Of Blood and Creed

Sorry for the wait, I'm in the midst of college finals! No new LJ posts, but by the time this is up there should be two new drawings up of Severus and Hermione on my deviantart. The link is in my profile. A huge thanks to the TPP staff for everything they've done thus far for me!

I own nothing but tea.

Chapter 10: Of Blood and Creed

Friday morning dawned bright and early. As was our custom now, I met Ali at the door to the bathroom. We showered under the waterfall and swam laps in the hot, soothing water until eight-twenty. Usually by that time, the others had already left for the Great Hall for breakfast. Owls came at eight-thirty though, so we hurried to dress and raced each other up the stairs to the Great Hall.

I wasn't anticipating any kind of post. There were only a handful of people who knew me at all. Most of them resided at Hogwarts. So imagine my surprise when a barn owl unceremoniously dropped a letter on my eggs, partially soaking the parchment with oil and salt.

"Open it, Heck, open it!" Ali encouraged me when I just stared at it.

I did and gasped in delight. "It's from Molly!"

Dear Hecate,

Molly

I frowned down at it and then glanced up at Cissa, Bella, and Illi. "Did any of you tell anyone I've been having odd dreams?"

The three girls shook their heads.

"Huh. Wonder who her 'little birdie' is then."

Illi and Ali both regarded me. "What do you mean by odd dreams, Heck?"

"That's the funny thing," I said, tucking Molly's letter into my bag. "I don't remember them. Nothing at all. Apparently I was taking a Dreamless Sleep potion while I was at home though, and that's why they only just started coming."

Lucius frowned. "You weren't informed?"

"I was taking a whole potion of several that St. Mungo's gave me," I explained. "I thought it was just to help with my chills."

Again, my friends' heads shot up sharply. "Chills?"

Puzzled, I nodded. "Yeah. I get these odd chills now and again. My whole body goes frigid. Warming charms have been helping, though."

"Chills... aren't..." For once, Lucius' eloquence had failed him. It was this, above anything else spoken there, that caught my attention.

Illi's hand on Lucius' shoulder stilled his wavering voice. "Hecate, love, chills are not a symptom of any of what the Healers said you have been attacked with. The Cruciatus Curse doesn't cause chills for more than a few days after."

"Then what is it a symptom of?"

"Usually experimental potions," Lucius said dryly. "No spell would leave you this long with chills, except maybe a botched Freezing Charm."

I frowned. "Healer Pomfrey said that he doubted Death Eaters attacked me, too. He said... we were random targets. You-Know-Who doesn't do random. And I've got to be at least half-blood, otherwise I wouldn't have been home taught for so long."

Illi's eyebrows rose. "Hmm... curiouser and curiouser. And just for the record, hon, you're right about that."

I leaned on the table, breakfast forgotten. "So what do you guys think happened to me?"

Illi scowled. "I don't know, ooh-luh, but I say we get Madam Pomfrey to give your blood a look-see and see if we can't find traces of ingredients. Then we can backtrack. I seem to recall a Healer's spell that can do just that."

Lucius nodded slowly. "Sounds like a plan. I'm free after lunch. Are you two?"

"Yup!" we chirruped.

"Then we'll go see our new mediwitch this afternoon."

Professor Slughorn rose from the Head table. Illi, Cissa, Bella, and I rose from ours, intent on following the old walrus down to class. "We'd best get into Potions class, then."

There were a total of nine Slytherins, the five boys and us four girls. Remus, James, Sirius, Peter, Scorpius, and Lily were the only Gryffindors I knew, but there were three other girls. In the Potions classroom were twenty-four seats, four at each station. Severus and Lily parted off and sat by themselves on the far right-hand corner. They piled up their schoolbags on the other chairs so no one would sit next to them.

Upon entrance into the room, Scorpius turned to silently look at me. We hadn't conversed once since his transfer into Gryffindor. He sat at a table by himself at the front. I took the seat by him without a word. Illi took the seat directly to my right, Remus on Score's left. I swallowed nervously, trying not to show it on my face like a good little Slytherin.

"Hey, Score," I said, casually. "How are the Gryffindors treating you?"

"Well," he said, giving a tight smile. "Still amiable with the Slytherins?"

I nodded tersely in lieu of an answer.

Professor Slughorn turned back to the class, his jovial countenance belying the serious teaching robes he wore. Scorpius and I carried on throughout the lecture with dutiful notes, but when the practical portion came, we were stumped on how to act. Illi and Remus kept shooting us meaningful looks – Illi at me more than Remus at Score.

I was painfully aware of the chasm that had opened up between us. Him moving out of my House was almost as horrid as though he had left the family entirely. But that wasn't true – he was still my flesh and blood brother Scorpius. Our last name might not have been Taylor while we were living prior to the Obliviate, but we were still siblings. The fact that he was a Gryffindor and I was a Slytherin shouldn't matter.

But it did. Even as I tried to convince myself otherwise, I could see how Andy, Bella, and Cissa treated Sirius, and they were just cousins! Regulus almost, but not quite, behaved as though his older brother wasn't even attending the same school.

Still, we tried. We tried to at least behave politely toward one another, if not our old way. Severus and Lily had proven already that an interhouse relationship was possible. But the way my Housemates acted toward Severus... and the way that the Gryffindors acted toward him...

I breathed easier when Slughorn dismissed us at ten-thirty. Illi, Sin, Evan, Severus, and I headed at a leisurely pace toward Ancient Runes. Slughorn had assigned us a half-foot essay on the basic uses of tiger's eye in potions brewing. We technically had half an hour before Ancient Runes was to begin, so I took out a piece of parchment and started on the essay. I finished it ten minutes before class. I guess you could say I was rather smug about it, too.

Professor Babbling babbled. A lot. To be perfectly honest, she was a batty, babbling, bumbling, besotted old bat. Besotted with any man over forty who would look at her, that is. Including (I suppressed a shudder) Albus Dumbledore. Whom she did not refer to by his title, but by his given name, again and again. I could not have been more revolted, with or without my memories of what a besotted woman looked like. Professor Babbling was besotted personified – at least, that is how Illi described her. Babbling was worse than most fictional characters of whom I'd read, Elizabeth Bennet's sister included.

It didn't help that she was shorter than me, pepper-haired, and wore what looked like vomit-spackled robes. By the end of the class, I was all but nauseated by her attachment to men in general. I copied down the assignment, which was several simple rune sentences commonly found in the wizarding world. I already knew them all and made the translations while everyone else scrambled to pack. Consequentially, I was the last person out of the classroom.

All the other Slytherins were long gone, so Remus Lupin's presence went unnoticed by all except myself.

"Are you all right?" he asked quietly. "With them, I mean."

"Who are you referring to?" I asked, the early signs of annoyance beginning with a clench of my chest.

"The other Slytherins," Remus said. "I don't watch them much, except for Snape, and he's..."

"Not the best person to base a whole House on," I said hotly. "They've been wonderful to me. Illi and Lucius particularly, and Ali and Regulus, too."

Remus looked surprised. "Malfoy's nice to you? And you're friends with Sirius' brother?"

"Yes, Lucius is nice to me." I scowled at him. "In fact, it was he who comforted me when Score left for your House." My eyes slid to the side, not wanting to look him in the eye. "It... it kind of hurt. To see him go. Even though I know he fits in better with your friends than with mine."

I felt his hand gently caress my arm. "Listen to me. He's your brother, Hecate; he won't abandon you. Not for real. Nor will I. We're still friends, too... right?"

"Yes, of course, Remus," I said, smiling. "I love you and Score."

He smiled softly and hugged me gently around the shoulders. "You still got that wolf shirt? I've got an idea."

"Of course," I said, perplexed. "What's the idea?"

"Go get the shirt and meet me in the library in the Divination section."

_-~*~-_

Remus and Scorpius sat at the very back of the library, at the abandoned table near the Divination section. Few people strayed back this way, as only those who idealized themselves as Seers really read any books on the subject. The other Marauders were, thankfully, absent. I brandished the shirt at them and slid into the seat across from Remus. Scorpius grinned.

"Glad you could come, sis."

"Glad you're talking to me," I shot back, but answered his grin.

Remus sighed, and glanced all around. Then he cast a few quick spells, none of which I knew.

"What were those spells?" I demanded.

"I'll give you a list of books where I found them later," Remus said. "But all they do is block sound from escaping the immediate area and people from noticing us right away. A different form of the Notice-Me-Not spell."

I set the shirt on the table, folded neatly still from being in the chest portion of my wardrobe. "So what's the idea, Remus?"

"We can't really be seen socializing too much," Remus said, regret tingeing his words. "You see how both Houses act toward Snape and Lily. All three of us would be ostracized."

"What?" Scorpius asked.

"It means we'd be outsiders in our own Houses," I said, turning back to Remus. "I noticed that, yeah. So what do you propose?"

Remus reached into his pack, withdrawing a leather-bound journal and a raven-feather quill. "We're going to cast an old Buddhist Charm on the shirt, this journal, and this quill. I can fit the shirt, too, right?"

"Yeah, Score and you are the same size, and the shirt's pretty big," I said, much more interested in the new style of magic. "What's the Charm?"

"It's called Sanzaru, and it's based on an old legend from Japan," Remus explained. "You've heard of the three wise monkeys, perhaps?"

"You mean the one that goes 'see no evil' and so on?" I asked.

"That's the one," Remus said. He pointed to the three items on the table. "Each one represents the monkey – you need three items for the spell to work. It generally works on anything, not just writing notes. For instance, if you didn't want your child to hear a swear word in the company of someone you know who swears, you could cast it on their clothes, some earrings, and some wine that the person drinks, and the child wouldn't hear anything bad that you don't want them to hear. The spell is based on your earrings, in this example."

I cottoned on instantly. "So you want to do the spell so that we can write to one another in this journal, but no one else can see it?"

"Precisely," Remus said, nodding. "It needs three people, three objects. The spell is focused on the final object, held by the final person. So, Heck, you hold on to the journal, okay? Your portion of the spell is iwazaru."

I nodded, testing the word out silently.

"Score, you hold the shirt. That's the trigger item, because we want to be able to see the words in the journal when we wear the shirt. The word is mizaru."

Scorpius nodded and took the shirt. "Mizaru."

"And the second item is the quill, which we need to use to write in the journal for the spell to work. For future reference, the spell for the second item is kikazaru. To cast the spell, drag three lines one after another horizontally as you say your word. Score, you start."

Scorpius dragged his wand in three quick moves as told. "Mizaru."

Remus did his. "Kikazaru."

And finally, my turn. "Iwazaru."

The three objects glowed a brilliant combination of green, gold, silver, and red, sparks sizzling from the tips of our wands. Chinese calligraphy appeared over it in interwoven silver and gold light. The three lines like the spell movement made up the first. The second was so complicated-looking that I didn't try to memorize it on first try.

"The second symbol was the one for 'monkeys' in Japanese," Remus said. "The first being three."

I grinned. "So... how are we going to get the journal to one another?"

"I suggest changing hands of it during Potions, since you two already sit in that class. By the way, we all get to see everything you write, not just Scorpius or myself or Hecate," Remus said, his tone teasing. "So no incest-ridden love-notes, you two!"

Scorpius and I made faces at Remus. "Come off it, mate, she's my sister!"

"My brother!" I scowled. "Seriously, the only person I want to be kissing like that is Lucius, and I doubt that's going to happen."

Both boys stared at me.

"Er... all right, then," Remus said. "Well, we'd better go before someone catches us. I don't know how well that Notice-Me-Not works when people are actually looking."

"And today's Defense class with the prefects!" I said, gasping. "I've gotta go, or Ali will kill me. Remus, how about you take the journal and stuff today?"

"Okay," he shrugged. "We'll write notes to you all this week and give you the notebook on Friday. Sound good?"

"Yeah." I grinned and raced to the library door. Madam Pince scowled at me, but I didn't give her enough time to rebuke me. I was already halfway down the stairs to the dungeons.

I couldn't wait for the next Potions class.

_-~*~-_

Lucius wisely did not ask me where I had been when I showed up in the Slytherin common room ten minutes later. He barely allowed me the time to put my bag up, let alone the time to find Illi. The blond wizard hauled me up three flights of stairs.

"We'll give Illi a copy of the list later," he said. We stood outside a set of oak double doors that seemed to be a smaller version of the Great Hall's main entrance. No other students were inside the long room and Madam Pomfrey didn't seem to be in just yet.

Hogwarts hospital wing, as a whole, took up one entire side of the castle, roughly the same size as the Charms corridor. Most of it was a single room full of white beds and curtains and pristine cabinets. Some of these were warded and others were not. A bookshelf at the rear held several knickknacks, which propped up enormous tomes. Several doors led off to other parts of the wing, probably a handful of private rooms, a bathroom, and Madam Pomfrey's office.

Sure enough, the petite witch who had taken such good care of Score and me emerged from one of the doors only a few minutes later.

"Hecate!" Madam Pomfrey smiled at me momentarily before a frown marred her baby-like lips. "Is something wrong?"

"Lucius here was concerned about the chills I've been having since I woke up," I said matter-of-factly.

"I have been exposed to the Cruciatus Curse's symptoms before," Lucius interjected smoothly. "Her symptoms don't add up. In fact, I believe that whoever Obliviated her and Scorpius may have forced an experimental potion on her. We wanted to see if you knew of any way to test her blood for lingering ingredients not used in the potions that Healer Pomfrey administered."

I nodded, seeing nothing more to add.

"I see," Madam Pomfrey said, her frown deepening. "Come sit down here, Hecate, I know just the spell."

Suddenly nervous, I sat down on one of the white beds. Madam Pomfrey didn't give me any time to fret – or run.

"Baira racana!"

A brilliant scarlet light brighter than any spell I'd seen yet encased my right arm. Pressure, though no pain, cuffed gently around the crook of my elbow. A quill, pot of ink, and a long roll of parchment flew in from Madam Pomfrey's office. As with the Notitia Charm, several runes, nonsensical words, and numbers appeared in brilliant green and red light directly over the pressure on my arm.

Madam Pomfrey began muttering under her breath. The quill scrambled across the parchment, occasionally dipping itself in the ink. All the while, the information that apparently told the mediwitch what substances were in my blood, continued to repeat itself over and over.

At last, the information ceased, the pot of ink and the quill flew back into the hospital wing office. The parchment fluttered down into Madam Pomfrey's outstretched hand like a falling leaf.

Madam Pomfrey scowled at the parchment list that came from her blood-testing spell.

"Several of these ingredients are most certainly not what my husband gave you in those potions." She struck through several things on the list and handed me the remainder. "Keep in mind that some substances fade out of the system over time, dear."

"Madam Pomfrey, could I ask you not to tell your husband about these?" I asked, taking the list. "I wanted... I wanted to try and figure it out on my own. If that's possible."

Her lips thinned so much that they vanished. "Unfortunately, that's up to Molly and you, dear, not me. I'll owl a copy of this to her."

"I'll do it, Madam Pomfrey," said Lucius smoothly. "I'm on my way to the Owlery to send my father a letter, anyway."

I stood up from my place on the bed. Madam Pomfrey handed a note to Lucius along with a copy of the struck-through list. The moment we were in the hall, Lucius set the note on fire.

"That was easy enough," Lucius said, smiling. "Now let's get downstairs to the DADA study."

"I'll give Illi a copy of the list, and we can look up all the ingredients and see what they do," I said, pocketing my own copy.

Classroom six was a magically enlarged room with lots of pillows, padded walls, dummies, and stacks of books. I later found out that the books belonged to various members of Slytherin House, offered up for borrowing during these bouts. Rabastan Lestrange immediately let me have Discovering the Dark Arts, the introductory book almost all entering first-years were required to read – in Slytherin House, anyway.

"And you can give it to Alioth when you finish," he said.

At seven on the dot, Lucius and the five other Prefects stood up in front of the room. The entire House fell silent and sat down on random pillows on the floor. Ali, Regulus, Illi, and I sat in a small semicircle nearest Lucius.

"To our new Slytherins, this night is our official welcome into the House," Lucius began, his voice carrying throughout the room. "To our old brethren, welcome home. It is on this night, the first Dark Arts study that we teach of our doctrines, our ways of life. In the way we responded to our own Hecate Taylor's brother's move, we showed our most powerful of all those that we teach here at Hogwarts: We take care of our own."

Lucius took his seat between Ali and me, giving me a soft smile. The other fifth-year prefect, whose name I can't recall, began to speak.

"The second of those doctrines is loyalty to the House. We take care of our blood, as we take care of our brethren. We ask for your loyalty to this noble House in all that you do."

The sixth-year male prefect stepped forward as she sat. "The third of these doctrines is the teaching of new Slytherins what the old ones know. First-years, when next year you find yourself with a year below you, we expect you to teach them these things."

The sixth-year girl stepped forth. "Slytherin is known for its cunning, ruthless ways without. We do not want to shatter those beliefs. Wait until you cannot be seen by others to express concerns for ours. We will teach you to close off your face, to betray nothing – not even pain."

I hesitantly looked at Lucius. What did that mean?

The seventh-year prefect stood up taller. "We are the last remaining dregs of that which is purest. The blood that runs through every Slytherin's veins is at least half-blood. I realize it is sometimes difficult to reconcile all that is Slytherin – we ask that you attempt to shed away from the pure those whose blood runs muddled with things afoul."

The seventh-year girl stepped up and stood before us, the last remaining prefect. "We are the Slytherins, the proud, the cunning, the sly, and the undaunted. Come, my family, let us begin our lessons."

Lucius stood at once. "First-years, Cecil and Hecate, come over here."

Ali, Regulus, and I followed Lucius into a far corner. Ali's two friends and Regulus' roommates followed at a droll pace, and a surly second-year came last. I regarded him most curiously of all.

"Cecil has had social troubles," Lucius said, and left it at that.

I glanced over at the other third-years, and with a start I realized someone was missing: Severus. I glanced again at Cecil and put two and two together. Cecil must have been associating with a Muggle-born like Lily Evans. I felt a pang in my gut – would this be what happened to me if I were caught with Remus? Well... I suppose not. Lucius didn't seem upset that I liked Remus. He's half-blood, after all. Not the most savory of conditions, but at least he wasn't...

I couldn't finish the thought.

"Good evening," Lucius said. "Now, we usually have a set of spells that we teach all entering first-years, and then we teach you higher-level ones as you advance. The first spell you'll be learning is a simple disarming spell. Repeat after me: 'Expelliarmus.'"

We all intoned the spell together.

"Good. Now, pair up, and we'll practice it for real."

There were eleven of us, and I pushed Ali toward Regulus when she started to cling on to me. Cecil paired with Kiti, and Bejeweled went with another boy. Pretty soon, I was the odd woman out. I blushed.

"Hecate will work with me," Lucius said smoothly. "Hold on to your wands tightly and decide who will go first." He turned to me, a wry grin holding on his handsome face. "Well, Hecate, I believe it is your turn, love. The traditional swish and flick is the way to go here."

I nodded once, noting that he'd raised his voice so that the other five pairs had heard him. He was a decent teacher. With a practiced swish and flick, I cried the spell aloud: "Expelliarmus!"

To my astonishment, Lucius' wand flew straight through the air, landing perfectly in my left hand, handle-first. I blinked at it.

"Well done, Heck!" Lucius said, smiling broadly. "Toss it back and try it again."

I did and waited till he had a good firm grip on it. This time, the wand flew out of his hand with a determined shudder, landing at my feet. I picked it up and tossed it back.

"I think you've done this before," Lucius said. "You ever heard of the Impediment Jinx?"

"I do," I said. "It's 'Impedimenta.'"

"I'll throw this pillow at you; cast it when it's about halfway to you," Lucius said, Summoning the dark green pillow. "Ready?" I nodded. He threw it.

"Impedimenta!" I cried, bringing my wand round in a loop. The pillow stopped in midair and dropped harmlessly to the ground.

Lucius hummed for a moment. "I'm going to regret this one. Do you know how to Stun?"

"And Rennervate afterwards," I said, feeling rather proud of that fact.

His smile broadened into a grin. "Cast it on me."

I stared at him rather dumbly for a moment. "You can't be serious."

"Quite."

I shrugged. "Okay. Er... put that pillow behind you, I'll see if I can swing your landing."

"You think your aim is that good, do you?" he goaded.

I just smiled. He did as he was told, and just as he'd straightened up, I cast the spell, my wand jutting forward with the force of the blast. "Stupefy!"

He crumpled to a heap, straight on top of the pillow. I made my way tentatively over to him and gently cast, "Rennervate."

Lucius was all smiles when he came to. "Brilliant, absolutely brilliant, Hecate." He turned back to the first-years, all of whom had stopped to watch the third-year who shouldn't have any memories at all bringing down the fifth-year. "Who's done the spell right so far?"

Hastily, the first-years returned to attempting to disarm.

Lucius turned back to me. "Let's see what else you know, love."

Spell after spell after jinx after hex after curse came from my wand. By now, the first-years weren't the only ones who had paused.

"The Protean Charm?" gasped one sixth-year. "We're barely getting to those now. That's N.E.W.T. level, that is!"

I blushed. "I don't know how I know it all, though! It's just... in this giant library in my head!"

"Some library. It sounds like you've read half of Hogwarts' library," said Rabastan. He gave a low whistle. "If my dad caught wind of that, shit, girl, I'd have the pressure on me to ask you to marry me!"

I scowled at him.

"I'm afraid Rab's serious, Heck," Lucius said gently. "If half our fathers knew how smart you are... you would be getting marriage proposals before you ever left Hogwarts."

I tilted my head in thought. "Why?"

He seemed taken aback. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know any of these social sorts of things," I said, rolling my eyes in exasperation. "Think of it like this, if you will. My mind is separated into what I know from reading a book and what little my motor skills recall – that's how I can still cast spells I've technically never cast before. The other part – the part that's gone – is the stuff you know from being brought up, from playing with other kids, from going to primary school. I don't know any of that."

Lucius regarded me curiously for a moment. "Do you even remember when is a proper moment for a kiss?"

I stared at him, aghast. I read through all of my internal libraries. "Er... no, not really... Not even courtship things, though I know the definition of a courtship."

Lucius smiled softly. "Then we gentlemen will be certain to remind you, when you are old enough. Slytherins do not date until fifth-year. It is tradition."

I nodded slowly. "All right. Well, what's everybody standing around for? Let's get back to work!"

Lucius continued teaching the first-years Expelliarmus and Impedimenta, but I moved straight through to the seventh-years, who were teaching one another various components. It was only there that I managed to find a challenge.

That night, Lucius kissed me on the cheek before I went to bed. His lips were warm and soft, and the gesture alone made me blush.

_-~*~-_

End of chapter. Baira racana – Hindi, probably poorly translated, as "bad blood write." Translation from www.shabdkosh.com. I based the idea off of basic Muggle drug screenings that find things like cocaine or Tylenol in the blood.

The "Slytherin Creed" is an ancient thing that I think would work best only in instances where you have decent prefects to perpetuate it. Hence why Lucius, Severus, and most of the other Death Eaters are so good at hiding their emotions, on top of their Death Eater "work."