Chapter 12
LUCIUS MALFOY
"What the hell!" Yaxley screamed, and Lucius wanted to join him in his rage, as the five of them gathered in the dorms once more.
"Why would the Dark Lord forbid us from attacking that mudblood!" he screamed, as Lestrange joined him in the protest.
"What could he even have that the Dark Lord would want!" and none of them had an answer for that.
They had returned late last night and had ravaged more than a dozen muggles all by themselves. Yet even the screams of those muggles did little to soothe their rage.
"I say, we ignore that comm..."
"No!" Lucius was quick to cut in, as those eyes all turned towards him.
"The Dark Lord is already angry with us," and his father had ordered him not to defy another command from the man.
"Defying him again would have severe consequences that none of us here can live with," and already the Professor had come to them to de-escalate the matters with the Muggle-borns.
"Then what do we do?" Rebastan questioned, as the moonlight lingered in from the window. The Full Moon was up in the night, and its light lit up nearly the whole of the common room as Lucius gazed at the bright circle illuminating the night.
"We do as we are commanded," he ordered them all, for he would not anger the Dark Lord again.
"Already Slughorn has been asking us to quiet things down, so we do just that. We quiet things down," and Rebastan's nostrils flared.
"But those Muggle-borns! They will think us weak and scared..."
"LET THEM!" Lucius retorted angrily.
"Let them enjoy this peace. This school, but sooner or later, they will walk out of these Halls and then there will be no Slughorn or Dumbledore to protect them," and then they would have their revenge.
"Then we will show them the truth. Show them our true power," and the others smirked, but Rebastan was still not convinced.
"And what of that Blonde Evans..." and he was still a sour point.
"We listen to the Dark lord and leave him alone..."
"..for the time being, that is," and Rebastan pushed away his hand.
"But what of our revenge?" and he shook his head.
"It is just a few months. Once the Dark Lord has concluded his business with that boy, we can ruin him. Until then, we turn our focus on the other person," and Rebastan finally understood his intentions.
"The traitor," and Lucius nodded, for this person was as responsible as Alder Evans for Rudolphus's expulsion.
"The Dark lord has forbidden us from going after that boy. He has made no mention of sparing that traitor," and Rebastan smiled.
"I will make an example out of them," and they would.
They surely would.
"Yaxley, any progress in that regard?" he asked, and the boy nodded.
"I tried to shortlist the names, and there are but a few people who are not aligned to our purpose within the House," and he passed him the list, and Lucius looked at the names, and he had an idea about a few of them, but now it was time to sift through them all.
"We begin with him," he whispered, as he saw a familiar name.
"Severus Snape," and the others nodded, and he had reason to suspect the boy, for he was a half blood, which made him no better than those mud-bloods.
He was also from the Muggle world and was known to have been friends with Evans's sister.
"Do you think he is the traitor?" Yaxley asked, and Lucius shrugged.
"I do hope for him that he is not...."
.
.
.
And so the next morning, they all cornered that black haired boy.
"Where were you last Saturday night?" Lucius asked, as the boy nervously looked around.
"What?" he asked.
"Last Saturday evening? Where were you?" Yaxley asked a bit forcefully as the boy opened and closed his mouth.
"Why do you ask?" and Lucius raised a brow.
"You know why?" he was smart enough to know that.
"I did not do anything," and the boy had a spine as he looked him in the eye.
"Then you won't have any problem telling us where you were..."
"I..."
"He was with me," a voice came from behind, and Lucius turned around and saw a boy with those daunting grey eyes and familiar face standing there, and he looked like a boy from House Gryffindor, yet he was younger, though he did not look as such.
And in their House, he was perhaps the only boy who could defy him, without suffering any consequences, for he was Regulus Black, son and supposed heir to the Black family and fortune.
"Was he?" he asked, and the boy nodded.
"Yes, we were in the library. Now, if you are done being aurors, we are getting late for breakfast..." and with that, he walked past him, and carried away that boy as well, and Lucius's eyes narrowed.
"Do you believe him?" Yaxley asked.
"I don't know. But it seems like this won't be so easy after all..."
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ALDER EVANS
Hogwarts was large. The school was basically an abandoned castle, and with magic, wards, and charms at its disposal, the castle had enough room to accommodate more than thrice its current population with ease.
This was why Hogwarts had many abandoned classrooms and closets, many of which served different people and different purposes. The broom closets were a rather famous place for making out, and even in these times, you would hardly find one empty.
The abandoned classrooms were popular as well amongst couples, but mostly they were a place for friends to gather, to study, practice, or simply laze about. His own dueling club used one of the abandoned classrooms for its activities.
The club itself was now more popular than ever, and with the constant threat from House Slytherin, the number of students who had joined this year had been a record high, forcing them to ask for a larger room.
Several years of effort were beginning to show results, and finally, the club was maturing into a proper activity place that needed little help from him. Students gathered, paired up, and practiced on their own, requiring little intervention from him.
He had been a bit surprised when Andromeda had come in with a new face, yet one look into those eyes, and he was able to see through that disguise in an instant, for those were not Pandora's eyes. He had seen them before, not the color or the size, but the emotions.
He had seen them just a few days ago, in the orbs of a scared and helpless Slytherin girl, screaming for help. Unlike her two sisters, Narcissa was simpler, simpler, and far more docile.
Bellatrix, for all her faults, had steel in her spine, and the same could be said for Andromeda. Narcissa, though, was timid, and in her eyes he saw a resignation that made him want to offer her a hand. Made him want to reach out, and he did.
And he was surprised. It was as if she had chained herself to a persona of Narcissa Black. And with that face and name shed, he found himself a bit surprised by her personality.
She was smart and inquisitive and had a rather infectious laugh, yet in all his years at school, he had never seen that from her. And he liked hearing her laugh, so he decided to pair up with her again, and with that, minutes turned into hours as he found himself helping a Black person in the world.
"Life couldn't have been stranger," he whispered as he found himself standing outside another abandoned classroom, one which served as a sort of base of operations for one of the most notorious groups at Hogwarts.
A group that was in many ways feared more than Lucius and his cabal of Death Eaters.
THUNK!
He threw open the door, and immediately the sound of curses hit him, and he saw a group of three trying to make a run for it.
"SHIT!" "SOMEONE'S HERE!" "RUN!"
"WAIT!" Alder called out, and perhaps it was the familiarity of his voice that stopped the three, as Alder smiled at the three pale-faced marauders eyeing him nervously.
In front of them lay a few books and a dozen potion ingredients he easily recognized.
"Alder," Potter called out in some relief, as he examined the ingredients and the books.
"What are you doing here?" Black asked, and Peter was so afraid to manage nothing but an inaudible splutter, as Alder walked forward and eyed them all.
"I could ask you the same question?" he retorted, and though they were year mates, none in the school treated him as such. Alder had a reputation for being much mature and dependable, which meant that even several upper-class men would often come to him for help and such.
The Marauders were no different and were the actual reason why the Prefect badge was pinned to his chest, for he was amongst the only two people in the school who could put a leash on these rambunctious bastards.
"We are not breaking any rules here," Potter retorted.
"Except that it's five minutes past curfew," he replied, but all of them knew that he was not one to punish students for such infractions.
"But that does not matter," he said and saw them sigh, as he crouched down and began to sift through the book.
"I am more interested in what you lot are doing here?" he asked, though he already had an idea.
"We are studying," Black lied as he raised a brow, holding back a laugh.
"Potions," finally, Pettigrew spoke up.
"They are helping me," and he could use some help, given his grades, but that was a lie.
"Then why is it that I find myself looking at a book detailing the process of becoming an Animagus?" he asked softly, and the three boys refused to speak up as he focused on Potter.
"Shit," he cursed as his shoulders sagged, for he knew that he had caught them.
"We can explain," Black added.
"We are just trying to help..."
"Remus," he finished, and they all blinked in surprise. His words left them speechless as Potter quickly gasped.
"You knew!" and he nodded.
"Yes," and they seemed to relax a bit as he motioned for them to sit down, and the three joined him on the floor.
"For how long?" asked the grey-eyed Sirius, and Alder frowned.
"A few years now, but that does not matter," and he pointed towards their entire operation.
"I know what you lot are trying to do, and what I can say is that it is an extremely stupid, idiotic thing that you could have ever done," and they all had the decency to look embarrassed.
"But it is also the most selfless thing I have seen you lot do," and that surprised them all.
"So, that means you won't mention this to anyone else," and he had half a mind to stop it, but the Marauders, for all their faults, were good kids.
Spoiled, and too zealous but good nonetheless. They had a habit of going a bit too far in their pranks, but with the promise from Lily and himself keeping them at bay, the group was nothing but four brilliant boys trying to have some fun.
"Won't I?" he teased, looking each of them in the eye.
"What do you want?" Black was quick to understand his intentions.
"Now, we are talking," Alder laughed.
"First of all, as long as you agree to a few conditions of mine, I will not only speak of this to nobody, but I will also help you a lot in this," and that took them by surprise, because while they were brilliant, everyone knew Alder was a prodigy.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"Peace," he whispered, though not before adding.
"That, and a look into one of your other projects...." he added, and the trio all exchanged glances as James asked, nervously.
"Which project?" and he smiled.
"The Map..."
And the shock on their faces was visible, as Sirius broke the silence.
"Damn, maybe you were right about him, James," he whispered.
"He might really be a Seer," and Alder simply smiled.
"So, do we have a deal?"
"We do...."
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