Secrets Untold

Snape couldn't exactly determine what was wrong with him. He wasn't a mood-by-day person and held nothing against Thursdays, or against May. He was a morning person, and was often the first one awake in his Slytherin dormitory. Lucius didn't sleep in either, but he was usually the first one awake in the girls' rooms.

His homework having been done, he dressed and went downstairs, doing no more than sitting on the sofa. Breakfast wasn't for another twenty minutes and he never went to the cafeteria without Lucius anyway. Leaning his head back, he stared into the fire, which burned constantly with the aid of magic. Then he had to look away quickly; the reddish flame reminded him too much of Lily Evans' hair.

Lucius had taken a gamble yesterday, he mused. The only reason Professor Flitwick hadn't caught onto Malfoy's blatant "regard" of Lily was his height, or lack thereof. Flitwick could barely see over his own desk after all. James Potter, however, had seen Lucius and was no doubt calculating the best curse with which to seize him.

Speaking of curses, Snape thought as Lucius, freshly showered and dressed in clean robes, came whistling down the girls' dorm staircase, sliding the last few feet as the staircase flattened out beneath him, but managing to keep from falling.

"Good morning, Severus." Already alert, Lucius joined his friend on the large green couch. "Nice dreams, I hope."

"I don't dream." Severus' brows narrowed as he stared at the glass tea table in front of them. "I sleep and see black when I do."

"You are indeed boring that way, my friend." Filled with energy, Lucius stood again and walked about the common room. "Do you know what I dreamed about?"

"I can assure you my fascination is short."

"I saw hair as red as blood, skin paler than parchment, and eyes green as our House color." Lucius chortled to himself, a sound that was genuinely amused but cold at the same time. "What a romantic comparison, though lacking finesse, I'm afraid. Odd, coming from me."

"Odd indeed. And to think you've not once before taken an interest in Evans," Snape murmured. "Should I be ashamed of you?"

"Aha. What a fool I would be were I to say I don't speak of Evans." Malfoy's ice-blue eyes flashed with contempt, directed either at Lily or himself - possibly both.

Severus discreetly curled his fists into his robes. "But you do."

"Damn me." His snarl dropped away to be replaced once again with a smirk. "Damn us both, eh, my friend?"

"Damn yourself," snapped Snape, but Malfoy only laughed again.

"I wish even more that I didn't want Evans, Severus. It would be impossibly more entertaining to see you suffer. Deny it if you feel you must," Lucius said before Snape could speak, "but I'll not believe it."

Severus kept his mouth shut. What words worked to counter the truth?

"I've an idea." Restlessly, Lucius rushed to him in a way that was not quite a bound, but could not be described as a dash. "Let's kill her, Severus! Then we shall both be rid of her!" He stood still, serious for a few seconds, and then he shook his head and chuckled. "You are a sight, Severus. To see your face when I spoke, you would have laughed as well."

"Don't compare us to common murderers, Lucius," muttered Snape, irritated now.

"Hm." Lucius absently ran his fingers through his own long hair. "Not ever, Snape. Not ever. If one day it's revealed that we are designed to kill, then we should at least make sure that the word 'common' is not said within a paragraph of our names."

"Your future seems full already."

"I intend for it to be. Somehow," Lucius said with a kind of dark pride in his voice, "I will make it so it is." He turned his white smile on the greasy-haired boy. "If fate is kind, you will join me in doing the same." Glancing at the clock, he shrugged. "Let's go eat, Severus. We'll save the depressing future talk for later."

Snape rose and followed Malfoy to the exit of the common room just as other Slytherins, scowls on each of their gloomy faces, began to pile downstairs with goals of getting some breakfast. He honestly could not picture a path for himself without Lucius playing some factor in it. How dull that would be. Lucius brought a sense of protection to his life. If the damn Gryffindor celebrity duo came for him, Lucius was there to assist against Black and Potter. They had similar interests; potions and the Dark Arts, defense and otherwise.

And of course, now there was the interest in Lily Evans.

---

"You're not going to try a Jelly-Legs on Lucius, are you?" Remus asked calmly at breakfast, spreading butter onto a slice of perfectly toasted bread. His brown eyebrows were raised expectantly at James.

"Don't be foolish, Moony," chided Sirius. "It would be easier to get away with if he just threw the jam itself at him. And it would last longer. Hard to get out of hair, jam is."

"I'm not surprised you know that," Peter mumbled.

"You guys are morons," said James, eyes narrowed in annoyance. "I'm not going to curse Malfoy. All he did was look at her, right?"

The other three Marauders stared at him.

"Well," coughed Lupin. "That is a...change."

Peter added, "Having a...um, a...goal change, James?"

"It used to be if Malfoy breathed in the same room as Evans, you'd get pissed. Scratch that, if Malfoy breathed at all." Sirius finished chewing the last of his eggs and folded his arms. "What brought this on?"

James didn't meet any of their eyes and silently drank his pumpkin juice.

"A surprising sprout of maturity it seems." Nicole Brown turned her head and smiled mischievously from her seat beside Peter. "How good for you, James."

"Eavesdropper," James snarled. "A champion of one. I should have remembered you. What do you want, Nicole?"

"To give you some advice." Nicole's smile grew at the title. She intended to join the Ministry of Magic one day as a source gatherer or informant. "I overheard--"

"Of course you did." Lupin had to work to keep from rolling his eyes.

"I overheard Malfoy talking to Narcissa a week ago. It seems his father has invested money in Lucius' protection."

"Being one of the richest men in the magical world, Orius can invest in whatever he wants." Sirius reached for a hunk of bread and chewed obnoxiously. "You're not telling us anything surprising, Nicole. What's he got, invisible bodyguards?"

"Wouldn't that be fitting?" grinned James.

Nicole snorted. "Hardly. A new spell's been conjured recently. It's called the Guardisio charm. You try to do something to him that Malfoy wouldn't take kindly to - such as throwing jam on him for instance - it'll bounce right off him, like a three-inch barrier. It's not exactly a legal maneuver yet, but it hasn't been out ruled."

Peter stared at her, his cheeks especially pudgy with silent admiration. "Where... where..."

"Where do you get this stuff from?" Remus asked for him in half-shock.

Nicole lifted a hand and pretended to study her nails. "All in a day's work, Lupin."

---

"Women are scary," Sirius said. "Please, please never let me get too involved with one."

"I'm afraid I wouldn't know what your definition of involved would detail," the werewolf of the group said. "Are one-night stands allowed?"

"Only if we're both, or at least she's, very drunk," answered Sirius. "Goes for you too, James."

James glared. "I don't do one-night stands."

"You don't do any-night stands." Sirius clapped a hand on James' shoulder. "And I was talking about my involvement with women."

They were walking to Potions. Remus could feel Peter quivering beside him. "What's the matter, Wormtail? I thought you said the new professor for Potions was fine."

"M-Magderson is okay," whispered Peter, his face pale and his tongue tangled. "Slytherins aren't..."

"Oh, don't worry about them, mate," Sirius said, raising his voice a notch so a few passing classmates could hear him. "They're all a bunch of liars and cheats anyway. Can't take them seriously at all."

"Take this seriously--"

Sirius turned around and plucked Narcissa's wand from her fingers with ease before she could so much as decide what spell to use against him. "That time of the month is it, Narc? Don't embarrass me," he warned her lowly.

"Wretch." Narcissa spat out the word as though it were a fly that had zoomed into her mouth. "Every breath you take is a disgrace to our family. Fooling the teachers, disobeying school rules, hanging with the common rabble." Narcissa ignored James' and Remus' glares as she flicked back her thin dark hair. "Your mother is despising you."

"And my father is probably plotting to kill me whenever I do finally go to the place he expects me to call home," Sirius remarked snidely. "How is the old buffoon, Narc? I daresay you see him more than I do."

James shifted his weight and tilted his head to the side. That was true; Sirius had spent every vacation and break at his house since Halloween holidays, when he'd first ran away from the House of Black.

Narcissa's eyes narrowed. "Your father is dying, Sirius."

Sirius' posture straightened, but his surprise was subtle. "Oh. Oh really," he amended quickly, confidence striking up again, "what's ailing the poor man? Food poisoning from his Spanish oysters that cost a hundred pounds each? Hello, Bell."

"Your birth was a blunder!" Bellatrix exclaimed, her face scarlet with rage. She had come to her sister's side in hope of helping Narcissa in whatever verbal battle was going on. "A complete mistake!"

"One my parents made, so I'll not take offense at that. Now close your gaping mouths," ordered Sirius lightly, dropping Narcissa's wand and turning away from them. "We need to get to class." He left his cousins fuming behind the Marauders, who quickly followed their gray-eyed friend.

James watched his best friend with close scrutiny. Sirius looked locked in; there was definite tension along his shoulder blades and neck, and his jaw-line wasn't loose at all. As he sat down behind him and Remus, Peter patted James' shoulder to gain his attention.

"What is it?" James asked absently.

"Why do you think Firalus Black is dying?"

James' eyes narrowed. "Because he's a git, and he's mortal. And for once maybe the bad will go younger." He could recall the only time he had ever seen Firalus; it had been two weeks after the October night when Sirius had left home this just past year. He had come and confronted the Potters for taking in a disloyal son and wretch like Sirius. James' father, James remembered proudly, had quietly disagreed, saying that Sirius was one of the best young men he had ever known - and had then demanded that Firalus leave the Potter residence.

Sirius had not yet gone back to the house in which he'd been born. Nothing there pleased him.

Peter squirmed. "I wish Sirius got on better with his folks."

James shrugged. "The only answer to that I have, Wormtail, is that Sirius can't." Turning away, he dipped his quill in ink and posed it over his parchment, pretending to listen to what his potions teacher, Professor Magderson, had to say as he continued to search Sirius' face for any hint of emotion. There was none, so he tossed a glance at the other Blacks in the room. Both girls were still glowering at Sirius.

Then his eyes skimmed over to Lily. She was writing quickly on her parchment, taking most likely detailed notes about what mixture to use for doxie-bite antidote. James thought about what he'd last said to her the night before. It had been a rather rash something, and he admittedly hadn't been thinking too well at the time.

It irritated him that since third year he'd been pursued by many girls, but only one of them had caught his serious interest. Of course she drew him physically, that couldn't be helped. But for the first time, James wanted to know how this girl's mind worked. It was surely a complicated one, full of intricacies. Besides magic history, she knew of the Muggle world, something James couldn't claim up to. She interested him all right. So much that it was achingly annoying.

He felt a little foolish now for charging at her with that little confrontational line last night, but he'd been honest. Lily needed to get off his brain so he could survive this rest of the year in one piece. There were too many things going on; the House cup, the Quidditch cup that Gryffindor simply had to win for the fifth year in a row, N.E.W.T.S... All right, he truthfully wasn't too worried about those. James glanced at his pudgy friend beside him. Peter's N.E.W.T.S., he amended mentally. And of course...

He turned his gaze to Lucius, two rows ahead of him to the left of the room. He was taking the occasional note, but once again, his focus was on another thing entirely, and she had flaming red hair and cool emerald eyes.

Silently, James willed his blood to stay at normal temperature. And waited for class to end.

---

Lucius added yet another item onto Lily's short list of good qualities. Undeniably lovely skin. It was like snow, and probably felt as smooth and as soft. Even so, he grimaced. He really needed to see if he couldn't try and stop thinking this way about a horrible Mud-blood. That, and it was Evans. Mud-blood of the Mud-bloods.

"Malfoy."

Lucius smirked. So, here it was. It was early, but here it was. Lifting a foot, he turned slowly on his heel. "What's the pattern, Potter? Is it Potions or last class altogether that makes you cranky?"

"You wish you could have a predictable guide like that," barked Sirius, "don't you?"

"I don't need you to be predictable, Black." Lucius contemptuously tossed his hair over his shoulder. "You're stupid already, and that's all the help I need."

Sirius glowered and took a step forward. "I'm going to--" His determined stride was interrupted by James' hand pulling back on his shoulder. "Leave it to you," he sighed.

James stepped in front of his best friend and moved in on Lucius, meeting Malfoy's smug smile with a deep frown. "I've got to speak to you."

"Well, that's good. I'd hate for you to think glaring at me is going to have a huge effect." Beside Malfoy, Snape smiled obnoxiously.

Remarks snapped to James' tongue, but he forced them down. Now was the time for control. "Stay away from Evans. And keep your bloody eyes off of her."

One white-blond eyebrow lifted. "Evans? Your impure prefect?"

"I'm warning you, Malfoy."

"Who told you I have any intention of stepping within five feet of that little girl?" He noted the slight lurch James struggled with. "I don't wish to dirty myself, you know."

"That can't progress much further," James replied frostily. "Listen to me - well. If you do so much as shake her hand and I hear about it, I will deal with you personally."

Now, in all of Hogwarts, there was no doubt that James Potter was the best student there, closely followed by his best friend, Sirius Black. However, Lucius was a Malfoy, and being such, he would be doing all he could to stand up and overpower that fact. A bit of a challenge could assist him.

"I will surely keep that in mind," said Lucius softly. "Take care of your bad-breed now, Potter." He turned and grinned to himself when he heard the scuffling behind him.

"Hold it, hold it," Remus said lowly to James, still tugging on his friend's arms. His only advantage was being a scarce three inches taller than Potter. "Don't begin, James. Don't let him beat you five seconds in."

James stiffened, and yanked himself away from Lupin, but he didn't go after Lucius and Severus. "I'm going to get him one day, Remus."

"You will. I believe that completely," Remus said, and his voice was full of the faith he had in James. "But you won't do it today. Or tomorrow, probably. But one day."

"And when I do," James said, "everything's going to go a lot better for Lily."

Remus frowned. There would always, as he knew firsthand, be those who were prejudiced against the so-called "bad-breeds." Sometimes he wondered himself if the "pures" were divided into two groups: those who despised tainted blood and those who pitied it. If that were true, than he and Lily were only prefects because Dumbledore held sympathy for the two of them.

Lupin chose to believe otherwise. "Let's go," he said to the other three. "We've got Astronomy tonight, and it's going to be difficult even for us."

---

Lily was sitting in the common room writing the rough draft of her Defense Against The Dark Arts essay on gargoyles. She and Frank Longbottom had agreed to help each other out on it, since neither of them was very good on the subject. The two were skipping supper and sharing a plate of sandwiches that McGonagall had conjured up for them. Parchment, quills, and half-empty inkwells littered the coffee table in front of them.

"'Their flight abilities are very limited,'" Lily read aloud to the dark-haired sixth year. "Frank, it seems they don't fly at all; they just glide on the air stream, like a fish in the water current."

"Damn, these things are tough," Frank bemoaned. "Are we going to identify those air patterns they use?"

"We're going to have to, it's listed in the assignment requirements... So where's Alice tonight?" she asked casually when they paused to each scribble down various notes.

"Chess group down in the hall after dinner. She's a fierce player, is Alice. I wouldn't be surprised if she's champion this year." He made a face. "And she's great with gargoyles. Watch her do it last minute and ace."

"I will, and I will be sad." She smiled as he laughed and poured both of them some more pumpkin juice.

"Listen to you, Lily! Despite not liking this assignment, you sound so... I'm not sure...happy, when you're working on schoolwork. Do you actually derive joy from this?" Frank asked incredulously.

Lily gave him a sideways glance. "Don't mask it, Frank. You want to know if I'm cold because I choose to be."

"Well, I..."

"You've always been a horrible liar." She set down both her glass and her quill and folded her hands in her lap, leaning back onto the sofa. "All right then. No."

Frank sighed and scratched his head, still ashamed for being too easily read. "That should be the obvious answer, Lily."

"Of course it's not. You know Snape, don't you?" She watched as Frank nodded in affirmation. "He's like that for real. I am only because I can't do well here if I'm not. Because I'm not pure-blooded so--"

"Lily--"

"No, don't. Don't make excuses for others. If they're going to be racist like this, fine. Muggles aren't bad people, they're just...non-magical. That's why they're Muggles. I was born to them." The memory, Lily thought, of getting her Hogwarts invitation was still so clear in her mind. Her parents baffled but amazed and steadily pleased, Petunia shrieking because she thought some kind of evil cult was sending letters to her house. "And then I left them for here. I made that choice.

"But then I came here and learned that I could never be completely accepted by everyone because of my Muggle blood, even though I have the powers and will of a witch." Lily shook her head and drank some more juice to wet her dry tongue. "So you can see now, can't you? Why I have to be indifferent? Why I can't let them hurt me? I'll never survive!"

Frank nodded, a little flustered. "Why did you tell me this, Lily?"

Lily shrugged. "Why did you want to know?"

"Because," he smiled, "I've always considered you a friend." Even if you're a distant one, Longbottom thought.

Lily smiled back and patted his shoulder. "And that's why I told you what I did. Now come on." She turned back to their notes and books. "Let's find out what this stone-at-sunrise thing is all about, shall we?"