Mysteries, Mysteries

Huge thanks to the ever-patient, ever-awesome TPP staff for putting up with my mistakes.

Disclaimer: Mrs. Rowling created a playground we love to play in. I am simply enjoying the spoils. I don't make money from this.

Chapter 11: Mysteries, Mysteries

Learning to duel on Saturdays turned out to be more of a joke than anything. We weren't allowed to really duel unless a teacher was present. So the prefects lined us all up against dummies, and we cast spells on them instead. Severus was absent from this activity as well.

After a while, I grew tired of casting the same spells on the dummies. So I sat in the corner and began devouring the book Rabastan lent me. I learned several new spells and tried them out on the dummy. Lucius lent me the next book, and that is how I occupied my time for the remaining "duel lessons" – reading, trying the spells I read, and reading some more.

Over the next few weeks, Illi, Lucius, and I looked up all the various ingredients that had somehow wound up in my blood. We got together in the common room at last, a week into October.

"But why would someone add a Muggle drug to a potion?" I asked. "Statins are used in combating cholesterol. I don't think I was ever fat; I'd have remnants of it."

"And Jobberknoll feathers are supposed to aid memory production, not destroy them," Lucius added.

Illi pointed to one ingredient in particular. "Why Alihotsy leaves and Glumbumble treacle at once? And Malaclaw saliva? Isn't that a Dark potions ingredient, Luc?"

"It's supposed to generate unluckiness," Lucius said, scowling. "But here's its foil, cockatrice beak. That's used in Felix Felicis."

"What about this one?" Illi pointed to another substance. "What do powdered hermit crab shells do?"

For once, even I didn't have the whole answer to that one. All the books I'd read in the library only showed one thing. "I only know of one place I've heard that used... and it's definitely not in a potion like this one."

"Where, Heck?"

"Powdered hermit crabs shells make up the main substance in Time-Turner sand," I said. "Among a few other powdered shell-types, in particular bicorn horn."

"There's no bicorn horn in this potion, though, unless it leaves the body quickly," Illi said, perusing the list again. "I wonder what hermit crab shells do?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "Anyone we could ask without drawing suspicion?"

"Professor Slughorn wouldn't ask, but I don't want to take that chance just yet," Lucius said. "There's only one person I trust enough, and that's Severus."

Severus Snape and I had never really talked much. In fact, he seemed to get up before anyone else – did Scruffy wake him up? – and he returned to sleep minutes before curfew. He never stuck around long enough for anyone to talk to him. No one knew where he went to, though no one had ever really checked, either.

"How do we ask him?" I asked.

"We find your brother, of course," Lucius said, standing. He rolled up his copy of the ingredients and the notes we'd made. I followed his lead, not really understanding what we were doing. Illi grinned and stuffed her copy in her satchel.

"What's Scorpius got to do with anything?" she said.

"You two had better start using your eyes," Lucius drawled, but his tone was mirthful. "Whom does Scorpius hang around with?"

"The Marauders," we intoned.

"And who do the Marauders attack on a daily basis?"

Illi and I exchanged a worried look. "Severus. Of course."

Illi turned back to Lucius. "You think the Marauders and Scorpius know where Severus is, then?"

Lucius nodded and began a purposeful walk toward the door. "And where do the Marauders go on Tuesday afternoons?"

"Under that old beech tree," Illi said, rolling her eyes at me. "Okay, we get it, oh observant one."

Sure enough, the four boys who had befriended my brother were all seated under the old beech tree by the lake. Scorpius and Remus were sitting side by side on one of the raised, gnarled roots, scribbling notes from a shared book between them. All five boys looked up when Lucius cleared his throat.

"Good afternoon," Lucius said cordially.

"Afternoon," Scorpius nodded, just as coolly polite. He grinned at me. "Hey, sis."

"Hey, Score," I said, smiling. "Remus."

Remus didn't look too well. He looked just like those upcoming days back in August and again starting on the twenty-first of September. He'd get worse and worse, and then he'd slowly get better. He looked like he needed a good shave, even though he was only thirteen.

"Hello, Heck," he said. "Do those chills still hit you?" I hadn't told them about the odd dreams, which hadn't ceased.

I shrugged nonchalantly. "Once in a while. Listen, that's why we're here. We're wondering if you happened to know where Severus is at the moment."

It was James Potter, however, that answered. "Oh, yeah, he and Evans are in the Great Hall. Evans takes her tea at three every day, unless we've got class."

"What are you looking for him for, anyway?" Sirius Black asked. His eyes were blazing with barely concealed contempt – for Severus or for present company, I didn't know.

"Potions assistance," Lucius said smoothly. "Gentlemen." He inclined his head and turned to leave. Illi smiled vaguely, waved, and followed him.

I smiled at my brother and at Remus, the expression disappearing when he began to cough violently. "Remy, are you sure you're all right?"

"Fine," he said hoarsely. "Don't blow your cover, Hecate. Go on. Score will bring you the book Friday."

I nodded, knowing that I really had to go. As much as I hated to admit it, any seeming association I kept with Scorpius and Remus merely put all three of us in danger. I didn't realize it then, but the danger did not stop at schoolmates possibly turning on us; it extended to the entire wizarding world. I was officially a Slytherin – there would be no fraternizing with the enemy. Publicly, anyway.

Sure enough, Severus Snape and Lily Evans sat together at the Gryffindor table. They weren't laughing like the last time I'd seen them. Not somber, exactly, but comfortable. Illi and I sat down at the Slytherin table and waited patiently. Lucius approached them and whispered in Severus' ear. The younger boy nodded once. He whispered in Evans' ear and stood with a billow of his school robes. He sat down across from Illi and me; Lucius sank onto the bench beside him.

It was the first time, I realized, that I had really spoken to him directly. His hair was slightly better kept than that day in Diagon Alley, and he was dressed in the same Slytherin green and silver and black Hogwarts robes as the rest of us.

"Precisely what is it you need help with, Malfoy?" Severus asked. His voice was soft – very soft. But it was smooth and low, like a quietly playing saxophone. He never once took his eyes off of Lucius. It was as though he was expecting something to jump out at him at any moment, but wasn't going to react to it until necessary.

"A potion with these ingredients," Lucius said, pulling out his list. "We've discovered their general uses, with the exception of this one."

Severus perused the list, his black eyes quick and thorough. "Hermit crab shells?" His tone was slightly incredulous. "I've no idea why anyone would ingest such a thing."

"What does it do?" Lucius asked firmly.

"If ingested, hermit crab shells cause the opposite effect of whatever else is ingested with it. For instance, if you drink water alone, your body will completely dry up. With these other ingredients..." His eyes darted up, his gaze leveling straight on me. For several seconds, our eyes remained locked. When at last he broke off the contact, he stood abruptly. "Whoever did this was either a genius, completely mad, or both."

"Wait!" I cried, cursing the fact that he was on the other side of the table. "What does it do?"

His eyes leveled on me once again, though he did not stop walking. "I doubt you were Obliviated, Taylor. The potion's aim was clear – to clear out your memories without losing your cognitive skills. I doubt there is a cure."

Severus Snape looked away and I stopped walking. Illi's hands found mine, and Lucius' arms found my shoulder. I could not stop watching Severus Snape's retreating back, even after the Great Hall door closed behind him.

Friday morning, Scorpius sidled up beside me in Potions class, a reduced bundle tucked under his arms, hidden by his robes. He handed it to me under the table. I reached down to pull out my cauldron and slipped the package into my bag at the same time. I piled all of my things on top of the table. Slughorn was late.

My mind raced. Should I tell Score that we weren't Obliviated? That we'd been forced to take some kind of potion?

"Where's Remus?" I asked, glancing at the empty seat by my brother.

"He's sick again," Scorpius said. "In the hospital wing."

No. No need to make him worry.

I nodded and kept to myself again when Slughorn's belly preceded him through the office door. He began to lecture on the properties of ginkgo in potions making. I tried not to flinch – it was one of the ingredients we'd found in my blood. I glanced across the room at Severus and Evans. Both were paying rapt attention to Slughorn. I sighed and took notes, even though I already well knew the effects of this particular ingredient.

Class ended after a shoddy practical, and I followed Illi listlessly toward Vector's Arithmancy class. Though it was my favorite of all Hogwarts classes, I couldn't help but be dismayed. Fridays were the only days I got to see Remus and Scorpius even if I couldn't acknowledge them. To be robbed of seeing my first friend because he was ill made my chest thump painfully.

"You okay?" Illi asked softly, pulling me back from the few others.

I nodded, trying to smile as usual. I think it didn't work.

"Listen, ooh-luh, I know you better than that," she said, her gaze rueful. "You're only fooling the other Slytherins – Luc, Ali, and I know you better. What's wrong with Lupin, love?"

I sighed and let my head fall back against the stone of the hallway. "He's sick, up in the hospital wing."

"Why don't you go see him after class?" Illi suggested. "Lucius and I will cover for you."

I clasped her hand in mine gratefully. "You would, Ills? Really?"

"Of course. Now come on or we're going to be explaining to Vector why we're late to a class we have half an hour to get to." She grinned and threw her arms around my shoulders. "It's all right, now. Right, Heck?"

"I wish he weren't sick," I said, but smiled. "It's okay, though."

I waited impatiently all through Arithmancy class, though outward appearances certainly wouldn't have told you that. Living with and observing primarily Slytherins, who rarely showed emotions, had taught me the value of restraint. Nonetheless, I was the first one out of my seat at Vector's dismissal.

"If anyone asks, you, me, and Lucius, when I find him, are in an empty classroom practicing Transfiguration," Illi said. She furtively glanced around. "You can do a Disillusionment Charm, right?"

In answer, I tapped my own head. The warm, wet feeling of becoming a literal chameleon washed over me. Illi waved to where I'd been seconds before and flounced off down the hall. I cast quick Silencing Charms on my bottoms of my shoes and robes and then stole off down the hall toward the third floor.

I waited for the hall to clear around the hospital wing doors and undid the charms. Madam Pomfrey started at my sudden entrance.

"Hecate, what are you doing here?"

"I came to see Remus," I said softly. "Is he okay?"

"I'm sorry, dear, but no one can see him at the moment," Madam Pomfrey said, though she smiled warmly. "He's very erm... contagious. It should be all right to come see him tomorrow morning, though, dear. Run along now."

I sighed and allowed myself to be pushed back out into the hall. So much for that plan. Just as the door began to close, however, I heard a low growl from the other side of the room. It sounded like Remus, but it wasn't a sound I'd ever heard him make. It was far too sinister a noise to be my kind, gentle friend.

Shaking off a feeling of I should know this echoing through my tense limbs, I made the trek down to the dungeons. There was only one classroom Illi would sequester in with Lucius to make our story plausible: classroom six. Slytherin House only used the room in the evenings on Fridays and Saturdays, so it was also the only place that Slytherins wanting to be alone for wand practice would go to.

Sure enough, Illi and Lucius were both in classroom six, concentrating on a set of slow-moving tortoises Illi had borrowed from McGonagall.

"That was fast," Lucius said. His tortoise was sporting a rather unflattering floral decoration on its side.

"She wouldn't let me see him, said he was contagious," I said, flicking my wand at Lucius' tortoise. "You know, if you just twist your wand a bit more during the incantation, you should be able to get a proper teapot."

"I haven't done teapots in a while," Lucius said, scowling. "Why would letting you in to see him make any difference?"

"I don't know," I said. "She said I could come back in the morning, though."

Illi shrugged and gave her wand a determined flick over her tortoise. The spout, unfortunately, still looked like a tortoise's tail. "Well, we did give it a go, at any rate."

I sighed and sank onto a cushion. "Am I really so easy to read?"

Lucius gave up on his teapot and sat down beside me. "You are to us. Your face is very easily read, love."

I groaned in frustration. "I wish it weren't. I feel like a failure as a Slytherin!"

"Your cunning lies more with knowledge than with life," Lucius agreed. "I do agree that you are not the most obvious of choices for a Slytherin, Heck, but that is what we love about you."

"I'd love to be able to only let go around you guys and Ali," I admitted. "Lucius, could you... could you teach me how to be like you?"

Lucius caught my hand in his, pressing a gentle kiss to my knuckles. A warm, tingling feeling ran up it, straight into my heart. "Of course, love. I'll help as best I can."

Emboldened by the kiss on my hand and his words, I leaned over and kissed him chastely on the cheek. "I'd like that."

I couldn't look him in the eye for the rest of the day.

_-~*~-_

Lucius was as good as his word. He taught me gently, with a hand on my shoulder or a subtle look whenever my façade broke. Illi took over when we were in class, and the two of us quickly eked out a system of looks that no one – not even Lucius – could read. Her Cherokee heritage came to be our spoken language, our code.

Illi taught Lucius and I several new words in Cherokee – especially when speaking of Scorpius and Remus. Scorpius became the Cherokee word for "star" – no kwi see – mainly because the word for "scorpion" was too long to not draw attention to itself. Remus became "wolf" – wah yah – because his last name sounded like lupus, the Latin word for wolf. And because of our shared shirt.

Illi knew about the shirt, of course, and helped keep the journal, shirt, and quill hidden from Narcissa and Bellatrix. She never knew what I wrote to Remus and Scorpius nor anything they wrote to me. Once in a while, I'd tell her some small thing. Like, "Wah yah is doing well in Defense, but he's got a long way to go before he'll ever be good at Potions." Or, "No kwi see is trying to get McGonagall to change his Transfiguration grades."

But I never told her that Remus and Scorpius were keeping me quite well informed of all Marauder pranks. I finally got the time to look at the journal on Sunday, when all the other girls were asleep.

Monday – Scorpius

Don't worry about me, guys, seriously. It's been like this since I was small. I'm used to it. Hey, Hecate, tell us when you get the journal back why you guys were looking for Snape. We're all (five) curious about that.

I grinned into the darkness at Remus' abrupt change in topic – my time around the Slytherins had taught me well. He was hiding something. As I fished out an inkpot from my bedside table, I thought on what his symptoms were. Coughing and his hair seemed to grow abnormally fast. Not just on his head, but his whole body. Even Lucius, who was two years older than Remus, hadn't begun growing facial hair like him yet. And he gets sick around the same-ish time of month, every month.

I couldn't come up with anything right off, but I decided to go on and read some medical books in the library as soon as possible.

Sunday – Hecate

We just had some questions about a weird potions ingredient. Severus is really good at it. I wish you would ask your friends to stop picking on him so much.

Once done, I doused my wandlight and hid the shirt, journal, and quill in a Reduced bundle in the back corner of my nightstand drawer. It was Slytherin custom anyway to ward our things – no one thought twice on it. I just happened to have several wards on mine that only the seventh-years had done.

I fell asleep almost instantly.

Ron and Harry paced before the Gryffindor common room fire; Ginny and Luna and Dean watched them warily. Draco leaned against the couch they were sitting on, staring dazedly into the dancing flames.

Draco stood to his feet and crossed the room. Everyone else, even the unspoken Dean Thomas, vanished. "Watch over my son, Hecate. Please. Just keep him alive." He kissed me gently.

I awoke with chills running up and down my entire body, as though I had been dunked into ice water.

_-~*~-_

The following Saturday was our birthday, and all through that week I waited for owls at the Slytherin table. It began with an owl to Molly for spending money for Scorpius' present, and then for Owl Order catalogues. Molly gave me ten Galleons – more than enough. Lucius and Illi had a million suggestions for ten Galleons, but it was little Ali who finally came up with the best idea.

"Find him something to match that locket with his name on it," she said quietly Wednesday morning. "Isn't that the only thing you guys have left to connect you to your pasts before...?"

It hit me like a tsunami. An earthquake in the faraway sea, the smallest warning before it struck. I hugged Alioth Mulciber's tiny frame with a squeal of glee, suppressed only by Lucius' subtle reminder that I shouldn't be expressing such things in the middle of the Great Hall – particularly with the recipient of my gift being on the other side of the Hall. I calmed myself with the gentle breathing exercises Lucius had taught me.

"Ali's right, though," I murmured as the fifth-year boy, my fellow third-year, and the first-year girl leaned in to listen. "It's the only tangible proof that there was anything there, anyone there for us before we took the Obliviate potion."

Lucius nodded. "Have you had a decent look at it, enough to find something to match?"

I mused aloud in answer. "Yeah, good enough. I doubt Score would wear a ring, he'd find it too Muggle." Little did I know that Scorpius' opinions of Muggles were in direct opposition to mine, but this was my train of thought back then. "A bracelet, then, with a charm. Do you think if I put two stars on it, he would understand the meaning?"

"If it's done subtly, I think so," Lucius said. "Perhaps two pentangles?"

I breathed, "Perfect. What better way is there? And I'll put our names on the two of them."

It was with that conversation that I sought out a wizarding jeweler. Immediately, I ruled out anything goblin-wrought – the keepers of our gold may be penny-pinching, but they are quite expensive in some things. Score's locket was silver, so it was cheaper than most things. The thick chain it hung on was a style easy enough to come by in most shops. It was getting two pentangles on it with my hidden inscription that proved to be the fuss of things.

First of all, most shops balked at my spending limits. Then I had trouble with them not wanting to put two pentangles on, saying it looked "ridiculous". At long last, I took Regulus Black aside and asked his assistance in drawing out what I wanted. He was quite good with a quill. Finally, after two days of constant owls during breakfast, lunch, dinner, and by house-elf in the evenings, I got what I wanted.

Without the inscription, of course. I made that myself, as it would have cost me three Galleons to let them do it. Lucius, Illi, Ali, and Regulus all watched with bated breath as I cast the Protean Charm on the inward spiral of each pentangle. I didn't have the time to look up anything else, and it did do what I wanted – except I had to use a piece of parchment to get it to say anything.

"Look at it this way," Lucius said when it worked. "You can always send him short messages."

I grinned, delighted by this unexpected plus to my folly. "That's true. Well, I hope Score likes it."

"So what's the inscriptions say?" Ali asked.

"The first one says 'Lesath and Shaula' and the other says 'Scorpio'," I said, grinning proudly. "When we were originally speaking of what to name me, he suggested something to do with the 'Cat's Eyes' at the tail end of the constellation he was named for. So I played on that."

"Think he'll remember?" Illi asked.

I sank in on myself as I stared at the bracelet. "He will. When you have no other memories aside from what has happened in three months... he'll remember the first time we saw each other."

_-~*~-_

Unfortunately for Scorpius and I, we would not be able to be together for our birthday. So, we exchanged our gifts before Potions class. I explained that I had a matched piece of parchment for the two pentangles in his gift, and if he ever felt a buzzing from it, I was sending him a message. I couldn't open his gift until later, but I was shocked to find that he was handing me not one, but two neat, silver-wrapped gifts. At my questioning look, he pointed to Remus.

I smiled at my brother and my friend, glad for our time in Potions. The latter blushed and ducked his head to get an inkpot from his bag.

Illi urged me to open the gifts as we left the class, and the two of us ducked into a girls' toilet to do just that. I locked and warded the door.

"I didn't think Lupin would give you a present, too," she said, grinning. "Come on, ooh-luh, open them up!"

I opened up Scorpius' gift first and delighted in the reduced book, Walking the Line, a Study of Spells' Intent and a box of sugar quills. I had long run out of my supply from Diagon Alley. I popped one in my mouth, letting the quill end dangle, and reached for Remus' gift.

Inside was a black box, and within that a simple gold chain, a clasped locket dangling from the end. I attempted to open the clasp, but it wouldn't come open. Frustrated, I began to throw out the paper, but black ink caught my eye. On the inside of the wrapping paper was a note, written in Remus' gorgeous loopy scrawl.

Dear Hecate,

This locket is spelled only to open when you speak the code name, Moony and Stingtail. Know that Scorpius and I love you.

Yours,

Remus

"Moony and Stingtail?" I murmured and gasped as the locket flew open of its own accord. Written in tiny script on the left were the words: "To Our Beloved Sister, Hecate." On the right was a photograph of Scorpius and Remus, waving and grinning cheerfully in their Gryffindor school uniforms.

Unbidden, the words Lucius had spoken on our first Defense study night came back to me. We take care of our own. Confused, I wondered just who I should consider "my own." Was it my blood brother, Scorpius, and our adopted brother Remus? Did I include Illi, Lucius, and Ali in that? Was the whole of Slytherin House my family, too? Lucius had said so – Slytherins take care of their own.

I was a Slytherin.

I take care of my own.

Secure in that, I snapped the locket on around my neck and hid it under my robes. Illi and I went to class with our usual gusto.

That evening, the seventh-years taught me some advanced Shield Charms, ones I knew the incantation for but had never cast. Vincent Crabbe was one of them, and he struck me as a sort of insipid person. Nonetheless, he could cast some decent hexes – he wasn't so decent at the charms he was supposedly supposed to be teaching me.

"Damn, Taylor!" Crabbe snarled, shaking his hand. "You've got some Stinging Hex there!"

"Thank you, Mister Crabbe," I said, taking a mock-bow. "And you have a not-so-some Total Shield Charm there."

The chubby, tall blond grinned. "I'll just have to try harder then, eh, Taylor?" His eyebrows rose and fell in what I guessed was meant to be a suggestive manner. What he was suggesting, though, was lost on me. I glanced at the clock on the wall, glad that we had been allowed to stay out until ten as third-years.

"Shall we?" I said, lifting my wand with a mischievous grin. "Mollis morsus!"

Crabbe winced as the hex hit him on the hand, exactly where the previous Stinging Hex had. The door slammed open, interrupting whatever he was trying to say in protest.

"All Slytherins to the common room, now!" shouted our Head of House. The agitated, almost alarmed tone in his voice left no room for argument or otherwise – everyone bolted down the hall. Seventh-years made sure that first- and second-years were all in the room or in their beds before shuffling Illi, Cissa, Bella, and me into the room. Lucius turned back to the door where Slughorn stood dancing from foot to foot in fearful anxiety.

"Snape's not here!" Lucius said. "He's the only one."

"Does anyone know where Mr. Snape is?" Slughorn demanded.

"My brother might," I said, wincing at the sudden stares.

Slughorn hesitated a fraction of a second. "Come, Miss Taylor. Mr. Malfoy, you as well. The rest of you, stay here, barricade the door until we return! The safe-word for knowing it's us is Felix!"

Lucius and I ran along the hall behind a surprisingly fast Slughorn. We did not stop until we were halfway up to the seventh floor, and only because we had found Scorpius and the Marauders.

"Score!" I shouted. "Score, wait!"

"Hecate?" he blinked owlishly down at us. "What–"

"No time, Mr. Taylor. Do you know where Severus Snape is?"

Score's gaze hardened for an instant, and then the look vanished. "Yes. He and Lily Evans were outside on the lawn."

"Thank you." Slughorn gestured to us. "Come, quickly!"

Slughorn bowled down the stairs three steps at a time. If I hadn't been swimming since the start of term, I doubted I would have been able to keep up with the surprisingly quick man. Lucius flew down the stairs with graceful flicks of his robes and hair, as though he were quite used to bolting after Slughorn.

In the entrance hall, we met with McGonagall. She nodded to us, and we set off down the lawn toward the old beech tree. The moon hung waning overhead. We got about fifty paces from the castle when Slughorn gasped, gaping back up into the night sky.

I had never seen anything quite like it before. Enormous and green, writhing in the sky like some bastardized aurora. The skull glittered like many of the stars overhead, and the snake slithered from its mouth like a Medusa's hair. McGonagall and Slughorn stared at it, both somewhat in a shock. I cleared my throat.

"Yes, it's astonishing," I said quietly. "But were we not more concerned with the whereabouts of Severus and Evans?"

McGonagall shook herself hard and nodded at me. "Too right, Miss Taylor. Come, quickly, we must get you all back inside. Heavens, why did you bring them along, Horace?"

My back stiffened at this last, but Lucius slyly intervened before I could say anything that would get me into trouble. "We held the information on their whereabouts, Professor. Now let us find them and get back inside."

McGonagall nodded and she dragged Slughorn the first few steps toward the lake. We found Lily Evans and Severus Snape behind the old beech tree. Evans had fainted dead away, and Snape's knees were both scraped up. McGonagall cast Mobilicorpus on her and nodded toward the castle. No one spoke as we ran past the image in the sky once again. We followed McGonagall up to the hospital wing with the floating girl.

"Sir, why is everyone being told to stay in their dorms?"

Slughorn started, and then stared at me as though he'd never quite seen me before. "I had forgotten you didn't know, Miss Taylor. That symbol is You-Know-Who's. It means someone has been killed. And this close to the school... we must keep you students safe in the event that they invade the gates."

"Someone has... has been killed, sir?" I asked, my eyes widening. "Like my parents, Professor?"

Lucius wrapped his arms around my shoulders. I didn't realize it until he moved his fingers over my cheeks that I was crying. My shoulders shook under Lucius' arms. For once since I had awoken in St. Mungo's, my shivers were not of cold, but of complete, unadulterated fear.

Madam Pomfrey fretted over Evans in the hospital bed. Several neon blue lighted letters and numbers appeared over the girl. Severus' knees bled freely, but he would not accept any treatment until he was certain Lily Evans was all right. McGonagall paced back and forth behind us.

"Minerva, I'll go check and make sure your Gryffindors are safe in the tower. I'll get Vector to look in on my House."

"Thank you, Horace, I'll stay here."

Our Head of House left, and McGonagall began to pace again. Lucius still had his arm wrapped around my shoulder, his voice crooning softly in my ears. I had not ever heard so soothing a sound, and yet I could not stop shaking. Someone was dead, and it was possible that someone might come to the castle and kill more. The seconds slipped by same as the tears down my cheeks.

"Little one, shush," Lucius murmured. "Everything will be okay. My father would never let anything happen to us. Shush."

Had I had any state of mind to pay attention to his words, I might have caught what he had said. Why would his father, after all, have anything to do with the skull and snake still writhing in the sky amongst the stars? Instead, the words finally soothed me from my tears. I sniffled softly. Lucius pulled a handkerchief from his robe pockets, silver with green trim. I wiped my eyes with it, letting the silk sooth away the fear. My shoulders stopped shaking.

I reached out for Severus' arm and offered him silent support. He flinched under my hand. I glanced over my shoulder at Lucius. He smiled and nodded toward Severus. Tentatively, I caressed his shoulder in the same manner Lucius had. Severus didn't flinch this time, and he seemed to relax just that much more.

"Madam Pomfrey, there's diluted dittany and skin healing potions in your cupboard, right?" I asked, softly so that I didn't interrupt her wand motions over Lily Evans.

"Yes, dear, Professor McGonagall, could you help her?"

Lucius settled Severus on the edge of a bed and helped him roll his trousers legs up over the scuffed knees. The fabric had done little to protect him. Severus must be very poor, as his trousers were darned and faded, grass stains that showed only on close inspection of the dark blue fabric. Which made me wonder exactly what he'd been doing at Madam Malkin's with Mrs. Snape that day in Diagon Alley, if he wasn't getting new trousers.

McGonagall and I chose a weak skin-healing potion, a wound-cleaning potion, and a weak Willow Bark potion for pain. Lucius helped measure out the Willow Bark potion while McGonagall and I dabbed the foul-smelling purple wound-cleaning potion to both knees and calves. Inwardly, I admired how lean Severus' muscles were, and how easily he kept what pain he was in from showing on his face. He watched Madam Pomfrey with rapt eyes, even though Lucius was blocking his complete view of the girl in the other bed.

When Severus was completely patched up, he rolled down his trousers legs. His soft, smooth voice came muffled from his position, but I heard it nonetheless. "Thank you, Taylor."

"You're welcome," I said, just as softly.

Madam Pomfrey's wand-waving finally ceased. She stood straight and turned to us all. "Miss Evans will have to stay here for the night. She hit her head rather hard, and I just want to be sure she doesn't have a concussion. Here, all three of you." She handed all three of us a pale blue potion. "They're Calming Draughts. Here, Professor, you look like you could use one, too."

McGonagall politely declined, but I took mine gratefully. Both Lucius and Severus looked ready to argue. One quick glare from McGonagall had them both tipping vials back into their throats. Immediately, all of my emotions leveled out. I still had the cognitive feeling of myself, but without the upheaval those thoughts held. We had just stepped toward the door, when Headmaster Dumbledore stepped into the room.

"Is Miss Evans quite all right, Madam Pomfrey?" he asked gently.

"Yes, as is Mr. Snape thanks to the Professor and Hecate here," she said, smiling softly at the elder man. "They were just leaving."

Dumbledore inclined his head at the three of us. "Then I bid you all good night."

As the door closed behind us, however, I heard a sound quite unlike any I had ever heard in my short three months' of memory. It sounded like a hound howling at the moon, and yet like what I'd imagine a banshee's shriek might sound. It took me a moment to realize that it was Madam Pomfrey crying. I turned back in alarm, but Professor McGonagall steered me back to the stairs.

"What's wrong with Mrs. Pomfrey?" I asked, struggling against her. "I want to know! She cared for me, I want to know what's wrong!"

McGonagall firmly steered me away. "The Headmaster is helping her at the moment, Miss Taylor." Her gaze softened as she glanced back over her shoulder. "But I may as well let you know before things get out of hand tomorrow morning. Gideon Pomfrey was in Hogsmeade tonight. He was one of the people the Death Eaters killed."

My heart sank in my chest, even as the Calming Draught struggled in my veins to keep my emotions leveled. The warring emotions bubbled beneath the surface, never quite making it to my eyes. I hated having these emotions, burrowed under the potion, and not being able to express them. My voice was calm, level.

"He's dead... he was only thirty-one years old. They just got married three months ago." The draught kept me from collapsing, kept my knees from buckling under the heavy weight. Lucius' warm arms found me again, and between Severus and he, I found myself back in the common room amongst friends. Lucius held me in his lap as he had when Scorpius had left for Gryffindor. This time, Illi and Ali curled up on either side of us, offering silent support.

I stared at the clock on the wall, fighting the potion and the emotions that rocked back and forth like a ship in a tempest. It was midnight.

Happy birthday, Hecate.

Mollis morsus – I really liked this version of the Stinging Hex. Mollis basically translates as "soft, pliant, gentle" and morsus is "stinging, biting." It sort of feels like a mild burn or a bee sting.

The various ingredients that Lucius, Illi, and Hecate are looking at were carefully chosen. You can find more information on the Obliviate Potion in my LJ: http://hpmuse.livejournal.com/tag/potions. More information on the Obliviate Potion to come in the story.