladies were absolutely not. It could potentially contaminate the family line – an entirely unacceptable notion.

"What do you think, Lucius?" Narcissa asked, bringing him out of his murderous thoughts. Apparently, she had been speaking to him whilst he had been pondering the matters of the developing love triangle that would most likely end in one of their deaths. Preferably the unknown party's death over his or Narcissa's.

Afterall, he had campaigned rather hard to Lord Black to be allowed her hand in marriage, it'd be a shame for that to go to waste.

"What do I think of what, Cissy?" he asked smoothly, dabbing at his lips with a napkin.

She didn't dare roll her eyes at him as she would with Severus for not paying attention, even if he did shorten her name insultingly. "Do you think that he will allow Snape to take on the apprenticeship. You weren't able to say much about it at lunch."

He paused, before saying coldly, "I do not presume to know what the Dark Lord may or may not allow, as it is not my place." Lucius pierced her with a glare, letting her know that she was dangerously close to overstepping the line of what was acceptable for her to converse about. He maintained the glare until she looked away, "However, I would not be surprised if the Dark Lord allowed it."

Narcissa nodded, deciding that it would be safer to hold her tongue for now. Lucius could be kind when he wanted to, but the majority of the time he was… cruel. He had yet to raise his wand against her, but she feared it was only a matter of time before she was sampling his torture spells first hand. Narcissa very nearly sighed. He was better than Nott or Wilkes, both of which her father had been interviewing for her hand in marriage before Lucius came along. At least he would wait for their marriage to be official before he began the 'reformations of her character'.

"Were you able to get everything you needed with the money I provided?" He questioned.

Narcissa nodded again, "There was an additional 50 Galleons, Lucius. What do you wish me to do with it?"

He waved his hand dismissively, "You may do as you please with it. Severus received the same amount as you, but I advised him to use his excess to purchase a few sets of dress robes – I forgot to gift him with a few during his stay here and no wardrobe is complete without dress robes."

"I am glad you were able to pass on any number of robes to him. The rags he's been forced into only serve to embarrass him and Slytherin House." She said tactfully despite the fact that she had been overlooking the state of his robes for a while now.

"Quite right," he said, his face screwing into a look of mild disgust.

Not another word was spoken between them except for when they bid each other goodnight and walked to different wings of the manor; she to her room to write to Severus and he to his study to ponder what to do regarding the revelation he had made earlier.

He draped himself over the Victorian-esque lounge (emerald green, naturally) and with a snap of his fingers a house-elf appeared with a tumbler of Italian Vermouth Bianco. Now that he was resting comfortably, alcohol on hand, he could plan what he was going to do. He would need to have a pair of eyes on her at all times – someone who could be discreet. Perhaps one of her female friends? No. They wouldn't be with her every moment of the day as none of them were in the upper level classes like his Cissy was. He was also of a mind that any female could be as discreet as a Fwooper. Male eyes were needed, then, more than one pair of them. Obviously a Slytherin, and perhaps a Ravenclaw.

Severus was his first choice. He was the other Seventh Year Prefect for Slytherin and had many of the same classes as her. Not to mention the fact that he had better chances with a flobberworm than he did with Cissy, so he definitely could not be the one who had stolen her heart of his betrothed from him. He would send an owl to Severus on the morrow.

Now, to be upfront with the teen, or not? He did not doubt for a moment that Severus would conceal this from Cissy. He knew his place, after all. This was more of a question of how much he wanted to annoy the teen. Lucius knew the owl would fluster the boy, and a letter with vague orders would cause further annoyance. It was always fun messing with Severus – he had the best reactions of anyone Lucius had ever met. However, he would not be there to witness Severus's tizzy so it would be a bit of a wasted effort.

With a sigh and one last pull from his tumbler, he finished his drink and stood and made his way over to his ornate desk. As he drafted his letter, his mind pondered the teen he had been working on recruiting for years now. He liked him as well as any Pureblood could like a Half-Blood, and he certainly liked him slightly more than any other Half-Blood he had met. Even so, they both held a dislike for one another – Lucius just hid it better. He had no idea what the younger had against him, and to be honest, he really didn't care. The boy was useful, and he knew his place. There weren't many like him.

Perhaps he would hand deliver it, to minimize the annoyance the teen would feel towards him. Yes, he'd do it when he saw Narcissa off to her last year of schooling at Hogwarts.

{Furius Draconis}

James let out a shaky breath, looking at his appearance in the full-length mirror he had in his room in Potter Cottage. He had been in contact with Evans recently, and today was The Day, with capital letters. The Day that he finally got to take her out.

Granted, they were just making a patrolling schedule based off of the Prefects they received with their letters of congratulations on making Head Students – thankfully it didn't give anyone's full name as he was certain he would've died of shame if Lily knew what his middle name was. He was, however, slightly curious what the C stood for in her name, and very curious about what all the letters in Snivellus's name were for. Not that he'd ever admit that out loud.

"What d'you think, Padfoot?" he asked, looking over at the boy who was his brother in all but name and blood.

Said boy looked up from his magazine of questionable content and raked his eyes over James's appearance. "You look like a peacock," he drawled before returning to his magazine.

James rolled his eyes before he snatched the thing out of Sirius's hands. "Be serious, mate, I'm going to lunch with Lily in 20 minutes."

"I am Sirius! I don't know who you think I keep pretending to be, but I am most assuredly Sirius Orion Black. Have been since I popped out of my bitch of a mother's womb. Now, can I have that back?"

James pinched the bridge of his nose at the overused joke and growled in warning, "Sirius…"

A peal of bark-like laughter rang through the room as Sirius stood up to walk around his friend, stroking the stubble on his chin as if it were a full-grown beard while his critical grey eyes actually took in the other boy's appearance. James did have a nice taste in clothes, but what he was wearing was a touch formal to just be meeting up with Evans for lunch.

The half-Indian boy was wearing his best sherwani, a deep blue with gold design around the edges, over a cream-colored kurta. The dhoti he had on was golden, matching the patterned kashmiri shawl he had draped over his shoulder. His mother had insisted that he own some traditional clothing from her homeland, and he wasn't about to complain – it was all bloody comfortable!

"Where are you two eating at? Cause you're decked out for The Fountain of Fair Fortune, but would get some pure weird looks in The Hog's Head, if you know what I mean." At James's blank look, Sirius said bluntly, "You're overdressed mate."

"I want to make a good impression, though! Like I am responsible enough to be Head Boy," James said, exasperated.

"Well, Prongs, Evans already has a pretty firm opinion on you that isn't likely to change because you're all dolled up. In fact, I think she might think that you think this is all a big joke if you go looking like that."

"Merlin's most soggy Y-fronts," he swore, storming off to his closet, leaving a bemused Sirius standing in the middle of the room. A few moments later, he came back this time in some faded jeans and a collard red and grey striped tee. "Is this better then?"

Sirius gave him two thumbs up and a cheeky smile, "Definitely Prongs. Go woo you lady."

"Prat," James mumbled as he made his way out of the room, heading for the foyer so he could apparate to the Leaky Cauldron, which is where he would be meeting Lily. A quick pat of his pockets confirmed he had both his wand and his Head Boy letter, so he spun on his heel, disappearing with a crack and reappearing with a similar crack in the dingy pub. He did a thorough sweep of the joint, trying to find the dark red hair of the Head Girl but to no avail. He must've beat her there.

He spent too much time standing in the designated apparition square looking for Lily, because with a distinct crack she appeared in his shirt.

He blinked owlishly down at her, and she up at him before they both blushed like mad.

She quickly ducked out of his shirt with no small amount of embarrassment and a large amount of clumsiness. She somehow knocked his glasses off in the process and they both bent to retrieve the blasted things he was still adjusting to. Not only did they bump heads, but they both grabbed the frames at the same time, her hand over his. Little jolts of electricity travelled up James's arm at this contact.

They both froze for a moment, before she drew he hand back quickly; they both had a blush raging wildly on their faces.

Merlin, this is a disaster – and I haven't even opened my mouth yet! James thought in despair, jamming the bulky horn-rimmed glasses back on his face. He'd been wearing them for nearly two years now and he still hated them.

"We should probably move to avoid someone else ending up in our clothes," she suggested weakly, attempting to joke it off. Her blush clashed with her hair in a ridiculously adorable way.

A nervous laugh escaped James, his hand jumped up to the back of his head to ruffle his hair anxiously. "Yeah, right, we should. I'm so sorry about that, I should've gotten out of the way – I was looking for you, you're usually everywhere early."

She winced slightly, "That was, um, Snape's doing. He liked being fifteen minutes early to everything."

An awkward silence fell over them.

They found a free table in the middle of the pub and sat down at it. "I brought the list," James said, pulling it out of his pocket and setting it on the table.

"I did as well, and I brought parchment. We should have Slytherins and Hufflepuffs patrol together and Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. We are up in the towers after all, and they're down in the dungeons – makes sense and limits interactions between us in the other's territory too. I know that's when the majority of the tussles happened last year." Lily said as she pulled out a Muggle pen and began drawing tables for the patrolling schedules. "We have to make them for the whole year, yes? As well as trips on the Express, during Quidditch games, Hogsmeade trips and breaks?"

He nodded, "All we can do for now is made a schedule for the Express, though. We don't have everyone's schedule, and we don't know who will be staying over breaks or who is going to be playing Quidditch, not to mention all of the other clubs that meet in the afternoons."

"I hadn't thought of all that…" Lily trailed off, placing the end of her pen in her mouth to chew on it. "Why didn't McGonagall send us everyone's schedule at least?"

"'Cause that would make too much sense," James said with a little snort, trying his hardest not to stare as she moved the pen around in her mouth. "We'll just have to set up a meeting to get all of their schedules and make a better schedule then."

It was her turn to nod, unaware of how her pen chewing habit was distracting her Head Student counterpart. She took it in hand again and began writing something on the parchment before she passed it over to him, asking, "What d'you think?" He read it over, slightly confused at her shorthand. Apparently, it showed on his face he had no idea what he was looking at because she spoke up again with a shrug, "It's their initials – made it easier."

"Oh! Right. Makes sense," he could feel his cheeks heating up in embarrassment, Get it together Potter! Stop acting like a complete pillock!

He took another look at the parchment, this time with the list of names of Prefects to refer to. She had Gryffindors patrolling with Hufflepuffs at the front of the train and Slytherins working with Ravenclaws at the back, and then had the different years rotating, starting with the Seventh Years patrolling for the first hour, then Fifth and Sixth years swapping every hour until the last hour which the Seventh Years had.

"Why have the Seventh Years just patrol at the beginning and end?"

"Get the First years settled, and then ready to get off the train. And also so they could properly enjoy their last ride to Hogwarts on September 1st."

He nodded. As always, she made perfect sense. "You didn't need my help at all with this," he said sheepishly.

She shrugged, "I would've made a schedule for the entire year if you hadn't brought up the fact that we didn't get any of their timetables."

They lapsed into silence, both trying to think of something to say.

"How's your summer been?" he asked the same time she asked, "D'you have any pets?"

Both of their faces flamed with embarrassment again. "Ladies first," James said, gesturing for her to ask her question again.

"Do you have any pets?" Lily asked again, blushing further at the stupidity of her question. It was her go to whenever she was trying to get to know anyone, but now it seemed a bit silly.

He grinned. "Loads. The Potters are known for their griffins but right now we just have two – Jacquelyn and Jabari. I don't spend much time with them, though. I rather prefer the company of our cat, Dawon – my Amma, my mum, named him after the sacred tiger of the goddess Durga, she rode him into battle and all that. Dawon, bless him, has got to be the sweetest cat in the world. That little bugger will actually climb you if you aren't paying attention to him," James trailed off with a laugh. "We also have some corgis - my dad named those, I think all after the Tutshill Tornados which is his favorite Quidditch team. D'you? Have any pets, I mean?"

Lily nodded with a grin of her own, while he had been talking she had replaced the pen in her mouth and had been idly chewing on it. She spoke around it, "Just a dog, a Border Collie. Her name is Sprocket. Da found her hiding under his car one day after work, it was raining something awful so it didn't take much convincing on his part to get her in the car. Once we got her dried and fed we couldn't get her to stay still, so Da came up with her name based off that."

"A dog person, then?" He asked, letting his head rest on his hand.

She took a moment to answer, thinking it over first. "We've only ever had Sprocket for a pet, so I suppose. Why?"

James shrugged, "Just curious. I'm more of a cat person myself. How's your summer been?"

"Good," she said simply. "My sister, Petunia, has a boyfriend now, so she's been less snarky than usual. Da has been busy as usual – he's an architect – and mum's just happy both of her daughters are home for the summer."

"You have a sister?" James asked, bewildered.

Lily nodded. "She's older - Muggle," was all she said on the matter. "How has your summer been so far?"

"Brilliant," James said, a grin spreading across his face again. "Sirius has been living with us and we manage to convince Remus to come over every now and then. Peter, poor man, has been stuck at his home looking after his mum – she just recently took ill. We even offered to come over to his place for a visit, but he waved us off."

"What is she ill with?" Lily asked, her brows pulled together on her freckled forehead.

He shrugged, "Pete wouldn't say, but I reckon it's bad if he's got to hang about all summer. I tried offering to have our family Healer take a look, but he wouldn't have any of it."

"Family Healer?"

"Yeah, loads of Pureblood families have their own personal Healer that works with them, kinda like Madam Pomphrey for Hogwarts. Peter is as good as family, so I know Healer Jacques wouldn't have an issue with checking out his mum." Worry made James frown. Peter had never been this evasive in his whole life, not even when he was trying to hide who he had a crush on from Sirius. It was odd. Really odd.

Lily merely hummed in response. Out of all the Marauders (McGonagall had called them mischief making marauders one day and they had adopted the name with a terrifying zealousness) she only knew Remus well as they had been Prefect pairs for the past two years. She had no idea what was normal for the smallest of the four hellions.

"Are you hungry?" James asked. He'd ponder the Evasive Peter situation when he was back at Potter Cottage with Sirius to bounce ideas off of.

"Starving." Lily sat back in her chair, twisting to look at the chalkboard menu over the bar. "Want to split a Shepherds' Pie?"

James grinned broadly at the side of her face. She didn't want to leave straight away, and she wanted to split a plate. The dark-haired Gryffindor considered this day to be a roaring success. "Absolutely."

{Furius Draconis}

"What… is it?" Severus asked, eyeing the mass of fur Narcissa was holding out to him with disdain, ignoring the flow of their fellow students around them.

"It's a kitten, my dear, and a very expensive one at that too, so please accept it," she said, amusement dancing across her features.

He looked around the 'kitten' with a raised eyebrow. He pointed at it with a finger for emphasis and asked, "This is a kitten?"

Narcissa chuckled, "Yes, Severus, this is a kitten."

"Then it's a bloody Nundu cub, Narcissa! Why are you holding it out to me – I don't want it."

She sighed and retracted her arms, bringing the massive kitten close, eliciting a thundering purr from it as she scratched it behind its ears. "Cassandra is of a noble breed, my dear. She is a Jevabaownn – the Norse cousin of the Kneazle – and hardly half grown."

"Half grown?!" He shouted incredulously, giving the massive cat a wide-eyed look. The students walking around the pair standing on the platform gave him a startled look; Severus hardly ever raised his voice.

Narcissa let loose a full belted laugh, and would have doubled over entirely if not for the large feline in her arms. She continued to laugh for a while, making Severus's perplexed look change to one of pure annoyance. When she calmed down, she wiped away her mirth induced tears and said in a voice heavily laden with amusement, "My dear Severus, I have never seen your feathers so ruffled."

By now he had his arms crossed over his chest and a thunderous look upon his face, "Are you quite finished?" he sneered.

"Not by half, my dear!"

With a sigh that was more of a growl, Severus closed his eyes and focused on breathing through his nose. "Dare I ask why you decided to buy me this massive feline?"

"You keep refusing an owl, and every wizard needs a familiar, darling. I knew you would end up using a toad in a potion, so I got you the most imposing of them all," She said as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

He glared at the cat who looked far from imposing hanging limply in Narcissa's arms, "A Horklump is more daunting than that cat, Narcissa."

"Hush you!"

"Severus, looking sour as ever," came the voice of Lucius Malfoy as he appeared behind Narcissa. He planted a kiss on her cheek and asked with mild surprise when he saw the cat in her arms, "Whatever do you have, Cissy dear?"

"A gift, for our lonely friend Severus. He's never had a familiar so I took it upon myself to get him one – do you not think it appropriate? She comes with as just as many names as Severus has himself." Severus arched an eyebrow in question which prompted Narcissa to recite the cat's name in full: "Cassandra Allegra Portia Calogera Filomena Pentaghast."

Lucius spluttered, taken off guard. "Severus! You never told me you had four middle names!"

"I do," he answered curtly, hoping to avoid having to say his full bloody name, especially around so many people.

"Well go on, tell me what it is!"

Bugger.

With a sigh, Severus said in the dullest voice possible, "Severus Tiberius Furius Draconis Verus Snape."

The blonde wizard's eyebrows were nearly in his hairline. "Your mother must have a penchant for Romans, Severus."

He sniffed. "She does." That was a lie; he had Tobias to thank for his ridiculous number of names, but he wasn't about to tell Malfoy that.

"Are you going to accept Cassandra or not, Severus?" Narcissa asked. "I have her brother – Regalyan." And indeed she did, he just noticed the large cat sitting by her trunk, tail curled around its paws.

He looked back up at her pleading face and felt his defenses crumbling. Even if she didn't have him wrapped around her finger, he wouldn't have dared to refuse with Malfoy standing over her shoulder, so he thrust out his hands and said gruffly, "Give her here then."

Narcissa's smile was absolutely radiant as she handed the Jevabaownn over to Severus who very nearly grunted as the heavy cat was deposited into his hands. Cassandra's purring was cut off as she looked into his eyes – It didn't have pupils! – for an unsettling moment as if she were assessing his character before she abruptly scrambled up his arm and draped herself across his thin shoulders and began purring once more.

"She likes you!" Narcissa said, still smiling.

"Brilliant," he deadpanned, really rather unsure what to make of the massive cat around his neck.

{Furius Draconis}

Remus Lupin walked through the barrier for Platform 9¾, his lips curving into a smile as the scarlet Hogwarts Express came into his view. The engine and all five train cars gleamed proudly, as if it had been polished just for this occasion. The dragon shaped smokestack was spewing flames and smoke from its maw, eagerly awaiting the seven-hour journey ahead of it and its passengers, the majority of which were amassed on the Platform, chatting away happily. the familiar sight made Remus's heart twist in the strangest way.

This would be the last time he boarded the Hogwarts Express on September 1st of any year, the last year before he and his friends were released out into the real world.

A bittersweet thought, if there ever was one.

He was ready to move on, really and truly. He was eager to start the next chapter of his life, eager for what adventures lay in wait for him to go on.

But he also wasn't. Hogwarts was his home. The first place he'd been accepted for what he was, and it would probably be the last. That thought dampened the gold tinted dreams of glorious adventures significantly. It was easy to forget what he was with the acceptance of his friends and with the fleeting moments like this that gave him a taste of what a normal life was like.

Despite his friends' protests, he knew that any glimpse of "normal" life would only be just that – a fleeting glimpse. He was a werewolf, and gay too. He wasn't particularly keen on having to bounce from job to job because his employers finally caught on to why he was sick every full moon. Only Merlin knew what other obstacles he'd face due to his preference in partners.

A great bellowing shout of "MOONY!" alerted him to the fact that he'd been found by at least one of his friends. He began walking towards the call, his customary happy-go-lucky smile settling onto his face and his tattered trunk rolling behind him. If he had to guess, it was Padfoot that shouted, but he had yet to spot the teen in the mass of people milling about on the platform.

He was halfway across the platform when he was nearly tackled to the ground by a bear hug, courtesy of the over-energetic Animagus. "Moony old man! You're still skinny as ever!"

He chuckled and said, "Good to see you too, Padfoot. Where's Prongs?"

Sirius took great care in messing up Remus's sandy brown hair before he answered. "Over by his favorite bird, of course, trying to get a click, if you know what I mean." He said, waggling his eyebrows ridiculously. "A manticore wouldn't be able to chase him away, now that she's actually talking friendly with him."

"Lily's talking to James?" Remus asked, astounded. She couldn't have been bothered to give him the time of the day in all of their previous years at Hogwarts. "Merlin, he's never going to shut up about that."

"I know! They had lunch the other day, going over Head Student business and what not – he came back happier than I've ever seen him. Practically floating, he was – I wouldn't be surprised if he's actually floating now. You know how his magic gets with Evans about." Sirius said as they brushed past a throng of Fifth Years all huddled up around Godric knows what.

Remus shook his head, still smiling, "I bet he's going to send me on another recon mission to gather all of the juicy details from their next Lioness Night."

"How is it you get in to those when all the other blokes in Gryffindor get shot down – literally – for even attempting to ask?" He questioned, annoyed. "They drag you off every Friday night, giggling as they go. I'd say you're the only one of us who doesn't want to be there, and yet you get to go!"

"Calm down Pads, you know why they drag me – and none of the other blokes – up there," Remus soothed, dragging his trunk on to the train with the help of Sirius.

"Yea, I know how come, but it isn't fair," he grumbled.

"Sirius, I didn't ask to be gay any more than I asked to have my furry little problem once a month, so shut it," Remus very nearly snapped, making his way to the Prefects car at the front of the train. Sirius always was a little insensitive, especially when girls were involved and he wasn't.

"Ah shite, Remus, you know that's not how I meant it. I'm a blithering pillock and you know it," Sirius scrambled to keep up with the werewolf's pace. "Hex me to your heart's content if that's what you'd like – go on."

Looking over his shoulder, Remus shook his head and said, "Don't get your knickers in a twist, Paddy. It's alright."

Hardly missing a beat, Sirius asked with an impish grin on his face, "What if I like havin' my knickers in a twist?"

"Oh for Merlin's– I don't want to know that, Sirius!" Remus said, utterly exasperated. "Keep all of that information to yourself, please and thanks."

The other boy let out a peal of bark-like laughter and pounded on Remus's back, "I'll see you back in the compartment once you finish up with the prim and proper divits. Here, give me your trunk."

"I happen to be one of those 'prim and proper divots', so watch it," Remus said with mock severity. He passed over his battered trunk to his girl-crazy friend.

"Pish! You're a Marauder, so that makes you an uncultured divit first and foremost."

"Moony? Uncultured? I don't think so," James said, coming up behind them and throwing his arms around their shoulders. "Now you, on the other hand, are about as uncultured as they come."

Sirius let out a dramatic gasp, his hand jumping up to clutch at his heart, "Prongs! You wound me!"

"Hardly, you overdramatic twat. Now, get out the way so the cultured one and myself can get on with our swotty business – you're holding up the queue," the shorter boy said, a massive grin on his face.

"Fine, fine, I'm going." Sirius said with a grin. "Don't drag on with your speech, Prongs, like you do before Quidditch– ouch!" He was cut off by a weak stinging hex to the back of his leg.

"That's for disrespecting your Captain, Black!" James called, replacing his wand back up his sleeve.

Remus shook his head at his friends. "Behave, James. You're Head Boy – Merlin help us – you've got to set an example. A good example." He and James walked into the car with the rest of the Prefects who had been waiting to get in.

"Exactly what Remus said," Lily added walking up to them, a disapproving glint in her eyes. "Let's get this meeting underway, yeah?"

"Yes, let's," James said, blushing at being reprimanded by Remus and Lily.

Lily cleared her throat, gaining the attention of the Prefects in the car. "For those of you who haven't worked it out yet, James and I are Head Boy and Girl this year. We were only able to make a patrolling schedule for the train ride today, as we did not receive your schedules for the year. James and I will hammer that out once we get your schedules. But we've decided that it was in the best interest to mix things up a bit," as she finished, the prefects started whispering amongst themselves.

"You will not be patrolling with only a member of your house this year," James added. "Slytherins will be working with the Hufflepuffs, from the dungeons to the first floor. Gryffindors with the Ravenclaws from the second to seventh floor."

"You might've seen it, but we posted the patrolling schedule for today, take a look at that on your way out. Copy it if you need to, just please don't be late to your shift of patrolling. When your shift is up, meet back here with the new shift to tell them about any issues that came up while you were patrolling."

"Also, when you receive your class schedule tomorrow, please get a copy of those to us as soon as possible – 6th Years will likely have the heaviest patrolling schedule since they don't have to worry about a major exam like the rest of us do."

"Now, if you could all write down your name, House and Year, followed by which clubs you're involved in, and if you're on your House's Quidditch team, that will help James and I tremendously when we make the patrolling schedule for this term." Lily passed around a roll of parchment and a quill. "Once you've finished with that, you're free to go."

A Ravenclaw 5th year had barely finished writing their information down before Snape summoned the parchment and quill to him. A reprimand was on the tip of Lily's tongue, but when she saw who the parchment went to, the heated words died in her throat. His magic was darker than it had been on that day. She remained frozen until the last of the Slytherins had left the compartment, never noticing the worried look James was giving her.


Edited by Chrysanthemum247!

Notice: this chapter starts immediately after the last chapter, with Lucius and Narcissa eating dinner following the day she and Severus spent at Diagon Alley. This was in August as the Hogwarts letters come out a month before the begin of term. We pick up in September of 1977 with Narcissa giving Severus Cassandra. Sorry for any confusion that caused.

But hey! Another chapter! And it's longer (I think) than the other ones! Next chapter they'll be at Hogwarts! I'm excited! FYI, I made up the word Jevabaownn a long long time ago, originally as a type of raven, but it'll work for a big ass cat (think like the size of a dog, at least a medium sized dog). Also, in my head, Cassandra and Regalyan are currently about the same size as a full grown Maine Coon.

Now, who can tell me where I got the names Cassandra and Regalyan from? I might even give ya a spoiler (if you'd like) if you get it right!