Sanguis Novus

Chapter Ten: The Young Death Eaters Association

"Lily, get up!"

Groggily, Lily tilted her head up a few inches, keeping it raised long enough to register that Alice was shaking her shoulder, and then let it slump back onto the pillow. The Herbology essay had taken a ridiculously long time to write, and after much wheedling, Remus gave in and let her copy what she needed from his essay at around half past midnight. Nodding off into sleep, she promised to never leave her essays until the night (or morning) of.

"Wassamatter?" Lily mumbled.

"We're supposed to meet James and Sirius and Remus in the common room at seven, remember?"

"No, I don't 'member. When did you guys decide that?"

"Last night, when we were walking back from the Quidditch pitch."

"Really? I still don't..." She stifled a yawn "...still don't remember."

"You must have gone ahead."

"Oh, yeah." She recalled James and Sirius's egotistical talk, her own annoyance at having wasted her time on watching people fly around on a bundle of twigs - regardless of how much she enjoyed it - and how she stormed up to the castle. "That might be why. So, why are we meeting them at this ungodly hour of the morning?" she asked as Alice tossed Lily's robe onto the bed.

"James wants to be the first one to see the callbacks," Alice said.

"And why do we have to be there? I want - no, I need my sleep. I was up really late last night!"

"Wait, what did he say about it last night? Oh, right." She cleared her throat dramatically. " 'For moral support,' or so he says."

" 'Moral support'?" Lily guffawed, throwing her head back in laughter. "For what?"

"I dunno. I just think he wants us there when he receives the big news, you know, as friends."

"Alice, Alice," Lily wheezed, clinging onto her bedposts to help her breathe, "do you really and honestly believe that James needs actual moral support?"

"Well, no," she said simply. "I think he'd be able to cope with it quite fine. He'd think of something else he's really great at - and trust me, there are a lot of - "

"And you don't have to name them all, thank you very much," Lily interrupted, austerely rearranging her bedcovers.

"All right, then, I won't. But, anyway, once he's found yet another one of his talents, he'll start talking his head off again. He could also join the Quidditch Club, which is for people that try out for the House teams and don't make it or for people who just like to play it on a non-competitive level."

"Exactly, so I'm sure he wouldn't miss me if I decided to sleep in for a bit longer. As a friend, like you said, he should understand."

"But, Lily," she pressed, "we promised him."

"I promised him nothing," Lily stated, diving under her covers, which muffled her voice, "and, really, I don't feel like seeing him gloat over making the team or start boasting about how he was unfairly judged just because he's a first year if he doesn't make it. I'm sorry. And, if you want to, you can tell James I'm sorry too."

Alice scowled but left her alone and made her way down to the common room. A few minutes later, she was by Lily's bedside again.

"So, when's the party?" Lily asked sarcastically. "I'll bring the cake."

"He didn't make it," was all Alice said.

James spoke to no one at breakfast and occupied himself with cutting his pancake into miniscule little squares. From where Lily was sitting, he didn't look angry or even disappointed, but his hazel eyes betrayed him. Usually glittering with effervescence, today they were glassy, dormant, and detached. His thin-rimmed glasses were slipping down his nose; he paid no attention to them. Skewering his bits of pancake onto a fork, he deluged them in gobs of golden syrup and stared as the amber droplets dripped back onto the plate.

His blank and emotionless state lasted for the rest of the day and persevered through much of the following week. Lily was too busy to notice: the professors had escalated the first years' workload, feeling that they had had enough time to acclimate into Hogwarts. On top of her academic troubles, her secret encounter with Lucius and Avery came back to haunt her. As she was leaving Potions on Thursday afternoon, her stomach yearning for dinner, she accidentally bumped into none other than Lucius Malfoy, her books spilling onto the floor.

He had recently taken to saying hello to her in the hallways in his haughty voice, and this always drew giggles from the Slytherins that were following in his train. Lily never gave him the pleasure of a conversation and remained obstinately silent. Perhaps it was just her imagination at work, but whenever they passed, she felt Lucius's eyes roam across her body. Could it be at all possible that he found her - attractive? He called me beautiful, she would think, but whenever Lily grew mollified with the idea that Lucius might somehow fancy her, she wrapped her robe ever tighter around her still not-quite-adolescent body and cursed him with every swear word she had ever heard her sister utter.

"Why, Miss Evans!" he exclaimed, watching her seethe with embarrassment. "You really must watch where you're going. Otherwise you might hurt yourself."

"And you really care, don't you?" she snapped, reaching for a random book.

"Accio," Lucius sighed lightly, flicking his wand and observing her infuriated glare as the book flew into his outstretched hand. "Now, let's see what Miss Evans has been reading. Carlyle? Indeed, I don't remember seeing that name at Flourish and Blott's."

"Give it back."

He carelessly flung the paperback at Lily, a few ripped pages fluttering to the floor.

"Good day, then, Miss Evans," he smirked, walking towards the Potions classroom as she shrieked with anger.

James's is going to really have to teach me one of his jinxes, she thought venomously. I'll kill Lucius...Just then, she heard his voice. It was, however, laced in a secretive undertone.

"The meeting is tonight. It's in the Transfiguration classroom with the broken plumbing. No one would bother to check there. Eleven o'clock. Do not forget, Avery."

"I won't."

"Have you got anyone to bring with you?"

"Actually, I think I do. He'll be a good addition. Trust me."

"Remember, that is for my discretion alone."

"Yes, yes, of course," Avery muttered, shuffling past Lily. "Mudblood, you look even more pathetic when you're sitting in the middle of all your stupid books than you normally do! Get up!"

Oh, shut up, she thought, gathering her books and sprinting down to the Great Hall, her mind full of what she had just heard.

Sitting in the common room that evening, she was anticipating Friday as much as anyone, but the idea that Lucius had a hidden organization running without the professors' permission wouldn't dislodge itself from her thinking, and knowing Lucius and his tendencies, whatever it was he was planning to do certainly couldn't be good. She was sure that the meeting he had spoken of both in front of the Potions classroom and the night in the Owlery were the same, and Lucius had said something about a dark lord...no, the Dark Lord. He had sent the Dark Lord something, and Lily wanted to desperately find out who this Dark Lord was and what Lucius had to do with it.

She had left dinner early to examine the Transfiguration room Lucius had mentioned. Its horrid smell aside, there wasn't much else to it. There wasn't even a closet in which she could hide, and Lily had a dark feeling that if she asked Lucius if she could listen in on his meeting, she would be dead before receiving a reply. If he was merciful, she might be cursed within an inch of her life.

Looking over at the clock, Lily was disheartened to see it was already ten o'clock. At this rate, she thought, I'm going to miss the meeting altogether.

"What's the matter, Lily?" Remus asked, his face pale. "You don't look too well."

"Well, you don't look too well yourself," she said, trying to divert the subject of conversation.

"No, Remus. It's not that she isn't well," James corrected, nodding authoritatively in Lily's direction. "She looks like she's thinking too hard. Be lazy, Lily. Rest your brain. It's Thursday night...almost Friday. The weekend's almost here!"

She knew she was thinking too hard and pushing her creativity to its limit, but Lily needed to find a way to eavesdrop on the meeting without being seen. Maybe, she thought, James will know.

"Hey, James, can I ask you something?"

"Dear me!" he exclaimed, pretending to swoon on the couch. "Is Lily Evans actually going to talk to me without being a - " James stopped short upon seeing her stony face.

"Whatever you were going to say, do us all a favor and don't say it," she said.

"You're no fun, Lily. Did you know that? Okay, jokes aside, what did you want to ask me?"

"Could we, um, move to somewhere a bit more private?" she whispered.

"We could go up to my dorm, if you'd like."

"But - that's the boys' dormitory!" Lily gasped, shocked.

"So what?" James shrugged. "It's not like there's anyone there at the moment. And if I see anyone, you know, doing something inappropriate - " Lily darkly wondered what that might mean " - then I'll jinx him. Just for you, Lily dear."

"Don't call me that. If you're not going to be serious about this, then I'm not going to bother."
"Fine. It's your problem if you don't want to use my dorm. Where else do you think we should go then?"

"I give up."

"Knew you would. Lily dear," he added, grinning.

"Stop it!"

She followed him up the spiral staircase and into the first year boys' dormitory. To Lily's amazement, it looked exactly the same as the girls' dormitory, only slightly messier.

"See, no one here." James threw his arms out wide as if ready to take a bow. "Very private, if you ask me."

"And not very neat," Lily commented, raising an eyebrow at the robes tossed haphazardly over trunks, lamps, and anything that would serve as a stand. She strolled around the dormitory, shaking her head occasionally. "This one's neat, though."

"And, surprise, that one's Remus's. So, what was so important that you had to ask me about it?"

"I need to know if you know a way of - " She paused, wondering if she should be frank about the entire ordeal. Oh, forget secrecy. "Do you know how I can eavesdrop on someone's conversation without being seen?"

"Ooh, is Lily about to break the rules? Maybe The Daily Prophet should be called up - I'm only kidding! Um, well, you'd have to be invisible."

"But that's impossible! You can't be invisible."

"Ah, you forget where you are," James told her. "This is Hogwarts. This is the Wizarding world. Basically anything is possible here."

"So I am supposed to transfigure myself into a particle of dust or something?" she guessed wildly.

"Of course not! Once you have what you need, it's really easy to become invisible."

"Does it have to do with some complicated Potion or spell?"

"No, Lily. Can you please listen to me for once? I'm being serious. See, can't you just see all this seriousness on my face? Whee, look, seriousness!"

"James..." she threatened.

"Okay. What you need is an Invisibility Cloak," he proclaimed.

"And where, may I ask, would you get one of those in less than an hour?"

James opened his trunk and pulled out a flowing cloak made of a languid, silvery material. "It's right here for you. Put it on and you'll be invisible."

"Oh, my God, James!" she murmured as he passed her the light fabric. Lily held it to her face, its cool surface brushing past her cheeks. "Where did you get this? When I went to Diagon Alley, I didn't see any of them."

"It's because you can't get them at Diagon Alley...or in any regular shop, for that matter. There's only one company in the whole world that makes these, and even then, it's only for special requests and a lot of money. My dad needs one for work. He had an extra, so he gave it to me."

"It's so beautiful..."

" 'Beautiful'? It's wicked. And damned useful too. Just put it on and stand in front of that mirror."

Facing the mirror, Lily swung the cloak over her shoulders and screamed.

"I can't - I can't see my body!" she squealed, delighted. "It's still there, though, right?"

"'Course it is. Now, you just need to remember that even if no one can see you, then can still hear you. So to be completely invisible in every sense of the word, I guess, you've got to be silent as well. Oh, and make sure you don't step on anyone's foot or anything. That won't lead to pretty questions."

Taking the cloak off and draping it over the crook of her arm, Lily thanked James profusely.

"If you don't mind me asking," he began, "who exactly are you going to eavesdrop on? Or is that information I'm not allowed to know?"

"You know, I was thinking of telling you, but I'm not sure if I can trust you to keep your mouth shut," she said, leaving the boys' dormitory.

"Wait! Come back!"

Lily cocked her head in his direction. "Why?"

"Don't let anyone know about the Invisibility Cloak, understand?" James warned, pulling her back. "I really don't want people badgering me about it. Put it on now, all right, and go straight to wherever it is you're going."

"I don't see why you should care," Lily mumbled, but she did as she was told and soon disappeared under the cloak.

Slipping out of the boys' dormitory, she managed to edge past the common room with little difficulty. Most of the Gryffindors were crowded around the fire, which left the periphery of the room very open. Carefully, she pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady. The Fat Lady squawked a shocked-sounding, "Who's there?" as Lily waited, catching her breath, on the staircase landing. Resting her head against the stone banister, she reconsidered what she was attempting to do.

I'm going to wander around in the corridors after hours, hide in a room that's off limits, be around Lucius Malfoy, listen in on something that's obviously private, somehow remember what I heard, wander back through the corridors after hours, and never tell anyone what I did, she thought, slapping herself on the forehead. If I can do all of that without being caught, it'll be a bloody miracle. Well, I'd better get there before everyone else, especially Lucius.

Hoisting herself up, she held the Invisibility Cloak tighter around her body and shuffled down to the Transfiguration department. The meager torchlights flickered as she swooshed past them, and Lily forced herself to slow down so that she nearly floated through the hallways, another one of Hogwarts's ghosts. The pungent stink of broken plumbing lingered in the air, and Lily soon found the room she was seeking. As soft as air, she pushed the door open, relieved to see that no one had arrived yet. She checked her watch and smiled. There was plenty of time to wait.

Lily surveyed the classroom, looking for a hiding place, but therein laid the problem: there was nowhere to hide. The characteristic Hogwarts desks had been removed, possibly to give the caretaker room to work. She walked to the back of the room, where she crashed into a wall of reeking stench. Pinching her nose shut, she backed into the far corner of the classroom and sank to the floor, gathering the part of the cloak that was trailing on the floor closer to her. So, she thought, this must be where the plumbing is broken. No one's going to come near this place; I'll be safe.

The first person that arrived was, predictably enough, Lucius. His tall form, though, was swathed in a long black traveling cloak, and his slit-like eyes, peering out from under the hood, inspected the room. The corners of his mouth turned upward; Lily had to stifle her laughter at having outwitted him and tricked him into believing the room was free of any infiltrators. His pushed his hood back, revealing his signature hair pulled back and tied at the nape of his neck. During the minutes leading up to eleven o'clock, similarly cloaked, hooded figures filed into the room. After whispering something to Lucius, they, too, would push their hoods back. Lily recognized some of them: Bellatrix Black, Sebastian Avery - they were all prominent, pureblood Slytherins. However, she also spotted a few of the older Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws - even a Gryffindor seventh year she had seen around the common room! However, it was clear that the great majority of those gathered before Lucius were Slytherins.

As the time of the meeting drew nearer, the crowd had grown substantially, filling up much of the room. Lily could hear their hushed, anticipatory conversation, but it was suddenly silenced by one last opening and closing of the classroom door. She couldn't see who had just entered, but she didn't need to.

"Ah," Lucius said, "are these your new recruits, Avery?"

"Recruits? I only invited one."

"I see," he purred, his tone growing more threatening. "Might we have a spy in our midst? Introduce yourselves!" he barked.

"Can I introduce my recruit?" Avery asked. Without waiting for a reply, he walked up to the front of the room. "This is Severus Snape. A Slytherin, of course."

"And, tell me, Snape, why do you think you would be a good addition to our cause? Are you a pureblood?"

"No," came the soft answer, "but I do know a lot of jinxes that could be useful."

"You're a first year," Lucius dismissed with a wave of his hand.

"He doesn't lie," a loud voice said, but one that was unmistakably female. "I've seen Snape. He duels better and knows more curses than half the Slytherin seventh years. He could be powerful, if you let him, and he's already an established enemy of the Potter kid."

"Bellatrix, I didn't ask for your opinion on the matter. Very well, Snape. I believe I can trust in you." Lucius turned to the other person. "And who are you? Were you recruited by anyone here?"

"I - I came because I wanted to. Avery was talking about it, and - and I was interested."

"Avery, didn't I tell you to be careful about this? Didn't I tell you to be careful about where you talk about matters of this - sensitivity?" He shook his head. "Well, what's your name?"

"Regulus, sir. Regulus Black."

Lily gasped audibly, but her surprise was drowned out by the collected murmurs that filled the room.

"Are you Sirius Black's brother?" Lucius asked, voicing the same question Lily had in mind.

"I - I am."

"Do you think your brother is a blood traitor?"

"Oh, of course I do," Regulus said, firmer. "He never really listened to my parents when they would talk about the family name and the importance of blood. He doesn't honor the name of Black. And now that he's at Hogwarts, he's in Gryffindor - the Mudblood-loving house - and he's friends with Potter and half-bloods. He's...he's every bit a blood traitor."

"Hmm, interesting, but has he taken to supporting the, er, vendetta of Potter's parents?"

"I don't think so."

"So he may yet be saved. You may prove to be useful, Black. Welcome." The tension noticeably lessened as Regulus joined the group. Lucius turned to face the group gathered before him, a half-smirk light on his lips. "And, all of you, welcome to Hogwarts's first ever meeting of the Young Death Eaters Association, founded by me. My name is Lucius Malfoy, as most of you know, and we have a very - interesting year ahead of us, with what the circumstances are.

"But first, I believe a little bit of background information on this association is necessary. No, this isn't an official club - I assure you that if Dumbledore ever caught wind of this, we would all be expelled. Therefore, I hope you all have the wisdom to keep your mouths shut about this business.

"No doubt all of you have heard of Lord Voldemort, alias the Dark Lord. He is still very much unknown outside of pureblood circles and intends to keep it that way until he thinks it would be to his advantage to reveal himself. In this time of history where the Wizarding community is beginning to cave in their judgments of Mudbloods and Muggles, he has been the only one to stand strong in this decline of true Wizarding pride. His close supporters are known as the Death Eaters, who help him in the quest of righting the Wizarding world. They are still few, but their numbers are growing. Indeed, I will be taken into his ranks as soon as I leave Hogwarts and am now serving as his personal scout here at Hogwarts, having only been recently acquainted with him.

"All of you here today are here for one reason and one reason only. You were invited by me...or in Regulus's case, simply wandered in. Remember that simply joining in this club does not make you a Death Eater. Only the Dark Lord can decide that. I act only to give you to the opportunity to display your beliefs. This is because you were chosen based on what I know of your beliefs and the fact that you wish to act upon them, even at this minimal level."

"Why aren't we Death Eaters?" someone asked.

"Like I said earlier, the Dark Lord is - oh, what's the phrase? - going to lie low for a while, and I don't know how long that may be. To have a group of students marching around Hogwarts, proclaiming his name, would not be advisable. He would be most unhappy, I can assure you. Also, the Dark Lord needs supporters who can help him at a moment's notice. We, however, are still here, trapped in this hellhole. However, there are more important issues to discuss. For the first time in recent history, Hogwarts is playing home to not only one - " He paused emphatically " - but two Mudbloods."

Lily felt her back stiffen.

"Clearly, the headmaster is preparing for an overthrow of the traditional order. Using whatever influences he has at the Ministry of Magic, he is trying to push through a piece of legislation called the Muggle-borns Protection Act. This law will give full status to Mudblood Wizards all throughout the area where the Ministry of Magic claims jurisdiction. If passed, the British Wizarding community will be the first in all of Europe to grant those rights, thus setting a dangerous precedent for the mainland. It will also overturn a centuries-old law of limiting the number of Mudbloods admitted to Hogwarts.

"How can we let Dumbledore go through with this? How can we let him allow students in to Hogwarts from a purely Muggle background, when, remember, it was the Muggles that persecuted us so greatly in the past? They drove us from our homes, going on killing rampages. We've seen their destructiveness and their insanity. And are we to allow that sort of filth into Hogwarts, one of the most esteemed Wizarding schools in Europe? By allowing Mudbloods to mingle around us, we wouldn't be honoring those who died to give us the power of magic. We must stand strong in this way of corruption.

"The Ministry of Magic plans to vote on the Muggle-borns Protection Act by next May. Dumbledore and his Mudblood-loving cronies will undoubtedly continue to lobby for it, and it's our job to represent the voice of the people, the people who this law will ultimately affect. Over the course of this school year, I hope that we'll be able to plan a few rallies, all of which will, of course, appear to be spontaneous gatherings and seem to have no connection to the Dark Lord, correct?

"If you wish to continue attending these meetings, please sign your name on this piece of parchment here. If you do not, please come and see me in the Slytherin common room so that I may perform a selective Memory Charm on you. That will be all for today."

Away from the conglomeration forming by Lucius, Lily was able to slip away unnoticed. Breathing in shaky gasps, she wasn't sure what had governed her attention more: the realization that Lucius really was leading an underground organization against people like her or how his speech seemed to ring of historical inaccuracy, especially when juxtaposed with what Remus had told her.

Wizards and witches were persecuted during the Middle Ages - both of them said that, Lily reasoned with herself. That's a definite fact. But what happened after all the persecution? Lucius made it seem like we just suddenly turned against the Muggles and Muggle-borns, but Remus...what did Remus say again? Why can't I remember this?

The scene by the fireplace flashed surreally through her mind. She heard a glimpse of Remus's voice and clung onto it. The words came back to her: The population of wizards had dropped during the Middle Ages and it was still on the rebound, and for many people, it was, above all, most important to increase the number of wizards.

Lily stopped, thinking deeply. Turning around, she changed her route. She was now heading to the library.