Secrets Untold

Secrets Untold - Chapter One

'End of the Sixth'

By Gundam Girl

---

The Journal of Professor Albus Dumbledore

I knew it before I was even told. Three powers so great, fading almost one after the other, cannot possibly go undetected after all of my studies. And one power, so brief yet so remarkable, would neither escape my senses.

Those poor, wonderful people! After so many times wondering "why?", I have never longed to know this much before. James and Lily...their fate has saddened me more than anyone's, I believe. Why was it Voldemort felt the need to seek out the Potters? Why would their Secret-Keeper betray them so savagely? With so much connecting them, why would Sirius have let go of James and Lily and the friendship that had constantly held true?

And, most curious of all...why the boy? Why did he survive? Why not his parents, with all of their cleverness and ability? His powers worked like that of a fully trained, fine-tuned wizard, bringing down Voldemort with no spell yet defined.

Voldemort... Tom, to this day, your anger toward all Muggles both infuriates and fells my heart. Did you do it because Lily was your obstacle, because she signified that a witch can lie in a Muggle-born soul? Did you do it for Sirius or your other followers, for their obvious grudge against her or her husband? Why, Tom? Why?!

I am aware that I must compose myself. However, being at Privet Drive tonight, seeing Minerva's distress and Hagrid so upset and that baby... The barely-born Harry Potter with his eyes closed in sleep and that scar that will forever mark him as The Boy Who Lived, oh, how his parents loved him. How he would surely have loved his parents if they had been saved. When Minerva asked me, I truly did want to say that he could stay in the world he was born into. But I could not possibly inflict that upon young Harry. It would be cruel to let him know the world his parents so adored when he could not know his parents. And more, were remaining forces of Voldemort's --posh, of Tom-- to attack poor Harry while his head was below any other roof, the protection spell, the last loving gift dear Lily could give her son, would be void. That Petunia woman, though dreadful, mind you, is the only hope of Harry's infallible safety.

But Harry will be ready for us one day. And we shall, no doubt, see great things from him.

For, I remember, we saw great things from his father and mother. I am indeed growing sentimental now, for I can recall all of them, those who molded this age. What trials they endured, what strain of emotions. Their love, their hate, their anger, their jealousy, their fear, and their happiness. I only wish I knew which of those it was to conquer the rest.

James, Lily... Your story may have ended shortly, but it has not been forgotten. I, Dumbledore, assure you of that.

---

-Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, 1977-

"Galorn! Stop. Galorn!"

A black boy glanced up, and the grin fell from his face. "Uh-oh," he muttered.

"Galorn - quite obviously, you don't have permission to ride on your broom in the corridors. That's five points from Gryffindor, Ray."

Ray Galorn, Gryffindor's Quidditch team Chaser, lowered to the ground and dismounted his Nimbus 1975. "I don't get it, Evans," he said to the redheaded girl scowling at him. "How can you so easily take points from your own House?"

The girl narrowed her green eyes. "Because of whatever reason I was chosen to be a prefect. Go put your broom away, Galorn."

"You know, it's really too bad for '79's first-years," Ray grumbled. "They won't have Commander Lily Evans to boss them around."

"If things go well for you on N.E.W.T.S," she retorted, "you won't be here then to see them bossed around by anyone."

Ray only glared and stormed off.

The two girls beside Lily watched him go worriedly. A blond, Clarissa Bell, turned to her.

"I don't get it either, Lily. You must be the only prefect out of six who takes points from their own House," she reckoned.

"And you're the only one in the school," added the other one, a brunette named Nicole Brown, "who doesn't care if we win the House Cup."

"I do care, Nicole," Lily insisted. "But I want to be sure we win fairly."

"If you want to be fair, you should add points, what with all that we're losing thanks to Lucius Malfoy."

"Lucius is getting careless." Lily went about straightening her robes so she didn't have to meet her friends' eyes. "He's bound to get caught soon."

Clarissa and Nicole shared a glance. Lily Evans may have been the single smartest girl at Hogwarts, but she was far from the most spirited.

---

"Damn." At the curse, the four sixth-year boys walking through the main hall all stopped.

"What is it, Sirius?" Peter Pettigrew asked.

Sirius Black, a tall, handsome wizard, looked suspiciously at the large jars holding the gems that represented the House points. A few Gryffindor rubies had just then fallen.

"We just lost five points." He just rolled his gray eyes.

"So?" he friend, Remus Lupin asked. "You cause us to lose twenty a week by yourself."

Sirius's scowl deepened. "It's just there's a possibility of them being self-taken."

Another boy with messy black hair and glasses frowned with him, but for a different reason. "Hey, Padfoot. You don't know Evans took them. Malfoy's always--"

"Malfoy would take much more than five, James," said Sirius. "The Ravenclaw prefects are both too afraid for their social reputations to take more than two, and the Finch-Fletchy brothers have a good rep of being trouble themselves, so it'd be hypocritical."

"Makes sense at least," muttered Peter.

Remus smiled slowly. "You have to admire Evans, though, don't you? Being Muggle-born, and always at odds with Lucius, she has it hard."

"You don't take points from Gryffindor," Sirius reminded him.

The other Gryffindor prefect coughed into his hand. "Yes, well, with you always on my case, Sirius, I. . . Oh, for goodness' sake, James."

Peter blinked at the boy in glasses. "James, can't you ever focus when she's in eyesight?"

James Potter startled out of the daze he'd been in and tore his gaze back to his friends instead of across the room. "Wormtail," he said to Peter warningly, "I certainly--"

"Can't," Sirius supplied. "Don't you see him at the House meetings? Goes positively dreamy when Evans talks."

"Maybe 'cause her voice sounds better than listening to your mumbling," James snapped.

"Now, you two," Remus' own voice cut in sharply between them. "Don't make me feel I should compete with Evans." Although his tone held humor, there was an underlying layer of weariness.

"Are you all right, Remus?" queried Peter worriedly.

"Fine, fine," the taller boy insisted. "It's just a full moon tonight, and. . . Well, it's nothing serious, you know."

James' face did not hold a smile. If going full werewolf and becoming hungry for human flesh was nothing, he was a Head Boy from Slytherin.

"Potter."

James went rigid at the voice, but he turned and forced his famous lopsided grin. "Yes, Evans?" Only the three at his side could detect the nervousness that accompanied the arrogance in his voice. "And to what honor do I owe Her Grace Madam Gryffindor Prefect's presence?"

Lily's expression did not lose its icy stare. "The four of you should be heading to Herbology, shouldn't you?"

Sirius's cocky look matched James', though not half a nerve twitched in him. "That all depends on who you ask, Evans."

Evans sniffed. "Just make sure you're there, Black."

Sirius bent at the waist in a mock bow. "Your wish is my command, m'lady. And you command quite a bit from everybody."

Lily didn't react to the sarcasm, but turned on her heel.

"I do believe you should be going to Herboloy as well, Evans."

Lily stared unaffected into the black, hard eyes of Severus Snape. "And you are delaying my arrival to the greenhouses, Snape. Step aside."

"Muggle-born students have no need to rush. They've always been favored in Dumbledore's eyes," Snape told her coolly, his young, pale face fixed into a grimace of dislike. But he stepped to the right. "Oh, Evans."

Lily stopped walking, but didn't turn back to face him. "Snape?"

Snape smirked just that slightest bit. "If I'm not mistaken, Gryffindor just lost thirty points."

Lily swiveled and glared at Snape's retreating back. Sure enough, rubies were dropping like mad. "Bloody hell, Lucius," she muttered. She gave a small glance to where the infamous quartet had been. Pleasingly, they were gone.

---

But not willingly.

"Remus, let go of me," said Sirius in exasperation. But the Gryffindor prefect did not release him. "Oh, come on."

"Just because you've gotten good marks in Herbology up 'til now doesn't mean you don't have to go to class." Remus gave a harder tug on his arm.

"James, you should talk to Evans - get her together with the teachers to pass something about Gryffindors having an option about going to class. You don't need to know about mandrakes to be brave."

"What's so wrong with Herbology?" asked Peter.

Sirius grunted. "Don't like Ravenclaws," he muttered as they entered greenhouse seven.

"Oh, surely we Ravenclaws can't be all bad," a voice crooned with amusement.

Sirius straightened from Lupin's grip and smiled at the brunette nearest them. "Not all, Andromeda. But everyone's moody about classes starting after the spring holidays. I'm very ready for this year to be done with. It almost doesn't feel like there's a point."

Andromeda Black, Sirius's favorite cousin, smiled back. "Yes, that's true enough, Sirius."

"How was your holiday?" he asked her.

A glaze came to Andromeda's eyes. "Excellent. There was this boy, Ted--"

"Ted?" James inquired with a grin.

"Ted Tonks," she nodded. "He lives in Wessex, and oh - the nicest Muggle I've ever met. He--"

She was interrupted by the door bursting open and Lily Evans hurrying in just as the bell rang.

"Ah, Miss Evans. Right on time," said Professor Sprout, a plump blond woman who had only worked at the school for a year. "Now, all of you, please present the magnus root I asked you to collect."

As James obediently put the plant out on the table in front of him, his eyes kept on the female prefect. Her hair was pulled half-up, with a thick curtain of red hair hanging around her shoulders despite most of it being tied back. James had never seen it completely unleashed, and he'd always wondered what that red silk would look like when not confined by an elastic band.

All around, Lily was rather ordinary. Her attractiveness didn't hold a candle to, say, Alice Gardia, a sweet Hufflepuff beauty. Her skin was flawless but fair and because of it, she was almost as pale as Severus Snape.

No, James thought. Nothing about Evans could be compared to Snape.

"Hey." He jumped as something nudged him in the ribs. "Pay attention, mate," said Peter.

James did his best to tune in on the theory of the magnusius plant's incredible memory-enhancing powers that Professor Sprout was telling them about. But Evans was only a mere two tables away, and it was hard to concentrate.

It was an eternity before the school day ended, and it ended on a bad note for James. Who, after all, enjoyed double potions with the Slytherins? Especially if Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape sat behind you and Peter Pettigrew, who had never been good at potions.

James hefted his cauldron and started up the stairs of the dungeons, knowing Remus, Peter, and Sirius were somewhere behind him.

He emerged into the entry hall, scowling at the idea of writing a two-parchment essay on what kind of remedies you could brew with pixie leaves, when a nasal voice behind him said, "Ten points from Gryffindor, Potter, for having such a hideous backside."

James turned, a grin already etched on his lips. "Funny. I was certain you'd be used to the sight of my backside, Malfoy."

"You and your pal," Sirius added, coming to join his friends. "Isn't that right, Snivellus?"

Snape turned up his long, white nose. "It just so happens I know a good potion to make for curing idiotic encouragement, Black."

"Better get on it then," Sirius urged, taking out his wand. "'Cause it'll only take me a second to jinx Malfoy here."

Malfoy drew his own wand, shaking long blond hair from his shoulders. "It better be faster if you want to get me first, Black."

"Expelliarmus!" a third voice shouted. The spell was executed skillfully enough that both boys' wand flew from their hands. "Accio!" At the word, the two wands landed in Lily Evans' outstretched palm.

"Evans!" exclaimed Sirius.

"Evans," Lucius snarled lowly.

"Both of you," she began. "Malfoy and Black, you should know better than to--"

"Defend ourselves?" Sirius cut in.

Evans' mouth thinned into a line. "From where I'm standing, Mr. Black, you were the one to first aim this wand." She held his up and tossed it back to him, doing the same for Malfoy. "Lucius, you are a prefect. And Remus, I was hoping you would be able to instill a sense of etiquette in your friends."

Lupin, who had been rather eager to see Malfoy jinxed, bowed his head. "I was too late to intervene," he apologized.

Ice, James thought. The green of her eyes seemed to be trapped in indestructible ice. And yet, she was still stunning.

"Ten points from Gryffindor and Slytherin," she announced. The students that had gathered to watch their House members duel all groaned.

James felt a strong urge to tell them to all shut up, that they deserved it.

"Thank you very much, Miss Evans," said Professor McGonagall's voice as the middle-aged witch hurried toward them. "But it won't be necessary."

Flickers of hope appeared on many faces. Lily, however, scowled, and James frowned.

"Seeing as there seems to have been much chaos lately regarding to the taking and adding of House points," McGonagall explained calmly, "Professor Dumbledore has seen it fit to equal all Houses at two hundred-fifty points each, and that points will be kept by teachers only."

James wasn't sure, but as more moans sounded, he thought Evans' face nearly crumpled in despair. When he blinked, her expression was like hard porcelain once again.

McGonagall nodded. "Well, then, hurry to your common rooms, all of you."

There was much grumbling as the students departed. James heard Nicole Brown say to Evans, "Don't worry, Lily. Dumbledore knows you were being fair."

Sirius, who had apparently heard as well, scoffed. "Yeah, too fair. I was ready to make Malfoy's feet webbed."

"Be quiet, Sirius," Remus said before James could. "Evans is a good prefect."

"And a goody-goody, she is."

"Malfoy wants her dead," Peter murmured.

"Malfoy and his father - oh great King Orius - want all Muggles dead. They just want to rule the world in the end," Sirius said, and turned to the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Fiddle-de-groke."

James followed his best friends inside. "Let's not talk about Malfoy, Padfoot. You're depressing me."

"And you're scaring Peter," Remus grinned.

Peter did, indeed, look frightened.

"Oh, don't worry, Wormtail," soothed Sirius. "Orius Malfoy isn't taking control."

The portrait swung open again just as the four were sitting. Lily, Clarissa, and Nicole came in. "Oh, please, Lily," Nicole was saying. "It'll be all right."

James looked over to see, for the first time in his life, Lily Evans fall apart.

Her sobs were loud, and racked her slender frame, but she ran into the dormitory stairwell before she could fall to her knees.

Deeply concerned, James made a dash for the stairs as well, and started up the steps. He just saw a wave of red hair following its head to the right when the enchanted staircase molded into a slide. James flew down on this stomach, back to the common room floor.

"James!" was the first thing Sirius said, going and helping him to his feet. "What the bloody hell are you doing?"

"Shit," James muttered, putting his glasses back on as they has gone askew. "I knew about the stairs."

"Yeah, you knew about them...until you decided to chase after Evans. What's the matter with you?" Black demanded.

James shook his head, his brown eyes worried. "She was crying. Why?" he asked Clarissa, who was nearest.

Clarissa blinked. "For a genius Seeker, James, you are an idiot."

"Bell," he growled.

"Lily is a Muggle-born witch, James. She's had a hard enough time getting the students to listen to her alone, but now that she doesn't have the power to take points anymore..."

Remus frowned. "I think I understand the situation. More narrow-minded people, such as Malfoy, won't respect Evans, prefect or not."

"Respect?" echoed Nicole. "She didn't get any respect before, Remus. But at least she had the factor of concern with the House cup."

"No kidding," Sirius grumbled.

"Sirius," said a voice from across the room. He turned his head to see Frank Longbottom. "You really have no right to judge Evans."

"She's got enough to worry about with N.E.W.T.S and all," James added, using a small spell to right his bent glasses.

Sirius smirked. "Not to mention that so-far-unnoticed crush of yours." James glared. "Right, though, eh, Ja - ACK!"

Remus shook his head, but Harold Krossfer went wide-eyed as they wrestled on the floor.

"Shouldn't you stop them, Remus?" he inquired. "You can, as a prefect."

Remus shrugged. "No, Harold. No prefect could stop them." He walked to the couch and sat down. "I'm taking a nap."

Peter winced as James hit Sirius' shoulder hard enough to bruise. "Mates..."

---

"Disgusting." Lucius flew into an armchair adjacent to the couch that Snape sat on in the otherwise empty Slytherin common room. Staring into the golden fire that illuminated silver and green décor, he went on. "Filthy. That dirty little mudblood dares to take points from Slytheric, and then that oaf Dumbledore denies prefects our point-taking privilege."

Snape inspected his dirt-encrusted nails. "And I was rather enjoying watching you drop Gryffindor's points like that," he said with no emotion in his voice.

Lucius smirked as the portrait behind them opened and two girls entered. "Well," he said. "If it isn't my two favorite Blacks. I dare say you saw the scene my least favorite and I created today?"

"My darling cousin Sirius," Bellatrix spat with a grimace. "He's right there with our sister Andromeda. Why did you go and taunt Potter today, Malfoy? I was having such fun watching rubies fall and emeralds rise."

Her sister, Narcissa, sat on the arm of Malfoy's chair and began running her fingers through his shoulder-length hair. She set her cheek on his head. "I was thrilled," she murmured.

Lucius caught the hand and kissed the palm, a promise for that night. "It's good to hear it, Narcissa. I say, Severus, why do you glare in such a way?"

Severus's beetle-black eyes flickered to him for a moment before retuning to the fire. "That mudblood Evans," he said tightly.

"Yes," Lucius nodded, pressing his lips to Narcissa's horribly pale neck. "Infuriating, isn't she? The foul Muggle wench."

"She has top scores." Bellatrix's voice was nearly a whine.

"Hm." Malfoy drew away from the seventh-year Black and motioned to her fifth-year sister. "The two of you leave. I wish to be alone with Severus again. I'll see you upstairs, Narcissa."

Bellatrix smiled at the greasy-haired boy on the couch, but it was slyly. "Do call if you need anything, Snape."

"I'd break my own hand first," Snape replied coldly, "before I went to you for favors."

Her eyes sharpened in barely-held fury. "That'd be fine. I'm sure you know a potion that would mend it."

Once she and her sister had gone, Lucius stood and began to pace. "She's a menace, Severus. That Evans is a thorn too deeply embedded in my side - hard to get out." He paused in his back-and-forth path across the hearthrug, a hand pressed to his eyes. "And yet," he murmured, nearly whispered as he brought his fingers down to look at the flames between them. "She is...beautiful."

Snape's fingers on both hands balled into fists. "A careless adjective. I haven't noticed," he replied thickly.

"Liar. You don't look long, but you certainly do look." Lucius met his eyes. "I bet you wonder just as I do; wonder if her skin is smooth, if her hair would be soft in your hand."

Snape looked off to the side. "You have, Lucius?"

"Too many times," he hissed.

"Then it would seem the thorn is embedded lower than in your side."

Malfoy chuckled. "Touché. I'm going to bed."

Snape knew that he was using the word "bed" as a verb instead of a noun. With a muttering of "accio," his satchel landed on the table in front of him, and he started to take out his History of Magic homework. Unfortunately, there had been no work for Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Oh, and Severus."

Snape looked to Malfoy, who was at the foot of the stairs.

Lucius smirked. "What's her first name, anyway? That Mudblood's?" he added bitterly. "Magnolia or something?"

Severus narrowed his eyes. "Lily," he told him sharply.

"Lily," Lucius nodded as he started up the stairs. "Lily..."

When the sound of his footsteps faded, Snape grimaced into the fire, by himself in the common room, and not feeling the least bit lonely.

"Lily Evans," he murmured. Her name was far too elegant for a dirty-blooded witch like her.

And yet, he thought with some irritation as he threw his quill down in frustration, it sounded perfect for her.

---

Review please!