The Bonds of Friendship

The first Domino falls

~11~

As the sisters reached the still arguing boys, Narcissa gently placed her hand on Black's shoulder. "Sirius," she held out the wrapped package she had been carrying, "Happy Birthday."

"Yes, Happy Birthday," Bellatrix said, holding out her gift as well as she stood on Black's other side.

"Er, uh, well..." it seemed the Gryffindor who was never at a loss for words, was now rendered silent. "Thanks?" Cautiously, he reached out to take a hold of the offered items. Just as he was about to wrap his fingers around them, the two girls pulled them back and plopped themselves down on either side of his lap. Narcissa claiming Black's left leg, Bellatrix his right.

"You didn't think you'd get them that easy, now did you?" Narcissa asked, running a hand along his cheek. The look of terrified shock on his face was priceless and it made Aleanor wish she had a camera. Any camera.

Black's pale face only grew more so as Bellatrix began to run her hand down from his ear, along his neck, and down his chest. "Come on Sirius, why don't we get to know each other better? We don't mind sharing," she said as the two girls' hands ran down his chest slowly, until they disappeared beyond the edge of the table into areas best left to the imagination. Aleanor had imagined the two would know how to irk the boy better than anyone, but she never imagined such bold tactics.

Then again, they were Slytherins. Bold was usually an understatement.

"Ahh! DON'T TOUCH ME!! GEROFF!" Black shouted in horror as he leapt to his feet, shuddering from the undesired touch of his cousins, his hands brushing his robes as if wiping off the lingering sensation of their hands.

"Oh, but Siri... we were," Bellatrix replied, looking at him as if she was ready to strip the boy of every last stitch of clothing, her free hand raising as if to reach for him again. Backing away in fright, Black fell into the lap of a burly Hufflepuff before running out of the Great Hall, pale as a ghost, nearly tripping over his own feet.

Aleanor, Lily, Narcissa, and Bellatrix broke out in hysterical laughter. Aleanor doubled over, her stomach hurt so badly as Lily began to cry on the bench beside her. Narcissa and Bellatrix supported each other as they walked back to the Slytherin table, which was now standing and applauding. It was several moments before she had composed herself enough to look up at Potter, the majority of the Hall still in stitches.

He sat there stunned. After a few moments, when at the order of Professor Dumbledore, they quieted down, he asked, "You staged all this?&ruo;

Her stomach still hurting from laughter, Aleanor somehow managed to answer, rather raspy, "No shit, Sherlock! It seems the master minds of the Gryffindor Four..."

"...have been had!" Lily finished, wiping her tears away with her napkin, her giggles still in full force. "How's it feel Potter?" she asked him with a smirk.

He glared back.

~~~*~~~

Professor McGonagall hadn't wasted time in sweeping them up from the Great Hall before the meal had finished to lecture them on proper behavior befitting a Gryffindor, a speech the dark duo should have memorized by that time. Only now, a few hours after the incident, did they return to the common room where Aleanor and Lily sat on the couch, Black in one of the armchairs beside the fire, while Potter stood at his side. Lupin and Peter sat at the table behind their two friends, next to the window, which was only lit by the pale moonlight seeping through the panes. It was clear the moment the four walked in that the two had waited up for Black and Potter.

It seemed like an eternity had past as the six of them sat, no words uttered and little eye contact made, when in all actuality, only five minutes had lapsed. Peter and Lupin resumed the game of chess they had started before they arrived, which helped to break the tension. Lily had sat staring at the fire, occasionally casting her eyes down to her hands as they lay in her lap. Black and Aleanor seemed to be the only ones daring to look about at the others, their eyes meeting briefly once before casting a frigid glare and turning away. It was Potter who finally broke the unsettling silence.

"Tell me one thing, Delaney. How the Hell did you get the Black sisters to play along?"

Before she had a chance to answer, Black glared at her and growled, "Isn't it obvious James? She had Snivellus help her." Potter looked at Black as if checking to make sure he heard his friend right before looking back at her. "Well, Alie, didn't you?" Black asked in a low snarl.

She could never remember seeing that look in Black's eyes before. He was beyond livid, he was murderous, and she knew exactly where his attention was being drawn. Perhaps involving the feisty Black sisters hadn't been the best idea. She wanted to get back at the two boys, but even she knew crossing the line wasn't in order. Though she refused to pull her eyes from his, Aleanor couldn't answer. She didn't need to; she knew the others already knew Black was right.

As Potter shook his head and turned back to the fire with a huff, Black slowly stood. "It just wasn't enough for you to get the rest of the school in on this, was it? You just had to help 'ol Snivelly get his own little joke in. Pretty sad, him having to wait for you to come up with one for him. No wonder he follows us around like some stray pup, he can't do a damn thing for himself! He's desperate for a pack to follow."

Aleanor leapt to her feet, the little restraint she had over her simmering temper draining away. "Don't you dare turn this into a Severus bashing session, Black! He doesn't need, nor want, a 'pack to follow' and even if he did, you four certainly wouldn't be a desirable choice! Besides, this was entirely my idea. Yes, I asked him to talk to your cousins, but that's because the two of you deserved it- all the pranks you've pulled on him!" Her temper had completely breached all restraints and had begun boiling over in the few seconds that it had taken for her to reply. The fact that Peter and Lupin were still within earshot didn't matter to her anymore. She was sick of how they got away with everything. Sick of the way they treated Severus, and sick of Potter and Black's Holier Than Thou attitude.

"Must be nice to have a prefect for a friend so you can get away with whatever the hell you want! Do you two actually like Lupin or do you just drag him along so he'll keep his mouth shut?" Aleanor retorted as she pointed at Lupin, speaking her mind and not caring whether or not someone choked on it.

Black went to step closer to her, his hands in tight fists at his sides, but Potter had grabbed his friend by the shoulder, his arm crossing Black's chest as he held him back. Peter had stopped mid-move, his kingside castle in his hand as Lupin sat facing them, his face clearly growing red even in the dim light at the sight of Aleanor's accusing hand. His nostrils flaring, Black glared at Aleanor as Potter turned to her.

"Delaney, this is between me, Sirius, and you. Leave Remus out of it. He's never done anything to Snape and you know it," he said pointedly, noticeably restraining himself as well as his best friend.

Aleanor gave a sarcastic laugh. "Oh, yes, innocent Remus Lupin, who has never laid his wand on Severus Snape but sure as hell never did a thing to stop his friends from doing so! How noble. Let's give him a bloody award for his cowardice!"

Black went to lunge at her but Potter's hold on him was enough to keep him from advancing more than a foot or two. Lily gasped as he did and jumped over a few inches on the couch. "Shut it Aleanor," he growled, his gray eyes locked on her blue.

Knowing she had found a sore spot, Aleanor looked past the dark duo at Lupin who looked ready to put his fist through the table. "Come on Lupin, can't you speak for yourself, or do you need your guard dog here to do it for you?" Black went to lunge again, and nearly toppled Potter as he did, but she stood her ground. Let him have at her, and give her an excuse to curse him unconscious.

Lupin didn't move, nor did he hit the table. The fair-haired boy's self-restraint was noticeably stronger than Black's, and Aleanor's for that matter. Potter on the other hand, now had both hands on Black's shoulders, and snapped his head around to glare at her. "Enough Delaney!"

"Really?" she snapped, mockingly putting her hands on her hips, "Enough of what Potter? Enough of me pointing out your friend's incompetence? His blatant neglect of his duties? Is it bothering you?" With each sarcastic question, her voice raised a pitch, as did the color in her face. "Well, I've had enough of you four making Severus out to be your personal punching bag! Want me to leave your Prefect Protector alone? Then leave Severus alone, you self-righteous, pretentious prats! You serpents in gryffindor clothing! Honor, bravery... only if it involves another's humiliation!"

Her frame had begun to tremble in anger by this point, her eyes darting between the hazel and gray eyes glaring back at her. Lily seemed to have not breathed in the past minute or two, or Peter for that matter. Had her wand already been in her palm, she would have cast a hex or two on the pair. Lupin would have certainly come down on her if she had, for she wasn't in his beloved circle. Hypocrites, the lot of them.

Clenching her hands into tight fists as she slowly lowered them from her hips, her fingernails digging into the soft flesh of her palms as she did, Aleanor took a deep breath before finishing from behind gritted teeth, "You make me ashamed of being a Gryffindor." Then storming past the pair, she knowingly bumped Black's shoulder and Potter's hand as she headed up the stairs and to the dorms.

~~~*~~~

Tension had always existed between Aleanor and the Notorious Four. Evans had always seemed to easily sail in the neutral territory between the two factions, but now Severus could tell tense was an understatement. All it took was seeing Aleanor sit down at her house's table for breakfast the next morning. Clear across the Great Hall and he could tell not a word was spoken from the Four's side of the table to hers. Something had happened between her and the pranksters, and he wanted to know what.

There was one problem in his way. Classes. His schedule and Aleanor's didn't leave room for associating on any terms until at least after lunch when they had Potions together. All morning he kept an ear out, in case the chatty Gryffindors in his classes happened to gossip about them, but it seemed they either didn't know any more than he did, or they were being honor bound to keep it in house. More than likely, it was the former, for the Slytherins best performed the latter. So, when Potions class rolled around, Severus was eager to see Aleanor, and find out as much as he could without angering his Head of House.

As she sat down behind him, as she did every Potions, Lily on her right, Aleanor cast him a faint smile as he turned and caught her eye. Normally she always had a smile in her eyes for him, but today they lacked their sparkle. Something had happened indeed, it was written on her face.

As he prepared to mouth 'What is it?' the Famous Four walked in, passing by the two red-haired girls on the way to their seats a few stools down from Lily. Aleanor rolled her eyes as the boys past behind her and took in a noticeably deep breath, closing her eyes, as Black, the last of the four, barely brushed the back of her robes. Knowing she was trying to cool her temper down before she snapped, he looked up to meet Black's eyes and found him glaring at him as cold as ever.

Lucius turned in his seat and nudged Severus in the arm. Looking to his friend, he nodded and began to turn around, catching sight of a slip of parchment Aleanor was holding up on her desk for him with only one word on it. Classroom.

Apparently, this tale would require more time than they currently had.

~~~*~~~

Leaving his last class, Severus walked as fast as his feet would carry him through the corridors of the castle to the empty classroom in which he and Aleanor normally met. The way he had perfected his pace over the past six years, it appeared to be more of a bat-like sweep over the stones than a near run most other students made, and it suited him. It had his robes billowing behind him in a rather nice and intimidating manner. Naturally, it never affected the Notorious Four.

Reaching the empty corridor, he slowed his pace as he drew closer to the door of the classroom, looking up and down the corridor before opening it and slipping inside. Closing the heavy wooden door behind him, he found Aleanor sitting at a dust-covered desk, doodling in a notebook. As he walked up beside her, setting his books on the desk next to hers, she began angrily scratching out the dragon she had just drawn.

"I never get them to come out right," she grumbled, throwing the quill down on the ink scrawled page. "Mum can draw anything she can picture in her head, and I can't even get a damn dragon's tail right!"

With a raised eyebrow, Severus slowly pulled out the chair of the desk and sat down as she finally slid her left hand under the cover of the book and slammed it shut. Rarely did Aleanor draw, for nothing she drew ever pleased her, though he felt she did well enough; when she did draw, it was usually in an effort to calm herself, despite the fact it always did the opposite. From the way she sat glaring at the closed book, her arms crossed over her chest and her breathing heavy, he knew whatever was on her mind was troubling her terribly.

Knowing not to touch her at this particular moment, he merely asked flatly, for a soft cautious tone never suited him, "I take it the events of last night were unfavorable?"

Aleanor's lips curled into a thin sarcastic grin as she gave a small laugh. "If you call declaring war unfavorable, yes." A grin stretched across his face as she turned to face him. Rarely did it take more than a single inquiry to get her to divulge every detail. The idea of 'war' being declared between Gryffindors was like a surprise holiday for any Slytherin, even if he cared more for this particular Gryffindor than he did most of his own house.

"Professor McGonagall gave us an hour lecture on how our actions reflected on the entire house," she began.

Severus tilted his head, saying, "Well, in all truth, she..."

"Don't, Severus. Just don't!" Aleanor interrupted him, the fire in her eyes igniting like dry kindling. "I'm not in the mood. I don't give a rat's arse if she's right."

With a solemn nod, Severus motioned her to continue, reminding himself to wait until she posed a question before speaking again. The last thing he wanted now was the two of them getting into a verbal sparring match as they had on several occasions in the past year.

Seeing his silent acknowledgement of her need to just get it all off her chest, Aleanor continued. "Anyways, we finally get back to the common room to find Peter and Lupin waiting up for their ringleaders. Potter asked how I got Narcissa and Bellatrix to join in, and Black jumps in saying I had you help. Well, I couldn't deny it, like that wasn't obvious, but he just went on about you, calling you that horrid name, and I snapped."

Oh bloody wonderful, he thought, inwardly rolling his eyes. He knew all too well the hell one endured as their target of choice, and despite her fiery disposition, Aleanor didn't deserve to find out how it felt. If she didn't watch that temper of hers, she might very well end up in his shoes.

Breaking eye contact with him, Aleanor propped an elbow up on the dusty desk, plopping her chin in her palm as she looked down at the gray surface and began running her finger through the thick layer, revealing the mahogany wood beneath. "I finally spoke my mind and apparently hit Black where it hurt."

"Oh," Severus said, leaning in a bit and breaking his own oath to wait to be questioned as he asked, "and where was that?"